• Canada’s biggest licensed weed producer is losing money

    Weed investors seem to be treading cautiously of late, aware they are on unchartered territory
    Vice (US)
    Tuesday, June 27, 2017

    Bruce LintonCanada’s largest licensed cannabis producer seems to have no problem driving in sales, but it is still struggling to get to profit territory. Canopy Growth Corporation (listed as WEED on the Toronto Stock Exchange), saw its revenue grow by almost 200 percent to $14.7 million in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year, fueled primarily by a surge in its patient base due to the acquisition of another licensed weed producer, Mettrum Health Corporation. However, the company’s losses continue to grow. In 2016, Canopy posted a loss of $3.5 million — since January 2017, the company has already lost almost $17 million. Canopy’s stock has dropped 20 percent since mid-April when the Liberal government announced weed would be legal in Canada come July 2018.

  • Health Canada approves supervised consumption of oral and intra-nasal substances at two Surrey sites

    While the main concern is saving lives, supervised consumption sites are also a gateway to treat opioid addiction
    The Vancouver Sun (Canada)
    Tuesday, June 27, 2017

    Health Canada approved Fraser Health’s request to provide supervised consumption of oral and intra-nasal substances — the first time such an exemption has been granted in Canada. Two other supervised consumption sites that have existed in Vancouver for years, along with those that have recently been allowed to open in the city and elsewhere in Canada, still only allow drug use by injection. Harm reduction advocates in Surrey say federal approval allowing drug users to use orally and nasally — and not just by injection — at two supervised consumption sites is long overdue and will save lives.

  • Bremen will Cannabis ohne Rezept

    Das Thema soll in der Bundesratssitzung am 7. Juli diskutiert werden
    Weser Kurier (Germany)
    Montag, 26. Juni 2017

    Die Länder Bremen und Thüringen haben im Bundesrat einen Antrag zu einem liberaleren Umgang mit Cannabis eingereicht. Darin wird die Bundesregierung aufgefordert, eine Änderung des Betäubungsmittelgesetzes einzuleiten, um eine Rechtsgrundlage für wissenschaftlich begleitete Modellprojekte zu schaffen. Dabei sollen Erwachsene Gebrauchsmengen von Cannabis erhalten können. Den Weg über die Länderkammer halten Senat und Parlament für unumgänglich. Denn das Bundesinstitut für Arzneimittel und Medizinprodukte, das dem CDU-geführten Bundesgesundheitsministerium unterstellt ist, blockiert bislang solche Cannabis-Modellprojekte. (Mehr dazu: Cannabis-Antrag ohne Aussicht auf Erfolg | Berliner Senat unterstützt Cannabis-Modellversuche)

  • Un collectif s'attaque aux excès de la politique antidrogue

    Baptisé Themis, un groupe qui rassemble juristes, magistrats, policiers, chercheurs et citoyens, entend peser sur le débat dans les prochains mois
    Libération (France)
    23 juin 2017

    france saisie droguesLa société française est-elle enfin mûre pour débattre des politiques publiques en matière de drogues ? Convaincu que le renouvellement d’une partie de la classe politique va créer un appel d’air sans précédent, un mouvement inédit se structure pour en finir avec le statu quo et bousculer les nouveaux députés sur le sujet. Rassemblant juristes, policiers, magistrats, universitaires, citoyens et associations de tout bord, le groupe Thémis part d’un constat simple : la politique antidrogue menée depuis près d’un demi-siècle est un échec total. Considérée comme le pays d’Europe où la consommation de cannabis est la plus élevée, la France est aussi celui où la politique pénale est la plus répressive.

  • Illegal drug market is booming, says UN watchdog

    Report says production of heroin and cocaine is increasing as campaigners call for better measures to tackle cartels
    The Guardian (UK)
    Thursday, June 22, 2017

    The world’s illicit drug economy is “thriving” owing to large increases in the production of heroin and cocaine and a wider spectrum of synthetic substances on the market, the UN’s drugs watchdog said. Global seizures of amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) – which include methamphetamine, amphetamine and MDMA – reached a five-year high of 191 tonnes in 2015, according to a report from the UN office on drugs and crime based on the latest figures available. The report says: “Overall, drug trafficking seems to have increased slightly in 2015 and some drug markets, particularly the cocaine and synthetic drugs markets, appear to be thriving.”

