In an 8-3 decision, the court ruled that adults would be able to apply for permits to cultivate and consume their own cannabis. Smoking in public and in front of children is banned.

The ruling does not mention the commercialisation of cannabis.

The decision came after a legalisation bill stalled in Congress.

“Today is a historic day for liberties,” Supreme Court president Arturo Zaldívar said.

Meanwhile in France..

In a recent months its “wellness” derivative, CBD, has become something of a green Eldorado. So where exactly is the line between therapeutic, medical and recreational use? France24 takes a closer look.

After Charlotte and her family recently fell sick with coughs, fevers, pains, and problems breathing, Charlotte was admitted to the hospital due to a seizure, where she was subsequently tested for the Covid-19 virus.  The test came back negative, but her mother Paige questions whether it was too late to yield a positive result.  As Charlotte seemed to improve, she was released from the hospital on Sunday, however, was readmitted Tuesday morning, where she died later that day.

For those familiar with the inspiring 13-year old, you know that the world has lost a gem and that her fight and her spirit has impacted the lives of thousands.  If you’re less familiar with this brave girl named Charlotte, here is her story.

Charlotte Figi was born on October 18^th, 2006 to parents Matt and Paige Figi.  At just three months old, she experienced her first seizure. Although seemingly mild at first, the episodes started to increase in frequency and severity, and she later was diagnosed with a rare form of epilepsy known as Dravet’s syndrome.  She suffered from seizures daily, sometimes experiencing up to 300 a week.  The seizures impacted both her speech and ability to move, putting her in a wheelchair at age five.  Charlotte was rushed to the ER and hospitalized countless times.  Some of those times, her condition was so dire, her family said their final goodbyes.  After trying everything from potent prescription drugs to different diets, to acupuncture, the family turned to medical cannabis to help their suffering daughter.

At that time, around 2012, most strains of marijuana were high in THC (psychoactive component) and low in CBD (therapeutic component).  After desperately searching, Paige came across the Stanley brothers in Colorado, who had been breeding a strain that contained the properties which could possibly help little Charlotte.

After extracting the CBD oil from the strain (later named Charlotte’s Web) and administering it to their daughter, Charlotte’s parents immediately saw improvement.  The seizures that had occurred almost 300 times per week decreased to just once every seven days. The then five-year-old Charlotte was able to live again finally.  She was now able to eat on her own (after being on a feeding tube for two years), talk, and walk.  After years of being stricken by severe Dravet’s syndrome, she began to develop into a healthy, normal child.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/9XHEoUeAD7s

Being the youngest person in Colorado ever to use medical cannabis, Charlotte’s case perpetuated the global fight for the legalization of medical marijuana.  She was living proof that marijuana wasn’t just a street drug for delinquents as it had been portrayed during Nixon’s “War on Drugs” campaign.  This little girl was showing the world, including doctors, researchers, and politicians, that marijuana could drastically improve and save lives.

Her success story was first highlighted in the 2013 CNN special by Dr. Sanjay Gupta, the chief medical correspondent, and neurosurgeon.  After witnessing first-hand the wonders marijuana could do for Charlotte and other sufferers of chronic conditions, Dr. Gupta changed his views.

“I mistakenly believed the Drug Enforcement Agency listed marijuana as a schedule 1 substance because of sound scientific proof. Surely, they must have quality reasoning as to why marijuana is in the category of the most dangerous drugs that have ‘no accepted medicinal use and a high potential for abuse.’

They didn’t have the science to support that claim, and I now know that when it comes to marijuana, neither of those things are true. It doesn’t have a high potential for abuse, and there are very legitimate medical applications…

We have been terribly and systematically misled for nearly 70 years in the United States, and I apologize for my own role in that.”

https://www.youtube.com/embed/JUCaBvF0_YM

By the end of 2013, only 20 U.S. states had legalized marijuana for medical use.  The same year, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it would not challenge state marijuana laws.  Two years later, the Federal Government removed obstacles to marijuana research.

Today, 33 states have legalized marijuana for medical use, including the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.  With this increased availability of medical cannabis to sufferers and the subsequent positive results, there has been a massive increase in research and interest in marijuana as a medicine.

