KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. - Don't hold your breath if you're thinking the NFL is on the brink of giving players the green light to smoke their pain away with marijuana.

Go ahead, exhale. This is still going to take a while.

Sure, the league has put a progressive foot forward in striking an agreement this week with the NFL Players Association in the name of holistic health and wellness. There's a joint committee coming - not joint as in blunt, but joint in that medical experts will be appointed by the league and union - that is charged to study data on several alternative methods of pain management and make recommendations.

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BALTIMORE - Heroin has ravaged this city since the early 1960s, fueling desperation and crime that remain endemic in many neighborhoods. But lately, despite heroin's long, deep history here, users say it has become nearly impossible to find.

Heroin's presence is fading up and down the Eastern Seaboard, from New England mill towns to rural Appalachia, and in parts of the Midwest that were overwhelmed by it a few years back. It remains prevalent in many Western states, but even New York City, the nation's biggest distribution hub for the drug, has seen less of it this year.

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Only a few days ago, millions of American probably had never heard of psilocybin, the active agent in psychedelic mushrooms, but thanks to Denver, it is about to get its moment in the political sun. On Tuesday, the city's voters surprised everyone by narrowly approving a ballot initiative that effectively decriminalizes psilocybin, making its possession, use or personal cultivation a low-priority crime.

The move is largely symbolic - only 11 psilocybin cases have been prosecuted in Denver in the last three years, and state and federal police may still make arrests - but it is not without significance. Psilocybin decriminalization will be on the ballot in Oregon in 2020 and a petition drive is underway in California to put it on the ballot there. For the first time since psychedelics were broadly banned under the 1970 Controlled Substances Act, we're about to have a national debate about the place of psilocybin in our society. Debate is always a good thing, but I worry that we're not quite ready for this one.

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Voters in Denver, a city at the forefront of the widening national debate over legalizing marijuana, have become the first in the nation to effectively decriminalize another recreational drug: hallucinogenic mushrooms.

The local ballot measure did not quite legalize the mushrooms that contain psilocybin, a naturally occurring psychedelic compound. State and federal regulations would have to change to accomplish that.

But the measure made the possession, use or cultivation of the mushrooms by people aged 21 or older the lowest-priority crime for law enforcement in the city of Denver and Denver County. Arrests and prosecutions, already fairly rare, would all but disappear.

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To his die-hard fans, Mr. Sherbinski is a storied name in marijuana.

A celebrated California cultivator, he helped create the Gelato and Sunset Sherbert strains that have been name-checked in more than 200 hip-hop songs, including "First Off" by Future and "Bosses Don't Speak" by Migos.

At the Business of Fashion's Voices conference in London last year, his brand, Sherbinskis, was introduced as "the Supreme of marijuana."

And when Sherbinskis released its first sneaker design last year at ComplexCon, a two-day festival of hip-hop and fashion in Long Beach, Calif., the limited-edition Nike Air Force 1 model sold out in two hours. (There is a pair currently on eBay asking more than $1,000.)

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As attorneys argued over a section of Arizona law that differentiates between marijuana and cannabis, the state's Supreme Court justices joked about baking pot brownies in their kitchens.

They clearly do not understand how the marijuana industry has irresponsibly manipulated pot into dangerously high levels of potency.

My son could explain it to them. Or he could if he was still with us.

"I want to die," he wrote before hanging himself at the age of 31. "My soul is already dead. Marijuana killed my soul + ruined my brain."

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SAN FRANCISCO - David Dancer is a 48-year-old marketing executive who has worked for big brands like Charles Schwab and Teleflora. A year ago, he got a call from a recruiter for a different kind of company: MedMen, a cannabis retailer that has been called "the Apple Store of weed." The opening was for a chief marketing officer. He took it.

One of Mr. Dancer's early projects was a slick two-minute video by the director Spike Jonze that begins with an anecdote about George Washington as a hemp grower, a staple of dorm-room conversation. It concludes with a suburban couple coming home with a bright red bag of legally purchased pot, symbolizing "the new normal" - an ending that, like his own career twist, seemed improbable not long ago.

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COSTA MESA, Calif. - In the forests of Northern California, raids by law enforcement officials continue to uncover illicit marijuana farms. In Southern California, hundreds of illegal delivery services and pot dispensaries, some of them registered as churches, serve a steady stream of customers. And in Mendocino County, north of San Francisco, the sheriff's office recently raided an illegal cannabis production facility that was processing 500 pounds of marijuana a day.

It's been a little more than a year since California legalized marijuana - the largest such experiment in the United States - but law enforcement officials say the unlicensed, illegal market is still thriving and in some areas has even expanded.

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Dasha Fincher said she was borrowing a friend's car when she noticed a half-eaten bag of blue cotton candy in the floorboard. It was the kind kids like to buy from gas stations near her Macon home. She thought little of it until a few minutes later when it became the biggest problem in her life.

