Terminally ill Council of Trade Unions president Helen Kelly is pleading with the Government to improve access to medicinal cannabis, as she confesses she is "a little bit scared" of dying.

Kelly, who has lung cancer, said on Monday she had exhausted all legal pain relief and had resorted to the black market to obtain cannabis oil. But she did not like putting people in an awkward position to help her.

"I've tried [cannabis oil]. I'm not promoting it as a curative, but as a pain relief it's incredibly effective for me and it doesn't make me feel sick, which morphine does."

She took the drug at night to make sure being stoned would not disrupt her day.

The state-of-the-art marijuana growing operation with its 65 strains of plants is in its infancy as finishing touches are being put on the building where it will take about 14 weeks to grow about 80 pounds of pot. That's how much the tribe hopes to sell weekly at its smoking lounge and entertainment resort just south of their casino that is noting its 25th year of operation this month.

The resort has been about a year in the making, as the tribal council which leads the tribe of 280 adults and 110 children on the reservation voted 5-1 late last year to pursue the resort idea.

NEGAUNEE —

This past week, the Michigan House of Representatives passed a series of bills regarding Michigan's medical marijuana laws.

Among these bills include a 3 percent excise tax on medicinal marijuana. The funds collected from the tax will go toward establishing a more regulated and controlled environment that will help insure safety and consistency. When the bill was initially proposed, the tax was at 16 percent and was negotiated down to 3 percent.

State Representative John Kivela, Democrat in the 109th district, believes these new bills help better define the medical marijuana laws in Michigan.

Somewhere in Victoria sits a highly guarded building that will soon become the home of Australia's first government-sanctioned cannabis crop.

Here, in a research facility shrouded in secrecy, change is coming.

For bio-security reasons, the location of the site remains confidential, but over the next few years, a handful of selected officials will lay the groundwork for a hydroponic scheme that can vastly improve lives.

If all goes according to plan, the state will be growing and distributing its own medicinal cannabis by early 2017, first for about 450 children with severe epilepsy, and eventually, for a range of adults suffering profound pain from diseases such cancer, HIV/AIDS, or multiple sclerosis.

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (KABC) --

San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department Marijuana Enforcement Team and Victor Valley Sheriff's Station found four illegal marijuana cultivation operations in El Mirage Thursday.

The investigations resulted in the seizure of over 500 marijuana plants, 115 pounds of recently harvested marijuana being packaged for sales, 8 firearms and the arrests of 10 suspects.

At two of the locations, deputies recovered several firearms, including a modified or short-barrel shotgun and two bullet-proof vests.

Authorities said the amount of marijuana seized suggests the plants were for-profit operations being sold illegally on the street.

Prohibition builds empires of criminals and outlaws the world's most ancient medicine, writes Labour MP Paul Flynn

A Leek man is calling upon the Government to make medicinal Cannabis legal.

Jacob Barrow was born with a Diaphragmatic-Hernia which resulted in the need for immediate life saving surgery to correct his internal problems.

Following a series of problems he has found that medical Cannabis is his best option for a pain-free life.

Now he is calling on the Government, which will be debating the issue in the House of Commons on Monday, October 12, to make Cannabis legal for medicinal purposes.

Mr Barrow, who was born and raised in Leek, said: "Six months after being born my scarring, which initially stretched around my abdomen spine to spine, ruptured and I needed further corrective surgery.