Companies in Washington and Colorado are seeing green thanks to the legalization of marijuana. Now Canada is on the onset of a marijuana boom. Bloomberg's Michael Bancroft visited one pot producer blending old-fashioned farming techniques with big data to create new strains to treat patients.

Locally owned IPAmediagroup announced the official launch date of www.420fundme.com, a highly anticipated platform facilitating crowdfunding for cannabis related projects. Site launch is set for September 15th and will enable individuals, groups and businesses to fund a project or venture by raising monetary contributions from individuals online.

Washington state is moving ahead with its plans to allow scientific research of marijuana, sidestepping federal rules that critics say have hampered study of the drug for decades.

The state has a new marijuana research license that will allow laboratories to grow marijuana for scientific study. State officials expect to start accepting applications for the new license by January.

Supporters hope the state licensing helps provide new evidence of marijuana’s effectiveness as a medical treatment, potentially paving the way for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to ease restrictions on the drug’s possession and use.

From APIs to dispensary robots, new innovations are popping up like weeds.

The cannabis industry is growing up, and it would be tough to imagine more convincing proof than Microsoft's recent announcement that it's getting involved.

Though the software giant will stay very much in the background -- its role will focus primarily on providing Azure cloud services for a compliance-focused software push -- the move is still widely viewed as a telling sign.

Rolling a five pointed joint is one innovation, but science is finding many new high-tech ways to help cannabis patients.

When it comes to technological developments in the widely varied cannabis industry, some come about due to the natural instinct to innovate, and some come about as a necessity to adapt with the ever-changing landscape that is the medical and recreational cannabis space. Over the years, businesses, researchers, advocates, and everyone in between has had their crack at assisting in ushering in new technologies and practices.

Maryland entrepreneurs seeking to get into the marijuana business will have a new boost of extra help following the rules thanks to a Colorado tech firm.

Maryland law firm Offit Kurman, which has offices in Bethesda and Baltimore, formed an exclusive alliance with Denver-based Adherence Compliance to offer automated compliance software and services for the cannabis industry, it announced Friday.

The technology conducts audits and provides quantitative risk assessment applications and consulting services for companies in states that have legalized marijuana for medical or recreational purposes.

Bitcoin-accepting Trees, a former medical cannabis dispensary that made headlines with its vision to deliver dank buds via drone, has pivoted towards becoming a marketplace in conjunction with building a payment processor. Its emphasis is on allowing cannabis businesses to become their own banks through blockchain technology.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced on Thursday, Aug. 11, that the executive agency will allow marijuana researchers to use “a more varied and robust supply” of the drug by allowing more institutions to conduct scientific experiments and grow their own cannabis plants.

Acting DEA administrator, Chuck Rosenberg, however, formally rejected a 2011 petition from the states of Rhode Island and Washington, which sought to remove marijuana from the Schedule I federal list of banned substances under the Controlled Substances Act (1970).

In a letter addressed to both states, Rosenberg wrote:

After having to laboriously grind their own bud since time immemorial, pot smokers can finally buy a portable grinder called the Chewy. It operates all by itself, no manual hand twisting required.

A Traditional AC Powered Grinder, aka A Coffee Grinder

THE Victorian Government would consider introducing drug interlocks for vehicles of illicit users, if and when technology produces an accurate and efficient device.

Such devices would have a major impact on road fatalities and follow the success of mandatory alcohol interlock devices for drink drivers. Victoria Police and VicRoads are open to considering the technology if it becomes available.

Police will conduct 100,000 roadside illicit drug swab tests this year — up from 42,000 — at a cost of about $35 per test.