• DEA rejects attempt to loosen federal restrictions on marijuana

    Marijuana again failed an analysis conducted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and NIDA
    NPR (US)
    Wednesday, August 10, 2016

    cannabis-cultThe Obama administration has denied a bid by two Democratic governors to reconsider how it treats marijuana under federal drug control laws, keeping the drug for now in the most restrictive category for U.S. law enforcement purposes. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) chief Chuck Rosenberg says the decision is rooted in science. Rosenberg gave "enormous weight" to conclusions by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that marijuana has "no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States". (See also: DEA decides not to loosen restrictions on marijuana, keeping it schedule 1 (with heroin))

  • Most of Canada’s marijuana growers are otherwise law-abiding: advocates

    Government data show just 5 per cent of marijuana criminal cases over an eight-year period had links to organized crime or street gangs
    The Globe and Mail (Canada)
    Tuesday, August 9, 2016

    canada-cannabis-ottawaContrary to RCMP wisdom, organized crime groups play a relatively small role in Canada’s underground cannabis trade. The majority of people behind illegal grow operations and dispensaries are otherwise law-abiding, a group of academics and small-scale marijuana businesses have told the federal legalization task force. A Federal Court judge questioned the credibility of the RCMP’s expert witness on illegal marijuana cultivation. In his ruling, the judge noted that the Mounties had no hard data to back up their claims that home growers licensed under Canada’s old medical system were magnets for violent thieves and organized crime.

  • Festival drug checking is here, but it now needs to be expanded across the country

    Getting the message out about drug risks is difficult, and can backfire if not done well
    The Conversation (UK)
    Monday, August 8, 2016

    A step towards safer drug use came about recently with the UK’s first drug-checking service at the Secret Garden Party festival. Operated by The Loop charity, the service provided hi-tech analyses of drugs submitted by festival-goers. In addition to the known toxic effects of street drugs, users are exposed to risks arising from the uncertainties of the illegal market. In the UK, for example, there are ecstasy tablets circulating that contain harmfully high doses of MDMA and other more dangerous drugs, such as PMA/PMMA.

  • Gallup: More than 33 million American adults currently use marijuana

    Marijuana use could become more prevalent than cigarette use in just a few years' time
    The Washington Post (US)
    Monday, August 8, 2016

    us-flag-cannabisA new Gallup poll finds that percent of American adults who say they currently smoke marijuana has nearly doubled over the past three years. In 2013, only 7 percent of adults said they were marijuana smokers. When Gallup asked again in July of this year, 13 percent admitted to current marijuana use. That works out to more than 33 million adult marijuana users in the U.S. If America's marijuana users resided in one state, it would be bigger than Texas and second only to California in population.

  • Thailand’s novel approach to drugs could offer lesson to neighbors

    Decades of waging war against narcotics had been a failure; usage had actually increased
    Radio Free Asia (US)
    Monday, August 8, 2016

    Forward thinking is not what one has come to expect from the conservative military regime running Thailand for the past two years. But a government which otherwise likes to suppresses dissent and emphasize the need for law and order, has proposed what for southeast Asia is a novel answer to what is seen as a major problem: drugs. It also provides a welcome contrast to the extra-judicial slaughter of alleged drug dealers unleashed in the Philippines by newly-elected President Rodrigo Duterte. (See also: A failing drug war triggers new approach in Thailand and Myanmar)

  • Rodrigo Duterte links 150 judges and politicians to drugs trade

    Philippine president fires police and military officers named in nationally televised speech
    The Guardian (UK)
    Sunday, August 7, 2016

    phillipines-drugwarThe Philippine president has publicly linked more than 150 judges, mayors, lawmakers and military personnel to illegal drugs, revoked their gun licences and asked them to surrender for investigation. Rodrigo Duterte promptly fired members of the military and police he named and ordered government security personnel to be withdrawn from politicians he identified in his nationally televised speech. Duterte’s latest move ratchets up his war against drugs, which has left hundreds of suspected dealers dead and more than 4,400 arrested. Nearly 600,000 people have surrendered to authorities.

  • Marijuana users must be rehabilitated not jailed – NACOB boss

    Calls for a reform and national debate in Ghana's approach to the substance
    Modern Ghana (Ghana)
    Saturday, August 6, 2016

    The Executive Secretary of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB), Yaw Akrasi Sarpong believes a lenient paradigm shift is needed in the approach of law enforcement to crimes involving marijuana. Mr. Sarpong described as a waste of money and an “onslaught on conscience” the fact that people are arrested for possession of marijuana. The NACOB boss is not stranger to more left-field approaches to the substance as he previously called for a national debate on the legalization of marijuana in Ghana. He acknowledged that marijuana was a major problem in Africa but held that the response to this scourge by society was “completely misunderstood.”

  • How legalizing marijuana might stave off 'Spice' epidemics

    European nations with drug decriminalization, such as the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain, have the lowest prevalence of synthetic cannabinoid use
    Motherboard (US)
    Friday, August 5, 2016

    spiceK2 overdoses in Brooklyn sent 33 people to hospital. The rise of K2 could be fueled by a twist on the "gateway drug" theory: it’s not marijuana use, but marijuana criminalization, that could lead many to turn to synthetic cannabinoids. Just like marijuana activists are championing studies that suggest cannabis reforms could lead to decreased heroin and opioid use, stopping the spread of K2 could become a rallying point for the marijuana movement. As Adam Winstock, a consultant psychiatrist and founder of the Global Drug Survey put it, "In some regions, it could be the best argument for legalization in quite some time."

  • The harm reduction movement needs to rediscover its soul

    Harm reduction is not just an HIV intervention – it is a basic human right that should be available to everyone
    The Influence (US)
    Friday, August 5, 2016

    People who use drugs are being marginalized even within the world of harm reduction advocacy; they were rendered virtually invisible at the AIDS2016 conference in Durban. The true spirit of the original harm reduction movement is about meeting people where they are at, without judgement, and helping them find them achieve their drug use aims (including abstinence) in the way that causes the least harm to them, irrespective of the current legal and policy framework.

  • Colombia’s new, legal drug barons focus on medical marijuana

    Businesses in Colombia like PharmaCielo believe they can establish a foothold in the drug industry
    The New York Times (US)
    Thursday, August 4, 2016

    colombia-pharmacieloLast year, President Juan Manuel Santos spearheaded an overhaul of Colombia’s 30-year-old drug laws, which formally legalized medical marijuana for domestic use. Crucially, the new law also allowed the commercial cultivation, processing and export of medical marijuana products — like oils and creams — although not the flower, the part of the plant normally rolled into a joint. Officials hope the move will put a dent in Colombia’s drug trafficking business by creating a legal opportunity in an industry historically controlled by the black market.

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