Global Ganja Report

Amid the controversies about federal versus provincial control of the cannabis biz as Canada prepares for legalization, another jurisdictional issue has emerged. At the annual meeting of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) in Ottawa Dec. 6, leaders of Canada's indigenous peoples demanded the right to set the laws that will oversee cannabis within their own territories.

Pretty ironic timing. Just as Canada is moving toward legal cannabis, dispensaries are coming under more legal pressure and being forced to shut down—most recently in Toronto. On Dec. 7, the city's Cannabis Culture outlet—which had been targeted in a police raid back in March—finally shut its doors, and seemingly this time for good. The Ottawa Citizen reports that police arrived at the popular Cannabis Culture dispensary on Bank Street with a bailiff, who changed the locks and posted a notice on the door saying the lease was being terminated.

California state authorities have issued new regulations governing the legal cannabis market that is to be officially instated on Jan. 1. Jointly drawn up by the Department of Health, Department of Food & Agriculture and the new Bureau of Cannabis Control, the regs are meeting with some trepidation from the Golden State's traditional cannabis sector. Most controversially, many small growers were disappointed that the regs include no limit on the number of licenses a single grower can hold or the total acreage one can farm.

You know the times they are a-changing when Forbes magazine runs a headline predicting that the international market for cannabis will hit $31.4 billion within the next four years. This projection is based on  a new report from the Brightfield Group, a cannabis market research firm based in Chicago. Currently, the global market is estimated to be worth $7.7 billion, but a compound annual growth rate of 60% is foreseen as countries around the world liberalize their marijuana laws.

The wildfires devastating Northern California are obviously taking their toll on this year's cannabis harvest. And this in the critical countdown to legalization, which takes effect in Golden State in January. This even won coverage in the New York Times Oct. 13. The paper cited Hezekiah Allen, executive director of the California Growers Association, saying that at least seven cannabis farms had been destroyed, and that he expected the number to "increase significantly" as people return to their homes.

In California's far-north Siskiyou County, where last month supervisors voted to declare a "state of emergency" over illegal marijuana cultivation, the hardline Sheriff Jon Lopey has now appealed to US Attorney General Jeff Sessions for federal aid in his war on cannabis.

As Canada prepares to legalize cannabis next year, the country has seen several recent conferences and expositions on how industry and society will manage the transition. The latest, the Grow Up Conference and Expo, opens Oct. 6 at the Niagara Falls Scotiabank Convention Centre in Ontario, and will feature over 100 speakers from a variety of specialties, including doctors and lawyers—with a focus on cultivation.

Following a favorable court ruling earlier this year, cannabis advocates and growers are making a big push for a legal industry in South Africa. A first regional industry meeting was held Sept. 20 at Cato Ridge outside the port city of Durban, bringing together producers under the banner of the Cannabis Development Council of South Africa.