The legal marijuana business has created a multibillion-dollar industry, including some interesting side ventures and spinoffs, and even unlikely entrepreneurs have found lucrative niches.

Among them are Deb Baker, a retired high school teacher, and Barb Diner, a former marketing executive, who both live in Denver and have been friends for 27 years. The two had found the relaxed retirement life a bit dull, so they would often bat around ideas that might be interesting to pursue and that could supplement their income.

In 2014, the nascent entrepreneurs saw a niche to be filled — child-resistant marijuana containers that would comply with Colorado’s newly mandated regulation.

Attitudes towards cannabis have shifted dramatically over the last two decades, and this has been reflected in recent changes to the law in many countries around the world. Just this November, an additional four US states voted to make recreational cannabis use legal, bringing the total to eight, (plus Washington DC). And over half of US states have legalized medicinal cannabis use.

But, given that cannabis was previously a prohibited drug in almost every country, regulators face major challenges in getting to grips with what is now a flourishing legal cannabis industry. And in the USA, with individual states making their own laws while the drug remains illegal at the federal level, the situation is further complicated.

According to Rick Byrd, the future of farming is tall, dirtless and local.

Byrd’s vision of skyscraper farms to feed city dwellers begins with a much different kind of crop: marijuana.

The lit world is a wired world. Here's how to keep charged.

Consuming cannabis is more in vogue than ever before. Everyone smokes; or vapes, or eats, or dabs weed. Well, not literally everyone does, but literally every adult American human belongs to a demographic that does partake. And all of those demographics propelling the retail weed and ancillary industries have a buyer’s crush on sweet tech products.

Eaze is a cannabis delivery service in California. Using the company app, customers can order online from a choice of high-quality, lab-tested products, and then track the progress from the local dispensary to their homes. Eaze has become the largest such company in the country, growing with the help of $13-million of venture capital investment late last fall. We recently caught up with founder Keith McCarty by e-mail. Here are his thoughts on the company's growth potential in the era of greatly expanding medical and recreational cannabis markets.

Are you confused about marijuana phenotypes and genotypes? This article will explain their differences.

If you are in the marijuana world, you have probably already noticed that the same strains can taste vastly different, as well as have completely distinct effects on the user. Besides growing techniques used this difference mostly comes from one thing: genetics.

New program will encourage corporations to set up innovation labs, to foster startups and get government benefits.

The Israel Innovation Authority has set up a new “Technological Innovation Labs” program that aims to prod corporations to set up innovation labs to support startups in their field of interest.

California’s new marijuana laws don’t take effect until 2018, but a big money race to help the state regulate the industry is already in progress.

Even though California was the first state to legalize medical marijuana and is the largest legal marijuana market in the country, it has not yet adapted a system for the government to track product. These kinds of protocols, similar to those that exist for pharmaceuticals, have become standard in other legal states.

The cannabis industry has made incredible strides over the last two years as scientific research continues to support the plant’s vast medical applications.

Although the biotech sector will be one of the greatest beneficiaries of the burgeoning cannabis industry, companies levered to the health and wellness side of the business will also benefit as they continue to develop new products and supplements that support healthy living. 

The Boston Globe reports that hackers early last week took down the servers of MJ Freeway, a system that tracks marijuana sales and inventory, and helps dispensaries prepare regulatory paperwork. The company says no customer or patient information was stolen during the attack, but large amounts of data was corrupted. The recovery process has been slow, and at least some customers are abandoning the company.