A Colorado appeals court ruled that Amendment 64, the state’s marijuana legalization initiative, applies retroactively to the sentences of people convicted of minor cannabis offenses.

Budget advisers for Colorado crunched the numbers and revealed the state could be forced to refund as much as $100 million to taxpayers. The state’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights sets limits on taxes, and if the government collects more than expected, it owes taxpayers a refund.

Roughly 100 people rallied outside the State House to support a Colorado-style system to legalize marijuana, an idea that got a hearing later in the day. A committee approved a bill to loosen restrictions that have hampered the state’s nascent medical marijuana program.

Researchers at Institutions of higher education have an obligation to comply with federal drug laws as a condition of receiving grant funding or other financial assistance under any federal program.

“Your baby doesn’t need to be subjected to marijuana,” an officer says, in an audio recording. The couple have legal prescriptions for the marijuana in their home. “I told them we had our cards, our prescriptions,” said Shawnee. “They didn’t want to see them.”

Lawmakers might make marijuana oil legal in Kentucky; the state Senate approved a bill Wednesday that would make the controversial oil available to treat children with uncontrollable seizures. House leaders expect the measure to pass that chamber as well.

A groundbreaking job fair in Colorado is expected to attract at least 15 potential employers catering to the state’s burgeoning pot business. Smoking marijuana is not a prerequisite to getting hired, organizers said, but companies participating in first-ever “CannaSearch” job fair view it as a plus.

But is Project SAM right to suggest that annual tax revenue from the Coloradan recreational marijuana business will be more like $24 million than $118 million next fiscal year? Probably not.

Stories of children suffering rare forms of epilepsy and other ailments weren’t enough Wednesday to convince an Iowa board to recommend a medical marijuana program for the state.

A bill that would legalize medical marijuana in Minnesota was put on hold Tuesday at the Capitol after negotiations with law enforcement hit a stalemate. Rep. Carly Melin said talks with a law enforcement coalition fell apart over the weekend when they had “staunch opposition” to her compromise bill.

Mechoulam believes all the components of the cannabis plant likely exert some therapeutic effect, more than any single compound alone. Marijuana may offer its most profound benefit as a whole plant, if we let the entourage effect flower, as Mechoulam suggested more than a decade ago.

One of the Leaf’s editors recently interviewed Chris Van Hook to get his expert perspective on the drought currently gripping northern California, and how cannabis farmers can adapt to challenging times.

The most recent data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration show that marijuana use has increased among individuals over the age of 50 in the past decade. In 2012, 8 percent of those aged 50-54 said they’d used marijuana in the past year, nearly double the percentage from 2002.

America’s prisons are dangerously overcrowded, and the war on drugs is mainly to blame. Over 50 percent of inmates currently in federal prison are there for drug offenses, according to a recently released Federal Bureau of Prisons infographic. That percentage has risen fairly consistently over recent decades, from 16 percent in 1970.

Given intense media attention, legal sales of recreational cannabis in Colorado, and a full lineup of states moving toward medical legalization… investments in marijuana-related firms have been posting stellar returns, if you believe the folks behind The Marijuana Index. MLI says in February alone, the stocks it tracks went up by 125 percent.

If House Bill 1362 and Senate Bill 517 are approved, as is widely expected, Puerto Rico will become the first U.S. territory to reform their marijuana laws. HB 1362 would legalize medical marijuana and SB 517 would decriminalize the possession of up to 14 grams of marijuana.

The National Labor Relations Board agreed to hear claims of union-busting at the Wellness Connection of Maine, a medical marijuana dispensary. Although the case was settled first, the board’s willingness to hear it was yet another tacit acknowledgement of the cannabis industry’s legitimacy.

Washington state has issued its first legal marijuana license, launching a new phase in the state’s ambitious effort to regulate a market that has been illegal for more than 75 years. Officials granted the first marijuana growing and processing license to Sean Green at its meeting in Olympia on Wednesday, as his supporters erupted in applause.

In a 62-11 vote, Utah’s House of Representatives passed a controversial CBD-only bill on Tuesday. If the state senate passes the bill, HB105, it will land on Gov. Gary Herbert’s desk and go into effect in July. Herbert is likely to sign the bill, as it has gained support of Utah’s religious community, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Ladybud reports that it won’t be long before Senator Nick Scutari drops a bill to legalize cannabis for adult recreational use in NJ, estimating that the marijuana legalization bill hits the hopper on (or about) March 25th.