It was mid-2015, and the Orthodox Union was in a quandary. New York State was in the process of launching its medical marijuana program, and the OU, one of the world’s largest and most respected kosher certification agencies, had been approached by more than one company eager to get its certification. But could the organization’s rabbis give their stamp of approval to a drug illegal in much of the world? 

Utah state legislators began laying the groundwork Wednesday to make another run at legalizing medical marijuana for people with certain conditions.

During a committee hearing, four Republican lawmakers presented outlines of measures they’re planning to introduce at the next legislation session that they hope can work in concert. The measures would expand legal uses of medical marijuana, create a regulatory framework to manage a program from growth to distribution, and allow for more local research to study marijuana’s impacts for different medical conditions.

Sen. Brian Shiozawa, R-Salt Lake City, urged his colleagues to take action next session, saying veterans with PTSD and cancer patients are two groups that may benefit.

Medical marijuana is about to become a whole lot more accessible in Israel with pharmacies across the country expected to soon start providing the substance. Israel’s largest pharmacy chain, Super-Pharm, which has 225 branches across the country, has been meeting with health ministry officials over recent weeks to allow prescription dispensation of cannabis, Israeli newspaper Haaretz Thursday.

The November election will be a pivotal moment for the future of U.S. marijuana policy. Voters in five states, including California, will decide whether to legalize weed for recreational use by adults, and citizens in four others will cast ballots on whether to allow medical marijuana.

If all of the measures succeed, it could force federal lawmakers to reconcile restrictive federal drug laws with shifting public opinion. Marijuana is classified by the federal government as a Schedule I controlled substance, which puts it in the same category as heroin and LSD, yet the latest national polls show 57 percent of U.S. adults now think weed should be legal.   

Medical cannabis patients are urging the federal government to make marijuana more affordable by encouraging insurers to cover it and dropping the sales tax once it is legalized.

Earlier this week, 15 patients from across Canada spoke with four members of the government’s legalization task force about how medical cannabis helps them with a variety of ailments. They told the panel that the cost of medical marijuana often causes financial hardship, according to event facilitator Hilary Black, founder of Vancouver’s oldest dispensary and current director of patient services at the licensed commercial grower Bedrocan.

People in nine states, including California, Florida and Massachusetts, will vote Nov. 8 on ballot proposals permitting recreational or medical use of marijuana. These initiatives could give a big push to legalization, prompting the next president and Congress to overhaul the country’s failed drug laws.

This is a big moment for what was a fringe movement a few years ago. A Gallup poll released on Wednesday showed 60 percent of Americans support legalizing marijuana, up from 31 percent in 2000 and 12 percent in 1969.

Would you be prepared to break the law to save your child’s life?

“Who do you love more than your children?  – your grandchildren,” says Joy Lambert, Katelyn’s grandmother. “So at 67 I  decided I could be civilly disobedient and just do what was right for the children with epilepsy. That’s how I see it.”That’s just what happened to the Lambert family from Sydney Australia, who decided to give Katelyn, then just a baby, a cannabis extract.

Marijuana users may believe that frequent use helps them sleep, but that perception has been challenged by a BU School of Public Health study.

A new survey conducted by the Centre for Addictions Research of BC helps explain why Big Pharma is so afraid of cannabis.

The pharmaceutical and alcohol industries, both powerful influences in Washington, have long lobbied against cannabis legalization in order to protect their profits.

However, the tide has turned as decriminalization of medical and recreational cannabis sweeps the nation and the continent. With legalization, more and more people are discovering how this plant can provide a safe alternative to the dangerous effects of prescription pills.

Reports about the benefits of medicinal cannabis are growing and Queensland has now joined New South Wales in passing laws approving the drug for use as a medical treatment, but that doesn't mean you can just light up in the Sunshine State and say it's a prescription.