FREETOWN, Mass. —

Admittedly, it's not much to look at now. But one company says an empty lot in Freetown could become the leading facility in the world for pot.

"It's what we want as a town," said Planning Board Chairman Keven Desmarais.

The plan is a massive one: about 1 million square feet to grow and process medical marijuana at a state-of the-art facility indoors.

The company, AmeriCann Inc., won't actually sell any of the cannabis. But instead will lease the facility to licensed growers. The weed would only be used in Massachusetts, where voters overwhelmingly approved it for medical use in 2012.

WILLITS -- Except for traffic passing through on Highway 101, this northern Mendocino County city is relatively quiet much of the year. But for three months in the fall, it gets an influx of world travelers lured by marijuana-trimming jobs, temporarily swelling the town's population of under 5,000 and instilling it with an international flavor. 

By John Vibes

In the state of Oregon, where marijuana was recently legalized, a government agency has rejected food donations for the holidays because the donations came on the behalf of a marijuana-related organization. A group called Women Leaders in Cannabis was able to raise considerable food donations for people in need and initially their contributions were accepted by Oregon’s Department of Human Services.

However, the agency later changed their mind and decided that they did not want to accept the donations because they did not want to be associated with a substance that is now legal in the state.

EUGENE, Ore. (KATU) -- A marijuana industry trade group says its offer of donated Thanksgiving food for people in need was declined by a state government agency.

The group says Oregon's Department of Human Services (DHS) initially accepted its offer, but had a change of heart because of its affiliation with the pot business.

Lindsey Jacobsen, the executive director of Women Leaders in Cannabis in Eugene, told KATU the group is “a nonprofit trade organization based on philanthropy."

At the beginning of the month, Jacobsen said the group of nearly 30 pot industry business leaders decided to give back for Thanksgiving by collecting food for the needy.

Health officials fear legalization makes drug seem safe; council urges broader approach

Surveys of Boulder County teenagers show that a substantial majority view binge-drinking as a harmful behavior. A much smaller majority sees regular marijuana use in the same light.

Public health officials fear that the recent legalization of marijuana gives too many teenagers and parents the impression that it is safe.

Boulder plans to make up to $250,000 available next year for education efforts aimed at changing perceptions and reducing marijuana use among young people.

WILLITS — Except for traffic passing through on Highway 101, this northern Mendocino County city is relatively quiet much of the year. But for three months in the fall, it gets an influx of world travelers lured by marijuana-trimming jobs, temporarily swelling the town’s population of under 5,000 and instilling it with an international flavor.

On a warm September evening, about 70 women gather at The Peg House, a famed roadside burger joint on Northern California’s Highway 101. They arrive in a stream of 4x4 trucks and carpools of Subarus; some have driven hours from remote hillside homesteads. At the state park across the road, there’s plenty of room to pitch tents under the redwoods.

With the adoption of more state laws to legalize marijuana, employers will face challenges to protect their employees from injury and to comply with federal requirements to maintain a drug-free workplace.

Employers also face potentially costly litigation as case law surrounding legal marijuana develops, according to the Quest Diagnostics whitepaper “What Will ‘Legal’ Marijuana Cost Employers?”

BOULDER — Nascent cannabis entrepreneurs from Canopy Boulder’s fall class faced a tough crowd of investors at eTown Hall on Wednesday, fielding questions about unproven business models and inflated valuations during an investor preview round of pitches.

Teams from nine companies presented in private sessions to groups of local investors, a warm-up of sorts to the public event Wednesday evening. About 30 investors were in attendance, full of advice for the green businesses.

“Don’t pitch me a product; pitch me the market,” said Don Grede, chief capital officer for California-based Aquarius Cannabis, a marijuana branding company. “You should be able to tell me why I should invest without even identifying the product.”

Vermont Cannabis Collaborative spokesperson Bill Lofy speaks in favor of marijuana legalization at a news conference in Burlington on Wednesday.(Photo: GLENN RUSSELL/FREE PRESS)

Entrepreneurs are pitching marijuana as a cash crop that would keep college graduates in Vermont and create thousands of jobs.

The Vermont Cannabis Collaborative says in a new report that if Vermont lawmakers bring “order to the chaos” of the underground illegal marijuana market, business opportunities would abound.