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Britain's CBD clampdown, explained
One thing's for sure – if you're a fan of CBD-infused mattresses, you have nothing to worry about
Vice (UK)
Wednesday, February 19, 2020
An estimated 1.3 million people in the UK regularly use CBD for a variety of health and wellness reasons – but ingestible CBD products occupy a hazy legal area, characterised by unclear enforcement, restrictive drug laws and over-exuberant marketing claims. This has led to a booming, but not-quite-fully-legal, consumer market. Having until now stood idly by as the CBD craze swept the country, the UK's Food Standards Agency (FSA) has unveiled new plans to better regulate the cannabidiol industry and issue new safety advice for consumers. Under the FSA's new rules, CBD companies have until the end of March, 2021 to submit a product safety dossier to the regulators, or else be pulled from the shelves. -
Indonesian activist prepares ground for future cannabis industry
Indonesia has a climate that allows the plant to grow naturally and in abundance, allowing many people to take advantage of its medicinal properties
The Jakarta Post (Indonesia)
Wednesday, February 19, 2020
As Thailand begins to follow the global trend of relaxing laws around medicinal cannabis, a Jakarta-based activist is campaigning to change public perceptions and Indonesian policy so that patients suffering from chronic disease and pain can also access the potentially life-changing treatment. Dhira Narayana of Lingkar Ganja Nusantara, Indonesia’s cannabis movement, has been working with a network of NGOs, volunteers, patients and doctors to research how a domestic medicinal cannabis market might look and what needs to change for it to become a reality. “We want to prepare the ground for future industries by focusing on research into medical benefits from our local cannabis plant,” he said -
Everyone scared of legal weed was freaking out over nothing: report
Despite fears of children getting high and stoned driving, a new Stats Canada report has found that things are pretty much fine
Vice (UK)
Wednesday, February 19, 2020D
espite concerns that legalizing weed would lead to all hell breaking loose, most things have remained the same—and teens are reporting consuming less weed than before, according to a new report from Statistics Canada. Stats Can has been conducting its National Cannabis Survey, an online questionnaire, since February 2018 in an effort to collect data on Canadians’ cannabis habits before and after legalization. While the data has limitations—it’s based on self-reported surveys and answers haven’t been verified—it does paint a pretty chill post-legalization picture. According to Stats Canada, the rate of cannabis consumption for 15-17 year olds fell from 19.8 percent in 2018 to 10.4 percent in 2019. -
Death squad disrupters: Filipina patrols in Pateros help keep drug killings at bay
A few officers accompany the women each night, enforcing curfews and smoking bans, and warning people against drugs
Reuters (UK)
Monday, February 17, 2020
Late each night, a dozen women chat and share a meal before hitting the narrow streets of a Manila suburb where a death squad once roamed. They are the "women's patrol," a group of 18 mothers and grandmothers whose nightly walks through the dimly lit alleys of Pateros have been helping to deter shadowy gunmen behind murders of residents linked to illegal drugs. Not long after Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declared a war on drugs in 2016 and promised thousands would die, Pateros was being terrorized by attackers in hoods and ski masks, known locally as the "bonnet gang." With the town paralyzed by fear, the women decided to arm themselves with flashlights and patrol their community, keeping up a nightly presence to disrupt the bonnet gang. -
Opioid vending machine opens in Vancouver
MySafe scheme for addicts aims to help reduce overdose deaths in Canadian city
The Guardian (UK)
Monday, February 17, 2020
A vending machine for powerful opioids has opened in Canada as part of a project to help fight the Canadian city’s overdose crisis. The MySafe project, which resembles a cash machine, gives addicts access to a prescribed amount of medical quality hydromorphone, a drug about twice as powerful as heroin. Dr Mark Tyndall, a professor of epidemiology at the University of British Columbia, came up with the project as part of an attempt to reduce the number of overdose deaths in the city, which reached 395 last year. “I think ethically we need to offer people a safer source,” he said. “So basically the idea is that instead of buying unknown fentanyl from an alley, we can get people pharmaceutical-grade drugs.” -
