Huumesodan tuloksiin kyllästytty monissa maissa

[Lasi Okhtinen]

Bilehuume metamfetamiini

Also: kauhuhuume

http://www.hs.fi/kaupunki/art-2000005062914.html

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http://www.hs.fi/ulkomaat/art-2000005087010.html

Yhdysvallat syyttää Venezuelan varapresidenttiä huumekaupasta – sanktioita tulossa pian

Varapresidentti Tareck El Aissami on Yhdysvaltojen tietojen mukaan osallistunut ”merkittävällä tavalla” huumekauppaan.

Yhdysvallat aikoo pian asettaa sanktioita Venezuelan varapresidenttiä Tareck El Aissamia vastaan, kertoivat viranomaislähteet uutistoimisto Reutersille maanantaina.

Yhdysvallat syyttää El Aissamia huumerikollisuuteen osallistumisesta. Viranomaisten mukaan varapresidentillä olisi ”merkittävä rooli” huumekaupassa.

Sanktioiden perusteena Yhdysvallat aikoo käyttää niin sanottua ”huumepomolakia”, joka astui voimaan vuonna 1999.

Lain tarkoituksena on estää ulkomaisilta huumekauppiailta pääsy Yhdysvaltojen rahoitusjärjestelmään ja kieltää yhdysvaltalaisia yrityksiä ja yksilöitä käymästä kauppaa mustalle listalle joutuneiden kauppiaiden kanssa.

Lain käyttäminen Venezuelan varapresidenttiä vastaan olisi poikkeuksellinen toimi.

Myös El Aissamin lähipiiriin kuuluva Samark Jose Lopez Bello olisi sanktioiden kohteena.

Varapresidentiksi El Aissami nousi vasta viime kuussa Venezuelan epäsuositun presidentin Nicolás Maduron nimittämänä. Samalla Maduro laajensi varapresidentin valtaoikeuksia lähes presidentin tasolle, uutistoimisto Bloomberg kertoo.

Surkeasta talouden hoidosta kärsivä Venezuela on vararikon partaalla, ja inflaatiota mitataan vuositasolla jo tuhansissa prosenteissa. Heikko taloustilanne ja presidentin epäsuosio saattoivat vaikuttaa siihen, että Maduro kanavoi niin paljon valtaa varapresidentilleen.

El Aissami on pelätty ja vaikutusvaltainen poliitikko, joka on aiemmin toiminut Araguan osavaltion kuvernöörinä sekä Venezuelan sisä- ja oikeusministerinä. Bloombergin mukaan Yhdysvallat epäilee hänen avustaneen Irania ja islamistijärjestöä Hizbollahia.

Yhdysvalloissa viranomaiset ovat tutkineet jo vuosien ajan El Aissamin kytköksiä huumekauppaan ja kansainväliseen terrorismiin.

[Balam-Acab]

joitakuita ei vissiin kyllästytä

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joitakuita ei vissiin kyllästytä

Reipas operaatio siinä.

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Laitan tän tänne "Kovaa menoa Manilassa" topikin sijasta. Alkaa olemaan kansainvälinen yhteisö kyllästynyt Filippiinien huumesotaan.


https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/ ... ays-report

Philippines police plant evidence to justify killings in drug war, says report

Human Rights Watch says President Rodrigo Duterte bears ultimate responsibility for the deaths of thousands


The body of man suspected of drug dealing is removed from a street in Manila after a police operation in November 2016.

A human rights watchdog has accused Philippines police of falsifying evidence to justify unlawful killings in the government’s war on drugs that has caused more than 7,000 deaths, and pointed the finger at president Rodrigo Duterte as being ultimately responsible.

Human Rights Watch said in a report on Thursday that Duterte and other senior officials instigated and incited the killings of drug suspects in a campaign that could amount to crimes against humanity.

The United Nations should create an independent investigation to determine responsibility and ensure accountability, the report said.

Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said the presidential palace will issue a statement later on Thursday in response to the report.

The report said police have repeatedly carried out extrajudicial killings of drug suspects, then falsely claimed self-defence and planted guns, spent bullets or drugs on the bodies.

“Our investigations into the Philippine drug war found that police routinely kill drug suspects in cold blood and then cover up their crime by planting drugs and guns at the scene,” said Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director at Human Rights Watch and author of the report. “President Duterte’s role in these killings makes him ultimately responsible for the deaths of thousands.”

