Hemp farmers are looking into suing the government after the drug squad seized around 1,600 hemp plants in a field in Avgorou last week and arrested the owner and a 42-old woman who sold him the seeds.

A source, who did not wish to be identified, told the Cyprus Mail that the plants were indeed hemp, which has a much lower concentration of THC, the psychoactive element in cannabis.

“The plants were out in the open and the farmer bought certified hemp seeds from France,” said the source, pointing out that hemp cultivation in EU is not only legal but also subsidised.

Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters disclosed Monday that he has convened a task force to study the impact that marijuana legalization would have on the state of Ohio, its work to be funded by the organization trying to legalize pot in Ohio.

In a written announcement, Mr. Deters said the study group of policy experts and elected officials will research the public health, public safety, and economic impacts of medical and personal legalization. David Little, a spokesman for Mr. Deters, said the other members of the task force will be disclosed when the study is released.

It's not easy living above a clash of ideologies.

But that's where residents of Maxine Clough's Vancouver condo building find themselves: stuck between Ottawa's virulent opposition to marijuana and cannabis activists bent on legalization.

Meanwhile, the very real pot dispensary on their ground floor is open for business.

"We're in the middle," says Clough, who supports calls to regulate Vancouver's rapidly multiplying dispensaries.

"We're stuck here, and the city seems to be trying to do something. And we've got the feds saying: 'Don't you dare!'"

'Marijuana is not a medicine'

Nearly two-thirds of the money the federal government spent on medical marijuana last year went to veterans in Atlantic Canada — a region with comparatively few veterans.

According to Veterans Affairs Canada, the federal department spent $5.2 million on medical marijuana for veterans in the last fiscal year. Of that, almost $3.4 million — or 65 per cent — went to veterans in Atlantic Canada.

Meanwhile, the number of veterans living in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and P.E.I. accounts for less than 14 per cent of the total number in Canada.

Fabian Henry, a former Canadian Forces member, takes responsibility for helping to introduce medical marijuana to East Coast veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

BRITISH drugmaker GW Pharma­ceuticals yesterday posted a widened half-year, pre-tax loss, as it invested more in its cannabis-based Epidiolex treatment for childhood epilepsies.

The pharmaceutical company, dual listed on Aim in London and the Nasdaq in New York, posted a pre-tax loss of £13.7m for the six months ending March, which widened from £10.6m a year ago.

Revenue fell to £14.3m from £15m, meanwhile, as research and development costs rose from £21m to £30.5m.

However, GW Pharmaceuticals said it had raised $167.8m (£110.4m) in its offering and has high hopes for its epilepsy treatment.

Groundbreaking research published in the respected journal JAMA Internal Medicine has revealed new benefits to the denouement of marijuana prohibition throughout the U.S. It turns out that states where medical cannabis use is no longer a criminal offense are reporting substantially fewer deaths associated with pharmaceutical painkiller use, suggesting that more people in legalized states are turning to the safe cannabis herb for pain relief rather than Big Pharma's death pills.

Using a drug based on a chemical found in the cannabis plant to treat epilepsy has been controversial to say the least. An early study from the US may lend more weight to its scientific standing, however. The study suggests that the drug is safe, well-tolerated and effective.

An early American study has assessed the safety of Epidiolex – the drug made from cannabidiol (CBD), a compound derived from cannabis.

The study was conducted by Dr Orrin Devinsky, director of the New York University Langone Comprehensive Epilepsy Center. It was designed to test the safety of Epidiolex and how well people could tolerate it.

"There is no threat of closure of the headquarters of the Council for Research in agricoltuta (CRA) of Rovigo, the only center in Italy authorized to produce cannabis for therapeutic use", announced the Ministry of Agriculture in a statement released to news agencies, a time to deny the news release Saturday announcing the closure of the center of Rovigo, only one in Italy where you make cannabis research.

BENGALURU: The movement for legalization of marijuana reached India on Sunday with speakers at the country's first Medical Cannabis Conference calling for open and honest study on its ability to cure cancer and other ailments. 

Addressing the conference at Alliance francaise, Rick Simpson, a Canadian who claims to have treated cancer patients with his hemp oil — a cannabis extract — in the past 12 years, said it is high time people suffering from ailments, particularly cancer, are allowed to take plant for its curative effect instead of going in for radiation or chemotherapy. 

While radiation and chemotherapy harm the patient, treatment using the medicinal plant does not have any side effects, said Simpson, who is in the forefront the 'Legalise Marijuana' campaign.

Lower Mainland municipalities want the support of other Canadian jurisdictions as they push for a national debate on the regulation of marijuana dispensaries.

The B.C. communities are submitting a resolution for discussion at next month’s Federation of Canadian Municipalities convention. The document, a copy of which was obtained by The Globe and Mail, says local governments have the authority to regulate marijuana dispensaries.