As of April 10, 2015, MBank has announced that they unfortunately have to close their banking services program for those in the cannabis industry, but this not a story of failure, it’s one of admirable progress. Jef Baker, CEO of MBank (OTC:MBNC), is not turning his back on the industry. He’s continuing his mission, he’s pursuing his goals, and he’s not giving up.

Travelers who like to toke a little on their adventures may be driving up interest in states that have recently made recreational marijuana legal, including Oregon.

According to the travel website Hotels.com, the legalization of marijuana has helped fire up the number of hotel searches that legal states have seen.

In Colorado in 2014, for example, Denver saw a 73 percent year-over-year increase in hotel searches for check-ins during the weekend of April 20 versus 2013. Hotels.com reported that searches for the same weekend this year were up 60 percent over last year.

Perth, April 9, 2015 AEST (ABN Newswire) - PhytoTech Medical Limited (ASX:PYL) is pleased to report that MMJ has received from Health Canada a "confirmation of readiness letter" that precedes the scheduling of a pre-licensing inspection. 

Highlights

- MMJ Bioscience Inc. ("MMJ") receives pre-inspection readiness request from Health Canada for its Duncan facility that traditionally precedes the scheduling of a pre-licence.

- There are currently only 22 companies holding facilities licensed to produce medical cannabis ("MC") in Canada under the MMPR, with MMJ-PYL on track to become one of the next.

Published: Apr 10, 2015, 2:49 pm

By Ricardo Baca, The Cannabist Staff

Colorado sold a record amount of recreational marijuana in February 2015, according to new data released by the state on Friday.

The Town of Innisfil will now have more say as to where potential medical marijuana production facilities can set up shop in the municipality.

Councillors approved the final town-wide provisions for Health Canada licensed medical marijuana production facilities in committee-of-the-whole Wednesday night, in a record vote of 7-2.

The vote was the culmination of approximately 300 staff hours in drafting the provisions, which featured countless public meetings and presentations to council since early 2014.

In “Weed the People,” Bainbridge Island author Bruce Barcott delivers a thorough and entertaining survey of the burgeoning legalization of marijuana in the U.S. Barcott appears April 15 at Seattle’s Elliott Bay Book Co.

‘Weed the People: The Future of Legal Marijuana in America’ by Bruce Barcott Time, Inc., 400 pp., $22.95

Over the past year, Washington, D.C. has become a lot more marijuana-friendly. Last summer, the District Council decriminalized the drug. Then, in November, voters in the nation’s capital passed a ballot measure completely legalizing possession and cultivation.

Now, a local falafel joint is offering a a special line of sandwiches it says pair well with specific cannabis strains.

Describing one new creation, for example, the Amsterdam Falafelshop menu says, “The root vegetables and tahini complement the earthy pine scent and woodsy undertones of the OG Kush strain.”

Entrepreneurs use their surroundings to inform their businesses, and often books can be the biggest source of inspiration. It’s important to look for ideas beyond the obvious business books like, “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” “Lean In,” or “The 10X Rule.”

 Sometimes the most influential books are works of fiction – the titles you read as a child or in your undergrad literature classes.

Novels don’t overtly teach us business lessons or the best way to scale a business; instead, what they teach are life lessons that, when applied to starting and growing a business, can lead to success. Here are the best business lessons that my favorite books have taught.

Well that didn't take long. Only a couple months after D.C.'s marijuana legalization laws took effect, investors are already planning a convention to figure out how they can get in on the green rush. (No, not that Green Rush, but if any investors are interested in investing in that column, I'm willing to sell out in .01 seconds. Growing weed is expensive).

LANSING, MI -- A new group seeking to legalize recreational marijuana in Michigan has a jump start in the race to the 2016 ballot.

The Michigan Cannabis Coalition -- one of three groups that may launch pot legalization petition drives -- plans to submit proposed language to the Secretary of State on Thursday for review by the Board of State Canvassers prior to public circulation.