The Cairo and Giza Tobacco Merchants Association submitted a proposal to the Cabinet to legalize the use and trade of hash, arguing the measure could prove an effective means to reduce the state budget deficit, according to Al-Masry Al-Youm. Association head Osama Salama said he submitted the proposal to the Legislative Reform Committee headed by Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab. “We urge the state to use the ‘forbidden fruit’ rule,” said Salama explaining that “imposing 10 taxes on hash sales could generate EGP 5 billion ($700 million) in state revenues every year.” (See also: Political leader calls for legalizing hashish trade)

Black people with no history of criminal convictions have been three times more likely to be arrested by Toronto police for possession of small amounts of marijuana than white people with similar backgrounds. They’ve also been more likely to be detained for bail, the data shows. The disparity is largely due to targeting of Black people by Toronto police, according to criminologists and defence lawyers interviewed by the Star, who note that surveys show little difference in marijuana use between Black and white people. Anthony Morgan, a human rights lawyer and community activist, called the statistics “another example of the failed war on drugs.”

Shut down, Mayor John Tory told marijuana shop owners, or face “whatever enforcement mechanisms” the city can muster to extinguish the “wildfire” spread of pot shops across Toronto. Almost a year and many raids, seizures, arrests and court dates later, the federal government is poised to clear the legal haze as early as next week. Police, meanwhile, continue playing whack-a-mole with storefront pot vendors numbering, at the moment, 52. Depending on who you talk to, Toronto’s law-and-order approach has been either a qualified success and victory for safe neighbourhoods, or a hypocritical, costly attack on pot pioneers to enable a corporate takeover of their lucrative industry.

There is no evidence that tough policies deter young people from using cannabis, a study has found. Analysing data about cannabis use among more than 100,000 teenagers in 38 countries, including the UK, USA, Russia, France, Germany and Canada, the University of Kent study found no association between more liberal policies on cannabis use and higher rates of teenage cannabis use. “My new study joins several others which show no evidence of a link between tougher penalties and lower cannabis use,” said Prof Alex Stevens, from the University of Kent’s school for social policy, sociology and social research.

In 2018, Malta became one of the first European countries to fully decriminalise cannabis for medicinal purposes; followed up by a broader reform to (within limits) decriminalise the drug for recreational purposes, too. For people brought up in a very different Malta – where drug-users were routinely criminalised – the contrast is rather striking. Yet it also forms part of what appears to be an international movement: away from ‘prohibitionism’, and towards a ‘harm-reduction’ approach. Decriminalisation itself is not even all that ‘new’, really:  if you look at individual countries, and how their drug legislation has evolved over the decades, you will find that the process has actually been ongoing for around 20 or 30 years.

La nécessité d’inscrire les noms des personnes poursuives pour trafic de cannabis dans les zones du Nord sur la liste des bénéficiaires de la grâce royale est une revendication du Parti de l’authenticité et de la modernité (PAM) et de l’Istiqlal (PI). Les groupes parlementaires de ces deux formations politiques ont ainsi réitéré cette demande, à en croire Hespress. Le parti de la Balance a alerté sur le fait que les détenus dans ces affaires «ne bénéficient pas de la grâce comme d’autres prisonniers», notant qu’il existe «des crimes plus abjects et dont les auteurs bénéficient de l’amnistie». (Lire aussi: Le nombre d’affaires liées à la drogue explose)

Luego de una puja entre el Instituto de Regulación y Control del Cannabis (Ircca) y el Ministerio del Interior de Uruguay por la información relativa a la dirección de los clubes cannábicos registrados, el consejo ejecutivo de la Unidad Reguladora y de Control de Datos Personales (Urcdp) se expidió sobre el tema. En la resolución, a la que tuvo accedo El País, la Urcdp concluyó que el Ministerio del Interior, previo consentimiento del titular del dato o si se asegura su debida anonimización, podrá acceder al domicilio de los clubes cannábicos. “La información de la existencia o no de un club cannábico o de un autocultivo en determinado domicilio puede otorgarse, siempre que se brinde debidamente anonimizada”, explica el dictamen.

