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Talks with bank to offer services to cannabis associations
Licensing of associations starts at the end of February
Times of Malta (Malta)
Wednesday, February 22, 2023
The authorities are having talks with a leading bank with a view that it could offer services to non-profit organisations running cannabis associations, Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri told parliament. He was replying to a parliamentary question by Cressida Galea (PL). She noted that as from the end of this month, NGOs running the associations may apply for a licence to supply cannabis to their members. She asked if talks are being held with the banks to ensure that these NGOs do not end up having their banking services restricted because of the nature of their business. The minister in confirming the talks with a bank, said that talks will also be held with other banks in the coming week. -
America has lost the War on Drugs. Here’s what needs to happen next
Editorial
The New York Times (US)
Wednesday, February 22, 2023
For a forgotten moment, at the very start of the United States’ half-century long war on drugs, public health was the weapon of choice. Before long, the funding ratio between public health and criminal justice measures flipped. The results of that shift are clear: Drug use is soaring. More Americans are dying of overdoses than at any point in modern history. It’s time to reverse course. Drug use and addiction are as old as humanity itself, and historians and policymakers likely will debate whether the war on drugs was ever winnable, or what its true aims even were. In the meantime, it’s clear that to exit the current morass, Americans will have to restore public health to the center of its approach. -
Tilburg and Breda to kick off regulated marijuana experiment
The ‘wietexperiment’ was first approved by the senate in 2019 after several years but has since stalled for a variety of reasons Read more at DutchNews.nl:
Dutch News (Netherlands)
Wednesday, February 22, 2023
Coffee shops in Tilburg and Breda may be able to take part in the experiment with regulated marijuana as early as October, ministers have agreed. The full trial will not take place until 2024 but ministers have now agreed to a ‘run-up’ involving the two southern cities because they are almost ready to go.The aim of the run-up is to ‘practice with all the processes and systems’, health minister Ernst Kuipers said. The minister told MPs that the initial period would last for six months and that he then hoped other cities would come on board. (See also: Amsterdam now wants to sign up to regulated marijuana experiment) -
Is legal cannabis available in Cape Town?
Capetownetc (South Africa)
Sunday, February 19, 2023
While cannabis is being legalised in many countries around the world, South Africa still finds itself in a state of legislative limbo, with more and more businesses offering “legal weed”. Both medicinal and recreational cannabis are in high demand and growing acceptance has resulted in improved access to the plant and its products. However, despite an eased approach to cannabis in recent years, a “legal grey area” continues to cause widespread confusion in a largely unregulated industry. Meanwhile, as clubs and dispensaries continue to open across the country, raids are occurring and operators are finding themselves at odds with the law. -
Cattle, not coca, drive deforestation of the Amazon in Colombia – report
Authorities have blamed the growing of coca – the base ingredient of cocaine – for clearcutting, but a recent study shows otherwise
The Guardian (UK)
Sunday, February 19, 2023
Cattle-ranching, not cocaine, has driven the destruction of the Colombian Amazon over the last four decades, a new study has found. Successive recent governments have used environmental concerns to justify ramping up their war on the green shrub, but the research shows that in 2018 the amount of forest cleared to cultivate coca, the base ingredient of cocaine, was only 1/60th of that used for cattle. The study’s findings vindicate conservation experts who have long argued that Colombia’s strategy to conserve the Amazon – often centered on combating coca production – has been misplaced. “We want to finally eradicate this narrative that coca is the driver of deforestation.” (See also: IDPC analysis of the UNODC World Drug Report 2022) -
Cannabis associations will need to have salaries approved by regulator
ARUC boss Leonid McKay insists regulator will enforce not-for-profit model
Times of Malta (Malta)
Saturday, February 18, 2023
Salaries paid out by cannabis associations will have to be approved by the regulator to ensure they are in line with market rates, ARUC boss Leonid McKay has said. The Authority for the Responsible Use of Cannabis CEO said that the measure would be included in a legal framework that not-for-profit associations would need to adhere to and was intended to dissuade applicants seeking to turn their associations into money-making ventures. ARUC will be assessing salaries against comparable ones within the voluntary sector and any association that tries to game the system by paying out ridiculous salaries will have its licence revoked, he said. (See also: Smoking ban at cannabis clubs should be lifted, new authority head Leonid McKay urges) -
Oxford study to trial cannabis-based medicine as treatment for psychosis
CBD is currently only prescribed for a small number of conditions such as rare, severe epilepsy
The Guardian (UK)
Thursday, February 16, 2023
Oxford scientists are to launch a major global trial to investigate whether cannabis-based medicine can treat people with psychosis or psychotic symptoms. Currently, cannabidiol (CBD) is only prescribed for a small number of conditions. “Cannabidiol is one of the most promising new treatments for people with psychosis,” said Oxford’s Prof Philip McGuire, who is leading the trial. “Many people with psychosis are open to trying cannabidiol and previous smaller-scale studies have indicated that it has beneficial effects.” (See also: Study reveals how CBD helps counter epileptic seizures) -
Canadian wholesale cannabis prices are off more than 40% in 2022
Canada isn’t alone. Wholesale prices have been falling across the United States because of a glut of product
MJBizDaily (US)
Wednesday, February 15, 2023
Canadian cannabis wholesale prices tumbled more than 40% last year as companies continued to work through stubborn supply gluts and struggling cultivators chose to sell off their unsold marijuana instead of destroying it. Looking at the latter part of 2023, some industry experts see the oversupply of wholesale cannabis easing somewhat as more licensed producers leave the market and the remaining cultivators adjust growing volumes to match demand. “Oversupply and excess capacity have resulted in high-quality flower being widely available and sold well below the marginal cost of production,” Zach George, the CEO of cannabis producer SNDL, said in a news release this week. -
Why is Lesotho’s cannabis boom failing to deliver the prosperity it promised?
Licences to grow are expensive and hard to come by, leaving small-time growers excluded from the economic benefits that were meant to be available to all
The Guardian (UK)
Wednesday, February 15, 2023
Even though legislation in 2008 made it possible to grow cannabis for medical or scientific purposes in Lesotho, doing so without a licence from the health ministry, and for recreational use, remains illegal. The Basotho people, many of whom have grown cannabis for decades, say only the elite and multinationals have benefited from the legislation that was heralded as something that would spread the economic gains among many. Lesotho’s politicians have talked about opening up the industry to benefit ordinary people. Emmanuel Letete, then an economist at the ministry for development planning, said in 2019 that cannabis was going to “set the country free”. -
Amsterdam to outlaw cannabis-smoking in red-light district streets
‘Historic’ clampdown on tourist excesses aims to make life more bearable for local residents
The Guardian (UK)
Friday, February 10, 2023
Smoking cannabis on the street in Amsterdam’s red light district will soon be illegal, the city council has announced, as part of a range of bylaws designed to deter tourist excesses and make life more bearable for despairing local people. With more than 18 million visitors thronging its narrow 17th-century streets last year, Amsterdam’s residents have long complained that the busiest parts of the city centre, including De Wallen – the red light district – were becoming unlivable. The council said in a statement that smoking joints in public in the inner city would be outlawed from mid-May, adding that it was prepared to consider extending the ban to the terraces of cannabis “coffeeshops” if necessary. (See also: Amsterdam bans smoking cannabis outdoors in the red light district)
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