Jacob SullumToday the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is expected to reject two petitions asking it to reclassify marijuana while agreeing to loosen restrictions on the supply of marijuana for medical research. Although the drug's legal status will remain the same, the DEA's willingness to allow competition among marijuana suppliers should facilitate research by removing a bureaucratic bottleneck and improving the quality and variety of cannabis available to scientists investigating the plant's medical benefits.

According to Internet legend, the “Dot-Com Boom” marked a period in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, which saw a huge rise in market equity and stock prices due to rapid growth in the Tech and Internet sector and related fields. This was a culmination of steady commercial growth of Internet technologies introduced in the 90’s, such as the web browser. The boom was so great, that some companies were able to increase their stock prices simply by adding an “e” or a “.com” to their business name. 

There can be few booms without a bust. The dot-com bubble burst somewhere around early 2001 or before. Some companies, like pets.com, faded into oblivion. Others, such as Amazon and eBay, took massive stock price hits but still went on to become the web giants they are today.

The principals of the Lau Ola medical cannabis dispensary invited their neighbors and associates to a blessing and ground breaking for the future site of their grow facility in Pepe’ekeo.

The gathering took place Tuesday morning on Kaupakuea Homestead Road, the former site of Richard Ha’s Hamakua Springs banana farm. Ha was joined by Lau Ola’s director of operations Dylan Shropshire, consultant Autumn Karcey of Cultivo Inc., and others helping to bring the project to fruition.

Keahi Warfield blessed the land where the phase one structure will one day nurture 3,000 marijuana plants. Ha said he plans to have the operation up and running toward the end of the first quarter of 2017. Lau Ola is allowed two dispensary locations, and plans to put one in Hilo and one in Kona.

Europe-based cannabis expert Davide Fortin will be a featured guest speaker at the inaugural CanEx Jamaica Conference, scheduled for Montego

Bay Convention Centre on September 2. Fortin will present his views on cannabis and the medical policies that surround legalising the drug.

A graduate of the Copenhagen Business School, Fortin graduated with an MSc in Advanced Economics and Finance with a focus on the economic impact of the cannabis regulation in Colorado. In his research, Fortin explored various facets of the legal market, including prices, tourism, interstate smuggling, perceived qualities, and the composition of demands for both medical and recreational users.

Jordan Chambers dropped in to the Weeds marijuana dispensary on Montreal Road recently and bought a package of cannabis-infused chocolate turtles and two coconut dreamy bars.

“I think this is great,” she said of the dispensary, whose display cases are stuffed with jars of dried weed and packages of cookies, brownies and candy. Staff warned her not to eat the treats in one sitting, because they are potent. 

The federal government has warned that the marijuana products sold at illegal dispensaries such as Weeds are unregulated and could be unsafe.

As governments lay groundwork for legal recreational pot next spring, Toronto police keep raiding medicinal marijuana dispensaries and want the public to help them continue.

The pot sellers remain defiant, with one shuttered shop urging buyers to visit a sister store until it can reopen. 

Officers raided three dispensaries Monday, seizing 21.5 pounds of pot products, $15,841.05 in cash and laying Criminal Code drug charges against six men.

It was the second raid of S.W.E.D. dispensary at 1898 Danforth Ave., which was among 43 shops busted in late May when 90 owners, managers and clerks were hit with trafficking charges.

The possible sale of pot in LCBO stores has bureaucrats trying to make sense of the hazy marijuana business, taking notes on weed’s funky street names and tamping down any government hopes of a cash crop on the scale of booze, documents show.

Internal slides obtained by Global News through freedom of information show the state liquor giant pondering a range of issues surrounding weed retailing as the drug goes from black market to legit commodity under the Trudeau government’s legalization drive.

A cotton gin that sat empty for decades in this small North Texas town could be filled next year with the first cannabis plants legally grown in the state.

The man investing in the old buildings plans to open a greenhouse and processing facility to make cannabis oil as a medical treatment for people with severe epilepsy. A Texas statute enacted in 2015 paves the way for the cultivation of non-psychoactive cannabis for that purpose. It was  the only marijuana-related bill approved in the last legislative session.

An alert store manager, watching his employees close shop via a live video feed, sent two armed robbers straight into the arms of the Seattle police Sunday night. The incident happened around 10:30 p.m. at the Have a Heart cannabis store in North Seattle’s sleepy Greenwood neighborhood. As employees were closing up for the night, two masked gunmen held the store’s security guard at gunpoint and forced their way into the store. The gunmen then used zip ties to restrain the two female employees before raiding the safe. 

A group of 53 farmers in Colombia have created the country’s first medical marijuana co-operative. Colombia recently became the fourth state in Latin America to legalise marijuana production for medicinal use. In an attempt to move away from illegal production, the country has started granting licences to pharmaceutical companies that want to cultivate the plant to generate marijuana derivate products.