Any entrepreneur that is looking for a valuable but low cost investment to make in 2016 has probably investigated the opportunities within the blossoming cannabis industry.

There are currently 4 states offering legal recreational cannabis, one of which is Colorado. Colorado has reported astronomical tax revenue which has led to Republicans and Democrats actually agreeing on cannabis legalization & decriminalization in an election year. This has led to a surge of people who were once put off by the legality that are now interested in investing and strategizing about new ventures relating to cannabis.

Walking into a cannabis show in New York City is a perfect metaphor for how mainstream America approaches weed culture right now. The Cannabis World Congress expo floor at the Javits Center was overloaded with booths sporting flea market-style displays of edibles, extracts, and oils, plenty of shiny new tech, and piles of giveaway swag in different shades of green. There were also businesses hocking every kind of service imaginable, trying to capitalize on our buzziest new billion dollar industry. Cannabis consultants, lawyers, security companies, weed universities — pick a profession and tint it leaf-green.

They say good fences make good neighbors. Then there's the fences that enclose the growing number of Josephine County's marijuana grow sites.

There are a lot of them. And they are often ugly, especially when topped by a couple feet of plastic.

Among those who are unhappy with the proliferation of Visqueen view blockers is Chris Locke, a Murphy landscape nursery owner who endures the sight of a neighbor's fenced marijuana grow.

Locke, co-owner of Murphy Country Nursery, says the fences are ruining Josephine County's rural landscape. They're tall and typically made of wood, or wood topped with plastic. Many are easy to spot.

Wednesday, a well-known cannabis extraction company, Care By Design was raided in Sonoma County. A company spokesperson insists the business was in the process of being permitted. The DEA and Santa Rosa police raided it just as the city was developing an ordinance which will allow some types of cannabis extraction. Law enforcement, however, seized assets and put one man in jail. According to the Press Democrat, Narcotics Sgt. Rich Celli of the Santa Rosa Police stated, “Many people believe the law is in flux — it’s not, don’t do it.”

From the start, Lalit Chordia wants this to be clear: His manufacturing outfit in O'Hara is not a medical marijuana company.

It just happens that a high-pressure extraction method long mastered by Thar Process Inc. works wonders in producing treatments from the plant — namely pills, Chordia said.

Now that Pennsylvania has approved medical marijuana in limited forms — including those pills — he wants his business to stake a prime spot in the state's emerging production market for the drug. The company president figures Western Pennsylvania suppliers for his extraction systems could add a couple of dozen workers to meet new demand, not including positions that Thar Process might add to its own payroll of about 30 workers.

Vermont has approved medical cannabis for chronic pain in an effort to reduce opiate abuse. Will other states follow suit?

The country is currently mired in what some are calling an “opioid painkiller crisis,” and Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin took concrete action earlier this month to address the crisis.

The Democratic governor added chronic pain to the state’s list of health conditions that qualify for medical marijuana treatment.

Fears that giant corporations will take over America’s burgeoning marijuana industry are massively overblown, according to a report by the Brookings Institution.

As more states legalize marijuana and businesses and entrepreneurs look to capitalize on the drug’s legal status, marijuana opponents are voicing concerns the substance could morph into the next big tobacco.

Talk of big marijuana has made it into headlines and opinion pieces as skeptics fear the rise of a new corporate lobby pursuing profits above all else and manipulating the political process.

A DEA official responded at length today to a widely-circulated report that the DEA plans to effectively legalize medical cannabis this August.

In an interview with aNewDomain today, DEA staff coordinator Russ Bear wouldn’t confirm the Santa Monica Observer report that the DEA will reschedule cannabis as a prescription-only Schedule II drug on Aug. 1, 2016. But he did comment at length about the agency’s thoughts around legalizing medical cannabis and how rescheduling cannabis from its current Schedule I status would have to work.

Even where not mandated, a food safety plan will help you protect your company, your customers, and yourself from food safety liability.

A fully budded marijuana plant ready for trimming is seen at the Botanacare marijuana store ahead of their grand opening on New Year's day in Northglenn, Colorado December 31, 2013. Reuters/Rick Wilking/File Photo

Marijuana consumption by Colorado high school students has dipped slightly since the state first permitted recreational cannabis use by adults, a new survey showed on Monday, contrary to concerns that legalization would increase pot use by teens.

The biannual poll by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment also showed the percentage of high school students indulging in marijuana in Colorado was smaller than the national average among teens.