An advocacy group is determined to bring medical cannabis to Idaho, one of the last remaining states with no form of legal weed.
The group is called Kind Idaho, and its supporters are currently in the process of rounding up signatures to get the proposal on next year’s ballot.
Joe Evans, the treasurer for the group, said the aim is to simply legalize “medical cannabis for cardholders in the state of Idaho.”
“This gives them the opportunity to go in, sit down with a doctor, determine whether or not the diagnosis warrants medical cannabis to support recovery and healing. And then they receive the card. And that allows them to go to a dispensary to receive it,” Evans told local news station KTVB.
“Kind Idaho is working to gather signatures on their petitions, they have until April 14 next year to get about 63,000 signatures from registered voters to make the ballot. It’s a major task to take on, adding in the fact that Idaho is one of five states where there is no legal cannabis on any level.”
The group launched its efforts to get on the 2024 ballot last year, the latest in a decade of failed efforts to legalize medical cannabis treatment in Idaho. In 2012, activists failed to gather a sufficient number of signatures for their medical cannabis proposal to qualify for the ballot. Two years later, it happened again, with a signature drive falling short. Medical cannabis campaigns in 2015 and 2016 both fizzled out over ballot technicalities.
Evans and company hope this time will be different –– and the public might be on their side. A poll last year found that 68% of Idaho adults believe that medical cannabis should be made legal.
Evans and other supporters of the proposal are stressing that the initiative would not legalize recreational marijuana use.
“Nor are we really looking at a full decriminalization, or let’s, you know, give people medicine, medical cannabis for headaches,” Evans told KTVB.
Idaho is, however, surrounded by states that have legalized recreational pot for adults: Washington and Oregon to the west; Nevada to the south; and Montana to the east. Wyoming and Utah are the only two states bordering Idaho that have not ended prohibition on pot.
Cannabis businesses in Ontario, Oregon –– located about an hour from Idaho’s capital city of Boise –– have served hordes of cross-state customers.
“The politicians have been able to have this scenario where they say that they don’t have legal cannabis,” Steve Meland, owner of Hotbox Farms in Ontario, told NPR earlier this year. “But in all actuality we all know there’s legal cannabis in Boise.”
“There [are] over a million people within a hundred mile radius of the store,” Meland added. “Of course they are serving a broader market.”
NPR reported that Meland’s business is “a big player in an economic boom that’s happened since Ontario allowed recreational pot shops in 2018.”
“There are now twelve dispensaries in this small farming town once mostly known for inventing the tater tot. Ontario now sells more pot per capita than anywhere else in Oregon. The industry employs about 600 people. Many get health insurance and most – like their customers – appear to be commuting over here from Idaho,” the outlet said.
According to NPR, that boom “has quickly become the latest flashpoint in a larger political and cultural battle that’s been heating up since 2020, when a group of Oregonians from the rural eastern side of the state first began circulating petitions about a proposal to secede from the largely blue state and join conservative Idaho.”
Thanks to a new pilot study in British Columbia, the antidepressant effects of ketamine are being studied for youth fighting suicidal ideation, Cowichan Valley Citizen reports.
B.C. Children’s Hospital Research Institute is conducting the study. Senior executive Dr. Quynh Doan said the study aims to find a faster and safer way to help youth in need before they reach the emergency room. When children come to the ER after attempting suicide, there is currently no standardized treatment. “We see them and assess their safety risk,” Doan said.
At subanesthetic doses, ketamine is a vital tool in treating depression and suicidal thoughts. Part of what makes it so unique is how quickly it works. As a 2020 study suggests, traditional antidepressants improve symptoms in about an extra 20 out of 100 people. Even for those who do respond, these antidepressants can take weeks to take effect. If someone is suicidal, they often don’t have this much time to sit around and see if such antidepressants work. There’s also a decent probability that if one is in the hospital for suicidal thoughts, they’ve already tried traditional medications, which haven’t worked.
