If California voters approve recreational marijuana for adults at the November 2016 ballot, Scott Wiener wants San Francisco to be ready.

The supervisor is expected to introduce legislation Tuesday to create a task force charged with figuring out how to best allow for recreational marijuana use in San Francisco. The task force will comprise officials from city government and the school district, along with neighborhood activists and medical cannabis industry players.

“Whatever one’s views on cannabis ... it looks like full legalization is going to the ballot,” Wiener told The San Francisco Examiner on Monday. “We have to be prepared.”

B.C.'s Chief Medical Officer says marijuana does have some medical benefits, countering claims from federal Health Minister Rona Ambrose that it has no medicinal value.

Last week, Ambrose spoke to On the Coast's Stephen Quinn about the City of Vancouver's plan to regulate marijuana dispensaries. 

A board shows different products for sale at a medical marijuana dispensary in Vancouver, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2015. The free-for-all era of Canada's commercial medical marijuana industry is over as a new crop of growers try to woo scarce investment dollars in an increasingly competitive business, observers say. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward (The Canadian Press)

Some B.C. doctors are concerned that the forthcoming guidelines for prescribing medical marijuana will cut off care to a number of their patients.

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C. posted medical cannabis professional standards to its website outlining instances in which marijuana is not appropriate, such as prescribing it for patients under the age of 25 or those patients suffering from addiction.

Kelowna physician Kevin Kanerva is worried the new rules will be too restrictive and would exclude many of his patients.

Monday wasn't a very good day for 13-year-old Mary Ann Coleman who suffers from low-functioning autism.

The report sent home from Glenwood Autism & Behavioral Health Center where Mary Ann attends day school shows she tried to hurt herself 337 times Monday while at school or riding the bus, her father Mark Coleman said. That number has been as high as 800; a typical day though is about 40.

"(Mary Ann) scratches herself to the point where she bleeds," he said. "She hits herself upside the ear. She pulls her hair out. She slams her head into the wall .... She has gone through my bay window. She had gone through two windows at school."

The federal government wants to make cannabis more accessible to sick Germans as a means for pain relief, according to the country's drug representative. 'High time,' say supporters of legalization.

The subject patent claims cover CBDV, a non-psychoactive cannabinoid extracted from the cannabis plant, for use in the treatment of patients with epilepsy and specifically for the control of generalised or temporal lobe seizures. This patent covers CBDV alone or in combination with standard anti-epileptic drugs. The issued patent from this application will provide an exclusivity period until 30 March 2031.

Marijuana has come a long way in the United States since California launched its first-in-the-nation medical program 19 years ago. Today, 23 states and the District of Columbia have legalized cannabis to some degree, and public perception of the plant is clearly shifting. Medical marijuana is being used in treatment of a variety of illnesses including several types of seizures, cancer and post-traumatic stress disorder.

New polls by Gallup, Beyond the Beltway, and General Social Survey all show that for the first time since its prohibition, a majority of Americans support legalization of the plant. Change is coming to the American cannabis industry, and it’s time to prepare for it in earnest.

Let us start by saying that there are definitely individuals and companies that use some of these different terms interchangeably – and that the difference is really something that should be investigated by the consumer.  There are many different schools of thought, and certainly some mis-information that is either intentionally or mistakenly placed about.  We are all in a learning curve when it comes to the world of cannabis, and what this plant brings for human health.

Currently, the majority of research in medical marijuana focuses exclusively on analyzing its effectiveness in treating various ailments of the human body. Dental marijuana research has not been extensively investigated, and hallmark features critical to heal dentition with this medicinal drug are vastly unknown. This systematic research review aims to 1) identify various molecular caries (cavities) mechanisms and 2) determine future prospects of cannaboid research in dentistry.

London, UK; 24 April 2015: GW Pharmaceuticals plc (AIM: GWP, Nasdaq: GWPH, "GW") announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted orphan drug designation for Cannabidiol (CBD) for use in treating newborn children with neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (NHIE). NHIE is acute or sub-acute brain injury due to asphyxia caused during the birth process and resulting from deprivation of oxygen during birth (hypoxia).

The incidence of NHIE is 1.5 to 2.8 per 1,000 births in the United States, or, 6,500 to 12,000 cases per year. Of these, 35% are expected to die in early life and 30% may suffer from permanent disability. There are currently no FDA-approved medicines specifically indicated for NHIE.