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Drones used to map ganja cultivation areas
The department had tried to get a satellite image of the cultivation area
The Hindu (India)
Tuesday, September 19, 2017
A major offensive against ganja cultivation was launched jointly by the Police and the Prohibition and Excise Departments in the Agency areas of Visakhapatnam and in the last four days the special teams destroyed standing ganja crop in about 102 acres in four Agency mandals. The Excise department has for the first time used three drones to map the area of cultivation. The department had tried to get a satellite image of the cultivation area. However, as the result was not satisfactory they switched on to drones. Both police and Excise officials are contemplating using chemical spray at the plantations. But this is still in the planning stage. (See also: ADRIN images to aid fight against hemp cultivation | Minors team up with ganja mafia for school fees) -
Socialists propose bill to regulate cannabis
The bill proposes two possible paths for production and distribution
The Brussels Times (Belgium)
Tuesday, September 19, 2017
The Socialist Party (PS) has submitted a bill to the Chamber of Representatives proposing a Belgian model for regulating cannabis. The draft law aims to organize public control of the market at all stages, from production to consumption, within a strict legal framework. The bill proposes two possible paths for production and distribution. One is individual production of cannabis strictly for personal use, for which a maximum number of plants would be established by a royal decree. The other path is production and distribution by ‘Cannabis Social Clubs’ on behalf of their members. (See also: Flemish academics make case for legal marijuana) -
Victorian Parliament can save lives by trialling safe injecting room
For more than the past decade, a medically supervised injecting centre has operated safely and with community and political support in inner Sydney's Kings Cross
The Age (Australia)
Monday, September 18, 2017
Dozens of people have fatally overdosed on heroin in the gutters, laneways and front gardens of Richmond. Not a single person has ever died in a safe-injecting space anywhere in the world. Yet the Victorian Labor government and Coalition opposition ignore growing calls to expedite something that not only prevents death, but puts addicts on a pathway to recovery. Experts in addiction and public health want a trial. Although some citizens are concerned by a safe injecting room, more and more residents and business owners, distressed by seeing ill and dead people and by being burgled, support a trial. Academic studies and official inquiries recommend a trial. The Coroner's Court wants one. And now the Police Association is adding its voice. -
Cannabis, l’envers de la réforme
Près de 200 000 personnes sont interpellées chaque année pour infraction à la législation sur les stupéfiants ; 80 % d’entre elles sont des consommateurs, principalement de cannabis
Le Monde (France)
Lundi, 18 septembre 2017
La réforme de la politique pénale voulue par le président de la République en matière d’usage de stupéfiants a trouvé ses soutiens. Et fait des déçus, concomitamment. A l’issue des auditions menées au cours des deux dernières semaines par la mission d’information parlementaire sur la mise en place d’une amende forfaitaire en cas d’usage de stupéfiants, une ligne de partage se dessine. Et avec elle, les limites d’une réforme qui s’annonce comme un rendez-vous forcément manqué. Le scénario d’une amende pour usage de stupéfiants augure un transfert majeur de la politique pénale de la justice vers la police et empêche une approche sanitaire et sociale du problème. -
“Despite the rise of gang crime, youth crime has been falling”
Copenhagen's Lord Mayor, Frank Jensen, explains why the time has come to legalise cannabis
The Murmur (Denmark)
Monday, September 18, 2017
As Justice Minister between 1996 and 2001, Frank Jensen opposed legalising cannabis. But after becoming Lord Mayor of Copenhagen in 2010, he changed his mind, arguing that legalising cannabis could both reduce gang crime and raise money for the state. Jensen explains why he still supports the measure. "We are currently in the midst of a gang war with crazy shootings taking place on the street that have targeted innocent people. We cannot solve this immediate conflict by legalising cannabis. What we need right here and now is for our police to accomplish the enormous task of getting the gangs off the city streets. Having said that, I still believe that legalising cannabis would remove a significant contributing factor behind the gang rivalry." (See also: Time to free the weed) -
The marijuana war has gone local, and pot advocates are losing — badly
There is little sign that many marijuana businesses are joining the battle, despite having the most at stake
The Boston Globe (US)
Sunday, September 17, 2017
The fight over the legalization of marijuana in Massachusetts isn’t over. But one side has already gone home. Last November, a well-funded and well-organized coalition of advocates led by the national Marijuana Policy Project persuaded more than 1.7 million Massachusetts voters to approve Question 4 and establish a system of regulated cannabis commerce. Since then, though, a new front has opened over legalized marijuana — dozens of fronts, actually, in cities and towns across the state, where voters and local officials have already imposed moratoriums and bans on licensed pot firms or are set to vote on similar measures this fall. -
Toronto's guerrilla war on drug overdoses
Activists get ahead of official response to rising opioid-related deaths by setting up technically illegal supervised drug use site
The Globe and Mail (Canada)
Friday, September 15, 2017
Nurses and volunteers watch over drug users at the Toronto's first pop-up supervised drug-use site. In the month since the site started operating in a gritty east-end park with the tacit approval of police and city officials, volunteers have stopped 27 overdoses. The activists behind the site, who call themselves the Toronto Harm Reduction Alliance, say it's a desperately needed response to the rising wave of opioid overdose deaths caused by the increasing presence of fentanyl in other street drugs. The mayor and city officials do not want it to become a permanent fixture in the park. -
End the gang war by setting cannabis free
While parliament is divided over whether to legalise cannabis, Copenhagen City Hall is in favour
The Murmur (Denmark)
Thursday, September 14, 2017
Until the early 2000s, Copenhagen’s cannabis trade was centred in Christiania, an autonomous enclave of the city featuring around two dozen stalls where a variety of cannabis products were sold to locals and tourists. But after a succession of police crackdowns on Christiania in the early 2000s, the cannabis trade became more decentralised, spreading throughout the city. Ever since, gangs have been fighting to control the street trade of cannabis, and this summer the conflict flared again. Lord Mayor Frank Jensen has long supported the idea of a three-year trial legalisation programme, in which the municipality would run five or six dispensaries around the city selling cannabis products at the same prices as the criminal markets. -
Trump delivers shock rebuke to Colombia over cocaine surge
Trump said he "seriously considered" also decertifying Colombia because of the "extraordinary" growth of coca cultivation and cocaine production to record levels
The New York Times (US)
Thursday, September 14, 2017
U.S. President Donald Trump is threatening that he may decertify Colombia as a partner in the war against drugs unless the South American nation reverses a record surge in cocaine production. The shock rebuke for Washington's staunchest ally in Latin America came in the White House's annual designation of nations it deems major drug-producing or drug-transit zones. Colombia, the source of 90 percent of the cocaine consumed in the U.S., has long been a fixture on the list, which was unchanged from last year. (See also: Colombia defends anti-drug efforts after Trump critique | The most important trends in Colombia’s drug policy, explained) -
Uruguay setting up dedicated cannabis dispensaries after banks scare off pharmacies
Banks had refused to deal with companies linked to cannabis in order to follow international financial laws
The Associated Press (US)
Thursday, September 14, 2017
Uruguay’s government announced that it is changing its retail system for legalized marijuana because banks are making it difficult for pharmacies to sell cannabis as planned. Banks are refusing to deal with companies linked to cannabis in order to follow international financial laws that ban receiving money tied to the drug, pharmacists and officials said. To avoid the problems faced by pharmacies, Uruguay will set up shops to sell marijuana for cash, said government official Juan Andres Roballo. Some U.S. marijuana retailers in states that have legalized sales have encountered similar banking difficulties as the drug remains illegal on a federal level.
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