Puerto Rico’s Health Department has adopted a regulation that will allow for the cultivation, manufacturing and distribution of medical marijuana in the U.S. territory.

Officials say the substance can be used in forms including pills, creams, patches and oral drops. Authorities stress that smoking marijuana and cultivating it for personal use remains illegal.

The Health Department said Thursday that it will implement a seed-to-sale inventory tracking system. It will also award licenses to doctors and to private companies that seek to cultivate and manufacture medicinal marijuana. Officials say samples must be sent to independent labs to ensure they contain the correct amounts of THC and are free of contaminants.

Former union boss Helen Kelly has written to Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne to seek permission to use medicinal cannabis.

Ms Kelly, who has lung cancer, said she hoped her application would be granted as soon as possible.

"[Dunne] said it took him an hour once he got the last application, so I'm hoping to hear today," she said.

Ms Kelly is already using cannabis oil to ease her pain, and said the drug had been "brilliant" for helping with nausea, lost appetite, and pain relief following chemotherapy.
"I want it in a form that is metered," she said. "The product that I've applied for has got a much weaker strength in the daytime and a stronger strength at night.She now wants a legal, regular supply of the drug.

In light of recent and increasing commentary on the use, access to and funding of cannabis based medical products, attached is a fact sheet on the definition, current availability, status and authorisation process around the use of these products for therapeutic purposes. Further information can be found on the Ministry of health’s website at:http://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/regulation-health-and-disability-system/medicines-control/medicinal-cannabis

Status of Medical Cannabis in New Zealand

A bipartisan group of U.S. Senate and House members sent a letter Wednesday urging the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to let its doctors discuss and recommend medical marijuana as a treatment in states where it is legal.

The letter to VA Secretary Robert McDonald comes four days before the expiration of a current directive that prohibits VA physicians from recommending the plant for medicinal purposes.  

“According to the current directive, VA providers are prohibited from completing forms seeking recommendations or opinions regarding a veteran’s participation in a state-sanctioned marijuana program,” the letter reads in part. “This policy disincentivizes doctors and patients from being honest with each other.”

This January, New York became the 23rd state to legalize the use of prescription cannabis. For this video, TIME went inside one of the first medical marijuana dispensaries, Vireo Health, which has one of the state’s five licenses to grow and sell medical cannabis.

A woman who may have otherwise died from her regular severe seizures has been granted approval for medical marijuana funding.

Alisha Butt, 20, has the mentality of a toddler and is unable to speak.

Her seizures had presented a huge problem for specialists who were unable to adequately treat her, leading to the possibility she could end up in a coma from one and die.

But thanks to medicinal marijuana extract Sativex, Alisha is able to live a more comfortable life.

"Since being on Sativex for over 4 months, she has shown a great improvement," mum Sushila Butt said.

Floridians will decide this November whether to allow medical marijuana in the state.

On Wednesday, a constitutional amendment to legalize the drug gained enough signed petitions to qualify for the ballot next November. If passed, the amendment would allow doctors to describe marijuana for people with “debilitating conditions” such as cancer, HIV/AIDS, epilepsy or multiple sclerosis.

“This November, Florida will pass this law and hundreds of thousands of sick and suffering people will see relief,” Orlando lawyer John Morgan said in a written statement. “What Tallahassee politicians refused to do, the people will do together in this election.”

We know that cannabis is good for our souls, but what about our minds? Decades of government propaganda have drilled into our collective psyche the idea that pot kills brain cells; stoners lose motivation, becoming stupid, forgetful, and lazy.

The truth, after so many years, is finally coming to light. Not only is cannabis not the horrible, brain-destroying, rape and murder inducing gateway drug that we had been led to believe; it actually is good for our bodies, and especially our brains.

There are dozens of ways cannabis helps our bodies, with more being discovered every day. For our minds, specifically, there are several great things that cannabis can do.

The first virtual Cannabis Health Summit has come and gone, but minds all across the globe are still spinning!

Over 28,000+ people tuned in from over 104 different countries to see 20+ cannabis experts, doctors, physicians, entrepreneurs and scientists deliver impactful talks on cannabis and health.

It was a groundbreaking, stigma-busting weekend for cannabis. To celebrate this inaugural event, here are just 7 top highlights.

Colombia joined the group of Latin American countries to legalize the use of cannabis (marijuana) for medical and scientific purposes, after President Juan Manuel Santos signed on December 22 a decree regulating the cultivation, processing, import and export of cannabis to those objectives.

With this measure, the Colombian government finally seeks to regulate these activities, in addition to owning and controlling seed growing areas, provided medical and scientific purposes, which was allowed for decades but had no regulation. What it has not legalized is cannabis use on public roads and marketing.