GW Pharmaceuticals hopes that its big-time spending on medical marijuana research could finally prove worthwhile.

Marijuana drug developer GW Pharmaceuticals plc (NASDAQ:GWPH) is plowing tens of millions of dollars into marijuana research and development every quarter, but trial failures in cancer pain and schizophrenia last year are increasing worry that its efforts will prove futile.

This year, GW Pharmaceuticals expects to report data from a slate of trials evaluating its marijuana drug Epidiolex in epilepsy patients. Can these trials get the company back on track? Read on to find out what's at stake. 

Roseanne Barr wants you to smoke a bowl with her at her new medical marijuana shop, opening soon in California. Can’t you hear her laugh already?

The comedic actress has invested in a weed dispensary called Roseanne’s Joint in Santa Ana, which will sell all sorts of edibles including chocolate-covered weed snacks made with macadamia nuts from Oprah’s favorite Hawaiian nut producer. The store, along with the comedian’s personal strain of weed, will be named Roseanne’s Joint.

Via the OC Register, Barr also says she plans on stopping by the store from time to time:

Advertisement

In the 1980s, scientists working for Pfizer set their sights on developing a drug for the pharmaceutical giant that would relieve hypertension and help save the lives of those suffering from angina. After years of tireless research by some of the best scientific minds money could buy, Pfizer created the chemical compound sildenafi l citrate in 1989. The company poured more money, time and talent into putting its new drug through clinical trials, only to discover sildenafi l citrate wasn’t very effective in treating heart problems. However, men taking the would-be heart medication reported increased erections, and Pfizer decided to spin the drug’s side effect into its main purpose. On March 27, 1998, the FDA approved sildenafi l citrate for public consumption under the brand name Viagra.

According to a new report from ArcView Market Research, legal marijuana sales could grow by 30% per year through 2020.

Ready or not, legal marijuana could be coming to a state or city near you in the not-too-distant future.

Since 1996, we've witnessed an incredibly quick rate of expansion for marijuana at the state level. Beginning with California legalizing medical marijuana, 22 additional states, along with Washington, D.C., now allow for medical cannabis to be prescribed by physicians for specific ailments that vary by state.

Eric Howard takes great pride in his “ladies,” each of which can yield up to 16 ounces of medical cannabis in a 16-week life cycle.

“They get so heavy, they fall over right at the end,” said Howard, master grower at an 11-acre growing facility in Bernalillo owned by Ultra Health LLC. A trellis system is needed to support the heavy flowering branches of the mature plants.

Howard urges a visitor to feel one of the dense flowers, which leaves a sticky resin on the fingers.

The ordinance that allows commercial cultivation of medical marijuana in Adelanto requires growers to make every effort to hire at least half of their workers in the city.

Adelanto needs all the jobs it can get. Its unemployment rate soared to 22 percent during the recession, and it's still 9.7 percent, compared with a statewide rate of 5.8 percent.

Freddy Sayegh, a Los Angeles lawyer who represents three cultivation projects, estimates the new industry will generate 3,000 jobs for the town. His three facilities might account for 500, he said, with workers tending and trimming the plants and providing security, sales and research.

Dr. Joycelyn Elders, our nation’s first African American Surgeon General was the keynote address this morning at the International Cannabis Business Conference (ICB) and Congressmen Earl Blumenauer and Dana Rohrabacher followed her. Having Elders and two sitting Congressmen speak helped provide an overview of how far the United States has come nationally, where we are now, and where we are heading in the near future.

Legal marijuana means big profits that no longer go to criminals and cartels. So who is going to get those legal cannabis profits? Obviously those with the drive and foresight to navigate a new and evolving industry; also, being a celebrity doesn’t hurt.

Celebrities are flooding into the “dope game.” There are those you would expect; well-known cannabis users who have been preaching the awesomeness of Mary Jane for decades who now plan on cashing in on being absolutely right.

Sprawling 70-acre campus is listed for $85M

The campus was put up for sale in June for an asking price of $85 million, following the listing of Amgen’s 300,000-square-foot Boulder facility. That property was purchased for $14.6 million by AstraZeneca in September.

Weed has gone legit. Gone are the days of seedy back-alley deals and surreptitious deliveries. (Unless -- do you know a guy?) As legalization expands, clandestine dealers are being replaced by respectable mom-and-pop shops, glossy grow-ops, and tourist-friendly "weederies." To solidify its position, the industry is looking to hire a crop of new young professionals. But it will make those hires on just one condition: They have to take this job -- deep breath now -- actually quite seriously.