The next big thing in autonomous vehicles really is big. At a ceremony at the Hoover Dam last Wednesday, automotive manufacturer Daimler unveiled a self-driving truck – the first to be cleared to drive on US roads.

For the freight industry, the Inspiration Truck holds the promise of a future with fewer accidents, lower fuel costs and well-rested drivers.

For growers who are looking at the potential for cannabis production but are trying to get a sense for the regulatory lay of the land – know that 2016 could be a watershed year for cannabis legalization.

That belief was echoed at the Cannabis Business Summit held recently in Denver, Colo., where many of the nearly 2,000 attendees felt that if California legalizes recreational (or “adult use”) marijuana, as looks likely, it could set up a domino effect for much of the rest of the country.

Voice of OC via YoutubeCops allegedly eat edible marijuana and play darts after raiding a dispensary in Santa Ana, California. See Also What it's like to visit a marijuana dispensary in Colorado California's 'Birchbox of marijuana' delivers pot-infused candies, lotions, and dog treats to your doorstep Rand Paul is raising money with the weed industry

For the medical marijuana industry, smoking weed is usually a good thing. But a raging wildfire in California is bringing a bleaker meaning to the phrase.

A wildfire in northern California that started last week has burned more than 69,600 acres as of Friday morning, including marijuana farms. More than 13,000 people in the area have been evacuated, and the fire is only 45% contained, according to Cal Fire, the state agency responsible for fire protection.

The agency reports that 43 residences and 53 outbuildings — auxiliary structures like barns and sheds —have been destroyed, eight structures have been damaged and about 6,500 homes, buildings and other structures are threatened by the spreading flames.

California's most valuable cash crop, marijuana, is taking a heavy toll on some of the state's most sensitive ecosystems, with the effects ranging from erosion, contamination, threats to wildlife, and heavy water use at a time of severe drought. 

The situation is prompting ecologists and wildlife managers to urge greater focus on bringing marijuana plots under tighter environmental scrutiny.

It's a tall order, notes a research team calling for the added focus via an article in the August issue of the journal BioScience.

Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday signed into law a measure allowing steep civil fines against marijuana farms that damage the environment by dumping wastewater and chemicals, removing trees and killing wild animals.

The measure, one of 16 bills signed by the governor Friday, is meant to expand the powers of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife at a time when illegal marijuana operations are expanding significantly.

Sen. Bill Monning (D-Carmel) introduced the measure based on concern that since California voters approved medical marijuana use in 1996, the number of illegal growing operations in state parklands and forests has increased.

(CBS SF) — An increasing number of marijuana operations is making California’s drought worse, according to a new study.

A research team in the August issue of the journal BioScience estimates 60-70 percent of the marijuana consumed in the United States comes from California — with the majority centered in sensitive watersheds with high biodiversity.

The team said aside from the negative environmental impacts such as land clearing and the pollution from pesticides, large-scale marijuana cultivation is diverting precious surface water away from streams and wetlands.

By Ellen Komp, Deputy Director of California NORML

Media outlets, including The Sacramento Bee’s editorial board, and public officials, including the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors, have seized upon statements from state Fish and Wildlife officials about marijuana and water use in a few creeks in Northern California to greatly overstate the problem, causing unfair backlash for genuine medical marijuana patients.

California NORML has challenged the figure of 5 to 10 gallons of water per day that’s being used to further vilify cannabis during the drought (“Pot grown outside is a waste of water,” Editorials, July 31).

There’s no chocolate river running through the new Altai Brands facility in Salinas. It’s missing a hoard of diminutive green-haired employees, there are no booby-trapped candies that expose children’s flaws, and as far as we know the company has yet to develop a snozzberry flavor. But still, Altai is the closest thing in existence to a Wonka-esque cannabis-infused chocolate factory—and co-founder Rob Weakley is its Willy (sans purple velvet suit).

A company in San Francisco has applied for permission to offer deliveries of cannabis by drone.

Trees Delivery wants to use the devices to bring packages of the drug to patients legally allowed to take it for medical conditions.

Orders would be placed using the virtual currency bitcoin and delivered to to patients' homes.

The firm has applied for approval to the Federal Aviation Administration to expand its existing road-based delivery services to include drones.