MIAMI (Reuters) - A Miami jury convicted a man who faces up to 35 years in prison for growing marijuana in a bedroom of his house in what he says was an act of love to help his wife who is recovering from breast cancer, local media reported.

Ricardo Varona, 43, was arrested in July 2014 and charged with marijuana trafficking after police said they seized 15 live marijuana plants that could have produced more than 30 pounds of usable weed.

In closing arguments on Friday, Varona's lawyer, Jose Aguirre, told jurors in Miami state court that detectives did not find any money ledgers, drug scales or packaging equipment at Varona's house that would show he was selling pot for money.

I dined on garlic-herb magic mushrooms, lush weed-infused butter, a decadent pot brownie and a cool glass of green juice to top it all off. If the pot industry is looking to reach the bourgie middle class, this is surely the way to go

or the fast-growing industry growing around weed, the current challenge is to make marijuana an item of ordinary middle-class consumption. So how do you persuade bourgie consumers to integrate pot into their lifestyles?

The obvious answer is to turn it into food.

If you can get pot out of dime-bags and onto big white plates, a whole new market awaits. Which is where books like The Cannabis Kitchen Cookbook, by Robyn Griggs Lawrence, come in.

One of my clients committed an administrative violation last week. It wasn’t on purpose, and it was basically harmless, but their actions violated Washington’s rules for marijuana retailers. They asked me for advice, and I told them the advice I give almost everyone in the same situation — get out in front and self report. I wrote the same thing a year ago.

DEAReps. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) and Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) have joined up for an interesting proposal to scale back both the drug war and asset forfeiture on the federal level. Rather than trying to control how law enforcement agencies collect or distribute seized assets from busts, they want to reduce some incentives by controlling how the seized assets may be used.

Between 1911, when Massachusetts became the first state to ban marijuana, and 1937, when Congress made pot prohibition the law of the land, cannabis acquired a reputation as a “killer drug” that drove people to irrational acts of violence. Since 2012, when Colorado became the first state to repeal its ban on marijuana, that quaint notion has made something of a comeback, mainly due to the April 2014 death of Kristine Kirk, a 44-year-old Denver mother of three, at the hands of her husband, Richard.

A U.S. drug company is taking the Canadian government to court for its attempt to lower the price of what has been called the world's most expensive drug.

Alexion Pharmaceuticals has filed a motion in Federal Court, arguing that Canada's drug price watchdog has no authority to force the company to lower its price for Soliris.

'This is the single greatest threat to pricing of drugs in Canada ever.'- Amir Attaran, health law expert

Cannabis is a plant that can be used in a wide range of settings such as medical purposes, a source of fiber and oils, or as a recreational drug. Growing evidence has been reported on the clinical benefits of medical marijuana (herbal form) for treating chronic pain. Currently, several countries in the world and almost half of all U.S. states authorize the use of medicinal marijuana.

The legal marijuana industry, both personal and medical, saw $2.7 billion in sales last year, according to industry investor networking entity ArcView Group and its research arm, ArcView Market Research. The group says that figure is expected to grow to more than $10 billion by 2020 as recent medical marijuana states go online and as more states legalize marijuana between now and then.

A fashion designer, ex boy band singer and former Bengal are all high on Issue 3.

They support a measure that would make Ohio the fifth state in the union to allow weed for recreational use.

The fire for the measure is lit by Responsible Ohio, but opponents call Issue 3 a money grab designed to make a small group of rich people even richer. 

Investors deny those claims, saying the measure could generate millions in tax revenue and thousands of jobs.

Issue 3 would create a constitutional amendment legalizing pot for recreational and medicinal use. It could also create a multi-billion dollar industry.

Cincinnati native Nick Lachey was the front man for 98 Degrees and he’s part of one group of investors looking to end the pot prohibition. 

Cannabis Basics, which is owned and operated entirely by a female staff, just received one of the first trademarks ever for a company that specializes in cannabis and hemp-infused products. Not only is this the first trademark logo issued for a company with "cannabis" in the name, this marks an achievement for women in the highly competitive cannabis industry.