Colorado health officials are trying to find a way to prevent people from overdosing on marijuana edibles. The products have been implicated in two suicides and one murder in the past 13 months, according to The Denver Post.

Almost five million edibles were sold in Colorado stores last year. The Denver Post commissioned lab tests of 10 popular brands, and found edibles' highs are more delayed and long-lasting than smoking or vaporizing marijuana. Some brands severely mismeasure the potency of their products, the newspaper found.

The state has standardized edibles' warning labels, and mandated that 10-milligram doses of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, be individually wrapped. Colorado is also running educational campaigns about proper use of edibles. A mandatory lab-testing program requires edible companies to test each batch for potency.

New rules for edibles are due January 1. While they may help reduce accidental ingestions, it is unclear if they will stop people from eating too much, too fast, critics contend.

Edible marijuana products have become a popular alternative to smoking marijuana in Colorado, since retail sales of the products became legal. Adults 21 and over can legally purchase marijuana edibles at state-licensed stores. Marijuana is now available in products ranging from candy to soda and granola. The amount of marijuana in edible products varies widely. In some cases, products contain levels so high that people experience extreme paranoia and anxiety.

A new study finds the levels of chemicals in some brands of e-cigarette flavoring exceed recommended limits. Some of the chemicals could be respiratory irritants, HealthDay reports.

The flavorings used in e-cigarette fluids are generally the same as those used in food and candy. The difference is that when they are used in e-cigarette fluids, they are inhaled, not eaten, the researchers note in Tobacco Control. They point out the chemicals used for flavoring are usually not included on ingredient labels.

The study included 30 e-cigarette fluids. The flavors tested included cherry, cotton candy, bubble gum and grape. The researchers looked at the types and levels of chemicals. They did not investigate whether the chemicals were safe. They calculated that a person using a typical amount of e-cigarette fluid a day would be exposed to twice the recommended occupational exposure limits of the chemicals benzaldehyde and vanillin.

The results are "likely to be similar to what a broad survey would have revealed, and in any case strongly suggest that very high levels of some flavor chemicals are undoubtedly present in a great number of the thousands of products currently available," wrote researcher James Pankow of Portland State University in Oregon.

Pankow and colleagues called for new regulations on e-cigarettes, including requiring a listing of ingredients, limits on the levels of certain flavorings, and limits on the total levels of flavoring, "particularly as there is some concern that flavored products might make e-cigarettes more attractive to young people."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) launched a social media campaign called "When the Prescription Becomes the Problem." The campaign is designed to raise awareness of prescription painkiller abuse and overdose.

The CDC is encouraging people who have been affected by prescription painkiller addiction to share their stories on social media, Forbes reports. The campaign urges people to write their six-word story or message, create an original picture or a video tagged #RxProblem, post it on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter by May 15, and ask friends and followers to share it.

"Starting April 6th, help us tell the stories of the many people whose lives have been affected by prescription painkiller addiction or the death of a loved one," the CDC says on its campaign website. "Encourage those in need to seek treatment for addiction. Celebrate others who are already working to change lives, and inspire our communities to improve patient safety and the way we treat pain."

There were 16,235 deaths involving prescription opioids in 2013, an increase of 1 percent from 2012, according to the CDC.