• Local officials from across US call for federal marijuana rescheduling

    NLC has adopted a number of less far-reaching cannabis resolutions over the past five years
    Marijuana Moment (US)
    Tuesday, November 13, 2018

    The National League of Cities (NLC), representing over 19,000 cities, towns and villages across the United States is calling on the federal government to take action on marijuana reform and protect states where cannabis is legal. The NLC passed two resolutions related to cannabis at its conference. The first resolution focuses on marijuana businesses’ access to financial services and implores the Trump administration and Congress to “resolve the conflict between state and federal cannabis laws” and “provide guidance to financial institutions that results in the cannabis market having access to the federally regulated banking system.” The second resolution calls for the removal of cannabis from the list of Schedule 1 drugs under the Controlled Substances Act.

  • Green gold rush: Thailand, Malaysia race to legalise medical marijuana

    Support for liberalisation is not unanimous: China, South Korea and Japan last month warned citizens visiting Canada to avoid cannabis and Singapore maintains a blanket ban
    South China Morning Post (China)
    Monday, November 12, 2018

    Asia has the toughest penalties against drug use and trafficking but the legal landscape is shifting in several countries where cannabis once deemed ruinous to young lives, is emerging as a lucrative industry. In Thailand parliament has set in motion plans to legalise the drug for medical use. This would position the country as the epicentre of the burgeoning industry and advocates claim Thailand’s legal marijuana market could make US$5 billion by 2024. Malaysia, which recently scrapped the death penalty, has begun informal cabinet discussions on legalising medical marijuanag. The “green gold rush” has begun and Asian nations are eager to share in the windfall. (Thailand: Marijuana bill shortened to allow quicker legislation)

  • Cannabis industry says it needs more approved growers to meet Canadian demand

    The bottleneck can be traced back to the federal government’s pace in approving producers’ ability to market their harvests
    Calgary Herald (Canada)
    Monday, November 12, 2018

    More fully-licensed cannabis growers and cultivation space are needed to meet a voracious demand for legal marijuana, a spokesman for the industry said. That means more licences for both producers and their grow areas need to be issued by Health Canada, said Allan Rewak, executive director of the Cannabis Council of Canada. Earlier this year, Postmedia reported that Health Canada was rejecting three licence applications for every one it approved, over concerns some of those requesting them had been involved in the black market. Millions of square feet of production capacity is being brought on line, which should help ease or erase supply gaps, said Rewak.

  • Canada’s message to teenagers: Marijuana is legal now. Please don’t smoke it

    Canadian teenagers already used it more than young people anywhere else in the world, according to a 2013 Unicef report
    The New York Times (US)
    Sunday, November 11, 2018

    Canada became the second country to make it legal for adults to buy, grow and consume small amounts of marijuana. But it also made it a crime to give it to anyone younger than 19 or 18, depending on the province, and set a penalty of up to 14 years in prison for doing so. At the same time, the government began an $83 million public education campaign, much of it targeting Canadian youths, that warns of pot’s dangers. But persuading teenagers not to see legalization as a green light to use marijuana will be difficult, experts say, not to mention that past antidrug efforts have offered little evidence of success. And when it comes to marijuana and the teenage brain, the science is far from clear.

  • Cannabis companies race to clinch an edge in pot industry’s next phase of growth: Intellectual property

    With the global cannabis business expected to be worth $194 billion in seven years, firms are rushing to lock in lucrative patents to come out ahead
    Financial Post (Canada)
    Friday, November 9, 2018

    dollar cannabis3A report by the Bank of Montreal, which assumed a blue-sky scenario in which the U.S. and all 28 countries in the European Union legalize marijuana for recreational and medical use, projected that the global cannabis market could be worth $194 billion in seven years. The industry’s growth potential is why Canadian cannabis companies are rushing to beef up their research teams, hiring scientists, geneticists, hemp researchers and molecular biologists, and, more importantly, enlisting the expertise of patent lawyers since the companies that can clinch and lock in lucrative intellectual property will undoubtedly have an edge, especially in an industry as young and commoditized as cannabis is.

