Legalizing marijuana means going green, in more ways than one.

Colorado hauled in $76.2 million from taxes on marijuana sales and license fees in 2014. That windfall leaped nearly 71 percent – to about $130 million – in 2015.

Washington state pulled in $41.4 million in taxes and fees in its first 16 months of legal pot sales and is on track to reap at least $60 million in new tax dollars in the fiscal year that ends in June.

Next time you’re in Aurora, Colo., stop by Good Chemistry. They don’t sell test tubes, Bunsen burners or chemistry kits for junior; they sell cannabis. And executives are billing the store as a “pioneer in the evolution of retail cannabis shopping and experience.”

A pioneer indeed, given the newfound recognition of this product category. The sleek store design, developed via a partnership between Michael Markowitz and Associates, Duffy and Partners and Tony Coleman Brand Design Retail Interiors, is intended to bring Good Chemistry’s brand strategy, values and commitments to life in every aspect of the dispensary.

Could Canada Post become Canada Pot? The Crown corporation is desperately seeking new revenue sources, as mail volumes drop five per cent a year.

At the same time, the federal government is equally frantic in its hunt for income, as the economy slows.

The suggestion from producers of medicinal marijuana is that Canada Post be the initial distribution network for recreational cannabis, after pot is legalized by the new government.

Leave the black lights and Jim Morrison posters in the attic. The methodically cultivated marijuana grown at Nevada Organic Remedies is not your father's weed.

With a one-of-a-kind watering system, production extraction machine and multiple strains of the plant grown under very specific conditions, the 12 employees and CEO Andrew Jolley harvest up to 50 pounds of "flower" every five days in the Las Vegas grow warehouse — a process that soared to new heights Saturday, when the company's first matured plants were ripe for the taking.

"We're constantly improving methods and techniques to get a better, more purer, more desirable product at the end of the day. This is a commercial agriculture facility. It's not a warehouse; it's not some dude's basement grow," Jolley said.

The Oregon Department of Agriculture on Friday temporarily removed a popular pesticide from its list of chemicals cannabis growers may use on their crop.

Rodger Voelker, a chemist with OG Analytical, a marijuana testing lab in Eugene, said he recently noticed that abamectin, a common insecticide, had turned up in a handful of cannabis samples submitted by growers who said they grew organically. One mentioned he used only Guardian Mite Spray. Voelker asked for a sample of the mite spray, tested it and detected abamectin, an active ingredient not listed on the product label.

It’s a tough go for legal weed growers. Today, the Canadian federal medical cannabis system, or Marijuana for Medical Purposes Regulations (MMPR) is struggling to compete with the unregulated dispensary supply chain.

Despite often lower prices, the tightest quality assurance in the world, and the draw of being able to offer cannabis purchased legally under federal law, the MMPR has been stymied as dispensaries have flourished over the last 18 months.

Some estimates suggest that dispensaries serve around 300,000 Canadians who categorize their cannabis use as medical, while the MMPR only serves around 40,000.

Medical marijuana growers in Italy can breathe a bit easier. On Friday, Italy eased the punishment for those who violate the terms for being a medical grower, reported the Local. Should Italian pot enthusiasts be tempted to grow pot for personal use, however, they've been warned. 

When I asked Andy Nulman about the chances of legalized marijuana boosting tourism in Montreal, I had no idea that many years ago he'd written a script for a film called O Cannabis, about Canada legalizing pot and becoming "the new Saudia Arabia."

In the script, "farmers out in the Beauce and Manitoba and Saskatchewan become the new oil sheikhs, and (Canada) becomes this destination for stoners worldwide," Nulman said.

The co-founder of Just For Laughs and chief attention-grabber for 375MTL, the Society for the Celebrations of Montréal's 375th Anniversary, Nulman says he has not touched drugs in 40 years, and he's a vehement non-smoker. However, he has long considered the ripple effects of marijuana legalization.

The Toronto Dispensary had a quiet opening in the neighbourhood last February,

It now provides medicinal marijuana to more than 1,000 patients for home consumption.

Along with glass canisters containing several varities of weed, three LCD screens on the wall list what’s on the menu including marijuana-infused fudge, cake pops and fizzy soft-drinks.

Before you get to the main showroom, you walk through the reception area with its calming grey walls where patients present their prescription and undergo an interview and a lounge area where family members of patients can watch TV or play Xbox - and in some cases, learn how to roll joints.

Dispensaries and LPs have the same goals, and the ideal system would include them both. They need to stop attacking each other and work on cooperating more...

The proliferation and general acceptance of over-the-counter cannabis dispensaries in Vancouver, Toronto, and elsewhere, is a sign that Canada has been ready for full cannabis legalization for quite some time. Canadians understand that using, growing, processing, and even selling cannabis – medical or otherwise – is neither inherently deviant nor immoral.