Colombia’s plan to legalize cannabis has stalled for the year, with the Colombian Senate failing to push it forward with enough support in Tuesday’s final vote, even though a simple majority of senators present voted in his favour.

The legislation, sponsored by Deputy Juan Carlos Losada, had already been approved by both chambers last year, as part of the two-year process that constitutional amendments must undergo. It was then passed by the Chamber of Deputies in May and was considered by a Senate committee this month. Although she obtained the majority of votes in the Senate on Tuesday (47-43), it needed 54 for it to be promulgated.

Lawmakers will therefore have to start the two-year legislative process over again if they want to end prohibition. After the vote, Mr. Losada said supporters of the project “are sad, but convinced that we have given everything to the end”.

Estamos tristes, pero convencidos de que la dimos toda hasta el final. Nunca pensamos legar tan lejos. Hoy tenemos mayorías, faltaron 7 votes.

Llevamos 4 años en esta lucha y no desfalleceremos para escribir una nueva historia en la lucha contra las drogas.

¡Gracias! pic.twitter.com/Scu3BQW5cR

— Juan Carlos Losada (@JuanKarloslos) June 21, 2023

“We never thought it would go this far,” he said, according to a translation. “We have been fighting for four years and we will not give up to write a new story in the war on drugs.

“We are not going to give up. We will try as many times as possible to create a regulated cannabis market,” he added. “We will continue to fight.

Interior Minister Luis Fernando Velasco also reacted to the bill’s defeat, which he witnessed in the Senate Chamber, saying that “the government will insist on this issue, because basically, the ban only benefits the mafias”.

Senator María José Pizarro, who championed the legislation in the Senate, gave an impassioned speech last week when the measure was first introduced.

“The prohibitionist policy has increased the cost of a product which, without state control, has enriched and strengthened the criminal organizations that continue to grow and sow terror throughout the world,” she said. .

Hicimos allo lo posible porguarantear libertades, superar el caos juridico decadas, quisimos quitarle vidas y recursos a la ilegalidad. Quisimos para las comunidades, juventudes y mujeres una cotidianidad sin mafias y violencia.

A lo largo de todo el trámite por la… pic.twitter.com/mMb5DZfoVm

— María José Pizarro Rodríguez (@PizarroMariaJo) June 21, 2023

“We came to the debate exhausted, but with the peace of mind of knowing that we have done everything possible to ensure that this country imagines different paths to deal with an issue that affects it deeply,” said the senator after Tuesday’s vote, as reported El País.

The Cannabis Legalization Project in Colombia supports “the right to the free development of personality, allowing citizens to decide on the consumption of cannabis within a regulated legal framework”. It also mitigates “arbitrary, discriminatory or unequal treatment of the population that consumes”.

The text also calls for public education campaigns and the promotion of substance abuse treatment services.

The Health Committee of the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, decided at the beginning of June to significantly expand access to medical cannabis, allowing more patients to benefit from it, without be necessary to obtain a special license to use it.

This decision is part of a reform carried out by the Ministry of Health in recent months. As part of this reform, patients suffering from a wide range of illnesses will no longer be required to obtain a license to receive medical cannabis. Patients will receive a prescription similar to other prescription drugs. The regulation will enter into force within six months, after the competent authorities have made the necessary preparations.

The regulations state that from now on, people suffering from the following diseases and medical conditions will be able to receive a prescription for cannabis: epilepsy, Crohn’s disease, dementia, autism (without age restriction), oncological diseases, multiple sclerosis, HIV/AIDS and terminally ill patients with a life expectancy of less than six months.

These patients will no longer need a license but will be able to receive a prescription from certain doctors who will receive training in the use of cannabis.

This is a change from current regulations, which require cancer patients with active oncological disease or those undergoing active cancer treatment to relieve symptoms or treat side effects to be licensed. before being prescribed medical cannabis.

