Lately, there have been clear signs of a shift in governments’ approaches to recreational cannabis. Uruguay in 2013 and Canada in 2018 – as well as a number of US states since 2012 – have moved to control cannabis through regulated markets from seed to sale rather than prohibition. More recently, the newly elected president of Mexico and the new coalition governments of Luxembourg and Malta also announced their intentions to regulate the recreational cannabis market. This is increasingly seen as a more promising way to protect people’s health and safety, and has changed the drug policy landscape and the terms of the debate.

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The Draft South African Cannabis Masterplan states that there are up to 900,000 traditional dagga growers in South Africa and that they and ‘dagga’ need to be included in the cannabis value chain, but makes no recommendation as to how this is to be achieved. The current trajectory of industrial and medical cannabis is exclusionary of traditional growers and our indigenous cannabis. The country’s cannabis legislation must enable existing growers to enter and participate in the value chain serving as a pro-poor mechanism to regenerate the rural economy, maximise our competitive advantage of farmers and climate-resilient and drought-tolerant genetics, formalise the massive existing illicit market and negate the necessity for further court challenges on the constitutionality of the legal framework.

The opportunity to commercialise the hemp and cannabis industry in South Africa is that it is a new, fast-growing, multi-billion dollar sector with local and international markets. The potential legal pharmaceutical market for hemp and cannabis in South Africa alone has been estimated at over R100 billion a year. But there are challenges. First, that the government fails to implement changes needed to ensure the sector grows in a way that benefits township and rural entrepreneurs farmers. The second is that, from mid-2022, small scale farmers farming cannabis promised to be issued with licences to farm legally. However, some farmers in the rural areas of the Eastern Cape are still waiting.

Business and advocates both play a key role in furthering marijuana legalization, but finding the ideal balance is proving difficult. That was particularly evident with Ohio’s ill-fated legalization measure, which seemed to shove aside the wants and needs of traditional advocates and marijuana supporters in favor of big businesses and investors. The issue resurfaced again last week when a former Marijuana Policy Project official pegged the industry’s growing influence on legalization efforts as a reason for his departure from the influential organization. (Netflix Co-Founder Mitch Lowe: Who’s Driving the $60 Billion Cannabis Market Revolution?)

Since the Thai government legalised cannabis on June 9, 2022 by removing the plant from the list of prohibited narcotics, the tourism sector was expected to reap a windfall as Thailand was the first country in Asia to allow hemp consumption for certain purposes, other than recreational use. A month after decriminalisation, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) published rules and regulations concerning cannabis and hemp use in the country in a bid to inform and warn tourists about prohibitions against smoking in public. The bid followed a number of reports about foreign tourists who possessed or consumed cannabis without knowing they could face harsh punishment.

Der Cannabiskonsum spaltet die Schweizer Politik. Die Sozialkommission des Nationalrats hat den Vorschlag des Bundesrats zu einer vorsichtigen Öffnung knapp abgelehnt. Der Bundesrat will wissenschaftliche Pilotversuche für den legalen Cannabiskonsum zu Genusszwecken unter Bedingungen zulassen. Im neuen Nationalrat, der diesen Dezember erstmals tagt, dürften die Regierungsvorlage und auch weitergehende Reformen durchaus Chancen haben. im Vorfeld der Parlamentswahlen hatten sich 86 von 189 Nationalratskandidaten klar für eine Legalisierung des Cannabiskonsums ausgesprochen, weitere 28 sagten «eher Ja». Eine Garantie für eine künftige Mehrheit ist dies allerdings nicht.

Under proposed cannabis legalisation in Malta, non-profit associations can grow cannabis to distribute among their members, Equality Minister Owen Bonnici said. The minister also said that people would be allowed to grow up to four cannabis plants at one residence. Bonnici made the announcement during a press conference. He insisted that the reforms were not to "incentivise cannabis culture or cannabis consumption" but to reduce the harm of drug rings. The regulation of cannabis clubs plugs a gap in the original proposal floated by the government earlier this year. A White Paper on Strengthening the Legal Framework on the Responsible Use of Cannabis was launched on 30 March 2021.

