Jack Sargent sees a bright future in marijuana.

The retired grandfather of nine wants to grow his Biddeford-based business, The Cannabis Shack, to cater parties – think weddings and barbecues with marijuana-infused food – and open a storefront cannabis bakery. He’s already perfected his recipes, including an “award winning” Hell Sauce 420 hot sauce, brownies and infused salad dressings.

But at least until next year, when the state plans to issue retail licenses, Sargent isn’t allowed to sell any of it. While marijuana use is now legal for adults 21 and over, selling it remains a crime and obtaining it without breaking the law is difficult.

The public tide on marijuana is turning, and it’s time for our politicians go with the flow.

Two Illinois legislators introduced twin bills in the state House and Senate last month that would make Illinois the first state in the midwest and the ninth countrywide to legalize and regulate recreational marijuana. People 21 and older would be able to possess, grow and buy up to an ounce of marijuana, and businesses would be licensed to sell marijuana products under regulation.

Bill supporters estimate legalizing recreational marijuana would generate $350 million to $700 million in tax revenue, which could help ease the budget crisis that has plagued Illinois for years.

April 2017 will mark the first time that Coachella, one of the United States’ top musical festivals, will occur in a state where recreational marijuana is legal. While cannabis remains illegal federally speaking, California voters passed Proposition 64 in November of 2016, which allows residents to buy, use, and possess cannabis.

Florida's Republican-dominated legislature can barely pass basic laws like tax cuts or budget plans without tripping over themselves or spiraling into intra-party screaming matches. The state legislature is so bad at writing its own laws that, as the Miami Herald astutely pointed out last week, gigantic companies like Florida Power & Light have to write entire laws for them. The current legislature is a Stygian pit of bad ideas.

So naturally, Florida voters chose in 2016 to give all those people drugs.

Want to legalize marijuana federally? Propose sensible taxes on the drug.

That’s the tactic of a new bill from two Oregon Democrats: House Ways and Means Committee member Earl Blumenauer and ranking Senate Finance Committee member Ron Wyden. It takes on tough questions: What should a marijuana tax measure? Should it tax medical marijuana? The Marijuana Revenue and Regulation Act (MRRA) provides thoughtful answers.

What to tax? 

The 2017 regular session of the West Virginia Legislature may be remembered as the year the Mountain State got medical marijuana.

From an idea that had no chance of passage at the beginning of the 60-day legislative session, the medical use of marijuana went from a proposal in the state Senate to a forced vote on the floor of the House of Delegates within the space of a few days.

If signed by Gov. Jim Justice, the measure would make West Virginia the 29th state to legalize medical use of marijuana.

Professional and retired mainstream athletes are already using forms of cannabis and cannabidiol (CBD) for acute and long-term pain management. So are extreme athletes, who are known to have high rates of impact injuries, ready for some alternative medicine too?

According to a recent study in the Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine, the four extreme sports with the highest incidences of head and neck injuries are skateboarding, snowboarding, skiing and motocross. The study also showed that snowboarders face the highest risk of concussion, with a risk per hour of riding that’s triple that of skiers.

With nationwide acceptance for medical cannabis at an all-time high, a remarkable majority of physicians are still unwilling to certify patients. All too often those suffering from severe and chronic conditions are denied certification from their network of treating physicians.

America's neighbor to the north is fast moving toward legalizing recreational marijuana nationwide, which would make Canada the second country in the world to do so. And the impact of having weed legalized on such a big scale, so close to home, may affect the future of pot in the United States.

The National Indian Cannabis Coalition (NICC), applauds the inclusion of federally recognized Tribes in the “Path to Marijuana Reform” sponsored by Senator Wyden (D-OR) and Congressman Blumenauer (D-OR). The “Path to Marijuana Reform” is a package of three bills that is intended to “pave the way for responsible federal regulation of the legal marijuana industry, and provide certainty for state-legal marijuana businesses which operate in nearly every state in the U.S.”.