Colorado pot businesses sold a record amount of marijuana in January, resulting in an excise tax of $2.3 million designated for public schools, state officials said Wednesday.

Based on the Colorado Department of Revenue data, around $36.4 million of recreational marijuana was sold this January compared to about $14.69 million sold the same month last year.

"This is really what we expected and hope to see: a shift in the underground market to a regulated market," said legalization advocate Mason Tvert. "It's clearly generating significant revenue for the state."

The Florida Cannabis Action Network is now developing a 2016 voter initiative to legalize marijuana, based on the likelihood that the Florida Legislature will be unwilling to create a comprehensive medical-only program in coming weeks.

That could mean that there is both a medical marijuana amendment and an adult-use amendment on the Florida ballot during the presidential election-year ballot.

Unlike two recently filed but restrictive medical marijuana legislative bills and unlike the revised medical marijuana amendment possibly headed for the November 2016 ballot, the proposed Florida-Can amendment would open use of the plant.

An investigation into the use of cannabis for medical purposes has been carried out by the Ministry of Health.

Growing numbers of jurisdictions allow cannabis for medical use and the Government has come under pressure to re-examine its use here.

Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne, who oversaw New Zealand's innovative regulations on so-called legal highs, asked officials to look into the issue.

Mississauga hopes to become one of the first municipalities in Canada to pass specific bylaws governing medical marijuana grow-ops.

City council is set to vote Wednesday on legislation that would require grow-ops to follow certain regulations in terms of odour and safety and be regularly inspected. Currently, the federal government dictates where grow-ops can set up and what features the facilities need.

The medical marijuana industry is worth billions and is expected to grow dramatically in the coming years.

Mississauga Coun. Ron Starr said the goal is get some control over grow-ops and make them blend into the community better.

"If you have one of these beside you in an industrial building you'll not even know it’s there," Starr said.

Written by Greg Engle

I have dedicated my entire career to the health care industry because it's important to me to spend my life doing something that helps people. Now, after more than 25 years, I have decided to leave behind the big pharma establishment in order to embark on a new journey on the cutting edge of health care, as the first CEO of Tilray, Canada's leading licensed producer of medical cannabis.

Here are the top five reasons why:

The first patient to undergo marijuana therapy, a 5-year-old boy called Maks, used to have up to 300 seizures daily, although that number has now dropped by as much as 90 percent, Dr Marek Bachański at the Institute told the PAP news agency.

Other patients under the care of Dr Bachański have also seen a drop in seizures.

Bachański told PAP that in most cases, the child’s parents opt for this form of therapy. “I sometimes also propose [such therapy], although it’s never [a] forced [decision],” he underlined.

Dr Bachański said that even though a small group of child patients had undergone testing with medical marijuana, the results show “effectiveness”, with minimal side-effects, usually drowsiness, fatigue and problems with appetite.

Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana, but don't expect to use it as a write-off on your federal tax return.

That’s because the federal government still recognizes the drug as illegal.

"When federal law gets to the point where it's not illegal federally -- because it's just states that have it legal -- once Washington decides that it's going to be legal, then at that point it might be deductible,” said Tom Wheelwright, founder of the CPA firm ProVision. “But right now, it's not."

What about state tax returns?

Washington (AFP) - US senators on Tuesday introduced the most comprehensive legislation on medical marijuana ever brought before Congress, a bipartisan effort aimed at ending federal restrictions on the increasingly accepted treatment.

Twenty-three states already allow the use of cannabis to treat medical conditions like multiple sclerosis (MS) and epilepsy, but federal law still exposes users of the drug to potential investigation and arrest.

"Highly-trained officials in our country -- doctors and scientists, medical personnel -- are unable to prescribe and recommend drugs that could alleviate the pain and suffering of their patients," Senate Democrat Cory Booker told reporters.

A bill to legalize cannabis oil in Tennessee for medical purposes passed its first legislative hurdle Tuesday, but it did so with a slight change.

The bill, from Rep. Jeremy Faison, R-Cosby, passed the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee with a few amendments. It now requires someone who wants to use the oil to have a letter from a doctor saying the person who needs the oil suffers from seizures.

Ian James, architect of a proposal to legalize pot in Ohio, said it stemmed from a simple notion: "Let's take this from the tie-dye to the suit-and-tie approach to marijuana."

James, CEO of the Strategy Network, a Columbus political consulting firm, turned to Cincinnati lawyer Chris Stock for help. Would Stock draft a proposed amendment to the Ohio Constitution that would outline how pot would be regulated for personal and medical use? "I've never used marijuana in my life," Stock told James. "I'm not sure I want to be involved." But he relented.