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Health Canada Postponing Decision on Vancouver Safe Injection Site

Localização: 
Vancouver, BC
Canada
Publication/Source: 
Health Canada
URL: 
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ahc-asc/media/nr-cp/2006/2006_85_e.html

Drug Users Go to Court to Keep Safe Injection Site Open

Press Release – For Immediate Release, August 31, 2006 Drug Users go to Court to keep Safe Injection Site Open Vancouver – The Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU) will seek an injunction in BC Supreme Court to prevent the federal government from closing Insite, North America’s first safe injection site. Scientific research in the world’s leading medical journals has established Insite as a success in reducing the harms associated with injection drug use in Canada’s poorest neighbourhood. Despite widespread support however, the Conservative government has refused to confirm that they will renew the permit for the site, due to expire September 12, 2006. A press conference providing details of the lawsuit and injunction application will be held: Friday, September 1, 2006 1pm to 2pm Carnegie Centre Auditorium 410 Main Street, Vancouver VANDU is represented by John Conroy, Q.C., a director of Pivot Legal Society and a well-known senior member of the Bar. ------------------------------------------------------- About Pivot Legal Society Pivot’s mandate is to take a strategic approach to social change, using the law to address the root causes that undermine the quality of life of those most on the margins. We believe that everyone, regardless of income, benefits from a healthy and inclusive community where values such opportunity, respect and equality are strongly rooted in the law.
Localização: 
Vancouver, BC
Canada

State of Siege: Drug-Related Violence and Corruption in Mexico

Localização: 
Mexico
Publication/Source: 
Washington Office on Latin America
URL: 
http://www.wola.org/publications/mexico_state_of_siege_06.06.pdf

CWA Votes in Favor of Marijuana for Medicinal Use (Australia)

Localização: 
Australia
Publication/Source: 
ABC News (Australia)
URL: 
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200608/s1730175.htm

UK Drug Deaths on the Rise, Despite Government Pledge

Localização: 
United Kingdom
Publication/Source: 
The Independent
URL: 
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article1222808.ece

Latin America: Guatemala Imposes "State of Prevention" in Drug Crackdown

The Guatemalan government announced Tuesday that it was suspending some constitutional rights in municipalities along the Mexican border as part of an effort to uproot opium crops and drug trafficking in the region. Residents of Concepción Tutuapa, Ixchiguán, San Miguel Ixtahuacán, Tajumulco and Tejutla woke up Tuesday morning to find their towns and villages surrounded by 800 police who arrived in the middle of the night, the Guatemala City newspaper Prensa Libre reported.

Under an emergency two-week order called a state of prevention, the government has suspended the right to carry firearms or hold demonstrations or meetings in the affected area. The measure also expands the government's right to conduct searches. In addition, the government warned the news media "to not incite rebellion because on previous occasions radio stations have urged people to resist the destruction of drug crops."

On Tuesday, police checkpoints blocked access to the affected region and all vehicles were being subjected to searches. Police had also raided at least 22 locations by Tuesday afternoon, when Guatemalan officials held a press conference to announce the offensive.

"The idea of this high impact operation, at the end of 15 days, is to have eradicated the poppy crops, captured people linked to the trade, and confiscate heavy arms," Guatemalan President Oscar Berger told reporters. "We are trying to fight drug trafficking and organized crime," Interior Minister Carlos Vielman added.

For residents of the municipalities, all located in the department of San Marcos, the police operation is causing some nervousness. "The neighbors came to see me very worried, and the only thing I could tell them was that he who has nothing has nothing to fear," Jeronimo Navarro, the mayor of Ixchiguan told Prensa Libre.

US Officials Grapple With Worsening Narcotics Trade in Afghanistan

Localização: 
Afghanistan
Publication/Source: 
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
URL: 
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/15400252.htm

Afghan President Says Opium Production Threatens Nation

Localização: 
Afghanistan
Publication/Source: 
Associated Press
URL: 
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20060822-1000-afghan-drugs.html

Cannabis Farms Spread to Suburbs (England)

Localização: 
United Kingdom
Publication/Source: 
The Guardian
URL: 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/drugs/Story/0,,1860305,00.html

Gilberto Gil is Still Making Beautiful Music -- This Time About Drug Legalization

Music lovers have long appreciated Brazilian composer and musician Gilberto Gil's enormous talent and his contributions to bossa nova, tropicalismo, and other uniquely Brazilian music forms. Of course, Gil was never just a musician; he and Caetano Veloso, another giant of Brazilian music, were imprisoned by the military dictatorship in 1969 for "anti-government activities," and the pair went to exile in London and the US after they were released. Gil continued both his musical and political careers in the intervening decades, winning elective office in his home town of Salvador in 1990. When Lula Da Silva and the Workers' Party won power in 2003, Da Silva appointed Gil minister of culture. Now, Gil is speaking out on drug policy, and not for the first time. Last year, he told the newspaper Folha do Sao Paulo that he had been smoking pot for the last 50 years. But in an interview on Sunday with the newspaper O Globo, Gil went further, calling for the legalization of drugs. According to O Globo, Gil wants drug use and the drug trade treated as a public health matter, not a criminal one. "We have to treat cocaine addicts like we treat alcoholics," he said. While he seeks to reduce drug consumption, Gil said there are better ways than prohibition. "The cigarette smoking habit en Brazil is systematically falling not because it has been prohibited, but because it is discouraged, associating the smoking habit with bad health," he said. Gil's remarks came just days after President da Silva signed a new Brazilian drug law that will reduce penalties for consumers, but stiffen them for drug sellers and traffickers. Look for a feature article on the new law on Friday. In the meantime, we can all enjoy Gilberto Gil's beautiful music.
Localização: 
Brazil

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