Medicinal Genomics and Courtagen Life Sciences today announced that they will host the 2nd annual CannMed 2017 Personalized Cannabinoid Medicine Conference to be held on April 9-11 in Boston, MA.

Elected officials try to undo the one bright spot of November 8th.

Political leaders in several states are threatening to thwart the implementation of voter-approved initiatives specific to the regulation of marijuana.

In less than three weeks, anyone 21 or older can legally possess and consume marijuana in the Bay State. Acquiring the drug is another story.

In less than three weeks, New England will enter uncharted waters — more specifically, uncharted waters for the East Coast of the United States.

Amid President-elect Donald Trump's pick of marijuana legalization opponent Jeff Sessions for attorney general, Massachusetts will become the first state on the East Coast to allow recreational marijuana use as the new law goes into effect Dec. 15.

That means anyone 21 or older — including Massachusetts residents and Rhode Islanders who cross the border — can legally possess and consume marijuana in the Bay State.

Acquiring the drug is another story.

With voters legalizing recreational marijuana last week, Massachusetts lawmakers are already planning how they’ll tinker with the law. Others who are also thinking about the change? Garden centers.

The first real change — coming December 15th — will be the ability for adults in Massachusetts to grow up to six pot plants, inside, legally. At the Hadley Garden Center in Hadley, Massachusetts, owner Tom Giles says he is taking a wait-and-see approach to ordering and stocking additional items people could use to grow marijuana successfully.

Early this year, a disabled former automobile body worker named Greg Vialpando explained to lawmakers in New Mexico how medical marijuana helped his chronic back pain.

State legislators were considering a bill backed by workers’ compensation insurers that would have exempted them from paying for medical marijuana. But Mr. Vialpando and another patient described how smoking the drug let them escape years of stupor caused by powerful prescription narcotic drugs known as opioids.

The lawmakers ended up dropping the bill, and Mr. Vialpando’s expenses for buying marijuana are covered by insurance.

“I would recommend that people use medical marijuana over opioids any day,” Mr. Vialpando, 58, said in a telephone interview.

Massachusetts voters legalized recreational marijuana earlier this month, despite the fact that there’s still no easy way for law enforcement to test someone behind the wheel for marijuana-induced impairment.

A field sobriety test is used when a motorist is suspected of reckless driving, and a breathalyzer is used to gauge the level of alcohol in a driver’s bloodstream. But there’s nothing similar to a breathalyzer for testing whether someone is driving while under the influence of marijuana.

“You have to prosecute the person based on the officer’s observations and what the officer found during the car stop. It makes it very difficult,” said William G. Brooks III, Norwood police chief and president of the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association.

Massachusetts voters approved Question 4 on Election Day 2016 by a vote of 53.57% to 46.43%. Massachusetts was joined by Maine in becoming the first two states on the East Coast to legalize recreational marijuana. The victories in both states have already jump started conversations in surrounding state legislatures to explore how they can follow in Maine and Massachusetts’ footsteps. Massachusetts is home to well over 6 million people, and is geographically located in a part of America that instantly makes it a potential cannabis industry leader.

Massachusetts voters legalized recreational marijuana earlier this month, despite the fact that there’s still no easy way for law enforcement to test someone behind the wheel for marijuana-induced impairment.

A field sobriety test is used when a motorist is suspected of reckless driving, and a breathalyzer is used to gauge the level of alcohol in a driver’s bloodstream. But there’s nothing similar to a breathalyzerfor testing whether someone is driving while under the influence of marijuana.

On 8 November, voters in California, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada approved ballot measures to legalize recreational cannabis. It is now legal in a total of eight states. This creates potential problems for road safety. How do we determine who’s impaired and who’s not?