California will fight court ruling on medical marijuana
Category: News and Politics

 

Its actually beyond all comprehension how two close trading allies such as the UK and the US, could have so much in common when it comes to one set of policies, (foreign policies such as Iraq and Afghanistan, for instance), and stand such worlds apart when it comes to government policies surrounding cannabis.

In the US, 12 states currently allow in state law, people to grow and consume marijuana if its recommended as a course of treatment by a doctor.

In the UK however, not only does government refuse to acknowledge this information, they are threatening to imprison those same medical patients for upto 5 years, for doing no more than is deemed perfectly acceptable in Los Angeles or Washington DC, under the respective state's medical marijuana program.

In a democracy the people have the power, and I sometimes think politicians forget this fact. If enough people question these irrational laws on cannabis, the government has got to change them.

Its as simple as that! www.cannazine.co.uk

SAN FRANCISCO -- State Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown says he will challenge a recent appellate court decision that struck down California's guidelines on medical marijuana possession and cultivation, leaving patients and police wondering how much weed is too much.
Brown said in an interview this week that he would ask the California Supreme Court to overturn last month's decision by the state Court of Appeal in Los Angeles because it inhibits authorities' ability to control abuses while protecting legitimate access to cannabis.

How much is enough?

The decision, hailed by some medical marijuana advocates, has not only cast doubt on the legislation's standard of 8 ounces of dried pot and six mature or 12 immature plants. It has also created a cloud of uncertainty over more liberal guidelines adopted by some counties, particularly those in the marijuana belt of the North Coast.

Brown, who supports medical marijuana, said the legislation was a reasonable approach to implementing a vaguely written ballot measure.

"The proposition is not as clear as we would like," he said. "You do not need an unlimited quantity of marijuana for medicine. But what is the quantity?"

The marijuana initiative was designed to provide access to patients with cancer, AIDS and other ailments. But its execution has created a hodgepodge of local marijuana controls.

In some locales, indoor and outdoor marijuana cultivation has aroused community backlash over the effect on neighborhoods, public safety and the environment.

Law enforcement officials have alleged that drug dealers are hiding behind the marijuana law. And medical marijuana advocates are worried that abuses by some are threatening the access of deserving people to a medicine.

The court decision, in late May, involved Patrick K. Kelly of Lakewood, who suffers from hepatitis C, back pains and cirrhosis. Kelly had a doctor's recommendation to use marijuana.

But a search of his home in 2005 yielded some marijuana plants and 12 ounces of dried pot. He was convicted of marijuana possession and cultivation after a prosecutor argued that he had more than the 8 ounces allowed under the state guidelines without a doctor's recommendation for more. His sentence: three years' probation and two days in jail.

In ordering a retrial, the appellate court found that legislation imposing a "cap" on the amount of marijuana was illegal because amendments to initiatives can be adopted only through a vote of the people.

Some marijuana advocates greeted the ruling as welcome relief from any limits.

Others and the attorney general's office said the appellate judges misconstrued the legislation because it contains no firm caps.

They said the legislation set the six-plant threshold but allowed local governments or a patient's personal physician to set higher limits.

Authorities and several advocates said that without rules on quantity, police officers must figure out on their own how much medical marijuana is reasonable.

Kris Hermes of Americans for Safe Access, a patients group, said the absence of guidelines could prove "detrimental in the long run. . . . It's all left up to the discretion of the police and courts, and that is not good."

Modesto Police Chief Roy Wasden, a member of the California Police Chiefs Assn. board, said it would be a balancing act.

"Obviously, someone with 100 pounds probably would not be viewed as having a reasonable amount," he said. "And probably someone with a few ounces would."

California Narcotic Officers Assn. lobbyist John Lovell likened the situation to a return to the Wild West.

When the appellate decision came down, the attorney general's office was close to issuing guidelines on medical marijuana for police who are concerned about criminal growing and dispensing, and for marijuana advocates who don't want narcotics officers breaking down their doors.

"We are trying to give guidance to patients as to how they can lawfully cultivate, acquire and possess," said Special Assistant Atty. Gen. Jacob Appelsmith. "And for law enforcement, we are trying to give them guidance."

In Humboldt County, where the growing guidelines are 100 square feet of leaf canopy and as many as 99 plants, Dist. Atty. Paul Gallegos said of the court ruling: "It changes everything. It . . . means no legal limitations."

The conundrum comes as another pot-tolerant county grapples with a revolt over its limits. A measure that was on Tuesday's ballot in Mendocino County would roll back a 25-plant cap that applied to recreational pot as well as medical marijuana.

With thousands of votes still to be counted Thursday, the repeal effort was ahead 52% to 48%.

Thirteen states have legalized medical marijuana, although the federal government does not recognize such laws. Only Washington has not spelled out the quantity of marijuana a patient can possess or grow; that state allows patients a 60-day supply.

