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Legalise it? Czechia moving closer to regulated cannabis but obstacles remain
Tuesday, 25 April 2023The Czech cabinet recently approved drug policies that include introducing a strictly regulated cannabis market. The details of the plan are still being fine-tuned – but there already obstacles in si ...
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Singapore executes man for cannabis trafficking
Tuesday, 25 April 2023Singapore executed a man accused of coordinating a cannabis delivery, despite pleas for clemency from his family and protests from activists. The United Nations Human Rights Office had asked Singapor ...
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Ban, ignore or regulate? Kratom and the Whac-A-Mole world of soft drugs
Wednesday, 19 April 2023It’s a leaf, it’s sold as a dye, and it’s used as a drug: It’s kratom, and it’s all the rage in the Czech Republic. Kratom is among the dozens of psychoactive substances emerging on Europe's recreati ...
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Czechs go to pot
Monday, 17 April 2023On April 5, the government approved the 2023-2025 Addiction Policy Action Plan, a wide-ranging policy reform package, including the liberalisation and possible legalisation of recreational cannabis u ...
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Dutch cannabis policy example of ‘how not to do it’, says German minister
Thursday, 13 April 2023Germany is legalising cannabis use, with the Dutch policy as an example ‘of how not to do it’, German health minister Karl Lauterbach has told broadcaster NOS. Coffee shops, where the Dutch can buy c ...
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Government to deliver pilot project "in due course"
Thursday, 13 April 2023The pilot project on the legalisation of cannabis in Luxembourg is expected to arrive at the government council "in due course," according to Paulette Lenert. In an interview with RTL, the Minister o ...
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Czechia's plans to legalize cannabis: Buy up to 5 grams per day, but register in a database first
Thursday, 13 April 2023Czechia plans to introduce a new, regulated cannabis market allowing people to consume up to 5 grams of cannabis recreationally per day, and legalize the growth and distribution of the drug. Seznam Z ...
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German officials unveil revised plan to legalize marijuana
Wednesday, 12 April 2023Health Minister Karl Lauterbach and Minister of Food and Agriculture Cem Özdemir released the updated legalization plans, scaling back the framework announced last year. There will not be a country-w ...
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Legalising cannabis in Australia: how would it work and is there a catch?
Monday, 10 April 2023The Greens are about to introduce legislation into the parliament to legalise cannabis across Australia. Currently out for public consultation, the legislation, if passed, would allow for the regulat ...
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Cannabis greenhouses and ‘chain-store’ clubs permitted under new rules
Sunday, 09 April 2023Malta’s laws for the sale of recreational cannabis could likely make room for large players seeking to corner the market, with the prospect of cannabis retailer ‘chains’. Malta’s not-for-profit model ...
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Thailand's promised cannabis bonanza disappoints as politicians trade blame
Thursday, 06 April 2023Thailand's decriminalisation of cannabis has delighted its fans, alarmed some health experts and has increasingly disappointed farmers who have been undercut by illegal imports, sending a promise of ...
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Czech government approves plan for regulated cannabis market
Thursday, 06 April 2023The Czech cabinet approved a plan for fighting addictions until 2025. It includes the introduction of a strictly regulated cannabis market based on rules drafted by an expert group. The plan still ha ...
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Environmental justice, up in smoke
Thursday, 06 April 2023There is ample evidence that irresponsible outdoor cultivation can also be environmentally destructive, leading some to argue that indoor cultivation is better for the environment because it ostensib ...
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Karl Lauterbach plans cannabis legalisation light
Friday, 31 March 2023The German Minister of Health has given up the plan to have cannabis legalization as a whole approved by the EU. He is now pursuing a dual strategy: he only wants to submit part of the reforms to the ...
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Some Switzerland residents can now legally buy recreational cannabis in pharmacies
Thursday, 30 March 2023Decades after pioneering prescription heroin and safe injection sites, Switzerland is now experimenting with decriminalising recreational cannabis. It’s being done in a very Swiss way, according to a ...
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Lausanne gets green light for recreational pot smoking trial
Tuesday, 28 March 2023The Lausanne project for the legal sale of cannabis, known as Cann-L, has received the green light from the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH), the city authorities said. The western city j ...
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Cannabis industry plans for South Africa have stalled: how to get them moving again
Friday, 24 March 2023The opportunity to commercialise the hemp and cannabis industry in South Africa is that it is a new, fast-growing, multi-billion dollar sector with local and international markets. The potential lega ...
