NoCo Hemp Expo draws 1,000-plus to second annual event at The Ranch

Justin Petty of Los Angeles isn't too keen on laundry, so he likes to wear his T-shirts for a week.

Petty can wear the shirts multiple times made by the company he co-owns called Recreator Hemp Apparel, because of their material: hemp. Hemp is twice as durable as cotton and is hypo-allergenic and microbial, which prevents the buildup of odor, he said.

"We like to think of hemp as having the performance capacity of synthetics, but it's natural," Petty said.

Recreator Hemp Apparel, a KickStarter project that launched a year ago, imports the fabric from China because of legal issues and then cuts, dyes, sews and prints its line of T-shirts in Los Angeles.

Teens in their parents' basements, gaggles of friends at music festivals, the stressed-out worker alone in their apartment — smoking weed has now extended to seemingly limitless environments, as the drug gains more and more acceptance and takes on an added sheen of medicinal respectability.

But marijuana's increasingly widespread use isn't limited to solo acts. Turns out that partners who are both inclined to light up may find weed brings with it several relationship benefits. While companies race to find the next Viagra and singles turn to alcohol to act as a social lubricant, the ideal substance to help our connections along might be sitting right in front of us.

Here's why.

Tripp Keber can’t roll a joint. “But I can certainly pour you a glass of an effervescent adult-flavored sparkling pomegranate soda, and we can experience the benefits of cannabis that way,” says the 46-year-old CEO of Dixie Brands, Inc., whose Dixie Elixirs and Edibles brands are among the biggest names in Colorado’s legal pot business.

Bruce Barcott became an expert on the cannabis industry while researching and writing “Weed the People: The Future of Legal Marijuana in America” (Time Books, available Tuesday) — a book that reflects the ways in which many Americans' outlook on the drug has changed in recent years.

Barcott recounts his own marijuana experiences. They didn't go beyond the sort of youthful experimentation that Americans typically leave behind with the rest of campus life when they move on from college and take on real-world adult responsibilities — until Washington state asked voters about legalizing, regulating and taxing recreational marijuana.

The Cairo and Giza Tobacco Traders Association demanded a serious review of a proposal to legalise the hashish trade, submitted to the Legislative Reform committee headed by Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb.

Legalising such a trade could contribute quickly and effectively in decreasing the national budget deficit within a few years, compared to other economic methods, head of the Tobacco Traders Association Osama Salama said.

Salama added that the government should learn the psychological and scientific rule, which says “the forbidden is desirable…and the desirable is forbidden”. He said that if hashish is available, its demand will be reduced. At the same time, the government can impose taxes, and place controls and instructions on its trade.

Privateer Holdings is well on its way to becoming one of the country’s top marijuana investment firms.

The Seattle-based holding company today announced the closure of a $75 million Series B round, money that Privateer will use to grow its three marijuana-related startups and expand the firm’s portfolio further.

“This positions us to build a family of global brands over the coming years,” Privateer CEO Brendan Kennedy said of the fresh cash.

A bill to warn pregnant women about the dangers of using marijuana had some Colorado legislators on Monday questioning whether that would be constitutional, since the mandate from voters who passed 2012′s Amendment 64 was to regulate pot like alcohol.

After a rigorous debate, House Bill 1298 passed on a voice vote, but just barely. The House of Representatives will take a roll call vote within the next few days to determine if the bill dies or advances to the state Senate.

The legislation would require pot shops to “display in a conspicuous location a sign that warns pregnant women about the potential risks caused by marijuana.” The state health department would determine the signs’ language.

A Boston-based medical marijuana dispensary purportedly hid edibles and vouchers for its products inside plastic eggs over the weekend for an Easter egg hunt around the city. The stunt sparked controversy on Instagram when another weed bakery published pictures of the apparently THC-infused sweets concealed inside one plastic egg, allegedly discovered "with a bunch of little kids hovering around it."

Cannimals Edibles appears to have taken credit for hiding multiple edibles and product vouchers inside an unknown amount of eggs, posting the following message on Instagram Sunday: "To those who are salty that we did a giveaway today, please delete yourself from our [Instagram] page if you don't like our Easter eggs -- FUCK YOU."

Since the Department of Justice's unexpected policy announcement in December regarding marijuana in Indian Country, many tribes are carefully considering the unintended consequences of addressing their approach to marijuana. At the same time, tribes are entering into relationships or accepting advice from shysters who may be leading them down the garden path.

At a farm in the foothills of Colorado’s Rocky Mountains, Corey Young tucks his client’s marijuana into a shoe box-sized container in an unmarked white van and heads out on the road.

“We don’t want to be going through a small town and have someone see bins in the back,” said Young, a founder of courier service CannaRabbit LLC. “We do not want to stick out at all.”