Currently, around 100,000 patients in Israel have a license to use medical cannabis, the majority of them suffering from illnesses, pain and post-traumatic stress disorder. During regulatory discussions, patients expressed concern that these particular diseases and conditions were not included in the new regulations.

“This is only the first step; there are other medical conditions that require attention and treatment,” said Knesset member and committee chairman Uriel Busso.

“We focus on patient well-being and the desire to relieve their pain, increase physician availability and access, and lower prices, while addressing concerns about abuse and to the harmful use of the drug,” he added.

On Friday June 16, the Albanian Council of Ministers approved the project to legalize the production of cannabis for medical and industrial purposes in the country.

The country’s health minister, Ogerta Manastirliu, told media that the purpose of the law was to regulate and “guarantee the process of control and supervision of cultivation, production, processing and ‘export of cannabis, its by-products and its final products’. She specified that a national agency is being created to oversee the implementation of the regulation.

Under the proposed regulations, there would be no THC cap for medical cannabis and cultivation would be limited to an area of ​​5 to 10 hectares.

Cannabis grown for industrial purposes will be limited to 0.8% THC and by-products can be obtained from the whole plant (including stems, flowers and seeds). Cultivation will be limited to at least one hectare.

The idea was floated some time ago, and has also been met with opposition, given the country’s history of cannabis production and trafficking.

Prime Minister Edi Rama had polled citizens on the issue as part of a “national inquiry” which has been criticized for its lack of independence. According to this survey, 61% of the citizens questioned are in favor of the legalization of cannabis for medical and industrial purposes.

“The objective of this bill is to regulate and guarantee the process of control and supervision of the cultivation, production, processing and export of cannabis, its by-products and its products. finals,” Mr. Manastirliu said on Friday.

Albania has a long history of cannabis cultivation and trafficking since the collapse of communism three decades ago.

For fifteen years, until 2014, the village of Lazarat, in southern Albania, became “the European capital of cannabis cultivation”, an area where the police did not dare to enter and which was suppressed only by a military-style operation. Cannabis cultivation remains a serious problem in the country, however, and the governments of Edi Rama have been accused of collaborating with traffickers.

The legalization of cannabis in Massachusetts has led to an increasing number of people testing cannabis and its derivative products. Unfortunately, this experimentation can sometimes be accompanied by unexpected and unpleasant side effects, such as too strong an effect, anxiety or paranoia.

A mother-son duo from Boston have come up with a potential solution called “Soft Landing.” Eli Stoloff, a recent graduate of Cornell University, describes this product as a edible Inverted: Unlike traditional edibles that make consumers stone, Soft Landing gets them back down.

Stoloff explains that during his time at Cornell, he heard stories of students consuming edibles without having a way to come down quickly from the state of euphoria in which they found themselves. THE ediblesinclude cannabis-infused foods such as candies or the famous space caketake between 30 minutes and 2 hours to take effect and can spread their influence for up to 4 hours, leaving some people either amazed at the rise time or lost by the fall that does not come.

A chocolate bar to come down

Stoloff and his mother, Alice Stone, have created a chocolate bar that allows cannabis users to better control their state of euphoria. Ms Stone, an entrepreneur specializing in alternative healing methods, came across a medical journal article describing a naturally occurring molecule found in various herbs and spices, which could for example be akin to the effect of black pepper on THE highs a bit too potent, known to reverse the effects of THC.

“After many attempts and adjustments, we have arrived at the final formula that effectively delivers the maximum amount of this molecule,” Stoloff explained to CBS NewsBoston.

To validate their product, they conducted a medical survey of Soft Landing, which found that 80% of respondents rated it as “effective” or “very effective.”

Sean Hope, interviewed by CBS News Boston, became an investor after trying chocolate himself. He said he felt balanced and felt immediate effects. He concluded that it worked.

Stoloff and Stone are confident they’ve discovered the right formula for success. Stoloff said, “I believe we have a winning product and together we can achieve great things.”

Soft Landing is about to enter the market in Massachusetts and is actively seeking additional investment to increase production.

