Marijuana stocks. At a glance, they seem like a disruption investor’s dream... After all, it’s a multi-billion-dollar market opening up after 100 years in the shadows. It’s forecast to grow at breakneck speed. And big companies are plowing huge sums of money in. However, you must look past the stock performance and into the actual business of selling marijuana. The fact is, most marijuana companies stand little chance of ever making significant profits. Sure, it’s new and exciting. But marijuana is a tough business. And it’s going to get much, much tougher as the market matures. You see, now that it’s becoming legal, there’s nothing special about marijuana. Like corn or wheat, it’s a crop. Selling marijuana was lucrative because it was illegal.

The cannabis plant has been used for spiritual, medicinal and recreational purposes since the early days of civilization. In this report the Transnational Institute and the Global Drug Policy Observatory describe in detail the history of international control and how cannabis was included in the current UN drug control system. Cannabis was condemned by the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs as a psychoactive drug with “particularly dangerous properties” and hardly any therapeutic value.

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First Copenhagen, now Berlin. As a new wave of debate on Cannabis legalization sweeps across Northern Europe, the German capital has become the next city where pro- and anti-cannabis liberalization forces are going head to head. The Green Party's Monika Herrmann, who became mayor of the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough, announced that she wants to set up a coffeeshop selling cannabis. Using the word coffeeshop, perhaps shows up the current limits of the legalization lexicon, as Herrmann insists that what she has in mind will be nothing like the social hubs selling coffee and grass that Amsterdam is known for.

While the world seemed to arrest, the cannabis industry’s pulse grew stronger. Cannabis research, though temporarily stymied as universities scrambled to get COVID-19 protocols in place, continued to plod ahead. Although the number of cannabis-related publications were down in 2020 compared to the previous year (what wasn’t, other than stock market indices?), scientists continued to unlock the mysteries of the fascinating plant. Here are some of the top stories in cannabis research in 2020. Italian scientists isolated a new cannabinoid, THCP (tetrahydrocannabiphorol), and cannabinoids may treat symptoms of Parkinson’s disease

Despite the lack of state support, more and more farmers in the UK are turning to hemp production for its economic and environmental benefits. It's legal for them to sell a variety of hemp-made products, like milk and seed powers, to supermarkets and other businesses. In the right conditions, hemp absorbs more CO2 than it takes to cultivate - sequestering nine to 15 tonnes of CO2 per hectare. That’s almost twice as much as a forest of the same size, according to a Cambridge University researcher. Could it be the next big carbon sucker? As well as absorbing carbon, “hemp regenerates the soil it grows in, cleaning it of heavy metals and toxins left behind from other crops,” explains Tommy Corbyn, co-founder of the National Hemp Service.

The Canadian cannabis industry is booming. From giant industrial operations such as Canopy Growth to smaller “luxury” cannabis retailers, to an array of cannabis “lifestyle” brands and “cannabis brand consultancy” firms, the industry is a lucrative frontier for those seeking wealth. Canadians spent $1.6-billion on legal weed in 2018. Cannabis is quickly becoming mainstream, and – as is the norm for our capitalist society – firmly corporate. This is a failure. Revenue from legal weed should be used to fund meaningful reparations for communities targeted for decades by racist drug laws and enforcement. The rapidly growing cannabis industry in Canada reveals a troubling trend: The profits and wealth being generated are overwhelmingly landing in the pockets of white Canadians.

As a colonial construct, the global drug control regime has undermined the rights of indigenous peoples (including the right to self determination, and to practice and revitalize their cultural traditions and customs), obliging all states to abolish traditional uses of coca, cannabis and opium by means of crop eradication and drug law enforcement. This webinar, which took place on the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples 2021, will shed light on the conflict between the drug control regime and Indigenous rights, and challenge prevailing narratives that these tensions are possible to reconcile while the UN retains the goal of a society free of drugs.

Columbia professor Carl Hart: "The National Institute on Drug Abuse funds 90 percent of the world's research on drug abuse with our tax dollars. The mission of NIDA is to focus on pathology, or drug addiction.... You have this disproportionate focus when, in fact, 90 percent of the people who use marijuana smoke it with no problems." (See also: Black leaders were misled about marijuana, Columbia professor says)

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Expert Committee on Drug Dependence (ECDD or Expert Committee) released in January 2019 the outcomes of the first-ever critical review of cannabis, recommending a series of changes in the current scheduling of cannabis-related substances under the UN drug control conventions. Eagerly awaited, the ECDD recommendations contain some clearly positive points, such as acknowledging the medicinal usefulness of cannabis by removing it from Schedule IV of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotics Drugs; clarifying that cannabidiol (CBD) is not under international control; and addressing some long-standing scheduling inconsistencies.

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In a sandy draw of the Santa Rita Hills, a cannabis company is planning to erect hoop greenhouses over 147 acres — the size of 130 football fields — to create the largest legal marijuana grow on Earth in the Santa Barbara County’s famed wine region. Lobbied heavily by the marijuana industry, Santa Barbara County officials opened the door to big cannabis interests in the last two years like no other county in the nation, setting off a largely unregulated rush of planting in a region not previously known for the crop. County supervisors voted not to limit the size and number of marijuana grows. They chose not to vet growers’ applications for licenses or conduct site inspections.

