e first time Brian Rogers took a bong hit at a party with his Havre de Grace High School friends, he said marijuana had no effect on him.

Now Rogers co-owns a multimillion-dollar marijuana company in Colorado at the center of the CNN docu-series, "High Profits," and he's no longer ambivalent.

"It's changed my life," the 34-year-old Harford County native said.

While recreational marijuana is illegal in 46 states — including Maryland — Colorado has been at the forefront of the legalization movement. And Rogers has been at the forefront of capitalizing on it.

HAGERSTOWN, Md. — Washington County is a proudly conservative place. Voters here haven’t backed a Democrat for president since 1964, and same-sex marriage lost by a landslide in a referendum three years ago.

But when Chicago-based Green Thumb Industries pitched a proposal to put a medical-marijuana production plant here, the county’s five county commissioners — Republicans all — passed a resolution unanimously supporting the plan.

Residents of Hagerstown, the county seat, seem to be taking the news in stride. The consensus: yes to marijuana for relieving pain, no to recreational use.

“I think it’s all right as long as it’s only for medical. I don’t want a lot of potheads,” said Leo ­Myers, 61, a security worker at the Mack Truck plant.

SILVER SPRING, Md., Aug. 04, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PharmaCyte Biotech, Inc. (OTCQB:PMCB), a clinical stage biotechnology company focused on developing targeted treatments for cancer and diabetes using its signature live-cell encapsulation technology, Cell-in-a-Box®, announced today that Chardan Capital Markets LLC, a privately held full service global investment bank specializing in micro, small and mid-cap companies, issued an Industry Update featuring PharmaCyte Biotech. The report can be viewed at www.PharmaCyte.com/reports.

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) -- The first specialty clinic for medical marijuana opened in Annapolis in June and has seen more than 100 prospective patients even though the Maryland Medical Cannabis Program isn't expected to be operational for another year.

Greenway Consultation, located in the Conte Lubrano Office Building, has three consultants and three physicians, who are not yet registered to recommend the drug through the Maryland Medical Cannibis Commission. The commission develops and oversees all licensing, registration, inspection and testing.

The clinic's spokesman Nick Petrucci said opening in advance of the program has advantages, such as beginning to build the patient-doctor relationship to expedite a recommendation for marijuana when the program begins.

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — The first specialty clinic for medical marijuana opened in Annapolis in June and has seen more than 100 prospective patients — even though the Maryland Medical Cannabis Program isn’t expected to be operational for another year.

Greenway Consultation, located in the Conte Lubrano Office Building, has three consultants and three physicians, who are not yet registered to recommend the drug through the Maryland Medical Cannibis Commission. The commission develops and oversees all licensing, registration, inspection and testing.

The clinic’s spokesman Nick Petrucci said opening in advance of the program has advantages, such as beginning to build the patient-doctor relationship to expedite a recommendation for marijuana when the program begins.

The first specialty clinic for medical marijuana opened in Annapolis in June and has seen more than 100 prospective patients -- even though the Maryland Medical Cannabis Program isn't expected to be operational for another year.

Greenway Consultation, located in the Conte Lubrano Office Building, has three consultants and three physicians, who are not yet registered to recommend the drug through the Maryland Medical Cannibis Commission. The commission develops and oversees all licensing, registration, inspection and testing.

The clinic's spokesman Nick Petrucci said opening in advance of the program has advantages, such as beginning to build the patient-doctor relationship to expedite a recommendation for marijuana when the program begins.

GREENBELT, Md. –  A former letter carrier has been convicted of delivering packages of marijuana from a post office to the home of a conspirator.

A federal jury on Friday convicted 33-year-old Takisha Cole of Washington of possession with intent to distribute marijuana, use of a communications device to facilitate drug trafficking, and bribery.

According to evidence presented at trial, Cole worked as a letter carrier for the U.S. Postal Service in Silver Spring. Prosecutors say the conspirator paid Cole to obtain and deliver packages containing marijuana to him.

Authorities say Cole picked up the packages at the post office and delivered them to the conspirator, even after his address was no longer on her route.

Cole's sentencing is set for Oct. 19.

BALTIMORE — A state panel charged with regulating Maryland's new medical-marijuana industry announced an agreement Tuesday for Towson University to serve as a consultant on applications from entities seeking licenses as cannabis growers, processors and dispensers.

In its agreement with the Natalie M. LaPrade Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission, Towson's Regional Economic Studies Institute, or RESI, will provide oversight in developing applications and assist in managing applicant evaluations, according to a news release issued by the commission.

The panel anticipates that applications and instructions for prospective growers, processors and dispensers will be available on its website in September.

An unlikely pair of lawmakers is seeking to promote government research of marijuana.

Reps. Andy Harris (R-Md.) and Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) — who stand on opposite sides of the legalization debate — are co-sponsoring an amendment that would help scientists study medical marijuana.

“Our amendment shows members of Congress with widely varying views on marijuana policy are united in support of building a robust body of scientific information on medical marijuana," said Blumenauer, whose state recently legalized recreational use of the drug.