Hellenic Dynamics, the first “pure player” of medical cannabis cultivation to launch on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), has signed a new supply agreement with German distributor Demecan. The ‘MoU’ with Demecan marks the first commercial agreement under the grower’s new commercial strategy.

Hellenic is thus forgoing the long, complex and costly process of obtaining an EU Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) certificate for its Greek facilities, long considered essential for cannabis producers to be able to sell their medical cannabis in Europe.

While some critics say this amounts to a public admission of “EU GMP washing”, others have suggested it was a “smart move”, questioning whether EU GMP EU, a pharmaceutical industry standard, have never really been suitable for processing cannabis biomass.

New business strategy

In the EU, GMP certification has long been considered essential for the final processing stages of medical cannabis products intended to be used to treat patients across the European market.

Certification is not only seen as the key to selling products on the market, it is also often seen as essential for cannabis operators in order to attract investment.

On June 6, Hellenic announced its plan to “evolve with market conditions” and adapt its cultivation strategy, deciding “not to invest significant funds and time in building and certifying a facility. EU-GMP in the current phase of its development”.

Instead, Hellenic said it would simply continue to produce GACP (good agricultural and collection practices) cannabis at its facilities, and sell its product to distributors who have their own EU-GMP certified facilities, so that they sell it in the medical cannabis market.

According to Davinder Rai, CEO of Hellenic, this strategy would have a “negligible” impact on revenue, but would save a lot of time and money.

“I personally think this strategy is the most disruptive thing to happen to the industry since it was legalized,” he added.

Cannabis 2.0

As the EU GMP guidelines relate to manufacturing and cannot cover cultivation practices, only the post-harvest area requires EU GMP certification.

The long and expensive path to obtaining this certification sees an increasing number of non-EU growers finding ways to partner with EU GMP certified manufacturers, rather than obtaining GMP status from the EU themselves. EU.

Since 2020, EU GMP “switchover” practices have been taking place across Europe: non-EU GMP flowers grown under GACP conditions are imported into the EU, where they undergo final processing in an EU GMP facility.

Unconfirmed reports also suggest that because EU GMPs begin post-harvest and cannabis must be dried before being transported, facilities have taken to rehydrating GACP cannabis so that it can be fully processed under EU GMP conditions.

The practice has remained largely confidential and organizations such as the UK MHRA have signaled their intention to start cracking down on the practice.

Speaking to Business of Cannabis, Mr Rai explained: “Our strategy has expanded, it has not changed. Our strategy has always been to grow medical cannabis and then sell it to our distributors. We continue to do so. What has changed,” he continues, “is the evolution of the industry, which has moved from ‘cannabis 1.0 to cannabis 2.0’. »

“In the days of Cannabis 1.0, yes, EU GMPs were needed so that you could sell your products directly to distributors, and distributors could sell their products directly to pharmacists. All costs and the burden of certification fell to the grower. »

“During this period of evolution, Medical Cannabis 2.0, many of the distributors we speak with have invested significant time and money in building their own EU-GMP facilities within their distribution units. »

“If they’ve put that time and effort into their own GMP facilities, they’re looking to move up the value chain to buy GACP flowers that they process themselves and then sell on the market. »

A box-ticking exercise or vital to patient safety?

Lawrence Purkiss, Principal Analyst at Prohibition Partners, explains: “There has always been some ambiguity about how EU GMP should apply to the medical cannabis supply chain, and this debate once again shows that there is still has no consensus on this issue within the industry. »

“The quality of cannabis flower is largely defined by the agricultural and cultural practices applied during cultivation, and then by the way it is stored and transported. Post-harvest treatment is, of course, very important and should be at the highest level – and this is where EU GMP applies – but the EU GMP component is only one part of a larger system of processes that define quality. »

The EU GMP “conversion” practices we observe are only intended to allow products to tick the EU GMP box, and they are the expected outcome of companies navigating the current regulatory system. This system, in its current form, places too much emphasis on EU GMP certification as an indicator of the quality and safety of medical cannabis products, and not enough on the other elements involved in the production. This is one of the reasons for the great variability in quality that we observe in products on European markets”.

