Dozens of activists -- including comedian Tommy Chong, Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero and State Representative Jeff Irwin (D-Ann Arbor) -- spoke out about the various merits of marijuana at the 44th Annual Hash Bash in Ann Arbor Saturday.

Jim Powers told the large, smoky crowd gathered at the University of Michigan's Diag how cannabis oil has helped heal his 6-year-old son, Ryan, who was an autoimmune disease.

But Powers is not happy about the hazy implementation of the medical marijuana law.

"The state of Michigan has failed my family," he added.

The crowd heard other personal stories from folks like 18-year-old Alyssa Erwin, who says cannabis oil has rid her body of cancer not once, but twice.

LOVELAND — Once banned because it is a close cousin to marijuana, hemp is coming back in Colorado and now has its own convention, attracting international interest as a new crop for farmers struggling to find new crops to stay afloat.

Hemp, which is fiber drawn from marijuana plants, was outlawed in 1937, but a new Colorado law allows it. However, farmers are still trying to find ways to get their plants and seeds to market because federal law still heavily regulates the industry.

Ten states went ahead and allowed the growing of hemp. Those states are Colorado, Washington, California, Kentucky, Maine, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, Vermont and West Virginia.

It was only a matter of time before the emerging legal cannabis industry began using one of America’s most popular business methods for rapid growth — franchising. This startup sector is wide-open spaces right now, and full of interesting players looking to grow fast and establish a national brand name.

The quest to franchise a legal cannabis business is even the subject of an upcoming CNN reality-TV series, High Profits, about Breckenridge Cannabis Club in Colorado.

Medical marijuana cardholders in Arizona could see changes in the way edible products are labeled.

The state created a $58,000 contract with the Coconino County Public Health Services District focused on studying how to strengthen the packing, labeling and storage of edible products. A survey was distributed to patients at dispensaries across the state to gauge their level of education about medical marijuana and how they use it.

The concern is the threat of a patient overdose from consuming edible products like cookies, brownies and cakes. Current state law requires the amount, strain, and batch number of medical marijuana as well as a warning label.

COMPTON, Calif. (KABC) --

The City of Compton passed an ordinance banning medical marijuana dispensaries eight years ago, but illegal shops are still a problem. Now, the Compton Unified School District has filed a lawsuit against the city over the dispensaries.

District officials said that at least a dozen dispensaries are currently operating in the city, and some of them are very close to schools.

"We're standing in the front of an illegal marijuana dispensary, which is less than 500 feet away from Davis Middle School. That is clearly unacceptable," said Micah Ali, president of the board of trustees of Compton Unified School District.

California’s multi-billion medical cannabis industry will remain in the crosshairs of federal prosecutors, despite direction from Congress to cease interfering with state medical pot systems.

In December, the US Congress passed and the president signed a historic amendment that de-funded the Department of Justice’s war on medical pot. Medical marijuana is legal in 23 states, yet the Obama Administration had spent an estimated $300 million enforcing the marijuana provisions of federal Controlled Substances Act.

After three months reviewing the amendment, the DOJ told the Los Angeles Times this week that “it did not believe the amendment applies to cases against individuals or organizations.”

Rep. Jonathan Singer, D-Longmont, has been a leading voice on how Colorado’s medical and recreational marijuana industries are regulated, carrying most of the most important bills and providing testimony and experts on nearly all of them.

Singer, 36, has represented House District 11 — which also includes northern Boulder County, most of Niwot, Allenspark and parts of Lyons — since 2012. He has undergraduate and master’s degrees in social work from Colorado State University. He is a former board member for the CSU Drug and Alcohol Task Force and the CSU Counseling Center.

This sign at the First Inn of Pagosa Springs, Colo., subtly alerts customers that they're welcome to consume marijuana on the premises.

BOULDER – Colorado's marijuana tourists quickly run into a harsh reality after stopping at one of the state's approximately 330 marijuana stores: Most hotels and ski condos prohibit indoor smoking of any kind, never mind the "kind" kind.

Enter Sean Roby and his new website, Bud and Breakfast. Roby aims to make his site the Air BnB of marijuana-friendly lodging, connecting visitors with homeowners willing to let their guests partake of legal marijuana. The site has about 50 listings from around the globe, with many in Colorado, and is an outgrowth of Roby's existing of "Taste of Travel" company.

Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom released a policy primer that outlines how recreational marijuana could be regulated after it is legalized. Newsom, a blunt advocate for legal pot, opened an exploratory committee last month for a 2018 gubernatorial run.

Here are five highlights from the report by the Blue Ribbon Commission on Marijuana Policy, a group co-chaired by Newsom and sponsored by the American Civil Liberties Union.

Marijuana is one of the few sectors of the American economy where the jobs are, but how to find that pot dream job? There's an app, of course.

WeedHire.com, a site that's looking to become the Monster.com of legal marijuana jobs, this week released the world’s first iOS app to help people find a job in the pot industry. The site, launched in May 2014, released an Android version of its app in September. 

“Marijuana is not that different than other industries, and it’s not just about the plant. There’s a need for people to work in accounting, finance, legal, HR, etc.,” said David Bernstein, a former electronic-waste executive who founded WeedHire.com.