The New South Wales Premier Mike Baird says he is excited about the prospects of Australia's first medical cannabis trial for terminally ill adults.

Mr Baird and Medical Research Minister Pru Goward were given a tour of the Calvary Mater hospital today, where the trial is taking place.

Ms Goward said treatment will begin early next year.

"The intention of this trial is to test whether or not medical cannabis can improve the quality of life of patients in their final stages," she said.

The trial involves using both vaporised leaf cannabis and a pharmaceutical and the first results are expected next year.

Mr Baird said the research will improve the quality of life for thousands of terminally ill patients.

A Senate committee representing all Australia’s major parties is preparing a Regulator of Medicinal Cannabis Bill to legalize medical marijuana, despite warnings of regulatory complications with both Australian and international law, a report says.

The committee includes the Coalition (the Liberal Party, the National Party, the Northern Territory Country Liberal Party, and Queensland Liberal branch the Liberal National Party), the Labor Party and crossbench senators. They will “strongly recommend” parliament pass a cross-party bill setting up a medical marijuana regulator, the Sydney Morning Herald reports, citing Fairfax Media sources close to the legislation debate.

Thirty terminally ill people being cared for by Newcastle's Calvary Mater Hospital will take part in a new trial of medical cannabis, the government announced on Monday.

University of NSW researchers will work with the hospital patients to examine what effects vapourised cannabis leaves and a form of pharmaceutical cannabis medication will have on people who are dying of cancer and suffering symptoms including fatigue, nausea and insomnia.

Premier Mike Baird and Minister for Medical Research Pru Goward announced on Monday that the trial would be undertaken by palliative care specialist Meera Agar, who is also a conjoint associate professor at the University of NSW.

The Denpasar District Court sentenced on Thursday Australian national Nicholas James Langan and his Indonesian friend Hanung Pekik Hermantoro to a one-year term of imprisonment for smoking marijuana. The sentence was lighter than the four-year prison term demanded by the prosecutor.

Both Langan and Hermanto were arrested on Batu Bolong beach in North Kuta in late January as they shared a marijuana joint. Police seized a used marijuana joint weighing 0.1 grams and 0.86 grams of marijuana wrapped in brown paper.

The court found them guilty of violating Article 127 of Law No. 35/2009 on narcotics.

Whether you realize it or not, the perception of marijuana is changing at an extremely rapid pace.

The drug, which is still classified as schedule 1 by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, meaning it is illicit and has no medically beneficial qualities, has gained both the public's favor and that of quite a few legislators. As it now stands, 23 states plus Washington, D.C., have legalized marijuana for medicinal purposes ranging from glaucoma to terminal cancers. In addition, four states (Alaska, Oregon, Colorado, and Washington), along with Washington, D.C., have legalized the recreational use of the drug.

The Denpasar District Court sentenced on Thursday Australian national Nicholas James Langan and his Indonesian friend Hanung Pekik Hermantoro to a one-year term of imprisonment for smoking marijuana. The sentence was lighter than the four-year prison term demanded by the prosecutor.

Both Langan and Hermanto were arrested on Batu Bolong beach in North Kuta in late January as they shared a marijuana joint. Police seized a used marijuana joint weighing 0.1 grams and 0.86 grams of marijuana wrapped in brown paper.

The court found them guilty of violating Article 127 of Law No. 35/2009 on narcotics.

Investors and financial institutions have shown great interest for publicly traded cannabis companies, but many are afraid to invest in them because most trade on the over-the-counter (OTC) exchange. The OTC exchange, also known as the Pink Sheets, is comprised of startups, defunct public shell companies, scams, and a few good companies.

There are more than 300 publicly traded cannabis companies, but only a few trade on an exchange regulated by the SEC. The cannabis stocks that trade on a national exchange have outperformed the market during 2015 and we attribute some of this growth to the lack of investment opportunities available for investors and institutions. The cannabis related companies that trade on a national exchange include, but are not limited to the following:

A former WA Liberal MP could become Australia’s first legal “pot king” if Canberra gives the green light to his plan to cultivate medicinal cannabis.

As the arrest of a Perth widow over giving cannabis to her ill son revives the medical marijuana debate, former Federal politician Mal Washer has revealed he is pushing to grow Australia’s first legal crop.

But Dr Washer is being frustrated by the time a Government review is taking into his company’s proposal to grow marijuana on the Australian territory of Norfolk Island.

He argues it would boost the Pacific paradise’s ailing economy.

Dr Washer is chairman of Auscann and a shareholder. In May, Norfolk Island’s Parliament granted it a licence to grow a medicinal strain of cannabis and export it to Canada.

POSITIVE tests to the drug ice have surged in Mackay workplace drug screenings.

The drug testing service, in Heidi St at Paget, is now seeing more positive tests for methamphetamines than for marijuana  across different professions and age groups.

CQR Health manager Jenny Townley said the toxic and illicit drug didn't discriminate according to profession or age and that many workers in a variety of industries were now turning to the drug to cope with work stresses, long hours and shift work.

Ms Townley said the toxic synthetic substance was both mentally and physically destructive and that all employers, not just the mining industry, had both a legal and moral obligation to their staff to provide a safe working environment.