Despite its reputation for causing “the munchies”, heavy use of cannabis has been linked to a reduction in body weight and thin bones that are more likely to break, according to a new study.

Researchers at Edinburgh University tested 170 regular recreational users of the drug and 114 non-users.

Scans of their bones showed heavy users – who had smoked cannabis more than 47,000 times in their life – had a bone density that was five per cent lower than cigarette smokers.

Manufacturers and distributors of cannabidiol (CBD) based products have spoken out after the Medicine products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) told vendors they have 28 days to stop selling their products in the UK. The decision was made by the MHRA to define CBD as a medicine, meaning that companies will now require a licence to sell these products. They have raised their concerns about their customers’ access to CBD being taken away by this measure.

The MHRA's assessment could 'provide ground-breaking results' in leading to reform over cannabis' medicinal use in the UK.

The government’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has found that Cannabidiol (CBD) has a “restoring, correcting or modifying” effect on “physiological functions” when administered to humans, in a potential milestone in the campaign to legalise cannabis and bring about evidence-based laws regarding drugs.

In May of 2016 Nicola Sturgeon backed calls for relaxing the laws on Cannabis use for “specific cases” of people with conditions such as Multiple Sclerosis. She made clear at the time she is not in favour of decriminalising for recreational use as it causes harm. She said “Cannabis is not a harmless substance. I am not in favour of general decriminalisation but I do think there is a specific case for medicinal use.”  Now it’s been announced that the SNP will be holding a vote at its Autumn conference, which takes place between the 13th and 15th October 2016. The vote will decide if the NHS should offer Medical Marijuana on prescription.

Independent Rules

Former prisons minister and Tory MP Crispin Blunt has said the best way to move ahead with more progressive drugs legislation would be to initiate a Royal Commission on the matter. 

Blunt told a fringe event about cannabis legalisation at the Conservative party conference last night that doing so would take the debate about changing drugs policy, which includes areas such as medicinal cannabis, "out of the purely political sphere". 

The Conservative party does not currently support the decriminalisation or legalisation of cannabis for medical or recreational use.

Blunt, who revealed in January he had used the legal high poppers, has said he is in favour of decriminalising cannabis.

As many as a third of the UK's 600,000 epilepsy sufferers are drug resistant with some suffering as many as several dozen seizures a day. Experts believe the drug derived from cannabis, with the addictive element removed, may help

Medics are trialling a drug derived from cannabis that could revolutionise the treatment of epilepsy .

Doctors at Great Ormond Street Hospital are trialing the revolutionary 'cannabis' drug that could transform the lives of thousands of people with epilepsy.

At present as many as a third of the UK's 600,000 epilepsy sufferers are drug resistant with some suffering as many as several dozen seizures a day. Now experts believe a drug derived from cannabis, with the addictive element removed, may help.

A Parkinson’s patient has provided indisputable proof of marijuana’s ability to alleviate the degenerative disease.

Ian Frizell of the UK has spent the past 20 years dealing with a severe case of Parkinson’s disease that causes nearly his entire body to shake uncontrollably.

In a video posted earlier this month, Frizell explains that traditional Parkinson’s medications make him feel “extremely unwell.”

He steps away to consume just 30mg of marijuana via a vaporizer and returns about twenty minutes later.

“The sense of relief is overwhelming,” Frizell says as he sits still, completely free of the tremors.

Cancer is the second most common cause of death in the U.S. resulting in at least 584,881 deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Recent animal studies show that marijuana extracts can help kill certain cancer cells and even reduce the size of some of them. But, marijuana is still illegal in several states. The number of people who’ve died due to an overdose of marijuana? None.

GW Pharmaceuticals' Epidiolex outpaces placebo in a second trial in Lennox-Gastaut syndrome patients.

Following today's announcement, GW Pharmaceuticals PLC's (NASDAQ:GWPH) Epidiolex has reduced monthly seizure rates in three separate epilepsy trials, including two trials involving patients with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, a rare form of epilepsy. Epidiolex's ability to lower seizure rates in epilepsy patients clears the way for the company to file for FDA approval of Epidiolex next year. If the FDA approves Epidiolex, it will become the first FDA-approved cannabis therapy on the market.

With memories of the Global Medicinal Cannabis Summit: Advancements in the Age of Cannabis still fresh in our minds, VolteFace has been particularly fortunate to receive the following in-depth review of the event – penned by Dr Callum Swift, who graduated with an MA in Neuroscience from Trinity College, Dublin.