Anyone who has ever started a medical marijuana business knows that there’s a lot to it. It’s much more than simply paying for a business license, renting a place, and opening for business. There are more things involved with starting a medical marijuana business than most other businesses. What are the local regulations, if any? What are the state regulations? What changes to those regulations are likely to occur in the future? What things need to happen to be in compliance with those regulations (potentially for the time being!). Did I mention the usual legal issues that go into a business, such as intellectual property rights, operating agreements, etc.?

Although the jury is still out on the benefit and safety profile of medical marijuana, the American public, according to national polls, has practically anointed it a wonder drug.

Medical marijuana finds its legs

It's not hard to understand why consumers -- especially those with potentially chronic or terminal diseases or disorders -- are excited about the idea of expanding marijuana's use for medical purposes. There are a number of clinical studies that have shown some level of positive correlation involving marijuana (or cannabinoids from the cannabis plant) in treating or alleviating symptoms of a patient's disease or disorder.

South Dakota voters could see a dozen or more voter-initiated measures on the 2016 ballot, touching on hot-button issues from marijuana and money lending to redistricting and right-to-work. First, backers need to collect enough signatures by Nov. 8, 2015, to make the cut. For most petitions that means 13,871, but constitutional amendments require 27,741.

Here's a rundown of petitions that are being circulated or pending approval by the Secretary of State's office:

Running a marijuana business is more than a pipe dream, says Justin Breidenbach: It’s about taxes, banking, liability, supply and demand.

Breidenbach, an associate professor of accounting at Ohio Wesleyan University who has been studying the economics of pot for two years, concludes that there’s potential for big money to be made if Ohio legalizes pot on Nov. 3. But, he says, marijuana entrepreneurs might go through a minefield to get there.

“There is always a boom somewhere,” said a famous investor long ago. If that sage had been living today, he would be focused on the world of cannabis and would have attended the Cannabis World Congress and Business Expo held at the Los Angeles Convention Center last week. The business opportunities in the years to come will equal the California Gold Rush and the real estate boom the state has enjoyed for four decades now.

The Crowd

The Marijuana Investor Summit provided quality educational sessions to more than 200 business owners and investors at the current Marijuana World Congress & & Company Expo held at the Los Angeles Convention Center on Sept. 16, 2015.

The top covered a variety of subjects on the threats and rewards of investing in the cannabis industry for both public market investing and private financial investments. Sessions were led by professionals in their fields, consisting of licensed broker dealerships, financial investment bankers, venture fund managers, angel investors and leading c-suite executives from leading micro-cap companies on the Marijuana Index.

Ray Strack worked as a U.S. Customs special agent on JFK International Airport’s drug squad in New York during his 27-year career. He constantly busted people — two per day on average — who were attempting to smuggle narcotics into the country. But today, the now-retired Strack is working to get drugs legalized.

Over the last few years, as mainstream concern with the war on drugs and mass incarceration has grown, a relatively straightforward narrative has taken hold: White people, engaged in a backlash against the advances of the civil-rights era, imposed the carceral state on black people. That’s the story told by Michelle Alexander in her seminal book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, as well as by any number of other academics and public intellectuals.

Representatives of the marijuana industry, supported by Boulder City Councilman Macon Cowles, want the city to reconsider its approach to marijuana regulation and come in line with the rest of the state, but top city officials say the more stringent approach has resulted in a safer city while still allowing businesses to be competitive.