According to research by British scientists a moderate amount of cannabis may actually improve driving performance.

A group of  20 drivers aged 21-40 participated in a driving simulator test. Ten of them smoked the equivalent of about half a cannabis cigarette. 

Subjects under cannabis scored superior than the sober subjects in  most of the tasks including reaction time and number of collisions. 

Simon Smith Wright, the director of the laboratory where the  studies were conducted, said:

"The results of our test clearly show  that a small or moderate amount of cannabis is actually quite  beneficial to someone's driving performance."

Short News:

***UK: Cannabis medicine available in summer The cannabis based medication developed by GW Pharmaceuticals is expected to be approved for sale in Britain in spring. Alan Macfarlane, a chief inspector at the Home Office, said the results of the clinical trials for Sativex looked promising. "I'm hoping it will be dealt with in the next two to three months, and I will be surprised if it doesn't succeed," he said. GW Pharmaceuticals hopes to make the medicine available in summer.
(Source: New York Times of 27 January 2004)

***Science: Effect of legal status The effect of the legal status and the price of cannabis on frequency of use was investigated by an Australian researcher. He summarized that "decriminalisation is associated with an increase in the prevalence of use by males over the age of 25. There is no evidence that decriminalisation significantly increases participation in marijuana use by either young males or females, or that decriminalisation increases the frequency of use among marijuana users."
(Source: Williams J. Health Econ 2004;13(2):123-37)

***Science: Cannabis and dogs The effect of cannabis ingestion by 213 dogs in the years 1998 until 2003 was analysed by researchers of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Warsaw, Poland. The amount of cannabis ingested ranged from 0.5 to 90 grams. The lowest dose at which signs of intoxication occurred was 85 milligrams per kilogram of body weight and the highest reported dose was 26.8 grams per kilogram. The signs lasted from 30 min to 96 h. All animals made full recoveries.
(Source: Janczyk P, et al. Vet Hum Toxicol 2004;46(1):19-21)

***Canada: Cannabis club of Toronto On 28 January the federal justice department has dropped drug trafficking charges against owners of a Toronto "compassion club," a new victory for unlicensed groups that provide patients access to medical marijuana. The centre was raided by the police in August, 2002. At the time, it was providing cannabis to 1,200 patients who had a doctor's prescription.
(Source: Toronto Star by 29 January 2004)

***USA: California According to a new state wide survey 75 per cent of Californian voters support the medical use of cannabis, which is considerably more than some years ago. Proposition 215, the Californian marijuana law, passed with only 56 per cent in 1996. Today the acceptance of the law is much higher than 1996.
(Source: Sacramento Bee of 30 January 2004)