features

Global Ganja Report's past, and current Feature stories.

California study exposes ‘Great Hemp Hoax’

Posted on February 28th, 2025 by Bill Weinberg and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Delta-8In the big — and, in nearly half of US states now, successful — drive to legalize cannabis, two major arguments have been brought to bear. First, that public oversight of a legal industry will assure transparency and standards for quality. And secondly, that a taxed industry will be a boon to state and local economies.

But now a disturbing new study from an industry advocacy group in California indicates that the legal cannabis sector faces a challenge in the proliferation of ostensibly legal but in fact unregulated psychoactive “hemp” products.

Dasheeda Dawson: NYC cannabis czarina speaks

Posted on June 12th, 2023 by Bill Weinberg and tagged , , , , , , , , , , .

Dasheeda Dawson

Dasheeda Dawson is “excited to be back home.”

After a long sojourn as a cannabis patient, advocate and entrepreneur in other states, the Brooklyn native is in her home town as New York City’s first cannabis czar—officially, director of Cannabis NYC, a new office created by Mayor Eric Adams.

The Curaleaf controversies: Russian-lubricated sleaze in US cannabis industry

Kremlin
Small producers have long been wary of the cannabis industry coming under domination by multi-state operators with the worst practices of corporate America. But the revelations of Russian oligarch money in the coffers of leading MSO Curaleaf appear to vindicate even the most cynical observers. These follow a slew of controversies concerning product safety and labor rights at the company.

Ecological cannabis in Massachusetts

Posted on November 9th, 2022 by Bill Weinberg and tagged , , , , , , , , , , .

Berkshire budSmall is Beautiful for the Berkshires’ Badass Bud

Nestled in the Berkshire Mountains of western Massachusetts is the town of West Stockbridge, where Wiseacre Farm boasts that it is the smallest artisanal cannabis producer in the commonwealth.

Cannabis and climate change: challenge for an emerging crop

Planet WatchSome of the key cannabis cultivation zones around the world are also those feeling the earliest and harshest impacts of the impending global climate disaster. How can the global cannabis community respond?

Cannabis & counterculture in Ukraine: threatened by Russian aggression

Posted on February 21st, 2022 by Bill Weinberg and tagged , , , , , , , , , , .

UkraineUkraine has been suddenly thrust upon the center of the world stage, as Russia pours forces over the border in defiance of the West. In the atmosphere of militarization, space for cannabis and alternative culture is likely to close in both countries—but at least such space had been, slowly and tentatively, opening in Ukraine. Russia, pursuing an aggressive drug-war police state at home, may now be poised to impose its cultural-conservative agenda and roll back the recent gains in its smaller neighbor.

Will California's new CBD law become de facto national standard?

Posted on October 14th, 2021 by Bill Weinberg and tagged , , , , , , , , .

CBDCalifornia has finally taken a step to resolve the ambiguities and inconsistencies in the regulation of hemp-derived CBD — a move that could see the state setting a de facto national standard in light of continued inaction by the US Food & Drug Administration.

New Yorkers stuck in city's deadly jails for cannabis —even now?

Posted on September 23rd, 2021 by Bill Weinberg and tagged , , , , , , .

prisonersThe horrific and deepening crisis at New York City's principal jail, Rikers Island, was crystalized by the 11th death at the facility this year — that of Isaabdul Karim. Despite a supposed official policy of drawing down the number held at the facility in preparation for its closure, it turns out he was only being held for parole violations. And, despite New York state's new legalization law, one of these concerned cannabis use. Are there others similarly held on cannabis-related violations at the facility that has been called a "moral stain" on the Big Apple?

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