Human Rights Watch said masked gunmen taking part in killings appeared to be working closely with the police, casting doubt on government claims that vigilantes or rival gangs are behind majority of the killings. It said in several instances it investigated, suspects in police custody were later found dead and classified by police as “found bodies” or “deaths under investigation.”

The report draws heavily on interviews in metropolitan Manila with 28 family members of victims, witnesses to police killings, journalists and human rights activists. It also references initial police reports of killings, which Human Rights Watch said its field research consistently contradicted.

[Pasi Fist]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/ ... l-veracruz

More than 250 skulls found in 'enormous mass grave' in Mexico

- Secret burial pits in Veracruz contain drug cartel victims, state prosecutor said
- Advocacy groups push for excavation to find people missing for years

More than 250 skulls have been found in what appears to be a clandestine burial ground on the outskirts of the Mexican city of Veracruz.

State prosecutor Jorge Winckler said the clandestine burial pits appear to contain the victims of drug cartels killed years ago.

“For many years, the drug cartels disappeared people and the authorities were complacent,” Winckler said, in apparent reference to the administration of fugitive former state governor Javier Duarte and his predecessors.

In an interview with the Televisa network, Winckler did not specify when the skulls were found or by whom.

But victims’ advocacy groups have excavated and pressed authorities to excavate such sites for years to find missing loved ones.

The skulls and other bones were found in a wooded area known as Colinas de Santa Fe where activists have been exploring since at least mid-2016, sinking rods into the ground and withdrawing them to detect the telltale odor of decomposition.

When they find what they believe are burial pits, they alert authorities, who carry out the final excavations.

Winckler said excavations have covered only a third of the lot where the skulls were found, and more people may be buried there.

Winckler said excavations have covered only a third of the lot where the skulls were found, and more people may be buried there.

“I cannot imagine how many more people are illegally buried there,” Winckler said, noting the state has reports of about 2,400 people who are still missing.

“Veracruz is an enormous mass grave,” he said. “It is the biggest mass grave in Mexico and perhaps one of the biggest in the world.”

The state had long been dominated by the ferocious Zetas cartel. But the Jalisco New Generation cartel began moving in around 2011, sparking bloody turf battles.

Victims’ advocacy groups have criticized authorities for doing little to try to find or identify the state’s missing people, many of whom were kidnapped and never heard from again.

Drug cartels in other parts of Mexico have deposited victims’ bodies in mass graves before.

In the northern state of Durango, authorities found more than 300 bodies in a clandestine mass grave in the state capital in excavations starting in April 2011.

Those burial pits were excavated in part with the use of backhoes.

More than 250 bodies were discovered in April 2011 in burial pits in the town of San Fernando, in Tamaulipas state, close to the US border.

Drug gangs in some places in Mexico have taken to burning or dissolving their victims’ bodies in corrosive substances in order to avoid discovery.

But the victims In Veracruz appear to have been buried relatively whole.

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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/ ... olivia-law

Bolivia sees coca as a way to perk up its economy – but all everyone else sees is cocaine

Farmers can now grow more of the ‘star product’, but officials underestimated international resistance because coca is so widely accepted as harmless in Bolivia


‘We have a star product that is stuck sleeping in our country.’

Ricardo Hegedus raised his voice so he could be heard over the clanging of tea-packaging machines. “Coca is a marvellous gift of nature, offering a moderate stimulant like coffee – but full of vitamins and minerals,” he said.

Hegedus, the manager of Windsor – Bolivia’s largest coca leaf tea producer – pointed to stacked boxes of teabags and said: “We have dreamt of exporting coca tea for the 26 years I have worked here.”

That vision of an expanding international market for legal coca products – such as flour, tea and ointments – is shared widely in Bolivia, and it was the driving force for a recent law signed this month by president Evo Morales that jacks up the 12,000 hectares (29,640 acres) legally recognized in a 1988 law to 22,000 hectares.

But in most other countries, coca is still best known as the main ingredient in cocaine, and finding a legal market for alternative products has proved challenging.

Government officials admit that they underestimated international resistance, largely because in Bolivia, coca is so widely accepted as harmless.

“We thought it would be easy because we all know the benefits of coca,” said Felipe Caceres, vice-minister of social defense and controlled substances. “We had no real understanding that so many people think that coca is the same as cocaine.”

