Global Ganja Report

The Cannabis Cultural Association won at least a limited legal victory, with a federal appeals court ruling that the DEA must consider with "alacrity" their petition to have cannabis rescheduled.

Insurance companies in Canada are starting to cover medical marijuana, but high costs continue to be an impediment to access in the United States. Even in states that have legalized medicinal use of cannabis, the insurance industry will provide no coverage. Advocates are now starting to demand legislation to address this contradiction.

Notorious narco-lord "Chapo" Guzmán was convicted by a federal jury in New York and faces life in prison. But violence in Mexico has only escalated since his capture. Few media accounts have noted how Chapo and his Sinaloa Cartel rose as militarized narcotics enforcement escalated in Mexico—a trajectory mirrored by the cartels' move from dealing in cannabis to deadly white powders.

The World Health Organization has released its long-anticipated recommendation on cannabis scheduling. But rather than removing it from Schedule I of the Single Convention, it only removes it from Schedule IV, where it is also listed. CBD, however, has indeed been de-scheduled entirely.

A contraband cannabis economy booms in the Balkan Peninsula, where the wars of the 1990s spurred an underground dope-for-guns network that still thrives today. But amid EU pressure to crack down, a legal industry is now starting to emerge.

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. 

Days after legalizing medical marijuana, New Zealand's government has confirmed that a referendum on general cannabis legalization will be held in 2020. With the Green Party aggressively pushing the idea, prospects seem good for Aotearoa to follow Uruguay and Canada as the world's third country to legalize.

As evidence mounts for the efficacy of cannabis in treating PTSD, medical marijuana is fast being normalized in the veterans' community. But many have been "exiled" from their home states that have no medical marijuana programs—and the federal Department of Veterans Affairs is only beginning to demonstrate any tolerance on the question.