Tens of thousands of visitors — by some estimates 80,000 — came to Denver to mark 420 (April 20), a date that’s emerged as a holiday among those steeped in cannabis culture.

What a difference a year makes. From 4/20, 2013, to 4/20, 2014, marijuana has taken big steps out of the shadows of the black market and into the light of the mainstream — from record high popular support and the first legal recreational sales, to an entire country legalizing marijuana.

America’s most mammoth party this weekend may well be Denver’s 420 rally on Sunday, but Colorado’s legal pot law, so far, has not lured a sustained surge of out-of-state weed lovers, say trade advocates for the state’s hotels and restaurants.

Washington US Attorney Jenny Durkan assessed the state’s poorly-regulated medical cannabis program in 2013. “Not tenable“. Igor Grant, director of the Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research at UC San Diego, used the same words to challenge the DEA’s categorization of marijuana as a Schedule I drug.

A list compiled by an addiction treatment organization lists Nebraska as one of the nation’s most strict when it comes to marijuana arrests. According to the data, Nebraska reported 10,996 marijuana arrests for each 100,000 users.

Even though Election Day is more than six months away, Ben Pollara, a veteran of Florida political campaigns and manger for the pro-marijuana referendum group, said there are good reasons to start encouraging yes votes now.

A change this month in Canada’s production and distribution laws made it legal for any licensed company to grow and ship medical marijuana to patients, and illegal for patients to grow their own, a dozen new entrants in the industry could be worth as much as $1.2 billion in a decade.

Blake Griffin said in a Rolling Stone interview this week that he would support the use of medical marijuana in the NBA in part because it would ween players off traditional prescription painkillers.

The Des Moines Register reports on a recent Quinnipiac Poll, 81 percent of Iowa voters said they would support medical marijuana should a patient need it per a doctor’s recommendation.

Reno City Council unanimously approved the concept of the medical marijuana business Wednesday, directing city staff to come up with ordinances and zoning requirements to oversee dispensaries, grow-houses, testing labs and kitchens for edible pot products.

Under the proposed rules for the new Illinois law, would-be pot entrepreneurs need a $2 million surety bond, $250,000 in liquid assets, $25,000 for an application fee, $200,000 for a permit fee and an approved site.

VIP Cannabis was among a group of medical marijuana businesses that were allowed to operate while the state processed their license applications, a process that dragged on for years. The dispensary is no longer selling medical marijuana, putting it in compliance with a state order.

The Rhode Island House of Representatives Committee on Judiciary is scheduled to hold a hearing on a bill that would legalize, regulate and tax marijuana similarly to alcohol.

Travelers heading to Denver with a desire to “wake and bake” will have new lodging to consider this May, when a local hospitality group launches the latest in a handful of marijuana-friendly accommodations in the area.

Three times each day, 19-year-old Katie Solman of Bangor, Maine adds drops of a medical marijuana tincture into a cup of juice or tea and swallows it. Solman and her mother  joined other parents and activists, who gathered to urge President Barack Obama to remove medical marijuana from the federal government’s list of scheduled drugs.

Now that the state’s medical marijuana program has been revived, officials say it will take about 15 months for the first patients to buy the drug legally in Maryland. Doctors, growers and dispensaries are waiting to learn the details of regulations that will govern the fledgling medical marijuana industry.

The free market has done wonders for the marijuana entrepreneurial spirit in Colorado. Could the state position itself as the Silicon Valley of pot? Enter the marijuana vending machine. Developed by a Colorado company, the vending machine called Zazz, debuted in Avon, Colorado.

High Times reports, “A pro-marijuana message posted on Twitter last year led to the suspension of an Ohio high school soccer player, who has since filed a lawsuit against the school district, claiming a violation of his First Amendment rights and denial of due process.”

There’s a reason patients call it “Hellth Canada,” and it’s not because they’re doing a hell of a job. Health Canada has been running Canada’s medical marijuana program from the beginning, and they’re really bad at it! Here’s the top 6 ways they’ve been screwing up.

According to a release from Hotels.com, “Denver and the state of Colorado have seen a spike in travel interest since the sale of recreational marijuana was legalized to anyone 21 or older at the start of the year. Denver has seen a 25 percent increase in hotel searches in the first three months of this year compared to 2013.”