Bolivia’s campaign to legitimize the coca leaf scored an important victory in 2013 when the country was granted international recognition of the right to consume the leaf domestically through an exception to the 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs.


A coca grower holds coca leaves at a market in La Paz, Bolivia.

The effort involved coca chew-ins in front of the US embassy in La Paz, and Morales – a former coca grower – munched on leaves at the annual meeting of the UN’s Commission on Narcotic Drugs to make the point. “If it’s a drug, stop me,” he challenged.

Since Evo Morales became president in 2006, 20,000 hectares of leaf has been permitted informally, a policy adopted to ensure a subsistence income for all registered growers. As Bolivia uses 14,700 hectares for chewing and teas, according to a 2014 European Union study, this leaves 7,300 hectares of “excess” coca.

“If we could export legally, coca farmers’ incomes would improve,” explained Ricardo Hegedus. “It wouldn’t eliminate drug trafficking but it would make it harder and more expensive for traffickers to get coca.”

In late 2016, the government signed an export agreement with Ecuador for coca leaf products, and negotiations are under way with Paraguay and Venezuela. But two coca product plants built five years ago have languished in the absence of an international market.

The Morales government’s new coca law has met with skepticism. Last week, the European Union, a major Bolivian ally in fighting drugs, announced that last-minute changes increasing the amount of permitted coca in the new law meanmeant the bloc would “re-focus” its efforts, even though it would continue to collaborate with Bolivia.

Kathyrn Ledebur of the drug policy watchdog the Andean Information Network sees the new law as a positive step. “Despite the compromises increasing cultivation, this law has real value because it significantly extends government control over production and marketing of coca,” she said.

Bolivia’s long and sparsely populated borders mean that the country struggles not only with its own cocaine production, but as a main transit country for coca paste and cocaine from Peru to booming markets in Brazil and Europe.

Jorge Chambi sells coca leaf in one-pound bags from an outside stall in the highland city of Oruro. “Coca has always been a part of our lives,” he said, “and we never had a problem with it until the drug traffickers showed up and turned it into cocaine.”

To reduce the flow, Bolivia signed detailed agreements with all five of its neighbors over the past year. Cocaine seizures have also risen every year since the Bolivian government asked the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to leave in 2008.

The Morales government has demonstrated great success in limiting cultivation with an innovative community program, run through growers’ unions, that ensures farmers grow no more than the allotted amount of coca.

“Things are much tougher than under the US,” says grower Emilio Flores. “Before you just had to avoid the anti-drug police. Now your neighbors can turn you in.”

Bolivia is the world’s third-biggest coca producer after Colombia and Peru, but production has dropped 35% nationally since 2010.

For growers, most with little direct connection with the drug trade, coca is what supports them and their families. “We want to sell the leaf worldwide,” said Lucio Mendoza, a grower. “This would be good for the world, which will benefit as we do from our sacred coca leaf.”

Christian Oporto, supervisor of international sales for Windsor Tea, agrees. “We have a star product that is stuck sleeping in our country,” he said.

[Pasi Fist]

https://www.theguardian.com/science/201 ... 0bn-market

Israel's medical marijuana pioneers look to cash in on $20bn market

Country has seen 500 companies apply to join ‘green rush’ in cannabis products after more than 100 studies in pharmaceutical use


Checking cannabis plants at a medical marijuana plantation in northern Israel.

n a small pharmaceutical lab in Jerusalem, a complex construction of rubber tubes, pumps and a brass pipe sits on a worktop. A prototype device, its purpose is to “smoke” cannabis to remove its active constituents and turn them into powder, with the hope that the resulting product can be used for pain relief in young cancer patients.

The Izun lab offers a glimpse of the ambition by Israeli researchers to corner the rapidly burgeoning new global market in medical marijuana, a market its proponents argue soon could be worth almost $20bn (£16bn) annually by 2020 in the US alone.

Their aim is not simply to take part in a hugely lucrative market, but to transform the medical marijuana industry into a serious endeavour of pharmaceutical research, producing new strains and drugs able to alleviate the symptoms of of cancer, Parkinson’s disease, insomnia and other conditions.

Already, the “green rush” has seen about 500 companies apply to exploit cannabis products since February, when the Israeli government gave the green light to proceed with legislation that would allow its cultivation, manufacture and export.

It is a move that has seen the US and others invest almost $100m in the last year into Israel’s nascent medical marijuana startups, as new territories, including individual US states such as California, open up to both medical use of the drug and its decriminalisation.


