• AP Interview: Guatemala prez says legalize drugs

    Associated Press
    The Seattle Times (US)
    Tuesday, September 25, 2012

    Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina is advocating the international legalization of drugs even as he is moving to fight narcotics cartels with the biggest military buildup in the Central American country since its long and bloody civil war. The president said the traditional war on drugs had failed over the past half century, and that the United States' inability to deal with its drug consumption problem left Central America with no option but to promote legalizing drugs in some way.

  • Rotterdam mayor says cannabis pass creates problems

    Dutch News (Netherlands)
    Tuesday, September 25, 2012

    Rotterdam mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb said the cannabis club membership card does not work and will never work. He said the cannabis pass just causes more nuisance. He thinks there will be more street dealing of soft drugs once it is introduced throughout the Netherlands on January 1. In the southern provinces, local Liberal politicians are asking party leader Mark Rutte to scrap the national introduction of the pass during his talks with the Labour party on the formation of a new cabinet. Aboutaleb has now joined their ranks.

  • Pot decriminalization debated by B.C.'s municipal leaders

    The Canadian Press (Canada)
    Monday, September 24, 2012

    geoff-plantFormer B.C. attorney general Geoff Plant said the debate comes as Washington looks at a tax and regulation plan, and this is an opportunity for a coordinated strategy on both sides of the border. "The old argument that we can't do anything here in Canada because we can't get too far ahead of American public policy is increasingly no longer relevant."

  • Legalizing marijuana adds revenue, reduces law-enforcement costs

    The case for Initiative 502 is about public money — the money wasted by trying to stamp out marijuana and the money given up by failing to legalize it and tax it
    The Seattle Times (US)
    Saturday, September 22, 2012

    i502-public-moneyIn its fiscal note on I-502, the state Office of Financial Management estimated the total state and local government revenue from marijuana at $566 million. That’s roughly what the state budgets in taxpayer money for its six universities. Most of the marijuana money, however, would be earmarked for health-related spending (see chart). Putting I-502 into effect would also save the money now spent on law enforcement. The bottom line: Legalizing marijuana offers government a pot of money, both in revenue and in savings.

  • State could be test case in marijuana legalization

    The Seattle Times (US)
    Saturday, September 22, 2012

    On Nov. 6 Washington voters will decide whether to directly confront the federal ban on marijuana and embrace a sprawling plan to legalize, regulate and tax sales at state-licensed pot stores. Would the Obama administration pick a legal fight over states' rights to try to block Initiative 502? Would federal prosecutors charge marijuana growers and retailers, even if they are authorized by state law? Or would — as some opponents and supporters predict — federal authorities denounce the law but largely leave Washington alone?

  • The relaxation of cannabis laws shows the failure of the war on drugs

    Uruguay's president, realising that prohibition has failed, wants to go further than others by legalising cannabis. Someone has to be first
    The Guardian (UK)
    Saturday, September 22, 2012

    When the Uruguayan president José Mujica was asked about his proposal to make a historic break with global prohibition and put in place a legal, state-controlled market for cannabis, he replied: "Someone has to be first." In fact, recent years have seen reforms to cannabis policy and law proceeding apace around the world. The trend for decriminalisation of possession for personal use (with civil or administrative penalties replacing criminal ones) has spread across much of Europe, Latin America, and beyond.

  • Cannabis consumption to be liberalised

    Pot smokers face a fine of SFr100 if caught
    Swissinfo (Switzerland)
    Thursday, September 20, 2012

    Despite dogged opposition by conservatives, parliament has approved a proposal to impose a fine on consumers of small amounts of cannabis instead of opening formal criminal proceedings. However, the decision stops short of legalising the substance. The move, which brings Switzerland in line with other European countries that tolerate dope smoking in small amounts, comes four years after voters rejected a plan to decriminalise cannabis.

  • Fix to B.C.’s ‘drug problem’ is easy: legalize marijuana

    Eliminating pot possession charges would ease court backlogs, fall in step with other western jurisdictions
    The Vancouver Sun (Canada)
    Thursday, September 20, 2012

    With three western American states mulling legalized marijuana and the Union of B.C. Municipalities set to debate it, a new group wants the province to stop enforcing the federal criminal ban on pot. Several prominent cannabis crusaders have drafted a proposed law, called the Sensible Policing Act, and are asking for a provincial commission to study the regulation and taxation of the demonized plant. The wished-for legislation is available on the group’s website: http://www.sensiblebc.ca/

  • Pot could be tax windfall, but skeptics abound

    The Seattle Times (US)
    Wednesday, September 19, 2012

    marijuana-dollarA catchy pro-marijuana jingle for Colorado voters considering legalizing the drug goes like this: "Jobs for our people. Money for schools. Who could ask for more?" It's a bit more complicated than that in the three states - Colorado, Oregon and Washington - that could become the first to legalize marijuana this fall. The debate over how much tax money recreational marijuana laws could produce is playing an outsize role in the campaigns for and against legalization - and both sides concede they're not really sure what would happen.

  • Uruguay takes 'war on drugs' in new direction: The state as dealer

    The South American country is proposing a state monopoly over marijuana in part to curtail drug-related violence. But it's getting pushback – even from those in favor of legalization
    The Christian Science Monitor (US)
    Wednesday, September 19, 2012

    Uruguay has long been at the vanguard of social reform in Latin America. Today, it is on the verge of passing into law one of its most radical ideas yet. The Broad Front – the center-left coalition that holds power – is proposing a state monopoly over the production and distribution of marijuana, making Uruguay the first national government to sell cannabis directly to citizens. The government says the measure is necessary to combat rising drug-related crime, decrease health risks for users, and counter ineffective US policies on drugs.

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