An Internal Revenue Service agent was arrested Monday morning after being charged with accepting a bribe from a Seattle pot shop owner.

Seattle man Paul G. Hurley, 42, faces a federal charge of soliciting and agreeing to receive a bribe by a public official and two counts of receiving a bribe by a public official. He has been charged in U.S. District Court at Seattle.

Prosecutors say Hurley demanded $20,000 from the marijuana shop owner in exchange for granting him lenience in an audit, despite the business owner never requesting a break.

After the bribe proposition, the pot shop owner reported Hurley to federal authorities, who supervised the subsequent handover of money, according to charging papers.

You can count on one hand the number of chief executives of large companies who publicly support the legalization of marijuana. The list goes as follows: 

At the Cannabis World Congress and Business Exposition last week in Los Angeles, one thing was striking: the number of women in attendance and delivering presentations was off the charts. In an industry that is just becoming organized, as more U.S. states and countries legalize the use of cannabis, women have discovered an opportunity to claim their place right at the beginning.

They're opening dispensaries, creating consumer products, lobbying for the widespread use of this demonized plant as its beneficial proprieties becomes evident. The legal cannabis market is increasingly attracting women in all aspects – and that's why Newsweek recently wrote this might be the first billion-dollar market to be dominated by women instead of men.

On The Heels of Being Named The Most Visited Site in the Cannabis Sector By Awesomepova, the Largest Medical Marijuana Delivery Service Surges Forward

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 21, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- SpeedWeed, California's largest, most experienced and fastest growing medical marijuana delivery service has entered into a strategic partnership with HelloMD, a service that connects members to doctors who can authorize their recommendation and allow them to get their legal marijuana prescription via online video consultations.  

In this episode Matthew Kind welcomes Bryce Berryessa to CannaInsider. Bryce is an extraction wizard and he opens up the kimono and shares the most intimate and granular details about how to create winning edibles and concentrates.

On marijuana, the new head of the Drug Enforcement Agency said, “If we come up with a medical use for it, that would be wonderful. But we haven't.”

The head of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) made headlines last month by admitting that marijuana is less harmful than heroin, but in a new interview he says that cannabis should not be rescheduled.

WASHINGTON — Despite ample evidence pointing to the therapeutic, non-addictive qualities of marijuana, the new head of the Drug Enforcement Agency wants to keep it legally classified alongside heroin and other highly addictive substances.

PORTLAND, Ore. — About 15 years ago, when she was in her 20s, Erika Walton handed a bong to someone who turned out be a police officer, and was cited for marijuana possession. She paid the fine, she said, but the violation lingered on, haunting her record.

On a recent afternoon, Walton was at a free legal clinic here in Oregon’s largest city, filling out paperwork to have that infraction forever sealed. Once the process is complete, she will be able to legally say to an employer, landlord or anybody else who asks that she has never been convicted or cited for any drug crime at all.

“It’s taken away a lot of my life,” Walton said as she inked out her fingerprints, which Oregon requires applicants for sealing to file. 

The budding marijuana industry is coming up against some major challenges from the titans of Wall Street, with several major banks saying they will steer clear of providing services to medical cannabis firms.

New York’s financial elite did not cite any policy or moral objections to cannabis. Instead, they explained that the law remains too opaque for them to take the risk of servicing marijuana businesses.

New York has so far licensed five businesses to sell and dispense medical marijuana. Five of the financial industry’s biggest names told Politico New York the services they would refuse to offer included handling deposits. They would also refuse to allow bank issued debit cards to buy marijuana.

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Just two months after Minnesota launched its medical marijuana program, some patients turned off by high costs say they are back to buying the drug illegally because it's the only way they can afford it.

State officials and the companies hired to make marijuana products trumpeted the program's medical approach — pills and oils, no leaf products — when it launched in July. But some patients say the highly restricted and regulated system is costing them hundreds or even thousands of dollars a month— none of it covered by insurance.

NEW YORK, Sept. 21, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Willie Nelson and Tuatara Capital, L.P. are pleased to announce their partnership to establish Willie's Reserve, a premium cannabis lifestyle brand. Tuatara Capital will lead an investor group that is financing the development of American music legend Willie Nelson's cannabis brand. Founded in 2014, Tuatara Capital is a specialized alternative investment manager focused on supporting high-growth companies in the legal cannabis industry.

The investor group led by Tuatara Capital shares Willie Nelson's passion and vision for the cannabis category.