Search Results: europe (121)

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North Morocco was, until now, a cannabis farmer’s paradise. In the northern part of the country, there are many marijuana fields, from which cannabis resin (hashish) is harvested.

​No more Marrakesh Express? Morocco claims it has cut cannabis traffickers’ revenue to less than a third of its 2005 level, but its efforts could be undermined if Europe continues relaxing its laws against the herb, a top Moroccan policeman said Thursday.

The North African country once held the exalted position of being the biggest cannabis exporter in the world, according to the United Nations, but it has now cracked down on the hashish trade because of strained ties with the European Union, which is where most of its cannabis ends up, reports Lamine Ghanmi at Reuters.
“Our efforts against hashish trafficking activity have led to a reduction in the revenue of that illegal business to 4 billion euros ($4.8 billion) in 2009, from 13 billion euros in 2005,” said Khalid Zerouali, the Interior Ministry’s head of migration and border surveillance, on Thursday.

Photo: Rien Zilvold
One Dutch town has banned foreigners from its cannabis-vending coffee shops. Does that violate the principles of the European Union? A court will soon decide.

​A Dutch city has banned “foreigners” from its cannabis selling coffee shops. A European court will now decide whether such a ban is legal.

The struggle of Dutch border towns against marijuana tourism hangs in the balance as the European Court of Justice (ECJ) gets ready to make a ruling regarding one of the most extreme measures employed in the battle so far, reports Paul van der Steen at NRC Handelsblad.
The ECJ heard arguments Thursday in Josemans v. Maastricht, a case which dates back to 2006 when police found two foreign nationals on the premises of Easy Going, a “coffee shop” of the kind that sells cannabis.

Photo: Horsma / Hamppuforum, Wikimedia Commons
Sweet Tooth #3 cannabis bud, grown in Finland

​For all the progress toward a European Union, there is still no unified approach to medical marijuana in Europe, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

Cannabis is legal for treating certain illnesses in the Netherlands, but Sweden, for example, doesn’t recognize any medical use for the herb at all.
Legal expert Catherine Sandvos of the Dutch Cannabis Bureau (a government agency providing high-quality medical marijuana) told the Journal that cannabis is just “too controversial and too political” to even be on the European agenda.
The Dutch have led the continent in legalizing medical marijuana, which is treated separately from the recreational cannabis available at Amsterdam’s coffee shops.

Does anyone else regret meeting their heroes? I ran into Chauncey Billups at an NBA event in Las Vegas when I was twelve, right after he won the 2004 NBA Finals. Total dick. No autograph, no hello — he just stood in front of a lobby TV, alone, ignoring the sniveling kid in a Melo jersey asking for his autograph. Michael Jordan stiffed kids, too. If you ask some of my golf-caddying friends, they’ll tell you that John Elway’s a shitty tipper. My point: Sometimes it’s best to only interact with your favorite superstars through a screen.

I’ve experienced similar disappointment with notorious cannabis strains. A trip through Europe promised my first experiences with African, Jamaican and Thai landraces — all of which looked, smelled and smoked like brick weed once I tried them. Purple Thai, either a mix of Oaxacan Gold and Chocolate Thai or a landrace, depending on the source, was even more disappointing; seeing it listed on a Denver dispensary menu brought flashbacks of brown, seedy nugs in a dim Amsterdam coffee shop. But modern American takes on such classics as Colombian Gold and Durban Poison made me optimistic enough to give Purple Thai another shot.

Matthew Kind can’t do many interviews past noon. Next month, he might have to shut off even earlier, depending on which time zone he’s in. Such restrictions are usually avoided by talk-show hosts, who stick closely to standard production deadlines in order to consistently churn out content. Yet Kind’s ever-evolving itinerary is exactly why he chose this line of work.

The host of the CannaInsider Podcast and his family of four have lived in nearly a dozen countries throughout Europe and North America since 2016, thanks largely to a substance that would get him arrested at most international borders: His weekly podcast, which he hosts remotely with the help of his wife, Bethany, focuses on business and industry trends in cannabis.

