How – and why – online cannabis marketplaces will replace the black market.

The first thing ever bought or sold online was a bag of cannabis.

The deal went down in 1971. Decades before eBay or Amazon, back in the days when data was delivered in a shrieking telephonic trickle rather than a broadband light beam, the first thing ever traded online was cannabis.

A loophole allowed applicants with no background in medical marijuana to be treated as if they were law-abiding, taxpaying veterans of the industry.

On July 1, when the Cannabis Patient Protection Act (SB 5052) took effect, all dispensaries without an I-502 license were forced to shut down, sending many of the state's medical marijuana patients into a panic. Patients worry that the recreational market doesn't have enough medicinal cannabis for their needs and that what is available is not affordable. Many point to the fact that the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB) issued only 222 new retail licenses to replace more than 1,500 medical marijuana dispensaries.

The marijuana legalization initiative that will be on the November ballot in California is a disappointment to many in the cannabis decriminalization movement. California NORML, the granddaddy of political pot groups, has not fully endorsed it.

These critics say that Proposition 64, which will allow Californians 21 and older to possess up to one ounce of marijuana, is about as conservative as it could be without defeating the very purpose of legalization, which is allowing folks to enjoy weed without fear of arrest.

"It's 60 percent legalization," Ellen Komp, deputy director of California NORML, told us earlier this year.

Presidential frontrunners Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump don’t agree on much, but when it comes to legalizing the use of medicinal marijuana, they’re both pro pot.

Medicinal marijuana advocates hope that reality is enough to eventually get a federal bill passed legalizing the use of medical marijuana in all 50 states. Currently the CARERS Act (Compassionate Access, Research Expansion, and Respects), a bill sponsored by Senate Democrats in March of 2015 that would change marijuana from a schedule I to a schedule II drug and make it legal for medical use, is being stalled in the U.S. Senate’s Judiciary Committee by ranking Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).

In a bold and commendable move, Portland is proposing to use their revenue from legal cannabis taxes to support drug treatment programs and expunge convictions from when cannabis was illegal.

According to Oregon Public Broadcasting, Oregon has decided to drop the state cannabis tax to 17 percent starting in 2017. Cities will have the option to add their own additional three percent in taxes if they choose to. If Portland decides to allow this tax, Commissioner Amanda Fritz has a proposal that will put local tax to good use.

The growth of the cannabis industry is encouraging to anyone who supports legalization. Recent reports have found that the sale of legal cannabis this year alone will bring in a whopping $7.1-billion – representing a 25 percent increase from the year before - while other forecasts indicate that cannabis sales could yield as much as $23 billion by the year 2020.

Considering diversifying with a high-risk investment? Heard the lure of the “green rush” toward a possible $100 billion legal marijuana industry?

Before you write that check:

If you're looking for a cannabis-friendly vacation spot, some destinations are no-brainers: Jamaica. Denver. And even Uruguay, which legalized cannabis in 2013.

But for those who prefer more off-the-beaten track travel with top-notch cannabis, and minimal restrictions on possession and consumption, you might want to pack your parka and plan ahead for a trip to Alaska.

Anyone suffering from fibromyalgia will tell you it can be devastating. On some days, simple chores like doing laundry or making breakfast can be exhausting, if not downright impossible. Just ask Teri Robnett, a Denver-based medical marijuana patient's rights advocate who runs the Rx MaryJane blog:

“There used to be days that I didn’t feel like I could get through the day. I just wanted to cry and go back to bed.”

The Arizona Supreme Court ruled this morning that the smell of growing cannabis constitutes probable cause for a search warrant. The court’s decision overturned a lower appeals court ruling, which held that Arizona’s medical marijuana law legally negated the so-called “plain smell doctrine.” 

In the short term, this is bad news for Ronald James Sisco, the 45-year-old Tucson man who was arrested in 2013 for an illegal cannabis grow inside a rented storage unit. At his original trial, Sisco was sentenced to 3 ½ years in prison, which he will now serve.