With pot on the ballot in nine states, the big winner in next Tuesday's election could be America's legal cannabis industry. By 2020, legal market sales are expected to surpass $22 billion. And for states struggling with budget shortfalls, that extra revenue would be clearly welcome. 

Voters in five states — Arizona, California, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada — will decide whether to legalize recreational marijuana for adults. Medical marijuana is on the ballot in Arkansas, Florida, Montana, and North Dakota. 

Supporters believe the marijuana measures will pass in California and Florida, and possibly several other states, because America's attitude about pot has changed significantly in the last few years. 

Will medical marijuana prove to be a miracle treatment for people with multiple sclerosis (MS)?

The National Multiple Sclerosis Society says there are uncertainties about how effective marijuana is in relieving MS symptoms. But the organization supports the right of patients to work with healthcare providers to access medical marijuana where legal.

Supporters of medicinal marijuana are more forceful in their advocacy.

Cannabis connoisseurs won’t be the only ones rejoicing if voters legalize recreational marijuana this election. Expect Silicon Valley’s burgeoning class of pot entrepreneurs to join the party.

Startups are cropping up throughout the Bay Area that put a signature Valley spin on the age-old practice of selling marijuana, offering sleek on-demand delivery apps for users and high-tech software for growers and dispensaries. The business models are risky — marijuana is illegal under federal law and stigma around the drug prevents cannabis startups from scoring funding from many major investors. But with recent polls suggesting Californians are poised to expand marijuana consumption beyond medical use, experts expect cash to pour into the industry.

Even as California and other states consider expanding the legal availability of marijuana for recreational as well as medicinal use, there has been a concerted push by some to create new laws criminalizing driving under the influence of marijuana’s active ingredient, THC. 

Regulation is on the horizon for California’s medical marijuana industry — and for recreational weed, too, if voters pass Proposition 64 next month — but from now until at least 2018, it’s up to consumers to make sure their pot is free of harmful doses of toxins.

In the decade marijuana has been approved for medical use in California, the state has not regulated pesticides or fungicide in cultivation or solvents in processing of the plant product.

The US marijuana industry is lighting up. America now has 8.4 million regular cannabis users, up from half that in 2002. Thanks largely to legalizations in Alaska, Washington, Oregon and Colorado, the market is now worth $7.2bn, and it is growing at an annual rate of 29%.

Earlier this month marijuana executives met at the New West Summit in San Francisco. Experts told Red Herring the event felt like an awakening, for an industry that has hidden in the periphery of the US economy for decades.

Even renowned British entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson had his say at the summit. “I certainly would be out there in this industry,” he told attendees via a Skype linkup. “It has enormous potential with the ability to do a lot of good.”

Since Donald Trump seems to enjoy conspiracy theories so much, Samantha Beeis spreading her own one about the GOP nominee.

Advocates hope for better reception to sweeping pot bill, now stalled.

The momentum toward marijuana legalization — already accelerated this year by a raft of state ballot measures — could get an even bigger boost if Democrats win control of the Senate.

That’s partly because the controlling party will choose the chairman of the committee that determines whether a sweeping marijuana proposal advances or dies.

The so-called CARERS Act has stalled in the Judiciary Committee under Chairman Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, who, in the past, has staunchly opposed legalized marijuana.

Going mainstream

Marijuana, the most commonly used illegal drug in America, is going mainstream. Now legal for recreational use in Colorado and Washington, pot seems poised for wider use, too: 21 states allow the possession and use of marijuana for medicinal purposes, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. And legalization campaigns are underway in Oregon, California and even Alaska.

But just how much do you know about the wacky weed and its odd effects? How exactly does marijuana provide its high, and who discovered the effects of smoking the plant in the first place? Read on for some of the stranger facts about cannabis consumption.

The prevalence of medical marijuana edibles has led to a dramatic increase in dogs rushed to emergency rooms after getting into their owner’s stash – especially in states like Colorado which has legalized recreational pot.

Now, with California days away from a similar pot legalization vote, there’s growing evidence a compound derived from a different variety of the cannabis plant may be just what ailing pets need.