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Drugs in the news

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  • Consultant: Tax revenues on pot won’t be half of what’s projected

    The Seattle Times (US)
    Friday, March 29, 2013

    mark-kleimanWashington’s new pot consultant has one overarching, discouraging message for lawmakers and state budget writers: don’t look at weed as an ATM. Potential tax revenues will probably be less than half of the $450 million that’s been projected, said Mark Kleiman, in a interview Thursday night with TVW’s Austin Jenkins. More important, Kleiman said, to rely on money from pot — like money from gambling, alcohol and tobacco — means relying on abuse and addiction, which are not necessarily desirable state goals.

    Read more ...

  • Scathing audit throws Colorado recreational marijuana rules into chaos

    The Denver Post (US)
    Thursday, March 28, 2013

    marijuana-jointColorado's under-construction plan for regulating recreational marijuana nearly came unglued when lawmakers questioned whether the agency that would enforce the rules is up to the task. The plan called for the state's Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division — which regulates medical-marijuana businesses — to transition to the Marijuana Enforcement Division and be in charge of all pot enterprises in the state. But a scathing audit cast doubt on the division's fitness for handling the massive job.

    Read more ...

  • UN concerned by arbitrary arrests in Brazil

    CBS News (US)
    Thursday, March 28, 2013

    The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention voiced concern about the rising number of arbitrary arrests in Brazil, which has one of the highest prison populations in the world with around 550,000 persons, 217,000 (about 40%) of whom are in pre-trial detention. They also expressed serious concerns regarding the arrests and compulsory confinement of drug addicts due to forthcoming major events such as the Soccer World Cup in 2014 and the Olympic Games in 2016. (See: Prison overcrowding in Brazil)

    Read more ...

  • Avec les Cannabis social club, le «peuple de l’herbe» veut se faire entendre

    Libération (France)
    Mercredi, 27 mars, 2013

    Avec les Cannabis social club (CSC), dont les statuts ont été déposés lundi dans plusieurs préfectures, des militants défenseurs du cannabis bravent l’interdit pour promouvoir la dépénalisation et l’autoproduction et mettre ainsi un terme aux trafics et à la mise en circulation de produits «frelatés»: 15 à 20 clubs ont été officiellement créés, notamment en Loire-Atlantique, Vendée, Creuse, Charente-Maritime, Indre-et-Loire et Haute-Vienne, emboîtant ainsi le pas à la fédération, créée le 4 mars en Indre-et-Loire.

    Lire la suite ...

  • 'This is working'

    Portugal, 12 years after decriminalizing drugs
    Der Spiegel (Germany)
    Wednesday, March 27, 2013

    dissuasion-commissionTwelve years ago, Portugal eliminated criminal penalties for drug users. Since then, those caught with small amounts of marijuana, cocaine or heroin go unindicted and possession is a misdemeanor on par with illegal parking. Experts are pleased with the results. Portugal has stopped prosecuting users. The substances listed in Law 30/2000 are still illegal in Portugal -- "Otherwise we would have gotten into trouble with the UN," drug policy coordinator João Goulão explains -- but using these drugs is nothing more than a misdemeanor, much the same as a parking violation.

    Read more ...

  • Yes we cannabis

    The legalization movement plots its next 4 years
    The Atlantic (US)
    Wednesday, March 27, 2013

    Last November ballot initiatives legalizing, taxing, and regulating recreational marijuana use passed for the first time ever in Colorado and Washington state. Now marijuana reform is popping up in state legislatures across the country. Once the pet project of a few fringe figures, it has attracted a new generation of politicians from both parties with credible national aspirations. Even some Republicans see an opportunity to capitalize on a constituency that shocked the pundit class with its financial and grassroots muscle -- not to mention sophisticated campaign tactics -- just a few months ago.

    Read more ...

  • Audit: Serious flaws in Colorado's regulation of medical marijuana

    The findings are a blow to the state Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division
    The Denver Post (US)
    Tuesday, March 26, 2013

    State regulators charged with watching over Colorado's medical marijuana industry have fallen short on everything from tracking inventory and managing their budget to keeping potential bad actors out of the business, a state audit found. Often lauded as a national model, Colorado's so-called seed-to-sale system of regulating medical marijuana does not exist, auditors found.

    Read more ...

  • French weed users register 'cannabis clubs'

    The Local (France)
    Tuesday, March 26, 2013

    Cannabis users across France took a high-risk step by registering 'Cannabis social clubs' with local authorities as official non-profit organizations. The stunt is a bid to win public backing but it could land them up to 30 years in jail. In registering their social clubs with local authorities, those behind the stunt hope to illustrate what they see as disproportionate and unfair laws against cannabis use, and force a change in legislation. "We want to remove the sword of Damocles from over our heads, and demand recognition from the public authorities," said Farid Ghehioueche, from the group 'Cannabis sans frontières' (Cannabis without borders).

    Read more ...

  • Pot is legal in Washington: Q&A with the man who is making weed legit

    Time Magazine (US)
    Monday, March 25, 2013

    mark-kleiman2Washington state gets ready to regulate legal marijuana with the help of one of America’s top drug policy analysts. Mark Kleiman is professor of public policy at the University of California in Los Angeles, and co-author of Marijuana Legalization: What Everyone Needs to Know. His team at Botec Analysis Corporation earned the contract to help turn Washington state’s vote to legalize marijuana into a reality. TIME talked to him about the challenging job ahead.

    Read more ...

  • Medical marijuana dispensaries: High-tech tracking system unfulfilled

    Unrealized promises of regulating medical marijuana
    The Denver Post (US)
    Sunday, March 24, 2013

    The technology was supposed to efficiently track medical marijuana from seed to sale — the catch-phrase that came to define Colorado's efforts to regulate what had been an outlaw business. Field investigators could walk into any dispensary or grow operation and with a digital reader instantly collect data from tags attached to everything from newly potted plants to pot-infused lollipops in a regulatory system often held up as a national model and serving as the foundation for how the state will regulate recreational pot legalized by Amendment 64. (See also: Medical marijuana's unrealized regulatory goals)

    Read more ...
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Chewing over Khat prohibition

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Where strict bans on khat have been introduced they have had severe unintended negative consequences and failed to further the integration, social incusion and economic prosperity of Somali communities in particular, which chew khat most widely.

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