Global Ganja Report

Ukraine has been suddenly thrust upon the center of the world stage, as Russia pours forces over the border in defiance of the West. In the atmosphere of militarization, space for cannabis and alternative culture is likely to close in both countries—but at least such space had been, slowly and tentatively, opening in Ukraine. Russia, pursuing an aggressive drug-war police state at home, may now be poised to impose its cultural-conservative agenda and roll back the recent gains in its smaller neighbor.

The National Football League has awarded a $1 million research grant to study the impacts of cannabinoids on pain management and neuroprotection in football players. The move represents a breakthrough given the NFL's longstanding zero-tolerance stance on cannabis use.

The VA only pledges not to cut off benefits to military veterans who use medical marijuana if they are enrolled in a state program. Those in states with no such programs remain the lurch. So vets are now speaking out in favor of pending state medical marijuana laws.

It's pretty surreal that even as a legal cannabis industry emerges on a global scale, there are still countries that impose outrageously draconian sentences for the herb—up to and including the death penalty.

The egregious case of a man sentenced to death for smuggling two pounds of cannabis into the Southeast Asian city-state of Singapore has focused global attention on the disturbing reality.

California has finally taken a step to resolve the ambiguities and inconsistencies in the regulation of hemp-derived CBD — a move that could see the state setting a de facto national standard in light of continued inaction by the US Food & Drug Administration.

New York's new Gov. Kathy Hochul is hyping the coming cannabis boom in the state — although no adult-use licenses have yet been issued, and the bureaucracy is just starting to move on this. Meanwhile, the cops in Gotham City are turning a blind eye to small outfits that are setting up tables in the parks and on the sidewalks, selling edibles, extracts and bud. How long will this utopian free-for-all last?

Among the ambiguous areas in the state medical marijuana laws from coast to coast is the status of cannabis and its derivatives as veterinary medications. Now, a new non-profit has been launched to advocate for legal standards and clarity on the question.

At the annual Vienna meeting of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, the governing body of the UN Office on Drugs & Crime (UNODC) voted Dec. 2 to strike cannabis from Schedule IV of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, the global treaty regulating drug control policy.