New York Medical Cannabis Program Expansion Reaches Historic Milestone
A turning point was reached in New York’s medicinal cannabis program from November 21-25, 2025, with the Office of Cannabis Management announcing a significant increase allowing patients to buy enough medication for up to 60 days, compared with the previous limit of 15 days.
“The shift, which is a result of reforms undertaken within the State’s ‘Compassionate Care Act of 2014,’ will thus serve to ease the economic as well as logistical strain that is incurred by the estimated ‘200,000 New Yorkers’ who participate within its medical program.
Many of such patients were required to visit two dispensaries every month, which involved transportation costs as well as lost working hours.”
This increase goes hand-in-hand with the opening of new dispensaries throughout the Southern Tier and North Country areas, where patients would often have to travel over 100 miles for their medication. State regulators further eased the process of obtaining certification for healthcare professionals, enabling nurse practitioners and physician assistants to recommend use of cannabis without any additional education.
This fills a pressing gap in care within regions that lack sufficient doctors. According to the Office of Cannabis Management, the sales of products in the medical market in the year 2025 were up 23% year-over-year, partly due to conversions from the adult-use side, where more potent products were sought with fewer taxes.
Industry insiders praised the reforms, although they did point out that New York still retains some of the most stringent regulations in the country with regards to medicinal cannabis. New York is one of the few states that do not allow medicinal patients to grow their own marijuana.
This increase in the 60-day supply represents a compromise: giving patients some relief without completely liberalizing the program. Specialized products, such as high CBD remedies, that were not found in adult-use stores, can now be found in dispensaries.
“It will mean fewer monthly visits for me, as well as savings in transportation costs”
Maria Chen, a Westchester County citizen with fibromyalgia, explained. “Now I can schedule taking my medication like any other prescription,” she told a group of reporters.
With the evolution of the dual medical and recreational markets in New York, the November changes indicate the state’s ongoing support for medical use, despite recreational use dominating the news.
Source: NY.gov
Hurricane Melissa Devastates Licensed Cannabis Farms in Jamaica
August, with its strong hurricane intensity, passed through Jamaica’s north coast on November 17, 2025, with cannabis manufacturers licenced to cultivate cannabis in Jamaica left evaluating millions of damages.
Among those that were affected is Errol Whyte, whose Mellow Bud Ganja Farms, situated in Claremont, St. Ann, lost one entire acre of grown cannabis, taking five years of rigorous growing, as well as meeting the island’s complicated requirements for licencing. Being Category 3, the strong gusts of wind of up to 120 mph tore down greenhouses as well as flood agricultural farms in the county, home to most, if not all, of Jamaica’s licenced cannabis farms, numbering a total of 166.
Whyte’s losses highlight the tenuous nature of the legitimate cannabis industry in Jamaica.
With the passage of the decriminalization law in 2015, individuals were now permitted to possess up to two ounces, as well as permit the use of medicinal cannabis as well as ‘Rastafarian sacrament.’ However, this law did little to ease the obstacle that prevented the industry from competing with the renowned legacy growers of Jamaica.
Licensed growers pay high fees, adhere to regulations, meet quality requirements, and still operate alongside unregulated traditional producers, who, for years, have been cultivating such varieties as Lamb’s Bread and Jamaican Pearl.
Climate change is now adding its own destructive dimension. Whyte’s call for urgent assistance for storm-stricken farmers from the CLA, as well as the government, includes grants, low-interest loans, and ease of licensing terms.
Ironically, this hurricane may offer opportunities for Jamaica’s less-affected agricultural areas in the north and East. Whyte highlighted that CLA’s fast action would allow agricultural producers in Portland and St. Mary, which were least affected by hurricane Melissa, to increase output.
“We have the land, we have the expertise, and we have the passion. What we need is the support from the CLA and the government to recover and grow,” Whyte told the Jamaica Observer.
“The storm highlighted that there are inherent tensions within the Jamaican cannabis policy, such as whether a controlled, taxed industry can co-exist with the historical roots of ganja culture in Jamaica?”
Do licensed farmers have a hope of sustaining their industry amidst the forces of the marketplace as well as the disasters that come with the climate that they operate within?
With the positioning of Jamaica as one of the cannabis leaders in the Caribbean, the impact of Hurricane Melissa will show whether Jamaica will stand with its licensed farmers or if the industry will revert to being the informal industry that Jamaican cannabis was for many decades.
Source: jamaicaobserver.com
Lucerne City Council Backs National Cannabis Legalization
On November 10, 2025, Lucerne’s City Council joined the list of Swiss municipalities showing their support for the proposed national legalization framework for recreational cannabis use, further fueling Switzerland’s gradual move towards being the next European country with a legalized market.
In a statement, the council announced: “The introduction of regulations on cannabis use and the cannabis market is positively welcomed by the city council.”
This was announced as the list was released midway through a public consultation that was launched in September 2025, running until December 1, as Switzerland’s commission for Social Security and Health Costa was engaging the people of Switzerland’s 26 cantons.
“The proposal, which gained preliminary approval from the National Council’s Social Security and Public Health Committee with a 14-9 majority in February of this year, would permit adults in Switzerland to grow up to three cannabis plants within their homes, possess up to 75 grams within their homes, as well as form member-based cultivation clubs, as in the Spanish cannabis clubs system.”
Lucerne’s endorsement is important as it signals that a conservative canton is supporting progressive policy, which would indicate that cannabis legalization is not isolated within liberal cities within Switzerland anymore.
Several Swiss cities, such as Basel, Zurich, and Geneva, have been conducting pilot studies since 2023, providing controlled cannabis for participants, allowing valuable insights into consumption, public health effects, and regulations.
