• Cannabis supporters take to the streets

    While city officials continue their quest for legalisation, hundreds turn out to the city centre for '420 day' celebration
    The Copenhagen Post (Denmark)
    Saturday, April 20, 2013

    After a parade through Copenhagen, the deputy mayor for social affairs, Mikkel Warming, spoke to the crowd about the city's efforts to legalise cannabis for a three-year trial period. A majority on the City Council are pushing for legalisation by arguing that it would take the estimated one billion annual kroner generated by the illegal cannabis trade out of the hands of gangs. "It's a lot of money and the gangs are so happy to have that money that they have begun shooting people in our streets for it," Warming said.

  • Colorado legislature unveils long-awaited marijuana regulation bills

    The Denver Post (US)
    Friday, April 19, 2013

    Lawmakers introduced a long-awaited bill of proposed regulations for recreational marijuana, moving Colorado one step closer to a legal pot marketplace. The 57-page bill — House Bill 1317 — contains most of the ideas endorsed by a special legislative committee for how recreational marijuana businesses should operate and be structured. A second bill, House Bill 1318, lays out a proposed tax structure for marijuana that voters would be asked to approve.

  • In Spain's Canaries, cannabis club thrives discreetly

    AFP (France)
    Friday, April 19, 2013

    Spanish law prohibits the possession of soft drugs like cannabis in public and its growth to be sold for profit is illegal. But the law does tolerate growing cannabis for personal use and its consumption in private. Dozens of private marijuana smoking clubs operate across Spain that take advantage of this legal loophole that serve cannabis users who do not want to get their drugs from the streets.

  • France cannabis campaigner convicted, fined

    Agence France-Presse (AFP)
    Thursday, April 18, 2013

    One of France's leading campaigners for the decriminalisation of cannabis was given a suspended prison term and fined for possession and use of the drug. Dominique Broc is the founder of the cannabis social clubs, a movement that encourages members to grow the herb for their own use and avoid illegal dealers. The 44-year-old gardener said he would appeal his conviction, which came after police who visited his home in western France found 126 plants and 26 grammes of cannabis.

  • The real driver behind most drug use is pleasure, not dependence

    Drugs discourse almost always fails to discuss drug-related harms in the context of drug-related pleasure
    The Guardian (UK)
    Thursday, April 18, 2013

    Harm minimisation, harm reduction, drug-related harm, drug overdose, addiction: these are the dominant narratives that are used when we talk about drugs. As doctors we diagnose those seeking treatment for many drug-use problems as having an illness. But the discourse almost always fails to explicitly and openly discuss drug-related harms in the context of the real driver behind most drug use, which is not dependence, but drug-related pleasure. Most people who use drugs do so without encountering significant harm and make sensible decisions around their use of drugs. (See also: Internet drug dealing on the rise, survey finds)

  • Utrecht hopes to set up cannabis clubs - for medical research

    DutchNews (Netherlands)
    Wednesday, April 17, 2013

    Two foundations in Utrecht are to apply for exemption from the opium laws so they can set up ‘cannabis clubs’ to grow marijuana for medical research with city council backing, the Volkskrant reports. Council alderman Victor Everhardt, who is behind the plans, hopes his ‘cannabis club’ concept can become a reality on public health grounds. (See also: Utrecht wants 'cannabis clubs' to be allowed to grow drug for medical research)

  • Wash. delays pot grower, processor licenses

    The Seattle Times (US)
    Wednesday, April 17, 2013

    Washington state is delaying its timeline for granting marijuana growing and processing licenses - and that means legal marijuana sales likely won't begin before spring of next year. Rather than issue growing licenses this summer and processor licenses this fall, as called for in a tentative prior timeline, the Liquor Control Board will issue all licenses Dec. 1, 2013.

  • Alaska voters on track to decide in 2014 whether to legalize pot

    Measure proposed for the August 2014 primary ballot would tax and regulate marijuana sales and allow Alaskans to cultivate marijuana for personal use
    The Seattle Times (US)
    Tuesday, April 16, 2013

    legalization-pewAlaska voters likely will get a chance next year to make their state the third in the country to approve the recreational use of marijuana by adults 21 and older. Pot backers took the first step toward getting the measure on the August 2014 primary ballot, presenting draft language and 100 signatures to the Alaska lieutenant governor’s office.

  • Denver's 4/20 pot parties a "coming out for cannabis"

    The Denver Post (US)
    Monday, April 15, 2013

    Tens of thousands of people will attend Saturday's "4/20" rally in Denver, creating perhaps the largest collectively produced cloud of marijuana smoke ever at 4:20 p.m. But Lopez doesn't view this year's event as a celebration of Amendment 64, the pro-pot measure that voters passed in November. Instead, it is as much a protest against the measure. "It is still only a legislative act to create an economy and not to end a war that has destroyed thousands of lives." The people behind Amendment 64, likewise, are holding the rally at arm's length.

  • Brighton plans safe rooms for addicts to inject drugs

    Top crime writer calls for supervised zones to cut heroin and crack deaths
    The Observer (UK)
    Sunday, April 14, 2013

    Brighton is set to be the first British city to offer official "drug consumption rooms" where addicts can use heroin, crack and cocaine under supervision without fear of prosecution. The city's public health leaders will "give serious consideration" to the plan in order to save lives. A report published from an independent drugs commission led by the crime author Peter James and Mike Trace, a former UK deputy drugs tsar, is expected to say that drug consumption rooms "significantly reduce overdose death rates" and do not encourage further use.

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