• It took Jeff Sessions just one month to turn Obama-era drug policy on its head

    Mandatory minimums are back
    The Washington Post (US)
    Friday, June 2, 2017

    In the month of May alone, the Trump administration, particularly Attorney General Jeff Sessions's Justice Department, steadily ratcheted up its tough-on-crime rhetoric and put in place some policies that give that rhetoric some real-world bite. The big news was a memo from Sessions directing federal prosecutors to pursue the most severe penalties possible for any crime, including drug offenses. That means more mandatory minimum sentences for federal drug crimes, a policy that the Justice Department administration had backed away from under President Barack Obama. Changes to policies governing marijuana and civil asset forfeiture are under consideration, according to the Associated Press.

  • Ban on cannabis infused edibles retrograde step — ganja association

    Justice ministry says no more sale or sampling of weed edibles at entertainment events
    Jamaica Observer (Jamaica)
    Friday, June 2, 2017

    jamaica browniesThe Ganja Growers and Producers Association of Jamaica said the recent ban on the sampling and sale of all cannabis infused edibles at entertainment events is a retrograde step and not one forthcoming with the emergence of Jamaica's cannabis industry and the development of the human resource capabilities of the industry players.The association along with another organisation, Scarce Commodity, said consultation and dialogue is needed to advance the discourse towards the implementation of regulated infused cannabis edible products that meet international standards and certification. (See also: Ganja stakeholders call for audit, protocol on weed-infused edibles)

  • Ottawa urged to withdraw from UN drug treaties ahead of pot legalization

    The federal government will announce how it plans to address the treaties. Canada is compliant with its international obligations right now
    The Globe and Mail (Canada)
    Friday, June 2, 2017

    Opposition parties and international legal experts are calling on Ottawa to say what it plans to do about three UN drug treaties that pose a conundrum for the Liberal government and its plans to legalize cannabis by the summer of 2018. Conservative foreign affairs critic Peter Kent says Canada’s international reputation is at stake, adding the government should pull out of the agreements rather than violate the letter of the treaties. A spokesperson for Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland would not say when the federal government will announce how it plans to address the treaties and said Canada is compliant with its international obligations right now.

  • Recreational drugs market should be managed by 'governments not gangsters', says expert

    Steve Rolles argues the war on drugs has been a ‘spectacular failure’ and has led to ‘the most rapid expansion of drug use in human history’
    The Independent (UK)
    Thursday, June 1, 2017

    Steve RollesOver the 50-odd years the global war on drugs has been fought, it’s been a catalogue of failure on pretty much every level you’d care to examine – bar the bank balance of those profiting from the outcome. In his latest book, Legalizing Drugs: The Key to Ending the War, Steve Rolles, a senior policy analyst on drug policy with the Transform Drug Policy Foundation, provides a brief history of the global war on drugs, outlining the cost five decades of the policy has had on public health, the economy and human rights, and then goes on to suggest how the market should instead be “managed by governments, not gangsters”.

  • The push to decriminalise drug use in Myanmar

    Proposed changes to a 1993 narcotics law will treat drug addiction as a health problem rather than a crime and emphasise treatment and rehabilitation over long prison sentences
    The Frontier (Burma)
    Wednesday, May 31, 2017

    Nang Pann Ei KhamThe amendments provide for police to be able to send drug users to receive treatment at medical facilities before being sent to rehabilitation centres. Adults will be required to attend the centres for two hours a day until they have completed a minimum of 180 hours and a maximum 240 hours of rehabilitation. Minors will be sent to child rehabilitation centres. Drug Policy Advocacy Group-Myanmar coordinator Dr Nang Pann Ei Kham said she was concerned some sections of the draft law lacked clarity. It is essential for the amendments to stipulate that treatment and rehabilitation programs are voluntary and appropriate to the needs of users.

  • In Mexico, the price of America’s hunger for heroin

    Along the country’s heroin highway, signs of a booming drug business and horrific bloodshed
    The Washington Post (US)
    Tuesday, May 30, 2017

    The opioid epidemic that has caused so much pain in the United States is also savaging Mexico, contributing to a breakdown of order in rural areas. Heroin is like steroids for drug gangs, pumping money and muscle into their fight to control territory and transportation routes to the United States. Mexico provides more than 90 percent of America’s heroin, up from less than 10 percent in 2003, when Colombia was the main supplier. Poppy production has expanded by about 800 percent in a decade as U.S. demand has soared.

  • Odisha is ganja’s ground zero

    Rural communities see the weed as a route to survival
    The Hindu (India)
    Tuesday, May 30, 2017

    Hemp grows illegally in vast stretches of Odisha’s inaccessible forested regions, making it one of the top cannabis-producing States in India. The plant is luxuriant in highly-suited climatic conditions, and its growth is aided by low police movement in Maoist-affected hilly regions as well as pervasive rural poverty. Out of over 8,500 acres of cannabis crop destroyed across the country during 2016-17, Odisha accounted for 47% with 4,028 acres. Despite the acreage of cannabis destroyed by enforcers going up three-fold in the State in the past five years, officials say the detected cultivation is just the tip of the iceberg. (See also: Odisha second in country to destroy cannabis cultivation)

  • We have waged war on drugs for a century. So who won?

    Extrajudicial killings in the Philippines show how prohibition has made a global problem far worse
    The Guardian (UK)
    Monday, May 29, 2017

    philippines human rightsWhile Rodrigo Duterte was campaigning to be elected president of the Philippines last year, he said on many occasions that he would arrange, if elected, for people who sold or used drugs to be killed. Extrajudicial killings began even before his inauguration, with victims usually shot and then drugs and guns planted to make it look like the assailants had acted in self-defence. A 77-page application last month by a lawyer, Jude Sabio – requesting the international criminal court to commence a preliminary investigation – estimated that at least 9,400 people have already been killed by police and vigilantes.

  • Uruguay, the first country where you can smoke marijuana wherever you like

    A new law makes the South American country the first in the world to sell the drug over the counter
    The Observer (UK)
    Saturday, May 27, 2017

    Not everyone is pleased with how legal marijuana is being implemented in Uruguay. “I’m happy because now you can plant without going to prison,” says Juan Manuel Varela, the 28-year-old manager of MDAR (Spanish-language acronym for high-quality marijuana), one of the cannabis clubs that have been set up under the new legislation. “But like many things in Uruguay, the new law is a good idea that is being applied badly.” Cannabis activists are upset that the new law falls short of full legalisation. “This law actually stigmatises marijuana more than it legalises it,” says Daniel Vidart. “Why should there be a registry of marijuana consumers and not one of alcohol consumers? Alcohol is a much deadlier drug."

  • Canada’s mayors call for speedy approval of proposals to address overdose crisis

    The task force wants the federal government to set national targets for reducing overdoses
    The Globe and Mail (Canada)
    Thursday, May 25, 2017

    Canada’s big-city mayors are calling for the expedited approval of new supervised drug-consumption sites, improved data collection and the expansion of unconventional therapies, such as heroin-assisted treatment, to address a national overdose crisis that shows no signs of abating. The formal recommendations from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ task force on the opioid crisis come as the Vancouver Police Department issues its own call for expanded addictions programs, including heroin-assisted treatment. (See also: Opioid crisis: Listen to the big-city mayors)

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