A recent study by Radboud University Nijmegen that concluded that regulating cannabis cultivation could improve human rights is no reason for the Netherlands to change its policy on marijuana, Minister Ard van der Steur of Security and Justice said. He argues that it can not be conclusively stated that regulating cannabis cultivation and trade will decrease violent crime. A recent vote at a meeting of the Association of Dutch Municipalities showed that the vast majority of municipalities in the Netherlands supports experiments with regulated cannabis cultivation.

Most people who smoke pot enjoy it, but a smaller proportion experience psychotic-like symptoms, such as feeling suspicious or paranoid. The question that polarises researchers is whether smoking cannabis is associated with a risk of developing psychotic problems, such as schizophrenia, in the long term. Of course, cannabis use is common, while schizophrenia is relatively rare, affecting less than one per cent of the population. Even if cannabis use were to double the risk, over 98% of cannabis users would not develop schizophrenia. Researchers have to tread carefully in evaluating the evidence and avoiding scaremongering. (See also: How we could make cannabis safer for users)

Illegal drugs including cocaine, heroin and cannabis should be reclassified to reflect a scientific assessment of harm, according to a report by the Global Commission on Drug Policy. The commission, which includes 14 former heads of states, said the international classification system underpinning drug control is “biased and inconsistent”. A “deep-lying imbalance” between controlling substances and allowing access for medicinal purposes had caused “collateral damage”. Such damage included patients in low- and middle-income countries forced to undergo surgery without anaesthetic, to go without essential medicines and to die in unnecessary pain due to lack of opioid pain relief. (See also: What is the most dangerous drug? |Regulation on substance abuse disproportionate to health risks, says report)

The United Nations drug control conventions of 1960 and 1971 and later additions have inadvertently resulted in perhaps the greatest restrictions of medical and life sciences research. These conventions now need to be revised to allow neuroscience to progress unimpeded and to assist in the innovation of treatments for brain disorders. In the meantime, local changes, such as the United Kingdom moving cannabis from Schedule 1 to Schedule 2, should be implemented to allow medical research to develop appropriately.

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In the past few years, the number of monthly marijuana users in America has steadily risen, from 14.4m in 2007 to 18.9m in 2012. If marijuana were a gateway to harder drugs, one might expect those drugs to become more popular too. Yet during the same period, consumption of most other substances actually fell. The number of monthly cocaine users dipped from 2.1m to 1.7m and the number of people using methamphetamine fell from 530,000 to 440,000. Heroin use has been going up, but the gateway drug there seems to be prescription painkillers.

A narcotic beverage from the Pacific Islands is being used to counter prejudices about people who use drugs. "Kava is our culture. We lose kava, we lose our culture," Edmond Fehoko says. There is a lot of research on kava from health, agricultural and medicinal perspectives, but "no one has explored the social, cultural importance of it", Fehoko says. Born in New Zealand, of Tongan heritage, Fehoko went to his first kava circle at 14. Now he's trying to change the view that kava circles aren't a "waste of time," but a space for cultural affirmation. "There about 50 to 100 kava clubs in South Auckland alone. In Auckland, you're looking at almost 20,000 kava drinkers a weekend."

Una operación conjunta de Guardia Civil y Agencia Tributaria, a instancias del Juzgado de Instrucción 6 de la Audiencia Nacional y su Fiscalía Antidroga, ha intervenido uno de los mayores bancos de semillas de cannabis de España, Dinafem, que exporta a veinte países con un volumen de ventas que en 2019 alcanzó los 18 millones de euros. La intervención ha dejado descolocado a un pujante sector que considera totalmente legal su actividad, amparándose en la Convención Única sobre Estupefacientes de la ONU que excluye a las semillas de la fiscalización de estupefacientes y en un extenso informe de un fiscal del Tribunal Supremo que ratificó en 2003 esa doctrina en nuestro país.

La ONU aprobó uno de los mayores cambios en política de drogas de las últimas décadas al reconocer las propiedades medicinales del cannabis y eliminar esa planta de la clasificación de los estupefacientes más peligrosos, aunque su consumo con fines recreativos sigue prohibido. La mayoría simple de los 53 Estados de la Comisión de Estupefacientes -el órgano Ejecutivo de la ONU en políticas de drogas- decidió retirar el cannabis y su resina de la Lista IV de la Convención sobre drogas de 1961. El cannabis estaba hasta ahora clasificado en las listas I y IV, esta última reservada a las drogas más peligrosas y bajo control más estricto, como la heroína, y a las que se otorga escaso valor médico. (Véase también: La ONU da luz verde al cannabis medicinal pero no desafía el legado colonial de la prohibición)

If D.C. residents vote to legalize marijuana possession next week, it wouldn’t just mean a sea change in drug policy in the nation’s capital. It could also mean big business. A study by District financial officials shared with lawmakers estimates a legal D.C. cannabis market worth $130 million a year. The ballot initiative voters will see Tuesday does not allow for the legal sale of marijuana — only the possession and home cultivation of small amounts — but D.C. Council members gathered Thursday to hear testimony about what a legal sales regime might look like.

