Pax Labs, the San Francisco maker of a popular electronic cigarette, announced $46.7 million in new funding Wednesday — a sign of investor confidence not only in the booming vaporizer market but also in the marijuana industry.

Formerly known as Ploom, the maker of the Pax and JUUL vaporizers will use the investment to expand its technology into other spaces as well as expand its current products overseas. Currently, the product is only sold in the U.S. and Canada.

Despite an ongoing national trend showing that acceptance of marijuana, particularly for medical use, is continuing to swing upwards, there are continued signs of a marijuana backlash in some states. This is affecting not only patients but the business community that aims to support them.

In Illinois, this could not be any better illustrated than the current trials and travails facing both. The unbelievably low number of patient registrations to date has led one company who had won a state license to return it. Green Thumb Industries, the original owner of the license, did not want to pay both the $200,000 registration as well as commit to the required $2 million escrow.

Though cannabis in general has a learning curve, perhaps the most intimidating and mysterious aspect for new users is concentrates.

When a customer walks into a medical dispensary or recreational shop looking to try something new, a query about concentrates often results in a barrage of unfamiliar terms, and he or she has little to no frame of reference for quality, dosage, expected effects or ways to consume.

The golf crowd is not one usually associated with progressive marijuana policy, and yet as the U.S. Open begins this morning in Tacoma, Washington, the tournament will allow spectators to bring marijuana to the course.

When people head onto the grass of the Chambers Bay course from June 18 to 21, volunteers will be checking the attendees’ bags and confiscating items including weapons and water bottles, but not taking anyone’s personal supply of a different sort of grass, event organizers told SB Nation.

Earlier this week, Above the Law hosted a marijuana law reception in Denver, Colorado, at Legal Talk Network. The event was very well-attended — in fact, we hosted a standing-room only crowd. We couldn’t have been happier with how this event turned out. For a night of discussion with a rather serious intention, there were plenty of laughs and personal anecdotes shared with a more than attentive audience.

One of the key arguments used by opponents of legalizing medical marijuana in Florida should be put to rest. A study recently published in The Lancet Psychiatry concludes that medical marijuana laws do not increase use of marijuana by teenagers. As the supporters of medical marijuana prepare for another campaign for a constitutional amendment, this important study should reduce the overheated rhetoric and ease some public concerns.

LOS ARRIEROS, Texas - U.S. Border Patrol agents assigned to the Rio Grande Sector successfully seized more than 1,600 pounds of marijuana late Wednesday night.

The seizure occurred when Border Patrol agents working with game wardens noticed an abandoned Chevrolet Suburban in the brush near Los Arrieros.  

As agents approached the Suburban, they found 72 bundles of marijuana.

The seizure had an estimated value of more than $1.3 million. 

PATRICK CO., Va. -

The largest outdoor marijuana grow ever found in Virginia was discovered in Patrick County on Wednesday morning, according to the Patrick County Sheriff's Office.

Authorities found the vast network of makeshift terraces in a remote area on the southeast side of Bull Mountain around 6 a.m. after conducting surveillance.

There were 35 different grow areas, yielding a total of 30,255 plants. Deputies estimate the street value at $30 million to $105 million.

The plants were located about two miles from the nearest public road.

Patrick County Sheriff Dan Smith said there were crude trail systems cut through the mountain side.

As cannabis oil activist and Crohn's disease patient Shona Banda, who lost custody of her son and is facing over 30 years in prison after her son spoke out about her cannabis oil treatment during a school anti-drug presentation, surrendered herself to authorities, her attorney Sarah Swain said at a press conference that she intends to challenge cannabis' classification as a hardcore Schedule 1 narcotic with no medical use as a part of her defense of Banda and that she will take her case to the Supreme Court if necessary.

A particular strain of cannabis oil is showing remarkable benefits for children with severe epilepsy.

As a parent watching your child suffer with uncontrollable bouts of epileptic seizures, is there anything you wouldn’t do to make it stop? Would asinine state laws based on primitive mentalities prevent you from giving your child an effective treatment?

“My goal for him is to hear his voice…to hear him talk. We just want him to be happy,” says one parent in this heart-wrenching video.