As more states consider legislation to legalize recreational marijuana use, further evidence to support the much-debated medical merits of cannabis has surfaced. Promising preclinical studies that suggest that marijuana may be able to reduce and even kill cancerous cells have once again surfaced—and this time they’re gaining support from the federal government.

Health Canada has sent out cease-and-desist letters to 13 illegal marijuana dispensaries and compassion clubs across the country, warning the RCMP could raid them if they do not shut down immediately, even those in cities where local police have mostly tolerated them.

The department sent the letters on Wednesday demanding the dispensaries stop “all activities with controlled substances” immediately and submit a written statement confirming this action by Sept. 21. The threat is the first indication the federal government is prepared to intervene directly to shut down Canada’s storefront dispensaries, most of which operate in Vancouver and Victoria.

The stratospheric rise of medical marijuana as a possible recognized treatment for epilepsy, now underway, is an example of what can be achieved through the sharing of personal stories on the Internet and social media, according to a leading expert in the field.

Daniel Friedman, MD, New York University (NYU) Langone School of Medicine, is a coauthor a review article, "Cannabinoids in the Treatment of Epilepsy," published in the September 10 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

The Canada Revenue Agency has confirmed that it will allow the costs of medical marijuana purchased from a licensed producer as a medical expense despite the fact that the Income Tax Act does not as yet recognize the enabling legislation.

The news, according to wawa-news.com, came in an August 24 letter from the CRA to the Canadian Medical Cannabis Industry Association, which has been lobbying the CRA to clarify the issue.

Cannabis has been at the center of one of the most exciting — and under reported — developments in modern science.

The majority of people have heard of THC, the compound in cannabis used to make the individual high. However, more and more people are speaking about another component found within marijuana; called cannabidiol (CBD).

Although this may be a poor choice for recreational users, strains with high CBD levels have a significant advantage as a medicine. While doctors can’t seem to look past certain side effects of THC, CBD doesn’t seem to present that problem.

Local hospitals are wrestling with one of the murkier aspects of Minnesota’s new medical cannabis law: how to appropriately handle the drug when it’s used by hospitalized patients.

WILLMAR, Minn. — Local hospitals are wrestling with one of the murkier aspects of Minnesota’s new medical cannabis law: how to appropriately handle the drug when it’s used by hospitalized patients.

An amendment to the law, approved this year, provided some clarity by allowing health care facilities to dispense and manage the drug for patients who are certified to use it.

But it has been left up to individual hospitals to decide whether they want to participate in the state’s medical cannabis program and, if so, how they will handle it.

In the 31st International Epilepsy Congress in Istanbul, recent trials showed that cannabis may actually help in the treatment of epilepsy, but its effect doesn’t make any significant difference with other anti-epileptic drugs. 

Professor Helen Cross of Great Ormond Street Hospital, London said that although cannabis may help in the treatment, its usage is still subjected to further research to evaluate its efficacy and safety. 

‘We have to be particularly concerned about the effects of the drug on the developing brain in children,’ Cross said.

About 3,000 of some 3,700 people who have applied for cards allowing them to buy medical marijuana have been approved by the state of Illinois.

That's according to the Illinois Department of Public Health, which updates the figures on the first Wednesday of each month, the Belleville News-Democrat reports.

The number of residents applying and receiving the cards in Illinois grew slowly in August, as legal medical cannabis cultivation centers push to have the medicine in dispensaries by the state's fall deadline, the newspaper reports.

It's not that Brent Zettl thinks there's no place for a medical marijuana dispensary in Saskatoon.

It just shouldn't be dispensing marijuana.

Rather, he said it has a role to inform the public and people who use medical pot.

Zettl is president of Prairie Plant Systems Inc.. The company has worked in the medical marijuana field since 1990. Zettl asked to speak to the planning and development committee about the city's first medical marijuana dispensary.

"I'm here to straighten out some facts," he said.

"These storefront operations should be seen as drug traffickers." - Brent Zettl

​Zettl takes issue with claims made by the dispensary on several fronts.