The number of companies looking to cash in on marijuana is growing, including some with celebrity backers, like Melissa Etheridge, reports CBS News correspondent Gigi Stone Woods.

Etheridge never really fit the rock star image.

"I saw alcohol, I saw what it did. I was too excited about music to let that ruin it. So, all of the drugs days in the '80s and '90s, I really let that go by without ever getting involved in it," she said.

But when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004, she said marijuana saved her life.

"It helped with the psychological effects of being on chemo and trying to understand what's happening to you," she said.

Get ready for the marijuana industry to show its buttoned-up side throughout the upcoming weeks. With CannaCon this week, the U.S. Cannabis Expo next week and the Cannabis Business Summit later this month, it's time to get out your notebooks and learn something. Find out when, how and where in this week's Cannabis Calendar.

As a franchise lawyer in Vancouver, you wouldn’t believe the number of calls I get from people who want to establish a chain of franchised retail marijuana outlets.

I know a lot of people that dream of someday starting their very own marijuana edibles company. I know a lot of bakers and chefs that can make some very high caliber edibles, from sweet treats to enjoy on the fly, to savory dishes that will send you to bed early. Almost all of them want to start a marijuana edible company in some fashion. I always tell them the same thing. Do your research, especially on the business operations side of things before you dive into it. It’s one thing to make the world’s best batch of edibles, it’s another thing to make sure that you are selling them for a fair profit.

DENVER (CBS4) – The marijuana industry is getting a few helping hands from celebrities endorsing legalization and pursuing entrepreneurship.

Nearly half of Americans say they have tried pot, according to a poll by Pew Research Center. Its wider acceptance and legalization in some states is encouraging companies and celebrities to cash in on the business.

“Marley Natural,” a company run by the Marley family, is developing new strains, accessories, even hemp-infused body lotion, as reported by CBS News.

In 2004 Melissa Etheridge was diagnosed with breast cancer. She says marijuana saved her life.

I know what you’re thinking: Did it get you high?

That’s all anyone asked me after I got a massage with cannabis cream in Denver, where marijuana is legal.
While I consider myself a connoisseur of spas and weed (only where it’s legal, of course), I still wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from the LoDo Massage Studio. I booked the studio’s signature Mile High Massage using Apothecanna’s Pain Cream, a massage lotion laced with cannabis (plus arnica, peppermint, and juniper—but who cares, right?).

VANCOUVER -- A British Columbia company has pledged to donate $1 million to a university researcher studying medical marijuana's potential for treating HIV-AIDS.

National Green Biomed Ltd., partly owned by former MP Herb Dhaliwal, is awaiting Health Canada's approval of an application to produce and sell cannabis.

University of B.C. assistant professor of medicine M.J. Milloy says the company has so far donated $200,000 toward his work, with a promise to contribute the rest of the money within five years.

Milloy was the lead investigator of an ongoing observational study that looked at the cases of 88 people infected with HIV and living in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

By Debbie Laity

For those marijuana business owners, what to do with the money is a problem. Most banks have refused to work with marijuana businesses for any kind of banking services and this includes something as basic as a checking account. This refusal is because marijuana is still illegal on the federal level and the banks don't want to violate any federal laws.

It should be noted that some credit unions will work with those in this industry, but they won't come out and publicly say so.

A hospital in the North Shore-L.I.J. system, which applied for a state medical marijuana license with a Colorado provider. By ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS June 5, 2015

New York’s new medical marijuana program has drawn the interest of several major hospitals, which have formed alliances with aspiring growers to try to make the drug accessible to their patients.