Global CannaVigilance Cannabis Newsletter 2022 / 15

Hello friends of CannaVigilance,  

Like Gustav Mahler, Ai Weiwei, Nick Cave and 1.5 million party goers every year, the cannabis industry went to Berlin this week. For those attending the ICBC conference (updates on this soon), the focus right now is on Berlin's Estrel Conference Center but for the rest of us it went on. As usual there is good news (slight movement detected in France) and bad news, as proven by Juicy Fields. After Berlin, the industry will head to Durban for the conference there starting on 21 July. Check out our LinkedIn profile to find out what is happening at both trade shows! 

Why cannabis is illegal and why opinions are changing 

As we all know, cannabis has a long history of being part of society and sold in dispensaries, but then being banned almost all over the world. But the good thing is that opinions are changing again. The foundation of our emerging industry is the fact that views on the cultivation, sale, and consumption of cannabis have changed over the years, and so have the laws, and they continue to do so constantly. We have recently published an article on how the history of cannabis has evolved and why opinions have started to change in recent years.    

Read the article here.  

Chemovars vs Strains 

Growers made this change of mind a very long time ago. Their minds revolve around choosing the best strains and classifications of cannabis. While there is the more traditional classification of cannabis into Indica and Sativa and other terms, several things have led to the introduction of the chemovars classification in addition to strains. The discussion of chemovars vs. strains provides a more detailed description of the plant, and this cannabis classification goes a long way in bringing more transparency to the supply chain. For this reason, we have put together an overview of the discussion and its origins, focusing on why classifying plants into strains and chemovars can provide growers and producers with a better solution to the needs of the market.

 Read the article here.  

A vigilant eye on cannabis news 

• France is in year two of its medicinal cannabis pilot program. Coupled with public calls for decriminalization and the growing popularity of the CBD Cafés it is perhaps time to cast an eye on what is going on there. As they stand on the verge of reentering the market after a fifty-year absence, the academic David A. Guba Jr. takes a look at the role medical marijuana has played in the history of the country. In another brilliant piece Guba looks at the historical role of racism in implementing cannabis laws in France. And finally, there is a piece about the revival of hemp growing and turning it into jeans happening in Occitania, reviving a centuries-old tradition which had been suspended by modern legislation. 
  
• As the world-wide call grows for legalisation, the voice of the Balkans is getting louder and louder. The process seems to be under way in Bosnia and Herzegovina, according to this editorial in the Sarajevo Times. We’ll keep an eye and update as the situation changes. 

• The collapse this week of Juicy Fields, a company that claimed to grow cannabis in a crowd-growing model, has been a big wake-up call for those believing all the hyped figures on return of investments in the industry. A warning by the German financial regulator first set alarm bells ringing and evidence strongly points to a million-dollar fraud. 

• And finally… In Thailand where the lawmakers are still trying to plug the holes created by their cannabis law, there is one group of people who are benefitting from the changes. For “streetpreneurs”, young people in particular, cannabis products have provided desperately needed streams of income following the collapse of tourism, which normally provides about one-fifth of the kingdom’s jobs.