Ketamine treatment can show results within hours to days after administration and shows unique promise for those experiencing suicidal thoughts. Although most of this research comes from using off-label intravenous infusions, in 2019, a nasal spray called Spravato (esketamine) was approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treatment-resistant depression. A 2019 study gave patients with treatment-resistant depression received six infusions over the course of two weeks. They saw a notable improvement after the first dose, which continued to be effective in the month following. Typically, folks who receive ketamine infusions for depression or suicidal thoughts first go in for the initial six rounds. Then, they return for boosters as needed, from weekly to every few months.
And now, thanks to B.C. Children’s Hospital Research Institute, teenagers and youth may have a chance to experience such results. Suicide is the second-leading cause of death for people between 15 to 24 in the U.S., and almost 20% of high school students report severe thoughts of suicide. Nine percent have attempted to take their lives, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
“If we find that this works and is safe, we could give ketamine to kids who are distressed with acute suicidal thoughts in the emergency department, get them feeling better while resources can be put in place and the psychotherapy or the antidepressants start working,” Doan said in a statement. This would allow the patients to recover in the comfort of their families. “If we can set up a safety plan at home, then the young person goes home and their family watches them like a hawk for the next few days and weeks,” Doan said.
The study (there is currently a similar one happening in San Diego) includes kids between the ages of ten to 16 with suicidal urges. They aim to have 96 patients for the pilot. Each patient will get one of three options: a low dose of ketamine, a placebo, or another kind of sedative. They will then be monitored over the next hours to weeks.
B.C. Children’s Hospital Research Institute plans to measure the recovery of the patients using three different scales. Whichever is most effective will be implemented on a larger version of the study. Doan aims to conduct the following research at 11 locations across Canada to collect even more data on this potentially life-saving treatment. “If using ketamine works for children and youth with suicidal ideation, it’s going to dramatically improve how we take care of these kids,” Doan said. “It will change the experience of youth and families dealing with this challenging condition.”
Waves. Everywhere you looked, there were waves of people – 40,000 bodies moving, swaying, and flailing in the cool San Francisco breeze. This was the final Dead & Company show, an event brimming with tears of joy, gloriously goofy dancing, and, of course, epic jamming. Grateful Dead co-founder, Bob Weir, returned home for a trio of concerts at Oracle Park, marking the grand finale.
Outside the stadium, the atmosphere exuded glee without a hint of bittersweetness. At a Dead & Company show, there was nothing to feel down about, even if it was purported to be the last gig. The crowd was ecstatic, often drunk and high, all ready to witness the band doing what they do best – just like they had over the years.
For nearly five hours, the band – Bob Weir (rhythm guitar and vocals), Mickey Hart (drums and percussion), Jeff Chimenti (keyboards and vocals), John Mayer (lead guitar and vocals), and Oteil Burbridge (bass and vocals) – played like both masters and curious students intertwined. Even when they played the Dead’s hit songs, the band delivered the unexpected, leaving you hanging on to every note and lyric. It wasn’t just because it was the final show. Plus, for a band like the Dead, and a night like the final show, that music never stops.
There’s something about their music that dances with the soul. Sometimes it’s hard to put into words exactly, especially since the soul isn’t always the most eloquent talker and all. Comedian Phil Hanley, however, knows exactly how the Dead’s music makes him feel. Hanley has been deeply influenced by the band, especially Bob Weir, whom he idolizes. “Anything Bob Weir does, I’ll support,” he once told High Times. “My favorite dyslexic, Bob Weir.”
Rather than writing further about the gloriousness of the final show, the smell of cannabis in the air, or the band’s inspiring balance of patience and momentum, I thought it best to let High Times readers hear from an expert. Consider Phil Hanley a doctor and a professor in all things Dead-related.
Having attended the final three Dead & Company shows, Hanley – who you can always catch at The Comedy Cellar in NYC or on tour this fall – shared his experiences in a call a few days after the last show, both of us buzzing as we reminisced about witnessing Dead & Company at both the peak and the end of their touring career.
