Cannabis oil as a sunscreen additive?

'I've been preaching about [how] cannabis cures cancer since 2008," Laurie Gaddis says. And she's been preaching it because it works.

Gaddis moved to Colorado from Arizona after she was diagnosed with a rare form of skin cancer she says comes from her father's exposure to Agent Orange in the Vietnam War. She says she's been a medical marijuana refugee for nearly a decade.

The patchwork of state laws under a federal ambiguity that has gotten worse with Attorney General Jeff Sessions' anti-pot statements has created hundreds of medical marijuana refugees who have to move to a state where they can get the kind of medicine either they or their doctor feel is necessary.

A recent Facebook post by the Bengaluru City Police which read, “If there was someone selling drugs, weed know. Caught these two with 6.68Kgs of Ganja” has been all the rage in social media circles. While the witty message was appreciated by many, the perpetual debate on legalisation of cannabis/marijuana in the country was sparked yet again. 

The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985 was last amended in the year 2014. According to the law, cannabis (hemp) including charas (the crude or purified resin), ganja (flowering or fruiting tops) or any mixture resulting from the two is considered as illegal. Although, if one consumes only the seeds and leaves of the same plant then it is absolutely lawful (that’s why bhang is legal).  

For all the talk surrounding the negatives of long-term medical marijuana use, we often forget to mention the positives. Of course, since scientists’ hands are tied behind their backs with regards to research, we cannot say for certain what the long-term positives and negatives of marijuana consumption are.

What we can do, however, is 'connect the dots' and come up with some sensible ideas as to how and why cannabis may prove to be positive in the long-term. Here are three ways cannabis could be good for you in the long-term.

Alberta’s newest medical marijuana operation is planting the seeds that could turn the quiet hamlet of Peers into one of the crown jewels in Canada’s cannabis kingdom.

In March, Acreage Pharma Ltd. became the second licensed pot producer in the province, opening a 630-square-metre facility near the tiny community south of the McLeod River.

But that building is just the start. Company co-founder Trevor Dixon hopes to break ground soon on a larger plant beside it, and is looking at a 23,000-square-metre third phase that would place the overall development among the country’s largest cannabis producers.

MGC Pharmaceuticals are on track to launch their dermatological product range in Europe in the third quarter of 2017 after producing a solid set of results from a final clinical trial.

Three products in the company’s DermaPlus product range were tested on 90 volunteers over a threemonth period with the independent trial conducted by Dr Rok Devjak at a leading dermatological clinic in Solvenia.

According to the company the results were very positive and the latest endorsement of MGC Pharma’s claims of the medicinal and healing powers of cannabis. 

Vireo Health of New York is telling straphangers to "Ask your doctor about medical marijuana" as part of a monthlong ad campaign that launched Monday in nearly 100 city subway stations.

"New Yorkers have new options for chronic pain," reads each poster, along with Vireo's logo and website. The campaign, designed by Minnesota-based ad firm Replace, includes four versions of the poster featuring people of different ages and ethnicities.

While just a few years ago, it was still taboo to talk about legalising cannabis in Morocco and Tunisia, nowadays, everyone is talking about it.

Thanks to a law that was reformed just recently, but which even now punishes almost any contact with hemp with a 1 to 25-year prison sentence, Tunisia’s jails are still full of cannabis users. These draconian punishments, which were introduced in 1992 under ex-dictator Ben Ali, were amended very slightly at the end of March by the new Tunisian government following massive public criticism. Judges are now allowed to grant a pardon for a first offence.

As the Tasmanian Government prepares to spend almost $4 million on a controlled access scheme for medicinal cannabis, some people who already use the drug have raised concerns about the scheme's effectiveness.

The tightly-controlled regulation will mean some Tasmanian patients with severe epilepsy will be able to obtain medicinal cannabis from hospital pharmacies, but there are concerns it will not be affordable for those who need it.

John Reeves already takes medicinal cannabis to relieve his chronic pain and he runs a support group for others doing the same.

Chileans are increasingly growing their own cannabis for medical purposes as the conservative South American nation begins loosening legal prohibitions on the formerly illegal plant.

In 2015, Chile legalized the use of medical marijuana, following a wave of other Latin American nations that are slowly making the cultivation, distribution, and consumption of cannabis easier.

Earlier in May, pharmacies in the capital city of Santiago began selling cannabis-based medicines, the first time such treatments have been offered by drugstores in Latin America.

Boosters of the plant are making sure Chileans with chronic pain have the know-how to grow marijuana, even as doing so occupies a legal gray area.

Budtenders are half bartender, half pharmacist, offering recommendations for cannabis products to suit each customer.​

When she was 14, Sandra Andrade first learned about marijuana from her brother who had an outdoor garden. Today, the 36-year-old works at downtown L.A. dispensary Kushmart, where she helms the point-of-sale contact for those who want to purchase cannabis products. In weed industry terms, she's a budtender.