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Will Obama's 'war on weed' really ride roughshod over American voters?
The White House seems stuck in its failed 'war on drugs' policy, even as voters in states approve marijuana legalisation
Naomi WolfThe Guardian (UK)
Friday, January 11, 2013
The cry of "states' rights" is not often associated with progressive causes, but with the "war on drugs" comprehensively declared a $1tn failure by the Global Commission on Drug Policy, the call has reason and justice on its side. Will the feds carry their fight against the voices expressing popular will from California to Colorado, Washington State and beyond? Or will the White House temper its approach with respect for local democracy? -
City Council planning more injection rooms
Vesterbro's injection room has saved at least six lives and led to a dramatic drop in the dangerous drug paraphernalia left in public
The Copenhagen Post (Denmark)
Thursday, January 10, 2012
The injection room for drug users that opened in Vesterbro last October has been such a success that the City Council is considering opening three more in other parts of Copenhagen. It took Vesterbro residents 20 years to convince the government to allow the city to open a facility where injecting drug users can take their drugs off the streets and take them under the supervision of health workers. -
Schritte zur Legalisierung von Cannabis
Zürcher Gemeinderat will Forschungsprojekt
Neue Zürcher Zeitung (Switzerland)
Donnerstag, 10 Januar 2013
Zusammen mit dem Bund und der Stadt Basel will Zürich ein breit angelegtes Forschungsprojekt anstossen, um offene Fragen rund um Handel und Konsum von Cannabis zu klären. Der Gemeinderat stellt sich mehrheitlich hinter die Pläne. In den letzten Jahren hat die Forderung nach straffreiem Konsum von Cannabis immer wieder den Weg auf die politische Traktandenliste gefunden. So wurden etwa im Jahr 2010 fast zeitgleich Vorstösse in Basel und Zürich überwiesen, die auf eine kontrollierte Abgabe von Cannabis zielten. -
Why marijuana should be legal for adults
David L. Nathan, clinical associate professor at Robert Wood Johnson Medical SchoolCNN (US)
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Forget the antiquated dogma and judge pot prohibition on its own merits. If you still believe that cannabis should be illegal, then you must logically support the criminalization of alcohol and tobacco, with vigorous prosecution and even imprisonment of producers and consumers. Does that sound ridiculous? Then you must conclude that the only rational approach to cannabis is to legalize, regulate and tax it. -
Judge in San Francisco lets biggest medical pot shop stay open
Reuters
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
A federal magistrate judge ruled that a medical-marijuana dispensary that bills itself as the world's largest can continue to operate, at least for now, in Oakland and San Jose despite a bid by federal prosecutors to shut it down. The ruling marks the latest move in a tug-of-war between local and federal authorities over medical marijuana dispensaries. The judge ruled that the government, not the landlords, must move to evict Harborside for its alleged violation of the federal Controlled Substances Act. (See als: Landlord can’t shut down nation’s largest pot shop, judge says)
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Zurich calls for study on legalizing marijuana
Der Bund (Switzerland)
Tuesday, January 8, 2012
The Swiss city of Zurich's parliament voted to call on the government to commission a national study on legalizing marijuana, local media said. The vote capped a lively discussion on the topic. In 2010, Zurich had already joined forces with the northern city of Basel to set up a task force on the feasibility of a pilot project that would allow the controlled sale of cannabis. -
U.S. marijuana laws ricochet through Latin America
Time Magazine (US)
Monday, January 7, 2013
Leaders from across Latin America responded within days of the Colorado and Washington vote, demanding a review of drug-war policies that have mired the region in violence. Latin American decisionmakers are now openly questioning why they should continue to sacrifice police and soldiers to enforce drug laws when legal markets for marijuana now exist in the U.S. -
To look tough on drugs, and please the US, the UK is willing to trample on indigenous rights
Damon Barrett, Director of the International Centre on Human Rights and Drug PolicyThe Huffington Post (US web)
Sunday, January 6, 2013
The UK says in its objection to Bolivia's reaccession to the 1961 UN Single Convention with a reservation that allows for the traditional chewing of coca, that it 'respects the cultural importance of the coca leaf in Bolivia'. It also recognises the status of traditional uses of coca under the Bolivian Constitution. These words reflect that change in views one would have expected since the 1960s. But in what way does the UK in fact 'respect' the cultural importance of coca when going on to try to see through the destruction of the manifestation of that culture? (See also: Objections to Bolivia's reservation to allow coca chewing in the UN conventions) -
Groups seek to influence new rules for growing, selling pot
Lawyers, businessmen and farmers have formed new groups to lobby the Washington State Liquor Control Board as it writes rules for the world's first social-use marijuana-grower license
The Seattle Times (US)
Sunday, January 6, 2013
The Washington state Liquor Control Board (LCB), charged with launching the world's first regulated marijuana market for social use, expects to begin accepting applications for grower licenses April 17, with the first licenses to be issued in May 2013. State-licensed marijuana stores won't open until at least December, after marijuana-processor and retail licenses are issued. But several groups already have hired veteran lobbyists to influence the LCB, with business interests keenly aware of the potential. -
In France, Cannabis Social Club growers no longer want to hide
Some growers that get together to cultivate their plants since 2009 intend on declaring themselves in prefectures in February
Le Point (France)
Saturday, January 5, 2013
“It is an act of civil disobedience. We want to impose our activity,” Dominique Broc, the spokesperson for the project. Without hiding his face, he presents a “cultivation space” of about 100 square feet installed in his home. “We produce to protect our society from the perverse effects of mafias that are entering the territory to produce cannabis (often impure) on a large scale to sell them to our children.” (This is a translation of Les cultivateurs des "Cannabis Social Clubs" ne veulent plus se cacher, an article originally published by the French magazine Le Point)
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