A quarter of street drugs are fake and dangerous to users
As overdose deaths rise, many buyers don’t know strength or content of what they buy
The Observer (UK)
Sunday, February 16, 2020
Almost a quarter of street drugs are not what users think they are, some being far more powerful and dangerous than expected, according to findings from the UK’s first community-based drug-checking service. The testing, carried out in Bristol and Durham, involved more than 170 substances of concern being submitted and analysed by a team of chemists in a pop-up lab, with follow-up healthcare consultations delivered to more than 200 users. Nearly one in four of the drugs sold (24%) were not what they purported to be, according to the results, published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. -
Amsterdam to crack down on weed tourism and coffeeshops
The city does not have any plans to ban foreign residents from coffee shops
Dutch News (Netherlands)
Friday, February 14, 2020
Amsterdam is exploring how to make cannabis less of a tourist attraction and, at the same time, crack down on the illegal supply chain, according to a briefing from mayor Femke Halsema. The city has published new research by Amsterdam’s statistics service on the extent to which young tourists are motivated to visit the Dutch capital by cannabis, window brothels and budget flights. It found that a large proportion would be less likely to come to Amsterdam if they had to pay to enter the red light district or if only local residents were allowed into cannabis cafes (coffeeshops). The city does not have any plans to ban foreign residents from coffee shops but is researching policies that could make them less attractive and reduce tourist nuisance. (See also: Amsterdam looks to bar foreign visitors from buying cannabis) -
Los Angeles to dismiss 66,000 marijuana convictions
Prosecutors working with not-for-profit tech group to use algorithms to find eligible cases in decades-old court documents
The Guardian (UK)
Friday, February 14, 2020
Los Angeles moved this week to dismiss nearly 66,000 marijuana convictions, years after the state voted to legalize the drug. The county is working with a not-for-profit technology organization, Code for America, to use algorithms to identify eligible cases within decades-old court documents. “The dismissal of tens of thousands of old cannabis-related convictions in Los Angeles county will bring much-needed relief to communities of color that disproportionately suffered the unjust consequences of our nation’s drug laws,” said Jackie Lacey, the LA district attorney, in a statement. Prosecutors this week asked a superior court judge to dismiss 62,000 felony cannabis convictions for cases that date back to 1961. -
No legal sales in new cannabis Bill
The Bill continues to make it a criminal offence to buy or sell cannabis
Mail & Guardian (South Africa)
Friday, February 14, 2020
South Africans will be allowed to possess up to 600g of dried cannabis in the privacy of their homes for personal use, but can forget about selling their stash legally any time soon if the new cannabis Bill is passed in its present form. The Regulation of Cannabis Bill, drafted by the ministry of justice, will provide guidelines as to how much cannabis people can grow and possess, but continues to outlaw trading in the medicinal and recreational herb. The Bill was drafted in response to the Constitutional Court judgment in September 2018 that ended the ban on private cannabis cultivation, possession and consumption. The court gave the government two years to revise legislation and create a framework for legal cultivation and possession of the plant. -
Nepal lawmakers seek to legalize growing, using marijuana
Nepal made cannabis illegal in 1976 with the Narcotic Drugs Control Act
The Hindu / Associated Press (US)
Monday, February 10, 2020
Ruling party lawmakers have proposed legalizing marijuana in Nepal, where it has been used for generations and was famed during the counterculture '60s. Forty-six members of the ruling Communist Party of Nepal filed the proposal in Parliament to legalize the production and use of marijuana, party lawmaker Birod Khatiwada said. He said the Himalayan country's mountainous terrain is suitable for the crop and allowing farmers to grow it would greatly benefit those who are impoverished. The proposal must be debated in Parliament before any changes are made to existing laws. (See also: From mellow to high: How the movement to legalise marijuana is lighting up Nepal)
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