Scratch a pothead and ask them why marijuana is outlawed, and there's a good chance you'll get some version of the "hemp conspiracy" theory. Federal pot prohibition, the story goes, resulted from a plot by the Hearst and DuPont business empires to squelch hemp as a possible competitor to wood-pulp paper and nylon. read more...

Why I - and a Surprising Number My Friends - Smoke Pot

Ahh, cancer. One learns so much from being diagnosed with a death-sentence disease.

Of course, 95 percent of it is stuff you would rather not know, but that other 5 percent is downright interesting. For example, America's Next Top Model is much more fun to watch when you've lost 15 pounds without trying. During chemotherapy, vanilla smells good, but vanilla wafers taste disgusting. And eyelashes really do have a purpose. read more...

As environmental consciousness increases, a plant with great potential to accommodate our generation's awareness has re-emerged, but its negative associations leave some obstacles to overcome. read more...

A compound of the marijuana plant may prevent aggressive breast cancers from spreading throughout the body, new research from the United States suggests. read more...

Robin Prosser, a Missoula woman who struggled for a quarter century to live with the pain of an immunosuppressive disorder, tried years ago to kill herself. Last week, she tried again. This time, she succeeded. read more...