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Medical grade heroin drug treatment centre to open in Glasgow
Staff are fully trained in overdose and have access to defibrillators and naloxone
Evening Times (Scotland)
Tuesday, November 26, 2019
A new service providing medical grade heroin to the most problematic drug users in Glasgow is ready to open. The Enhanced Drug Treatment Service will treat the most at risk heroin users who are in danger of overdose, HIV and Hepatitis C. The facility is a first in Scotland and described by officials as "gold standard" treatment. The facility, costing £1.2m which is located just outside the city centre expects to treat around 20 patients in the first year and doubling to 40 in year two. The city’s Health and Social Care Partnership wants to open a safe drug consumption facility on the same site but UK drug laws currently won’t allow it. (See also: Scottish government urged to declare drug addiction emergency | Pioneering Glasgow clinic offers addicts pharmaceutical grade heroin) -
Cannabis sales in EU raise $13 billion for crime gangs
Cannabis consumed in the EU is increasingly produced there
Reuters (UK)
Tuesday, November 26, 2019
Europeans spent at least 11.6 billion euros (£9.9 billion) in 2017 on illegal cannabis purchases, confirming marijuana as the largest drugs market in the 28-country European Union, the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) said in its 2019 European Drug Markets report. Illegal sales of herbal cannabis and its resin represented 39% of the EU’s drugs market, up from 38% in 2013, with revenues for criminal organisations dwarfing those in legal markets. Cocaine is the second most consumed illegal drug in the EU, with sales generating revenues of at least 9 billion euros in 2017, while the heroin market was worth more than 7 billion euros. (See also: Growing like weeds? Rethinking Albania’s culture of cannabis cultivation) -
Government passes ganja legislation for Rastafarians, conditions apply
Clauses in the Act include how Rastas will be allowed to cultivate the plant and use it at religious events
The Loop (Barbados)
Sunday, November 24, 2019
Government has officially passed legislation to allow the local Rastafarian community to use cannabis, however, those seeking to take advantage of the new Act will have to satisfy a number of provisions first. The Sacramental Cannabis Act 2019 was approved during a sitting in the House of Parliament with 15 clauses outlining how Rastas are to gain access to, use and handle the plant. The AG told the House the aim was to keep the Bill as simple as possible, recognizing that too many restrictions would be to the detriment of those in the faith but at the same time give these one certain freedoms. (See also: Legalise it all, Lashley says of ganja | Rastafarians vent concerns about Sacramental Cannabis Bill | Rasta body blanks ‘wrong’ ganja bills) -
Could cannabis be a 'silver bullet' in the fight against the opioid crisis?
UBC research goes viral, although a cannabis company contributes to the university
CBC News (Canada)
Sunday, November 24, 2019
A new study suggests cannabis could be a safer and more effective substitute for opioids in the treatment of chronic pain, but can it help fight the opioid crisis? Researchers at the University of British Columbia and the B.C. Centre on Substance Use conducted over 5,000 interviews with 1,152 people who used heroin and other drugs and reported chronic pain at some point from June 2014 to June 2017. The participants were largely from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, and lead author M-J Milloy said the study aimed to discover "new interventions" that might "lower or address the risk of overdose" in heavy opioid users. -
Inside the Walmart of weed
From rural Canada, Big Marijuana seeks to dominate global market
The Boston Globe (US)
Saturday, November 23, 2019
With Canada the largest nation to completely legalize marijuana, the world’s most valuable pot company, Canopy Growth Corp., founded in 2013 and now worth about $6.4 billion, is one of the most controversial pot companies, the embodiment of Big Marijuana that critics contend uses size, market power, and lobbying prowess to accelerate the loosening of cannabis laws around the world and shoulder out competitors and smaller businesses. Already Big Alcohol, Big Tobacco, and Big Pharma have bought their way into Canopy and other marijuana companies. And, like those longstanding giants, the new cannabis corporations are spending millions of dollars lobbying for laws that let them sell large volumes of potentially addictive products. -
