Author: Johnny Green

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Is Israel On The Verge Of Legalizing Cannabis For Adult Use?

Written by Johnny Green on November 18, 2020. Posted in Politics.

At the beginning of 2020, it was expected that at least one, if not multiple countries, would legalize cannabis for adult use. Mexico seemed like the most likely candidate given the fact that Mexico’s Supreme Court mandated it via a 2018 ruling.

However, once the pandemic hit in 2020 lawmakers in Mexico pushed for an extension on the Court’s deadline to pass legalization legislation, for a second time, and that request was granted.

Lawmakers in Mexico have until the end of the year to comply with the mandate, but so far have failed to pass a legalization measure. It’s unclear what will happen if/when the latest deadline cannot be met.

Another country that was high (no pun intended) on people’s radar when it came to cannabis legalization in 2020 was New Zealand. Voters in New Zealand got to vote on a legalization measure in October.

Polling was all over the place leading up to the vote, with some polls indicating that the measure would pass, which no doubt led to some cannabis supporters being optimistic about its passage. Unfortunately, the measure was voted down.

One country that was likely not on people’s watch list is Israel. However, it is being reported that an adult-use legalization measure is about to be proposed. Per Times of Israel:

“A governmental committee tasked with reviewing Israel’s cannabis laws is reportedly set to recommend full legalization in a report due to be published this week.

The inter-ministerial committee made up of representatives from the Israel Police, the Public Security Ministry and the Health Ministry will recommend that the government continue efforts to decriminalize cannabis on the way to full legalization.”

Israel has long been an international leader when it comes to medical cannabis, especially from a science and research perspective. Non-medical cannabis has been decriminalized in Israel since 2017.

Per the previously cited article, as many as 27% of all adults in Israel report using cannabis, which if true, is obviously significant.

The legalization winds of change are picking up around the globe, and while it’s unlikely that Israel will legalize before the end of 2020 (time is quickly running out), it’s a safe bet that the country will legalize cannabis sooner rather than later.

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Cannabis Reform Is Poised To Win Big On Election Day In The U.S.

Written by Johnny Green on November 4, 2020. Posted in Politics.

Today is Election Day in the United States where voter turnout is expected to be extremely strong. Presidential elections in the United States almost always have a higher voter turnout rate compared to midterm and special elections, however, this year’s enthusiasm for voting is through the roof.

At the time of the posting of this article voters across the United States are heading to the polls to cast their vote, with over 102 million voters having already voted early, either in person or by mail.

Voters in five U.S. states will see cannabis initiatives on their ballots. In Arizona, Montana, New Jersey, and South Dakota voters will decide on adult-use cannabis legalization measures.

In South Dakota and Mississippi, voters will decide on medical cannabis legalization initiatives. South Dakota is the first state to see both adult-use and medical legalization measures on the same ballot.

Whereas candidate races may take some time to determine a winner for various reasons, not the least of which is mail-in vote-counting provisions in states like Pennsylvania, the legalization measures in the previously listed states should be decided fairly quickly unless the vote totals are really, really close.

Polling leading up to Election Day has been favorable for all of the initiatives, which is a sign of the times. In a political environment that is often hostile and contentious, cannabis reform is something that a vast majority of U.S. residents can agree on.

Below is a summary of polling leading up to Election Day, via our friends at NORML:

Arizona – roughly 60% support for adult-use legalization
Montana – adult-use legalization is ahead 49-39%
New Jersey – over 60% support for adult-use legalization
South Dakota – 74% in favor of medical legalization and 51% for adult-use legalization
Mississippi – 52% support for medical legalization

Keep in mind with the numbers listed above, there were quite a few undecided voters that did not choose either way, so the support for the measures could likely be considerably higher (no pun intended) since presumably some of those voters will ultimately vote for the measure(s) that they see on their ballots.

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A Missed Opportunity In New Zealand

Written by Johnny Green on November 4, 2020. Posted in Politics.

2020 is an election year in various countries across the globe, including in New Zealand. This year’s election in New Zealand was of particular interest to cannabis observers due to the fact that there was a cannabis legalization measure on the ballot.

