Roger Morgan, who is spearheading the campaign against legalization, says cannabis really is a "killer weed."

Ilyass El Omari, President of the Regional Council of Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima, organized the first international conference on drugs and cannabis on 18 and 19 March in Tangier. 

Under the motto “All for Alternatives Based on Sustainable Development, Health and Human Rights,” elected officials, experts and scholars presented their views on the issue of cannabis plantations and alternatives available to local cultivators.

The issue of medicinal cannabis is back in the spotlight and the question of whether Kiwis should or shouldn't have access to it.

It's been revealed in the past few weeks that both Martin Crowe and Sir Paul Holmes used marijuana before they died and the call to legalise it here is gaining momentum.

Across the ditch in Australia, they have just passed a law to begin clinical trials of medicinal cannabis so where does that leave us here in New Zealand and how will people get hold of the medicinal version of the drug?

Story met one woman whose brush with the law led to a discovery of a loophole which could mean more Kiwis getting hold of medicinal cannabis legally.

In 1997 my father was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive cancer. He underwent treatments, both conventional and alternative, and despite a courageous fight, he passed away in the spring of 1998. 

During his illness I visited with him and my mother quite often and remember how people looked at him while he had the stent that delivered chemotherapy drugs directly to a vein in his chest. There was a palpable sense of discomfort. 

I have to admit, I had the same feeling of discomfort; the strong and vibrant man I remembered wasted away, as much from the treatments as from the cancer. 

In early 2014, Sharif Ibrahim was offered an unusual project. Ibrahim, then a Ph.D. student in mathematics at Washington State University, in Pullman, spent most of his time working on esoteric geometric-analysis problems. Now, his adviser told him, the state of Washington needed help. About a year and a half earlier, voters had approved the legalization of recreational marijuana, and the state was preparing to issue licenses to marijuana retailers. It had capped the number of licenses at three hundred and thirty-four—but the state received more than two thousand applications to open stores. The officials wanted a fair, and random, way of handing out the golden tickets.

For a year, state Senator Jason M. Lewis maintained strict neutrality as he studied marijuana legalization — interviewing 50-plus experts, scouring the research, and observing firsthand a state where it is legal. But now he is speaking out against the expected November referendum in Massachusetts.

His position carries special weight. Lewis chairs the special legislative committee on marijuana.

His concerns, voiced just after his committee submitted its report on the topic, arise from his role as both a father and a public official, he said.

“I am opposed to the likely ballot question because this is the wrong time for Massachusetts to go down this road, and a commercial, profit-driven market is the wrong approach to take,” the Winchester Democrat said.

When Colorado and Washington became the first states to legalize recreational marijuana in 2012, drug policy advocates and pot consumers believed racial drug arrests would drop dramatically. That logic inspired voters in Washington, D.C., Oregon, and Alaska to hit the polls two years later in favor of less restrictive pot laws. 

But it turns out that advocates and consumers were only half right. Drug arrests have plummeted overall, yet black people are still disproportionately arrested. 

Two Norwegian researchers examined the likelihood of marijuana to cause a motor vehicle crash, and came to a surprising conclusion.

Marijuana appears to be set up for what could be its best year ever.

The plant, which is currently illegal at the federal level, has expanded like a weed over the past two decades. A whopping 23 states have legalized marijuana for medicinal use since 1996, and four states have legalized the sale of marijuana for recreational purposes since 2012.

The image of Jamaica in the media has always been related to either Bob Marley or marijuana. While both Marley and ganja have deep roots planted in this spectacular island, the reality of consuming and cultivating cannabis in Jamaica differs greatly from the perception. You could even go so far as to call Jamaica’s lack of regulations its worst kept secret. Strangely enough, marijuana has been illegal in Jamaica for decades. In April, 2015 that started to change with the passing of the “ganja law” that decriminalizes marijuana but only to a certain extent. Naturally, radical changes are not that common on the island and to say this law does not come without limitations would be an exaggeration of biblical proportions.

The Nitty Gritty

I sit in a brightly lit doctors surgery in central Amsterdam. It’s clean, modern and pristine. A team of receptionists see to patients sitting waiting to my left. Sitting to my right is a UK pain patient who, for the sake of anonymity, we’re going to call Mr X. 

Mr X uses cannabis for his pain caused by spinal damage due to injuries sustained whilst working in the armed forces. He’s a UK citizen and he’s here to get a prescription he can’t get from his doctor at home in London.

Mr X is young, talkative and passionate about what he’s doing. He’s not just in it for himself either: