Marijuana has been smokin’ hot lately, with Wall Street trying to tap into the reefer madness with all sorts of funds aimed at businesses in Colorado and Washington state.

That being said, legalizing or decriminalizing cannabis is not the same as making it good business.

Federal law still considers marijuana a Class I drug (with no redeeming medical value), effectively denying marijuana entrepreneurs access to banking and other financial services and forcing them to operate using large sums of cash.

Some 23 states (and the District of Columbia) have passed measures allowing for some degree of legal recreational and/or medicinal cannabis consumption.

FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The New Mexico Department of Health's Medical Cannabis Program has awarded BioTrackTHC™, a division of Bio-Tech Medical Software, Inc., a contract for the provision and deployment of an integrated patient and provider tracking software application. This award makes BioTrackTHC the cannabis industry's first company with marijuana regulatory technology contracts in two states, following the company's existing contract for the state of Washington'sMarijuana Seed-to-Sale Traceability System.

DENVER — With smiles, selfies and a few nervous chuckles, a group of Nevada legislators and policymakers got a first-hand look at Colorado's fast-growing legal marijuana industry this weekend, coming face-to-face with thousands of green growing plants.

The small group is part of Nevada's efforts to understand what legalization could mean. The Silver State has permitted medical marijuana, and now there's talk voters might be asked to legalize recreational pot next year.

The group met its Colorado counterparts, and toured several marijuana stores, including the high-tech, 40,000-square-foot Medicine Man in Denver, one of the state's largest.

In a somewhat surprising move, a comprehensive medical marijuana bill passed in an Alabama Senate committee on Wednesday.

The Senate Judiciary Committee gave Sen. Bobby Singleton's bill a favorable report on a 4-3 vote after little debate. The Medical Marijuana Patient Safe Access Act can now be considered on the Senate floor.

See related: Could medical marijuana legislation pass this year in Alabama?

Senate leadership could, however, refuse to put the bill on a calendar so it can be debated and voted on by the full body.

It’s no secret that the tech industry likes marijuana. On HBO’s true-to-life comedy “Silicon Valley,” Erlich Bachman, the blowhard entrepreneur, has a marijuana home-grow in his garage, a bong in the dining room and “get kush” on his to-do list.

Most of the money during the Gold Rush was made from ancillary businesses, then technology is one of the most important ancillary sectors to look at in the Green Rush. The technology panelists at the Marijuana Investor Summit in Denver had plenty of experience among them, but as the panel moderator Michael Mayes pointed out, the bulk of the experience was in technology and software. The panelists had experience with many companies spanning a number of industries.

According to Military.com, “The Choice plan is supposed to be open to patients who live more than 40 miles from a VA hospital or clinic or who have been told they would have to wait more than 30 days for VA care.

As of April 1, there were nearly 432,000 appointments pending in the VA's scheduling system involving a wait that long.

VA leaders have previously acknowledged that few vets were successfully using the Choice program, but the new statistic came as a surprise -- as of mid-March, officials were saying that more than 45,000 appointments had been completed and that participation had been rising.”  

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Nearly two decades after voters passed a medical marijuana law that often left police, prosecutors and even patients confused about what was allowed, Gov. Jay Inslee signed a bill Friday attempting to clean up that largely unregulated system and harmonize it with Washington's new market for recreational pot.

Among the law's many provisions, it creates a voluntary registry of patients and, beginning next year, eliminates what have become in some cases large, legally dubious "collective gardens" providing cannabis to thousands of people.

DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) – A digital effort towards legalizing marijuana could soon be coming to your smart phone.

One local man is developing the app, Brice Keller is a lawyer and veteran who supports legalizing marijuana.

He uses it medically for post traumatic stress disorder. Keller wants anyone who could relieve pain or illnesses with the drug to have legal access to it.

Part of his mission is getting marijuana legalization on the ballot.

To help with that he’s created an app, it’s called Green Fight.

Keller says it will allow activists and advocates to use the app as a tool for civil disobedience and marijuana reform.

The app also hopes to help on the legislative front as groups petition to legalize marijuana.

Possessing small amounts of marijuana in Illinois would be punished by ticket

SPRINGFIELD — A bill that cleared the Illinois House on Thursday by a bipartisan 62-53 vote would put possession of small amounts of marijuana on par with traffic tickets.

The proposal by Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago, would make a possession of 15 grams (about half an ounce) or less a civil law offense punishable by a maximum fine of $125.

The measure, House Bill 218, does not make marijuana a legal substance.

Cassidy said her intent is to bring uniformity to a patchwork of more than 100 local government ordinances that vary tremendously regarding amount of the drug and size of the fine.