The new commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Robert Califf, told a panel of FDA advisers last week that he will do "everything possible under our authority" to help the federal government curb an epidemic of drug overdoses.

A report released by the US Centers for Disesase Control and Prevention (CDC) in January revealed that drug-overdose deaths reached a new high in 2014, totaling 47,055 people. Opioids, a type of powerful painkiller that requires a prescription, were involved in 60% of those deaths.

Currently, the New Zealand cannabis industry is worth millions of dollars per year and is totally unregulated due to the legal status of cannabis. This has led to all sale and distribution being controlled by career criminals who have no ethics when it comes to selling this product to children or trying to push harder damaging drugs to their customers.

It is also causing many ill people in this country to suffer unnecessarily.

Our government bought into the "war on drugs", started in the US.

There are 2 main areas of regulation to be considered, in relation to cannabis, which are medicinal and recreational.

Medicinal Cannabis

The Massachusetts Hospital Association has voted unanimously against a proposed ballot measure to legalize recreational marijuana in the state, as debate over legalizing pot for people aged 21 and over continued to rage statewide. Massachusetts decriminalized cannabis in 2008 and made medical marijuana legal in 2012, and the state has begun seeing a push to legalize pot for recreational use in a November ballot measure, the Boston Globe reported. 

An experimental cannabis-based drug has successfully treated children with a rare form of severe epilepsy in a keenly anticipated clinical trial, more than doubling the value of its maker GW Pharmaceuticals.

The study of GW's Epidiolex in Dravet syndrome is the first of four final-stage Phase III epilepsy trials, with results expected this year, that the drugmaker hopes will confirm the therapeutic benefits of cannabinoids, the active ingredients found in marijuana.

As politicians across the U.S. debate medical marijuana laws and legalization for recreational purposes, a group in Nebraska is taking a different approach: forming a political party supporting medical marijuana legalization.

The group, Legal Marijuana Now Nebraska, will need 6,500 signatures by Aug. 1 supporting its effort for legalized medical marijuana use and hemp production, KETV-7 reported. The group wants to reach 8,000 signatures, noting it is also working with groups in other states including Colorado, Iowa and Minnesota.

Marijuana's safety profile could take a hit following the release of a new study from Colorado State University.

The year may still be young, but 2016 promises to be pivotal for marijuana one way or another.

The expansion of marijuana at the state level is looking like a win-win for residents and legislators. Consumers now have the freedom to purchase legal amounts of marijuana for recreational purposes in four states, and medical marijuana patients in 23 states have access to a new pathway of treatment that may prove safer, cheaper, and more effective than traditional pharmaceutical products.

GAYLORD — Maureen Suggitt travels nearly 120 miles from Sault Ste. Marie to obtain her medical marijuana and Sunday she traveled that same distance to protest a recent sting that has blocked her from purchasing her medicine.

Suggitt joined a group of more than 100 in Gaylord Sunday for a march that began around 3 p.m. to protest raids of every medical marijuana dispensary in Otsego County by numerous law enforcement agencies Thursday.

With the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act in place, Suggitt said she was confused as to why the raids were warranted.

Virginia lawmakers are paving the way for the production and distribution of medical marijuana oils. 

Senate Bill 701 passed in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly. The bill allows for the eventual production and distribution of cannabis oils, which supporters say can ease conditions for people with severe epilepsy.

The bill now goes to Governor Terry McAuliffe’s desk for his signature.

Steamboat Springs — A unique marijuana education curriculum created and piloted in Steamboat Springs through the past year is gaining the attention of schools across the country.

The Marijuana Education Initiative offers four types of school curriculum to address prevention of marijuana use, intervention for self-identified habitual users, alternative to suspension and athlete awareness.

The initiative acknowledges that marijuana is a legal recreational and medicinal substance that many adults are using and no longer an illegal drug that should be lumped together with opiates, methamphetamine and other drugs during health class.

It’s one of the main questions voters ask when they consider a cannabis measure: Will legalization — whether medical or adult use — encourage more kids to get high? 

With some form of legalization expected on at least a half-dozen state ballots this November, data showing increased or decreased use by minors will likely be a powerful weapon in the battle for votes.