Global Ganja Report

The same day that voters in Colorado and Washington state approved the legalization of cannabis, the Stephen Harper government in Ottawa brought into force tough new mandatory penalties for marijuana offenses. The measures are part of the Conservative administration's Bill C-10, the Safe Streets and Communities Act, passed by parliament in March. The new law provides a mandatory six-month term for growing as few as six cannabis plants—twice the mandatory minimum for child molestation, critics point out.

Cannabis is set to become legal in Colorado and Washington after voters passed historic ballot initiatives on Nov. 6. In Washington voters approved Initiative 502, allowing possession and distribution of cannabis through a state licensing system of growers, processors and stores, where adults will be able to buy up to an ounce of dried cannabis; up to a pound of a cannabis-infused product, such as brownies; or up to 72 ounces of cannabis-infused liquids.. The Colorado initiative actually introduces Amendment 64 to the state constitution, allowing adults over 21 to possess up to an ounce and to privately grow up to six plants—although public use will be banned. In Oregon, the similar Cannabis Tax Act Initiative or Measure 80, failed by approximately 55-to-45% of the vote.

Iran hanged ten men convicted of drug trafficking Oct. 22, defying pleas from the United Nations, European Union and human rights groups. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said she was "appalled" by the  hangings, which add "to the alarming execution rate in Iran"—now at over 300 since the beginning of the year. "Most of the executions took place after summary trials, without the right to appeal and for offenses which according to international minimum standards should not result in capital punishment," she added. "I call on Iran, once more, to halt pending executions and to introduce a moratorium on the death penalty." The 10 men, who were hanged at a Tehran prison, were members of two drug smuggling gangs, according to Iran's judiciary. One of the men, Saeed Sedeghi, was a shop worker who Amnesty International believes was tortured and subjected to mock execution while serving in time in Tehran's notorious Evin Prison.

California's Fourth District Court of Appeal for California issued a unanimous ruling Oct. 24 in a landmark medical marijuana case that reverses the conviction of San Diego dispensary operator Jovan Jackson, convicted in September 2010 after being denied a defense in state court. The Fourth District ruling also reversed the lower court's finding that Jackson was not entitled to a defense, providing the elements for such a defense in future jury trials.

Less than a week after oral arguments in the landmark federal case to reclassify cannabis for medical use, the plaintiffs filed an additional brief Oct. 22 at the request of the court. In the case Americans for Safe Access v. Drug Enforcement Administration, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order last week seeking details on the harm sustained by plaintiff and disabled US Air Force veteran Michael Krawitz as a result of the federal government's policy on medical marijuana.

Oakland City Attorney Barbara Parker and San Francisco law firm Morrison & Foerster announced Oct. 11 that the City of Oakland has filed a complaint in US District Court to stop the federal government from seizing an Oakland building used by a medical marijuana dispensary. "This lawsuit is about protecting the rights of legitimate medical patients," Parker said in a statement. "I am deeply dismayed that the federal government would seek to deny these rights and deprive thousands of seriously ill Californians of access to safe, affordable and effective medicine." The civil suit, which has City Council approval, seeks to "restrain and declare unlawful" forfeiture proceedings against the landlords of the dispensary, Harborside Health Center, stating that Oakland will "suffer irreparable harm if the dispensaries are shuttered."

For the first time in nearly 20 years, a US Court of Appeals is set to hear oral arguments in a lawsuit challenging the federal government's classification of cannabis as a dangerous drug with no medicinal value: Americans for Safe Access v. Drug Enforcement Administration. This historic case will force a federal court to finally review the scientific evidence regarding the therapeutic efficacy of cannabis. During a press briefing Oct. 4, plaintiffs in the case, along with leading medical researchers and clinicians, spoke by conference call about the necessity of the federal government recognizing current scientific data supporting marijuana rescheduling. Cannabis is currently classified in the same category as heroin despite calls from scientists, medical professionals, and policy makers to reschedule the plant for medical use.

For 28 years, the now-defunct state Campaign Against Marijuana Planting (CAMP) sent teams of state, federal and local officers aboard helicopters into Northern California's remote forests to hunt down and destroy cannabis grows. But this year, Gov. Jerry Brown cut CAMP from the state budget. The program has been restructured under direct federal leadership—and the new moniker of Cannabis Eradication and Reclamation Team (CERT). The DEA and other federal agencies are now working with local law enforcement, with no involvement from the effectively shuttered state Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement.