• Overshadowed by the opioid crisis: A comeback by cocaine

    It’s the No. 2 killer among illicit drugs in the U.S. and kills more African-Americans than heroin does
    The New York Times (US)
    Monday, March 5, 2018

    The opioid epidemic just keeps getting worse, presenting challenges discussed at length at a White House summit last week. But opioids are not America’s only significant drug problem. Among illicit drugs, cocaine is the No. 2 killer and claims the lives of more African-Americans than heroin does. According to a recent study published in The Archives of Internal Medicine, among non-Hispanic black Americans, cocaine has been a larger problem than heroin for nearly 20 years. For example, over 2012-15, cocaine overdoses claimed 7.6 per 100,000 black men. In contrast, heroin overdoses claimed 5.45 per 100,000 black men. Black women use both drugs at lower rates than men, but cocaine overdoses exceed those from heroin for them as well.

  • BNN to continue gunning down drug dealers: Chief

    BNN shot dead 79 drug dealers in 2017
    Tempo (Indonesia)
    Monday, March 5, 2018

    Newly-installed head of the National Narcotics Agency (BNN), Insp. Gen. Heru Winarko, said he would continue the programs of his predecessor, Budi Waseso, including gunning down drug dealers who resisted arrest. He added the authorities would open fire on suspects who fought back when arrested and jeopardized his personnel or any other member of the authorities. “If we meet resistance, there is no other choice but to execute them,” said Heru. Narcotics policy analyst of the LBH Masyarakat, Yohan Misero, appealed to the government to stop using death penalty as a symbol of success in the country's battle against narcotics.

  • Cannabis cultivation a go for giant Canadian tomato greenhouse

    The facility has the size of about 19 football fields
    The Cannabist (US)
    Monday, March 5, 2018

    canada industrial cannabis village farmsCanadian officials have green-lighted a plan to convert a gargantuan tomato greenhouse for cannabis cultivation. Health Canada issued a cannabis cultivation license for the 1.1 million-square-foot greenhouse operated by the joint venture of produce grower Village Farms International Inc. and medical cannabis firm Emerald Health Therapeutics Inc.. The companies plan to immediately start growing cannabis in the Delta, British Columbia, greenhouse and set expectations to receive the sales license by July 1, 2018. The facility that’s the size of about 19 football field is “conservatively” expected to produce 75,000 kilograms, or about 165,350 pounds, of cannabis annually.

  • New studies show that legal cannabis access reduces opioid abuse

    For many patients, cannabis offers a viable alternative to opioids
    The Hill (US)
    Sunday, March 4, 2018

    Scientific data is growing nearly by the day in support of the notion that legalized cannabis can mitigate opioid use and abuse. For instance, among states where medical cannabis access is permitted, patients routinely lessen their opioid intake. According to data published this week by the Minnesota Department of Health, among those patients known to be taking opiate painkillers upon their enrollment into the program, 63 percent “were able to reduce or eliminate opioid usage after six months.” A review of state-registered patients from various northeastern states yielded similar results, finding, 77 percent of respondents acknowledged having reduced their use of opioids following cannabis therapy.

  • Rodrigo Duterte tells police not to cooperate in drug war investigation

    International criminal court opens case after complaint accusing Philippines president of crimes against humanity
    The Guardian (UK)
    Friday, March 2, 2018

    President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the Philippines’ police and soldiers not to cooperate in any investigation into his bloody war on drugs, amid international calls for an external probe. Western countries and rights groups have expressed alarm over the killing by police of more than 4,000 Filipinos since Duterte took office in June 2016, plus hundreds more killings of drug users by unknown gunmen. An international criminal court prosecutor has opened a preliminary examination into a complaint accusing Duterte and top officials of crimes against humanity. Duterte says he welcomes that and is willing to “rot in jail” to protect Filipinos.

