Last year this column broke the story about a packet circulated to a select group by Merrill Lynch, the investment arm of Bank of America. The report stayed far away from implying any interaction with plants, instead meticulously cataloging the "life sciences" equipment manufacturers showing an uptick in sales. These already healthy companies stand to grow steadily because they sell the high-end machinery essential to producing cannabis products at an industrial scale. Merrill Lynch was bullish on the whole sector.