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Millions go to child care, public safety and research, but growth stagnates as regulated industry struggles to compete.

California has raised $1 billion in cannabis tax revenue since the industry kicked into gear in January 2018, according to figures recently released by the state.

The bulk of that $1.03 billion in tax money, after covering regulatory costs, has been spent on programs such as child care for low income families, cannabis research, public safety grants and cleaning up public lands harmed by illegal marijuana grows.

The marijuana legalization process in US states is speeding up in 2020. Many new states are coming up with their own proposals to legalize marijuana. The demand for marijuana is high among Americans. However, the lack of legal stores forces consumers to approach the illegal market to obtain their favorite products, which causes a surge in illegal cannabis sales. Now, the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) agrees that state-level legalization could actually help lower the illegal market demand.

Members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe will vote this week on legalizing medical and recreational cannabis on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Reservation in an initiative that many hope will bring economic development to one of the most impoverished areas in the country.

Neither South Dakota nor nearby Wyoming and Nebraska have legalized marijuana, and tribal leaders think marijuana could rake in millions of dollars. If the measure is approved, the Oglala Sioux Tribe would become the only Native American tribe to set up a cannabis market in a state where it’s otherwise illegal.

After a mediocre year in 2019, cannabis companies need something to give the industry a boost.

The cannabis industry in Canada isn't coming off a terribly strong year in 2019. It generated sales of 1.2 billion Canadian dollars during the year, well short of expectations. In 2018, Deloitte projected that the industry's sales for 2019 would be as much as CA$4.3 billion. It's nowhere near that number even though in the latter half of 2019, there was progress; December was a record month with CA$146.2 million in revenue.

Boston’s first pot shop opened Monday, marking the first recreational marijuana store to open in a major East Coast city.

Pure Oasis is also among the few retail stores in the country owned and operated by people of color, who experts say have struggled to break into the industry. Massachusetts’ ballot initiative was the first to insert specific language aimed at encouraging people of color and others harmed by the war on drugs to participate in the new industry.

While South African officials have said hemp may be approved as an agricultural crop as soon as May this year, some stakeholders remain skeptical of the government’s plans, questioning proposed allowable THC levels and a strategy to rely on imported seeds critics say are ill-suited to the South African environment.

The rapid global spread of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 affects every industry on the planet, legal cannabis included.

Early reports indicate dispensaries and adult-use cannabis stores on the West Coast are seeing a mix of sales bumps, or sales slumps, depending on the level of local infection.

Seattle bump, then slump

The CDC recommends everyone have at least one month’s supply of medication on hand—in the likely event supplies are strained, or local stay-at-home orders of 14 or 28 days are issued.

For many folks, cannabis is their medication.

Even though use of marijuana for recreational purposes remains illegal in New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment still gets pretty high – when ranked among other states for dispensary density and tax revenue generated from cannabis sales, that is.

Get ready for stronger regulation of marijuana licensing rules.

Recently, the state of Michigan started getting serious about where dispensaries source their product. On March 2, the state finally began a process that will phase individual caregivers out of the market.

Beginning June 1, the state will limit how much caregiver flower growers and processors can purchase. On Oct. 1, only patients with medical marijuana cards will be able to buy directly from their registered caregivers.