The federal government will now accept licence applications for groups wanting to grow cannabis locally for scientific and medical purposes.

Cannabis remains an illegal drug in Australia for recreational use and there no plans to change that. But the reforms are part of a broader effort to enable a sustainable supply of safe medicinal cannabis products to Australian patients.

A new study published in the journal Psychological Medicine suggests that marijuana may protect from metabolic syndrome, a health condition that is linked to heart disease and diabetes. Metabolic syndrome describes several health risk factors that are associated with heightened risks for heart disease and diabetes along with other health problems.

A prominent Australian medical authority doubts medicinal marijuana will be the cash crop of the future for farmers due it's limited "utility" in clinical medicine.

Advocates for the use of medicinal marijuana have meanwhile applauded recent Commonwealth legislative changes which now allow individuals and companies to apply and, if successful, grow limited amounts of the plant for medicinal purposes.

Guidelines set out by the Australian Government's Office of Drug Control state there is no limit to the number of medicinal cannabis licences that can exist but all applicants must first obtain a cannabis research licence and permit.

That permit determines how much and what type of medicinal marijuana crop can be grown.

Jake Heimark never really smoked pot.

Even now, as Heimark launches the second product from his marijuana edibles company, Plus, he indulges only when testing his own product— a kind of medicated gum.

Despite his lack of firsthand experience, he is well prepared to enter the budding marijuana marketplace. A two-year stint on Facebook's risk management team taught Heimark how to build a great product and how to cultivate a company culture that values "moving fast" (though maybe not "breaking things," as the social giant's mantra goes).

Is marijuana actually the “gateway” to harder drug use that some say it is?

It’s a prospect that opponents of Question 4, which would legalize marijuana in Massachusetts, worry about, especially in the midst of a deepening national opioid and heroin abuse crisis.

But proponents of Question 4 in Nov. 8’s election say those concerns are overblown. In fact, they say, legal marijuana would be safer and easier to buy and could even provide an alternative to hard drugs and keep pot smokers away from those who peddle more lethal wares.

The theory is that as people begin to use marijuana and enjoy its intoxicating effects, they might eventually begin to seek out other drugs that could get them even higher — like heroin, or cocaine — and become addicted.

Big Pharma doesn’t want you to know about everything marijuana can do.

More and more studies on the abilities of THC are being released recently, and the results are astonishing. Though many have suspected that the drug works wonders on the brain and central nervous system, studies on these theories have been few and far between because of marijuana’s legal status and a lack of funding for illegal drugs.

That’s slowly starting to change as more states embrace the drug both medicinally and recreationally. As a result, more studies have been conducted to determine what the effects of THC on the body are and the findings are miraculous.

There is currently a totally legitimate approach to appreciate the advantages of CBD in a reviving beverage. Unwind by Rawligion is produced using 100% natural hemp drain that contains CBD oil.

It cases to mitigate nervousness, soothes torment, stretch, furthermore helps as a tranquilizer.

And additionally CBD oil, Relax contains hemp seeds, cashews, dates, coconut oil, vanilla, and water.

The item is the cerebrum offspring of Michael Isted, a psychotherapist and improvement specialist for Rawligion, who chose the world required a drink that contains every one of the advantages of CBD.

CBD doesn’t have any psychoactive properties, so it won’t get you high, yet it will supply you with all the decency of it’s source – hemp.

Growing cannabis legally will be a step closer on Sunday when federal legislation comes into effect allowing the drug to be grown for medicinal purposes.

The Office of Drug Control will start accepting applications for cannabis cultivation licences on Monday.

People or organisations wanting a licence will need to show they will be supplying either a licensed medicinal cannabis manufacturer or researcher.

Nearly 60 million Americans may wake up Nov. 9 to find voters in their states have abolished long-standing marijuana prohibitions, a three-fold expansion for legal cannabis across the country.

Another 24 million Americans could find themselves in states with newly legal medical marijuana use, a smaller but still significant expansion of legalized pot around the United States. Already, half of the states permit some form of medical marijuana use, and more than half of all Americans live in a state that has approved medical marijuana.

How well do you know your weed? A Berkeley laboratory recently found that 84 percent of medical marijuana samples contained large amounts of pesticides. Steep Hill, a Northern California-based cannabis testing lab, says their findings were much higher than expected and “are cause for concern for California cannabis consumers.”

“Those in the cannabis community who feel that all cannabis is safe are not correct given this data – smoking a joint of pesticide-contaminated cannabis could potentially expose the body to lethal chemicals,” says Jmichaele Keller, president and CEO of Steep Hill. “As a community, we need to address this issue immediately and not wait until 2018.”