Dear Friends,
Let me call your attention to our new videos filmed at the Beyond 2008 global NGO forum, they are available on our website:
War on Drugs: The New Jim Crow?
Best wishes,
Peter Sarosi
Backing grows in Bern for marijuana decriminalization
Swisster
5 July 2008
by Malcolm Curtis
Four federal parties rally in support of an initiative to replace a ban
on cannabis use for adults, while strictly enforcing its prohibition for
those under 18. Swiss voters are set to vote on the issue, rejected by
parliament four years ago, in a November referendum.
A coalition of federal Swiss political parties of various stripes has
renewed a bid to decriminalize marijuana in the country. Elected members
of the Radical, Christian Democrat, Socialist and Green parties on
Friday endorsed an initiative that would regulate cannabis use while
making it illegal for children under the of 18.
The initiative is scheduled to be voted on by Swiss voters on Nov. 30.
The parties have urged people to say yes to the proposal. Members in
Bern said the initiative offers a “reasonable policy” governing the use
of marijuana that is preferable to the current prohibition.
They noted that the proposal effectively protects young people by
banning it for those underage. However the group maintains that for
adults smoking a joint is a personal choice over which each person can
make their own decision.
“It is necessary to remove emotion from the debate,” said Geri Müller, a
Green party member of parliament from Aargau, according to a report
carried by the ATS news service. Stéphane Rossini, Socialist party
member from Valais, said it was not a matter of minimizing the
seriousness of marijuana use but to go beyond dogmatic arguments and
issues of conscience.
Marijuana officially remains a banned drug in Switzerland though
possession in small quantities for personal use is tolerated in many
cantons. The politicians calling for changes to the law say the current
prohibition has failed to cut use. Christa Markwalder, Radical member of
parliament from Bern, said an estimated 500,000 people in Switzerland
are regular or occasional users of cannabis. The more than 27,500
complaints lodged annually with police (based on 2005 figures) have only
served to needlessly overload the police and judicial systems,
Markwalder indicated.
The initiative previously only had the official backing of the Socialist
and Radical parties. Four years ago, the federal parliament threw out a
similar proposal put forward by the government. Switzerland gained a
reputation for its liberal drugs policy in the late1980s, but public
opinion later changed. It remains to be seen whether this time round the
pendulum will swing back on this issue.
Apelaciòn al tribunal cantonal de Basilea-campo, Suiza
contra la sentencia a causa de la venta de estupefacientes
Fècha de juicio: martes, 5 de agosto 2008, a las 10.00 de la mañana
Cannabis growing offers pot of gold for farmers
The Sidney Morning Herald
13/07/2008
Australia
Cannabis growing offers pot of gold for farmers
FRANK WALKER
NSW farmers could be growing cannabis by spring with the approval of the Iemma Government – but this marijuana can’t be smoked to get high.
It will be a variety of the cannabis plant containing tiny levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the chemical that puts the pleasure in pot.
Smoke this Government-approved cannabis and all you’ll get is a cough. The Government has just passed the Hemp Industry Act allowing farmers to grow industrial hemp under licence.
Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald said the plant could be used to help create fuel, building materials, insulation, a base for skincare products, paints, paper products and textiles.
“It is a potentially lucrative industrial industry because farmers will have the option of another fast-growing summer crop that can be used in rotation with winter grain crops,” Mr Macdonald said.
The minister said hemp was environmentally friendly, water efficient and extremely hardy.
This is a marked turnaround for governments, which for more than 60 years have seen hemp as synonymous with drugs. NSW follows four other states in allowing industrial hemp crops.
Hemp was a major product for textiles, rope and paper around the world until the 1930s when it was overtaken by the oil and timber industries.
Mr Macdonald said there was an issue with getting the plant accepted as a crop because industrial hemp and marijuana plants look similar.
National Party deputy leader Andrew Fraser said he was concerned farmers could mix the crops and grow the illegal variety.
But under the law only farmers with no criminal record can get a licence to grow hemp. Police and agricultural inspectors will monitor properties regularly.
Narromine farmer Ross Browning found 13 police officers raiding his farm when he was involved in an industrial hemp trial project.
“Somebody stole heads of the plants from my field and dobbed me in when police arrested him for possessing dope. They demanded I pull it all out until I showed them the licence. But they still took samples from my crop and sent it away for testing.
“When it came back with almost no THC reading I was off the hook, but the thief was still in trouble.”
Griffith farmer Pat Calabria has been experimenting with hemp varieties for seven years, but believes Australia has a long way to go to catch up to the rest of the world.
“This could become a major crop in Australia like it is in Europe, but we need processing plants and a market for this crop to take off,” he said.
ITALIAANSE RECHTBANK OORDEELT DAT RASTA’S CANNABIS MOGEN GEBRUIKEN
Peter Popham
The Independent
zaterdag 12 juli 2008
Rastafari’s beschouwen Ethiopië als het Beloofde Land, maar Italië is misschien maar nipt tweede op de ranglijst nadat het Hooggerechtshof oordeelde dat het roken of bezitten van cannabis geen misdrijf is als de persoon in kwestie aanhanger is van het Rastafarigeloof.
Vorig jaar oordeelde het zelfde hof nog dat zelfs het kweken van één enkel plantje een strafbaar feit is. Nu heeft het Italiaanse Hof van Cassatie echter besloten dat Rastafari’s marihuana “niet alleen medisch gebruiken, maar ook als meditatief kruid. Daarom is het een drager van de psychofysische geestestoestand nodig voor bezinning en gebed.”