Switzerland’s policy was in keeping with its signature methodical approach to policy-making, which involves pilot projects, lengthy consultation periods, federalist flexibility that permits the cantons to adapt national frameworks to better suit their own preferences, and so forth.
Although the country is not a member of the EU, it is a member of the Schengen Area, so its cannabis laws will be under observation by other member states. Among the member states, Malta, Luxembourg, Germany, and the Czech Republic (from Jan. 1, 2026) have already enacted recreational use legalization.
Switzerland’s proposal strikes a nice balance between the individual’s right to freedom, home cultivation, and private use, as well as State regulation of drug distribution.
Lucerne’s November endorsement brings additional credibility as the consultation deadline nears. If Switzerland goes forward with legalization, they would join a handful of jurisdictions that buck decades of traditional drug policy in favor of a regulated, recreational industry.
The consultation will close on December 1, 2025, after which the Commission will collate the feedback received and draw up the proposal before sending final legislation to Parliament.
Source: internationalcbc.com
New Zealand Drug-Driving Laws Spark Medicinal Cannabis Concern
Patients with medicinal cannabis in New Zealand appear set for a clouded future. On November 27, 2025, Dr. Waseem Alzaher, founder of ‘The Cannabis Clinic,’ warned that the impending introduction of roadside drug testing by the police may impact as many as 130,000 medicinal cannabis users.
Currently, the law will give the police powers to administer random roadside saliva testing for THC, Meth, MDMA, and cocaine, with the pilot project being launched in December 2025 in Wellington before going national in 2026.
The Problem: THC remains detectable in saliva for up to three days, although patients will not be mentally or physically impaired, so patients taking this drug as lawfully requires a 12-hour ban on driving, fines, as well as appeals for fines imposed unfairly.
“Dr. Alzaher’s practice alone has recommended cannabis use to 60,000 New Zealanders, who will now face punitive measures for merely ‘doing the right thing’ through proper channels.”
Unlike other nations such as Canada, Germany, or the Netherlands, which use saliva screening along with field testing for impairment, New Zealand’s policy merely focuses on detecting the presence of THC, as opposed to the driver’s impairment.
This binary testing approach will neither detect the difference between a person who consumed cannabis three days ago, but is now totally sober, versus a drug-abused person. This was supported by the NZ Drug Foundation, which pointed out the inequity in prosecuting law-abiding patients for adhering to their dosing schedules.
It’s more than cannabis that is being debated. Bio-science senior lecturer, Dr. Catherine Crofts, expressed worries concerning users of ADHD drugs that incorporate Amphetamines such as dexamphetamine or lisdexamfetamine, drugs that half of the New Zealanders with ADHD use, which would also give a positive roadside result.
Approximately 400,000 New Zealanders use cannabis illicitly, further clouding the issues of enforcement. “The policy is a scattergun approach that may net legitimate patients, but may well miss the real drug-driver offenders who know how not to be detected,” explained Mark Williams, a crash researcher Down Under.
This controversy reflects the increasing discrepancy between greater use of medicinal marijuana and measures being adopted for improved roadside drug testing.
New Zealand’s legalization of medicinal cannabis prescribing represents one of the more liberal programs within Oceania, though the new legislation on drug driving seems inadequate in addressing differentiation between medicinal users and recreational users.
But for thousands of Kiwis with conditions such as chronic pain, epilepsy, anxiety, PTSD, or other qualifying conditions who use cannabis as medication, this message seems downright contradictory.
Source: rnz.co.nz
Seven Years of Legalization Delivers Canada a $5.4 Billion Tax Windfall
On November 24, 2025, statistics were released showing that legalization has truly been an economic stimulus, proving that legalization activists were right in their predictions that taxes would replace the profits of crime.
Since legalization in October of 2018, more than $5.4 billion in cannabis excise duties has been collected through August of 2025.
Analysis of the data shows that the provinces and territories collected the bulk, $4.2 billion, which was 75% of every dollar collected, with the federal government taking home $1.2 billion. Ontario led, followed by other provinces, with Alberta, Quebec, and British Columbia taking home $2.08 billion, $836.8 million, $633.3 million, and $478.8 million, respectively. Currently, Manitoba is the only province that collects through a different system that is federally run.
The information, presented in a table in the House of Commons, in response to a question from Conservative MP Luc Berthold on October 7, provides the most detailed insight yet into the collaborative system of taxation of cannabis in Canada.
With the agreement that has been reached with every participating province and territory, the Canada Revenue Agency collects both federal and provincial excise duties on a wholesale basis, with three-fourths going to the provinces where the cannabis product is sold.
Thus, the model has shown remarkable robustness, with revenue streams that provinces use for healthcare, education, drug prevention, as well as other sources of revenue.
Apart from revenue collection, Health Canada has invested close to $21.6 million into public education campaigning on issues such as prevention, mental health, advice on “choosing legal” over harmful sources, and most importantly, warnings on the prevention of cannabis poisoning of children.
Financially, the aftermath of legalization defies predictions of social mayhem that would see legalization normalize youth drug use. Rather, in the seven years that legalized cannabis regulation in Canada, the normalization of adult cannabis sales, along with public revenue, has been achieved.
Even the Ontario collection of $2 billion illustrates that the populous provinces reap the most benefit from the cooperative system of taxation, with smaller provinces such as British Columbia collecting hundreds of millions for their own purposes, such as mental health care.
Excise duties rates, independent of other sales taxes that change from province to province, guarantee that revenue distribution remains uniform despite different pricing structures.
At this juncture, the report that emerged in November 2025 occurs within the backdrop that Canada is further honing its regulatory policy. Although controversy still surrounds issues such as the regulation of drunk driving, the regulation of packaging, as well as concentration in the industry for large license holders, the tax revenue figures provide positive proof that legalization has fulfilled a basic promise.
Source: stratcann.com