Where there’s smoke there’s fire, and if this season’s marijuana-related books are any indication, the topic of weed—once alternative, now increasingly mainstream—is burning up. Forthcoming titles include user’s guides, cocktail recipe books, takes on the global legalization debate, and more, all of which aim to help readers enjoy, or at least contemplate, our new, greener times. The trend is all the more notable because large publishers are doing as much as their smaller counterparts to light up interest in the subject.

Personalities and group dynamics can push decisions.

Laws now proposed could, in the next year, allow cannabis to become a fully sanctioned industry in Calaveras County that contributes an estimated $15 million to $20 million a year in local taxes. Another proposal could ban the industry.

Although every county voter will get a say, a much smaller number of individuals and groups are shaping the public debate. Here’s a look at them.

The Calaveras County Board of Supervisors

The Calaveras County Board of Supervisors is a five-person board and it is the authority that can make local laws concerning registration and enforcement of commercial, caregiver and personal cultivation of cannabis.

Now that the state of California has approved a ballot initiative (called Proposition 64) that would legalize marijuana for recreational use, the state’s already-booming marijuana growing industry is split nearly evenly on whether or not to support it.

At first glance, legalizing marijuana for adult recreational use would appear to be a large benefit to the state’s pot growers, many of whom raise the plant on small farms along the north coast in Humboldt, Mendocino, and Trinity counties. These growers have long supported decriminalization of marijuana, but fear the full legalization will encourage large corporations to enter the cannabis-farming business, driving out small operations.

Florida is all set to launch its limited medical marijuana market. It will start selling medicinal cannabis but only company has been approved to dispense it. Marijuana investors are however divided in their opinion on whether this is the right time to invest in the state’s emerging cannabis industry.

“We're not talking about having a dispensary on every street corner. It is still a very controlled, closely tailored and very heavily regulated structure,” an attorney who leads the regulated products practice at the Florida law firm of GrayRobinson, Richard Blau, told CNBC.

Whatever you want to call it – pot, weed, ganja, grass – more and more investors are growing curious about marijuana’s future and related investment opportunities. Indeed, the industry has progressed to the point where the medical use of marijuana is gaining greater acceptance.

Within the last six years ago, the number of Americans who support legalizing medical marijuana has risen from 70 to 90 percent according to polls by Quinnipiac and Gallup. Those who support overall legalization has risen from 46 percent to 54 percent.

Let’s explore some of the recent news and changes to the marijuana industry that could impact the industry’s growth and accessibility for investors.

To keep his licensed medical cannabis crop safe, Hawaii farmer Richard Ha is going beyond the security measures — surveillance cameras, an alarm system — mandated by the state. He’s hired cows. Security cows. 

“We’re not going to have armed guards,” he told his neighbors, “because we’d end up shooting ourselves.”It’s not quite what neighbors had in mind when they asked whether guards would patrol the grounds of his new grow site, one of the first to be awarded a state license. But Ha believed that armed guards would do more harm than good. 

Investing in startup cannabis companies is about to get easier for the little guy. And for the little company.

New federal rules to take effect May 16 allow a wider spectrum of investors to put money into startups and early-stage companies. The rules affect all companies across all industries, but experts in the cannabis space are especially keen on the rule change, as it’s expected to offer investors and companies a new way to connect.

Industry insiders at last week’s Marijuana Investor Summit in San Francisco were buzzing about “regulation crowdfunding,” one of the new types of transactions that will become legal in mid-May.

A company's plan to transform the remaining section of the former PPG glass plant in Owen Sound into a medical marijuana production facility remains in limbo.

The Toronto-based Canadian Bioceutical Corp.'s application for a licence to produce medical-grade pot has not yet been approved by Health Canada.

“We got some correspondence from them July 8, which is the first correspondence we've got from them in about eight months. They were asking for more information, so I don't know whether that's a good sign or whether that's just part of the process,” company president Scott Boyes said Thursday in an interview.

He said the corporation “absolutely” still intends to operate the facility in Owen Sound if it receives the green light from Health Canada.

Here's the thing: When you're writing about pot-infused products aimed at making sex more fun, there's going to be nervous laughter and possibly blushing. There will be awkward pauses, and maybe a few too many "ums," as the mind searches for the right words.

Or maybe that was just me.

During the past year or so, sensual oils have materialized on Oregon's marijuana dispensary shelves, adding to the surprising ways pot is marketed. Entrepreneurs have come up with pot treats to ease your aging pet's arthritis, tinctures to slip into your morning tea and balms that offer a buzz while soothing chapped lips.

It was only a matter of time before someone came up with a way to put pot to an especially intimate use.

Country music icon Willie Nelson, long an advocate of marijuana legalization, is putting his money where his mouth (and joint) is by launching Willie’s Reserve, a new marijuana brand to be introduced in Washington and Colorado over the next few months. 

The writer of such classics as “Crazy,” “Always On My Mind” and “Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die” is following the lead of rappers including Wiz Khalifa, Snoop Dogg and Freddie Gibbs, all of whom have entered the weed game with personalized strains.