Students whose disabilities qualify them to use medical marijuana will soon be allowed to do so in Brick Township school, buses and school-sponsored events.

The Board of Education last week introduced a medical marijuana policy that will govern how students qualify and are administered medical marijuana. The policy is in response to a state law passed in 2015 that requires districts to enact policies that allow the administration of medical marijuana to students.

Queensland could have looked at a compassionate scheme to not prosecute people using whole plant medicinal cannabis, the state's One Nation MP says.

Member for Buderim Steve Dickson said in that New South Wales police were given guidelines not to prosecute terminally ill people found with small amounts of cannabis.

A parliamentary committee is considering One Nation MP Steve Dickson's medicinal cannabis bill. Photo: Rohan Thomson

"We did not use that component in the Queensland legislation where governments will not prosecute people that are using whole plant medicinal cannabis," Mr Dickson said.

The Colorado Legislature is loaded up with marijuana measures this week, including proposals to establish pot clubs and to add PTSD to the list of patient ailments that can be treated with medical marijuana. And on March 8, the Senate Business, Labor and Technology committee approved Senator Tim Neville's bill to allow medical marijuana delivery systems for patients and businesses.

Senate Bill 17-192 calls for a state licensing authority to create an endorsement for existing medical marijuana licenses, permitting them to make deliveries to patients in need in areas where medical marijuana is currently sold.

The largest association of medical-marijuana companies in Canada has agreed to implement new standards on product safety and transparency, after a series of recalls due to banned pesticides that have shaken consumer confidence in the industry.

Directors of the Cannabis Canada Association, which represents 15 federally licensed medical-marijuana companies – including several of the country’s biggest – voted unanimously in favour of the new health and safety standards at a board meeting Thursday.

The stricter measures include independent lab testing for banned pesticides, bacteria, mould, heavy metals and other contaminants, and – most importantly – disclosing those results to consumers.

Chemicals found in cannabis could be used to help treat dementia, early studies have shown – but further research into the findings is being stymied by restrictive drug laws, said scientists.

Cannabinoids like tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) can aid the removal of dangerous dementia proteins from brain cells, according to researchers at the Salk Institute, a renowned biomedical research facility in California.

A judge in New Jersey ruled that a man’s insurance company must pay for the cost of his medical cannabis treatment. This may establish an important precedent in the medical industry.

Andrew Watson, who lives in Egg Harbor, New Jersey, enrolled in the state’s medical cannabis program in 2014. He sought financial reimbursement for the purchase of medicinal cannabis over a term of three months.

The Supreme Judicial Court on Thursday will take up the question of whether a business can fire an employee for using medical marijuana outside of work.

The case, Cristina Barbuto vs. Advantage Sales and Marketing, pits businesses that want to set their own rules about drug use against workers who want to be able to treat their medical conditions with marijuana.

With the medical-marijuana industry caught in a tainted-cannabis scare that Health Canada has yet to fully confront, one company has struck out on its own to devise a solution to the controversy – and hopes the rest of the sector will voluntarily follow suit.

Some federally licensed companies in Canada’s medical-marijuana sector test for contaminants, but don’t make the data available for consumers to see. Others don’t test at all for substances such as dangerous pesticides, because Health Canada does not require it.

Putting on cushions in the corner of a brightly decorated room in Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center, 11-year-old Eitan anxiously watched the sliding door leading to the hallway outside. Each time someone entered the room, he rushed past the hanging mobiles and flowers painted on the walls to make sure the door was shut securely.

Illegal marijuana dispensaries in British Columbia and Ontario say they are developing a system of testing standards amid concerns about contaminants in cannabis – both at unauthorized storefronts and in the federally regulated system.

The proposal from the Canadian Association of Medical Cannabis Dispensaries, whose 25 members represent a fraction of the hundreds of illegal dispensaries operating across the country, to set up a testing system by May comes ahead of federal legislation to legalize the drug. The Liberal government has not said where recreational marijuana will be sold, but dispensaries have lobbied to be included in the new system.