Global Ganja Report

A group of attorneys general from 38 states and territories penned an open letter urging Capitol Hill to pass a pending bill to allow cannabis businesses access to the federal banking system.

Idaho is considering legislation that would raise the number of signatures needed to get an initiative on the ballot—in an apparent bid to undercut a medical marijuana legalization effort. Local activists with the Idaho Cannabis Coalition are saying the law would be "tyranny."

With approval of new regs, Alaska is set to become to the first state to officially oversee cannabis use at licensed retail outlets. Municipalities in Colorado and California have pursued this "Amsterdam model" by working around the state law. But The Last Frontier is once again breaking new ground in personal freedom for cannabis tokers.

With Oregon's cannabis surplus so big that authorities estimate 70% of the state's output goes unsold, "craft" producers are calling for a novel solution—allowing export to other states that have legalized.

The cannabis market is flooded in the Beaver State, and that's a real problem for an industry that has seen explosive growth since Oregonians voted to legalize in 2014. But some say this provides an opportunity.

Terpenes make your herb smell good, but researchers are postulating that those organic particles that titillate your nostrils may also bind with particulate matter from hydrocarbon emissions to worsen smog. A Colorado study is now putting this to the test—but with no help from the EPA, due to cannabis’ outlaw status under federal law.

The claim that cannabis causes "mental illness" rears its dubious head like clockwork every few years, and this latest round has occasioned a virtual media frenzy—a seeming backlash to the recent advances in normalization of the herb and its aficionados. Scratching the claims, however, reveals more hype than rigor.

The headlines are all too familiar ones, but this time they got very prominent play.

Terpenes, the chemical compounds that give your herb its distinctive smell and flavor, are increasingly recognized as a vital part of the overall cannabis experience. But with the growing popularity of vape pens and concentrates, industry is now adding terpenes to products in an effort to recreate that whole-flower feel. These may come from plants other than cannabis—and some may even be synthetic.

Amid the seemingly endless hype about CBD, its once better-known sibling cannabinoid THC seems to increasingly languish in the shadows—both in terms of media attention and industry investment.