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SAFE Banking Act Committee Vote Coming Soon, BC Bans Drug Possession Near Parks, Playgrounds, More... (9/15/2023)

Fentanyl in stimulants like meth and cocaine is driving a fourth wave of opioid overdoses, Vancouver's pioneering safe injection site marks 20 years in service, and more.

The InSite safe injection site in Vancouver, which marks 20 years of operation this week. (PCS Community Services Society)
Marijuana Policy

Senate Banking Committee Set to Vote on SAFE Banking Act by Month's End. The Senate Banking Committee is set to vote on the SAFE Banking Act (S.1323) on September 27, "a Senate source familiar with the discussions" told Marijuana Moment Friday.

That source confirmed earlier media reports that the vote was coming. The date is not yet official, so it could change, but the expectation is that it will take place the week of September 25, the source said.

What amendments—if any—will be offered or adopted remains unclear, although there has been talk about revisions to a key section on broad banking regulations, as well as changes concerning Small Business Administration access and stock uplisting for the marijuana industry.

Drug Policy

Fentanyl-Adulterated Meth and Cocaine Is Driving a Fourth Wave of Drug Overdoses. A study published Thursday in the scientific journal Addiction finds that drug overdoses involving both fentanyl and cocaine or methamphetamine have increased 50-fold since 2010, now account for nearly one-third (32 percent) of all fatal overdoses and are responsible for some 35,000 deaths.

"We're now seeing that the use of fentanyl together with stimulants is rapidly becoming the dominant force in the U.S. overdose crisis," said Joseph Friedman, the lead author of the study and a researcher at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine. "Fentanyl has ushered in a polysubstance overdose crisis, meaning that people are mixing fentanyl with other drugs, like stimulants, but also countless other synthetic substances."

The authors described the phenomenon as a "fourth wave" of the ongoing opioid crisis that began with the rise in prescription opioids around the turn of the century, followed by the rise of heroin around 2010 as authorities tightened the screws on prescription opioid prescribing and the arrival of fentanyl around 2013.

International

Vancouver's Safe Injection Marks 20 Years in Operation This Week. Vancouver Coastal Health and the PHS Community Services Society, the two groups that run InSite, the city's pioneering safe injection site—the first one in North America—are celebrating 20 years of operation this week. On Friday, they met in front of the East Hastings Street location to commemorate the occasion.

"Insite was a really important step forward in terms of drug policy and harm reduction, and to be here 20 years after we opened, it just feels incredible," said Jeff West, manager of harm reduction for Vancouver Coastal Health. "Not only was Insite important to the community as a safe space, a symbol of a more progressive drug policy, it also is a really important public health intervention," said West.

PHS first set up InSite as an unsanctioned site and only later got permission from Health Canada to operate, but it has been there ever since. And it has done so with the approval of local, provincial, and federal authorities, as well as Vancouver Police and the Coastal Health Authority. It survived a challenge from the Conservative national government of Stephen Harper, which was slapped down by the Supreme Court.

"Insite saves lives. Its benefits have been proven," wrote Chief Justice Beverly McLachlin in her decision.

British Columbia to Ban Drug Use Near Parks and Playgrounds. The province has decriminalized the possession of personal use amounts of illicit drugs in a bid to get a grip on the overdose crisis, but now British Columbia Premier David Eby legislation is being drafted to ban drug use near parks and playgrounds.

The provincial Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions said Thursday that the federal government had approved the changes expanding the are where drug possession remains illegal.

Drug possession was already prohibited on school grounds and at child care facilities, but as of next Monday, it will also be prohibited within 15 meters of playgrounds, water parks, and skate parks.

Public intoxication remains a crime.

"I hope and expect that people, even when struggling with addiction, will understand the importance that we've all got to live in the community together, and if there's a place that's funded and safe and appropriate to use, that you should be going to that health-care site rather than to a site that's used by children," Premier Ebe said.

Mark Haden, an adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia's School of Population and Public Health, said in an interview Thursday that the province is "tweaking" its decriminalization policy "in response to some pushback from mayors who are saying 'this isn't working particularly well for us because it's disempowering the police.'"

Haden said the province's move is not "dealing with the real problem of prohibition." "We have a supply-chain problem that decriminalization isn't resolving," he said. "It's the supply-chain problem that's actually killing people."

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. 

Minneapolis Enacts Psychedelic Reform, Albania Legalizes Medical Marijuana, More... (7/24/23)

New York GOP politicos want to ban public pot smoking, California is paying meth users who test negative, and more.