Only two countries have legalized cannabis for adult use so far, Uruguay and Canada, and both of them legalized via the legislative process versus letting voters decide the issue directly.

The vote, which was referred to voters by New Zealand lawmakers, was originally scheduled to occur in September, however, due to a spike in Covid cases the election was postponed until October 17th.

In New Zealand, the results for referendum measures take longer to release to the public versus results for candidate races. With that in mind, cannabis enthusiasts had to wait a couple of weeks before learning the outcome of the vote in New Zealand.

Unfortunately, when the results were finally released they were not favorable. Per The New York Times:

New Zealand will join a small number of countries that have legalized euthanasia after its citizens voted overwhelmingly in favor of it in a referendum this month.

A second question on the ballot during the Oct. 17 general election — on legalizing recreational marijuana use — was set to fail, according to preliminary results released on Friday.

Proponents of the cannabis measure expressed frustration with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who had declined to take a position on legalization before the election and revealed only on Friday that she had voted in support of it.

Cannabis activists across the globe were hopeful that New Zealand would become the third country to legalize cannabis for adult use, but that will apparently have to wait. It’s unclear if/when New Zealand will try to vote on legalization again.

The focus of the international cannabis community will now likely move back to Mexico, where lawmakers are working to pass a legalization measure before the end of the year to fully implement a previous Supreme Court decision which ruled that Mexico’s cannabis prohibition policy was unconstitutional.

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European Parliament Votes In Favor Of Raising Hemp THC Limit

Written by Johnny Green on October 27, 2020. Posted in Politics.

The hemp industry is booming across the globe. Many international farmers have cultivated the hemp plant for years for the purpose of creating textiles, however, in recent years many hemp farmers have cultivated the plant for another purpose – CBD.

Hemp farmers, especially new ones, are scrambling to produce as much raw hemp to sell to companies that will take the raw biomass and turn it into CBD oil and other CBD products.

Many countries have updated their laws recently to permit legal hemp cultivation and to try to distinguish hemp cannabis from non-hemp cannabis.

The legal difference between the two cannabis varieties hinges on a THC threshold. If the cannabis tests above the THC threshold, then it is legally deemed to not be hemp, and if it tests below the THC threshold then it is legally considered to be hemp.

Members of the European Parliament recently voted to raise the THC limit in its policies, as reported by Hemp Today:

The European Parliament has voted in favor of increasing the authorized THC level for industrial hemp “on the field” from 0.2% to 0.3%, a critical step in the process of re-establishing that level of THC for European hemp.

The proposal, long advocated by the European Industrial Hemp Association (EIHA), was included in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform adopted by the Parliament today.

“This is an historic moment for our industry, for our farmers, for a green future and for all Europeans,” said EIHA President Daniel Kruse. “Finally, the EU has a level playing field again with the global industrial hemp sector.”

While it is good to see the THC threshold increased, a 0.3% THC threshold is still very low. Many hemp industry observers have stated publicly that a threshold of 1% makes more sense.

For instance, Switzerland has a hemp THC limit of 1% that applies to CBD products sold within its borders.

Despite having a THC threshold that is over 3 times greater than many other countries, including the United States which also has a 0.3% limit, Switzerland has not experienced any issues.

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Poll Shows Overwhelming Support For New Jersey Cannabis Legalization Measure

Written by Johnny Green on October 22, 2020. Posted in Politics.

Election Day is only two weeks away in the United States, and voter turnout is shaping up to be record-breaking. That is good news for states that are voting on cannabis reform measures.

Historically, a higher voter turnout tends to help the chances of cannabis reform measures passing on Election Day. Conversely, having a cannabis reform measure on the ballot has contributed to greater voter turnout rates because people that may have stayed home actually show up and vote since cannabis reform is on the ballot.

One state that will be voting on adult-use cannabis legalization is New Jersey. The legalization effort in New Jersey has been going on for many years, and in 2017 when current New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy was elected it was expected that New Jersey would legalize fairly quickly.

