Con 82 votos a favor, 18 en contra y 7 abstenciones, el Senado de la República aprobó el dictamen para despenalizar el uso lúdico o adulto de la marihuana. Esto quiere decir que a partir del 15 de diciembre, si pasa en la Cámara de Diputados, las personas podrán cargar hasta 28 gramos de la yerba, es decir una cajetilla de 28 cigarrillos, y tener de 6 a 8 plantas de marihuana en sus casas, sin terminar en la cárcel. En términos sencillos, el dictamen que se aprobó amplía de 5 a 28 gramos la posesión para autoconsumo, es decir despenalizada y que no amerita sanción. Queda permitido a personas mayores de dieciocho años consumir cannabis psicoactivo. (Véase también: Marihuana: la polémica entre los derechos humanos y facilitar el consumo)

Mark Spear might be a thorn in the side of the Canadian weed industry. Or he may be a heel. He certainly stands out when it comes to gently pissing off the ones writing the rules on the Green Mile of corporate weed on Bay Street. Across the country, there are thousands more like Mark Spear – old-school cannabis folks who know how to grow weed better than anyone, and who want to see cannabis grown in the ground under the Canadian sun. They’re the former outlaws of the cannabis industry who were supposed to benefit the most from legalization. The Harper-era privatization of medical cannabis has led to a deeply corporatized recreational weed market. And for folks like Spear, it’s all a bit disappointing.

Following the Constitutional Court's decision in 2018 to decriminalize the personal use and cultivation of cannabis in South Africa, there are concerns on the ground that black farmers who have been working for decades in what has been an illegal industry may miss out on the potential boom. Many smaller growers cannot afford to get the licenses needed to grow marijuana for medicinal and research purposes. The stringent requirements include getting police clearances, registering a specified plot size, erecting high-tech security fencing, getting irrigation systems and setting up agreements with overseas buyers, among others. The cost of establishing a legal marijuana farm is estimated to be $200,000 to $350,000, according to a South African agricultural publication, Landbouweekblad.

South Africa’s budding cannabis industry has made huge strides over the last year since the Constitutional Court upheld South Africans’ right to privacy in September 2018, ruling that individuals should be free to consume cannabis in their private capacity. The court found that South Africa’s drug laws around cannabis were inconsistent with the Constitution, and gave lawmakers two years to change regulations to be in-line with this ruling. Parliament has until September 2020 to make these changes. Following the ruling, the government de-scheduled some types of cannabis health products, with conditions, making them easier to get hold of. This sparked a rise in a number of cannabis products showing up at specialist stores across the country – all legal.

It’s been just three short years since cannabis was legalized in Canada, but it’s already clear the nation’s exorbitant taxation on cannabis cultivators is not only unsustainable; it’s killing craft growers that are paying more in tax than they earn in margins. Earlier this month, Tantalus Labs CEO Dan Sutton outlined exactly how problematic Canada’s cannabis excise tax is, with small businesses paying as much as 30 percent of their top line revenues to it, in a Twitter thread. “We are milking a calf to death,” he wrote. The industry emphatically agreed, and since then, the conversation has evolved into a campaign to raise the issue with lawmakers.

The Marley family and a Seattle-based private equity firm announced the creation of Marley Natural, "a premium cannabis brand rooted in the life and legacy" of one of marijuana’s most devoted sons. Marley Natural will look like a modern consumer product, cleanly packaged and marketed with the help of the same agency that branded New Balance and Starbucks Coffee. The cannabis will be sold as "loose packed" buds, oils or concentrate. "This is what the end of prohibition looks like," said Brendan Kennedy, CEO of Privateer Holdings, which owns Marley Natural. (See also: Riding high: Is pot poised for a (legal) business boom | Marley Natural: The weed that manages to sell out both Bob Marley and Jamaica)

Two years on, the Canadian cannabis legalisation experiment hasn’t quite turned out as we reformers had hoped. The black market is still vibrant while cannabis stocks have crashed, medical patients say they can’t get hold of essential medicines, and thousands of jobs have been lost. So what went wrong – and what went right? Alastair Moore, co-founder of Hanway Associates, a London-based cannabis consultancy, says the Canadian industry has been driven by vulture capitalism and wishful thinking. “A mix of greed and naivety led this industry to great heights – and has left it on its knees. While some made lots of money, others lost their investments and now many others have lost their jobs.”

Cannabis guru Ras Iyah V says the time has come for developing nations, including those of the Caribbean, to collectively lobby the US to strike cannabis from its Controlled Substances Act. “It is important for Jamaica to align itself with Third World countries, starting with the Caribbean, because you have all of these Caribbean countries that will be embarking on a cannabis programme, who have gone as far as amending their laws to be establishing an industry in their respective countries.” St Vincent and the Grenadines Minister of Agriculture, Saboto Caesar appealed for CARICOM and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States to partner in the development of standards governing the negotiation of cannabis trade agreements for their member states.

Legalizing marijuana nationwide would create at least $132 billion in tax revenue and more than a million new jobs across the United States in the next decade, according to a new study. New Frontier Data, a data analytics firm focused on the cannabis industry, forecasts that if legalized on the federal level, the marijuana industry could create an entirely new tax revenue stream for the government, generating millions of dollars in sales tax and payroll deductions. The analysis shows that if marijuana were fully legal in all 50 states, it would create at least a combined $131.8 billion in in federal tax revenue between 2017 and 2025. That is based on an estimated 15 percent retail sales tax, payroll tax deductions and business tax revenue.

