Are Grateful Dead fans unmellowing in their old age? The veteran jam band’s three farewell shows at Soldier Field in Chicago this weekend attracted 210,000 fans, yet only three of them were charged with possession of marijuana, despite what the Chicago Sun-Times described as “a pungent fog of marijuana smoke” in the stadium.

It turns out, though, that’s not the result of Dead fans eschewing rolling papers and weed, but the result of a hands-off approach by Chicago police. Their stance was at least partly dictated by a bout of gun violence in the city over the weekend, in which seven people were killed and 40 shot.

Skeptics say reformers are going too far

Denver residents are gearing up for another battle in the marijuana wars.

While activists in states like Nevada and Massachusetts are working on ballot measures to legalize recreational weed, a coalition in Colorado is collecting signatures to allow “limited social marijuana use.” As it stands, people in the state capital can consume marijuana only inside places like private homes or a rare “vape-friendly” hotel room. That, reformers say, can leave locals isolated and visitors not knowing where to turn.

But majority of British Columbians are opposed to banning the sale of edibles

The City of Vancouver’s regulations governing marijuana dispensaries are overwhelmingly supported by people throughout the region and province, according to a new survey by Insights West.

Sixty-seven per cent of British Columbians support the bylaw overall, including 65 per cent of respondents in Metro Vancouver and 75 per cent on Vancouver Island.

Charging dispensaries a $30,000 licence fee was supported by 64 per cent in B.C. and 68 per cent in Metro Vancouver.

As many as 8,200 people died from heroin overdoses in 2013 alone, according to a new CDC report.

Heroin overdose deaths in the United States nearly quadrupled between 2002 and 2013, fueled by lower costs as well as increased abuse of prescription opiate painkillers,U.S. health officials said on Tuesday.

The report found that heroin use increased by 63 percent from 2002 to 2013. In 2013, roughly 517,000 people reported that they had used heroin in the last year, a 150 percent increase from 2007.  As many as 8,200 people died from heroin overdoses in 2013 alone.

For every responsible cannabis consumer out there, there’s a negative stereotyper who assumes that cannabis users are all “mad on the reefer” without taking into account the many positive arguments for legalization. Whenever you hear their claim that cannabis users are irresponsible drug addicts or that medical marijuana is a sham, you can counter with these research-backed arguments in favor of cannabis legalization:

Of the many ways marijuana is marketed — smoke it, eat it, vape it — infused topicals are another option joining the many pot products offered to medical and recreational shoppers.

These cannabis-infused lotions, salves, massage oils and balms: Do they really work for relieving pain at its source?

Mary Jane’s Medicinals owner Dahlia Mertens and Denver Post marijuana editor Ricardo Baca discuss topicals on a recent episode of The Cannabist Show. Mertens’ company is based in Telluride in southwest Colorado, and the product line includes a “Heavenly Hash Bath” and infused lip balm in addition to the more standard topicals mentioned above.

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — A bill to allow Chileans to grow small amounts of marijuana for medical, recreational or spiritual use won approval Tuesday in the country's lower house of Congress.

The measure, which would allow each Chilean home to grow up to six marijuana plants, passed a vote of 68 to 39, with five abstentions. It still must go before a health commission and be approved by the Senate.

"We're celebrating the overwhelming approval of this project," said Ana Maria Gazmurri, president of the Daya Foundation, a nonprofit group that sponsors pain-relieving therapies, including the recent planting and harvesting of Chile's first government-approved medical marijuana.

Evidence is mounting that moderate coffee intake may protect us from a range of diseases, and even increase life span.

So is it OK to be addicted to coffee? 

In March this year, after a project that lasted just shy of two decades, scientists at Japan's National Cancer Centre released some intriguing results.

Their study, published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, tracked the lives – and sometimes deaths – of more than  90,000 people. Its conclusion was remarkable: "The habitual intake of coffee is associated with lower risk of total mortality and three leading causes of death in Japan."

While some may have strategies to get through the classics this summer, cannabis industry hopefuls must think about including these five new books to their summer reading lists.

1. “Weed individuals”.

Recreational marijuana is beginning its slow creep across America, beginning in states like Colorado and Washington — which have become total hellscapes, obviously — and an entire startup ecosystem is sprouting up in order to reap the rewards of the inevitable home gardening revolution.

Some companies now want to help spread the revolution free of cost.