To accompany Bill 13-21, a coordination of cannabis growers and the descendants of farmers met with the parties represented in the Lower House to present a memorandum. It calls for authorizing the recreational use of this plant, establishing a general amnesty, defining a reference price and granting more roles to cooperatives. Mohammed Kharchiche, a member of the coordination, referred to the question of cooperatives. «The role of these has been reduced in the bill, acting only on collection and distribution of the harvest for companies which creates a sort of monopoly». The coordination considers that «cooperatives must also have the right to proceed with the transformation of the product and its valuation, so that they can really participate in local development».

It will be legal to grow and sell cannabis in Bermuda – if controversial legislation passed in the House of Assembly gets Royal Assent from the Governor. The Cannabis Licensing Act 2022 would create a regulated framework for growth and sale of the drug. A series of licences would be available through a licensing authority, which will allow people to not only possess more, but also to grow, harvest, sell, and export it. The Bill was introduced by Walter Roban, the minister for home affairs, who was standing in for Kathy Lynn Simmons, the Attorney-General. Mr Roban, in a repeat of the speech that Ms Simmons delivered in the House a year ago, said that the illegality of cannabis was “an unjust colonial legacy” and evidence of “systemic racialised disparities” where Black people were criminalised by a White oligarchy.

C’est la question qui brûle toutes les lèvres depuis l’annonce du projet de loi 13-21 : quelles seront, pour le Maroc, les retombées économiques de la légalisation de l’usage médical, thérapeutique et industriel du cannabis? A priori, la panacée. Du moins si l’on se fie à l’étude de faisabilité du ministère de l’Intérieur. De là à se demander s’il existe des possibilités d’ouverture pour le Maroc ? “Il pourrait y avoir un marché, mais il ne se crée pas facilement”, avance Tom Blickman. Ce dernier insiste sur le marché émergent du cannabis récréatif légal, “une solution pour réduire les trafics”. “Là ou d’autres pays ont légalisé le marché récréatif, comme le Canada, pourquoi ne pas produire pour ce marché?, suggère-t-il.

Tres años y algunos meses después de la sanción de la ley que permite el uso medicinal de la marihuana en Argentina, los usuarios que hasta ahora debían moverse en la sombra de la clandestinidad a riesgo de ir presos recibirán la noticia que tanto esperaban: el Gobierno permitirá finalmente que los usuarios terapéuticos puedan cultivar en sus hogares la planta de cannabis, además de habilitar su expendio en farmacias y proyectar cultivos y producción pública. El ministro de Salud presentó el borrador de la nueva reglamentación de la ley, que contemplará la mayoría de los pedidos de los usuarios y anulará la redactada por la administración del gobierno anterior, que había sido muy criticada por no resolver la demanda de los pacientes.

The new coalition government of conservative liberals (VVD) and social-democrats (PvdA) presented its coalition agreement on Monday. They agreed to abolish the cannabis pass, but access to coffeeshops remains limited to residents of the Netherlands. Customers need to identify themselves with an identity card or a residence permit together with a certificate of residence. Non-resident foreigners are still banned. In other words, there will be no cannabis pass, but the policy continues.

A leading drugs policy expert believes members of Malta’s planned cannabis associations should be allowed to consume cannabis on site rather than being restricted to only doing so at home. “It was an issue that came up in several of our meetings these past two days, and the social role of associations should be promoted as going beyond a place where members get cannabis to take home,” said Martin Jelsma, Programme Director for Drugs and Democracy at the Netherlands-based Transnational Institute. As it stands, the law will not allow members to smoke cannabis on the premises of planned cannabis associations. Jelsma also had strong words of criticism for Maltese authorities' handling of CBD cannabis flow, branding it "absurd".

