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   The Top 10 Cannabis Stories of 2017: Canada & Jeff Sessions Lead the List   
   BRUCE BARCOTT   
   December 22, 2017   
      
   #1 in 2017: Justin Trudeau's government charges ahead to open Canada's   
   legal adult-use cannabis industry in summer 2018.   
   It would have been tough to top 2016—the year four states legalized   
   adult-use cannabis—in terms of inspirational cannabis stories. But don’t   
   poor-mouth 2017. Sure, we went through some tough times. Jeff Sessions   
   had nary a good word to say about legalization. The California wildfires   
   hit some in the cannabis industry especially hard. But there was plenty   
   of good news to spread around, too.   
   Canada moved on its promise to legalize cannabis nationwide. Adult-use   
   cannabis stores opened in Las Vegas. Orrin Hatch hopped on the medical   
   cannabis bandwagon. It was hard to winnow the list to ten, and   
   especially hard to choose between Jeff Sessions and Canadian legalization.   
      
   After many late-night debates among our editors, we finally reached   
   consensus. In the end, what Canada did to push progress on national and   
   global legalization will mean far more than what Jeff Sessions did not   
   do to undermine it in the United States. Here are Leafly’s ten most   
   important cannabis stories of 2017.   
      
   1. Canada Steams Toward Legalization   
   While Jeff Sessions and other federal officials in the US spat venom at   
   state legalization, Canada’s prime minister, Parliament, and provincial   
   governments all moved to end prohibition in 2018. Make no mistake:   
   Legalization isn’t a theory in the True North, it’s really happening   
   (and will open next summer). Provinces are crafting rules to regulate   
   legal cannabis—and some, like Ontario, are actually going to open   
   province-run cannabis stores. Meanwhile, leading Canadian LPs (licensed   
   medical cannabis producers) expanded their global reach by exporting   
   product to Germany, Croatia, New Zealand, Australia, Brazil, Chile, and   
   Portugal.   
      
   Just this week, Mexico announced that it will allow infused medical   
   cannabis products to be imported in 2018. Most likely source for those   
   imports? Canada. (Of course, Canadian licensed producers famously cannot   
   manufacture edibles. Yet. But edibles are coming, and the Mexican market   
   might speed up their introduction.) By embracing regulated legalization,   
   Canada is sprinting ahead to become the clear leader in the global   
   cannabis industry.   
      
      
   RELATED STORY   
   Indigenous Cannabis: Revitalizing First-Nation Economies Through   
   Legalization   
      
   2. Nevada Adult Use Era Opens   
   Long lines of happy customers turned out for the midnight opening of   
   Nevada’s first adult-use retail stores on July 1. At Las Vegas stores   
   like Essence, Reef, Jardin, Oasis, Acres, and The Apothecary, locals   
   buzzed inside and outside the stores, celebrating the state’s newfound   
   freedom. State Sen. Tick Segerblom, the political godfather of the   
   state’s legalization movement, made the ceremonial first purchase at The   
   Reef just after midnight. “When I was doing this back in the 60s, it   
   didn’t look like this,” Segerblom said. “No seeds, no stems, no sticks.   
   This is pure bud.”   
      
   RELATED STORY   
   Las Vegas Live: Adult-Use Cannabis Debuts in Nevada   
      
   3. Jeff Sessions Barks but Doesn’t Bite   
   We learned two things about US Attorney General Jeff Sessions in 2017:   
   He really, really hates cannabis. And he isn’t quite sure what he can do   
   about it.   
      
   So he spent most of the year making snarky comments about state   
   legalization, sending threatening letters to governors of legal states,   
   and pressing members of Congress to end the Rohrabacher–Blumenauer   
   medical marijuana protections.   
      
   It got so bad that former US Attorney General Eric Holder commented on   
   Sessions’s “almost obsession” with cannabis, noting that it’s put the   
   Justice Department in a “strange place,” with Sessions decrying   
   legalization while the DOJ maintains its Cole memo policy that allows   
   states to police legal regulation. By year’s end, the Cole memo remained   
   in place and the DEA had not initiated any crackdown on legal states.   
   Let’s hope the all-bark-no-bite policy continues in 2018.   
      
   RELATED STORY   
   The Haymaker: Sending Sessions Back to the Senate Could Boost Legalization   
      
   4. Germany, Mexico Legalize Medical Cannabis   
   This didn’t get a lot of play in the United States, but the opening of   
   Germany’s medical cannabis market had a profound effect on the global   
   industry and legalization movement. This is a nation of 82 million   
   people—twice the size of California—with legislation that requires   
   health insurers to cover medical cannabis used with a doctor’s   
   prescription. That’s a profoundly important step, and one that’s likely   
   to set a precedent for other EU nations to follow.   
      
   Mexico’s MMJ legalization happened with so little warning that it caught   
   many by surprise. On June 19, 2017, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto   
   legalized medical cannabis by decree, with overwhelming support from the   
   nation’s lower house of Congress. In 2015, Mexico’s Supreme Court issued   
   a ruling that legalized the use of medical cannabis for four plaintiffs   
   in a specific case—but the ruling clearly had implications for the   
   country as a whole. Peña Nieto, who had previously opposed cannabis   
   legalization, followed up with word and deed. In April, he told the   
   United Nations that “we must move beyond prohibition to effective   
   prevention,” and in June he acted to do just that.   
      
      
   RELATED STORY   
   Toronto-to-Tijuana Supply Chain? Mexico to Allow Imported MMJ Edibles in   
   2018   
      
   5. California & Massachusetts Prep for 2018   
   First movers have certain advantages, but second movers don’t have to   
   repeat their mistakes. That may be the lesson here. After voters   
   legalized in November 2012, Colorado and Washington crafted strict and   
   imperfect regulations. Some rules worked, others didn’t. California and   
   Massachusetts seemed to learn from those experiences, working with   
   industry stakeholders to craft commonsense regulations (though not   
   without some controversy). California’s massive retail market expects to   
   open Jan. 1, with Massachusetts following in the summer of 2018.   
      
   RELATED STORY   
   California’s Limit on Big Growers Just Vanished. Here’s Why   
      
   6. Cannabis Emerges as Opioid Alternative   
   A year ago, most mainstream leaders scoffed at the idea that cannabis   
   could play a critical healing role in America’s opioid crisis. By the   
   end of 2017, those same people were taking the idea very seriously. This   
   year we saw more medical studies pointing to the role cannabis can play   
   in helping chronic pain patients avoid opioids, limit their use, and/or   
      
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