• Stadt Köln prüft Cannabis-Vorstoß der Bezirksvertretung Innenstadt

    Kölnische Rundschau (Germany)
    Saturday, December 13, 2014

    koelnGeht es nach der Bezirksvertretung Innenstadt, gibt es in Köln in Zukunft an einigen lizensierten Abgabestellen Cannabis legal und kontrolliert zu kaufen. Oberbürgermeister Jürgen Roters will das Vorhaben zeitnah prüfen. Die Bezirksvertretung Innenstadt hatte mit den Stimmen von Grünen und Piraten beschlossen, die Stadtverwaltung aufzufordern, eine Ausnahmegenehmigung beim Bundesinstitut für Arzneimittel zu erwirken.

  • How legalizing marijuana on Indian reservations could end the prohibition on pot

    Native American tribes could create pockets of legalized marijuana throughout the country
    Los Angeles Times (US)
    Friday, December 12, 2014

    The Department of Justice announced that it would let Native American tribes grow or sell marijuana on their reservations, even in states where the drug is still illegal. The decision opens the door to pockets of legal marijuana throughout the country, in addition to the growing number of states that have legalized pot or are considering doing so. There are more than 300 reservations in some 30 states. If a good portion of those tribal governments choose to grow and sell marijuana on their land, then large swaths of the country will have access to legal pot. (See also: Tribes wary of selling pot, even if feds allow it)

  • U.S. won't stop Native Americans from growing, selling pot on their lands

    Los Angeles Times (US)
    Thursday, December 11, 2014

    Opening the door for what could be a lucrative and controversial new industry on some Native American reservations, the Justice Department will tell U.S. attorneys to not prevent tribes from growing or selling marijuana on the sovereign lands, even in states that ban the practice. The new guidance, released in a memorandum, will be implemented on a case-by-case basis and tribes must still follow federal guidelines, said Timothy Purdon, the U.S. attorney for North Dakota and the chairman of the Attorney General's Subcommittee on Native American Issues.

  • One in two Spaniards want legal marijuana

    The Local (Spain)
    Thursday, December 11, 2014

    A total of 52 percent of Spaniards are in favour of legalizing the sale and private consumption of cannabis for adults despite a general toughening on people's stance towards drugs, a new study by Spain’s Foundation for Help Against Drug Addiction (Fad) shows. Around 28 percent of Spaniards believe these clubs are a positive initiative which promotes the controlled use of cannabis, according to the Fad study. A further 22 percent said such clubs "don’t bother" them while 8 percent said they were a "legal joke".

  • Drug policy: we need brave politicians and open minds

    Editorial
    BMJ (UK)
    Wednesday, December 10, 2014

    When it comes to policies for tackling drug misuse, we need an evidence based approach. These are not my sentiments, though I share them; these are the views of the leaders of all the UK political parties as expressed in recent government reports and a debate in parliament that gained cross party support. So we at The BMJ asked ourselves: what would an evidence based drug policy look like?

  • Drugs policy in Canada: Local heroin

    Legal narcotics in a liberal city
    The Economist (UK)
    Saturday, December 6, 2014

    heroin_syringeSome European countries prescribe heroin for the most severe cases of addiction. Patients taking heroin are less likely to use illicit drugs and drop out of treatment than those who use methadone, a substitute. Vancouver’s eagerness to follow is not surprising. It has long had Canada’s most liberal drug policies, and it has a big problem. Addicts congregate in Downtown Eastside, two derelict blocks right next to tourist attractions and the financial district. In the late 1990s the city had the highest rate of HIV infection outside sub-Saharan Africa.

  • Pot industry plants seeds on Capitol Hill

    National Cannabis Industry Association doubles lobbying spending
    USA Today (US)
    Friday, December 5, 2014

    ncia-logoThe legal weed industry is trying to grow something else these days: political influence. The National Cannabis Industry Association has spent $60,000 lobbying Congress and federal regulators during the first nine months of this year — double its lobbying expenses for all of 2013. Its political action committee also shelled out campaign money to help politicians in tough midterm races, including Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper of Colorado, where voters in 2012 approved the recreational use of marijuana.

  • Drug control body concerned by pot legalization in some U.S. states

    The federal government needs to comply with its treaty obligations, which include ensuring implementation "in all its territories"
    Reuters
    Thursday, December 4, 2014

    lochan-naidooThe head of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) monitoring compliance with international drug control conventions expressed concern about the moves by U.S. states to legalize marijuana. Lochan Naidoo said "legalization for recreational use is definitely not the right way to go". Oregon and Alaska voted last month to allow recreational marijuana, in a sign of its growing social acceptance in the United States. Washington state and Colorado legalized it in 2012. Marijuana remains classified as an illegal narcotic under U.S. federal law but President Obama's administration has given individual states leeway.

  • No, legal US drugs aren’t being trafficked into Mexico en masse

    The worth of Mexican marijuana declines as high-grade US-grown weed becomes more favorable to US customers
    Vice News (US web)
    Wednesday, December 3, 2014

    The US Drug Enforcement Agency has now walked back statements it made about the trafficking of marijuana grown in the US to buyers in Mexico, after being met with skepticism by other law enforcement agents and experts and being pressed to divulge more information on the allegedly burgeoning problem. The claim that Mexican drug cartel members were taking US-grown weed and selling it at a premium to Mexican customers first emerged in a broader NPR report on the effects of legalized marijuana on the illicit drug trade.

  • 'You will not be arrested for using drugs'

    What a sane drug policy looks like
    The Washington Post (US)
    Tuesday, December 2, 2014

    Authorities in the Netherlands are warning Amsterdam tourists about heroin masquerading as cocaine, which has already killed several people and sent a number of others to the hospital. The campaign is striking because you'd never see one like it in the U.S.: "You will not be arrested for using drugs in Amsterdam," the fliers promise. Instead, they give information on how to receive medical assistance and how to keep potential overdose victims alert while waiting for help.

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