A prominent Australian medical authority doubts medicinal marijuana will be the cash crop of the future for farmers due it's limited "utility" in clinical medicine.

Advocates for the use of medicinal marijuana have meanwhile applauded recent Commonwealth legislative changes which now allow individuals and companies to apply and, if successful, grow limited amounts of the plant for medicinal purposes.

Guidelines set out by the Australian Government's Office of Drug Control state there is no limit to the number of medicinal cannabis licences that can exist but all applicants must first obtain a cannabis research licence and permit.

That permit determines how much and what type of medicinal marijuana crop can be grown.

The benefits of medicinal marijuana have been extolled by United States residents for a while, and now it's Australia's turn.  

Growing cannabis legally will be a step closer on Sunday when federal legislation comes into effect allowing the drug to be grown for medicinal purposes.

The Office of Drug Control will start accepting applications for cannabis cultivation licences on Monday.

People or organisations wanting a licence will need to show they will be supplying either a licensed medicinal cannabis manufacturer or researcher.

Creso Pharma Ltd (ASX:CPH) has partnered with Swiss pharmaceutical firm, Streuli Pharma, to commercialise its first human nutraceutical product, INNutri Soft Gums in the Swiss market.

Creso’s strategy is to develop and commercialise pharmaceutical-grade cannabis and hemp-based products for the nutraceutical (food supplement) market.

INNutri Soft Gums use an innovative and proprietary delivery technology allowing for an optimum delivery of cannabis and hemp derived therapeutic products.

The cannabis is delivered through buccal (mouth) absorption and the soft gums have several advantages over existing health supplement products.

WA doctors will be able to legally prescribe medicinal cannabis from Tuesday after the state government threw its support behind changes to new Commonwealth laws.

Health Minister John Day on Friday welcomed the new legislation, which will class medicinal cannabis as a controlled prescription drug from November 1.

Dr Andrew Katelaris is one of Australia's biggest medicinal cannabis suppliers.  Photo: Rohan Thomson

"Like all controlled drugs, medicinal cannabis will be prescription only, with strict rules around prescribing," he said.

"Medical practitioners will be at the centre of all treatment decisions and patients will need to discuss their situation with their treating doctor.

I can recall a time when it was a rarity to hear or read about a news story about cannabis. For almost two decades I kept a database of every cannabis related news story that I came across. I could never keep up with the torrent of pot news coming out now. 

As someone who was a child in the 1960’s and a counter-culture teenager in the 70s, I recall the intense stigma and controversy that the herb had attached to it. 

Would you be prepared to break the law to save your child’s life?

“Who do you love more than your children?  – your grandchildren,” says Joy Lambert, Katelyn’s grandmother. “So at 67 I  decided I could be civilly disobedient and just do what was right for the children with epilepsy. That’s how I see it.”That’s just what happened to the Lambert family from Sydney Australia, who decided to give Katelyn, then just a baby, a cannabis extract.

Reports about the benefits of medicinal cannabis are growing and Queensland has now joined New South Wales in passing laws approving the drug for use as a medical treatment, but that doesn't mean you can just light up in the Sunshine State and say it's a prescription.

A CANNABIS gel will be rubbed onto the arms of adults with epilepsy in a world-first trial led by Melbourne doctors to reduce uncontrolled ­seizures.

New treatments are desperately needed for the 30 per cent of people with a drug-resistant form of the neurological condition who live with the constant worry of having a seizure in public that results in an accident or even death.

Royal Melbourne Hospital neurologist Professor Terry O’Brien, who is leading the trial, said the gel, which does not contain the hallucinogenic ingredient found in the plant, was expected to be more effective than taking the drug ­orally.

“Cannabidiol (the non-psychoactive component of the cannabis) has a high first metabolism in the liver,” Prof O’Brien said.

The US marijuana industry is trying to move away from its pizza-and-chips roots as chefs explore how to safely serve pot with food.

Key points:

• Marijuana fine dining events occurring in US
• Growers looking to broaden horizons; hampered by restrictions
• Similar events unlikely in Australia soon

In the state of Colorado, chefs are working with growers to chart the unscientific world of pairing food and marijuana.

Many of the elements associated with traditional fine dining are also present in weed country fine dining.

There is an abundance of live music, flowers and award-winning cuisine, not to mention beer and wine pairings with each course, and of course, marijuana pairings.