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Narcan Maker Blocked OTC Sales to Boost Profits, AZ Weed Workers Strike, More... (9/18/23)

A proposed California initiative would warn fentanyl dealers they could be charged with murder in the event of an overdose death, clashes kill four Colombian soldiers ahead of scheduled peace talks with leftist rebels, and more.

Did profits matter more than lives for Emergent BioSolutions? (Creative Commons)
Marijuana Policy

Arizona Pot Workers On Strike Against Curaleaf. Workers at Curaleaf's Dispensary Midtown in Phoenix voted more than a year ago to unionize and seek a labor agreement with the company, but that has not happened yet. Instead Curaleaf has refused to begin union negotiations and fired worker Christian Tallabas for his union activity, so on Friday the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 99 led a day-long Unfair Labor Practices strike.

"It really grinds my gears how we have corporate from Curaleaf standing right behind this window," said Tallabas at a rally in front of the dispensary. "I personally think it is really disgusting and you should see the look on their faces. "We deserve to know what percentage of our tips we make when our customer service is making this company millions of dollars," he said.

"Not only do we not have a contract despite it being over a year, but there's so many different labor violations already on the books that the National Labor Relations Board has found that Curaleaf is responsible for," said Curaleaf employee Nick Fredrickson.

Joining the UFCW and Curaleaf workers at the rally were representatives of the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations.

Opiates and Opioids

California Initiative Would Warn Fentanyl Dealers They Could Be Charged with Murder. Organized by parents who have lost children to drug overdoses, an initiative that would warn fentanyl sellers they could be charged with murder in the event of a fatal overdose has been filed with the state attorney general. Judges would be required to tell people convicted of, or who pleads guilty or no contest to, possession of illicit drugs for sale, this:

"You are hereby advised that it is extremely dangerous and deadly to human life to illicitly manufacture, distribute, sell, furnish, administer, or give away any drugs in any form, including real or counterfeit drugs or pills. You can kill someone by engaging in such conduct. All drugs and counterfeit pills are dangerous to human life. These substances alone, or mixed, kill human beings in very small doses. If you illicitly manufacture, distribute, sell, furnish, administer or give away any real counterfeit drugs or pills, and that conduct results in the death of a human being, you could be charged with homicide, up to and including the crime of murder."

The proposed initiative also includes criminal penalties of 10 to 12 years for a subsequent conviction or guilty plea.

The initiative campaign comes after grieving parents were unable to get a bill to the same effect through the legislature. The bipartisan bill had 41 cosponsors but died in the Senate Public Safety Committee.

"This is a disgusting display of a legislative committee holding hostage 40 million people and their safety and security, all in the name of political, ideological gameplay," fumed Matt Capelouto, who lost a daughter to a fentanyl overdose. "What all of us want here is to protect people from the enduring, the never-ending pain of someone being killed by a drug dealer selling poison. And they won’t do it. They won’t even pass a bill that contains a warning — a freaking warning."

The initiative takes the form of a statutory amendment, which means it will need some 874,641 valid voter signatures within 180 days of the beginning of signature-gathering, or by the first week of July 2024 at the latest.

Harm Reduction

Narcan Maker Blocked OTC Sales for Years in Bid to Boost Profits. Emergent BioSolutions, the manufacturer of the opioid overdose reversal product Narcan, has finally allowed it to be sold over-the-counter (OTC), but only after delaying for five years.

"I’m not sure that OTC is the answer," Daniel J. Abdun-Nabi, then Emergent’s top executive, told investors during a November 2018 earnings call. In December 2018, the company’s then president, Robert Kramer, cautioned "against a rush to an over-the-counter solution for this current crisis," citing concerns about Narcan awareness and insurance coverage.

But the head of the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) said the bottom line was profits. "I think the problem is that the financial model doesn’t appear to be working for the company, so they’re not motivated to do it," FDA head Robert Califf said at a 2022 conference. "We can’t order companies to go over-the-counter."

Emergent only relented late last year after a competitor prepared its own bid for OTC approval of naloxone. That came after Emergent spent years using the courts and regulatory agencies to stop other naloxone products from entering the market. It had also moved to lock up lucrative state contracts, "hindering broader distribution of the antidote while the opioid crisis worsened," the Washington Post reported Monday.

"It’s a strategy that’s cost lives," said Jennifer Plumb, a doctor and Democratic state senator in Salt Lake City who serves as medical director of the Utah naloxone program.

International

Four Colombian Soldiers Killed in Clash with FARC Dissidents Ahead of Peace Talks. Peace talks between the Colombian government and the FARC dissidents known as Estado Mayor Central were set to begin Monday, but their prospects were clouded by a weekend clash that left four soldiers dead.

The Estado Mayor Central broke with the FARC in 2016, when the main body of the leftist guerrilla group signed a peace agreement with the government and has been involved in coca and cocaine trafficking. They had agreed in April to hold talks with the government about a ceasefire.

The soldiers were killed in a clash in Narino, close to the Ecuadorian border and the region of the country with the most coca production. Colombia is the world's largest producer of coca and cocaine. Control over the lucrative drug traffic has fomented conflict in the area for decades, where left-wing guerrillas, right-wing paramilitaries, and apolitical drug cartels spend their time fighting each other and the Colombian state.

CA Natural Psychedelic Legalization Bill Goes to Governor, Colombia Cocaine Production at All-Time High, More... (9/11/23)

You could soon be able to get some munchies when you buy your weed in California, Afghanistan is the world's fastest-growing meth producer, and more.

