Global Ganja Report

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.

Over the past weeks, dozens of people across several states have experienced serious lung problems, even requiring hospitalization, apparently after using vape cartridges. It is unclear if cannabis products were at issue in all such cases, and authorities are still investigating. But the illicit market in unregulated knock-off dab carts may be to blame.

Insurance companies in Canada are starting to cover medical marijuana, but high costs continue to be an impediment to access in the United States. Even in states that have legalized medicinal use of cannabis, the insurance industry will provide no coverage. Advocates are now starting to demand legislation to address this contradiction.

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?

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Aug. 28 overturning Barack Obama's 2015 directive that barred local police agencies from receiving most forms of military equipment from the federal government. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the order  in a speech to the Fraternal Order of Police, which led the campaign to reverse the Obama policy.

Protests broke out in Minnesota's Twin Cities the night of June 16, after the acquittal of a police officer in the notorious slaying of Black motorist Philando Castile—a St. Paul school cafeteria worker who was 32 at the time of his death. As I write, the first arrests are taking place, as thousands of demonstrators attempt to shut down Interstate 94. Black Lives Matter protesters are again mobilizing in cities across the country.

Pharmaceutical firm Vireo Health of Minneapolis announced Dec. 30 that its medical marijuana has been certified kosher by the Orthodox Union, the body that sets such standards for America's half-million Orthodox Jews. The OU's Kosher Certification program usually stamps its seal of approval on food products. But now Vireo Health, one of five companies licensed to market medical marijuana in New York state, has received the OU's imprimatur for herbal product—a first in the industry. The New York Daily News reports that the OU rabbinical association gave its certification after inspecting the company's facilities and finding that the cannabis is produced according to the laws of kashrut—for example, being entirely free of insects.