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MPs condemn UK cannabis laws after epileptic boy's medication seized
Urgent reform called for after government denies Billy Caldwell access to treatment
The Guardian (UK)
Tuesday, June 12, 2018
MPs have criticised the UK’s cannabis laws and called for urgent reform after a boy had his first epileptic seizure in 300 days because the government had ordered his doctor to stop prescribing him potentially life-saving cannabis oil. Charlotte Caldwell, whose son Billy, 12, has scores of seizures every day without cannabis oil, had his medicine confiscated from her by customs agents at Heathrow. Caldwell was not cautioned for trying to “openly smuggle” the substance into the UK from Canada, but was instead invited to the Home Office to meet the minister of state, Nick Hurd, who told her it would not be returned. -
Rare Jamaican cannabis strains are seeding a medical marijuana takeover in Canada
Toronto-based Jamaican Medical Cannabis Collective has signed contracts to provide Jamaican cannabis to three Canadian LPs and letters of intent to supply seven more
Toronto Now (Canada)
Tuesday, June 12, 2018
With the support of the Jamaican government and the farmer’s collective they partner with on the island nation, the Jamaican Medical Cannabis Collective (JMCC) has signed contracts to provide Jamaican cannabis to three Canadian LPs and letters of intent to supply seven more. All of these plans are pending Health Canada approval, of course, but there are a lot of people invested in making it happen, and for good reason. Canada's medical marijuana program may suffer supply issues when the recreational system opens up this summer. Legislation that allows importation of cannabis from other countries may end up being crucial to keeping supplies available for Canada’s 269,000-plus medical marijuana users. (See also: Jamaica must stake claim on local marijuana strains, says Wheatley) -
Huit Français sur dix favorables au cannabis thérapeutique
Une étude de Terra Nova montre l’intérêt pour l’usage médical du chanvre
Le Monde (France)
Lundi, 11 juin 2018
Pour ou contre ? Le sujet est complexe, mais les Français sont unanimes : selon une étude IFOP pour Terra Nova et Echo citoyen publiée lundi 11 juin, ils sont 82 % à se déclarer favorables à l’autorisation du cannabis à usage médical encadré (sur ordonnance), contre une courte majorité (51 %) en faveur d’une régulation du cannabis récréatif. Ils sont aussi 73 % à estimer que l’Etat devrait financer la recherche sur ses usages thérapeutiques. La ministre de la santé, Agnès Buzyn, a reconnu un « retard » de la France sur le sujet. (Lire aussi: Cannabis : le CBD, une substance « ni interdite ni autorisée ») -
Five Danish political parties support legalisation of cannabis
In a joint statement published by newspaper Politiken the five parties outlined their rationale for supporting legalisation
The Local (Denmark)
Monday, June 11, 2018
A string of parties on both sides of the political aisle have declared their support for decriminalising the sale of cannabis. Police are wasting their resources on a never-ending battle to clamp down on the sale of recreational marijuana, which is illegal in Denmark, the parties say. Recent weeks have seen extensive police crackdowns in the Pusher Street market in Copenhagen’s alternative enclave Christiania, from where traders sell marijuana and related products. But the law against selling recreational cannabis enables organised crime networks to profit hugely from illegal trade, say the five parties – Alternative, the Red Green Alliance (Enhedslisten), the Socialist People’s Party, the Social Liberal (Radikale Venstre) party and Liberal Alliance. -
No cannabis for scientific studies, says parliament
The vote comes after a November 2017 federal decision to block a University of Bern study
Swissinfo (Switzerland)
Monday, June 11, 2018
The Swiss parliament has rejected a motion to allow the use of cannabis in scientific studies investigating the drug’s effects. Opponents saw the motion as a back-door path towards liberalization. After a narrow victory at the committee stage, the motion was rejected in the House of Representatives by another slim margin: 96 votes to 93, with two abstentions. The conservative-right Swiss People’s Party and centrist Christian Democrats voted en masse against the idea, which they saw as an implicit route towards liberalising cannabis consumption. The vote comes after a November 2017 federal decision to block a University of Bern study. (See also: Nationalrat im Haschischdelirium) -
What's the story behind the new cannabis-selling 'coffee shops' in Paris?