A researcher at the Izun laboratory in Jerusalem with a vial containing the active ingredients of cannabis smoke.

That in turn has seen the establishment of more than 100 studies in Israel examining the drug’s usefulness.

In the offices of Izun, Saul Kaye, chief executive of iCAN, a private Israeli research hub that has been at the forefront of the push for a change in the law, explains the rapid shifts both in Israeli government policy and in interest in research in Israel into the drug, which Kaye believes will attract up to $1bn in investment in the next few years as the startups win official licences.

One factor driving the explosion of Israel’s research into medical cannabis is that – in contrast to the US, which is currently the biggest legal marijuana market – authorities in Israel have emerged as far more liberal in their support of research and development.

“Why is Israel leading the world?” asks Kaye. “A key reason is that we have the history. We have the oldest medical marijuana programme here, which started in 1996 officially. Another reason is a broad acceptance across all Israeli demographics because it is seen as helping people.”

And in a relatively new field, with no universal clinical standard, Israel aims to fill the void by combining its expertise in agriculture, technology and cannabis-based medicine, according to Yuval Landschaft, head of the health ministry’s medical cannabis unit (IMCA).

“In the United States, for example, they use recreational marijuana for medical use – that’s like making chicken soup when you have a cold,” Landschaft recently told Reuters. “We’re the ones making the antibiotics.”

It is a point taken up by William Levine of CannRx, part of Izun, one of the new companies involved in research into new medical uses for marijuana. “What we are trying to do,” he says, “is identify which parts of the plant are effective [for different conditions] and improve their efficacy.

“Cannabis is a spectacularly pharmaceutically active botanical. We have already identified very potent cannabinoid profiles which have specific applications to certain conditions like sleep problems, pain and appetite control, and issues associated with Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative conditions.”

The promise of the new industry and treatment regimes is already being demonstrated by Tikun Olam at its clinic in a quiet sidestreet of Tel Aviv.


Hetem, a worker on Tikun Olam’s medical marijuana farm in the Galilee hills in Safed, northern Israel.

Israel’s oldest medical cannabis clinic and production company – whose name references the Jewish religious principle of “healing the world” – has been going for 10 years and now has 9,000 patients, including several hundred children.

The company’s chief scientist, Zvi Bentwich, one of the early proponents of the medical use of cannabis in Israel, believes acceptance of the utility and research into cannabis has turned a corner after decades in which it was regarded as beyond the pale.

What scientists have been discovering, he says, is that the constituent elements of cannabis – sometimes working in isolation, sometimes together – have multiple medical applications for a range of conditions, from colitis to epilepsy, autism and a host of others. “What has changed is that clinical trials of cannabinoids accepted to the golden standard double-blind testing in a clinical situation – which had been very limited – have expanded in the last 10 years.”

Aharon Lutsky, chief executive of Tikun Olam, sees huge potential for growth. His company is already working in partnership with others around the globe. “I believe the use will increase dramatically,” he says. “It is a very good medicine with minor negative effects, which is already helping with the treatment of a large number of diseases. When I look at public opinion, five years ago it was against its use, with even patients hesitant. Now it is regarded as very legitimate.”

That view is shared by Emile Shalit, aged 52, a patient who has already benefited from treatment with cannabis derivatives. Diagnosed 20 years ago with ulcerative colitis, he found that other drugs and even surgery failed to halt the problem.

As a non-user of cannabis, he was accepted for a double-blind research programme, which he opted to take. “It improved my symptoms immediately,” he says. “I can sleep at night with no stomach pain and it seems to have helped with the inflammation. I can take medicine, then go for a three-hour ride on my bike. I don’t need to be close to the bathroom all the time.”

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[youtube][/youtube]

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http://www.hs.fi/ulkomaat/art-2000005156600.html

Ennätyksellinen huumetakavarikko Australiassa – lattian alta löytyi lähes tonni metamfetamiinia

Huume-erän arvo katukaupassa olisi ollut lähes 900 miljoonaa Australian dollaria eli yli 636 miljoonaa euroa.

Australian poliisi on löytänyt yli 900 kilogrammaa metamfetamiinia. Kyseessä on Britannian yleisradioyhtiö BBC:n mukaan maan historian suurin metamfetamiinitakavarikko.

