Skip to main content
australia flag

West Australian Parliamentary Report Recommends Cannabis Reform

Written by Hazel Norman on . Posted in Policy.

Australia is one of the many countries where medical cannabis is technically legal, although, it’s also one of the many countries home to a restrictive medical cannabis program, which is unfortunate for suffering patients that live in Australia.

Medical cannabis was legalized nationwide in Australia in 2016, however, suffering patients can only legally obtain medical cannabis products via a prescription from a licensed doctor. Home cultivation is prohibited, even for licensed patients, and the type of medical cannabis products available in Australia is limited.

To make matters worse, intoxicated driving laws in Australia are such that most medical cannabis patients cannot legally operate a motor vehicle when completely sober due to having THC in their system. A new parliamentary report is recommending an overhaul of such cannabis policies. Per ABC News:

A West Australian parliamentary report has recommended the elimination of barriers to accessing medicinal cannabis, including letting people with a prescription drive a car while the drug is in their system.

The Select Committee on Cannabis and Hemp has made 16 recommendations to the state government, ranging from changing drug driving laws to doubling the amount doctors are allowed to prescribe to patients.

Legalise Cannabis Party member and committee chair Brain Walker said change was overdue and that WA Premier Mark McGowan should take action.

What Australia really needs to do is to legalize cannabis for adult use and launch regulated national sales, which is the only way to truly ensure safe access to cannabis for all adults that need it. According to a poll conducted in May 2022, 55% of Australians support regulating cannabis like alcohol.

Australia‘s Parliamentary Budget Office released a report earlier this year which estimated that legalizing cannabis for adult use and launching national adult-use sales would generate A$28 billion in tax revenue in the first decade.

Cannabis cigarette joint Cannabis cigarette joint Cannabis cigarette joint Cannabis cigarette joint Cannabis cigarette joint

The Best Way To Address Concerns About The Smell Of Cannabis Is To License Clubs

Written by Johnny Green on . Posted in Policy.

When people complain about ‘the smell of cannabis’ they are usually talking about the smell that is created by burning cannabis. I suppose that in some instances people are complaining about the smell of actual cannabis plants being cultivated, however, it seems like that is far less prevalent.

The smell of cannabis smoke as a nuisance is being pointed to seemingly more often these days, with a recent high-profile example of that coming via comments made by British politician Keir Starmer, captured in a tweet below:

Starmer went on to explain that, “There’s a family in my constituency – every night cannabis smoke creeps in from the street outside into their children’s bedroom – aged four and six. That’s not low level – it’s ruining their lives.”

In response to Starmer’s comments, YouGov conducted a poll asking how many Britons can recognize the smell of cannabis. Below are the poll’s results:

While the YouGov poll may seem a bit silly to some people, the issue of public cannabis use and reported nuisances related to odor and smoke is serious and worthy of a rational discussion. The issue could be directly addressed by governments allowing private cannabis clubs to operate.

Many cannabis consumers and patients consume in public settings because they do not have any other place to do it. If they are travelers, most hotels and other tourist lodging do not allow smoking indoors. The same is true of many residential structures.

But unlike tobacco cigarettes, the consumption of which is accommodated in many public spaces in various ways, cannabis consumers are left to figure out their consumption settings on their own, which typically ends up being sidewalks, alleys, and the sides of buildings.

By affording consumers and patients private settings in which to consume cannabis, such as at clubs or in designated outdoor smoking spaces at other venues, nuisances related to the smell of cannabis and smoke will likely subside. They will never go away entirely, just as the smell and smoke from tobacco consumption have never been 100% eliminated, but there will obviously be a significant reduction.

Furthermore, the spread of the legal cannabis industry will yield many smokeless options for cannabis consumers and patients, and that will help too. Ironically, many of the same people complaining about odors and smoke from cannabis use also seem to oppose the spread of the cannabis industry, and from that standpoint, they are their own worst enemy, which is unfortunate.

If lawmakers truly care about mitigating any nuisances related to cannabis, then they should logically support public policy solutions that directly address their concerns. That obviously includes permitting social cannabis use in some meaningful way.

festival concert event venue

Ireland Labour Leader Calls For Legal Cannabis Sales At Festivals

Written by Hazel Norman on . Posted in Policy.

