WeedLife News Network

The cultivation, sale and consumption of cannabis is legal worldwide only in a few places such as Canada, Uruguay and a handful of American states.

Mexico, an important player in the global marijuana black market, could soon be added to the list. Last week, the lower house of Congress approved draft legislation to that effect and it's likely that the upper house too will sign off on it. In November last year, the upper house already passed the bill but it had to go through yet another vote following a few modifications.

While conservative lawmakers have expressed concerns that consumption and addiction rates could rise, proponents of legalization have said it's a step towards peace.

A failed drug policy

For years Mexico has been plagued by violence stemming from its so-called ‘drug war,' a conflict between the state and the drug cartels, which also fight amongst themselves. Since 2006, more than 300,000 people are said to have been killed in the Mexican drug war. In a few areas in the country, the cartels have taken de facto control and corrupt security forces, politicians and businessmen have joined forces with organized crime syndicates in many places.

Last year was a big year for cannabis.

In December, the Oregon recreational cannabis industry topped $1 billion in sales for the first time, ending the year at $1.1 billion—up from $795 million the year before. This sudden spike in sales should come as no surprise. Thousands throughout the state suddenly found themselves quarantined at home with plenty of time to kill. (Pro tip: cannabis is an excellent tool for killing time.)

But while the pandemic may have been the source of the industry’s sudden boom, it was also the source of a great many unforeseen obstacles.

“There were a lot of challenges on the labor side with all the problems we faced with COVID,” explains Jeff Johnson, cofounder of one of the state’s most successful dispensary chains, Nectar. “Just absolute chaos ... every day, basically.”

Cannabis shops had to scramble to adapt to the new normal, adopting safety-minded measures like curbside pickup and delivery. Certain complications arose—the rule that a service can deliver only within the jurisdiction where it’s licensed, for example—but overall, business around the newly deemed “essential” service trucked along smoothly.

Back in the days when “skunk” was mainly associated with cartoon character Pepé Le Pew and hydroponics was a way of improving cucumbers, most of the United Kingdom’s cannabis supply was imported from places such as Morocco and Lebanon. This changed in the past two or three decades in the UK and many other countries as organised criminal gangs set up growing operations closer to home.

Cannabis was still cultivated and distributed out of the more exotic locations on a large scale, particularly when it came to resin, but a fair amount of production had now moved closer to the demand in a process economists call import substitution.

It is hard to measure this accurately, but the Independent Drug Monitoring Unit estimated that by 2012, 80% of the cannabis used in the UK was grown in the country – up from 30% in the late 1990s. It is probably well over 90% now.

But in recent years, cannabis has undergone another major shift. A sizeable share of demand is now met by small-scale growers, mainly supplying themselves and friends and acquaintances. This has become possible for various reasons, including improvements to growing technology, new strains more suited to indoor growing, and the wealth of information and expertise on the internet. As such, many cannabis users no longer depend on traditional drug dealers.

This trend has been gaining momentum during the pandemic. So is this permanent or will the old supply chains reassert themselves when countries return to some kind of normality?

Police in Pennsylvania made 20,200 arrests for marijuana possession in 2020, a year marked by the coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent designation of cannabis businesses as essential services in many jurisdictions. Arrest data from the Pennsylvania State Police showed that an average of 55 adults were arrested for cannabis possession in the state every day last year. 

The data, which includes arrests by state and local police throughout the Keystone State, was acquired by Chris Goldstein, a regional coordinator with the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). Goldstein helped draft Philadelphia’s 2014 cannabis decriminalization ordinance, a move that was followed by action to reform marijuana laws in more than a dozen additional Pennsylvania cities, including the state capital of Harrisburg.

“Cannabis consumers were targeted even during the Covid-19 pandemic,” Goldstein said in a statement from NORML. “This shows just how aggressively prohibition is enforced, despite the unprecedented public health risks in our communities. It’s time to stop marijuana arrests, right now.”

The data from law enforcement shows that police in Pennsylvania made more arrests for marijuana possession than for all other illegal substances combined, which totaled 17,425 arrests. 

“Justice for marijuana doesn’t begin until arrests actually stop,” Goldstein added.

