Tag: medical marijuana

Drug policy reform in the world: major events of 2013

Drug Policy Reform on the move

2012 was a turning point for drug policy reform and 2013 keeps plugging along. In the US, the number of medical marijuana states should reach 20 this month with Maryland and New Hampshire in the final stage of adoption, and may even reach 25 by year end. Here is a great link for a review of marijuana policy in every state of the US: http://www.thedailychronic.net/2013/16750/your-state-by-state-update-to-marijuana-decriminalization-legalization-and-reform/

In Europe, the Czech Republic legalized medical marijuana and several cities from Copenhagen to Dutch cities are considering outright legalization. Uruguay is launching a national debate.

This PowerPoint presentation reviews the major events of 2013. I invite you to check it regularly as it is being updated.

Thank you for your support,

Jeffrey Dhywood
Investigative writer,
Author of “World War D – The Case against prohibitionism, roadmap to controlled re-legalization”
“World War-D” on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0984690409/
Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/worldward
Follow me on Twitter: @JDhywood
Become a better informed activist and support global drug policy reform!
Order your own copy of “Word War-D”

  • The reference book on the War on Drugs and prohibitionism
  • A guide to psychoactive substances and substance abuse
  • A blueprint for global drug policy reform and controlled legalization

Media inquiries- book reviews – speaking engagements: contact promo@world-war-d.com

Good news and bad news for drug policy reform

Uruguay & Guatemala pushes on with legalization, the US escalates crackdown, Oregon MJ qualifies for November ballot, Drug abuse down 50% in post-decriminalization Portugal

This week brought goods news and bad news for drug policy reform in the US and in Latin America:

Marijuana legalization project in Uruguay

The Uruguayan government is getting ready to send its marijuana legalization proposal to parliament for debate. That’s for the good news; the project is plugging along. The bad news is that so far only 24% of the Uruguay population support the proposal; President Mujica would like to get 60% approval to finalize the proposal, counting on widening support as the debates unfolds, a steep uphill educational battle ahead!

http://www.subrayado.com.uy/Site/noticia/14453/mujica-enviara-al-parlamento-proyecto-para-legalizar-marihuana

President Mujica announced today that he will tour the country to explain his proposal, emphasizing that his objective is to reduce drug-related crime. http://www.infobae.com/notas/659981-Pepe-Mujica-ratifico-que-buscara-legalizar-la-marihuana-en-Uruguay.html

Uruguay needs our support. Underneath is the link to the petition in support of the marijuana legalization project. Share on social networks and email. http://www.world-war-d.com/2012/06/22/petition-in-support-of-the-controlled-legalization-of-marijuana-in-uruguay/

Guatemala moving ahead on drug legalization debate

In Guatemala, President Perez Molina is moving ahead. On July 3, he became the first serving head of state to sign the Beckley Public Letter, calling for a paradigm shift in drug policy, joining seven former head of states Kofi Annan, and a slate of high-profile personalities. President Molina also launched the Beckley Foundation Guatemala, in order to assist in the development of new and more effective drug policies. Guatemala wants to build the case for a regional coalition for drug policy reform, a long a tedious, but necessary process. http://www.beckleyfoundation.org/2012/07/02/president-otto-perez-molina-launches-beckley-foundation-in-guatemala/

At the impulse of Guatemala, drug legalization will be discussed in more details at the upcoming SICA meeting of regional heads of states. http://m.laprensagrafica.com/2012/07/16/legalizacion-de-drogas-de-nuevo-a-debate/

The time has come to renew our support for the Guatemalan leading role in drug policy reform. If you haven’t done so yet, please sign the petition: http://signon.org/sign/support-guatemalan-president. Help spread it through social networks and emails.

