Twenty-five states and the District of Columbia now have laws on the books that legalize marijuana in some form. Most regulate consumption of marijuana for medical needs; only Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington have legalized pot for recreational use. Despite the fact that many local law enforcement officials believe any focus on marijuanaprevents them from working on more pressing community needs, ingesting cannabis in any form is still a crime under federal law.

The Missouri House twice this year killed attempts to legalize medical marijuana.  A measure with the same aim could appear on the November ballot.  It’s backed by a group called New Approach Missouri. 

Spokesman Jack Cardetti says enough signatures were collected, but they must still be reviewed for verification by the Missouri Secretary of State’s office.

One medical marijuana proposal is dead, another could end up on ballot

Ready or not, with its legalization in several states and those old-school taboos surrounding weed being febrezed away, a massive dollar sign hangs above Marijuana industry as its potential growth projections outpace the smartphone industry.

The exact origins of the cultivation of cannabis under artificial light are hard to pinpoint. But it's sure that the United States, especially California, and the Netherlands were the indoor culture's nurseries in the late 1970s and early ’80s. Breeders like Old Ed Holloway, Dave Watson (aka Sam the Skunkman), Wernard Bruining, Nevil Schoenmakers, Robert C. Clarke and Ben Dronkers as well as a few other pioneers met and worked in Amsterdam to create the basis for the thousands of strains that cannabis patients and recreational users enjoy worldwide today. 

The Illinois House has approved a plan to expand the state’s medical marijuana pilot program by two-and-a-half years and add post-traumatic stress disorder and terminal illness to the list of allowed conditions.

Lawmakers voted 86-27 on Monday to advance the measure, which Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner supports. It now goes to the Senate, where it’s expected to pass.

Illinois’ four-year pilot program is set to sunset at the end of 2017. Under the bill, it will continue to July 1, 2020.

Democratic Rep. Lou Lang is the bill sponsor. He says the changes are in the best interest of patients and will help ensure the viability of the program.

The program started in 2014 but the first medical cannabis sales didn’t occur until November 2015.

In this day and age, convenience means more than just getting a meal delivered by sending an emoji via text, summoning a complete stranger to be your personal chauffeur without even speaking to them first or being able to adjust the delicately sensitive temperature of a smart vape from an app. In these times, convenience means having all the information needed in the palm of your hand and the emergence of new apps are helping to build the cannatech connection by providing the community with the type of convenient, always-available technology other industries have been enjoying for some time. Check out these companies and how they’re helping the cannabis industry catch up with the rest of the technological cosmos.

Legal marijuana is already a global industry and the U.S. is behind the curve.

When you think of the legal marijuana industry, you think of Colorado and California. But marijuana is not uniquely American, nor is the legalization movement.

If you can't, or don't, want to visit a brick-and-mortar dispensary to browse strains and get recommendations, you're going to be spoiled for choice in 2016

WoahStork, created by UCLA Ph.D student Nicco Reggente, is among the latest online services designed to lower barriers to entry for cannabis newbies, and serve more seasoned users looking for a predictable, customizable high.

A ten-year cancer survivor, who prefers to be identified only as patient X, supports the idea of cannabis decriminalisation in Bermuda.

Researching his cancer, which first announced itself with a haematoma that left him “ankle-deep in blood”, quickly became part of his daily routine.

“It scared the life out of me, but I put on a brave face, carried on with life, and then plunged into internet research,” the patient told The Royal Gazette.

“I had mental problems for the first couple of years. That isn’t unusual; many cancer patients get depressed.”

Teaching himself online offered new hopes. Among them were the promising applications of cannabis, as well as drugs derived from the plant.

Panaxia has devised a method of extracting precise dosages of medical cannabis.

Israel generic drugs and medical devices company Panaxia has signed an agreement with Ultra Health, the leading medical cannabis distribution company in New Mexico, to build a cannabis processing plant. The plant will be built on one of Ultra Health's farms in New Mexico, and its products will be marketed in the US by Ultra Health.

Panaxia said that the six-month pilot project would include a commitment to buying merchandise for $250,000. Ultra Health operates in five US states besides New Mexico, providing potential growth for Panaxia's business. At the same time, Panaxia is also negotiating similar agreements with other US growers.