• Why is carrying or holding under 50g of marijuana not a criminal offence in the ACT?

    Criminalising young people is 'ludicrous and cruel'
    ABC (Australia)
    Sunday, March 18, 2018

    If you're caught with less than 50 grams of cannabis in Canberra, it's unlikely you'll end up with a criminal record. But just a few kilometres away in New South Wales, carrying the same amount of marijuana can mean a conviction or even jail time. The variation between drug laws in each jurisdiction is a complex issue. The ACT's scheme, called the Simple Cannabis Offence Notice (SCON), was first introduced in 1992 and amended in 2005 to exclude all hydroponically grown plants. It's part of a broader drug diversion strategy, which aims to move drug users away from the criminal justice system and into education and treatment programs.

  • Britain’s stringent rules on medical cannabis harm patients

    But the country is still a big (legal) producer of the green stuff
    The Economist (UK)
    Saturday, March 17, 2018

    In 2016 Britain harvested 95 tonnes of legally grown cannabis, twice as much as a year earlier, and more than any other country. The International Narcotics Control Board, an independent monitor linked to the UN, reckons that Britain is the world’s largest exporter of legal cannabis (in the form of medical products). And GW has another product, for treatment of drug-resistant epilepsy, under consideration by regulators in America and Europe. But, unlike in some American states, those who use cannabis in its most basic leaf form to treat other illnesses run the risk of prosecution. (Read more: UK revealed to be world's biggest producer of medical cannabis)

  • Feds say 5 NYC doctors took bribes from drug maker to prescribe opioid

    An email from one sales representative gave explicit instructions on how many new patients were needed to help meet a company target
    NBC News (US)
    Friday, March 16, 2018

    Five Manhattan doctors were paid more than $800,000 by a pharmaceutical company to prescribe a spray version of the highly potent and addictive opioid fentanyl to more and more patients whether they needed it or not, according to an indictment handed up in federal court. The money was earmarked as "speaker fees" for educational lectures on the drug that the doctors had agreed to give to medical professionals. In reality, according to federal prosecutors, the "lectures" were just booze-fueled social gatherings, and the fees were kickbacks paid to prescribe the drug, Subsys.

  • Outlaw weed comes into the light

    Humboldt County, the heart of California’s dark marijuana economy, is facing a new market force: legalization
    The Washington Post (US)
    Friday, March 16, 2018

    california cannabis cultivationHumboldt County, traditionally shorthand for outlaw culture and the great dope it produces, is facing a harsh reckoning. Every trait that made this strip along California’s wild northwest coast the best place in the world to grow pot is now working against its future as a producer in the state’s $7 billion-a-year marijuana market. A massive industry never before regulated is being tamed by laws and taxation, characteristically extensive in this state. Nowhere is this process upending a culture and economy more than here in Humboldt, where tens of thousands of people who have been breaking the law for years are being asked to hire accountants, tax lawyers and declare themselves to a government they have famously distrusted.

  • Swiss Parliament adopt bill allowing studies and pilot projects with cannabis

    The Swiss Ministry of Health (BAG) had pointed out that the Narcotics Act must be amended and supplemented by an “experiment paragraph,”
    Marijuana.com (US)
    Friday, March 16, 2018

    The Swiss Council of States has adopted a bill allowing studies and pilot projects with cannabis. The Council is calling for an experimental article in the Narcotics Act that allows for scientific research projects such as coffeeshop model trials or pilot programs. Five cities have requested such studies. The bill will now be presented to the National Council. Until now, these applications have been rejected because there was no legal basis for such exceptions in the Swiss Narcotics Act. Between 200,000 and 300,000 people in Switzerland regularly consume cannabis. In most cantons, the possession of up to 10 grams is not punished and public consumption is atoned for with a fine of 100 Swiss francs. (See also: Could medical cannabis be the next cash cow for Swiss farmers?)

