Policy changes over the past five years or so have dramatically reshaped the global cannabis market. Not only has there been an unprecedented boom in medical markets, but following policy shifts in several jurisdictions a growing number of countries are also preparing for legal regulation of non-medical use. Such moves look set to bring a clear range of benefits in terms of health and human rights. As this groundbreaking Report, highlights, however, there are also serious concerns about the unfolding market dynamics.

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The not-for-profit model adopted by Malta for drug policy reform is resonating across other countries. The emphasis on a harm reduction approach, including considerations for social justice and the negative consequences caused by the ‘war on drugs', will remain key to ensuring cannabis reform promotes the well-being of society and protects the most vulnerable. Transnational Institute Program Director Martin Jelsma spoke about the relationship between drug policy reform in consumer countries, such as countries in the EU, and socio-economic development in producing countries predominantly in the global south, such as Morocco.

The U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill to federally legalize marijuana for the second time in history, also adopting a pair of amendments to the legislation before final passage. Following an hour of debate on the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act from House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) the full chamber voted 220-204 to end federal cannabis prohibition and promote social equity in the industry. Nadler’s MORE Act would deschedule marijuana by removing it from the list of federally banned drugs under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). However, it would not require states to legalize cannabis and would maintain a level of regulatory discretion up to states. (See also: Prospects for federal marijuana reform: Q&A with GOP Rep. Nancy Mace)

The U.S. House of Representatives passed sweeping legislation that would decriminalize marijuana at the federal level, the first time either chamber of Congress has voted to legalize cannabis. The measure, the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act, passed on a largely party-line vote of 228-164. Six Democrats voted against the legislation and five Republicans voted for it. The GOP-controlled Senate is not expected to take up the measure. The legislation would remove marijuana from the federal list of controlled substances and expunge some marijuana convictions for nonviolent criminals. (See also: House approves federal marijuana legalization bill in historic vote)

In the past decade, 15 states have legalized a regulated marijuana market for adults over 21, and another 17 have legalized medical marijuana. But in their rush to limit the numbers of licensed vendors and give local municipalities control of where to locate dispensaries, they created something else: A market for local corruption. Almost all the states that legalized pot either require the approval of local officials or impose a statewide limit on the number of licenses, chosen by a politically appointed oversight board, or both. These practices effectively put million-dollar decisions in the hands of relatively small-time political figures — the mayors and councilors of small towns and cities, along with the friends and supporters of politicians who appoint them to boards.

The official body that's overseen the legal cannabis regulatory process in Massachusetts has given the much anticipated "commence operations" notice. It has taken two years for the Cannabis Control Commission's rollout of this rather unique model for cannabis reform. On entering one of the new cannabis stores, customers are directed to either an express line, for experienced connoisseurs, or a queue for the "full service", where a "budtender" will educate as to the effects and assorted flavours of the products. Massachusetts has placed a firm emphasis on its "social equity" programme, which is designed to ensure that people from ethnic communities – most notably black people and those with Latin backgrounds – are not excluded from the new industry.

Illinois is putting its marijuana money where its mouth is, announcing that $31.5 million in restorative justice grants are now available thanks to tax revenue derived from legal cannabis sales. Under the legalization bill that Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) signed last year, a Restore, Reinvest, and Renew (R3) program was established. It provides grant opportunities for “communities impacted by economic disinvestment, violence and the severe and multilayered harm caused by the war on drugs.” There are five priorities of R3 that the funds are meant to address: civil legal aid, economic development, reentry from the criminal justice system, violence prevention and youth development.

Illinois governor JB Pritzker granted more than 11,000 pardons for low-level marijuana convictions, describing the step as a first wave of thousands of such expungements anticipated under the state’s new marijuana legalization law. The expungement process is a key part of the law, which takes effect on January 1, 2020, and makes Illinois the 11th state to legalize marijuana for people 21 or older. Lawmakers want to repair some of the damage caused by efforts to combat sale and use of the drug, particularly in minority communities. Officials estimate 116,000 convictions for possession of 30g or less of marijuana are eligible for pardons. (See also: 'The beginning of a new age, the end of an antiquated viewpoint’: Long lines, celebrations mark first hours of recreational marijuana sales in Illinois)

When lawmakers crafted the law legalizing marijuana in Illinois, they tried to make sure it would right what many see as past wrongs linked to the drug. In addition to expunging hundreds of thousands of criminal records for marijuana arrests and convictions, the law’s architects added provisions meant to benefit communities that have been the most adversely affected by law enforcement’s efforts to combat the drug. The so-called social equity provisions are expected to help black applicants. The law, which takes effect Jan. 1, also established ways for qualified applicants to pay lower licensing fees and get business loans and technical assistance. And it earmarked part of marijuana sales revenue for neighborhood development grants.

Las modificaciones que los diputados hicieron a la Ley Federal para la Regulación del Cannabis viola derechos humanos de los consumidores de mariguana y acaba con el contenido social de la reforma, al eliminar el trato preferencial a campesinos, ejidatarios, comunidades indígenas y marginadas en la producción de esa droga, advirtieron los senadores de Morena Jesusa Rodríguez y José Narro. Lamentaron que se haya eliminado esa preferencia para el cultivo de mariguana, que incluía también a comunidades afectadas por el crimen organizado. Rodríguez coincidió, sin embargo, con la propuesta contenida en el proyecto de dictamen, de aceptar los cambios para que la ley se promulgue, entre en vigor y se presente de inmediato una iniciativa para corregir lo mal hecho por los diputados.

