• Ganja law needs police support, says Golding

    Sensitising and training will enable the police to make an informed assessment
    Jamaica Observer (Jamaica)
    Sunday, May 31, 2015

    mark-golding2Minister of Justice Senator Mark Golding, says that the success of recent changes to the Dangerous Drugs Act, accommodating decriminalising possession of small amounts of ganja in Jamaica, will rely on the judgment and discretion of the police. He noted that in dealing with persons accused of using small amounts of ganja (under two ounces), the police must decide whether or not it is worth pursuing the case in the context of its limited resources. (See also: 'Turn a blind eye')

  • The high life

    Cambodia has a complicated relationship with cannabis
    The Phnom Penh Post (Cambodia)
    Saturday, May 30, 2015

    Cambodiacambodia cannabis has a complicated relationship with cannabis – which is believed to have been cultivated and used for medicinal, culinary and recreational purposes here for hundreds of years. On paper, it’s still illegal – in accordance with the Single Convention on Narcotics treaty passed in 1961 – and in recent weeks, police have busted at least four large-scale marijuana growing operations, including almost 8,000 plants discovered amid a sesame crop in Pursat. Meas Vyrith, the secretary-general of Cambodia’s National Authority for Combating Drugs, said the authorities made exceptions to the law for traditional, small-scale growers in the Kingdom. “If they grow [it] because their families and ancestors have used it, it is fine, but if they use more than that, we prevent them from growing it.”

  • Warum kontrolliertes Kiffen besser ist

    Cannabis-Freigabe wird kommen
    Manager Magazine (Germany)
    Freitag, 29. Mai 2015

    Zahlreiche Ökonomen (wie etwa die Nobelpreisträger Milton Friedman, George Akerlof und Vernon Smith) wie auch über 120 deutsche Strafrechtsprofessoren vertreten schon lange die Forderung nach einer kontrollierten Drogenfreigabe. Der Grund dafür ist nicht etwa, wie die Drogenbeauftragte der Bundesregierung, Marlene Mortler, vermutet, dass die Befürworter einer Liberalisierung die Wirkungen weicher Drogen verharmlosen würden. Das Gegenteil ist der Fall.

  • Amsterdam Mayor: experiment to regulate cannabis cultivation currently legally impossible

    Will continue to lobby in The Hague for permission to do a temporary experiment through a so-called cannabis social club
    NL Times (Netherlands)
    Thursday, May 28, 2015

    vanderlaanEnd 2014 Van der Laan told the council to examine possibilities for regulated cannabis cultivation. The municipality would appoint companies to legally grow cannabis. In theory this should insure the quality of the cannabis and reduce illegal crops. The mayor has now come to the conclusion that within the framework of the law in the Netherlands it is currently impossible to experiment with regulated cannabis cultivation.

  • Drug injection rooms a resounding success

    None of the 301 overdoses have led to deaths
    The Copenhagen Post (Denmark)
    Wednesday, May 27, 2015

    The drug injection rooms ('fixerum') that opened for customers some two and a half years ago in Denmark have been hailed as a resounding success. Out of the 355,255 injections that have taken place in the rooms in Copenhagen, Odense and Aarhus since they opened in 2012, some 301 people have overdosed but not one single death has been reported. "It must be assumed that the hygienic surroundings and the qualified personnel have had a great impact in the injection rooms," the Ministry of Health found in an evaluation (here in Danish). (See also: Access to a safe injecting facility reduced public injecting and unsafe syringe disposal | Giving addicts the tools to save themselves)

  • Latin America rethinks drug policies

    Washington has started doing more listening than lecturing
    Editorial
    The New York Times (US)
    Tuesday, May 26, 2015

    During the 1980s and 1990s, as the United States battled the scourge of cocaine throughout the hemisphere, Washington did most of the talking. Latin American governments were forced to listen and fall in line. The American government had the most money to throw at the problem, the toughest justice system and the biggest bully pulpit. In recent years, that top-bottom approach has been upended as countries in the region have begun to develop new strategies to fight drug trafficking and discourage the use of narcotics.

  • Morocco’s major opposition party calls for legalization of cannabis

    The Istiqlal party also proposed a draft law to decriminalize and regulate the cultivation of cannabis
    Morocco World News
    Monday, May 25, 2015

    Hamid Chabat, Secretary General of the Istiqlal Party, one of Morocco’s major opposition political parties, has once again called for the legalization of cannabis. Chabat called for the reorientation of its cultivation to the pharmaceutical industries. He called for the outright legalization of cannabis, calling the government’s proposal to replace the cultivation of the plant by raising goats, a ‘lie’. (See also: Dans le Rif, le kif comme nouvel argument de campagne pour le PAM)

  • While Russia grapples with HIV epidemic, Moscow’s addicts share their filthy needles

    Infection rates are set to hit three million, but drug use and unsafe sex - the main causes - are rife
    The Observer (UK)
    Sunday, May 24, 2015

    The government does not offer substitution therapy or harm reduction outreach, and the impact of grassroots groups such as Rylkov, which has only 15 staffers, is limited. The official count of Russians living with HIV has risen to 930,000 from 500,000 in 2010, and the actual number is probably much higher. Vadim Pokrovsky, head of the federal Aids centre in Moscow, predicted this month that at least two million Russians are likely to be officially registered as HIV-positive within five years, and a total of three million will have the virus.

  • 3,000 children enslaved in Britain after being trafficked from Vietnam

    Vietnamese gangs have historically dominated the UK’s £1bn cannabis trade
    The Guardian (UK)
    Saturday, May 23, 2015

    The link between child trafficking and the UK’s domestic cannabis industry has been increasing, with Vietnamese children the main group at risk. According to a 2014 report by the NGO AntiSlavery International, almost all potential victims of trafficking linked to cannabis are Vietnamese, and more than 80% are children. Vietnamese gangs have been instrumental in the proportion of domestically grown cannabis in Britain rising from 15% in 2005 to about 90% now. (See also from 2005: Police 'can't cope' as Vietnamese flood drugs trade)

  • Marijuana incorporated: cannabis eases into a billion-dollar business high

    Legalisation has created a ‘green rush’ as companies find success in edibles, a growing consumer base and a three-day expo at the Hilton
    The Guardian (UK)
    Saturday, May 23, 2015

    2015 Marijuana Business Conference ExpoNow legalised in 23 states and the District of Columbia for medical use and four states – Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska – and DC for recreational use, weed is big business. Cassandra Farrington, organiser of the 2015 Marijuana Business Conference & Expo, said independent analysts have valued the legal industry at $3bn, rising to $10bn when including ancillary trades and services. She puts the industry’s workforce at 60,000. "It’s really difficult to pin down an estimate of the black market, but calling it $50bn would be a reasonable estimate."

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