Organizaciones aseguran que el dictamen que regula el consumo lúdico de la mariguana, aprobado en el Pleno de la Cámara de Diputados, mantiene una criminalización contra usuarios, e incumple el mandato de la Corte de eliminar su prohibición. México Unido Contra la Delincuencia destacó que aunque la Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación fue clara y ordenó al legislativo eliminar su prohibición y regular todas las acciones necesarias para acceder al consumo, el proyecto de ley aprobado incumple con este mandato. Con ello, señala, se pierde la oportunidad de dejar de criminalizar usuarios, evitar que la policía y otras autoridades persigan administrativa y penalmente la posesión de la sustancia y reorientar la estrategia de seguridad hacia la persecución de otros delitos que sí dejan víctimas.

"El pacto social es para acordar una erradicación voluntaria, pacífica y progresiva de los cultivos de coca y el compromiso de no resembrar", señala el nuevo jefe de la política antidrogas del Perú, Ricardo Soberón, presidente ejecutivo de la Comisión Nacional para el Desarrollo de Vida sin Drogas (Devida). “Este pacto social tiene tres niveles: un acuerdo con los cocaleros y sus organizaciones, un segundo nivel con las municipalidades locales y gobiernos regionales, y un tercero con la población de esos lugares. A cambio les ofrecemos a los agricultores un programa de desarrollo alternativo que llegará oportunamente, asistencia directa a través de la entrega de bienes, insumos, equipos, asistencia técnica, asociatividad, gestión comunal, y también daremos transferencias financieras a los municipios locales."

When Peruvian government forces began eradicating coca leaf, the raw material for cocaine, without warning in a remote corner of Peru’s principal coca growing region last November, they were met by growers armed with sticks and rocks. The security forces backing the eradication brigades responded by firing bullets and tear gas, seriously wounding five farmers. For 40 years, policies in Peru have prioritised forced eradication of coca leaf under intense pressure from the US government. Weak economies, farmers turned into outlaws, and human rights violations are the result of this militarised crop and drug control strategy.

Gady Zabicky Sirot, titular de la Comisión Nacional Contra las Adicciones (Conadic), solicitó a los senadores integrantes de las Comisiones Unidas de Justicia, Salud y Estudios Legislativos aprobar un dictamen que “proteja a las personas por encima del dinero”, en materia de regulación de cannabis. Durante la reunión de las comisiones, que tuvo lugaren el Senado, Zabicky advirtió que el posible comercio de cannabis sativa permitirá a México entrar a un mercado mundial de “billones de pesos”, pero el gobierno debe privilegiar el acceso al cultivo seguro a pequeños campesinos, por encima de las grandes farmacéuticas. (Véase también: El titular de la Conadic apoya el uso lúdico de la marihuana)

For generations, people in South Africa's Eastern Cape have made their living growing cannabis. You might expect that as the country moves to legalise the crop, they would be first in line to benefit, but that is not necessarily the case. Cannabis, colloquially referred to as "umthunzi wez'nkukhu," or, chicken shade, is an intrinsic part of many rural communities in Eastern Cape's Pondoland and a vital source of income. "Cannabis is very important to us because it's our livelihood and source of income. Everything we get, we get it through selling cannabis. There are no jobs, our children are just sitting here with us." While cannabis might be a way of life for this community, growing it at this scale is illegal. There are more than 900,000 small-scale farmers in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces who have been growing cannabis for years.

The Position Paper "For inclusive business models, well designed laws and fair(er) trade options for small-scale traditional cannabis farmers” produced by The Fair(er) Trade Cannabis Working Group aims to contribute to the debate on finding sustainable and realistic solutions to the challenges posed by the developing cannabis industry, with a special focus on traditional and small scale farmers.

El proyecto de Ley Federal para la Regularización de la Cannabis avalado la víspera en comisiones, debe ser modificado a fin de no criminalizar el autoconsumo de esa droga en adultos, coincidieron senadores de Morena, PRI y PRD, quienes plantean que se elimine la obligación de realizar adecuaciones a las viviendas de los fumadores de mariguana, para establecer un espacio reservado a ello, lo que será verificado por las autoridades. Ello significa “una intromisión a la privacidad y una violación a los derechos humanos, recalcó la senadora de Morena, Jesusa Rodríguez. La senadora priísta, Silvana Beltrones, hizo notar que dentro de la regulación que se hará, debe estar presente la justicia social y asegurar la participación de campesinos y pequeñas comunidades en el mercado legal.

