Grammy Award winning musician, marriage-equality activist, and now cannabis advocate and businesswoman, Melissa Etheridge will be among 20 cannabis entrepreneurs pitching their businesses to more than 200 high net worth investors from around the world at the ArcView Investor Network Forum in Las Vegas on November 9th.

As marijuana legalization continues to expand at a state level, businesses are experiencing explosive growth and demand. The publishers of Marijuana Business Daily project the MJ Industry GNP will be between$23-29 Billion in 2019 and at approximately $11B for 2015.

Women’s Small Business Month, which happens every October, is a great time to highlight the many contributions and advancements made by female business owners who are making a significant, positive impact to our nation’s economy.

The latest census data shows that in 2012, female-owned firms made up more than 36 percent of all non-farm businesses, up from 30 percent in 2007. As of 2012, there were 9.9 million female-owned businesses -- a more than 27 percent increase from 2007.

New ideas need to find financing and a market of buyers. Both hang out on crowdfunding sites such as Kickstarter. It’s a chance to test your concept, find potential buyers and raise capital from those customers, in advance.

But few of us know how to do it. We might feel as confident undertaking a trek in the Amazon jungle as plunging into the wilds of Kickstarter.

Friendlier laws on medical marijuana use in Canada are already drawing American investment north of the border, and the trend is likely to further ignite if the federal Liberals make good on their promise to allow recreational use of the drug.

Poseidon Asset Management, a San Francisco-based hedge fund focused squarely on the cannabis space, says it is considering boosting its Canadian holdings following Justin Trudeau’s election win.

“We have one core holding up there currently but we would love to expand that,” says Morgan Paxhia, the hedge fund’s founding partner and chief investor.

Usage of marijuana has been doubled over the past years as laws and attitudes toward the drug dramatically transformed.  Entrepreneurs of marijuana will choose their ambassadors to be users to relate the benefits of their products to customers.

Marijuana consumption increased among all groups studied, but researchers noted certain rise in women, Black or Hispanic individuals living in the South.  These people are older or in their middle ages, according to CBS News.

Vancouver may soon be seeing fewer marijuana dispensaries, but not all owners are ready to accept their rejection notices.

The city recently issued new zoning and business licensing regulations for marijuana dispensaries. Earlier this year, 176 businesses applied for licences. Of those, 11 marijuana shops were approved to continue on to the second phase of the application process.

The large number of businesses that did not meet the new regulations has some owners planning to appeal the rejection of their applications.

As the owner of two medical marijuana dispensaries in the city, he is in a unique situation following the city’s review of his shops.

Pueblo’s city council on Monday voted 5-1 to extend nearly $8 million in incentives from the city’s half-cent economic development sales tax fund to help CBD Biosciences get its hemp-oil processing plant off the ground.