Los Angeles moved this week to dismiss nearly 66,000 marijuana convictions, years after the state voted to legalize the drug. The county is working with a not-for-profit technology organization, Code for America, to use algorithms to identify eligible cases within decades-old court documents. “The dismissal of tens of thousands of old cannabis-related convictions in Los Angeles county will bring much-needed relief to communities of color that disproportionately suffered the unjust consequences of our nation’s drug laws,” said Jackie Lacey, the LA district attorney, in a statement. Prosecutors this week asked a superior court judge to dismiss 62,000 felony cannabis convictions for cases that date back to 1961.

En julio de 2016 el gobierno colombiano expidió la ley 1787 que regula el uso y la comercialización del cannabis medicinal en el país. Con esta decisión y una serie de resoluciones subsiguientes, Colombia se sumó a más de una decena de países que han puesto en práctica distintos tipos de reglamentación para explorar las ventajas de esta planta como alternativa farmacéutica. A pesar de que la legislación contempla que el 10 por ciento de la producción debe provenir de pequeños y medianos cultivadores, la realidad es que el negocio ha sido mayoritariamente acaparado por los grandes capitales locales y extranjeros.

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State lawmakers and advocates pushing to legalize marijuana this year aren’t just touting legalization as a way to raise tax revenue and regulate an underground pot market. They’re also talking about fixing a broken criminal justice system and reinvesting in poor and minority communities that have been battered by decades of the government’s war on drugs. The focus on justice and equity has sharpened over time, longtime pot advocates say, as it’s become clear that such issues should be addressed and that doing so won’t alienate voters — most of whom, polls consistently show, support legal marijuana. Civil rights groups also have raised their voices in legalization discussions.

Banning a plant with hundreds of industrial and medical uses was never going to work out well, but 2022 saw marijuana prohibition reach peak absurdity, not to mention peak confusion for consumers and new businesses trying to make sense of it all. At first glance, cannabis reform appears to be humming along smoothly. Maryland, Missouri and Rhode Island approved legalization initiatives in 2022 as states such as New Mexico and New York raced to establish regulations for legal recreational sales. New laws in mostly blue states expunged cannabis arrests from criminal records for thousands of people. President Joe Biden made moves to pardon federal marijuana prisoners and reconsider the federal “scheduling” of marijuana...

A plan backed by Silicon Valley billionaire Sean Parker to legalize recreational use of marijuana in California is on the path to the November ballot, potentially bringing more than $1bn a year in tax revenue. The proposal, which would allow for the retail sale of marijuana to adults aged 21 and older, is one of the most highly anticipated initiatives, in no small part because California is the country’s largest economy and the eighth largest in the world. But some industry insiders are unhappy with the proposal and are withholding support. "This skews towards big marijuana," said Hezekiah Allen of the California Growers Association.

The Biden administration’s recommendation last week for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to reschedule cannabis marked one of its most significant steps related to the president’s ambitious campaign promise to decriminalize cannabis use. But advocates and policy experts say rescheduling marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) does not address the plethora of racial justice issues caused by current cannabis laws. Moving cannabis to Schedule III means that the federal government acknowledges it has medical uses; it doesn’t change its status as a prohibited substance. Many worry that rescheduling could amount to the Biden administration saying, “OK, we did something and now we’re done.”

Martín Barriuso fue pionero en materia de clubes cannábicos en España. Hoy día ya se han visto muchos, pero hace 16 años, cuando este vizcaíno fundó Pannagh, crear una asociación cannábica era un acto casi revolucionario. Más que haber estado en primera línea del debate regulatorio durante más de dos décadas, lo ha generado. Porque hasta la llegada de los clubes, el debate no existía aún en este país. Por eso, porque si hay un argumento de autoridad en materia cannábica es el de Martín Barriuso, queremos hablar con él de cannabis, antes de que se retire de este campo por completo. Esto es lo que nos ha contado. (Véase también: Los Clubes Sociales de Cannabis en España | El 60% de la sociedad vasca ve con buenos ojos la regulación de los clubes de asociaciones de consumidores)

Many cannabis cultivation workers share common challenges. They frequently lack a living wage, benefits (like health care and retirement plans) or pathways for professional development. Workers and advocates are concerned that the growth of many companies amid the nationwide cannabis boom is coming at the expense of underpaid employees, while corporation heads rake in profits. United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) is the most active union working with cannabis workers, organizing with them since 2013. It now has more than 10,000 members in working laboratories, processing and manufacturing plants, cultivation facilities and medical and adult-use dispensaries. 

The Metropolitan police could change how it deals with cannabis possession amid concerns stop and search powers damage community relations, and yield little in the way of illegal drugs. The move is part of plans drawn up by London’s mayor to ease the race crisis engulfing policing. More potential changes will be unveiled later on Thursday to the way Britain’s biggest force deals with communities in London. Research starting this month will examine how effective the Met’s pursuit of those suspected of possessing cannabis is in tackling violence in London. Suspicion of drug possession is the most common reason given by officers when using controversial stop and search powers, with black people more likely to be stopped than white.

Mexican lawmakers have failed to meet a Supreme Court deadline to end marijuana prohibition after spending months going back and forth on a legalization bill that passed both chambers of Congress in differing forms. The result is a lot of uncertainty. This session, it seemed like the reform would finally be achieved. The Senate approved a legalization bill late last year, and then the Chamber of Deputies made revisions and passed it in March, sending it back to the originating chamber. A couple of Senate committees then took up and cleared the amended measure, but leaders quickly started signaling that certain revisions made the proposal unworkable. Lawmakers have begun floating the idea of holding a special legislative session after June’s elections in order to get the job done this year.

