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  vrijdag 2 oktober 2015 @ 04:48:22 #1
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_156541422


War on Drugs
De War on Drugs in ruime zin is de wereldwijde verbod op gebruik, bezit, handel dan wel productie van drugs. Drugs is een Engels woord dat in de Engelse taal geen onderscheid maakt tussen "medicijnen" en "drugs". Om dat onderscheid aan te geven wordt de term "prescription drugs" gebruikt; farmaceutische middelen die op recept verkrijgbaar zijn.

De War on Drugs in engere zin is de "oorlog" die wereldwijd wordt "gevochten" tegen en met drugskartels. Het is de langstlopende en duurste oorlog ooit gevochten. De War on Drugs is veruit het grootste in de Amerika's; de grootste afzetmarkt voor "illegale drugs" is de Verenigde Staten met het grootste doorvoer- en productiegebied in Midden- en Zuid-Amerika waar het meeste geweld plaatsvindt. Geschat wordt dat de Mexicaanse drugsoorlog (2006-) meer dan 106.000 doden en 1,6 miljoen vluchtelingen heeft veroorzaakt.

Mexico is het land dat het zwaarst getroffen wordt door de War on Drugs. Mexicaanse drugskartels vechten om handelswegen en deals met elkaar, overheden en de CIA. Los Zetas is een kartel dat is opgericht uit (para)militairen die in Mexico juist tegen de drugskartels strijden.

Ook in Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua en El Salvador worden regelmatig grote slachtingen door drugsbendes aangericht.


In Colombia strijden paramilitairen en de FARC om vruchtbare grond waar coca verbouwd wordt. Sinds 2002 is de verspreiding van coca over Colombia enorm gestegen (het wordt in meer gemeenten verbouwd) hoewel het land, van oudsher nummer 1 coca-producent, niet langer de grootste bron voor cocaïne is. Die rol is overgenomen door Peru en Bolivia.

Om de War on Drugs te begrijpen en een mening te vormen hieronder een overzicht van documentaires en achtergrondmateriaal om de lezer te informeren.



Handel en productie
De belangrijkste illegale drugs en hun herkomst/productie en handelsroutes:
marijuana - in de VS (WoD in enge zin) naast eigen teelt vooral uit Mexico en Centraal-Amerika
cocaïne - de grootste producenten van cocaplanten, de basis voor cocaïne zijn de Zuid-Amerikaanse landen Peru (1), Bolivia (2), Colombia (3) en Ecuador (4) - de handelsroutes naar Europa lopen via Curacao, Brazilië en West-Afrika
heroïne - productie in Centraal-Azië met name in het door de VS bezette Afghanistan, waar de papaverteelt onder de Taliban bijna verdwenen was
crystal meth - productie thuis door vooral de blanke onderklasse in de VS

Andere drugs die bestreden worden:
MDMA/XTC
speed
LSD






Belangrijkste strijdende partijen:
CIA (VS)
DEA (VS)
Sinaloa-kartel
Los Zetas
Golfos-kartel
Tijuana-kartel
Juarez-kartel
Beltrán-Leyva-kartel
Jalisco Nieuwe Generatie-kartel
Tempeliers-kartel
La Familia Michoacana (ontmanteld in 2011)
Medellín-kartel (1980-1990s)
Cali-kartel (1980-1990s)
Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias Colombianas - FARC

De "film" die uiteindelijk leidde tot de War on Drugs en het verbod op marijuana in de VS:


VSAmerikaanse agent die pleit voor het stoppen van de War on Drugs:


Documentaires:
SPOILER
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Peter Hitchens met een keutel:


Landen met een afwijkend standpunt/beleid wat betreft drugs:



Legale status van marihuana (Wikipedia)

Uruguay - marijuana sinds 10 april 2014 legaal
Portugal - drugsgebruik en -bezit sinds 2001 met een boete of niet bestraft
Tsjechië - gebruikershoeveelheden van 15 gram marijuana en 1,5 gram heroïne zijn toegestaan
Nederland - half-om-half gedoogbeleid waar productie en handel verboden zijn maar kleine verkoop toegestaan
• Colombia - 20 gram wiet en 1 gram cocaïne zijn officieel gedoogd - in de praktijk betaal je een kleine bijdrage aan de agent en neem je je drugs gewoon mee
Chili - drugsgebruik, mits niet in het openbaar, is niet strafbaar
• Colorado, Washington - 2 VSAmerikaanse staten die marijuana gelegaliseerd hebben
Argentinië - sinds 25 augustus 2009 is persoonlijk bezit en gebruik van marijuana toegestaan

Bekende pro-legaliseringspersonen:
Alexander Shulgin - ontdekker van vele soorten psycho-actieve en opwekkende drugs, gebaseerd op MDMA (XTC)
José Mujica - president van Uruguay - eerste land dat marijuana legaliseerde en eerste winnaar van TIME's Country of the Year - 2013
Ron Paul - VSAmerikaans senator, libertair
Jesse Ventura - VSAmerikaans ex-governeur, libertair
Bill Hicks - VSAmerikaans comedian, overleden 1994
Noam Chomsky - VSAmerikaans taalkundige en filosoof
Stefan Molyneux - Canadees radio-host, libertair
Eugene Jarecki - VSAmerikaans documentairemaker (The House I Live In)
Otto Perez Molina - president van Guatemala - pleit voor einde van de oorlog die Centraal-Amerika in een onnodige greep houdt
Timothy Leary (ovl 1996) - VSAmerikaans psycholoog en schrijver
Ken Kesey (ovl 2001) - VSAmerikaans schrijver
Terrence McKenna (ovl 2000) - VSAmerikaans filosoof en schrijver

Bekende anti-legaliseringspersonen:
• Ivo O. en Fred T.
• Jan-Peter B.

Bekende drugsbaronnen:
Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán - leider van het Sinaloa-kartel, gearresteerd in februari 2014
Willem "de Neus" Holleeder - Nederlands grootste drugsbaas na de dood van
Klaas "de Dominee" Bruinsma (6 oktober 1953 - 27 juni 1991) - Nederlands grootste drugsbaas tot Willem Holleeder
Pablo Escobar Gaviria (2 december 1947 - 2 december 1991) - de bekendste drugsbaron tot de Mexicaanse kartels, leider en oprichter van het Medellínkartel dat in de jaren 80 en begin jaren 90 zeer bloedige oorlogen vocht tegen het Calikartel, politici en vooral vrienden uit eigen kring
Hermanos Ochoa - de echte bazen van het Medellínkartel
Gwenette Martha - doodgeschoten 22 mei 2014, Amsterdam

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nieuwslinks:
http://www.theguardian.co(...)rugs-uk-police-chief
http://hispaniolainfo.com/2013/10/?p=1822
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/NI08Dj06.html
http://www.volkskrant.nl/(...)ig-belastingen.dhtml
http://www.theguardian.co(...)arijuana-federal-law
http://www.volkskrant.nl/(...)usland-mislukt.dhtml
http://privacysos.org/nod(...)y&utm_medium=twitter
http://www.chicagomag.com(...)2013/Sinaloa-Cartel/
http://www.laweekly.com/i(...)aper-dope-study-says
http://www.theguardian.co(...)e-crime-gangs-police

FOK!-informatie over drugs:
UVT - Space - Drugsoverzicht

===========================================================================

Free Assange! Hack the Planet
[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  vrijdag 2 oktober 2015 @ 23:38:19 #2
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_156562472
quote:
Colombian troops kill drug lord with 45 arrest warrants and a $5m bounty

Víctor Navarro, better known by the alias ‘Megateo’, had long dominated the historically lawless Catatumbo region near Venezuela where he was killed

One of Colombia’s most-hunted drug traffickers has been killed in a military raid, according to the country’s president, Juan Manuel Santos.

Víctor Navarro, a 39-year-old better known by the alias “Megateo”, had long dominated the historically lawless Catatumbo region near Venezuela where he was killed.

With a $5m US bounty on his head, he had faced 45 different arrest warrants and was especially hunted for a 2006 ambush in which his men killed 17 soldiers and intelligence agents who had set out from Bogotá seeking to capture him.

“Air force intelligence confirms that Megateo was killed. Big hit, congratulations. Criminals either face justice or end in a grave,” President Juan Manuel Santos said on his Twitter account.

Santos gave no details about how or when Navarro was killed.

Navarro claimed to lead the last remaining faction of the Popular Liberation Army, a rebel movement that disbanded in 1991, but authorities said he was one of Colombia’s biggest cocaine traffickers.

A thickly built man of medium height, he was notorious for wearing flashy, weapons-themed jewelry and for branding underage lovers with a tattoo of his face. He wore a big gold ring on each hand – one encrusted with diamonds, the other emeralds. In one photo police obtained in a raid, a golden pistol hangs from a necklace.

His brazenness drew comparisons, although in miniature, to Pablo Escobar, the cocaine kingpin who terrorized Colombia for two decades until he was killed by police in 1993.

Born into a peasant family, he took to crime in the late 1990s after paramilitaries killed his mother and a sister, according to Colombian investigators. Navarro projected a Robin Hood image, sharing some wealth with local people while putting numerous public officials on his payroll, US and Colombian officials say.

Navarro long evaded capture while lording over the forbidding jungle region that hugs Venezuela’s border, bolstered by alliances with various parties in Colombia’s half century-old conflict. He cooperated with gangs of former far-right militiamen and with the two largest rebel groups – the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the Farc, and the National Liberation Army.
Colombians dare to hope as end of decades-long civil war appears in sight
Read more

Law enforcement fixated on Navarro because of what he represented: the possible future of organized crime in Colombia if peace talks succeed between the government and the Farc. Negotiators hope to produce a final deal to end that armed conflict within six months, and the smaller National Liberation Army also wants to begin peace talks.

Authorities worry that ideology-free gangsters will fill a vacuum left by leftist rebels, taking control of remote fiefdoms that the government has always had trouble penetrating. They would oversee coca crops, the raw material of cocaine, while employing ex-combatants of all political stripes as enforcers.
Free Assange! Hack the Planet
[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zaterdag 3 oktober 2015 @ 13:27:17 #3
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_156569687
quote:
The Missing Story of the Drug War - The New Yorker

Dan Slater
Matthew Heineman, a thirty-two-year-old American filmmaker, was at the airport in Michoacán, the war-torn Mexican state west of Mexico City, when he had second thoughts about returning home. His crew members were exhausted. For three weeks, they’d worked twenty-hour days, trying to capture footage of the Autodefensas. Said to be composed of bricklayers, fishermen, lumberjacks, and other working-class types, the Autodefensas, a citizen militia, were making progress in their efforts to free Michoacán from the control of the Knights Templar, the area’s operating cartel. In June, 2013, as Heineman was setting out to document citizen militias in Arizona, his father sent him an article about the leader of the Autodefensas, a charismatic doctor named José Manuel Mireles. “The minute I read that article, I knew I wanted to create a parallel story of vigilantes on both sides of the border,” Heineman told me. “I wanted to know what happens when government institutions fail and citizens feel like they have to take the law into their own hands.” He hoped to emancipate the drug-war story from the headlines, and avoid telling it, as so often happens, through talking-head interviews with experts and officials.

Early visits to the region yielded little: he scored a meeting with Mireles and followed the Autodefensas as they took over a town called Los Reyes, but nothing much seemed to happen cinematically. As Heineman and his crew boarded a plane home, he was struck by the feeling that they were missing something. He took a camera, called his fixer—a local journalist—and headed back to Los Reyes. When he arrived, the Autodefensas had tracked down two Knights Templar assassins, known as El Chaneque and Caballo, men allegedly responsible for the kinds of barbaric atrocities now standard in cartel culture. A woman told Heineman that she had seen the men kill her husband and other members of the Autodefensas: “First, they burned my husband with a blowtorch while he was alive. After that, they came in with four more people. And they killed them one by one. They cut their head, their hands, their legs—everything—into pieces. They were laughing like crazy people. It made them happy.” Heineman filmed the Autodefensas closing in on El Chaneque and Caballo in a shootout. The two men surrendered. An aggrieved member of the militia punched one of them repeatedly; through tears, he demanded to know what had been done with the remains of his uncles.

The footage, a stunning scene of societal retribution, set the standard for a yearlong shoot that became “Cartel Land,” a documentary that premièred at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won for best director and cinematography, and was released this summer in the United States and Mexico. The Mexican thread is told through the closely observed perspective of Mireles and the Autodefensas, touching on an aspect of the drug war that had not been addressed in American popular culture: How do citizen militias figure in the war? By focussing on upstart vigilantes as they accrue power, the film reveals a reality more troubling than has been depicted by other drug-war stories—an increasingly fractured system, with new organizations cropping up to compete violently in Mexico’s criminal economy. The enemy isn’t cartels, or even drugs, per se, but geography; a lucrative criminal economy has been created by the position of a wealthy nation next to a poor one. More than half of Mexico works in the informal sector—as taxi drivers, street venders, waste pickers, and domestic help—and many can’t meet basic needs. Living in a country where crime seems to steal every opportunity often means that crime appears to be the only option left. When that chance comes your way, you seize it, until someone hungrier, angrier, or more brutal seizes it from you.

Fact or fiction, onscreen or on the page, Mexican crime stories tend to go wide, attempting to show the whole panorama of the drug war, from Washington to Mexico City and every debauched suburb and torture cell in between. Think “Traffic,” Steven Soderbergh’s 2000 movie, which follows Benicio Del Toro as a Mexican cop turned informant, along with an American drug dealer’s embattled wife (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and the imploding family of Washington’s new drug czar (Michael Douglas). Del Toro, perhaps more than any other actor, has made a career of drug movies. His work of the past twenty-five years can be interpreted as reflecting the evolution of America’s drug-war consciousness, starting with his early roles as all-purpose Latin villains in “License to Kill” (1989) and “Drug Wars: The Camarena Story” (1990). In the latter, his character, a Mexican smuggler, says of Americans, “We send them our chiva, our sinsemilla, our coca. We take their money and we steal a little bit of their souls.” By the time Del Toro appeared in “Traffic,” for which he won an Oscar, more Americans had recognized their own complicity in the drug trade, but they still saw it in terms of good guys and bad guys.

Since then, other representations of the drug war in popular culture have risen from the headlines. Don Winslow’s epics—“The Power of the Dog” (2005) and its sequel, “The Cartel” (2015)—fictionalize just about every major player of the past forty years. “I don’t think Americans know the sheer level of violence and chaos that the War on Drugs has touched off, so I try to make the point by sheer repetition,” Winslow told Men’s Journal. TV shows like the American version of “The Bridge” and the 2013 film “The Counselor” also hinge on the violence of cartel villains and their ubiquitous lackeys. Several nonfiction books similarly steep their readers in death while attempting to portray the entire cartel landscape—“El Narco: Inside Mexico’s Criminal Insurgency” (2011); “Narcoland: The Mexican Drug Lords and Their Godfathers” (2010); and, out this summer, “ZeroZeroZero.” Others, such as “The Last Narco: Inside the Hunt for El Chapo, the World’s Most Wanted Drug Lord” (2010) and “In the Shadow of Saint Death: The Gulf Cartel and the Price of America’s Drug War in Mexico” (2014), suggest the dominance of a single cartel or drug lord. These are flyover books with little firsthand reporting. They tend to treat the rising and falling cartels and capos as historically important entities whose backgrounds, victories, defeats, escapes, murders, and betrayals must be catalogued in order to understand where the war is leading. This guy killed that guy, then that guy’s brother took revenge, and there’s no end in sight. Viridiana Rios, a scholar of Mexican organized crime who is based at Harvard, has written that “Our focus on grand events has blurred our ability to recognize real critical junctures.”

Del Toro has a new drug-war movie, “Sicario,” out this month, which plays with our overly simplistic “good guy” and “bad guy” assumptions, and, like “Cartel Land,” it leaves viewers wondering whom to root for. Heineman told me that, as he was working on his documentary, “at first I thought it was a simple hero-villain story, with guys in white shirts squaring off against guys in black hats. Over time, the line between good and evil blurred. I became obsessed with trying to figure out who the Autodefensas really were. Where did their bulletproof vests come from? Who was paying them?”

The drug war is typically depicted as a problem of hypocrisy and delusion in the United States, and of tumult in Mexico. It’s a matter of “corruption,” one hears. But corruption, as “Cartel Land” shows, fails to convey the extent of the problem: in a place like Michoacán, there is no accountable government; no public trust exists that can be broken. A couple of decades ago, it wouldn’t have been possible for an upstart group to wage war, take over a few cities, and develop a cartel without high-level federal government connections. Today, in a void of central authority, evil moves through the poor communities of a narco state with a cancerous gravity, making every cell sick.

Recent Mexican history is packed with anecdotes about sheriffs and prosecutors who, often with the backing of the United States, gain reputations as law-and-order men bent on eradicating cartels and then walk away with unexplained wealth. Two fully reported books about the early years of the trade—“Desperados: Latin Drug Lords, U.S. Lawmen, and the War America Can’t Win” (1988) and “Drug Lord: The Life and Death of a Mexican Kingpin” (1990)—show how many of Mexico’s most notorious traffickers have come out of the country’s labyrinthine security and law-enforcement establishment: the police, Army, Navy, and special-force troops. In the seventies, Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo—known as El Padrino, a godfather of the Mexican drug trade—was a policeman in Sinaloa, the country’s drug-growing heartland, and a bodyguard for the governor. During this period, and through the eighties, the war on drugs, despite all of Washington’s lip service, was a secondary concern. Foremost on Washington’s mind was fighting Communist insurgencies in Latin America. The C.I.A needed its base in Mexico City, which meant accommodating Mexico’s Federal Security Directorate, a criminal incubator. In 1995, Mexico’s Interior Ministry reported that current or former law-enforcement workers made up more than half of the estimated nine hundred armed criminal bands in the country.

In “Cartel Land,” the Autodefensas take a stand against not just the Knights Templar but also the police who try to disarm their vigilantism. To wage a “legitimate defense,” Mireles says, the militia must ward off all criminal elements, regardless of uniform. But, eventually, under pressure from the government, the group votes to “legitimize”—transforming the Autodefensas into the Rural Defense Corps, with new police vests and government-issued weapons. Mireles, worried about compromising their efforts, refuses to go along with the plan unless the leader of the Knights Templar is captured; he goes on the run and is later arrested with eighty-two other dissident militia members.

As filming continued, Heineman faced a problem common among documentarians: how to end the movie. The gang battles of the drug wars are ongoing. In a meth-cooking scene that bookends “Cartel Land,” a man wearing an Autodefensas uniform says, “We as the cooks gotta lay low, now that we’re part of the government.” He adds, “It’s just a never-ending story.” All along, the Autodefensas were enmeshed with people cooking meth in Michoacán. In creating the Rural Defense Corps—many of whose members, Heineman estimates, were former and current cartel members—the Mexican government funded the formation of yet another cartel.

Bron: www.newyorker.com
Free Assange! Hack the Planet
[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
pi_156569731
quote:
Landen met een afwijkend standpunt/beleid wat betreft drugs:
Verbieden is niet afwijkend. Het willen legaliseren is afwijkend.
Naturheilmittel
pi_156569758
Men zal het toch een keer gefaseerd moeten gaan vrijgeven, te beginnen met cannabis.

Ik ben sowieso voorstander voor het vrijgeven van drugs. Verbod helpt niet, de vraag naar drugs blijft bestaan, het kost de gebruiker belachelijk veel geld als je naar de werkelijke productiekosten kijkt. De belastingbetaler betaalt zich blauw om bij te dragen aan the war on drugs. Het gros van alle criminaliteit en aanverwante overlast is gerelateerd aan drugs.
pi_156569822
quote:
0s.gif Op zaterdag 3 oktober 2015 13:32 schreef Elzies het volgende:
Men zal het toch een keer gefaseerd moeten gaan vrijgeven, te beginnen met cannabis.

Ik ben sowieso voorstander voor het vrijgeven van drugs. Verbod helpt niet, de vraag naar drugs blijft bestaan, het kost de gebruiker belachelijk veel geld als je naar de werkelijke productiekosten kijkt. De belastingbetaler betaalt zich blauw om bij te dragen aan the war on drugs. Het gros van alle criminaliteit en aanverwante overlast is gerelateerd aan drugs.
Ja cannabis kan elk land makkelijk legaliseren. Harddrugs zijn een heel ander verhaal.

Ik weet dat alle pro-legalisering-wappies niet echt helder kunnen denken (goh), maar er zijn voldoende goede redenen om niet overal cocaine en heroine te kunnen kopen. Om dezelfde reden dat bepaalde medicijnen niet vrij verkrijgbaar zijn.
Naturheilmittel
pi_156569922
quote:
0s.gif Op zaterdag 3 oktober 2015 13:38 schreef Gerolsteiner het volgende:

[..]

Ja cannabis kan elk land makkelijk legaliseren. Harddrugs zijn een heel ander verhaal.

Ik weet dat alle pro-legalisering-wappies niet echt helder kunnen denken (goh), maar er zijn voldoende goede redenen om niet overal cocaine en heroine te kunnen kopen. Om dezelfde reden dat bepaalde medicijnen niet vrij verkrijgbaar zijn.
Legaliseren betekent niet dat het overal vrij verkrijgbaar moet zijn. Dat is sterke drank ook niet.
Het zorgt er wel voor dat de drugs die gebruikt worden in ieder geval schoon zijn.
Op donderdag 6 september 2012 @ 21:41 schreef Shakkara het volgende:
Uiteraard is het volgens Rutte en consorten de schuld van een imaginair links kabinet dat we ooit ergens in het verleden gehad schijnen te hebben.
  zaterdag 3 oktober 2015 @ 13:48:55 #8
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_156569960
quote:
0s.gif Op zaterdag 3 oktober 2015 13:38 schreef Gerolsteiner het volgende:

[..]

Ja cannabis kan elk land makkelijk legaliseren. Harddrugs zijn een heel ander verhaal.

Ik weet dat alle pro-legalisering-wappies niet echt helder kunnen denken (goh), maar er zijn voldoende goede redenen om niet overal cocaine en heroine te kunnen kopen
Nou, begin maar.
Free Assange! Hack the Planet
[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
pi_156569975
quote:
0s.gif Op zaterdag 3 oktober 2015 13:38 schreef Gerolsteiner het volgende:

[..]

Ja cannabis kan elk land makkelijk legaliseren. Harddrugs zijn een heel ander verhaal.

Ik weet dat alle pro-legalisering-wappies niet echt helder kunnen denken (goh), maar er zijn voldoende goede redenen om niet overal cocaine en heroine te kunnen kopen.
En wat heeft dat met een verbod te maken?
Wees gehoorzaam. Alleen samen krijgen we de vrijheid eronder.
  dinsdag 6 oktober 2015 @ 16:49:23 #10
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_156643399
quote:
Parallel Universes Collide: Drug Control and Human Rights at the UN | Ann Fordham


On Monday 28th September 2015, a high-level panel debate on 'the impact of the world drug problem on the enjoyment of human rights' took place at the 30th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva. This was a long-awaited, historic moment. The impact of drug control policies on the enjoyment of human rights has been extensively and irrefutably documented over many years but genuine, open discussion on these issues has been very limited at the UN.

At the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) in Vienna, there has traditionally been great resistance to the idea that human rights should underpin the global drug control response. In that forum, many governments have argued that human rights are under the purview of UN bodies based in Geneva, the seat of the health and human rights entities, and do not have a place in Vienna, where crime, law enforcement and drugs are the focus. This has somewhat improved over the years and in 2008, the CND adopted its first human rights resolution, prior to this human rights-based language was frequently resisted and outright vetoed. Although, last year negotiations almost broke down over tensions regarding the continued use of the death penalty for drug offences.


Source: Ann Fordham

In parallel with a push for greater recognition of the human rights dimensions of drug policies at the CND, advocates have also called on the human rights mechanisms of the UN to weigh in on the drugs issue. Over the years, various UN human rights experts such as the Special rapporteurs on the right to health and on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention have all raised concerns regarding various aspects of punitive drug control policies. But high-level, visible political engagement on this matter within the forum of the Human Rights Council (HRC) itself has taken time to achieve.

The momentum created by the upcoming UN General Assembly Special Session on drugs (UNGASS) next April has encouraged some governments to look more closely at the incongruence between drug control and human rights. In March 2015, a resolution was passed at the HRC mandating the Office of the High Commissioner to undertake a study on the impact of the world drug problem on human rights and calling for a high-level panel on the issue at the Council.

The panel discussion was compelling and interactive. Flavia Pansieri, the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, gave comprehensive opening remarks and Ruth Dreifuss, former President of the Swiss Confederation and member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy moderated the discussion. Panelists included representatives from the Government of Colombia, the West African Commission on Drug Policy, the World Health Organisation and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. I was honoured invited to join the panel as the only civil society representative on behalf of the International Drug Policy Consortium, a global network of 140 NGOs collectively working to reform drug policies.

The use of the death penalty for drugs offences and the violation of the right to life was raised several times by panelists and member states. There was still disagreement between those governments arguing to retain the death penalty and those calling for its abolition, pointing out that under international law, the death penalty may only be applied for the most serious crimes, and drug offences did not fall into this category. The many, widespread and devastating human rights impacts of the 'war on drugs' were recounted during the discussion and it was noted that the burden of the overly punitive and repressive nature of drug control has been disproportionately borne by vulnerable and marginalised groups, many of whom are engaged at a low level in the drug trade driven by basic subsistence needs.

As the only civil society representative on the panel, I drew attention to the damaging lack of coherence between the parallel universes of UN bodies in Vienna and Geneva, and called on the HRC to ensure that there continues to be attention from the Council to the serious and widespread human rights violations caused by an overly punitive and repressive global response to drugs. Towards this end, the Council should consider appointing a Special Rapporteur on drug policy and human rights.

Next April's important UNGASS is an opportune moment to align these parallel universes and ensure that global drug policy genuinely has the promotion and protection of human rights at its centre. The devastating human rights violations committed in the name of drug control must end. We will be judged by history.

Bron: www.huffingtonpost.co.uk
Free Assange! Hack the Planet
[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  woensdag 7 oktober 2015 @ 11:31:37 #11
313372 Linkse_Boomknuffelaar
Vrijheid voor Demoon_uit Hemel
pi_156663367
quote:
0s.gif Op zaterdag 3 oktober 2015 13:38 schreef Gerolsteiner het volgende:

[..]

Ja cannabis kan elk land makkelijk legaliseren. Harddrugs zijn een heel ander verhaal.

Ik weet dat alle pro-legalisering-wappies niet echt helder kunnen denken (goh), maar er zijn voldoende goede redenen om niet overal cocaine en heroine te kunnen kopen. Om dezelfde reden dat bepaalde medicijnen niet vrij verkrijgbaar zijn.
Ik gebruik zelf helemaal geen drugs,ook geen sigaretten en geen alcohol en leef op voornamelijk biologische (-dynamische) voeding en adviseer een ieder deze levenswijze te volgen en af te zien van alcohol en welke vorm van drugs ook.
Dit gezegd hebbende, ben ik groot voorstander van legalisering van drugs. Niet omdat drugs zo gezond is, maar dat is McDonalds en Coca Cola ook niet, maar omdat het toch blijft bestaan en de gevolgen voor een land en een volk zijn destraseus als je het verbiedt. Complete landen als Honduras, El Salvador, Colombia, Mexico, maar ook Afghanistan en voorheen China zijn kapot gemaakt door drugsbendes. Drugs worden toch wel gebruikt, ook door de elite, het is beter te legaliseren en te reguleren.

Ik zie het zoals de voormalige president van Uruguay het ziet, softdrugs is niet goed voor de gezondheid, maar verbieden heeft geen zin en werkt averechts.

Nogmaals ik adviseer iedereen het genot van een glas verse muntthee met honing of bd vlierbessensap met een bak verse aardbeien op een fietstocht door het Friese landschap en niet een levensstijl van thuiszitten met een Xbox en een flinke lading hasjiesj, maar het moet bij advies blijven. Mensen kiezen zelf en wellicht experimenteert men enkele jaren en ziet men na enkele jaren ook in dat biologische voeding en fietstochten of wandeltochten en zwemmen in een natuurmeer veel leuker is dan blowen. O+

Dus ja, legaliseer!
En nee, gebruik het zelf niet.
O+
  woensdag 7 oktober 2015 @ 14:34:12 #12
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_156666994
quote:
quote:
Circa de helft van de Amerikaanse gevangenispopulatie bestaat uit drugsmisdadigers. Rechters gaan nu de zaken van iedere gevangene opnieuw onder de loep nemen. Als zij geen gevaar vormen voor de openbare veiligheid mogen zij gaan. De meeste gedetineerden die in aanmerking komen voor het programma zitten al tien jaar of langer vast.

Critici pleiten al langer voor minder zware straffen voor drugsgerelateerde misdaden. Volgens hen wortelt de cultuur van lange celstraffen in de jaren ’80, toen onder president Ronald Reagan streng beleid werd ingevoerd in de zogeheten “War on Drugs”. Die richtte zich toen voornamelijk op cocaïne en crack (een rookbare vorm van coke).
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  vrijdag 9 oktober 2015 @ 05:01:12 #13
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_156704584
quote:
Agent aangehouden die informatie verkocht aan onderwereld



De politie heeft tien dagen geleden een ervaren politieagent van de Nationale Recherche aangehouden, omdat hij ervan wordt verdacht op grote schaal geheime opsporingsinformatie te hebben verkocht aan de onderwereld. De man zou jarenlang zeer gevoelige inlichtingen aan internationale drugsorganisaties en criminele motorclubs hebben doorgespeeld.

Bij politie en Openbaar Ministerie wordt gesproken van “het grootste justitiële schandaal sinds de IRT-affaire” uit de jaren negentig. Toen bleek de politie zelf in drugs te handelen. In deze corruptiezaak heeft iemand uit het hart van de recherche stelselmatig de onderwereld geïnformeerd over lopende strafrechtelijke onderzoeken.

Volgens welingelichte justitiële bronnen opereerde de politieagent vooral in de regio Oost-Brabant. De agent heeft naar verluidt met grote frequentie vertrouwelijke inlichtingen verkocht aan grote drugsorganisaties die in Brabant actief zijn. De corrupte agent zou ook warme banden hebben onderhouden met voormannen van de motorclubs No Surrender en Satudarah.

Een woordvoerster van het Openbaar Ministerie in Den Bosch bevestigt dat op 29 september een agent is aangehouden. “De man zit vast op verdenking van corruptie, plichtsverzuim en witwassen van crimineel geld”, zegt de woordvoerster. Op
2 oktober is hij door de rechter-commissaris in bewaring gesteld. De aanhouding is tot nu toe strikt geheim gehouden “in het belang van het onderzoek”, zegt de woordvoerster. Ze zegt dat “deze zaak nogal gevoelig ligt”. Er is ook een verdachte aangehouden die criminele inlichtingen van de corrupte agent zou hebben gekocht.

Bij de politie en het OM is men erg geschrokken van deze corruptiezaak. De verdachte agent had namelijk de bevoegdheid zich inzage te verschaffen in álle grote landelijke rechercheonderzoeken. Juist bij drugsonderzoeken heeft de Nationale Recherche de laatste tijd regelmatig te kampen met het lekken van criminele inlichtingen. De Rijksrecherche en de politie bekijken nu uit welke onderzoeken precies informatie is gelekt. Dat kan, aldus een betrokkenen, “levensgevaarlijke consequenties hebben” voor bijvoorbeeld getuigen en infiltranten.

De computers van de agent zijn in beslag genomen. Bij de aanhouding en doorzoeking van de woning van de verdachte politieman zou naar verluidt ook een groot geldbedrag in beslag zijn genomen. De woordvoerster van het OM zegt “niks te kunnen zeggen” over inbeslagnames. De Nationale Politie weigert elk commentaar over deze kwestie. Het corruptieonderzoek staat onder leiding van het parket in Den Bosch.
Bron: Trouw
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  vrijdag 9 oktober 2015 @ 19:08:14 #14
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_156714692
quote:
quote:
Hij is kwaad omdat Trump, die wil meedoen aan de Amerikaanse verkiezingen namens de Republikeinen, racistische opmerkingen heeft gemaakt over Mexicanen, zo meldden Zuid-Amerikaanse media vrijdag.

De beloning die Guzmán voor Trump (dood of levend) in het vooruitzicht stelt, is aanzienlijk hoger dan de beloningen die justitie in Mexico en de VS voor zíjn aanhouding hebben uitgetrokken, respectievelijk 3,5 en 5 miljoen dollar. De drugsbaron wist in juli op spectaculaire wijze uit de gevangenis te ontsnappen en is nog steeds spoorloos.
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  maandag 12 oktober 2015 @ 10:11:46 #15
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_156776734
quote:
Liberal Democrats set up expert panel on cannabis legalisation | Politics | The Guardian

Group including former government adviser and ex-chief constable will consider how a legal market for cannabis could work in Britain


The Liberal Democrats are to set up an expert panel to establish how a legal market for cannabis could work in Britain, paving the way for them to become the first major political party in the UK to back its legalisation.

The move is backed the party’s health spokesman, Norman Lamb, and by a former deputy assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan police, Brian Paddick. It is in line with a 2014 party conference resolution which called for a review of the effectiveness of a regulated market in relation to health and reduced criminal activity.

The review panel members will include Prof David Nutt, the founder of DrugScience and a former chairman of the government’s advisory committee on the misuse of drugs, Tom Lloyd a former Cambridgeshire chief constable and chair of the National Cannabis Coalition, and Niamh Eastwood, the executive director of Release, a drugs charity. The panel is to be chaired by Steve Rolles, of the drugs policy campaign group Transform.

Lamb wants the expert panel to look at evidence from Colorado and Washington State, in the US, where cannabis has been legalised since 2012, and from Uruguay, and to make recommendations for the party’s conference next spring. He says a move to a legal cannabis market in Britain must be based on international evidence and include effective regulation to minimise the harm that cannabis can cause to health.

He said: “I share people’s concerns about the health impacts of any drug – legal or illegal. But we can better manage that harm by taking the money that’s currently spent on policing the illegal cannabis market and spending it on public health education and restrictions at the point of sale.

“That’s the approach we have taken with cigarettes and it has led to dramatic reductions in smoking in recent years.”

Lamb said the recent emergence of successful legal cannabis markets in different parts of the world meant the onus was now on the supporters of prohibition to explain why it shouldn’t happen in the UK.

“We must end the hypocrisy of senior politicians admitting to using cannabis in younger years – and describing it as ‘youthful indiscretions’ – whilst condemning tens of thousands of their less fortunate fellow countrymen and women to criminal records for precisely the same thing, blighting their careers.”

Lord Paddick led a pilot scheme in Lambeth 10 years ago which effectively decriminalised cannabis for personal use for a 12-month period. It demonstrated that the police saved resources, enabling them to deal more effectively with serious crime, and crime fell significantly over the period.

On Monday, MPs are set to debate the legalisation of the production, sale and use of cannabis as a result of a petition to parliament which has attracted more than 221,000 signatures.

A briefing for the debate by Transform says four US states – Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington – and the capital, Washington DC, have legalised cannabis for non-medical adult use.

It says legalisation in Colorado, where retail shops opened for the first time last year, has not led to a spike in cannabis use among young people, but has led to a large reduction in the criminal market, with the state now controlling 60% of sales. The predicted tax take for 2015 is $125m (£81m), of which $40m is to be allocated to school building programmes.

The home secretary, Theresa May, has repeatedly ruled out any relaxation of the UK’s cannabis laws. The Home Office maintains that the long-term downward trend in drug misuse is evidence that the official drugs strategy is working.

Bron: www.theguardian.com
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  dinsdag 13 oktober 2015 @ 14:16:14 #16
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_156802533
quote:
Cannabis petition: MPs debate liberalisation of drug laws | Society | The Guardian

Paul Flynn and Peter Lilley among cross-party group of MPs urging relaxation of laws on cannabis in debate called after petition attracts 220,000 signatures


Cannabis is the oldest medicine in the world, the Labour MP Paul Flynn has said, calling on the government to legalise the use of the drug for medicinal purposes.

Flynn was one of a cross-party group of MPs to call for the liberalisation of cannabis laws during a Westminster Hall debate in parliament on Monday evening. The debate was called after a petition to legalise the production, sale and use of cannabis attracted more than 221,000 signatures.

The Newport West MP said: “[Cannabis has] been tried and tested by tens of millions of people for 5,000 years. If there were any problems with natural cannabis it would have been apparent a long time ago, but all we’ve got is this wall of denial by governments who are afraid of the subject.”

Flynn compared the attitudes in the UK towards cannabis legalisation to attitudes in the US towards gun control. “We’re getting near to a position where we look at the United States with incredulity because they don’t accept the evidence on the possession of guns,” he said.

Related: Cannabis petition forces MPs to consider debating legalisation

“We can all see the evidence says over and over again that the more guns that are in society the more deaths there are, the more murders that take place, they won’t accept it.

“And we’re in a similar mind denial set … in many places in the world now they’ve recognised that prohibition has been a continuing disaster, a disaster more serious than the prohibition of alcohol in the United States but they refuse to recognise it.”

MPs pointed to countries such as Portugal and Uruguay and US states such as Colorado that have legalised or decriminalised cannabis, arguing that the evidence pointed overwhelmingly to the benefits of doing the same in the UK.

The former Conservative minister Peter Lilley said that Queen Victoria had allegedly used cannabis to relieve menstrual pain, adding: “If it’s a Victorian value then surely it can be made more widely available.”

“Lots of things are morally wrong which are not against the law,” said Lilley. “Adultery is wrong. I think you shouldn’t betray one’s spouse, but you shouldn’t be put in jail if you do.

“We’ve got to get used to the idea that in a free country there will be lots of moral decisions that people have to make themselves without being told by the law what to do.”

Related: Cannabis: healthy benefit or deadly threat?

Norman Lamb, a former Liberal Democrat health minister under the last coalition government, repeated his assertion that at least 50% of the government had smoked cannabis before.

“There’s is extraordinary hypocrisy on this issue,” he said. “Senior politicians [are] frequently challenged about their use of cannabis and other drugs in their teenage and early adult years and admit to such drug use and laugh it off as a youthful indiscretion.

“And apparently [they are] comfortable with thousands of their fellow countrymen and women ending up with a criminal record for doing precisely the same thing, usually people who are less fortunate than those politicians who reach the top of government.”

Bron: www.theguardian.com
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  donderdag 15 oktober 2015 @ 15:58:11 #17
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_156853357
quote:
Peru to investigate cocaine 'air bridge' where smuggler planes are ignored | World news | The Guardian

Defence minister announces inquiry into military corruption as huge quantities are flown to Bolivia with apparent connivance of security forces

Peru’s defence minister has announced an investigation into allegations of military corruption in the world’s biggest cocaine-producing valley after claims the armed forces turned a blind eye to the ferrying of cocaine abroad by small planes.

The official, Jakke Valakivi, said the military’s inspector general would handle the probe.

Related: Peru authorises military to shoot down cocaine-smuggling planes

Peru’s armed forces have failed to effectively impede an “air bridge” that has delivered more than tonne of cocaine a day to Bolivia in flights that stepped up in tempo in the past few years, according to prosecutors, drug police, former military officers and current and former US drug agents.

In part because of the nearly unimpeded “air bridge” from the Apurimac, Ene and Mantaro river valley, Peru surpassed Colombia in 2012 as the world’s biggest cocaine exporter.

Police say the airborne flow accounts for roughly half of its production, with each planeload worth at least $7.2m overseas.

The trafficking got so brazen that Congress voted unanimously in August to authorise shooting down the single-engine planes. But the government this year inexplicably scrapped plans to buy the required state-of-the-art radar, a $71m expenditure it announced last November.

President Ollanta Humala has eight months left in office and an approval rating below 15%.

The “narco planes” have touched down just minutes by air from military bases in the nearly road-less region known by its Spanish acronym as the VRAEM.

About four times a day they drop on to dirt airstrips, deliver cash and pick up more than 300kg (660lb) of partially refined cocaine, police have told the Associated Press.

Wilson Barrantes, a retired army general who has long complained about military drug corruption, said giving the armed forces control of the cocaine-producing valley was “like putting four street dogs to guard a plate of beefsteak”.

One accused narco-pilot interviewed by the AP said some local military commanders charged $10,000 per flight to let cocaine commerce go unhindered.

The Associated Press said it repeatedly requested interviews with Valakivi, armed forces commander and air force to discuss the issue but none responded. At a news conference with other ministers on Wednesday after a cabinet meeting, Valakivi tersely announced the opening of the investigation. Minutes earlier he called the AP’s report “tendentious” and said the military rejected corruption in its ranks.

“Corruption exists but we are always looking out for it,” deputy defence minister Ivan Vega, who runs counterinsurgency efforts in the VRAEM, had previously told the AP.

The board chairman of the anti-corruption nonprofit group Transparency International, Jose Ugaz, said military drug corruption was an open secret in the country. “It’s been going on for some time but unfortunately no one has done anything.”

The VRAEM region, which is the size of Ireland, has been under a state of emergency for nine years owing to the persistence of drug-running Shining Path rebels. They have killed more than 30 police and soldiers during Humala’s tenure but are now thought to be down to about 60 combatants.

The government says destroying coca in the region would cause a bloody backlash by fuelling Shining Path recruitment.

Some 6,000 soldiers are stationed at more than 30 bases in the valley, ostensibly to battle “narcoterrorism.” By law counter-narcotics is the job of the fewer than 1,000 narcotics police in Peru. But police rely on the military for airlift and many chafe at joint drug missions with soldiers.
Bron: www.theguardian.com
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zondag 18 oktober 2015 @ 22:43:23 #18
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_156933743
quote:
Steep fall in cannabis offences points to silent relaxation of drugs policy | Politics | The Guardian

Exclusive Police cite shrinking budgets and reduced stop and search, as possession offences recorded in England and Wales drop by almost a third

The number of cannabis possession offences in England and Wales has plummeted since 2011 as forces divert shrinking budgets into tackling more serious crime and officers rein in stop and search.

Figures released to the Guardian under the Freedom of Information Act reveal offences recorded by English and Welsh police forces – including penalty notices, cautions, charges and summons – fell by almost a third from a peak of 145,400 in 2011-12 to 101,905 in 2014-15.

Crucially, the figures include all cannabis possession offences, not just those that led to arrests or prosecutions. The fall in offences cannot therefore be explained by police opting for quick cautions over lengthy prosecutions.

What the figures reveal is a silent relaxation of drugs policy in the last five years – and will spark fresh debate about whether there is a case to decriminalise cannabis possession.

Only last week a cross-party group of MPs called for the liberalisation of cannabis laws during a Westminster Hall debate in parliament. The debate was called after a petition to legalise the production, sale and use of cannabis attracted more than 221,000 signatures.

The fall in offences cannot be explained by declining cannabis use. While illicit drug use has fallen markedly since the turn of the century, the most recent Crime Survey for England and Wales showed that the level of cannabis use since 2010 had barely changed. In 2015 6.7% of adults aged 16 to 59 used the drug. In 2010 the figure was 6.5%.

Instead senior police officials pinpointed shrinking budgets, shifting priorities and reduced use of stop and search as the main reasons for the decline. Of the 43 police forces in England and Wales, 42 provided full-year figures from 2009-10 to 2014-15, and 30 provided part-year data from 2009-10 to the latest quarter of 2015-16.

Merseyside police saw the biggest fall in England and Wales. The latest data shows there was nearly a two-thirds fall in offences between April-July 2010-11 and April-July 2015-16.

Supt Mark Harrison, Merseyside police lead for cannabis, said the fall in recorded offences was due to reduced use of stop and search. “Increased scrutiny of police stop-search practices has led to more efficient, effective and targeted stop-searches. Additionally, decreasing police officer numbers will continue to result in fewer stop-searches in the future,” he said.

Significant drops were recorded by England’s large urban police forces and smaller rural ones, and forces in Wales. London’s Metropolitan police, the biggest force in the country, recorded 40% fewer cannabis possession offences in 2014-15 than in 2009-10.

When contacted, however, a Metropolitan police spokesperson said there had been no change in policy towards drugs misuse.

But a spokesperson for Gloucestershire police, which saw a 50% drop in offences since 2010, was clear that money was a factor. “We prioritise different crime areas according to greatest need,” they said, “and our priorities at this time are safeguarding vulnerable people, tackling dwelling burglaries and violence committed with weapons. However, when resources permit, we do investigate cannabis cases and execute search warrants when opportunities present themselves.”

Temporary assistant chief constable Bill Jephson, lead on cannabis for the National Police Chiefs’ Council, said: “The police are having to manage demand with decreasing resources and this requires tough decisions on priorities.

“Cannabis possession has never been treated as a top priority and law enforcement continues to focus their efforts on the basis of threat, harm and risk targeting the serious criminals involved in the supply chain.

“Over the period covered by this Freedom of Information request, police forces have been focusing on making the best use of stop and search. We want to ensure that these powers are only used in the appropriate circumstances. It is likely this will have resulted in fewer offences of simple possession being discovered by police.”

In some regions, the police are openly discussing liberalising drug sanctions. In July, Durham’s police and crime commissioner said he would effectively decriminalise people who grew small amounts of cannabis, a move welcomed by those who argue that Britain’s current drug laws are failing.

Many experts said that “the future must see a debate about the decriminalisation of drugs, certainly of cannabis”. Prof David Nutt, the founder of DrugScience and a former chairman of the government’s advisory committee on the misuse of drugs, welcomed the shift in police thinking but said it was largely down to cost savings.

“The police had been spending half a billion pounds a year giving convictions for cannabis possession. Criminalising young people on this [scale] was a tremendous waste of money.”

Nutt, who has joined a Liberal Democrat “expert panel” to establish how a legal market for cannabis could work in Britain said that it was not clear this government “would look at the evidence and act in terms of policy”.

He pointed out that a Treasury report, leaked last week, showed legalising cannabis could save £200m in court and police costs and raise hundreds of millions of pounds in tax each year. “It would be rational policy to allow access to medical cannabis when 250 million Americans have access,” he said. “But we don’t seem to be able to do even this.”

Kirstie Douse, head of legal services with Release, a drugs advice charity that supports law reform, said a combination of reduced use of stop and search – especially in London – and deprioritisation of cannabis possession by some police forces explained the fall in recorded offences.

“Release welcomes police recognition that possession of cannabis is a low-priority offence, despite the lack of political will to formally acknowledge this. The evidence shows that the use of criminal sanctions to deter drug use is ineffective.”

Mike Penning, the minister for policing, said: “We are clear that all crimes reported to the police should be taken seriously, investigated and, where appropriate, taken through the courts and met with tough sentences.

“Decisions on individual investigations are an operational matter for chief constables based on the evidence available to them and investigations can be reopened at any time should further evidence come to light.

“This government’s drug strategy is working. The proportion of adults aged 16-59 using cannabis in the last year in England and Wales has declined from 9.6% in 2004-05 to 6.7 % [2014-15], with cannabis use among young adults aged 16-24 and young people aged 11-15 following a similar pattern.”
Bron: www.theguardian.com
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  maandag 19 oktober 2015 @ 17:36:35 #19
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_156948660
quote:
quote:
Drugs tijdens Amsterdam Dance Event

RondvraagAmsterdam Dance Event trok de afgelopen week ruim 350 duizend bezoekers. Er werden 250 aanhoudingen verricht en er viel een dode, meldt de politie. Wordt er bij dance-events te veel nadruk gelegd op drugsgebruik?
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  maandag 19 oktober 2015 @ 23:02:47 #20
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_156958180
quote:
UN denies Richard Branson's claim it is poised to call for drug decriminalisation | Society | The Guardian

Businessman wrote on his blog that the UN office of drugs and crime was poised to embrace decriminalising personal possession and use


Richard Branson has been involved in a bruising clash with the United Nations following his claim that the organisation is poised to endorse a global policy of decriminalising drugs.

Branson, a member of the global commission on drugs policy, wrote on his personal blog on the Virgin website on Monday that the UN’s office of drugs and crime (UNODC), which has been a bastion of the “war on drugs”, was poised to publish a statement endorsing the decriminalisation of the personal possession and use of drugs.

The entrepreneur described the move as a refreshing shift from a “body that has shaped much of global drugs policy for decades”, and said he was breaking an embargo on an expected statement because he feared that political pressure would lead it to be withdrawn at the last minute.

Branson said he and his colleagues on the drugs policy commission could not be more delighted at the move, given that he had argued for years that drug use should be treated as a health issue rather than a crime.

Within hours of his claim, however, UNODC made it clear that no such change in policy was imminent and said it regretted an “unfortunate misunderstanding” over the nature of a two-page briefing paper written by one of its senior officials. The paper by its head of HIV/Aids was scheduled to be delivered at a international harm reduction conference in Malaysia.

“The briefing paper on decriminalisation mentioned in many of today’s media reports, and intended for dissemination and discussion at a conference in Kuala Lumpur, is neither a final nor formal document … and cannot be read as a statement of UNODC policy,” a spokesperson said.

“It remains under review and UNODC regrets that, on this occasion, there has been an unfortunate misunderstanding about the nature and intent of this briefing paper. UNODC emphatically denies reports that there has been pressure on UNODC to withdraw the document. But it is not possible to withdraw what is not yet ready.”

The paper, seen by the Guardian, says that it clarifies UNODC’s position and explains that decriminalising drug use and possession for personal consumption is consistent with international drug control conventions.

The paper also highlights the imprisonment of “millions of people” for minor, non-violent drug-related offences despite legal alternatives, and emphasises that the threat of arrest and criminal sanctions have been widely shown to obstruct access to lifesaving health services such as sterile needles and opioid substitution therapy.

It also makes clear, however, that it is asking states to consider decriminalising personal drug use and possession “as a key element of the HIV response among people who use drugs”.

United Nations sources stressed that the briefing paper did not mark a major change in UN policy. They pointed out that such a historic shift would not have been announced at another organisation’s conference and would have had to gone through its policymaking process first.

Branson appears to have anticipated that the UN body would not back a global decriminalisation call. “As I’m writing this I am hearing that at least one government is putting an inordinate amount of pressure on the UNODC. Let us hope the UNODC, a global organisation that is part of the UN and supposed to do what is right for the people of the world, does not do a remarkable volte-face at the last possible moment and bow to pressure by not going ahead with this important move,” he said.

Danny Kushlik of Transform, a drug legalisation campaign, claimed that UNODC had been blocked from announcing its support and at least one member state had prevented or delayed a planned announcement.

He said the leaked briefing paper showed that while UNODC had previously conceded that decriminalisation was allowed under international law, a senior UN official was now arguing it was essential, and may even “be required to meet obligations under international human rights law”.

Bron: www.theguardian.com
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  dinsdag 20 oktober 2015 @ 18:57:26 #21
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_156972681
quote:
Canada's newly elected Liberals may legalize marijuana. That could impact US drug policy. - Vox

With the Liberal Party's electoral victory in Canada, the US's northern neighbors could soon undertake an enormous change in drug policy: marijuana legalization.

The policy was a big part of the Liberals' campaign: "We will legalize, regulate, and restrict access to marijuana. Canada's current system of marijuana prohibition does not work. It does not prevent young people from using marijuana and too many Canadians end up with criminal records for possessing small amounts of the drug."

If marijuana were legalized in Canada, it would be a first among developed nations. In the US, four states and Washington, DC, have legalized pot, but it's still illegal at the federal level. The only other country to fully legalize marijuana is the tiny developing nation of Uruguay. And although some countries — the Netherlands and Spain, in particular — have relaxed enforcement of their marijuana laws, none in the developed world have outright legalized it.

But this wouldn't just be an important milestone for Canada and the world; it could also send ripples across the international system of drug policy. That's because drug policy is tied not just to each country's individual laws, but to a network of treaties that effectively make the war on drugs a global effort. Marijuana legalization in Canada would act as the most high-profile rejection of these treaties, sending an important signal of the changing times as the international agreements come under a critical review in a special 2016 session of the United Nations.

From the 1960s through the 1980s, much of the world signed on to three major international drug policy treaties: the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961, the Convention on Psychotropic Drugs of 1971, and the UN Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances of 1988. Combined, the treaties require participants to limit and even criminalize the possession, use, trade, and distribution of drugs outside of medical and scientific purposes, and work together to stop international drug trafficking.

There is some debate about whether these treaties stop marijuana decriminalization — when criminal penalties are repealed but civil ones remain in place — and medical marijuana legalization. But one thing the treaties are absolutely clear on is that illicit drugs aren't to be allowed for recreational use, and certainly not for recreational sales. Yet that's exactly what the Liberal Party has promised to allow.

(For those curious, the US has remained in accordance of these treaties despite four states' move to legalize with a clever argument: It's true four states have legalized pot, but the federal government still considers marijuana illegal, so the nation is still technically in obedience even if a few states are not.)

So Canada's decision to legalize pot — if it comes, and that's still unsure — would be the most high-profile rebuke of the international treaties since they were signed. Not only is Canada an internationally active, developed nation, but it's a relatively large country — larger than all the states to have legalized so far and Uruguay combined.

"Canada's decision to legalize pot would be the most high-profile rebuke of the international treaties since they were signed"

In theory, Canada could face diplomatic backlash if it legalizes pot. But who would lead that effort? The US has been the de facto enforcer of these treaties over the years. But it likely wouldn't tempt an important ally, and trying to criticize Canada for legalization would only expose America's hypocrisy for allowing four states and DC to legalize.

Chances are, then, that Canada will be able to legalize marijuana, and potentially do so without any global repercussion. That will send a big signal to other countries — that, at least when it comes to marijuana, these treaties no longer hold the weight they once held. It could, then, expose a huge hole in the treaties, making more nations comfortable with the idea of legalization.

Such a move would come at a very crucial time in international drug policy: In 2016, the UN will hold a special session on the global drug problem. Drug policy reformers have long planned to use the special 2016 session to call on world leaders to change the international drug treaties to allow decriminalization and legalization. Canadian legalization would give these reformers an opening by showing that if the treaties aren't changed, they will soon be effectively meaningless as countries move ahead with their own reforms, treaties be damned.

Now, it's possible Canada will ultimately decide not to legalize — the treaties, for instance, could cause the new Liberal government to fear an international backlash and back off. But if Canada does move forward, it will not just change Canadian drug policy, but potentially force a big shift in the international stage.

Bron: www.vox.com
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
pi_156972884
quote:
7s.gif Op maandag 19 oktober 2015 17:36 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

'Er wordt altijd gezocht naar de invalshoek: gevaar!'
Wees gehoorzaam. Alleen samen krijgen we de vrijheid eronder.
  zaterdag 24 oktober 2015 @ 15:50:25 #23
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_157063134
quote:
quote:
Gerrit G., de 54-jarige douanier die in april aangehouden werd na de vondst van een container met 400 kilo cocaïne, is volgens de NOS waarschijnlijk niet de enige mol binnen de douane in de Rotterdamse haven. Zo schrijft de nieuwszender na inzage van het dossier van de zaak. Uit het dossier blijkt dat er sterke aanwijzingen zijn dat drugscriminelen meer douaniers hebben omgekocht.
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zaterdag 24 oktober 2015 @ 18:21:13 #24
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_157066044
Kom mensen, snuif eens door!

quote:
quote:
Volgens bronnen in het criminele circuit zijn er in de eerste helft van dit jaar al tienduizenden kilo’s drugs het land in gesmokkeld. Er zou zelfs sprake zijn van een overschot op de markt met als gevolg dat de kiloprijs voor cocaïne flink is gedaald.

De marktwaarde van een kilo cocaïne ligt normaal rond de 30.000 euro maar recentelijk zou die gezakt zijn tot net onder de 20.000 euro. Ook gaat het verhaal dat er in opslagplaatsen van criminelen in de regio Rotterdam duizenden kilo's cocaïne liggen opgeslagen en dat die op de markt tegen dumpprijzen worden aangeboden.
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
pi_157066746
quote:
7s.gif Op zaterdag 24 oktober 2015 15:50 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

[..]

[..]

Menen ze dat nou? Ik dacht dat er geen drugs meer de haven binnen zouden kunnen nu Gerrit is opgepakt want bij de douane werken alleen maar eerlijke mensen die nee zeggen teggen een miljoen euro. 8)7

quote:
7s.gif Op zaterdag 24 oktober 2015 18:21 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:
Kom mensen, snuif eens door!

[..]


[..]

10x het woord crimineel gebruiken in dit korte stukje... als je een leugen maar vaak genoeg herhaalt wordt deze bij de NOS vanzelf waarheid.

[ Bericht 30% gewijzigd door heiden6 op 24-10-2015 19:14:36 ]
As the officer took her away, she recalled that she asked,
"Why do you push us around?"
And she remembered him saying,
"I don't know, but the law's the law, and you're under arrest."
  zondag 25 oktober 2015 @ 19:13:24 #26
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_157092671
quote:
quote:
'Politici deinzen er niet voor terug onschuldige burgers bloot te stellen aan de gevaren die vast zitten aan de War on Drugs zoals MDMA en amfetamine', zegt Korpschef Heeres van Breda tegen RTL Nieuws. Burgemeester Paul Depla van Breda zegt: 'Het zijn tikkende tijdbommen in buurten en wijken. Het is onacceptabel'.
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  maandag 26 oktober 2015 @ 13:20:59 #27
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_157110166
quote:
quote:
In Rotterdam is vandaag een megaproces begonnen tegen negentien verdachten die betrokken zouden zijn bij drugssmokkel van Zuid-Amerika naar Nederland en België. De bende zou actief zijn geweest in de havens van Rotterdam en Antwerpen.

De groep wordt er onder meer van verdacht computerspecialisten te hebben ingehuurd om de systemen van havenbedrijven te hacken. Zo kon de bende zeecontainers onderscheppen waar drugs in zaten.
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  maandag 26 oktober 2015 @ 13:35:17 #28
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_157110432
^O^ VOC mentaliteit ^O^

quote:
quote:
In januari werd al bekend dat de autoriteiten onderzoek doen naar de Californische filialen van de Rabobank. Toen besloot de bank de vestiging in Calexico te sluiten. Volgens Bloomberg stapelen de bewijzen zich inmiddels op. Zo was er bij dat filiaal opvallend veel cash in omloop en reden de geldwagens af en aan. Mogelijk konden drugskartels via de Rabobank jarenlang hun geld witwassen. De autoriteiten onderzoeken nog of de Rabobank de signalen wel voldoende heeft opgepikt.
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  maandag 26 oktober 2015 @ 13:59:32 #29
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_157110896
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  maandag 26 oktober 2015 @ 17:01:35 #30
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_157114339
quote:
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De pillen zijn van het 'merk' Captagon, een van de meest gebruikte drugs in het Midden-Oosten. Sinds de oorlog uitbrak in Syrië wordt het middel volop geproduceerd (vaak met ingrediënten afkomstig uit Europa) en geconsumeerd in de regio. Het middel wordt, berichtte persbureau Reuters vorig jaar, gebruikt om lange, hevige gevechten te kunnen doorstaan. De verkoop van de drugs levert weer geld op om wapens te kunnen kopen.
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  maandag 26 oktober 2015 @ 21:46:36 #31
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_157122575
quote:
Cannabis cafes set to open all around Britain | UK news | The Guardian

Less than a week after the Government's top drugs advisory committee called for cannabis to be downgraded from Class B to Class C - severely reducing penalties for possession - campaigners are setting up coffee shops confident that such a move is now all but inevitable. Last week the Liberal Democrats became the first mainstream party to adopt a policy of legalising the drug.

The cannabis entrepreneurs setting up the coffee shops include an affluent retired businessman, an internet pioneer and a wheelchair-bound victim of multiple sclerosis living on disability benefits. Many have been attending a special course in the Netherlands to teach British people how to run a coffee shop, including how to tell the difference between types of weed and the best tactics for dealing with police and local authorities.

The movement has taken its cue from the Dutch Experience, Britain's first cannabis coffee shop in Stockport, which has been raided by police three times since opening last September. However, repeated mass protests made the police back off, and the coffee shop still attracts around 200 people a day. In the next fortnight, Dutch Experience 2, which is in the process of being decorated, is to open its doors in Bournemouth.

Other coffee shops are set to follow in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Cumbria, Liverpool, Rhyl, Anglesey, Milton Keynes, Braintree, Brighton, Taunton, Worthing, and Lambeth and Hoxton in London. Britain is on course to follow the Netherlands in having a public cannabis café culture.

The campaigners have been encouraged by rapidly changing attitudes to the illegal drug, and the prospect of the Government downgrading it from Class B to Class C. All say they would like to co-operate with police and local authorities, but are prepared to go to prison if necessary.

Jimmy Ward, who went on the coffee-shop course in January, is currently working 16 hours a day with eight friends to prepare the Dutch Experience 2 for its opening in the next fortnight. Ward, who used to run a haulage business, was unable to persuade any landlord in Bournemouth to rent a café to him, so he is converting a storage unit he owns.

'We're studding the walls, putting in water, and a false ceiling,' he said. 'Ever since my girlfriend and I met 14 years ago we wanted to run a coffee shop. We thought we'd have to go to Holland, but with everything happening here, we thought we could open one in the UK.

'Everyone locally loves it - I've had so much support from the public. But no matter what the authorities do, I am determined to open this. I am not worried about going to jail, so long as when I come out it is still open.'

Ward has recruited pensioners to grow cannabis for him, supplying them with seeds and growlights, and has had expressions of interest from dozens more. 'It helps them to pay the winter fuel bills. They are angry about being lied to all these years about how dangerous cannabis is,' he said. A report last week from the Government's Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs concluded cannabis was less dangerous than alcohol or tobacco.

Jeff Ditchfield, who went on the coffee-shop course with Ward, spent last week looking for a property to buy in Rhyl, north Wales, to convert to a coffee shop. 'I don't want it in a residential area or near a school or McDonalds, because the kids will try to come in,' said Ditchfield, who retired two years ago. His café will stick to the strict Dutch coffee-shop rules of banning all alcohol, hard drugs and anyone under 18.

The Deputy Mayor of Rhyl, Glyn Williams, said the plan 'beggars belief', prompting Ditchfield to name his coffee shop 'The Beggars Belief'.

Williams said: 'We are not in the process of helping people break the law. I firmly believe that, if you downgrade cannabis, then there'll be so many more parents who'll come forward with tragic stories about their children.' However, the Chief Constable of North Wales, Richard Brunstrom, has publicly called for drugs to be legalised.

David Crane, the director of an internet company for seven years, is in the process of raising £250,000 for an upmarket coffee shop in Hoxton, London. 'We've been speaking to a number of different people in the music business and media, and they are very keen, largely because they smoke dope themselves. I absolutely believe that coffee shops are a benefit to society,' he said.

Many of the cannabis entrepreneurs are veterans of protests at the Dutch Experience in Stockport. Almost 100 people, including the local MEP, went to Stockport police station holding cannabis and demanding to be arrested. After arresting 28 people, the police gave up, prompting protesters to declare cannabis had been legalised in Stockport.

Bron: www.theguardian.com
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
pi_157128265
Nogmaals, verbod leidt niet dat mensen niet consumeren. Nu profiteert alleen de harde criminaliteit van dit verbod en leidt de samenleving hieronder.

The war on drugs valt nooit te winnen zolang de vraag naar drugs blijft bestaan. Overlast los je op door de legalisatie en de distributie van drugs uit de criminele sfeer te halen en in handen te leggen van gecontroleerde legale ondernemers. Het zal samenlevingen biljoenen besparen die we nu in een bodemloze put gooien ter bestrijding van de drugshandel. .
  zondag 1 november 2015 @ 00:26:57 #33
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_157237029
quote:
quote:
De politie is een paar dagen geleden begonnen met een onderzoek naar de productie van drugs in dit gebied. Er kwam een tip binnen dat er in het gebouw drugs zouden worden gemaakt en dat er mensen binnen waren. Vanmiddag heeft de politie het laboratorium ontruimd.
Getipt door de concurrent, natuurlijk.

Legalize!
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zondag 1 november 2015 @ 01:43:09 #34
445752 broodjepindakaashagelslag
Ik blaf niet maar ik bijt
pi_157238296
quote:
quote:
The film exposes the drug epidemic in Iran while telling the story of its weakest victims. With high unemployment, gender segregation, and a ban on alcohol, drug use is the only outlet for many. And drug dealing is seen as a way out of poverty, especially with a thriving heroin trade in neighboring Afghanistan.

In Iran there is a Koshtargah in every city. In the middle of the route from Afghanistan to Turkey and Europe, an estimated 140 tons of heroin enter Iran from Afghanistan annually. Iran “may have the worst opiate problem of any country in the world,” writes Stephen Kinzer in the Boston Globe. “Four million of its 70 million people are addicts. Overdose is the second leading cause of death, after traffic accidents. Half the prison population are drug traffickers or addicts. In many towns, and in rough Tehran neighbourhoods like Davarze Ghar — “entrance to the cave” — addicts gather to use and, too often, die.”

Iran has more state-sanctioned executions per capita than any other country in the world, and over half those executed are drug traffickers. But the drug problem in Iran is so vast that it exposes the futility of draconian measures. The head of the drug task force of the Expediency Council, Saeed Sefatian, at a recent drug conference in Tehran, proposed partial legalisation of cannabis and opium because they are less harmful than heroin and crystal meth.

In pre-1979 Iran, opium was legal after the age of 60 for those with state-issued permits. With newer drugs like crystal meth becoming harder to detect by the authorities, Iran needs to embrace more drastic and revolutionary tactics in her war against drugs.

In a culture where reputation and honour are paramount we seldom see honest and personal accounts of the drug problem. That is why Koshtargah is such an important film. It lays bare the problem without decorum or apology. It signals a new transparency that is a necessary ingredient of a more compassionate approach.
Its hard to win an argument against a smart person, but it's damn near impossible to win an argument against a stupid person
pi_157296865
As the officer took her away, she recalled that she asked,
"Why do you push us around?"
And she remembered him saying,
"I don't know, but the law's the law, and you're under arrest."
  woensdag 4 november 2015 @ 09:39:23 #36
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_157308598
quote:
quote:
De overheid komt in het voorjaar met een campagne om jongeren en hun ouders te wijzen op de gevaren van drugs. Volgens staatssecretaris Van Rijn weten ouders veel te weinig over het drugsgebruik van hun kinderen.

Uit het laatste onderzoek van het Trimbos-instituut blijkt dat 60 procent van de mensen die regelmatig stappen weleens xtc gebruikt.
De meeste van die 60% zullen volwassenen zijn. Dus waarom wordt deze campagne voor ouders van kinderen verbonden met de cijfers van Trimbos?

quote:
Staatssecretaris Van Rijn zegt dat het Nederlandse drugsbeleid goed werkt, maar hij maakt zich wel zorgen over de recente ontwikkelingen. "De normalisering van drugsgebruik tijdens het uitgaan wil ik ter discussie stellen", schrijft hij aan de Tweede Kamer.
Waarom komt hij nu hiermee? Het is al heel lang normaal om alcohol te drinken tijdens het stappen.
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  woensdag 4 november 2015 @ 12:45:31 #37
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_157311466
quote:
Chemsex rise prompts public health warning | Society | The Guardian

Some sexual health services setting up special clinics in response to growing use of illegal psychoactive substances during sex

The growth in use of illegal psychoactive substances during sex could pose an increasing risk to public health, experts say.

The popularity of “chemsex” – mostly but not exclusively among gay men – is leading some sexual health services to set up special clinics to treat the consequences of drugs such as GHB, GBL and crystal meth.

Users are turning to such sources to lower inhibitions and increase pleasure, according to an editorial in the BMJ by experts in sexual health and drug misuse.

Its authors warn of a “small but important” increase in the use of mental health services by chemsex drug users. Psychological and physiological dependence on the drugs can become permanent, they say.

“Chemsex drug users often describe losing days – not sleeping or eating for up to 72 hours – and this may harm their general health. Users may present too late to be eligible for post-exposure prophylaxis for HIV transmission.” say the authors.

“An increased number of sexual partners may also increase the risk of acquiring other sexually transmitted infections. Data from service users suggest an average of five sexual partners per session and that unprotected sex is the norm.”

The editorial says: “Many barriers exist to chemsex drug users accessing services, including the shame and stigma often associated with drug use and ignorance of available drug services.”

It points to a 2014 report by Antidote, a London drugs service for lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual people, which suggested that nearly two-thirds of people seeking help from it reported using chemsex drugs.

The authors say: “Addressing chemsex-related morbidities should be a public health priority. However, in England funding for specialist sexual health and drugs services is waning and commissioning for these services is complex.”

The Royal College of GPs agreed with the warning. Dr Richard Ma, of its sexual health and blood-borne virus group, said: “Chemsex is a rapidly emerging pattern of drug use, not just amongst men who have sex with men as often assumed, but heterosexual patients as well.

“Taking recreational drugs during sex can lead to a number of potentially harmful side-effects including facilitating the spread of common STIs and HIV, but also serious mental health problems such as anxiety, psychoses and suicidal tendencies. It is essential that both patients and healthcare professionals – including GPs and primary healthcare teams – are aware of these and take the issue seriously.”
Bron: www.theguardian.com
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
pi_157312990
quote:
7s.gif Op woensdag 4 november 2015 09:39 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

Waarom komt hij nu hiermee? Het is al heel lang normaal om alcohol te drinken tijdens het stappen.

Je moet je ook wel een delirium drinken om met droge ogen te kunnen stellen dat het Nederlandse drugsbeleid goed werkt.
Wees gehoorzaam. Alleen samen krijgen we de vrijheid eronder.
  donderdag 5 november 2015 @ 09:55:06 #39
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_157330257
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Mexico heeft de eerste stap gezet op weg naar het legaliseren van marihuana. Het Hooggerechtshof heeft bepaald dat elke burger het recht heeft marihuana te consumeren. Ook mag iedereen het kweken voor persoonlijk gebruik zonder winstoogmerk.

De uitspraak van het hof is opzienbarend. Mexico heeft een uiterst conservatieve drugswetgeving, die geen onderscheid maakt tussen soft- en harddrugs. Sinds 2006 is het land verwikkeld in een bijzonder gewelddadige drugsoorlog. Die heeft al meer dan 100.000 levens gekost. Meer dan 25.000 Mexicanen zijn spoorloos verdwenen.
Het artikel gaat verder.
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  donderdag 5 november 2015 @ 12:03:17 #40
445752 broodjepindakaashagelslag
Ik blaf niet maar ik bijt
pi_157332441
quote:
Drugscriminelen richten zich op anabolen
quote:
ROTTERDAM -

Drugscriminelen hebben zich gestort op het produceren van anabole steroïden. Justitie stuitte in april in Rotterdam voor het eerst op een drugslab waarin ook de verboden hormonen werden gemaakt.

Dat meldt de NOS donderdag.

Volgens het Openbaar Ministerie werden de stoffen onder onhygiënische omstandigheden gemengd en was de situatie daardoor volstrekt onverantwoord. "Als je op die manier anabolen produceert, is dat een groot risico voor de gezondheid van de gebruikers. Die weten uiteindelijk niet wat ze spuiten of slikken", zegt een woordvoerder.

quote:
Bron telegraaf
Its hard to win an argument against a smart person, but it's damn near impossible to win an argument against a stupid person
  dinsdag 10 november 2015 @ 19:30:25 #41
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_157454280
quote:
Indonesia plans to use crocodiles to guard death row drug convicts | World news | The Guardian

In echoes of the Bond film Live and Let Die, the country’s anti-drugs chief is backing the plan because ‘you can’t convince them to let criminals escape’


Indonesia’s anti-drugs agency has proposed building a prison on an island guarded by crocodiles to hold death row drug convicts, an official has said, an idea seemingly taken from a James Bond film.

The proposal is the pet project of anti-drugs chief Budi Waseso, who plans to visit various parts of the archipelago in his search for reptiles to guard the jail.

Related: In the end, Chan and Sukumaran's executions stung Indonesia's economy. In the end, Chan and Sukumaran's executions stung Indonesia's economy, not its conscience | Brigid Delaney

“We will place as many crocodiles as we can there. I will search for the most ferocious type of crocodile,” he was quoted as saying by local news website Tempo.

Waseso said that crocodiles would be better at preventing drug traffickers from escaping prison as they could not be bribed – unlike human guards.

“You can’t bribe crocodiles. You can’t convince them to let inmates escape,” he said.

But he is banking on the convicts lacking the crocodile-running skills shown by Roger Moore’s 007 in the Bond movie Live and Let Die when he escapes from an island using the reptiles as stepping stones.

The plan is still in the early stages, and neither the location or potential opening date of the jail have been decided.

Indonesia already has some of the toughest anti-narcotics laws in the world, including death by firing squad for traffickers, and sparked international uproar in April when it put to death seven foreign drug convicts, including Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.

But president Joko Widodo has insisted that drug dealers must face death as the country is fighting a “national emergency” due to rising narcotics use.

Despite the harsh laws, Indonesia’s corrupt prison system is awash with drugs, and inmates and jail officials are regularly arrested for narcotics offences.

Anti-drugs agency spokesman Slamet Pribadi confirmed authorities were mulling the plan to build “a special prison for death row convicts”.

He said only traffickers would be kept in the jail, to stop them from mixing with other prisoners and potentially recruiting them to drug gangs.

The agency is currently in discussions with the justice ministry about the plan, he added.

Bron: www.theguardian.com
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  dinsdag 10 november 2015 @ 20:18:40 #42
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_157455447
quote:
quote:
Twee douaniers zijn vandaag opgepakt omdat ze mogelijk drugs hebben ingevoerd op Schiphol. Ook zouden ze een ambtenaar hebben omgekocht. RTV NH schrijft dat in totaal vier mensen vastzitten in deze zaak.

De ene douanier is een 32-jarige vrouw uit Zandvoort; de andere een 48-jarige man uit Purmerend. De andere twee verdachten zijn een 44-jarige man uit Purmerend en een 59-jarige man uit Oostzaan. Bij huiszoekingen werd bij de 44-jarige Purmerender een vuurwapen gevonden.

Het onderzoek is gedaan door de Koninklijke Marechaussee, onder leiding van het Openbaar Ministerie Noord-Holland. Ook de FIOD en de Rijksrecherche zijn betrokken bij het onderzoek.
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  woensdag 11 november 2015 @ 13:04:43 #43
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_157468104
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quote:
De drugs werden geproduceerd in opdracht van het ministerie van Volksgezondheid en waren bestemd voor drugsverslaafden die het onder begeleiding van hulpverleners kregen toegediend. Het VWS zegt in een reactie in NRC Handelsblad dat het op de hoogte is van de winst die wordt gemaakt.

Het ziekenhuis maakte meer dan 30 procent winst op de heroïne, schrijven Soeterhorst en Wester. 'Van de drie miljoen die de bv van het ministerie jaarlijks als vergoeding krijgt, is meer dan één miljoen winst. Die ging naar het eigen vermogen van het ziekenhuis - een kwart van dat totale vermogen werd verdiend met productie en verkoop van heroïne.'
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  donderdag 12 november 2015 @ 19:33:38 #44
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_157497734
quote:
quote:
Twee neven van de vrouw van de Venezolaanse president Maduro worden donderdag in New York aangeklaagd wegens drugssmokkel. Het tweetal werd dinsdag op Haïti gearresteerd tijdens een undercoveroperatie van de DEA en overgebracht naar New York. Ze zouden hebben geprobeerd om 800 kilo cocaïne te smokkelen naar de VS. De vrouw van Maduro, Cilia Flores, is een van de invloedrijkste personen in het Venezolaanse bewind.
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  vrijdag 13 november 2015 @ 19:57:38 #45
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_157520024
quote:
Douane vindt 300 kilo cocaïne tussen bevroren kip | NOS

De Douane heeft in Rotterdam 300 kilo cocaïne gevonden tussen een lading bevroren kip. Er is verder niemand gearresteerd.

De drugs zaten in twaalf sporttassen verstopt tussen de kip in een container uit Brazilië. De cocaïne heeft een straatwaarde van ruim tien miljoen euro. De lading drugs is onmiddellijk vernietigd.

Het HARCteam, een samenwerkingsverband van Douane, Zeehavenpolitie en Fiod, onderzoekt wie er achter de smokkel zitten.

Bron: nos.nl
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zondag 15 november 2015 @ 10:57:13 #46
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_157563180
quote:
quote:
Karen Jennings patted her heavily made up face, put on a sardonic smile and said she thought she looked good after all she’d been through.

“I was an alcoholic first. I got drunk and fell in the creek and broke my back. Then I got hooked on the painkillers,” the 59-year-old grandmother said.

Over the years, Jennings’ back healed but her addiction to powerful opioids remained. After the prescriptions dried up, she was drawn to the underground drug trade that defines eastern Kentucky today as coal, oil and timber once did.

Jennings spoke with startling frankness about her part in a plague gripping the isolated, fading towns dotting this part of Appalachia. Frontier communities steeped in the myth of self-reliance are now blighted by addiction to opioids – “hillbilly heroin” to those who use them. It’s a dependency bound up with economic despair and financed in part by the same welfare system that is staving off economic collapse across much of eastern Kentucky. It’s a crisis that crosses generations.
Deel 1 in een serie.

quote:
Leading the blight is a powerful and highly addictive opioid painkiller, OxyContin, known locally as "hillbilly heroin". Typically it is ground down and injected or snorted to give an instant and powerful high.

Its misuse is so routine that the bulk of court cases reported in the local papers are drug related. Just about everyone in Beattyville has a story of the human cost. Some mention the decline of the town's homecoming queen, Michele Moore, into addiction in the 1990s. Moore struggled by as a single mother living in a trailer home before she was stabbed to death by a man while the two were taking drugs.

At about that time, Beattyville's police chief, Omer Noe , and the Lee County sheriff, Johnny Mann, were jailed for taking bribes to protect drug smugglers. Five years later, the next Lee County sheriff, Douglas Brandenburg, went to prison for a similar crime.

Amid the relentless destruction of life, there is little that shocks. But four years ago residents of Harlan County - a couple of hours' drive to the south-east - were shaken by a series of deaths over six weeks of parents of members of the local boys and girls club. Eleven of the children watched a parent die.

Getting the drugs isn't difficult. Elderly people sell their prescription drugs to supplement some of the lowest incomes in the US. The national average retirement income is about $21,500. In Beattyville it is $6,500.

Last year, a pharmacy owner in nearby Clay County, Terry Tenhet, was jailed for 10 years for illegally distributing hundreds of thousands of pills after police tied the prescriptions to several overdose deaths. In 2011 alone, he supplied more than 360,000 OxyContin pills in a county with only 21,000 residents. Those prescriptions were mostly written by doctors in other states.

Prosecutors alleged that for years a single pain clinic nearly 1,000 miles away in south Florida had provided the prescriptions for a quarter of the OxyContin sold in eastern Kentucky. The bus service to Florida is known to police and addicts alike as the "Oxy Express".

In 2012, Dr Paul Volkman was sentenced to four life terms for writing illegal prescriptions for more than 3m pills from a clinic he ran in Portsmouth, Ohio, on the border with eastern Kentucky. Prosecutors said the prescriptions had contributed to dozens of overdose deaths.

