• Rajasthan: Opium husk ban from April 1 puts addicts, customs in a fix

    A comprehensive ban on the sale of doda post, or poppy husk, from April 1 brings to a close an important chapter of Rajasthan’s social and political tradition
    The Hindustan Times (India)
    Friday, April 1, 2016

    A comprehensive ban on the sale of doda post, or poppy husk, from April 1 brings to a close an important chapter of Rajasthan’s social and political tradition. The drug has been an emotive issue in the state, symbolising societal bonding as well as political convenience. Serving drinks made of opium and poppy husk has been a long-standing ritual during ceremonies including weddings in western Rajasthan. Thousands of consumers queued up regularly at government-authorised shops in the districts of Jaislamer, Barmer, Bikaner and Ganganagar to get their fix. These were registered users who got a monthly quota endorsed by their doctors. (See also: Doda or death? Addicts forced to choose after poppy husk ban | Doda post ‘mafia’ thrives as govt turns a blind eye)

  • Une agence de régulation pour le cannabis?

    Les spécialistes plaident pour le lancement d’une réflexion élargie
    L'Economiste (Maroc)
    Vendredi, 1 avril 2016

    Quelle différence entre un joint et une cigarette normale? Rien ou presque, selon les partisans de la régulation du cannabis. Dans le cas du tabac, il s’agit d’une activité dont la culture, la production et la consommation sont régies par la loi, ce qui permet de contrôler son extension et éviter les dérapages. «Cela devrait être le cas de même pour le cannabis», affirme Abdellah Ounnir, professeur à la fac de droit de Tanger, surtout en ce qui concerne la consommation. Pour ce dernier, qui intervenait lors du colloque international sur le cannabis à Tanger, la consommation de haschich relève de la liberté individuelle de chacun et devrait être de la sorte dépénalisée. Ce qui aiderait à désengorger les prisons marocaines dont une grande partie des détenus sont liés à des affaires de consommation de drogue.

  • Barack Obama: 'drug addiction is a health problem, not a criminal problem'

    Speaking at a drug abuse summit in Atlanta, the US president committed to tackling heroin and prescription opioid epidemic with prevention and treatment
    The Guardian (UK)
    Wednesday, March 30, 2016

    Barack Obama committed to take on America’s growing heroin and prescription opioid epidemic by devoting resources to prevention and treatment, rather than to the “war on drugs” policies of the last few decades. “For too long we’ve viewed drug addiction through the lens of criminal justice,” Obama said at a conference in Atlanta. “The most important thing to do is reduce demand. And the only way to do that is to provide treatment – to see it as a public health problem and not a criminal problem.” (See also: Obama calls for more funds, new attitude to fight opioid epidemic)

  • Was Nixon's war on drugs a racially motivated crusade?

    It's a bit more complicated...
    Vox (US)
    Tuesday, March 29, 2016

    Last week, the internet exploded with a fairly shocking allegation: President Richard Nixon began America's war on drugs to criminalize black people and hippies, according to a newly revealed 1994 quote from Nixon domestic policy adviser John Ehrlichman. But Ehrlichman's claim is likely an oversimplification, according to historians who have studied the period and Nixon's drug policies in particular. Nixon's drug war was largely a public health crusade — one that would be reshaped into the modern, punitive drug war by later administrations, particularly President Ronald Reagan. (See Dan Baum article in Harpers Magazine)

  • Killing the economic lifeblood of the Eastern Cape's weed-producing people

    Police helicopters have sprayed herbicide in an effort to curb marijuana output
    Sunday Times (South Africa)
    Sunday, March 27, 2016

    swaziland-cannabis-familyIn the mountains of Pondoland in the Eastern Cape, 'intsangu' is green gold: the key to the rural poor's economic survival. Why then, despite global progress towards decriminalising cannabis, are police spraying crops with poison from helicopters? The police say they would not be "derailed" from their mission unless "interdicted by court or advised not to proceed by the government of the Republic of South Africa, acting on advice of toxicologists employed to look at the interests of the state". In the absence of an interdict, "the SAPS will continue with the aerial spraying programme to eradicate illicit cannabis crops". (See also: Cops to spray poison on dagga)

  • Support for marijuana legalization has hit an all-time high

    The survey is likely to put some wind at the back of reformers hoping for victories on marijuana this year
    The Washington Post (US)
    Friday, March 25, 2016

    ThreeThingsDrugsA survey released by the University of Chicago finds that a record-high percentage of Americans – 61 percent – say they support marijuana legalization. The survey uses the same wording ("Do you think the use of marijuana should be made legal, or not?") as previous Gallup surveys, which had shown a previous high of 58 percent support for legalization last October. A follow-up question found nuance in Americans' support. Twenty-four percent of legalization supporters said marijuana should be made available "only with a medical prescription." Another 43 percent said there should be "restrictions on purchase amounts." One-third of supporters said there should be "no restrictions".

  • The other opioid crisis – people in poor countries can’t get the pain medication they need

    The INCB worried that too many opioid prescriptions could lead to abuse
    The Conversation (US)
    Friday, March 25, 2016

    Hospitals in the U.S. and Europe routinely prescribe opioids for chronic cancer pain, end-of-life palliative care and some forms of acute pain, like bone fractures, sickle cell crises and burns. But patients with these conditions in much of Asia, Africa and Latin America often receive painkillers no stronger than acetaminophen. Many factors play into this crisis, but I would argue that the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), an independent monitoring agency established by the U.N., is a fundamental cause of untreated pain in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

  • Medical experts call for global drug decriminalisation

    International commission urges complete reversal of repressive drug policies imposed by most governments
    The Guardian (UK)
    Thursday, March 24, 2016

    regulation-lancetAn international commission of medical experts is calling for global drug decriminalisation, arguing that current policies lead to violence, deaths and the spread of disease, harming health and human rights. The commission, set up by the Lancet medical journal and Johns Hopkins University in the United States, finds that tough drugs laws have caused misery, failed to curb drug use, fuelled violent crime and spread the epidemics of HIV and hepatitis C through unsafe injecting. Publishing its report on the eve of a special session of the United Nations devoted to illegal narcotics, they urge a complete reversal of the repressive policies imposed by most governments.

  • Five former presidents demand an end to the war on drugs

    But don’t hold your breath—a UN summit on drugs next month looks likely to be a flop
    The Economist (UK)
    Thursday, March 24, 2016

    globcomAs the drug war has rumbled on, with little to show for all the money and violence, its critics have become a more diverse. The latest broadside against prohibition, "Ending the War on Drugs", was fired by a group of former heads of state and businesspeople, who put forward a sober case for rethinking the international approach to drug control. The trouble is that changing the UN conventions that mandate worldwide prohibition would require the agreement of all 193 member states, and plenty are still firmly against even tentative reform. The most likely outcome of next month’s powwow is more waffle, and a growing realisation that the UN drug conventions will not be reformed but simply ignored.

  • This UN summit could finally end the war on drugs

    UN drug agencies are increasingly isolated even within the UN system
    Vice (UK)
    Thursday, March 24, 2016

    Next month, the 193 member states of the United Nations will meet to talk about drugs. The last time this happened, in 1998, the summit ended with a distinctly utopian ambition: the total eradication of all drugs from the entire world. "A drug-free world—we can do it!" the summit declared. Eighteen years later, narcotics are still as popular as ever, with the UN estimating that the global number of illicit drug users will increase 25 percent by 2050. At the UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS), which starts on April 19, a range of NGOs and campaign groups will be lobbying policy-makers about the merits of the alternatives to prohibition.

Page 268 of 471