In the two years since Colorado began selling marijuana for recreational use, it has become the epicenter of a booming industry, one that will gross over $1 billion in sales this year.

For decades, employers have had zero-tolerance drug policies that included marijuana. It's now a prescribed medication for a number of conditions, so the zero tolerance drug policy on marijuana use needs to be updated.

Medical marijuana must be treated like any other prescription medication. Here are some of the key points for employees and employers to consider:

Democrat Sen. Perry Clark of Louisville has advocated for the legalization of medical marijuana since the last legislative session to this summer at Mensa’s Annual Gathering where he cleared the smoke and myths surrounding marijuana. Friday he filed a bill rolling medical and recreational use in one big hit. 

Clark filed the “Cannabis Freedom Act” which would regulate the use of cannabis just as the state regulates alcohol. 

Touting the benefit of pot over pills and curbing opioid addiction for patients who use marijuana to overcome pain and problems from illness like multiple sclerosis, Clark has talked extensively in the Senate and legislative committees about the benefits and regulation of marijuana. 

Historically speaking, generations of magic brownies and jerry-rigged bongs aside, there has been relatively little thought or innovation in the area of consuming cannabis. Almost as long as marijuana has been consumed in North America, simply smoking the flower has been de rigueur.

The agency expects hundreds of thousands of new units to be purchased during the holidays

Regulation of drones in the hands of civilian pilots took a big step forward today. The Federal Aviation Administration announced that all units weighing between 0.55 pounds and 50 pounds must be registered by February 19th, 2016. Anyone caught flying without proper registration after that date could face stiff penalties. The FAA says civil penalties include a fine of up to $27,500. Criminal penalties include a fine of up to $250,000 and up to three years in jail.

It wafts down the pavement, an unmistakable stench more Haight-Ashbury than New York — the tang of marijuana smoke in the city’s streets. If the smell (and the lightheadedness a passer-by may feel) is anything to judge by, lighting up and strolling around seems increasingly common in pockets of Brooklyn, on side streets in Manhattan and in other public spaces.

Street smokers say they are emboldened by laws that have legalized the recreational use of marijuana in other parts of the country and by the relatively low-key rhetoric of New York’s leaders, including the police commissioner, about the drug.

A Denver-based marijuana company has recalled 27 cartridges of its THC-infused vape pen oil due to potentially dangerous pesticides.

Denver’s Department of Environmental Health found that Advanced Medical Alternatives’ product contained pesticides that are not allowed to be used on cannabis in Colorado, reported The Cannabist, The Denver Post’s cannabis news and culture section.

The recall is the 13th issued by the department in 13 weeks. Advanced Medical Alternatives recalled a cannabis concentrate product that also had high levels of banned pesticides on Dec. 3.

State-legal marijuana businesses struggle with federal banking roadblocks.

According to a new survey of 400 cannabis professionals across the country conducted by Marijuana Business Daily, just about 40 percent of marijuana-related businesses have bank accounts for their companies.

Of businesses that actually handle the cannabis plant directly, only 30 percent have bank accounts, while 51 percent of ancillary firms in the cannabis industry have business  bank accounts.

By Ricardo Baca

Amazon and Margaret Cho are getting into the weed business.

Rather, the commerce giant and the stand-up comic are developing a sitcom about the weed business — a show called “Highland,” about a dysfunctional family running a marijuana shop, according to a new report in Variety.

Get the answers to common questions about marijuana in Arizona. If you get a medical-marijuana card, can you be fired? Can you get a DUI? Can you have it on a college campus?

Marijuana growing in the home of two medical marijuana patients in Medford, Ore.(Photo: AP)

There are many myths about use and possession of marijuana and medical marijuana in Arizona, especially since the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act passed in 2010. Here's what you need to know about what is and isn't allowed, and the legal consequences.

Can I be fired for using or possessing medical marijuana legally?

A patient can be fired if he or she is in possession or under the influence of marijuana at the workplace.