  • McGovern: I’ll let House debate marijuana reform

    His biggest marijuana-related priority: allowing states to legalize and regulate cannabis without interference by the federal government
    The Boston Globe (US)
    Friday, November 9, 2018

    For years, the US House’s powerful Rules Committee has been the place proposed marijuana laws go to die. Pete Sessions, a Texas Republican, made sure of that. Despite strong public support for reforming marijuana laws, he has stopped dozens of cannabis-related amendments and bills from reaching the House floor — including at least 34 since January 2017. Following the Democratic takeover of the House, Representative Jim McGovern of Massachusetts will soon assume control of the Rules Committee. “Unlike my predecessor, I’m not going to block amendments for marijuana,” the Democrat said. “Citizens are passing ballot initiatives, legislatures are passing laws, and we need to respect that. Federal laws and statutes are way behind.”

  • Mexico: president-elect Amlo's party moves toward marijuana legalization

    Party has submitted legislation to legalize the possession, public use, growth and sale of marijuana
    The Guardian (UK)
    Thursday, November 8, 2018

    mexico legalizarlaThe party of Mexico’s president-elect has submitted legislation to legalize the possession, public use, growth and sale of marijuana in what would be a major change to the country’s narcotics strategy. Senator Olga Sánchez Cordero – who has been picked as interior secretary by president-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador – said prohibition has fed violence and poverty, criticizing a 12-year crackdown on drug gangs that has claimed tens of thousands of lives. Sánchez’s bill also would allow every Mexican to grow up to 20 marijuana plants on private property and produce up to 17 ounces (480 grams) a year. The bill would also permit companies to grow and commercialize marijuana.

  • Michigan becomes 10th state to allow recreational marijuana

    Voters in Missouri approve medical marijuana bill
    The Washington Post (US)
    Wednesday, November 7, 2018

    Marijuana advocates scored a number of substantial ballot victories in the middle of the country on Election Day, chief among them the legalization of recreational marijuana in Michigan, which becomes the 10th state in the nation to approve recreational use of the drug. The results in Michigan follow the opening of recreational marijuana markets in Canada and the repeal of marijuana prohibition in Mexico. With the addition of Michigan, nearly 80 million Americans — 25 percent of the total U.S. population — live in a state or jurisdiction that has legalized recreational marijuana. The most recent polling by Gallup shows that two-thirds of American adults support legalization of the drug. (See also: Weed wins on Election Day. So what comes next?)

  • Thousands of patients in limbo as ministry temporarily shuts top cannabis grower

    As health officials cite concerns with hygiene, patients left with with no way to fill prescriptions fume at both ministry and Tikun Olam company over ‘broken system’
    The Times of Israel (Israel)
    Wednesday, November 7, 2018

    The Health Ministry has issued a temporary stop work order against Israel’s largest medical cannabis company, Tikun Olam, over concerns that the company’s cannabis drying process was not up to code, leaving thousands of patients in limbo. The ministry said it had temporarily suspended work at the company starting last Thursday in order to run laboratory tests on all of the cannabis products to ensure quality, including closing the dispensaries, the only way for patients to obtain their medication. The ministry announced it would allow the Tikun Olam dispensary to reopen and distribute cannabis as each batch is tested and approved.

  • Mexico introduces bill to legalise medical and recreational cannabis use

    The bill would permit companies to grow and commercialize marijuana. Individuals would also be allowed to cultivate plants for private use
    Reuters (UK)
    Tuesday, November 6, 2018

    Mexico’s next interior minister plans to submit a bill to create a medical marijuana industry and allow recreational use, in what would be a big step by the incoming government to shake up the country’s drug war. If the bill passes, Mexico would join Canada, Uruguay and a host of U.S. states that permit recreational use of the drug and allow its commercialization. It would be one of the most populous countries to roll back prohibition. Mexico’s Supreme Court last week ruled that an absolute ban on recreational use of marijuana was unconstitutional, effectively leaving it to lawmakers to regulate consumption of the drug.

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