Groningen, The Netherlands – EcoBouwSalland, HempFlax and Sanger IBCT are studying how home insulation based on a mixture of hemp and lime hemp behaves during earthquakes. This research is supported by the NAM (Dutch Petroleum Company). Earlier tests had shown that the product has a low modulus of elasticity. This means that it gives way, instead of tearing.

The flexibility of lime is well known in the construction industry. And certainly in Groningen, where limestone mortar plays an essential role in the architecture the traditional barns, built from stone and mortar. These walls grow with time without dilatation. If crack appears, it most often closes in on itself under the influence of rain and humidity.

A NORTH-EAST pensioner dying from liver cancer is begging the authorities to legalise cannabis.

Days after the Government issued a damning response to campaigners, a terminally ill woman has backed growing calls to decriminalise the class-B drug.

In response to a pro-legalisation petition with more than 200,000 signatures, the government issued a statement earlier this week outlining the alleged dangers of cannabis use, saying legalisation would “send the wrong message”.

The pensioner, who does not wish to be identified, has criticised the Government’s stance, saying the opposition is hypocritical given the fact they allow pharmaceutical companies in the UK to harvest the plants.

Independent lawmaker Velizar Enchev has announced he is to put forward in September a bill that would allow for cannabis to be used for medical purposes.

He has warned that "thousands of people suffering in Bulgaria" could find a means to alleviate their pain if they are able to use a mouth spray and has underlined that legalizing smoking has never crossed his mind.

In a Monday interview with private bTV station, citing the experience of several EU countries and a number of US states which have approved medical cannabis, he asserted that "everybody opposing this is also opposing their practices."

Independent lawmaker Velizar Enchev has announced he is to put forward in September a bill that would allow for cannabis to be used for medical purposes.

He has warned that "thousands of people suffering in Bulgaria" could find a means to alleviate their pain if they are able to use a mouth spray and has underlined that legalizing smoking has never crossed his mind.

In a Monday interview with private bTV station, citing the experience of several EU countries and a number of US states which have approved medical cannabis, he asserted that "everybody opposing this is also opposing their practices."

Australian medical marijuana company MMJ PhytoTech has generated its first revenues from sales of its cannabis pill.

The CBD (Cannabidiol) capsules, registered as a dietary supplement in Germany, started retailing in Europe in August for about 3 euros each ($4.70).

The company intends to produce a total 1 million of the Swiss-made capsules in 2015. The pills, only available in Europe, are sold online.

World economies can be mind-boggling systems made up of complex chains of supply and demand, buoyed by commodities and fueled by different currencies.

Owen Cornec and Romain Vuillemot, data visualization fellows at Harvard Kennedy School, wanted to reimagine the global spread of goods in a new visualisation. Dubbed the “Globe of Economic Complexity,” Cornec and Vuillemot’s colorful 3D world portrays cold economic fact as “clouds of confetti.”

In the Strait of Gibraltar (Spain) (AFP) - As the powerful motors of their speedboat roared, Spanish police used a thermal imaging camera to scan the sea in the Strait of Gibraltar for traffickers smuggling hashish from Morocco.

It's just after midnight and the cameras and radars that monitor the coast detect a dodgy-looking boat.

The control centre informs police in Algeciras, a port city in southern Spain just 90 minutes by ferry from Morocco, and three officers immediately jump into the boat to investigate.

"They are likely looking for a place to unload their merchandise," said one of them, Jesus, who declined to give his last name.

Yesterday was a historical day for all of us who want to see medical cannabis reintroduced as a legal available medicine in Sweden. 
Andreas Thörn, 36, from the city of Västerås was (to his delight and big surprise) acquitted in the lower District Court of Västmanland for growing his own medical marijuana at home.

The “crime” he committed was growing and using cannabis to ease his pain, which he contracted some 20 years ago in a motorcycle accident. Ever since then he has been in a wheelchair. Cannabis seems to be the only medicine that works in this case.

Pipadas y Buenos Humos aka The golden Oil of Spain is a new documentary set to release this fall. 

KICK-IT BONGS traveled to Spain to make a documentary bringing viewers closer to the life in a Cannabis Social Club, the culture aroud cannabis and the production of the "golden oil". What's interesting to see is how small the world is, and how our weed-smoking friends in Europe have the same struggles, and the same rewards.

We'll keep you all posted once we learn more about release dates, including whether or not it's available to watch online or on Netflix.

A DRUG dealer has been arrested after passing around flyers advertising his wares – and including a sample of cannabis along with his forename and mobile number.

Using adverts typically seen in supermarket flyers, the 31-year-old man was attempting to boost trade and attract new customers in the Tonkin district of the Lyon suburb Villeurbanne.

His flyer even offered “Home delivery from €100” and included some cannabis resin stuck on with sellotape.

But his enterprising efforts were brought up short when one of the people who was given his advertising leaflet – a 50-year-old man leaving a hotel - promptly handed it to police.