The city of Haarlem will not be experimenting with regulated cannabis cultivation with its own cannabis garden, Mayor Bernt Schneiders wrote to the city council. According to him, there is no room for such experimentation in the political climate in The Hague, AD reports.

Schneiders, like many other mayors in the Netherlands, supports regulated cannabis cultivation, believing that it will be a good weapon against drug crime in the city. He thinks a system of permits for the sale and production of marijuana, license holders also providing information on soft drugs, is a good idea.

Illinois’ capital has a new medical marijuana dispensary.

HCI Alternatives medical marijuana dispensary held a ribbon cutting ceremony Monday at its downtown Springfield location at 628 East Adams Street, as reported by Fox Illinois News Team.

The facility is nearly 6,000 square feet, making it one of Illinois’ largest dispensaries.

The dispensary officially opens for business Thursday, Feb. 18.

HCI Alternatives also operates a dispensary in Collinsville, Illinois, at 1014 Eastport Plaza Dr.

Patients voiced hope and frustration as a medical marijuana dispensary prepared to formally open Tuesday in Lowell, marking the debut of the sixth dispensary in Massachusetts.

It has been more than three years since voters approved marijuana for medical use.

Executives of Patriot Care, operator of the Lowell facility, described the licensing process as a positive but long road, and said they opted for a cautious launch, offering just four strains of marijuana in the beginning but no other products, such as edibles, tinctures, or oils. They said they want to make sure they have ample supply. The first dispensaries that opened last year quickly ran into supply problems.

After failing to gain the support of a legislative panel Tuesday, the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe will turn its gazes to the federal level in an attempt to re-open its shuttered marijuana grow facilities.

The tribe last year began growing marijuana on the reservation and planned to open a marijuana lounge on New Year's Eve. But after consulting with the attorney general and the U.S. attorney's office for the district of South Dakota, the tribe opted to burn their crops in November for fear that the facility would be raided by federal agents.

A proposed 15 percent tax on medical marijuana sales would push the government's take on retail pot in Los Angeles to more than one-fourth of the advertised price.

The city's take is already 5 percent, and the state levies normal sales taxes (about 7.5 percent) on weed sales, so your $200 ounce of Skywalker OG could end up costing you more than $250.

Longtime cannabis advocates are opposed to the bill by state Sen. Mike McGuire of Sonoma County, which would impose a state tax of 15 percent on medical pot in order to help fund the coming "regulation of cultivation, processing, manufacturing, distributing and sale of marijuana," according to a statement from his office.

Five years ago, it would’ve been unimaginable to think that marijuana – legal marijuana, in particular – would be one of the hottest and fastest-growing industries in the United States. And yet, with only a handful of states having implemented legalization laws, here we are. Marijuana sales are blowing up, thousands of jobs are being created, and it seems almost inevitable that prohibition is going to fall nationwide in the near future.

The businesses are legally unable to write checks or make credit card transactions, raising questions of safety as people carry huge sums

The Sacramento branch of the California tax collection agency reeks of marijuana.

That’s because it’s cash day at the collection center – when marijuana dispensary owners are allowed to bring in paper money to pay their quarterly sales tax bill – and the smell of their inventory clings to everything.

A new legal cannabis shop in the US state of Colorado is receiving potshots for its proximity to a strip club and ties with the mayor. 

The Smokin' Gun Apothecary opened in the space previously occupied by the popular strip club Shotgun Willie’s, which is now across the parking lot.

Both businesses are owned by the wife of the mayor, who apparently thinks there's a crossover audience.

Deborah Dunafon wants to offer tokers discounted drinks at the strip club by selling mugs.

She also thinks the stoners will bring a chiller vibe to her not-so-gentlemanly club.

The first thing you notice when you walk into the Bud & Breakfast called "B and B 420" is that it's really, really clean. It's that feeling of relief you get when you realize that the place you're staying will be nice — better than nice, nicer than your house. The second thing you notice is the faint smell of fresh marijuana in the air, your one gram sample waiting for you in a tupperware on the coffee table tray, beside some rolling papers and a pipe.

As Washington, Colorado and Oregon report "record-setting" legal marijuana sales in 2015, it doesn't come too much as a surprise that the weed industry is proving and growing to be much bigger in the next few years.

In fact, according to cannabis research firm ArcView Market Research, in conjunction with New Frontier data, legal marijuana sales are projected to hit $21.8 billion in total annual sales by 2020. That's four times the size of legal weed sales in 2015.