Colombia continues to crank out cocaine. (Creative Commons)
Marijuana Policy

California Senate Approves Marijuana Café Bill. The Senate has approved Assembly Bill 374, which would allow marijuana retailers to offer food and drinks in they get local approval. The bill has already passed the Assembly, but because it was slightly amended in the Senate, it must return to the Assemly for a final concurrence vote before heading to the desk of Gov. Gavin Newsom (D).

The bill would let local governments authorize the preparation and sell of non-marijuana food and drinks. Sale of alcohol would continue to be prohibited, as would the smoking of tobacco.

The bill would also authorize "live musical or other performances on the premises of a retailer or microbusiness licensed under this division in the area where the consumption of cannabis is allowed, and the sale of tickets for those performances."

Psychedelics

California Natural Psychedelic Legalization Bill Heads to Governor's Desk. A bill that legalize the possession of personal use amounts of natural psychedelics, including ibogaine and psilocybin (magic mushrooms)—but not peyote—has won final passage in the legislature and now heads to the desk of Gov. Gavin Newsom (D).

Senate Bill 58, filed by Sen. Scott Weiner (D-San Francisco), was first introduced in 2021 but was pulled by Weiner after it was heavily amended in the Assembly during the last session. But it came back this session and has now made its way through the legislative process.

The bill would allow people 21 and over to possess up to four grams of mescaline, one gram of DMT, and one gram each of psilocybin and psilocyn.

Newsom has until Oct. 14 to make a decision on the bill becoming law. If approved, it would go into effect in 2025.

International

UNODC Says Afghanistan is World's Faster-Growing Meth Producer. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNOD C) reported Sunday that Afghanistan has became the world's fastest-growing manufacturer of methamphetamine. The report comes as the Taliban are busily prosecuting a crackdown on opium production.

Afghan meth production derives largely from legally available substances or the ephedra plants, which grows in the wild in the region, UNODC said. It said Afghan meth production could disrupt the synthetic drug market and fuel addiction. Afghan meth has been seized in Europe and East Africa.

Afghan meth seizures rose from less than 100 pounds in 2019 to nearly 6,000 pounds in 2021.

Annual meth seizure totals from inside the country rose from less than 100 kilograms (220 pounds) in 2019 to nearly 2,700 kilograms (6,000 pounds) in 2021, suggesting increased production, the report said. But it couldn’t give a value for the country’s meth supply, the quantities being produced, nor its domestic usage, because it doesn’t have the data.

Angela Me, the chief of the UNODC’s Research and Trend Analysis Branch, said  that making meth, especially in Afghanistan, had several advantages over heroin or cocaine production. "You don’t need to wait for something to grow," said Me. "You don’t need land. You just need the cooks and the know-how. Meth labs are mobile, they’re hidden. Afghanistan also has the ephedra plant, which is not found in the biggest meth-producing countries, Myanmar and Mexico. It’s legal in Afghanistan and it grows everywhere. But you need a lot of it."

UNODC Says Colombia Coca Cultivation at All-Time High. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reported Sunday that coca leaf cultivation in Colombia last year was at the highest level recorded since the agency started monitoring the crop in 2001. Coca cultivation was up 13 percent over 2021, and that generated 1,400 tons of cocaine, up from 1,738 in 2021.

Most Colombian cocaine is destined for markets in the US and Europe.

Key coca growing areas, accounting for two-thirds of national production, are the southern departments of Narino and Puumayo on the Ecuadorian border and North Santander on the Venezuelan border. Nearly half of Colombia's coca production is located on indigenous lands or in parks and nature reserves.

Scottish Lord Advocate Endorses Safe Injection Sites. The senior law enforcement officer in the Scottish government, the Lord Advocate, has issued a position statement on safe injection sites saying it would not recommend the prosecution of people using a safe injection site. The Lord Advocate provides legal advice on the full range of the government's responsibilities, policies, and legislation, including advice on the legal implications of government proposals. : 

"On the basis of the information I have been provided, I would be prepared to publish a prosecution policy that it would not be in the public interest to prosecute drug users for simple possession offences committed within a pilot safer drugs consumption facility," Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC said.

"I have not been asked to sign-off or approve any facility and it would not be appropriate for me to do so. However, prosecution policy is for me alone to set and this policy, and the consequences which flow from it, have been considered deeply and thoroughly. 

"The requested statement will not extend to any criminal offences other than possession of controlled substances, contrary to section 5(2) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. It does not amount to an exclusion zone whereby a range of criminality is tolerated. 

"Police Scotland have operational independence and it has been of the utmost importance to me to ensure that Police Scotland retain the ability to effectively police the facility and ensure that the wider community, those operating the site and

The Lord Advocate's decision has been shared with the Scottish Parliament cross-committee on tackling drug deaths and drug harm on September 11. 

CO Lawmakers Call for Safe Injection Sites, CA Psychedelic Decrim Bill Heads for Final Vote, More... (9/5/23)

A North Carolina Republican congressman files a bill to punish localities that legalize marijuana, Peruvian Shining Path remnants tied to the cocaine trade clash with Peruvian army troops, and more 

Magic mushrooms and other natural psychedelics would be decriminalized under a California bill that heads for a final vote. (CC)
Marijuana Policy

North Carolina Congressman Files Bill to Punish Legal Weed States. Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-NC) has filed a bill that would punish states or reservations where marijuana is legal by withholding 10 percent of highway funding to them. Edward's Stop Pot Act, filed last Friday, targets jurisdictions "in which the purchase or public possession of marijuana for recreational purposes is lawful."

It was spurred by his ire at the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, which will vote on whether to legalize marijuana this week. He argues that such laws are an affront to federal law.

"The laws of any government should not infringe on the overall laws of our nation, and federal funds should not be awarded to jurisdictions that willfully ignore federal law," he said in a press release. "During a time when our communities are seeing unprecedented crime, drug addiction, and mental illness, the Stop Pot Act will help prevent even greater access to drugs and ease the strain placed on our local law enforcement and mental health professionals who are already stretched thin."