How were your experiences at the final three shows? How did they compare?
Well, the whole time it’s in your head that these were the last shows. It was being billed as that, but I’ve been going to see Dead & Co shows since 2015 when they started in the fall. The craziest thing in your head is thinking, “These are the last shows,” but then you’re also thinking, “This is them at their absolute peak.” And not just like, “Oh, these are great shows,” but it was like a next-level situation that, as a fan of the band and someone that had seen them many, many times, I didn’t necessarily predict that they would be able to get to the place that they were at this past weekend.
And again, I was a fan. I’ve seen Dead & Co a bunch of times, and I’d never pass on a show, but it was next level and treading on totally new grounds. On Friday night, there was a jam in “Scarlet Begonias” where I was like, “This pathway in the forest has never been locked down before. Like, they were unbelievable.”
I saw it Sunday night, and I agree, it’s the best I’ve seen them. Everything felt spontaneous yet so on point.
It’s like that line in “Terrapin Station” where they’re like, “Is this the end or the beginning?” That’s how I felt. Anyone who’s reading High Times, I highly recommend you listen to “Scarlet” or “Cumberland Blues,” ‘cause it was so on the edge of chaos, it reminded me in a completely different way. That’s the incredible thing. It wasn’t like, “Let’s go up and emulate a great Cumberland from when Jerry was still with us.”
I’ve been a Bob Weir fan since I was a kid. He’s just such a huge source of inspiration, but to see him in the pocket and just, it is the last song and he’s like, “Let’s do it. Let’s do something new.” It was phenomenal on Friday night when they did “The Big River” and “Dark Star” mashup.
Do you really think it’s the end for Dead & Company?
It is not the way people behave [on stage] when they’re like, “This is the last kick in the can,” you know? I think we’re on the brink of a new beginning. I think that Bob was kind of conducting the band for a lot of the previous years, but this time, everyone was just on their own and just completely let loose. I was blown away by all three nights.
How else do you think they evolved over the years as a group?
They started good and got better and better and better. There were ups and downs along the way, but good God, not only did it feel like a peak, but it felt just like a whole new thing. I can’t believe as musicians, they would be like, “Yeah, let’s never do that again.” They played 10 hours of music over three days. They did three encores. They did “Truckin’,” “Brokedown Palace,” and “Not Fade Away.” No one left.
Comedian Phil Hanley
On Sunday night, I think they went 40 minutes past their scheduled end time. I thought they were going to finish with “Not Fade Away,” which would’ve been a lovely final song, but then Bob had this look on stage, like, “Let’s keep going.”
Yeah, dude. I was standing with a group of friends and we wanted more. It was like denial. It was like refusing to see a lover’s flaws or something like that. When a roadie was removing a mic, people just could not accept that it was over and not over as the band, but just over as the night. It was very reflective of what people wanted.
If this is the end, there was something kind of beautiful about Bob Weir finishing these shows back home, near where the band started. Did you see any significance in him playing San Francisco in the final Dead & Company shows?
I’ll try to be concise with you because I’ve brought this up to like probably 10 Deadheads, and it didn’t even register in their eyes. But to me, there was a huge moment on Friday where Bob Weir goes, “The bus came round and I got on, and that’s when it all began.” I’m getting chills. My hair is standing up on my arm right now because it’s so wild that that is true.
In 1965, he heard Jerry practicing guitar in a music store and went in and met Jerry, and like, all that’s happened… To me, I read that moment as, that’s all that’s happened. There’s so much more that will happen, you know? It was just such a wild, wild moment because so much has gone down. In true Bob Weir fashion, the next day on Monday, he announced a Wolf Brothers tour.
Did he?
Wolf Brothers on the road in the fall. When people say, “Bob is this age,” that means nothing. He arguably sounds as good or better than ever. I mean, he always sounds amazing, but he sounds like no other singer I’ve ever seen. Besides Jerry, he’s the character in those songs, and you feel it, and it just goes directly to your heart. You know, when he was singing and he’s telling these stories, oh my God.
