Kenneth Crowe is reporting in the Times Union the effort to legalize marijuana in New York received a celebrity boost February 17, when former radio and television talk show host Montel Williams told his personal cannabis story at the New York State Association of Black and Puerto Rican Legislators Conference. Williams described how he was using more and more prescription opioids to deal with pain from multiple sclerosis when a physician advised him to use marijuana. “Does marijuana stop pain? No. Does marijuana make it livable? Yes,” Williams said. “Marijuana could be the number one exit drug for opioid addiction,” he said. The “marijuana regulation and taxation act” introduced in the state Legislature is expected to have an impact that will help the state’s economy as well as the minority communities that have borne the brunt of prison terms from marijuana use. Read the full story in the Times Union.