CanniMed Ltd. of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan—a Government of Canada licensed supplier of pharmaceutical-grade medical marijuana—offers a free app on the Canadian iTunes App Store that can be used by Canadian medical marijuana patients to keep track of the “Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations (MMPR)” 30 day allowable quantity possession limits. The CanniMed Calculator lets users record their MMPR shipments and set notifications when they can reorder.

A software company recently launched a medicinal marijuana delivery smartphone app a few weeks ago in an effort to bring the pot farmers closer to dispensaries and dispensaries closer to patients.

Joshua Artman, founder and CEO of the Green Exchange, called its free app, Loud Cannabis, a distribution model to streamline the distribution of cannabis from farm to table.

“It’s really learning how it was grown and where it was grown and the quality,” Artman said, calling the current statewide distribution system inefficient and sometimes dangerous.

It is dangerous because sometimes marijuana farmers have to go to dispensaries across the state two to three times before they can get paid for their product, Artman said.

SEATTLE, WA / ACCESSWIRE / June 26, 2015 / The cannabis industry has become one of the fastest growing industries in the U.S. overnight, with several states legalizing medical and recreational marijuana, but the rapid growth hasn't come without its share of growing pains. Without a precedent in place, many states have failed to setup effective testing and labeling programs, creating a dangerous situation for many customers that can only be remedied by stricter standards and better testing.

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Penny F. Whiting, PhD
School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol
The National Institute for Health Research Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care West at University Hospitals, Bristol NHS Foundation Trust, Bristol UK
Kleijnen Systematic Reviews Ltd, Escrick, York, United Kingdom

MedicalResearch: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

WEDNESDAY, June 24, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Virtual reality therapy may help alcoholics battle their addiction, a small study from South Korea suggests.

Researchers recruited 12 people being treated for alcoholism for the study. The volunteers went through a week-long detoxification program and then did two sessions of virtual reality therapy a week for five weeks.

The patients were presented with three virtual scenes: a relaxing environment; a high-risk setting in a restaurant where other people were drinking; and an aversion situation that featured the sights, sounds and smells of people getting sick from drinking too much.

BOULDER, Colo., Jun. 25, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Surna, Inc. (SRNA), a technology company that engineers state-of-the art equipment for controlled environment agriculture ("CEA") with special expertise in cannabis cultivation, announced today they had reached an Agreement with Kind Agrisoft, LLC, an affiliate of Kind Financial (collectively "Kind") in which Kind will acquire the Assets of  Agrisoft Development Group ("Agrisoft").

There are few, if any, facilities like this in North America.

ABcann Medicinals Inc. opened its door to the media Wednesday afternoon.

The medicinal marijuana company has been operating near the end of a quiet road on the outskirts of Napanee since the new year.

The facility was constructed in an existing building, but from the outer walls inward is all brand new and high-tech.

When fully up and running, chief operating officer Geoff Davis said, ABcann Medicinals will be able to produce from between 36 to 55 kilograms (80 to 120 pounds) of medicinal marijuana per month -- enough of the drug to supply about 2,500 patients.

"Hopefully, we are going to grow and have more jobs for the people in Napanee and Greater Napanee," Davis said.

A news feature appearing this week in Boston Globe describes work undertaken by PAINWeek faculty member Robert Jamison, PhD, and his associates to develop and test a smartphone app to help patients and clinicians better manage chronic pain and help to control the costs associated with so doing. Jamison, professor of anesthesia and psychiatry at the Brigham and Harvard Medical School, noted of the effort, “We’re trying to figure out a way to give (patients) support and keep them out of the hospital and prevent unnecessary testing. We really believe this will improve their ability to manage their condition which unfortunately we just can’t fix.” About 70 patients have been testing the app, called PMC 320, which is available in the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store.

Signal Bay, Inc. (OTC: SGBY)  and Cannabis Benchmarks™ a division of New Leaf Data Services, LLC have announced a partnership for Signal Bay to provide expertise in the area of primary industry data research.

Regular readers of MJINews hardly need to be persuaded that the growth of the legal marijuana market has made a number of entrepreneurs and their investors a lot of money. It will yet do more of the same. In another five years the industry could show total revenues of $35 billion, if all 50 states and Washington, D.C., legalize retail marijuana.  

But … there is no profit without risk, and it is well for those who would invest in this field, either capital or entrepreneurial energy or both, that they recognize the risk.