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Uruguayan drug legalisation: Thinking the unthinkable
A bold, if fuzzy, proposal
The Economist (UK)
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Latin American leaders have begun to rebel against rigid drug prohibition and the decades-long "war" on drugs. So when Uruguay’s government this month released a document suggesting it would legalise and take control of the sale of cannabis in the country, this seemingly bold step attracted much media attention. Not so fast: the proposal amounts to one line in a 20-page report on the government’s strategy for tackling rising crime. Nevertheless, something is stirring in Uruguay. -
Will reducing or removing the criminal penalties for drug possession lead to greater use?
Hypothesising an alternative: Applying the scientific process to drug policy
David Nutt's Blog: Evidence not Exaggeration
Friday, June 29, 2012We should decriminalise the possession of drugs for personal use for the following simple reasons: (1) If users are addicted then they are ill, and criminal sanctions are an inappropriate way to deal with an illness; (2) If they are not addicted then criminalisation will almost always lead to greater harms to the user than the effects of the drug. For example, it can severely limit career options in public service and prevent travel to some countries particularly the USA.
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Colombia court upholds no jail time for drug use
Associated Press
Friday, June 29, 2012Colombia's Constitutional Court has ruled that people cannot be jailed for possessing cocaine and marijuana for personal use. The decision ratifies a previous Supreme Court ruling that said people cannot be jailed for possession of a so-called personal dose. A 2009 law placed the dose at up to 20 grams of marijuana and one gram of cocaine.
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Chicago decriminalizes possession of small amounts of marijuana
Reuters
Thursday, June 28, 2012People caught with small amounts of marijuana in Chicago will be ticketed instead of arrested under a new ordinance passed by the city council on Wednesday, as the third largest U.S. city became the latest to support more lenient penalties for using the drug. The council voted 43-3 in favor of the measure, which was backed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel. "If you had been white and/or privileged, a small amount of marijuana had already been decriminalized, because the only people who have been arrested for these types of crime have been black and brown individuals," said Alderman Howard Brookins.
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Life Without Parole for Pot?
10 Worst Cases of Cruel and Unusual Punishment
Kristen GwynneAlterNet (US web)
Thursday, June 27, 2012
The United States government spends more than $7 billion annually to enforce marijuana prohibition in shockingly cruel ways, but the efforts have not deterred marijuana use. The side-effects of pot are minimal, especially when compared to legal, often lethal drugs like OxyContin or Xanax. The consequences of a marijuana arrest, however, can be far more damaging than the drug itself. America’s legal system continues to treat the plant as if the 1920s propaganda film Reefer Madness were true. In the United States -- where a marijuana arrest occurs every 42 seconds, on average -- the war on pot has disastrous consequences for its victims. -
Cannabis production and markets in Europe
European Monitoring Centre on Drugs and Drug Addiction
Insights 12
June 2012
This study brings together available evidence to provide a comprehensive analysis of cannabis production and markets across the EU. It combines information from EMCDDA routine reporting — data on patterns of prevalence and use, seizures, police reports, drug-law offences, cannabis potency and retail market prices — with literature on cannabis markets to create an in-depth analysis of the issue in a European context.
READ MORE...
Download the report (PDF - outside link) -
Uruguay’s Plan to Legalize Marijuana Sales
Should the Rest of the World Follow?
Tim PadgettTime Magazine (US)
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Uruguay's proposal to legalize marijuana sales – and make its government the sole seller – reflects a growing worldwide urge to find new and less violent solutions to an old but more deadly drug war. The U.S. – which has emphatically rejected Latin America’s increasing call for marijuana legalization – is no doubt irked by Mujica’s move, especially since his bill also calls on the international community to consider marijuana legalization. So, probably, is the U.N.’s International Narcotics Control Board, which doesn’t even think Bolivians should be allowed to grow and chew coca leaves for traditional uses. But the U.S. and U.N. mindset on drug legalization is hardly as dominant as it was just a few years ago. The world seems fed up with the status quo. -
Global report claims war on drugs is driving spread of HIV
The Ottawa Citizen (Canada)
Monday, June 25, 2012
Canada must embrace a public health approach to drug addiction rather than treating it as a criminal justice issue in order to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS among drug users, says a Canadian adviser for a new global report. The report, The War on Drugs and HIV/AIDS - How the Criminalization of Drug Use Fuels the Global Pandemic, released by the Global Commission on Drug Policy, condemned the worldwide war on drugs as a "remarkable failure" and claimed it is driving the rapid spread of HIV/AIDS among drug users and their sexual partners. -
The War on Drugs and HIV/AIDS
The global war on drugs is driving the HIV pandemic among people who use drugs and their sexual partners. Throughout the world, research has consistently shown that repressive drug law enforcement practices force drug users away from public health services and into hidden environments where HIV risk becomes markedly elevated. Mass incarceration of nonviolent drug offenders also plays a major role in spreading the pandemic. Today, there are an estimated 33 million people worldwide living with HIV – and injection drug use accounts for one-third of new HIV infections outside of sub-Saharan Africa.
READ MORE...Download the report (PDF - outside link) -
Feds hike danger rating on ecstasy while health officers urge drug policy reform
The proliferation of dirty street ecstasy and ecstasy overdoses are a direct consequence of criminalization and prohibition
The Canadian Press (Canada)
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Several top public health officials are proposing a rethinking of current illegal-drug policies they assert spurs on a global problem involving ecstasy, one that even the White House says is made in Canada, specifically B.C. But the suggestion for dialogue about a careful, science-based crafting of new health-oriented regulations comes at the same time the federal government has taken the polar opposite course with its omnibus crime bill. In mid-March, the class of drugs that includes the substance MDMA — considered the pure and original form of ecstasy — was bumped up to a Schedule I drug under Bill C-10, giving it heightened status alongside heroin and cocaine.
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