The mayor of Breda has asked if his region can be treated as a part of Germany, in order to go ahead with a trial of regulated cannabis growing. Speaking at a PCN cannabis association symposium in Eindhoven, Paul Depla said the Netherlands was in danger of losing all enthusiasm for a trial and being overtaken by other parts of Europe. ‘If we just keep talking while the others go ahead, we should just stop the discussion,’ he said. ‘Treat us as German state and let us go ahead with legalisation! ‘We have been talking about regulating cannabis since 2008, in 2017 the government finally made a start, and if we keep up this tempo, by 2028 the rest of Europe will have regulated cannabis and the Netherlands will still be talking about a new law.

When it comes to drugs, Austrians are increasingly turning to cannabis and buying from ‘home growers’ based in Austria, according to a public prosecutor. “People are not buying so many hard drugs, but are increasingly buying cannabis. What’s interesting is that fewer drugs are being imported and the cannabis is frequently grown in the country," public prosecutor Barbara Haider told the Kurier newspaper. The decline in imported cannabis may be due to the fact that the technical equipment for growing cannabis plants is easily obtainable in so-called grow or head shops and stricter border controls along the Balkans route to Austria, as a result of the refugee crisis.

A bill to decriminalize low-level marijuana possession in Trinidad and Tobago, the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Bill 2019, was approved by the nation’s House of Representatives. The recently introduced legislation would remove criminal penalties for possession of up to 30 grams of cannabis. A fixed fine would be imposed for possession of more than 30 but fewer than 60 grams, and it would not impact an individual’s criminal record if the debt is paid. The proposal would also provide a pathway for expungements of prior cannabis convictions and allow individuals to cultivate up to four plants for personal use. (See also: House passes cannabis amendments)

A court significantly reduced 30-year jail terms for three Tunisians convicted of smoking cannabis, in a case that sparked debate in the country about repressive drug laws. The appeals court in Kef, in northwestern Tunisia, sentenced two of the men to one year in prison and the third to two years, their lawyers said. The three had been found guilty on January 20 of organised consumption of cannabis in a public space. They had shared a joint in a disused locker room after a football match between friends in a former stadium in the marginalised rural area of Tunisia, their defence team said. In response to the outcry, politicians have called for the law to be relaxed, and several bills are being drafted, one of them aiming to legalise the production and sale of cannabis.

Tunisians convicted of cannabis consumption will be able to avoid prison if it is their first offence. The north African country has faced mounting calls from rights groups to reform a law that jails youths for a year for smoking a joint. Law 52, dating back to the rule of toppled dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, imposes a mandatory one-year jail sentence for narcotics use, ruling out any mitigating circumstances. But the National Security Council headed by President Beji Caid Essebsi announced measures to limit the number of users sent to prison. For a first conviction, judges will be able to issue a pardon as soon as the judgment is pronounced. (See also: "All This for a Joint")

Thirty years' jail for smoking a joint after a football game? Tunisia has seen calls for reforms to dictatorship-era drug laws after a court handed down heavy sentences to three young men. Tunisians have taken to social media to demand changes to the law after the court in the northern city of Kef issued the sentence last month. The three -- all aged in their 30s -- had shared a joint in a disused locker room after a football match between friends. They faced heavier penalties because they were caught in a public place. Thousands of Tunisian youth are incarcerated every year on drug charges, with little in the way of prevention, rehabilitation or alternative punishment, in a country where around a third of young people are unemployed.

The Coalition for Legalizing Cannabis, a civil coalition of young activists, announced Feb. 23 at a press conference in Tunis that it is working on a bill aimed at legalizing the production and consumption of cannabis in Tunisia. Work on the project is ongoing and consultations with parliamentarians is still underway in order to find a legal formula that is acceptable to all parties. The coalition said that it is consulting with parliamentarians to develop legal frameworks for the production and consumption of cannabis, under which the state would reverse the sole right to produce and distribute cannabis, as well as that it would be entrusted with monitoring and regulation.

