Have you ever wondered why marijuana affects us the way it does? What is it that makes THC and CBD react with our bodies, healing and offering relief to the ill? What makes this plant such a diverse medicine, able to treat such a large number of vastly different conditions? 

If you had asked this question fifty years ago, there wouldn’t have been an answer for you to find. Unfortunately, the extraction methods available in the early 1900s made it difficult to determine which one of the 80+ cannabinoids found in cannabis was the psychoactive cannabinoid responsible for the effects of marijuana. 

The truth is, it’s only been in the last couple of decades that scientists have truly even begun to understand the ways cannabis works within our bodies. 

Monroe and others think that marijuana is an effective and safe solution for pain relief.

While there's slowly been a growing and serious discussion about marijuana and its legality in this country, we've hardly seen any such talk in the NFL. The substance has been somewhat of a taboo subject in league circles, with league officials hardly even entertaining discussion about changing their stances on marijuana in football.

Compassionate doctors play a very, very big role in a medical marijuana program. States can create all of the lists of qualifying conditions that they want, but if there aren’t doctors that are willing to sign patients’ forms, a state medical marijuana program will never go anywhere. That’s why states need to refrain from putting added barriers in the way of a doctor helping a sick patient. If states put in additional hoops for a doctor to jump through, they are going to be even less inclined to help medical marijuana patients.

The Massachusetts Hospital Association has joined a growing roster of opponents to a proposed ballot measure that would legalize marijuana in Massachusetts.

The group’s board of trustees voted unanimously last week to oppose the measure, citing public health and safety concerns, including greater youth access to the drug.

“Clinicians and healthcare leaders from around the state have a clear message — this ballot measure is the wrong prescription for Massachusetts,” said Lynn Nicholas, chief executive of the hospital association, in a written statement.

Many people enjoy the light buzz of hitting a joint, but for a select few even just a puff or two can cause paranoid delusions. Scientists from England have uncovered a gene that may predict the likelihood of somebody suffering from psychosis after smoking cannabis.

 Big news today for children and adults hoping to get a form of medical marijuana to treat epilepsy.

The General Assembly has passed a bill allowing cannabidiol, or CBD, to be produced and distributed in Virginia.

Senator Dave Marsden said,

"Marijuana is a plant and there is a process by which you can derive these oils from that plant that can help people, and help our young children."

Senator Dave Marsden sponsored the bill which expands on last year's legislation that allows people with epilepsy to have the oil in their possession.

Medical marijuana paved the way in providing an alternative treatment for ADHD. According to recent studies, medical marijuana is more effective in providing ADHD treatment compared to Adderall. 

ADHD is taking its toll on children and adults alike and numerous medications have been released. Though giving a child a medication for the behavioral disorder can minimize the symptoms, it can sometimes end up with a bad case of side effects. 

Cannabis News Network launches a miniseries on one of the hottest topics in cannabis regulation: the medicinal benefits of the plant and the struggle of patients to get access to it! Featuring Canada, Australia, Mexico, the United States, and Germany. Watch above.

LAST month’s federal law change making it legal for Australian patients and doctors to access medicinal cannabis has changed nothing for Jeremy Bester and his family.

Mr Bester’s mother Lyn Cleaver and her partner Malcolm Amundsen already provide him with spoonfuls of home-grown cannabinoid extracts, which they say are better than pharmaceuticals at reducing the frequency and intensity of his epileptic fits without side effects. The fits are a legacy of a viral illness Mr Bester contracted at age six.

Ms Cleaver said Police Minister Rene Hidding had assured her police would not actively seek to prosecute people who grew and possessed cannabis for genuine medical reasons, but the stigma and perceived risk of breaking the law was deterring many other Tasmanians.