THE PASSAGE OF the marijuana legalization referendum in November doesn't mean that the new law's exact language must stay frozen in amber forever. But the fact that the law was approved directly by the voters should mean that lawmakers consider changes with more caution than they showed on Wednesday, when both the House and Senate approved a six-month delay to some of the law's provisions without hearings or a formal roll-call vote.

That decision, reached in informal session and sent to Governor Charlie Baker for his signature, doesn't change the basic structure of the legalization law. But if approved by Baker, it would slightly delay the opening of marijuana retail stores in Massachusetts and the creation of a new commission to oversee the industry. Legislative leaders say the delay will help implement legalization effectively.

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AltPharm, a Laurel-based medical marijuana dispensary, has received its state pre-approval license to operate in the National Harbor area of Prince George's County, opening as early as summer 2017.

AltPharm spokeswoman Martha Heil said the license will allow the company to sell medical marijuana in state legislative District 26, which includes Fort Washington, Oxon Hill and Accokeek.

The Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission approved preliminary licenses for 102 dispensaries statewide in November and revealed their selections on Dec. 9. Ten of the dispensary licenses went to companies that already had preliminary licenses to grow the drug.

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Dugan Arnett wandered down Winter Street while looking for marijuana in Boston.

Call me old-fashioned, but I trusted Nancy Reagan when she urged me to Just Say No. I listened when McGruff the Crime Dog insisted that "users are losers." And when my younger sister arrived home one night back in high school smelling of the devil's lettuce, I did what any self-respecting graduate of the DARE program would do: I told my mom.

So when my boss approached me to ask if I'd be willing to go out on Thursday - the day marijuana officially became legal in Massachusetts - and attempt to buy some, it's safe to say I was caught off guard.

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Pa. Physician General Dr. Rachel Levine during a meeting with the staff of the Twin Lakes treatment facility near Somerset for people suffering with alcohol and substance abuse.

Pennsylvania's avalanche of opioids that rolled from factories through pharmacies to medicine cabinets, and then tumbled into the streets with tragic results, may finally be slowing thanks to pressure on the prescribing practices of its doctors.

This year, the long-lagging state caught up with the regulatory steps of many of its neighbors, as Gov. Tom Wolf and legislators from overdose-plagued districts wrote new laws. Initial data suggests that attention to the overprescribing of opioids - widely blamed for starting addictions that progress to heroin use - has started to affect doctors' decisions.

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The 44-year-old mother who answered the door in Lincoln-Lemington on the evening of Dec. 15 had the "pin point" eyes of "someone who has recently used opioids," a Pittsburgh police officer wrote.

The officer was responding to a 911 call suggesting child endangerment. "I do suffer from using heroin and I'm trying to stop, but I keep using," the woman admitted, according to the officer's affidavit. She led police to the makeup bag under the throw pillow, where they found six stamp bags of heroin and three hypodermic needles, the officer wrote.

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Despite Proposition 64's clear mandate to end adult cannabis prohibition in California, a significant hurdle remains: how to legalize banking services for the newly legalized industry.

Cannabis is a multibillion-dollar cash-only business in our state, which invites money laundering, tax evasion and armed robberies.

Federal rules prohibit banks and credit unions from extending banking services to the cannabis businesses, despite legal recognition under California law.

California Treasurer John Chiang is taking steps forward towards resolving this cannabis banking dilemma, for which he should be commended.

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Two state legislators say Californians might think it's illegal to smoke marijuana while driving, but that there's no specific ban on the practice in state law.

Assemblyman Evan Low (D-Campbell) and Sen. Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo) said Thursday that they'll introduce legislation to close what they call a loophole.

The lawmakers said Proposition 64, the state's new law legalizing marijuana, allows a citation for having an open container of marijuana in a vehicle. But, they said, it doesn't expressly ban the use of the drug while driving.

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Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam, left, talks with US Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack and audience members during a town hall meeting on how to deal with the opioid addiction in Appalachia on Thursday, June 30, 2016 at the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center on in Abingdon, VA. (SAUL YOUNG/NEWS SENTINEL)

Tom Vilsack, US Secretary of Agriculture talks about opioid addiction during a town hall meeting with Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam and Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe at the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center on Thursday, June 30, 2016 in Abingdon, VA.(SAUL YOUNG/NEWS SENTINEL)

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A new year brings new laws in New York, including stronger treatment options for opioid addiction and increasing the state's minimum wage.

New York's minimum wage increases Dec. 31, 2016.

ALBANY -- A new year brings new laws in New York, including stronger treatment options for opioid addiction and increasing the state's minimum wage.

Many of the state's new laws each year are pegged to the start of the calendar year, and in the case of the higher minimum wage, it starts Saturday, Dec. 31.

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Several dozen people who lost loved ones to heroin and opiate addiction gathered at Canalside Saturday to mourn and to raise awareness. (Maki Becker/Buffalo News)

Kelly Taylor couldn't talk publicly about the fact that two of her sons died of heroin overdoses.

It wasn't just grief.

She knew people judged her. Self-doubt silenced her.

But Taylor and others who have endured the agony of losing loved ones to the opiate epidemic say there is no longer room for shame and silence.

