decriminalization

The page on the UN Office on Drugs and Crime site that we flagged up on the blog earlier this week, has now been censored to remove the section featuring a rare outbreak of pragmatism making the case for cannabis decriminalisation.

These seems rather pathetic. The page in question has sat unmolested since September 2006, over 3 years, only to be stripped of the decrim-arguments now, the day after we blog about it. Why, its almost as if......

Anyway, as people should all know by now the internet never forgets, and you can read the page as it was using the ever useful Internet Archive Wayback Machine.

The Vienna-based International Narcotics Control Board, in its annual report today, said it is “concerned” that Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico are promoting possession of drugs, especially marijuana, for personal use.

If not “resolutely countered”, the decriminalization movement “poses a threat” to the “coherence and effectiveness” of the international drug control system and sends “the wrong message to the general public,” the report said.

By. Lewis Kam, THE NEWS TRIBUNE

Although several bills seeking to legalize pot went up in smoke this legislative session, supporters of a similar citizens’ initiative are moving ahead to bring their measure before voters on November’s ballot.

Calling their campaign “Sensible Washington,” backers of Initiative 1068 issued a news release last week announcing they’ve cleared the statutory hurdles to set the wording for a marijuana decriminalization measure and plan to soon start gathering signatures to qualify the initiative for this year’s general election.

Amy Frykholm recently interviewed Steves, prolific guidebook author and Public Television travel show host, about his book, Travel as a Political Act, and his faith for Christian Century. But she saved the dope news for one of blogs that CC hosts, Theolog.

Steves tells her that people should take a "courageous" stand against drug laws that don't work. In the blog, Steves says,

For me, marijuana is not a harmful substance. I consider using it to be a civil liberty and have used it responsibly as an adult for creative purposes. I used to write a popular monthly column in World Concern Magazine, (a great Christian relief organization here in Seattle) and just for fun, I would write the article high. It helped me see things differently.

The debate is important because by now we, as South Africans, know that what good laws are meant to do and what they achieve in reality are not always the same.

The South African Law Reform Commission has begun a process to review the law on adult prostitution that will culminate in a Bill with one of several options, such as decriminalisation and legalisation.