• California next for pot proponents emboldened by election victories

    Activists also hope to bring legal pot to Massachusetts, Maine and other states
    The Seattle Times (US)
    Wednesday, November 5, 2014

    Marijuana advocates, fresh off victories for legal recreational pot in Oregon, Alaska and the nation’s capital, are already preparing for their next target, and it’s a big one: California. They are aiming to ask voters in the nation’s largest state to legalize marijuana for recreational use in 2016, hoping to draw on a more liberal and larger electorate during a presidential election to help them avoid a repeat of their 2010 failed pot measure. The 2014 ballots were considered by many to be the first real test of marijuana reform’s popularity since Washington state and Colorado passed the first legal pot laws in 2012. (See also: Marijuana legalization wave will hit California in 733 days, supporters say)

  • Oregon and Alaska vote to legalise recreational marijuana use

    Supporters hail result as boost to campaigns in other states from California to Massachusetts
    The Guardian (UK)
    Wednesday, November 5, 2014

    TheGuardianOregon and Alaska have become the latest US states to legalise recreational marijuana in ballots hailed by supporters as evidence that a national change of policy is underway. Voters in both states approved laws which will permit residents over 21 to grow their own marijuana and establish a legal retail trade. The results, which followed the legalisation of recreational marijuana in Washington state and Colorado two years ago, were cheered by national campaigns as evidence of a gathering movement to challenge federal laws banning the drug. (See also: Election 2014: Americans ready to end the War on Drugs)

  • D.C. voters overwhelmingly support legalizing marijuana, joining Colo., Wash.

    The Washington Post (US)
    Tuesday, November 4, 2014

    DCPotLeg_011415126651Washington DC followed Colorado and Washington state into a closely watched experiment to legalize marijuana, as voters overwhelmingly backed an initiative 7 to 3 allowing cannabis to be consumed and grown in the nation’s capital. The move to allow the drug almost certainly will take effect unless the next US Congress, which holds significant legislative authority over the city, blocks it. Under a voter-proposed measure, known as Initiative 71, residents and visitors age 21 and older will be allowed to legally possess as much as two ounces of marijuana and to grow up to three marijuana plants at home.

  • Barcelona to lift cannabis club age limit to 21

    The Local (Spain)
    Monday, November 3, 2014

    Cannabis clubs in Catalonia will face stricter regulations with the region's parliamentary health commission set to raise the minimum age for membership from 18 to 21 while prohibiting new clubs from opening near schools and nurseries. The new rules are the result of months of discussions between health officials, parliamentary groups and representatives of the clubs after 49 were closed down by police in August. The Catalonia Federation of Cannabis Associations had called for clearer regulations in order to help control bad practices.

  • Uruguay cannabis growers' clubs: Registration begins

    Uruguay has started registering cannabis growers' clubs as part of the government's plan to legalise the drug
    BBC News (UK)
    Saturday, November 1, 2014

    In Uruguay, licensed cannabis clubs of up to 45 members will be allowed to grow a maximum of 99 plants each year. In August, growing up to six plants of cannabis at home became legal. Each club member can produce no more than 480g of cannabis each year and the club's growing fields cannot be within 150m of a school, college or a drug rehabilitation centre. Legalising cannabis has been a sensitive issue in Uruguay, where voters will be going to the polls in a second round of presidential elections on 30 November. Both presidential candidates have said they will tinker with the new laws if elected.

  • Denmark funds medicinal cannabis research

    The Local (Denmark)
    Friday, October 31, 2014

    A political agreement between all of the political parties in parliament for funding research into the medicinal effects of cannabis is seen as a sign that the nation may be prepared to adjust its cannabis policy. Despite numerous pushes by Copenhagen to legalise cannabis in the capital and the booming business in Christiania, Denmark has taken a hardline stance on cannabis. Following a World Health Organization report that called for the decriminalisation of all drugs, parties ranging from the ruling Social Democrats to the libertarian Liberal Alliance and the left-wing Socialist People’s Party said that it is time to reconsider Denmark’s position.

  • Norman Baker: 'Genie is out the bottle' on drug reform

    Rumours from inside the Home Office suggested the report was delayed for months due to opposition from the Conservatives
    Politics.co.uk (UK)
    Thursday, October 30, 2014

    Westminster has finally reached a tipping point in the drug debate and radical change is now becoming possible, Norman Baker has said. The Liberal Democrat Home Office minister was speaking to Politics.co.uk after the publication of a government report on international drug laws which found no correlation between the severity of a country's policy and levels of drug use. It is unprecedented for the Home Office to publish a report which casts doubt on its own policy for the last 40 years and many reformers are becoming increasingly confident that it could herald a sea-change in Westminster's view on the issue.

  • Punitive drug law enforcement failing, says Home Office study

    UK government study finds no evidence that harsh sentencing curbs illegal use and documents success of Portugal’s decriminalisation
    The Guardian (UK)
    Thursday, October 30, 2014

    There is no evidence that tough enforcement of the drug laws on personal possession leads to lower levels of drug use, according to the UK government’s first evidence-based study. Examining international drug laws, the groundbreaking Home Office document brings to an end 40 years of almost unbroken official political rhetoric that only harsher penalties can tackle the problem caused by the likes of heroin, cocaine or cannabis. It is signed off by the Conservative home secretary, Theresa May, and the Liberal Democrat minister Norman Baker. (See also: Government’s drug laws survey was suppressed, Lib Dem minister says)

  • Legal marijuana could be $130 million a year business in D.C., study finds

    Washington Post (US)
    Thursday, October 30, 2014

    If D.C. residents vote to legalize marijuana possession next week, it wouldn’t just mean a sea change in drug policy in the nation’s capital. It could also mean big business. A study by District financial officials shared with lawmakers estimates a legal D.C. cannabis market worth $130 million a year. The ballot initiative voters will see Tuesday does not allow for the legal sale of marijuana — only the possession and home cultivation of small amounts — but D.C. Council members gathered Thursday to hear testimony about what a legal sales regime might look like.

  • Prohibition is not working: the case for sanity in the war on drugs

    Over $100bn a year is spent worldwide fighting the war on drugs. For what end?
    The New Statesman (UK)
    Thursday, October 30, 2014

    say-no-to-drugsThe House of Commons will today debate whether to rethink the war on drugs. While it is only a backbench business debate, and is therefore not binding, it still represents a step towards reviewing the UK’s drug laws. There is a simple reason why the UK’s drug policy is so expensive and ineffective: the law is so old. Policy is still dictated by the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act, signed into law shortly after the 1971 UN Convention on Drugs. In 43 years since, the approach has failed catastrophically.

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