Los Angeles Times

6:46 AM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Cannabis now more evil than the Nazis
Category: News and Politics

 Cannabis now more evil than the Nazis
CANNABIS is now more evil than the Nazis and smoking the drug is worse for the brain than watching Richard Madeley on television, new research suggests.
During the Sixties smoking dope was hardly evil at all, and the drug was more playful and slightly naughty, but in a nice way, a bit like Kenneth Williams.

In the Seventies and Eighties marijuana briefly became totally harmless and could be smoked by future Cabinet ministers up to the rank of Home Secretary without any effect on their brains whatsoever.

However, a massive increase in the strength of the drug since politicians all stopped using it has now made it more nasty and brutish than the combined evil of the Third Reich.

Professor Tom Booker, head of drug research at Glasgow's Clyde University and the man who conducted the latest lengthy study into the drug, said: "Yeah, whatever."

A spokesman for the University said: "The Nazi's were very bad people but even they could not make a middle class white boy adopt dreadlocks for a hairstyle, or make a highly intelligent middle aged man crawl around the floor of his laboratory in his underpants weeping with laughter about nothing at all, and then eat his own weight in marshmallows."

Following the promotion of cannabis to the top spot in the evilness rankings the top ten most evil things in the world are:

1. (-) Cannabis
2. (2) Tobacco
3. (4) Debt consolidation ads featuring Carol Vorderman
= 5. (1) Richard and Judy
= 5. (3) The Nazis
6. (-) Heathrow Airport
7. (5) Prince Phillip
8. (7) Joseph Stalin
9. (-) Noel Edmonds
10. (10) The Devil and all his minions

(Previous position in brackets)

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk

4:58 AM - 2 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Cannabis: The BIG debate
Category: News and Politics

 

It is indeed a big debate. On the one hand we have a growing number of reports which point towards cannabis causing mental health issues for a tiny fraction of the millions who regularly use the class C drug.

On the other hand there is growing evidence, backed up by the UK governments own advisory board of experts, that the links between cannabis and mental health issues are weak; difficult to prove.

So who is right and who is wrong?

The fact is, since David Blunkett reclassified cannabis back in 2003/4, the ACMD reports cannabis user figures have shown a drop of between 20% & 25%. Thats a real gain and any change in this number for the worst, must surely signal the end of this government as they seek to undo the work which has been carried out thus far, on the back of an agenda which remains at best, unclear and confusing.  www.cannazine.co.uk

PAUL'S STORY
PAUL was first introduced to cannabis whilst working on a building site, at the age of 17. It was widely smoked on the party scene and he did not know it was dangerous.

But in 1986, at the age of 26, he started self-harming and his schizophrenic delusions began.

He was considered a risk to himself and others and was sectioned under the Mental Health Act, for three months.
Now, aged 47, the father-of-one from Crystal Palace estimates he has been kept in mental health wards ten times since. He said: "Cannabis was widely available on the reggae party scene. I was doing what everyone else was doing. I was told by people that this is not what you should be doing but I was never sat down and told that this could be dangerous."


The softly spoken man believes that the drug which was deemed harmless enough to reclassify from C to B in 2004, has severely diminished his life chances.

He suffers from 'episodes' making him delusional or causing hallucinations such as objects suddenly changing colour. While his many siblings have successful careers, Paul is out of work and reliant on anti-psychotic medication. But despite his illness, he only stopped using cannabis about eight years ago.

He said: "I had lost interest in the drug as under the drug I am not the most confident person, I get paranoid. My brain just works overtime. It is quite scary, as from the first toke I would be in a different world.

"The whole world would change before my eyes. Everything would look different. I always had the fear before smoking that I would go into this trip.

"Its just one of those things, that some people smoke marijuana and they are fine and there are others that smoke it and it gives them psychotic problems and I am of the latter."

FROM C to B - FOR AND AGAINST
This issue of susceptibility seems to be the problem in the debate surrounding the reclassification of the drug.

Research conducted by Dr D'Souza in 2002, at the Institute of Psychiatry at the Maudsley Hospital in Camberwell, specifically linked the drug with triggering psychosis.

In time, articles started popping up telling stories of how high achievers started suffering serious mental health problems in their 20s - their dreams and careers seemingly annihilated all because they smoked a seemingly 'harmless' drug as teenagers.

It is within this context that the government first started muting the possibility of reclassification.

Now the road from C to B is a Commons' vote away, due next year. But the path the government chose was seriously questioned when they ignored their own independent advisory body on one crucial point.

At the end of their nine-month review last month (May 7), the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) said reclassifying cannabis would not hinder its widespread abuse.

They recommended by 20 votes to three that cannabis remain a class C drug.

Chairman of the ACMD Professor Sir Michael Rawlins said reclassification "is neither warranted, nor will it achieve its desired effect".

They also said evidence of a substantial link with mental illness remains weak.

