Global Ganja Report

There is a growing consensus among hemp advocates that the 0.3% limit for THC content is arbitrary and is holding back the industry. And the man widely credited with arriving at this limit himself agrees.

The Contested Border
"It seems like it is pretty much pulled out of air. We ought to be looking to science to determine an appropriate threshold, determine the level at which cannabis is psychoactive and make that the standard."

This typical view is offered by attorney Patrick Goggin of Hoban Law Group, the international firm specializing in cannabis. Goggin is one of the industry's legal heavy-hitters, and has particular experience in the question of the contested border between hemp and marijuana.

Yet again, a scientific study linking cannabis use to psychiatric maladies gets widespread and sensationalistic media play. And once again, the assumptions behind the study are questionable, and the findings are further distorted by irresponsible reportage.

Does daily cannabis use, especially of high-potency "skunk" strains, lead to an increased risk of developing psychosis? Based on recent media coverage, you can be forgiven for thinking so. But you should really take a closer look before you believe the hype.

The conventional wisdom—and certainly the impression made by much media and advertising—is that CBD is legal pursuant to the federal Farm Bill enacted late last year. As is often the case, however, there are some devils in the details.

FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb has suddenly announced that he is stepping down, leaving lots of unfinished business—including the status of CBD under the agency's regs. Biotech stocks are taking a tumble on the news, while tobacco is bullish and cannabis is mixed.

A newly released study from the University of New Mexico actually finds more therapeutic benefits to THC than its sexy sibling cannabinoid CBD. However, the study is based on a single cellphone app—which, for better or worse, is certainly unorthodox methodology.

The World Health Organization has released its long-anticipated recommendation on cannabis scheduling. But rather than removing it from Schedule I of the Single Convention, it only removes it from Schedule IV, where it is also listed. CBD, however, has indeed been de-scheduled entirely.

In what is starting to smell like an anti-cannabis media campaign, headlines erupt this week on the possible deleterious effects of cannabis on the developing brains of young teens. Again, the accounts are one-sided—and the political assumptions behind them flawed.

Recent days have seen successive stories in the media on the supposed mental health hazards of cannabis—seeming to signal a backlash to recent gains in normalizing the plant and overcoming the stigma.

The claim that cannabis causes "mental illness" rears its dubious head like clockwork every few years, and this latest round has occasioned a virtual media frenzy—a seeming backlash to the recent advances in normalization of the herb and its aficionados. Scratching the claims, however, reveals more hype than rigor.

The headlines are all too familiar ones, but this time they got very prominent play.