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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.

Supreme Court Puts Hold on Sackler OxyContin Settlement, Ecuador Killing Linked to Drug Gangs, More... (8/11/23)

The NAACP reiterates its call for marijuana legalization and adds a call for workers' rights, Ron DeSantis doubles down on harsh rhetoric directed at Mexican drug cartels, and more.

OxyContin (Creative Commons)
Marijuana Policy

NAACP Renews Support for Marijuana Legalization, Adds Call to Protect Industry Workers' Rights. That National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) has adopted a resolution reiterating its support for federal marijuana legalization and added a new call to protect workers' rights in the fledgling industry. The resolution was adopted late last month at the NAACP's 114th National Convention.

"NAACP calls for the legalization and de-scheduling of cannabis at the federal level and reaffirms its past resolutions on cannabis, the cannabis industries, decriminalization, and equity, and expresses an intent to advocate for federal, state, and local medical and adult-use cannabis legislation that includes labor peace agreements as a condition of licensure," the resolution says.

In the call to protect workers' rights, the resolution points out that "the majority of people in the cannabis industry will be workers rather than owners" and advocates that "the workers who grow, process, test, distribute, and sell cannabis deserve a fair and safe workplace and family-sustaining job like every other worker."

And that means union representation, the resolution said: "Access to union representation, training and apprenticeship will help ensure that a broad range of workers can benefit from the cannabis industry, especially workers from communities that have been disproportionately impacted by cannabis prohibition in the past," it says.

Opiates and Opioids

Supreme Court Temporarily Blocks Purdue Pharma Bankruptcy Deal that Protects Sackler Family. The US Supreme Court on Thursday put a hold on a bankruptcy deal with Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer of OxyContin, that capped liability for the Sackler family, which owns Purdue Pharma, at $6 billion and would have shielded family members from any further civil lawsuits over the opioid epidemic sparked by the introduction and massive marketing of OxyContin.

The Supreme Court issued the order in response to a Justice Department filing objecting to the settlement. The department argued that it allowed Sackler family members to hide behind legal protections meant for debtors in "financial distress," not billionaires. It said it would hear arguments in December to seek whether the settlement complies with the US bankruptcy code.

Under the deal, the Sacklers had agreed to pay billions in exchange for full immunity from all civil cases. The Supreme Court's order is likely to delay payments to the thousands of plaintiffs who have sued Purdue Pharma and the Sacklers.

Foreign Policy

Ron DeSantis Says He Is Open to Using Drones Against Mexican Drug Cartels. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who is seeking the Republican presidential nomination, has once again identified Mexican drug cartels as one of his favorite targets as he seeks to gain traction against former President Donald Trump. At a campaign event in Iowa Thursday, he said he would be open to using drone strikes against Mexican drug cartels.

"We will absolutely reserve the right if they're invading our country and killing our people," DeSantis said in response to a voter's question. When asked to clarify, he said: "I said I would use whatever force we need to defend the country. We'd be willing to lean in against them, and we reserve the right to defend our country," he added.

Earlier in the campaign, DeSantis called for the use of deadly force against migrants suspected of trafficking drugs, a call he reiterated Thursday. "We're authorizing deadly force. They try to break into our country? They will end up stone-cold dead," he said to a rousing round of applause.

International

Ecuador Presidential Candidate's Assassination Linked to Local Drug Gangs with Ties to International Drug Trafficking Organizations. Anti-corruption crusader, journalist, and former legislator Fernando Villavicencio was shot and killed at a campaign event in Quito Tuesday evening not long after receiving threats from local gangs tied to Albanian, Colombian, and Mexican drug cartels.

The assassination came amid a rising tide of violence linked to conflicts betwee two gangs, Los Choneros and Los Lobos. Los Choneros are linked to the Sinaloa Cartel, while Los Lobos have ties to competing international drug organizations. In recent months, judges, prosecutors, journalists, politicians and political candidates have been killed in gang attacks, with the mayor of the western city of Manta assassinated just two weeks ago. Gang-related violence has also roiled the country's overcrowded prisons, with some 600 inmates killed in three separate bouts of prison rioting.

Ecuador is not a producer of cocaine, but is bordered by leading producer countries Colombia to the north and Peru to the south and is an increasingly important transshipment point for cocaine headed to North America and Western Europe.

"The killing of Fernando Villavicencio is a wake-up call for Ecuador's democracy," said Juanita Goebertus, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. "The rise of organized crime is putting the lives of Ecuadorians and their institutions at risk. Urgent, rights-respecting security policies are needed to protect them effectively."

