Global Ganja Report

The US Supreme Court on June 23 ruled that Damon Landor, a Rastafarian man imprisoned in Louisiana, could not sue the Louisiana Department of Corrections (LDOC) officials who restrained him and cut off his dreadlocks. Justice Neil Gorsuch delivered the 6-3 opinion, which focused on the applicability of the Religious Land Use & Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA) to state employees.

Amnesty International on April 24 expressed deep concern over a dramatic increase in executions for drug-related offenses in Saudi Arabia, stressing the fear and uncertainty faced by dozens of men currently on death row. The organization reported that Saudi authorities have executed at least 88 individuals since January, 42 for drug-related crimes, which is almost double the executions for that same period in 2024, none for drug-related crimes. Just this week, in one day on April 22, the Saudi Press Agency announced the execution of three people: two Saudi nationals for “promoting hashish,” and one Pakistani national for “trafficking heroin.” 

Global executions rose dramatically in 2024, reaching 1,518 recorded deaths across 15 countries—the highest figure since 2015—Amnesty International said April 8 as it released its annual report on the use of the death penalty. The 48-page report, "Death Sentences and Executions 2024," found that Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia were responsible for 91% of known executions, with Iran alone accounting for nearly two-thirds.

Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek on April 2 signed a law recriminalizing the possession of personal quantities of illicit drugs. The law overturns Measure 110, approved by voters with 58% support in 2020, which made personal-use possession of drugs such as heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine only punishable by a ticket and a maximum fine of $100.

Industrial-scale illicit cannabis grow operations are being raided by police in Southern Oregon. Licit-market prices are totally depressed in Oregon, yet the illicit market continues to be evidently lucrative. What explains this contradiction, and what can be done?

In a proverbial case of "good news, bad news," a national study finds that even as overall incarceration rates have dramatically dropped over the past decade, drug arrest rates have remained high—and racial disparities in arrests have persisted. The disparities have, nonetheless, decreased, as have overall cannabis arrests—with a big uptick in meth arrests taking up the slack.

There has been a flurry of vague but lurid reportage about a supposedly addicting and debilitating pseudo-cannabis that is going around in Sierra Leone and other West African countries. This may be akin to products such as K2 and Spice, widely marketed in the US and Europe—but if reports are to be believed, it is far more dangerous.

A Bollywood celebrity was arrested for supposedly using hashish and other drugs on a cruise ship off Mumbai—one of a slew of high-profile cases that have embarrassed India's entertainment industry and political establishment. Apart from providing fodder for the gossip columns, however, the affair raises serious concerns about civil rights in "the world's largest democracy."