Teenagers make up most of new cannabis users and also tend to consume it heavily. This is a matter of concern among health professionals and policy makers, mostly due to the possible harms the drug may have on brain development, cognitive faculties, and educational performance.

Research has more or less consistently shown that cannabis causes acute impairments in memory consolidation, working memory, attention, psychomotor control, impulse inhibition, and abstract reasoning. These effects may, in turn, explain why cannabis users often have a poorer educational performance and attainment compared to non-users.

One afternoon earlier this month, Masamitsu Yamamoto showed up at the Tokyo District Court to attend a session of his criminal trial for an alleged violation of the Cannabis Control Law.

The 58-year-old resident of Kanagawa Prefecture, however, does not fit the typical profile of a drug case defendant.

The former restaurant chef has advanced liver cancer and was arrested on suspicion of drug possession last December. He said he had never run into trouble with the law before then, and maintains he used cannabis as a medicine of last resort after exhausting all other options and failing in his attempts to get access to legal cannabis treatment.

“I want to be saved, that’s all,” Yamamoto, dressed in a light blue suit, said after the hearing.

It’s totally unexpected. Alberta’s struggling economy is about to be lifted up by marijuana. For years, medical marijuana in Canada has been a dicey issue, with recreational use outlawed and medical use closely monitored. But, Alberta’s only industrial-scale grower of medical marijuana, Aurora Cannabis, has just gotten the green light. And, it’s noticed business is booming. The company has over 2,000 customers.  

Before that, Aurora waited for the issuance of a sales license from Health Canada. It wasn’t forthcoming until its crops had undergone extensive lab testing for quality control. It had to be done by independent, licensed, third parties. 

Some experts that work with this plant claim that weed mixed with the oil of coconut can become more bio available. That means that the absorption and utilization of the nutrients will achieve higher level by every internal system.

The effectiveness in the extraction of THC is due to the abundance of saturated fat of coconut oil. Cannabinoids can be absorbed by other oils too, like butter but the absorption by coconut oil is much better.

In July, Italy's parliament will begin debating historic changes to cannabis laws that could see the drug legalized.

On July 25th, the draft legislation will be presented in Italy's lower house for the first time. The following day, politicians will begin voting on whether or not to send the bill through to the upper house for final approval.

If new laws are passed, how will things change?

Obviously, the proposals being debated will probably undergo some amendments if they are to make it into law. However, in their current form proposals would allow:

Possession: Citizens will be able to hold up to 15 grams of herb at home and take up to five grams with them when they go out and about.

When Gillian FitzGibbon’s doctor suggested she try cannabis to reduce her chronic knee, hip and ankle pain, she figured anything was better than the cocktail of opioids she had been prescribed for years, medication that she said left her in an “abyss.”

As health-care providers sound the alarm over rising opioid addiction and the lack of available pain management alternatives, some patients like FitzGibbon — along with their physicians — are turning to cannabis derivatives for relief.

University of Canberra researchers will be collaborating with a pharmaceutical company to test the effectiveness of medical marijuana in treating melanoma. Israel-based Cann Pharmaceutical will be providing specific medical-grade strains of cannabis with the university announcing a $1 million deal with the company. The cannabis strains will be administered to patients with current standard of care for melanoma sufferers. Clinical trials are set to begin in the ACT next year.

Alzheimer’s disease prevalence is likely to become almost three times in the United States by 2050, so it has become very important to identify effective treatments to address the condition. Alzheimer’s disease leads to decline in cognitive function and many research teams across the world are trying to understand the condition in a better way to develop treatment.

Now, as per a latest study, marijuana may hold the answer to this kind of a treatment. The study team noticed that use of marijuana could help in removing beta-amyloid protein from nerve cells. This could help in development of new treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, the research team claimed.

Ohioans looking for medical marijuana this fall may not be able to get the drug as soon as it becomes legal in September.

Doctors in the state will be able to give patients written certification that they can use marijuana in certain forms starting in September.  However, actually finding the drug through legal channels will be a challenge.

State Sen. Kenny Yuko has been working for more than a decade to legalize medical marijuana and says the state needs to get moving soon on the rules for who can get the drug, and where.

Researchers at the University of Canberra will collaborate with a pharmaceutical company to test the efficacy of medicinal cannabis in treating melanoma.

The university announced a $1 million deal with Israel-based Cann Pharmaceutical to provide specific medical-grade strains of cannabis, which will be administered to patients along with the current standard of care for melanoma patients.

Molecular and cellular biology professor Sudha Rao said the research could benefit the almost-55,000 Australians that live with the skin cancer.

"Australians have the highest rate of melanoma in the world, with estimates of more than 13,000 new cases to be diagnosed in 2016 alone," she said.