Magic mushrooms are among the natural psychedelics that are now the lowest law enforcement priority in Minneapolis. (CC)
Marijuana Policy

New York Republicans Want to Ban Public Marijuana Use. Republican state lawmakers are calling for a ban on public marijuana smoking and have proposed a bill, Assembly Bill 7612, that seeks to achieve that end by allowing local governments to put bans in place at the county or municipal level. The bill also would require local governments to affirmatively act to allow public marijuana use.

"State residents, including children, are now regularly assailed with the pungent odor of marijuana on public sidewalks, in parking lots and other public spaces," said Sen. George Borrello (R), sponsor of the Senate version of the bill (Senate Bill 7604). "Many New Yorkers don't want to be exposed to either the effects of marijuana smoke or its smell and don't want their children subjected to it."

The Republican bills seek fines of up to $125 for public marijuana consumption.

Drug Treatment

California Fights Meth Addiction with Gift Cards. After receiving a waiver from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the state is beginning a pilot program in 24 counties to treat methamphetamine dependency by contingency management, a non-pharmaceutical intervention that reduces use by paying program participants who stay off the drug. Successful participants get gift cards for not testing positive for meth.

Without the federal waiver, the program had been blocked because the state could not cover the costs of the program. California is the first state in the nation to obtain such a waiver.

Among the localities participating in the pilot program are Los Angeles, Sacramento, and San Francisco. In the latter city, Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital opened enrollment for the pilot program last week and ultimately seeks to serve 50 participants. They will be tested once or twice a week and will receive a $10 gift card each time they test negative, up to $599. That's the limit because payments of $600 or more need to be reported to the Internal Revenue Service.

A similar program in the Department of Veterans Affairs has been ongoing since 2011 and has proven successful.

Psychedelics

Minneapolis Mayor Makes Psychedelics Lowest Law Enforcement Priority. Mayor Jacob Frey (DFL) last Friday issued an executive order making the use and possession of certain psychedelic drugs the lowest law enforcement priority. That makes the city the latest major city after Denver, Detroit, and Washington, DC, to adopt a more permissive stance toward psychedelics. A number of smaller cities have also enacted psychedelic reforms.

Frey said he hoped the move would contribute to national rethinking of prohibitionist drug laws and that it would draw attention to the role plant-based psychedelics can play for people dealing with depression, trauma and addiction.

"We have a mass proliferation of deaths of despair," he said, citing the nation's high rates of suicide and opioid abuse. "This is something that is known to help."

International

Albania Parliament Approves Medical Marijuana. The parliament last Friday voted 69-23 to legalize marijuana for medical purposes. It is not clear how it will be regulated, but the government believes legalizing it can boost tax revenues.

The country had been a leading illegal marijuana producing country in Europe, but after a police officer was killed raiding a marijuana operation in 2014, the government instituted a crackdown on the black market, which at the time accounted for more than two-thirds of the country's gross national product.

Amsterdam Bans Outdoor Pot Smoking in Red Light District, AK Drug Sentencing Bill Advances, More... (5/15/23)

The House passes a bill to fund research into the veterinary-drug-turned-fentanyl-supplement Xylazine, a former Filipina president introduces a medical marijuana bill, and more.

You're going to have to go inside if you want to smoke pot in Amsterdam's Red Light District. (Creative Commons)
Drug Policy

House Passes Bill to Fund Research into Xylazine. The veterinary drug Xylazine, also known as Tranq, has entered illicit drug markets, leaving behind a toll of disease, amputations, and overdoses. Now, the House has responded by passing H.R. 1374, the Tranq Research Act. The bill would fund research into the drug at the National Institute of Science and Technology. Companion legislation in the Senate, S.1280, is currently before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. Meanwhile, another effort to address Xylazine by making it a Schedule III controlled substance, S.993, is before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Alaska House Approves Bill to Increase Drug Distribution Sentences. The House last Thursday approved House Bill 66, which would increase penalties for people who distribute fentanyl, other opioids, and methamphetamine. The bill would allow for second degree murder charges for people who distribute those drugs if someone suffers a fatal overdose on them. Previously, people only faced a manslaughter charge. A second degree murder conviction has a maximum 99-year prison sentence. The bill also increases penalties for people who distribute a broad class of drugs, including Adderall and psychedelic mushroom, to people under 19 and incapacitated people. The bill is now before the Senate Judiciary Committee and must pass the full Senate this week because the session ends at the end of this week.

International

Amsterdam Bans Outdoor Pot Smoking in Red Light District. The city council has announced that as of mid-May, the city's famous Red Light District, home to legal prostitution and numerous cannabis coffeeshops, is going smoke-free when it comes to marijuana. That means pot smoking will be restricted to the cannabis cafes, but the council also said he could extend the ban to outdoor seating areas of the cannabis cafes if necessary. The move is part of the city's effort to create a more calm and comfortable environment for residents, who have been complaining for years about the high volume of tourists in the city center -- about 18 million annually. The council also mandated that sex workers shut down by 3:00am instead of 6:00am and that bars and restaurants will have to close at 2:00am on weekdays and 4:00am on weekends. Also, liquor outlets in the central city will be barring from selling alcohol from 4:00pm Thursday through Sunday.

