An increase of 45 percent has been recorded for the use of medical marijuana in the Netherlands compared to 2014. This is a much larger increase than in the last four years, which increased a steady 25 percent increase. Patients that are now medically qualify for the use of cannabis no longer have to rely on coffee shops, now they can get there medical marijuana, via prescription, at their local pharmacy, reported the Foundation for Pharmaceutical Studies (SFK).

Columbia Care, one of the five companies the state has licensed to grow and distribute medical marijuana, has found a new site for its Long Island dispensary.

The company will now have a dispensary at 1333 E. Main St. in Riverhead, about two miles east of Peconic Bay Medical Center, CEO Nicholas Vita said Friday.

The company had originally proposed a dispensary a couple miles down the road, also in Riverhead. 

But that site, an old Blockbuster video store, sparked local concern because of its proximity to the high school, and the town board considered a moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries.

Only amid the 420-friendly crunch of Boulder, Colo., will you find a luncheon celebrating the release of a new marijuana cookbook — with infused samples from one of the book’s recipes being handed out to attendees.

While renovating a four-level condo in Park View, Washington, D.C.-based developer Eric Hirshfield came across a small issue that soon became the listing's biggest selling point: a marijuana grow closet. Homebuyers shouldn't be too surprised if they see other developers jumping on the bandwagon. According to Hirshfield, two Washington, D.C.-based developers reached out to him with interest in doing the same, but he was reluctant to give the names of them. While it may be legal to possess, gift, and grow marijuana in Washington, D.C., Hirshfield said, "It's a little murky and grey at the federal level."

I have met a lot of cannabis industry investors over the years, and they almost always leave a bad taste in my mouth. They always give me the ‘we don’t want you, we just want your idea’ vibe, which has left me pretty jaded with the industry (which I’m sure people can tell from some of my articles). I don’t claim to be a genius, but I know I’m not stupid. I know what The Weed Blog is, what it can be, and what it will take to get there.

Private equity is like the concert-goer at a Grateful Dead show years ago:

Suddenly gripped with a curiosity about what that dude a couple seats over is smoking.

"I get phone calls from brand-name PE firms," David Dinenberg, chief executive of Kind Financial, whose firm provides financial services technology to the cannabis industry, said in an interview. "They're curious about the industry."

Colorado's attempt to create a bank to service its marijuana industry has suffered another setback by the federal government and could be facing an impossible dilemma.

The Federal Reserve — the guardian of the U.S. banking system — said in a court filing Wednesday that it doesn't intend to accept a penny connected to the sale of pot because the drug remains illegal under federal law.

The stance appears to mark a shift in the position of the federal government. Last year, the U.S. Treasury Department issued rules for how banks can accept pot money.

The first legal cannabis vaporiser has hit the UK, intended for medicinal use.

Creators of the MediPen say their revolutionary device contains a very respectable dose of CBD, an active ingredient in the cannabis plant with a vast array of positive benefits and health uses.

CBD does not produce any of the psychoactive effects associated with traditional cannabis use, such as paranoia or anxiety.

Amy Yapp, who suffers from fibromyalgia (a condition which causes muscular pain, aches and tenderness) has reviewed the MediPen.

She doesn’t usually use cannabis, but her condition was causing a lot of pain, so despite early scepticism, she decided to go ahead with the trial.

MILWAUKIE, Ore. (AP) - Marijuana stores would be prohibited from selling both recreational and medical marijuana and pot could not be used on site under regulations considered Thursday by the Oregon Liquor Control Commission.

The OLCC is expected to approve more than 70 pages of rules that will govern Oregon's retail marijuana system once it's fully operational next year. While marijuana stores began selling to adults 21 and older earlier this month, they're operating under temporary authority from the medical marijuana program. By 2017, companies producing or selling marijuana to the general population will have to abide by the OLCC's regulations for health, safety and security.

File photo of a bag of marijuana being prepared for sale next to a money jar at BotanaCare in Northglenn, Colorado. RICK WILKING / Reuters File

The filing came in a legal battle between the Federal Reserve and the would-be Fourth Corner Credit Union, which was set up last year to serve Colorado's $700 million-a-year marijuana industry.

The credit union can't open without clearance from the Federal Reserve, which said in its filing that "transporting or transmitting funds known to have derived from the distribution of marijuana is illegal."