This weekend, Alaska saw its first-ever job fair for careers in commercial cannabis, offering a glimpse of how the semi-legal marijuana industry is taking tentative steps towards professionalism and profits.

Theresa Collins shuffled between prospective employers and job-seekers inside the enormous, high-ceiling room that serves as the venue for Pot Luck Events, the marijuana-friendly company she runs at 420 West 3rd Avenue in downtown Anchorage. And yes, that is the actual address. Collins worked with the newly-formed Alaska Cannabis Growers Association to organize an event matching would-be workers with jobs that don’t yet exist.

UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wash. — The U.S. Open is coming to Chambers Bay in just three weeks, and it means a big boost to our local economy. Local pot shops see the opportunity as well.

With the U.S. Open set to begin on June 15, the greens on Chambers Bay aren`t the only ones getting ready — so are the ones ‘World of Weed’ will soon stock in its shelves.

“We were really pushing to get open for the U.S. Open at Chambers Bay,” said Alden Linn, general manger of World of Weed, a retail pot store expected to open next week.

Retail marijuana stores are one of the many industries expecting to cash in the week of the U.S. Open Championship, a topic Tacoma city leaders even mentioned in an April study session.

Veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder have a new place to turn in Cape Breton.

It's a centre that offers to help vets get access to medical marijuana.

Marijuana for Trauma — Veterans Helping Veterans — has opened in the former Victoria Order of Nurses building on King's Road in Sydney.

Founder Fabian Henry is from New Waterford but now lives in Fredericton.

He is a former military combat engineer who has suffered for years from post-traumatic stress disorder.

"After three years, I tried cannabis for the first time in my life and I got relief," said Henry. "That was five years ago and I've only been on one medication for five years now."

'They're not dope addicts'

TORONTO — Doctors and clinics are receiving fees of as much as $350 per patient from medical-marijuana producers eager to snag customer referrals, despite professional rules in some provinces that explicitly outlaw such payments, producers say.

Physicians working under federal law do not prescribe a specific brand of cannabis, but some try to steer patients toward particular cannabis suppliers – and expect reimbursement, industry members report.

Doctors sometimes tell companies the money is to subsidize the cost of verifying patient information, or providing marijuana-related services to patients not covered by medicare.

As of today, 23 states and the District of Columbia have legalized medicinal marijuana and four have legalized its recreational use as well. Despite that, marijuana remains a so-called Schedule I controlled substance – alongside “hard” drugs like heroin, cocaine, and LSD – and federal law still makes the distribution of marijuana a crime, even in those states where it is legal.

It is not unusual for legal marijuana businesses to become entangled in government investigations. Although it wasn’t my focus, as a former federal prosecutor I sometimes investigated unlawful drug trafficking organizations. Following the drugs and money back to their source increasingly led to marijuana businesses in states that had legalized it.

By Sean Bryant.

Washington, Colorado, Alaska, and Oregon have already legalized the use of recreational marijuana. Twenty-three states in total have made the drug legal for medicinal use. This relatively new legalization has allowed dozens of new companies that specialize in the plant to emerge. Some of those companies have gone public and offer a new investment niche: pot stocks. But how do you know if you are getting a good deal? How are these stocks even valued? If you want to get in on (nearly) the ground floor of marijuana stocks, keep reading. But remember, as with all new industries and new stocks, investing is risky and one act of legislation could render the companies worthless.

The operators of a now-defunct Denver dispensary who are challenging the IRS on a tax code that views marijuana businesses as illegal operations, and thus ineligible to claim otherwise deductible expenses, will have to wait a few more months for their day in court.

The trial in the U.S. Tax Court case filed by former owners of Total Health Concepts against the Commissioner of Internal Revenue was originally scheduled to begin Monday, but has been continued until later this year, according to a court order filed this week.

Medical marijuana — dubbed green gold — is forecast to hit $40 billion globally in five years.

Medical marijuana — dubbed green gold — is forecast to hit $40 billion globally in five years as more nations legalise the treatment for pharmaceutical purposes.

Nedlands-based Phytotech Medical recently became the first ASX-listed medical cannabis company and in July will merge with Canadian firm MMJ.

Ross Smith, who founded Phytotech, was previously managing director at Pilbara Mines.

By Kyle Munzenrieder.

Almost a year ago, Gov. Rick Scott signed the Charlotte’s Web bill into law, legalizing a non-euphoric strain of marijuana for medical use in Florida. Though, so far Floridians who need that medical treatment have not been able to receive it. The law has been held up by legal challenges and bureaucratic rigamarole, but supporters and potential suppliers think that Charlotte's Web may finally roll out in Florida in late 2015 under the best case scenario, but more likely sometime in early 2016.