As a cannabis business attorney, I see and hear more than my share of kooky and downright bad business pitches. Bad business ideas are one thing, but total scams and rip-offs are another. Unfortunately, like any new and high growth industry with complicated and constantly changing rules and regulations, the marijuana industry is chalk full of scammers and con artists.

The following six marijuana scams are the ones I am seeing most often of late.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted today to place a business tax on cannabis on the November 2016 ballot.

Today’s vote follows intense lobbying by a broad coalition including the California Cannabis Industry Association (CCIA), Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) and Angeles Emeralds and comes just two weeks after the Board voted to extend the County’s existing ban on cannabis cultivation and dispensaries for one full year.  If approved by the voters, revenues would be used to support homeless services in Los Angeles County.

Over 100 groups and individuals attended today’s Board Chamber to voice their support for the proposal, including representatives from CCIA.

There's a body of research showing that painkiller abuse and overdose are lower in states with medical marijuana laws. These studies have generally assumed that when medical marijuana is available, pain patients are increasingly choosing pot over powerful and deadly prescription narcotics. But that's always been just an assumption.

Now a new study, released in the journal Health Affairs, validates these findings by providing clear evidence of a missing link in the causal chain running from medical marijuana to falling overdoses. Ashley and W. David Bradford, a daughter-father pair of researchers at the University of Georgia, scoured the database of all prescription drugs paid for under Medicare Part D from 2010 to 2013.U

The city of Denver will again host an educational symposium for other governments charged with “implementing marijuana policies and regulations at the local and state levels,” the city’s Office of Marijuana Policy announced Wednesday.

The “Supporting Youth Development with Marijuana Tax Revenue” panel at the Denver Marijuana Management Symposium in 2015 at the Colorado Convention Center. (Photo by Joshua Duplechian, courtesy of the City of Denver)

A new Oregon program will require all workers in the recreational cannabis industry — including seasonal and part-time employees — to have a cannabis worker permit in order to maintain their spot in the industry. The Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) launched its online permit application system for the permits last week, according to The Bulletin.

Applicants must be at least 21 years old and will be tested on their knowledge of Oregon cannabis law, the safe handling of marijuana products, proper ID checks, and on recognizing the visible signs of cannabis intoxication.

PEOPLE WHO WOULD rather ingest marijuana than smoke it have plenty of options. You can buy weed-infused pasta sauce, chewing gum, beef jerky… even vegan caviar. The edibles market is big. And this November, voters in California and several other states will decide whether to legalize the recreational use of pot—which means it’s poised to get a lot bigger.

The issue with edibles is their notoriously unpredictable user experience: They’re potent, take a while to kick in, and can take a long time for your body to metabolize. All that makes dosing an intimidating guessing game.

Colorado pot businesses are increasingly coming under scrutiny from the Internal Revenue Service due to the industry's focus on cash, according to a report Tuesday from Marijuana Business Daily. 

Marijuana businesses such as dispensaries are known to deal predominantly in cash due to continued U.S. banking restrictions that make it difficult for them to have bank accounts with federally chartered financial institutions. And those cannabis businesses with bank accounts sometimes have accounts closed once the bank learns about the marijuana-related activities.

A group of Nevada lawmakers and industry leaders recently traveled to Denver where Marijuana has quickly grown into a billion dollar business.

But with the successes come challenges and Colorado regulators are still working with lawmakers to shape the state's marijuana industry.

Regulators there are trying to combat some of the same issues they faced a year ago, including some new ones.

When you ask state regulators and industry insiders in Colorado what the biggest issues are related to legal weed in their state, there are two that come up consistently.

One of them is a problem that plagued Nevada's fledgling medical marijuana industry -- regulating pesticides.

Something Colorado's Director of Marijuana Policy, Andrew Freedman knows all too well.

Further investigation into the state’s burgeoning medical marijuana industry has produced a dangerous revelation that suggests what you don’t know could hurt you.

As Yolo County, along with the rest of the state, works to regulate the once underground industry, local ag officials are uncovering unanticipated problems.

The latest, reported by Yolo Ag Commissioner John Young this past week, is that some of the county’s marijuana crops are being treated with unapproved pesticides and legitimate labs have federal licenses that prohibit them from testing these products — which means even marijuana labeled “pesticide free” at dispensaries may still contain anywhere from trace to large amounts of pesticides.

“Smoked Shark Tank” Ganjapreneurs Offered Over $13 million in financing.

The first-ever television show about investing in Cannabis, The Marijuana Show, heats up Summer Television programming when it premieres Friday, July 8, on Amazon, iTunes and Google Play. The Show was also picked up by Amazon Prime, launching in August.