The National Institutes of Health says hospitalizations for marijuana in Arizona rose about 20% over five years as the state legalized recreational use. Now researchers in Colorado want to know if a cannabis compound can treat addiction.
The compound is a cannabinoid called CBD and it doesn’t intoxicate. The University of Colorado is studying if CBD can help people with marijuana dependency consume less.
As many as one in five marijuana users develop an addiction, but there are few treatments.
Researchers want to know if CBD can help fill that void. It interacts with some of the same brain receptors as marijuana’s psychoactive compound called THC.
CBD can also influence serotonin levels to potentially reduce withdrawals. The study is funded by a $3 million federal grant.
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A payment processor for marijuana dispensaries has been ordered by the Arizona Corporation Commission to pay back retirees hundreds of thousands of dollars. -
Workers at a midtown marijuana dispensary say they’ve ratified a union contract with the company Curaleaf, which is publicly traded in Canada. -
The Trump administration has reclassified medical marijuana — moving it from a Schedule I to a Schedule III drug. -
The federal government has reclassified state-licensed medical marijuana as a less dangerous drug, and effects of the decision will be felt in Arizona. -
The marijuana holiday 4/20 is on Monday. It falls about 10 weeks before the deadline to submit enough signatures so Arizona voters could decide in November whether to outlaw dispensaries.
