The NFL began testing for marijuana and other substances of abuse in 1982, the same year quarterback Jim McMahon arrived in the league from a Mormon university that frowns on various behaviors far more innocuous than smoking weed. Long retired from football, McMahon relies on marijuana for medicinal purposes. Recently, he suggested that he and other Bears were smoking it while playing — and that the team’s legendary head coach knew it.

Chicago, IL, February 19, 2016 --(PR.com)-- CannaPitch IPO, the legal cannabis industry’s premiere pitch event, will be open to the investing public, bringing true crowdfunding to cannabis companies at the California Cannabis Business Expo, March 4 at the Hilton Union Square, San Francisco.

Just two minutes before the Monday grand opening of Logan Square's first medical marijuana dispensary, co-owner Doug Marks steps out of the space's Milwaukee Avenue entrance. The entryway is easy to miss—the word "moca," short for Modern Cannabis, is stamped on the door in bright yellow, pink, and blue, but the words nearly blend in with the mass of posters and graffiti that dominates the adjacent wall. 

A slow trickle of people would follow, but it was hard to tell from the outside: anyone without a medical marijuana card—including the media—were barred from entering the dispensary's main floor.

While it's still controversial, medical marijuana is edging toward normality. Forty states (and the District of Columbia) now have some form of law on the books that allow the drug to be used for a variety of ailments, and sales are soaring— reaching $5.4 billion in 2015.

That doesn't mean it's widely available in all of those states, of course. Some, like Alabama and South Carolina, have extremely strict circumstances under which cannabidiol products can be prescribed, and still forbid the production and distribution of the drug. And even in states where it's easier to come by, there are differences in how it's handled.

Illinois’ capital has a new medical marijuana dispensary.

HCI Alternatives medical marijuana dispensary held a ribbon cutting ceremony Monday at its downtown Springfield location at 628 East Adams Street, as reported by Fox Illinois News Team.

The facility is nearly 6,000 square feet, making it one of Illinois’ largest dispensaries.

The dispensary officially opens for business Thursday, Feb. 18.

HCI Alternatives also operates a dispensary in Collinsville, Illinois, at 1014 Eastport Plaza Dr.

A 50-year-old man from Illinois who was diagnosed with “incurable inoperable” lung and pericardial heart sac cancer, was told by his doctors he had about a year to live with the aid of chemotherapy.

Darren Miller began looking desperately for a cure beyond chemotherapy, which left him with “blisters on his mouth, blood hands and feet” according to his Facebook page. Then he found and decided to supplement the treatments with cannabis oil.

Activist post reports:

The cannabis business industry has seen plenty of development in 2016 – and we expect to see much more in the coming months. Here are some of the top trendsHerbFront has seen so far.

1. Technology is leading the way – and overcoming roadblocks
As industry leaders discussed at a recent Canna Tech Chicago meetup, technology is at the forefront of the cannabis industry. As organizations take to social media to discuss the legal developments surrounding medical cannabis, business leaders face hurdles like having their Facebook pages shut down.

The patients seeking medical marijuana inquire almost daily with Dr. Rahul Khare at his storefront health care clinic in Lincoln Park.

They come with cancer, spinal cord diseases, rheumatoid arthritis. Some have been turned down for a cannabis referral by the doctors they see regularly, not because they might not qualify, Khare contends, but because many physicians are hesitant to refer anyone for marijuana.

Khare, who said he has been writing marijuana referrals for only a few weeks, sympathizes with doctors who don't want to put patients on pot but believes some are unfairly withholding a drug that could bring relief to many.

BLOOMINGTON — Dave Stewart of Normal wasn't deterred by the state's decision last week not to expand access to medical marijuana.

After the Department of Public Health announced the drug would continue to be barred for patients with eight medical conditions, including post-traumatic stress disorder, Stewart said he plans to keep pushing.

“It just makes it to where we have to fight even more,” he said. 

For Stewart, who suffers from PTSD related to two tours of Army service in Iraq, that's "talking to people,” he said.

But that's exactly what's necessary, said Medical Cannabis Alliance of Illinois Chairman Ross Morreale of Chicago.

With all the concerns confronting Illinois' medical cannabis pilot program — not enough patients, not enough qualifying conditions, not enough time — a handful of Chicago-area employers want their workers to know that they don't have to worry about job security.

Five small companies — a law firm, a real estate services firm, two health care organizations and a nightclub — have announced their intentions to support employees who use medical marijuana. It's a tangled topic across the country, with state laws permitting pot use clashing with federal laws that don't, and employers seeking to balance employee needs and rights against workplace safety.