Nearly a year after the state's six medical-marijuana dispensaries opened, patients are changing their habits.

For quick relief, they are smoking marijuana less and inhaling its vapours and therapeutic oils more, those in the industry say. Others are eating cookies or placing strips with the various active ingredients into their mouths to alleviate pain, nausea and seizures associated with the growing list of ailments.

Prices that a year ago were markedly more expensive than the underground market have dropped sharply and are now competitive, according to dispensaries, state officials and market analysts.

"When I started having success, I took the oil," said William McDonald, 42, of Monroe, referring to CBD extract, which does not induce a high.

1. Ohio - Ohio voters will decide Nov. 3 whether to legalize marijuana with a constitutional amendment to institute a revolutionary proposal that backers say will create a billion-dollar industry in the next four years.

Secretary of State Jon Husted said Wednesday the private investor group ResponsibleOhio had collected 320,267 signatures of registered Ohio voters, 14,676 more than necessary to qualify for the general-election ballot. ResponsibleOhio spent more than $2 million since March on the petition drive to put its proposed Marijuana Legalization Amendment before voters.

Most of the medical marijuana patients in Connecticut are being seen by a handful of doctors, whose role is to certify patients’ eligibility and send them to one of the state’s six dispensaries.

That’s the case even as state Consumer Protection Commissioner Jonathan Harris has launched a public service campaign to increase the number of doctors registered in the medical marijuana program.

Only 239 doctors have signed up as of July 23, Harris said, up 17 from the beginning of the campaign of radio and print public service announcements, although Harris said he couldn’t determine any connection between the increase and the campaign itself.

We’re expecting to learn by the end of the week, which companies will be given licenses to grow and sell medical marijuana in New York.

The Health Department has reviewed thousands of pages from 43 applications. Only five will be chosen. One of which is Hudson Health Extracts and they gave us an exclusive look inside their sister company in Watertown Connecticut.

New York will have some of the toughest regulations when it comes to medical marijuana. It will only be sold in the form of pills, tinctures, and vaporizers.

To protect the budding industry, Theraplant is located in a highly secure facility. NEWS10ABC had to suit up to protect the plants from pollen or any type of bacteria.

With only a small fraction of the state’s doctors participating in Connecticut’s medical marijuana program, the agency that’s running it has begun a public-service blitz to let physicians and patients know the drug is safe and legal.

The goal is to break through the stigma and lack of information that seems to be holding doctors back from registering, which they need to do to be able to prescribe the drug.

HARTFORD — Connecticut plans to allow up to three more medical marijuana dispensaries, targeting New Haven and Fairfield counties, where there are the most registered patients and the fewest licensed sellers.

The decision to add to the state's six dispensaries comes nine months after the first medical marijuana sales by a fledgling industry in Connecticut in which both growers and dispensaries are still in a struggle to break even.

The Department of Consumer Protection announced Thursday that it would seek proposals for the new dispensaries because there has been "significant growth" in patient registration, especially this spring.

Connecticut now has more than 4,000 registered medical marijuana patients, new figures from the state Department of Consumer Protection show.

The Medical Marijuana Program, which began last fall, had 4,097 registered patients as of June 5, up from 3,600 in April and 2,300 in September.

The number of registered patients, while steadily increasing, is still far below the 20,000, by one manufacturer's estimate, who could be served by the four medical marijuana manufacturers and six dispensaries.

Some Connecticut families say they're running out of options after a bill that would allow children to use medical marijuana died in the legislature.

Seven-year-old West Tarricone is full of energy as she plays with her twin brother, Blake, but hundreds of times a day, seizures stop her in her tracks.

Family Wants Medical Marijuana for Kids

"Her seizures are at the point now where she stops breathing. We have oxygen now," said West's and Blake's mom Cara Tarricone.

West was diagnosed with West Syndrome, a type of epilepsy, at just 11 months. Since then she's been in and out of the hospital and currently takes up to 18 pills a day, though her parents say it does little to help.

With summer just around the corner, many legislative sessions are nearing an end, but that doesn't mean the end for cannabis progress! This week brings surprising and heartwarming news from down on the bayou in Louisiana, while California’s discussing legalization, New York is gearing up to select growers for their medical program, and India just held their first ever medical cannabis conference.

U.S. Updates

CALIFORNIA

HARTFORD -- In a bipartisan move that's the last hurdle before debates in the Senate and House, the General Law Committee voted Tuesday morning to allow children to join the state's medical marijuana program.

Acting on an amendment from the state Senate, the committee approved a new section that would prohibit those under 18 from smoking or inhaling the drug's vapors. In liquid form, however, marijuana has been found to reduce childhood seizures.