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Counterpoint: Drug addicts can’t recover if they’re already dead
Liz EvansNational Post (Canada)
Wednesday, April 20, 2011InSite does not operate under the assumption that addiction is incurable. We believe in recovery; in fact, the biggest difference between our approach to recovery and the opinion expressed by Barbara Kay in her recent column (Rehab still the best solution for addiction) is that we believe it should be possible even for addicts who are not ready to get clean. InSite’s purpose is to help prevent addicts from dying, either from an overdose or from a disease, before they get a chance to recover.
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It’s time to inject some Insite into this campaign
Globe and Mail (Canada)
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
For all the thunderous warnings about Stephen Harper’s hidden agenda, there has been remarkably little talk in this election about one of the few real examples of Conservative social conservatism – namely, the party’s stunningly steadfast opposition to the Insite supervised injection facility in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. -
Legalizing Marijuana: An Exit Strategy from the War on Drugs
Zoë AmerigianCouncil on Hemispheric Affairs
Tuesday, April 19, 2011U.S. drug policy needs to be altered; legalization must be subject to serious debate. Legalization could eliminate illegal demand for Mexican marijuana and curb drug-related violence. Medical dangers of marijuana may be largely exaggerated. Economic costs and benefits should be balanced; legalization could reduce financial burden on the U.S.
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Portland legislator pushes bill to legalize, tax marijuana in Maine
Randy BillingsThe Forecaster (Maine, US)
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Imagine walking into a neighborhood store to buy beer, wine, liquor and cigarettes. But on your way home you make one more stop – to buy marijuana, legally. That's the vision Rep. Diane Russell, D-Portland, will outline at a press conference at Portland City Hall, when she introduces LD 1453: An Act to Legalize and Tax Marijuana. The bill would legalize and regulate marijuana much the same way the state regulates the alcohol and tobacco industries. It would allow adults over 21 to cultivate, possess, purchase and use marijuana within certain limits. -
Dying for a change on safe-injection site
Globe and Mail (Canada)
Monday, April 18, 2011
A health-care facility that saves lives and prevents the transmission of deadly diseases should be hailed as an innovative advancement in medical care – not a political football to be punted around by the government of the day. Unfortunately, however, the federal Conservatives continue to play deadly games with Insite, North America’s first supervised injection site. -
Jeremy Sare on drug sentencing
Jeremy SareBMJ Blog
Monday, April 18, 2011Most drug users are not addicted. Most suppliers of drugs are not dealers. These central truths about patterns of drug use in Britain are incompatible with the policies adopted by those in power who believe ever more muscular enforcement will somehow steer young people away from taking them. In drugs policy, there remains an unparalleled disconnect between power and knowledge. And power means both ministers and media who, on drugs policy, are intertwined in a deadly embrace.
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Vancouver's safe injection site cuts overdose deaths
The Globe and Mail (Canada)
Monday, April 18, 2011
The number of drug-overdose deaths on Vancouver’s notorious downtown Eastside fell sharply after the opening of a safe injection site, new research shows. The study, published online Monday in the medical journal The Lancet, shows that fatal overdoses dropped 35 per cent in the vicinity of Insite in the two years after it opened. By comparison, OD deaths dropped only 9 per cent in the rest of Vancouver in that same period. -
Ruling brings optimism for medical marijuana users
Bradley Bouzane and Jordan PressPostmedia News (Canada)
Thursday, April 14, 2011The Ontario Superior Court in Canada declared the rules that govern medical marijuana access and the prohibitions laid out in sections 4 and 7 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act “constitutionally invalid and of no force and effect,” effectively paving the way for legalization. If the government does not respond within 90 days with a successful delay or re-regulation of marijuana, the drug will be legal to possess and produce in Ontario, where the decision is binding.
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Jamaica panel to review pot decriminalization
David McfaddenAssociated Press
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Top government officials will review recommendations to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal and religious use in Jamaica. Six Cabinet ministers in Prime Minister Bruce Golding's administration will evaluate a 2001 report by the National Commission for Ganja -- as marijuana is known locally. The commission, which included academics and doctors and was appointed by a government led by the current opposition, argued that the drug was "culturally entrenched" in Jamaica and that moderate use had no negative health effects on most users. -
How a big US bank laundered billions from Mexico's murderous drug gangs
As the violence spread, billions of dollars of cartel cash began to seep into the global financial system
The Observer (UK)
Sunday, April 3, 2011
"Wachovia's blatant disregard for our banking laws gave international cocaine cartels a virtual carte blanche to finance their operations," said a federal prosecutor. Yet the total fine was less than 2% of the bank's $12.3bn profit for 2009. The conclusion to the case was only the tip of an iceberg, demonstrating the role of the "legal" banking sector in swilling hundreds of billions of dollars – the blood money from the murderous drug trade in Mexico and other places in the world – around their global operations.
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