There have been queues down the street outside Cofyshop
The Local (France)
Monday, June 11, 2018
Two shops selling cannabis or more specifically "cannabidiol" based products (CBD) opened in central Paris and just outside the capital. Cofyshop, the first of its kind in the French capital itself, is located in the trendy 11th arrondissement and the other, E-Klop is in Puteaux, a west Paris suburb. There has been a softening on cannabis laws in France which means that it is legal to sell a weak version of the drug. In order to be within the law, the product sold must contain less than 0.2 per cent of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), which is the main psychoactive ingredient in cannabis. The products do however contain CBD. (See also: A closer look at France's 'legal cannabis' derivatives | Les «coffee-shops» qui ouvrent partout en France sont-ils légaux?) -
"New Amsterdam" no more? Spain's cannabis clubs fight to stay open
But have they become their own worst enemy?
Merry Jane (US)
Friday, June 8, 2018
Spain's cannabis social club (CSC) model might make the country appear to be a marijuana mecca, but what the tourist never sees are the legal and financial quagmires that plague these clubs, from police raids and robberies to organized crime and headline-grabbing court cases. Today, the CSCs are under attack, and if the current government gets its way, they'd be wiped out completely. However, the lack of formal regulation means the biggest threat comes from the cannabis clubs that exploit the (admittedly dizzying) system for profit and tarnish the reputation of every other reefer refuge throughout the country. -
Jeff Sessions is really going to hate the World Health Organization’s first-ever marijuana review
The WHO will likely do at least one more review before making a final recommendation on cannabis’s status
Mother Jones (US)
Friday, June 8, 2018
The World Health Organization met in Geneva, Switzerland, to review a first-of-its-kind report on the health and safety of cannabis, and President Donald Trump’s Justice Department will almost certainly not be thrilled with the report’s finding that marijuana is a “relatively safe drug.” The report, compiled by a team of international cannabis experts and presented to the Expert Committee on Drug Dependence, is the first of many steps by the WHO to ultimately deliver a recommendation to the UN secretary-general on the “need for and level of international control” of cannabis, which could have a major impact on marijuana legislation internationally. Cannabis is currently classified under the same category as heroin and cocaine. -
Goodbye counterculture: what will happen when weed goes corporate?
It is big corporations, not small independent producers, who will reap the benefits of cannabis legalization in Canada
The Guardian (UK)
Thursday, June 7, 2018
Under the federal government’s new legal regime, for the first time in Canadian history, minors in possession of more than five grams of dried cannabis can catch criminal charges. Add that, according to the Toronto Star, people of colour are already three times as likely to be booked for cannabis crimes than white people, (despite not using it any more frequently) and, strangely, legalization could have even worse consequences for young black people. It’s evident that the stigma attached to cannabis use, which marketers are so eager to reduce and normalize, is not the same for white people as it is for black communities. -
Senate approves cannabis legalization bill with dozens of amendments
The bill must now go back to the House of Commons, where the government will decide whether to approve, reject or modify the changes
The Globe and Mail (Canada)
Thursday, June 7, 2018
The Senate has approved the Trudeau government’s landmark legislation to lift Canada’s 95-year-old prohibition on recreational cannabis – but with nearly four dozen amendments that the government may not entirely accept. Bill C-45 passed easily in the upper house by a vote of 56-30 with one abstention, over the objections of Conservative senators who remained resolutely opposed. “It’s a historic night for Canada in terms of progressive health policy and social policy,” said independent Sen. Tony Dean, the bill’s sponsor in the upper house. “We know that prohibition doesn’t work. I think this is a brave move on the part of the government, frankly, to take on a tough and controversial issue.” (See also: Canada closer to legalising marijuana after senate vote in favour)
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