• Pot task force recommends legal cannabis sales be limited to users over 18

    Federal government has promised to table legislation legalizing cannabis in spring 2017
    CBC News (Canada)
    Tuesday, December 13, 2016

    The task force appointed by the federal government to study the legalization of marijuana said cannabis sales should be restricted to those 18 and older with a personal possession limit of 30 grams in its final report on cannabis legalization and regulation. The Canadian Medical Association had recommended setting the age at 21 – with strict limits on quantity and potency until 25 – but the task force said that higher age limits would simply drive young consumers into the hands of the black market, something the government hopes to actively discourage. (See also: Federal task force advises wide-ranging legalization of recreational marijuana)

  • Mexican Senate passes medical marijuana bill

    Recreational marijuana is still broadly prohibited in Mexico
    Reuters (UK)
    Tuesday, December 13, 2016

    mexico-flag-cannabis Mexico's Senate overwhelmingly approved a bill that would allow for the use of medical marijuana, in a further step toward outright legalization in a country long wracked by warring drug cartels. The measure would also allow for production of marijuana for scientific and medicinal purposes. The bill, part of a proposal that President Enrique Pena Nieto submitted to Congress earlier this year, must also be passed by Mexico's lower house to become law.

  • Top anti-drug body recommends pot decriminalization

    But public security minister remains strongly opposed to easing guidelines on possession of up to 25 grams of cannabis
    Times of Israel (Israel)
    Monday, December 12, 2016

    israel-cannabisMinister of Public Security Gilad Erdan is expected to deliver a formal dressing down to the heads of Israel’s leading anti-drug organization after the latter, at a Knesset meeting, came out in favor of decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana. Speaking at the Knesset’s Special Committee on Drug and Alcohol Abuse, top representatives from the Israel Anti-Drug Authority recommended that the possession of up to 25 grams of marijuana should not be treated as a criminal offense. (See also: Is Israel on the way to decriminalizing marijuana?)

  • Cannabis users want same rights as smokers, drinkers

    The parties do support drug legislation, and some form of regulation of cannabis, but feel the ban is inappropriate
    News24 (South Africa)
    Tuesday, December 13, 2016

    Cannabis users in South Africa want the same rights as alcohol drinkers and cigarette smokers to use the herb without fear of arrest, Dagga Party leader Jeremy Acton said in the Western Cape High Court in Cape Town. He said people caught using it were being treated unfairly, and mainly blacks were suffering because of this. “Racial profiling with regard to cannabis in South Africa is absolutely disgusting. I have seen darker- skinned people stopped and searched without a warrant on the streets, and yet I walk past with my pocket full.” (See also: No proof that dagga is harmful - Prince)

  • Chuck promises Rastas speedy approval of ganja requests

    On the matter of temples the minister warned that the establishment of religious buildings is governed by law
    Jamaica Observer (Jamaica)
    Monday, December 12, 2016

    jamaica rastaJustice Minister Delroy Chuck has moved to assure members of the Rastafarian faith in Jamaica that their requests to transport ganja to be smoked as a religious sacrament will be granted expeditiously. This follows a demonstration late last month by irate Rastafarians in front of the Barnett Street Police Station in the wake of the seizure by police of 10 pounds of the weed from a member of the faith. “Where, unfortunately, a lot of you (Rastas) are getting into trouble is to get it (ganja) from where you buy it, or where you grow it, to the temple or to your home. You need an exemption. If you are going to transport it at all, just write me to get the exemption. I will approve it within hours,” the justice minister guaranteed.

  • Make heroin available on prescription, official UK drug advisers say

    Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs also suggests supervised injecting rooms to combat rising number of drug deaths
    The Guardian (UK)
    Monday, December 12, 2016

    uk-heroin-injectingHeroin on prescription and supervised injecting rooms are among a range of measures that the government’s drug advisers have suggested to reverse the UK’s soaring numbers of drug deaths. Responding to a sharp rise in the number of heroin-related deaths in recent years, the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs said maintenance of drug treatment programmes was essential to prevent further increases. Overdoses hit record levels in England and Wales last year sparking criticism of the government’s approach to drugs and addiction services. (See also: UK's first 'fix room' for heroin addicts to open in Glasgow)

  • Colombian leader: "It makes no sense" to jail peasant over marijuana

    He wouldn’t be against legalizing drugs if the world viewed it as a solution
    CBS News (US)
    Sunday, December 11, 2016

    santos-thumb-upColombian President Juan Manuel Santos used the Nobel podium in Norway to reiterate his call to "rethink" the war on drugs. "It makes no sense to imprison a peasant who grows marijuana, when nowadays, its cultivation and use are legal in eight states of the United States," he said. The decades-old war on drugs has produced enormous violence and environ­mental damage in nations that supply cocaine, and needs to be supplanted by a global focus on easing laws prohibiting consumption. His remarks reflected views he’s held as far back as at least 2012, when he discussed his ideas for new approaches in the drug war in a Guardian interview.

  • Pills that kill: why are thousands dying from fentanyl abuse?

    Fentanyl is a painkiller that is 50 times stronger than heroin. It has already killed thousands
    The Observer (UK)
    Sunday, December 11, 2016

    fentanyl-epidemicFentanyl is the latest and most disturbing twist in the epidemic of opioid addiction that has crept across the United States over the past two decades, claiming close to 200,000 lives. Fentanyl is a painkiller that is 50 times stronger than heroin. Prince, like almost all fentanyl’s victims, probably never even knew he was taking the drug. The ingredients for fentanyl are openly available in China and easily imported ready for manufacture. In September, the DEA issued a warning about the rise of a fentanyl variant that is 100 times more powerful – carfentanil, a drug used to tranquilise elephants. (See also: The fentanyl crisis is so deadly in Canada that even funeral directors need the antidote)

  • New medical marijuana research could greenlight more uses in treatment

    Though the US Drug Enforcement Agency hasn’t reclassified marijuana, easier availability of the drug for study has the potential to unearth new medical uses
    The Guardian (UK)
    Saturday, December 10, 2016

    Despite its continuing hardline stance against marijuana, the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has shown some signs of relenting and this summer opened the door to allowing more farms to grow cannabis for official research purposes. That’s an important step forward that may change the potential marijuana has for medical treatment. Up to this point, researchers have had to depend on just one farm at the University of Mississippi to supply cannabis for all studies.

  • Ottawa moves to facilitate more injection sites as death toll climbs

    More than 622 people have died of illicit drug overdose deaths in B.C alone
    The Globe and Mail (Canada)
    Saturday, December 10, 2016

    Ottawa will introduce a bill that is expected to reduce barriers to opening and operating supervised drug-con­sumption sites in Canada. The move comes after B.C. announced it would open several “overdose prevention sites” without federal approval as an emergency measure to counter the province’s highest death toll on record due to illicit drugs. As well, carfentanil – a powerful synthetic opioid more toxic than fentanyl – has now been detected in three provinces and is beginning to fuel another surge in overdoses, creating a new sense of urgency.

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