The United Nations held a special session on drugs at the General Assembly in New York in April, and cannabis industry attorney Christian Sederberg was there to see it.

Billed as “UNGASS,” the United Nations General Assembly Special Session was “a big deal,” Sederberg says, as it was the first time in more than 20 years that this kind of conversation on drug policies and tweaking of treaties has taken place.

Sederberg points out that since the UN process “moves at a glacial pace,” nothing that happened in the session will change drug policy or affect the marijuana legalization movement anytime soon, but the discussions there about cannabis were a step in that direction.

Temporary regulations for the state's Medical Marijuana Program are expected next month.

To date, 23 states have moved forward and legalized marijuana for certain medical conditions while several others have legalized one ingredient in the marijuana plant.(Photo: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

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Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked (Jewish Home) is seeking alternatives to legislature that would completely decriminalize the personal use of soft drugs, Walla! News reports Wednesday, following a debate over a similar bill proposed by Meretz MK Tamar Zandberg. 

Representatives of the Ministry of Justice confirmed that Shaked turned to the Ministry's internal legal advisory office to examine an alternative to de-criminalization of the drugs. 

The amount of drugs allowed for personal use, according to the proposed law, is 15 grams, and applies to hashish and marijuana; the law would commute the fines for personal use, which top hundreds of shekels. In this case, the penalty for the offense would be reduced significantly, although usage itself is banned. 

Real Scientific Hemp Oil(TM) (RSHO(TM)) Cannabidiol (CBD) Hemp Oil Demand Grows as Countries Including Brazil, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Paraguay Authorize Its Import From the U.S. 

SAN DIEGO, CA--(Marketwired - May 31, 2016) - Medical Marijuana, Inc. (otc pink:MJNA) is pleased to announce that its flagship product Real Scientific Hemp Oil™ (RSHO™) has been authorized by Paraguay's government for import into the country as a prescription medication for refractory epilepsy. 

Paraguay's first-ever import permit for RSHO™ marks the fourth country in Latin America, after Brazil, Puerto Rico, and Mexico, to approve MJNA's cannabidiol (CBD) hemp oil for indications including epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, chronic pain, and cancer. 

A group dedicated to keeping marijuana illegal has launched an effort to convince city councils across the country to actively oppose measures to end cannabis prohibition that are expected to appear on at least five state ballots this November.

President Obama has a rare opportunity to make history by rescheduling marijuana.

As it so happens, the DEA is currently deciding on a five-year-old petition to reschedule marijuana, supposedly in the first half of 2016. This decision coincides with some of the final months of the Obama administration. This coincidence makes it easy for the President to accomplish a major, desperately needed reform of federal marijuana law.

Marijuana edibles will be legally available to buy in medical marijuana dispensaries in Oregon Thursday, June 2.

Those products can contain up to 15 mg of THC and adults over 21 can buy them.

Eating or drinking marijuana exposes you to THC, the chemical that makes you high, without the risk of smoke exposure. The effects of edibles can take hours to feel, much slower than the effects of smoking or vaping.

The Oregon Health Authority says marijuana can make children very sick, so it’s important to keep any marijuana products in a locked area out of the reach of children.

If a child does eat or drink a marijuana product, call the Poison Center Hotline at 1.800.222.1222.

Cannabis oil with a lower concentration of cannabinoids that have psychotropic effects should be available to patients without prescription from this week, Marija Darkovska, the head of Macedonia’s Agency for Medical Drugs, said on Tuesday.

Also this week, Macedonian medical specialists start training on how to prescribe the stronger cannabis products that should become available by the end of June.

“There will be two types of oils in the pharmacies. The one with less than 0.2 per cent cannabinoids will be available without prescription beginning this week,” said Darkovska.

Public support for marijuana legalization is at a record high in the United States, but not everybody is embracing reform.

Certain industries have a financial interest in keeping weed illegal — private prisons, law enforcement, and Big Pharma, for example— but there's another opponent to legalization that most people don't think about: the drug-testing industry.

Could the UK follow Canada’s lead and begin steps to legalise cannabis? According to bookmakers, the chance of decriminalising marijuana in the next ten years looks likely.

Ladbrokes are offering of odds of 3/1 that cannabis will become “legalised and regulated in the UK by 2026”.

The drug was de-classified to a Class C drug in 2004, but was re-classified to a Class B drug again in 2009.

Campaigners claim legalising cannabis would save the Treasury millions. Here’s what we know about Cannabis in numbers:

Cannabis usage

2.2 million

The number of people aged 16-59 who are thought to have used cannabis in the UK in 2014.

10 million

The number of smokers in the UK in 2014