To combat the sale of synthetic marijuana, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Thursday the city has been organizing a multiagency attack, which led to the massive takedown earlier this week and fewer emergency room visits.

The initiative, which started in July, includes the Drug Enforcement Administration and the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. On Wednesday, 10 men were charged with running a synthetic marijuana ring that sold more than a quarter million retail packets.

This photo provided Friday, Aug. 7, 2015 by New York Police Department shows packets of synthetic marijuana seized after a search warrant was served at a newsstand in Brooklyn, N.Y. Image: New York Police Department/Associated Press By Marcus Gilmer2015-09-17 04:27:55 UTC

Calling it "a scourge on our society," authorities in New York City have cracked down on synthetic marijuana, announcing on Wednesday the indictment of 10 suspects connected to a distribution ring that touches all five of the city's boroughs.

New York’s medical marijuana program is due to go online by January, but there are still a number of questions with how it will all work.  In part of the four-part series "The Growing Economy," Capital Tonight's Nick Reisman traveled to Minnesota to understand how that state’s medical marijuana program works for both doctors and patients. 

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- Patrick McClellan was running out of hope. 

"I needed an option, other than something that could potentially kill me, to try and fight these massive attacks and that's how I discovered cannabis," he said.

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan Wednesday announced the biggest case to date on the latest drug scourge to hit the metropolitan area, charging 10 men with running a ring that sold more than a quarter million retail packets of so-called synthetic marijuana, a popular drug marketed in bodegas.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara called the case the start of "an aggressive assault on a dangerous new public health crisis reaching epidemic proportions." He said despite the name and the fact that they are not covered by state criminal laws, the drugs are "poison in a packet."

"This is not marijuana," Bharara said at a morning news conference attended by NYPD Commissioner William Bratton. "They are packaged like children's candy, but they are lethal."

Cannabis activist Dana Beal is working to make medical marijuana more accessible to New York City patients.

A group of patients disappointed with New York State's much criticized and heavily regulated medical marijuana program has drafted a bill that aims to make medicinal weed more accessible in New York City. 

In response to the state's Compassionate Care Act, the group's proposed legislation establishes a “medical marihuana users’ bill of rights” and asks the City Council to support the creation of a “users cooperative.” (The bill uses the state's preferred spelling of "marijuana," which replaces the J with an H.)

The organizers of the New York City Cannabis Film Festival want you to know that theirs is not an event designed for stoners looking to watch videos and get high. Instead, they're hoping to “elevate the cannabis culture” by connecting filmmakers with a budding class of leaders and entrepreneurs.

On September 26, Brooklyn will host the first New York City Cannabis Film Festival, holding screenings at 4:20 and 7:10 at Williamsburg’s Wythe Hotel. “[The film festival] basically says, ‘hey, we’re here and we’re here in New York, we’re pushing for this and you can too, and be part of this great cultural movement,’” says Tim Mattson, the festival's director and media coordinator of the cannabis meetup group High NY.

Some of us are still processing this whole marijuana legalization deal. For many people, it’s kind of hard to believe legalization is actually really happening — it’s no longer simply a topic of discussion marijuana smokers debate over, it’s right here and right now. Imagine going back in time and telling yourself 10 or 15 years ago that in 2015, recreational pot would be legal in four states — and even Washington D.C.

New York City is joining the places around the country that is allowed to provide medicinal marijuana to those who have a prescription.

The city’s first marijuana dispensary will be opening in January 2016, near Manhattan’s Union Square.

The dispensary will be located on 14th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues. It will be operated by Columbia Care, one of only five NYC companies that were awarded licenses to open a marijuana shop. The companies were chosen from among 43 competing companies from all over the nation. The licenses give companies the rights to open a New York State-based manufacturing facility, as well as up to four dispensaries.

A stunning rainbow has appeared over New York on the eve of the 9/11 anniversary, with the spectacle appearing to originate from the site of the World Trade Center.

Photos of the rainbow are being shared online as people remember the lives lost 14 years ago today.

Long Island resident Ben Sturner took a series of photos of the rainbow and posted them on Twitter.

He told NBC 4: "I see this rainbow and it's coming from the World Trade Center and it's the most gorgeous rainbow I've ever seen.

"You never know when you see something that could be moving. It gives me the chills."

When Chavie Lieber, a writer in New York, was traveling over a recent weekend, she and her husband lent their apartment to a friend’s brother. Upon return, “There were three fat joints rolled for us on the coffee table,” Lieber told me, “with a scribbled note that read: ‘Thanks for letting us stay.’ ”

After moving to a new home in Connecticut, Liza, a marketing executive who spoke on the condition of anonymity, received a small satchel of weed as a housewarming gift from friends, making for “a really mellow” evening in her new home. “I will always appreciate a bottle of wine, but weed is king,” Liza said. “It’s expensive, hard to get, and weed these days is so customized, meaning someone bought Bubba Kush versus Purple Haze, for instance, keeping your tastes in mind.”