Bank of America Merrill Lynch recently released a new biotechnology report focused on medical cannabis called “Medical cannabis has high POTential: a joint biotech & tools primer”. In the report, the analyst takes a detailed look at the current medical marijuana landscape and the various companies operating within it, while being bullish on the overall cannabis testing market and the growth prospects for tools within it.

The report mentions a number of cannabis testing companies:

AUBURN — The School Committee approved the first reading of a new policy Wednesday night that would allow students to have medical marijuana administered in school under a physician's orders and under certain conditions.

Any medical marijuana would have to be approved by a physician, and it would have to be administered in school by a parent or guardian, Assistant Superintendent Michelle McClellan said. Because medical marijuana is allowed under a certificate from a physician but not a prescription, nurses may not administer the drug.

Marijuana doses would have to be in a nonsmoking form, such as being edible.

Tis the Season -- for reflection and prediction. Tune in any TV network and you'll see experts prognosticating on the global state of affairs while other segments reflect on the year that was. The cannabis industry is no different. 

One of the industry's primary movers-and-shakers is Nicole Smith, founder and CEO of Mary's Medicinals, the Denver-based company that manufactures transdermal cannabis patches along with other unique cannabis nutraceutical products. In fact, Mary's Medicinals has won the Cannabis Business Award for "Most Innovative Product" for two years in a row and Smith was recently named a Denver Business Journal Outstanding Woman in Business for 2015.

HUMBOLDT – Those involved in the marijuana industry now have the chance to put their names on a county registry that will allow priority processing once the state launches a medical marijuana licensing system.

A resolution authorizing registration with the county gained unanimous approval at the Dec. 8 Board of Supervisors meeting. Brought forward by Board Chair Estelle Fennell and Supervisor Ryan Sundberg, the resolution establishes a registry that is immediately in effect and addresses a provision in new state law that allows the opportunity for priority license processing to those who sign onto it.

High Times Chief Executive David Kohl addresses audience at the High Times Business Summit

In the past 40 years, marijuana has evolved from a black-market drug to a substance that is legal in some form in nearly half of U.S. states and is expected to become a nearly $35 billion industry within the next decade.

When Americans go to the polls in November, they'll be voting for a new president, many crucial Senate races and the future of legalized marijuana. It appears that at least five states, including California, will be voting on whether the pot industry should be regulated like alcohol, with products available to all adults. Several more states, including some of the most reliably conservative, will vote on allowing medical weed.

But so far, there isn’t much in the way of investment opportunities.

Earlier this month Bank of America Merrill Lynch put out a research report on the marijuana industry’s prospects. Touted as the first such assessment by a major financial institution, the report is a milestone in a fast-growing sector that is hungry for mainstream recognition and the money that comes with it. But a close reading of the report makes clear that marijuana has a long way to go before it resembles a normal American industry.

Over the past several decades, opponents of marijuana legalization have fretted that legally allowing weed for recreational purposes will lead to more pot use among teens. But a new survey suggests that's not happening so far: Despite the recent enactment of legalization in four states and Washington, DC, the 2015 Monitoring the Future survey found teen marijuana use held steady in the past year.

Big banks are starting to partner with the very fintech companies that formed to replace them

Financial technology startups have typically been portrayed as a band of T-shirt-clad geeks poised to snatch food off the dinner plates of the button-collared bankers. So it may have come as a surprise to some when, rather than going head-to-head with the Bay Street behemoths, so-called fintech companies started partnering with the very incumbents they had set out to upheave.

Over the past year, chief executives at some of Canada’s biggest banks have acknowledged the competitive threat posed by tech-savvy entrants.

It’s good to hear that despite the federal ban on cannabis, the current government under Barack Obama is supporting States that have legalized cannabis on their own.

The Obama administration has recently weighed-in on the legal complaints levied by prohibitionist States that border States where cannabis is legal medically or for recreation.

Their position is, surprisingly, one that defends the State’s right to their own jurisdiction.