Global Ganja Report

Yet again, a scientific study linking cannabis use to psychiatric maladies gets widespread and sensationalistic media play. And once again, the assumptions behind the study are questionable, and the findings are further distorted by irresponsible reportage.

Does daily cannabis use, especially of high-potency "skunk" strains, lead to an increased risk of developing psychosis? Based on recent media coverage, you can be forgiven for thinking so. But you should really take a closer look before you believe the hype.

Counterintuitively, the world's top legal cannabis producer, the United Kingdom, is now importing its first shipments of medicinal cannabis prodccts, from Canada and the Netherlands. This is an advance for the UK medical marijuana program, but a proverbial case of "coals to Newcastle"—pointing to the paradoxes of cannabis globalization.

When the United Kingdom announced the historic step of rescheduling cannabis and allowing physicians to prescribe it two months ago, there was concern from patients and advocates as to whether actual herbaceous flower would be allowed, or only extracts. Now the first patient is approved to receive cannabis under the program, and it is indeed to be dried flower. The bad news: with the National Health Service barred by bureaucratic hurdles from providing it, patients are at the mercy of the market—and the price is prohibitive. 

Cannabis has become a global industry, but obviously it is still limited by legal restrictions—and the fact that these increasingly vary from country to country further complicates things. Where is commercial cannabis going and where is it coming from? And how is this likely to change as the international atmosphere further liberalizes?

An international network of non-governmental organizations has submitted a "shadow report" to the United Nations, calling the war on drugs a "spectacular failure"—and calling on the world's governments to reconsider it. The report takes heart from the growing official tolerance of cannabis in several countries around the world, but warns of escalating and horrific repression in the name of drug enforcement in several others. Will the UN take heed when it revisits the question of drug policy in 2019?

Physicians in the United Kingdom will be able to legally prescribe medical marijuana products to their patients starting next month. The policy shift follows a public outcry over cases of young epileptic patients who were denied the only treatments that worked for them. 

A fire swept through one of California's premier cannabis cultivation facilities, at Greenfield in Monterey County's agricultural Salinas Valley—destroying several greenhouses, and a large quantity of product. Authorities say an investigation is underway. But the timing of the blaze does raise eyebrows—it started at exactly 4:20.

With Canada now joining Uruguay as the second country to legalize cannabis at the national level, industry eyes are scanning the world map for which could be the likely third. Latin America may provide the candidate, as even UN experts now urge the region's governments to consider legalization as a way out of the endemic narco-violence. But pressure for legal cannabis is fast mounting in several European countries as well. Legalization may soon be on the legislative agenda in Australia, while New Zealand has promised to put the questions before the voters.