Colorado-based Native Roots, a company that operates a number of medical marijuana facilities, officially opened ‘Gas and Grass,’ the first-ever establishment in the world that sells gas and medical marijuana, on November 07 in Colorado Springs, reported the New York Post.

Colorado state laws prohibit marijuana dispensaries from selling non-pot goods so, ‘Gas and Grass’ will have two different entrances—one for the dispensary and the other for the gas pump/convenience store.

The convenience store will sell lottery tickets, beverages, cigarettes, food items, and other products that can be usually bought in a c-store, according to Native Roots spokesperson Tia Mattson.

Signs are everywhere that Colorado’s blooming marijuana industry has gone from the thing few felt comfortable talking about to a mainstream business promising huge financial rewards.

Despite the entrepreneurial activity and the huge influx of cash, the Feds still officially regard marijuana production and sale as a crime.

One of the clearest examples lies in what’s going on at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. When the first medicinal marijuana shops began cropping up a decade or so ago, some of them, like any well-advised business, sought protection of their name under a federal trademark registration.

Roger Barbour (left) is shown with daughter Genny and wife Lora. They're in a legal fight to be able to give Genny medical marijuana at school.

TRENTON - Several South Jersey families are celebrating the news that Gov. Chris Christie signed into law Monday a long-awaited medical marijuana bill.

The bill requires facilities and schools providing services to residents with developmental disabilities to adopt policies allowing administration of medical marijuana to qualifying patients.

What seemed like a long shot has turned out to be the best option available. And it’s natural.

(COLORADO SPRINGS, CO.) - A young man named Coltyn Turner may turn out to be an integral cog in the wheel that gets the Federal government to pay attention to patients benefiting from cannabis as medicine. In fact, Coltyn would greatly appreciate some time with the President of the United States.

He would tell President Obama that cannabis saved his life.

2 years ago, Coltyn Turner was dying from Crohn's Disease. He was diagnosed at age 11, though he suffered from the condition since birth.

By 13, “I was so weak I was writing my own will,” said Coltyn Turner. Today, he is a thriving 15-year old.

Wright, 31, director of the Illinois Medical Cannabis Pilot Program

The state’s medical marijuana czar explains the hurdles still facing prescription pot as it goes on sale in Illinois for the first time. 

Only 3,300 patients have been approved for the program, which is not even close to what the state expected. Why so few? 

The largest projection I’ve seen for the number of patients who could be approved is several hundred thousand, so we are aware that there is a lot of room for growth. Lack of awareness and [doctors’ and patients’ unfamiliarity with the program] are reasonable explanations. In other states, there’s a natural progression in patient count. It starts out low, but as the program develops, it grows. 

Oregon's breweries and dispensaries offer lessons for how policymakers might nurture a small-business comeback.

LAKE OSWEGO, Ore. — At first, Jon Turner was just a software guy who really liked to brew beer. He cooked up two batches a week in his kitchen and kept his hard-drinking friends well supplied. He once brewed one pale ale over and over for a year to get it just right. In 2011, at a national conference of home brewers, he fell under the spell of a panel called “Going Pro.”

New Frontier Financial CEO Giadha DeCarcer with her new ally, The ArcView Group CEO Troy Dayton. (Credit: Ben Lin Photography)

Giadha Aguirre DeCarcer saw the data powering big-money decisions to back private companies or consider public buyouts and wondered why there no one was doing the same for the legal cannabis industry.

The acting head of the Drug Enforcement Administration claimed that smoking marijuana has “never been shown to be safe or effective as a medicine.” That’s false: though information is limited on the topic, several studies have found smoked marijuana has medical benefits and mostly mild side effects.

It is Friday night and I am standing on the doorstep of my San Francisco apartment looking down in disbelief at the neatly packaged, vacuum-sealed bag of green-grey marijuana buds in my hands which has just been delivered by a friendly and courteous driver, 16 minutes after it was ordered online. An eighth of an ounce (3.5g) of Purple Platinum cost $25 after a $20 promotional discount. The payment was cash only. The label lists the strain – apparently a classic of the state’s marijuana-growing region – along with the retail dispensary that supplied it. Everything is legal.

ST. LOUIS • Missouri’s 2016 ballot could be filled with weed. 

Competing proposals, bolstered by growing national support, are seeking to put medical marijuana legalization on the statewide ballot. If approved, Missouri would join 23 other states that have done so.

Proponents have an uphill battle. First they need to collect 168,000 valid signatures from at least six of the state’s nine congressional districts. Then they need to win approval from the state’s conservative-leaning voters. Only a handful of states that have legalized medical marijuana are in the Midwest (Illinois, Minnesota and Michigan). And there’s not one in the South, the region with which Missouri has been more politically aligned over the past decade.