Policy – Page 82 – International Cannabis Business Conference

Thailand To Release All Cannabis Prisoners

Written by Johnny Green on June 4, 2022. Posted in Policy.

In just a matter of days, Thailand will implement a very unique and bold approach to cannabis policy. On June 9th a new law goes into effect that will, among other things, legalize home cultivation for every household in the nation.

Thailand will launch a registration program in which households can sign up to cultivate low-THC cannabis and make use of harvests in various ways, including eventually selling it to the government.

To assist in helping households participate, the government is offering extremely low-interest loans to aspiring cultivators and distributing over one million cannabis seeds to households across the country.

Additionally, as announced this week, Thailand will also be releasing thousands of people currently serving time for cannabis offenses. Per Bangkok Post:

Ongoing trials and detention in connection with cannabis-related offences will be cancelled once revised restrictions take effect on Thursday, according to the Office of the Judiciary.

The production, import, export, distribution, consumption and possession of cannabis — except for its psychoactive substances — will be formally legalised on June 9 when a Ministry of Public Health announcement published in the Royal Gazette on Feb 9 takes effect, said Sorawit Limparangsri, a spokesman for the Office.

Cannabis-related offences that resulted in court cases and detention prior to June 9 will be cancelled, with any bond payments to be returned. People incarcerated in related trials serving jail time due to an inability to pay fines will also be released, according to the agency.

In addition to people being freed from prison and current prosecutions being abandoned, people previously convicted of some cannabis offenses will have those prosecutions removed from their records.

People awaiting trial will still have to show up to court as a procedural requirement, however, it’s only so that a judicial review can be performed to ensure that the case is eligible for dismissal.

It’s worth noting that not every case involving cannabis will be eligible for release, dismissal, and/or expungement. Some cases that involve cannabis also involve other offenses, so obviously in those instances, the case will remain in the criminal justice system. The same is true for cannabis cases that are beyond the parameters permitted by the new cannabis law.

Still, it’s estimated that over 4,000 cannabis prisoners will be released next week in Thailand, and that doesn’t seem to include pending cases, expungements for people that already served their sentences, and the prevention of future cases. It’s a significant move by Thailand, and hopefully other countries will work to do the same.

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South Africa Department Of Justice: Cannabis Industry Not Our Domain

Written by Frank Schuler on June 4, 2022. Posted in Policy.

In the fall of 2018, South Africa’s Supreme Court determined that cannabis prohibition as it pertained to personal use by adults in private settings was unconstitutional. While the decision did not extend to many other parts of cannabis policy, lawmakers in South Africa used it as an opportunity to completely overhaul the nation’s approach to cannabis policy and industry.

Similar court decisions were rendered in Italy and Mexico to some degree, however, lawmakers in those countries have been very slow to move policy beyond the individual Court decisions.

South Africa, on the other hand, has really stepped up efforts to embrace the cannabis plant and the industry that surrounds it. As we previously reported, South Africa’s government is currently accepting proposals for cannabis businesses and recently approved the country’s first cannabis pharmacy.

In yet another example of the shifting cannabis landscape in South Africa, the nation’s Department of Justice recently announced that it should not oversee the emerging cannabis industry. Instead, its recommendation is that other agencies that oversee other large, legal industries perform that task. Per Business Day:

The department of justice was not empowered to introduce legislation dealing with the commercialisation of cannabis, as that fell within the domain of other departments such as health, agriculture, and trade, industry and competition.

On Tuesday, the department of justice’s legal adviser, Sarel Robbertse, gave the department’s response to public comments on the Cannabis for Private Purposes Bill, in a briefing to parliament’s justice and correctional services committee…

It will be very interesting to see where South Africa’s cannabis industry is at five years from now, and how much farther along it is compared to other countries within the global cannabis community.

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Government Agencies In Thailand Sign Agreement To Promote Cannabis

Written by Frank Schuler on June 4, 2022. Posted in Policy.

