Global Ganja Report

Israel's Knesset overwhelmingly passed a cannabis decriminalization measure—sponsored by the ruling conservative government. This fruit of a long pressure campaign by activists is, however, tentative. The law is set to expire in three years, pending a review of the policy's impacts.

The election of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador—known by his initials AMLO—as Mexico's next president is being hailed as historic, marking the first time a candidate of the left has had his victory honored. He is pledging a new, demilitarized approach to ending the endemic narco-violence. And his newly named interior minister is a vocal supporter of cannabis legalization. Will a day-lightened cannabis sector provide a way out of Mexico's long crisis?

Oakland-based cannabis industry research firm ArcView Group has released a new study, ambitiously entitled "The Road Map to a $57 Billion Worldwide Market." It provides a sweeping overview of recent progress and future prospects for legal or medical herb across the globe. But it also warns that, due to continued legal restrictions and bureaucratic overstretch, the market is in most areas bottlenecked from achieving its potential.

In a sure sign of changing times, the first cannabis-industry business has been listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange—raising clear questions about how long prohibition can hang on in the face of a burgeoning economic sector. Toronto-based medical marijuana producer Cronos Group won approval from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to become the first cannabis company listed on NASDAQ, New York City's second biggest stock market, Bloomberg reported Feb. 26.

Did you ever want to trip out for the benefit of science? That's what a lucky group of religious clerics got to do, and researchers are now in the process of evaluating the results. Scientists at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore signed up more than 20 spiritual leaders from various denominations after issuing a call for volunteers last year. Following an initial screening process, the participants were given strong doses of psilocybin—the psychoactive chemical in magic mushroom.

Three of the Balkan states to emerge from the ashes of Yugoslavia a generation ago are now among the first countries in the ex-communist world to move toward embrace of medical marijuana.

A military court in the Gaza Strip has sentenced two men to death after they were found guilty of drug dealing, the independent Palestinian media outlet Ma'an News Agency reported March 19. At a press conference in Gaza City, a representative of the Strip's Interior Ministry—controlled by the Hamas movement—said that the first "convict," an officer in the Palestinian Authority security service, was sentenced to death by firing squad for possession of 40 boxes of the synthetic opiate Tramadol. The second, also Palestinian and described as a "fugitive on the run," was sentenced to death by hanging after he was allegedly caught with a bag containing "a large quantity" of Tramadol, cannabis, and opium. Both are accused of bringing the substances in from across the border with Egypt.

Israel's cabinet on March 4 approved a proposed measure to decriminalize recreational use of cannabis, allowing it to go to a vote in the country's parliament, the Knesset. If it passes there, as is expected, first-time cannabis offenders will face a fine of 1,000 shekels ($270), but criminal charges will only be brought on a fourth offense. Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, who led the reform effort, said that "the government's approval is an important step on the way to implement the new policy, which will emphasize public information and treatment instead of criminal enforcement."