WORLD CannaPress
Kanepi, a new municipal district in Southeastern Estonia, gave its residents a chance to vote for a new symbol to represent them. Their overwhelmingly popular choice was a Cannabis-leaf design. According to their state broadcaster ERR, “kanep” is the Estonian word for Cannabis. The winning design took 12,000 of the total 15,000 votes cast, and the Mayor said he would respect the public’s wishes. While Cannabis is currently illegal in Estonia, a federal official commented that nobody will prevent the local authority from using its symbolism.
Greg Hunt, Australia’s Health Minister, spies an opportunity. While 13% of Americans regularly ingest Cannabis, only about 3% of Australians do. “We’d like to be potentially the world’s number one supplier,” Mr. Hunt said in January. A year earlier, Cannabis was ‘legalized’ in Australia for medical use. But it is rarely given to anyone, and Australians are still being arrested at a steady clip for using, growing, transporting, and obtaining it. Even so, investment firms are getting excited about attracting foreign funding. According to investment firm Peak Asset Management, Australia’s Medical Cannabis products will quadruple to $1 billion by 2020.
Canada: Leading Medical Cannabis Producer wants to take on Big Pharma
An Ontario-based company called Canopy Growth Corp, “one of the biggest medical marijuana producers”, recently started building a portfolio of patented and federally-approved cannabinoid-based medicines through a subsidiary. Along with a growing number of other companies, these new players aim to compete with established drugs treating many common diseases, ranging from anxiety and chronic pain to multiple sclerosis and childhood epilepsy. These formulations will be sold as pills, inhalers, solutions and creams, with the goal of convincing doctors and insurers to embrace marijuana as a mainstream medicine. Canada approved Medical Cannabis back in 2001, while our legislators were arguing about?.. you tell me what’s more important.
Federal: Trump’s HHS Secretary literally denies the existence of Medical Cannabis
As if it wasn’t enough for his boss to suggest the death penalty for drug dealers like his new BFF Duterte in the Philippines, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar recently traveled to a press conference on opioids in Ohio to declare that, “There really is no thing as Medical Marijuana”. He was there to promote a $750 million partnership to develop a competing pain therapy that doesn’t depend on opioids, so besides the fact that his own agency holds a significant patent on Medical Cannabis, there’s quite a conflict of interest at play here.
Ohio: Kucinich pledges to support a Cannabis Renaissance if elected Governor
Dennis Kucinich, a former Congressman and contender for the Democratic nomination to the US Presidency, has announced his potential Cannabis policies. He and his running mate Tara Samples would expand Medical Cannabis laws, and decriminalize possession and use for adults. They want to put the revenue into the communities that need it, like those that have been devastated by the opioid crisis. They have also spoken of growing industrial hemp in Ohio.
California: Reefer Madness engulfs our most-populous state (Not!)
It’s been 77 days since the Golden State turned Solid Green, and started letting anybody 21 and over pay some serious taxes and purchase Cannabis flowers, edibles and concentrates. Has their been an uptick in crime around these retail shops since then? Has there been any increase in family crime, like spousal or child abuse directly related to Cannabis? Kids going without, because mom & dad spent that cash at the dispensary? What about emergency services, has their been an emergency-room spike? Violence, accidents, acute physical reactions? Also, are the roads any less safe with all those stoners on them? No, no, no, no and no. Also, no.
Juneau: House Bill 316 proposes to wipe Alaskans’ Cannabis convictions clean
“To continue to punish people who did something before February 15 that is now legal and that people are making money off of just isn’t right”, said Anchorage Representative (D) Harriet Drummond. Drummond also said that her proposal would make it easier for Alaskans with possession convictions to find work and housing. Drummond also mentioned that authorities in other places, such as in California, are doing the same kind of thing since they went legal.
AK Marijuana Control Board: Welch out, Wallner next up for public safety seat?
Travis Welch has resigned from the Marijuana Control Board’s public safety seat, before he was even confirmed to the position. Alaska state law says that this position requires that the person be employed in public safety, such as a firefighter or police officer. Welch was qualified, until his position as North Star Borough Police Chief was “rescinded” by the new NSB Mayor, for what appear to be political reasons. Welch had been chosen to replace Soldotna Police Chief Peter Mlynarik on January 4, when Mlynarik resigned after U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions shifted its policy on Cannabis enforcement by revoking the Cole Memo. The only other nominee was Leonard Wallner, a veteran Alaska State Trooper that said he’d be “happy” to fill the seat.
In the face of schizoid federal policy, it seems like it’s always a good time to revisit Alaska’s statutes toward privacy protections for the Personal use of Cannabis, which cumulated with an Alaska Supreme Court decision (1975), in the case of Ravin v. State. Attorney Irwin Raven had successfully appealed his Cannabis conviction, by asserting that the state had violated his right to privacy, violating federal as well as Alaskan protections. The Court ultimately held that “one has a fundamental right of privacy in their home”, and that this right would encompass the possession and ingestion of substances such as marijuana in a purely personal, non-commercial context in the home unless the state can show a legitimate interest.
LOCAL: Alaska Legislature passes Hemp bill, waiting for Walker’s signature
Alaska is currently poised to legalize the production of industrial hemp, after a bill designed to do just that passed the state House and Senate in February, and is now awaiting Governor Walker’s approval. Senate Bill 6 would legalize the regulation and production of hemp, and provide for hemp pilot programs. It would also separate hemp from the definition of “marijuana,” and clarify the fact that industrial hemp is not psychoactive, and can even be nutritious.
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