We've often heard professional athletes in the NBA, NFL and NHL say that marijuana's medicinal effects helped them maintain their game, by providing relief for their aches and pains.

Four states and the District of Columbia have voted since 2012 to legalize the retail sale of marijuana. One main incentive of legalization is the tax revenue states receive from marijuana sales. The first two states to legalize marijuana — Colorado and Washington — began sales in 2014. After a slow start, tax revenues now exceed expectations in both states.

While the legal structure supporting marijuana sales would be quite different in each U.S. region, other states can begin to better understand the financial impact legalization would have on their states. The Tax Foundation used sales per capita in these two states and the assumption of a 25% effective tax rate to determine the potential tax revenue from marijuana sales in each state.

Psychiatrist Dr Owen Bowden-Jones explains why starting discussions about drugs early can be crucial when it comes to educating your teens on the dangers of legal and illegal highs.

DISCOVERING your child is taking drugs is every parent's nightmare, and most would go to great lengths to ensure illegal substances – or even legal highs – are never part of their child's world.

But ongoing conversations about drugs with children, starting well before the age they're likely to first be offered them, may be all it takes to prevent experimentation.

THORNY ISSUE

Psychiatrist and addiction expert Dr Owen Bowden-Jones, who's written a book called The Drug Conversation to help parents navigate the thorny issue, explains:

As California voters mull whether to legalize recreational marijuana for adults, both sides have argued over what advertising would appear and where should Proposition 64 pass.

That includes Northern California where Shasta Lake's medical marijuana dispensaries, which already run advertisements on various platforms, express different views on what, if any, recreational commercials they'd run.

Proposition 64 establishes rules for recreational ads that, among other things, bars advertising and product labels geared toward minors, supporters say. It establishes those rules in case the federal government OKs recreational marijuana advertising, according to the Yes on 64 campaign.

• Eben Britton, a retired offensive lineman, says that marijuana use not only healed his pain but also improved his performance on the field
• Players and agents say that marijuana use is more prevalent than originally believed
• The league prohibits its players from using marijuana, though a growing movement is advocating a change in policy
• There are currently 18 players who have been suspended this season for violating the league's stringent substance abuse policy 

Soon voters will get a chance to decide on whether to legalize marijuana. Police are worried if the proposition passes in November it could affect all of our safety on the roads. But, a Bay Area company is one step closer to helping identify drugged drivers.

At a recent sobriety check point in San Francisco, police looked for valid driver's licenses and made sure people weren't driving drunk.

San Francisco police Sgt. John Bragagnolo estimates one in four drivers they stop for driving under the influence is driving high on pot.

"Marijuana has become just as strong, if not stronger of a problem with driving as alcohol," said Bragagnolo.

America’s legal marijuana industry has a huge diversity problem—and it couldn’t be more ironic.

The Drug Policy Alliance estimates that less than 1% of the market to grow legal weed is owned or operated by people of color, a startling statistic considering millions of African-American and Hispanic men have been sent to prison for selling the same drug. This has been a trend since the national war on drugs began more than 40 years ago.

Proponents of the Adult Use Marijuana Act say it is time to shine a light on what is already a well-established industry in California that needs to be regulated.

“The time is right, the support is there . . . and this takes a new approach to changing a system that does not work,” said Jason Kinney, a spokesman for Yes on 64.

Kinney and other supporters point out that a large portion of California’s population already smokes marijuana in some capacity or another, creating a tax-free, billion-dollar industry.

The U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reports that more than 2.5 million adult Californians use marijuana, the most of any state by far. That is from 2012 census data.

Yes, tourists are coming to Colorado for the weed — but just not as many as you might think. In fact, according to a state-subsidized survey, only 12 percent of visitors to this state visit a dispensary.

When you ask Colorado's first-ever director of marijuana co-ordination what's changed in the two years since the state legalized pot, he'll tell you that things look "roughly the same."

In other words, the streets are not filled with the scent of reefer and no government officials are swimming through mountains of money like Scrooge McDuck.

Andrew Freedman is often referred to in Colorado as the 'marijuana czar' because of his role as the state's director of marijuana coordination. (Linkedin)

In 2015, Andrew Freedman, who is often referred to as the state's marijuana czar, said taxes on medical and recreational marijuana added about $130-million to Colorado's $27-billion budget.