Global Ganja Report

Less than two months after patient advocates filed a lawsuit compelling the federal government to answer a nine-year-old petition to reschedule medical marijuana, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) on July 8 made official its denial of the petition in the Federal Register. The Coalition for Rescheduling Cannabis (CRC), which includes patient advocacy group Americans for Safe Access (ASA), filed the petition in 2002 seeking to reclassify cannabis from its current status as a dangerous drug with no medical value, but never heard from the federal government until it received the denial.

Starting July 6, the International Cannabinoid Research Society (ICRS) will hold its 21st annual symposium in St. Charles, Ill., just outside of Chicago. Notably, this year's symposium is sponsored by an array of pharmaceutical companies, the US National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), and ElSohly Laboratories of Oxford, Miss., the federal government's only licensed source of research-grade cannabis.

During last year's Prop 19 fight in California, we noted the strange phenomenon of "Stoners Against Legalization"—tokers who opposed the legalization measure, sometimes spouting bizarre conspiracy theories that the ballot initiative was all a plot by Monsanto and other big corporations to corner the cannabis market and squeeze out independent growers with bio-engineered patented varieties. We noted that even if Prop 19 passed, "cannabis will remain illegal at the federal level, allowing Monsanto to be shut down if they dabble in the Evil Weed." But now it emerges that—surprise, surprise!—the feds have actually been giving multi-national corporations the legal right to grow cannabis that us commoners are denied.

Representatives in the Minnesota legislature have proposed a bill to allow farmers to grow medical cannabis for resale to dispensaries in states that have legalized use and sale of marijuana for medical conditions. The House bill, HF0662, was introduced by members of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL).

Dubbed the "Wal-Mart of Weed," the 10,000-square-foot weGrow store, set to open this weekend at 1537 Fulton Ave. in Sacramento, is the first franchise for a company that calls itself a supply and training destination for legal cannabis cultivators. The enterprise started in Oakland last year as a warehouse store called iGrow. Now the Oakland location is being reorganized as a distribution hub for a network of retail hydroponics outlets. The Sacramento store—billed as "the first honest hydro store"—is to be followed by weGrow stores in Arizona, Colorado, New Jersey and Oregon in coming months.

Conspiracy crank Kurt Nimmo on the perennially loopy InfoWars.com turns to California's Proposition 19 for his latest fanstay fodder, picking up on a pipedream already spun by "Stoners Against Legalization." It goes something like this: Gazillionaire investor George Soros, an underwriter of 1996's Proposition 215 (as well as pro-democracy movements throughout the post-communist world), made a last-minute $1 million donation to the pro-19 campaign. It turns out he is also a big investor in the evil biotech giant Monsanto (and lots of other things, God knows). Therefore, Prop 19 is all a scam to allow Monsanto to develop GMO "terminator cannabis," wipe out home-growers and dominate the market with patented "non-active" varieties!

Doc Green's Healing Collective, producers of the cannabis-infused Doc Green's Therapeutic Healing Cream, has received a letter from Wells Fargo sating that the business' account has been closed pending review—citing the "nature of the business." Doc Green's co-founder Ramona Moonflower Rubin told Global Ganja Report business is now paralyzed, and the collective is considering its options. Rubin notes the irony: "We are producers of topical cannabis products that don't have any psychoactive effect. They don't get users high, they just provide pain relief when applied directly to the affected area."

California Beer & Beverage Distributors, an industry lobbying group, is sinking money into the campaign to oppose Proposition 19, the November ballot initiative that would legalize cannabis in the state. "[I]t donated $10,000 to Public Safety First, a committee organized to oppose the proposition, on Sept. 7, 2010, though the contribution was only recently made public," reports The Huffington Post "The alcohol industry has long seen illicit drugs as a threat to sales, as consumers may substitute pot for booze. A night spent on the couch smoking marijuana and watching television is a night not spent at the bar."