With the state's pot industry poised to explode, Florida health officials have agreed to issue another medical marijuana license --the state's seventh-- to a Central Florida nursery that lost out to a competitor by a fraction of a percentage point last fall.

The Department of Health inked the agreement with McCrory's Sunny Hill Nursery last week--after nearly a year of protracted and expensive litigation over the license--before Administrative Law Judge Elizabeth McArthur could issue a ruling and as health officials tried to work out a deal over another license in a separate challenge.

Market and analytics experts published a study predicting one industry to blaze by all others in the Bay State, growing beyond $1 billion annually by 2020:

Marijuana.

With retail sales of the substance beginning in 2018, the study painted a picture of a changing commonwealth -- a destination visit for "canna-tourists" by the thousand -- the marijuana hub of New England, if not "the world."

Marijuana data and investment firms ArcView Market Research and New Frontier published the study earlier in the year, before the Election Day legalization vote.

Troy Dayton, CEO of The Arcview Group, made a bold prediction in a statement on the study.

The first state to legalize recreational marijuana use is on track to see total sales top $2 billion by 2020. Colorado’s medical marijuana sales for this year are projected at $438 million, and recreational sales are forecast to reach $739 million. By 2020, medical cannabis sales are forecast to reach $663 million and recreational sales are expected to hit $1.34 billion.

Massachusetts, where voters last month chose to add recreational sales to already legal medical sales, is forecast to post sales of $1.07 billion in 2020, up from just $52 million in estimated medical cannabis sales in 2016.

The data were reported Wednesday by New Frontier Data and Arcview Market Research in separate reports on the cannabis markets in Colorado and Massachusetts.

Many staff members at marijuana dispensaries have not had any formal training for their positions, according to a small new study.

Researchers found that 30 people of the 55 dispensary staff members surveyed in the study (55 percent) had received any sort of formal training for their current positions.

Even in Colorado, breeding hemp means grappling with all sorts of legal red tape. One plant biologist hopes to beat the odds.

Bear Reel cuts a tiny gure on the vast Colorado plains, but she lives up to her name in ferocity of spirit. She has to. The 34-year-old occupies a decidedly unorthodox niche: a 21st-century scientist breeding new varieties of an ancient plant that’s also a controlled substance.

Hound Labs and Cannabix Technologies really don't like each other -- and for good reason.

Citing Australia’s onerous security requirements for growing medical cannabis, prominent Australian industrial hemp grower Ecofibre announced it will move its medical cannabis capabilities from Australia to the United States.

Comedian Tommy Chong’s image grinned from a freeway billboard near Sacramento in recent months, promoting the counterculture icon’s brand of marijuana to passing motorists. 

But now a campaign has begun to outlaw such ads from all state highways, threatening to block entrepreneurs taking advantage of newly legalized pot in California from hawking their wares to a captive audience stuck in traffic.

Five state lawmakers have introduced a bill that would bar advertisements for marijuana products and services from all 265 state highways — 15,100 miles of roadway — in an effort to prevent the marketing of pot to minors in the state.

Craft cannabis company Oregrown Industries has joined forces with US sustainable clothing manufacturer New Growth Clothing to develop a line of locally-manufactured, eco-conscious activewear and outdoor gear.

The collaboration will see the launch of knit beanies and performance hoodies for the autumn 2017 season, and is expected to grow to include backpacks and technical gear.

"New Growth is a natural partner for Oregrown as we continue to build out our lifestyle brand," says Oregrown co-founder Chrissy Hadar. "Both companies are committed to local sourcing, but more than that, to supporting community members, artists, athletes, and local businesses run by people who are passionate about what they do."

The Cannabis industry soared in 2016 in the US and Canada. Here's an outlook for what's in store for the market in 2017.

It goes without saying that the cannabis industry reached a new high point in 2016. The US voting in favor of legalization (in four states) on November 8, and the Canadian government releasing its task force  for recreational use of marijuana on December 13 were certainly two of the year’s biggest moments.