When David Sparer arrived at his Airbnb in Venice, Italy, he encountered an unsurmountable challenge: the spiral staircase. He was debilitated by his arthritis. His friend, the founder of Los Angeles–based cannabis company the Clear, gave him some cannabidiol (CBD) to put under his tongue and on his feet. The next day, Sparer toured all around the city with less pain than he’d had in 10 years on Naproxen, a powerful anti-inflammatory that significantly damaged his liver. 

He was converted to the powers of CBD.

Lauren Hew knows she'll be fighting cancer until it wins. 

The 32-year-old mother of two was diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma in 2014. After a year-and-a-half in remission the cancer came back.

Her two children, Ava,4, and Ashton, 3, know little of the intense waves of nausea and violent vomiting episodes their mother suffers during and after her chemotherapy cycles. 

Sales based on Israeli startup Lyotropic Delivery Systems (LDS) Biotech‘s nanotechnology have started in the US. The commercial launch of its cannabis-derived compound, which aims to relieve inflammation and pain, was announced earlier this month by LDS and US based company Ananda Scientific at a marijuana business conference held in Las Vegas.

MOMENTUM BUILDS FOR MOVEMENT … 

Supporters of legalizing medical marijuana in South Carolina are making big moves ahead of next year’s session of the state legislature – hoping to capitalize on growing popular(and electoral) support for the issue.

“This could be the year,” said S.C. Senator Tom Davis, who has been leading this fight in the S.C. General Assembly for several years against intense institutional opposition.

Now Davis will have some institutional support.

Sources close to the medical marijuana movement tell FITS they have hired perhaps the hottest hand in state politics – veteran strategist Ed McMullen.

Medical marijuana…a hot topic for quite some time. Some people say they’re against the cannabis industry for many reasons, including the stigma of dispensaries and others try to shed a positive light on the growing business.

That’s exactly what the medical marijuana business conference here in Lansing aimed to do today.

“See that it’s normal, see that it’s not scary and become part of the new cannabis economy,” said Medical Marijuana Conference Host Rick Thompson.

In just over two weeks, three new laws will go into effect in Michigan to regulate medical marijuana. Because of that, the conference served as an educational space for aspiring medical marijuana entrepreneurs.

New research by a national marketing strategy firm has turned up some surprising findings about Gen X and Millennial cannabis consumers.

Researchers at New York-based Miner & Co. Studio recently took a deep dive into the background, opinions, and buying habits of cannabis consumers in their twenties and thirties who live in legal states. Their survey of 800 brand-aware consumers in Colorado, Washington State, and California found that 90 percent of them use cannabis as part of their wellness and self-care regimens. Only one in ten used cannabis purely to get high or stoned.

A former police captain with Parkinson’s disease received astonishing results after ingesting medical marijuana for the first time.

Larry Smith, who’s suffered from the debilitating ailment for over 20 years, was filmed ingesting CBD oil for a recently released documentary entitled “Ride with Larry.”

Cannabidiol (CBD) is a compound found in cannabis that unlike Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) does not produce intoxicating effects. The compound has been found in some studies to have the possibility of “improving quality of life measures in PD patients…”

While the use of dagga is illegal in South Africa‚ products containing the drug for medicinal purposes are starting to mushroom. But most of these are illegal‚ said the Medicines Control Council.

The Department of Health is working to have dagga legally recognised as a prescription drug under controlled circumstances and permits to cultivate and supply the drug are likely to be issued only in the first half of next year.

Medicine containing marijuana is still illegal in South Africa.

But some products are already on the market and the latest to go on sale in the country are Rick Simpson’s Oil and Charlotte’s Web‚ two organic solutions that contain THC‚ the psychoactive ingredient in dagga.

Although voters in Arkansas recently approved an initiative to legalize marijuana for medicinal use, it could be longer than originally anticipated before patients are able to take advantage of the program.

That’s because legislation has been introduced in the Arkansas House that could end up preventing the state’s new medical marijuana program from being implemented in a timely manner.

New York expanded its medical marijuana guidelines Thursday, permitting patients to use pot to treat chronic pain.

“The ability to provide access to patients who have all forms of pain, I think it’s critical, and it’s part of the mission of the program,” said CEO of Columbia Care, a cannabis provider in Manhattan, Nicholas Vita.

While chronic pain might be seen as a catch-all, Vita doesn’t expect recreational users to try to game the system, WCBS 880’s Peter Haskell reported.

“If somebody really wants to procure marijuana for recreational purposes, they can go to the black market,” he said.