Another doctor, David Procter, is serving 16 years in prison for running a "pill mill" at which at least four other doctors were involved in the illegal supply of drugs to eastern Kentucky.

There is little sympathy for doctors or pharmacists acting as dealers, but there is a view in Beattyville and surrounding towns that people have been exploited by something bigger than a few medics, largely because they are regarded as "backward".

Davis said the drug companies aggressively pushed OxyContin and similar drugs in a region where, because of a mixture of the mining, the rigours of the outdoors and the weather, there was a higher demand for painkillers.

Here's this synthetic opium product and they sell it as regular pain medicine. They knew how highly addictive it was

"You couldn't go to a doctor without seeing a merchant there. Here's this synthetic opium product that's supposed to be good for palliative care - cancer patients - and they start selling it as regular pain medicine. They knew how highly addictive it was and they sold it anyway," he said. "I live in a town of 1,500 people with seven pharmacies as well as pain clinics and methadone clinics and the full backup industry. Everybody gets paid, doctors and pharmacists and lawyers."

Recently released research shows that abuse of powerful opioid painkillers is in part responsible for a sharp rise in the death rate among white middle-aged Americans over the past two decades, particularly less-educated 45- to 54-year-olds. The report by academics at Princeton university also blamed misuse of alcohol and a rise in cheaper high quality heroin along with suicides. The researchers said they suspected that financial stress played a part in people taking their lives.

OxyContin's manufacturer, Purdue Pharma, was penalised $634m by a federal court in 2007 for misrepresenting the drug's addictive effects to doctors and patients. Purdue is now being sued by the Kentucky government. The state's attorney general, Jack Conway, accuses the company of concealing information about the dangers of the drug in order to increase profits, and its salespeople of claiming OxyContin is less addictive and safer than it is.

"I want to hold them accountable in eastern Kentucky for what they did," Conway told the Lexington Herald-Leader. "We have lost an entire generation."

Purdue has denied the claim.

Late last year the Beattyville Enterprise reported that pharmacists in the town were appealing to drug companies for greater control over another prescription medicine, Neurontin, which is increasingly in demand and has been found at the scene of overdose deaths. Heroin use is also on the rise.


[ Bericht 63% gewijzigd door Papierversnipperaar op 15-11-2015 11:49:42 ]
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  maandag 16 november 2015 @ 16:05:08 #47
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_157600993
quote:
quote:
Scotland’s war on drugs amounts to a war on the poor, according one of the country's leading authorities on substance abuse.

In a new paper, Dr Iain McPhee, from the University of the West of Scotland's Centre for Alcohol and Drugs Studies, calls the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, “unjust, unfair and unworkable.” McPhee was Project Leader of the National Drugs Helpline and the National AIDS Helpline, and has worked as a drugs specialist with social work and Scottish police.

According to the academic, tough key performance indicators to be met by officers from Police Scotland means that it is those living in areas of multiple deprivation, and seen as “problem drug users”, who are targeted the most.

Separately, another drug policy expert, former Scottish Government adviser Mike McCarron, has said that if drugs were decriminalised savings could be made by Police Scotland and health and social work amounting to £1.5 billion.

Although, according to a recent survey, drug crime is the public’s top priority for Police Scotland, McPhee says it is the enforcement of prohibition that “exacerbates drugs related crime” and says the way to deal with problematic drug use is through tackling social deprivation.

The force’s targets also explain why, since 2003, the arrest rate for drug dealers in Scotland is twice as high as it is in England and Wales.

McPhee told the Sunday Herald: “The war on drugs, one must conclude, is a war on the poor, as they are most affected by the performance indicators used by medicine, criminal justice social work, particularly child protection, and the police, enforcement and security agencies.”

He continued: “Only a continual challenging of the moral framework on which drug policy rests can lead to reforms of our unjust, unfair and unworkable drug policies.”

The academic said that the government was aware of this, and pointed to a report by John Birt commissioned by the Blair government. Birt’s report pointing out the unfairness of the act was then suppressed.

“All the things that we attribute to drugs, like poor health, or poor housing or poverty, these are in many ways enduring structural factors caused by inequality and deprivation, and these people when they use drugs may go on to be problem drug users, but the key factor here...is there is no relationship between the activity of the police, the availability of drugs and the number of drug users. And no matter what you spend on the misuse of drugs it can never achieve its aims.”

In a survey of 31,000 people across Scotland conducted by the police to feed into their annual plan, 28 per cent of the public said they wanted the force’s top priority to be tackling drug crime, ahead of road safety, violence and anti-social behaviour.

McPhee believes this is what has led to those in poorer areas being targeted. "I think it would be reasonable to conclude that they must be targeting scarce resources, which may or may not be intelligence-led, about where they think most activity which infringes the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 occurs," he said. "That would appear to be specific areas in Scotland that are also where there is most inequality and deprivation. I think it's no secret that by far the majority of people who are attending services for treatment and the majority of people who are incarcerated for infringements of the Misuse of Drugs Act invariably reside in areas characterised by deprivation, no matter what index is used."

A police source told the Sunday Herald that most drug arrests were in poorer areas because that was where the problem drug users and the gangs were.

“Nobody in the west end of Glasgow, or in the posh bits of Edinburgh or Aberdeen is bothered if their neighbour is doing a wee bit of coke. But see when you’ve got junkies breaking into folks houses and stealing bikes and stereos so they can get their next fit then of course we should be there. And by and large that’s happening in poorer areas where there’s higher dependency and you have the presence of gangs,” the source said.

There is seemingly little appetite to devolve drug laws to Scotland. Although the Scottish Government’s default position is to want all powers transferred to Westminster, in the White Paper for independence, there was only a passing mention made to independence allowing “decisions on drugs policy and drug classification to be taken together in a coherent way.”

Politicians will be keenly aware of Police Scotland’s survey results. There are few votes to be won from backing drug law reforms. Former Scottish Government adviser Mike McCarron, however, is hopeful that reform could be on the cards.

“I don't see the Westminster Government either now or in the foreseeable future adopting significant change of direction in drug policy, so if drug policy is not fully devolved then a very 'strong voice' of Scottish MPs will be needed at Westminster to increase harm prevention and service effectiveness within a significant change of policy direction.”

McCarron, who works with Transform Drug Policy Scotland, believes decriminalisation and taxation and regulation of drugs could see the costs to Scotland of drugs harm reduced by as much £1.5 billion.

“This might include, regarding the £600 million spent on police and prisons, potentially several hundreds of millions pounds saved or redeployed for other policing needs and further tens of millions raised in tax for investments.

“So we should scrutinise every detail of the the estimated £3.5 billion socio-economic costs for potential savings and tax gains, comparing prohibition with regulation. Savings and taxes could fund a greater number of services to meet Scotland's very high needs and also improve the quality of services.”

Scotland does have a problem with drugs. And it is worse here than it is in the rest of the UK. According to the UN's World Drugs Report, Scotland has a greater per-head use of heroin, ecstasy and cocaine than almost any other country in the world.

David Liddell Director of Scottish Drugs Forum said it’s difficult to quantify exactly how many drugs are in Scotland and how many people are using them.

“The nature of an illegal trade is that you would only ever have fairly crude estimates. However, from the available statistics, a troubling picture emerges.”

Liddell says that latest figures from the government show 6.2 per cent of adults reported using a drug in the last year including 0.5% who had taken new drugs or legal highs. A quarter of those who used drugs said they “felt dependent”.

“The estimated number of individuals with problem drug use in Scotland is 59,500 - 1.68 per cent of the population - 2.43 per cent of all males and 0.96% of all females resident in Scotland. In this context, problem drug use is defined very narrowly in terms of the use of heroin and benzodiazepines such as diazepam. Our fatal drugs overdose figures are very high – far higher than in England, for example - and amongst the highest in Europe which in part merely reflects the high levels of problem drug use, in particular heroin use.”
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  maandag 16 november 2015 @ 22:27:36 #48
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_157611908
quote:
Irish police back decriminalising personal possession of heroin

Minister in charge of drug policy calls for move as part of ‘radical cultural shift’ in tackling Ireland’s narcotics crisis

Police officers in Ireland have backed a proposal from a government minister to make possession of heroin, cocaine or other opiates for personal use no longer an arrestable offence.

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, who is in charge of Ireland’s drug policy, said this month that the country should move towards decriminalising possession of small quantities of certain narcotics, including all class A opiates, as part of a “radical cultural shift”.

He said attitudes to drugs must move away from shaming users, focusing instead on helping them, and that there was a difference between decriminalisation and legalisation.

The Garda Representative Association, which represents 11,500 frontline officers, has welcomed the move to decriminalise personal possession, saying it would free up police resources.

“I think anything that can deal with the curse of drugs and some innovating thinking on this is to be welcomed,” the GRA’s general secretary, PJ Stone, said, adding that Ó Ríordáin’s proposal would be seen as a brave move.

Stone said that instead of targeting drug users, Garda and state resources should be directed against the “big guys” who make millions from the misery of drug use.

The GRA has called for a more realistic solution to Ireland’s drug crisis than simply arresting users on the streets.

One GRA source said resources are so stretched in Dublin, where heroin usage is rife in certain parts of the capital, that “we don’t even have enough cells to lock up drug users who get arrested for possessing drugs”.

Ó Ríordáin’s initiative marks a major break with the state’s decades-long policy of criminalising heroin and other drug users.

He also confirmed that one of his last acts as minister before the Irish parliament dissolves and a general election is held in early spring will be to introduce safe, supervised heroin injecting rooms in Dublin.

Speaking at his constituency office in north-east Dublin, the Labour party minister said the centre could be up and running within 12 months.

Denying that his call for such a centre in the capital made him soft on drugs, Ó Ríordáin said the idea, which he first proposed in a speech to the London School of Economics earlier this month, was winning support across Ireland.

“My initial sense was that there should be one in Dublin, near the city centre in an area where they are used to treating people with addictions in the methadone clinics. At first I thought I would get a lot of objections to this idea but instead over the last few days I have been getting contacts from people across the country, from Galway, Cork and Waterford, who are all saying to me that they need the same kind of facility in their cities too.”

The sight of people injecting heroin is commonplace not only on some of Dublin’s most deprived housing estates but also parts of the city centre. One of the most notorious spots, where open drug dealing is also prevalent, is the boardwalk along the river Liffey towards O’Connell Bridge and the lower end of O’Connell Street, Dublin’s most famous thoroughfare.

Retailers, the tourist industry and city councillors have all called for alternatives to the open heroin consumption and dealing in some of Dublin’s most famous quarters.

Ó Ríordáin pointed towards the window overlooking the area he represents and said that there was open drug dealing and injecting even in the parks and playgrounds of his constituency.

“Opening up a safe injection room is not a solution but it is a recognition of failure that our society has produced people who are so vulnerable that this is the habit that they have. But either we address it as it is or we ignore it or we try to criminalise it. I don’t think we can police our way out of it. Instead I think we have to look from a humanitarian perspective about where the drug user is coming from and we will have a better chance of success that way.”

In the film about the murdered campaigning journalist Veronica Guerin, starring Cate Blanchett, the reach of Dublin’s drug gangs is exposed and public anger is laid bare over the Garda Síochána’s inability to stem the flow of heroin and other opiates pouring into the city during the 1990s.

Ó Ríordáin said he did not believe in legalising the drugs themselves but added it was time to stop arresting and prosecuting users for possession of small quantities of narcotics.

“Seventy per cent of the drug convictions in this state involve those who had drugs on them for personal use. In my view that is a waste of Garda time, that is a waste of the courts’ time and it does absolutely nothing for people who suffer from addictions.

“What does a Guard [Irish police officer] do if he or she walks down the street and sees a person injecting? Technically that person is still committing a crime and should be arrested under the law. The same would go for anyone possessing heroin who was walking into our proposed safe injecting room.”

He added: “How therefore can we encourage addicts to get off the streets, stop injecting in public places, inject in a safe environment where there are clean needles, where the risk of contracting things like hepatitis C are minimal if they fear they would be arrested at the door for possessing heroin? The only solution is decriminalise possession of drugs for personal use.”

Frontline organisations that work with Dublin’s hardcore heroin users have welcomed the first ever anti-prohibition move taken by an Irish minister regarding the drug crisis. The Merchants Quay project based on the Liffey said there are an estimated 20,000 opiate users in the city with 10,000 currently registered on the state’s methadone/heroin substitute programme. In 1996 there were 2,000 registered users signed up to the programme.

“The graph in terms of the numbers of addicts in Ireland has moved in only one direction since the 1980s and that is upwards,” said Tony Geoghegan, Merchants Quay’s CEO.

“In places like Dublin we have met with and tried to help three generations of drug users from one single family. Changing the law so that addicts are not sent to prison or given criminal convictions is an important step in really tackling this crisis. As is opening up a safe heroin injecting space in the city centre. Criminalisation has not worked.”
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  dinsdag 17 november 2015 @ 22:00:02 #49
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_157635413
quote:
Fake ambulances used to smuggle £1.6bn of drugs into UK, court told | UK news | The Guardian

Leonardus Bijlsma and Dennis Vogelaar were allegedly part of gang that pretended to be paramedics to transport heroin and cocaine

Audacious smugglers may have sneaked up to £1.6bn worth of cocaine and heroin into the UK using a fleet of fake ambulances, a jury has heard.

The gang was kitted out with bogus paramedic uniforms and might even have used fake patients to make their cover more authentic, Birmingham crown court was told.

Two Dutchmen, Leonardus Bijlsma and Dennis Vogelaar, were allegedly part of a lucrative criminal conspiracy to bring huge hauls of drugs into the country under the noses of British police, it is claimed.

The jury was told the smuggling operation may have seen up to £420m in “top-quality” class-A drugs reach the UK, via the Channel’s ferry ports.

When the high-purity drug packets were cut down to individual street-value wraps, the total cash value could increase four-fold, reaching a staggering amount, said prosecutor Robert Davies.

He added: “The prosecution suggest this was a top-level, audacious, and – up to the point of interception and the arrests – a successful and lucrative criminal conspiracy.”

Davies said the conspiracy was uncovered when officers of the National Crime Agency (NCA) swooped on one of the ambulances after tracking it to Smethwick in the West Midlands on 16 June.

When police arrived they arrested Bijlsma, described in court by Davies as the “righthand man” in the organisation and the “ambulance” driver Vogelaar.

The men were equipped with bogus paramedic uniforms and a letter purporting to be from a Dutch patient being taken to a London hospital for treatment.

Investigations revealed that the ambulance was “rammed” to the roof with more than £38m of cocaine and heroin. Inside the back of the ambulance, concealed behind metal-riveted panels in six “hides”, were neatly stacked, colour-coded packets of class-A drugs including cocaine with a street value of more than £30m and heroin worth £8m. Officers also found 60,000 ecstasy tablets.

When the NCA officers swooped in Smethwick, two other men – Olof Schoon, 38, and Richard Engelsbel, 51 – were also detained, jurors heard.

Davies explained that they did not appear in the dock alongside Bijlsma and Vogelaar, both from Amsterdam because they had already admitted conspiracy to import class-A drugs.

Schoon, who was a director of the Dutch-based Schoon Ambulance Company, was described by prosecutors as “the central player”.

Davies, opening the case for the crown, said the ambulance tracked to Smethwick contained “an absolutely enormous amount of class-A drugs”. He added: “In truth, the ambulance was rammed with drugs.”

The prosecutor told the jury that further study of company records revealed that the fake ambulance journeys had been “going on over weeks and months”.

In the Netherlands, investigators discovered “a fleet of ambulances” being run by Schoon’s company, ostensibly transferring patients to and from the UK.

But Davies described the firm and its operations as nothing more than “a veneer” for the smuggling operation.

“Four [ambulances] had hiding places of a similar type,” he added. “Between the vehicles, at least 45 trips can be shown to have been made in 14 months, with the final trip in June.”

Bijlsma, 55, and Vogelaar, 28, are charged with conspiracy to smuggle. They deny the offence.

In police interviews, they told officers they had no knowledge of the drug-smuggling operation with Bijlsma stating he had travelled abroad to look at a car. Vogelaar said that he had believed his driving job to be genuine.

However, the prosecutor told jurors they would be studying “highly incriminating” evidence implicating both men, including a rivet gun found with Bijlsma’s DNA on it, which it is claimed was used to fasten the false panels inside the ambulance.

The prosecution likened Vogelaar, who was shown on CCTV played in court wearing a paramedic’s uniform, to the 70’s cartoon character Mr Benn, whose adventures always began with him visiting a fancy-dress shop and choosing a uniform or outfit.

“The organised crime group running this operation would not have risked an innocent stooge aboard one of its ambulances,” added Davies.

The trial, expected to last two weeks, continues.

Bron: www.theguardian.com
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
pi_157667190
OM gaat (weer) nat! :)

quote:
quote:
BREEK: volledige vrijspraak voor growshop Plantarium Nijmegen

Belangrijk en positief nieuws uit Nijmegen: de rechtbank Gelderland heeft de eigenaar Ed Gerritsen van growshop Plantarium vanochtend volledig vrijgesproken van overtreding van de growshopwet (artikel 11a, Opiumwet). ‘De rechtbank spreekt de Nijmegenaar vrij, omdat hij onderbouwd heeft betoogd dat zijn winkel zich richt op de medicinale gebruiker en de hobbyteler die maximaal 5 hennepplanten heeft.’

Het vonnis is een opsteker voor alle growshops die zich uitsluitend richten op de kleine thuisteler. Zij kunnen een eventuele vervolging met vertrouwen tegemoet zien. Voor het Openbaar Ministerie is de uitspraak een nieuwe tegenslag, voor de politiek het bewijs dat deze wet nooit aangenomen had moeten worden.

De politie viel op 26 mei 2015 Plantarium in Nijmegen binnen en nam de halve inventaris in beslag, waaronder zaden -verpakt per drie en vijf stuks- en 800 grinders, die door de dienders als “knipmachines” werden aangemerkt. De officier van justitie eiste op 5 november een onvoorwaardelijkse gevangenisstraf van drie maanden. In zijn laatste woord verklaarde Plantarium eigenaar Ed Gerritsen tijdens de zitting:

‘Nog nooit heb ik één cent zwart geld in of om mijn winkel verdiend. Ik rijd in een Suzuki Alto uit 2002 en ik woon in een sociale huurwoning. Ik zou met gemak de slechtst verdienende georganiseerde misdadiger van Nederland zijn. Ik weiger dan ook te geloven dat de officier van justitie oprecht meent dat mijn handelen, mijn winkel of mijn klanten ook maar iets met georganiseerde misdaad te maken hebben.
Wij strijden met onze winkel voor het recht om kleinschalig iets te kweken wat ik ook mag kopen in de coffeeshop. Basilicum kan ik op de markt kopen, maar ik kan het ook zelf in een potje op mijn balkon kweken. Bier kan ik in overvloed bij de Albert Heijn halen, maar ik mag het ook zelf op kleine schaal brouwen zolang ik hier geen commercieel, professioneel belang bij heb. Kan de officier van justitie, of misschien iemand anders, mij uitleggen wat ik nu wel of niet mag verkopen? De afgelopen maanden heb ik mij suf gepiekerd, me opnieuw verdiept in de debatten, wetgeving en aanwijzingen. Ik kan maar tot één conclusie komen: ik heb op geen enkel moment de wet overtreden. En bij gedegen onderzoek zou naar mijn mening ook justitie tot deze conclusie zijn gekomen.’

De rechter geeft Gerritsen dus op alle fronten gelijk. In een persbericht meldt de rechtbank Gelderland:

​’De rechtbank Gelderland heeft vandaag een 55-jarige man uit Nijmegen vrijgesproken van overtreding van het growshopverbod.

Het voorhanden hebben en verkopen van materialen voor professionele of grootschalige wietteelt is vanaf maart van dit jaar strafbaar. Met het nieuwe artikel 11a van de Opiumwet wil de overheid growshops die zich bezighouden met wietcriminaliteit uitbannen. Op 26 mei 2015 is de politie in het kader van een landelijke actiedag tegen growshops binnengetreden in winkel van de man (genaamd: Plantarium). Daar namen agenten zo´n 3.000 producten in beslag, waaronder koolstoffilters, hennepzaden, groeitenten, flacons groeimiddel en knipbenodigdheden.

Medicinaal gebruik
De eigenaar verklaarde alleen goederen de medicinale gebruiker en de kleinschalige hobbykwekers te hebben verkocht. Volgens hem zijn de in beslag genomen goederen alleen geschikt voor maximaal 5 planten. Uit zijn administratie blijkt niet dat hij deze producten in grote hoeveelheden verkocht. Volgens de officier van justitie worden goederen die Plantarium verkoopt vaak in wietkwekerijen gebruikt. De officier van justitie was -mede gelet op de combinatie van goederen die zijn aangetroffen- wel bewezen dat de goederen een strafbare bestemming hadden. Volgens de officier van justitie was ook bewezen dat de winkeleigenaar hiervan wetenschap had, nu hij door middel van een brief op de hoogte is gesteld van het feit dat de situatie in zijn winkel strafbaar was. De officier van justitie had daarom een celstraf van 3 maanden geëist voor overtreding van artikel 11a van de Opiumwet.

Onderbouwde betoog
De rechtbank spreekt de Nijmegenaar vrij, omdat hij onderbouwd heeft betoogd dat zijn winkel zich richt op de medicinale gebruiker en de hobbyteler die maximaal 5 hennepplanten heeft. Tegenover deze onderbouwde verklaring van de man is door het Openbaar Ministerie niets gesteld dat deze verklaring betwist. Bovendien schoot het onderzoek in deze zaak volgens de rechtbank op een aantal punten tekort. Binnenkort wordt de volledige uitspraak gepubliceerd.’

Het is niet de eerste keer dat het OM grandioos onderuit gaat in een zaak over de growshopwet. Eind juli sprak de rechtbank Breda al een groothandel vrij, waar de politie 49 pallets met producten in beslag had genomen. De rechter oordeelde dat het OM ‘geen enkele concrete aanwijzing naar voren heeft gebracht’ die erop wijst dat de eigenaar had kunnen weten dat de spullen die hij verkocht voor grootschalige cannabisteelt gebruikt zouden worden. Advocaat Menno Buntsma van deze groothandel bereidt een schadeclaim van tienduizenden euro’s voor. Het is nog niet duidelijk of Plantarium ook zo’n claim in gaat dienen.

‘Het recht heeft gezegevierd’, laat Ed Gerritsen in een eerste reactie weten. ‘Ik sta nog te shaken’. Door alle gevolgen van de inval en de rechtszaak is Gerritsen in grote financiële problemen terecht gekomen, meldt Omroep Gelderland. Zo zijn de duizenden in beslag genomen producten vernietigd, in plaats van opgeslagen in afwachting van de uitspraak.
Op donderdag 6 september 2012 @ 21:41 schreef Shakkara het volgende:
Uiteraard is het volgens Rutte en consorten de schuld van een imaginair links kabinet dat we ooit ergens in het verleden gehad schijnen te hebben.
  zondag 22 november 2015 @ 14:29:20 #51
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_157738382
quote:
The stunning paradox of Iran’s war on drugs: How it actually makes America look worse - Salon.com

Situated between Afghanistan’s extensive poppy fields and eager Western markets, Iran has an extensive history of domestic opium, alcohol, tobacco and cannabis use dating back centuries. In recent decades, heroin has become more popular. Most recently, the use of methamphetamine has exploded and is reportedly in demand across the social spectrum, from tired workers to women seeking weight loss.

“Cocaine has become a regular feature at parties among Tehran’s richer residents; young people throughout the city smoke marijuana and pop ecstasy pills; opium – viewed as an older person’s drug – is still widely considered to be culturally acceptable. In seedy corners of south Tehran, addicts gather to inject heroin, as they always have done. But when crystal meth hit the streets it managed to transcend social divides, and could be found everywhere in the city,” The Guardian reports.

According to the AP, Iranian authorities say that “more than 2.2 million of Iran’s 80 million citizens already are addicted to illegal drugs, including 1.3 million on registered treatment programs.” The country is waging one of the world’s most expensive and dangerous wars against drugs streaming across its 572-mile border with Afghanistan. Enormous quantities of opium and heroin have been seized. But the flow of drugs to their domestic market, and to Europe, has not been stopped.

In the West, Iran is often mischaracterized as a monolithic pariah state. The reality is more complicated. Iran’s drug war, which frequently metes out death sentences for traffickers and has reportedly precipitated thousands of police deaths, reflects the country’s commitment to the harsh status quo advocated by American and international drug warriors. Its efforts to treat drug addiction as a public health problem instead of a criminal justice issue, however, are on the cutting edge of progressive harm reduction efforts.

Now, says Maziyar Ghiabi, authorities are considering liberalizing laws around using cannabis and opium. Salon spoke to Ghiabi, an Iranian-Italian working on his PhD at Oxford University, who researches drug use and drug policy in Iran, about the past, present and future of the country’s war on drugs. Iran, on drug policy like most anything else, is more complicated than many Americans think.

You’ve written that Iran might legalize cannabis and opium. Are you serious?

This is an actual possibility but not in the short term. One institution is really discussing measures to regulate the drug market. By regulation of the drug market, we can mean many different things. One of the ideas is to allow certain substances, in this case cannabis and opium, to be used under specific circumstances. It hasn’t been clearly stated what these circumstances are. What is interesting to me is that the discussion is open. It is a very interesting fact that in the Islamic Republic such discussions are taking place.

How is drug policy decided in Iran? Is it controlled by Parliament, or by some other body?

In the last 27 years, all drug laws have been discussed by the Expediency Council. Most of Iranian laws are decided by the Parliament. Drug laws are an exception. The Expediency Council is an institution that was created in 1988 in order to deal with matters of national interest: corruption, drug use, smuggling, national security; questions that are not related to one specific ministry, and that can endanger the Islamic system. And drugs are considered under this label. It’s a national security question in a way.

It is an institution which includes leading members of the Islamic Republic, so all of the past presidents of the republic are members of it. Members are appointed by the Supreme Leader. The main feature of people who are part of this institution is experience in policy making. But it’s not really important who the members are. There is a bureaucracy of experts behind this institution. It’s an expertise which is put into practice.

Tell me a little about the past and present of drug use in Iran. Who uses what, and how has that changed over the past century of social and political upheaval?

Drug use in Iran is a historical phenomenon. Opium has a really important and ancient role in Iranian history, especially a medical kind of use, popular medicine, as a pain killer mostly. And in the 20th century, the recreational use really expanded. Up to the 1970s, the drug of choice was opium. In the 1950s and 60s, we read narratives by foreigners visiting Iran, the reference to opium is very strong: this affected the labor market, people were often described as ‘unproductive’, things like that. But in the 1970s, along with global trends in drug use, heroin becomes more prominent, and it really expands after the success of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, mostly due to harsher prohibitionist laws. The iron law of prohibition says that the harder the prohibition, the harder the drugs.

There’s been a progressive move to more kind of modern drugs. In the 2000s, especially after 2004, methamphetamines are really kind of popular. And this is surprising because no one would expect to have something like Breaking Bad in Iran.

What about marijuana?

That’s an indigenous drug to Iran. Marijuana has a name in Persian, shahdaneh. It means royal seed. Its traditional use is really in the cuisine, the dried leaves that you use in yogurt and things like that.

Today, it is a really popular thing among young people because it is grown—as anywhere in the world. But there is a slight difference in cultural terms. Weed is sort of a new thing. Historically, Iranians smoked hashish, they didn’t smoke weed. But in the past 10, 15 years, it’s become very popular, weed. So there is a trend toward smoking weed, which is also grown in Iran extensively. According to Iranian drug laws, cannabis cultivation is permitted but not for drug use.

Commonplace drug use contradicts the image many Americans have of Iran, as some rigid sanctum of Islamic moral purity. How does this all square?

I think its the media coverage that Iran has had over the last 3 and half half decades. When Western audiences, particularly Americans, think about Iran, they compare it to an authoritarian, dark place. Whoever has been traveling to Iran finds a different kind of place. Which doesn’t mean that it’s all happy. But it’s complicated.

You’ve said that Iran has a notably progressive approach to drug users. That’s even more surprising than the idea that tons of Iranians use drugs. In what ways is the Iranian approach progressive?

Iranian policymakers have been capable of tackling public health issues such as the HIV epidemic through a progressive set of policies and practices such as needle exchange, including among very problematic and controversial populations of drug users such as prostitutes, prisoners, homeless people. They are usually seen as rather un-Islamic. People consider them, usually, as deviant in Iran. As in the West.

In addition, there has been an incredible expansion of methadone substitution programs, which are implemented in most Iranian prisons and every city. Private methadone clinics, not publicly managed. Of course, it’s with public blessing because you need a license to open the clinics, and also there is supervision by the Ministry of Health.

Harm reduction is a very controversial issue, and there are many ways of defining harm reduction. One of the problems in Iran is that while many of the harm reduction policies have been implemented successfully there has also been reluctance. With regard to the homeless population, there is kind of an ambivalence. At times they are provided with harm reduction services such as needled distribution but at times because drug use remains a criminal behavior they can be incarcerated. The ambivalence of harm reduction is really very similar to the ambivalence in Europe and the United States.

So this reform impulse exists within a state that puts a lot of people to death for drug trafficking. According to a UN report, “At least 69 per cent of executions during the first six months of 2015 were reportedly for drug-related offences.” How do these two approaches coexist? Or are they in conflict?

There is a fundamental paradox. Iran, I think leads the statistics in the death penalty for drug traffickers. It is a very problematic situation, the fact is that Iran shares a very long border with Afghanistan and Pakistan, and over the last 35 years Iran’s war on drugs has resulted in 3,000 people dead among Iranian law enforcement agents. So they have paid a very high price in fighting drug trafficking. And this has been supported by Europe and the United States. The flow of drugs from Afghanistan is toward Europe, toward the rich markets.

It hasn’t produced really substantial results. There are lots of drugs, while in Afghanistan, since the U.S. invasion, opium production has increased an astonishing number.

Under economic pressure, drug trafficking becomes one of the main sources of income, especially among populations that have been under very difficult economic situations for the past decade. The east region of Iran is very poor, very underdeveloped, and its been paying a high price for the war on drugs. The same in Afghanistan.

What role has the international drug war establishment, including major powers and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, played in Iranian drug policy? The UN special rapporteur for human rights in Iran has warned that “international agencies and states providing assistance to combatting drug trafficking should also ensure that their activities do not contribute to the execution of individuals for drug crimes.” Does the UNODC have culpability for these executions?

The UNODC has a lot of culpability across the world because it supports the war on drugs. So the same negative effects that happen in Iran happen in Colombia. I think this criticism against the UNODC is really part of a way to isolate Iran internationally. The fact that the human rights rapporteur criticizes the UNODC without criticizing the effects of the war on drugs in many other regions is an example of a double standard. Often we forget to deconstruct that the death sentences are really a side effect of the war on drugs. The discourse within Iran is that we are fighting a war because drugs are flowing to Europe.


[ Bericht 3% gewijzigd door Papierversnipperaar op 22-11-2015 14:42:37 ]
Free Assange! Hack the Planet
[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zondag 22 november 2015 @ 14:50:14 #52
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_157738799
Free Assange! Hack the Planet
[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  dinsdag 24 november 2015 @ 11:50:15 #53
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_157782009
quote:
OM wil meer controle op drugs in post | NOS

Het Openbaar Ministerie wil dat poststukken naar het buitenland beter worden gecontroleerd op wapens en drugs. Steeds vaker stuiten de autoriteiten op buitenlandse luchthavens op illegale goederen in pakketjes en brieven uit Nederland.

Vooral de handel in synthetische drugs verloopt geregeld via de post. Belangrijke afzetmarkten zijn Frankrijk, Duitsland en Groot-Brittannië, maar ook landen verder weg zijn populaire bestemmingen. De autoriteiten in Australië wantrouwen inmiddels alle post uit Nederland: elk Nederlands pakketje wordt uit voorzorg gecontroleerd.

Om de illegale handel te voorkomen, moeten volgens het OM meer afspraken worden gemaakt tussen de douane en postbedrijven. Zo moeten ze drugshonden effectiever inzetten, zegt een woordvoerder van het Landelijk Parket.

De goederen worden veelal verhandeld via illegale marktplaatsen op internet, waar mensen anoniem zijn. Niet alleen drugs en wapens, maar ook kinderporno en organen zijn er populaire handelswaar.

De aanpak van deze marktplaatsen verloopt in internationaal verband. Geregeld leidt dit tot resultaten, zegt het OM. Zo ontmantelde de FBI de afgelopen jaren de websites Silk Road 1 en 2, waar veel dealers uit Nederland actief waren.

Bron: nos.nl
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  dinsdag 24 november 2015 @ 15:08:10 #54
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_157786494
quote:
Raad Arnhem: stop 'uitsterfbeleid' coffeeshops | NOS

Er moet een einde komen aan het 'uitsterfbeleid' voor coffeeshops in Arnhem. Dat vindt een meerderheid van de gemeenteraad, meldt Omroep Gelderland.

Al jaren probeert Arnhem het aantal coffeeshops terug te brengen tot acht. Er zijn er nu nog elf, verdeeld over verschillende wijken in de stad.

Het beleid werd in 1998 ingezet. Toen waren er in Arnhem ruim honderd coffeeshops, die veel overlast veroorzaakten. Daardoor ontstond het plan om te streven naar maximaal acht coffeeshops.

Dat werkt averechts, zeggen D66, SP, GroenLinks en de Partij voor de Dieren nu. Bij de overgebleven coffeeshops is het nu veel drukker en dat leidt op die plekken tot een concentratie van overlast, zeggen de partijen.

De sluiting van coffeeshops drijft gebruikers volgens de Arnhemse partijen de straat op. Ze gaan dan bij straathandelaren hun drugs kopen.

Die verkopen vaak ook harddrugs, denken de partijen. Ze zijn bang dat die markten zo bij elkaar komen.

Het voorstel van de partijen is besproken door de gemeenteraad, tijdens een informatieve bijeenkomst. Een besluit is er nog niet.

Bron: nos.nl
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  maandag 30 november 2015 @ 09:21:25 #55
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_157916137
quote:
quote:
De teelt van cannabis moet volgens de Vereniging van Nederlandse Gemeenten uit het illegale circuit. Ze moet worden gereguleerd op een wijze die de overheid verzekert van greep op verkoop, gebruik én productie. De VNG bepleit invoering van een systeem van gemeentelijke vergunningen voor de hele cannabisketen.
quote:
Hennepkwekerijen oprollen lijkt vaak op ene gevecht tegen de bierkaai, vindt de werkgroep. 'Door het gedogen biedt de overheid criminelen volop de ruimte om hun producten af te zetten. De cannabisindustrie is sterk verweven met georganiseerde criminaliteit die ook actief is in xtc en mensenhandel. We zien criminelen die trachten invloed te verwerven op het lokaal bestuur. We maken ons grote zorgen om de impact.' Wat tot nu toe is wordt ondernomen aan tegenmacht rangschikt de werkgroep onder 'pappen en nathouden'.
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  donderdag 3 december 2015 @ 15:20:10 #56
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_157988137
quote:
quote:
Bij de productie van synthetische drugs als xtc en speed blijft chemisch afval over. Criminelen dumpen dat met grote regelmaat in natuurgebieden en polders. Vooral in het zuiden van het land vormen de dumpingen een groot probleem. Het milieu heeft eronder te lijden en grondeigenaren draaien op voor de hoge kosten van bodemsanering. Dat laatste gaat nu veranderen. Vanaf 1 februari kunnen gedupeerden een subsidie aanvragen. Ook opruimacties van afgelopen jaar komen in aanmerking.
Free Assange! Hack the Planet
[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
pi_157988188
Is het reguleren van XTC niet goedkoper/winstgevender?
Op donderdag 6 september 2012 @ 21:41 schreef Shakkara het volgende:
Uiteraard is het volgens Rutte en consorten de schuld van een imaginair links kabinet dat we ooit ergens in het verleden gehad schijnen te hebben.
  donderdag 3 december 2015 @ 22:06:47 #58
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_157997398
De overheid staat er op dat wiet alleen door geharde criminelen geproduceert wordt:

quote:
quote:
Het Openbaar Ministerie (OM) heeft een boete van 175.000 euro geëist van twee Bierumer 'modelwietkwekers'. Het telen van wiet is strafbaar en dus moet er worden betaald, zegt het OM op de site van RTV Noord.

John (50) en Ines (40) hebben hun wiet biologisch geteeld, ze tapten de stroom niet illegaal af en ze gaven de opbrengsten op aan de Belastingdienst. Maar wiethandel is illegaal, dus een boete is gerechtvaardigd, meent het OM.
Het artikel gaat verder.
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  donderdag 3 december 2015 @ 22:59:03 #59
445752 broodjepindakaashagelslag
Ik blaf niet maar ik bijt
pi_157998596
quote:
7s.gif Op donderdag 3 december 2015 22:06 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:
De overheid staat er op dat wiet alleen door geharde criminelen geproduceert wordt:

[..]

[..]

Het artikel gaat verder.
Denk je op een nette manier wiet te kweken, zelfs de inkomsten bij de belasting op gegeven. Wordt je nog genaaid door de overheid. Schiet mij maar lek maar ik snap er niks meer van. 8)7 -O- |:(
Its hard to win an argument against a smart person, but it's damn near impossible to win an argument against a stupid person
  vrijdag 4 december 2015 @ 18:20:51 #60
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_158014340
quote:
Nederlands marineschip doet grote drugsvangst | NOS

Het Nederlandse marineschip Zr. Ms. Friesland heeft de grootste drugsvangst van de marine van dit jaar gedaan, met de onderschepping van zo'n 2000 kilo cocaïne voor de kust van Colombia. De bemanning werkte daarbij, zoals al vaker dit jaar, samen met de Amerikaanse kustwacht.

Een patrouillevliegtuig van de Amerikaanse kustwacht signaleerde afgelopen weekend een smokkelboot, een zogenoemde "go fast", op zo'n 150 kilometer voor de Colombiaanse kust. De Friesland werd erop afgestuurd om de boot te onderscheppen.

Het marineschip heeft een helikopter aan boord, die werd gelanceerd om de smokkelaars af te stoppen. Eerst werden er waarschuwingsschotten afgevuurd. Omdat ze daar niet op reageerden, is daarna gericht geschoten op de buitenboordmotoren. Toen die niet meer werkten, werd de bemanning gearresteerd door Amerikaanse politiemensen die op de Friesland zijn gestationeerd.

Na de ontdekking hadden de smokkelaars de drugs snel overboord gegooid, maar de marine kon het grootste deel uit het water op vissen, zo'n 1350 kilo. Naar schatting 650 kilo is gezonken. De lading is door de Amerikanen in beslag genomen.

Bron: nos.nl
En wat heeft deze nutteloze actie gekost?
Free Assange! Hack the Planet
[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
pi_158071703
quote:
100 is absurd veel voor zo'n plaats, 8 zou daarentegen dan weer een tikkeltje weinig kunnen zijn. Eindhoven (aanzienlijk meer inwoners) heeft 15 coffeeshops.
Ik ben liberaal m.b.t. drugs in de zin dat ik het ermee eens ben dat het zinvol is om de productie en levering volledig te legaliseren (wel regels voor waar je het mag gebruiken) maar wat mij betreft zouden ze coffeeshops wel zoveel mogelijk ergens achteraf moeten stoppen, ergens waar geen mensen naast of boven wonen of winkelen of zo en waar weinig mensen langs komen zonder dat ze er wat te zoeken hebben. Dat lijkt mij een goede oplossing om zowel ruimte te bieden als conflicten te voorkomen.
ING en ABN investeerden honderden miljoenen euro in DAPL.
#NoDAPL
pi_158072132
quote:
0s.gif Op maandag 7 december 2015 02:12 schreef Bram_van_Loon het volgende:

Dat lijkt mij een goede oplossing om zowel ruimte te bieden als conflicten te voorkomen.
Welke (vermeende) conflicten zijn er dan met de huidige shops? Foutparkeren doet men ook voor friet en shoarma tenten moeten we die dan ook naar de rafelranden van steden verplaatsen?
  maandag 7 december 2015 @ 09:37:49 #63
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_158073258
quote:
0s.gif Op maandag 7 december 2015 02:12 schreef Bram_van_Loon het volgende:

[..]

100 is absurd veel voor zo'n plaats, 8 zou daarentegen dan weer een tikkeltje weinig kunnen zijn. Eindhoven (aanzienlijk meer inwoners) heeft 15 coffeeshops.
Er zijn steden met 100-en telefoonwinkels en kroegen. Maar dat schijnt geen onderwerp van discussie te zijn.
Free Assange! Hack the Planet
[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
pi_158074154
quote:
7s.gif Op vrijdag 4 december 2015 18:20 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

[..]

En wat heeft deze nutteloze actie gekost?
Een flink hapje uit het defensiebudget om ons onveiliger te maken.
Wees gehoorzaam. Alleen samen krijgen we de vrijheid eronder.
pi_158080560
quote:
1s.gif Op maandag 7 december 2015 07:34 schreef Basp1 het volgende:

[..]

Welke (vermeende) conflicten zijn er dan met de huidige shops? Foutparkeren doet men ook voor friet en shoarma tenten moeten we die dan ook naar de rafelranden van steden verplaatsen?
Het beleid werd in 1998 ingezet. Toen waren er in Arnhem ruim honderd coffeeshops, die veel overlast veroorzaakten. Daardoor ontstond het plan om te streven naar maximaal acht coffeeshops.

Ik weet niet wat de conflicten zijn maar blijkbaar zijn ze er.

quote:
7s.gif Op maandag 7 december 2015 09:37 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

[..]

Er zijn steden met 100-en telefoonwinkels en kroegen. Maar dat schijnt geen onderwerp van discussie te zijn.
Je kan je wel afvragen of dat je ook nog eens een hoop volk van buiten je gemeente wil aantrekken met coffeeshops.
ING en ABN investeerden honderden miljoenen euro in DAPL.
#NoDAPL
pi_158081273
quote:
0s.gif Op maandag 7 december 2015 02:12 schreef Bram_van_Loon het volgende:

[..]

100 is absurd veel voor zo'n plaats, 8 zou daarentegen dan weer een tikkeltje weinig kunnen zijn. Eindhoven (aanzienlijk meer inwoners) heeft 15 coffeeshops.
Ik ben liberaal m.b.t. drugs in de zin dat ik het ermee eens ben dat het zinvol is om de productie en levering volledig te legaliseren (wel regels voor waar je het mag gebruiken) maar wat mij betreft zouden ze coffeeshops wel zoveel mogelijk ergens achteraf moeten stoppen, ergens waar geen mensen naast of boven wonen of winkelen of zo en waar weinig mensen langs komen zonder dat ze er wat te zoeken hebben. Dat lijkt mij een goede oplossing om zowel ruimte te bieden als conflicten te voorkomen.
Ze moesten juist allemaal naar het centrum zodat er parkeeroverlast onstond, en CDA en VVD konden roepen dat de coffeeshops vanwege de overlast moesten worden aangepakt.

Verder is het natuurlijk hypocriete onzin dat mensen niet naast of boven een coffeeshop zouden kunnen wonen. Ik ben niet tegen een afhaalpunt op een industrieterrein of zo, maar dat is voor een specifiek publiek.
Wees gehoorzaam. Alleen samen krijgen we de vrijheid eronder.
pi_158081554
quote:
0s.gif Op maandag 7 december 2015 14:55 schreef Bram_van_Loon het volgende:

Je kan je wel afvragen of dat je ook nog eens een hoop volk van buiten je gemeente wil aantrekken met coffeeshops.
In Maastricht waren veel restaurant en andere horeca wel blij met extra bezoekers. Waarom zou je als stad niet veel meer bezoekers willen aantrekken, normaal wordt dat als iets goeds beschouwd, maar als ze zogenaamd alleen voor coffeeshops komen zou het opeens problematisch worden. :D

Dan zouden ook alle shopping malls in de buitengebieden problematisch moeten zijn.

Er worden gewoon argumenten gezocht tegen coffeeshops die normaliter juist als argument voor andere winkels gebruikt worden.
pi_158081556
quote:
0s.gif Op maandag 7 december 2015 15:23 schreef Weltschmerz het volgende:
Verder is het natuurlijk hypocriete onzin dat mensen niet naast of boven een coffeeshop zouden kunnen wonen.
Durf jij te beweren dat als ik naast, onder of boven een coffeeshop woon dat dan niets van die troep die zij roken in mijn huis krijg en dat ik niet de hele tijd die herrie hoor? Om nog maar te zwijgen over wanneer je je raam open zet en bij de coffeeshop de deur open staat (genoeg gezien). Het is net als een kroeg niet geschikt om naast, onder of boven te wonen, dus laat die faciliteiten ergens zijn waar het voldoende geïsoleerd is van de rest van de maatschappij, in ieder geval tijdens de uren dat de mensen gebruik maken van die faciliteiten. Bij een woning mag je rust verwachten.
ING en ABN investeerden honderden miljoenen euro in DAPL.
#NoDAPL
pi_158081617
quote:
0s.gif Op maandag 7 december 2015 15:36 schreef Basp1 het volgende:

[..]

In Maastricht waren veel restaurant en andere horeca wel blij met extra bezoekers. Waarom zou je als stad niet veel meer bezoekers willen aantrekken, normaal wordt dat als iets goeds beschouwd, maar als ze zogenaamd alleen voor coffeeshops komen zou het opeens problematisch worden. :D
In hetzelfde Maastricht waren ze niet blij met alle drugstoeristen (Leers).

quote:
Er worden gewoon argumenten gezocht tegen coffeeshops die normaliter juist als argument voor andere winkels gebruikt worden.
Het verschil zit hem in het publiek. Ja, zo'n publiek is divers bij al die groepen maar in de ene groep zijn de verhoudingen anders dan in de andere groep. Bij coffeeshops krijg je blijkbaar ook allerlei publiek die politici liever niet als extra gasten hebben, zie o.a. wat er in Maastricht gebeurde toen Leers daar de burgemeester was. Blijkbaar hadden ze hierbij vooral last van buitenlandse gasten die speciaal voor de coffeeshop de grens over gingen.
ING en ABN investeerden honderden miljoenen euro in DAPL.
#NoDAPL
pi_158081720
quote:
0s.gif Op maandag 7 december 2015 15:36 schreef Bram_van_Loon het volgende:
Durf jij te beweren dat als ik naast, onder of boven een coffeeshop woon dat dan niets van die troep die zij roken in mijn huis krijg en dat ik niet de hele tijd die herrie hoor?
Ik heb in eindhoven ruim 10 jaar 2 deuren van een coffeeshop gewoond, daar hadden we eigenlijk nooit last van, de shoarmatent waar we direct langs woonden leverde stukken meer overlast op. (kakkerlakken plagen, in de nacht dronken bezoekers voor die deur, enz...)
pi_158081812
quote:
0s.gif Op maandag 7 december 2015 15:40 schreef Bram_van_Loon het volgende:

In hetzelfde Maastricht waren ze niet blij met alle drugstoeristen (Leers).

Ja men roeptoeterde over overlast, maar denk je nu echt dat door deze conservatieve VVD kliek er een objectieve meting gedaan was en na het invoeren van de wietpas er nogmaals een meting gedaan is om aan te tonen dat er minder overlast is gekomen. :D
pi_158081873
quote:
0s.gif Op maandag 7 december 2015 15:45 schreef Basp1 het volgende:

[..]

Ik heb in eindhoven ruim 10 jaar 2 deuren van een coffeeshop gewoond, daar hadden we eigenlijk nooit last van, de shoarmatent waar we direct langs woonden leverde stukken meer overlast op. (kakkerlakken plagen, in de nacht dronken bezoekers voor die deur, enz...)
Hetzelfde principe, iets waar je 's avonds en 's nachts bedrijvigheid hebt levert heel erg snel problemen op voor mensen die er naast wonen, dat is onvermijdbaar. Zelfs al zouden dubbele deuren, goede geluidsisolatie etc. worden gebruikt dan nog geeft het overlast. Je kan het best de woonfunctie en de andere functies volledig scheiden, we hebben genoeg ruimte in Nederland om dat te kunnen doen.

quote:
0s.gif Op maandag 7 december 2015 15:49 schreef Basp1 het volgende:

[..]

Ja men roeptoeterde over overlast, maar denk je nu echt dat door deze conservatieve VVD kliek er een objectieve meting gedaan was en na het invoeren van de wietpas er nogmaals een meting gedaan is om aan te tonen dat er minder overlast is gekomen. :D
Ik kan me voorstellen dat sentimenten ook een rol speelden. ;)
Echter kwam Leers (CDA) wel oprecht op mij over wanneer hij vertelde over de problemen van het drugstoerisme.
ING en ABN investeerden honderden miljoenen euro in DAPL.
#NoDAPL
  dinsdag 8 december 2015 @ 18:20:30 #73
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_158110401
quote:
Colombia zet Duitse onderzeeërs in tegen drugssmokkelaars | NOS

Het Colombiaanse leger heeft twee Duitse onderzeeboten gekocht om drugssmokkelaars aan te pakken. Het leger controleert al met boten op het water, maar drugssmokkelaars vervoeren steeds vaker partijen drugs in mini-onderzeeërs van Zuid- naar Midden-Amerika en daardoor worden ze niet vaak gepakt.

De marine heeft 110 miljoen euro voor de twee boten betaald. Ze zijn 49 meter lang en er kunnen 23 bemanningsleden aan boord.

Drugssmokkelaars vervoeren grote partijen cocaïne van Colombia naar Panama. Dat moet via het water of door de lucht, omdat er geen weg tussen beide landen loopt.

Verwacht wordt dat de onderzeeërs een harde klap toebrengen aan de drugsmaffia in Colombia. Alleen al de controles met boten boven water hebben ervoor gezorgd dat de productie van cocaïne de laatste jaren flink is teruggelopen.

Bron: nos.nl
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  donderdag 10 december 2015 @ 17:20:41 #74
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_158153988
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  vrijdag 11 december 2015 @ 21:50:14 #75
445752 broodjepindakaashagelslag
Ik blaf niet maar ik bijt
pi_158181887
quote:
quote:
Producenten en handelaren in drugs hebben de biologische consument ontdekt. Harddrugs als cocaïne en LSD worden op ondergrondse marktplaatsen op het internet verkocht met groene claims als 'fair trade' en 'kartelvrij', blijkt uit een inventarisatie van de Volkskrant.
Het artikel gaat verder
Its hard to win an argument against a smart person, but it's damn near impossible to win an argument against a stupid person
  dinsdag 15 december 2015 @ 15:26:18 #76
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_158260300
quote:
Nation's Top Drug Official Calls War on Drugs a Failure

The nation's top drug official went on CBS' "60 Minutes" Sunday night and proclaimed the old War on Drugs a failure. Michael Botticelli, who serves as the director of the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy, also said he wants to reform and refocus U.S. drug policy.

When asked by "60 Minutes" host Scott Pelley if the costly drug war that has been in place for more than 40 years had been wrong, Botticelli had blunt words for what he called the "failed policies and failed practices" of the past, noting that those policies were largely responsible for the nation's mass incarceration epidemic.

Drugs quote

"It has been all wrong," he said, noting that locking up drug offenders had not only contributed to a costly, bloated prison system, but had also failed to curtail Americans' drug habit.

"We can't arrest and incarcerate addiction out of people. Not only do I think it's really inhumane, but it's ineffective, and it cost us billions upon billions of dollars to keep doing this."

The Director of National Drug Control Policy position, sometimes called the "drug czar," is responsible for the agency that sets budgets for national drug policies, works with the governments of foreign countries with robust drug exports, and devises strategy for health and law enforcement agencies to combat addiction and drug abuse. Botticelli, who began as acting director just under one year ago, is himself a recovering alcoholic—the first person in substance-abuse recovery to hold the office, according to the New York Times.

On "60 Minutes," Botticelli emphasized the need to recast drug addiction as a problem that cannot be treated by simply locking users up. "We've learned addiction is a brain disease. This is not a moral failing. This is not about bad people who are choosing to continue to use drugs because they lack will power," he said, noting the dangers of the overuse and over-prescribing of opioid prescription pain medication.

"You know, we don't expect people with cancer to just stop having cancer."

Check out the full CBS interview here.

But as progressive as Botticelli came across on drug reform on the program, he was apprehensive to put his support behind the legalization of marijuana, explaining that legalized drugs, after all, kill over half a million Americans annually. He also said that legalizing marijuana could send the wrong signals to users—that the drug is safe and not addictive.

"So, we know that about one in nine people who use marijuana become addicted to marijuana. It's been associated with poor academic performance, in exacerbating mental health conditions linked to lower IQ," he said, adding that he fears states becoming co-dependent on "tax revenue that's often based on bad public health policy."

As ATTN: has reported, research indicates that marijuana is significantly less addictive than other legal substances such as alcohol or cigarettes, which foster chemical dependencies, not necessarily psychological ones. Other research has called into question the correlation between consuming marijuana and killing off brain cells.

Bron: www.attn.com
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  woensdag 16 december 2015 @ 12:51:22 #77
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_158280872
quote:
quote:
De man vertelt ook over zijn jeugd en zijn leven. Hij had vreemde talen willen gaan studeren, zodat hij kon reizen. Maar in zijn dorp was geen middelbare school. Hij is zelf het drugskartel ingegaan, niemand heeft hem gedwongen. Zijn familie weet niet precies wat hij doet, maar ze hebben wel een vermoeden, denkt de man. Hij loopt immers altijd rond met een kalasjnikov.
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
pi_158287113
Een informatieve website over hoe het nu met doede de buiten kweker en zijn proces gaat.

http://steundoede.nl
  vrijdag 18 december 2015 @ 21:22:16 #79
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_158339180
quote:
Decriminalization of Marijuana in Delaware | Al Jazeera America

The possession of small amounts of marijuana becomes legal starting Friday in Delaware, which joins 18 other states that have removed criminal penalties for carrying the drug. With four states and the District of Columbia having legalized recreational possession of cannabis in the last two years, reformers hope smaller steps like Delaware's will pave the way for the defeat of prohibition nationwide.

The Delaware state legislature in June passed a bill removing harsh criminal penalties for simple possession of up to an ounce of the drug, which had previously been punishable with three months in jail. It now becomes a civil violation with a fine, much like a traffic ticket.

“Delaware’s marijuana policy is about to become a lot more reasonable,” said Karen O’Keefe, who lobbied for the bill as state policies director for the Marijuana Policy Project, a Washington, D.C.-based group that works to reform cannabis laws. “Most people agree adults should not face jail time or the life-altering consequences of a criminal record just for possessing a substance that is safer than alcohol. Taxpayers certainly don’t want to foot the bill for it, and fortunately they will not have to any longer.”

However, there are still a number of circumstances under which Delaware police can arrest a person for having marijuana. Smoking cannabis in public is still a misdemeanor, punishable by less than a year in jail.

"People should do this in their own homes," state Sen. Margaret Rose Henry, a Democrat who helped sponsor the bill, told local news website Delaware Online earlier. "It should not be done in cars. It should be done in the privacy of your own home."

O’Keefe described the decriminalization lobby’s negotiations with lawmakers that left in the final draft some provisions police had wanted — especially the ability to continue to search a person caught with marijuana, even though possession will no longer be a criminal offense.

There is also a bit of fine print that allows for harsher prosecution of marijuana possession — but only for people between the ages of 18 and 21, for whom a second offense will draw an “unspecified misdemeanor” charge and a $100 fine. After they turn 21, they can petition to have their conviction expunged.

“We certainly didn’t agree with that,” O'Keefe said.

MPP will likely lobby for full legalization in the state instead of attempting to tweak the new law, she added.

Decriminalization has been a stepping stone to legalization and regulation of recreational pot use in other states, and Delaware law enforcement officials on Thursday expressed concerns that many state residents might overestimate the extent of the decriminalization law.

"There will be some confusion because people may think marijuana is legal now, and that is not the case," New Castle County Police Chief Elmer Setting told Delaware Online. "Hopefully, they read and understand the law."

Delaware is decriminalizing the drug in what could be a banner year for marijuana policy reform, with legalization laws and ballot initiatives on the horizon in several other states, including California, Maine and Massachusetts. In each state that has lifted criminal penalties for possession of small amounts of pot, decriminalization has served as a herald to an end to the prohibition.

Bron: america.aljazeera.com
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zaterdag 19 december 2015 @ 11:48:16 #80
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_158352712
quote:
Fatal drug overdoses hit record high in US, government figures show | Society | The Guardian

In 2014 more people died in America from drug overdoses than from car accidents, with heroin and opioids responsible for the majority of deaths

Deaths from drug overdoses have surged across the US to record levels, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Nationwide, overdose deaths last year exceeded 47,000, more than the number of people killed in car accidents and up 7% from the previous year.

Related: Rapid rise of heroin use in US tied to prescription opioid abuse, CDC suggests

The CDC said 61% of the deaths involved some type of opioid pain relievers and heroin. The count also included deaths involving powerful sedatives, cocaine and other legal and illicit drugs.

CDC director Tom Frieden said the rise in overdoses related to opioid use, up 14% from 2014, was particularly concerning.

“The increasing number of deaths from opioid overdose is alarming,” he said. “The opioid epidemic is devastating American families and communities.”

Overdose deaths are up in both men and women, in non-Hispanic whites and blacks, and in adults of nearly all ages, the report said.

West Virginia, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Kentucky and Ohio had the highest overdose death rates. In West Virginia, the overdose rate was 35.5 per 100,000; the national rate was about 15 per 100,000.

State rates are calculated to provide a more balanced comparison between states given the differences in population size.

In sheer numbers, California — the most populous state — had the most overdose deaths last year, with more than 4,500. Ohio was second, with more than 2,700.

The numbers are based on death certificates. Nearly half a million Americans died from drug overdoses from 2000 through 2014, the CDC says.

Drug overdoses — particularly those from prescription opioid painkillers — have become a priority issue for the Atlanta-based CDC. The agency this week released draft guidelines for family doctors, encouraging them to be more careful about prescribing opioids for chronic pain and urging the increased use of naloxone, an overdose antidote.

The CDC released the overall tally last week. On Friday it provided more details, including numbers for individual states.

Bron: www.theguardian.com
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zondag 20 december 2015 @ 20:35:52 #81
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_158389637
quote:
Heroin trade continues to claim lives as UK drug gangs compete for power | Society | The Guardian

The police shooting of a 28-year-old man in London’s Wood Green was the latest tragic repercussion of a profitable trade for the capital’s Turkish mafia


Ismail Aydin has never seen a man brandish a gun in his shop and hopes he never will. But six years ago, a hitman for the Bombacilar gang shot dead its former owner, Ahmet Paytak, 50, in a case of mistaken identity.

On the Hornsey Road, north of Arsenal’s Emirates stadium, it is deep in the territory of a rival group, the Tottenham Boys. Around the corner there used to be one of the gang’s drug dens. Further along was the Gunner’s Play members-only club and gangland haunt. Both have disappeared, but the killings have continued. Ten murders in a decade are linked to a Turkish mafia war playing itself out in north London.

The latest death was that of Jermaine Baker, 28, shot dead by firearms officers on 11 December during an alleged attempt to free a senior member of the Tottenham Boys being taken to court, four miles from the shop where Aydin works. On Friday the officer who shot Baker was arrested and questioned as part of a homicide investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

The power of the Turkish Bombacilar and their Kurdish rivals, the Tottenham Boys, was largely founded on heroin. Contacts in Turkey facilitate the drug’s passage to London.

The EU’s drug agency recently reaffirmed Britain’s status as the narcotics hub of Europe, with reported heroin use the highest across the continent.

“Sadly, the UK continues to consume substantial quantities of heroin and cocaine, and unfortunately demand for an addictive drug will always provide an opportunity for the ruthlessness of trafficking,” said Tony Saggers, head of drugs threat at the National Crime Agency, which tackles organised crime.

Speaking inside the agency’s fortified headquarters in Vauxhall, south London, Saggers said it was not only the large, loyal market that made Britain so attractive to global dealers but the profits on offer to gangs such as the Bombacilar.

The wholesale price of a kilo of heroin is between £20,000 and £30,000. An imported kilo cut at 25% street purity provides enough raw material for 16,000 individual deals at £10 a hit – pushing the takings to £160,000.

Black street gangs are frequently hired to protect turf, occasionally as hitmen. Paytak’s killer on Hornsey Road, 31-year-old Michael James, was from a local outfit recruited specifically for a reprisal shooting. “They’re extremely determined to protect their market, they’re ruthless and predisposed to violence and threats, spreading the fear of violence,” said Saggers.

The antipathy between the Bombacilar and Tottenham Boys has resulted in 26 violent incidents in six years, 19 of them involving guns. The parochial nature of the vendetta belies the international character of the modern drug trade. Both gangs supply street dealers selling £10 heroin wraps and crack cocaine “rocks” at the same price. The heroin will have travelled at least 4,500 miles from Afghanistan. The cocaine will have travelled at least 5,000 miles across the Atlantic, the main obstacle for the South American narco firms seeking to exploit the UK market.

“It puts drugs from two different hemispheres into the hands of one street dealer. That requires a global supply chain,” said Saggers.

Crack and heroin are sold by north London dealers as a complementary package. “It is somewhat ironic that the two most addictive drugs are sold together as a package,” Saggers added. The intense high of crack is quickly followed by a crushing low; heroin takes the edge off the downer.

Both the Tottenham Boys and the Bombacilar appear to have no problem in acquiring sufficient amounts of heroin. Almost all the opiates sold by them come from Afghanistan. Cutting the supply of heroin to Britain was one of the main reasons given by then prime minister Tony Blair in 2001 for sending British troops to Helmand province. That war aim has singularly failed. “Almost all the heroin we see here is assessed as having come from the region,” said Saggers.

From Afghanistan, the drug is taken overland via Iran and Turkey, or south through Pakistan, exported from the port of Karachi across the Arabian Sea to eastern Africa, then across the continent to the west coast, often Nigeria or Ghana. Both routes usually end up in Holland. From there, intelligence on the heroin trade identifies ports such as Harwich, Felixstowe, Dover and Folkestone.

The NCA is currently monitoring the potential exploitation of failed states like Syria and Libya for heroin traffickers. Large amounts of heroin passed through Iraq during the sectarian tumult a decade ago. Libya, currently in chaos and close to Europe, is an obvious concern.

“Heroin smugglers are always looking for new transit routes to keep ahead. But the reality is that when you destabilise a landmass, it either becomes more dangerous to move drugs through or it becomes an opportunity. With Libya, we’re not seeing an intelligence picture that reflects either scenario. My opinion is I wouldn’t want to move a high-value amount of drugs through a place that is completely destabilised,” said Saggers.

Regardless of the route, latest assessments indicate that the number of UK heroin users remains broadly static, at around 250,000. Predictions that austerity would usher in a 1980s-style heroin epidemic have proved false. However, analysis of the drug itself reveals an intriguing development: a recent increase in purity that may indicate a desperate attempt to reinvigorate a market that is literally dying off.

“This could well be an attempt to win back a dwindling customer base, but you don’t want it so strong that people start dying,” said drug information analyst Harry Shapiro.

There were 952 deaths that involved heroin or morphine last year, the highest since 2001, compared with 579 in 2012, compounding the issue of heroin’s ageing user base. Tim Millar, from the University of Manchester, said: “I couldn’t say with any certainty that heroin’s going to go away, but young people aren’t getting into it.”

Certainly, the Turkish crime gangs will be keenly aware that heroin is struggling to hook a new generation, regardless of the occasional high-profile casualties like Peaches Geldof, 25, who described heroin as “such a bleak drug”. The National Treatment Agency revealed last year that the number of people under 35 using heroin and crack cocaine was “plummeting”, with an estimated 41,508 15- to 24-year-old users.

Away from the capital, much of the distribution of heroin throughout the UK is controlled by south Asian gangs – although Liverpool remains the preserve of white British gangs. Police have collated significant evidence that Pakistani criminals are actively seeking to corner the heroin market in large parts of Britain, using their connections in cities such as Birmingham and Manchester. Crucially, their turf does not overlap with their Turkish counterparts. “You have Pakistani crime groups and Turkish crime groups in generally different parts of the country and the marketplace seems big enough for both of them. They’re distinct, I don’t recall them working together,” said Saggers. The Turkish gangs’ feud, saud Shapiro, should be interpreted as a localised scrap in a stable market where “everybody knows their place”.

Down on Green Lanes, still within Tottenham Boys territory, many say they cannot remember a more peaceful time. “The gangs used to go around here, but now they keep their heads low,” said Yusuf Ceren, 34, outside the Gaziantep Sultan Patisserie. Scotland Yard, meanwhile, is urging the local community to continue sharing intelligence on the gangs, a request that coincided on Saturday with the emergence of a police intelligence report revealing the Tottenham Boys were using extortion to funnel funds to the PKK, the militant Kurdish nationalists.

As for counter-narcotics officials, the broader battle continues. Saggers said: “It would be wrong to say we are winning; it’s certainly a battle. We haven’t stopped any crime happening in the UK, but we don’t stop pursuing burglars just because we haven’t stopped the problem.”

Bron: www.theguardian.com
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zondag 20 december 2015 @ 22:11:41 #82
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_158393208
Video op de site.

quote:
‘Stoner sloth’ anti-drug campaign gets reality check as medical experts walk away | Society | The Guardian

National Cannabis Prevention and Information Centre distances itself from widely mocked NSW government ads which depict marijuana users as sloths

A leading drug research centre has distanced itself from the NSW government’s bizarre “stoner sloth” campaign, which attempts to warn teenagers against the dangers of sustained marijuana use by depicting them as disturbingly oversized versions of the South American mammal.

In a pyrrhic victory for the NSW government, the stoner sloth campaign has gone viral but the anti-drug message appears to have lost out to the internet’s dual love of mocking failed ad campaigns, and sloths.

The campaign was initially linked to the National Cannabis Prevention and Information Centre (NCPI), which has responded with a statement saying their involvement was limited to providing an initial basic analysis of other anti-cannabis campaigns, and some general recommendations.

“In this case, those general recommendations were things like being aware that teenagers are intelligent and have access to a lot of information, so campaign approaches should respect them and give them credit by avoiding hyperbole,” the statement said.

They said they were not involved in the campaign development and learned of the stoner sloth idea when the ads were released this week, and added: “While we wish the NSW government luck in future cannabis campaigns, the current stoner sloth campaign doesn’t reflect NCPIC views on how cannabis harms campaigns should be approached, as was implied by the media.”

In an embarrassing oversight, the stoner sloth campaign shares a name with an online cannabis store. Leave the Australian domain off stonersloth.com.au and you will be directed to a website with the tagline, “enjoy every smoking experience”.

The Tumblr page for the campaign launched last month, but the campaign and its three videos were released this week.

The first video stars a sloth named Jason, who looks and sounds like a wookiee without the Star Wars royalties. Jason is wearing a Teen Wolf-style basketball singlet. He is asked to pass the salt, a difficult task when you have unwieldy long talons instead of hands, and instead fetches the salad. As the video title says, the struggle is real.

The next video stars a sloth called Delilah, who wears a blue bow perched atop her brow to signify her assigned gender. She is being performance-shamed in class for failing to complete an exam.

The final video stars a sloth named David, who fails to appropriately respond to an anecdote concerning a teenage girl’s abhorrence of people who wear socks with sandals. This clip drew additional criticism because the teenagers (except Dave) are holding red plastic cups that have become synonymous even in Australia with drinking alcohol, thanks to American college movies. The cups have been taken as sending the message that while marijuana is bad, alcohol is fine.

All three videos end with a fellow teenager disparagingly shaking their head and muttering “stoner sloth”.

Thirteen Stoner Sloth parody videos have been posted on YouTube in the past 18 hours.

Even the NSW premier, Mike Baird, was bemused by the campaign, which was signed off by his department.

In a statement printed on Mashable, the Department of Premier and Cabinet said the campaign was developed under its purview in conjunction with NSW Health.

“The stoner sloth public awareness campaign has been designed to encourage positive behaviours in young people before bad habits start, and motivate discontinued use of cannabis before they become dependent,” the statement said.

However public reviews of the campaign on social media have questioned its motivational capacity.

Bron: www.theguardian.com
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  woensdag 23 december 2015 @ 15:07:47 #83
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_158469181
quote:
Colombian president signs decree to legalise medical marijuana | World news | The Guardian

New rules on growing and sale are ‘major step’ in fight against illnesses, President Juan Manuel Santos said, as country shifts away from US-backed drug policies

Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos has signed a decree legalizing the growing and sale of marijuana for medical purposes, a dramatic shift in a country long identified with US-backed policies to stamp out drug crops.

Santos said the new regulatory framework was long overdue given that Colombians had been consuming marijuana and marijuana-based products in a legal void for years.

The new rules “represent a major step that put Colombia at the vanguard and forefront of the fight against illnesses”, Santos said during the signing ceremony for the presidential decree.

Related: Mexico supreme court rules ban on marijuana use unconstitutional

With the new rules, Colombia joins countries from Mexico to Chile that have experimented with legalization or decriminalization as part of a wave of changing attitudes toward drug use and policies to combat it in Latin America.

Colombia has long been identified with US-backed policies to eradicate narcotics production and a sharp decline in levels of violence over the past 15 years is largely attributed to the no-tolerance policing.

Proponents of the new approach say as many as 400,000 Colombians suffering from epilepsy and other ailments could benefit from the clearer regulatory framework.

Colombians for two decades have been allowed to possess small quantities of any narcotic for personal use due to a series of constitutional court rulings guaranteeing the “free development of one’s personality”.

But the congress and the executive branch have been loth to endorse such views, in part because of officials’ skittishness about showing any weakness in a country that is the biggest supplier of cocaine to the US.

Conservative critics in Colombia and abroad see Santos’s drive to reform drug policy, including a decision earlier this year to end a two-decade-old campaign of spraying illegal coca crops with herbicides, as a sign that the government’s resolve is weakening.

Santos, who has acknowledged smoking pot as a journalism student in the 1970s at the University of Kansas, repeated his commitment that the new rules only apply for medical and scientific purposes, not recreational use.

Bron: www.theguardian.com
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zondag 27 december 2015 @ 02:11:28 #84
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_158559620
quote:
The man who exposed the lie of the war on drugs | Books | The Guardian

Pablo Escobar was “the first to understand that it’s not the world of cocaine that must orbit around the markets, but the markets that must rotate around cocaine”.


Of course, Escobar didn’t put it that way: this heretical truth was posited by Roberto Saviano in his latest book Zero Zero Zero, the most important of the year and the most cogent ever written on how narco-traffic works. Here is a book that speaks what must be told at the end of another year of drug war spreading further and deeper, that tells what you will not learn from Narcos, Breaking Bad or the countless official reports.

The realisation that cocaine capitalism is central to our economic universe made Escobar the Copernicus of organised crime, argues Saviano, adding: “No business in the world is so dynamic, so restlessly innovative, so loyal to the pure free-market spirit as the global cocaine business.” It sounds simple, but it isn’t – it is revolutionary and, says Saviano, it explains the world.

Saviano – who lives in hiding under 24/7 guard, after death treats arising from Gomorrah, his book about the Neapolitan mafia – and I were due to discuss Zero Zero Zero at the Hay Arequipa book festival in Peru this month. But Saviano was unable to make it, because of difficulties in arranging his movements. For eight years, he has lived in undisclosed venues, with a permanent dispatch of seven carabinieri guards, rarely spending more than a few nights in the same bed. A video link to Peru proved too complicated, but what Saviano had to say was too important to let go, too pressing and radical to lose in the ether of the logistics. In the end we spoke by telephone last weekend.

“Capitalism,” says Saviano, “needs the criminal syndicates and criminal markets… This is the most difficult thing to communicate. People – even people observing organised crime – tend to overlook this, insisting upon a separation between the black market and the legal market. It’s the mentality that leads people in Europe and the USA to think of a mafioso who goes to jail as a mobster, a gangster. But he’s not, he’s a businessman, and his business, the black market, has become the biggest market in the world.”

This is Saviano’s sagacious heresy. For decades, writing on global mafia has presumed a Manichean schism between cops and robbers; our healthy society and law enforcement on one hand battling organised crime on the other (with occasional erring by the former). But the trail blazed by Saviano and very few others demolishes that account, backed by every recent development in Mexico’s narco-nightmare, including and especially the escape, again, of the heir to Escobar’s mantle, Joaquin “Chapo” Guzman, from supposedly maximum-security jail. Narco cartels like Guzman’s are not adversaries of global capitalism, nor even pastiches of it; they are integral to – and pioneers of – the free market. They are its role model.

We hear much these days about the pros and cons of legalising drugs, but very little about narco-traffic as political economy. Now, Saviano articulates and demonstrates what many of us who write about mafia have been trying for years to shout from rooftops, only none of us climbed high enough, cried as loud, or crystallised it like he does. Here it is, the lie of any dividing line between legal and illegal. Here it is, laid bare: cartel as corporation, corporation as cartel; cocaine as pure capitalism, capitalism as cocaine, known in its purest form as zero-zero-zero – a wry reference to the name of the best grade of flour, ideal for pasta.

Saviano writes in his own distinct style of narrative literary reportage, at once factually informative and impressionistic. He opens Zero Zero Zero with a scathing tragicomic reflection on who in your life uses cocaine: “If it’s not your mother or father… then the boss does. Or the boss’s secretary… the oncologist… the waiters who will work the wedding… If not them, then the town councillor who just approved the new pedestrian zones.” Within three-score pages he has stripped bare the system whereby – and why – the white powder got up their noses. “Cocaine,” he concludes, applying the logic of business school, “is a safe asset. Cocaine is an anticyclical asset. Cocaine is the asset that fears neither resource shortages nor market inflation.” Of course, cocaine capitalism – as brazenly as any other commodity, possibly more so – has “both feet firmly planted in poverty… [and] unskilled labour, a sea of interchangeable subjects, that perpetuates a system of exploitation of the many and enrichment of the few”.

“Cocaine becomes a product like gold or oil,” he adds in conversation, “but more economically potent than gold or oil. With these other commodities, if you don’t have access to mines or wells, it’s hard to break into the market. With cocaine, no. The territory is farmed by desperate peasants, from whose product you can accumulate huge quantities of capital and cash in very little time.

“If you’re selling diamonds, you have to get them authenticated, licensed – cocaine, no. Whatever you have, whatever the quality, you can sell it immediately. You are in perfect synthesis with the everyday life and ethos of the global markets – and the ignorance of politicians in the west to understand this is staggering. The European world, the American world, don’t understand these forces, they don’t have the will to understand narco-traffic.”

In a previous book, soon to be translated, called Vieni Via Con Me – Come Away With Me – Saviano talked about the “ecomafia” for which it is “always fundamental to be looking for terrain and spaces in which to conceal and proliferate itself”, just as a corporation carves out markets. In Zero Zero Zero, he writes about what might be called the genealogy of narco-syndicates, from their paternalistic period of “conservative capitalism” to the lean, mean multinational corporations they have become: buying failing banks, working the credit economy, taking over interbank loans. Permeating the system until they become indistinct from it, until (writes Saviano in Vieni Via Con Me): “democracy is literally in danger”, and we become “all equal, all contaminated… in the machine of mud”.

“So the story of narco-traffic,” he says now, “is not something that happens far away. People like to think of this disgusting violence as something distant, but it’s not. Our entire economy is infused with this narrative.”

For some reason, he says, the Anglo-Saxon world is slower to understand the innate criminality of the “legal” system than Latin societies. “I think the Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-American world is infused by a kind of Calvinist positivism; people want to believe in the health of their society,” says Saviano, even though “what this all means is that, for instance, the City of London is a far more important centre for laundering criminal money than the Cayman Islands”.

The mafia, he argues, has a particular way of entrenching its presence and increasing its strength, in a manner almost Darwinian, evolutionary: “the force of the mafia is this. If a mafioso messes up, he dies – and thus they develop a system of survival. When they make a mistake, they are killed and replaced by someone even more ruthless, so that the organisation becomes even stronger.”

Related: HSBC has form: remember Mexico and laundered drug money | Ed Vulliamy

At the start of this year, writing from New York, Saviano described his threatened life under guard in our sister paper, the Guardian, and in this book that followed he asks himself, poignantly: “Is it really worth it?”

“I write about Naples, but Naples plugs her ears,” he laments. It is, he writes, “my fault if the articles I keep writing about the blood spilled in the cocaine markets fall upon deaf ears”. Any reporter or writer on these subjects feels a version of these feelings, but – apart from our colleagues in Mexico or Colombia – with so much less to pay than Saviano has paid: with his liberty and security.

“Sometimes I think I’m obsessed,” he reflects in the book, but “other times I’m convinced these stories are a way of telling the truth”. Here we have it. Whether obsessed or not, Saviano realises the brutal truth: that to understand narco-traffic is to understand the modern world. “You can’t understand how the global economy functions if you don’t understand narco-traffic”, he says in conversation.

A remarkable passage in Zero Zero Zero explains why: a transcription of an FBI tape recording of a seasoned Italian mafioso in New York schooling young Mexican footsoldiers in the difference between law and “the rules”. Laws are there to be broken, he urges, but the rules of the organisation are sacrosanct, on pain of death. “The law is supposed to be for everybody,” Saviano tells me, “but the rules are made by the so-called men of honour. This is how narco-traffic explains the world, by embracing all the contradictions of the world. To succeed in narco-traffic, you apply the rules to break the law. And today, any big corporation can only succeed if it adopts the same principle – if its rules demand that it break the law.”

Bron: www.theguardian.com
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zondag 27 december 2015 @ 19:05:23 #85
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_158576397
quote:
Duitsland gaat werk maken van testen piloten | NOS

Duitsland wil vanaf volgend jaar piloten van Duitse luchtvaartmaatschappijen onaangekondigd gaan testen op het gebruik van medicijnen, drugs en alcohol. Dat heeft de Duitse minister van Transport, Alexander Dobrindt gezegd in het blad Bild. Hij dient hiervoor binnenkort een wetsvoorstel in.

Het besluit volgt op de aanbeveling van een werkgroep die na de crash van een Germanwings-toestel in de Franse Alpen was ingesteld. Na de crash bleek dat de co-piloot vanwege zijn psychische klachten niet had mogen vliegen.

In de VS en Australië worden al soortgelijke tests gedaan onder piloten, maar daar is de luchtvaartmaatschappij er verantwoordelijk voor. Wie er verantwoordelijk wordt voor de tests in Duitsland, maakte de minister niet bekend.

Wel benadrukt Dobrindt dat de nieuwe maatregel geen zin heeft, wanneer die alleen door Duitsland wordt genomen. Hij pleit voor een Europese controle.

De Duitse pilotenvereniging ziet niets in de plannen van de minister. Volgens de voorzitter van de vereniging, Markus Wahl, hebben de steekproeven niets met het ongeluk van het Germanwings-toestel te maken en maken ze bij voorbaat een hele beroepsgroep verdacht.

