When Mayor Muriel E. Bowser deliveredher legalized marijuana guidelines, she tried to ease concerns of naysayers with promises that there are enough provisions to prevent things from getting out of hand. The District would not become like, gasp, Amsterdam. The Dutch aren’t happy and think the nation’s capital could learn a thing or two from the ostensible pot capital of the world. The Dutch Embassy, as the Washingtonian reported, wrotean article analyzing how D.C. and Amsterdam actually compare to one another. (But: Amsterdam city council calls for licenced marijuana production)

Until 1921 dagga was sold openly by mine storekeepers in the towns and grew wild in much of South Africa. It was banned partly because it was feared that its use would make it more difficult to uphold racial segregation. Its possession and use was criminalised by the colonial regime in 1928 and this was done for political and so called “moral” reasons. The Western Cape High Court held that the relevant provisions in the Drugs Act and the Medicine and Related Substances Act which prohibit the possession and use of cannabis infringed on the right to privacy protected in section 14 of the Bill of Rights. In evaluating the evidence Judge Dennis Davis concluded that the evidence provided by the state to justify the criminalisation of dagga “was singularly unimpressive”.

Henrik Sass Larsen minces no words in his new book ‘Exodus: The Way to the Centre-Left’ in which he offers up his opinion on the Danish government’s ‘zero tolerance’ drug policy. Larsen, the chair of the Socialdemokratiet parliamentary group, calls the efforts “a total fiasco”. Larsen goes far beyond the idea of simply legalising cannabis, which is already a break from his party’s policy on cannabis – he calls for the decriminalisation of all drugs in Denmark. And he calls zero tolerance a “humanitarian disaster”. “Every school child knows where they can get cannabis,” Larsen told Information. “It has served no other purpose than to send people to prison.” (See also: Danish MP’s pro-legalisation cannabis comments do not change party line)

A new report in Denmark revealed that more young Danes are consuming cocaine. Now several Danish parties want to change the law on the drugs to allow people to use it for their own consumption. “Despite our ban and hard line on drugs, we see more and more young people using them. So we look to countries like Portugal, where the number of abusers and deaths have dropped in the wake of drug decriminalisation,” Sikandar Siddique, the spokesperson for judicial issues for Alternativet, told TV2 News. Last month, in Norway, the attorney general proposed a similar change to the law, stating that current policy has not had the desired impact.

ReLeaf Malta has reiterated a call for the full decriminalisation of adult cultivation of cannabis by 2021. The cannabis law reform group said the Maltese government should prioritise the right to health and privacy for cannabis consumers, with full decriminalisation of adult consumption ensuring no more persons go through the harrowing experience of the criminal justice system. ReLeaf is advocating for a larger quantity margin for cannabis possession, and a consultative council composed of various stakeholders to develop a rights-based policy for cannabis users. ReLeaf wants adults to be allowed to home-grow cannabis or set up a cannabis ‘social club’ for its consumption. (See also: Cannabis legalisation NGO criticises government for lack of action)

A six-year study of Britain's drug laws by leading scientists, police officers, academics and experts has concluded it is time to introduce decriminalisation. The report by the UK Drug Policy Commission (UKDPC), an independent advisory body, says possession of small amounts of controlled drugs should no longer be a criminal offence and concludes the move will not lead to a significant increase in use. (See also: Case for drug decriminalisation rests on failure of 40-year-old law)

Australia is not keeping pace with global best practice cannabis policy, a report from the public health research organisation the Penington Institute has found, with decriminalisation predicted to save taxpayers around $850m each year. With more than 90% cannabis-related charges since 2010 being for personal use or possession offences, the Cannabis in Australia 2022 report, published on Thursday, found that criminalising people who use cannabis costs Australian taxpayers $1.7bn a year in law enforcement costs. According to the report, 702,866 people have been arrested for cannabis-related offending in Australia since 2010, with nine out of 10 of these arrests for personal use or possession.

