Victoria is to become the first state in Australia to legalise cannabis for medical use.

Dozens of Victorian children with severe epilepsy will soon be able to test a cannabis-based drug in the hope it will treat their seizures.

The Austin Hospital in Melbourne is recruiting 60 children with intractable epilepsy to participate in a trial of cannabidiol (CBD) produced by an American pharmaceutical company called Insys Therapeutics Inc.

The drug is made from a synthetic version of CBD, a therapeutic compound found in the cannabis plant. The drug does not include tetrahydrocannabinol or THC - the psycho-active component of cannabis that gets people "stoned".  

Nicholas Johnson, 14, has severe epilepsy. Photo: Tessa Young

Researchers in Canada are to carry out a new study that will assess the potential benefits that medical cannabis can provide for arthritis patients.

Canada’s Arthritis Society is providing a three-year research grant to Dr Jason McDougall of Dalhousie University, a leading pain researcher, to investigate the drug’s impact on arthritis pain and disease management.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California's largest organization of practicing physicians, the California Medical Association, announced Monday that it is backing a proposed 2016 ballot initiative to legalize the recreational use of marijuana.

A coalition of entrepreneurs, activists, environmentalists and state politicians are backing the initiative, led by billionaire technology investor Sean Parker.

CMA said in a statement that its members believe controlling, tracking and studying pot will better protect public health than "ineffective prohibition."

Spokeswoman Molly Weedn said the medical association is most interested in provisions of the proposal that would expand marijuana research.

There's a lot about cannabis you probably know. There's a lot about cannabis you don't know. Read on.

1. Cannabis is the third most popular recreational drug in the United States.

2. There are 3 types of cannabis: sativa, indica and ruderalis.

3. Government surveys show 25 million Americans have used cannabis in the past year.

4. The first states to legalize recreational cannabis were Washington, Colorado, Oregon and Alaska.

States around the country — more than 20 in total — have legalized medical marijuana. 

Experts have been changing their minds too — recently, CNN's chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta reversed his opinion on medical marijuana.

While recreational pot usage is controversial, many people agree with Gupta's new stance, and believe that the drug should be legal for medical uses.

And even though the benefits of smoking pot may be overstated by advocates of marijuana legalization, new laws will help researchers study the drug's medicinal uses and better understand how it impacts the body.

The Mexican government is letting the parents of two more sick girls import a cannabis-derived medicine for their treatment.

The Federal Health Commission says in a statement that it has authorized the parents' requests to bring hemp oil into the country.

In a landmark decision last year, a judge ordered the government to allow the parents of another girl suffering from a severe form of epilepsy to import a similar product.

That ruling did not establish a general legal right to import medical marijuana.

New research published today in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine confirms what many of us have suspected for some time: If you smoke a lot of weed — like a lot of it — it can potentially do permanent damage to your short-term memory.

Professor Reto Auer of the University of Lausanne led a team of researchers who examined data on the marijuana habits of nearly 3,400 Americans over a 25-year period. At the end of the study period, the subjects took a battery of tests designed to assess cognitive abilities — memory, focus, ability to make quick decisions, etc.

Florida has a love/hate relationship with marijuana. You may not know it, but Florida has a very limited medical marijuana program that its legislature adopted in 2014 and that’s been entangled in legal challenges almost from its inception. In the same year, Florida also tried passing a medical marijuana constitutional amendment (Amendment 2) by a vote of the people that would have created a more robust medical marijuana marketplace. This year, that ballot initiative will again be making its way back to the voters.

By now, it's no secret that Ricky Williams is a cannabis supporter.

It's why the former NFL running back took part in a panel of former players over the weekend at the 2016 SoCal Medical Cannabis Cup, where he explained how his use of the drug helped him deal with the pain associated with football.

"I got to a point in my career where I realized, 'I'm not going to be able to do this much longer,'" Williams said, via the Austin American-Statesman.

How do you warn people about the potentially serious risks of a recreational drug that many users think is harmless? This is the challenge now facing health officials hoping to inform and warn the public about an increasingly legal recreational drug.

A new study indicates lifetime use of marijuana is linked to poorer verbal memory at middle age, and its authors want to spread the word.