Thousands of visitors have begun to descend on Nimbin for the town's first Mardi Grass since the Federal Government announced plans to legalise medicinal cannabis.

The event started 24 years ago as a cannabis law reform rally in the main street of the northern New South Wales town.

The rally is now held as part of the three-day festival, which organiser Michael Balderstone said was still relevant, despite the government's plans.

"One of the most important things this weekend is going to be telling people that it's all still illegal," he said.

MGC Pharmaceuticals has bought a Czech-based association so it can rise new strains of medicinal cannabis and boost production.

A brief time ago, a shares were adult some-more than 7% to $0.06.

MGC, that skeleton to grow medical cannabis in Australia, is shopping adult to 80% of Panax by providing Euros 700,000 ($A1.03 million) for handling costs and by arising adult to Euros 800,000 ($A1.18 million) in shares.

“Our merger of Panax significantly strengthens MGC Pharma’s medical cannabis investigate and prolongation capabilities,” says Nativ Segev, co-founder and handling executive of MGC Pharma.

If one is suffering from a chronic illness in Tasmania, specialist doctors from the island state will have the authority to prescribe medical marijuana from 2017. This has been made possible by a plan announced by Health Minister Michael Ferguson and Premier Will Hodgman.

The plan will allow broader application of medicinal cannabis in Tasmania under Tasmania’s Controlled Access Scheme than that proposed by Victoria, which has limited medicinal cannabis use to a single class of patient. Thus, patients will be allowed the “healing touch” without changes in the law.

Former Australian cricket hero Shane Warne is the face that launched countless advertising campaigns, but it’s probably safe to say that nobody saw Warne-themed bongs coming. But that is the niche now filled by Byron Bay designer Tom Mason, who has created a range of handmade earthenware devices in honour of the likes of Warne, Donald Trump, Britney Spears and Australian pop star Shannon Noll.

Proposal for one-schedule drug regime in Queensland described by experts as ‘scientifically questionable’

Plans by the Queensland government to increase penalties for cannabis possession and trafficking to match those for “harder” drugs has been described by drug policy experts as a “retrograde” and “uninformed” step.

After Victoria passed laws on Tuesday legalising medical marijuana to be given to children with severe epilepsy and New South Wales waiting for trials to be over, South Australia’s Liberal Opposition and doctors urged SA Health Minister Jack Snelling to reconsider medical marijuana laws prevailing in the state.

Currently, New South Wales is conducting trials on patients suffering from nausea and vomiting as a result of chemotherapy. According to SA Opposition Leader Steven Marshall, South Australia is “well behind best practises.”

Shares in medical cannabis company MGC Pharmaceuticals have surged more than six per cent as it launches an online sales platform for its cosmetic products.

The MGC Derma brand of cannabidiol based cosmetics can now be sold directly to consumers in the European Union and other countries where cannabidiol based cosmetics are legally sold.

"The establishment of an online retail platform complements the company's existing wholesale sales channels and allows MGC Pharmaceuticals to significantly accelerate its direct-to-customer product sales strategy," the company said.

Cannabidiol is a non-psychoactive component of cannabis and accounts for more than 50 per cent of known therapeutic applications.

MGC shares gained 0.2 cents, or 6.45 per cent, to 3.3 cents.

Medicinal cannabis campaigners in Victoria have called on the State Government to open access to the drug to a larger group of people.

The Access to Medicinal Cannabis Bill 2015, passed on Tuesday, means Victoria is the first Australian state to permit medicinal marijuana.

The Government said it would only be available to people in exceptional circumstances, with children suffering from severe epilepsy the first to access the medicine, in early 2017.

One mother who has been campaigning for the medicine to be legalised said the process was too slow and too exclusive.

There has been talk in recent times of medicinal cannabis being legalised in Australia and some have been waiting with bated breath for the announcement. 

And the Victorian government has finally passed its bill, with some people now able to manufacture and consume the drug.

Victoria is the first state in Australia to legalise medicinal cannabis, with a cultivation trial about to get underway.

But how exactly does it work and what does it mean for you?

WHAT IS MEDICINAL CANNABIS?

It stems from the drug, marijuana, which is made up of cannabinoids and many believe it can be used to treat chronic illnesses or alleviate symptoms.

Patients in "exceptional circumstances" in the Australian state of Victoria will soon be able to access medical cannabis, thanks to a bill passed Tuesday by the local government.

The law, which makes the state the first in the country to establish a legal framework for access to the pain-relieving drug, will facilitate its "manufacture, supply and access" in high-quality medical form, the government said in a statement. An Office of Medicinal Cannabis will also be created to oversee the drug's production and its prescription by doctors.

Children with severe epilepsy will be the first patient group to benefit in 2017, the government said. The state will supply the initial medical products, but hopes to see a reliable manufacturing industry in the future.