By Fioana Ma, California State Board of Legalization Board Memeber

I was elected to the California State Board of Equalization (SBOE) in November 2014 to represent nearly ten million constituents in twenty-three counties. The SBOE was created in 1879 by a Constitutional Amendment to "equalize" the 58 independently elected county assessors who in those days were not all assessing, collecting and remitting equally to the state. Today, the SBOE oversees about 35 different tax and fee programs in California, collecting approximately 30% of the state's revenues each year, with the sales and use taxes representing the largest share.

In our increasingly cashless economy it can be a genuinely upsetting experience to get to the check-out counter to see a sign that reads “CASH ONLY”, but if you’ve ever participated in the marijuana economy you know this is just the current cost of doing business in a quasi-legal marketplace. However, some are concerned that this is more than an issue of inconvenience; access to banking is an issue of public safety.

Are you a government official who yearns for the good old days of marijuana prohibition? Do you feel out of place in an era of voter-approved legalization, grow clubs, and pot shops? My, how the world has changed! But you can feed your nostalgia for busts and streetcorner deals even while "respecting" the public's desire to legalize the stuff. All you have to do is pile so many taxes and regulations on the now officially sanctioned product that it's still cheaper and easier for people to buy their dope on the black market. Everybody wins!

A dozen Florida State lawmakers are joining thousands of others in Seattle this week to talk policy, and legalized marijuana is on the lips of many in a state that saw legal marijuana sales begin a year ago.

Washington believes it is collecting taxes on just 10 percent of the marijuana used in the state, partly because medical marijuana is untaxed and unregulated.

Legal marijuana sales began in Colorado 18 months ago. Since then, tourism is up 14 percent.

While Coloradans say the increase is due to a lot of things, K.C. Becker represents the Boulder area and went to Seattle to share the Colorado experience.

By last count, the number of states permitting some form of medical or recreational marijuana—or both—was 23, plus the District of Columbia. As the marijuana industry continues to expand, so too do the number of more traditional businesses and industries that are doing business with the marijuana industry. Like any industry, the marijuana industry relies, at least in part, on other industries to operate.

Massachusetts recently opened its first medical marijuana dispensaries.

Two groups will file petitions for ballot measures Wednesday that would legalize marijuana for recreational adult use in Massachusetts, likely setting the stage for a fierce battle at the November 2016 ballot box.

But there’s another slow-burning conflict.

The groups’ efforts represent two fundamentally different philosophies on legalization. One would create a new regulation, taxation, and bureaucratic regimen for marijuana with similarities to the way alcohol is overseen in Massachusetts. The other is more focused on individual liberty, avoiding heavy regulation or any special taxes on the substance.

Say for example that the strain of pot you really favor is Ghost Train Haze. It’s got the intensity you’re looking for. You like its citrus scent, too. But how can you know that you’re really getting the legit stuff? In an industry that’s only partly legal and barely regulated, it could be easy for growers to sell you a lesser product and dress it up like the strain you love.

Eddie Miller sees opportunity there. As a cofounder of Invest In Cannabis, he’s a major stakeholder in a company that’s addressing that problem, All Strains. “We’re collecting big data for cannabis,” he said during a phone call with the Observer. The company is collecting data to insure that what’s sold as Ghost Train Haze in one state is the same strain as what’s sold under that name in another.

Devon, PA, August 4, 2015 – Zynerba Pharmaceuticals, Inc., announced today the pricing of its initial public offering of 3 million shares of common stock at a public offering price of $14.00 per share, before underwriting discounts. All of the shares in the offering are being sold by Zynerba. In addition, Zynerba has granted the underwriters an option to purchase up to 450,000 additional shares of common stock at the public offering price, less the underwriting discount. Zynerba’s common stock has been approved for listing on the NASDAQ Global Market and is expected to begin trading under the symbol “ZYNE” on August 5, 2015.

At the newly opened Capitol Hemp shop in Adams Morgan, $50 can buy a small pipe, a bag of hemp pretzels and some 24-karat-gold rolling paper. Or, you could blow the whole amount on a Bud Bug.

“This is by far the weirdest thing we sell at the store,” Capitol Hemp’s co-owner Adam Eidinger said as he pulled a box down from a shelf. Inside was a colorful, oversize mechanical insect that grinds clumps of marijuana as it scoots across the floor, leaving a trail of finely ground cannabis in its path.

“As I said, we sell hard-to-find pieces,” Eidinger quipped.

Monday marked the first day that Capitol Hemp was open for business in D.C.’s era of legalized marijuana. The official grand opening is Wednesday, featuring free hemp ice cream for customers.

A marijuana dispenser in Colorado is modeling his career after an unlikely business hero: TV dinner tycoon Clarence Birdseye, who practically invented the frozen food industry thanks to his dual interests in food preservation and inventing new technology.

Ryan Fox is hoping to do the same by innovating in both the distribution and retail ends of legal cannabis.

Fox is the founder and CEO of Kindman cannabis products and the Grass Station, the distribution arm of his business. He believes consumers might want the option of buying a pack of bud in the same way they'd buy a frozen meal; prepackaging his cannabis product instead of selling it bulk and letting distributors mete it out.