But Home Secretary Jacqui Smith told the Commons she "is not prepared to 'wait and see." She added: "There is a compelling case to act now rather than risk the future of young people.

"Where there is a clear and serious problem, but doubt about the harm that will be caused, we must err on the side of caution and protect the public. I make no apology for that."

Both Paul and his mental health worker Mark McManus believe education is key to dealing with mental health problems.

Mr McManus who is Team Manager for Bromley's Assertive Community Team, Penge said: "People need support and treatment. They are being punished for doing it to themselves. What is being done about the huge drinking culture?

"Alcohol is more prevalent in society and more likely to cause damage than cannabis. Cannabis is being synthesised so that it is more powerful. Certainly in our team we see a lot more young males around the age of 19 using our services, with schizophrenic type symptoms."

With the widespread use of the drug and the increasing potency, the NHS has changed to handle 'substance users'.

This has been the way Paul was treated by Bexley and Bromley's Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust and as Mr McManus puts it, "he is one of the success stories".

http://www.bexleytimes.co.uk 

4:36 AM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Cannabis used as cover whilst alcohol industry counts profits
Category: News and Politics

 

Its been announced today that the stories which the press carried regarding the "tube party" which took place over the weekend, only scratched the surface of what was according to one person, a railworker of over 20 years, "The most chaotic scenes they have ever seen".

The British cannabis community has long been accustomed to the news which surrounds the much maligned cannabis plant being delivered with a certain "flavour". A tint of the surreal, if you will.

It all stemmed from William Randolph Hearst, a newspaper magnate back in the roaring 1920's, who took it upon himself to report cannabis news in as negative a light as possible, in keeping with a personal agenda.

As Martin Lee and Norman Solomon noted in their 1990 book Unreliable Sources, Hearst "routinely invented sensational stories, faked interviews, ran phony pictures and distorted real events."

Hearst sympathized with Harry J. Anslinger in his war against marijuana. Jack Herer and others argue that Hearst's paper empire in the early 1930s was threatened by hemp, he owned hundreds of acres of timber forests and a vast number of paper mills designed to manufacture paper from wood pulp.

Hemp never became a threat to wood-pulp in other countries where hemp still was legal to harvest so the connection between Hearst's ownership of forest and hemp is a controversial hypothesis. Between 1936 and 1937 however, Hearst published many of the stories that Anslinger fabricated, aiding the anti-marijuana movement that led to the 1937 Marihuana Tax Act, a law that also included hemp.

Home-grown cannabis is safest.
In a bid to bolster the establishment's anti-cannabis stand-point, and in order that his timber investments, made with a view to feeding his own printing press's as cheaply as possible would remain lucrative over the long term, Hearst made it his personal mission in life to do all he could to portray the cannabis plant, (including hemp - primary competitor for timber destined for paper manufacture) in a negative light, and the term "yellow journalism" was borne on the back of his actions.
    

Thankfully, the worlds press has for the most part, done away with yellow journalism. Yet for topics which governments would like to keep as quiet as possible it would seem yellow journalism is still rife, and certainly as far as cannabis news goes.

There are many reasons the establishment would like to keep cannabis outlawed. A fact proven by the lengths government ministers will go to disprove all of the positivity which surrounds cannabis use in medical applications.

For instance in the United States, 124,000 doctors recently (and publicly) backed the use of cannabis for medical use. And yet, government ministers in the United Kingdom simply refuse to even acknowledge this information exists.

Furthermore, according to the governments own advisory council, a board of experts who advised the Home Secretary that in their opinion it was a backward step to reclassify cannabis after user-figures since its last reclassification argument had shown a marked fall of between 20% and 25%, "The Council therefore advises that strategies designed to minimise its use and adverse effects must be predominantly public health ones. Criminal justice measures – irrespective of classification – will have only a limited effect on usage. We therefore urge you to invite the UK's Chief Medical Officers to develop, on behalf of the government, a public health strategy that will meet our shared goals. Anything less will prejudice the health of future generations."

"Anything less will prejudice the health of future generations."
Regardless of the sound, common-sense advice given by the ACMD the law is set to be changed, which will result in more people being criminalised with higher fines and longer prison sentences, which no-matter what way you look at it, is a bad policy choice.

Today its been announced that yellow journalism is not in fact, restricted to stories relating to cannabis. Not directly anyway.

Tube Party
Over the weekend of 31st May/1st June a party took place in central London, which was said to have been organised by a city banker named Alexandre Graham, a 26 year old who works for The Royal Bank of Scotland, and organised via the social networking website "Facebook".

Initially built up as one last "hurrah" before new Conservative Mayor of London Boris Johnsons first policy change became law, the meeting was to "celebrate" the banning of alcohol on the Capitals public transport network.

Participants agreed to meet up at Liverpool Street station, and ride the circle line whilst drinking alcohol.

