EMMA Litleton will conduct an international hunt to discover how medicinal cannabis can best treat seriously-ill children.

The Moonee Valley woman is among 23 Winston Churchill Memorial Trust recipients, which will enable her to head overseas to pursue her studies.

Ms Litleton, a senior solicitor, is a specialist in children’s law and said the prevalence of children being treated with cannabis oil had increased.

“There’s a lot of ethical issues with children, where we have to ensure that their best interests are met and that it is safe,” Ms Litleton said.

He said children given cannabis mainly had “serious epilepsy” and their parents had found conventional medication wasn’t working.

Italy may well be on its way to becoming the largest country in Europe to legalize marijuana. An Italian tracking group has found that more than 250 lawmakers from across the political spectrum have given their support to a proposal that would largely decriminalize production, distribution, sale and consumption of marijuana throughout the nation.

The leap may appear far-fetched for a country that just 10 years ago voted in a draconian anti-drug bill that removed any distinction between hard and soft drugs, increasing sentences for pot smokers and heroin addicts alike.

Italy may well be on its way to becoming the largest country in Europe to legalize marijuana. An Italian tracking group has found that more than 250 lawmakers from across the political spectrum have given their support to a proposal that would largely decriminalize production, distribution, sale and consumption of marijuana throughout the nation.

The leap may appear far-fetched for a country that just 10 years ago voted in a draconian anti-drug bill that removed any distinction between hard and soft drugs, increasing sentences for pot smokers and heroin addicts alike.

Any Italian will tell you: pasta is healthy and makes you feel good. But what about spaghetti made from cannabis?

Farmers from southern Italy presenting their wares at a London food festival this week say their hemp pasta, oil and bread won't get you high, but do provide a healthy, tasty alternative to the traditional, wheat variety.

"Hemp food is truly organic," said Marzio Ilario Fiore, 30, whose farm in the Molise region produces hemp oil and flour. "Hemp requires no pesticides, no fertilizers, and only moderate amounts of water." Cannabis is most often associated with the psychoactive effects of marijuana, but some strains of the plant can also be cultivated for food.

Italian politicians took the first steps for a brave new world of legal cannabis this week when 200 of them agreed a draft text to legalize the growing, sale, transport and use of cannabis.  Specifically, if subsequently approved by Italian Parliament up to 15g of cannabis would be legal to possess, and up to 5 plants would be permitted.  Additionally, cannabis would be sold in Govt approved shops.

For nearly a century, the Italian army has produced medicine for the country.  This year, they’ve taken on the production of a new drug: marijuana.

An unmistakable aroma fills the air of an immaculate lab.  Dressed in a white lab coat, Antonio Medica carefully clips away at a leafy green plant with his garden scissors. It’s a big day for him. He’s finally harvesting his first marijuana crop. 

But Medica isn’t your next-door grower.  He’s a colonel in the Italian army. His lab is inside the army’s pharmaceutical facility — a highly guarded base in Florence. This year, they’ve taken on the production of a new drug.

“Our variety contains the two active principals, THC and Cannabidiol,” said Medica. 

Italy took its first official step toward full legalization of pot on Wednesday, leading Europe in what would be a groundbreaking change for the continent.

The Intergrupo Parlamentare Cannabis Legale, a cross-party committee of lawmakers, agreed on a provisional text to legalize the consumption, growing, production and sale of cannabis under certain conditions. The text was signed by 218 members of parliament, and not just the usual backers of such measures.

Today 218 members of the Italian parliament voted for a bill to legalize cannabis. Sponsored by Benedetto Della Vedova, a junior minister for foreign affairs, the bill would allow the growing of up to five plants. You could store 15 grams at home and be allowed to carry five grams outside. Selling the plant would still remain illegal.

Thinking of going to Amsterdam to get stoned? Think again. While "coffee shops" still sell all manner of legal ways to get ripped, the law was changed two years ago so that only residents of the Netherlands can legally purchase marijuana in these cafes.

How about feeding pigeons in San Francisco or carrying your shopping in a plastic bag in Rwanda? Sounds harmless but both those acts are actually prohibited.

In Florence, Italy, it is an offence to sit and eat on the steps of major churches and public buildings. 

Perhaps as befits a godfather of the Italian-Australian Mafia, Frank Barbaro was, in 2003, attending a funeral every fortnight.

"Frank Barbaro was prepared to travel very long distances to attend such gatherings,"  were the dry words of a 2003 joint-police report into the state of the Mafia in Australia.

"These attendances at funerals of [Italian Organised Crime] and family connected associates related to matters of respect, and presented networking opportunities."

Barbaro, a Griffith, NSW-based scion of one of the pre-eminent families of the Calabrian-Mafia, apparently styled himself as the glue that stuck the Australian Mafia together.