Dozens of legal cannabis producers, backed by billions in investor capital, were expected to put the black market on its heels, launching Canada to the forefront of an expanding global industry with the promise of mass-produced, high-quality, heavily regulated marijuana. But scandals, sluggish earnings and executive shakeups have replaced the soaring expectations of a year ago. Government data show that the legal market has only supplanted 14 per cent of the black market since legalization on Oct. 17, 2018, and some are concerned that further inroads may be difficult to come by. One of the biggest problems was that the industry’s early focus on scale — something that was largely a symptom of the push to raise capital ahead of legalization — distracted it from other important considerations.

La Audiencia Provincial de Madrid ha absuelto a tres fundadores de un club de cannabis de los delitos de pertenencia a asociación ilícita y contra la salud pública por tráfico de drogas por los que la Fiscalía pidió que fueran condenados a cinco años y ocho meses de prisión y multa de 16.480 euros. De esta forma la Audiencia estima la tesis absolutoria de las abogadas defensoras de los acusados. La Audiencia fundamenta que no ha quedado acreditado que los acusados constituyeran una asociación con apariencia de legalidad para vender la droga ni que hubieran entregado marihuana o hachís a personas que no fueran socias de la asociación ni que las cuotas de los mismos tuvieran otro destino que sufragar los gastos del club de cannabis.

The Australian Capital Territory law to legalise cannabis possession appears to “do nothing to end the continuing operation” of commonwealth offences, Christian Porter has warned. The attorney general’s comments suggest Canberra cannabis users will be left in legal limbo when the laws take effect from February, contradicting the ACT government’s claim that its law provides a defence to the federal offence. The Morrison government has stepped up its rhetoric against the laws. Health minister, Greg Hunt, accused the ACT government of being “blind and indifferent to the health consequences” of cannabis after asking it what medical evidence was considered before legalising it.

Activistas del cannabis en Uruguay realizó una “concentración y fumata” frente a la Suprema Corte de Justicia (SCJ) en reclamo por el “excesivo punitivismo ejercido por los operadores judiciales y policiales” sobre los autocultivadores de cannabis. Esta persecución se realiza en el marco legal generado por “la LUC [Ley de Urgente Consideración], el Nuevo Código del Proceso Penal y las instrucciones de fiscalía en referencia al combate al microtráfico”. “Tras haberse regulado en 2013 en nuestro país la producción y expendio de marihuana en flor, nos enfrentamos hoy por hoy a una política de seguridad pública y drogas con un pronunciado sesgo belicista y prohibicionista”, continúa la misiva. (Véase también: A través de un convenio con el Ircca, la Policía puede acceder sin intermediarios a las direcciones de los clubes cannábicos)

Established medical cannabis companies could be looking to set their foot in Malta’s flegdling recreational cannabis market, according to sources. Releaf, the NGO that led the campaign to legalise recreational cannabis, fear that the sacking of the Authority for Responsible Use of Cannabis’s first director could lead to the dealer-driven black economy for cannabis poised for a takeover “an equally profit-driven market run by a few friends in high places”. Mariella Dimech was sacked after 10 months in the job, with not one single licence for the non-profit cannabis ‘clubs’ having yet been issued. Dimech complained that she had been left without a functional office, staff, budget or political strategy with which to carry out her job. (See also: McKay appointment a ‘direct insult to the spirit of the law’, says Releaf Malta)

Cannabis activists in Trinidad & Tobago have praised the proclamation of legislation to decriminalise use and possession in small amounts, but said that it is only the beginning. "It is a start. Not the start we would have liked but is a start," said CEO of advocacy NGO Cannabis and You Javed Baksh. With decriminalisation people will be able to legally have cannabis at home and use it (four plants per person and under 30 grammes of flower and under five grammes of resin) but this has already been happening. "People been doing that for how many years. They get it at home and use it at home. Some have grown in their residences. I have it grown years ago." (See also: Process for ganja pardons begins | How marijuana records will be expunged)

For over two decades, cannabis, commonly known as marijuana, has been the most widely used illicit drug by young people in high-income countries, and has recently become popular on a global scale. Epidemiological research during the past 10 years suggests that regular use of cannabis during adolescence and into adulthood can have adverse effects. Epidemiological, clinical, and laboratory studies have established an association between cannabis use and adverse outcomes.

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Benjamin Cadet stands among his plants in a white polo shirt bearing his company logo. He dons surgeon's gloves and handles the flowers carefully. They are full of pollen — ripe for the picking. The Ugandan entrepreneur and former member of parliament is the CEO of the only company licensed to grow and export cannabis legally in the East African country. The cannabis plantation, located in Uganda's mighty Rwenzori Mountains, extends over three hectares in the country's west, almost directly on the Equator. More than 40,000 cannabis plants thrive in greenhouses under strict hygienic conditions. They are destined for export to Europe. (See also: Aiming high: Africa’s cannabis future)

A series of protests which began on January 15 in various cities and neighborhoods across Tunisia have largely focused on economic inequality and police repression. But recently, some of those protesting have revived an old demand of decriminalizing cannabis usage. One event appears to have pushed some to take up this demand again with renewed visibility in the streets and on social media: on January 21, 2021 a judge in El Kef handed out 30-year jail sentences to three young men for cannabis consumption in a public place. The high attendance at these protests may stem in part from widespread anger at the 30-year jail sentence. However, some of the recent street activism may be traced to planning going back even further, to six months ago, according to one organizer.

