Global Ganja Report

The federal bureaucracy is starting to catch up with the law, following passage of the ground-breaking 2018 Farm Bill. The US Patent Office has issued guidelines for trademarks on CBD products, while the Agriculture Department is preparing to recognize intellectual property in hemp varieties.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced that he will reintroduce his bill to remove cannabis from the federal list of controlled substances—allowing states to set their own laws to regulate the plant without the shadow of Washington interference.

New York City's annual Cannabis Parade, launched long ago by Yippie counterculture freaks, this year headlined one of the Big Apple's highest officials, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams—a sure sign of that the leaglization cause has hit the mainstream. However, politicking in the statehouse in Albany has stalled passage of a long hoped-for legalization bill.

As New Zealand waits on a promised cannabis legalization referendum, a domestic industry is starting to blossom, with big capital inflows reported. But police cannabis seizures are actually up—and the government even shows sings of wavering on following through with its commitment to hold a binding referendum.

Albania is pledging another one of its endless and fruitless cannabis eradication campaigns, which never succeed in bumping the country from its spot as Europe's biggest illicit producer. The US is pressing the small Balkan nation for the campaign—and kicking in military aid.

A new law in Georgia will allow the production of cannabis for medical purposes. The measure gives teeth to a formalistic 2015 law that legalized patient use of low-THC cannabis oil, but still inhibited actual access. Now the Peach State is poised to develop a cannabis business sector.

A showdown is shaping up in Vancouver, where the city's 420 event has always been held with no permit. This year it promises to be huge, with Cypress Hill headlining—and authorities pressing for cancellation. Organizers pledge the event will go ahead—with approval of the bureaucracy or not.

On the eve of 420, a National Cannabis Policy Summit will convene in the nation's capital, joining industry leaders, activists and elected officials to discuss how legalization could look in the United States—and how to get there.