High cigarette taxes fuel a surging black market in smuggled cigarettes, notes Americans for Tax Reform's Patrick Gleason in the Wall Street Journal. New York smokers are the greatest beneficiaries of that black market, burdened as they are with the most ridiculous cigarette taxes in the country. There's a huge flow of smuggled smokes from relatively low-tax states like Virginia. And some smokers are turning to an alternative to which marijuana fanciers facing legal pressures of their own have resorted for decades: growing their own.

Over the past five years, I’ve had my fair share of experiences with both the good and the bad in the marijuana industry. As is the case in any industry, if something seems too good to be true, it usually is. This is even more likely to be the case in the marijuana industry, which far too many view as the “green rush.” So, I think it time I share with you my Top 10 Marijuana Industry Red Flags so that you know what to look for to protect yourself or your marijuana business client:

We know the end is coming, but pot prohibition is going to have to be undone state by state. Here are the ones least likely to jump on the bandwagon.

Marijuana prohibition in the US is dying, but it isn't going to vanish in one fell swoop. Even if Congress were to repeal federal pot prohibition, state laws criminalizing the plant and its users would still be in effect—at least in some states.

And it's probably a pretty safe bet that Congress isn’t going to act until a good number of states, maybe more than half, have already legalized it. That process is already underway and is likely to gather real momentum by the time election day 2016 is over.

A marijuana delivery start-up has raised $10m (£6.8m) in a funding round which included investments from Snoop Dogg's Casa Verde Capital and Silicon Valley firm DCM Ventures among others.

Eaze, which has been dubbed the "Uber for weed", does not directly supply marijuana, but instead connects California medical marijuana card-carriers with local dispensaries, claiming it can hook users up with the drug in under 10 minutes. Technically, it is not breaking any law, even though recreational use of marijuana is still illegal.

The firm became the first marijuana startup to attract international investors when it raised $1.5m in November, and has made 3,000 deliveries since its launch.

More than 115 early-stage startups applied for one of 10 spots within CanopyBoulder’s spring business accelerator program for the legal cannabis industry. And while applicants hailed from around the world, those companies recently selected for the Boulder, Colo.-based inaugural boot camp all have one thing in common: star power.

“It is all about the founder,” said CanopyBoulder Co-Founder Patrick Rea of what made certain applicants stand out from the rest. “People who have the quality we are looking for are inquisitive, hard working, focused and take direction well.”

Children would have access to medical marijuana under new legislation introduced Tuesday in the House.

The Compassionate Access Act backed by Reps. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) and Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) would allow patients, including young children who are sick, to use pot in states where medical marijuana is legal when prescribed by a doctor.

The lawmakers pointed to medical marijuana’s "unique ability to treat and prevent epileptic seizures, especially in children.” One way in which children would be allowed to use pot is by applying cannabidiol oil to treat epilepsy.

A new study shows a mean reduction in seizures of over 50% in 3 months among some patients with epilepsy taking cannabidiol (CBD).

Results of an open-label, multicenter trial of a liquid product that is 99% cannabidiol (Epidiolex; GW Pharmaceuticals), the major nonpsychoactive ingredient in marijuana, showed that treatment provided seizure relief in children with Dravet syndrome and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS) who had been resistant to at least eight antiepileptic drugs.

DENVER (AP) — Colorado may add post-traumatic stress disorder as a condition to be treated with medical marijuana — a dramatic turnaround after years of rejecting appeals to make PTSD the first ailment added to the state's medical pot program since it was approved by voters in 2000.

The addition of PTSD would be the first mental-health disorder for which Colorado doctors could recommend pot.

Colorado's chief medical officer, Dr. Larry Wolk, will forward the addition to the full Board of Health for approval this fall. The addition would be a dramatic turnaround for an agency that has rejected PTSD at least three times for inclusion on the marijuana registry.

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner wants the state's medical marijuana program to be thoroughly reviewed before a decision is made on whether to extend it beyond 2017, according to a spokeswoman.

"The governor believes there is a lot of time left to evaluate a pilot program, and we should not extend the program until it has been fully evaluated," Rauner spokeswoman Catherine Kelly said in a statement.

The Republican governor's position on extending the program was first reported by the Chicago Sun-Times.

Rauner was reacting to a bill backed by Rep. Lou Lang, a Skokie Democrat who sponsored the original medical marijuana legislation. Lang's bill would extend the program four years from when the first dispensary begins officially operating.

A Wisconsin lawmaker says the state should legalize marijuana to reduce crime and improve the state's economy.

Rep. Melissa Sargent, a Madison Democrat, introduced a bill Monday that would legalize marijuana for medicinal and recreational purposes.

In a news conference Monday Sargent said that legalizing the drug would reduce crime associated with growing and selling cannabis and create jobs.

But the bill will likely go up in smoke. Republicans control both chambers and don't seem eager to support the measure.

Gov. Scott Walker last spring signed into law a measure that permits the use of marijuana derivatives to treat certain medical disorders. His spokeswoman, Laurel Patrick, said Walker opposes legalization and sees marijuana as a gateway drug.