Global Ganja Report

After three years of mounting discontent from patients and providers alike, Florida's medical marijuana chief Christian Bax is stepping down. He leaves office as state health authorities prepare for a tsunami of applications for a few highly coveted marijuana licenses.

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

The British government has finally capitulated to pressure from patients, activists and even regional authorities, and officially pledged to make medical cannabis products available on prescription this year. But it remains to be seen which products will win approval—and actual herbaceous cannabis is unlikely to make the cut.

Compassionate care—providing medical marijuana to the ill—was what first opened legal space for cannabis in California a generation ago. But the state's Adult Use of Marijuana Act only regulates commercial businesses—leaving caregivers in legal limbo.

New York and New Jersey are notorious rivals. Especially New York City denizens see themselves as metropolitan sophisticates and view their neighbors across the Hudson River as rubes. But the two states are now racing to see which will legalize cannabis first. There are formidable obstacles in both states, but New Jersey is clearly ahead.

California health authorities dealt a blow to the burgeoning CBD business by banning preparations of the cannabinoid derived from industrial hemp rather than psychoactive cannabis. The diktat adds to the legal confusion around CBD, and highlights the need for greater clarity from the competent authorities at both the state and federal level.

A new cannabis legalization initiative is being pushed for Lebanon, long a legendary hashish producer. This time the idea has won influential international backers. And the cannabis-grower militias have actually mobilized to beat back ISIS incursions into the hashish heartland of Bekaa Valley from neighboring Syria. Is the time finally ripe for the day-lighting of Lebanon's powerful hashish industry?

Medical marijuana users who demand their right to smoke herbaceous cannabis were dealt a double whammy as Oklahoma health authorities and a Florida court each issued edicts upholding strictures on smokable forms. But is it really medical marijuana if it doesn't include the right to smoke the herbaceous form of the plant?