Personal Marijuana Use

Woo-hoo! The end times are upon us. For the second time this year, a national public opinion poll reports majority support for legalizing marijuana.

Last year, the Czech parliament voted to decriminalize the possession of "small amounts" of drugs. Now, as the clock ticks toward January 1, when the new penal code takes effect, the cabinet is finally determining just what "small amounts" are.

The Dutch government is pondering a further tightening of the screws on Holland's famous cannabis coffee shops, but Amsterdam Mayor Job Cohen doesn't want a one-size-fits-all policy based on problems with border town "drug tourism."

There are at least three marijuana legalization initiative campaigns under way in California, but Richard Lee's "Tax and Regulate Cannabis 2010 campaign" is the first to announce it has achieved its signature-gathering goals. Lee says they need 434,000 and they will end up with 700,000.

A Worcester, Massachusetts, resident tried to snuff out an ill-timed joint and fasten his seat belt as the vehicle he was in rolled up to a police sobriety checkpoint last week. He was dead within minutes, and his family's attorney claims he was beaten by police. Police have a different version of events.

As 2009 winds down, we are taking a look at all the legislation related to drug policy around the country. Two weeks ago we looked at federal legislation, and last week at medical marijuana bills in the states. This week it's state marijuana decriminalization and legalization bills -- if we missed any, let us know.

Under United Kingdom drug laws, simple pot possession can cost you two years in gaol. But that's rarely the case, and now the Scottish government is hinting that a small fine may be a more reasonable response -- and one that saves a lot of policing time.

If the British government thought it could shut up David Nutt, the head of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, by firing him, it thought wrong. Now, the newly liberated drug expert is calling for a Royal Commission to examine decriminalizing marijuana.

The Drug Policy Alliance's 2009 International Drug Policy Reform Conference got underway Thursday in Albuquerque, and it looks like the biggest yet. Here's an initial report from the conference opening. Look for much more next week, too.

Two weeks ago, Britain's home secretary fired the government's head drug policy advisor, Professor David Nutt, over Nutt's criticisms of government drug policy as driven by politics and not evidence. The row continues, as three more members of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs resigned this week, bringing the total to five.