Bron: nos.nl
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  maandag 28 december 2015 @ 19:53:30 #86
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_158612141
quote:
Federal judge: Drinking tea, shopping at a gardening store is probable cause for a SWAT raid on your home

In April 2012, a Kansas SWAT team raided the home of Robert and Addie Harte, their 7-year-old daughter and their 13-year-old son. The couple, both former CIA analysts, awoke to pounding at the door. When Robert Harte answered, SWAT agents flooded the home. He was told to lie on the floor. When Addie Harte came out to see what was going on, she saw her husband on his stomach as SWAT cop stood over him with a gun. The family was then held at gunpoint for more than two hours while the police searched their home. Though they claimed to be looking for evidence of a major marijuana growing operation, they later stated that they knew within about 20 minutes that they wouldn’t find any such operation. So they switched to search for evidence of “personal use.” They found no evidence of any criminal activity.

The investigation leading to the raid began at least seven months earlier, when Robert Harte and his son went to a gardening store to purchase supplies to grow hydroponic tomatoes for a school project. A state trooper had been positioned in the store parking lot to collect the license plate numbers of customers, compile them into a spreadsheet, then send the spreadsheets to local sheriff’s departments for further investigation. Yes, merely shopping at a gardening store could make you the target of a criminal drug investigation.

More than half a year later, the Johnson County Sheriff’s Department began investigating the Hartes as part of “Operation Constant Gardener,” basically a PR stunt in which the agency conducts multiple pot raids on April 20, or “4/20.” On several occasions, the Sheriff’s Department sent deputies out to sort through the family’s garbage. (The police don’t need a warrant to sift through your trash.) The deputies repeatedly found “saturated plant material” that they thought could possibly be marijuana. On two occasions, a drug testing field kit inexplicably indicated the presence of THC, the active drug in marijuana. It was on the basis of those tests and Harte’s patronage of a gardening store that the police obtained the warrant for the SWAT raid.

But, of course, they found nothing. Lab tests would later reveal that the “saturated plant material” was actually loose-leaf tea, which Addie Harte drinks on a regular basis. Why did the field tests come up positive for pot? As I wrote back in February, it’s almost as if these tests come up positive whenever the police need them to. A partial list of substances that the tests have mistaken for illegal drugs would include sage, chocolate chip cookies, motor oil, spearmint, soap, tortilla dough, deodorant, billiard’s chalk, patchouli, flour, eucalyptus, breath mints, Jolly Ranchers and vitamins. Back in 2009, the Marijuana Policy Project demonstrated how easily the tests could be manipulated to generate positive results:

Bron: www.washingtonpost.com
Het artikel gaat verder.
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  dinsdag 29 december 2015 @ 11:45:22 #87
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_158629876
quote:
Drug mules ingesting scores of packages as UK smuggling grows more extreme | World news | The Guardian


Smugglers swallow huge batches of class A drugs, border officials say, with gangs resorting to increasingly drastic methods


Drug mules are swallowing huge batches of cocaine and heroin as gangs resort to increasingly extreme tactics to smuggle class A substances into Britain, border officials have said.

People are risking their lives by ingesting scores of packages containing narcotics worth tens of thousands of pounds, according to Border Force.

Some go to extraordinary lengths to prevent drugs passing through their system. One man went for three weeks without going to the toilet, surviving on only a sip of water and the skin of an apple a day.

The smugglers are known to ingest between 80 and 110 packages each, with drugs wrapped in condoms, balloons and cling film. The average fee for the smuggling attempts is between £1,000 and £1,500, but gangs also use threats of violence.

In one case cited by the Home Office, Jaroslaw Adamski was jailed for four years after pleading guilty to carrying nearly 1kg of heroin in his body when he arrived at St Pancras station in London in February.

Adamski, 51, told Border Force officers he was approached by a man in his native Poland who asked if he wanted to make some money and he was paid ¤15 (£11) per package swallowed.

He claimed he was not told what he was swallowing. Forensic tests later revealed the packages contained 950g of high-purity heroin which, if cut and sold on the streets in the UK, would have had an estimated value of about £155,000.

The majority of the mules target Britain’s main airports but they have also attempted to enter by trains from Europe, officials said.

Andy Coram, the assistant director of Border Force South East and Europe, said: “These cases show the lengths smugglers will go to in their attempts to bring class A drugs into the UK. Those who swallow packages like this are risking their lives and we are seeing more and more sophisticated purpose-made swallower packages which show the organisation behind this type of smuggling.”

Tactics used by the authorities to foil the smuggling attempts include x-ray screening and sniffer dogs trained to identify chemicals secreted in the skin.

In the last year Border Force has seized nearly 8,818lb of class A drugs.

The immigration minister, James Brokenshire, said: “Security is our priority and our officers are not there to just stamp passports; they play a vital role in stopping this type of cross-border crime and preventing dangerous drugs entering the UK which blight communities.”

Bron: www.theguardian.com
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zaterdag 2 januari 2016 @ 16:59:04 #88
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_158763525
quote:
quote:
As Bonello reports, the drop in price — and competition from higher-quality US-made marijuana — is hitting drug cartels, too. So now they have to look to other opportunities, or look for ways to deal in high-quality cannabis, to make up for lost profits, or just accept the hit in their finances.

This was a predictable outcome of legalization, but still a big deal and welcome news. One of the major arguments for legal pot is that it will weaken drug cartels, cutting off a major source of revenue and inhibiting their ability to carry out violent acts — from mass murders to beheadings to extortion — around the world. And cannabis used to make up a significant chunk of cartels' drug export revenue: as much as 20 to 30 percent, according to previous estimates from the Mexican Institute of Competitiveness (2012) and the RAND Corporation (2010).
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zaterdag 2 januari 2016 @ 17:07:56 #89
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_158763718
quote:
quote:
These days, Canada's cannabis community is feeling like the Little Red Hen from the classic fairy tale.

We remember what happened when we asked, "Who will help us fight against cannabis prohibition?"

"Not us," said the unions. "There are a lot of jobs for us in arresting and jailing cannabis users."

"Not us," said the corporations. "Legal cannabis would hurt our investments in pharmaceuticals."

"Not us," said the politicians. "Instead, we're going to pass stricter laws than ever, because that gets us more votes!"

So we did it by ourselves.

Canada's cannabis community opened bong shops and seed shops, we created cannabis magazines and websites, we held cannabis rallies and opened medical dispensaries, all in peaceful civil disobedience and in defiance of these unfair laws.

When some of us were raided by police and ended up in front of a judge, we asked "Who will help us fund these important court cases, to defend our rights and change these unjust laws?"

"Not us," said the unions. "All these new prisons mean jobs, jobs, jobs!"

"Not us," said the corporations. "We can't patent cannabis medicines, so we don't care."

"Not us," said the politicians. "In fact, we will fight you in court every step of the way!"

So the cannabis community raised the funds ourselves. We used the money from our openly illegal bong shops, seed banks and dispensaries to pay lawyers and cover court costs, chipping away at prohibition one case at a time.

It was through the courts that we forced the government to first create a medical cannabis program, and every single improvement and expansion of the program has come as a result of lengthy and expensive court battles funded by grassroots activists.

Now that we have mostly beaten the laws in court and on the street, with cannabis gardens and dispensaries spreading into every city and town across the country, we ask, "Who will help us sell cannabis and profit from legalization?"

"We will sell it to you for profit!" say the unions. "We know how to sell liquor, and it's all the same thing, right?"

"We will sell it to you for profit!" say the corporations. "We will sell it to you for $15 a gram, as long as the police shut down all the illegal dispensaries first."

"We will sell it to you for profit!" say the politicians. "We will keep the taxes high, so we can pay for all the harm that you cannabis users are causing society."

To which we say, "Get lost! We will keep growing it and selling it ourselves. We already have hundreds of dispensaries across the country that are providing great quality cannabis. We already have dozens of court precedents which have forced your police to stop arresting our people. We already have a thriving culture and a vigorous, successful and diversified cannabis industry. We don't need your help, but thanks anyways."
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zaterdag 2 januari 2016 @ 18:11:55 #90
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_158765407
quote:
quote:
The global anti-drug regime has been in place for more than a half century now, but the prohibitionist consensus has been crumbling for at least 20 years, and the decomposition continued apace this year.

The international treaties that make up the legal backbone of international drug prohibition still stand, but they are under increasing attack at the United Nations, which will take them up again next year. They are increasingly being breached (especially by marijuana legalization at the national and sub-national level) and nibbled away at around the edges by moves like drug decriminalization and some harm reduction measures such as supervised injection facilities.

The Western hemisphere is becoming especially fruitful ground for drug reforms. As the United States retreats from drug war excess at home, its imposition of drug war orthodoxy south of the border erodes, and Latin American countries that have suffered some of the worst drug war excesses now search out different paths. From Tierra del Fuego to the Yukon, change is in the air in the Americas.

Here are nine signs that international drug prohibition eroded more this year.
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zondag 3 januari 2016 @ 00:32:16 #91
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_158778897
quote:
Mayor of Mexican city killed only one day after taking office | World news | The Guardian

Gisela Mota, mayor of Temixco and member of leftist party, was attacked at home by four gunmen, newspaper reports

The newly installed mayor of the Mexican city of Temixco was killed on Saturday, according to a tweet from Morelos state governor Graco Ramírez.

Gisela Mota formally took office with the new year on Friday. The Mexico City newspaper El Universal said she was attacked at her home by four armed gunmen.

Several mayors were killed last year in Mexico, where armed gangs financed by the drugs trade control many local communities.

Temixco, located some 60 miles south of Mexico City, has a population of about 100,000.

Mota, a former federal member of congress, belonged to the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution.

Officials with the Morelos attorney general’s office did not immediately return calls seeking additional information about her death.

Bron: www.theguardian.com
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
pi_158787684
http://www.alternet.org/drugs/big-lie-war-against-drugs

The Big Lie in the War Against Drugs
---
Since the beginning, the War on Drugs has been about controlling political power--by breaking up Black communities and the dissident left.
  zondag 3 januari 2016 @ 20:35:17 #93
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_158798734
quote:
New drug driving tests will check for presence of cannabis in system

Minister for Transport, Paschal Donohoe acknowledges that cannabis can stay in system for up to a week and drivers found with traces of it in blood will be charged with an offence regardless of when it was consumed.


Speaking on Morning Ireland, the Minister for Transport wants to create new legislation with stronger penalties in relation to cocaine, heroin or cannabis.

Donohoe acknowledged that cannabis can remain in a person's system for over a week or longer but if drivers are caught with the drug in their system they will be charged with an offence, regardless of when they took they drug.

Currently, motorists who use drugs can be prosecuted only if their driving is impaired but the new laws would see drivers tested for the presence of heroin, cocaine or cannabis in their blood.

A saliva test would be administered on the side of the road and if it returned positive indications then the a follow up blood test would take place.

The Bill, which is being brought before Cabinet today, will set out different unacceptable levels for different types of narcotics.

A different test will be applied to those taking prescription drugs.

A motorist found impaired could face a ¤5,000 fine or six months in jail.

The Minster said that new legislation was needed to combat the issue of driving and drug use.

“In relation to prescription drugs, an impairment test will then be carried out. On the basis of that impairment test, that will form the basis of the gardai concluding whether you’re intoxicated or not due to drugs.

“The message is the same as it is in relation to alcohol, that if you consume drugs that you will run the risk of causing serious accident or injury to other road users.

“What we are now doing is bringing into line our body of law in road law in relation to alcohol to make that completely consistent now with drug testing.”

Bron: www.sundayworld.com
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  maandag 4 januari 2016 @ 18:47:01 #94
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_158823832
quote:
Ex-drugscrimineel wordt hoofd van Surinaamse veiligheidsdienst | NOS

De Surinaamse president Bouterse heeft Hans Jannasch benoemd tot waarnemend hoofd van de Centrale Inlichtingen- en Veiligheidsdienst CIVD. Oud-militair Jannasch was betrokken bij de exploitatie van een xtc-laboratorium in Paramaribo dat in 2003 door de Surinaamse politie werd ontmanteld.

Hij kreeg een gevangenisstraf van acht jaar en werd in 2010 vervroegd vrijgelaten. Sindsdien is Jannasch lijfwacht van het Surinaamse staatshoofd.

Vorige week maakte Bouterse op een persconferentie bekend dat er voor de functie drie kandidaten waren. Eén daarvan zou na een antecedentenonderzoek de nieuwe leidinggevende van de inlichtingendienst worden. Jannasch volgt George Biervliet op die vorige maand om niet nader genoemde redenen uit zijn functie werd ontheven.

Het xtc-laboratorium waarbij Jannasch was betrokken, was het grootste in het Caribisch gebied en produceerde de partydrug voor de Verenigde Staten. Het lag in een luxe woonwijk van Paramaribo en was opgezet onder leiding van de Nederlander André ten Kleij. Hij werd door de Surinaamse rechter veroordeeld tot tien jaar cel.

De Surinaamse president Desi Bouterse is in Nederland bij verstek veroordeeld voor cocaïnesmokkel. Hoewel de kroongetuige in deze zaak zijn belastende verklaring heeft ingetrokken, weigert de Nederlandse justitie de zaak te heropenen.

Presidentszoon Dino Bouterse zit in de Verenigde Staten een straf uit van zestien jaar voor drugs- en wapensmokkel.

Bron: nos.nl
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  maandag 4 januari 2016 @ 23:27:58 #95
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_158834920
quote:
quote:
Hoe ver gaat de beleidsvrijheid van een minister als het gaat om een internationaal verdrag? Die vraag komt vandaag bij de rechter aan de orde in een nieuwe rechtszaak rond het zwangerschapsverlof van zzp'ers over de periode 2004-2008. Volgens vijf zzp'ers, gesteund door het Proefprocessenfonds Clara Wichmann, moet de overheid zoals staat in het VN-Vrouwenverdrag voor hen 'een voorziening' treffen. 'En een voorziening betekent dus een uitkering', zegt juriste Mac Vijn namens de kleine zelfstandigen. 'Hoe hoog de uitkering is, dáárin is de minister dan wel vrij. Maar er moet iets komen. Overigens was die uitkering voor zzp'ers 70 procent van het minimumloon, zowel vóór 2004 als na 2008.'
En waarom denkt de minister dit internationale verdrag te kunnen negeren, en bijvoorbeeld de behandeling van kinderen van vluchtelingen/illegalen, waar de VN ook over heeft geklaagd, maar kan hij dit niet als het gaat om de War on Drugs?
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  dinsdag 5 januari 2016 @ 21:19:38 #96
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_158858366
quote:
Helft Nederlanders wil gereguleerde cannabisteelt | NU - Het laatste nieuws het eerst op NU.nl

Vijftig procent van de Nederlanders is voor het reguleren van cannabisteelt. Dat is ruim boven het percentage dat tegen het gedoogbeleid voor cannabisteelt is, namelijk 37 procent.

Dertien procent van de respondenten heeft hier geen mening over, blijkt uit cijfers van onderzoeksbureau Motivaction. Het onderzoek is gedaan in samenwerking met de Groningse hoogleraar Jan Brouwer.

Op dit moment wordt de verkoop en het gebruik van cannabis gedoogd, maar de teelt en verkoop van de softdrugs is strafbaar. Uit het onderzoek onder 1.019 Nederlanders blijkt dat 66 procent van de Nederlanders dat gedoogbeleid 'hypocriet' vindt.

Motvaction heeft de respondenten drie opties voorgelegd, namelijk het verbieden, reguleren of volledig vrijgeven van de hennepteelt. De meerderheid (57 procent) koos voor gereguleerde hennepteelt. Daarnaast wil 29 procent dat het verboden blijft, en 14 procent is voor het vrijgeven van de teelt.
Het artikel gaat verder.
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  dinsdag 5 januari 2016 @ 21:29:16 #97
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_158858719
Het gaat prima met de coke handel! *O*

quote:
Spanje pakt Nederlandse cocaïnehandelaren op | NOS

De Spaanse politie heeft twaalf drugscriminelen gearresteerd en 3000 kilo cocaïne in beslag genomen. Volgens de Spanjaarden gaat het om leden van een Europees drugsnetwerk. Van de opgepakte cocaïnehandelaren komen er drie uit Nederland.

De overige arrestanten zijn zeven Britten en twee Spanjaarden. Zij werden vorige maand aangehouden aan de Costa del Sol en in de noordoostelijke provincie Galicië.

De politie zegt dat er sinds 1999 niet zo veel drugs in beslag zijn genomen in Spanje. Bij de operatie werden ook wapens en 1,2 miljoen euro gevonden.

Agenten vonden 700 kilo drugs in een vrachtwagen die onderweg was naar de stad Malaga. De rest van de cocaïne werd aangetroffen in een warenhuis in de plaats Pontevedra. Volgens de politie wilden de drugshandelaren de cocaïne overdragen aan een Britse bende in Malaga.

Een Spaanse politiechef zegt dat ook de Britse en Amerikaanse politie betrokken waren bij de actie.

Bron: nos.nl
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  donderdag 7 januari 2016 @ 16:33:56 #98
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_158903282
quote:
DNC Chair, Fueled by Booze PACs, Blasts Legal Pot

Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz told the New York Times she continues to oppose legalizing marijuana — even as she has courted alcohol PACs as one of the largest sources of her campaign funding.

Wasserman Schultz, a House Democrat from Florida, said she doesn’t “think we should legalize more mind-altering substances if we want to make it less likely that people travel down the path toward using drugs. We have had a resurgence of drug use instead of a decline. There is a huge heroin epidemic.”

The fifth-largest pool of money the congresswoman has collected for her re-election campaign has been from the beer, wine, and liquor industry. The $18,500 came from PACs including Bacardi USA, the National Beer Wholesalers Association, Southern Wine & Spirits, and the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that during a recent period, “excessive drinking was responsible for one in 10 deaths among working-age adults aged 20-64.”

When pushed by interviewer Ana Marie Cox, Wasserman Schultz said that she was “bothered by the drug culture that surrounded my childhood — not mine personally. I grew up in suburbia.”

Cox pointed out that despite the dramatic problem with opiate abuse, the state has not made opiates illegal. Wasserman Schultz responded by saying that there “is a difference between opiates and marijuana.”

She’s right about that. An estimated 8,257 Americans perished from heroin-related drug poisoning in 2013. Nearly twice as many — 16,235 — died from opioid analgesics.

There have been roughly zero deaths from marijuana abuse.

In 2014, 64 percent of self-identified Democrats told Gallup they support marijuana legalization.

Bron: theintercept.com
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  donderdag 7 januari 2016 @ 17:44:00 #99
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_158905484
quote:
Psychologist admits MDMA use while with Kids Company clients | UK news | The Guardian


Helen Winter faces being struck off for being under influence of drug while with vulnerable young people


A psychologist faces being struck off after admitting being high on drugs while with vulnerable young people she worked with at Kids Company.

At a hearing at the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPS), Helen Winter said she took MDMA, the active ingredient in ecstasy, and was under its influence while she was with two clients of the charity on or around 24 and 25 January last year.

She also admitted using drugs on several occasions during her leisure time and letting the vulnerable young people, known only as “clients C and D”, to stay at her flat. She denied offering MDMA to client C or actually taking it in front of that person.

Winter admitted to the hearing in London on Thursday that she was guilty of misconduct and that her fitness to practise was impaired.

Winter, referred to in proceedings as the registrant, also admitted testing positive for cocaine in a routine drugs test for Kids Company on 14 May 2014.

Daniel Mansell, the presenting officer, told the hearing: “In May 2014 concerns were raised in Kids Company about the registrant’s drug use and inappropriate interaction with service users.”

He said Winter took MDMA with a colleague, Nicci Shall, on a night out at a club in Vauxhall, south London, on 24 January 2014. It is alleged that in the club Winter went into the toilet where she took the drug with client C.

Mansell said: “On 24 January 2014 colleague A and the registrant went for a drink with other Kids Company employees. The registrant suggested that she and colleague A go to a nightclub in Vauxhall.

“They decided to purchase some MDMA on the way to the club and met with someone who provided this. Once the pair arrived at the club they took the MDMA and saw client C and D at the club and spoke to them.

“At one point, the registrant and Ms Shall and client C went to the toilet and went to the cubicle. The registrant offered client C some MDMA, client C accepted and they took it.”

He told the hearing that Winter and her colleague originally met at the Urban Academy, a pupil referral unit. Recalling the night in question, Shall said she had been drinking wine and Jagerbomb shots in the pub from 4pm when she and Winter decided to continue on to the Hidden nightclub in south London.

She said they took some MDMA in the toilet and then saw clients C and D, two clients of Kids Company in their early 20s. Later she went to a toilet cubicle with Winter and client C, where she said she watched the pair take drugs.

She told the hearing: “Helen Winter offered client C and me a dab of MDMA, which I declined. Helen Winter and client C consumed the MDMA.”

She said that after she left the club she felt “awful” about what she had witnessed and wanted to tell her boss, but was persuaded not to. She said Winter told her the clients had “had a good time and nothing had come of it”.

Shall said she felt appalled at the incident and turned to a colleague for advice. She told the hearing: “I went to colleagues and they advised me not to take it any further. I stupidly followed their advice and I regret that.”

She eventually reported the matter to the charity’s chief executive, Camilla Batmanghelidjh, and was interviewed for an internal investigation, but later raised concerns about the accuracy of the report.

She said: “I do not feel that the investigation report compiled by witness B accurately reflects my account of events. I challenged the accuracy of the report but was informed by Kids Company that it was an internal document and should remain confidential.”

Kids Company collapsed in August amid claims of financial mismanagement, and has faced a series of damaging allegations since. The charity, which is now under the control of administrators, is being investigated by officers from the sexual offences, exploitation and child abuse team of the Metropolitan police.

The charity was led by its founder Batmanghelidjh and was courted by politicians and celebrities. But since its suddencollapse it has been revealed that at least £42m of public money was handed to the charity despite there having been concerns about the way it was run.

Bron: www.theguardian.com
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  vrijdag 8 januari 2016 @ 18:02:33 #100
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_158934480
NWS / Ontvoering van twee mannen in Breda

quote:
BREDA - De ontvoering van Gino Heeren (18) en Rien de Koning (42) in Breda is vermoedelijk het gevolg van een 'ripdeal'. Dat is een van de scenario’s die de politie momenteel onder de loep neemt.

Dat zei politiechef Hans Vissers donderdagochtend bij de presentatie van de jaarcijfers van de politie-eenheid Zeeland-West-Brabant.

Dreiging en geweld
Tijdens de bijeenkomst beschreef hij de criminele wereld en de dreiging en het geweld uit het milieu zelf. Criminelen verraden elkaar niet alleen om een groter marktaandeel te krijgen, beroven elkaar ook voor het geld (ripdeal).
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
pi_158952747
http://www.nu.nl/buitenla(...)-chapo-opgepakt.html
Mexicaanse drugsbaas 'El Chapo' opgepakt
Foto: ANP
Gepubliceerd: 08 januari 2016 19:25
Laatste update: 09 januari 2016 06:41

De Mexicaanse drugsbaron Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzmán is opgepakt.
Dat heeft de Mexicaanse president Enrique Peña Nieto vrijdag op Twitter laten weten.

''Missie volbracht: we hebben hem. Hierbij wil ik het Mexicaanse volk melden dat Joaquín Guzmán is gearresteerd'', schrijft Nieto. ''Mijn waardering voor de veiligheidsraad van het kabinet is groot voor deze belangrijke belangrijke prestatie voor de rechtsstaat Mexico.....

Zijn ontsnapping was groter nieuws als het weer oppakken.
  zaterdag 9 januari 2016 @ 10:47:00 #102
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_158953222
quote:
Cookiewall: Cookies op de Volkskrant | de VolkskrantAmerikaanse gouverneur heeft spijt van opmerking over 'witte meisjes'

De gouverneur van de Amerikaanse staat Maine heeft vrijdag zijn excuses aangeboden voor uitspraken die hij eerder deze week deed over drugsdealers die 'witte meisjes' zwanger maken. Na scherpe kritiek op vermeend racisme zegt Paul LePage dat zijn opmerking niets met ras te maken had.


'In plaats van Maine-vrouwen zei ik 'witte vrouwen'', aldus LePage in zijn spijtbetuiging, die eraan toevoegde dat de meeste inwoners van zijn staat blank zijn. Woensdag sprak hij over drugsproblemen in de staat aan de Oostkust die volgens hem worden veroorzaakt door drugsdealers van buiten Maine. 'Zij maken meestal eerst een jong wit meisje zwanger voor ze vertrekken.' Daarmee bedoelde LePage dus niet dat de drugsdealers zwart zijn, zo probeerde hij vrijdag te verduidelijken.
quote:
We moeten ervoor zorgen dat drugsdealers onze staat niet meer binnenkomen.'

Bron: www.volkskrant.nl
Het artikel gaat verder.
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zaterdag 9 januari 2016 @ 10:52:22 #103
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_158953279
quote:
Gedeputeerde belooft drugsafval binnen week op te ruimen | NOS

Het drugsafval dat al tien maanden in gierputten in Someren ligt opgeslagen, wordt binnen een week opgeruimd. Dat beloofde de Brabantse gedeputeerde Johan van den Hout (SP) vandaag in het NOS Radio 1 Journaal. Hij noemt het schandalig dat de gemeente Someren dit nog niet heeft gedaan.

Vanmorgen bleek dat onderzoekers voor het eerst afvalstoffen van xtc-productie hebben aangetroffen in mais. Op de bijbehorende boerderij werd in maart vorig jaar een groot xtc-laboratorium ontmanteld waarvan het chemisch afval in gierputten verdween. De boer heeft een deel van de vervuilde mest uit die putten vorig jaar uitgereden over zijn land.

Omdat de gemeente en de Nederlandse Voedsel- en Warenautoriteit naar elkaar wijzen, is het afval nog steeds niet opgeruimd.

"Het kan natuurlijk niet zo zijn dat mensen maandenlang naast drugsafval moeten leven omdat overheden aan het kissebissen zijn", reageert Van den Hout. Het stinkt rond de boerderij en door de walmen hebben omwonenden last van geïrriteerde luchtwegen en hoofdpijn.

"Als de gemeente de boel niet opruimt, dan moet de provincie het desnoods maar doen. De rekening leggen we dan uiteindelijk wel neer waar die hoort."

De kosten kunnen in de tonnen lopen. Of het gaat lukken om die te verhalen op de boer is nog maar de vraag. De man werd vorig jaar aangehouden toen het lab werd opgerold maar na enkele dagen weer vrijgelaten omdat zijn betrokkenheid waarschijnlijk beperkt was. Hij is nog wel verdachte in de zaak, maar de man is volgens de gemeente Someren spoorloos.

De burgemeester van Someren wil in het Radio 1 Journaal niet reageren op de zaak. Dat neemt Van den Hout hem kwalijk. "Ik vind dat geen stijl."

Bron: nos.nl
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zaterdag 9 januari 2016 @ 17:20:49 #104
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_158962095
quote:
Guinea-Bissau struggles to end its role in global drugs trade | Antony Loewenstein | Global development | The Guardian

Poverty, political instability and weak institutions allowed South American cocaine cartels in, but with US and UN help the country is trying to fight back


Guinea-Bissau’s Bijagós islands look like a tourists’ paradise – the 88 mostly uninhabited islets are filled with palm trees and white, sandy beaches. But the archipelago has been best known as a smugglers’ paradise.

Described by the UN as a narco state, Guinea-Bissau has long been a drug trafficking hub for South American cocaine cartels. And although this illegal trade appears to be declining thanks to US and UN counter-narcotic policies, the country still bears the scars and remains dogged by the same poverty and institutional weaknesses that allowed the drugs industry to take hold in the first place.

On Bubaque, the main inhabited island, there are no roads, just dirt tracks. People live in mud-brick homes, and pigs and dogs meander in the streets. Most of the small guesthouses are empty; despite nascent efforts to promote the islands’ rich biodiversity, tourism has yet to take off. At Bubaque’s airstrip on a November day, the small terminal was empty and men on bikes rode along the “runway”, hacked out of the grass and scrub.

Related: On Guinea-Bissau's Bubaque island, women rely on oysters for food and money – in pictures

This isolation was one of the elements that attracted drug traffickers to this area in the heyday of west African drug trafficking in the first decade of the millennium.

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) says it became clear around 2005 that drugs worth billions of dollars were being shipped through west Africa. Between 2005 and 2007 (pdf), more than 20 major seizures were made in the region, most at sea but some on land. Hundreds of commercial air couriers were detected carrying cocaine from west Africa to Europe.

The UNODC noted that the same period saw coups, attempted coups and even the assassination of a president in Guinea-Bissau. “While the conflict appears to have occurred along well established political faultlines, competition for cocaine profits raised the stakes and augmented tensions between rival groups,” it said.

After the US Drug Enforcement Administration arrested Guinea-Bissau’s former navy chief, José Américo Bubo Na Tchuto, in 2013 for trafficking cocaine into the US, smuggling briefly slowed.

The ambassador of a European country in Bissau, who did not want to be named, said drug smuggling had declined since Na Tchuto was arrested. “Before this, local smugglers were brazen, driving around in expensive cars,” he said. “But after the arrest of Na Tchuto, people became scared. They thought US drones were flying above the country.” There is no evidence that US drones came anywhere near Guinea-Bissau.

The former justice minister Carmelita Pires denied Guinea-Bissau was a narco state but acknowledged that smuggling occurred. “We don’t produce drugs and people here don’t have enough money to consume drugs,” she said. During her last period in government in 2014 and 2015, only 15 locals and foreigners were in jail for drug trafficking and 13.5kg of cocaine was intercepted. She realised this made only a small dent, but added: “We don’t have money and drug smugglers have so much of it.”

In November, UNODC told a press conference in Bissau that about 34,000kg of cocaine and 22,000kg of marijuana had been seized in Guinea-Bissau since 2011, with 58 traffickers prosecuted. However, limited resources meant constant monitoring was impossible, and drugs inevitably got through.

One factor behind the drop in trade is the West African Coast Initiative, a joint project between UN agencies, Interpol and the regional bloc Ecowas, which began in 2009 to fight drug smuggling, organised crime and drug use in Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast.

But the defence minister, Adiato Djaló Nandigna, said in December that the Bijagós islands were still the “most vulnerable” region in terms of drug smuggling. Portugal recently gave Guinea-Bissau two boats to plug surveillance gaps. According to multiple defence sources in Bissau, the country has no operational boats to fight the trade and no reliable police outposts outside the capital.

Fernando Jorge Barreto Costa, the deputy director of judicial police, said: “We have a lack of means to fight drug smugglers. Drugs are arriving more by sea than by plane and it’s very hard for us to investigate it. We don’t have the capability to intercept boats. If we receive news about drugs at sea, it takes two to three days to get an answer from authorities for action. This is too slow, and by then the drugs and people may have moved on.”

Guinea-Bissau is one of the world’s poorest countries, ranking 178 out of 188 in the UN’s human development index. Political instability has blighted the lives of its 1.8 million people; since independence in 1974, no leader has served a full term, and the nation is still recovering from a 2012 coup. In August, President José Mário Vaz sacked his government.

In March, international donors pledged more than ¤1bn (£726m) to support a 10-year development plan meant to attract tourists and investors, according to Reuters.

“Every effort must be deployed so that Guinea-Bissau will no longer be a burden on the international community but will instead become an example to be followed,” President Vaz said. Growth is expected to have risen to 4.7% in 2015, compared with 2.6% a year earlier, according to the International Monetary Fund.

Mario José Maia Moreira, UNODC’s representative in Guinea-Bissau, is leading a programme to support a transnational crime unit and the state’s first drug-testing lab. “Stability is the greatest issue facing Guinea-Bissau,” he said. “All the evidence shows that there’s a large quantity of drugs [still entering the nation], and whenever a political crisis comes you see [more].”

Bron: www.theguardian.com
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zondag 10 januari 2016 @ 11:30:31 #105
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_158979831
quote:
Canada Needs Permission From International Treaties to Legalize Marijuana, Says New PM Justin Trudeau

Justin Trudeau, the Liberal prime minister who won last October's elections in Canada against the Conservative Stephen Harper, who was seeking a third term, ran in part on a promise to legalize marijuana, and said he was going to "get started on that right away," signaling a departure from the Harper administration's anti-pot stance.

Now, Trudeau's said his efforts have hit a snag—international treaties. They were, uh, there during the election campaign, even if they were left unmentioned by the candidate himself.

The Canadian Press reports:

Bron: reason.com
Het artikel gaat verder.
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zondag 10 januari 2016 @ 11:58:48 #106
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_158980308
quote:
El Chapo Speaks | Rolling Stone

Disclosure: Some names have had
 to be changed, locations not named, and an understanding was brokered with the subject that this piece would be submitted for the subject’s approval before publication. The subject did not ask for any changes.

It's September 28th, 2015. My head is swimming, labeling TracPhones (burners), one per contact, one per day, destroy, burn, buy, balancing levels of encryption, mirroring through Blackphones, anonymous e-mail addresses, unsent messages accessed in draft form. It's a clandestine horror show for the single most technologically illiterate man left standing. At 55 years old, I've never learned to use a laptop. Do they still make laptops? No fucking idea! It's 4:00 in the afternoon. Another gorgeous fall day in New York City. The streets are abuzz with the lights and sirens of diplomatic movement, heads of state, U.N. officials, Secret Service details, the NYPD. It's the week of the U.N. General Assembly. Pope Francis blazed a trail and left town two days before. I'm sitting in my room at the St. Regis Hotel with my colleague and brother in arms, Espinoza.

Espinoza and I have traveled many roads together, but none as unpredictable as the one we are now approaching. Espinoza is the owl who flies among falcons. Whether he's standing in the midst of a slum, a jungle or a battlefield, his idiosyncratic elegance, mischievous smile and self-effacing charm have a way of defusing threat. His bald head demands your attention to his twinkling eyes. He's a man fascinated and engaged. We whisper to each other in code. Finally a respite from the cyber technology that's been sizzling my brain and soul. We sit within quietude of fortified walls that are old New York hotel construction, when walls were walls, and telephones were usable without a Ph.D. We quietly make our plans, sensitive to the paradox that also in our hotel is President Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico. Espinoza and I leave the room to get outside the hotel, breathe in the fall air and walk the five blocks to a Japanese restaurant, where we'll meet up with our colleague El Alto Garcia. As we exit onto 55th Street, the sidewalk is lined with the armored SUVs that will transport the president of Mexico to the General Assembly. Paradoxical indeed, as one among his detail asks if I will take a selfie with him. Flash frame: myself and a six-foot, ear-pieced Mexican security operator.

Flash frame: Why is this a paradox? It's paradoxical because today's Mexico has, in effect, two presidents. And among those two presidents, it is not Peña Nieto who Espinoza and I were planning to see as we'd spoken in whispered code upstairs. It is not he who necessitated weeks of clandestine planning. Instead, it's a man of about my age, though absent any human calculus that may provide us a sense of anchored commonality. At four years old, in '64, I was digging for imaginary treasures, unneeded, in my parents' middleclass American backyard while he was hand-drawing fantasy pesos that, if real, might be the only path for he and his family to dream beyond peasant farming. And while I was surfing the waves of Malibu at age nine, he was already working in the marijuana and poppy fields of the remote mountains of Sinaloa, Mexico. Today, he runs the biggest international drug cartel the world has ever known, exceeding even that of Pablo Escobar. He shops and ships by some estimates more than half of all the cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana that come into the United States.

They call him El Chapo. Or "Shorty." Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera. The same El Chapo Guzman who only two months earlier had humiliated the Peña Nieto government and stunned the world with his extraordinary escape from Altiplano maximum-security prison through an impeccably engineered mile-long tunnel.

This would be the second prison escape of the world's most notorious drug lord, the first being 13 years earlier, from Puente Grande prison, where he was smuggled out under the sheets of a laundry cart. Since he joined the drug trade as a teenager, Chapo swiftly rose through the ranks, building an almost mythic reputation: First, as a cold pragmatist known to deliver a single shot to the head for any mistakes made in a shipment, and later, as he began to establish the Sinaloa cartel, as a Robin Hood-like figure who provided much-needed services in the Sinaloa mountains, funding everything from food and roads to medical relief. By the time of his second escape from federal prison, he had become a figure entrenched in Mexican folklore.

In 1989, El Chapo dug the first subterranean passage beneath the border from Tijuana to San Diego, and pioneered the use of tunnels to transport his products and to evade capture. I will discover that his already accomplished engineers had been flown to Germany last year for three months of extensive additional training necessary to deal with the low-lying water table beneath the prison. A tunnel equipped with a pipe-track-guided motorcycle with an engine modified to function in the minimally oxygenized space, allowing El Chapo to drop through a hole in his cell's shower floor, into its saddle and ride to freedom. It was this president of Mexico who had agreed to see us.

I take no pride in keeping secrets that may be perceived as protecting criminals, nor do I have any gloating arrogance at posing for selfies with unknowing security men. But I'm in my rhythm. Everything I say to everyone must be true. As true as it is compartmentalized. The trust that El Chapo had extended to us was not to be fucked with. This will be the first interview El Chapo had ever granted outside an interrogation room, leaving me no precedent by which to measure the hazards. I'd seen plenty of video and graphic photography of those beheaded, exploded, dismembered or bullet-riddled innocents, activists, courageous journalists and cartel enemies alike. I was highly aware of committed DEA and other law-enforcement officers and soldiers, both Mexican and American, who had lost their lives executing the policies of the War on Drugs. The families decimated, and institutions corrupted.

I took some comfort in a unique aspect of El Chapo's reputation among the heads of drug cartels in Mexico: that, unlike many of his counterparts who engage in gratuitous kidnapping and murder, El Chapo is a businessman first, and only resorts to violence when he deems it advantageous to himself or his business interests. It was on the strength of the Sinaloa cartel's seemingly more calculated strategies (a cartel whose famous face is El Chapo, but also includes the co-leadership of Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada) that Sinaloa had become dominant among Mexico's criminal syndicates, extending far beyond the rural northwestern state, with significant inroads to all principal border areas between the United States and Mexico – Juarez, Mexicali, Tijuana, and reaching as far as Los Cabos.

As an American citizen, I'm drawn to explore what may be inconsistent with the portrayals our government and media brand upon their declared enemies. Not since Osama bin Laden has the pursuit of a fugitive so occupied the public imagination. But unlike bin Laden, who had posed the ludicrous premise that a country's entire population is defined by – and therefore complicit in – its leadership's policies, with the world's most wanted drug lord, are we, the American public, not indeed complicit in what we demonize? We are the consumers, and as such, we are complicit in every murder, and in every corruption of an institution's ability to protect the quality of life for citizens of Mexico and the United States that comes as a result of our insatiable appetite for illicit narcotics.

As much as anything, it's a question of relative morality. What of the tens of thousands of sick and suffering chemically addicted Americans, barbarically imprisoned for the crime of their illness? Locked down in facilities where unspeakable acts of dehumanization and violence are inescapable, and murder a looming threat. Are we saying that what's systemic in our culture, and out of our direct hands and view, shares no moral equivalency to those abominations that may rival narco assassinations in Juarez? Or, is that a distinction for the passive self-righteous?

There is little dispute that the War on Drugs has failed: as many as 27,000 drug-related homicides in Mexico alone in a single year, and opiate addiction on the rise in the U.S. Working in the emergency and development field in Haiti, I have countless times been proposed theoretical solutions to that country's ailments by bureaucratic agencies unfamiliar with the culture and incongruities on the ground. Perhaps in the tunnel vision of our puritanical and prosecutorial culture that has designed the War on Drugs, we have similarly lost sight of practice, and given over our souls to theory. At an American taxpayer cost of $25 billion per year, this war's policies have significantly served to kill our children, drain our economies, overwhelm our cops and courts, pick our pockets, crowd our prisons and punch the clock. Another day's fight is lost. And lost with it, any possible vision of reform, or recognition of the proven benefits in so many other countries achieved through the regulated legalization of recreational drugs.

Now on 50th Street, Espinoza and I enter the Japanese restaurant. El Alto sits alone in a quiet corner, beneath a slow-turning ceiling fan that circulates the scent of raw fish. He's a big man, quiet and graceful, rarely speaking above a whisper. He'd been helpful to me on many previous excursions. He's worldly, well connected and liked. Espinoza, speaking in Spanish, fills him in on our plans and itinerary. El Alto listens intently, squeezing edamame beans one at a time between his teeth. We considered this meeting our point of no return. We were either all in, or we would abandon the journey. We had weighed the risks, but I felt confident and said so. I'd offered myself to experiences beyond my control in numerous countries of war, terror, corruption and disaster. Places where what can go wrong will go wrong, had gone wrong, and yet in the end, had delivered me in one piece with a deepening situational awareness (though not a perfect science) of available cautions within the design in chaos.

It was agreed that I would go to L.A. the next day to coordinate with our principal point of contact to El Chapo. We ordered sake and indulged the kind of operating-room humor that might displace our imperfectly scientific concerns. Outside the restaurant windows, a chanting march of Mexican-Americans flowed by in protest against the Peña Nieto government's asserted violations of human rights, having allowed their country of origin to fall prey to a narco regime.

In January 2012, the Mexican film and television star Kate del Castillo, who famously played a drug lordess in Mexico's popular soap opera La Reina del Sur, used Twitter to express her mistrust of the Mexican government. She stated that in a question of trust between governments and cartels, hers would go to El Chapo. And in that tweet, she expressed a dream, perhaps an encouragement to El Chapo himself: "Mr. Chapo, wouldn't it be cool that you started trafficking with love? With cures for diseases, with food for the homeless children, with alcohol for the retirement homes that don't let the elderly spend the rest of the days doing whatever the fuck they want. Imagine trafficking with corrupt politicians instead of women and children who end up as slaves. Why don't you burn all those whorehouses where women are worth less than a pack of cigarettes. Without offer, there's no demand. Come on, Don! You would be the hero of heroes. Let's traffic with love. You know how to. Life is a business and the only thing that changes is the merchandise. Don't you agree?" While she was ostracized by many, Kate's sentiment is widely shared in Mexico. It can be heard in the narco corrido ballads so popular throughout the country. But her views, unlike those folkloric lionizations, are rather a continuity of her history of brave expression and optimistic dreams for her homeland. She had been outspoken on politics, sex and religion and is among the courageous independent spirits that democracies are built to protect and cannot exist without.

Her courage is further demonstrated in her willingness to be named in this article. There are both brutal and corrupt forces within the Mexican government who oppose her (and indeed, according to Kate, high-ranking officials have responded to her public statement with private intimidations), and hence, a responsibility of the greater public to shepherd those who make their voices heard.

It perhaps should have come as no surprise that this homegrown icon of entertainment would catch the interest of a singular fan and fugitive from Sinaloa. After reading Kate's statement on Twitter, a lawyer representing El Chapo Guzmán contacted Kate. He said El Señor wanted to send her flowers in gratitude. She nervously offered her address, but with the gypsy movements of an actress, the flowers did not find her.

Two years later, in February 2014, a detachment of Mexican marines captured El Chapo in a Mazatlán hotel following a 13-year manhunt. The images of that arrest were flashed across the world's televisions. While he was incarcerated at Altiplano prison, El Chapo's attorneys were flooded with overtures from Hollywood studios. With his dramatic capture, and, perhaps, the illusion of safe dealings now that El Chapo was locked up, the gringos were scrambling to tell his story. The seed was planted, and El Chapo, awakened to the prospect, made plans of his own. He was interested in seeing the story of his life told on film, but would entrust its telling only to Kate. The same lawyer again tracked her down, this time through the Mexican equivalent of the Screen Actors Guild, and the imprisoned drug lord and the actress began to correspond in handwritten letters and BBM messages.

It was at a social event in Los Angeles when Kate met Espinoza. She learned he was well connected to financial sources, including those that funded film projects, and she proposed a partnership to make a film about El Chapo. This was when Espinoza included our mutual colleague and friend El Alto. I learned of their intention to make the film, but I did not know Kate or have any involvement with the project. The three of them met with El Chapo's lawyer to explore their approach, but it was ultimately determined that direct access to El Chapo would still be too restricted for their authorized pursuit to rise above competitive "Chapo" projects that Hollywood would pursue with or without his participation.

Then came July 2015. El Chapo's prison break. The world, and particularly Mexico and the United States, was up in arms. How could this happen?! The DEA and the Justice Department were furious. The fact that Mexican Interior Secretary Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong had refused El Chapo's extradition to the United States, then allowed his escape, positioned Chong and the Peña Nieto administration as global pariahs.

I followed the news of El Chapo's escape and reached out to Espinoza. We met in the courtyard of a boutique hotel in Paris in late August. He told me about Kate and that she had been intermittently receiving contact from Chapo even after the escape. It was then that I posed the idea of a magazine story. Espinoza's smile of mischief arose, indicating he would arrange for me to meet Kate back in Los Angeles. At a Santa Monica restaurant, I made my case, and Kate agreed to make the bridge, sending our names for vetting across the border. When word came back a week or so later that Chapo had indeed agreed to meet with us, I called Jann Wenner at Rolling Stone. Myself, Espinoza and El Alto were given the assignment. And with a letter from Jann officiating it, we would join Kate, who was our ticket to El Chapo's trust, then put ourselves in the hands of representatives of the Sinaloa cartel to coordinate our journey. It had been a month in the planning by the time Espinoza and I were breathing the New York air that late-September day on 55th Street.

Four days later, on October 2nd, El Alto, Espinoza, Kate and I board a self-financed charter flight from a Los Angeles-area airport to a city in mid-Mexico. Upon landing, a hotel driver takes us by minivan to the hotel we had been instructed to book. Suspicious of every living or inanimate thing, I scan cars and drivers, mothers papoosing infants, grandmothers, peasants on the street, building tops, curtained windows. I search the skies for helicopters. There is no question in my mind but that the DEA and the Mexican government are tracking our movements. From the moment Kate had gone out on a limb with her tweet of January 2012 through the beginning of our encrypted negotiations to meet El Chapo, I had been bewildered by his willingness to risk our visit. If Kate was being surveilled, so must those named on any shared flight manifest. I see no spying eyes, but I assume they are there.

Through the windshield as we approach the hotel, I see a casually dressed man in his forties appear on the sidewalk, simultaneously directing our driver to the entryway while dialing a number on his cellphone. This is Alonzo, who, I'm about to learn, is an associate of El Chapo. We grab our bags and exit the minivan. Almost immediately, the traffic around the designated pickup point diminishes. Out of my view, someone is blocking the neighboring streets. Then, a lone convoy of "up-armor" SUVs appears in front of our hotel. Alonzo asks us to surrender our electronics and leave them behind – cellphones, computers, etc. I had left mine in Los Angeles, anticipating this requirement. My colleagues surrender theirs to the hotel desk. We are whisked into the vehicles. Alonzo rides shotgun, my colleagues and I in the back. Alonzo and the driver are speaking quick and quiet Spanish. My own Spanish is weak at best. By day, and put on the spot, I'm pretty restricted to hola and adios. By night, with perhaps a few beers, I can get by, speaking and listening slowly. The conversation in the front seat seems unthreatening, just a cooperative exchange of logistics in the facilitation of our journey. Throughout the hour-and-a-half drive away from the city and across farmlands, both men receive frequent BBM messages – perhaps updates on our route to keep our convoy safe. With each message received, the needle on the speedometer rises; we are cruising at well over 100 miles per hour. I like speed. But not without my own hands on the wheel. To calm myself, I pretend I have any reason to memorize the route of our journey. It's that upon which I concentrate, and not the exchanges between the two strangers leading our pursuit.

We arrive at a dirt airfield. Security men in tailored suits stand beside two six-seat single-engine prop planes. It isn't until boarding one of the two planes that I realize that our driver had been the 29-yearold son of El Chapo, Alfredo Guzmán. He boards beside me, designated among our personal escorts to see his father. He's handsome, lean and smartly dressed, with a wristwatch that might be of more value than the money housed by the central banks of most nation-states. He's got one hell of a wristwatch.

The planes take off, and we travel a couple of hours. Two bouncing birds side by side through the thermals over the mountainous jungle. It once again occurs to me all the risks that are being taken by El Chapo in receiving us. We had not been blindfolded, and any experienced traveler might have been able to collect a series of triangulated landmarks to re-navigate the journey. But through his faith in Kate, whom he'd only ever known through letters or BBM, are we enjoying an unusual trust. I ask Alfredo how he can be sure we are not being followed or surveilled. He smiles (I note he doesn't blink much) and points out a red scrambler switch below the cockpit controls. "That switch blocks ground radar," he says. He adds that they have an inside man who provides notification when the military's high-altitude surveillance plane has been deployed. He has great confidence that there are no unwanted eyes on us. With Kate helping along in translations, we chat throughout the flight. I'm mindful not to say anything that may alienate his father's welcome before we've even arrived.

It's been about two hours of flight, when we descend from above the lush peaks to ward a sea-level field. The pilot, using his encrypted cellphone, talks to the ground. I sense that the military is beefing up operations in its search area. Our original landing zone has suddenly been deemed insecure. After quite a bit of chatter from ground to air, and some unnervingly low altitude circling, we find an alternate dirt patch where two SUVs wait in the shade of an adjacent tree line, and land. The flight had been just bumpy enough that each of us had taken a few swigs off a bottle of Honor tequila, a new brand that Kate is marketing. I step from plane to earth, ever so slightly sobering my bearings, and move toward the beckoning waves of waiting drivers. I throw my satchel into the open back of one of the SUVs, and lumber over to the tree line to take a piss. Dick in hand, I do consider it among my body parts vulnerable to the knives of irrational narco types, and take a fond last look, before tucking it back into my pants.

Espinoza had recently undergone back surgery. He stretched, readjusted his surgical corset, exposing it. It dawns on me that one of our greeters might mistake the corset for a device that contains a wire, a chip, a tracker. With all their eyes on him, Espinoza methodically adjusts the Velcro toward his belly, slowly looks up, sharing his trademark smile with the suspicious eyes around him. Then, "Cirugia de espalda [back surgery]," he says. Situation defused.

We embark into the dense, mountainous jungle in a two-truck convoy, crossing through river after river for seven long hours. Espinoza and El Alto, with a driver in the front vehicle, myself and Kate with Alonzo and Alfredo in the rear. At times the jungle opens up to farmland, then closes again into forest. As the elevation begins to climb, road signage announces approaching townships. And then, as it seems we are at the entrance of Oz, the highest peak visibly within reach, we arrive at a military checkpoint. Two uniformed government soldiers, weapons at the ready, approach our vehicle. Alfredo lowers his passenger window; the soldiers back away, looking embarrassed, and wave us through. Wow. So it is, the power of a Guzman face. And the corruption of an institution. Did this mean we were nearing the man?

It was still several hours into the jungle before any sign we were getting closer. Then, strangers appear as if from nowhere, onto the dirt track, checking in with our drivers and exchanging hand radios. We move on. Small villages materialize from the jungle; protective peasant eyes relax at the wave of a familiar driver. Cellphones are of no use here, so I imagine there are radio repeaters on topographical high points facilitating their internal communications.

We'd left Los Angeles at 7 a.m. By 9 p.m. on the dash clock we arrive at a clearing where several SUVs are parked. A small crew of men hover. On a knoll above, I see a few weathered bungalows. I get out of the truck, search the faces of the crew for approval that I may walk to the trunk to secure my bag. Nods follow. I move. And, when I do...there he is. Right beside the truck. The world's most famous fugitive: El Chapo. My mind is an instant flip book to the hundreds of pictures and news reports I had scoured. There is no doubt this is the real deal. He's wearing a casual patterned silk shirt, pressed black jeans, and he appears remarkably well-groomed and healthy for a man on the run. He opens Kate's door and greets her like a daughter returning from college. It seems important to him to express the warm affection in person that, until now, he'd only had occasion to communicate from afar. After greeting her, he turns to me with a hospitable smile, putting out his outstretched hand. I take it. He pulls me into a "compadre" hug, looks me in the eyes and speaks a lengthy greeting in Spanish too fast for my ears. I gather up the presence of mind to explain to him in broken Spanish that I would depend on Kate to translate as the night went on. Only then does he realize his greeting had not been understood. He jokes to his crew, laughing at his own assumption that I speak Spanish and at my momentary disorientation that I've let him go on at such length in his greeting.

We are brought up some steps to a flat area on the knoll beside the bungalows. A local family caters a buffet of tacos, enchiladas, chicken, rice, beans, fresh salsa and . . . carne asada. "Carne Asada," an oft-used cartel term describing the decimated bodies in cities like Juarez after mass narco executions. Hence, I go for the tacos. He walks us to a picnic table; we are offered drinks. We sit in the low illumination of some string lights, but the perimeter falls into abrupt darkness. I see no more than 30 or 35 people. (El Chapo later confided to El Alto that, out of sight, another hundred of his soldiers were present in the immediate area.) There are no long-barrel weapons in sight. No Danny Trejo types. My impression of his crew is more in sync with what one would imagine of students at a Mexico City university. Clean-cut, well-dressed and mannered. Not a smoker in the bunch. Only two or three of the guys wear small shoulder bags that hang low beside their waists, where I assume small arms are carried. Our host, it seems to me, is concerned that Kate, as the lone female among us, not face intimidating visions of force. This assumption would be borne out several hours later.

As we sit at the picnic table, introductions are made. To my left, Alonzo. Alonzo is, as it turns out, one among El Chapo's lawyers. When speaking of El Chapo's lawyers, it gets a little murky. During his imprisonment, the only visits allowed were with "lawyers." Evidently, some who would be more accurately described as lieutenants had been dubbed or perhaps certified by the expedition of power as part of his legal team. Alonzo visited El Chapo at Altiplano just two hours before his audacious escape. According to Alonzo, he was unaware of the escape plan. But he notes that did not spare him a brutal beating by interrogators afterward.

To my right, Rodrigo. Rodrigo is godfather to Chapo's twin four-year-old girls by his 26-year-old beauty-queen wife, Emma Coronel. Rodrigo is the one who has me concerned. The look in his eye is far away, but locked dead on me. My speculation goes audio. I hear chain saws. I feel splatter. I am Sean's dubitable paranoia. My eyes are compelled to drift to Rodrigo's right. There is Ivan, Chapo's eldest son. At 32, he is considered the heir to the Sinaloa cartel. He's attentive with a calm maturity. Like his brother, he boasts a fabulous wristwatch. And directly across from me, our host, with Kate to his right. Beside Alonzo, Alfredo. El Alto sits at the end of the table. Espinoza, still standing, apologizes to Chapo and asks if he may lay down for an hour to rest his back. Espinoza's funny this way. It's as if we had spent these endless grueling hours hiking a vertical volcanic summit to the cone, and now, just three steps from viewing the ring fault of the caldera, he says, "I'm gonna take a nap. I'll look into the hole later."

With Kate translating, I begin to explain my intentions. I felt increasingly that I had arrived as a curiosity to him. The lone gringo among my colleagues, who'd ridden on the coattails of El Chapo's faith in Kate. I felt his amusement as I put my cards on the table. He asks about my relationship with the late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez with what seems to be a probing of my willingness to be vilified through associations.

I speak to our friendship in a way that seems to pass an intuitive litmus test measuring the independence of my perspective. I tell him, up front, that I had a family member who worked with the Drug Enforcement Agency, that through my work in Haiti (I'm CEO of J/P HRO, a nongovernmental organization based in Port-au-Prince) I had many relationships inside the United States government. I assure him that those relationships were by no means related to my interest in him. My only interest was to ask questions and deliver his responses, to be weighed by readers, whether in balance or contempt.

I tell him that I understood that in the mainstream narrative of narcos, the undersung hypocrisy is in the complicity of buyers. I could not sell him on a bait-and-switch, and I knew that in the writing of any piece, my only genuine cards to play were to expose myself as one fascinated and willing to suspend judgment. I understood that whatever else might be said of him, it was clear to me he was not a tourist in our big world.

Throughout my introduction, Chapo smiles a warm smile. In fact, in what would be a seven-hour sit-down, I saw him without that smile only in brief flashes. As has been said of many notorious men, he has an indisputable charisma. When I ask about his dynamic with the Mexican government, he pauses. "Talking about politicians, I keep my opinion to myself. They go do their thing and I do mine."

Beneath his smile, there is a doubtlessness to his facial expression. A question comes to mind as I observe his face. Both as he speaks as while he listens. What is it that removes all doubt from a man's eyes? Is it power? Admirable clarity? Or soullessness? Soullessness...wasn't it that that my moral conditioning was obliged to recognize in him? Wasn't it soullessness that I must perceive in him for myself to be perceived here as other than a Pollyanna? An apologist? I tried hard, folks. I really did. And reminded myself over and over of the incredible life loss, the devastation existing in all corners of the narco world. "I don't want to be portrayed as a nun," El Chapo says. Though this portrayal had not occurred to me. This simple man from a simple place, surrounded by the simple affections of his sons to their father, and his toward them, does not initially strike me as the big bad wolf of lore. His presence conjures questions of cultural complexity and context, of survivalists and capitalists, farmers and technocrats, clever entrepreneurs of every ilk, some say silver, and others lead.

A server delivers a bottle of tequila. El Chapo pours each of us three fingers. In toast, he looks to Kate. "I don't usually drink," he says, "but I want to drink with you." After a raise of the glass, I take a polite sip. He asks me if many people in the United States know about him. "Oh, yeah," I say, and inform him that the night before leaving for Mexico, I had seen that the Fusion Channel was repeating its special-edition Chasing El Chapo. He seems to delight in the absurdity of this, and as he and his cohorts share a chuckle, I look to the sky and wonder how funny it would be if there were a weaponized drone above us. We are in a clearing, sitting right out in the open. I down the tequila, and the drone goes away.

I give in to the sense of security offered by the calm of Chapo and his men. There is the pervasive feeling that if there were a threat, they would know it. We eat, drink, and talk for hours. He is interested in the movie business and how it works. He's unimpressed with its financial yield. The P&L high side doesn't add up to the downside risk for him. He suggests to us that we consider switching our career paths to the oil business. He says he would aspire to the energy sector, but that his funds, being illicit, restrict his investment opportunities. He cites (but asks me not to name in print) a host of corrupt major corporations, both within Mexico and abroad. He notes with delighted disdain several through which his money has been laundered, and who take their own cynical slice of the narco pie.

"How much money will you make writing this article?" he asks. I answer that when I do journalism, I take no payment. I could see that, to him, the idea of doing any kind of work without payment is a fool's game. Unlike the gangsters we're used to, the John Gotti's who claimed to be simple businessmen hiding behind numerous international front companies, El Chapo sticks to an illicit game, proudly volunteering, "I supply more heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana than anybody else in the world. I have a fleet of submarines, airplanes, trucks and boats."

He is entirely unapologetic. Against the challenges of doing business in such a clandestine industry he has ––built an empire. I am reminded of press accounts alleging a hundred-million-dollar bounty the man across from me is said to have put on Donald Trump's life. I mention Trump. El Chapo smiles, ironically saying, "Ah! Mi amigo!" His unguarded will to speak freely, his comfort with his station in life and ownership of extraordinary justifications, conjure Tony Montana in Oliver Stone's Scarface. It's the dinner scene where Elvira, played by Michelle Pfeiffer, walks out on Al Pacino's Tony Montana, loudly assailing him in a public place. The patrons at the restaurant stare at him, but rather than hide in humiliation, he stands and lectures them. "You're all a bunch of fucking assholes. You know why? You don't have the guts to be what you wanna be. You need people like me. You need people like me. So you can point your fucking fingers and say, 'That's the bad guy.' So what's that make you? Good? You're not good. You just know how to hide...how to lie. Me? I don't have that problem. Me?! I always tell the truth even when I lie. So say good night to the bad guy. C'mon. Last time you're gonna see a bad guy like this again, lemme tell ya!"

I'm curious, in the current pandemonium of the Middle East, what impact those frenzied opiate economies may have on his business. I ask him, "Of all the countries and cultures with whom you do business, which is the most difficult?" Smiling, he shakes his head and says an unequivocal "None." There is no politician who could answer the same question so clearly or successfully, but then again, the challenges are quite different for a global power broker who simply removes any obstacle to "difficulties."

Having explained my intention, I ask if he would grant two days for a formal interview. My colleagues would be leaving in the morning but I offer to stay behind to record our conversations. He pauses before responding. He says, "I just met you. I will do it in eight days. Can you come back in eight days?" I say I can. I ask to take a photograph together so that I could verify to my editors at Rolling Stone that the planned meeting had taken place. "Adelante," he says. We all rise from the table as a group and follow Chapo into one of the bungalows. Once inside, we see the first sign of heavy arms. An M16 lies on a couch opposite the neutral white wall against which we would take the photograph. I explain that, for authentication purposes, it would be best if we are shaking hands, looking into the camera, but not smiling. He obliges. The picture is taken on Alfredo's cellphone. It would be sent to me at a later date.

When we return to the picnic table, it seems to me that we accomplished what we came to do. We had come to agreement that he would submit to a two-day interview upon my return. As thoughts of surveillance drones and military raids come back into my head, I re-engage the tequila and scan 360 degrees for where I and my colleagues may lay flat and find cover should we have been followed and a raid initiated. In the darkness, it was difficult to imagine a safe place, and El Chapo's world is anything but.

As Espinoza returns from his slumber, Kate, succumbing to the exhausting day's journey and the solace of a few tequilas, accepts the escort of El Chapo to her sleeping quarters. As he walks her alone toward the dimly lit bungalow, I can't help but have a primal moment of concern. I consider offering to accompany them, though the circumstances would certainly prove any protective action futile. Before my adrenal rush of paranoia can inspire insult or injury, Chapo has returned.

But there is a change. With Kate tucked cozily into bed, his crew and he are fast and furious into body armor, strapping long-barrel weapons and hip-clipped grenades. The battle-ready army of jungle guerrillas who had been standing down earlier in the night on her behalf are now returning to what I assume is a more typical posture. El Chapo, too, is strapped and ready to command.

Following this Clark Kent-into-Superman extravaganza, Chapo returns to the table. His demeanor, casual. His battle gear, anything but. Espinoza and El Alto share translation duties. We compare notes on cultures. We ask lighthearted questions, though the environment has gotten far less lighthearted. Despite that, I'm feeling frustrated at having to wait eight days to get him in a corner – to ask everything I think the world wants to know. I feel naked without pen and paper. So I only ask questions one couldn't forget the answers to. Did you know Pablo Escobar? Chapo answers, "Yes, I met him once at his house. Big house." He smiles. See your mother much? "All the time. I hoped we would meet at my ranch and you could meet my mother. She knows me better than I do. But something came up and we had to change the plan." I assume he was insinuating inside information that the ranch had again come under observation by authorities.

It has been several hours, and El Alto and I share a nod indicating our mutual sense: the core of soldiers around El Chapo are getting fidgety. A clock of some kind is ticking in them. It must have been about four a.m. by this time. El Chapo stands, concluding the night, thanking us for our visit. We follow him to where the family who had cooked our dinner stands dutifully behind a serving table. He takes each of them by the hand graciously; giving them thanks, and with a look, he invites us to do the same. He walks us back toward the same bungalow where he had earlier escorted Kate. In a narrow, dark passage between ours and an adjacent bungalow, Chapo puts his arm over my shoulder and renews his request that I see him in eight days. "I'll be saying goodbye now," he says. At this moment, I expel a minor traveler's flatulence (sorry), and with it, I experience the same chivalry he'd offered when putting Kate to bed, as he pretends not to notice. We escape its subtle brume, and I join my colleagues inside the bungalow. There are two beds and one couch a short distance from where Kate can be seen sleeping on a third bed behind a privacy divider. Espinoza returns to the bed he'd claimed upon our arrival.

Now it is down to El Alto and I looking at each other. His six-foot-three frame towers above me, knowing he is inadvertently caught with proximity to the five-foot-three couch, and that I, at five feet nine, am left standing only inches from a king-size bed. It's a Mexican standoff. We'd both traveled hard that day, both slightly medicated by tequila through the night. I only know that if I was going to take the short couch, it would be at gunpoint. I negotiate. "Listen, man. You don't have to sleep on that couch. The bed's big. We can talk and cuddle." With this prospect, I win the negotiation. In his grace and discretion, El Alto makes his choice: "I'll go with the couch." As I collapse onto the bed, I hear El Chapo's convoy drive away into the night jungle.

Not two hours later, we are abruptly awakened by Alonzo. "A storm is coming!" he says. "We have to move!" The dirt tracks of the jungle are difficult to navigate when monsoon rains saturate them. We'd have to beat the rain to the tarmac road. At daybreak, we just make it to pavement as the ocean falls from the sky and great bolts of lightning illuminate the inside of our vehicle like flash-bang grenades. Alonzo asks Kate to drive. She jumps at the chance to break the monotony, and takes the wheel like a trouper. Meanwhile, El Alto hops into the open flatbed, his sleep-starved brain so hungry for oxygen that he's oblivious to the pouring rain. In the backseat, Alonzo whispers to me that there are multiple military checkpoints along these roads, and they tend to wave by vehicles driven by women. In this case, the rain falls hard enough that soldiers have abandoned their posts for cover. Mercifully, we are stopped by no one. Rather than risk being vaporized in a small aircraft by a lightning storm, we opted for the eight-hour drive back to the city where we'd started. Espinoza reclines in the passenger seat to rest his back.

By the time we hit the city, the weather has cleared. We shower in the rooms we'd booked. Twenty minutes later, Kate, Espinoza and I, along with Alonzo, get into two taxicabs and head to the airport. El Alto, who'd spent his two hours' sleep the night before on a firm couch a full foot shorter than he, then waterlogged himself in the flatbed, elects to stay behind in the comfort of the hotel bed for the night and leave the following day. Alonzo heads to Mexico City. Espinoza to Europe. So Kate and I board the charter back to Los Angeles. Our heads are spinning. Had we really just been where we were? With whom we'd been? It seemed such a strange dream. Somehow, with all the planning and the travel, I still hadn't believed that we'd actually gotten to El Chapo. I'd imagined us arriving to a gentle apology, that for some unexplained security reason the visit could not take place, and we'd be going home to Los Angeles empty-handed. But that's not what happened.

When we land back on home turf, Kate and I part ways. I am picked up by a car service. In the backseat, my L.A.-based assistant had left a manila envelope with my cellphone in it. I turn on the phone to the explosion of a two-day backlog of e-mails and text messages. Ignoring them, I hit my browser for updates. What I didn't know, and what was not yet being reported, was that from the time the weather cleared, a military siege on Sinaloa was imminent. Evidently, El Chapo and his men, after leaving us the night before, had skirted through the jungle back to a ranch property. According to media reports that didn't come until days later, a cellphone among his crew had been tracked. From the time the military and the DEA moved in on them, the reports of what happened are conflicted. A source familiar with the cartel informed me on October 3rd that the initial siege had begun. That source and another on the ground in Sinaloa reported that over the next several days, two military helicopters were shot down and Mexican marine ground troops laid siege to several ranch properties. There were additional reports that 13 Sinaloa communities had been ravaged with gunfire during simultaneous raids. La Comision Nacional de los Derechos Humanos (the National Commission for Human Rights) struggled to enter the area but were prohibited. Villagers protested their treatment by the military. By the time news agencies broadcast the story in the United States, the mayhem throughout Sinaloa in those days had been essentially reduced to a nearly successful raid that had surgically targeted only Chapo and his men, and claimed he had been injured in flight with face and leg wounds.

El Chapo's own account would later be shared with me, through a BBM exchange he had with Kate. "On October 6th, there was an operation....Two helicopters and 6 BlackHawks began a confrontation upon their arrival. The marines dispersed throughout the farms. The families had to escape and abandon their homes with the fear of being killed. We still don't know how many dead in total." When asked about the reports of his own injuries, Chapo responded, "Not like they said. I only hurt my leg a little bit."

Four days later, I fly from Los Angeles to Lima, Peru, to participate in a World Bank panel discussion. After a few days in Lima, and an overnight in Managua, Nicaragua, to visit an old friend, it's October 11th – the day El Chapo and I had agreed to meet. Understandably, he and his crew had gone dark during the raids. Nonetheless, I board an available flight to a nearby Mexican city, and leave a message for Alonzo that I would wait in that Mexican airport for several hours, to make sure they know that I had honored my commitment to return on the eighth day. I land in the late afternoon, then sit around the airport until the evening hours, hoping a stranger will tap me on the shoulder and tell me he is a friend of Alonzo's and that I should leave with him. It also occurs to me, once again, that I might be under the eyes of Mexican intelligence or the DEA. In either case, no contact is made. So I board a flight later that evening on my own, and return to Los Angeles.

In the weeks that follow, I continue to make attempts to contact El Chapo. In that time, massive sweeps by military and law enforcement lead to hundreds of arrests, seizures and several extraditions of cartel personnel to the United States. Reports that a rising drug gang, the CJNG (Jalisco New Generation Cartel), may have been involved with El Chapo's prison escape and that CJNG may become, in effect, the paramilitary wing of the Sinaloa cartel, have added to governmental concerns. In other words, with the water boiling, our cartel intermediaries had gone principally off radar, or possibly been arrested, or killed.

Finally, Kate is able to re-establish contact through a web of BBM devices. But the heat of enforcement and surveillance had become extreme. I even received a credible tip that the DEA had indeed become aware of our journey to Mexico. Booking any flight to Mexico now would surely raise red flags. I make a plan to hide myself in the trunk of a friend's car and be driven to a waiting rental vehicle. I would then drive the rental from L.A. to Yuma, Arizona, then cross the border at Algodones. I'm familiar with this crossing – papers are not checked, and vehicles are waved through without scrutiny. I'd then drive the 80-some-odd miles from the border to the Grande Desierto, and the village of El Golfo de Santa Clara, rendezvousing with a cartel plane that could take me to El Chapo. But Kate is insistent that if I am to make that journey, she would have to come with me. The route is relatively safe, but there are some narco-controlled areas, including a few that are not friendly to the Sinaloa cartel. There were also two military checkpoints the last time I had driven that route. The idea of a gringo driving with a Mexican film star would likely draw too much attention, but Kate would have it no other way. It becomes apparent that the risks outweigh the benefits on all sides, and we decide that, instead, I will send my questions to El Chapo by BBM. He agrees that he will record his responses on videotape. Without being present, I could neither control the questioning nor prod for elaborations to his responses. In addition, every question sent first had to be translated into Spanish. Remarkably, while Chapo has access to hundreds of soldiers and associates at all times, apparently not one speaks English.

At the end of each day that passed without receipt of the video, Kate would reassure me that it was only one more day away. But each night, El Chapo contacted her with more delays and apparent doubts. Not about my inquiries, but seemingly about how to make a tape of himself. "Kate, let me get this straight. The guy runs a multibillion-dollar business with a network of at least 50 countries, and there's not one fucker down there in the jungle with him who speaks a word of friggin' English? Now tonight, you're telling me his BBM went on the blink, that he's got hardly any access to a goddamn computer?! Are you saying he doesn't have the technical capability to make a self-video and smuggle it into the United States?"

I ask myself, How in the fuck does anyone run a business that way?! I go Full-Trump-Gringo on Kate, battering her daily by phone, text and encrypted email. In the end, the delay had nothing to do with technical incompetence. Big surprise. Whatever villainy is attributable to this man, and his indisputable street genius, he is also a humble, rural Mexican, whose perception of his place in the world offers a window into an extraordinary riddle of cultural disparity. It became evident that the peasant-farmer-turned-billionaire-drug-lord seemed to be overwhelmed and somewhat bewildered at the notion that he may be of interest to the world beyond the mountains. And the day-after-day delays might reveal an insecurity in him, like an awkward teenager bashful to go unguided before the camera. Or had all of this been an orchestrated performance?

When those hoops had finally been jumped through, mostly by Kate but at my relentless direction, the only retaliation I was left fearing during my engagement with El Chapo Guzmán and the Sinaloa cartel was the potential wrath of a Mexican actress toward an American actor who had single-mindedly abused his friendship with her to retrieve the needed video. And then an encrypted message came from Kate: "Got it!" I nearly hit the ceiling with excitement as Kate's follow-up dinged on my phone, "...you pushy motherfucker." I'd earned that. Evidently, a courier for El Chapo had delivered her the video. Kate and I met up, I made my apologies, and she transferred the video from her device to mine. At home, I turned down the lights, sat with an English transcription provided by Kate, which began with her note: "The video runs for 17 minutes. Press play."

He sits in a turquoise-and-navy paisley long-sleeve button-down shirt and clean black slacks on a randomly placed stool. The signature mustache that he wore in our last meeting, now gone. His trademark black trucker's hat, absent. His hair combed, or perhaps cap-matted, conjuring the vision of a wide-eyed schoolboy unsure of his teacher's summons. His hands folded across each other, a self-soothing thumb crossing the knuckle of the other. Beside him, a short white brick wall topped by a chain-link fence. Behind that, a white 4x4 pickup truck. The location appears as a large, ranch-like property with low-lying mountains far in the distance and the intermittent cockadoodledoo of farm roosters serving as the Greek chorus to the interview. Throughout the video, we see farm workers and paramilitaries crossing behind him. A German shepherd sniffs the dirt and wanders out of frame.

He begins: "I want to make clear that this interview is for the exclusive use of Miss Kate del Castillo and Mister Sean Penn." The image goes black.

When it returns, so has he to the comfort of his trucker hat.

Of the many questions I'd sent El Chapo, a cameraman out of frame asks a few of them directly, paraphrases others, softens many and skips some altogether.

How was your childhood?
I remember from the time I was six until now, my parents, a very humble family, very poor, I remember how my mom made bread to support the family. I would sell it, I sold oranges, I sold soft drinks, I sold candy. My mom, she was a hard worker, she worked a lot. We grew corn, beans. I took care of my grandmother's cattle and chopped wood.

And how did you get involved in the drug business?
Well, from the time I was 15 and after, where I come from, which is the municipality of Badiraguato, I was raised in a ranch named La Tuna, in that area, and up until today, there are no job opportunities. The only way to have money to buy food, to survive, is to grow poppy, marijuana, and at that age, I began to grow it, to cultivate it and to sell it. That is what I can tell you.

How did you leave there? How did it all expand?
From there, from my ranch, I started to leave at 18 and went to Culiacan, then after to Guadalajara, but never without visiting my ranch, even up until today, because my mom, thanks to God, is still alive, out there in our ranch, which is La Tuna, and so, that is how things have been.

How has your family life changed from then to now?
Very good – my children, my brothers, my nephews. We all get along well, very normal. Very good.

And now that you are free, how has it affected you?
Well, as for being free – happy, because freedom is really nice, and pressure, well, for me it's normal, because I've had to be careful for a few years now in certain cities, and, no, I don't feel anything that hurts my health or my mind. I feel good.

Is it true what they say that drugs destroy humanity and bring harm?
Well, it's a reality that drugs destroy. Unfortunately, as I said, where I grew up there was no other way and there still isn't a way to survive, no way to work in our economy to be able to make a living.

Do you think it is true you are responsible for the high level of drug addiction in the world?
No, that is false, because the day I don't exist, it's not going to decrease in any way at all. Drug trafficking? That's false.

Did your drug business grow and expand when you were in jail?
From what I can tell, and what I know, everything is the same. Nothing has decreased. Nothing has increased.

What about the violence attached to this type of activity?
In part, it is because already some people already grow up with problems, and there is some envy and they have information against someone else. That is what creates violence.

Do you consider yourself a violent person?
No, sir.

Are you prone to violence, or do you use it as a last resort?
Look, all I do is defend myself, nothing more. But do I start trouble? Never.

What is your opinion about the situation in Mexico, what is the outlook for Mexico?
Well, drug trafficking is already part of a culture that originated from the ancestors. And not only in Mexico. This is worldwide.

Do you consider your activity, your organization, a cartel?
No, sir, not at all. Because people who dedicate their lives to this activity do not depend on me.

How has this business evolved from the time you started up until today?
Big difference. Today there are lots of drugs, and back then, the only ones we knew were marijuana and poppy.

What is the difference in people now compared to back then?
Big difference, because now, day after day, villages are getting bigger, and there's more of us, and lots of different ways of thinking.

What is the outlook for the business? Do you think it will disappear? Will it grow instead?
No, it will not end because as time goes by, we are more people, and this will never end.

Do you think terrorism activities in the Middle East will, in any way, impact the future of drug trafficking?
No, sir. It doesn't make a difference at all.

You saw how the final days of Escobar were. How do you see your final days with respect to this business?
I know one day I will die. I hope it's of natural causes.

The U.S. government thinks that the Mexican government does not want to arrest you. What they want to do is to kill you. What do you think?
No, I think that if they find me, they'll arrest me, of course.

With respect to your activities, what do you think the impact on Mexico is? Do you think there is a substantial impact?
Not at all. Not at all.

Why?
Because drug trafficking does not depend on just one person. It depends on a lot of people.

What is your opinion about who is to blame here, those who sell drugs, or the people who use drugs and create a demand for them? What is the relationship between production, sale and consumption?
If there was no consumption, there would be no sales. It is true that consumption, day after day, becomes bigger and bigger. So it sells and sells.

We hear avocado is good for you, lime is good for you, guanabana is good for you. But we never hear anyone doing any publicity with respect to drugs. Have you done anything to induce the public to consume more drugs?
Not at all. That attracts attention. People, in a way, want to know how it feels or how it tastes. And then the addiction gets bigger.

Do you have any dreams? Do you dream?
Whatever is normal. But dreaming daily? No.

But you must have some dreams, some hopes for your life?
I want to live with my family the days God gives me.

If you could change the world, would you?
For me, the way things are, I'm happy.

How is your relationship with your mom?
My relationship? Perfect. Very well.

Is it one of respect?
Yes, sir, respect, affection and love.

How do you see the future for your sons and daughters?
Very well. They get along right. The family is tight.

How about your life? How has your life changed, how have you lived it since you escaped?
Lots of happiness – because of my freedom.

Did you ever use drugs?
No, sir. Many years ago, yes, I did try them. But an addict? No.

How long ago?
I haven't done any drugs in the last 20 years.

Did it not worry you that you might be putting your family at risk with your escape?
Yes, sir.

For your recent escape, did you pursue your freedom at any cost, at the expense of anybody?
I never thought of hurting anyone. All I did was ask God, and things worked out. Everything was perfect. I am here, thank God.

The two times you escaped, it is worth mentioning, there was no violence.
With me, it did not come to that. In other situations, what's been seen, things occur differently, but here, we did not use any violence.

Bearing in mind what has been written about you, what one can see on TV, things are said about you in Mexico, what kind of message would you like to convey to the people of Mexico?
Well, I can say it's normal that people have mixed feelings because some people know me and others don't. That is the reason I say it is normal. Because those who do not know me can have their doubts about saying if, in this case, I'm a good person or not.

If I ask you to define yourself as a person, if I ask you to pretend you are not Joaquín, instead you are the person who knows him better than anybody else in the world, how would you define yourself?
Well, if I knew him – with respect, and from my point of view, it's a person who's not looking for problems in any way. In any way.

Since our late-night visit in the Mexican mountains, raids on ranches there have been relentless. A war zone. Navy helicopters waging air assaults and inserting troops. Helos shot down by Sinaloa cartel gunmen. Marines killed. Cartel fighters killed. Campasinos killed or displaced. Rumors spread that El Chapo escaped to Guatemala, or even further, into South America. But no. He was right there where he was born and raised. On Friday, January 8th, 2016, it happened. El Chapo was captured and arrested – alive.

