Bob Ainsworth MP, former Home Office drugs minister and Secretary of State for Defence, will call for the legalisation and regulation of drugs during a Parliamentary debate he is leading in Westminster Hall, at 2.30pm, Thurs 16th December 2010.
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Tue, Dec 14 2010
By Mica Rosenberg
AMATA, Mexico (Reuters) – Farmers growing marijuana in remote Mexican mountains are adopting techniques pioneered in the United States to produce more potent pot and boost profits from the cash crop that is fueling a deadly drug war.
In the fertile valleys of Sinaloa in northwestern Mexico, soldiers this year found 60 acres of covered greenhouses equipped with sophisticated irrigation and fertilization systems growing seemingly endless rows of marijuana plants. In another part of Sinaloa, the cradle of Mexican drug trafficking, the army recently busted a marijuana lab with potted plants heated day and night by lamps, a change from traditional outdoor cultivation of the crop and a sign drug cartels are using more savvy production methods.
“This is new. They now have technology so the plant will grow faster; we think the techniques are coming from (the United States),” said a soldier commanding a battalion ripping up 5-foot (1.5-meter)-high marijuana plants growing along a river bank near the dusty town of Amata, Sinaloa.
While estimates vary, law enforcement officials on both sides of the border say Mexican drug gangs earn the bulk of their cash from cheap-to-produce marijuana, using revenues to sustain wars against rivals and the government that have killed more than 33,000 people across Mexico in the past four years.
Even as hundreds of troops fan out across Sinaloa ripping up marijuana fields by hand, cartels are one step ahead of the government’s efforts, helping to stifle President Felipe Calderon’s army-led battle against the cartels.
“It’s a cycle,” said another soldier in Amata as he stood by 20,000 pungent marijuana plants doused with diesel and set on fire in a billowing cloud of white smoke. “We come and destroy the fields and move onto another area and they come back and start preparing the land to plant again.”
The new greenhouses are harder for the army to detect with fly-overs since they resemble tomato plots common in Sinaloa.
Contines: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6BE0CC20101215
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Dec 13, 2010 15:26 ET
WINNIPEG, MANITOBA–(Marketwire – Dec. 13, 2010) – The Government of Canada is injecting more than $728,000 to help the hemp industry increase production capacity and make new inroads into the U.S. market. The Honourable Vic Toews, Minister of Public Safety, made the announcement today on behalf of Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz.
“Canadian farmers and processors are finding tremendous success with hemp thanks to its many nutritional benefits and wide range of uses in pasta, salad dressings and frozen desserts,” said Minister Toews. “This Government is proud to invest in this growing industry so that farmers can continue to expand their markets and develop more products.”
The Government of Canada investment will support three groups:
A $410,000 repayable contribution through the AgriProcessing Initiative for Fresh Hemp Foods to purchase and install new dehulling, oil pressing, and packaging equipment in its new 20,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility.
A $300,000 repayable contribution through the AgriProcessing Initiative for Hemp Oil Canada to purchase and install new air classification milling and cold press oil expeller technology.
A $18,625 investment through the AgriMarketing program for the Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance to enhance its website, hold a strategic planning meeting of its board of directors and take the first steps toward achieving Generally Regarded as Safe status in the U.S.
In 2009, exports of hemp seed and hemp products were valued at more than $8 million, with most exports going to the U.S.
The AgriProcessing Initiative, funded under the Agricultural Flexibility fund as part of Canada’s Economic Action Plan, provides support to existing processing companies for agri-processing projects that involve the adoption of innovative and new-to-company manufacturing technologies and processes that are essential to sustaining and improving the sector’s position in today’s global marketplace. For more information, visit www.agr.gc.ca/api.
The AgriMarketing program helps producers and processors implement long-term international strategies which include activities such as international market development, consumer awareness and branding and industry-to-industry trade advocacy. To find out more about this program, visit: www.agr.gc.ca/agrimarketing.
For more information, please contact
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Ottawa, Ontario
Media Relations
613-773-7972
1-866-345-7972
or
Office of the Honourable Gerry Ritz
Meagan Murdoch
Press Secretary
613-773-1059
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On October 1, just one month before Californians voted on Proposition 19, Sasha Abramsky spoke by phone with Gil Kerlikowske, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, about prospects for drug reform in America. Below is an edited transcript of the discussion.
