Washington, D.C. – Two bills were introduced on Friday, February 20, in the U.S. House of Representatives, that would legalize and tax adult-use marijuana federally.

U.S. Rep. Jared Polis introduced H.R. 1013, the “Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act.” The bill calls for states to be allowed to choose to legalize cannabis if they choose without having to worry about repercussions from the federal government.

The bill would also create a new regulatory structure by removing marijuana from the Schedule set by the Controlled Substance Act. Currently, cannabis is considered a Schedule 1 drug, which classifies it as having “no currently accepted medical use.”

Entertainer, entrepreneur and cannabis celebrity Tommy Chong appeared this week at the opening of Seattle’s CannaCon, billed as the nation’s largest marijuana-related trade and seminar show.

With a message more hymn than manifesto, Chong held a brief news conference Thursday afternoon to discuss the medical and social benefits of pot, to promote the value of drinking water and to relate his own experiences both in show business and prison.

He also came to promote a series of cannabis-related products that bear his name, including a hemp-infused beverage, a vaporizer, a marijuana grinder and “smoke swipes” that can remove the reeks and fumes of marijuana from clothing and other surfaces.

The Florida Department of Health will hold a public hearing March 2 in Tallahassee for a proposed rule on a medicinal marijuana law.The rule was produced by a two-day negotiated rule-making workshop DOH held earlier this month with growers, cannabis business representatives and patient advocates.

Medicinal marijuana is available in nearly half of the country but Florida’s Compassionate Cannabis Medical Act of 2014 has been held up by a court challenge with growers and regulators unable to agree on rules to provide epilepsy and cancer patients with cannabis oil to treat their illness.

DOH confirmed Thursday a request for a hearing to discuss the proposed rule published Feb. 6. A spokesman said more details would be forthcoming.

Records reviewed by the NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit show there are five marijuana businesses that owe the City of San Jose more than $2.1 million dollars in unpaid taxes, penalties and interest.

“Whether we want to be or not, we are somehow or another regulating a medical drug, something no city in the country really knows much about,” said San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo.

More From NBC Bay Area’s Investigative Unit

The 1996 Compassionate Use Act legalized medicinal marijuana in California. Voters in San Jose then approved Measure U in November 2010, allowing the city to tax the sale of medical marijuana. Since then, the city has collected more than $17 million from the 10% Marijuana Business Tax on sales from collectives and dispensaries.

NEW YORK (MainStreet) — There are few opportunities in life to get in on the ground floor of an all-new, exploding industry. The "Green Rush" of the legal cannabis business certainly fits that bill.

"These are exciting times, and new millionaires and possibly billionaires are about to be made, while simultaneously society will become safer and freer," says Troy Dayton, CEO of The ArcView Group, an Oakland-based cannabis market research and investment company, in the firm's annual industry overview.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP/KTTC) -- Minnesota's nascent medical marijuana industry is now unionizing, according to a report from Minnesota Public Radio.

The United Food and Commercial Workers says it has organized one of the state's two medical cannabis production facilities.

The union represents a handful of employees at Minnesota Medical Solutions, in Otsego, the first facility expected to be up and running by July 1, the first day medical cannabis can be dispensed in Minnesota. Bernie Hesse, an organizer with UFCW Local 1189, says his union is also talking to LeafLine about organizing staff at its facility in Cottage Grove.

Silicon Valley’s “fail fast” mentality sounds exciting: Go big, or go home! The problem, of course, is that failure isn’t appealing. It’s hard, painful, and, in certain cases, career-ending.

Two congressmen filed separate House bills on Friday that together would legalize, regulate and tax marijuana at the federal level, effectively ending the U.S. government's decadeslong prohibition of the plant.

Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) introduced the Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act, which would remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act's schedules, transfer oversight of the substance from the Drug Enforcement Administration over to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and regulate marijuana in a way similar to how alcohol is currently regulated in the U.S.

Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) introduced the Marijuana Tax Revenue Act, which would set up a federal excise tax for regulated marijuana.

Nearly three months after two heartland states sued Colorado in federal court, a Frisco dispensary is now at the epicenter of the first-ever racketeering lawsuit filed against a marijuana business since the advent of legal weed.

On Thursday, the Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group Safe Streets Alliance named Medical Marijuana of the Rockies as one of 12 defendants in a federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) case.

Safe Streets sponsored the lawsuit in partnership with co-plaintiff New Vision Hotels, the Colorado Springs company that owns the Frisco Holiday Inn.

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