More than two dozen former NFL players will take part in a new study of whether whole-plant cannabis is more effective than isolated compounds in treating and managing their pain, The Denver Post reported.

The study, led by Dutch researcher Dr. Arno Hazekamp in conjunction with cannabis-extract producer Constance Therapeutics and the Gridiron Cannabis Coalition, will be conducted in California, where marijuana is legal for medical use and soon could be for recreational purposes, too.

The Growing Divide is an online documentary project that uses photography and a series of 25 interviews with residents, marijuana growers, police officers and government officials to tell the story of the marijuana boom in the rural community of Hayfork, California.

With photographs by Talia Herman and Brian Gossman, and with support from California Humanities, a nonprofit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Humboldt Area Foundation, the result is a multi-faceted look at the marijuana industry in the microcosm of a small, rural community. Read on for excerpts from this project, and view it in its entirety online at: www.thegrowingdivide.com.

With four months to go before the election, an initiative campaign to legalize marijuana for adults in California has a $5.5 million war chest.

Promoters of Proposition 64, the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, got a $2 million boost in donations this week from two key financial backers.

Sean Parker, who co-founded Napster and was Facebook’s first president, gave an additional $1.25 million, bringing his total contributions to $2.25 million.

The New Approach PAC, which is a legacy of Progressive insurance mogul and legalization activist Peter Lewis, gave an additional $750,000. The PAC has now contributed $1.5 million.

Ultra Health, a national provider for the healthcare cannabis industry with operations and facilities in Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico, and retail dispensaries to commercial-scale cannabis production in New Mexico and Las Vegas, has become the title sponsor for the Gathering of Nations Pow wow for 2017.

In addition to the sponsorship, the official name of the event will be the "Ultra Health - Gathering of Nations." 

This marks the first time a medical cannabis company has sponsored such an event. Ultra Health has agreed to the title sponsorship for the next five years and holds an option to consider sponsorship through 2027.

Grover Beach is moving forward with plans to tax medical marijuana sales in the city — though they have to move fast: a deadline to put the measure on the Nov. 8 general election ballot is fast approaching.

If voters approved such a measure, Grover Beach would be the first city in San Luis Obispo County to tax medical marijuana sales. 

When Lynette Davies, co-operator of the Canna Care medical marijuana dispensary in Sacramento, pays her California taxes she needs to haul a bag with $20,000 in cash to the state tax office.

“That’s really unsafe for me, and it’s unsafe for my employees to have this cash in the store,” said Davies, whose business is legal under state law as a result of California’s 1996 vote on the use of medical marijuana. “All because the banks that want to bank with us can’t.”

The November ballot in Costa Mesa will get a bit longer after City Council members decided Tuesday night to put city-authored initiatives on medical marijuana and growth up for a public vote this fall.

Council members voted 3-2 to approve the proposed growth initiative, which was pitched as a competing measure against one sponsored by Costa Mesa First, a political action committee.

Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer has characterized the Costa Mesa First initiative as overly strict and said he thinks residents should have the option to vote on an alternative.

"I'll be fine with the vote, whatever it is in the end," Righeimer said Tuesday.

HerbaBuena Social Club is all about organic marijuana and wellness.

Alicia Rose and Brant Hindman are the brilliant co-founders behind HerbaBuena, the first Demeter-certified biodynamic cannabis collective in California, and the broader United States. They've “come out of the cannabis closet and are hell-bent on helping others to do the same.“ After learning about their biodynamicly-grown medicinal marijuana and the HerbaBuena Social Club (which sounds amazing!), we sought them out to learn more. 

On November 8, voters registered in California will get a chance to end cannabis prohibition. Here’s the 10 Things You Need to Know:

1) Only registered voters in California can end cannabis prohibition. The deadline to register is October 24, 2016.

2) California legalization is called the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, and it’s going to be listed as Proposition 64.

California's Adult Use of Marijuana Act could have ramifications far beyond the state's borders.

Last week California's pot legalization initiative, the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, qualified for the ballot in November, setting the stage for a vote that will have ramifications far beyond California's borders.