In one week Thailand will implement robust changes to the country’s cannabis policies, not the least of which will be allowing every household in the country to sign up to cultivate low-THC cannabis.

To help encourage the nation’s industry, Thailand’s government previously announced that it will offer low-interest loans to aspiring cultivators, as well as distribute over 1 million free cannabis seeds to the public.

Earlier this week over half a dozen agencies in Thailand entered into an agreement to promote the nation’s emerging cannabis industry going forward. Below is more information via a social media post from the National News Bureau of Thailand:

An agreement has been signed by the Ministry of Public Health and seven other agencies to support and promote the appropriate use of cannabis and hemp.

Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul presided over the signing of the agreement to prioritize using cannabis and hemp for health and economic purposes, and not for illegal or inappropriate use. In addition to the health ministry, the agreement was signed by representatives from other agencies, namely the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, the Thai Health Promotion Foundation, the Mass Communication Organization of Thailand, The Medical Council of Thailand, and Thai Traditional Medical Council.

The Royal Thai Police, the Office of the Narcotics Control Board and the Food and Drug Administration also signed as witnesses for the agreement.

According to Anutin, the agreement aims to ensure that use of the plants is prioritized for medicinal and economic purposes, encourage product diversity, and increase market value. He also emphasized the importance of publicizing the goal of removing these plants from the Type 5 Narcotics List in order to prevent public misuse.

Both plants will be removed from the Type 5 Narcotics List on June 9, 2022. However, any product containing more than 0.2% Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) extract is still classified as a category 5 substance and is subject to narcotics control and suppression laws.

Anyone who wishes to grow cannabis and hemp must register through the Food and Drug Administration’s “Puk Kan” mobile application, while those who intend to cultivate them for commercial purposes must notify the authorities before starting their business.

Japan’s Ministry Of Health Considers Legalization Of Medical Cannabis

Written by Marguerite Arnold on June 4, 2022. Posted in Policy.

The country is considering medical reform and will create a new legal framework to recriminalize adult use

The Ministry of Health in Japan has decided to embark on a path that would seem to indicate that at least medical use of some kinds of cannabis is on track to be authorized soon.

The bad news? The government also apparently intends to become alone in the world to make medical use legal while also planning to specifically penalize recreational users.

As of last week, the Ministry began formal discussions on how to revise the country’s Narcotics Control Act, enacted just after WWII, in 1948. Last year, internal discussions began to lead ministers in the government in the direction of reform after a report discussed the medical efficacy of the drug on diseases like epilepsy. The Ministry of Health intends to draw up proposals before the end of this summer.

All G-7 countries, with the exception of Japan, have approved the use of CBD-based drugs to treat epilepsy.

Going Sideways?

That said, it is not clear how fast the country will move on cannabis reform more generally. The governmental inquiry is also discussing a new provision to the Control Act that specifically criminalizes recreational use while providing a medical exception to patients. There are also expected to be harsh penalties for the consumption of recreational cannabis.

This is a country with a long and tortured cannabis history. In 1980, former Beatles member, Paul McCartney visited the country with about 8 ounces in his possession. He was subsequently banned from the country for 11 years.

The government also made international headlines in 2018, clearly targeting Japanese nationals living in North America when it forbade its ex-pat citizens to use cannabis even if living in a country where its use was legal.

More recently, this February, a U.S. Marine received two years of hard labour for importing a half-gallon of cannabis-infused liquid and a quarter pound of cannabis flower. On May 17, a Japanese school nurse was also imprisoned for suspected possession of an unspecified amount of dried cannabis flower.

As of last year, there were 5,400 people charged with illegal possession – a new record for the country. Offenders below thirty accounted for 70% of those arrested. The number of people arrested for possession has doubled since 2017.

While it is unlikely that this strange compromise will hold, Japan, as a result, has certainly entered the global cannabis conversation with a unique “reform” proposal – even if it is, obviously, an unsustainable one long term.

Argentina Legalizes Medical Cannabis And Hemp To Revive Economy

Written by Johnny Green on June 4, 2022. Posted in Archives, Business, Policy.