In El Salvador, where the Catholic Church is a powerful force, the Archbishop of San Salvador, José Luis Escobar, called for a deepening debate on legalization during a press-conference on July 8. http://www.s21.com.gt/internacionales/2012/07/08/aboga-debatir-despenalizacion-droga

Marijuana legalization on the ballot in Oregon, Fed escalates crackdown on medical mj

In the US, Oregon is the third state to put a marijuana legalization initiative on the ballot in November, joining Colorado and Washington State. http://www.katu.com/news/local/Marijuana-initiative-qualifies-for-Oregon-ballot-162446216.html

Mayor of Newark, New Jersey, Cory Booker joins a small but steadily growing group of vocal anti-drug war politicians. It looks like anti-prohibitionism is not such a vote-buster anymore. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/16/cory-booker-drug-war_n_1676008.html

But Obama doesn’t seem to be getting the message, as medical marijuana crack-downs continue and even escalate, with Harborside, the largest dispensary in the world, despite the protests from Oakland city leaders. It is very hard to figure out why Obama, an avid pot smoker during his college-years, embarked on such a losing proposition. The crack-downs will not gain him any support in the center, while it certainly demobilizes and antagonizes some of its most faithful supporters, youths and liberals, who gathered in droves to support him in 2008, but will stay home next November. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/scott-morgan/obama-marijuana-harborside-health-center_b_1678701.html

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jul/13/local/la-me-oakland-marijuana-20120713

Ask Obama to leave medical marijuana alone, as he promised in 2008: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/submit-questions-and-comments

And in case you needed it, here is another illustration of the total idiocy of prohibition: http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/07/13/mexican-drug-cartels-spreading-influence-graphic/

Meanwhile, Portugal has seen a 50% drop in drug abuse since the decriminalization of drug use and widespread adoption of harm reduction measures in 2001; drug-related crime dropped even further. http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2011/07/05/ten-years-after-decriminalization-drug-abuse-down-by-half-in-portugal/. If you read Portuguese: http://www.cmjornal.xl.pt/detalhe/noticias/nacional/saude/a-toxicodependencia-esta-a-diminuir  For more detailed analysis: http://academiajurisprudenciapr.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Puerto-Rico-Marzo-06-2012.pdf. Need more evidence than prohibition doesn’t work?

And in case you needed it, here is another illustration of the total idiocy of prohibition: http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/07/13/mexican-drug-cartels-spreading-influence-graphic/

New Action: Mark your calendar

Mark your calendar and get ready to participate in what could become one of the largest event for drug policy reform: Javier Sicilia and Mexico’s Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity will lead a caravan across the United States this summer, calling for an end to the drug war. The caravan will begin in San Diego this August and will visit two dozen U.S. cities on its way to Washington, DC. http://www.globalexchange.org/mexico/caravan

Ongoing activist actions:

The time has come to renew our support for the Guatemalan leading role in drug policy reform. If you haven’t done so yet, please sign the petition: http://signon.org/sign/support-guatemalan-president. Help spread it through social networks and emails.

Uruguay needs our support more than ever. Share on social networks and email. http://www.world-war-d.com/2012/06/22/petition-in-support-of-the-controlled-legalization-of-marijuana-in-uruguay/

Obama needs to hear from you. Ask him to leave medical marijuana alone: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/submit-questions-and-comments

Stay tuned and keep up the fight. Thank you for your support.

Jeffrey Dhywood
Investigative writer,
Author of “World War D – The Case against prohibitionism, roadmap to controlled re-legalization”

Download a free 42 pages excerpt of  “World war-D”

Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/worldward

Follow me on Twitter: @JDhywood

Become a better informed activist and support global drug policy reform! I do not ask for donations, I invite you to order a book filled with valuable information.

Order your own copy of “Word War-D”

  • The reference book on the War on Drugs and prohibitionism
  • A guide to psychoactive substances and substance abuse
  • A blueprint for global drug policy reform and controlled legalization

(Click here to order “World War-D” from Amazon)

If you agree with our views, please share this message to support our cause. Send this message to at least 5 of your friends, post it on social networks, on your blogs, etc.

A good video introduction to the endocannabinoid system

I highly recommend this short video Visualization of the endocannabinoid signaling system

Leanne does a great job at explaining how the endocannabinoid system operates as a retrograde signaling system. This is why cannabinoids act quite differently from other psychoactive substances. It may be why cannabinoids do not create physical dependance (as opiates or alcohol).

 

 

Rant of the day

I personally don’t care one way or another about pot. That’s not my point anyway with “World War-D”. My point is that people will use drugs, whether we like it or not, so leaving organized crime to manage drugs is pretty stupid. Of course, organized governments often behave like organized crime, but that’s another story.