Philippines Medical Marijuana Bill Filed. Former president and current Senior Deputy House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and former House speaker Pantaleon Alvarez have joined forces to file House Bill 7187, which would legalize marijuana for medical purposes. The measure is identical to a medical marijuana bill she filed in the previous congress. That bill never got a House floor vote.

"I really believe in medical cannabis. As you know I have my problem here (cervical spine) and when I'm in a country that allows it, I put on a pain patch, but here in the Philippines I cannot do it," Maccapagal-Arroyo said. "I authored that bill because I believe that it can help me and many other people, but there was a lot of objection to the bill from the House and from the Senate. That's why we are just letting the legislative process take its course," she explained.

DEA Extends Telehealth for Buprenorphine, Colombia Legal Pot Bill Advances to Senate, More... (5/10/23)

Washington State bans discrimination against potential new hires over off-the-job marijuana use, Senate drug warriors file a bill aimed at counterfeit pills, and more.

Legal marijuana is one step closer in Colombia after it won approval in the Chamber of Representatives. (irin.org)
Marijuana Policy

Washington Becomes Latest State to Ban Pre-Employment Tests for Marijuana. Gov. Jay Inslee (D) has signed into law Senate Bill 5123, which bars employers from using a positive test for marijuana to disqualify potential new hires. As of January 1, 2024, it will be "unlawful for an employer to discriminate against a person in the initial hiring for employment if the discrimination is based upon: (a) The person's use of cannabis off the job and away from the workplace; or (b) An employer-required drug screening test that has found the person to have non-psychoactive cannabis metabolites in their hair, blood, urine, or other bodily fluids." Employers can, however, still punish employees for positive marijuana test results even if the use was off-the-job and there are exemptions for certain safety-sensitive employers.

Drug Policy

DEA Extends Pandemic Telehealth Prescribing Rules, Including for Buprenorphine. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has extended under November 11 rules created during the pandemic that allow for the prescribing of controlled substances via telehealth. The agency says it will make a final decision on whether to make the changes permanent before the current extension expires. The rule has drawn the interest of drug reformers because it allows for telehealth access to buprenorphine, which is used to treat opioid use disorder.

Senators File Bill to Attack Counterfeit Pill Production. Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control co-chair Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA), Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), and Sen. Maggie Hasan (D-NH) have filed a bill that seeks to halt a surge in counterfeit pills containing methamphetamine, fentanyl, or fentanyl analogues, the Stop Pills that Kill Act.

The bill does not mandate new or increased criminal penalties but requires the DEA to come up with a plan to address the problem within 180 days and requires the agency, the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP -- the drug czar's office), and the attorney general to file an annual report "on information regarding the collection and prosecutions of counterfeit fentanyl and methamphetamine substances." The bill would, however, "ensure that existing penalties for possessing paraphernalia used to manufacture methamphetamine would also apply to possessing paraphernalia used to make counterfeit pills that contain methamphetamine, fentanyl and fentanyl analogues."

The bill is endorsed by a variety of anti-drug groupings, including the National Narcotic Officers' Associations Coalition, Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America, Song for Charlie, Victims of Illicit Drugs, Major Cities Chiefs Association and National District Attorneys' Association. But the bill's purpose, if not its precise language, could be consistent with the harm reduction approach as well, in in this case by helping drug users avoid taking pills that they think are one thing but are really another.

International

Colombia Chamber of Representatives Approves Marijuana Legalization; Bill Now Heads to Senate for Final Votes. A marijuana legalization bill has won final approval in the Chamber of Representatives and now heads to the Senate, where it must win a committee vote before heading for a final Senate floor vote. The bill passed the lower chamber by a vote of 98-57. A legalization bill passed both chambers last year but since it is in the form of a constitutional amendment, it has to be passed by both chambers in two separate calendar years.

Meth-Related Deaths Skyrocketed in 20 Years, MS Bill Would Ban "Gas Station Heroin," More... (2/22/23)

The Minnesota marijuana legalization bill continues to advance, so does a North Carolina medical marijuana bill, and more.

Products containing the unscheduled anti-depressant tianeptin, AKA "gas station heroin." (WZDK screen grab)
Marijuana Policy

Minnesota Marijuana Legalization Bill Wins One More Committee Vote. The bill, House File 100, won its 10th House committee vote Tuesday, passing out of the House Finance and Policy Committee. Meanwhile, the companion bill in the Senate is before the Health and Human Services Committee, which acted on several amendments but ran out of time before finishing its work on the bill for the day.

