Ontario is working on regulations for the recreational marijuana market ahead of the federal government's plan to introduce a legalization bill in spring 2017. But one activist thinks the province's regulations could cost taxpayers a tremendous amount of money, while inadvertently keeping the black market for cannabis in business.

On June 18, the Toronto Star reported that Ontario's ministries of finance and health have struck a working group with the province's attorney general to draft a framework for regulations.

Fears that giant corporations will take over America’s burgeoning marijuana industry are massively overblown, according to a report by the Brookings Institution.

As more states legalize marijuana and businesses and entrepreneurs look to capitalize on the drug’s legal status, marijuana opponents are voicing concerns the substance could morph into the next big tobacco.

Talk of big marijuana has made it into headlines and opinion pieces as skeptics fear the rise of a new corporate lobby pursuing profits above all else and manipulating the political process.

Bill Blair, the federal government’s lead on legalizing marijuana, has been quietly meeting with advocates for the illegal pot shops springing up across the country, hearing their arguments for how regulating the sector could help eliminate the black market.

Even where not mandated, a food safety plan will help you protect your company, your customers, and yourself from food safety liability.

Cliff Thomason left the real estate business last year to become something of a pioneer: a hemp farmer.

The Grants Pass, Oregon, man was the first in the state to legally grow hemp, after Oregon began licensing growers in 2014, joining 17 other states nationwide that have differentiated hemp from marijuana and set up separate regulatory systems for growing it. But Thomason is one of only 43 farmers in the state targeting their efforts at producing seed and fiber, as opposed to the cannabidiol oil extracted from hemp stalk and used both as a balancer of the psychoactive properties of marijuana and a purely medicinal product, easing symptoms from back pain to anxiety. In the booming cannabis industry, hemp has become a neglected stepchild.

License granted to Alaska testing company AK Green Labs LLC.

Steep Hill, the global industry leader in cannabis testing and analytics, today announced it has licensed its cannabis testing technologies to a highly-respected team of scientists who have plans to open Steep Hill Alaska as a full service cannabis quality assurance laboratory in Anchorage, Alaska, bringing advanced scientific tools and methodology to the state. 

Wall Street's big money is not ready to dive into the booming cannabis industry.

Companies in the legal-pot industry will generate nearly $7 billion in sales this year - a 25% growth rate - according to ArcView Market Research, a group that tracks the market.

But the investors with the deepest pockets are likely to sit on the sidelines for some time to come.

MedMen, a company that consults for the medical-marijuana industry, launched the $100 million MedMen Opportunity Fund last week with the goal of breaking into large markets with limited licenses.

Although Israel is one of the leaders in medical cannabis research, Israel is behind other countries in creating legal outlines for its use, both medical and recreational.

A number of farmers who would like to become legal cannabis growers petitioned the Jerusalem District Court on Sunday to force the state to make a decision on licensing requirements.

Currently, there are eight approved cannabis-growing companies in Israel. The plaintiffs, represented by attorney Hagit Weinstock, complain that the companies were chosen years ago without a tender, and that farmers who want to enter the market are finding themselves at a dead-end.

Last week's police raid on a major California cannabis company in Sonoma County came after a disgruntled former employee, who is attempting to form his own competing company, called the authorities on his old employer, an attorney said Friday.

Santa Rosa police and Drug Enforcement Administration agents wearing camouflage and kevlar descended on the production facilities and offices of CBD Guild, which manufactures popular cannabis products under the Care By Design and AbsoluteXtracts brand names. 

After five years of quiet but rapid growth making equipment for the marijuana industry in other states, Apeks Supercritical is ready to ramp up business in Ohio.

With passage of a state medical-marijuana law that takes effect Sept. 8, the company not only expects to see a jump in manufacturing orders, but it also plans to get into the business as a marijuana processor.

“We had to work from the sidelines,” said Andy Joseph, Apeks’ CEO. “Now, I’m very optimistic about doing business in Ohio. I think it’s going to be fantastic.

“This isn’t just a bunch of stoners trying to get high all the time,” he said. “This is real business and real opportunities for the state of Ohio. This is truly an economic-development opportunity for the state.”