The Netherlands expanded a government-run initiative on Monday allowing legal cannabis sales.

While growing cannabis is still illegal, cannabis shops — known as coffeeshops — in 10 municipalities will be allowed to sell marijuana from 10 licensed producers.

“Weed was sold here legally for 50 years, but the production was never legal. So it’s finally time to end that crazy, unexplainable situation and make it a legal professional sector,” Rick Bakker, commercial director at Hollandse Hoogtes, one of the regulated producers, told The Associated Press.

Some 80 coffeeshops are taking part in the experiment which advocates hope this will ultimately end a long-standing legal anomaly — you can buy and sell small amounts of weed without fear of prosecution in the Netherlands, but growing it commercially remains illegal.

Bakker's company in Bemmel, near the German border, is indistinguishable from the surrounding greenhouses producing tomatoes and peppers. But it makes 200 kilograms (440 pounds) of weed per week and is one of the largest producers in the experiment.

A trailblazer in decriminalizing pot since the 1970s, the Netherlands has grown more conservative. 

, long a magnet for marijuana smokers, has been closing coffeeshops in recent years and has banned smoking weed on some of the cobbled streets that make up its historic center.

Advocates have been pushing for a legal growing for years, citing the safety of the product as well as concerns about crime.

Dutch cannabis growers welcome expansion of state-run experiment to make sales legal

In July 2022, the Supreme Court of Ghana ruled in a 4-3 majority decision that the inclusion of Section 43 in the Act was unconstitutional, citing procedural flaws in its passage. However, experts believe that the successful implementation of these cannabis regulations could unlock significant economic benefits for Ghana.

The Minister for Finance, Hon. Ato Forson has revealed that the Ministry of the Interior has initiated processes to implement Section 43 of the Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019) and the Narcotics Control Commission Regulation 2023 (L.I. 2475).

He announced this in his presentation of the 2025 Budget Statement to Parliament on March 11, 2025.

Hon. Ato Forson stated that this initiative is aimed at regulating the cultivation and management of cannabis with a tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content not exceeding 0.3% on a dry weight basis in Ghana.

According to the Minister, Comprehensive Guidelines for the cultivation and management of cannabis have already been drafted, and the associated charges and fees will be laid before Parliament for approval in 2025. This is contained paragraph 734, page 119 of the THE 2025 BUDGET STATEMENT AND ECONOMIC POLICY OF GOVERNMENT referred to as 

“Resetting The Economy For The Ghana We Want”.

This development comes after years of legal back-and-forth regarding cannabis legislation in Ghana. The passage of Act 1019 in 2020 was initially celebrated as a progressive move toward the regulation of industrial hemp and medicinal cannabis. However, in July 2022, the Supreme Court of Ghana ruled in a 4-3 majority decision that the inclusion of Section 43 in the Act was unconstitutional, citing procedural flaws in its passage.

Following a review application by the Attorney General, the Supreme Court reaffirmed its decision in May 2023, maintaining that the legislative process leading to the law's approval was flawed. This ruling temporarily halted efforts to regulate the cultivation and management of industrial hemp in Ghana. This necessitated Parliament to reconvene and pass amendment of the Act to let same be inline with the parameters set by the Supreme Court.

The decision to finalize regulatory guidelines and present them before Parliament for approval signals a renewed push toward creating a structured legal framework for industrial hemp cultivation.

Ghana: Government to lay guidelines for cultivation and management of cannabis for approval in 2025

This report evaluates the economic impacts of legalising and regulating cannabis for adult non-medical use in the UK from a Treasury perspective of income and spending. The report focuses on government revenues (corporation and income tax, VAT, National Insurance, licensing fees, and, in the scenario of a state monopoly model, profits), savings across the criminal justice system (CJS) from reduced costs on enforcement, and the costs of administering a regulatory model.

