WORCESTER - Thousands of people gathered at a convention hall Saturday for the first-ever Harvest Cup, a friendly if spirited competition among home-growers of marijuana that doubled as a convention for the burgeoning cannabis industry and its consumers.

The event, taking place this weekend at the DCU Center, came the same week that marijuana regulators began drafting rules for the scheduled July start of recreational sales in Massachusetts. Many participants Saturday were overheard debating various policies and what they will mean for the small-scale cultivators at the heart of the Harvest Cup once millions of dollars of investment funds pour into the state.

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The grass is looking greener for New Jersey marijuana users.

The idea of legal pot was once a pipe dream for those who so indulged. Not anymore. Gov.-elect Phil Murphy has pledged to sign legislation legalizing pot within 100 days of his Jan. 16 inauguration, prompting speculation on what that hazy world would look like.

Among the particulars that have been largely agreed upon: New Jerseyans would be permitted to possess up to 1 ounce of marijuana for personal use, and previous convictions for such possession would be eligible for expungement.

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Because the crime took place within 1,000 feet of a school, state law mandated a longer sentence, one that the council members noted "was more severe than the sentence he would have received for committing a violent crime such as rape or second-degree murder."

Twelve Metro Council members have signed a letter urging a criminal court judge to give relief to a Nashville man serving a 17-year sentence on a nonviolent drug conviction.

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Have they opened Pandora's box? Some Deerfield Beach city leaders worry that's what they might've done by allowing marijuana dispensaries in the city.

They're now trying to stop medical dispensaries from clustering citywide by keeping them out of commercial areas that also have homes, as well as setting rules to stop them from opening next to one another.

Mayor Bill Ganz said he doesn't want the city to become known as the place to buy pot, even if it's just the medical kind that doesn't get you high.

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"Merely having a medical marijuana card doesn't mean you're using marijuana. We can't prove you're using marijuana. Our practice of having them turn in their firearms was incorrect," Honolulu police Chief Susan Ballard said of her department's controversial policy requiring medical marijuana patients to relinquish their guns.

Honolulu police Chief Susan Ballard said her department's controversial policy requiring medical marijuana patients to relinquish their guns was wrong.

"It is not illegal to possess the ones you already have," Ballard told the Honolulu Police Commission on Wednesday. "Merely having a medical marijuana card doesn't mean you're using marijuana. We can't prove you're using marijuana. Our practice of having them turn in their firearms was incorrect."

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Medical marijuana is now available in Maryland. Here's what you need to know about it.

Medical marijuana is now available in Maryland, more than four years after the General Assembly passed a law legalizing it.

Standing up the industry -- with growers, processors, dispensaries and doctors -- took longer than expected. The law needed to be tweaked, rules needed to be written and legal battles needed to be fought over who won licenses.

Here's what prospective users need to know about medical marijuana.

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The Honolulu Police Department is reviewing a controversial policy that requires legal marijuana patients to turn in their firearms.

The reconsideration follows community backlash since the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported earlier this week that HPD has sent letters to at least 30 medical cannabis users who are permitted gun owners telling them to surrender their firearms.

The new police chief, Susan Ballard, hasn't said what her position is on the issue. HPD spokeswoman Michelle Yu said Ballard is reviewing the policy.

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COLUMBUS - One day after Ohio announced its choices for larger growing sites that would fuel a fledgling medical marijuana industry, a legal challenge was announced that could throw a wrench into the works.

Ironically, such a lawsuit would be filed by some of the chief players behind 2015's failed ResponsibleOhio ballot initiative that would have legalized marijuana for both medical and recreational use.

"Whether we end up with a license or we don't end up with a license, that's not what this is about..." said Jimmy Gould, chairman and chief executive of CannAscend Ohio. "I care that this process is broken. I care that there should have been better oversight over this process, and I care where this ends up....

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Within weeks an estimated 150,000 Texas patients suffering from untreatable epilepsy will have a new means of relief.

Cannabidiol (CBD), a form of medical marijuana, will finally be delivered to patients who qualify under the state's very strict guidelines. The CBD reduces or halts convulsive epileptic seizures but doesn't get the patients stoned.

Right now, the treatment will be available only for certain epilepsy patients, and it's highly controlled.

We believe availability should be expanded for treatment of other conditions when there's evidence those patients can be helped. We urge state lawmakers to begin work through the political and medical hurdles now so they can make that happen when they meet in 13 months.

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Kratom is an herb from Southeast Asia related to the coffee family.

For centuries, people have used the kratom plant as a traditional medicine for energy, alertness and pain relief.

It's typically either chewed or dried, ground and ingested in capsule, smoked or served as tea.

The key psychoactive compounds that produce a "kratom high" are mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine.

A low kratom dosage produces stimulant effects making people more talkative, alert and energetic, according to a DEA fact sheet. At high doses, kratom users can experience the drug's sedative effects, the report shows.

People can buy kratom online and at head shops, vape shops and more recently at kava bars that serve herbal drinks.

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As more states lessen or eliminate marijuana penalties, the Army is granting hundreds of waivers to enlist people who used the drug in their youth - as long as they realize they can't do so again in the military.

