This is a potentially huge new industry, and I believe Washington's law makes them particularly friendly to small entrepreneurs as long as you can get a license.

Only reason I'm not starting a business is because I don't really trust the federal government to keep their hands out of it.

Well, presumably ruchir thought it was an interesting article and our HN peers agreed enough to upvote it. Are you asking how link aggregators work, or why the evolving pot industry warrants discussion on a forum dedicated to startups and tech?

Putting the many medicinal benefit of marijuana aside, it's great to see the rise of an institution aimed at possibly a legal marijuana market within the next decade, regulated and taxed by the government and the many many jobs it will create in the industry.