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Coloradans say yes to recreational use of marijuana
The Denver Post (US)
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Voters approved Amendment 64 legalizing recreational marijuana use in Colorado on Tuesday, making this one of two states to end prohibition of the drug but also raising new legal questions and setting up potential court battles. Among the opponents was Gov. John Hickenlooper, who said that "the voters have spoken and we have to respect their will. This will be a complicated process, but we intend to follow through. That said, federal law still says marijuana is an illegal drug so don't break out the Cheetos or gold fish too quickly." -
Biggest blow to Mexico drug cartels? It could be on your state ballot
A Mexican study says legalizing marijuana for recreational use in the US - an issue on the ballot in three US states - could cut the proceeds of Mexican drug gangs by 30 percent
Sara Miller LlanaChristian Science Monitor (US)
Monday, November 5, 2012
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Over the past year, the world has eyed Latin America as it has forged forward, in both policy and politics, with a rethink of the “war on drugs.” (See our recent cover story on “Latin America reinventing the war on drugs” here.) But tomorrow, the world will be watching the United States, the birthplace of the “war on drugs,” as three states vote on legalizing the recreational use of marijuana. -
U.S. vote may be beginning of the end for War on Drugs
Prohibition's days seem numbered as 3 states vote on legalizing marijuana
The Vancouver Sun (Canada)
Monday, November 5, 2012
"Exactly 80 years ago (in 1932), Colorado voters approved a ballot measure to appeal alcohol prohibition, and that came before it being repealed by the federal government," said Mason Tvert, co-director of the Yes on 64 campaign in Colorado. "And it was the individual states taking that type of action that ultimately resulted in the federal repeal (of Prohibition in 1933)." As happened with alcohol, so it is beginning to happen with marijuana. No matter what the outcome of the votes, the bugler is sounding retreat. -
Experts: Zero-tolerance on ‘cannabis driving’ too severe
Police are using a new machine that can detect traces of cannabis in the saliva of drivers
The Copenhagen Post (Denmark)
Monday, November 5, 2012
Experts are questioning the severity of a zero-tolerance policy towards those caught driving with detectable levels of illegal drugs in their bodies, as some drugs, such as cannabis, can be detected long after their effects have worn off. The experts have voiced their concerns following the news that the police have started using a new mobile drug testing kit called the 'narkometer'. "Because the authorities can’t impact the cannabis trade through policing efforts, they are instead targeting consumers." -
Narco-states grope for new strategy
Emilio GodoyInterPress Service (IPS)
Monday, November 5, 2012
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Mexico, Colombia and Guatemala face the need to modify their approach to the fight against drug trafficking and are urging the world to do the same. But Mexico and Colombia’s willingness to make the necessary changes is unclear. The three countries are connected by a powerful circuit of trafficking of drugs – whose main market is the United States – weapons and money from illegal activities. But the extent of the problem and the way drug organisations operate in each one of these countries vary. -
Legalising marijuana: The view from Mexico
The Economist (UK)
Friday, November 2, 2012
Voters in Colorado, Oregon and Washington will vote on whether to legalise marijuana. Polls suggest that the initiatives have a decent chance of passing in Washington and Colorado (Oregon is a longer shot).The impact on Mexico could be profound. Between 40% and 70% of American pot is reckoned to be grown in Mexico. According to a recent study by the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO), a think-tank in Mexico City, the American marijuana business brings in about $2 billion a year to Mexico’s drug traffickers. -
Hit Mexico’s Cartels With Legalization
Ioan Grillo, journalist and author of “El Narco: Inside Mexico’s Criminal Insurgency”International Herald Tribune
Friday, November 2, 2012
We have to face up to the hard reasons why thousands of young men (and some women) with full mental faculties have become serial killers. These reasons should be taken into account by residents of Colorado, Washington state and Oregon when they vote on referendums to legalize marijuana. The painful truth is that the monster of Mexican cartels has been pumped up by decades of Americans buying illegal drugs under the policies of prohibition. If voters do choose to legalize marijuana it would be a historic decision, but it would also open up a can of worms. The U.S. federal government and even the United Nations would be forced to react to a state’s resolution to break from the path. -
Support growing for medical marijuana in Israel
The Associated Press
Friday, November 2, 2012
More than 10,000 patients who have official government permission consume marijuana in Israel, a number that has swelled dramatically, up from serving just a few hundred patients in 2005. The medical cannabis industry is expanding as well, fuelled by Israel’s strong research sector in medicine and technology – and notably, by government encouragement. Unlike in the United States and much of Europe, the issue inspires almost no controversy among the government and the country’s leadership. -
Amsterdam will not ban tourists from coffee shops, says mayor
Dutch News (Netherlands)
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Tourists can continue to use Amsterdam’s 220 cannabis cafes, even if they are not resident in the Netherlands, the Volkskrant quotes the capital’s mayor Eberhard van der Laan as saying. The new cabinet is pressing ahead with banning non-residents from the country's cannabis cafes, but says enforcing the ban will be carried out together with local councils, taking local policy into account. This means the city can take its own line. -
Mexico study: US legalization cuts cartel profits
The Seattle Times (US)
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
A study released by a respected Mexican think tank asserts that proposals to legalize the recreational use of marijuana in Colorado, Oregon and Washington could cut Mexican drug cartels' earnings from traffic to the U.S. by as much as 30 percent. Opponents questioned some of the study's assumptions, saying the proposals could also offer new opportunities for cartels to operate inside the U.S. and replace any profit lost to a drop in international smuggling.
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