Applying pesticides off label is a federal offense and successful pest management should not require some of the pesticides used regularly in the industry and cited in recent Colorado recalls.

HONOLULU — Actor and marijuana advocate Woody Harrelson was one of nearly 60 applicants to apply to open one of Hawaii's first medical marijuana dispensaries.

Harrelson, 54, applied for a license in Honolulu County under his company, Simple Organic Living.

The Hawaii Department of Health posted the list of 66 applications on its website Friday. The state is now reviewing applications for dispensary permits, which they will award in April.

Pardon the pun, but you could say expectations are high around the country that this could be the biggest year ever for marijuana legalization.

Consumers and legislators are seeing green
To recap, the past two decades haven't been too shabby for marijuana supporters. Some 23 states, as well as Washington, D.C., now allow for physicians to prescribe medical marijuana for specific ailments, and four states -- Washington, Colorado, Oregon, and Alaska -- plus D.C. now allow for the sale of recreational marijuana to adults ages 21 and up. Even a decade ago the thought of marijuana being legal anywhere would have been somewhat far-fetched, but it's a reality now in four states, and perhaps more by the end of the year.

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. — Medical marijuana facilities in the area could be getting a new look. El Paso County is banning the use of green crosses on medical dispensary signs.

The Board of County Commissioners voted unanimously on Feb. 5 to ban green crosses from medical marijuana dispensaries in non-incorporated parts of the county.

A white cross with a green background is the universal first aid symbol and county commissioners said younger people, those who move here for the military and tourists, are confusing medical marijuana shops for other medical services

Oregonians can consume legal weed without emptying their wallets.

The Beaver State is home to the lowest average price of dispensary cannabis at $214 an ounce, according to an analysis by Perfect Price, a company that tracks the prices of a variety of goods including groceries, cleaning supplies and cannabis. The company looked at menu prices for cannabis flowers from about 6,000 dispensaries in six states with more than 200 dispensaries: Oregon, Colorado, Washington, Arizona, California and Michigan.

Mary’s Medicinals — an all-natural producer of medical cannabis products based out of Colorado — is the latest victim in a string of medical marijuana businesses whose pages have been shut down by Facebook. But only some pages have been targeted for what Facebook claims are violations of their Community Standards.

Before the shutdown, the Mary’s Medicinals page had built a large, supportive community of medical cannabis patients, many of whom were parents of children who experience seizures and people with terminal diagnoses.

A new report titled ‘The State of Legal Marijuana Markets’, published earlier this week, projects a rapid rise in the value of regulated cannabis markets in the US for 2016.

Just how big is the market for legal pot?

A new report by a leading marijuana industry investment and research firm found legal cannabis sales jumped 17%, to $5.4 billion, in 2015 and they will grow by a whopping 25% this year to reach $6.7 billion in total U.S. sales.

Fortune magazine, quoted above, have published a summary of the report, the 4th edition of findings by cannabis economists ArcView Market Research.

The legal sales of pot will reach $21.8 billion in 2020, up from $5.4 billion last year. The legalization of marijuana has and will spread rapidly from state to state.

The data from a new report titled "The State of Legal Marijuana Markets" explain that part of the forecast has as a foundation the sales in Colorado and Washington, where pot use for medical and recreational use is already legal. The research shows that the rise will be rapid year by year:

Demand is expected to remain strong in 2016 with legal markets projected to grow to $6.7 billion, a 24% increase over 2015

The huge majority of the rise in sales will be due to recreational use, which was only 8% of the market in 2014 but is anticipated to be 53% in 2020.

Oregonians can consume legal weed without emptying their wallets.

The Beaver State is home to the lowest average price of dispensary cannabis at $214 an ounce, according to an analysis by Perfect Price, a company that tracks the prices of a variety of goods including groceries, cleaning supplies and cannabis. The company looked at menu prices for cannabis flowers from about 6,000 dispensaries in six states with more than 200 dispensaries: Oregon, Colorado, Washington, Arizona, California and Michigan.

Marley Natural, the New York marijuana startup funded with Silicon Valley money, has come out with a line of weed strains branded in the name of late reggae icon and vehement anti-capitalist Bob Marley. The four types of cannabis will be available in some California dispensaries today, before expanding to the four other US states where marijuana has been decriminalized. The company has also launched a line of natural beauty products and smoking accessories that will be sold nationwide.