Global Ganja Report

A north Florida company on July 20 was awarded the state's first license to process and distribute medical marijuana for the limited number of patients who qualify under stringent regulations. Hackney Nursery, doing business as Trulieve, received approval from the state Health Department to process the state's first harvest at a facility in Quincy, with the first sales expected in the coming days at its Tallahassee dispensary..

Within 48 hours of the June 15 DEA raid on the facilities of his cannabis extracts company in Santa Rosa, Dennis Franklin Hunter was released without charges—and the enterprise, Care By Design (CBD), is back in operation. Advocates are hailing as a victory for the industry and user's rights. At least 150 patients, activists and supporters of the CBD Guild collective filled the steps outside the Sonoma County Superior Courthouse in Santa Rosa following the raid, the local Press-Democrat newspaper reports. Company spokesman Nick Caston, emphasized CBD's commitment to operating within the law, saying: "We produce medicine as determined by the voters in the 1990s, and we do it with the best practices of any company in the state."

On June 15, DEA agents and Sonoma County law enforcement raided six facilities associated with Care By Design (CBD), a Santa Rosa company that produces cannabis oils, tinctures and sprays under the Absolute Xtracts brand. The raid comes just days after the company hosted local and state officials at its facilities to discuss regulations for the emerging industry. CBD co-founder Dennis Hunter was arrested and charged with a felony for manufacturing a controlled substance by chemical extraction (a law created for meth labs). He is being held on $5 million bail. Equipment and payroll records were also seized. The company is apparently accused of using butane gas to produce concentrated cannabis oil—a practice banned in California. (Santa Rosa Press-Democrat, High Times, CBD press release via Weed Blog)

Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Chris Goldstein got hold of a leaked 45-page internal equity report from high-finance titan Merrill Lynch, wealth management division of Bank of America, looking at the future prospects for America's cannabis industry. Goldstein wrote it up for his occassional series Philly420 Dec. 8 under the title "Merrill Lynch is bullish on marijuana." Goldstein finds: "Carefully researched, it was an interesting peek at how heavy hitters on Wall Street are starting to view the expanding industry."

In a 4-to-1 decision on Nov. 4, the Criminal Chamber of Mexico's Supreme Court of Justice ruled that the prohibition of consumption and cultivation of cannabis for personal use is unconstitutional, voiding five articles of the country's principal narcotics statute, the General Health Law. The court found that prohibition of cannabis consumption—or of cultivation for non-commercial purposes—violates the right to "free development of the personality," enshrined in Aricle 19 of the Mexican Constitution. The landmark decision only applies to the actual plaintiffs who challenged the prohibition provisions of the General Health Law, but loans weight to legalization proposals being prepared in Mexico's Congress. "They're noting this case and using it in their favor to present a law that will be in agreement and will protect people's rights," Moy Schwartzman, attorney for the plaintiffs, was quoted by AP.

We noted last year that a Seattle-based equity firm is planning to market "Marley Natural" brand cannabis in states where it is legal. Now it seems guitar god Jimi Hendrix is to be thusly immortalized. The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that Toronto-based Nutritional High International Inc announced this week that it has "entered into an exclusive licensing agreement...under which the Company may manufacture and distribute various marijuana and hemp-based edible products using the song titles and bearing the likeness of iconic guitarist Jimi Hendrix." The products in question, to be marketed under the "Edible Experiences" banner, include "Purple Haze" and "Stone Free" lines. (There's already a Purple Haze cannabis strain developed by Dutch growers, although the song was more likely about the LSD experience.) In a cute twist, the "Stone Free" line is to be a preparation infused with CBD—the cannabinoid that is thought to have medicinal value but doesn't actually get you stoned.

Legislators on Capitol Hill passed three amendments June 3 to bar the DEA and Department of Justice from undermining state marijuana laws, as part of the US House of Representatives' consideration of the Fiscal Year 2016 Commerce, Justice, and Science Appropriations bill. "There’s unprecedented support on both sides of the aisle for ending the federal war on marijuana and letting states set their own drug policies based on science, compassion, health, and human rights," said Bill Piper, director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance. "The more the DEA blocks sensible reforms the more they will see their agency's power and budget come under deeper scrutiny."

A bipartisan group of US Senators on March 10 announced legislation to end the federal ban on medical marijuana. The Compassionate Access, Research Expansion and Respect States (CARERS) Act is sponsored by senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) Rand Paul (R-KY) and Cory Booker (D-NJ). If passed, the bill would end the federal restriction on medical marijuana and allow for several comprehensive reforms, including: permission for limited interstate transport, an expansion of access to cannabis for research purposes, and reclassification of marijuana from Schedule I to II. Medical marijuana, and the right of states to determine how to regulate it, has found bipartisan support in both the House and Senate. (Jurist, March 10)