But as is often the case with alcohol things soon got out of hand, and the Great British press carried the stories, with pictures, proving once and for all the "Drink Aware" campaigns are nothing more than the alcohol industry paying "lip-service" to whats fast becoming a national epidemic.

The real social issue facing the UK as a country as 10's of thousands of people die or are hospitalised as a result of alcohol use, every single year. A statistic which simply doesn't apply with cannabis.

But perhaps more worrying were the accusations from the RMT - the union which operates the railways, that the press only "touched" on the situation lightly, and in fact things were a lot worse than has been reported nationally and internationally.

According to an RMT spokesman, "At least 50 London Transport staff were assaulted". Four tube drivers and two police officers were among those assaulted.

Six London Underground stations were closed and several trains were damaged and withdrawn from service following the party, at huge public cost.

The union also said at least 12 workers were assaulted at one station while others were spit upon and faced verbal assaults and threats.

One woman worker was hit with a bottle, a male staff member was punched in the face had beer poured over his head and a driver refused to move his train when a passenger climbed onto the roof.

On top of this police officers were assualted and police vehicles were subjected to damage including having tyres slashed with a knife, and windows smashed.

Union General Secretary Bob Crow said: "The more reports we get from our reps the uglier the picture of Saturday's violence becomes".

"Local reps are telling us that the scenes were among the most chaotic they have ever seen, with none of the mitigation and crowd-control that would be in place on New Year's Eve."

Cannabis has been in the news prety much constantly since David Blunkett reclassified it under Tony Blairs power back in 2003/4. But the cannabis issue has constantly been used as a cloaking device, to deflect the true magnitude of the alcohol problem this country faces, with titles such as the Daily Mail playing their part in nurturing this sitaution.

Lets face facts; If the tube party had been for cannabis users there would have been riot police brought in to break up the gathering before it even started, even though nothing like this would have happened had Alexandre Graham and his associates been using cannabis instead of alcohol.

As it is the people of London are just expected to pick up the pieces (and the tab) and get on with life, whilst the only people to really benefit from this mindless destruction, the alcohol industry, sit in their offices and count the profits they made after the blackest weekend since drunken Rangers FC supporters trashed Manchester City Centre a few weeks ago.

Its a growing problem, A recurring problem and one which the population demands, is brought to a halt. Today!

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4:35 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Yorkshire grandad breaks drug law to tackle multiple sclerosis
Category: News and Politics

THIS man is so ill he spends days in agony and can barely walk.
But under a recent Government decision he could be jailed for FIVE YEARS for using the only drug that eases his pain.

The Leeds grandfather-of-eight, who has Multiple Sclerosis, takes small amounts of cannabis to treat his symptoms.

But under current law, he makes himself a criminal every time he buys and uses his "medication".

On top of that, he could face a heavy prison sentence when parliament confirms the Government's move to return cannabis to class 'B'.

That five-year sentence, for possession, is the same as the mandatory jail term for illegally possessing a firearm, and the proposed maximum for killing someone by driving carelessly.

John, not his real name, was, until relatively recently, a successful businessman.

But now his MS symptoms are so severe he is effectively housebound.

Painkillers

Using a frame, it takes him several minutes to walk from his chair to his front door.

He is in regular contact with the NHS, and has been treated with steroids and strong painkillers.

He is soon to speak to his doctor about a treatment called low dose naltrexone, which has been praised by some MS patients.

But the 57-year-old added: "The steroids were good at first but they quickly wore off, and the painkillers don't scratch the surface.

Cannabis is the only thing that works, but under the law there are lots of people with MS who are forced to turn themselves into criminals."

John buys a £20 bag of skunk cannabis once every four to six weeks. He made contact with a dealer in his local pub, and makes a phone call to arrange the sale.

A committed non smoker, John has only ever puffed a joint once.
He explained: "That was when I was introduced to it. A lad who knew I had MS gave me a spliff. It was OK, but later on I tried eating the weed on some cheese on toast. It worked a treat."

When John is in pain, he said it feels like someone is crushing his stomach area, with all their weight, for days on end.

Alongside the pain comes depression and extreme mood swings.

But he said one course of cannabis and cheese on toast keeps the symptoms at bay for several days.

"It is heaven," he said. "What this Government has done really frustrates me. It is all about politics and trying to keep certain voters happy. I'm not saying let's have a free-for-all on drugs, but cannabis could be regulated.

Prosecution

"That would help me and thousands of others like me."

A Home Office spokeswoman said: "We have every sympathy for those with debilitating illnesses who cannot satisfactorily alleviate their symptoms through existing medication.

"However, the unauthorised possession of cannabis, for whatever purpose, is a criminal offence and any persons found in possession are liable to prosecution."

The spokeswoman said the Government has "no intention" of legalising cannabis use for medicinal purposes.

