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UN report on Myanmar opium crop criticized
Kachin Independence Army denies UNODC claims and says crops grown in government-controlled areas
Asia Times (Thailand)
Wednesday, March 6, 2019
The recently-released "Myanmar Opium Survey 2018" by the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC) distorts reality, accuses ethnic rebels who are not involved in the drugs trade for being responsible for the scourge while turning a blind eye to official complicity in the trade. That is the basic message in a commentary published by the Transnational Institute (TNI), a Dutch-based international research and advocacy group. After the Kachin rebels complained about the UNODC report, its Bangkok and Yangon offices issued a statement on February 27, which, however, did not address the main issue of wrongful identification of armed groups in the opium growing areas. (See also: UN opium survey distorts the facts, says think tank) -
WHO recommends rescheduling cannabis in international law for first time in history
The WHO Expert Committee on Drug Dependence has recommended that cannabis resin and other marijuana products should be removed from a schedule IV
Newsweek (US)
Friday, February 8, 2019
The World Health Organization has suggested that cannabis should be removed from Schedule IV of the 1961 UN Single Convention given the mounting evidence showing that the drug could prove beneficial in treating a number of health problems. International drug policy expert Martin Jelsma from the Transnational Institute said this was the “first time in history” that the WHO had undertaken a proper critical review of cannabis and related substances. Nevertheless, he said the committee’s proposals don’t go far enough, noting that its rationale for keeping cannabis in schedule I is “highly questionable.” -
Green gold rush: Thailand, Malaysia race to legalise medical marijuana
Support for liberalisation is not unanimous: China, South Korea and Japan last month warned citizens visiting Canada to avoid cannabis and Singapore maintains a blanket ban
South China Morning Post (China)
Monday, November 12, 2018
Asia has the toughest penalties against drug use and trafficking but the legal landscape is shifting in several countries where cannabis once deemed ruinous to young lives, is emerging as a lucrative industry. In Thailand parliament has set in motion plans to legalise the drug for medical use. This would position the country as the epicentre of the burgeoning industry and advocates claim Thailand’s legal marijuana market could make US$5 billion by 2024. Malaysia, which recently scrapped the death penalty, has begun informal cabinet discussions on legalising medical marijuanag. The “green gold rush” has begun and Asian nations are eager to share in the windfall. (Thailand: Marijuana bill shortened to allow quicker legislation) -
Canada's legalization of marijuana could hurt farmers in poorer countries
The Caribbean Community (Caricom) has set up a marijuana commission which recently published recommendations to decriminalize the drug
CNN (US)
Wednesday, October 17, 2018
For decades poor farmers in countries like Jamaica and Morocco have risked the wrath of governments to grow cannabis as a cash crop. But as Canada becomes the first country in the G7 leading industrial nations to legalize marijuana, those countries where the crop has traditionally been grown risk losing out on new legal markets worth billions of dollars. And with no international institution to represent them because of the illegality of marijuana in most of the world growers risk being left behind. "It's all about trying to bring some of these small farmers into the opening market," says Martin Jelsma of the Transnational Institute (TNI). "The big risk is there is a complete corporate capture going on." -
Seek drug reform within international law: Tom Blickman
Stigmatisation and international laws that tilt towards prohibition of drugs make it difficult to find a common ground for a rational debate
Delhi Post (india)
Monday, October 1, 2018
Dating back to the latter part of 1800s, precisely in 1894-95, the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission consisting of medical experts of Indian and British origin concluded that moderate use of cannabis was the rule in India, and produced practically no ill-effects. “What countries like Uruguay and Canada are doing now, India had already proposed 120 years ago,” says Tom Blickman from the Transnational Institute (TNI), an international policy think tank based in the Netherlands. “Had the wisdom of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission’s recommendations prevailed, we would have prevented a lot of misery by erroneous drug control policies,” he points out. (See also: A legal hallucination) -
Pays-Bas : Le haschich marocain s’invite à la Chambre basse
La quantité et la qualité du cannabis marocain «n’ont pas d’égal»
