Pedro Arenas is afraid that they'll take flight again. "I expect it could be within the next months," he says. Since the end of last year, nine AT-802 firefighting aircraft have been deployed throughout the country. But their mission is not to put out fires. The planes are trying to eliminate a problem that has been causing bloodshed in Colombia for decades: cocaine. The planes are loaded with the controversial herbicide glyphosate. According to Colombian media, nearly 800 barrels of the chemicals are in stock from a Chinese manufacturer. If spraying resumes, "people in the remote communities will completely lose faith in the institutions and the peace process," Arenas believes. (See also:  The ‘deja vú’ of aerial crop spraying in Colombia)

El gobernador de Nueva York, Andrew Cuomo, presentó hoy un proyecto de ley para reducir las penas por posesión de pequeñas cantidades de marihuana, en un esfuerzo para rebajar el número de detenciones relacionadas con ella y que suelen afectar en mayor medida a las minorías latina y afroamericana. "Esta nueva ley salvará a miles de neoyorquinos, que son de manera desproporcionada jóvenes negros e hispanos, de cargos por delitos menores", dijo Cuomo.

The Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries is engaging international stakeholders to address the banking difficulties that have been impacting Jamaica's medical cannabis industry. Director of Research Development and Communications at the Cannabis Licensing Authority (CLA), Felicia Bailey, in making the disclosure at a JIS Think Tank recently, noted that the continued hesitance of banks to deal with players in the local industry remains a challenge. Many major banks are reluctant to fund the growth of medical cannabis out of fear of breaching federal laws in the United States of America. As a result, businesses are unable to attract financing, without which they cannot be licensed. (See also: Cannabis Licensing Authority committed to facilitating import, export)

Jamaica is to lobby the United States on the issue of legitimising licensed cannabis growers and processors under correspondent banking rules. Audley Shaw — Jamaica's minister of industry, commerce, agriculture, and fisheries — raised the matter in his address on plant medicine and cannabis at the Global Health Catalyst Summit at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts. Shaw noted that financial institutions in Jamaica and many international jurisdictions do not allow banking transactions for legally licensed medical cannabis companies because of the restrictions imposed by United States banks in their correspondent banking arrangements.

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 House Judiciary Committee passed a bill that would effectively make marijuana legal. The Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act of 2019 passed by a count of 24-10. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), chairman of the committee, introduced the bill and has gathered more than 50 co-sponsors of the bill in the House. Under the MORE Act, weed would be removed from the Controlled Substances Act, federally legalizing cannabis across the country. Past federal cannabis convictions would be required to be expunged. The bill would establish the Cannabis Justice Office, that would introduce a 5 percent tax on state-legal cannabis sales, among other things. (See also: Marijuana legalization bill approved by congressional committee in historic vote)

The House passed a bill to give banks and credit unions legal cover to serve the cannabis industry even while the drug remains federally banned. The bill, dubbed the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act, easily passed the House by a vote of 321-103, with 229 Democrats, 91 Republicans and Rep. Justin Amash (I-Mich.) supporting the measure. While the bill faces an uncertain future in a Republican-held Senate that is skeptical of easing drug laws, the House’s approval marks a major step toward settling the vast differences between federal and state cannabis regulation. (See also: Breaking down Congress’ historic marijuana banking vote)

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)

On August 17, 2020, the director of public prosecutions in Canada issued new guidelines under which federal prosecutors are to resort to criminal prosecution for possession only in the “most serious” cases – that is, where accompanying circumstances or conduct are deemed to pose a risk to others. It’s a potential, tentative de facto decriminalization. Recommended responses to possession of smaller quantities comprise addiction treatment (including Indigenous cultural or abstinence-based recovery centres), counseling, or restorative justice (including Indigenous restorative justice programs) among others. Some media outlets instantly announced that Canada was decriminalizing. Others, including Filter, have been warier.

Ever since Canada became the first major country to legalize marijuana for adults a year ago, other nations have been paying attention. The small South American nation of Uruguay was the first to legalize marijuana for adults. New Zealand, Luxembourg and Mexico are among those that have looked to Canada for guidance or lessons, while Russia has chastised it for its “barefaced″ flouting of international anti-drug treaties. Mexico’s legalization is not likely to mirror Canada’s, where a few massive corporations have dominated production and more artisanal growers have largely been shut out. Russia laments the “barefaced″ and “blatant violation by Canada of its international obligations″ under anti-drug treaties.

No pressure, Colorado and Washington, but the world is scrutinizing your every move. That was the take-home message of an event today at the Brookings Institution, discussing the international impact of the move toward marijuana legalization at the state-level in the U.S. Laws passed in Colorado and Washington, with other states presumably to come, create a tension with the U.S. obligations toward three major international treaties governing drug control.

A recent neuroscience study from Harvard Medical School claims to have discovered brain differences between people who smoke marijuana and people who do not. Such well-intentioned and seemingly objective science is actually a new chapter in a politicized and bigoted history of drug science in the United States. Different-looking brains tell us literally nothing about who these people are, what their lives are like, why they do or do not use marijuana, or what effects marijuana has had on them.

According to the National Institute of Health (NIH), there are currently at least 144 known cannabinoids that have been isolated from the cannabis plant. The most popular among them is Delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the primary psychoactive compound known to provide all the stereotypical effects of getting high. Yet a lesser-known cannabinoid, with more than half of the psychoactive potency of Delta-9-THC, seems poised to challenge its dominance. No, it’s not CBD, CBN, CBG, or CBC – it’s Delta-8 THC, an analog of Delta-9-THC. People often report that due to its reduced potency, Delta-8 provides them with a smoother, more mild high that is less sedative and more functional than Delta-9.

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.

Altria, one of the world’s biggest tobacco companies, is well on its way to also being one of the world’s biggest and most influential cannabis companies. After spending $1.8 billion to buy a stake in a multi-national cannabis company in 2018, Altria is now applying pressure in the halls of Congress and at the state level to push cannabis-friendly laws, recent filings and reporting show. Whispers of a power play from Big Tobacco to capture the cannabis industry have swirled for years in marijuana legalization and cannabis-industry circles. And now it appears to be happening, albeit slowly, out in the open, and in form similar to other big-business techniques: acquisition, intellectual property, and lobbying for friendly regulation.

Prohibitionists warn that it’s dangerous even to discuss legalizing marijuana because such talk sends “the wrong message” to the youth of America, encouraging them to smoke pot. If so, you might expect that the legalization of marijuana in Colorado and Washington, approved by voters more than a year ago, would have a noticeable impact on marijuana use by teenagers. Yet the latest data from the government-sponsored Monitoring the Future Study indicate that teenagers continued smoking pot at pretty much the same rates as before.

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)