Australian oikeusministerin Michael Keenanin mukaan melkein tonnin painoisen huume-erän arvo katukaupassa olisi ollut lähes 900 miljoonaa Australian dollaria eli yli 636 miljoonaa euroa.

Australian keskusrikospoliisi (AFP) on kertonut, että huumausaine oli kätketty Melbourneen osoitetun tavaralähetyksen lattian alle. Synteettinen huumausaine oli kidemuodossa.

Kaksi miestä on pidätetty epäiltynä huumausainerikoksesta. He ovat kotoisin Melbournesta ja iältään 53 ja 36.

Metamfetamiini on viranomaisten mukaan todennäköisesti peräisin jostakin päin Aasiaa.

AFP:n apulaispoliisipäällikön Neil Gaughanin mukaan järjestäytyneet rikollisryhmät näkevät paljon vaivaa yrittäessään hämätä rajavalvontaa. Australian hallitus perusti vuonna 2015 työryhmän miettimään keinoja, joilla lisääntyvää metamfetamiinin käyttöä voitaisiin ehkäistä.

[Pasi Fist]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/ ... -brunswick

Canadian province gambles future on marijuana's 'extreme growth potential'

New Brunswick invests in cannabis industry, which could be worth billions once legalised, with hopes to revive its declining economy and aging population


The New Brunswick government has invested up to C$990,000 in payroll rebates to OrganiGram, the only licensed marijuana producer in the Canadian province.

The thick scent of marijuana hangs heavy in the small room where rows of green plants are neatly arranged on shelves.

For the medical marijuana company OrganiGram, this is simply the latest round of production. But for New Brunswick, the small east coast Canadian province where this facility is based, the plants are part of a bigger gamble – one that aims to transform Canada’s looming plans to fully legalise marijuana by July 2018 into an economic boon capable of solving the problems of chronic unemployment and a rapidly ageing population.

“We see here an industry that we think has extreme growth potential,” Brian Gallant, the Liberal premier of New Brunswick, told the Guardian.

His province has embraced the country’s nascent marijuana industry like no other, betting heavily on its potential to shake up an economy long dominated by fishing and forestry. “We’re very optimistic that we’ll see significant investments and significant jobs created in the province because of it.”



Some 100,000 Canadians currently use medical marijuana – and the number is growing by 10% each month, according to the Canadian National Medical Marijuana Association.

This growth, along with promises from the federal Liberal government, led by Justin Trudeau, to make Canada the first G7 country to fully legalise marijuana, have led analysts to estimate Canada’s cannabis industry could eventually be worth somewhere between C$5bn and C$7bn annually.

The industry’s potential growth spurt comes just as New Brunswick stares down a fast-approaching perfect storm of an ageing demographic and economic decline. “We’re desperate for growth,” said Moncton-based economist Richard Saillant.

In some ways New Brunswick has more in common with countries, such as Greece or Portugal, than with other regions of Canada, said Saillant. “We share the same characteristics as those countries to the extent that they’re slow-growing peripheral economies that are fast aging and that are facing major financial stress.”

Home to some 750,000 people, the province is the only one in Canada with a shrinking population, as deaths outnumber births and younger residents head west for jobs. In their wake they leave an unemployment rate that hovers around 10% – one of the highest in Canada.

One in five residents in New Brunswick is currently aged 65 years or over, said Saillant, compared to about one in eight in western Canada. Within two decades, the number is expected to balloon to one in three, posing a significant challenge for the province’s healthcare system.

The demographics may help explain why a province with conservative tendencies has become so open to the marijuana industry. “I think it’s just the attitude that we have to have – as a smaller province with some challenges – that we have to look at these economic opportunities and be aggressive about them,” said Gallant, the province’s premier.

His government has invested C$4m in a loan to one medical marijuana startup, Zenabis, in order to help build a facility in northern New Brunswick that aims to create more than 200 jobs. In August, a senior government official suggested that these jobs may just be the tip of the iceberg; telling reporters that the sector could become a major economic driver in the province and create thousands of jobs.

The expectation saw New Brunswick become among the first jurisdictions in Canada to establish a working group to explore the issues around legalisation, ranging from how it will be sold to where products could be used. “There’s going to be production and distribution and sales of this across the country,” said Gallant. “So it’s a question of whether we as New Brunswickers can make sure we act quickly to benefit as much as possible from that.”

The provincial government has also invested in OrganiGram – currently the province’s only licensed marijuana producer – providing up to C$990,000 in payroll rebates for the creation of dozens of jobs over the next three years.

