Otra vez vuelve el Congreso a discutir un proyecto para permitir la comercialización del cannabis con fines recreativos. Otra vez surgen los autoproclamados faros de la moral para esgrimir argumentos caducos sobre cómo no podemos aprobar tal despropósito. Otra vez las expectativas de sintonizar a Colombia con las tendencias internacionales tienen pocas posibilidades de cumplirse. Aun así, es necesario insistir. Qué gran aporte le harían al país los congresistas en sus últimas legislaturas y el presidente Iván Duque en su último año si dejaran a un lado los prejuicios, los temores y apoyaran de manera irrestricta esta medida.

Detrás del bajo porcentaje de usuarios comprando cannabis por vías legales en Uruguay, lo que falta es un esquema de incentivos que -como en cualquier mercado- sea atractivo para los consumidores. La rigidez que presentan las alternativas legales en relación al registro, la elección de una única vía de acceso, los topes máximos a las cantidades que se puede adquirir o autocultivar legalmente, la poca variedad, parece que son contraproducentes para maximizar el alcance de la política. La regulación uruguaya de cannabis 2.0 tendrá, entonces, que repensar un diseño que otorgue mayor flexibilidad y contribuya a la expansión de un mercado legal, y no de uno gris como hasta ahora.

Una de las más graves falencias del dictamen aprobado es que mantiene la apuesta por el sistema de justicia penal como una herramienta regulatoria. ¿Son necesarios estos delitos para controlar al mercado? ¿Son imprescindibles tantos requisitos para el consumo? La respuesta es no, pues no sólo son desproporcionados, sino que carecen de sentido en un sistema en el que el cannabis es legal y que busca la justicia social. La permanencia de estos delitos y los requisitos para el consumo, evidencian que lo que se busca es la protección de los intereses económicos de aquellas personas o empresas que tienen la suficiente capacidad económica para ingresar al mercado legal del cannabis. Es claro que lo que aprobó el Senado resultó en un peor escenario al que vivimos actualmente, sin regulación.

La presentación del Plan Nacional de Desarrollo (PND) por el presidente de México, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, puso sobre la mesa otra vez el tema de la despenalización de las drogas, mientras el país lucha para contener la creciente violencia del crimen organizado. El gobierno federal mexicano ha emprendido un “cambio de paradigma” en la seguridad nacional y pública, debido a la “insostenible” estrategia prohibicionista y sus “resultados catastróficos”. “La única posibilidad real de reducir los niveles de consumo de drogas reside en levantar la prohibición de [aquellas] que son actualmente ilegales y en la reorientación de los recursos destinados a combatir el narcotráfico, con objeto de aplicarlos en programas—masivos pero personalizados—de rehabilitación y desintoxicación”.

Regular la mariguana para que puedas sembrarla y consumirla en tu casa, pero solo si te registras en un padrón y permites que las autoridades entren a tu domicilio, para comprobar que cumples con todos los requisitos. Esto es lo que propone Morena en el Senado. Sin embargo, organizaciones advierten que estas medidas serían intrusivas, y que la iniciativa en realidad se basa en el miedo y los prejuicios. Además, señalan que el dictamen terminaría beneficiando, sobre todo, a las grandes industrias cannábicas, antes que a campesinos y grupos vulnerables.

En marzo 2021, en redes sociales y entre la opinión pública se podía leer mucho sobre la aprobación del uso lúdico de la mariguana en México; sin embargo, es un camino que aún no concluye, ya que su discusión sigue en el Senado y que además se postergó para el próximo periodo legislativo. Es así como 2021 parecía ser el año para que México tuviera una regulación completa alrededor de la mariguana, lo cual no sucedió, ya que un día antes de que terminaran las labores del Senado, el 14 de diciembre, se presentó la iniciativa. Uno de los momentos más destacados en 2021 fue la declaratoria general de inconstitucionalidad de la SCJN, publicada el 28 de junio, la cual propone eliminar de la Ley General de Salud a la mariguana como droga ilícita y privilegiar el derecho a decidir de las personas.

