When Colorado and Washington became the first states to legalize recreational marijuana in 2012, opponents of the measures warned that ending the longstanding prohibition on weed would wreak havoc on society. The fiscal benefits associated with taxed and regulated marijuana wouldn’t be worthwhile, they said, because more children would end up using the drug and high drivers would terrorize the roadways.

Delaware lawmakers will discuss legalizing marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol once the next legislative session begins in early 2017.

According to Delaware Online, Senator Margaret Rose Henry, the lawmaker responsible for drafting the state’s medical marijuana bill, has plans to introduce a measure in January that would give adults residents (21 and over) the freedom to purchase marijuana from retail outlets all across the state. Henry said she is already working to pull together a legion of sponsors to help her gain traction in the state legislature.

The campaign working to block marijuana legalization in Massachusetts on Thursday urged voters to consider the effect legal pot would have on the state's roadways, saying Question 4 "will result in more tragic traffic deaths on our roads."

The Campaign for a Safe and Healthy Massachusetts on Thursday levied an attack against Yes on 4, the group promoting legalization, charging the group with deceiving voters on the traffic safety implications of Question 4.

"Instead of deceiving voters and attacking facts, the Yes on 4 campaign should come clean and admit what is plainly obvious -- that passing Question 4 will result in more tragic traffic deaths on our roads," Nick Bayer, campaign manager for Safe and Healthy Massachusetts, said in a statement.

The US marijuana industry is trying to move away from its pizza-and-chips roots as chefs explore how to safely serve pot with food.

Key points:

• Marijuana fine dining events occurring in US
• Growers looking to broaden horizons; hampered by restrictions
• Similar events unlikely in Australia soon

In the state of Colorado, chefs are working with growers to chart the unscientific world of pairing food and marijuana.

Many of the elements associated with traditional fine dining are also present in weed country fine dining.

There is an abundance of live music, flowers and award-winning cuisine, not to mention beer and wine pairings with each course, and of course, marijuana pairings.

America has a long and storied history with marijuana. Once grown by American colonists to make hemp rope, by 1970, it was classified as a Schedule 1 narcotic. Possession of it was — and is — a federal crime, despite the fact that in recent years 25 states have legalized medical marijuana and four states and the District of Columbia have legalized cannabis for recreational use.

Author John Hudak, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, traces the history of America's laws and attitudes toward cannabis in his new book, Marijuana: A Short History. He tells Fresh Air's Dave Davies that the recent shift in public policy is, in part, a recognition of the drug's medicinal value, which became apparent in San Francisco during the AIDS crisis of the 1980s.

The Times They Are A-Changin’. According to the Pew Research Center, a decade ago 32% of adult American favored and 60% opposed legalizing marijuana. Now, the numbers have basically flipped, with 57% in favor and 37% opposed, based on a survey of 1,201 U.S. adults conducted this past August by Pew. Pew, that’s quite a change.

Here’s how support for marijuana legalization has gotten higher over time:

A review last week by the Washington Post shows a statistically insignificant majority in favor of legalizing so-called “recreational” marijuana in the five states that will be voting on it on election day: California, Massachusetts, Nevada, Maine, Arizona. The five states were obviously specifically selected by the pot lobby as the next to join the Portlandia states of Oregon and Washington, as well as libertarian Alaska, and the new spring-break destination Colorado as the only states to completely decriminalize marijuana.

The poll by OH Predictive Insights, conducted September 28-30, shows an increase in support in the past month for Prop 205, and that the proposition still has a chance at passing. However, it also shows the measure behind 43-47, with 10 percent still undecided.

The proposition aims to grant adults 21 and older the freedom the possess, buy, and grow personal amounts of cannabis, and sets up a limited system of retail shops where people could buy cannabis products.

Arizona’s cannabis-legalization measure, Proposition 205, has faced outspoken opposition from a number of forces. The most visible is Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy, an anti-legalization group led by a pair of tough-on-crime prosecutors, Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk and Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery.

Over in Florida, forward-thinking folks have been trying to get medical cannabis legalized for years. And they very nearly did exactly that. In fact, they clearly voted in favour of it just two years ago. In most states, a majority of 58% in favour of any given measure would see it implemented without a second though and considered a roaring success. In the case of Florida though, nothing of the sort. That’s because back in 2006, the rule book as to constitutional amendments was itself amended, meaning that unless any given majority vote hit 60% or more, it wouldn’t be considered a majority. As such, 58% wasn’t enough to give medical cannabis the green light, meaning it remains illegal.

Pretty depressing, on the whole.