The government’s investment came just as OrganiGram acquired another 136,000 sq ft of industrial space in order to ramp up production, said Ray Gracewood, the company’s chief commercial officer.

“It’s fair to say that there really isn’t a model that we can look to to provide a turnkey solution,” said Gracewood. “So in a sense, I think Canadian industry is blazing a trail internationally from a legitimate sort of regulated industry. We’re already starting to get calls from representatives from other countries, asking what we’re doing.”

It hasn’t all been smooth sailing: OrganiGram and two other licensed producers in Canada recently issued a voluntary recall of much of its products sold in 2016 after five lots tested positive for low levels of two unapproved pesticides. The company has since put in place new growing and harvesting protocols.

The fast-growing industry has also been in a holding pattern as of late. Some worry that the federal government’s timeline of July 2018 is too ambitious, given the scope of work likely to be left to the provinces. A date of 2019 has been floated as more likely.

And while eight US states and the District of Columbia have voted to legalise recreational marijuana, the White House has hinted that the Department of Justice will do more to enforce federal laws prohibiting recreational marijuana, raising concerns over how Canada’s approach will coexist with a potential crackdown south of the border.

Nearly 400,000 people a day cross the shared border between Canada and the US, and any clampdown on the border could have economic repercussions for Canada, which last year sent three-quarters of its exports to the US.

Still, many in this province continue to push forward. In October, a New Brunswick college announced it would launch a specialised program on marijuana cultivation aimed at prepping potential workers for everything from quality control to harvesting. The program, which could be on offer as early as autumn of this year, will compensate for the fact that “most of the experience that exists within the cultivation of marijuana happens in the black market”, said Gracewood.

It’s a necessary development as the industry moves out of the shadows and into legalisation – and another building block that could help the province reap the benefits. “This industry is going to exist whether New Brunswick likes it or not. And the thing that’s most encouraging to me, is that as a province, they’ve truly embraced the opportunity,” said Gracewood. “My sense is that New Brunswick will be one of the most prepared provinces in Canada when the opportunity arises.”

[Pasi Fist]

Onnea Kanadan kansalaisille rationaalisesta ratkaisusta! Voisi Suomen poliitikot kaivaa päänsä pois tästä maakuopasta ja liittyä globaaliin trendiin mukaan.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/ ... egislation

Canada introduces long-awaited legislation to fully legalise marijuana

Two bills, which plan to legalise recreational marijuana by July 2018, divvy up regulation, distribution and sale between federal and provincial governments


‘Canadians ... continue to use cannabis at among the highest rates in the world,’ said Bill Blair, the MP who has been tapped to lead government’s plans for legalisation.

The Canadian government has introduced highly anticipated legislation aimed at regulating recreational marijuana use by July 2018, paving the way for the country to become the first in the G7 to fully legalise the drug.

On Thursday, the Liberal government tabled two bills designed to end more than 90 years of prohibition. “Despite decades of criminal prohibition, Canadians – including 21% of our youth and 30% of young adults – continue to use cannabis at among the highest rates in the world,” said Bill Blair, the MP and former Toronto police chief tapped to lead the government’s plans for legalisation. “The proposed legislation, which is introduced today, seeks to legalise, strictly regulate and restrict access to cannabis.”

The legislation divides the responsibilities of legalisation between the federal and provincial governments. Ottawa will regulate production, including licensing producers and ensuring the safety of the country’s marijuana supply. It will be left to Canadian provinces to decide how the drug will be distributed and sold. The federal government has stipulated that buyers must be at least 18 years old, but provinces will be able to set a higher age limit if they wish.

Dried and fresh cannabis, as well as cannabis oil, will be initially available with edible products to follow. Medical marijuana is already legal in Canada.

Strict guidelines will be set on how marijuana can be marketed. The government is currently weighing whether producers should be required to use plain packaging, with endorsements banned and child-proof packaging required. Any marketing that could appeal to young people will be prohibited, as will selling the product through self-service display cases or vending machines.

Those who want to grow their own marijuana will be limited to four plants per household. Canadians will be allowed to carry up to 30 grams of dried cannabis for personal use while those who sell or give marijuana to minors or who drive under its influence will face stiff penalties. The government is proposing a system of roadside saliva tests to ferret out drugged drivers.

