Even as more and more states allow their residents to use marijuana, the federal government is continuing to obstruct scientists from studying whether the drug is good or bad for people's health.

A report published last week by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine points out that scientists who want to study cannabis have to seek approvals from federal, state and local agencies and depend on just one lab, at the University of Mississippi, for samples. As a result, far too little is known about the health effects of a substance that 28 states have decided can be used as medicine and eight states and the District of Columbia have approved for recreational use.

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Nineteen suspected opiate deaths in the first 19 days of January have Erie County on pace for 365 deaths in 2017.

It could be worse. Last year started more deadly.

During the early weeks and months of 2016, the epidemic was claiming so many lives that county officials projected more than 500 people would die that year. The pace, however, slowed as the county took aggressive steps, including promotion of the widespread use of the opiate antidote Naloxone.

By year's end, 247 people had died in confirmed overdoses, with 77 more suspected deaths, officials said Thursday.

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Women can blame their cocaine addictions on their biology, according to a new study that claims that ladies are more susceptible to the drug's addictive qualities.

Hormonal fluctuations during the menstrual cycle, specifically spikes in estrogen, intensify the drug's pleasurable effects, according to researchers at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai on The Upper East Side.

"Our study will change the way we think about addiction research to emphasize the need to further understand female subjects, as most research on addiction has been conducted in male subjects," the study's lead author, Dr. Erin Calipari, said in a statement.

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Joseph Tigano III is spending 20 years in prison for growing marijuana.

He grew a lot of it. No one disputes that. And this was his second felony conviction. So no one, not even Tigano's lawyers, suggests the Cattaraugus County man should go unpunished.

But 20 years?

Even the federal judge who sentenced Tigano in 2015 thought it was too heavy a price to pay.

"It is much greater than necessary," U.S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Wolford said at the time, "but I do not have a choice."

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ALBANY - Gov. Andrew Cuomo is making another pitch for the state to decriminalize possession of some marijuana.

Cuomo quietly included the proposal in a 380-page State of the State message that he provided late Wednesday to the state Legislature.

"The illegal sale of marijuana cannot and will not be tolerated in New York state, but data consistently show that recreational users of marijuana pose little to no threat to public safety," is on Page 191 of Cuomo's message.

The idea will again stoke a debate in Albany after the issue gained prominence in 2012 -- when the Democratic governor first made the push to decriminalize possession of marijuana.

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A bill that would expedite patients' access to medical marijuana has been sent to Gov. Andrew Cuomo's desk.

Cuomo will have until Nov. 11 to either sign or veto the bill, which the state Legislature passed in late June.

The Medical Marijuana Expedited Access bill comes after a state medical-marijuana program was passed in 2014 and is set to be up and running by January. It allows for medical marijuana in non-smokeable forms for patients suffering from severe illnesses, particularly children is chronic epilepsy.

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ALBANY -- State regulators want to double the number of companies growing and selling medical marijuana in New York to keep pace with patient demand.

The state Department of Health issued a report this week with 12 recommendations to improve the state's medical marijuana program, which launched in January and has faced criticism from patient advocates who say there are too many barriers to getting the drug.

Among them were proposals to increase the number of marijuana companies who can operate in New York from five to 10, which would increase the number of allowed dispensaries in New York from 20 to 40.

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A Brooklyn Republican who has his sights set on a City Council seat slammed the lawmaking body Sunday for bankrolling a feasibility study on whether to open injection facilities for heroin addicts.

"It's basically a taxpayer-funded shooting gallery for heroin junkies to allow them to legally shoot up," Bob Capano told John Catsimatidis on his 970 AM talk show Sunday.

"Any funds spent on this issue should be focused on breaking the addicts' dependency on drugs, not taking a step that basically decriminalizes the use of heroin."

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The opioid epidemic ripping throughout the nation and our own backyard will not be stopped without the multi-pronged approach that is thankfully occurring on all levels of government.

Local, state and national leaders have stepped up to provide assistance. Police, fire departments, ambulance crews, hospital staffs and others are on the front lines of this fight.

Last month proved deadly in Erie County, with public officials reporting at least 42 suspected opioid overdose deaths, half of them since Dec. 19 and six alone on Dec. 27.

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Helicopter rides, a Cobra sports car and a bikini model girlfriend were all part of the glamorous life caught on Instagram of one of the alleged members of Australia's largest cocaine cartel.

