• Netherlands coffee shop case highlights 'paradox' of cannabis laws

    The president of the court in Den Bosch said the story of Checkpoint cafe highlighted the absurdity of the law in the Netherlands
    The Guardian (UK)
    Wednesday, November 29, 2017

    With 3,000 customers a day, a restaurant, ample parking and turnover of €26m (£23m) a year, Checkpoint cafe, the largest cannabis-selling coffee shop in the Netherlands, was a fabulous commercial success. That was until it was closed down in 2009 for testing to the limits what the Dutch describe as their gedoogbeleid (tolerance policy), under which prosecutors turn a blind eye to the breaking of certain laws, including in the business of selling cannabis. An appeals court ruled that the cafe’s owner, Meddie Willemsen, was guilty of running a criminal enterprise, but said he will not face any punishment.

  • Federal marijuana legislation approved by House of Commons, moves on to Senate

    The federal NDP supports the government's legislation
    The Globe and Mail (Canada)
    Tuesday, November 28, 2017

    canada cannabis flagThe federal government's plan to legalize marijuana by next summer is a step closer. Bill C-45 received final approval Monday in the House of Commons, passing by a vote of 200-82. It now moves to the Senate, where Conservative senators are threatening to hold up passage of the bill. That could yet derail the government's plan to have a legalized pot regime up and running by July. Some provinces have complained they can't be ready to implement and enforce the legislation so quickly. But a Conservative bid to force a delay in its implementation went down to defeat, by a vote of 199-83.

  • Les prix du cannabis légal s'effondrent

    Les producteurs sont toujours plus nombreux à se lancer dans le cannabidiol. Conséquence: l'offre dépasse désormais la demande, ouvrant la voie à un assainissement du marché
    Tribune de Genève (Suisse)
    Mardi, 28 novembre 2017

    La Suisse connaît un raz-de-marée vert, celui du cannabis légal ou cannabidiol (CBD), dont le taux de l'agent psychotrope THC est inférieur à 1%. Alors qu'il n'y avait que cinq producteurs enregistrés en janvier, ils sont 410 en novembre, explique le Tages-Anzeiger. L'administration fédérale des douanes, chargée de percevoir l'impôt sur le tabac et donc du CBD, anticipe pour 2017 un chiffre d'affaires de 60 millions de francs pour la branche. Si ses prévisions sont avérées, elle en récoltera 15 millions, alors qu'elle n'avait rien vu en 2016, le marché étant inexistant. Une bagatelle par rapport au cannabis traditionnel, qui rapporte environ 800 millions par an.

  • Court finds owner of biggest cannabis cafe guilty, but rules out punishment

    Checkpoint was for years the biggest cannabis café in the Netherlands, serving between 2,000 and 3,000 customers a day
    Dutch News (Netherlands)
    Tuesday, November 28, 2017

    The owner of the former Checkpoint cannabis café in Terneuzen, close to the border with Belgium, has been found guilty of trading in soft drugs and membership of a criminal organisation but will not face any punishment after a legal process stretching back to 2010. The appeal court judges in Den Bosch said the owner had broken the terms of his licence from the town council but said this is inevitable ‘when you run a profitable coffee shop’. The government is under pressure to tackle the grey area between coffee shop sales and the supply side, which is often in the hands of organised crime. It is planning to launch trials of licenced marijuana production in several local authority areas.

  • Councils call for more experimental approach to cannabis production

    Some councils have already begun drafting their own proposals for how they want to organise the supply chain
    Dutch News (Netherlands)
    Monday, November 27, 2017

    Councils have pleaded with the Dutch government to give them more autonomy in their experiments with legal cannabis production rather than imposing a ‘one size fits all’ solution. The new government plans to allow around 10 local authorities to regulate small-scale production in an attempt to take criminal gangs out of the supply chain. The coalition agreement has set a target of seeing ‘uniform experiments in the permitted cultivation of cannabis for recreational use’ introduced within six months. But local mayors who have expressed an interest in the scheme argue that a diverse approach has more chance of succeeding.

