ALBANY — State officials will formally launch New York’s medical marijuana program on Thursday and at least one city pot dispensary expects to be ready.

“New York State's Medical Marijuana Program is scheduled to launch on January 7, 2016, just 18 months after Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the Compassionate Care Act,” Health Department spokesman James Plastiras said in an email to reporters late Monday afternoon.

“More information and details on the program will be released shortly,” Plastiras added.

John Lord once walked into a federal government building with $2 million in cash in his backpack to pay his taxes for the cannabis he sells. 

Due to federal laws, he couldn't get a bank account to bank his drug profits. It's different now. His customers still have to pay cash, but he can now transfer money to the Internal Revenue Service come tax time.

Lord is the chief executive of Livwell - the largest marijuana dealer in Colorado, one of a few states that have legalised cannabis.

He sells in excess of $80 million worth of product annually. He won't talk profit margins.  

The Oregon Liquor Control Commission early Monday opened the state's online application system for marijuana licenses. 

The agency initially planned to staff a call center with staff and policy experts to take questions from people completing applications, but Sunday's winter storm prompted the state to close its Portland office buildings Monday.

Mark Pettinger, a spokesman for the commission, said state staff will not be on hand to take questions from applicants today.

Applicants may send questions to marijuana@oregon.gov or call 503-872-6366. Responds are likely to be delayed, the agency said.

MILWAUKEE — Some Wisconsin companies are cashing in on new opportunities created by the legalization of marijuana in other states.

A few Wisconsin firms have actively positioned themselves as suppliers to marijuana growers and processors, seeing the industry as an extension of markets they already serve, the Journal Sentinel (http://bit.ly/1O0D8ZL ) reported.

Wausau-based Roastar made a calculated move into enter into the marijuana supply field. Mike Mead, the company's vice president of sales and marketing, said Roastar saw it "as a big, significant opportunity."

The company makes plastic bags for coffee that are often imprinted with designs. Now, it's making flexible pouches for items such as marijuana-infused chocolates.

The Marijuana Business is Not Yet Free in Colorado

When Barack Obama was originally campaigning for the presidency in 2008, he indicated that he would take a more hands-off approach in terms of states legalizing marijuana (medical or otherwise).

For a long while, it looked as though the Drug Enforcement Agency hadn’t received the memo from Obama. Like so many other campaign promises, Obama was breaking this one as well, with federal agents continuing to raid marijuana dispensaries, even where it had been legalized by state law.

Since Colorado essentially legalized marijuana in 2012 – which included recreational use – the federal government has surprisingly been less active raiding dispensaries, although they have not completely stopped.

A New Jersey holding company has completed its acquisition of a medical marijuana firm, and named new leadership as part of the transaction, it announced Monday.

Piscataway-based Mobile Broadcasting Holding Inc. said in a news release that it wrapped up the deal for U.S. Virgin Islands-based Medically Minded LLC announced earlier this month, naming Ken Sobel the company’s new president and Stephen A. Jones, principal shareholder, its new CEO.

Medically Minded provides medical cannabis and cannabis-related products, as well as medical tourist services, MBHC said.

Cowetan Stacey Wilson hopes to see in-state growing of medical cannabis that can treat her seizure disorder. She has a card that allows her to possess low-THC cannabidiol oil, but the oil is prohibitively expensive.

The Georgia Commission on Medical Cannabis has voted against recommending in-state cultivation of marijuana to produce the low-THC that is now legal to possess in Georgia by those with certain medical conditions. 

And Gov. Nathan Deal, who has expressed skepticism about in-state growing of medical marijuana throughout the entire discussion, has come out against it again.

A ‘drafting error’ in California’s revision to its medicinal marijuana law could leave established growers like the “Sisters of the Valley” without a crop and out of business.

Sister Kate and Sister Darcey from Merced in California have been producing salves and tonics made with cannabis.

According to their website sistersofcbd.com, the sisters are not members of a religious order but they say they are on a spiritual quest to heal the sick with their medicinal cannabis cures.

They have produced a variety of products made from the cannabinoids or CBD’s found in the marijuana. Their plants do not contain THC, the substance that creates the marijuana high

It didn’t take long for police to arrest five burglary suspects trying to break-in to a medical marijuana production facility Monday thanks to a surveillance system at the Cookstown company.

Employees at AlternaMedz Canada Inc., which is staffed around the clock, were able to describe the suspects’ vehicle to officers as the attempted break-in was happening.

The presence of employees on site scared off the burglars, police say.

The employees called police for help at about 12:17 a.m.

South Simcoe Police tracked down five suspects, who were wearing disguises at the time of the break-in, about one-kilometre from the scene of the crime.

The men were arrested and the vehicle was seized.

As marijuana legalization in states like Colorado and Washington continues, marijuana farmers in Mexico are starting to see a steep decline in the profits their crops once fetched. Some growers report they’re seeing a decline in income as high as 70 percent, and they blame the popularity of higher quality legal marijuana in the U.S.