The state health department has reduced the fee it charges to obtain or renew a medical marijuana card from $75 a year to $5.

Department of Public Health and Human Services spokesman Jon Ebelt says the old fee brought in more money than was needed to operate the registry. The Billings Gazette reports the lower fee went into effect on Saturday.

Montana had about 13,000 medical marijuana cardholders in June, down from a high of about 30,000 in 2011.

Beginning on Aug. 31, Montana medical marijuana caregivers will be limited to three patients.

More than half of MPs want to see the legalisation of medical marijuana, a survey has found.

The polling, which follows parliamentary debates on the issue, found that 58 per cent of MPs backed the use of cannabis for people battling health conditions.

Those supporting the move include Nick Clegg, the former deputy prime minister, and Dr Dan Poulter, a former health minister and Tory MP. 

A new study suggests that individuals are actually using Medical Marijuana not simply as an excuse to get high, but as a treatment for health problems.

The study senior researcher W. David Bradford stated that states in America that pass medical marijuana laws were inclined to experience a significant drop down in prescriptions for ailments that could be treated with cannabis. Bradford is also the chairman of public policy with the University of Georgia's Department of Public Administration and Policy.

In 2009, a handful of CBD-rich cannabis strains were discovered serendipitously in Northern California, America’s cannabis breadbasket, where certified patients could access medical marijuana legally. Thus began a great laboratory experiment in democracy involving CBD-rich cannabis therapeutics. The advent of whole plant CBD-rich oil as a grassroots therapeutic option has changed the national conversation about cannabis. It’s no longer a question of whether medical marijuana works—today the key question is how to use cannabis for maximum therapeutic benefit. But most health professionals have little experience in this area. So Project CBD has created a "CBD User’s Manual" for patients that addresses key questions about cannabidiol and cannabis therapeutics.

Pronouncements from no less than President Duterte encouraged a lawmaker to refile a bill that would pave the way for the legalized medical use of marijuana.

Isabela 1st district Rep. Rodolfo Albano III has refiled the proposed ”Philippine Compassionate Medical Cannabis Act,” as embodied in House Bill (HB) No. 180.

Meantime, a panel of health experts was recently formed and is now checking the health benefits of cannabis or marijuana.

Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Paulyn Jean Ubial said that there are already experts looking into the supposed health benefits of marijuana.

As a primary care and addiction medicine physician, I never thought I’d be suggesting marijuana use to my patients, given its unknown potential for physical, emotional, social and developmental harm. However, the opiate overdose epidemic has radically shifted my thinking.

The June 26 Sun-News editorial about legalizing cannabis for tax revenue missed a critical benefit: the possibility of fewer overdose deaths.

Since prescription pain pill overdoses exceed those of both heroin and cocaine combined, at about 40 daily (and over 14,000 yearly), this is no small point. Gun homicides and car crashes kill fewer. The crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980s killed 800 to 2,400 yearly, according to the Government Accountability Office.

This is going to be a transformative year for the United States. Not only are we set to vote in a new president for the first time in eight years this November, but we could also see the most rapid expansion of marijuana ever, with eight states now set to vote on recreational or medical cannabis initiatives or amendments this fall.

What's at stake

The expansion of the cannabis industry was initially put in motion 20 years ago when California approved a compassionate use law for medical marijuana. Today, half of all U.S. states have approved a medical marijuana law. The two most recent approvals came from Pennsylvania and Ohio, which used the legislative process to pass medical cannabis laws.

In 2015, the researchers at the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Freiburg, Germany showed that the presence of cannabinoids in an individual's hair does not prove that the person consumed marijuana. More specifically, their findings, published in Scientific Reports, indicated that tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main active chemical ingredient found in cannabis, can be found in hair of non-consuming individuals due to transfer through cannabis consumers via their hands or sweat, or through passive marijuana-smoke exposure.1

While hair testing is widely used in employee drug screening and in child protective cases, their findings contradicted the prevailing view that hair testing is an accurate method for testing cannabis consumption.

Contrary to stoner stereotypes, cannabis users are very interested in grown-up things like obtaining quality medical coverage, pursuing life insurance protections after they start families, or seeking “key man” coverage for their businesses.

The legal pot business may be in its infancy, but it’s already created the marijuana equivalent of pre-grated cheese and instant noodles. Don’t feel like rolling a joint? Buy a pre-roll. Don’t want to smoke marijuana? Slurp it in a just-add-water soup mix, use a pod to brew it into a cup of coffee, or drop some salts into the bathtub and submerge yourself in it.