The regulation of khat, one of the most recent psychoactive drugs to become a globally traded commodity, remains hotly contested within different producer and consumer countries. As regimes vary, it has been possible to compare khat policies in Africa, Europe and North America from different disciplinary perspectives. The research established the significance of khat for rural producers, regional economies, as a tax base and source of foreign exchange. At the same time, khat as a psychoactive substance is associated with health and public safety problems that in turn are met with often ill-informed legislative responses. Bans have in turn lead to the criminalisation of users and sellers and illegal drug markets.

Download the publication (PDF)

Traditional cannabis growers in the rural Eastern Cape, the same ones assured of inclusion by President Cyril Ramaphosa, are objecting to proposed laws aimed at regulating the use and possession of the plant. South Africa's cannabis industry received a major boost from the Constitutional Court's 2018 ruling that decriminalised private and personal use of the plant. The landmark ruling has been followed by an uptick in commercial ventures and the development of a Cannabis Master Plan tasked with industrialising the plant, tapping into a R28 billion sector and supporting up to 25,000 jobs. The Umzimvubu Farmers Support Network (UFSN) argues that the Bill, in its current form, would "criminalise the amaMpondo cannabis farmers" and threaten their livelihoods instead of them benefiting from new frameworks.

South Africa’s cannabis conversation is shifting into a new gear, with Finance Minister Tito Mboweni on the record as pushing for full legalisation. Such a move will be welcome, with plenty of economic potential to unlock. But other experiments with legal, regulated pot usage, and uniquely South African circumstances, highlight the potential risks as well. There is the question of small-scale farmers, which the South African government would clearly hope could find opportunities in a formal dagga economy. Neither Colorado nor Canada have millions of subsistence farmers tilling tiny plots in impoverished rural areas such as the former homelands — but even in affluent jurisdictions where pot is legal, smaller producers are finding the costs of entry prohibitive.

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni’s tweet about pushing for it to be legal to grow cannabis - for the SA Revenue Service’s sake - is a step in the direction towards including small growers, although it is more likely they will remain in the informal economy. This is the view of GG Alcock, informal economy expert and author of Kasinomics and Kasinomic Revolution, who said: "We need a policy which is like fair trade coffee where companies like Starbucks invest in small farmers in Costa Rica and central Africa, supplying them with seed and plant stock and then buying the coffee from them. This should be the model we explore, investing in small farmers and then aggregating their crop via large commercial entities.... the problem is that government models do not currently consider this type of model."

Director of the Cannabis Licensing Authority, Delano Seiveright, encouraged European stakeholders to continue to pursue further cannabis-related reforms in their respective countries as it will, in part, assist “small developing states like Jamaica to further deepen its cannabis liberalisation efforts so as to bring much-needed benefits to small traditional farmers who are suffering from marginalisation due to complicated laws and regulations brought on by geopolitical realities, and to foster growth and development in emerging market economies”. Much more is needed to be done to ensure the full incorporation of small traditional players who need to be brought into the regulated environment. (See also: CLA director lobbys Europe to push cannabis reforms)

Most Senegalese farmers sell peanuts and vegetables, but in one hamlet lost in a mangrove swamp in the country's south, only one crop is commercially viable -- cannabis. Kouba, a village deep in the mangroves of Casmance and inaccessible by road, teems with caiman crocodiles and rare birds. Locals say no police officer has set foot there since the 1980s, and a recent crackdown on cannabis cultivation has passed them by. "Ever since I was born, people have been cultivating cannabis," says Philippe Diaba. "If you don't grow cannabis here, you can't get by." Kouba villagers say the drug fetches between 15,000 and 30,000 CFA francs ($25-$50, 23-45 euros) a kilo -- compared with just 500 CFA francs for a kilo of onions. (West Africa needs to look at partially decriminalising drugs, says thinktank)

The global trade in khat is controversial. The United States and most countries in Europe have banned it, considering it a psychotropic substance. But it contributes significantly to farmers’ livelihood in Eastern Africa. Though public officials in the region denounce its consumption, they benefit from the foreign exchange and tax revenues that it generates. So, how should this contradiction be resolved?