On New Year's Eve 2016, Monroe County deputies pulled the car over for a suspected window-tint violation and spotted the bag. They used a quick roadside test kit on the blue stuff and got a positive result for methamphetamine. Fincher ended up charged with trafficking meth and held in jail for three months on a breathtaking $1 million cash bond before a lab test found the "meth" was really just cotton candy, according to a lawsuit.

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SAN FRANCISCO - A billion dollars of tax revenue, the taming of the black market, the convenience of retail cannabis stores throughout the state - these were some of the promises made by proponents of marijuana legalization in California.

One year after the start of recreational sales, they are still just promises.

California's experiment in legalization is mired by debates over regulation and hamstrung by cities and towns that do not want cannabis businesses on their streets.

California was the sixth state to introduce the sale of recreational marijuana - Alaska, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon and Washington paved the way - but the enormous size of the market led to predictions of soaring legal cannabis sales.

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There is a new tool to help battle the opioid epidemic that works like a pregnancy test to detect fentanyl, the potent substance behind the escalating number of deaths roiling communities around the country.

The test strip, originally designed for the medical profession to test urine, can also be used off-label by heroin and cocaine users who fear their drugs have been adulterated with the synthetic opioid fentanyl. The strips are dipped in water containing a minute amount of a drug and generally provide a result within a minute-with one line indicating positive for fentanyl, and two lines negative.

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Philadelphia stands to gain at least two new medical marijuana stores while Reading scored three more dispensaries with the awarding of permits Tuesday morning by the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

MLH Explorations LLC, a cannabis company aligned with Thomas Jefferson University, won a permit to operate a retail outlet at 8th and Locust Streets. The retail outlet will do business as Solterra Care - Locust Street.

Beyond/Hello, which is readying a dispensary at 12th and Sansom Streets for the first quarter of 2019, also plans to open a retail store at 475 N. 5th Street in Northern Liberties. Beyond / Hello is owned by Franklin Bioscience LLC which already operates a dispensary in Bristol.

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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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Police arrested a 24-year-old man after he allegedly stabbed another man in a drug deal gone bad in Waikiki Sunday night, police said.

Police arrested a 24-year-old man after he allegedly stabbed another man in a drug deal gone bad in Waikiki Sunday night, police said.

The stabbing occurred at approximately 7:50 p.m. in front of The Modern Honolulu located at 1775 Ala Moana Boulevard.

Police said the suspect and victim are acquaintances.

Emergency Medical Services provided advanced life support to the victim who sustained stab wounds. He was taken to a hospital in critical condition.

Police arrested the suspect at approximately 8:20 p.m. on suspicion of second-degree attempted murder.

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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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NEW YORK - One of the world's biggest tobacco companies is diving into the cannabis market with a $1.8 billion buy-in.

Store manager Stephanie Hunt posed for photos, in July 2015, with a pack of Marlboro cigarettes, an Altria brand, at a Smoker Friendly shop in Pittsburgh. Altria is diving into the Canadian cannabis market with a $2.4 billion investment in Toronto-based medical and recreational marijuana provider Cronos Group.

Marlboro maker Altria Group Inc. is taking a 45 percent stake in Cronos Group, the Canadian medical and recreational marijuana provider said today.

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DETROIT - Michigan is officially the first state in the Midwest to allow marijuana for more than medical purposes.

Today marks the first day for the legal recreational partaking of pot in Michigan following voters' strong endorsement in the Nov. 6 election.

Staff at the Lansing City Pulse, a weekly alternative newspaper, marked the day by handing out free joints across the street from the Capitol.

Michigan is now among nearly a dozen states and the District of Columbia with legalized recreational marijuana. Still, retail shops are still months away and must involve state regulators.

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As dozens of states move toward legalizing marijuana -- for both medical and recreational purposes -- scientists and parents have asked what the impact might be on children. Will more teens use pot? Will doing so cause behavioral problems? Will they develop a substance-use disorder?

According to a new study published last month in the journal Addiction: yes, probably not, and maybe.

The study, led by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, found that marijuana use among teens does not lead to conduct problems. In fact, it's the other way around. Adolescents with conduct problems, like cheating, skipping class, and stealing, are more likely to gravitate toward marijuana use.

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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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University of Hawaii researchers have discovered that the use of marijuana may reverse heart failure.

A recent study shows that drugs can protect and reverse damage to the heart from the stress that progresses the disease. Heart failure can be caused by heart attacks, leaky valves, hypertension and other illnesses.

Alexander Stokes, assistant professor in cell and molecular biology at the UH John A. Burns School of Medicine, said the potential medical benefits of cannabis to treat heart disease is promising.

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