The Italian Supreme Court abolishes the 2006 antidrug legislation
15 February 2014
On February 12th, the Italian Constitutional Court ruled that the 2006 Italian drug legislation (the so called Fini Giovanardi law) is uncostitutional. Consequently, the 1990 legislation, as emended by the 1993 popular referendum (which decriminalized possession for personal use), has been restored.
Mujica: US and Europe must change their drug policy
Thursday, February 13, 2014
By Malena Castaldi and Felipe Llambias
MONTEVIDEO – The United States and Europe need a new strategy in the war on drugs and should look at alternatives such as the regulated sale of marijuana, says Uruguayan President Jose Mujica, whose country recently legalized the production and sale of cannabis.
UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs
Encod is present at the 57th session of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna, with a delegation of representatives of populations affected by the war on drugs, to be held in Vienna between March 13th and 21st.
For a report see below
AND NOW HEMP AS WELL
6 February 2014
The United States federal government may not be ready to sanction marijuana use, but a new agriculture bill is set to legalize preliminary stages of hemp production in states that allow the practice. A new farm bill, passed by Congress on Tuesday, would allow universities and state agriculture departments to establish industrial hemp growing programs. If these research programs go well, they could pave the way for commercial hemp farming to become a reality.
Nope, still no such thing as a fatal marijuana overdose
6 February, 2014
By David Bienenstock
By all accounts, 31-year-old mother of three Gemma Moss recently smoked half a joint to help her sleep, and then she never woke up. It’s a tragic passing that quickly yielded giddy tabloid headlines touting her as “the first woman in Britain to be poisoned to death by cannabis”, as though some incredible sports record had just been achieved.
Czech police chose “wrong weapon” in raids on marijuana cultivation suppliers
3 February 2014, by Ian Willoughby
In November, the Czech police’s drugs unit raided dozens of “grow shops”, businesses that sell products necessary for the cultivation of marijuana. The police justified the large-scale confiscation of goods on the grounds that a court had ruled it was illegal for the shops to offer in one place everything needed to grow the drug, from seeds to literature. This is disputed by the grow shop owners, including my guest today, Michal Otipka, who runs four in Prague. Before we got on to the legal niceties, I asked Otipka how he’d first got into the business.
Why Dutch mayors want to cultivate cannabis
3 february 2014
Dutch laws governing marijuana use are so liberal
that even the US pop star Miley Cyrus failed to
spark too much controversy when she lit a joint
on stage in Amsterdam last year.
Now, 35 mayors are urging the government to take
it a step further and let them grow cannabis too,
as a global shift in favour of legalisation is
leaving the once forward-thinking Netherlands lagging behind.