• The fight for Cannabis Social Clubs in Belgium could mean legalization is on the horizon

    The noncommercial concept of the cannabis social club is supported by a number of prominent scientists
    Big Buds Magazine (US)
    Thursday, September 26, 2018

    Joep OomenTrekt Uw Plant (TUP), Belgium’s first cannabis social club was founded in 2006 in Antwerp. Since then, the legal status of these nonprofit, members-only clubs remains unclear. However, with the recent acquittal of a club in Namur, some 50 miles southwest of Brussels, and a possible third acquittal for the oldest club in Antwerp, this could all soon change. The Belgian authorities and police still go after the clubs in most cities, with varying results. Belgian’s cannabis social clubs are based on guidelines dating back to 2005. This guideline uses a lot of words to state that the lowest priority in the prosecution policy is given to the possession of cannabis for personal use by adults.

  • History of dagga in SA shows its decriminalisation is overdue

    Government should wake up to the massive economic potential of traditional communities
    News24 (South Africa)
    Tuesday, September 25, 2018

    The Constitutional Court's decision that citizens are permitted to use dagga in private turned the clock back 96 years. Before it was declared a prohibited substance in 1922, dagga was a part of the culture of South Africa's peoples – including white Afrikaners. Interestingly, the campaigns against and warnings about the dangers of dagga usage are not a prudish phenomenon of the 21st century. It is as old as dagga smoking itself. Dagga was thus an integral part of the culture of the people of the subcontinent before the first Europeans came to settle here. Dagga may also have played a part in the spiritual rituals of some groups. (See also: Why it's a good thing the ConCourt legalised private use of marijuana)

  • Dagga cultivators aren’t too pleased about the court’s decision

    The Constitutional Court ruling will have a negative impact on business
    City Press (South Africa)
    Tuesday, September 25, 2018

    Dagga growers in Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape are far from happy that the “holy herb” has been legalised for personal use, saying their businesses will suffer. Now that people are allowed to grow dagga in their own back yards, they would not longer need to buy it from growers. “This might sound strange, but when people were celebrating the legal use of dagga, it was a setback for me as I’m someone who sells it. Now it’s a free-for-all, so who will want to buy it from someone else when they can grow it themselves and smoke it at their own convenience?” he asked. “I have a big garden that most people in urban areas don’t have. So if I plant two hectares of dagga in my garden here for personal use, would that be allowed? There is so much that we still don’t know about this court decision.”

  • Pays-Bas : Le haschich marocain s’invite à la Chambre basse

    La quantité et la qualité du cannabis marocain «n’ont pas d’égal»
    Yabiladi (Maroc)
    Mardi, 25 septembre 2018

    Le trafic et la commercialisation du cannabis marocain aux Pays-Bas sont actuellement étudiés par les partis politiques néerlandais. Plusieurs propositions ont été faites, l’une d’elle serait d’en discuter avec le Maroc pour réglementer le marché. Certains proposent de réglementer et de légaliser l’importation du haschich marocain. Une utopie que Martin Jelsma, directeur de recherche à l’Institut transnational de recherche et de plaidoyer (TNI), défend par la possibilité d’une «consultation attentive entre le Maroc et les Pays-Bas». Une option qui, selon lui, pourrait se confronter «à de nombreux obstacles juridiques, mais qui est tout de même nécessaire». (Voir aussi: Du kif au haschisch hybride, le Rif dans la mondialisation du cannabis)

  • Why some U.S. allies didn’t sign up for Trump’s pledge to fight drugs

    Many of the non-signatories view the U.S.-led document as too narrow compared with previously agreed upon U.N. provisions on drugs and are concerned that it left out considerations about human rights
    The Washington Post (US)
    Monday, September 24, 2018

    trump ungaPresident Trump began his week at the UN General Assembly with an event seeking to prompt action against the global drug trade. “The call is simple,” Trump said. “Reduce drug demand, cut off the supply of illicit drugs, expand treatment and strengthen international cooperation. If we take these steps together, we can save the lives of countless people in all corners of the world.” According to the State Department, 130 signed the document supporting “action on the global war against drugs”, including China and India. But there are 193 states in the United Nations. So why did 63 countries, including U.S. allies and major European nations like Spain, Germany and the Netherlands, decline to sign? (See also: Trump gets 100 countries to sign on to his UN drug war plan, ignoring changing thinking on human rights and legalization)

