A groundbreaking ceremony at the future site of the Nevada Pure marijuana facility on Wednesday, May 27.

Clark County's medical marijuana dispensaries are nearly ready to open for business. The only thing they're missing is marijuana.

On Wednesday, ground was broken on Nevada Pure, a marijuana farm to be located in east Las Vegas. When complete, it will be larger than a football field and be capable of growing about 18,000 plants at a time.

Nevada Pure co-owner Kathy Gillespie said that currently most marijuana growers in Nevada are licensed at-home patients or caregivers. There simply isn't enough marijuana for dispensaries to sell. Nevada Pure will clone plants donated by growers.

LAS VEGAS, May 27, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hemp, Inc. (OTC:HEMP) is pleased to announce that after months of preparing, its decortication machinery is now being reassembled for operation. According to executives, Temafa’s German engineer, Mr. Reiner Busch, arrived at Hemp, Inc.’s decortication plant in Spring Hope, North Carolina yesterday morning.

The future of cannabis is progressing by leaps and bounds -- D.C.’s recreational legalization seems to have created a loophole for the black market, Massachusetts is revamping the dispensary licensing process, and Nevada could begin selling medical marijuana as early as next month! Check out this week’s legalization update to catch up on the latest in cannabis legislation from your region:

U.S. Updates

CALIFORNIA

Nevada’s medical marijuana law prevents the outdoor growth of marijuana due to security concerns.  The law – which mandates that cannabis plants must not be visible to the general public for security reasons – is also creating an extra headache and increasing the bottom line for the state’s growers.  The ever-present desert sun is now an option off the table.

A single 100,000 square foot facility can require up to 5 megawatts of electricity to fuel its growing operations for a year – or enough electricity to power 1,000 homes.  That is also about 5% of the entire capacity of a state-based substation.  Even covering an entire warehouse roof with solar cells is not enough to offset the energy drain created by such facilities.

A striking feature of the rollout of the state-legalized retail sales of marijuana has been the tremendous popularity of edible marijuana products. Marijuana brownies have long been a staple of cannabis coffee shops in the Netherlands, but the new products are quite different. They are skillfully produced and packaged to closely mimic popular candies and other sweets. These products can now be purchased legally in four states; retail stores are operating in Colorado and Washington State, and voters recently approved retail sales in Alaska and Oregon.

The sweeping changes instituted by the Nevada Athletic Commission during a Friday meeting will forever change the way users of performance-enhancing drugs are punished when caught.

It has been a long time coming. For years, the Nevada commission (and many others around the world) turned a deaf ear to the PED problem in combat sports. The punishments were barely a deterrent. Cheaters knew that they could cheat and, if caught, receive what amounted to less than a year on the sidelines.

That's no longer the case. On Friday (and in a very short period of time), the commission discussed and voted on new rules that will drop the proverbial hammer on offenders who use steroids, sedatives, marijuana and more.

LAS VEGAS -- Marijuana testing labs are waiting to begin testing medical marijuana as soon as businesses get clearance from the state to grow it.

The state will require businesses to chemically test their products before hitting store shelves.

DB Labs is the first lab to open in Southern Nevada. They are waiting on a decision from the state before they begin receiving medical marijuana to test.

"They want to find out what the pesticide list is, so that they can therefore plant appropriately and we'll have to wait for those plants to be grown," said Susan Bunce, CEO of DB Labs.

LAS VEGAS (KSNV News3LV) – Southern Nevada has taken a big step to get medical marijuana to patients.

The first lab in Clark County is ready to start testing the quality of marijuana before it’s distributed to dispensaries where residents with medical marijuana cards can by the product.

But a major obstacle remains. There’s very little marijuana to test.

For patients like Raquel Wilson, the availability of medical marijuana cannot come too soon.

Wilson loves to dance and sing. She was as full of life as any teen.

A year ago, Wilson started feeling sick. A visit to a doctor led to a diagnosis: a Stage 4 cancerous brain tumor

“My mind tells me to be careful, because not everything is miraculous.” Wilson says.

CARSON CITY, Nevada — Nevada senators have approved a plan to reallocate medical marijuana licenses that were never claimed.

The Senate Finance Committee passed SB276 on Friday. The bill was presented by Democratic Sen. Tick Segerblom and Republican Sen. Patricia Farley.

The bill would reallocate 11 medical marijuana licenses that were designated for rural counties but never claimed, and offer eight of them to Clark County businesses. One license each would go to unincorporated Washoe County, Reno and Sparks.

Lawmakers approved regulations for the cultivation and sale of medical marijuana in 2013, although voters legalized medical pot in 2000.

A Las Vegas bank that planned to offer accounts to medical marijuana businesses has backed off, citing the astronomical cost of complying with federal regulations.

First Security Bank of Nevada’s decision leaves some in the legal cannabis industry scrambling for a place to put their money just as they get ready to open for business. Most banks, including the nation’s largest, won’t open accounts for marijuana enterprises because the drug remains illegal under federal law.

“It’s very unfortunate,” said Jason Awad, First Security’s chairman and CEO.