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DENVER — While federal law makes their entire industry illegal, many marijuana store owners, growers and retailers fear something completely different: Big Tobacco.

Today, most legal recreational marijuana operations are small, limited to a single state and barred from ever getting large by regulators who want to keep a close eye on the fast-growing industry. But those small operators struggle to get bank loans for expansion, often produce an inconsistent product and sometimes have no idea how to balance supply and demand for their crops.

And many fear that tobacco companies, with their deep pockets, longstanding experience dealing with heavy government regulation, and relationships with generations of farmers will jump into the burgeoning marijuana market. At marijuana business conventions and in private conversations, it sometimes seems like everyone has heard a rumor about Big Tobacco getting in.

"I think there's a ton of paranoia that they're buying up warehouses and signing secret deals," said Chris Walsh, the editor of Marijuana Business Daily, an industry publication.

It's not just paranoia: Tobacco companies for generations have talked privately about getting into the weed business.

This past summer, researchers poring through more than 80 million pages of previously secret tobacco industry documents found that Big Tobacco has long had interest in pot.

Read More:http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2015/04/11/cigarettes-and-marijuana/70746772/

A group of federal researchers commissioned to prove the government’s claim that marijuana has “no medicinal value” may have unwittingly let some crucial research slip through the cracks, forcing the United States to admit that cannabis can kill cancer.

Although, at first glimpse, the latest claim appears to be a cruel April Fools' prank from Nora D. Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), but after careful inspection, it seems that the federal government is actually supporting a recent study which has determined that marijuana has the power to eliminate cancer cells.

The research, which was conducted by a team of scientists at St. George’s University of London, found the two most common cannabinoids in marijuana, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol(CBD), weakened the ferocity of cancer cells and made them more susceptible to radiation treatment. The study, which was published last year in the medical journal Molecular Cancer Therapies, details the “dramatic reductions” in fatal variations of brain cancer when these specific cannabinoids were used in conjunction with radiation therapy.

"We've shown that cannabinoids could play a role in treating one of the most aggressive cancers in adults," wrote lead researcher Dr. Wai Liu, in a November 2014 op-ed for The Washington Post. "The results are promising... it could provide a way of breaking through glioma [tumors] and saving more lives."

While it is not uncommon for research to surface unveiling the truth surrounding marijuana and its high-powered chemistry for treating a wealth of debilitating health conditions, it is, however, a bizarre and extremely rare occurrence for the federal government to get behind any of these claims. Yet, in an updated synopsis on the potency of marijuana as medicine, Uncle Sam’s leading drug addiction watchdog indicated that it might be changing its opinion of marijuana and how the substance can be used to maximize human vitality and strengthen the realm of overall public health.

“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not recognized or approved the marijuana plant as medicine,” the report states. “However, scientific study of the chemicals in marijuana, called cannabinoids, has led to two FDA-approved medications that contain cannabinoid chemicals in pill form. Continued research may lead to more medications.”

This is an interesting statement considering that marijuana remains listed as a Schedule I dangerous drug under the Controlled Substances Act, but it may suggest that reform of federal pot laws is on the horizon.

Read More:http://hightimes.com/read/federal-government-unwittingly-admits-cannabis-kills-cancer

A Colorado proposal to allow people on probation or parole to use medical marijuana won unanimous approval Thursday in its first test in the state legislature.

The state has allowed medical marijuana use for 15 years — but not for people on probation or parole.

The House Judiciary Committee voted 13-0 to change that policy by saying that pot use doesn’t amount to a probation violation for people with medical clearance to use the drug.

“If it’s in the constitution, you should have the right to use it on probation,” said Rep. Joe Salazar, D-Thornton and sponsor of the bill.

The change wouldn’t apply to probationers whose crime was related to marijuana.

Colorado’s hearing comes two days after Arizona’s highest court ruled that marijuana patients in that state should be allowed to use the drug while on probation or parole.

Rhode Island and the U.S. Virgin Islands also allow probationers to use medical marijuana, according to the pro-legalization Marijuana Policy Project. California law specifies that anyone on parole can ask the courts to be allowed to smoke medical marijuana after being released from jail or prison.

Other states have seen a mish-mash of responses in the courts on whether people can smoke pot while on probation and parole.

Colorado’s Court of Appeals ruled in 2012 that people on probation should not be allowed to use medical marijuana. State analysts who reviewed the bill weren’t sure how many people currently wind up back in jail because they fail a marijuana-related drug test while serving probation or parole.

Lawmakers worked late into the night Thursday hearing from marijuana patients who support the bill. They included Christyne Smiley of Boulder, who is on probation and not allowed to use marijuana to treat an eye condition called a “macular pucker.” Instead she has to use prescription drugs she considers less effective.

“Honestly, marijuana works better,” said Smiley, who said the bill would allow people on probation “to get the relief to which they have a right.”

Source:http://www.thecannabist.co/2015/04/09/colorado-bill-medical-marijuana-use-probation-parole/32825/