cannabis

By. Transform Drug Policy Foundation

 

The following press release was issued today by the campaigning group Liberal Democrats for Drug Policy Reform. The blog will explore its fascinating findings in more detail at a later stage. For more information on drug policy and public opinion see Transform's (soon to updated) 2004 briefing Attitudes to Drug Policy and Drug Laws: A review of the international evidence.

 

Note: Transform has provided a quote, but has not been involved in the poll, and has no affiliation with the LDDPR

 

New poll shows 70% support for legal regulation of cannabis

 

Three other drugs: Magic Mushrooms, Amphetamines, and Mephedrone show a majority in favour of legalisation and regulation, whilst 3 in 10 people would prefer the state regulate rather than prohibit heroin supply. These poll results demonstrate that the public is ready for a mature, open discussion of alternative approaches to drug policy and that there is no need for politicians to fear a backlash should they express doubts about the wisdom of our current approach.

David Cameron could be the man to de-criminalise cannabis as the most "drug-experienced" PM, a former government adviser has claimed.

 

Prof David Nutt insisted he was optimistic there would be changes in the British narcotic laws.

 

He commented: "UK politics itself has in recent years been a major block to rational debate.

 

"Perhaps this will change now David Cameron is Prime Minister as he is the most obviously drug-experienced person to have held this post, having been caught using cannabis as a schoolboy at Eton (for which he was not expelled)."

 

Prof Nutt, a former chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, told the academic journal Prometheus: "As an MP, he served on the science and technology committee and took a progressive view on drugs arguing that MDMA [ecstasy] was inappropriately positioned in class A.

By Kevin Fagan, San Francisco Chronicle

 

If recreational marijuana is legalized in California, prices of the drug could plummet 80 percent and the number of dope-smokers would rise, but the amount of money the state would bring in through taxes and fees is a big question mark, according to a study released Wednesday.

 

What's more, while the state could save more than $300 million a year by not enforcing current laws outlawing weed, it may lose that much or more in federal funding if Washington decides to punish California's defiance of the U.S. prohibition of dope, the study found.

 

WASHINGTON, DC - Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today assured D.C. residents that she has a strategy to keep the Congress from passing a bill to re-impose the prohibition on medical marijuana in D.C., which was introduced yesterday by Representatives Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) and Jim Jordan (R-OH).

 

"Here come the Republicans again, as expected," said Norton. "We fully anticipated this new attempt to overturn D.C.'s medical marijuana bill, just as Republicans attempted and failed to overturn the needle exchange program, as well as same-sex marriage in the District. We have been standing guard and are positioned in both chambers to stop them from interfering with the home-rule prerogatives of D.C. residents."

 

By Shane Smith, The Jersey City Independent

 

Representatives from area marijuana-law reform groups gathered today in front of City Hall to protest a delay in implementing the state’s newly minted medical marijuana law.

 

The law, which former Gov. Corzine signed on his last day in office, is intended to make it possible for patients suffering from certain chronic and terminal illnesses to apply for permission to purchase limited quantities of marijuana for medical purposes. The law was scheduled to take effect in July, with regulations in place and six state-sanctioned dispensaries — also known as alternative treatment centers (ATCs) — to begin providing services in October.

 

By: Charles Waterstreet, Brisbane Times

 

ONCE a jolly baggie man camped for a bigger bong, under the shade of a coolabah tree. Smoking weed is as Australian as the annual Bong Bong Picnic Race Club Race Meeting in Bowral, so it is disconcerting to observe that mere possession of marijuana is still a criminal offence in most states.

 

Drug dogs run wild in Kings Cross, city and Darlinghurst nightclubs, sitting down next to poor possessors they have sniffed out. People walking out of the local railway station can be tracked down by an addicted dachshund or labrador and be legally searched. Sniffer dogs do not seem to be the ideal or fair way to catch the Mr Bigs of baggies. Outdoor concerts are ruined by packs of dogs running like pelted torpedoes through crowds of partygoers.

 

By BOB RAY SANDERS, Star-Telegram

 

For many years I had in my possession four medical prescriptions, issued in 1926, for different patients with various ailments.

 

No matter what the "illness," the doctors' prescribed remedy printed on the official government form was the same: Whiskey.

 

This was during "prohibition," that 13-year period in American history when the "manufacture, sale or transportation of intoxicating liquors" was forbidden under the 18th Amendment to the Constitution. The amendment, ratified in 1919, went into effect in 1920.

 

Under the National Prohibition Act of 1919 (also known as the Volstead Act), there were a couple of exceptions. Alcohol could be obtained for medical reasons with a physician's prescription, and the clergy were allowed to secure wine for the sacrament.

 

So, in addition to a lot of people becoming ill during this period, there was a significant rise in the number of preachers who were administering communion to a growing number of worshipers.

 

10 June 2010

For Immediate Release

 

Jacob Hunter, the Foundation's Policy Director, was arrested today at Justice Minister Rob Nicholson's constituency office in Niagara, ON.  Mr. Hunter was there as part of a continuing series of protests being held at the offices of Conservative Members of Parliament by supporters of Marc Emery, a Canadian citizen a political activist recently extradited from Canada to the United States.  Another individual was apparently also arrested at the scene.  This is the first protest at which arrests have been made.

 

By Herald Staff, Herald Net

 

EVERETT -- The man who would be Snohomish County's next prosecuting attorney wants to legalize marijuana for adults.

 

Jim Kenny today endorsed Initiative 1068, which would legalize marijuana use, possession and cultivation. He'd previously made clear his support for decriminalization of possession of small amounts of marijuana, and recently supported a broader call for decriminalization of pot on his campaign Website.

 

Kenny said he's repeatedly heard from voters who are in support of legalizing marijuana.

"Our country has been waging a war on drugs for over 40 years and its exorbitant costs can be measured in dollars and in human lives. At some point elected officials need to say 'Enough is enough,'" Kenny said in a press release.

 

The statewide committee backing I-1068 also put out a press release on Kenny's announcement.