BOSTON/SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - Two groups that had backed competing ballot initiatives to make recreational use of marijuana legal in Maine agreed on Monday to join forces on one measure to put before voters in 2016.

The state is one of six where competing pro-marijuana groups hope to hold referendums on marijuana legalization in 2016, following 2012 votes that legalized the drug in Colorado and Oregon. Attitudes about marijuana in the United States have changed markedly since then, as voters in Washington, Alaska and the District of Columbia have followed suit. Voters in Ohio will weigh in on legalization next month.

Hemp based products are making breakthroughs in modern medicine – for humans and pets. Cities and states are beginning to legalize the sale of these products, and it’s only a matter of time before they are legalized in every part of the United States. Still, many people are finding it difficult to separate the illegal stigma of marijuana use from the healing benefits of hemp based products. One company is looking to change that.

The Ministry, said C420 director and co-founder Colin Stephenson, had failed to make it known that laws regarding the lawful possession of marijuana exist in Trinidad and Tobago, to make regulations governing the use of marijuana, and to explore uses of the plant other than smoking. 

Unless you live in the South, recreational weed is coming to a state near you

1. California made history in 1996, when it became the first state to legalize medical marijuana; next November, it will vote to allow recreational weed, and polls indicate the amendment will likely pass. "Then we will have reached the tipping point," says Angell, of the Marijuana Majority. "And with California having so many members in Congress, it will give a huge boost to our efforts to change federal law."

The song “Cat’s in the Cradle” plays softly in the background as a white-bearded Eric Zeid unscrews the lid of a glass jar filled with marijuana.

Zeid is sitting behind his desk at his medical dispensary Swinging Bridges in Alger. He’s giving a consultation to disabled Navy veteran Jamie Bussiere.

“How are you today, my friend?” Zeid asks Bussiere.

Bussiere suffers from neck pain and arthritis. He smokes marijuana to ease the pain and prefers it to prescription drugs.

Medical marijuana has been legal in the state since 1998. Unlike recreational marijuana, which was legalized in 2012, medical marijuana is unregulated.

That’s about to change.

Kristian Rouz – The US state of Washington is anticipating to extract significant fiscal benefits from legal marijuana sales as the market has been booming since legalizing the licensed use of medical and recreational weed.

However, Olympia’s bright fiscal outlook might be undermined, as the marijuana industry in the neighboring state of Oregon is starting to distract customers from the Evergreen State.

The ‘weed craze’ in Portland has offered more often than not more attractive prices since the legalization bill was adopted in July, thus impairing the commercial performance of pot shops in the Seattle-Vancouver border region.

In late February, a law legalizing many aspects of marijuana went into effect in DC. Specifically, the law made it legal to possess a maximum of two ounces of marijuana, transfer up to one ounce to another person without any money changing hands, and grow a maximum of six marijuana plants in a home.

Many industries are now looking for ways to capitalize on the new law, and that includes condo developers.

Eric Hirshfield recently finished two, four-level condos that sit side-by-side on the 500 block of Kenyon Street NW. The units have features that buyers would expect of a new condo, like a gourmet kitchen, oak flooring, and marble baths.

AKRON, Ohio – Kathy Stitzlein isn't saying which way she'll vote on Issue 3 – the initiative that would, in one fell swoop, legalize recreational and medical marijuana use in Ohio – but the University of Akron Ph.D. student could have key business stake in how the measure plays out across the state come November.

Stitzlein, who is studying biomedical engineering, has invented the marijuana equivalent of the Breathalyzer, a detection system that is being made for roadside use. The Cannibuster, as it's called, is still being lab-tested but would ultimately read a user's THC levels, the chemical responsible for pot's psychoactive effects, using a quick, non-invasive saliva test.'

It all started, she said, as an extra-credit assignment.

It’s been nearly a year since Oregon voters passed Measure 91, its very own law legalizing marijuana for recreational consumption and possession by those over the age of 21. Taking cues and lessons from both Colorado and Washington, which passed their own bills in November 2012, Oregon became one of two states to vote in a legalization measure last year, along with Alaska.

The Oregon Liquor Control Commission on Thursday approved the final versions of the rules for full-scalemarijuana retail sales that will begin next year, including the rules for home delivery for marijuana.

Many in the industry actually advocated against allowing retail marijuana shops, according to  Rob Patridge, OLCC Chairman.