Mr Rai suggested that cannabis was now analogous to the beer industry, where one company grows hops, another brews beer, another distributes it and another sells it to consumers.

“I think if you try to manage everything from clones to cultivation, European good manufacturing practices, distribution and patients, it’s too much. I want to focus on culture. »

An industry stakeholder told Business of Cannabis that she believed EU GMP rules existed to ensure patient safety, adding that she believed there was no reasonable reason for companies to cut corners in an effort to be more competitive at the expense of patient safety.

In response, Mr Rai said he did not consider what he was doing a “misuse of EU GMP”.

“I understand that if we’re not producing GACP products that we’re not going through a processing facility, that’s fine. But we produce to the specifications our customers want, with the certifications they want when the products are delivered to their facilities.”

He added that “the big question” was why cannabis growers were required to have an EU-GMP license in the first place.

“EU-GMP was the industry standard for pharmaceuticals, so it was applied to cannabis. But it is not a tablet or a gel. It is biomass. »

A new study by an Australian government agency sheds light on the fact that Aboriginal people in the country are treated quite differently from non-Aboriginal people when caught in the act of using cannabis by the police.

The research, released earlier this month by the New South Wales Bureau of Statistics and Criminal Research (BOCSAR), was based on “a dataset of 38,813 sightings involving 27,127 adult offenders prosecuted for an incident of consumption or possession of cannabis between January 2017 and February 2020”.

Among Indigenous cannabis offenders, only 11.7% received “warnings” from the police, compared to 43.9% of non-Indigenous offenders. The warning is the lightest of penalties and an alternative to prosecution, which is therefore more likely to be faced by Aboriginal Australians.

According ABC New England in Australia, the report found that only 39.5% of Aboriginal offenders eligible for a warning received one.

Cannabis is illegal in Australia. This study comes at a time when political efforts to legalize cannabis in the country are increasing.

The Greens, currently the minority party in Australia, are the main promoters of legalization. They announced last year that the party had received advice from a constitutional lawyer who believed parliament could override state laws and end weed prohibition.

The advice focused on “three Commonwealth powerhouses that would enable it to legalize and regulate the use of cannabis, the clearest route through part of section 51, which relates to copyrights, patents inventions and designs and models, and registered trademarks”.

Legalization could pay off big in Australia. A study published in May 2023 by the University of Western Australia suggests that legalization could generate $243.5 million a year in the first five years in Western Australia, an Australian state occupying the western 33% of the territory. Australian.

ABC Radio Perth reported at the time that the study, commissioned by the Legalize Cannabis WA Party“quantified the revenue the state could derive from cannabis legalization” and “considered data on the form and frequency of cannabis use, as well as the estimated cost of enforcing current laws that prohibit cannabis use”.

“We wanted to know the truth about this issue and we commissioned this study without expecting any particular outcome,” said party leader Brian Walker. Legalize Cannabis WA. “This is the first time anyone has shown their work and explained exactly how they arrived at their numbers. On the expense side, there are things like the police – who prosecute a cannabis-related offense – the courts and corrective services to handle that. In total, that’s about $100 million a year.”

After the South African plant that produces CBG or the moss that produces THC, scientists have found a shrub in South America that produces CBD. But unlike most of the aforementioned plants, this time it is a real cousin of cannabis and hops, belonging to the Cannabaceae family.

Researchers associated with the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) announced that Trema micrantha – a species of plant native to Brazil and other South American countries – “may expand the use of cannabidiol (CBD) for medical purposes without legal barriers”.

Chemical analysis did not reveal the presence of compounds similar to THC in the Trema micrantha. But when it comes to CBD production, the plant could be a game-changer, as rising temperatures are a real headache for the hemp industry due to the extra traces of THC it contains when climatic conditions are favorable.