The Latin American country has high hopes that the legalization of cannabis will bring much-needed cash and jobs to the country after Covid

At the beginning of May, the Argentine Congress passed a bill to establish a legal framework for the establishment of a domestic cannabis industry (cultivation and sale) as well as the export of both medical cannabis and industrial hemp.

The move was backed by the country’s president, Alberto Fernandez, who hopes to create new jobs, increase productivity, and create new kinds of exports for the country, which is now facing a deep economic crisis, post-Covid.

The government believes that the industry could create about 10,000 new jobs in the next two years and create $500 million worth of revenue for the country. They hope that of this amount, $50 million will also be exported.

The country has 8 different varieties of cannabis seeds so it will not have to import them, or seedlings.

Cannabis – A Latin American Export Commodity?

Argentina of course is not the only country now exploring the cultivation of cannabis for economic development purposes – not only in Latin America but globally.

At this point, with the exception of Venezuela, Bolivia, French Guiana, Suriname, and Guyana, the entire continent is engaged in medical cultivation of some kind. Even in these countries, the discussion is moving forward toward other things. Uruguay of course is the only country on the continent where recreational use has been legalized. Indeed, Uruguay was the first country in the world to legalize recreational use.

Beyond this, many countries in Africa are now looking to the crop to boost domestic income via exports and for job creation, starting with South Africa.

The question is, of course, will the demand for cannabis actually be this great, globally. Beyond that, there are many questions about the current sustainability of the industry in developing countries. Yes, the prices of cannabis need to drop, dramatically, but there is also likely to be a “race to the bottom” as countries compete with each other for more valuable markets, like Europe.

In many countries on the African continent, cannabis is increasingly being seen as a replacement for tobacco.

In Latin America, in particular, however, the sustainability of the industry, particularly when considering that rain forests could be further decimated to grow the crop, is still in question.

One thing is for sure, however. “South” economies are now in the middle of a green rush. The question is, however, will this return the gold they hope for?

Why Uruguay’s President Is Wrong About Cannabis

Written by Johnny Green on June 4, 2022. Posted in Archives, Policy.

Late last week the President of Uruguay, Luis Lacaille Pou, reportedly stated that it was a mistake for Uruguay to have passed an adult-use legalization measure back in 2013, and subsequently, launched legal adult-use sales four years later. Both moves by Uruguay were the first of their kind by any country on earth since the start of global cannabis prohibition. It’s worth noting that Uruguay’s current President was elected in 2020, well after the country legalized cannabis for adult use.

As expected, cannabis opponents are pointing to the President of Uruguay’s statements as loudly and as often as possible. They are touting it as some type of ‘proof’ that adult-use cannabis legalization does not work, and that the first country to ever legalize cannabis for adult use has buyer’s remorse. According to the President, the government should not be part of the process of growing or selling “drugs” because he considers legal cannabis to be “unprofitable.”

Why Did Uruguay Legalize Cannabis?

When Uruguay passed its national cannabis legalization measure, the public policy shift had three main objectives, two of which were specified in the law itself:

Reducing cartel-related violence by moving cannabis into a regulated market
Promoting public health through education and prevention
Eliminating the catch-22 of allowing possession but effectively blocking consumers from accessing cannabis

Contrary to the spin-doctoring that Uruguay’s President seems to be currently engaging in, the goal of Uruguay’s historic cannabis policy shift was never to maximize profits. Prohibition is a failed public policy, and a regulated model will always be a better approach to cannabis policy.

Drug cartels have caused an enormous amount of misery and suffering in Uruguay and throughout the region. Cannabis is obviously only one of the many facets of a drug cartel’s operations, however, giving consumers a regulated option to legally acquire cannabis hurts cartels’ bottom line to some extent, and from that perspective, legalization is clearly working.

