South Africa’s highest court ruled that bans on the private use of cannabis by adults are illegal, effectively decriminalizing “dagga,” the name for marijuana in the African nation. The Constitutional Court issued its ruling in a suit brought by Rastafarian cannabis activists on Tuesday.

In the court’s decision, Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo ruled that the private possession and use of cannabis are protected by the South African constitution.

“It will not be a criminal offense for an adult person to use or be in possession of cannabis in private for his or her personal consumption,” Zondo said.

The judge noted that “the use of cannabis must be for the personal consumption of the adult,” according to media reports.

The court also found that cultivation of cannabis on private property for personal use is protected by the constitution, ruling that the right to privacy “extends beyond the boundaries of a home,” according to CBS News. The ruling does not legalize the sale or public consumption of pot, however.

The court did not set a limit on the amount of cannabis that qualifies as a supply for personal use. Instead, the judges left that task to legislators.

“The judgment doesn’t specify the

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These 12 stocks are where canna-investors should place their bets. Each company is a licensed producer (LP) of cannabis in Canada.

1. Canopy Growth (TSE: WEED)

Market cap: $14.5 billion; owns Ontario-based LP, Tweed; with it’s recent $4 billion investment, Constellations Brands, whose stable of alcohol companies includes Corona and Mondavi, now owns 38% of Canopy.

2. Aurora Cannabis (OTC: ACBFF)

Market cap: $7.3 billion; Alberta-based LP also owns Ontario-based LP, MedRelief Corp. as well as subsidiaries CannaMed and Hempco Food and Fiber; on Sept. 17, it was reported that Coca-Cola had contacted Aurora about launching a CBD soft drink in Canada.

3. Tilray Inc. (NASDAQ: TLRY)

Market cap: $10.2 billion; owns the British Columbia-based LP; on Sept. 17, it was reported that the DEA will begin to import cannabis from Tilray for research purposes.

4. Aphria Inc. (TSE: APH)

Market cap: $4.5 billion; owns the Ontario-based LP.

5. Cronos Group (TSE: CRON)

Market cap: $2.3 billion; owns Ontario-based LP, Peace Naturals Project Inc.

6. The Green Organic Dutchman (TSE: TGOD)

Market cap, $1.9 billion; owns the Ontario-based LP.

7. Hexo Corp. (TSE: HEXO)

Market cap: $1.6 billion; owns Quebec-based LP, Hydropothecary; in August, Hexo signed an agreement with

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Folks, there’s no more rigged race running than the current state of  ‘legal marijuana.’

The odds have been stacked against the plant people for a few decades, and it’s no surprise to any friend of flowers just how awful the petro-pill-swilling, bed burning, house snatching, phone-tapping, network-robbing, cage-locking, tinder economists have become, but things are starting to get downright gonzo. Let me explain

Despite helping pay over 1,000 rents a month during the worst housing crisis in the city’s history, providing a fully stocked array of opiate alternatives during the worst overdose epidemic in the county’s history,
lowering crime, and providing some of the best and easiest medical cannabis access in the world, Vancouver dispensaries are being attacked by a city that depends on them.

Court documents detail the city of Vancouver staying, delaying and outright blocking at least 80% of potential pot shops in the last two years.

Why? The city argument is so:

On Wednesday cannabis wasn’t medicine.

On Thursday cannabis was medicine. But only if it arrived by mail.

On Friday it was both.

On the following Monday a woman who miraculously survived cancer using cannabis (no thanks to those standing in her way) cried to me during the trial’s lunch break, “they’re

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A hemp legalization bill has been passed by a key Senate committee in New Jersey.

The Senate Economic Growth Committee passed Senate Bill 2491 today, sending it towards a vote by the full Senate. A companion bill to this measure, Assembly Bill 1330, was passed unanimously through the Assembly (67 to 0) in June.

According to its official text, SB 2491 “establishes an industrial hemp license for planting, growing, harvesting, possessing, processing, distributing, buying, or selling industrial hemp in the State.” The bill also “establishes procedures and requirements for persons applying to the Secretary of Agriculture for a license, including procedures and requirements for fingerprinting and criminal background checks for license applicants.”

The proposal defines industrial hemp as “an agricultural product that is part of the plant of any variety of Cannabis sativa L. with a delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol concentration of 0.3% or less on a dry weight basis, and that is permitted pursuant to this act to be planted, grown, harvested, possessed, processed, distributed, bought, or sold by a person licensed pursuant to section 3 of this act.”

The full text of Senate Bill 2491 can be found by clicking here.

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Louisiana legalized medical cannabis in 2015, and since, legislative changes, revisions and other modifications have slowed the law’s rollout. But this November, medical cannabis sales will likely begin throughout the state. The problem, however, is how few patients will have access to a doctor who can provide the recommendation they’ll need to enter one of those dispensaries. As of today, Louisiana has just 31 physicians licensed to recommend medical cannabis treatments.

Recognizing the shortfall, Louisiana’s Board of Medical Examiners have taken a major step to make it easier for doctors to issue those recommendations. During a meeting in New Orleans today, the board voted to lift the patient-limit cap it had placed on licensed doctors.

