Global Ganja Report

Starting July 6, the International Cannabinoid Research Society (ICRS) will hold its 21st annual symposium in St. Charles, Ill., just outside of Chicago. Notably, this year's symposium is sponsored by an array of pharmaceutical companies, the US National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), and ElSohly Laboratories of Oxford, Miss., the federal government's only licensed source of research-grade cannabis.

Deputy US Attorney General James Cole issued a controversial memorandum June 29 in an attempt to clarify federal policy on medical marijuana. Calling cannabis "a dangerous drug," Cole's memo threatened enforcement actions against "Persons who are in the business of cultivating, selling or distributing marijuana, and those who knowingly facilitate such activities," including local and state officials. The memo further underscored that "State laws or local ordinances are not a defense to civil or criminal enforcement of federal law."

The Dutch government's plan to stop tourists from purchasing cannabis was apparently set back June 29 by a decision by the country's top legal advisory body. The Council of State, ruling on a 2006 Maastricht ordinance barring foreigners from "coffee shops," said the city had overstepped its authority, because cannabis sale is already theoretically illegal in the Netherlands by national law—even if under the law goes virtually unenforced under the country's tolerance policy.

South African anthropologist Francis Thackeray has asked permission to open the graves of William Shakespeare and his family to determine what killed the Bard—and whether his immortal works may have been composed under the influence of cannabis. While Shakespeare's bones could reveal clues about his health and death, the question of his cannabis use depends on the presence of hair, fingernails or toenails in the grave.

Jim Squatter was already a longtime veteran of the squatting, anti-nuclear and anarchist movements before a devastating accident turned him into a medical marijuana user—and a fighter for the right to medicinal cannabis.

The Amsterdam city council, backed by the tourist board and local campaigners, is opposing a new law proposed by the Dutch government that would ban foreigners from frequenting the city's cannabis-serving coffee shops by 2012. "If tourists are denied access to coffee shops, illegal sales and drug dealing on the streets of Amsterdam will increase," warned Mayor Eberhard van der Laan. "Amsterdam does not want to facilitate soft drug use by tourists, but to help those who wish to use drugs to do so as responsibly as possible."

Unlikely political bedfellows Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) and Barney Frank (D-MA) introduced a first-of-its-kind bill June 23 that would end the federal prohibition on cannabis. The legislation is modeled after the 21st Amendment to the Constitution, which repealed the federal prohibition on alcohol and handed responsibility for regulating it to the states. Frank said "he's not advocating marijuana use, but believes that criminal prosecution is a waste of resources and an intrusion on personal freedom." The bill is co-sponsored by Reps. John Conyers (D-MI), Steve Cohen (D-TN), Jared Polis (D-CO), and Barbara Lee (D-CA).

A former cancer patient and the husband of an elderly woman with serious health problems told a district judge in Montana June 20 of their concerns about whether they can still obtain medical cannabis if a new law takes effect July 1 to ban commercial growing operations in the state. The testimony came in the first day of hearings in a lawsuit filed by the Montana Cannabis Industry Association and others asking Judge James Reynolds to issue an injunction to stop the law from taking effect.