Washington state is updating its cannabis packaging and labeling rules. The Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB) used information derived from a workgroup of I-502 stakeholders, the Department of Health, and the Washington State Poison Control Center to take a “global” look at cannabis packaging and labeling. They also included consumer surveys in the decision-making process.

The WSLCB hopes these changes will make labels easier to read, easier to understand and less onerous for businesses. Businesses may begin updating their labels now, but all label changes must be in effect by January 1, 2019.

Meet an award-winning grow team from Washington who’ve perfected large-scale indoor pot farming using a combination of careful strain selection, modern science and age-old wisdom.

The City of Flowers

Common wisdom in the cannabis-cultivation community has it that as growers scale up the size of their grow space, the quality of their product inevitably suffers. Indeed, it is quite difficult to produce A-grade flowers in a massive warehouse, but it certainly can be done.

Marijuana prohibition never stopped marijuana sales. Blocking legal marijuana businesses from the legal banking system isn't working, either.

The legal marijuana industry in the United States is awash in cash. Literally.

On a big-sky plateau on the eastern slope of the Cascades, a 10-acre parcel of land has been trashed by illicit pot farmers. Abandoned equipment rusts and jugs of chemicals molder.

Marijuana legalization wasn't supposed to look like this.

Five years into its experiment with legal, regulated cannabis, Washington state is finding that pot still attracts criminals.

Okanogan County Chief Criminal Deputy Steve Brown helped raid this farm last fall. What was striking, he says, is how brazen it was: located just off the road, within sight of neighbors. Before legalization, he says, an operation like this would at least have been hidden up in the hills.

In order to address ongoing issues with Leaf Data Systems (LDS) — Washington state’s traceability database, built by MJ Freeway — the Washington State Liquor Control Board (LCB) is in negotiations with Gartner Consulting to do an independent evaluation of the LDS’ implementation.

Already holding a contract with the LCB, the firm will be asked to evaluate the software development process, determine the source of issues that licensees in the field have been experiencing, and develop recommendations and an action plan to mitigate identified deficiencies and the problems’ root causes.

The cost of the assessment is unknown at this time but will come out of the LCB’s budget, according to a spokesperson for the agency.

CFN Media Group (“CFN Media”), the leading agency and financial media network dedicated to the North American cannabis industry, announces publication of an article covering Vancouver technology company, BLOCKStrain Technology Corp. (TSX-V:SR.H).

According to Friday’s federal report on non-farm payrolls, the unemployment rate in the United States has dropped to 3.9%. Among other things that means its getting harder for employers to find employees and that difficulty is leading to a drop in testing potential employees for marijuana use.

Even the Trump administration has mellowed somewhat. Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta told a congressional hearing last month that “with all these Americans looking for work … are we aligning our … drug testing policies with what’s right for the workforce?”

Pop-up pot shops and cannabis confabs have been on the rise in the nation's capital, as would-be marijuana businesses try to find new ways to engage potential customers since Washington legalized the possession of small amounts of the drug three years ago.

Since the district's Initiative 71 went into effect in 2015, people 21 years and up can possess up to two ounces of pot. It's not O.K. to buy it or sell it, but people can transfer up to one ounce of the drug to another person of age ー a practice known as "gifting."

"We gift all the time, but a lot of people who want to get compensated, they have someone buy something else in exchange," said Lisa Scott, founder of the D.C. marijuana edible company Bud Appetit.

A low unemployment rate and the spreading legalization of marijuana have led many businesses to rethink their drug testing policies for the first time in decades. A small but increasing number are simply no longer testing for pot.

For small businesses, however, how to handle these challenges may be a tougher call than for bigger corporations. There is a bewildering patchwork of state laws regarding medical and recreational marijuana use.

Care for some cannabis-infused pumpkin pie? Then hopefully you don’t reside in Washington state, where the government prohibits the sale of marijuana pumpkin pie, custard pie or anything prepared with egg. This is just one of the many peculiar and specific state regulations on edibles that legislators and regulatory boards have put into place in the states where cannabis is legal for adult use.