MILWAUKEE — Some Wisconsin companies are cashing in on new opportunities created by the legalization of marijuana in other states.

A few Wisconsin firms have actively positioned themselves as suppliers to marijuana growers and processors, seeing the industry as an extension of markets they already serve, the Journal Sentinel (http://bit.ly/1O0D8ZL ) reported.

Wausau-based Roastar made a calculated move into enter into the marijuana supply field. Mike Mead, the company's vice president of sales and marketing, said Roastar saw it "as a big, significant opportunity."

The company makes plastic bags for coffee that are often imprinted with designs. Now, it's making flexible pouches for items such as marijuana-infused chocolates.

The Marijuana Business is Not Yet Free in Colorado

When Barack Obama was originally campaigning for the presidency in 2008, he indicated that he would take a more hands-off approach in terms of states legalizing marijuana (medical or otherwise).

For a long while, it looked as though the Drug Enforcement Agency hadn’t received the memo from Obama. Like so many other campaign promises, Obama was breaking this one as well, with federal agents continuing to raid marijuana dispensaries, even where it had been legalized by state law.

Since Colorado essentially legalized marijuana in 2012 – which included recreational use – the federal government has surprisingly been less active raiding dispensaries, although they have not completely stopped.

A New Jersey holding company has completed its acquisition of a medical marijuana firm, and named new leadership as part of the transaction, it announced Monday.

Piscataway-based Mobile Broadcasting Holding Inc. said in a news release that it wrapped up the deal for U.S. Virgin Islands-based Medically Minded LLC announced earlier this month, naming Ken Sobel the company’s new president and Stephen A. Jones, principal shareholder, its new CEO.

Medically Minded provides medical cannabis and cannabis-related products, as well as medical tourist services, MBHC said.

To ease data collection, states and marijuana establishments have turned to niche software providers who have made a business out of organizing data from harvest site to dispensary.

(TNS) -- Leaders of Nevada’s emerging marijuana industry say there are few consumable substances watched more closely than the vegetation that goes into cannabis products.

The test could help reduce the number of intoxicated drivers on the road—or it could turn up too many false positives to be useful.

Mike Lynn is cau­tiously ex­cited. A 49-year-old fam­ily man who lives in the Bay Area, Lynn has been an emer­gency-room doc­tor at High­land Hos­pit­al for most of two dec­ades. His com­pany, Hound Labs Inc., has just de­veloped the tech­no­logy to pro­duce a breath­alyz­er that can de­tect marijuana, but its fu­ture is un­cer­tain.

Cowetan Stacey Wilson hopes to see in-state growing of medical cannabis that can treat her seizure disorder. She has a card that allows her to possess low-THC cannabidiol oil, but the oil is prohibitively expensive.

The Georgia Commission on Medical Cannabis has voted against recommending in-state cultivation of marijuana to produce the low-THC that is now legal to possess in Georgia by those with certain medical conditions. 

And Gov. Nathan Deal, who has expressed skepticism about in-state growing of medical marijuana throughout the entire discussion, has come out against it again.

A ‘drafting error’ in California’s revision to its medicinal marijuana law could leave established growers like the “Sisters of the Valley” without a crop and out of business.

Sister Kate and Sister Darcey from Merced in California have been producing salves and tonics made with cannabis.

According to their website sistersofcbd.com, the sisters are not members of a religious order but they say they are on a spiritual quest to heal the sick with their medicinal cannabis cures.

They have produced a variety of products made from the cannabinoids or CBD’s found in the marijuana. Their plants do not contain THC, the substance that creates the marijuana high

According to an analysis by NORML, about 44 percent of federal marijuana inmates had no or very minimal criminal histories prior to their conviction, and over a third are over the age of 40.

AUSTIN, Texas — Two men serving life sentences for marijuana-related convictions were among the dozens of nonviolent drug offenders who recently had their sentences commuted by President Barack Obama.

While advocates for reform of the three-decade war on drugs applaud Obama’s efforts to free hundreds from unfair sentences, some also fear the president hasn’t gone far enough to change federal laws that leave thousands more imprisoned, with some still facing life in prison.

By Steven Maxwell

Recent scientific studies regarding the use of cannabis (marijuana) and its healing powers are further disproving the government’s biased and inaccurate stance against its medical use. The government refers to marijuana as a “gateway” drug to harder substances and schedules it along side them even though it has proven to be safer than alcohol.

As marijuana legalization in states like Colorado and Washington continues, marijuana farmers in Mexico are starting to see a steep decline in the profits their crops once fetched. Some growers report they’re seeing a decline in income as high as 70 percent, and they blame the popularity of higher quality legal marijuana in the U.S.