• Réglementer le cannabis: le débat pointe son nez à Genève

    Une expérience pilote de distribution se prépare, soutenue par Mauro Poggia, chef de la Santé
    Tribune de Génève (Suisse)
    Mardi, 31 octobre 2017

    La politique répressive contre le cannabis va-t-elle opérer un tournant? Genève sera-t-il prêt à changer sa pratique? Ce n’est pas exclu. Dans une interview accordée à la Tribune de Genève et consacrée au deal de rue, le procureur général Olivier Jornot a ouvert une brèche. Il a déclaré: «Dans le domaine des produits de type cannabique, la prévalence est telle que la réflexion sur un allégement de la prohibition a tout son sens.» Une expérience pilote pourrait en effet être lancée ces prochains mois à Genève. Son contenu est pour l’heure gardé secret. On sait toutefois qu’elle s’inspire des propositions faites par un groupe de travail interpartis à Genève, qui a travaillé de 2012 à 2014.

  • Melbourne heroin injecting room trial gets green light

    Residents and shopkeepers in North Richmond have been calling all year for such a facility
    The Age (Australia)
    Monday, October 30, 2017

    The Andrews government has approved a trial run of a safe injecting room for heroin addicts. Key upper house MP James Purcell confirmed that his vital vote would go with legislation to enable a state-sanctioned injecting room in the inner-city neighbourhood of Richmond, where dozens of lives have been lost to heroin overdoses in recent years. If established, the injecting room would be the first in Victoria, and only the second in Australia, after NSW established one in Kings Cross in 2001. It's believed the trial would run for at least two years, followed by a review.

  • Alcohol goliath pours $190M into Canadian cannabis company

    The terms of the deal include an option for Constellation to increase its future ownership interest in Canopy to nearly 20 percent
    The Cannabist (US)
    Monday, October 30, 2017

    Constellation Brands, the alcohol goliath, is putting its money toward another emerging sector — cannabis-based beverages. The company plans to spend C$245 million ($190.88 million USD) to acquire a 9.9 percent stake in Canopy Growth Corp., the companies announced Monday. Canopy, itself a giant in the emerging Canadian and international cannabis markets, produces and sells marijuana through its brands such as Tweed. The Wall Street Journal first reported about the investment. Constellation will provide support in areas such as consumer analytics, marketing and brand development, Canopy officials said, adding that the companies will collaborate in developing cannabis-based beverages for adults in areas where marijuana is federally legal. (See also: Cannabis may be replaced by beer's best ingredient for pain therapy)

  • Heroin is driving a sinister trend in Afghanistan

    As opium production has grown, the Taliban has assumed a bigger role in it, deriving much of its income from the drug trade
    Business Insider
    Monday, October 30, 2017

    Afghanistan has long been one of the world's biggest producers of opium and the Taliban has made a lucrative business from taxing and providing security to producers and smugglers in the region. The militant group has expanded its role in that drug trade considerably, boosting its profits at a time when it is making decisive gains against the Afghan government and its US backers. The Taliban has gotten involved in every stage of the drug business. Afghan police and their US advisers find heroin-refining labs with increasingly frequency, but the labs are easy to replace. Rather than getting smuggled out of Afghanistan in the form of opium syrup, at least half of the crop is getting processed domestically, before leaving the country as morphine or heroin.

  • High taxes on legal pot in California could mean black market will thrive

    California could end up being one of the highest taxing states in the country if proposals stand
    Los Angeles Times (US)
    Monday, October 30, 2017

    State and local taxes on marijuana could surpass 45% in some parts of California, jeopardizing efforts to bring all growers and sellers into a state-licensed market in January, according to the credit ratings firm Fitch Ratings. “High tax rates raise prices in legal markets, reinforcing the price advantage of black markets,” the firm said in a report. “California’s black markets for cannabis were well established long before its voters legalized cannabis in November 2016 and are expected to dominate post-legalization production.” Increased enforcement may blunt the illegal market, “but high taxes may complicate such efforts by diverting in-state sales to the black market." (See also: With 9 weeks to go, California’s cities not positioned to start recreational marijuana sales)

