The instructions in the anonymous email were only somewhat clear: When I got to the warehouse in Brooklyn, I was supposed to walk around back, through the parking lot, and up the loading-dock stairs. I did just that and was promptly greeted and escorted through a back door, down the hall, up a flight of stairs, down another hallway, then around yet another corner. Finally, though, I arrived at the tiny dining room and makeshift kitchen where I and about 20 other guests would eat a clandestine marijuana tasting menu put together by one of New York's most well-known cooks of Filipino cuisine.

When I was invited to attend the Viridian Capital Advisors Cannabis Investor Conference in January, I had an image in my mind of what to expect.

The sleek, monolithic name “Viridian”—a nod to the color of marijuana that simultaneously sounds as corporate as possible—gave me a clue. I pictured rows of middle-aged men of means, eager to drop money on something still mostly on the precipice of becoming a truly legitimate industry in 2016 in the United States. A group of guys who spent 1969 getting MBAs instead of caravanning to Woodstock. People who do not, and possibly never have, smoked weed.

I was not disappointed.

“Next time you go to jail, David, ask for a kosher meal. They have to give it to you, and the food is better.” This was the advice that Diane Goldstein, a retired police officer, gave to David Bronner, an activist in the movement to legalize marijuana, over dinner one night at an Upper East Side organic vegan restaurant.

New research from Columbia University suggests a link may exist between marijuana and a variety of substance abuse disorders.

At the moment, the expansion of marijuana throughout the United States looks almost unstoppable.

Marijuana's rapid expansion
Since 1996, 23 states have approved the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes, opening up new pathways of treatment options for patients with chronic illnesses like glaucoma or terminal types of cancers. We've also witnessed residents in four states (along with Washington, D.C.) approve the legalization of recreational marijuana, which a decade ago would have seemed unfathomable.

You can now add coffee to the growing list of foods and drinks that are available as products infused with marijuana.

Several companies have started selling cannabis-laced coffee, claiming to give users an added "buzz" to their cup of joe.

But what happens when you combine two psychoactive substances: marijuana and caffeine?

The effects of using these two substances in combination have not been heavily researched, said Dr. Scott Krakower, the assistant unit chief of psychiatry at Zucker Hillside Hospital in New Hyde Park, New York. But using two drugs in combination can always potentially be a problem, he said.

The Special Session of the General Assembly on the World Drug Problem (UNGASS 2016) will be convened from 19 – 21 April 2016 at United Nations Headquarters in New York. The UNGASS will feature a general debate plenary and five interactive, multi-stakeholder round tables conducted in parallel with the plenary.

Adults who smoke marijuana the most commonly used psychoactive drug or medicine are five times more likely to develop an alcohol use disorder (AUD) alcohol abuse or dependence compared with adults who do not smoke it, warns a study. For those people already battling an alcohol use disorder, using marijuana is likely to aggravate their dependency. Adult drinkers who did not use marijuana were significantly more likely to be in recovery from alcohol use disorders three years later.

Adults who smoke marijuana -- the most commonly used psychoactive drug or medicine -- are five times more likely to develop an alcohol use disorder (AUD) -- alcohol abuse or dependence -- compared with adults who do not smoke it, warns a study.

For those people already battling an alcohol use disorder, using marijuana is likely to aggravate their dependency.

Adult drinkers who did not use marijuana were significantly more likely to be in recovery from alcohol us using marijuana is likely to aggravate their dependency. e disorders three years later.

Counting out money for payroll at Good Meds Marijuana dispensary in Lakewood, Colo. Most marijuana businesses cannot get bank accounts, and must contend with large amounts of cash.

When Lamine Zarrad was not at his job as a federal banking regulator in recent months, he was spending a lot of time at Denver’s marijuana dispensaries.

As a federal employee, he could not partake of the pot.

He was there, instead, to pitch the shops on a start-up he has been working on in his free time and is making official this week after quitting his job as a bank examiner at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, a division of the Treasury Department.

Medical marijuana is legal in New York, but veterans’ doctors are still forbidden from recommending it.

It’s a painful irony for those like retired Cpl. Matthew Welch, whose wartime injuries 11 years ago left him with severe nerve damage and phantom pains in his left leg.

“To me, we’re the people who fought for freedom. We should not be restricted the way it seems like we’re being restricted,” said Welch, who lives in Corinth with his wife and three children.

“It seems a lot harder for a veteran to get medical marijuana than a civilian,” he said.