A group of lawyers have launched the National Cannabis Bar Association to help clients navigate the conflicting maze of local, state and federal laws that govern cannabis businesses.

Marijuana is the third most popular recreational drug in America, behind alcohol and tobacco. It is estimated that nearly 100 million Americans use it.

Alaska, Oregon and Washington, D.C., recently have legalized marijuana’s recreational use and distribution. Many employers in Iowa are wondering how this trend will affect their workplace.

But frankly, unless federal and state laws are changed, the answer is not at all.

Remember, marijuana still is illegal under federal law (the Controlled Substances Act) and Iowa law. In fact, even in those states that legalized marijuana years ago (Colorado and Washington), many employers continue to drug test for marijuana in the workplace.

A sweeping bill to regulate the burgeoning marijuana industry in Oregon is back on track after legislators agreed to make it easier to ban retail pot sales in almost all of the state's eastern counties.

Leaders of the  marijuana committee agreed to give a powerful eastern Oregon lawmaker language that would allow local governments in his region of the state to ban medical and recreational marijuana shops without voter approval.

Rep. Ann Lininger, D-Lake Oswego and co-chair of the House-Senate marijuana committee, said Friday that the compromise "is not my top choice," but she said it was necessary to prevent the entire legislative package from falling apart.

A Vancouver, B.C., company has bought a business center at 2010 Grandview Road for $1.2 million and plans to lease space to licensed marijuana growers and processors.

Chlormet Technologies bought the 9.7-acre parcel in Ferndale through its Washington state subsidiary PacCan Industries, according to a company news release.

The seller was Excelsior Mortgage Equity Fund of Lake Oswego, Ore.

The property is zoned general business.

Show opens with Chris Tinney giving an update on the current legislation regarding hemp and introducing his two guests: Anndrea Hermann of the Hemp Industries Association and Bruce Perlowin, CEO f Hemp Inc.

SALEM - A legislative deal laying out the future of the legal marijuana market in Oregon was in danger of falling apart Wednesday as the result of yet another dispute about local curbs on retail sales of the drug.

Senate Minority Leader Ted Ferrioli, R-John Day, sent a late-night email to leaders of the legislative marijuana committee saying he couldn't agree with the deal they reached with city and county association lobbyists on the issue of local control.

Ferrioli, whose eastern Oregon district voted strongly against the marijuana legalization initiative last November, said he wanted to make sure that local governments have the ability to ban medical and recreational marijuana sales in their communities.

Colorado is leading again, this time with a permanent tax break on recreational marijuana. The state is lowering the tax from 10% to 8% effective in July 2017, a move that could cut into Colorado’s black market. Colorado was the first state to legalize marijuana for recreational use, and now it’s passed a marijuana tax relief. There is even a one-time tax holiday on September 16, 2015, from the 10% state sales tax.

GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) - The Oregon Legislature is considering imposing up to a 20 percent sales tax on retail sales of marijuana once it becomes available to consumers.

Proposed amendments to a bill (HB 2041) allowing localities to prohibit marijuana facilities within 1,000 feet of schools would impose a 17 percent state tax on retail sales of marijuana products, from buds to candies.

Proposed legislation in Oregon is addressing fears that hemp production in the state could impact marijuana plants by requiring a minimum buffer zone between areas zoned for cultivation of industrial hemp and marijuana grow sites.

Marijuana advocates fear cross-pollination with low-tetrahydrocannabinol hemp, leading state legislators to take up the issue. But hemp advocates say it is a two-way street, and the current bill unfairly singles out hemp farmers while doing  little to remedy broader concerns of cross-pollination on both sides of the aisle.

Potlines is an app that will send users an alert as to differing state marijuana laws.

WASHINGTON, June 7, 2015 – Marijuana is already legal for medical and recreational use in the District of Columbia. Alaska, Oregon, Washington and Colorado also allow recreational use and possession of cannabis.

Twenty-three states from Maine to California allow medical marijuana use. But if you are taking a road trip from the NorthEastern shore to Southern California, there are a lot of states in between where marijuana is still illegal.

The laws are constantly changing and  the laws for use and possession in those states is not uniform.

And ignorance of the law is not a legal defense.