Tattooed muscleman Darren Mohr's glittering lifestyle, which he documented on social media, shows him sunning himself in exclusive locations, flying around in a helicopter, at a yacht club during the Monaco Grand Prix, and posing with luxury cars, his girlfriend and his pet dog and macaw.

But Mohr's high life all came to an end Tuesday when the 42-year-old was arrested and handcuffed on a footpath in Sydney's eastern suburbs.

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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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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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NEW YORK - Health officials say the synthetic opioid fentanyl has surpassed heroin as the leading cause of overdose deaths on Long Island.

The New York Times reports that fentanyl killed at least 220 people on Long Island in 2016.

Fentanyl can be 100 times as potent as heroin and is much cheaper because it can be made in a lab.

The numbers from Long Island are part of a national pattern. Fentanyl fatalities have surpassed those from heroin in other parts of the country including New England.

The medical examiners of Long Island's two counties, Nassau and Suffolk, compiled the overdose statistics there.

Suffolk County Medical Examiner Dr. Michael Caplan said the influx of illegally manufactured fentanyl from overseas requires "a multidisciplinary intervention from all levels of government."

[end]

There is a place in city of Rochester where people from all walks of life have been gathering. About half of them come from the city, the other half drive in from the suburbs, or even farther, to get here every day. It is a hub of diversity, unlike any other in the Finger Lakes region. Men and women, young and old, business executives, soccer moms, students. They drive shiny BMWs, family minivans, and pickup trucks with antlers mounted on the hood.

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The state Department of Health has proposed amending its regulations to allow hospitals to develop procedures under which patients could take medical marijuana and other medications brought from home.

While not specifically outlawed now by department regulations, the amendment would give explicit permission for hospitals to formulate their own rules about patient use of medical marijuana, Jill Montag, a Health Department spokeswoman, said in an email.

Hospitals that want to permit self-administration of medical marijuana or other medications "must develop and follow policies and procedures to ensure the safe self-administration and security of the medication," according to the Health Department's proposed amendment to the state's Medical Marijuana Program.

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Arrests for possessing small amounts of marijuana exceeded those for all violent crimes last year, a new study has found, even as social attitudes toward the drug have changed and a number of cities and states have legalized its use or decriminalized small quantities.

And a disproportionate number of those arrested are African-Americans, who smoke marijuana at rates similar to whites but are arrested and prosecuted far more often for having small amounts for personal use, according to the study. The arrests can overwhelm court systems.

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They are not like other mourners. They are raw. "Hysterical crying," said Jackie Berger, a florist.

Some arrive at the other extreme, showing quiet resignation, even relief.

"They knew this day was coming," said Frank Lettera, a funeral director.

They are the parents and relatives of young men and women who died on Staten Island after overdosing on heroin. The grieving families are passing through the rituals of death in numbers never seen before: a record 72 suspected overdoses so far this year. That number far surpasses the previous record of 41, in 2014.

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The man entered the Red Robin restaurant inside the Staten Island Mall two minutes after 6 p.m. on a Friday. He walked straight past the booths and tables and entered the men's room.

A manager would find him there seven minutes later, lying on the floor with a needle and foaming at the mouth.

His name was Jonathan Ayers, 27, and he was declared dead within the hour that evening, Sept. 9, apparently of a heroin overdose.

Mr. Ayers's fatal overdose was the latest addition to a body count without precedent. So far in 2016, there have been 71 deaths that appear to be from heroin overdoses on the island, the Richmond County district attorney's office said, already on pace to more than double the record set two years ago. Nine people died of heroin overdoses in a recent 10-day period, prosecutors said.

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To the Editor:

Re "Safer Alternatives to Opioids" (editorial, Aug. 30):

As an anesthesiologist and president of the American Society for Enhanced Recovery, I applaud the surgeon general's campaign addressing the overprescribing and misuse of opioids.

While I agree that minimizing opioid use will take a concerted effort by all those involved in the health care system, hospitals, in particular, have a critical role. Although often overlooked in the opioid discussion, hospitals have become an inadvertent gateway to opioid use in America. A recent survey found that one in 10 patients became addicted or dependent on opioids following a surgical procedure, and 91 percent of surgeons felt pressure to prescribe more opioids than a patient needed, in part because of the need to score well on patient satisfaction evaluations.

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