A federal law that permits pesticides to be used on crops threatened by an outbreak or infestation could be the solution for marijuana growers struggling with restrictions on the chemicals they can use.

But critics on both sides wonder whether it will be a boon for the pesticide and marijuana industries or a bust because of the many hurdles impeding success.

State and federal regulators are poised to give pesticide manufacturers specialized approval for their products to be used on marijuana as long as the companies can prove the chemicals are not harmful to consumers when ingested.

With three statewide medical marijuana bills signed into law Oct. 9, California dispensaries are now anticipating stricter regulations on distribution and sale, beginning in 2018.

The legislation — Assembly Bills 266 and 243, and Senate Bill 643 — delineates a new system of licensing, growth tests, processing, transportation and sale of medical marijuana. Products are now required to be tested for purity and potency, and will undergo stricter packing regulations and oversight. Additionally, the legislation calls for increased regulation of the use of pesticides at the cultivation site.

MOUNT DORA — Four Lake County companies are among 28 in the state vying to grow cannabis in Florida’s medical marijuana program.

The Florida Department of Health will award one company from each of the five regions of the state — central, northeast, northwest, southeast and southwest — a license to grow and dispense medical marijuana. A decision is expected this fall.

The local companies that submitted applications in July were Treadwell Nursery, 25548 County Road 44A, Sorrento; McCrory’s Sunny Hill Nursery, 3515 La Place Court, Eustis; DeLeon’s Bromeliads Inc., 4055 Britt Road, Mount Dora; and Spring Oaks Greenhouse Inc., 17323 Lake St., Umatilla.

Company:

BioTrackTHC.

Headquarters: Fort Lauderdale.

Business: Develops and sells seed-to-sale marijuana inventory tracking software for government regulatory agencies and authorized marijuana businesses.

Years in business: Six years in the marijuana space.

Management team: Steven Siegel, founder and chairman emeritus; T.J. Ferraro, founder and chief software architect; Patrick Vo, chief executive officer; Dr. Moe Afaneh, chief operating officer; Efrain Vega, chief financial officer.

AusCann has switched its focus from Norfolk to Christmas Island as it forges ahead with plans to grow and export medicinal cannabis crops.

An Australian company is now eyeing Christmas Island as a hub to grow and export medicinal cannabis.

AusCann is excited about federal government plans to allow the controlled cultivation of cannabis for medicinal and scientific purposes.

It wants to become the first Australian company involved in the commercial production of medicinal cannabis for export to Europe and elsewhere.

The company initially wanted to grow its crops on Norfolk Island.

But the end of self-governance in the offshore territory, among other frustrations, has seen the company switch its focus to Christmas Island.

LEXINGTON, Ky. • For more than 100 years, Jane Harrod’s family set aside a corner of their farm to grow tobacco. The 20 acres they grew when she was a girl was only a fraction of the 400 acres the family owned outside of town but it promised good money — about $1,000 an acre.

“Most all of us farmers raised some tobacco,” said Harrod, 63, of Lexington, Ky. “Tobacco definitely put the clothes on our backs when we were kids.”

But tobacco isn’t the reliable cash crop it once was. That has Harrod and hundreds of other farmers across the South revisiting a plant from deep in the region’s past: industrial hemp.

A medical marijuana consultant in Massachusetts is facing charges after police say they found more than 60 marijuana plants at his home.

The Daily Hampshire Gazette reports 41-year-old Ezra Parzybok is scheduled to be arraigned next month on charges that include possession with the intent to distribute marijuana.

Court records indicate police found 67 marijuana plants, 59 jars of hash oil and $1,640 in cash in a September search of his Northampton home.

He has been a vocal medical marijuana advocate and talks openly about his business, which advises licensed medical marijuana patients about different strains of the drug.

Concerns over the medical marijuana industry aren’t just heating up in Detroit.

Across 8 Mile in neighboring Warren, Mayor Jim Fouts is proposing registration requirements along with other regulations to govern where medical marijuana can be grown, how it can be transported, and controls on odors.

His proposal is prompted, the mayor said, by concerns about growing medical marijuana in residential areas.

Fouts said his proposal “goes much beyond what the state Legislature is doing” and would “control the whole aspect of medical marijuana growing in the neighborhoods.”

Medicinal marijuana products are shown at the 250-member Pinoleville Pomo Nation in Ukiah, California January 23, 2015. An initial 10,000-square-foot state-of-the art greenhouse is scheduled to be erected within weeks on the land, in a joint marijuana production and processing venture with FoxBarry Farms of Kansas and the United Cannabis Corporation of Colorado. It's widely believed to be the first of its kind in the nation. The pioneering venture could signal a major wave of new marijuana operations across the nation to bring green to tribal bank accounts.