Medical marijuana won’t be legal in Tennessee anytime soon after a House Representative’s bill, which aimed to legalize cannabis use for people suffering from certain conditions such as cancer, HIV and epilepsy, failed to get Senate support. The bill, HB0495, was considered dead for the year after the state’s House Health Committee rejected the measure following discussion.

Rep. Jeremy Faison, R-Cosby, who sponsored the bill, told local media that it wasn’t the House that has prevented patients from having access to medical marijuana but members of the Senate who were “scared to death of their voters.

A request to make medical cannabis more affordable has been rejected by the Australian government.

Queensland’s Minister for Health, Cameron Dick said he thought the cost issue should be addressed.

He wrote to Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt last month to request the Commonwealth accelerate the process of making medicinal cannabis more affordable by placing it on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

He is now urging Minister Hunt to reconsider his decision.

“As a Government, we’ve put in place the most robust scheme in Australia to allow appropriate patients access to medicinal cannabis,” Minister Dick said.

“We want it to be as affordable as possible, but that ball is now in the Commonwealth’s court.

Virtually all chemical compounds, from over-the-counter drugs and prescription pharmaceuticals to illicit substances, interact with other compounds. There are, for example, 82 identified drug interactions with caffeine (of which 25 are classified as moderately severe to severe). Even seemingly benign substances, like grapefruit, are known to interact with many prescription drugs. When it comes to cannabis, most potential interactions that have been identified are relatively mild.

Medical marijuana proponents worry that initially restricting laboratory testing to public universities could stall Ohio's fledgling program.

Ohio's new law on medical marijuana prohibits private laboratories from testing medical marijuana's properties for one year. During that time, public universities would test medical marijuana produced within the state to ensure its safety for consumers.

The problem? No other state tests medical marijuana like this. That's because many university officials are wary of losing money from a federal government that still labels marijuana as among the most dangerous, illegal drugs – at the same level as heroin and ecstasy.

A group of University of Alberta students want the province to roll any tax revenue raised from the legal sale of marijuana into mental health and addiction programs.

Student Advocates for Public Health say these programs are badly underfunded at a time when substance abuse is costing Alberta's health-care system about $1 billion per year.

The group says once the federal government follows through with its plan to legalize pot, Alberta should direct any provincial taxes raised from sales into bolstering services.

Israel, a leader in marijuana research and health technology, is attracting international investment as it tries to position itself as a cutting-edge exporter in the rapidly-growing market for medical-grade cannabis.

With estimates that the global market for medical marijuana could reach $50 billion by 2025, the Israeli government is set to allow the local industry to start exporting and projects annual revenues in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Medical cannabis is a relatively new field with no universal clinical standard. Israel aims to fill the void by combining its expertise in agriculture, technology and cannabis-based medicine, said Yuval Landschaft, head of the health ministry's medical cannabis unit (IMCA).

CBD (cannabidiol) is getting a lot of attention these days as the medicinal cannabinoid in marijuana. CBD-only products are all the rage in the ever-expanding medical marijuana market, and CBD-only medical marijuana laws are becoming a favorite resort of red state politicians who want to throw a sop to those clamoring for medical marijuana, but are hesitant to actually embrace the demon weed.

But is CBD the miracle molecule on its own? Or would users benefit from using preparations made from the whole pot plant? Not to knock CBD, which even by itself clearly provides succor for many people, but advocates of "whole plant medicine" make a strong case.

Supporters of legalizing marijuana were put on the defensive Wednesday by almost two hours of testimony offered by Dr. Deepak Cyril D’Souza, a professor of psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine and director of neuropsychiatry at the VA Connecticut Healthcare System.

D’Souza told the legislature’s Judiciary Committee that marijuana is addictive and research has shown that about 10 percent of people who try marijuana will become addicted.

A Castlederg woman today (Wednesday) completed her 150 mile walk to Belfast, carrying her 11 year old disabled son.

Charlotte Caldwell has been fighting for treatment for her son Billy who suffers from a rare form of life-threatening epilepsy.

The eight day walk to Belfast culiminated in a meeting with doctors at the Royal Victoria Hospital if they can take over his care, using medicinal cannabis, from doctors in LA where Billy has been treated.

For the past 50 days he has been seizure-free thanks to a cannabis oil treatment he received in Los Angeles. Charlotte Caldwell, proud mother of her ‘wee warrior’, organised the walk to raise funds for Billy’s treatment.