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Should India make cannabis legal?
Given its widespread use and the ancient and well-established culture of marijuana consumption in this country, it's time for a conversation on decriminalising the drug
India Today (India)
September 19, 2020
According to former Narcotics Commissioner Romesh Bhattacharjee cannabis is cultivated in nearly 60 per cent, or 400, of India’s 670 districts. “Since we criminalised cannabis in India [in 1985],” he says, “we haven’t curbed production or consumption. The law is redundant and has become a tool to harass small-time or poor buyers and sellers. Bhang is already legal in some states. There are millions of weed and hash users in major cities. You might as well legalise cannabis, and follow it with drug awareness outreach if you are worried about addiction.” As to how to legalise cannabis, he has a simple answer: “Just remove it from the Narcotics Act. It is already ‘legal’ on the streets given its availability, only ‘illegal’ on paper.” -
South Africans are setting up ‘cannabis clubs’ across the country – are they legal?
“If we have the constitutionally entrenched human right to privately cultivate, possess and consume our own cannabis, then we surely may exercise the right to freely associate with others in doing so”
BusinessTech (South Africa)
Friday, September 18, 2020
The Cannabis for Private Purposes Bill provides clarity around the growing and private use of cannabis in South Africa. In its current form the bill is ‘far from perfect’ as it permits and prohibits arguably arbitrary quantities, and creates some curious offences with harsh sentences. ‘Cannabis clubs’ for private use are proliferating across the country as the rules around cannabis remain in a form of limbo, following the 2018 Constitutional Court ‘Prince’ judgement. “Given that the prohibition against so-called recreational dealing in cannabis is here to stay, and that many cannabis users are not in a position to privately cultivate their own cannabis, the bill must by-hook-or-by-crook be read to legitimise cannabis clubs across the vast rural-urban and high-low income divides in South Africa.” -
eSwatini: A brief tale of two laws
An act passed to recover the proceeds of organised crime may now be used by eSwatini’s authorities to score points for a cannabis law that many think will benefit a powerful few
New Frame (South Africa)
Friday, September 18, 2020
The U.S. company Stem Holdings reported in 2019 that it had “received preliminary approval to become the only licensed growing farm and processing plant for medical cannabis and industrial hemp in The Kingdom of eSwatini for a minimum of 10 years”. The government denied any knowledge of the deal, even as the country’s health ministry, in haste, pushed to pass a cannabis bill into law. What this means is that locals who have been secretly farming cannabis for years would not be able to farm and export their crops. Cannabis growers were not consulted; neither were the many traditional leaders who govern on communal land (about 54% of the country). The House of Assembly voted against it and instructed the health ministry to conduct thorough and representative consultations. -
Reputation, revenue at stake as Brazil weighs legalization of cannabis cultivation
The co-sponsors of the bill have been adamant that main driver for the bill is not the economy, but rather increased access to cannabis for patients who need it
Hemp Industry Daily (US)
Friday, September 18, 2020
Brazil has fast-tracked a draft law that would legalize the cultivation of medicinal cannabis and industrial hemp. South America’s largest economy leads the world in several commodities markets, and some politicians say its farmers are keen to expand into hemp. The endeavor to revise Brazil’s cannabis laws began in 2015 with a proposed law that focused on the commercialization of cannabis-based drugs. Last month, Deputy Paulo Teixeira submitted a new version of the bill to the head of the lower chamber. The replacement text expands the so-called legislative project by proposing that the cultivation, processing, research, storage, transportation, production, industrialization, commercialization, import and export of medicinal cannabis and industrial hemp be allowed in Brazil. -
‘Life-saving and life-changing’: BC’s safe supply program gets major expansion
More drugs covered, more people eligible and increased access all promised as part of overdose crisis response
The Tyee (Canada)
Wednesday, September 16, 2020
Bold changes and a dramatic expansion are coming to safe supply efforts in B.C. in response to an increasingly toxic drug supply and the deadly overdose crisis. Eligibility for safe supply — prescribed untainted drugs or alternatives — will expand to nearly all people who access the street drug supply, even intermittently, under a policy directive from the B.C. Centre on Substance Use being finalized with the province. And registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses will soon be able to prescribe controlled substances under a public health order from provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry. Previously, only doctors and some pharmacists were allowed to prescribe safer alternatives to illicit drugs. -
