Addiction Doctor Wants Kyrgyzstan To Legalize Pot

BISHKEK -- Kyrgyz cannabis is reputed to be among the most potent in the world, making it a lucrative cash crop for drug traffickers. 

It appears ironic, then, that a homegrown addiction specialist in Bishkek wants marijuana to be legalized to reduce the number of Kyrgyz drug addicts, fight organized crime, and increase tax revenues.

Jenishbek Nazaraliev, a former presidential candidate who opened Bishkek's first private narcology clinic in 1993, wants the Kyrgyz government to consider a pilot program for the legal production of cannabis near Lake Issyk-Kul.

Rivaling the potency of marijuana from Afghanistan, international experts say cannabis is already being harvested by about two-thirds of all the families in Kyrgyzstan's Issyk-Kul and Chui regions.

Pot plants grow wild on thousands of hectares of land there. During the first eight months of 2013, up through the annual August harvest, Kyrgyz authorities say they destroyed more than 154 tons of cannabis in the Issyk-Kul region alone.

Nazaraliev says more effective regulation over the production and sale of marijuana is an issue that eventually must be tackled by the government.

He says the illegal drug market in Kyrgyzstan is now "fully controlled by the black economy."

Nazaraliev also argues that the producers, sellers, and consumers of cannabis could be better controlled -- and that the government would bolster its tax revenues -- if pot were legalized.

But Kyrgyzstan's State Drug Control Service disagrees. Authorities there say winning the battle against drug traffickers is the key to social stability and development in Kyrgyzstan.

And they argue that legalization won't rein in organized criminal traffickers because Kyrgyz-grown cannabis is exported through a network that extends far beyond Kyrgyzstan's borders -- a smuggling route for illegal Afghan cannabis, opium, and heroin that passes through Kyrgyzstan on its way to Russia and the European Union.

Naked Harvest

RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service has spoken with villagers in the Tiup and Ak-Sui districts around Lake Issyk-Kul who are involved in the harvest and sale of Kyrgyz cannabis.

For centuries, cannabis has been harvested in Central Asia by horsemen who would ride naked through wild cannabis patches and then scrape the resin from their skin and the hair of their horses.

But most villagers around Lake Issyk-Kul now harvest the drug by rubbing cannabis plants between their palms to get a layer of black resin that they scrape off with a knife and package in matchboxes.

Local dealers buy the drugs from the harvesters and then sell them to bigger dealers who tour the area, forwarding their purchases abroad through international trafficking channels.

Kyrgyz villagers who harvest cannabis every August make no secret about paying bribes to police who turn a blind eye.

For their part, local police tell RFE/RL it would be impossible to eradicate a trade that is integral to the survival of so many people.

Former Kyrgyz Vice President and Prime Minister Feliks Kulov -- who also headed the National Security Service -- suggested during the 1990s that state-managed cannabis farms near Lake Issyk-Kul could help the authorities control drug production in the country.

But Kulov's proposal was derailed by critics who cited the negative experiences of opium growers in Afghanistan.

Nazaraliev, the narcologist who wants the authorities to reconsider legalization, ran in Kyrgyzstan's 2009 presidential election under the campaign slogan "Everything is Within your Reach."

He is now asking the authorities in Bishkek to consider whether "progressive European countries" and U.S. state governments that decriminalize marijuana care more about the health and welfare of their citizens than Kyrgyzstan.

Written by Ron Synovitz based on reporting by Merhat Sharipzanov and RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service

Source:

http://www.rferl.org/content/kyrgyzstan-mariajuana-legalization/25222681.html

Denver’s Recreational Dispensaries Have Officially Run Out of “Legal Weed”

As predicted, the recreational demand for legal weed severely outweighed the supply, and Denver’s dispensaries have consequentially begun to run out of recreational weed. It’s not, however, a “drought” and it’s not as dire or drastic a situation as the mainstream media will and has portrayed it as.

It’s a simple case of Denver having had only 12 recreational facilities to serve tens of thousands of customers during the city’s most historic time ever–which coincidentally happened to be the city’s (and state’s) busiest tourism time of year. A lot of people were here to ski, to see music, and of course, to buy weed.

