With the cannabis market growing, the number of events that are offered to those in the industry is growing as well. So why choose this year’s Cannabis Business Summit & Expo over the others?

On Tuesday, West Hollywood stepped out in front of the cannabis dining and entertainment market by approving the country’s first licensed restaurant featuring THC and CBD-infused food. Lowell Farms — a project of marijuana company Lowell Herb Co. — will also offer an open-air smoking area. While cannabis industry types and users rejoiced over the decision, not all neighbors were pleased.  

On Thursday, one biotechnology company in the San Francisco Bay Area announced that it had just completed a massive fundraising round and secured $50 million, thanks to the fact the company has genetically modified brewer’s yeast so that it can ferment sugar into cannabinoids.

As we all know, Prop 64 legalized cannabis for adult use in California. Voters gave it the green light in November 2016, paving the way for legal, licensed dispensaries to open their doors beginning in January 2018. Many Californians celebrated by flocking to dispensary doors and soon afterward consuming their first taste of legal, adult use cannabis. But that’s far from the end of the story, writes Danielle Simone Brand.

California is on the brink of legalizing hemp-derived cannabidiol (“Hemp CBD”) in many products—well, sort of.

Jay-Z is heading into the legal marijuana industry as a chief brand strategist in partnership with a California cannabis product company.

The rapper said in a statement Tuesday that he entered a multiyear deal with San Jose, California-based Caliva. His role will consist of driving creative direction, outreach efforts and strategy for the brand.

Jay-Z says he also wants to increase the economic participation of people returning from incarceration through job training and workforce development.

The rapper called Caliva "the best partners for this endeavour."

Caliva operates a farm and two stores in Northern California. It also distributes its branded products in roughly two dozen other retail outlets in the state.

California cannabis manufacturer Apex Extractions announced on Tuesday that it is launching a new subscription program that will deliver top-quality cannabis concentrates directly to California consumers. The Apex Fresh Club, as the program is known, will send a selection of three concentrates with cannabis sourced from some of California’s finest cultivators to a discerning clientele.

Two years ago, California voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 64, which legalized adult cannabis use. Fast forward two years later, and the illicit market is “getting worse, not better.”

California cannabis regulators launched a new campaign on Friday that aims to combat the illicit marijuana market by educating consumers about the risks of unlicensed operators. Lori Ajax, the Chief of the Bureau of Cannabis Control (BCC), said in a press release that the statewide “Get #weedwise” public information program will encourage consumers to only purchase cannabis products from licensed businesses and serve as a warning to unlicensed companies to submit to regulation.

As cannabis and CBD legalization sweeps across North America, one problematic area to date has been food, drinks, and cosmetics that contain CBD.

California just made a groundbreaking decision in the right direction. As long as the food or beverage contains CBD (Cannabidiol) that is derived from hemp and not from cannabis, it will soon be legal for retail sale and consumption in California. That also includes topicals and other cosmetics that contain CBD.