The Foundation of Cannabis Unified Standards (FOCUS) is working to create order among the chaos caused by a cannabis regulatory contradiction. FOCUS, which is an independent, third-party, not-for-profit organization, is in the process of developing cannabis-specific standards for everything from cultivation and extraction to packaging and retail.

FOCUS Founder and Executive Chair Lezli Engelking says the overall goal is to help growers implement these standards, which were developed by industry professionals who reached a complete consensus on each approved product and reflect what is safe to use on other agricultural and plant products, by providing guidance.

Starting on August 31, everything changes for medical cannabis caregivers in Montana. A Helena, Montana judge recently rejected an advocacy group’s request to delay enforcement of restrictions on Montana’s medical cannabis industry. After August 31, medical cannabis providers will be barred from selling cannabis to more than three patients. The state Supreme Court earlier this year upheld that provision of a 2011 state law passed after the Montana Cannabis Industry Association sued to block it.

Jeff Staker knows the new battle that lies ahead.

The Indiana Marine veteran has registered a nonprofit with the state, Hoosier Veterans for Medical Cannabis, and said he is committed to pushing Indiana lawmakers to legalize medical marijuana.

“There needs to be an alternative,” Staker said.

It’s in part his first-hand account of prescribing practices, with doctors in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Staker said that is promoting the new action.

“For me personally, it’s because for the past 10 years I’ve been on pain medication of one sort or another,” he said. “And a majority of that I was on oxycodone.”

Oregon medical marijuana dispensaries have sold an estimated $102 million in recreational cannabis since January, when the state imposed a 25 percent sales tax on pot.

The state has collected about $25.5 million in marijuana taxes in the first six months of the year and is on track to meet state economists' projections.

The latest tax figures, released Monday by the Oregon Department of Revenue, include the start of marijuana-infused edibles sales. The products include a wide variety of snacks, sweets and drinks and were available to anyone 21 and older starting in June.

The popularity of edibles was hard to project because it's difficult to measure the black market for them, said Mazen Malik, a senior state economist with the Office of Legislative Revenue. 

NATE Diaz could be in trouble with USADA for potentially breaching a UFC anti-doping policy by vaping cannabis at the post-fight press conference in Las Vegas.

Diaz, who had just lost a majority decision to McGregor over five brutal rounds at UFC 202, was vaping on the rostrum and, when asked, said it was CBD or cannabidiol oil.

A VICTORIAN couple to be tried over supplying medicinal cannabis to the chronically ill have objected to charges against them being dropped.

Matthew and Elizabeth Pallett, of Carrum Downs, are due to face trial in the County Court in October for cultivating the illegal crop.

The pair, who are defending themselves, have formally pleaded not guilty to the claims.

But Mr Pallett this morning voiced displeasure at the prosecutors’ decision to drop trafficking and possession charges, to the amusement of Judge Mark Taft.

Mr Pallett said he and his wife had wished to call witnesses on the basis of the original set of allegations.

JUST one in four offenders caught with cannabis are charged, a Sun investigation can reveal.

It shows police attitudes vary widely across the UK — with addiction charities saying some forces turn a blind eye to cannabis use.

Some offenders are getting off scot free because of a lax police attitude to drug laws.

While a few forces crack down most have a “softly-softly” approach — and a few virtually turn a blind eye.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau continues to dismiss questions about decriminalizing cannabis as an interim step toward legalization, saying it would leave kids more vulnerable to the drug and keep the sector in the hands of organized crime.

"If you decriminalize it, you make it easier for kids to access it," said Trudeau in a recent interview with Ben Mulroney of CTV's, Your Morning. "Decriminalize it, you continue to have organized crime controlling marijuana. That is counter to why we want to do it. That is why decriminalization has never been interesting to us.”

Sometime in the middle of the afternoon on April 26, Luis Hernandez-Gonzalez, the 44-year-old owner of a hydroponics gardening store in Miami, Florida, received a call from a customer who had recently moved to Tennessee.

Luis Rego, a 32-year-old alleged pot farmer, was having trouble with his current crop and wanted some advice. Unbeknownst to both men, special agents from the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) were eavesdropping on their conversation as part of an investigation into a ring they believed had set up an illegal grow house network in eight Tennessee counties. According to an excerpt from transcripts of the phone call, Rego said of his crop, "Man, this does not want to even out... In the morning, it's fine, and in the afternoon, it gets sad."

Medicinal cannabis supporters argue the drug eases suffering of patients all over the world and its safe use is dependent on practitioner support.

IT is with extreme disappointment that I read the opinion piece by Dr Jenny Martin ('Putting ice on hype over medicinal marijuana’, Herald, 12/8).

I am not a medical practitioner, but I have better knowledge than most on the medical benefits of cannabis for patients in extreme distress after watching my 25-year-old son succumb to bowel cancer last year. 

The rush to act on medical cannabis is driven by thousands of Australians, just like Dan, who do not have sufficient outcomes with pharmaceuticals and may turn to illicit cannabis as a matter of last resort.