  • There’s an opioid abuse problem unfolding in African cities and it’s not getting the attention it needs

    The WHO is concerned that scheduling Tramadol could inadvertently limit the licit use of the medication especially in the developing world where effective pain relief is already hard to come by
    Quartz
    Friday, March 16, 2018

    TramadolAfrica remains one of the regions least served with effective pain relief medicine and although Tramadol is not the strongest of analgesics, it is a darling on prescription lists. That’s because unlike other opioids such as methadone and fentanyl, Tramadol is not internationally regulated, hence it is cheap and readily available for patients. Doctors prescribe Tramadol in cases of post-surgical pain, bone deficiencies and cancer and the medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) classifies it among its ‘essential drugs’ list. However, in the last decade, the continent has seen a significant rise in the non-medical use of Tramadol, which produces similar effects to the “high” caused by heroin. (See also: FDA seizes large quantity of Tramadol and other drugs)

  • It’s not the Senate’s job to block marijuana bills

    The Senate should not block or unduly delay legislation to make marijuana legal, writes Independent Senator André Pratte
    The Toronto Star (Canada)
    Thursday, March 15, 2018

    For several weeks now, the Senate has been immersed in the study of bills C-45 and C-46. The former implements a national framework for cannabis legalization, while the latter introduces changes to the Criminal Code’s impaired driving provisions. You can expect to hear a lot more about our debates as we get closer to the end of June, the deadline the Trudeau government has set itself for the adoption of both bills. On the one hand, the Liberal government absolutely wants to keep to that deadline. On the other, the Conservative opposition is attempting by any means to delay the adoption of the bills, if only to embarrass the government. Caught between the two are 43 independent senators (out of 93).

  • Duterte to withdraw Philippines from ICC after 'outrageous attacks'

    Reuters (UK)
    Tuesday, March 14, 2018

    The Philippines said it is withdrawing from the International Criminal Court (ICC) due to what President Rodrigo Duterte called “outrageous” attacks by U.N. officials and violations of due process by the ICC. The decision marks a stunning about-face by Duterte, who has repeatedly dared the ICC to indict him and said he was willing to “rot in jail” or go on trial to defend a war on drugs that has killed thousands of his own people. In a 15-page statement Duterte said he was withdrawing from the ICC’s founding treaty, the Rome Statute, because of “baseless, unprecedented and outrageous attacks” by U.N. officials, and ICC actions that he said failed to follow due process and presumption of innocence. (See also: How to leave the ICC)

  • Ministers to decide on marijuana cultivation trials by the summer

    Independent experts will then evaluate the results
    Dutch News (Netherlands)
    Monday, March 12, 2018

    Ministers will publish their proposals for the planned experiment with legal marijuana cultivation by the summer, justice minister Ferdinand Grapperhaus has told Dutch parliament in a briefing. The new government pledged to experiment with cultivating marijuana in an effort to remove the grey area between illegal supply and licenced cannabis cafes or coffee shops, where small amounts of marijuana can be bought for personal use. A specialist commission is due to report on how the experiment should be carried out by May 31, 2018. The experiment itself will run for four years in six to 10 local authority areas. (See also: Design of cannabis cultivation experiment to be clarified in the course of 2018 | Coffee shops react with caution)

  • Narcopisos: Spain's 'drug flats' give focus for fight against heroin threat

    Neighbourhood groups want more action from police and politicians to shut down apartments
    The Guardian (UK)
    Monday, March 12, 2018

    el ravalEmpty properties in El Raval (Barcelona), many of which are owned by banks and investment funds following Spain’s property crash, serve as distribution-points-cum-shooting galleries; places where people come to buy, smoke and inject cheap heroin. Three decades after the drugs epidemic that ravaged Spain in the 1980s, the proliferation of narcopisos in Barcelona, Madrid, Seville and Valencia is a reminder that heroin is far from gone – even if times have changed. Barcelona’s city council has spent €500,000 on securing properties in Raval and cleaning up the area, but they have limited powers and the dealers are much more agile than the courts and the police. (See also: Narcopisos: 'Drug flats' blight the heart of Spanish cities)

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