With both medical and recreational marijuana use now legal in Maine, today’s growers are combining green thumbs with advanced chemistry to produce varieties to treat everything from anxiety to pain.

But things have changed a bit since the days when marijuana was an illicit drug sold on the black market — including the potency of today’s marijuana.

“Back when I was a teenager I’d smoke a little bit on and off,” the 67-year-old said. “I joined the Air Force in 1969 and did not smoke much after that for many years until I got my medical marijuana card six years ago.”

Dr. Eileen de Villa urges Ottawa to immediately decriminalize possession of recreational marijuana until legislation to legalize it comes into force in July 2018.

Toronto’s Medical Officer of Health wants Ottawa to immediately decriminalize possession of recreational pot until legislation to legalize and regulate cannabis comes into force in July 2018.

“Given that cannabis possession will soon be lawful in Canada, it is recommended that the Board of Health urge the federal government to immediately decriminalize the possession of non-medical cannabis for personal use,” says a new report by Dr. Eileen de Villa.

Cannabis is set to go mainstreet with the game-changing Weedmenu app that will be launched on August 5^th.

“Everyone is Asking, What’s on The Menu.”

Weedmenu has announced that they have made all the preparations for the launch of their new app in August 2017. Weedmenu is the first ever complete cannabis directory app and an online marketing application that allows businesses to market directly to the app users. The Weedmenu app is all set to launch in August 2017 and according to the company’s spokesperson, all the necessary preparations have been made for this major launch of this first of its kind app for August 5th, 2017.

Uruguay‘s envoy to Ottawa says his small South American country has opened up some breathing room for marijuana legalization within international treaties that have outlawed recreational pot for decades.

Ambassador Martin Vidal credits his country, the first to legalize recreational cannabis at a national level, as something of a trailblazer for countries like Canada that are planning to embark on the same path.

As Nevada nears the expected July 1 start date for its emergent recreational marijuana program, Republicans and Democrats put the finishing touches on the laws that will shape the state's marijuana future for the next two years. 

Tourists still have nowhere to smoke since the public consumption bill died, medical users still can't buy guns and opioid addiction cannot be treated with cannabis despite Democrats' best efforts.

All in all, though, marijuana advocates walked away from this year's session with a lot of wins. Here is how marijuana will be taxed, labeled, regulated and how it's going to affect you. 

Pot tax

Despite declining TV ratings for National Football League (NFL) games, football remains the most popular sport among Americans. It's also a big industry, with the NFL generating estimated revenue of around $14 billion last season.

Another industry could soon eclipse the NFL, though, if projections from research companies Arcview Market Research and GreenWave Advisors are on target. Both Arcview and GreenWave think that the marijuana industry will be bigger than the NFL by 2020. Could this really happen -- and, if so, what are the best stocks for investors to profit from the trend?

The California State Assembly on Thursday evening passed legislation that would make Cali a ‘sanctuary state,’ and prohibit state and local agencies from using resources to assist federal law enforcement authorities against people in compliance with state law.

The successful Assembly floor vote means the bill has cleared its first house, before the Friday deadline, and now heads to the State Senate to be heard by the Senate Public Safety Committee.

Let’s start with some good news.

Medical Marijuana is safe for the time being. Section 537 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2017 prohibits the DOJ and the DEA from using any funds in the bill to prevent states from “implementing their own laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of medical marijuana.”

https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/244/text

Much like how big banks have kept their distance from cannabis, large insurance carriers have generally stayed away from the industry even as states across the US continue to launch legal, regulated markets for patients and consumers.

California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones wants to change that.

Jones, a former state lawmaker and Sacramento City Council member, will be holding a series of meetings aimed at educating major insurers and convincing them to begin insuring the industry.

The mayors of Canada's biggest cities say they need a slice of the tax windfall from legal marijuana to cover what they describe as significant costs associated with enforcing a signature initiative from the federal Liberals.

They raised their concerns with cabinet ministers this week, pressing the case that some tax revenues from sale of the drug must filter down to cover costs associated with land-use issues, business licensing applications and enforcement once the purchase, sale and recreational use of the drug is no longer illegal.