I also think that the medical MJ crap is mostly a scheme. Yes, it benefit a handful of people, but let’s face it, most people using medical MJ do so to get high. I actually don’t see what is wrong with that anyway. Alcohol has some medicinal value, but the vast majority of people drink alcohol for the buzz, whether it is to relax and feel good, or to get totally zonked out.

Not to mention that it seems totally silly to ban an entire industry, from ropes to clothes to shampoo and body lotion, not to mention food and construction materials, just to prevent (without any success whatsoever) pot heads from getting high.

Bottom line on medical MJ

Bottom line on medical marijuana: prohibition is the worst possible form of control and create immense collateral damage. Medical marijuana has been a welcome relief — and a diversion, whose limits are sticking out more and more everyday. It also created a grey marketplace were some flourished.

All psychoactive substances, whether legal (alcohol, caffeine, tobacco, etc), prescription or illegal work the same way. Our neurons don’t read labels and couldn’t care less about legal status. Patterns of use are similar for all psychoactive substances: a small percentage will abuse while the vast majority use responsibly, and regular moderate use is often good for health (true for caffeine, alcohol, coca leaf, some prescription drugs, and probably MJ or opium). Moderate use of opium was the general rule for thousands of years as opium was one of the basis of medicine (and still is, ironically – opiates still are the best pain-management tools around).

The war on drugs is also a cultural war, touting alcohol, the dominant psychoactive  substance of Western civilization, against the dominant psychoactive substances of Andean or Eastern civilization: coca leaf, cannabis and opium; meanwhile, the western-dominated pharmaceutical industry is flooding the planet with a new generation of psychoactive substances in its (so far very successful) attempt at medicalization of normalcy. This, by the way, is one of the dominant theme of my just released ” World War-D: the case against prohibitionism. A roadmap to controlled re-legalization.”

The only viable long-term solution to the drug issue: global re-legalization under a multi-tiers “legalize, tax, control, prevent, treat and educate” regime with practical and efficient mechanisms to manage and minimize societal costs.

Far from giving up and far from an endorsement, controlled legalization would be finally growing up; being realistic instead of being in denial; being in control instead of leaving control to the underworld. It would abolish the current regime of socialization of costs and privatization of profits to criminal enterprises, depriving them of their main source of income and making our world a safer place.

The War on Drugs moves to reality (TV that’s it)

Two new reality TV shows feature the war on drugs:

The Discovery Channel launches “Weed Wars”, featuring Harborside Health Center, the  largest medical marijuana dispensary in California (and probably in the world). Premiere today, Thursday 10 p.m. on Discovery.

DUI (two 30-minute episodes) focuses on “the disastrous financial and personal losses that come for everyday working folks arrested for DUI.” Premieres Thursday at 9 p.m. on TLC. DUI starts with a grandmother busted because the passengers of her car were smoking weed while she was driving.

For more details, check the Washington Post article

or the Mercury News article

 

“Nut” Gingrich on the War on Drugs

While he admits to smoking pot in college, Newt Gingrich in an interview with Yahoo 2 days ago wants death penalty for Mexican drug dealers and mandatory testing for any kind of federal aid, including unemployment benefit. He would also crack down on medical MJ. Click here for the full article, just in case you had any doubt left on the mental sanity of “Nut” Gingrich, and just in case you were entertaining the idea of supporting him.

Here is an excerpt from “World War-D” dedicated to this dangerous nut:

“Newt Gingrich deserves a special lifetime award for hypocrisy. He has repeatedly tried to push legislation requiring the death penalty for drug traffickers (which incidentally is prohibited under international law) and went as far as proclaiming “I want a World War Two style victory plan – a decisive, all out cataclysmic effort to break the back of the drug culture.” But he admitted to smoking pot in the 1970s because it “was a sign that we were alive and in graduate school in that era.” “See, when I smoked pot it was illegal, but not immoral. Now, it is illegal AND immoral. The law didn’t change, only the morality. That’s why you get to go to jail and I don’t. Any questions?” Yes, does he really believe his own bullshit?”

 

Two governors ask the feds to reclassify MJ for medical use

From Lucia graves on the Hufftington Post:

Govs. Lincoln Chafee (I-R.I) and Chris Gregoire (D-Wash.) on Wednesday called on the Drug Enforcement Administration to reclassify marijuana as a Schedule II drug, which would allow it to be dispensed for medicinal use.