The tribe does not think much of Edwards' move. Principal Chief Richard Sneed noted that Edwards is "a non-Indian, elected official telling a sovereign tribal nation how they ought to handle their business" and that he "overstepped his authority."

Psychedelics

California Psychedelic Decriminalization Bill Heads for Assembly Floor Vote. A bill to decriminalize certain plant- and fungi-based psychedelics is heading for a final Assembly floor vote after clearing a final committee vote last Friday. Senate Bill 58 , from Sen. Scott Weiner (D-San Francisco) has already passed the Senate and cleared the Assembly Appropriations Committee on Friday.

The bill would decriminalize plant-based and other natural hallucinogens such as psilocybin, dimethyltryptamine (DMT), ibogaine, and mescaline, but in deference to the Native American Church, not peyote. Police would be unable to charge those in possession of personal use amounts of those substances, which range from two grams for psilocybin to 15 grams for ibogaine. The substances would remain illegal for minors.

The bill is a scaled back version of a bill first filed by Weiner in January 21 that would also have decriminalized synthetic psychedelics, such as ketamine, LSD, and MDMA. And as doubts lingered over whether the bill could pass this year, Weiner amended it to add a provision requiring the California Health and Human Services Agency (CHHSA) to create a workgroup tasked with studying and making recommendations on the establishment of a framework for the therapeutic use of psychedelics.

"I’m particularly excited to see that a vote will be held for decriminalizing psychedelics, an idea whose time has come I," said Weiner."I look forward to working with my colleagues and a wide array of stakeholders to deliver these bills to the governor."

But whether Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) will sign the bill remains an open question.

"The bill does have a good shot of passing the Assembly," said former police officer and current drug counselor Marty Ribera. "But Newsom is the big one. He’s looking to run for president either next year or in 2028, and being the Governor who legalized a bunch of drugs would not be a good look."

Harm Reduction

Colorado Legislative Opioid Study Committee Calls for Safe Injection Sites. Lawmakers last year tried and failed to clear the way for safe injection sites last year, and this year they will be back again. The legislature's opioid study committee has called for a bill to be drafted to allow cities to create "overdose prevention centers" or safe injection sites.

The committee vote followed party lines, with Republicans opposed.

The need is evident. Opioid overdose deaths, most implicating fentanyl, rose 50 percent from 2019 to 2020 and another 27 percent from 2020 to 2021.

Safe injection sites are arguably illegal under federal law, specifically the 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act, which forbids the use of premises for illicit drug use—the crack house act. The Trump administration Justice Department sued to block a Philadelphia safe injection site, but the Biden Justice Department is now in negotiations that could clear the way for it to open.

Rhode Island has authorized safe injection sites, but the only locally-authorized sites opened in New York City in late 2021. And now, the US attorney there is making noises calling into question whether they can remain.

International

Peru Clashes Between Military and Shining Path Leave Six Dead. Remnants of the Shining Path, a Maoist insurgency from the 1980s that left tens of thousands dead and has since devolved into players in the coca and cocaine trade, clashed with an army patrol Monday, leaving four soldiers and two Shining Path members dead.

The early morning attack by the rebel traffickers came in the province of Huanta in the Ayacucho region—the historic Shining Path stronghold.

"During the confrontation, the security forces managed to kill two terrorist criminals, who fell with their long-range weapons," the army said in a press release. "Unfortunately, during this action, four brave members of the armed forces died, whose remains will be transferred shortly to the city of Huamanga." The army said three wounded soldiers were also transferred to a nearby hospital.

Peruvian President Dina Boluarte paid tribute to the soldiers shortly afterwards on social media, referring to the Shining Path as "narcoterrorists."

The violence occurred in the Valley of Apurimac, Ene, and Mantaro Rivers (VRAEM), a center of coca cultivation and cocaine production. In 2021, the government estimated that 70 percent of the country's total coca leaf production came from the VRAEM. The VRAEM is also the last outpost of the Shining Path. 

San Francisco Drug Crackdown Generating Arrests, Belize Coca Plantation Found, More... (9/1/23)

The DA in Houston takes a step back from a softer touch on drug charges, Colombia sets goals for voluntary coca crop substitution, and more. 

The Tenderloin in San Francisco. The city is three months into a crackdown on drug use and sales there. (SFPD)
Drug Policy

Harris County, Texas, Reverses Policy on Low Level Drug Charges. Citing an "increasing public safety threat due to fentanyl," Harris County (Houston) District Attorney Kim Ogg has announced that she is reversing an April policy change that required police to have drugs tested before charges could be filed if the amount of drugs in question was less than four grams. That effectively meant that many miniscule drug possession cases were never charged.

Under the new policy, which went into effect this week, the DA's Office will again evaluate every drug possession case regardless of the amount of drug seized as long as probable cause is established "through the expert testimony of two officers with drug enforcement experience."

But the cops will still be responsible for submitting "seized substances to the appropriate lab and to request testing and analysis, for presentation of the case to a grand jury," according to a memo setting out the changes. In the memo, DA Ogg acknowledged that the change could cause some delays in case filings and that district courts have "regularly" dismissed pending drug cases that did not move because of slow evidence processing.

"We need labs that work," Ogg said. "The courts are ready. The State of Texas, my office representing the people, are ready. The police are ready. And we need a crime lab that gives us evidence."

San Francisco Provides Update on Crackdown on Open Air Drug Markets. A crackdown on the drug trade and public drug use in the Tenderloin and SOMA (South of Market Street) neighborhoods of the city that began June 1 has resulted in "significant increase in drug seizures and arrests in the first three months of the City’s efforts to shut down open-air drug markets," the city said Friday.

