Many people are drawn to cannabis for its effects physically, mentally and emotionally. Medically, cannabis has some legitimate uses, however the scope of this article is limited to the recreational use of cannabis. The following is distilled from a lecture given by Marco Lam of Boulder, Colo.

Cannabis has a lot of side effects and problems with overuse, though most users choose to ignore these problems due to its psychedelic effects. While I am not a fan of the recreational use of any drug, it is not helpful to attack a patient's choice from the get-go, rather, I must create a context for patients on how cannabis impacts their health. To do that, we must go back to the principles of Chinese medicine.

The NIDA, through a contract with growers at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, supplies all marijuana used for research purposes in the U.S. The federal agency is “working to expand the amount and variety of the drug available for study,” according to the science site Nature. The problem faced by institutes researching medical marijuana is that “the agency’s most potent strains still fall short of the most powerful street pot.” One irony in research circles is that U.S. citizens in some 23 U.S.

Over the past two decades, marijuana has made some incredible strides.

In 1995 marijuana was not legal in any states, and according to Gallup, just 25% of its survey respondents were in favor of legalizing the drug. Then the wheels of change started spinning with California's legalization of medical marijuana in 1996.

Since this landmark legalization, we've seen 23 states and Washington, D.C. legalize medical marijuana, while another four states and D.C. have legalized marijuana for recreational use. Furthermore, two well-regarded polls from Gallup and the General Social Survey both recently noted that for the first time in history, the majority of respondents favored legalizing marijuana.

While Germany is the leading pharmaceutical market in Europe, valued at $58.6 billion in 2014, the sector will expand at a modest Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 1.7 percent to reach an estimated $65 billion by 2020, according to research and consulting firm GlobalData.

The company’s latest report states that Germany is a mature market with high healthcare expenditure and pharmaceutical production. Indeed, cost-saving government policies will be the largest barrier to future growth.

While antibiotic drugs like penicillin have saved countless lives and eliminated most public health threats like syphilis, there is a darker side to these miracle cures – the worsening global trend of antimicrobial and antibiotic resistance, which in turn has led to the creation of drug-resistant bacterial strains known as “superbugs”.

And while doctors and scientists race to find new forms of antibiotic medication to treat these developing illnesses, there’s another aspect to antimicrobial and antibiotic resistance that needs to be addressed – the issue of pharmaceutical companies and environmental pollution.

Laura Rivero laid out an array of marijuana-infused goodies on the glass countertop inside High Mountain Health Medical Dispensary on Thursday. The packages advertised things like frosted red velvet cookies and “gourmet chocolate that melts in your mind.”

As she looked through the labels, Rivero pointed out that one lacked any information about the milligrams of THC in the product. Another only used only the words “house blend” instead of describing the dominant type of cannabis in the product.

It’s these types of details that Rivero said needs to be on the packages of all marijuana edibles sold in Arizona’s medical dispensaries so patients know exactly what they’re getting.

The number of Canadians authorized to use medical marijuana has skyrocketed, even as medical experts warn that not enough is known about its risks and benefits. Now some are calling for researchers to tap into that growing pool of users to help answer some of those questions.

In 2002, a year after the government first permitted access to therapeutic cannabis through Health Canada regulations, 500 patients had registered. Today, there are more than 50,000.

This has happened despite the official position of the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) which says that, "there is insufficient scientific evidence available to support the use of marijuana for clinical purposes."

Paul Birch, the co-founder of Bebo and chairman of the recently established single-issue political party Cannabis is Safer than Alcohol (CISTA), was in Glasgow on Tuesday to launch his party’s campaign in Scotland, ahead of the General Election in May. CISTA campaigns for the reform of laws which prohibit the sale and possession of cannabis in the UK. After meeting CISTA candidates standing in Scottish constituencies, he spoke to the Glasgow Guardian.

Guardian: To have launched a single-issue party, you must be passionate about that issue, in this case, legalising cannabis. How did that come about?

Juliana was the winner of a trip to Uruguay in a contest where qualifications were the participants' history with the marijuana plant

Every year the Miss Cannabis Contest is celebrated in Brazil to consider the stories of the participants with the winning plant.  In 2014 the winner was Juliana, a girl who used cannabis to enhance her cancer treatment.

Juliana's prize was a trip to Uruguay. On March 21 she traveled to our country and visited some of the most iconic places in the capital, plus some plantations and study centers of cannabis.

Hemp recently had its first committee hearing in the Texas legislature, and it involved about a dozen supporters testifying in favor of the two bills, along with one very confused sheriff.

Two bills submitted by Rep. Joe Farias of San Antonio would bring hemp to the Texas agriculture scene. House Bill 557 would legalize hemp for research purposes through institutions of higher education, while House Bill 1322 legalizes hemp for Texas farmers to grow alongside other crops.

Many groups were represented at the hearing, including farmers, health food stores, an insurance company, and the Texas Hemp Industries Association. Both bills were heard at the same time.