Medicinal Genomics and Courtagen Life Sciences today announced it has signed a co-promotion agreement with the 

Nick Boppe: Head Grower

Nick Boppe is the head grower at Buddy Boy Farm located about 30 miles from Spokane, Wash. Boppe, 37, is in his second year at the 600 acre organic farm. Boppe moved to Eastern Wash. to work at Buddy Boy from Calif. where he was in construction. (Jed Conklin for Leafly)

After a couple decades as an itinerant construction worker, Nick Boppe values his job as head grower for Buddy Boy Farm in eastern Washington for its steady paycheck and the chance to work outdoors.

In 2016, the 420 front was one of few sectors growing by leaps and bounds. Last year may have been the biggest ever for marijuana reform, with three additional states giving the nod to medical pot and four to recreational use.

Cannabis research firm The ArcView Group predicts a staggering $22 billion in legal marijuana sales by 2020. Unwilling to let grass grow under their feet, tech giants are prepared to spend big for a place in the race to become the Google of cannabis.

HempTech Corp., a provider of advanced Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) with sophisticated automation and analytical tools for the cultivators of legal industrial hemp and marijuana, has agreed to buildout a drug development and manufacturing facility, one of many, for Biotica Pharmaceuticals beginning second quarter 2017.

Scientists may soon be able to achieve ‘unthinkable’ strains of marijuana thanks to new efforts in DNA sequencing.

Spearheaded by former HIV researcher Mowgli Holmes, Phylos Bioscience is attempting to map the genetic data for every strain in the world.

The team has so far sequenced over a thousand different kinds, and they’ve plotted all the findings in a breathtaking 3-D representation of the marijuana ‘Galaxy.’

Use your mouse to drag the graphic and zoom in to reveal the many strains in the 'Galaxy'

Celebrating its 50th anniversary, the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas will be the largest edition of the show yet.

At the gargantuan tech conference, two of the most exciting tech markets this year will be robotics and virtual reality content. However, another fast-growing tech market, that of cannabis startups, will be noticeably absent.

Israel’s Council for Higher Education has, for the first time for a major university, given approval to a course on medical cannabis. The course will take place at Ariel University.

The course was initiated and is being led by Dr. Michael Dor. Dor is a lecturer at the university’s Faculty of Health Sciences, and is also a chief adviser of the nation’s Health Ministry.

According to Dor, 117 students have been accepted into the course. The course includes:

Even in Colorado, breeding hemp means grappling with all sorts of legal red tape. One plant biologist hopes to beat the odds.

Bear Reel cuts a tiny gure on the vast Colorado plains, but she lives up to her name in ferocity of spirit. She has to. The 34-year-old occupies a decidedly unorthodox niche: a 21st-century scientist breeding new varieties of an ancient plant that’s also a controlled substance.

Taking advantage of progressive government policies regarding marijuana cultivation for medicinal and research purposes, Israeli entrepreneurs are aiming to make the country a “global hub for medical cannabis research.”

Applying advanced agricultural technology to provide medical-grade cannabis for research (and eventually for export, if expected changes in the current laws are made), several Israeli startups are already reporting a brisk trade – particularly from clients in countries like the United States, where marijuana research is either illegal or strictly controlled.