Hot on the heels of landmark drug law reforms in NSW a struggling local gold prospector Capital Mining has struck a deal to reinvent itself as $25 million Australian-listed, Canada-based, medical marijuana company.

Broken Coast Cannabis will become the second legal weed business to trade on the Australian Securities Exchange.

The medical marijuana industry has boomed in North America and Europe over the past few years as more jurisdictions have legalised it, and is now a budding sector in Australia ahead of expectations for local law reform.  

"Our experience in Canada has shown us that being in the forefront of this new and fast-growing industry is key," Broken Coast Cannabis co-founder and general manager John Moeller said.

An Australian mining firm has purchased a substantial stake in a Canadian medical cannabis business for cash and stock options.

Capital Mining said it paid $7 million in cash plus $25 million in stock options for 49% of Broken Coast Cannabis, one of 14 cultivators that hold a distribution license in Canada.

The mining company also will buy Cannan Growers in its entirety for $250,000 plus $1 million in stock options. Both marijuana companies are based in British Columbia.

Let's face it, we all like to get high, whether it be booze or bungee jumping; bongs or bongo playing; amphetamines or an adrenaline rush – everyone likes a diversion from the daily grind (unless it is a double shot latte accompanied by an Italian digestive biscuit).

Sadly this correspondent's greatest thrill these days comes from watching Hawthorn premiership DVDs while wearing a pair of Junior Rioli's discarded game-day socks.

So if someone came along with cannabis-like product that mimicked pot, was borderline legal, and wouldn't be detected on drug tests it would be too good to be true.

The medicinal use of cannabis is a complex issue not just in Australia but around the world. In the past year media coverage has exploded in Australia.

This has been stoked largely by a public campaign by Lucy and Lou Haslam, parents of 24-year-old Daniel Haslam, a patient terminal cancer from Tamworth, NSW and the political and media support for their predicament. Now barely a week passes without an emotive anecdotal success story, an outspoken medical practitioner supporting or decrying its use, or governments announcing trials, investigations or priority for the issue.

Doctors should manage a tightly regulated, compassionate regime for the use of medicinal cannabis in Australia, a leading public health organisation has told an ACT inquiry. 

The Public Health Association has labelled state and territory governments, including the ACT, "out of step with the attitudes and behaviour of much of the general public and professional opinion" on the use of cannabis to treat some illness. 

A position statement incorporated into the organisation's submission to the Legislative Assembly inquiry considering the use of cannabis for medical purposes says the fact the drug is already widely used illegally means a regulated system is unlikely to lead to more illicit drug taking in the community. 

In the hazy halls of marijuana folklore, one name reigns supreme: Nevil Schoenmakers.

The reclusive Australian/Dutch dual national's work breeding and improving the genetics of plants made him a legend among cannabis users in the 1980s, as his potent and hardy varieties become the basis for most of the strains widely used around the world today.

But after fleeing United States government attempts to extradite him from Australia to face a raft of drug-related charges, Schoenmakers vanished - until now.

The CEO of PhytoTech Medical, the first ASX listed medical marijuana company, has resigned.

Ross Smith’s departure comes less than two weeks since the company made its ASX debut, after which the share price soared.

However the share price has fallen back since. Phytotech shares were trading down 8.42% to $0.435 today.

His departure comes after a series of other company appointments, but also following some posts to his Facebook page.

Cannabis might provide more relief from chronic pain than prescription drugs, new research suggests.

The large Australian study found that use of the illegal drug for pain relief is common among people with chronic pain, such as low back pain, neck pain and migraines.

The study also found that cannabis users report greater pain relief in combination with prescription opioids, such as morphine and oxycodone, than when opioids are used alone, the researchers said.

The study of 1500 Australians, led by researchers at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre at UNSW, is expected to intensify the debate about allowing cannabis use for medical purposes.

Cannabis can ease chronic pain more effectively than conventional medicines, according to a new study likely to flame the debate on the medical use of marijuana.

Researchers from the Australian National Drug and Alcohol centre found that patients with chronic pain who used the drug said it eased their symptoms better opioid medications, which are highly addictive and can cause accidental overdoses. 

The study analysed 1,500 patients, aged in their late 40s and early 50s, who suffered from conditions including back pain, migraines and arthritis, and were being prescribed with heavy-duty opioid medications, such as morphine and oxycodone.