• Drugs policies are not working, believe 75% of MPs

    But poll by UK Drug Policy Commission finds little consensus on changing existing laws
    The Guardian (UK)
    Sunday, September 9, 2012

    rolling-joint2The poll, conducted by ComRes for the UK Drug Policy Commission (UKDPC), found that 77% of MPs believed the UK's current policies were ineffective in tackling the problems caused by illegal drugs. The poll's publication comes ahead of the release of several major reports into the future of UK drug policy that will ensure the debate about reforming the country's laws becomes a key issue for MPs for the rest of the year.

  • Dutch elections: the battle for the stoner vote

    In the Netherlands, the political party hoping to repeal laws banning the sale of weed to foreigners is banking on getting smokers out to vote on Wednesday. But will they bother?
    The Guardian (UK)
    Sunday, September 9, 2012

    When the Netherlands goes to the polls on Wednesday, the result could hinge on one, previously overlooked section of the electorate: the stoner vote. More than 350 Dutch coffee shops have thrown their weight behind a grassroots campaign in support of the leftwing Socialist Party (SP), which has pledged to end the political crackdown on shops that sell marijuana. The stakes are high: many believe that the parliamentary elections will be make-or-break day for the Dutch coffee shops.

  • Ex-DEA heads urge Holder oppose marijuana ballots

    Reuters
    Friday, September 7, 2012

    holderNine former heads of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration urged Attorney General Eric Holder to take a stand against possible legalization of recreational marijuana in three western states, saying silence would convey acceptance. The former officials said that legalization would pose a direct conflict with federal law, indicating there would be a clash between the states and the federal government on the issue. Voters in Colorado, Washington state and Oregon are due to decide in November whether to legalize marijuana for recreational use and to regulate and tax its sale.

  • Maastricht mayor does u-turn over cannabis club membership

    DutchNews (Netherlands)
    Wednesday, September 5, 2012

    wietpasLocals in Maastricht should no longer have to formally register as marijuana users to buy soft drugs from the city’s cannabis cafes, mayor Onno Hoes said in a letter to councillors. Since May 1, cannabis cafes in the south of the country have been turned into member-only clubs in an effort to keep out foreigners. Only locals, who can prove they live in the area, are allowed to sign up for membership. Hoes says the number of foreigners trying to buy soft drugs has fallen so sharply that the membership cards are no longer necessary.

  • Marijuana sellers target stoner voters in Dutch election

    The Associated Press
    Tuesday, September 4, 2012

    coffeeshopWith slogans like "Don't let your vote go up in smoke!", owners of the free-wheeling cafes where bags of hashish are sold alongside cups of coffee are mounting a get-out-the-stoner-vote campaign ahead of next week's Dutch election. The campaigners are calling on their sometimes apathetic dope smoking clientele to get out and support political parties that oppose the recently introduced "weed pass" that is intended to rein in the cafes known as coffee shops and close them altogether to foreign tourists.

  • Medical marijuana backers seek inroads in South

    The home state of the president who didn't inhale has become an unlikely front in the battle over medical marijuana
    Associated Press
    The Seattle Times (US)
    Monday, September 3, 2012

    arkansas-med-marijuanaThis fall, Arkansas will be the first Southern state to ask voters whether to legalize medical uses for pot, a move that offers supporters a rare chance to make inroads in a region that has resisted easing any restrictions on the drug. The state's top elected officials and law enforcement agencies oppose the idea, but legalization groups hope the referendum shows that medical marijuana is no longer solely the domain of East Coast or Western states.

  • Common sense must be returned in Danish drug policy

    Decades of failure and irrational marijuana policy must be changed
    Editorial
    Politiken (Denmark)
    Friday, August 31, 2012

    rolling-jointsPoliticians in Denmark have closed their eyes and the cannabis market has gone completely out of control. The criminalization of cannabis has not led to lower consumption. On the contrary. The naive ban caused only more crime and greater use, especially among young people. The cannabis market in Denmark should be legalized, says an editorial in the centre-left Danish newspaper Politiken. And it should be an obvious task for a government that sees itself as both responsible and progressive. (Note: Google translation of OpEd in Danish)

  • Bid to repeal L.A.'s ban on pot shops may be headed for ballot

    Campaign to overturn L.A.'s ban on dispensaries says it has twice the signatures needed to put the measure before voters, a move that could temporarily suspend law
    Los Angeles Times (US)
    Thursday, August 30, 2012

    A referendum to repeal a ban on medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles appears to be headed for the ballot, with pot shop supporters saying that they have collected nearly twice the signatures required to force a citywide vote and key City Council members signaling that they won't try to stop it. Medical cannabis supporters plan to turn in the names of 50,000 voters who want the referendum included on the March ballot. If the signatures prove valid, officials will be required to temporarily suspend the ban, which was approved with much fanfare last month and was due to go into effect Sept. 6.

  • Inside the Golden Triangle

    An investigation by Mexican newspaper Rio Doce provides a rare look at the difficult life of marijuana farmers in the rugged mountains of Sinaloa
    InSight Crime
    Thursday, August 30, 2012

    burning-marihuana-sierra-madreAfter some initial difficulty, Miguel Angel Vega, a writer for the Sinaloa-based Rio Doce newspaper, was able to gain access to the Sierra Madre Occidental Mountains located in the heart of the Golden Triangle, Mexico’s key drug producing region. The region, which spans three of Mexico’s 32 states, is known as the epicenter of marijuana and poppy production in the country. As Vega writes, the region’s rough terrain combined with the inherent danger of the job breeds hardy locals.

  • Cannabis reduces IQ (and appreciation of context)

    A recent study suggests that cannabis use causes lower IQ in under 18s. It also lowers acknowledgement of alternative explanations
    Dean Burnett
    The Guardian (UK)
    Wednesday, August 29, 2012

    A new study suggests that young cannabis users run the risk of a lower IQ. In what is an impressively long-term cohort study, it was found that "those who started using cannabis below the age of 18 - while their brains were still developing - suffered a drop in IQ". Defending drugs is rarely a good move politically, and anti-drug legislation often occurs without the support of scientific evidence. Contrastingly, any scientific finding that suggests drug use may have detrimental effects is seized upon and often exaggerated, sometimes to ludicrous extents. And you know there'll soon be leaflets going around schools that explicitly state that cannabis makes you stupid.

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