Medical Marijuana

North Carolina Medical Marijuana Bill Advances in Senate. A year after the Senate approved a medical marijuana bill only to see it die in the House, the bill, Senate Bill 3, is back and moving again. The measure passed the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. The bill now heads to two more committees, the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Rules and Operations Committee before heading for a Senate floor vote. Although the House last year declined to take up the measure, the Republican House Speaker, Rep. Tim Moore, has suggested that the bill could pass with "the right restrictions." The bill would allow medical marijuana for a list of specified medical conditions and an advisory board could expand that list.  

Anti-Depressants

Mississippi Bill Would Ban Anti-Depressant Known as "Gas Station Heroin." The anti-depressant drug tianeptine, which works as an opioid agonist, is being sold as a "dietary supplement" in pill form in products such as Za Za and Tianaa. The drug is not sold as a pharmaceutical product or scheduled in the US, but a bill that would ban it, House Bill 4 has passed the House and is pending in the Senate. It would make it a schedule one drug, effectively banning it. Some state residents blame it for deaths, although it is unclear whether it is actually to blame.

Methamphetamine

Meth-Related Deaths Skyrocketed in Past 20 Years, But Most Also Involved Opioids. A new study from the University of Illinois finds that methamphetamine-related deaths increased a staggering 50-fold between 1999 and 2021, but that most of those deaths also involved heroin or fentanyl. In 1999, 608 deaths were attributed to meth. By 2021, the number had skyrocketed to nearly 52,400. In 2021, 61 percentof fatal meth overdoses also involved heroin or fentanyl, "The staggering increase in methamphetamine-related deaths in the United States is largely now driven by the co-involvement of street opioids," said lead researcher Rachel Hoopsick, an assistant professor of epidemiology at UI. "Mixing methamphetamine and opioids isn’t a new phenomenon. Although there has been an increase in the popularity of using these types of substances together, what has truly changed is the toxicity of the unregulated street drug supply, predominantly of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids. I believe that this is the primary driver of the increase in deaths."

Biden Lays Out Plan to Tackle Fentanyl, Myanmar Meth Production, More... (2/8/23)

That Minnesota marijuana legalization bill keeps advancing, another senator joins the call for the drug czar to be reinstated to a cabinet-level position, and more.

The president used his state of the union address to lay out a plan to fight fentanyl and opioid overdoses. (whitehouse.gov)
Marijuana Policy

Minnesota Marijuana Legalization Bill Wins Yet Another Committee Vote. The marijuana legalization bill continues to advance, with the House version, House File 100, winning its seventh committee vote Tuesday in a voice vote at the Workforce Development Finance and Policy Committee. Meanwhile, the Senate version of the bill won its fourth committee vote earlier in the week. But after all those committee votes, the bills are still only about halfway through the committee process. Still, Democratic lawmakers and Gov. Tim Walz (D) are confident the measure will become law before the summer is over.

Drug Policy

At State of the Union, Biden Lays Out Plan to Tackle Fentanyl and Opioid Overdose Epidemic. President Biden outlined his plan "to beat the opioid epidemic" by "disrupting the trafficking, distribution, and sale of fentanyl." That will include increased enforcement at points of entry, intercepting more packages of fentanyl coming through package delivery companies, working diplomatically to address the supply chain abroad, and increasing penalties for fentanyl suppliers. Biden also calling for "expanding access to evidence-based prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery," by delivering more naloxone, ensuring there is more drug treatment in jails and prisons, and expanding access to medications for opioid use disorder.

Another Senator Joins Call for Drug Czar to Be Reinstated as Cabinet Officer. Sen Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) has joined the list of senators and representatives calling on the Biden administration to restore the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP—the drug czar's office) to a cabinet-level position. "Elevating the post would enable ONDCP to more effectively coordinate drug control efforts across federal agencies and enhance the Biden administration’s response the opioid epidemic, a public health crisis that killsmore than 100,000 Americans each year." She joins Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), a member of the U.S. Commission on Combating Synthetic Opioid Trafficking, and Representatives David Trone (D-MD), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), and Annie Kuster (D-NH), co-chairs of the Bipartisan Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Task Force, who sent a letter to the White House last week urging the drug czar's reinstatement.

International

Myanmar Now a Leading Methamphetamine Producer. Long known for its opium production, Myanmar is now a leading global producer of methamphetamine, according to academic researchers, who cite massive meth seizures in the region (more than 170 tons) and point to armed groups who used to rely on opium revenues switching to meth production after government crackdowns on the poppy. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime puts the value of the regional meth trade at $61 billion a year, and the researchers say organized crime groups are trafficking Myanmar meth to "high value markets," such as Australia, Japan, and New Zealand. 