Social cannabis use reform is in many ways the next frontier for activism efforts around the globe. In many jurisdictions cannabis possession, cultivation, and distribution laws still need to be fixed to be sure.

However, in a growing number of jurisdictions social use reform is either being explored as part of larger reform efforts, or in places where cannabis is already legal for at least possession and use, social use reform is being sought to improve current public policies.

One country that is in need of a massive cannabis policy overhaul is Ireland. Cannabis is currently illegal for adult use in Ireland, and the nation’s medical cannabis program is very limited in size and scope compared to medical programs found in many other countries.

At least one lawmaker in Ireland is calling for reform beyond simple legalization. If Labour leader Ivana Bacik has their way, cannabis will be legally bought and sold at festivals in addition to other reform components. Per the Irish Examiner:

The licenced sale of cannabis at Electric Picnic and other music festivals should be permitted as part of a “rational” approach to drugs, Labour party leader Ivana Bacik has said.

Calling for a “harm reduction based policy” on drugs, Ms Bacik has said politicians need to accept the reality that cannabis is now widely consumed as a recreational drug.

“There’s a clear momentum internationally to adopt a more rational harm reduction based policy on drugs.

At this juncture in time, it’s very unlikely that Ivana Bacik’s calls for social use reform will be adopted. After all, the nation is having a hard enough time just reforming cannabis laws in such a way that it keeps cannabis consumers and patients out of Ireland’s criminal justice system.

Yet, Ivana Bacik’s recent comments have sparked a conversation in Ireland about what a comprehensive cannabis public policy would involve. The main rallying cry of cannabis advocates in Europe right now is to improve public health outcomes via regulated sales, and sales at festivals and other events definitely seem to fit within that strategy.

paris france paris france

When Will France Legalize Cannabis For Adult Use?

Written by Johnny Green on . Posted in Policy.

Cannabis consumption in France is more common than in many other parts of the world, as demonstrated by recent survey data that was collected and analyzed by the French Observatory of Drugs and Addictive Tendencies. In its most recent survey involving adults aged 18 to 64, the French Observatory of Drugs and Addictive Tendencies found that 10.6% of the survey participants reported having consumed cannabis within the last year. With so many people consuming cannabis in France, it begs the question, when will France pass an adult-use legalization measure?

The same survey by the French Observatory of Drugs and Addictive Tendencies, which was conducted in conjunction with the Santé Publique France agency, found that 47.3% of the survey participants reported having consumed cannabis at least once in their lifetime. To put these numbers into perspective, United States survey data indicates that roughly 49% of adults report having consumed cannabis at least once in their lifetime, and roughly 12% report being an annual consumer.

Yet, whereas the U.S. is trending in the right direction when it comes to cannabis reform, the same cannot be said about France. Late last year France lifted a previously implemented ban on CBD products, however, that is clearly not enough. Even with legalization looming across the border in Germany, leaders in France are indicating that they want to take a ‘wait and see’ approach.

Monitoring From Afar

Germany’s Health Minister Karl Lauterbach is currently lobbying the European Union to gain approval for Germany to proceed with an adult-use legalization measure that would result in the launch of nationwide legal adult-use cannabis sales. According to recent comments made by Minister Lauterbach, he has received “very good feedback” from the EU and indicated that a formal introduction of a legalization measure will happen very soon.

Many countries around the globe are watching Germany with a very close eye, particularly countries on the European continent. Leadership in the Czech Republic has already indicated that it will try to follow Germany’s lead if/when Germany passes an adult-use legalization measure. Unfortunately, leaders in France appear to be taking a more passive approach.

“France will closely monitor the evolution of the German legislative framework, especially with regard to its potential impact on cross-border regions,” the office of French Health Minister François Braun recently told EURACTIV France. The comments from the French Health Minister do not instill any confidence that France will be legalizing any time soon. If anything, they seem to indicate that increased prohibition enforcement may be on the horizon along the France/Germany border.

