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The real ‘gateway drug’ is 100% legal
To the extent that there is a gateway drug, then, it's alcohol
The Washington Post (US)
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
You may have heard that marijuana is a gateway drug. New research in the Journal of School Health could shed some light on this question. They found that "the vast majority of respondents reported using alcohol prior to either tobacco or marijuana initiation." Not only that, but of those three main substances -- alcohol, tobacco and marijuana -- kids were the least likely to start using pot before the others. "Alcohol was the most widely used substance among respondents, initiated earliest, and also the first substance most commonly used in the progression of substance use," the researchers concluded. -
Legalizing pot in Canada will run afoul of global treaties, Trudeau warned
Canada could find a way to adhere to the treaties, but will have to show that legalizing marijuana helps reduce illicit drug use
The Globe and Mail (Canada)
Tuesday, January 5, 2016
The Liberal government will have to do substantial work on the international stage before it can follow through on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s promise to legalize marijuana, new documents suggest. That work will have to include figuring out how Canada would comply with three international treaties to which the country is a party, all of which criminalize the possession and production of marijuana. Internationally, says a briefing note prepared for the prime minister, Canada will also have to find a way to essentially tell the world how it plans to conform to its treaty obligations. (See also: International Law and Drug Policy Reform) -
Istiqlal party and PAM advocate the legalization of marijuana
For pharmaceutical, medical and industrial purposes
Morocco World News
Thursday, December 31, 2015
Ilyas El Omari, President of the Regional Council of Tangier-Tetouan and Al Hoceima, revealed that a group of researchers are working on a study about cannabis cultivation to highlight more data on the profitability of the plant. He said “this study will show pragmatically, with scientific facts and figures, the profits we can gain if we regulate the cultivation of cannabis.” The study “will highlight the positive effects of the cannabis plant for pharmaceutical, medical and industrial purposes,” he added. (See also: Counting on hemp to save Morocco’s High Central Rif) -
Harsh sentences against the Pannagh cannabis club
The Spanish Supreme Court effectively closes the grey legal loopholes that allowed Cannabis Social Clubs to operate
Tom BlickmanWednesday, December 30, 2015
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The Spanish Supreme Court has convicted the president, an administrator and two members of the Association of Cannabis Users "Pannagh" in Bilbao, for running a Cannabis Social Club. The penalty for the first two is 1 year and 8 months in prison, as well as a fine of € 250,000, and for the other two – which among other functions weighed and packaged cannabis – a penalty of 6 months in prison. The Supreme Court overturned the acquittal of the four by a Court in Bilbao in March 2015. Among the convicted is Martin Barriuso, one of the main promoters of Cannabis Social Clubs in Spain who wrote a briefing for TNI on the issue. -
Mexican marijuana farmers see profits tumble as U.S. loosens laws
People don't want to abandon their illicit crops, but more and more they are realizing that it is no longer good business
Los Angeles Times (US)
Wednesday, December 30, 2015
The loosening of marijuana laws across much of the United States has increased competition from growers north of the border, apparently enough to drive down prices paid to Mexican farmers. Small-scale growers here in the state of Sinaloa, one of the country's biggest production areas, said that over the last four years the amount they receive per kilogram has fallen from $100 to $30. The price decline appears to have led to reduced marijuana production in Mexico and a drop in trafficking to the U.S., according to officials on both sides of the border and available data. -
"Wir müssen den Handel kontrollieren"
Cannabis in Kreuzberg
Die Tageszeitung (Germany)
Sonntag, 27. Dezember 2015
Das Bundesinstitut für Arzneimittel und Medizinprodukte (BfArM) hat den Kreuzberger Antrag auf Coffeeshops abgewiesen. Dagegen hat der Bezirk Widerspruch eingelegt. Horst-Dietrich Elvers, Autor des Coffeeshop-Antrags, erklärt: "Wir wollen den Verkauf von Cannabis, das zu Genusszwecken bereits im Umlauf ist, regulieren. Das Bundesinstitut ist, was den Cannabishandel angeht, offenbar noch nicht in der Realität angekommen. Das Zeug ist verboten, aber überall zu haben. Und deshalb müssen wir den Handel unter staatliche Kontrolle bekommen. Wir erfüllen also den Schutzzweck des Betäubungsmittelgesetzes." (Mehr dazu: Die Koalition der Kiffer) -
The right (and wrong) way to legalize cannabis
How to build a legal marijuana system that’s convenient, protects public health and keeps commercial forces in check
Maclean's (Canada)
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
The Trudeau government’s proposal to legalize cannabis will no doubt generate heated debate. The question of how to legalize is likely to receive less attention. The struggle between commercial logic and the public interest will define the new politics of legal cannabis. As the new government proceeds to draft a new system of laws, it should keep in mind the need to prevent the cannabis industry from acquiring excessive political influence. One approach would be to make the sale of cannabis a state monopoly rather than relying on private-sector retailers. (See also: Canada and the logistics of legalization) -
UNGASS 2016: Change to global drug policy unlikely
Unless consideration is given to redefining the underlying goal of world drug policies, there will be no change in the prospects for reducing the harmful effects of drugs
The Huffington Post (Australia)
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Next year's United Nation's General Assembly Special Session on the World Drug Problem is, by UN standards, set to be controversial. But it is unlikely to be the game changer in global drug policy that some are seeking. The one simple truism of the drug policy debate is that there are no simple solutions, nor much consensus. Solutions become even more difficult to find if you're focused on the wrong goals. The current global drug policy goals – the elimination of the use and trade of illicit narcotics – outlined in the UN's Political Declaration and drug control conventions don't address the ground truth of the global drug problem. -
Colombian president signs decree to legalise medical marijuana
New rules on growing and sale are ‘major step’ in fight against illnesses, President Santos said, as country shifts away from US-backed drug policies
The Guardian / AP (UK)
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos has signed a decree legalizing the growing and sale of marijuana for medical purposes, a dramatic shift in a country long identified with US-backed policies to stamp out drug crops. Santos said the new regulatory framework was long overdue given that Colombians had been consuming marijuana and marijuana-based products in a legal void for years. The new rules only apply for medical and scientific purposes, not recreational use. -
Syrian refugees farm cannabis in Lebanon
Migrant workers from neighboring Syria have done the job for many years, spending a few months a year in the region before returning home
Reuters (UK)
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Inside a garage in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley filled with green dust and piles of cannabis, stand a woman and a 13-year-old boy, sifting through the twigs and buds of the recent harvest. They are Muslim refugees from Raqqa province - de facto capital in Syria of Islamic State fighters - and part of an extended family of about 25 that fled in the past years to live in tents in the relative safety of a Lebanese village. Wearing scarves over their faces to protect them from the crop, the women and their relatives work in fields of the sticky green, spiky-leafed plants. (See also: Escaping Syria to harvest hashish in Lebanon)
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