The Top Ten International Drug Policy Stories of 2022 [FEATURE]

Here is the good, the bad, and the ugly in international drug policy developments in 2022. (Read about 2022's good, bad and ugly in domestic drug policy here.)

1. The Taliban Bans Opium

With the withdrawal of US and coalition forces and subsequent rapid collapse of the Afghan government in August 2001, the Taliban once again took power in Kabul. During its earlier rule, it banned opium cultivation in 1997 (with little impact) and again in 2000. But after the Taliban was overthrown in late 2001, the country saw two decades of massive opium production, making Afghanistan the world's leading supplier of opium and heroin, accounting for more than 80 percent of global supply throughout this century.

Upon resuming its control of the country, the Taliban once again instituted a ban on opium cultivation, making a formal announcement of a ban in April 2022. Even now, at the end of the year, it is too early to tell how serious the Taliban are or how effective the ban will be, although UN Special Representative in Afghanistan Roza Otunbayeva reported in December that there is evidence the ban is being implemented. "Fields planted before and after the declaration have been destroyed," she said. "We will not be able to verify the actual implementation of this ban until early next year but the intention behind it is commendable. Nonetheless, the ban will have a negative effect on the income of individual farmers as few alternative livelihood programs were put in place."

This year, though, the opium crop is "the most profitable in years," the UN reported in November, with cultivation up by nearly a third and prices soaring because of the looming ban. Sowing of the 2023 crop was supposed to be done by November, and it is unclear how much uncertainty about how the ban will be enforced has affected the sowing of the crop. The answer will come in the spring when it is harvest time for the poppy crop.

2. Colombia Elects a Former Guerrilla Drug War Critic as President

In an election that has overturned a decades-long status quo in Colombian politics and threatens to upend US-Colombia relations, former leftist guerrilla and Bogota Mayor Gustavo Petro won the presidency in June. He beat his competitor, Trumpian businessman Rodolfo Hernández, by a margin of 50.44% to 47.03%.

Petro is a harsh critic of the US-imposed war on drugs, which he says has cost a million Latin American lives even as the US has spent $20 billion since the days of Plan Colombia to wage a drug war entwined with a vicious counterinsurgency. That spending may have helped drive the leftist guerrillas of the FARC to the negotiating table -- a peace accord was signed in 2016 -- but it has not stopped the coca and cocaine trade, which is now undergoing a boom.

After Petro's election, but before he took office in August, a truth commission appointed as part of the 2016 peace accords called for the government to quit focusing on suppressing illicit drugs and instead take the global lead in moving to "strict legal regulation" of those substances. It recommended a new approach to illicit drug production that focuses more on sustainable development and less on the eradication of coca. The commission's recommendations are non-binding, but Petro has said he will follow them.

Petro has been in office for less than six months, but he already held a first assembly of coca growers and called for a regional assembly to discuss hemispheric drug policy. He has also angered the US by vowing not to extradite drug traffickers, and threatening to move toward cocaine decriminalizationand ban the spraying of coca fields with herbicides.

Cocaine decriminalization is not happening yet, but marijuana legalization is. A legalization bill has passed the House and Senate, clearing the way for final votes early next year. Look for Colombia to continue to steer a course away from drug war orthodoxy as the Petro presidency continues.

3. Duterte Leaves Office but His Philippine Drug War Legacy Lingers

Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte became ex-president Duterte in June, having finished his six-year term and leaving a legacy of bloody drug war killings. The Philippines National Police have officially admitted killing more than 6,200, but human rights groups put the total toll of dead in Duterte's drug war at around 30,000, with many killed by shadowy vigilantes.

The widespread drug killings under Duterte were condemned by Western governments and human rights groups and sparked an investigation by the International Criminal Court as a possible crime against humanity.

Duterte's successor, President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., the son of the deposed former dictator, is attempting to portray his own drug policies as distinct from Duterte's lethal efforts, but he's made clear that he is not planning to undertake a policy change, his claim to focus on rehabilitation has yet to substantially materialize, and the government's few current "drug rehabilitation" programs are involuntary, coercive, and expose drug users to further stigma.

And Philippines police are continuing to kill people in the name of fighting drugs, albeit at a lower level than during the Duterte era. In November, police tried to claim the death toll was "very minimal," saying only 46 people had been killed since June 30, when Marcos took office. But the government's habit of lying, obstructing, and obfuscating, so well developed under Duterte, appears to remain intact under Marcos. An independent estimate from the University of the Philippines Third World Studies Center put the actual number of people killed in drug war incidents at 127, nearly three times the police number.