Listen to a podcast of the full conversation.
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DEKALB, Ill., Dec. 10, 2010—Northern Illinois University (NIU) has finally given full recognition to NIU Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) after the Student Association Senate twice denied the group any recognition, which had prevented SSDP from meeting or posting flyers on campus. But Senate policy still denies funding to all “political” and “religious” student organizations. This arbitrary standard classifies Christian, Muslim, and Jewish organizations as “religious” and therefore ineligible for funding, while the campus Baha’i Club is funded as a “cultural” group. Similarly, groups such as Model United Nations are considered “political” while many “social justice” or “advocacy” groups—including student pro-life, pro-choice, antiwar, women’s rights, vegetarian, and victims’ rights groups—are fully recognized. SSDP came to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) for help.
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Chris Morris, CNBC.com
Recreational users of marijuana are seeing price cuts on the street thanks to the growing number of states that have approved the drug for medicinal use.
The price of cannabis, of course, varies wildly — depending on the strain purchased, its potency and the parts of the plant. Top quality pot in New York, for example, costs nearly $442 per ounce, while low quality is just $161, according to one website that tracks costs, PriceofWeed.com.
On the whole, though, prices have been dropping nationwide over the past three to four years.
High Times magazine, in its October issue, declared “It’s a buyer’s market!”, noting that the average price per ounce nationwide had fallen $49 in the past month alone.
Oregon boasts the country’s cheapest pot, with the price of a high quality ounce running $259.13, according to PriceofWeed.com, a site that uses crowd-sourcing methodology to track marijuana prices around the country. (Anonymous users who buy the drug on the street input what they paid — and for how much — and the site averages out prices for the state or territory.) Montana comes in second at $273.87 per ounce. Both states are among the 14 to have passed laws allowing the medicinal use of the drug.
Georgia and Virginia are the states with the most expensive cannabis, both coming in at roughly $452 per ounce. Neither has legalized the drug in any form.
Geographically, pot tends to be more expensive along the East Coast — with the exceptions of Florida and Maine. Users there generally pay $425 or more for high quality product Midwest tokers pay a bit less.. And Western marijuana users – from Colorado onward –pay the least (typically less than $400 per ounce).
PriceofWeed.com is one of four sources insiders look to as they track the street price of pot. Allen St. Pierre, executive director of Norml (the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) cites it as one his organization regularly monitors.
The others are the official DEA pricing index (which St. Pierre says is the least accurate), High Times’ monthly Trans-High Market Quotations, and Weedmaps.com, which has employees call medical dispensaries weekly for price, potency, strain name and more and then determines pricing trends from that information.
But even with the cost declines of the past few years, prices remain steep, which surprises some people.
“The vexation for the customer has been that for years, the individuals who would pay [high costs for recreational pot] did so because suppliers had all these legal threats,” says St. Pierre. “As that has been removed, there has not been a commensurate reduction in prices.”
That doesn’t mean it won’t happen, though.
In California, the price of high-grade cannabis is down roughly 17% over the past 12 months — a trend that is likely to accelerate, due in part to changes in the business practices of marijuana farmers.
“Ten to 20 yeas ago, the people who were, for lack of a better term, the migrant marijuana workers were paid in cash,” says St. Pierre. “Two or three years ago, they started getting paid in product … which they have trouble converting to cash, so they logically begin selling it illegally. People are walking to the dispensary with the mindset that they’re going to pay X dollars, then these workers will undercut that by 50%. That phenomenon is the equivalent of having a wholesaler stop people before they walk into a Wal-Mart.”
The rise of city-sanctioned grow farms, like those being planned in Oakland, could also put pressure on street prices of pot, because it would substantially boost supply.
And if more states pass medical marijuana laws and wider legalization efforts prove successful down the road, that should continue to impact prices.
A recent California ballot initiative to legalize the sale and consumption of marijuana (as well as tax it) was defeated, partly because producers feared it would result in drastically lower prices.
St. Pierre says Norml expects the price could eventually fall to something comparable to a pack of cigarettes.
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The active ingredient in marijuana cuts tumor growth in common lung cancer in half and significantly reduces the ability of the cancer to spread, say researchers at Harvard University who tested the chemical in both lab and mouse studies.
