New Delhi: Marijuana, as it turns out, is not only great to get a high, but has also been found to have great medical properties.

Studies have found that Marijuana has the power to help children suffering from severe epilepsy.

However, according to experts, it is still a bit premature to confirm the effectiveness and/or the safety factor of the medicine that is made from cannabis.

The BRICS nations comprise of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The members are all developing or newly industrialised countries, with a significant influence on regional and global affairs. What is the Brics’ stance on marijuana and why should you care?

Cannabis, hemp or marijuana is our oldest crop, sown for over 12,000 years (1), and may have been domesticated over 30,000 years ago. It produces more fuel, fiber, food and medicine than any other plant (2). The seeds of cannabis produce the most productive and nutritious vegetable oil and protein (3). Hemp produces more fiber, from its stems and stalks, than any other plant (4), and hemp fiber can be used to make paper, canvas, rope, lace, linen, building materials and more. Cannabis flowers and leaves also produce over 100 unique compounds known as cannabinoids that have many physical and psychological effects. (5)

The Hindu festival of spring called Holi, will be celebrated over 23 and 24 March across India. It is best known for its celebrations with colour and water, where people throw "gulaal" (coloured powder) on each other or mix it with water to use {it} in squirt guns and water balloons, without bothering too much about ruining clothes.

Indian archaeologists have discovered that hemp played a key role in preserving the ancient Ellora caves in the western state of Maharashtra. New findings have revealed that a mixture of hemp, clay and lime plaster prevented the UNESCO World Heritage site from decaying.

Hemp, locally known as ganja or bhang, played a key role in keeping the paintings at the sixth-century archaeological site intact, according to a new study by archaeologist Rajdeo Singh and botanist MM Desai. The two used techniques such as Fourier transform, infra-red spectroscopy and stereo-microscopic studies to conclude that cannabis sativa had helped in preventing insects at Ellora.

A Hindu holy man in Kathmandu smokes a chillum, a traditional clay pipe, on March 6, the eve of a festival honoring the god Shiva.

Shiva is one chill deity.

He's one of the three major gods in the Hindu religion. And he has a penchant for pot.

"Shiva loves marijuana. So we come to share Shiva's prasad [offerings] with everyone else," explains a 60-year-old holy man who gives his name as Radhe Baba.

It's the eve of the festival of Shiva Ratri, or "The Night of Shiva" — March 7 this year. The celebration marks the day Shiva saved the universe from darkness and married the goddess Parvati.

Pot. Cannabis. Mary Jane. The plant with psychotropic properties has a long pop culture presence — and an even longer record of use.

1. Pot. Weed. Mary Jane. Sticky-icky. Nicknames aside, much of the world calls the psychotropic plant by its scientific name, cannabis, and — until the early 20th century — so did Americans.

2. About a hundred years ago, however, the term marijuana became common in the United States, the result of anti-cannabis, anti-immigrant advocates trying to link recreational use of the plant to migrant workers from Mexico.

For many decades in the U.S., marijuana has been painted as the psychedelic drug of hippies and stoners who lay around smoking dope to the detriment of their cognitive function. This image of marijuana use can certainly be attributed to one aspect of its culture, but Cannabis — a category of plants that include three species and seven sub-species — have been used in medicine for thousands of years.

​Cannabinoids found in marijuana seem to affect critical neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine. (Photo: Thinkstock)

Marijuana can be used to effectively treat people suffering from migraine headaches, new research has found.

In the study, patients diagnosed with migraine headaches saw a significant drop in their frequency when treated with medical marijuana.

The study, published in the journal Pharmacotherapy, examined patients diagnosed with migraines and treated with medical marijuana between 2010-2014.