Nevada's fledgling recreational marijuana program finally has some money to get off the ground.

The state's Interim Finance Committee on Thursday approved a seed loan of approximately $871,000 for the startup of the new program under the Department of Taxation.

"We just want to make sure that we are meeting our responsibility and getting this all done by the deadline," said Stephanie Klapstein, spokeswoman for the department.

The program will be regulating and taxing the recreational marijuana industry since Nevadans voted in November to legalize the substance as of Jan. 1.

Nutritional High International Inc. (the "Company" or "Nutritional High") (CSE:EAT) (EAT.CN) (SPLIF) (2NU.F) is pleased to announce that it has entered into definitive agreements (the "Agreements") to acquire (the "Acquisition") provisional producer and processor licenses (the "Licenses") in Henderson, Nevada and a real estate property (the "Property") to which the Licenses are attached.

“Big” John McCarthy is a pioneer in mixed martial arts.  He has refereed fights since 1994 beginning with UFC 2. He’s played an enormous role in rule implementation and regulation of the sport that helped bring it from a grassroots following into mainstream America.

McCarthy recently sat down with Vegas CANNABIS, a local Las Vegas publication, to talk about medical marijuana.  While McCarthy has never used marijuana, his wife uses medical cannabis to help treat her symptoms of lupus.  McCarthy spoke about the benefits of medical marijuana and how it impacts MMA. 

Gov. Brian Sandoval wants a special tax on recreational marijuana sales to boost his budget, but state lawmakers and industry executives are concerned that his proposal might be too high.

The worry, they say, is that if the taxes on recreational sales balloon too much and prices get too high, some Nevadans might forgo the legal market altogether.

Sandoval announced during Tuesday’s State of the State address that his proposed two-year budget calls for a 10 percent special tax on the retail sales of marijuana, which he expects will generate $70 million to go towards public education.

California’s new marijuana laws don’t take effect until 2018, but a big money race to help the state regulate the industry is already in progress.

Even though California was the first state to legalize medical marijuana and is the largest legal marijuana market in the country, it has not yet adapted a system for the government to track product. These kinds of protocols, similar to those that exist for pharmaceuticals, have become standard in other legal states.

A $887,491 loan to implement the voter-approved recreational marijuana law was approved by the state.

On a 2-1 vote, the Board of Examiners on Tuesday approved $887,491 to enable the Department of Taxation to move forward on regulations to implement the new law.

Deputy Taxation Director Rick Gimlin said without that money up front, the department wouldn’t be able to meet the statutory mandate that they get the program up and running by the end of this year.

“If this request is not approved, we really do not have the resources to meet the timeline of this program,” he told the board consisting of Gov. Brian Sandoval, Attorney General Adam Laxalt and Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske.

2016 is a year that will live in infamy, but one clear winner across the board was cannabis. The United States watched as eight more states legalized cannabis for medical or recreational purposes, and the ripple effect of legalization has been felt throughout the globe. 

Revel in these states' and countries' cannabis victories and look to the future with renewed optimism. What will 2017 bring? We can't wait to find out! 

Call it the Diaz Rule.

The Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC) will discuss Friday on whether or not to remove marijuana from its banned substance list, per the meeting agenda released on its website. Currently, cannabis and its metabolites are prohibited under NAC rules in competition over a threshold of 150 ng/ml.