For the week ended Friday, March 11, the spot price index for a pound of cannabis was essentially unchanged from $1,920 in the prior week to $1,918. The simple average price for a gram slipped a penny from $4.57 to $4.56.

The futures price for the near month (April) rose 1% from $2,010 to $2,030. For the month of May, the forward price remained flat at $2,110 a pound. The six-month forward price for September also remained unchanged at $2,200.

About two-thirds of the past week’s transactions occurred in a range of $1,564 to $2,577 per pound, according to the analysts at Cannabis Benchmarks. The analysts also commented on the forward price curve:

4/20 Cannabis Cup now in San Berdoo! OK. For reals. We think the 4/20 Cannabis Cup has actually found a home. After getting kicked out of the Denver Mart and then failing to secure the permits to hold the annual bacchanal in Pueblo, Colo., it looks like the good folks at High Times have moved the event to San Bernardino, Calif. Michael Roberts, reporting for Westword, follows the thread to the NOS Center in San Berdoo, which has hosted previous (medical) California Cannabis Cups. The U.S. Cannabis Cup, with its competitions and cannabis carnival booths, will take place there April 15–17.

Starting your first cannabis garden can be overwhelming -- there are endless opinions on what equipment to use and which techniques yield the best results. Fortunately, there are a lot of ways to grow great cannabis. With a little homework, a spirit for problem solving, and some memory of your high school science classes (don't worry, just some), you'll find that growing cannabis is one of the quickest and most impactful ways to deepen your understanding of this unique plant.

Leafly visited five different gardens to get a behind-the-scenes look at how the professionals are growing cannabis. We'll bring you to indoor facilities in California, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington to study the steps successful growers use to produce some of the finest flowers in the country.

Morgan is spearheading the Stop Pot 2016 campaign, which sets up him and his group as the primary political opposition to the marijuana legalization initiative championed by Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and Napster founder Sean Parker.

There are increasing signs that 2016 might just be the year the largest state in the nation legalizes recreational marijuana.

Polls have shown from 56 percent to 60 percent of California’s likely voters in the November presidential contest support legal pot. And due in part to hefty financial backing from a Silicon Valley billionaire, the leading pro-marijuana measure – the Adult Use of Marijuana Act – has gotten off to one of the strongest starts among dozens of proposed initiatives on different topics being pitched for the Nov. 8 ballot.

Weedhead winos among us, rejoice: The legal-marijuana future is nigh, and the opportunities for a wine-like cannabis culture are endless! 

This fall I was on one of many 30th-birthday-wine-country-bingefests up in Napa. The field was aglow, the flight of wines was delectable, and all I can remember thinking was, Damn, why can’t I do this with a joint in hand and have it be equally socially acceptable? 

When Willie Franklin visited a sick friend who was using medical marijuana for pain relief from throat cancer, he also walked into a whole new industry for his business. “You should get into these dispensaries,” his friend said, “They’re just handing me my medicine in ziplock baggies.”

As a packaging creator for the defense industry, Franklin knew how to create robust bags, boxes and other containers that wouldn’t tear or leak. “I was already selling flame-retardant crush-proof boxes around the world,“ he said. In the five years since that meeting, Franklin has taken his friend’s advice and started courting both medical and recreational marijuana businesses. He says his sales have increased significantly every year.

Despite legalization of marijuana, local businesses still struggle for recognition as legitimate enterprises.

With few resources to help promote their interests and more friendly business legislation, three local dispensaries, Herbal Choices, Positive Vibrations and Stonies, LLC, joined the Bay Area Chamber of Commerce more than a month ago in hopes of turning that around.

"That's what we are trying to work on, getting people to recognize us for what we are," Herbal Choices owner Jim Deatherage said. "We have a big road ahead to educate people, and we're struggling, even (to get) a bank to allow us (to do business), so it's a pretty crazy business to get into.

Federal cannabis prohibition is a buzzkill on many levels, but for cannabusinesses in legal states, it’s an especially frustrating hurdle to expansion. When a brand outgrows its home turf, it can’t just start shipping packages of product to the next state over. 

Despite the difficulty, a number of companies have managed to cross state lines. Colorado’s Dixie Elixirs has products in Washington, California, and Oregon. They recently launched in Nevada, and Chief Marketing Officer Joe Hodas says the brand is close to inking a deal in Arizona. 

The District recently marked the first anniversary of its legalization of recreational marijuana. And as the city is home to so many fitness-minded people, it’s likely that at least a few of them are wondering whether it makes sense, or whether it’s even safe, to incorporate pot into their exercise regimens.

Given the long-standing illegality of marijuana, there is not a large body of evidence about its effects on the human body. However, I spoke with a professional athlete who offered his own large body as testimony to the benefits of engaging in physical activity while stoned.