BALRAM Vaswani chairman and 'chief ganja officer' of Ganja Labs USA and the University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech) on Monday, February 16 signed a three-year agreement to develop high-quality ganja strains.

It forms the latest drive to formalise the medical ganja industry. The strains would grow under controlled indoor and outdoor conditions. But both parties offered no immediate plans to sell the drug as it still awaits clearance to grow it legally.

When it comes to marijuana laws, the Justice Department is now treating American Indian tribes the way it treats states that have legalized pot: by backing off on enforcement.

The move, announced in December, has inadvertently sparked interest in the marijuana business. While many see dollar signs, others worry about contributing to the impact substance abuse has already had on Indian Country.

With its use clearly growing, marijuana users need an app containing all the information they need to know about it – a platform where everyone can be informed on news and history of cannabis. This is Cannabis Pocket Reference, an Android application you can find an extraordinary database of 225 types of cannabis. Users can choose to display them by name, by active ingredient (either CBD or THC), by time to flowering, or by type of hemp.

Washington, D.C. – Two bills were introduced on Friday, February 20, in the U.S. House of Representatives, that would legalize and tax adult-use marijuana federally.

U.S. Rep. Jared Polis introduced H.R. 1013, the “Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act.” The bill calls for states to be allowed to choose to legalize cannabis if they choose without having to worry about repercussions from the federal government.

The bill would also create a new regulatory structure by removing marijuana from the Schedule set by the Controlled Substance Act. Currently, cannabis is considered a Schedule 1 drug, which classifies it as having “no currently accepted medical use.”

• 'Clever and sociable' teens damaged by using super-strong skunk 
• Study found regularly smoking skunk triples the risk of psychosis 
• Skunk is so wide spread it's even a gateway drug to tobacco
• Its use has left some people with permanent schizophrenia 
• Cannabis has effectively been decriminalised in south London
• Teens now legally purchasing ultra-strong synthetic cannabis online 

By Stephen Adams Health Correspondent For The Mail On Sunday

Entertainer, entrepreneur and cannabis celebrity Tommy Chong appeared this week at the opening of Seattle’s CannaCon, billed as the nation’s largest marijuana-related trade and seminar show.

With a message more hymn than manifesto, Chong held a brief news conference Thursday afternoon to discuss the medical and social benefits of pot, to promote the value of drinking water and to relate his own experiences both in show business and prison.

He also came to promote a series of cannabis-related products that bear his name, including a hemp-infused beverage, a vaporizer, a marijuana grinder and “smoke swipes” that can remove the reeks and fumes of marijuana from clothing and other surfaces.

Plant count triples for producers; patients allowed 8 ounces every 90 days.

After months of contentious public debate, New Mexico Health Department Secretary Retta Ward has adopted three new sets of medical marijuana rules for patients, producers and even her own Medical Cannabis Advisory Board. Once they’re published in the State Register next Friday, Ward says she will consider reopening the license application process for up to a dozen new nonprofit producers. 

Patients tell SFR they generally support the new rules that allow them to purchased 8 ounces of medication every three months (two more than current rules permit), but they continue to question why THC potency levels have been capped at 70 percent. 

The Florida Department of Health will hold a public hearing March 2 in Tallahassee for a proposed rule on a medicinal marijuana law.The rule was produced by a two-day negotiated rule-making workshop DOH held earlier this month with growers, cannabis business representatives and patient advocates.

Medicinal marijuana is available in nearly half of the country but Florida’s Compassionate Cannabis Medical Act of 2014 has been held up by a court challenge with growers and regulators unable to agree on rules to provide epilepsy and cancer patients with cannabis oil to treat their illness.

DOH confirmed Thursday a request for a hearing to discuss the proposed rule published Feb. 6. A spokesman said more details would be forthcoming.

Records reviewed by the NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit show there are five marijuana businesses that owe the City of San Jose more than $2.1 million dollars in unpaid taxes, penalties and interest.

“Whether we want to be or not, we are somehow or another regulating a medical drug, something no city in the country really knows much about,” said San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo.

More From NBC Bay Area’s Investigative Unit

The 1996 Compassionate Use Act legalized medicinal marijuana in California. Voters in San Jose then approved Measure U in November 2010, allowing the city to tax the sale of medical marijuana. Since then, the city has collected more than $17 million from the 10% Marijuana Business Tax on sales from collectives and dispensaries.

UPDATED:

CEN Biotech Files Application for Judicial Review and is seeking discovery.