Global Ganja Report

The 9th Circuit US Court of Appeals in San Francisco April 9 issued a ruling that may open the way for protection of sacramental cannabis use under federal law. While the decision found that the government does not have to compensate a Native American church for seized cannabis, it also allowed Michael Rex "Raging Bear" Mooney and the Oklevueha Native American Church of Hawaii to fight for declaratory and injunctive relief barring the government from enforcing the Controlled Substances Act against their followers.

A New Zealand cancer patient facing a jail term for growing cannabis he uses to alleviate pain pledges to go on a hunger strike if he is imprisoned. Peter Davy, 51, of Timaru, pleaded guilty to cultivating cannabis, but says he uses the herb only for medicinal purposes for himself and his partner, who suffers from multiple sclerosis.

Police in the New Zealand capital of Wellington are weighing charges against a group of protesters who invaded the city's central police station with a cart full of burning cannabis. The activists had been demonstrating on the parliament grounds by smoking openly in front of police and security, as party of an ongoing civil disobedience campaign.

Roger Christie, founder of the Hawaii Cannabis Ministry, was denied bail July 16 by US District Judge Alan Kay in Honolulu. Kay noted  allegations that Christie, 61, continued operating what prosecutors are calling his marijuana distribution ring from jail.

Territorial Sen. Rory Respicio June 16 revised and reintroduced his bill that would allow for the medicinal use of marijuana on Guam. Among changes to the Compassionate Health Care Act, now Bill 423, language was added to state that doctors cannot write prescriptions for cannabis, but can recommend its use and certify that recommendation.

Two Los Angeles police officers spoke out March 17 against a medical cannabis law for Hawaii in testimony before a Hawaii Medical Marijuana Summit held in Wailuku, Maui. "It's so bad in LA," said Sgt. Eric Bixler of the LAPD Narcotics Division. He said law enforcement officials there deal daily with what he called the effects of California's Proposition 215, including people driving while smoking, and teens buying cannabis at medicinal dispensaries to resell on the street.