About 80 % of Moroccans say legalizing cannabis for therapeutic, cosmetic or industrial use will have a positive impact on society. The Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE) surveyed 1,054 individuals aged 18-69 years on legalizing cannabis as part of its 2020 report on Morocco’s socio-economic situation. The survey aims to identify attitudes and perceptions towards cannabis and determine the perceived impacts of the legalization of the use of cannabis for therapeutic and industrial purposes. 86% of those surveyed said that legalizing cannabis would contribute to economic development, while 61% percent argued that areas where cannabis is cultivated should be supported with public investment in infrastructure, including the construction of roads, hospitals, schools, etc.

Thanks to the most lenient policies in California for recreational marijuana, Santa Barbara county is now the state’s undisputed capital of legal cannabis, boasting more acres than each of the the storied Emerald Triangle counties of Humboldt, Trinity and Mendocino. Santa Barbara voters overwhelmingly backed California’s legalisation of recreational marijuana in 2016, with hopes that the cannabis boom would bring tax revenue and new jobs to the county. The transformation has been fast and furious. Santa Barbara county is now home to around a third of all cultivation licenses issued in California, despite making up only 1.8% of the state’s land, with some megafarms stretching over dozens of acres.

Data coming out of Washington and Colorado suggest that those states' legalization experiments, which began in earnest in 2014, are not causing any spike in use among teenagers. Teen marijuana use in Colorado decreased during 2014 and 2015, the most recent time period included in federal surveys. A separate survey run by the state showed rates of use among teenagers flat from 2013 to 2015, and down since 2011. A state-run survey of 37,000 middle and high school students in Washington state finds that marijuana legalization there has had no effect on youngsters' propensity to use the drug. The Washington State Healthy Youth Survey found that the 2016 rate of marijuana use was basically unchanged since 2012.

If you think two or three powerful companies owning and controlling the sales of all regulated marijuana sounds like a good thing, you can click away from this article. But if the thought of a market controlled by Marijuamazon, Canna-uber, or Weedbook (excuse me, Weedaverse) is unsettling to you, I want to introduce you to a valuable concept: antitrust laws. As the power grab for control of the multibillion-dollar industry heats up, consumers and patients need antitrust protection. By applying the concepts of antitrust law to all federal cannabis reform now, we can avoid the creation of national monopolies before it’s too late and create a diverse and fair marijuana market instead. (See also: Schumer gives update on federal marijuana legalization and banking in meeting with equity advocates)

Un atelier de travail s’est tenu, le 6 mars au siège de la province de Chefchaouen, afin d’examiner les modalités concrètes de soutien aux coopératives pour le lancement de la saison de culture du cannabis légalisé. Cet atelier, qui s’est déroulé en présence du gouverneur de la province de Chefchaouen, Mohammed Alami Ouaddane, du directeur général de l’Agence nationale de réglementation des activités relatives au cannabis (ANRAC), Mohammed El Guerrouj, des chefs des services extérieurs concernés, et des représentants de 11 coopératives spécialisées dans la production et la valorisation du cannabis, a permis aux coopératives concernées de présenter leur perception sur le sujet, et a été l’occasion d’écouter les interventions des services techniques qui les accompagnent.

Ten years ago this week, Colorado voters approved Amendment 64, making the state among the first two in the nation (along with Washington) to legalize the use and possession of cannabis, a.k.a. marijuana, for recreational purposes. Today, the once-underground endeavor is a $2 billion per year industry in Colorado, and research on its chemical makeup, health benefits and risks is flourishing at institutions around the country. "Before, research focused almost exclusively on the harms because it was only thought of as an illegal substance," said Angela Bryan, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at CU Boulder whose team studies the health impacts of cannabis. "Now we can focus on the full continuum."

Uruguay paved the way when it legalised cannabis in 2013. But it is the reform in Canada, a G7 member, that has done most to heighten international tension over cannabis’s legal status. Last year it fully legalised the drug. Part of its rationale was that a regulated legal trade would curb the black market and protect young people, who were buying it there. Canada’s change has caused fierce fights within the UN in Vienna, according to Martin Jelsma of the Transnational Institute, a think-tank. A possibility that intrigues international-policy wonks is for Canada and other law-breakers to form an “inter se” (between themselves) agreement, allowing them to modify existing drug-treaty provisions. For this to be an option, Canada will probably want to wait until the club of outlaws is bigger.

In a recently published report, ‘High compliance, a lex latalegalization for the non-medical cannabis industry’, Kenzi Riboulet-Zemouli claims to have discovered a new legal justification for regulating recreational cannabis in accordance with the 1961 United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. A close reading quickly reveals the confused and legally indefensible nature of the paper’s proposed escape route. And while we consider the UN drug control treaties to be out of date and not fit for purpose, we strongly disagree with proposals that would seek to overcome the challenges on the basis of legally unsound and invalid arguments. The ‘High compliance’ paper constructs a legal house of cards that comes tumbling down when its core arguments are contested and taken out.

At the recently concluded 6th Latin American and 1st Caribbean Conference on Drug Policy, held in Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic, I started a discussion on the cannabis situation in Jamaica with a statement that “A lot has happened and a lot has not happened”, and this is the very same way I wish to start the engagement in this blog. Jamaica has in the last two (2) years has been thrust into the midst of the international discourse on drug policy reform, with specific emphasis on Cannabis reform.

