An independent medical committee will oversee the roll out of medicinal cannabis in Victoria and advise on the next group of patients that will be given access the drug, the Andrews Government has said.

Medical marijuana is expected to be made available to children with severe epilepsy sometime next year, after the Government committed $28.5 million in this year's budget. 

The Government announced Professor James Angus would lead the medical advisory committee that will look at expanding the scheme to other cohorts.

The Cannabis Culture Lounge has everything a pothead might need to feel right at home: $3 marijuana buds, bongs for rent, bags of Skittles and Doritos for sale, and black leather couches where customers can recline in zoned-out contemplation in a pungent haze. Never mind that it is all technically prohibited by Canadian law.

Supporters of Oklahoma medical marijuana who want to let voters decide the issue in November delivered thousands of signatures Thursday but say they aren’t sure if they gathered enough to qualify the petition for the ballot.

“It’s going to be close, but we’re cautiously optimistic,” said Joe Dorman, a former Democratic legislator and candidate for governor who spearheaded the effort. “We had a bunch of people show up at the end who delivered signatures.”

Like most Americans who follow the debate over marijuana legalization in this country, I was disappointed that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration this week once again determined that marijuana has no medical use and left it in Schedule I of the federal Controlled Substances Act.

Disappointed, but not surprised.

An Ohio board that oversees attorney conduct said Thursday that attorneys aren't allowed to help someone establish a legal medical marijuana-related business in the state because using, growing and selling marijuana remains a federal crime.

The state Supreme Court's Board of Professional Conduct also said Ohio attorneys aren't legally permitted to use medical marijuana or to be personally involved in related businesses. Attorneys sought the opinion to determine whether a law barring employers from disciplining professionals from working with marijuana businesses applies to lawyers

Prime Minister John Key says decriminalising cannabis would send the wrong message to young people - and he isn't keen on holding a referendum on the issue.

A new poll shows almost 65 per cent of New Zealanders want personal possession of cannabis decriminalised or made legal.

There is even stronger support to let people use cannabis for pain relief - only 16 per cent of New Zealanders want that to be criminal.

Speaking at his post Cabinet press conference yesterday, Key said his view was changing the law would send the wrong message to younger people.

He did not back a referendum on the issue, and pointed to the recent outcry over shops selling "legal highs" or synthetic cannabis products, before the Government stepped in.

I have a bet, for just a Coca-Cola of course, that marijuana will be completely legal in the United States within 10 years. And the reason I am so keenly interested is because it is believed the climate and the soil of Tennessee are just perfect for raising a magnificent crop of ‘Ganja.’ Want me to go a step further: I want to grow it. Really, but I swear I don’t smoke it. Seriously it’s a great cash crop.

Growing (non-psychotic) hemp just became legal in Tennessee, which many believe is a step towards a different “weed.” Hemp is a cousin of “giggle weed,” don’t you see, and is used in so many things today it will boggle your mind.

Don’t be surprised to see a slew of television ads touting a measure to legalize recreational marijuana use during the weeks leading up to the general election in November.

A local political action committee, the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, reserved more than $800,000 worth of advertising time slots across the major news stations in Las Vegas, according to recent Federal Communications Commission filings.

The ads are scheduled to start in early October and run until Election Day on Nov. 8 when Nevadans will vote on Question 2, which will decide whether to legalize the recreational use of marijuana for adults in the state.

The content of the ads hasn’t been finalized, according to coalition spokesman Joe Brezny.

New York medical marijuana distributors have yet to make a profit eight months after medical pot went legal in the Empire State, the Albany Times Union reported Sunday. There are simply too few patients in New York because of a lengthy qualification process that makes it hard for residents to purchase legal pot. 

Last week Ottawa announced it was going to make it easier to bring in temporary foreign workers. More and more of what we produce in Canada relies on such workers. You can add marijuana to that list; and even if you don’t use it, this story involves you.

The story begins in 1974. That’s when Terrance Parker, a severe epileptic, started to treat his condition with marijuana. For Parker it was a choice between reducing the effects of a life-threatening health condition and the risk of imprisonment. In 1997 he was charged with possession and cultivation of a controlled substance.