Time -    Tribes are weighing the risks and opportunities of legalizing pot This New Year’s Eve, Tony Reider wants to throw a party unlike any his South Dakota tribe has seen.   There will be live music, food…

  USA Today -    After waiting in line for hours at a booth during a medical marijuana convention in San Francisco, Jeff Harrington needed only a two-minute consultation and a written recommendation to become a medical marijuana pati…

  LA Times -   On Sunday evening, firefighters were battling more than a dozen fires across Northern California, including a new one called the Jerusalem fire that was exploding north of Napa in Lake County. Then they received reports…

  Huffington Post -   A key Senate committee passed a bill today allowing the nation's capital to establish regulated marijuana stores and let banks provide financial services to state-legalized marijuana dispensaries. These are just …

  LA Weekly -   Awakening each morning in pain caused by various surgeries, Yami Bolanos engages in her daily routine of relief, which she finds only with cannabis oil. A cancer survivor who underwent a liver transplant 19 years ago, she …

  USA Today -    DENVER – Marijuana entrepreneurs rushing into the booming market are running headlong into a patchwork of state-by-state regulations that make it hard to transfer their expertise, brands and staff— and ev…

  State Journal Register -   CHICAGO — Supporters of Illinois' medical marijuana program are trying to inspire interest among patients by hosting an educational event, even as the latest official count shows a tapering off in th…

  New York Times -    DENVER — Money was pouring into Bruce Nassau’s five Colorado marijuana shops when his accountant called with the bad news: The 2014 tax season was approaching, and Mr. Nassau could not rely on the ga…

  Times Union -  Unlike run-of-the-mill prescription drugs, you won't be able to pick up medical marijuana at the corner drugstore. The state's program calls for five licensed operators, each with a growing operation and four …

  Great Falls Tribune -  TULALIP, Wash. (AP) – The Justice Department’s December announcement that it would allow the nation’s Indian tribes to legalize and regulate marijuana on their reservations brought notes of cauti…

  The Washington Post - SAN YSIDRO, Calif. — Mexican traffickers are sending a flood of cheap heroin and methamphetamine across the U.S. border, the latest drug seizure statistics show, in a new sign that America’s marijuana decrim…

  ABC 15 -   A state representative has introduced a bill that would legalize recreational marijuana use in Arizona. The bill, House Bill 2007, would allow anyone 21 or older to legally possess up to an ounce of the drug.   …

  Yahoo News -  WASHINGTON (AP) — It's easy for Congress to meddle with the District of Columbia's decision to legalize recreational use of marijuana, but taking on the states is a different matter. A catch-all spending …

  Forbes - There are now 24 jurisdictions with laws that legalize use of marijuana for medical purposes. Five of those jurisdictions—Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and the District of Columbia—have gone so far as to legalize…

  TheState.com  -  SOUTH PORTLAND, MAINE — Marijuana advocates want to finally take their legalization drive — thus far the province of western states — to the Northeast, and they say the first state to do it here m…

  Wall St Cheat Sheet -  2012 and 2014 were both incredibly important years for marijuana legalization. Colorado and Washington both jumped the gun and passed initiatives to decriminalize and legalize cannabis by popular vote in 2012, and…

  The Miami Herald - Young stoners, as it turned out, didn’t turn out.   Support for a marijuana initiative that Florida Democrats had hoped might rouse younger voters from their collective fugue came nowhere ne…

  AZ Central -  Arizona proposal would separate medical, recreational businesses The people who brought medical marijuana to Arizona four years ago now want marijuana legal for everyone over the age of 21.   The Marijuana…

  USA Today -  More than 50 years ago, the Supreme Court ruled that even those who make their money illegally have to pay taxes. Under today's tax code the government stands to make more money from the sale of marijuana than those sel…

  The Oregonian -  Walk into most medical marijuana dispensaries in Oregon and you're bound to find Blue Dream and Blackberry Kush on the shelf. You’ll likely spot Blue Magoo, Jack Herer and Cinex, too. Turns out those are t…

  Huffington Post -  If all 50 states legalized marijuana and the federal government ended prohibition of the plant, the marijuana industry in the United States would be worth $35 billion just six years from now. That's according …

  International Business Times - David Boyer has challenged South Portland Police Chief Edward Googins to a “hit for shot” duel in a public park. For every shot of alcohol Googins takes, Boyer would take a toke of marijuana, and th…

  Insurance.com -  The spread of legalized marijuana is lighting up questions about home insurance coverage for pot.   Will your policy pay out if your plants are stolen or destroyed by a fire? What happens if a neighbor kid …

  AZ Central -  The Arizona Court of Appeals on Tuesday ruled the state's medical marijuana law doesn't give drivers immunity from prosecution if there is marijuana or its chemical compound in the body.   In December …

  AZ Central - PHOENIX — An Arizona lawmaker plans to introduce a proposal next year to legalize recreational marijuana before a similar proposal could get decided by voters in 2016.   Republican Rep. Ethan Orr of Tucson aim…

  The Oregonian -  Andrew Courtenay was on his fourth round of antibiotics for an arm infection when he decided, at his mother’s urging, to become an Oregon medical marijuana patient.   The 24-year-old said he got a car…

  USA Today -  When James Howler created his marijuana-infused taffy in 2009, the Colorado entrepreneur had trouble finding an accountant willing to keep the books of a company making legally fuzzy medical marijuana candy.   …

  The Washington Post -  Advocates have taken first steps toward getting marijuana legalization on the 2016 ballot in at least six states, with two more joining the growing list this week.   In Maine, advocates formed a polit…

  Time -  Referendums across the country set the stage for an even bigger fight in 2016   The battle over legalizing recreational marijuana in California—the big enchilada that may tilt legalization not only in the U.S.…

  Supporters of an effort to legalize recreational marijuana in 2016 have filed paperwork with state elections officials, allowing them to raise money to campaign for the citizens initiative.   The Marijuana Policy Project of Ariz…

  Marijuana perception among U.S. citizens is rapidly changing. For the first time ever last year, according to a poll from Gallup, more respondents were in favor of legalizing marijuana than were opposed to its legalization. Yet, there are st…

(This essay is a response to a bevy of news accounts on claims about the efficacy of “medical marijuana” in treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder, the strange tale of researcher Dr. Sue Sisley, and charges of government suppression of…