Global Ganja Report

A bill signed by Oregon Gov. Kate Brown on Aug. 15 makes the Beaver State the latest to reduce the penalty for personal-use possession of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and other drugs from a felony to a misdemeanor. The state which famously was the first to decriminalize cannabis in 1973 is again leading the way to a more rational and humane drug policy.

Oregon voted to legalize cannabis way back in November 2014, but promises of state coffers filled with canna-dollars are apparently being held up by an arcane bureaucratic logjam. Newsweek just noted a May 5 report from Oregon's KWG News finding that the state has brought in close to $75 million in cannabis tax revenue since the start of 2016—yet not a penny has gone to actually closing Salem's yawning $1.6 billion budget deficit.

From Oregon comes the ominous news of the first violent robbery on a state-licensed cannabis grow since the recent wave of legalization initiatives. The Oregonian reported Dec. 30 that James Bowman, 56, a licensed cultivator in the town of Wimer, was tied up and severely beaten when four masked intruders raided his home two weeks earlier. Bowman suffered a broken nose and black eyes in the Dec. 16 attack, while the assailants made off with his entire harvested crop—filling a rented U-Haul truck with hundreds of pounds. Bowman was discovered hours later by two of his workers. The robbers left the door to his house open, with Bowman tied up inside.

In an utterly bizarre case reported in Oregon's Willamette Week on July 27, the federal government is taking the almost unheard-of move of prosecuting an individual for possession of a small amount of cannabis. Making it all the more perverse, this is happening in Oregon, which last year legalized recreational cannabis by popular vote. More perverse still, the taregted individual is a Native American youth—who may face one year in prison for possession of just about enought herb to roll a fat joint.

After nine years of Conservative rule, Canada's Liberal Party had a momentous election night on Oct. 19, gaining a majority of seats in Parliament and a new prime minister in Justin Trudeau. The handsome and charismatic son of Canada's most formative prime minister, Trudeau had worked as a school teacher in Vancouver before becoming a parliamentarian representing Quebec. He promised a new beginning in Canadian politics—and a break with the increasingly right-wing policies of his predecessor, Stephen Harper. It remains to be seen if he will able to follow through on his ambitious promises—including to legalize cannabis.

Judge Michael Phelan of the Vancouver Federal Court ruled Feb. 24 that medical marijuana patients have a constitutional right to grow their own cannabis, striking down a ban introduced by Canada's previous Conservative government under the 2013 "Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations." The case, brought by a group of British Columbia residents led by Neil Allard, invoked the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which guarantees the right to not be deprived of life, liberty, security of the person "except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice." Judge Phelan agreed with the plaintiffs that "the access restrictions have not been proven to be in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice" and therefore infringed upon their constitutional rights. As the decision was announced, Kirk Tousaw, attorney representing the patients, tweeted: "Win!"

A seemingly schismatic Oregon branch of the Native American Church claims the US government illegally seized its sacramental cannabis—and is fighting in court to get it back. Oklevueha Native American Church leaders James "Flaming Eagle" Mooney and Joy Graves brought the case Jan. 15 in a US district court in Portland. Graves says she mailed five ounces of cannabis to a church member in Ohio on Dec. 10, but it never arrived. The Postal Service tracking website reported that the package had been seized by law enforcement. A postal inspector in Portland told her cannabis is illegal under federal law and was unimpressed by her claim that she sent the herb to a church member with esophageal cancer for use in healing rituals, according to Courthouse News Service. Oregon legalized medical marijuana in 2007 and approved recreational cannabis through a ballot measure last year. Both remain illegal in Ohio, although small quantities are decriminalized there. Sending cannabis through the mails is a federal crime.

Members of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, on the eastern slopes of Oregon's Cascade Mountains, voted up a proposal to permit growing, processing and selling cannabis for the recreational market, tribal officials announced Dec. 18. The referendum passed by an impressive 86%, said Don Sampson, CEO of Warm Springs Ventures, the tribes' economic development corporation. Sampson told The Oregonian that the election drew about 1,400 voters who "turned out even in a winter storm." Turnout among youth was especially strong.