4. Mexico's Drug War Continues Unabated

Four years into his six-year term, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) is having no more luck with his "kisses not bullets" approach to his country's violent drug trafficking organizations than his predecessors did with their various efforts to rein in the so-called cartels. After four years of AMLO, the country has seen 140,000 murders, most of them committed by the cartels. That is a 61 percent increase over the same four-year period under his immediate predecessor, Enrique Pena Nieto.

AMLO has also scrapped the Federal Police, replacing them with the National Guard, which he wants to fold into the armed forces. In a worrying sign, the military is now shouldering more and more of the overall responsibility for dealing with violent.

And it is not working. The competing cartels periodically take a respite from trying to kill each other and go to work terrorizing the state and its agents, as was the case in August and September, when the cartels and allied gangs rampaged across four states, shutting down roads and businesses, burning vehicles and businesses, and attacking police and troops, including a stunning series of attacks in Tijuana.

Meanwhile, the cartels continue to work away assiduously at their main enterprise: exporting massive amounts of methamphetamine and fentanyl into the United States.

5. Canada's British Columbia Wins Approval for Drug Decriminalization

Faced with an intractable drug overdose problem, British Columbia, long a leader in progressive approaches to drug policy, in October 2021 requested an exemption from the federal Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to allow it to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of drugs such as cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine. Health Canada granted that exemption in June 2022.

The new measure goes into effect on January 31, 2023 and will extend three years to January 31, 2026. Under the decrim plan, possession of up to 2.5 grams of those drugs (cumulatively) will not result in arrest or confiscation of the drugs. While decriminalization is a first in Canada, activists in Vancouver and throughout the province are critical of the low weight limits and of the fact that minors will continue to be arrested regardless of the weight of the drugs they are carrying.

British Columbia's pending drug decriminalization will be first for Canada, but it's not the first in North America. Mexico decriminalized drug possession in 2009 and Oregon voters decriminalized drug possession in 2020.

6. Saudi Arabia Resumes Death Penalty for Drug Offenses

After halting executions of drug offenders in January 2020, Saudi Arabia suddenly and without warning resumed them on November 10. Two weeks later, it announced that 20 men had been executed for drug offenses. Dozens of people remain on death row for drug offenses and face imminent execution.On November 22, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights urged the Saudi government to halt the imminent execution of one drug prisoner and called on the Saudi authorities to adopt an official moratorium on executions for drug-related offenses, commute death sentences for drug-related offences, and guarantee the right to a fair trial for all defendants, including those accused of committing such crimes, in line with the law and its international obligations.

Nearly three dozen NGOS led by the European Saudi Organization for Human Rights, Harm Reduction International, and the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty have called on the International Narcotics Control Board and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to act on urgent measures in response to the series of drug-related executions carried out by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia since November 10.

Globally, 146 countries, including 20 member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, have abolished the death penalty. The United Nations does not consider drug offenses to be among the most "serious" crimes that would warrant the death penalty, and resort to the death penalty for such offenses contradicts the standards of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the International Narcotics Control Board.

7. Pakistan Moves to End Death Penalty for Drug Offenses

At year's end, Pakistan's lower house, the National Assembly, passed the Control of Narcotic Substances Amendment Bill 2022, which abolishes the death sentence for drug dealing and converts it into a life sentence. The bill comes as the country has seen a spate of executions for different sorts of offenses since 2014, when it lifted a six-year moratorium on the death penalty in the wake of a terrorist attack on an army school that left 132 children dead.

The vote came just weeks after Saudi Arabia's execution of three Pakistani nationals when it suddenly resumed drug executions in November.

Earlier in the year, the Senate Standing Committee on Anti-Narcotics approved keeping the death penalty for certain trafficking offenses, but in September, President Arif Alvia approved the amendment allowing for life sentences instead.

8. Russia Weaponizes Its Draconian Drug Laws to Turn American Athlete Brittney Griner into a New Cold War Political Pawn

Russia has long used its draconian drug laws against its own citizens, including dissidents, but this year the Kremlin was able to deploy them as a means of pressuring the United States when Russian customs officials arrested American women's basketball star on drug trafficking charges as she entered the country to play off-season pro ball a week before Russian troops invaded Ukraine.

Russia has theoretically adopted the decriminalization of small-scale drug possession, but officers commonly find just enough of a drug to file criminal charges, as was the case with Griner. Although Griner was found with vape cartridges containing less than a gram of medically-recommended cannabis oil, she was charged not with drug possession but with smuggling "a significant amount" of proscribed drugs, a crime that carries a prison sentence of up to ten years.

She was duly convicted in a Russian court and sentenced to 9 ½ years in a Russian prison, creating an embarrassment and distraction for the Biden administration, which faced mounting pressure to win her release. After months of behind-the-scenes negotiations, a prisoner swap was announced, and Griner was released in December in exchange for convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who had been sentenced to a minimum of 25 years in prison in 2011 (after already serving three years in pretrial detention).