I think of that night, of that calm before the storm, and the otherworldly experience of sitting with a man so seemingly serene, despite his living a reality so surreal. I had not gotten the kind of in-depth interview I'd hoped to achieve. Not challenged checkers with chess, nor vice versa. But perhaps, at least, retrieved a glimpse from the other side, and what is for me an affirmation of the dumb-show of demonization that has demanded such an extraordinary focus of assets toward the capture or killing of any one individual black hat.

Still, today, there are little boys in Sinaloa who draw play-money pesos, whose fathers and grandfathers before them harvested the only product they'd ever known to morph those play pesos into real dollars. They wonder at our outrage as we, our children, friends, neighbors, bosses, banks, brothers and sisters finance the whole damn thing. Without a paradigm shift, understanding the economics and illness of addiction, parents in Mexico and the U.S. will increasingly risk replacing that standard parting question to their teens off for a social evening – from "Where are you going tonight?" to "Where are you dying tonight?"

El Chapo? It won't be long, I'm sure, before the Sinaloa cartel's next shipment into the United States is the man himself.

Some stories are just better to watch.

Follow us on YouTube.

Bron: www.rollingstone.com
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
pi_159003054
As the officer took her away, she recalled that she asked,
"Why do you push us around?"
And she remembered him saying,
"I don't know, but the law's the law, and you're under arrest."
  maandag 11 januari 2016 @ 15:46:14 #108
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_159015739

quote:
Peru’s drug war: the front line

It's already one of the world's biggest industries. But now a new strain of coca plant could spark a surge in the global production of cocaine.
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  maandag 11 januari 2016 @ 16:35:30 #109
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_159017077
quote:
The paradox of war on drugs and marijuana legalisation - Al Jazeera English

United Nations, New York - The world's governments used to agree on tackling the use of cocaine, cannabis and other narcotics. Policies, such as locking up dealers, traffickers and even users, were underpinned by global treaties from the 1960s onwards as the US led a war on drugs.

That system is crumbling as ever-more Western nations, from Portugal to the United States, rewrite rules on whether cannabis and other drugs should be available to sufferers of multiple sclerosis and other maladies, decriminalised or even legalised, so that people can use them for recreation.

Experts warn of a polarised world in which reformers, such as Switzerland and some Latin American countries that have borne the brunt of narco-gang violence, clash with Russia, China and many Asian and Middle Eastern states that hold tougher lines against drugs.

James Cockayne, a scholar at United Nations University, the world body's think-tank, warned that the consensus on drugs is fragmenting, creating headaches for policymakers and a vacuum of leadership that could be exploited by drug cartels.

"We're concerned about policy fragmentation and worsening coordination between states, making it harder to safeguard global public health and throwing up a range of unexpected trans-border spillover effects," Cockayne told Al Jazeera.

"Countries that wish to legalise cannabis and trade it with others will run into treaties designed with prohibition in mind, undermining a system that helps governments collectively combat criminal networks and other bad actors."

Modern global drugs policy was agreed upon through three treaties from 1961 onwards aimed at stopping drug use that was not for medicine or science. This involved fighting the production, possession, trafficking, use and trade of drugs, as well as gangsters and money launderers.

Those caught possessing drugs faced jail. Dealers, traffickers and those higher up the pyramid got stiffer sentences still. In 33 countries, drugs offences can carry the death penalty, according to Harm Reduction International, a research group.

Military-style operations have seen swaths of poppy and coca leaf fields destroyed from Afghanistan to Colombia. Globally, enforcement costs upwards of $100bn a year, according to Count the Costs, a campaign group.

Despite this, there is scant evidence showing that anti-drugs policies work, and plenty to suggest the reverse - not least of which is the relative ease of buying drugs on the backstreets of Bangkok, Boston or Budapest despite police efforts.

Critics point to the lucrative drugs trade and often-vicious gangs that gain from prohibition. Torching plantations hurts local farmers and only pushes production elsewhere. Most of those behind bars are non-violent users and dealers, not cartel kingpins.

"Efforts to create a drug-free world have clearly failed," Cleia Noia, an analyst at the Social Science Research Council, a think-tank, told Al Jazeera.

"A blanket prohibition policy has been hugely negative, criminalising people for low-level activities and drug use, often women and ethnic minorities. And has any of it made it harder for teenagers to buy drugs?"

In the US, ever-harsher drugs sentences saw the prison population quadruple to 2.3 million people from 1980 to 2008, with blacks behind bars at six times the rate of whites, according to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, or NAACP, a social equality campaign group.

In Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica and Ecuador, more than 60 percent of women prisoners were jailed for drug offences - often poverty-racked mothers who became drug mules for quick cash, according to the International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC).

"It's time to change the metrics by which we measure success," Heather Haase, an IDPC expert, told Al Jazeera.

"Instead of how many hectares of plantation are eradicated, how many arrests are made, or how much property is seized, we should look at the rate of HIV being spread by people who use drugs and share needles and other indicators of public health."

But reform is gathering pace.

Canada's new government is taking steps to legalise cannabis, and the plant will go on sale in pharmacies in Uruguay in 2016. In the US, it is legal in Colorado and Washington. Voters in California are set to vote on legalisation in November 2016.

Criminal penalties have been softened or lifted for those caught possessing drugs across parts of Latin America and Europe. In Portugal, everything from cannabis to heroin was decriminalised in 2001. Addicts are increasingly offered help and treatment.

But China and many Asian and Middle Eastern governments are sticking with tried and tested methods of enforcement and stiff penalties. At least 549 drug offenders were executed in 2013, most in China, Iran and Saudi Arabia.

READ MORE: Australia moves to legalise medical marijuana

Soon after it annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in 2014, Russia halted drug treatment schemes there that gave heroin addicts alternatives, such as methadone, leading to some 100 overdose deaths, the UN said.

Oleg Gavrilova, a Russian diplomat to UN drugs agencies in Vienna, warned against "demonising" conservative governments. Selling hard drugs in stores or pharmacies could be as dangerous as alcohol, which is widely available yet potentially deadly, he said.

"There were 87,000 overdoses last year. Not because of drug control but because of direct consumption of drugs," Gavrilova said. "Even against that background, we have a figure of three million who died from alcohol, a non-controlled substance under the conventions."

Globally, some 246 million people - or about five percent of adults - used an illicit drug in 2013, according to the latest data from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) . Some 27 million of those are drug abusers, half of whom inject drugs.

Against this backdrop, envoys from reform-minded nations will meet with hard-liners at a UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on drugs in April 2016, ahead of the deadline for renewing global drug policies in 2019.

The US, which shifted gears on drugs after state-level cannabis legalisation, now says countries should be able to interpret global treaties "flexibly". Haase said this is a cop-out, that global laws should be rewritten rather than sidestepped.

"The treaties say that regulating cannabis for nonmedical purposes is not permitted; the US says it should be tolerated under a flexible approach. It's the same as saying black is white, which sets a bad precedent for international law," Haase said.

Cockayne warns that the problems could be more than academic. Although cannabis may be legalised in much of the Americas, global rules mean that cannabis growers in Mexico could not sell to retailers in Colorado or Canada. A similar problem exists between Morocco and Spain.

"Growers and sellers may like to trade, but they cannot under the existing regime, even if trading would benefit the sellers, the government through tax revenues and the consumers, who gain from a regulated, safer trade," Cockayne said.

READ MORE: Mexico says Sean Penn interview helped catch El Chapo

As the gulf between reformer and hardline governments widens and treaties are undermined, a "chaotic and dangerous" situation emerges that "plays into the hands" of the criminal networks behind the $435bn a year trade, he said.

Analysts expect few breakthroughs at UNGASS as most countries stand firm. It will be an opportunity to evaluate how legalisation or decriminalisation has worked in Portugal and Colorado before conservative countries even consider policy u-turns, added Cockayne.

"Prohibition has been in place for more than 50 years, these policy changes are fairly new," said Noia. "We have to give them time to evolve and be measured so that we can know exactly what effects experimentation will have."

Bron: www.aljazeera.com
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  maandag 11 januari 2016 @ 17:15:42 #110
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_159018097
Fuck drugs part two:



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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  vrijdag 15 januari 2016 @ 14:17:40 #111
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_159123626
Big Farma moet met zijn klauwtjes van wiet afblijven.

quote:
Franse test met pijnstiller loopt dramatisch af | NOS

In de Franse stad Rennes zijn zes mensen bij een proef met een nieuwe pijnstiller ernstig ziek geworden. Een van hen is inmiddels hersendood, de anderen zijn er volgens het Franse ministerie van Volksgezondheid slecht aan toe.

De slachtoffers zijn vrijwilligers die in een niet nader genoemde privékliniek meededen aan de proef. Het middel bevat volgens Franse media cannabis als hoofdbestanddeel. De privékliniek heeft na het incident alle proeven met het middel stopgezet.

De privékliniek heeft ervaring met het uittesten van nieuwe geneesmiddelen. Regelmatig vraagt de Europese farmaceutische industrie om proeven met vrijwilligers uit te voeren.

De Franse minister Marisol Touraine van Volksgezondheid spreekt van een zeer ernstige situatie en zal vanmiddag om 14.30 uur in Rennes een persconferentie geven. De Franse zorginspectie is inmiddels begonnen aan een onderzoek.

Bron: nos.nl
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  vrijdag 15 januari 2016 @ 17:13:27 #112
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_159127102
quote:
quote:
Penn zei te geloven dat de Mexicaanse overheid de rol van de acteur bij de arrestatie van El Chapo heeft overdreven om hem in diskrediet te brengen bij het kartel van de drugsbaas. 'Ben je bang voor je leven?, vroeg Rose. 'Nee, antwoorde Penn, die liet weten niet zozeer een interview met Guzmán te hebben nagestreefd vanwege de drugsbaron zelf, maar om een gesprek op gang te brengen over de Amerikaanse en Mexicaanse oorlog tegen verdovende middelen.

'We geven zoveel geld uit, zoveel miljarden dollars uit om één slecht persoon op te pakken, maar je weet dat er de volgende dag weer een drugsdode valt', aldus Penn. 'Ik betreur dat de hele discussie die nu gaande is slechts over het artikel zelf', aldus Penn. Om er aan toe te voegen dat hij daarom het artikel in Rolling Stone typeert als 'mislukt'.
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  vrijdag 15 januari 2016 @ 17:21:58 #113
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_159127266
quote:
quote:
Mexico City — ON the morning of Jan. 2, a team of hired killers set off for the home of 33-year-old Gisela Mota, who only hours before had been sworn in as the first female mayor of Temixco, a sleepy spa town an hour from Mexico City. Ms. Mota was still in her pajamas as the men approached her parents’ breezeblock house. She was in the bedroom, but most of her family was in the front room, cooing over a newborn baby. As the family prepared a milk bottle, the assassins smashed the door open. Amid the commotion, Ms. Mota came out of her bedroom and said firmly, “I am Gisela.” In front of her terrified family, the men beat Ms. Mota and shot her several times, killing her.

Such violence has plagued areas of Mexico during the decade-long blood bath we know as the Mexican drug war. But Ms. Mota’s killing illuminates some worrying features of how this conflict is changing. While the global media is fascinated by billionaire kingpins like Joaquín Guzmán Loera, known as El Chapo, who was recaptured on Jan. 8 after his second prison escape (and a secret interview with the actor Sean Penn), the war is evolving far beyond the drug trade. Cartels now fight for political power itself. After arresting two of the men suspected of killing Ms. Mota, the police said the murder was part of a regional campaign by Los Rojos to control town halls and rob the towns’ resources.
Het artikel gaat verder.
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  vrijdag 15 januari 2016 @ 18:35:03 #114
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_159128578
quote:
quote:
Er waren berichten dat het middel cannabis bevatte, maar dat is volgens minister Touraine van Volksgezondheid niet het geval.
Free Assange! Hack the Planet
[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zaterdag 16 januari 2016 @ 11:13:12 #115
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_159144872
quote:
Pot legalization measure on track for 2016 ballot in Arizona - ABC15 ArizonaPot legalization measure on track for 2016 ballot in Arizona

A proposal to legalize marijuana in Arizona is on track to qualify for the ballot as the state joins a growing movement looking to loosen pot laws around the country in the November elections.

A spokesman for Arizona's leading recreational marijuana initiative says the measure has already collected about 140,000 of the 150,000 signatures necessary to get on the ballot, though the campaign intends to collect more than necessary to make up for signatures that get disqualified. The campaign has until July to collect the remaining signatures, making it highly likely that the measure will go before voters in November.

"We are riding the wave of public opinion that prefers regulation and taxation rather than criminalization and prohibition," said Carlos Alfaro, Marijuana Policy Project's Arizona political director.

Arizona is one of least nine states that have pending recreational marijuana initiatives this year, including California, Massachusetts, Maine and Nevada.

The Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana Act would allow people over the age of 21 to carry as much as one ounce of marijuana, grow up to six plants and carry up to five grams of "concentrated marijuana" such as hash oil or other cannabis extracts.

It would also establish a state licensing agency for marijuana while placing a 15 percent tax on marijuana and related products. Eighty percent of the tax proceeds would go toward education, and 20 percent would be set aside for the Department of Health Services to conduct education campaigns on the harms of marijuana and alcohol abuse.

An unusual alliance has formed to oppose the measure. Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery and backers of a separate pot measure seeking to qualify for the ballot, have come out against the plan.

Montgomery is staunchly opposed to drug legalization and also believes the way the measure is written allows existing medical marijuana dispensaries to essentially have a monopoly over pot sales in the state.

The initiative would allow the state to issue about 150 licenses for businesses to sell marijuana. Medical pot dispensaries will have first dibs at obtaining 120 of those licenses, leaving only a few dozen available for anyone else.

"This is the 21st-century way that one drug dealer keeps another drug dealer off their corner. This is an absolute abuse of the initiative process by a special interest group in Arizona," Montgomery said.

Jason Medar, manager for a competing initiative known as the Campaign to Legalize and Regulate Marijuana, says Marijuana Policy Project's proposal doesn't offer enough consumer protections. Medar said his initiative will make it easier for those not already in the medical marijuana industry to get a license. That initiative has collected about 70,000 signatures so far.

Alfaro said he doesn't believe that every medical marijuana dispensary will necessarily apply for a recreational license and that his campaign offers a more balanced approach to legalization.

"Not only do we think this is going to be on the ballot but it's the most viable policy we have," he said. "We have had prohibition since 1937. We have to start at a point that people are willing to accept."

Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas denounced the initiative in a press release last week saying it would cause a contradiction for teachers who, on one hand, tell students not to use drugs, and on the other, would receive supplies and funding bought with money raised from taxes on marijuana.

"By using drug money to educate our children, regardless of the drug we choose, we're creating a world where we're funding our schools by betting against the people graduating from them, and I cannot morally support that stance," Douglas said.

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


Bron: www.abc15.com
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zaterdag 16 januari 2016 @ 18:11:18 #116
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_159152901
quote:
Drugsafval gedumpt in Moergestel en Tilburg | NOS

In Moergestel en Tilburg zijn zeker 35 vaten met drugsafval gevonden. Een deel van de vaten is lek.

In Moergestel werden de vaten gedumpt in een natuurgebied. De chemicaliën zijn daar in een ven en in de bodem terecht gekomen. In Tilburg werden de vaten gedumpt op een industrieterrein. Ook daar lekken enkele vaten.

In beide gevallen is de brandweer bezig om de lekkende vaten op te ruimen.

Bron: nos.nl
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
pi_159154238
quote:
Er waren berichten dat het middel cannabis bevatte, maar dat is volgens minister Touraine van Volksgezondheid niet het geval.
Minister Van der Steur twijfelt nog.
Wees gehoorzaam. Alleen samen krijgen we de vrijheid eronder.
  maandag 18 januari 2016 @ 13:09:14 #118
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_159199868
quote:
Deur zwaait open voor zeven verdachten grote drugszaak

Het is het grootste drugsonderzoek ooit in Nederland gehouden. Aan de zaak tegen 29 verdachten werken meer dan 100 politiemensen. Maar de kopstukken zitten niet achter slot en grendel. Wegens 'persoonlijke omstandigheden' zijn zeven van hen vrij tot hun zaak dient.

Kosten noch moeite worden gespaard bij het grote drugsonderzoek, met undercoveracties tot in Curaçao aan toe. Maar waar justitie alles uit de kast trekt om de verdachten in de cel te krijgen, lijken de kopstukken net zo makkelijk weer buiten te komen. Het Openbaar Ministerie (OM) kijkt tandenknarsend toe.

Spin in het web is de 55-jarige corrupte douanier Gerrit G. uit 's-Gravenzande die naar verluidt jarenlang de Rotterdamse drugstransporten faciliteerde. Volgens betrokkenen sleepte hij er miljoenen euro's mee binnen, waarvan hij een luxe leventje leidde, met name op Curaçao.

Persoonlijke omstandigheden
Hij was één van de eerste verdachten die voorlopig werd vrijgelaten vanwege persoonlijke omstandigheden. Zijn zieke vrouw Bianca, in hetzelfde onderzoek verdacht van witwassen, is terminaal en wordt in Duitsland geopereerd. Hoewel hij tijdens een eerste vrije periode contact zou hebben gehad met een medeverdachte, hoeft hij toch niet terug de cel in.

Dan de andere zes verdachten. Utrechter André van der H. mocht naar huis in verband met medische zorg. Hij kampt naar zijn zeggen met een dubbele hernia en dreigt in een rolstoel te belanden. Bovendien is hij de enige die voor zijn zieke moeder van 82 kan zorgen. Ook voor bloemenhandelaar Willem 'Wietje' A. uit 's-Gravenzande zwaaide de gevangenispoort open. Hij zegt niet gemist te kunnen worden in zijn bloemenzaken.





Waarom mogen zij de cel uit?

Willem 'Wietje' A. (58)


Komt uit het Westland. Volgens het OM was hij betrokken bij invoer van een container met daarin 2800 kilo hennep. Mocht de cel uit om zijn bloemenzaken draaiende te houden.

Dennis van den B. (45)

De inwoner van Berkel en Rodenrijs wordt gelinkt aan de invoer van 300 kilo cocaïne. Hij kan slecht tegen detentie en wilde naar huis om financiële zaken en zijn scheiding te regelen.

Gerrit 'Zebra' G. (55)

Woont in 's-Gravenzande. Wordt ervan verdacht als douanier drugstransporten mogelijk te hebben gemaakt. Mocht naar huis om voor zijn zieke vrouw te zorgen.

André van der H. (56)

De Utrechter wordt verdacht van invoer van 3000 kilo cocaïne. Op vrije voeten gesteld om thuis voor zijn zieke moeder te zorgen en vanwege rugklachten.

Privésores
Johan V., ook wel bekend als 'de Bolle', is eveneens voorlopig vrij. Hij moet opnieuw worden geopereerd. Jimmy R. wordt in vrijheid gesteld om er te kunnen zijn voor zijn zoontje. Het ventje is getraumatiseerd na een woningoverval en is in therapie. Jan R. mag vanwege niet genoemde privésores naar huis.

De laatste die voorlopig de bak uit mag, is Berkelaar Dennis van den B., volgens justitie het beoogde doelwit van de 'vergissingsmoord' waar plaatsgenoot Rob Zweekhorst het slachtoffer van werd. Rechercheurs in de rechtszaal, sloegen steil achterover.

Vrijlating logisch
Zeven belangrijke verdachten die in vrijheid hun strafzaak mogen afwachten. Ziet de rechtbank deze mannen dan niet als zware jongens, in tegenstelling tot het OM? De Amsterdamse advocaat Sidney Smeets begrijpt de beslissingen van de rechtbank en noemt de vrijlatingen logisch.

,,Nederlandse rechters passen de voorlopige hechtenis veel te makkelijk toe en schorsen veel te weinig,'' stelt hij. ,,Waar je in de VS op verdenking van moord vrijkomt tot het proces, zit je hier voor een winkeldiefstal soms maanden vast. Het beeld dat rechters nu makkelijker zouden opheffen en schorsen, herken ik niet. Eerder het tegendeel.''

,,Ten onrechte bestaat het idee,'' reageert strafrechtdeskundige Nico Kwakman, ,,dat de verdachte na schorsing van zijn voorlopige hechtenis, niet meer in de gevangenis belandt. Dat is dus niet zo. Aan de andere kant is het in de oorsprong zo dat je vrij hoort te zijn, zolang je niet bent veroordeeld.''

Jimmy R. (45)

Justitie verdenkt de Schiedammer van een poging tot moord. Zijn voorlopige hechtenis is geschorst, zodat R. thuis zijn getraumatiseerde zoontje kan steunen.

Jan R. (62)

Eveneens verdacht van de smokkel van honderden kilo's coke. Mocht de gevangenis uit vanwege niet nader te benoemen privé-omstandigheden. Komt uit de Krimpenerwaard.

Johan V. (51)

'De Bolle' uit Etten-Leur zou een drugslijn naar Panama hebben opgezet. Wordt ook verdacht van coke-import. In vrijheid gesteld omdat hij na een maagoperatie weer onder het mes moet.

Bron: www.gelderlander.nl
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  maandag 18 januari 2016 @ 16:52:43 #119
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_159204710
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  maandag 18 januari 2016 @ 22:28:00 #120
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_159215798
quote:
quote:
Een opvallende conclusie, aangezien eerder onderzoek aantoonde dat regelmatige wiet- of hasjgebruikers na verloop van tijd een lager IQ hebben dan niet-gebruikers. Doordat het puberbrein nog volop in ontwikkeling is, zou blowen onherstelbare schade toebrengen.

Volgens de Amerikanen is er echter sprake van een schijnverband. Mensen uit armere sociale klassen hebben naast een gemiddeld lager IQ ook vaker te kampen met een cannabisverslaving. Er is daardoor een statistische samenhang tussen een laag IQ en cannabisgebruik, maar het een hoeft niet door het ander te zijn veroorzaakt.
Een correlatie zegt niets over oorzaak en gevolg. Dat blowers gemiddeld dommer zijn kan komen doordat domme mensen vaker gaan blowen. Dat blowers gemiddeld vaker schizofreen zijn kan komen doordat schizofrenen vaker gaan blowen. Dat betekend niet dat je van blowen schizofreen wordt.
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  woensdag 20 januari 2016 @ 13:01:55 #121
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_159252274
quote:
quote:
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Researchers aren’t sure why, but in the 23 U.S. states where medical marijuana has been legalized, deaths from opioid overdoses have decreased by almost 25 percent, according to a new analysis.

“Most of the discussion on medical marijuana has been about its effect on individuals in terms of reducing pain or other symptoms,” said lead author Dr. Marcus Bachhuber in an email to Reuters Health. “The unique contribution of our study is the finding that medical marijuana laws and policies may have a broader impact on public health.”

California, Oregon and Washington first legalized medical marijuana before 1999, with 10 more following suit between then and 2010, the time period of the analysis. Another 10 states and Washington, D.C. adopted similar laws since 2010.

For the study, Bachhuber, of the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the University of Pennsylvania, and his colleagues used state-level death certificate data for all 50 states between 1999 and 2010.

In states with a medical marijuana law, overdose deaths from opioids like morphine, oxycodone and heroin decreased by an average of 20 percent after one year, 25 percent by two years and up to 33 percent by years five and six compared to what would have been expected, according to results in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Meanwhile, opioid overdose deaths across the country increased dramatically, from 4,030 in 1999 to 16,651 in 2010, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Three of every four of those deaths involved prescription pain medications.

Of those who die from prescription opioid overdoses, 60 percent have a legitimate prescription from a single doctor, the CDC also reports.

Medical marijuana, where legal, is most often approved for treating pain conditions, making it an option in addition to or instead of prescription painkillers, Bachhuber and his coauthors wrote.

In Colorado, where recreational growth, possession and consumption of pot has been legal since 2012 and a buzzing industry for the first half of 2014, use among teens seems not to have increased (see Reuters story of July 29, 2014 here: reut.rs/1o040NI).

Medical marijuana laws seem to be linked with higher rates of marijuana use among adults, Bachhuber said, but results are mixed for teens.

But the full scope of risks, and benefits, of medical marijuana is still unknown, he said.

“I think medical providers struggle in figuring out what conditions medical marijuana could be used for, who would benefit from it, how effective it is and who might have side effects; some doctors would even say there is no scientifically proven, valid, medical use of marijuana,” Bachhuber said. “More studies about the risks and benefits of medical marijuana are needed to help guide us in clinical practice.”

Marie J. Hayes of the University of Maine in Orno co-wrote an accompanying commentary in the journal.

“Generally healthcare providers feel very strongly that medical marijuana may not be the way to go,” she told Reuters Health. “There is the risk of smoke, the worry about whether that is carcinogenic but people so far haven’t been able to prove that.”

There may be a risk that legal medical marijuana will make the drug more accessible for kids and smoking may impair driving or carry other risks, she said.

“But we’re already developing Oxycontin and Vicodin and teens are getting their hands on it,” she said.

If legalizing medical marijuana does help tackle the problem of painkiller deaths, that will be very significant, she said.

“Because opioid mortality is such a tremendously significant health crisis now, we have to do something and figure out what’s going on,” Hayes said.

The efforts states currently make to combat these deaths, like prescription monitoring programs, have been relatively ineffectual, she said.

“Everything we’re doing is having no effect, except for in the states that have implemented medical marijuana laws,” Hayes said.

People who overdose on opioids likely became addicted to it and are also battling other psychological problems, she said. Marijuana, which is not itself without risks, is arguably less addictive and almost impossible to overdose on compared to opioids, Hayes said.

Adults consuming marijuana don’t show up in the emergency room with an overdose, she said. “But,” she added, “we don’t put it in Rite Aid because we’re confused by it as a society.”
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  woensdag 20 januari 2016 @ 18:11:21 #122
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_159260764
quote:
Tory MP Crispin Blunt: 'I out myself as poppers user' | Politics | The Guardian

Reigate MP admits he uses legal high as he attacks government’s ‘fantastically stupid’ plan to ban drug

The Conservative MP Crispin Blunt has admitted using the party drug poppers, and denounced attempts by the government to ban the substances as “foolish”.

Blunt, who is the chairman of parliament’s foreign affairs select committee was speaking during a debate on the government’s psychoactive substances bill, which seeks to outlaw certain legal recreational drugs. The legislation would ban akyl (or amyl) nitrate – commonly known as poppers.

“There are some times, Madam Deputy Speaker, when something is proposed which becomes personal to you and you realise that the government is about to do something fantastically stupid and I think in those circumstances one has a duty to speak up,” said Blunt, who has been MP for Reigate since 1997.

“I use poppers. I out myself as a poppers user. And would be directly affected by this legislation. And I was astonished to find that it’s proposed they be banned and, frankly, so were very many gay men.”

Poppers are especially popular among gay men, and used to prepare for sex and enhance sexual pleasure.

The draft legislation has been criticised for containing too broad a definition of psychoactive substances. Retailers, drugs companies and even church groups have raised concerns about the unintended consequences of the bill, which defines the target of the ban as products that cause psychoactivity in humans.

After a short inquiry into the proposed law, the home affairs select committee produced a report (pdf) which concluded that poppers should not be banned since, according to the Advisory Council for the Misuse of Drugs, their misuse was “not seen to be capable of having harmful effects sufficient to constitute a societal problem”.

The legislation “simply serves to bring the whole law into disrepute”, said Blunt. “Choose to ban [poppers], which I’ve been using, and I know have been used ... for decades, and respect for the law is going to fly out the window.”

He pointed to evidence given to the home affairs select committee by the Gay Men’s Health Collective, which argued that a ban on poppers could increase the use of class A and B drugs as well as transmission of sexually transmitted infections.

“The issue is about supply and, what it might do to someone like me, is to put me into the hands of the criminals to get my supply for something that I used to think was perfectly OK,” said Blunt, who added: “Like me, obviously not me, because I respect the law of the land.”

The legislation would introduce a blanket ban on the production, distribution, sale and supply of so-called designer drugs – technically known as novel psychoactive substances – after they were linked to scores of deaths.

The report from the home affairs select committee also recommended that nitrous oxide - known as laughing gas - should be reviewed by the Advisory Council for the Misuse of Drugs to consider whether it should be controlled under the existing laws.

Bron: www.theguardian.com
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  vrijdag 22 januari 2016 @ 17:31:35 #123
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_159309605
quote:
Problem drinkers account for most of alcohol industry's sales, figures reveal | Society | The Guardian

Exclusive: Firms claim to support responsible drinking, yet data shows those who consume at risky or harmful levels account for 60% of sales in England


The alcohol industry makes most of its money – an estimated £23.7bn in sales in England alone – from people whose drinking is destroying or risking their health, say experts who accuse the industry of irresponsible pricing and marketing.

While the industry points to the fact that most people in the country are moderate drinkers, 60% of alcohol sales are either to those who are risking their health, or those – labelled harmful drinkers – who are doing themselves potentially lethal damage, figures seen by the Guardian show.

Work by Prof Nick Sheron of Southampton University, co-founder of the Alcohol Health Alliance of more than 40 concerned organisations and colleagues, has established that people who drink dangerously are the industry’s best customers.

“We looked at data from the Health Survey for England and did some calculations on that and we found that in terms of the total alcohol consumed within that survey, 69% was consumed by hazardous and harmful drinkers together,” he said.

Of the 69%, he said, 38% was consumed by “hazardous” or “increasing risk” drinkers who exceed the old guidelines of 14 units a week for women and 21 for men (these have recently come down to 14 units each, with some alcohol-free days), either by bingeing or regular drinking. The rest was consumed by harmful drinkers on more than 50 units a week for men or 35 for women, whose addiction might lead to liver problems including cirrhosis. Public Health England estimates that 10.8 million people drink at risky levels and 1.6 million may have some level of dependence on alcohol.

Separate work in progress from Sheffield University helps to establish the value of this custom to the industry. In 2013, the data shows, 38.2% of the value of alcohol sales in England came from risky drinkers and 24.5% from harmful drinkers. Industry sales in the UK were £45.5bn in 2013. England accounts for 83% of alcohol tax receipts, putting sales at about £37.8bn. That would suggest £14.4bn in sales comes from risky drinkers and £9.3bn from harmful drinkers: £23.7bn in total from drinkers jeopardising their health.

More than 1m hospital admissions a year are related to alcohol, double the number 10 years ago. According to Public Health England, in 2013-14, alcohol cost the NHS £3.5bn.

Harmful drinkers drink so heavily that it is claimed that for many, their habit would be unaffordable if they could not obtain cheap alcohol. In a paper last year, Sheron and colleagues revealed male patients in a liver unit consumed a mean of 146 units a week and female drinkers 142 units. They bought cheap alcohol, at a median price of 33p per unit, whereas low-risk drinkers spent £1.10 per unit. Strong cider such as Frosty Jack’s, made by Aston Manor Cider in Birmingham, is sold in three-litre bottles in outlets such as Iceland at just 15p per unit.

The drinks industry claims it supports responsible drinking. Yet, say critics, it has strongly fought proposals to introduce a minimum price per unit of 50p, which would curb the drinking of those most addicted for whom cost is a real issue.

A recent report from Australia found similar drinking patterns. The Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education revealed the industry’s best customers were the 3.8 million Australians who consume more than four standard drinks a day, double the national guidelines. They are 20% of over-14s but drink 74.2% of all alcohol consumed. The industry calls them “super consumers”.

Katherine Brown, director of the Institute of Alcohol Studies, said: “It comes as no surprise to learn the drinks industry relies on excessive consumption of alcohol to boost its profits. Why else would alcohol producers spend millions of pounds on advertising each year encouraging people to drink more, and fund heavyweight lobbyists to fight against public policies designed to tackle harmful drinking?

“This evidence tells us two things. Firstly, the government must take action on cheap alcohol … and secondly, the alcohol industry simply cannot be relied upon to act as messengers on public health.”

Prof Sir Ian Gilmore, chair of the Alcohol Health Alliance, said: “There’s no doubt that the drinks industry depends on excessive drinking to drive its profits. Drinks like high-strength white ciders are preferentially consumed by heavy and dependent drinkers, with 50% of those drinking these ciders drinking more than three litres a day, and the damage these drinks do is widely known.

“Importantly, minimum unit pricing would target the highest strength drinks which cause the most harm, leaving the price of lower strength drinks relatively untouched. With minimum unit pricing [MUP], moderate drinkers would barely notice the difference.”

Gerard Hastings, professor of social marketing at Stirling University, said the data “throws into relief the conflict of interest between industry and public health. Industry is driven by the need to sell as much as it possibly can. Ultimately the marketing department rules the waves.”

However, Miles Beale, chief executive of the Wine and Spirit Trade Association, said: “The WSTA opposes MUP because – even if it were legal – it would disproportionately impact responsible drinkers, as well as those on the lowest incomes. Statistics show that the wealthier you are, the more likely you are to drink – and the more you are likely to drink: 15% of people have drunk more than six to eight units in the last week, but this is 23% of the highest earners and 10% of the lowest.”

The Scotch Whisky Association, which led opposition to minimum unit pricing in Scotland, also claims wealthier people drink the hardest. Evidence shows, said its chief executive, David Frost, “that most hazardous and harmful drinkers are among the wealthier parts of the population, are the least sensitive to price and do not tend to opt for the cheapest alcohol. Therefore they are largely unaffected by minimum unit pricing.”

The Institute of Alcohol Studies disputes this, referring to its own report on alcohol and health inequalities. Brown said evidence from Canada showed that a 10% increase in alcohol prices led to a 32% reduction in alcohol-related deaths.

“This is a clear indicator that raising the price of the cheapest alcohol can have significant public health benefits,” said Brown. “With alcohol costing UK society £21bn each year, we can’t afford to keep stacking our supermarket shelves with pocket-money priced drinks.”

Gordon Johncox, managing director of Aston Manor Cider, said it did not recognise the 15p a unit price for a £3.50 three-litre bottle of Frosty Jack’s. “We typically see the price between £4.50 and £5.00 and in recent years we have consistently increased our prices into wholesalers and retailers,” he said. Because companies did not set the retail price, they “cannot control instances of sales to people that are under-age or already intoxicated or recognised as a problem drinker”, he said.

The Portman Group said that as a regulator of alcohol marketing, it could not comment on price, but a spokesman added: “The official statistics show that during the last decade there have been significant declines in binge drinking (down 20%), alcohol-related crime (down 34%), underage drinking (down 36%) and drink driving (down 47%) and drinks companies have contributed to this through a programme of voluntary measures designed to tackle alcohol misuse.

“These actions have been welcomed by government and leading charities and the industry will continue to work alongside public and third sector partners to drive down alcohol-related harms further.”

Bron: www.theguardian.com
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  vrijdag 22 januari 2016 @ 22:23:31 #124
156695 Tism
Sinds 24, Aug, 2006
  zaterdag 23 januari 2016 @ 12:10:23 #125
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_159325678
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zaterdag 23 januari 2016 @ 13:14:34 #126
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_159326635
quote:
quote:
This article in USA Today is headlined, “El Salvador: World’s New Murder Capital.” El Salvador’s murder rate is 104 per 100,000 population, and as the article notes, this is a national average. “If you start looking at where the pockets of violence are, it’s shocking.”

Why are things so bad in El Salvador? The article says, “All countries south of the U.S. border face the same problem: cartels and gangs fighting to control smuggling of drugs and people to the United States and infiltrating government institutions to help them.”

It should be difficult for Americans to support domestic policies that have such pernicious effects overseas.

The effects spill over at home too. The article says, “The surge in violence explains why thousands of Salvadorans and other Central Americans have fled to the United States and why immigration officials are stepping up efforts to send them back home.”

The drug war clearly compromises individual liberty at home. Freedom has no meaning if people are only free to engage in activities that meet with government approval. I could list a host of other negative consequences stemming from the war on drugs, but I will save that for another time, to emphasize how our domestic policies have had such negative consequences for our neighbors.
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  maandag 25 januari 2016 @ 12:49:34 #127
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_159378811
quote:
quote:
Volgens het OM heeft De Kruif crimineel geld witgewassen, dat ze heeft verdiend met drugsteelt en -handel op grote schaal. De 43-jarige vriend van De Kruif is volgens het OM hoofdverdachte.

Met het geld zou het paar onder meer een auto, een jetski, een caravan en een boot hebben gekocht. De Kruif ontkent dat en zegt dat ze met bonnen kan aantonen dat ze haar aankopen met eigen geld heeft gedaan. Maar justitie denkt dat ze een valse factuur heeft overgelegd.

In februari deed de politie na maandenlang onderzoek op een aantal plaatsen in Nederland invallen. Daarbij zijn administratie, geld en luxegoederen in beslag genomen, terwijl ook diverse hennepkwekerijen werden ontmanteld.
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  maandag 25 januari 2016 @ 16:47:01 #128
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_159385241
quote:
The Heemskerk Declaration

Final declaration of the Global Forum of Producers of Prohibited Plants


In a global meeting small scale farmers of cannabis, coca and opium from 14 countries discussed their contribution to the United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS). The UNGASS will discuss all aspects of global drug control policies, including the worldwide ban on the cultivation of coca, poppy and cannabis, an issue the Global Farmers Forum demands that their voices be heard and taken into account.

====================================================================

22 January 2016, Heemskerk, Netherlands

Today in a meeting in The Netherlands, small scale farmers of cannabis, coca and opium from 14 countries* discussed their contribution to the United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS), to be held in New York from 19 to 21 April 2016. The UNGASS will discuss all aspects of global drug control policies, including the worldwide ban on the cultivation of coca, poppy and cannabis, an issue the Global Farmers Forum demands that their voices be heard and taken into account.

Considering:

To date representatives of small farmers of prohibited plants and affected communities have not been adequately taken into account in international debates on drug policy.
Inherent contradictions and inconsistencies exist in the application of international drug control, including Alternative Development programs and human rights treaties, which take precedence over the drug control treaties. UN agencies and UN member states are all bound by their obligations under the Charter of the United Nations to promote "universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms."
A previous Farmers Forum provided input to the UN evaluation of the missed target of reaching a drug-­-free world by 2009. The UN Political Declaration adopted at the time established 2019 as a new target date to "eliminate or reduce significantly and measurably" the illicit cultivation of opium poppy, coca bush and cannabis.
Taking into account the problems faced by the communities where these plants are cultivated the Farmers Forum discussed the following issues:
a) Crop control policies and forced eradication;
b) Traditional, medicinal and modern uses of controlled plants;
c) Sustainable rural development;
d) Drugs and conflict.

Conclusions

1. Forced eradication - chemical, biological, manual or any other form - of crops produced by small farmers is contrary to human rights, causes diverse forms of conflict, expands countries' agricultural frontier, leads to environmental degradation, causes food insecurity and destroys rural economic survival strategies. It aggravates social problems - as well as problems related to health and internal security -­--­- increases poverty, leads to displacement of affected populations, delegitimizes state institutions, militarizes local communities and is a form of undemocratic intervention, forcing those impacted to seek survival strategies in other informal or illicit economic activities and in some cases pushes people to take more radical positions. Finally, forced eradication is counterproductive with regards to sustainable development.

2. The inclusion of the three plants in the international treaties impedes the recognition of both traditional, and modern uses** and the ability to obtain them legally. Not all people have access to medicinal uses and the market is controlled by the pharmaceutical industry. In some countries, laws recognize traditional and medicinal uses. Nutritional uses and other forms of industrialization of these plants have not been widely promoted, despite the fact that there are many examples of community and institutional initiatives that demonstrates the benefits of such use. Recreational use of these plants is completely prohibited even as an increasing number of countries seek to regulate these markets. Producers and users and their organizations, communities and leaders continue to be stigmatized, criminalized and incarcerated.

3. Rural development strategies must promote small-­-scale agriculture. Most participants in the Farmers Forum have not been beneficiaries of Alternative Development or other forms of assistance. Those who have had experiences with Alternative Development programmes affirm that these have largely failed to improve the livelihood of affected communities. The main problems have been the lack of community involvement in the design, planning and execution of the interventions; short-­-term time-­-frames; inadequate technical assistance; foments corruption and funding does not reach the intended beneficiaries; failure to take into account a gender perspective; the use of alternative crops negatively impact the environment and do not promote food sovereignty but focuses on mono-­-cropping, fostering land grabbing for big companies, and a lack of sustained access to land, markets and technologies. The conditioning of development assistance on prior eradication leaves people without sources of income, pushing people back into illicit crop cultivation. Present Alternative Development programs do not envisage the cultivation for licit purposes.

4. The prohibition of coca, cannabis and opium poppy generates conflicts, as the people that grow them are criminalized, their human and cultural rights are violated, they are discriminated against and legally prosecuted. The different levels of conflict that exist have their origins in both drug control policies and the drugs market itself. Conflicts and violence are caused by the interventions of state authorities (police and armed forces), through eradication acts or other interventions; the presence of armed groups and internal wars; ethnical divisions and territorial and border disputes; access to and control of land; access to water and other natural resources/common goods; corruption; migration and displacement; the overload of the judicial system; the illegal trade in arms and precursors and illicit logging; unemployment, amongst others.
Recommendations

1. We reject prohibition and the war on drugs.

2. We demand the removal of coca, cannabis and opium poppy from the lists and articles in the 1961 UN Single Convention and the 1988 Convention. No plant should be a controlled drug under the UN Conventions or national legislation. We claim the right to cultivation for traditional and modern uses of these plants.

3. We call for the elimination of all forms of forced and non-­-voluntary eradication.

4. We demand that all affected communities should be involved in all stages of drug policies and development, from the design to its implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

5. In case crop reduction is desirable and feasible it needs to be gradual and reached in dialogue and agreement with the affected communities, based on mutual respect and confidence.

6. The conditioning of development assistance on prior eradication is unacceptable. The proper sequencing of development interventions is fundamental to its success. 7. Integrated sustainable development should be the main intervention for crop producing communities. Such development should promote and protect the livelihoods of small scale farmers and rural workers, and should guarantee access to and control over land and common goods.

8. The state and its institutions will need to assume responsibility to address the needs of the communities involved in cultivation of coca, cannabis and opium poppy.

9. We demand that the farmers and their families involved in the cultivation of coca, cannabis and opium should not be prosecuted by criminal law, or discriminated against.

10. Coca, cannabis and opium poppy and their use should not be criminalized.

11. The expansion of licit markets of coca, cannabis and opium poppy should become part of development strategies.

12. We support the peace process in Colombia and Myanmar, which should be inclusive.



* Albania, Bolivia, Colombia, Spain, Guatemala, Indonesia, Jamaica, Morocco, Mexico, Myanmar, Paraguay, Peru, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and South Africa.
** Traditional use understood as ceremonial, religious, traditional medicinal. Modern is recreational, alimentary, and medicinal.


Bron: www.tni.org
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  maandag 25 januari 2016 @ 19:51:58 #129
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_159390652
quote:
Marijuana nuns defy local cannabis ban in California – video | US news | The Guardian

Sisters of the Valley look and act a lot like religious nuns, but they’re of no formal religious affiliation. They do, however, express great reverence for the cannabis plant and its medicinal properties. A recent local ban on growing and production of cannabis products has forced the Sisters to make a decision to defy the law and continue their mission

Bron: www.theguardian.com
Filmpje op de site.
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  maandag 25 januari 2016 @ 20:21:05 #130
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_159391605
quote:
Mexican actor says government wants to 'destroy her' for El Chapo interview | World news | The Guardian

Univision published a statement from Kate del Castillo after Mexico’s attorney general said Joaquin Guzman may have helped finance her tequila business

Kate del Castillo, the actor who helped Sean Penn interview drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán, said Mexico’s government wants to “destroy her”, Univision reported over the weekend.

Mexican attorney general Arely Gomez has said that there were “indications” the actor may have used money from Guzmán to help finance her tequila business.

“I have no reason to give explanations to the press. If I don’t talk its because my lawyers told me not to because the government wants to destroy me,” the actor said in a message to Univision, which published the comment on its website.

A publicist for Del Castillo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

An official for Mexico’s attorney general’s office declined to comment on the remarks, but noted that Gomez has guaranteed that the presumption of innocence will be respected.

Del Castillo’s father said last week that his daughter will testify at the Mexican consulate in Los Angeles, where she will present proof “she is clean”.

The attorney general’s office said Del Castillo would be questioned by authorities this week, although there were no details on when or where it would happen.

The Mexican government has said a meeting between the actor, who played a drug boss in the television series La Reina del Sur, Oscar-winning actor Penn and Guzmán was essential to the kingpin’s recapture earlier this month.

The day after El Chapo was apprehended, Rolling Stone magazine published an article by Penn, based on his and del Castillo’s secret meeting with Guzmán while the drug lord was on the run.
Bron: www.theguardian.com
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  dinsdag 26 januari 2016 @ 21:59:30 #131
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_159421748
quote:
Paul LePage Wants To Bring Back The Guillotine For Drug Traffickers

Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) believes drug traffickers shouldn't just get longer prison sentences, they should be subjected to the death penalty -- specifically, the guillotine.

"What I think we ought to do is bring the guillotine back. We should have public executions," LePage said in a Tuesday interview with the radio station WVOM.

Maine, like many other states, is struggling with a heroin epidemic, and LePage frequently talks about it at his public events.

He recently made national news when he commented on traffickers coming from Connecticut and New York with names like "D-Money, Smoothie, Shifty" who "come up here, they sell their heroin and they go back home."

"Incidentally, half the time they impregnate a young white girl before they leave, which is a real sad thing because then we have another issue that we've got to deal with down the road," LePage added.

After intense criticism, LePage said he never meant his comments to be about race.

"I tried to explain that Maine is essentially all white," he said. "I should have said 'Maine women.'"

"I think the death penalty should be appropriate for people that kill Mainers," LePage said Tuesday, adding, "I think four years [in prison] is not good enough. We've got to go to 20 years. We have to keep them here until they die."

The last time France executed someone by guillotine was in 1977. The country abolished the death penalty in 1981. The United States has never used this method of execution.

LePage also told WVOM Tuesday that he will not be delivering his annual State of the State address, in which governors traditionally speak to the state legislature about their accomplishments and policy priorities. Instead, he will be submitting his remarks in written form.

"I'm going to do a State of the State in writing, so people can't change my words," he said. "It makes no sense. Last week, they tried to impeach me. This week, they're throwing rotten tomatoes at me. Why would I go stand in front of them for an hour and a half?"

On Jan. 14, the state House did try to start an investigation that could lead to LePage's impeachment, but lawmakers failed to get enough votes to move forward.

LePage will be holding a public town hall at Husson University in Bangor Tuesday night. The governor is an outspoken supporter of GOP presidential candidate and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

H/T: Bangor Daily News

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Also on HuffPost:
Bron: www.huffingtonpost.com
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  woensdag 27 januari 2016 @ 13:46:45 #132
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_159436567
quote:
Vaten met drugsafval gevonden in Noord-Brabant | NOS

Onbekenden hebben vannacht vaten met drugsafval gedumpt in de buurt van Hilvarenbeek. Het gaat om twee vaten van 1000 liter, vier vaten van 200 liter en tientallen kleine jerrycans, schrijft Omroep Brabant.

Ooggetuigen zagen dat de vermoedelijke daders na de dumping wegreden in een bestelbus. Agenten en een boswachter hebben naar hen gezocht, maar ze werden niet meer gevonden. De politie vermoedt dat het afval afkomstig is van een xtc-lab.

De gemeente Hilvarenbeek is direct begonnen met opruimen. Het is niet duidelijk hoe groot de schade is.

Bron: nos.nl
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  woensdag 27 januari 2016 @ 15:45:40 #133
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_159440115
quote:
quote:
The sky above Charras de Boquerón, a town in the middle of the Colombian jungle, is always pierced by planes filled with glyphosate. Each day they fly over thousands of plantations, searching for coca leaf crops to disperse the chemical. Behind them, they leave hectares of dead fruit and vegetable crops.

The coca leaf is unaffected.

"There's the coca leaf, nothing has happened to it," one farmer told VICE News. Beside him, the lawn was black and burnt, but the crop seemed untouched.

This super resistant crop is the boliviana mona, and it has been cultivated by most farmers in the Guaviare region since 2014.

"Almost ten thousand families rely on growing coca leaf in Guaviare," said Pedro Arenas, former mayor of San José del Guaviare.
Het artikel gaat verder.
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  woensdag 27 januari 2016 @ 22:39:09 #134
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_159453119
quote:
Tientallen vaten drugsafval gedumpt in sloten Tholen | NOS

In sloten in Sint Philipsland en Poortvliet (gemeente Tholen) zijn tientallen vaten met chemicaliën gedumpt. De politie denkt dat het gaat om afval uit een drugslaboratorium. Het is nog onduidelijk om welke stoffen het precies gaat en of deze giftig zijn. Dat wordt onderzocht.

Omroep Zeeland schrijft dat de vaten een penetrante, chemische lucht verspreiden. Het waterschap is bezig om verdere verspreiding van de gedumpte stoffen te voorkomen.

In Sint Philipsland lagen twintig vaten. In Poortvliet is er op twee plekken gedumpt. Volgens de politie gaat het daar om elf vaten.

Vannacht zijn er ook vaten met drugsafval gevonden in de buurt van Hilvarenbeek. De vaten zien er hetzelfde uit als in Zeeland. De politie denkt dat het ook hier om drugsafval gaat.

Bron: nos.nl
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  vrijdag 29 januari 2016 @ 12:14:41 #135
445752 broodjepindakaashagelslag
Ik blaf niet maar ik bijt
pi_159489378
Bijna 500 wietkwekerijen in Gelderland opgerold: steeds vaker in woonwijken

ARNHEM - In Gelderland zijn vorig jaar iets minder dan 500 hennepkwekerijen opgerold. De meeste betrapte wietkwekers zaten in Arnhem: 100. De wietplantages worden steeds vaker aangetroffen in een woonwijk.

Dat blijkt uit jaarcijfers van Liander. Om te precies te zijn: het waren er 487. Opmerkelijk is dat deze criminaliteit zich verplaatst. Voorheen zaten hennepkwekerijen voornamelijk in afgelegen loodsen in het buitengebied.

'We komen hennepplantages tegen bij alle woningtypen', zegt Peter Jans-Rat de voorzitter van het Platform Energiediefstal van de gezamenlijke netbeheerders. Ze zijn op steeds meer plekken te vinden, maar zijn dan kleiner.

Rijtjeshuizen en villa's
'Van rijtjeshuizen tot flats, van villa’s tot industrieterreinen. Het zou zomaar kunnen dat je buren hennep telen en energie stelen.'

De illegale kwekerijen kwamen aan licht door elektriciteitsdiefstal. Immers: telers tappen vaak illegaal stroom af. Het waren er 80 minder dan in 2014. Het vermoeden is echter dat er steeds meer zijn, maar dat het lastiger is ze op te rollen omdat ze kleiner zijn.

Hennepplantages in woonhuizen zorgen voor veiligheidsrisico’s voor de omwonenden vanwege de verhoogde kans op brand.

Voor 200 miljoen euro gestolen
In 2015 zijn in Nederland 4500 hennepkwekerijen opgerold waarbij sprake was van energiediefstal. De marktwaarde van de gestolen energie bedraagt bijna 200 miljoen euro.

Hoewel de schade van de vastgestelde energiediefstal door de netbeheerders in rekening wordt gebracht bij de veroorzakers betalen huishoudens elk jaar 3 euro mee aan deze vorm van diefstal.

Er is voor 139 miljoen kWh aan elektriciteit gestolen, iets minder dan de 147 miljoen kWh in 2014. Niet iedereen wordt betrapt; naar schatting wordt in totaal jaarlijks bijna 1 miljard kWh door hennepkwekerijen illegaal afgenomen. Dat is evenveel energie als alle huishoudens in de stad Den Haag in één jaar verbruiken.

Branden door illegale installaties
Hennepkwekerijen veroorzaken grote veiligheidsrisico's. Regelmatig ontstaan branden door ondeskundig aangelegde installaties. Netbeheerders doen er om die reden alles aan om energiediefstal tegen te gaan.

De top 15 opgerolde wietkwekerijen:

Arnhem: 100 (117)

Nijmegen: 47 (61)

Apeldoorn: 42 (vorig jaar 62)

Zutphen: 17 (24)

Lingewaard: 16 (15)

Tiel: 15 (12)

Ede: 13 (17)

Harderwijk: 12 (6)

Doetinchem: 11 (15)

Beuningen: 10 (8)

Montferland: 10 (12)

Overbetuwe: 10 (15)

Rheden: 10 (15)

Zevenaar: 10 (11)

Westervoort: 9 (6)

bron: omroep gelderland
Its hard to win an argument against a smart person, but it's damn near impossible to win an argument against a stupid person
  zaterdag 30 januari 2016 @ 10:37:37 #136
445752 broodjepindakaashagelslag
Ik blaf niet maar ik bijt
pi_159512699
Stedin gebruikt nieuwe techniek om hennepkwekers op te sporen

Netbeheerder Stedin uit Rotterdam kan via een nieuwe digitale techniek op afstand zien waar zich een hennepkwekerij bevindt. De criminele activiteiten worden via het elektriciteitsnet waargenomen.
"Hiermee verwachten we dit jaar nieuwe stappen te maken in de bestrijding van energiefraude", zegt Dave de Wit, hoofd fraudebestrijding bij Stedin.

Tot nog toe werden illegale kwekerijen waargenomen met warmtebeeldcamera’s of opgespoord na tips. Maar criminelen worden steeds inventiever om hennepkwekerijen te maskeren. "Door het gebruik van isolatiemateriaal en ventilatie is het voor de politie en de netbeheerders steeds moeilijker illegale praktijken en gevaarlijke situaties op te sporen", aldus De Wit.

De nieuwe techniek is mogelijk geworden door gebruik van geavanceerde software. Deze wordt in de tienduizenden elektriciteitskastjes van Stedin geïnstalleerd.

Onveilig gerommel
"Die slimme meters in de kastjes zijn uitgerust met geavanceerde software", legt De Wit uit. "Die geeft een verandering van het signaal zodra er een hennepkwekerij op het net wordt aangesloten. Dat is voor de fraude-experts van Stedin aanleiding om verder uit te zoeken waar die kwekerij zich in die betreffende wijk bevindt.''

Ondanks de nieuwe techniek blijft Stedin intensief samenwerken met gemeenten, politie-eenheden en Openbaar Ministerie (OM). Ook vraagt de netbeheerder het publiek verdachte situaties te melden.

"De gevolgen van hennepkwekerijen en het belang van het melden zijn nog niet genoeg doorgedrongen", beklemtoont de woordvoerder van Stedin. "Door gerommel met de energieaansluiting en onveilige elektrische bedrading is de kans op kortsluiting en brand groot. Een op de vijf woning- en bedrijfsbranden ontstaan door geknoei met elektriciteit."

Bron nu.nl
Its hard to win an argument against a smart person, but it's damn near impossible to win an argument against a stupid person
  zaterdag 30 januari 2016 @ 16:02:42 #137
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_159519022
quote:
Twee doden door misbruik pijnstillende pleisters | NOS

In België zijn deze maand twee mannen overleden na misbruik met fentanylpleisters. Dat is een sterke pijnstiller die vooral wordt gebruikt door mensen die niet meer beter worden en veel pijn hebben.

Fentanyl is vele malen sterker is dan morfine of heroïne. Bij gebruik van fentanylpleisters wordt de stof in kleine hoeveelheden opgenomen door de huid. Wanneer de fentanyl uit de pleisters op een andere manier in het lichaam komt, bijvoorbeeld oraal of rokend, kan de hele dosis in een keer in het lichaam terechtkomen. Dat kan leiden tot een overdosis, met de dood tot gevolg.

Volgens het Belgische Wetenschappelijk Instituut Volksgezondheid hebben de overleden mannen, die tussen de 20 en 30 jaar waren, de fentanylpleisters "oneigenlijk gebruikt". De pleisters waren ook niet voorgeschreven door een arts, maar op een andere manier bemachtigd.

Het instituut houdt in de gaten of er sprake is van een nieuwe trend van drugsgebruik. Vooralsnog lijkt het daar niet op.

Wel meldt het instituut dat er deze maand ook nog iemand is overleden die fentanyl heeft ingenomen in combinatie met de nieuwe drug U-47700. Dat is een psychoactieve stof die zeven tot acht keer sterker is dan morfine. De man had de middelen via internet verkregen.

Bron: nos.nl
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  maandag 1 februari 2016 @ 18:47:27 #138
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_159575314
quote:
Study Shows That Alcohol, Not Marijuana Is The Major “Gateway Drug” | The Free Thought Project



A recent study conducted by researchers at the University of Florida has shown that alcohol is far more of a “gateway drug” than marijuana is.

The study concluded that:

Results from the Guttman scale indicated that alcohol represented the “gateway” drug, leading to the use of tobacco, marijuana, and other illicit substances. Moreover, students who used alcohol exhibited a significantly greater likelihood of using both licit and illicit drugs. The findings from this investigation support that alcohol should receive primary attention in school-based substance abuse prevention programming, as the use of other substances could be impacted by delaying or preventing alcohol use. Therefore, it seems prudent for school and public health officials to focus prevention efforts, policies, and monies, on addressing adolescent alcohol use.

According to the study’s co-author, Adam E. Barry, the later in life that a person consumes alcohol, the less likely they are to abuse drugs. Also, it seems that in most cases, use of alcohol and tobacco comes earlier in life than the use of marijuana.

Barry said that his studies were intended to correct some of the propaganda that has infected American culture since the “Reefer Madness” era.

“So, basically, if we know what someone says with regards to their alcohol use, then we should be able to predict what they respond to with other [drugs]. Another way to say it is, if we know someone has done [the least prevalent drug] heroin, then we can assume they have tried all the others. I think [these results] have to do with level of access children have to alcohol, and that alcohol is viewed as less harmful than some of these other substances,” Barry added.

Just like prescription pills and tobacco, alcohol is seen as more socially acceptable in American society because the government approves of it. However, these substances are largely more dangerous than many of the illegal drugs that people have a deep fear of.

Since certain drugs are taken less seriously, people are more likely to abuse them and not keep their addiction in check. That is not to say that these legal drugs should be banned as well, in fact, all drugs should be legalized so honest discussions can be had about the uses and dangers of each drug.

Don Cook:

As a teacher in the 80's-90's i was repeatedly in conflict with the DARE officers...i would prompt kids to ask the cops, "what about alcohol and cigarettes?"...the answer was-always-"the law says that there are some drugs that are okay to use if You are an adult". i would ask if the officer knew hjow many deaths could be attributed to pot, or heroin...they couldn't give an aswer. i would tell them, and the kids that the use of alcohol and the use of tobacco killed nearly 600,000 people a year...DARE din't like that. later in life, i worked as a psychotherapist in Methadone Tx...i would tell the old-line drug "counselors" that people who started with alcohol---a body toxin--were almost our entire population, and that pot, apparently, was NOT the "gateway drug"...much resistance and anger...people have been brainwashed.

Sally Oh:

Agreed!

Bhagavad Gita:

Regarding alcohol being the gateway drug? Yes, I have always said this same exact thing.

Maura_Lina:

My last pay check was $9500 working 12 hours a week online. My sisters friend has been averaging 15k for months now and she works about 20 hours a week. I can't believe how easy it was once I tried it out. This is what I do... ----------------->>www.workonline44.comONLY Please don't include ONLY

Sally Oh:

There is no such thing as a "gateway" drug. The entire theory is junk. Please stop promoting it.

Don Cook:

you are corrrect...the "gateway" for addictions are myriad psychological issues....

Sally Oh:

Don Cook as an addict, I can attest that's not always the case. Mostly, from my experience, it's an inability to grow up :)

Don Cook:

Sally Oh The "inability to grow up" is a great descriptor of a psychological issue!!! Another way to say it would be, "the inability to grow past...."...it is commonly called PTSD/Complex PTSD.

Vedad Sladic:

Don Cook It's a bit ignorrant to link evrything to psychological issues. The curiosity to try out things is something we are born with and doesn't necessarily have to do with psychological issues. There are many examples of drug users who are far more stable psychologically than your average shrink, and because of that some people that cannot accept that fact just choose to write it down as psychological illness.

Bron: thefreethoughtproject.com
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  donderdag 4 februari 2016 @ 10:48:41 #139
156695 Tism
Sinds 24, Aug, 2006
pi_159645239
quote:
Busje met ingenieus dumpsysteem voor drugsafval gevonden

VANDAAG, 09:22

Drugscriminelen hebben een nieuwe manier bedacht om drugsafval te dumpen. In Moergestel ontdekte de politie afgelopen nacht een busje met een ingenieus systeem. (filmpje)

In de bus zat een speciaal buizensysteem, waarmee drugsafval al rijdend of stilstaand kan worden geloosd. Er was een gat gemaakt in de wielkast waar de vloeistof doorheen kon. In het busje zat een grote tank gevuld met zo'n duizend liter drugsafval.

Het voertuig stond geparkeerd in een woonwijk in Moergestel. Omroep Brabant schrijft dat agenten het busje ontdekten nadat ze een sterke anijsgeur hadden geroken.

Volgens de politie is de bus gestolen en in de woonwijk geparkeerd.

Steeds vaker gedumpt.

Afgelopen jaar kwamen er minder meldingen binnen van de vondst van afval van drugslaboratoria. Maar volgens de provincie Noord-Brabant zijn er geen signalen dat er minder drugs worden geproduceerd. "Criminelen vinden nieuwe manieren om het spul kwijt te raken", zei gedeputeerde Johan van der Hout.

Volgens hem wordt het afval vaak gedumpt in het riool. De provincie zegt dat afval steeds vaker met een vrachtwagen of giertank over het land wordt uitgereden. Ook zijn er signalen dat resten van de xtc-productie in gierkelders worden gedumpt.
....nachtrijder...Nachtzwelgje!
  donderdag 4 februari 2016 @ 17:46:55 #140
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_159656266
quote:
The Likely Cause of Addiction Has Been Discovered, and It Is Not What You Think

It is now one hundred years since drugs were first banned -- and all through this long century of waging war on drugs, we have been told a story about addiction by our teachers and by our governments. This story is so deeply ingrained in our minds that we take it for granted. It seems obvious. It seems manifestly true. Until I set off three and a half years ago on a 30,000-mile journey for my new book, Chasing The Scream: The First And Last Days of the War on Drugs, to figure out what is really driving the drug war, I believed it too. But what I learned on the road is that almost everything we have been told about addiction is wrong -- and there is a very different story waiting for us, if only we are ready to hear it.

If we truly absorb this new story, we will have to change a lot more than the drug war. We will have to change ourselves.

I learned it from an extraordinary mixture of people I met on my travels. From the surviving friends of Billie Holiday, who helped me to learn how the founder of the war on drugs stalked and helped to kill her. From a Jewish doctor who was smuggled out of the Budapest ghetto as a baby, only to unlock the secrets of addiction as a grown man. From a transsexual crack dealer in Brooklyn who was conceived when his mother, a crack-addict, was raped by his father, an NYPD officer. From a man who was kept at the bottom of a well for two years by a torturing dictatorship, only to emerge to be elected President of Uruguay and to begin the last days of the war on drugs.

I had a quite personal reason to set out for these answers. One of my earliest memories as a kid is trying to wake up one of my relatives, and not being able to. Ever since then, I have been turning over the essential mystery of addiction in my mind -- what causes some people to become fixated on a drug or a behavior until they can't stop? How do we help those people to come back to us? As I got older, another of my close relatives developed a cocaine addiction, and I fell into a relationship with a heroin addict. I guess addiction felt like home to me.

If you had asked me what causes drug addiction at the start, I would have looked at you as if you were an idiot, and said: "Drugs. Duh." It's not difficult to grasp. I thought I had seen it in my own life. We can all explain it. Imagine if you and I and the next twenty people to pass us on the street take a really potent drug for twenty days. There are strong chemical hooks in these drugs, so if we stopped on day twenty-one, our bodies would need the chemical. We would have a ferocious craving. We would be addicted. That's what addiction means.

One of the ways this theory was first established is through rat experiments -- ones that were injected into the American psyche in the 1980s, in a famous advert by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America. You may remember it. The experiment is simple. Put a rat in a cage, alone, with two water bottles. One is just water. The other is water laced with heroin or cocaine. Almost every time you run this experiment, the rat will become obsessed with the drugged water, and keep coming back for more and more, until it kills itself.

The advert explains: "Only one drug is so addictive, nine out of ten laboratory rats will use it. And use it. And use it. Until dead. It's called cocaine. And it can do the same thing to you."

But in the 1970s, a professor of Psychology in Vancouver called Bruce Alexander noticed something odd about this experiment. The rat is put in the cage all alone. It has nothing to do but take the drugs. What would happen, he wondered, if we tried this differently? So Professor Alexander built Rat Park. It is a lush cage where the rats would have colored balls and the best rat-food and tunnels to scamper down and plenty of friends: everything a rat about town could want. What, Alexander wanted to know, will happen then?

In Rat Park, all the rats obviously tried both water bottles, because they didn't know what was in them. But what happened next was startling.

The rats with good lives didn't like the drugged water. They mostly shunned it, consuming less than a quarter of the drugs the isolated rats used. None of them died. While all the rats who were alone and unhappy became heavy users, none of the rats who had a happy environment did.

At first, I thought this was merely a quirk of rats, until I discovered that there was -- at the same time as the Rat Park experiment -- a helpful human equivalent taking place. It was called the Vietnam War. Time magazine reported using heroin was "as common as chewing gum" among U.S. soldiers, and there is solid evidence to back this up: some 20 percent of U.S. soldiers had become addicted to heroin there, according to a study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry. Many people were understandably terrified; they believed a huge number of addicts were about to head home when the war ended.

But in fact some 95 percent of the addicted soldiers -- according to the same study -- simply stopped. Very few had rehab. They shifted from a terrifying cage back to a pleasant one, so didn't want the drug any more.

Professor Alexander argues this discovery is a profound challenge both to the right-wing view that addiction is a moral failing caused by too much hedonistic partying, and the liberal view that addiction is a disease taking place in a chemically hijacked brain. In fact, he argues, addiction is an adaptation. It's not you. It's your cage.

After the first phase of Rat Park, Professor Alexander then took this test further. He reran the early experiments, where the rats were left alone, and became compulsive users of the drug. He let them use for fifty-seven days -- if anything can hook you, it's that. Then he took them out of isolation, and placed them in Rat Park. He wanted to know, if you fall into that state of addiction, is your brain hijacked, so you can't recover? Do the drugs take you over? What happened is -- again -- striking. The rats seemed to have a few twitches of withdrawal, but they soon stopped their heavy use, and went back to having a normal life. The good cage saved them. (The full references to all the studies I am discussing are in the book.)

When I first learned about this, I was puzzled. How can this be? This new theory is such a radical assault on what we have been told that it felt like it could not be true. But the more scientists I interviewed, and the more I looked at their studies, the more I discovered things that don't seem to make sense -- unless you take account of this new approach.

Here's one example of an experiment that is happening all around you, and may well happen to you one day. If you get run over today and you break your hip, you will probably be given diamorphine, the medical name for heroin. In the hospital around you, there will be plenty of people also given heroin for long periods, for pain relief. The heroin you will get from the doctor will have a much higher purity and potency than the heroin being used by street-addicts, who have to buy from criminals who adulterate it. So if the old theory of addiction is right -- it's the drugs that cause it; they make your body need them -- then it's obvious what should happen. Loads of people should leave the hospital and try to score smack on the streets to meet their habit.

But here's the strange thing: It virtually never happens. As the Canadian doctor Gabor Mate was the first to explain to me, medical users just stop, despite months of use. The same drug, used for the same length of time, turns street-users into desperate addicts and leaves medical patients unaffected.

If you still believe -- as I used to -- that addiction is caused by chemical hooks, this makes no sense. But if you believe Bruce Alexander's theory, the picture falls into place. The street-addict is like the rats in the first cage, isolated, alone, with only one source of solace to turn to. The medical patient is like the rats in the second cage. She is going home to a life where she is surrounded by the people she loves. The drug is the same, but the environment is different.

This gives us an insight that goes much deeper than the need to understand addicts. Professor Peter Cohen argues that human beings have a deep need to bond and form connections. It's how we get our satisfaction. If we can't connect with each other, we will connect with anything we can find -- the whirr of a roulette wheel or the prick of a syringe. He says we should stop talking about 'addiction' altogether, and instead call it 'bonding.' A heroin addict has bonded with heroin because she couldn't bond as fully with anything else.

So the opposite of addiction is not sobriety. It is human connection.

When I learned all this, I found it slowly persuading me, but I still couldn't shake off a nagging doubt. Are these scientists saying chemical hooks make no difference? It was explained to me -- you can become addicted to gambling, and nobody thinks you inject a pack of cards into your veins. You can have all the addiction, and none of the chemical hooks. I went to a Gamblers' Anonymous meeting in Las Vegas (with the permission of everyone present, who knew I was there to observe) and they were as plainly addicted as the cocaine and heroin addicts I have known in my life. Yet there are no chemical hooks on a craps table.

But still, surely, I asked, there is some role for the chemicals? It turns out there is an experiment which gives us the answer to this in quite precise terms, which I learned about in Richard DeGrandpre's book The Cult of Pharmacology.

Everyone agrees cigarette smoking is one of the most addictive processes around. The chemical hooks in tobacco come from a drug inside it called nicotine. So when nicotine patches were developed in the early 1990s, there was a huge surge of optimism -- cigarette smokers could get all of their chemical hooks, without the other filthy (and deadly) effects of cigarette smoking. They would be freed.

But the Office of the Surgeon General has found that just 17.7 percent of cigarette smokers are able to stop using nicotine patches. That's not nothing. If the chemicals drive 17.7 percent of addiction, as this shows, that's still millions of lives ruined globally. But what it reveals again is that the story we have been taught about The Cause of Addiction lying with chemical hooks is, in fact, real, but only a minor part of a much bigger picture.

This has huge implications for the one-hundred-year-old war on drugs. This massive war -- which, as I saw, kills people from the malls of Mexico to the streets of Liverpool -- is based on the claim that we need to physically eradicate a whole array of chemicals because they hijack people's brains and cause addiction. But if drugs aren't the driver of addiction -- if, in fact, it is disconnection that drives addiction -- then this makes no sense.

Ironically, the war on drugs actually increases all those larger drivers of addiction. For example, I went to a prison in Arizona -- 'Tent City' -- where inmates are detained in tiny stone isolation cages ('The Hole') for weeks and weeks on end to punish them for drug use. It is as close to a human recreation of the cages that guaranteed deadly addiction in rats as I can imagine. And when those prisoners get out, they will be unemployable because of their criminal record -- guaranteeing they with be cut off even more. I watched this playing out in the human stories I met across the world.

There is an alternative. You can build a system that is designed to help drug addicts to reconnect with the world -- and so leave behind their addictions.

This isn't theoretical. It is happening. I have seen it. Nearly fifteen years ago, Portugal had one of the worst drug problems in Europe, with 1 percent of the population addicted to heroin. They had tried a drug war, and the problem just kept getting worse. So they decided to do something radically different. They resolved to decriminalize all drugs, and transfer all the money they used to spend on arresting and jailing drug addicts, and spend it instead on reconnecting them -- to their own feelings, and to the wider society. The most crucial step is to get them secure housing, and subsidized jobs so they have a purpose in life, and something to get out of bed for. I watched as they are helped, in warm and welcoming clinics, to learn how to reconnect with their feelings, after years of trauma and stunning them into silence with drugs.

One example I learned about was a group of addicts who were given a loan to set up a removals firm. Suddenly, they were a group, all bonded to each other, and to the society, and responsible for each other's care.

The results of all this are now in. An independent study by the British Journal of Criminology found that since total decriminalization, addiction has fallen, and injecting drug use is down by 50 percent. I'll repeat that: injecting drug use is down by 50 percent. Decriminalization has been such a manifest success that very few people in Portugal want to go back to the old system. The main campaigner against the decriminalization back in 2000 was Joao Figueira, the country's top drug cop. He offered all the dire warnings that we would expect from the Daily Mail or Fox News. But when we sat together in Lisbon, he told me that everything he predicted had not come to pass -- and he now hopes the whole world will follow Portugal's example.

This isn't only relevant to the addicts I love. It is relevant to all of us, because it forces us to think differently about ourselves. Human beings are bonding animals. We need to connect and love. The wisest sentence of the twentieth century was E.M. Forster's -- "only connect." But we have created an environment and a culture that cut us off from connection, or offer only the parody of it offered by the Internet. The rise of addiction is a symptom of a deeper sickness in the way we live -- constantly directing our gaze towards the next shiny object we should buy, rather than the human beings all around us.

The writer George Monbiot has called this "the age of loneliness." We have created human societies where it is easier for people to become cut off from all human connections than ever before. Bruce Alexander -- the creator of Rat Park -- told me that for too long, we have talked exclusively about individual recovery from addiction. We need now to talk about social recovery -- how we all recover, together, from the sickness of isolation that is sinking on us like a thick fog.

But this new evidence isn't just a challenge to us politically. It doesn't just force us to change our minds. It forces us to change our hearts.

Loving an addict is really hard. When I looked at the addicts I love, it was always tempting to follow the tough love advice doled out by reality shows like Intervention -- tell the addict to shape up, or cut them off. Their message is that an addict who won't stop should be shunned. It's the logic of the drug war, imported into our private lives. But in fact, I learned, that will only deepen their addiction -- and you may lose them altogether. I came home determined to tie the addicts in my life closer to me than ever -- to let them know I love them unconditionally, whether they stop, or whether they can't.

When I returned from my long journey, I looked at my ex-boyfriend, in withdrawal, trembling on my spare bed, and I thought about him differently. For a century now, we have been singing war songs about addicts. It occurred to me as I wiped his brow, we should have been singing love songs to them all along.

Johann will be speaking on August 26th in Edinburgh, in early September in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne, and in mid-September in Mexico City. For details of these events go to www.chasingthescream.com.

The full references and sources for all the information cited in this article can be found in the book's extensive end-notes.

If you would like more updates on the book and this issue, you can like the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/chasingthescream

Bron: www.huffingtonpost.com
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  vrijdag 5 februari 2016 @ 14:33:46 #141
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_159679358
quote:
quote:
Een lek bij de politie heeft het onderzoek tegen de van moord en drugshandel verdachte Miloud B. uit Bergen op Zoom mogelijk beschadigd. Dit constateert BN De Stem uit verslagen van politieverhoren.
Mexicooooo, MexiiiiIIIIIcooooo! *O* *O* *O*
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  vrijdag 5 februari 2016 @ 23:34:36 #142
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_159692013
quote:
Plan Colombia's mixed legacy: coca thrives but peace deal may be on horizon | World news | The Guardian

This week, Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos will visit the White House to seek increased aid and celebrate the successes of the US-backed military programme. But Plan Colombia has had mixed results: ‘Bad weeds never die’

This week, Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos will visit the White House to seek increased aid and celebrate the successes of the US-backed military programme. But Plan Colombia has had mixed results: ‘Bad weeds never die’

In the lowlands surrounding the town of La Hormiga, coca was once king.

Fields of the bright green bushes stretched to the horizon in every direction and farmers were flush with cash. The surrounding municipality was the one with the most coca crops in the country that produced the most cocaine in the world.

This was “ground zero” for Plan Colombia, a massive multipronged effort funded by nearly $10bn in US aid that started in 2000. The plan aimed to recover a country that was in the grips of drug mafias, leftist guerrillas and rightwing militias, and whose institutions malfunctioned and economy faltered.

Fifteen years on, cattle graze where coca once grew by the side of the road and cacao is more easily spotted than coca. Farmer Fulgencio Quenguan traded his coca for fish farming. “I don’t make as much money but no one can take this from me,” he says as he scales a few tilapias for a customer in his own shop in town.

Today, Colombia is a country transformed. It has one of Latin America’s healthiest economies, violence has dropped dramatically and the country is on the verge of ending more than half a century of internal conflict with Farc guerrillas who appear prepared to sign a peace deal in coming months.

At a White House ceremony on Thursday, Barack Obama and Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos will make a pitch for increased aid for Colombia once a peace accord is signed, while celebrating the successes of Plan Colombia.

But here in Putumayo, Plan Colombia has a mixed legacy.

Plan Colombia’s first target was to reduce the amount of coca in Putumayo by half in five years. It did that and more. The total area planted with coca dropped from just over 66,000 hectares (163,020 acres) in 2000 to less than 9,000 hectares (22,230 acres) in 2005.

But the crops and related violence moved elsewhere in the country, and after some 4m hectares (9.88m acres) of coca were sprayed with herbicide in 15 years, coca production is on the rise again and Colombia remains the world’s top producer of coca and cocaine.

“Coca is stubborn,” says farmer Quenguan. He hasn’t grown coca on his 12-hectare (30-acre) farm in the village of Los Laureles for more than 10 years. But there’s one bush that, no matter how many times it has been sprayed with herbicide, no matter how many times he cuts it down, keeps popping back up.

“Bad weeds never die,” he says, reciting an age-old Spanish adage.

Plan Colombia has become a catch-all phrase for several different strategies. It is most widely understood as a US aid package to Colombia which has totaled about $10bn since 2000. More broadly, it was a joint US-Colombian strategy to strengthen the military, state institutions and the economy.

“There is this idea that it is some vast orchestrated project but Plan Colombia doesn’t exist as such,” says Winifred Tate, author of Drugs, Thugs and Diplomats, a study of US policymaking in Colombia. Rather, it has been a series of programs whose emphasis has expanded and recalibrated over the years, she says.

Initially, Plan Colombia was described as a counter-narcotics and military strengthening strategy and the focus was on massive drug crop spraying, building up military capacity and offering some incentives to coca growers to switch to legal crops.

Andres Pastrana, the Colombian president under whom Plan Colombia began, says the strategy was a turning point in the country’s decades-old war. “Before the Plan, security forces were on the defensive and on the verge of military defeat [by guerrillas],” he told the Guardian in an emailed response to questions.

Afraid of getting bogged down in a Vietnam-style quagmire, Congress initially restricted the use of donated helicopters and other hardware strictly to fighting drug production and trafficking. A battalion of 3,000 men trained by US special forces could not be used to combat the guerrillas or paramilitaries unless their targets were clearly protecting drug labs or coca fields.

“Those limitations ... on the use of Plan Colombia caused (operational) problems,” said Pastrana, who will also be at the White House ceremony.

That ended after the 9/11 attacks in New York and Washington, when the US became openly engaged in fighting “narco-terrorism” in Colombia. That is where Plan Colombia did succeed: in helping the Colombian government take control – in some areas for the first time – of its territory, fighting back guerrillas to mountain and jungle redoubts and driving them to begin peace negotiations with the government in 2012.

But the security gains came at a high cost. In the first three years of the plan, 1.8 million people were forcibly displaced from their homes as violence and aerial spraying peaked. The military, which received the bulk of US aid, was embroiled in a scandal in which soldiers executed as many as 3,000 civilians and presented them as combat deaths to inflate the body count.

For Quenguan, Plan Colombia is synonymous with aggressive crop dusters dumping herbicide on his crops and weak offers of alternative development programs. Until 2004, his entire farm was planted with coca. Every six months, he would harvest 17,000kg of coca leaf, which he would then process into coca paste. With every harvest, he would make $15,000 profit, even after the cut he had to give Farc guerrillas who controlled the area.