During the last three months, both local and state law enforcement agencies combined have made hundreds of arrests under drug laws and for outstanding warrants, and seized 103 kilos of narcotic, including 56 kilos of fentanyl. These numbers don’t include additional federal efforts being conducted by the Drug Enforcement Agency. The SF District Attorney’s Office has seen a record number of felony narcotics cases.    

Some 300 of the arrests were for drug sales and another 123 were arrests of wanted fugitives. Another 450 arrests were made using public intoxication laws against public drug users. Additionally, playing a support role in the city, the California Highway Patrol and National Guard have made another hundred drug arrests.

As a result of this operation the District Attorney’s Office has seen a record number of felony narcotics cases presented and filed year to date since 2018. Through August 23, of this year 656 felony narcotics cases were presented of which 566 were filed (86% filing rate) compared to the previous record of 574 cases presented in 2018 and 476 cases filed.   

"Shutting down open air drug markets is critical to the safety of our neighborhoods and the overall health of our City," said Mayor London Breed. "The work that our city agencies and state and federal partners are doing to confront this crisis has to be sustained and expanded and we can’t continue to accept the existence of these drug markets on our streets. I want to thank Governor Newsom for his support in delivering resources, as well as our federal leaders, including Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi. We will continue to offer help to people in crisis, but we must hold people accountable who are hurting our communities."    

While it is clear that more people are being funneled into the criminal justice system, whether more arrests and prosecutions will result in fewer overdoses and better quality of life remains to be seen.

International

Belize Police Discover Coca Plantation with Half Million Plants. Police on Tuesday announced that they had discovered a coca plantation in the Toledo region that held an estimated 500,000 coca plants. The raid comes weeks after police destroyed a cocaine manufacturing lab in the south of the country.

Cocaine has traditionally been grown in three Andean nations—Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru—but in recent years plantings have been discovered in Belize, Guatemala, and southern Mexico. A small number of labs have also been uncovered.

The plantings and labs are believed to be the work of Mexican drug trafficking organizations, which largely control the flow of cocaine to the north.

Colombia Sets Coca Crop Substitution Goal of a Thousand Square Kilometers Over Next Four Years. Government officials said Thursday that the country is aiming for the voluntary substitution—not forced eradication—of a thousand square miles of coca crops over the next four years. The announcement marks a policy shift that emphasizes seizing cocaine over destroying coca plants.

According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), coca cultivation in 2021 (the last year for which data is available) covered some 787 square miles, so if the government removes 250 square miles per year from the crop, it should reduce the crop each year by about one-third.

Felipe Tascon, the director of the government's illicit crops substitution program, said Colombia and the U.S. had committed to replacing 50% of 2021 crop levels. "Everyone says this goal is crazy," Tascon said. "If you look at it as a policing issue, coercing people, it's impossible. If you look at it as an economic issue, about giving economic opportunities to those families to produce something else, it's achievable."

The new crop substitution goals come amid a crash in coca prices in the country caused by oversupply and contested drug trafficking routes, providing farmers with an economic incentive to try something new. 

Ramaswamy Talks Drug Decriminalization, SD 2024 Legal Pot Initiative Coming, More... (8/15/23)

The National Governors Association has a plan for dealing with drug overdoses, Peru and the US have renewed an agreement to force down drug smuggling aircraft, and more.

GOP presidential contender Vivek Ramaswamy breaks with Republican orthodoxy on drug policy. (CC -- Gage Skidmore)
Marijuana Policy

South Dakota Activists to Try Again with 2024 Marijuana Legalization Initiative. Local activists are hoping the third time is the charm when it comes to legalizing marijuana possession in the state. A 2020 legalization initiative was approved by voters only to be shot down by a state Supreme Court acting at the behest of Gov. Kristi Noem (R) and her political allies, and a 2022 legalization initiative was narrowly defeated at the polls.

Now, South Dakotans for Better Marijuana Laws has filed initial papers for a 2024 legalization initiative. This measure would legalize the possession of up to two ounces by people 21 and over and allow for the home cultivation of up to six plants. The initial draft contains no mention of taxed and regulated marijuana commerce.

The public now has until August 21 to comment on the draft. Once state authorities have okayed petitions for circulation, supporters will need 17,509 valid voter signatures by May 7, 2024 to qualify for the 2024 ballot.

Drug Policy

National Governors Association Releases Roadmap for Tackling Drug Overdose Epidemic. The National Governors Association (NGA) released a roadmap to help support Governors and state officials in developing policy solutions to address unprecedented opioid overdose rates. Titled Implementing Best Practices Across the Continuum of Care to Prevent Overdose, the roadmap outlines concrete solutions across the full spectrum of health services: foundations, prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery.

Developed in coordination with the O'Neill Institute at Georgetown University Law Center, the roadmap is based on the contributions of more than 30 subject matter experts and 20 states and territories -- providing Governors with 17 specific, actionable recommendations to prevent overdose across five pillars of the Substance Use Disorder Continuum of Care.

An update to NGA's 2016 roadmap, the new publication reflects the evolving nature of the ongoing drug overdose epidemic and includes strategies specific to the rise of illicitly manufactured fentanyl. The roadmap highlights 10 states' initiatives that exemplify best practices and innovative strategies in overdose prevention.

Vivek Ramaswamy Breaks with GOP Pack on Drug Decriminalization. Republican presidential nomination contender Vivek Ramaswamy is creating some space in a crowded field by edging away from the Republican consensus on a hardline drug policy. While on the campaign trail, he has frequently addressed issues around the war on drugs and the toll of fentanyl overdose deaths.