Download the paper (PDF)

A month ago, Mexican marijuana legalization seemed like a done deal. The bill was approved by the Senate last November, but greatly modified by the Chamber of Deputies, causing senators to have to give the proposed legislation a final approval before sending it to the president. The legalization bill moved through two Senate committees. But then, Monreal said they would ask the high court for more time, meaning the bill would be halted until the next legislative sessions in September. But, senators never officially asked for a deadline extension, or prórroga, which shows a pointed lack of concern for an issue in a country where cannabis users are extorted daily by law enforcement, despite the decriminalization of small-scale possession.

La diputada Claudia Tello Espinosa, de Morena, y representantes de asociaciones de la sociedad civil exigieron que durante la legislación de la regulación del uso de la mariguana se respeten los derechos de los consumidores y productores. Tras el “Foro por una regulación justa del cannabis en México”, la legisladora Tello e integrantes del Colectivo Regulación por la Paz ofrecieron una conferencia de prensa, en la que resaltaron que la ciudadanía está en la búsqueda de mayor información para el control, distribución y uso de la cannabis. El representante del Movimiento Cannábico Mexicano, Pier Coppe, apuntó que para el ejercicio correcto del libre desarrollo de la personalidad en relación con cannabis, deben garantizarse el derecho a la posesión.

Following the Constitutional Court's decision in 2018 to decriminalize the personal use and cultivation of cannabis in South Africa, there are concerns on the ground that black farmers who have been working for decades in what has been an illegal industry may miss out on the potential boom. Many smaller growers cannot afford to get the licenses needed to grow marijuana for medicinal and research purposes. The stringent requirements include getting police clearances, registering a specified plot size, erecting high-tech security fencing, getting irrigation systems and setting up agreements with overseas buyers, among others. The cost of establishing a legal marijuana farm is estimated to be $200,000 to $350,000, according to a South African agricultural publication, Landbouweekblad.

South Africa’s new master plan is a bright spark for those dismayed by lawmakers’ previous attempts to reform the country’s cannabis laws. Introduced in 2018, the Cannabis for Private Purposes Bill legalizes personal cultivation but otherwise takes a punitive approach by criminalizing most cannabis activities, including buying and selling. After receiving public comments, the South African Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) led the development of the cannabis master plan, which was presented to the justice committee. Critics point out that the plan lacks a restorative justice component for communities hurt most by prohibition and ignores the thousands of Indigenous Black farmers who are the backbone of the dagga industry today.

The Cannabis Licensing Authority (CLA) says the Cultivator's (Transitional) Special Permit Policy, which is in an advanced stage of completion, will enable more small and subsistence farmers to access the opportunities available within the medicinal cannabis industry. Acting senior legal officer at the CLA, Sheldon Reid, in a JIS interview said that the special permit, which will last for two years, will allow farmers to continue to cultivate while they prepare to transition to licensing status. He noted that the cost of obtaining a licence is prohibitive for some small and subsistence farmers, and argued that the permit will provide another avenue for them to enter the legal sector.

En agosto de 2021 la Asociación Civil de Pueblos Unidos del Sur de Morelos en México, solicitó a la Comisión para la Protección Contra Riesgos Sanitaros del Estado permisos para sembrar mariguana de manera legal. Después de una serie de actos públicos, el 30 de septiembre le entregaron el Plan Tetecala de manera personal al presidente Andrés Manuel López Obrador durante una visita a Jojutla, Morelos. El Plan Tetecala –al cual ya se adhirieron más de 200 personas de 10 estados– es una reivindicación del Plan de Ayala, redactado por Emiliano Zapata en 1911, pero centrado en el proceso de regulación nacional de la mariguana. (Véase también: Tetecala, el pueblo donde las abuelas cultivan cannabis | Plan Tetecala: En busca del derecho al libre cultivo del cannabis)