WeedLife News Network

BOSTON (AP) -- As marijuana shops sprout in states that have legalized the drug, they face a critical stumbling block - lack of access to the kind of routine banking services other businesses take for granted.

Black Friday is the time for door-buster electronics sales, deeply discounted fashion and, oh yeah, purchasing holiday gifts for loved ones. And it's also becoming a big shopping day for medical marijuana.

Brands are looking to capitalize on the potential outcomes of Election Day, where voters in a number of states could legalize cannabis, creating massive new markets overnight.

On the eve of a vote that could legalize recreational marijuana in Massachusetts, a Colorado company is preparing to build the state’s largest marijuana greenhouse, a sprawling, high-tech complex that could eventually expand to nearly 1 million square feet.

With the potential end to California’s prohibition on recreational cannabis now before voters in November, it poises to open Humboldt County up to an even larger market.

The shop, which opened its doors in 2015, is run by the city, making it the only government-operated cannabis store in the country.

LANSING — A fully developed legal market for medical marijuana in Michigan could lead to millions of dollars in new state tax revenue.

Denver-based marijuana social networking company MassRoots Inc. has laid off more than 40 percent of its staff and has defaulted on its debt, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission this week.

For the week ended Friday, June 10, the spot price index for a pound of cannabis decreased 3% from $2,086 in the prior week to $2,023.

Colorado marijuana shops sold almost $76.6 million in recreational cannabis for April 2016.

A task force in Oregon, studying energy and water use associated with marijuana production, is likely to recommend that the state do more to educate growers about existing agricultural rules and practices, as well as back a certification process that encourages Oregon's new industry to pay closer attention how it uses natural resources.

From small towns that barely dot the map to the state’s largest urban areas, revenue from retail marijuana sales is helping communities address homelessness, send children to college, patch potholes, secure water rights and fund an array of projects.

Nationwide marijuana legalization could produce up to $28 billion in yearly tax revenue a new study found.

Today, O.penVAPE, a Colorado-based manufacturer of vaporizer devices, cartridges and other marijuana-related products, is announcing that it has "submitted a proposal to partner with the Metropolitan Football Stadium District, home of the Denver Broncos, to sponsor Denver's landmark stadium."

Could failing retail businesses provide the cannabis and warehouse industries with an unexpected spark?

SPOKANE, Wash. – Marijuana sales in Washington continue to rise nearly two years after recreational marijuana became legal in the state.

Farmers have started planting Vermont’s third hemp crop. Though their numbers are few, the acreage devoted to hemp has significantly increased this year, as has the direction of the state’s fledgling hemp industry.

As more and more states legalize marijuana for medical and recreational use, federal state and local governments are in for a tax bonanza, according to a new pair of reports from the nonprofit Tax Foundation.

In the first three months of 2016, Colorado pot shops sold more than $270 million in cannabis and related products, according to new figures from the state Department of Revenue.

As the first city in Southern California to legalize large-scale medical marijuana cultivation, Desert Hot Springs has been inundated by marijuana growers and developers.