Floyd Landis is rolling with the dope crowd again, but this time around there are no secret blood transfusions on remote roadsides in the French Alps, no illicit syringes filled with olive oil and testosterone, no injections of human growth hormone or the banned blood booster EPO.

But there is a 34,000-square foot warehouse filled with thousands of marijuana plants heavy with glistening buds the size of pine cones.

There are two finalists for licenses from the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission in Worcester County.  One processor and one grower made the final 15, respectively.  Economic leaders in Worcester County believe the two cannabis business could provide a big economic boost to the county.

For weeks, Bill Myer studied images of Phoenix neighborhoods, pored over zoning maps and drove the streets in search of property that could house a new medical-marijuana dispensary.

Myer, of Phoenix, already owns a dispensary in Glendale, but with state officials poised to award a second round of licenses since medical marijuana became legal in 2010, he hired a surveyor to do measurements once he narrowed in on a site. He found one property that could work and talked to the owner about leasing or buying the building if he gets a license.

“It’s nothing more than a lottery ticket. It’s a $5,000 lottery ticket, basically,” Myer said.

But if he wins, he wins big. That ticket could be worth millions.

After having to laboriously grind their own bud since time immemorial, pot smokers can finally buy a portable grinder called the Chewy. It operates all by itself, no manual hand twisting required.

A Traditional AC Powered Grinder, aka A Coffee Grinder

Larry Schaeffer has grown marijuana in Sonoma County for more than a decade.

His Cherry Kola Farms outside Penngrove supplies award-winning strains of pungent pot to one of Sonoma County’s largest medical cannabis collectives, as well as discerning dispensaries around the state.

But after years of operating in a quasi-legal status as a nonprofit collective, Schaeffer is ready to go legit. He wants to be an above-board business, in an approved location with proper permits, and pay taxes like any other legitimate enterprise.

And he plans to do it in Santa Rosa.

“Santa Rosa wants this industry here,” Schaeffer said. “I think this is probably going to be the New Age Amsterdam.”

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The last two months have been busy ones for the marijuana community. Most recently, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) declined to loosen restrictions on medical marijuana, and kept the drug classified in the same 'Schedule 1' category as LSD and heroin.

If L.A. has cannabis cocktails, surely Portland should have them, right?

Those who support the nationwide legalization of marijuana for therapeutic use, were disappointed by the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) recent failure to reclassify marijuana's status from that of a Schedule I drug to another more appropriate classification.

Since 23 states have now legalized marijuana for medical use, and since numerous studies have confirmed its value as medicine and have proven that it is safe, it seemed the logical next step to begin relaxing the laws at the federal level.

The federal government cannot pay to prosecute state-sanctioned marijuana use, the federal court said

The Department of Justice cannot spend money to prosecute people who violate federal drug laws but are in compliance with state medical marijuana laws, a federal court ruled on Tuesday. The ruling prevents federal law enforcement from funding prosecution of anyone who obeys a state’s medical marijuana laws.

Over the past year we have heard stories of Big Pharma being out to get the growing medical cannabis industry. We wanted to know if there was any truth behind these fears, oft dismissed as conspiracy theories.

We spoke to a pharmaceutical market analyst* to see if the cannabis industry should fear Big Pharma. Here’s what they told us.

*Due to the sensitive nature of their work, their name has been withheld.