Michigan has created the Bureau of Medical Marihuana Regulation to centralize all aspects of medical marijuana regulation, the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs reports. 

The new bureau, housed in LARA, combines the existing oversight functions of the state's patient and caregiver registry with the newly established statutory requirements for medical marijuana facility licensing. 

"BMMR's organizational structure puts Michigan at the forefront of state medical marijuana regulation," LARA Director Shelly Edgerton said. "Many other states have various licenses and patient programs spread throughout different departments and agencies." 

The cost of doing business as a medical-marijuana provider in Ohio isn’t going to be cheap. And that’s probably a good thing.

State regulators organizing the infrastructure for what will be the state’s medical-marijuana regulating body have said that licenses for businesses involved in growing and selling marijuana under a law approved by state voters in 2016 will be more expensive than in many other states that allow medical marijuana.

The Ohio Medical Marijuana Control Program plans to charge a $20,000 application fee and $180,000 license fee for larger growers, and a $2,000 application fee and $18,000 license fee for smaller growers.

The Marijuana industry is growing rapidly, and at the moment it seems as if nearly everyone wants in.

According to cannabis research firm ArcView, legal cannabis sales in North America surged by 34% last year to $6.9 billion, and by 2021, sales of legal weed are expected to top $22 billion. Investment firm Cowen & Co. is arguably even more bullish, calling for $50 billion in legal pot sales by 2026, which works out to a compounded annual growth rate of more than 23%.

Matt Gaetz, a conservative freshman congressman from Florida's Panhandle, deserves credit for going where few Republicans dare.

Gaetz has filed legislation to reschedule cannabis — the scientific and more respectable name for marijuana — from Schedule 1 status, a category reserved for drugs like heroin and LSD that have no accepted medical value.

Instead, he proposes that cannabis be given Schedule III status under the Controlled Substances Act, a category that includes anabolic steroids and certain depressants — drugs with medicinal benefits that can also be abused.

Let’s be more like Canada, eh?

Canada announced plans to legalize the recreational use of marijuana by July 2018, proving again they are the U.S.’s cool next-door neighbor.

The move to legalize the recreational use of pot fulfills one of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s campaign promises. While medicinal marijuana has been legal in Canada since 2001, this would be an unprecedented move for a large, industrialized country. It’s also something the U.S. should consider.

“The First Time I Got High” is the name of a short story that most of us have written in our heads, but of course the ending is different for just about everyone. In an ideal world, they all have happy endings. Maybe you meet a new crawdad friend, or discover the misunderstood nature of the scorpion, or run around town using dog beds as hats (all of which are true stories according to Leafly reviews).

Officials in one Alaska city have taken steps to keep commercial marijuana out of Soldotna.

Soldotna City Council voted 4-2 Wednesday to direct city administrators to draft legislation that would ban marijuana establishments from operating within city limits, the Peninsula Clarion reported (http://bit.ly/2oH3qvt).

The council had previously placed a two-year suspension on pot businesses, which temporarily prohibited them until Jan. 1, 2018. With this vote, city administrators will start to draft legislation to ban them, present it to the Planning and Zoning Commission and have it go through the public process, Mayor Pete Sprague said.

Council members Lisa Parker and Tyson Cox voted against the measure.

Lakeland city staff has carved out about 1,000 acres of highway commercial and light industrial zoned areas that medical marijuana dispensaries would be allowed to move into if ultimately approved by the City Commission.

Four of the seven city commissioners supported the staff's proposal in a meeting Friday, while others want to see some changes before it goes to the Planning and Zoning Board in May and the commission for a vote in June. 

Staff is proposing medical marijuana dispensaries:

• Be located within C-2 and I-1 zoned districts with 500-foot separation from schools, daycare centers, park and recreation centers, playgrounds, libraries, churches, synagogues and other houses of worship.

• Be limited in size to 4,000 square feet.

If you hear the word “cannabis,” do your thoughts turn to edibles or a debate about the merits of Premium Jack versus Grape Stomper?

Sure, years of popular movies, TV shows and music have elevated the stoner stereotype to the top of the pop culture heap. But cannabis is making its mark in another arena, and the utterance that caught your attention may have pertained to hairstyling products, soaps or body lotions.

The beauty world is embracing cannabis like never before.

Often these products include hemp seed oil, which has been used in folk remedies for centuries and is said to ease dry skin, reduce inflammation and alleviate skin issues such as eczema.

While it’s not yet on calendars, April 20 has become the unofficial holiday of marijuana, particularly in the growing number of states where pot has been decriminalized for recreational use. “It has become hugely celebrated,” says Brett Konen, an editor with Seattle-based Leafly.com, which calls itself the world’s largest cannabis information source. The Trump administration has indicated it may crack down on marijuana, but the industry continues to grow for now. Konen shares cannabis culture hotspots with Larry Bleiberg for USA TODAY.