While Senate Republicans have said that federal district court judge Merrick Garland, President Obama’s nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court, will not get an up or down vote on his appointment, that has not squelched comments on some of Garland’s positions. One sector that is guardedly optimistic about Garland is the marijuana industry.

Ironically, perhaps, that dab of optimism is based on a 2012 case in which Garland voted with the majority that the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) did, indeed, have the authority to maintain marijuana’s rating as a Schedule I drug. Garland, who has often sided with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), used a similar argument in the case involving loosening the restrictions on medical marijuana.

The media glare on Orange County after January’s jail break revived buzz over a separate, sensational crime: the brutal kidnapping and torture of a local pot shop owner.

One of the escaped inmates was accused of being part of a trio that drove the dispensary owner to the Mojave Desert, where they mistakenly believed he had stashed cash. When the man couldn’t lead his kidnappers to buried treasure, authorities allege the escapee and his accomplices burned him with a blowtorch, severed part of his penis and left him for dead.

Marijuana is going mainstream fast, and so is the marijuana industry. In a time of sluggish growth, the pot business is bursting with energy.

It's a weird mix of righteous exhilaration at the victory of the weed over the dark forces of repression (at least in some places) and people walking around with dollar signs in their eyes. But like it or not, pot is hot.

Here are some signs of the times:

The growing popularity of marijuana-infused edibles has already led to a plethora of interesting new products. The latest one to join the ranks is Chrontella.

Chrontella fuses one of the most delicious hazelnut-chocolate sandwich spreads with everyone’s favorite recently legalized (in some states) “drug”: marijuana.

Unfortunately, Chrontella is not available in the United States, but can be bought from select cannabis retail outlets in Canada. Each Chrontella jar comes with 300mg of cannabis extract. It’s unclear, however, if the chocolate spread used here is the real deal.

America is in the middle of a "green rush," as states across the US legalize marijuana, letting people finally grow and sell the drug legally for recreational and medical uses.

But there's a big problem: This green rush is, by and large, disproportionately shutting out black Americans as a result of racial disparities in the war on drugs, leaving many unable to participate in the legal pot market, from growing to selling.

The cannabis industry is revitalizing small towns in states across the U.S. where medical marijuana cultivation is now legal.

Decades ago, the arrival of weed on main street seemed the harbinger of disrepair and doom accused of tarnishing the youth and serving as a gateway drug to a life of poverty. 

Now marijuana signals renewal and rebirth. This time, the weed isn't peddled by drug dealers on sidewalks, this potent weed is being transported deliberately by high-power industry leaders.

As Pennsylvania moves closer to adopting a medical marijuana program, New Jersey has released a report on its six-year-old program that says its dispensaries charge the highest price for an ounce of marijuana on average, compared with other states with similar programs.

The Department of Health report said the five dispensaries operating statewide charge an average of $489 per ounce, about 37 percent more than the average price in Arizona, New Mexico, Vermont, Maine, and Rhode Island. Most of these states have a cost-of-living index of 10 percent or less than New Jersey, said the report, released this month.

Downtown Windsor will have another place where people can vape or smoke medical marijuana — if Leo Lucier can pull off plans for his Vapelated Vapor Lounge.

“I want to set it up like a European cafe,” says Lucier, 46, proprietor of the new business at 26 Chatham St. E.

Lucier said he intended for the lounge to open on Thursday, but he admitted there’s a lot of work to be done. “We’re winging it,” he said.

Although mostly stripped of decor, the address still bears the bar, tables, and chairs of its former business, Fidel’s Havana Lounge. Instead of alcohol, the shelves now carry an assortment of  bongs and candy bars.

Welcome to the Wide World of Cannabis, a MERRY JANE original series profiling far flung parts of the world and how they have cultivated their own unique relationship with marijuana.

Oregon brought in more than three times the expected amount of recreational marijuana tax money in the first month it was collected from dispensaries, ­potentially moving up when the state distributes revenue to ­cities and counties.

Officials estimated that January might bring in about $1 million in taxes, said Derrick ­Gasperini, communications manager for the state Department of ­Revenue. Figures released Wednesday by the department showed that the state collected $3.48 million in taxes for recreational marijuana sales in January. “It does exceed ­projections,” he said.