"You don't hear me talk about the war on drugs. I'm not a war on drugs person," Ramaswamy said while appearing at an event in New Hampshire in June. "I am probably the only person in the modern history" of the party to talk about "off ramps" for people trying to get off drugs, including the use of "psychedelics, from ayahuasca to ketamine," he said.

"I'm eyes wide open and willing to be bold in crossing boundaries we haven't yet crossed to address the demand side of this as well," Ramaswamy said. "I think in the long run, and I'm talking about over a long run period of time, decriminalization, serially, is an important part of the long run solution here… That's gotta be part of the solution," he later added.

Similarly, last month, he said that rather than being "a war on drugs guy," he was "actually a path to legalization guy for a lot of different drugs, and a path to reasonable decriminalization. Many veterans are dying of fentanyl. I think fewer would be dying if there was access to ayahuasca, if there was access, legal access, to psychedelics more broadly. We can talk about, we can have a reasonable conversation about ketamine and others. So, I'm in that direction," he said.

He also argued that marijuana should be decriminalized now. "We got to catch up with the times. It's not a popular position in the Republican Party, but I'd just, again, I guess I'm going to speak the truth. Whether you vote for me or not is your choice. I think the time has come to decriminalize it," he said.

International

Peru, US Revive Air Security Agreement to Combat Drug Trafficking. The government of President Dina Boluarte has announced an air security agreement with the US that aims to prevent drug smuggling aircraft from entering Peruvian airspace. The agreement revives a bilateral security agreement with the US that was ended 20 years ago after Peruvian fighter jets downed a civilian aircraft with American missionaries aboard, killing one missionary and her infant daughter.

It will different this time, said Peruvian Defense Minister Jorge Chaves, who emphasized that any interdictions of aircraft under the agreement will be carried out through nonlethal means.

"With this, Peru will be able to exercise and use non-lethal air interdiction. Drug gangs and cartels are notified," said Alberto Otárola Peñaranda, President of the Council of Ministers. "The country will start an intense fight against the entry of illegal planes that violate our sky. We will act without contemplation to intercept them," he stressed.

Swiss Court Rules That Small Amounts of Drugs Should No Longer Be Confiscated. The Federal Tribunal, the country's highest court, ruled recently that people caught with "small amounts" of illicit drugs should be able to keep them. The decision came in a marijuana case, but is likely to also be applied to other drugs, such as cocaine, according to Swiss legal experts.

It is unclear, however, what "small amounts" means for different drugs. And it is important that the different cantons develop coordinated definitions and approaches since they are the government units that will implement the changes.

(This article was prepared by StoptheDrugWar.org's 501(c)(4) lobbying nonprofit, the Drug Reform Coordination Network, which also pays the cost of maintaining this website. DRCNet Foundation takes no positions on candidates for public office, in compliance with section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and does not pay for reporting that could be interpreted or misinterpreted as doing so.)

CA Initiative Would Have State Fund Psychedelic Research, Fentanyl Bills Pass Senate, More... (7/31/23)

A Georgia prosecutor's bid to seize a landlord's rural trailer beause a tenant got caught with meth gets thrown out of court, Colombia's president proposes buying up the coca crop, and more.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro proposes buying up the coca crop and turning it into fertilizer. (Creative Commons)
Opiates and Opioids

Two Fentanyl Bills Pass Senate as Part of Defense Spending Bill. The Senate approved the must-pass National Defense Authorization Act (S.2226) late last week. Because of its must-pass nature, the bill was loaded with other measures sponsors sought to get through the Congress, including a pair of fentanyl-related bills.

Sponsored by Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), the Eradicating Narcotic Drugs and Formulating Effective New Tools to Address National Yearly Losses of Life (END FENTANYL) Act (S.206) would require the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to regularly update its drug interdiction guidance. Currently, many CBP policies that outline drug interdiction practices are outdated and do not provide guidance on how to handle drugs such as fentanyl. Sponsored by Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), the Fentanyl Eradication and Narcotics Deterrence (FEND) Off Fentanyl Act, which would require the President to sanction drug rings involved in international drug trafficking, including suppliers in China and cartels from Mexico.

Psychedelics

California Initiative Would Fund Psychedelic Research to Tune of $5 Billion. A group calling itself TREAT California has filed a proposed initiative for the 2024 ballot that would allocate $5 billion for a new state agency that would fund and promote psychedelic research with an eye toward accelerating the progress toward federal legalization of certain psychedelics, such as psilocybin and ibogaine.

The campaign is not led by magic mushroom fans but by seasoned initiative campaigners. They want to create an agency they are calling the Treatment, Research, Education, Access and Therapies (TREAT) Institute to identify opportunities for advancing science into the therapeutic potential of psychedelics to address serious mental health conditions like depression and addiction.

"The TREAT Institute will not be a typical government agency; it will be an innovative, effective, and lean organization that will provide a consistent, sustainable funding source," the text of the proposed constitutional amendment says. "TREAT California is not a direct decriminalization or legalization effort; and it is not an initiative driven by an elected official," it continues. "Rather, it is a path for citizens to authorize legislative change."

Meanwhile, another initiative campaign already underway seeks to put psilocybin legalization on the 2024 ballot. That campaign recently got approval from the state to begin signature gathering.

Asset Forfeiture

Georgia Prosecutor's Bid to Seize Landlord's Property over Tenant's Drug Possession Rejected. An effort by the Ogeechee Circuit District Attorney's Office to seize the property of a landlord because of her tenant's arrest for drugs has gone up in flames. The tenant of a trailer and utility shed on a small rural property had been arrested on methamphetamine possession charges in January but has never been indicted or even had her case appear before a grand jury.

