BOSTON (CBS) -  One revelation from the Aaron Hernandez trial is that the former Patriots tight end was an avid marijuana user, described by prosecution witness Alexander Bradley as a “chain smoker” of the drug.

With that being said, how did Aaron Hernandez never fail a drug test in the NFL?

The Boston Globe’s Ben Volin tells 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Toucher & Rich it’s actually pretty easy to skirt the league’s drug policy.

Just as the fear of privatization spurred Pennsylvania's state-run liquor monopoly to act more like a profit-oriented business, talk of allowing competition with Uncle Sam's marijuana monopoly seems to have encouraged a more customer-oriented attitude at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which is currently the country's only legal source of cannabis for research. NIDA's recently revised online menu of marijuana available to qualifying researchers suggests the agency is aiming to please in new ways. "NIDA appears to finally be loosening longtime restrictions on cannabis research," says Allen St.

The reverse takeover provides the U.S. and Canadian companies with an entry to the Australian equity market.

NASHVILLE, TN (WSMV) -

A marijuana decriminalization bill passed out of a House committee on Wednesday.

Some Tennessee lawmakers hope the bill will make a big difference when it comes to issuing jail time and fines for those possessing small amounts of marijuana.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Harold Love, D-Nashville, must now pass a Senate committee.

As the law stands now, anyone who is in possession of a half-ounce up to 10 pounds of marijuana faces the same crime.

The new bill would increase the possession amount to a minimum of one ounce. Instead of a felony, the crime would be a misdemeanor with a $100 fine for each violation.

An emotional testimony about medical marijuana was heard Wednesday at the Nebraska State Capitol, with supporters pushing to get a bill to the full Legislature.

"They don't understand. If it was a natural disaster in Nebraska, everybody would be rallying around (it), but our kids are Nebraska's natural disaster, and they need the help now," Becky Budden said.

Budden's 4-year-old daughter has epilepsy and gets seizures.

Families like Budden’s support the Cannabis Compassion and Care Act.

"We've tried multiple pharmaceuticals," Budden said. "Right now, we're only on a rescue medicine. She's still having seizures."

The association startup space is budding just as much as the for-profit space is in Silicon Valley. Check out three examples of new groups that are starting to make an impact on fresh industries.

Association executives who were around in an organization’s early days might look back on those times fondly—long hours and late nights, learning by trial and error, and panicking when growth exceeded expectations. For associations still in their formative years, however, making it through each week, still standing, is cause for celebration.

Doctors and patients emerge in sharper focus thanks to second annual report on program

As New Jersey’s medical marijuana program moves into its third year, state health officials said they will consider expanding it beyond the 10 conditions it currently covers. A panel of doctors and other medical experts will meet in the next few months, for example, to discuss adding post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other problems to the list.

In a sadly predictable development, the mortally wounded but still dangerous War On Cannabis has produced a new book from former drug czar William Bennett. Bennett's new nonsense-filled tome is called Going To Pot, and anyone who enjoys right wing moralizing, pseudo-scientific scare-mongering, and patent nonsense can certainly have a hell of a time with this piece of trash.

Bennett served as director of national drug control policy (drug czar) under President George H.W. Bush, and he's long been known for his obnoxious pronouncements and conservative backwardness, as well as tiresomely moralizing and practically unreadable volumes such as The Book of Virtues.

A common refrain among proponents of continued cannabis criminalization is that there exists a dearth of science specific to the plant’s effects on consumers and society. This claim is woefully inaccurate.

Democratic State Senator Diane Savino, a co-sponsor of the bill that created New York's medical marijuana program, said Wednesday she is pleased with the law's final regulations and urged critics, who accused the Cuomo administration of “abandoning patients and families in need in pursuit of a war on drugs approach,” to be patient with the health department and the fledgling program.

“Look, I understand the role of advocates and it's always [their job] to push for more and I’m not going to debate that,” Savino said. “I think it's a far cry from their insinuation that patients have been abandoned. I just simply don't accept that and don't agree.”