Amid criticism of high prices for medical marijuana, one of Minnesota's manufacturers on Monday announced a discount for patients buying a month's supply of medicine.

LeafLine Labs' 15 percent discount could mean anywhere between $15 in savings on some of the company's less expensive pills, and as much as a $150 discount on more expensive products, chief executive Manny Munson-Regala said. The shift comes after LeafLine's competitor, Minnesota Medical Solutions, substantially increased its own prices earlier this summer.

During her factually troubled debate performance last week, Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina accidentally made at least one somewhat accurate remark: "We are misleading young people when we tell them that marijuana is just like having beer. It's not."

Fiorina is right — just not in the way she meant. She was arguing that pot is more dangerous than alcohol. But the evidence shows the opposite is true — marijuana is, in fact, safer than alcohol.

TUCSON – Supporters and opponents of marijuana legalization believe Arizona voters will decide the issue in November 2016.

The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol in Arizona announced it has gathered 75,000 signatures for a ballot initiative. It needs about 150,000. The campaign wants to gather 230,000 in anticipation of invalid signatures.

Seth Leibsohn is the chairman of Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy, which opposes legalization.

“They have paid almost a million dollars to a professional firm to collect signatures.” He said. “You could collect signatures for anything at that price. So I've never doubted that they could get on the ballot.”

The United for Care campaign came very close to legalizing medical marijuana in Florida during the 2014 Election. The initiative received roughly 58% of the vote (Florida requires 60% of the vote in order for the initiative to pass). The campaign took the loss in stride, regrouped, and has been working towards a 2016 effort. The campaign is on a roll right now, having gathered over half a million signatures already. Per The Joint Blog:

FAIRBANKS — The next mayor will influence how marijuana commerce unfolds in the Fairbanks North Star Borough. 

Some of the things to be decided by local leaders in the coming months include whether to limit the number of marijuana businesses, what criteria to require of people wanting to open a marijuana business and the selection process for issuing licenses. 

Just two months after Minnesota launched its medical marijuana programme, some patients turned off by high costs say they are back to buying the drug illegally – because it’s the only way they can afford it.

State officials and the companies hired to make marijuana products trumpeted the programme’s medical approach of pills and oils and no leaf products when it launched in July. But some patients say the highly restricted and regulated system is costing them hundreds or even thousands of dollars a month, none of it covered by insurance.

More than prior elections, pot is becoming a prime time topic in the 2016 presidential race

Republican presidential candidates, from left, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, former New York Gov. George Pataki, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, businessman Donald Trump, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, businesswoman Carly Fiorina, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie take the stage during the CNN Republican presidential debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2015, in Simi Valley, Calif. (Chris Carlson, Associated Press)

Epilepsy sufferers may find relief from seizures thanks to a chemical found in marijuana, but the nation’s drug laws are preventing doctors from conducting important research.

Cannabidiol, an active ingredient in marijuana that doesn’t get smokers high, has been proven to prevent epilepsy seizures, but researchers are having difficulty conducting large scale studies, according to a study published by WebMD.

Minnesota's Office of Medical Cannabis will not be taking any new applications from patient caregivers, while the staff tightens up the data security of the caregiver registration process.

The temporary freeze comes after a Minnesota resident approached lawmakers Thursday with concerns about a link in an email the Health Department sends to caregivers interested in enrolling in the program so they can pick up cannabis for patients who are too sick or too young to do it themselves. Because the link does not expire quickly, the individual worried that others with access to the email account might be able to open the link and view the personal information the caregiver had submitted to the state -- including their name, address and date of birth.

“I very much hope that I am the only person on this stage who can say this, but I know there are millions of Americans who will say the same thing. My husband Frank and I buried a child to drug addiction. We must invest more in the treatment of drugs.

“We are misleading young people when we tell them marijuana is just like having beer. It’s not. And the marijuana they’re smoking today is not the same marijuana that Jeb Bush smoked 40 years ago. We need to tell young people the truth. Drug addiction is an epidemic and it is taking too many of our young people. I know this sadly from personal experience.”

–Carly Fiorina, Republican Presidential Candidate, at the 9/16/2015 GOP Debate