Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson said late Wednesday that he supports the initiative on California’s fall ballot to legalize recreational marijuana.

“Why do I support it?” Johnson, a longtime backer of decriminalizing marijuana, asked about Proposition 64 while leaving Quicken Loans Arena, site of the Republican National Convention. The initiative is supported by Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and billionaire entrepreneur Sean Parker.

“Whether you agree with marijuana legalization or not, you have friends, family, coworkers that use marijuana,” the former New Mexico governor said. “Are they criminal? No, they’re not criminal.”

As she battles symptoms of lupus and depression, Alexandra Rice says she depends on easy access to medical marijuana to control widespread pain and to improve her mood.

What Does Recreational Pot Use In Cali Mean To You?

The 21-year-old resident of Grand Terrace, near Riverside, has pictures of cannabis flowers on her Twitter profile and friends whose livelihoods depend on the pot industry. She's also an unlikely opponent of a November ballot initiative that would legalize marijuana for all adults in California.

More than half of 123 minors interviewed at Juvenile Hall used marijuana as their first illegal substance and consider it to be less harmful than other drugs, according to a report issued by the San Diego Association of Governments.

Read SANDAG report: 2015 Juvenile Arrestee Drug Use in the San Diego Region. (PDF)Of the juvenile arrestees who took part in the survey, 56 percent said marijuana was the first drug they took, up from 34 percent in 2007. On the other hand, SANDAG data showed that youths’ first-time use of alcohol as a “gateway” substance fell from 39 percent in 2007 to 26 percent last year.

Jim McAlpine’s plan to open the world’s first gym for marijuana enthusiasts is coming along well.

Pot-related businesses are having their moment in the United States, especially in the Bay Area, where McAlpine lives and plans to open his gym, Power Plant Fitness. Arcview Market Research estimates the size of America’s marijuana industry at a fast-growing $7.2 billion, and Y Combinator, the esteemed startup accelerator, made its first investment in a cannabis business—an “uber for cannabis” delivery app—in 2015. 

A squad of hungry, destructive police officers in Southern California are looking for new jobs after security camera footage caught them unlawfully raiding a dispensary's stash.

Three Santa Ana police officers who've pled not guilty to charges of petty theft and vandalism in connection with the May 2015 raid of Sky High Holistic dispensary in Santa Ana have subsequently been fired.

The officers were caught on tape eating evidence, insulting a patient in a wheelchair, and playing darts on the taxpayers' dime. The officers also attempted to destroy all security cameras in Sky High Holistic, but a hidden camera planted in anticipation of the raid captured the incidents.

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MERRY JANE presents "Trailblazing Cannabis" highlighting women thriving in the legal marijuana industry.

To foster growth and inclusion in the cannabis industry, MERRY JANE teamed up with Wonder Women Tech to present a panel featuring five women pioneering careers in the legal cannabis space.

The conversation, moderated by MERRY JANE's News Editor Sasha Horne, was held as part of the Wonder Women Tech Conference.

(Photo: Terrell Young/MERRY JANE)

The marijuana business in the U.S. is growing like a weed.

Nationwide, legal sales of marijuana reached $5.7 billion in 2015, up from $4.6 billion the previous year, according to a report from ArcView Market Research. For 2016, the market is projected to grow to $7.1 billion. And by 2020, ArcView says, sales of legal marijuana in the U.S. could top $22 billion.

As it stands now, about two-thirds of America’s marijuana crop — the legal and illegal kinds — is grown outdoors, according to Mother Jones magazine.

At California Cannabis CPA, one of our main areas of focus is compliance with local, state and federal statutory guidelines.  We often get numerous questions fielded regarding record keeping requirements for Marijuana related business owners.  We do hope this post is able to answer your questions.

With interest in topics like “marijuana” and “cannabis” hitting all-time high levels according to Google Trends, nine states in the U.S. will vote on marijuana measures in the world’s most important general election Nov. 8, according to the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center.

Voters in California, Florida, Nevada, Massachusetts, Maine, Arizona, and Arkansas will definitely be casting a ballot to affect cannabis policy in their state. Voters in Missouri, Montana, and North Dakota have submitted signatures to place marijuana proposals on the ballot, while Oklahoma has cleared to circulate a last-minute measure.