In response to the violence, President Guillermo Lasso has declared a range of localized states of emergencies, suspending constitutional rights. The government has also deployed the military and conducted prison raids. After the killing of Villavicencio, Lasso expanded the state of emergency across the entire country.

But Human Rights Watch said what the country needs is to address the root causes of criminality, including high levels of poverty and social exclusion. The authorities should seek to permanently reduce the power of organized crime groups, including by considering alternative approaches to drug policy that would reduce the profitability of the illegal drug trade, the group said.

"The ongoing states of emergency have not made Ecuadorians safer," Goebertus said. "The government needs to put in place an effective and legitimate security policy that protects them and seeks to dismantle organized crime groups.

(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.)

OH Legal Weed Initiative Hands in Final Signatures, Brazil Drug Raids Leave 45 Dead, More... (8/3/23)

It looks like Ohioans will get to vote on marijuana legalization this year, Singapore hangs yet another drug offender, and more.

Cocaine -- an Australian lawmaker says legalize it. Black market cocaine also finances conflict in Colombia. (Pixabay)
Marijuana Policy

Ohio Marijuana Legalization Initiative Campaign Hands in Final Signatures. The Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol has handed in an additional 6,545 raw signatures after it came up 679 valid voter signatures short in its initial round of signature gathering. That should guarantee that their proposed marijuana legalization initiative will be on the November 2023 ballot.

"Today, our Coalition submitted 6,545 signatures to the Ohio Secretary of State, well above the 679 required to get on the ballot this November. I cannot express our thanks enough to everyone who came out to support this effort," said coalition spokesperson Tom Hare. "This submission validates what we've said all along: Regulating marijuana is popular in Ohio," he said. "We're looking forward to giving Ohio voters a chance to make their voices heard at the ballot this fall."

Under the initiative, people 21 and over can purchase and possess up to 2 ½ ounces of marijuana and grow up to six plants, or 12 plants per household. The initiative also envisions a system of taxed and regulated marijuana commerce with a 10 percent tax on sales.

The initiative would need 50 percent of the vote plus one to win. A USA Today/Suffolk University poll last month had support at 58.6 percent.

International

Australia New South Wales Lawmaker Calls for Cocaine Legalization. In the wake of a series of high-profile shootings and killings in Sydney in the past month, a New South Wales Green member of the state parliament is calling for cocaine legalization.

"The worst thing for the drug lords right now would be a legal market, that's what they would fear the most," MP Cate Faehrmann said on Tuesday. "The war on drugs has well and truly failed. We're just doing the same thing day in day out. I think the only people who think that what we're doing is good is the criminals themselves."

The comments come as the Labor Party plans to hold a drug summit in the near future. In the meantime, NSW Liberal Party Shadow Health Minister Matt Kean said calls for legalization undermined the efforts of police and argued that policymakers' focus should be on "strong law and order policies."

Brazil Police Raids Kill At Least 45 People in Past Week. In a series of raids against drug trafficking gangs carried out after the killing of a police officer a little more than a week ago, police have killed at least 45 people. Ten were killed in the Complexo da Penha favela in Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday, 19 were killed in clashed with military police between Friday and Monday in Salvador, and the death toll has risen to 16 in an ongoing operation in the Baixada Santista region of Sao Paulo.

Human rights groups denounced the action in Baixada Santista as a revenge-motivated massacre, with residents also reporting threats and cases of torture.

"What happened in Guarujá was a massacre. The deaths were deliberate… The state of São Paulo must contain this wave of violence," said Dimitri Sales, president of the state council on the defense of human rights (Condepe).

The raids are all part of something called Operation Shield, which is aimed at the drug trade. The governor of Sao Paulo has said the operations were "clean" and that all the victims were suspected criminals, sparking even more concern from human rights groups.

"It is extremely concerning that the governor and security secretary declare that there were no [human rights] abuses before an investigation is even held… [This] is effectively an endorsement of arbitrary practices," said Oscar Vilhena, a lawyer and member of the Arns Commission, a human rights organization.

Colombia Signs Truce Agreement with National Liberation Army. The left-leaning government of President Gustavo Petro and the leftist guerrillas of the National Liberation Army (Ejercito de Liberacion Nacional -- ELN) began a six-month truce Thursday, marking the beginning of an effort to reach a permanent peace agreement with the country's last remaining rebel group.

The government reached a peace agreement with the leftist guerrillas of the FARC, a much larger force, back in 2017, but FARC dissidents remain in the field. Like the ELN and rightist paramilitaries, all of the groups are involved in the lucrative cocaine trade.

More than 450,000 Colombians are estimated to have been killed in the multi-sided conflict that has gone on since the 1960s, much of it financed by the cocaine trade. The ceasefire is supposed to end attacks between guerrillas and Colombian security forces and can be extended in January if progress is made during peace negotiations.