But she said Parliament would be consulted on changing the law to enable the prescription of cannabis-based pain-relieving medicine.
Approval would be sought from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency before any parliamentary vote, the spokeswoman said.
She added: "Imports of the cannabis-based medicine Sativex from Canada will be allowed under Home Office licence.

"It can therefore be prescribed to individual patients under their clinicians' personal responsibility. This licensing is under way."

FACTFILE
Cannabis
The use of cannabis is believed to stretch back 4,000 years;
It has been used as a medicine in places such as India, China and the Middle East to treat conditions such as malaria, constipation and rheumatism;
Queen Victoria used it to ease period pains;
Around that time, cannabis could be bought freely in American shops;
It was made illegal in the UK in 1928;
There are said to be more than 2 million regular UK users.

http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk

4:34 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Cannabis not a cause of anti-social behaviour
Category: News and Politics

Dr Margaret Melrose is a reader in applied social science at the University of Bedfordshire, and submitted evidence to the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs' recent review of cannabis's legal classification. She argues that the decision to upgrade the drug to class B is likely to criminalise young people.
I don't see the value of asking a panel of independent experts to review all the evidence and make recommendations, and then not to accept the recommendations they make. www.cannazine.co.uk

The Government seems to be pandering to various powerful lobby groups because it accepted all the other recommendations but rejected that one: it seems determined to stick to its policy regardless of what the evidence suggests, because the issue is such a political hot potato.

Reclassification will mean that the penalties for smoking cannabis will be commensurate with other class B drugs: this could mean five years in prison for possession and 14 for supply.

But the young people I interviewed during my research for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation weren't bothered by the drug's legal classification. Most of them said they would continue to smoke it regardless, until they wanted to stop. The Advisory Council also found that cannabis use isn't actually associated with antisocial or criminal behaviour, but the public perception is that it is, because there's a lot of misleading information which confuses people.

Criminalising young people for using cannabis is potentially a lot more harmful for their future opportunities and employment prospects than moderate use of it would be. Scientists have said they can't find a causal connection between smoking cannabis and the development of mental health problems, and the majority of users clearly do not develop psychotic symptoms. There's a lot of hysteria in this area, but there's still no evidence to suggest that cannabis is the causal factor.

Policing of the new classification system would have differential impacts. Young people who smoke joints on the streets of London are much more likely to be caught and criminalised than those who are able to do it in the privacy of their back gardens or in the grounds of their grammar or public schools. So those who are already the most socially disadvantaged will be the ones who suffer.

I agree that there are definitely public health issues surrounding the use of cannabis, and young people need to be warned of them in a very direct way. There's a lot more we could do in terms of educating them about its potential dangers, but making the drug increasingly criminalised could have grave consequences for the future of our young people.


About the author;

Dr Margaret Melrose is a Reader in Applied Social Studies and has worked at the University of Bedfordshire for 14 years. In that time she has managed a number of externally funded qualitative research studies funded by Government departments such as the Home Office and Department of Health and other bodies such as the Economic and Social Research Council, Joseph Rowntree Foundation and national children's charities.

Much of the work Dr Melrose carries out concerns socially vulnerable, marginalised and excluded young people and is primarily concerned with young people and commercial sexual exploitation, trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation and young people and drug use.

Dr Melrose teach's across undergraduate and post-graduate programmes contributing to modules in criminology, social policy and research methods.

Dr Melrose is vice-chair of the Institute of Applied Social Research ethics committee, a member of the Vauxhall Centre for the Study of Crime and the International Centre for the Study of Sexually Exploited Young People in the Department of Applied Social Studies.

Away from the University, the doctor is an external examiner at the University of Leeds, a member of the Luton Drug and Alcohol Partnership Sex Workers' Strategic Planning Group and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

 Books

    * Melrose, M., Barrett, D. and Brodie, I. (1999) One Way Street? Retrospectives on Childhood Prostitution, London, The Children's Society
    * Melrose, M. (2000) Fixing It? Young People, Drugs and Disadvantage, Lyme Regis, Russell House Publishing
    * Melrose, M. with Barrett, D. (2004)(eds.) Anchors in Floating Lives: Interventions with Young People Sexually Abused through Prostitution, Lyme Regis, Russell House Publishing
 http://www.independent.co.uk

4:31 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Dutch cannabis ’problem’ a UNODC priority
Category: News and Politics

Its the headline the United Nations has worked for decades to create, and it would seem they have finally got their way, but the big question is "how"? Here is the answer.
The number of cannabis addicts in the Netherlands seeking help at official bodies has risen quickly since 1994, but heroin and methadone users decreased, according to the Dutch National Drug Monitor published on Wednesday.

The number of people seeking help at Dutch addiction aid organizations for a "primary cannabis problem" grew from 1,951 in 1994 to 6,544 in 2006. The 2006 figure was seven percent up from that of 2005.