Besides helping patients suffering from epilepsy, Crohn’s disease, and PTSD, further studies have found that marijuana is effective in the treatment of a plethora of other diseases, chronic conditions, and ailments.  It has been shown to relieve some of the symptoms of HIV/AIDs, cancer, glaucoma, and multiple sclerosis, to name a few.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/otetVXom4j4

Actor Michael J. Fox, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease, has been using medical marijuana to find relief from some of the disease’s symptoms.  His foundation for Parkinson’s research is supporting reclassification of the drug so that it can be thoroughly researched and funded for mass medical use, along with other foundations for epilepsy, Tourette’s syndrome, and other disorders.

Whoopi Goldberg, actor and medical marijuana advocate, has been using it to treat her glaucoma and is co-creator of “Whoopi & Maya,” a line of medicinal cannabis products designed to minimize menstrual discomfort.

TV personality Montel Williams uses medical marijuana in addition to traditional drugs to treat his multiple sclerosis, which causes severe chronic pain, fatigue, and impaired coordination.  Williams has said that marijuana has changed his life.

As we mourn the loss of Charlotte Figi, the sweet little girl who fought for her life and, in turn, became the catalyst for the fight for medical marijuana, we can say she truly did create Charlotte’s web.  Thanks to Charlotte, legislation has changed, research approved and funded, and many lives have changed.  Showing the world first hand the power of medical marijuana with her bravery and determination, she will never be forgotten.

Credit: Youtube, AP:Asscoiated Press, Photoshelter

The agricultural revolution is thirteen thousand years old, and the good news is that we’ve already started banking our grains. That’s right – far from any conflict areas, and deep in the Arctic Circle, is the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. It’s here that scientists are preserving the genetics of many species against global catastrophe – including cannabis.

Being just one thousand kilometers from the North Pole, it’s a location that scientists hope will be less affected by the effects of climate change and natural disasters.  As a further precaution, the seed vault is buried in the side of a mountain at an altitude where rising seas can’t reach, even if the entire world’s ice should melt.

The good news for cannabis consumers is that in addition to thousands of varieties of rice, spelt, and wheat, some of the underlying genetics of many prominent cannabis chemovars are also safely secured in the Arctic permafrost.

Preserving Cannabis Genetics

The searchable database on their site shows sixty separate deposits of cannabis seeds, each averaging several hundred each. The vault even includes seed deposits from North Korea—a country with a surprisingly long relationship with the hemp plant. Legalization is unlikely to be on the mind of Kim Jong-un. But still, his country deposited five hundred seeds of a Cannabis Sativa landrace cultivar into the seed bank.

While the Svalbard Global Seed Vault virtually assures the preservation of seeds in the event of an apocalypse, many other seed banks exist around the globe, where growers can purchase their favorite genetics. In such places, passionate breeders and sellers store the genetics of many thousands of cannabis cultivars in conditions suited to their long-term preservation. While these seed banks may not guarantee the survival of the genetics in the event of a cataclysm, they remain sealed from air, and devoid of exposure to heat, light, and humidity, to ensure that their ability to germinate remains intact for many years.

Why Should Consumers Care About Preserving Cannabis Genetics?

Many cannabis consumers shy away from ancient varieties of cannabis. Instead, they focus their energy on those modern cultivars high in THC and CBD. But the fact of the matter is that without the underlying genetics of ancient landrace varieties, none of the modern favorites would be possible.

Why Preserve Landrace Varieties of Cannabis?

Landrace varieties are those that evolved in the wild, sculpted by mother nature to meet the unique demands of the surrounding environment. They grow across much of the globe. They’re found anywhere from the sides of African mountains to the arid, rocky, soils across Central Asia.

Preserving them may well be the best thing that we can do to ensure the viability of the cannabis plant as medicine in the future. Additionally, landrace varieties represent the wild-gene-pool for breeding; and these genes are essential in the development of new cultivars of cannabis. Breeders can’t create copies of existing plants ad infinitum. At some point, creating a copy of a copy exacerbartes flaws. This causes disease, and eventually forces breeders to start over with clean genetics.

