With the exception of the internet boom in the late 1990s, you'd struggle to find an industry with long-term growth potential as high as legal weed -- and marijuana stock investors have taken notice.

Depending on your preferred source, the legal weed industry has the potential to grow by an average of 23% to 27% on an annual basis over the next five to 10 years. However, a pretty clear consensus among the various reports estimating growth in the legal pot industry suggest that U.S. sales are poised to triple or quadruple between 2016-2017 and 2021. It's certainly not hard to get excited about an industry with sustainable growth of around 25% per year.

Bill Panagiotakopoulos was surveying construction on his gated property outside Hamilton when he got the call he had been dreaming about for years: his company, Beleave Inc., was officially Canada’s 44th licensed marijuana producer.

The entrepreneur debated whether to answer the call from an unknown number that fateful mid-May afternoon, but as soon as he heard he was on a conference call with Health Canada representatives, he broke into a run, frantically searching for a quiet place to talk.

Panagiotakopoulos jumped into his truck just in time to hear the news: Beleave had the green light to grow pot.

Letters were mailed to eligible license holders in the state, but Chris Thompson, the executive director for the Las Vegas chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) said with few responses, tax commissioners approved a temporary regulation that would allow the department to make exceptions for non-wholesalers.

In May, the Independent Alcohol Distributors of Nevada filed a complaint saying the booze wholesalers should have exclusive rights to the licenses and that a May 31 license deadline for the wholesalers should not be enforced.

At the end of May, a judge ruled in the alcohol wholesalers favor. But state officials have said they intend to appeal this ruling.

Eight employees of a Toronto marijuana dispensary are facing multiple charges following a police raid on Wednesday.

Toronto police said they executed a search warrant at a Canna Clinic at 213 Ossington Ave.

Police seized about 908.12 grams of marijuana oil, 73.5 grams of shatter, 8.3 kilograms of marijuana, and 42.7 grams of hash. They also took $4,941 of cash.

Petro Merkulov, 21; Pabo Ogunlesi, 22; Grad Murray, 29; Kavan Benthien, 28; Ruth-Lande Henry, 21; Eric On, 23; Joshua Hakimi, 23, and Katherine Klippenstein, 27, all from Toronto, were arrested during the raid.

They were all charged with possession schedule II substance, possession for the purpose trafficking schedule II substance, and possession proceeds of crime (under 5,000)

MYM Nutraceuticals Inc. (CSE:MYM) (OTC:MYMMF), is extremely pleased to announce that GGS Structures and CannaCanada Inc., subsidiary of MYM, are working together on the planning and design of the 1.5 Million sq. ft. Weedon Cannabis Greenhouse Production Project.

Gerry Harrison of GGS Structures commented, “We are thrilled to be working with MYM Nutraceuticals on their project located at Weedon, Quebec. Planning is underway for the first phase of a greenhouse medical cannabis cultivation facility of approximately 100,000 sf. The completed state of the art growing facility will consist of 15 greenhouses that will total 1,500,000 sq. sf.”

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the state’s proposals for the required lab testing of cannabis. If passed as written, all marijuana products will be examined in licensed laboratories for moisture content, pesticide presence, and other elements before it can be sold to the public.

For some dispensaries across California, these regulations may significantly change the way they do business. But in Berkeley, where the city mandated strict testing in years ago, it’s more or less par for the course.

Adult use legalization is scheduled for July 2018, but in the meantime, the Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations is still in full effect for registered medical patients.

Canada’s medical marijuana program has undergone multiple reincarnations since 2000, when medical marijuana was first legalized. The Medical Marihuana Access Regulations (MMAR) was passed in 2001, and created three avenues through which patients could procure cannabis:

A Colorado credit union will get another shot in its quest to provide banking services to the state's legal marijuana industry as the Tenth Circuit on Tuesday opened the door for the financial institution to reapply for a master account at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.

A Tenth Circuit panel vacated a Colorado federal court’s decision to dismiss Fourth Corner Credit Union’s challenge to the Kansas City Fed’s application denial with prejudice, instead sending it back to the lower court with instructions to dismiss the suit without prejudice.

An Israeli company will partner with an Australian one to help boost clinical education opportunities around medical cannabis. The two companies, iCAN: Israel-Cannabis and Melbourne-based LeafCann have announced a joint-venture to collaborate on a range of initiatives including medicinal cannabis research, product development, and education.

The venture will be called iCAN: Australia, and, according to LeafCann Group CEO Jaroslav Boublik, the companies will “develop global clinical education initiatives to bridge the gap between public demand and practitioner education.”

Annacis Island will soon be home to much more than industrial sites and wastewater treatment plants. 

Zenabis West is the second company in the Lower Mainland to be issued a cultivation licence by Health Canada to produce medical cannabis, and will soon open its facility in the industrial area along the Fraser River.

The company, operated by International Herbs Medical Marijuana Ltd. (IHMML), has spent three years preparing, and is one of few in the country to be issued a licence on its first pre-licence inspection, according to a news release published earlier today.