European countries that are widening their cannabis policies should invest in monitoring and evaluation to understand the impact on public health and safety, according to the European Drug Report for 2023 issued by the EU drugs agency (EMCDDA). Cannabis remained the most commonly used drug in Europe in 2021, with around eight per cent (22.6 million) of adults estimated to have used cannabis “in the last year”. Malta legislated for home growing and use in private, alongside non-profit communal growing clubs, for recreational purposes. Germany and Luxembourg are planning to permit home growing. The Netherlands is piloting a model for a closed cannabis supply chain for cannabis coffee shops and Czechia has announced plans for a regulated and taxed distribution system.

While in the Americas cannabis policy reform is taking off, Europe seems to be lagging behind. That is to say, in European nations at the level of national governments – where denial of the changing policy landscape and inertia to act upon calls for change reigns. At the local level, however, disenchantment with the current cannabis regime gives rise to new ideas. In several countries in Eu­rope, local and regional authorities are looking at regulation, either pressured by grassroots movements – in particular the Cannabis Social Clubs(CSCs) – or due to the involve­ment of criminal groups and public disorder.

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Despite cannabis being the most widely used illegal drug, and therefore the mainstay of the ‘war on drugs’, it has only ever held a relatively marginal position in international drug policy discussions. Amanda Fielding of the Beckley Foundation decided to convene a team of the world’s leading drug policy analysts to prepare an overview of the latest scientific evidence surrounding cannabis and the policies that control its use. The report of the Beckley Foundation's Global Cannabis Commission is aimed at bringing cannabis to the attention of policymakers and guide decision making.

Cannabis Policy: Moving Beyond Stalemate

Extended Summary

Just quietly, from Friday week onwards, if you're in the ACT and you want to smoke cannabis in the privacy of your own home it will be completely legal. You'll also be able have up to 50 grams of weed sitting on your coffee table without any concerns. And if you want to turn your mind to growing a few plants in your own backyard that's okay as well. That's because as of 31 January, the personal possession and use of cannabis in the capital territory will be legal under local laws. And residents will be allowed to cultivate up to two plants. However, selling your product or even giving it away will remain illegal. In September 2018, Labor MLA Michael Pettersson introduced his cannabis legalisation private member's bill, which has turned the tide against the nationwide outlawing of the plant.

Canadian cannabis producer Canopy Growth said it is closing its flagship cultivation facility in Smiths Falls, Ontario, and cutting more than a third of its workforce as part of a shift to an “asset-light model” in Canada. Canopy disclosed the new strategy as it reported a net loss of 267 million Canadian dollars ($200 million) for its fiscal third quarter, bringing the struggling company’s red ink in the first three quarters of the year to CA$2.6 billion. Canopy said it is cutting its workforce by approximately 35%. The layoffs come as cannabis companies across North America have been shedding hundreds of jobs and closing facilities because of failing business plans, falling wholesale prices and recession worries.

In New Zealand, cannabis is classified as an illegal drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975. Its possession, use and supply are subject variously to penalties ranging in severity from fines to many years of imprisonment. The Helen Clark Foundation released a report which sets out the case for legalising and regulating cannabis. New Zealanders have the opportunity to vote for that in a referendum next year. Evidence from longitudinal studies carried out in New Zealand indicates that by the age of 25, 80% of New Zealanders will have tried cannabis at least once. The time has come to face up to the widespread use and supply of cannabis in the country and to legalise it and regulate it accordingly, writes Helen Clark, a former prime minister of New Zealand and member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy.

El cannabis de uso recreativo está a un paso de ser aprobado en el Congreso de Colombia, al quedarle un solo debate en la plenaria del Senado donde podría aprobarse la próxima semana el proyecto que permite el uso adulto recreacional. Este martes, la Comisión Primera del Senado aprobó con 15 votos a favor y 4 en contra en séptimo debate este acto legislativo, que al ser una reforma constitucional -porque en 2009 se modificó la Constitución para añadir la prohibición expresa de las drogas- necesita ocho debates. Una vez aprobado dará vía libre a la aprobación de la regulación para la venta libre de cannabis en el país. (Véase también: Senado aprueba en penúltimo debate la regulación del cannabis de uso adulto)