  • Harsh laws and high usage: France looks to reform its drug policies

    The number of 15- and 16-year-olds who say they use cannabis is higher in France than in any other European country
    France 24 (France)
    Thursday, March 1, 2018

    President Emmanuel Macron has taken steps to reform drug laws amid concerns that France has seen a continuous rise in drug use despite having some of the strictest narcotics laws in Europe. But is the country ready for a radical new approach? A parliamentary report released in January noted that – since the law criminalising drugs was passed on December 31, 1970 – the number of drug arrests in France has steadily increased, to nearly 140,000 in 2016 (or 67.5% of all arrests). In 2015 alone, there were 37,160 convictions for the use of narcotics versus just 3,481 in 2000–a 10.6-fold increase in 15 years. The report acknowledged that France’s current drug policies are “inefficient” as well as “very time-consuming for police and magistrates”.

  • House approves production of pharmaceutical cannabis

    Once regulations are in place, people prescribed medical cannabis will be able to buy the drug from licensed pharmacies
    Kathimerini (Greece)
    Thursday, March 1, 2018

    Parliament approved legislation allowing the manufacture of cannabis for medicinal purposes in Greece. The new legislation sets out the rules governing the cultivation and production of the particular types of the plant that are used for pharmaceutical purposes, as well as the operation of manufacturing units. The bill, which was voted for by the ruling majority, centrist To Potami and Democratic Alignment, was criticized by New Democracy lawmaker Konstantinos Vlasis, who said that it leaves loopholes allowing for the recreational use of cannabis. (See also: Greek Parliament passes bill to regulate medical cannabis production)

  • Jamaica missing out on growing ganja industry — Golding

    The issue that is plaguing the approval process is that the Ministry of Health is problematic
    Jamaica Observer (Jamaica)
    Thursday, March 1, 2018

    mark golding speakingOpposition Spokesperson on Finance Mark Golding today told the Standing Finance Committee of Parliament that the cannabis sector needs full governmental support if Jamaica is to take advantage of the growing global industry. He singled out the Ministry of Health as not being fully cooperative in the approval process and said the composition of the current Cannabis Licensing Board is properly constructed and represents a wide range of stakeholders both private and public. According to Golding, government bureaucracy has turned off a number of overseas investors. (See also: Gov't seeking to improve ganja licence approval process)

  • Skunk is causing misery – criminalisation isn’t working

    Drugs reform has been urged by doctors and police chiefs. Yet our politicians have failed to act, and the consequences have been disastrous
    The Guardian (UK)
    Thursday, March 1, 2018

    Can Britain ever kill its worst taboo? This week’s news of the soaring prevalence of skunk, in place of weaker and less harmful herbal forms of cannabis, is appalling. With other news of prison chaos due to an epidemic of artificial cannabis (spice), government drugs policy is devoid of coherence – and clearly lethal. Deaths from drug misuse are now at an all-time high. Every move towards liberalising Britain’s drug laws is opposed by every government. Reform has been proposed by doctors, backbenchers, police chiefs, the press and pressure groups from right and left. The truth is that the prevalence of harmful drugs in Britain is not caused by policy. It is caused by politicians.

  • Big Tobacco invests in Canadian marijuana, leaving B.C.'s craft-cannabis producers uneasy

    A midsize U.S. company has bought majority stakes in two Canadian businesses to prepare for the medicinal-marijuana trade
    The Georgia Straight (Canada)
    Wednesday, February 28, 2018

    canada big marijuanaEarlier this month, an unremarkable sentence appeared in a quarterly report published by Alliance One International, a tobacco company headquartered in North Carolina. “In January, we successfully acquired majority stakes in two new joint ventures,” it reads. Further into the document, it is announced that an Alliance One subsidiary called Canadian Cultivated Products had secured a 75-percent equity position in Canada’s Island Garden Inc. and an 80-percent stake in Goldleaf Pharm Inc. Island Garden and Goldleaf Pharm are medicinal-cannabis companies. (See also: Big US tobacco company buys stakes in Canadian cannabis growers, American hemp firm)

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