Ricardo Varona makes no apologies for running a sophisticated, high-powered hydroponics lab inside a second-floor bedroom of his Southwest Miami-Dade home. He went to trial on Tuesday to insist he was innocent of breaking the law — arguing he was growing the marijuana solely to help his wife stricken with breast cancer.

“Love and compassion, that’s what this case is really about,” Assistant Public Defender Adam Bair told jurors. “In particular, this case is about a man willing to do anything to ease his wife’s suffering.”

The unusual defense, in a state where medical marijuana is not yet allowed, was unconvincing to prosecutors. They tried walking a tight rope Tuesday, offering sympathy for Varona’s wife but casting her husband as a big-time dope dealer.

Advocates say people with epilepsy in Western Australia are the victims of a frustrating Catch-22 situation, forcing many to break the law to access a drug that has been shown to help control seizures.

Bureaucratic approvals have been given for a trial of medical marijuana, but it's proving impossible to locate a reliable supplier of cannabis oil, the critical plant extract.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration has not yet approved any products, both on a local and imported basis.

If you’re into cannabis, you’ve heard of Steve DeAngelo. He’s the Executive Director of Harborside Health Center, the largest medical marijuana dispensary in the world. He was the star of Weed Wars on The Discovery Channel. And many have called him “The father of the legal cannabis industry.”

Despite all the medical benefits marijuana has, doctors and scientists have long wondered whether smoking it damages the lungs. After all, if smoking cigarettes, or basically anything else, can damage the lungs, then the smoke from marijuana should as well. But according to a recent study from Emory University, that may not be the case.

Chronic pain patients who use herbal cannabis daily for one-year report reduced discomfort and increased quality of life compared to controls, and do not experience an increased risk of serious side effects, according to clinical data published online ahead of print in the Journal of Pain.

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - The state Department of Health has given the green light to an alternative treatment center that will become New Jersey’s fourth medical marijuana dispensary when it opens in October.

Health department officials issued the permit after a final inspection was conducted at Compassionate Sciences Inc. in Bellmawr. The approval was announced Monday.

NJ.com reports Compassionate Sciences Inc. has 5,550 registered patients and caregivers. A caregiver is permitted by the state to buy medical marijuana on behalf of patients who are unable to travel.

The southern New Jersey facility was permitted to begin growing marijuana in June.

Former Gov. Jon Corzine signed New Jersey’s medical marijuana legislation in 2010.

A MAN who admitted to smoking 12 joints a day pleaded guilty to drug possession after police caught him with $2900 worth of cannabis.

On Thursday 60-year-old Lester James Bell appeared in Rockhampton Magistrates Court, where he also pleaded guilty to possessing utensils.

About 8am on September 2 police searched Bell's home and found a clip seal bag containing 64g of cannabis.

But the real find was hidden in a large grey bag, where Bell showed police he kept 375g of cannabis which cost him $2900.

Defence solicitor Cassie Boland said that in 1990 Bell was in a motorcycle accident where he suffered extensive burns and had two fingers and a thumb amputated.

Since then he had not been able to work and was on a disability pension.

Natalie Daley takes her nightly dose of cannabis oil. She credits it for her weight gain, following chemotherapy after being diagnosed with terminal cancer two years ago.

A WORKSHOP on the benefits of medicinal cannabis could help people "come out" about their use of products like hemp oil, organiser Natalie Daley said.

By Paul Armentano / NORML

Scientific discoveries are published almost daily rebuking the federal government’s contention that cannabis is a highly dangerous substance lacking therapeutic efficacy. But most of these findings appear primarily in obscure, peer-reviewed journals and often go unnoticed by the major media and the general public. Here are five new cannabis-centric studies that warrant mainstream attention. 

Early Onset Pot Use Isn’t Associated With Adverse Outcomes in Adulthood