| Over the holiday weekend, Politico published a fine roundup of cannabis reform news from Europe. Even with Germany’s burgeoning medical cannabis market and preliminary adult-use legislation draft currently dominating global cannabis business headlines, there’s plenty of action on the ground elsewhere on the continent. Now, with President Biden’s interest in possibly rescheduling or descheduling cannabis in the U.S. (thus throwing the country’s commitment to international drug treaties into question), it’s worth taking stock of the fragmented cannabis markets abroad. Long story short? Decriminalization—or “soft” legalization—is gaining early favor over full-on regulation. Luxembourg, Malta and Finland have advanced or enacted some form of decriminalization legislation recently, and they’re not alone. This is maybe not all that surprising. And perhaps it’s even heartening to those stakeholders in the U.S. who’d prefer a descheduling move to a rescheduling move from the powers that be in D.C. Take Ireland as an example. The Irish Parliament (called the Oireachtas) plans to take up a bill introduced by Gino Kenny, a member from the People Before Profit party. The legislation would allow adults 18 and older to possess up to 7 grams of cannabis or 2.5 grams of cannabis resin for personal use. Read more from Senior Digital Editor Melissa Schiller here. Then look at Kentucky, back in the U.S., which just saw its governor sign an executive order to legalize medical cannabis but not to allow any businesses to produce or sell medical cannabis products within the state. Is this a half-measure or a bellwether? Is this part of a broader trend toward some more hands-off approach to cannabis? It’s too early (and complicated) to say with much certainty. But it’s hard not to notice this encouragement of decriminalization—suddenly, globally. -Eric Sandy, Digital Editor
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