The medical marijuana industry is poised to explode with new state regulations and taxes on the dispensaries that will sell the weed. Kathleen Gray/Detroit Free Press

Nov. 4, 2008: Michigan voters pass a ballot proposal by a 63%-37% margin to allow the use of medical marijuana.

May 2012: State Rep. Mike Callton, R-Nashville, introduces a bill that would allow medical marijuana dispensaries in communities. The bill doesn't get a hearing.

February 2013: Callton  reintroduces a bill — HB 4271 — that would allow communities to determine whether and where medical marijuana dispensaries can be located.

Medical marijuana won’t be legal in Tennessee anytime soon after a House Representative’s bill, which aimed to legalize cannabis use for people suffering from certain conditions such as cancer, HIV and epilepsy, failed to get Senate support. The bill, HB0495, was considered dead for the year after the state’s House Health Committee rejected the measure following discussion.

Rep. Jeremy Faison, R-Cosby, who sponsored the bill, told local media that it wasn’t the House that has prevented patients from having access to medical marijuana but members of the Senate who were “scared to death of their voters.

Canopy San Diego, Southern California's premier seed-stage accelerator program for technology and business infrastructure companies that support the legal cannabis industry, is pleased to announce the launch of the Spring 2017 class.

Canopy San Diego, Southern California's premier seed-stage accelerator program for technology and business infrastructure companies that support the legal cannabis industry, is pleased to announce the launch of the Spring 2017 class. Canopy San Diego invests capital, mentorship, and services to accelerate the development of their portfolio companies.

Illinois state lawmakers are considering a proposal that could make Illinois the first state in the Midwest and the ninth nationally to legalize recreational pot.

Two Chicago Democrats introduced legislation last week that would legalize small amounts of marijuana for adults and license businesses to sell cannabis products. They argue it would help solve the state’s budget crisis.

Sen. Heather Steans and Rep. Kelly Cassidy say the move could raise between $350 to $700 million in tax revenue, create new jobs and bolster tourism.

But they know the proposal could face opposition from fellow lawmakers. They plan to jumpstart conversations with legislators, interest groups and the public this spring but won’t move legislation this session.

Barrels of ink have been spilled over the prospect that the Trump administration could attempt to turn back the clock when it comes to legal marijuana. Yet for all the wailing and gnashing of teeth out there, marijuana industry insiders, advocates and activists don't seem all that worried.

"I don't think there's any more reason to be scared than to be hopeful at this point," said Mason Tvert, Denver-based communications director for the Marijuana Policy Project. "The administration has not changed its marijuana policy, and there is reason to believe it may maintain the existing policy or adopt a similar one that respects states' laws regulating marijuana."

On Monday, the Attorney General's office presents its budget to a joint Senate Finance, Assembly Ways and Means subcommittee.

Ways and Means Chairwoman Maggie Carlton, D-Las Vegas, and other members have invited Attorney General Adam Laxalt to present his budget, noting other constitutional officers present their proposed spending plans in person. Even Gov. Brian Sandoval shows up to present key initiatives in his spending plan as he did two years ago for his education reforms.

The Assembly Judiciary Committee will hear Assembly Bill 395, which makes a variety of changes to laws involving the community notification and registration of juvenile sex offenders, including providing the courts the ability to eliminate reporting and notification in certain cases.

On February 1972, The Guardian published the following headline: "A presidential commission report concludes that penalties for private use and possession of marijuana should be abolished." The story previewed "Marihuana, A Signal of Misunderstanding," released 35 years ago today, which was a report commissioned by President Richard Nixon to make permanent the Schedule I status of cannabis. Tricky Dick was in for a big surprise.