As the legal cannabis industry grows, companies across the country are struggling with ways to legitimize in the eyes of the public, and expand from niche market to mainstream. Image rehab plays a large part in this and ABC Family's new show,Startup U, is both a sign of how far the industry has come and how far it still has to go.

Marijuana tax revenue supports Colorado public schools

It’s been a year and a half since the legalization of marijuana went into effect in Colorado. Business for purveyors of marijuana was good from the beginning, but has soared in the past year, according to data collected by the Colorado Department of Revenue.

The state collected $9.7 million in taxes related to marijuana sales in June 2015, up nearly $5 million from the same month last year. By May, the state had collected more than $88 million in marijuana taxes in 2015.

As the line between content and content marketing blurs, columnist Rebecca Lieb shares thoughts about what lies ahead for content professionals.

Increasingly, brands are making room for executive content roles within their organizational structure. I’ve been studying content roles in the enterprise for some time now, and realize there’s an issue that’s not yet been addressed.

What’s the difference between content and content marketing?

There’s a much-vaunted, but rarely-seen-in-the-wild title of chief content officer. That role has executive purview and cross-functional authority.

It seems fitting that a plant called Mary Jane could smash the patriarchy. After all, only female marijuana flowers produce cannabinoids like the potent THC chemical that gets users buzzed. Pot farmers strive to keep all their crops female through flowering female clones of one plant, called the Mother. And women are moving into the pot business so quickly that they could make it the first billion-dollar industry that isn’t dominated by men.

BOULDER, Colo., Aug. 19, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Surna, Inc. (OTCQB: SRNA), a technology company that engineers state-of-the-art equipment for controlled environment agriculture ("CEA") with expertise in cannabis cultivation, announced today that three new members have been added to Surna's board of directors including Stephen and Brandy Keen, co-founders of Hydro Innovations, LLC, and Morgan Paxhia, Founding Partner and Managing Director for Poseidon Asset Management.

DENVER, CO / ACCESSWIRE / August 19, 2015 / AmeriCann, Inc. (OTCQX: ACAN), a company with offices in Denver and Boston that designs, develops and owns large-scale advanced medical cannabis facilities, announced that it has added two additional members to its well-respected Advisory Board.

Dr. Brian A. Corr, a noted expert in controlled-environment horticulture, and Nickolas J. Brait, a licensed attorney specializing in the national cannabis industry, have joined the AmeriCann Advisory Board and will play key roles in the Company's continuing aggressive national expansion plans.

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Aug. 19, 2015) - Abba Medix Group (CSE:ABA) wishes to report that its business arrangements with RedeCan Pharm and Blow Vapor are transforming in the face of rapidly changing conditions in the Canadian medical marijuana marketplace.

Abba Medix's Share Purchase Agreement for the acquisition of RedeCan Pharm lapsed on August 7, 2015. However, the companies have maintained a good working relationship and continue the discussion of a new agreement for Abba Medix to acquire RedeCan Pharm.

Abba Medix's Memorandum of Understanding with Blow Vapor expired July 31, 2015; however, the companies continue to discuss the potential of a new deal.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – About 30 party guests wearing suits and summer dresses mingled in the candlelit backyard of a small, private home in the Forest Hills neighborhood here and snacked on hors d'oeuvres to the sound of jazz. Instead of cocktails, they sipped gourmet coffee and tea infused with marijuana.

In the kitchen, servers poured hot and iced drinks for the tasting party. They were showcasing products from House of Jane, a California-based company that sells cannabis-infused beverages. Jane's Brew C-Cups were on display in the living room, stacked on a table alongside similarly branded coasters.

The marijuana industry wants people to see it like any other legal business. And that means primetime TV commercials.

But maybe not yet.

The first marijuana commercial on network television anywhere in the country was supposed to air Wednesday on KATU-TV in Portland. During the evening news broadcast, the Oregon Medical Marijuana Business Conference planned to drum up attendees.

But KATU General Manager John Tamerlano said Tuesday the station had decided to pull the ad, according to Willamette Week. Tamerlano said the station doesn't accept marijuana advertising.

Forty years ago, making a pot brownie meant crushing some buds into your batter and stirring by hand.

Now workers bake marijuana-laced brownies by the dozen in industrial kitchens, and they're sold in marijuana dispensaries alongside products like Lemon Crinkle Cookies, Bubba Kush Root Beer, Cheeba Chews and Mile High Mint Bars.

The market for marijuana "edibles" has exploded as medical cannabis legalization has spread across the U.S. in 23 in states, from Hawaii to Maine. Four of these states and Washington, D.C., have also legalized recreational use.