Plan Colombia was heralded by a brutal incursion of rightwing paramilitaries – often working in collusion with military forces against suspected or real members of the guerrillas – in which hundreds were killed or disappeared.

“First came the paramilitaries and then came the fumigation,” Quenguan says. “The fumigations ruined our food crops but the coca would just grow back stronger.” As the herbicide rained down on their farms, NGO’s with Plan Colombia cash offered coca growers were offered incentives to substitute coca for legal crops. They were encouraged to plant yucca, which would be processed in a new drying plant. The yucca flour would then be bought up by a new animal feed plant.

Today, the equipment at the yucca plant is silent and rusting. All that’s left of the animal feed factory is a vast empty shell of a building in the town of Orito, where a plaque offers gratitude to the US development agency for its donation to build the plant that would “generate for our farmers a legal economy”.

Miguel Alirio Rosero, the town’s mayor at the time the plant was built, says it cost $3m to build and was in operation only eight months before being abandoned. “There was a certain degree of improvisation in the design of the [alternative development] projects,” Rosero says.

“Millions of dollars just melted away in that,” said Tate.

Later programs seem to have got it better and convinced Quenguan to pull out of coca. In 2004, he signed onto a Colombian government program – with Plan Colombia funds – that allowed him to save enough to uproot his coca and dig three artificial ponds on his farm to cultivate fish. Today, he makes $250 a month selling fish at a small shop in town.

But hundreds of farmers continue to plant coca throughout the country. In 2014, the last year for which figures are available, Colombia had 113,000 hectares (279,110 acres) of coca, only slightly below 1999 figures.

Santos has said that warrants a change in drug policy. “It’s like being on a stationary bicycle. We make a huge effort, we sweat, and we end up in the same place,” he told a recent forum in Bogota.

In October, Colombia halted its aerial spraying program after a World Health Organisation body found the herbicide used, glyphosate, was probably carcinogenic. The United States balked at dropping the spraying program but said it would respect Colombia’s decision.

Related: Colombians dare to hope as end of decades-long civil war appears in sight

As part of peace negotiations, Farc guerrillas – who have lived off taxing the drug trade – have agreed to support the government’s anti-narcotics strategy, which it says will be more holistic than past policies, investing heavily in rural development, including badly needed roads, while going after big time traffickers rather than coca growers.

“We must stop confronting the farmers and turn them into our allies,” said Eduardo Díaz, head of the new agency that will lead crop substitution efforts.

Aside from celebrating Plan Colombia, Santos’s Washington agenda also includes making the case among congressional leaders for increased US aid in a likely post-conflict scenario, including regional development and demobilization and reintegration of Farc fighters as well as de-mining. Currently, US aid to Colombia stands at about $300m a year. Obama plans to seek an increase in aid for Colombia in the next budget.

A senior US official said the Obama administration would seek an additional $100m to back the peace effort. “We were with them in a time of war; we should be with them at a time of peace,” the official said.

Bron: www.theguardian.com
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zaterdag 6 februari 2016 @ 10:59:50 #143
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_159698669
Niet iedereen is bestand tegen Mexicaanse toestanden:

quote:
Officier die doodsbedreiging verzon: ik bezweek door de stress | NOS

Het Openbaar Ministerie is een strafrechtelijk onderzoek begonnen tegen officier van justitie Lucas van Delft, van het arrondissement Zeeland West-Brabant. De man zou volgens NRC doodsbedreigingen aan zijn adres hebben verzonnen. Hij was belast met de bestrijding van zware georganiseerde misdaad.

De aanklager zou in november afgelopen jaar onder een valse naam hebben gemeld dat mensen van plan waren hem te liquideren. Van Delft is voorlopig geschorst. Formeel verdenkt justitie hem van het delict ambtsdwang waar een straf van maximaal vier jaar cel op staat.

In NRC Handelsblad erkent Van Delft dat hij fouten heeft gemaakt. Hij zegt dat hij de melding deed omdat hij niet meer tegen de stress kon die zijn werk met zich meebracht.

Zo'n vijftien jaar geleden kwam hij te werken in een team dat de productie van synthetische drugs bestreed. "Ik zag het enorme geweld dat ze in het milieu gebruikten: liquidaties."

Van Delft werd sinds begin 2015 herhaaldelijk echt met de dood bedreigd, zegt hij. "Op verschillende momenten kwam er informatie uit het drugsmilieu dat ik geliquideerd zou worden of ernstig gevaar liep. Dat trok een zware wissel op mij.”

De knop ging om toen hij in november vorig jaar onderzoek moest doen naar een aanslag op een 63-jarige man in Breda. "Ik stond tussen de stukken vlees van het uit elkaar gespatte slachtoffer. Toen dacht ik: dat gaat mij dus ook overkomen. Dat heeft me over de rand geduwd."

De volgende dag tipte hij de politie onder een valse naam. Hij zei dat Van Delft uit de weg zou worden geruimd. "Ik wilde zo nog meer veiligheid voor mezelf creëren."

Van Delft werd 2,5 maanden ondergebracht op geheime locaties. Ook zijn gezin dook onder.

Van Delft zegt dat hij zelf van een bron uit het criminele circuit informatie kreeg dat er een liquidatie op hem aanstaande was. Tegenover collega's wil hij de identiteit van de bron niet prijsgeven, omdat deze dan in levensgevaar zou komen. Het OM zegt daarom niet te kunnen beoordelen of de bron wel echt bestaat.

De geschorste officier erkent in het interview dat hij fouten heeft gemaakt. " Ik bied mijn excuses daarvoor aan." Hij zegt te hopen op een terugkeer bij het OM "omdat ik die organisatie een warm hart toedraag".

Bron: nos.nl
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zaterdag 6 februari 2016 @ 12:06:00 #144
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_159699864
quote:
quote:
Inlichtingendiensten en Europol beschikken over sterke aanwijzingen dat het merendeel van de 500-eurobiljetten zich in criminele circuits ophoudt. In 2006 bevond maar liefst een kwart van alle 500-eurobiljetten zich in Spanje, dat Zuid-Amerikaanse drugskartels als toegangspoort naar Europa gebruiken. Narcostaat Colombia exporteert extreem veel 500-eurobankbiljetten, terwijl er jaarlijks maar een paar duizend legaal het land binnenkomen. Het Britse agentschap dat belast is met het onderzoek naar de georganiseerde misdaad concludeerde in 2010 dat 90 procent van de 'Bin Ladens' in handen van criminelen is. Naar aanleiding van die bevinding nam het Verenigd Koninkrijk het biljet in 2010 uit circulatie (hoewel het daar nog steeds een geldig betaalmiddel is).
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zondag 7 februari 2016 @ 18:06:44 #145
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_159731913
quote:
quote:
Johan van Laarhoven, die in Thailand een gevangenisstraf van 20 jaar uitzit, gaat aangifte doen tegen de geschorste officier van justitie Lucas van Delft. 'Wegens schending van de geheimhoudingsplicht en smaad', licht zijn advocaat Gerard Spong toe.
quote:
'Mijn cliënt heeft uit de krant moeten vernemen dat hij wordt beschuldigd van belastingontduiking. Dat hij dus een fiscaal misdrijf heeft begaan', zegt Spong. 'Dat onderzoek loopt nog. Er ligt nog niet eens een dagvaarding. Dan gaat een aanklager, zeker een die geschorst is, ver over de schreef.' Spong hoopt op zeer korte termijn over het spreekverbod te overleggen met de hoofdofficier van justitie. 'Van mij mag Van Delft alle mogelijke onzin uitkramen, maar niet over mijn cliënt.'
Free Assange! Hack the Planet
[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  donderdag 11 februari 2016 @ 11:21:32 #146
156695 Tism
Sinds 24, Aug, 2006
pi_159830806
quote:
Hiv-patiënt Hillebrand mag zijn eigen wiet kweken

Hiv-patiënt Rudolf Hillebrand mag wiet kweken om de drugs zelf te gebruiken. De rechtbank stelde de Amsterdammer vandaag in het gelijk. "Ik hoop dat andere patiënten door de uitspraak ook hun eigen plantjes mogen kweken", reageert hij.

Hillebrand is 'erg blij' dat hij zijn eigen wiet mag blijven kweken. "Er valt heel wat van me af." Hij raakte tijdens zijn werk als verpleger besmet door een gebruikte naald en moet sindsdien een cocktail aan medicijnen slikken om het virus te onderdrukken.

Zonder wiet geen medicijnen

Zonder wiet is hij daar te misselijk voor, maar wiet uit een coffeeshop is te duur en wordt niet vergoed door de verzekering. Wiet die hij bij de apotheek kan halen, werkt niet goed bij hem. Daarom is hij zijn eigen plantjes gaan kweken, maar dat leverde hem al meerdere invallen op. Een stressvolle situatie, vertelde hij gisteren in onze uitzending, die ertoe leidde dat hij zich vandaag in de rechtbank moest verdedigen.

Maar hij kreeg gelijk. Volgens de rechtbank is aangetoond dat de cannabis die hij via de apotheek kan krijgen niet werkt, en zijn er voor hem geen redelijke alternatieven om aan de wiet te komen. De rechtbank oordeelde daarnaast dat 'het gebruik van een specifieke soort cannabis voor verdachte van levensbelang is'.

Alleen voor Hillebrand

Dat betekent niet dat iedere patiënt nu zelf wiet mag gaan kweken. Volgens de rechtbank is er in het geval van Hillebrand sprake van een uitzonderlijke situatie en wordt hij daarom niet langer vervolgd. Maar Hillebrand hoopt wel dat de uitspraak ook zijn lotgenoten helpt. "Ik hoop dat de politiek met deze uitspraak aan de slag gaat."
....nachtrijder...Nachtzwelgje!
  donderdag 11 februari 2016 @ 13:18:43 #147
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_159833542
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  vrijdag 12 februari 2016 @ 15:08:20 #148
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_159860783
quote:
Tim Farron calls for legalisation of cannabis for recreational use | Society | The Guardian

Lib Dem is first main party leader to propose decriminalisation of drug for recreational use ahead of expert report on ‘legal cannabis market’


Tim Farron is to become the first leader of one of Britain’s main political parties to call for the legalisation of cannabis for recreational use after declaring that the war on drugs is over.

In one of the most significant moves by the Liberal Democrats since they were reduced to a shell of just eight MPs at the election, Farron will call on the government to develop a framework for the legal regulation of cannabis.

Farron is to endorse a motion at spring conference which calls on the party to extend its existing support for the legalisation of cannabis for medicinal use to recreational use.

The motion, to be tabled by the former health minister Norman Lamb, will be debated after the release of the findings of an expert panel appointed by the Lib Dems to examine how a legal market for the use of cannabis would work in the UK. The panel has found that the legal use of cannabis could save the exchequer more than £1bn a year. It could generate between £400m-£900m in tax revenues and could save £200m-£300m in the criminal justice system.

The Lib Dem leader said: “The Liberal Democrats will be releasing a report in due course that lays out the case for a legalised market for sales of cannabis. I personally believe the war on drugs is over. We must move from making this a legal issue to one of health.

“The prime minister used to agree with me on the need for drug reform. It’s time he rediscovered his backbone and made the case again.”

Related: A new deal on drugs is as vital as a climate change accord | Nick Clegg and Bohuslav Sobotka

Farron and Lamb, the two rivals for the Lib Dem leadership after Nick Clegg stood down when the party lost 49 of its 57 MPs, showed that they wanted to act in a radical way when they appointed the expert panel last October. The panel, whose members included the former chairman of the government’s advisory committee on the misuse of drugs, Prof David Nutt, was charged with examining how a legal market for cannabis could work in Britain.

The panel looked at evidence from Colorado and Washington State where the use of cannabis has been legal since 2012. Its work has also been backed by Lord Paddick, the Lib Dem peer and former deputy assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan police, who led a pilot scheme in Lambeth which effectively decriminalised cannabis for personal use over a 12-month period.

Farron’s remarks about the prime minister are a reference to his support as a young MP for a report by the Commons home affairs select committee, of which he was a member. This called for the prescribing of heroin and the provision of safe injecting rooms.

The future prime minister, who said that the lives of friends and people close to him had been ruined by drugs, told MPs in December 2002: “When I first heard about the concept of safe injecting rooms, I hated it. I thought the concept of the state providing a room for someone to inject something into their veins awful, but I listened to the arguments ... People who live in inner-city areas whose children have to step over drug paraphernalia in the streets and on housing estates deserve a break from heroin use in their communities. That takes me back to the point that safe injecting rooms at least get heroin users to a place where they can be contacted by the treatment agencies so that the work of trying to get them off drugs can start.”

As prime minister, Cameron has ruled out the legalisation of all drugs.

Bron: www.theguardian.com
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  vrijdag 12 februari 2016 @ 16:28:59 #149
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_159862665
quote:
Families of Americans killed by Mexican cartels sue HSBC for laundering billions | Business | The Guardian

Four families are suing the British banking giant for allegedly allowing the gangs to launder billions, providing ‘systematic material support to the cartels’

Four families of Americans killed by Mexican drug cartels are suing British banking giant HSBC for allegedly contributing to their deaths by allowing the gangs to launder billions of dollars.

It is a fresh setback for the bank, whose operations in Mexico have been under scrutiny by US authorities for years. The bank processed at least $881m in cash for Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, regarded as the most powerful drug gang in the world, according to US authorities.

The suit claims that HSBC “knowingly provided continuous and systematic material support to the cartels and their acts of terrorism by laundering billions of dollars for them. As a proximate result of HSBC’s material support to the Mexican drug cartels, numerous lives, including those of the Plaintiffs, have been destroyed”.

It was filed on Tuesday in a federal court in the Texas border city of Brownsville. Rob Sherman, an HSBC spokesman, said in a statement that the bank intends to “vigorously” defend itself against the claims and is “committed to combating financial crime and [has] taken strict steps to help keep bad actors out of the global financial system”.

In 2012 a US Senate report described the bank as having a “pervasively polluted” culture that saw it allow drug kingpins, rogue nations and terrorists to move hundreds of millions of dollars around the financial system. US prosecutors said that deposits at Mexican branches were so frequent that drug traffickers used boxes that were designed to fit perfectly through the teller windows. HSBC apologised, pledged to reform its procedures and paid a $1.9bn settlement to US authorities.

On Tuesday a judge in New York said he would probably delay the release of a report by a federal monitor appointed to examine the level of HSBC’s compliance since that agreement.

The lawsuit graphically details several murders at the hands of some of Mexico’s most brutal cartels.

In one incident, Lesley Redelfs, a US consulate employee in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juárez, and her husband, Arthur, a detention officer in El Paso, Texas, were ambushed after leaving a children’s birthday party in Juárez. Their SUV was sprayed with bullets and Lesley Redelfs, who was four months pregnant, was shot twice in the head. Her husband was gunned down as he tried to reach the border and their seven-month old daughter was found screaming in the back seat.

Two months later, in May 2010, as Rafael Morales Valencia stepped outside a church after his wedding ceremony, assassins invaded the courtyard, forced the wedding party to the ground then kidnapped the groom, his uncle and his brother. They were transported to a safe house, tortured and asphyxiated by duct tape wrapped around their faces.

“Driven by its desire to expand its business and increase revenue, HSBC intentionally implemented criminally deficient anti-money laundering programs, processes and controls, which were designed to guarantee that billions of dollars would go through its banks undetected or unreported. And that is exactly what happened,” the lawsuit alleges, claiming that due diligence processes at Mexican bank branches were non-existent or fabricated, allowing suspicious individuals to deposit hundreds of thousands or even millions of US dollars.

The suit says that money laundering is essential to the cartels’ prosperity because “without the ability to place, layer, and integrate their illicit proceeds into the global financial network, the cartels’ ability to corrupt law enforcement and public officials, and acquire personnel, weapons, ammunition, vehicles, planes, communication devices, raw materials for drug production, and all other instrumentalities essential to their operations would be substantially impeded”.

It describes the cartels’ activities as “terrorist acts” in a bid to argue that HSBC is liable under the US Anti-Terrorism Act, which allows survivors of terrorist acts to demand damages from organisations that provide material support to terrorists. HSBC and several other banks are the subjects of a lawsuit from US soldiers accusing them of financing terrorists who attacked American troops in Iraq.

Arab Bank, headquartered in Jordan, was successfully sued by US citizens who brought claims under the Anti-Terrorism Act. It was accused of facilitating Hamas attacks.

However, unlike Hamas, the Mexican groups are not designated as terrorist organisations by the US State Department. A 2011 attempt by a Texas congressman to put the top cartels on the list faltered amid concerns it would damage America’s relationship with Mexico and arguments that the groups do not fit the definition of terrorism as they are motivated by money rather than political ideology.

Bron: www.theguardian.com
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  zaterdag 13 februari 2016 @ 11:53:02 #150
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_159882361
quote:
Mexico's deadliest prison riot underlines power of cartels inside | World news | The Guardian

Mexico’s deadliest prison brawl in many years was a bloodbath in which inmates attacked each other with hammers, cudgels and makeshift blades, authorities said on Friday, underlining yet again the power that drug cartels wield inside many of the country’s lockups.

Jaime Rodríguez, governor of the northern state of Nuevo Leon, said 60 hammers, 86 knives and 120 shivs were used in the previous day’s fighting at the Topo Chico prison in Monterrey, where 49 inmates were hacked, beaten or burned to death, and a dozen more injured.

At least 40 of the victims “died from wounds from stabbing and cutting weapons, blows from hammers and clubs”, Rodríguez said at a news conference.

Authorities also seized various kinds of contraband items from marijuana and cocaine to televisions and USB memory sticks.

A dispute between rival factions of the Zetas cartel was believed to be behind the violence.

“What we have to see as a reality in the entire penitentiary system is that there is self-rule” by the inmates, Rodríguez said. “All this corruption inside the prison creates the conditions we have today.”

He acknowledged that prisoners effectively lord over the facility and that there were not enough guards watching them: “Nobody wants to be a guard,” he said, because of the meager pay.

About half the inmates at Topo Chico have been sentenced for minor offenses or are suspects still awaiting trial. Nevertheless they are housed in the prison’s overcrowded general population alongside many of the country’s most hardened killers.

One of them was Raymundo González Hernández, a 23-year-old who is accused of kidnapping but whose trial is still pending. He was not among those listed as wounded during the riot, but his cousin said he was covered by bruises and welts when she was allowed inside to see him.

“Both his eyes were practically closed from all the hits they gave him,” Cynthia Hernandez said.

“He couldn’t even speak, he just went like this,” she added, moving her head from side to side.

The harsh conditions inside the lockup were a familiar story for Victoria Casas Gutiérrez, a cleaning lady who waited for hours for news of her 21-year-old son, Santiago Garza Casas, who was facing trial for allegedly acting as a lookout for a criminal gang.

Garza was sent to Topo Chico in September for missing a parole appointment and immediately thrown in with a prison population that included convicted murderers.

With their gang ties and access to drugs and guns, many say the Zetas and Gulf cartels run the prison.

“They charge taxes, and if the relatives don’t bring a certain amount ... they beat them,” Casas Gutiérrez said, adding that the payments can run into the thousands of pesos. “Sometimes we have to sell our homes.”

“There is vice inside and everything that is in there is their fault, the authorities,” she said.

Casas Gutiérrez’s son was not on the list of the dead, but some bodies were so badly burned it may take days to identify them.

No escapes were reported in the clash, which took place on the eve of Pope Francis’ arrival in Mexico, a visit that is scheduled to include a trip next week to another prison in the border city of Ciudad Juárez.

The fighting began around midnight with prisoners setting fire to a storage area, sending flames and smoke billowing into the sky.

The clash was initially said to be between two gangs led by a member of the infamous Zetas drug cartel, Juan Pedro Zaldívar Farias, also known as “Z-27”, and Jorge Ivan Hernández Cantú, who has been identified by Mexican media as a Gulf cartel figure.

But National Security Commissioner Renato Sales Heredia said later that authorities believe the fight was between two factions of the Zetas for control of the prison.

Related: 'A new era for Juárez': pope's visit hails optimism for a city ravaged by drug wars

Governor Rodríguez blamed the violence on “the old, outdated, obsolete system” under which Mexican prisons are run and suggested after having visited the United States that his country may have to move to US-style, privately operated prisons.

“We have to think about efforts with private initiative,” he said. “We have not been doing rehabilitation work.”

He also criticized judicial reforms that have given inmates greater ability to appeal transfer orders that could send them farther from their hometowns. Zaldívar had successfully fought to be moved to Topo Chico, while Hernandez had won a similar appeal against transferring him elsewhere.

“Basically this is creating the conflicts in the prisons,” Rodríguez said.

Bron: www.theguardian.com
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  zaterdag 13 februari 2016 @ 23:26:14 #151
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_159898232
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  maandag 15 februari 2016 @ 11:39:00 #152
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_159931297
quote:
OM maakt zich zorgen over corruptie in Rotterdamse haven | NOS

Medewerkers van containerbedrijven, vrachtwagenchauffeurs en ook douanemedewerkers zijn een onmisbare schakel geworden bij de drugssmokkel in de Rotterdamse haven. Criminelen hebben hen nodig om de drugs van de haventerreinen af te krijgen en zijn bereid om daarvoor flink te betalen. Vandaag start een campagne tegen corruptie in de haven.

Om een haventerrein op te komen is tegenwoordig een pasje nodig. En dan moet je vervolgens nog weten waar de container met drugs staat en wat de code is om hem te openen. Vandaar dat drugscriminelen steeds meer de hulp inroepen van havenwerkers, tegen forse betalingen.

"Criminelen betalen wel vijfduizend euro voor het lenen van een pasje. Maar we kennen ook bedragen van een veelvoud daarvan, van zeventigduizend euro", zegt officier van justitie Loes van der Wees. Havenwerkers worden volgens haar in cafés in Rotterdam-Zuid door criminelen benaderd.

Het klinkt als een aantrekkelijke manier om snel veel geld bij te verdienen, maar eenmaal in handen van criminelen is er geen weg terug, waarschuwt Van der Wees. "Als je in hun tentakels verstrikt bent geraakt, kan je niet terug. Het is niet zo dat je na een of twee keer kan zeggen: ik doe het niet meer. We kennen de verhalen van mensen die wilden stoppen en vervolgens werden bedreigd."

Uiteindelijk is het risico groot om tegen de lamp te lopen. Afgelopen week stond een aantal medewerkers van overslagbedrijf ECT terecht. Het OM eiste celstraffen tot negen jaar. Eerder werden havenwerkers al veroordeeld totcelstraffen.

Criminelen werven niet alleen gewone havenwerkers. Ook andere mensen die toegang hebben tot informatie zijn interessant. Wanneer een container binnenkomt en waar die komt te staan is cruciale informatie voor criminelen. Helemaal bovenaan het wensenlijstje van criminelen staan medewerkers van opsporingsdiensten zoals de douane.

Dat de corruptie zelfs op dat niveau is doorgedrongen, bleek vorig jaar. Toen werd douanier Gerrit G. opgepakt en uit zijn dossier blijkt dat hij waarschijnlijk niet de enige 'platte' douanier is.

Hij zorgde ervoor dat containers met cocaïne niet werden gecontroleerd. Zijn loon: een percentage van de waarde van de drugs. Bij hem huis vond de politie in sporttassen bijna een miljoen euro aan bankbiljetten. Dit soort bedragen zijn volgens bronnen in het criminele milieu niet uitzonderlijk.

"Iemand die camerabeelden wist, krijgt 15.000 tot 20.000 euro. Iemand die een container op een bepaalde plaats zet: een ton. Maar zo iemand als de corrupte douanier krijgt tonnen per transport. Deze man heeft in totaal miljoenen verdiend, aldus de bron.

Hoe omvangrijk de corruptie in de Rotterdamse haven is, weet het OM niet. Ook niet hoeveel drugs er via de haven wordt gesmokkeld. "We pakken ieder jaar duizenden kilo's. Maar het is niet raar te veronderstellen dat een veelvoud daarvan wel doorgaat", zegt Van der Wees. Volgens bronnen in het criminele milieu staan er tegen elk onderschept drugstransport vier tot vijf geslaagde.

Een simpel rekensommetje leert dan dat er tientallen omgekochte havenwerkers betrokken moeten zijn bij de drugssmokkel. Dat wordt ook bevestigd door de bronnen in het criminele milieu. "Iedere organisatie heeft zo zijn eigen platte mensen in de haven. Dat is al jaren bekend", aldus de bron.

Overigens zijn havenwerkers niet alleen bij drugssmokkel betrokken. Ook bij de diefstal van waardevolle ladingen en mensensmokkel zijn ze onmisbaar voor criminelen. Het OM maakt zich zorgen over de verschuiving van mensensmokkel van havens in België en Frankrijk naar Rotterdam. '

"We zien al signalen dat dit gebeurt", zegt Van der Wees. Met de gezamenlijke campagne willen het OM, de gemeente en de havenbedrijven iedereen in de haven oproepen om corruptie te melden, desnoods anoniem. Burgemeester Ahmed Aboutaleb geeft vanmiddag het startsein voor de campagne.

Bron: nos.nl
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  maandag 15 februari 2016 @ 11:48:55 #153
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_159931469
quote:
Hij is zelf de grootse dealer. Religie is buitengewoon verslavend, heeft grote persoonlijke en maatschappelijke effecten, en zijn mensen heek rijk van geworden en oorlogen om gevoerd.
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  maandag 15 februari 2016 @ 16:57:14 #154
445752 broodjepindakaashagelslag
Ik blaf niet maar ik bijt
pi_159939306
Australië doet drugsvangst met straatwaarde van 793 miljoen

quote:
De Australische autoriteiten hebben voor omgerekend 793 miljoen euro aan vloeibare methamfetamine onderschept. Niet eerder zou in het land zo'n grote hoeveelheid 'ice', de bijnaam voor de vloeibare drug, in beslag zijn genomen.

Agenten vonden de drugs op meerdere plekken in Sydney. De vloeibare methamfetamine zat verstopt in beha-vullingen en kunstobjecten. Methamfetamine is een zwaar verslavende en populaire harddrug. Vier Chinezen zijn opgepakt en worden vervolgd voor hun rol bij het importeren en produceren van 720 liter van de drug. De autoriteiten hebben ook twee kilo van de gekristalliseerde vorm van de drug in beslag genomen, aldus een commandant van de federale politie tegen persbureau AP.

De drugs konden worden opgespoord door een nieuwe samenwerking tussen de Australische federale politie en China's nationale commissie voor verdovende middelen. De Australische en Chinese organisaties hebben het gezamenlijk comité vorig jaar november speciaal opgericht om de handel in 'ice' te controleren.

'Deze inbeslagname is het resultaat van gezamenlijke acties tegen de georganiseerde misdaad', aldus de Australische minister van Justitie, Michael Keenan.

De vier opgepakte mannen zullen volgende week voor de rechtbank in Sydney moeten verschijnen voor het importeren en produceren van de illegale drugs. De mannen worden mogelijk veroordeeld tot een levenslange gevangenisstraf
Its hard to win an argument against a smart person, but it's damn near impossible to win an argument against a stupid person
  dinsdag 16 februari 2016 @ 16:41:07 #155
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_159967041
quote:
Deze radicale drugsprofessor vindt verslaving flauwekul

Verslaving? Onzin, stelt drugsprofessor Peter Cohen. Drugs verdienen eenzelfde behandeling als wintersport, relaties en mooie muziek: leuke ervaringen waar je soms even bij op moet letten. Geldt dat wel voor iedereen? En alle drugs?
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  woensdag 17 februari 2016 @ 22:51:03 #156
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_160006096
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zaterdag 20 februari 2016 @ 20:59:05 #157
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_160076529
quote:
quote:
Economics points to a fundamental mistake in the war on drugs. Most of the money spent tackling narcotics is directed toward disrupting supply—by uprooting coca bushes, battling cartels, locking up dealers and so on. In fact, focusing on demand would be more effective.

Demand for drugs is inelastic—that is, when prices rise, people cut their consumption relatively little. (Given that most banned drugs are addictive, this isn’t surprising.) So even when governments can drive up prices, dealers continue to sell almost as much as they did before—only at higher prices, meaning that the value of the criminal market increases. Reducing demand, by contrast, triggers a fall in both the amount consumed and the price paid, cutting into the criminal market on two fronts.

Demand-side interventions are not only more effective, they’re also considerably cheaper than playing about with helicopters in the Andes. A dollar spent on drug education in U.S. schools cuts cocaine consumption by twice as much as spending that dollar on reducing supply in South America; spending it on treatment for addicts reduces it by 10 times as much. Rehab programs for prescription-painkiller users might seem costly, but they prevent those people from slipping into the colossally more expensive problem of heroin addiction. Where demand cannot be dampened, it can be redirected toward a legal source, as a few U.S. states have done with marijuana—a development that has inflicted bigger losses on the cartels than any supply-disruption policy.
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  maandag 22 februari 2016 @ 13:15:22 #158
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_160116008
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  maandag 22 februari 2016 @ 13:55:51 #159
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_160117020
quote:
'Onderzoek naar 43 vermiste Mexicaanse studenten wordt gehinderd' | Buitenland | de Volkskrant

Bij het onderzoek naar een alternatieve verklaring ondervinden de internationale experts naar eigen zeggen grote hinder. Zo mochten ze er niet bij zijn toen de militairen die op de betreffende avond ter plaatse waren hun ervaringen deelden. Ook hebben zij video's die mogelijk interessante informatie bevatten niet gekregen.

Bron: www.volkskrant.nl
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  dinsdag 23 februari 2016 @ 09:25:28 #160
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_160139234
quote:
'Meer Indonesische alcoholdoden door alcoholverbod' | NOS

Het ziet eruit als koffie in een zakje, maar het is vele malen sterker. 'Oplosan', is een mengsel van alcohol, koffiemelk, een smaakje naar keuze en honing. Het kan worden aangelengd met methanol, spiritus of zelfs muggenverdelger als een klant het alcoholpercentage van 40 procent niet voldoende vindt.

Het goedje wordt in Indonesië op straat verkocht om het alcoholverbod in winkels te omzeilen. Soms met desastreuze gevolgen. In Yogyakarta overleden onlangs 26 studenten in een weekend na het drinken van verkeerd gemengde 'oplosan'.

In januari 2015 werd van de ene op de andere dag de verkoop van alcohol in buurtwinkels en kleine strandtenten verboden. Dat verbod kostte Heineken-dochter Bintang het afgelopen jaar al zo'n 40 procent aan omzet en de onderneming moest de bouw van een nieuwe fabriek stilleggen.

Bier is nu alleen nog te koop in grote supermarkten en in café's De gemiddelde Indonesiër komt daar niet, dus die moet zijn toevlucht nemen tot de illegaal gestookte alcohol, de 'oplosan'.

In het parlement ligt nu een wetsontwerp klaar waarmee alcohol in Indonesië helemaal verboden wordt. Michael Chang, de topman van Multi Bintang probeert het parlement op andere gedachten te brengen. "Het probleem in Indonesië is de illegale alcohol, niet de legale", zegt hij.

Een verbod op bier zal volgens hem niet helpen. "Integendeel. De geschiedenis leert dat een verbod op alcohol automatisch leidt tot een toename van illegale alcohol. Het beste voorbeeld daarvan is de drooglegging in de jaren 30 in Amerika."

Volgens de parlementariër die de wet heeft ingediend, horen Indonesiërs helemaal niet te drinken. "Dat is een kwestie van geloof. 98 procent van de bevolking is gelovig en alle godsdiensten verbieden alcoholmisbruik."

Ook moet de jeugd beschermd worden tegen de gevolgen van alcohol. In Indonesië heeft 0,12 procent van de bevolking onder de 18 jaar ooit alcohol geproefd. Een heel laag percentage, maar op een bevolking van 250 miljoen mensen is dat toch een grote groep.

"Andere landen zouden voor zo'n cijfer hun handen dichtknijpen, maar de indieners van de wet noemen het een alcohol-noodtoestand", zegt Indonesië-correspondent Michel Maas. "Dus verbieden ze bier terwijl het echte gevaar, de 'oplosan', de markt overspoelt. 26 doden verandert daar niets aan."

Bron: nos.nl
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  dinsdag 23 februari 2016 @ 14:48:32 #161
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_160147096
quote:
Grote politie-inval Eindhoven: 69 panden in beslag genomen | NOS

De politie heeft vanochtend een inval gedaan in een villa in Eindhoven. Het is onderdeel van een groot witwasonderzoek naar crimineel verkregen vermogen. Volgens Omroep Brabant is er beslag gelegd op 69 panden in Eindhoven en Helmond.

Behalve bij de villa, deed de politie ook onderzoek op acht andere locaties: zes in Eindhoven, één in Uden en één in Maastricht. De hoofdverdachte is een 42-jarige man uit Eindhoven.

Er werkten 110 mensen mee aan de actie. Er zijn geen verdachten aangehouden.

De villa is het huis van de 42-jarige voormalige eigenaar van coffeeshop The Grasshopper in Eindhoven. Die coffeeshop is sinds enkele jaren gesloten. Burgemeester Van Gijzel trok de vergunning in 2012 in omdat er aanwijzingen waren van drugshandel door een van de exploitanten en zijn broer.

Politiemensen en een specialistisch team van Defensie waren bij de inval in de woning aan de Vogelkerslaan betrokken. Militairen doorzochten het huis met speciale apparatuur. De kapitale villa werd afgeschermd met witte schermen. Ook werden speurhonden ingezet. Volgens omwonenden viel de politie de villa rond half tien binnen.

Op de meeste plaatsen heeft de politie administratie en gegevensdragers zoals mobiele telefoons en computers in beslag genomen. Van de 69 panden waar beslag op is gelegd, staan er 65 in Eindhoven, voornamelijk in het centrum van de stad. Vier panden staan in Helmond. De panden zijn eigendom van de 42-jarige Eindhovenaar en/of zijn bedrijven.

Bron: nos.nl
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  woensdag 24 februari 2016 @ 13:03:56 #162
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_160173338
quote:
California Town Ditches Prison Economy, Embraces Cannabis Farms

A tiny California desert town is making a drastic change to reverse its downward spiral and embrace an enlightened future. For 24 years, Adelanto tried unsuccessfully to sustain its economy through prisons, but now it will be hosting a very different kind of business—cannabis cultivation.

The town became only the second city in California to permit commercial cultivation of medical cannabis, after a year of heated debate in the City Council. The persistence of John “Bug” Woodard, Jr. paid off in a 4-1 vote on Nov. 23 to allow cultivation.

“I had nothing to lose,” said Woodard. “The city could not get in any worse shape than it was. It was broke.”

Brooke Edwards Staggs of The Orange County Register describes Adelanto’s declining prison economy and the land rush that is now taking place after their decision to go to pot.

Its first prison was built in 1991, as the city braced itself for the closure of nearby George Air Force Base.

That didn’t stop Adelanto’s long slide into high unemployment and depressed property values. More than a third of the city’s nearly 33,000 residents now live below the poverty line. So it kept welcoming more prisons, banking on the promise of jobs and steady revenue in the form of an annual bed tax.

The town sold one of its four prisons to a private firm in 2010 for $28 million, and that cash is about to run out. Solar energy developers also had an interest in Adelanto, but only four projects have been constructed, producing a handful of jobs.

Now, a new kind of developer is flocking to the town.

One commercial real estate firm says they went from one call a week to five calls a day about purchasing land in Adelanto. Real estate prices have skyrocketed as “investors, cultivators, doctors, architects and record executives” fly across the country to see about getting in on the budding industry.

Twenty-seven companies have been permitted to set up grow operations in Adelanto, with two more pending. The first crop is expected to be produced by summer, and when it reaches full capacity, the town will be producing about 50,000 pounds of cannabis six times a year for the medical industry.

Since California approved medical cannabis use in 1996, it has finally gotten around to creating a licensing program for cannabis businesses under the Medical Marijuana Regulations and Safety Act. The state is expected to legalize recreational use this November, which will greatly increase demand for legitimate operations.

The trend of cities allowing commercial-scale cannabis cultivation is a relief for those concerned about the environmental impact of illegal grow operations. Last year we reported how many growers are carelessly polluting aquatic ecosystems with rat poison and other toxic chemicals, while drying up already stressed streams.

As more towns and cities in California permit large-scale cannabis cultivation, demand will shift to these responsible growers, which should begin to reduce the pressure on the state’s fragile aquatic ecosystems.

Adelanto, which means “progress” in Spanish, will indeed prove to be a model of progress as it transitions from a depressing economy of prisons to one that actually helps human and environmental health.

“Tomorrow, they’ll be on the correct side of history and be recognized as a city that actually embraced safety and embraced something that heals people,” said Randall Longwith, an attorney representing investors.

Not only will cannabis businesses be producing exclusive strains for distribution, but Adelanto will also serve as a hub of medical research for ailments such as pediatric epilepsy, brain tumors, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Cannabis is showing great promise in all of these areas.

As a bonus, the medical cannabis research company Ecologies Laboratories will be pushing out a merchant of death. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, which makes the Predator drone, will have to give up its storage facility in Adelanto as the landlord has decided to lease it to Ecologies Laboratories instead.

Adelanto joins another California city, Desert Hot Springs, to become a new kind of western pioneer. It will save its economy by making millions in tax revenue and securing hundreds of jobs, and, more importantly, is embracing a future where cannabis will prove to be a medical wonder.


Bron: www.mintpressnews.com
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  woensdag 24 februari 2016 @ 14:35:13 #163
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_160176108
quote:
Fmr UN Secretary General Speaks Out, “The War on Drugs is a War on People” — Legalize It All | The Free Thought Project


In the age of instant information transfer and social media, something as illogical and ludicrous as the War on Drugs cannot be sustained. Government prohibition of psychoactive substances triggers the unrealistic drive to “eradicate” their presence and just ends up being a war on people.

Some of those in government are realizing this and, under public pressure, are decriminalizing aspects of the drug war, most notably seen in cannabis legalization sweeping across the U.S. More politicians and officials are speaking out to say we must change course.

On Monday, former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan penned an essay in Spiegel Online where he called for the legalization of drugs. He reiterated many long-known truisms, describing how prohibition brings a far worse danger to humanity than drugs themselves.

“I believe that drugs have destroyed many lives, but wrong government policies have destroyed many more. We all want to protect our families from the potential harm of drugs. But if our children do develop a drug problem, surely we will want them cared for as patients in need of treatment and not branded as criminals.”

The essay comes two months before the UN General Assembly holds a special session on drugs, where Annan says “the world will have a chance to change course.”

He admits that the UN played a pivotal role in encouraging prohibition 50 years ago. The UN Convention on Narcotic Drugs in 1961 had the stated purpose to protect the “health and welfare of mankind,” but instead showed how centralized efforts to control behavior bring destruction and misery.

Prohibition has created a “vast, international criminal market in drugs that fuels violence, corruption and instability,” as Annan acknowledges, which amounts to a $330 billion per year industry. The drug war has no effect on the availability of drugs or the demand, yet $100 billion a year is spent on this consistent failure.

Punishment of drug users and overcrowded prisons are just some of the ways in which this manifests. Wherever the criminal drug trade is concentrated, violence, and corruption ensue. In 2013 Mexico saw 16,000 murders, many directly linked to drug trafficking.

“The tendency in many parts of the world to stigmatize and incarcerate drug users has prevented many from seeking medical treatment. In what other areas of public health do we criminalize patients in need of help? Punitive measures have sent many people to prison, where their drug use has worsened. A criminal record for a young person for a minor drug offence can be a far greater threat to their well-being than occasional drug use.”

Accepting that drugs are a reality and that some, like cannabis and psychedelics, have real and proven medical benefits, is necessary for governments to end their war on people.

First, we must decriminalize personal drug use. The use of drugs is harmful and reducing those harms is a task for the public health system, not the courts. This must be coupled with the strengthening of treatment services, especially in middle and low-income countries.

Second, we need to accept that a drug-free world is an illusion. We must focus instead on ensuring that drugs cause the least possible harm. Harm reduction measures, such as needle exchange programs, can make a real difference. Germany adopted such measures early on and the level of HIV infections among injecting drug users is close to 5 percent, compared to over 40 percent in some countries which resist this pragmatic approach.”

Annan goes on to discuss regulation, public education, and taxation as the next steps, pointing to the decline in cigarette smoking in many countries. He mentions the always-tempting carrot of revenue collection through taxation of drugs, such as the $135 million collected by Colorado last year.

Ideally, these things should not be necessary, but in one sense it provides a real benefit. Instead of buying from an unknown source through unknown middle-men, consumers can purchase from reputable vendors and know exactly what is in their product, as well as the risks.

The story of cannabis shows that fears of wildly increased use after legalization are unfounded.

“Initial trends show us that where cannabis has been legalized, there has been no explosion in drug use or drug-related crime. The size of the black market has been reduced and thousands of young people have been spared criminal records.”

Instead of exacerbating problems, legalization alleviates them.

“Scientific evidence and our concern for health and human rights must shape drug policy. This means making sure that fewer people die from drug overdoses and that small-time offenders do not end up in jail where their drug problems get worse. It is time for a smarter, health-based approach to drug policy.”

Let’s hope that Kofi Annan’s message resonates with those attending the UN special session on drugs April 19-21. The war on drugs is a failure, an affront to human rights, and a catalyst for violence. The war on people must end.

Bron: thefreethoughtproject.com
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  woensdag 24 februari 2016 @ 15:19:22 #164
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_160177200
quote:
Cheers! Drinking More Coffee May Undo Liver Damage From Booze.

Drinking more coffee might help reduce the kind of liver damage that’s associated with overindulging in food and alcohol, a review of existing studies suggests.

Researchers analyzed data from nine previously published studies with a total of more than 430,000 participants and found that drinking two additional cups of coffee a day was linked to a 44 percent lower risk of developing liver cirrhosis.

“Cirrhosis is potentially fatal and there is no cure as such,” said lead study author Dr. Oliver Kennedy of Southampton University in the U.K.

“Therefore, it is significant that the risk of developing cirrhosis may be reduced by consumption of coffee, a cheap, ubiquitous and well-tolerated beverage,” Kennedy added by email.

Cirrhosis kills more than one million people every year worldwide. It can be caused by hepatitis infections, excessive alcohol consumption, immune disorders and fatty liver disease, which is tied to obesity and diabetes.

Kennedy and colleagues did a pooled analysis of average coffee consumption across earlier studies to see how much adding two additional cups each day might influence the odds of liver disease.

Combined, the studies included 1,990 patients with cirrhosis.

In eight of the nine studies analyzed, increasing coffee consumption by two cups a day was associated with a significant reduction in the risk of cirrhosis.

In all but one study, the risk of cirrhosis continued to decline as daily cups of coffee climbed.

Compared to no coffee consumption, researchers estimated one cup a day was tied to a 22 percent lower risk of cirrhosis. With two cups, the risk dropped by 43 percent, while it declined 57 percent for three cups and 65 percent with four cups.

But the results still leave some unresolved questions.

One study, for example, found a stronger link between coffee consumption and reduced cirrhosis risk with filtered coffee than with boiled coffee.

And, while the studies accounted for alcohol consumption, not all them accounted for other cirrhosis risk factors like obesity and diabetes, the authors note in the journal Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics, online Jan. 25.

Patients also shouldn’t take the findings to mean loading up on frothy caramel lattes packed with sugar and topped with whipped cream is a good way to prevent liver disease, Kennedy cautioned. It’s also not clear exactly how coffee might lead to a healthier liver, or whether the type of beans or brewing method matter.

“Coffee is a complex mixture containing hundreds of chemical compounds, and it is unknown which of these is responsible for protecting the liver,” Kennedy said.

It’s also important to note that coffee isn’t powerful enough to counteract lifestyle choices that can severely damage the liver, said Samantha Heller, a senior clinical nutritionist at New York University Langone Medical Center in New York who wasn’t involved in the study.

“Unfortunately, although coffee contains compounds that have antioxidant effects and anti-inflammatory properties, drinking a few cups of coffee a day cannot undo the systematic damage that is the result of being overweight or obese, sedentary, excessive alcohol consumption or drastically mitigate an unhealthy diet,” Heller said by email.


Bron: www.entrepreneur.com
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  donderdag 25 februari 2016 @ 22:16:01 #165
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_160215962
quote:
Australia is about to start a major discussion on decriminalizing drugs - Quartz

In 2001, Portugal, facing a scourge of heroin addiction, eliminated criminal penalties for personal drug use or possession. Fifteen years later, Australia, which has one of the world’s worst drug problems, will consider doing the same.

On March 2, senator Richard Di Natale, leader of the Australian Greens party, will host the National Drug Summit, to be held at the Parliament House in the nation’s capital. Last year, Di Natale went on a fact-finding mission to Portugal. He believes its approach to addressing drug abuse has been effective, and will present the case that Australia should follow a similar path.

Australia faces a “national menace,” as former prime minister Tony Abbott called it, in the form of crystal methamphetamine, also known as ice. Last year a “National Ice Taskforce” found that Australians were among the world’s biggest users of crystal meth, with the number of addicts doubling to over 200,000 in the past eight years.

The highly addictive drug, which can be produced in makeshift labs, has a devastating effect on its users. About a quarter of the nation’s meth users take the drug once a week, and the nation is plagued by a ice-related crimes.

Di Natale and others contend that Australia should shift possession of drugs away from the criminal-justice system and into the public health and counseling sphere, as Portugal has done. Heroin use in the European nation has been halved since decriminalization, as has death from overdose.

But as with Portugal, the selling and distributing of drugs would still be a crime, meaning the nation’s history of bizarre drug-smuggling attempts would likely continue. Border police have found drugs hidden in everything from car parts to printer cartridges. In February, authorities in Sydney discovered liquid methamphetamine inside thousands of gel pads inserted into push-up bras.

Other nations are moving away from criminalization for drug users. Norwegian courts were recently given the power to sentence convicted drug users to rehabilitation instead of sending them to prison. Ireland aims to decriminalize heroin and cocaine for personal use—and even offer treatment rooms—while keeping punishments for dealers.

And legislators in Australia itself appear close to passing a bill legalizing the cultivation of marijuana grown for medicinal purposes.

Lawmakers from the nation’s two main parties—Sharman Stone of the ruling Liberals and Melissa Parke of the Labor party—are co-convening the summit called by Di Natale.

Bron: qz.com
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  vrijdag 26 februari 2016 @ 14:39:57 #166
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_160231771
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  vrijdag 26 februari 2016 @ 16:57:55 #167
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_160235504
quote:
[Updated] Elite 'African Group' in Vienna undermines AU drug policy | Health-e

A small group of African countries with missions in Vienna decided to submit their own document on new drug policy to the UN, despite being given a more enlightened African Union position.

drugs sliderSouth Africa’s diplomatic mission in Vienna submitted a reactionary position on drug policy to the United Nations, despite African Union member states having worked for months to draft a far more progressive stance.

This emerged at a drug policy conference in Cape Town last week, at which outraged delegates demanded an explanation for why a document from the minority “African Group” (AG) in Vienna was submitted instead of the AU’s “Common African Position” (CAP).

One of the most controversial clauses of the “AG” document is its support for stronger control over ketamine, used as an anaesthetic in places without electricity or oxygen supplies.

China is lobbying for ketamine to become a scheduled medicine because of some abuse of it in its country, but this will drastically limit its availability in rural and war-torn areas.

“Hundreds of thousands of people who need emergency surgery will die or suffer intense pain if ketamine becomes a scheduled medicine that can only be prescribed by a doctor,” said Dr Liz Gwyther, CEO of the Hospice Palliative Care Association of SA.

Ketamine is on the World Health Organisation’s essential medicine list, and WHO official Marie-Paule Kieny says “controlling ketamine internationally could limit access to essential and emergency surgery, which would constitute a public health crisis in countries where no affordable alternatives exist”.

“Something else drafted by Egypt was given to South Africa to submit. Africa needs to speak out. Why shelve the right document, which came out of the consultative process?”

“Something else drafted by Egypt was given to South Africa to submit. Africa needs to speak out. Why shelve the right document, which came out of the consultative process?”

A UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on drugs is being held in April and there is intense lobbying for policy change. The world is completely polarised, with some countries executing drug users and others legalising many drugs.

South Africa, as chair of the African Group in Vienna – comprised of only 15 African countries including Morocco, which is not an AU member – submitted the AG position ahead of UNGASS without the knowledge of the AU.

The AU had submitted the “CAP” document to SA Ambassador in Vienna Tebogo Seokolo, and thought this had been submitted to UNGASS on behalf of the continent.

“What went wrong?” asked Maria-Goretti Ane, a Ghana-based consultant for the International Drug Policy Consortium, at the Run2016 Cape Town conference hosted by the TB/HIV Care Association. “Something else drafted by Egypt was given to South Africa to submit. Africa needs to speak out. Why shelve the right document, which came out of the consultative process?”

Ironically, South Africa’s Deputy Minister of Social Development, Henrietta Bogopane-Zulu,* chaired the technical committee that drafted the CAP.

An African Union source* confirmed that Seokolo had been sent the CAP for submission to the UN in Vienna. On hearing that CAP had not been forwarded to UNGASS, the AU sent a delegation to Vienna in December to find out what had happened explanation, but had not received a satisfactory answer.

“As the AU, we can only engage in diplomacy. Member countries are our bosses, and it is only member states that can take up this issue,” said the source.

Meanwhile, the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) rejected claims that Seokolo had “betrayed” the African Union.

Between June and December last year, Seokolo was chairperson of the African Group, which “enjoys the formal and official negotiating status within various United Nations organisations and other international organisations based in Vienna,” DIRCO spokesperson Nelson Kgwete told Health-e News.

“The Chairperson of the African Group is accountable to the African Group in Vienna and promotes the agreed positions and interests of the Group. There is no formal relationship between the African Group in Vienna and the African Union Commission,” he added.

According to DIRCO, there was a parallel process with both the AG in Vienna and the AU in Addis Ababa developing positions on drugs independently.

On receiving the CAP, AG members who are also AU members (i.e. everyone except Morocco) “collectively decided that the draft CAP could not be forwarded to the UNGASS Board because the Group felt that there were was a need for further consultation on some of the elements contained in the CAP”, said Kgwete.

While UNGASS has published a new draft policy of drugs based on the submissions, there is still time for lobbying ahead of the April meeting. – Health-e News.

Bron: www.health-e.org.za
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
pi_160237683
quote:
In eight of the nine studies analyzed, increasing coffee consumption by two cups a day was associated with a significant reduction in the risk of cirrhosis.

In all but one study, the risk of cirrhosis continued to decline as daily cups of coffee climbed.

Compared to no coffee consumption, researchers estimated one cup a day was tied to a 22 percent lower risk of cirrhosis. With two cups, the risk dropped by 43 percent, while it declined 57 percent for three cups and 65 percent with four cups.
Mensen moeten gewoon wat beter naar hun lichaam luisteren. Ik drink al decennia meer koffie na een avondje zuipen.
Wees gehoorzaam. Alleen samen krijgen we de vrijheid eronder.
  zaterdag 27 februari 2016 @ 00:22:55 #169
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_160248457
quote:
Iran executed all adult men in one village for drug offences, official reveals | World news | The Guardian

UN anti-drug agency urged to stop funding Iran’s war on narcotics until Tehran ends use of death penalty for drug offences


The entire adult male population of a village in southern Iran has been executed for drug offences, according to Iran’s vice-president for women and family affairs.

The matter came to light earlier this week after Shahindokht Molaverdi revealed it during an interview with the semi-official Mehr news agency in rare comments from a senior government official highlighting the country’s high rate of executions of drug traffickers.

“We have a village in Sistan and Baluchestan province where every single man has been executed,” she said, without naming the place or clarifying whether the executions took place at the same time or over a longer period. “Their children are potential drug traffickers as they would want to seek revenge and provide money for their families. There is no support for these people.”

Molaverdi said the administration of President Hassan Rouhani has brought back previously axed family support programmes as part of the country’s national development plan. “We believe that if we do not support these people, they will be prone to crime, that’s why the society is responsible for the families of those executed,” she said.

According to Amnesty International, Iran remains a prolific executioner, second only to China. In 2014, at least 753 people were hanged in Iran, of whom more than half were drug offenders. In 2015, Amnesty said it had recorded “a staggering execution rate” in the Islamic republic, “with nearly 700 people put to death in the first half of the year alone”.

Maya Foa, from the anti-death penalty campaigning group Reprieve, said: “The apparent hanging of every man in one Iranian village demonstrates the astonishing scale of Iran’s execution spree. These executions – often based on juvenile arrests, torture, and unfair or nonexistent trials – show total contempt for the rule of law, and it is shameful that the UN and its funders are supporting the police forces responsible.”

Activists have repeatedly urged the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to stop funding Iran’s anti-narcotics campaign until Tehran ends its use of capital punishment for drug-related offences. It emerged last year that the UN anti-drug agency was finalising a multimillion-dollar funding package, including European money, for Iran’s counter-narcotics trafficking programmes, despite the country’s high execution rate of drug offenders. The new $20m (£14.4m) UNODC programme for Iran was signed at the start of 2016, Reprieve said.

After Molaverdi’s comments, Foa renewed the organisation’s demands, saying: “UNODC must urgently make its new Iran funding conditional on an end to the death penalty for drug offences.”

Amnesty is particularly concerned about Iran’s execution of juveniles. In a report published in January, the group said Iran had carried out 73 executions of juvenile offenders between 2005 and 2015.

Sistan and Baluchestan, where the unnamed village is situated, “is arguably the most underdeveloped region in Iran, with the highest poverty, infant and child mortality rates, and lowest life expectancy and literacy rates in the country,” according to Ahmed Shaheed, the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran. “The province … experiences a high rate of executions for drug-related offences or crimes deemed to constitute ‘enmity against God’ in the absence of fair trials.”

Iran is a neighbour to Afghanistan, a leading producer and supplier of the world’s drugs, and faces big challenges at home with a young population susceptible to a variety of cheap and abundant addictive drugs. Critics, however, say Iran’s use of the death penalty in this regard has done little, if anything, to address the issue.

Bron: www.theguardian.com
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zaterdag 27 februari 2016 @ 14:03:17 #170
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_160257603
Vroeger was alleen wiet illegaal, maar tegenwoordig is het bezit van kweekspullen ook al verboden. En dan krijg je niet minder maar juist meer criminaliteit.

Legalize! *O*

quote:
Belgische agenten doen aangifte na wilde achtervolging op A27 | NOS

Twee Belgische agenten hebben in Nederland aangifte gedaan van poging tot doodslag. Bij een achtervolging probeerde de verdachte hen gistermiddag een paar keer met een rotgang van de weg te rijden, laat de politie weten.

Toen de twee agenten bij een verkeerscontrole een bestelbusje lieten stoppen, vonden ze in de laadruimte een heleboel dozen, maar ook drie mensen. Om die wat wonderlijke situatie op te helderen, zou de bestuurder achter de agenten aan meerijden naar het bureau.

Maar toen de agenten de snelweg wilden verlaten ging het mis. De bestuurder van het bestelbusje gaf vol gas en ging er vandoor.

Toen het de Belgische agenten was gelukt om voor het busje te komen, trapte de bestuurder nog wat harder op het gaspedaal en reed recht op hen af. Door ook gas bij te geven is een aanrijding voorkomen die door de hoge snelheid ernstige gevolgen had kunnen hebben, aldus de politie in een verklaring.

De bestuurder probeerde nog een paar keer de politie van de weg te rijden. Op dat moment waren de auto's de grens al over met Nederland.

De bestuurder van het bestelbusje haalde nog meer gevaarlijke capriolen uit: hij naderde een file in de richting van de A27, maar dat weerhield hem er niet van om met 140 kilometer per uur over de vluchtstrook langs het verkeer te rijden.

Uiteindelijk werd de bestuurder, een 30-jarige inwoner van Arnhem, met hulp van de Nederlandse politie klemgereden en aangehouden. In het busje zaten verder twee mensen op de voorbank en drie mensen in de laadruimte. Alle vijf zijn van Aziatische afkomst. Ook zij zijn gearresteerd.

Het mogelijke motief voor de vluchtpoging bleek bij nadere inspectie: het voertuig bleek vol te liggen met genoeg spullen om een volledige hennepkwekerij op te zetten.

Bron: nos.nl
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  donderdag 3 maart 2016 @ 14:05:33 #172
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_160390525
quote:
Duitse Groenen verwikkeld in drugsrel | NOS

De Duitse politieke partij Die Grünen is in verlegenheid gebracht, nu een prominent lid van de partij van harddrugsbezit wordt verdacht. Het gaat om Volker Beck, die al sinds 1994 voor de Groenen in de Duitse Bondsdag zit.

Hij werd gisteren aangehouden, toen hij het huis van een door de politie bewaakte dealer verliet. Volgens media had hij 0,6 gram chrystal meth bij zich.

Kort nadat het nieuws naar buiten was gekomen, kondigde Beck op zijn Facebookpagina aan dat hij zijn post als fractiewoordvoerder binnenland en religie neerlegt. Over de beschuldigingen laat hij zich niet uit. Wel schrijft hij "dat hij altijd een liberale drugspolitiek heeft uitgedragen".

Het voorval komt op een ongelukkig tijdstip, over anderhalve week zijn er belangrijke deelstaatverkiezingen in drie Duitse deelstaten. Zijn partijgenoten nemen dan ook razendsnel afstand van hem.

Winfried Kretschmann, minister-president van Baden-Württemberg, hoopt dat dit geen negatief effect heeft op het stemresultaat. "Het gaat toch om een zwaar delict. Laten we hopen dat we niet allemaal verantwoordelijk worden gehouden voor het wangedrag van één persoon", aldus Kretschmann in ARD Morgenmagazine.

Op internet worden veel grappen gemaakt over Beck. Met de hashtag #BreakingBeck wordt verwezen naar de populaire tv-serie Breaking Bad, waarin een scheikundeleraar bijklust als methproducent en -dealer.

Bron: nos.nl
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  donderdag 3 maart 2016 @ 18:52:01 #173
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_160395914
quote:
Tabloid papers are “main enemies” of drug policy reform | The Prohibition Post

Tabloid newspapers have been described as “our main enemies” in the fight for drug policy reform in the United Kingdom, during a parliamentary meeting on narcotic legislation. Molly Meacher, a cross-bench life peer in the House of Lords, asserted that reform is being hindered by the vitriolic support for drug prohibition in the country’s most widely read newspapers.

Brian Paddick, a former Police Commander for the London Borough of Lambeth and a current life peer, corroborated Meacher’s point, stating that “we absolutely have to get over stigma and hysteria around drug taking that we see in tabloid papers; we have to focus on reducing harm”. The fear of negative press coverage, Paddick claimed, is a primary reason why policymakers are hesitant to alter the status quo of drug prohibition.

Paddick was on the receiving end of the tabloid press’ opposition to drug reform in 2003, when his opposition to the criminalisation of cannabis users was seized upon by the Daily Mail, and used to attack his character – as well as his position as police chief.

In 2010, the UK Drug Policy Commission undertook a content analysis of newspaper coverage of drug users. The report found that “drug users were more likely to be condemned than empathised with in all newspapers, but were most likely to be condemned in the tabloid press, where around a fifth of users were condemned”.

The report also contrasted the differing headlines produced by broadsheets and tabloids in response to the same stories, highlighting the melodramatic rhetoric used by the latter during a 2009 debate over the use of methadone for heroin addicts. The Daily Express – a tabloid paper – published two stories on the subject, the first entitled “Alarm at drugs for convicts”, and the second with the headline “Jail drug bill soars to £40m”. Conversely, the Independent – a broadsheet – avoided hysteria by asking “The Big Question: Is methadone being over-prescribed as a treatment for drug addiction?”

Methadone, a controlled drug used to treat opiate addicts, is utilised to reduce the harm posed by heroin and similar substances. The staunch opposition to its provision voiced by the Daily Express is indicative of the tabloid’s hostility to drug policy reform and harm reduction.

Professor David Nutt – former chairman of the government’s Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) – described allegations that Paul Dacre, editor of the Daily Mail, had exerted influence over British drug policy. Professor Nutt, in an interview with the British Journal Review said, “The rumour is that [Prime Minister Gordon] Brown did a deal with Paul Dacre. Dacre said there are three things you must do to get Mail support, one of which is to reclassify cannabis”. Indeed, within one year of becoming PM, Brown reclassified cannabis from Class C to Class B – a category in which possession and supply can garner up to five or fourteen years imprisonment, respectively.

Professor Nutt was sacked from the ACMD less than a year after the cannabis classification, and two months after writing a research paper that described cannabis as safer than alcohol.

Reforms to UK drug legislation are few and far between, and when they do occur they seem to further entrench prohibition within policy. The most prominent drug law to be passed by Parliament in recent times is the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016, due to come into force on April 6th. This authoritarian piece of legislation will ban “any substance intended for human consumption that is capable of producing a psychoactive effect”, while excluding so-called “legitimate substances”, such as alcohol and tobacco.

Paddick claims that the Psychoactive Substances Act sets a dangerous precedent, as it is essentially the government insisting that “people are not allowed to do something unless [they] say that its OK”. Mike Trace, Chair of the International Drug Policy Consortium, denounced the legislation; “[the Act] says that a whole swathe of human behaviour is banned”. Such legislation has already been proved to have negative consequences; a similar law instituted in Ireland effectively reduced the number of ‘head shops’ while considerably increasing the number of drug-induced deaths”. However, as the tabloid press continues to blame drug deaths on users – rather than failed government policies – it is easy for policymakers to ignore the correlation between prohibition and drug deaths.

As the three most widely read newspapers in the UK – the Sun, the Daily Mail, and the Evening Standard – remain firmly opposed to most aspects of drug policy reform, it seems unlikely that policymakers will consider legislative change. Experts suggest that politicians are fully aware of the drug war’s failure, but continue to stay silent to avoid acknowledging the ineffectiveness of prohibition. Essentially, as Mike Trace asserted, “the UK government really doesn’t want to talk about drug policy”.

Copyright © 2016 The Prohibition Post.
Bron: theprohibitionpost.com
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  vrijdag 4 maart 2016 @ 15:41:11 #174
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_160418730
quote:
quote:
Legal marijuana may be doing at least one thing that a decades-long drug war couldn't: taking a bite out of Mexican drug cartels' profits.

The latest data from the U.S. Border Patrol shows that last year, marijuana seizures along the southwest border tumbled to their lowest level in at least a decade. Agents snagged roughly 1.5 million pounds of marijuana at the border, down from a peak of nearly 4 million pounds in 2009.
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  vrijdag 4 maart 2016 @ 19:39:49 #175
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_160423791
quote:
quote:
Canadian medical marijuana patients have won the right to grow their own bud in a landmark court ruling released Wednesday.

Federal Judge Michael Phelan has ruled in favor of four British Columbia residents, declaring the country's medical marijuana regime, known as the Marijuana for Medical Purposes Regulations (MMPR), unconstitutional. This means that the federal law passed by the former Conservative government of Stephen Harper has no force and effect.

The judge ordered the ruling suspended for six months, giving the Liberals, who campaigned on legalizing and regulating pot, time to revise the legislation. In the meantime, the judge has upheld a previous injunction that allows patients to continue growing their own cannabis.

"It's pretty darn exciting, that for sure," said Sandra Colasanti, a BC resident who helped organize funding to bring the case. "This took a lot of work from all the patients. There were patients who were on permanent disability and still put it five dollars."

Introduced in 2013, the MMPR required that patients buy their pot from a government regulated and licensed producer, rather than growing their own or purchasing it from a dispensary. Doctors serve as the gatekeepers under this system, but lack of guidance from Health Canada has made those willing to prescribe pot few and far between. Following today's ruling, attorney for plaintiffs Kirk Tousaw called for the government to act swiftly."Health Canada must move to immediately allow new entrants to production and address changes. Anything less is unjust," Tousaw wrote on Twitter.

The court's decision is subject to appeal by the Canadian government, but if it stands it will send the Liberals back to the drawing board in their effort to develop a regulatory regime for medical marijuana.

Related: Justin Trudeau's Battle for Legal Weed in Canada Is Going to Be a Total Mess

The MMPR replaced earlier legislation that was drafted in response to an Ontario Court of Appeal decision in 2000, which said banning a patient from growing marijuana for medical purposes "deprived him of his rights to liberty and security of the person.

Today's ruling leaves a regulatory vacuum if there is no action within the six month stay. That the MMPR is unconstitutional does not validate the earlier Marihuana Medical Access Regulations, which was repealed with the enactment of the 2013 law.

"It basically creates a big void, where there's no regime," Hugo Alves, a partner with Toronto law firm Bennett Jones, told VICE News. "If you were a patient under the MMPR, you've got nothing now, because there's no underlying regime."

For those patients growing their own weed, this will create a problem if there's no legislative movement or further court rulings in the next six months.

"Absent a replacement or exemption, those in need of medical marihuana — and access to a Charter compliant medicine marihuana regime is legally required — face potential criminal charges," wrote Judge Phelan in his ruling.

The decision to throw marijuana regulation back to the legislature came as a surprise to some licensed pot producers and doctors who work within the regulatory framework.

Ronan Levy, the director of Canadian Cannabis Clinics, said that he thought the MMPR had done a good job balancing patient's interests in "safe, legal, properly produced cannabis" with mitigating public nuisances and fire risks that the government's attorneys argued accompany home growing. Levy — whose company connects patients with doctors willing to prescribe pot as appropriate — also said that the variability of home-grown weed is one of the factors that makes many physicians wary.

"I think you're going to find less doctors feeling comfortable with cannabis, and if that's the result, the increased access by allowing home growing is going to be offset by fewer doctors feeling like prescribing," said Levy. For Canada's 29 licensed pot producers that operate under the MMPR, this decision creates serious uncertainty. Stock prices for Tweed, Canada's first publicly-traded marijuana producer, dropped significantly after the court ruled this afternoon. John Fowler, the president of Supreme, another licensed producer, said that he hopes the government won't appeal the ruling, but take it as a message that better regulations need to be developed.

"I hope the Liberals look at the political issue here, at the fact that some Canadians can't afford any medical marijuana, and come up with balance between the interest of the [licensed producers] and the health interest of Canadians," said Fowler.
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zaterdag 5 maart 2016 @ 13:12:41 #176
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_160437381
quote:
The drug law reform debate needs less patenalism | SBS Life

On Wednesday scores of health experts, law reform campaigners, law enforcement officials and politicians attended a cross-party summit on drug law reform in Parliament House.

The resulting Canberra Declaration on Illicit Drugs summarised the clear consensus of those in the room, and many in the health sector more generally: the war on drugs has failed. Compelling evidence was presented demonstrating that tough, punitive laws against drugs didn’t only fail to deter use, but they actually increased harm.

The reframing of the drug law debate from a criminal issue to a health issue is an attractive proposition for those campaigning for more rational, evidence-based policy. But does a new approach that emphasises treatment instead of punishment risk falling into the same trap as our current paternalistic and morally driven policies?

The most frustrating aspect of any debate around drug law reform is how quickly calls to decriminalise or legalise drug use are conflated with promoting their use. For decades now the tabloid media in Australia, most notably The Daily Telegraph, and more recently the Courier-Mail, have responded to calls for decriminalisation with ludicrous front-page stories claiming campaigners want to sell drugs to children.

The war on drugs has failed.

NSW Premier Mike Baird has killed off attempts to introduce pill testing in the state, arguing it would “support illegal drug dealers” and promote drug use. Pill testing is the lowest hanging fruit of drug law reform. It would not even require changes to the law, just the provision of resource to provide on-site testing of drugs at music festivals in an attempt to stop the needless deaths of young partygoers. Pill testing was a measure explicitly supported by attendees at the Parliamentary drug summit.

How to fight an unwinnable war on drugs
Lots of Australians enjoy using illicit drugs, and will continue to do so regardless of the law. It’s time for an honest discussion about drug reform. We’re sacrificing people’s lives.

There is absolutely no evidence that pill testing would increase drug use, but there is substantial evidence that it saves lives. Baird’s position seems predicated on the idea that if he just keeps telling people to stop taking drugs they magically will. It’s a fantasy. Humans have been consuming mind and body altering substances for thousands of years. The chances of drug use being stamped out because a conservative politician talked about them in a stern way are absolutely zero. Reform advocates are correct to argue that the current approach is antiquated, naïve and harmful. But I don’t think they should stop there.

There is absolutely no evidence that pill testing would increase drug use, but there is substantial evidence that it saves lives.

While drug law reform campaigners are absolutely right in arguing for changes to our drug policy, most of the loudest voices in the campaign still approach the issue from a paternalistic perspective. They still agree that drugs are bad and drug use should be discouraged, but through harm minimisation measures rather than criminal sanctions. When doctors publicly accept drug use will continue to occur, regardless of policy settings, you can detect their frustration – they understand the evidence and the reality, but they wish it wasn’t the case.

I think it’s time to take the debate one step further and start a conversation about whether there is actually any inherent problem with recreational drug use. The line between drugs that we allow people to consume (alcohol and tobacco) and the drugs that we spend hundreds of millions of dollars and countless police hours trying to prohibit people from accessing (cannabis and MDMA, for example) are completely arbitrary.

It’s not about safety – in pure, regulated forms, drugs like cannabis and MDMA are safer than alcohol. Most of the safety issues stem from the fact that the market for these drugs is completely underground and controlled by criminal syndicates. A number of states in the US have fully legalised recreational cannabis use and the sky hasn’t fallen in.

Why is alcohol the only legal form of relaxing inhibition? Why not the high from cannabis or the buzz from MDMA?

It seems bizarre that we prevent festivalgoers from consuming drugs like cannabis and MDMA, when most of the money in holding large concerts is made from plying them with copious amounts of a more dangerous drug: alcohol.

There’s clearly no objective position prohibiting people from enjoying themselves in an altered state of mind, that’s exactly what alcohol does. But why is alcohol the only legal form of relaxing inhibition? Why not the high from cannabis or the buzz from MDMA?

Again, full legalisation does not need to equate to a promotion of use. Alcohol and tobacco are legal, but politicians and the police don’t run around telling everyone to use them. They’re relatively easy to access, but we still fund community campaigns warning of the dangers of addiction and overconsumption, as well as providing treatment services. Why would it be any different with recreational drugs?

The 5 most addictive substances on earth – and what they do to your brain
What are the most addictive drugs? This question seems simple, but the answer depends on whom you ask.

I can understand why health professionals are desperate to reframe the drug debate by focusing on harm minimisation, particularly for “hard” drugs like ice and heroin. Our current policy settings are failing and letting down the most vulnerable members of our community. But an umbrella approach that seeks to treat these drugs in the same way as recreational substances like cannabis and MDMA lacks nuance. Partly this has to do with the background of the experts dominating the debate. They largely come from health and legal backgrounds and are unlikely to be recreational drug users themselves. As valuable as their experience is, it should be supplemented with the views of actual drug users.

The Parliamentary drug summit and ensuing Canberra Declaration showed more and more politicians and experts are willing to critically examine our existing approach to drugs. It was a building block in the long campaign for reform. But despite the calls for policy to be “evidenced based”, there was a definite lack of evidence regarding some of the paternalism on display. It’s time for a bigger discussion, one that involves drug users and breaks down the arbitrary distinction between the drugs society says we’re allowed to consume and the drugs that could see us thrown into jail.

Australia's recreational drug policies aren't working, so what are the options for reform?
When doctors are going against the rule of law to save lives, we have a problem.

Bron: www.sbs.com.au
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zaterdag 5 maart 2016 @ 17:19:11 #177
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_160443150
quote:
7,827 Drug Cases Called into Question After Police Lab Tech Caught Faking Test Results - Counter Current News

drug-test-falsified

Passaic County, NJ — A lab technician for the New Jersey State Police’s Office of Forensic Science has ‘retired’ early after being caught falsely identifying a substance as marijuana without conducting the proper tests. On Monday, Deputy Public Defender Judy Fallon issued a memo to Public Defender Joseph Krakora explaining Kamalkant Shah’s falsified report:

“Laboratory Technician II Kamalkant Shah of the New Jersey State Police Laboratory (in Little Falls) has been found to have ‘dry labbed’ suspected CDS specimens. Basically, he was observed writing ‘test results’ for suspected marijuana that was never tested.”

According to NJ Advance Media, “Ellie Honig, director of the Division of Criminal Justice of the Attorney general’s office, said in [a] Feb. 22 letter to county prosecutor’s offices that Shah ‘failed to appropriately conduct laboratory analyses in a drug case.’”

The letter, released from the Attorney General to the news outlet on Wednesday, disclosed that “Mr. Shah was observed in one case spending insufficient time analyzing a substance to determine if it was marijuana and recording an anticipated result without properly conducting the analysis.”

“The letter advised prosecutors to disclose this information to defense counsel,” NJ Advance Media reported.

The former technician’s indiscretion in that singular marijuana case has now called into question thousands of drug cases he conducted tests for, as the one in question was only the first observed instance of his dishonesty.

As Fallon noted, “Mr. Shah was employed with the lab from 2005 to 2015; obviously all his ‘results’ have been called into question.”

“In Passaic County alone, the universe of cases possibly implicated in this conduct is 2,100. The Prosecutor’s Office is still in the process of identifying them. Their plan is to submit for retesting specimens from open cases,” she said.

Shah’s fraudulent testing, overall, may have affected 7,827 drug cases on which he worked. Fallon also indicated the Little Falls crime lab provides testing for other law enforcement agencies across the state, not just the State Police.

Fallon wrote that the Prosecutor’s Office for Passaic County has not yet formulated a strategy to deal with the fallout of the falsified reports. She indicated the difficulty of identifying all the potential cases whose outcomes were influenced by the inaccurate, or downright absence, of testing:

“The larger, and unanswered, question is how this impacts already resolved cases, especially those where the specimens may have been destroyed.”

Assistant Public Defender Kevin Walker issued a statement saying there is not currently “a practical mechanism for identifying all the cases involving” Shah. According to Peter Aseltine, spokesman for the Attorney General, State Police are reportedly working with prosecutors to comb over cases that may be affected by Shah’s false reports.

“The prosecuting attorneys are going to have to do that, by reviewing the records from the Little Falls lab and cross-referencing them with their files,“ he said. “We assume the prosecutors will do that promptly. Pending that review, we are going to keep all our options on the table, including filing motions to vacate convictions in appropriate cases.“

Aseltine, like other officials, highlighted that only one case was observed to be fraudulent, but that “in an abundance of caution, we have identified every case that Shah worked on since he began working in the North Regional Lab Drug Unit in 2005, and we have notified the county prosecutors, advising them to alert defense attorneys in those cases.”

NJ Advance Media reported that “several attorneys who deal with criminal matters said Wednesday that it wouldn’t likely affect the large number of defendants who pleaded guilty to drug possession.” This assessment apparently does not consider the deep flaws of plea bargains in the American justice system, which make up 90% of court outcomes in the United States, and often result from defendants’ fears they cannot fight the power of the courts — leading even the innocent to take plea bargains. The Drug War, specifically, has led to astronomically high rates of plea deals and prison time, all for individuals who have not committed violence against others.

In spite of the great burden his actions have placed on individuals and the justice system, at large, Shah has not been charged with any crimes. Aseltine said Shah was suspended without pay on January 12, and is “believed to have retired.” Shah enjoyed a salary of over $100,000 per year for the ten years he worked for the State Police.

Unfortunately, his is not an isolated incident. Inaccurate and falsified reporting has plagued the justice system and its related appendages for decades. For example, as the Washington Post reported last year:

“The Justice Department and FBI have formally acknowledged that nearly every examiner in an elite FBI forensic unit gave flawed testimony in almost all trials in which they offered evidence against criminal defendants over more than a two-decade period before 2000.”

Senator Richard Blumenthal, a former prosecutor, commented on the FBI’s scandal last year, but his sentiments — barring his allusion to executions, which are rare for drug cases — could be easily applied to the current debacle in New Jersey:

“These findings are appalling and chilling in their indictment of our criminal justice system, not only for potentially innocent defendants who have been wrongly imprisoned, and even executed, but for prosecutors who have relied on fabricated and false evidence despite their intentions to faithfully enforce the law.”

This article (7,827 Drug Cases Called into Question After Police Lab Tech Caught Faking Test Results) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Carey Wedler and theAntiMedia.org. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11 pm Eastern/8 pm Pacific. Image credit:Amitchell125. If you spot a typo, please email the error and name of the article at edits@theantimedia.org.
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Bron: countercurrentnews.com
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  maandag 7 maart 2016 @ 14:42:56 #178
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_160489675
quote:
Mexico opposition demands action after allegations by El Chapo's daughter | World news | The Guardian

Daughter of cartel leader Joaquín Guzmán said he poured money into politics, and deals with authorities played role in his prison break

Daughter of cartel leader Joaquín Guzmán said he poured money into politics, and deals with authorities played role in his prison break

Opposition politicians in Mexico have pounced on comments made to the Guardian by the daughter of recaptured cartel capo Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, alleging the country’s most wanted man poured money into politics and that his outlandish escape was part of a pact with the authorities – a deal supposedly broken with his arrest earlier this year.

Related: El Chapo entered US twice while on the run after prison break, daughter claims

“What El Chapo’s daughter said is a strong revelation, which must be investigated and must be taken seriously,” said two-time presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who leads early polls for the 2018 elections. “[President Enrique] Peña Nieto cannot stay silent.”

National Action Party spokesman Fernando Rodríguez Doval told the newspaper Reforma: “A clear disavowal, an authentic clarification [is needed] because it’s a very sensitive issue [and] above all because it’s hanging over this matter of there being complicity on the part of prison authorities in the escape.”

Guzmán’s wife, meanwhile, entered damage control mode, saying in a statement that Rosa Isela Guzmán Ortiz was not the drug lord’s daughter and only started contacting him in prison after his January 2014 arrest.

“We completely disavow this woman’s declarations and the relationship she claims to have with Joaquín and the family,” Emma Coronel, Guzmán’s spouse since 2007, said in a statement on Saturday night.

Her statement also said Guzmán’s first contact with Ortiz – who says she visited her father in prison – came after his 2014 capture, coinciding with letters containing claims of parentage.

Coronel also dismissed claims that she and her twins lived in Los Angeles. Yet the statement acknowledged the Guzmán responded to the letters and did not deny the paternity claims. Instead, his wife said that the family knows nothing about Rosa Isela’s mother.

“Joaquín’s sister[s] affirm that they have never known of the existence of this person, hence it is more than obvious that she has no idea of what she is saying, since no one in the Guzmán Loera family and not even Joaquín himself identifies her,” the statement said.

The disavowal and petty politicking added to the intrigue of case, which has caused a sensation in the Mexican media and discomfort for an image-conscious presidential administration. It also continued the media management attempts by the drug lord’s kin – in which El Chapo has been portrayed as more a family man and over-the-hill farmer than a feared cartel kingpin.

The interview raised eyebrows in Mexico for its assertions, such as the suggestion that El Chapo twice travelled to the US while on the lam to visit his daughter – another claim Coronel disputed. Claims of his illegally funding political campaigns, not uncommon in Mexico but seldom proven, made headlines, too.

