The Australian Medical Association has distanced itself from a new relaxed drugs approach being pushed by the Greens, saying it underestimates the harm illicit drugs do to the community.

Association president Michael Gannon told Fairfax Media he welcomed any initiative that shifted the public conversation about illicit drugs towards rehabilitation and treatment instead of policing and the justice system.

But he said he was "wary" of any push towards decriminalising illicit drugs, including cannabis.

"We should not underestimate the harm that illicit drugs do everyday in our community," Dr Gannon said on Sunday.

With all the action taking place in the United States right now, it’s easy to forget that there is in fact an important cannabis scene in most nations worldwide. It may be the US that’s making the biggest news right now in terms of cannabis policy and legalization, but thousands of miles away on the other side of the world, there’s also plenty going on. Indeed, Australia isn’t usually a country to make global cannabis headlines, but there have been a couple of developments over the past few weeks which have seen Aussies hitting the front pages of countless cannabis publications.

In a report released Monday, global leaders denounced harsh responses to drug use, such as the mass killing of drug users in the Philippines under President Rodrigo Duterte, and called for worldwide drug decriminalization.

The report, Advancing Drug Policy Reform: A New Approach to Drug Decriminalization, is a product of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, a high-level panel that includes former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan; former presidents of Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and Switzerland; and British philanthropist Richard Branson, among others.

Although the United Nations international drug treaties have upheld an official prohibition against marijuana, the marijuana industry has spread across the Americas, Europe, and Asia.

As people are celebrating the legal sale of marijuana in the US, the burgeoning cannabis industry has gone from a curiosity to a bonafide booming market.

A new report by a leading marijuana industry investment and research firm found that legal cannabis sales jumped 17%, to $5.4 billion, in 2015 and they will grow by a whopping 25% this year to reach $6.7 billion in total US sales.

According to an INC.com report, there are also sizable and completely legal industries outside of the US, like Israel's 10-year-old medical industry. As governments from Germany to Australia to the UK are on the verge of legalising some form of marijuana, the global opportunity is coming into focus.

On October 30, 2016, it became legal to grow cannabis in Australia—for medicinal purposes only, of course. But becoming a grower won't be as simple as walking into a doctor's office complaining of "night blindness" or dropping a couple of marijuana seeds into the planter box on your balcony.

Unlike the US, Australia has taken a very top down approach to medical marijuana—legalising at the federal level first, and then letting the states add their own regulations as they go. In many ways, it could make for a neater system, one focused on critically ill patients and medical research. But it's also likely to be a lot more bureaucratic.

AusCann has entered into an agreement to form a joint-venture with Chilean group Fundación Daya.

TW Holdings Ltd (ASX:TWH) is in the process of re-listing on the Australian Securities Exchange as AusCann Group Holdings Limited.

AusCann has entered into an agreement to form a joint-venture with Chilean group Fundación Daya – the only group to have held a medical cannabis production licence in Chile.

A major new Australian industry could grow up around medicinal cannabis, with possibilities for global export opening up further down the track.

The Narcotics Drugs Amendment Act 2016 came into force last week giving the green light to cultivating and manufacturing cannabis for medicinal or scientific purposes in Australia and offering chronically ill patients some relief, where previously they were forced to source cannabis illegally, often of dubious quality.

GLOBAL drug and research giants are eyeing Victoria to grow cannabis crops on the back of federal laws allowing for medicinal marijuana products to be developed.

The companies hope to be granted licenses in the coming months and begin growing cannabis within a year.

The law changes, which come into effect tomorrow, allow for fit and proper applicants to cultivate and produce cannabis as medicine or for research.

It follows a move earlier this year in Victoria, where the law was also changed to allow for patients in “exceptional circumstances” to get access to locally produced medicinal marijuana as long as they are overseen by doctors.

The federal government will now accept licence applications for groups wanting to grow cannabis locally for scientific and medical purposes.

Cannabis remains an illegal drug in Australia for recreational use and there no plans to change that. But the reforms are part of a broader effort to enable a sustainable supply of safe medicinal cannabis products to Australian patients.