Delaware's latest marijuana bill focuses on keeping profits local, while at the same time promoting fairness and social equity.

Legislators said March 18 they crafted the bill based on what has been done in the 14 states that have already legalized marijuana – many plagued by out-of-state corporate interests and heavy regulation that cut into local profits.

“We have studied what's going on in the other states and we feel we have a pretty good bill,” said Rep. Ed Osienski, D-Newark.

Senate sponsor Sen. Trey Paradee, D-West Dover, said Delaware's approach is safe, smart and responsible. “We've seen what has worked and not worked,” he said.

House Bill 150 would make it legal for those 21 and older to sell and buy marijuana. A Marijuana Control Enforcement Tax of 15 percent would be levied on the retail product, and those who grow, manufacture and sell it would pay application and licensing fees.

After receiving a suspended sentence for possession of cannabis last year, Filip Dostovski walked out of the Skopje courthouse and lit a joint outside as cameras rolled.

It was an act of "revolt against their sentence and against their policy", said the 41-year-old cancer survivor, who is pushing for the free use of marijuana in North Macedonia.

The Balkan state is eyeing a chance to become a cannabis pioneer in Europe, as the government considers legalising marijuana in what would be a first on the continent.

But many worry about a lack of follow-through, a problem that has dogged the government's drug policy for the last five years.

Home to little over two million people, North Macedonia legalised the cultivation and sale of marijuana-derived medical products in 2016, hoping to get the edge in a fast-growing European market.

State legislators seem to be highly motivated to push marijuana legalization through.

Lawmakers in New York are apparently close to a deal to make the state the latest to legalize recreational marijuana.

Leaders in Albany said Monday that a final version of the bill is imminent, and that it could be brought to a video perhaps as soon as next week.

Speaking at an event that day, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo told reporters that he spent the previous weekend on the phone with Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes.

“We’re very close on marijuana,” Cuomo said.

t is throwdown time, generally in Spain, over the entire cannabis conversation. 

Currently, cannabis clubs in Basque country are challenging authorities over their right to operate during the Pandemic. Meanwhile Barcelona clubs are leading their own similar challenge. These two regions are the Spanish states which have the most cannabis clubs. To add to all of the legal complexity, these are two of the most “independent” of the Spanish states, with a long history of confrontation against federal authorities.

No matter where they are, clubs (and their clients) across Spain have suffered, unsurprisingly, during the Pandemic. During the early days of the first global shutdown everywhere, most were closed, no discussion. However, some began reopening, even if on a limited, pick up basis, challenging local authorities, much as happened in U.S. states. Unlike the U.S. however, there was never really a formal discussion about how “mandatory” such services were. That said, no matter how reluctant politicians were to touch the issue, police in several countries, not just Spain, have weighed in on the fact that with clubs and/or coffee shops closed, the much more dangerous illicit market flourishes. And violence, particularly in poorer areas, has flared.

That is monumental enough. 

Here is why. The entire Spanish “social club” scene has developed, much like the situation in Holland, if not the early U.S. states—i.e., the entire state legit, federal illegal model that the Biden White House apparently also insists on perpetuating. In other words, in the grey areas of federal law. Unlike Holland and the U.S., however, the Spanish club model is a non-profit endeavor.

Here is the first thing you need to know about Franjo, as he is more apt to be known to both patients and others: he is a board-certified German medical artz (physician). 

Here is the second: he is also a doctor with a disability.

As a result of this, he has a unique perspective on the topic of cannabis as medicine that few in either the scientific or medical professions can match in both his medical training and his sympathy for patients.

Because this is not a new avocation, Grotenhermen is one of the leading cannabis doctors in the country right now. Further his voice as a medical doctor is one of the most credible ones on the edge of the giant green reform that is slowly starting to take hold in Deutschland as cannabis as medicine becomes a more accepted reality.

No matter how well you know him, however, is impossible to miss that he is passionate, articulate, and takes no prisoners.

Defending his stance against a bill to adopt Nebraska’s Medical Cannabis Act, Governor Pete Ricketts says “legalising marijuana” will “kill kids”.