Improve The Legalization Model

Legalizing cannabis purely for monetary gain is not a solid reason for such a public policy change. People should support cannabis legalization because it is the right thing to do being that cannabis prohibition literally ruins lives. No one should ever be subjected to the criminal justice system due to possessing, cultivating, and/or buying a personal amount of cannabis.

With that being said, if Uruguay’s President is truly concerned about the profitability of the nation’s emerging cannabis industry, then he should seek to improve it rather than destroy it. The first thing that the President should seek to do is open up the nation’s cannabis system to tourists. Unlike Canada, Uruguay only allows sales through pharmacies and private clubs, and those sales are only open to residents. That is obviously going to limit the size of Uruguay’s potential customer base and hinder industry profits.

One thing that the President seemed to disregard in his statements is the cost savings to Uruguay by the country no longer enforcing failed public policy. Enforcing cannabis prohibition is expensive. It costs money to pay law enforcement to identify and investigate unregulated cannabis activity. It costs money to then prosecute cases through Uruguay’s court system. Incarcerating people also costs money. When Uruguay stopped enforcing prohibition, it yielded obvious cost savings for the government. Legalization is working in Uruguay, whether the country’s President wants to admit it or not.

Heidi Klum Reportedly Lobbying For Cannabis Legalization In Germany

Written by Johnny Green on May 30, 2022. Posted in Archives, Entertainment, Policy, Trending News.

Pushing for cannabis legalization can come in many forms. Cannabis activists around the globe, out of necessity, have pursued every strategy imaginable in their efforts to try to reform cannabis laws where they live.

In some parts of the world where initiative and referendum processes are in place, activists have gathered signatures in order to put cannabis reform measures in front of voters. It’s largely how cannabis has been legalized at the state level in the United States.

At the national level, legalization has been achieved in Uruguay, Canada, and Malta via the legislative process, meaning, lawmakers passed a legalization measure (not voters). Successful legalization efforts in those countries became a reality largely due to lobbying.

Lobbying lawmakers with the goal of convincing them to pass a legalization measure involves people from all types of backgrounds meeting with lawmakers, educating them, and advocating for reform.

Being that the lobbying process involves getting the ear of one or more lawmakers, obviously, not all lobbyists are seen as being equal. For instance, a country’s famous supermodel is likely to be a bit more persuasive compared to less famous citizens.

With that in mind, there’s a significant political situation developing in Germany where it is being reported that supermodel Heidi Klum recently met with Germany’s current drug czar for the purpose of lobbying in support of legalization. Per RTL (translated from German to English):

“GNTM” boss Heidi Klum (48) came unannounced to the German capital on Friday (May 20) and was seen in the Berlin government district, among other things. The reason: As RTL found out exclusively, Tom Kaulitz ’s wife (32) is said to be campaigning for the legalization of cannabis .

Current photos of the 48-year-old show her in a colorful pants suit, strolling through Berlin in a good mood. On Friday morning, the mother of four was seen in exactly this outfit, among other things, in front of the office of the federal government’s drug commissioner, Burkhard Blienert (56). As RTL learned from a source from the government circles, she is said to have subsequently met with Member of the Bundestag Andrew Ullmann (59). Is the native Rhinelander aiming for a career in politics? To some extent, this theory could be correct, because she is said to have offered herself in talks with politicians as a supporter of the legalization of cannabis.

It does not appear that any notes have surfaced regarding what was specifically discussed in the private meetings between Klum and German lawmakers. It’s also unclear what is specifically motivating Klum to step up her advocacy efforts.

However, the fact that Klum has emerged as a cannabis legalization lobbyist in Germany can only help bolster the chances of legalization happening sooner rather than later.

Cannabis Legalization Plans Emerging in Luxembourg

Written by Johnny Green on May 30, 2022. Posted in Archives, Policy.

Luxembourg will unveil the final legislation soon, but the details are now emerging

It has been in the works for the last four years ever since the new government promised that it would progress with cannabis legalization before 2023. Now the details are emerging – both through leaks and now from the government itself. The final draft bill will be made public sometime in June.

