CANNABIS NATION

In the face of growing pressure, the administration is lifting a longtime hurdle in marijuana studies. But advocates say more can be done.

"The debate over the role of medical marijuana laws in adolescent marijuana use should cease," researchers said of their 24-year study of teens.

The Senate Appropriations Committee voted Thursday to add an amendment to the Appropriations Act that would prohibit the Justice Department from interfering with state medical marijuana laws.

Feds weigh in on potentially legit cannabis pesticides, but will it be enough to help growers struggling to protect their crops - and consumers who want a safe product?

A record 54 percent of potential California voters said they favor legalizing weed for adults, a 3 percent increase from 2014.

As legal marijuana edibles become more popular among adult consumers, children are inadvertently becoming exposed to the drug.

As marijuana legalization shifts from pipe dream to big business, 45-year-old pot advocacy group NORML struggles to keep pace with a new crop of savvier and better-funded pot lobbyists.

Washington and Oregon voters put pot regulation under the oversight of liquor control agencies, despite their lack of expertise.

With the marijuana industry's lack of banking access becoming a public-safety issue, it is beginning to explore new options.

"You wouldn't want to drink something you thought was a pinot grigio and find out later it was 151 proof rum."

Women are fast entering the nascent marijuana industry, long dominated by men. Some call it a social movement, "like suffrage or civil rights."

Cannabis is big business, with complicated licensing, elusive funding, and major players poised to jump in — as soon as the government legalizes it.

Companies are racing to become the industry leaders in data-mining software, ultraefficient lamps and water-sipping irrigation systems.

As Texas lawmakers consider a bill to soften penalties for marijuana possession, a blitz of TV ads in the state are comparing pot to alcohol.

The recent rise of overdoses and deaths from synthetic cannabinoids, often known by slang names like "spice," "K2" or "black mamba," is alarming U.S. health officials.

Marijuana still isn't legal in Texas, but that hasn't stopped ambitious entrepreneurs.

Colorado's pot prices -- influenced by rising demand and black markets -- are likely to decline in 2015, analysts say.

Participants at this week's Marijuana Investors Summit in Denver say that for the weed industry to really blossom, it needs both capital investment and legal reform.

Congress is unlikely to move quickly to codify, or make permanent, last year's decision not to prosecute medical marijuana businesses.

On this 4/20, IBTimes presents 20 of the most influential people in the cannabis industry — from advocates and business leaders to researchers and journalists.

According to a new poll, 58 percent of Americans see the U.S. legalizing weed in all 50 states within the next 20 years.