Tasmania is set to give the green light for Australia's first legal medical marijuana grower, in what is expected to be the start of a new industry for the state. Capital Mining, a failed explorer with a plan to transform itself as the second ASX-listed cannabis company, has struck a deal that puts it in line to be granted the first licence. 

Can smoking marijuana prevent the memory loss associated with normal aging or Alzheimer’s disease? This is a question that I have been investigating for the past ten years. The concept of medical marijuana is not a new one. A Chinese pharmacy book, written about 2737 BCE, was probably the first to mention its use as a medicine for the treatment of gout, rheumatism, malaria, constipation, and (ironically) absent-mindedness.

In a CNN special to be aired on Sunday, not only will President Barack Obama state his full support of medical marijuana, he’ll also advocate for alternative models of drug abuse treatment which don’t involve incarceration.

The television special, called “Weed 3,” features CNN’s chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta, a neurosurgeon who came to support medical marijuana after reviewing the evidence. This time around, he’ll be delving into the politics of medical marijuana research and interviewing President Barack Obama, according to an email obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation.

Georgia State Rep. Allen Peake, R-Macon shows a bottle of medical cannabis oil as he presents his House Bill 1 on Feb. 3, 2015.

1. House Bill 1, the "Haleigh's Hope Act," took effect immediately on Thursday, and makes it legal for people in Georgia who suffer from eight illnesses to possess up to 20 ounces of cannabis oil if a physician signs off. Read more about the law from the AJC's Greg Bluestein.

Aurora is working to find appropriate locations to allow a medical marijuana production facility.

At a recent public planning meeting, Aurora’s planning and development services director Marco Ramunno tabled a report recommending council direct town staff to implement a zoning bylaw amendment pertaining to such a facility to be reviewed and discussed at an upcoming general committee meeting.

“We are looking at two sites along the (Hwy.) 404 corridor,” Ramunno said. “If approved, these would be 150 metres from any residential or school sites.”

A bill in Nevada aimed at adjusting the state’s medical marijuana program has died a quite death in the legislature. The bill had been held up in committee and the time limit expired before the Committee on Health and Human Services could give it a hearing.

If passed, the bill would have made it possible to transfer marijuana business licenses, make the licensing process more transparent, and make it easier for marijuana businesses to change locations. Although reasonable in scope, the bill never gained traction in the legislature, leaving outside observers to ask why.

TRENTON — The United Food and Commercial Workers Union has withdrawn its petition to unionize the employees at the medical marijuana dispensary in Egg Harbor Township, ending what would have been legal battle with national implications for the burgeoning cannabis industry.

An official at the National Labor Relations Board in Philadelphia confirmed the hearing scheduled to take place in Philadelphia Wednesday was cancelled because the organizing petition was withdrawn by the union Local 152 Tuesday.

David Knowlton, a co-founder and board chairman of Compassionate Care Foundation alternative treatment center, said he was notified by the board of the cancelled proceeding but did not receive an explanation on why it had occurred.

The Senator says she has supported the use of cannabis oil in the past, she says... Des Moines, IA (ABC9 News) - Senator Joni Ernst is speaking out on the potential expansion of Iowa's medical marijuana law.

A bill passed by the senate defines debilitating medical conditions including cancer, MS, epilepsy, and PTSD.

The bill also sets up a system for medical cannabis dispensaries in Iowa. 12 would be licensed by April 1st of next year.

While the Senator says she has supported the use of cannabis oil in the past, she says she is against the opening of those dispensaries, and the general use of medical marijuana.

Medical marijuana dispensaries are starting to grow in the Beaverton area with the first to open in city limits soon.

Blooming Deal owner Tyler Walker thinks there's a market in the suburbs.

Cannabis Nation, doing business as, Blooming Deal is awaiting its Oregon Medical Marijuana Dispensary inspection next week and expects to open once the ink dries on its state marijuana license and it gets a Beaverton marijuana license, Walker said.

If approved, it will be the first such dispensary in the Beaverton city limits, but there are others just outside city boundaries including Growing Releaf, a dispensary west of Oregon 217 near Southwest Canyon Road.