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12th December 2024
Cannabis – recreational
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Global business and regulatory news covering the cannabis industry
Daily regulatory updates of legal changes in the cannabis sector, including monthly compilations
12th December 2024
- Japan: The law criminalising recreational cannabis use and legalising medicinal cannabis products enters into force today. Medicines will require approval before becoming available to patients. Following a public consultation launched in May, the government has issued guidance on THC limits for CBD products.
12th December 2024
- Germany: The Federal Office of Agriculture and Food (BMEL) has issued regulations on cannabis research projects, which will examine research applications of cannabis consumption and industrial hemp. The focus of these investigations is to better protect young people, reduce activity in the black market and organised crime, and increase consumer protection through lower-risk forms of consumption. Applications can be submitted on the authority’s website. The BMEL emphasised that this is not the “second pillar” of cannabis legalisation, which would introduce cannabis speciality stores, as that is the responsibility of the Ministry of Health.
11th December 2024
- Netherlands: The Dutch government has announced that the next phase (experimental phase) of the Controlled Cannabis Supply Chain Experiment, which aims to investigate whether a regulated chain of production, distribution and sale of cannabis is possible, will start on 7th April 2025. In the experimental phase, coffee shops in the ten participating municipalities will only sell regulated products. This phase should last four years.
4th December 2024
- Spain: Daily consumption of cannabis is decreasing in Spain, while occasional use increases. According to the Ministry of Health’s 2024 Survey on Alcohol and Other Drugs in Spain (EDADES), cannabis is the most widely used drug in the country, having been consumed at least once by 43.7% of the population. Another finding is that 12.6% of 15- to 64-year-olds said they had used cannabis at least once in the previous 12 months – a higher percentage than in 2022, when it amounted to 12.6%. Daily consumption of cannabis is 2.5% of the population in 2024, while it was 2.8% in 2022.
4th December 2024
- South Africa: Legislation for the legal trade of cannabis is likely to be tabled in Parliament early next year as a part of initiatives to regulate the industry, according to the press. The government’s plan has been moved to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Competition due a strategy review at the Cabinet level. Among the plans to regulate the industry are revised levels of THC allowed in hemp and a medical cannabis revision. It is not clear whether recreational cannabis will be part of the planned changes.
3rd December 2024
- US - Federal: The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has begun hearings to address the Biden administration’s proposal to reclassify cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). According to a DEA advisory released on 26th November, the primary goal was to organise the procedural groundwork for addressing the merits of rescheduling. A key part of yesterday’s hearing was about determining witnesses’ availability for subsequent hearings featuring witness testimony. DEA administrative law judge John Mulrooney said witness testimonies are likely to begin in mid-January.
28th November 2024
- EU: During the parliamentary debate over the proposal for a revision of the 2009 Council recommendation on smoke-free environments, the European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR), which currently holds 78 out of 720 seats in the European Parliament, proposed including cannabis in the EU goal to become tobacco-free by 2040, thereby proposing to ban cannabis across the European Union by 2040. The group alleges that smoking is still the most used method of consuming cannabis, which poses serious health risks. The group also rejects any regulation of recreational cannabis, saying it “gives rise to the concern that cannabis is still necessarily supplied from the illegal market”.
28th November 2024
- Philippines: The Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) are open to reclassifying cannabis as a less dangerous drug, according to senator Ronald dela Rosa, who is also the proponent of the budget for the two agencies, press reports. However, dela Rosa also said he believed the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act, Republic Act 9165, would need to be amended first because under it, cannabis is still classified as a prohibited substance. Further reclassification by the DDB can only proceed if cannabis is not included in the annex of the act, dela Rosa said. He added that the DDB and PDEA are in “full support” of efforts to reclassify cannabis as a low-risk drug.
28th November 2024
- Costa Rica: The Constitutional Court has declared a bill regulating recreational cannabis unconstitutional, press reports. According to the court, the bill conflicts with international treaties signed by the country, such as the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, the Vienna Convention on Psychotropic Substances, and the United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances.
28th November 2024
- Australia: Yesterday (27th November), the Senate rejected the Greens party bill to legalise cannabis for adult use. The bill, which was introduced in August 2023 by senator David Shoebridge, also aimed to allow personal cultivation of up to six plants. The bill was rejected by 24 votes against to 13 in favour. The ruling Labor Party and the opposition Liberal Party both opposed the bill, while it was supported by the Greens and independent senators Tammy Tyrrell and Lidia Thorpe. Shoebridge said that the Greens will keep on working towards cannabis legalisation.
25th November 2024
- Czech Republic: Commenting on the proposal for a regulated cannabis market, the Drug Policy Department of the Office of the Government has told CannIntelligence that “there was no official decision of the Czech government made towards the proposed cannabis market regulation”, which means that “the discussion on the governmental level was abandoned”. Currently, the only proposed bill concerning cannabis regulation is one on decriminalisation, the scope of which is limited to cultivating up to three plants and possessing up to 25 g in public and 50 g at home, both for personal use, and which is currently under consideration in Parliament.
22nd November 2024
- Uruguay: National elections will be held on Sunday (24th November) to determine the next president. Yamandu Orsi of the leftist Broad Front (Frente Amplio) is favoured, though a close race is anticipated, press reports. Notably, cannabis was legalised in 2013 under the Broad Front’s former president José Mujica. Orsi’s opponent, Alvaro Delgado, is from the National Party, which is part of the current ruling Republican Coalition. Both candidates are considered moderate and unlikely to make major reforms, including any significant reforms to cannabis legislation.
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