• Biplab Deb’s push for cannabis-free Tripura triggers exodus of farmers, they call for legalisation

    Tripura came to be infamously known as the cannabis corridor of Northeast for the heavy bulk of the illegal ‘herb’
    The Indian Express (India)
    Friday, August 24, 2018

    Over the years, better processing systems, well-planned smuggling routes and a bigger corridor from Assam to Bangladesh helped fuel a parallel cannabis economy in Tripura. But after a series of stringent actions from the state government, cannabis growers now face severe livelihood crisis, triggering an exodus of people leaving the state in search of jobs. With no alternative livelihood option available now, the locals are coming up with their own solutions. “Why doesn’t the government legalize cannabis and end this debate? Alcohol too is equally bad but is sold in licensed shops,” said a Sonamura resident.

  • Oxycodone overdoses in the Netherlands soar as prescriptions rise

    It is not known whether any deaths resulted from an overdosis of the drug
    Dutch News (Netherlands)
    Friday, August 24, 2018

    The number of people overdosing on the powerful painkiller oxycodone in the Netherlands has gone up six fold in ten years, according to figures by toxicology centre NVIC. In 2008 some 43 people overdosed on the drug, which is twice as powerful as morphine and highly addictive when used longer term. That figure jumped to 280 in 2017 and this year experts at the NVCI say they are expecting many more cases. According to the NVCI the real number of overdoses related to the drug, which has caused a health care crisis in the United States, may be higher. This is because the centre only registers cases if doctors ask for advice when a patient has taken too much of the drug. They are not under an obligation to register an overdose.

  • 'Decriminalise consumption of drugs to cure Udta Punjab'

    A leading independent think-tank involved in legal research strongly recommended that India should decriminalise drug consumption
    India Today (India)
    Thursday, August 23, 2018

    As Punjab, Manipur, Mizoram and Assam battle rampant drug abuse among its populace, a leading independent think-tank involved in legal research strongly recommended that India should decriminalise drug consumption. A report released by the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy said that harsh punishments like 10 years of imprisonment has only been counter-productive. The report titled 'From Addict To Convict' is based on an analysis of 13,350 cases registered in Special Courts in Punjab under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act between 2013 and 2015 and indepth field work and research. It said the present policy in India centered on criminalisation to curb drug addiction has failed to curb traffickers and ended up targeting users and addicts.

  • Ganja: Discovering the future

    With cannabis experiencing tremendous growth in overseas markets, the same cannot be said for Jamaica
    Jamaica Observer (Jamaica)
    Wednesday, August 22, 2018

    Raymond PryceDespite cannabis being an integral part of the Jamaican identity, just five years ago local laws did not reflect the realities of its use in the country. However, this changed after the decriminalisation of cannabis in 2015 which was initiated by then Member of Parliament Raymond Pryce. In 2013, Pryce drafted and tabled the motion calling for the decriminalisation of the possession of small quantities of cannabis for personal, religious and recreational use as well as for the purposes of medicinal and academic research. Now, what are Pryce's present thoughts looking back to 2013?

  • Organic marijuana grower does not have to pay state €500,000

    In 2015 De Jong was found guilty of cultivating marijuana but was not punished
    Dutch News (Netherlands)
    Wednesday, August 22, 2018

    A Frisian man who was convicted of growing marijuana in 2015 has been told he does not have to pay almost €500,000 to the Dutch state by appeal court judges in Leeuwarden. The public prosecution department had gone to court to get the cash which it says Doede de Jong had earned from cultivating the soft drug. But the court ruled that the department had failed to show how it had calculated such an amount and not taken into account the fact that De Jong used organic methods. ‘There was no question of fire safety issues or electricity theft,’ the court said. Nor was De Jong involved with criminals who produce cannabis.

  • Fentanyl use drove drug overdose deaths to a record high in 2017, CDC estimates

    Every eight minutes, someone in America died of a drug overdose last year
    The Washington Post (US)
    Wednesday, August 15, 2018

    Drug overdose deaths surpassed 72,000 in 2017, according to provisional estimates recently released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That represents an increase of more than 6,000 deaths, or 9.5 percent, over the estimate for the previous 12-month period. That staggering sum works out to about 200 drug overdose deaths every single day, or one every eight minutes. The increase was driven primarily by a continued surge in deaths involving synthetic opioids, a category that includes fentanyl. There were nearly 30,000 deaths involving those drugs in 2017, according to the preliminary data, an increase of more than 9,000 over the prior year.

  • Constellation spends $4bn to lift stake in cannabis group Canopy

    Brewer of Corona doubles down on its bet on marijuana ahead of Canadian legalisation
    The Financial Times (UK)
    Wednesday, August 15, 2018

    Beer maker Constellation Brands doubled down on its bet on the budding marijuana industry, pumping just under $4bn into a Canadian group that has sought to capitalise on the spreading legalisation of weed. The company said it would buy 104.5m shares of Canopy Growth at C$48.60 apiece, lifting its stake to 38 per cent. The investment, which also includes warrants that could lead to it increasing its stake by a further $3.4bn, follows Constellation’s acquisition of 10 per cent of Canopy last year. The transaction between Constellation and Canopy is the latest in a wave of pot deals, as traditional makers of beer and spirits eye what they believe is the next big market where consumers will get their buzz.

  • Mexico’s new president has a radical plan to end the drug war

    Mexico’s drug war has devastated communities for more than a decade
    Vox (US)
    Wednesday, August 15, 2018

    Since the military took to the streets to fight the increasingly powerful and violent cartels producing and trafficking drugs north to consumers in the United States, tens of thousands of Mexicans have died. And a broken police and judicial system means perpetrators are almost never held accountable for a disappearance or murder. But Mexico’s next president, a leftist named Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has promised national reconciliation and peace and an end to more than a decade of the drug war. If the incoming president gets his way, this will be Mexico’s first major split from the US on crime-fighting and drugs in decades. But the obstacles are many, and it remains to be seen if the new president has the lasting support and the resources to end the drug war.

  • The people left behind by Philippines' brutal war on drugs

    Duterte’s war on drugs has left thousands of children living as orphans or in single-parent families struggling to put food on the table
    The Guardian (UK)
    Tuesday, August 14, 2018

    One year after visiting the Philippines to document the impact of President Rodrigo Duterte’s crackdown on drugs, photographer James Whitlow Delano returns to the city of Navotas, Metro Manila, to assess the impact. More than 4,500 people have been killed in the Philippines in what the authorities claim to be lawful anti-drug operations carried out in the two years since President Rodrigo Duterte came to power. Human rights groups say the actual number of deaths could be up to three times higher, with police officers routinely executing unarmed suspects and, in many instances, planting drugs or weapons on their victims to justify the killings.

  • Ontario will rely on private sector to sell recreational cannabis

    The turnaround on retail sales was welcomed by the cannabis industry as a more practical solution
    The Toronto Star (Canada)
    Monday, August 13, 2018

    Premier Doug Ford is giving up Ontario’s monopoly on weed, opening sales of recreational cannabis to private stores by April 1 in a dramatic shift that will make this province the biggest prize for Canada’s emerging legal marijuana industry. The move scraps the defeated Liberal government’s plan for 150 brick-and-mortar Ontario Cannabis Stores, modelled on LCBO outlets, by 2020. However, until a private retail system is in place, the OCS website will be the only legal source for recreational pot smokers in Ontario after cannabis use is legalized nationwide on Oct. 17. The Ontario Cannabis Store will also keep its standing as the sole wholesale distributor for private marijuana retailers who make the grade.

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