WeedLife News Network

Steve Mollman ~ Quartz.com ~   Economic turmoil in China, the world’s second-largest economy and top consumer of industrial metals, has hit commodity prices hard. For the smaller players in the mining industry, that’s made business difficult, and the future uncertain.

Alexandra Posadzki ~ The Canadian Press ~   TORONTO – When Sarah Stuive first got into the natural pest control business – which uses predatory insects, or “good bugs,” to weed out pests – she never expected to be working with cannabis plants.

Charlotte Albright ~ Vermont Public Radio ~ A group of Vermont business leaders called the Vermont Cannabis Collaborative has been inviting public comment on the best way to create a safe, sustainable marijuana industry.

Laura Brodbeck ~ Benzinga ~   A new study suggests that marijuana users have a lower body mass index than non-users.

Emily Muirhead ~ Seattlepi.com ~   For decades, people of color have paid a heavy price for the war on drugs. It’s well known that minorities are arrested and jailed at disproportionate rates on marijuana-related charges.

Steven Nelson ~ U.S. News & World Report ~ An Ohio ballot measure makes some reformers squirm, but backers says its grower oligopoly is nothing to worry about.

Julie Johnson ~ The Press Democrat ~ Near the heart of the remote Round Valley in Mendocino County, a back-to-the-land father and cannabis farmer is trying to get in on the ground floor of an industry that could skyrocket if recreational use of marijuana is legalized in California next year.

Brittan Jenkins, Martin do Nascimento and Tom Blanton ~ Carnegie-Knight News21 initiative via NBCNews.com ~   Passed by California voters nearly two decades ago, but absent statewide regulation, the legalization of medical marijuana has spawned a vast network of illegal dispensaries and wide disparities over how businesses are monitored across the state - if they are at all.

Conor Shine ~ Las Vegas Sun ~   Fifteen years after medical marijuana was legalized in Nevada, Clark County’s first retail dispensary plans to open to the public Monday.

Bruce Kennedy ~ WeedWorthy ~   Researchers are taking advantage of new federal measures that allow universities to conduct research on industrial hemp.

Lee Shearer ~ OnlineAthens.com ~ A University of Georgia graduate student used crowdsourcing to take a look at marijuana prices across the country.

Kelsey Warner ~ Christian Science Monitor ~   Colorado's initial efforts to deter teens from taking up marijuana drew criticism for recycling Drug War-era scare tactics. Public health officials seek to strike a different tone with the 'What's next" campaign.

Kristen Taketa ~ Dallas Morning News ~ FRISCO — Ah, the energizing power of a smoothie packed with blueberries, bananas, yogurt and ... cannabis?

Clarissa Cooper and Michael Bodley ~ Carnegie-Knight News21 initiative via NBCNews.com ~   DENVER — Every month, Jamie Perino hires a security detail to come to her three recreational marijuana dispensaries. They stop by, collect thousands of dollars in cash and head out to deliver the money to the state, county and city.

Bruce Kennedy ~ WeedWorthy ~   A Silicon Valley veteran wants to become the next Milton Bradley with his cannabis trivia board game.

Jayson Chesler and Alexa Ard, News21 ~ via USAToday.com ~   Research on marijuana’s potential for medicinal use has been hampered for years by federal restrictions, even though nearly half of the states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana in some form.