Singapore Executes Third Drug Offender in Little More Than a Week. For the third time in less than 10 days, Singapore has executed a person convicted of a drug offense. Mohamed Shalleh Abdul Latiff, 39, was hanged at Changi Prison for trafficking under two ounces of heroin.

Mohamed Shalleh's hanging comes only days after authorities in the city-state executed Saridewi Binte Djamani, 45, and Mohd Aziz bin Hussain, 57, for drug trafficking, prompting an outcry from the United Nations and human rights organizations. At least 16 people have been hanged for drug offenses since Singapore ended a pandemic-related moratorium on the death penalty.

Federal Drug Prisoner Population Declines, CA Psychedelic Legalization Bill Advances, More... (7/13/23)

A GOP-led House committee has killed marijuana and psychedelic reform amendments to the defense spending bill, a Mexican drug cartel uses roadside bombs against the police, and more.

There has been a remarkable drop in federal drug prisoners in recent years. (Creative Commons)
Marijuana Policy

House Committee Kills Every Marijuana and Psychedelic Amendment to Must-Pass Defense Spending Bill. The GOP-led House Rules Committee has killed more than a dozen bipartisan marijuana and psychedelic policy amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act. The Republican leadership of the committee declined to accept any of them for floor votes. Among the proposed amendments killed was one to end marijuana testing for people trying to join the armed forces, one protecting federal workers from losing security clearances because of marijuana, one allowing servicemembers to use CBD and other hemp-derived products, and one investigating the therapeutic potential of certain psychedelics.

Michigan Ends Pre-Employment Marijuana Screening for Most State Jobs. Following months of public comment, the Michigan Civil Service Commission has voted unanimously to adopt new rules ending the practice of pre-employment marijuana screening for most state workers. Under the new policy, most public employees will no longer be required to undergo pre-employment marijuana testing. (Exceptions to the new rules will remain for those in certain safety sensitive positions, like law enforcement personnel.) Those previously denied positions because of a failed marijuana test are also now eligible to immediately reapply for employment.

Psychedelics

California Psychedelic Legalization Bill Wins Another Committee Vote. A bill that would legalize the possession and use of certain psychedelics, Senate Bill 58, which has already been approved by the Senate, has now won a second committee vote in the Assembly. The measure passed the Assembly Health Committee on a 9-2 vote Tuesday. It must now pass only one more committee, the Assembly Appropriations Committee, before heading for an Assembly floor vote. The bill would legalize the "possession, preparation, obtaining, transfer, as specified, or transportation of" specific amounts of psilocybin, psilocyn, DMT, ibogaine and mescaline for personal or facilitated use. Notably, "synthetic" psychedelics like LSD and MDMA would not be legalized, unlike the provisions of the previous version of legislation from Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco).

Berkeley City Council Effectively Legalizes Some Psychedelics. The city council of the East Bay city voted Tuesday to effectively legalize a range of psychedelics by voting unanimously to make the enforcement of state and federal laws against psychedelic plants and fungi the lowest law enforcement priority. The resolution passed, however, bars the "giving away, sharing, distributing, transferring, dispensing, or administering" of psychedelics.

Sentencing

Nearly a Quarter Fewer Persons Were in Federal Prison for Drug Offenses in 2018 Than in 2013. The number of people held in Federal Bureau of Prisons' facilities on a drug offense fell 24% from fiscal yearend 2013 (94,613) to fiscal yearend 2018 (71,555), according to Sentencing Decisions for Persons in Federal Prison for Drug Offenses, 2013-2018, a new report from the Bureau of Justice Statistics. These persons accounted for 51% of the federal prison population in 2013 and 47% in 2018.

Between 2013 and 2018, there were large decreases in persons serving time in federal prison for marijuana (down 61%), crack cocaine (down 45%) and powder cocaine (down 35%), with a smaller (4%) decline in persons imprisoned for opioids. These reductions were partly offset by growth in the number of persons serving time for heroin (up 13%) and methamphetamine (up 12%).

During the 5-year period, there was also a 33% decrease in the number of people in federal prison who, because of the type and amount of drugs involved in their offense, faced the possibility of mandatory minimum penalties at sentencing. A similar decline trend was observed in the number who ultimately received penalties (down 26%) and received relief from penalties (down 52%).

About 60% of all people in BOP custody for drug offenses at fiscal yearend 2018 had received mandatory minimum penalties: 22% for methamphetamine, 15% for powder cocaine, 14% for crack cocaine, 5% for heroin, 4% for marijuana and less than 1% for opioids. When the federal prison population was analyzed by persons who could have received penalties for their drug offense, those serving time for crack cocaine were more likely to receive penalties (94%) than those held for marijuana (82%), powder cocaine (81%), heroin (80%), methamphetamine (79%) or opioids (70%).

