In research that turns on its head previous thinking about links between schizophrenia and smoking, scientists say cigarettes may be a causal factor in the development of psychosis. Previous studies have linked cannabis use to psychosis. But there is much debate about whether this is causal or whether there may be shared genes that predispose people to both cannabis use and schizophrenia. James MacCabe, a psychosis expert who co-led the research at King’s College London’s Institute of Psychiatry, said the new results suggest “it might even be possible that the real villain is tobacco, not cannabis” – since cannabis users often combine with tobacco.

A bill to decriminalize recreational marijuana use failed to clear a vote in the Knesset plenum due to opposition from lawmakers in the coalition’s Ra’am party. New Hope MK Sharren Haskel hoped to have her law proposal pass in a snap vote, as many opposition MKs were not present. However, opposition MKs quickly returned to the plenum to vote against the law. The vote failed 52-55 after Ra’am MKs Walid Taha and Mazen Ghanaim voted against the law along with the opposition parties. Haskel’s bill would permit Israeli adults to possess up to 50 grams of marijuana and to grow up to 15 plants for personal use. Anyone possessing marijuana in excess of that amount could face a NIS 2,000 (over $600) fine.

The Mail on Sunday has shouted that "cannabis TRIPLES psychosis risk" and that skunk is to blame for "1 in 4 of all new serious mental disorders". Is this what the study shows? Well, no, they found that those with psychosis were much more likely to have used skunk every day, than to have never used cannabis. Conversely, people who smoked hash every day were no more likely to have psychosis than people who never tried cannabis. (See also: What media reports on the new cannabis study don't tell you | Why cannabis studies are needed | Skunk's psychosis link is only half the cannabis story)

Münster will einen Modellversuch zu kontrolliertem Cannabis-Konsum bei gesunden Erwachsenen durchführen. Das Gesundheitsamt stellte einen entsprechenden Antrag beim Bundesinstitut für Arzneimittel und Medizinprodukte (BfArM). In dem Modellversuch sollen 100 Probanden wöchentlich kostenlos bis zu zwei Gramm Cannabis bekommen. Die Probanden will die Stadt mittels einer Zufallsstichprobe aus dem Einwohnermelderegister auswählen. Das geht aus der Projektbeschreibung hervor. Im ersten Schritt werden 2000 Personen angeschrieben, die ihren Wohnsitz in Münster haben und zwischen 21 und 63 Jahre alt sind. Aus der Gruppe der Personen, die an der Studie teilnehmen wollen, werden 200 zufällig ausgewählt. (Mehr dazu: Bundesinstitut stoppt Cannabis-Modellprojekt)

A month ago, Mexican marijuana legalization seemed like a done deal. The bill was approved by the Senate last November, but greatly modified by the Chamber of Deputies, causing senators to have to give the proposed legislation a final approval before sending it to the president. The legalization bill moved through two Senate committees. But then, Monreal said they would ask the high court for more time, meaning the bill would be halted until the next legislative sessions in September. But, senators never officially asked for a deadline extension, or prórroga, which shows a pointed lack of concern for an issue in a country where cannabis users are extorted daily by law enforcement, despite the decriminalization of small-scale possession.

Socialdemokratiet’s leading mayoral candidate for Copenhagen, Sophie Hæstorp Andersen, has big plans concerning the decriminalisation of cannabis. Should the votes in the upcoming election this November be in her favour, she has vowed to use her position as mayor to take large steps forward in “the fight against criminality and uncertainty”, according to her Facebook profile. Andersen wants cannabis sales to be legal and regulated. Similar to Sweden’s approach to controlling alcohol consumption – the Systembolagetof in which people order in advance before buying drinks with a more than moderate alcohol content – she proposes that a governmental monopoly should be established around cannabis sales in Denmark. (See also: Christianites find no solution to eliminate cannabis trade)

La diputada Claudia Tello Espinosa, de Morena, y representantes de asociaciones de la sociedad civil exigieron que durante la legislación de la regulación del uso de la mariguana se respeten los derechos de los consumidores y productores. Tras el “Foro por una regulación justa del cannabis en México”, la legisladora Tello e integrantes del Colectivo Regulación por la Paz ofrecieron una conferencia de prensa, en la que resaltaron que la ciudadanía está en la búsqueda de mayor información para el control, distribución y uso de la cannabis. El representante del Movimiento Cannábico Mexicano, Pier Coppe, apuntó que para el ejercicio correcto del libre desarrollo de la personalidad en relación con cannabis, deben garantizarse el derecho a la posesión.

If you believe budtender wisdom, consuming a strain called Bubba Kush should leave you ravenous and relaxed whereas dank Hippie Chicken should uplift you like a dreamy cup of coffee. But if you take pure, isolated delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC—the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana—you’ll experience “a high that has no specific character, so that seems boring,” says Mowgli Holmes, a geneticist and founder of a cannabis genetics company Phylos Bioscience. What gives cannabis “character,” in Holmes’s view, are the hundreds of other chemicals it contains. These include THC’s cousin cannabinoids such as cannabidiol, along with other compounds called terpenes and flavonoids.

Decades after pioneering prescription heroin and safe injection sites, Switzerland is now experimenting with decriminalising recreational cannabis. It’s being done in a very Swiss way, according to addiction experts: taking things slow and steady to see how the population responds. Currently, cannabis is legal for medical use in the country, but only in extreme cases, such as pain relief for cancer patients. In 2021, around 70 percent of the population supported liberalising cannabis laws, up from 58 percent three years earlier, according to the Swiss health ministry. The federal government has now authorised trials to take place over the coming decade to experiment with decriminalising recreational cannabis, taking small steps like it did for four years before introducing prescribed heroin in the 1990s.