No information was given on how the product will be priced or taxed; these details are expected to be announced by the country’s finance minister in the coming months.

Since becoming the Liberal leader in 2013, Justin Trudeau has argued that the decriminalisation and regulation of marijuana would help keep the drug away from children and ensure profits don’t end up in the hands of what the prime minister described as “criminal elements”.

Thursday’s legislation included a stipulation that those under the age of 18 found with up to five grams of marijuana will not face criminal charges.

Approval of the legislation is probably months away; once it makes its way through parliamentary committees, the federal government will have to negotiate the bills with the country’s senate and provinces. Some have argued that the timeline of legalisation by mid-2018 is overly ambitious, suggesting that 2019 is a more likely date.

Despite analyst predictions that the industry could eventually be worth somewhere between C$5bn and C$7bn annually, opinions remain divided within Canada. The provincial government of Saskatchewan has been vocal about its concerns, questioning the effectiveness of the government’s plans to tackle the issue of drugged driving.

“We don’t really have a way of monitoring or at least of detecting people who are driving on the roads who may be impaired by marijuana,” the province’s justice minister, Gordon Wyant, told reporters this week. “There’s people that are out there operating heavy machinery and we need to make sure that our workplaces are safe.”

Others worry that legalisation will put Canada on a collision path with Donald Trump’s administration south of the border. While eight US states and the District of Columbia have voted to legalise recreational marijuana, the White House has suggested that the Department of Justice will do more to enforce federal laws prohibiting recreational marijuana, raising concerns over how Canada’s approach will coexist with a potential US crackdown.

Canadian officials were in close touch with their American counterparts as they drafted the proposed law, Ralph Goodale, Canada’s public safety minister, said on Thursday. “It will be very important for people to understand that crossing the border with this product will be illegal,” he said.

Nearly 400,000 people a day cross the border between Canada and the US. Since September, Canada has been pushing the US to change a policy that bans Canadians who admit to having used marijuana from travelling to the United States.

Goodale argued that the Canadian approach would ultimately prove to be the better one. “If your objective is to protect public health and safety and keep cannabis out of the hands of minors, and stop the flow of profits to organized crime, then the law as it stands today has been an abject failure,” he said. “Police forces spend between $2bn and $3bn every year trying to deal with cannabis, and yet Canadian teenagers are among the heaviest users in the western world ... We simply have to do better.”

He stressed that until the legislation is passed, recreational marijuana remains illegal across Canada – a point underscored in recent months by a series of police raids on marijuana dispensaries across the country. “Existing laws prohibiting possession of cannabis remain in place and they need to be respected,” he said. “This must be an orderly transition. It is a not a free-for-all.”

[Poistunut käyttäjä 0380d1]

Jeps, hinnaksi on puheltu noin ~$10 / gramma eli n. 7€, joka on itseasiassa yläkanttiin mitä kanadalaiset on tottunut maksamaan. Mutta kovimmat pössäyttelijät varmaan kasvattaa itse ja pärjää neljällä puskalla, kasuaalit sitten polttaa laillista, ne jotka ei polta ei polta ja laittomille ei taida jäädäkkään enää minkäänlaista markkinaa.

Provinssit saa päättää miten verottaa ja kuka jakelee, mikä vaikuttanee hintaan. Täällä tosiaan toi postitus on ollut niin salonkikelpoinen tapa myydä kampetta, että hinnan on pakko kilpailla nykyisten mail order marijuana biznezten kanssa ainakin.

Melko järeät DUI tuomiot vaan saa jos jää kiinni ajaessa.. saas nähdä tuleeko tohon joku provinssikohtainen medical card poikkeama, en tiiä.

Työukot polttaa liquor storen edessä perjantaijointtia päiväsaikaan, ihmisiä kävelee vastaan kampuksella jointti huulessa. Jotku hiisaa baarijonossa tylsyyttään ja lämpimikseen, jos pitää tunnin verran odottaa sisäänpääsyä. Baareissa räppikeikoilla palaa sisällä ja ulkona, ulkona ehkä enemmän kun rööki. Poliiseja tai edes pikkupäälliköitä eli portsareita, kampuspoliiseja ja resident advisoreja ei kiinnosta. Ei ole kukaan tullut asiasta tukaroimaankaan ikinä. Kyl tää on lähinnä semmonen itsestäänselvyys jo tässä vaiheessa, jos kaikista konservatiivisinkin provinssi on näin löysä mitä tulee sauhutteluun.

