In a few weeks, Canadian cannabis patients will find it harder than ever to get information about their medicine.

Last month, Health Canada sent a letter to 16 licensed pot producers saying they can't display photos of plants on their sites, tweet links to articles about the benefits of marijuana, or tell clients what a certain strain tastes, smells, or feels like.

Any of that information is advertising, according to our government's health regulator, and it's illegal to promote the sale of a narcotic like "marihuana."

Betting big on marijuana futures with the Wolf of Weed Street.

Environmental wariness and outdoor cultivation will be key for future legal marijuana production in Colorado.

When recreational marijuana use becomes legal in Colorado on January 1, medical retailers expect demand to increase by 400 per cent. Increasing supply to meet that demand will carry with it dramatic economic and environmental costs.

Information technology is revolutionizing products. Once composed solely of mechanical and electrical parts, products have become complex systems that combine hardware, sensors, data storage, microprocessors, software, and connectivity in myriad ways. These “smart, connected products”—made possible by vast improvements in processing power and device miniaturization and by the network benefits of ubiquitous wireless connectivity—have unleashed a new era of competition.

Dr. Judson Somerville, a pain specialist in Laredo, Tex., received $67,000 in speaking fees, travel and meals in 2013 to promote a powerful and addictive painkiller called Subsys, according to a new federal database of payments that drug companies make to physicians.

“The crop right now is sellable,” Colorado hemp farmer Jim Denny told NPR reporters earlier this year. “I’ve already had people contact me on my website saying, ‘We know you’re growing stuff and we want to buy it from you already.’ And we haven’t even put it in the ground.”

Despite a long anti-drug crusade, Beijing is positioned to be a major player in the cannabis market.

An economic stir is happening in China, but it’s in an industry you might not expect. With more than half of the 600 relevant patents filed with the World Intellectual Property Office now owned by Chinese companies, the country is well positioned to dominate the global cannabis market. Which is very surprising for a nation where drug trafficking is still punishable by death and mere possession of the substance can result in a lengthy spell behind bars.

Marijuana legalization by Oregon, Alaska, and Washington D.C. in the 2014 election has investors keen on the prospects of the marijuana growth.  It is suspected that more states will legalize in 2016, so the race is on who is going to be at the forefront of this new industry.

In what could be a small but important change in the nation’s drug policies, a political agreement to distribute nearly one billion kroner in research funds sets aside money to study the medicinal effects of cannabis.

Despite numerous pushes by Copenhagen’s mayor Frank Jensen tolegalise cannabis in the capital and the booming business in Christiania’s cannabis market, Denmark has taken an official hardline stance on cannabis for both recreational and medicinal use.