Marijuana will be legal much sooner than people think.

I am working at updating my references to popular culture in an effort to minimize the number of blank stares I engender from audiences that include many people much younger than myself. This effort seems especially appropriate for the subject of this column: the similarity of marijuana and same-sex marriage as issues of public policy. Temporarily putting aside my admiration for the analytic approach implicit in Henny Youngman’s two liner—“‘How’s your wife?’ ‘Compared to what?’”—I’ll instead invoke Sheldon Cooper from the Big Bang Theory, one of the nation’s most popular sitcoms.

Sierra Wellness Connection president Morgan Carr tends to his business’ plants on July 30. The Sierra Wellness Connection grows its own medical marijuana.(Photo: Tyler Hersko/RGJ)

Located amid medical offices east of downtown Reno, Sierra Wellness Connection could be mistaken for a suburban pharmacy. But it deals in Purple Kush and Sour Diesel instead of ibuprofen and Sudafed.

That’s the point, said Steve Rausch, vice president of the first medical marijuana dispensary set to open in Reno, at 1605 E. Second St., near Renown Regional Medical Center, on Wednesday.

With a vote on recreational marijuana legalization likely for 2016, legislators are now working on statewide regulations for medical marijuana, which became legal in 1996

SAN FRANCISCO — The likelihood that California voters will be asked to legalize recreational marijuana next year is prompting lawmakers to make a serious run at reining in the state’s vast medical marijuana industry — a job they have deferred for nearly two decades.

A pair of bills pending in the California Legislature would create the first statewide regulations for medical marijuana growers, manufacturers of pot-infused products, and distributors such as storefront dispensaries and delivery services.

Bob Lemmo, the first news editor of marijuana-enthusiast and lifestyle media brand High Times, died in hospice Aug. 9 at age 64.

In 1975, when High Times was in its first year of publication and on a meteoric growth track, Lemmo was brought in to help create a news section entirely focused on marijuana, hashish and other recreational drugs. Prior to that, he had been editor of underground newspapers in New York and Arizona.

A lot of people are aware of Montel Williams’ advocacy for medical marijuana – and he has a very impactful and legitimate reason for doing so. Montel Williams, the former host of the classic ’90s talk show, The Montel Williams Show, has been a medical marijuana patient since 1999 when he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS). 

“Medical marijuana has allowed me to live a productive, fruitful life despite having multiple sclerosis. Many thousands of others all over this country — less well-known than me but whose stories are just as real — have experienced the same thing,” stated Williams back in 2007.

As marijuana use becomes more acceptable, researchers are scrambling to answer key questions about the drug.

In 2013, Beau Kilmer took on a pretty audacious head count. Citizens in the state of Washington had just voted to legalize marijuana for recreational use, and the state's liquor control board, which would regulate the nascent industry, was anxious to understand how many people were using the drug — and importantly, how much they were consuming.

Medical marijuana patients are required to have a physician’s signature to purchase medical marijuana in Illinois. Although Illinois is among 23 states that allow marijuana for medical use some health systems are not permitting doctors to sign off because marijuana is still illegal at the federal level.

There have been several ‘marijuana odor bans’ in states all over America in one form or another. The bans relate to the smell of marijuana being consumed, and/or to the smell of marijuana being cultivated. In Oregon, a court case was decided this week which determined that the smell of marijuana being consumed is not offensive. Per Oregon Live:

The Oregon Court of Appeals on Wednesday refused to declare the smell of marijuana smoke wafting into neighbors’ homes “unpleasant.”

Scientists from the National Cancer Institute (US Department of Health) have confirmed that cannabis, or marijuana, does kill cancer cells, after a series of laboratory tests and speculations.

Colorado, a US state known for its liberal regulation of cannabis, is now going to host the Crypto Cannabis Conference on October 24th & 25th, 2015. The organizers expect the attendance from the best minds in the cannabis industry who will discuss the pros and cons of Bitcoin for the cannabis industry.

Also read: Bitcoin XT Blocks are Being Mined on the Network Right now