• The next seven states to legalize pot

    Why Oregon, California and more are likely to follow Colorado and Washington toward legalization
    Rolling Stone (US)
    Tuesday, December 18, 2012

    pot-map-legalizationBy legalizing marijuana through direct democracy, Colorado and Washington have fundamentally changed the national conversation about cannabis. As many as 58 percent of Americans believe marijuana should be legal. The political establishment is catching on. Former president Jimmy Carter endorsed taxed-and-regulated weed. In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy suggested "to amend the Federal Controlled Substances Act to allow possession of up to one ounce of marijuana, at least in jurisdictions where it is legal under state law."

  • Britain has not simply fallen out of love with illegal drugs

    The government has based its refusal to set up a royal commission on the shaky premise that drug use is falling
    The Guardian (UK)
    Tuesday, December 18, 2012

    "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" summed up the response from the Home Office, and later David Cameron, to the publication of the home affairs select committee's year-long inquiry into drug policy last week. Why waste time on setting up a royal commission into drug policy (something his coalition partners, in contrast, went on to call for) when our current drug policy is working? The key evidence for this, quoted like a mantra by the government, is falling drug use. But the "falling drug use" plank on which the government is walking is a very shaky one.

  • For medicinal use only?

    The Economist (UK)
    Tuesday, December 18, 2012

    czech-pharmacyThe Czech Republic already has one of the world’s most liberal approach to recreational drug possession. And it will get more liberal still: beginning next year the government will allow marijuana to be distributed by pharmacies for patients with a prescription. Lawmakers in parliament’s lower house overwhelmingly passed a bill clearing the way for legal, but regulated medical marijuana on December 7.

  • Mexico changes stance in drug war – but little difference seen from Calderón

    Mexico's President Enrique Peña Nieto talks of end to military crackdown against drug cartels that has left up to 100,000 dead
    The Guardian (UK)
    Tuesday, December 18, 2012

    Mexico's new president has outlined a security strategy aimed at reducing drug war-related violence that, rhetorically at least, contrasts starkly with the emphasis his predecessor placed on using force to go after the cartels. For all the changes of tone, however, it remains unclear how different the strategy will be on the ground, aside, perhaps, from more funds dedicated to social projects aimed at disadvantaged youths at risk of being sucked into organised crime.

  • Task force created to regulate legalized marijuana in Colorado

    The New York Times (US)
    Monday, December 17, 2012

    colorado-marijuanaIt has been a little over a month since Coloradans approved a groundbreaking law legalizing small amounts of marijuana for recreational use. Now that the celebratory haze has settled, state officials and marijuana advocates began sifting through the thorny regulatory questions that go beyond merely lighting up.

  • President's pot comments prompt call for policy

    The Seattle Times (US)
    Saturday, December 15, 2012

    med-marijuana-protestPresident Barack Obama says he won't go after pot users in Colorado and Washington, two states that just legalized the drug for recreational use. But advocates argue the president said the same thing about medical marijuana - and yet U.S. attorneys continue to force the closure of dispensaries across the U.S. Welcome to the confusing and often conflicting policy on pot, where medical marijuana is legal in many states, but it is increasingly difficult to grow, distribute or sell it.

  • Federal government should allow states to sanction marijuana businesses

    The federal government should have a consistent policy of allowing states to control cannabis within their borders
    Editorial
    The Seattle Times (US)
    Friday, December 14, 2012

    seattle-times2President Obama’s statement of tolerance toward legalized marijuana is welcome. The real question is not whether federal agents will go after users. In Colorado and Washington, the question is whether they will go after growers, processors and retailers that have been licensed under state law. It is whether the federal government will allow states to sanction businesses that keep accounts, pay taxes and follow state law.

  • Marijuana not high Obama priority

    "It would not make sense for us to see a top priority as going after recreational users in states that have determined that it's legal"
    ABC News (US)
    Friday, December 14, 2012

    obama-abc-interviewPresident Obama says recreational users of marijuana in states that have legalized the substance should not be a "top priority" of federal law enforcement officials prosecuting the war on drugs. "We've got bigger fish to fry," Obama said of pot users in Colorado and Washington during an exclusive interview with ABC News' Barbara Walters. (See also: Parsing Obama's words on legalizing marijuana, by Ethan Nadelmann)

  • Charities give Clegg backing in call for overhaul of drug laws

    The Independent (UK)
    Friday, December 14, 2012

    clegg-cameronThe decriminalisation of some drugs appeared a more realistic prospect tonight after charities backed Nick Clegg’s call for a Royal Commission to review Britain’s laws on illegal substances. “A Royal Commission may or may not be the best way to organise a review but, whatever the process, let’s stop pretending that a 50-year-old strategy, and a 40-year-old law, are sufficient to manage a 21st-century drug market.” (See also: Debate: Should the UK follow Washington's example and permit the legalisation of drugs?)

  • Recreational marijuana should not be top federal priority: Obama

    Reuters (UK)
    Friday, December 14, 2012

    we_need_weedIn an interview with ABC News President Barack Obama said federal authorities should not target recreational marijuana use in two Western states where it has been made legal given limited government resources and growing public acceptance of the controlled substance. "It does not make sense from a prioritization point of view for us to focus on recreational drug users in a state that has already said that under state law that's legal," he said.

Page 387 of 471