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Majority of California voters support legalizing pot, poll finds
Reuters
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
A record but still narrow majority of California voters, or 54 percent, favor legalizing marijuana for personal, recreational use with age limits and other restrictions like those placed on alcohol, a new Field Poll showed. The support was the highest since the FieldPoll first asked about pot legalization in 1969, when 13 percent of California voters were in favor. In 2010, the last time Field Poll asked voters about the issue, 50 percent favored legalization. -
US drugs prosecutors switch sides to defend accused Colombian traffickers
After working to take down cartels, former officials say America's 'war on drugs' is misguided and the human cost too high
The Guardian (UK)
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
US prosecutors and other senior officials who spearheaded the war against drug cartels have quit their jobs to defend Colombian cocaine traffickers, saying their clients are not bad people and that United States drug policy is wrong. The US system punishes traffickers not according to their importance but the quantity of drugs, meaning a truck driver nabbed with a big consignment could face a longer stretch than a capo caught with a lesser amount. -
Hookahs, hash and the Muslim Brotherhood
Egypt’s drug laws were enacted under President Gamal Abdel Nasser in the 1950s and 1960s
Global Post (US)
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Sixty-years-old, widowed and strictly religious in a gray-brown scarf draped over her hair and chest, Um Salma is an unlikely guardian of one of Egypt’s oldest pastimes. Although she enables an illegal activity, she is by no means an outcast here. Her café “Dulab” — the Arabic word for a cabinet where prized possessions are kept from prying eyes — is one of this ancient city’s many sanctuaries for hash-smokers. Despite Egypt’s conservative Muslim government and its harsh drug penalties, Um Salma’s guests don’t fear law enforcement as they smoke the sticky brown resin. -
Forced treatment for Brazil crack addicts
The Rio Times (Brazil)
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
The city of Rio de Janeiro has begun a program of involuntary hospitalization for crack users, one month after Brazil’s biggest city São Paulo began a similar program. Critics say that forcing addicts into rehabilitation treatment is ineffective. “When an addict is interned unwillingly, he can remain abstinent as long as he remains hospitalized,” Psychiatrist Dartiu Xavier da Silveira said. “When he returns to his normal life (and his usual problems), the vast majority of users go back to using the drug as before.” -
No one is safe from Argentina's drug war
The Independent (UK)
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
For years the country was largely untouched by the brutal cartels that control the drug trade in Latin America. But an eight-year-old boy is proof those days are over. As little more than a transit-route, Argentina had escaped the worst of drug-related violence that has plagued many South American countries for decades. Now, the effects of the drug trade are increasingly visible – particularly in Rosario, which is acquiring the inauspicious title of Argentina’s “narco” capital. -
More Danes grow their own cannabis
While it is illegal to grow cannabis plants in Denmark, it is legal to buy and sell cannabis seeds
The Copenhagen Post (Denmark)
Monday, February 25, 2013
A large number of Danes are growing their own cannabis plants at home, according to a new investigation by drug researcher Helle Dahl, a researcher at the Centre for Alcohol and Drug Research at Aarhus University. Her investigation suggested that there were at least 1,200 Danes who grew cannabis plants in their homes. “There are too many Danes who smoke cannabis for them to be part of a marginalised group, and we are not surprised over how widespread growing cannabis actually is.” -
Dominique Broc des Cannabis Social Clubs jugé prochainement
Rue 89 (Blog du Nouvel Observateur - France)
Lundi, 25 fevrier 2013
L’intense campagne médiatique du porte-parole des Cannabis Social Clubs (CSC), dont le point d’orgue a été le dossier de Libération, a fini par faire réagir les autorités. Dominique Broc a été placé en garde à vue du 19 au 22 février, et il devra comparaître devant le tribunal correctionnel de Tours le 8 avril prochain. Le procureur de Tours avait annoncé son intention de ne pas laisser faire les CSC dans une interview récente au journal local. -
Guatemala proposes "alternative strategies for combating drugs"
As the central theme of the 43rd OAS General Assembly
Organization of American States - Press Release
Monday, February 25, 2013
The Secretary General of the OAS highlighted the assignment received during the Sixth Summit of the Americas in 2012, which urged the OAS to analyze the results of drug policies in the Americas and to explore new approaches to strengthen these efforts and make them more effective. The Foreign Minister of Guatemala emphasized that, 50 years after signing the United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961, "the world starts the task of reflection and evaluation of what we have been doing and how we can achieve more effective results." -
Mexico goes after the narcos
Before they join the gangs
Time Magazine (US)
Monday, February 25, 2013
Gang-outreach schemes, community centers, employment projects and construction programs aimed at transforming chaotic urban jungles. “There is a complete lack of focus,” says Alejandro Hope, a security analyst and former member of Mexico’s intelligence agency. “It is such a mishmash of different programs that we will not know what works and what doesn’t. It is setting up itself for being a major waste of money.” -
Pot purchasing limits proposed in CO
The Denver Post (US)
Monday, February 25, 2013
Rules for Colorado's recreational-marijuana industry have begun to take shape after a marathon meeting of the Amendment 64 Implementation Task Force, which recommended marijuana purchasing caps. Adults over 21 in Colorado are allowed up to an ounce of weed, but the task force recommended that a single transaction at a pot shop be capped at a lower amount. Regulators did not agree what the smaller cap should be, punting that decision to the state Legislature, which will decide on Colorado's marijuana rules. (See also: Colorado task force says marijuana should be in child-proof packages)
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