activism

  • tunisia cannabisThe 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.

  • tunisia Karim ChairUn 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.

  • Albert TioEl movimiento cannábico en España ha salido en tromba en las redes sociales a pedir el indulto para uno de sus referentes, Albert Tió, que en breve deberá entrar en prisión para cumplir una condena de 5 años por una intervención de marihuana que hicieron en 2014 en la asociación de usuarios de la que era secretario en Barcelona. Como presidente de la Federación de Asociaciones Cannábicas Autorreguladas de Catalunya (Fedcac), Tió fue uno de los promotores de la iniciativa popular que dio origen a la ley de clubes de cannabis que aprobó el Parlamento catalán en 2017, declarada posteriormente inconstitucional por invasión de competencias estatales. (Véase también: El activista cannábico condenado a cinco años que pide el indulto)

  • Let’s give out heroin, for free, to anyone who wants it. This is not a provocation meant to make you gasp or to elicit angry clicks—rather, it’s a proven strategy for reducing the harm of opioids that’s already in use in several countries across the globe. We face two drug-related crises in the United States. The first we can all agree on: Drugs are killing people at unprecedented rates. Over 90,000 people die each year from overdoses in the US, an amount that has quintupled since 1999. The second crisis is disputed, but no less deadly: Our drug policy leaves people to fend for themselves, while we waste time and resources.

  • Western European harm reduction presents an interesting paradox. On the one hand, the widespread availability of effective harm reduction programs is laudable. Drug-related disease rates are low. Overdose rates are low. A variety of treatment options, from abstinence to methadone to prescription heroin, are available in many areas at no cost. Integrated care models⁠—ones that recognize the complex stew of social, economic, psychological and familial circumstances that contribute to problematic drug use⁠—are common. Gone are the days of begging for funding scraps to support a meager staff. But these far-reaching successes have come at a price. (See also:Where have all the activists gone?)

  • canada safe supply cocaineThe Drug User Liberation Front, a Vancouver-based activist group, made a serious statement on June 23. During a protest in the city’s Downtown Eastside, they gave out free, checked and illegal drugs to their community. They did this in response to British Columbia’s monthly overdose death numbers reaching a then–record high of 170 in May. Over 200 people are estimated to have received small quantities of drugs, including opium and cocaine, at the event. Given the dangerous adulteration of the drug supply, exacerbated by the pandemic, there’s a good chance that one or two lives were saved that day. (See also: A domestic safe supply of injectable heroin would save lives)