Legalizing marijuana retail across the board would yield about $28 billion in tax revenue, according to a recently released report by the Tax Foundation -- which is described as an independent think tank.

The analysis is based on the assumption that a "mature marijuana industry" would be valued at about $45 billion.

That number is derived from exceeded retail sales projections of marijuana in Washington State and Colorado, which legalized the industry in 2012.

The key findings of the report:

Northern rivers farmers are being urged to tap into a billion-dollar global hemp food market by getting on board a campaign to make it legal for them to grow and sell hemp seed for food products.

The Greens this week launched its Hemp is Healthy campaign, following the packed-out Hemp, Health and Innovation Symposium in Sydney last Saturday.

The symposium was addressed by experts on medical cannabis and hemp food and featured hemp growers and activists from Nimbin, who took more than 100 low-THC cannabis plants and an inflatable medicinal cannabis tincture bottle there.

Freedom Fighters Foundation finally had its day in Parliament on Tuesday to discuss the legalisation of cannabis for St. Maarten.

Foundation representatives President Roland “Ras Bushman” Joe, Dr. Jay Haviser, Dr. Dan Johnson and businessman Arun Jagtiani presented their plans to Parliament’s Justice Committee. They requested that Parliament organise a referendum and combine it with the elections scheduled in September. This way, the people can vote on whether they want to legalise marijuana or not.

The upside of legalizing weed? You can tax the stuff and then use that revenue to fund scholarships. That is what Colorado is doing — one of four states (plus the District of Colombia) that has legalized the sale of marijuana for recreational use. Aurora, Colorado is already using its weed tax revenue to help fights its homelessness problem. Now another part of the state is following suit for students who want to go on to higher education.

Finance and Planning Minister, Audley Shaw, says Jamaica must move with urgency to develop a medical marijuana industry.

He told legislators last week that exploiting the benefits of marijuana is “not about smoking a spliff” or “walking around with two ounces of the weed.”

“This is about building an industry of value-added products,” he said as he delivered his first budget presentation of the new Andrew Holness government.

Shaw, who cited other countries that have benefited from using the plant, said that Jamaica is uniquely positioned to play a leading role in the medical marijuana industry which can create wealth for the country.

According to local reports, around 3,000 protesters in Cape Town, South Africa recently took to the streets to oppose the country’s continued prohibition on cannabis. Activists donning red, green and gold gathered together in support for cannabis. The 10th Annual Cannabis Walk is recognized as one of a series of marches around the globe, called the Global Cannabis Campaign.

In April, the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) said that it would review marijuana’s classification as a Schedule I drug, considered the “most dangerous class” of substances.

While the DEA’s announcement is a positive sign, many drug-policy experts think that it’s unlikely the agency will actually decide to change marijuana’s classification, despite a dramatic shift in public sentiment about the drug.

A wave of recent polls shows that majorities of voters in five states, and a majority nationwide, support legalizing medical marijuana. Many voters also support legalizing marijuana for recreational use.

Eighty percent of Florida’s registered voters would support a state constitutional amendment to legalize medical marijuana. While support drops when voters are asked about recreational use, the issue still garners a majority with 56 percent for it and 41 percent against.

When Jim McCann, the CEO of 1-800-Flowers, admits that he is concerned about his supply chain now that many flower growers are tempted by the huge potential from growing cannabis, you know this is an industry greenhouse growers need to pay attention to. On Fox News show Morning with Maria, McCann expressed particular concern about large growers in California, Colorado and Oregon who are already considering ‘Maybe I can switch to cannabis and get 10 times on the revenue line.’ “That’s a big concern of ours.”