Global Ganja Report

In Episode 35 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg interviews Emily Ramos, Pilar DeJesus and Kara Bhatti, members of the worker-owned marijuana consumer cooperative High Mi Madre, on their lobbying and activist efforts in support of the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act, still pending in the final countdown to the close of the current New York State legislative session. They emphasize the demand for "Day One Equity" with cannabis legalization in the Empire State—measures for reparative justice and reinvestment in the communities that had for generations been criminalized and oppressed by cannabis prohibition. Listen on SoundCloud, and support our podcast via Patreon.

A Louisiana coroner declared a local woman's death to be the first on record attributed to a cannabis overdose, winning lurid national headlines. But medical experts and even federal officials as well as advocates are skeptical of the claim.

Two years after legalizing, Nevada has become the first state to bar employers from discriminating against job applicants on the basis of a positive test for cannabis. Will other states follow the lead of the libertarian-spirited Silver State?

The Cannabis Cultural Association won at least a limited legal victory, with a federal appeals court ruling that the DEA must consider with "alacrity" their petition to have cannabis rescheduled.

Colorado has passed a law allowing Amsterdam-style public cannabis smoking in "Marijuana Hospitality Establishments," as well as a measure lowering the penalties for cannabis in quantities exceeding those permitted for the adult-use market.

A scandal in New Orleans over false positives in the city's drug testing program comes just as a cannabis legalization bid died in the Louisiana statehouse. The Pelican State continues to have among the harshest cannabis laws in the country, but the contradictions are becoming sharper.

With the end of the legislative session in Albany closing in, odds for legalizing cannabis in New York state this year are fast diminishing. Now a new bill has been introduced, to reconcile rival versions pushed by the Assembly and Gov. Cuomo. It has won support from advocates—but, with the clock ticking, Cuomo equivocates on whether he will support it.

Finally settling a question that has vexed the Arizona medical marijuana program since it was launched nearly a decade ago, the state's highest court ruled that the program does indeed cover concentrates and extracts. The decision is a victory for patients who use edibles, tinctures or hashish.