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New York City plans to stop booking, arraigning many low-level marijuana suspects
The Washington Post (US)
Friday, February 15, 2013
Many people arrested on low-level marijuana-possession charges in the nation’s largest city will no longer be booked and held hours for arraignment, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. Starting next month, people who get picked up on charges of having a small amount of marijuana will be released with appearance tickets if they have identification and no open warrants, Bloomberg said, spotlighting the issue in his State of the City address amid debate over the tens of thousands of such arrests in the city each year. (Bloomberg: I oppose legalizing marijuana) -
U.S. can proceed with plans to close Oakland pot shop, court says
Judge throws out lawsuit by Oakland that challenged as illegal the federal attempts to shutter the medical marijuana dispensary
The Los Angeles Times (US)
Friday, February 15, 2013
A U.S. magistrate judge on Thursday sided with federal prosecutors in dismissing a lawsuit by the city of Oakland that challenged as illegal federal attempts to shutter the nation's largest medical marijuana dispensary. In filing the suit last October, Oakland became the first city to take on federal enforcement actions that have led to the closure of hundreds of dispensaries in recent years. -
Gangster bankers: Too big to jail
How HSBC hooked up with drug traffickers and terrorists. And got away with it
Rolling Stone (US)
Thursday, February 14, 2013
The deal was announced quietly, just before the holidays, almost like the government was hoping people were too busy hanging stockings by the fireplace to notice. Flooring politicians, lawyers and investigators all over the world, the U.S. Justice Department granted a total walk to executives of the British-based bank HSBC for the largest drug-and-terrorism money-laundering case ever. Yes, they issued a fine – $1.9 billion, or about five weeks' profit – but they didn't extract so much as one dollar or one day in jail from any individual, despite a decade of stupefying abuses. -
Up in Smoke: Why the GOP’s Views on Pot are Showing Signs of a Shift
Time Magazine (US)
Thursday, February 14, 2013
As the push to legalize pot migrates from the margins to the mainstream, it is mellowing some Republicans in the process. “If it was a secret ballot, the majority of Republicans would have voted to legalize marijuana a long time ago,” says GOP Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, who opposes the “monstrous” war on drugs. -
Guatemalan leader sees paradigm shift on drug policy
Reuters (UK)
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Guatemalan President Otto Perez said he is feeling less alone in his drive to re-think the fight against drug-trafficking than a year ago, when he shocked fellow Central American leaders with a proposal to decriminalise drugs. Perez has proposed what he calls a "third way" in between all-out drugs legalisation and complete prohibition. He says the latter approach has failed as illegal drug use remains high despite decades of being outlawed around the world. -
Mexico unveils new strategy in war on drugs and for preventing crime
President Peña Nieto says his government will spend billions on social programmes in the most violent areas of the country
The Guardian (UK)
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Mexico's new administration has offered the first details of its new strategy in the country's war on drugs, saying the government will spend $9.2bn this year on social programmes to keep young people from joining criminal organisations in the 251 most violent towns and neighbourhoods across the country. The government will flood those areas with spending on programmes ranging from road building to increasing school hours, said President Enrique Peña Nieto and Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong, the interior secretary. -
Marijuana legalization raises safety questions
The Seattle Times (US)
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Marijuana may be coming out of the black market in Colorado and Washington state, but the drug, at least for now, will retain a decidedly underground feel: Users may not know what's in it. Less than a year away from allowing pot sales, regulators are grappling with how to ensure that the nation's first legal marijuana industry will grow weed that delivers only the effects that pot smokers want. -
Doors swing open for advocates of marijuana legalization on Capitol Hill
The Hill (US)
Monday, February 11, 2013
Advocates for the legalization of marijuana plan to step up their political giving and lobbying efforts now that members of Congress are taking an interest in changing federal drug laws. The lobbyists say lawmakers who wouldn’t give them the time of day are suddenly interested in meeting with them and introducing legislation following the approval of ballot initiatives in Colorado and Washington that legalized recreational use of the drug. -
Drug users to have secure site in Paris
Radio France International (RFI)
Monday, February 11, 2013
Drug users in France will soon have a state-sanctioned place where they can use heroin, crack and other intravenous drugs, after the government approved a pilot site in Paris. The City Council had already voted to allow a secure injection site to be opened in the city, a controversial measure, which social workers say should help to reduce the number of drug users in the streets. -
Christiania task force netting arrests but locals call it harassment
One in three citizens stopped by police outside of the freetown are charged with possession or sale of cannabis
The Copenhagen Post (Denmark)
Monday, February 11, 2013
Copenhagen Police said that the number of people being charged with possession of cannabis is up 23 percent since the creation of Task Force Pusher Street last September. The police strategy, however, flies in the face of recommendations by Copenhagen's mayor, Frank Jensen (Socialdemokraterne), who has openly advocated for legalising cannabis. Police suspect that a recent gang war is related to the cannabis trade.
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