A South Canterbury MP has rebuffed campaigners' claims New Zealand drug laws encourage the use of illegal synthetic cannabis.

MP for Waitaki, National's Jacqui Dean, rejected the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party's claim people were being "forced to synthetics" on Thursday.

In a written statement, the party said "the black market has made safer natural alternatives too hard to find for many people".

Waimate man Eli Ward revealed on January 16 he kicked a five year synthetic cannabis addiction only by working on fishing boats. He said his habit started when he and his friends ran out of cannabis and used a synthetic substitute instead.

Ward estimated there were hundreds of "fulltime smokers" in the region.

As one of Vermont’s approximately 2,500 official medical marijuana patients, Robert Gwynn is excited his state lawmakers are considering legalizing cannabis. Born with neurofibromatosis type 1, a tumor disorder that has left him with debilitating nerve pain, limited appetite and ongoing fatigue, the 31-year-old has been part of the state’s medical marijuana program for the past two years. Medical marijuana, he says, has helped him halve his 14-pill-a-day pharmaceutical regimen, which had left him so mentally disconnected from reality he was afraid to drive. But he thinks a recreational market could encourage the sort of competition, proficiency and price constraints lacking in the state’s current system of four nonprofit dispensaries statewide.

Put it in perspective.

In a recent International Business Times article, the author poses the question: “Are Journalists Too Soft On Pot?” Let me clear this up for you right now. No.

If you want evidence of this, search the word “marijuana” in Google News. What you will likely find is a study that says weed is doing something good for people, an article or two about states that are considering legalizing and then a slew of stories about how organized crime is connected to marijuana.

Gloucestershire Police say they believe a teenager, who is in a serious condition in hospital, could have suffered a severe reaction to a cannabis product she bought online.

It is believed that the teenager purchased a product online containing Cannabidiol which is described as an oil derived from the cannabis plant, and can be inhaled through a vaporizer, like an e-cigarette.

The 18-year-old woman was admitted to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital last night.

Police say they can't confirm taking the substance was the direct cause of the illness. 

Inspector Mark Duncton said, “Our advice is never to buy or take any kind of drug or drug derivative bought online.  

Marijuana laws are changing all around us.

From a non-euphoric strain that will soon be grown legally in Florida, to a bunch of communities rushing to decriminalize small amounts of pot, to a proposed constitutional amendment that would greatly expand medicinal marijuana around here.

Like it or not, pot is about to become a larger part of society.

And Florida ain't ready for it.

At least not from one important legal perspective.

Like a lot of other states tinkering with more permissive marijuana laws, Florida does not yet have a firm handle on how to determine when a person is driving under the influence.

Police say the woman inhaled cannabis oil which she bought online

A teenager is in a “serious condition” in hospital after inhaling cannabis oil she bought online.

The 18-year-old was taken to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital on Friday.

Police said she bought a product containing oil derived from cannabis plants which can be inhaled through a vaporizer.

Officers said she may have had a “severe reaction” to the product but cannot confirm a direct link.

Insp Mark Duncton of Gloucestershire Constabulary said: “Our advice is never to buy or take any kind of drug or drug derivative bought online.

“These products can pose a very serious danger to your health; you do not know what is in them or what their affects might be.”

A NEW record label in Las Vegas makes its entrance in the music business with a nod to cultivators of the ‘good herb’.

Big Ganja Farmer is the name of a rhythmproduced by Angel Play Records, which is based in Nevada’s most populous city.

The beat is driven by four songs from Jamaican artistes who live in the gambler’s paradise: singers Ras Kronik (Love The Weed), Michael Black (Betta Get Hi) and Nature Makonnen (Big Ganja Farmer) and deejay General Jah Mikey who contributes That’s The Way.

Released in late 2015, Big Ganja Farmer is produced by Brian Pappageorge, principal of Angel Play Records.

Tobacco and cannabis have a strange relationship, one that has lasted for centuries but has been continually turbulent. Why do so many people use the two together? As usual with cannabinoid science, the truth is stranger than anything that could be dreamed up.

Differences in effect are widely reported

Many users report subjective differences between the effects of cannabis alone and cannabis when mixed with tobacco.

The most common reported effect of smoking tobacco alongside tobacco is an intensification of the “high”, although some report that tobacco use actually has the opposite effect and reduces the high. Another commonly reported effect is to “calm” the user down from the sometimes anxiety-inducing effects of cannabis.

The legalization of marijuana stands alone as one of the sexiest topics of 2016. It contains all the elements of sexy; alluring, appealing, exciting and most of all, for or against it, marijuana legalization brings about a passion that only few topics can elicit. It unites a spark of interest that can no longer be contained. All the spokes on this wheel carries with it, a sexiness that is undeniable. With that sexiness comes an exposure of the truth, an unveiling of a secret that has been hidden away like a gem. I think we all can agree that the truth is sexy as hell.

The three sexiest secrets brought to the forefront of this movement is the following:

Is the tax on legal marijuana in Washington too high?

A legislative panel will consider a proposal Monday to reduce the tax from 37 percent down to 25 percent. It’s just one of dozens of pot-related proposals under consideration this year.

Three years after Washington launched its experiment with legal recreational marijuana, the work continues to regulate, fine-tune and expand this new marketplace.

Pot-related proposals abound this year in the Washington legislature. From reducing the tax on marijuana to allowing the sale of pot merchandise to piloting a marijuana delivery program in Seattle. And that’s just a sampling.