I recently did a TEDx talk on the development of “Big Marijuana.” The overall theme of this particular TED session was the “Potential in Polarity,” and/or the “Best of Both Worlds.” Given these two themes, my talk focused on whether state-legal marijuana is helping to create “Big Marijuana.” My talk was released on YouTube last week and you can view it here. But for those of you who don’t want to spend 18 minutes watching my presentation, this post summarizes my talk.

Marijuana cultivation is estimated to use one percent of America’s electricity output. That’s enough juice to power 1.7 million average homes.

And as more states make the drug legal in some form, that power consumption is expected to soar. Northwest energy officials project cannabis grows will suck up three percent of the region’s power by 2035. 

Now, efforts are underway to get growers to reduce their energy use.

John Kagia cuts right to the chase.

“Indoor cannabis cultivation is extraordinarily energy intensive,” he flatly states.

Kagia is Director of Industry Analytics for New Frontier, a Washington DC-based cannabis industry consulting firm. For example, he says:

Local businesses worry the cannanbis industry is edging them out.

While Oregon may still be the new kid on the legalization block, the two states that beat us to the punch, Washington and Colorado, might have a lesson or two to teach us about what’s to come.

There’s no doubt that states have benefited financially from taxing the recently legalized industry and are looking at dramatic declines in crime rates, according to a 2015 study by the Drug Policy Alliance.

Oregon’s Department of Revenue started collecting taxes on recreational cannabis for the first time beginning Feb. 1, and by March 4 the state had collected $3.48 million from dispensaries statewide.

“Gardening is one of the single biggest acts of protest for consumerism.” – Dragonfly Earth Medicine

As the marijuana movement gains momentum nationwide, more stories in the media are drawing attention to the fact that our precious greens are in reality, not so green.

Dragonfly Earth Medicine (DEM) is here to set the standard for sustainability with their Pure Certification, and the standard is being set sky-high.

Portland is having its 17th annual Global Cannabis March this Saturday. This has always been a successful event/protest in the past, and with the way things are in Oregon right now, this march is needed more now than ever before. I want to see as many people attend as possible. I unfortunately will be out of town on a family vacation, but I know a lot of people that are planning on attending. I was talking to former Portland Trailblazer Cliff Robinson and the Uncle Spliffy crew, and they plan on attending and you should too!

Although a wide variety of extracts, concentrates and edibles are sold at medical dispensaries such as Little Amsterdam in Southwest Portland, edibles are not yet available for purchase to recreational customers in Oregon. That changes on June 2.

Oregonians interested in purchasing marijuana edibles have to wait less than a month until they can get their fix. The Oregon Health Authority issued rules Wednesday for the sale of marijuana edibles under the state’s early recreational marijuana sales program.

1-800-Flowers CEO Jim McCann says that despite the company’s efforts to utilize domestic flower growers, the growers in certain states are considering growing marijuana as a potentially more profitable option.

“We have been pushing for domestic production of flowers hard for the last 10 years and having real good success,” McCann told the FOX Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo.

But McCann noted that many flower growers are now tempted by the huge potential revenue boost from growing cannabis instead.

Josh Khankhanian stuck his nose deep into a jar of dense, multicolored marijuana flowers on Saturday and cracked a broad smile. The pot was pungent, and this grower from Mendocino County, California, can consider himself a connoisseur after three years on the job. But what was especially pleasing about this particular sniff is that it was of flower grown on a southern Oregon farm owned by Elizabeth and Nick Luca-Mahmood that could hardly be more sustainable, its plants raised on a nearly closed-loop farming method that battles pests and disease not with insecticides and herbicides but diversity—specifically, diversity in poop.

“There are a lot of cannabis growers still using old procedures,” Khankhanian told Newsweek. “This is better.”

Sara Williams just isn’t that comfortable with handling $10 million in cash.

Williams is the CEO of Midnight Greenery, a retail store she and co-owner Tina Smith plan to open in Anchorage this year to sell cannabis flowers, concentrates, oils, edibles and other products.

But like most who are eager to get into Alaska’s marijuana industry, Williams is worried about what to do with all the incoming cash that she can’t keep in a bank -- especially if business goes well.

Most banks want nothing to do with marijuana businesses because cannabis is still illegal at the federal level. That means businesses like Midnight Greenery will have to deal almost entirely with cash.

Having assessed wholesale cannabis prices for a year, we thought it would be insightful to compare the price movement of cannabis to other agricultural commodities.  The chart below illustrates the average week-on-week price change for selected commodities over the past year.