But prosecutors moved to seize the property through civil asset forfeiture even though the woman arrested was not the property owner. District Attorney Daphne Totten and ADA Barclay Black argued in the filing that the property is 'contraband and subject to forfeiture' because the property "was found in close proximity to the controlled substance, namely methamphetamine" and "was possessed, used, or available for use to facilitate a violation of the Georgia Controlled Substances Act."

The landlord responded that she was not privy to the criminal conduct, did not consent to the criminal conduct, did not know of the criminal conduct, could not have reasonably known that criminal conduct was going to occur, and thus the property should not be forfeited. The judge in the case agreed.

"No evidence was adduced at trial that Walker was privy to Keaveny's criminal conduct, consented to or had any knowledge of criminal conduct, had any reason to believe it would or was occurring, or derived any financial benefit from the conduct," Judge Roland Thompson wrote, dismissing the seizure request.

International

Colombia President Proposes Buying up Coca Crop to Use for Industrial Purposes. With the country's rural coca economy in crisis because of years of overproduction, President Gustavo Petro has proposed buying up the crop and using it to make fertilizer. He also called for strategies to boost infrastructure development for the project.

"And that is done with research and technology and the form has already been invented. The Government proposes at the national level in the regions with the highest production of coca leaf used in another way, to set up factories to buy that coca leaf and turn it into carbonless fertilizer, decarbonized fertilizer, or if we want another word, 'biofertilizers,' Petro said. "So, I propose to SENA [the National Training Institute] to see if with the Government we can put these industrial complexes of cooperatives, indigenous peoples and neighbors, in order to use the coca leaf in a different way, which is to produce fertilizer for food in Colombia, zero carbon. That is, in the conditions that are needed in the 21st Century," he added.

FL Supreme Court Marijuana Initiative Fight, Peru Coca Expansion, More... (7/26/23)

Singapore has executed one drug offender with another set for later this week, the Florida ACLU joins the fight for a marijuana legalization initiative, and more.

The gallows. Singapore's implement of choice for dealing with drug traffickers, even small-time ones. (Pixabay)
Marijuana Policy

Florida Supreme Court Grants AG's Request for More Time to Challenge Marijuana Legalization Initiative. The state Supreme Court on Monday granted a request from Attorney General Ashley Moody (R) for more time to challenge a marijuana legalization initiative from Smart & Safe Florida. She now has until August 2 to make her argument that the initiative does not meet state requirements to be on the November 2024 ballot.

Smart & Safe Florida opposed the seven-day extension, arguing instead for a two-day extension, but the Supreme Court gave Moody the whole seven days.

If the high court approves the initiative or fails to issue a ruling by April 1, 2024, would be set to appear on the November 2024 ballot. Since it takes the form of a constitutional amendment, it will need 60 percent of the vote to pass.

Florida ACLU Joins Fight Over Getting Marijuana Legalization Initiative on the Ballot. The ACLU of Florida filed a brief on Monday backing the Smart & Safe Florida marijuana legalization initiative and calling out the state Supreme Court for the way it has handled ballot initiatives in recent years, turning the process into an "acrobatic exercise."

"The ACLU is arguing that the Supreme Court now has a history over the last several years in Florida of striking down these initiatives," ACLU attorney Will Cooper said. "If the Supreme Court really does want to let the people speak and get out of the business of striking these initiatives down and acted by the people of Florida, I think they certainly have a sufficient basis to let it stand," he added.

In the past five years, the Supreme Court has reviewed nine initiatives, striking down four of them, as well as refusing to review another initiative, effectively killing it. In the five year period before that, the high court reviewed seven initiatives and struck down none of them.

International

Peru's Surging Cocaine Trade is Overrunning Remote Indigenous Territories. In Ucayali department, which is a lowland jungle region bordering Brazil, coca has arrived, and the trade is threatening the reserves of the isolated tribespeople who inhabit the area. It is an area largely bereft of state services, including an anemic state security apparatus, a situation that has created "an open door" for the drug trade, say drug experts and indigenous communities.

Coca production has expanded from the Valley of the Apurimac, Ene, and Mantaro Rivers (VRAEM) to far Ucayali, where land under cultivation has spiked nearly five-fold in the past five years. Nearly 35,000 acres of coca was grown on land belonging to some 295 native communities. Nationally, coca cultivation increased by 18 percent from 2021 to 2022.

"Ucayali has practically wide open borders and strategic positioning," said Frank Casas, an expert on Peru's drug trade. "Within the last three years, the region has become a high production area, and not only in terms of coca, but also in the production and commercialization of cocaine to international markets."

Singapore Hangs Drug Offender, Another Hanging Set for Friday. Singapore authorities hanged a 56-year-old man, Mohammed Aziz Hussain, after he was sentenced to death in 2018 for trafficking less than two ounces of heroin. And it is set to hang a woman, Saridewi Djamani, 45, on Friday for trafficking slightly more than an ounce of heroin in 2018.

The local Transformative Justice Collective and international human rights groups called on the government to halt the pending execution and end the resort to the death penalty. It had been under a moratorium during the coronavirus pandemic, but has returned with a vengeance last year with 15 drug offenders executed since then.

"Singaporean authorities must immediately stop these blatant violations of the right to life in their obsessive enforcement of misguided drug policies," Adilur Rahman Khan, secretary-general of the International Federation of Human Rights, said in a statement.

A joint statement by Transformative Justice Collective and other groups noted that Law Minister K. Shanmugam reportedly acknowledged in a 2022 interview that Singapore's harsh policy on drugs has not led to the arrest of the so-called drug kingpins.

"Instead of disrupting drug cartels… the government of Singapore deliberately retains capital drug laws that, in practice, operate to punish low-level traffickers and couriers, who are typically recruited from marginalized groups with intersecting vulnerabilities," the statement said.

