Global Ganja Report

Two bills to legalize "recreational" cannabis have been introduced in Portugal—a country that already has a thriving medical marijuana industry, and a "depenalization" policy for personal possession that has been hailed as a success by reform advocates across the world.

With cannabis now legal in 10 US states as well as Canada, demands are growing to wipe out past convictions for personal possession. Politicians have started to respond—but not fast enough for some advocates.

A House bill to legalize cannabis, removing it from the Controlled Substances Act and treating it like alcohol, is wryly dubbed HR 420. It isn't the first such bill in Congress—but with the recent change in House leadership, this time it may actually stand a chance of passing.

In a win both for cannabis freedom and racial justice, Vermont's top court ruled in favor of a motorist whose car was searched on the ostensible basis that a state trooper smelled pot—and the probable basis that he is African American.

In a strange irony, Vancouver is shutting down its long-tolerated but unlicensed cannabis dispensaries, pursuant to a British Columbia high court decision upholding its right to do so—even as the province struggles to meet demand amid a dearth of licensed retail outlets.

In Episode 24 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg notes the historic strides toward liberation of the cannabis plant in 2018, from the fabled four corners of the Earth. Yet under capitalism, every advance also opens new contradictions.

With Trump's demands for Congressional funding to build his border wall having forced a shut-down of the federal government, a new report suggests that cannabis legalization has actually done more than security measures to reduce illegal drug flows from Mexico—and that this reality holds lessons for the immigration dilemma.

With passage of the Farm Bill and removal of hemp-derived CBD from controlled substance status, big market growth is expected for the very chic and purportedly salubrious non-psychoactive cannabinoid. The law is a win for a nascent CBD industry that has been struggling to shake off the lingering stigma surrounding (psychoactive) cannabis. The effort to segment cannabidiol from "marijuana" is exemplified in the several states that now have "CBD-only" laws.