Researchers hope the findings counter recent trends of mothers using marijuana for pregnancy-related nausea symptoms.

Researchers in Minnesota and Iowa have found greater risks of social and emotional problems in infants whose mothers consumed marijuana during pregnancy.

Using results of a developmental screening tool for 1-year-olds, the researchers found that 9.1% of babies from marijuana users were at risk, compared to 3.6% of babies whose mothers didn't consume the drug while pregnant.

Researchers said the size of that gap was surprising, along with screening results showing that 8% of mothers tested positive during pregnancy for the presence of THC, the psychoactive component in marijuana, said Dr. Elyse Kharbanda, lead researcher of the study from the HealthPartners Institute in Bloomington, Minn. Researchers from the universities of Minnesota and Iowa co-authored the study, which was published in the Journal of Perinatology.

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CBD, a cannabis compound, is in everything from gumdrops to bath bombs.

In Maplewood Mall, holiday shoppers pick up CBD tinctures from an organic hemp farm at the Nothing But Hemp kiosk. Festive gift sets with CBD-infused body lotions, shampoos and soaps are available a few miles away at Minnesota Hempdropz. Spot Spa in Minneapolis has CBD oil massages on its list of services and tries to keep pricey gourmet gumdrops from "aspirational" CBD purveyor Lord Jones on its shelves. The problem? They continually sell out.

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Legalizing marijuana is looming as a next big political showdown at the Minnesota State Capitol.

Fully legalizing marijuana in Minnesota is looming as a next big political showdown at the Capitol, as a growing number of states are ending bans on recreational cannabis.

Gov.-elect Tim Walz, who favors ending marijuana prohibition, will replace Gov. Mark Dayton, who doesn't. A new Democratic House majority will debate proposals to legalize next year and will likely take votes on the issue as soon as 2019 or 2020. And, not one but two legal pot parties -- the Grassroots-Legalize Cannabis Party and Legal Marijuana Now Party -- emerged with 5 percent of the vote in statewide elections, giving them "major party status," which means automatic ballot access and the chance for campaign subsidies.

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The Minnesota Department of Health is adding the degenerative neurological disorder to its cannabis program, which includes cancer pain, epileptic seizures, PTSD and autism. Research is limited, but findings suggest that cannabis inhibits the formation of proteins linked to memory loss and dementia.

Alzheimer's disease will be eligible for treatment with medical marijuana in Minnesota starting next year, becoming the 14th health condition certified by the state since the program began in 2015.

The Minnesota Department of Health announced Monday that it was adding the degenerative neurological disorder to its cannabis program, which already includes cancer pain, epileptic seizures, post-traumatic stress disorder and autism.

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Researchers at the University of Minnesota are getting closer to clinical trials of a vaccine for opioid addiction.

Three studies published in the past six months show incremental success, including one in the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics that demonstrated that a vaccine could prevent oxycodone and heroin opioid molecules from reaching the brain.

"We are getting closer," said Marco Pravetoni, the lead researcher who has been studying a vaccine to treat addiction for 10 years.

A vaccine to confront addiction might sound unusual, but it would work like any vaccine by stimulating the immune system to produce antibodies. Instead of targeting influenza or poliovirus, the antibodies would be coaxed to bind to opioid molecules and prevent them from crossing the bloodstream barrier to the brain.

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With decriminalization advancing coast to coast, legalized pot appears on its way, and Minnesota will light up the debate this year. Change is overdue.

I don't smoke marijuana. There are secret purchases required, plus the learning of code, dealer etiquette, dosing expertise, exotic strains, the latest artisanal delivery systems, and it all sounds way too complicated.

Also, because it's easy to forget this detail, pot is illegal.

But even if pot were decriminalized tomorrow - a proposal on the table at the State Capitol - the chances of my racing out to score some "Chronicles of Narnia" and then heading home to roll up a fatty are, well, slim. Unlike Bill Clinton, the one time I did blaze up, over 20 years ago, I inhaled quite deeply enough to find the effect unpleasant. Some of us have all the feelings of alienation and existential weirdness you could ask for, thank you very much.

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Latest stops in northwestern Minnesota show surge of drug traffic into the state.

It seemed like an innocuous driving violation: A woman was motoring through Otter Tail County in northwestern Minnesota with an obstructed license plate. Then the observant state trooper discovered she was sitting on packages of marijuana.

Troopers seized more than 300 pounds of the weed during the stop last Friday, the latest of several large pot busts the State Patrol has made in the past few weeks and a sign that the surge of large quantities of pot and illegal drugs into Minnesota is continuing.

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There aren't a lot of concrete answers as to why marijuana transactions are deadlier, but there are theories.

The morning Kim Ambers turned 50, her oldest son, Richard Ambers, called to wish her a happy birthday. I love you, he told her.

It was a tradition for the Ambers family members to see one another on birthdays, but Kim Ambers' celebration would have to wait. Richard was working and had a Halloween party afterward. The whole family would go out for breakfast the next day, on Oct. 29, 2016.

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A sleeper issue has emerged among DFL candidates in the 2018 governor's race: Marijuana.

St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, state Reps. Erin Murphy, Tina Liebling and Paul Thissen, and U.S. Rep. Tim Walz all support legalizing marijuana for recreational and not just medical use. Among the major DFL candidates, only State Auditor Rebecca Otto declined to do so.

"When you confront the reality of the cost of criminalization vs. the benefits of legalization, I think the benefits outweigh the costs," said Coleman, whose campaign approached the Star Tribune to discuss the issue.

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The decision is to take effect in August, but evidence counters the notions that the drug is beneficial and that there aren't alternatives.

