Next month will mark 44 years since the war on drugs was declared by President Richard Nixon. It has been a categoric failure on every level, but for too long this was ignored. Now, slowly but surely, the taboo is finally breaking.

An important part of any trip in the US is making time to help break the taboo about drug policy with the support of community members. On a recent trip to Nevada, we hosted a screening ofBreaking the Taboo and panel discussion with experts and practitioners. But it was audience members who lost their children to preventable drug overdose whose voices put compelling names, faces and stories to the devastating effects of inhumane drug policy.

Could cannabis be the next big beauty trend? Well, it’s now being used in a range of produces available at the UK’s first pharmacy.

Carun Pharmacy’s offering includes everything hemp from mouthwash to pasta – but they won’t get you high as they are all made from non-psychotropic ingredients.

Cannabis sativa extract, also known as hemp seed oil, is the magic ingredient used in the products. It contains a compound called cannabinoids, the most well known of which is Tetrahydrocannabinol (responsible for the psychoactive effects of the drug) but Carun’s hemp products only contain 0.3% of this, while marijuana apparently contains 20-38%.

Smoking cannabis just once a week makes a person more likely to suffer respiratory problems, a study has warned. 

Users were more likely to suffer symptoms of bronchitis, including coughing in the morning, bringing up phlegm, and wheezing.

But when they cut down on cannabis or quit smoking, most found the symptoms reduced to levels similar to those found in people who do not smoke the drug, researchers found.

However, people who had been heavy users had a persistent cough and wheeze even after they cut down or quit, suggesting heavy cannabis use can have long-term affects on the lungs.

A point of contention for many reformists is a comparison between cannabis and alcohol - an unnecessary comparison festering with hypocritical undertones and prejudice. It's contentious because arguing for cannabis' safety over alcohol is sanctimonious at best, and collapses under the weight of its own piety when debating outside of medicinal remit. 

The emergence of CISTA (the Cannabis Is Safer Than Alcohol political party) has resurfaced an ugly truth: comparing the safety of cannabis with other substances will always lead back to the undeniable truth that abstinence from all recreational drugs is the safest and healthiest option - which really shouldn't be the point. 

Considering that up until about 85 years ago, cannabis oil was used around the world to treat a variety of diseases, including cancer, it is not surprising that the phasing out of cannabis to treat illness coincided with the rise of pharmaceutical companies.

Rick Simpson, a medical marijuana activist, is on a crusade to help others heal. He regards cannabis as the most medicinally active plant on the face of the earth, and shared this apparent miracle with others — completely free of charge. He now has thousands of testimonials from those who were healed from ‘incurable’ disease to back up his claims ~ that cannabis annihilates cancer.

AUTHORITIES are struggling to cope with ‘dangerous’ legal highs because the drug industry is moving faster than legislation can, police say.

Figures uncovered by The Northern Echo show that legal highs have been implicated in a growing number of incidents investigated by Durham Police in recent years.

Officers believe users are risking their lives by taking drugs that are not tested or regulated and are often mixed with illegal substances.

Between 2012 and 2015, incidents across County Durham involving legal highs escalated from just 13 in 2012 to 92 in 2014-15, according to a Freedom of Information request.

TORONTO — Medical marijuana is currently legal in 23 states and the District of Columbia. On a regular basis, studies are released supporting the use of cannabis for the use in the treatment of psychiatric disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Despite the growing calls to expand the use of marijuana for a host of medical conditions, psychiatrists should be hesitant as much of the data out there is inconclusive and marijuana use, even for supposed medicinal purposes, can lead to addiction in some cases, according to Kevin P. Hill, MD, a psychiatrist at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass. and an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School.

GW Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: GWPH  ) has the richest pipeline of marijuana-derived medicines in development, and that has investors flocking to pick up shares in hopes of benefiting from the rising adoption of such drugs. But a flurry of research trials is also costing the company big bucks, so investors should pay close attention to how quickly it burns through its cash stockpile.

The Home Office has confirmed that responsibility for the UK drugs strategy goes to Mike Penning, MP for Hemel Hempstead, the Minister for Policing, Crime and Criminal Justice.

This must be indicative of the attitude that we can expect from the new Conservative government.  It would seem that this is a hardening of drugs policy as being a criminal justice issue rather than something to do with health.

Is this the first step to legalising Marijuana in the UK?

The well to do town of Twickenham in South West London, home of England Rugby and plenty of upmarket properties, has opened its doors to the UK’s first Cannabis pharmacy. They are in fact the most famous medical Cannabis portal the Czech Republic, where the company first set up shop, and have branched out to the UK to breach the health and beauty sector.