This was not your ordinary cooking class.

Barb Mahy was making her basic “canna chocolates,” a simple mix of semi-sweet chocolate, coconut butter and a cannabis tincture mix with glycerine and water which she melted and poured into moulds.

About a dozen people sat at tables and chairs to watch the demonstration Saturday upstairs in The Barn, a wellness co-operative in a refurbished barn along Highway 26 between Meaford and Thornbury. Along with 20 vendors and five practitioners, the co-op has an education mandate fulfilled with events like this.

The Dutch scientist, who was in Delhi recently, speaks to Harikrishnan Nair on the relevance of medical cannabis and present status of research in the field.

What is the latest and most exciting development in medicinal cannabis research?
A very exciting development is that more and more countries are allowing medicinal cannabis to be used by patients. As a result, research becomes easy and more sources of high-quality cannabis and allied products like oil are available to scientists. Until recently, it was almost impossible to deal in legal scientific research in most countries.

For those suffering depression or anxiety, using cannabis for relief may not be the long-term answer.

That's according to new research from a team at Colorado State University seeking scientific clarity on how cannabis - particularly chronic, heavy use - affects neurological activity, including the processing of emotions.

Researchers led by Lucy Troup, assistant professor in the Department of Psychology, have published a study in PeerJ describing their findings from an in-depth, questionnaire-based analysis of 178 college-aged, legal users of cannabis. Recreational cannabis became legal in Colorado in 2014. Since then, seven other states have enacted legalization for recreational use, while many others allow medical use.

As marijuana marches towards legalization in Canada, researchers are digging ever deeper into its potential therapeutic benefits. For people suffering from epilepsy it could mean reaching back to the wisdom of the ancients to deliver a modern form of relief.

For thousands of years, cannabis has been known to have anticonvulsant properties. It was used in both ancient China and India, and then much later during Victorian times in Europe.

In the 20th Century, researchers started to narrow down the source of the benefits, extracting a chemical from marijuana called cannabidiol (CBD), which unlike THC will not make you high, but which has shown promise in reducing seizures.

Ohio's medical-marijuana program is coming into focus with rules now proposed for cultivators who grow it, doctors who recommend it for patients, and dispensaries that sell it.

The latest development came Thursday when the Ohio Board of Pharmacy recommended that 40 dispensaries be scattered around the state to sell medical marijuana to qualifying patients. That number is far fewer than the 1,150 dispensaries proposed in a medical-marijuana ballot issue defeated by Ohio voters in 2015.

A second set of state rules rolled out Thursday details how Ohio physicians can recommend but not prescribe medical marijuana for patients.

Cannabis. It’s a word that elicits an instant negative response in many people — and it’s one which isn’t entirely deserved. Sure, it may give rise to the much-stigmatized drug we know as marijuana, but it is also one of the most versatile and health-giving plants on the planet. 

Science is coming to understand the wide-ranging health benefits of cannabis oil. Culture across the globe have used cannabis oil for thousands of years. These cultures have recognized cannabis not for its mind-altering properties, but for its ability to cure ailments and combat disease within the body. 

The South African Medical Association (Sama) has warned the public that the proposed amendments to allow for the medical use of dagga would be implemented along strict guidelines.

“On 23 November, Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Health announced that the Department of Health would soon regulate access to medical cannabis for prescribed health conditions,” Sama chairman Mzukisi Grootboom said on Wednesday.

“The public, and healthcare professionals, should note, however, that the Medical Innovation Bill seeks to allow cannabis for medical purposes only. The bill, and the regulatory framework to be introduced by the Health Department, do not apply to cannabis for recreational purposes, which remains illegal in South Africa.”

A SX-listed MGC Pharmaceuticals has executed a new and materially better binding heads of agreement to acquire Czech-based medical cannabis company Panax Pharma in a move likely to be a big boost to MGC’s production and research capabilities.

In an update to the market on Thursday, MGC said that following due diligence it had executed the revised acquisition agreement, which would see the Perth-based company acquire up to 100 per cent of Panax –a highly connected player in the Czech Republic’s medicinal cannabis industry.

Maui Grown Therapies today announced its first medical cannabis dispensary is located in the Maui Lani Village Center at 44 Paʻa Street in Kahului.  The dispensary joins other medical, professional and retail businesses in the Professional Row section of the commercial development.

The company expects to sell cannabis and cannabis-derivative products approximately 112 days after it receives a “Notice to Proceed with Cultivation” from the Hawaiʻi State Department of Health. The company will host a series of open houses and educational events in the 2,112-sq. ft. dispensary building beginning in February 2017.

Lawyer Brandon L. Wyatt wants military veterans with PTSD to have the right to use medical cannabis.

When lawyer Brandon L. Wyatt steps into a courtroom, he’s not only representing military veterans battling for housing, benefits, and the right to use medical cannabis — he’s representing himself as well.

Wyatt was raised in Fayetteville, North Carolina, a city built almost entirely to support Fort Bragg, the largest military base in the world by population. He says the locals have a nickname for his hometown: Fayettenam.