Sky high: Mass. marijuana is among the most expensive in the nation
Nearly four years after legalization, Bay State cannabis consumers still pay top dollar
The Boston Globe (US)
Wednesday, September 16, 2020
Massachusetts marijuana products consistently fetch around double the price of equivalents in the most mature recreational markets, according to a review of dispensary menus around the country and new data by several analytics firms. And in most cases, cannabis here is even pricier than in other states that legalized the drug more recently; only the nascent and heavily taxed Illinois market approaches the Bay State’s exorbitant prices. An eighth of an ounce of decent-quality marijuana flower retails for $50 to $60 on the Massachusetts recreational market before adding an effective 20 percent combined state and local tax. Compare that with $20 to $30 for an eighth of an ounce of exceptional cannabis in Oregon, the state with the cheapest legal weed. -
Government plans to fine persons caught with a spliff
Referring to the arrest and conviction of persons for minuscule quantities of cannabis as a waste of time for police and the Magistrates' Court
The Loop (Barbados)
Tuesday, September 15, 2020
The Barbados Government has announced the coming of a major shift in the Drug Abuse (Prevention and Control) Act. Persons found in possession of minuscule quantities of cannabis on the streets will no longer be charged. Governor General Her Excellency Dame Sandra Mason announced during The Throne Speech that the Drug Abuse Act will be amended. "We will [...] amend our Drug Abuse (Prevention and Control) Act to provide that possession of 14 grams, or half an ounce or less of cannabis is no longer an offence for which one can be arrested, charged and tried; and will therefore not result in an appearance before the Magistrates Court or in a criminal record." Similar to a traffic ticket, the person would have 30 days to pay a fine of $200 (US$ 100). -
Cannabis in India: A rather long story, with its highs and lows
So deeply intertwined is cannabis with religion in India, that one of the principal deities of Hinduism, Shiva, is given the sobriquet: ‘Lord of Bhang’
The Indian Express (India)
Saturday, September 12, 2020
Cannabis is illegal in India. But still its prevalence is remarkable across the social and spiritual landscape of India. It is in fact particularly popular among ascetics and mendicants, and a variant called ‘bhang’ is frequently consumed and offered as part of festivities. So deeply intertwined is cannabis with religion in India, that one of the principal deities of Hinduism, Shiva, is given the sobriquet: ‘Lord of Bhang’. And this stems from the rather long history of the plant in the subcontinent. Despite being unlawful, the popularity of weed can hardly be said to have diminished. -
Controversial new EU drug agenda puts Europe, Morocco at risk
A hidden process is underway to radically shift Europe towards a repressive new drug agenda that merges migration, counter-terrorism, and security
Morocco World News (Morocco)
Saturday, September 12, 2020
The EU is planning to combine migration, counter-terrorism, and security in its new repressive anti-drug agenda that could have far-reaching consequences for Morocco. The European Commission has been developing this new strategy far away from public scrutiny. The drastic new drug agenda was only revealed after 29 civil society organizations spoke up in protest of the EU’s shadowy dealings. “It’s worrying because drug policy is now captured in the security agenda, just as counter-terrorism and illegal migration, it’s all being put in the same package,” Tom Blickman from he Transnational Institute said. “Supply control policies don’t work, it has been tried for more than fifty years. They have not worked in the past, do not work now, and will not work in the future.” -
Farmers in western Makwanpur return to marijuana farming due to pandemic-induced poverty
Poor crop harvest for a lack of fertilisers has driven the locals to destroy cash crops and plant marijuana to stay afloat
The Kathmandu Post (Nepal)
Friday, September 11, 2020
Farmers in rural municipalities in western Makwanpur district have started cultivating marijuana since the harvest in their maize and millet fields this year will see no returns. Hareram Negi, a local farmer, says maize and millet crops he had planted this year did not produce good yield for a lack of fertilisers. “The harvest is poor. The crops are yellowing,” said Negi. “We won’t have neither crops nor vegetables to sell this year. We are cultivating marijuana to have at least some income to keep us afloat.” After the local level elections in 2017, the police administration in coordination with the people’s representatives had launched a campaign to curb marijuana cultivation in Makwanpur. The local administration had deployed police personnel to destroy illegal marijuana and opium farming in rural areas in the district.
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