Cannabis is very much in the news at the moment. This week a cross party group of MPs have called for cannabis to be legalised in Britain, in the US almost 25% of Americans can now access medical cannabis after several more states passed its use in the recent elections, and in the Republic of Ireland, the mother of a seriously ill child decided to walk to Dublin to demand a change in the country’s legal position on the use of medical cannabis for children. 

On election day, voters in eight states approved new legal cannabis initiatives. Arkansas, Florida, Montana and North Dakota all supported new medical marijuana initiatives, while voters in California, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada all moved to legalize recreational adult use.

The cannabis industry has grown (pun intended) drastically over the past five years; in 2016 revenue is expected to hit $6.7 billion.  By 2021, the weed industry is expected to have nearly 14,000 companies generating $27 billion, according to consumer market research firm IBISWorld.

The time is green for businesses to jump in and take a hit of those profits. A new startup, cannabis health and wellness company hmbldt, plans to do just that.

Based in California, hmbldt has created a cutting-edge vape pen that delivers a specific dose and formula of the chemicals compounds found in marijuana tailored to suit the individual needs of the user.

Before Election Day, San Bruno software application engineer Stephen Zyszkiewicz was busted on a charge of having cannabis with intent to sell– a felony that might have put him behind bars in state prison for three years.

But this month’s passage of Proposition 64 implies the 32-year-old is qualified for a much lowered charge– a misdemeanor that brings a maximum penality of 6 months in county jail and a $500 fine.

“I am enthusiastic. It’s the will of the voters,” stated Zyszkiewicz, who ran The Opposite of the Fence Collective, an unlicensed marijuana operation.

The first cannabis company to land a listing on the New York Stock Exchange could go public early next week; however, a culmination of factors — including marijuana’s uncertain future on the federal level — appear to be giving investors some pause, an analyst says.

Every July 4th, Augie, a 4-year-old Chihuahua mix, would go into freak-out mode. He trembled. He refused to eat, sleep or let anyone pick him up. His owners tried giving him Xanax for his fireworks phobia.

This year, Hughston gave the 8-pound dog Treatibles cannabis chews made for pets.

“He sat on the sofa and let us pet him; he ate,” Hughston said. “He went through the fireworks better than he ever had before.”

More and more pet owners are turning to cannabis-based products to help their animals with anxiety, arthritis, seizures, cancer and other ailments.

Your boss may not care if you smoke weed when you’re not at work. But then again, you might get fired.

While marijuana is now legal after the passage of Proposition 64, Northern California businesses are taking widely different approaches to testing to see if you use the drug.

If you design computer chips at Intel or web pages at Google, you won’t be tested. But if you drive a Samtrans bus or operate a crane for a construction company, you will be.

At UC Berkeley, professors aren’t tested, but campus police officers are. The network company Cisco Systems doesn’t test; the construction company Cisco does.

California growers may want to take a page from their neighbors to the north when it comes to upholding cannabis quality standards.  

A new study from Steep Hill Labs suggests that much of California’s cannabis supply wouldn’t meet the stringent testing standards recently introduced by the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC).

BAS Research, recently granted California’s first medicinal marijuana manufacturing and research license, is teaming with Montel Williams’ LenitivLabs startup to begin developing, producing and marketing medical-grade cannabis products.

BAS’ goal is to replace the social stigma associated with cannabis by creating medical marijuana products with standardized dosing and proven efficacy. Its products are aimed at people with chronic diseases like multiple sclerosis, chronic pain, and serious conditions like cancer or epilepsy.

New technology will allow officers to test for marijuana on someone’s breath, and could save lives.

One version of the pot breathalyzer is being developed by a chemist at the University of California Berkely. Matt Francis has been working on the project for the last 18 months.  “We had to develop some new chemistry that can actually be done.  It was not obvious when we started that we could tag this.”  The technology would allow officers to be able to detect marijuana on someone’s breath and determine if they had smoked it recently.