Global Ganja Report

Civil rights organizations in New York are trying to determine if police and school officials on Long Island helped federal authorities detain students in the country illegally on the basis of dubious claims of ties to Central American gangs. The controversy comes days after President Trump's inflammatory speech before law enforcement officers in Long Island's Suffolk County on July 28. There was a major outcry over Trump's urging of police to be "rough" with suspects in the speech. This outrage nearly eclipsed media coverage of his pledge in the speech to "destroy" the MS-13 gang network, calling its members "animals."

A 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.

Hemp Business Journal reports that products infused with CBD oil are leading growth in hermp-derived products sold in the United States generally, which in 2016 had a collective retail value of $688 million. This figure represents a five year 22% compound annual growth rate (CAGR). Joining more traditional products such as shelled seed, protein powder, soaps and lotions, are growing lines of medicinal preparations such as CBD edibles. Hemp-derived cannabidiol (CBD) accounted for $130 million in sales last year.

Did 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.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions signed an order July 19 reversing limits on the federal civil asset forfeiture program that were instated under the Obama administration in 2015. The widely criticized civil forfeiture program allows law enforcement to seize cash and property from citizens who have not been charged with any crime. But under the Obama-era change, the feds respected the right of states to rein in the practice. With Sessions' change, that is now undone.

The family of late reggae legend Peter Tosh announced June 22 that the superstar's son has been left in a coma following a beating in a New Jersey jail, where he was serving a six-month sentence on a marijuana possession charge.

Protests broke out in Minnesota's Twin Cities the night of June 16, after the acquittal of a police officer in the notorious slaying of Black motorist Philando Castile—a St. Paul school cafeteria worker who was 32 at the time of his death. As I write, the first arrests are taking place, as thousands of demonstrators attempt to shut down Interstate 94. Black Lives Matter protesters are again mobilizing in cities across the country.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has called on congressional leaders to overturn federal protections on medical marijuana that have been in place since 2014, according to a May letter that the Washington Post published June 13. The letter, addressed to the Senate majority and minority leaders as well as Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, called for repeal of the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment, which bars the Justice Department from using federal funds to prevent named states "from implementing their own State laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession or cultivation of medical marijuana."