In January of 2014, legislation allowing for the use of marijuana to treat certain health conditions took effect in Illinois. As of last Wednesday, the state government has been unable to find a bank to handle the state’s tax and fee collections from the medical marijuana industry.

AUSTIN — Texas lawmakers may be reluctant to ease up on punishing small-time pot smokers, but local prosecutors across the state are increasingly looking for ways to keep two-bit toking cases from clogging court dockets and wasting resources.

This past session, seven bills that would have reduced criminal penalties for minor marijuana possession went up in smoke. But some county prosecutors are already choosing to pass on even filing charges when it comes to small pot possession cases, or looking for ways to divert recreational users to probation or community service programs.

Some have been doing so for years.

As a lifelong conservative, I’m no fan of government regulation. Even so, I’m convinced it’s time for California to aggressively regulate the medical marijuana industry.

I’ve spoken with concerned citizens, local government officials, rural law enforcement officers, federal officials, anti-drug crusaders and medical marijuana industry insiders.

I visited the Emerald Triangle with fellow Board of Equalization member Fiona Ma. Our April tour showed how we can work with the industry to generate greater voluntary compliance with California law.

With only a small fraction of the state’s doctors participating in Connecticut’s medical marijuana program, the agency that’s running it has begun a public-service blitz to let physicians and patients know the drug is safe and legal.

The goal is to break through the stigma and lack of information that seems to be holding doctors back from registering, which they need to do to be able to prescribe the drug.

When the state of New York hands out five licenses to grow and sell medical marijuana sometime next month, one of the requirements for those dispensing the drug will be metered dosing similar to how other pharmaceutical industries operate.

“Grandma doesn’t really understand she’s taking medical cannabis,” a caregiver relates with a smile.

After grandma broke her hip, the doctor prescribed the painkiller Percocet, but it made her nauseous, anxious and irritable — common side effects.

So the family sought an alternative, and found that a CBD-rich tincture quelled her pain, insomnia, and anxiety. Grandma is putting on weight again, the caregiver said.

Care By Design’s tiny spray bottle of CBD Rich Whole Plant Extract exemplifies the new trend in lab-tested extracts light-years ahead of the federal cannabis research blockade. Their 18:1 CBD:THC tincture is a highly therapeutic, largely non-psychoactive liquid extract made from organic, medical-grade cannabis.

Last weekend, thousands from the Bay Area poured into the outdoor SoMa StrEAT Food Park for the Get Baked Sale, the first food rally for marijuana-edibles enthusiasts.

Cannabis is only legal for medicinal use in California, though momentum is growing among supporters who seek to legalize its recreational use in a 2016 ballot initiative. Attendees at the fair had to present a state-authorized medical marijuana identification card at the door and pay $20 in order to enter.

Want to know why states are legalizing recreational marijuana?

Let me give you a hint: It has something to do with the color green. Not the color of the plant, but the color of money.

Because recreational marijuana has now been legal in Colorado and Washington for 18 months and 11 months, respectively, we're finally starting to see just how lucrative the recreational-marijuana business is -- for the record, it's also now legal in Alaska, Washington D.C., and, starting in July, Oregon.

In March alone, consumers in Washington purchased $21.9 million worth of recreational cannabis through legal channels. That was more than twice the amount of the $8.3 million spent on medical marijuana that month.

It wasn’t that long ago that expressing support for marijuana reform was considered to be political suicide. That’s not to say that there weren’t political candidates that supported marijuana reform in the past, because there certainly were. However, those candidates were considered to be so far in the minority that they were on the fringe at best. That all changed in 2012. In 2012 two states legalized marijuana, and the game changed forever.

A new summer camp is set to open in Colorado where punters climb cliffs, zip line, cycle and hike – but with a newly legal twist.

CannaCamp, which opens at the start of next month, encourages users to bring their own cannabis for recreational use all over the grounds.

Getty Smoke away: Revellers are actively encouraged to smoke weed on the resort

At the camp, which comes as legalisation for the drug becomes an increasingly hot topic, revellers can enjoy lessons on cooking with marijuana and get cannabis-infused massages.

Some more artistic lovers of the drug can try their hand in an art class or relax with what organisers call "cannabis yoga".