“It is a legal alternative to cannabis consumption,” molecular biologist Rodrigo Moura Neto, from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, told AFP. “It’s a plant that grows everywhere in Brazil. It would be a simpler and cheaper source of cannabidiol.”

What is Trema micrantha?

THE Trema micrantha, also called “Florida trema”, is a species of flowering plant in the hemp and hop family, Cannabaceae. It is a fast-growing, deciduous tree that can reach up to 10 meters in height. It grows throughout Brazil as a native plant and can also be found in other tropical and subtropical regions around the world.

Umlaut is known for its hardiness and ability to thrive in almost any soil condition, making it a common weed in urban landscapes.

In its native habitats, Trema micrantha plays an important ecological role, providing fruit as a food source for a variety of bird species. It also contributes to seed dispersal and biodiversity. The plant’s rapid growth and dense foliage provide shelter for flora and fauna, while its roots are said to help prevent soil erosion. In an urban environment, Trema micrantha is often used in landscaping for its appearance and ability to improve air quality by absorbing pollutants.

Science Alert reports that the results have not yet been published. Biologist Rodrigo Moura Netop is now planning to intensify the study in order to better identify the best methods of extracting “CBD” from the plant and to analyze its effectiveness in patients suffering from pathologies currently treated with medical cannabis.

While draft laws relating to future German Cannabis Clubs were leaked on May 9, 2023, the text is the subject of extensive discussion and exchange of views within various Cannabis Social Clubs (CSC).

Positionspapier zum Leak von Seiten der CSCs.

37 CSCs, LEAP, DHV Ortsgruppen, CSCD & CSC Gründungscommunity sind dabei.

Lest euch ein, teilt das Ganze, gebt es an eure örtlichen Zeitungen und Abgeordneten, wenn ihr wollt.#CSCPaper

More erfahren: https://t.co/jAOPqxrpWw pic.twitter.com/qcBBYLVIra

— Cannabis Social Club Kiel eV (@CSC_Kiel) June 14, 2023

Cannabis Social Clubs point out flaws in text

On the initiative of the CSCs Lübeck, Weimar and Baden-Württemberg, a statement was drawn up (PDF), completed in cooperation with many other CSCs and submitted for signature.

In this position paper, from the perspective of future Cannabis Social Club operators, they highlight the practical issues behind the regulations, as currently in Malta, and point out specific parts of the law that should be changed. .

They hope to reach legislators and include the recommendations in the parliamentary process so that the most practical and realistic legislation can be drafted. They consider this to be essential to enable grow associations to be quickly operational and to achieve the socio-economic objectives of the (re)legalization of cannabis.

Youth and consumer protection

As Cannabis Social Clubs, they aim to contribute effectively to the achievement of federal government goals and to achieve socially sustainable operation with appropriate quality standards.

Strengthening the protection of young people and consumers and promoting an informed consumer culture are also of great social importance for the Cannabis Social Clubs, to which they contribute proactively. Besides cooperating with drug prevention and addiction organisations, we believe that providing information on the safe supply of locally grown cannabis is a natural practice for sustainable club operation.

Furthermore, the principle of reducing the black market can only be successful if the private or community self-cultivation of cannabis, alongside the models of commercial sale of cannabis which it is hoped will be generalized, are regulated in a reasonable way, based on evidence-based and free from outdated stigma.

Here are some of the recommendations made in the position paper and summarized by CannabisIndustrie.nl:

• Avoiding complications for board members of registered associations
• Advocate for an accessible offer by CSCs
• Advocate for national regulation
• Discussion of the practical aspects of retail space requirements
• Advocacy for non-imposition of medical standards
• Call for the promotion of safe forms of consumption
• Proposal for a transitional species approval regime
• Proposal of a recommended list of varieties for young adults
• Advocacy for associative activities respectful of data protection

An anonymous survey, carried out by theIrish Medical Times (IMT), revealed that more than half (54%) of doctors are in favor of the decriminalization of small quantities of drugs for personal use.