In a press conference after discussion between lawmakers regarding Legislative Bill 474, Governor Ricketts said:

“So this is a dangerous drug that will impact our kids. If you legalise marijuana, you’re going to kill your kids. That’s what the data shows from around the country.”

It was really an over the top statement given Legislative Bill 474 is in connection to medicinal cannabis – but the Governor sees it as the thin edge of the wedge and also wants the FDA’s blessing on any medical cannabis products.

Here’s the full video, posted by The Recount:

New Mexico has not moved any closer to fully legalizing recreational cannabis, as a Senate panel has decided to pull discussions at the last minute.

Initially, a hearing was scheduled for this past Sunday, but the topic has now been pulled and won’t be discussed at this time. This is probably due to the fact that the Senate is finding it hard to agree on issues like taxation, pardoning and expungement, and licensing—the issues that often hold cannabis industries up initially. 

This is stressful for advocates, as New Mexico’s Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham wants to go ahead and get legalization under way, and only gave state senators this week to approve legislation. Then, the session will end, and cannabis legalization needs to be decided and worked out before then. 

The Status of Cannabis in New Mexico

This discussion and debate started when two proposals were introduced to legalize cannabis, one from a Republican and another from a Democrat. Those deciding on legal cannabis are also looking at how the medical industry already does things, as well as how to balance economic opportunity with best practices for equity. 

They don’t make cannabis products like they used to, and there’s an increasing number of Colorado lawmakers who think that’s problematic.

As recently as 2014, the vast majority of medical and recreational cannabis sold in Colorado was flower and only 11% was the high-potency concentrates consumed through dab rigs or vape pens. By 2019, concentrates took up a third of the market and flower was below 50%.

With the rising popularity of high-THC concentrates, which are several times more potent than flower and edibles, come worries among deep-pocketed political groups and their statehouse allies that teenagers have too much access to it without enough knowledge of the effects.

Lawmakers are working on what could be the biggest marijuana legislation in Colorado since recreational cannabis was legalized in 2012 — a bill that would more tightly regulate the state’s industry with a range of proposals, including a possible THC potency cap, a requirement that people seek medical cards in person only and improved data collection aimed at stricter enforcement of purchasing limits.

Its potential impact is enough to have the cannabis industry and its advocates warning of a so-called soft prohibition and again raising concerns about racial inequity in the business itself.

Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf has granted pardons to dozens of low-level marijuana offenders. The pardons were granted as part of an expedited process put into place last September via the Board of Pardons. That process, which was spearheaded by Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, explicitly facilitates the expedited review of those with criminal records for low-level marijuana violations. 

To date, the Governor has issued expedited pardons to just under 100 marijuana offenders. 

In recent months, lawmakers and public officials in various states have taken aggressive steps to review and vacate the criminal records of tens of thousands of people with marijuana convictions. In California alone, over 100,000 citizens had their records expunged. In several other states – including Colorado, Nevada, Illinois, and Washington – public officials granted pardons to tens of thousands of citizens with cannabis convictions. 

Said NORML’s Deputy Director Paul Armentano: “Millions of citizens unduly carry the burden and stigmatization of a past conviction for behavior that most Americans no longer believe ought to be a crime, and that in a growing number of states is no longer classify as a crime by statute. Our sense of justice and our principles of fairness demand that officials move swiftly to right the past wrongs of cannabis prohibition and criminalization.”

The future is looking brighter for Idaho farmers interested in growing hemp, as members of the state’s House Agricultural Affairs Committee approved House Bill 126 on Monday.

Voting on H.B. 126 was initially delayed during a hearing on Feb. 24, as some members of the committee said they needed additional time; however, the bill passed in a 44-26 vote. 

H.B. 126, which Rep. Clark Kauffman sponsored on the House floor, would legalize the production, processing, research and transportation of industrial hemp in Idaho.

If passed, farmers would be required to follow the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) final rule, set to take effect March 22, prohibiting them from growing plants that test over the 0.3% legal tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) concentration limit.

According to the bill, any grower who violates the 0.3% THC limit will be charged with a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $150 for the first offense. For a second offense committed within five years of the first, a person would be guilty of a misdemeanor, and the fine could double to $300. Following this, a person who commits a third offense within five years of the first conviction is guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of not more than $1,000 and six months in the county jail. 

