FRISCO — Ah, the energizing power of a smoothie packed with blueberries, bananas, yogurt and ... cannabis?

A Dallas-based health products company recently announced plans to open its first-ever cannabis-based smoothie shop, the AmeriCanna Cafe, in Frisco, at the corner of Wade Boulevard and Preston Road.

Officials with the business assure that everything about the shop is legal because ingredients will derive from hemp seeds, a part of the cannabis plant that is allowed for consumption across the U.S.

AmeriCanna Cafe’s drinks will take advantage of hemp’s many health and therapeutic benefits, said Steven Rash, CEO of North American Cannabis Holdings, which is starting the cafe.

As the marijuana industry grows across the United States, industry leaders have been forced to keep up with ever changing regulations that are often designed in response to safety concerns or legality questions. While the medical marijuana market has proven easier to maintain, the introduction of recreational marijuana in several states has led the U.S. Justice Department to call for strict monitoring systems that keep tabs on growers and sellers.

Keeping Track Of Inventory

DENVER, CO / ACCESSWIRE / August 19, 2015 / AmeriCann, Inc. (OTCQX: ACAN), a company with offices in Denver and Boston that designs, develops and owns large-scale advanced medical cannabis facilities, announced that it has added two additional members to its well-respected Advisory Board.

Dr. Brian A. Corr, a noted expert in controlled-environment horticulture, and Nickolas J. Brait, a licensed attorney specializing in the national cannabis industry, have joined the AmeriCann Advisory Board and will play key roles in the Company's continuing aggressive national expansion plans.

Clinical trials have begun to see if cannabis-infused chewing gum could be used to relieve pain and spasticity in multiple sclerosis patients.

A number of multiple sclerosis sufferers have turned to marijuana to ease the pain and symptoms of the debilitating disease.

A New York-based biotech company is hoping that some relief from the pain and spasticity of MS is just a stick of cannabis gum away.

SEATTLE (AP) - The Washington Traffic Safety Commission says more marijuana-using drivers are getting into fatal crashes.

Data released Tuesday indicate that the number of Washington drivers involved in deadly crashes who tested positive for active marijuana doubled from 2013 to 2014 - the first year of legal marijuana sales in the state.

Commission member Shelly Baldwin says that's alarming - especially considering that the number of alcohol-related fatal crashes has been dropping.

After being disappointed with lawmakers, a local man is asking the community to help legalize medical marijuana in North Dakota. Ray Morgan, a Fargo man suffering from severe back pain is leading the fight.

He’s asking the community to sign a petition. He's formed a committee of 25 people, and if they get approval from the Secretary of State they can start collecting signatures. They need 13,500 people need to sign on. If they get that, you will be able to vote for or against legalizing medical marijuana on the November 2016 ballot.

Legalizing and taxing marijuana could raise an additional $40 million a year for education, according to estimates by the campaign to legalize the drug in Arizona.

The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, which is gathering signatures to qualify for the 2016 ballot, would establish a network of licensed cannabis shops where sales of the drug would be taxed.

J.P. Holyoak, campaign chairman, said at a news conference at the state Capitol, “We have a choice: We can either tax and regulate marijuana for the benefit of education and public health care, or we can keep it illegal for the benefit of illegal drug cartels.”

Legalizing medical marijuana would open the door to a host of problems, including abuse by children and deaths from psychotic reactions, a Colorado drug-law enforcer warned Utah lawmakers Wednesday.

Legalizing medical marijuana would open the door to a host of problems, including abuse by children and deaths from psychotic reactions, a Colorado drug-law enforcer warned Utah lawmakers Wednesday.

Jim Gerhardt, vice president of the Colorado Drug Investigators Association, provided the Health and Human Services Interim Committee with a litany of woes Utah's neighboring state has experienced since legalizing medical marijuana.

"Colorado voters made it clear that they do not want adults to be punished for possessing small amounts of marijuana."

A state appeals court has overturned the marijuana conviction of a Colorado woman who was sentenced and convicted for marijuana possession just days after voters approved a measure legalizing recreational marijuana in the state almost three years ago -- retroactively applying the law to her case. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – About 30 party guests wearing suits and summer dresses mingled in the candlelit backyard of a small, private home in the Forest Hills neighborhood here and snacked on hors d'oeuvres to the sound of jazz. Instead of cocktails, they sipped gourmet coffee and tea infused with marijuana.

In the kitchen, servers poured hot and iced drinks for the tasting party. They were showcasing products from House of Jane, a California-based company that sells cannabis-infused beverages. Jane's Brew C-Cups were on display in the living room, stacked on a table alongside similarly branded coasters.