International

Montreal Police Raid Illegal Magic Mushroom Shop on Opening Day. FunGuyz, a chain of shops selling illegal magic mushrooms, has already had several of its stores raided in Ontario, and on Tuesday, it could add one in Montreal to the list. Montreal police raided the shop hours after it opened offering a menu of pills, dried mushrooms, and chocolate bars laced with psilocybin.

A FunGuyz spokesman called the raid a "simple" product seizure and a "waste of taxpayers' money." He said opening FunGuyz was a form of protest to challenge the illegality of psychedelic drugs. "We do expect the police to come in and raid us because obviously what we're doing, it's illegal," he said on Tuesday. "The idea behind everything is, are the police willing to… use the taxpayers' money for mushroom stuff?"

Mexican Drug Cartel Use Roadside Bomb to Kill Cops. Four police officers and two civilians were killed by a series of roadside bombs in the western state of Jalisco on Tuesday. Authorities said an anonymous caller reported a tip about a supposed clandestine burial site, and when police went to investigate, seven roadside bombs went off simultaneously. The blasts were so powerful they left craters in the road, destroyed at least four vehicles, and wounded 14 more people. The state prosecutor blamed an unnamed drug cartel. The Jalisco New Generation Cartel has significant experience with improvised explosive devices, as well as bomb-dropping drones.

Ukraine Parliament Gives Initial Approval to Medical Marijuana Bill. The parliament has given initial approval to a bill to legalize medical marijuana in the country. It must still be approved in a second reading and then sent to President Volodymyr Zelensky for his signature. Zelensky has already said he supports the bill.

RI Pot Shop Sues over Labor Agreement Requirement, Trouble in Chilpancingo, More... (7/12/23)

North Carolina will go another year without approving medical marijuana, San Francisco gets $1 million in state funding to do mobile drug checking, and more.

San Francisco is getting $1 million in state funds to support mobile drug checking services in a bid to reduce overdoses. (CC)
Marijuana Policy

Rhode Island Marijuana Shop Sues State over Labor Union Requirement. Greenleaf Compassionate Care Center in Portsmouth, which has operated as a medical marijuana dispensary since 2013, has filed a lawsuit against the state, charging that its adult-use legalization law's requirement that pot retailers sign labor agreements with "bona fide labor organizations" is unfair and "oppressive."

Greenleaf's CEO, Seth Bock, said once the law was passed, he lost leverage in labor negotiations: "You either meet their demands and obtain a peace agreement or you go out of business under Rhode Island law," he said.

The lawsuit seeks to have the labor agreement requirement declared unconstitutional and for a collective bargaining agreement he was negotiating that included a $1,000 bonus for employees to be nullified. Greenleaf employees had voted to join the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 328 in 2021 but had not completed the agreement when the adult-use law came into effect.

Advocacy group Reclaim Rhode Island, which was among groups lobbying for the union requirement, called the lawsuit "absurd."

"It seems absurd to me that the owner of a cannabis dispensary benefiting from a highly regulated, limited-supply cannabis license is objecting to a law simply because it ensures that their workers receive good wages, dignity on the job and the protection of the union," Reclaim Rhode Island organizer Daniel Denvir said.

Medical Marijuana

North Carolina Medical Marijuana Bill Probably Dead for This Year. Legislation that would legalize medical marijuana in the state is probably dead for the rest of this year's legislative session, House Speaker Tim Moore (R) said Tuesday. The Senate had passed a medical marijuana bill, Senate Bill 3, four months ago, but other than a single committee hearing, it has languished in the House.

Moore said he agreed with the assessment of House Majority Leader John Bell (R) that there was not enough support in the Republican caucus for the bill to advance further. The GOP caucus has a rule that a majority of its members must be willing to vote for a bill on the House floor for it to get heard, even if the measure could pass with support from Democrats.

Complying with the rule "would require a number of House members who've taken a position of 'no' to literally switch their position to want to vote for it, and I just don't see that happening," Moore said.

Harm Reduction

San Francisco Gets $1 Million in State Funding to Expand Drug Checking Program. Gov. Gavin Newsome (D) has approved $1 million in new state funding to expand San Francisco's drug checking program, which aims to reduce drug overdoses from illicit drugs. This comes after the state granted the city $60 million to buy and stock the opioid overdose reversal drug naloxone, another harm reduction move to cut the state's overdose toll. The new money will go to the city Department of Public Health to fund four mobile drug checking units.

