Monica Gutierrez wants to be an intellectual property lawyer. But here she is, sitting in a law class on marijuana.

The gray area between state and federal law intrigues Gutierrez — she needs to learn how to help cannabis businesses get their names federally registered, she said — and she's not alone.

Law firms throughout Chicago, from national firms to solo operations, are carving out cannabis practices. Full of lawyers with expertise in real estate, mergers and acquisitions, intellectual property, and other specialties, firms are increasingly offering to help companies navigate the highly regulated world of medical marijuana, in Illinois and elsewhere.

Medical marijuana producers in northern Ontario aren't yet sure they want to get into the recreational business.

The federal government announced plans last week to legalize marijuana by Canada Day 2018, but many of the details still need to be worked out.

Bob Bateman, part of a Sudbury company called 6-82 R-X, says has been waiting for years to get the green light from the federal government to start growing medical marijuana in a local industrial park.

He sees pot as the next natural resource to bring jobs to northern Ontario.

"There's more to the industry than just rolling smokes," Bateman said. "The real opportunity is in jobs and in technology. Much like the oil industry, there are hundreds of products."

Capitol Hill is about to get a bit hazy.

Congressional Democrats and Republicans will be given the opportunity to bake out a “Joint Session” of Congress on Thursday, as Americans across the nation celebrate the unofficial weed-smoking holiday known as 4/20.

Members of DCMJ, a pro-cannabis activist group, plan to camp out near Capitol Hill to puff-puff-pass out at least 1,000 free marijuana joints to members of Congress, congressional staffers, interns and credentialed members of the press. The group offers to give out two joints per person, as long as the tokers are older than 21.

Can a 58-year-old former insurance executive build the first national marijuana brand? With these gummies, she just might.

Nancy Whiteman still mourns those candied, spice-dusted almonds. "They were so good. They were so stinking good," she sighs longingly. And so stinking hard to make--legally.

Because Whiteman, the unlikely co-founder and co-owner of the most successful specialized candy business in Colorado, didn't stop with the curry powder and sugar and salt. She also dredged those almonds through syrup infused with THC, the active ingredient in marijuana.

Medical marijuana will be grown on up to 24 licensed sites statewide -- subject to some of the highest fees in the country -- under the final rules presented to lawmakers Monday.

The cultivator portion of the rules, which also details the application and license fees for retail dispensaries, product processors and testing labs, cleared the Ohio legislature's Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review without objection from the panel.

The rules will be officially filed later this month and take effect before the May 6 statutory deadline.

The CEO of Hill and Gertner Capital first got involved in the marijuana industry in 2004 and now presides over upscale pot brand Tokyo Smoke.

Lorne Gertner understands the power of a label. “As things become commoditized, then brands and design becomes important,” he says.

The doors — or rather, windows — will soon open on the Tumbleweed Express Drive-Thru, the nation's first legal drive-thru marijuana dispensary.

Located in a converted car wash space in Parachute, Colo., the dispensary will sell weed from 4 p.m. to midnight on the weekends, giving buyers late-night access. Naturally, the shop is planning to open on April 20, better known as 4/20.

Next month, thanks to entrepreneur and environmental activist Salimeh Tabrizi, M.Ed., more than 900 people will gather in Vancouver, B.C., to give thanks and offer protection to the cannabis plant.

By all accounts the future is certainly green in more ways than one. Many ‘potrepreneurs’ in the US aiming to cash in on the green rush are looking north to Canada.  With a medical marijuana program already in place, and legislation to legalize marijuana now on the table, it’s a market many people have set their sights on.

The California craft beer industry is worth upwards of $7 billion, and with approximately 750 breweries, the state is home to more brew operations than any other in the country. Now, the Golden State’s cannabis contingent is hoping to follow suit, with many industry leaders emphasizing the importance–and frankly, rights to–self-distribution.