Global Ganja Report

Voters in New Jersey will decide whether to legalize cannabis in the Garden State next year. A measure approved by both houses of the state Legislature officially places the question on the 2020 ballot—ending long months of inaction on a promised legalization bill.

The higher consciousness associated with the best values of the cannabis community is manifested in Toronto activist Amy Anonymous, who for nine years now has been giving out bags of milk, cookies, warm clothes and (for those who want it) cannabis, to help the city's homeless make it through the harsh Canadian winter.

2019 saw advances for cannabis freedom on both the national and global stage—but also some near-misses, from New York state to Mexico, which have left activists frustrated if no less determined. As advocates prepare to carry the fight into 2020, here's a review of what was achieved—or almost achieved—over the past 12 months.

Brazil's limited medical marijuana program takes a step forward with new regulations allowing importation of THC products. Cultivation within the country, however, will be confined to "hemp"—that is, CBD-only strains. And even that is proceeding very slowly. The far-right government of Jair Bolsonaro meanwhile continues its hardline policies in the face of fast-escalating narco-violence.

The Chicago suburb of Evanston has become the first city in the United States to put revenues from legal cannabis sales into a "reparations" fund for the city's African American residents—seeking to redress harms not only from the war on drugs but a greater matrix of social injustice.

Legal cannabis sales are officially starting in Michigan on Dec. 1—but with a big emphasis on the "officially." Cannabis shortages and a dearth of licensed dispensaries mean that the Wolverine State's retail recreational program will be off to a less than flying start. Even last-minute abandonment of the planned firewall between the medical and recreational markets may be insufficient to salvage the situation.

This year has seen a disturbing nationwide outbreak of lung injuries, some fatal, which researchers link to vaping—either of tobacco products or cannabis concentrates. A regulatory crack-down on the vaping industry has ensued—but amid serious confusion displayed by politicians and media alike.

Cannabis may be legal in California, but illicit cultivation persists—especially in the National Forests, where it often takes a grave ecological toll. The CROP Project—for Cannabis Removal On Public Lands—is now bringing together environmentalists, law enforcement and the legal cannabis industry for a coordinated approach to the problem.