Global Ganja Report

As US Attorney General Eric Holder delivered a commencement speech May 11 for UC Berkeley law school graduates, a plane flew overhead with a banner that read "Holder: End Rx Cannabis War. #Peace4Patients," in protest against recent actions by the Justice Department (DoJ) in the Bay Area. Outside the Hearst Greek Theater, where Holder gave his speech, medical marijuana advocates also handed out fake DoJ recruitment flyers, detailing how the Obama Administration is engaging in harmful tactics that are adversely affecting the lives of hundreds of thousands of patients in California.

The California Supreme Court ruled May 6 in the case City of Riverside v. Inland Empire Patients Health and Wellness Center that local governments may ban the distribution of medical marijuana and are not preempted by state law by doing so. However, the court also recognized the legality of dispensaries, more than 1,000 of which currently exist and operate throughout the state. More than 50 localities in California officially regulate the distribution of medical marijuana.

The number of cannabis plants eradicated by law enforcement has dropped over the past years from a record high of over 10 million plants in 2009 and 2010 to under 4 million in 2012, according to newly released statistics. DEA figures put the 2012 total at 3,933,950. DEA officials attribute the decline in part to the budget cutbacks in California, which resulted in "the decreased availability of local law enforcement personnel to assist in eradication efforts."

Police in the border city of Mexicali on Feb. 27 announced the discovery of a powerful improvised cannon used to hurl packets of marijuana across the border fence into California. Police told Mexico's Televisa network the device consisted of a plastic pipe and a metal tank that used compressed air from the engine of an old car. The apparatus fired cannabis-packed cylinders weighing up to 13 kilos, police said. It was confiscated after US officers informed Mexican police that they had found a large number of drug packages that appeared to have been fired over the border. (AP, Feb. 27)

A market glut and paranoia about criminal cartels getting into the act coincide with the end of the CAMP program. Can Northern California's cannabis industry remake itself along ecological and community-rooted lines?

With the 2012 fall harvest season, Northern California's legendary cannabis-growing Emerald Triangle—centered around the counties of Humboldt, Mendocino and Trinity—is at a turning point. And as the old cliché goes, the Chinese character for crisis is made up of the characters for danger and opportunity.

The current juncture is ripe with both.

Applications to carry concealed weapons have spiked just about everywhere in Northern California in recent months, part of the ominous national trend. A Feb. 9 report in the Yuba-Sutter Appeal-Democrat notes the surge in those two counties which lie in the Sacramento Valley and Sierra Nevada foothills, directly east of the Emerald Triangle. "There's been a dramatic increase in applications in the last few years," Yuba Sheriff Steve Durfor said. "I think it's reflective of uncertainty in the world and more people feeling vulnerable with increased talk of gun control restrictions." Sutter County Sheriff J. Paul Parker reported the same trend: "Five years ago, we had 650 permits. Now we're at 1,174."

The Cannabis Committee of the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) issued recommendations this week to regulators of dispensaries in California, Colorado, and Massachusetts, and will make similar recommendations in other medical marijuana states over the next days. The committee, in cooperation with Americans for Safe Access (ASA), has over the past year coordinated the development of best practice protocols in several areas, including cultivation; manufacturing, packaging and labeling; laboratory practice; and distribution.

The California Supreme Court on Jan. 16 denied review of a landmark medical marijuana dispensary case. The Fourth District Court of Appeal for California issued a unanimous ruling on Oct. 24 in the case of People v. Jackson, reversing the conviction of former San Diego dispensary operator Jovan Jackson and establishing a clear defense for Jackson and other medical marijuana providers similarly prosecuted in state court. The state supreme court turned down requests to depublish the appellate court decision from the League of California Cities and an amicus brief supporting the high court's review of the case from district attorneys in Los Angeles, Sacramento and Sonoma counties, as well as the Los Angeles city attorney.