West Coast rapper The Game is to become the face of a new line of marijuana-based products design for medicinal and ‘adult’ use.

Game, known to his mum as Jayceon Terrell Taylor, has partnered with G FarmaBrands, Billboard has reported, to develop a range of products known as G Stiks and G Drinks, which will be available in California and Washington State.

"These guys are the pioneers of innovation in the cannabis industry," said Game of his new partners. "I’m excited to help raise awareness for G Stiks and G Drinks in all territories that we are available."

By the end of this year, several more states in the U.S. could be among those who have legalized cannabis for medical and recreational purposes. Of course, their success is up to the activists and voters in each state. If you’re in one of these states, here is what you need to know.

States where recreational legalization is on the ballot: Nevada

States where medical legalization is on the ballot: Florida

States where activists are going through the legislature or attempting to make the ballot for recreational or medical legalization: California, Vermont, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Ohio, Michigan, Rhode Island, Maine, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Utah, Arkansas

Long Shots

The marijuana decriminalization movement appears to be set up for one doozy of an election season.

Once a taboo topic that politicians would avoid at all costs, marijuana legalization has become a closely followed national issue -- and for good reason. Pretty much all polls have shown that a majority of the American public is now in favor of legalizing marijuana. Surveys from Pew Research Center and General Social Survey showed a modest majority holding that view, whereas the latest polls from Gallup and AP-NORC resulted in 58% and 61% of respondents in favor, respectively.

Why the push to legalize is so powerful
The core constituencies for this support can be divided into three groups.

A small city in the agricultural San Joaquin Valley is considering a proposal to allow a marijuana cultivation operation at a former prison.

The Fresno Bee reports that the Coalinga City Council on Wednesday directed staff to prepare an official ordinance to allow commercial medical marijuana cultivation at Claremont Custody Center. The city will also draft a ballot measure that would allow voters to decide whether to allow medical marijuana dispensaries in the city.

Ocean Grown Extracts is trying to lease the city's abandoned prison for a cannabis oil manufacturing plant.

Modern farming techniques give way to mass production, thus relying heavily on pesticides and damaging fertilisers. While production rate may be high, the harvest may cause more harm to the body and damage to the environment due to “inorganic” cultivation. Today, more than ever, producers should aim for quality over quantity.

Once an emerging trend and now a major industry’s necessity, marijuana job fairs are becoming more and more common throughout the United States’ legal (and semi-legal) cannabis markets.

And California medical marijuana company Bloom Farms will announce its fourth marijuana job fair later today — the SF Bay Area Cannabis Career & Job Fair on April 10. Companies at the fair will include Meadow and Harborside Health Center; Open positions include budtender, cannabis consultant, cultivation tech and delivery driver.

Last year’s event saw more than 1,800 attendees, according to Bloom Farms, but the more important 2015 stats are these ones: 26 employers hired 125 workers at last year’s event.

California's multibillion-dollar medical cannabis industry is largely a white man's game. It's rare to see a person of color owning a marijuana dispensary or running a major cannabis business; most black and brown people you see in the industry are working security or maybe behind the budtenders' counter. 

Right now it’s not hard to buy pot legally in California: $40 and a trip to the doctor, and you have yourself a prescription for medical marijuana, which you can use to treat things like back pain and anxiety.

But a campaign is underway to make pot legal for recreational use. Supporters are gathering signatures now to put an initiative on the November ballot, asking California voters if pot should be fully legal, like it is in Colorado, Oregon and Washington.

As the legality of cannabis drifts through a period of flux, the spotlight of scientific research is rarely far away. A new study, following heavy cannabis users, yields further insight into the drug's financial and social ramifications.

Both legal and public opinion of cannabis is changing in America.

Today, in Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington, the possession and sale of cannabis for medicinal and non-medicinal purposes is legal.

Alongside these four states, another 15 are considering legalizing recreational cannabis use.

Washington, DC, legalized the personal use (but not commercial sale) of cannabis in 2015.

And a national survey conducted in 2013 found that 52% of Americans thought marijuana should be made legal.

Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) and one of the most recognized speakers in drug-policy circles, doesn’t mince words when he gets up to talk at marijuana industry events. “Frankly,” he often says, “I am not interested in meeting most you.” The only people he wants to talk to, he tells his audiences, are those who are going to make a lot of money in the new marijuana industry in an ethical way and are interested in certain social issues that could make them ideal foot soldiers in the wider struggle against the global war on drugs.