“All I know is that my dad told his lawyer to deliver some cheques to [a politician’s] campaign, and asked that he respect him,” said Ortiz, 39, who was born in the Guadalajara area and lives in California.

“If there’s a pact, they don’t respect it. Now that they catch him they say he’s a criminal, a killer. But they didn’t say that when they asked for money for their campaigns. They’re hypocrites.”

Related: Californian, businesswoman, 'narco junior': El Chapo's American daughter

Manlio Fabio Beltrones, president of the governing Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), did not respond to questions about dirty money possibly making it into campaigns, but dismissed the family’s claims that El Chapo – whose lawyers want his extradition expedited – is enduring intolerable prison conditions such as not being able to sleep.

“What a paradox, right? A criminal complaining of poor treatment,” he told reporters. “We also think he should be extradited to the United States and that he pay for his offenses or his crimes in this country and that country, too.”

Analysts expect opposition politicians to opportunistically attack the PRI over the allegations of drug money ending up politics, but see little enthusiasm for proceeding with a proper investigation.

“If one is charged and tried, they all fall,” said Fernando Dworak, an analyst and political consultant in Mexico City. “The rules are made so that politicians cover up for each other.”

Bron: www.theguardian.com
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  donderdag 10 maart 2016 @ 15:27:02 #179
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_160567493
quote:
Cel en werkstraf voor voormalig VVD-raadslid De Kruif | NOS

Voormalig VVD-gemeenteraadslid Kathalijne de Kruif uit Maarssen is veroordeeld tot een half jaar gevangenisstraf waarvan vijf maanden voorwaardelijk. Ze kreeg van de rechtbank Midden-Nederland ook een werkstraf van 240 uur opgelegd. Omdat ze al in voorarrest heeft gezeten, hoeft ze niet meer de gevangenis is.

De Kruif, die fractievoorzitter van de VVD was in de gemeente Stichtse Vecht, krijgt de straf voor witwassen en valsheid in geschrifte. Ze werd niet veroordeeld voor deelname aan een criminele organisatie.

Vier anderen werden daar wel voor veroordeeld. De hoofdverdachte kreeg een gevangenisstraf van 42 maanden opgelegd. De anderen kregen straffen variërend van 34 maanden celstraf tot taakstraffen in combinatie met een voorwaardelijke straf.

Bron: nos.nl
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
pi_160568675
quote:
Een VVD rechter dat ze in verhouding tot de rest zo weinig aan haar broek heeft gekregen? :D
pi_160583462
As the officer took her away, she recalled that she asked,
"Why do you push us around?"
And she remembered him saying,
"I don't know, but the law's the law, and you're under arrest."
pi_160583466
As the officer took her away, she recalled that she asked,
"Why do you push us around?"
And she remembered him saying,
"I don't know, but the law's the law, and you're under arrest."
  vrijdag 11 maart 2016 @ 17:59:59 #183
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_160595576
quote:
Former Latin American leaders urge world to end war on drugs 'disaster' | World news | The Guardian

Former presidents of Brazil, Colombia and Mexico write op-ed on ‘outdated drug policies’ and denounce UN for secrecy ahead of special assembly on drugs

Three former presidents of Latin American nations have urged the world to end the “unmitigated disaster” of the war on drugs, and denounced the United Nations for secrecy and shortsightedness ahead of the first special assembly on drugs in 18 years.

“Outdated drug policies around the world have resulted in soaring drug-related violence, overstretched criminal justice systems, runaway corruption and mangled democratic institutions,” wrote Fernando Henrique Cardoso, César Gaviria and Ernesto Zedillo, respectively the former presidents of Brazil, Colombia and Mexico, in an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times.

The former presidents said that experts, statistics and a review of their “own failures on this front while in office” led them to “an unavoidable conclusion: the ‘war on drugs’ is an unmitigated disaster”.

While in office in the 1990s, the three leaders fought the drug trade by the usual, often violent, methods. Cardoso tried to eradicate marijuana production in Brazil, Zedillo began war against Mexican cartels that exploded in the second half of the decade, and Gaviria fought Pablo Escobar’s cocaine empire.

Escobar tried to assassinate Gaviria in a plane bombing, and the president’s administration killed the drug lord in 1993, a killing that Gaviria called “a step toward the end of drug trafficking” and proof “it is possible to defeat evil”.

But the three ex-presidents have spent the 2000s calling for decriminalization and regulation of drugs, and in 2009 Cardoso wrote for the Observer that decriminalization “breaks the silence about the drug problem”.

Drugs are “not first and foremost a matter for the criminal justice system”, he wrote. “Repressive policies towards drug users are firmly rooted in prejudice, fear and ideological visions, rather than in cold and hard assessment of the realities of drug abuse.”

While the three hailed the UN for holding an assembly on drug abuse on 19 April, they excoriated its methods in Friday’s op-ed. “What was supposed to be an open, honest and data-driven debate about drug policies has turned into a narrowly conceived closed-door affair,” they wrote.

The UN has blocked the majority of member states and various health and human rights groups from participating, according to the leaders, and the drafted declaration “perpetuates the criminalization of producers and consumers” rather than moving toward treatment for addicts.

Cardoso, Gaviria and Zedillo instead call for all UN nations to “end the criminalization and incarceration of drug users”, and to abolish capital punishment for related offenses: “It is a medieval practice that should be stamped out once and for all.”

Finally, they call for regulation of drugs to replace “the obvious failure of most existing drug laws”.

Related: My uncle and heroin: ‘What surprises me most – you have no teeth’ | Sarah Resnick

“This is not as radical as it sounds,” they add, citing the example of Switzerland’s healthcare plan for heroin addicts, Portugal’s decriminalization, Uruguay’s regulated marijuana market, and the nearly two dozen US states that have legalized marijuana for medicinal or recreational use. Cardoso has in the past also cited the Netherlands’ lax marijuana laws and liberalized drug laws in Bolivia, Ecuador and Colombia.

The ex-presidents call echoes, at least in part, remarks made by several US presidential candidates this year when asked about a growing epidemic of heroin and painkiller abuse. Democratic candidates have said they support a shift toward treatment first, and some Republican candidates have said they favor improved treatment and reforming sentencing laws around drugs.

Kofi Annan, the former UN secretary general, also criticized the UN’s handling of drug abuse and law enforcement on Friday. “Drugs are dangerous, but current narcotics policies are an even bigger threat,” he said in a statement. “This is because punishment is given a greater priority than health and human rights. Prohibition has had virtually no impact on the supply of or demand for illicit drugs.”

Bron: www.theguardian.com
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  vrijdag 11 maart 2016 @ 23:18:10 #184
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_160603853
quote:
Verdachten grote witwaszaak weer vrij | NOS

Twee leidinggevenden van coffeeshop The Grass Company die worden verdacht van het witwassen van ruim twintig miljoen euro, zijn vrijgelaten. Ze werden woensdag opgepakt.

De twee blijven wel verdachten in de zaak. Er loopt al jarenlang een onderzoek naar de coffeeshop. Het Openbaar Ministerie vermoedt dat een deel van de inkoop van cannabis tussen 2002 en 2014 niet goed in de boeken is vastgelegd. De illegale opbrengsten zouden volgens het OM zijn belegd in meerdere landen in Europa en Azië.

"Het Openbaar Ministerie is er blijkbaar na vijf jaar onderzoek niet in geslaagd deze twee hoofdverdachten langer vast te houden dan twee dagen", laat Sidney Smeets van Spong Advocaten weten.

Johan van Laarhoven, oprichter van de coffeeshopketen, zit in Thailand een straf uit van 103 jaar voor het witwassen van geld dat hij in Nederland had verdiend met de verkoop van softdrugs, schrijft Omroep Brabant. Advocaat Gerard Spong reist zaterdag naar Bangkok om met de man over de zaak te praten.

"Ze hebben Van Laarhoven door de Thaise rechter laten veroordelen, terwijl nu blijkt dat de Nederlandse rechter deze verdachten zelfs geen drie dagen vast wil zetten", aldus Smeets.

Bron: nos.nl
Free Assange! Hack the Planet
[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zaterdag 12 maart 2016 @ 10:15:01 #185
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_160608378
De score is 1200 tegen 50.000 voor de drugsmaffia. *O* Legalize! *O*
quote:
Arrestaties voor smokkel van 1200 kilo cocaïne | NOS

Twee mannen uit Oldambt zijn deze week opgepakt voor de smokkel van 1200 kilo cocaïne. De drugs hebben een straatwaarde van zeker dertig miljoen euro.

De cocaïne is begin dit jaar gevonden op een boot die was gestrand. De mannen waren opvarenden van een sleepboot die december vorig jaar van Paramaribo naar Rotterdam is gevaren. Waarschijnlijk zijn de drugs vanaf de sleper overgeheveld op boot, meldt RTV Noord.

Afgelopen dinsdag heeft de politie woningen doorzocht in Oldambt, Barendrecht en Rotterdam. Daarbij zijn onder meer laptops, telefoons en usb-sticks in beslag genomen. Ook werd een luchtdrukpistool gevonden.

De rechter-commissaris oordeelde vandaag dat de mannen nog zeker twee weken blijven vastzitten. De politie verwacht nog meer mensen op te pakken.

Bron: nos.nl
Free Assange! Hack the Planet
[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zaterdag 12 maart 2016 @ 12:45:58 #186
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_160610589
quote:
Americans Want Congress Members To Pee In Cups To Prove THEY Aren't On Drugs - Counter Current News


While Congress pushes for drug tests for food stamp recipients, most Americans like the idea of drug testing members of Congress even better.

A YouGov poll found that 78% of U.S. citizens are in favor of requiring random drug testing for members of Congress. A full 62% said they “strongly” favor this, compared with only 51% who feel the same way about food stamp and welfare recipients.

The support for this move was bipartisan, as 86% percent of Republicans, 77% of Democrats and 75% of independents support the mandatory drug tests for members of Congress.

It would seem that more Americans aren’t worried about drugs, they are upset with the hypocrisy of U.S. lawmakers, who carry on this charade of a “War on Drugs” while using the very things they pass laws against.

A cargo ship which has been linked to anti-drug Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell was stopped and searched before departing from Colombia recently, with approximately 90 pounds of cocaine found on board by the Coast Guard. But now, Senator McConnell is doubling down on his reputation as an “Anti-Drug Senator” by railing against legalized marijuana.

The Senate Minority Leader said that he is firmly “against legalizing marijuana,” even while this has put him at odds with his Democratic challenger Alison Lundergan Grimes.

McConnell acknowledged that marijuana is “not in the same category as heroin,” even if it is treated as such by the DEA. Still, he said that legalizing the plant could “completely transform your society in a way that I think certainly most Kentuckians would not agree with.”

“I don’t think an answer to this, honestly, is to go in a direction of legalizing any of these currently illegal drugs,” McConnell explained. “This whole movement in various parts of the country is a big mistake.”

This is rather ironic, as back in November that drugs found on the ship, the Ping May, were carried by the vessel operated by The Foremost Maritime Corporation. That’s a company owned by Mitch McConnell’s in-laws, the Chao family.

Free Thought explained that “this connection is not only relevant because of the family connection, but also because the Chao family has often made large donations to McConnell’s campaigns.”

“In fact,” they continue, “the Chao family has been funding McConnell since the late 1980s. Years later, in 1993, McConnell married Elaine Chao and secured the Chao family as one of his primary sources for investments.”

A gift worth somewhere between 5 and 25 million dollars from the Chao Family made McConnel one of the richest senators in the country in 2008.

The Foremost Maritime Corporation is currently operating 16 dry bulk cargo ships, most of which are currently still in service.

What makes this case even more interesting is that McConnell is well known as a staunch prohibitionist. In 1996, McConnell sponsored “The Enhanced Marijuana Penalties Act”, a bill designed to increase the mandatory minimum sentencing for people caught with marijuana.

Luis Gonzales, an official with the Colombian Coast Guard in Santa Marta told The Nation that the Ping May’s crew were questioned as part of the investigation, but that they have yet to file any charges in the case.

Do you think there is anything strange about McConnell’s war on weed, considering his family’s link to smuggled, black market cocaine?

Perhaps those who deal in black market, unregulated drugs are trying to keep drugs illegal to make sure they maximize their black market profits?

Whatever the case may be, the majority of Americans are fed up with U.S. lawmaker hypocrisy and are ready to hold them to account. Do you think mandatory drug testing for members of Congress is a good idea?

Bron: countercurrentnews.com
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zondag 13 maart 2016 @ 19:11:53 #187
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_160643384
quote:
quote:
A British man spent six days in a Canadian prison after border agents mistook the ashes he was carrying in his luggage for ketamine.

Russell Laight, from the west Midlands, was flying from London Heathrow to Halifax in Nova Scotia on March 2 when his plane was diverted to St John's airport in Newfoundland.

Border service agents at St Johns searched his luggage, where they discovered the small bag containing the ashes of Simon Darby, a friend of Mr Laight's who died of cancer in December.

“He had spent a lot of time in Canada before he died,” said Laight of his friend. “One of his dying wishes was that some of his ashes be spread by his friends here (in Halifax).”

Agents ran tests on the bag - and the results came back positive for ketamine.

"I was very, very shocked," Laight told CTV. "I have nothing to do with anything like that in my life, so I didn't know where it came from, what it was, but as far as I'm concerned, it's supposed to be my buddy's ashes."

Laight was then permitted to call his family, and the friends he was visiting in Halifax, before being taken to jail in St John's.

"What a horrible place ... and they treat you like a dog there," he told the Telegram. "It's like, you're a criminal now. You deal with what you're offered. It was unbelievable."

Laight's friends in Halifax requested that a second test be carried out on the ashes - although he had to spend five nights in prison before the results arrived.

An in-depth analysis of the ashes confirmed there was no ketamine, or any other narcotics, in the bag.

Laight returned to court on Monday March 7, where the Crown withdrew all the charges.

Laight continued his journey to Halifax shortly afterwards - but has yet to have the ashes returned to him.
Free Assange! Hack the Planet
[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zondag 13 maart 2016 @ 19:23:25 #188
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_160643648
quote:
The day police told Parliament to end the war on drugs

By Simon Oxenham

Last week Neil Franklin, a retired major from Marylyn State Police, led a troop of serving and former police chiefs, soldiers and a former spy into the Parliament to call MPs to end the war on drugs. Their testimony was damning and revealing.

Franklin opened the meeting with an explanation of the campaign's mission to "reduce crime, disease, death and addiction by ending the most socially destructive public policy since slavery." Franklin explained how his organisation of "police officers, agents, judges, criminal prosecutors, corrections officials and others" including over 180,000 members and supporters in over 180 countries share one goal, to end "the world’s longest war".

According to Franklin "we have been attempting to solve a public health crisis with criminal justice solutions and the results have been catastrophic". While repeated calls from academia and public health have failed to convince most politicians, the group hopes calls from within the criminal justice system will finally make them listen. What follows are all direct quotes, edited for concision.

Suzanne Sharkey (pictured above): Former Constable and Undercover Officer at Northumbria Constabulary

"When I look back at my time in the police I feel ashamed, I feel a sense of failure. I feel ashamed that I wasn’t arresting career criminals. I was arresting people from poor socially deprived areas with little or no hope whose crime was non-violent drug possession, a complete failure of the war on drugs. I believe that one of the biggest barriers for people with problematic substance misuse to seeking help and treatment is the current drug policy. It does nothing, it achieves nothing except creating more harm for individuals, families and society as a whole. All of us know the problems and what we need to do but rather than be united by the problems let’s be united by the solutions. Solutions based in health, education and compassion rather than criminalisation."

PCC Ron Hogg: serving police and crime commissioner for Durham spoke alongside Mike Barton, the chief constable of Durham police force. The pair made headlines last year for effectively decriminalising small-scale cannabis growers and users in Durham.

"We are very clear in our view in Durham constabulary that the war has failed, that it won’t succeed and it never will succeed and we have to change our views and the way we approach things. The whole purpose of a drugs policy must be to minimise the harms that drugs cause to individuals and to our communities and optimise the benefits that drugs can bring.

"Heroin and crack cocaine addiction is responsible for 43% of acquisitive crime. Responsible for 33% of fraud as people commit crimes to feed their habits. This appears to many to be a satisfactory situation, we don’t think that’s the way things should be going forward. That’s why we’ve taken a stand in Durham. We’ve put our heads above the parapet to produce new ways of tackling drug and alcohol addiction.

"As we dismantle one organised crime group there’s another one ready to come and take its place but what you do find is the levels of violence and organisation tends to increase incrementally as we go forward. So we really have to break the cycle if we’re going to do something significant."

Annie Machon – Former Mi5 Officer tasked with investigating terrorist logistics



"I first came to the knowledge that the war on drugs was an abject failure when I was working as an intelligence officer at Mi5 in the 1990s. One of my tasks was to investigate terrorist logistics and to do this I worked very closely with customs and excise, both the national investigations division and at ports. During that time I learned from them that even at that time they viewed the war on drugs as unwinnable. I learned about the massive overlap in funding between the illegal drugs trade and terrorist organisations, and this is global not just in Northern Ireland in the 1990s. We see this time and time again, in Afghanistan, in some of the Latin American countries where terrorist organisations are largely funded by drug money. We've seen most of West Africa descend into a kind of narco-state where armed militias compete for drug territory.

"On the one hand we have prohibition that pushes the war on drugs underground and creates huge conflicts globally. On the other hand we are fighting the war on terror which is largely funded by this war on drugs. So it strikes me as illogical unless it's a very clever circular business model that has been only too successful.

"We know this is going on because bank after bank has been fined record numbers for being caught money laundering. In 2009 the sheer scale of the corruption of our banking industry became clear. In 2009 a man named Antonio Maria Costa, then head of the UN Office for Drugs and Crime went on the record saying after the financial crash of 2008, but for drug money many large international banks would not have had any cash liquidity.

"By ensuring prohibition ends we would be able to end the biggest crime wave our world has ever seen. We would be able to protect millions if not billions of people around the planet who have been ravaged not just by the drug war, crimes and the vicious violence but also by terrorist groups funded largely by this trade who continue to maim and kill around the planet too."

Patrick Hennessy – Served as a grenadier guard officer in Iraq and Afghanistan and is now a practicing barrister.

"It is so blindingly obvious you have to question that there are grown up people with important jobs who don't see this themselves — you can't fight a war on a thing! As someone who has fought two or three wars against people and states, you can't fight a war on a thing.

"In Helmand more than 400 British servicemen, countless hundreds of Afghan servicemen and civilians who are often forgotten when we talk about this, hundreds of Americans, Canadian, French, Estonian soldiers, amongst others, all lost their lives in Helmand, which produces half of Afghanistan's opium.

"What we didn't understand in the army while I was there. What we don't seem to have understood for most of the time that we were spending billions of pounds and losing people there, but what is certainly the case is that the people we are fighting in Helmand, who I was fighting, were probably not Taliban in the sense that they'd signed up, come over the border from Pakistan, and want to create a new government in Kabul.

"Sanguin is just a crazily brilliant example of this. The last bit of Sanguin which as we speak, is under Government of Afghanistan control — if there is such a thing – both in the sense of control and the sense that there is a government in Afghanistan. The last bit of Sanguin is what is known as Forward Operating Base Jackson for the British and American servicemen who went there. It is now known as Sanguin District Centre. It was the first building that the para's bought and negotiated their way into in 2006 and it became the headquarters of British operations. It was one of the houses of a guy called Lal Jan who was a prominent operator from the Ishaqzai tribe tribe in Helmand, who before the British arrived, controlled the Sanguin Bazaar where he levied a tax on most of the opium that went through it, the most lucrative thing going. They weren't around when the British came in, so this building which is now the Sanguin DC was sold to the British not by the owner but the owner's rival tribe's elder who obviously saw a great way of getting his rival out. He gave up this house for a couple of thousand dollars, for a house that wasn't his and the British and the Americans and now the Afghan security forces have been there ever since.

"The majority of the fighting that has been done, over eight years, 106 British servicemen, about 100 Americans in Sanguin alone, has been from members of this tribe from the guy who wants his house back and wants control of the market where he can level the tax on opium back. It's just staggering to think that this is what it comes down to.

"The Helmand economy is the opium economy. When I was there we weren't being shot at too much because despite what we were being told further up the chain we weren't so stupid as to not go into every village and say 'we're not going to touch your poppy' and arguably the upturn in violence against coalition forces came in 2009 and in 2010 when the American marine brigade started saying 'oh hang on, weren't we supposed to eradicating poppies? Well that isn't a strategic consideration but let's do that'. Funnily enough, when everybody's livelihood started going up in smoke they started planting IEDs. If you want a starting point on how illogical and illiterate this whole process is, look there.

"One of the last and most depressing administrative tasks I had to do when I decided I was leaving the army was I had to kick out one of my best soldiers. He was a 21 year old lance corporal who had failed a compulsory drugs test because he had taken a pill at a festival having come back from seven months in Afghanistan where he had put seven of his best mates in a box. The guy that signed his discharge papers —my boss, who is also an absolutely brilliant soldier, he'd had a six month rack on the knuckles earlier that year for his drink driving conviction. In 2008 15 people died from MDMA related deaths — and goodness knows what that actually means, dehydration other substances etc — while 1350 serious life changing injuries resulted from drink driving and 350 fatalities, which is almost as many lives as we lost in Helmand over 14 years."

Paul Whitehouse: Former Chief Constable for 8 years at Sussex Police, with 30 years experience in policing.

"I was the first member of the Durham constabulary drugs squad. I was put into a taskforce charged with detecting offenders who were committing offences which the previous year had not existed. What they were doing was suddenly illegal. How do you maintain faith with a community when you're saying — no you can't do that! 30 years in the police service made it absolutely clear to me that the policy you adopt whether you are in government, whether you are running a police force or running anything else for that matter should depend on evidence.

"Prohibition has failed in alcohol and because it failed with alcohol it isn't going to work with drugs. It cannot possibly work while we spend money on criminalising people who are doing probably less harm to themselves than some of the people who go binge drinking.

"One of my abiding memories is of a politician called Michael Howard, when he was home secretary and I was a chief constable and we were invited to a lunch in London to celebrate the ten year anniversary of an organisation called Addaction. There was a fairly big table filled with the great and the good, you can visualise it. He was the guest of honour because he was Home Secretary and I was there representing the police service. We were the only two people around the table who didn't drink alcohol and I remarked about that and he came back and said 'thank you, I hadn't wanted to say it but I endorse that policy, how can we say that alcohol that causes untold harm – just look at domestic violence etc – if we think alcohol is that bad why don't we ban it? Because it won't work and we should take the same view on drugs"

Hubert Wimber: Former Police Chief in Münster, Germany

"Since the turn of the century we have established a good and trusting cooperation between the community in Münster and the police. It depends on the fact that in 2002 we established the first drug consumption room in our city and the second in Germany. Heroin users can shoot up in good hygienic conditions and with the opportunity for medical attendance. "At that time this was against the resistance of the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime in Vienna. Since that time we have no disorder problem in the public area of Münster caused by drug consumers. For example 180,000 used needles are exchanged in the consumption room each year. Before these would be found in the public parks and the children's playgrounds in the city, this was a real disorder problem".

James Duffy: Former Head of Strathclyde Police

"Prohibition has been an out and out failure. It hasn't worked anywhere in the world. Anywhere at all. I joined the police in 1975. In 1975 we talked about tenner bags. I left 32 years later. We still talk tenner bags. If inflation had kept pace with it, it would have been £147. That didn't happen. Prohibition doesn't work and the reason I know it doesn't work with absolute certainty is that if you had a drug free street or town or village, anywhere in your country you wouldn't be able to get near it for politicians, because they would all be standing there saying 'look what we've done'.

"It doesn't work for lots of reasons. In Scotland we have 350,000 casual cannabis users, if we put them into a vote in parliament they would get nine or ten seats, they don't get that. We have 55,000 heroin addicts. We lock them up. We put them in jail, where it costs us nearly £150,000 a week to keep them there. It's almost as bad as things are in America where between 1971 and 2007 they put 39 million people in jail for non-violent drug offences. Prohibition doesn't work. There is a demand for it and simply saying no doesn't stop demand.

"The thing you have to say about your drug dealers is they are the people who decide what drugs they give away and sell to your children and your grandchildren. They are the people who will decide what it's cut with, what the strength will be, what the effect will be. They don't ask for ID. They will sell it to whoever has the money. That's a shameful situation and we've allowed that to continue for the last 45 years by the continued prosecution under the Misuse of Drugs Act and the idea that prohibition will make a difference. It has not and it will not and we need to change that.

"If we don't change that and you are quite happy to sit on your hands we will be having this debate in 10, 12, 15 years time and in that time the number of people who die as a result of the misuse of drugs will increase. It is a public safety issue.

"The government are always telling us that the use of drugs is going down, but it's going down marginally. To the extent that in the next 70 years it will be back at where the 1970's levels were. We don't have 70 years to wait, it needs to be addressed now.

"It's a real public health issue for a number of reasons. In my home country of Scotland we have a terrific Scotch whisky industry. It's supported by the government, it's publicised by the government, it's legalised, it's regulated, they make obscene amounts of tax to pay for this place. 7000 people die a year from alcohol in Scotland. The tobacco industry employs lots of people, raises a great deal of tax and we have 13,000 deaths in Scotland every year from tobacco. From all of my investigations I cannot find a single recorded death from cannabis anywhere in the UK.

"I might not be the brain of Britain but even I can work out that we are targeting the wrong things. We wouldn't ban alcohol because it doesn't work, we like a drink. We wouldn't ban tobacco because the lepers at the gate outside like a smoke. We wouldn't ban gambling because people like a wee bet. All things in moderation, so why do we think that by banning drugs through prohibition we can stop this. We can't.

"Politicians in this place and other places have the ability and the powers to change things. They need to start putting their heads above the parapet."

Norman Lamb: Liberal Democrat MP and former health minister in the coalition government was the only MP to speak. Norman is presenting a motion at the Lib Dem spring conference calling the party to support a regulated cannabis market.

"It's time to call time on the most discredited policy and that is the war on drugs. Started incidentally by the most discredited of US Presidents, President Richard Nixon. It has been spectacular in its failure. We have managed to provide an annual multibillion dollar industry straight into organised crime internationally, fuelling terrorist networks. We have managed at the same time to criminalise very many of our young people blighting their career prospects for doing something that only affects themselves. We choose to criminalise them whilst at the same time probably 50% of our current government have taken drugs in their time but happened to get away with it, so haven't had their lives blighted. Yet they maintain the argument that we continue to prosecute people. It is the height of hypocrisy. For me this should be a health issue."

Bron: www.politics.co.uk
Free Assange! Hack the Planet
[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zondag 13 maart 2016 @ 19:28:30 #189
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_160643757
Mariuana use disorder _O-

quote:
NIH: Nearly 6 Million Americans Suffer From ‘Marijuana Use Disorder’


(CNSNews.com) – Nearly six million Americans - or 2.5 percent of adults in the U.S. - suffer from “marijuana use disorder”, according to a new study by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA).

The study was released as a record number of ballot proposals to either legalize or decriminalize marijuana have been proposed in 16 states this year, according to BallotPedia.

“Marijuana use disorder is common in the United States, is often associated with other substance use disorders, behavioral problems, and disability, and goes largely untreated,” according to NIAAA, which is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The findings from NIAAA’s National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) study were published in The American Journal of Psychiatry.

Dr. Bridget Grant and eight co-authors interviewed 36,309 participants over the age of 18 about their use of drugs and alcohol and “related psychiatric conditions” over a 12-month period between 2012 and 2013.

“In keeping with previous findings, the new study found that past-year and lifetime marijuana use disorders were strongly and consistently associated with other substance use and mental health disorders.”

Researchers found that the 6.3 percent of the study participants who smoked pot an average of 274 days per year had “lifetime diagnoses” of marijuana use disorder, which “was associated with other substance use disorders, affective disorders, anxiety, and personality disorders.”

“To be diagnosed with the disorder, individuals must meet at least two of 11 symptoms [listed in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders] that assess craving, withdrawal, lack of control, and negative effects on personal and professional responsibilities,” the study stated.

“Severity of the disorder is rated as mild, moderate, or severe depending on the number of symptoms met.”

“The new analysis complements previous population-level studies by Dr. Grant’s group that show that marijuana use can lead to harmful consequences for individuals and society,” NIAAA director George Koob commented.

Marijuana use disorder is most common in men under the age of 45. “The risk for onset of the disorder was found to peak during late adolescence and among people in their early 20s, with remission occurring within 3 to 4 years,” the study found, noting that mental disabilities “persist even after remission.”

“Findings suggest the need to improve prevention and educate the public, professionals, and policy makers about possible harms associated with cannabis use disorders and available interventions,” the researchers concluded.

Marijuana (cannabis), classified as a Schedule I substance, has “no currently accepted medical use and [has] a high potential for abuse,” according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Although marijuana has not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat any medical condition, the FDA has approved two synthetic cannabinoids – dronabinol and nabilone – which are available to patients in pill form.

Despite legalization in Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, and the District of Columbia, the use and distribution of marijuana is still illegal under the federal Controlled Substances Act.

The U.S. Supreme Court is currently considering whether to hear a federal lawsuit filed in 2014 by the States of Nebraska and Oklahoma requesting that the high court throw out Colorado’s Amendment 64, which legalized the use of recreational marijuana. Colorado voters approved the measure in 2012.

The lawsuit argues that “the State of Colorado has created a dangerous gap in the federal drug control system” that has caused “irreparable injury” to its two neighboring states.

Related: Drug Traffickers Seek Safe Haven Amid Legal Marijuana

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Bron: www.cnsnews.com
Free Assange! Hack the Planet
[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  woensdag 16 maart 2016 @ 17:06:06 #190
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_160717015
Totaal onnodig. Legalize.

quote:
Zes jaar celstraf voor criminelen die drugslab runden | NOS

Twee mannen van 30 en 37 jaar uit Noord-Brabant zijn veroordeeld tot een gevangenisstraf van zes jaar voor bezit van een raketwerper en grote hoeveelheden grondstoffen voor xtc-pillen. Ze zouden een drugslaboratorium hebben gerund in een loods in Eindhoven.

De 46-jarige eigenaar van de loods moet twee jaar de cel in wegens medeplichtigheid. Hij had de grondstoffen voor de huurders besteld in China.

De politie ontdekte het drugslaboratorium in 2014 bij een inval in de loods in Eindhoven. Er lagen ruim 16.000 liter formamide en andere grondstoffen voor xtc-pillen. De drugs die hiermee gemaakt hadden kunnen worden, zouden een straatwaarde van 144 miljoen euro hebben.

Ook lagen er twee geweren, patroonmagazijnen en een geladen granaatraketwerper in de loods.

De straffen zijn iets lager dan het Openbaar Ministerie twee weken geleden tijdens de rechtszitting had geëist.

Bron: nos.nl
Free Assange! Hack the Planet
[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  donderdag 17 maart 2016 @ 16:12:54 #191
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_160740474
quote:
New Zealand's 'cannabis crisis': smokers confirm chronic shortage | World news | The Guardian

Police seizure of 9,000 cannabis plants sees demand for marijuana far outstrip supply across New Zealand


For once, there’s a bigger problem in New Zealand than its flag being confused with Australia’s: a chronic shortage of marijuana.

The “catastrophic” situation was first reported on by Don Rowe, a staff writer at The Spinoff, who wrote that New Zealand’s most popular illegal substance was “almost unobtainable in any meaningful amount right now”.

“Blame it on the police, the gangs, the weather or just the grow cycle of your average cannabis harvest; no matter which way you slice it, it’s dry out there.”

The island nation is understood to punch above its weight in terms of cannabis consumption with 42% of all adults over 15 having tried the substance, despite penalties ranging from a NZ$500 fine for possession to a two to 14-year prison sentence for growth, cultivation, supply or manufacture.

Usage is most common among people aged 15 to 24, especially men.

Related: Cannabis-growing 'nuns' grapple with California law: 'We are illegal'

Christian, 42, said the current shortage had forced him to seek a prescription for anti-depressants from his doctor in mid-December. “I haven’t had problems sourcing it for the last 14 years.”

Rowe reported that prices had been driven sky-high, with an ounce – typically available for between NZ$300 and $350 – retailing for “well over $400 in some cases”.

“‘Tinnies’, $20 since time immemorial, have not fluctuated in price,” he wrote – though he added that some apparently fell “well short of the expected one gram minimum weight”.

New Zealand Police have been contacted for comment on the apparent shortage.

Jordan, 22, confirmed the report to Guardian Australia. Current prices were high for poor-quality product, he said, with “crappy tinnies and $50 bags going for nigh on $100”. “A lot of people are selling terrible indoor stuff – or old rotted plant, which is even worse.”

Earlier this month, 9,000 cannabis plants were netted by police in their annual aerial recovery operation across the top of the South Island and the west coast – a significant increase in last year’s yield of about 4,000 plants. Thirteen people face a range of drug and firearms charges as a result.

Operation commander Grant Andrews told Fairfax that it was “a success in the fact we have removed that much cannabis”.

But Jordan indicated that the current shortage may have taken root in 2015. He’d heard, through the grapevine, that flooding in the lower North Island and upper South Island early last year had caused “a whole bunch of extra stock” in storage to rot.

That “took out a massive chunk”, as much as 13 kilograms, he said. “But I don’t know how reliable that info [was].”

Thomas, 36, said variations in availability were par for the course, he said, when indoor-grown marijuana was hard to access even during periods of plenty as any operation of scale stood out “like a literal red flag to law enforcement”.

Related: Bud+Breakfast: the marijuana inn where wake and bake is a serious business

Supply tended to ebb and flow quite tangibly with growth and harvest – seasonal fluctuation that he found “quite charming”, he said.

“Like, living in a post-capitalist blah-de-blah society, I get much more of a sense of a naturally cultivated crop here than even at, say, the vege department down the supermarket. If there’s a drought, like there is now, word of what grows have been hit seems to travel about as fast and easily as the product itself would.”

Though he didn’t know how many links there were in the supply chain “from the growers themselves to the people who give me little baggies and take $20 notes”, he said there was robust information-sharing. His principal supplier was able to tell him within 24 hours when a specific roadside in the upper South Island – across a body of water from his home city – had been sprayed, disrupting the supply chain.

“But I have no way of knowing she’s being straight up,” he added. “She does smoke and sell a lot of illegal drugs after all.”

The shortage, at least, has rewarded those who showed foresight during times of plenty. One Aucklander told Guardian Australia that he was “coasting in 2016”. “I bought too much weed at the end of last year – it will last me until deep in April,” he crowed. “I’m a success story!”

Jack, 25, said the drought seemed to be mostly affecting marijuana users in the centre of the country – “the top of the South”, the capital city of Wellington and the surrounding region. “If you know a guy out west Auckland, you very rarely get droughts,” he said, attaching a photo of “proof”.

Whether or not New Zealand could lead the world in the use of cannabis for medicinal reasons is currently a topic of national debate, after associate health minister Peter Dunne announced a review of the guidelines for considering applications last month.

As it stands, the only approved medicinal cannabis in New Zealand is a mouth spray, Sativex, which costs over NZ$1,000 a month.

Bron: www.theguardian.com
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
pi_160741359
quote:
7s.gif Op zondag 13 maart 2016 19:28 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:
Mariuana use disorder _O-

[..]

Whut?Ze hebben zeker teveel in DSM(Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder) gelezen. :')
  donderdag 17 maart 2016 @ 20:12:40 #193
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_160745781
quote:
quote:
SITTARD - Ook Sittard-Geleen gaat buitenlanders weren uit de coffeeshops. Dat heeft burgemeester Sjaar Cox vanmiddag bekend gemaakt. Momenteel mogen buitenlanders nog wiet kopen in de shops, maar in navolging van Maastricht gaat de burgemeester hen de toegang verbieden.
Yes!! Ronde 2! *O*
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zondag 20 maart 2016 @ 22:01:49 #194
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_160823421
quote:
Drug violence and economic complexity in Mexico - Business Insider

ciudad obregon mexicoReutersPatrons seen at a taco stand as the body of a man lay on the pavement, in Ciudad Obregon, Mexico, in 2010. According to local media, the man died after suffering a fatal heart attack.

The war on drugs that has raged across Mexico over the past decade has led to the deaths and disappearances of hundreds of thousands of people.

The human costs of the drug war and related violence are well known, but the chilling effect on Mexico's economic vitality has been harder to measure.

Recent research has shown that high levels of violence in Mexico — like the 7.6% increase in homicide rate the country experienced in 2015 — not only have a negative impact on workers, but also prevent complex economic activities from starting and growing.

"Increasingly economists are arguing that what really matters is not how much [people] participate in the market, but the particular sectors and industries in which these persons are participating," said Viridiana Rios, a scholar at Harvard and fellow at the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C.

"What violence is causing … is killing the industries that are complex. In those regions that are very violent, complexity cannot flourish," Rios said during a presentation at the Wilson Center in January.

"Those sectors that are complex require a lot of skills, like technology, like professionals, like ... software development, the aerospacial industry, the automobile industry, that require way more abilities," Rios added.

Monthly rate of change homicides Mexico Viridiana RiosChanges in monthly homicide rates in Mexico over the past three years. The country began seeing an increase in homicides in early 2015 that continued through the end of the year.

Mexicans are also leaving the country for higher education, in part because of violence, a trend that is depriving the country of workers with the requisite skills for advanced industries to grow.

Violence has a measurable effect on economic opportunity and growth in Mexico.

"An increase of 9.8% in the number of criminal organizations is enough to eliminate one economic sector," Rios wrote in a paper published in December. "Similar effects can be felt ... if gang-related violence increases by 5.4%," she said.

For every increase of 10 percentage points in homicide rates in Mexico, "you see an increase in unemployment in that region of half a point," Rios said at the Wilson Center. "Unemployment currently in Mexico is 5%, so for each 10 points of increase in the homicides rates, you see half a point extra on unemployment. That's pretty significant."

Economic sector resiliency MexicoViridiana RiosA measure of resiliency for economic sectors in Mexico. The higher the score, the less that sector is affected by violence.

"A violent Mexico is going to grow in industries that are naturally resilient to violence," Rios said, citing the capital-intensive electrical industry and mining, which has thrived in conflict-prone regions in the past, as sectors that can endure in the face of growing violence in Mexico.

Corporations could also adapt to high levels of violence, Rios said, as they have shown that they "can internalize the cost of violence, just like one more thing in their production function."

Jalisco CJNG cartel MexicoREUTERS/Alejandro AcostaPolice officers near the covered body of a person who died after a bus was set on fire in Guadalajara in 2012. Gunmen torched vehicles and blockaded roads in metropolitan Guadalajara during a military operation to arrest two leaders of the Jalisco New Generation cartel, local media reported, saying two people had died.

"Big companies operating in Mexico [aren't] affected that much by organized crime," Tom Wainwright, the former Mexico City reporter for The Economist and author of "Narconomics," told Business Insider.

An exception may be the oil industry, which loses billions of dollars a year to oil theft.

And if multinationals can operate in the face of organized violence, that doesn't mean they are immune to crime: Cartels have ransacked PepsiCo-owned trucks and extorted mining conglomerates operating in Mexico, as journalist Ioan Grillo has documented.

mexico oilReutersSoldiers at a gas facility of Pemex in Reynosa in 2012.

The retail industry and some service industries, however, could have more trouble functioning in violent environments.

Businesses in the tourism industry, for example, could struggle to attract customers, and businesses catering to local consumers may find it hard to escape the influence of criminal elements.

"The people that really hurt from the cartels are the small businesses. You go to a little shop in a place like Juarez, and extortion there is rife. Every business in a city like that is paying a weekly payment to the cartels," Wainwright told Business Insider.

"I spoke to a barman there, he said he just looked at it as if he had an extra employee — the cartel," Wainwright said.

"It was about the same as employing an extra person. It's just an extra cost of business that they have to learn to deal with, and if they don't deal with it, then they pay the consequences."

Economic growth rate in MexicoViridiana RiosThis map, based on homicide rates in 2015, shows in green where economic complexity could grow and in red where complex economic sectors could struggle. Areas in white didn't have enough information to measure.

Divergent trends in growth related to the viability of different industries have already started to emerge in Mexico.

States that are home to advanced industries like automotive and aerospace manufacturing, and border regions that benefit from trade with the US, had growth rates well above the national average in 2014.

But other regions in Mexico — heavily populated, underdeveloped, and poorly governed — have struggled to grow in recent years. (A problem exacerbated by ongoing turmoil in the oil industry.)

mexico doctor graffiti dangerREUTERS/Edgard GarridoA doctor walking past graffiti on a wall along a street in Mexico City in 2013.

"These differing trends threaten to aggravate already deep economic divides, creating virtuous and vicious circles in terms of infrastructure, education, and opportunities," Shannon O'Neil, the senior fellow for Latin America Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, wrote last summer.

Persistent and intense violence could solidify these trends, preventing economic development in some areas of Mexico, and if this kind of violence seeps into areas not previously affected by it, then it could have a negative effect on development there as well.

As Rios' research shows, prevalent violence won't necessarily prevent some industries from operating, but it may undermine the ability of Mexicans to foster and grow complex economic activities.

"Mexico could keep growing — it's just that it is not going to grow where we want it," Rios said.

The war on drugs that has raged across Mexico...

Funding Circle's Sam Hodges: 'Everyone has a plan, until you get hit in the teeth'

He left school at 16 and made millions revolutionising courtroom technology — here's Graham Smith-Bernal's advice for entrepreneurs

Bron: uk.businessinsider.com
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  maandag 21 maart 2016 @ 14:39:27 #195
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_160833977
quote:
To end HIV in drug users, stop chasing the dream of a drug-free world | Susie McLean | Global development | The Guardian

Why does ‘harm reduction’ continue to be such a problem for global drug policy when it’s a proven way of reducing cases of HIV?

Globally, about 12.7 million people inject drugs and 1.7 million of them are living with HIV.

On average, one in 10 new HIV infections is caused by sharing injecting equipment, according to the World Health Organisation.

In 1998 and 2009 the UN declared its ambition to bring about a world free of drugs. Many countries continue to take a punitive approach to HIV and drugs, using arrests, incarceration, criminal penalties and compulsory detention to criminalise and punish users. Drug use is predicted to rise by 25% by 2050, with most of the increase in developing countries, and we understand better than ever the damage done by the war on drugs. So we hoped that last week’s 59th session of the UN’s Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) would drop the rhetoric of a drug-free world in favour of progressive approaches to global drug policy that would help us meet the UN target of ending Aids by 2030.

It looks as if we were wrong.

The evidence for the effectiveness of harm reduction interventions – reducing the negative consequences of drug use rather than focusing solely on reducing drug use – is described by UNAids as irrefutable (pdf) and all relevant UN agencies now endorse a harm reduction approach to HIV and drug use.

At the International HIV and Aids Alliance we know of epidemics being averted, or reduced, in settings as diverse as Australia, Vietnam, Ukraine, Malaysia, China, Portugal, Mauritius and Switzerland.

110,000 injecting drug users were diagnosed with HIV in 2014 alone. The need for evidence-based approaches to dealing with this public health emergency has never been more important.

Yet in Vienna last week, references to harm reduction, needle and syringe programmes and opioid substitution therapy (OST) were contested. The policy process has been widely criticised, and the negotiations heavily influenced by countries including Russia who are vetoing harm reduction in favour of a bald restatement of the decades-old illusion of a drug-free world.

About $100bn (£69bn) is spent annually on the war on drugs, and research by Harm Reduction International published in the Lancet this month estimated that a 7.5% redirection of that money towards damage mitigation programmes would practically end HIV among injecting drug users.

So why does harm reduction continue to be such a problem for global drug policy?

Russia is thought to have been active behind the scenes at the CND, blocking attempts at putting a more progressive approach on the agenda. The country is notable for its failure to control the spread of HIV, in particular among drug users. It is one of the few countries where the HIV epidemic continues to grow quickly. Among members of the Council of Europe, it has the highest number of newly diagnosed HIV infections. More than 93,000 were diagnosed last year and 54% were attributable to unsafe drug injection, according to the Moscow-based Andrey Rylkov Foundation for Health and Social Justice.

It’s ironic that neighbouring Ukraine managed to halve HIV prevalence among injecting drug users (pdf) between 2008 and 2014, in large part because of harm reduction programmes. Yet OST is under threat in areas of east Ukraine annexed by separatist forces. Alliance for Public Health, a Ukrainian NGO, recorded 495 cases of HIV last year in the Donbas area (pdf). And dozens of OST programmes for more than 900 patients have closed since the military conflict began in 2014.

All OST programmes in annexed Crimea were closed by Russian authorities in May 2014. Eight hundred OST patients in Crimea have had their treatment terminated, and as a result at least 80 of them have died in the past two years.

With so many governments and organisations speaking out about the horrors of the drug war, why can’t the world come together to prioritise health, human rights and safety?

It’s hard to watch ideology triumph over science. And it’s unbelievable that UN member states are likely to recommit to another ineffective and dangerous policy on drugs when it is put before them in New York next month, at the first UN general assembly special session on drugs.

While this strange corner of the UN system in Vienna continues to promote the fantasy of a drug-free world, we will continue to urge states to commit to two words: harm reduction.

Bron: www.theguardian.com
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  maandag 21 maart 2016 @ 15:53:07 #196
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_160835501
Print uw eigen drugs:

quote:
quote:
What will 3D printers ultimately evolve into? No one has a functioning crystal ball in front of them I assume, but a good guess would be a machine which can practically build anything its user desire, all on the molecular, and eventually atomic levels. Sure we are likely multiple decades away from widespread molecular manufacturing, but a group of chemists led by medical doctor Martin D. Burke at the University of Illinois may have already taken a major step in that direction.

Burke, who joined the Department of Chemistry at the university in 2005, heads up Burke Laboratories where he studies and synthesizes small molecules with protein-like structures. For those of you who are not chemists, small molecules are organic compounds with very low molecular weight of less than 900 daltons. They usually help regulate biological processes and make up most of the drugs we put into our bodies, along with pesticides used by farmers and electronic components like LEDs and solar cells.

Burke and his team have created a machine which could be described as a major breakthrough in the field of chemistry, a ‘molecule-making machine’. Sound futuristic? Well that’s because it is. The machine, which was described in a paper featured in today’s issue of Science, could best be described as a 3D printer for chemicals.
quote:
"The vision for the future is that anyone who needs a specific small molecule can essentially print it out from their computer," explained Burke. "We are really excited about the immediate impacts that this will have on drug discovery."
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  dinsdag 22 maart 2016 @ 22:47:36 #197
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_160875035
quote:
quote:
At the time, I was writing a book about the politics of drug prohibition. I started to ask Ehrlichman a series of earnest, wonky questions that he impatiently waved away. “You want to know what this was really all about?” he asked with the bluntness of a man who, after public disgrace and a stretch in federal prison, had little left to protect. “The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”

I must have looked shocked. Ehrlichman just shrugged. Then he looked at his watch, handed me a signed copy of his steamy spy novel, The Company, and led me to the door.
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
pi_160878513
As the officer took her away, she recalled that she asked,
"Why do you push us around?"
And she remembered him saying,
"I don't know, but the law's the law, and you're under arrest."
  donderdag 24 maart 2016 @ 20:33:37 #199
224960 highender
Travellin' Light
pi_160918704
quote:
Medical experts call for global drug decriminalisation

An international commission of medical experts is calling for global drug decriminalisation, arguing that current policies lead to violence, deaths and the spread of disease, harming health and human rights.

The commission, set up by the Lancet medical journal and Johns Hopkins University in the United States, finds that tough drugs laws have caused misery, failed to curb drug use, fuelled violent crime and spread the epidemics of HIV and hepatitis C through unsafe injecting.

Publishing its report on the eve of a special session of the United Nations devoted to illegal narcotics, they urge a complete reversal of the repressive policies imposed by most governments.

The goal of prohibiting all use, possession, production, and trafficking of illicit drugs is the basis of many of our national drug laws, but these policies are based on ideas about drug use and drug dependence that are not scientifically grounded, says Dr Chris Beyrer of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, a member of the commission.

The global war on drugs has harmed public health, human rights and development. Its time for us to rethink our approach to global drug policies, and put scientific evidence and public health at the heart of drug policy discussions.

They call on the UN to back decriminalisation of minor, non-violent drug offences involving the use, possession and sale of small quantities. Military force against drug networks should be phased out, they say, and policing should be better targeted on the most violent armed criminals.

Among their other recommendations are:

• Minimise prison sentences for women involved in non-violent crimes who are often exploited as drug mules.
• Move gradually towards legal, regulated drug markets which are not politically possible in the short term in some places although they predict more countries and US states will move that way, a direction we endorse.
• Ensure easy access to clean needles, oral drugs such as methadone to reduce injecting and naloxene, the antidote to overdoses.
• Stop aerial spraying of drug crops with toxic pesticides.

The commission comprises doctors, scientists and health and human rights experts from around the world. It is jointly chaired by Prof Adeeba Kamarulzaman from the University of Malaya and Prof Michel Kazatchkine, the UN special envoy for HIV/Aids in eastern Europe and central Asia.

Their report says scientific evidence on repressive drug policies is wanting. The last UN special session on drug use was in 1998, under the slogan, a drug-free world we can do it!. It backed a total clampdown, urging governments to eliminate drugs through bans on use, possession, production and trafficking.

That has not worked, they say, and the casualties of that approach have been huge. The decision of the Calderón government in Mexico in 2006 to use the military in civilian areas to fight drug traffickers ushered in an epidemic of violence in many parts of the country that also spilled into Central America, says the report. The increase in homicides in Mexico since 2006 is virtually unprecedented in a country not formally at war. It was so great in some parts of the country that it contributed to a reduction in the countrys projected life expectancy.

Prohibitionist drug policies have had serious adverse consequences in the United States, too. The USA is perhaps the best documented but not the only country with clear racial biases in policing, arrests, and sentencing, the commissioners write.

In the USA in 2014, African American men were more than five times more likely than white people to be incarcerated for drug offences in their lifetime, although there is no significant difference in rates of drug use among these populations. The impact of this bias on communities of people of colour is inter-generational and socially and economically devastating.

The commission cites examples of countries and US states that have moved down the decriminalisation road. Countries such as Portugal and the Czech Republic decriminalised minor drug offences years ago, with significant financial savings, less incarceration, significant public health benefits, and no significant increase in drug use, says the report.

Decriminalisation of minor offences along with scaling up low-threshold HIV prevention services enabled Portugal to control an explosive, unsafe injection-linked HIV epidemic, and probably prevented one from happening in the Czech Republic.

Beyrer told the Guardian they were cautiously optimistic that they would have an impact on the UN meeting, although they are aware of forcible opposition there to decriminalisation. There certainly are a number of countries and some powerful countries like the Russian Federation that are vigorously opposed to any reform of current drug regimes and they will do anything they can to influence UNGASS [the UN special session], he said.

UNGASS is going to be a real struggle but there are a number of governments and civil society organisations that are really seeing the need for change. In the US, the issue of overdose on prescription opioid medicines has become part of the presidential contest, he pointed out. I think this is a moment. It is a once in a generation opportunity, said Beyrer.

The idea of reducing harm is central to public policy in so many areas from tobacco and alcohol regulation to food or traffic safety, says Dr Joanne Csete from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, New York, another member of the commission, but when it comes to drugs, standard public health and scientific approaches have been rejected. Worse still, by dismissing extensive evidence of the health and human rights harms of drug policies, countries are neglecting their legal responsibilities to their citizens.

Decriminalisation of non-violent minor drug offences is a first and urgent step in a longer process of fundamentally rethinking and re-orienting drug policies at a national and international level. As long as prohibition continues, parallel criminal markets, violence and repression will continue.
  vrijdag 25 maart 2016 @ 21:01:31 #200
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_160942767
Virgin, Richard Branson:

quote:
quote:
As a member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, I have long argued that we need a different approach to drug policy, one that prioritises health over punishment, one that looks at the available evidence and draws the right conclusions.

My fellow Commissioners, many of them former Heads of State or Government, have spent much time on the frontlines of the global drug trade. So, last fall I invited a few of them, as well as some other experts, to share their perspective on what should and must be done to end the violence, the bloodshed, the suffering, and the waste that have been going on for nearly six decades now.

The result is Ending the War on Drugs, a collection of twelve insightful and accessible essays, that show how massive the impact of the drug wars has been on societies and economies everywhere – and what better and more effective alternatives could look like.

Ending the War on Drugs comes at the right time, because this is one of the few moments in time when drug policy is actually on the international agenda. Next month (April 19-21), UN member states will come together in the UN General Assembly to debate drug policy – for the first time in 18 years. This special session, also known as UNGASS, marks a rare opportunity to discuss and review the international treaties and conventions that have given legitimacy to drug prohibition and repression around the world.

The UN sits at the controls of all this, and member states have the power to change things. But progress has been sluggish, and there is growing fear that UNGASS in four week’s time will fail to deliver any meaningful results, held back by member states that still favour repressive policies the failed approach of the past. We must not let this happen and get those who have been on the fence to raise their voice for reform. I hope this book will contribute to that.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be sharing excerpts and infographics from Ending the War on Drugs on Virgin Unite’s website. To purchase your own copy, visit http://po.st/WarOnDrugs. All proceeds for the book’s sale will go to Virgin Unite, our non-profit foundation.
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
pi_160951292
As the officer took her away, she recalled that she asked,
"Why do you push us around?"
And she remembered him saying,
"I don't know, but the law's the law, and you're under arrest."
  zondag 27 maart 2016 @ 14:15:27 #202
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_160976513
quote:
Geld scoren voor gratis drugs? Als ze het spul legaliseren wordt het een stuk goedkoper.

De War on Drugs heeft niets met feiten en wetenschap te maken, dus lijkt het mij onzinnig om dit initiatief te steunen.
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zondag 27 maart 2016 @ 14:21:34 #203
121310 venomsnake
El Saltador
pi_160976656
War on Drugs, War on Cancer, War on Terror..

Schiet lekker op met die wars :').
"Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve" Napoleon Hill
  zondag 27 maart 2016 @ 14:34:40 #204
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_160976932
quote:
0s.gif Op zondag 27 maart 2016 14:21 schreef venomsnake het volgende:
War on Drugs, War on Cancer, War on Terror..

Schiet lekker op met die wars :').
The War is not meant to be won, it is meant to be continued.

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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  maandag 28 maart 2016 @ 13:11:07 #205
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_160996218
quote:
Nixon Aides Suggest Colleague Was Kidding About Drug War Being Designed To Target Black People

Former officials are disavowing decades-old comments attributed to adviser John Ehrlichman saying the war on drugs was racially motivated.
quote:
Former aides to President Richard Nixon disavowed a recently published, provocative quote from a colleague about the racial motivation behind the war on drugs, and suggested that the colleague was being sarcastic.

The statement — attributed to Nixon’s chief domestic adviser, John Ehrlichman — alleged that the administration’s drug war was meant to cripple black communities and the “antiwar left.”
quote:
They added that Ehrlichman was “known for using biting sarcasm to dismiss those with whom he disagreed, and it is possible the reporter misread his tone ... John never uttered a word or sentiment that suggested he or the President were ‘anti-black.’”

Erhlichman may have never said anything to suggest this, but Nixon himself was taped referring to the “little Negro bastards“ on welfare and stating that they “live like a bunch of dogs.”

The former officials also noted that the Nixon administration established drug education and addiction treatment programs. While this is true, Nixon also signed the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970, which gave law enforcement the right to conduct “no-knock” searches, allowing them to enter premises without notifying occupants. This is presumably what Ehrlichman was referring to when he allegedly said the drug war gave authorities the license to “raid [the] homes” of black people and hippies.
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
pi_160998690
quote:
7s.gif Op maandag 28 maart 2016 13:11 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

[..]

[..]

[..]

Dat was al lang bekend door de zwarte inwoners en hippies in VS i(een conspiracy theory die waar is). :Y
  zondag 3 april 2016 @ 10:09:03 #207
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_161138546
quote:
Betogers met joint van 17 meter langs het Witte Huis | NOS

In Washington hebben enkele honderden mensen gedemonstreerd voor liberalisering van de Amerikaanse drugswetgeving. Ze willen dat het gebruik van cannabisproducten als hasj, wiet en marihuana wordt toegestaan. Om hun eisen kracht bij te zetten liepen ze over Pennsylvania Avenue voor het Witte Huis langs.

De demonstranten hadden een enorme, 17 meter lange opblaasbare joint mee, maar die mocht niet mee langs de ambtswoning van president Obama. Het meevoeren ervan werd door agenten van de Secret Service tegengehouden op basis van een wet die ook het vliegen met drones rond het Witte Huis verbiedt.

De betogers lieten de joint toen leeglopen en slaagden er in om ermee langs de veiligheidsagenten te komen. Vlakbij het Witte Huis bliezen ze hem weer op, waarna ze er toch mee langs de ambtswoning konden lopen.

De demonstranten noemden Obama hypocriet omdat hij de drugswetgeving in de VS niet verder wil legaliseren. De president heeft toegegeven dat hij op de middelbare school ook wel eens marihuana heeft gebruikt. Een aantal staten heeft de wetten rond het gebruik van softdrugs de afgelopen jaren versoepeld, maar de betogers willen dat de federale overheid stappen zet. Cannabis staat nu nog op dezelfde lijst als harddrugs als heroïne en lsd.

Om tien voor half vijf lokale tijd, ofwel 4.20 uur, staken de deelnemers aan het protest massaal een joint op. In Noord-Amerika is 4.20 een begrip dat verwijst naar het gebruiken van cannabis. 4/20 ofwel 20 april is ook een dag waarop op veel plaatsen openlijk softdrugs worden gebruikt.

De politie schreef een aantal bekeuringen uit. In District of Columbia, waar de hoofdstad Washington onder valt, is marihuana vorig jaar gelegaliseerd, maar het mag niet in het openbaar worden gebruikt.

Het begrip 4.20 (420 of 4/20) vindt zijn oorsprong in een groep studenten in San Rafael in Californië. Zij spraken begin jaren zeventig af om om 4.20 uur samen te komen om marihuana te gebruiken. Ze noemden zich de Waldo's omdat hun ontmoetingsplek bij een muur (wall) was. Geleidelijk werd 4.20 (fourtwenty) synoniem voor het gebruiken van softdrugs.

Bron: nos.nl
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  maandag 4 april 2016 @ 11:22:51 #208
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  donderdag 7 april 2016 @ 20:45:02 #209
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pi_161263610
quote:
quote:
In a lengthy memo to lawmakers, the Drug Enforcement Administration said it hopes to decide whether to change the federal status of marijuana "in the first half of 2016."

Marijuana is currently listed under the Controlled Substances Act as a Schedule 1 drug, meaning that for the purposes of federal law, the drug has "no medical use and a high potential for abuse" and is one of "the most dangerous drugs of all the drug schedules with potentially severe psychological or physical dependence." Marijuana shares Schedule 1 status with heroin, and it is more strictly regulated than the powerful prescription painkillers that have killed more than 165,000 people since 1999.

First set in 1970, marijuana's classification under the Controlled Substances Act has become increasingly out of step with scientific research, public opinion, medical use and state law. Citing marijuana's potentially significant therapeutic potential for a number of serious ailments, including chronic pain and epilepsy, organizations such as the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics have called on the DEA to change the drug's scheduling status.

But the DEA has rebuffed numerous previous attempts at rescheduling, sometimes after decades of stonewalling, and in at least one case overrode the recommendation of its own administrative judge. The current petition before the DEA was initiated by then-governors Christine Gregoire of Washington and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island in 2011. In a previous letter to lawmakers, the DEA indicated it had all the information it needed to make the decision as of last September.

The current memo, written in conjunction with the heads of the Department of Health and Human Services and the Office of National Drug Control Policy, also provides a detailed look at how the federal government provides marijuana to researchers. Currently, the government grants a monopoly on marijuana production for research purposes to one program at the University of Mississippi. "Because of this monopoly, research-grade drugs that meet researchers’ specifications often take years to acquire, if they are produced at all," a Brookings Institution report argued last year.

According to the memo, in the years between 2010 and 2015, the government provided marijuana for research purposes to an average of nine researchers per year. Given the rapidly changing marijuana policy landscape, experts say that level of support is nowhere near enough to keep up with research demand.
Het artikel gaat verder.
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  donderdag 7 april 2016 @ 20:48:37 #210
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Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_161263729
quote:
Das Kapital: Logisch! Gedoogbeleid coffeeshops is weer verder uitgebreid



Het Nederlandse gedoogbeleid ten aanzien van een joint slaat nergens op. Verkopen mag, blowen mag, maar alles rond de achterdeur heeft de wetgever nooit willen regelen. Wietteelt, opslag en de inkoop blijven vaag. Een meerderheid in de Tweede Kamer (CDA, VVD, PVV, ChristenUnie, SGP en een paar van die Wilders-would-be-partijtjes) wil dat niet regelen, want bang voor het buitenland (hoi VS!) en om allerlei andere goedbedoelde christelijk/humanistisch/paternalistische redenen. Helaas werkt het niet om je kop in het zand te steken. Want als Den Haag het niet regelt, dan regelen we het zelf wel, roepen onze rechters. Gisteren nog maar eens een keer, toen een eigenaar en twee toeleveranciers van een coffeeshop uit Den Bosch voor het strafbankje stonden. Die waren aangehouden omdat in de woning van n van de verdachten '30 kilo hennep en 15 kilo hasjiesj' was aangetroffen. Dat mag dus niet, omdat er in de Opiumwet twee dingen staan: a) 'de Opiumwet stelt het telen, bewerken, verwerken, inkopen, opslaan, vervoeren, afleveren en verkopen van (meer dan 30 gram) softdrugs strafbaar'. En b) het is onder zeer strikte voorwaarden toegestaan dat een coffeeshop een voorraad van 500 gram softdrugs aanhoudt. Nu wil het geval dat de coffeeshop in casu per dag 1 kilo softdrugs verkoopt. En het aanvullen van die voorraad kan, zoals n van de verdachten verklaarde 'niet steeds op gezette tijden (...) geschieden, nu daarvoor immers niet naar legale leveranciers kan worden gegaan'. Er moet dus ergens een voorraad worden aangehouden. Voor het overige is van belang dat de coffeeshop al 25 jaar bestaat, niet voor overlast zorgt en de verdachten niks op hun kerfstok hebben. Dus dacht de rechter na en kwam met het volgende: '[het is] voorstelbaar dat er een externe opslaglocatie wordt gebruikt voor de bevoorrading van de coffeeshops, waarbij de rechtbank vaststelt dat de omvang van die voorraad in relatie tot die exploitatie als acceptabel kan worden beschouwd'. Een rechter moet zich aan de wet houden, dus de verdachten zijn strafbaar (want > 30 gram), maar evenzo biedt de wet de mogelijkheid om een straf achterwege te laten (artikel 9a Wetboek van Strafrecht). Dat deed de rechter dan ook, want waarom zou je iemand straffen die zijn winkel fatsoenlijk wenst te runnen? Kortom, weer een mooi stukje jurisprudentie over opslag en vervoer erbij en het wordt tijd dat de labbekakken in Den Haag met degelijke wetgeving komen, want anders blijven politie, OM, coffeeshopbazen en rechters mekaar volstrekt nutteloos van het werk afhouden. Doe eens volledig legaliseren van softdrugs, dat werkt best goed.

Het zou nog logischer zijn om al het drugs uit het strafrecht te halen op grond van het zelfbeschikkingsrecht zoals dat is bepaald in de grondwet.

Maar ja, dan heeft de halve politiekorps, OM en de rechtelijke macht niets meer te doen en dat moeten we kennelijk niet willen met zijn allen.

Bron: daskapital.nl
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  zondag 10 april 2016 @ 13:54:26 #211
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quote:


quote:
The jungle around Toribío in southwestern Colombia is filled with vast pot plantations that stretch as far as the eye can see. At night, the greenhouse lights glow like a sea of fluorescent plankton.
Het artikel gaat verder, en de foto's ook.
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  zondag 10 april 2016 @ 17:43:28 #212
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pi_161331535
quote:
The old global consensus on the war on drugs is crumbling - LA Times

Once a decade, the United Nations organizes a meeting where every country in the world comes together to figure out what to do about drugs — and up to now, they've always pledged to wage a relentless war, to fight until the planet is “drug-free.” They've consistently affirmed U.N. treaties written in the 1960s and 1970s, mainly by the United States, which require every country to arrest and imprison their way out of drug-related problems.

But at this year's meeting in New York City later this month, several countries are going to declare: This approach has been a disaster. We can't do this anymore. Enough.

The drug war is now the subject of a raucous debate within the U.S. — and if you look at the stories of three influential people who will speak on behalf of their countries for change at the U.N., they might sound strangely familiar. The reasons why U.S. citizens are rejecting the war on drugs are, it turns out, also the reasons why it is being rejected all over the world, from the Caribbean to Europe to South America.

Outdated drug policies around the world have resulted in soaring drug-related violence, overstretched criminal justice systems, runaway corruption and mangled democratic institutions. After reviewing the evidence, consulting drug policy experts and examining our own failures on this front while...

Outdated drug policies around the world have resulted in soaring drug-related violence, overstretched criminal justice systems, runaway corruption and mangled democratic institutions. After reviewing the evidence, consulting drug policy experts and examining our own failures on this front while...

In August 2014, the justice minister for Jamaica, Mark Golding, had to make a phone call no government official ever wants to make. He had to explain to a mother that her son was dead. Mario Deane was picked up on the street because he was smoking a spliff, put into custody and beaten to death.

It was, for Golding, a moment that made him realize he could no longer support his country's drug laws. All over the world, the criminalization of cannabis has been used as an excuse to harass unpopular minorities (in Jamaica's case, the poor), and, he told me, it has “worsened the relationship between those young men and law enforcement.” So he persuaded the Cabinet to decriminalize cannabis for personal possession. “We wanted to take ganja out of the picture,” he says, “as a medium through which the police would use hard or heavy policing against younger men.”

Existing U.N. drug treaties allow decriminalization of drugs in small amounts for personal use. But they don't allow countries to create regulated structures for buying and selling drugs, which would drive the drug-dealing gangs out of business. Jamaica is therefore still required to wage a futile war on people who sell cannabis, and farmers who grow it, meaning there is still an armed conflict between police and the young men whom they accuse of dealing.

“A country should be in a position to design its own regime,” Golding will argue at the U.N. “The eradication of drugs hasn't happened, despite decades of war waged on it.” It is, he believes, unjust: “Why is it that people can buy a bottle of rum or a bottle of wine … but you can't do that for cannabis?”

In the Czech Republic, the official responsible for drug policy is Jindrich Voboril. As a teenager on the streets of communist-controlled Czechoslovakia, Voboril was guzzling opiates and amphetamines and was, he told me, a “hardcore experimenter” with almost any substance he could find.

“I was growing up on the streets, so I was a typical street kid,” he says. He was trying to escape an abusive home life where his father was an alcoholic, and a public life dominated by communist tyranny. “I was on the path of developing a serious drug problem,” he says, and before long, he was watching his friends die of overdoses or suicides.

One thing that pulled Voboril away from addiction was his discovery of the democratic resistance. When he became an activist in the Czech underground he felt a new sense of meaning and purpose, and it saved him.

Soon after the dictatorship fell, he set up the first major drug treatment program in the Czech Republic. He wanted to create practical policies that would help addicts find purpose and save people like his friends — only to find compassionate policies were discouraged, or outright banned, by the global drug war, which is built instead on punishment. The drug war, it seemed to him, was based on ideology, not results, just like the communist system he had fought successfully to overthrow. If you put pledges for a “drug-free world” in a different font, he says, it could be a Stalinist slogan.

He believes that in the real world, addicts are mostly people with mental health problems like depression, or people trapped in terrible environments. Punishing them only makes the problem worse. Accordingly he wants to see a global transfer of resources — from punishing addicts to helping them turn their lives around. Such alternatives work.

In the 15 years since Portugal decided to decriminalize drug use and invest instead in treatment and prevention services, use of injected drugs has fallen by 50%. Since Switzerland legalized heroin for addicts more than a decade ago, nobody has died of an overdose on legal
heroin.

A key figure in shaping Colombia's strategy at the upcoming U.N. conference is Maricio Rodriguez, an economist and diplomat. The drug war, he told me in Cartagena, is “the worst tragedy we have ever lived in, in Colombia and probably all of Latin America.” The combined death toll from the Latin American drug war exceeds even the war in Syria. “Every day that goes by is a day in which we are losing hundreds of people and we are losing hundreds of millions of dollars,” he explains.

Like most Colombians, he has relatives who were murdered when narco-traffickers were taking over the country. “Everybody has a story,” he says.

To explain why this carnage is happening, Rodriguez cited the late Nobel Prize-winning U.S. economist Milton Friedman, who grew up in Chicago under alcohol prohibition, and learned there what happens if you ban a popular substance. It doesn't matter whether the government targets whiskey or cocaine; a ban forces legal businesses out of the market — and armed criminal gangs take it over. They then go to war to control the trade. But once the prohibition ends, so does the violence. (Ask yourself: Where are the violent alcohol dealers today?)

Ranged against reform-minded countries at the U.N. conference will be governments that want to maintain or even intensify the global war, including Russia, Cuba, Saudi Arabia and China. Although the U.S. has historically been the most hard-line country, this time, its representatives will arrive at the conference in breach of U.N. drug treaties. The drug laws require a war on cannabis, but four U.S. states and the District of Columbia have now fully legalized the drug. Nobody knows what the result of this U.N. meeting will be, but nobody will ever be able to say again that the world is united behind the idea of a drug war.

Voboril, the Czech Republic's street user turned government minister, told me he is itching to tell the U.N. a simple truth: “This is reality: This is hundreds of thousands of people dying … for one simple reason — some governments just don't want to change. Nothing else.”

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook

Once a decade, the United Nations organizes a meeting where every country in the world comes together to figure out what to do about drugs — and up to now, they\'ve always pledged to wage a relentless war, to fight until the planet is “drug-free.” They\'ve consistently affirmed U.N. treaties written...

Bron: www.latimes.com
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  woensdag 13 april 2016 @ 13:02:03 #213
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zaterdag 16 april 2016 @ 13:09:21 #214
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zaterdag 16 april 2016 @ 13:37:13 #215
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Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_161467178
quote:
Uitstoot giftige stoffen in woonwijk Tilburg door drugslab | NOS

Bij de illegale productie van drugs in een oude fabriek in Tilburg zijn weken, misschien wel maanden lang giftige stoffen uitgestoten die omwonenden waarschijnlijk hebben ingeademd. Dat heeft de politie ontdekt na ontmanteling van een drugslab in die fabriek vrijdag.

De politie kwam het drugslab op het spoor na meerdere tips. De 54-jarige beheerder van de fabriek is aangehouden. De politie verwacht nog meer mensen te arresteren.

In het drugslab trof de politie enkele kilo's amfetamine en honderden liters chemische stoffen aan, die gebruikt kunnen worden voor het maken van amfetamine. De stoffen stonden naast elkaar in een vriezer. Als de chemicaliën met elkaar in aanraking zouden komen, had dat kunnen leiden tot een grote explosie.

Criminelen gebruikten de schoorsteen van de fabriek om giftige dampen die ontstaan bij de productie van de drugs af te voeren. Experts hebben uitgerekend dat er minimaal 100 tot 150 kilo amfetamine is geproduceerd en dat dat zeker een paar weken, misschien wel een paar maanden heeft geduurd.

Al die tijd zijn de giftige dampen via de schoorsteen in de buitenlucht terecht gekomen. Omdat de schoorsteenpijp relatief kort is, zijn de stoffen waarschijnlijk neergedaald in de directe omgeving.

De politie spreekt van een gevaarlijke situatie, omdat de fabriek midden in een woonwijk staat waar ook veel kinderen wonen. "De combinatie van het explosiegevaar en de uitstoot van giftige stoffen in het midden van een woonwijk is zeer zorgelijk", zegt een woordvoerder van de politie.

Bron: nos.nl
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  zondag 17 april 2016 @ 11:25:45 #216
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Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_161488327
quote:
War on drugs: UN challenged by Colombian president | World news | The Guardian

Juan Manuel Santos calls for ‘more effective, lasting and human solution’ – and says his government will work alongside former bitter enemies Farc

The president of Colombia will present a plan for the complete and radical overhaul of global policy towards drug trafficking and organised crime at a special session of the United Nations general assembly.

Unveiling his proposals in the Observer, Juan Manuel Santos said urgent measures were needed to bring about “a more effective, lasting and human solution” to the misery and crisis of narco-traffic.

Related: The UN’s war on drugs is a failure. Is it time for a different approach?

The most sensational element in Santos’s presentation is the announcement that his government will – as a result of a four-year peace process soon to bear fruit as a peace treaty – be implementing its own domestic struggle against narco-traffic alongside its bitter enemies, the Marxist guerillas of Farc. The group admits to having funded its war by what it calls “taxation” of narco-profits.

Santos says: “Colombia is close to reaching an agreement to end the 60-year armed conflict with the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia [Farc, the world’s longest-running guerilla insurgency] an agreement which is of special relevance to this discourse on the ‘war on drugs’.

“In post-conflict Colombia, Farc will change from being an obstacle for effective action against drugs to a key ally of the government in contributing to illicit crops substitution, provision of information on routes and production facilities and de-mining efforts to facilitate eradication of coca production. That in itself is a game changer.”

The president’s wider appeal to the UN demands a fundamental rewriting of global policy on drugs, drug-dealing and the laundering of drugs money. “We have done much,” he says, “but this cannot be an effort by one country alone. Vested with the moral authority of leading the nation that has carried the heaviest burden in the global war on drugs, I say I can tell you without hesitation, that the time has come for the world to transit into a different approach in its drug policy.”

His first point turns current thinking entirely on its head: he calls for leaders “to frame policy on drugs with a context of human rights, which stops victimising the victims of drug abuse”.

“Under this principle,” he says, “we expect to progress in preventing stigmatisation against drug users, abolishing death penalty for drug related offences and obligatory treatments for drug abusers, among other measures.”

A second proposal aims to make it easier for nations to reform their drug laws in accordance to specific needs and threats to populations, rather than being straitjacketed by international conventions. Though such reforms may “occur outside the international conventions, controlled experiments in regulating the drug markets should continue to develop, and be monitored by UN agencies” . This opens the way to legalisation or relaxation of laws on punishment and possession.

The third element to the proposals challenges the global community to adopt “a more comprehensive approach” to the drugs crisis. “We need a transition from a purely repressive response to introduce a public health framework to the treatment of drug consumption focusing on prevention, attention, rehabilitation and resocialisation of drug abusers,” says Santos.

He calls for “alternative measures other than prison” and “prioritising an effective rehabilitation and resocialisation of offenders”. In countries such as Colombia, where many livelihoods depend on drug production, Santos urges “social and economic alternatives” that will “create the necessary conditions to bring them back to legality”.

A fourth point insists that member states “persist in combating transnational organised crime”. Colombia, Santos says, “will continue to offer its expertise and capabilities in combating these criminal enterprises to any country in the world that can benefit from our hard-earned experience”.

The Colombian ambassador to the UK, Néstor Osorio Londoño, said: “The world can no longer afford to continue tackling this issue exclusively with a repressive response. There is an urgent need to come around with a more comprehensive approach that incorporates socioeconomic and public health considerations along with reinforced international cooperation against organised crime. The pressing realities that five decades of war on drugs have left behind are the most powerful evidence that change is needed.”

Bron: www.theguardian.com
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  zondag 17 april 2016 @ 15:19:27 #217
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North Carolina Police Smell Marijuana; Enter Home Without Warrant

quote:
A viral video shows North Carolina police enter a home without a warrant on April 8, claiming they had smelled marijuana.

The home’s residents became upset about being violated and pandemonium ensued when the officers realized they were being recorded.

Vera McGriff, who initially posted the viral video, said police came to her door and demanded to search the house.

When she refused because the officer did not present a search warrant, eight cops barged in anyway and began terrorizing the household.

“I told the officer, No you cannot come in my house without a search warrant. The officer put his foot at the bottom of the door and four of them bum rushed me …”

After barging in without a warrant, Durham police claimed two of their officers were assaulted, but McGriff and the video tell a different story.

“Everybody was tased, one officer hit my son in the face with his Glock 9, we were choked, kicked, thrown down on the floor,” McGriff stated, according to Opposing Views.

When they arrived, police did not have a warrant at 10:30 pm.

Only after they were already inside of the home, and had everyone detained, did they find a judge, returning with a warrant at 12:50 am.

“We all sat in handcuffs for 4-5 hours while they waited for the search warrant,” McGriff wrote on Facebook.

In the warrant, Officer J.M. Foster said he received information from another officer that Khadir Cherry was selling drugs, which was why he arrested him on April 4.

Foster stated that he was just conducting a follow up investigation at the home of Cherry when he encountered Raynell Hall in the driveway and asked to talk to the homeowner, Vera McGriff.

He stated that when Hall opened the door and walked inside, he smelled marijuana.

He wrote in the warrant petition, “through my training and experience I know that the only thing that smells like marijuana is marijuana.”

That’s when police decided to “seize the house” and conduct “safety sweep for suspect,” according to the petition for the warrant.

Wil Glenn, a spokesperson for Durham police, explained why residents in the home were tasered:
Het artikel gaat verder.
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  zondag 17 april 2016 @ 18:09:43 #218
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quote:
Nick Clegg accuses Theresa May of tampering with drug report | Politics | The Guardian

Home secretary tried to alter 2014 study that found no link between tough laws and illegal drug use, says ex-deputy PM


Nick Clegg has accused the home secretary, Theresa May, of attempting to delete sentences from a Whitehall report after it concluded that there was no link between tough laws and the levels of illegal drug use.

The former deputy prime minister also said senior Conservatives, such as David Cameron and George Osborne, have failed to act on drug reform because they saw the issue as a “naughty recreational secret” at Notting Hill dinner parties instead of a public health crisis.

In an interview with the Guardian before a major UN conference on the global drug problem, Clegg said the Conservative government was failing to listen to warnings that the war on drugs had failed.

The Liberal Democrat MP and former party leader, who sits on the Global Commission on Drugs Policy, called for sweeping changes that would take the control of cannabis out of the hands of criminals, and also ensure that the users of harder drugs receive health treatment rather than jail sentences.

When the prime minister first became an MP he appeared open-minded to drug reform, but Clegg said he showed no interest in the issue when the pair worked together during the previous coalition government.

Related: What are the true risks of taking cannabis?

“If you are asking if I saw any evidence that David Cameron was prepared to grapple with this – none,” said Clegg, claiming he came up against the same lack of interest from the chancellor, George Osborne.

“I think part of the problem is that for some of them when you say drugs to them, they think of Notting Hill dinner parties. They think it is all a slightly naughty recreational secret. They don’t think of whole countries, like Colombia that has been brought to its knees. They don’t think of some very unscrupulous criminal gangs who are preying on people who we should be protecting rather than chucking in jail.”

A Conservative source described the intervention as a “desperate attempt by Nick Clegg to make himself relevant” after the Lib Dems’ poor election results.