Boosting Public Health

Whether international cannabis observers realize it or not, Germany is currently doing a considerable amount of the heavy lifting to legalize cannabis across the European continent. The biggest hurdle to comprehensive continental adult-use reform is the European Union, and if/when Germany can overcome that hurdle, it will have created an adult-use legalization blueprint for other European countries to copy, including France.

With a reported second-highest cannabis consumption rate on the European continent, France’s consumer base is enormous. With some minor exceptions, a vast majority of what France consumers are inhaling and/or ingesting is completely unregulated. That is problematic from a public health standpoint and can be largely mitigated by launching a regulated adult-use industry.

That premise largely serves as the crux of the argument being made right now by Germany’s Health Minister to the EU. It’s an argument that France would be well-served to be on the right side of, and there are calls from within France to do so. The consumption of unregulated cannabis products is a public health concern according to France’s Economic, Social, and Environmental Council. The Council is recommending legalization, and policymakers in France should follow that recommendation as soon as possible.

Joint doobie cannabis Joint doobie cannabis Joint doobie cannabis Joint doobie cannabis Joint doobie cannabis

Premier Doug Ford Is Not A Fan Of Cannabis Clubs

Written by Johnny Green on . Posted in Business, Policy.

Cannabis clubs are becoming more common around the world, particularly in Canada. Unfortunately, some lawmakers and regulators continue to seemingly act as if prohibiting social cannabis use venues will prevent them from operating. A recent example of that can be found via comments made by Ontario Premier Doug Ford after he heard a pitch for cannabis clubs provided by the Ontario Chamber of Commerce.

“I don’t like the idea of having a lounge outside and they’re smoking or doobies or weed or whatever the heck they call it now,” said Premier Ford according to the Toronto Star. “If you want to do your stuff, do it somewhere else. That’s my opinion.”

The recent comments were unfortunate, although, they do not reflect the reality of what is happening throughout much of Canada. When consumers go “somewhere else” it’s often a cannabis speakeasy. Furthermore, people are going to consume cannabis at events such as concerts, just as they have for many, many years. Lawmakers like Premier Ford can choose to stick their heads in the sand and pretend like social cannabis use doesn’t already exist, however, that denial of reality comes at a cost to public health, safety, and revenue.

Common Ground

Whether Premier Doug Ford realizes it or not, contained in his recent comments is an argument for regulating social cannabis use and allowing venues to be licensed. Per Premier Ford’s own words, he doesn’t “like the idea of having a lounge outside and they’re smoking.” What is being proposed is private venues, where people can consume cannabis out of public view.

As responsible cannabis consumers will be quick to point out, they typically don’t prefer to consume cannabis on a sidewalk or in an alley. Speaking for myself, I’d much rather consume cannabis in a private social setting. When I am away from home and I don’t have a private setting to consume in, I’d gladly go to a regulated venue to smoke cannabis instead of doing so in a park or on the side of a building. If Premier Ford’s main argument is that he doesn’t want cannabis consumption to be a nuisance, then he should be advocating for cannabis clubs and not against them.

Accepting Reality

Cannabis consumers and patients want cannabis clubs, other private social venues, and consumption-friendly events. Just as some adults want to consume alcohol around their current friends and family, and/or want to make new friends, the same is true for cannabis. For patients specifically, they need to be able to consume their medicine wherever they are, and social cannabis businesses help facilitate that.

The unregulated cannabis market is going to fill any voids left by deficient public policy. If lawmakers like Premier Ford do not want to pursue sensible public policy and do not want to allow social use entities to legally operate, such entities will still surely exist, they will just be less safe and zero percent of any profits will go to public coffers. Lawmakers in Ontario, Canada, and everywhere else would be wise to embrace cannabis clubs rather than oppose them. Calls for social use reform are not going away, and will only get louder as the emerging legal cannabis industry continues to expand.

hemp-cannabis-flower-plant-garden-outdoor hemp-cannabis-flower-plant-garden-outdoor

Agreement Reached In Spain For Future Regulation Of ‘Cannabis Light’

Written by Hazel Norman on . Posted in Business, Policy.

Spain is home to one of the most unique approaches to cannabis policy out of any nation on the planet. The nation has one of the most robust and vibrant cannabis communities on earth, yet the cannabis public policies in Spain are very outdated.

