An Israeli medicinal cannabis start-up is one of the latest firms to list on the Australian stock exchange, as the ASX seeks to diversify its traditionally resource-dominant stock offering.

Despite its Israeli roots, eSense-Lab chose the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) to make its foray into global markets to take advantage of investor appetite here for new technology stocks.

A brainchild of Israeli doctor Yaron Penn, who has spent the past six years refining the technology, the firm produces a product which smells and tastes like cannabis and has many of its medicinal benefits but does not contain a trace of an actual cannabis plant.

Hundreds of Israelis gathered near parliament on Thursday to smoke cannabis in an act of defiance of current laws.

Sitting in small groups on mats shaded by trees in the Rose Garden just across from the Knesset, participants lit up as the clock struck 4:20 pm for the local version of the traditional worldwide April 20 pro-cannabis events, known as "420" rallies.

In the afternoon, revellers were mostly men in their early 20s but organisers expected thousands more people to join the event, set to continue until the early hours of Friday.

Police did not intervene.

The United States will experience a wellness revolution through a new line of  clinically-proven, proprietary cannabis products from Tikun Olam, a premier science based cannabis provider rooted in the world capital of medical cannabis: Israel. Following the success of their pilot program in Delaware, and uniquely positioned to revolutionize health & wellness for the nation, the groundbreaking medical and adult use lifestyle brand, Tikun™, will continue its U.S. expansion with a launch throughout Nevada in April 2017.

How a country the size of New Jersey became the epicenter of medicinal marijuana.

After speaking here last month at a conference devoted to marijuana innovation, Garyn Angel handed out cannabis-infused salad dressing and sauces to people seeking to add an extra kick to their lunch.

A California based firm run by Evangelical Special Forces veterans has partnered with an Israeli bio-tech company to develop cannabis-based solutions for a wide range of health concerns.

Zytecur, based in Hollister California, joined forces with Ilan Bio, an agro-biotechnology company located in Givat Chen in central Israel. Six of the founding members of Zycatur are ex-Special Forces in the U.S. military, a number of whom saw combat in Iraq and Afghanistan and were wounded.

Florida

There’s a lot going on in Tallahassee as Sunshine State legislators forge the regulatory framework for Florida’s medical marijuana program.

Senators appear poised to advance legislation (SB 406) to welcome five new cannabis dispensaries to Florida by October. At least one would be minority-owned. Friday’s measure also requires four additional dispensaries within “six months after each instance of the registration of 75,000 qualifying patients with the compassionate use registry.”

That 75,000 figure is dramatically less than the previous threshold of 250,000.

Country has seen 500 companies apply to join ‘green rush’ in cannabis products after more than 100 studies in pharmaceutical use.

In a small pharmaceutical lab in Jerusalem, a complex construction of rubber tubes, pumps and a brass pipe sits on a worktop. A prototype device, its purpose is to “smoke” cannabis to remove its active constituents and turn them into powder, with the hope that the resulting product can be used for pain relief in young cancer patients.

The Izun lab offers a glimpse of the ambition by Israeli researchers to corner the rapidly burgeoning new global market in medical marijuana, a market its proponents argue soon could be worth almost $20bn (£16bn) annually by 2020 in the US alone.

The biotech sector will be one of the greatest beneficiaries of the global cannabis movement and investors can find a lot of opportunities within this industry.

Although firms focused on developing cannabis-based treatments are some of the highest quality opportunities, several have recently been under pressure.

Israeli Biotech Firm Falls from Highs

In late March, Therapix Biosciences Ltd. (TRPX: Nasdaq) commenced trading on the Nasdaq exchange and the shares rallied almost 50% during its first day of trading. Since then, the shares have fallen more than 20% and we think this is a stock investors should be watching.

The man considered the world’s foremost marijuana researcher began studying cannabis scientifically in the 1960s. He was not a hippie.

Dr. Raphael Mechoulam, 86, is now a professor at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and an advisor to the Israeli government’s medical marijuana program. He has never smoked a joint. But he’s been deeply curious about cannabis for nearly his whole professional life—starting as a young researcher in Israel, when almost nothing was known about the plant and its medicinal potential.

Israel, a leader in marijuana research and health technology, is attracting international investment as it tries to position itself as a cutting-edge exporter in the rapidly-growing market for medical-grade cannabis.

With estimates that the global market for medical marijuana could reach $50 billion by 2025, the Israeli government is set to allow the local industry to start exporting and projects annual revenues in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Medical cannabis is a relatively new field with no universal clinical standard. Israel aims to fill the void by combining its expertise in agriculture, technology, and cannabis-based medicine, said Yuval Landschaft, head of the health ministry's medical cannabis unit (IMCA).