As a staff psychiatrist working at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center, I was alarmed to hear that the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) is adding post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a qualifying condition for medical marijuana use starting in August 2017.

During a press event on Dec. 1, Dr. Ed Ehlinger, commissioner of MDH, was quoted as saying, "PTSD presented the strongest case for potential benefits and a … lack of treatment alternatives."

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Minnesotans seeking pain relief have quickly become the second-largest group of patients in the state's medical marijuana program, even though they became eligible just one month ago.

One out of three patients enrolled in the program is seeking relief from chronic pain, according to figures released this week by the Office of Medical Cannabis.

The Minnesota Department of Health added intractable pain to the shortlist of qualifying conditions for the program on Aug. 1. By Aug. 31, there were more pain patients - 847 - than patients with cancer, epilepsy and terminal illnesses combined.

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In its Aug. 8 Short Takes space, the Star Tribune reprinted an editorial from the Washington Post condemning the new Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and his war on drugs, which includes extrajudicial killings of drug lords and pushers ("The Philippines' drug war: Homicidal justice kills the rule of law"). What the editors don't know is that Duterte is the first president in my lifetime (and I am 65) who cannot be bought. I personally know a rich businessman who had bet on the wrong horse for president. The day after election, he flew to Davao City (where Duterte lives) with a bag full of cash. He waited one whole day and couldn't get in to see Duterte.

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A year ago this weekend, little Harlow Hundley took her first dose of medical marijuana.

By the time her family gathered for their July 4th picnic, the little girl, then 3 years old and wracked by seizures that damaged her brain and endangered her life, was giggling and playing with her cousins "like she'd never done before," her mother told reporters Friday as she wiped away tears outside a downtown Minneapolis clinic.

It wasn't a cure, but Harlow's life is better now than it was a year ago. She suffers half as many seizures, even as they weaned her off the harshest medications she was taking. She plays with toys and interacts with people. She communicates with an adaptive iPad.

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Opioid deaths are down 25 percent in states where medical marijuana is legal. On July 1, it will be legally available to many more Minnesotans, if doctors and patients are willing to pursue it.

Last December, the Star Tribune reported that in Minnesota deaths from prescription and illegal opioids had risen sixfold since 2000, with 317 lives claimed in 2014 alone. Chronic pain doesn't discriminate - prescription opiates and heroin both metabolize to morphine in our bodies. Rich, poor, unknown or superstar: All are vulnerable to these risks when escalating doses of prescription opiate medication are their bridge to temporary relief.

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First Seeds Are Being Planted Since the 1950s.

For the first time in generations, Minnesota farmers are planting hemp.

"We're the first ones putting seeds in the ground since the 1950s," said Ken Anderson, watching as a bottle-blue tractor trundled across a field near Hastings on a sunny Friday afternoon. The 8.5-acre tract is the first of at least half a dozen hemp fields to be cultivated this summer under the Minnesota Department of Agriculture's new industrial hemp pilot project.

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Nearly all - 90 percent - cite benefit and expense.

Patients enrolled in Minnesota's medical marijuana program say the treatment helps - if they can afford it.

Almost all the patients and health care providers who responded to a new Minnesota Department of Health survey reported that medical cannabis offered mild to substantial relief, and few side effects, for every illness currently allowed in the program. The survey comes as the program approaches its first anniversary struggling with sluggish enrollment, skeptical doctors, high prices and few clinics.

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Vireo, The Parent Company Of Minnesota Medical Solutions, Denied The Accusations Saying The Missing Cannabis Oils Were Destroyed.

Accusations made by a former employee that a Minnesota-based medical marijuana company illegally transported cannabis oil out of state prompted an investigation and audit by local authorities.

The employee said that at least $500,000 worth of cannabis oil (or about 370 grams) was sent from Minnesota Medical Solutions's Otsego growing facility to their parent company's New York location in order to meet that state's production deadline, according to a search warrant filed on May 26 in Hennepin County.

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Minnesota Company Is Petitioning Search Engine Giant to Accept Ads.

Thousands of people have signed a Minnesota company's petition to Google, asking the search engine to accept online ads for medical marijuana.

Minnesota-based Vireo Health has been trying for months to get Google to accept ads for a string of clinics it operates in New York. But Google rejected each ad, citing its policy against promoting "dangerous products or services."

So Vireo - the parent company of Minnesota Medical Solutions, one of this state's two designated medical cannabis retailers - circulated a petition on Change. org, asking the company to reconsider. As of Friday afternoon, the petition had more than 13,000 signatures from across the country.

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It Will Be State's Fourth Dispensary; Four More Must Open by July 1.

The city of Bloomington, which once issued a one-year moratorium on medical marijuana, has opened its doors to the state's next dispensary.

The City Council this week approved plans to open a medical cannabis care center by midsummer. The unanimous vote came after the city spent a year watching how Minnesota's fledgling medical marijuana program was working in other communities.

"When they said they put in the moratorium to study the issue, that is indeed what they were doing," said Dr. Kyle Kingsley, CEO of Minnesota Medical Solutions, one of the state's two medical cannabis contractors.

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I'd like to point out some inaccuracies in the April 23 article "Marijuana wax is a rising concern." In the states that have legalized marijuana, what we haven't seen is an increase in crime. We haven't seen an increase in death. We haven't seen any real social problems in these states that stem from legalized marijuana.

At the end of the article, Brian Marquardt, statewide gang and drug coordinator for the Department of Public Safety's Office of Justice Programs, states that making marijuana wax is as deadly as smoking it. This is a false statement. While it is true that people can die from explosions from making the wax as mentioned in your article, I don't know of anyone who has ever died directly from ingesting marijuana in any form. It's physically impossible to take as much as you would need to overdose.

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