9. European Countries Move Down Path to Marijuana Legalization

Late last year, Malta became the first European country to legalize marijuana, and this year, several other countries have been taking steps along the same path. In June, Luxembourg move to enact marijuana reforms, although it has retreated from "legalization" to "regulation," and is proposing the decriminalization of up to three grams of marijuana and allowing the cultivation of up to four plants at home. The government had originally proposed full-blown commercial legalization back in 2018 and says that still remains its goal.

In October, Germany unveiled its marijuana legalization plan. The health ministry rolled out a plan that includes the decriminalization of the possession of up to 30 grams of marijuana as well as allowing for the sale of marijuana to adults in a regulated marketplace. The German government will also consult with the European Union's executive commission to ensure that the legalization plan complies with EU laws and will move forward "on this basis" only if the EU approves.

And in November, the Czech Republic began drafting a marijuana legalization bill. The country has already legalized medical marijuana and decriminalized the possession of up to 10 grams of marijuana for adult use, but the country's center-right governing coalition has now begun the process of a drafting a full marijuana legalization bill. The issue was pushed by the Czech Pirate Party, the smallest member of the governing coalition, which said legalization would "make the Czech Republic a freer country" and "bring billions into public budgets."

10. Thailand Kind of, Sort of Legalizes Marijuana

In June, the Thai government removed marijuana from the country's narcotics list, allowing people to grow all the weed they want and freeing more than 3,000 marijuana prisoners. But the law only legalizes marijuana extracts containing less than 0.2 percent THC, meaning that while people can grow all the plants they want, consuming what they produce will remain technically illegal, as is the case with sales now.

But that has not stopped the use and sale of full-potency marijuana. What began as a flowering of edibles and tinctures shops in June has now morphed into a full-blown recreational marijuana scene, with thousands of dispensaries of dubious legality and the government impotently warning a tide of marijuana tourists they are not welcome.

The government's marijuana moves have been confusing and controversial, and the government is attempting to bring some order to the situation with a 95-article Marijuana Bill that seeks to regulate gray areas around cultivation, consumption, and sales. That bill is expected to be passed before the country's next general in May.

NYPD Busts Unlicensed Pot Trucks, Meth Use/Arrests/OD Deaths All Up in Recent Years, More... (8/18/22)

Nevada's Supreme Court rules against employees who smoke marijuana, Ireland is about to see its first pilot drug checking program, and more.

The Electric Picnic festival in Ireland. This year, there will be onsite drug checking. (Creative Commons)
Marijuana Policy

Nevada High Court Rules Recreational Marijuana Is Not "Lawful Off-Duty Conduct." In a decision last Thursday, the state Supreme Court ruled that recreational marijuana use is not "lawful off-duty conduct" in upholding the firing of a Las Vegas casino dealer who tested positive for marijuana. State employment law provides protections for "lawful off-duty conduct," but the court held that since marijuana remains federally illegal, its use can not be considered "lawful off-duty conduct" in the casino dealer's wrongful termination claim. The ruling means that Nevada employers are free to fire or refuse to hire workers who use marijuana.

New York City Cracks Down on Unlicensed Weed-Selling Trucks. The NYPD said it seized 20 trucks used to sell unlicensed marijuana on Tuesday. "If you are looking to buy illegal cannabis from the Weed World Bus located on 5th Avenue & 40th Street it is no longer open for business," NYPD Chief of Patrol Jeffrey Maddrey tweeted. "We do not anticipate it opening for business anytime soon!" The state legalized marijuana in 2021 but has yet to see legal commercial sales. In the meantime, unlicensed vendors have emerged to serve the market. NYPD said the seizures were part of efforts to address quality of life issues, but some New Yorkers may feel their quality of life is reduced if they can't find a place to buy weed.

Methamphetamine

Meth Use, Arrests, and Overdose Deaths Rose Sharply in Recent Years. A new report from the Pew Trusts finds sharply increasing methamphetamine use, arrests, and overdose deaths in the period from 2015 to 2019. Pew said the results "highlight the need for improved responses to a worsening public health problem." Arrests for meth possession jumped 59 percent, meth use was up 22 percent, meth use as a substance-abuse disorder was up 37 percent, and meth-related overdose deaths more than doubled.

"The general response to these trends highlights a reliance on the criminal legal system that has often proved costly and ineffective," Pew said. "Meaningful reductions in drug possession arrests and drug-related deaths may not be achieved without shifting to a public health response that prioritizes evidence-based approaches to treatment and harm reduction." Meth use varies from state, with 16 states reporting at least one in a 100 adults reporting past year use. The states with the highest rates were Arizona, Montana, and West Virginia.

