Authorized medical patients in Romania may now use marijuana derivatives to allay their pain under new provisions in two of the country's narcotic laws, according to local reports.

Authorized medical patients in Romania may now use marijuana derivatives to allay their pain under new provisions in two of the country's narcotic laws, according to local reports.

Norris McDonald, Contributor

Medical marijuana is now a growing industry in the United States (US) and that country's Attorney General Eric Holder has said the federal government will no longer attempt to fight the 20 states that, in one form or another, have legalised the weed.

I was quite surprised therefore, when I read that Dr Dayton Campbell, a medical practitioner and member of parliament, claims that there will be wide-ranging negative effects if Jamaica decriminalises marijuana.

If you met him on the street, Professor Raphael Mechoulam might seem like any other Jerusalemite grandfather. But behind his serene smile and calming voice is the brilliant mind of the man who kick-started medical marijuana research in Israel and the world.

Since the inception of his research in the 60s, Professor Mechoulam has been nominated for over 25 academic awards, the most recent being the Rothschild Prize in Chemical Sciences and Physical Sciences in 2012.

I met Mechoulam in his office at the Hebrew University Medical Campus where he was enthusiastically preparing his next lecture, despite the fact that he officially retired over 15 years ago.

Edmond Campbell, Senior Staff Reporter

MEMBER OF Parliament for North West St Ann, Dr Dayton Campbell, who is a medical practitioner, on Tuesday warned against the ill and wide-ranging negative effects of decriminalising marijuana, a proposal moved in a motion by his colleague Raymond Pryce.

Contributing to debate on the motion in Gordon House, Dr Campbell made it clear that as a member of the medical profession, he had a duty to put public health first.

Despite strong arguments from Pryce about acquisition of criminal records by young men for the smoking of a ganja spliff (a small portion), Dr Campbell cautioned that studies made a direct link between the smoking of cannabis and mental illness.

NINE MILE, Jamaica (AP):

Napa and Sonoma have their wine tours, and travellers flock to Scotland to sample the fine single-malt whiskies. But in Jamaica, farmers are offering a different kind of trip for a different type of connoisseur.

Call them ganja tours: smoky, mystical, and technically illegal journeys to some of the island's hidden cannabis (ganja) plantations, where pot tourists can sample such strains as 'purple kush' and 'pineapple skunk'.

The move has prompted Chobani to weed out the ingredient across the board.

There's a reason why nutrition experts (Men's Fitness included) wax poetic about Greek yogurt and hemp seeds—the former packs twice the protein as regular yogurt, while the latter is chock full of essential amino acids. But the combination of superfoods has caused quite a stir with the Air Force, which had recently banned consumption of Chobani Blueberry Power Flip yogurt, prompting the Greek yogurt company to announce that it'll be removing hemp from that flavor. (Blueberry Power Flip comes with a side of walnuts, chia and hemp seeds meant to be "flipped" into the Greek yogurt.)

Cannabis has been making a lot of noise lately. Multiple states across the United States, along with many countries around the world, have successfully legalized medical marijuana, and the Uruguay parliament recently voted to create the world’s first legal marijuana market.

Scientist urges Gov't to facilitate Ja tapping into multibillion-dollar medical marijuana industry

Christopher Serju, Gleaner Writer

A prominent Jamaican scientist has challenged the Government to pave the way for the development of a medical ganja industry, which would go a far way in providing cost-effective treatment for a number of lifestyle diseases, including diabetes, glaucoma and schizophrenia, while yielding enormous economic benefits for the country.

Dr Henry Lowe says Jamaica is missing out on hundreds of billions of dollars which could be earned from the wide range of cosmeceutical, neutraceutical and pharmaceutical products being developed across the world.