Sheriff Mike Boudreaux speaks at a Friday press conference about the raiding of a Delano-based compound that included more than 49 “nursery-style” green houses filled with marijuana plants.(Photo: Stephanie Weldy/Visalia Times-Delta)

For sheriff deputies, it was the largest pot bust of the county's current marijuana season after raiding a large-scale, "nursery-style" marijuana grow Thursday morning in Delano.

The raid led to the arrest of 30 individuals of Laotian descent and the seizure of 2,600 pounds of partially processed marijuana, worth an estimated street value of over $2.6 million, and 49 pounds of fully processed marijuana, worth a projected $50,000.

AVT Presents an Exciting New Product Line at the NAMA One Show

CORONA, Calif., April 23, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- AVT, Inc. (OTC Markets: AVTC) (www.autoretail.com), a leader in the design and development of custom vending machines, kiosks and automated retailing units, presented their new product line today at the NAMA One Show in Las Vegas. The One Show is the industry's leading trade event, and presents the latest and greatest in vending and automated retailing innovation.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers has come together to back a bill that would prevent the federal government from prosecuting individuals and businesses for drug crimes when they are in compliance with their states' marijuana laws.

On Wednesday, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) introduced the Respect State Marijuana Laws Act of 2015 (H.R. 1940), a measure that would require the federal government to respect states that have ended prohibitions on the plant. Rohrabacher, who introduced the same bill in 2013, was joined by five members of his own party and six Democrats.

Buchkirchen, 04/21/2015. The Anmathe Beteiligungs AG acquired an additional license of an established California-based company. It is the first edible product (edibles) in the portfolio of future cannabis BRANDS AG. The change of name will be proposed in the Annual General Meeting to be convened shortly. The market for edible products that are enriched in the US with THC or CBD, has very strong growth and is gaining in importance, says André H. Müller, CEO of the company.

Despite the hype, marijuana cultivation's contribution to the state's water crisis is negligible.

California has been in a drought for the past four years. Most of the state has received under 10 inches of rain, meeting the criteria to be labeled a desert. This conundrum has made California a testing ground for a battle over water rights, where cannabis growers are being unjustly scapegoated as the culprits behind the worst drought the state has seen in over a millennium.

Berkeley-based Steep Hill Labs Inc. is raising $5 million to expand into two states and Jamaica this year as well as pursue innovations in its testing equipment and genetics-related products.

Steep Hill, which employs 30 people, generated $1.2 million in revenue in 2014 and has raised $4 million since its founding in 2008. The company is taking advantage of the Jobs Act to raise its next round of financing from accredited investors, who meet SEC qualifications involving their annual income or net worth to participate in the offering.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Legalizing marijuana for recreational use in California would raise an array of unknowns, from how it would be taxed to the threat of environmental damage from thirsty pot plants in a state gripped by drought, a commission was told Tuesday.

As activists move to bring a proposal legalizing pot use to voters in 2016, the panel headed by Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom began considering how a state of 39 million people would change with once-outlawed pot consumption becoming a legal, and potentially widespread, practice.

What was clear is no one knows.

Inside and outside the kitchen, chefs have been known to get into the weeds–but the majority of culinary cannabis creations have been mainly limited to a few cakes, cookies, and of course, the archetypal pot brownie. In GQ, writer Jesse Pearson opined, “We’re a nation that obsesses over food and chefs as much as we secretly obsess over drugs, but to judge by the sad trifles on display at legal weed dispensaries, the evolution of the pot snack stalled back when Janis Joplin was still alive. It’s mostly just variations on a theme: cookies, cupcakes, fudge… Yawn. Sickly sweet and uninspired.”

Perry asked me not to use his last name. It wasn’t because of the plants in his basement — they’re perfectly legal now — but more out of garden-variety stoner’s paranoia. He worried some enemy might see his name in the news and come looking for him.

Whatever — his identity isn’t important. It’s not like he was leaking potentially false information about weapons of mass destruction. I was just there to talk to him about his experience and his opinions. He has red hair, thinning on top, but growing vigorously in a bushy beard beneath. He’s wearing rectangular framed glasses, a Grant Farm concert T-shirt, and shorts.

Another California tribe has announced its venture into the medical marijuana business. The Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians in Thermal, about 32 miles southeast of Palm Springs, recently entered into a partnership with Red Crow, a Native-owned cannabis company that designs, builds, manages and finances marijuana growing facilities for medical purposes.

“We are an impoverished tribe with a small casino that is barely keeping its head above water. We don’t have the cash flow like other tribes that have found success,” Mary Belardo, executive assistant to the tribal chairwoman, explained the reason for striking the deal. “The whole concept has potential to be an economic boom for the tribe, if done properly.”