Mike Graham moved from row to row of his roughly 20,000 marijuana plants Wednesday afternoon, describing how his production and processing business is looking forward to the harvest.

“We’re moving right along here, and we’re excited to have a full season,” he said. “And have a season where we’re operating according to our own schedule.”

Graham is the proprietor at Natural Mystic Farms on Naneum Road, a state-licensed recreational cannabis producer-processor.

The plants grow in rows above ground, under hoops workers can tarp over to limit sunlight and stimulate flowering and create a greenhouse-like environment.

Previous cannabis-related conventions and trade shows in Washington have lacked only one thing: cannabis.

That is about to change.

Given what he’s about to bring to Tacoma, the “M” in Cory Wray’s MBA might well stand for marijuana, a substance of which he claims to be a longtime consumer.

The Bethel High School and University of Washington Tacoma graduate, 32, has inked an agreement and begun promotion for the Northwest Cannabis Classic, a three-day event featuring speakers, seminars, a trade show with vendors and, again, cannabis itself.

Previous organizers have discovered that state law prohibits actual marijuana being present or being consumed at venues that hold a license allowing the consumption of alcohol.

Statewide, I-502 companies see $256M in sales; $67M in taxes

All told, the legal recreational marijuana business has made more than $265 million statewide since business began opening in June and July last year. From that, the state has raised $67 million in excise taxes.

For the most part, which parts of the state are seeing the most sales seems to mirror population. King, Spokane and Clark counties see some of the largest shares of sales on the retail sale and processing sides of the industry.

Eastern Washington, however, has seen the most sales on the production end, with Benton, Chelan and Spokane counties contributing the most to the $5.4 million in total sales recorded in that sector.

Both Seattle and King County recently sent letters to their medical marijuana businesses, warning them they need to close. Seattle sent TWO  kinds of letters: one to “good guys” who have a good shot at getting a state license, and one to “bad guys” who probably won’t. King County took a harder line, telling all the dispensaries in unincorporated areas to close.

TRANSCRIPT: 

Chris Cody runs a medical dispensary called Herban Legends in White Center. It’s just outside Seattle. Which could have big consequences for him.

Me: “How far are we from the city line?”

Cody: “Like half a block.”

By Johnny Green

The State of Washington legalized recreational marijuana in November 2012. But it wasn’t until July 2014 until recreational marijuana sales started. After the delayed start of recreational marijuana sales, recreational marijuana sales numbers in Washington climbed steadily month after month. That streak ended last month when sales numbers took a dip in Washington for the first time. Per Marijuana Business Daily:

Aug 05, 2015 (ACCESSWIRE via COMTEX) -- SEATTLE, WA / ACCESSWIRE / August 5, 2015 / The U.S. cannabis industry could reach $35 billion in size by 2020, according to GreenWave Advisors, if all 50 states legalize the substance and the federal government ends prohibition. Within the rapidly growing industry, investors have a number of different options when deploying capital, ranging from hands-on plays like Latteno Food Corp.'s LATF, +0.00% stake in Los Angeles dispensaries to hands-off plays like CannLabs Inc.'s CANL, -0.01% testing facilities.

A dozen Florida State lawmakers are joining thousands of others in Seattle this week to talk policy, and legalized marijuana is on the lips of many in a state that saw legal marijuana sales begin a year ago.

Washington believes it is collecting taxes on just 10 percent of the marijuana used in the state, partly because medical marijuana is untaxed and unregulated.

Legal marijuana sales began in Colorado 18 months ago. Since then, tourism is up 14 percent.

While Coloradans say the increase is due to a lot of things, K.C. Becker represents the Boulder area and went to Seattle to share the Colorado experience.

With the legalization of marijuana in four states and Washington, D.C., the marijuana tourism industry is starting to bud — and go upscale. Think “Napa Valley,” with weed.

By Spencer Peterson, Travel+ Leisure.

Four states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana for recreational use, but only Colorado and Washington have licensed dispensaries that can legally sell recreational cannabis. Since legalization and sale came to those communities, the budding pot industry in these two states has tried to shape a future of vineyard-esque tours of marijuana farms, and fatty-friendly salons reminiscent of Amsterdam’s cafes. (The phrase “Napa Valley of weed” gets tossed around a fair bit.)

Lawyers in the state of Washington—one of five U.S. jurisdictions that have legalized recreational cannabis use—are generally free to operate marijuana-related businesses and to engage in personal use of the drug, the Washington state bar's ethics committee advised recently.

The opinion tackles questions the Washington Supreme Court left open last year when it adopted a new comment in the state's lawyer conduct rules authorizing members of the bar to provide legal advice to marijuana industry clients, but declined to approve another change that would have insulated lawyers from discipline for consuming the drug and investing in cannabis-related businesses.

‘Unfinished Business.'

Three police forces have acknowledged that growing and using cannabis is no longer to be treated as a priority crime.

While cannabis remains a Class B drug in the UK, police chiefs including Durham’s Crime Commissioner Ron Hogg, say they will not actively pursue those growing or using leaves for personal, recreational use.

And Alan Charles, Derbyshire's PCC, told the Daily Mail: "When we are faced with significant budget cuts we cannot keep turning out to every single thing reported to us."