Global Ganja Report

So-called "smokable hemp" is suddenly available in shops from coast to coast, legal under terms of last year's Farm Bill. But law enforcement is consternated, conservative politicians are apoplectic, and legislation is being prepared to ban the stuff at the state level. Is this permissible under federal law?

A federal appeals court in Denver has held that protections under the Fair Labor Standards Act apply to "all workers"—including those in the cannabis industry. The ruling sets an important precedent, boosting efforts to unionize the new legal industry.

Researchers are exploring the connection between cannabinoids and dopamine in the human brain, and particularly how THC affects our "reward system"—key to such phenomena as motivation, addiction and euphoria. Investigations are revealing both potential for treatments of psychiatric disorders as well as possible risks from heavy use, especially among the young.

Health authorities have named Vitamin E acetate as a likely suspect in the serious illness that has now affected hundreds across the country after vaping either cannabis or tobacco products. In many of the cases illicit-market dab carts appear to be responsible for the severe pulmonary problems that have now resulted in five deaths. But public authorities and the cannabis industry alike caution that research is ongoing.

Among the multiple grim challenges facing humanity at this moment is the specter of "antibiotic apocalypse"—so-called "superbugs" developing resistance to common antibiotics, portending a plague of incurable infections. Research in Australia now reveals anti-bacterial properties in CBD, effective even against the growing ranks of resistant superbugs. Many in the stateside cannabis industry say the development is further evidence that legal barriers to research need to come down—and fast.

The US Surgeon General has launched a new campaign hyping the supposed dangers of cannabis—a further disappointment for activists who held out hope that Trump harbored libertarian instincts and would legalize. All too predictably, the anti-legalization assumptions behind the new campaign are amply refuted by actual research.

Advocates increasingly assert that cannabis legalization is not fully realized unless workers are guaranteed their right to employment even if they partake of the herb off-hours. Some states are finally taking measures to rein in the use of urine-test results as an excuse to fire or turn down job applicants.

Driven by the notorious market glut in Oregon, wholesale cannabis prices have predictably plunged in the Beaver State. They have done so less precipitously in other western states. But this is offset by continued high prices elsewhere in the country, especially the East Coast—making for an overall upward trend this year.