LeafLink has released the first LeafLink List, a ranking of the best-selling and fastest-growing brands and products on its platform, writes Alex Oleinic a Benzinga Staff Writer.

The Best-Selling Cannabis Brands In 2018

The top brand identified by LeafLink is dosist, a pre-filled dose pen that provides 50 or 200 doses in a recyclable vaporizing device.

In the same top brands category, the fastest-growing brand is Summit, which markets cannabis concentrates, waxes, terp sugars, vape pens, cartridges and more

The cannabis industry is attracting entrepreneurs aiming to capture a slice of the market, which BDS Analytics and ArcView Market Research estimate could reach $11 billion this year and grow to $23 billion by 2022, writes Alex Oleinic a Benzinga Staff Writer.

In a short span, the industry has evolved beyond the traditional flower and into more complex branded consumer products.

Massachusetts became the first state on the East Coast Tuesday to allow recreational marijuana sales, meaning tens of millions of adult consumers, including those in New York City, are now within a three-hour drive from a pot shop.

CBS News correspondent Tony Dokoupil reports from Northampton, Massachusetts, where one of two stores opening in the state is located and where David Narkewicz will welcome legal recreational marijuana as both the ceremonial first customer and the town's mayor.

"I think there's a lot going on here in trying to bring marijuana out of the shadows," Narkewicz said.

Thursday is supposed to be all about turkey, but Wednesday is apparently all about THC. Cannabis industry insiders are predicting a sales high as pot smokers stock up on supplies before the Thanksgiving holiday.

Shiran Shiravi, the director of consumer communications at Eaze, a company that delivers cannabis products in California, expects to handle nearly double the doobie deliveries of a typical Wednesday, based on past results.

It’s been a persistent urban myth among some cannabis advocates that the Declaration of Independence and its 56 signatures were written on hemp paper. Of course, that theory has been thoroughly debunked by researchers at Monticello (Thomas Jefferson’s estate), the Library of Congress and the National Archives. The final document signed by the founding fathers at the Continental Congress in July 1776 was engrossed on parchment made from animal skin. The original rough draft, written by Jefferson and kept among the Jefferson Papers collection at the Library of Congress, has watermarks indicating it to be Dutch-made paper consisting of flax or linen rags.

New York is hoping to become the next budding state to join those that legalized recreational adult-use marijuana.  Buffalo took center stage in the ongoing debate Monday with City Hall hosting the second of four statewide public hearings.

Those both for and against legalization spoke out.  Jobs were a hot topic. A study by a cannabis analytics group cited by Forbes, reported federally legalizing could add more than 650,000 jobs.

The Medical Marijuana program first started four years ago in New York and since its conception, it has grown considerably. The Department of Health released its two-year report outlining some of the successes of the program and ways it can grow.

"This program really has helped thousands of patients," Nicole Quackenbush, Director of Medical Marijuana Program for the Department of Health, said.

In just the past two years, the medical marijuana program has expanded to include chronic pain, PTSD and opioids as reasons why patients could receive medical marijuana.

After months of delay and backroom disputes, state lawmakers are expected to finally take action next week on legalizing marijuana for adults over age 21. 

And it's getting the fast-track treatment, even though legislative leaders and  Gov. Phil Murphy remain at odds over details of the legislation.

Separate Assembly and Senate committees will meet together for a hearing of debate and are expected to vote on the legalization bill (S2703) on Monday, Nov. 26 at 10 a.m., according to sources familiar with the plan.

Good news for bee fans; hemp fields may hold a worst-case cache of nutrients for hungry colonies, according to a study done by a Colorado State etymology student. Last week, Colton O’Brien presented, in a gathering of etymological societies, his discovery of a total of 23 bee genera in traps that he set up in a hemp field in August.

When a major problem exists, there’s a great opportunity for a company or a segment of an industry to come in and create a solution. This is where companies go from barely known startups to culture-changing profit-generators.  And, when the problem has to do with health matters that have reached a critical mass, the opportunity for businesses to serve the greater good is even more enormous.