The operators of a now-defunct Denver dispensary who are challenging the IRS on a tax code that views marijuana businesses as illegal operations, and thus ineligible to claim otherwise deductible expenses, will have to wait a few more months for their day in court.

The trial in the U.S. Tax Court case filed by former owners of Total Health Concepts against the Commissioner of Internal Revenue was originally scheduled to begin Monday, but has been continued until later this year, according to a court order filed this week.

I think that the groundbreaking approach by an anti-legalization group calling for a regulatory way to study medical marijuana under academic supervision is the right way to evaluate the potential use of this highly debated drug. 

The group, Smart Approaches to Marijuana, appears to be the first of its kind to make moves that would hopefully allow for more efficient research of medical marijuana and its component cannabidiol (CBD).

Marijuana and its legal status is a hot-button issue these days, with Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, the state of Washington and Washington D.C. recently legalizing non-medical use of marijuana. Medical marijuana, used for real medical afflictions like epilepsy, inflammatory diseases and neurodegenerative diseases, should be legal nationwide. You might think medical marijuana is just an excuse to sell legal weed and, for the most part, I agree. However, there exists true medical marijuana: cannabis oil from strains high in Cannabidiol (CBD), used to treat patients with epilepsy.

As the May 18 front-page article “Legal pot in the District is a boon for illegal dealers” reported, D.C. voters’ determination to legalize marijuana possession through Initiative 71 is having significant unintended consequences. Because residents can legally use and possess marijuana but can’t legally buy it, the illegal drug trade has increased and the city is missing out on the tax revenue it would receive if the sales were regulated.

Not long ago, a man who had covertly dealt pot in the nation’s capital for three decades approached a young political operative at a birthday party in a downtown Washington steakhouse.

He was about to test a fresh marketing strategy to take advantage of the District’s peculiar new marijuana law, which allows people to possess and privately consume the drug but provides them no way to legally buy it for recreational use. Those contradictions have created a surge in demand and new opportunities for illicit pot purveyors.

“Do you like cannabis?” asked the dealer.

“Yes,” answered the man, who had recently left his job as a Republican Senate staffer.

Marijuana has finally gone mainstream in the US. The drug, which is now legal in some form in nearly two-dozen states and the District of Columbia, after nearly a century of prohibition, has even had endorsements from CNN and FOX News – both have been touting its health benefits. And, “as legalisation has begun to pick up steam” as one report put it earlier this month, “women are finally coming out of the cannabis closet”, both as users and as ganjapreneurs.

Even though several US states have voted to legalize marijuana, it's still not clear how best to regulate it. But there are steps that legislators can take to prevent the newly legal drug from falling into the hands of minors, according to researchers from Johns Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health. A new report in the medical journal Pediatrics outlines four tested tactics for proposed regulation.

Lawmakers in Washington D.C. want marijuana-related business to have legitimate bank accounts and end cash-only businesses where they have to stuff earnings in their mattresses.

Today, U.S. Reps. Perlmutter, D-Colorado, and Denny Heck, D-Washington, along with a bipartisan group of 16 other Republicans and Democrats, re-introduced H.R. 2076, the Marijuana Business Access to Banking Act of 2015. They said it's an effort to resolve the banking crisis marijuana-related businesses are facing.

Big marijuana money is in the D.C. area this week.

As part of a number of marijuana-related events in town this week, business investor network ArcView Group has brought approximately 200 high-net-worth cannabis investors for a "Shark Tank"-style pitch fest starting Thursday.

In all, 15 companies were selected to make their case for funding at the Investor Pitch Forum in Alexandria before the ArcView network, which has backed 53 companies and invested more than $40 million.

The Global Marijuana March (GMM) is kicking off at different locations across the world taking place this year on Saturday May 2, 2015 and include marches, meetings, rallies, concerts, festivals and other relevant information and events relating to cannabis.

The Global Marijuana March began in 1999 which have had hundreds of thousands of people participated in over 829 different cities in 72 countries worldwide since its inception.

The Global Marijuana March is a celebration embracing cannabis culture as a personal lifestyle choice. Participants unite to discuss, promote, entertain and educate both consumers and non-consumers alike.