Chris and I were texting Dec. 11, 2016, when at 3:50 p.m. he went silent.

I assumed it was because we were arguing. We were always arguing, ever since his addiction had taken over his life. The signs were there: The man who would write beautiful songs on his guitar became sluggish and angry. He wouldn't spend time with the people who lifted him up and instead sneaked out to see those who enabled his addiction. He stopped going to Narcotics Anonymous meetings and group therapy.

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Allentown's first licensed medical marijuana dispensary features a partnership between a fifth-generation Lehigh Valley native and a big-time medical cannabis company that has helped secure more than 50 licenses in states across the country.

Mission Partners LLC, a subsidiary of Phoenix-based management consulting firm 4Front Ventures, hopes to open its first Mission Pennsylvania dispensary early next year in a building at 2733 W. Emmaus Ave., Allentown, that currently houses MP Outfitters.

One of Mission Pennsylvania's principals is Ari Molovinsky, a 1997 Parkland High School graduate whose father, Michael, lives in South Whitehall Township and operates the "Molovinsky on Allentown" blog.

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Walk into a medical marijuana dispensary in New Jersey and the first thing to hit you is the stink.

Weed's scent is a sour blast that seems to reek of citrus, diesel, and skunk. At the Garden State Dispensary in Woodbridge, Middlesex County, charcoal air purifiers -- encased in gleaming steel and larger than jet engines -- are strategically placed through the facility. It's hard to say whether their presence tempers the odor, which is generated by thousands of cannabis plants growing under lights in the same building.

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A Philadelphia city councilwoman says she will try to block a medical marijuana dispensary from being located in her East Mount Airy district.

"This is not a debate about the merits of medical marijuana -- which the community and I both support -- but it is solely about the proposed use at this location," Parker said in a statement, citing concerns about public safety and security. "I remain vehemently opposed to this site."

State Rep. Chris Rabb (D., Phila.), who lives four blocks from the proposed dispensary, said he was happy to have one in the neighborhood. But Rabb said he believes the two-story structure is "specifically an awful location."

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Medical marijuana permits leave losers fuming in Pa.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health today announced the names and locations of companies that will be permitted to sell medical marijuana in the state.

The reveal came in a news release issued Thursday at 1:15 p.m..

Each of the 27 winners have the right to operate three storefronts. Though there were 81 dispensaries allowed by law, many applicants chose not to ask for additional outlets. As it stands, only 52 will open sometime next year.

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In fact, since decriminalization took effect, police have cited 73 percent fewer people than they arrested for possessing weed during the same time period in the year prior to decriminalization.

And if mayoral candidate Jim Kenney has his way, citations for marijuana users may become a thing of the past, too.

"I'm not interested in issuing citations, either. We'll get to that conversation at the appropriate time next year," Kenney told the Daily News. "As time goes on, I don't know if there's going to be a need for any kind of punishment."

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As Pennsylvania prepares to award its first licenses for the fledgling medical marijuana industry, Lehigh University intends to partner with one of the potential growers in the Lehigh Valley to study the effect of the drug on children with autism.

As Pennsylvania prepares to award its first licenses for the fledgling medical marijuana industry, Lehigh University intends to partner with one of the potential growers in the Lehigh Valley to study the effect of the drug on children with autism. (Glen Stubbe/AP File Photo)

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Before she died in April, Awilda was the Community Engagement Coordinator at Impact Services Corporation and a tireless champion of Kensington and its residents. Awilda would have loved the Inquirer articles touting the amazing work the librarians at McPherson do every day, but she would have been crushed to see the park described as Needle Park and the neighborhood called a "hellscape."

Calling it Needle Park perpetuates a story about Kensington that reduces everyone here to victims or criminals, further instilling a sense of hopelessness. Awilda worked hard to change the narrative of Kensington so that people would recognize the vibrancy of her neighborhood and the strong spirit of its residents. Her work was part of a collaborative strategy to build collective strength and support a robust social network throughout the community.

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It marked the first time in 80 years that the cousin of cannabis, once a common cash crop in the state of Pennsylvania, had been legally sown in the state.

"We would have like to have planted it a few weeks ago, but the seeds - from Italy and Canada - were held up in customs," said Diana Martin, spokeswoman for the Rodale Institute in Berks County.

Research scientist Emmanuel Mondi oversees planting near Kutztown on June 9, 2017. It marked the first time the plant has been legally sown in 80 years.

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Mayor Kenney and agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration will lead a community summit Saturday to address the opioid epidemic in Philadelphia's Fairhill and West Kensington neighborhoods, epicenter of addiction in the region.

The summit, called "El Barrio Es Nuestro" ("The Community Is Ours"), will give residents a chance to speak in English or Spanish about quality-of-life issues with key city officials, including members of the mayor's recently launched Task Force to Combat the Opioid Epidemic.

"This neighborhood is one of the worst-hit areas in the entire country," Gary Tuggle, the DEA's special agent in charge of the Philadelphia field division, said. "By bringing together health, law enforcement, and community leaders, we hope to come up with a solution."

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[photo] Chris Goldstein, right, shakes hands with police top brass after meeting at La Colombe to discuss his planned "smoke-in" protest on Friday in Rittenhouse Square. (Julia Terruso / Staff)

Members of the Philadelphia Police Department's top brass met with marijuana activists Thursday to hash out how pot citations will be issued at a protest planned for Friday.