I’ve always loved fruity-flavored cannabis. Not the citrus-heavy strains like Lemon Skunk or Grapefruit, which are great in their own way — but sweet and decadent strains like Cannalope Kush, Cherry Pie and Strawberry Cough. They’re a welcome break from OG-heavy kushes and pungent Diesels and Skunks. Everyone enjoys a visit to the candy shop sometimes, and when you get there, you’re going to want to pick up some Blueberry.

Blueberry is one of the few varieties of flower that you’ll find in a dispensary that might be older than you, other than landrace strains — and that’s because it was bred from them. Blueberry is part of an old genetics line developed by famed breeder DJ Short that includes other hits like Blue Moonshine and Flo. In the 1970s, Short introduced Blueberry to Europe after mixing together a pure Afghani indica with pure Thai and possibly Mexican sativas. The result was a heavy, indica-dominant hybrid with a smell and taste unknown to cannabis but familiar in kitchens: sweet, sweet blueberry pie. The strain’s rich flavor is much closer to frozen-juice concentrate than it is to diluted juice. Like Strawberry Cough, Blueberry has a syrupy aspect, but with earthy notes of hash at the end for balance rather than zest and spice.

While both the United States and Mexico continue to suffer in their own ways from the War on Drugs — one from skyrocketing overdose rates and the other from ruthless, omnipresent cartels — the neighbors are now linked by the unlikely exporting of cannabis-related products from Southern California to Latin America.

HempMeds, a subsidiary of Medical Marijuana Inc., has formed the first cannabis-based export partnership to Mexico, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and Chile with its export of Real Scientific Hemp Oil and its THC-free counterpart, Real Scientific Hemp Oil-X. The plants for these treatments are grown in northern European microclimates and claim to be free of pesticides and herbicides.

It’s part of a whole PR campaign.

Here’s your daily dose of pot news from the newsletter WeedWeek.

Ahead of his confirmation hearing for Attorney General, a public relations campaign is trying to depict Sen. Jeff Sessions as  emphatically not a racist. He has long been dogged by such accusations, due in part to a statement that he was ok with the Ku Klux Klan, until he heard that they smoke pot.

Rolling Stone envisions the war on drugs under Attorney General Sessions.

Oregon is  revising its product testing rules again, following complaints from companies. Nevada companies call for  strict product testing.

The Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, N.Y.) reports on “ progress and hurdles” in the New York MED program. For more  see here.

Maine REC opponents  cancelled their recall effort. Gov. Paul LePage (R) said that with REC there’s no longer a need for a MED program. A prominent New Hampshire state senator  will propose a REC bill.

Canada.com looks at how legalization up north  could alter Canadian/American relations.

An Arizona judge ruled that local officials  can’t use federal law to block MED dispensaries.

The city of Copenhagen is pursuing a  longshot legalization push in an effort to reduce gang warfare.

Caribbean nation Dominica will  consider MED legalization next year.

Denver cannabis law firm Hoban Law Group  may sue the DEA over its recent CBD ruling.

Purdue Pharma, which makes Oxycontin, is  expanding overseas. In the U.S., the L.A. Times remarks, opioids are a “dying business.”

Hound Labs and Cannabix Technologies are  racing to perfect a cannabis breathalyzer.

Boston is another potential “ cannabis capital.” Canadian businesses are  preparing for legalization.

CBD pet treats are becoming big business.

Older adults are  using more cannabis, and binge drinking more too. Cannabis use  may not be a good idea for those seeking long-term abatement of depression and anxiety, Colorado researchers found.

Modern Farmer hangs out with  Bear Real, a Colorado hemp scientist.

Possibly the largest legal pot company in the world.

Here’s your daily dose of pot news from the newsletter WeedWeek.

Canada’s Canopy Growth Corp. will acquire Mettrum Health Corp. for C$430M, creating a dominant Canadian player.