The number of hospitalizations due to cannabis abuse rose 26 percent from 2005 to 377 in 2006, said the Trimbos Institute, which draws up the monitor annually for the Dutch Health Ministry.
    

Its not a new picture by any means. Ever since cannabis was de-classified here in the UK, government ministers from all parties have done all in their power to prove this was a backward step in the fight against drugs.

But the statistics don't tell the full story, as the courts have embraced a new raft of "powers" which allows them to offer a place on a drugs rehab program instead of a criminal record, for people found using cannabis. What would you choose given the choice between a criminal record or a stint in drugs rehab?

Thus, the amounts of people "seeking help" shows a meteoric rise, as has happened in Holland.

ACMD
According to the ACMD in the UK , cannabis use has shown a marked drop of between 20% and 25% in just four years and from we're sitting that looks like real progress, and shows a liberal drugs policy creates results.

Cocaine use on the other hand, has shown a catastrophic upturn in the UK and Ireland, as has the figure for people dying as a result of cocaine use.

Back in the Netherlands however, the number of problem users of cocaine is not known, which begs the question "Why not"?

The addiction care industry did register a strong growth in the number of primary cocaine clients, from 2,500 in 1994 to 10,000 in 2004. A massive upturn which would suggest the reasons the true statistics are 'not known' is because they are bad. Very bad.

The Trimbos Institute said the increase in demand for help could either indicate an increase in the number of problem users, or an improvement in the help offered for drug problems, or increased awareness of the addictive properties of the drugs.

Trimbos also signaled an increasing problem with alcohol, a very real social issue right across Europe and the globe, which affects more people than the entire illicit drug "catalog" put together.

In 2007, 38 percent of men and 14 percent of women in the 18-24 age group were heavy drinkers who consume at least six glasses of alcohol on one or more days a week. This was more than in 2006.

Between 2001 and 2006, the number of hospitalizations due to alcohol climbed from nearly 3,900 to 4,855.

The number of children aged 16 or younger who were hospitalized with alcohol problems rose from 263 in 2001 to 482 in 2006.

Holland's Books Cooked
Its not the first time the Netherlands has been made to look like a country on the verge of rack & ruin by the United Nations, as a result of drugs.

Recently, The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) manipulated statistics to suggest that the liberal Dutch drug policy doesn't work. This statement comes from Professor Tim Boekhout van Solinge, a criminologist at the University of Utrecht;

'It is no coincidence. The UN wants to propagate the idea that things are getting out of hand here. This idea is wrong: The Netherlands, on the contrary, are doing very well.'

Benelux
To substantiate his claim Professor Boekhout van Solinge mentions the 2000 World Drug Report, which stated that The Netherlands harbored the most addicts of all EU members at that time. 'The UN had reduced the list of 15 to 13 countries by counting the Benelux, (BElgium, NEtherlands, LUXembourg) as one country.

This was a questionable simplification, because by doing so the country with the largest number of addicts (Luxemburg) was added to the country with the smallest number (The Netherlands).

These numbers were not properly linked to total population estimates, instead averages were calculated. That's how the Benelux ended on top of the list of drug addicted countries.

The message for the public was clear: Dutch drug policy is not working.'

The UN are outspoken supporters of the war on drugs, the war against growers, dealers and users that should lead to a drug free world.' Experts have been clamouring for years that this battle can never be won', says Boekhout van Solinge. 'Things are just getting worse.'

Sweden
In the meantime the United Nations see Sweden as the benchmark example.

Since 1977 harsh measures have been used in a relentless drug hunt. And this has been a great success – at least, that's what UN reports say: Sweden has the smallest number of drug-users in Europe.

But even the Swedish facts are polished to fit the UN message. 'The reports 'forget' to mention that The Netherlands have fewer total addicts. Nor is there any reference to the 8% of Swedish students that sniff glue. That Sweden tops the European list in drug mortalities, is also conveniently omitted.

When talking drugs, the UN is not a reliable source of statistics. These reports have little to do with science and everything to do with manufactured public relations.

"There are more international organisations that fumble with opinions and research to justify the war on drugs", says Prof Boekhout Van Solinge: 'On a conference of the World Health Organisation on cocaine all experts agreed that an overwhelming majority of cocaine users are in perfect control of their use, which led them to conclude that cocaine wasn't that much of a problem.

This conclusion was never made public under pressure by the American government,' which hardly seems the way to run a fully accountable organisation to control the global drugs epidemic?

Another example? A 'World Health Organisation' report on cannabis paints a dramatic picture of the drug. But when you examine the documents and research used as a basis for the report, you learn that specific research was conducted to estimate what would happen if cannabis would be used as much as alcohol and tobacco are used.

The remarkable conclusion of this research? Cannabis would still be the least harmful.

But this information was perhaps unsurprisingly, also kept from the summary,  which devalues the findings making them almost worthless.

