In four years, the cannabis industry’s job growth has increased 161%, quickly beating predictions from other industries 10 years from now.

Leafly’s fifth annual cannabis jobs report showed the cannabis industry to support 321,000 full-time equivalent jobs in 2021! An incredible number for an amazing and highly-deserving industry.

One of the most common claims about cannabis is that it relieves stress and helps one to relax. A new study demonstrates that this may well be true, but only at lower doses. The results are published in Drug and Alcohol Dependence.

Illinois is well into its second year of sales for medical marijuana and in that time, the state has decriminalized the drug and there have been serious talks of legalizing recreational weed.

Medical cannabis has been legal in Illinois since 2013, but it hasn't always been and still isn't, perceived in a positive way.

"You know there probably are some uses for it," recovering addict Elizabeth Price said. "I think we could be creating addicts where we don't need to. Marijuana has always been called the gateway drug and now we're going to have doctors dispensing it. That's how the heroin epidemic got so bad, is doctors were dispensing [opioids]."

Tax revenues generated by legalized marijuana, plus shedding the huge costs of arresting and jailing nonviolent offenders, are powerfully appealing to fiscally beleagured states.

As always, nothing breeds success quite like success.

Out West, where states first made medical and recreational marijuana legal, the resulting tax money has been a boon for the state and local governments.

Law firms throughout Chicago, from national firms to solo operations, are carving out cannabis practices as marijuana use gains acceptance.

The Chicago Tribune  reports that firms are increasingly offering to help companies navigate the highly regulated world of medical marijuana in Illinois and elsewhere.

The stigma surrounding the federally illegal drug has barred some firms from advertising their cannabis practices.

Dina Rollman and Bryna Dahlin formed a firm in January 2016 to focus on the cannabis industry. The firm counsels companies that grow and sell marijuana as well as businesses that intersect with the industry, from vaporizer manufacturers to advertising agencies.

Monica Gutierrez wants to be an intellectual property lawyer. But here she is, sitting in a law class on marijuana.

The gray area between state and federal law intrigues Gutierrez — she needs to learn how to help cannabis businesses get their names federally registered, she said — and she's not alone.

Law firms throughout Chicago, from national firms to solo operations, are carving out cannabis practices. Full of lawyers with expertise in real estate, mergers and acquisitions, intellectual property, and other specialties, firms are increasingly offering to help companies navigate the highly regulated world of medical marijuana, in Illinois and elsewhere.

Regardless of how you feel personally about recreational marijuana, the majority of Illinoisans and the vast majority of Chicagoans support marijuana legalization. According to a recent poll from a public policy institute at Southern Illinois University, 66 percent of voters in the state support recreational marijuana, while 74 percent of Chicagoans are in favor of legalization. Citing these and other statistics, state lawmakers and marijuana reform advocates held a press conference in Chicago on Wednesday to unveil a new approach to making pot legal in the Land of Lincoln.

The public tide on marijuana is turning, and it’s time for our politicians go with the flow.

Two Illinois legislators introduced twin bills in the state House and Senate last month that would make Illinois the first state in the midwest and the ninth countrywide to legalize and regulate recreational marijuana. People 21 and older would be able to possess, grow and buy up to an ounce of marijuana, and businesses would be licensed to sell marijuana products under regulation.

Bill supporters estimate legalizing recreational marijuana would generate $350 million to $700 million in tax revenue, which could help ease the budget crisis that has plagued Illinois for years.

Like many states, Illinois is in deep financial trouble. Looking at the latest audit,  its black hole has deepened to $9.6bn (£7.6bn) and, according to the state’s financial comptroller, the books are “abysmal”.

But there could be salvation at hand if it becomes the first state in the midwest to legalise and tax the recreational use of marijuana. Two Democrats in the state legislature have introduced a bill to change the law, arguing this could raise as much as $700m a year.

Should the bill go through, it would bring the number of states where recreational pot is legal up to nine. If you throw in Washington DC, then more than 80m Americans would be free to enjoy cannabis.