“Mr. Dillinger, why do you rob banks?” Dillinger’s answer was simple: “I rob banks because… that is where the money is.”

When I was a kid in New York, many many years ago, banks used to run commercials offering toasters and other appliances if you opened a bank account with them.  I remember Mr. Coffee himself, Joe DiMaggio trying to pitch coffee machines if you opened up an account with the Bowery Savings Bank.  Perhaps today Tommy Chong could offer pipes or bongs to do the same.

As marijuana continues to move into the mainstream, dozens of Bay Area startups are banking on big business opportunities in the cannabis industry.

"We are at this precipice: There is a lot of money — real capital — that wants to come into the space," said Ben Larson, who runs Gateway Incubator, a cannabis startup incubator in downtown Oakland.

By Anthony Johnson

Political victories are easy to see, but there are often underlying cultural events that shape our progress.  Spannabis, one of the world’s leading cannabis festivals, is an example in Spain. Most of the cannabis community is likely unaware that tens of thousands of revelers attend the event every year, making the event one of the largest cannabis festivals in the world. Spannabis helps bring the European cannabis community together and help promote tolerant, progressive attitude across the continent.

Some months ago I wrote about Israel’s potential rise as a cannabis superpower and recent news suggest the country is living up to its reputation as a leader in medical cannabis.

In January the government announced plans to open the local medical marijuana market to new farms and sellers.

Adding to the developments on a governmental level, Israeli startups are utilizing cannabis for medical and technological advancements all the while working their way around regulations and other hurdles.

Texas will begin to prepare to issue licenses to retailers for the sale of marijuana-based products, reported MySanAntonio. The licenses will enable certain dispensaries to sell products with low levels of THC, such as cannabis oil.

The state has approved the products for people diagnosed with intractable epilepsy, a form of the disease where seizures cannot be treated with traditional drugs. The program was slated to be launched Jan. 10, but the first dispensary will not be licensed until June 2017. License applications will not be finalized and available to companies until this summer.

LOS ANGELES — The city will stop issuing new business tax certificates to medical marijuana dispensaries under an ordinance approved today by the Los Angeles City Council.

Despite the 2013 voter approval of Proposition D, which banned most medical marijuana businesses in Los Angeles, city finance officials have continued to issue tax certificates and collect taxes from them, illegal or not.

Some medical pot shops in the city are still allowed to operate due to exceptions in Proposition D, but finance officials said they are unequipped to determine whether a medical marijuana dispensary is in compliance and must leave the potentially complex legal question to be sorted out by city attorneys.

It's not JUST about the money.

I know, this is not something most folks expect to read in an investment newsletter. So let me explain...

A few years ago, when I first started writing about the legal marijuana space, I was accused of compromising my ethics in an attempt to make a buck. But nothing could be further from the truth.

There are actually a number of reasons I invest in the legal marijuana space.

Yes, the main reason is because it's insanely profitable.

Cultural change is often imperceptible, until the market adjusts to the new social environment. In Buenos Aires, and the surrounding area, the emergence of dozens of “grow shops” over the past two years is evidence of this sort of shift. These stores specialize in the sale of soil, fertilizer, substrates, and pesticides that are used to grow a single plant species: marijuana.

Ignacio Goyret is the founder of Basta de Lobby, a grow shop located in Palermo — a neighborhood with a high concentration of these sorts of businesses. Goyret is a staunch proponent of the economic potential of the cannabis industry, and points to Chile as an example, where the law allows for the sale of marijuana seeds.

The biggest medical marijuana farm in Latin America has been formally opened in Chile. The 6,900-stalk plantation was inaugurated on 19 January in the small town of Colbun, 170 miles south of the capital Santiago, and organisers say it could help around 4,000 patients across the country.

Between March and May, the project aims to harvest around 1.5 tonnes (1.65 tons) of the plant, under the supervision of the government's agricultural service, SAG. According to High Times, 0.43 grams of cannabis is typically used in one joint, meaning the Colbun project could produce enough of the plant for around 30 million marijuana cigarettes over those three months.

Medical Cannabis Industry Association Welcomes 15^th Member

January 19, 2016 – Ottawa, Ontario – The Canadian Medical Cannabis Industry Association (CMCIA) has announced that OrganiGram Inc. is re-joining the Association as a member. OrganiGram, based in Moncton, New Brunswick, is licensed to produce and sell medical cannabis under Health Canada’s Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations(MMPR). The company is the only Licensed Producer (LP) in Atlantic Canada.

With the addition of OrganiGram, CMCIA now comprises 15 of the 22 companies that currently hold the 27 Health Canada licenses to cultivate and sell medical cannabis.