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Environmental justice, up in smoke
Growing cannabis indoors hurts workers and communities. There’s a clear solution
Slate (US)
Thursday, April 6, 2023
There is ample evidence that irresponsible outdoor cultivation can also be environmentally destructive, leading some to argue that indoor cultivation is better for the environment because it ostensibly uses less land (thanks to higher yields) and less water (thanks to less evaporation). But in reality, if best practices are followed, the opposite is true. Moreover, the vastly lower startup and operating costs for outdoor farms also lessen the steep inequities that nonwhite owners of businesses face in obtaining financing. Indoor growers insist that their methods are essential in order to avoid the weather risks tolerated by other farmers, achieve uniformly attractive products, boost potency, maximize profits, and enhance security. There are strong counterarguments in each case. -
Karl Lauterbach plans cannabis legalisation light
The Minister of Health wants to legalise weed in model regions in the future. A flagship project of the government coalition would thus fall far short of its promises
Die Zeit (Germany)
Friday, March 31, 2023
The German Minister of Health has given up the plan to have cannabis legalization as a whole approved by the EU. He is now pursuing a dual strategy: he only wants to submit part of the reforms to the Commission, while the other part is to be implemented solely on the basis of German law (and is allowed under EU legislation). In a first step, cannabis will only be available in certain pilot regions in certified shops. These could be large cities such as Cologne, Frankfurt, Berlin, Hamburg or Munich, but rural areas are also being considered in order to test the effects of legal sales under different conditions. The second part of the plan does not need the approval of the EU: decriminalizing posession (20/30 grammes), home growing and allowing cannabis social clubs. (See also: Germany will move forward with scaled-back marijuana reform plan amid EU review) -
Some Switzerland residents can now legally buy recreational cannabis in pharmacies
Swiss authorities and experts working on the pilot program say it aims to study the effects of regulated cannabis sale on mental health and on consumption habits
Euronews (Europe)
Thursday, March 30, 2023
Decades after pioneering prescription heroin and safe injection sites, Switzerland is now experimenting with decriminalising recreational cannabis. It’s being done in a very Swiss way, according to addiction experts: taking things slow and steady to see how the population responds. Currently, cannabis is legal for medical use in the country, but only in extreme cases, such as pain relief for cancer patients. In 2021, around 70 percent of the population supported liberalising cannabis laws, up from 58 percent three years earlier, according to the Swiss health ministry. The federal government has now authorised trials to take place over the coming decade to experiment with decriminalising recreational cannabis, taking small steps like it did for four years before introducing prescribed heroin in the 1990s. -
Lausanne gets green light for recreational pot smoking trial
Lausanne is the latest Swiss city – after Basel and Zurich – to receive approval to launch a pilot project to sell cannabis for recreational use as part of a study into the impact of its regulated supply
Swissinfo (Switzerland)
Tuesday, March 28, 2023
The Lausanne project for the legal sale of cannabis, known as Cann-L, has received the green light from the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH), the city authorities said. The western city joins Basel (started in 2022) and Zurich (approved in March 2023), whose projects have also been validated by the health office. The scientific project is intended to study the impact of regulated cannabis supply on the consumption and health of consumers, as well as its impact on the illegal market. The “local and organic" cultivation of cannabis plants can now begin. The first harvest will take place this summer, followed by its preparation. The cannabis sales point, which is not yet known, should open in September. -
Cannabis industry plans for South Africa have stalled: how to get them moving again
The industry has the potential to create jobs, alleviate poverty and help reduce the extreme inequality in South Africa
The Conversation (UK)
Friday, March 24, 2023
The opportunity to commercialise the hemp and cannabis industry in South Africa is that it is a new, fast-growing, multi-billion dollar sector with local and international markets. The potential legal pharmaceutical market for hemp and cannabis in South Africa alone has been estimated at over R100 billion a year. But there are challenges. First, that the government fails to implement changes needed to ensure the sector grows in a way that benefits township and rural entrepreneurs farmers. The second is that, from mid-2022, small scale farmers farming cannabis promised to be issued with licences to farm legally. However, some farmers in the rural areas of the Eastern Cape are still waiting. -
