• Mexico’s Senate approves marijuana regulation

    With 26 votes in favor, 7 against, and 8 abstentions, Mexico's senators broadly approved the ruling proposing the regulation of cannabis
    El Universal (México)
    Wednesday, March 4, 2020

    The commissions of Justice, Health, and Legislative Studies of Mexico’s Senate broadly approved the ruling that seeks to regulate cannabis. During over two hours of discussion, senators from different parties generally approved, with 26 votes in favor, 7 against, and 8 abstentions, the document that proposes the regulation of cannabis from a medical, recreational, and industrial perspective. Likewise, the ruling proposed the creation of a Law for the Regulation of Cannabis, as well as reforms and additions to several dispositions of the General Law on Health and the Federal Penal Code. The approval does not mean that it has been endorsed by all parties but that now, specific points of the document must be reviewed and discussed in the plenary. (See also: The time when drugs were legal in Mexico)

  • Enquête L’Economiste-Sunergia: Cachez-moi ce fumeur de cannabis que je ne saurais voir!

    65% affirment curieusement ne pas en connaître
    L'Economiste (Maroc)
    Mercredi, 4 mars 2020

    morocco hashish dealingVoici une enquête qui va briser un tabou dans la consommation du canna­bis. A la question, «existe-t-il dans votre entourage proche ou connaissez-vous un ami ou un parent qui fume du canna­bis?», l’enquête rapporte une réponse sans la moindre ambigüité. C’est un non pour 65% des répondants. A l’inverse 32% affir­ment qu’elles connaissent des personnes qui en utilisent et 3% avouent ne pas le savoir. Compte tenu de l’interdiction de la consommation de haschich, les marocains semblent encore peu enclins d’en parler probablement par peur. La loi relative à la détention et à la consommation du canna­bis prévoit une peine de 2,5 mois à 1 an de prison. (Lire aussi: Pour l'OICS, le Maroc a été champion des saisies de cannabis en 2018)

  • Le cannabis et le nouveau modèle de développement du Maroc

    Les agriculteurs réclament que les autorités avancent plus rapidement dans son processus de légalisation, notamment en abandonnant certaines pratiques sécuritaires
    Yabiladi (Maroc)
    Mercredi, 4 mars 2020

    morocco cannabis5Depuis février dernier, la Commission spéciale pour le nouveau modèle de développement (CSMD) enchaîne ses séances d’écoute dans les régions du nord du Maroc. Dans les villages et les petites villes du Rif, ces rencontres ont permis aux paysans locaux de se faire entendre sur la culture du kif. Les interventions de plusieurs cultivateurs de cannabis se sont axées sur la question de l’agriculture alternative et des possibilités économiques que celle-ci peut ouvrir aux familles. Cependant, d’autres agriculteurs locaux estiment qu’il est difficile d’envisager une autre forme d’agriculture ou d’activité économique, surtout sur les terres collectives qui n’ont jamais fait pousser autre chose que le chanvre.

  • Rien de définitif sur le cannabis récréatif

    Aucun texte définitif n'a pour l'heure été validé par le gouvernement
    Luxemburger Wort (Luxembourg)
    Lundi, 2 mars 2020

    luxembourg cannabisLa ministre de la Santé confirme qu'un document de travail provisoire circule entre ses services et les autorités judiciaires. Mais aucun texte définitif n'a pour l'heure été validé par le gouvernement. La responsable politique, la ministre Paulette Lenert (LSAP), convient seulement qu'un «document de travail provisoire» est bien en cours d'élaboration sur le sujet. Si ce «premier concept provisoire» regroupe de nombreuses préconisations de spécialistes des questions médicales, d'addictions ou judiciaires, aucun avis gouvernemental sur les mesures à mettre en place n'a encore été sollicité. Le concept «continue d'être développé» et le «document peut changer au cours des mois prochains».

  • Global vote on cannabis as medicine expected to be delayed again

    The draft decision, tabled during an informal meeting last week, needs to be formally adopted by the CND this week
    Cannabis Wire (US)
    Sunday, March 1, 2020

    un logo cannabisThe United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) was set to hold a significant vote to reclassify cannabis as a medicine, a historic change to international drug control treaties drafted nearly sixty years ago. But that vote isn’t happening, according to a draft decision. “After politically tense and lengthy informal negotiations these past weeks, everything points to that there will not be a vote on any of the WHO recommendations this coming week,” Martin Jelsma, the program director for drugs and democracy at the Transnational Institute (TNI), said. "Several countries pushed hard to vote on and accept at least the deletion of cannabis from Schedule IV of the Single Convention, but in the end agreed to a compromise to postpone all, in return for a clear timeline for taking a vote within a year."

