Drug warriors claim that marijuana is a "gateway drug." On the contrary, it is the policy of drug prohibition--not the drug per se--that creates a gateway into a criminal underworld of crime and contaminated products.

This was brought home by a recent studyshowing a correlation between alcohol prohibition and meth use by county. When people want a substance that is prohibited, their only option is to turn to criminals who can supply it. This entree into the criminal world becomes a gateway to other illegal--and often more dangerous--activities and substances.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The 2016 Presidential Election could draw the largest voter turnout this country has ever seen. And it's not because the list of Presidential candidates is exciting and controversial. It's because the huge millennial generation will be voting in this election and social issues, like the use of marijuana, could be at the forefront. Candidates' policies on the still illegal drug could play a major part in determining our country's next commander-in-chief.

Expect this millennial youth vote to be especially strong in key swing states like Florida and Nevada, where state marijuana ballot initiatives will be slated for 2016. 

When I think about what's happening in the payments industry this week, a scene from the 2001 biopic about Muhammad Ali comes to mind.

Ali, portrayed by Will Smith, walks into a makeshift training room in Zaire just after George Foreman finishes speaking to the media about the duo's heavyweight championship boxing match billed as the Rumble in the Jungle.

Not thinking anything of it, the challenger Ali makes his way to a pair of bongos in the room, slaps them to a catchy beat, and yells: "The champ is here!" He does this several times as the current champ in Foreman leaves the room.

The FBI’s Uniform Crime Report for 2014 is out and despite the legalization of marijuana in four states, more people were arrested for possession of marijuana and possession of hard drugs this year.

There was an increase in arrests for marijuana law violations for the first time since 2009, breaking the only four-year decrease streak in the history of the War on Drugs. Last year’s marijuana arrest total of 693,482 increased by 7,511 to 700,993, marking a marijuana arrest every 45 seconds in the United States.

New statistics show the U.S. war on marijuana is far from over.

Law enforcement officers made just over 700,000 arrests on marijuana-related charges in 2014, according to data released by the FBI on Monday. Of that total, 88.4 percent -- or about 619,800 arrests -- were made for marijuana possession alone, a rate of about one arrest every 51 seconds over the entire year.

While the national conversation about marijuana continued to shift in 2014, with recreational weed laws fully in effect in Colorado and Washington -- and measures to legalize the plant being passed in Washington, D.C., Oregon and Alaska -- the year also saw a reversal in a seven-year trend of largely declining possession arrests. 

A labor union is defined as “an organization of workers formed for the purpose of advancing its members’ interests in respect to wages, benefits, and working conditions.”

Cannabis Workers Rising (CWR) is a wing of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) involved in the cannabis industry across six states and the District of Columbia. Their website explains that the CWR is primarily involved with dispensaries, coffee shops, bakeries, patient identification centers, hydroponics stores, and growing and training facilities. Some ganjaprenuers in Washington State are now turning to the CWR to help legitimize this once-illegal sector of our economy.

Benjamin Koops ordered the Class B drug through the "dark web" - where typically parts of the internet can only be accessed using special software.

A Nottingham philosophy student has been caught importing cannabis from the USA.

Benjamin Koops ordered the Class B drug through the "dark web" - where typically parts of the internet can only be accessed using special software.

He paid for the drugs with Bitcoin, a type of internet currency.

Nottingham Crown Court heard two packages of cannabis were intercepted by the National Crime Agency and traced to Koops, of Midland Avenue, in Lenton.

The legal marijuana industry bears one major likeness to the black market: It’s an all-cash business.

Even in the four states that have legalized marijuana, banks generally have refused to open accounts for store owners, growers and owners of ancillary enterprises. Without a gateway into the banking system, owners of legal-marijuana businesses cannot write checks, access online banking tools or directly deposit paychecks. They must pay employees, suppliers and even the tax man the old-fashioned way – with currency.

To celebrate National Coffee Day today, many metro Detroit coffee shops are offering free or discounted coffee drinks.

Participating Dunkin’ Donuts have brewed up several offers. You can get one free medium cup  of hot or iced Rainforest Alliance Certified dark roast coffee. Dunkin’ Donuts is also giving all DD Perks Rewards members a coupon via e-mail or their mobile app for a free coffee or any Dunkin’ Donuts beverage that’s good until the end of the year. If you're not a member, anyone who enrolls today will receive four free coffees via e-mailed and mobile app coupons. The DD Perks Rewards program is where guests earn five points for every dollar they spend on most purchases at Dunkin’ Donuts.

Hemp has come a long way, increasing from 33 acres in 2014 — the first legal crop in Kentucky — to more than 922 acres planted this year.

"Welcome to Kentucky, the leading industrial hemp-producing state in the country. It feels good to say that," Agriculture Commissioner James Comer told a sold-out crowd Monday at the annual Hemp Industries Association Conference in Lexington.

This was the first time in 22 years that the conference of hemp entrepreneurs and activists has been held in a hemp-producing state, said Eric Steenstra, executive director of the Hemp Industries Association.