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8:29 AM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Government making way for cannabis offenders
Category: News and Politics

 
http://pr.cannazine.co.uk : Justice Secretary Jack Straw has announced a radical method for reducing the numbers of people who are currently languishing in prison. He's going to let them go home.

In a bid to ease Scotlands overcrowded prison system, around 550 non-violent and non-sexual offenders will be automatically freed halfway through their current sentence. Under current regulations a prisoner must serve at least two-thirds of a sentence before release is even considered.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said "after the initial batch were freed over 14 months, there could be further releases."

Young & progressive: Nick Clegg and his Liberal-Democrats are a real alternative for the UK cannabis community - they understand the fact DE-criminalising cannabis at a personal level makes sense on a number of different levels, not least of which is the economics of the situation, which would see cost savings measured in the Billions of pounds, simply by allowing for a difference in life-style choice. Why is it then, only the Liberal-Democrats can see what is a policy "no-brainer".

Meanwhile jails south of the border in England and Wales, have received instructions from the Justice Ministry to carry out the same action and Prison Service HQ have warned a failure to do so would amount to "unlawful Detention".

Its apparent by the Justice Ministry's actions, that it realises the need to reduce the prison population, which is said to have reached an "all-time-high", thought to be around 83,000 people currently.

Shadow justice secretary Nick Herbert described such schemes as "underhand" and criticised the Government for providing inadequate capacity, although the MoJ said the plans went through Parliament unopposed.

Underhand?
Underhand is a strong accusation to make, and it does beg the question why that word particularly would be used in the context of this article?

Could it be that come the General Election the government wish to use the "reduced" prison population as a part of their ill-fated campaign for a return to power?

Only time will tell but remember where you heard it first.

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’Cannabis-Gardener’ job comes with perks
Category: News and Politics

http://pr.cannazine.co.uk : Gordon Brown has spent the last twelve months telling whoever will listen, that he wishes to "send a message". But the message which is being received loud and clear across the country, is one of confusion and ambiguity.
At a time when the prison service is hugely overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of people being imprisoned for non-violent and non-sexual offences, and prisoners are having sentences which were initially handed out by judges and high court jury's, cut in half by politicians who have no idea of the circumstances surrounding each individual case, surely we must question the wisdom of further wishing to criminalise a percentage of the population who choose to consume cannabis instead of alcohol?    

The new Class B cannabis law change which is expected early in 2009, could see as many as 80,000 people per year "charged" with cannabis related offences. A large percentage of those, will be for simple possession.

Which is a needless and expensive waste of public resources for an offence which only 50 miles East of the Houses of Parliament, (in Holland & Belgium), is perfectly acceptable on a "personal" scale.

Do we really differ that much to our European neighbours? And if so what are we doing involved in the EU?

Deportations
Another political "play" is the amount of people who should be considered for deportation after convictions for cannabis offences.

Immigration has proved a painful and constant thorn in Gordon Browns side as the government announced recently they actually have no idea how many "illegals" are in the UK.

Numbers of illegal aliens involved in the cannabis trade have shown a dramatic up-turn over the past 2 years, as organised crime set's up shop all over the country as a result of cannabis prohibition making the UK a lucrative market in which to operate.

Lenient
The attraction of the UK is even further enhanced by the lenient prison terms handed out in the event of a cannabis factory being busted by Police.

Cannabis gardeners are drawn to the industry like wasps to a jam-jar, as being busted for operating a cannabis grow operation is a sure-fire way of obtaining a UK residency, as deportation numbers fall lower and lower.

Ordinarily, a conviction would be a "fast-track" to a first-class ticket back from whence they came. But Home Office sources were so over-worked they found it impossible to keep up, so an announcement was made (albeit a quiet one), which informed the judiciary only people sentenced to two years plus would be considered as candidates for deportation.

The rest could stay!

Under the new scheme to free up prison places announced today, this would remove every single cannabis offender from the deportation lists as they each have their sentence, essentially halved. A fact any good solicitor would be able to turn into a reason not to deport a person.

Vietnamese and Chinese "ganja-Gardeners" receive an average 18 months sentence each, but due to the "risk of flight", the sentence generally starts months before the court case actually begins, as bail is, more often than not refused on initial arrest.

So after months of expensive judicial wrangling, all the while paying for the accomodation of the accused in a secure facility at a cost of £50,000 per year, per inmate, come the day of reckoning and more often than not the prisoner finds him (or her) self with only a month or two to actually serve. Some don't even serve that long and are released into the community on the date of their conviction, automatically qualifying for social benefits including housing, medical and unemployment payments, at huge cost to the national purse.

In the meantime we cannot afford to pay the police service an amount not a single person in this country would doubt they are worth, for undertaking a job 99% of the population simply could not do, and as a result they are threatening to strike.

Knife-crime is out-of-control in the nations Capital City, with a 'blade' offence being recorded every 52 mintues in London.

