Recreational marijuana is becoming legal, popular and accessible. However, medical marijuana still has a negative reputation across the nation.

Although medical marijuana has proven to be helpful in some cases, there isn’t a ton of research and statistics to show its effectiveness. There is no funding and too many rules surrounding the studying and testing of the effects of medical marijuana.

How are people supposed to be accustomed to something if they have no idea why they should accept it? We need to inform our nation if we ever expect them to be open minded. Without information, there is no changing minds.

Joint venture company DayaCann is currently harvesting in Chile.

AusCann Group Holdings (ASX:AC8) is in the process of harvesting its first medical cannabis crop located in Chile.

The crop was planted by the DayaCann joint venture, of which AusCann holds 50:50 with Fundacion Daya.

The large open greenhouse grown plants include various strains that have been selected for specific medical usage.

“To me, we have the fastest way to get stoned on the market,” says Tony Alfiere, the inventor behind Quigley’s new short-release THC concoction.

All photos courtesy of Tony Alfiere and Quigley's Extracts

It is a universally acknowledged truth that marijuana can make you sleepy. Smokers everywhere have long sought to learn exactly why — and figure out what they can do to stay awake through a spliff session. But this ignores a larger question; namely, how does weed alter sleep itself?

Municipal officials worry that allowing medical dispensaries to set up shop will eventually end up sticking towns with unwanted recreational dispensaries.

The regulatory woes are hitting Massachusetts. Lawmakers in the Bay State have been trying to amend the voter approved recreational cannabis legalization law since it passed in November, and the lack of clarity is now taking a toll on the state’s existing medical marijuana community.

A California based firm run by Evangelical Special Forces veterans has partnered with an Israeli bio-tech company to develop cannabis-based solutions for a wide range of health concerns.

Zytecur, based in Hollister California, joined forces with Ilan Bio, an agro-biotechnology company located in Givat Chen in central Israel. Six of the founding members of Zycatur are ex-Special Forces in the U.S. military, a number of whom saw combat in Iraq and Afghanistan and were wounded.

Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton is to announce in his Sectoral Debate contribution in Parliament later this month, an enhanced public education campaign on drug use as new reports indicate that children, some under two years old, are turning up at hospitals with marijuana in their bloodstream.

Consultant paediatrician at the Cornwall Regional Hospital, Dr Tracy Evans-Gilbert, says she has had to treat children who ingested the drug that was sometimes left within their reach. 

There have also been reports that ganja is being added to some sweets which are then sold to students.

All these reports follow the 2015 liberalisation of Jamaica's drugs law which included the decriminalisation of the possession of up to two ounces of marijuana.

Perth-based MGC Pharmaceuticals has reportedly produced its first cannabinoid extracts at the company’s new European extraction facility. The company told on Monday that it has successfully produced the primary psychoactive compound in cannabis, cannabinoid, at its Slovenia extraction facility.

The number of prescriptions for medical marijuana has gone from 4,000 to 130,000 in just a few years. The Liberal government is about to table a bill that will legalize pot by July 1, 2018. The provinces are gearing up to manage the sale of the stuff.

Meanwhile, hundreds of businesses are springing up. And everyone is talking about a green gold rush.

And yet, very little is known about the long-term health effects of cannabis, says McGill University scientist Mark Ware. He’s determined to find out more as the clock ticks down to legalization.

He has embarked on one of the largest studies ever done on pot. So far it has recruited more than 1,000 participants. He hopes to have 3,000 within two years.

Since 1987, only one new class of antibiotic has been found. This is a frightening fact, as bacteria are some of the fastest evolving organisms on the planet. Already, several common strains of bacteria have become resistant to antibiotics, putting patients at risk of dying from once treatable diseases like staph infection and tuberculosis.