Tick Segerblom told us the story of his own strain, smoking weed on the White House roof, and more.

By now, Tick Segerblom has attended a lot of conferences where careful politicians frame their support for recreational marijuana use with a boilerplate disclaimer.

I've never smoked marijuana, but… 

Segerblom is different. A state senator who hails from downtown Las Vegas, he is the rare politician who will say, "I have smoked marijuana, and I loved it." That helps explain why he's also the rare politician—at least in the United States—who has a pot strain named after him: Segerblom Haze.

The United States is gradually becoming the land of the red, white, and green.

After a historic election cycle, which saw four states pass ballot initiatives legalizing nonmedical marijuana, one in five Americansnow live in a state where it's legal to smoke weed without a doctor's letter.

The industry is on track to post $20.2 billion in sales by 2021.

Here's a summary of where Americans can light up legally so far in 2017.

Celebrating its 50th anniversary, the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas will be the largest edition of the show yet.

At the gargantuan tech conference, two of the most exciting tech markets this year will be robotics and virtual reality content. However, another fast-growing tech market, that of cannabis startups, will be noticeably absent.

ArcView Market Research released their annual cannabis market summary, and the numbers are staggering for the legal marijuana industry. In their 4th edition of The State of Legal Marijuana Markets they report that an amazing 30% growth rate occurred in the industry, which makes it the fastest growing industry in the country by far. The pace is even greater than the dot-com era, which grew at only a 22% rate.

With the stroke of midnight on Jan 1 in Nevada, marijuana is officially legal. Freedom! Nevada becomes the 7th state to legalize recreational marijuana, behind Colorado, Washington, Alaska, Oregon, California, Massachusetts, and also Washington D.C.. Maine voters also approved marijuana legalization on Election Day 2016, but its initiative has not taken effect yet. You can read the full text of the Nevada initiative at this link here. Below is a reaction that I received about Nevada from NORML earlier this week:

Nevada will ring in a new era for marijuana use on Jan. 1. Adults 21 years old and older will legally be allowed to used pot recreationally

"It's about time the rest of the world benefited from what I've been benefitting from for years," said actor and pot advocate Tommy Chong.

While marijuana will be legal, there will be restrictions on where the drug can be used.

Cannabis can only be smoked or consumed on private property such as a home. It can’t be used in public places like on the Strip.

A person can possess up to an ounce of marijuana or 1/8oz of marijuana concentrate. Possessing drug paraphernalia will no longer be a crime.

While possession of pot will be legal, there will be nowhere to legally purchase the drug for now.

Nevadans have the opportunity in November to vote on whether to legalize recreational marijuana.

RENO — Thousands of medical marijuana agent applications for people looking to run a dispensary were exposed online, according to a statement from the Nevada Division of Public Behavioral Health.

In a statement sent Wednesday evening, the state said it was investigating a "cyber-attack" on its Medical Marijuana Program database that affected medical marijuana agent cards, disclosing the Social Security numbers and other identifiable information for employees and owners of medical marijuana establishments. The state said no private medical marijuana patient information was disclosed.

Thanks to voters who checked “yes” for recreational marijuana legalization on this year’s election ballot, gift-giving during the holidays is about to get a lot more dank. But just because recreational marijuana is legal in a state doesn’t necessarily mean you can just give it away willy nilly. Make sure your holiday good cheer doesn’t come with a side of incarceration by using this handy guide to cannabis gift giving, organized by state.

Nevada’s cannabis industry wants to be tested.

Hoping to avoid the pitfalls seen in other states that have legalized marijuana, several in Nevada’s marijuana industry want the state’s stringent testing of medical marijuana products to be carried over to the recreational market. Doing so is essential to protecting the consumers, they say, as well as the industry.

“We need to make sure this product is safe. And the only way to make sure it’s safe is to test it,” said Kelly Zaug, lab manager at DV Labs in Las Vegas, during a Las Vegas Medical Marijuana Association panel discussion Thursday.

Puff, Pass & Paint, the nation's first cannabis-friendly art class, adds locations in Las Vegas and California as additional states legalize recreationally.

"Puff, Pass & Paint", the nation's first cannabis-friendly art class, continues to expand nationally with recreational legalization in California, Nevada, Massachusetts, and Maine. Based in Denver, the smokey art session has also expanded to Portland, Seattle, and Washington DC, with dates available in San Francisco and Las Vegas starting January of 2017. The company will add additional events and locations as legalization allows, with Boston, Portland, ME, San Diego, Los Angeles, and Orange County, CA scheduled for immediate expansion as well.