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19 government officials and high level experts from around the world describe in great detail the misery, the ineptitude, the corruption and the many other horrors we inflict on ourselves and the whole world via an eternal belief in the policy of drug prohibition.
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“I was removed from my position as Chief Advisor of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) in October 2009. A decade later, UK drug policy has done nothing but go backwards. We are currently in a worse position now than we were 10 years ago. However, there is a path to a brave new world. Back in 2009, I was making it clear to the UK Government that the evidence that we had back then was that cannabis was less harmful than both alcohol or tobacco. ” – Professor David Nutt
https://drugscience.org.uk/groundhog-decade-not-brave-new-world/ -
Changing The Narrative is a network of reporters, researchers, academics, and advocates concerned about the way media represents drug use and addiction. Our mission is to help journalists and opinion leaders provide accurate, humane, and scientifically-grounded information in this contested terrain. We offer expert sources —including people with lived experience of the issues — and up-to-date, fact-checked, and evidence-based information on news and controversies.
https://www.changingthenarrative.news/ -
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As we reported previously, scientists from the University of New Mexico have been studying how access to marijuana may help alleviate the opioid crisis, declared a national emergency by President Trump. Their study has now been published in the journal PLOS One, with the researchers concluding that there is “clinically and statistically significant evidence” that increased cannabis use led to patients cutting down on opioids and improved their quality of life.
The study analyzed the health data of 66 patients who were using opioids habitually to manage their severe chronic pain. 37 of the patients were enrolled in a medical marijuana program between 2010 and 2015 while 29 patients in the control group were not.
The scientists found that patients using cannabis were 17 times more likely to stop their prescribed opioids and five times more likely to lower their daily dosage of opioids. On average, they cut their doses in half. Comparatively, the patients not enrolled in the medical marijuana program actually increased their opioid usage by more than 10%.
http://bigthink.com/paul-ratner/how-legalizing-marijuana-may-end-the-opioid-crisis
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MPs passed the Liberal government’s bill to legalize cannabis Monday evening, sending the legislation down the hall to the Senate for further study and debate.
The legislation was largely supported along partisan lines, although it secured the support of the NDP and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May. The final vote was 200 MPs in favour, with 82 against. Conservative MP Scott Reid voted for the bill after he polled constituents in his eastern Ontario riding, Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, and found a plurality supported the Liberal plan.
A last-ditch Conservative effort to delay the bill — and send it to the Commons health committee for further study — failed by a vote of 83 to 199 with some Bloc Québecois MPs voting with Tory legislators. Conservative opposition will now fall to their national caucus colleagues in the Red Chamber, where some senators have already signalled they are prepared to give the bill a rough ride. Some Tories have said the government’s timeline for legalization, July 1, 2018, is far too ambitious.
Continues: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/cannabis-legalization-legislation-1.4421910
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Press conference for the new report by the Global Commission on Drug Policy calling for an end to all criminal and civil penalties for drug consumption and possession for personal use. The Global Commission on Drug Policy comprises 23 high-level members, including nine former Heads of State and government and a former Secretary General of the United Nations.
