MEDFORD, New York – Grimacing, Donna Schwier rubs her left calf and looks out the window of her small basement-level apartment, tucked around the back of a suburban Long Island home. Outside, tree limbs are sagging under heavy new-fallen snow. That’s a concern, since cold and moisture exacerbate the fibromyalgia that has robbed Schwier of her career, her income and her identity.

“Today’s a reasonable pain day,” she says. “I am fresh out of opiates, though.”

Officials learn the hard way that high taxes and red tape just encourage black markets to continue

ven as they embarked on a deliberate experiment in legalizing marijuana for recreational use, the states taking the plunge unintentionally (we can only hope) initiated a second experiment. In dropping overt bans on the stuff while appeasing critics with reams of regulation, could they so bind the marijuana trade in red tape and taxes that they retained all the flaws of prohibition and gained few of the advantages of legalized status?

The answer was very quickly a big "yup." But officials may just be learning from the experience and fixing their early mistakes. A little.

It is like a hash-induced hallucination: row upon row of lush, budding plants, tended by white-coated technicians who are bothered by the authorities only when it is time to pay their taxes. Cannabis once grew in secret, traded by murderous cartels and smoked by consumers who risked jail. Now, countries all over the world have licensed the drug for medical purposes, and a few are going still further.

Four American states have so far legalized its recreational use; little Uruguay will soon be joined by big, G7-member Canada in the legal-weed club. Parliaments from Mexico to South Africa are debating reforms of their own.

This week minister for health Sussan Ley tabled amendments to our drugs act to allow growing cannabis for medicinal or scientific purposes.

The amendments will create two licence classes (medicine and research), limit access only to “fit and proper” Australians with no ties to crime, and allow the importation of plants and seed.

This is an important milestone intended to (re)introduce lawful medicinal cannabis in Australia, after it was prohibited some 50 years ago.

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

President Obama has publicly stated he will not do anything about cannabis legalization for the rest of his presidency. It was frustrating news to hear for parents who are fighting for their children's lives. The only candidate running for president at this point who could possibly do the right thing and reschedule marijuana is Bernie Sanders.

If any of the other candidates win the general election it'll mean four more years of frustration.

Epilepsy and Medicinal Marijuana

This article, written by Associate Editor Tim Baker, was excerpted from Newsweek's Special Edition, Weed 2016: The Beginning of the End for Pot Prohibition.

BERKELEY, CA - MARCH 25: Marijuana plants are displayed at the Berkeley Patients Group March 25, 2010 in Berkeley, California. California Secretary of State Debra Bowen certified a ballot initiative late yesterday to legalize the possession and sale of marijuana in the State of California after proponents of the measure submitted over 690,000 signatures. The measure will appear on the November 2 general election ballot. (Photo : Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Many are hoping that the use of marijuana will soon be legalized in most states. While some are still hesitant to pursue it, a new study suggests that the sales of cannabis will grow four times, four years from now.

The call for making marijuana legal on different states is rapidly gaining pace as well as the profits gained from it. In a not so far future, legalizing it in every state is highly probable.

California together with Washington and 22 other states are now legalizing marijuana for medical use. Since 1996, it has gained momentum in the field of medicine and is prescribed by the physician for specific and different types of ailments. The Obama administration has removed some hurdles regarding the legalization of marijuana. Although government as a whole is still keen on keeping it illegal just like in the 1996 federal government.

Two-month-old Amylea Nunez made history at a Colorado hospital last week when she became the first patient there to receive cannabis oil as part of her treatment.

(Yes, cannabis — as in marijuana, pot or hemp.)

You see, little Amylea has spent the majority of her life inside a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU.) This is because of seizures that began a day after she was brought home from her December delivery in New Mexico. While doctors at Children’s Hospital in Aurora have been attempting to treat her rare form of epilepsy, the medications are causing damage to her liver.