For Transform, economic arguments for cannabis, though significant, are secondary to public health and social justice policy priorities. But the economic dimensions of the cannabis reform debate are undoubtedly gaining
political salience, particularly as governments face growing budgetary pressures. Public support for cannabis reform, particularly for economic reasons, such as disrupting illegal profits and the potential tax income, is growing in both the U.S. and the UK.

This report analyses three different regulatory scenarios:

1. Home-grow provision for personal use, and non-profit membership-based associations, with no commercial retail

2. Hybrid model including home grow, non-profit associations and regulated commercial retail

3. A Hybrid model Home grow, non-profit associations, and commercial retail operating under a state monopoly (profits on retail sale accrue to the state)


High returns: The economic benefits of UK cannabis legalisation

A recent study suggests the ACT's cannabis legislation is mostly working as intended, but shows the majority of cannabis cultivators are engaging in illegal activity in order to grow it.

growing, possession and use of small amounts of cannabis was legalised in the ACT.

The research, conducted by the Lambert Initiative for Cannabinoid Therapeutics based at the University of Sydney, indicated the five-year-old laws are having the intended effect.

Academic Director of the Lambert Initiative, Iain McGregor, said the legislation had "been a real positive for cultivators".

Nearly three years after the legislation was introduced, 311 people who grew cannabis were asked a series of questions.

Some respondents also sent samples of their cannabis for chemical analysis, including the amount of tetrahydrocannabinol — the chemical that produces a high — in them.

Australia: Canberra cultivators mainly grow 'mild and modest' cannabis, study finds

This article examines narratives of cannabis legalization in Nigeria. While most existing research on cannabis legalization has concentrated on the global North, we focus on one of Africa's largest cannabis markets, as well as the views of actors heavily criminalized and excluded from policy debates. Based on in-depth interviews and long-time engagement with illicit cannabis farmers and traders, the article highlights the contestations in their hidden narratives, troubling extant views of cannabis legalization which uncritically laud its socioeconomic benefits, and revealing the potential downsides of legalization in the context of an exploitative legal neo-liberal economy rife with social inequities. The findings of this study also highlight a need for open policy debate that engages criminalized cannabis producing communities who have borne the brunt of both prohibition and economic marginalization to chart the way forward for more inclusive and meaningful cannabis policy reform.

Contesting cannabis legalization in Nigeria: Hidden narratives of illicit farmers and traders

In Golba Hill on the Caribbean island of 

 (SVG), just below a cluster of colourfully decorated homes, there are rows and rows of premium marijuana plants. Gleaming like green gold in the Caribbean sun, they lead up to a crudely constructed hut where cannabis farmer Bobbis Matthews spends most of his time nurturing and protecting his precious field.

As he did his routine inspection, removing male plants that could diminish the potency of his crop, Matthews recalled a time, not too long ago, when the idea of a cannabis farm in a residential area was unthinkable.

Like many of SVG’s cannabis farmers, Matthews is a Rastafarian who spent years hiding illegal cannabis fields deep in the mountains and living in fear of US-backed antinarcotics operations that would destroy millions of dollars worth of the plant.

“It was hard! At least three times a year, US helicopters would come and tear down the crop. In those days, it felt like you couldn’t even say the word marijuana because just to say marijuana, you could get arrested,” Matthews said.

The Rastafarians opening up Caribbean cannabis farms to build a flourishing medical industry

What would the consequences of the potential cocaine and cannabis regulation in Rio de Janeiro be? This report dives into analyzing these potential impacts in a city long plagued by violence linked to drug trafficking and social inequality. With the recent decriminalization of cannabis possession in June 2024, this study explores whether broader drug regulation can reduce violence, dismantle organized crime, and alleviate mass incarceration in the favelas.

