Two Canadian marijuana dispensary chains have moved into Ottawa, opening three stores and planning more. Stittsville is also about to get a marijuana dispensary, which will bring to six the number of store-front businesses illegally selling marijuana in Ottawa.

The newest shop, Green Tree Medical Dispensary, opened on Montreal Road on Sunday with a selection of dried buds, cookies, candy and marijuana-infused drinks on display in a glass case.

The Ottawa stores all cater to medical marijuana patients. Medical marijuana is legal in Canada, but only for patients with a doctor’s prescription who purchase it from growers licensed by Health Canada, who send the medicine by registered mail.

Japan prides itself on having a low tolerance for guns and drugs, but a tiny political party has become the first to adopt an election plank of scrapping a research ban on medical use of marijuana.

Proponents say such use could ease cancer-related pain, prevent dementia, and cut soaring medical costs. But the government says its effectiveness has not been proved, and worries about the social harm weaker controls could bring.

Japan outlaws owning and growing marijuana, besides the ban on clinical research, despite a trend in advanced countries, such as Canada and the United States, to free up medical use. 

Former NFL star Ricky Williams is featured in an upcoming SI Films production in which he discusses his experience with marijuana use and his support for legalization.

The exclusive film and accompanying exclusive longform special, written by SI’s Greg Bishop, will debut on SI.com on Wednesday, July 13.

The film, “Ricky Williams Takes the High Road,” is the first in-depth look at Williams’s life today, five years after his NFL career ended. He reflects on his clashes with the NFL drug testing program, his support of marijuana as a medicinal tool in the NFL and the anguish he felt as his image was tarnished because of his public support of the drug.

Smoking marijuana may change the way people's brains respond to certain rewards, such as the prospect of winning some money, according to a new study.

In the study, participants played a game in which they could win a small amount of money. The researchers found that the brains of people who smoked marijuana did not respond to the idea of winning the money as strongly as did the brains of people who did not use the drug.

Pot brownies may be a fun weekend treat for you, but for your dog they could be deadly. 

More "pot dogs" who've eaten raw marijuana buds, or pot edibles made with green butter like brownies, are visiting Chicago's animal emergency rooms, experts say. And as marijuana legalization becomes more common, vets are seeing more pot-sick dogs than ever. 

When dogs ingest marijuana, they typically become lethargic, have breathing problems and have trouble walking. The smaller the animal (and the more marijuana they ingest), the more severe the symptoms, including seizures.

There have been several anecdotal reports of cannabis curing cancer. But less discussion has been publicized about cannabis curing Crohn’s disease and other inflammatory bowel and gut diseases that are considered incurable by mainstream medicine.

Perhaps the most dramatic story has a woman named Shona Banda at its center. Shona was severely stricken with Crohn’s. She was bedridden, and whatever she managed to eat didn’t provide nutrition because her gastrointestinal tract simply wouldn’t absorb nutrients.

She was losing weight and began suffering from cachexia, a wasting away that accompanies chronic disease. Told after several surgeries and stacks of pharmaceutical medications there was nothing more that could be done for her, she was waiting to die.

One of the world’s first large, controlled trials of cannabis for melanoma launches in Australia.

Marijuana is being called in to fight one of the world’s deadliest, scariest killers — a type of cancer caused by your next summer vacation.

Researchers at the University of Canberra have announced a $1 million research project with Israel-based Cann Pharmaceutical to see if the compounds in pot kill live cancer cells in humans as well as they do inside test tubes and mice in the labs. 

As a rookie smoker years ago I probably couldn’t tell what type of strain I was smoking based on its smoke, appearance, or smell but with time I was able to determine the effects of the strains I obtained. The differences in strain appearance were always vivid with almost all strains showing plenty of sticky resin but the smell would always differ. It wasn’t until about a few years down into smoking medical marijuana I was able to tell the difference between sativa and indica strains. Also, with the introduction of “hybrid strains” the possibilities of effects are almost endless.

Prescription drug prices are up, making policy experts increasingly anxious. But relief could come from a surprising source. Just ask Cheech and Chong.

New research published Wednesday found that states that legalized medical marijuana — which is sometimes recommended for symptoms like chronic pain, anxiety or depression — saw declines in the number of Medicare prescriptions for drugs used to treat those conditions and a dip in spending by Medicare Part D, which covers the cost on prescription medications.

“Chez Jean Coutu, on trouve de tout, même un ami.”

That’s the famous slogan of the Quebec based pharmacy chain.

It translates to: “At Jean Coutu you’ll find it all, even a friend” .

But perhaps after today they’ll want to change their slogan to: “At Jean Coutu You’ll Find It All, Even Some Weed”.

It’s not a pipe dream either, (Get it, pipe dream?) the CEO of Jean Coutu announced this week that he is willing to start selling medical marijuana in his pharmacies.

They don’t plan on doing any lobbying or publicity campaigns to be have the right to start selling weed, they just claim to be open to the idea.

But that’s probably because they lack the proper motivation.