Congressman Dana Rohrbacher (R-Calif.), an industry supporter, believes Trump will leave legal states alone. The New York Times examines how California companies are adapting to the legal market.

In Maryland, Black lawmakers are furious that the state is moving forward to award dispensary licenses, despite outrage that none of the initial grow licenses were given to African-Americans.

Reason tracks the “ uneven course” of REC sales in Oregon. California may amend a tax rule favorable to MED consumers.

A few cities in south Florida have created a six-month moratorium on MED dispensaries. The new year could bring new vigor to the push for MED in Georgia.

Arkansas may delay its MED program. North Dakota too.

MED won a substantial victory in South Africa.

Cannabis private equity firm Privateer Holdings, which has raised $122M, has its eye on overseas markets.

The Financial Times does a deep dive into how the alcohol industry thinks about cannabis.

The New York Times visits a Washington grow that’s experimenting with energy efficient lights. Theworld’s largest marijuana factory could be built in Alberta. USAToday explores the $25 billion business opportunity in California.

LAWeekly asks if cannabis is a better business for Native Americans than casinos. The paper also says cannabis marketing is getting “ classier.”

The Texas Standard explains the huge proposed jump in CBD-oil business fees.

More industry trade groups are sprouting.

Due to safety concerns, Denver’s new social use rule will not include bars and other establishments with liquor licenses. Bar owners are not happy.

The NYTImes asks whether insurers will pay for patients’ MED.

New York broadened its MED law. Utah is studying its very-limited MED program.

The Onion weighs in on the possibility that weed weakens heart muscles.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms has strengthened language confirming that marijuana users can’t buy guns.

The Inlander tells the story of Isaiah Wall, a teenaged police informant who ended up dead.

The Global Commission on Drug Policy, which includes former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, recommended that all drugs should be decriminalized.

Cannabis should be legalized, according to an new report from the Adam Smith Institute, a U.K. think tank. It has the equivalent of bipartisan support.

In Scotland, a court accepted a man’s explanation that his £25,000 in plants are for personal consumption.

Air travelers out of Fairbanks, Alaska can keep their weed, the TSA confirmed.

A barely-clothed model was hired to serve as a charcuterie platter during an industry party in Las Vegas. A photograph of her covered in what looks like salami, prosciutto and other cold cuts sparked some outrage. (Robert Weakley, CEO of Altai Brands, took responsibility and apologized.)

A report found that cannabis “ medicinals and personal care products” could be a $2 billion industry by 2020. Sales of high-CBD products are growing among non-traditional cannabis users.

The new REC states have big plans for pot taxes. The Cannabist alerts them to “ five immediate concerns” about the industry.

Kris Krane, president of consulting firm 4Front Ventures, pooh-poohs the notion of Big Pot.

“There isn’t some megalithic industry that exists today…The notion that there are these gigantic, big-money players running in to take this whole thing over is just a fiction. There’s no Philip Morris, no Anheuser-Busch, no cannabis division at Bank of America. Even the most successful company is still barely in the growth stage.”

September was the third-straight best-month-ever for Colorado dispensaries.

A company called CanPay has what it calls the first “legitimate” debit payment system for dispensaries. The customer pays with a QR code accessed on their phone.

The Post Office has few safeguards for stopping employees who intercept weed sent through the mail.

Employers in California will still be able to fire workers who test positive. The San Jose Mercury News piece mentions that near one drug testing lab in Colorado, workers who arrive with containers of someone else’s clean urine tend to heat it up in a nearby convenience store’s microwave.

Canadian firms appear to be gouging the government healthcare system by signing up veteran MED patients for expensive strains according to a Vice report. Canadian companies could also benefit if there’s a crackdown in the U.S.

The Toronto Stock Exchange halted trading of six surging cannastocks. Some market watchers think it’sstill too early to invest.

Heavy rains in southern Oregon will force growers to torch moldy crops. Some rural Colorado communities derive much needed revenue from pot.

Florida entrepreneurs are excited about MED.

Jamaica’s licensing authority received 89 applications.

“ Could Delaware become a tax-free cannabis haven?” Small-scale Northern California growers areadjusting to legalization.

The U.S. Surgeon General says most illegal drug users don’t receive treatment. Many of them don’t want or need treatment, Reason says.

A study suggests that cannabis use can weaken heart muscles, particularly in young men. Read it here.

The journal Science says that the lower potency of plants from the one federally-sanctioned grow ( the one in Mississippi) undermines studies conducted with those plants.

Scientists are working on a new drug that functions like MED without the psychoactive effect.

Recent studies suggest that cannabis use may have mental health benefits and could have a role in curtailing opiate use.

Viceland uncovers a U.K. network of underground MED providers who give it away to patients.

British Columbia Premier Christy Clark, a Liberal, said police had discovered pot and other drugs laced with the powerful opiate fentanyl. Vancounver police denied it.

Some researchers are starting to take psychedelics seriously, as therapy. Also see this.

Social network MassRoots, defaulted on almost $1 million in debt payments and laid off about 40% of its staff, according to SEC filings. This week Chairman and CEO Isaac Dietrich, wrote an upbeat letter to shareholders that did not reference either setback. The company has raised more than $5 million.