International Cannabis News

While cannabis enthusiasts are celebrating the passage of Canada‘s historic legalization legislation this week, the rules agreed on by lawmakers include unfortunate stipulations for entrepreneurs in terms of product packaging and branding opportunities, according to a report by World Trademark Review. Specifically, cannabis products sold in Canada’s adult-use marketplace must include “little branding and strict health […]

Poppy farmers in Mexico who helped fuel the U.S. opioid epidemic say that the price of opium paste — the key ingredient in heroin — has dropped so dramatically that many have stopped growing poppies and are returning to cannabis as their primary cash crop, Fox News reports. With legalization continuing to spread across the […]

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Wednesday that the nation’s adult-use cannabis industry will officially launch on October 17, The Hill reports. The landmark legislation, which passed its final hurdle in the Senate this week with a 52-29 vote, makes cannabis possession and consumption legal for adults 18 and older throughout the nation. “Today I’m also […]

Fulfilling a popular campaign promise of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Canada has officially voted to legalize the adult possession and use of cannabis, according to a CNN report. In a 52-29 vote on Tuesday afternoon, the Senate advanced bill C-45 for the last time, accepting changes put forward in the House of Commons and sending the bill […]

Lawmakers in Canada’s House of Commons voted 205-82 in favor of Bill C-45, aka The Cannabis Act, on Monday, CBC reports. The legalization bill now returns to the Senate, which has already approved an earlier version of the bill but now must try to reconcile with changes made in the House. Last time the Senate worked […]

The Paris prosecutor’s office has tasked French narcotics investigators with checking out coffee shops selling low-THC, high-CBD cannabis products, according to The Local. The coffee shops selling the CBD-rich cannabis opened last week, taking advantage of a gray area that does not define restrictions on CBD. The primary target of the investigation is the shop […]

The Italian Army is tasked with producing the entirety of Italy’s medical cannabis stores and it’s beginning to have trouble keeping up with demand, according to a PBS report. Italy’s military has long been tasked with producing so-called “orphan drugs” — drugs that treat rare, uncommon diseases. Colonel Antonio Medica, commander of the facility growing all of […]

Controversy sparked last week when United Kingdom customs agents confiscated a stock of cannabis oils from Charlette Caldwell, mother of 12-year-old epilepsy patient Billy Caldwell. Thankfully, the medications were returned over the weekend, but not until after Billy was hospitalized due to a severe seizure — his first in 300 days, according to his mother. Ms. Caldwell […]

Last week, Canada’s Senate approved the House of Commons’ bill to legalize cannabis but attached several amendments limiting the scope of legalization, including one that allows provinces to ban home cultivation and another imposing heavy advertising restrictions on cannabis companies. Now, the House of Commons has rejected a number of the Senate’s amendments — including […]

Uruguay was the first nation in the world to legalize cannabis for adult use. One year after the market’s launch, however, the country still struggles to meet demand, according to The  Associated Press. Diego Olivera, head of Uruguay’s National Drugs Council, said it’s been almost a year since the legal market launched and it has involved […]

Lt. Gen. Chuck Lamarre, chief of military personnel in the Canadian Armed Forces, said in a recent interview with the CBC that the Canadian military is not in a position to impose an outright ban on adult-use cannabis. However, Lamarre indicated that restrictions will be more wide-ranging on cannabis consumption than on alcohol. The Canadian […]

The first two coffee shops serving high-CBD cannabis products in Paris, France opened last week, according to a Telegraph report. The openings follow a softening of French drug laws to allow the sale of cannabis containing less than 0.2% THC, and Parisians lined up outside the businesses to make their purchases. Controversially (considering scientific support for the […]

Canadian senators have ratified Bill C-45, aka the Cannabis Act, in a 56-30 vote with one abstention, according to a CBC report. The vote was true to party lines, with Conservatives dissenting and Liberals and most Independents falling in line under the leadership of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who made legalization a large part of his […]

On Wednesday, the Edmonton, Alberta city community and public services committee agreed to rules allowing the smoking of cannabis in outdoor public spaces like parks and sidewalks, the CBC reports. Cannabis smokers in outside spaces would conform to similar rules as tobacco smokers, remaining 10 meters away from doors and open windows and 30 meters away […]

Canadians are expected to increase their consumption of cannabis by up to 35 percent and spend as much as $7 billion on cannabis by 2019, according to predictions by accounting firm Deloitte. The firm’s report takes an in-depth look at the future Canadian cannabis market, surveying 1,500 different adults living in the country between March 6 […]

Canadian medical cannabis firm Canopy Growth has acquired Kingdom of Lesotho-based Daddy Cann Lesotho PTY Ltd, trading as Highlands, which holds licenses to cultivate, manufacture, supply, hold, import, export, and transport cannabis and its resin in the African nation. The $29 million acquisition gives Canopy its first foothold in Africa. Canopy now has operations on […]

MedMen, a U.S.-based medical cannabis company, is set to begin trading on the Canadian Securities Exchange today after acquiring Ladera Ventures Corp., an oil and gas shell company, the Financial Post reports. The company completed a $143 million raise before heading to the exchange and has an implied value of $2 billion, according to the […]

Canadian medical cannabis company Canopy Growth began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the “CGC” symbol yesterday, but after opening as high as $32.00 in pre-market trading, shares dropped 6.66 percent to $28.20 by the market’s close. It’s the first cannabis company to list on the NYSE and Midas Letter notes that their […]

Canada-based medical cannabis company Khiron Life Sciences Corp begins trading on the TSX Venture Exchange today under the “KHRN” symbol. While the company is based in Canada, its core operations are in Colombia, where they were one of the first companies to receive a medical cannabis license in the Latin American nation. “We are pleased […]

Canadian cannabis producer Aurora Cannabis has invested $1 million in CCT Pharmaceutical Holdings, Inc, the developers of an oral dose-specific dissolving thin film wafer drug delivery technology. The investment, with a 5 percent convertible debenture, gives Aurora a 9.14 percent interest in CTT and the agreement includes issuance of warrants enabling Aurora to increase that […]

Zimbabwe is backing off medical cannabis cultivation licensing plans after receiving wildly varied estimates from the 350 applicants interested in the program, the South African reports. Deputy Finance Minister Terrence Mukupe said that too many of the applications offered far different estimates for how much land would be required to grow cannabis and how much money […]

Canopy Rivers is hosting a “pitch day” for Canadian cannabis entrepreneurs ahead of federal legalization as part of the “Micro Cannabis, Macro Impact” program that will see the company provide $1 million in seed capital to burgeoning canna-businesses. Prospective companies should intend to or should be in the process of applying for a Health Canada […]

Maricann Group Inc. has agreed to acquire Medican Holdings Ltd, whose subsidiary Medican Research Group is one of six companies that has received a medical cannabis license in the Republic of Malta. The cash-and-stock deal is worth $10.1 million, comprised of $7.6 million in common shares at no less than $2.35, and $2.5 million in […]

Canopy Growth Corp. – Canada’s largest cannabis company – has applied to list on the New York Stock Exchange, Bloomberg News reports. If approved, it would become the first cannabis producer to trade on the exchange. CEO Bruce Linton said he planned to list on the Nasdaq earlier this year but that he pulled back […]