As the sessions continued to pass and the New Jersey Legislature failed to follow through on getting legalization approved, it became obvious that the issue would be better decided by voters.

New Jersey lawmakers referred a legalization measure that will appear on the ballot for voters to decide. If current polling is accurate, the measure will win by a landslide, as reported by Marijuana Moment:

New Jersey voters support a marijuana legalization referendum that’s on their ballots by a nearly three-to-one margin, according to a new poll released on Friday.

The Stockton University Polling Institute survey found that when likely voters were asked whether they “support or oppose a constitutional amendment legalizing marijuana in New Jersey,” 66 percent were in favor, compared to 23 percent in opposition.

If New Jersey voters approve legalization, it will likely result in a domino effect in the surrounding area. Cannabis legalization is closer than ever in New York and Connecticut, and pressure is especially high right now with Massachusetts already having legal adult-use sales occurring.

If/when legalization wins in New Jersey on Election Day, states like New York and Connecticut will have to decide very quickly if they want to see even more cannabis tax revenues going to other states or if they want to finally get on the right side of history and see those dollars stay within their borders.

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New Zealand Cannabis Legalization Campaign Wins The Twitter Battle

Written by Johnny Green on October 14, 2020. Posted in Politics.

New Zealand could become the third country to legalize cannabis for adult use. Currently, cannabis is legal for adult use in Uruguay and Canada, and New Zealand could join that list if voters approve a legalization measure this month.

Election Day is technically on October 17th in New Zealand, although early voting is already underway. The election was originally scheduled for last month but was delayed due to a coronavirus outbreak.

Only time will tell if the measure ultimately passes, however, a study was recently conducted that sheds some light on the level of support for the measure, at least on social media.

Twitter is an extremely popular social media platform that is often harnessed for political purposes. Whether it’s by an official campaign or just a single voter, many New Zealand-focus tweets have involved the legalization measure.

A coalition of researchers based in Australia, the United States, and New Zealand examined Twitter data to gauge the level of support and opposition for New Zealand’s cannabis legalization measure.

Specifically, the researchers “conducted a sentiment analysis of all historic cannabis‐related tweets and referendum‐specific tweets written in New Zealand.”

The researchers didn’t just look at the data in recent months. They went all the way back to July 2009 and identified 304,760 tweets about cannabis legalization and New Zealand.

“Overall, the tweets were predominantly positive (62.0%) and there was a higher proportion of positive tweets written in 2020 (65.3%) compared to negative or neutral tweets. Similarly, for referendum‐specific tweets, the 2020 data reveal a generally positive view of cannabis (53.5%).” researchers concluded.

Twitter is obviously not the same as the ballot box.

For the sake of those that were harmed by cannabis prohibition in New Zealand, and countless others that are at risk of prosecution because of their cannabis use, hopefully voters approve the measure and get New Zealand on the right side of history.

The world will find out soon enough!

Lawmaker In Australia Pushes For Cannabis Decriminalization

Written by Johnny Green on September 30, 2020. Posted in Politics.

Cannabis policies can take on many forms around the globe. Unfortunately, the most common form is prohibition. Cannabis reform is thankfully spreading across the globe, however, the majority of countries on the planet still prohibit cannabis.

A far superior yet rarer form of cannabis policy is adult-use legalization. Currently, only Uruguay and Canada have this policy in place. Many countries also permit the legal use of cannabis for medical purposes.

One policy area that is somewhat in between the others is cannabis decriminalization.

Cannabis decriminalization is not the same as legalization in that there is still a penalty for cannabis possession, yet it is also not the same as full-prohibition because cannabis possession is treated as a civil infraction under a decriminalization policy and not treated as a criminal offense.

Cannabis decriminalization appears to be the favored policy for at least one lawmaker in Australia. Per Daily Mail:

Calls for cannabis to be decriminalised are growing with one MP saying the drug is no more addictive than booze or tobacco.

New South Wales Labor MP Rose Jackson told parliament on September 23 legalising the drug would be ‘economically sensible’.

Decriminalization and legalization are often used interchangably by lawmakers even though they are not actually the same thing.