The national grid is no longer able to "fuel" the nations growth, with unexpected and random power outages the nett result, and the prison service is releasing prisoners early in a bid to ease the pressure.

The haulage industry is threatening to blockade cities, ports and oil refineries in a bid to obtain an "essential user" rebate on their fuel tax, as they struggle with European competition which brings its own, cheaper fuel into the country every week, contributing nothing to the national economy.

A nation is in trouble
Yet by decriminalising a small amount of cannabis for personal use, the country could save a billion pounds a year in enforcement costs as well as literally hundreds of thousands of police man hours every single month, which could be better utilised elsewhere.

A court case for simple possession, which costs tens of thousands of pounds to stage, sentences the cannabis user to 100 hours community service?

Isn't it about time someone asked "why", or "whats the point"?

Yes we need to come down on the people who grow cannabis on a commercial scale. Yes we need to come down on drug dealers, as drug dealers often sell more than just cannabis, and yes we need to protect the country's young people with educational campaigns which are designed to educate as opposed to incarcerate.

But we also need the law to recognise the difference between a person who grows cannabis for his or her own use, over someone who is simply in it for the money.

As the cannabis community see's it that is two distinctly different "offences" and in a super-power state, we should be able to differentiate between the two.

But attempting to bring responsible adults to book, over a "crime" which is committed in the privacy of their own homes. A crime which has no victim, is a pointless and expensive excercise which serves absolutely no purpose in the greater drugs debate.

Habitual cannabis users, in much the same vein as habitual drinkers or smokers, are simply not going to stop consuming cannabis because Gordon Brown says so, and as soon as the government "gets over itself" and realises this we can get on with educating a country.

Clearly whats needed is an educational campaign in which the dangers of cannabis use are spelled out, as well as the alternatives to simply smoking it. A practice which is dangerous, no-matter what the "weed" being smoked is called.

Mexican Stand off
Until then we're simply saying to people, "we will find you, and we will punish your disobedience..eventually" and for the most part the cannabis community is simply saying, "do your worst".

If nothing changes, everything will stay just the same!

Canna Zine - Daily zine for the cannabis scene - Join us!

If you would like to join an organisation which was formed with the specific intent of making a difference to the UK cannabis laws, please join us on the Canna Zine Forums and toss your ideas into the hat.

Alternatively you could do as much tomorrow in the fight for "right & just" cannabis laws, as you did yesterday.

From July 1st the Canna Zine will become entirely "non-profit". It was decided that for us to tackle government on their level we first needed to remove all traces of illegal, or "grey-area" activities, and this includes selling cannabis seeds, or advertising cannabis seed vendors.
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Pledge “cannabis-votes”
Category: News and Politics

http://www.pledgebank.com/cannabis-votes

"I will vote in the next General Election but I will NOT VOTE for any candidate that wants to keep cannabis illegal regardless of their political party or any other policies they have. By signing this pledge I am promising to make legalising/decriminalising cannabis a non-negotiable issue in determining my vote. but only if 10 other people will do the same."

Deadline to sign up by: 7th May 2009
11 people have signed up (1 over target)

Country: United Kingdom

More details
On the 7th of May 2008, the UK Labour Government announced that they intend to reclassify cannabis upwards from a class C drug to a class B drug, despite their own independent panel of experts (The ACMD - Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs) advising them three times against such a move.

The move for re-classification against expert advice has brought the whole A-B-C drugs classification system into disrepute and the Government can no longer even pretend a drug's classification reflects it's risk of harm, nor can they pretend that the prohibition of cannabis is based on any genuine concern for public health. Unprincipled careerists are using the cannabis issue as a political football whilst organised crime profits from a huge untaxed and unregulated illicit market and thousands of otherwise law-abiding citizens are criminalised for a victimless 'crime'.

Since The UK's drug polices aren't based on fact or any concern for public health, no amount of evidence that we present showing the current laws to be unworkable, counter-productive, unjust and damaging, will ever persuade our Government to change them.

The Government has decided to reclassify cannabis simply because they thought there were more votes to be gained in marginal constituencies.

We can prove them wrong by refusing to vote for them.

If enough people who support cannabis legalisation pledge to make the issue a non-negotiable red line and refuse to vote for prohibitionist candidates, maybe the Government and other political parties will change their minds.

Please help us achieve our aim by pledging to use your vote but only for candidates that support legalisation.

There are supporters of legalisation in all parties and we don't back any particular party over another, but be aware that only a few candidates will ever go against their own party's policies. Most politicians will usually toe their party line.

The views of some MP's can be found here: http://www.ccguide.org.uk/yourmp.php

If your MP is not included, you can ask his views here: http://www.upmystreet.com/commons/l/ where you can also write to your MP mentioning your pledge at http://www.pledgebank.com/cannabis-votes

The Legalise Cannabis Alliance
http://www.lca-uk.org/

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