MANATEE -- An Arizona company called Cannabis-Rx that bought property in Manatee County this year with hopes for a licensed marijuana facility is at the center of a stock scheme and federal indictment.

The FBI announced Tuesday six people were indicted by a federal grand jury in a $500 million offshore asset protection, securities fraud and money laundering scheme. Cannabis-Rx was created as a shell company, according to the FBI.

Extremely low levels of the compound in marijuana known as delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, may slow or halt the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, a recent study from neuroscientists at the University of South Florida shows.

Findings from the experiments, using a cellular model of Alzheimer’s disease, were reported online in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.

You've undoubtedly heard about what's going on with marijuana in the U.S.

Pot, which was once considered a taboo, is quickly gaining mainstream acceptance. Today, even the President of the United States has openly admitted to having smoked marijuana in his youth. When the news broke, no one even seemed to blink.

We're already seeing how Americans' changing attitude towards the drug has affected our legal system. For example, voters in both Washington state and Colorado have legalized marijuana for recreational use, while some 20 other states have given it the nod for medicinal purposes.

DENVER – The gold rush of legalized marijuana in Colorado and Washington is creating a confusing market of goods and services, from illegal Craigslist pot deliveries to a marijuana vending machine and a food truck selling pot-infused sandwiches.

While recreational marijuana sales are legal in both states, the marketplaces are surrounded by a web of laws and regulations intended to keep buyers paying taxes and transactions aboveboard. But with tens of millions of dollars in profits up for grabs, entrepreneurs are flooding the market with products and services operating in a gray area. Some ventures are completely illegal but the vendors escape prosecution by trying to stay low key. Others grab headlines that are misleading at best.

Hemp is a fast growing, water efficient crop, which can thrive in the worst soil and can be used for a bevy of products, including paper,food, and medicine. It was around thousands of years ago and it’s still being grown today, just not as much since being banned in the US decades ago. It’s got a bad reputation, being guilty by association since its cousin crop is marijuana.

Current hemp newstells us that industrial hemp is on the rise in America. More states are beginning to grow their own industrial hemp, just as it was centuries ago. But here are a fistful ofhemp facts I think will blow your minds! If anything, it’s a good read to kill some time. And yes – I know the more seasoned industrial hemp veterans already know these facts, but it’s always nice to remind ourselves just how important this crop can be/is, and let’s face it, everyone loves reading facts. Just ask Snapple.

Handful of startups want to be America's favorite marijuana brand

ng a typical Fourth of July weekend, 1500 Esperanza St., a whitewashed deco warehouse in the Boyle Heights district of East Los Angeles, is deserted. But this year, a line snakes down the broken sidewalk out front and wraps around the bend of Union Pacific Avenue, as 4,000 people suffer the searing heat for an event called theCalifornia Heritage Market.

Lt. Patrick Foy, of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, knows more than a few ways to track down a large-scale marijuana growing operation: Air surveillance, reports from neighbors and sometimes, dead fish.

“A bunch of fish may turn up dead in a creek, so we’ll go look, walk upstream, and inevitably run into a marijuana growth site,” says Foy.

Growers in remote areas, Foy explains, often end up destroying local creeks and other water sources, or using harmful pesticides to keep their plants healthy, which damages the surrounding environment.

Researchers are discovering ways to grow marijuana more efficiently.

The legalization of marijuana in some U.S. states has energy providers worrying that a boom in indoor growing could put a chronic drain on electricity resources.

In Colorado, where recreational use was made legal in January, construction of marijuana grow houses is taking off. Utilities there and in Washington state, along with academic researchers, are exploring ways to reduce the energy consumption and carbon emissions associated with this “indoor agriculture.” In grow houses, plants are nurtured under lights that mimic the intensity of the sun.

Legalization may ultimately mean that some growing moves outdoors. But grow houses protect crops from the elements, not to mention thieves.