I think his voice has such gravitas and history to it now that, you’re right, it’s evolved – not improved – into this beautiful new place.
Oh, yeah. Also, everyone was playing insanely, but Bobby is right there, and he was so in the zone. He’s so in the song, he’s not even really tapping his foot. He’s just in it, you know? Everyone else is like dancing and gyrating, and Weir is just channeled. He’s playing at such a high level and makes it look so easy and so natural.
Last time we spoke, you talked about Bob Weir being a hero of yours, partly because, as he’s said, he’s “super dyslexic.” When you watch him play live, do you still focus on how it influences his playing?
When I found out that Bob Weir was dyslexic, I was like, “Oh, he’s one of us.” The community has Bob Weir. You know, over the last 40 years, if he messes up a lyric, it’s celebrated and a reminder that it’s a live experience. It’s not like, “Oh, Bobby messed up the lyrics to ‘West L.A. Fadeaway.'” It’s celebrated.
We approach things differently, and it’s a strength. When Jerry passed, you’re like, “How is anyone ever gonna replace Jerry Garcia, one of the greatest, if not the greatest American musician to ever live?” Just an incredible, incredible musician and disciplined and creative and all these things, obviously. That’s really hard to replace, but what I think will be impossible to replace would be if anything ever happened to Bob Weir because his style of playing is so unique.
I’ve brought guitar players to see Dead shows before, and they’re just like, “What is he doing?” Because he’s playing like an E up here and an E there, and an E there, and an E there. The way he approaches music and the guitar, there’s no rhythm guitar player that’s even similar. He’s such his own entity.
If he was able to read music too, he might have been more traditional and wouldn’t have gone down the path he did. You know, Jerry always said he followed Bob’s lead, letting his rhythm guitar lead the way. How’d you see the band play off Bob this last weekend?
Jeff Chimenti has such a beautiful musical relationship with the band, and they play so well off each other. When you see them live, you can really hear how they play in harmony. They all kind of took turns and fell in line. Because they’re doing new stuff, I mean, how many “Scarlet Begonias” have I listened to in my life? Maybe all of them, but to hear them go in a new direction like there was a jam in the middle of “Scarlet Begonias” where I’m like, “Oh, this is crazy. I’ve never heard anything like that. The song was there.”
I was talking to a musician last night who had played with Bobby, and he said that in the past, when they played together and someone made a mistake or a bold choice, that’s when you really got Bobby’s attention. That’s me quoting, but I think that’s where they find things interesting. I also heard a Mayer interview this year where they were talking about a song going in a new direction or kind of off the rails, and that was when Weir was really like, “No, stay here. This is new.” It’s the beauty of the Dead.
I actually took a John Mayer fan to the show, and they left a fan of the Dead. How do you think he gelled with the music over the years?
It’s so inspiring. I was blown away that he knew all those songs for the first tour, and I thought he was great. The first tour I was content with, like, “This is The Dead.” He continued to evolve, and it was his guitar playing that, I think, helped make “Cumberland Blues” so special and something that people will celebrate. There’s no way people won’t listen to that Sunday night show.
Man, when they briefly went into “Hey Jude” and Mayer did this guitar solo, I was like, holy shit.
Dude, yes. It was cool because you could see Bobby was kind of conducting things before, and now everyone’s just left to do their own thing. Again, it’s so weird ’cause it’s under the guise of this being their last tour. A few times in my head, I was like, “This is the future of the Dead.” It made me feel that they have a bright future and, you know, with Mayer playing, this is another eight years. I was like, “God, I can’t wait to hear them 16 or 20 years from now.”
I hope that’s the case. I’ve felt a bit down since that final show because I’ll miss these shows and something beautiful about going to them – the lack of insecurity you feel. It’s such a happy place to be, and you can dance like an idiot, and no one will laugh at you. After your decades of watching the Dead live and having that experience, has it helped make you more comfy in your skin?
