Global Ganja Report

The California Supreme Court ruled May 6 in the case City of Riverside v. Inland Empire Patients Health and Wellness Center that local governments may ban the distribution of medical marijuana and are not preempted by state law by doing so. However, the court also recognized the legality of dispensaries, more than 1,000 of which currently exist and operate throughout the state. More than 50 localities in California officially regulate the distribution of medical marijuana.

The number of cannabis plants eradicated by law enforcement has dropped over the past years from a record high of over 10 million plants in 2009 and 2010 to under 4 million in 2012, according to newly released statistics. DEA figures put the 2012 total at 3,933,950. DEA officials attribute the decline in part to the budget cutbacks in California, which resulted in "the decreased availability of local law enforcement personnel to assist in eradication efforts."

The Maryland Senate voted 42-4 on April 8 to pass a new medical marijuana bill— but patient advocates say that HB1101 is more symbolic than practical. HB1101, already passed by the House of Delegates, would extend the current affirmative defense for patients who are arrested and prosecuted under state law, but would provide no way for patients to obtain their medication. Agreeing with the sentiment of advocates, the nonpartisan Maryland Department of Legislative Services issued a fiscal note last month that questioned the bill's effectiveness, casting doubt on whether it will ever meet legislators' expectations.

Tomas Young, a disabled Iraq war veteran in Kansas City, Mo., made fame last month when he announced his intention to end his own life in a scathing open letter to George Bush and Dick Cheney. In the letter, online at TruthDig, Young says he joined the army out of a sense of duty after 9-11—and felt betrayed by his deployment to Iraq:

The Maryland House of Delegates on March 25 approved a bill to legalize medical marijuana by a vote of 108-28. The bill would also create a state commission to manage medical marijuana programs at participating academic medical research centers. While the number of distribution centers to be created is uncertain, neither the University of Maryland nor Johns Hopkins University have demonstrated interest in being involved in the distribution system.

Medical marijuana patient advocacy group Americans for Safe Access (ASA) filed a petition with the federal court of appeals March 22 in a widely watched case that seeks to reclassify cannabis for medical use. Plaintiffs in the case, ASA v. Drug Enforcement Administration, are requesting a rehearing before the original panel, as well as seeking full (en banc) review by the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. On Jan. 22, the DC Circuit granted plaintiffs standing—the right to sue the federal government to reclassify cannabis—but, in a 2-1 ruling, denied the appeal on the merits by setting what ASA calls a "virtually-impossible-to-meet standard" for assessing medical efficacy. (ASA, March 22)

More than a dozen members of Congress co-introduced legislation Feb. 14 that would reclassify cannabis for medical use and provide federal defendants the right to use state law compliance as evidence in medical marijuana trials, a right they're currently denied. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) authored H.R. 689, the "States’ Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act," which in addition to rescheduling cannabis will allow states to establish production and distribution laws without interference by the federal government, and will remove current obstacles to research. Rep. Sam Farr (D-CA) authored H.R. 710, the "Truth in Trials Act," to overturn the prohibition on medical marijuana evidence in federal court. 

A market glut and paranoia about criminal cartels getting into the act coincide with the end of the CAMP program. Can Northern California's cannabis industry remake itself along ecological and community-rooted lines?

With the 2012 fall harvest season, Northern California's legendary cannabis-growing Emerald Triangle—centered around the counties of Humboldt, Mendocino and Trinity—is at a turning point. And as the old cliché goes, the Chinese character for crisis is made up of the characters for danger and opportunity.

The current juncture is ripe with both.