Louisiana Lifts Follow-Up Requirements and Patient Cap on Recommending Physicians

Prior to today’s 8-1 vote, the Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners had set a limit on the number of medical cannabis patients a recommending physician could take on. The cap was set at 100 patients in 2016. If it were still in effect, it’s likely Louisiana’s medical cannabis program would only be able to serve 4,000 patients at most by November. A much smaller number than the 100,000 patients expected to enroll in the

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Concerns over the preponderance of teens using vapes and e-cigarettes have taken on a new dimension today, as a just-released survey of more than 20,000 U.S. high school students shows teens are vaping cannabis, not just nicotine. In fact, some students who’ve vaped have only used cannabis products. Overall, the popularity of vaping is rising among teens, but is this causing teens to use more cannabis?

Nine Percent of High School Students Surveyed Vape Cannabis

Today’s report in the peer-reviewed medical journal Pediatrics follows up on a study published last month on the relationship between teen tobacco-use and subsequent cannabis-use. That study focused on the popularity of e-cigarettes as a new way of smoking “tobacco.” Since researchers have already shown how smoking cigarettes can lead to cannabis consumption among teens, scientists wanted find out if teens who use e-cigs are more likely to consume cannabis.

What today’s report shows, however, is that teens are likely to be vaping cannabis, not e-cig juice. According to the report, roughly one-third of the middle and high school students surveyed—about 20,000—said they used vapes with non-nicotine substances. And 9 percent of those same students said they vaped cannabis. Even more telling, one out of every three

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Louisiana state officials today nixed a regulation that prohibited physicians from recommending medical cannabis to more than 100 patients, while also easing renewal requirements for patients.

Earlier today the Louisiana Board of Medical Examiners, by a vote of 8 to 1, decided to remove an arbitrary rule that required physicians to stop recommending medical cannabis once they’ve recommended the medicine to 100 patients. The board also removed a requirement for patients to see their physician every 90 days in order to continue their ability to legally use medical cannabis (the vote on this was closer; 5 to 4).

Dr. Victor Chou, who was one of the first physicians in the state receive a license to recommend medical marijuana, told the board he met the patient cap just two weeks after opening his clinic, noting that he has “a waiting list of 700 patients”.

During their meeting the board was also asked to lift a rule that requires minors using the medicine to treat the symptoms of autism spectrum disorder to see a pediatric subspecialist in addition to their family physician. Proponents of the change urged the board to look into the issue at their next meeting which takes place

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An Oregon State University study has found that lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth are more likely to use substances including nicotine, alcohol, and cannabis. Results of the research were published recently by the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence.

Sarah Dermody, an assistant professor in the School of Psychological Science in OSU’s College of Liberal Arts and the author of the report, said in a release that queer youth are at an increased use of harm from substance use.

“This data shows definitively that polysubstance use is an issue among many youth who identify as sexual minorities, meaning they are facing added health risks,” said Dermody. “But there are also differences among the subgroups of youth who identify as sexual minorities, suggesting we need to look beyond the averages to understand what factors may be influencing substance use in this population.”

“Sexual minority is an umbrella term for those who identify with any sexual identity other than heterosexual or who report same-sex attraction or behavior,” according to the release. “For the purposes of the study, the researchers focused on those youth who identified as lesbian, gay or bisexual.”

Transgender youth were not included in the study.

Three Times the Risk

Dermody said that

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Microdosing psychedelics has received growing attention in recent years, as it’s been said to enhance creativity, increase focus, and lift the weight of depression. Now, scientists want to figure out whether using small amounts of these substances lives up to the hype. On Sept. 3, researchers from the Beckley Foundation and Imperial College of London launched a first-of-its-kind study to investigate the potential benefits of microdosing LSD. If the study goes well, it could provide powerful insights into the realm of diverse psychedelic-use.

Innovative Microdosing Research

The aim of the study, known as the “self-blinding microdose study,” is relatively straightforward: scientists want to know whether or not microdosing psychedelics produces verifiable, positive results in users.

When a person microdoses with psychedelics, they generally take a tiny dose of LSD or mushrooms. The concept is that these tiny doses are too small to produce a full-blown, out-of-body psychedelic experience, but large enough to activate and energize the brain. Many microdosers claim the practice improves their day-to-day lives and has a positive impact on workflow.

The scientists on this project are, thus, looking to see if people who report positive effects from microdosing are actually experiencing benefits from the drugs or if they’re

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The Coca-Cola Company is in “serious talks” with Aurora Cannabis to develop a CBD-infused beverage, according to a report from BNN Bloomberg Television. The news sent shares of Canadian marijuana producer Aurora Cannabis up as much as 23 percent to $8 in early trading on Monday. The stock had settled to a gain of about 14 percent by noon Eastern time.

Coca-Cola, the world’s largest beverage maker, and Aurora Cannabis are “pretty advanced down the path” of coming to an agreement, according to an unnamed source familiar with the negotiations between the two companies.

“It’s going to be more of the ‘recovery drink’ category,” the source added.

The source also said that talks between the two companies are ongoing but are not certain to succeed. Even if they are successful, any deal reached may not be made public, according to the source.

Another source told BNN Bloomberg that Coca-Cola also held preliminary talks with Aphria, another Canadian cannabis producer, but that the negotiations had not advanced.

Companies Decline to Comment on Deal

Coca-Cola spokesperson Kent Landers declined to comment on Aurora Cannabis directly. But he did say in an email to BNN Bloomberg that “along with many others in the beverage industry,

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