100%. I always tell people, the Dead is my lifeblood. I’m from a town in Canada, and people talk about gatekeeping and all that stuff. You pick a hockey team when you’re three, and that’s it. It doesn’t matter what happens. You pick who you are, and that’s that. So growing up, you couldn’t wear a certain band shirt unless you’d seen them live. Even with Dead stuff, I never wore any Dead paraphernalia until I saw them live.
It’s wild that there’s a full-on 2023 resurgence of the Grateful Dead. I welcome it. I love it. I just think it’s such a positive thing for everyone. Like you were saying, you can’t look goofy, that’s what it’s all about. It’s all about not caring about fitting in. Normally, you fit in with people by taking into consideration what they think or how they feel or whatever. With the Dead, you fit in by not caring about those things. It’s completely letting loose. It’s phenomenal.
You meet so many cool and friendly people at these shows, too. Any favorite memories of fellow fans at Dead shows?
Every show. I remember a show at MSG, Dead & Co. I was with my girlfriend at the time, but it was a bit of a turbulent situation. She left the show. I had a split second of like, ah, what a bad buzz. And then out of nowhere, this dude just gave me this huge hug and was like, “I could see you needed that.” He didn’t see my girlfriend storm away or anything like that. He just read my face when he was dancing by and gave me a hug, and then danced away.
I remember back in the day when Jerry was alive, and we were at Soldier Field. I had lied to my parents about where I was going, and we snuck out and drove to Chicago from Ontario, which is quite a trek. I remember the show ended, and this guy was wearing a full tie-dyed, like, clown outfit. He was standing and screaming as loud as he could, “RAH!” And then the crowd would cheer, and then he’d do it again. Only louder this time, “RAH!” And the crowd would cheer. He yelled a third time, he threw himself back and just landed on the ground, flat on his back. It went from funny to dramatic. And then he stood up and went, “See you guys tomorrow night!” And everyone applauded.
There’s such genuine joy at a dead show. Other of the things that dawned on me, I always thought, like when I was a kid, it felt like the Dead, even though they’re so popular that I always kind of had sympathy for people who weren’t aware of them and were depriving themselves of that experience. It was just a subconscious thing where I was so grateful to be part of it and so grateful that I had that thing in my life – my love for the Dead.
I hadn’t thought that for years, and the [final] weekend, that thought popped back into my head. Again, this is really where it’s at. It’s almost like, if people don’t understand the band, you don’t like the human spirit. It’s a celebration of the human spirit. And it’s just encompassing so much music, you know? There are parts of it that are so heavy, but you just get so much out of it. It’s just such a wild ride and such a complete experience.
A bipartisan pair of U.S. lawmakers last week introduced legislation to ease federal employment restrictions on cannabis use that deny employment opportunities for past and current marijuana users. The bill, titled the Cannabis Users Restoration of Eligibility (CURE) Act, was introduced on July 27 by Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Representative Nancy Mace, a Republican from South Carolina who has been an outspoken supporter of federal cannabis policy reform.
“Every year, qualified and dedicated individuals seeking to serve our country are unable to secure federal jobs and security clearances because the federal government has not caught up with the widely established legal use of medical and recreational cannabis,” Raskin said in a statement on Friday. “I am proud to partner with my friend Representative Mace to introduce the bipartisan CURE Act that will eliminate the draconian, failed and obsolete marijuana policies that prevent talented individuals from becoming honorable public servants in their own government.”
If passed, the CURE Act would prevent past or current marijuana use from being the basis for an applicant being found unsuitable for federal employment or the denial of a security clearance for federal workers. The legislation would also be applied retroactively, allowing workers or applicants who have been denied employment or a security clearance to appeal such denials.