And while legalization has already been a successful experiment on all accounts, 12 dispensaries aren’t ever going to be able to placate a state and nation that now thirsts to experience legal weed.

The good news is, as mentioned, it’s not really a drought. There’s still a plethora of medical marijuana in Denver’s medicinal clinics, as many of these shops that went recreational (like The Clinic) still have and sell medicinal weed. Aside from The Clinic, both Pueblo collectives and 3D in Denver told Time they’re perilously close to running out of weed (and probably have by now). Expect this to be the case for the majority of these shops, thanks to last weeks Green Rush that saw five hour waits and 70 dollar 1/8s flying off shelves.

So now, and it just had to happen, most of these recreational clubs (especially the ones still doing medical) have to wait for their recreational reinforcements before they can welcome back in recreational customers. And based on all accounts, it’ll be more like a day or two opposed to a week or two until they have the supply back in stock.

Within the next few weeks and months, the situation will be remedied–because it just has to. More shops will be opening in Denver (12 just isn’t enough and expect at least 50 by the summer), more weed will be grown, and the Colorado legal weed mania will (slightly) plateau. The biggest hurdle is the grow aspect.

Real estate to grow weed in still isn’t particularly easy to find, and launching a 1,000 light grow isn’t a cheap endeavor, and it doesn’t happen overnight. But the state and its dispensaries will adjust, the process will improve, the weed will still be here, and eventually, even the prices will go down!

In the mean time, stay up to date with the recreational shops and menus right here, as Weedmaps will show you the way to whatever good stuff is left.

Source:

http://www.marijuana.com/news/2014/01/denvers-recreational-dispensaries-have-officially-run-out-of-legal-weed/

Medical Marijuana Research And Uruguay: A New Hub For Biotechnology?

Heads up pot haters and medical marijuana detractors alike — the labs and research facilities that support the fast growing science and tireless research behind marijuana’s cannabioids - might be getting a new stable home – thanks to Uruguay. Labs that have been prohibited from doing life saving research on cannabinoids in their own country, want to fire up new labs in the tiny South American country of Uruguay. Hopefully, unlocking many of the potential hidden secrets within the plants active compounds.

Now leading the world on the topic of marijuana legalization, Uruguay’s congress recently agreed with it’s president – and fired up the globe’s first government backed marketplace for legal pot. Maintaining a tight grip on their new revenue source, the Uruguayan government will keep a close eye on all growers, sellers, and smokers.

Per ABC news; “Uruguay’s presidential spokesperson, Diego Canepa, noted Monday that foreign labs have told the government they’d like to set up there. Canepa is quoted by the local daily El Observador as saying that “Uruguay will become a hub for biotechnology.“

As a side note: Canada’s leaders have initiated talks with Uruguay about importing cannabis from Uruguay for Canadian medicinal needs.

While Uruguay’s marijuana law was not set up with the idea of exporting their Gov. grown weed, it might very well be allowed once the country’s politicians meet this coming April.

Source:

http://www.marijuana.com/news/2014/01/medical-marijuana-research-and-uruguay-a-new-hub-for-biotechnology/

NY Set to Allow Limited Use of Medical Marijuana

ALBANY, N.Y. January 5, 2014 (AP)

By Michael VIRTANEN AP

New York would become the 21st state to allow medical use of marijuana under an initiative Gov. Andrew Cuomo will unveil this week.

Cuomo plans to use administrative powers rather than legislative action to allow a limited number of hospitals to dispense marijuana for certain ailments. He will formally announce his plans in his state of the state speech Wednesday.

The New York Times first reported Cuomo's plan Saturday. It represents an about-face by Cuomo, who had previously opposed medical marijuana. Administration officials told the newspaper the medical marijuana policy will be more restrictive than in states like Colorado and California and subject to New York Health Department standards.

In states that permit medical marijuana, it is commonly prescribed for chronic pain, nausea from cancer chemotherapy, glaucoma and some other conditions. Other controlled substances like narcotics are already authorized for medical use in New York.

Although marijuana remains illegal in New York, possession of small amounts has been reduced to a low-level violation subject to a fine.

NYC Diesel

The Drug Policy Alliance, which was briefed on the Cuomo plan Saturday, said it would be a huge change, but New York should still enact legislation authorizing a state medical marijuana program that has been blocked so far by the state Senate's Republicans.

