Cannabis Hemp News

Bulletin on Drug Policies THE RIGHT TO HEALTH While those who can are starting to enjoy the fruits of their last harvest, others continue being denied even the right of access to what is to them an essential source of well-being. The criminalization of plants whose therapeutic value is well recognized is causing the most extreme contradictions between laws, their interpretation, reality and the right to health. This problem is widespread all over Europe, where a citizen doesn’t seem to be allowed to use a plant for his own personal well-being, if in fact that plant is included among those that are declared illegal ("controlled") by International Conventions. On the cont…

AlterNet By Paul Armentano, NORML. Posted November 17, 2008 According to a new report released by the Centers for Disease Control, fewer Americans are smoking cigarettes than at any time in modern history. "The number of U.S. adults who smoke has dropped below 20 percent for the first time on record," Reuters reported. This is less than half the percentage (42 percent) of Americans who smoked cigarettes during the 1960s. Imagine that. In the past 40 years, tens of millions of Americans have voluntarily quit smoking a legal, yet highly addictive intoxicant. Many others have refused to initiate the habit. And they've all made this decision without ever once being threat…

AlterNet DrugReporter [sorry it's such a loooooooooong read] By Vince Beiser, Miller-McCune Magazine. Posted November 18, 2008. On a chilly, overcast morning in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, a steady trickle of sallow-faced drug addicts shambles up to a storefront painted with flowers and the words "Welcome to Insite." One by one, they ring the doorbell and are buzzed into a tidy reception area staffed by smiling volunteers. The junkies come here almost around the clock, seven days a week. Some just grab a fistful of clean syringes from one of the buckets by the door and head out again. But about 600 times a day, others walk in with pocketfuls of heroin, cocai…

AFP recording legitimate, court told 18th November 2008 By Rae Wilson Sunshine Coast Daily Online http://www.thedaily.com.au/news/2008/nov/1...ate-court-told/ The officer investigating officer an alleged drug smuggling case told a court yesterday that he turned a tape recording off during the execution of a search warrant for legitimate reasons. The Australian Federal Police officer was the key officer in the “controlled delivery” of a 1kg block of amphetamines, with a street value of more than $1 million, into the Sunshine Coast from the Netherlands. The package, which was substituted with another substance, was delivered to a Sunshine Beach address with a listenin…

Tropical trial for hemp crop turns heads 8th September 2008, 6:00 WST The West Australian http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?Men...ContentID=96620 The Ord irrigation region has produced a variety of crops in its 45-year history, but few have attracted as much interest from passers-by, and the occasional police officer, as current trials of Chinese hemp. Reaching 2m, the industrial crop was planted in June by Perth-based Hemp Resources to test its performance in the tropical region. Though similar in appearance to illegal cannabis crops, industrial hemp’s drug-like qualities ended there, managing director Kim Hough said. Under State legislation, licences ar…

Friday, 14 Nov 2008 05:37am http://www.police.nsw.gov.au/news/latest_r...CZhbGw9MQ%3D%3D Two men will face court on numerous drug charges after police seized an estimated $100,000 worth of cannabis on the State’s Mid North Coast yesterday morning. About 8am, following extensive inquiries, officers attached to Mid North Coast Local Area Command conducted a search warrant at a property on the Pacific Highway at Valla. After speaking with the owner and searching the premises, police will allege they located a large sum of money and numerous bags of cannabis hidden in various locations both inside and outside houses on the property. Police also seized two firearms…

The Washington Times Jacob Sullum Saturday, November 15, 2008 Last week, voters in Massachusetts approved a ballot initiative that eliminates criminal penalties for possessing up to an ounce of marijuana, replacing them with a $100 civil fine. Michigan, meanwhile, became the 13th state to allow the medical use of cannabis. As Bruce Mirken of the Marijuana Policy Project noted, the percentage of voters approving those initiatives (65 and 63, respectively) exceeded Barack Obama's share of the vote in each state. Furthermore, the results in Massachusetts and Michigan seem to reflect national opinion. For years polls have indicated that a large majority of Americans t…

Vancouver Sun Ian Mulgrew Vancouver Sun columnist Friday, November 14, 2008Eric Nash can barely contain his excitement waiting to hear from Health Canada whether he can start growing marijuana for 250 patients. That would be just the start. There are tens of thousands more who are ailing across the country clamouring for his organic B.C. bud. "There is a great opportunity here for the government to collect significant tax revenue currently being lost to the street market," Nash, one of the best-known legal cannabis producers, enthused. "With the current global financial crisis, this court ruling is certainly a bright light in dark economic times. We're just wait…

Sorry I thought it desreved its own thread MAPS News - November 2008: Chicago gets MDMA research - Washington gets Vaporized Marijuana Protocol Dear MAPS Members, Supporters, and Friends, It’s the dawn of a new era. We have a lot to celebrate as we welcome President Obama and the tolerant, visionary, and empathetic leadership he represents, and say good-bye to the narrow-minded, unilateral, arrogance that has carried the American banner for the last eight years. I want to publicly congratulate supporters of the Marijuana Policy Project, including Executive Director Rob Kampia and MAPS Alumnus Troy Dayton, for their huge victories for marijuana decriminal…