sacrament

UN 'shadow report' blasts drug war as 'failure'

earthAn international network of non-governmental organizations has submitted a "shadow report" to the United Nations, calling the war on drugs a "spectacular failure"—and calling on the world's governments to reconsider it. The report takes heart from the growing official tolerance of cannabis in several countries around the world, but warns of escalating and horrific repression in the name of drug enforcement in several others. Will the UN take heed when it revisits the question of drug policy in 2019?

Jamaica begins export of medical marijuana products

Posted on October 5th, 2018 by Global Ganja Report and tagged , , , , , , .

Caribbean A legal medical marijuana export industry is coming to Jamaica, which has just dispatched its first shipment of cannabis oil to Canada. Long famous for its contraband product, the island nation now has a Cannabis Licensing Authority to oversee legal cultivation.

Activists bash Trump's 'Global Call' to renew drug war at UN

earthAs the UN General Assembly met in New York, President Trump issued a "Global Call" to renew the war on drugs—to the dismay of activists and dissenting nations. But the UN itself has a contradictory cannabis policy—with some agencies recognizing its efficacy as medicine and others backing the prohibitionist doctrine of the Single Convention treaty.

Will Sessions' Religious Liberty Task Force protect sacramental cannabis use?

Posted on August 7th, 2018 by Bill Weinberg and tagged , , , , , , , , , , .

cannabisAttorney General Jeff Sessions' newly announced Religious Liberty Task Force has progressives fearing the worst. But might it open political space to argue for a right to sacramental use of cannabis?

Recovering the lost legacy of cannabis in Japan

Posted on April 12th, 2018 by Bill Weinberg and tagged , , , , , , .

JapanCannabis is completely verboten n Japan—rare, expensive and very illegal. First Lady Akie Abe broke taboo by advocating a medical marijuana program from the country—but she's now embroiled in scandal, nipping the proposal in the proverbial bud. Yet more grassroots advocates have also emerged. One local historian in agricultural Tochigi Prefecture has opened a "cannabis museum," documenting millennia of use of the plant for medicine, sacrament and fiber in the archipelago.

California: one dead in shoot-out at Rasta cannabis farm

Posted on August 2nd, 2017 by Global Ganja Report and tagged , , , , , , .

CaliforniaA dispute at a cannabis farm run by a local Rastafarian church in California's Yuba County escalated to a shootout Aug. 1, leaving one suspect dead and two sheriff's  deputies wounded. The outburst of violence brought dozens of law enforcement officers from across the region, the Sacramento Bee reports. It apparently began when police responded to reports of a trimmer at the farm uprooting and damaging plants after an argument with his employers.

Scientists investigate psychedelic link to religious experience

Posted on July 26th, 2017 by Global Ganja Report and tagged , , , , .

psychedelicsDid you ever want to trip out for the benefit of science? That's what a lucky group of religious clerics got to do, and researchers are now in the process of evaluating the results. Scientists at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore signed up more than 20 spiritual leaders from various denominations after issuing a call for volunteers last year. Following an initial screening process, the participants were given strong doses of psilocybin—the psychoactive chemical in magic mushroom.

Hindu god banishes cannabis tourism from Indian village

Posted on July 11th, 2017 by Bill Weinberg and tagged , , , .

South AsiaA local Hindu deity has issued an edict ordering that guest-houses that cater to cannabis-imbibing tourists in a remote Indian village be shut down. That's the gist of the startling headline in Hindustan Times of July 11. Malana village, high in the mountains of Himachal Pradesh, is famous for its premium-quality hashish, but has traditionally been isolated from the outside world. Now village elders fear the community's unique culture is threatened by the swarms of tourists drawn by Malana's storied bhang.

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