THE NSW Government has turned over a new leaf after decades of opposing commercial cannabis, revealing plans for a new scheme to grow the plant on an industrial scale.

It will introduce legislation in weeks to allow farms to grow hemp, the fibres and oil of which can be used in food and clothes, biofuels and skin-care products.

The state's first legal hemp crop has been approved by police and will contain only tiny amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive compound that some people smoke for recreation. It will be planted later this year, with farmers no longer needing their licences to be approved by the NSW Health Department.

"Industrial hemp fibre produced here in NSW could pave the way for the establishment of a new viable industry that creates and sells textiles, cloth and building products made from locally grown industrial hemp," said the Primary Industries Minister, Ian Macdonald, who will oversee the licences for the new crop.

ADDING MULTIMEDIA AHF's African Doctors and Treatment Clients Lobby Senate for Changes in PEPFAR Global AIDS Bill

Six AIDS medical care providers and treatment clients from Uganda and South Africa are visiting Washington, DC this week for a series of meetings on Capitol Hill with Senate and Congressional leaders to lobby Congress as they consider bills to reauthorize PEPFAR (the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief), the successful US global AIDS program. The group, all of whom are treatment clients or medical providers of AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) (www.aidshealth.org), which provides AIDS medical care to more than 65,000 individuals in 20 countries worldwide, will lobby Congress to reinstate a requirement that a minimum percentage of PEPFAR funding be required to be spent on lifesaving treatment. The original PEPFAR bill, first proposed by President Bush five years ago, has a requirement that 55% of all funds be targeted for treatment.

Top Scoops

In a place just a few miles from sandy beaches and soaring sky-scrapers, white stone villas and sky-blue swimming pools, it seems the epitome of irony and injustice that over 1.5 million people would be subjected to drinking sewage-contaminated water. When there is such a fine line bordering wealth and poverty, privilege and need, how unsettling to realize that just a stones throw away, mothers and fathers must nourish their families with poison. As if the occupier could not find one more creative way to torment his victim. .

Earthly focus

While Tuesday officially marked Earth Day, the sign outside the Finnup Center Wednesday stated what those with Lee Richardson Zoo believe and try to instill upon others about the environment.

But the lesson Sexson, Andrea Smith, zoo curator of education, and others try to get across to fair participants and zoo visitors isn't really dependent on the day.

Kalium Group of Companies set for unrivalled presence at Dubai Derma 2008

Kalium Group of Companies, one of the fastest growing distributors of advanced Medical Equipment, Skin Care Products and Aesthetic Devices in the Middle East, has announced that it will have a significant presence at the Dubai Derma 2008 exhibition for the third consecutive year. .

Pretty lucrative

Frustrated by insurance paperwork, managed-care directives and what they view as inadequate reimbursements, many physicians are expanding their practices to include procedures that aren't tied to any of those things.

"All of our costs of practicing are going up. There's not a single area I can think of that's gone down," said Dr.

Abandoned puppy saved after brush with death

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. The grunting, banged-up 3-month-old puppy rubbed its face against Dawn Wilyard's arm and playfully chewed on a toy bone it had come a long way in three days.