First, the good news that really isn't good news at all, but whatever. As of late Monday afternoon's 96-34 Texas House vote, both chambers of the Legislature have passed medical marijuana reform legalization. Texans who suffer from intractable epilepsy and are able to get their hands on low-THC cannabidiol oil will not be prosecuted.

As has been said over and over again by advocates for medical marijuana, legalizing cannabidiol oil, especially the low-THC version allowed by the Texas bill, is not enough. Treatment is not available to all the people who could be helped, and keeping THC content to 5 percent or lower takes options away from doctors. (THC is the chemical in marijuana that gets you high.)

The president of the University of Ottawa says he is not involved in a medical marijuana operation that his wife and one of their children are setting up.

Allan Rock issued a statement Wednesday contradicting a published report that suggested he has a role in a company looking to call itself RockGarden Medicinals.

“I have no involvement with this application nor the proposed business venture that is being planned,” Rock said in a statement to the Citizen. “I am not a director, shareholder, officer, employee or advisor of the company they have incorporated to carry on their business should they be granted a licence. I do not attend meetings, provide counsel, or participate in any other way in the proposed venture.”

Medical cannabis will eventually be legalised in Australia and opposition is based on "faith, not logic", the chairman of a business granted permission to grow crops on Norfolk Island has said.

Former West Australian Liberal MP Mal Washer, who is a GP and chairman of a Perth-based company which has just been granted permission to grow medical marijuana on Norfolk Island for export to Canada, said the growing operation would be closely monitored.

The company had previously sought permission to grow cannabis in Tasmania but encountered too much opposition.

by Johnny Green

A little known fact about my home state, Oregon, is that we do not have a sales tax. This if fairly rare in America these days. I remember traveling to surrounding states with my family growing up, and being bewildered by seeing a price tag on a pack of baseball cards, but then having to pay extra once I got to the cash register. It was a very foreign concept to me growing up. Now that I’m older and pay a state income tax, which is basically the trade off for no sales tax, it makes more sense to me.

A remarkable breakthrough for medical marijuana patient rights just passed a hurdle in Maine, a state with one of the most progressive medical marijuana programs in the country. Their latest move comes in the form of an unprecedented bill that has not been introduced in any other state yet.

When Licensed Producers under the Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations (MMPR) think of the long process of obtaining a medical document from a patient or physician, they often imagine it as a huge hurtle to overcome - a pain in the neck. Health Canada allows for e-prescribing or secure fax for obtaining the original medical document - a method not many MMPR applicants know of.

Colorado has not only been at the forefront of the marijuana revolution through the state’s efforts to legalize recreational marijuana, but Colorado is also a leader in industrial hemp research. The University of Colorado Boulder has scientists studying industrial hemp for research purposes.

These efforts are being led by Nolan Kane, a geneticist who specializes in evolutionary biology. Right now, Kane is only allowed to grow strains. The rest of his research material is cannabis DNA, which is supplied by Colorado growers who extract it using methods he’s taught them.

A new drug developed at Lancaster University that may help to prevent the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease is to enter clinical trials.

The number of people with dementia is steadily increasing. Currently there are about 850,000 cases in the UK, with numbers expected to reach over a million by 2021. The most common cause of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease. It begins when a protein called beta-amyloid forms senile plaques that start to clump together in the brain, damaging nerve cells and leading to memory loss and confusion.

CANNABIS CULTURE - A public hearing regarding the City of Vancouver'sproposed regulations for medical marijuana dispensaries will be held at City Hall on Wednesday, June 10, 2015, at 6 PM.

To register to speak at the hearing, members of the public can send an email to publichearing@vancouver.ca or call 604-829-4238 after 8:30 am on Friday, May 29.

Citizens have been invited to provide comments to Mayor and Council atmayorandcouncil@vancouver.ca and they will be distributed to Council in advance of the hearing.

CORAL SPRINGS, Florida, May 20, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

Hemp-based consumer products for the nutraceutical, pharmaceutical and supplement industries continue to evolve as more and more states nationwide soften on restrictions for Legal & Medical Marijuana industries.  Marijuana & Cannabis Based Companies in focus today are: Algae International Group, Inc. (OTC: ALGA), Hemp, Inc. (OTC: HEMP), Easton Pharmaceuticals (OTC: EAPH), DigiPath, Inc. (OTC: DIGP), American Green, Inc. (OTC: ERBB) and Cannabis Science, Inc. (OTC: CBIS).