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Guatemala may weigh softer drug punishments in liberalization push
Reuters
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Guatemala will weigh easing punishments for minor narcotics-related offenses as part of a push to liberalize drug policy and explore regulating production of opium poppies and marijuana for medical use, President Otto Perez said. A government-backed commission delivered an interim report on the president's legalization proposal in September and Perez said the final recommendations should be ready by March or the second quarter of next year. -
Marijuana to be grown by Italian army – in order to bring the price down
The price of imported, pharmacy-bought weed as gone up 10 times as much as street prices
The Independent (UK)
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
Italy wants its army to grow cheap marijuana from next year in a bid to discourage medicinal users from funding illegal street dealers. A high-security military compound lab is earmarked for growing cannabis for the national healthcare system despite criticism from leading political and religious figures. Since the medical use of marijuana was legalised last year, the government have been on the hunt to keep costs down as few people could afford to sign up for the pharmacy scheme. (See also: To grow cheap marijuana, Italy calls in the army) -
State Department official calls for 'flexibility' on drug control treaties
The Huffington Post (US)
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
Assistant Secretary of State William Brownfield called for "flexible" interpretations of international drug control treaties at the United Nations in New York City, citing marijuana legalization in Colorado and Washington. Brownfield's remarks were the third time this year he has made such a call. The high-profile venue underscores the pressure that state legalization efforts have put on the U.S. to allow other countries to amend strict, decades-old international drug control treaties. However, Brownfield's claim that current treaties are flexible enough to allow marijuana legalization is at odds with the text of the treaties themselves, said John Walsh of the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA). -
US signals shift in international drug policy
InSight Crime
Monday, October 13, 2014
In a press conference at the United Nations in New York on October 9, US official William Brownfield laid the groundwork for a new US approach to international drug policy, pointing to the changing political landscape on drug regulation in the Americas. Brownfield set out the United States' position on international drug policy, including to "accept flexible interpretation" of the UN Drug Control conventions. (See also: Brownfield's Statement to the Third Committee of the General Assembly of the United Nations and Reforming the global drug-control system: The stakes for Washington) -
Morocco likely to join countries that legalized cultivation of cannabis
About 80,000 families in the Rif Mountains are living from growing cannabis
Morocco World News
Friday, October 10, 2014
After the Istiqlal party, one of the old conservative parties of Morocco, proposed last year a draft law to decriminalize and regulate the cultivation of cannabis for medical and pharmaceutical uses, the country is re-examining policies toward cannabis and looking to some degree of legalization of this corp. Despite a centuries-old tradition of growing cannabis in the Rif Mountains, and the raising voices to decriminalize the cultivation of the crop, the proposal may face fierce opposition. -
Cannabis valley in Kazakhstan to be destroyed with herbicides
Previous attempts of the Ministry to organize industrial processing of hemp in Chui Valley did not bear fruit
Tengrinews (Kazakhstan)
Thursday, October 9, 2014
The “legendary” Chui Valley may be destroyed with herbicides. Legendary in quotes – because the Valley is known primarily for cannabis that grow there. Located in Kazakhstan’s Zhambyl Oblast and Kyrgyzstan’s Chui Province, about 140,000 hectares of the total area of the valley see intensive growth of cannabis. It is not known precisely when cannabis started growing in the valley. Some claim that the seeds were brought here in the 17th century by Turkestan Governor-General Kolpakovsky with the good intentions to prevent sand encroachment. Others believe cannabis has grown here since ancient times and the people found it useful in everyday life because of high durability of the material. Now the valley is a heaven for drug dealers. Up to 5 tons of cannabis a year can be produced. -
No, marijuana is not actually “as addictive as heroin”
The overall take-home message from Hall can be summed up as follows: if you use marijuana, don't overdo it
The Washington Post (US)
Thursday, October 9, 2014
You may have read this week that a new "20-year research study" on marijuana use "finally demolishes claims that smoking marijuana is harmless," and has found that it "makes you stupid," that "smoking marijuana over the long-term can develop cancer" [SIC], and that marijuana is "as addictive as heroin." At least, that's what you'd conclude if you'd read most media coverage of the study. But if you'd actually read the study yourself, you'd likely walk away with very different conclusions. (See also: Teenagers who use cannabis every day 60% less likely to finish school) -
Breaking taboo, Morocco may okay pot in nod to struggling farmers
Country’s Rif valley is the world’s leading producer of hashish, but residents and growers live in poverty and fear of the law
Times of Israel / Associated Press (Israel)
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
Morocco’s marijuana farmers live in a strange limbo in which the brilliant green fields are left alone, while the growers themselves face constant police harassment. A new draft law may bring some reprieve: It aims to legalize marijuana growing for medical and industrial uses, a radical idea for a Muslim nation. It could alleviate poverty and social unrest, but the proposal faces stiff opposition in this conservative country, as well as the suspicions of farmers themselves, who think politicians can do nothing help them. There are some 80,000 families in the northern Rif mountains of Morocco who make their living from growing pot, according to U.N. estimates; the region supplies nearly all of Europe's hashish. -
Ecuador is freeing thousands of drug mules
President Rafael Correa has said his country's harsh old drug laws were 'imposed by the gringos'
Global Post
Monday, October 6, 2014
In Latin America’s latest challenge to Washington’s “war on drugs,” Ecuador has quietly begun releasing thousands of convicted cocaine smugglers. The move is a result of the country’s new criminal law, which took effect August 10. It treats “drug mules” who commit the low-profit, high-risk offense more as vulnerable people exploited by cartels than as hardened criminals. Around 500 mules have already been freed and at least another 2,000 are expected to follow, says Jorge Paladines, national coordinator of the Public Defender’s Office. -
Yes to marijuana ballot measures
Alaska, Oregon and the District of Columbia should legalize pot
The New York Times (US)
Sunday, October 5, 2014
The decision by California voters in 1996 to legalize medical marijuana produced a wave of similar initiatives around the country. Less than two decades later, over half the states allow at least limited medical use. Now it looks as though recreational use of the drug may follow the same path. In 2012, Washington State and Colorado legalized recreational marijuana. This November, voters in Alaska, Oregon and the District of Columbia will decide whether to do the same — effectively disregarding the misguided federal ban on a drug that is far less dangerous than alcohol.
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