NEARLY two-thirds of Americans now live in a state that allows medical marijuana in some form. Just this year, five Southern states, including Texas, allowed limited access to therapies based on cannabis. The revolt against the blanket federal marijuana prohibition has now spread to at least 29 states.

Yet using marijuana as medicine — and it clearly can be useful medicine — can get you fired in most of those states (and the District of Columbia), even if the use is off the clock. The Supreme Court of Colorado affirmed that last week, echoing similar cases in Washington, Oregon and California, where there are no mandatory workplace accommodations for therapeutic use of cannabis.

Now that 23 states and the District of Columbia have embraced the legalization of marijuana there are legitimate weed-related companies that are open for business. By 2020, big data shop New Frontier Financials estimates that the marijuana industry will reach $15.2 billion.

But, when it comes to smoking weed during a business meeting, don't expect the invitee to roll you a joint. Bring your own.

Earlier this week the Obama administration reduced some severe restrictions on cannabis research, allowing for much more freedom to study the extent of marijuana's medicinal benefits. This news comes at a crucial time in our country where more states are exploring the possibility of legalizing access to medical marijuana but are unsure of how much relief medicinal cannabis can bring to patients.

An estimated 100,000 marijuana plants are expected to be eradicated this week at an enormous, multi-farm bust in remote Northern California — the heart of the famed Emerald Triangle.

Humboldt, Trinity and Mendocino County Sheriff’s deputies — with no federal involvement — began serving search warrants Monday in a remote area at the intersection of the three counties.

By Ian Dunt

Crime does not pay, unless you are good at it.

Looking at today’s jail population, it’s hard to believe that in the 1970s the maximum sentence for possessing tractor-trailer loads of marijuana was five years in prison.

Now, it’s possible to get life for selling $20 worth of weed.

It wasn’t always this way.

AUSTIN - The only sure bet at legalizing marijuana appears to be a ballot initiative. It's the only way that sales and possession have won approval in other states.

But it's unlikely to happen anytime soon in Texas, where citizens don’t have the kind of access to referendums that advocates for relaxed drug laws have used in places such as Oregon and Colorado.

That leaves pro-marijuana advocates here vowing a return to the Legislature to again lobby for decriminalization - if not full legalization.

“For some reason, state lawmakers have always been behind the curve of public opinion when it comes to marijuana policy reform,”  said Morgan Fox, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project.

A lot of people use marijuana because it's fun. But it's also serious business, and last week entrepreneurs looking for a piece of the marijuana market convened at the Cannabis World Congress & Business Expo in New York City. (image credit: Karsten Strauss)

At regular intervals throughout the year, just about every industry takes time out to get its ranks together to network, entertain potential clients and show off new products. The burgeoning U.S. cannabis industry is no different, and the 2015 Cannabis World Congress and Business Exposition, held in New York from June 17-19, displayed more than a few crossover companies: those with know-how in other industries, hoping to show how their products can play a part in the weed world.

VANCOUVER – A British Columbia civil rights group is asking the City of Vancouver to reconsider its plans to ban dispensaries from selling edible forms of medical marijuana.

The B.C. Civil Liberties Association says there are logistical challenges to regulation but that an outright ban would just transfer the problem to patients.

Vancouver is poised to pass precedent-setting policies that would require dispensaries to pay a $30,000 licensing fee and stay a minimum distance from schools and other pot shops.

The proposed regulations would allow for the sale of dried marijuana and pot oil, which the city says patients could use to make their own brownies and cookies, for example.

Councillors are set to decide on the controversial regulations tomorrow.

AUGUSTA, Maine — If Maine is going to “free the weed,” the Legislature wants no part of the process.

Lawmakers in the House and Senate overwhelmingly affirmed on Monday that they would not pass a law to legalize, tax and regulate recreational use of marijuana. The House rejected LD 1380, a bill by longtime legalization advocate Rep. Diane Russell, D-Portland, that would have put the question out for a public vote. The bill was defeated 98-45.