After the war on drugs: The impacts of cocaine and cannabis regulation in Rio de Janeiro

The Expert Seminar on Cannabis Regulation aimed to address the evolving landscape of cannabis regulation within the European Union and its intersection with international drug control treaties. Organized by the Transnational Institute (TNI) and co-sponsored by the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) and the Global Drugs Policy Observatory (GDPO), the seminar gathered policy and legal experts from six European countries engaged in various forms of cannabis regulation, five of which are EU member states (Czechia, Germany, Luxembourg, Malta and the Netherlands) and one non-EU country (Switzerland). Also present were experts from the United States of America, where cannabis regulation is in full swing in states and discussed at the federal level, as well as other international policy experts and scholars in international law. Over the course of two days, the participants discussed the current state of cannabis regulation, legal tensions, and future scenarios for policy development.

Cannabis regulation, EU drug law, trade rules and the UN drug control treaties

Join us for the Geneva Course on Drug Policy, Health, and Diplomacy from January 27-30, 2025! Co-organized by the Institute of Global Health, University of Geneva, the Global Health Center of the Geneva Graduate Institute, and the Global Commission on Drug Policy.

Participate in person in Geneva or online. Scholarships available!

Drug control, public health, harm reduction, and human rights

Current issues with cannabis, the opioid epidemic, and access to controlled medicines

Perspectives on drug policy reform in today's global diplomatic context

Join us and be part of the discussion! For more info and to apply, contact Kamila Guseinova at kamila.guseinova[@]unige.ch

Don’t miss this opportunity to engage with critical global drug policy issues!

Geneva course on drug policy, public health, and diplomacy

Thailand will regulate cannabis for medicinal use instead of re-listing the plant as a narcotic, the deputy prime minister said on Tuesday, in the government's U-turn on its previous policy.

Prime minister Srettha Thavisin had vowed to make cannabis illegal by the end of 2024, just two years after Thailand became one of the first countries in Asia to decriminalise marijuana.

Thailand decides not to re-criminalise cannabis as it eyes $1bn medicinal industry

Ten years after Uruguay legalised cannabis, the country’s experience provides valuable insights regarding the implementation of such a policy. Uruguay’s regulation of cannabis represented an innovative policy based on a state-controlled model that yielded both expected and unexpected effects. To study these effects, we employed a qualitative research design and analysed six key outcome dimensions: accessibility, pharmacies, cannabis social clubs, quantity, prices and quality. The research included 23 interviews with key informants and 25 interviews with frequent cannabis consumers, complemented by secondary data analysis. We propose that the unintended effects of the policy, such as the formation of a ‘grey market’ – the illegal distribution of legally produced cannabis – are attributable to: (1) the novel character of the regulation and, therefore, the lack of an evidence base to guide policy design and implementation; (2) the different preferences and policy dynamics that shaped the three different governments in office during the period; and (3) an implementation gap.

Click here to read the full article (restricted access).

Intended and unintended effects of cannabis regulation in Uruguay

African countries have seen major shifts in cannabis policy in recent years. Countries, such as Ghana and Zimbabwe, have lifted some criminal sanctions and created legal markets for medicinal and industrial uses, while South Africa has also legalised the private production for personal use. Elsewhere, including Nigeria and Kenya, cannabis prohibition remains in place, though debate about such policy has grown strong. These shifts are in line with reforms in other parts of the world, yet cannabis and policy in Africa has important and understudied local dynamics.The ‘Cannabis Africana: Drugs and Development in Africa’ research project, based at the Universities of Bristol and Cape Town, studies the impact of changing policies and what they mean for the rights and lives of people in the cannabis trade. It is the first empirical study to examine the nexus between cannabis, cannabis policy and livelihoods across four African countries, as well as in the wider regional context.As part of the project, and in partnership with the West Africa Drug Policy Network (WADPN) andthe International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC), a policy workshop was held in Accra, Ghana on 8 and 9 November 2023. It engaged key policymakers, practitioners and cannabis market insiders with research on cannabis and recent policy reforms in Africa. The workshop discussions as well as the project findings, especially from Nigeria and Zimbabwe, are the basis of this policy brief

Cannabis & related