Norris McDonald, Contributor

Medical marijuana is now a growing industry in the United States (US) and that country's Attorney General Eric Holder has said the federal government will no longer attempt to fight the 20 states that, in one form or another, have legalised the weed.

I was quite surprised therefore, when I read that Dr Dayton Campbell, a medical practitioner and member of parliament, claims that there will be wide-ranging negative effects if Jamaica decriminalises marijuana.

SSJ runs a range of addiction services across Hampshire.  Recently, the Southampton Drugs teams have noted a rise in the amount of people presenting to the service using cannabis in a problematic way.  Over the last year, Southampton Drug Services engaged over 550 Service Users in treatment.  Of those, just under a third admitted using cannabis regularly, with a fifth of all clients attending these services expressly stating cannabis was their main drug of choice.

Scientist urges Gov't to facilitate Ja tapping into multibillion-dollar medical marijuana industry

Christopher Serju, Gleaner Writer

A prominent Jamaican scientist has challenged the Government to pave the way for the development of a medical ganja industry, which would go a far way in providing cost-effective treatment for a number of lifestyle diseases, including diabetes, glaucoma and schizophrenia, while yielding enormous economic benefits for the country.

Dr Henry Lowe says Jamaica is missing out on hundreds of billions of dollars which could be earned from the wide range of cosmeceutical, neutraceutical and pharmaceutical products being developed across the world.

Independent Newspapers.

Hemp is increasingly emerging on the radar of businesses and farmers, says a partner in a hemp company.

Tony Budden, a partner with Duncan Parker in Hemporium, a company that imports hemp materials and then creates items out of these, said more and more farmers, from the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, were expressing interest in hemp.

He said a number of companies were also interested in using hemp, which he described as a “zero waste” plant as all of it could be used.

Hemp, a fibre crop, is a member of the same family as dagga, which is illegal in South Africa.

Local butcher bringing home the bacon with 'marijuana fed pigs'

Pike Place Market butcher William Von Schneidau calls his latest creation the "pot pig."

And it's exactly what it sounds like: Von Schneidau, owner of BB Ranch Meats, has teamed up with local marijuana grower Top Shelf Organic to raise pigs fed on pot plants.

The so-called "pot-bellied porkers" are then turned into marijuana-infused bacon.

"It just got so popular we ran out of meat," von Schneidau recalled.

Though the weed does produce "redder and more savory" pigs, von Schneidau says the bacon itself won't get you high.

Marco Torres, Prevent Disease
Waking Times

Medical marijuana is mostly prescribed for pain in the 18 states and District of Columbia that allow it. Yet it continues to provoke adolescent snickers and inevitable bong jokes.

And addiction to opioid painkillers is anchored in concern about its abuse leading to addiction.

Common to both is public fixation on the illicit and the seamy rather than the humane and the responsible.

DAGGA OR CANNABIS
Dagga or Cannabis is well known in South Africa. It is surrounded by various myths, of which the following is mentioned often:

"Dagga is derived from the earth and is therefore a natural product"

"My child can rather use Dagga than stronger drugs"

Dagga however, is extremely dangerous. It hampers the physical development of a child and can lead to psychological defects. The greatest danger of Dagga is that it is a forerunner for harder drugs, therefore it is known as the "Gate Way Drug".

Cannabis has long been used for medicinal as well as recreational purposes. Image source

[Please note – we are updating this blog post regularly as new research is published.]