[Elmeri suosittelee]

vastaakohan tää nyt ihan tarkotustaan, vai toimiiko paremminkin Vauhti Kellarin mainoksena

POLIISI JULKAISI KUVAT: NÄIN KOVIA HUUMEITA MYYDÄÄN NETISSÄ - KAUPPIAITA RYÖSTETTY ASEIN!



Helsingin huumepoliisi julkaisee nykyään Kaupungin varjoja -blogia, jossa pureudutaan huumausainerikoksia tutkivien poliisien arkeen. Tänään tiistaina julkaistussa kirjoituksessa huumepoliisi kertoo nopeasti yleistyneestä verkkohuumekaupasta internetin pimeässä Tor-verkossa.

"Viime aikoina sekä poliisi, että tulli ovat paljastaneet useamman netissä toimivan huumekaupan suomalaiset toimijat. Lähinnä Tor-verkon sipulikanavalla toimivat yrittäjät ovat valitettavan usein nuoria aikuisia miehiä, joille kaikenlaisen tavaran tilaaminen netissä on arkipäivää. Netistä löytyy runsaasti ulkomaisia sivustoja, joista saa kotiin kannettuna mitä tavaraa tahansa. Usein ulkomailta tilattu laitoin tavara jää jo lentotulliin, mutta aina jotain pääsee kontrollin läpikin", huumepoliisi kirjoittaa.



"Nuoresta kirkasotsaisesta yrittäjästä kaikki tuntuu aluksi lapsellisen helpolta. Kemiallisten huumeiden valmistus esimerkiksi Kiinassa on niin edullista, että tilaaja saa sitä tuotetta, mitä on halunnutkin. Aina ei näin käy, vaan paketissa voi olla mitä tahansa kemikaalia. "Nahkalabra" eli oman tai kaverin keho toimii tässä tapauksessa testialustana. Oma myynti-ilmoitus vaan sipulikanavalle ja itse keksityt suosittelijat sivulle, niin johan käy kauppa. Bitcoineja pullisteleva nettilompakko on liian suuri houkutus eikä kiinnijäämistä uskota koskaan tapahtuvan."

Viime aikoina huumepoliisi on myös joutunut tukimaan tapauksia, joissa Tor-verkon huumekauppiaita on yritetty ryöstää.

"Poliisille on tullut viimeksi viime viikolla tutkittavaksi rikosilmoitus, jossa sipulikanavalla sovittu amfetamiinikauppa yritettiin hoitaa uhkaamalla kauppiasta aseella ja ryöstämällä myyntituotteet. Ulkopuoliset henkilöt ilmoittivat asemiehestä ja sekä niin kutsutut ostajat ja myyjät saatiin verekseltään kiinni. Näitä "hupitällejä", jolloin ostajalla ei ole aikomustakaan maksaa ostoksiaan, on ollut viime aikoina jo useita. Huumekauppiaita ryöstelevät kaverit luottavat siihen, että myyjä ei tee ilmoitusta poliisille, sillä kukapa omasta laittomasta bisneksestään haluaisi viranomaisille kertoa."

Huumepoliisi varoittaa myös, että huumekaupasta jää yleensä ennen pitkään kiinni, ja luvassa on usein pitkä vankilatuomio.

https://www.seiska.fi/Uutiset/Poliisi-j ... etty-asein

[Elmeri suosittelee]

Alex Jones tells jury his marijuana has gotten too strong — and says George Soros is to blame



Right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on Thursday told a jury that he believes George Soros is somehow behind a plot to make the effects of smoking marijuana stronger than ever before.

As reported by BuzzFeed’s Charlie Warzel, Jones was asked about his drug and alcohol use by attorney Bobby Newman, who is representing Jones’ ex-wife Kelly in the custody battle over the couple’s three children.

During his testimony, Jones claimed that he smoked marijuana once a year to “monitor its strength,” and he claimed that its gotten progressively stronger over the years — and he thinks that George Soros is somehow involved.

“George Soros has brain damaged a lot of people,” Jones said, according to reporter Texas Monthly reporter Dan Solomon.

Elsewhere in his testimony, Jones told the jury that eating large bowls of chili had adverse affects on his ability to remember things, although he said that he made sure to not eat a large bowl of chili before appearing in court on Thursday.

https://www.rawstory.com/2017/04/alex-j ... s.facebook