In the two years since recreational marijuana sales became legal in Colorado, the state has seen economic growth two times greater than the U.S. national average, according to a new in-depth analysis.

"The Economic Impact of Marijuana Legalization in Colorado," released by the Marijuana Policy Group in October 2016, was created using a new "Marijuana Impact Model" designed to accurately measure the cannabis industry's economic impact on the state.

While most people are busy talking about the potential doom from a Trump presidency, there is a much more real change undergoing. For the first time in American history, we have seen the country take steps towards acceptance of marijuana (for better or worse). California made history with the passing of its marijuana legalization bill, which presents a more interesting look at the substance than most understand.

CS Compliance Systems (www.cscomply.com), developers of CannaScore (www.cannascore.net) - the world's first real-time regulatory compliance auditing application for the cannabis industry, announced its system is now in use by banks and financial institutions.

The CannaScore Agent program has been used by professional consultants since 2015, to help cannabis-related businesses (CRBs) avoid fines, suspensions, and even loss of a business license. By demonstrating compliance with regulations through the CannaScore Agent program, CRBs can gain access to capital and services from investors, banks, brokers, landlords, lawyers, and CPAs.

Cannabis industry thought leaders share some thoughts on how the Trump administration may affect them.

Election night was a resounding success for those supporting medical and recreational cannabis legalization. Recreational use was legalized in California, Nevada, Massachusetts and Maine. Voters in Florida, North Dakota and Arkansas all approved medical marijuana initiatives. A second go-around for Florida where, two years earlier, a medical marijuana measure earned an impressive 58 percent of the vote, but was short of the 60 percent threshold needed for passage.

Beaverton firm steps into security gap.

Riding shotgun on a truck full of cash and cannabis didn’t make the list of obvious career choices for Chad Holtman, 28, a Portland resident and U.S. Army veteran. 

Then he met an employee of CannaGuard Security, a Beaverton firm that provides transportation, secure storage and electronic security services to marijuana businesses in Oregon and Washington. CEO Noah Stokes made a point of hiring military veterans to staff his company, particularly veterans like Holtman, a former airborne infantryman who said he saw combat during a year in eastern Afghanistan. 

Forum poll says six out of 10 Canadians on side with Shoppers application to sell medicinal weed.

A majority of Canadians are high on Shoppers Drug Mart selling medicinal marijuana, especially young adults and higher-income earners, a new Forum Research poll says.

Sixty-one per cent said they approve of Canada’s largest pharmacy applying to become a licensed marijuana producer for the purpose of retailing medicinal weed while 30 per cent disapprove and the remainder have no opinion either way, the new survey says.

The Liquor Control Board of Ontario, the government agency that manages alcohol sales across the province, is tapping into Kitchener-Waterloo’s startup community as it seeks to modernize the way it interacts with customers at its retail stores.

Even though the LCBO already has an innovation lab at its downtown Toronto headquarters, the scope of development there has been limited because of what the LCBO admits is a lagging approach to problem-solving.

41% of republicans support marijuana legalization, according to Pew.

The smoke hasn’t cleared from the cannabis industry’s substantial wins a week ago and already there are questions about whether the industry is under threat from a Trump administration.

President-elect Donald Trump has yet to confirm the various members of his administration, but the way it is shaping up may pose challenges to supporters of recreational and/or medical marijuana legalization. For now however, the industry isn’t ready to ring the alarm.

While Donald Trump was winning one of the biggest upsets in American political history, other ballot measures were quietly tallying wins alongside the Donald.

Americans in 7 states have now voted to enact legislation that will, to varying degrees, legitimize marijuana for medical and/or recreational purposes. With a combined market value estimated at US$7.4 billion annually, and an expected growth rate of 28 per cent annually, the U.S. combined market for marijuana is expected to be worth US$21.2 billion by 2020.

Hey, Arkansas, California, Florida, Maine, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada and North Dakota, you just adopted some new marijuana laws.

So what now?