Global Ganja Report

After what has been an agonizing delay for many patients, Louisiana's first medical marijuana harvest has just cleared inspection. But there are still more hurdles before the first extracts and tinctures will begin arriving in the state's nine approved pharmacies. 

Latin America is at the forefront of the global wave of cannabis law reform, according to a new report from a DC-based industry analyst. New Frontier Data sees a $9.8 billion market in the region, with big expansion potential for both exports and serving local consumption. 

A bill that would legalize "recreational" cannabis is moving forward in Hawaii's state legislature. It would build on the dispensary system established by the state's medical marijuana program to bring about a regulated adult-use market.

Already officially studying the possibility of cannabis legalization, Mexico's new President López Obrador has now announced a formal end to the "war on drugs" that has only seemed to fuel the narco-violence over the past 10 years.  However, military troops are still being mobilized for narcotics enforcement—including marijuana eradication.

Israel's internal market for medical cannabis products is limited by the country's relatively small population, but with exports now approved by the cabinet, a multi-billion-dollar industry is foreseen. Since the announcement, share prices of cannabis companies on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange have soared.

In Arizona, the statehouse and supreme court are in a race to clarify whether hashish is to be included in the Grand Canyon State's medical marijuana program. The question also has implications for the status of extracts and edibles.

Following a campaign by local advocates, the US Virgin Islands passed a medical marijuana law that allows home cultivation for qualifying patients. Basking in victory, the territory's activists still anticipate protection of sacramental use by Rastafarians—and general legalization.

Two bills to legalize "recreational" cannabis have been introduced in Portugal—a country that already has a thriving medical marijuana industry, and a "depenalization" policy for personal possession that has been hailed as a success by reform advocates across the world.