Israel has built world-class businesses in cyber security, agricultural technology and big data analysis. Now it has global ambitions in medical marijuana.

Last week an Israeli government committee took the first step towards advancing legislation that would allow the export of medical marijuana products. Officials hope it will encourage new investment and innovation in the field and boost its agricultural sector.

There are a number of Israeli companies aiming to tap this niche but growing industry. They range from farming groups, taking advantage of Israel’s sunny climate and relaxed regulatory environment for cultivating cannabis for medical use, to companies such as Syqe Medical.

Floridians overwhelmingly made access to medical marijuana a constitutional right. Now, the state's so-called Office of Compassionate Use, and some lawmakers, want to make it onerous to obtain cannabis. It's disappointing, but not surprising, given Tallahassee's resistance to medical marijuana.

Two competing bills are circulating in the Florida Senate. We favor the proposal by Republican Sen. Jeff Brandes of St. Petersburg, largely because it would break the monopoly the state gave seven companies after a non-euphoric strain of cannabis was legalized in 2014.

It turns out marijuana could have taxpayers seeing green in more ways than one. There is a massive windfall associated with making medical weed available nationally and a big data company broke it down for us.

New Frontier Data, a market research company for the cannabis industry, said on Wednesday that their data analysis shows that if medical marijuana was available nationally, the decreased Medicare expenses for three widely used opioid painkillers — OxyContin, hydrocodone, and fentanyl — would lead to taxpayers saving over $220 million.

We just came across one of the most outlandish claims since Technical420’s foray into covering the cannabis industry today and had to provide an update on it.

When investors think of the bellwether company in the biotech levered to the cannabis industry, the first name that comes to mind is GW Pharmaceutical (GWPH). The company has by far, the largest and most advanced pipeline of products in advanced stages of FDA testing.

One company that does not come to mind is AXIM Biotechnologies (AXIM).

In response to Gov. Hickenlooper’s recent visit to speak with California legislators in Sacramento, Calif., in advance of legalization of adult-use cannabis, The Cannabis Business Alliance (CBA)  has released a statement. The advocate for cannabis business owners is calling on states like California and other emerging markets to reach out to those who have been involved in Colorado's cannabis industry for insight on what works best when it comes to regulation and child safety.

Cannabis prohibition has been a disaster for the American economy, the American people and the environment in general.

Putting money into the marijuana industry has become one of the hot topics for stock market investors.

The internet abounds with articles and a rapidly increasing number of advertisements ready to advise people on what marijuana stocks to invest in and how to maximize a cannabis-heavy stock portfolio.

Some compare it to the tech boom of the late 1990s. Whether that is true remains to be seen.

However, one company offers a fairly straightforward assessment of how cannabis-related stocks have performed. And for 2016, they indicated a growth of 236 percent. By way of comparison, the S&P 500 gained just under 10 percent in 2016.

Medical marijuana producers oppose federal task force's calls for plain packaging and bans on advertising.

Garfield Mahood has spent 30 years fighting for the Canadian government to require plain packaging for cigarettes.

So, the long-time non-smokers' rights activist says he doesn't have much faith in the government's ability to regulate and restrict the marketing of marijuana.

"They identified tobacco products as a cause of disease back in the 1950s," said Mahood, president of the Campaign for Justice on Tobacco Fraud. "They've never been able to bring this epidemic
close to a conclusion.

"What would give you faith that health departments are going to effectively regulate any health problems related to these other drugs?"

The Cannabis Licensing Authority has announced that it issued conditional approval for three applicants – two for small cultivators under one acre, and a third for a small processing facility – in early January 2017. 

A release from the CLA on Tuesday disclosed that the granting of the conditional approval has come amidst concerns about the length of time the Authority has taken to review applications since passing its Regulations in May of last year.  

The Authority is maintaining, however, that the time taken to review the applications is required to ensure that proper due diligence is done and that people being put forward for conditional approval are fit and proper. 

Thanks to the city of Berkeley, California’s first licensed medicinal marijuana research facility, BAS Research, opened last summer. With now over four million dollars invested, they have gone to great lengths to welcome cannabis clients seeking testing, formulaic research, and high-grade oil for their products. The one-stop shop also packages and labels, providing a business, collective, or dispensary with everything they need for their cannabis product to hit the shelves.