CA Psychedelic Research Initiative, Colombia Coca Price Crash Causing Misery, More... (7/24/23)

Ab Ohio marijuana legalization initiative needs more signatures but has the time to get them, Singapore is set to hang two more drug offenders, and more.

A Colombia coca farmer. It is hard times in coca land. (DEA.gov)
Marijuana Policy

Ohio Marijuana Legalization Initiative Comes Up Short on Signatures, But Has Ten Days to Get More. A signature gathering campaign by the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol to put a legalization initiative on the November ballot came up 679 signatures short, according to Secretary of State Frank LaRose (R). The campaign, though, has through August 4 to come up with more.

"It looks like we came up a little short in this first phase, but now we have 10 days to find just 679 voters to sign a supplemental petition -- this is going to be easy, because a majority of Ohioans support our proposal to regulate and tax adult use marijuana," coalition spokesman Tom Haren said in a statement.

The initiative would allow adults 21 and over to buy and possess up to 2.5 ounces of cannabis and to grow plants at home. A 10% tax would support administrative costs, addiction treatment, municipalities with dispensaries and social equity and jobs programs.

Psychedelics

California Initiative Would Create State $5 Billion Psychedelic Agency. A campaign calling itself TREAT California is gearing up for a signature gathering campaign to put an initiative on the 2024 ballot that would create a $5 billion state agency to fund and promote psychedelic research to help speed the federal legalization of substances such as psilocybin and ibogaine.

The initiative would not legalize or decriminalize psychedelics in the state, but wants to create the Treatment, Research, Education, Access and Therapies (TREAT) Institute to look into the therapeutic potential of psychedelics to treat mental health conditions.

"The TREAT Institute will not be a typical government agency; it will be an innovative, effective, and lean organization that will provide a consistent, sustainable funding source," the text of the proposed initiative says. "TREAT California is not a direct decriminalization or legalization effort; and it is not an initiative driven by an elected official," it continues. "Rather, it is a path for citizens to authorize legislative change."

International

Colombia Coca Price Collapse Causing Rural Misery. Over the past two years, the farmgate price of coca has fallen by a third in Cauca department, while in neighboring Narino department, the price of coca paste has dropped from $975 a kilo to around $240.

As a result, a good number of the 400,000 coca-growing families in the country are facing collective impoverishment an acute social crisis. Food insecurity due to price inflation and forced displacements of people in search of brighter prospects are now common.

While there are multiple causes for the price drop, the most direct one appears the massive increase in coca cultivation between 2018 and 2021, which led to an oversupply that sank prices. In addition, cultivation has spread to other countries in South and Central America, and other synthetic drugs, such as fentanyl, have gained ground.

Singapore Set to Hang Two More Drug Convicts. The city-state is set to hang two people convicted of drug offenses this week, including a 56-year-old man convicted of trafficking under two ounces of heroin and a 45-years-old woman sentenced to death for an ounce and a half of heroin. She would be the first woman sent to the gallows in Singapore in nearly 20 years.

Singapore has some of the world's toughest drug laws, including the death penalty for more than 500 grams of marijuana or 15 grams of heroin. At least 13 people have been executed for drug offenses since the government ended a moratorium in place during the coronavirus pandemic.

Amnesty International called on the government to halt the executions: "It is unconscionable that authorities in Singapore continue to cruelly pursue more executions in the name of drug control," Amnesty's death penalty expert Chiara Sangiorgio said in a statement. "There is no evidence that the death penalty has a unique deterrent effect or that it has any impact on the use and availability of drugs. As countries around the world do away with the death penalty and embrace drug policy reform, Singapore's authorities are doing neither," Sangiorgio added.

DC Law Protecting Pot-Smoking Workers Now in Effect, Ghana Okay Hemp & MedMJ Production, More... (7/14/23)

A Minnesota Native American reservation will have marijuana for sale on the first day of legalization (unlike most of the rest of the state), the US government quietly quits monitoring coca cultivation in Colombia, and more.

The US has suspended its satellite monitoring of Colombian coca leaf cultivation. (Creative Commons)
Marijuana Policy

Minnesota Tribe Will Have Pot Shop Open on Day One of Legalization. The Red Lake Reservation already has an existing medical marijuana dispensary, and when marijuana legalization goes into effect on August 1, it will switch to adult-use recreational marijuana sales. For the vast majority of the state that is not sovereign Native American territory, adult-use sales are not expected until 2025, when the fledgling Office of Cannabis Management sets up a regulatory framework.

Under the state's new marijuana law, adults will be able to buy and possess up to two ounces in public. They will also be able to grow up to eight plants, with up to four of them in flowering state, and possess up to two pounds from their harvest.

DC Law Barring Employers from Punishing Most Workers for Marijuana Use Is Now in Effect. A Washington, DC, law that bans most private employers from firing or otherwise punishing workers for off-duty marijuana use went into effect Thursday. Mayor Muriel Bowser signed the bill into law exactly a year ago, and it survived a 60-day congressional review period. The new expands employment protections enjoyed by government workers who use medical marijuana by covering workers of private businesses. Some categories of workers are excluded, such as those safety-sensitive positions in construction, police officers, and people whose jobs require a commercial drivers license or work with childcare and patients.

The law will "prohibit employers from firing, failing to hire, or taking other personnel actions against an individual for use of cannabis, participating in the medical cannabis program, or failure to pass an employer-required or requested cannabis drug test, unless the position is designated safety sensitive or for other enumerated reasons."