"This is a good development as an interim step," said Gabriel Sayegh, state director of the Drug Policy Alliance. After the briefing, he said the timing was still unclear as well as precisely who will have access to the program.

The Cuomo administration did not respond to requests from The Associated Press for comment.

Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, a Manhattan Democrat, and Democratic Sen. Diane Savino of Staten Island have recently held hearings on a bill they are sponsoring called the "Compassionate Care Act," which would regulate and tax medical marijuana. It has previously passed in the Assembly, but failed to get through the Senate.

State Sen. Liz Krueger, another Manhattan Democrat, has been pushing legislation to legalize and tax recreational use of marijuana, arguing state policy outlawing the drug has been costly in terms of law enforcement resources and the futures of people convicted of crimes.

Source:

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/ny-set-limited-medical-marijuana-21423296

Marijuana Sales in Colorado Top $1 Million (€735,400) on First Day

On Wednesday, when recreational marijuana became legally available to Colorado consumers, pot shop owners across the state believe they collectively made more than $1 million in a single day of business.

Colorado had 24 shops open Wednesday, most of them in Denver. Many people — 21 and older — braved wintry weather to line up outside of weed shops, carrying out their purchase in a brown bag.

Residents can purchase up to an ounce of marijuana at one time for recreational purposes. Non-residents can purchase up to a quarter ounce.

State officials expect up to $578,000,000 in first-year sales revenue, as well as $67 million in tax revenue, which will be used to build schools and fund regulatory efforts.

The background: While robust, this $1 million-in-a-day figure should come as no surprise to those familiar with the underground economics of the marijuana industry in the U.S.

There are several estimates on how profitable the nationwide illicit marijuana industry is, but added together, you get a range of $10 billion to more than $120 billion a year in sales. In context, the market for brewed beverages (i.e. beer) in America teeters over $100 billion. Some studies argue that marijuana is the largest cash crop in the U.S., surmounting the combined value of corn ($23.3 billion) and wheat ($7.5 billion).

That gives a sense at how big Colorado's marijuana market could be.

The takeaway: The harms and benefits of medicinal marijuana have been well-documented (though, despite what you may have recently read, nobody has ever died from smoking weed), but there are still big-name advocates pushing against legalization.

New York Times’ op-ed columnist, David Brooks argued on Thursday that Colorado was “nurturing a moral ecology in which it is a bit harder to be the sort of person most of us want to be,” and that he stopped smoking because of “a vague sense that smoking weed was not exactly something you were proud of yourself for.”

Nowhere in the op-ed does Brooks mention the enormous economic boon weed would have, or the wide range of medicinal uses it has ... from easing the pain of cancer patients to curing the PTSD of veterans

It's also safer for you than other, legal, "morally wrong" substances, like alcohol, for example. According to the CDC, alcohol is the third leading lifestyle-related cause of death for the nation, directly associated with 88,000 deaths a year. Drinking produces unintentional injuries, violence, sexual misconduct, and alcohol poisoning. Not to mention the enormous physical costs of alcohol abuse.

In 2013, 52% thought that marijuana should be legalized with 45% opposed. According to Pew, this is an 11-point jump from 2010, where 45% thought it should be legalized and 50% opposed legalization. 2010 was when Proposition 19, which would have legalized marijuana in California, was defeated 53%-46%. And of course this is a dramatic swing from 1969, when nearly eight out of 10 Americans were opposed to legalization.

There's a reason the green is rolling in Colorado. 

Source:

http://www.policymic.com/articles/78143/marijuana-sales-in-colorado-top-1-million-on-first-day

The New Citizen’s Security Law proposes an increase in the administrative fines imposed for the possession of small quantities of cannabis for personal use up to 30,000 euros.

We cannot ask for help to change the situation, we can't protest somehow, because it is illegal now in Spain to protest or to have an opinion or to have even civil rights.

Peace.

This worrying bill proposes an increase in the administrative fines imposed for the possession of small quantities of cannabis for personal use and growing of marijuana for personal use which was previously allowed up to 30,000 euros.

A step back in Spanish drug policies

A de facto criminalisation of cannabis use?