The number of waivers granted by the active-duty Army for marijuana use jumped to more than 500 this year from 191 in 2016. Three years ago, no such waivers were granted. The big increase is just one way officials are dealing with orders to expand the Army's size.

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The Honolulu Police Department will not enforce a controversial policy requiring legal marijuana patients to turn in their guns.

The department issued a notice Tuesday, saying it is consulting with other governmental agencies, as well as reviewing recent court rulings regarding the issue. HPD said it will, however, continue to deny new firearm permits to applicants with medical marijuana cards.

"This is a new area of concern for cities across the country, and we in Honolulu want to develop a policy that's legally sound and serves our community," HPD Chief Susan Ballard said in a news release. "Formulating the policy will take time, but we want to do it right."

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Two legislators called Tuesday for changes to regulations for growing marijuana in California to better protect small family farmers from being driven out of business by big corporate cultivators.

Initial proposals to cap licensed marijuana farms at one to four acres were discarded by the state Department of Food and Agriculture, which has since proposed new rules without any cap, according to a letter of complaint to the agency by State Sen. Mike McGuire (D-San Rafael) and Assemblyman Jim Wood (D-Healdsburg). McGuire and Wood support a one-acre cap.

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For someone caught up in the heat of the moment at a local dance club or rave scene, taking ecstasy may not seem like a life-changing event. But as studies have shown, this decision may indeed be life-altering.

A frequent consequence of taking ecstasy is a trip to the hospital. This is because the short-term effects of ecstasy can produce life-threatening increases in temperature and heart rate, and hallucinations.

Stuart Collins is a PhD student in the neurosciences and neurological disorders at the University of Toledo college of medicine.

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Maryland began the sale of medical marijuana to residents in pain on Friday, ending years of delays by embarking on a program that features some of the most liberal policies in the nation on who can qualify for the prescribed cannabis.

Dozens of people stood outside a licensed dispensary in Montgomery County, Potomac Holistics, where owners began making sales soon after receiving their first shipment Friday afternoon.

"You can tell there's a buzz, and we're excited for so many reasons," Askinazi said. "We're giving care to people who need it."

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Two Republicans representing Morris County in Trenton want to 'put breaks' on legalization of marijuana by governor-elect.

Two Republicans representing Morris County in Trenton are pushing back against the promise by Governor-elect Phil Murphy to sign a bill legalizing marijuana in the first 100 days of his administration.

Murphy and the Democratic majorities in the Senate and Assembly have said they want marijuana legalized in early 2018, which could generate up to $300 million in annual taxes to the state.

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Last March, I wrote Congressman Seth Moulton asking him to become a co-sponsor of H.R. 975, the "Respect State Marijuana Laws Act." He responded that, "The federal government ought to respect the will of the voters in states like Massachusetts, Colorado and Washington that have approved marijuana legalization."

Yet, instead of signing on as a co-sponsor, he chooses to leave federal enforcement up to Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Mr. Sessions understands the proper roles of Congress and his office. He stated at his confirmation hearing, "I think one obvious concern is that the United States Congress made the possession of marijuana in every state and the distribution of it an illegal act. If that's something that's not desired any longer, Congress should pass a law to change the rule. It is not the attorney general's job to decide what laws to enforce. We should do our job and enforce laws effectively as we are able."

By "able," he is referring to budgetary constraints of attempting to enforce federal prohibition of a plant that grows in every state.

Mr. Moulton, leaders lead. Get off the fence and sponsor the legislation.

Steven S. Epstein

West Street Georgetown

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When a rising Chinese American power broker became a partner in a proposed cannabis dispensary in San Francisco's Outer Sunset, he knew it would hit resistance.

But David Ho sees himself as the perfect emissary to the mostly older Chinese residents and merchants who are deeply skeptical of the pot trade.

"I'm the working-class, westside Asian American story," said Ho, who is a co-owner of the Barbary Coast medical cannabis dispensary that has applied to open at 2161 Irving St., on a block lined with grocery stores, dry cleaning shops and banks.

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A DeLand police officer was fired, another suspended without pay and a third reprimanded this month after they lost methamphetamine collected as evidence at a home over the summer, Internal Affairs documents show.

Officers Michael Mirino, John Rutherford and Thomas Gillan responded to a home on July 14 to stand by as members of Probation and Parole searched the Lazy River Lane home of Cameron Rando, 19, who was on probation for grand theft and burglary of an unoccupied dwelling according to reports released this week.

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For 17 years, Chalfonte LeNee Queen suffered periodic episodes of violent retching and abdominal pain that would knock her off her feet for days, sometimes leaving her writhing on the floor in pain.

"I've screamed out for death," said Queen, 48, who lives in San Diego. "I've cried out for my mom who's been dead for 20 years, mentally not realizing she can't come to me."

Queen lost a modeling job after being mistaken for an alcoholic. She racked up tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills, and her nausea interrupted her sex life. Towards the end of her illness, Queen, who stands 5-foot-9, weighed in at a frail 109 pounds.

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