Global Ganja Report

New York's new Gov. Kathy Hochul is hyping the coming cannabis boom in the state — although no adult-use licenses have yet been issued, and the bureaucracy is just starting to move on this. Meanwhile, the cops in Gotham City are turning a blind eye to small outfits that are setting up tables in the parks and on the sidewalks, selling edibles, extracts and bud. How long will this utopian free-for-all last?

The horrific and deepening crisis at New York City's principal jail, Rikers Island, was crystalized by the 11th death at the facility this year — that of Isaabdul Karim. Despite a supposed official policy of drawing down the number held at the facility in preparation for its closure, it turns out he was only being held for parole violations. And, despite New York state's new legalization law, one of these concerned cannabis use. Are there others similarly held on cannabis-related violations at the facility that has been called a "moral stain" on the Big Apple?

Military veterans continue to be denied much-needed treatment by the VA because of their cannabis use, even in states that have legalized. While there has been some progress on the question, vets are still being cut off—amid a combined national crisis of veteran suicides and opioid abuse.

Authorities in southern Oregon are making accusations of criminal labor and environmental practices by illicit cannabis growers—and carrying out militarized raids. The grim headlines are starting to make legalization in the Beaver State look like something of Pyrrhic victory.

Panama's national legislature approved a medical marijuana law—a first for the nations of the Central American isthmus. Advocates in neighboring Costa Rica are taking heart, and redoubling efforts to make their country the next. But cultural conservatives are pledging resistance in both countries.

New York City's Happy Munkey "cannabis lifestyle purveyor" held two after-hours affairs this month at the East River waterfront venue hosting the popular Immersive Van Gogh exhibit. The twin soirées were seen as marking the arrival of an open presence for cannabis in the Big Apple's vaunted cultural life.

Having funded their long insurgency with opium and hashish, the Taliban are poised to establish a “narco-state” in Afghanistan. The multi-billion dollar 20-year US effort to suppress cultivation of illicit crops in the county failed as dramatically as its war against the Taliban. Exports of Taliban-tainted smack and hash are already reaching Europe, and may reach US shores.

A disturbing escalation is reported in California’s far-north Siskiyou County, where Hmong immigrants from Laos have been getting in on the cannabis economy—sparking a xenophobic backlash. Conservative politicians are making hay of the tensions, while the local Hmong are starting to stand up and protest.