• Small farmers to begin benefitting from ganja industry

    Alternative Development Programme for the small ganja farmers to produce for the legal trade
    Jamaica Observer (Jamaica)
    Tuesday, January 8, 2019

    Prime Minister Andrew Holness says that the Alternative Development Programme (ADP), which will provide an avenue for small ganja farmers to benefit from the ganja industry, will start by March 2019. The programme aims to prevent and eliminate the illicit cultivation of ganja and channel the process through legal streams. The pilot, which will commence in Accompong, St Elizabeth and Orange Hill in Westmoreland, will involve the farming of ganja to provide raw material for processors. “It is a real fear that as that [ganja] industry emerges to become more corporatised, that the original ganja man, the original farmer, could very well be left out of the gains and the benefits, when you were the ones singing the praises and the benefits from how long,” Holness said.

  • Canada legalized pot in October. But its black market is still going strong

    The shortage is driving customers back to the black market, further reinforcing it
    The Washington Post (US)
    Saturday, January 5, 2019

    The legal cannabis stores that opened here last fall still look pristine. Curious customers file in, but the shelves they peruse are often bare. Supplies are so short the stores are shuttered three days a week. A few blocks from one outlet, though, a longtime pot dealer was receiving a stream of text alerts one afternoon this winter, a sign of booming business. In a national poll Ipsos conducted for Global News a month after legalization, more than a third of Canadian cannabis users said they were still buying from their regular dealers and hadn’t even tried the legal system. Five illegal sellers in Quebec told The Washington Post their sales are slightly up.

  • Music festivals are offering to test the safety of people’s drugs, and police increasingly like the idea

    Tests raised awareness about the dangers of drug consumption
    The Washington Post (US)
    Friday, January 4, 2019

    the loopFor a long time, authorities at festivals in Australia and elsewhere almost entirely focused on preventing people from taking drugs in the first place. That approach has done little to drive down the number of drug-related deaths, however, and a mounting body of research suggests that pill-testing facilities might be a more promising strategy. Following last summer’s trial effort in Canberra, organizers said they had successfully prevented attendees from unknowingly taking hazardous substances. But in other Australian states, local governments remain opposed, even amid a recent string of deaths.

  • The great fentanyl myth, and how we’re killing drug users

    We know attacking supply has failed. But we let it continue
    The Tyee (Canada)
    Friday, January 4, 2019

    canada opiod crisisOur moral failure flows from the fact that we know what to do, but accept a policy that is killing our fellow citizens. The Vancouver Police Department set out a pragmatic response in May 2017. Provide treatment on demand. Expand programs that prescribe opioids so people have a safe source of drugs, instead of sending them to risk buying poisoned supplies. Create programs that recognize the links between drug misuse and mental illness. Base the entire response on evidence about what works, not prejudices against drug users. And this week, Vancouver Coastal Health medical officer Dr. Mark Lysyshyn said all “psychoactive substances” should be regulated, not criminalized.

  • Medical marijuana for Lebanon? More complicated than it sounds…

    It’s an enticing prospect, but breaking into this growing and lucrative market could be more difficult than it seems
    Le Commerce du Levant (Lebanon)
    Thursday, January 3, 2019

    lebanon cannabis fieldMedical marijuana exports could generate $1 billion per year in revenue for the Lebanese state, according to outgoing Economy Minister Raed Khoury. Two rival legalization bills were introduced to parliament in July and September, one by Antoine Habchi, Lebanese Forces MP for Baalkbeck-Hermel, and the other by Speaker of the Parliament and Amal Movement leader Nabih Berry. Both bills aim to legalize the growing of marijuana for medicinal, industrial and research purposes, but they take two different approaches. The bill introduced by Habchi proposes putting pharmaceutical companies into direct contact with producers in Lebanon while Berry’s bill calls for the creation of a state controlled entity, similar to the La Régie libanaise des tabacs & tombacs, to manage the industry.

