While a bipartisan House task force works on a compromise medical marijuana bill, House Speaker Mike Turzai told the Pennsylvania Press Club on Monday that concerns still have to be addressed.

Pending legislation would allow for a certain number of licensed medical cannabis growers and distributors, but Turzai, R-Allegheny, voiced some lingering questions.

Rep. Mike Turzai speaks with at the Pennsylvania Press Club on Monday.Photo by Sam Janesch 

Conrad Daley, executive director of the Alaska Cannabis Grower’s Association, tried to get his organization a bank account for months, and has yet to keep one. Two months after finally securing an account with an Alaska KeyBank branch, he received an account closure notice from the bank’s Ohio headquarters with a check for the balance.

“It’s exactly what we’d feared,” said Daley.

Marijuana possession might be legal in Alaska, but state marijuana commerce will stay as black a market as bootlegged rum during Prohibition until banks find ways to operate under restrictive financial laws stemming from the Controlled Substances Act.

Kevin Sabet has become synonymous with the opposition to  marijuana legalization in the US. As a former drug policy adviser to the White House and co-founder, with Patrick Kennedy, of Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM), Sabet has long acted as a major counterpoint to pro-legalization groups like the Marijuana Policy Project and Drug Policy Alliance.

Police in Mexico have arrested a gang of Colombians and Mexicans for growing genetically modified pot in three massive greenhouses covering 20,000sq ft.

A statement issued by federal authorities claim the large-scale operation was taking place in the northern state of Jalisco.

Officers raiding the greenhouses found a total of 7,000 'mother plants' of marijuana that had been genetically modified and cloned.

According to investigators, the Colombians claimed they had been contacted by emails offering them jobs in the Mexico.

Without knowing what they were destined for, they ended up at the site in the municipality of Tlajomulco de Zunia.

The crew, which included 22 Colombians and three Mexicans, were said to have paid in dollars.

Canisters of medical marijuana and a price list for the marijuana products is seen inside Highland Health medical dispensary and wellness center in Denver, Colorado, U.S., on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2009.

A growing number of cancer patients and oncologists view marijuana as a viable alternative for managing the negative effects, such as nausea, bone pain, anxiety, and depression, of both chemotherapy and cancer itself.

After a successful surgery to remove a cancer-ridden section of Jeff Moroso’s large intestine in the spring of 2013, the oncologist sat down with his patient to prepare him for what would come next: 12 rounds of punishing chemotherapy, once every two weeks for six months—standard practice for the treatment of colon cancer.

Shayne Lynn, founder of Champlain Valley Dispensary, Inc. gives the Free Press a first look at a grow pod at his facility in Milton. The pod will grow a stain of cannabis high in CBD, known for providing relief from seizures among other things. The strain is also low in THC, the better known substance that gets you high.

Since Shayne Lynn opened his first medical marijuana dispensary in June 2013, demand for products has eclipsed his five-year business plan.

The executive director of Champlain Valley Dispensary and Southern Vermont Wellness is opening a 28,000-square-foot cultivation and research center in Milton that will double capacity for the number of patients the two dispensaries can serve.

Earlier this month the State of Colorado rejected a proposal that would have added PTSD to the list of qualifying medical conditions to become a medical marijuana patient in Colorado. In response to the lack of compassion by the State of Colorado, Operation Grow for Vets is planning a rally on August 1st. Below is more information from the Operation Grow for Vets Facebook page, along with a flyer.

COLUMBIA — A Vietnam war veteran and former Commander of the Missouri Veterans of Foreign Wars will be speaking on Monday evening in support of medical marijuana.

Tom Mundell will speak at 7 p.m. in the Columbia Public Library, according to a news release from the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

Mundell has met with President Barack Obama in Washington, D.C., to discuss the re-scheduling of marijuana multiple times and the benefits he experienced and observed in connection with marijuana, according to NORML.

The Missouri General Assembly legalized limited use of cannabidiol for the treatment of "intractable epilepsy" in 2014, according to the release. Cannabidiol, a compund in marijuana, has medical effects but doesn't produce a high.

Pot politics is heating up on the presidential campaign trail.

The majority of New Hampshire voters, including most independents, favor the legalization of recreational marijuana and decriminalization of pot, according to a new WMUR Granite State Poll from the University of New Hampshire Survey Center.

The early voting state is one of the most important for presidential candidates. So marijuana advocates hope the findings will encourage White House hopefuls to embrace their cause. 

KINGSTON, Jamaica – New York Jets wide receiver Brandon Marshall on Saturday caused quite a frenzy on social media website Twitter.

The NFL player, who was in Jamaica for his sister’s wedding, in what was an apparent attempt to be comedic, tweeted that marijuana was being smoked around him.

This resulted in mixed reactions and heavy criticisms from some Twitter users.

Marshall tweeted: “What ull doing? I'm in Jamaica at my sisters wedding and It smells like Denver over here!!! I better not fell my drug test.”

After that tweet, Marshall proceeded to tweet again, this time he made sure to include the NFL in his tweet.