• A death foretold: Colombia’s crop substitution program

    The government is planning to eradicate coca that has not even been planted yet
    InSight Crime
    Monday, April 1, 2019

    The government’s failure to comply with the coca crops substitution program in Colombia has left the future of almost 100,000 families in limbo and sets up a major setback in the country’s drug policies. The latest report on the monitoring and verification of the illicit crops substitution commitment issued by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) showcases breaches by the Colombian government within the National Comprehensive Program for the Substitution of Illicit Crops (Programa Nacional Integral de Sustitución de Cultivos Ilícitos – PNIS). This program was a crucial part of the peace agreement between the government of former president Juan Manuel Santos’ and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in late 2016.

  • War on drugs has helped cocaine traffickers conquer swathes of Central America, study suggests

    Almost 20 per cent of US drug control spending goes on attempts to intercept shipments, with a ‘dismal’ success rate
    The Independent (UK)
    Monday, April 1, 2019

    A new study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal, which simulated the complex dynamics between drug traffickers and US drug control efforts in Central America, suggests the efforts of successive US governments have led to a “cat-and-mouse arms race”, in which traffickers have massively expanded their networks of operations in ever greater efforts to out-manoeuvre authorities. The model demonstrated that narco-trafficking is as widespread and difficult to eradicate as it is because of interdiction, and increased interdiction will continue to spread traffickers into new areas, allowing them to continue to move drugs north.

  • Genève fait cavalier seul sur la distribution de cannabis

    Stupéfiants - Le canton n’attendra pas de changement légal. Une demande d’autorisation pour un essai pilote va être déposée à Berne
    Tribune de Genève (Suisse)
    Dimanche, 31 mars 2019

    Le Canton de Genève sera-t-il le premier de Suisse à accueillir un projet pilote de régulation du cannabis? Le défi est lancé. Selon nos informations, une demande d’autorisation pour mener une expérience de remise contrôlée d’herbe va prochainement être envoyée à l’Office fédéral de la santé publique (OFSP). Le Conseil d’État genevois a accepté il y a peu un tel programme, qui, s’il reçoit le feu vert, serait mené par l’Université de Genève. La requête peut surprendre: les expériences pilotes développées dans plusieurs villes suisses se trouvent actuellement au point mort, dans l’attente d’un vote au parlement. L’échantillon restreint de participants à Genève implique que l’effet sur le marché noir d’une distribution contrôlée ne pourra pas être étudié.

  • Partial decriminalization of public cannabis use takes effect Sunday night

    Legalization activists warn substituting fines for criminal indictments may lead to stricter enforcement by police
    The Times of Israel (Israel)
    Sunday, March 31, 2019

    Marijuana possession will be partially decriminalized at midnight Sunday night when a plan two years in the making goes into effect, replacing criminal prosecution for personal marijuana use in public with fines and a less stringent enforcement regime. A version of the plan was first put forward in early 2017 by the government’s Anti-Drug Authority, and was approved by cabinet ministers in March of that year. It is based on the so-called Portugal Model, which treats marijuana use as a public health issue akin to cigarette smoking rather than a criminal problem. The current policy of arrest for criminal prosecution will change at midnight to a three-strikes policy. (See also: The highs and lows of Amos Silver, Telegrass cannabis kingpin nabbed in Ukraine)

  • Majority of parties support re-evaluating Sweden's strict drug policies

    Sweden’s long-standing zero-tolerance drugs policy deserves a fresh look, a majority of parliament’s Committee on Health and Welfare told broadcaster SVT
    The Local (Sweden)
    Saturday, March 30, 2019

    Drug laws in Sweden have not been evaluated in decades, even as the country’s harsh approach has left it increasingly isolated from its neighbours. After the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (Sveriges kommuner och landsting, SKL) recently came out in support of re-evaluating the nation’s penal code for drug offenses, SVT found that a majority of the political parties on the Committee on Health and Welfare also believe it is time to give drug laws a new look. While SKL’s proposal and the committee members’ openness might perhaps reveal a shift in thinking, it is far from universal. (See also: 79-year-old Swedish woman jailed for using cannabis to treat pain)

  • Will Germany become the world's largest market for medicinal cannabis?

