• Obama budget would clear path for legal sales of recreational marijuana in D.C.

    Obama’s budget would remove the congressional restriction, allowing D.C. leaders to spend the city’s tax money to develop a regulatory scheme
    The Washington Post (US)
    Monday, February 2, 2015

    President Obama’s budget would do a lot of things, but one of the most controversial may to be allowing legal sales of marijuana in the nation’s capital. D.C. voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure to legalize pot for recreational use. But in December, outgoing Democrats and incoming Republican leaders in Congress moved to halt the measure. Under a broad budget deal, they prevented the District’s mayor and council from spending any money to work out the specifics of how pot would be sold, which the ballot measure left up to local politicians to decide.

  • 18 legal marijuana states by 2020?

    A new report predicts that 14 more states will have joined the four that already legalized it by 2020. And there could be even more
    Alternet (US web)
    Monday, February 2, 2015

    Four states and the District of Columbia have already legalized weed and plans are already afoot in several more for this year or next, either by voter initiative (where that option is available) or through the legislature. But which states will be next, and how fast will the dominoes fall? After all, we're unlikely to see the end of federal pot prohibition until a lot more than four states have legalized it, so how long is it going to take to reach that critical mass? (See also: 7 states that are next in line to legalize marijuana)

  • Marijuana growers steal more electricity, fewer plantations discovered

    4,700 plantations were discovered and dismantled
    Dutch News (Netherlands)
    Monday, February 2, 2015

    The amount of electricity stolen by marijuana growers rose by 5% last year but fewer plantations were discovered than in 2013, according to the Dutch electricity association Netbeheer Nederland. The organisation estimates marijuana plantations accounted for almost one billion kilowatt hours of electricity last year, almost as much as the city of The Hague. In total, 4,700 plantations were discovered and dismantled. (See also: More marijuana plantations found in central urban Netherlands)

  • Mexican opium farmers expand plots to supply U.S. heroin boom

    Mexican government seizures of opium and eradication of poppy plantations have skyrocketed in recent years
    Associated Press (US)
    Monday, February 2, 2015

    Red and purple blossoms with fat, opium-filled bulbs blanket the remote creek sides and gorges of the Filo Mayor mountains in the southern state of Guerrero. The multibillion-dollar Mexican opium trade starts here, with poppy farmers so poor they live in wood-plank, tin-roofed shacks with no indoor plumbing. Once smaller-scale producers of low-grade black tar, Mexican drug traffickers are now refining opium paste into high-grade white heroin and flooding the world’s largest market for illegal drugs, using the distribution routes they built for marijuana and cocaine. The price for the relatively low-quality marijuana the farmers used to grow at lower elevations has fallen, possibly because of the legalization and medical use of higher-quality U.S. marijuana.

  • Ganja interests wary of internal business rivalry

    There was a healthy dose of scepticism from growers who see themselves as in danger of being turfed out of the ganja market
    The Gleaner (Jamaica)
    Sunday, February 1, 2015

    Despite strong ministerial and legislative signals, segments of the marijuana lobby are unsure that sufficient protections will be afforded to the persons who currently supply the raw material. The challenges of integration for a product that is currently sold underground, as well as product contamination, were key elements of the discussions when ganja growers, researchers and lobbyists gathered with government officials, including four ministers, at the Cannabis Business and International Investors Conference. (See also: Lowe warns ganja farmers to beware of scammers)

  • Israeli medical marijuana creates buzz but no high — will it go global?

    The inability to export is setting limits on the industry’s ambitions
    The Washington Post (US)
    Sunday, February 1, 2015

    Israel has become a world leader in science on the medical uses of marijuana, and its producers could become major exporters of medical cannabis. But so far, the government has allowed them to export only their knowledge — not the actual product. Michael Dor, the senior medical adviser in the Israeli Health Ministry’s cannabis unit, said that in ongoing government talks, agricultural officials support the export of Israeli medical cannabis, but top officials in the police force, army and executive branch oppose it. Exports face stringent international legal requirements.

  • Drugs in the UK: Why we need to talk about regulation and decriminalisation

    Calls for drugs to be regulated in the UK are growing
    The Independent (UK)
    Saturday, January 31, 2015

    Fighting the war on drugs in the UK costs an estimated £13 billion annually. It has cost lives recently, too; four people died after taking ecstasy pills made from a high concentration of the chemical PMMA instead of MDMA late in 2014. At least 765 died of a heroin overdose in 2013 – up 32 per cent on the year previous. Over 2,000 deaths were drug related overall. If MDMA was sold as part of a regulated market, it would save lives overnight. Neil Woods, who will be appearing alongside Mr Snow on Channel 4's Drugs Live: Cannabis on Trial tonight, is one of many voices calling for the Government’s prohibitionist drug policy to be reformed.

  • Legal, illegal, ganz egal? Cannabis in Europa

    Arte Yourope
    Samstag, 31. Januar 2015

    yourope-cannabisCannabis ist in Europa die mit Abstand am meisten konsumierte Droge. Fast jeder hat schon mal gekifft. Dennoch ist es in allen europäischen Ländern illegal, selbst im liberalen Amsterdam wird Cannabiskonsum lediglich geduldet. Dabei sind die Niederlande nicht einmal das liberalste Land, was Cannabis betrifft.

  • High hopes: Legalized pot is on the way

    As marijuana producers gear up to sell to the masses, the feds have some hurdles to clear
    Maclean's (Canada)
    Friday, January 30, 2016

    canada-marijuana-thumb Moving from illicit to licit requires regulations that allow enough of a legal market to dry out the black one – ideally, while bringing in much-needed tax revenue – and a blend of stiff penalties for rule-breakers and funding for education and addiction treatment. The Liberals named former Toronto police chief Bill Blair to lead the way. As parliamentary secretary to the justice minister, he’s charged with coordinating with Health Canada, Public Safety and each of the provinces.

  • US official cautions Jamaica on ganja legalisation

    US not comfortable with Jamaica's push to decriminalise weed
    Jamaica Observer (Jamaica)
    Thursday, January 29, 2015

    The U.S. Government has signalled discomfort with Jamaica's move to decriminalise marijuana for specific uses. According to assistant secretary, William Brownfield, there is a possibility that the move could increase inflows of marijuana from Jamaica that now accounts for 80 per cent of ganja illegally smuggled into that country. Brownfield said that, while the US must be tolerant of national policies to combat the illicit trade of ganja, Jamaica must be mindful of international drug treaties to which it is a signatory. (See also: US says it welcomes discussion on drug policy)

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