A statewide ballot initiative to regulate marijuana like alcohol in Massachusetts will be filed today at 1 p.m. ET with the office of state Attorney General Maura Healy. The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol (CRMLA) will hold a media availability outside of the office immediately prior to submitting the measure inside.

“Next year, voters will have the opportunity to end the failed policy of prohibition and replace it with a more sensible system,” said campaign director Will Luzier, a former assistant attorney general who previously served as executive director of the Massachusetts Interagency Council on Substance Abuse and Prevention. “Marijuana is significantly less harmful than alcohol, and our laws should reflect that.”

In our increasingly cashless economy it can be a genuinely upsetting experience to get to the check-out counter to see a sign that reads “CASH ONLY”, but if you’ve ever participated in the marijuana economy you know this is just the current cost of doing business in a quasi-legal marketplace. However, some are concerned that this is more than an issue of inconvenience; access to banking is an issue of public safety.

Billionaire investor Donald Trump has offered his unbridled remarks on everything from Mexican immigration to Sen. John McCain's military career and mocked or attacked several of his presidential running mates, but, as political experts have pointed out, the White House hopeful has offered little so far in the way of actual policy platforms. 

Here's where Trump stands on three of the leading issues of our time: marijuana, gun control and immigration.

On marijuana legalization

Despite having called for the legalization of all drugs 25 years ago, Trump most recently said he didn't like the idea of legalizing marijuana for recreational purposes, but basically said it should be up to states to decide. 

Massachusetts recently opened its first medical marijuana dispensaries.

Two groups will file petitions for ballot measures Wednesday that would legalize marijuana for recreational adult use in Massachusetts, likely setting the stage for a fierce battle at the November 2016 ballot box.

But there’s another slow-burning conflict.

The groups’ efforts represent two fundamentally different philosophies on legalization. One would create a new regulation, taxation, and bureaucratic regimen for marijuana with similarities to the way alcohol is overseen in Massachusetts. The other is more focused on individual liberty, avoiding heavy regulation or any special taxes on the substance.

Synthetic marijuana is flooding the streets of major U.S. cities this summer, causing a surge in overdoses and, according to some police officials, a rise in violent crime.

The situation has become urgent enough that police chiefs meeting in Washington this week called for development of field tests that can help police quickly figure out suspects on the synthetic marijuana.

Sold in slickly marketed packets with names like K2, Scooby Snax and Spice, the drugs are made up of a variety of chemicals and have little to do with marijuana.

The chemicals found in the packets vary -- even identically branded packages often contain vastly different ingredients -- and users likely have no idea what they're smoking.

In national polls, Republicans are still the biggest opponents of marijuana legalization, but that picture is rapidly changing in Vermont and elsewhere.

Vermont Senate Minority Leader Joe Benning is one of the state’s strongest proponents of legalization. The Republican from Caledonia has written opinion letters to local newspapers arguing that legalization will ensure safer pot products and give the state an economic boost. He is a member of a Senate committee that has been hearing testimony and crafting legislation to legalize recreational pot. The committee is scheduled to file the bill in January when the Legislature reconvenes.

Devon, PA, August 4, 2015 – Zynerba Pharmaceuticals, Inc., announced today the pricing of its initial public offering of 3 million shares of common stock at a public offering price of $14.00 per share, before underwriting discounts. All of the shares in the offering are being sold by Zynerba. In addition, Zynerba has granted the underwriters an option to purchase up to 450,000 additional shares of common stock at the public offering price, less the underwriting discount. Zynerba’s common stock has been approved for listing on the NASDAQ Global Market and is expected to begin trading under the symbol “ZYNE” on August 5, 2015.

At the newly opened Capitol Hemp shop in Adams Morgan, $50 can buy a small pipe, a bag of hemp pretzels and some 24-karat-gold rolling paper. Or, you could blow the whole amount on a Bud Bug.

“This is by far the weirdest thing we sell at the store,” Capitol Hemp’s co-owner Adam Eidinger said as he pulled a box down from a shelf. Inside was a colorful, oversize mechanical insect that grinds clumps of marijuana as it scoots across the floor, leaving a trail of finely ground cannabis in its path.

“As I said, we sell hard-to-find pieces,” Eidinger quipped.

Monday marked the first day that Capitol Hemp was open for business in D.C.’s era of legalized marijuana. The official grand opening is Wednesday, featuring free hemp ice cream for customers.

A marijuana dispenser in Colorado is modeling his career after an unlikely business hero: TV dinner tycoon Clarence Birdseye, who practically invented the frozen food industry thanks to his dual interests in food preservation and inventing new technology.

Ryan Fox is hoping to do the same by innovating in both the distribution and retail ends of legal cannabis.

Fox is the founder and CEO of Kindman cannabis products and the Grass Station, the distribution arm of his business. He believes consumers might want the option of buying a pack of bud in the same way they'd buy a frozen meal; prepackaging his cannabis product instead of selling it bulk and letting distributors mete it out.

Researchers 'surprised' after watching adolescent weed lovers dodge depression, psychosis and even asthma.

Heavy weed smoking during adolescence does NOT increase boys' risk of developing mental or physical health problems later in life, astonishing new research has claimed.