With that being said, even decrminalization is an economically sensible public policy because it lets cops go after real criminals instead of prosecuting and incarcerating people for cannabis.

MP Jackson is 100% correct that cannabis is no more addictive than alcohol or tobacco and cannabis should be regulated in Australia as such.

Unlike tobacco and alcohol, the cannabis plant has never killed anyone. If alcohol and tobacco are legal in Australia and can be properly regulated, then the same should be true for cannabis.

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UK Food Regulators Pushback On ‘CBD Is A Narcotic’ Categorization

Written by Johnny Green on September 30, 2020. Posted in Business.

Cannabidiol (CBD) is one of the most popular substances on earth right now. CBD’s level of popularity has grown exponentially in the last 5 years, and there’s no end to the spike in popularity in sight currently.

Part of the reason why CBD’s popularity has exploded in recent years is the increase in media coverage. That media coverage has touched on positive studies related to CBD’s medical value, as well as stories involving patients that have successfully treated their condition(s) with CBD.

As more and more patients try to find safe alternatives to pharmaceutical drugs many of them will presumably try CBD and a significant number that try CBD will likely find it to be beneficial and continue use.

Unfortunately the European Commission does not appear to be a big fan of CBD, at least not from a safety standpoint.

The European Commission recently categorized CBD as a narcotic. That categorization is being rejected by food regulators in the United Kingdom. Per Hemp Industry Daily:

Great Britain has rejected the European Commission’s preliminary stance that hemp flower-derived CBD should be regulated as a narcotic, a key food safety regulator in the United Kingdom says.

Paul Tossel, who leads the Novel Foods authorities at London’s Food Standards Agency, said Tuesday that although British authorities continue to mirror requirements set out by the EU’s Novel Food Regulation and the European Food Safety Authority, they did not agree with the Commission’s assessment.

Tossel said during a panel on the future of CBD in grocery retail that the European Commission’s preliminary CBD position isn’t shared by the U.K.’s Home Office, a government department that oversees drug policy and law enforcement.

There’s no valid reason to categorize CBD as a narcotic. CBD has been found to be safer than most household substances and is by all measures a relatively benign food ingredient from a health risk standpoint.

CBD is an amazing ingredient for food products because it provides wellness benefits without any risks and doesn’t seem to affect the taste of the food product. CBD is in many ways a ‘wonder food’ and should be classified accordingly.

Former New Zealand Prime Minister Joins New Cannabis Legalization Poster Campaign

Written by Johnny Green on September 30, 2020. Posted in Politics.

New Zealand may become the third country to pass a cannabis legalization measure. It all depends on whether or not New Zealand voters approve a cannabis legalization referendum measure next month during New Zealand’s election.

The election in New Zealand was originally scheduled to occur this month, and along with it the vote on the legalization measure, however, a coronavirus outbreak resulted in the election being delayed by roughly a month.

Polling for the legalization measure has been all over the place, with several polls showing the measure winning and several others showing that the measure is losing. What will happen on Election Day in New Zealand, which is now October 17th, is anyone’s guess at this point.

The New Zealand legalization effort received a boost recently via a new poster campaign in support of the referendum. The poster campaign features 60 people expressing support for the measure, and one of those people is former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark. Per RNZ:

It includes some familiar faces, like Helen Clark, as well as everyday Kiwis who support legalisation.

Dame Diane Robertson is one of those 60 New Zealanders. She’s the executive director of the New Zealand Data Trust, and the former Auckland City Mission chief executive.

“I think it’s time we legalise something that has been commonly used but at the moment we’re penalising people, particularly people who are low income and Māori about a drug that a lot of people are using … it’s a waste of police time, of resources and it marginalises people.”

It’s not every day that a former prime minister of a nation endorses a national cannabis legalization effort. This is obviously a really big deal.

Whether or not it proves to be a big enough deal to resonate with enough New Zealand voters to push the measure over the top remains to be seen and we will ultimately find out on October 17th.

If the measure is successful New Zealand would become the third country to legalize cannabis for adult use along with Uruguay and Canada.