Roland Conner never imagined that getting arrested for marijuana in the ‘90s would lead to where he is now: the owner of a new cannabis dispensary in the heart of Greenwich Village. The blocks surrounding his shop, Smacked Village, are bustling with potential customers among the NYU students and people coming in for the city’s nightlife — and New York took extraordinary steps to make it work. By far the biggest perk is that a state agency located, leased and will renovate a storefront on one of the priciest slabs of real estate in the world to help someone sell a drug that once landed people in prison. But Conner’s fledgling cannabis business is also vastly outnumbered by illicit competitors that have sprouted all over the city since the state legalized weed for adults nearly two years ago.

With Canada the largest nation to completely legalize marijuana, the world’s most valuable pot company, Canopy Growth Corp., founded in 2013 and now worth about $6.4 billion, is one of the most controversial pot companies, the embodiment of Big Marijuana that critics contend uses size, market power, and lobbying prowess to accelerate the loosening of cannabis laws around the world and shoulder out competitors and smaller businesses. Already Big Alcohol, Big Tobacco, and Big Pharma have bought their way into Canopy and other marijuana companies. And, like those longstanding giants, the new cannabis corporations are spending millions of dollars lobbying for laws that let them sell large volumes of potentially addictive products.

London cannabis dealers would welcome the legalisation of their trade, despite apprehension that they would be excluded from enjoying the fruits of the process and lose their livelihood. This was one of the key findings of a research project by London Metropolitan University and the Evening Standard in which two criminologists carried out interviews with cannabis dealers to glean their views on legalisation. Two dealers described dual cannabis markets, one for “pure weed” smoked by the older generation and another for skunk, smoked by young people. They were adamant that high-potency skunk should not be legalised as it was a contributing factor to street violence and mental illness, despite skunk being “more profitable”. (See also: 50 arrests as police swoop on 'cannabis cafe' in east London)

Since 2015, Jamaica has become the site of a ganja gold rush, as foreign investors pump in money and set up shop on the island. Smaller local farmers, many of whom were being harassed and punished for growing in the past, simply can’t compete. Some locals see this as another extensions of colonial inaction. “I'm not saying all of these investors coming in are evil,” says Ras Iyah V, an activist who has been fighting for ganja legalization for years. “I'm just saying most of these coming in are concerned with money. About making money out of an industry that our people have suffered for.”

Hay esperanzas en el Congreso de sacar adelante la regularización de la marihuana de uso adulto en Colombia. El pasado 20 de julio, durante la instalación de la nueva legislatura, no solo llamó la atención Alejandro Ocampo, representante a la Cámara por el Valle (Pacto Histórico), quien apareció con cervezas y chocolates con marihuana, así como con unos zapatos hechos de fibra de cáñamo, sino que además miembros del mismo partido radicaron un proyecto de ley con el que se espera establecer las condiciones para la comercialización de la marihuana de uso adulto. En los últimos tres años, en el Congreso han cursado dos proyectos con los que se ha intentado modificar el artículo 49 de la Constitución, para permitir el uso adulto de la marihuana.

If New Zealand votes to legalise cannabis in 2020’s binding referendum, we will have a unique opportunity on our hands. Creating a licit market from scratch means the government can legislate for particular outcomes, before the gates are open and the proverbial horse has bolted. As it relates to harm caused by drug laws, this means there is an opportunity to legislate and regulate a legal cannabis market so that communities who have suffered under prohibition benefit economically and socially from the licitmarket. Righting wrongs and closing gaps are best done alongside decriminalisation right at the outset. (See also: Regulating cannabis - a challenge we are more than up to)

Back in 2017, Los Angeles was among the first places in the United States to legalize weed with social equity in mind. Today, social equity dominates the conversation about who should be allowed to sell legal pot, with programs planned or up and running in Michigan, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Connecticut, Virginia, Arizona, and more. But behind the corporate rhetoric and the political promises are sobering numbers and widespread frustration with how social equity has harmed some of the exact people the programs are meant to help. In the five years since a plan was outlined in Los Angeles, 1,629 people became verified as social equity applicants, but only about 35 retailers have opened.

St Vincent’s Medicinal Marijuana industry is a go. Over 30 licences have been approved by the Medicinal Cannabis Authority (MCA) for the cultivation, development and export of medicinal marijuana products. The MCA has approved licences for eight local farmers’ producer cooperatives with an aggregated membership of over 100 traditional cultivators; traditional cultivators of cannabis who applied individually; three non-traditional local farmers; and 10 companies with the directorship of nationals from the OECS, CARICOM, North America, Europe and Africa. MCA said based on the applications under review it projects that by September an additional 200 traditional cultivators will obtain cultivation licences. (See also: Vincy ‘high’ | Acres Agricultural Canada receives 300-acre cannabis license)

Local governments looking to legalize marijuana across the nation are starting to think about racial equity—at a time when a multi-billion dollar cannabis industry is excluding the communities most devastated by the War on Drugs. As of 2017, more than 80 percent of U.S. marijuana business owners and founders were white, while only 10 percent were Hispanic, Latino or black, according to a survey by the Marijuana Business Daily. From Chicago, Illinois, to Saint Paul, Minnesota, officials are trying to support better minority entry into cannabis businesses. In some cases, that means giving black and brown people grants to set up shop. In others, it means undoing criminal records leftover from the drug's prohibition.