With a wave of legalization measures in recent years, marijuana in some form is now legal in 38 states. But in the 12 where it is not — a swath of the west and Midwest, including Kansas, Nebraska and the Dakotas, and in the rust belt states of Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania — parents whose use of the drug would be legal elsewhere are losing their children and often seen as irresponsible parenting pariahs.

In March, Child Protective Service workers took Shona Banda’s 11-year-old son from her home in Garden City, Kansas, saying her use of marijuana to control debilitating Crohn’s Disease put the child in danger.

I know what you’re thinking: Did it get you high?

That’s all anyone asked me after I got a massage with cannabis cream in Denver, where marijuana is legal.
While I consider myself a connoisseur of spas and weed (only where it’s legal, of course), I still wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from the LoDo Massage Studio. I booked the studio’s signature Mile High Massage using Apothecanna’s Pain Cream, a massage lotion laced with cannabis (plus arnica, peppermint, and juniper—but who cares, right?).

A high-profile Hollywood stuntman claims to have cured his Stage IV colorectal cancer using cannabis oil.

Mark Chavarria was offered the oil to help with the pain he suffered from the advanced cancer, which had spread from his colon into his liver.

He says, ‘Once I got on this oil, I was able to get rid of everything. All the Oxycontin, everything.

Chavarria faced a gruelling regime of chemotherapy and radiation treatment, but says he believed that the cannabis oil actually helped beat the cancer.

‘It’s kind of gross, but I literally felt like I was pooing the thing out every time I went to the toilet.

In the final days of the 2015 legislative session, Gov. John Hickenlooper's office asked for a $300,000 earmark to fund a crackdown on toxic pesticides being used in legal marijuana grows in Colorado.

It was a last-minute scramble in response to a very real health and safety issue associated with the state's burgeoning recreational pot industry. And it typifies the frenetic frenzy with which lawmakers have attempted to get a handle on pot since voters opened the door to recreational marijuana stores in 2012.

"It's been pretty vexing. We've made headway more rapidly than we thought," Hickenlooper said. "It's hard to take something that's never been done before from scratch and create a regulatory framework."

Marijuana has inspired the medical community and the investing community, with state legalization spurring interest in companies related to the drug. Yet many fear that the tiny companies that dominate the marijuana industry right now aren't good investments and carry too much risk for the typical investor.

With that in mind, we asked three Motley Fool contributors to weigh in on their views about whether marijuana is or will be a place to invest in the near future. See what they have to say and then weigh in with your comments below.

It’s a typical Wednesday evening. After a long run, Andrew*, who works in digital media in New York City, is following his standard post-run routine. Like most runners, he’ll quickly cool down, stretch, drink water, and maybe grab a post-workout snack. Unlike most runners, he’ll also smoke pot.

The avid runner and cyclist, whose racing résumé includes theUmstead 100 Ultra, typically lights up immediately before his athletic activities and usually within an hour or two post-sweat session.

Last year former videogame entrepreneur Dooma Wendschuh began soliciting investors for what he viewed as a big idea: distilled marijuana extracts, developed by scientists, that could be used for “edibles,” such as brownies, and vaporizers. Rather than hawking flavors or strains of pot, his company, Ebbu, would aim to deliver consistent feelings, such as “chill” and “giggles.”

• The first ever church dedicated to worshiping marijuana has sprouted in Indiana in response to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA)
• The church, founded by Bill Levin, 59, has been deemed a charity and donors can deduct gifts made to the church on their federal tax returns
• Recreational and medicinal marijuana use is not permitted in Indiana but Levin says since he's not selling it he doesn't think he'll get in trouble
• Daniel O. Conkle, professor of law at Indiana University said the church will have to prove the religious aspect of smoking marijuana 

The first ever church dedicated to worshiping marijuana 'as a health supplement' has sprouted in Indiana.

Potlines is an app that will send users an alert as to differing state marijuana laws.

WASHINGTON, June 7, 2015 – Marijuana is already legal for medical and recreational use in the District of Columbia. Alaska, Oregon, Washington and Colorado also allow recreational use and possession of cannabis.

Twenty-three states from Maine to California allow medical marijuana use. But if you are taking a road trip from the NorthEastern shore to Southern California, there are a lot of states in between where marijuana is still illegal.

The laws are constantly changing and  the laws for use and possession in those states is not uniform.

And ignorance of the law is not a legal defense.

A state commission on medical marijuana will soon hold its first meeting in Atlanta.

The Commission on Medical Cannabis was created by a law passed this year permitting people with certain medical conditions to legally possess cannabis oil in-state with their doctors' approval. It meets June 16 at the state Capitol.

The commission includes Republican state Rep. Allen Peake of Macon.

Some still want laws permitting the federally prohibited plant's growth in Georgia. They say the recent legislation in Georgia doesn't protect people while transporting the oil from other states where it can be produced and sold.

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