Cannabis News Around The World: Another Legal Victory In Brazil, New Dutch CBD Study & More

Judge Rules In Favor of Brazilian NGO

A Brazil federal judge gave the green light to an NGO to cultivate and produce medical cannabis, reported The Brazilian Report.

The move from a judge in the northeastern state of Sergipe means that the NGO Salvar could produce cannabis products other than oil, such as flower, extracts and edibles. Lawyer Paulo Henrique Thiessen, who is behind the company, touted the decision as “wonderful news.”

The use of medical marijuana (MMJ) was legalized in Brazil in 2015, allowing patients to obtain only imported medical cannabis products with strict authorization from ANVISA (National Sanitary Surveillance Agency). In 2019, Brazil became the third Latin American country, after Uruguay and Colombia, to regulate the sale of medical marijuana products.

Dutch Government Puts $1.5M Into CBD Study For Epilepsy

Dutch Government is poised to grant roughly $1.5 million to The UMC Utrecht Brain Center, which has partnered with various Netherland-based organizations to study the effects of a high-CBD oil in children with severe epilepsy, reported Cannabis Health News.

The researchers plan to utilize money from the Government’s Good Use of Medicines program to launch a four-year research project. They will investigate the effects of the oil on seizure reduction in 50 participants, in addition to other quality-of-life markers, including seizure length, sleep and alertness.

The drug - Bedrolite from the Dutch Transvaal pharmacy – is made by Bedrocan.

Canada Cannabis Sales Drop

In Canada, cannabis sales fell 7.1%  month-over-month to C395.5 million ($287.6 million) in January, reported New Cannabis Report citing Statistics Canada’s data. That’s a year-over-year increase of 14.1%.

Meanwhile, a recent study by the Traffic Injury Research Foundation (TIRF) suggested that with a surge in cannabis consumption over nearly two decades, instances of accidents related to drivers using cannabis have unsurprisingly increased as well, reported Times Colonist. Cannabis experts Robyn Robertson, Ward G.M. Vanlaar and Hannah Barrett recently highlighted several hey findings suggesting that more oversight is needed in allowing more liberalized public plant consumption.

Japan Reported Over 5,000 Marijuana Arrests In 2022

Japanese authorities reported a total of 5,342 marijuana-related arrests in 2022, slightly down compared to the year before.

The National Police Agency (NPA) said last week that those under the age of 20 accounted for 17.1% of the total number of arrests, while those in their 20s accounted for 53.4%. Of the total number, 4,430 were arrested for marijuana possession.

NPA also stressed that young people are getting cannabis via media contacts.

The Government plans to submit several bills during the current Diet session to amend the Cannabis Control Law. The latest effort to allow the use of medical marijuana for patients with such conditions as intractable epilepsy could criminalize the use of recreational marijuana.

Photo: Courtesy of Kindel Media by Pexels