  • Albania grapples with cannabis, a hurdle to EU accession

    Smaller producers are being punished by the crackdown
    AFP (France)
    Wednesday, June 21, 2017

    As Albania gears up for elections, one huge challenge facing the Balkan country has been low on the campaign agendas: the scourge of its cannabis fields, which threatens to hinder EU accession. Mountainous Albania is the main supplier of herbal cannabis trafficked to the European Union, says the bloc’s law enforcement agency, Europol. Despite Albania’s attempts to crack down on the illicit but lucrative trade, recent international reports said the scourge is yet to be brought under control – and that the criminal gangs behind it are escaping justice. (See also: Riding along with Albania's pot police | Albanian police go airborne for anti-cannabis offensive)

  • Mexico legalises medical marijuana

    The bill passed with overwhelming support in the Senate and Lower House of Congress
    The Independent (UK)
    Wednesday, June 21, 2017

    Medicinal cannabis has been made legal in Mexico. The President, Enrique Pena Nieto, has officially published a bill allowing its use for health and scientific purposes. The bill was passed in April, with an overwhelming 371 members of the Lower House of Congress voting in favour, with only 19 politicians voting against or abstaining. The law authorises the Ministry of Health to create new regulations for medical marijuana use, as well as "how to regulate the research and national production of them." It also establishes that industrial products with concentrations of one percent THC or less would be legal to buy, sell, import and export.

  • Montreal opens first mobile supervised injection clinic in North America

    First site will operate beside a two-booth mobile unit will offer a medically supervised space and sterile equipment for people who use drugs intravenously
    The Guardian (UK)
    Monday, June 19, 2017

    canada mobile dcr montrealMontreal has launched the first mobile supervised injection clinic in North America, as part of a package of services aimed at fighting back against an opioid crisis that has claimed thousands of lives across Canada. After years of lobbying by community organisations – the city opened its first safe injection site, alongside a two-booth mobile unit that will make its way through the downtown core. The services, which offer a medically supervised space and sterile equipment for people who use drugs intravenously, are Canada’s first such facilities outside of British Columbia. (See also: Canada eases steps to open supervised drug injection sites amid opioid crisis)

  • PH jail congestion rate soars to over 500% amid drug war

    Philippine jails have a total holding capacity of only 20,746, but now accommodate 126,946 inmates
    Rappler (Philippines)
    Friday, June 16, 2017

    The Philippines' cramped jails had to accommodate more inmates in 2016 amid the government's crackdown on drugs as well as other issues, resulting in an overall 511.9% congestion rate, according to the Commission on Audit (COA). "The jail populations for the year increased in various months attributed to the increase in the number of drug-related cases in the country as well as the court's slow or no action on the pending cases due to lack of judges, postponement of hearings, and the slow disposition of criminal cases," COA said. (See also: Dispatches: Philippines’ ‘war on drugs’ worsens jail miseries)

  • A 1930s California story shows why the war on drugs is a failure

    Policies based on punishment and stigma will only make our drug problems spiral
    Los Angeles Times (US)
    Friday, June 16, 2017

    For one bright and flickering moment last year, it looked like the global war on drugs was about to die. California – the sixth largest economy in the world – voted to fully legalize cannabis, while a smorgasbord of countries including Uruguay, Canada and Jamaica were also moving toward more sensible policies. But the drug war is suddenly back with even sharper claws. Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions is reviving the worst of the old policies that led to mass incarceration. To understand the likely consequences of this grim renaissance, we could wheel out the familiar arguments that have been around for decades now – but, buried in the forgotten history of California, there is a story that explains the situation better than any abstract case.

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