Global Ganja Report

The Maryland House of Delegates on March 25 approved a bill to legalize medical marijuana by a vote of 108-28. The bill would also create a state commission to manage medical marijuana programs at participating academic medical research centers. While the number of distribution centers to be created is uncertain, neither the University of Maryland nor Johns Hopkins University have demonstrated interest in being involved in the distribution system.

Congressman Jared Polis (D-CO) introduced legislation last month, House Resolution 499, which would effectively end the federal prohibition on marijuana and allow states to set their own policies. The Ending Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2013 would remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act, transfer the Drug Enforcement Administration's authority to regulate the herb to a newly renamed Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Marijuana and Firearms, require commercial producers to purchase a permit, and ensure that federal law distinguishes between individuals who grow for personal use and those involved in commercial sale and distribution. (NORML Action Alert)

Medical marijuana patient advocacy group Americans for Safe Access (ASA) filed a petition with the federal court of appeals March 22 in a widely watched case that seeks to reclassify cannabis for medical use. Plaintiffs in the case, ASA v. Drug Enforcement Administration, are requesting a rehearing before the original panel, as well as seeking full (en banc) review by the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. On Jan. 22, the DC Circuit granted plaintiffs standing—the right to sue the federal government to reclassify cannabis—but, in a 2-1 ruling, denied the appeal on the merits by setting what ASA calls a "virtually-impossible-to-meet standard" for assessing medical efficacy. (ASA, March 22)

More than a dozen members of Congress co-introduced legislation Feb. 14 that would reclassify cannabis for medical use and provide federal defendants the right to use state law compliance as evidence in medical marijuana trials, a right they're currently denied. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) authored H.R. 689, the "States’ Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act," which in addition to rescheduling cannabis will allow states to establish production and distribution laws without interference by the federal government, and will remove current obstacles to research. Rep. Sam Farr (D-CA) authored H.R. 710, the "Truth in Trials Act," to overturn the prohibition on medical marijuana evidence in federal court. 

A market glut and paranoia about criminal cartels getting into the act coincide with the end of the CAMP program. Can Northern California's cannabis industry remake itself along ecological and community-rooted lines?

With the 2012 fall harvest season, Northern California's legendary cannabis-growing Emerald Triangle—centered around the counties of Humboldt, Mendocino and Trinity—is at a turning point. And as the old cliché goes, the Chinese character for crisis is made up of the characters for danger and opportunity.

The current juncture is ripe with both.

In a decision that may shutter most of the state's medical marijuana dispensaries, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled 4-1 Feb. 8 that the private sale of medical marijuana is illegal. The court granted an injunction enjoining the defendants' business, Compassionate Apothecary, from selling medical marijuana on the grounds that such sales constitute a public nuisance.

Applications to carry concealed weapons have spiked just about everywhere in Northern California in recent months, part of the ominous national trend. A Feb. 9 report in the Yuba-Sutter Appeal-Democrat notes the surge in those two counties which lie in the Sacramento Valley and Sierra Nevada foothills, directly east of the Emerald Triangle. "There's been a dramatic increase in applications in the last few years," Yuba Sheriff Steve Durfor said. "I think it's reflective of uncertainty in the world and more people feeling vulnerable with increased talk of gun control restrictions." Sutter County Sheriff J. Paul Parker reported the same trend: "Five years ago, we had 650 permits. Now we're at 1,174."

Seattle's Mayor Mike McGinn on Feb. 7 ordered his police department to abandon its plan to use drones after residents and privacy advocates protested. McGinn said the two small drones obtained through a federal grant will be returned to the vendor. "Today I spoke with Seattle Police Chief John Diaz, and we agreed that it was time to end the unmanned aerial vehicle program, so that SPD can focus its resources on public safety and the community building work that is the department's priority," he said in a brief statement.