Anyone with internet access and the ability to use a popular online search engine can see that private cannabis clubs are located throughout Spain, with huge clumps of them being located in Barcelona in particular. Unfortunately, Spain’s laws and regulations are such that all of those clubs operate in a legal grey area versus being licensed and outright accepted.

Cannabis advocates inside and outside of Spain were hopeful that the start of 2023 would see a cannabis regulatory measure finally reach the finish line and get the nation’s laws to match reality, however, that has yet to materialize.

What has materialized is an agreement in Spain’s Congress to, eventually, regulate low-THC cannabis. Low-THC cannabis is often referred to as ‘cannabis light’ and is very popular in many European nations. Perhaps someday Spain will join those nations in regulating such products. Per Europa Press (translated to English):

The PSOE has agreed on an initiative in Congress with Unidas Podemos, Esquerra (ERC) and Bildu that opens the door to a future regulation of non-psychoactive cannabis, that whose percentage of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the euphoric drug, is less than 1% .

Unidas Podemos and the two pro-independence allies of the Government presented an initiative this Wednesday in the Congressional Agriculture Commission demanding the regulation of the production and commercialization of this crop in order to offer legal certainty to producers and marketers.

It will be interesting to see if 1) this type of reform actually gets adopted in the near future, and 2) if it will have any meaningful impact on Spain’s cannabis industry. To be clear – providing this type of reform to the nation’s emerging cannabis industry is helpful, although, exactly how helpful it would be is open for debate.

What Spain really needs is a comprehensive cannabis policy and regulatory overhaul. Cannabis products containing all types of THC percentages, including concentrates that contain large amounts of THC, are being consumed every day in Spain. It’s a reality that lawmakers and regulators ignore at a cost to public health.

Consumers and patients in Spain deserve safe access to tested cannabis. Entrepreneurs in Spain deserve to operate in a business landscape that affords them every reasonable opportunity to supply the nation’s demand in a way that boosts public health and generates revenue for public coffers.

brazil flag brazil flag brazil flag brazil flag brazil flag brazil flag brazil flag brazil flag brazil flag brazil flag brazil flag brazil flag

Brazil Judge Allows NGO To Cultivate Medical Cannabis

Written by Hazel Norman on . Posted in Policy.

The public policy avenue that most people are familiar with when it comes to legalization efforts is when lawmakers approve a reform measure in a particular jurisdiction. After all, people are elected or appointed to make laws, and legislative action is the most straightforward way to codify something into law.

However, there are other means by which public policy is changed, including public policies that pertain to cannabis. One such way is via a citizen initiative or referendum. Italy, for example, has this political process in which ordinary citizens can gather a certain number of signatures to force a vote on something.

Another avenue that many people don’t seem to always consider is the courts. Legal decisions handed down by courts also create laws, particularly when it’s a nation’s top court that has the final say and there are no further appeal options.

Brazil is a nation that seems to have quite a bit of cannabis policy being set by its courts, with a recent example of that coming via a case involving an NGO that wants to cultivate medical cannabis. Brazil’s industry is currently built around importing cannabis products, but thanks to a recent legal decision, that could be changing. Per excerpts from The Brazilian Report:

A federal judge in the northeastern state of Sergipe on Wednesday authorized an NGO to grow cannabis and manufacture medicinal products for its associates. Although similar authorizations have been granted in Brazil for producing cannabis oil, this is the first time such approval has included the plant’s flowers, extracts, and edible products.

Lawyer Paulo Henrique Thiessen, who represents the NGO Salvar, celbrated the decions as “wonderful news.”

Cannabis reform is sweeping the globe, particularly in South America. The continent is famously home to the world’s first legalized nation, Uruguay, which passed an adult-use legalization measure back in 2013.

Several South American countries have reformed their medical cannabis policies in recent years, with Brazil, the continent’s largest country, being much slower to pass and implement meaningful medical cannabis reform measures compared to its continental peers. Hopefully this recent legal decision will inspire lawmakers and regulators in Brazil to pick up the pace.

doctor medical hospital

Cannabis Sales In Canada Are Not Associated With An Increase In Crash Hospitalizations

Written by Frank Schuler on . Posted in Business, Policy.

