It's a big week for the legal cannabis industry. Hundreds of marijuana business, manufacturing, media, technology, and product companies descended upon the Javits Center in New York City this week for Cannabis World Congress. At the same time, Microsoft is entering the space, partnering with seed-to-sale software company Kind Financial on compliance solutions for state and local governments.

A recent memorandum by representatives of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to several U.S. senators indicates that the agency is prepared to respond imminently to a pair of administration petitions challenging marijuana's status as a Schedule I federally prohibited substance.

Under the U.S. Controlled Substances Act of 1970, the cannabis plant and its biologically active components are classified as Schedule I prohibited substances — the most restrictive category available under the law. By definition, substances in this category must meet three specific inclusion criteria:

Many critics and proponents of marijuana legalization alike have voiced concerns about the potential emergence of Big Marijuana, a corporate lobby akin to Big Tobacco that recklessly pursues profits and wields sufficient clout to shape regulation to its liking.

Although marijuana remains illegal under federal law, medical and/or recreational marijuana is now legal in more than two dozen states. As the federal government has largely tolerated state legalization, corporate capital and muscle have begun moving in on these new state markets. Such commercialization raises a new set of concerns about how industry dynamics may impact consumer behavior and potentially incur social costs.

As the cannabis market becomes global, how is the current state of the industry faring in the U.S. and Canada?

Marijuana greenhouse and equipment company GGS Structures Inc. put together an infographic that outlines the amazing progress made within North America over the past few years. See the infographic below:

U.S. senators took a deep dive into issues surrounding the legalization of marijuana on Wednesday as part of a hearing on America’s demand for illegal drugs and alternative approaches to drug control.

Although one of the nation’s leading drug policy reform activists was in the room to testify, it was a lawmaker who delivered the session’s first criticisms of the failure of prohibition.

“Like [alcohol]prohibition fueled the gangs back then, what were doing right now is fueling drug cartels, which is the reason we have an unsecured border,” said Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

The nation’s largest organization in favor of marijuana legalization is formally endorsing the Libertarian Party’s nominee for president – Gary Johnson.

The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), whose mission is to reform federal laws to ensure states can determine their own marijuana policies, said Johnson was the obvious choice as the most pro-legalization candidate on the ballot.

MPP made clear its endorsement was on the sole issue of marijuana reform and did not amount to an endorsement of the candidate’s other policies.

Step 1: Build software for pot labs. Step 2: Find out who has the strongest herb. Step 3: Create a marijuana marketplace connecting dispensaries with the best growers.

That’s the plan that scored $3 million in seed funding led by Slow Ventures for Confident Cannabis. Right now it’s on Step 2, having established the largest real-time database of cannabis in the world just nine months after launching.

Built by four Stanford grads, the Y Combinator and StartX company wants to corner a critical data stream in the fast-growing ganja business. For now, it’s the CarFax of weed.  If it succeeds, Confident Cannabis could become the sticky-icky stock exchange, where growers and sellers connect.

Where there are markets, regulations, and money, special interests and self-serving behavior will not be far away. So argue Philip Wallach and Jonathan Rauch in this new paper that examines how special interests are likely to shape marijuana legalization and regulation in the United States.

Marijuana legalization is no longer just a pipe dream; in several states, it’s become a reality. With Washington, Oregon, Colorado, and Alaska all having passed voter-backed legalization initiatives, residents in three of those states are now free to engage in the purchase and consumption of marijuana and related products from licensed stores and retail locations. It’s a situation that would have been unimaginable just a decade or so ago.

There are many legal activities we can partake in that aren’t exactly healthy decisions, but our government has no say in how frequently we do them or if we’re doing them to excess.

For instance, as Americans, we can buy and consume as much alcohol as we want, we can smoke as many cigarettes as we want, and we can eat as much fast food as we want. As an American citizen, you have the right to literally drink,   smoke, and eat yourself to death, but when it comes to consuming marijuana, that’s off the table, even though it is impossible to die from smoking pot to excess.