  • Inside Crackland: the open-air drug market that São Paulo just can’t kick

    This brazen drug scene has been a stubborn fixture of downtown São Paulo for more than two decades
    The Guardian (UK)
    Monday, November 27, 2017

    brazil sp cracolandiaThe brazen drug scene of Cracolândia is unlike nearly anything in any city in the world – hundreds and sometimes thousands of addicts, congregating openly in the city’s bustling downtown core. Every mayor thinks they have a solution. After taking office in January, the current mayor, business mogul João Doria, declared war on Crackland. A veritable battalion of 900 armed police and security agents descended on the addicts. Local government officials heralded the operation a success. Doria, triumphant, declared: “Crackland is over and won’t come back.” Six months later, Crackland continues, just metres away from where it was cleared.

  • Inside Paraguay's illegal cannabis plantations

    Cannabis money feeds families and keeps communities functioning in this corner of Paraguay, but does not provide enough to get these people out of their misery
    Al Jazeera
    Saturday, November 25, 2017

    Eighty percent of cannabis produced in Paraguay is smuggled to Brazil, according to data from Paraguay's National Anti-Drug Secretariat (SENAD). Three million Brazilians regularly use the drug, according to the Second National Survey on Alcohol and Drugs at the Federal University of Sao Paulo, and in the first six months of 2017, Brazil's Federal Police seized 126 tonnes of the drug, most of it originating from Paraguay. The Paraguayan plantations are believed to cover 7,000 hectares. Those working on land reveal a widespread system of impunity, guaranteed by a network of corrupt police officers and other officials.

  • The Swiss cannabis farm aiming to supply 'legal weed' across Europe

    With its low-THC and high-CBD products already on sale in Switzerland and France – and soon the UK – Swiss business CBD420 are keen to see clearer regulation around the supply of cannabis
    The Guardian (UK)
    Friday, November 24, 2017

    In fields across Switzerland the harvest time for cannabis is coming to an end, and workers are distributing the crop to shops in France and Switzerland. Soon, the plants could be available across much of Europe. The man behind the operation is 31-year-old Jonas Duclos, a former banker, and what he is doing is legal. His business, CBD420, sells BlueDream, a strain of hemp cultivated to ensure the level of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, is low enough (0.2%) to be lawful in most European countries. The UK is one of the exceptions: any trace of THC is outlawed. (See also: A Swiss startup is pumping out legal hashish)

  • Why Indonesia’s drugs problem is getting worse despite ‘shoot on sight’ orders and draconian laws

    President Joko Widodo has given authorities wider powers, drug laws have been tightened and the death penalty for drugs reinstated
    South China Morning Post (China)
    Tuesday, November 21, 2017

    In the eyes of Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo, drug use is a serious problem. Inspired by his Filipino counterpart Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs, authorities have been granted shoot-on-sight orders for dealers and traffickers, while lawmakers are introducing increasingly tougher regulations. Yet the world’s fourth most populated country remains awash with drugs. According to Sulistiandriatmoko, the chief representative of the National Anti-Narcotics Agency, official data shows there are nearly six million drug users across the sprawling archipelago. A 2016 report by international research and advocacy group the Transnational Institute found that between 2009 and 2012, about 37,000 Indonesians were sentenced to jail terms for using cannabis.

  • Federal government proposes 'micro' cultivation licences for small growers, rolls out public cannabis consultation

    Cultivation licences would be divided into four categories
    The Georgia Straight (Canada)
    Tuesday, November 21, 2017

    The federal government has proposed a licensing program that could allow for more of B.C.'s 'micro' producers to be included in the legal mix. Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor announced the release of a consultation paper detailing the government's proposed approach to the regulation of cannabis. She also announced the launch of a 60-day consultation period, and said that the government is eager to hear from Canadians, provinces and territories, municipalities, industry stakeholders, patients and more on its plan. Among the regulatory proposals set out in the paper, the first proposes a system for licensing that intends to allow for different activities in the market. (See also: Canada proposes health warnings, child-proof packs for legal pot sales)

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