On Aug. 19, the Colombian company PharmaCielo, which claims to be the country’s premier producer of medical-grade cannabis oil, announced that it had officially exported the first batch of CBD from Colombia to Switzerland. The actual deal to make the first commercial export of CBD to Europe happen was organized by PharmaCielo’s Canadian parent company of the same name.

Old people look old because their skin stops producing collagen — or, possibly, because they are full of spiteful regret for a life poorly lived, an existence misspent in the pursuit of frivolous things. Younger people look old because their skin was ravaged by something. It’s the sun, mostly, but also stress, overeating, boozing, or — cue the New Age health solutions music!— an onslaught of rampaging free radicals.

If you want good skin that looks young(ish), the best technique is to stay out of the sun. That isn’t good enough, and so we have a beauty and cosmetic industry that promises to either delay one of the above inevitable outcomes, or to fool other peoples’ eyes into thinking it hasn’t already happened.

Farmers in the Northern Territory could be growing hemp as early as next year after the passing of the Gunner Labor Government’s Hemp Industry Bill last week.

The Bill, which was introduced in May, legalises growing and processing industrial hemp for food, fibre and seed production purposes in the Territory and creates the required regulatory framework.

The Asia-Pacific medicinal cannabis market has been tipped to heat-up by the two companies involved in the launch of a new Australia-based marijuana cultivation business.

Australian start-up Greenfield MC — which was launched in 2018 as an importer and distributor of medicinal cannabis — will now become a grower, under the terms of a new deal with US-Canadian company Emerald Plants Health Source (EPHS).

The two companies will create a joint venture business, Greenfield MC Cultivation, which will develop a cannabis growing operation in Australia for export across the Asia-Pacific market, Business Insider Australia can reveal.

Australian Minister for Health Greg Hunt announced last week the Federal Government will prioritise medical cannabis projects granted Major Project Status.

So, what does this mean? According to Minister Hunt, projects with this status will be given priority for medicinal cannabis licences through the Office of Drug Control (ODC) from the beginning of September. However, they’ll still need to meet all the criteria that other applicants must.

It’s the world’s most controversial plant - cannabis. As more and more countries across the planet make it legal for both medical and recreational use, is Australia being left behind?

Medicinal cannabis was partially legalised in Australia for a limited number of illnesses in November 2016. But it’s very expensive, and only available to a fraction of the patients who potentially need it.

"As someone who was very against it, I would say that medicinal cannabis has not only saved my life, but it's given me life again," Ben Oakley tells Pete Evans.

Australia-based CannPal Animal Therapeutics Limited plans to pursue stage two of its clinical study into the cannabis-based treatment of osteoarthritis in canines, with the first patient dosing expected to begin this month.

In a press release, the company detailed the perimeters of phase two, which will run for eight weeks and is double-blind, randomized and placebo-controlled. The focus will be dose determination for controlling inflammation and pain in dogs with osteoarthritis.

The Morrison Government will boost the nation’s medicinal cannabis industry by prioritising projects that have been granted Major Project Status (MPS) and ultimately driving economic growth.

MPS, managed through the Department of Industry is awarded to projects which will make a significant contribution in the areas of exports, jobs and industry development, particularly in rural and regional areas.

Minister for Health, Greg Hunt said this arrangement will give applicants with MPS, priority to medicinal cannabis licences through the Office of Drug Control in the Department of Health.

Early this month, Australia’s Office of Drug Control updated guidelines for importing hemp products – what requires special permission and what doesn’t.

Changes to Australia’s Food Standard in late 2017 saw certain hemp seed products being permitted for human consumption – and this triggered a spike in interest in hemp foods. Like anything, not all hemp products are created equal and caution needs to be taken when importing such products in order not to fall afoul of related laws.