Vials of cannabis-laced sprays, lotions and tinctures line display shelves a few steps from handbags specially designed to tote marijuana products.

A stylish kitchenette and table is on the opposite side of this Surterra Wellness Center medical marijuana showroom, space used to host educational sessions on the merits of the drug - something legal only under very strict circumstances in Florida until Amendment 2 took effect last week.

This 2,000-square-foot storefront, one of a handful of Florida dispensaries that have opened in recent months, looks more like a day spa lobby or high-end salon. Nothing about it evokes images of the seedy bong-filled pot shops of popular imagination.

Marijuana is said to be the most energy-intensive agricultural crop in the United States, consuming one percent of the entire nation’s energy output. It drains resources because of its high energy and water requirements. When pesticides are used, and that’s often, its carbon footprint gets even more troubling. Cannabis may grow green, but growing it is far from green in the sustainability sense.

With recreational marijuana use on the verge of becoming legal in Maine, real estate brokers are seeing a jump in demand for industrial spaces that could become indoor marijuana farms in the not-too-distant future.

Marijuana is scheduled to become legal to use and possess Jan. 30, but the scramble for suitable warehouse space for commercial growing has begun, helping to push lease rates to nearly twice what they were six years ago in Greater Portland.

A roundtable to examine the potential to establish industrial hemp and medicinal cannabis industries in South Australia will be held at the end of the month.

It comes only months after the Federal Government changed the law to allow the controlled cultivation of cannabis for medicinal and scientific purposes, and just weeks after an Adelaide woman who was supplying cannabis oil products to terminally ill people had her property raided.

Unlike in some other states, it is illegal to grow hemp plants in South Australia and nationally medicinal cannabis can only be grown with a licence.

With the exception of 1996, when California first legalized medical cannabis, or 2012, when Colorado and Washington became the first states to legalize recreational pot, 2016 was probably marijuana's best year ever.

Cannabis-based booze to be ‘biggest disruptor ever’

US election day didn’t just mark the naming of a new president – 8 November also saw a fresh wave of cannabis legalisation spread throughout the US. But as marijuana increasingly gets the green light, what does it mean for spirits?

Can cannabis and alcohol ever coexist as happy bedfellows?

California, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada were united in more ways than one on 8 November 2016. While the landmark day saw Donald Trump secure his route to the White House, the four US states voted blue for Hillary – and they also leaned green, opting to legalise recreational cannabis use.

Drugs and fashion have always been intertwined, and not always in the best way.

Heroin chic was popularised by Kate Moss in the ’90s, but it’s not all glamour: fashion giants like Alexander McQueen and John Galliano have all spoken out about their struggles with addiction.

However, now drugs are taking a slightly different path in the world of fashion in a way that is, dare we say it, much less destructive.

Kate Moss | Calvin Klein S/S 1997 pic.twitter.com/ohurdmxGFW

— Lost In History (@HistoryToLearn) January 5, 2017

I was delighted to participate in yesterday’s Cannabis Colloquium in New York, sponsored by Cowen and Company.

My panel was on U.S. policy, and I was joined on the panel by Allen St. Pierre, former Executive Director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), and Michael Safir, Business Manager at High Times Magazine.

My book, “Marijuana: The World’s Most Misunderstood Plant,” was provided to all in attendance.

Marijuana. Maybe you love it. Maybe you hate it. Perhaps, you do not care much about it.

The reality is that more states are accepting marijuana as a safe substance. Eight states now have full legalization, while nineteen states only have legalized medicinal marijuana.

In this episode, I interviewed three experts in different areas to talk about the state of the industry, specific strains for certain health disorders, and the opportunities for entrepreneurs.