Berkeley-based Steep Hill Labs Inc. is raising $5 million to expand into two states and Jamaica this year as well as pursue innovations in its testing equipment and genetics-related products.

Steep Hill, which employs 30 people, generated $1.2 million in revenue in 2014 and has raised $4 million since its founding in 2008. The company is taking advantage of the Jobs Act to raise its next round of financing from accredited investors, who meet SEC qualifications involving their annual income or net worth to participate in the offering.

"It's All Going to Pot" from the collaborative album, Django and Jimmie by Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard. 

Lyrics: 
It's all going to pot
Whether we like it or not
As far as I can tell
The world's gone to hell
And we're sure gonna miss it a lot
All of the whiskey in Lynchburg, Tenn.
Just couldn't hit the spot
I've got $100 bill
You can keep them pills, friend
'Cause it's all going to pot.

Sharks were circling at the Marijuana Investor Summit—TV sharks. Kevin Harrington, who is well known as one of the original sharks from the ABC series “Shark Tank,” gave the summit’s keynote address on April 21, 2015, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel DIA in Denver, Colorado.

Inside and outside the kitchen, chefs have been known to get into the weeds–but the majority of culinary cannabis creations have been mainly limited to a few cakes, cookies, and of course, the archetypal pot brownie. In GQ, writer Jesse Pearson opined, “We’re a nation that obsesses over food and chefs as much as we secretly obsess over drugs, but to judge by the sad trifles on display at legal weed dispensaries, the evolution of the pot snack stalled back when Janis Joplin was still alive. It’s mostly just variations on a theme: cookies, cupcakes, fudge… Yawn. Sickly sweet and uninspired.”

Hey you, yes you, Smokey Joe over there with your dime bag or your “medical” marijuana card. Why don’t you put the vaporizer down and do something constructive like, oh, maybe go work for Privateer Holdings.

Privateer invests in legal marijuana companies, and it just raised $75 million for a total of $82 million. That’s a lot of cash for grass. Its clean-cut crew has invested in three firms so far: Tilray, which focuses on medical marijuana in Canada; Leafly, which helps users explore strains and find dispensaries; and Marley Natural, which will offer hemp-infused lotions.

Perry asked me not to use his last name. It wasn’t because of the plants in his basement — they’re perfectly legal now — but more out of garden-variety stoner’s paranoia. He worried some enemy might see his name in the news and come looking for him.

Whatever — his identity isn’t important. It’s not like he was leaking potentially false information about weapons of mass destruction. I was just there to talk to him about his experience and his opinions. He has red hair, thinning on top, but growing vigorously in a bushy beard beneath. He’s wearing rectangular framed glasses, a Grant Farm concert T-shirt, and shorts.

The Michigan House of Representatives Judiciary Committee approved on Tuesday an amendment to the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act that will protect landlords on prohibiting the use of marijuana on their property, including medicinal marijuana.

The amendment, introduced as Senate Bill 72 by state Sen. Rick Jones, R-Grand Ledge, states that a landlord is not required to lease residential property to any person who smokes or cultivates marijuana on the premises if the lease stipulated a prohibition on the drug.

Attorney and Michigan Cannabis Development Association spokeswoman Denise Pollicella testified in favor of the amendment, and said it will prevent “unnecessary litigations.”

Another California tribe has announced its venture into the medical marijuana business. The Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians in Thermal, about 32 miles southeast of Palm Springs, recently entered into a partnership with Red Crow, a Native-owned cannabis company that designs, builds, manages and finances marijuana growing facilities for medical purposes.

“We are an impoverished tribe with a small casino that is barely keeping its head above water. We don’t have the cash flow like other tribes that have found success,” Mary Belardo, executive assistant to the tribal chairwoman, explained the reason for striking the deal. “The whole concept has potential to be an economic boom for the tribe, if done properly.”

The trend prompted Founders Fund, the San Francisco-based venture capital firm run by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, to enter the fray in January. The company agreed to invest millions in Privateer Holdings, a private equity firm in Seattle that's backing several private marijuana start-ups, including Tilray, a Canadian medicinal pot company, and Marley Natural, a weed purveyor launched by heirs of the late reggae star and ganja devotee.

It is on trend these days to support the growing marijuana business model. There are two parts of the discussion – medical marijuana that is now legalized in twenty-three states and the District of Columbia; as well as the legalization of marijuana for recreational use in four states. On CNN’s Weed 3: The Marijuana Revolution hosted by Sanjay Gupta M.D., President Obama reiterated that, “I’m on record as saying not only do I think carefully prescribed medical use of marijuana may in fact be appropriate and we should follow the science as opposed to ideology.”