Global Ganja Report

Two Israeli ex-prime ministers are now involved in the cannabis industry, and legalization became a key issue in this month's elections. But in a case of strange bedfellows, legalization was aggressively taken up as a campaign plank by the far right.

Albania is pledging another one of its endless and fruitless cannabis eradication campaigns, which never succeed in bumping the country from its spot as Europe's biggest illicit producer. The US is pressing the small Balkan nation for the campaign—and kicking in military aid.

A new law in Georgia will allow the production of cannabis for medical purposes. The measure gives teeth to a formalistic 2015 law that legalized patient use of low-THC cannabis oil, but still inhibited actual access. Now the Peach State is poised to develop a cannabis business sector.

Hardcore Tuna-heads aren't going to be able to resist this one. They already know the basic outline of Jorma Kaukonen's life: an authenticity-obsessed student of traditional finger-picking country blues in the folk revival of the early '60s (Harlem legend Blind Gary Davis was his special inspiration), he was catapulted to stardom when he went electric as the lead guitarist for the Jefferson Airplane, flagship band of the San Francisco sound.

A showdown is shaping up in Vancouver, where the city's 420 event has always been held with no permit. This year it promises to be huge, with Cypress Hill headlining—and authorities pressing for cancellation. Organizers pledge the event will go ahead—with approval of the bureaucracy or not.

On the eve of 420, a National Cannabis Policy Summit will convene in the nation's capital, joining industry leaders, activists and elected officials to discuss how legalization could look in the United States—and how to get there.

April 20—popularly known as 420—has emerged as a global day of celebration of cannabis culture. But a group of activists have launched an effort to the make the next day the one that grapples with the challenge of creating an equitable, inclusive and diverse cannabis industry.

New York state's second city of Buffalo has long been a national symbol of rust-belt economic and infrastructural decay. Now urban planners have approved a massive cannabis facility backed by California capital for the city's long-inactive waterfront. Buffalo's boosters say the project could turn the Great Lakes region into a leading global hub of cannabis output.