Hemp Foods and Body Care Retail Market in U.S. Achieves 21.2% Growth in 2014

WASHINGTON, DC — The Hemp Industries Association (HIA), a non-profit trade association consisting of hundreds of hemp businesses, has released final estimates of the size of the 2014 U.S. retail market for hemp products.

For those traveling to Denver this April, there’s no shortage of attractions as a packed calendar has some wondering how to fit it all in. Sure, you could try to wing it, but with hundreds of thousands of visitors expected to descend on Denver, why not leave it to the experts? World Cannabis Week — along with preferred travel partner My 420 Tours — have curated the perfect 4/20 week celebration called Immersion 420. Here, we break it down day by day:

Three senators, two Democrats and a Republican, introduced a bill on Monday that would allow patients to use marijuana for medical purposes in states where it is legal, without fear of federal prosecution for violating narcotics laws.

The bill makes a number of important changes to federal marijuana policies — and it deserves to be passed by Congress and enacted into law. Though this legislation would not repeal the broad and destructive federal ban on marijuana, it is a big step in the right direction.

One chef is giving a new meaning to pot roasts by creating a range of cannabis-infused dishes. 

Mary Jean Dunsdon, who hosts cookery show, Baking A Fool Of Myself has made a name for herself online for her sultry Nigella-Lawson style delivery and presentation. 

With the help of her elderly mother, the 35-year-old, who goes by the name Watermelon, uses weed to tempt taste buds with everything from marijuana-infused ice cream and burgers to margaritas. 

The chef has been cooking pot-infused treats for more than 13 years.

'There is still a stereotype of marijuana smokers as a dumb surfer guy or a gangster but it's just not the case any more,' she said.

'The marijuana market is growing rapidly, I think its going to be the new money.

Canadian medical marijuana companies are buzzing with news that one of Canada’s leading investment banks, Jacob Securities, is walking a group of Australian investors through the local scene with a view to either bringing an established North American brand onto the ASX, or putting together a large buy-in of an established local player.

Jeff Maser, VP of Institutional Sales at Jacob, told Stockhouse this morning, “Yes, we’re introducing [an Australian investor group] to the MMJ companies.”

“Money from all over the world is coming to Toronto. [The city] has become a global leader in marijuana finance, even for marijuana companies operating outside Canada.”

Bedrocan is growing plants that are genetic clones of the ones that its Dutch partner Bedrocan BV produces in the Netherlands. The company imported live cannabis plants from Holland shortly after getting its production licence from Health Canada last month, which paved the way for domestic production to begin.

“We believe that this is a positive development for the company and demonstrates management’s ability to execute on its strategy and remain on track for first patient shipment from domestic operations in [Q2],” Clarus Securities analyst Neal Gilmer said in a note.

San Diego is continuing to crack down on dispensaries it deems illegal as the first licensed medical shop prepares to open in the city.

Officials have shut down 18 marijuana dispensaries this year, including one that tried to reopen multiple times in two weeks, according to news reports. About 250 unlicensed dispensaries have been shuttered since 2011.

The city attorney said she knows there are many unlicensed dispensaries in San Diego, and that she will seek monetary sanctions against those that are operating without a license or outside of zoning laws.

San Diego has struggled with illegal MMJ operations while trying to craft regulations governing the industry.

ANNA, Illinois. — A medical marijuana business in far southern Illinois intends to start construction this month of a 27,000-square-foot facility that would produce a first harvest in late fall.

Colorado marijuana companies: Denver’s United Cannabis envisions “Ganja Co-op” for Jamaica pot growers

Wellness Group Pharms’ managing partner Paul Montes (MAHN’-tis) of Elmhurst says backing from a Denver cannabis consulting company has been crucial to his operation near Anna, Illinois. Wellness Group Pharms is one of 18 companies awarded permits to grow marijuana in Illinois.

The owner of Uncle Ike's says he'll open later on Sundays and offer his parking lot to churchgoers to "reduce tensions" with the church next door. 

After protests and a fizzled lawsuit, Uncle Ike’s Pot Shop is offering an olive branch to the church next door: a later opening time on Sundays and free parking.

VICTORIA, BC, March 11, 2015 /CNW/ - T-Bird Pharma Inc., a pharmaceutical company focused on developing premium quality medical marijuana products and a licensed producer ("LP") to cultivate marijuana under the Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations (Canada) ("MMPR"), is pleased to announce that it, together with certain of its shareholders, has entered into an agreement with Medna Biosciences Inc. (“Medna”) whereby Medna will acquire (the “Escrow Transfer”) a total of 20,156,790 common shares of T-Bird (45% of the Company’s issued shares) from five of its founding shareholders, including its former CEO and CFO, at a price of $0.21 per share.