Global Ganja Report

California's ArcView Market Research and its affiliated BDS Analytics have released a "2019 Update" to the 6th edition of their report on The State of Legal Marijuana Markets, which was published back in June. The Update takes stock of events in the second half of the year, and anticipates that worldwide spending on legal cannabis will grow 39.1% to $17 billion in 2019.

With passage of the Farm Bill and removal of hemp-derived CBD from controlled substance status, big market growth is expected for the very chic and purportedly salubrious non-psychoactive cannabinoid. The law is a win for a nascent CBD industry that has been struggling to shake off the lingering stigma surrounding (psychoactive) cannabis. The effort to segment cannabidiol from "marijuana" is exemplified in the several states that now have "CBD-only" laws.

Cannabis is set to become legal in Michigan after voters in the Wolverine State passed Proposal 1 during the midterm elections. 

The passage of Prop 1 makes Michigan the 10th state in the nation and the first in the Midwest to legalize cannabis for "recreational" use, joining California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Colorado, Nevada, Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine and Washington DC..

Voters in several states will cast ballots on cannabis-related measures in the Nov. 6 midterm election. Michigan and North Dakota are facing general legalization measures, while Utah and Missouri voters will get to weigh in on medical marijuana.

With Oklahoma’s passage of a medical marijuana law, advocacy organizations say there is now only one state in the entire union without some sort of legal provision for medicinal use of either herbal cannabis or cannabinoid extracts: Idaho. And with a governor's race this year, there may be hope even there. One by one, even the most culturally conservative states are succumbing to the demands of patients and the findings of science to pass laws to allow use of (at least) extracts containing cannabinoids, or (at most) actual herbaceous marijuana, for either medical or "recreational" purposes.

Reports indicate that promoters of a popular initiative for a medical marijuana law in Utah have won enough signatures to get their proposal before the state's voters in November. A far more restrictive law allowing use of CBD preparations is meanwhile before the state house. The ballot initiative would make the legislation basically irrelevant—but faces stiff opposition.

A medical marijuana initiative has won enough signatures to make the November ballot in Utah. But the state's medical association has launched its own campaign to oppose it—and is challenging the validity of the petition drive. With the governor also opposed, the initiative will face a tough fight.

The Supreme Court on June 20 ruled that evidence discovered in a police stop found to be illegal may still be used in court—with the caveat that the officers conducted their search after learning that the suspect had an outstanding arrest warrant. In a 5-3 ruling, the Supremes found that such searches do not violate the Fourth Amendment. The case, Utah v. Strieff, concerned Edward Strieff, who in December 2006 was stopped by an officer staking out a suspected drug-dealing location in South Salt Lake. Grounds for the stop were later ruled inadequate because it was not based on reasonable suspicion. During the stop, the officer ran a check and discovered Strieff had an outstanding warrant for a minor traffic violation, and conducted a search—finding a baggie full of methamphetamines and a pipe that was deemed paraphernalia. A district court later ruled that although the cop didn't have the right to stop Strieff, the evidence was admissible. The highest court in the land has now agreed.