Like other Americans who came of age in the 1980s or '90s, I associate Drug Abuse Resistance Education, a.k.a. DARE, with the mindless "Just Say No" propaganda of that era. I was therefore startled to hear that DARE had endorsed marijuana legalization. But that turned out to be a mistake. Likewise recent reports that DARE no longer considers marijuana a "gateway drug" and has excised the perils of pot from its curriculum.

Two affiliated Oregon-certified, OMMP-compliant marijuana dispensaries, along with a cannabis grower, have reportedly teamed up to donate 10 percent of their sales of a particular cannabis product to Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign.

It’s been a couple years now since Colorado and Washington first legalized recreational use and sale of marijuana. In that time we’ve seen lots of changes, but one of the most important things that needs to change, but simply hasn’t, is the lack of banking access for cannabis companies.

One of the most dangerous things about the current legal status of marijuana is the continued cash-only nature of the business. Dispensaries operating in big cities like Denver or Portland face a much higher risk of robbery than the smaller towns, but for each and every one of them it should be considered a very real possibility.

Is less marijuana entering the US from Mexico today than in years past? According to newly released data provided by the US Border Patrol, the answer may be ‘yes.’

Federal statistics reveal that law enforcement seized an estimated 1.5 million pounds of marijuana at the US/Mexico border in 2015. That total is the lowest amount reported in a decade and continues a steady year-by-year decline in seizure volume that began in 2009, when nearly 4 million tons of cannabis were confiscated.

If you go by United Nation figures, Icelanders consume the most cannabis as a percentage of the national population. However, if you take a closer look at the numbers, that doesn’t mean much.

More than 18% of the Icelandic population consumed cannabis throughout the year in 2012, topping the U.S.’s reported 15.4% during 2013, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. The U.N. figures are largely self-reported and the years the data were collected vary by country.

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders says, on Monday during a campaign rally in Michigan, that he has tried marijuana twice in his life when he was very young. He adds that the drug made him cough a lot. Sanders also said Heroin addiction must be tackled but dismisses comparisons between the “killer drug” and marijuana.

Legal marijuana is a $5 billion business in the U.S., and Steve Janjic figured he’d get a piece of it. With a commodity exchange. For a product that can’t be transported across state lines.

Not to worry. “It’s never easy to pioneer an industry,” says Janjic, a former foreign-exchange executive at Tullett Prebon LLC who has put $1 million into Amercanex Corp., an electronic cannabis-trading platform that handles sales of about 100 to 150 pounds of weed a week.

Silverpeak Apothecary is the only cannabis shop in Aspen, and probably all of Colorado—perhaps the world—where a 74-year-old, four-foot-eleven, bespectacled Jewish grandmother greets you at the door. “I’ll show you around,” Ellen Haas cooed last September as I entered the shop on East Cooper Avenue, hidden below street level, near a Rolex retailer, a Ralph Lauren boutique, and a Lululemon store. A retired fashion designer, Haas first ventured into Silverpeak to seek relief for her rheumatoid arthritis. “I educate people now,” she told me, clutching my arm with surprising strength.

Hawaii’s full House of Representatives has given unanimous approval to legislation that woud explicitly legalize the cultivation, production and distribution of hemp in the state. The measure – House Bill 2555 – now heads to the Senate, where it’s expected to pass.

Under the proposed law, introduced by Representative Kaniela Ing (D-Kihei) with 34 cosponsors, those wanting to cultivate hemp will be legally authorized to do so, as long as they receive a license from the state’s Department of Argiculture.

“Farmers called for the legalization of industrial hemp, and I am ecstatic to help answer that call”, says Rep. Ing, who calls the measure “the most robust industrial hemp bill being considered this year,” saying it follows models in Kentucky and Colorado.