SCOTLAND must start the debate on decriminalising drugs, campaigners, MSPs and former government advisers have said. The call follows an announcement by the Irish government that it plans a "radical culture shift" which will see possession of drugs decriminalised in ordered to focus on offering helping to addicts and users rather than punishing them with criminal convictions and prison. As the call came, the Scottish Government also told the Sunday Herald that it was reaffirming its wish for Holyrood to take responsibility over drug laws, which are currently reserved to Westminster. [continues 2043 words]
Marijuana Legalisation Will Help Poor 'Supply' Nations An absurd status quo has held sway in Mexico, ever since the United States began to legalise marijuana, for medical, and, more recently, recreational use. The nation - encouraged by Washington - has some of the strictest drug laws in Latin America. But the vast majority of the marijuana it produces ends up in the US. So Mexican law enforcement officials - complying with the demands of their American counterparts - have been expending massive resources on preventing the growth and trafficking of a drug that is often, by the time it ends up being smoked within US borders, entirely legal. [continues 208 words]
The UN wants its members to decriminalise drugs, and Sir Richard Branson thinks that is just great. Well, it is not quite like that; as so often, the story is more nuanced than the headline. The paper Sir Richard leaked, which urges "decriminalising drug use and possession for personal consumption", was drawn up for a conference in Kuala Lumpur on harm reduction by Dr Monica Beg, an official at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Vienna. It has since been withdrawn and, as you can gather from the outcry, it is certainly a "third-rail issue" you touch it at your peril. [continues 907 words]
'Decriminalise the Possession and Use of All Substances' United Nations officials have called for the possession and use of all drugs to be decriminalised by governments, in a private report hailed as a "turning-point in drug policy reform". But the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) immediately distanced itself from the controversial conclusions, which were leaked by the Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson, and insisted they did not represent the UN's official position. The briefing paper argues that criminalising drug use increases death rates among addicts and has led to the jailing of millions of people for non-violent offences. [continues 899 words]
Legalising cannabis would raise taxes worth hundreds of millions of pounds and produce large savings for the criminal justice system, a private analysis for the Treasury has concluded. It judged that regulating cannabis, which was used by more than two million people in the UK last year, could generate "notable tax revenue" and "lead to overall savings to public services". The Treasury study, seen by The Independent, was commissioned by the former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg ahead of the general election to help formulate Liberal Democrat drugs policy if the party remained in office. [continues 641 words]
The Liberal Democrats are to set up an expert panel to establish how a legal market for cannabis could work in Britain, paving the way for them to become the first major political party in the UK to back its legalisation. The move is backed the party's health spokesman, Norman Lamb, and by a former deputy assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan police, Brian Paddick. It is in line with a 2014 party conference resolution that called for a review of the effectiveness of a regulated market in relation to health and reduced criminal activity. [continues 510 words]
We are losing the war on drugs. But there are reasons to be hopeful. In recent years, a global movement for reform has been building. Led in particular by the governments of countries in Latin America that have suffered most, politicians and policymakers around the globe have started to question the status quo. This isn't a headlong rush to legalisation, but a patient, rational debate about alternative approaches which might reduce overall harm. In the United States, zero tolerance and mass imprisonment has given way to a willingness to allow states to experiment with alternative regulatory models as Colorado, Washington, Oregon and others are doing with cannabis - and a growing disquiet at the injustice and social impacts of imprisoning hundreds of thousands of young, mainly black, men for drug offences. [continues 238 words]
The three young men climbing into the pickup close to the Oregon border cheerfully acknowledged they were about to break federal law. Anthony, Daniel and Chris had just bustled out of a marijuana shop in Vancouver, Washington, clutching bags of marijuana as they headed home a short drive over the bridge to Portland, Oregon. Crossing state lines with drugs is a federal offence not that it has discouraged the steady stream of customers from Portland taking advantage of Washington's legalisation of recreational marijuana sales last year. As of yesterday, Oregon joined Washington and Colorado to become the third US state to permit the sale for anyone over 21. "I've been coming across since they legalised it here," said Anthony. "But it'll be closer and it's going to be much cheaper in Portland. And I won't haveh to cross the bridge. Not that I've ever seen the cops lining up to catch us." The open sale of recreational mar marijuana has come more swiftly to Portland than many expected. Legalisation was only approved in a ballot measure last November whereas Washington state took 18 months to open its first shops. [continues 617 words]