Clegg, who sits on the commission alongside former UN general secretary Kofi Annan, and the former presidents of Mexico, Colombia and Brazil, also hit out at the home secretary. Speaking before he travels to New York for a special session of the UN on new approaches to tackle the issue, the former deputy prime minister described May as “spectacularly unimaginative” on the issue.

He claimed that the home secretary and her aides tried to alter a 2014 study before publication because “they didn’t like the conclusions”.

The Home Office report’s finding that there was “no obvious” relationship between a zero-tolerance approach to drugs and levels of consumption triggered calls for a fresh debate over decriminalisation.

It concluded that the factors driving drug use were complex, but did cite “considerable” health improvements in Portugal since the decision to treat possession as a health issue rather than a criminal one.

Clegg said the original draft had been subject to an “endless wrangle between Lib Dem ministers and Theresa May about the fullness of what would be published”, arguing that there would be no change whatsoever as long as she led the Home Office.

A Home Office spokesperson said the UK’s approach to drugs was to prevent use and help individuals recover, while also enforcing laws.

“We have seen a reduction in drug misuse among adults and young people over the last 10 years and more people are recovering from their dependency now than in 2009-10,” they said. “Decriminalising drugs would not eliminate the crime committed by their illicit trade, nor would it address the harms and destruction associated with drug dependence.

A spokesperson also rejected the idea that the report, known as the International Comparators Study, said there was no link between tough penalties and drug use. They said: “It makes clear that approaches to drugs legislation and enforcement of drugs possession are only one element of a complex set of factors that affect drugs use, including prevention, treatment and wider social and cultural factors.”

Clegg insisted that he was not soft on crime. “I don’t come at this with some uber-libertarian approach,” said Clegg. “I am a dad, I don’t want my kids taking drugs, drugs are bad for people. I just think the war on drugs has been proven to be a stupid way of reducing harm.”

He said he shared the objectives of a lot of people who wanted tough anti-drug laws, saying it was terrible that one in five young people tried illegal drugs last year.

“Alcohol is bad for you. Drugs are bad. Tobacco is bad. You don’t reduce the harm by placing the whole industry into the hands of criminals. Since when has industrial scale criminality been the answer to a public health problem?”

Critics point to links between cannabis use and psychosis, which last week led to calls for global public health campaigns from experts who said young people were particularly vulnerable.

Clegg said he believed there was a link to the use of skunk, a particularly toxic form of cannabis, but he argued that it was flooding the market precisely because of prohibition.

Related: Cannabis: scientists call for action amid mental health concerns

“When alcohol was prohibited in the US, the bootleggers didn’t bootleg beer, they bootlegged the hardest stuff, and it is exactly the same with drugs. If you put the production of drugs into the hands of criminals, guess what they will do? They will peddle the most potent stuff for the fattest profits.”

He said he was not optimistic about this week’s UN session driving a new international approach because of resistance from Russia and countries in Asia. However, he claimed there was a revolution unfolding in “state after state in the United States, in Uruguay, the Czech Republic and Portugal”.

The prime minister has expressed support for a different approach to drugs in the past, when as part of the Home Affairs select committee he signed up to a 2002 report claiming that policies based mainly on enforcement were destined to fail.

Then MP for Witney, Cameron wrote a piece for the Guardian, in which he said the drugs report was the most interesting and satisfying achievement of his first year as an MP. “Drugs policy has been a no-go area for most politicians, with a few notable – and brave – exceptions,” he wrote, calling himself an instinctive libertarian on the issue.

Cameron said decriminalisation would leader to greater availability, but added: “Authoritarians have to accept that the world has changed and hounding hundreds of thousands – indeed millions – of young people with harsh criminal penalties is no longer practical or desirable.”

In his interview, Clegg said that some Conservatives were quite thoughtful about the issue in 2010, when the coalition was formed, but that stopped after they became “freaked out” by Ukip.

“Over the five years I saw a Conservative party move from a party that was still in the after-glow of huskies and rose gardens; a party that flirted for a moment with being a modern Conservative party. But very quickly the shutters came up and they felt the route to government was to return to signature tunes on immigration and clearly on Europe and crime and so on. Taking a thoughtful approach on drugs didn’t fit into that.”

Bron: www.theguardian.com
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zondag 17 april 2016 @ 23:04:21 #219
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_161510995
quote:
'War on Drugs' has made no difference to number of users and actively harms public health, major study concludes | Science | News | The Independent

The five-decade long international “War on Drugs” started by US president Richard Nixon has harmed the public health and should be scrapped in favour of a process of decriminalisation, a major new report has concluded.

Anti-drug policies and laws have had “no measurable impact on supply or use” and cannot be justified on scientific or public health grounds, according to the authors of study commissioned by the Johns Hopkins Ivy League university and The Lancet.

The report presents “compelling evidence” that countries such as Portugal and the Czech Republic have decriminalised non-violent minor drug offences with positive results, including “public health benefits, cost savings, lower incarceration [rates] and no significant increase in problematic drug use”.

Urging action from countries such as the US and UK which still have highly strict drugs policies, the authors called on governments to consider “regulated markets” for cannabis like those in Uruguay and the US states of Washington, Colorado, Oregon and Alaska.

Looking at evidence from around the world, the study found drug laws had been applied in a way that was “discriminatory against racial and ethnic minorities and women, and has undermined human rights”.

And it identified prison terms for minor drug offenders as the single “biggest contribution to higher rates of infection among drug users” with diseases such as HIV and hepatitis C.

Farmers destroy cannabis plantations under Moroccan police supervision in the northern Moroccan Larache region, pictured here in 2006

Growing business: Cannabis on sale at River Rock Wellness

Oaksterdam in Oakland, California, is the world's only university dedicated to the study and cultivation of cannabis

A cannabis smoker marks the start of the new law by the Space Needle in Seattle

Cannabis growing wild in China, where it has been used to treat conditions such as gout and malaria

Uruguay has voted to make the country the first to legalize marijuana

A groundswell of support from the public led to full legalisation in Colorado

A man smokes licenced medicinal marijuana prior to participating in the annual Hemp Parade, or 'Hanfparade', in support of the legalization of marijuana in Germany on August 7, 2010 in Berlin, Germany. The consumption of cannabis in Germany is legal, though all other aspects, including growing, importing or selling it, are not. However, since the introduction of a new law in 2009, the sale and possession of marijuana for licenced medicinal use is legal.

The UK latest figures show 2.3 million people used cannabis in the last year

Tourists visiting Amsterdam will not be banned from using the city’s famous cannabis cafes

These 25 cannabis plants, seized in Merseyside police, could have generated a turnover of £40,000 a year

April 20, 2012: People smoke marijuana joints at 4:20 p.m. as thousands of marijuana advocates gathered at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, California. The event was held on April 20, a date corresponding with a numerical 4/20 code widely known within the cannabis subculture as a symbol for all things marijuana.

A cannabis users' association will pay the town of Rasquera more than ¤600,000 a year for the lease of the land

Dr Chris Beyrer, from Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health, said prohibition was the basis for many national drug laws - “policies based on ideas about drug use and dependence that are not scientifically grounded”.

“The global 'war on drugs' has harmed public health, human rights and development,” he said.

“It's time for us to rethink our approach to global drug policies, and put scientific evidence and public health at the heart of drug policy discussions.”

Bron: www.independent.co.uk
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  dinsdag 19 april 2016 @ 11:29:36 #220
156695 Tism
Sinds 24, Aug, 2006
pi_161552002
ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn
  dinsdag 19 april 2016 @ 19:10:17 #222
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_161556253
quote:
Colombia to use glyphosate in cocaine fight again | World news | The Guardian

Use of herbicide suspended last year due to cancer concerns, but will now be applied manually, not by crop dusters

Use of herbicide suspended last year due to cancer concerns, but will now be applied manually, not by crop dusters

Colombia will resume using weed killer to destroy illegal coca crops less than a year after suspending its use due to cancer concerns, the government said Monday.

Related: Colombia says rise in coca cultivation shows why it was right to stop spraying

The defense minister, Luis Carlos Villegas, said instead of dumping glyphosate from American-piloted crop dusters, as Colombia did for two decades, the herbicide will now be applied manually by eradication crews on the ground.

“We’ll do it in a way that doesn’t contaminate, which is the same way it’s applied in any normal agricultural project,” Villegas told La FM radio, adding he hoped final approval to initiate the work would be completed this week.

President Juan Manuel Santos last year banned use of glyphosate following a World Health Organisation decision to classify it as a carcinogen. The ban was heralded by leftists and members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia who have long compared the program to the United States’ use of Agent Orange in Vietnam.

But conservative critics warned that without glyphosate Colombia would soon be awash in coca.

After six straight years of declining or steady production, the amount of land under coca cultivation in Colombia jumped 39% in 2014 and 42% more last year to 159,000 hectares (392,000 acres), according to the US government.

Related: Last flight looms for US-funded air war on drugs as Colombia counts health cost

Villegas did not say why the government was switching gears or under what circumstances the weed killer would be applied. But he said a surge in coca production would have a ripple effect on the entire cocaine supply chain, both in Colombia and abroad.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer, a French-based research arm of WHO, reclassified the herbicide as a carcinogen last year, citing evidence that it produces cancer in lab animals and more limited findings that it causes non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in humans.

Monsanto and other manufacturers of glyphosate-based products strongly rejected the ruling. They cited a 2012 finding by the US Environmental Protection Agency that the herbicide is safe.

Many drug experts have long questioned the cost and effectiveness of glyphosate as coca growers moved to national parks and other areas that are off-limits to its use. Applying the herbicide manually is also expensive since heavily armed police patrols must escort eradicators in dangerous areas dotted with land mines and dominated by criminal gangs.

A better eradication strategy, the experts insist, is the one already in place and which the government has been promising to scale up. In that approach, work crews pull up coca bushes by the roots, thus ensuring plants can’t grow back as happens after exposure to glyphosate.

The decision on glyphosate use comes before a United Nations conference this week in New York to debate global strategies in the drug war.

Bron: www.theguardian.com
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  dinsdag 19 april 2016 @ 21:58:24 #223
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_161561584
quote:
No consensus at UN summit on ending global war on drugs | World | News | The Independent

The first United Nations special session on illegal drugs in more than a generation appeared headed for the reefs yesterday as world leaders arrived with clashing visions on the best way forward and hopes of a consensus on reversing the old policies of crack-down and criminalisation faded.

When the three-day meeting ends on Thursday, delegates will leave New York with little more than a sprawling 24-page “outcomes” document paying occasional, vaguely-worded lip service to the notion that the global war on drugs declared by the UN in 1998 may have failed while still upholding all existing interdiction treaties and making scant concrete commitments on a change of approach.

Still, that there will have been any discussion at all on the world stage of alternatives to the previously accepted dogma of elminate and incarcerate will nonetheless be seen by some as a step forward.

“All sorts of seeds were planted that will mature and blossom in coming years,” Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the New York-based Drug Policy Alliance, said of the outcomes document, which was largely negotiated more than a month ago in Vienna.

His group orchestrated the release on the eve of the summit of an open letter to the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, urging an end to the war on drugs. Signed by figures such as Richard Branson and presidential hopeful Senator Bernie Sanders, it stated: “The drug control regime that emerged during the last century has proven disastrous for global health, security and human rights.”

On Tuesday, activists dressed in clothes from the 1920s Prohibition era in America greeted delegates to the summit on New York’s First Avenue with copies of a faux newspaper called the ‘Post-Prohibition Times’ that carried the letter on its front page and the names of all the signatures inside.

Countries in Central and South America are among those most urgently seeking a change of direction, not least because the interdiction policies attempted so far have disproportionately hurt their societies.

“In this so-called war on drugs, countries such as Guatemala have borne the brunt, by coping with the unfair burden of the loss of human lives,” President Jimmy Morales Cabrera of Guatemala told the meeting. “One of the most important changes that the current drug policy needs is that we give priority to demand reduction rather than focusing solely on supply reduction. We must make the balance and comprehensiveness of drug policy a reality.”

On the other end of the spectrum, however, China made its own attachment to repressive anti-drugs regimes abundantly clear. “The Chinese government attaches great importance to anti-narcotics,” State Councilor Guo Shengkun declared in the UN’s General Assembly chamber. “For years, we have carried out the people's campaign against drugs and achieved notable progress. In the past decade, we cracked down on more than one million cases of drug crime and seized 751 tons of drugs.”

Russia also led resistance to any serious reconsideration of the UN’s original mission set in1998 of ridding the planet of drugs. The faltering progress will be especially disappointing to those focused on expanding treatment and assistance options for drug abuse and moving away from criminalising it.

“The emphasis needs to be on helping people getting out of the problem of drug use rather than punishing them for being in it. I think the opportunity has been 100 per cent missed,” Charles Gore, president of the London-based World Hepatitis Alliance, who was attending as an observer, lamented.

He was dismissive of the final document. “It represents a tinkering around the edges more than a fundamental reshaping of where we need to get to as a world on drug policy. They talk about this as if it’s about individual and public health when in fact the truth is it’s still about crime and criminalisation.”.

Bron: www.independent.co.uk
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  woensdag 20 april 2016 @ 07:36:48 #224
445752 broodjepindakaashagelslag
Ik blaf niet maar ik bijt
pi_161567296
#Worldondrugs: gaan we verdienen aan legale drugs?

quote:
De ‘oorlog tegen drugs’ is mislukt, zeggen experts en wereldleiders. Daarom praat de VN deze week over een nieuw wereldwijd drugsbeleid. Maar welke alternatieven hebben we?

NOS op 3 kijkt de aankomende dagen met drie experts naar de meest radicale optie: het legaliseren van alle drugs. Gaan we van een ‘war on drugs’ naar een #worldondrugs?

Vandaag: als we drugs legaliseren, gaan we er dan aan verdienen? We vroegen het de volgende deskundigen:



Elk jaar gaat er wereldwijd zo’n 320 miljard dollar om in illegale drugshandel, blijkt uit een rapport van de Verenigde Naties. Daarmee is het de meest lucratieve handel voor criminelen.

Met dat soort bedragen tot hun beschikking hebben drugscriminelen ongelooflijk veel macht. Zo kunnen ze bijvoorbeeld politici, rechters en politieagenten omkopen om hun eigen positie zo sterk mogelijk te maken.

Jeffrey Miron heeft berekend wat legalisering van alle drugs de Verenigde Staten zouden kunnen opleveren, namelijk 50 miljard dollar jaarlijks.

"Het gaat vooral om belastingen die de overheid kan heffen", legt hij uit. "Net zoals bij alcohol en tabak. Ook bedrijven die de gaan produceren en verkopen moeten belasting betalen."

In Nederland is vooral onderzocht wat het legaliseren van softdrugs zou betekenen. Een werkgroep van het ministerie van Financiën berekende in 2010 dat het ons jaarlijks ruim 443 miljoen euro op zou leveren, met name aan belastingen. Maar dat bedrag kan flink oplopen, afhankelijk van hoe hoog de belasting op de drugs zullen zijn.
Geld besparen

Ook Ton Nabben ziet voordelen van legalisering. "Wanneer criminelen zich minder, of zelfs helemaal niet meer, bezighouden met drugs dan nemen ook de zaken die ermee samenhangen af", legt hij uit. "Het illegaal storten van afval en het uitvechten van conflicten bijvoorbeeld."

Het belangrijkste is dat gebruikers van drugs niet meer opgesloten worden.
Pérez Correa

Miron heeft berekend wat deze besparingen Amerika zouden opleveren. Naast de 50 miljard aan extra inkomsten zouden de Amerikanen ook nog eens 50 miljard dollar besparen door de afname van politie-inzet, rechtszaken en de bouw en onderhoud van gevangenissen.

Ook in Mexico zou het natuurlijk een enorme inkomstenbron zijn voor de overheid. "Maar het belangrijkste is dat gebruikers van drugs niet meer opgesloten worden", zegt Pérez Correa. "Dat lost niets op en bovendien kost het opsluiten van die mensen een hoop geld."
Its hard to win an argument against a smart person, but it's damn near impossible to win an argument against a stupid person
  woensdag 20 april 2016 @ 07:38:50 #225
445752 broodjepindakaashagelslag
Ik blaf niet maar ik bijt
pi_161567311
Dit is het Rapport waar bovenstaand artikel naar verwijst.

New UNODC campaign highlights transnational organized crime as a US$870 billion a year business

quote:
6 July 2012 - UNODC today launched a new global awareness-raising campaign emphasizing the size and cost of transnational organized crime. Profiling this multibillion-dollar-a-year threat to peace, human security and prosperity, the campaign illustrates the key financial and social costs of this international problem through a new public service announcement video and dedicated fact sheets for journalists.

With a turnover estimated to be around US$ 870 billion a year, organized criminal networks profit from the sale of illegal goods wherever there is a demand. These immense illicit funds are worth more than six times the amount of official development assistance, and are comparable to 1.5 per cent of global GDP, or 7 per cent of the world's exports of merchandise.

"Transnational organized crime reaches into every region and every country across the world. Stopping this transnational threat represents one of the international community's greatest global challenges", said UNODC Executive Director, Yury Fedotov. "Crucial to our success is our ability to raise public awareness and generate understanding among key decision makers and policymakers. I hope that the media will use UNODC's campaign to highlight exactly how criminals undermine societies and cause suffering and pain to individuals and communities," he added.

Available at www.unodc.org/toc, the campaign is being rolled out through online channels and international broadcasters with the aim of raising awareness of the economic costs and human impact of this threat. By dealing with issues such as human trafficking, the smuggling of migrants, counterfeiting, illicit drugs, environmental crime and illegal arms, it offers an insight into today's core criminal areas.

With an estimated value of US$320 billion a year, drug trafficking is the most lucrative form of business for criminals. At US$250 billion a year, counterfeiting is also a very high earner for organized criminal groups. Human trafficking brings in about US$32 billion annually, while some estimates place the global value of smuggling of migrants at US$7 billion per year. The environment is also exploited: trafficking in timber generates revenues of US$3.5 billion a year in South-East Asia alone, while elephant ivory, rhino horn and tiger parts from Africa and Asia produce US$75 million annually in criminal turnover.

The human cost associated with transnational organized crime is also a major concern, with countless lives lost each year. Drug-related health problems and violence, deaths caused by firearms, and the unscrupulous methods and motives of human traffickers and migrant smugglers are all part of this. Every year, millions of victims are affected as a result of the activities of organized criminal groups.

The UNODC-led campaign illustrates that, despite being a global threat, the effects of transnational organized crime are felt locally. Criminal groups can destabilize countries and entire regions, undermining development assistance in those areas and increasing domestic corruption, extortion, racketeering and violence.
Its hard to win an argument against a smart person, but it's damn near impossible to win an argument against a stupid person
  woensdag 20 april 2016 @ 07:43:13 #226
445752 broodjepindakaashagelslag
Ik blaf niet maar ik bijt
pi_161567339
#Worldondrugs: gaan we straks allemaal aan de drugs?

quote:
De ‘oorlog tegen drugs’ is mislukt, zeggen experts en wereldleiders. Daarom praat de VN deze week over een nieuw wereldwijd drugsbeleid. Maar welke alternatieven hebben we?

NOS op 3 kijkt de aankomende dagen met drie experts naar de meest radicale optie: het legaliseren van alle drugs. Gaan we van een ‘war on drugs’ naar een #worldondrugs?

Vandaag: worden we allemaal druggies als drugs legaal worden? We vroegen het de volgende deskundigen:

Hoe ziet dat eruit?

Het is een van de belangrijkste argumenten van tegenstanders van legalisering van drugs: als drugs vrij verkrijgbaar zijn, dan kun je op elke hoek van de straat een pilletje of een zakje wiet kopen. De drempel om drugs te gebruiken wordt volgens hen daarmee lager. Dat heeft dan weer verschillende gevolgen, bijvoorbeeld meer verslaafden en een groter beroep op de gezondheidszorg.

Hoeveel wordt er in Nederland gebruikt?

Uit onderzoek van het Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek (CBS) blijkt dat van alle Nederlanders tussen de 15 en 64 jaar, er meer dan 2,6 miljoen weleens cannabis heeft gebruikt en ruim 800.000 xtc. Cannabis en xtc zijn daarmee de meest gebruikte drugs onder Nederlanders.

Drugsgebruikers wonen vooral in grote steden en hoogopgeleiden hebben meer drugservaring dan middelbaar- of laagopgeleide Nederlanders.
Neemt het gebruik toe als drugs legaal worden?

"De verwachting is dat op korte termijn meer mensen drugs zullen gebruiken", zegt Ton Nabben. "Het is dan makkelijker om aan die middelen te komen. Maar op de lange termijn zal het gebruik weer afnemen. Niet iedereen wil iedere dag drugs gebruiken en dat zal ook niet gebeuren."

Jeffrey Miron sluit zich daarbij aan. "Als je denkt dat mensen zo zelfdestructief zijn, dan zou de wereld eraan kapot gaan", zegt hij. "De meeste mensen kunnen prima zelf de beslissing nemen of ze drugs willen gebruiken of dat ze zich bijvoorbeeld willen focussen op hun werk."

Andere onderzoekers zien het minder rooskleurig in. Zo speelt erfelijke aanleg bijvoorbeeld een rol. Als drugs legaal worden, wordt de drempel om deze een keer te proberen, lager. Meer mensen komen in aanraking met drugs en diegenen die gevoelig zijn voor een verslaving, kunnen dan misschien niet stoppen.

Wat er echt zou gebeuren als drugs gelegaliseerd worden, is moeilijk te zeggen volgens de deskundigen die wij spreken. Er is geen land dat als voorbeeld kan dienen, want in geen enkel land zijn alle drugs legaal.

"Maar", zo zegt Miron, "er bestaat wel onderzoek waaruit je kunt opmaken dat het zo'n vaart niet zal lopen. Je ziet in landen of staten waar ze softdrugs gelegaliseerd hebben maar kleine veranderingen in gebruik. Die zijn bijna verwaarloosbaar."

Hoe zou dat moeten gebeuren, drugs legaliseren?

In ieder geval niet direct, zeggen onderzoekers. Begin bij de meest gebruikte drugs: cannabis en xtc.

"In Zuid-Amerika zijn we slecht in regulering", zegt Pérez Correa. "Dat is anders dan bij jullie. Voor hier geldt dat we heel langzaam drugs moeten legaliseren. Begin bij marihuana en kijk hoe dat gaat."

Is het reëel?

Of het realistisch is dat mensen meer drugs gaan gebruiken als het gelegaliseerd wordt, is lastig te zeggen. Er is nog geen enkel land dat dat gedaan heeft, dus er is ook geen goed voorbeeld. Ook is hier niet specifiek onderzoek naar gedaan.

Tegenstanders waarschuwen voor effecten van legalisatie van drugs op mensen die een erfelijke aanleg hebben om verslaafd te raken. Anderen zeggen dat het drugsgebruik niet zo'n vaart zal nemen.

In landen of staten waar cannabis gelegaliseerd is, zijn slechts kleine veranderingen te zien in het gebruik daarvan. Ook in Nederland, waar het gebruik van cannabis gedoogd wordt, gebruiken we niet meer cannabis dan in landen waar het gebruik illegaal is.

Alle onderzoekers die wij spraken, vinden dat er meer geëxperimenteerd moet worden met de legalisering van drugs. Alleen op die manier kun je meten wat de effecten zijn.

Its hard to win an argument against a smart person, but it's damn near impossible to win an argument against a stupid person
  woensdag 20 april 2016 @ 07:53:57 #227
445752 broodjepindakaashagelslag
Ik blaf niet maar ik bijt
pi_161567413
dubbel
Its hard to win an argument against a smart person, but it's damn near impossible to win an argument against a stupid person
pi_161580334
quote:
7s.gif Op zondag 27 maart 2016 14:15 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

[..]

Geld scoren voor gratis drugs? Als ze het spul legaliseren wordt het een stuk goedkoper.

De War on Drugs heeft niets met feiten en wetenschap te maken, dus lijkt het mij onzinnig om dit initiatief te steunen.
Het gaat om een test, maar het uiteindelijke doel is legalisering van bepaalde drugs die medische toepassingen zouden kunnen hebben (waaronder MDMA). Ook bij legalisering van cannabis heeft dit in de VS een rol gespeeld in het proces. Daarnaast is de indeling van MDMA als schedule 1 drug (zwaarste categorie) is onder andere gebaseerd op de aanname dat het geen medische toepassingen heeft. Die indeling wordt onder andere gebruikt voor het bepalen van de strafmaat na een drugsgerelateerde veroordeling.
As the officer took her away, she recalled that she asked,
"Why do you push us around?"
And she remembered him saying,
"I don't know, but the law's the law, and you're under arrest."
  woensdag 20 april 2016 @ 18:33:29 #229
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_161580430
quote:
0s.gif Op woensdag 20 april 2016 18:29 schreef heiden6 het volgende:

[..]

Het gaat om een test, maar het uiteindelijke doel is legalisering van bepaalde drugs die medische toepassingen zouden kunnen hebben (waaronder MDMA). Ook bij legalisering van cannabis heeft dit in de VS een rol gespeeld in het proces. Daarnaast is de indeling van MDMA als schedule 1 drug (zwaarste categorie) is onder andere gebaseerd op de aanname dat het geen medische toepassingen heeft. Die indeling wordt onder andere gebruikt voor het bepalen van de strafmaat na een drugsgerelateerde veroordeling.
Leuke hobby voor de liefhebbers. Maar ik ben niet tegen recreatief gebruik, dus de omweg via medische toepassingen is voor mij een non-issue.
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
pi_161580542
quote:
7s.gif Op woensdag 20 april 2016 18:33 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

[..]

Leuke hobby voor de liefhebbers. Maar ik ben niet tegen recreatief gebruik, dus de omweg via medische toepassingen is voor mij een non-issue.
Ik natuurlijk ook niet, maar ik dacht ik post even een toelichting voor de mensen die minder goed op de hoogte zijn (post hier eigenlijk wel eens iemand anders dan wij twee? :')).
As the officer took her away, she recalled that she asked,
"Why do you push us around?"
And she remembered him saying,
"I don't know, but the law's the law, and you're under arrest."
  woensdag 20 april 2016 @ 20:17:12 #231
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_161583628
quote:
0s.gif Op woensdag 20 april 2016 18:37 schreef heiden6 het volgende:

[..]

Ik natuurlijk ook niet, maar ik dacht ik post even een toelichting voor de mensen die minder goed op de hoogte zijn (post hier eigenlijk wel eens iemand anders dan wij twee? :')).
Weinig maar er zijn lurkers. :s)
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  woensdag 20 april 2016 @ 20:17:29 #232
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_161583638
quote:
Canada to introduce legislation to decriminalize recreational cannabis | World news | The Guardian

Country will bring forth laws to decriminalize and regulate recreational weed in spring of 2017, health minister announced at UN general assembly in New York

Canada’s Liberal government will introduce legislation to decriminalise and regulate recreational marijuana in spring 2017, according to the health minister, Jane Philpott.

The prime minister, Justin Trudeau, promised during last year’s election campaign that his government would legalise recreational marijuana, following the US states of Washington and Colorado, but the time frame has been unclear.

Related: Colombian president: prohibitionist drug policies have been a 'failure'

Philpott, speaking on Wednesday at a special session of the UN general assembly in New York on drug problems around the world, said the Canadian law will ensure marijuana is kept away from children and will keep criminals from profiting from its sale.

“We will work with law enforcement partners to encourage appropriate and proportionate criminal justice measures,” she said. “We know it is impossible to arrest our way out of this problem.“

Former Toronto police chief Bill Blair, the government’s point man on legalisation, has emphasised that current laws that make marijuana illegal remain in effect.

Medical marijuana is a separate issue from recreational marijuana in Canada and is already legal. Canada’s medical marijuana growers say a jump in the number of illegal marijuana dispensaries as the federal government decides how to regulate the drug is costing them customers.

Medical marijuana patients in Canada are set to regain the right to grow their own cannabis after a federal court judge in March struck down the ban introduced by the previous Conservative government.

Bron: www.theguardian.com
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  woensdag 20 april 2016 @ 20:27:45 #233
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_161583904
quote:
Marijuana Kills Cancer Cells, Admits the U.S. National Cancer Institute | Natural Society

National legalization of marijuana may be drawing a smidgeon closer. The National Cancer Institute (NCI), one of the federal government sponsored agencies, has just updated the FAQs on its website to include recent studies on marijuana showing that it can and has killed cancer cells.

These are the findings of studies NCI have included:


Bron: naturalsociety.com
Het artikel gaat verder.
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  woensdag 20 april 2016 @ 22:41:20 #234
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_161589908
quote:
Verdachten mega-drugszaak vrijgesproken | NOS

Het Openbaar Ministerie heeft bot gevangen in een van de grootste drugszaken ooit in Nederland. De verdachten die volgens het OM achter een transport van vier ton cocaïne zaten, zijn vandaag vrijgesproken.

De drugs zaten verstopt op een krakkemikkige boot die in de zomer van 2003 strandde in Vlissingen. Aan boord vond de douane 4050 kilo cocaïne, verstopt in verborgen ruimtes. Het was de grootste drugsvondst tot dan toe in Nederland. De straatwaarde bedroeg zo'n 200 miljoen euro.

Een aantal direct betrokkenen, zoals bemanningsleden, werd veroordeeld. Onderzoek naar de opdrachtgevers en financiers van het transport bleef uit door gebrek aan rechercheurs. Tot het OM de zaak zes jaar later toch weer oppakte en nog eens zeven jaar later (eind 2015) voor de rechter bracht.

De verdachten, onder wie een Amsterdamse vastgoedhandelaar, ontkenden iedere betrokkenheid bij het drugstransport. Volgens hun advocaten heeft het proces onnodig lang op zich laten wachten en waren belangrijke getuigen in de zaak onbetrouwbaar. Zij voorspelden een zeperd voor justitie.

Volgens de rechtbank zijn de verklaringen van getuigen in de zaak inderdaad niet betrouwbaar genoeg. Verder is er te weinig bewijs. De verdachten zijn daarom alle vier vrijgesproken.

Of het OM de zaak na dertien jaar nog een vervolg geeft door in hoger beroep te gaan, is nog niet bekendgemaakt. Voor een van de mannen had justitie zelf al vrijspraak gevraagd, voor de anderen waren celstraffen geëist van twee tot zes jaar.

Bron: nos.nl
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  donderdag 21 april 2016 @ 18:37:06 #235
445752 broodjepindakaashagelslag
Ik blaf niet maar ik bijt
pi_161606430
Douane ontdekt 500 kilo drugs verstopt in kermisattractie



quote:
De douane heeft 500 kilo cocaïne gevonden in een kermisattractie. De attractie, een zogenoemde slingshot, was per boot vanuit Curaçao naar Nederland getransporteerd. De slingshot - een soort katapult - is onderschept tijdens een controle in de Rotterdamse haven.

De drugs zaten verstopt in de holle armen van de kermisattractie. De cocaïne had een straatwaarde van ruim 15 miljoen euro. De drugs zijn uit de armen gehaald en vernietigd.

De slingshot was bestemd voor een 50-jarige man uit Den Haag. Hij is gisteren aangehouden en wordt vrijdag voorgeleid aan de rechter-commissaris.
Its hard to win an argument against a smart person, but it's damn near impossible to win an argument against a stupid person
  donderdag 21 april 2016 @ 18:45:40 #236
445752 broodjepindakaashagelslag
Ik blaf niet maar ik bijt
pi_161606608
Derde artikel uit de reeks # war on drugs

#Worldondrugs: raken criminelen massaal werkloos?

quote:
Wereldwijd zitten er meer dan 10 miljoen mensen in de gevangenis. Ongeveer een vijfde van hen zit vast vanwege een drugsgerelateerd misdrijf. Het merendeel voor drugshandel, de rest vanwege drugsbezit.

Per land zijn er grote verschillen. Wat in het ene land als een drugsmisdrijf wordt gezien, kan in het andere land legaal zijn. Het ene land maakt bijvoorbeeld geen onderscheid tussen hard- en softdrugs, het andere wel. En soms zijn alleen productie en handel strafbaar, soms ook het gebruik.

"De effecten van het drugsbeleid verschillen dan ook per land", zegt professor Jeffrey Miron van Harvard. "Over het algemeen kan je zeggen: hoe harder de repressie in een land, hoe heftiger de criminaliteit."

Biermerken als Heineken en Budweiser bevechten elkaar met reclamecampagnes en advocaten. Dat kunnen drugsbendes niet.

Wereldwijd sterven veel mensen door zogenaamde drugsmoorden. Zo heeft de Mexicaanse drugsoorlog sinds 2006 aan meer dan 100.000 mensen het leven gekost. Ter vergelijking: dat is ongeveer net zoveel als het aantal inwoners van de gemeente Venlo.

"Drugscriminelen kunnen hun conflicten nou eenmaal niet via officiële wegen oplossen", zegt Miron. "Biermerken als Heineken en Budweiser bevechten elkaar niet met wilde schietpartijen. Ze vechten het uit met reclamecampagnes en advocaten. Dat kunnen drugsbendes niet. Zij moeten hun conflicten beslechten met wapens, afpersing en bedreiging."
Verdwijnt drugscriminaliteit?

Criminaliteit speelt zich buiten het zicht af, dus het is lastig om precies te berekenen wat het legaliseren van drugs zou schelen aan criminaliteit. Maar de algemene aanname van de experts is dat het een gat zal slaan in het criminele milieu. Volgens Miron is in Amerika is eens berekend dat het jaarlijks 25 tot 50 procent van het aantal moorden zou schelen.

Catalina Pérez Correa vindt het moeilijk te voorspellen wat de drugskartels in Mexico doen als drugs gelegaliseerd worden. "Ik weet dat veel Mexicanen die nu papaverplanten kweken - de grondstof voor heroïne - liever voor de overheid of legale bedrijven zouden werken dan voor criminelen. Dan weet je tenminste zeker dat je je geld krijgt en dat je niet wordt misbruikt of zelfs vermoord door criminelen." Maar de kartels zullen hun miljoenenbusiness natuurlijk niet zomaar uit handen geven.

Volgens Ton Nabbers zal drugscriminaliteit zeker afnemen, maar zal er altijd een zwarte markt blijven voor drugs waar ze andere of goedkopere drugs zullen verhandelen.
Its hard to win an argument against a smart person, but it's damn near impossible to win an argument against a stupid person
  donderdag 21 april 2016 @ 18:52:30 #237
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_161606746
quote:
LePage vetoes bill aimed at increasing access to overdose antidote - The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram

Gov. Paul LePage vetoed a bill Wednesday that would allow pharmacists to dispense an anti-overdose drug without a prescription, saying that allowing addicts to keep naloxone on hand “serves only to perpetuate the cycle of addiction.”

The Legislature passed the bill “under the hammer” – or unanimously without a roll call – this month as part of lawmakers’ attempts to address Maine’s growing opioid addiction epidemic.

Maine already allows family members of addicts to receive prescriptions for naloxone hydrochloride – also commonly known by the brand name Narcan – which quickly counteracts the potentially deadly effects of an opiate overdose. The bill, L.D. 1547, aims to make the antidote even more readily available by allowing a pharmacist to dispense naloxone without a prescription to individuals “at risk of experiencing an opioid-related drug overdose” or to a friend or family member of someone at risk.

The legislation would also allow police and fire departments to obtain a supply of naloxone and provides immunity to pharmacists or health care professionals who dispense the antidote when “acting in good faith and with reasonable care.”

But in his veto letter sent to lawmakers on Wednesday, LePage said the bill would allow pharmacists “to dispense naloxone to practically anyone who asks for it.”

“Naloxone does not truly save lives; it merely extends them until the next overdose,” LePage wrote, repeating a contention that has caused controversy before. “Creating a situation where an addict has a heroin needle in one hand and a shot of naloxone in the other produces a sense of normalcy and security around heroin use that serves only to perpetuate the cycle of addiction.”

Pharmacy chains such as Rite Aid and CVS already dispense naloxone without a prescription in other states. About 30 states allow sales of the drug without a prescription.

CVS requested the bill in Maine after receiving a letter from U.S. Sen. Angus King of Maine asking the chain to expand the availability of the antidote. The bill got support from both law enforcement and health organizations during the legislative hearing.

LePage has stirred controversy before with his suggestions that naloxone has become a sort of life-saving crutch for opioid addicts as he points to reports of drug users who have been revived multiple times from overdoses by police or rescue squads. Bill supporters reacted strongly on Wednesday to his statement that the antidote merely extends lives “until the next overdose.”

“With this insensitive statement, Gov. LePage is insinuating that Mainers suffering from addiction are beyond reach – that they cannot be saved,” Sen. Cathy Breen, D-Falmouth, said in a statement. “I disagree. Narcan can be the difference between an early grave and an intervention that can put an addict on the path to recovery. We know that Narcan saves lives. It is incumbent on us to make sure it is readily available.”

There were 272 drug overdose deaths in Maine in 2015, representing a 31 percent increase over the previous year.

“If we have the chance to save even one life, we must seize it,” House Assistant Majority Leader Rep. Sara Gideon, D-Freeport, said in a statement. “Putting this proven life-saving medication into more hands will save lives and spare families the unthinkable loss of a loved one to a preventable overdose.”

In his veto letter, LePage said the state must address the “root causes of the problem” by stopping drug traffickers bringing heroin into Maine, expanding education and prevention efforts and addressing prescribing practices that provide a gateway to heroin abuse.

The Legislature will take up L.D. 1547 and all other vetoed bills during a session on April 29. It takes a two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate to override a gubernatorial veto.


Bron: www.pressherald.com
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  vrijdag 22 april 2016 @ 14:04:18 #238
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_161625524
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  vrijdag 22 april 2016 @ 14:28:28 #239
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_161626015
quote:
Mexico's president proposes legalising medical marijuana | World news | The Guardian

Mexico’s president Enrique Peña Nieto has announced plans to introduced laws to legalise medical marijuana and increase the quantity anyone can carry and consume for recreational purposes from five grams to 28 grams. His plan would also free some prisoners convicted of possessing small amounts of marijuana.

The proposed laws, he said on Thursday, would stop “criminalising consumption” and also authorise the use of medicines made from a base of marijuana and or its active ingredients.

The initiative, which will now go to the senate for debate, signals a shift for Peña Nieto, who says he has never smoked marijuana and has openly opposed its legalisation.

Related: UN backs prohibitionist drug policies despite call for more 'humane solution'

It follows his announcement earlier this week at the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on drugs, UNgass, in which Peña Nieto called for more prevention, partial decriminalization and a public health approach.

Although Mexico – along with Colombia and Guatemala – had lobbied the UN to bring forward the special session from its original date of 2018, Peña Nieto had originally planned to skip the meeting. He made a U-turn under criticism at home. Mexico, which sees enormous shipments of drugs smuggled through its territory to the US, has been hit hard by violence stemming from a 10-year crackdown on drug cartels and organised crime that has claimed more than 100,000 lives.

Medical marijuana made national news in Mexico last summer after the parents of an eight-year-old named Graciela Elizalde won the right to use a medicine containing cannabinoids to treat Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, a condition causing hundreds of daily epileptic seizures.

In November, the supreme court also granted injunctions to four individuals seeking permission to cultivate and consume marijuana for recreational reasons – a move that activists believe paves the way to broader decriminalisation.

Peña Nieto strongly opposed the ruling but responded by proposing a series of five forums on the drugs issue. Those results were released Monday and included prevention, facilitating the medical use and investigation of controlled substances and dealing with drugs “from a perspective of human rights”.

Polls show Mexicans are mostly opposed to medical marijuana, though opposition has softened over the past six months. Polling firm Parametría found 71% of Mexicans are opposed to recreational marijuana, though 64% approved using it for medicinal purposes.

The president’s initiative on medical marijuana comes as Mexico’s record on human rights has been questioned and Peña Nieto’s approval rating reaches record lows.

Security analyst Jorge Kawas saw the measure sparing some individuals the indignity of the problematic Mexican justice system, but doing nothing “with the supply side of the equation.”

He added, “I see [drug legalization] as almost a non issue” in Mexico’s domestic politics, though “it could give some positive press abroad and at the same time provide some important front-page space in the national papers.”

Bron: www.theguardian.com
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zaterdag 23 april 2016 @ 17:21:06 #240
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_161652560
quote:
'Je weet nu al dat er vanavond weer dronken mensen komen' | NOS

Voor veel artsen van de Spoedeisende Hulp is het bepaald niet hun favoriete dienst, de zaterdagavond. "Al is het maar omdat dronken mensen erg vervelend zijn voor andere patiënten", zegt Crispijn van den Brand, voorzitter van De Nederlandse Vereniging van Spoedeisende Hulp Artsen en zelf ook arts.

"Zaterdagavond is de stapavond, dus je weet nu al dat ze vanavond weer binnenkomen", vertelt hij. "Je zal maar als oudere je heup breken en tussen al die dronken mensen terechtkomen. Dat lijkt me erg vervelend."

De artsen van de Spoedeisende Hulp zijn het zat en willen dat de verkoop van alcohol aan banden wordt gelegd. De Eerste Hulpafdelingen in de binnensteden hebben zo veel last van dronken patiënten dat ze om strenge maatregelen vragen. Zo willen ze dat de regels voor de verkoop van alcohol op één lijn komen met die van de verkoop van sigaretten.

"Niet alle dronken mensen zijn vervelend, maar er zijn er genoeg met een agressieve dronk", zegt Van den Brand. "Het is wel eens gebeurd dat iemand die te veel had gedronken zomaar de behandelkamer van een andere patiënt binnenliep. Dat is zeer onwenselijk."

Naast agressie hebben de eerstehulpposten ook te maken met de troep die de dronken mensen achterlaten. "Ze plassen in de behandelkamer, kotsen de wachtkamer onder en trappen gewoon rotzooi."

We richten ons wel op XTC, maar alcohol is de grote boosdoener.

Ook Michiel Gorzeman merkt dat. Hij werkt al tien jaar als hulparts op de spoedeisende hulp in het Amsterdamse ziekenhuis OLVG en daarvoor deed hij hetzelfde in andere ziekenhuizen. "Het is overal hetzelfde. En het gaat niet alleen om de overlast. Onder invloed van alcohol gebeuren er ook veel ongelukken. Zoals kaakfracturen na het vallen met de fiets waarna een operatie nodig is. Veel mensen komen bij ons na vechtpartijen of aanrijdingen waarbij dronken mensen betrokken zijn."

Het personeel heeft van alle soorten patiënten het meeste last van dronken mensen. Ze zijn zijn vaak agressief. "Het gaat dan om bedreigingen, er wordt gespuugd, of met dingen gegooid", zegt Gorzeman. "Slechts af en toe komen er achteraf excuusbriefjes."

Ook in het OLVG is de zaterdagnacht geen favoriete dienst, "maar we doen het met elkaar. En als er dan een dronken Superman wordt binnengebracht na een incident op een vrijgezellenfeest moet je toch even lachen."

Wat betreft Gorzeman is het nu wel echt tijd om goed te kijken naar de gevolgen van het overmatige drankgebruik. "We richten onze pijlen op XTC en andere drugs, maar alcohol is de grootste boosdoener van agressie naar personeel en van persoonlijk leed, waar je het ook vraagt."

Bron: nos.nl
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  dinsdag 26 april 2016 @ 15:53:26 #241
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_161728081
quote:
Zaak-Checkpoint moet van Hoge Raad weer over | NOS

De Hoge Raad heeft de strafzaak van coffeeshop Checkpoint in Terneuzen twee keer terugverwezen naar het hof. In 2012 verklaarde het gerechtshof in Den Haag in deze lang slepende zaak dat het OM deze zaak niet voor de rechter had mogen brengen. In 2014 deed het hof in Amsterdam hetzelfde. Nu moet een derde gerechtshof, dat in Den Bosch, de zaak in behandeling nemen.

Coffeeshop Checkpoint was jarenlang de grootste coffeeshop van Nederland. Om dagelijks 2000 tot 3000 klanten van softdrugs te voorzien was meer dan de toegestane voorraad van 500 gram nodig. De gemeente gedoogde dat met medeweten van het OM, totdat het OM besloot om in te grijpen, de eigenaar en medewerkers te vervolgen en Checkpoint te sluiten.

De rechtbank in Middelburg veroordeelde de eigenaar tot 16 weken cel, maar het hof in Den Haag oordeelde in 2012 dat het OM niet tot vervolging had mogen overgaan, omdat de gemeente en het OM de situatie jarenlang hadden gedoogd en het OM daarmee het recht om te vervolgen had verspeeld. De Hoge Raad was het niet met het vonnis eens en verwees de zaak naar het gerechtshof in Amsterdam. Dat kwam in 2014 tot dezelfde conclusie als het hof in Den Haag.

De Hoge Raad vindt dat het hof in Amsterdam zijn uitspraak over de niet-ontvankelijkheid van het OM onvoldoende heeft gemotiveerd. Ook sluit de Hoge Raad niet uit dat de eigenaar kan worden vervolgd voor deelname aan een criminele organisatie.

Bron: nos.nl
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  dinsdag 26 april 2016 @ 23:57:26 #242
445752 broodjepindakaashagelslag
Ik blaf niet maar ik bijt
pi_161742528
NWS / Heftig wietgebruik kan het leven verkorten

Jammer dat er niet instaat waaraan deze personen overleden zijn.

Twee stukjes uit het artikel, ik vind het artikel erg vaag en lijkt er op geënt om het verbod op wiet in stand te houden.

quote:
"Cannabis users have poorer health in general. You'd expect there to be increased mortality risk," Krakower told CBS News. He pointed to another long-term study linking early heavy marijuana use with lung cancer, and a second study that associates the drug with increased heart problems.

"Marijuana users generally may have poorer diets and they might be tobacco smokers. There's an increased linkage between weed and tobacco," said Krakower.
Je kan je afvragen of dat het door de marihuana komt of de tabak, ik gok het tweede.

quote:
Earlier cannabis use is linked to cognitive problems. Hills said, "One 2012 study showed early, regular use of marijuana - the kind of level they describe in this study -- led to an eight point decline in IQ over time."
Ja als je de hele dag stoned bent, maar niet door af en toe een jointje te roken.

[ Bericht 50% gewijzigd door broodjepindakaashagelslag op 27-04-2016 00:08:46 ]
Its hard to win an argument against a smart person, but it's damn near impossible to win an argument against a stupid person
  woensdag 27 april 2016 @ 00:16:30 #243
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_161742976
Tegenwoordig straffen rechters steeds minder als het gaat om de productie van wiet. Dus moet het buiten de rechter om:

quote:
Van der Steur: zware criminaliteit altijd via rechter | NOS

Minister Van der Steur heeft twijfels bij het aanpakken van drugscriminelen buiten de rechter om. "Ik vind dat onwenselijk als het betekent dat er een lagere straf wordt gegeven voor bepaalde vormen van criminaliteit."

Eerder vandaag werd bekend dat het Openbaar Ministerie en de politie in Noord-Brabant bij drugscriminaliteit steeds vaker gebruik maken van de ZSM-aanpak (Zo Snel Mogelijk). Er worden dan - buiten de rechter om - afspraken gemaakt met een drugscrimineel.

Die afspraken gaan dan bijvoorbeeld over het in beslag nemen van geld of goederen. Dat is volgens deskundigen soms effectiever dan het voeren van een jarenlange procedure.

Tot nu toe werd de methode al wel toegepast bij lichtere vergrijpen als winkeldiefstal, maar volgens 'Noord-Brabant' werkt het ook bij zwaardere vergrijpen door drugscriminelen.

De minister van Veiligheid en Justitie zegt dat het vaker toepassen van de ZSM-aanpak een afweging is, die het OM mag maken. "Het OM in Nederland is onafhankelijk." Maar hij wil wel in gesprek met de landelijke leiding van het OM om precies te horen hoe vaak en bij welke delicten de aanpak kan worden ingezet.

"Ik denk dat het een belangrijk uitgangspunt is van ons beleid dat zware criminaliteit gewoon via de rechter moet worden bestraft."

Bron: nos.nl
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  donderdag 28 april 2016 @ 11:46:39 #244
445752 broodjepindakaashagelslag
Ik blaf niet maar ik bijt
pi_161772207
Drugsvangst ter waarde van 100 miljoen euro in Rotterdam



quote:
In Rotterdam heeft de douane een enorme drugsvangst gedaan in de Waalhaven. Volgens het Openbaar Ministerie gaat het om 2900 kilo cocaïne uit Curaçao ter waarde van 100 miljoen euro.

De pakketten drugs stonden in een container verpakt in honderd verhuisdozen. Verder stond in de container huisraad uit Curaçao. De container zou uiteindelijk naar het Duitse Kranenburg gaan.
'Op twee na grootste'

"Het is de op twee na grootste drugsvondst in de Rotterdamse haven", zegt een woordvoerder van het Openbaar Ministerie. In 2005 werd in Rotterdam een partij van 4200 kilo cocaïne ontdekt. In 2014 een van 3000 kilo.

Het Rotterdamse Hit and Run Cargoteam is een onderzoek gestart. Het HARC-team is een samenwerking tussen de Douane, Zeehavenpolitie en de Fiod, onder leiding van het Openbaar Ministerie.

De cocaïne werd op 11 maart al gevonden, maar in verband met het onderzoek kon het Openbaar Ministerie de vondst niet eerder bekend maken. De cocaïne is vernietigd.
Its hard to win an argument against a smart person, but it's damn near impossible to win an argument against a stupid person
  donderdag 28 april 2016 @ 11:49:14 #245
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_161772269
quote:
Ik dacht al in maart, waarom is mijn dealer 5 minuten te laat? :')
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  donderdag 28 april 2016 @ 11:49:46 #246
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_161772282
quote:
Ik dacht al, waarom is de prijs van coke sinds maart niet gedaald? :')
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  donderdag 28 april 2016 @ 11:51:33 #247
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_161772327
quote:
Ik dacht al, waarom zitten die cakes nu weer in een andere kleur verpakking? :')
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
pi_161772910
quote:
7s.gif Op donderdag 28 april 2016 11:49 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

[..]

Ik dacht al, waarom is de prijs van coke sinds maart niet gedaald? :')
Ja, de eindoverwinning in de war on drugs is nabij.
Wees gehoorzaam. Alleen samen krijgen we de vrijheid eronder.
  zondag 1 mei 2016 @ 17:23:36 #249
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_161850417
quote:
The War on Drugs Failed, So Why Isn't It Over?

At the request of Latin American leaders who have grown weary of bloody battles over drugs, the United Nations held a summit last week on the "world drug problem" at its headquarters in New York City. For a moment, it seemed as if the global war on drugs was beginning to crumble under its own weight.

Before the summit even began, the UN officials were under fire for making concessions to powerful countries with harsh drug control regimes and failing to push the global discourse beyond the decades-old treaties that laid the foundation for international drug prohibition. Hundreds of political leaders and policy groups condemned the summit's guiding statement for refusing to recognize that decades of prohibition have done more harm than good, fueling mass incarceration, organized crime, infectious diseases and general bloodshed across the world while failing to reduce supply or demand.

At a press conference during the summit, Nick Clegg, a former deputy prime minister of the UK and a member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, said the UN system is "increasingly divorced from reality." Former Columbian president and commission member César Gaviria, whose country has been violently ravaged by the drug war, said the idea that governments can rid society of drugs is "totally unrealistic" because 50 years of prohibition have "totally failed." The commission, which supports drug decriminalization, is made up of current and former leaders from several countries, including Mexico, Switzerland, Canada and the United States.

Clearly, the global conversation around drugs has changed since the last drug summit in 1998. There, UN leadership declared that a "drug-free world" could be achieved within 10 years, a goal that now seems laughable. Since then, drug decriminalization in countries like the Czech Republic and Portugal has been linked to improvements in public health, and marijuana legalization efforts in major UN member states, including the United States and Canada, have caused political fissures throughout the stubborn institutions of prohibition. These efforts may well be undermining the international drug control framework altogether.

Calls for drug legalization are going mainstream, but millions of people continue to be arrested for nonviolent drug offenses each year, including 1.5 million in the US alone. Political leaders are only starting to catch up, at least on paper. Shortly before the UN summit, Democratic rivals Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, along with 1,000 political and cultural leaders, signed a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon calling for "a new global response to drugs" and declaring 20th century drug control regimes to be "disastrous for global health, security and human rights."

The signatures of two major US presidential candidates on an international statement effectively condemning the global drug war mark a stark departure from decades of US policy. However, the letter appeared to have had little impact on the summit beyond a kerfuffle between UN security and activists dressed in prohibition-era costumes who showed up to distribute copies of it. The US served as the de facto leader of a global drug crackdown for decades after President Richard Nixon first declared the war on drugs, with the intention of crushing the Black liberation and antiwar movements. Yet recent changes in policies at home have left the United States in an awkward position on the current global stage.

Daniel Raymond, a spokesman for the Harm Reduction Coalition, a US-based group that sent advocates to the summit, told Truthout that the US diplomats have found themselves in a "double bind." The US, Raymond said, must convince its international partners that a multibillion-dollar legal and medical marijuana industry in nearly half of US states can be reconciled with responsibilities to longstanding international drug control agreements.

"The US seems to have taken a middle-of-the-road approach in these negotiations: They are trying to play nice with everybody and keep all parties at the table," said Raymond, who added that the US is more focused on UN procedure than real policy goals. "Because the United States has skin in a lot of different games, they have taken a less proactive role in the UN negotiations and occupied the middle."

Hillary Clinton and Obama's Drug War Legacy

Beyond a handful of outspoken progressive Democrats and libertarian Republicans, drug policy reform never enjoyed much political capital in Washington, until recently. The movement for Black lives and widespread protests against law enforcement have drawn national attention to the drug war's contributions to mass incarceration and racism in the criminal legal system. Meanwhile, the nation's "opioid crisis" has put a whiter, wealthier and more politically salient face on drug addiction.

President Obama has responded by reducing sentences for some federal drug war prisoners and declaring the opioid crisis a public health challenge instead of a criminal problem. His current drug czar, Michael Botticelli, has been praised for prioritizing treatment over incarceration, when it comes to people charged with drug possession, but the White House continues to support law enforcement crackdowns on drug trafficking, which can drag marginalized people perceived as dealers into the criminal legal system. The administration has also been less than transparent about efforts to allow certain addiction medications in prisons, where people with opioid addictions are often cut off from prescribed regimens.

If elected, Hillary Clinton is expected to take a similar path. President Obama has asked Congress to appropriate $1 billion to combat the opioid crisis with treatment and prevention, and Clinton has proposed to spend $10 billion over the next decade. Clinton touts her support for reducing mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses and has said she would prioritize treatment over prison time for low-level offenders, but she has said nothing about defanging drug war institutions like the scandal-ridden US Drug Enforcement Administration.

Bernie Sanders says that the war on drugs has "failed" and proposes to go even further than Clinton by eliminating mandatory minimum sentences and removing marijuana from the list of federally outlawed drugs, but his chances of winning the Democratic nomination are increasingly slim.

Critics of the drug war predicted years ago that state laws prohibiting marijuana would slowly fall like dominos despite federal prohibition. These state-level initiatives provide perfect political cover for Clinton and the Republican candidates, who fear alienating older, socially conservative voters but know that the majority of people in the US now support marijuana legalization.

Clinton does not support legalizing weed, but she has promised not to interfere with state marijuana reforms, and to direct federal agents to focus on violent criminals instead of pot smokers. Republicans Donald Trump and even archconservative Ted Cruz, who have said little about drug policy beyond the debate over securing the US-Mexico border, agree that states should be free to decide the issue on their own, even if they personally oppose legalization. Only Ohio Gov. John Kasich has expressed firm opposition to legalization.

Marijuana has long been the media's drug policy bellwether, but legal weed alone will not stop the violence ravaging Mexico, Latin America and cities across the United States. Allowing the vast marijuana industry to go legit would certainly put a dent in the profit margins of drug cartels, but it may also increase competition in black markets for drugs like cocaine and heroin, making those trades even more dangerous and bloody than they already are.

Still, localized marijuana legalization flies in the face of federal law and longstanding international drug control agreements, which continue to label marijuana as dangerous and illegal. US diplomats affirmed the three major drug prohibition and anti-trafficking treaties last week along with the rest of the UN, suggesting that these agreements are open to interpretation or can simply be ignored by policy makers on the ground.

"Once you start to say there is a place for legalization in controlled markets, then the [UN drug control] conventions can mean anything that you want them to," Raymond said. "At the same time, you are pretending that they say something solid."

How to End the War on Drugs

To end the war on drugs, the conversation around the uppers, downers and psychedelics with tougher reputations than weed must change as well. Politicians must accept a few facts, and not just behind closed doors, where drug reform lobbyists often find sympathetic lawmakers who claim their hands are politically tied.

First of all, humans have used psychoactive drugs for thousands of years and won't be stopping anytime soon. From caffeine to codeine, drug use is inevitable in all realms of society, whether drugs are legal or not. We know this because prohibition has failed so miserably at its stated goal. Criminalizing drugs does not reduce the amount of harm they can cause; in fact, it has the opposite effect. Proven harm reduction strategies and medical treatments for addiction, on the other hand, can help make drug use safer for everyone.

We must also change the way we view drug users, who are much less dangerous than the drug warriors, as it turns out. Last month, an international team of experts sponsored by Johns Hopkins University pointed to the UN's own data showing that only 11 percent of drug users worldwide are considered "problem users" because they have an addiction or drug abuse disorder. Drug prohibitionists, however, wrongly assume that there is no difference between use and abuse, and total abstinence is the only acceptable way to approach certain drugs. This mentality has fueled sensational and racist myths about "crack babies," "bath salt zombies" and "reefer madness."

Meanwhile, anti-drug laws have contributed to lethal violence, forced displacement, human rights abuses and an increase in the transmission of diseases like HIV and hepatitis C, according to the team sponsored by Johns Hopkins. The researchers called on governments to embrace harm reduction strategies like syringe exchange and decriminalize all minor drug offenses, suggesting that doctors and public health experts, not cops and politicians, should be guiding our personal and political decisions about drugs. Every day, people use drugs of all kinds without seriously hurting themselves or others, while the police are busy locking people in cages and reinforcing stigma that drives users underground and away from social services.

Research continually shows that drugs become much less dangerous when users can access health care and knowledge about how drugs work. That's why honest public drug education based around reality, not just abstinence, is so crucial to ending the drug war.

Dr. Carl Hart, a neurologist who has studied the effects of illicit drugs for years, argues that drugs often deemed too dangerous to be legal could actually improve the quality of some people's lives if used correctly. Many artists and writers could safely use amphetamines, for example, to boost their creativity and focus, as long as they stay hydrated, remember to eat and get enough sleep afterward. If we replace stigma with science and common sense, drugs begin to look more like complex tools than vice when used properly.

The global war on drugs will end when all nations agree that drug users have human rights, including the right to get high if they want to, as humans have always done. What happens after that is still up for debate. Activists agree that decriminalization is necessary, but not all agree that legalization is advisable. Decriminalization removes criminal penalties for using and possessing drugs, while legalization allows for some form of drug market regulated and sanctioned by the government. Governments could choose to regulate drugs for quality control and divert tax revenues to health care and addiction treatment, but they could also set up corporate monopolies on production and distribution and use drugs as a source of profit and social control.

Luckily, there are people all around us who can inform our political decisions on drugs: drug users. People who use drugs are best positioned to explain their own needs and provide insight on the real-life impacts of drugs and drug policy, so we can all decide what's best for our own bodies and communities. Drug users and doctors, not diplomats and drug warriors, should be leading the conversation. Until that happens, the war on drugs -- and on the millions of human beings who use, produce and sell them -- is certain to continue.

Mike Ludwig is a Truthout reporter. Follow him on Twitter: @ludwig_mike.

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A man is arrested after police found drug paraphernalia in a suspicious home in Camden, N.J., Oct. 22, 2006. Many activists agree that drug decriminalization is necessary, but not all see legalization as the best course of action. (Photo: Tyler Hicks / The New York Times) A man is arrested after police found drug paraphernalia in a home in Camden, New Jersey, October 22, 2006. (Photo: Tyler Hicks / The New York Times)

At the request of Latin American leaders who have grown weary of bloody battles over drugs, the United Nations held a summit last week on the "world drug problem" at its headquarters in New York City. For a moment, it seemed as if the global war on drugs was beginning to crumble under its own weight.

Before the summit even began, the UN officials were under fire for making concessions to powerful countries with harsh drug control regimes and failing to push the global discourse beyond the decades-old treaties that laid the foundation for international drug prohibition. Hundreds of political leaders and policy groups condemned the summit's guiding statement for refusing to recognize that decades of prohibition have done more harm than good, fueling mass incarceration, organized crime, infectious diseases and general bloodshed across the world while failing to reduce supply or demand.

At a press conference during the summit, Nick Clegg, a former deputy prime minister of the UK and a member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, said the UN system is "increasingly divorced from reality." Former Columbian president and commission member César Gaviria, whose country has been violently ravaged by the drug war, said the idea that governments can rid society of drugs is "totally unrealistic" because 50 years of prohibition have "totally failed." The commission, which supports drug decriminalization, is made up of current and former leaders from several countries, including Mexico, Switzerland, Canada and the United States.

Clearly, the global conversation around drugs has changed since the last drug summit in 1998. There, UN leadership declared that a "drug-free world" could be achieved within 10 years, a goal that now seems laughable. Since then, drug decriminalization in countries like the Czech Republic and Portugal has been linked to improvements in public health, and marijuana legalization efforts in major UN member states, including the United States and Canada, have caused political fissures throughout the stubborn institutions of prohibition. These efforts may well be undermining the international drug control framework altogether.

Calls for drug legalization are going mainstream, but millions of people continue to be arrested for nonviolent drug offenses each year, including 1.5 million in the US alone. Political leaders are only starting to catch up, at least on paper. Shortly before the UN summit, Democratic rivals Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, along with 1,000 political and cultural leaders, signed a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon calling for "a new global response to drugs" and declaring 20th century drug control regimes to be "disastrous for global health, security and human rights."

The signatures of two major US presidential candidates on an international statement effectively condemning the global drug war mark a stark departure from decades of US policy. However, the letter appeared to have had little impact on the summit beyond a kerfuffle between UN security and activists dressed in prohibition-era costumes who showed up to distribute copies of it. The US served as the de facto leader of a global drug crackdown for decades after President Richard Nixon first declared the war on drugs, with the intention of crushing the Black liberation and antiwar movements. Yet recent changes in policies at home have left the United States in an awkward position on the current global stage.

Daniel Raymond, a spokesman for the Harm Reduction Coalition, a US-based group that sent advocates to the summit, told Truthout that the US diplomats have found themselves in a "double bind." The US, Raymond said, must convince its international partners that a multibillion-dollar legal and medical marijuana industry in nearly half of US states can be reconciled with responsibilities to longstanding international drug control agreements.

"The US seems to have taken a middle-of-the-road approach in these negotiations: They are trying to play nice with everybody and keep all parties at the table," said Raymond, who added that the US is more focused on UN procedure than real policy goals. "Because the United States has skin in a lot of different games, they have taken a less proactive role in the UN negotiations and occupied the middle."

Hillary Clinton and Obama's Drug War Legacy

Beyond a handful of outspoken progressive Democrats and libertarian Republicans, drug policy reform never enjoyed much political capital in Washington, until recently. The movement for Black lives and widespread protests against law enforcement have drawn national attention to the drug war's contributions to mass incarceration and racism in the criminal legal system. Meanwhile, the nation's "opioid crisis" has put a whiter, wealthier and more politically salient face on drug addiction.

President Obama has responded by reducing sentences for some federal drug war prisoners and declaring the opioid crisis a public health challenge instead of a criminal problem. His current drug czar, Michael Botticelli, has been praised for prioritizing treatment over incarceration, when it comes to people charged with drug possession, but the White House continues to support law enforcement crackdowns on drug trafficking, which can drag marginalized people perceived as dealers into the criminal legal system. The administration has also been less than transparent about efforts to allow certain addiction medications in prisons, where people with opioid addictions are often cut off from prescribed regimens.

If elected, Hillary Clinton is expected to take a similar path. President Obama has asked Congress to appropriate $1 billion to combat the opioid crisis with treatment and prevention, and Clinton has proposed to spend $10 billion over the next decade. Clinton touts her support for reducing mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses and has said she would prioritize treatment over prison time for low-level offenders, but she has said nothing about defanging drug war institutions like the scandal-ridden US Drug Enforcement Administration.

Bernie Sanders says that the war on drugs has "failed" and proposes to go even further than Clinton by eliminating mandatory minimum sentences and removing marijuana from the list of federally outlawed drugs, but his chances of winning the Democratic nomination are increasingly slim.

Critics of the drug war predicted years ago that state laws prohibiting marijuana would slowly fall like dominos despite federal prohibition. These state-level initiatives provide perfect political cover for Clinton and the Republican candidates, who fear alienating older, socially conservative voters but know that the majority of people in the US now support marijuana legalization.

Clinton does not support legalizing weed, but she has promised not to interfere with state marijuana reforms, and to direct federal agents to focus on violent criminals instead of pot smokers. Republicans Donald Trump and even archconservative Ted Cruz, who have said little about drug policy beyond the debate over securing the US-Mexico border, agree that states should be free to decide the issue on their own, even if they personally oppose legalization. Only Ohio Gov. John Kasich has expressed firm opposition to legalization.

Marijuana has long been the media's drug policy bellwether, but legal weed alone will not stop the violence ravaging Mexico, Latin America and cities across the United States. Allowing the vast marijuana industry to go legit would certainly put a dent in the profit margins of drug cartels, but it may also increase competition in black markets for drugs like cocaine and heroin, making those trades even more dangerous and bloody than they already are.

Still, localized marijuana legalization flies in the face of federal law and longstanding international drug control agreements, which continue to label marijuana as dangerous and illegal. US diplomats affirmed the three major drug prohibition and anti-trafficking treaties last week along with the rest of the UN, suggesting that these agreements are open to interpretation or can simply be ignored by policy makers on the ground.

"Once you start to say there is a place for legalization in controlled markets, then the [UN drug control] conventions can mean anything that you want them to," Raymond said. "At the same time, you are pretending that they say something solid."

How to End the War on Drugs

To end the war on drugs, the conversation around the uppers, downers and psychedelics with tougher reputations than weed must change as well. Politicians must accept a few facts, and not just behind closed doors, where drug reform lobbyists often find sympathetic lawmakers who claim their hands are politically tied.

First of all, humans have used psychoactive drugs for thousands of years and won't be stopping anytime soon. From caffeine to codeine, drug use is inevitable in all realms of society, whether drugs are legal or not. We know this because prohibition has failed so miserably at its stated goal. Criminalizing drugs does not reduce the amount of harm they can cause; in fact, it has the opposite effect. Proven harm reduction strategies and medical treatments for addiction, on the other hand, can help make drug use safer for everyone.

We must also change the way we view drug users, who are much less dangerous than the drug warriors, as it turns out. Last month, an international team of experts sponsored by Johns Hopkins University pointed to the UN's own data showing that only 11 percent of drug users worldwide are considered "problem users" because they have an addiction or drug abuse disorder. Drug prohibitionists, however, wrongly assume that there is no difference between use and abuse, and total abstinence is the only acceptable way to approach certain drugs. This mentality has fueled sensational and racist myths about "crack babies," "bath salt zombies" and "reefer madness."

Meanwhile, anti-drug laws have contributed to lethal violence, forced displacement, human rights abuses and an increase in the transmission of diseases like HIV and hepatitis C, according to the team sponsored by Johns Hopkins. The researchers called on governments to embrace harm reduction strategies like syringe exchange and decriminalize all minor drug offenses, suggesting that doctors and public health experts, not cops and politicians, should be guiding our personal and political decisions about drugs. Every day, people use drugs of all kinds without seriously hurting themselves or others, while the police are busy locking people in cages and reinforcing stigma that drives users underground and away from social services.

Research continually shows that drugs become much less dangerous when users can access health care and knowledge about how drugs work. That's why honest public drug education based around reality, not just abstinence, is so crucial to ending the drug war.

Dr. Carl Hart, a neurologist who has studied the effects of illicit drugs for years, argues that drugs often deemed too dangerous to be legal could actually improve the quality of some people's lives if used correctly. Many artists and writers could safely use amphetamines, for example, to boost their creativity and focus, as long as they stay hydrated, remember to eat and get enough sleep afterward. If we replace stigma with science and common sense, drugs begin to look more like complex tools than vice when used properly.

The global war on drugs will end when all nations agree that drug users have human rights, including the right to get high if they want to, as humans have always done. What happens after that is still up for debate. Activists agree that decriminalization is necessary, but not all agree that legalization is advisable. Decriminalization removes criminal penalties for using and possessing drugs, while legalization allows for some form of drug market regulated and sanctioned by the government. Governments could choose to regulate drugs for quality control and divert tax revenues to health care and addiction treatment, but they could also set up corporate monopolies on production and distribution and use drugs as a source of profit and social control.

Luckily, there are people all around us who can inform our political decisions on drugs: drug users. People who use drugs are best positioned to explain their own needs and provide insight on the real-life impacts of drugs and drug policy, so we can all decide what's best for our own bodies and communities. Drug users and doctors, not diplomats and drug warriors, should be leading the conversation. Until that happens, the war on drugs -- and on the millions of human beings who use, produce and sell them -- is certain to continue.

Mike Ludwig is a Truthout reporter. Follow him on Twitter: @ludwig_mike.

Hide Comments
Bron: www.truth-out.org
Free Assange! Hack the Planet
[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  maandag 2 mei 2016 @ 13:54:03 #250
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_161870808
quote:
quote:
It is widely assumed that the so called ‘war on drugs’ (the war between drugs), has been a disastrous failure, and faced with mounting evidence and criticism, governments would eventually seek legislative and policy change.

The evidence presented is largely based upon an analysis of the inability of drug prohibition to reduce the supply and demand for banned substances, supplemented by a critique outlining the widespread harms caused by prohibition. However, with a different agenda and focus, it might be that this ‘evidence’ in terms of the failure to dent supply and demand, has over time (fifty years), become secondary to other government, business and organisational interests.

Seen in a different light, the Drug War has been a major success, providing considerable opportunities and benefits:
Free Assange! Hack the Planet
[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  donderdag 5 mei 2016 @ 12:38:32 #251
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_161943010
quote:
Ja Kweek maar 5 planten van 1,7 meter is ok | WatWeWillen.nl

Goed nieuws voor iedereen in Nederland die zich netjes aan het gedoogde aantal van vijf wietplanten houdt. De rechter in Leeuwarden heeft in een vonnis (nogmaals) bepaald dat de grootte van de planten niet uitmaakt, zelfs niet als je daarmee veel meer dan de toegestane gebruikershoeveelheid van 30 gram wiet in bezit hebt!

Vijf enorme wietplanten in de tuin

Met het vonnis dinsdag in de rechtbank van Leeuwarden wordt (opnieuw) bevestigd dat het voor de wet niets uitmaakt hoe groot je wietplanten worden in de tuin, het gaat puur om het aantal – en dat mogen er dus 5 zijn.

Smakelijke nederlaag dus voor een hitsige officier van justitie – in dit geval Margreeth Meijer geheten – die een man uit Drachten aan de gerechtelijke schandpaal wilde nagelen omdat hij vijf joekels van wietplanten – met een schitterende hoogte van 170 centimeter – in zijn tuin had weten te kweken. En dan waren de dames nog niet eens helemaal oogstrijp toen de politie ze op 14 september kwam rippen…

Geen recht op 5-plantenregel?

Volgens de openbaar aanklager had de 38-jarige Drachtster geen recht om zich te beroepen op de fameuze 5-plantenregel in Nederland (zie voor een duidelijke uitleg hierover deze column van RollingStoned columnist en advocaat Mr. Veldman), omdat de planten zo groot waren geworden… Als de man een boete van 250 euro zou betalen was de kous daarmee juridisch gezien af.

Daar had onze superkweker echter helemaal geen zin in. Vandaar dat hij deze week mocht komen opdraven in de rechtbank, zich beroepend op de gedoogregel dat je 5 wietplanten mag hebben.

Uitspraak Hoge Raad

Officier van justitie Meijer ging er nog maar eens met gestrekt been in: hier was toch zeker geen sprake meer van wietplanten maar van ‘hennepbomen of -struiken’. En deze ‘heel grote planten’ zouden dus veel en veel meer dan 30 gram wiet opgeleverd hebben, kortom alle reden voor een veroordeling. Daarbij haalde ze wat oude uitspraken erbij uit 2005 en 2010 die haar gelijk moesten aantonen.

Jammer alleen dat deze overijverige en duidelijk wiethatende aanklager vergeten was de meest belangrijke en recentste uitspraak uit 2012 – van de Hoge Raad nog wel, dus van de allerhoogste gerechtelijke instantie in Nederland! – mee te nemen. Daarin staat namelijk toch echt dat het aantal hennepplanten doorslaggevend is zolang niet kan worden vastgesteld dat de wiet van meer dan 5 planten komt en zolang er dan geen sprak is van ‘beroeps- of bedrijfsmatige teelt’ geldt die goeie ouwe gedoogregel van 5 planten.

Rechter geeft vrijbrief voor 5 wietplanten

Vanzelfsprekend kweekte de man uit Drachten puur voor eigen gebruik, zo verklaarde hij. Weliswaar deels uit nood – werkloosheid – geboren, maar toch niet meer dan 5 planten.

Rechter Bauke Jansen was het ermee eens en gaf de officier van justitie een mooi standje: “Het OM had deze zaak niet moeten oppakken.”

Vrijspraak dus voor deze succesvolle Friese 5-plantenkweker, en een vrijbrief voor ons allen om goed ons best te gaan doen in de tuin deze zomer!

Free Assange! Hack the Planet
[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zaterdag 7 mei 2016 @ 19:17:48 #252
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_161992257
quote:
Colombia to send jets against criminal gangs - BBC News

Defence Minister Luis Carlos Villegas said the full force of the state, including the military, would be used to fight them.

The gangs emerged from right-wing paramilitary squads disbanded under the last government of Alvaro Uribe, in office until five years ago.

Officials say there are three criminal gangs with about 3,000 members.

Air raids against left-wing Farc - country's largest rebel group - are currently suspended, as peace talks continue in an effort to end five decades of conflict.

"This will allow the application of the entire force of the state, without exception, against organised armed groups, against powerful mafias," Mr Villegas said.

The new strategy specifically targets three groups - the Clan Usuga, Los Pelusos and Los Puntilleros.

Clan Usuga, is the largest and is accused of trafficking cocaine to Central America and on to the US.

The Los Pelusos gang has strong links with the powerful Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico. Los Puntilleros are involved in trafficking in Colombia's Catatumbo region.

Analysts say the decision to militarise the fight against organised crime marks a sharp turn in strategy as the government is nearing a peace deal with the Farc.

Air raids have been the most powerful military strategy against guerrilla groups and led to the deaths of many of their most feared commanders.

President Juan Manuel Santos said earlier this week that the US was providing intelligence to help fight criminal gangs.

Bron: www.bbc.com
Free Assange! Hack the Planet
[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  dinsdag 10 mei 2016 @ 15:40:16 #253
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_162062512
quote:
The Zombie Drug That Wasn't - Reason.com


No one knows why Rudy Eugene, a 31-year-old car wash employee, suddenly launched himself at Ronald Poppo, a 65-year-old homeless man he encountered on Miami's McArthur Causeway, chewing off most of his victim's face in an 18-minute assault that ended only after a police officer shot him dead. But one thing is certain: "Bath salts" did not make him do it.

We know that because toxicological tests found no trace of synthetic cathinones, the stimulants known as bath salts, in Eugene's body. But the results of those tests were not announced until a month after the attack, which happened on a Saturday afternoon in May 2012. In the meantime, news outlets around the world, based on zero evidence aside from one police officer's speculation, attributed Eugene's savage violence to a drug he had not taken, using security camera footage of the "Causeway Cannibal" (a.k.a. the "Miami Zombie") to illustrate the horrors wrought by a nonexistent "epidemic."

Reviewing that bizarre episode in a recent issue of the journal Contemporary Drug Problems, two researchers at the University of Minnesota, neuroscientist Natashia Swalve and media scholar Ruth DeFoster, draw some lessons that could help journalists avoid such drug panics in the future. That's assuming journalists want to avoid drug panics. Their track record before, during and after the Great Bath Salt Freakout of 2012 suggests otherwise.

Swalve and DeFoster searched the Nexis database for coverage of Eugene's assault by CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, NBC, ABC, CBS and NPR. They found 31 stories: 24 from CNN, three from ABC, two from NBC and one each from NPR and MSNBC. The stories typically linked bath salts to aggression, unusual strength and hallucinations, and most referred to a recent increase in use of the stimulants; eight stories used the term epidemic. The reports featured "direct appeals (often by news anchors themselves)" for legislators to do something about the bath salt menace. "In an ostensibly impartial, fact-based medium," Swalve and DeFoster note, "it is relatively uncommon for journalists to appeal directly to legislators."

Those appeals seem to have been successful. The Drug Enforcement Administration had already imposed an "emergency" ban on some of the stimulants used in bath salts, and so had the Florida legislature. But Miami-Dade County commissioners apparently deemed those measures inadequate, because they approved their own ban just two weeks after Eugene attacked Poppo. Congress enacted a broader federal ban on June 27, 2012, the same day it was revealed that bath salts had nothing to do with Eugene's crime. Prior to that vote, the main sponsor of the bill, Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.), had expressed the hope that skeptical colleagues would change their minds "when they learn about this face-chewing situation in Florida," that "this terrible tragedy…will bring about greater awareness and accelerate the need to enact meaningful legislation that will protect people from this poison." It sure looks like that's what happened.

Support for these laws was based on a grossly distorted view of how people act after taking bath salts. "The description of bath salts present in these broadcast media reports was very different from the scientific literature on the topic," Swalve and DeFoster write, "and it does not appear that the media took this particular source of information into account in reporting. The primary symptoms mentioned in the transcripts included an increase in aggressive behavior, 'super strength,' and vivid hallucinations that could cause psychosis. This represents a marked difference from the increase in talkativeness, empathy, energy, and euphoria that characterize the clinical literature on the effects of bath salts." While the research indicates that the most commonly reported effects of bath salts are improved mood and heightened energy (which explains why people like them), TV reports "focused overwhelmingly on psychosis, paranoia, cannibalism, and other extreme outlier behaviors."

To reinforce their depiction of bath salts as catalysts of mayhem, reporters covering the "Miami cannibal attack" cited other examples of violence allegedly caused by the stimulants. "Other cases that were 'packaged' with the Miami incident," Swalve and DeFoster note, included "a case in which a man ate someone's brain, a man who stabbed himself in New Jersey, and the dismemberment of a porn star by her boyfriend." Yet "none turned out to actually have involved the use of bath salts." In that respect, of course, those cases did resemble what Charlie Dent called "this face-chewing situation in Florida."

Despite all the references to a bath salt "epidemic," these drugs were never very popular, and it seems use of them was already declining when CNN et al. warned that it was on the rise. Swalve and DeFoster note that calls to poison control centers involving bath salts fell from 6,138 in 2011 to 2,654 in 2012. The sensational reports provoked by Eugene's gory crime either ignored or blatantly misrepresented these data. "In a June 2 broadcast on CNN," Swalve and DeFoster write, "a guest noted that 'about two years ago, there were 300 reported cases, last year 6,000, and this year 1,000 reported cases, so it's on the rise,' with the news anchor echoing this sentiment, seemingly oblivious to the contradiction."

