Solvent-based cannabis extracts, often referred to as hash oils or dabs, have completely dominated cannabis concentrate markets over the last several years. With the advancements in solvent extraction technologies and methodologies, new products are constantly circulating the shelves of dispensaries.

Depending on where you live and your sociopolitical education, your view of the cannabis industry might be skewed. Many people still hold this antiquated view of a bunch of hemp wearing unkempt hippies sitting around in a circle stuffing marijuana into bags. Most of us know better. In states where marijuana is at least legal for medicinal use a strong technical infrastructure is being built around the cannabis business. From dispensary management software to mobile applications and cannabinoid research, the cannabis industry is getting a 2.0 upgrade.

It’s a scorching day in Denver. You’re at the annual Great American Beer Festival, about to end the parched torment of your mouth with a cool, refreshing first sip of craft beer. It touches your lips and you pull back… what the heck? It tastes like weed! Is this just a particularly skunky brew, or did you just get a taste of a bold new fusion between beer and cannabis?

I opened up my news feed from the weekend last night and found a flurry of stories from around the world discussing how an illegal marijuana grow destroyed a New York City home and killed a firefighter. Illegal grow-ops may resort to tactics that can be fatal in an effort to hide their activities, and without legal status they do not have access to education and equipment that meets safety standards. Of course, that is not how the international media portrays it:

Marijuana grow-ops spawn lethal explosions across the US
- Global News, Canada 

Home-grown dopes: how marijuana labs are causing lethal explosions across the United States
- South China Morning Post, China 

Canna-Beer – Dad & Dudes Breweria’s marijuana-infused beer – may soon be available in more than just Colorado. The adult beverage brand, which officially rolled out the first line of Drew's Brews packaged cannabis-infused beers back in 2015, recently announced plans to sell their General Washington’s Secret Stash in stores across the United States.

Come Nov. 8, Florida could be the 26th state to legalize full-strength medical marijuana for patients with cancer, epilepsy and a host of other conditions.

That gives supporters and opponents of Amendment 2 just five weeks to persuade voters. And they've started in earnest, pumping millions of dollars from wealthy donors into TV ads, mailings and recruiting big-name endorsers.

Pro-medical marijuana group United for Care has logged $5.2 million since 2015, most of it from large donors, including a $1 million contribution last week from pot activist group New Approach.

Campaigns to legalize recreational marijuana use in Massachusetts and Maine launched their first television ads on Monday, hoping to boost public awareness and support ahead of November votes on the issue.

The ads began just over a month before Election Day, when voters in five U.S. states will determine whether to legalize the recreational use of the drug, following the lead of Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska, as well as the District of Columbia.

The Massachusetts ads feature Tom Nolan, a former Boston Police Department officer and current professor of criminal justice at Merrimack College, advocating for legalization as a way to better regulate marijuana use.

As the tally of states that have legalized adult or medical cannabis use increases, it's becoming easier than ever for consumers – particularly the law-abiding kind – to get their ganja. Still, an ounce of bud can set you back a pretty penny in some areas: D.C.'s $538.92 average price is more than 260% Oregon's, for example. To get a clearer picture of how prices vary across the country, we've put together a reference using Price of Weed data, which compiles anonymous submissions from buyers:

For This Cannabis Entrepreneur, Opening Up Close to Home Isn't About the Commute. It's About Community.

Seattle's recreational cannabis stores don't often have much in the way of ambience. At worst, they feel like a sterile strip-mall dental office or a dimly lit Walmart.

But Maryam Mirnateghi wants to change that. Her new store, Canna West Seattle, set to open in October, is housed in a 1920s Craftsman-style house on California Avenue Southwest and will be worlds away from those impersonal pot shops.

"It's going to be clean and classy, but it's not going to be pretentious," Mirnateghi says. "It's going to be really cozy and very different from the other stores we have in the city."

At Meadow, technologists and cannabis enthusiasts are building the future of weed (and the industry to support it).

Mention the name "Meadow" to anyone in San Francisco's startup community and the conversation is instantly hijacked to a long discussion about America's first boom industry in the last three decades.

Everyone wants to know where "the industry" is heading, and how they can get into it. (Oh, and by the way, what exactly is the difference between a sativa hybrid and CBD?). The technologists and entrepreneurs at Meadow are leading that discussion.

THE WAREHOUSE