A group of young Tunisians is calling for the establishment of a National Cannabis Bureau, and the end of the nationwide ban on cannabis. The youth group, “Badal,” claims that the law criminalizing the consumption of weed is detrimental to the future of young Tunisians. The youth-led movement calls to eradicate “Law No. 52” that penalizes cannabis consumption, explaining that it's “cruel,” the report added. Under Law 52, smoking hashish is penalized with a one-year prison sentence for anyone charged with drug possession. And the prison sentence can reach five years in case the culprit has a criminal history. The call rekindles the controversy in Tunisia regarding the consumption of cannabis, known in slang as “zatla”.

Un collectif a appelé à une légalisation du cannabis en Tunisie, où la stratégie essentiellement répressive et une loi contestée entraînent chaque année l’incarcération de nombreux jeunes fumeurs de joints. « Il y a un million de consommateurs, dont 400.000 réguliers, c’est presque un dixième de la population et plus de 30% des jeunes », a souligné Karim Chaïr, du Collectif pour la légalisation du chanvre (Colec), lancé en 2019 avec des associations et experts. « La légalisation peut diminuer la consommation, et donner des moyens financiers à l’Etat ». Le débat a été relancé par la condamnation en janvier de trois Tunisiens à 30 ans de prison chacun pour avoir fumé un joint, suscitant des appels à réformer une législation sévère.

Unos 100 mil extranjerosestarían ingresando al año a Uruguay por turismo para, entre otras actividades, consumir cannabis si legalmente se leshabilitara esa posibilidad. Se trata de personas que en sus lugares de origen consumen en forma habitual u ocasional y que, durante su visita al país, estarían dispuestos a recurrir al sistema oficial si se implementa.Su llegada generaría un incremento de consumo de 1.470 kilos anuales, tomando como base 15 gramos por turista y que las únicas fuentes de acceso fueran las farmacias habilitadas.Así lo indicó; un trabajo de la empresa Equipos Consultores, contratado por el Instituto de Regulación y Control del Cannabis (IRCCA) con el objetivo de determinar cómo se van a dar las cosasa futuro en torno a la demanda ante una posible liberalización del acceso universal.

Hashish cultivation is widespread in the Bekaa Valley with many relying on the illegal crop for their livelihoods. In an attempt to curb the illicit trade, the Lebanese authorities periodically raid the area to destroy the crops and arrest its producers. Many think the hashish business is easy and profitable, but this is untrue. In the dry land of the Bekaa Valley, hashish plantations are an alluring option for many in the poor, often lawless region. While police raids have not been frequent since the onset of the war in Syria, the price drop that followed the closure of the border means the business is still difficult. While authorities have repeatedly pledged to help farmers find an alternative source of income to hashish, to this day the Coteaux d’Heliopolis Cooperative remains the only one providing a credible solution.

Marijuana has a long history in Aceh, so much so that it's still totally common for locals to offer some to visitors. But the province's associations with weed have also been something of an open secret in Indonesia, home to some of the harshest anti-drug laws on Earth.The National Narcotics Agency (BNN) now claims to have decreased the number of marijuana plantations in Aceh significantly. But it seems like the claim is not entirely accurate, since BNN agents continue to find new plantations in Aceh, including the country's biggest yet last October. For the past three years, the BNN has continued to implement a program called the Grand Design Alternative Development (GDAD) that aims to persuade farmers in Aceh to stop planting weed and switch to corn, and other and supposedly more superior commodities

Two-thirds of Americans say the use of marijuana should be legal, reflecting a steady increase over the past decade, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. The share of U.S. adults who oppose legalization has fallen from 52% in 2010 to 32% today. Meanwhile, an overwhelming majority of U.S. adults (91%) say marijuana should be legal either for medical andrecreational use (59%) or that it should be legal just for medical use (32%). Fewer than one-in-ten (8%) prefer to keep marijuana illegal in all circumstances, according to the survey, conducted Sept. 3 to 15 on Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel.