Change Agents: The push to legalise medicinal cannabis.
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In 2016 three Australian states and the Commonwealth passed laws to legalise the growing of medicinal cannabis. It was an extraordinary result for a campaign that struggled for decades to gain traction.
Despite dozens of trials internationally, the evidence on medical cannabis is unconvincing.
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We have a reliable and easy-to-use test to measure blood alcohol concentration. But right now we don't have a fast, reliable test to gauge whether someone is too doped up to drive.
Cannabis is on display at Shango Premium Cannabis, in Portland, Oregon, Sept. 30, 2015.
Timothy J. Gonzalez/AP
The Australian government will now accept licence applications for groups wanting to grow cannabis for scientific and medical purposes. But there's still a lot we don't know about this complex plant.
Millions of Americans in nine states will vote on Nov. 8 for the right to do this.
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Nine states are deciding whether to legalize marijuana. Yet the drug's prohibition at the federal level has created an unstable financial environment for producers and retailers.
A variety of medical marijuana strains are seen at a dispensary in Denver in 2011.
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There is strong evidence that cannabis is useful for treating a range of conditions. Legalising small-scale cultivation is a start to helping those in need.
Legalisation of cannabis for therapeutic use is happening slowly in Australia.
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An era of prohibition may soon be over for marijuana, and powerful players are watching. A legal expert explains how smaller, local producers can keep their pot in the game.
In some states this is medical marijuana.
Anthony Bolante/Reuters
The potential harms associated with using cannabis depend, above all others, on two things: the age at which you first begin to use cannabis and the frequency, dose and duration of use.
Packets of synthetic cannabinoids illegally sold in New York City.
Sebastien Malo/Reuters
Synthetic cannabinoids – drugs that mimic the psychoactive effect of cannabis – have been linked to injuries and deaths. And when one is banned, another rises to take its place.
Men are more likely to use cannabis because of external factors such as peer use, and women for internal factors such as anxiety.
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Cannabis is the most widely used illicit drug with more than 181 million consumers worldwide, three quarters of whom are men. Why do men and women use cannabis?
Addiction isn’t just about how much of a drug you take. It’s also about how you take it.
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Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor, AMREP Department of Medicine, Alfred Hospital, Melbourne & Senior Medical Oncologist and Palliative Care Physician, Melbourne Oncology Group, Cabrini Haematology and Oncology Centre, Wattletree Road, Malvern, Monash University
