An early start to recreational marijuana sales in Nevada cleared the final state hurdle Monday, paving the way for the program to roll out in under two months.

The Nevada Tax Commission adopted temporary regulations proposed by the Department of Taxation that will allow the state to issue recreational marijuana licenses by July 1. Most of the regulations were copied from the state’s medical marijuana program.

Australia's health ministers have approved the sale of hemp foods nationwide.

The Australia and New Zealand Ministerial Forum on Food Regulation gave approval for hemp seeds to be sold in Australia, at a Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting in Adelaide on Friday. It comes after Food Standards Australia and New Zealand approved hemp food in March.

"Ministers supported the draft standard that will allow low-THC hemp seeds to be sold as a food," read a communique released after the meeting.

Now that medical marijuana legalization has passed, the Ohio Rights Group is turning its attention toward educating medical professionals about the healing potential of cannabis.

Oberlin native John Pardee, group founder, kicked off that effort Monday night with a fundraiser at Town Hall restaurant in Cleveland where $4,500 was raised to send doctors, nurses and medical students to a Medical Cannabis Education Symposium in Columbus at the end of the month.

The goal is to fund 20 students, said Brandon Bashak, an Elyria resident and deputy director of North Central Ohio NORML, a group with a mission to shift public opinion on pot legalization.

More than $140,000 has already been spent in the state as stakeholders seek a voice in how lawmakers regulate the lucrative recreational industry.

Retail sales of marijuana may still be a year away, but cannabis-related cash is already flowing at the Maine State House as businesses jockey to influence the policies that will govern the lucrative recreational market.

Between Dec. 1 and March 31, clients paid lobbyists more than $140,000 for representation on marijuana-related issues in Augusta even though lawmakers have only taken up a handful of the roughly 50 bills connected to the drug.

President Donald Trump issued his first statement on medical marijuana since he took office.

Trump on Friday signed a $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill that will keep the federal government funded through September 30.

The congressionally approved bill includes a rider — the Rohrabacher - Blumenauer Amendment — that disallows the Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Agency from using federal funds to prosecute medical marijuana businesses in states where medical marijuana is legal.

The legal-marijuana industry is on one heck of a run. Last year, five states legalized the use of medical cannabis for select ailments, pushing the number of states that have chosen to allow physicians to prescribe cannabis past the halfway mark (28 states). We also witnessed the number of recreational-pot states double to eight from four.

The result has been a steady increase in North American legal weed sales (including Canada, which legalized medical marijuana back in 2001). Cannabis-research firm Arcview estimated a 34% increase in North American legal sales to $6.9 billion last year alone.

The Government needs a compassionate approach to marijuana legislation.  This was the general message at JDAY today in Whangarei, with those suffering a range of illnesses turning out to call for easier access to medicinal marijuana.

Patrick Tahitahi has suffered with a spinal injury for many years.

"When I started to go green and came off all my meds, well lucky if I've been in hospital at all now.  All my issues seem to have cleared up a lot easier."

Type 2 Bi-Polar sufferer Gwenn Gillgren has a similar experience, "The only thing that I've ever found to work instantly and without side effects is cannabis.  I've been given medication by the doctor that drove me so insane."

If state officials have their way, the California Medical Marijuana Identification Card (MMIC) program will disappear.

The cards are not mentioned in recent proposed state regulations for the medical pot industry, and legislation put forth by the office of Gov. Jerry Brown would end the documents. "There is currently a legislative proposal that would delete the requirement for state-issued medicinal ID cards," according to an email from the California Department of Public Health, which overseas the MMIC program.

Canada’s medical marijuana growers will have to start testing all their products for unauthorized pesticides, says Health Canada, stepping up the government’s response to concerns about tainted marijuana.

The policy was announced Friday night as the department released test results that showed another marijuana producer, Ontario-based Peace Naturals Project Inc., had a plant test positive for a pesticide ingredient not approved for use on cannabis. Peace Naturals identified the source of the problem as cross-contamination from a product used to sanitize a plant harvest room.

A bill to allow severely ill or disabled patients to use medical cannabis has growing, bipartisan support. But time is running out for passage. Fri, May 5, 2017 at 1:22 pm CST Families hold up photos of their kids who suffer from debilitating ailments, who they say could be helped by legalizing medical marijuana.