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Amid worsening food shortages, we need to turn over a new leaf on the coca plant
Thursday, 23 March 2023The coca leaf has been a staple in Andean communities for centuries, serving as a source of nutrition, as an aide for altitude adjustment, and as an energy boost. However, despite its many benefits, ...
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How drug “decriminalization” fueled Brazil’s mass incarceration crisis
Thursday, 23 March 2023At first glance, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s cabinet looks very different from that of predecessor Jair Bolsonaro. It comprises many scientists and other experts in their respecti ...
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Controlled cannabis sale in Zurich greenlighted
Wednesday, 22 March 2023The Zurich city government and the Zurich University Hospital said that the Federal Office of Public Health approved the conditions for the organic production of two separate strains of cannabis. The ...
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Malawi cannabis: Farmers' high hopes fail to materialise
Wednesday, 22 March 2023Malawian farmer Ethel Chilembwe has paid out hundreds of dollars, cleared six hectares of land and got ready for the training, but after two years of waiting she has not cultivated a single cannabis ...
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Major alcohol industry association calls for federal marijuana legalization, recommending regulatory framework
Wednesday, 22 March 2023A major alcohol industry association is officially backing federal marijuana legalization, sending a letter to congressional leadership that implores lawmakers to “regulate adult-use cannabis at the ...
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Raphael Mechoulam, ‘Father of Cannabis Research,’ dies at 92
Wednesday, 22 March 2023Raphael Mechoulam, a pioneering Israeli chemist who is credited with opening the field of cannabis science after identifying the structure and function of the key compounds of cannabis, died on March ...
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France to keep a cautious watch on German cannabis bill
Tuesday, 21 March 2023Germany is looking into legalising the sale of cannabis for recreational purposes from next year, according to a draft plan Health Minister Karl Lauterbach presented to the European Commission. “Fran ...
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Australia spends billions ‘failing to police’ cannabis that earns black market $25bn a year, Greens say
Friday, 17 March 2023Australia’s cannabis industry could be earning the black market $25bn a year and, rather than policing it, we could be gaining revenue from it by legalising it, Greens senator David Shoebridge has sa ...
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Legal cannabis plans breach international law – State Council
Thursday, 16 March 2023Luxembourg's plans to allow residents to grow four cannabis plants at their home have been thrown into question after the country's de-facto upper chamber stated the proposals would breach internatio ...
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These are the rules cannabis associations will have to follow
Wednesday, 15 March 2023Cannabis associations that sell to non-members or minors will face fines of up to €10,000, with the associations also required to cough up money for harm reduction and community projects. A newly-pub ...
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Willful blindness: INCB can find nothing good to say on cannabis legalisation
Tuesday, 14 March 2023In its report for 2022, the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), the “independent, quasi-judicial expert body” that monitors the implementation of the UN drug control conventions, focuses on ...
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Lauterbach wants to present new proposal
Tuesday, 14 March 2023Germany's Health Minister Karl Lauterbach is sticking to his legalisation plans. In the coming weeks, he will present a proposal for cannabis legalisation that conforms to European law. "In the meant ...
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Willful Blindness: INCB can find nothing good to say on cannabis legalisation
Tuesday, 14 March 2023In its Report for 2022, the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), the “independent, quasi-judicial expert body” that monitors the implementation of the UN drug control conventions, focuses on ...
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À Chefchaouen, les coopératives s’apprêtent à lancer la saison de culture du cannabis légalisé
Tuesday, 07 March 2023Un atelier de travail s’est tenu, le 6 mars au siège de la province de Chefchaouen, afin d’examiner les modalités concrètes de soutien aux coopératives pour le lancement de la saison de culture du ca ...
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Farmers say making dagga legal has only made them poorer
Wednesday, 01 March 2023Small-scale cannabis farmers in the rural parts of the Eastern Cape are feeling the pinch of obtaining farming licences. This is particularly difficult for a 27-year-old farmer who has been involved ...
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Is legalisation a human rights imperative?
Wednesday, 01 March 2023Does the cannabis legalisation planned by the German government's traffic lights coalition violate European law and relevant UN agreements? While Bavarian Health Minister Klaus Holetschek (CSU) prese ...