"This generous grant will enable San Francisco to significantly expand access to no-questions-asked drug checking services for recreational users of all drugs -- and it will save lives," said San Francisco Supervisor Matt Dorsey.

International

Mexican State Capital Besieged by Thousands of Protestors After Arrests of Two Cartel Leaders. Supporters of a local cartel in Chilpancingo, the capital of the south-central state of Guerrero besieged government buildings, battled with police and national guard troops, took government employees hostage, and crashed an armored vehicle through the gates of the state legislature.

The unrest came after state police arrested two leaders of the criminal gang Los Ardillos (the Squirrels) and indicted them Monday on drugs and weapons charges. That triggered a massive march by residents of villages on the outskirts of the city of 300,000. It took more than 24 hours for the state government to defuse the violence by promising future public works. Protestors then released 13 state police officers, national guard soldiers, and civilian government employees and ended their blockade of the toll road from Mexico City to Acapulco, which sits on Guerrero's Pacific Coast.

"Today criminals don't benefit only from a frightening arsenal, but a terrifying capacity to bring people into the streets and confront security forces," said the left-wing daily La Jornada in an editorial. The Mexico City newspaper said state and federal authorities had ignored the problems of the impoverished state, allowing crime groups to "create a social base."

"What was different about this was the scope of the whole thing," said Falko Ernst, Mexico analyst for the International Crisis Group. The protesters "took over not just a whole city, government installations and a major highway in Mexico, but they also took public officials hostage."

WHO Calls Out Global Morphine Pain Relief Disparities, Vance Wants US Military Force Against Cartels, More... (7/3/23)

A British festival organizer is reaming the Home Office over its sudden requirement that pill testing efforts be licensed, another Republican politician wants to use the US military to fight Mexican drug cartels, and more.

morphine prescription bottle (Creative Commons)
Medical Marijuana

Florida Governor Signs Bill Barring Medical Marijuana at Sober Living Facilities. Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has signed into law Senate Bill 210, which bars sober living facilities from allowing residents to use or possess medical marijuana, even if that use is medically authorized. The law does not apply to any other doctor-approved drugs. Now, people seeking licenses to run recovery residences will need to certify that they don't allow the use of marijuana, "which includes marijuana that has been certified by a qualified physician for medical use."

He also signed Senate Bill 1676, which bars the sale of smokeless hemp products such as "snuff, chewing gum, and other smokeless products" to people under 21. Previously, hemp regulations only barred the sale of smokable hemp products to people under 21.

Foreign Policy

Senator JD Vance Endorses Use of Military Against Mexican Drug Cartels. Freshman Senator JD Vance (R-OH), an acolyte of former President Donald Trump, has suggested giving American presidents the power to use the US military to go after drug trafficking organizations in Latin America.

"I want to empower the president of the United States, whether that's a Democrat or Republican, to use the power of the US military to go after these drug cartels," Vance said on Meet the Press on Sunday. "We have to recognize the Mexican government is being, in a lot of ways, destabilized by the constant flow of fentanyl," Vance added.

Vance is only the latest Republican office holder to call for the US military to be deployed against the cartels. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, said last week that he supported using "deadly force" to fight them, and fellow Republican presidential contender Sen. Tim Scott (SC) said he would dispatch US special forces to fight the cartels.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is having none of it. "We are not going to permit any foreign government to intervene in our territory, much less that a government's armed forces intervene," he said at a news conference in March.

International

WHO Report Calls Out Global Disparities in Use of Morphine to Relieve Pain. The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a report saying the use of morphine to treat pain, ease end-of-life experiences, and helping people get through medical emergencies is vital but suffers from great disparities. "Millions of people continue to suffer preventable pain," the report notes.

In the Western Hemisphere, for example, the US utilizes nearly 80 percent of the supply, leaving Latin America in the lurch. More broadly, wealthy countries consumed an estimated 125.9 does per million people a day in 2021, compared with just two doses per million people in low-income countries.

The report's authors recommend establishing affordable pricing policies worldwide, expanding access to people beyond those suffering from cancer and HIV/AIDS, and setting up distribution hubs.

"Leaving people in pain when effective medicines are available for pain management, especially in the context of end-of-life care, should be a cause of serious concern for policymakers," said Yukiko Nakatani, WHO assistant director general for medicines and health products.

British Festival Head Threatens Legal Action over Ban on Pill Checking. Sacha Lord, founder of the Parklife music festival, has formally threatened legal action against the government over its moves against checking pills and powders that attendees turn it at festivals and other events. The Home Office recently barred other festivals from doing pill checking, saying they needed licenses to do so, even though pill checking has gone on at festivals for the past 10 years.