Candi CdeBaca voted to legalize the free sale of marijuana in Colorado four years ago because she thought it would be good for her Denver neighborhood. She hoped that when Colorado became the first state in the nation to legalize the sale of recreational marijuana in 2014 it would not only keep people out of court, but also open up a legitimate means of earning a living. Today she would vote differently. “We have just swapped one kind of drug dealer for another,” said CdeBaca. All legalization has done is open the door to a takeover by corporate interests.

Following the reported agreement by the German Government on the legalisation of cannabis, Brussels mayor Philippe Close reiterated his plea to decriminalise and eventually legalise its use in Belgium and Brussels. Over four million adults consume cannabis in Germany, which is why Chancellor Olaf Scholz wants to crack down on the organised crime behind it by legalising and regulating the product and no longer considering it narcotics. "My full support for the socialist Chancellor Olaf Scholz who dares to legislate on cannabis," said Close on Twitter, tagging Prime Minister Alexander De Croo and Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne. "It is time our country took the same direction. It is not about promoting a product but about managing it."

Chief minister Andrew Barr describes the Australian Capital Territory’s decision to legalise cannabis possession for personal use as an “evolution, not a revolution”. The ACT law, to take effect at the end of January, will allow residents 18 years and over to possess up to 50 grams and grow two plants, up to a total of four plants per household. With the federal medicinal cannabis regime, introduced in 2016, still in its infancy, the ACT is ahead of the pack – one of only three jurisdictions where it is decriminalised, along with the Northern Territory and South Australia – and is now the first to legalise it.

The amount of outdoor-grown cannabis will make up a small portion of the market this year — less than 10 per cent of the cultivation licenses granted in Canada are for outdoors — but many more are in the pipeline after the Canadian government changed its rules last year to allow pot farms. Growing outdoors eliminates the need for costly lighting, heating and cooling systems. WeedMD CEO Keith Merker said it can grow for about 20 cents at its farm versus $1 a gram in a greenhouse and $2 a gram for a typical indoor site. (See also: Cannabis can be grown outdoors for pennies on the dollar. So why is hardly anyone doing it?)

Many young adults remember their childhood participation in Drug Abuse Resistance Education, better known by the acronym D.A.R.E. One of the program's core messages is that marijuana is a "gateway" to all sorts of other substances. D.A.R.E's effectiveness was later called into question, and its curriculum overhauled, but the legend remains. The scientist who coined the "gateway" termrecently came out with a new paper showing that it's actually nicotine that is, biologically, the most potent of gateway of all.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio supports Governor Andrew Cuomo's pledge to legalize recreational marijuana, but he doesn't want the the market to be overrun by big corporations when cannabis prohibition is repealed. "We have an industry that is just licking its chops, waiting to come in and corporatize marijuana—to do exactly what the tobacco industry did with cigarettes, to do exactly what the pharmaceutical industry did with things like oxycontin. What we need [to do] is legalize marijuana without corporatized marijuana," Mayor De Blasio told Bill Maher. To prevent that from happening, the mayor wants to hand the market over to former victims of cannabis prohibition—people who were arrested and imprisoned for marijuana-related offsenses.

Psychotherapist Mariella Dimech has been appointed the first executive chair of the Authority on the Responsible Use of Cannabis. She tells how she plans to stifle the black market and raise awareness on cannabis use in Malta. "Back when I worked at Caritas I was concerned that legalisation would create a ‘free for all attitude’. I had just come back from rehabilitation training in the US, where we were taught a zero-tolerance, punitive approach towards drug rehabilitation. And I was very adamant about it during my time as programme coordinator at Caritas. But I learned from experience that it’s not the only way to go about it. And I now believe that a harm-reduction approach is also necessary." (See also: Cannabis may be legal. But it’s not a ‘free-for-all’: Mariella Dimech)