International

Ireland to See Pilot Drug Checking Program at Music Festival, At the Electric Picnic Festival the first weekend of September, the Health Service Executive will operate the country's first pilot drug checking program. Users will deposit drugs in bins for chemical analysis, and if a sample is found to create cause for concern -- say, for unusually high potency or the presence of dangerous adulterants -- authorities will issue warning via social media.

"I am pleased to launch this new project as part of our efforts to reduce drug-related harm in Ireland," says HSE National Clinical Lead, Professor Eamon Keenan. "We are currently very concerned about the emergence of new psychoactive substances and high potency substances which pose a threat to health. This project will provide us with vital information that we otherwise can't access in real time. While this is a progression, the HSE messaging will remain clear, it is safer not to use drugs at all. For those who choose to, they should still follow the practical steps recommended by the HSE to reduce the harms. We will issue a series of health information on social media before and during the event, I encourage the public to follow drugs.ie and engage with our teams at Electric Picnic. It is important to note that our results will only be representative of what is submitted and this will not guarantee the safety of drugs across the drug market."

CO Pot Sales Declining for Months, Biden Orders More Colombia Drug War, More... (8/11/22)

An Ohio harm reduction group is suing a state board over how $400 million in opioid settlement money is spent, an Uruguayan meth bust signals a possible shift in drug trafficking between Europe and South America, and more.

Joe Biden and new Colombian President Petro are not on the same page when it comes to drug policy. (Creative Commons)
Marijuana Policy

Colorado Marijuana Sales Decline for Fourth Straight Month. For the fourth month in a row, marijuana sales in Colorado have declined. Sales in June were just $146 million, a 1% decline from the previous month, but a 22% decline from June 2021. So far this year, pot shops sold more than $906 million worth of weed, down from $1.1 billion during the same period last year. This is not the first time there has been a four-month decline in sales; it also happened between August and November 2020. The state has collected more than $30 million in sales tax revenues in only two months so far this year. It collected more than $30 million every month last year.

Opioids

Ohio Harm Reduction Group Sues State Board Over Opioid Settlement Money. Harm Reduction Ohio has filed a lawsuit against a foundation set up by the state to spend more than $400 million that it won in settlements with opioid makers and distributors for drug treatment programs. The lawsuit demands that the foundation, the OneOhio Recovery Foundation, be more transparent about how it will spend that money. The state received $808 million in settlements, and the OneOhio Recovery Foundation gets half. (The rest goes to state and local governments.)

Harm Reduction Ohio President Dennis Cauchon said the foundation's board is not following the state's open meetings law, and that could lead to future problems. "I say preschedule the indictments because in year eleven, if you've got $100 million to spend in a year, don't have to follow ethics law, you can spend on whatever you want," Cauchon said. "It's a formula for cronyism written all over it."

Cauchon also cited the board's makeup, which consists of appointees of Gov. Mike DeWine (R), state lawmakers, and local government leaders, saying it's important to include people with treatment and recovery program experience. "The combination of people in this case needs to include people who have suffered from opioids, the reason this money exists, and they have essentially been excluded entirely," Cauchon said. "If you don't know the population and you don't know the issue, you can't spend a half billion dollars wisely."

Foreign Policy

Biden Orders Continuation of Colombian Drug Interdiction Assistance. President Joe Biden has issued a memo directing the State and Defense departments to continue assisting Colombia to interdict aircraft "reasonably suspected to be primarily engaged in illicit drug trafficking in that country's airspace," given the "extraordinary threat posed by illicit drug trafficking to the national security of that country." The president noted that Colombia "has appropriate procedures in place to protect against innocent loss of life in the air and on the ground in connection with such interdiction," and which includes "effective means to identify and warn an aircraft before the use of force is directed against the aircraft." The memo was issued Wednesday, just three days after Colombian President Gustavo Petro was sworn-in. Petro has called the US-led war on drugs "a complete failure and has pledged to maintain a ban on spraying coca crops with the herbicide glyphosate, putting the two countries at odds around drug policy.

International

Uruguay Makes Historic Seizure of European Meth. Uruguayan authorities seized 43 kilograms of methamphetamine on August 5 in what is believed to be the largest-ever shipment of European meth to reach Latin America. It is a bust that marks a potential shift in the trade in synthetic drugs between the two continents. Underground labs in Europe have traditionally shipped MDMA to Latin America (among other markets), while Europe has imported cocaine and methamphetamine from Latin America. But Mexican chemists may have accompanied Mexican meth going to Europe and shared their manufacturing skills with underground chemists there. Europe's meth production is still small compared to the mountains of meth produced in Mexico, but it is now competing in South American markets. And because of high prices for European meth, it is likely it is being traded for cocaine destined for Europe.

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