Canada's 26 licensed medical marijuana growers are in for a busy 2016 if predictions in a recent report by Investor Intel prove accurate.

Dr. Luc Duchesne - in a column spotlighting Calgary grower Aurora Cannabis Inc.'s approval from Health Canada to sell to licensed medical patients - predicts a "significant market explosion" in the field of legal marijuana.

It comes as no shock to anyone who knows cannabis that it’s something of a miracle herb.

But as we bring this plant out of the dark and into the light, it continues to blow our minds – just how great the benefits of marijuana actually are!

We are talking about benefits to public health, to the economy, and to each and every person who develops a positive relationship with this therapeutic plant.

2016 is going to be a big year for cannabis and education is critical – if you agree don’t hesitate to share this list and spread the word!

Residents of Maryland who want to buy marijuana for medicinal purposes are likely going to have to wait until 2017, nearly four years after the state first made it legal.

The Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission announced Monday that it won’t award licenses to grow and process the drug until sometime this summer.

It takes about four to six months to grow and process cannabis, industry and government officials say.

The commission had said it would start issuing licenses in January, but backed of that timetable last month after receiving more than 1,000 applications from would-be pot producers and dispensers.

New Jersey’s Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee has given unanimous approval to legislation that would explicitly prohibit employers from firing or discriminating against an employee for participating in the state’s medical cannabis program.

Under the proposed law (Senate Bill 3162), which was passed 6 to 0, employers can only fire an individual for their medical cannabis use if it clearly impacts their job. The measure has now been sent to the full 40-member Senate, where its passage is expected. If given approval in the full Senate, it will head to the Assembly before going to Governor Chris Christie for final consideration.

PORTLAND, Ore. - Members of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs have approved a plan to build a facility to grow marijuana on their reservation in central Oregon and sell it at tribe-owned stores outside the reservation.

The vote comes a year after a U.S. Department of Justice policy indicated tribes could grow and sell pot under the same guidelines as states that opt to legalize. The tribe is one of the first in the country to enter the pot business.

Tribal officials said about 80 per cent of tribal voters favoured the proposal. More than 1,400 of the 3,300 eligible voters turned out for the referendum Thursday.

A recent study in states where medical or recreational marijuana is legal shows that most employers haven't let the social shift in legalization soften their tolerance, or lack thereof, regarding employees who test positive for the substance.

Conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management, the survey polled 623 human resource professionals in nineteen states where medical marijuana is legal and four states and Washington D.C., where cannabis is legal for adult-use. The results showed that most employers are still following federal laws and guidelines despite operating in states that have laws allowing forms of marijuana use.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Members of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs have approved growing marijuana on their reservation in central Oregon and selling it outside the reservation.

The vote comes a year after a U.S. Department of Justice policy indicated tribes could grow and sell pot under the same guidelines as states. The tribe is one of a handful to enter the pot business thus far.

Warm Springs officials said about 80 percent of tribal voters favored the proposal. More than 1,400 of the 3,300 eligible voters turned out for the Thursday referendum.

Rockie Eggebrecht is a hard-working farmer, but not the kind who wears overalls, labors in the soil and grows broccoli. He wears street clothes, works indoors and plants exclusively in pea gravel.

He grows recreational marijuana, and he loves his job.

Eggebrecht, 50, has been producing and processing pot lawfully since April. His business, north of Oak Harbor, is called Rock Garden, a play on his name and an allusion both to his hydroponic method and to the act of getting stoned.

“I’m damn proud of what I do,” Eggebrecht said during a recent visit to his growing operation. “I won’t put out a product that doesn’t meet my standards.”

“I want to supply gourmet marijuana to the market.”

DETROIT - Some Detroit pastors are on a mission to wipe out weed dispensaries in the city.

They say they have had enough of the smell, the addition crime and what it’s doing to Detroit's youth.

That is why the Detroit Coalition of Concerned Pastors is pushing the city council to shut down the nearly 200 medical marijuana dispensaries that now line city streets.

"We don't need this in our community, period," said Pastor Marvin Winans.

"The state of Michigan didn't authorize any of them to open and neither did the city of Detroit," said Pastor Darell Reed. "And they are popping up all over the place. It's a problem and a nuisance."