The bewildering humming sounds resembling jackhammer’s fill the free space between my brain and the inside of the MRI machine.

Lying motionless to such a degree that I focus on my lungs retracting and expanding, ensuring my slight movements will not alter the instruments outcomes.

A million dollar state-of-the-art machine braking down boundaries, allowing the human brain to be observed with the patient unharmed, let alone inebriated on cannabis.

Paul Lawrence believes he is the luckiest man alive despite having had a tumour the size of a football removed from his spine.

Mr Lawrence will be in Nimbin on Saturday to share his story of surviving two operations, over 20 hours each, to replace three vertebrae in his spine with other pieces of bone from his body.

But the main thrust of his story will be how he has used cannabis to treat pain, where pharmaceutical drugs had failed.

To achieve the remarkable feat of rebuilding his spine after removing his tumour, doctors used around 60 pieces of titanium to knit together his remaining spine, using five ribs, and later, a piece of his leg bone.

Watching his six-month-old daughter endlessly spasming in pain drove Michael Lambert beyond the bounds of Australian drug laws.

Three years later, Katelyn's recovery has prompted an unprecedented $33.7 million donation to fund research into medicinal cannabis. 

The three-year-old's grandparents made the staggering donation on Friday to scientists and the University of Sydney - the largest donation ever made to any Australian university. 

It was some consolation for Barry and Joy Lambert, whose BRW rich-list credentials were powerless to ease their granddaughter's pain.

New South Wales is leading the world with its $12m medicinal cannabis research centre, the state’s premier, Mike Baird, says.

The centre for medicinal cannabis research and innovation will be headed up by the NSW chief scientist, Mary O’Kane.

Related: Medicinal cannabis research gets $33m from grandparents of girl with epilepsy

It will seek to enable experts to share their world-class research and support the production of safe, reliable and affordable cannabis-based medicines.

Marijuana has a long history of use in the treatment of illness, and the stigma associated with the drug is waning as more states embrace legalization of medical marijuana and many barriers to access disappear.

Continued momentum in the mainstreaming of medical marijuana could be good news for Insys Therapeutics (NASDAQ: INSY  ) , a biotech company that is awaiting Food and Drug Administration approval of a new formulation of a long-standing marijuana treatment for chemotherapy-induced nausea or anorexia caused by HIV.

A white supremacist and neo-Nazi supporter accused of running a large cannabis plantation is suspected of selling his product to members of an Indigenous community in north Queensland, say police.

John Lee, who came to police attention through his suspected links to the Rebels motorcycle club, was charged with cannabis cultivation after a raid in Cooktown allegedly found him with 206 plants and 2kg of bagged cannabis.

The 49-year-old has a 10cm by 10cm swastika tattooed on his head and police found his large shed festooned with Nazi flags and at least 19 swastikas – including one on a wall fan – alongside confederate flags commonly associated with the Rebels gang.

The odds have been plainly against marijuana legalization for decades, but the tide appears to be turning to the point where the marijuana movement may soon be able to get over its previous barriers.

At a crossroads
Two decades ago public opinion was very much against the idea of legalizing marijuana for medical or recreational purposes. A survey from Gallup in the mid-1990s pegged the public's favorable opinion on the drug at just 25%.

THE Centre for Medicinal Cannabis Research and Innovation will be headed up by NSW chief scientist Mary O'Kane.

It will seek to enable experts to share their world-class research and support the production of safe, reliable and affordable cannabis based medicines.

"All of us have been moved by the stories we have seen, people who are suffering in all types of situations and circumstances and there is clear anecdotal evidence medical cannabis is making a difference," he said outside Blacktown Hospital on Sunday.

Perth-based metal explorer company International Goldfields will head to market within weeks to raise money for its foray into medicinal cannabis in South America.

The company is acquiring an 85 per cent stake in Uruguayan pharmaceutical company Wintergarden, giving it access to laboratories and cannabis plantations there.

It might be unchartered territory for a company more familiar with golden nuggets, but director David Tasker said it was a necessary step with markets unwilling to fund exploration.

"It's diversifying out of something that the capital markets aren't supporting," he said.

Donation from Barry and Joy Lambert made ‘not only for benefit of those with childhood epilepsy, like our Katelyn, but for wide range of other conditions’

The grandparents of three-year-old girl with a rare form of epilepsy have made a $33.7m donation to the University of Sydney to fund medicinal cannabis research.

Announcing their donation at the university on Friday, Barry and Joy Lambert said international research suggested their granddaughter Katelyn, who suffers hundreds of seizures each day, may benefit from medicinal cannabis treatment.