  • Malawi legalises cannabis amid hopes of fresh economic growth

    Law change hailed by supporters as chance for country to benefit from rising global demand for medicinal cannabis products
    The Guardian (UK)
    Friday, February 28, 2020

    cannabis cultivoMalawi has passed a bill decriminalising cannabis for medicinal and industrial purposes, almost five years after a motion to legalise industrial hemp was adopted. The country follows in the footsteps of Zimbabwe, Zambia and Lesotho, neighbouring south-east African states that have legalised medicinal cannabis, as well as South Africa, where medicinal and recreational use was decriminalised in 2018. “We don’t want to replicate what has happened in the tobacco industry. Malawians should participate, not as tenants, but as equal partners in this new sector,” said Boniface Kadzamira, the former MP who tabled the topic in 2015, who wants cannabis products to be processed in-country.

  • Failures in treatment and policing behind 'boom in illegal drugs'

    Landmark UK review says cost of drugs to society is £20bn a year as £600m is spent on treatment and prevention
    The Guardian (UK)
    Thursday, February 27, 2020

    They talk, we dieDisappearing and underfunded drug treatment services and fruitless attempts to restrict the flow of illegal substances into the country underpin a booming £9.4bn illicit drugs market in the UK, a landmark review has found. Prof Dame Carol Black was commissioned by the former home secretary Sajid Javid to lead a major review to look into the ways in which drugs are fuelling serious violence. Black’s analysis called for radical change to the UK’s approach to treatment. Efforts to restrict supply have had “limited success” and even if they were fully funded it might not make a difference to the flow of drugs into the country. (See also: Ian Hamilton: “They talk, we die”—the continuing paralysis of UK drug policy)

  • In major shift, UN drug chief questions whether control treaties involving cannabis are out of date

    INCB statements have gradually become more progressive views over the years
    Marijuana Business Daily (US)
    Thursday, February 27, 2020

    incb de jonckheereThe president of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) is questioning whether the agency’s decades-old drug conventions are outdated given global policy developments in recent years involving drugs such as cannabis. During a presentation for the 2019 INCB annual report, President Cornelis P. de Joncheere discussed the developments taking place with regard to cannabis and synthetic drugs. “We have some fundamental issues around the conventions that state parties will need to start looking at,” he said. “We have to recognize that the conventions were drawn up 50 and 60 years ago.” De Joncheere said 2021 is “an appropriate time to look at whether those are still fit for purpose, or whether we need new alternative instruments and approaches to deal with these problems.”

  • Landmark NSW inquiry condemns ineffective drug laws and calls for decriminalisation

    State government has already ruled out many recommendations of its own inquiry, including pill testing and abolishing sniffer dogs
    The Guardian (UK)
    Thursday, February 27, 2020

    australiaA New South Wales government-commissioned special inquiry into drug use has slammed the criminalisation of drug users as a “profound flaw” in the state’s criminal justice system and recommended the complete decriminalisation of drug possession in the state. The inquiry has described the state’s current laws as “tired” and “lacking in imagination”, and called for the introduction of pill testing, the abolition of drug dogs at music festivals and an expansion of medically supervised injection rooms in the state. But the NSW government has been quick to rule out at least some of the recommendations of its own inquiry, saying it will continue to oppose pill testing despite the weight of evidence in its favour. (See also: Letting Australians get drugs from a doctor rather than a dealer will save lives)

  • Maroc: ce que proposent les cultivateurs du cannabis

    Les cultivateurs du cannabis ont récemment reçu la visite d’une délégation de la Commission spéciale du modèle de développement
    Bladi (Maroc)
    Mercredi, 26 février 2020

    morocco eradicationLes cultivateurs du cannabis ont récemment reçu la visite d’une délégation de la Commission spéciale du modèle de développement, conduite par le président Chakib Benmoussa, rapporte Al Massae. Ces derniers leur ont affirmé qu’ils ne vivent que de la culture et de la vente à l’état brut du kif. Leurs porte-paroles ont fait une proposition aux membres de la Commission. Ils souhaitent que le nouveau modèle propose clairement la légalisation de la culture de cannabis dans la région nord du Maroc, ou il l’interdit une bonne fois pour toutes, à condition qu’il leur propose une alternative qui doit être une source de revenu sûre et durable à même d’améliorer les conditions de vie précaires des habitants de la région. (Lire aussi: Le Maroc prépare sa position par rapport aux recommandations de l'OMS)

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