I was lucky enough to attend the 2015 Marijuana Business Conference and Expo in Las Vegas this week, hosted by Marijuana Business Daily. There has literally never been an industry gathering of this magnitude ever, and I was happy to be able to go to it. I don’t get out to events that often, especially industry events, but this was one that I couldn’t pass up. I attended the first one of these events in 2012, and it’s mind blowing to see how much it has grown over the years.

As part of the Oregon Liquor Control Commission's rules and regulations regarding the sale of recreational marijuana, all marijuana businesses that operate in the state must be majority owned by a legal resident of Oregon, who has lived in the state for more than two years. Experts in the marijuana industry say the rule is unnecessarily restrictive and may be a social justice issue, and they are working to change it.

On Nov. 12, 2015, the Colorado Division of Securities issued an investor alert titled, “Are you an Informed Investor? The Next Big Thing.” The alert addressed the popularity of investments in marijuana, binary options and digital currencies, and how potential investors need to conduct due diligence before making any decisions.

With its focus on issues of market volatility, lack of data, federal illegality and scam artists, the alert’s discussion of marijuana is of particular interest to those hoping to enter the legal marijuana market.

A group of investors is set to pump approximately half-a-million US dollars into Jamaica's first legal marijuana cultivation project.

The multimillion-dollar investment by Ganja Lab LLC is expected to begin in two weeks on lands located at the University of Technology (UTech) in St Andrew.

It comes months after the government enacted changes to the Dangerous Drug Act that allows for ganja cultivation and the development of a medical marijuana industry.

Speaking yesterday at a ground breaking ceremony, Chairman of Ganja Labs, Balram Vaswani, said the project will be done in two phases.

TORONTO, Nov. 12, 2015 /CNW/ - Patients in Canada prescribed medical marijuana may soon have a new, safe, effective and smokeless option for how they administer their needed medication — and it's as easy as brewing a coffee, tea or hot chocolate.

CannTrust™, the only pharmacist-controlled and operated producer of medical cannabis in Canada, is unveiling its innovative CANNCUPTM medical cannabis beverage pods at the Family Medicine Forum, November 11 – 14, 2015 in Toronto. The first-of-their-kind in Canada, the new CANNCUPTM pods use a patent-pending method to produce single serve coffee, tea and hot chocolate containing high quality cannabis. The pods will be certified 100 percent compostable and compatible with leading single serve coffee makers.

Colorado Harvest Company, a premium retail cannabis enterprise owned by pioneers in Colorado's legal marijuana industry, is growing rapidly and is adding more than 50 new jobs in 2015, resulting in a total full time workforce exceeding 100. It added a third Colorado location; has begun construction on a fourth store in Aurora; doubled the footprint of Colorado Harvest Company-Broadway on Denver's Green Mile; and has increased its warehouse cultivation area to 55,000 sq. ft.

The eight licensed medical marijuana dispensaries in Oakland, California have banded together to limit the number of dispensaries in the city in a bid to consolidate their grip on the legal marijuana market.

A document obtained by BuzzFeed News shows that those eight dispensaries hired a lobbyist in July and last month announced that they would be forming the Oakland Dispensary Council to advocate on their behalf, raising questions about the extent of the cannabis industry’s growing spending power and political influence.

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Denver is in the midst of discussing the end of the moratorium for retail marijuana businesses. The moratorium is set to expire January 1, 2016.

As the president of the Colorado Cannabis Chamber of Commerce (C4), a statewide organization dedicated to the business growth of the cannabis industry, I believe it is an important step for Denver to not renew the moratorium.

One week after announcing a deal to put its products into Oregon and Arizona pot shops, the licensing arm of Denver-based Dixie Elixirs on Thursday announced its first international foray — into Australia and New Zealand.

Dixie Brands and its Australian partner, Cann Group, announced two licensing agreements Thursday night at the Marijuana Business Conference in Las Vegas.