The Arthritis Society has released a how-to guide for navigating Canada’s changing landscape surrounding medical marijuana.

The national patient advocacy and research organization created “Medical Cannabis: A guide to access” and explanatory videos to help people with arthritis.

More and more evidence is accumulating that denying medical cannabis to patients suffering from diseases likes multiple sclerosis should no longer be acceptable under any state’s law.

Patients have a right to safe, life-saving botanicals and they’re not waiting around for the federal government or recalcitrant states. They’re getting recommendations for cannabis in one of 23 medical marijuana states, and seeking out formulations like mouth sprays and CBD-rich edibles that specifically help with M.S. symptoms.

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Sept. 2, 2015) - Today, the Canadian Medical Cannabis Council (CMCC) announced the launch of the medical cannabis industry's first Patient Advisory Committee (PAC). The Committee, which is comprised of leading patient groups from across Canada, will work to ensure patients and their best interests are the focus of the practices, activities and policy advocacy of CMCC.

The group currently includes representatives of the Canadian AIDS Society (CAS), The Arthritis Society, Canadians for Fair Access to Medical Marijuana (CFAMM), the Improving the Life of Children (ILC) Foundation and The Wellness Soldier. Over the coming months, CMCC will be recruiting additional members to join the PAC.

Yes, you read that headline correctly, and while this may seem like a rhetorical question with an obvious answer, the query has been popping up on forums, in dispensaries, and across specialty natural products stores within the cannabis industry and various media platforms. Let’s take a closer look at CBD types in an effort to try and glean some insight.

Hemp vs. Cannabis-Derived CBD

In today’s American cannabis culture that celebrates and idolizes youth in an industry with a historical demographic of young 20-something millennials, talking about marijuana and the inevitable mortality associated with end-of-life and palliative care issues may seem like a polar opposite. However, cannabis is far more than a party drug and a growing number of cannabis converts are discovering that marijuana is a unique and diverse plant and there is space for discussion of its properties along a broad spectrum of both recreational and medicinal topics.

Educating physicians on medical marijuana may improve access for patients seeking an alternative therapeutic option, but it may also mitigate some of the cultural stigma that has persisted since the drug was declared illegal in 1923.

In situations where transplanted organs may not be a perfect match, marijuana may be used to delay rejection of an incompatible organ, new research has found.

The findings suggest that THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, might prove to be a useful anti-rejection therapy.

"We are excited to demonstrate for the first time that cannabinoid receptors play an important role in the prolongation of rejection of a foreign graft by suppressing immune response in the recipient," said one of the researchers Mitzi Nagarkatti from University of South Carolina School of Medicine in the US. 

"This opens up a new area of research that would lead to better approaches to prevent transplant rejection as well as to treat other inflammatory diseases," Nagarkatti noted.

City health officials say they are holding marijuana products that show pesticides state says cannot be used on cannabis.

Denver health officials Tuesday began inspecting and quarantining hundreds of marijuana products because their labels listed pesticides not approved for use on cannabis.

The move comes about six months after the city quarantined 100,000 plants at 11 grow facilities over concerns about pesticides.

Although pesticides are widely used on crops, their use on cannabis remains problematic because no safety standards exist. Marijuana is illegal under federal law, so the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which regulates pesticides, has never established any limits.

Doctors in Britain have noticed a significant rise in patients suffering from cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome (CHS), a widely “unrecognized” condition that makes heavy cannabis users severely ill.

Alarming symptoms of the illness include severe stomach pains, vomiting and nausea. 

Those diagnosed with the rare syndrome have to bath nearly five times a day in hot water just to ease their pain.

There have been two known occurrences of the condition in the UK involving patients who visited accident and emergency services multiple times, while cases worldwide are “increasing acutely.”

Professor of gastroenterology at Birmingham City University, Dr Sauid Ishaq, warned the condition must be taken more seriously.