In the past few weeks, the attention of the international drug policy community has been focused on the cannabis regulation bill in Uruguay. The great significance of this momentum for the drug policy reform has been supported by various civil society organisations and public opinion leaders from all around the world. This contrasts with the steps back undertaken in Spain, where a new bill – the paradoxically so-called citizen security law– was approved last 29th November by the Council of Ministers.

This worrying bill proposes an increase in the administrative fines imposed for the possession of small quantities of cannabis for personal use up to 30,000 euros. This decision is part of a package of measures that also severelyrestricts the rights to strike, to demonstrate and of freedom ofexpression. According to the right hand Popular Party (Partido Popular),that has absolute majority in the Parliament -- and therefore has noobligation to negotiate the bill with other political parties -- the aimof the bill is to maintain “public order”. The tone is so harsh thatthe Ministry of Interior, Jorge Fernández Diaz, responded to the criticsof the European Commission accusing them of not having read theintegrity of the law.

The bill might be approved in the next weeks by the Spanish Parliament. In case this bill pass, cannabis possession will continue not to be a criminal offence, but in practice the huge fines associated with it could easily lead to de facto criminalisation.

This could cause not only a back on civil and drug users rights, but it also contradicts the ongoing processes and debates around the legal regulation of cannabis that are taking place in the Basque and Catalonian Parliament. As such, this decision also implies territorial controversies.

In this context, one of the cases that have shocked international public opinion is the prosecution by the Spanish justice of the cannabis social club Pannagh in the Basque Country. Two years after the precautionary closure of the cannabis consumers association Pannagh, the anti-drug prosecutor requested prison sentences totalling 22 years and fines of nearly 2.5 million euros for five members of the association.

The decision made by the Prosecutor contradicts the judgement made by the Spanish Supreme Court in October 2001 and July 2003 that established “that possession of cannabis, including large quantities, is not a crime if there is no clear intention of trafficking”. The decision also places other Spanish cannabis clubs in a juridical uncertainty, overshadowing the huge drug policy progress made previously in the country.

The approach adopted by Pannagh is paradigmatic. It is the oldest and largest cannabis club in Spain, including around 700 cannabis users. Martín Barriuso Alonso, President of the Federation of Cannabis Associations (FAC), defines them in a TNI briefing as “non- commercial organisations of users who get together to cultivate and distribute enough cannabis to meet their personal needs, without having to turn to the black market”. According to the latest Transform publication, How to regulate cannabis: A practical guide, these clubs allow daily personal allowances of, on average, 3 grams per person.

This approach has even been replicated in Uruguay: cannabis clubs are one of the four ways in which cannabis can now be produced, traded, sold and used, as these clubs have been proven to be an effective model to reduce access to the black market and to provide better quality products, reducing the risks associated with consumption.

What, then, can be behind the Spanish government’s decision? Far from being spontaneous, the Prosecutor’s decision follows a conservative logic that does not only ignore the jurisprudence, but also the achievements made by decriminalisation models, the involvement of civil society in governance and community well-being, the debates that are taking place in regional parliaments and the consideration of therapeutic cannabis.

In August 2013, the State Prosecution published an instruction on issues related to associations promoting the growing of cannabis. This instruction echoes the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs and a set of national laws dating from 1967 that consider illicit cannabis cultivation “without administrative permission”. Although the instruction recognises that the jurisprudence allows for the “shared consumption of drugs”, it promotes a criminal justice approach on drug use and considers cannabis production as a “public health offence”.

Spanish civil society has broadly contested the imposition of the “Citizen security law” (an Avaaz petition, for instance, has collected more than 250,000 signatures). A series of actions were undertaken by several civil society groups to raise awareness on the worrying implications of harsh drug laws and how they affect our human rights, especially in a context in which the UN drug conventions, the war on drugs and the prohibitionist models are being contested at different levels with the adoption of a broad range of new initiatives.

Here you can read about different fines for demonstration, football, marijuana, alcohol, masks, photography and more. Important! This list is not full.

Let’s start with the lower fines

Fines of between €1000 and €30,000 will be levied for anybody who:

Wears a mask or hood in a public place that makes their identification difficult.

