The US marijuana industry is trying to move away from its pizza-and-chips roots as chefs explore how to safely serve pot with food.

Key points:

• Marijuana fine dining events occurring in US
• Growers looking to broaden horizons; hampered by restrictions
• Similar events unlikely in Australia soon

In the state of Colorado, chefs are working with growers to chart the unscientific world of pairing food and marijuana.

Many of the elements associated with traditional fine dining are also present in weed country fine dining.

There is an abundance of live music, flowers and award-winning cuisine, not to mention beer and wine pairings with each course, and of course, marijuana pairings.

Working as a tour guide in the cannabis industry, I interact with lots of different people from all over the world.  The intrigue around this new industry spans the globe, and people come from all directions to see and experience this mostly foreign culture.

As strangers light up joints, discuss effects of different strains or edibles, and test the waters of a vape pen for the first time, I’m reminded of how surreal this is to most people. I agree, lighting up a bong as you’re blazing down the highway in a party bus is a crazy thing to do…pretty much ever, but we do things legally and responsibly, and try to make sure that everyone has fun.

How to set a tone of woodsy chic at a four-course candlelight dinner served under the stars in the Colorado foothills:

Live musicians and flowers, check.

Marijuana pairings? Oh, yes.

The 100 diners at this $200-a-plate dinner smoked a citrus-smelling marijuana strain to go with a fall salad with apples, dates and bacon, followed by a darker, sweeter strain of pot to accompany a main course of slow-roasted pork shoulder in a mole sauce with charred root vegetables and rice.

Most cannabis entrepreneurs huff and puff at the financial regulations in their industry. Not Lamine Zarrad.

“For me, personally, it was an opportunity,” said Zarrad, 37, the founder of Denver cannabis technology startup Tokken (pronounced like an arcade token).

In SEC filings since March, Zarrad has reported raising $750,000 to build Tokken, an app consumers can use to purchase marijuana from their phones. Because regulators subject legal marijuana to sharper scrutiny than other industries, many banks and payment processors shun cannabis companies, leaving them to operate on a cash-only basis.

New regulations concerning cannabis edibles in Colorado could set a new standard throughout the industry.

For investors, there aren't many industries that can pack as much growth potential as marijuana.

According to cannabis research firm ArcView, legal marijuana sales hit $5.4 billion in 2015, and they're on track to grow by an estimated 30% per year through 2020, thanks to organic growth in states that have already legalized it, as well as the expected legalization of marijuana in a number of new states. For added context, residents in nine states will be voting on a marijuana initiative or amendment in their state in the upcoming election next month.

Cannabis and music have always gone hand in hand, but even since Colorado legalized recreational pot use in 2012 with Amendment 64, it is still illegal to consume cannabis in public and in private businesses that are accessed by the public – including concert venues. 

This November, voters in Denver will have the opportunity to address the issue with Ballot Question 300, which, if passed, will create a pilot program that allows limited social cannabis consumption in permitted private establishments.

Turn-key dispensary franchises may still be a ways off, but some ancillary cannabis businesses aren’t waiting for federal legalization to dip their toes into all that franchising can offer.

The legal cannabis industry is becoming big business, after all, projected to hit $20.6 billion in revenue nationwide by 2020 pending voter approval next month of adult-use legalization in five states and medical marijuana in two.

Growing cannabis uses a lot of energy, according to a report by EQ Research LLC, an organization that provides clean energy analysis for businesses and nonprofits. According to the report, cannabis grow facilities have energy needs similar to those of data centers.

The reason cannabis cultivation is so energy intensive, says Rachael Speegle, director of operations at the Verdes Foundation, New Mexico's highest-grossing medical cannabis producer, is because the plants are usually grown inside.

Colorado voters approved a constitutional amendment in November 2012, making it the first American state to legalize recreational marijuana. Since January 2014, when the residents began legally buying marijuana, a billion–dollar–a–year legal marijuana industry has emerged (expected to surpass $1 billion in sales by November 2016).

Did legalization cause marijuana abuse to skyrocket? Or did marijuana legalization actually work? The just-released Colorado Department of Public Safety report shows how legalizing recreational marijuana has affected Colorado. Here’re the key findings:

It’s a scorching day in Denver. You’re at the annual Great American Beer Festival, about to end the parched torment of your mouth with a cool, refreshing first sip of craft beer. It touches your lips and you pull back… what the heck? It tastes like weed! Is this just a particularly skunky brew, or did you just get a taste of a bold new fusion between beer and cannabis?