Lt. Patrick Foy, of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, knows more than a few ways to track down a large-scale marijuana growing operation: Air surveillance, reports from neighbors and sometimes, dead fish.

“A bunch of fish may turn up dead in a creek, so we’ll go look, walk upstream, and inevitably run into a marijuana growth site,” says Foy.

Growers in remote areas, Foy explains, often end up destroying local creeks and other water sources, or using harmful pesticides to keep their plants healthy, which damages the surrounding environment.

Why Washington State's Pot Industry Could be the Most Profitable

The dominos are starting to fall.

Just six months ago the state of Colorado became the first jurisdiction to legalize the recreational consumption of marijuana. This week it was the state of Washington’s turn to drop its pot prohibition, handing-out its first recreational marijuana retail licenses this Monday. And there are at least eight other states lined up behind them that are either considering or are already in the process of doing the same.

Marijuana sales are spreading across the nation thanks to the growing legalization of the drug. Now a new financial firm, KindBanking, wants to be the financial backbone for the hemp and cannabis industry.

"Think of us as the GE Capital of this under-served, but potential multi-billion dollar industry," said KindBanking's founder and CEO David Dinenberg.

Cannabis growing in Newport, South Wales (Photo via)

Livern Barrett, Gleaner Writer

AS JAMAICA seeks to follow several countries and a number of American states that have legalised the possession of small amounts of ganja, the country's justice minister, Senator Mark Golding, says he does not anticipate any backlash from international partners.

That's because, as Golding sought to explain during a Jamaica House press conference yesterday, the Portia Simpson Miller administration has no plans to change the law relating to the cultivation, dealing in and exporting of ganja.

"What we are simply doing is modifying the penalty regime to make it more suitable for our reality in Jamaica and less oppressive of our people," Golding reasoned.

What are you doing this weekend? If the answer is something, cancel those plans! If the answer is nothing, then you definitely have no excuse than to get down to Bristol and enjoy the UK’s biggest cannabis activist group – Norml’s yearly gathering!

Take a deep breath. Because this weekend it’s the NORML UK AGM, UK CSC AGM and NORML UK Women´s Alliance first public meeting. A dense name, for a dense weekend of activities and events to get involved in.

Click here to read the full original article by Jo Martin-Moss, Deputy Director at Norml UK