CARSON CITY — The medical marijuana business is growing so fast that the state is having trouble keeping up with applications from patients seeking licenses.

The state is receiving 300 applications a month.Joseph Pollock, deputy administrator of the state Division of Public and Behavioral Health, told the Legislative Interim Finance Committee today there are 14,000 patients with state medical marijuana cards. He expects that number to grow to 60,000.

The committee allowed the program to shift $464,000 in its budget to hire more contract workers.

Under the law, the state has 30 days to process applications. That time had slipped to 60 days, but has since been reduced to 21 days.

The building is windowless, locked behind a gate and monitored 24/7 by a security guard.

The owners of Sahara Wellness — Nevada’s first all-female-owned medical marijuana dispensary — know their industry can be intimidating for many people. While certain measures must be taken for the security of customers and employees, Brenda Gunsallus, Alex Davis, Paula Newman and Stacey Huffman aim to make their facility welcoming to everyone, particularly women, who the owners say often are uncomfortable with using marijuana as a medical treatment because of the stigma attached to the drug.Inside, however, it is warm and inviting. Art covers the walls, a fountain trickles and brightly lit display cases showcase goods.

Everyone wants to get in on the marijuana business. States are making it legal and business is booming. Many entrepreneurial ventures can be started from merchandise to accessories to marijuana itself; many millionaires will be minted. Founders Fund, a major institutional funding company, and Privateer Holdings have invested in a Canadian medical growing facility, Leafly, and Marley Natural which grows recreational strains branded with Bob Marley’s name. MedMen marijuana (operational) consulting firm raised over $3.7 million from large institutional investors. British pharmaceutical giant GW has marijuana stock available as an investment opportunity.

Two paranoid drug smugglers high on cannabis wrongly believed they were being chased by the police so called 911 on themselves

A pair of paranoid drug smugglers got so high when smuggling marijuana they called 911 to report themselves.

Leland Ayala-Doliente, 22, and Holland Sward, 23, were travelling from Las Vegas to Montana with 20lb of marijuana when they pulled over and called the police.

LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Signal Bay Inc. (OTC:SGBY) a leading provider of cannabis consulting, operations, and analytical laboratory services is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Oregon Analytical Services, LLC. expanding its cannabis testing footprint into Eugene, Oregon.

“This strategic acquisition enables Signal Bay to expand its vision of protecting patients through comprehensive product testing”

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Leave the black lights and Jim Morrison posters in the attic. The methodically cultivated marijuana grown at Nevada Organic Remedies is not your father's weed.

With a one-of-a-kind watering system, production extraction machine and multiple strains of the plant grown under very specific conditions, the 12 employees and CEO Andrew Jolley harvest up to 50 pounds of "flower" every five days in the Las Vegas grow warehouse — a process that soared to new heights Saturday, when the company's first matured plants were ripe for the taking.

"We're constantly improving methods and techniques to get a better, more purer, more desirable product at the end of the day. This is a commercial agriculture facility. It's not a warehouse; it's not some dude's basement grow," Jolley said.

There was a lot of discomfort surrounding one of the largest and most highly anticipated events at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) last week, the Extreme Tech Challenge. The reason for this discomfort stemmed from a cannabis related technology company’s participation in the Extreme Tech Challenge.

Although many technology companies say they are the most progressive in the country; when it comes to cannabis, they are not. Such companies actually operate under the most regressive policies when it comes to cannabis.

Negative Bias is Nothing New for Cannabis Related Tech Companies

Terra Tech, an Irvine-based marijuana agriculture company, will merge with Black Oak Gallery, a retail medical marijuana dispensary in Oakland.

The merger includes Blüm Oakland’s supply chain: an on-site cultivation facility, proprietary marijuana strains and a retail store front.

Blüm Oakland, which opened in 2012, has more than 42,000 registered customers and brought in around $14 million in revenue in 2015.

Derek Peterson, chief executive of Terra Tech, said in a statement the combined companies would touch “every aspect of the cannabis life cycle – from cultivation, to extraction, to branding, and now, with the acquisition of Blüm, to retail sale.”

Cannabis-related products are banned from the show floor, but pot is becoming part of the conversation in Las Vegas.