The legal marijuana industry is budding before our eyes. What had once been considered a taboo industry that was swept under the rug by lawmakers has now become a front-and-center issue, as well as a big-time moneymaker for investors and companies involves in the pot industry.

CBD edibles and vapes spiked with a variety of synthetic marijuana compounds have found their way to consumers in Louisiana, Maryland and nearly a dozen other states, according to a nationwide Associated Press investigation into unregulated cannabidiol products. Synthetic marijuana, often marketed as K2 or Spice, has been linked to mass hospitalizations and other health emergencies across the U.S. and Europe.

Bob Dylan wrote his indelible classic “The Times They Are a-Changin’” at a moment of enormous political and cultural upheaval in the country. Nearly 60 years later, the lyrics have been invoked—in a court of law, no less—to capture the winds of change in marijuana policy.

Two men, one of whom is a Baltimore mail carrier, have pleaded guilty to smuggling marijuana into the city through the U.S. Postal Service. Both men face decades in federal prison as punishment for their convictions, according to a report in local media.

Michael Gray pleaded guilty to federal charges of conspiracy to distribute marijuana this week and could spend up to 20 years in prison for his role in the smuggling operation. William McRae, an employee of the Postal Service, pleaded guilty earlier this year to conspiracy to distribute more than 100 kilograms of marijuana and faces incarceration of up to 40 years.

The University of Maryland is launching a master’s degree program to instruct students on the science and regulation of medical marijuana. The new Master of Science (MS) in Medical Cannabis Science and Therapeutics will “provide students with the knowledge and skills needed to support patients and the medical cannabis industry, add to existing research in the field, and develop well-informed medical cannabis policy,” according to a press release from the university.

Health professional overwhelmingly support the use of medical cannabis among patients in hospice care, according to data published in The Journal of Palliative Medicine.

Investigators from the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy surveyed a nationally representative sample of 310 hospice professionals (primarily nurses) from 40 states.

Ninety-one percent of respondents endorsed the use of medical cannabis among hospice patients. Ninety percent of respondents said that they have fielded questions from patients regarding the use of medical cannabis, and 73 percent acknowledging having cared for a patient who has used it.

A request by Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby to dismiss nearly 5,000 past cases of marijuana possession was denied by judges on Friday, according to online court records. On Monday, a spokeswoman for the State’s Attorney’s Office confirmed that the petition had been rejected by the judges.

Prosecutors had filed paperwork to dismiss cases going back to 2011, covering approximately 1,000 convictions in Circuit Court and almost 3,800 more in District Court. The judges’ reasoning for rejecting the requests is not yet clear.

A group of mothers are banding together to ask Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh to decriminalize marijuana and shift police focus to solving homicides, writes Joseph Misulonas.

State lawmakers in both chambers filed legislation Wednesday that would end cannabis prohibition in Maryland.

Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby announced on Tuesday that marijuana possession cases in the city will no longer be prosecuted. The city’s lead prosecutor also said that she plans to vacate as many as 5,000 previous convictions, according to media reports. Mosby said that the change in policy is in part a reaction to the racial disparity prevalent in the prosecution of cannabis offenses.

“The statistics are damning when it comes to the disproportionate impact that the ‘War on Drugs’ has had on communities of color,” Mosby said. “As your state’s attorney, I pledged to institute change and I refuse to stand by and be a facilitator of injustice and inequity when it is clear that we can be so much smarter and do so much more on behalf of the people we serve.”