Traditionally, people who use marijuana have had no idea where their buds come from. You visited your guy, or maybe he came to you, and you took whatever he had. And despite the increasing professionalization of some black-market delivery services, it’s still hard to know how the plants were grown or what pesticides were used.

But as legalization spreads through more and more states, it’s obviously changing the game. Out in the open, businesses and consumers are getting savvier and more demanding. Cannabis companies are investing in branding, and more customers are willing to pay top dollar for artisanal bud with specific characteristics of taste, potency or sustainability.

According to Ben Cort, board member of SAM (Smart Approaches to Marijuana) drug policy is a multi-faceted nuanced conversation. Cort told Huffington Post the organization doesn't want to "oversimplify a complicated discussion" about legalization.

BOULDER, Colorado — Humming to himself, Charles Jones makes his way up a muddy hiking trail snaking through the Colorado foothills on an unseasonably warm winter day, his colleagues Dave Georgis and David Lohndorf following close behind. Part of the way up the trail, with the city of Boulder stretched below, Jones stops and smiles at the others, then at me. “Should we do a mood?” he asks.

There has been a lot of chaos in California ever since they first set up regulations for the state’s medical marijuana program for the first time in twenty years. They’ve had businesses shutting down due to a mistake that was not supposed to make it to the final draft of the bill, they’ve been working to come up with state and local licensing programs – and now delivery services may be compromised.

Marijuana enthusiasts around the world are celebrating 4/20,  a code-term that refers to cannabis consumption, and one’s ‘membership’ in the cannabis sub-culture.  4:20 is actually the time of day a group called the “Waldos” would meet outside of a California school in 1971, to go in search of a cannabis field they learned about. The Waldo’s never found the field.   An article in theHigh Times magazine, however, and a lit

SALT LAKE CITY — Tears filled Enedina Stanger's eyes as she watched the Utah Senate pass a controversial medical marijuana bill that she says won't help her but would help thousands of Utahns.

"This is a win for Utah. This is a win for love and compassion," the former West Weber woman said from her wheelchair after the 17-12 vote. "This is such a miracle."

Stanger, who has a rare connective tissue disorder called Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, moved with her husband, Michael, and two young daughters to Colorado last December for access to medical cannabis.

Does a marijuana-legalization initiative expected to be on the ballot in November allow cities and towns to ban adults from growing their own marijuana?

Under the initiative, adults 21 and older could grow up to six plants, with a 12-plant-per-household maximum.

Ryan Hurley, a lawyer for the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol in Arizona, which is pushing the initiative, says cities cannot ban home growing.   

But lawyer Tom Dean, who supports the more permissive proposal offered by Arizonans for Mindful Regulation, claims the opposite:

TEMPE, AZ--(Marketwired - Feb 25, 2016) - American Green, Inc. (OTC PINK: ERBB) today announced that it has created a new addition to the company's cannabis operational plan. The American Green Xpress will deliver cannabis to approved recipients, starting in Arizona. The service will offer a new level of convenience for patients and will feature the development and integration of a software and logistics application for use in Arizona and other states.

Marijuana legalization has been a political issue in the United States for some time, and while it remains illegal in most states, others have softened their stance in recent years. Colorado and Washington both passed initiatives by popular vote to decriminalize and legalize cannabis in 2012. In 2014, Oregon, Alaska and Washington, D.C., followed suit. Many states including Massachusetts, California, Missouri, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada and Ohio have flirted with legalization for a few election cycles, with buzz growing.

The United States isn't the only country where people use marijuana legally or illicitly. In fact, it isn’t even the country with the highest reported marijuana use.

The man who once had the power to initiate a federal reclassification of marijuana now says he supports it.

“I certainly think it ought to be rescheduled,” Eric Holder, the former U.S. attorney general, said in a newly published interview. “You know, we treat marijuana in the same way that we treat heroin now, and that clearly is not appropriate.”

Cannabis is currently classified under Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, the most restrictive category, which is supposed to be reserved for drugs with no medical value and a high potential for abuse.