  • New Zealand embraces pill testing as Australian politicians resist

    A key member of the New Zealand government has called pill testing a "fantastic idea"
    SBS News (Australia)
    Thursday, January 3, 2018

    As Australian politicians continue to rule out pill testing at music festivals, New Zealand appears to be embracing the controversial practice. The country's Police Minister Stuart Nash said the idea of independent pill testing tents was "a fantastic idea and should be installed at all our festivals". "The war on drugs hasn't worked in the past 20 years, so it's time to change to a more compassionate and restorative approach," Mr Nash said. "We know young people are taking them, so we have to be pragmatic about it and not bury our head in the sand." Former Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Palmer has called on leaders to show some "courage" and introduce the practice. But state governments have pushed back against the idea.

  • Police Minister Stuart Nash wants drug testing kits at all music festivals by next summer

    At some festivals in Australia drug hospitalisations dropped by 95 per cent after drug testing was implemented
    New Zealand Herald (New Zealand)
    Wednesday, January 2, 2019

    Police Minister Stuart Nash wants to see all New Zealand music festivals kitted out with drug testing kits by next summer. This has been welcomed by the New Zealand Drug Foundation, who said this was "fantastic news". But the foundation's executive director Ross Bell has warned the Minister that a law change would be needed before drug testing stations become the norm at the bigger festivals. Nash's comments come after illicit drugs, which contained traces of pesticide, were obtained by police in Gisborne at the Rhythm and Vine music festival earlier this week. (See also: Drug testing uncovers more laced pills at music festival)

  • Now for the hard part: Getting Californians to buy legal weed

    “The bottom line is that there’s always been a robust illicit market in California — and it’s still there”
    The New York Times (US)
    Wednesday, January 2, 2019

    A billion dollars of tax revenue, the taming of the black market, the convenience of retail cannabis stores throughout the state — these were some of the promises made by proponents of marijuana legalization in California. One year after the start of recreational sales, they are still just promises. California’s experiment in legalization is mired by debates over regulation and hamstrung by cities and towns that do not want cannabis businesses on their streets. California was the sixth state to introduce the sale of recreational marijuana — Alaska, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon and Washington paved the way — but the enormous size of the market led to predictions of soaring legal cannabis sales. Instead, sales fell.

  • Marijuana legalization 2019

    Which states will consider legal weed in year experts predict will be 'real game-changer'
    Newsweek (US)
    Tuesday, January 1, 2019

    Following a year of huge advancements in marijuana policy reform, experts predict that 2019 would be a “real game-changer” in terms of the conversation surrounding cannabis legalization at both the state and federal level. “In 2019, I think that we can expect to see more of the same type of change, but maybe at a more rapid pace,” Jolene Forman, senior staff attorney at the Drug Policy Alliance, told Newsweek. “The train has left the station. Americans of all political affiliations and almost all demographics support marijuana legalization,” Forman added. Experts have said that marijuana legalization would continue to become more of a mainstream issue in Congress in 2019, especially with Democrats regaining control in the House of Representatives in January.

  • Maroc : «La prohibition de l’usage récréatif et thérapeutique du cannabis est un échec total»

    Il est important aujourd’hui de se demander quelle politique nous voulons mener pour notre pays
    Yabiladi (Maroc)
    Lundi, 31 decembre 2018

    morocco cannabis moqueAlors qu’une trentaine de pays à travers le monde dépénalisent et financent l’usage thérapeutique du cannabis, le producteur numéro un mondial nage toujours à contresens. Au Maroc, la production, la possession et la consommation de cannabis et de produits qui en dérivent sont interdites. Un cadre légal ayant causé une succession d’échecs selon Reda Mhasni, psychologue clinicien et psychothérapeute. Il y a des initiatives émanant de différents partis, notamment le Parti de l’authenticité et de la modernité (PAM) ainsi que le parti de l’Istiqlal. Des sujets souvent abordés à l’approche des élections. Mais les projets sont ensuite enterrés et on n'en reparle plus après.

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