That happy, invincible feeling you get when you're floating through the air at the peak of a workout?

You've probably heard that it's something called endorphins that your body produced during prolonged exercise. That idea, which has been around since the '80s, is based on the theory that these chemicals interact with receptors in the brain to reduce your perception of pain and some thought they may also give you that euphoric boost.

A new study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences challenges that notion and puts forth a different theory: That that "high" it could be due to different substance called endocannabinoids.

The most highly anticipated marijuana initiative in California—perhaps even across the entire United States—was finally submitted earlier this week to the state attorney general. ReformCA, the financially endowed coalition working to legalize recreational marijuana in the Golden State during the 2016 election, recently announced that their proposal, the Control, Regulate, and Tax Cannabis Act of 2016, was simply waiting for the approval of state officials before they launched a mega-campaign that could change the course of prohibition for the entire nation.

If you believe anti-drug campaigners, one puff on a joint is likely to turn you into a slavering, insane wreck – and lead to you murdering your entire family for money for skunk.

Not so, according to the latest scientific research.

In fact there are a lot of ways in which smoking a joint is actually healthier than reaching for a beer – here’s five.

1) Scientists think weed is 114 times safer than alcohol

Cannabis could actually be the safest drug available, after a study found it is actually 114 times less deadly than alcohol, according to the journal, Scientific Reports.

Fifty-six percent of voters statewide in 2014 decided to pass marijuana legalization in Oregon. That’s the greatest statewide support for legalization of the four states that have passed it. Every adult may possess an ounce of marijuana, grow four cannabis plants at home per household, possess a half-pound of marijuana at home, and shop in safe retail outlets.

The only problem? If you live east of the Cascade Mountains, there will be no safe retail outlets for you.

As the legislature worked on implementing the will of the majority, representatives of the people living in those eastern counties demanded a compromise. Allow the counties that really, really hate potheads to ban marijuana markets, or they’ll sue to destroy the entire state’s legal marijuana markets.

A majority of voters in the swing states of Florida and Ohio support legalizing marijuana for recreational use while a narrow plurality in Pennsylvania is opposed, according to survey results released Thursday.

There was a sizable gender gap, with more men than women in each state saying the drug should be legalized for recreational purposes, though most people said they would not use it if it were legal, according to the polling from Quinnipiac University.

Legalizing marijuana Issue 3 would legalize recreational and medical marijuana in Ohio. Click here for more information about the proposal. And click here for an updated list of supporters and opponents.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A majority of Ohioans favor legalizing recreational marijuana but support has not significantly changed in the past six months despite widespread advertising and campaigning for a legalization measure that appears on the November ballot, according to poll results released Thursday.

Willie Best did some crazy stuff in his life, before being sentenced to nearly a decade in federal prison. The jury that convicted him in 2008 heard that the D.C. drug dealer was found by cops in a stolen car clutching an assault rifle, after taking a potshot at a nemesis.

But Mr. Best is joining some 6,000 federal prisoners whose sentences are being cut short under new federal sentencing guidelines and whose release will be soon. Best told the Associated Press that he’s a new man: “I came in one way. I’m coming out another.”

We’ve probably all heard someone exclaim, “Ah, my endorphins are kicking in!” at the end of a good run. Endorphins are famous for supposedly producing “runner’s high,” that fleeting sense of calm and euphoria that engulfs many of us after a satisfying workout.

But in fact, endorphins may be unfairly hogging the credit for making workouts enjoyable, according to an enlightening new experiment with animals. The findings suggest that endorphins have little to do with runner’s high. Instead, that euphoric feeling may be the product of a completely different but oddly familiar substance — the body’s own endocannabinoids, the chemicals that, like the cannabinoids in marijuana, lighten mood.

If Maine votes to legalize marijuana, even if only for adults, the biggest problem is that more teenagers will use it. We know this because that’s what happened when laws were loosened to allow medical marijuana.