Large festivals, such as Glastonbury and Reading, have used private companies to do the pill checking, while smaller festivals have relied on charities such as The Loop, which has agreements with local police and governments to be able to test at events.

In a letter to the Home Office, Lord said the Home Office was "well aware" of those arrangements and that former ministers had publicly stated that they would not interfere with them. He also chided the Home Office for announcing the licensing requirement just two days ahead of the Parklife festival, making it impossible to obtain in time and jeopardizing the health of festival-goers. The letter demands that the government allow testing without a license to proceed or to take steps to ensure festivals have enough time to comply with the license requirement.

(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.)

NY Crackdown on Unlicensed Weed Sales, Video Captures Mexican Soldiers Killing Drug Suspects, More... (6/9/23)

American truckers are fed up with marijuana prohibition and testing policies, Rhode Island expunges 23,000 pot possession records, and more.

Still from the video showing Mexican soldiers detaining, then executing drug suspects.
Marijuana Policy

Amid Industry Labor Shortage Worsened by Marijuana Drug Testing, Truckers Say Legalize It. An analysis of marijuana testing policies in the trucking industry conducted by the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) finds that a strong majority of truckers say federal marijuana laws need to change and most say that current marijuana testing policies are driving truckers out of the industry.

"More than half of all positive trucking industry drug tests are for marijuana metabolite," which can stay in a person's systems for weeks after consuming, the report, published on Monday, says. Federal prohibition "has been highlighted as a potential disincentive for drivers to stay in the industry, and it has even been argued that loosening the restrictions on marijuana use would make the industry more attractive and widen the potential labor pool."

The report found that 72.4 percent of licensed drivers support "loosening" cannabis laws and testing policies, while another 66.5 percent said that marijuana should be federally legalized. Also, 65.4 percent of motor carriers believe that current marijuana testing procedures should be replaced with methods that measure active impairment -- not the presence of metabolites, which stay in the system long after any impairment has ceased.

New York Attempts Crackdown on Unlicensed Weed Sales. Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) announced Thursday the launch of a multi-agency initiative to stop the sale of marijuana at unlicensed storefronts. They have popped up by the hundreds in the interregnum between the state legalizing weed and the still extremely limited advent of licensed adult use marijuana sales.

The state Office of Cannabis Management and Department of Taxation and Finance conducted inspections of storefront businesses not licensed to sell marijuana and issued notices of violation and orders to cease unlicensed activity.

"New York is proud to have undertaken the most equitable legal cannabis roll-out in the nation and the State will not stand idle as unlicensed operators break the law and sell untested products to underage New Yorkers," Gov. Hochul said. "These enforcement actions are critical steps to protect and help those individuals who were promised a shot to start a legal business and be successful. Additionally, these unlicensed operators undermine the State's efforts to generate substantial funds for a social equity fund that will go into the communities that have been hardest hit by over-prosecution of the cannabis laws in the past."

Hochul signed legislation allowing for these expanded enforcement actions against unlicensed marijuana businesses to take place. The legislation allows the Office of Cannabis Management to give out civil penalties against unlicensed cannabis businesses with fines of up to $20,000 a day. It also makes it a crime to sell cannabis and cannabis products without a license.

Rhode Island Expunges 23,000 Pot Possession Charges. State court officials announced Thursday that they had complied with the state's new marijuana legalization law by expunging more than 23,000 pot possession cases. That law not only legalized marijuana, it provided for the automatic expungement of pot possession charges -- but not charges for growing or selling weed.

"The automatic expungement of marijuana charges has been an organizational feat," said State Court Administrator Julie P. Hamil. "There has been coordination at every level of the Judiciary to execute this process in a timely and holistic fashion."

International

Video of Mexican Army Executing Drug Suspects Sparks Investigation. After a video posted on social media showed a group of soldiers pulling five men from a vehicle in Nuevo Laredo, then beating them before fatally shooting them, and then staging an apparently fake shoot-out and placing weapons near the bodies of the slain men in a bid to cover their tracks, Mexican authorities are now investigating the extrajudicial execution.

The military has been accused in numerous cases of kidnapping, torturing, or killing drug suspects, especially as it plays an ever greater role in prosecuting the country's war against violent drug cartels. But it has also had an aura of impunity, with soldiers rarely facing any consequences for brutal and illegal actions.

Now, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has weighed in, saying: "Apparently, there was an execution, which cannot be allowed. We are not the same as the previous governments. So, when there is abuse, when there is an excess, when human rights are violated, those responsible must be punished. And the process to deepen the investigation has already begun. There is no cover-up because we do not tolerate the violation of human rights."

