District tobacco control nodal officer Samiran Barua on Monday imposed fines on two persons under COTPA (Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act) for smoking in public places. 

The five-day Ambubachi Mela began in the Kamakhya temple here from Monday, bringing with it the footfalls as well as the bhang abuse.

Authorities remain unsure how to control rampant consumption of bhang — as cannabis leaves in smoke form are known in Assam — by thousands of sadhus and sanyasis who have arrived from all over the country despite laws banning such consumption.

Asthma is a chronic respiratory disease that currently affects up to 300 million people worldwide, and was responsible for approximately 250,000 deaths in 2011. Cannabis has been used as a means of treating the symptoms of asthma for millennia, in various medicinal traditions including those of ancient India and China.

Analgesic

The Government Railway Police (GRP) seized around 80 kg ganja (marijuana) during the intensive checking drive at Agra Cantt railway station.

As per the information about movement of some suspects at Agra Cantt station, GRP carried out intensive checking at station. After arriving of Visakhapattanam-Nizamuddin Swarn Jayanti Express at around 3.30 pm, a team of GRP led by sub inspector Kamla Shankar found five unidentified bags in the circulating area besides he also investigated with two girls, standing near the bags but the girls’ denied and escaped, informed Gopesh Nath Khanna, Superintendent of Police (SP railways), on Wednesday.

With summer just around the corner, many legislative sessions are nearing an end, but that doesn't mean the end for cannabis progress! This week brings surprising and heartwarming news from down on the bayou in Louisiana, while California’s discussing legalization, New York is gearing up to select growers for their medical program, and India just held their first ever medical cannabis conference.

U.S. Updates

CALIFORNIA

Eight-year-old Vedd Raaj has severe epilepsy and autism. His most violent seizures come once a month, triggered by infections he catches due to low immunity. They can last hours.

His parents, Bengaluru-based business consultant Amit and homemaker Rakhi Raj, 34, have been doing the rounds of hospitals, trying to find a doctor that can help him procure cannabis oil. This controversial flowering plant is indigenous to India, but its cultivation is banned because an extract can also be used to produce the intoxicant marijuana.

Yet the Raj family believes it is their son's only hope. There are many within and outside the medical fraternity that would agree with him.

The second article in our series of religion and marijuana - Today we are looking at the relationship between Hinduism and marijuana usage. 

Hinduism is the religion of the majority of people in India and Nepal. It also exists among significant populations outside of the sub continent and has over 900 million adherents worldwide.

Unlike most other religions, Hinduism has no single founder, no single scripture, and no commonly agreed set of teachings.

Like other religions, Hindus generally disapprove of the non-medicinal drug use.

As part of the exploratory dialogue for one of my recent executive coaching assignments, a C-level executive of a decades-old business frankly admitted, “I don’t think I have the skills to lead the business to the next level.”

In his late thirties, the CEO in question had successfully led his organization to profitability from the brink of disaster in less than five years (after an experiment with professional management did not yield the desired result). By all accounts, he was a dynamic, motivated and purpose-driven leader with aspirations to build a great institution. He was skilled at empowering people and willing to give them space to operate. And yet, he was mired by self-limiting beliefs.

I probed him with the following two questions:

BENGALURU: The movement for legalization of marijuana reached India on Sunday with speakers at the country's first Medical Cannabis Conference calling for open and honest study on its ability to cure cancer and other ailments. 

Addressing the conference at Alliance francaise, Rick Simpson, a Canadian who claims to have treated cancer patients with his hemp oil — a cannabis extract — in the past 12 years, said it is high time people suffering from ailments, particularly cancer, are allowed to take plant for its curative effect instead of going in for radiation or chemotherapy. 

While radiation and chemotherapy harm the patient, treatment using the medicinal plant does not have any side effects, said Simpson, who is in the forefront the 'Legalise Marijuana' campaign.

Viki Vaurora, a passionate campaign er for medical marijuana, says it is time to bust the myths around the much maligned weed. He is hosting India's first ever Medical Cannabis Conference series that starts in Bengaluru on May 10, to spread awareness about its uses, especially in palliative cancer care. 

"The only way marijuana can kill you is if you smoke 1,500kg in 15 minutes," says Vaurora, a 23-year-old musician and recording engineer."It has no side effects and it cannot kill you. It has no control on your respiratory or cardiac faculties." 

With news about a medical marijuana legalisation meet in city, social media is abuzz with reactions

The debate about the decriminalization and legalization of cannabis has been raging for over a century but it heated up a little bit more on social media after the Bangalore Mirror article titled "City to host country's first 'legalise marijuana'meet (April 29, 2015)". 
The arguments ranged from the usual benefits been listed out to people questioning the morality of legalisation. We decided to get an expert opinion on it.