Global Ganja Report

Cannabis is set to become legal in Michigan after voters in the Wolverine State passed Proposal 1 during the midterm elections. 

The passage of Prop 1 makes Michigan the 10th state in the nation and the first in the Midwest to legalize cannabis for "recreational" use, joining California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Colorado, Nevada, Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine and Washington DC.

Voters in several states will cast ballots on cannabis-related measures in the Nov. 6 midterm election. Michigan and North Dakota are facing general legalization measures, while Utah and Missouri voters will get to weigh in on medical marijuana.

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.

The case of an elderly grandmother who was jailed for cannabis possession because her Michigan state medical marijuana card had expired exemplifies the dilemmas faced by patients who fall between cracks in the bureaucracy. Keeping paperwork in order can be a challenge for those already burdened with disabling health conditions.

Ann 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.

Amid legal challenges and disputes over zoning in Detroit, Michigan's long-awaited regulatory regime for cannabis dispensaries continues to face obstacles to implementation. This has left hundreds of dispensaries operating in a "gray market"—tolerated by the authorities on an unofficial basis while the mess is being worked out. But now state authorities have started to order these outlets closed—potentially leaving thousands of registered users without access to their medicine.

Unprecedented hearings before a panel of nine federal judges at the Dirksen US Courthouse in Chicago opened Dec. 14, charged with determining whether there was a pattern of racial bias in sting operations by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) dating back to the 1990s. The hearings were called to resolve a dozen separate cases involving more than 40 defendants. An overflow courtroom was set up to handle the crowd, Chicago Tribune reports.

It has been a year and counting since Ohio passed its medical marijuana law in June 2016, and nobody has yet received any cannabis under the program. The logjam is due to the failure of the state to issue licenses to any cultivators, processors, dispensaries or testing labs.

Finally, the first sign of progress is seen as a local technical college has come forward to offer cannabis testing services.