Global Ganja Report

The 20th annual Seattle Hempfest drew an estimated 300,000 the weekend of Aug. 19-21—including some big-name politicians. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) exhorted from the stage, in an apparent reference to the 1999 World Trade Organization protests: "Seattle you shook the world once; can you shake it again, I ask you!" He urged support for such issues as withdrawal of US military troops from around the world, gay rights and universal health care, as well as an end to the war on drugs. Mike McGinn became the first Seattle mayor to address the Hempfest crowd. Other speakers included state representatives Roger Goodman and Mary Lou Dickerson, and Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes.

A small Massachusetts-based company called Medicinal Genomics has announced the sequencing of the entire genomes of the species cannabis sativa and cannabis indica, opening the way for more research into the therapeutic effects of the plant—including its potential for treating cancer and inflammatory diseases. The company published the genetic code Aug. 18 on Amazon.com's EC2 cloud-computing system.

The government of Peru's newly elected President Ollanta Humala announced this week that it is suspending the US-backed coca eradication program in the Upper Huallaga Valley, the only ongoing eradication campaign in the country. According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Peru has surpassed Colombia as the world's top coca producer, although Colombia maintains a slight lead in cocaine production.

Orange County Superior Court Judge David Chaffee ruled Aug. 19 that the city of Anaheim may legally prohibit medical cannabis dispensaries. This is the second hearing of Anaheim vs Qualified Patients' Association, which was remanded to the lower court by the 4th District Court of Appeal in Santa Ana last year. The court ruled that Anaheim's  dispensary ban is a valid exercise of local police powers and is not pre-empted by Prop 215 or SB 420. The decision concedes that SB 420 protects patients and caregivers engaged in collective cultivation, but that protection is limited to cultivation, not distribution. The decision cites a litany of case law giving local government broad powers to regulate for nuisance abatement.

Last month, Jesus Vicente Zambada Niebla AKA "El Mayito"—the son of Sinaloa Cartel kingpin Ismael Zambada AKA "El Mayo"—filed pleadings in a Chicago federal court accusing the US Justice Department of giving the cartel "carte blanche to continue to smuggle tons of illicit drugs into Chicago and the rest of the United States." Zambada's pleadings claim that protection included promises to be kept apprised of US and Mexican government investigations close to the "home territories" of cartel leaders so they "could take appropriate actions to evade investigators"—even as the US had indictments, extradition requests, and rewards for the apprehension of the top Sinaloa Cartel leadership.

Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen announced Aug. 11 that six suspects—five Mexican nationals and one US citizen—were arrested in connection with a large-scale cannabis cultivation operation in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. Officers from federal, state and local enforcement agencies eradicated some 10,000 plants over several acres about 25 miles northwest of Park Falls. Law enforcement was alerted by a hunter’s tip last November. About 175 agents were involved in the operation, which uncovered the crops and a campsite used by the growers, where loaded firearms were reportedly found. Ashland County residents have been warned not to pick up hitchhikers as agents continue to search for four suspects.

On Aug. 9, the Board of Supervisors in California's Kern County passed an ordinance that bans medical marijuana cooperatives. But advocates have already launched a referendum drive to stop the ordinance. "We want to see an ordinance that works for everybody," said Craig Beresh, president of the California Cannabis Coalition. "That regulates it, gets taxed and is beneficial for Kern County as well as the collectives." Professional signature collectors are headed to Kern County to drum up more than 17,000 names needed before the ordinance goes into effect Sept. 9. (KGT, Bakersfield, Aug. 11)

Superior Court Judge Paul Vortmann in California's Tulare County ruled Aug. 11 that a cannabis collective cannot operate on land zoned for agriculture, dismissing a property owner's arguments. "In this state, marijuana has never been classified as a crop or horticultural product," Vortmann wrote. Cannabis is a controlled substance, the ruling stated, adding that "the court finds as a matter of law that growing marijuana...is not an agricultural use of property."