This October, local growers of marijuana will be harvesting this year’s first legal crops. This marks a historic moment for those involved in the marijuana legalization movement. However, due to the stigma associated with cannabis, little is actually known about this plant.

Like all plants, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to grow it. All one needs is water, light, soil and, of course, the seeds. Beyond that, it a relatively simple process. Autoflowering cannabis plants are more simple than the strains that need to be life-cycled. Mike Emers of Rosie Creek Farm in Fairbanks farms autoflowering cannabis plants for a local grower.

Massachusetts likely voters are in favor of legalizing marijuana for people 21 and older, with 55 percent saying "yes" to Question 4, according to a new poll from WBUR/MassINC Polling Group.

Forty percent said they would vote "no" if the election on the November statewide ballot measure was held today. Five percent said they didn't know how they'd vote or they were undecided.

Question 4 seeks to set up a regulatory structure for the taxation of commercial marijuana, under a proposed Cannabis Control Commission, a framework that proponents say will drive down the black market. Opponents have been urging voters to reject the measure, saying marijuana is a potent gateway drug to harder substances.

Marijuana sales could hit $20 billion by 2020, with help from the ever-growing vaporizer market.

Vaping is an alternative to smoking that involves inhaling vapor from an electronic device. Some research suggests vaping is less harmful than lighting up because it doesn't require igniting a material and inhaling carcinogens and toxins along with it.

But as the industry heats up, so does the competition. These days, there's a range of devices to fit every consumer's needs — whether they prioritize ease of use, portability, or style.

A fully developed legal market for medical marijuana in Michigan could lead to millions of dollars in new state tax revenue.

Exactly how much is open to interpretation, but some analysts’ estimates suggest it could top $63 million a year.

New regulations for the state’s medical marijuana industry, signed by Gov. Rick Snyder and taking effect in December (though a licensing system won’t be active until December 2017), will require a 3% excise tax on dispensaries’ gross sales receipts.

Pot activists are going to celebrate the two-year anniversary of Philadelphia's marijuana decriminalization Thursday by holding a "pop-up pot garden" outside Philadelphia Art Museum.

The pro-pot lobby will also hold a press conference at City Hall in Center City to release statistics about the number of citations issued for small amounts of marijuana.

For Matt Kurth, the essentials of life have come through his love of the outdoors and organic gardening. And cannabis.

When he tried to blend two of these passions and grow marijuana one year, he found that he had his work cut out for him.

“I wanted to be a grower and then I tried it and it’s a ton of work,” he said. “People who don’t grow don’t realize how difficult it is.”

So after Humboldt County created a commercial medical marijuana market this year, Kurth, 33, decided to combine cannabis with his experience in the outdoor recreational industry to create what could be the county’s first cannabis tourism company — Humboldt Cannabis Tours. 

Voters could legalize recreational marijuana in five states this November and medical marijuana in three more. This record number of state ballot measures promise to be a great boon for the cannabusiness industry. With national prohibitions against interstate cannabis commerce, as well as current federal banking and drug laws, large companies have been kept out of the industry, so the market is still primarily comprised of small businesses.

California, Arizona, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada will consider legalizing  the recreational use of cannabis while Florida, Arkansas and North Dakota will decide on marijuana for medical purposes.

What’s going on state by state?

California, Prop 64 

Opponents of legalizing marijuana in Massachusetts are launching their first television advertisement Tuesday, a powerful 30-second spot that imagines an almost dystopian neighborhood overrun by pot shops and stoners.

In the ad, a mother drives her daughter through a familiar suburban scene of strip malls, passing one marijuana store after another, signs alighted with green cannabis leaves.

“Question 4 would allow thousands of pot shops and marijuana operators throughout Massachusetts — in neighborhoods like yours,” a female narrator says, referring to the Nov. 8 ballot measure.

Unlike long-allowed hemp seed beer, this one comes with cannabinoids.

A Colorado company says it has cleared a major hurdle to distribute cannabis-infused beer nationwide, and that it's developed the business relationships necessary to rapidly scale up production to meet what could be enormous demand.

The company, Aurora-based Dad and Dude's Breweria, says it has received federal formula approval for an extract-infused beer variety from the Treasury Department's Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), which acts as gatekeeper for interstate beer sales.

Phoenix-based Discount Tire Company and its billionaire owner, Bruce Halle, face a growing boycott movement after making a $1 million donation to help defeat Proposition 205, the ballot initiative to legalize recreational use of marijuana in Arizona.