Global Ganja Report

California health authorities dealt a blow to the burgeoning CBD business by banning preparations of the cannabinoid derived from industrial hemp rather than psychoactive cannabis. The diktat adds to the legal confusion around CBD, and highlights the need for greater clarity from the competent authorities at both the state and federal level.

For a generation now, science has known of two cannabinoid receptors—specialized protein molecules that interact with the active compounds in the cannabis plant for the human body. These are CB1 and CB2, both discovered in the early '90s. Now there is growing awareness of a third such receptor that was identified in 2007. This receptor, GPR55, may be key to understanding a wide spectrum of therapeutic applications for cannabinoids—and especially the non-psychoactive cannabidiol, or CBD.

Something of a corporate scramble is underway to secure patents for the various curative properties of CBD, and associated products and procedures. Pharmaceutical firms see a windfall, but some activists raise concerns about the creeping privatization of a cannabinoid that should belong to the genetic and intellectual commons of the human race. How realistic are fears about the imminent arrival of "corporate cannabis"?

A federal appeals court has turned down a challenge by the cannabis industry to the DEA's official finding that CBD is a controlled substance. But questions about whether CBD should be treated as a controlled substance remain pending at the state level.

A recent study about the impact of cannabinoids on bone density is raising concerns about possible ill effects on longterm heavy marijuana smokers. Earlier studies, however, showed potential for certain cannabinoids in treating bone fractures. The relationship between cannabis and bone-building function may be more complicated than recent media reports suggest.

Seniors are the fastest growing group of medicinal cannabis users in the country, and a growing number of nursing homes from coast to coast are tolerating use of tinctures and extracts to combat dementia, insomnia and related ailments. Patient testimony is now backed up by research, with scientists identifying the mechanism by which cannabinoids slow the deterioration of neurons in the brain. But federal strictures continue to pose an obstacle to investigation—leaving medicinal users in the cold under US law.

A judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on Feb. 26 dismissed a lawsuit challenging the Schedule I classification for cannabis under the Controlled Substances Act. Judge Alvin Hellerstein granted the government's motion to dismiss because the plaintiffs failed to exhaust all administrative remedies prior to initiating the suit. The "exhaustion rule" requires "that parties exhaust prescribed administrative remedies before seeking relief from federal courts."

Medical marijuana advocates and bureaucrats from regulatory agencies around the world have both been awaiting a statement on the risks and benefits of cannabidiol (CBD) from the World Health Organization's Expert Committee on Drug Dependence (ECDD). Now the assessment on the non-psychoactive cannabinoid is in, and it is encouraging news for those who have been hoping for its removal from Schedule 1, the international designation for drugs with no therapeutic value but high potential for abuse.