Dread Pirate Roberts may have been sentenced to life, but experts and customers say the tide has turned and internet markets for illicit products are here to stay

One gram of black tar heroin. Price: 0.5 Bitcoins, or around $118.

It is pictured, dark and exotic, next to a needle and a penknife, for scale. Underneath it, users have left rave reviews: “5/5 – Came ridiculously fast. Best stealth, weight on point. Solid product. Perfect purchase as always.”

“5/5 – Even in this chaos he shipped my order fast with great stealth. The product is fire as usual. Thanks.”

“5/5 – 48 hours as usual you guys are super.”

James Hull recently went back to his roots as a 3rd generation horticulturist after a career in high-tech engineering.  The result? Catapult, a Marijuana-infused coffee which according to Hull makes you feel blissful and energetic at the same time.

It seems only natural that Hull runs his company, Fairwinds Mfg., just a few hours south of America’s coffee capital, Seattle.

(Catapult coffee from Fairwinds Mfg should not be confused with Fairwinds coffee from The Rogers Family Company which makes traditional coffee in California)

FORT LUPTON, Colo. (AP) — The newly legal hemp industry is entering its second growing season with some big questions for producers experimenting with marijuana's non-intoxicating cousin.

The federal government has allowed limited imports of hemp seed — in Colorado's case, this month — for research and development purposes. Companies trying to create a U.S. hemp industry are seeking investors not only for unproven products but for a plant that is still classified under the federal Controlled Substances Act with marijuana and thus cannot be patented.

As a result, it's too soon to tell whether hemp will become a boon for farmers or stay in mostly boutique products that use imported hemp.

Right now it’s impossible to accurately enforce stoned driving laws, because there is no roadside test that can determine whether a driver is actually high.

Which is why many of the people checking out the Cannabix Technologies booth at the Marijuana Investor Summit in Denver last month were thrilled. Here, finally, in a hotel ballroom littered with men in suits hawking useless apps and grow-house accessories, was a product with real potential: a marijuana breathalyzer.

Global climate change is good for cannabis. According to a recent study published in theDaily Climate, global warming could catalyze the already rapid increase in the potency of marijuana’s medicinal and psychoactive properties. However, there are two sides to this ironic story.

As a resident of Washington state, I've witnessed some big changes over the past decade -- but perhaps none bigger than the legalization of marijuana on a recreation basis.

Why legalize?
Approved by voters in the Nov. 2012 elections, Washington state joined Colorado as the first two recreation-legal states in the country. Since then, Oregon and Alaska, along with Washington D.C., have joined in legalizing marijuana for recreational, adult-use purposes.

The legalization of marijuana for recreational and medical purposes is significant for Americans for a number of reasons, but those reasons differ depending on whom you ask.

For a very long time, the only cannabinoid that people talked about was THC. THC was first discovered in 1964 at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, by Dr. Raphael Mechoulam and his colleagues, Dr. Yehiel Gaoni and Dr. Haviv Edery. THC is the cannabinoid in marijuana that creates a euphoric effect. But there are many other cannabinoids that are found in marijuana. The most talked about cannabinoid right now is CBD. CBD has been proven to possess a lot of medical benefits, especially for those suffering from epilepsy.

So how many different cannabinoids are there in marijuana? That’s a timely question to ask, as this month seven more cannabinoids were discovered. Per High Times:

Closing down the web’s biggest drug shop has simply cleared the way for competitors

BETHESDA, Md., May 28, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Cannabics Pharmaceuticals Inc. (CNBX) announced today that it has filed an exclusive patent application with the US Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) on a System and Method for High Throughput Screening of Cancer Cells.

MACKINAC ISLAND, Mich. (WJBK) -A measure to legalize marijuana is likely to appear on next year's ballot -and not everyone is happy about it.

Petitions to place the issue of legalizing marijuana appears to be headed to the voters.  The first step was officially filed Friday. 

It is a voter initiative, a voter supported law, that supporters believe has many benefits. 

It was one of the topics at the Mackinac Policy Conference.

"It's been decriminalized in most municipalities," said attorney John Pirich. "And this state and virtually all the other states. It is a tremendous amount of revenue and policing that could come with regulation."

And the proposal would mandate State control of recreational pot.