In Chile, consumption of marijuana is legal, but growing, selling, or transporting it is illegal and carries a penalty of up to five years in jail. The laws haven’t stopped a group of about 100 parents, named Mama Cultiva or “Mama Grow”, who have begun to grow their own and “share knowledge about cultivating marijuana to extract cannabis oil”. A majority of the parents in this group have children that suffer from seizures they use the oil to ease the intensity and frequency of the seizures.
While lawmakers are slowly working on moving things forward in terms of medical marijuana the process isn’t moving fast enough for some parents whose children can suffer up to one hundred seizures a week or more. Recently a university was given
permission to research the benefits of medical marijuana for pain in adult cancer patients, which is a step in the right direction, but Mama Cultiva is unable to participate in the research as their focus is helping children. Until they are able to do it legally Mama Cultiva has said it will continue their illegal efforts under the radar.Amsterdam, Netherlands
Considered by the Cannabis community as the top event in the industry, the 27th High Times Cannabis Cup was held November 23-27 in Amsterdam. The world-renowned event saw unexpected last-minute changes their five day line up. Amsterdam Mayor Eberhard van der Laan issued warning of arrests and shutting down the event due to not complying with new rules for the event locations, vendor applications, and the mayor’s strict enforcement on tourist’s public use of recreational cannabis. High Times issued a statement saying: “From the onset, we were informed by our lawyers, who were working with the Mayor’s office, that as long as we remained compliant with local regulations, we would be allowed to proceed. We have strenuously tried to meet those standards and go beyond them... we were informed that if we were to proceed with the Cannabis Cup Expo the event would be shut down and all participants would be arrested.” “It’s a shame that the land that once liberated cannabis has now taken a conservative approach to it’s use” Jamaica
Bob Marley was an advocate for the legalization of marijuana his entire life, it seems impossible to go to any marijuana convention and not see his face printed on a poster or t-shirt. His family wants to keep his legacy going by launching Marley Natural. They describe Marley Natural as “the world’s first global cannabis brand.” It is intended to be sold in the US and hopefully worldwide by next year. The band will sell cannabis-infused lotions, creams and various accessories. Marley’s daughter, Cedella Marley, spoke of how her father would have felt about the idea “my dad would be so happy to see people understanding the healing power of the herb."
