NORMAL — Bloomington-Normal residents will have the opportunity to buy medical marijuana close to home as soon as this spring.

The Green Solution, a Denver, Colo.-based marijuana developer and retailer, is "expecting to be open by the third week of April" at 501 Northtown Road in Normal, said Vice President of Local Expansion Tanya Griffin.

"We’re going to start building out that site immediately," Griffin said of the former Curves building in north Normal. “We just got through permitting.”

The company bought the half-acre lot in October, according to property records. Griffin declined to talk about the purchase price. 

Most of us know that marijuana, or cannabis, is a widely used recreational drug that's currently more illegal than legal in the U.S., and that it has a lot of support for medicinal purposes. Many of us hold strong opinions on marijuana, too -- about whether or not it should be more widely legalized. Despite all of that, though, there's much more to know about marijuana, including some surprising information.

Here are 11 interesting things to know about marijuana:

1. About 44% of Americans have tried marijuana, according to a 2015 Gallup poll. The percentage has grown steadily since Gallup first asked the question in 1969.

2. Fully 11% of Americans (more than 1 in 10) reported to Gallup in 2015 that they currently smoke marijuana.

When Gov. Frank Murkowski stepped before the Legislature in 2003, facing a $500 million shortfall, he announced: “What is our plan for increasing revenue? Well, ladies and gentlemen, in a single word, ‘oil.'”

In time, that single word did lead to higher revenue, but not because of higher oil production. Alaska raised oil taxes just before worldwide conditions produced price increases that no one believed possible.

As Murkowski gave way to successors Sarah Palin and Sean Parnell, the state treasury filled with the billions that are now draining at thousands of dollars an hour with nothing to stem the flow.

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A developer is looking to setup a medical marijuana production facility in the Town of Morris.

Mayor Gavin van der Linde says the location being discussed used to be an old chicken barn, located in the heavy industrial area.

A conditional use application would need to be approved by the town.

A public hearing was held Thursday night, with about a dozen local residents in attendance expressing varying opinions. Notices were sent to residents living within 100 meters of the proposed site.

Colombia, famed for the violence of its cocaine cartels, is planning a move into the more genteel drugs business of marijuana-based oils and creams.

The Andean nation’s climate and regulations make it ideally suited to profit from the incipient trade in legal marijuana, Health Minister Alejandro Gaviria said in a Jan. 8 interview in his Bogota office. The country legalized use of the drug for medical purposes last month.

“This is going to be a new commodity, there’s an emerging global medical marijuana business,” Gaviria said. “This year, we’re going to see international companies coming to Colombia to produce medical marijuana.”

A trade group representing most of Canada’s licensed marijuana growers is calling on the federal government to curb the ongoing surge in illegal pot shops, which began in Vancouver and has now spread to Toronto.

Reacting to news that Canada’s largest city now has 40 dispensaries and could see more than 100 by this spring, the Canadian Medical Cannabis Industry Association is asking Ottawa to stop the rise of illegal marijuana stores, which operate outside the strict regulations that its commercial-scale producers must respect.

About the size of a typical energy shot, CannaRelief is a single-serving natural supplement that counteracts the uncomfortable symptoms of cannabis overuse. Its active ingredients help offset many of the unfavorable side effects that accompany the ingestion of too much THC, including anxiety or paranoia, dizziness, and physical discomfort.

Don Briere already runs the biggest chain of illegal marijuana dispensaries in the country, with 19 locations throughout B.C. Now, he’s expanding eastward, inking deals to open six pot-shop franchises in Toronto.

Sent to prison for once heading British Columbia’s biggest network of marijuana grow operations, Mr. Briere is just one of dozens of entrepreneurs rushing to take advantage of Toronto’s rapid rise as a centre for the illegal storefront sale of cannabis.

Anyone who does not include “profit” in their definition of brand likely has never run a brand before. To me, a product is the basic commodity you sell but a brand creates a BOND, POWER and PROFIT, beyond what the product alone could achieve. The only reason you would ever add more investment to create a brand is because you believe you can get more back from that investment. We believe that the more LOVED a brand is by consumers, the more POWERFUL and PROFITABLE that brand will be. 

If you wish to succeed in Brand Management, you have to understand Accounting and Finance. If you just like the activity of Marketing, then you won’t get promoted past Brand Manager.

Dissecting the Financial Statement