A father battling cancer claims cannabis helped cure him of the disease.

Trevor Smith, 54, was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2012. Doctors told him that without immediate surgery to remove his bladder, prostate and lymph nodes - followed by chemotherapy - he would be dead within two years.

But worried about his quality of life after such radical surgery, he decided to try alternative therapies - and began taking cannabis oil after learning about it online.

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The MS Society Cymru says availability of drug is good news for sufferers in Wales

Wales has become the first country in the UK to approve a cannabis-based drug for sufferers of multiple sclerosis.

Health Minister Mark Drakeford has approved the cannabis-based oral spray Sativex to treat Welsh patients experiencing symptoms of muscle spasms and stiffness.

Consultants in rehabilitation medicine have hailed the recommendation as a “significant milestone for the treatment of spasticity”.

The MS Society Cymru says availability of drug is good news for sufferers in Wales

Wales has become the first country in the UK to approve a cannabis-based drug for sufferers of multiple sclerosis.

Health Minister Mark Drakeford has approved the cannabis-based oral spray Sativex to treat Welsh patients experiencing symptoms of muscle spasms and stiffness.

Consultants in rehabilitation medicine have hailed the recommendation as a “significant milestone for the treatment of spasticity”.

Sativex, a mouth spray designed to alleviate the symptoms of multiple sclerosis, will be available on the NHS in Wales

A cannabis-based drug designed to alleviate the symptoms of multiple sclerosis is to be made available on prescription in Wales, health officials have confirmed.

Sativex, an oral spray made from two chemical extracts from cannabis plants, has been approved for used by the All Wales Medicines Strategy Group.

Wales' Health Minister Mark Drakeford said he hoped the spray would help ease the suffering of those who have to live with the reality of MS.

The decision was welcomed by the Multiple Sclerosis Trust, which said it hoped the decision would prompt England, Scotland and Northern Ireland to follow suit.

For many different reasons,as of late, industrial hemp has been quite thepopular topic everywhere in the world. Not only has the crop been under the spotlight for its versatile nature, but its psychoactive cousin, cannabis, has also been the object of many discussions for medicinal as well as recreational purposes. And while hemp still cannot be grown legally in many places in the world, it remains possible to do so in the United Kingdom, provided one obtains the necessary license.

A recent letter from the UK Home Office claims that categorizing substances as Schedule 1 -- the most severe scheduling -- does not impede research into these drugs, seemingly ignoring the enormous financial and bureaucratic obstacles such scheduling places on this research.

White people are more likely than black people to take drugs. And the average drug user is increasingly older show the latest stats from the Home Office.

The number of adults using illicit drugs in England and Wales rose by an estimated 230,000 to 2.7 million over the past year, crime survey figures show.

The increase was driven by more people saying they had used cocaine, ecstasy, LSD and ketamine. Nearly 1 million people – or 3% of adults – used class A drugs including powder cocaine, heroin and ecstasy in 2013/14.

The Home Office statistics from the crime survey of England and Wales show that cannabis use remained stable, with about 2 million people aged 16 to 59 smoking or otherwise consuming it over the past year.

Most of the increase – 180,000 of the 230,000 extra illicit drugs users – comprised teenagers and young adults aged 16 to 24, who make up 1.1 million of the total number of drug users.

FIRST it was the hash cake. Now cookery programmes such as The Great British Bake Off could be in danger of hitting a new high with opium muffins.

Poppy growers in Britain are to be issued with new advice on cultivating and processing their crops after scientists warned that seeds widely used in bakery products may contain potentially hazardous levels of morphine.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) said the guidelines were intended to minimise any risk to consumers and that “morphine-like” effects had been observed in some cases after poppy seed consumption.