Several Mexican Senate committees on Friday tentatively approved a revised bill to legalize marijuana during a joint hearing, with a formal in-person vote scheduled next week. The legislation, which has circulated in draft form this month and further amended ahead of the meeting, would establish a regulated cannabis market in Mexico, allowing adults 18 and older to purchase and possess up to 28 grams of marijuana and cultivate up to four plants for personal use. Members of the Senate’s United Commissions of Justice, Health, and Legislative Studies advanced the bill, months after passing an earlier version. The panels first voted to dispense with that previous bill during Friday’s session.

On November 19, the Senate began debating a bill that would make Mexico the third country in the world, after Uruguay and Canada, to legalise cannabis for recreational use nationwide. For Mexico, the change seems riskier. It was once the world’s largest producer of cannabis. Campaigners for legalisation are watching how it will go in a country where organised crime is strong, the rule of law is weak and much of the economy is undocumented. Mexico’s route to legalisation has been unusual, and its arrival may yet be delayed. In contrast to the U.S., where voters have endorsed reform in state referendums, legalisation has little popular support in Mexico. Surveys suggest that just over a third of voters favour it. (See also: Mexican Senate approves cannabis legalization bill, ending monthslong delay)

Mexico is on the verge of becoming the third country in the world, after Uruguay and Canada, to legally regulate cannabis for personal, adult use. This comes after years of strategic litigation, a landmark Supreme Court declaration and a legislative process of over two years in the Senate. The country can almost taste legal regulation. It was a long and winding road to get this point. As the world’s second-largest producer of illicit cannabis and one of the countries most harmed by prohibition, Mexico approaches legal regulation with specific objectives—primarily of freeing up state resources that have been badly used to implement prohibition and of increasing social justice. But moving from discourse and rhetoric to affirmative actions and justice mechanisms can be complicated.

It was a happy – and seemingly high – new year in Illinois after cannabis sales of more than $3m were made on the first day of the drug being legal for recreational use in the state. Some 37 dispensaries made 77,128 transactions as thousands of residents saw in the start of 2020 by lighting up. "The amazing thing about that is that there's a significant portion of these dollars that go directly into this community reinvestment fund, so we can continue to rebuild communities that have been hardest hit by the war on drugs," said Toi Hutchinson, senior adviser for cannabis control. Illinois is now the 11th US state to legalise the sale of cannabis to adults for recreational purposes.

Governor Andrew Cuomo pledged for the second year in a row to legalise recreational cannabis in New York, prioritizing a push that fell apart last year amid tensions over who should be allowed to sell the drug and where the revenue should go. New York could become the nation’s 12th to do so. Mr Cuomo made the legalisation of cannabis a key priority as he outlined his agenda for 2020, saying taxes imposed by a regulatory scheme could bring some $300m into the state’s coffers and confront injustices in enforcement of drug laws. “For decades, communities of colour were disproportionately affected by the unequal enforcement of marijuana laws. Last year we righted that injustice when we decriminalised possession,” Mr Cuomo said in his annual State of the State address.

New Yorkers over the age of 21 can now possess and use up to 3 ounces of cannabis in public under a legalization bill signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, while sales of recreational-use marijuana won’t become legal for an estimated 18 months until the state draws up regulations. Advocates for criminal justice reform hope it will also help redress the inequities of a system that has locked up people of color for marijuana offenses at disproportionate rates. The legislation provides protections for cannabis users in the workplace, housing, family court and in schools, colleges and universities, and sets a target of providing half of marijuana licenses to individuals from underrepresented communities. And police could no longer use the odor of cannabis as pretext for searching someone’s car for contraband.

State lawmakers finalized a deal to legalize recreational marijuana in New York, paving the way for a potential $4.2 billion industry that could create tens of thousands of jobs and become one of the largest markets in the country. Lawmakers struck an agreement with Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to legalize cannabis for adults 21 and older, a move that officials hope will help end years of racially disproportionate policing that saw Black and Hispanic people arrested on low-level marijuana charges far more frequently than white people. The deal would allow delivery of the drug and permit club-like lounges or “consumption sites” where marijuana, but not alcohol, could be consumed. It would also allow a person to cultivate up to six marijuana plants at home, indoors or outdoors, for personal use.

As a New York City teenager, 50-year old Roland Conner found himself harshly punished for minor offenses related to marijuana. A 1991 arrest resulted in a months-long incarceration, as America’s flawed “war on drugs” had an unfairly disproportionate impact on Black and brown youth. Since that period in his life, native New Yorker Conner has gone on to operate a property management business and manage a transitional housing facility in the Bronx borough. His next horizon? Operating one of New York state’s newly licensed dispensaries for recreational cannabis, at a store he’s calling Smacked! in the upscale Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan.

A majority of New Yorkers want marijuana to be legalized for adult use, according to a new poll—and they further favor allowing for home delivery, cultivation for personal use and letting retail and cultivation facilities operate in their neighborhoods. The poll from Consensus Strategies asked New York residents about a variety of cannabis-related issues, including those related to social equity and licensing. At a top level, it showed that people in the state are ready for a policy change that largely aligns with proposals moving through the legislature this session. It found, for example, that 61 percent of New York adults support recreational marijuana legalization. But it also offered unique insights into the specifics of what residents hope to see out of a legal cannabis market.