COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Cleveland Indians fans won't be the only ones who will be humming "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" Friday afternoon. Petitioners for two separate efforts to legalize marijuana will also be at Progressive Field looking for support for their proposals to change Ohio's constitution.

ResponsibleOhio and Ohioans To End Prohibition each are collecting signatures from registered voters. The Tribe game with a crowd of more than 40,000 fans offers a chance for each group to get a lot of signatures on their petitions.

Legalizing marijuana Several proposals are in the works to legalize marijuana in Ohio. Check here for an update on the status of those efforts.

In “Weed the People,” Bainbridge Island author Bruce Barcott delivers a thorough and entertaining survey of the burgeoning legalization of marijuana in the U.S. Barcott appears April 15 at Seattle’s Elliott Bay Book Co.

‘Weed the People: The Future of Legal Marijuana in America’ by Bruce Barcott Time, Inc., 400 pp., $22.95

Over the past year, Washington, D.C. has become a lot more marijuana-friendly. Last summer, the District Council decriminalized the drug. Then, in November, voters in the nation’s capital passed a ballot measure completely legalizing possession and cultivation.

Now, a local falafel joint is offering a a special line of sandwiches it says pair well with specific cannabis strains.

Describing one new creation, for example, the Amsterdam Falafelshop menu says, “The root vegetables and tahini complement the earthy pine scent and woodsy undertones of the OG Kush strain.”

SAUGET, Ill. (KMOV.com) -Help wanted advertisements have appeared online, claiming to be for the first marijuana dispensary set to open in the Metro East, but the company who owns the dispensary is worried the postings are a scam.

The dispensary, owned by The Green Solution, is set to open in Sauget in October and has nothing to do with the ad recently posted on Craigslist.

The Craigslist ad seeks positions ranging from bud tenders to security guards and bakers and promises pay of $25 an hour.

Vice President of Operations Tanya Griffin of The Green Solution, a Denver based company, said she is worried the unknown group who posted the ad could be trying to scam people.

Licenses to grow and dispense medicinal cannabis under last year’s “Charlotte’s Web” law may be coming soon.

The Department of Health would award licenses for medicinal marijuana 75 days after a Charlotte’s Web glitch bill becomes law, according to SPB 7066, a proposal approved Thursday by the Senate Rules Committee.

Rules had been SPB 7066’s last scheduled committee stop.

Why does the Washington State Legislature want to undermine medical cannabis? New Approach Washington’s Alison Holcomb and Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes with Initiative 502 clearly stated that if passed, it would have no effect on medical cannabis laws. Both repeatedly reassured voters that “I-502 won’t harm patients.”

Senate Bill SB 5052 is an effort by the Legislature that could doom our medical cannabis patient rights. This bill could bring harm and even death to many medical cannabis patients. Why would the lawmakers do this?

Immediately, three reasons grab my attention: knowledge deficit, power, and greed. Let’s examine this.

Well that didn't take long. Only a couple months after D.C.'s marijuana legalization laws took effect, investors are already planning a convention to figure out how they can get in on the green rush. (No, not that Green Rush, but if any investors are interested in investing in that column, I'm willing to sell out in .01 seconds. Growing weed is expensive).

Melissa Etheridge is equal parts musician and activist, and in recent years the singer-songwriter’s activism has expanded to include marijuana legalization.

In June 2014, Etheridge spoke out to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo with an impassioned speech: “As a cancer survivor, I know the ravages of a serious illness, and patients who are suffering deserve access to a medication that can provide them relief,” she said just a few days before a Democratic-led assembly passed medical marijuana legislation in the state.

LANSING, MI -- A new group seeking to legalize recreational marijuana in Michigan has a jump start in the race to the 2016 ballot.

The Michigan Cannabis Coalition -- one of three groups that may launch pot legalization petition drives -- plans to submit proposed language to the Secretary of State on Thursday for review by the Board of State Canvassers prior to public circulation.

When recreational marijuana was legalized in Colorado in January of 2014, it promised to be a boom for those who were ready with their brick and mortar stores and new licenses. Growing as rapidly as weed are ancillary businesses that cater to these new marijuana pioneers. You only need to walk inside the massive grow operation at establishments like Medicine Man to realize that marijuana demands sophisticated lighting and cooling systems as well as excellent soil and fertilizers to keep the plants happily budding. To protect the plants, growers and retailers need elaborate security systems. Once harvested, marijuana needs to be sold in specialized packaging. Ancillary products are flourishing as the marijuana economy takes off.