Global Ganja Report

Researchers are exploring the connection between cannabinoids and dopamine in the human brain, and particularly how THC affects our "reward system"—key to such phenomena as motivation, addiction and euphoria. Investigations are revealing both potential for treatments of psychiatric disorders as well as possible risks from heavy use, especially among the young.

With the fall of Italy’s far-right government, advocates are hoping the path may be cleared now for the country to become Europe's first to formally legalize cannabis. Meanwhile, thanks to a loophole in the law, low-THC varieties are sold openly in shops across the country. And Italy’s internal THC limit is actually slightly higher than the ultra-cautious European Union standard.

With the legal cannabis market increasingly dominated by "Big Bud," more Canadians are turning to homegrown—both for reasons of economy and an ethic of self-sufficiency. And they are fighting in the courts and the public squares for their right to do so—challenging both the federal limit on plants per household and efforts by two provinces to ban homegrown outright. So far, they are winning. 

Health authorities have named Vitamin E acetate as a likely suspect in the serious illness that has now affected hundreds across the country after vaping either cannabis or tobacco products. In many of the cases illicit-market dab carts appear to be responsible for the severe pulmonary problems that have now resulted in five deaths. But public authorities and the cannabis industry alike caution that research is ongoing.

Advocates increasingly assert that cannabis legalization is not fully realized unless workers are guaranteed their right to employment even if they partake of the herb off-hours. Some states are finally taking measures to rein in the use of urine-test results as an excuse to fire or turn down job applicants.

Driven by the notorious market glut in Oregon, wholesale cannabis prices have predictably plunged in the Beaver State. They have done so less precipitously in other western states. But this is offset by continued high prices elsewhere in the country, especially the East Coast—making for an overall upward trend this year.

The prosecutor for Miami-Dade County is the latest of several around the country to halt minor cannabis cases. The move was prompted by a dilemma vexing law enforcement nationwide: the inability to distinguish between THC and legal CBD in confiscated samples.

Things have moved slowly in authoritarian Thailand since passage of a medical marijuana law last year. But now one of the country's leading universities is launching a "Ganja Studies Department," and attendant research facility. With plans to train a new generation of cultivators and entrepreneurs, the crafters of the program are voicing aspirations to make Thailand Asia's cannabis leader.