Cannabis associations that sell to non-members or minors will face fines of up to €10,000, with the associations also required to cough up money for harm reduction and community projects. A newly-published legal notice spells out what cannabis associations in Malta will need to do to obtain a permit allowing them to sell cannabis to registered members - from what records they must keep to who they can employ. The legal notice comes 15 months after the government effectively legalised recreational cannabis and weeks after the sector's new regulator started accepting registration applications. (See also: Small cannabis clubs should be able to cultivate weed in grow tents – Releaf)

Cannabis deals in Europe will help pot giant Aphria build up a war chest ahead of an expected frenzy of mergers and acquisitions in the U.S. High-margin medical cannabis agreements in Europe represent critical waypoints on Aphria’s road to conquer the U.S., bolstering the company’s balance sheet and putting it on firm footing with European regulators, said Irwin Simon. As in the U.S., legal recreational cannabis remains on the horizon in Europe, where a combined population of more than 500 million in the U.K. and European Union makes it a lucrative proposition. Aphria is set to complete its merger with Tilray this quarter, creating the world’s largest cannabis company by revenue.

Canada needs to open as many as 4,000 cannabis stores, more than triple the current number of licensed outlets, if policymakers want to eliminate the illicit market, according to the head of one of the largest marijuana retailers in the country. Trevor Fencott, chief executive officer of Fire and Flower Holdings Corp., said that Canada would need to mirror what other legal markets such as Colorado have done to compete directly with the illicit market, where one cannabis store would be open for every 10,000 people served. That would result in Canada needing to open about 3,500 to 4,000 cannabis stores. Canada has just shy of 1,000 licensed cannabis stores across the country less than two years after legalizing recreational pot.

Almost 10,000 people have registered with public health agencies to be eligible for the amnesty over marijuana possession, says the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA set the deadline for the registration as May 21. FDA secretary-general Thares Karasnairaviwong said that as the deadline draws nearer, more people have turned out to register, prompting the Public Health Ministry to add places for registration, including allocating officials to work on registration during the weekend. He warned the registration is open only for those in possession of marijuana for medical purposes. “This does not mean to give permission for individuals to grow marijuana plants,” Dr Thares told the media. (See also: Medical cannabis moving ahead in Thailand, but who stands to benefit?)

Three years after Canada legalized cannabis, the industry appears ready for a reset. When midnight struck on Oct. 17, 2018, Canada became the first developed nation to allow the sale of cannabis for recreational purposes, and since then the industry has had its share of ups and downs. While billions of dollars worth of legal pot has been sold across thousands of licensed stores, helping to stamp out roughly half of the illicit market, it's also seen many cannabis companies cumulatively post billions of dollars in losses as market dynamics warped lofty expectations made in the early days of legalization. But change may be afoot as the Canadian government undertakes a lengthy 18-month-long review of the legislation that legalized cannabis.

The cannabis industry can build a better and regenerative culture, rather than falling into the same old tired and destructive human and corporate patterns of extractive companies. We can create a diverse industry from the ground up. The federal and provincial governments can incentivize and support the creation of small sustainable environmentally friendly farms. In a transparent legal market, consumers can purchase cannabis aligned with their values, whatever they may be. We can promote gender parity and inclusiveness in the boardroom, and foster equity in the licencing process with buy-in from local, provincial and federal governments. Let’s create fair trade standards that will help farmers to not just survive but thrive, and give back to our communities economically, in the spirit of good stewardship.

Coffee shops in Tilburg and Breda may be able to take part in the experiment with regulated marijuana as early as October, ministers have agreed. The full trial will not take place until 2024 but ministers have now agreed to a ‘run-up’ involving the two southern cities because they are almost ready to go.The aim of the run-up is to ‘practice with all the processes and systems’, health minister Ernst Kuipers said. The minister told MPs that the initial period would last for six months and that he then hoped other cities would come on board. (See also: Amsterdam now wants to sign up to regulated marijuana experiment)

The Dutch government’s long-awaited legal cannabis experiment will kick off in Tilburg and Breda on December 15 when two licenced growers start supplying the cities’ cannabis cafes, or coffee shops. Health minister Ernst Kuipers said three growers would take part in the first phase of the project, but one will not be ready in time, he told MPs in a briefing. The two cities’ cannabis cafes will be able to continue buying from their current illegal sources in this first phase but that situation will end after six weeks. Then only licenced growers will supply the stores, offering a wide range of different products. In total, 10 producers have been licenced to grow marijuana and produce hashish for the 10 cities taking part. Amsterdam has also applied for coffee shops in the capital’s district of Oost to be included in the project.

In the scientific literature, 'skunk' has come to mean something more specific: cannabis that contains a high percentage of Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC, the intoxicating part) but little to no Cannabidiol (CBD, an antipsychotic), in contrast to other milder ‘strains’ which contain lower levels of THC and more a significant CBD component. Skunk is a deliberate creation of the illicit industry, fashioned by generations of selective breeding and advanced cultivation methods that have steadily pushed THC levels up over the last 20 years.

Cannabis may look green, but the environmental metaphor mostly stops there. Virginia—the latest state to approach full legalization—and the 46 others that have implemented some degree of liberalization all share the dubious honor of doing so with little or no consideration of environmental consequences, particularly those stemming from the prodigious energy use associated with indoor cultivation. In one mind-boggling illustration of this, a new study says that Colorado’s cannabis industry emits more CO₂ than its coal industry. Once the domain of barefoot gardeners, millions of pounds of cannabis—the nation’s highest-value cash crop—are now produced each year in Walmart-sized, windowless, energy-intensive factory farms. More than 40 percent of producers grow exclusively indoors.