  • Trump kicks off UN general assembly with ‘problematic’ drug policy document

    Several countries signed the document out of 'heavy diplomatic pressure' rather than actual agreement
    The Independent (UK)
    Monday, September 24, 2018

    Donald Trump has kicked off the 2018 United Nations General Assembly by announcing what experts have labelled a problematic agreement to tackle the world drug problem, signed by 130 countries. The very short meeting was primarily to introduce the agreement - named the Global Call to Action on the World Drug Problem - but as senior international policy manager for New York-based research group Drug Policy Alliance, Hannah Hetzer told The Independent the document is “not legitimate”. The agreement did not pass through the official UN channels and was not open to consensus or negotiation. (See also: Veneer of consensus masks deep disagreement on global drug policy | Canada signs on to U.S.-led renewal of war on drugs)

  • Regulate: ex-world leaders' solution to 'failed' drug war

    By taking control of illegal drug markets, the report argues governments can weaken the powerful criminal gangs that have grown despite decades of efforts to stamp them out
    Reuters (UK)
    Monday, September 24, 2017

    Helen ClarkMore governments should turn away from a repressive war on drugs that has “failed” and look to proven strategies to implement regulated markets for risky substances, a group of former presidents said in the report Regulation: The Responsible Control of Drugs. Since the Global Commission on Drug Policy that includes 12 former heads of state began advocating for an end to drug prohibition in 2011, a growing number of countries and U.S. states have created medical or recreational markets for marijuana. Now the group is looking at ways to smooth the way out of prohibition, recommending countries start regulating lower-potency drugs as well as reforms to international treaties. (BMJ: Why doctors should support regulated markets in illicit drugs)

  • Labour peer Charles Falconer apologises over war on drugs

    Ex-lord chancellor backs group of leading politicians in call for legalisation of drugs trade
    The Guardian (UK)
    Monday, September 24, 2018

    The former lord chancellor Charles Falconer has apologised for his role in the war on drugs, as a group of leading politicians from across the world called for the legalisation and regulation of the drugs trade. In an open letter, Lord Falconer, who served in a number of other cabinet roles under Tony Blair, said he now realised drug prohibition had been a “tragic disaster” for the poor in Britain and across the world. He challenged Jeremy Corbyn – “a radical Labour leader” – to commit to the legal regulation of drug production and supply in the next Labour manifesto. “I am sorry for supporting the war on drugs,” Falconer said in his letter, published on the UnHerd website.

  • Kiffen für den Fiskus

    Milliardeneinnahmen durch legales Cannabis
    Der Spiegel (Germany)
    Montag, 24. September 2018

    Wie sehr Deutschland finanziell davon profitieren könnte, Cannabis zu legalisieren, ermittelt derzeit Justus Haucap, Ökonom an der Universität Düsseldorf. Für den Deutschen Hanfverband (DHV) fertigt er die erste breitangelegte deutsche Cannabis-Studie an. Es geht grundsätzlich um drei Felder, die dem hiesigen Fiskus im Falle einer Cannabisfreigabe Geld in die Kassen spülen würden: Steuereinnahmen, wegfallende Repressionskosten, und ein lukrativer Wirtschaftszweig, der aus dem ohnehin schon florierenden Schwarzmarkt entstünde. Haucap geht davon aus, dass sich langfristig auch in Deutschland die wirtschaftlichen Argumente durchsetzen werden und es nur eine Frage der Zeit ist, bis es auch hierzulande legales Cannabis zu kaufen gibt.

  • South African court frees cannabis from colonial and apartheid past

    The Constitutional Court’s ruling offers possibilities for reducing harms that have accompanied decades of punitive law enforcement
    The Conversation (UK)
    Sunday, September 23, 2018

    A ruling by the South African Constitutional Court opens the way for decriminalising private use of cannabis, locally known as “dagga”. It marks a definitive shift in a century of notoriously punitive drug policy, recognised in the recent judgement to be “replete with racism”. In 1922, cannabis was officially classified and designated for control as a “habit-forming drug” through a national Customs and Excise Act. Consequences of this legal development were not only local: they were global. A year after the national law was passed, the government under Prime Minister Jan Smuts, approached the League of Nations’ “Dangerous Drugs” committees requesting that cannabis be included within the same registers as opium, morphine and cocaine.

Page 153 of 471