Cannabis should be regulated and taxed like alcohol and tobacco, ADPD have said.  

The party was reacting to a statement by the Prime Minister Robert Abela where he announced that government will be launching a white paper on the decriminalisation of cannabis for personal use.  

“Over the years, despite the rhetoric and crocodile tears, authorities have ignored the suffering of thousands of people because of the so-called and ridiculous war on whoever smokes a joint. Victims of hard drugs are also made into victims of the justice system,” chairperson Carmel Cacopardo said.  

In light of recently published statistics that sixty percent of cases before the drug tribunal are for the possession of cannabis, ADPD said this is leading to a waste of police resources and cannabis.  

“The criminalization of drug users has completely failed, as even the United Nations claims. Those who are victims of heavy drugs have also ended up being victimized all over again, because instead of medical and social assistance they have ended up stuck in the criminal justice system,” spokesperson Samuel Muscat said.  

The latest U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) National Drug Threat Assessment says hemp is causing headaches for law enforcement.

10 pages of the 100-page report are dedicated to marijuana related issues. This section mentions the 2018 Farm Bill that legalized hemp production at the federal level is causing problems, especially in states that have legalized marijuana.

It says in some states where marijuana production is legal under state law, “a significant number” of hemp businesses and cultivation operations are owned and operated by drug-trafficking organisations that are illegally producing and trafficking marijuana.

The DEA says according to law enforcement officials, traffickers are using state-issued hemp documentation as a cover for marijuana grow operations and to shift product across state lines. The DEA also mentions large-scale hemp operations are at times used to camouflage marijuana plants scattered within them.

It states domestic use of marijuana remains high and is likely to increase as state legalization continues, and so too will domestic production and trafficking as changes to laws see more medical or recreational marijuana markets open.

Melissa Agard: "Youth usage of marijuana has actually gone down in states that have fully legalized.”

PolitiFact's ruling: Half True

Here's why: Wisconsin’s Republican lawmakers may have made clear that Gov. Tony Evers’ plan to legalize marijuana in the next state budget will go up in smoke, but state Sen. Melissa Agard, D-Madison, isn’t backing down. 

Agard has pushed the state for years to legalize the drug for both medicinal and recreational purposes, a proposal that garnered little traction under former Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican-controlled Legislature. 

Today, though, the dynamic is different. Legalization could generate $166 million in revenue that could help fund rural schools and programs for communities that have been disproportionately affected by past marijuana laws, Evers said when he announced the plan. 

The Chamber of Deputies approved this Wednesday in general the law that regulates marijuana for recreational use in Mexico.

With 316 votes in favor, 129 against and 23 abstentions, the new law decriminalizes marijuana in Mexico for recreational, scientific, medical and industrial uses.

This is one of the last steps in the legalization process, as it must return to the Senate for review and final approval.

In November, the Senate approved the legalization of the plant. However, the San Lázaro postponed the discussion of the controversial law, arguing that it needed more time to analyze it.

The general law for the regulation of cannabis , proposed by Morena, states that only people over 18 years of age may grow, carry and consume marijuana, THC and CBD .
Likewise, up to 28 grams of possession would be allowed.

A bill in the Iowa Senate that would loosen Iowa’s marijuana penalties has bipartisan support from lawmakers.

SF 533 would lower the legal penalty for first time offenders possessing less than five grams of marijuana in Iowa to a simple misdemeanor, translating to a maximum sentence of 30 days in prison and a fine between $105 – $855. Current state laws could result in up to six months of imprisonment and $1,000 in fines.

The bill has received bipartisan support and was originally introduced by Sen. Brad Zaun, R-Urbandale. It was unanimously passed in a Senate Committee on March 3, meaning the bill can be called for a full vote on the Senate floor.

Still, with 30 other states having fully legalized or decriminalized the substance as of March 2021, some policymakers in the state are worried that the legislation does not go far enough to address the social and economic grievances brought on by prohibition.

Sen. Joe Bolkcom, D-Iowa City, said that he believes the bill can go further by fully legalizing or decriminalizing the substance, which would also be beneficial for marginalized communities.