"So we'll have everyone light up and then line up," said Nikki Allen Poe, talking with members of the Police Department at a corner table at La Colombe coffee shop at Dilworth Park, "and then you'll do the arr-."

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[photo] It's been reported that President-elect Donald Trump has tapped Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) as his attorney general pick. Sessions has been a vocal opponent of the marijuana industry. (Scott Olson/ AP)

President-elect Donald Trump's announcement that he plans to nominate Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions -- a vocal opponent of marijuana legalization - -- to be the country's next attorney general has many in the young but growing legalized marijuana industry deeply concerned.

That includes in Pennsylvania, which legalized medical marijuana this spring. The state is expected to begin accepting applications for medical cannabis grower/processor and dispenser permits early next year, with the goal of making medical marijuana available to patients by 2018.

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A group of Northumberland County-based entrepreneurs hope to weed out the competition and get one of the two available licenses for operating a medical marijuana dispensary in the Valley.

The main principals of Medical Marijuana Corp. are William E. Rosini, president of Rosini Enterprises, and Shannon D. Rosini, both of Paxinos; Annette Rosini MacLachlan, a former county resident now living in West Chester; Stephen Jacobs, of Shamokin and Christopher Walters, of Mount Carmel.

The state is offering permits for growers and dispensaries in each of six regions across the state.

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A California company hopes to grow medical marijuana in Pocono Township.

The company, CannaMed of Thousand Oaks, has asked the Monroe County township's Board of Supervisors to clarify its zoning definitions to allow it to start up a processing operation, PennLive.com reported.

A company representative recently told supervisors the building, would be about 45,000 square feet and would grow the marijuana and process it into forms including pills and oils.

The company expects to employ between 30 to 50 people.

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[photo] Addy Schultz, 72, cuddling a baby going through opioid withdrawal at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, ( DAVID SWANSON / Staff Photographer )

Marie McCullough covers health and medicine, with a special focus on cancer and women's health issues.

Study suggests prevention efforts are having an effect on melanoma in Pa., N.J.

As the 13-day-old infant scrunched up his face and squirmed in obvious pain, Addy Schultz tightened her embrace. The baby relaxed in her arms almost instantly.

"When he cramps up, I hold him harder and pat a little firmer," explained Schultz, 72, sitting in a rocking chair in the newborn intensive care unit at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. "They don't like to be stroked or caressed."

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House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., told reporters Thursday that Congressional Republicans are on a "rescue" mission to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act and that he and President-elect Donald Trump are in perfect sync with the process of replacing Obamacare. (CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES)

Funding for mental illness and opioid addiction treatment in Pennsylvania will take a big hit if the Affordable Care Act is repealed, according to research published this week by Harvard Medical School.

More than 181,000 Pennsylvania residents with mental and substance abuse disorders will lose access to services made available under the ACA, concluded Harvard health economics professor Richard G. Frank and New York University public service dean Sherry Glied.

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Repealing the Affordable Care Act without a replacement plan is dangerous for the health and economic well-being of our Commonwealth. A new Harvard Medical School and New York University study shows that repealing the ACA would have tragic consequences for millions of Americans affected by mental illness and by the devastating opioid epidemic. 180,526 Pennsylvanians suffering from mental illness or substance use disorder will lose access to critical mental health services that the ACA makes possible.

Pennsylvania ranks among the highest in the nation in opioid overdose-related deaths and prescribing rates. Nationwide, the study estimates that more than 4 million Americans with serious mental illness or substance use disorders, of whom about 222,000 have an opioid use disorder, would lose some or all of their insurance coverage.

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New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, center, arrives in the Assembly chamber of the Statehouse to deliver his State Of The State address Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017, in Trenton, N.J. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

TRENTON - Gov. Christie vowed Tuesday to devote his final year in office to battling drug addiction, skirting other challenges confronting New Jersey as he delivered an unusual and impassioned State of the State address focused almost exclusively on the issue.

Telling personal stories of people affected by addiction - a state employee whose son died from a heroin overdose two days after she celebrated his sobriety at a Statehouse vigil; the son of a state Supreme Court justice, now in recovery and opening a treatment center - Christie said he hoped to make New Jersey an example for the nation on drug recovery.

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(AP Photo/Mel Evans) Gov. Christie, holding hands with daughter Sarah Christie, as wife Mary Pat Christie follows, leaves the Assembly chamber of the Statehouse after he delivered his State Of The State address Tuesday in Trenton.

TRENTON - When Haddonfield native AJ Solomon graduated from college in 2012, he landed a job with a longtime family friend: Gov. Christie.

But Solomon, who had abused painkillers and since become a heroin addict, was spinning out of control, buying dope in Camden on his way to the Statehouse. By 2014, he left an Arizona treatment center intent on flying home, saying goodbye to his parents, and killing himself.

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Overdose Deaths Up Sharply in Pa.

Drug-related fatalities rose 23.4 percent in Pennsylvania last year, the Drug Enforcement Administration's Philadelphia Division reports in its second annual statewide analysis. Previous years' data come from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which also relies on death certificates from coroners' offices but has not yet released U.S. or any state numbers for 2015.

The Drug Enforcement Administration found big differences by county. County numbers can change significantly from year to year, so short-term trends may not be meaningful.

[graphic, http://www.philly.com/philly/infographics/386564601.html ]

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