Time will tell about that.

CA Marijuana Employment Protection Bill Advances, AZ Court Expands Pot Expungements, More... (6/1/23)

Expungement moves are happening in Arizona and Louisiana, Mexico's president says he could get behind peace agreements with drug cartels, and more.

Mexico's President Lopez Obrador says he would be open to a peace agreement with drug cartels. (Creative Commons)
Marijuana Policy

Arizona Appeals Court Expands Scope of Marijuana Expungements. The state Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that expungement can be applied to sale-related marijuana offenses as well as possession offenses. State law reads that "possessing, consuming, or transporting" up to 2.5 ounces of weed or up to six plants are offenses eligible for expungement. In the case before the court, a Maricopa County Superior Court judge ruled that an expungement request for the offense of solicitation to commit possession of marijuana for sale did not comply with the state law, but the appeals court held that the offenses of "possessing" or "transporting" marijuana included marijuana for sale and ordered the lower court to grant the expungement request.

California Senate Approves Bill Barring Employers from Asking About Past Marijuana Use. The state Senate has approved Senate Bill 700, which would bar employers from asking potential new hires about past marijuana use. The vote was 29-9. The bill builds on existing employment protections enacted last year barring employers from penalizing most workers for off-duty marijuana use. The bill now heads to the Assembly.

Louisiana Marijuana Expungement Streamlining Bill Advances. A bill to streamline expungements for first-time marijuana possession offenders, House Bill 286, has already passed the House and on Wednesday was approved by the Senate Judiciary C Committee. The next stop for the bill is a Senate floor vote. Under current law, people seeking expungement for possession of up to a half ounce of marijuana have to wait five years after conviction. This bill cuts the waiting period to 90 days. But people would have to pay up to $300 in fees for the privilege.

International

 

. Responding to an activist's open letter to drug cartels asking them to stop the practice of forced disappearances—where people are not just killed but completely erased, their bodies dissolved in acid or burned to ash, and their friends and family are left with no idea of what happened to them—President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) said he would support an agreement with some of the country's most powerful and violent drug cartels  if he helped stop the violence that has wracked the country for nearly two decades.

"I agree and I hope we achieve peace – that’s what we all want," AMLO said when asked about the proposed pact. "Violence is irrational and we’re going to continue looking for peace, to achieve peace and that is what we’re doing. And if there is an initiative of this kind, of course we support it."

The number of people who have been forcibly disappeared in Mexico in the last 15 years number more than 50,000, with around 40,000 of them disappearing during AMLO's term of office. Another 30,000 a year have died in cartel violence during his term. 

OH Legalization Init Gathering Signatures, CA Drug War Reparations, More... (5/9/23) Blacks

Marijuana legalization hits a bump in New Hampshire, Jordan kills a Syrian drug trafficker in a cross-border air strike, and more.

Ohio voters could vote on marijuana legalization in November -- if activists come up with signatures first.
Marijuana Policy

New Hampshire Senate Committee Rejects House-Backed Marijuana Legalization Bills, but Floor Votes Still Coming. The Senate Judiciary Committee has voted against two marijuana legalization bills, deeming them "inexpedient to legislate." The committee rejected a full-blown commercial legalization bill sponsored by bipartisan House leaders, House Bill 639, as well as a second bill that would only have led to non-commercial legalization. Despite the committee votes, the bills are still technically alive and could see Senate floor votes as early this week, but given the rejection by the committee, the prospects for passage in the Senate are dim.

Ohio Activists Begin Second Round of Signature Gathering to Put Marijuana Legalization Initiative on November Ballot. The Coalition to Regulate Marijuana like Alcohol has commenced a new round of signature gathering to put its marijuana legalization initiative on the November ballot. The coalition earlier gathered enough valid voter signatures to put the issue before the legislature, which under state law had four months to approve it but failed to do so, clearing the way for organizers to take the issue directly to voters if it comes up with enough signatures in this round. The coalition now has 90 days to come up with 124,046 valid voter signatures to get on the November ballot and it says it is confident it will do so.

Drug Policy

California Task Force Recommends $228 Billion in Drug War Reparations for Black Residents. A task force empaneled by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has recommended that the state legislature pass reparations legislation to compensate about two million Black state residents to the tune of $228 billion for racially disproportionate harms caused by a half-century of drug war. The California Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans voted Saturday to submit its recommendations to the governor.