  • Überprüfung der Drogengesetze wird gefordert

    Nach Angaben der DHS werden jährlich 170 000 Strafverfahren wegen Cannabiskonsums geführt
    Süddeutsche Zeitung (Germany)
    Samstag, 28. Oktober 2017

    Strafrechtler und die Deutsche Hauptstelle für Suchtfragen (DHS) fordern von den Bundestagsfraktionen die Einsetzung einer Enquete-Kommission Cannabis. 23 Jahre nach der Aufforderung des Bundesverfassungsgerichts, sich mit dem Thema zu befassen, sei nichts geschehen, sagte der Strafrechtler Prof. Lorenz Böllinger. Im Bundestag müsse überprüft werden, ob die Betäubungsmittelgesetze aus den siebziger Jahren noch zeitgemäß seien. "Es geht hier um die höchstgradige potenzielle Einschränkung von Bürgerrechten durch die Androhung von Freiheitsstrafen." Das sei verfassungswidrig, sagt Böllinger. (Mehr dazu: Jamaika-Koalition könnte Cannabis legalisieren | Kiffen erlaubt?)

  • Colombian farmers keep growing coca despite government crackdown and U.S. pressure

    The Colombian government seems to be responding to pressure from Washington
    The Miami Herald (US)
    Friday, October 27, 2017

    According to the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, Colombia’s overall coca crop grew by a staggering 52 percent last year, to 345,000 acres, an area ten times the size of Miami. The military and police are trying to crack down, sending teams to rip the plants out of the ground. Many farmers are resisting, taking to the streets this week in several areas of rural Colombia, claiming they aren’t being offered any other feasible ways to make a living. They say the forced-eradication programs, which receive U.S. support, are leading to deadly clashes in the countryside, as farmers struggle to protect their crops.

  • Record-high support for legalizing marijuana use in U.S.

    Majority of Republicans now support legalizing marijuana
    Gallup (US)
    Wednesday, October 25, 2017

    Americans continue to warm to legalizing marijuana, with 64% now saying its use should be made legal. This is the highest level of public support Gallup has found for the proposal in nearly a half-century of measurement. Democrats and independents have historically been much more likely than Republicans to say marijuana should be legalized. In 2009, Democrats were the first partisan group to see majority support for legalization, followed by independents in 2010. This year for the first time, a majority of Republicans express support for legalizing marijuana; the current 51% is up nine percentage points from last year.

  • Belize gives nod to amend legislation regarding marijuana use

    Opposition Leader John Briceño said his difficulty with the current legislation is that it stops at decriminalisation
    Jamaica Observer (Jamaica)
    Saturday, October 21, 2017

    The Belize Parliament has given the green light to the amendment of the Misuse of Drugs Act with bipartisan support. The Dean Barrow government had in August piloted the amendment to the legislation that also provides for monetary and non-recordable penalties for possession on school premises and in specified circumstances make smoking on private premises no longer an offence. The Bill had been referred to the Health and Human Development Committee of the House and Prime Minister Barrow said then it was just the beginning.

  • Killings won't solve drug problem, ex-Thai PM Abhisit says

    Former Thai prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva reflects on Thailand's own war on drugs, which was similar to President Rodrigo Duterte's anti-drug campaign
    Rappler (Philippines)
    Saturday, October 21, 2017

    Recounting the experience of Thailand, former Thai prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said killing addicts can never solve the drug problem, as long as there is a demand for illegal substances. Thaksin's war on drugs was similar to Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's anti-drug campaign. The drug war in Thailand, for one, led to at least 2,800 drug-related deaths. An investigation showed that more than half of the casualties had no dealings with drugs. Abhisit explained that when Thailand launched its drug war, "it was because people became impatient with the drug problem." "But when they engaged in extrajudicial killings and abuses of rights, this became more and more of a concern," he said.

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