Global Ganja Report

The Green Wolverine conference at the University of Michigan this month will bring speakers from across the country for a symposium on cannabis science. With Michigan facing a legalization initiative this November, the student-organized event is intended, among other things, to help voters make an informed choice.

A bill that would allow use of medical marijuana products in California's schools has arrived on the desk of Gov. Jerry Brown. The legislation would address an inequity in California's medical marijuana program, and is named Jojo's Act after a South San Francisco high school student who suffers from a severe form of epilepsy.

Having just undertaken a "critical study" of CBD, the non-psychoactive cannabinoid held to have multifarious medicinal applications, the World Health Organization is now opening such a study on THC. Stigmatized due to its psychoactive properties and currently in the shadow of the suddenly sexy CBD, tetrahydrocannabinol shows its own potential for application by the medical industry.

A new product is being plugged as containing CBD derived from humulus—that is, hops, the buds used as a bittering agent in beer. Some of the media hype has implied that this novel origin gets around the US federal stricture on the cannabinoid. But experts raise a skeptical eyebrow at the claim of hops-derived CBD. And in any event, the federal stricture is on the cannabinoid itself, regardless of how it is derived. 

The cannabis prohibition regime in South Korea is a harsh one. Authorities have long been intent on maintaining the official fiction of a "drug-free" nation. But the first crack has appeared in this intolerant edifice, with lawmakers and bureaucrats now moving to approve use of certain imported medical marijuana products.

The bureaucracy overseeing California's cannabis industry is moving fast to facilitate insurance coverage for businesses—a question very pressing as wildfires rage through the Emerald Triangle.

After three years of mounting discontent from patients and providers alike, Florida's medical marijuana chief Christian Bax is stepping down. He leaves office as state health authorities prepare for a tsunami of applications for a few highly coveted marijuana licenses.

The British government has finally capitulated to pressure from patients, activists and even regional authorities, and officially pledged to make medical cannabis products available on prescription this year. But it remains to be seen which products will win approval—and actual herbaceous cannabis is unlikely to make the cut.