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Ganja debate gone up in smoke
What has happened to the great Caribbean marijuana-ganja debate?
The Vincentinian (St. Vincent)
Friday, December 9, 2016
Why, after all the excitement occasioned by the forthrightness of Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, the one who first broached the issue at a regional level, and the subsequent setting up in 2014 of a Regional Commission on Marijuana to examine the social, economic, health and legal issues surrounding its use in the Caribbean, and to determine whether there should be a change in the current classification of marijuana as a dangerous drug, has there been such a deafening silence here and across the region? The region seemed to have pulled the plug on this bottle of excitement. -
7 reasons President Trump is unlikely to fight legal marijuana
A look at why it would be hard to stop what the states have started
Time (US)
Thursday, December 8, 2016
With Donald Trump nominating Cabinet members who have spoken out against legal marijuana, some are arguing that the war on drugs may make a comeback. But while there’s reason for anxiety among those selling recreational marijuana legally in states like Colorado and Washington, an all-out war remains unlikely. Experts say that trying to undo legalization at this point would come with serious economic and political hurdles. -
The next big bubble could be in Canada’s soaring pot market
The capital pouring into the sector is likened to the dot com craze of the 1990s
The Globe and Mail / Bloomberg News (Canada)
Thursday, December 8, 2016
The surge of capital into Canada’s nascent marijuana industry has sent stock prices soaring – and brought warnings it’s a bubble that could soon burst. The value of 26 marijuana stocks listed in Canada has swelled to almost $4-billion from close to nothing in the past two years, as investors rushed to bet on the country’s move toward legalizing recreational use. While investor optimism is being fueled by analysts’ estimates that there could be about 3.8 million recreational marijuana users in Canada by 2021 and billions in sales, there’s mounting concern companies are overvalued. (See also: Canada’s reefer madness reaches new heights as rivals merge) -
'They are slaughtering us like animals'
Inside President Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal antidrug campaign in the Philippines
The New York Times (US)
Wednesday, December 7, 2016
I had come to document the bloody and chaotic campaign against drugs that President Rodrigo Duterte began when he took office on June 30: since then, about 2,000 people had been slain at the hands of the police alone. What I experienced in the Philippines felt like a new level of ruthlessness: police officers' summarily shooting anyone suspected of dealing or even using drugs, vigilantes' taking seriously Mr. Duterte's call to "slaughter them all." Beyond those killed in official drug operations, the Philippine National Police have counted more than 3,500 unsolved homicides since July 1, turning much of the country into a macabre house of mourning. -
Düsseldorf moves forward with plans to legalize cannabis
It hopes to use scientific research to gain the approval it needs from the federal government
Deutsche Welle (Germany)
Wednesday, December 7, 2016
Düsseldorf took the next step in its plan to legalize the regulated sale of recreational cannabis to over 18 year-olds, taking advice from experts in psychology, crime and economics during a consultation at City Hall. Representatives from the Cologne and Münster city councils interested in pursuing similar schemes were also present at the meeting. The proposal for cannabis legalization in Düsseldorf was first put forward a year ago by the City Council's "traffic light" (red-yellow-green) coalition of Social Democrats, liberal Free Democrats and Greens. (Kiffen soll in Düsseldorf legal werden | Düsseldorf hopes to pull other cities onto weed legalization plan) -
Trudeau’s bait and switch on legalization?
The Liberals promised to “legalize, regulate and restrict access to marijuana”, not create a consumer market
Lift (Canada)
Sunday, December 4, 2016
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently expressed frustration around the current cannabis landscape, explaining, “Until we have brought in the proposed system… the current prohibition stands”, and encouraging police to enforce the law, particularly as it pertains to the continued expansion of medical cannabis dispensaries in major cities across Canada. The response has been one of uniform frustration from many angles, but I don’t believe Justin Trudeau actually lied about the Liberal party’s intentions on the cannabis file. To claim that Trudeau lied seems confusing – no government could really get away with a legalization ‘free for all’, but more importantly, a majority of Canadians don’t want that. -
The village where cannabis is the only livelihood
A look at the old tax books shows that the plant was legally cultivated and sold for decades before India's drug law
The Independent (UK)
Sunday, December 4, 2016
For centuries, the villagers have been growing the plant that has made Malana one of the world's top stoner destinations, and a battleground – at least symbolically – for India's haphazard fight against "charas," the black and sticky hashish that has made the village famous. In 1985, the Indian government gave in to international pressure and banned the production and consumption of cannabis. Possession of a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of charas is punishable by a minimum 10 years' imprisonment. (See also: Demonetisation effect: Himachal narcotics trade hit hard, peddlers hunt for cash) -
Europe's outdoor cannabis capital
Sources within Albania suggest many communities have turned to cannabis for the first time this year
BBC News (UK)
Thursday, December 1, 2016
Albania has become the largest producer of outdoor-grown cannabis in Europe. The potent plant has been described as "green gold" for struggling farmers. In a poor nation, it's a billion-euro industry. In Albania, a kilo of this illegal drug sells for between 100 and 200 euros. In Italy it will fetch about 1,500 euros. And most of the country's cannabis crop is trafficked out - north through Montenegro, south to Greece, or west across the Adriatic to Italy. There is no significant home market. One source estimates the illicit industry may be worth five billion euros per year - about half of Albania's GDP. (See also: An Albanian war on drugs) -
The California desert town that plans to be 'a Mecca for marijuana'
Two years ago Desert Hot Springs declared a fiscal emergency, and decided pot might be the answer to its woes
The Independent (UK)
Thursday, December 1, 2016
Desert Hot Springs is the first Southern California city to legalise large-scale cannabis cultivation. With the drug becoming legal for recreational use in the Golden State, the town hopes to draw pot tourists with the promise of 'bud and breakfast' resorts and 'soak and toke' options at its famous mineral spas. California was the first US state to legalise medical marijuana, in 1996, but its weed farmers operated in a grey market until 2015, when the state agreed new regulations allowing growers to apply for licences. At November’s election, California voters passed Proposition 64, legalising the drug for recreational use. -
Marijuana task force submits report outlining framework for legal system
The Liberal government has promised to table legislation to legalize marijuana for recreational use in the spring of 2017
The Globe and Mail (Canada)
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
Canada’s new legal marijuana regime is expected to feature a mishmash of provincial rules and a heavily regulated production system that will initially favour existing producers of medical cannabis. Former Liberal cabinet minister Anne McLellan, who leads a task force outlining a framework for the system, gave her report to the government, offering recommendations on how marijuana should be legally produced and sold and how it could be consumed and by whom. The report still has to be translated into French before being made public in coming weeks. (See also: 8 burning questions about the coming federal pot report)
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