According to the Pacific Crest Trail Association, 4,879 people in total have completed the mammoth 2,600-mile hike across the West Coast. Finishing the PCT is usually a feat that stays firmly unchecked on many people’s bucket lists, and for good reason. There are some sections that take months to surmount, and each and every day brings its own pains and obstacles. So while the PCT isn’t necessarily a pipe dream, it is quite a challenge.

“Can I see your ID?” 

It’s 4/20 and I’m out on a delivery with High Speed, Washington D.C.’s premier fresh-pressed juice and cannabis company. 

“I’m gonna need to see your license if you could grab it, please.” 

In West Virginia, a new law includes a provision that requires regulators to encourage minority-owned business owners to apply for growing licenses. (Photo by Heath Korvola/ Digital Vision/Getty Images)

In some states that have legalized marijuana, officials are trying to entice nonwhite citizens to join the cannabis industry with breaks aimed at making up for the toll unequal drug enforcement has taken on Black and brown communities.

So far, the booming industry has overwhelmingly line the pockets of white cannabis sellers.

In Washington, it is now as easy to get marijuana delivered to your front door as pizza. Really expensive pizza.

More than two years after the District of Columbia allowed residents to legally cultivate and possess cannabis for personal use - but not buy it - a growing grey market of companies has sprung up that will bring orders of high-priced cookies, juice, clothing or even artwork to your house, along with the "gift" of a few fat buds.

Those who want to imbibe can also pay to attend dance parties and craft fairs where vendors sell edibles and smokables at what one regular terms a "farmers market for weed".

It’s hard to imagine an analytical test without lab work, but that’s just what dry labbing means. In some cases—increasingly few—samples of cannabis get certified, as if they were tested, when nothing was really done, no wet-lab science was performed. Instead, these samples get labeled with characteristics that no one really measured. Put very bluntly, dry labbing is lying—making up data about what’s in a product rather than testing it. For medical use, dry labbing is dangerous, because someone could get a higher dose than expected or not enough of the medicine they rely on. On top of that, it’s fraud for both medical and recreational cannabis products.

Earlier today, Governor Jay Inslee signed that big "omnibus bill" of pot laws that cleared the Washington legislature last month. The omnibus bill combined more than a dozen different legal changes to cannabis law in our state, including forward progress on legalizing growing pot at home and creating the country’s first state-run organic certification program for weed.

It's an issue that divides society - to smoke or not to smoke.

Throughout the world, a number of countries are slowing changing their laws around medicinal and recreational cannabis use. New Zealand's laws have stayed relatively the same for some time, with the exception of cannabis based products now being approved for use, but still tightly controlled.

So, which countries are leading the way in this area, and where can you use it either for fun, or for well-being?

Here in New Zealand, cannabis remains illegal to possess, and illegal to grow.

Medicinal use is tightly controlled but can be granted by the Ministry of Health.

Across the ditch it's a similar story.

The co-founder of the Portland-based cannabis research organization Habu Health will speak at this week's Cultivation Classic.

When Dr. Adie Poe looks at a cannabis plant, she doesn't see what most people see. What she sees are hundreds of bioactive molecules with the potential to create infinite experiences in the human body.

A global leader in opioid and cannabis research, Dr. Poe has studied the neuroscience of opioid/cannabinoid interactions for more than a decade, beginning with her undergraduate and graduate studies at Washington State University in both Pullman and Vancouver. Her work is consistently funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and has received numerous awards in search of treatments for debilitating diseases such as chronic pain. 

At a fine restaurant in Los Angeles, diners might encounter a sommelier who recommends a chardonnay with the fish or a cabernet sauvignon with the steak.

At a gourmet cannabis pop-up, the resident chef might serve a citrusy sativa (like the strain pink lemonade) with a citrus crudo or a heavier indica to make a person feel rooted before indulging in some wintery vegetables and lamb. It’s not about getting "high," cannabis chef Lauren Unger says, it’s about becoming “elevated.”

A new state law will change the way edible marijuana will be regulated. Edibles will soon be subject to the same oversight as other foods.

Some edible producers are concerned about how this will affect their business. Scott Whipps is the owner of Eleven Window Ventures in Spokane Valley. He said his is one of about a thousand businesses that grow marijuana and also make edibles throughout the state. He said the industry is very competitive.

"As a small company it's tough to compete and actually make money,” Whipps said. "Definitely pushes down what I can charge for my products greatly, and basically it's been a race to bottom in terms of product pricing."