Global Ganja Report

An international network of non-governmental organizations has submitted a "shadow report" to the United Nations, calling the war on drugs a "spectacular failure"—and calling on the world's governments to reconsider it. The report takes heart from the growing official tolerance of cannabis in several countries around the world, but warns of escalating and horrific repression in the name of drug enforcement in several others. Will the UN take heed when it revisits the question of drug policy in 2019?

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.

Malaysia's surprise announcement that it will abolish the death penalty is a breakthrough for conservative Southeast Asia—and follows a global outcry over the death sentence meted out to a provider of medicinal cannabis oil. But will the reform come in time to save the life of Muhammad Lukman?

Physicians in the United Kingdom will be able to legally prescribe medical marijuana products to their patients starting next month. The policy shift follows a public outcry over cases of young epileptic patients who were denied the only treatments that worked for them. 

As legal cannabis finally becomes a reality in Canada, a policy patchwork across the country's provinces and ongoing political tussles have left many confused as to what the new system will actually look like. We break down some of the frequently asked questions. 

Over the past two years, the Latin American cannabis industry has "emerged from the shadows" to command the attention of international firms and investors. Legal cannabis sales within the region are on track to reach $125 million in 2018—but that figure is expected to rise to $12.7 billion by 2028.

After years of upholding employee firings for use of cannabis even under state medical marijuana programs, the courts are finally starting to turn around on the question.

One of the ways state medical marijuana programs have failed to fully extend protection to medicinal users is in failure to defend against employment discrimination. This is now beginning to change, thanks to a few recent court decisions in favor of patients and employees.

The woman behind the South American nation's new medical marijuana law may yet face prison time. Her crime? Providing the only medicine that worked for her ailing son.

In the working-class Lima district of Pueblo Libre, I make my way to an apartment complex and up to the flat of Ana Álvarez—the unlikely woman almost singly responsible for Peru’s groundbreaking new medical marijuana law.

In a bedroom, 18-year-old Anthony watches a noisy Spiderman movie, occasionally interrupting through the open door as I chat with his mom in the living room. Anthony suffers from tuberous sclerosis, a severe form of epilepsy, and was the voiceless central figure behind the events that led to a major reform of Peru’s drug laws in 2017.