• Colombia is again the world’s top coca producer

    Here’s why that’s a blow to the U.S.
    The Washington Post (US)
    Tuesday, November 10, 2015

    fumigationcolombiaIllegal coca cultivation is surging in Colombia, erasing one of the showcase achievements of U.S. counternarcotics policy. Just two years after it ceased to be the world’s largest producer, falling behind Peru, Colombia now grows more illegal coca than Peru and Bolivia combined. Last month the government halted aerial spraying of the crop, citing concerns that the herbicides used may cause cancer. That program had been a pillar of Plan Colombia, under which the United States has provided more than $9 billion to this country since 2000.

  • Mexico president open to debate about legalising marijuana after court ruling

    Enrique Peña Nieto is opposed to lifting the ban on cannabis but says ‘we need to have a debate’ after supreme court rules in favour of would-be pot growers
    The Guardian (UK)
    Monday, November 9, 2015

    President Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico has said he opposes any eventual legalisation of marijuana, five days after Mexico’s supreme court ruled in favour of four people who wanted to grow pot for personal use. Peña Nieto said in a speech that the court ruling “should in no way represent an opening for the consumption of much more dangerous drugs”. However, the president said he welcomed a national debate on the question, and invited doctors, sociologists and other academics to contribute.

  • US endorses Mexico’s marijuana legalization ruling

    “It’s up to the people of each nation to decide policies,” says State Department
    El País (Spain)
    Monday, November 9, 2015

    mexico-flag-cannabisThe United States has backed a decision made by Mexico’s Supreme Court that paves the way for the legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes. The US State Department called for broader cooperation between the United States and Mexico in the fight against drug trafficking, but stressed that each country should come up with its own policies concerning drug use. The comments from a State Department spokesman reflect the drastic shift in tone made by Washington since two US states – Washington and Colorado – legalized marijuana for recreational use in 2012.

  • Majority approve of legalized, regulated, taxed cannabis

    Most want it licensed and sold through government agencies
    Forum Poll (Canada)
    Sunday, November 8, 2015

    canada-pot-flag-approveIn a random sampling of public opinion taken by the Forum Poll among 1256 Canadian voters, the majority, close to 6-in-10, approve of the Liberal government’s promise to legalize, tax and regulate marijuana (59%), and this is an increase over the proportion who said they agreed marijuana should be legal in mid-August of this year (August 20 - 53%). The government’s policy promise is especially popular with the youngest (67%), the wealthiest (66%), in Atlantic Canada (75%) and BC (68%), among Liberals (70%) and New Democrats (65%) but not so much among Conservatives (28%).

  • UN: Swedish drug rules violate human rights

    Around 800 people a year currently contract hepatitis C in Sweden as a result of dirty needles or syringes
    The Local (Sweden)
    Sunday, November 8, 2015

    Sweden's drug policies have come in for harsh criticism from the UN. Effective treatments against drug abuse, such as needle exchange programmes, are offered in only a few parts of the country, a new report says. Sweden has one of the EU's most restrictive drug policies, with zero tolerance for drug use and possession. At the same time, the rate of drug-induced deaths is among the highest in the union, and they are on the rise. (Nine out of ten Swedes favour illicit drugs ban)

  • Heroin addiction: How to smack it down

    To beat the scourge of heroin, governments should deal the drug themselves
    The Economist (UK)
    Saturday, November 7, 2015

    Ireland would establish "medically supervised injecting facilities" where heroin addicts can take their drugs, using clean equipment, under doctors’ supervision. This will reduce the dreadful harm done by heroin to its users and to society, which suffers from the crime that always goes hand in hand with such an addictive and expensive drug. But regulating how heroin is consumed ought to be just the first step. The state should snatch this market back. A handful of European countries have experimented with providing not just safe facilities in which to take drugs, but also prescribing unadulterated, free heroin itself. (See also: How did Ireland's drug policy suddenly get so progressive?)

  • Ruling in Mexico sets into motion legal marijuana

    The decision reflects a changing dynamic in Mexico
    The New York Times (US)
    Thursday, November 5, 2015

    The Supreme Court opened the door to legalizing marijuana, delivering a pointed challenge to Mexico’s strict substance abuse laws and adding its weight to the growing debate in Latin America over the costs and consequences of the war against drugs. The vote by the court’s criminal chamber declared that individuals should have the right to grow and distribute marijuana for their personal use. While the ruling does not strike down current drug laws, it lays the groundwork for a wave of legal actions that could ultimately rewrite them.

  • Ohio vote was against monopoly not marijuana, say campaigners

    Advocates eye 2016 after voters decisively rejected Issue 3 which would have handed control of a legal cannabis industry to a small group of millionaires
    The Guardian (UK)
    Wednesday, November 4, 2015

    buddieMarijuana legalization advocates in Ohio are turning their attention to 2016, after voters rejected a constitutional amendment to legalize recreational use – a measure critics said would have enshrined an oligopoly in the state constitution. Issue 3 lost in a landslide, an embarrassing defeat for backers of the campaign, who poured over $20m into the race. About 65% of Ohians opposed the initiative, and 35% voted in favor. The defeat does not represent a referendum on prohibition of marijuana in Ohio, legalization advocates said; it showed residents simply rejected the creation of a monopoly.

  • After Ohio’s vote, these states will determine the future of legal marijuana

    There are no fewer than 10 sometimes-conflicting marijuana ballot measures that may go before voters in California
    The Washington Post (US)
    Wednesday, November 3, 2015

    ballots-2016Drug law reformers in at least 16 states have already got ballot measures in the works for next year, according to vote-tracking site Ballotpedia. Two other states, Rhode Island and Vermont, may become the first to legalize recreational marijuana via legislative action, rather than popular vote. Some of the ballot measures may not get enough initial support to go before voters, while a number almost certainly will. Here's a rundown of where things stand. (See also: Weed wars: Pro-marijuana groups are now fighting against each other)

  • New UN think-tank report: What comes after the War on Drugs?

    Some states, particularly in the Americas, see UNGASS 2016 as an opportunity to rethink global drug control
    The Huffington Post (US)
    Wednesday, November 3, 2015

    after-war-drugsThe UN's own thinktank, the United Nations University (UNU), published a report entitled What Comes After the War on Drugs? that argues that UNGASS 2016 will largely confirm the current approach to drug control, despite growing calls for change. The report, based on a series of consultations involving over 50 Member States, 16 UN entities and 55 civil society organizations, considers the major political and policy trends leading into UNGASS 2016, and offers recommendations for strengthening global drug policy efforts at a time of deepening divisions.

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