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We enforced Ottawa’s pot laws. They don’t work
The proof that cannabis prohibition has failed is irrefutable, four former B.C. attorneys-general say
The Globe and Mail (Canada)
Friday, January 18, 2013
It is time to put ideology and politics aside in favour of a level-headed, evidence-based discussion about the failure of marijuana prohibition and the policy alternatives available to us. Provincial and municipal leaders across Canada must join, if not lead, the debate and demand change. Only then will we end the prohibition-fuelled cycle of crime, waste and violence. Four former B.C. Attorney Generals come out in very clear terms and say what needs to be said: Canada’s pot laws don’t work. -
Legalization's biggest enemies
Meet the drug warriors working to roll back hard-won advances in marijuana policy
Rolling Stone (US)
Thursday, January 17, 2013
The biggest immediate threat to legalization in Washington and Colorado is the federal government, but even the feds might be hard-pressed to stomp out reform. But before marijuana legalization spreads from Washington and Colorado to other states, it will have to get past a group of hardened drug warriors, many of whom have developed a personal interest in maintaining prohibition. While most of these ideologues lack the authority to actually change laws, their larger purpose is to maintain the marijuana propaganda machine and push back against pro-legalization rhetoric. Here are the top five people. -
Khat ban calls ahead of government report
BBC News (UK)
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Calls for the herbal high khat to be banned in the UK have been renewed days before a government report into its usage is due to be published. Some members of the British-Somali community have been calling for years for khat to be made illegal. But traders say a ban would not mean an end to khat in the UK as, according to them, smuggled khat is still widely available in Europe and the US, although it is more expensive. -
Up in smoke: Notorious ‘coffee shop’ closes its doors
Police pressure leads to closure of downtown cafe for cannabis users, but its owner's mission to decriminalise the drug may have only just begun
The Copenhagen Post (Denmark)
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Smokenhagen, modelled on a Dutch-style 'coffee shop' that permits cannabis smoking, closed down voluntarily after pressure from the housing association and landlords who were threatened with criminal charges by the police. Nevertheless, support for cannabis decriminalisation is growing in Copenhagen. Mayor Jensen is a vocal advocate and so is a majority on the City Council. A survey from last summer also indicated that a majority of Danes supported a state-controlled cannabis market. (See also: Christiania crackdown yielding weapons and drugs) -
Coca and Snus: Sweden's self-defeating hypocrisy on drugs
Damon BarrettThe Huffington Post (US web)
Tuesday, January 15, 2012
Tradition is disposable. Evidence is marginal. Economic arguments are not important. This, in a nutshell, is what Sweden said to the UN to oppose traditional uses of coca in Bolivia. It is opposite of what it says to the EU to defend the use and sales of snus at home. Sweden may have gained a small amount of favour from the US, and it may have further promoted its reputation for being tough on drugs, but it did so by contradicting itself, providing clear ammunition to those who would seek to enforce the ban on snus and ensure that the export ban is not lifted. -
Doctors say UK drug policy should focus more on health
UK drugs policy needs a stronger health focus as criminalisation is deterring users from seeking help, say doctors
BBC News (UK)
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Although illicit drug use has been declining in the UK, long-term problem drug use and drug-related deaths are not decreasing, says the British Medical Association. Its Board of Science says evidence shows the current prohibitive approach to drug use is not working. It says doctors should inform drugs policy to put patients' needs first. -
Anti-Crack Efforts Miss Targets: Daily
The Rio Times (Brazil)
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
The government’s campaign to curb crack cocaine use that was launched late last year is failing to deliver on its targets, reports O Globo. As of the start 2013, the program Entitled ‘Crack, É Possível Vencer’, which aims to treat crack addiction through the combined effort of four separate government departments, can only count half of Brazil’s states as members. -
The 1971 Misuse of Drugs act was the stupidest and most ineffective ever passed
But has the PM got the guts to change it?
Simon JenkinsLondon Evening Standard (UK)
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Yet another parliamentary group has pronounced in favour of drugs decriminalisation. It still won’t happen. What is baffling is the intransigence of British politicians on the subject. Plenty are individually reasonable. Some three-quarters of MPs agree individually. They read the surveys, reports and opinion polls — all unanswerable. Yet the mere mention of the subject sends most politicians screaming down the road with bags over their heads. -
Link between pot smoking and IQ drop challenged
The Seattle Times (US)
Monday, January 14, 2013
A new analysis is challenging a report that suggests regular marijuana smoking during the teen years can lead to a long-term drop in IQ. The analysis says the statistical analysis behind that conclusion is flawed. Ole Rogeberg of the Ragnar Frisch Center for Economic Research in Oslo, says the IQ trend might have nothing to do with pot. Rather, it may have emerged from differences among the study participants in socioeconomic status, or SES, which involves factors like income, education and occupation. -
Major victory for President Morales: UN accepts “coca leaf chewing” in Bolivia
MercoPress (Uruguay)
Monday, January 14, 2013
READ MORE...
Bolivia will again belong to the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs after its bid to rejoin with a reservation that it does not accept the treaty’s requirement that “coca leaf chewing must be banned” was successful Friday. Opponents needed one-third of the 184 signatory countries to object, but fell far, far short despite objections by the US and the International Narcotics Control Board.
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