The difference between marijuana and cannabis often leads to confusion. Technically, the correct botanical name for the plant is cannabis. However, it is commonly referred to by a variety of slang or local names,  depending on the country or region.

The word marijuana only entered America’s popular vocabulary in the early 1900s and then began to refer to the cannabis plant that provided psychoactive effects. Today, in North America, France and parts of Latin America, the plant is commonly referred to as marijuana, but in much of the rest of the world, it is known as cannabis.

So, last week I told you guys that this week I was gonna tell you guys all about my plans to open North America’s best dispensary, and I totally am.

I got even more inspired by going to the High Times Cannabis Cup here in Michigan this weekend. It was wild, but, like, not as wild as I thought it would be. It did serve as some serious inspiration for my favorite autobiographical fanfiction, though.

The limited decriminalisation of ganja has spawned a number of misconceptions about the herb, which is still illegal in Jamaica, with many local and foreign investors already anxiously anticipating the millions they intend to make from this emerging industry.

"We know the economics. In Colorado (United States) last year, even though that's recreational but it also includes medical, they sold about US$1 billion worth of marijuana and collected US$135 million in taxes and fees for the state alone, with a population of five million plus," Delano Seiveright, a member of the Cannabis Commercial and Medicinal Research task force, told a Gleaner Editors' Forum recently.

Pot is a big business and only destined to get bigger. Legal sales last year reached $5.7 billion, up more than a billion dollars over the previous year. Sales this year are expected to top $7.1 billion.

This fall, we're likely to see marijuana legalization initiatives win in a handful of states—Arizona, California, Nevada, Maine, Massachusetts—which would more than triple the size of the legal marijuana market in the county. The combined population of the legal states so far is about 16 million; the population of California alone is more than 38 million. If all five initiative states vote for marijuana this year, the size of the legal market would grow to more than 55 million.

Cannabis is a serious business. 

Currently, medical marijuana is legal in 25 states, with several more considering bills. The Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan research group, estimates that it's a $45 billion industry in the US alone. 

This year, the International Cannabis Association hosted the second-annual Cannabis World Congress and Business Exposition in New York City, where cannabis businesses from around the world can network, show off their products, and attend seminars and panel discussions about the burgeoning industry.

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.

The Senate Appropriations Committee voted on Thursday to allow banks to provide financial services to legal recreational and medical marijuana dispensaries, according to The Denver Post.

Marijuana is still listed as a Schedule 1 substance by the federal government, so marijuana businesses in states where recreational use is legal, like Colorado, are forced to operate on an all-cash basis.

It's a big week for the legal cannabis industry. Hundreds of marijuana business, manufacturing, media, technology, and product companies descended upon the Javits Center in New York City this week for Cannabis World Congress. At the same time, Microsoft is entering the space, partnering with seed-to-sale software company Kind Financial on compliance solutions for state and local governments.

Can you imagine a world where you have no access to electronic banking? There would be no debit cards, credit cards or online payments. How about a world where you do not even have access to a checking account? It seems crazy and unfathomable in America in 2016, but that world exists for one of the country’s newest, hottest and most cutting edge industries.

That industry? Legal marijuana.

Banking and cash management are one of the cannabis industry’s greatest obstacles to growth. Most cannabis companies must operate exclusively in cash, which creates tracking and security issues for the companies and their investors.

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