Enrollment opened Monday for Minnesota’s medical marijuana program, and Shelly Rapp was ready and waiting to sign up her son.

The Rapp family recently moved here from California, where 18-year-old Scott had been taking cannabis oil — a few drops, a few times a day — to treat the intractable seizures that have racked him since birth. His mother, skeptical at first about the drug’s usefulness, watched as Scott’s seizures dropped from hundreds a day to just a handful.

He started smiling. His eyesight improved. They weaned him off his other epilepsy medications and treatments.

“Scott has so many seizures, I never really had any hope of anything working,” Rapp said. “But we had amazing success.”

When medical marijuana becomes available in Minnesota on July 1, two state-approved companies will begin selling cannabis in pill and oil form to patients who suffer from cancer, HIV, AIDS, ALS and other conditions.

But although state lawmakers made dispensing the drug to those patients legal, federal law still bans marijuana. That's led to some big financial challenges for Minnesota's fledgling cannabis industry.

One of the biggest tests for the two manufacturers picked by the state to produce medical cannabis is setting up banking services.

BELLE PLAINE, Minn. – Monday was the day that Angie Traxler hopes will make a difference. It was the first day that qualified patients were able to register for medical marijuana. Actual sales of the drug will not begin until July 1.

Angie Traxler's daughter, Madelaine, 11, spends up to 90 percent of her time in a wheelchair. The fifth-grader suffers from Rett syndrome, a neurodevelopmental disorder that mainly strikes girls.

"She lost her ability to speak, or use her hands," said Traxler. "She has scoliosis, so she wears a back brace."

Gov. Greg Abbott signs a bill to allow cannabis oil for some medical treatments but says he opposes
legalizing marijuana for medical or recreational use. Office of the Governor

Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law a bill allowing epilepsy patients to use medicinal oils containing a therapeutic component found in marijuana. Could this be the toe in the water for legal medical marijuana use in Texas?

Not as long as Abbott is governor, he vows. How disappointing.

If you had asked me at the start of the session whether this bill had a chance, I would have said “no.” Texas and 15 other states have archaic laws to prohibit both medicinal and recreational use.

ummer weather in downtown Anchorage was reason enough to be outside on Saturday, but atPot Luck Events (appropriately located at 420 W. 3rd Avenue), dozens of people were huddled in a low lit room filling out paperwork and, well, smoking pot.

It was the first time the municipality hosted a job fair specifically for people interested in working in the marijuana business.

There’s a conflict between state and federal law when it comes to marijuana. Back in 2012, Massachusetts citizens overwhelmingly approved a medical marijuana law, and the state’s first dispensary is expected to open in Salem later this month.

The law allows people with a doctor’s prescription to legally buy and consume the weed — or does it?

Consider the case of Cristina Barbuto, a 34-year-old woman from Brewster. She has a doctor’s certificate for marijuana to help treat her digestive disorders, including Crohn’s disease. But last year, she accepted a new marketing job, and on her first day of work, she failed a drug test and was fired.

A Seneca County company vying for one of five state licenses to grow and sell medical marijuana has gotten a boost for its application from the University of Rochester Medical Center and the Supervisor of the Town of Gates.

Citiva Medical, LLC already has support from officials in Romulus, Seneca County to build a medical marijuana growing facility at the former Seneca Army Depot. Late last month, Gates Town Supervisor Mark Assini urged the the state Health Department to grant the company a license to sell its products “in a properly zoned retail location” in the town. He did not provide specifics.

Susan Sarandon claims smoking marijuana has helped her career, although she never worked while under the influence.

The 'Lovely Bones' actress insists she has never worked while high but found reading scripts while under the influence of the drug changed her "perspective" on the projects.

She said: "I've never worked high, and I've never filmed high. But I've read scripts high and gotten a different perspective."

The 68-year-old actress - who has daughter Eva, 30, from her relationship with Franco Amurri and sons Jack, 25, and Miles, 22, with ex-partner Tim Robbins - believes smoking marijuana helps her be more "present" in the modern world and make the most of her down time.

Two marijuana dispensaries were damaged on Saturday in a “smash and grab” after a minivan drove into the front entrances of both stores.

Stressed and Depressed Association on East. 41st Ave. and Canna Clinic on East Hastings were broken into early morning, allegedly by the same man.

Police say the man started off stealing a minivan and crashing into the first store, stealing a total of $6,000 worth of glass pipes, marijuana and cannabis extracts. Though the thieves did not access the back of the store where most of the products were stored.