Officials with Texas Parks and Wildlife announced last week that officers raided a large and sophisticated marijuana growing facility in the remote swamps of northeast Texas. About 80 miles north of Dallas and inside the 14,480-acre Cooper Wildlife Management Area, several hog hunters stumbled into a sprawling marijuana farm that held more than 6,500 mature plants.

Texas officials said that if not for the occasional report from hikers, hunters, and other adventurous outdoorsmen, many of these operations would never be found. Even so, illegal marijuana cultivators have learned to avoid the most popular hunting seasons.

Seattle- Legalizing marijuana in the state of Washington has eliminated wasted police time and effort pursuing non-violent drug cases and led the community to instead look at it as a health issue, according to backers of drug reform laws in Seattle. The movement has allowed the opening of hundreds of retail shops selling pot. John Davis, owner of the Northwest Patient Resource Center, a medical marijuana shop, has been a long-time advocate for pot use to help people deal with a variety of ailments. 

LANSING — For the second time, the case against a Lansing man involving the state’s medical marijuana law has been dismissed.

This time, the case against Michael Lewis, which has been in the court system since 2012, was dismissed by Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Rosemarie Aquilina when she granted a defense motion to dismiss on grounds of entrapment.

“Overall, I’m really proud of law enforcement on every level,” she said. Aquilina added that it’s a dangerous job and police officers get it right most of the time, but “in this particular case it is troublesome.”

Attorneys for the two other defendants, Daniel Corbin and Zebediah Dewey, charged as a result of the same undercover operation will have to file their own motions to dismiss.

It ain't nuthin' but a ".com" thang.

Rapper Snoop Dogg on Monday unveiled a new media company website devoted to — what else — marijuana. 

Born Calvin Broadus Jr., the music mogul and co-founder of MerryJane.com described his new online destination as "the encyclopedia to the cannabis world" during TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco.

"We're providing the industry with something that's void right now," Snoop said. "We are the information hotline for cannabis. We are what's missing." 

As horror stories of the damaging effects of K2, or "synthetic marijuana," continue to proliferate around the city, some City Council members have voiced support for simply decriminalizing a substance known to have caused harm to virtually no users—regular, organic marijuana.

Snoop Dogg is launching an ad-supported social network called Merry Jane for users and sellers of cannabis products. The rapper announced the move at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference this afternoon, saying the platform would launch next month with the perfect number of beta users—420. 

"I enjoy [marijuana] for medical reasons, and it's a peace situation for me," Snoop Dogg said, per TechCrunch. "I always see beautiful things around me. I've always been an advocate for me."

SAN FRANCISCO — Snoop Dogg is launching a budding digital media business dedicated to cannabis.

The rap artist-turned-tech investor envisions Merry Jane as an online destination for pot smokers and the growing industry that serves them.

Merry Jane will feature celebrity interviews, news coverage of the cannabis industry, as well as helpful tips such as how to identify the best cannabis strain for you. Original video series will explore the cannabis culture, from "Deflowered," which focuses on "first time" experiences, to a cooking show on how to make edibles or food that pairs with cannabis.

Snoop Dogg made the announcement on stage at technology conference TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco.

History was made in Colorado, guys: Tax revenue from marijuana sales was higher than revenue brought in by alcohol. 

The state raised about $70 million from weed in fiscal year 2014-2015, compared to the less than $42 million from alcohol sales, according to the Marijuana Policy Project. Last Wednesday, Colorado celebrated a "marijuana tax holiday," where the state suspended marijuana sales for a day. And I guess it was a well deserved break. 

Tuatara Capital LP, a New York-based investment firm focused on the legal cannabis industry, has announced a partnership with Willie Nelson’s premium marijuana brand, Willie’s Reserve. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Willie’s Reserve will be grown distributed and sold by businesses in Colorado and Washington, where recreational use of marijuana is legal, with plans to expand to other areas as laws change and allow for legal use. The Austin-based singer announced the brand this spring with initial plans for a September launch, but this is the first piece of concrete business news about the new business venture.

If the booming marijuana industry means anything to the majority of people, it means opportunity. We’re talking about opportunities for all-around wellness and progress – and of course the economic advantages are beyond exciting.

In Colorado alone, more than 16,000 jobs have been created within the cannabis industry. And, as the Marijuana Policy Project points out, this number does not include the boost seen in collateral sectors such as real estate, law, accounting, and tourism.

A lot of marijuana jobs include what you might expect, like budtenders, trimmers, and growers. But within that same industry there are other high-skill positions which few of us saw coming.