Marijuana reform advocates say there was unprecedented support for their efforts in this year’s legislative session, but the majority of Texas lawmakers still weren’t ready to change state law.

This legislative session, bills addressing medical cannabis and decriminalization once again died at the state Capitol despite having bipartisan support.

Nevada state legislators put the final touches on measures to regulate marijuana this week, just weeks before Nevada becomes the fifth state to legalize the use and sale of marijuana for recreational purposes.

The state, which suffered the brunt of an economic recession that hit its tourism and construction industries especially hard, is now anticipating tens of millions of dollars in tax revenue from legalization. And as tourism figures bounce back to new records, some in the Silver State think legal marijuana will be the next big draw.

“We’re going to really market this thing around the world,” said Sen. Tick Segerblom (D), the chairman of the state Senate Judiciary Committee.

Bay Street’s first cannabis ETF hasn’t been spared recently as regulatory uncertainty weighs on the sector. And now Horizons ETF Management is aiming to assuage concerns.

Mark Noble, senior vice president and head of sales strategy at Horizons ETF Management, communicated via email that the entire marijuana sector is being hit, not just its Horizons Medical Marijuana Life Sciences ETF (HMMJ).

“The whole space is being hammered so you’re either in it for the long haul or you’re not in it at all,” he wrote.  

Indiana may not join the next wave of states that legalize medical or recreational marijuana, but it doesn’t mean Hoosiers can’t partake in the booming business.

That was the message from national Marijuana Business Association founder Dave Rheins at a forum in Indianapolis Tuesday night.

In a cigar smoke-filled room at a downtown social club, he told a small crowd other states’ up-start marijuana sectors need lawyers, marketers, investors and agritech experts to get involved.

“You do not have to be a farmer to be a part of the cannabis and hemp revolution. … You do not have to touch the plant,” he says. “These small and medium businesses, they need money, but they need, more than that, your experience as professionals.”

Plenty of companies are angling to get in on the coming legalized pot bonanza. Some, however, are lobbying the state to carve off a piece just for them: cigarette wholesalers.

The companies that track, deliver, and tax all the cigarettes sold in Massachusetts are seeking a similar monopoly on recreational marijuana when sales begin in 2018. They’ve asked state officials to require marijuana producers to sell all their pot products through them — just as most alcohol has to pass through a wholesaler on its way to bars and package stores.

An East Ladner greenhouse operation plans to get into the large scale production of marijuana.

Village Farms International today announced it has formed a joint venture with Emerald Health Therapeutics, a B.C.-based licensed producer of medical cannabis, for the purpose of producing, cultivating and distributing wholesale cannabis and cannabis extracts for medical purposes. Also, if permitted by law, the operation plans to grow pot for “non-therapeutic” purposes.

Village Farms is initially contributing 25 acres of their greenhouse facility on Highway 10 for cannabis production. The joint venture also outlines an option to lease or purchase an additional 85 acres.

It’s been scientifically proven that a woo-woo vacation can make you feel a little bit high, but one new retreat series is taking that concept to a whole new—and ultra-literal—level.

(but MDMA use is on the rise)

CANNABIS REMAINS THE most commonly used illegal drug among young adults in Ireland, according to the latest European drugs report.

The 2017 report by the Lisbon-based European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) measures the prevalence of drug use, addiction, treatment and deaths in European countries.

It draws on data from various surveys and reports published in recent years.

The report found that cannabis is the most prevalent drug used among young adults in the country, with 13.8% of 15-34-year-olds saying they have taken the drug in the last year.

This is by far the most commonly used drug among this age group.

David Brown talks with Marc Wayne about his company's plans for the future, and how the medical market will play out in the face of a recreational market.

Marc Wayne, President of Canopy Health Innovations, says Canada is entering a golden age in cannabis research, as access to supply and interest from the public and private sector increases. While much of the attention is currently on the future economic potential of a recreational cannabis market, Wayne says he sees an enormous amount of potential in the medical sector as well. Access to a well-regulated supply of consistent product allowing for more clinical research and more confidence in the medical sector will mean significant advances in cannabis science, with Canada at the forefront.

The County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously today to ban all commercial cannabis activities -- medical and non-medical -- in unincorporated areas and took a first pass at regulating personal cultivation.

The move extends a ban on medical marijuana dispensaries in unincorporated areas that has been in place since 2010 and broadens the prohibition to include the cultivation, manufacture, testing and distribution of the drug for other than personal use.