The board regulating Alaska's fledgling legal marijuana industry is expected to approve licenses this week for the state's first retail marijuana outlets.

The Marijuana Control Board is expected to consider dozens of license applications for marijuana businesses and discuss the key issue of whether certain retail stores will be allowed to have areas on their premises where consumers could light up.

Alaska's first marijuana retail shops are expected to open by the end of 2016.

But the board is trying to find a way to accommodate tourists interested in partaking in legal marijuana who otherwise are prohibited from using marijuana in public.

With legal allowances for both medical and recreational use on the rise all over the US, the favored illegal drug of Americans has never looked more professional.

That's because the business of legal marijuana has never been better. We're talking about a $7 billion market, according to ArcView Market Research (a firm that tracks the legal cannabis trade).

A Clarence cigarette manufacturer says it has expanded its cannabis research program.

The 22nd Century Group said its wholly owned subsidiary, Botanical Genetics, has launched a number of new research projects to develop proprietary cannabis strains that have medical and agricultural uses.

Company officials estimate the markets for medical marijuana and industrial hemp – which they view as an ideal agricultural crop – could be worth up to $10 billion, and they said the company wants to be a leader in cannabis biotechnology.

“It’s amazing what you can do with this one plant,” said Paul Rushton, 22nd Century’s vice president for biotechnology.

BlazeNow allows users to discover nearby marijuana dispensaries and delivery services.

Amercanex, the American Cannabis Exchange, announced today that it has signed a mutual agreement with BlazeNow, a mobile app that serves cannabis enthusiasts, to offer dispensaries, manufacturers and members with premium cannabis services and technology.

Amercanex is the first fully electronic cannabis marketplace in which cultivators, wholesale distributors and retail vendors can buy, sell, or exchange their inventories in a fully transparent intra-state market.

A trend has emerged in recent years for district attorneys in larger Texas counties to dismiss a greater number of cases involving small amounts of marijuana.

The largest counties by population in Texas–Bexar, Dallas, Harris, Tarrant and Travis–have had a greater number of dismissals since 2011, according to analysis by the Austin American-Statesman.

With the increasing demand for completely organic cannabis flowers, indoors or outdoors guano is receiving accolades from organic ganga growers worldwide.

Believe it or not there is a direct link between bats and big buds. Those adorable big-eared nocturnal mammals with creepy veiny membranous wings and a face like a screwed up piece of paper are responsible for producing one of the best organic cannabis superfoods known to the contemporary grower.

WHAT IS GUANO

Jamaica's south-western coast is being eyed as a health and wellness destination, offering cannabis-infused experiences, rustic luxury and nature tourism, says Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett.

The geographical area between Negril, West End in Westmoreland, and Black River, St Elizabeth, on the development agenda, is being considered as a new resort destination, Bartlett revealed to delegates attending the inaugural CanEx at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in St James yesterday.

He said the area was a very important path to the economic future of the country and would accommodate tourists wanting to experience products and services derived from cannabis.

In a blip in time, marijuana’s image has been rebranded from sketchy to consumer-friendly, largely thanks to female executives disassociating the plant’s positive attributes from its historically bad rap. Women dominate from a consumer standpoint, too—from Apothecanna’s ganja-infused moisturizers to Whoopi & Maya’s THC-laced bath soaks, it seems there are no lucrative opportunities left unturned. In the midst of this canna-commodity boom, one company is gaining an edge by taking marijuana a little farther south than it’s used to. 

Wine has long flowed through the heart of our state. Whether you’re a connoisseur or a casual sipper, tasting California’s world-renowned wines offers the chance to practice mindfulness, exhibit your adept preferences, and appreciate the artful idiosyncrasies that spring from each vineyard. Wine tasting isn’t (usually) about getting hammered. And at the inaugural Emerald Exchange farmers market, a group of Mendocino farmers descended upon Malibu’s bluffs to prove that cannabis consumption is no longer about dirty bongs and debilitating highs. 

The world of agricultural technology, or agtech, is rapidly evolving.

It’s automating laborious tasks and providing farmers and growers with greater knowledge and insight into their crops than ever before. As technology evolves so does the needs of the farmer and the growing environment. Around 20% of the world’s food production is grown within cities rather rural areas and inherent in this is the multi-billion dollar industry of indoor growing and hydroponics.