Global Ganja Report

As political and legal space opens for cannabis in state after state, the idea of caps on the potency — whether of flower, extracts or edibles — is gaining currency. But voices in the cannabis industry view this as a phobic response rooted in the flawed assumptions of prohibition.

Among the ambiguous areas in the state medical marijuana laws from coast to coast is the status of cannabis and its derivatives as veterinary medications. Now, a new non-profit has been launched to advocate for legal standards and clarity on the question.

New Mexico's Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed the state's cannabis legalization bill on April 12, allowing those age 21 and over to start cultivating up to six plants at home and possess up to 2 ounces (56 grams) outside their homes starting at the end of June. Retail sales are to begin in a year. On April 7, Virginia's Gov. Ralph Northam reached a deal with the General Assembly, winning amendments that speed up the state's legalization to July 1. The law will make home cultivation of up to four plants and possession of up to an ounce legal for those 21 and older. Sales are expected to begin in 2024. The Virginia law has strong social equity provisions, while those in the New Mexico bill were mostly put off to future legislation. (National Law Review, AP, NPR, Virginia Mercury, Marijuana Moment, Marijuana Moment)

Even as the edifice of cannabis prohibition crumbles state by state, the federal illegality of the plant and its psychoactive compound THC continues to drive a quest for loopholes in the relevant statutes.


The latest such legal artifice concerns Delta-8 tetrahydrocannabinol — a less potent cannabinoid than the more common and notorious Delta-9 THC. Is there truth to the claim that hemp-derived Delta-8 THC was inadvertently legalized by the 2018 Farm Bill?

After years of activist effort, New York state finally passed the Marijuana Regulation & Taxation Act (MRTA), signed into law by a politically besieged Gov. Andrew Cuomo. This is being hailed as a victory by advocates, who pledge to craft a model of legalization that will dismantle a long legacy of racism and oppression under the prohibition regime.

After a frustrating delay and deadlock in the statehouse, New Jersey finally answered the will of the voters in last year's referendum, and passed enabling legislation to create a regulated adult-use cannabis market. Activists are still dissatisfied with limits—most significantly, no provision for homegrown—and have concerns about how a "recreational" market will impact medical users. But the belated move is being hailed as a victory that ups the pressure on neighboring New York to follow through on pledges to legalize—and even on the federal government.

Progressives coast to coast breathed a heavy sigh of relief as Joe Biden took the oath of office, ending the turbulent and reactionary rule of Donald Trump over the past four years.

But hemp cultivation, like the rewriting and replacement of NAFTA, was one of the few areas that actually saw positive change in the Trump years—with bipartisan support. The 2018 Farm Bill that re-legalized the crop after generations of prohibition bore Trump’s signature.

And there are fears that Biden could mean a return to the Washington consensus of a corporate-friendly “free trade” status quo ante, shorn even of the limited populist measures of the Trump era.

For small farmers, including some hemp cultivators, Biden’s choice to lead the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) may provide a case in point.

Some of her fans fondly recall that Gilligan's Island co-star Dawn Wells, who played innocent Mary Ann and passed away on Dec. 30 in Los Angeles, had been arrested for cannabis possession in 2007. Police in Idaho, where she then lived, stopped her car for swerving on the night of Wells' 69th birthday, Oct. 18, and said they detected the smell of marijuana. Four partially smoked joints were found in the car.