When Washington state legalized recreational marijuana use last July, Seattle’s tourism industry saw a new opportunity. Could Seattle become a hub for pot tourism, with eager visitors piling into local hotels and Airbnbs for an opportunity to try some of that famous Pacific Northwest weed? The answer, in a word: yes. But not without a struggle.

Before Seattle could become another Amsterdam, local businesspeople and tourism agencies had to (and still do) deal with some unexpected issues. Building a marijuana tourism mecca, it turns out, isn’t as simple as sparking up a spliff.

So How Does This Legal Recreational Marijuana Thing Work, Anyway?

Ottawa is unequivocal in its stance on pot.

A generation after Canada’s first medical cannabis dispensary opened in Vancouver in 1997, city council and police are scrambling to regulate the business as if taken by surprise.

City Manager Penny Ballem says Ottawa has created “greyness and confusion,” sounding incredulous that there is a pot precinct downtown and more cannabis cafés on corners than Tim Hortons.

Where has she been?

The federal government has never been clearer about the demonized weed and has used the plant to draw a hardline for the fall election between it and Liberal leader Justin Trudeau.

The City of Aspen’s local licensing authority will consider its first change of ownership application for a marijuana shop next month. Aspen Public Radio’s Carolyn Sackariason reports.

A Denver man has applied to the city clerk’s office to potentially buy the Green Dragon on the Hyman Avenue Mall. The application says the buyer, Ryan Milligan, plans to invest $7.2 million dollars in the deal. It would be financed by a loan from Andrew Levine, also of Denver.

Getting local approval for a change in ownership is just one step in an arduous process required by the state. Ron Radtke, owner of the Green Dragon, declined to comment on the deal. He also would have to get approval from the state to sell his business.

As the state works out rules regulating recreational marijuana in Oregon, the electric power needs of indoor pot operations are raising issues for energy officials.

SALEM — As Oregon prepares for legal marijuana July 1, the state’s energy agency is looking for ways to curb electricity use by indoor pot growers.

Indoor marijuana gardens are well-known power hogs, but Oregon faces a dilemma as it researches how to extend its energy efficiency programs to the cannabis industry: federal money that typically helps pay for efficiency projects cannot be used for any activities that involve pot.

THE BILLION-DOLLAR GREEN RUSH IS ACCELERATING EVERY DAY. BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN IT'LL BE A MELLOW RIDE.

Five years ago, Brendan Kennedy had to psych himself for a tough conversation with his wife, Maria. Until that point, Kennedy had taken a pretty straightforward path for a tech entrepreneur. He’d launched two successful companies. He’d earned an MBA from Yale. He’d been the COO of Silicon Valley Bank Analytics, which provides research to venture-backed companies.

SAN FRANCISCO – Lawyers and pot dealers have long intersected in criminal court, but as marijuana goes mainstream, attorneys have been working to keep sellers and growers legit.

Marijuana divisions are popping up at law firms to advise pot shops on where they can locate, what their websites can say and how to vet new clients.

“It’s definitely something that established firms are dipping a toe into, though they are being very cautious, and rightly so,” said Sam Kamin, a professor at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law who teaches a class about representing the marijuana industry.

Kamin said the firms see marijuana as a lucrative new industry, but still worry about the potential ethical and legal pitfalls – and how it will affect their reputations.

Six months into Aurora's venture of recreational marijuana sales, city officials say after a slow start everything is going about as well as could be expected.

In January, the city collected about $103,000 in tax revenue and another $109,000 in February. In the last three months of 2014, as a few stores opened, Aurora earned a little over $100,000 total.

By the end of 2015, the city expects to have between $1.5 million to $2 million in revenue from legal pot sales.

And those who waded through the process and claimed one of the city's 24 licenses are starting to see big dividends.

The MassRoots team is thrilled to announce that we are partnering and taking an equity position in a full seed-to-sale system, currently operating in stealth under the name Flowhub. Over the coming weeks, the MassRoots and Flowhub development teams will be integrating their systems, expanding the services available to MassRoots' users and dispensaries.

Medical marijuana use continues to grow in Canada which has led to questions about whether it's appropriate to take it at work.

"There's still a lot of stigmatization out there," said employment lawyer David Whitten.  

"A lot of people are basing their thoughts and ideas on movies that came out in the '80s. We've come a long way since then and it's recognized just like any other medication," Whitten told CBC Radio.

Although Whitten said employers need to be more flexible when it comes to allowing workers to use weed at work, he does acknowledge there are occasions when an employer can ask a worker not to take their medicine.

When discussing medical marijuana, the conversation inevitably turns to whether the federal government or a state will legalize recreational use of the drug. 

That's not the case when you're talking to Josh Stanley, who has been called the "pioneer" of Colorado's medical marijuana industry. 

Stanley and his business, Citiva Medical, are focused squarely on the medicinal uses of the cannabis plant. With New York legalizing the use of medical marijuana, the company is looking to be one of five licensed growers of the drug in the state. 

For Stanley, the question is why move to New York? Why not stay in Colorado where he became a leading voice for the medical marijuana movement? 

In short, it's about science.