Pot funded more than 18,000 jobs in the state last year, a new report found

Legal marijuana has become a big business for Colorado, with an impact of $2.39 billion in 2015 alone, according to a report released this week.

The cannabis industry is the fastest-growing business sector in the state, funding more than 18,000 direct and secondary full-time jobs in 2015, according to a report from the Marijuana Policy Group, a Denver-based research firm that consults on marijuana policy.

The group anticipates that Colorado’s marijuana industry will surpass tobacco by 2020 as a source of tax revenue.

For parents who keep their kids' health in mind, candy corn — the quintessential Halloween candy — can seem like a dangerous enough Halloween treat, thanks to its high levels of sugar and the sometimes incredible quantities in which kids can consume it after trick-or-treating. But as medical marijuana becomes legalized across the United States, should parents be worrying about more than just high fructose corn syrup? Is edible marijuana a threat to kids' Halloween candy?

CS Compliance Systems ran into trouble this month over its ability to accept credits, even though the Denver-based consulting and technology firm doesn’t sell marijuana.

Merely working with cannabis dispensaries was enough for CS Compliance Systems to have its credit card processing privileges revoked by the merchant service provider it’s working with, operations manager Ryan Lewis said.

“It’s huge bump in the road” for growing the small company, Lewis said. 

This situation is also a reminder of the strange financial spot the marijuana industry is currently in with banks and other companies that are hesitant to work with dispensaries and other marijuana-related businesses without a green light from the federal government.

Good Chemistry Nurseries, a leading producer of Cannabis products and related services, will offer Cannabis industry insights at the following events over the next four months. Drawing from the company’s experience in cultivation, consumer education, and innovative best practices, Good Chemistry Nurseries executives and team members will participate as moderators, exhibitors, and speakers at a series of public educational and outreach events listed below.

Alberta's justice minister says marijuana has not been a "cash cow" for Colorado, but neither has it led to widespread criminal activity.

Kathleen Ganley travelled to Colorado late last week to talk to U.S. officials about how they dealt with the legalization of marijuana in their state.

The priority for the province, Ganley says, is to get a regulatory framework in place to ensure that pot stays out of the hands of children, and that our roadways remain safe from impaired drivers.

The federal Liberals intend to legalize pot in the spring of 2017, and provinces are scrambling to prepare for the change.

Edibles producer Spot is trying to keep first-time marijuana eaters from biting off more than they can chew.

"Well, you know the Maureen Dowd story," sighed Tim Moxey. "And it's just not a good story."

True, Dowd's experience was less than ideal: She ate a couple bites of a pot-infused candy bar, then curled into a ball in her Denver hotel room and had a panic attack. The next day she discovered the bar was supposed to have been broken into 16 pieces, not munched on bite by bite.

Next month, Greenspoon Marder is holding its “First Annual Cannabis Law and Business Conference.”

With panel discussions on finance, land use and zoning, legalization vs. decriminalization, the firm is hoping to attract 200 attorneys and so-called “Ganjapreneurs” (in practice lingo) to its Nov. 4 conference in Florida — just a few days before voters there look at a ballot initiative to legal marijuana.

Support for weed legalization in the US recently hit an all-time high, but looking at the industry, it's been a long time coming.

Sixty-percent of Americans — up from 35% in 2005 — now support legalization, according to a Gallup poll from Wednesday.

There are different protocols law enforcement raiding trespass marijuana grow operations must follow to dispose of chemicals — sometimes illegal, sometimes household — on private and public lands, and the procedures can be so time consuming the chemicals can get rifled through by curious wildlife, vandalized or stolen in the meantime.

California Department of Fish and Wildlife Lt. DeWayne Little said there is a “cradle to the grave” policy on fertilizers, pesticides, petroleum and other chemicals commonly found on grow sites, meaning that if an agency deals with these chemicals, they must ensure the proper disposal. The rules are reminiscent of the playground policy of “you touched it last, so you have to throw it away.”

More than two years after Colorado began selling marijuana for recreational use, cannabis consumers have access to pot that is more potent than ever.

There are dozens, if not hundreds, of different strains among thousands of plants grown legally under bright lights and fans in giant warehouses across the state.

"I think we're the best industrial growers of cannabis in the world," Medicine Man Marijuana CEO Andy Williams said of his company.

Williams owns a high-tech cannabis grow facility. He gave CNN a glimpse inside one section of it: a 12,000-square foot operation with machines that regulate temperature and humidity, and filter the air to create the best environment for fine-tuning cannabis concoctions.