As cannabis producers add to their harvest as Canada prepares to legalize recreational use starting Oct. 17, some companies are already exploring novel ways to dramatically reduce the cost of growing pot. While most cannabis companies build massive indoor facilities and greenhouses to meet the expected demand that Canadians will have for legal pot, the cost needed to operate these modern grow-operations is also climbing with the average cost of producing marijuana hovering at about $1 a gram. Now, producers are turning to old-school methods such as outdoor production as well as new technological innovations in an effort to reduce the cost of growing a gram to pennies on the dollar. (See also: Retail investors in Canadian cannabis are 'buying air,' analyst says)

Noted cannabis advocate Ras Iyah V has issued a warning to prospective overseas investors who may have intentions of exploiting small ganja farmers to line their own pockets. "Don't come with the sugar cane plantation mentality that you going to work these boys and make yourselves rich and put the money in your pocket and gone." Meanwhile, Iyah V, who is a CLA board member, invited foreign investors to partner with grass root ganja farmers to make up the shortfall in government funding. While his Orange Hill community in Westmoreland was chosen, along with Accompong Town in St Elizabeth, as ganja planting pilot projects under the Cannabis Licensing Authority's (CLA's) Alternative Development Project (ADP), the Westmoreland project is yet to sprout as a result of a dearth of suitable lands.

The federal Cannabis Act specifies that each household can cultivate up to four plants — either indoors or out. Manitoba and Quebec have opted to prohibit homegrown cannabis, but there's already evidence Canadians in other provinces are set to take advantage of the herb's newly legal status. "For the price-conscious consumer, if you're paying around $10 a gram for the varieties at the store, you might be only paying 50 cents per gram or less for a variety you grow yourself at home," says Alex Rea of Toronto-based Homegrown Hydroponics. It's difficult to know yet just how many Canadians are taking advantage of the new opportunity to grow recreational cannabis at home. But demand is already outstripping supply, since a number of provincial authorities are reporting seed shortages.

Mbuso has been growing cannabis for 14 years. He lives and tends the illicit crop in Swaziland, which is now known officially as Eswatini. Mbuso is just one of scores who depend on high demand from their larger neighbour South Africa for their potent cannabis strain known as "Swazi Gold". They are worried that a recent legal amendment in SA could choke their businesses. In September, South Africa's Constitutional Court decriminalised the use and cultivation of cannabis in private space. But the decision did not legalise its trade or distribution. Florida-based company Profile Solutions Inc has recently received a coveted 10-year licence to produce and sell hemp and medical-grade cannabis in Eswatini. But small-scale farmers are still being prosecuted, detained and having their crops burnt.

Cannabis may be legal in Vancouver but visitors looking to score are likely to run into a seemingly counterintuitive suggestion: try the black market. Recreational marijuana was legalised across Canada in October 2018. And yet on Reddit, the specialist forum website used by millions every day, many of Vancouver’s cannabis connoisseurs still swear by their underground supply. This is one of the major issues facing North America’s marijuana companies, which experts say are in the midst of a dotcom-style market crash. Little over a year ago companies that cultivate and sell cannabis were seen by investors as one of the hottest tickets in town. Now billions of dollars have been wiped off the market values of the industry’s largest companies.

Last month Lebanese President Michel Aoun signed an order paving the way for a change in the country's legislation. If the bill passes through parliament then the production of cannabis could be allowed. But for the moment, the whole plan is confused and far from concluded. To start with, the type of plant the government is proposing to be legalised is not the same variety the farmers currently sow. Perhaps more problematic though, is that it's being suggested that the law will not allow anyone who currently grows cannabis illegally to be involved in future legal production. So instead of benefiting from a change in the law, the farmers who rely on the plant for their livelihood would be out of a job. (See also: In Lebanon's Beqaa Valley, locals divided over legalisation of medical marijuana)

A Los Angeles government program set up to provide cannabis licenses to people harmed by the war on drugs has been plagued by delays, scandal and bureaucratic blunders, costing some intended beneficiaries hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses. Black entrepreneurs and activists across LA said that the city’s embattled “social equity” program has left aspiring business owners on an indefinite waiting list, causing potentially irreparable damage to their families’ finances and preventing them from opening marijuana shops they have been planning for years. The community most disproportionately targeted by marijuana arrests is again facing discrimination.