Global Ganja Report

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez won praise from activists when she decried a white-dominated legal cannabis industry. As if to prove her point, the man she ousted in her 2018 Congressional run, Joe Crowley, is now joining an investment firm linked to the cannabis industry.

Northern Swan, a New York investment house specializing in the cannabis industry, just announced the appointment to two prominent political figures to its advisory board.

A group of attorneys general from 38 states and territories penned an open letter urging Capitol Hill to pass a pending bill to allow cannabis businesses access to the federal banking system.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced that he will reintroduce his bill to remove cannabis from the federal list of controlled substances—allowing states to set their own laws to regulate the plant without the shadow of Washington interference.

New York City's annual Cannabis Parade, launched long ago by Yippie counterculture freaks, this year headlined one of the Big Apple's highest officials, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams—a sure sign of that the leaglization cause has hit the mainstream. However, politicking in the statehouse in Albany has stalled passage of a long hoped-for legalization bill.

April 20—popularly known as 420—has emerged as a global day of celebration of cannabis culture. But a group of activists have launched an effort to the make the next day the one that grapples with the challenge of creating an equitable, inclusive and diverse cannabis industry.

New York state's second city of Buffalo has long been a national symbol of rust-belt economic and infrastructural decay. Now urban planners have approved a massive cannabis facility backed by California capital for the city's long-inactive waterfront. Buffalo's boosters say the project could turn the Great Lakes region into a leading global hub of cannabis output.

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.

With rival cannabis legalization bills now pending in Albany, New York state activists are demanding "Day One Equity"—legislation consciously crafted to correct the injustices of the War on Drugs. Advocates and politicians came together to give voice to this demand at a recent forum on Manhattan's Lower East Side.