Global Ganja Report

The Northern Mariana Islands, a self-governing commonwealth in association with the United States, just became first US territory to legalize adult-use cannabis. It is also the second US jurisdiction (after Vermont this January) to do so by legislation rather than popular ballot.

Lesotho is a land-locked mountain kingdom in Africa that few in the outside world have heard of, but it punches above its weight where cannabis production is concerned. "Dagga" has long been a pillar of its economy. Now it is attracting international investment to grow cannabis for the global medical market. With cannabis just decriminalized in South Africa—which borders Lesotho on all sides, and is closely integrated with the kingdom—this is a promising sign for the entire region.

Weeks after instating a new policy of not prosecuting for low-level marijuana violations, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr addressed a meeting of New York cannabis industry investors and entrepreneurs, where he discussed his vision for fairer policing in the city—and his study calling for legalization to be explored at the state level.

Among several cannabis-related bills that cleared California's state house before the last legislative session came to close is one that would lift the tax burden on medical marijuana providers. The bill is intended to again open space for "compassionate care," which was ironically squeezed out under California's adult-use regulation regime. 

With the North American Free Trade Agreement under renegotiation, Mexico's former president and born-again cannabis advocate Vicente Fox is calling for the new treaty to include provisions for legal cross-border commerce in cannabis. But of course the federal governments of both the US and Mexico prohibit cannabis—despite growing demands for legalization both sides of the border.

In the surest sign yet of synergy between the cannabis and booze industries, one of North America's top brewers just dropped $4 billion into the continent's top legal cannabis cultivator. The move sent the cultirvator's stocks soaring—although not the brewer's.

The bureaucracy overseeing California's cannabis industry is moving fast to facilitate insurance coverage for businesses—a question very pressing as wildfires rage through the Emerald Triangle.

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.