“For too long, the federal government has been denying Americans civil service opportunities solely because of its outdated attitudes toward cannabis and those who consume it,” said Morgan Fox, political director at the cannabis policy reform group the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). “Denying these millions of Americans consideration for employment and security clearances is discriminatory and it unnecessarily shrinks the talent pool available for these important jobs. NORML commends the sponsors for working to undo this policy and replace it with fair and sensible hiring and clearance practices that will put America on much stronger footing on the global stage.”
Bill Endorsed By Justice Groups
The CURE Act has been endorsed by justice reform advocates and cannabis industry groups including the Drug Policy Alliance, the Due Process Institute, Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP), NORML and the U.S. Cannabis Council.
“Millions of patriotic, conscientious Americans use cannabis legally each year, but they are consistently penalized by outdated federal regulations,” said Ed Conklin, executive director of the U.S. Cannabis Council. “We strongly support the CURE Act because it will bring federal employment policies into line with the views of most Americans. Cannabis use should never prevent a qualified candidate from serving his or her country as a federal employee.”
The bipartisan bill is not the first effort to ease employment discrimination against cannabis users seeking a job with the federal government. In 2021, the federal Office of Personnel Management, an agency that sets “suitability” standards to determine whether an individual is fit to serve in a federal position, issued new guidance to clarify that past marijuana use should not automatically disqualify applicants or appointees from most U.S. government jobs. However, the agency emphasized that marijuana is still considered a Schedule I substance under the Controlled Substances Act. Additionally, the Drug-Free Workplace executive order of 1986 requires federal employees to refrain from using illegal drugs at all times.
“An individual’s disregard of federal law pertaining to marijuana while employed by the federal government remains relevant and may lead to disciplinary action,” the OPM wrote in the 2021 memo. “It is important to note that it is also the policy of the federal government to offer appropriate prevention, treatment and rehabilitation programs and services for federal civilian employees with drug problems.”
Also in 2021, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which sets security standards for access to classified information, issued new guidance to clarify that past marijuana use should not be the sole reason someone is denied a security clearance. The guidance stresses that the illegal use of any controlled substances “can raise security concerns about an individual’s reliability and trustworthiness to access classified information or to hold a sensitive position, as well as their ability or willingness to comply with laws, rules, and regulations.”
However, the guidelines also instruct agencies that prior recreational marijuana use by an individual “may be relevant to adjudications but not determinative” in issuing a security clearance. The guidance references a 2017 security directive that tells agencies to apply the “whole person concept” to the decision for granting a security clearance.
“There are many talented and dedicated people who have used cannabis and want to serve their country,” said Terry Blevins, a former civilian investigator for the Department of Defense, Arizona police sergeant, and LEAP board member. “Compromising recruitment by our federal agencies with antiquated cannabis laws makes our nation less safe in the face of security threats we face globally.”
A recently published article by The Cool Down (“America’s mainstream climate brand”) detailed how hemp can be “transformed into a material called hempcrete.”
“Hempcrete is a carbon-negative building material made out of hemp, which is increasingly being used in place of concrete. The biocomposite material is created from hemp shiv — the woody core of hemp stalks — and mixed with a binder, such as lime powder, and water,” according to the article. “The result is a tough, adaptable material that can be mixed with varying proportions of hemp and lime depending on its intended purpose.”
The New York Times highlighted that trend in a story published earlier this year, reporting in February that interest in hemp “as a viable substitute for construction material is growing as developers seek greener building options.”
“Hemp can be used in block form, as it was in the building of the sports center, or poured like traditional concrete using hempcrete, a combination of lime, hemp fibers and a chemical binder. Hemp panels can also be used…Hemp is already used in a variety of industrial products, including rope, textiles and biofuel. But hemp construction is hampered by high costs and a supply chain that is not fully formed. And proponents must overcome resistance to a product that is often mistakenly tied to recreational drug use. Advocates say hemp offers many environmental benefits that builders and policymakers seek when creating a carbon-neutral product that is also resistant to fire, mold and weather,” the Times reported.
The write-up by The Cool Down noted that hempcrete offers “multiple benefits for buildings,” particularly as “the building industry hunts for less carbon-intensive materials.”
