While the U.S. continues to squabble state-by-state over medical and adult use legalization, over the past year cannabis has quietly grown into a truly international industry.

House lawmakers have passed a bill that would allow people in South Dakota with a prescription to use a non-intoxicating compound found in marijuana if it’s approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Members voted 54-13 Tuesday for the bill, which will be sent back to the Senate to consider changes made in the House.

The legislation would exclude cannabidiol, if it receives FDA approved, from the definition of marijuana in state law and classify it as a Schedule IV controlled substance that could be prescribed.

Republican Rep. Spencer Gosch, the bill’s main House sponsor, says it would allow cannabidiol to be available to children with seizure disorders.

“It is history in the making for an Israeli company to bring the tidings to the citizens of New Mexico.”

An Israeli and New Mexican company have joined forces to launch the first-ever pharmaceutical cannabis production lab in the United States.

The Lod-based Panaxia Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. and the Albuquerque, New Mexico-based Ultra Health have opened a facility in Bernalillo, New Mexico, that will manufacture smokeless, accurately dosed cannabis medication in a variety of delivery methods, the companies announced this week in a joint statement.

When activated by exposure to the non-psychoactive marijuana extract Cannabidiol (CBD), the human body’s cannabinoid 1 and cannabinoid 2 receptors (CB1 & CB2) in the body’s endocannabinoid system can act as anti-tumor agents in a number of aggressive cancers.

The endocannabinoid system (ECS) is a group of endogenous (having an internal origin) cannabinoid receptors located in the mammalian brain and throughout the central and peripheral nervous systems.

“Chemical components of Cannabis, called cannabinoids, activate specific receptors throughout the body to produce pharmaacologic effects, particularly in the central nervous system and the immune system,” according to the National Cancer Institute.

Germany is liberalizing cannabis access for the seriously ill. Both domestic and international firms are vying for a market potentially worth hundreds of millions of euros.

Germany is taking another step to make cannabis available to patients, mandating that health insurers cover the cost of the pain medication in certain cases for the seriously ill.

Cannabidiol (CBD) is a non-psychoactive cannabinoid found in marijuana, and science has given it close attention in recent years for its potential in treating a wide variety of medical conditions. In 2015 the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) stated that “pre-clinical research (including both cell culture and animal models) has shown CBD to have a range of effects that may be therapeutically useful,” and research continues to explore exactly how CBD benefits us. We've highlighted five ways science is showing how CBD can improve our health - but this is just the tip of the iceberg.

While some South Africans are celebrating the announcement that government is taking a step toward legalising cannabis for medical use, activists and users of cannabis-based medicines are wary.

South Africans have been self-medicating with cannabis medicines – primarily in the form of oil – for a long time. It was only when the late IFP MP, Dr Mario Oriani-Ambrosini, brought the benefits of cannabis to the attention of Parliament in 2014, that the potential medicinal value of cannabis was seriously considered by South African legislators.

CURE Pharmaceutical Announces Research Collaboration with CannaKids to Develop Cannabinoid and Terpene Molecules Using Cure’s Proprietary Delivery Technologies.

CURE Pharmaceutical (OTCQB:CURR), (“CURE”) or (the “Company”), a leading disruptive drug delivery technology company serving the pharmaceutical, biotech, veterinarian, nutraceutical and medical foods markets, today announces a research collaboration with CannaKids in order to develop and research the delivery of various forms and components of cannabinoid molecules for both human and animal therapeutic use via CURE’s patented drug delivery technology.  Multiple human and animal studies have shown that endocannabinoids may play a key role in metabolic processes, lipolysis, pain, gastrointestinal and cancer.