House Republicans advanced a budget plan Thursday that would prevent legal sales of marijuana in D.C. for more than two years.

Here’s the surprise: advocates for legalization called it a victory.

What the Republican budget does not do – at least not yet – is roll back Initiative 71, the voter-approved measure from November that legalized pot for recreational use in the nation’s capital. Since early this year, D.C. residents have been allowed to possess, grow and, in the privacy of their own homes, smoke marijuana.

The Colorado Supreme Court on Monday is expected to issue a ruling on whether businesses can fire workers who use medical marijuana when off the clock.

The decision comes nine months after the state's highest court heard oral arguments in Brandon Coats' case against Dish Network.

Coats, a quadriplegic man who used marijuana off-duty to control muscle spasms, was fired in 2010 by Dish after failing a random drug test.

People are poisoning themselves with synthetic pot products at more than twice the rate as this time last year, according to a report released this Friday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Officials from the Guam Department of Public Health recently returned from Arizona and California, where they were able to gain exposure on how the mainland handles medicinal marijuana.

"When you start looking at people's needs, we'd like to get this going as soon as possible," explained James Gillan, director of Public Health. He notes efforts in moving forward with the implementation of medicinal marijuana on Guam, citing part of that effort being staff from the Division of Environmental Health get trained and learn from other states who have experience on the matter. "If you don't know really what things look like and how they work and you try to guess at it, or read about it, sometimes that works, but I think in this case you had to have hands-on," he continued.

At first blush, it sounds innocent enough, but a sweetly named substance produced from the marijuana plant is earning a reputation for intense highs and a production process that can be literally explosive.

That addictive-yet-deadly combination in “honey oil” has attracted attention from both marijuana users and law enforcement officials.

Making homemade honey oil often involves the use of highly flammable butane. Indeed, butane’s use is sufficiently commonplace in the processing that the resulting substance is sometimes referred to specifically as “butane honey oil” or “BHO.”

Jess Blake of Duluth breaks into tears and stops to wipe her eyes on June 4, 2015 as she describes how her brain tumor has changed her life. She's no longer allowed to drive, isn't able to read and tires easily. Blake is a middle school teacher at Esko, Minn., but is currently on medical leave. Blake and her parents are trying to get her certified to use medical marijuana when it becomes legal in Minnesota on July 1. 

Esko, Minn., teacher Jess Blake is confident medical marijuana will lessen the nausea that comes with treatment for the brain tumor she was diagnosed with in September.

Blake, 39, and her parents, Rick and Kathleen Blake of Grand Rapids, even have hopes that cannabis might make the tumor go away.

The odds have been plainly against marijuana legalization for decades, but the tide appears to be turning to the point where the marijuana movement may soon be able to get over its previous barriers.

At a crossroads
Two decades ago public opinion was very much against the idea of legalizing marijuana for medical or recreational purposes. A survey from Gallup in the mid-1990s pegged the public's favorable opinion on the drug at just 25%.

According to the recent reports from the poison control center of the United States, the prison has been flooded with the calls related to synthetic marijuana. The prison further reported that during the year of 2015, almost 3,572 calls up till now. These calls were made as a result of the deadly after effects of the illegal drugs used first time by the street kids. The number of these calls shows a rapid increase of 229% in comparison to the number of calls registered during January to May during the previous year.

The Legislature's failure to expand Iowa's medical marijuana law has some parents of sick children looking to Minnesota.

Area lawmakers who worked to pass the proposed legislation suggested some Iowans may relocate to nearby states to access medicinal marijuana. Medical marijuana will be legal in limited form in Minnesota beginning July 1.

Some Cedar Falls families confirmed they're considering their options, the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier (http://bit.ly/1MsWswE ) reported.

"Obviously, they have all these good things about their bill, but it's proximity. So, you just gave yourselves competition. Minnesota moved forward. You chose to stay stagnant," said Brienna Decker.

Who doesn’t love ice cream? Better yet, who doesn’t love cannabis? Okay, maybe some people don’t like ice cream, and not everyone likes cannabis. Regardless, get ready to have your mind and taste-buds overwhelmed by the thought of cannabis ice cream.

For those of you that already read about the owners of Ben And Jerry’s (Ben And Jerry, duh) introducing cannabis-infused ice cream earlier this year, these guys at Cannabis Creamery are already way ahead of the curve.

Located in California, Cannabis Creamery produces THC-infused ice cream that is already becoming a major hit. Check out how this shop came to be, and see for yourself where all the magic happens.

I think it’s safe to say we all want a few tubs of that ice cream for this summer…or more.