It appears the days are numbered for Washington’s sprawling and largely unregulated medical marijuana marketplace.

Both the state House and Senate have now approved measures to roll medical cannabis into Washington’s recreational pot system. That means big changes ahead for marijuana patients.

Today, a medical patient might go to their corner or local dispensary. If the bill goes into effect, that patient would go into a recreational store that is dual licensed. There might also be stand-along medical marijuana specialty clinics, but the sort-of ubiquitous green cross stores basically go away under this system.

Novus Acquisition & Development Corp. (NDEV 0.18 0.00%), provider of a cost-saving medical plan for patients within the wellness industry,recently announced that Charlotte’s Web strain of cannabis would be available at a 30% discount to the retail price through its interactive web portal to patients enrolled in the Novus MedPlan.

If you build it, who will come?

Verabis (www.verabis.net), a primary research firm that focuses on the cannabis industry, can help you get to the bottom of this question and more. And they’ve got some data about the industry to share.

Did you know that 70% of cannabis enthusiasts use cannabis product once or more a week? And four out of five of these people consume cannabis at least once per day. Verabis has seen significant differences in product preferences when it comes to the gender split. For example, women are more drawn to mint and gum than men. Men are more likely to trust vaporizers. Moreover, one in four say their use of cannabis will increase in the coming year. Are you ready?

Every industry is only as strong as the connection between the capital needed to grow and maintain it, and the companies themselves, who allocate that capital to expand new markets, lower costs, add services and improve product offerings. In most industries, this flow has had decades to form distinct, reliable channels. Not so in cannabis, which is still forced to fumble its way through muddy waters in this stage of its life cycle. Companies that touch the plant cannot get corporate bank accounts, let alone pitch themselves to the mainline Wall Street set.

On March 24, cannabis oil activist Shona Banda‘s life was flipped upside-down after her son was taken from her by the State of Kansas. The ordeal started when police and counselors at her 11-year-old son’s school conducted a drug education class. Her son, who had previously lived in Colorado for a period of time, disagreed with some of the anti-pot points that were being made by school officials. “My son says different things like my ‘Mom calls it cannabis and not marijuana.’ He let them know how educated he was on the facts,” said Banda in an exclusive interview with BenSwann.com.

While not everyone has warmed to the idea of treating medical conditions with marijuana, research continues to emerge supporting its benefits. This applies the most, perhaps, to children with severe conditions, who may benefit just as much as adults from medical marijuana treatment — even as concerns about its effects on their developing minds and bodies arise. But a new study shows how marijuana might still be used to treat children (and adults) with untreatable epilepsy, safely and without the drug’s typical effects.

High Times magazine’s New York-rooted editor-in-chief Dan Skye has spent plenty of time in Colorado researching and photographing the state’s medical and recreational systems, but his current, pre-Cannabis Cup trip to the state has been uncommonly eye-opening.

“The Colorado cannabis industry is an economic miracle,” Skye said Monday from a stop in Pueblo, where he’s meeting cannabis business owners and reporting on the state’s first-of-its-kind legalization. “Everyone in the United States is following Colorado’s lead.”

RICHMOND, Va. — When people think of hemp, marijuana often comes to mind — because the two plants are varieties of cannabis.

But hemp has a variety of uses, from making textiles and building materials to feeding livestock. The settlers at Jamestown grew hemp. So did George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. In the 1940s, Henry Ford reportedly built a car body of hemp fiber and ran it on hemp oil.

In the 1950s, however, the United States banned hemp because of its association with marijuana. That prohibition has remained in effect — until now.

Virginia soon will legalize the growing of industrial hemp under legislation passed by the General Assembly and signed into law by Gov. Terry McAuliffe.

STAMFORD — Stamford zoning officials are considering whether to establish medical marijuana factories and dispensaries in some neighborhoods.

The Stamford Advocate reports the Zoning Board has begun crafting a proposal to allow the facilities in some parts of Stamford.

New regulations are still a ways off, with a public hearing likely in a month or two.

Factories and dispensaries must apply to the state Department of Consumer Protection for operating permits.

The General Assembly legalized medical marijuana in 2012. The first dispensary in the state opened in South Windsor in August. The state consumer protection agency says six dispensaries and four factories operate in Connecticut.

WICHITA, Kan. — A Wichita man is set to spend 12 years in federal prison for trafficking marijuana.

Jeremy Harris, 33, previously pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute marijuana. He admitted in the plea that he obtained and distributed 12,000 pounds of marijuana in Kansas from 2011 to 2013.

In August of 2013, investigators seized 35 steel containers containing more than 1,000 pounds of marijuana near Augusta. One of Harris' co-conspirators later admitted driving from El Paso, Texas to Wichita more than 15 times, each time transporting more than 150 pounds of marijuana. He and at least one other conspirator were responsible for transporting marijuana to Kansas, then taking bulk cash to Texas and Mexico for payment.