“For one thing, hemp makes an extraordinary carbon sink when it is growing — research suggests that the crop can capture twice the amount of carbon dioxide that trees can. That carbon dioxide is then locked away in the walls of your hempcrete home for as long as it stays standing,” the article said. “Hemp’s strength at sequestering carbon could be crucial for a building industry that is currently responsible for 39% of global energy-related carbon emissions. Making cement, a key ingredient in concrete, produces vast amounts of air pollution. Manufacturers use fossil fuels to heat limestone and clay in a kiln, releasing an estimated 600 kilograms of CO2 into the atmosphere for every ton of cement made.”
It is just one of a variety of uses for hemp, a hearty and versatile crop that has appeared in manifold consumer products in the United States ever since Congress legalized it for industrial use in 2018.
A recently published study suggested that hemp-derived topical solutions could trigger hair growth in patients with alopecia.
The researchers examined a group of about 30 people, evenly divided between men and women, who “used a once-daily topical hemp extract formulation, averaging about 33 mg/day for 6 months.” They said that the “results revealed that all subjects had some regrowth.”
“A hair count of the greatest area of alopecia was carried out before treatment was started and again after 6 months of treatment. To facilitate consistent hair count analysis, a permanent tattoo was placed at the point for maximum hair loss on the scalp,” the researchers explained in detailing their methodology,” the authors of the study said. “The subjects were also asked to qualitatively rate their psychosocial perception of ‘scalp coverage’ improvement after the study was completed. The qualitative scale included ‘very unhappy,’ ‘unhappy,’ ‘neutral,’ ‘happy,’ and ‘very happy.’ The subjects were photographed in a standard manner before and after the study. The photographs were compared for improvements in ‘scalp coverage’ by an independent physician. The qualitative scale included ‘none,’ ‘mild,’ ‘moderate,’ and ‘extensive’ improvement of scalp coverage.”
Cannabis resin world capital Morocco is struggling to reconcile its historical but illegal cannabis production region with the emerging legal market.
According to the United Nations (UN) Office on Drugs and Crime, the northern Rif Mountains region is the world’s top producer of cannabis resin. Cannabis has been tolerated in Morocco’s kingdom for hundreds of years, however it has been illegal in all forms since the county’s independence in 1956.
In 2021, with a goal to improve poverty-stricken regions in Morocco, the kingdom’s ruling party decided to officially approve Law 13-21, a bill legalizing the production of cannabis for industrial, medicinal, and cosmetic purposes in the three provinces of the Rif while also creating a National Regulation Agency for Cannabis Activities (ANRAC) to monitor the production of cannabis.
Under the law, farmers in Morocco’s northern mountainous areas who organize into collectives will gradually be permitted to cultivate cannabis to fill the needs of the legal market. Abdeluafi Laftit, the Interior Minister of the Alaouite kingdom, Morocco’s reigning monarchy, said the legalization of cannabis is part of the government’s plan to create new “development opportunities,” according to a report.
Al Jazeerareports that black market cannabis production in the Rif mountains is thriving more than ever before, and tourists continue to flock to the area because of it. The mountainous and fertile area borders Tangier to the west, and runs along the Mediterranean to the north. Hippies have been traveling there for generations to get their hands on Moroccan hash.
“After the independence of Morocco, the hippies came to the mountains and taught us how to harvest the cannabis plants into cannabis resin [hashish],” Mourad, a father of six, told Al Jazeera. “Personally, I learned from my family and from my friends.”
But despite efforts to loosen laws in the area surrounding cannabis production, old habits die hard, and locals say illegal cannabis is more profitable.
“Official representatives came to the village in March to discuss the new bill with us and take the names of the people who might be interested,” Mourad said. “For my part, I do not really know what I am going to do. If I am forced to switch to legal production, I will, but if most of my neighbours continue to produce cannabis illegally, I will do like them.”