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Tara Moseley was in her early 20s, homeless and addicted to opioids for nearly a year when she walked into The Healing Place in Louisville.

Her drinking had escalated after high school and she had stopped going to class two weeks into college. A broken leg led to a five-month opioid prescription and that led to a physical dependence on pain pills. When pills became scarce on the street, she switched to heroin.

She needed a bed the day she showed up at The Healing Place and agreed to go through detox. After that, when the staff suggested she try their residential recovery program, she said yes.

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Would-be medical marijuana entrepreneurs face months of waiting and an unknown number of rules and regulations

With the passage of the medical marijuana amendment, would-be pot-shop proprietors looking to get in on the ground floor of Florida's Green Rush are in for months of waiting and an uncertain regulatory future.

Amendment 2, passed with 71 percent of the vote, will broaden the number of patients who qualify for full-strength medical marijuana to include sufferers of HIV/AIDS, cancer, PTSD, ALS and a number of other ailments.

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[photo] Gelato marijuana is for sale at Bud and Bloom, a dispensary in Santa Ana that got a $2 million loan this year from AP Investment Fund, a private lender that works with marijuana businesses. Allen J. Schaben Los Angeles Times

Asked whether marijuana should be legal for adults in California, voters answered with a resounding "yes" in November. But that doesn't mean the matter is completely settled. And it definitely doesn't mean voters support marijuana use by minors.

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On Nov. 8, 2016 voters in California, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada approved ballot measures to legalize recreational cannabis. It is now legal in a total of eight states. And this creates potential problems for road safety. How do we determine who's impaired and who's not?

The effects of alcohol vary based on a person's size and weight, metabolism rate, related food intake and the type and amount of beverage consumed. Even so, alcohol consumption produces fairly straightforward results: The more you drink, the worse you drive. Factors like body size and drinking experience can shift the correlation slightly, but the relationship is still pretty linear, enough to be able to confidently develop a blood alcohol content scale for legally determining drunk driving. Not so with marijuana.

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Twenty people have died of probable heroin overdoses in Milwaukee County since July 27.

The Milwaukee County medical examiner's office says this is a photo of a typical drug-overdose death scene.(Photo: Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office, Milwaukee County Medical Examiner 's Office)

Twenty people have died of probable heroin overdoses in Milwaukee County during the past two weeks, a toll the county medical examiner's office on Thursday called "unprecedented."

The county typically averages one heroin death every three days, the office said. The medical examiner is investigating the possibility that other drugs, such as fentanyl, played a role in the deaths.

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Marijuana grows in an illegal Southern Utah cultivation in this file photo (Photo: The Spectrum & Daily News file photo)

On Sunday, the recreational use of marijuana will become legal in Nevada following passage of the state's "Question 2" during this year's elections.

The law will allow adults 21 and older to possess up to an ounce of cannabis or one-eighth ounce of cannabis concentrate with the start of the new year, but the need for Nevada to establish a licensing and taxation infrastructure means it will be a while yet before individuals can actually buy pot if they don't already have a medical marijuana prescription card.

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Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times

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Andrew Modlin, left, co-founder and chief operating officer, and Adam Bierman, co-founder and chief executive, inside MedMen cannabis dispensary in West Hollywood. One inspiration for the shop was the Apple store.

Andrew Modlin, left, co-founder and chief operating officer, and Adam Bierman, co-founder and chief executive, inside MedMen cannabis dispensary in West Hollywood. One inspiration for the shop was the Apple store. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

On a bustling stretch of Santa Monica Boulevard lined by vintage stores and eateries, the MedMen shop looks right at home.

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[photo] Toby Talbot / APWith prescriptions dropping in the United States, companies have started to promote OxyContin and other opioid drugs in Latin America, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.

A former adjunct associate professor at Temple University has helped a leading maker of opioids promote potentially addictive pain medications in new foreign markets that have not yet seen an overdose crisis like that in the United States, a Los Angeles Times investigation has found.

The physician, Joseph V. Pergolizzi Jr., is based in Naples, Fla., and has not been affiliated with Temple since June 2014, the school said.

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- -- and says he's done it before

In his latest controversial statement, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, known for his bloody anti-drug war that has killed thousands, threatened to throw corrupt officials out of a helicopter, saying he has done it before, to a kidnapper, and won't hesitate to do it again.

"I will pick you up in a helicopter to Manila, and I will throw you out on the way," Duterte said in Tagalog in front of a crowd in the Camarines Sur province Tuesday, according to GMA News. "I've done it before. Why would I not do it again?"

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A key state House committee passed legislation Wednesday that would expand the list of medical conditions that can be treated with cannabis oil.

House Bill 722 would add HIV/AIDS, epidermolysis bullosa, post-traumatic stress disorder, Tourette's syndrome and other disorders and illnesses to the list of qualifying medical conditions for the state's cannabis oil program.

Lawmakers passed legislation last year that legalized cannabis oil for the treatment of eight disorders.

"We're going to improve the lives of a significant amount of Georgians by the passing of this bill," said bill sponsor Rep. Allen Peake, R-Macon. "Not as many as I would've liked."

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