France’s health minister, Marisol Touraine (pictured), has said trial centres where drug addicts can safely inject their own drugs could open before the end of the year in a handful of French cities.
Legalised “shooting galleries” where addicts can inject heroin and other drugs with sterile needles provided by medical professionals could soon open in France, Health Minister Marisol Touraine has said.
“I hope that experimental trials will be announced before the end of the year,” Touraine told French BFM television on Sunday, adding that a handful of cities were ready to test the new program.
A six-year study of Britain's drug laws by leading scientists, police officers, academics and experts has concluded it is time to introduce decriminalisation.
The report by the UK Drug Policy Commission (UKDPC), an independent advisory body, says possession of small amounts of controlled drugs should no longer be a criminal offence and concludes the move will not lead to a significant increase in use.
The experts say the criminal sanctions imposed on the 42,000 people sentenced each year for possession of all drugs – and the 160,000 given cannabis warnings – should be replaced with simple civil penalties such as a fine, attendance at a drug awareness session or a referral to a drug treatment programme.
Kronic-style drugs are expected back on the shelves under the new legal high law being crafted by Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne.
Experts say the law will create one of the world's first open and regulated recreational drug markets with synthetic cannabis making a return.
The first legal highs will be offered for sale in 2014, based on estimates in papers released by health officials.
The new regime, announced by Mr Dunne last week, aims to end the uncontrolled legal high industry which is estimated to have made $250 million in 10 years. The unregulated market has seen drugs sold legally with effects mimicking illegal substances like P, cannabis and Ecstasy.
Yesterday, the president of Guatemala, Otto Perez Molina, announced his intention to propose legally regulating currently-illicit drugs as a means of reducing crime, violence and corruption. He is expected to elaborate on his proposal today when he addresses the United Nations General Assembly.
According to the Associated Press, President Perez Molina said the war on drugs has failed and that Central American nations have no choice but to pursue legalization, since the U.S. has proven incapable of reducing its demand for drugs. Perez Molina’s speech today may be the first time a sitting head of state discusses the legalization and regulation of drugs before the UN General Assembly.
Dutch pot smokers are complaining that the generation that was running around Amsterdam’s Vondelpark in the Sixties naked and on acid is now threatening the well-established, regulated marijuana trade in the Netherlands.
Responding to international pressure and conservatives in rural and small-town Holland, the federal government is cracking down on the coffeeshops that legally sell marijuana. But big-city mayors, like Amsterdam’s, will fight to keep them open. Amsterdam’s leaders recognize that legalized marijuana and the Red Light District’s prostitution are part of the edgy charm of the city; the mayor wants to keep both, but get rid of the accompanying sleaze. Read more »
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France’s health minister, Marisol Touraine (pictured), has said trial centres where drug addicts can safely inject their own drugs could open before the end of the year in a handful of French cities.
A six-year study of Britain's drug laws by leading scientists, police officers, academics and experts has concluded it is time to introduce decriminalisation.
Kronic-style drugs are expected back on the shelves under the new legal high law being crafted by Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne.
Yesterday, the president of Guatemala, Otto Perez Molina, announced his intention to propose legally regulating currently-illicit drugs as a means of reducing crime, violence and corruption. He is expected to elaborate on his proposal today when he addresses the United Nations General Assembly.
Dutch pot smokers are complaining that the generation that was running around Amsterdam’s Vondelpark in the Sixties naked and on acid is now threatening the well-established, regulated marijuana trade in the Netherlands.
