NORML, Peter Dunne and Family First all agree patients should have more access to effective medicinal cannabis. The question is How?

Instead of wasting time and money on years of pharmaceutical-level testing, NORML says we should follow the Australian approach, treat it as a herbal remedy, and immediately allow compassionate access.

Reduced Penalties Aim to Give Youth a Second Chance

The twin-island nation of Antigua and Barbuda announced on Friday, May 8, the launch of a commission to oversee the process of decriminalizing the possession of small quantities of marijuana.+

Social Transformation Minister Samantha Marshall is to head the five-member commission made up of both ruling party and opposition lawmakers, government spokesman Lionel Hurst told media following a cabinet meeting.+

 
Antigua and Barbuda have created a commission to oversee the decriminalization of marijuana possession. 

Hurst says the government wants to give young people with a criminal drug history a second chance.+

On May 5th 2015, James Comer, Commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Agriculture (KDA), held a press conference in a Lexington-based tobacco facility belonging to G.F. Vaughan, the last remaining tobacco processor in Kentucky.

His message was historic, his location symbolic: the first year of state-sanctioned industrial hemp farming under the Farm Bill succeeded, and the pilot program’s second year promises to be bigger and better, with the potential to elevate the entire state economy by restoring industrial hemp as the new “cash crop.”

Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters disclosed Monday that he has convened a task force to study the impact that marijuana legalization would have on the state of Ohio, its work to be funded by the organization trying to legalize pot in Ohio.

In a written announcement, Mr. Deters said the study group of policy experts and elected officials will research the public health, public safety, and economic impacts of medical and personal legalization. David Little, a spokesman for Mr. Deters, said the other members of the task force will be disclosed when the study is released.

Luxembourg's Parliament is to debate the decriminalisation of cannabis, the health minister said while outlining a new drug prevention programme. 

On Monday, Lydia Mutsch explained that drug use in Luxembourg has steadily increased from 2009 to 2014. 

Among new measures proposed to curb its rise, the minister said that a broad debate in Parliament would take place to consider decriminalising the consumption of cannabis. 

Smoking hashish has repeatedly raised safety questions but there remains a large number of voices in favour of relaxing the law on its consumption. 

"There is no threat of closure of the headquarters of the Council for Research in agricoltuta (CRA) of Rovigo, the only center in Italy authorized to produce cannabis for therapeutic use", announced the Ministry of Agriculture in a statement released to news agencies, a time to deny the news release Saturday announcing the closure of the center of Rovigo, only one in Italy where you make cannabis research.

Losing a child is the worst nightmare any parent could imagine, a nightmare that is much harder to bear when you know that there may have been something you could have done to prevent such an awful tragedy. As unimaginable as this scenario is for most parents, preventable deaths are happening at an alarming rate as politicians argue about whether or not marijuana is medicine (we did some checking, it is). At this crucial time in history, a moment when the science on medical marijuana has become crystal clear, our government leaders can no longer afford to move slowly on reform measures. The lives of our children depend on this.

Law enforcement operating in medical marijuana states could be forced to dig deeper than just evidence of a home grow operation to establish probable cause for a search warrant.

Recently, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts determined that in order for police to obtain a warrant to search a residence for illegal marijuana possession or cultivation, they must first be able to prove that the occupants of the dwelling are not properly registered to engage in such activities.

Dutch police discovered and dismantled 6,006 marijuana plantations in 2014, slightly up on 2013’s total, website Nu.nl reports on Monday. In total, police seized over 1.6 million plants and nearly 230,000 seedlings plus 2,000 kilos of prepared marijuana – highlighting the scale of domestic production. The biggest rise in seizures was in the Zeeland-West Brabant police district, where the number of plantations was up 27%. There was also an 18% rise in Rotterdam. This year the government is making a major effort to stamp out production and has made it a criminal offence for companies to supply people with lamps, fertilizer and other equipment if they suspect it is being used to grow marijuana. All but around 300 of the plantations were indoors.
 

Head of the Cannabis Working Group Andre du Plessis lit up and smoked what appears to be cannabis on SABC Newsroom show during a live TV interview on Monday.  

Du Plessis  has been part of many campaigns advocating for the legalisation of cannabis in South Africa. He says South Africa is not moving fast enough in terms of legalising cannabis.

Central Drug Authority (CDA) deputy Chairperson David Nayever says the CDA is aware that the legalisation of cannabis is something that needs to be investigated seriously and to looks at what is best for South Africa.  

The CDA is 11 years late in presenting its position paper. Please don’t bring xenophobia into this as a form excuse into being late and doing your job