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The future of Dutch cannabis policy
Tom BlickmanMonday, March 14, 2011
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The municipality of the Dutch city of Utrecht recently announced two scientific experiments on cannabis policy. One experiment will be to set up a closed club model for adult recreational cannabis users. Cannabis smokers will grow their own marijuana in a cooperative, a move which would go against the government's drive to discourage coffee shops. The other experiment concerns treatment for people who are vulnerable to psychotic disorders. -
Annual report of the International Narcotics Control Board: Corruption, human rights and OST
International Harm Reduction Associatieon (IHRA)Wednesday, March 3, 2011
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The International Narcotics Control Board yesterday presented its annual report for 2010. Every year the Board selects a thematic issue of focus, dedicating its opening chapter to that issue. This year it is corruption. In an earlier blog post we asked whether the INCB would have the impartiality to be able to look at the drug control system itself, and its role in the generation of corruption, as the UNODC had done in 2008. The answer is no. At no point is the international criminal market in drugs recognised as a creation of drug control. -
INCB Report: mixed thoughts
Martin JelsmaWednesday, March, 2, 2011
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Today the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) released its annual report. I’ve been following the Board for many, many years now, have often criticized its narrow interpretation of the treaties, have questioned the validity of its usually negative comments about any policy changes in the direction of harm reduction or decriminalization, and have warned repeatedly about its tendency to overstep its clearly defined mandate. -
Seventeen objections to abolishing the ban on coca chewing
Although the deadline for filing objections expired, governments can still withdraw their objections …
Tom BlickmanMonday, February 7, 2011
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The final count after closure of the January 31 deadline to file objections to the Bolivian amendment to remove the ban on coca leaf chewing in the 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, comes to 17 objections: the US, UK, Sweden, Canada, Denmark, Germany, the Russian Federation, Japan, Singapore, Slovakia, Estonia, France, Italy, Bulgaria, Latvia, Malaysia and Mexico. That means that only 17 of the 184 countries that are Party to the treaty (as amended by the 1972 Protocol) have filed an objection. We call on them to still reconsider and withdraw their objection before the issue appears on the UN agenda for a decision. -
D-Day for Bolivia’s coca chewing amendment
European divide deepens over lifting ban on coca chewing | Hypocrisy rules in the arguments behind objections
Martin JelsmaMonday, January 31, 2011
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Today is the deadline for countries to submit objections to Bolivia’s proposed amendment to remove the ban on coca leaf chewing in the 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. As far as we know, six countries have formally notified the UN that they reject Bolivia’s amendment: the United States (January 19), Sweden (Jan 20), the United Kingdom (Jan 21), Canada (Jan 26), Denmark (Jan 28) and Germany (Jan 28). Some other European countries may add their objections today. -
Obama: Drugs Should Be Treated as "Public Health Problem"
Kathleen KingsburyFriday, January 28, 2011
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In an online town hall session yesterday, U.S. President Barack Obama suggested that, while he is not in favor of drug legalization, he does believe drugs ought to be treated as “more of a public health problem.” Obama went on to add: “On drugs, I think a lot of times we’ve been so focused on arrests, incarceration, interdiction, that we don’t spend as much time thinking about how do we shrink demand.” (See the video clip below for the president’s full remarks.) -
Diplomatic games to oppose lifting unjust ban on coca chewing
Tom BlickmanSunday, January 16, 2011
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According to the government of Bolivia, the only three countries that did file a formal objection to the amendment of Bolivia to abolish the ban on coca leaf chewing in the 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, withdrew their objections. -
Opposing the Coca Chewing Amendment?
A Shameful Act
Pien MetaalThursday, January 13, 2011
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In March 2009, Bolivia's President Evo Morales chewed a coca leaf at the UN High Level session on drugs in Vienna. He announced he would seek the abolition of the articles in the 1961 UN Single Convention that stipulate that the chewing of coca leaves should be eliminated within 25 years, after the treaty entered into force. -
Prop 19 was only the beginning…
Allen Hopper, ACLU of Northern CaliforniaNovember 15, 2010
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An interesting blog on Calitics, a leading progressive community blog for California politics:
California voters came out in droves to support Proposition 19 this November. More than 4.1 million people voted for Prop. 19, which would have allowed adults 21 and older to possess and grow small amounts of marijuana for personal use and allow cities and counties to tax and regulate commercial sales. -
The Prague Declaration - 7 Principles for Urban Drug Policies
Peter Sarosi (HCLU)Wednesday, November 10, 2010
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The Prague Declaration is a statement of representatives of municipal governments, decision makers responsible for local and municipal drug policies, workers in the field of drug prevention, regulation, treatment, and harm reduction, and researchers in the field of drugs. It was prepared in Prague for the conference Urban Drug Policies in the Globalised World (September 30 – October 2, 2010) and it is open to be signed by anyone interested in urban, municipal and local drug policy.
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