The task force "recommends that compensation for community harms be provided as uniform payments based on an eligible recipient's duration of residence in California during the defined period of harm (e.g., residence in an over-policed community during the 'War on Drugs' from 1971 to 2020)," the report says. The task force also recommended that "the Legislature enact an individual claims process to compensate individuals who can prove particular injuries, for example, an individual who was arrested or incarcerated for a drug charge during the war on drugs, especially if the drug is now considered legal," i.e. marijuana. The reparations figure comes out to $2,352 per Black Californian for each year of residency in the state during the 50-year period.

"African American residents in California who were incarcerated for the possession or distribution of substances now legal, such as cannabis, should additionally be able to seek particular compensation for their period of incarceration, as discussed above," the task force said. The racially biased war on drugs in the state resulted in "massively disproportionate incarceration of African Americans" and also contributed to "unemployment and houselessness in many economically depressed African American communities once incarcerated African Americans were eventually released."

International

Jordan Carries Out Air Strikes on Syrian Drug Factory, Drug Trafficker. A pair of air strikes carried out by the Jordanian Air Force Monday hit an abandoned drug factory in the southern Syrian province of Deraa and the home of a Syrian "drug kingpin" in neighboring Sweida province. The strikes destroyed the drug factory and killed Syrian trafficker Marie al-Ramthan and his family at their home.

Intelligence sources said the drug factory was a meeting place for Hezbollah drug traffickers and that Ramthan had recruited hundreds of Bedouins to transport drugs and enlisted them in the ranks of militias sympathetic to Iran. Ramthan faced several death sentences in Jordan for drug trafficking. Jordan has declined to confirm the strikes, but "two regional intelligence and a Western diplomatic source who tracks the situation in southern Syria" confirmed they had occurred. War-ravaged Syria is a center for the production and distribution of the amphetamine captagon, but the Syrian government denies any involvement in the drug trade, as do Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah.

Joint US-Mexico Statement on Fentanyl, AZ Psilocybin Research Bill Stalled, More... (4/14/23)

A bipartisan bill aims to lay the groundwork for federal marijuana legalization, Oregon naloxone access bills are moving, and more.

Oregon lawmakers are moving a pair of bills aimed at broadening access to naloxone, the opioid overdose reversal drug. (CC)
Marijuana Policy

Bipartisan Bill to Prepare for Federal Marijuana Legalization Filed. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Rep. Dave Joyce (R-OH) filed a bill to lay the groundwork for federal marijuana legalization Thursday. The Preparing Regulators Effectively for a Post-Prohibition Adult-Use Regulated Environment Act (PREPARE) Act would not legalize marijuana but would direct the attorney general to create a commission charged with making recommendations on a regulatory system for cannabis that models what's currently in place for alcohol. While passage of marijuana legalization appears unlikely in this Congress, but some members think this more incremental measure may be able to pass.

Psychedelics

Arizona Psychedelic Research Bill Stalled in Committee. A bill that would lead the way to the first state-sponsored controlled clinical trials of psilocybin mushrooms, House Bill 2486, is currently stalled in the House Appropriations Committee. The bill's fate depends on ongoing budget negotiations for the next fiscal year. The bill would award up to $30 million in competitive research grants through 2026 for Phase I, II, and III clinical trials using whole mushrooms. The Food and Drug Administration approved synthetic psilocybin as a breakthrough therapy in 2019 but has yet to approve any treatments with whole mushroom psilocybin.

Foreign Policy

US, Mexico Issue Joint Statement on Bicentennial Framework for Security, Public Health, and Safe Communities. With fentanyl and arms trafficking across the border on their minds, delegations of US and Mexican officials met and issued a joint statement Thursday on "new collaborative efforts to counter fentanyl trafficking and consumption and combat arms trafficking across North America." Both countries "committed to continue joint work to dismantle the fentanyl supply chain and the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel on both sides of the border," the statement said, while Mexico highlighted "an April 12 presidential decree that permits the creation of a presidential commission to fight the trafficking of illicit synthetic drugs, firearms, and ammunition." Officials from both countries "committed to increase cooperation to combat illegal firearms trafficking," with the US vowing "to target southbound firearms flows and working with Mexican counterparts to increase firearms tracing to identify and choke off the source of firearms flows into Mexico."

Harm Reduction

Oregon Senate Approves Bill to Fight Opioid Overdoses. The Senate on Thursday approved Senate Bill 1043, which would provide patients with a history of using opioids increased access to overdose reversal medications such as naloxone. Backed by Gov. Tina Kotek (D), the bill would mandate that hospitals and other care providers provide two doses of the medication when patients check out if those patients have a history of opioid use or a prescription to an opioid. The bill passed the Senate unanimously. It now goes to the House. A separate proposal, House Bill 2395, would make naloxone kits more widely available in different settings, including public buildings, schools and for first responders. It has already passed the House and is now before the Senate.

Drug War Issues

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