While 95% of them believe that drug use has a negative impact on the health and well-being of their patients, 60% say that users should receive treatment within the framework of the health system, instead to be criminalized.

Most respondents named alcohol as the most harmful drug (43%), followed by cocaine (31%). More than a third of those surveyed said their family had suffered harm from drug use, with alcohol accounting for 63% of those cases.

The survey was conducted among a representative sample of 89 doctors, including general practitioners and specialist consultants, in order to collect their personal opinions on medical cannabis and drug use in general. Respondents were asked to give their College of Physicians number to prove they were licensed doctors.

Terence Cosgrave, editor of IMT, said that until now doctors had never been questioned in this way about their personal opinion on drugs.

“Our results show that while some establishment doctors are using their position of power to oppose cannabis legalization, the medical profession as a whole is actually taking a much more nuanced and balanced view,” said he declared to CannabisHealth.

“There is a strong push to support decriminalization, especially for things like cannabis. »

“Some people objected to the idea of ​​giving out their College of Physicians number, but we didn’t change the rules. We wanted people to come forward, to see how many people were going to say, “I actually use cannabis and I’m proud of it.”

5% of doctors regularly use cannabis

In total, 37% of doctors surveyed admitted to having tried cannabis, with 8% declaring that they currently use it and 5% that use it regularly.

Mr. Cosgrave continues: “We found that 5% of physicians regularly use cannabis. I would say it’s much more than that, but they obviously don’t want to admit it because it would be frowned upon by their colleagues”.

The survey was advertised in the digital and print editions of IMT and, although the sample size is relatively small, Cosgrave says it is representative and represents a reasonable percentage of the Irish medical profession.

“As this is a small sample, I don’t consider this to be a definitive point of view, but it does show things that would have been denied before,” he added.

“If we spoke to certain medical representatives, they would tell us that no doctor would use cannabis and that if they did, they should be disbarred. It is simply not true. Doctors use cannabis, but also other drugs”.

Broad support for access to medical cannabis

When it comes to the medical use of cannabis, respondents overwhelmingly support legal access (80%), with 56% saying they would prescribe it. The most common conditions they would prescribe it for are pain relief, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, cancer, anxiety and depression.

The Medical Cannabis Access Program (Medical Cannabis Access Program, MCAP) recruited its first patients in Ireland in 2021, but to date only around 40 have been able to access cannabis through this channel. Prescriptions are limited to specific products for a number of conditions, including intractable nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy, severe treatment-resistant epilepsy and spasticity associated with multiple sclerosis (MS).

According to Mr Cosgrave, Irish doctors are generally in favor of the wider distribution of cannabis for medical purposes.

“The numbers absolutely back that up,” he said.

We gave them the opportunity to add comments and one doctor said, “Don’t medicalize this product, just allow people to buy it if they need it.” I think it’s very representative.

Is Ireland heading for reform?

These findings come as a citizens’ assembly on drug use is underway in Ireland. Made up of 99 members of the public, it will make recommendations to the Houses of the Oireachtas on the country’s drug policy.

After just two assembly meetings, experts recently told Cannabis Health that decriminalizing all drugs for personal use would likely be a key recommendation. Mr. Cosgrave seems to agree.

He said: “Cannabis is everywhere in Ireland, as is cocaine. How to deal with this? The old conservative medical establishment says that everything must be banned, that the law must be strictly enforced. But the more progressive healthcare professionals – and I would say that’s the case with a fair number of people in our survey, and in general they would say to empower people to make their own decisions” .

Brendan Minish, campaigner and advocate for drug reform in Ireland, said the results of the survey were “positive”, but there were still issues to be addressed regarding stigma within the medical establishment Irish.

“I wonder to what extent this represents a recent change of opinion or rather if someone has finally asked doctors what they think anonymously so that they can answer honestly without risking their careers and be stigmatized by their peers,” he said.