Global Ganja Report

In a sure sign of changing times, the first cannabis-industry business has been listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange—raising clear questions about how long prohibition can hang on in the face of a burgeoning economic sector. Toronto-based medical marijuana producer Cronos Group won approval from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to become the first cannabis company listed on NASDAQ, New York City's second biggest stock market, Bloomberg reported Feb. 26.

Colombia, long notorious as a violence-torn drug war dystopia, is now set to become a global leader in legal production of cannabis for the medical market. Vancouver-based International Cannabis Corp, also known as ICC Labs, is the latest foreign company to win a production license in the South American country. ICC Labs says it intends to cultivate "non-psychoactive" cannabis plants containing the cannabinoid CBD to produce various medicinal products for domestic and international distribution.

Medical marijuana advocates and bureaucrats from regulatory agencies around the world have both been awaiting a statement on the risks and benefits of cannabidiol (CBD) from the World Health Organization's Expert Committee on Drug Dependence (ECDD). Now the assessment on the non-psychoactive cannabinoid is in, and it is encouraging news for those who have been hoping for its removal from Schedule 1, the international designation for drugs with no therapeutic value but high potential for abuse.

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.

The dilemma now faced by several US states concerning whether "medical marijuana" need include actual herbaceous cannabis is about to hit the South American nation of Peru. Law 982/2016 is advancing through the country's Congress, and is headed for an imminent floor vote. The push for the new law was launched after a police raid in Lima earlier this year on a collective known as Buscando Esperanza (Seeking Hope)—made up mostly of mothers who were producing cannabis oils for their offspring suffering from cancer, epilepsy and the like. The bill cleared the congressional Defense Committee, that concerned with internal security, in mid-September.

The networking group CannaGather held its fifth confab at lower Manhattan's Galvanize venue Sept. 28, bringing together some 200 entrepreneurs, investors, press and activists from throughout the New York metropolitan area. Inspired by the New York tech industry meet-ups of the dot-com boom in the late '90s, CannaGather hopes to similarly connect people in a burgeoning industry and help spur its growth.

Amid the legal ambiguities about the status of cannabidiol (CBD), authorities in one state that had cracked down on preparations of the salutary cannabinoid are now admitting that they themselves are confused. Weeks after Indiana State Excise Police declared products containing CBD oil to be illegal—and carrying out a raid on an Indianapolis-aread natural goods store to prove it—state officials say they don’t actually know if CBD oil products are illegal or not.

It has been a long, slow ride for patients hoping to get access to medical marijuana in the Lone Star state—and then just special strains of low-THC cannabis, and only for those suffering from "intractable epilepsy." Three dispensaries are hoping to get final approval from Texas authorities to start cultivating next month. Of course, it will be several more months before they can actually begin distributing—and then ambiguities in the law may mean further delays. Activists and lawmakers are pushing both to clear things up and expand the scope of the program.