counterculture

New Zealand moves toward medical marijuana —and legalization

Posted on June 9th, 2018 by Bill Weinberg and tagged , , , , , , , .

OceaniaThe government of New Zealand has announced that it plans to hold a referendum on cannabis legalization, possibly as early as next year. A medical marijuana bill is already pending in the country's parliament. But it has taken generations of activist effort by Kiwis to bring Aotearoa (by the country's indigenous Maori name) to this point. Cannabis Now speaks with some of the leaders who made it happen.

Cannabis cooking show debuts on Netflix

Posted on June 7th, 2018 by Global Ganja Report and tagged , , , , , , .

NgaioIn the latest testament to fast-growing mainstream embrace of cannabis, Netflix this month debuts a competitive cooking show exclusively featuring dishes prepared with the herb. And not just for flavoring—under the show's rules, all recipes must actually get you high.

Youth movement protests pot prohibition in ex-Soviet Georgia

Posted on May 18th, 2018 by Global Ganja Report and tagged , , , , , , , , , .

CaucasusA protest in the Caucasus republic of Georgia to demand legalization of personal drugs use, with an emphasis on cannabis, points to changing times in the former USSR. The youth group behind the protest was first formed to demand freedom for a popular artist who was sentenced to 14 years for possession of a small amount of herb. The country's top court actually struck down penalties for cannabis possession as a result of the case. But the activists are pressing their campaign—a sign of cultural thaw in a region with very harsh drug laws.

Racial justice themes highlighted at NYC Cannabis Parade

Posted on May 7th, 2018 by Bill Weinberg and tagged , , , , , , , .

Cannabis marchNew York City's Cannabis Parade, flagship entry in the Global Marijuana March movement and a counterculture event dating back to the early 1970s, this year actually drew mainstream politicians and candidates. Nearly all struck themes of racial justice, emphasizing that a push for legalization in the Empire State must also address the social iniquities of cannabis prohibition and the "war on drugs."

Recovering the lost legacy of cannabis in Japan

Posted on April 12th, 2018 by Bill Weinberg and tagged , , , , , , .

JapanCannabis is completely verboten n Japan—rare, expensive and very illegal. First Lady Akie Abe broke taboo by advocating a medical marijuana program from the country—but she's now embroiled in scandal, nipping the proposal in the proverbial bud. Yet more grassroots advocates have also emerged. One local historian in agricultural Tochigi Prefecture has opened a "cannabis museum," documenting millennia of use of the plant for medicine, sacrament and fiber in the archipelago.

Fighting spirit at Ann Arbor Hash Bash

Posted on April 11th, 2018 by Global Ganja Report and tagged , , , , , , , .

MichiganAnn Arbor's Hash Bash marked its 46th annual celebration of cannabis culture, with public smoking, no arrests—and an activist call to arms to get a legalization measure passed in Michigan this November.

The Hash Bash was a landmark counterculture event when it was launched on the University of Michigan's Diag on April 1, 1972. This year, organizers were openly hoping it would be the last one before cannabis is legalized in the Wolverine State—and urging a push to make it so.

Dennis Peron, 'Father of Medical Marijuana,' dead at 72

Posted on January 29th, 2018 by Global Ganja Report and tagged , , , , , , , .

Dennis PeronLongtime California cannabis crusader Dennis Peron, who probably did more than any other one human being to bring about legalization of medical marijuana, died Jan. 27 at a San Francisco veteran's hospital, following a battle with lung cancer. He was 72. Peron was the prime mover behind San Francisco's Proposition P, the 1991 voter initiative that made the city the first government entity in the US to officially embrace medical marijuana, deprioritizing police enforcement for medicinal users.

California's conservative secessionists want to take Emerald Triangle with them

CaliforniaSo California's rebel rednecks think they're taking Humboldt County with them when they leave the state, it appears. The latest split-the-state initiative was unveiled at a Sacramento press conference Jan. 16, covered by USA Today. "The current state of California has become governed by a tyranny," the group declared. Their proposed solution is to form the state of "New California," taking most of the rural counties with them, and leaving behind the heavily urbanized coast.

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