I don't smoke marijuana, but I recently visited Colorado and decided to check out a marijuana dispensary.

Colorado's tourism industry has been skyrocketing, and many claim it's due to January 2014's legalization of the possession and sale of cannabis.

Whether that's true or not, dispensaries are estimated to have brought in $295 million in sales as well as $51 million in tax revenue in 2014. Colorado is ranked one of the fastest-growing economies in the country, and its unemployment rate has seen the biggest drop in the US.

DENVER — The Colorado Board of Health is considering adding post-traumatic stress disorder to the list of ailments eligible for treatment with medical marijuana.

If approved in a vote Wednesday, Colorado would become the 10th state to make PTSD a qualifying condition for medical pot. In addition, it would be the first condition added to Colorado's registry since voters approved medical marijuana 15 years ago.

The board has rejected PTSD petitions twice before, citing a lack of research. But this year, Dr. Larry Wolk, the state's chief medical officer, is recommending that PTSD be added on a four-year trial basis, so the outcome could change.

The Colorado Board of Health will hold a meeting tomorrow that could result in another affliction being added to the Medical Marijuana Registry's list of debilitating conditions. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, a rising problem among combat veterans, will be considered for approval during a public rule-making hearing aimed at updating the state's medical marijuana regulations.

While marijuana taxes earmarked for schools soared in May, recreational pot sales in Colorado plateaued in spring 2015

​The Colorado Department of Revenue’s just-released marijuana tax data for May 2015 shows one clear winner: schools.

In the first five months of 2015, the state’s pot-funded excise tax that collects money earmarked for school construction capital brought in more money than it did in all of 2014. While that specific school tax’s 2015 take may not reach the $40 million number used to lure voters toward the state’s pot-legalizing Amendment 64 in 2012, its recent growth is exciting to lawmakers and industry alike.

DENVER (AP) — A federal law crafted to fight the mob is giving marijuana opponents a new strategy in their battle to stop the expanding industry: racketeering lawsuits.

A Colorado pot shop recently closed after a Washington-based group opposed to legal marijuana sued not just the pot shop but a laundry list of firms doing business with it — from its landlord and accountant to the Iowa bonding company guaranteeing its tax payments. One by one, many of the defendants agreed to stop doing business with Medical Marijuana of the Rockies, until the mountain shop closed its doors and had to sell off its pot at fire-sale prices.

Should marijuana businesses pay tax on gross profits or net profits? It sounds like a silly question. Virtually every business in every country pays tax only on net profits, after expenses. But the topsy-turvy rules for marijuana seem to defy logic. And taxes are clearly a big topic these days under both federal and burgeoning state law.

The Colorado Department of Revenue collects millions of dollars in taxes each month from marijuana businesses around the state. The state collected $9.6 million from sales of retail and medical marijuana in April, bringing the current year through May 1 total to $78 million.

Many of these millions are stuffed into duffel bags and driven to the Department of Revenue to be paid in cash.

“It can be really scary,” said Mike Elliott, the executive director of the Marijuana Industry Group.

After 18 months of full-scale legalization of recreational marijuana in Colorado, the federal government and state governments here and elsewhere have not found a solution to providing access to banking to the marijuana industry.

The proposed initiative that would allow Denver entrepreneurs to open their 21-and-up business and patio spaces to limited marijuana consumption has divided many in the city – and it’s not even clear yet if the question will land on the city’s November 2015 ballot.

While a new poll commissioned by the activists behind the measure shows voters supporting the initiative, many of the businesses that would decide to either allow cannabis consumption, or not, are vehemently against the proposal.

For Hoot Gibson of Aurora, Colorado, using medical marijuana came at the end of a long journey.

Gibson, 44, lives with multiple sclerosis and degenerative disk disease. He experiences pain, tremors, and seizures, among other symptoms.

Over the years, he tried a whole slew of pharmaceutical remedies, including opiate painkillers, anticonvulsants, muscle relaxants, and antidepressants.

“These drugs created addictions, lethargy, loss of interest in daily life and activities while providing no positive results for the symptoms they were supposed to be helping,” Gibson told Healthline.

Finally, disabled, unable to work, and out of other options, Gibson moved to Colorado and began using cannabis products to manage his symptoms.

A group of senators, including Colorado's Cory Gardner and Michael Bennet, recently introduced the "Marijuana Businesses Access to Banking Act of 2015"-- a bill to ensure that legal marijuana businesses can access banking services. MESA COUNTY, Colo.-  A group of senators, including Colorado's Cory Gardner and Michael Bennet, recently introduced the "Marijuana Businesses Access to Banking Act of 2015"-- a bill to ensure that legal marijuana businesses can access banking services. The marijuana industry is said to be worth $3 billion nationwide, and yet cannabis businesses are currently forced to only use cash rather than traditional banking services.

"It's a public safety concern a