The outlaw botanists who designed the marijuana Americans smoke and the money they didn't make doing it

Since almost everyone interviewed for this story is, or has been, a criminal, almost everyone long ago adopted pseudonyms. Some are no longer criminals, so don’t mind their real names being used. Some are no longer criminals, but still prefer to use their pseudonyms.

A lack of regulation plus a lack of cohesion was a lethal cocktail for Washington's medical marijuana community.

Back in 2010, a group of medical marijuana patients and growers in Washington state got together and formed a group called the Coalition for Cannabis Standards & Ethics*. Among other things, the group established a code of conduct that all members agreed to follow—akin to best practices lists adopted by more established professions like realty and banking. The members of the coalition agreed to pay taxes, follow disability access laws, and try to maintain good relationships with their neighbors.

The umbrella organization of cannabis friends has trouble with the police in the southwest, this would be targeted pot smoking. On May 2 the "Global Marijuana March 2015"  in Stuttgart, Heidelberg and Tübingen will demonstrate for the legalization of pot.

Heidelberg / Berlin - The police in southern Germany from the perspective of the German Hemp Association were particularly hard against cannabis users before. "In Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria, for example, stations are much more targeted with control people that look for potheads," said an association spokesman in Berlin the German Press Agency. "Many people here see this as very vexatious." The anger of the pothead is nationwide, it is largest in Bavaria, closely followed by Baden-Württemberg.

B.C.'s provincial health officer is defending the value of marijuana as a medicine after federal Health Minister Rona Ambrose urged the City of Vancouver to shut down all local pot dispensaries rather than regulating them.

Dr. Perry Kendall took issue with various federal policies on pot in an interview with Black Press, particularly Ambrose's suggestion marijuana doesn't have the utility of approved pharmaceuticals.

He said there's "a growing body of evidence" that cannabis is effective as an appetite stimulant, an anti-nauseant and as a chronic pain killer, including against spastic neurological conditions like ALS, among others.

Despite legal uncertainties, some pot dispensaries accept plastic.

It’s been more than a year since legal recreational pot sales started in Colorado, and as much as dispensary owners enjoy the booming business, they’re sick of swimming in cash. Though the Department of Justice released regulations last year allowing banks to accept money from legal dispensaries, it’s still a federal crime — the announcement that the DOJ won’t pursue institutions that process legal pot money hasn’t been enough to make everyone comfortable.

Because if we're to, as Obama put it, "follow the science not the ideology" with regards to marijuana and have some hope of getting it decriminalised/legalised on a wider scale in the world, we must continue to dispel the myths surrounding it.

A chief one, regurgitated time and time again, is that weed is a 'gateway drug', a slippery slope to more damaging drugs. But is this really the case?

Without belittling THC or CBD, many growers and extract artists alike have set their sights on terpenes. THC alone has little to no flavor, while CBD can taste like cherries on its own. The real flavor in a good concentrate comes from the terpenoid content.

The new legal industry excludes the same people who suffered most under the old laws.

Alaska’s first draft marijuana regulations, proposed Thursday during an Alcoholic Beverage Control Board meeting in Anchorage, address what it means to help someone grow marijuana and what local-option law will look like.

The meeting at the downtown Legislative Information Office attracted about two dozen spectators, who lined a large conference room, surrounding board members and agency staff at a table in the center of the room.

Related: 

A general sense of optimism prevailed among the audience members, many of whom hoped to start marijuana businesses.

Ronda Marcy, a paralegal who hopes to open a commercial grow, called the meeting “a positive step in the right direction.”

Jason Miskiri kept his role in a $US12 million drug ring a secret for years.

Lots of people thought they knew Jason Miskiri.

The quiet kid from Guyana who moved to Maryland at age five and whose obsession with basketball led to a starring role at George Mason University and, later, to a brief appearance in the National Basketball Association.

The community pillar who donated to charities, hosted Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners for the homeless and held a basketball camp each summer for local children.

Jason Miskiri, the quiet kid from Guyana whose obsession with basketball led to a brief appearance in the NBA.