Amid worsening food shortages, we need to turn over a new leaf on the coca plant
Colombia could help address food insecurity, stepping in to help supply countries in need of more efficient food production
Euronews (Europe)
Thursday, March 23, 2023
The coca leaf has been a staple in Andean communities for centuries, serving as a source of nutrition, as an aide for altitude adjustment, and as an energy boost. However, despite its many benefits, coca is still widely associated with its illegal derivative, cocaine. This association has led to a prohibition on the international trade of coca, holding back the coca leaf’s potential to help countries in need. Yet, the coca leaf could be at the centre of a global crop resurgence if we just take the steps needed to free it. Coca-based organic fertilisers, developed in Colombia, are an innovative, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly alternative to synthetic versions. -
How drug “decriminalization” fueled Brazil’s mass incarceration crisis
The partial decriminalization policy implemented under Lula’s first administration in 2006 was a disaster
Filter (US)
Thursday, March 23, 2023
At first glance, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s cabinet looks very different from that of predecessor Jair Bolsonaro. It comprises many scientists and other experts in their respective fields, where the previous administration favored military and neoliberal ideologues. Minister of Human Rights Silvio de Almeida is among those who say they support a public health approach to drug use rather than a carceral one. But time and again, we see lip service performed by officials we call “progressive,” while we wait for their actions to match their words. -
Controlled cannabis sale in Zurich greenlighted
The Swiss health authorities have paved the way for a trial with cannabis in the city of Zurich later this year
Swissinfo (Switzerland)
Wednesday, March 22, 2023
The Zurich city government and the Zurich University Hospital said that the Federal Office of Public Health approved the conditions for the organic production of two separate strains of cannabis. The project, Zuri Can - Cannabis with Responsibility, is intended to study the impact of regulated cannabis supply on the consumption and health of consumers. The project was delayed last October following objections by the health office. The sale of cannabis products from pharmacies and social clubs to control groups is now due to begin next August. A maximum of 2,100 participants can take part in the large-scale pilot project in Switzerland's biggest city. (See also: Zurich set to legalize cannabis In Swiss trial program) -
Malawi cannabis: Farmers' high hopes fail to materialise
As part of its vision for how the country could benefit from cannabis, the government wanted to involve as many small-scale farmers as possible
BBC News (UK)
Wednesday, March 22, 2023
Malawian farmer Ethel Chilembwe has paid out hundreds of dollars, cleared six hectares of land and got ready for the training, but after two years of waiting she has not cultivated a single cannabis plant. Malawi legalised cannabis farming for industrial and medicinal use in February 2020 hoping to take advantage of the booming global demand and move away from the reliance on tobacco as an export crop. Ms Chilembwe, who has been farming tobacco in Kasungu in the west of the country for the last seven years, also scented an opportunity to replace her shrinking returns. She was not the only one - hundreds of other farmers have also been left disappointed. -
Major alcohol industry association calls for federal marijuana legalization, recommending regulatory framework
The current system for the regulation of alcohol “serves as a strong model” for cannabis, the industry says
Marijuana Moment (US)
Wednesday, March 22, 2023
A major alcohol industry association is officially backing federal marijuana legalization, sending a letter to congressional leadership that implores lawmakers to “regulate adult-use cannabis at the federal level.” The Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America (WSWA) said that “the current conflict between state and federal law is not only causing adverse consequences for consumers and non-consumers of cannabis but will also have long-term public health and safety costs that are too great to ignore.” Now that states are even discussing ways to begin interstate commerce of the product, a “piecemeal” approach to marijuana reform is untenable, so lawmakers should “comprehensively” address the issue.
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