Two of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) cannabis scheduling recommendations might face an uphill battle getting adopted later this year by the United Nations’ Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND). That revelation stems from an analysis of statements made by U.N.-member states at a recent two-day CND meeting. Still, many in the cannabis industry are hoping for a positive outcome at the end of the year, when a vote is planned. The reason: If the two recommendations discussed at the CND meeting in June are approved, international trade in certain CBD preparations is expected to become more free.

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.

2018 was a big year for cannabis advocates in South Africa. It was the year the constitutional court ruled the government couldn’t invade the privacy of citizens who want to grow and consume cannabis at home. The ruling was seen by many as South Africa’s opportunity to re-engage with its cultural ties to the plant and enter into the expanding global cannabis market. But judging by what’s written in the Cannabis for Private Purposes Bill, it’s clear lawmakers didn’t share the same goals. While the legislation is on its surface a step forward in drug policy reform, its steep penalties and confusing rules feel like a step backward to populations that have been consuming dagga recreationally and traditionally for centuries.

South Africa’s new master plan is a bright spark for those dismayed by lawmakers’ previous attempts to reform the country’s cannabis laws. Introduced in 2018, the Cannabis for Private Purposes Bill legalizes personal cultivation but otherwise takes a punitive approach by criminalizing most cannabis activities, including buying and selling. After receiving public comments, the South African Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) led the development of the cannabis master plan, which was presented to the justice committee. Critics point out that the plan lacks a restorative justice component for communities hurt most by prohibition and ignores the thousands of Indigenous Black farmers who are the backbone of the dagga industry today.

A ruling by the South African Constitutional Court opens the way for decriminalising private use of cannabis, locally known as “dagga”. It marks a definitive shift in a century of notoriously punitive drug policy, recognised in the recent judgement to be “replete with racism”. In 1922, cannabis was officially classified and designated for control as a “habit-forming drug” through a national Customs and Excise Act. Consequences of this legal development were not only local: they were global. A year after the national law was passed, the government under Prime Minister Jan Smuts, approached the League of Nations’ “Dangerous Drugs” committees requesting that cannabis be included within the same registers as opium, morphine and cocaine.

The Cannabis for Private Purposes Bill provides clarity around the growing and private use of cannabis in South Africa. In its current form the bill is ‘far from perfect’ as it permits and prohibits arguably arbitrary quantities, and creates some curious offences with harsh sentences. ‘Cannabis clubs’ for private use are proliferating across the country as the rules around cannabis remain in a form of limbo, following the 2018 Constitutional Court ‘Prince’ judgement. “Given that the prohibition against so-called recreational dealing in cannabis is here to stay, and that many cannabis users are not in a position to privately cultivate their own cannabis, the bill must by-hook-or-by-crook be read to legitimise cannabis clubs across the vast rural-urban and high-low income divides in South Africa.”

Thousands of patients who use cannabis for medicinal reasons no longer have access to this remedy. During Spain’s lockdown to combat the Covid-19 pandemic the cannabis clubs where they obtained supplies have closed, leaving the black market as their only solution. The Union of Patients for the Regulation of Cannabis (UPRC) has now asked the government to authorise the controlled re-opening of Spain’s 1,600 users’ clubs. Before they closed, the clubs provided an essential service for patients with multiple sclerosis, epilepsy and fibromyalgia. Cannabis can also help to alleviate the adverse effects of chemotherapy. The Podemos Cannabis Circle is asking the Unidas Podemos party, to which it belongs, to raise the issue in the national parliament in Madrid. 

“For some years, there was the possibility to regulate [cannabis in Spain] and keep it in the hands of those who aren’t crime-related,” said Óscar Parés, deputy director of the Barcelona-based ICEERS, speaking of past efforts to regulate cannabis clubs in regions of Spain like Catalonia. “We missed the train somehow.” Catalonia is home to some of the world’s oldest cannabis consumption spaces, with the first club opening in Barcelona in 2001. As of 2023, Catalonian law enforcement estimates there are 450 cannabis clubs in the region. Catalonia’s clubs have become a model for other European countries looking to legalize cannabis consumption without running afoul of EU and international law.

Die punktuelle Legalisierung von Marihuana in Hamburg rückt näher. Auf ihrem Kreisparteitag werden die Altonaer Genossen voraussichtlich einen Antrag der SPD Altona-Nord/Sternschanze annehmen, der das Verfahren beschleunigen soll. Der Vorsitzende des betreffenden SPD-Distrikts, Gregor Werner, plädiert offen für einen entsprechenden Modellversuch in der Sternschanze. (Mehr dazu: Die Antworten zur Cannabis-Abgabe in Hamburg | Modellversuch in Bremen | 30 Gramm Gras für jeden)

SPD und Grüne wollen eine Freigabe von Cannabis. Geht es nach den Sozialdemokraten, soll es dafür nicht nur in Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg Modellversuche geben. Auch in anderen Bezirken könne man sich einen legalen Verkauf vorstellen. Statt Menschen zu kriminalisieren, müsse der Jugendschutz durch bessere Aufklärung gestärkt und auch die Sicherheit der Konsumenten verbessert werden. Daher plädiert SPD Sprecher Thomas Isenberg für kontrollierte Produktion und Abgabe an Erwachsene.