Vice examines 280E, the tax code provision used to tax marijuana businesses more than other businesses.

Warehouse rents are skyrocketing in legal states. But the New York Stock Exchange IPO of cannabis real estate trust Innovative Industrial Properties went nowhere, following the Sessions nomination.

The BBC calls Albania, a small, poor country in southeast Europe, the continent’s “ outdoor cannabis capital.

The industry could create an opportunity for clean energy technologies like “ renewable microgrids.

LAWeekly asks if small cannabis businesses can survive legalization.

Accounting Today says, “ The Cannabis Industry Needs Accountants.

Pot was a hot topic at the 2016 Wine Industry Expo. For more see here.

Financial firm Cowen said legalization is bad for beer sales. MarketWatch disagrees.

Dispensaries offered discounts for “ Green Friday.” (The shopping day after Thanksgiving.)

The BBC profiles John Stewart, an executive who was CEO of Purdue Pharma, which sells the opioid Oxycontin and now leads a MED company in Canada.

There’s an incubator that aims to turn formerly-incarcerated drug dealers into legal entrepreneurs.

Century Bank in Massachusetts openly works with pot businesses.

A new site called The Cannifornian will cover legalization in the state.  Parent company Digital First Media also owns The Denver Post and its site The Cannabist.

RAND Corporation scholar Beau Kilmer editorializes in favor of the state legalization experiments.

Denver’s social use measure may face legal challenges. Juneau, Ak.’s first dispensary opened and sold out in three hours.

Maryland’s pot regulator has hired a diversity consultant, after it failed to award any of its initial 30 licenses to African-Americans. It has also given preliminary approval for 102 MED dispensary licenses. The names will be made public this week.

Florida’s MED community has few friends in Tallahassee. The new law will also undermine the state’s largely disregarded bong ban.

The Cannabist meets Rilie Ray Morgan, the 66-year old man who championed MED in North Dakota.

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) is launching a new effort to use pot taxes to build apartments for the chronically homeless.

Massachusetts may delay implementing aspects of its REC law. Maine will recount its REC vote. MED legalization is on the table in Ireland and South Africa.

British politician Nick Clegg called for legalization. Vice sketches out what a legal U.K. market for recreational drugs could look like.

There’s a wrong way to do everything.

Here’s your daily round-up of pot-news, excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek

In Slate, scholar Mark A.R. Kleiman writes that “ We’re legalizing weed wrong:”

“Legalization is not only necessary but virtually inevitable, even at the federal level. But I also believe that, by and large, our approach to legalization contains some consequential flaws and that the necessity of such laws doesn’t mean we should rush out and grab the first legalization proposal we’re offered…

“Regulate cannabis like alcohol” is an ugly policy. Our current alcohol laws fail spectacularly to control the harm alcohol does to drinkers and the harm drinkers do to others; an estimated 90,000 Americans die each year of their own drinking or someone else’s. Why repeat that mistake when we legalize another potentially habit-forming intoxicant? What we want is the sort of “grudging toleration” the law now extends to tobacco;

Minnesota doctor Ilo Leppik wants the state to expand MED rules to include dogs. Dr. Leppik believes it may be helpful in treating dogs with epilepsy.

About 20% of Americans naturally feel less anxious due to a gene mutation that causes higher levels of anandamide, an endocannabinoid that occurs naturally in the body.

Scientific American says the “ definition of stoned driving” and a breathalyzer to test for it remain out of scientists’ reach.

Vice asks why some people choose to “ self-medicate with illegal drugs.

Idaho mom Kelsey Gooding has lost custody of her children and plead not guilty to misdemeanor injury of a child after giving her daughter a cannabis smoothie in an effort to control her seizures.

The Cannabist has a deep dive on the adjustment to legalization in San Diego.

Ballot initiatives aren’t possible in Europe so activists have to appeal to politicians.

This year’s mega conference in Las Vegas promises to be a festive affair. Perhaps the most festive event in any blue state.

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