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OAS study eyes marijuana decriminalization
Findings called historic by drug policy advocates
The Washington Post (US)
Friday, May 17, 2013
An Organization of American States study in response to calls by some Latin American leaders for rethinking the war on drugs advocates serious discussion of legalizing marijuana. “Sooner or later decisions in this area will need to be taken,” the study says, although it no proposals or specific recommendations on any issue are made. The $2.2 million study was hailed as historic by drug policy reform advocates who call the more than $20 billion that Washington has spent on counterdrug efforts in Latin America over the past decade a damaging waste of taxpayer money. -
Pot rules taking shape; public gets a taste of what’s ahead
The Seattle Times (US)
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Washington Liquor Control Board officials released draft rules for a legal seed-to-store marijuana system. Washington residents and out-of-staters could buy an ounce of tested, labeled marijuana, seven days a week, up to 20 hours a day, in state-regulated stores. That rule is more permissive than in Colorado, the other state creating an adult recreational-pot market. The draft rules are likely to be refined in weeks to come. -
Wash. set to release draft rules for pot industry
The Seattle Times (US)
Thursday, May 16, 2013
They've spent nearly eight months visiting marijuana grow houses, studying the science of getting high and earning nicknames like "the queen of weed." Now, officials in Washington are taking their first stab at setting rules for the state's new legal weed industry, possibly covering an array of topics ranging from how pot should be grown, labeled and tested for quality assurance to what types of security should be required at state-licensed pot businesses. -
Legal highs flooding UK pose immense overdose risk, warns drugs tsar
Users face growing threat from 200-plus synthetic drugs in circulation across UK, says government's chief drugs adviser
The Guardian (UK)
Thursday, May 16, 2013
The chief drugs adviser to the government has given his strongest warning yet on legal highs in Britain, saying there are now more than 200 synthetic psychoactive drugs being sold outside existing laws. He rejected a new approach in New Zealand, which tests and licenses the sale of these new psychoactive substances, as unworkable in Britain, but said a solution might be found by tweaking the Medicines Act or using consumer protection laws. -
Drugs 2.0: The web revolution that's changing how the world gets high by Mike Power – review
The web has transformed drug use in profound and unsettling ways
The Observer (UK)
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Every day we hear about what the internet has done to books, music and newspapers. But there's one massive retail industry that has also been radically transformed by the web but which has gone almost completely under the radar: drugs. It's a global billion-dollar industry that has been revolutionised by the same forces that have revolutionised everything else and, in this carefully researched book, Power enumerates the ways. -
Indoor pot production leaves giant carbon footprint
Marijuana growing is not a green industry
The Seattle Times (US)
Saturday, May 11, 2013
The carbon footprint of producing 2.2 pounds of marijuana indoors is equivalent to driving across country seven times, according to a peer-reviewed study. Yet almost no one is pushing for cleaner sun-grown weed as state officials make rules for legal growing operations. Pot production often uses hospital-intensity lamps, air conditioning, dehumidifiers, fans and carbon-dioxide generators to stimulate plants and boost their potency. The power-hungry crops rival data centers or server farms in intense use of electricity.
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Tourist cannabis cafe ban leads to surge in dealing in the south
Dutchnews (Netherlands)
Saturday, May 11, 2013
The decision to ban foreigners not resident in the Netherlands from the country’s cannabis cafes has led to an ‘explosion’ in drugs-related crime in the south of the country, the Algemeen Dagblad reports. The government’s decision to turn the cafes into members’ only clubs in the southern provinces in May 2012 led to a sharp rise in street dealing. The paper bases its claim on police and city council figures. -
Brazil state launches crack rehabilitation program
The Associated Press
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Sao Paulo State expanded its attack on crack cocaine by unveiling a program that will provide about $650 a month in subsidies for the rehabilitation of addicts at private treatment centers. Governor Geraldo Alckmin said 1,350 reals will be earmarked monthly for each crack user who voluntarily enrolls in a rehabilitation program that is expected to get under way in 11 cities. The state will give the money to accredited rehabilitation centers when clients present a "Begin Again" card they receive after enrolling in a program. -
From Chinese factory to UK households – realities of the trade in legal highs
Attempts to control synthetic drug trade resemble futile efforts made by record labels to control digital piracy decade ago
The Guardian (UK)
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Chemistry firms in many Chinese provinces are churning out modified versions of illegal drugs and selling them online. Everything from amphetamine-like stimulants to ecstasy-like substances as well as thousands of synthetic cannabinoids is available. The drugs – which have no history of human use – skirt the law by subtle molecular manipulation. Safety isn't a priority – profit is. (See also: Legal highs: international drugs gangs 'expanding into growing market') -
Colorado Senate gives final approval to historic marijuana bills
The Denver Post (US)
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
The Colorado Senate gave final approval to two new bills to implement marijuana legalization, inching the state legislature closer to becoming the first in the country to pass laws regulating recreational pot. The two bills — one on rules for marijuana stores and another on taxes — must go back to the House for agreement with changes made in the Senate. (See also: Denver City Council continues to eye how it will regulate Amendment 64)