Earlier this week we covered a report that was recently issued by the Traffic Injury Research Foundation titled, “Recreational Cannabis Consumption Spaces in Canada.” The report was published with support from the Canada Safety Council and DRIVE SOBER®.

In many ways, the report failed to provide proper context and seemed to try to portray cannabis in the most negative light possible, with a heavy focus on public roadway fearmongering. The results of a recent traffic-injury study are proving to be quite timely, as the findings of this new study seem to contradict many points that were recently offered up by cannabis opponents.

A new study based out of Canada examined traffic-injury hospitalization data in an attempt to see if the launch of legal adult-use sales in Canada was associated with an increase in traffic-injury hospitalization rates. Below is more information about it via a news release from NORML:

Toronto, Canada: The implementation of adult-use marijuana sales in Canada is not associated with any increase in traffic injury-related hospitalizations, according to data published in the journal Addiction.

Investigators assessed nationwide rates of emergency department visits and hospitalizations in the years before and immediately following legalization.

Authors concluded, “Overall, there is no clear evidence that RCL [recreational cannabis laws] had any effect on rates of ED visits and hospitalizations for either motor vehicle or pedestrian/cyclist injury across Canada.”

The findings are consistent with those of a 2021 Canadian study that similarly “found no evidence that the implementation of the Cannabis Act was associated with significant changes in post-legalization patterns of all drivers’ traffic-injury ED visits or, more specifically, youth-driver traffic-injury ED presentations.”

Several studies from the United States also found no significant changes in traffic safety in the years immediately following the enactment of adult-use legalization. However, other assessments evaluating longer-term trends in traffic safety following legalization have yielded inconsistent results.

Full text of the study, “The effect of recreational cannabis legalization on rates of traffic injury in Canada,” appears in Addiction. Additional information is available from the NORML Fact Sheet, ‘Marijuana and Psychomotor Performance.’

zurich switzerland

Limited Adult-Use Cannabis Sales Project Is Moving Forward In Zurich

Written by Frank Schuler on . Posted in Policy.

Switzerland’s experiment with adult-use cannabis pilot programs is reportedly expanding, with Zurich’s city government and the Zurich University Hospital indicating today that the Federal Office of Public Health has given the ‘greenlight’ for the local pilot program to proceed later this year.

A cannabis pilot program is, in theory, designed to permit limited local cannabis commerce for the purpose of gaining insight and helping craft potential national cannabis industry laws, rules, and regulations. It gives lawmakers and regulators the opportunity to see what works and what does not work at the local level to help them be better suited to create and implement national policies.

Zurich will not be the first jurisdiction in Switzerland to launch limited adult-use sales as part of a pilot program. Back in early February Basel, Switzerland launched its pilot program with 180 participants after experiencing various delays. The Basel program will eventually involve 374 people total, all aged between 18 and 76.

The pilot program in Zurich, which is the result of a legal amendment adopted by the Swiss parliament in 2020 allowing for adult-use cannabis trials, will be considerably larger than the one in Basel. However, it will still be very limited in size compared to other legal adult-use markets around the globe. Per Swiss Info:

The project, Zuri Can – Cannabis with Responsibility, is intended to study the impact of regulated cannabis supply on the consumption and health of consumers.

The project was delayed last October following objections by the health office.

The sale of cannabis products from pharmacies and social clubs to control groups is now due to begin next August.

A maximum of 2,100 participants can take part in the large-scale pilot project in Switzerland’s biggest city.

Meanwhile, right on the other side of the border between Switzerland and Germany, adult-use cannabis legalization is on the move at the national level. It will be very interesting to see if/when Germany legalizes cannabis for adult use and launches regulated sales nationwide how it may affect Switzerland’s pilot programs.

Presumably, at least some amount of consumers that would have otherwise participated in a Switzerland pilot program will instead go to Germany to make their cannabis purchases.

Even for those that participate in the program at home, many will still travel to Germany for various reasons and consume cannabis there instead of back in Switzerland, and that may skew the results of the cannabis trials, at least to some degree. Switzerland would be better served by passing its own national cannabis legalization measure.