Global Ganja Report

It is certainly a sign of the times that a partnership of major California media—led by Bay Area News Group, owner of the San Jose Mercury News—has launched a website entitled The Cannifornian, "Covering the Golden State of Cannabis." That means it's dedicated to reportage on the fast-growing cannabis sector in post-legalization California. An April 25 offering, "Venture capital investors betting big on cannabis," notes that financial consultancy firm New Frontier Data is predicting nationwide legal cannabis sales will balloon to more than $24 billion by 2025.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte remains intransigent on his ultra-murderous "drug war," which has unleashed police and paramilitary terror on low-level dealers and users across the archipelago. But, hearteningly, courageous dissent and resistance to the blood-drenched crackdown persists. Al Jazeera on April 24 features a profile of the legal team at Manila's Center for International Law, which has been going to bat for the targets of Duterte's terror—despite the threat of reprisals.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions, speaking to the Justice Department's Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) on April 18, pledged that the Trump administration will have "zero tolerance for gang violence" from "transnational criminal organizations"—particularly singling out MS-13, the Central American narco-network that has its roots on the streets of Los Angeles.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau introduced legislation to legalize the recreational use of cannabis in Canada April 13, following through on a campaign pledge and ending a long wait by advocates and entrepreneurs. The new law would allow adults 18 and over to possess or share up to 30 grams of dried herbaceous cannabis, and to purchase cannabis or cannabis oil from retailers, to be regulated at the provincial level. Canadians would also be allowed to grow up to four plants per residence for personal use, and to prepare legal cannabis products at home. Cannabis-infused edibles are to be available for sale after the regulatory framework is developed and brought into force.

Be careful what you say on Facebook. New York state's highest court, the Court of Appeals, ruled on April 4 that law enforcement can seize private account information from the social networking site. With the decision, Facebook lost its years-long legal battle to block search warrants from the Manhattan District Attorney's Office seeking access to hundreds of user accounts, the New York Post reports.

After President Donald Trump's inauguration, Mexico saw a wave of angry protests against his proposed border wall, with more than 20,000 marching in Mexico City on Feb. 12, chanting "Pay for your own wall!" But now this wave of anger is crystalizing around some concrete legal initiatives that could be very problematic for the White House.

The group High NY, "New York's Cannabis Community," hosted an event on "How to Apply Your Skills in the Cannabis Industry" at a Lower Manhattan venue the evening of March 22, featuring speakers with background in the biz from California, Massachusetts and the District of Columbia. Unlike these three polities, New York state has not legalized. But organizers took heart that on that very same day as their meet-up, chronic pain was added to the qualifying conditions under the Empire State's burgeoning if still limited medical marijuana program.

The number of drug-related offenses is "higher than any other heinous crime in Nepal and is increasing at an alarming rate," according a none-too-objective March 17 account in Kathmandu's The Himalayan newspaper. The article credulously regurgitates the claims of a new report from the country's Narcotics Control Bureau, breaking down crime figures since 2011. The total for drug offenses rises to around 1,800, while those for murder and rape remain in the hudreds, and abduction in the two-digit range. And what kinds of drugs are at issue here? We are luridly told that "cultivation of genetically selected strains have [sic] led to increase in cannabis harvests. As a result, cannabis cultivation is increasing even in the hilly areas, posing a grave threat to security, according to the report."