On the final day of a calendar year filled with historic cannabis policy reforms, the parties of an equally historic federal hearing filed their first written arguments based on the five days of testimony heard by Judge Kimberly Mueller in Sacramento, California. Her next hearing on the matter has been scheduled for early February.

An army of Florida police officers was nearly impaled and used to decorate the lawn of a Delray Beach residence last weekend, when a mob of angry neighbors stepped up and formed a human shield to prevent cops from arresting an individual accused of smoking marijuana.

Two weeks after President Obama signed legislation prohibiting federal interference with state medical marijuana laws, his administration has told a federal judge in Sacramento that pot is still a dangerous drug with no medical value.

Although the US hemp industry is already back in microcosmic form, the nascent gaggle of family and experimental plots cultivated in 2014 will likely be dwarfed by the 2015 crop, sown in the wake of significant federal reforms. Topping the bill is a rider in the 2015 federal funding bill which deprives the Department of Justice of any funds to move against state-legal industrial hemp programs.

The youth of Illinois may be prohibited from smoking weed, but once the state’s medical marijuana program goes into effect at the beginning of the year, children will be allowed to consume cannabis orally, according to emergency regulations published earlier this week by the Illinois Department of Public Health.

New York could be well on its way to legalizing a recreational marijuana market. Earlier this week, State Senator Liz Krueger teamed up with Assembly Member Crystal People-Stokes to hold a public hearing over a piece of legislation entitled the “Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act,” which aims to establish a retail cannabis commerce in the great state of New York similar to what is underway out west in Colorado and Washington.

Often mistakenly called Cyclical Vomiting Syndrome, Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome is a rare form of cannabinoid toxicity that develops in chronic smokers. It’s characterized by cyclic episodes of debilitating nausea and vomiting. People who suffer from the syndrome often find that hot showers relieve their symptoms, and will compulsively bathe during episodes of nausea and vomiting.

The number of drug related DUI/DWIs have sky-rocketed in the last year across the nation as a direct result of the lack of knowledge surrounding the level of impairment while under the influence of cannabis. Needless to say, legal cannabis use and DUI season are a recipe for chaos. These are the top most “little-known” rights you have while engaged in a traffic stop, and the officer suspects you to be under the influence.

Two neighboring states are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down Colorado’s laws legalizing recreational marijuana. Nebraska and Oklahoma filed the lawsuit directly with the nation’s highest court on Thursday. The two states argue that, “the State of Colorado has created a dangerous gap in the federal drug control system.”

The year 2014 may be looked back on as the watershed year that nationwide legalization of marijuana hit the tipping point. Aside from marijuana becoming legalized in two more states, here are five sets of data that seem to confirm that inevitability.

Over at the University of Mississippi, they’ve been doing research on cannabis since 1968. One such study they submitted in 1995, The Volatile Oil Composition of Fresh and Air-Dried Buds of Cannabis sativa, show that drying changes the relative concentration of terpenes in the oil.

Adding to the already considerable confusion in the mainstream media over the effects of cannabis-related provisions in the federal 2014 “cromnibus” spending bill which passed by an 11th-hour vote of Congress, major media outlets are now claiming that a provision in the 1,603-page spending bill will effectively halt federal raids in medical marijuana states.

Teen alcohol and drug use — including marijuana use — was down across the board in 2014. That’s the big take-home from the 2014 Monitoring the Future study by the University of Michigan and the National Institutes on Drug Abuse, which was released Tuesday morning. The MTF is an annual survey of 40,000 8th-graders, 10th-graders and 12th-graders.

Uruguay’s first marijuana fair, dubbed “Expocannabis” has opened in Montevideo, a year after the growing and sale of the drug was legalized in this country. The legalization was aimed for producers and users to exchange information about the medicinal, therapeutic and industrial possibilities of pot.

Responding to popular demand in the Lone Star State, Texas State Representative Joe Moody (D–El Paso) has introduced a bill that would reduce state penalties for possession of small amounts of marijuana. The decriminalization bill, HB 507 would remove the threat of arrest, jail time, and a criminal record for possession of up to one ounce of marijuana and replace them with a civil fine of $100.

Terra Tech Corp., based in Irvine, California, won approval last week from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to raise $6.8 million to build and operate medical marijuana operations in Nevada, where the company secured preliminary approvals.

Cannabis has proven to have many healing benefits for those battling cancer. This recipe combines medicinal cannabis and foods recommended for combating cancer to create a powerful health blend. Carrot, ginger and beet combine with apple and orange to create a delicious juice.

Congress dealt a historic blow to the United States’ decades-long war on drugs Saturday with the passage of the federal spending bill, which contains protections for medical marijuana and industrial hemp operations in states where they are legal.

The White House scolded Congress Thursday for meddling with the District of Columbia’s recent vote to legalize marijuana, saying federal lawmakers shouldn’t “interfere” in the matter. Within the $1.1 trillion bipartisan budget package that has emerged on Capitol Hill is a provision essentially blocking D.C.’s move toward legalized marijuana.

In a memorandum released Thursday, the Justice Department announced it will instruct all U.S. attorneys to NOT prevent Native American tribes from cultivating or selling marijuana on reservation lands in spite of any state laws that may be in place. The law of the land will be left up to each individual tribe, with federal law enforcement officials available to continue prosecuting “marijuana crimes” if the tribes so wish.