In the nine months leading up to their peak in March 2014, marijuana stocks rose over 6 fold in value, fueled by the speculative frenzy that followed marijuana’s legalization in Colorado and Washington and the promises of high returns from a nascent industry that is predicted to grow by the most conservative estimates to a $10 billion plus market in the next 4 years and experience an astonishing compounded annual growth rate of 40%.

Successive conservative governments have ratcheted up the pressure against cannabis production, which is intensifying criminal activity while reducing marijuana quality. The ultimate goal: to reduce production to a minimum and for Holland to cease from being a destination for cannabis tourism.

Twenty years Holland was a paragon of progressivism in Europe, a place that welcomed any advance involving cannabis with open arms, a paradise dotted with “coffee shops” and tourists who found there a haven for marijuana consumption. 

Early last year, the broker for a 100,000-square-foot warehouse near Las Vegas called the power company to find out how much juice the building would need.

Longtime NV Energy executive Arnold Lopez went out to meet a group on the site and asked what kind of business they planned.

After some hesitation, they told him: medical marijuana cultivation.

Lopez asked questions and started doing some quick math. And, as he recalled, “All of a sudden I came up with numbers I’d never seen before.”

That single marijuana-growing operation, he estimated, could require 5 megawatts of capacity — enough to power 1,000 homes. That’s about 5 percent of the capacity of an entire substation.

A historic Senate medical marijuana bill unveiled Tuesday would dramatically reshape the landscape for the plant, nearly 80 years after it was effectively criminalized.

The bill, introduced by Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.), would end the federal prohibition on medical marijuana and eliminate the ambiguity surrounding related state laws. It would untie the hands of veterans’ doctors when it comes to recommending the drug and bankers when it comes to providing business services to the industry. It would also facilitate very limited inter-state trade, expand research and shift marijuana out of the most severe category in the federal government’s drug classification.

Minnesota medical marijuana manufacturers have lined up several dispensary sites throughout state and are set to have the first harvest over the next few weeks.

In Minneapolis, construction is under way on the city's first dispensary — a standalone 100-year-old downtown building that once housed the League of Catholic Women. This summer, it is expected to be one company's flagship dispensary.

The state Department of Health has approved two manufacturers, LeafLine Labs and Minnesota Medical Solutions, also known as MinnMed, to grow, process and sell medical cannabis in pill or oil form to Minnesotans starting July 1.

LANSING, MI -- Landlords would be granted clear authority to ban medical marijuana use on their property under legislation approved Tuesday by the Michigan Senate.

The legislation, approved in a 34-3 vote and now headed to the House for further consideration, requires a three-quarters majority support in each chamber because it would amend Michigan's voter-approved medical marijuana law.

Sponsoring Sen. Rick Jones, R-Grand Ledge, said the bill would simply codify a 2011 opinion from Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, who determined that apartment owners can prohibit the smoking or growing of marijuana without violating the medical law.

If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you have a cookie on your computer or your smartphone that says how much you like weed—or at least how you feel about the idea of weed being legalized.

Whether it was the end of prohibition, the start of the biotech revolution or the explosion of growth tied to the first decade of the Internet, a new set of companies and powerhouses have emerged as clear winners that went on to ultimately dominate their industries. Many investors and many speculators are betting that the field of medical marijuana and legalized marijuana or cannabis will be the next multibillion dollar frontier creating waves of new millionaires.

With states being the key regulatory and driving force of the cannabis industry, there are many businesses that are anxious to jump on this green wave. The website Cannabis Business Executive (CBE) has featured what it feels are the 10 most important companies in the cannabis industry today.

Entrepreneurs in the legal weed industry are seeing green not just in their products, but in their profits. Startup companies selling everything from portable smoking devices like vaporizer pens to more efficient watering systems and state-of-the-art LED lighting panels for growers are proving that there’s money to be made in legal weed.

"Under full legalization, this could be a $36 billion industry," Troy Dayton, chief executive of ArcView Group, a San Francisco-based investment and research firm focused on the cannabis industry, told CNN Money. Most people opening legal marijuana businesses aren’t becoming growers -- that requires a special skillset. "It's like with the Gold Rush. It's a great time to be selling picks and shovels, instead,” Dayton said.

Consumers are taught not to judge a book by its cover. But they’ll certainly judge a product by its packaging. So says a new report from MeadWestvaco Corporation (MWV)–a global packaging company.

“Packaging Matters 2015″ looked at the attitudes of consumers in Brazil, China, Germany, France and the U.S. across food, beverage and personal care categories.

“Packaging plays a key role in brand perception, product trial and repeat purchase,” said Peter Durette, senior VP with MWV in a release. “Consumers in this year’s study indicated that brands are moving in the right direction in terms of how packaging is evolving.”