Entrepreneurs are revitalizing their businesses by focusing on the growing cannabis industry.

An embarrassing experience trying to get medical marijuana gave Mark Hadfield, chief technology officer of HelloMD Inc., the idea he needed to stimulate his business.

Voters will soon be deciding if recreational or medical marijuana is right for their state.

This could be a transformative year in more ways than one. Not only are voters heading to the polls in six months to decide who should become the next President of the United States of America, but voters in quite a few states could be heading to their respective state polls to decide whether or not to expand the use of medical or recreational marijuana within their state.

Growers now operating at this facility in downtown Los Angeles will be among the tenants of a planned 380,000-square-foot facility in Desert Hot Springs.

Carlos Bravo, the owner of a tow company here, was at work late last year when a real estate agent came to him offering half a million dollars for 5 acres of undeveloped, brush-pocked desert — five times what he'd paid for the land six months earlier.

"I thought he was joking," Bravo said.

The man came back the next day, making it clear he was not.

A few days after he had signed the paperwork, Bravo said, another man offered him $1 million.

Rolland Gregg and his family have fought federal marijuana charges for more than three years, arguing that the roughly 70 marijuana plants investigators found on their Washington property were for their own medicinal use and fully complied with state law.

A federal jury last year convicted Gregg, his mother and his then-wife of growing 50 to 100 marijuana plants -- amounts their attorney said are in compliance with state medical marijuana law. With prison sentences looming, they have now turned to a recent act of Congress that they say should have stopped the U.S. Department of Justice from prosecuting them because they were doing what their state allowed. Marijuana is illegal under federal law, and the DOJ disagrees with Gregg's understanding of the new law.

Tristan Forde used to experience as many as 20 seizures a day. The two-year-old has Dravet Syndrome, a rare form of epilepsy, and was forced to constantly wear a helmet – suffering seizures so frequently that his three-year-old brother would automatically go to the freezer and get an ice pack every time Forde had an attack.

Everything changed, however, when Forde began medical cannabis treatment last year. He went months without suffering a single seizure, said Yvonne Cahalane, Forde’s mother. “For the first time, it looked like there was a sparkle in his eyes. It sounds corny, but he just looked so much brighter.”

In a (successful) effort to stir up media attention for an Arizona legalization initiative, the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol this week put up Mothers Day-themed billboards in Phoenix and Tucson.

The ads turn the typical parental cannabis conversation on its head. “Have you talked to your parents about marijuana?” they ask.

As sticky as the slogan might be, the blast is the latest example of a broader trend. And in this case it’s not the message, it’s the medium.

With the explosion of legal marijuana in this country, April 20th of 2016 was a big day for cannabis startups. From a Zappos for smoking accessories to a Tinder for stoners, there were dozens of companies that staked their claim and made an impression on the smokers of the world. But one startup launched their product on the special day, hoping to bring curated cannabis boxes to marijuana connoisseurs around the world.

The perfect food-wine pairing has, historically, been key to any fine-dining experience - but for those who prefer fewer calories, no red-stained teeth, and almost zero potential for a hangover, delicately prepared dishes featuring cannabis as a herbal enhancement are the way of the future.

Cannabis cooking is now all grown up, far surpassing the admittedly low bar set by the brownies and Rice Krispie treats of your college days. Chefs are now playing with the science and art of cannabis cooking in unexpected ways, creating dishes that literally shift the diner's perception with every bite.

Here are five chefs broadening the uses of marijuana as a culinary herb. 

 California voters will decide again this November whether to decriminalize the recreational use of marijuana by adults, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday, calling the looming vote a "pivotal moment" in the national debate around pot legalization and the 45-year-old war on drugs.

Newsom and other leaders of a coalition behind the Adult Use of Marijuana Act announced they have collected enough signatures to place on the Nov. 8 ballot a measure that would make it legal for adults 21 and older to possess, sell or transport up to an ounce of pot. California voters rejected a similar measure in 2010.