TAMPA, Fla.--(Business Wire)--Neutra Corp. (OTCBB:NTRR) and Surface to Air Solutions (S2O2) could soon take their partnership international as talks opened this week to bring the joint venture’s pesticide-free growing solutions to cannabis growers in Canada.

VANCOUVER, WA (KPTV) -

Customers called it the McDonald's of marijuana, but according to Vancouver police, it's an illegal operation. 

Adam Alexander, owner of "Grow Systems Northwest," was arrested July 2nd. Police said he never had a license to sell, manufacture or grow marijuana.

The Drug Task Force began investigating "Grow Systems Northwest" off Saint Johns Road and 65th Avenue in Vancouver, after they grew suspicious of its operation.

David Snyder, who works at a business next door, described the scene of the raid.

"The feds came and packed them all up, and their belongings and hauled them off some place," he said.

Police said Alexander served a few hundred customers daily in a drive through lot, profiting $5,000-$10,000 a day in cash.

As Illinois' fledgling marijuana industry slowly gets underway, some companies have begun hiring in anticipation of opening in the coming months, attracting a diverse set of candidates willing to take a chance on a business with an uncertain future so they can get in on the ground floor.

Take Rick Bower, 58, of downstate Dwight. After working for 31 years at commercial printing giant RR Donnelley, Bower has been hired as the inaugural director of warehousing at PharmaCann, where he will bring his expertise in workflow standardization and quality control to its Dwight and Hillcrest cultivation centers.

DENVER >> Presidential candidates are talking about marijuana in ways unimaginable not long ago.

White House hopefuls in both parties are taking donations from people in the new marijuana industry, which is investing heavily in political activism as a route to expanded legalization and landed its first major candidate, Rand Paul, at a trade show last month.

Several Republicans, like Democrats, are saying they won’t interfere with states that are legalizing a drug still forbidden under federal law. And at conservative policy gatherings, Republicans are discussing whether drug sentences should be eased.

The Viridian Cannabis Stocks Index gained 23.6% through Q1’2015, significantly outperforming the Dow Jones Industrial Average (down 0.3%), the S&P 500 (up 0.4%), the NASDAQ (up 3.5%), and the Russell 2000 (up 3.0%). This gain follows a strong 2014 performance (up 38.4%), but two down quarters in Q3 and Q4’2014. We attribute the strong first quarter to several factors, including:

• The traditional “January effect” in small cap stocks, whereby prices recover from year-end tax selling.
• Increase in the number and dollar volume of capital raises, providing working capital for 23
• Increase in M&A and partnership activity, helping companies build market share and accelerate

Where are the Winners & Losers

This is Sam. He’s my son. His epilepsy caused him to have up to 100 seizures a day. After seven years we were out of options. Our last hope: an untested, unproven treatment. The only problem? It was illegal.

The hospital pharmacist slid three bottles of pills across the counter, gave my wife a form to sign, and reminded her that this was not the corner drugstore. The pharmacy knew how many pills had been dispensed, he said; it would know how many had been consumed; and it would expect her to return the unused pills before she left the country. The pharmacist made it clear that he was not only in touch with our doctor but with the company supplying the medication. They would know if she broke the rules.

CINCINNATI (Jeff Hirsh) -- The group ResponsibleOhio joined with a labor union Monday for an announcement about the planned marijuana farms, should its ballot initiative pass.

ResponsibleOhio says it's collected 700,000 signatures, which is more than twice what it needs to get an amendment to the state constitution on the ballot. If passed, the amendment would legalize ten grow farms around the state, including several in the Tri-State. They'd be owned by investors, who've put up $20 million to finance the ballot campaign. ResponsibleOhio says taxpayers would also benefit with more than half a billion dollars distributed among state governments by 2020.

A public panel discussion on the benefits of medical cannabis legalization was held at Provo City Library June 16. The event, sponsored by Libertas Institute and the Drug Policy Project of Utah, was part of a community outreach initiative to foster public awareness and gain support for the S.B. 259 Fourth Substitute Medical Cannabis Amendment, sponsored by Sen. Mark Madsen, R-Saratoga Springs.

Over 200 attendees showed up to listen to Madsen explain the new amendment and to hear four panel members share their personal stories of how medical cannabis has helped their lives.

Is this how the war on weed ends?

Harborside Health Center in Oakland, California, is the largest medical marijuana dispensary in the world, serving nearly 200,000 patients and distributing $25 million in cannabis per year. It does so out in the open, under the auspices of California law and Oakland’s regulatory regime. Federal prosecutors, however, maintain an unfriendly stance on state-legal medical marijuana: it’s still illegal under federal law, and must be stopped.

A pharmaceutical company competing for one of the state's five medical marijuana licenses on Monday pledged to provide $5 million in grants to researchers statewide including $1 million to Stony Brook University.

Fiorello Pharmaceuticals Inc. based in New York announced Monday that it will provide the grants for research into medical marijuana uses if it secures one of five state licenses to provide medical marijuana.