Producing and selling hemp inflorescences (clusters of flowers on a stem) with a low THC content has been legal in Switzerland since 2017. However, this market has not proved to be the gold mine that some expected. Since 2011, hemp and its derivatives with a THC concentration of under 1% have no longer been considered drugs under Swiss law. The boom of so-called light cannabis, however, only came about in 2017, when it became possible to produce and market the unprocessed inflorescences of this plant in Switzerland, provided the THC content was below the 1% threshold. Many people saw an opportunity, a new Eldorado, and the number of registered producers jumped from five in early 2017 to 630 in 2018.

Thailand's decriminalisation of cannabis has delighted its fans, alarmed some health experts and has increasingly disappointed farmers who have been undercut by illegal imports, sending a promise of a new bonanza crop up in smoke. Marijuana has also become an election football with the opposition criticising the ruling pro-military coalition in the run-up to May 14 polls for rushing through decriminalisation last year to what they say is the detriment of society, youngsters in particular. Thousands of cannabis shops and businesses have sprung up, especially in Bangkok and tourist spots, since Thailand became the first Southeast Asian country to decriminalise the drug.

With 33 states now offering some form of legal medical or recreational marijuana, and pot companies expanding their footprints across the country, the cannabis “gold rush” is underway — and it won’t stop anytime soon, says Ben Kovler, founder, chairman and CEO of Green Thumb Industries. “The opportunity in cannabis is here in the U.S.,” Kovler said adding that “the phone rings a lot” as companies in diverse sectors start to field opportunities in the space. “This is where the market is,” he said. “This is a $50 [billion] to $80 billion industry where total market capitalization is still under $15 billion. So it’s a really exciting time, and you can see that the U.S. is where the operators want to be.” (See also: Cannabis CEOs bet on US pot legalisation within a year | Canopy Growth CEO expects to hit $1B in revenue for fiscal year 2020)

In July 2016, the Colombian government enacted Law 1787, which regulates the use of medicinal cannabis and its trade in the country. With this decision and a series of subsequent resolutions, Colombia joined the more than a dozen countries that have put into practice different types of regulation to explore the advantages of this plant as an alternative pharmaceutical. Even though the law stipulates that 10 per cent of production should come from small- and medium- scale growers, the reality is that most of the business has been dominated by large local and foreign investors.

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As state after state has legalized marijuana in one way or another, big names in corporate America have stayed away entirely. Marijuana, after all, is still illegal, according to the federal government. But Microsoft is breaking the corporate taboo on pot by announcing a partnership to begin offering software that tracks marijuana plants from “seed to sale,” as the pot industry puts it. The software is meant to help states that have legalized the medical or recreational use of marijuana keep tabs on sales and commerce, ensuring that they remain in the daylight of legality.

Canada has a tradition of overregulation and one can already sense that the government is poised to place a myriad of restrictions on production and distribution of marijuana. Invariably, the more complex the regulatory framework, the more likely the market will be overrun by multinational corporations, Crown agencies and the heroes of big business. This completely undercuts the 1960s idealism which spawned our taste for the uplifting effects of marijuana; however, idealism always plays second fiddle to the realism of money markets. (B.C. cities to ask Ottawa for cut of legal pot revenue)

As the government crawls towards legalization with the appointment of a task force, my tempered enthusiasm has started to wane, replaced by dismay. I see countless interested parties and stakeholders lining up to cash in on cannabis dollars. Canada has a tradition of overregulation and one can already sense that the government is poised to place a myriad of restrictions on production and distribution. The more complex the regulatory framework, the more likely the market will be overrun by multinational corporations, Crown agencies and the heroes of big business. If excluded from the new market, the underground will continue to flourish. If the fallback position is that anyone who does not comply with the rules of the market must be dealt with by the criminal justice system, then we have not achieved legalization.

Bad news about the so-called "Green Rush" rolled in slowly at first, picking up steam around the end of last summer. Stocks started to dive. Layoffs were announced. Executives who just months earlier were forecasting great riches suddenly acknowledged — mostly in whispers — the deepening gloom. Since last August, the North American Marijuana Index, which tracks cannabis stocks, has fallen by half. The problem with pot stocks isn't limited to California. It's continental: too many investors looking for a quick buck creates a bubble, as with Internet stocks in 1999, or housing in 2007. That bubble has now burst. (See also: Dare we hope for federal legalization?)

In South Africa’s richest suburb, against the backdrop of dazzling tower blocks belonging to law firms and insurance companies, a brand-new industry is taking shape — one that its advocates say will transform South Africa’s economy. But not everyone is so sure that the profits from the expected legalisation of cannabis will be distributed fairly. In September 2018, in a landmark judgment, the Constitutional Court legalised the private use and cultivation of cannabis. Full legalisation of marijuana for both medicinal and recreational use is expected to follow. This might come sooner rather than later. In his budget speech last month, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni indicated that there will soon be a change in policy when it comes to “the green thing”.

How big is the legal cannabis industry? Every time I think I’ve seen the highest estimate along comes another breathless puff piece with an even bigger number to chew on. $50 billion? Not even close. $100 billion? That’s only the US, according to some figures. One consultancy reckons you’ll be able to stick another zero on that within ten years. A trillion dollar weed industry? Surely not. Is investing in cannabis shares the sure bet it’s made out to be? The experience of many investors already suggests otherwise. While many of the first weed companies to go public made big initial gains, most tumbled as quickly too. At the end of last year, just when Canada — the world’s largest cannabis market — announced its supply was running out, it triggered a rout in share prices.

The fight over the legalization of marijuana in Massachusetts isn’t over. But one side has already gone home. Last November, a well-funded and well-organized coalition of advocates led by the national Marijuana Policy Project persuaded more than 1.7 million Massachusetts voters to approve Question 4 and establish a system of regulated cannabis commerce. Since then, though, a new front has opened over legalized marijuana — dozens of fronts, actually, in cities and towns across the state, where voters and local officials have already imposed moratoriums and bans on licensed pot firms or are set to vote on similar measures this fall.