The state governments of New South Wales and Tasmania in Australia have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) relating to collaboration on clinical trials, research and cultivation of cannabis for medical and scientific purposes.Announced earlier today, the partnership will see the two states team up on exploring the potential...

Further evidence has emerged that cannabidiol (CBD),  a compound in cannabis, can be effective in treating epilepsy in children.The evidence was presented at the American Epilepsy Society Annual Meeting early this week.Epidiolex, based on CBD, was administered in addition to the normal regime of anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) taken by...

The state government of Victoria in Australia has introduced legislation into Parliament today that, once passed, will enable legal access to medicinal cannabis in exceptional circumstances.The Access to Medicinal Cannabis Bill 2015 will also provide the necessary framework to allow the beginning of cultivation and manufacturing of medical marijuana...

Minnesota's Commissioner of Health has announced he has added intractable pain as a qualifying condition for state's medical cannabis program. While Commissioner Dr. Ed Ehlinger said firm evidence is "scarce" of medicinal marijuana's benefit in relieving intractable pain, it became clear that the "right and compassionate" choice was to add...

It seems another potential use for medicinal cannabis is to assist opioid users in kicking their habit.Earlier this year, researchers at Columbia University assessed the usefulness of dronabinol in opioid withdrawal.Dronabinol is a pharmaceutical formulation of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive compound in marijuana. Dronabinol is commonly used to treat...

The United States Postal Service has sent out a memo to newspaper publishers in a US state stating they must not mail any publications containing advertisements for marijuana - including medical cannabis.Even if the medicinal cannabis comes from a licensed dispensary; the ban still applies.According to the memo:"If...

Australian Federal Government Minister For Health, Sussan Ley, has announced the local cultivation of marijuana for medicinal or scientific purposes will be carried out under uniform guidelines across the country.When the Federal Government originally announced its intentions in October to seek parliamentary support for a licensing scheme; at...

A token fine of $1.30 has been issued to a man in Canada by a judge who called the country's cannabis laws "obsolete and ridiculous".The accused, a 46 year-old suffering from ongoing pain as a result of a road accident, had sought to acquire a prescription so he could...

A long-established cannabis eradication program that seems to have focused on non-intoxicating industrial hemp may soon be in its death throes, or at least be very much trimmed down.The US Drug Enforcement Administration initiated the Domestic Cannabis Eradication/Suppression Program (DCE/SP) in 1979 and it was adopted by all states...

Canada is growing a lot of industrial hemp; but wasting a great deal of its potential too due to outdated regulations.Approximately 100,000 acres of industrial hemp is being grown in Canada this year. It's a big business, as evidenced by a meeting of 200 producers, processors and industry experts...