Insults a policeman when they are doing their work even if that work is kicking you

The growing of marijuana for personal use which was previously allowed

Drinking alcohol in any public place which is not specifically licensed for it

Driving a drug addict to a place were they supposedly buy drugs

Placing any object in the road which would make it difficult for a person or car to pass

Climbing public buildings

Now let’s move on to what are considered very grave infractions where the fine is between 30,000 and €600,000

Photographing of videoing any member of the police or security forces (Even when they are kicking the crap out of you)

Public order offences in any religious public or sporting or entertainment event

Meetings that have not been communicated to the authorities

Protesting in an airport or a nuclear plantGoing near to public officials, for example politicians, and shouting at them or telling them they are corrupt. The police are allowed to establish a security zone around the individual which nobody can go inside

Blinding officials with lasers!!!

Now there are a whole heap of things that attract fines of up to €1000 among which is included the aforementioned playing football or any sport which may cause damage to other people or property (No more cricket under the Alameda bridge in Valencia using real cricket balls I’m afraid). I won’t repeat them on this blog though because this will make you extremely depressed.

What do you think of the new Citizens Security act? Is it really for the security of the people or is it just to protect corrupt politicians and officials?

By the way I left the best one until last there is now a fine of up to €30,000 for offending Spain. How do we know if the country has been offended?

Here is also a new article about Abortion, demonstrations and public safety in Spain http://www.euroweeklynews.com/columnists/collin-hall/item/117966-abortion-demonstrations-and-public-safety

Here you can find the List of some Fines 

http://www.grahamhunt.co/football-fascism-and-spains-pp-government-the-new-citizens-security-law

This is the main source of this article http://www.undrugcontrol.info/en/weblog/item/5227-a-step-back-in-spanish-drug-policies

Colorado’s recreational marijuana stores make history

Up Early and in Line for a Marijuana Milestone in Colorado

DENVER — 

They lined up before dawn and in the snow on Wednesday, baby boomers from Nebraska, retirees from Denver and a young man who had driven all day from Ohio. Some were longtime marijuana users. Some had been arrested for marijuana possession.

They were among the hundreds of tourists and residents across Colorado who eagerly took part in the country’s first-ever sales of state-regulated recreational marijuana. They walked into 40 shops, from downtown Denver to snowy ski resorts, flashed their identifications and, in a single transaction, took part in what supporters hailed as a historic departure from drug laws focused on punishment and prohibition.

“It makes you giddy to say it: I went into a store and bought pot,” Linda Walmsley said as she walked out of the Denver Kush Club, where a line of shivering customers stretched down the block.

While about 20 states allow medical marijuana, voters in Colorado and Washington State decided last year to go one step further, becoming the first in the nation to legalize small amounts of the plant for recreational use and regulate it like alcohol. Colorado began promptly on New Year’s Day.

To supporters, it was a watershed moment in the country’s tangled relationship with the drug. They said it was akin to the end of Prohibition, albeit with joints being passed instead of Champagne being uncorked.

Leica Zayat, left, and Mark Harris serve customers in Evergreen Apothecary in Denver.

Beej Jackson, left, and Amber Bacca serve customers in Evergreen Apothecary in Denver.

Customers wait to be served in the LoDo Wellness Center in Denver.

To skeptics, it represented a grand folly that they predicted would tarnish the image of a state whose official song is John Denver’s “Rocky Mountain High” and lead to higher teenage drug use and more impaired driving. The governor and the Denver mayor both opposed legalization and stayed away from the celebrations and inaugural sales on Wednesday.

Regulators said Colorado’s first sales — on a day called Green Wednesday by enthusiasts — went smoothly. Security guards were stationed outside dispensaries, and police officers and state officials watched closely.

Skeptical federal authorities are also paying attention. Although marijuana remains illegal under federal law, the Justice Department has given tentative approval for Colorado and Washington to move ahead with regulating marijuana. But it warned that federal officials could intervene if the state regulations failed to keep the drug away from children, drug cartels or federal property, and out of other states.

On Wednesday, Colorado had eight investigators out checking retailers’ licenses, inspecting packaging and labeling, and ensuring that stores reviewed customers’ identification to see if they were 21 or older, said Ron Kammerzell, the director of enforcement for Colorado’s Department of Revenue.

“So far, so good,” he said.

Ever since voters in Colorado and Washington approved recreational marijuana last year, the states have been racing to devise rules on how to grow it, sell it, tax it and track it.