‘War on drugs’ is driving deforestation
Military action is pushing criminals into protected areas
Science Focus (UK)
Thursday, November 21, 2019
Drug trafficking and the corresponding ‘war on drugs’ are driving deforestation in Central America, two new reports published by Fundación Neotropica and the PRISMA Foundation think tank have found. Military efforts to tackle cocaine traffickers have instead pushed them into remote forests, where the shadowy underground economy they build has a devastating effect on the environment, the researchers said. The economic impact on the region’s protected forests is at least $215m per year, they found. The traffickers then clear forests to create hundreds of air strips to land planes full of cocaine coming from the Andes. -
House Judiciary Committee approves landmark marijuana legalization bill
The vote marks the first time that a congressional committee has voted in approval of the legalization of marijuana
The Hill (US)
Wednesday, November 20, 2019
The House Judiciary Committee passed a bill that would effectively make marijuana legal. The Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act of 2019 passed by a count of 24-10. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), chairman of the committee, introduced the bill and has gathered more than 50 co-sponsors of the bill in the House. Under the MORE Act, weed would be removed from the Controlled Substances Act, federally legalizing cannabis across the country. Past federal cannabis convictions would be required to be expunged. The bill would establish the Cannabis Justice Office, that would introduce a 5 percent tax on state-legal cannabis sales, among other things. (See also: Marijuana legalization bill approved by congressional committee in historic vote) -
Cannabis könnte dem Staat über 300 Millionen pro Jahr bringen
Hohe Steuern könnten die Preise stützen und Einnahmen von illegalen Händlern zum Fiskus verschieben
Neue Zürcher Zeitung
Dienstag, 19. November 2019
Der Cannabiskonsum spaltet die Schweizer Politik. Die Sozialkommission des Nationalrats hat den Vorschlag des Bundesrats zu einer vorsichtigen Öffnung knapp abgelehnt. Der Bundesrat will wissenschaftliche Pilotversuche für den legalen Cannabiskonsum zu Genusszwecken unter Bedingungen zulassen. Im neuen Nationalrat, der diesen Dezember erstmals tagt, dürften die Regierungsvorlage und auch weitergehende Reformen durchaus Chancen haben. im Vorfeld der Parlamentswahlen hatten sich 86 von 189 Nationalratskandidaten klar für eine Legalisierung des Cannabiskonsums ausgesprochen, weitere 28 sagten «eher Ja». Eine Garantie für eine künftige Mehrheit ist dies allerdings nicht. -
Légalisation du Cannabis : Une opportunité pour la Tunisie?
La consommation et la confiscation de cannabis sont en hausse exponentielle depuis une dizaine d'année en Tunisie
Il Boursa (Tunisie)
Dimanche, 17 novembre 2019
Le débat sur la légalisation du cannabis a fait couler beaucoup d'encre et sa remise sur la table est loin d'être finie. La dépénalisation du cannabis fut au centre des discussions politiques, sociales ainsi que des promesses électorales. Entre retombées économiques et bienfaits thérapeutiques, les opportunités se veulent nombreuses et conséquentes. Quelles avantages la légalisation du cannabis peut-elle offrir à la Tunisie? D'après Human Rights Watch, près d'un tiers des détenus tunisiens ont été condamnés suite à la loi 52 dont 70% d'entre eux sont emprisonnés pour avoir consommé du cannabis. Sans comparaison manichéenne, ces fêtards ou consommateurs réguliers se retrouvent dans la même cellule que n'importe quel autre criminel dans un espace de 2,9 mètres carrés par détenu. -
De Caires has high hopes despite pace of Cannabis Commission!
“We must not let the big guys come in and run this stuff because it defeats the whole purpose"
The Star (St. Lucia)
Sunday, November 17, 2019
Andre De Caires of the Cannabis Movement of St. Lucia is not satisfied with the pace at which the recently formed Cannabis Commission is working. The commission’s mandate is to “consult and provide advice on the design of a legislative and regulatory framework for cannabis”. A workshop in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, facilitated by the Transnational Institute brought together activists and farmers’ representatives from across the region. Discussions centred on management of the cannabis industry in the face of the enormous influx of investment money from cannabis companies “that do not exactly share the interest of the farmers, and the development of the islands as their first priority”.
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