Yabiladi (Maroc)
Mardi, 25 septembre 2018
Le trafic et la commercialisation du cannabis marocain aux Pays-Bas sont actuellement étudiés par les partis politiques néerlandais. Plusieurs propositions ont été faites, l’une d’elle serait d’en discuter avec le Maroc pour réglementer le marché. Certains proposent de réglementer et de légaliser l’importation du haschich marocain. Une utopie que Martin Jelsma, directeur de recherche à l’Institut transnational de recherche et de plaidoyer (TNI), défend par la possibilité d’une «consultation attentive entre le Maroc et les Pays-Bas». Une option qui, selon lui, pourrait se confronter «à de nombreux obstacles juridiques, mais qui est tout de même nécessaire». (Voir aussi: Du kif au haschisch hybride, le Rif dans la mondialisation du cannabis)
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U.S. has been quietly helping Mexico with new, high-tech ways to fight opium
The Drug Enforcement Administration said in a report last year that Mexico supplies 93 percent of all heroin consumed in the United States
The Washington Post (US)
Sunday, April 15, 2018
In the past few opiate-soaked years, U.S. officials say, nearly all the heroin coursing through American cities has come from one place: Mexico. “There are still a lot of question marks around the figures,” said Martin Jelsma, director of the drug program at the Transnational Institute, a research organization based in Amsterdam, and the co-author of a forthcoming study on Mexican and Colombian poppy production. Equally challenging, Jelsma said, is identifying the source country of a heroin sample. He doubts that the DEA can always tell whether heroin is made from Mexican or Colombian poppy, given that Mexican drug traffickers in some cases have hired Colombians to teach heroin-production techniques, so the product is similar. -
Canada’s next steps on cannabis and the UN drug treaties
Canada’s proposed approach to cannabis will result in Canada being in contravention of certain obligations related to cannabis under the UN drug conventions
Dave Bewley-Taylor, Tom Blickman, Martin Jelsma, and John WalshIpolitics (Canada)
Thursday, March 29, 2018
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Ever since the introduction of Bill C-45, questions have been swirling concerning Canada’s position relative to the UN drug control conventions: conventions to which Canada is a party and that, crucially, prohibit the creation of regulated markets for the recreational use of cannabis. Amidst debates and discussion over the past few months on how best to manage the impending mismatch between Canada’s domestic cannabis policy and international commitments, various options have been proffered and examples from elsewhere sought. One possible avenue to explore is a mechanism called modification inter se, as outlined in ‘Balancing Treaty Stability and Change: Inter se modification of the UN drug control conventions to facilitate cannabis regulation.’ -
Yes, legalizing marijuana breaks treaties. We can deal with that
Dave Bewley-Taylor Martin Jelsma Tom Blickman John WalshIpolitics (Canada)
Monday, December 11, 2017
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Buzzing in the background of Canada’s debate on cannabis legalization is the issue of the three UN drug control treaties, and what to do with them. The issue arose during the House of Commons’ consideration of Bill C-45, and may well come up again now that the bill is coming under Senate scrutiny. There is no doubt that legalizing and regulating cannabis markets for non-medical use will mean Canada is no longer in compliance with the obligation under the treaties to restrict cannabis to “medical and scientific” purposes. And Canada will need to address those treaties — in due time. -
Why Indonesia’s drugs problem is getting worse despite ‘shoot on sight’ orders and draconian laws
President Joko Widodo has given authorities wider powers, drug laws have been tightened and the death penalty for drugs reinstated
South China Morning Post (China)
Tuesday, November 21, 2017
In the eyes of Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo, drug use is a serious problem. Inspired by his Filipino counterpart Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs, authorities have been granted shoot-on-sight orders for dealers and traffickers, while lawmakers are introducing increasingly tougher regulations. Yet the world’s fourth most populated country remains awash with drugs. According to Sulistiandriatmoko, the chief representative of the National Anti-Narcotics Agency, official data shows there are nearly six million drug users across the sprawling archipelago. A 2016 report by international research and advocacy group the Transnational Institute found that between 2009 and 2012, about 37,000 Indonesians were sentenced to jail terms for using cannabis.
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