They say this is the first set of experiments to show that the compound, Delta-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), inhibits EGF-induced growth and migration in epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expressing non-small cell lung cancer cell lines. Lung cancers that over-express EGFR are usually highly aggressive and resistant to chemotherapy.
THC that targets cannabinoid receptors CB1 and CB2 is similar in function to endocannabinoids, which are cannabinoids that are naturally produced in the body and activate these receptors. The researchers suggest that THC or other designer agents that activate these receptors might be used in a targeted fashion to treat lung cancer.
“The beauty of this study is that we are showing that a substance of abuse, if used prudently, may offer a new road to therapy against lung cancer,” said Anju Preet, Ph.D., a researcher in the Division of Experimental Medicine.
Acting through cannabinoid receptors CB1 and CB2, endocannabinoids (as well as THC) are thought to play a role in variety of biological functions, including pain and anxiety control, and inflammation. Although a medical derivative of THC, known as Marinol, has been approved for use as an appetite stimulant for cancer patients, and a small number of U.S. states allow use of medical marijuana to treat the same side effect, few studies have shown that THC might have anti-tumor activity, Preet says. The only clinical trial testing THC as a treatment against cancer growth was a recently completed British pilot study in human glioblastoma.
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By Steve Elliott Friday, Dec. 3 2010
A challenge to the marijuana laws of the southern African nation Swaziland is going all the way to the High Court. Dr. Ben Diamini wants cannabis legalized, and he has also called upon the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Trade to grant him a 10-year exclusive license to grow “dagga,” as the herb is called locallly.
Dr. Diamini pointed out that in the past 5,000 years, no one has died of cannabis anywhere in the world. He wants to High Court to help him get an order allowing him to operate a cannabis processing factory and set up a marketing company, with all dagga growers in Swaziland as suppliers, reports Mtheto Lungu at Africa News. He said that his factory will then solicit orders from local and international pharmacies.
Diamini said he would involve international research institutions to conduct research on processed and raw cannabis.
Holding a doctorate in education and a bachelor of science degree with a major in chemistry, Diamini said cannabis is not a drug and is not addictive. He said it is neither intoxicating nor poisonous.
Swaziland, home to one of the last pure Sativa strains in the world, is bordered by South Africa and Mozambique.
Cannabis influences a person to sleep, Dr. Diamini said, but the person is never “unable to know what he is doing.” Diamini said that cannabis is safer than either alcohol or tobacco.
“Unlike alcohol, cannabis users to not lose self control; massive amounts just send them to sleep,” Diamini said.
“There has never been a single death directly linked to cannabis use in 5,000 years of history with hundreds of millions of users in the world,” Diamini said. “There is no toxic amount of cannabis. No animal has died of an overdose of cannabis.”
“It is smoked, it is eaten and it is used as an antidote for cases of poisoning,” Diamini’s affidavit reads. “The question of the risk element attached to the use of cannabis will continue to be a matter for the experts, but irrespective of the answer, there exists no just reason to punish cannabis users or those who grow it.”
Diamini is specifically challenging Section 151(1) of the Opium and Habit Forming Drugs Act of 1922.
According to that section, “In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, habit forming drug or drugs means and includes the following as herein defined — cannabis, dagga, instangu, Indian hemp, under whatever name it may be described, known, sold, supplied or otherwise referred to or dealt with, whether the whole or any portion of the plant and all extracts, tinctures or preparations or admixtures thereon.”
The matter is still pending before the High Court.
Swaziland, bordering South Africa on three sides and Mozambique in the east, is home to the Swazi strain of cannabis, one of the few pure sativa strains left in the world, according to OurWeed.
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All stakeholders in the debate on drug policy share the goal of maximising social, environmental, physical and psychological wellbeing. At a time of economic crisis, it is particularly important that drug policy expenditure is cost-effective. Yet despite the many billions of dollars in drug-related spending each year, there are significant concerns about the effectiveness of current approaches at the domestic and international level. The time has come to provide an objective mechanism for assessing the relative merits of different policy approaches, by developing a genuinely evidence-based Impact Assessment (IA) of Drug Policy that compares the impact of alternative policies on human development, human security and human rights.