Release, de Londonse druginformatiedienst, verklaarde dat dit het eerste Europese vonnis was over cannabis en Rastafari’s.
De zaak werd aan het rollen gebracht door een veertiger uit Perugia die in 2004 veroordeeld werd tot 16 maanden gevangenisstraf en een boete van €4.000 voor het bezit van 97gr. marihuana. Het Hooggerechtshof oordeelde dat de rechtbank in eerste aanleg niet voldoende rekening had gehouden met de gewoonten van zijn Rastafarigeloof, dat toelaat dat hij 10gr. per dag rookt. Rastafari’s roken de drug, volgens de rechtbank, “ter nagedachtenis van en gelovend dat de heilige plant groeide op het graf van Koning Salomon.”
De regering is aangeslagen. Het vonnis “verplettert de wetten die het gebruik van illegale drugs verbieden en bestraffen”, volgens een woordvoerder van Binnenlandse Zaken.
Rechtse politici waren streng in hun commentaar. Senator Maurizio Gaspari zei: “Vandaag komen we te weten dat een Rastafari rustig mag rondwandelen met drugs. Als iemand een godsdienst aanhangt die toelaat dat men zijn kinderen opeet, zouden ze dan ook akkoord gaan?”
Op Rototom Sunsplash, Europa’s grootste reggeau-festival bij Udine in noordoost Italië, was men wel blij met het vonnis. “Eindelijk begint het principe van religieus pluralisme door te dringen”, zegt voorzitter van het festival, Filiippo Giunta. “Deze uitspraak onderlijnt opnieuw het verschil tussen dit middel en de zogenaamde harddrugs, inclusief alcohol.
DECRIMINALISATIE VAN PERSOONLIJK GEBRUIK VAN CANNABIS IN OOSTENRIJK
Een recente rechterlijke beslissing toont aan wat de gevolgen zijn van de nieuwe drugwet. Hoewel een Oostenrijkse man meer dan 10kg cannabisbladeren had geoogst, werd hij niet veroordeeld en zag de openbare aanklager af van verdere vervolging – weliswaar met een probatie van 2 jaar. Volgens de nieuwe wet moet de openbare aanklager afzien van vervolging als er enkel sprake was van persoonlijk gebruik. Als de verdachte opnieuw betrapt wordt op cannabisbezit tijdens deze periode riskeert hij wel gerechtelijke vervolging, omdat cannabisbezit ook met de nieuwe wet illegaal blijft.
Voor 1 januari 2008 kon een zaak alleen geseponeerd worden als de verdachte in bezit was van een ‘minimale hoeveelheid’ van de drug. Voor cannabis werd, zoals in Duitsland, gewerkt met een gebruikshoeveelheid van een paar gram. De nieuwe wet vermeldt geen hoeveelheid meer, maar spreekt enkel van persoonlijk gebruik. In het voorliggende geval had de verdachte de bladeren geoogst van een zogezegd ontdekt hennepveld en er was dus geen bewijs dat wees op bedoelingen om de oogst te verkopen. De hoofdreden om de wet te veranderen, volgens verantwoordelijken van het ministerie van justitie, was een EU beslissing over het gevecht tegen drugs. De maatregel voorzag in een strenger beleid tegen drugdealers. Hierdoor werd de nood aan een duidelijke scheiding tussen drugdealen en persoonlijk gebruik in de wetswijziging duidelijk.
Vertaald van OÖnachrichten
Rastas can use cannabis, Italian court rules
Peter Popham
The Independent
Saturday 12 Jul 2008
Rastafarians have always regarded Ethiopia as the promised land, but
Italy could rank a close second after its Supreme Court ruled that
smoking or possessing cannabis is not a criminal offence but a religious
act when the person doing it is a Rastafarian.
Last year, the same court declared that cultivating even a single
cannabis plant was a punishable offence. But now Italy’s Court of
Cassation has said Rastafarians use marijuana “not only as a medical but
also as a meditative herb. And, as such [it is] a possible bearer of the
psychophysical state to contemplation and prayer”.
Release, the London-based drugs information service, said that the
ruling was a European first.
The case was brought by a man in his forties from Perugia who was
sentenced to 16 months in jail plus a €4,000 (£3,000) fine in 2004 for
possession of 97g of marijuana. The Supreme Court said the court of
first appeal had failed to consider that the man, a Rastafarian, smoked
marijuana according to the precepts of his religion, which, the judges
said, permits the smoking of 10g per day. Rastafarians smoke the drug,
said the court, “with the memory and in the belief that the sacred plant
grew on the tomb of King Solomon”.
The government is livid. The judgment “shatters the laws which forbid
and proscribe penal sanctions for” the use of illegal drugs, an Interior
Ministry spokesman said.
Right-wing politicians were scathing. Senator Maurizio Gasparri said:
“Today we learn a Rasta is free to go around with drugs. If somebody
belonged to a religion which permitted them to eat their children, would
they give them the go-ahead, too?”
But the verdict was received with joy at Rototom Sunsplash, Europe’s
biggest festival of reggae music, near Udine, in north-east Italy.
“Finally the principle of religious pluralism is beginning to make
headway,” Filippo Giunta, president of the festival, said. “This
judgment … underlines again the difference between this substance and
so-called ‘hard’ drugs, alcohol included.”
Straffrei trotz Besitzes von zehn Kilo „Gras“
LINZ/WIEN. Obwohl er mehr als zehn Kilo Cannabiskraut geerntet hatte, ging ein Oberösterreicher straffrei aus. Gedeckt ist dies durch ein neues Suchtmittelgesetz.