There was a lot of discomfort surrounding one of the largest and most highly anticipated events at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) last week, the Extreme Tech Challenge. The reason for this discomfort stemmed from a cannabis related technology company’s participation in the Extreme Tech Challenge.

Although many technology companies say they are the most progressive in the country; when it comes to cannabis, they are not. Such companies actually operate under the most regressive policies when it comes to cannabis.

Negative Bias is Nothing New for Cannabis Related Tech Companies

Here’s something that might have gotten lost in the usual end-of-the-year scramble: Employers are a lot tougher on employees in states where marijuana is completely legal.

We know this because the Society of Human Resource Management — the trade group for more than 260,000 HR professionals — surveyed more than 600 HR managers in states where marijuana is legal, and they focused on the drug policies of the organizations they work for. 

Synthetic marijuana is an ugly drug. It doesn’t mellow a person out or make them want to listen to jam bands in tie-dye T-shirts. Quite the opposite, actually: Synthetic marijuana can make its users act erratically; it can increase their anxiety, cause hallucinations and, in the case of New England Patriots player Chandler Jones, it allegedly can lead you to run shirtless into a Massachusetts police station like a crazy person and get you checked into the hospital.

Bec Koop, a 30-year-old florist living in Denver, Colorado, has been smoking weed for years. She has endometriosis and severe back pain, and has come to rely on marijuana for pain relief and relaxation. She never thought about combining her love for Mary Jane with her passion for other flowers — until one day, she had an epiphany.

Could pot clubs in Denver be a way to deal with increasing public consumption in the city's parks and on the 16th Street Mall?

Amazingly, that's what Denver Mayor Michael Hancock is asking — a dramatic shift in his stance from only three years ago.

In 2013, as the city was crafting its retail marijuana regulatory framework, Hancock directed the City Council to explicitly ban pot clubs.

"I propose and advocate for the most restrictive regulatory environment for marijuana," Hancock said then. "And I believe that by allowing private clubs, it doesn't speak to that value."

The city fiercely has defended this position over the years.

Part of a recently adopted ordinance in northwest Ohio that abolished jail terms and fines for possessing small amounts of marijuana is already in effect despite a pending legal challenge.

Toledo residents in September approved an initiative that wrote a new ordinance into the city's municipal code aimed at decriminalizing marijuana and hashish possession, The Blade reported (http://bit.ly/1l150CO).

Both drugs are illegal under the Sensible Marijuana Ordinance, but Toledo's new ordinance reduces all penalties, regardless of quantity.

TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — The Justice Department says a 37-year-old man who tried to hide illegal drug dealing behind a medical marijuana dispensary was convicted on two federal drug charges.

U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes says Lance Edward Gloor was convicted by a jury Friday in Tacoma of conspiracy to distribute marijuana and manufacturing marijuana.

The jury was unable to reach a verdict on conspiracy to commit money laundering and acquitted Gloor of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

Court records say law enforcement agents have been investigating Gloor and a business associated since 2010, when they searched Gloor’s home and found over 70 pot plants and a firearm.

Most of us know that marijuana, or cannabis, is a widely used recreational drug that's currently more illegal than legal in the U.S., and that it has a lot of support for medicinal purposes. Many of us hold strong opinions on marijuana, too -- about whether or not it should be more widely legalized. Despite all of that, though, there's much more to know about marijuana, including some surprising information.

Here are 11 interesting things to know about marijuana:

1. About 44% of Americans have tried marijuana, according to a 2015 Gallup poll. The percentage has grown steadily since Gallup first asked the question in 1969.

2. Fully 11% of Americans (more than 1 in 10) reported to Gallup in 2015 that they currently smoke marijuana.

WHITE PLAINS  When medical marijuana became available this month in New York, Brittany Barger was one of the first patients to navigate the state’s rules and make it through a dispensary door.

“When you’re as sick as I am, you’ll try anything,” said Barger, who has ovarian cancer that has spread through her 27-year-old body.

New York’s program — one of the strictest out of the 23 states that allow medical marijuana — has had a widely anticipated slow beginning, but there are signs it’s gaining momentum.

IRONTON, OH -

Ohio lawmakers announced this week the formation of a task force to address the issue of medical marijuana in the Buckeye State. 

Ohio voters shot down the ballot measure that would have legalized recreational and medical marijuana in November, but an October Quinnipiac poll shows 90 percent of Ohioans support marijuana for medical use.

“Nobody’s cooking it, nobody’s mixing it, it just grows like grass, or trees or anything else. It’s a lot better than taking pills in my opinion," said Charles Ratcliff, an Ohio resident who said he uses marijuana to cope with his medical disorder. “I have PTSD and I don’t care who knows it, I smoke it.”