Global Ganja Report

Gains are reported from Massachusetts in organized labor's push to unionize the cannabis industry. But significant obstacles remain—from management roadblocking, to the ambiguous status under national labor law of an industry dealing in a federally illegal substance.

Protests have spread across the country in response to the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police—a haunting crystallization of institutionalized racism in law enforcement. The protests have been punctuated by looting in many cities, and cannabis businesses have not been spared. How the industry reacts at this moment will reveal much about the soul of America's cannabis community.

Legal cannabis sales are officially starting in Michigan on Dec. 1—but with a big emphasis on the "officially." Cannabis shortages and a dearth of licensed dispensaries mean that the Wolverine State's retail recreational program will be off to a less than flying start. Even last-minute abandonment of the planned firewall between the medical and recreational markets may be insufficient to salvage the situation.

This year has seen a disturbing nationwide outbreak of lung injuries, some fatal, which researchers link to vaping—either of tobacco products or cannabis concentrates. A regulatory crack-down on the vaping industry has ensued—but amid serious confusion displayed by politicians and media alike.

There has been significant progress toward cannabis legalization in the United States and globally over the past years, but pockets persist of the most repressive and reactionary prohibition. What are the prospects for expanding cannabis freedom in the coming year?

The arrival of 7-10 as a special day to celebrate extracts and concentrates marks the growing embrace of "dabbing" by the cannabis community. But the laws governing such products and especially their production vary from state to state. And the real risks continue to garner grim headlines that cast the cannabis industry in a very poor light.

California's ArcView Market Research and its affiliated BDS Analytics have released a "2019 Update" to the 6th edition of their report on The State of Legal Marijuana Markets, which was published back in June. The Update takes stock of events in the second half of the year, and anticipates that worldwide spending on legal cannabis will grow 39.1% to $17 billion in 2019.

Cannabis is set to become legal in Michigan after voters in the Wolverine State passed Proposal 1 during the midterm elections. 

The passage of Prop 1 makes Michigan the 10th state in the nation and the first in the Midwest to legalize cannabis for "recreational" use, joining California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Colorado, Nevada, Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine and Washington DC.