With two US states - Washington and Colorado - voting to legalise the recreational use of marijuana, a similar liberal approach towards mild intoxicants in India is up for debate. Consumption of marijuana and other cannabis derivatives such as bhang dates back hundreds of years with strong roots in Indian culture. Untill 1985, marijuana and other cannabis derivatives were legally sold in the country through authorised retail shops. The enactment of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act in that year - carried out under pressure from the US - pushed the marijuana trade underground.

Forty years ago, the Netherlands was far ahead of its time. But today we see the country moving backwards, as evidenced by a recent report on the drugs culture in Amsterdam. The authors of the report, believe that Dutch society is ‘undermined’ by organised drugs crime, though it’s hard to say what the evidence is to support these conclusions. A new ‘hard approach’ – rather similar to the old approach elsewhere in the world – with more police powers must be deployed, in addition to stigmatising users, the report’s authors argued. The ban on drugs does not have the support of the majority of the Dutch. Most use is not problematic and users would rather buy their goods in a legal market, with quality guarantees and tax revenues to be spent on the people who do get into trouble.

Consulting firm McKinsey & Co. presented a document detailing proposals to jump start Lebanon's economy to President Michel Aoun, Bloomberg reported. The report highlighted some "quick wins" Lebanon can implement to get back on track - including legalizing cannabis production for export. Caretaker Economy and Trade Minister Raed Khoury added Lebanon could legalize cultivation and export the drug for medicinal treatments: “The quality we have is one of the best in the world,” he said, adding cannabis could become a one-billion-dollar industry. Bloomberg notes that "cannabis is cultivated clandestinely in the eastern Bekaa Valley, which is dominated by Hezbollah." (See also: Lebanon will legalize growing marijuana after McKinsey evaluated it as a boost for the country's troubled economy)

In mid-January, the Czech National Drug Coordinator Jindřich Vobořil plans to introduce a bill to free up the cannabis market. The exact form of regulation is currently being drawn up by working groups, after which Vobořil will seek public and political support. However, this is currently lacking among the People's Party, which considers the relaxation risky.  "We have to deal with complex topics like Schengen," Vobořil said. With the People's Party, which has 23 seats in the lower house, despite the willingness to discuss a specific proposal, friction can be expected. "We do not agree with the general legalization of cannabis. However, we support its use for medicinal purposes."

That cannabis and schizophrenia are linked is widely accepted. Several studies suggest the drug can set off short-term psychotic episodes in those already suffering from the condition. Other research, though, does more than this. It shows that people with schizophrenia are twice as likely as others to use cannabis. This leads some to argue that the drug is actually a cause of schizophrenia rather than just a trigger—a line of evidence sometimes employed by those who wish to keep it illegal.

Marijuana may be an issue of easy agreement in the ongoing coalition talks between Germany's leading parties. Despite numerous points of contention, the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), neoliberal Free Democrats (FDP) and Greens can find themselves aligned when it comes to cannabis legalization. The FDP emphasizes the revenue that the state could earn from taxing prerolled joints, cannabis flower and edibles. The Greens say legalization would put an end to illegal sales and reduce organized crime. Social Democrat health expert Karl Lauterbach urged the next government to legalize cannabis. Here is a look at countries that have already loosened their policies.

Learn how lessening the barriers for small farmers while raising them for large companies can help to steer legal cannabis markets in a more sustainable and equitable direction based on principles of community empowerment, social justice, fair(er) trade and sustainable development.

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Through manipulating trust and exploiting public ignorance, cannabis charlatans – new and old – are trying to construct corporate empires, some of which appear to be based on corruption, collusion and exploitation. Without transparency, credibility and integrity from the get-go, the equitable growth and sustainability of the South African cannabis community stands to be sacrificed purely for the sake of profit. In 2018 the Constitutional Court ruled that the prohibition of cultivating, possessing and consuming cannabis in private in South Africa was unconstitutional. Since then, much has been happening around cannabis. Unfortunately, the bulk of this action has been based on a misunderstanding of what both the new and developing laws mean, creating a great deal of uncertainty.

It’s been five years since the Canadian government legalized and regulated non-medical cannabis cultivation, commerce, and consumption. California is ahead of us by two years, having followed a similar experiment in 2016 when it legalized recreational cannabis. Today, California and Canada are facing similar challenges though they have adopted vastly different regulations. The two jurisdictions offer an interesting contrast in how regulatory frameworks can support or undermine a nascent legal cannabis industry. Evidence from the past five years suggests that the regulations have failed to provide equitable access to the industry and develop balanced tax structures. Legalization in Canada and California also remains hampered by the legacy of global cannabis prohibition.

Se ha cumplido un año de la legalización canadiense del cannabis recreativo. Canadá fue el segundo país –después de Uruguay- en insertar en el marco legal la mariguana con fines lúdicos, pero ha sido hasta el momento el único miembro del G20 en llevar a cabo una medida de ese calado en todo su territorio. “El escenario negativo tan publicitado simplemente no ocurrió. Se temía un aumento del consumo y consecuencias en la esfera laboral. También se imaginaban salas de urgencias saturadas. La legalización entró en vigor, va avanzando y refleja que es mejor que la prohibición. Por supuesto que está el tema del mercado negro. Aún es muy grande, pero tomará tiempo para que se reduzca significativamente”, comenta Jean-Sébastien Fallu, profesor en la Universidad de Montreal