Global Ganja Report

Starting July 6, the International Cannabinoid Research Society (ICRS) will hold its 21st annual symposium in St. Charles, Ill., just outside of Chicago. Notably, this year's symposium is sponsored by an array of pharmaceutical companies, the US National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), and ElSohly Laboratories of Oxford, Miss., the federal government's only licensed source of research-grade cannabis.

Deputy US Attorney General James Cole issued a controversial memorandum June 29 in an attempt to clarify federal policy on medical marijuana. Calling cannabis "a dangerous drug," Cole's memo threatened enforcement actions against "Persons who are in the business of cultivating, selling or distributing marijuana, and those who knowingly facilitate such activities," including local and state officials. The memo further underscored that "State laws or local ordinances are not a defense to civil or criminal enforcement of federal law."

Jim Squatter was already a longtime veteran of the squatting, anti-nuclear and anarchist movements before a devastating accident turned him into a medical marijuana user—and a fighter for the right to medicinal cannabis.

Unlikely political bedfellows Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) and Barney Frank (D-MA) introduced a first-of-its-kind bill June 23 that would end the federal prohibition on cannabis. The legislation is modeled after the 21st Amendment to the Constitution, which repealed the federal prohibition on alcohol and handed responsibility for regulating it to the states. Frank said "he's not advocating marijuana use, but believes that criminal prosecution is a waste of resources and an intrusion on personal freedom." The bill is co-sponsored by Reps. John Conyers (D-MI), Steve Cohen (D-TN), Jared Polis (D-CO), and Barbara Lee (D-CA).

More than 65 women have been murdered so far this year in the northern Mexican state of Nuevo León, according to the Mexican daily La Jornada. The victims included pregnant women and nine underage girls; the majority had been sexually abused before they were killed, and some had been tortured. Several of the corpses were dismembered. Northern Mexico is especially affected by drug-related violence, much of it from wars between drug cartels that have intensified since President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa began militarizing the fight against traffickers in December 2006. Mexican analysts say this "drug war" fuels violence against women in the region.

A former cancer patient and the husband of an elderly woman with serious health problems told a district judge in Montana June 20 of their concerns about whether they can still obtain medical cannabis if a new law takes effect July 1 to ban commercial growing operations in the state. The testimony came in the first day of hearings in a lawsuit filed by the Montana Cannabis Industry Association and others asking Judge James Reynolds to issue an injunction to stop the law from taking effect. 

The Colorado Board of Health on June 15 adopted new rules for the state's small-scale medical marijuana providers, over the objections of cannabis advocates who say the rules are too harsh. The rules require that caregivers—medical marijuana providers who by law must serve five or fewer patients—do more than just provide cannabis. They must now do something extra, such as help patients with shopping, cooking or getting to doctors' appointments. Medical marijuana advocates fear the added responsibilities will severely limit the number of caregivers, which today stands at 16,000 by official figures. (Denver Post, June 15; Sensible Colorado)

During last year's Prop 19 fight in California, we noted the strange phenomenon of "Stoners Against Legalization"—tokers who opposed the legalization measure, sometimes spouting bizarre conspiracy theories that the ballot initiative was all a plot by Monsanto and other big corporations to corner the cannabis market and squeeze out independent growers with bio-engineered patented varieties. We noted that even if Prop 19 passed, "cannabis will remain illegal at the federal level, allowing Monsanto to be shut down if they dabble in the Evil Weed." But now it emerges that—surprise, surprise!—the feds have actually been giving multi-national corporations the legal right to grow cannabis that us commoners are denied.