    For two years, Germany has allowed cannabis cultivation for medical purposes
    Deutsche Welle (Germany)
    Saturday, March 30, 2019

    The use of medicinal cannabis has been allowed in Germany for two years now. But because domestic cultivation hasn't gotten off the ground yet, the plant has been imported, mainly from Canada. That might change soon. While Canadians were at the forefront of exporting the plant, "they have failed to deliver to all regions in Europe, and Germany for that matter," said Frankfurt-based entrepreneur Niklas Kouperanis. Bottlenecks have also been reported by Georg Wurth of the German Hemp Association (DHV). "At the moment, there's next to nothing coming in from Canada as companies there are preoccupied with their home market," he said.

  • Barbados tells of plans to develop cannabis industry

    Administration has not yet taken a decision regarding recreational cannabis
    Jamaica Observer (Jamaica)
    Sunday, March 24, 2019

    Barbados has announced plans to establish a medicinal cannabis industry project implementation unit tasked with establishing the administrative framework for the timely implementation of the project. Prime Minister Mia Mottley, who delivered her Administration's 2019-2020 national budget, said the unit will be headed by a director, who will be responsible for championing the programme and ensuring that an expansive educational and sensitisation campaign is implemented. One of the tasks of the unit will be to facilitate the establishment of a Medicinal Cannabis Authority and Board, which will be responsible for regulating the medicinal cannabis industry.

  • Brussels’ weed wave hits new high

    Thanks to a lack of regulation, delivery services and shops selling cannabis-derived products are popping up in the EU capital
    Politico (EU)
    Tuesday, March 26, 2019

    For cannabis entrepreneurs in Brussels, business is blooming. Fom Ly runs the Cannabis Social Club Brussels, distributing flowers and oils around the city whenever the club’s members place orders on his mobile app. He recently switched his delivery guy from a push bike onto an electric bike because the service is so popular. The prospering industry is a new but increasingly visible part of life in Belgium’s capital as businesses and non-profit social clubs exploit a legal gray zone. What they are selling is cannabidiol, or CBD, a non-psychoactive chemical component found in marijuana. While national regulations are in place to restrict marijuana as an illicit drug or a medicine, EU farming laws allow for the sale of industrial hemp, a variety of cannabis grown to make fabrics or ropes, provided it contains only trace amounts of marijuana’s psychoactive ingredient THC.

  • Should Canberra allow dope-growing clubs to be set up?

    The supply problem could be fixed by amending the wording of the legislation to allow "cannabis social clubs"
    The Canberra Times (Australia)
    Tuesday, March 26, 2019

    Michael PetterssonDope-smoking Canberrans should be able to join clubs where gardeners can cultivate their cannabis crops for them, a Legislative Assembly inquiry has been told. Labor backbencher Michael Pettersson's private member's bill would legalise cannabis possession under 50 grams and allow users to grow up to four plants. The government has foreshadowed amendments to the legislation that would allow only two plants to be grown up to a household limit of four plants, and introduce wet and dry limits for the drug. Mr Pettersson said that allowing people to grow their own supply would stop them coming into contact with drug dealers who "have a commercial imperative to push harder and more addictive substances on their clients". (See also: Drug law reform not so simple)

  • Rodrigo Duterte photographed with suspected Chinese ‘drug lords’, says former narcotics official

    One of the men had allegedly set up a meth lab in Davao, where Duterte previously served as a long-time mayor before taking office
    South China Morning Post (China)
    Monday, March 25, 2019

    philippines duterte drugwarPhilippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who has faced widespread criticism over his deadly drug crackdown, has been photographed with two Chinese men suspected to be “deeply involved” in illegal drugs, said a former senior anti-narcotics official who wrote a report on the men in 2017 and sent a copy to the authorities. Eduardo Acierto said he was unaware what government action had been taken after he submitted his report about the two Chinese men to top police officials in December 2017. Instead, Acierto said he was now facing illegal drugs complaints and has been the target of death threats that forced him to go into hiding recently. (See also: Philippine MPs urge probe into claims Chinese former adviser to President Rodrigo Duterte adviser was involved in drugs trade)

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