To stop toxic-drug deaths, governments must provide a safe supply of drugs with the same urgency that they provided people with COVID vaccines, says B.C.’s chief coroner. “We have lost far more people to drug toxicity over the COVID pandemic than we have to COVID,” Lisa Lapointe said. Including the death toll for May, there have been more than 10,000 drug poisoning deaths in B.C. since 2016, when opioid overdoses were declared a public health emergency, she said. While decriminalization alone won’t save lives, said Lapointe, it could when paired with a regulated safe supply of drugs for people dependent on their use. (See also: MPs vote against bill to decriminalize small amounts of drugs across Canada | ‘We are losing a whole generation of Canadians’: Bill to curb toxic drug deaths defeated)

Similar to other countries in the region, Ghana is experiencing growing drug availability, trafficking and consumption. This phenomenon, more and more visible and problematic for a decade now, is related to the development of a new cocaine trafficking route through West Africa, from Latin America and towards Europe or North America. The strategic choice of traffickers to use our region for transit is based on many issues that provide opportunities for drug traffickers: the weakness of institutions; the lack of transparency of financial institutions; and corruption. One can wonder why Ghana is unsuccessful in controlling drugs, when it applies the harshest penalties for drug-related offences in West Africa?

Una nueva frontera en la despenalización de las drogas se cruzó en Denver, Colorado, con la aprobación en referéndum de una iniciativa popular que legaliza de facto en la ciudad la posesión y el uso de hongos alucinógenos para mayores de edad. Denver se convierte así de nuevo en la ciudad laboratorio en la liberalización de las drogas, 14 años después de ser la primera ciudad en Estados Unidos que despenalizó el consumo personal de cannabis. El texto aprobado no legaliza exactamente el consumo y uso de hongos alucinógenos porque la ciudad no tiene jurisdicción para ello. Lo que hace es dejarlo por ley fuera de las prioridades de la policía. Aparte, prohíbe a la ciudad y el condado invertir recursos en la persecución criminal de esta sustancia.

Voters in Denver, Colorado, made their city the first in the U.S. to decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms by approving a ballot measure on the issue. Its provisions prohibit the city government from using any resources to impose criminal penalties against adults over 21 years of age for personal use and possession of psilocybin, the active ingredient in so-called "magic mushrooms." Initiative 301 also specifies that going after people for the mushrooms is the city's “lowest law enforcement priority” and establishes a review panel to assess and report on the effects of the change by early 2021. The new ordinance is just one example of how drug policy reform activists are increasingly setting their sights beyond marijuana. (See also: Denver first in U.S. to decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms)

La secretaria de Gobernación, Olga Sánchez Cordero, consideró ante la bancada de Morena en el Senado, que la despenalización del cannabis favorecerá a los campesinos mexicanos, puesto que dejarán de estar sometidos por el crimen organizado; propone que se les permita la siembra y venta de la planta. La titular de Segob recordó que el Congreso de la Unión tiene hasta el 30 de abril para derogar o modificar los artículos declarados inconstitucionales de la Ley General de Salud, por lo que planteó situaciones que se deben resolver, como los permisos de siembra y cosecha, si la venta será pública o privada, qué modelo regulará las ventas y si se requiere de un ente público que regule o ya existe uno a quien se le pueda encomendar esta tarea.

El 15 de julio 2021, la Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación publicó en el Diario Oficial de la Federación la Declaratoria General de Inconstitucionalidad 1/2018 por la que se modificaron diversos artículos de la Ley General de Salud para eliminar la prohibición administrativa del consumo de cannabis en México. Si bien esta declaratoria significa un avance importante en el ejercicio del derecho al libre desarrollo de la personalidad de las personas adultas que consumen esta sustancia, esto no significa que exista una protección plena para las personas. De hecho, todavía quedan muchos vacíos legales y, sobre todo, persisten las prohibiciones en el sistema penal de todas las conductas relacionadas con el consumo de cannabis.

