You don't have to be Don Draper to dream up a pitch for pot. In Portland, home to a thriving culture of marijuana use and a fast-growing medical marijuana industry, the product practically sells itself.

But retailers and producers, scrambling for a share of an increasingly crowded market, are taking steps to promote their brands. Competition is likely to intensify as Oregon approaches October, when the state is expected to allow limited cannabis sales to recreational consumers.

"Everybody is doing lots of angles right now," said Andrew Shenker, an owner of Uplift Botanicals, a Northeast Portland dispensary. "That's what it takes in a market this crazy."

Sandy is banning medical marijuana shops even though voters narrowly approved allowing recreational use last year.

It's an admitted stall tactic that's making a would-be pot shop owner irate.

"I don't take no very well," said Matt Naegeli. "It's disheartening and it makes one question the democratic process."

Naegeli first tried to open up a medical marijuana dispensary in March of last year, but the city of Sandy had banned it saying that allowing it would violate the Controlled Substances Act.

On Tuesday, a day before Naegeli's lawsuit was set to be decided, the city overturned the ban, but then used a new state law to ban medical marijuana dispensaries.

"So it was a gamble, so this was a strategic move," said Mayor Bill King.

Contract sets industry-leading standards for wages, benefits and brings good jobs to the Portland area

PORTLAND, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Workers at Stoney Brothers, a marijuana dispensary in Portland, Ore. have approved the first-ever union contract for cannabis workers in Oregon and have joined United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 555. The vote to approve the contract was unanimous, and sets a new standard for cannabis workers in Oregon.

“With our new contract, I am excited to have paid holidays and vacation time”

VALE, Ore. -- On July 1, recreational marijuana became legal in Oregon.

Now, communities in eastern Oregon are taking action against the commercial sale of pot.

Many cities, like Vale, Nyssa, and Ontario that were highly against the passing of Measure 91, are looking at passing ordinances that would ban the commercial sale of marijuana in their city.

Last election, nearly 70 percent of the people living in Malheur County voted against Measure 91, a ballot measure that legalized marijuana in the state of Oregon.

But now they're getting a second chance to reject marijuana sales.

ROSEBURG — Voters will decide in 2016 whether to bar marijuana sales in the unincorporated parts of Douglas County.

The county Board of Commissioners unanimously approved two ordinances this week after hearing impassioned testimony from marijuana fans and foes.

The first would bar medical marijuana dispensaries in rural parts of the southwest Oregon county from selling recreational marijuana products; however, it will have no immediate impact because there are no dispensaries in those areas.

The weed-delivery business is not as exciting as High Maintenance.

For Maddy, it started with love. Two years ago, after her friendship with one of the two male founders of PK Delivery turned into something more, she decided to join his medical cannabis-delivery business. When her beau decided to take a step back and focus on another project, she took over full time. Since mid-2013, she’s been doing weed delivery—like High Maintenance, but more boring.

“It’s not exciting,” she says as we prepare to deliver to one of her regulars.

The upcoming Cannabis Creative Conference, slated for July 29 and 30 at the Oregon Expo Center in Portland, has added an Investment Forum on July 28 to help investors and entrepreneurs profit in the newly legalized marijuana industry. The forum is presented by the Marijuana Investor Summit.

Travis Maurer has been in the news a lot lately. There was a long time when there were only two articles written about him that I could find online. The first one was when he gotbusted for growing marijuana in Missouri in 2009, and the second one was when heplead guilty in 2010. I guarantee those are both tough articles for him to read.

Oregon-based cannabis cultivation, processing and dispensary operator also announces raise of $1.8 Million dollars to expand business operations.

PORTLAND, Ore., July 15, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The Attis Group, Inc. (ATTIS), an Oregon-based cannabis cultivator, processor and dispensary owner, has entered into an agreement with Las Vegas, Nevada firm Electrum Partners to help develop plans to expand ATTIS' business operations.

CHICAGO, July 15, 2015 /Weed Wire/ — Join us July 28 in Portland for a reprise of the Marijuana Investor Summit Boot Camps for investors and entrepreneurs. Whether you’re new to the legalized marijuana industry or looking to expand your knowledge, the July 28 pre-conference Boot Camp for Investors and Entrepreneurs, produced by the Marijuana Investor Summit in conjunction with the Cannabis Creative Conference, is the place to be.

Taught by financial industry experts and successful marijuana entrepreneurs, this half-day, dual-track educational seminar will quickly bring you up to speed on this rapidly growing frontier market.