Global Ganja Report

The International Independent Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice & Equality in Law Enforcement warned on Sept. 17 that harsh drug laws and policies continue to play a role in systemic racism against "Africans and people of African descent around the world." They advocated a shift to approaches based on public health and respect for human rights.

Police cannot engage in the warrantless search of a motor vehicle based solely upon the smell of marijuana, even in instances where the occupants are under 21 years of age, according to a decision by the Michigan Supreme Court.

The US Supreme Court on June 23 ruled that Damon Landor, a Rastafarian man imprisoned in Louisiana, could not sue the Louisiana Department of Corrections (LDOC) officials who restrained him and cut off his dreadlocks. Justice Neil Gorsuch delivered the 6-3 opinion, which focused on the applicability of the Religious Land Use & Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA) to state employees.

The Drug Enforcement Administration has denied the requests of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) and numerous other cannabis policy reform groups to participate in forthcoming hearings on the matter of marijuana rescheduling. Rather, the agency has selected to hear testimony solely from parties that have expressed support for keeping botanical cannabis in Schedule I of the federal Controlled Substances Act.

The US Supreme Court on June 18 unanimously upheld the constitutional right of cannabis consumers to legally possess firearms. In its ruling in United States v. Hemani, the Court determined that efforts by the federal government to categorically ban firearm ownership for individuals with a history of marijuana use violate the Second Amendment.

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger on May 18 vetoed a pair of bills that would have created a retail marketplace for legal marijuana in the state, saying the proposed legislation was premature and could not be "successfully implemented" without "unintended consequences that harm Virginians."

After a one-year hiatus for just the second time since 1973 (the other being the pandemic year of 2020), New York City's Cannabis Parade returned to Lower Manhattan on May 3. The event had become increasingly mainstream in recent years, even drawing big-name politicians—like Sen. Chuck Schumer in 2021 and '22. The next year, the NYC Department of Small Business Services' new cannabis office issued a statement marking the event's 50th anniversary, and paying homage to its Yippie founders! The year after that, 2024, the City became an official partner in the event. But in 2025, the City would not grant a permit for either Washington Square Park or Union Square, the two traditional locations, and instead held a more commercialized NYC Cannabis Festival & Resource Fair outside the Harlem State Office Building on 125th Street. This year, however, downtown activists succeeded in getting a permit for a rally in Washington Square and march to Union Square, where a concert was held featuring the punk-reggae-hip-hop fusion bands Ricanstruction and Rebelmatic. The adversarial spirit, in spite of New York's legalization, brought the event back to its radical roots.

The Justice Department and Drug Enforcement Administration announced April 23 that FDA-approved marijuana products and medical marijuana products covered by a qualifying state-issued license have been moved to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act, a significant loosening of federal restrictions on the drug for medical use.

The order, issued by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, carries out President Donald Trump's Dec. 18, 2025 executive order calling for expanded research into medical marijuana and cannabidiol.