THE seeds have been sewn for an Australian-first medical trial to grow into a real benefit for the terminally ill.

Ingham Institute Clinical Trials director, Palliative Care Clinical director at Fairfield’s Braeside Hospital and UNSW conjoint associate professor Meera Agar is the driving force behind the first medicinal marijuana trial in Australia, which has been given $9 million in State Government funding.

The trial, which is due to begin in early 2016, will evaluate whether cannabis can be used as an effective treatment to improve the quality of life for adults with chronic or terminal illnesses.

Cancer patients in Australia will undergo a study aimed at finding the best usage profiles which would suit end-of-life cancer patients seeking to get the very best levels of pain relief, restful sleep, nausea relief and appetite restoration.  Medical professionals in Australia have not been able to standardise their approach to using medical cannabis, partly because so little relevant medical research has been authorised down under, until now.  But that is starting to change as the New South Wales government announced Australia's first medical cannabis trial for terminally ill adults with cancer.

New York’s medical cannabis program made a major announcement, Minnesota patients are pinching pennies to get their medicine, the governor of Wyoming is looking at legalization, and if you’re a Canadian patient, your wallet might be getting a break soon. Here’s what’s happening in the cannabis world – are you informed?

U.S. Cannabis Updates

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Medical professionals are left in a moral and ethical quandary when it feels like they aren't listening to terminally ill cancer patients who want to try cannabis to relieve symptoms, writes Jennifer Martin.

Life for terminally ill cancer patients is often made more distressing by symptoms such as fatigue, nausea, suppressed appetite and weight loss. In desperation, some turn to the streets to buy and try cannabis.

As doctors, we advise that it's illegal and can't be condoned, even if people say they are getting benefit from using it. 

I'm excited to think that this relatively old drug has the potential to benefit more people at the end of life. 

There may be interactions between cannabis and other drugs we aren't aware of.

Shares in MedLab Clinical Limited have surged after the nutritional pharmaceutical company announced it had won NSW government approval to conduct medicinal cannabis research.

Medlab on Wednesday said the Baird government had granted it a research licence for the use of cannabis for therapeutic purposes, such as pain relief.

The company, which runs a laboratory in Sydney, said its research would "broadly encompass pain management as well as other medical conditions for varying age groups".

Medlab shares closed up one cent, or 5.41 per cent, at 19.5 cents, following the news.

PHYTOTECH Medical and MMJ Bioscience have joined forces to become the first Australian-listed medical marijuana company to control pharmaceutical hemp from farm to pharmacy counter.

THE re-branded MMJ PhytoTech will control the complete supply chain from cultivation to distribution after Phytotech raised $4.8 million to buy MMJ Bioscience.

MMJ PhytoTech chief executive Andreas Gedeon said the merger made the company one of the only serious players in the medical marijuana market.

"If you don't own the supply chain the company can't exist because you can't buy the cannabinoil compounds, it has to be sourced from plants," he said.

More and more Americans are supporting marijuana legalization — and it's a fight that is picking up steam around the world.

And now, it looks like the UK and Australia could join the growing list of countries loosening the grip on marijuana use.

So what brought marijuana legalization to the front of the debate in both of these countries? Here's a closer look: 

United Kingdom

In the UK, a petition to legalize the use, sale and production of marijuana has gathered nearly 160,000 signatures in just five days.

There are some things that stay with you no matter how much time passes. Almost a year ago, I met a young man named Dan Haslam, and the look in his eyes that day is something that will remain with me always.

PhytoTech Medical and MMJ Bioscience merger has created Australia's first vertically integrated medical marijuana company.

PhytoTech Medical and MMJ Bioscience have joined forces to become the first Australian-listed medical marijuana company to control pharmaceutical hemp from farm to pharmacy counter.

The re-branded MMJ PhytoTech will control the complete supply chain from cultivation to distribution after Phytotech raised $4.8 million to buy MMJ Bioscience.

MMJ PhytoTech chief executive Andreas Gedeon said the merger made the company one of the only serious players in the medical marijuana market.

The data compiled by Flinders University’s National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction shows one third of Australians over 14 had tried cannabis.

Once believed to be the drug of choice for free-spirited youth, cannabis is more popular with older people than ever before.

Teenagers are in fact delaying their experimentation with the drug, according to a compilation of the latest data by Flinders University’s National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction.

NCETA director Ann Roche said it was good news the average age at which teenagers first experimented with cannabis was increasing.