According to Minister of Justice Sam Tanson, the bill will allow Luxembourgian residents to grow four plants at home. Beyond this, possession of fewer than three grams of cannabis will be decriminalized.

Trade in cannabis seeds will be allowed, nationwide, because it will make no sense to criminalize seed sales when people are allowed to grow their own.

The announcement noted that it is now easier for Luxembourg to stake its position on this as Germany is also moving forward on adult-use reform. That said, there seems to be no formal cooperation or communication between the two governments on coordinating plans or even advising each other. Apparently, plans for commercial cultivation and sales were dropped in Luxembourg at least because of the prevailing international regulations about cannabis.

Expect, as a result of Germany’s forward movement, for the Luxembourgian government to also expand such rights domestically.

In the meantime, Luxembourg will (at least) match Malta in allowing home grow.

The Impact of German Legalization

As widely anticipated, other countries in Europe are watching – and waiting – for Germany’s stake in the ground on the legalization question.

That legislation is also expected to be drafted and made public sometime this summer – to allow the Bundestag to debate and then pass it by the end of the year. If the Health Minister fails in this task, he will lose his PR budget – so it is unlikely that there will be a significant delay on the German side of the border.

Because the German discussion is absolutely about the commercialization of the recreational side of the industry, which will undoubtedly grow on the basic infrastructure established by the medical cannabis cultivation bid, it is also likely that other countries, starting with Luxembourg and Malta, if not Portugal beyond this, will almost certainly issue similar kinds of regulations.

Given the fact that Covid is receding, governments are running out of time and excuses in tackling this discussion. How quickly such legislation will not only be passed but allow a fully functional market is another question.

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Will Suing Governments For Cannabis Legalization Work In Europe?

Written by Johnny Green on May 30, 2022. Posted in Archives, Policy.

Large, multi-state operators in the US are teaming up to sue the federal government over reform. Will the same strategy work in Europe?

Several large U.S. companies are teaming up to sue the U.S. federal government over what they claim are unconstitutional limits on their commercial operations across the US. One of the suits will focus on the federal government’s prevention of intrastate commerce. Another will challenge the 280E tax provision blocking the industry from taking tax deductions for state taxes from their federal returns.

The approach is certainly a novel one in the history of cannabis reform.

The question is, could such a tactic work in Europe, and at what level?

Lawsuits Move Policy – But Only So Far

In Europe, legal challenges have already begun to move policy – and on both a country and EU level – but it has been unpredictable so far.

For example, in Germany, a patient legal action directly led to national medical reform in 2017. A current lawsuit hopes to do the same to determine, finally, the legal status of hemp. Recreational legislation may settle this out of court, but lawsuits clearly help to focus legislative attention right now on this issue.

Beyond this, at the EU level, the decision to normalize CBD – namely to redefine it as a non-narcotic substance – went through the court system, rather than being decided initially as policy in a national legislature.

A French case on imported CBD vapes also helped set policy at the EU level about the cross-border trade in CBD.

That said, the European Court of Justice refused to accept the case of Albert Tio in Spain, who was criminally charged and convicted for being a central part of the club movement, presumably because of its implications for recreational reform.

What Happens When Germany Legalizes?

There is clearly a place for such lawsuits after Germany legalizes recreational use. This development will absolutely drive policy across the EU – as Luxembourg has already noted. But when will this translate into similar kinds of lawsuits?

For now, it is too early to tell what might land first. However, with several countries in the EU on the brink of legalizing recreational use, even of the home grow kind, and both Germany and Switzerland in a trade alliance that goes beyond the EU, there is certainly a window of opportunity for legal challenges of this ilk, starting with the free movement of goods.

A non-pharmaceutical provider in Holland, for example, might be able to sue to gain access to the German market. So might a Swiss company. Beyond this, growers in countries like Portugal, Spain and Greece might be able to try to litigate market access for their high THC product, even if of pharmaceutical quality.

Market access is a powerful incentive for change. This in turn is also likely to instigate litigation to allow trade in the first place.