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Jamaican ganja farmers outraged after licence granted to import Canadian herb
Sunday, 26 February 2023Some local ganja farmers are fuming over reports that a licence has been granted to a company to import Canadian cannabis into Jamaica. Speaking inside the ‘Jamaica Cannabis Industry Forum’ WhatsApp ...
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Talks with bank to offer services to cannabis associations
Wednesday, 22 February 2023The authorities are having talks with a leading bank with a view that it could offer services to non-profit organisations running cannabis associations, Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri told par ...
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America has lost the War on Drugs. Here’s what needs to happen next
Wednesday, 22 February 2023For a forgotten moment, at the very start of the United States’ half-century long war on drugs, public health was the weapon of choice. Before long, the funding ratio between public health and crimin ...
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Tilburg and Breda to kick off regulated marijuana experiment
Wednesday, 22 February 2023Coffee shops in Tilburg and Breda may be able to take part in the experiment with regulated marijuana as early as October, ministers have agreed. The full trial will not take place until 2024 but min ...
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Is legal cannabis available in Cape Town?
Sunday, 19 February 2023While cannabis is being legalised in many countries around the world, South Africa still finds itself in a state of legislative limbo, with more and more businesses offering “legal weed”. Both medici ...
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Cattle, not coca, drive deforestation of the Amazon in Colombia – report
Sunday, 19 February 2023Cattle-ranching, not cocaine, has driven the destruction of the Colombian Amazon over the last four decades, a new study has found. Successive recent governments have used environmental concerns to j ...
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Cannabis associations will need to have salaries approved by regulator
Saturday, 18 February 2023Salaries paid out by cannabis associations will have to be approved by the regulator to ensure they are in line with market rates, ARUC boss Leonid McKay has said. The Authority for the Responsible U ...
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Oxford study to trial cannabis-based medicine as treatment for psychosis
Thursday, 16 February 2023Oxford scientists are to launch a major global trial to investigate whether cannabis-based medicine can treat people with psychosis or psychotic symptoms. Currently, cannabidiol (CBD) is only prescri ...
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Canadian wholesale cannabis prices are off more than 40% in 2022
Wednesday, 15 February 2023Canadian cannabis wholesale prices tumbled more than 40% last year as companies continued to work through stubborn supply gluts and struggling cultivators chose to sell off their unsold marijuana ins ...
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Why is Lesotho’s cannabis boom failing to deliver the prosperity it promised?
Wednesday, 15 February 2023Even though legislation in 2008 made it possible to grow cannabis for medical or scientific purposes in Lesotho, doing so without a licence from the health ministry, and for recreational use, remains ...
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Amsterdam to outlaw cannabis-smoking in red-light district streets
Friday, 10 February 2023Smoking cannabis on the street in Amsterdam’s red light district will soon be illegal, the city council has announced, as part of a range of bylaws designed to deter tourist excesses and make life mo ...
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Cannabis producer Canopy cutting 800 jobs, closing flagship Canadian facility
Thursday, 09 February 2023Canadian cannabis producer Canopy Growth said it is closing its flagship cultivation facility in Smiths Falls, Ontario, and cutting more than a third of its workforce as part of a shift to an “asset- ...
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Legalising cannabis: Germany first, Europe next?
Thursday, 09 February 2023The German 'traffic light' coalition of the SPD, Greens, and Liberals promised in their 2021 post-election governing manifesto to not just decriminalise cannabis — but to be the first country in Euro ...
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Editorial: No grass without the roots
Monday, 06 February 2023The Authority for the Responsible Use of Cannabis recently held a conference where it outlined the rules for social clubs and the sale of home-grown cannabis in Malta. The conference signalled the au ...
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Inside New York’s struggling weed real estate experiment
Sunday, 05 February 2023Roland Conner never imagined that getting arrested for marijuana in the ‘90s would lead to where he is now: the owner of a new cannabis dispensary in the heart of Greenwich Village. The blocks surrou ...
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Canadian province experiments with decriminalising hard drugs
Tuesday, 31 January 2023Adults can possess up to 2.5g of heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, fentanyl and morphine. Canada's federal government granted the request by the west coast province to try out the three-year decrimin ...
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In the weeds: Germany's plan to legalise cannabis in 2024 likely delayed
Friday, 27 January 2023Germany's plans to legalise cannabis consumption in 2024 are looking increasingly unlikely as it has yet to submit its proposals to the European Commission, the health ministry confirmed to Euronews. ...
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