Preserving Future Medicinal Value

Years of prohibition mean that cannabis has never received the scientific study it warrants. Consequently, throughout the decades, breeders focused on high THC content, and almost nothing else. They gave little regard or understanding to the role played by minor plant compounds.

Experts argue that landrace genetics hold the key to exploiting many of these potential benefits. One example includes the above-average content of the cannabinoid THCV found in African landrace varieties.

Evidence suggests that THCV may help with appetite suppression, blood sugar regulation for type 2 diabetes, suppression of the symptoms of Alzheimer’s, and stimulation of bone growth. Further, a study published in Nutrition and Diabetes (2013) analyzed the role of THCV on blood sugar levels. Further, the researchers determined that THCV may be a potential treatment of the “obesity-associated glucose intolerance” endemic to much of Western society.

It’s these underlying genetics that help ensure more potent levels of such cannabinoids. Basically, without preserving landrace genetics, the risk of inadvertently losing such beneficial properties increases greatly.

The Ethical Debate Around Seed Vaults

Many landrace seeds come from those passionate souls who venture out into remote locations in far off corners of the globe to track them down. But upon finding a new landrace variety, they often practice something known as seed swapping. Basically, this is where the seed hunters provide native farmers with samples of their seeds – in return for the landrace seeds.

An ethical debate quickly arises out of this transaction. Although it may be an even trade for the locals, the introduction of these new varieties into remote landrace cultivation “muddies the waters” so to speak. The cross pollination that inevitably results can alter the local landraces forever. Not only that – it’s also almost impossible to know which once pure genetics are now tainted by the manipulated varieties.

Accordingly, this fact alone should serve to highlight the need for secure storage of all landrace genetics.

As these founding genetics become more diluted by the alchemy of a globalized society, the act of preserving cannabis genetics becomes markedly more important. It ensures we can hit the reset button should the need arise.

Chang La Seed Vault – India’s Doomsday Vault

Little wonder that the Svalbard Vault is referred to as the world’s doomsday vault. Interestingly, few people know that India too has its own doomsday vault and that its located in the snowy heights of the Himalayas.

Built jointly by the Defence Institute of High Altitude Research (DIHAR) and the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR) in 2010 under the aegis of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), this permafrost seed bank is the second largest in the world.

It stores over 5,000 seed accessions (one accession consists of a set of seeds of a particular species collected from different geographical and demographic locations). These seeds — apricots, cabbage, carrots, potatoes, radish, tomatoes, barley, rice wheat, etc — have been prioritised for qualities such yield or resistance to temperature, pests or humidity.

Interestingly, the idea for a high altitude seed vault in Ladakh emerged after a mysterious locust invasion devastated the barley crop in the region!

As for why Chang La, the high-altitude mountain pass remains shrouded in snow for about nine months a year and there is little chance of ice-melt damaging the vault. The fact that its well above the sea level and tectonically stable ensures that its protected from ocean flooding, even in the worst case scenarios.

Presently, the only other facility in India for long-term storage of seeds is the one set up by Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) New Delhi but it generates an enormous electricity bill thanks to the energy demands of cryopreservation.

Furthermore, there is no village within a periphery of 30 km from the pass, thanks to low oxygen and bone-chilling temperatures in the winters. However, the Leh airport lies 75 km away. Thus, it is a remote location that is nevertheless accessible to both Indian scientist and the armed forces.

Interestingly, the Chang La seed vault’s sealed ‘black box’ design prevents disputes over intellectual property rights. According to this arrangement, the vault does not claim ownership over the deposited samples. Thus, the ownership remains with the depositor, who has the sole right of access to the respective samples in the seed vault.

With the aim of rivalling the Svalbard Seed Vault, India has made storing of viable seeds at Chang La free of cost for all government departments and research organisations. It also plans to open the facility to the international scientific community but for that, it will have to install a high-tech cooling system for 15-20 days when the temperature at the mountain pass peaks to -4 degrees.

So, even though the legalisation of marijuana is crawling at a snail’s pace, you can be assured of its survival in the future.