En 2019, aparte de celebrarse los diez años de la Constitución (7-9 de febrero de 2009), también se cumple una década desde que el país empezara la acción internacional por la despenalización de la hoja de coca. Como un efecto directo de la Constitución, que en su artículo 384 establece la protección estatal de la “coca originaria y ancestral” y su “revalorización, producción, comercialización e industrialización”, el 12 de marzo de 2009  “la Misión Permanente de Bolivia ante las Naciones Unidas hace llegar al Secretario General (Ban Ki Moon) una nota verbal”, junto a una carta del presidente Evo Morales, donde en lo básico pide eliminar “los incisos 2e) y 1c) del artículo 49 de la Convención Única de las Naciones Unidas sobre Estupefacientes de 1961”.

Después de un debate de más de 14 horas, el pleno de la Cámara de Diputados avaló, en lo general y en lo particular, el dictamen para el uso lúdico de la marihuana y la posibilidad de que cualquier persona mayor de 18 años pueda portar hasta 28 gramos de cannabis, sin ser penalizada. Para el consumo personal se impone la obligación de solicitar una licencia, y renovarla anualmente para cultivar y poseer seis plantas de marihuana en casa, que se podrían aumentar a ocho si otro adulto consumidor vive en el domicilio. La producción para clubes de cannabis se deberán constituirse con un mínimo de 2 y un máximo de 20 personas mayores de edad y se limitarán a cultivar hasta cuatro plantas por socio, sin excederse de 50 plantas.

The Dominica parliament approved the amendment to the Drugs Prevention Misuse Act even as government legislators urged that the passage of the bill should not be viewed as an opportunity for celebration and the excessive use of marijuana and its by-products. The amended legislation now allows for people over the age of 18 to be in possession of 28 grams of marijuana and National Security Minister Rayburn Blackmoore, who piloted the measure, said "there is a different view today than yesterday for persons who actually possess small quantities of marijuana for personal, religious use." Blackmoore added: "We are therefore taking a further approach towards decriminalising a small quantity of marijuana, to expunge the records of persons in respect of possession of 28 grammes."

The Bahamas must carefully weigh the benefits and the liabilities that come with a legalized medical marijuana industry, according to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance K Peter Turnquest. Turnquest was asked about the recently released leaked preliminary report by the Bahamas National Commission on marijuana, which green-lighted both recreational and medicinal marijuana. The preliminary report features recommendations from various subcommittees on the medical, economic, religious and recreational use of cannabis in The Bahamas – and called for Bahamians to own 51 percent of the industry in a legalized framework. The BNC also recommended the government set cannabis tax not exceeding ten percent. (See also The Nassau Guardian editorial: The marijuana debate)

Two years ago, the Constitutional Court of South Africa decriminalised the possession and cultivation of cannabis in private by adults for personal private consumption. It was a historic day that left many weed lovers on a natural high. After the long wait for the Cannabis for Private Purposes Bill to be made public, the industry’s hopes and expectations slumped when it was tabled in Parliament on September 1. (The call for comments opened on September 9 and closes on October 9.) According to industry experts, it’s not what is in the Bill that resulted in the anti-climax, it’s how it has ‘completely missed the mark’ by failing to highlight the business opportunities that lay before it.

For the past three months, the Rif region in northern Morocco has been experiencing widespread protests and social unrest following the death of Mouhcine Fikri, a 31-year-old fish vendor who was crushed by the compactor of a garbage truck. Fikri was illegally selling swordfish, a species protected during the fall season, when police officers seized it and unlawfully threw it in the garbage truck without first providing official notification. In addition to opposing these questionable police procedures and their sometimes tragic consequences, the Rifans, supported by protesters in Rabat and Casablanca—Morocco’s capital and financial hub, respectively—have been marching against what is called in Maghreb Arabic the “hogra,” which translates as “disdain.”

Scotland should tackle its drug deaths crisis by pushing towards decriminalisation and daring Westminster to try to block it. The powers to decriminalise drug use or possession are currently reserved to Westminster but Michael Collins, a former director at the Drug Policy Alliance in the U.S.,  believes Scotland should follow the examples of US jurisdictions that faced down the White House to tackle their own crises. He cites the examples of cannabis reforms in Colorado and Washington, and Oregon, which voted to decriminalise the possession of heroin and other hard drugs in favour of advocating addiction recovery centres, despite federal opposition. “I think one of the things the Scottish Government has to do is recognise that it has a lot of ability to push the envelope right now.”