In both Colorado and Washington, recreational marijuana has been legal for more than a year. Adults can smoke it in their living rooms and eat marijuana-laced cookies without fear of arrest. In Colorado, they are even allowed to grow up to six plants at home. But until Wednesday, marijuana dispensaries could sell only to customers with a doctor’s recommendation and a state-issued medical marijuana card.

Many people who lined up on Wednesday said they did not have medical cards, and had relied on drug dealers or friends with medical marijuana to satisfy their cravings. They were paying high prices for new recreational marijuana — $50 to $60 for an eighth of an ounce, nearly double the price of medical marijuana — but said it was worthwhile to avoid the risk.

“People don’t like breaking the law,” said Andy Williams, who runs the Medicine Man dispensary in an industrial park in Denver. “The burden has been taken off them.”

In the ski resort town Breckenridge, customers were waiting for the store to open at 08:00

Customers wait in a long line for their turn to buy recreational marijuana outside the LoDo Wellness Center in on Tuesday, January 1, in Denver as Colorado became the first state in the nation to allow retail pot shops.

Marijuana dries next to a harvest calendar in the grow room of the LoDo Wellness Center in Denver.

Now, any Colorado resident who is at least 21 can buy up to an ounce of marijuana at one of the dispensaries that began selling to retail customers on Wednesday. Out-of-state visitors can buy a quarter-ounce, but they have to consume it here. Carrying marijuana across state lines remains illegal, and the plant is not allowed at Denver International Airport.

On Wednesday, some tourists puzzled over where they would consume their purchases. It is illegal to smoke marijuana in public, in public parks or in campgrounds, and it is against the rules at many hotels. One group from Nebraska said it would find a parking lot and roll up the car windows. Others said they would return to their hotels and crack the windows. Some bought marijuana-laced baked goods to avoid the problem altogether.

Kirstin Knouse, 24, flew here from Chicago with her husband, Tristan, to take her first marijuana vacation, and she said the couple would smoke their marijuana at the home of a cousin. She said that she suffered from seizures and fibromyalgia, and her husband from post-traumatic stress, but that they had not been able to get medical marijuana at home. When Colorado opened sales to out-of-state residents, she said they leapt at the chance.

“This is our dream,” Ms. Knouse said. “We’re thinking about moving here because of it.”

Washington’s marijuana system is at least several months behind Colorado’s, meaning that fully stocked retail shelves probably will not be a reality for consumers until perhaps June.

While Colorado has incorporated the existing medical marijuana system, Washington is starting from scratch, with all production and sale of legal recreational marijuana linked to a new system of licenses, which will not be issued until late February or early March.

“After that, it is up to the industry to get it up and running,” said Mikhail Carpenter, a spokesman for the Washington State Liquor Control Board, which regulates the system and is reviewing almost 5,000 license applications to grow, process or sell marijuana.

Growers can start a crop only after they get a license, Mr. Carpenter said, and retailers can sell only marijuana produced in the state by licensed growers.

What happens next in both states will be watched closely by Arizona, Alaska, California, Oregon and other states flirting with the idea of liberalizing their marijuana laws. Questions still abound. Will drug traffickers take marijuana across state lines, to sell elsewhere? Will recreational marijuana flow from the hands of legal adult consumers to teenagers? Will taxes from marijuana sales match optimistic predictions of a windfall for state budgets? What will happen to the black market for marijuana?

But on Wednesday, enthusiasts like Darren Austin, 44, and his son, Tyler, 21, just embraced the moment. They arrived a few months ago from Georgia and North Carolina, respectively, and decided to stay. The father said marijuana eased his anxiety and helped him quit drinking, and the son said he simply liked smoking it with friends. On Wednesday, they slept in their truck outside a dispensary, to ensure their place in line.

“We wanted to be here,” Darren Austin said. “It’s historic.”

People line up to buy recreational marijuana at the LoDo Wellness Center in Denver.

55% of Colorado voters said yes to legalizing recreational marijuana

Marijuana plants sit under grow lights at the 3D Cannabis Center in Denver. 

Source:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/02/us/colorado-stores-throw-open-their-doors-to-pot-buyers.html?hpw&rref=us&_r=0