Founded in 1971 by squatters on an abandoned military base, Christiania was devised as a post-’60s anarchistic utopia, where people could live outside of Denmark’s market economy. Denmark’s government oscillated between attempting, without much success, to bring the community to heel or turning a blind eye as Christianites flouted property laws and drug laws. But now, after 50 years, with worsening gang violence and fresh attempts by the government to normalize the commune, some residents see their dream of an alternative society fading.

Tilray and Aphria, two of the biggest marijuana companies in Canada, announced plans to merge and create the world’s largest cannabis outfit. With existing medical and recreational cannabis businesses in Canada and Europe, the new conglomerate is positioning itself to eventually enter the biggest weed market in the world: the U.S. “The next big prize is the United States,” said Tilray CEO Brendan Kennedy. Cannabis is still illegal under U.S. federal law, so the company won’t be able to export into the country unless laws change under President-elect Biden. And as of now, the new company, to operate under the Tilray brand, does not have any US-based cannabis cultivation or retail licenses. (See also: Aphria, Tilray merging to create world's biggest cannabis company)

Teen marijuana use fell sharply in Colorado in the years 2014 and 2015, after the opening of that state's recreational marijuana market, new federal survey data show. The state-level data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health showed that 18.35 percent of Coloradans ages 12 to 17 had used marijuana in the past year in 2014 or 2015, down sharply from 20.81 percent in 2013/2014. That works out to roughly a 12 percent drop in marijuana use, year-over-year. Year-over-year teen marijuana use fell in most states during that time period, including in Washington, the other state to open recreational marijuana markets in 2014. But that drop wasn't statistically significant.

The European Union is currently a hotchpotch of different approaches to cannabis use, ranging from complete prohibition to different levels of decriminalisation and tolerance. Even in liberal enclaves like Barcelona and Amsterdam, the sale of cannabis from licensed clubs or outlets, is only allowed on murky legal grounds. But legalisation remains a rarity, with only Luxembourg preceding Malta in plans to legalise home-growing of a limited number of plants. But that is about to change as Germany, the EU’s economic powerhouse and most populous and influential country, is set to embark on legalisation, which could well have an impact across the continent.

Voters in some parts of Alaska rejected efforts to ban commercial marijuana cultivation and retail sales, three years after the nation’s largest state passed a voter initiative legalizing the recreational use of the drug. The votes came during local elections in the state’s major marijuana growing areas — in and around Fairbanks and on the Kenai Peninsula southwest of Anchorage. All lost by wide margins. If the bans had been successful, they would have forced retail stores and cultivation facilities to close within 90 days and that would have left a gaping hole for other retail stores across the state in need of product. Personal use and growing pot at home for that use would still be allowed.

Thousands of small producers have made Albania, Europe’s second-poorest country, its biggest open-air producer of cannabis, exported mainly to western Europe through Greece and Italy. But as Albania tries to clean up its act ahead of hoped-for EU accession talks next year, the government is cracking down on the drug trade. In the past year alone, the area under plantation has dropped by 75 per cent. In the desperately poor countryside, there is a strong economic imperative to grow the crop. Cannabis cultivation provides a cash income in rural areas, where the estimated unemployment rate is 70 per cent. Local growers are estimated to have earned around €300m last year, a similar amount to the annual remittances sent home by Albanians working in western Europe.

As Albania gears up for elections, one huge challenge facing the Balkan country has been low on the campaign agendas: the scourge of its cannabis fields, which threatens to hinder EU accession. Mountainous Albania is the main supplier of herbal cannabis trafficked to the European Union, says the bloc’s law enforcement agency, Europol. Despite Albania’s attempts to crack down on the illicit but lucrative trade, recent international reports said the scourge is yet to be brought under control – and that the criminal gangs behind it are escaping justice. (See also: Riding along with Albania's pot police | Albanian police go airborne for anti-cannabis offensive)

Albania plans to legalise the cultivation of cannabis for medical purposes, six years after beginning a crackdown on an illegal trade that turned it, by some accounts, into Europe’s largest outdoor grower of cannabis. Prime Minister Edi Rama said the time was ripe for one of Europe’s poorest countries to enter the lucrative market, emulating its neighbours North Macedonia, Greece and Italy - the latter a destination of tonnes of cannabis from Albania. “Illegal cultivation is completely under control,” Rama said. “This is the third or fourth year of consolidation. We plan to pass the bill in this session of parliament.” Villagers were asking for a full amnesty for those convicted on cannabis charges - not merely the amnesty for dodging tax on illicit earnings that Rama is proposing in addition to the legalisation.

Despite all its promises, the Albanian government under Prime Minister Edi Rama has not managed to significantly reduce poverty in the country. Unemployment is high, welfare benefits are low - only 75 euros a month per family. Is that the reason why many Albanian farmers and the unemployed grow cannabis? "Thousands of Albanians have no alternative because social and economic measures to help rural regions are lacking," says Lulzim Basha, the leader of the opposition Democratic Party of Albania. "People are faced with the choice to either have no bread for their children or to work on cannabis farms. Many have chosen the second option."