High energy costs and declining cannabis prices have many cultivators thinking about moving their indoor grows into greenhouses.

But once that decision is made, those cultivators must determine whether to buy a North American-made greenhouse or import one from the Netherlands, which has dominated the industry since the 1800s.

Though many believe greenhouses can produce a high-quality cannabis crop, cultivators still must weigh abundant questions about which type is best.

Are you driven by design features? Or do you seek better materials? Is it software that makes a difference to you? Or does quality of construction move you?

On Nov. 8, voters in California, Massachusetts, Nevada and Maine voted to legalize recreational marijuana, joining Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska and the District of Columbia, where it’s already legal.

This means some 67 million Americans will live in places where recreational pot is legal — an almost 300 percent increase. And this means huge new demand for electricity.

Utilities and state regulators can smartly manage this new energy demand by supporting energy efficiency investments, generating power on-site with clean distributed renewables and shifting consumption to times of low net load (the electricity demand minus the generation from solar and wind) to improve system efficiency and help integrate renewables.

So far the company has only been allowed to sell to medical patients, but that will all change when prime minister Justin Trudeau makes good on his promise to legalize marijuana for recreational purposes in the Spring of 2017.

Portland on Wednesday blessed "marijuana couriers" and other pot-related "micro" business types in a move to ease financial barriers for entrepreneurs.

The council voted unanimously to immediately adopt the additions and other changes to the city's marijuana code.

"Since the state regulations keep changing and the industry keep flourishing, we'll be coming back with multiple changes I'm sure," Commissioner Amanda Fritz said. "I look forward to that time."

Courier businesses can now produce marijuana and other cannabis products but they can sell it only through delivery.

We know it's not Christmas yet, but Santa brought a package from ClubM to the Civilized offices, and we just couldn't wait until the 25th. 

When Jackson County, Oregon, tried to ban medical cannabis cultivation on some rural land last April, farmers there adopted an unexpected defense: They threatened to sue for lost income. According to state law, local governments can’t stop rural landowners from engaging in agricultural activity without compensating them for the lost value of the banned enterprise.

These property rights laws are commonly invoked by developers, mining companies and other big businesses to get around burdensome regulations. But Portland attorney Ross Day, who is representing more than a dozen Jackson County farmers, says the law is tailor-made for cannabis. 

Legalizing recreational marijuana could ignite a $22.6 billion industry in Canada, Deloitte says.

It's Sunday afternoon and Toronto's Centre for Social Innovation is packed full of marijuana enthusiasts perusing tables of goods.

Everything from marijuana-infused barbecue sauce to medicated body rubs is available at Green Market, where artisans peddle their various craft cannabis products.

Such events, which sell to patients and casual users alike, operate within a foggy regulatory environment. Selling marijuana is illegal unless you are a large-scale producer licensed under Health Canada's medical marijuana regime.

His supply chain strategy and brand equity are near-unbelievable. Four strategies you should copy from the world's jolliest entrepreneur.

Deriving business lessons from Santa Claus is difficult. Despite the ubiquity of the Santa Claus brand, little is known about the actual workings of the operation. Santa’s business is privately held; he prepares no publicly available annual reports and publishes no audited financial statements. (I did address a list of questions to “Santa Claus, The North Pole, Postal Code H0H 0H0.” An unsigned response simply asked me to continue believing in “magic.”)

In spite of this I’ve conducted a close analysis of Santa’s operations and have defined four sets of resolutions you can make that will benefit your business next year.

With a population of 80.6 million and nearly 140k square miles, the country of Germany is roughly 85% the size of California, and contains over double the population. As medical cannabis laws across Europe become liberalized and attitudes toward adult recreational use continue to soften, Germany is now poised to be the next big thing in the European cannabis market.

Tania Cyalume and Brandy Zurborg are the brains behind Bloorcourt’s Queens of Cannabis, a dispensary that sells to approved medical marijuana patients. But it’s so much more than that – it’s also a healing centre.

A knowledgable, articulate couple who live and work together, Cyalume and Zurborg were patients with medical cannabis prescriptions before deciding to open a dispensary. Originally hoping to start a female-oriented head shop, they were inspired to go the dispensary route after a trip to Vancouver, where they experienced that city’s dispensary culture while shopping for woman-made wholesale pipes.