Foreign Policy

Biden Administration Halts Satellite Monitoring of Colombian Coca Crops. Without explanation, the Biden administration has suspended satellite monitoring of coca crops in Colombia, a program the US has maintained for years. According to the State Department, the suspension is "temporary," but no timeline for resumption was given, nor was any reason for it articulated.

"We are constantly assessing the effectiveness of various counternarcotics efforts and make changes to our efforts as needed," a State Department spokesperson said. "We continue to work with the Government of Colombia on the monitoring of illicit coca crops."

The government of President Gustavo Petro has deemphasized coca crop eradication even as cocaine production in the country remains at record levels and is instead seeking to refocus law enforcement efforts away from the countryside and instead go after large scale traffickers and money launderers.

Congressional Republicans, some of whom have been calling for Colombia to be decertified for failing to cooperate in US anti-drug efforts, have said they are outraged by the move. "This is a gift to the Petro Administration," Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, the vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and a senior member of the Committee on Foreign Relations, said in a statement to The Associated Press. "It's another example of the Biden Administration giving concessions to far-left governments in the region."

President Petro has pushed back, saying the US would be best served by dealing with the fentanyl crisis, as well as noting that nothing is forever. "Things change. The structure of drug consumption is changing for the worse, reducing [US] demand for cocaine, which is starting to flow to other parts of the planet."

International

Ghana Parliament Approves Medical Marijuana, Hemp Production. The parliament has approved amending the Narcotics Control Commission law, clearing the way for cannabis cultivation for medicinal and industrial purposes. The Ministry of the Interior has been given the responsibility for regulating the nascent industry.

DeSantis Calls for Executing Drug Smugglers, Psychedelic Poll, More... (6/27/23)

The UN drug agency's annual report says cocaine is surging and meth is expanding worldwide, Peru's drug agency reports record levels of coca leaf production, and more.

Cocaine use is surging worldwide, says UNODC. (Creative Commons)
Psychedelics

Poll Finds Majority Support for Legalizing Psychedelic Therapy, Near-Majority for Psychedelic Decriminalization. A poll from the University of California-Berkeley's Center for the Science of Psychedelics released at the Denver Psychedelic Science conference finds that 61 percent of registered voters support "creating a regulated legal framework for the therapeutic use of psychedelics" and 49 percent said they supported decriminalizing the use and possession of psychedelic plants and fungi.

The poll also found that 78 percent of respondents backed making psychedelic research easier and 56 percent said they could support a medical model where psychedelics would have to be approved by the Food & Drug Administration and prescribed by a physician.

"This is the first clear picture we have of what the American public think and feel about psychedelics," BCSP Executive Director Imran Khan said in a press release. "The Berkeley Psychedelics Survey shows that the majority of American voters are interested in, and supportive of, the field. They want fewer barriers to research for scientists, and they want regulated, therapeutic access for the public."

Drug Policy

DeSantis Calls for Executing Drug Smugglers at the Border. Seeking to out-Trump Trump with aggressive border policy positions, Florida governor and GOP presidential nomination contender Ron DeSantis called Monday for a slew of harsh measures, including a plan to use "deadly force" against people trying to come through the border wall with drugs.

He called for "rules of engagement" allowing US personnel to kill people trying to do that. He said "of course" deadly force would be justified against people carrying drugs and showing "hostile intent," but he did not specify exactly what that meant.

"If you go, if you drop a couple of these cartel operatives trying to do that, you're not going to have to worry about that anymore," DeSantis told reporters.

"If someone was breaking into your house, you would repel them with the use of force, right?" DeSantis said. "But yet if they have drugs, these backpacks, and they're going in and they're cutting through an enforced structure, we're just supposed to let 'em in? You know, I say use force to repel them. If you do that one time, they will never do that again."

International

UN Report Says Global Cocaine Market Booming, Meth Trafficking Spreading. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) released its annual World Drug Report 2023 Sunday and reported that cocaine demand and supply are surging worldwide and methamphetamine trafficking is expanding to new markets.

Coca bush cultivation and total cocaine production were at record highs in 2021, the most recent year for which data is available, and the global number of cocaine users, estimated at 22 million that same year, is growing steadily, the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime said in its annual World Drug Report.

"The world is currently experiencing a prolonged surge in both supply and demand of cocaine, which is now being felt across the globe and is likely to spur the development of new markets beyond the traditional confines," the UNODC report said. "Although the global cocaine market continues to be concentrated in the Americas and in Western and Central Europe (with very high prevalence also in Australia), in relative terms it appears that the fastest growth, albeit building on very low initial levels, is occurring in developing markets found in Africa, Asia and South-Eastern Europe," it said.

While meth trafficking has been centered in two regions -- North America and East and Southeast Asia -- it is increasing in other areas such as the Middle East and West Africa. UNODC also mentioned meth production in Afghanistan, which may be a replacement for heroin production after the Taliban's opium ban.

Peru Coca Farming at Record Levels. The amount of land under coca leaf cultivation was at record levels last year after growing 18 percent over the previous year, the Peruvian anti-drug agency DEVIDA reported Monday. It said most of the increase was in protected lands and indigenous Amazon villages close to the borders with Brazil and Colombia. Altogether, 367 square miles were devoted to coca leaf production.

Cultivation has been increasing since 2015 and while coca leaf is used for traditional purposes in the country, DEVIDA said that 90 percent of the crop is destined to be turned into cocaine and fed into the global illicit drug trade. Peru vies with Colombia for the title of world's largest coca producer, with Bolivia in third place.

(This article was prepared by StoptheDrugWar.org's 501(c)(4) lobbying nonprofit, the Drug Reform Coordination Network, which also pays the cost of maintaining this website. DRCNet Foundation takes no positions on candidates for public office, in compliance with section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and does not pay for reporting that could be interpreted or misinterpreted as doing so.)

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