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Does weekly marijuana use by teens really cause a drop in IQ?
A new study suggests marijuana use could have an impact on America's IQ, but how great is the effect?
Maia SzalavitzTime Magazine (US)
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Heavy marijuana use is associated with cognitive decline in about 5% of teens, according to a new study, which suggests that the heaviest users could lose 8 IQ points, according to a report, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. If the link is real, the effects on cognition could be dramatic. But intelligence and cognition is affected by a plethora of other factors, including genetic, social and environmental influences that may supersede any influence from drug use. -
Study: Wash. spent $211M on pot enforcement
The Seattle Times (US)
Tuesday, August 28, 2012Enforcing marijuana laws cost Washington more than $211 million last decade, according to a new study released as the state's voters consider whether to legalize and tax marijuana for recreational use. The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington released the figure Tuesday, accompanied by an interactive map showing the costs by county.
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Why marijuana should be legalized
'Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol' campaign discusses why pot prohibition has been a failure
The Huffington Post (US web)
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Should marijuana be legalized for recreational use by adults? That is the question that voters in three states are considering this November. Colorado, Washington and Oregon all have ballot measures that, if passed, would end marijuana prohibition in their state. Colorado's Amendment 64 which seeks the legalization of marijuana for adults age 21 and older appears to be popular among voters. A recent poll from Rasmussen showed that 61 percent of likely Colorado voters are in favor of legalizing marijuana if it is regulated the way that alcohol and cigarettes are currently regulated. -
Police to crack down on Pusher Street
A new tactical squad has been set up to tackle the illegal drug trade and escalating violence in Christiania
The Copenhagen Post (Denmark)
Monday, August 20, 2012
Starting September 1, the police will be stepping up efforts to cull Pusher Street’s estimated one billion kroner organised cannabis trade through the creation of a new task force. Past police efforts in Christiania have failed to curtail the illegal drug trade, and renewed police efforts in Christiania are also going against current public sentiment. A newspaper poll indicated that nearly 65 percent of the public supported state-controlled cannabis distribution, while Enhedslisten (EL) commissioned a Gallop survey in early August that conveyed that 53 percent agreed or strongly agreed that the state should take over the sale of cannabis. -
Colombian prosecutor calls for drug legalisation referendum
The Irish Times (Ireland)
Monday, August 20, 2012
Colombia's chief public prosecutor has called for a referendum on whether to legalise drug consumption, in response to plans to set up a network of public centres where users can consume illicit drugs under supervision. The so-called “controlled consumption centres” are part of a drive by Gustavo Petro, the mayor of the capital, Bogotá, to reduce drug-related crime in the city. -
Brazil: Drug dealers say no to crack in Rio
Associated Press
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Once crack was introduced about six years ago, Mandela and the surrounding complex of shantytowns became Rio's main outdoor drug market, a "cracolandia," or crackland, where users bought the rocks, smoked and lingered until the next hit. Hordes of addicts lived in cardboard shacks and filthy blankets, scrambling for cash and a fix. Dealers have stopped selling the drug in Mandela and nearby Jacarezinho in a move that traffickers and others say will spread citywide within the next two years. The drug bosses, often born and raised in the very slums they now lord over, say crack destabilizes their communities. -
Uruguay’s plan to sell pot may not be that crazy
The Miami Herald (US)
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Judging from what Uruguay’s President Jose Mujica told me in an extended interview last week, there is a real possibility that people in his country will soon be able to buy marijuana legally from a state-regulated company that will be in charge of marketing and selling the drug. Earlier this month submitted Mujica a bill to congress that may be the boldest marijuana legalization proposal anywhere in the world. It calls for the state to "take over the control and regulation of activities related to the importation, production, acquisition, storage, marketing and distribution of marijuana." -
Los Angeles sued over crackdown on medical marijuana shops
Reuters
Friday, August 17, 2012
A medical marijuana trade group and 11 patients sued the city of Los Angeles, seeking to block enforcement of an ordinance that would shut down most of the city's storefront pot dispensaries in three weeks. The lawsuit, which says users are protected by California's 1996 legalization of medical marijuana and the U.S. Constitution, seeks an immediate injunction to keep Los Angeles officials from shuttering dispensaries starting on September 6. -
Switzerland’s cocaine hot spots rival Amsterdam
Swissinfo (Switzerland)
Friday, August 17, 2012
A recent study that found cocaine use in big Swiss cities is among the highest in Europe comes as no surprise to experts, who say it is easy to find and affordable. The results go along with Switzerland’s reputation for illicit drug use. While many agree cocaine is popular in Swiss cities, there are question marks over the precise figures and sewage analysis methodology. "We have to be careful with these results as they are not really comparable." -
Crises and radical thinking on drug policy
Reform has always been a “two-steps forward, one-step back” undertaking
Kasia Malinowska-Sempruch, director of Open Society Foundations Global Drug Policy ProgramThursday, August 16, 2012
READ MORE...
It’s sad that drug policy reform must always be wrapped tragedy but alas – in the context of drugs – crisis has historically been the mother of invention. It was in the face of thousands of overdoses and the highest HIV prevalence in Western Europe that Switzerland introduced effective heroin-prescription programmes, safe injection facilities, needle and syringe-exchange programmes and low-threshold methadone services.
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