Consequences of Prohibition
Drug War Issues
Politics & Advocacy
Things get slow in the dog days of summer, but there's still news from the legal marijuana states, California continues to grapple with regulating medical marijuana, and a couple of items from Britain suggest change could be in the air there. Let's get to it:
Marijuana Policy
Britain will provide free foil for heroin smokers in a bid to reduce injecting the drug. (wikimedia.org)
Colorado Health Department Says Teen Marijuana Use Is Down Since Dispensaries Came, Voters Approved Legalization. An annual survey of teen drug use in the state has found that marijuana use has been declining since hundreds of medical marijuana outlets opened in the state in 2009 and since the state legalized adult marijuana use and sales in late 2012. Current use among Colorado teens dropped from 24.8% in 2009 to 20% in 2013. Meanwhile, nationally, teen current use has increased, from 20.8% in 2009 to 23.4% last year.
Wichita Decriminalization Initiative Campaign Comes Up Short on Signatures. There will be no popular vote on decriminalization in Wichita this year. Election officials said that campaigners didn't have enough valid voter signatures to qualify. Although they handed in about 3,500 signatures and only needed 2,928, they still came up 180 valid voter signatures short. They say they will now press the city council to act on decriminalization.
Medical Marijuana
California Statewide Regulation Bill Goes to Assembly Appropriations Committee Next Week. The Assembly Appropriations will examine Senate Bill 1262, the law enforcement- and local government-backed bill to regulate the state's medical marijuana industry next Wednesday. That's the last day the committee meets this session. The bill has already passed the Senate, but must pass the Assembly by month's end or it dies. The bill link above may not represent the latest changes to it; new updates are expected today. The bill has divided the state's medical marijuana community, with some groups supporting it as is and some demanding changes to make it friendlier to patients and the industry.
International
British Liberal Democrats Will End Jail for Drug Possession, Nick Clegg Says. Liberal Democratic Party leader Nick Clegg has said that if the Lib Dems win the next election, they will move to abolish prison sentences for simple drug possession, even for Class A drugs such as heroin and cocaine. Half of the people currently being jailed for drug possession in Britain are being held for marijuana offenses. This call for effective decriminalization puts Clegg and the Lib Dems at odds with their governing coalition senior partners, the Tories. Meanwhile, the Home Office is currently undertaking a review of British drug policy.
British Government to Provide Foil to Heroin Users to Encourage Smoking Rather Than Injecting. In a harm reduction move, Britain will begin providing free foil to heroin users to encourage them to smoke the drug instead of injecting it. Injection drug users are more likely to contract blood-borne diseases such as HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C. The move was approved last year by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, which said it could also help move addicts toward recovery.
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Comments
about smoking heroin
One thing i don't understand about smoking heroin, is why can't people use a so called meth pipe? it seems much easier than using foil. i know heroin can't be burned (flame directly on it) but must be evaporated, but that's what the meth pipe is designed for. i've heard there are different kinds of heroin and that some can be evaporated better than others, but it seems like something worth pursuing if it's possible. i mean, if it evaporates with foil, it should evaporate with a meth pipe too (or just design a pipe that uses foil). It seems simple: just have a funnel-type thing that you can fit a piece of foil on the bottom of, that has a tube on the other end to inhale through.
another thing is, i saw on the bbc once a documentary about heroin use in iran (i think it was iran). they talked about a so-called "crack heroin". similarly to how powder cocaine is not suited for smoking but crack cocaine is, heroin is not suited for smoking but this type of heroin was (you can put a flame direclty on it the way people do with weed and crack). if it's already legal in the uk to provide heroin to users, couldn't they provide the smokable form?
black tar, china white
yes youre right, theres a few different kinds, you can get so intricate about it that people want to know what type of heroin ur using and theres this type 1,2,3,4 or a,b,c,d, but ive only ever seen that discussion on the internet, in the real world its china white on the east coast and black tar on the west coast, really pretty much. yeah then ull get into the business of what its cut with, does the stuff have the fentanyl cut [like my primary resource for example has that so called dangerous fentanyl cut]. in all my travels as a heroin lover i would say ive known only a few true smokers. complaints against smoking seem to usually be that it is a waste, even if youre so perfect at smoking youll inevitably waste a little bit. rush is not even in the same category and for so many that is the whole point. true blue smokers, they are a rare thing. in my 12 year and counting love affair with dope, i would say the further that people stay away or try to keep it casual, they usually commit to and maintain sniffage/snorting.. but the deeper you get into it, in my experience, even the most needlephobe sniffer inevitably learns how to bang. I applaud this move by England, the holy place in my mentality where I wish I could be more than anything, but as a true heroin lover I will be honest, summing myself up and my colleagues on the street, it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever from a practical standpoint. I know definitely atleast about around a hundred active users. let me tell you that off the top of my head most of them are not involved in any kind of programs, they wake up, seemingly nobody in the world has ever known of them, cared about them, know they exist or would care if they died. This type of person matters usually only temporarily as well, to the fellow homeless users and the drug dealers. Then a small fraction may be involved in some kind of out patient. in these cases usually it is some kind of coerced treatment deal which never works because treatment options here are predicated on a force you to do what you dont want to do mentality and heroin users are the best at doing what they want, not what others want. So even of that small fraction involved in programs, i could see at the counter the free foil, that'd be the best chance to get anybody to even consider it but if the user has to ask anybody for it, forget it, this is doomed to be a "waste of money" / fuel for republican types.
Those smokers ive known, interesting people always... they love what they do and their craft as much as any of us.. they do the same thing as us shooters though, looking for bathrooms, all our sneaky little moves we do so well...they get in their and a shooter you can usually only tell if youre experienced and listening for the key bag rippings the popping the cap off the needle etc. but the smokers you will often see them spreading their foil out on the bathroom floor and taking care of business... i think some folks are just really dead set against needles and theres nothing to be done about it.
100 junkies walk in and out of a program, i think out of that 100, you can say maybe AT THE MOST 10 of them have suceeded at succoring money from some resource or another so they are happy for the day. Out of those 10 who have a 100 in their pocket, maybe 2 or 3 will be so happy about not having to struggle, maybe their already high that moment as well, that, simply out of euphoria enduced happiness, they will grab a sheet of aluminium foil, pretending to be interesting in "changing" etc. But if 1 of the 100 ever actually used it id be shocked. of the 3 who actually take the foil, im pretty sure itll end up on the street being blown up by that street clean sweeping machine the next morning, totally forgotten.
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