Sunday July 24 2022 saw the discovery of a sizeable cannabis factory in a one-time police station in East London. This was on Manchester Road on the Isle of Dogs. Peter Golds, an exasperated Isle of Dogs councillor, remarked to the Evening Standard: “Two years ago, we found a cannabis factory in a school in the borough and now this.” Manchester Road on the Isle of Dogs. Photo: Tom Bastin Gold further further bellyached that there have been problems with anti-social behaviour in Tower Hamlets for years. Nevertheless, police stations have closed down, and now, there remains only one “proper” s ..read more

More than 100 cannabis plants have been found growing in the grounds of the Thai parliament in Bangkok. Nobody has claimed responsibility for them, and nobody admits to having any idea of who might be responsible. The Thai parliament. Photo: gympumpkin The plants were uncovered on Friday July 22 2022. A large banyan tree had been knocked down by strong winds the previous Wednesday night. Gardeners were shocked – SHOCKED! – to find over 100 cannabis plants that were between one and three inches long growing nearby. Some were in small pots, while some had been planted around large trees. Watch ..read more

The United Arab Emirates is strongly anti-drug. A British man was recently packed off to prison for 25 years for possessing four bottles of CBD oil. This was no more than 3% THC, and the man claimed to have been unaware of the bottles’ presence. Imagine the consternation when two men got busted for growing cannabis on a farm owned by their employer in Abu Dhabi to the tune of 14 plants. The two miscreants and their cannabis plants. Photo: Abu Dhabi Police What went down Abu Dhabi Police arrested the men at 10 am on Tuesday July 19 2022 after receiving an anonymous tip-off that they were grow ..read more

The Colombian city of Medellin is famous for coke. The Medellin Cartel was once the largest drug cartel in the world, supplying 90% of the world’s coke. The tale of the demise of its head, Pablo Escobar, was told in the TV series Narcos. Medellin was the world’s murder capital in the 1990s, with deaths peaking at 381 per 100,000 residents in 1991. (Tijuana in Mexico is today’s murder capital and has a mere 138 murders per 100,000 people. The worst US city is Jackson, Mississippi, with 99.5 per 100,000 folk.) Medellin is back in the news now for drug-related reasons on account of its northern s ..read more

A medicinal cannabis farm has been put up for sale in Tasmania. This is the first time a medicinal cannabis farm has gone on sale in Strylia. Medicinal cannabis is a burgeoning but niche agricultural sector. Cannabis is grown on this farm. Photo: Don Goofy What the farm is This medicinal cannabis farm is fully operational and also licensed. It covers 44.62 hectares and lies close to Cressy, near Launceston. This is Tazzy’s second-largest city after the capital, Hobart. For legal reasons, it isn’t possible to give the farm’s precise address. About the present owner The present owner of the fa ..read more

A man found himself packed off to jail for growing 136 cannabis plants in Bournemouth. The drug haul had an estimated value exceeding £100,000. 29-year-old Kosmas Lampros, who hails from Albania, made a guilty plea to the charge of producing cannabis. A postbox on Cleveland Road. Photo: bazzadarambler The tale unfolds… Police called at the address, a three-bedroom detached house on Cleveland Road, just before 2 am on 2 April 2021 with regards to another matter. Lampros answered the door but wouldn’t allow the officers to enter. He dashed to the back of the building and exited a kitchen windo ..read more

Dementia is loss of cognitive function – ie reasoning and remembering – to the degree that it affects a person’s daily life. There will be memory loss, confusion and problems with speech and understanding that gets progressively worse. It can be mild or so severe that the person is completely dependent on others. Dementia occurs most in old people. Photo: Meagan The principal cause of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease. Dementia can strike people at any age. It is, however, more common in eldsters. One in 14 over-65s and one in six people aged over 80 have it. But many people live into their 90 ..read more

A lawyer in Massachusetts professed his innocence after being charged with attempting to bribe a police chief in order to secure the opening of a cannabis shop. Sean O’Donovan is aged 54 and works in Somerville. This is a city with a population of 81,000 that lies two miles northwest of Boston. Sean O’Donovan stands accused of trying to bribe a police chief. Photo: Steven Depolo O’Donovan was supposedly operating on behalf of an unnamed client who sought to institute a cannabis dispensary, ie a cannabis shop, in the city of Medford. Medford is 6.7 miles northwest of Boston and has a populati ..read more

The US government doles out cash to farmers following natural disasters through the newly founded Department of Agriculture Emergency Relief Program. Previously, it went by the name of the Wildfire and Hurricane Indemnity Program. Natural disasters include drought, excessive heat or moisture, flooding, freezing, hurricanes, smoke exposure and winter storms. Even in the 37 states plus the District of Columbia where cannabis is legal at least for medical purposes, cannabis farms don’t get any dosh. This is because while a state might allow it, the federal government prohibits cannabis under the ..read more

In a Facebook post on June 7 2022, the Ukrainian Health Minister, Viktor Liashko, declared that his government had initiated draft law no 7457 that would legalise medical cannabis. The text of the bill can be seen on the Ukrainian parliament’s website. Health Minister Viktor Liashko, who announced the bill. Photo: Суспільне. Тернопіль The need for such a law, Liashko explained, was due to “the negative effects of [Russia’s invasion] on mental health.” The war began just over 100 days before. He added, “there is no time to wait.” Over two million people will benefit from this law Mykhailo Rad ..read more