“Of course, I don’t like living in fear, and I would rather have a legal activity. At the same time, I honestly don’t think most farmers are going to follow the bill because we don’t feel like it will benefit us. But I am aware this might be my last year producing cannabis illegally. For my own sake, I will probably have to switch to legal production soon,” he added.
According to data from the Ministry of Interior given to the Agence France-Presse news in 2013, at least 700,000 people—including 90,000 families—lived off the production of cannabis in Morocco.
Al Jazeera reports that the Republic of the Rif was established by Abdelkrim Khattabi in 1921. For about 100 years, the Rif people are reported to be hostile towards the Moroccan state, saying they are left out of Morocco’s economic development.
“Switching to a legal production of cannabis would make us lose money because it is the government that is going to set the prices,” Anouar, a local in Bab Taza toldAl Jazeera.
“Producing illegally is not that dangerous when you have a trustworthy network of buyers. For our part, we sell the cannabis to four family friends only, whom we have known for years, and they deal with bringing it to other cities in the country and to Europe,” Anouar says.
This month marks six years since Uruguay launched legal recreational sales in the country, and newly released data illuminates how successful the cannabis program has been.
The South American country’s Institute for Regulation and Control of Cannabis released the figures, which were detailed by Forbes.
Cannabis pharmacies in Uruguay “have sold 10,693,210 grams of marijuana between July 19, 2017, and July 19, 2023,” according to the news outlet.
“Currently, 61,509 registered individuals are eligible to access pharmacies for marijuana purchases. Moreover, there are three companies producing cannabis, and the sale of marijuana is authorized in 37 pharmacies distributed across ten departments throughout the country,” Forbes reported. “Moreover, there are presently 14,592 registered users for domestic cultivation and 10,486 members of cannabis clubs across 306 clubs.”
Uruguay made history nearly ten years ago, when it became the first country to legalize all stages of the cannabis process –– growing, sale and smoking –– in December of 2013.
Reuters at the time called it “a pioneering social experiment that will be closely watched by other nations debating drug liberalization.”
In fact, Uruguay had decriminalized possession of cannabis all the way back in 1974. But cultivation and sales of pot were not made legal until the passage of the 2013 law, which was framed as a bid to stymie the power of drug traffickers in the country.
As Reuters explained at the time, although other “countries have decriminalized marijuana possession and the Netherlands allows its sale in coffee shops,” Uruguay became “the first nation to legalize the whole chain from growing the plant to buying and selling its leaves.”
Legal marijuana sales began in July of 2017, when the new law made “pharmacists into dealers,” as The New York Times put it.
But as the Times explained back then, the new cannabis law’s implementation was not all hunky dory. The law had been “contentious for many Uruguayans,” noting that the “thorniest part of it — establishing a system for the state-controlled production and sale of marijuana — took years to work out.”
“Government officials worried that allowing a cannabis scene like the one in Amsterdam would make Uruguay a pariah among neighboring countries wary about legalization. So they developed an onerous registration process and ruled out marketing the country as a mecca for pot tourism. Under the law, only Uruguayan citizens and legal permanent residents are allowed to purchase or grow pot,” the Times reported then.
A report in 2020 found that legalization had not led to a spike in cannabis consumption among teenagers in Uruguay.
The study, published in the International Journal of Drug Policy, found that there was “no evidence of an impact on cannabis use or the perceived risk of use” among youth in the country.
“Our findings provide some support for the thesis that Uruguay’s state regulatory approach to cannabis supply may minimize the impact of legalization on adolescent cannabis use,” the study said. “At the same time, our study period represents a period of transition: pharmacy access, by far the most popular means of access, was not available until the summer of 2017. Additional study will be important to assess the longer-term impacts of the fully implemented legalization regime on substance use outcomes.”
The study, which was billed as the “first empirical evidence on [the law’s] impacts on adolescent use of cannabis and related risks,” likewise found that there was not “an increase in student perception of cannabis availability” following legalization.
