Terra Tech Corp (OTCMKTS: TRTC) appears to be one company that might survive the cannabis industry shakeout. 2016 was a stellar year for companies in the fast-growing cannabis industry, but 2017 has turned out to be much tougher than originally expected. Take the case of Terra Tech Corp (OTCMKTS: TRTC), which was a microcap darling in 2016, but has fallen on harder times in 2017.

The state began accepting applications Friday from those wishing to grow and sell marijuana for medical use, but when the drug might make into the hands of patients is still anyone’s guess.

That will depend on how many apply for a limited number of licenses.

The only piece of the timeline set for the birth of this new industry is Sept. 18. By 4:30 p.m. that day, all dispensary and cultivation applications must be hand-delivered to the Arkansas Alcoholic Beverage Control Division in Little Rock. Only then will the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Commission begin reviewing the applications.

On December 28, 2016, the Massachusetts state legislature voted to delay sales of recreational marijuana for six months. Originally, licensing for cannabis shops was set to begin on January 1, 2018, under the measure, but the delay set by legislators moved the date to July 1, 2018. Legislators cited needing more time to tinker with the measure as the reason for enacting the delay. Personal use, possession, and cultivation of marijuana all became legal on December 15, 2016.

From Bill Hall: In last week’s Money and Markets article, I told you about how one of America’s biggest sin stock industries is positioning itself to profit from the expected legalization of marijuana at the federal level in the U.S.

In that article, I discussed how Big Tobacco executives have been exploring the opportunities of legal marijuana since the 1970s.

Banks have mostly chosen to stay on the sidelines of the cannabis rush, deterred by the regulatory uncertainty around an industry that is still illegal at the federal level and concerns that the Trump administration seems opposed to legalization efforts.

But it may be a bigger challenge than financial institutions realize to keep their hands completely clean of the marijuana business. The burgeoning sector touches not just those who grow and sell pot in states where it is legal, but agricultural supply providers, commercial real estate holders of lands for farming marijuana, attorneys and lobbyists advocating for the new industry, and many more ancillary businesses.

On July 22, an estimated 200 women in the cannabis industry will gather for what’s being called an “empowerment summit” in downtown Los Angeles. The concept? To teach one another the negotiation skills, assertiveness, and business savvy necessary to thrive in the quickly growing cannabis market.

Almost every media report on marijuana legalization at the state level references the fact that cannabis remains listed as a Schedule I illegal drug in the U.S.

In another words, despite 29 states legalizing medical marijuana and eight states legalizing adult-use marijuana, the United States government still considers marijuana an illegal drug with no health benefits and a high potential for abuse.

But what exactly is a Schedule I illegal drug? Who does the scheduling and why? What are some of the other drugs on the list?

The following answer those questions and provides an overview of the five federal government drug schedules -- including the fact that the U.S. ranks marijuana as having a higher potential for abuse than cocaine, Vicodin and methamphetamines.