Presumptive president Rodrigo Duterte said he will never allow recreational marijuana, but he is open to the use marijuana for medical purposes.

Speaking to reporters Monday night, Duterte said there are now medicines that have marijuana as a component.

"Medicinal marijuana, yes, because it is really an ingredient of modern medicine now. There are medicines right now being developed or already in the market that contains marijuana as a component but used for medical purposes," he said.

Duterte, however, was firm on saying that those who will be caught using marijuana for recreational purposes will be punished, as provided by law.

On social media, an image on the alleged enactment of Law 14 of May 19, 2016 is circulating, which regulates the activities and use of controlled substances for medical and scientific purposes and in which allegedly the use of medicinal marijuana is approved in Panama.

A federal judge on Monday dismissed the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin's lawsuit against the Drug Enforcement Administration over raids that destroyed industrial hemp crop on tribal land.

Jai Whitelaw was 10 when he first took medical cannabis, given to him by his mother in a bid to treat the debilitating epilepsy that saw him endure up to 500 seizures a day.

"I literally sat on (the) couch for two days, thinking 'Do I end his life and mine? Or do I risk helping him'," she told AFP.Faced with the stark choice of breaking the law in the hope of soothing his chronic pain, or denying him possible relief, Michelle Whitelaw reached breaking point.

She picked the latter, risking criminal charges. Now, almost two years on, things are set to change as Australia brings in new laws allowing the drug to be used for medical purposes.

Is eating pot brownies every day to relief yourself from chronic pain as bad for you as regularly puffing on a cigarette? According to Canadian life insurance companies, it is. And now, insurance companies are demanding a higher premium rates for clients in accordance with the same level of risks associated with both these activities.

Irrespective of the consuming ways of habits of marijuana users, the insurance industry's national trade association demands standard policy among insurers for tackling the increased costs among marijuana users.

Thousands of people protested in Santiago de Chile under the slogan 'cultivate your rights' to demand the decriminalization of marijuana and a new drug policy in the country.

The demonstration on Sunday, called by various social organizations, took place in a festive and family atmosphere in the center of the Chilean capital.

Nicolas Espinoza, president of Movimental, one of the organizers of the event, explained that the main objective of the protest is to demand legalization of marijuana in Chile where private consumption is allowed but cultivation and sale are still prohibited.

President Barack Obama still refuses to act on the issue of marijuana legalization, and reform advocates are getting tired of waiting.

Rep. Steve Cohen, a Democratic congressman from Tennessee, has discussed the legal status of cannabis with the president several times, asking Obama if he would consider at least rescheduling marijuana on the list of controlled substances so it can be researched further and treated as a less dangerous drug. But the president has maintained the same stance on changing drug policy during his whole presidency: Defer to Congress.

Maryland’s state medical marijuana commission delivered a blow to marijuana advocates and would-be entrepreneurs recently by abruptly capping the number of businesses that can process marijuana into pills, oils and other products.

The commission also gave conflicting information about when the first long-awaited growing licenses would be issued, with Executive Director Patrick Jameson first saying it would be late summer or early fall, then stating that licenses would come “weeks” after the evaluations of the applications are completed in early July.

At the commission’s first public meeting in months, marijuana advocates and entrepreneurs complained about the slow pace and the secrecy of the process.

NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton said on a local radio show over the weekend that marijuana is responsible for the “vast majority” of New York City’s violence, adding that it makes him “scratch [his] head” as to why states want to legalize marijuana.

“Interestingly enough here in New York City, most of the violence we see — violence around drug trafficking — is involving marijuana,” Bratton said. “Here in New York the violence we see associated with drugs, the vast majority of it, is around marijuana, which is ironic considering the explosion in the use of heroin now in the city.”

“I have to scratch my head as we are seeing many states wanting to legalize marijuana, or more liberalization of policies.”

Arizona marijuana legalization burns toward the ballot

As many as 56% of Americans support ending cannabis prohibition, which critics say has failed. (photo via DPA)

Arizonans are cruising to a vote on cannabis legalization for adults this election cycle. The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol announced Wednesday they were just 15,000 signatures away from their 230,000-raw name goal for placing Initiative 5 on the Nov. 8 ballot. The group needs approximately 150,000 valid signatures to qualify the initiative by July 7, 2016.