The introduction of medical marijuana laws has led to a sharp reduction in violent crime in US states that border Mexico, according to new research. According to the study, Is Legal Pot Crippling Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations? The Effect of Medical Marijuana Laws on US Crime, when a state on the Mexican border legalised medical use of the drug, violent crime fell by 13% on average. Most of the marijuana consumed in the US originates in Mexico, where seven major cartels control the illicit drug trade. The researchersstudied data from the FBI’s uniform crime reports and supplementary homicide records covering 1994 to 2012. (See also: Mexico maelstrom: how the drug violence got so bad)

Legalizing medical marijuana causes no increase in crime, according to a new study. In fact, legalized medical pot may reduce some violent crime, including homicide, University of Texas at Dallas researchers wrote in a journal article published this week. The study appears to settle concerns, simmering since the first states approved medical marijuana nearly two decades ago, that legalization would lead to more crime.

Dr. Lester Grinspoon, a Harvard psychiatry professor who became a leading proponent of legalizing marijuana after his research found it was less toxic or addictive than alcohol or tobacco, died on June 25 at his home in Newton, Mass. He was 92. He concluded that marijuana was a relatively safe intoxicant that should be regulated like alcohol. The real danger, he said, was criminalizing its users. After previewing his findings in an article in Scientific American in 1969, Dr. Grinspoon wrote “Marihuana Reconsidered.” It was published in 1971. “The greatest potential for social harm lies in the scarring of so many young people and the reactive, institutional damages that are direct products of present marihuana laws,” Dr. Grinspoon wrote.

Long-term marijuana use is not associated with a raft of physical health problems, according to a new study. Researchers tracked the marijuana habits of 1,037 New Zealanders from birth to middle age to see what effect those habits have on physical health, including lung function, systemic inflammation, cholesterol levels, blood pressure, body weight, blood sugar and dental health. After controlling for other factors known to affect health, especially tobacco use and socioeconomic status, marijuana use had no negative effect on any measure of health, except for dental health. (See also: Study questions role for marijuana in teen users’ IQ decline)

A growing number of soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder are turning to “magic mushrooms” and LSD to treat their condition. But drug laws make it almost impossible to establish whether they work. Now a new body, the Medical Psychedelics Working Group, a consortium of experts, academics, researchers, policy specialists and industry partners, is to begin lobbying for a change in the law so that scientists can conduct clinical trials. “This is something that’s been developed by veterans,” said Professor David Nutt from Drug Science, an independent scientific body which calls for an evidence-based approach to the legislation and is part of the group. (See also: Ease restrictions on medical psychedelics to aid research, experts say)

Of all the arguments that have been used to demonize marijuana, few have been more powerful than that of the "gateway effect": the notion that while marijuana itself may not be especially dangerous, it ineluctably leads to harder drugs like heroin and cocaine. Scientists abandoned the idea: as far back as 1999, in a report commissioned by Congress to look at the possible dangers of medical marijuana, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences wrote: "There is no conclusive evidence that the drug effects of marijuana are causally linked to the subsequent abuse of other illicit drugs."

A compound found in marijuana can treat schizophrenia as effectively as antipsychotic medications, with far fewer side effects, according to a preliminary clinical trial. Unlike the main ingredient in marijuana, THC, which can produce psychotic reactions and may worsen schizophrenia, cannabidiol (CBD) has antipsychotic effects, according to previous research in both animals and humans.

Conventional wisdom says marijuana dispensaries make neighborhoods less safe, but a new study from UC Irvine suggests the conventional wisdom is wrong and that crime increases after cities move to close pot shops. “Given all the pretty strong rhetoric about dispensaries generating or at least attracting crime, it was not the result we expected,” said Mireille Jacobson, a health economics professor at UCI. “But I feel comfortable saying it’s very unlikely that these places are crime magnets.” Dispensaries seem to behave in this respect much like restaurants and other mainstream businesses, Jacobson said, helping to deter vehicle break-ins and other low-level crimes simply by putting more bystanders on the streets.

Legal marijuana in Colorado may not bring in enough money to cover the societal costs of legalization, a study from a Colorado State University think tank concludes. The analysis also argues that revenue from marijuana taxes won't do much to help Colorado's budget and that money generated for new school construction won't reach the $40 million annual target that supporters of marijuana legalization set when campaigning for Amendment 64, the measure that legalized use, limited possession and commercial sale of marijuana for adults in Colorado.

There is “no statistically significant increase” in psychosis-related diagnoses in states that have legalized marijuana compared to those that continue to criminalize cannabis, a new study published by the American Medical Association concluded. Researchers carried out an analysis of more than 63 million health insurance beneficiaries from 2003-2017 to address the idea that cannabis reform could be linked to higher rates of psychosis, which certain prohibitionists have cited to argue against legalization. The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Psychiatry, determined that, “compared with no legalization policy, states with legalization policies experienced no statistically significant increase in rates of psychosis-related diagnoses.”

Compared to other recreational drugs -- including alcohol -- marijuana may be even safer than previously thought. And researchers may be systematically underestimating risks associated with alcohol use. Those are the topline findings of recent research published in the journal Scientific Reports. Researchers found that at the level of individual use, alcohol was the deadliest substance, followed by heroin and cocaine.