The guidelines for considering applications from people wanting to use cannabis for medical purposes will be reviewed, Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne has announced.

Mr Dunne said the need for "fine-tuning" was inevitable, given that medical cannabis was a new policy area for the Ministry of Health and wider medical profession.

"The guidelines were set up at my request following the Alex Renton case in 2015, so far the only case where ministerial approval was granted, following an application from Mr Renton's treating clinicians to administer the restricted product Elixinol."

What's this about Helen Kelly and the campaign to legalise medical marijuana?

A debate around medical marijuana has sprung into view after Helen Kelly revealed her request for a cannabis product had not been approved.

Who is this Helen Kelly and why does she want marijuana?

We like to think of ourselves as leaders…

But this time we’ve fallen behind.

Australia became the first continent to legalize medical marijuana after the Australian Parliament passed a measure earlier today. The amendments to the Narcotic Drugs Act legalizes the cultivation of medical marijuana for medical and scientific purposes.

Following the passing of this amendment, the Australian Minister for Health Sussan Ley made the following statement:

Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan is pushing for the legalization of cannabis and other personal drugs.

However, he said regulations must be put in place by governments to curtail abuse.

“And therefore, the fourth and final step is to recognize that drugs must be regulated precisely because they are risky. It is time to acknowledge that drugs are infinitely more dangerous if they are left solely in the hands of criminals who have no concerns about health and safety.

Legal marijuana has been having banner year after banner year since various states havelegalized the sale and consumption of the plant and its derivatives starting back in 2012 within Colorado and Washington. It should be noted that the process of marijuana’s status as a demonized drug has been slipping for much longer than the past 4 years.

New Zealand could miss the boat as an exporter of medicinal cannabis, horticulture expert Dr Mike Nichols said.

Nichols, writing in the latest issue of the horticulture magazine, NZGrower, said New Zealand could miss out in much the same way as it did with the opium poppy trade, which is now dominated by Tasmania.

"The potential to grow medicinal cannabis in New Zealand at this point in time as an export crop would appear to be excellent," Nichols said.

"The value of a kilogram of medicinal cannabis compared with a kilogram of Pinus radiata is a clear example showing that New Zealand should be producing, and exporting, high value and low volume products," Nichols said.

This week Helen Kelly had her official request for medicinal cannabis deferred by the Ministry of Health. This has renewed debate about whether the Government’s procedures for dealing with such requests are working or major reform is required.

Photo / Getty Images

Former CTU president Helen Kelly has mounted a campaign that seeks to reform the government's procedures over medicinal cannabis. Kelly has blogged about her predicament and campaign - see: Life and death and Cannabis. This must-read post sets out her problems with getting appropriate treatment.

Marijuana's ascent appears nothing short of unstoppable.

Roughly two decades ago, only a quarter of people responding to a national Gallup poll wanted to see marijuana legalized. But beginning in California in 1996 and spreading throughout the country, 22 additional states, as well as Washington, D.C., have legalized marijuana for medicinal use as of today.

How's this possible? On one hand, public approval of marijuana being used as medicine is higher than it's ever been. A CBS News poll from April 2015 showed that a whopping 84% of those surveyed across America would like to see marijuana legalized for medicinal purposes.

A growing number of countries are deciding to ditch prohibition. What comes next?