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Is Austria set to legalise cannabis use?
A case in the Constitutional Court could bring changes to the ban of cannabis for personal use in the country
The Local (Austria)
Thursday, May 19, 2022
Austria has a very complex system when it comes to its drug laws and regulations, but in short: no, cannabis is not legal in the alpine country. People are not allowed to consume, buy, sell, or grow the plant (growing it at home has some very strange specifications, such as it must never be allowed to bloom). However, since 2016, a person caught with a small quantity of cannabis could face only small charges, similar to traffic violations. The country’s constitutional court is evaluating a private petition by Paul Burger, a 26-year old Viennese. He was caught with a half-burned joint at the end of 2020 by two police officers in plain clothes. -
UK’s first regular drug checking service set to launch this month in Bristol
Personalised health advice will be available, with the doors set to open for the first time on 28th May 2022
DJ Mag (UK)
Thursday, May 12, 2022
The UK's first regular drug checking service is launching in Bristol this month, delivered by non-profit harm reduction specialists The Loop in a new partnership with the local authority. Funded by Bristol City Council, and delivered by the award-winning drug checking and evidence-based information organisation, the new scheme uses a multi-agency partnership model involving the Bristol Drugs Project (BDP) and People's Republic of Stokes Croft (PRSC). The overall goal is to reduce high-risk use of substances and build a fuller picture of the local illicit drug market. Members of the public can confidentially test illegal substances free of charge, engaging in a process that has been proven to significantly reduce risk and harm. -
Sadiq Khan appoints drugs tsar to explore legalising cannabis
The London mayor made the announcement after visiting a cannabis factory in Los Angeles
Evening Standard (UK)
Thursday, May 12, 2022Sadiq Khan has appointed a drugs tsar to explore the potential benefits of legalising cannabis. The mayor has asked Lord Falconer, formerly Lord Chancellor in Tony Blair’s government and a current member of Labour’s shadow cabinet, to lead a review of the law on the class B drug. Establishing a London drugs commission was a manifesto pledge and Mr Khan has previously called for an “evidence-based approach” to potential decriminalisation. Mr Khan said the commission would examine the effectiveness of UK drugs laws on cannabis and the potential for reducing “drug-related harm”. City Hall does not have the power to change the criminal law but could influence the debate. (Transform: London's cannabis commission: what can it actually achieve?)
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Germany speeds up the process to legalize recreational cannabis
A draft bill is expected in late 2022
Forbes (US)
Monday, May 9, 2022
When Germany's new coalition included the legalization of recreational cannabis in its political agenda in late 2021, there were few details on how to regulate the industry. However, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach announced last week that it would start the legal process for cannabis legalization soon. Finance Minister Christian Lindner confirmed that the process of legalizing recreational cannabis has started. He is planning a comprehensive technical preparation to legalize cannabis through a consultation process together with the Ministry of Health and other departments. The process will also involve the federal states, municipalities, associations, science, and civil society players. According to Lauterbach, the technical talks will likely start this summer, and a draft bill is expected to follow in late 2022. -
DULF keeps distributing checked drugs as Health Canada flags denial
The British Columbia Coroners Service has recorded 1,333 drug toxicity deaths since DULF sent its initial request
Filter (US)
Thursday, May 5, 2022
On May 4 in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, the Drug User Liberation Front (DULF) distributed 3.5 grams each of fentanyl-free heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine to members of the Western Aboriginal Harm Reduction Society. The action, dedicated to the 165 people in British Columbia recorded to have died of drug toxicity in March 2022, comes in the wake of Health Canada’s de facto rejection of DULF’s bid to distribute safe supply legally through a compassion club model. On April 21, nearly eight months after receiving the organization’s section 56 exemption request, Health Canada notified DULF that it did not intend to approve it. -
Switzerland to launch adult-use cannabis sale trial program this summer
The path that brought the pilot on adult-use cannabis sales started in 2016
Forbes (US)
Thursday, May 5, 2022
Switzerland will start adult-use cannabis sales this summer amid a trial program that will involve 400 people. Swiss Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) authorized on April 19 the first pilot on the sale of cannabis for recreational use. The initiative is a joint project with the University of Basel and will take place in Basel, Switzerland's third-most-populous city. The study on the legal sale of adult-use cannabis aims to provide information to regulate cannabis in the whole country. In particular, the pilot is intended to provide information to consumers about low-risk consumption, knowledge on the effects of controlled access to cannabis, and information on consumers' behavior and physical and mental health.
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Why cannabis prices are plunging – unlike just about everything else
Cannabis producers were harvesting far more than Canadians could possibly smoke or ingest
The Globe and Mail (Canada)
Monday, May 2, 2022
As Canadians deal with the highest inflation in decades and broadening price hikes, one industry remains locked in a lengthy trend of discounting and bargain rates: cannabis. Laden with inventory, producers and retailers of marijuana have been slashing the prices of their products to bring in cash and fight for market share – a situation that is wildly different from the state of affairs in most other industries, in which broad economic forces are pushing up prices among competitors. Prices for recreational and medicinal cannabis have dropped by 8.3 per cent and 10.2 per cent, respectively, over the past year, and by roughly 25 per cent in both categories since the end of 2018, according to Statistics Canada. -
In defense of the plug: Buying illicit cannabis may be “better” than legal weed, research shows
Many legacy-market operators are actually what should be the models for business development in this industry
Forbes (US)
Friday, April 29, 2022
Excoriated by some policymakers and by the legal cannabis industry as an unfair competitor and as a demonstration that legalization isn’t working, the illicit market remains popular with consumers for reasons of price, quality, and product availability. According to a survey conducted by Vikiana Clement, the executive director of the Cannabis Education Task Force at Brooklyn’s Medgar Evers College, so-called “illicit” cannabis operators actually performed better than their corporate competition on several key metrics, including the “triple-bottom line” of social and environmental responsibility as well as pure profit. -
Minister denies talks being held with Britain on cannabis law
David Burt, the Premier, has trumpeted the Cannabis Licensing Bill as a flagship piece of legislation for the PLP
The Royal Gazette (Bermuda)
Friday, April 29, 2022
A Cabinet minister has denied that behind the scenes talks with London are the reason for a delay in sending controversial legislation on legalising cannabis in Bermuda to the Governor for consideration. The remarks came after OBA former premier Craig Cannonier said the fact that the Cannabis Licensing Bill had not been sent to Government House more than four weeks after passing Parliament was “unusual”. Mr Cannonier insisted he had information that the delay may have been caused by correspondence between the Government and 10 Downing Street over the issue. However, Jason Hayward, the Economy and Labour Minister, dismissed the suggestion. Mr Hayward told a press conference: “I am not aware of any negotiations.” -
Nepal ganja campaign seeks return of Himalayan high times
Nepal closed its marijuana dispensaries in 1973, but now lawmakers are seeking to lift a cultivation ban to create a new export revenue stream
France24 (France)
Friday, April 29, 2022
Nepal's marijuana ban could soon be up in smoke, as lawmakers mull a return to the liberal drug policies that once made the Himalayan republic a popular pit stop on the overland "hippie trail". Now, with Western countries easing their own prohibitions on marijuana, the government and legal reform campaigners say it is time to stop criminalising a potent cash crop with centuries-old ties to the country's culture and religious practices. "It is not justifiable that a poor country like ours has to treat cannabis as a drug," Nepal's Health Minister Birodh Khatiwada told AFP. "Our people are being punished... and our corruption increases because of smuggling as we follow decisions of developed countries that are now doing as they please."
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