It’s just an ordinary afternoon at Weedmaps headquarters, and Justin Hartfield, the company’s clean-cut CEO, is waiting for another potential investor to arrive.

Hartfield is 31 and boyish with black glasses, close-cropped dark hair and an easy smile. He could be a management consultant or a CPA if he weren’t sitting in his office in a black leather armchair, wearing khaki shorts and bright turquoise flip-flops.

He is drinking a porter beer from a custom-made tankard, and as he explains more about today’s billionaire visitor, the dark liquid empties to reveal the head of a bright-green alien poking up from the glass.

While there have been synthetic THC tablets around for quite some time, and medical marijuana markets on the rise, there has been another medical breakthrough as far as marijuana is concerned: yeast.

Yeast – hardly an innocent microorganism – is already used to produce alcohol, but this is believed to be the first time it has generated the natural chemical found in cannabis. They also have unpublished data to show they succeeded in creating a yeast strain that can make cannabidiol.

Researchers from the Technical University of Dortmund in Germany published their results in the journal Biotechnology Letters.

A study led by a Dalhousie researcher is providing a clearer picture of the evolutionary history and genetic organization of cannabis. It's a step that could have significant agricultural, medical and legal implications for a crop whose importance in health and other fields continues to grow.

“The cultivation of hemp and marijuana represent significant global industries, but our understanding of them lags far behind our understanding of similarly valuable agricultural crops,” says Sean Myles, assistant professor in the Faculty of Agriculture at Dalhousie and Canada Research Chair in Agricultural Genetic Diversity.  

BOULDER, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

BDS Analytics, a Colorado-based market intelligence firm, announced today it has successfully closed its first round of funding, raising $1.5 million, two-thirds more than its funding goal of $900,000. The deal includes both angel and institutional investors.

SALEM — The Oregon Liquor Control Commission continues to move ahead with implementing its seed-to-sale tracking system for recreational marijuana, despite a lawsuit filed by an unsuccessful bidder.

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 16, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- eCann Media unveils the lineup for its inaugural "Cannabis Investor Summit", a new platform for investors looking to get into the legal cannabis industry. The Summit will showcase the best investment opportunities and benefits of investing in the Cannabis industry, with an emphasis on the transparency of a cloud-based environment.

Between the potential health benefits of hemp cannabidiol (CBD) and the controversy surrounding its regulatory status in the United States, CBD is generating plenty of interest in the dietary supplement industry. But now, early test results suggest that a technology from Lexaria Corp. (Vancouver, Canada) may increase CBD’s bioavailability by nearly 500%—possibly making the ingredient even more attractive for dietary supplements.

By Caroline Cahill

Data has been given new life in the digital age. Beyond tracking bank account activity from your smartphone, running keyword reports in Google Analytics or remotely evaluating security systems, data is redefining what is possible in our personal and professional lives. Within that, the advent of legal medical and recreational cannabis is redefining what the legal industry’s stakeholders need from data providers.

With a big data methodology, New Frontier Financials is transforming raw cannabis data into actionable intelligence for the legal industry’s three main stakeholders: legislators, operators and investors.

As Green Technology Solutions, Inc. (OTCBB:GTSO) continues to develop new solutions for the rapidly growing U.S. cannabis industry, a new innovation is poised to transform the way adults and patients enjoy the plant’s benefits: transdermal patches.

“The rise of edibles and other smokeless forms of cannabis consumption show how desperately the market needs a product like this”

Transdermal patches comprise a new way to consume cannabis: through the skin. Working on much the same principle as more common nicotine or birth-control patches, cannabis patches can be applied directly to various parts of the body, where they deliver a slow and controlled release of cannabinoids.

LONDON, Sept. 15, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GW Pharmaceuticals plc (Nasdaq:GWPH) (AIM:GWP) ("GW," "the Company" or "the Group"), a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing novel therapeutics from its proprietary cannabinoid product platform, today announced positive top line results from an exploratory Phase 2a placebo-controlled clinical trial of Cannabidiol (CBD) in 88 patients with schizophrenia who had previously failed to respond adequately to first line anti-psychotic medications. In the trial, patients remained on their anti-psychotic medication and were randomized to receive CBD or placebo as adjunct therapy.