Journalists' general tendency to hype drug hazards is amplified by the sources on whom they typically rely: cops and clinicians whose work brings them into regular contact with a highly skewed sample of drug users—the ones who end up in jail or in the hospital. In this case the main sources were Armando Aguilar, president of Miami's Fraternal Order of Police, who speculated early and often that bath salts turned Eugene into a face-chewing zombie, and Paul Adams, a local emergency room physician who was happy to back Aguilar's claims about these drugs' impact on strength and aggression.

Aguilar told ABC News there were "striking" similarities between Eugene's assault and incidents involving bath salts. "The cases are similar minus a man eating another," he said, which is like saying Fifty Shades of Grey is like Cinderella except for all the kinky sex. "People taking off their clothes. People suddenly have superhuman strength. They become violent, and they are burning up on the inside. Their organs are reaching a level that most would die. By the time police approach them, they are a walking dead person." In my book Saying Yes, I talk about "voodoo pharmacology," the idea that certain drugs take control of people and force them to do bad things. Here you have a literalized version of such zombification: a drug that turns you into "a walking dead person" who feasts on human flesh.

"You can call it the new LSD," Adams told ABC News—a mystifying comparison, Swalve and DeFoster note, since LSD and synthetic cathinones "are clinically dissimilar in terms of the behavioral effects and pharmacology." Maybe Adams meant that "you can call it the new LSD" because people are freaking out about it based on misinformation. But probably not. Patients under the influence of bath salts "seem to be unaware of their surroundings," he continued. "They are not rational, very aggressive and are stronger than they usually are. In the emergency room it usually takes four to five people to control them." In a Daily Beast story that appeared the same day, Adams said it sometimes takes "seven security guards and one doctor."

The doctor later told Playboy he did not actually confirm that the patients he was describing had taken bath salts. "If I want to test for bath salts, I have to send samples to an outside laboratory," he said. "When somebody tests negative for everything, it's a good bet bath salts are involved." Just like it was a good bet that bath salts were involved in the attack on Ronald Poppo?

News organizations eager to maximize eyeballs have little incentive to question the testimony of alarmists or seek a calmer perspective, so they end up echoing the warnings of their sources. In a story quoted by Swalve and DeFoster, for instance, ABC News correspondent Matt Gutmann, drawing on a common theme of yellow drug journalism, reported that bath salts impart "superhuman strength" and "immunity to pain," creating formidable threats to police officers: "Bloody, naked and hallucinating, they fight their demons and anybody near them, walking through bullets, snapping off taser prongs, growling like caged animals." Swalve and DeFoster sum up the tenor of the press coverage this way:

An early focus on bath salts, triggered by a series of speculative quotations from a single law enforcement source, fueled a month-long focus on bath salts use as the sole interpretive schema for the Miami attack, shutting out other possibilities from coverage. Most glaringly, discussion of mental health as it may intersect with and affect drug use was completely absent from coverage, an oversight that is particularly problematic because it is now clear that mental illness was likely a more appropriate (albeit less sensational) interpretive schema for this incident.

I'm not sure that "mental illness" is any more satisfying or scientifically rigorous as an explanation for Eugene's behavior than bath salts were. But it should be obvious that idiosyncratic factors of some kind must be at work when someone does something so unusual and shocking that it attracts international press attention. Even if Eugene had taken bath salts, that fact alone could not possibly explain his actions, which were extreme even for the minority of consumers who react badly to these substances.

"By relying on inflammatory fear-based appeals; focusing on outlying behaviors; omitting more likely alternative explanatory cultural, environmental, and social factors; ignoring additional sources of data; and 'packaging' unrelated events together to bolster claims about a dangerous 'epidemic' of bath salts use," Swalve and DeFoster write, the news organizations whose work they analyzed, "which are expected to be subject to high ethical standards, presented a portrait of this Miami attack—and of bath salts use in the United States—that was misdirected and disconnected from current clinical research on the use of the drug." In fact, they continued to do so even after the purported link between bath salts and the Miami attack had been decisively debunked. As late as a year ago, CBS News was still citing Eugene's crime as an example of what people do under the influence of synthetic cathinones.

The same hyperbolic tendencies that Swalve and DeFoster saw in stories about the Causeway Cannibal can be seen in prior coverage of drugs such as marijuana, LSD, PCP, crack cocaine, methamphetamine and salvia, not to mention subsequent coverage of drugs such as Krokodil, Captagon and flakka (another name for alpha-PVP, one of the stimulants used in bath salts). All of those panics have been accompanied or followed by critiques like Swalve and DeFoster's, pointing out the gap between the horror story and the reality. How many times must leading news outlets fail to live up to their supposedly "high ethical standards" before we conclude that those are just as mythical as tales of drug-induced cannibalism?

Bron: reason.com
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  donderdag 12 mei 2016 @ 22:22:26 #254
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_162136645
quote:
quote:
There are a few basic reasons for this. First, the medical market, Vasquez says, can sell marijuana more cheaply than the state-licensed and -regulated stores because medical dispensaries don’t have to charge most of the combined 27.9 percent tax on the drug. This increases the resale of medical marijuana on the street. Second, there are the plants that are grown for personal use, which are allowed under the law. Vasquez says the result is a steady supply of marijuana not only for street dealers but also for Craigslist sales, which have become so ubiquitous that some city departments don’t have the resources to crack down on them.

With various illegal sources flourishing, Vasquez says, the challenge for regulators “is trying to find the sweet spot, where the taxes are low enough that there’s an incentive for people to go to the regulated stores.”

Francisco Gallardo, a community leader in Denver, summarizes the situation more succinctly: “If it’s ridiculously expensive and they can get it from their homie cheaper, that’s what they’re going to do.”
quote:
In the throes of the Great Depression, legislatures all over the country were also beginning to see alcohol as a way to fill state coffers. Slogans like "Give us beer and balance the budget!" appeared on parade floats and posters. Everyone wanted to bring liquor back--and the lawmakers wanted to do it with a hefty tax. The only problem was that the bootleggers were well established, and fixing prohibition meant finding a way to force illegal operations to go straight or close their doors.

When repeal finally came, Washington's then-Governor Clarence Martin asked Admiral Gregory to head the state's new Liquor Control Board. Critically, Martin gave Gregory carte blanche to mold the new policies as he saw fit. Gregory took up the challenge--and surprised everyone.

First, instead of cracking down on bootleggers and speakeasy operators, Gregory gave them amnesty and issued licenses to anyone willing to play by the state's rules. Second, backed by the governor and his influence in the Senate, Gregory arranged for alcohol taxes to be set as low as any in the nation, which allowed those willing to follow the law to keep a significant amount of their profits, and it made room for legal operators to compete with bootleggers' prices. Third, Gregory punished anyone who broke the rules--even once--with an iron fist, blacklisting them from ever making or selling alcohol in the state again.

Predictably, this caused some turmoil in a legislature anxiously awaiting an infusion of cash from liquor sales, but the governor backed Gregory. Faced with a low cost of entry and legal profits, bootleggers and speakeasies around the state mostly turned legitimate. Meanwhile, the few remaining stragglers were quickly put out of business, and drinkers flocked to a competitive legal market.

That might have been the end of it, but there was one more piece to Gregory's plan. After holding down taxes--and thus prices--for three years, Gregory abruptly raised taxes so much that they were among the highest in the nation. The price of booze went up, of course, but people kept buying legal liquor and beer. There was no alternative left. Gregory had broken the back of the black market.


[ Bericht 43% gewijzigd door Papierversnipperaar op 12-05-2016 22:41:21 ]
Free Assange! Hack the Planet
[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  donderdag 12 mei 2016 @ 22:48:13 #255
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_162138277
quote:
ADE veel minder agressief dan politie deed vermoeden - Kunst & Media - PAROOL

Na afloop van de laatste editie van het Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE) sprak de politie van een feest vol drugsincidenten en agressie. In de gemeentelijke evaluatie blijft van dat beeld weinig over.

Daarin staat dat ADE vorig jaar 'relatief rustig is verlopen'. Het aantal drugsincidenten per tienduizend bezoekers was niet groter dan bij andere indoor dancefestivals.

De politie laat nu zelf ook een veel minder paniekerig geluid horen en zegt in de evaluatie dat ADE vergelijkbaar was met een 'zeer druk uitgaansweekend dat eerder begon en langer doorging'.

Dat terwijl politiewoordvoerder Ellie Lust destijds tegenover zo'n beetje alle media vertelde dat "sommige mensen zo veel op hadden, dat ze er heilig van overtuigd zijn dat ze werden ontvoerd door ruimtewezens". Ook zouden politieagenten te maken hebben gehad met mensen die "volledig doorgedraaid waren en uitermate agressief gedrag vertoonden".

In de evaluatie staat dat de uitlatingen van de politie 'het beeld hebben versterkt dat ADE gepaard gaat met extreem en gevaarlijk drugsgebruik en veel incidenten'.

Bron: www.parool.nl
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  maandag 16 mei 2016 @ 01:41:28 #256
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_162236152
quote:
Politie Colombia onderschept zeker acht ton cocaïne | NU - Het laatste nieuws het eerst op NU.nl

De politie van Colombia heeft in het noordwesten van het land minstens acht ton cocaïne in beslag genomen.

De drugs werden in de provincie Antioquia ontdekt, bericht de krant El Tiempo zondag. Verwacht wordt dat het om nog meer cocaïne gaat.

President Juan Manuel Santos sprak op Twitter van de grootste drugsvondst uit de geschiedenis van het land. Ook de politie omschrijft het als een van de "grootste drugsvangst in de recente geschiedenis".
Bron: www.nu.nl
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  woensdag 18 mei 2016 @ 18:07:33 #257
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_162300052
quote:
Magic mushrooms lift severe depression in clinical trial

Results raise hopes that active substance in class 1 drug could be used to treat mental health conditions in future


Magic mushrooms have lifted severe depression in a dozen volunteers in a clinical trial, raising scientists’ hopes that the psychedelic experiences beloved of the Aztecs and the hippy counter-culture of the 1970s could one day become mainstream medicine.

A clinical trial, which took years and significant money to complete due to the stringent regulatory restrictions imposed around the class 1 drug, has found that two doses of psilocybin, the active substance in the mushrooms, was sufficient to lift resistant depression in all 12 volunteers for three weeks, and to keep it away in five of them for three months.

The size of the trial and the absence of any placebo means the research, funded by the Medical Research Council and published in the Lancet Psychiatry journal (pdf), is a proof of principle only.

The scientists, from Imperial College London, said they hoped the results would encourage the MRC or other funders to put up the money needed for a full trial. However, the use of a placebo control, comparing those who use the drug with those who do not, will always be difficult, because it will be obvious who is having a psychedelic experience.

In spite of the outcome, the researchers urged people not to try magic mushrooms themselves.

The lead author, Dr Robin Carhart-Harris, said: “Psychedelic drugs have potent psychological effects and are only given in our research when appropriate safeguards are in place, such as careful screening and professional therapeutic support.

“I wouldn’t want members of the public thinking they can treat their own depressions by picking their own magic mushrooms. That kind of approach could be risky.”

The senior author, Prof David Nutt, said it was justified for researchers to explore the medical use of banned recreational drugs.

“It is important that academic research groups try to develop possible new treatments for depression as the pharmaceutical industry is pulling out of this field‎. Our study has shown psilocybin is safe and fast acting so may, if administered carefully, have value for these patients.”

All the volunteers had severe depression and had failed to improve on at least two standard antidepressants. They were initially given a low dose of psilocybin to ensure they had no adverse reactions (none did) and then a higher dose a week later. They were treated in a specially prepared room, with music playing and in the presence of two psychiatrists who talked with them throughout. The psychedelic experience lasted up to five hours.

One of the volunteers, Kirk Rutter, from London, described himself as being heartbroken by the death of his mother and unable to come to terms with it in spite of counselling and medication. He said he was nervous about taking part and had never taken magic mushrooms, but said the friendly staff, the room layout and the music had relaxed him by the time he came to swallow the capsules.

“Both times I experienced something called ‘psychedelic turbulence’. This is the transition period to the psychedelic state, and caused me to feel cold and anxious,” the 45-year-old said. “However this soon passed, and I had a mostly pleasant – and sometimes beautiful – experience.

“There were certainly some challenging moments during the sessions, for instance when I experienced being in hospital with my mother when she was very ill. And during the high-dose session I visualised my grief as an ulcer that I was preventing from healing so that I could stay connected to my mother. However, by going through memories, and feeling the love in our relationship, I saw that letting go of the grief was not letting go of her memory.”

He said it was not a quick fix and he needed to keep working at feeling positive, but he was still “doing great”.

Nutt said major hurdles had to be overcome to carry out the research. It took a year to get ethical approval and there was a six-month safety study, but the hardest part was getting through the red tape.

It took 30 months to get the drug, which had to be specially packaged into capsules for the trial by a company which was required to get a licence to do so. All the regulatory approvals took 32 months, Nutt said. “It cost £1,500 to dose each person, when in a sane world it might cost £30.”
Het artikel gaat verder.
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
pi_162300281
quote:
“I wouldn’t want members of the public thinking they can treat their own depressions by picking their own magic mushrooms. That kind of approach could be risky.”
Mee eens, en ook mensen zonder depressie moeten niet zomaar wat uit het bos plukken, maar zich ervan verzekeren dat ze de juiste paddestoel hebben.
Wees gehoorzaam. Alleen samen krijgen we de vrijheid eronder.
  zaterdag 21 mei 2016 @ 13:26:30 #259
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_162377645
quote:
Nederlandse douane vernietigt onterecht 'cocaïnekunstwerk' | kunst | De Morgen

Twee kunstwerken van de Boliviaanse kunstenaar Gastón Ugalde zijn door de Nederlandse douane onterecht vernietigd. De kunstwerken bestaan uit cocabladeren, die volgens het boekje gelden als drugs. Een vonnis van de rechter moest de kunstwerken redden, meldt de Nederlandse krant Het Parool, maar dat kwam te laat.

Volgens de rechter konden de kunstwerken niet als drugs worden gebruikt dankzij een vernislaagje over de cocabladeren. Maar een telefoontje met de douane leerde dat de kunstwerken verdwenen waren. Na een korte zoektocht werd geconstateerd dat de 'cocaïnekunstwerken' vernietigd waren.

De uit de Andes afkomstige Ugalde, bijgenaamd The Andean Warhol, geldt als een prominent kunstenaar. Zijn werk, met cocabladeren als belangrijkste bestandsdeel, wordt over de hele wereld tentoongesteld.
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zondag 22 mei 2016 @ 10:34:33 #260
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_162398523
quote:
Big Pharma Seeks to Capitalize on Pain-Reducing Compound Derived From Cannabis


(Image: Lauren Walker / Truthout)(Image: Lauren Walker / Truthout)

The medicinal properties of cannabidiol (better known as CBD), a compound found in the Cannabis sativa L. plant species, are quickly drawing the attention of scientists, plant-medicine lovers, dietary-supplement companies, venture capitalists, professional athletes and Big Pharma -- not to mention people living with serious, chronic medical conditions. Insiders predict the burgeoning market will be as profitable as the NFL.

Today, if you run a search on PubMed.gov, a medical research database, you'll find more than 1,500 academic articles on cannabidiol.

Unlike tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), CBD has no euphoric properties whatsoever, and carries no street value. What it does offer, however, are a host of health benefits. According to a 2013 review published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, CBD has been shown to reduce pain and inflammation and also has anticonvulsant, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor and antidepressant properties.

Despite CBD's incredible profile and ability to reduce human suffering, there's a continuing debate over its legal status. Parts of the law are fuzzy and up for interpretation, depending on whom you ask.

"There is this issue of speaking out of both sides of one's mouth when we discuss CBD," said Joy Beckerman, president of Hemp Ace International, a Seattle-based consulting firm.

For instance, the jury is still out when it comes to a whole slew of issues surrounding the plant compound: Is CBD truly legal in all 50 states, just some states or none at all? Meanwhile, it's also unclear as to whether CBD is more legal if it's being imported into the country compared to being grown on American soil. And finally is it safe to sell across state lines? And how about "CBD-only" medical marijuana laws? (Seventeen states, including Alabama and Florida, have legalized CBD for medical use while keeping THC illegal.)

"All of those questions have information but they don't have answers because [the law is] that gray and it's that developing," said Beckerman, who also teaches a course for law students titled "The Curious Legal Status of CBD and Industrial Hemp-Derived Cannabinoids."

According to CBD manufacturers, US regulatory arms, such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Customs and Border Protection (within the Department of Homeland Security), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Department of Justice, are making it increasingly difficult for dietary supplement companies to sell CBD. They say the current atmosphere is reminiscent of alcohol prohibition in the 1920s.

Some selling "CBD-rich hemp oil" have experienced significant disruptions to their businesses: big sums of money frozen by credit card companies or PayPal, customs agents seizing products at the border and FDA-issued warning notices.

"The [FDA's] punishments for running afoul of their endless regulations (that, often, their reps don't know well) can range from a mere letter and a fine to complete shutdown of operations without recourse," said Jennifer Carney, a journalist who is versed in cannabis compliance. "The FDA is the most unforgiving agency with very minimal oversight, and has rules that seem to apply to some (little guys) but not to Big Pharma."

Big Pharma Moves In

GW Pharmaceuticals, a "biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing novel therapeutics from its proprietary cannabinoid product platform," is being praised as the leading pharmaceutical company exploring cannabinoid drugs.

While there are other pharmaceutical firms devising cannabidiol-based medications, GW Pharmaceuticals has applied for numerous drug patents that specify particular formulations of CBD and THC to treat cancer pain, childhood epilepsy and multiple sclerosis (MS) -- conditions the Cannabis sativa L. plant has been treating for several hundred years.

Some fear that just as the 20-year-long fight to legalize medical marijuana begins to see substantial success, Big Pharma is now swooping in to monopolize both the THC (typically referred to as medical marijuana) and CBD markets. They are often classified together since both compounds are derived from the same plant.

"This could very well affect the cannabis business in the US and possibly around the world," a manufacturer of CBD-rich pet foods told me, asking to remain anonymous for fear of experiencing difficulties with her business. She also believes the FDA and GW Pharmaceuticals are in cahoots.

GW's Epidiolex, meanwhile, is being primed to become the first FDA-approved cannabis-derived treatment option for those living with severe epilepsy.

Analysts, on average, believe the drug could generate annual sales of $1.1 billion by 2021, according to consensus forecasts compiled by Thomson Reuters Cortellis.

GW's other drug, Sativex, treats MS and is also being reformulated to treat cancer-related pain. Sativex has already been distributed in 15 countries, while GW has licensing agreements with Bayer HealthCare, Otsuka Pharmaceutical and Novartis.

Sativex can cost an average of $16,000 annually, whereas legal dietary supplements that contain similar compounds are only a fraction of the cost.

FDA: Thou Shalt Not Market CBD as a Dietary Supplement

On February 4, 2016, the FDA issued at least eight warning letters to dietary-supplement companies, accusing them of making health claims about CBD and warning them that CBD may not be positioned as a dietary supplement.

Because CBD-containing products have not been approved by the FDA, they cannot be marketed for the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment or prevention of any disease. The FDA therefore warned the companies that it considers these products unapproved new drugs.

According to the FDA's website,

CBD products are excluded from the dietary supplement definition under section 201(ff)(3)(B)(ii) of the Act [21 U.S.C. § 321(ff)(3)(B)(ii)]. Under that provision, if a substance (such as CBD) has been authorized for investigation as a new drug for which substantial clinical investigations have been instituted and for which the existence of such investigations has been made public, then products containing that substance are outside the definition of a dietary supplement. There is an exception if the substance was "marketed as" a dietary supplement or a conventional food before the new drug investigations were authorized; however, based on available evidence, FDA has concluded that this is not the case for CBD.

In broad strokes, this means that if a pharmaceutical company has (seemingly) gotten there first in creating a CBD-based pharmaceutical drug, then CBD is off limits to dietary-supplement companies, unless the product existed when those three criteria were met. The scenario doesn't work the other way around: If a dietary-supplement company brings a product to the marketplace, this doesn't prevent Big Pharma from introducing their own version.

"We can question whether we have perfect balance when they [Big Pharma] are being offered exclusivity while we are being offered a shared marketplace," said Michael McGuffin, president of the American Herbal Products Association, a trade association aimed at supporting the responsible commerce of herbs and herbal products.

Another point up for debate in the 201(ff) provision is when CBD actually entered the market. According to Stuart Tomc, vice president of human nutrition at CV Sciences, "CBD has been marketed as a dietary supplement prior to commencement and public notice of any substantial clinical investigations instituted on CBD, thereby rendering the IND preclusion inapplicable."

And according to Raphael Mechoulam, an 85-year-old Israeli chemist best known for isolating THC, cannabidiol was discovered in the late 1930s and early 1940s, both in the UK and the US. "The structure was not known, the activity was not known, so it was left behind," he recently told The Wall Street Journal.

In 1980, Mechoulam published the results of a small clinical trial, but no one seemed interested. In an email to Truthout, he noted that he and his team "reported a small anti-epilepsy clinical trial with CBD with positive results 35 years ago. Nobody bothered to expand it or even to repeat it. Thousands of patients, many of them children, could have been helped."

The Matter of Red Yeast Rice

In 2015, the FDA sent out warning letters to go after deceitful CBD sellers.

"We've seen a lot of fraud in this industry: Some of these products contain no CBD, or far less than advertised. It's basically an uncontrolled experiment that is going on now in the Wild West," said Ethan Russo, a board-certified neurologist and former senior medical adviser to GW Pharmaceuticals. "You cannot make a supposed claim on what a product can do without randomized controlled trials and a particular preparation," added Russo, who advocates for the legalized production of CBD through a regulated market with standards.

Deceitful corporate schemes do a disservice to quality vendors. That's why we have the FDA, to assure safety and proper labeling -- not to peddle the interests of Big Pharma or deny human beings a micronutrient found in nature.

"When it comes to CBD, 201(ff) is equivalent to saying you cannot take vitamin C until you get sick with scurvy, because it's being used as a drug," said Will Kleidon, founder of Ojai Energetics, an organic CBD manufacturer.

But wait: Can a natural, non-intoxicating compound really be classified as a drug when it's really a "dietary ingredient"? (The Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act defines a dietary ingredient as a "vitamin; mineral; herb or other botanical; amino acid; dietary substance for use by man to supplement the diet by increasing the total dietary intake; or a concentrate, metabolite, constituent, extract, or combination of the preceding substances.") It's happened before.

In 1987, red yeast rice became the center of what would turn out to be a landmark case, often referenced when discussing the complexities of CBD.

Red yeast rice extract has been used as a traditional Chinese remedy since the Tang dynasty to improve blood circulation and decrease cholesterol and triglyceride levels, but it was suddenly classified as a drug once the FDA discovered the active ingredient monacolin K was found to be chemically identical to lovastatin, a compound found in Merck's patented prescription drug Mevacor.

On this basis, the FDA advised that a product called Cholestin was now a drug requiring the FDA's approval for marketing and banned it, even though red yeast rice is an ingredient with a documented history of food use going back nearly a millennium. The FDA concluded that Cholestin was therefore excluded from the definition of "dietary supplement."

A dietary-supplement manufacturer can still use red yeast rice, but cannot manipulate the supplement's lovastatin content, added McGuffin.

Instead of allowing beneficial substances found in nature to be responsibly sold, we have a system that operates on loopholes, compromises, inaccuracies and Big Pharma sway.

Red yeast rice's case history provides lessons for manufacturers and distributors of dietary supplements containing CBD.

"Ultimately, dietary companies are advocating for the same thing consumers are," McGuffin said. "Unfettered and informed access to high-quality, cannabis-derived products that contain CBD."

Pot-Phobic Restrictions on the Harvesting of CBD

Cannabidiols are actually found in many plants such as cacao, black pepper and echinacea (whereas THC is only found in cannabis plants), but the highest levels of cannabinoids are found in the plant species Cannabis. CBD is one of more than 107 active cannabinoids in the cannabis plant that interact with receptors in our body referred to as the "endocannabinoid system," responsible for maintaining homeostasis in our bodies. As a result, many argue that whole plant synergies are more effective than the isolated single-molecule compounds that Big Pharma tries to capitalize on because of patentability. It's well accepted that CBD and THC work synergistically for therapeutic efficacy -- a combination that medical marijuana advocates refer to as the "entourage effect."

However, when it comes to dietary supplements, companies are only able to source CBD from "industrial hemp" plants, which contain lower resin than marijuana. Remember, the DEA still considers cannabis a Schedule I drug, up there with heroin and ecstasy. But for all intents and purposes, hemp and marijuana are the same plant.

The distinction between "industrial hemp" and marijuana was made just a few years ago, for the first time in US history, under the "Legitimacy of Industrial Hemp Research" provision of the 2014 Agricultural Act, otherwise known as the federal farm bill. Almost magically, cannabis was now considered hemp, as long as no part of the plant exceeded a THC concentration of "more than 0.3 percent on a dry weight basis."

Martin A. Lee, author of Smoke Signals: A Social History of Marijuana -- Medical, Recreational, and Scientific and cofounder and director of Project CBD, describes the 0.3 percent legal limit as "an absurd, impractical, resin-phobic relic of reefer madness."

"It has become the lynchpin of cannabis prohibition, a venal, dishonest policy that impedes medical research and blocks patient access to valuable therapeutic options, including herbal extracts with various CBD:THC ratios. For patients struggling with a wide range of conditions, CBD and THC work best together, enhancing each other's beneficial effects," he recently wrote.

While Beckerman acknowledges that there has been progress, she notes that we wouldn't be having these discussions regarding low-THC/high-CBD varieties if not for cannabis prohibition.

"If we were free to do what we wanted with this medicine, we would breed for desired therapeutic properties regardless of THC-phobic legal definitions. We wouldn't be limiting ourselves; we'd want to create the most efficient systems and biggest return on the energy to extract medicine," she said.

Currently, CBD manufacturers are not permitted to extract CBD from the flowers where the greatest concentrations of THC are found. Instead, they must extract CBD from stems and stalks.

Fortunately, things are evolving, albeit in an unexpected way, says attorney Rod Kight from Asheville, North Carolina. Based on a 2015 funding bill, CBD derived from industrial hemp -- including CBD derived from cannabis flowers -- may be transported to, and sold in, any state in the US that does not have laws expressly forbidding it. The Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2016 contains the following provision in section 763:

None of the funds made available by this act or any other act may be used ... to prohibit the transportation, processing, sale or use of industrial hemp that is grown or cultivated in accordance with section 7606 of the Agricultural Act of 2014, within or outside the State in which the industrial hemp is grown or cultivated.

Although this language does not explicitly amend the farm bill, it does forbid the use of federal funds to enforce any law that would otherwise prohibit transporting, processing, selling or using CBD in any state so long as the CBD was extracted pursuant to the provisions of the farm bill. The practical effect of this clause is that it makes CBD legal on the federal level throughout the US, says Kight.

According to the DEA Office of Diversion Control, parts of the cannabis plant are exempt from being scheduled as a Class One substance: "The mature stalks of such plant, fiber produced from such stalks, oil or cake made from the seeds of such plant, any other compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of such mature stalks (except the resin extracted therefrom), fiber, oil, or cake, or the sterilized seed of such plant which is incapable of germination."

Meanwhile, the only reason hemp food products aren't off limits altogether is because of the Hemp Industries Association's victorious 2004 lawsuit in the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit against the DEA.

In the ruling Judge Betty Fletcher wrote:

They [the DEA] cannot regulate naturally-occurring THC not contained within or derived from marijuana -- i.e., non-psychoactive hemp products -- because non-psychoactive hemp is not included in Schedule I. The DEA has no authority to regulate drugs that are not scheduled, and it has not followed procedures required to schedule a substance. The DEA's definition of "THC" contravenes the unambiguously expressed intent of Congress in the [Controlled Substances Act] and cannot be upheld.

CBD hemp oil purveyors often cite the ruling when explaining why their products are "legal in all 50 states." Yet others say that the court decision never mentions CBD.

"I get into debates all the time with people who say that case legalized CBD," Beckerman said. "I am not arguing with them other than to say, 'Jesus Christ, it was a case about oil pressed from a hemp seed.' At no point did they discuss cannabinoids in the spirit of plant material collection other than when the poor ... justices had to spell it out for the ignorant and obstinate DEA."

However, Kleidon and many others, who have consulted with attorneys and experts, maintain that as long as their product does not include a psychoactive concentration of THC, and it is derived from stalk and stem, there is no federal violation.

"Many times the raw materials have been imported, declared at customs [and] taken out by FDA agents who legally report and prevent illegal substances from entering the country," Kleidon said. "It's been declared as CBD-rich hemp stalk oil, and it's been tested and pulled for. If it was a controlled substance, they would be committing a federal crime. And that is not the case."

"Dietary supplements are currently selling CBD with a sword of Damocles hanging over their head," said Marc Ullman, an attorney at Rivkin Radler who represents clients in matters relating to all aspects of FDA and DEA matters.

If the production and use of all cannabis-derived products (including recreational marijuana, medical marijuana and non-psychoactive compounds like CBD) were decriminalized entirely, as many activists have called for, many of the unnecessary restrictions on CBD's production would immediately be lifted.

According to Beckerman:

While there are currently three competing federal bills that specifically seek to define "cannabidiol" and remove it from the Controlled Substances Act (S.683,H.R. 1635 andS.1333), if the feds would simply deschedule "marihuana" from the Controlled Substances Act, then all forms ofcannabis-- whether marijuana or industrial hemp -- and all of the constituents ofcannabis, including CBD, will be liberated from the displaced control of the DEA. Sen. Bernie Sanders filed the "Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2015" (S.2237) in November of 2015.

But in the meantime, Russo argues that it's important to ensure that the criminalization of pot does not spread to CBD.

"The USA is one of the only countries in the world where CBD is illegal," Russo said. "It has nothing of the features of a Schedule I drug. It's not addictive. It does not produce intoxication. It's a matter of guilt by association because of the plant from which it derives."

Maryam Henein (maryam@honeycolony.com) is founder and editor-in-chief of HoneyColony. She is also the director of the award-winning documentary film Vanishing of the Bees, narrated by Ellen Page.Follow her on Twitter @maryamhenein.

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(Image: Lauren Walker / Truthout)(Image: Lauren Walker / Truthout)

The medicinal properties of cannabidiol (better known as CBD), a compound found in the Cannabis sativa L. plant species, are quickly drawing the attention of scientists, plant-medicine lovers, dietary-supplement companies, venture capitalists, professional athletes and Big Pharma -- not to mention people living with serious, chronic medical conditions. Insiders predict the burgeoning market will be as profitable as the NFL.

Today, if you run a search on PubMed.gov, a medical research database, you'll find more than 1,500 academic articles on cannabidiol.

Unlike tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), CBD has no euphoric properties whatsoever, and carries no street value. What it does offer, however, are a host of health benefits. According to a 2013 review published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, CBD has been shown to reduce pain and inflammation and also has anticonvulsant, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor and antidepressant properties.

Despite CBD's incredible profile and ability to reduce human suffering, there's a continuing debate over its legal status. Parts of the law are fuzzy and up for interpretation, depending on whom you ask.

"There is this issue of speaking out of both sides of one's mouth when we discuss CBD," said Joy Beckerman, president of Hemp Ace International, a Seattle-based consulting firm.

For instance, the jury is still out when it comes to a whole slew of issues surrounding the plant compound: Is CBD truly legal in all 50 states, just some states or none at all? Meanwhile, it's also unclear as to whether CBD is more legal if it's being imported into the country compared to being grown on American soil. And finally is it safe to sell across state lines? And how about "CBD-only" medical marijuana laws? (Seventeen states, including Alabama and Florida, have legalized CBD for medical use while keeping THC illegal.)

"All of those questions have information but they don't have answers because [the law is] that gray and it's that developing," said Beckerman, who also teaches a course for law students titled "The Curious Legal Status of CBD and Industrial Hemp-Derived Cannabinoids."

According to CBD manufacturers, US regulatory arms, such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Customs and Border Protection (within the Department of Homeland Security), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Department of Justice, are making it increasingly difficult for dietary supplement companies to sell CBD. They say the current atmosphere is reminiscent of alcohol prohibition in the 1920s.

Some selling "CBD-rich hemp oil" have experienced significant disruptions to their businesses: big sums of money frozen by credit card companies or PayPal, customs agents seizing products at the border and FDA-issued warning notices.

"The [FDA's] punishments for running afoul of their endless regulations (that, often, their reps don't know well) can range from a mere letter and a fine to complete shutdown of operations without recourse," said Jennifer Carney, a journalist who is versed in cannabis compliance. "The FDA is the most unforgiving agency with very minimal oversight, and has rules that seem to apply to some (little guys) but not to Big Pharma."

Big Pharma Moves In

GW Pharmaceuticals, a "biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing novel therapeutics from its proprietary cannabinoid product platform," is being praised as the leading pharmaceutical company exploring cannabinoid drugs.

While there are other pharmaceutical firms devising cannabidiol-based medications, GW Pharmaceuticals has applied for numerous drug patents that specify particular formulations of CBD and THC to treat cancer pain, childhood epilepsy and multiple sclerosis (MS) -- conditions the Cannabis sativa L. plant has been treating for several hundred years.

Some fear that just as the 20-year-long fight to legalize medical marijuana begins to see substantial success, Big Pharma is now swooping in to monopolize both the THC (typically referred to as medical marijuana) and CBD markets. They are often classified together since both compounds are derived from the same plant.

"This could very well affect the cannabis business in the US and possibly around the world," a manufacturer of CBD-rich pet foods told me, asking to remain anonymous for fear of experiencing difficulties with her business. She also believes the FDA and GW Pharmaceuticals are in cahoots.

GW's Epidiolex, meanwhile, is being primed to become the first FDA-approved cannabis-derived treatment option for those living with severe epilepsy.

Analysts, on average, believe the drug could generate annual sales of $1.1 billion by 2021, according to consensus forecasts compiled by Thomson Reuters Cortellis.

GW's other drug, Sativex, treats MS and is also being reformulated to treat cancer-related pain. Sativex has already been distributed in 15 countries, while GW has licensing agreements with Bayer HealthCare, Otsuka Pharmaceutical and Novartis.

Sativex can cost an average of $16,000 annually, whereas legal dietary supplements that contain similar compounds are only a fraction of the cost.

FDA: Thou Shalt Not Market CBD as a Dietary Supplement

On February 4, 2016, the FDA issued at least eight warning letters to dietary-supplement companies, accusing them of making health claims about CBD and warning them that CBD may not be positioned as a dietary supplement.

Because CBD-containing products have not been approved by the FDA, they cannot be marketed for the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment or prevention of any disease. The FDA therefore warned the companies that it considers these products unapproved new drugs.

According to the FDA's website,

CBD products are excluded from the dietary supplement definition under section 201(ff)(3)(B)(ii) of the Act [21 U.S.C. § 321(ff)(3)(B)(ii)]. Under that provision, if a substance (such as CBD) has been authorized for investigation as a new drug for which substantial clinical investigations have been instituted and for which the existence of such investigations has been made public, then products containing that substance are outside the definition of a dietary supplement. There is an exception if the substance was "marketed as" a dietary supplement or a conventional food before the new drug investigations were authorized; however, based on available evidence, FDA has concluded that this is not the case for CBD.

In broad strokes, this means that if a pharmaceutical company has (seemingly) gotten there first in creating a CBD-based pharmaceutical drug, then CBD is off limits to dietary-supplement companies, unless the product existed when those three criteria were met. The scenario doesn't work the other way around: If a dietary-supplement company brings a product to the marketplace, this doesn't prevent Big Pharma from introducing their own version.

"We can question whether we have perfect balance when they [Big Pharma] are being offered exclusivity while we are being offered a shared marketplace," said Michael McGuffin, president of the American Herbal Products Association, a trade association aimed at supporting the responsible commerce of herbs and herbal products.

Another point up for debate in the 201(ff) provision is when CBD actually entered the market. According to Stuart Tomc, vice president of human nutrition at CV Sciences, "CBD has been marketed as a dietary supplement prior to commencement and public notice of any substantial clinical investigations instituted on CBD, thereby rendering the IND preclusion inapplicable."

And according to Raphael Mechoulam, an 85-year-old Israeli chemist best known for isolating THC, cannabidiol was discovered in the late 1930s and early 1940s, both in the UK and the US. "The structure was not known, the activity was not known, so it was left behind," he recently told The Wall Street Journal.

In 1980, Mechoulam published the results of a small clinical trial, but no one seemed interested. In an email to Truthout, he noted that he and his team "reported a small anti-epilepsy clinical trial with CBD with positive results 35 years ago. Nobody bothered to expand it or even to repeat it. Thousands of patients, many of them children, could have been helped."

The Matter of Red Yeast Rice

In 2015, the FDA sent out warning letters to go after deceitful CBD sellers.

"We've seen a lot of fraud in this industry: Some of these products contain no CBD, or far less than advertised. It's basically an uncontrolled experiment that is going on now in the Wild West," said Ethan Russo, a board-certified neurologist and former senior medical adviser to GW Pharmaceuticals. "You cannot make a supposed claim on what a product can do without randomized controlled trials and a particular preparation," added Russo, who advocates for the legalized production of CBD through a regulated market with standards.

Deceitful corporate schemes do a disservice to quality vendors. That's why we have the FDA, to assure safety and proper labeling -- not to peddle the interests of Big Pharma or deny human beings a micronutrient found in nature.

"When it comes to CBD, 201(ff) is equivalent to saying you cannot take vitamin C until you get sick with scurvy, because it's being used as a drug," said Will Kleidon, founder of Ojai Energetics, an organic CBD manufacturer.

But wait: Can a natural, non-intoxicating compound really be classified as a drug when it's really a "dietary ingredient"? (The Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act defines a dietary ingredient as a "vitamin; mineral; herb or other botanical; amino acid; dietary substance for use by man to supplement the diet by increasing the total dietary intake; or a concentrate, metabolite, constituent, extract, or combination of the preceding substances.") It's happened before.

In 1987, red yeast rice became the center of what would turn out to be a landmark case, often referenced when discussing the complexities of CBD.

Red yeast rice extract has been used as a traditional Chinese remedy since the Tang dynasty to improve blood circulation and decrease cholesterol and triglyceride levels, but it was suddenly classified as a drug once the FDA discovered the active ingredient monacolin K was found to be chemically identical to lovastatin, a compound found in Merck's patented prescription drug Mevacor.

On this basis, the FDA advised that a product called Cholestin was now a drug requiring the FDA's approval for marketing and banned it, even though red yeast rice is an ingredient with a documented history of food use going back nearly a millennium. The FDA concluded that Cholestin was therefore excluded from the definition of "dietary supplement."

A dietary-supplement manufacturer can still use red yeast rice, but cannot manipulate the supplement's lovastatin content, added McGuffin.

Instead of allowing beneficial substances found in nature to be responsibly sold, we have a system that operates on loopholes, compromises, inaccuracies and Big Pharma sway.

Red yeast rice's case history provides lessons for manufacturers and distributors of dietary supplements containing CBD.

"Ultimately, dietary companies are advocating for the same thing consumers are," McGuffin said. "Unfettered and informed access to high-quality, cannabis-derived products that contain CBD."

Pot-Phobic Restrictions on the Harvesting of CBD

Cannabidiols are actually found in many plants such as cacao, black pepper and echinacea (whereas THC is only found in cannabis plants), but the highest levels of cannabinoids are found in the plant species Cannabis. CBD is one of more than 107 active cannabinoids in the cannabis plant that interact with receptors in our body referred to as the "endocannabinoid system," responsible for maintaining homeostasis in our bodies. As a result, many argue that whole plant synergies are more effective than the isolated single-molecule compounds that Big Pharma tries to capitalize on because of patentability. It's well accepted that CBD and THC work synergistically for therapeutic efficacy -- a combination that medical marijuana advocates refer to as the "entourage effect."

However, when it comes to dietary supplements, companies are only able to source CBD from "industrial hemp" plants, which contain lower resin than marijuana. Remember, the DEA still considers cannabis a Schedule I drug, up there with heroin and ecstasy. But for all intents and purposes, hemp and marijuana are the same plant.

The distinction between "industrial hemp" and marijuana was made just a few years ago, for the first time in US history, under the "Legitimacy of Industrial Hemp Research" provision of the 2014 Agricultural Act, otherwise known as the federal farm bill. Almost magically, cannabis was now considered hemp, as long as no part of the plant exceeded a THC concentration of "more than 0.3 percent on a dry weight basis."

Martin A. Lee, author of Smoke Signals: A Social History of Marijuana -- Medical, Recreational, and Scientific and cofounder and director of Project CBD, describes the 0.3 percent legal limit as "an absurd, impractical, resin-phobic relic of reefer madness."

"It has become the lynchpin of cannabis prohibition, a venal, dishonest policy that impedes medical research and blocks patient access to valuable therapeutic options, including herbal extracts with various CBD:THC ratios. For patients struggling with a wide range of conditions, CBD and THC work best together, enhancing each other's beneficial effects," he recently wrote.

While Beckerman acknowledges that there has been progress, she notes that we wouldn't be having these discussions regarding low-THC/high-CBD varieties if not for cannabis prohibition.

"If we were free to do what we wanted with this medicine, we would breed for desired therapeutic properties regardless of THC-phobic legal definitions. We wouldn't be limiting ourselves; we'd want to create the most efficient systems and biggest return on the energy to extract medicine," she said.

Currently, CBD manufacturers are not permitted to extract CBD from the flowers where the greatest concentrations of THC are found. Instead, they must extract CBD from stems and stalks.

Fortunately, things are evolving, albeit in an unexpected way, says attorney Rod Kight from Asheville, North Carolina. Based on a 2015 funding bill, CBD derived from industrial hemp -- including CBD derived from cannabis flowers -- may be transported to, and sold in, any state in the US that does not have laws expressly forbidding it. The Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2016 contains the following provision in section 763:

None of the funds made available by this act or any other act may be used ... to prohibit the transportation, processing, sale or use of industrial hemp that is grown or cultivated in accordance with section 7606 of the Agricultural Act of 2014, within or outside the State in which the industrial hemp is grown or cultivated.

Although this language does not explicitly amend the farm bill, it does forbid the use of federal funds to enforce any law that would otherwise prohibit transporting, processing, selling or using CBD in any state so long as the CBD was extracted pursuant to the provisions of the farm bill. The practical effect of this clause is that it makes CBD legal on the federal level throughout the US, says Kight.

According to the DEA Office of Diversion Control, parts of the cannabis plant are exempt from being scheduled as a Class One substance: "The mature stalks of such plant, fiber produced from such stalks, oil or cake made from the seeds of such plant, any other compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of such mature stalks (except the resin extracted therefrom), fiber, oil, or cake, or the sterilized seed of such plant which is incapable of germination."

Meanwhile, the only reason hemp food products aren't off limits altogether is because of the Hemp Industries Association's victorious 2004 lawsuit in the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit against the DEA.

In the ruling Judge Betty Fletcher wrote:

They [the DEA] cannot regulate naturally-occurring THC not contained within or derived from marijuana -- i.e., non-psychoactive hemp products -- because non-psychoactive hemp is not included in Schedule I. The DEA has no authority to regulate drugs that are not scheduled, and it has not followed procedures required to schedule a substance. The DEA's definition of "THC" contravenes the unambiguously expressed intent of Congress in the [Controlled Substances Act] and cannot be upheld.

CBD hemp oil purveyors often cite the ruling when explaining why their products are "legal in all 50 states." Yet others say that the court decision never mentions CBD.

"I get into debates all the time with people who say that case legalized CBD," Beckerman said. "I am not arguing with them other than to say, 'Jesus Christ, it was a case about oil pressed from a hemp seed.' At no point did they discuss cannabinoids in the spirit of plant material collection other than when the poor ... justices had to spell it out for the ignorant and obstinate DEA."

However, Kleidon and many others, who have consulted with attorneys and experts, maintain that as long as their product does not include a psychoactive concentration of THC, and it is derived from stalk and stem, there is no federal violation.

"Many times the raw materials have been imported, declared at customs [and] taken out by FDA agents who legally report and prevent illegal substances from entering the country," Kleidon said. "It's been declared as CBD-rich hemp stalk oil, and it's been tested and pulled for. If it was a controlled substance, they would be committing a federal crime. And that is not the case."

"Dietary supplements are currently selling CBD with a sword of Damocles hanging over their head," said Marc Ullman, an attorney at Rivkin Radler who represents clients in matters relating to all aspects of FDA and DEA matters.

If the production and use of all cannabis-derived products (including recreational marijuana, medical marijuana and non-psychoactive compounds like CBD) were decriminalized entirely, as many activists have called for, many of the unnecessary restrictions on CBD's production would immediately be lifted.

According to Beckerman:

While there are currently three competing federal bills that specifically seek to define "cannabidiol" and remove it from the Controlled Substances Act (S.683,H.R. 1635 andS.1333), if the feds would simply deschedule "marihuana" from the Controlled Substances Act, then all forms ofcannabis-- whether marijuana or industrial hemp -- and all of the constituents ofcannabis, including CBD, will be liberated from the displaced control of the DEA. Sen. Bernie Sanders filed the "Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2015" (S.2237) in November of 2015.

But in the meantime, Russo argues that it's important to ensure that the criminalization of pot does not spread to CBD.

"The USA is one of the only countries in the world where CBD is illegal," Russo said. "It has nothing of the features of a Schedule I drug. It's not addictive. It does not produce intoxication. It's a matter of guilt by association because of the plant from which it derives."

Bron: www.truth-out.org
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zondag 29 mei 2016 @ 13:09:18 #261
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_162588690
quote:
It is hard to believe this is the source of so much misery and conflict in the world.
"This" is niet opium, maar de War on Drugs.

quote:
The opium farmers with the police on their side - BBC News


This year, Afghanistan is expected to produce more opium than the world consumes. Although billions of dollars have been spent trying to eradicate the crop, in some places the trade seems more institutionalised than ever, with local police openly supporting farmers.


Mazar-e-Sharif is one of the safest and best-run cities in the Afghanistan - a model of good governance - yet just half an hour out of town in a small village of mud-walled houses it is obvious what the main cash crop is.

I stop at a big poppy field right beside the road. It must be 100m square. Thousands of swollen poppy heads nod gently at me in the dawn breeze.

Across the field, five or six men are working, scraping the bulbs with a sickle-shaped tool. They look up, but they don't seem concerned.

The villager who is guiding me gestures to indicate I can go into the field.

The plants are waist high and brush against me as I walk. The heads are bigger than I expected, about the size of a large plum. Most have a blackish purple dribble on the side.

Each afternoon the workers score the bulbs with a series of tiny scratches. Overnight the sap suppurates out to form a dark scab.

It is hard to believe this is the source of so much misery and conflict in the world.

For a moment I'm back in a history class in my school in north London, rain lashing down on the windows, learning about the opium wars. I remember people I knew from that time who became addicted to heroin. Two are dead now.

I touch the opium with my finger. I expect it to be sticky, but it is actually surprisingly moist. The reddish black colour is a thin skin. Underneath, it is white and the texture of pus.

I sniff it. It barely smells at all - perhaps a hint of grass cuttings or crushed leaves - but in this form, the legendary intoxicant is almost odourless.

I rub it between my fingers. It darkens and becomes more gummy.

Curiosity overcomes me. I raise my finger to my mouth and dab my tongue, just for a moment. It tastes horrible, bitter and metallic.

I am startled by a shout. One of the harvesters, his salwar kameez brown with opium stains, has been watching me. He saw me taste the drug.

"Don't do that. That stuff is very bad for you," he says.

"Haven't you ever been tempted to try it?" I want to know.

"I know that if I start using it, I'll get addicted and my future will be destroyed. The people who use it - I've seen them in the cities lying down, their family life is destroyed, their children don't go to school," he tells me.

"But you're helping produce the stuff. Don't you feel guilty?" I ask.

I'm not surprised by his answer. "I've got no choice," he says. "I've got no job and you get good money with the opium."

My colleague Mahfouz, who's been translating, tells me the farmer has arrived and that we should meet him.

Taza Meer greets me cheerfully, but as we shake hands I notice with a shock that the man beside him has an AK47 slung over his shoulder.

Meer sees I am alarmed. "Don't worry about him," he says. "He's a policeman."

The man smiles warmly and reaches out his hand.

Growing opium is a very serious crime in Afghanistan. You can be punished with death, yet here is a policeman welcoming a BBC reporter to a poppy field at the height of the harvest.

We chat for a while, then Meer offers us tea. He leads me along a path beside a small irrigation stream. The policeman follows behind.

I see almond, peach, walnut and plum trees.

"Your farm is very fertile," I say. He agrees, telling me he also grows wheat, cotton and melons. Yet, over a steaming cup of saffron tea, he claims he has no choice but to grow opium.

"I get three times the profit and I need the money. There are 12 people in my family," he says.

"Doesn't the government try to stop you?" I ask. "They must know what you are doing." I nod toward the policeman, who has joined us for tea.

"Of course they know," he says. "But they also know it is the only way anyone can make decent money They help us, and we help them."

He puts a hand on the policeman's knee.

"He is a local man like me," the farmer says. "The police treat us well, they understand the pressures on us. We all get along fine."

The policeman nods his agreement and takes a sip of saffron tea.

The sun shines in through the open window, and both men smile at me.

They clearly think the enterprise they are involved in is the most natural thing in the world.

Subscribe to the BBC News Magazine's email newsletter to get articles sent to your inbox
Bron: www.bbc.com


[ Bericht 2% gewijzigd door Papierversnipperaar op 29-05-2016 13:17:35 ]
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zondag 29 mei 2016 @ 13:24:48 #262
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_162589041
Free Assange! Hack the Planet
[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zondag 29 mei 2016 @ 18:01:23 #263
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_162597206
quote:
Judge Compares Drug War To Slavery, Bravely Refuses To Put Convicted Drug Felon In Prison

NYC Jails Federal Investigation

It appears that America has awakened to the problem of mass incarceration–an issue underscored by the fact that the U.S. holds less than 5 percent of the world’s population but houses about 22 percent of the world’s prisoners. Congress is now making a token effort at criminal justice reform, including the reduction of mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent offenders, but even this faces opposition from the most fervent police state crusaders.

In the face of inaction, one New York judge is stepping outside the box to breathe life into a much-needed national debate. Judge Frederick Block of the Federal District Court chose not to send a woman to prison who was convicted of felony drug charges, instead sentencing her to probation.

Block said that the plethora of collateral consequences that people face after being convicted—amounting to 50,000 federal and state statutes—serve “no useful function other than to further punish criminal defendants after they have completed their court-imposed sentences.”

In other words, people like Chevelle Nesbeth, who was arrested at Kennedy International Airport after 600 grams of cocaine were found in her luggage, face enough punishment through collateral consequences. There is no reason to send this nonviolent “offender” to jail.

According to the New York Times:

Block is doing what someone called a “judge” is supposed to do by applying factual information and rationality to the situation.

Instead of going to prison for 33-41 months, Nesbeth—who said that friends gave her the suitcase and she was unaware of the contents—was sentenced by Block to “one year of probation, to include six months of home confinement and 100 hours of community service.”

While the larger issue of the unjust War on Drugs remains, it is heartening to see that some within the system understand the draconian nature of the existing criminal justice system. And they’re doing something about it.

Judge Block’s extraordinary act comes just after U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher admitted that he used medical cannabis to treat his arthritis. It is increasingly obvious that the American government’s approach to drugs, whether medicinal or not, is completely irrational and greatly contributes to mass incarceration.

In his 42-page opinion which also called for reform, Block quoted legal scholar Michelle Alexander, who authored The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. From the book:

Block’s groundbreaking opinion was hailed by Gabriel J. Chin, a professor at the University of California, Davis, School of Law, as “the most careful and thorough judicial examination” of collateral consequences in sentencing.

“It’s going to generate debate on a critical issue in the criminal justice system — the ability of people convicted of crimes to get on with their lives,” said Chin, whom Block also quoted in his opinion.

Naturally, the U.S. attorney’s office is intent on perpetuating the status quo of swelling jails with nonviolent drug offenders. They insist that collateral consequences are “meant to promote public safety, by limiting an individual’s access to certain jobs or sensitive areas,” and “to ensure that government resources are being spent on those who obey the law.”

When the law is unjust and the punishment unwarranted, it is the duty of free thinkers to resist. Let’s hope that Frederick Block, along with countless others bravely pushing back against state tyranny, can begin to undo the burden of mass incarceration.

Bron: www.mintpressnews.com
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  maandag 30 mei 2016 @ 13:27:55 #265
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_162617919
quote:
quote:
The financial services industry based in the City of London facilitates a system that makes the UK the most corrupt nation in the world, the anti-mafia journalist Roberto Saviano said at the Hay festival.

Saviano, who has been living under armed police guard for more than 10 years after writing an expose of the Neapolitan Camorra, said London’s banking institutions were key components of “criminal capitalism”, which laundered drug money through the offshore networks.
quote:
He added: “We have proof, we have evidence. Today, the criminal economy is bigger than the legal economy. Drug trafficking eclipses the revenue of oil firms. Cocaine is a £300bn-a-year business. Criminal capitalism is capitalism without rules. Mafia and organised crime does not abide by the rule of law – and most financial companies who reside offshore are exactly the same.”
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
pi_162621391
quote:
APechtold twitterde op maandag 30-05-2016 om 07:56:10 Kijk, dat is positief nieuws. Als @vvd nou eens uit die verbod-kramp komt. Anders snel reguleren bij volgend kabinet https://t.co/4iGmVS0MM2 reageer retweet
LEGALISE IT
pi_162622092
quote:
0s.gif Op maandag 30 mei 2016 16:04 schreef Deeltjesversneller het volgende:

[..]

APechtold twitterde op maandag 30-05-2016 om 07:56:10 Kijk, dat is positief nieuws. Als @vvd nou eens uit die verbod-kramp komt. Anders snel reguleren bij volgend kabinet https://t.co/4iGmVS0MM2 reageer retweet
LEGALISE IT
Dat gaat voor geen meter werken, met jaarlijkse accijnsverhogingen betaal je straks 3x zoveel voor een grammetje wiet. En zo bloeit de illegale handel weer op.

Het zou misschien kunnen werken, maar met deze generatie politici zie ik dat niet gebeuren helaas.
pi_162622269
quote:
0s.gif Op maandag 30 mei 2016 16:04 schreef Deeltjesversneller het volgende:

[..]

APechtold twitterde op maandag 30-05-2016 om 07:56:10 Kijk, dat is positief nieuws. Als @vvd nou eens uit die verbod-kramp komt. Anders snel reguleren bij volgend kabinet https://t.co/4iGmVS0MM2 reageer retweet
LEGALISE IT
Ten eerste is het een slap lulverhaal van die professor, ten tweede weten de prohibitionisten al lang wat ze willen en zullen ze elk argument, hoe onzinnig of verdragsrechtelijk ook daar aan de haren bijslepen. Anything goes, feitelijk onjuist, volslagen belachelijk, leugenachtig, het doel heiligt de middelen. Ten derde gaat D66 ook deze keer weer een reden vinden om zich niet hard genoeg te maken voor legalisering.

En ook deze professor komt weer met allerlei onzin over ontmoediging, hard drugs en volksgezondheid aankakken. Donder nou eens op met je gepreek en erken dat volwassen mensen beter kunnen beslissen over hun eigen lichaam en geest kunnen nemen dan anderen. Aan dit soort neuzelaars hebben we helemaal niks.
Wees gehoorzaam. Alleen samen krijgen we de vrijheid eronder.
  maandag 30 mei 2016 @ 16:43:57 #269
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_162622289
quote:
0s.gif Op maandag 30 mei 2016 16:36 schreef Sylv3se het volgende:

[..]

Dat gaat voor geen meter werken, met jaarlijkse accijnsverhogingen betaal je straks 3x zoveel voor een grammetje wiet. En zo bloeit de illegale handel weer op.

Het zou misschien kunnen werken, maar met deze generatie politici zie ik dat niet gebeuren helaas.
En ze willen onderscheid maken tussen sterke en zwakke wiet. Want met te veel THC is het harddrugs. Dat gaat ook niet werken.
Free Assange! Hack the Planet
[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  maandag 30 mei 2016 @ 16:59:13 #270
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_162622653
Werken verbieden! *O*

quote:
Workaholic? Dikke kans dat je een psychische stoornis hebt - rtlz.nl

Ben je een workaholic? Nou: houd je hart maar vast. Er een dikke kans dat je niet 100 procent 'doorsnee' functioneert. Volgens een recent onderzoek in Noorwegen is er een grote kans dat je symptomen vertoont van psychische stoornissen.


Uit het onderzoek onder ruim 16.000 werkende volwassenen in het land, blijkt dat er een sterke link is tussen een flinke werkethos en ADHD, dwangstoornissen, angststoornissen en depressie. Het overgrote deel van de onderzochte mensen was tussen de 26 en 45 jaar oud. Twee derde werkte fulltime.

- 33,8 procent vertoonde aanzienlijk veel tekenen van angststoornissen, tegenover 11,9 procent van de minder hardwerkende mensen.
- 32,7 procent vertoonde aanzienlijk veel tekenen van ADHD, tegenover 12,7 procent van de minder hardwerkende mensen.
- 25,6 procent vertoonde aanzienlijk veel tekenen van een dwangstoornis, tegenover 8,7 procent van de minder hardwerkende mensen.
- 8,9 procent vertoonde aanzienlijk veel tekenen van depressie, tegenover 2,6 procent van de minder hardwerkende mensen.

Slik. Dat zijn pittige cijfers. De wetenschappers, die samenwerkten met andere onderzoekers van Yale en Notthingham Trent University, weten niet precies of mensen met een stoornis eerder een workaholic worden of dat de symptomen veroorzaakt worden door het harde werken.

Marianna Virtanen, een Finse epidemioloog die niet betrokken was bij de studie, deed eerder onderzoek naar werknemers die meer uren dan gemiddeld werken. Zij zegt in Quartz over dit onderzoek dat harde werkers eigenlijk een psychiatrische stoornis hebben. En net als vergelijkbare aandoeningen, ontwikkelen die vaak al op jonge leeftijd. Volgens haar is het ook mogelijk dat een 'werkverslaving' psychiatrische symptomen op de lange termijn kan verergeren.

De Finse onderzoeker is niet alleen: in de jaren '90 schreef psychotherapeut Bryan Robinson er al een boek over. Hij vergelijkt extra hard werken met een drugs- of alcohol verslaving en pleit ervoor workaholics dus geen 'heldenstatus' te geven, maar te behandelen als mensen met een groot probleem.

Bron: www.rtlz.nl
Free Assange! Hack the Planet
[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  dinsdag 31 mei 2016 @ 17:19:48 #271
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_162648085
quote:
Ecstasy in comeback as new generation discovers dance drug | Society | The Guardian

Survey of drug use finds MDMA is back in mainstream due to ‘creative and aggressive marketing’ and has a higher purity

Ecstasy is making a comeback as the drug of choice for young people in the UK and across Europe – and it is much stronger than before, the EU’s drug agency has warned.

Related: Legal high ban predicted to exacerbate crisis on streets

The 2016 European Drug Report says there are clear indications that ecstasy – the common name of MDMA – is returning to popularity with both established drug users and a new generation, but this time powders and tablets are likely to contain much higher doses than in previous years.

The rapidly expanding electronic dance music industry is now worth £4.5bn a year, promoting events such as the Belgian festival Tomorrowland, which in 2014 attracted almost 360,000 people over two weekends. This growth has introduced MDMA to a new generation of young people who were not even born in the drug’s heyday during the 1990s house, rave and techno scenes.

The EU drug experts also point to “creative and sometimes aggressive marketing” tactics, including the use of logos such as Superman and UPS, and the production of MDMA tablets specifically for individual events, typically music festivals. Dutch police reported more than 170 tablet designs in circulation in 2014.

Ecstasy use had been falling since its mid-2000s peak, but the Lisbon-based European monitoring centre for drugs and drug addiction (EMCDDA) said the latest survey data suggested 2.1 million people aged 15-34 had used ecstasy in the last year, 300,000 higher than the estimate in 2015.

The EU report suggests this ecstasy comeback follows a period when they were replaced by newly emerging legal highs such as piperazines and cathinones, because many tablets sold as ecstasy contained little or no MDMA due to a shortage of key ingredients or precursor chemicals. The tide seems to have turned again in favour of much more potent forms of ecstasy as the shortage of precursors has ended.

Nine out of 12 countries report higher estimates of the drug’s use in the last year. The UK reported the second highest level of use, with 3.5% of young adults saying they had taken it in the last 12 months. The highest usage was in the Netherlands, where 5.5% of young adults said they had taken it in the last year.

The report suggests that ecstasy producers may have adopted a deliberate strategy to improve the drug’s image after a lengthy period in which poor drug quality and adulteration led to a decline in popularity.

“Innovation in sourcing precursors, new production techniques and online supply all appear to be driving a revival in a market now characterised by a diversity of products,” the EMCDDA said. “High-dose powders, crystals and tablets with a range of logos, colours and shapes are available, with evidence of production to order and the use of sophisticated and targeted marketing.”

The experts say MDMA is no longer a niche or “sub-cultural” drug used in dance clubs but is again being taken by a wider range of young people in bars and at parties and festivals. They say this suggests a need for new prevention and harm reduction responses to target a new population of users who may be using high-dose products but lack an understanding of the risks involved.

The agency says that in the 1990s and 2000s the average MDMA content of tablets was between 50-80mg; now average purity is closer to 125mg, while some “super-pills” are available in some countries with a reported range of 270-340mg.

Alexis Goosdeel, the EU drugs agency director, said: “The revival of MDMA brings with it the need to rethink existing prevention and harm-reduction responses to target and support a new population of users who may be using high-dose products, without fully understanding the risks involved. Intoxications and even deaths associated with this drug are highlighted in our new report. This is particularly worrying since MDMA is moving into more mainstream social settings and is increasingly available via online markets.”

The 2016 review of the European drugs market says that while most illicit drug transactions still take place in person, the rapid expansion of the online market represents the “growing dark cloud on the horizon”.

The number and type of legal highs or new psychoactive substances continues to grow with more than 560 new substances now being monitored by the agency, with 98 of them being reported for the first time in 2015. The market continues to be dominated by synthetic chemicals that claim to imitate the effects of cannabis or stimulants such as amphetamines, ecstasy or cocaine.

More than 2.4 million young adults used cocaine in the last year in southern and western Europe. Analysis of city wastewater showed the highest levels of use last year in the UK, Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium.

Cannabis remains the most popular illicit drug in Europe. An estimated 16.6 million young European adults used it in the last 12 months, and there are no signs that overall levels are falling. Cannabis use in the UK has, however, fallen steadily over the past decade from 20% to 11% of young adults in the past year.

The European drugs agency says more than 88 million adults – or one in four of Europe’s population – have tried illicit drugs. They note the overall trend across Europe in the past 15 years to reduce the use of imprisonment for minor drug offences and increasing use of non-criminal sanctions such as fines for personal possession.

The report raises concerns about the rise in the number of deaths from overdoses in some countries. The UK accounted for 2,332 of the 6,800 drug-related deaths notified to the authorities in 2014. Heroin and other opiates such as methadone accounted for 1,786 of these UK deaths – a rise of 194 on the previous year. Deaths due to cocaine use also rose from 169 to 247. A similar pattern was seen in Ireland, Lithuania and Sweden.

“The reasons behind these rises in fatal overdoses are unclear, but a number of factors may be involved, including: increased heroin availability, higher purity, ageing users and changing consumption patterns, including the use of synthetic opioids and medicines. Overdoses are most commonly reported among older opioid users [35–50],” the report says.

Dimitris Avramopoulos, the EU commissioner for migration, home affairs and citizenship, said: “Europe faces a growing problem with drugs. New psychoactive substances, stimulants, heroin and other opioids continue to be in high demand and supply, with major impacts on public health … With this knowledge in hand, we will continue to call on EU member state authorities, third countries, internet companies and civil society to redouble cooperation in fighting this global challenge.”


Bron: www.theguardian.com


[ Bericht 3% gewijzigd door Papierversnipperaar op 31-05-2016 18:48:55 ]
Free Assange! Hack the Planet
[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
pi_162672171
Coke invoer bestrijden in de VS kostte omgerekend bijna 1000 euro per gram

Verder geen compleet artikel omdat het op de VK site staat maar de link werkt.

:D
  woensdag 1 juni 2016 @ 17:15:06 #273
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_162672396
quote:
Zorgen politie over enorme hoeveelheden cocaïne | NOS

De politie maakt zich zorgen over de grote hoeveelheden cocaïne die smokkelaars Nederland proberen in te brengen. De partijen zijn volgens de politie steeds groter. Ook motorbendes zijn vaker betrokken bij de cocaïnesmokkel.

In De Telegraaf zegt de chef van de nationale recherche, Wilbert Paulissen, dat de vraag naar coke kennelijk zeer groot is en dat hoge risico's op onderschepping worden geaccepteerd. In de afgelopen tien maanden werd meer dan 30.000 kilo cocaïne door politie en douane onderschept.

Volgens de recherchechef werd een aantal jaar geleden ongeveer eens per jaar een partij van duizend kilo onderschept. "Nu doen we de ene na de andere megavangst", zegt Paulissen.

Dat komt volgens hem ook doordat bendes met enorme voorraden zitten. Door strengere milieu-eisen mogen cocaplantages in Colombia minder met gif worden bestreden.

Uit contact met de politie in Zuid-Amerika concludeert de politie dat leden van Nederlandse motorbendes in landen als Colombia actief zijn. De leden doen de aan- en verkoop en zouden ook de transporten regelen.

Volgens de politie wordt waarschijnlijk maar een kwart van alle cocaïne onderschept. "Het is een utopie om te denken dat we alles onderscheppen", zegt woordvoerder Thomas Aling van de politie. Maar volgens hem is het goed om de smokkelaars zoveel mogelijk pijn te blijven doen.

Daarnaast blijft de politie nauw samenwerken met de autoriteiten in Antwerpen. Veel drugs die via Nederland naar andere Europese landen worden verspreid, komen in Antwerpen aan in Europa.

Bron: nos.nl
quote:
"Het is een utopie om te denken dat we alles onderscheppen"
Dat is wel een hele enorme open deur, als ze alles onderscheppen zijn er geen gebruikers en is er geen handel. :')
Free Assange! Hack the Planet
[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
pi_162673170
Men lijkt te suggereren dat in Colombia cocaplantages gecontroleerd worden door de overheid met hun bestrijdingsmiddelen gebruik. :D
  woensdag 1 juni 2016 @ 23:12:38 #275
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_162681544
quote:
Busje vol zoutzuur in woonwijk Eindhoven | NOS

In een bestelbusje in een woonwijk in Eindhoven zijn honderden liters zoutzuur gevonden. De bijtende stof zat in tientallen vaatjes.

De politie kreeg vanochtend een melding dat op een parkeerplaats in het noorden van de stad al enige tijd een busje stond. Agenten controleerden de inhoud en stuitten op zeker veertig volle vaatjes.

Omdat de agenten het niet vertrouwden, schakelden ze drugsspecialisten in. Die stelden vast dat het ging om zoutzuur, dat onder meer wordt gebruikt bij de productie van synthetische drugs als xtc.

Het zoutzuur is afgevoerd naar een veilige plaats. De politie onderzoekt de achtergronden van de vondst.

Bron: nos.nl
Free Assange! Hack the Planet
[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zondag 5 juni 2016 @ 16:16:38 #276
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_162764182
quote:
quote:
Researchers examined 12 years of data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Instances of cannabis use fell by 10 percent, while “the number of adolescents who had problems related to marijuana — such as becoming dependent on the drug or having trouble in school and in relationships — declined by 24 percent…”

This raised an important point. While responsible adult cannabis use is far less harmful than “legal drug” use, the abuse of any drug—including cannabis—is detrimental to one’s health, especially on the developing adolescent brain. Cannabis has legitimate therapeutic benefits, but like any drug can exacerbate problems that kids have in dealing with school or troubling facets of their life.

“We were surprised to see substantial declines in marijuana use and abuse,” said study author Richard A. Grucza. “We don’t know how legalization is affecting young marijuana users, but it could be that many kids with behavioral problems are more likely to get treatment earlier in childhood, making them less likely to turn to pot during adolescence. But whatever is happening with these behavioral issues, it seems to be outweighing any effects of marijuana decriminalization.”
Free Assange! Hack the Planet
[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  dinsdag 14 juni 2016 @ 22:47:24 #277
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_163020367
quote:
Online verkoop van drugs groeit fors (want het is zo simpel) - rtlz.nl

Een jaar geleden bestelde ik bij een online drugsdealer een gram cocaïne. Het poeder werd verstopt in een leeg dvd-hoesje en verstuurd via de normale briefpost, helemaal vanuit de VS. Uit een zuurtest van verslavingsinstelling Jellinek bleek dat het witte poeder inderdaad cocaïne is.

Nog nooit bestelden zo veel mensen hun drugs via digitale zwarte markten, zo blijkt uit een onderzoek van Global Drugs Survey. Zo'n 8 procent van de ondervraagden had wel eens via een illegale website - alleen te bezoeken via het dark web - drugs besteld of laten bestellen. De verwachting is dat dit aantal de komende jaren blijft groeien.

Het dark web is te bereiken met de gratis Tor-browser. Met deze browser surf je anoniem op het 'normale internet', maar het biedt ook toegang tot het Tor-netwerk dat ook wel het dark web wordt genoemd. Het dark web is vergelijkbaar met het normale internet, maar dan anoniem en versleuteld. Websites zijn te bezoeken via een zogeheten .onion-adres, dat alleen via Tor kan worden bezocht. Het .onion-adres van bijvoorbeeld Facebook is facebookcorewwwi.onion.

De Tor-browser versleutelt jouw internetverbinding en sluist de data door meestal drie servers om je locatie te verhullen. De eerste server weet de herkomst maar niet het eindpunt, de tweede server stuurt de verbinding veilig door naar de derde server, die alleen het eindpunt weet en niet de herkomst. Op deze manier kun je anoniem internetten, omdat websites niet weten wie je bent of waar je vandaan komt.

Op het dark web zijn tientallen verschillende digitale zwarten markten. Je kunt er allerlei producten en diensten kopen, variërend van drugs (een gram cocaïne kost ongeveer 40 euro) en wapens (een revolver gaat voor paar honderd euro over de toonbank) tot gestolen creditcards (enkele euro's per pas) en neppaspoorten (100 euro voor een Nederlands neppaspoort).

Ook bieden mensen diensten via de websites aan. Denk aan het inhuren van een hacker (200 euro voor het hacken van een Facebook-account), spion (300 euro voor de bevestiging of je ex een nieuwe partner heeft) of huurmoordenaar (10.000 euro voor een moord op een Europese inwoner - geen politici of kinderen).

De websites zien eruit zoals webshops er vaker uitzien. Denk aan Marktplaats, Ebay en Etsy. De meeste digitale zwarte markten werken met een beoordelingssysteem, net zoals Ebay. Zo kun je zien wie er regelmatig succesvol producten of diensten heeft geleverd. Een verkoper die succesvol cocaïne levert (en de drugs is ook nog van goede kwaliteit), krijgt veel positieve beoordelingen. Kopers bestellen dan sneller bij deze verkoper.

De meeste verkopers richten zich op een paar drugssoorten: zo verkoopt de één cocaïne en amfetamine (ook wel speed genoemd, meestal in poedervorm), de ander xtc-pillen en MDMA (de grondstof van xtc, wordt verkocht in kristallen) en weer een ander benzodiazepinen (kalmeringsmiddel) en GBL (de grondstof van GHB, waarvan de verkoop enkele jaren geleden in Nederland is verboden).

Bij digitale zwarte markten betaal je met de digitale valuta bitcoin. Ondanks dat bitcoin als 'anoniem' wordt gezien, is het betaalmiddel verre van anoniem. Het betaalverkeer van bitcoin is inzichtelijk en als een koper of verkoper met zijn persoonlijke informatie bitcoins koopt of laat uitkeren, is de transactiegeschiedenis gemakkelijk na te gaan.

Daarom zijn veel zwarte markten op het dark web begonnen met een speciale technologie waarbij bitcoins worden gehusseld. Bij dit proces, dat ook wel 'tumbling' wordt genoemd, worden bitcoins gehusseld met andere bitcoins, waardoor de koop of verkoop niet meer naar een specifiek bitcoin-adres kan worden herleid. Normaal gesproken schakel je een tumbling-dienst in, maar veel illegale webwinkels bieden deze technologie sinds kort standaard aan gebruikers aan.

De bestelde drugs gaat op de post, meestal in enveloppen. Dat komt omdat de meesten drugs voor privégebruik bestellen, dat gemakkelijk in een kleine envelop past. "Super handig", aldus een anonieme gebruiker die wel eens drugs via digitale zwarte markten bestelt. "Ik heb onder andere xtc-pillen, cocaïne en benzodiazepinen gekocht. Eén keer kreeg ik de drugs in een envelop van een niet-bestaande elektronicawinkel in Eindhoven. Er zat zelfs een bonnetje bij. Ik had schijnbaar 'lichtgevoelige led-lampjes' gekocht."

Het gebruik van Tor en het betalen met bitcoin kan ook 'te veel gedoe' zijn: "Een appje sturen en binnen drie kwartier staat er een jongen met zijn scooter voor je deur. In de praktijk is dat veel gemakkelijker."

Een andere anonieme drugsgebruiker beaamt dat: "Ik heb vaak zin in drugs als ik wat heb gedronken, en dan stuur ik mijn dealer een berichtje. Lekker spontaan. De paar keer dat ik via een website drugs heb besteld, was het drugs die lastig te koop is, zoals LSD en morfine. Dan zijn dit soort websites echt een uitkomst."

PostNL verwerkt dagelijks zo'n 11 miljoen poststukken. De douane controleert de post, bijvoorbeeld door post te scannen of een drugshond in te zetten. Maar lang niet alle post wordt gecontroleerd, waardoor - gezien de vele positieve reacties op de sites - veel drugspost arriveert.

Volgens een woordvoerder van de politie ben je strafbaar als je drugs via het internet koopt, maar moet onderzoek uitwijzen of jij ook daadwerkelijk de drugs hebt besteld voordat je wordt veroordeeld.

Bron: www.rtlz.nl
Free Assange! Hack the Planet
[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  dinsdag 14 juni 2016 @ 22:55:44 #278
445752 broodjepindakaashagelslag
Ik blaf niet maar ik bijt
pi_163020755
Van der Steur voelt niets voor ander wietbeleid

En Van der Steur zegt nee.
Wetenschappers hebben onderzocht dat het beter is om het te legaliseren, zodat je minder criminaliteit krijt en betere wiet, maar meneer voelt er niks voor.
Erg jammer weer.
Its hard to win an argument against a smart person, but it's damn near impossible to win an argument against a stupid person
  woensdag 15 juni 2016 @ 01:22:33 #279
456527 L.P.
Libertarische Partij
pi_163023484
quote:
0s.gif Op dinsdag 14 juni 2016 22:55 schreef broodjepindakaashagelslag het volgende:
Van der Steur voelt niets voor ander wietbeleid

En Van der Steur zegt nee.
Wetenschappers hebben onderzocht dat het beter is om het te legaliseren, zodat je minder criminaliteit krijt en betere wiet, maar meneer voelt er niks voor.
Erg jammer weer.
Wij worden niet blij van deze nepliberalen!

[ Bericht 0% gewijzigd door L.P. op 15-06-2016 01:30:51 ]
  woensdag 15 juni 2016 @ 17:03:42 #280
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_163036404

quote:
Georganiseerde misdaad Zuid-Nederland erger dan gedacht | NOS

De georganiseerde criminaliteit in het zuiden van Nederland is erger en dieper in de samenleving geworteld dan tot nu toe werd gedacht. Dat schrijft minister Van der Steur aan de Tweede Kamer. Hij verlengt daarom de intensieve aanpak die afgelopen jaren van kracht was.

De Taskforce Brabant Zeeland, die de afgelopen jaren jacht maakte op de criminele bendes, zou dit jaar worden opgeheven. De minister laat weten dat de 125 medewerkers van de landelijke politie-eenheid en 15 van het OM ook de komende jaren beschikbaar blijven.

Van der Steur vindt dat de aanpak positief heeft gewerkt. Ook is helder geworden dat het probleem groter is dan gedacht. "De aanpak heeft scherper zichtbaar gemaakt wat tientallen jaren onzichtbaar is gebleven: er is sprake van een complex probleem dat ernstiger is en dieper in de samenleving is geworteld dan bij aanvang werd vermoed."

Binnen de Taskforce werken gemeenten, politie, OM, belastingdienst en marechaussee samen. Van der Steur wil dat de aandacht de komende jaren vooral gericht is op het afpakken van crimineel vermogen.

Vorig jaar legde de Taskforce in de strijd tegen drugscriminelen beslag op goederen met een waarde van 36 miljoen euro. 1277 hennepkwekerijen werden opgerold en 25 hennepstekkerijen, die de kwekerijen voorzagen van jonge plantjes, werden gesloten. Ook moesten meer dan 70 growshops dicht.

In april werden op één ochtend op zo'n 100 plekken invallen gedaan in een groot onderzoek naar synthetische drugs, zoals xtc. Aan de actie onder de naam Operatie Trefpunt deden zo'n 1500 mensen mee. Daarbij werden 4000 liter chemicaliën, 50 kilo harddrugs, 20 vuurwapens, 26 auto's, twee boten en twee Harley-Davidsons in beslag genomen. 6 xtc-laboratoria werden gesloten en tientallen mensen werden gearresteerd.

Bron: nos.nl
Free Assange! Hack the Planet
[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  woensdag 15 juni 2016 @ 19:34:41 #281
156695 Tism
Sinds 24, Aug, 2006
pi_163040579
Dit levert de 'war on drugs' in Brabant, Zeeland en Limburg op

quote:
[...] Noord-Brabant, Zeeland en Limburg, van oktober 2014 tot en met januari 2016

483 aanhoudingen
148.933 hennepplanten vernietigd
174 henneplocaties doorzocht
344.396 XTC-tabletten in beslag genomen
199.772 liter chemicaliën in beslagen genomen
45 drugslabs ontmanteld
242 wapens in beslag

Over de exacte omvang zijn geen cijfers beschikbaar. Niemand weet dus hoeveel procent van de wietkwekerijen wordt opgerold. [/...]
....nachtrijder...Nachtzwelgje!
  woensdag 15 juni 2016 @ 20:19:42 #282
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_163042100
quote:
quote:
Drugs harm reduction campaigners are warning about high-strength ecstasy pills on the market in Britain after an analysis of drugs at a Manchester festival found some that contained double or even triple doses.

Fiona Measham, a member of the government’s Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) and founder of The Loop, a charity which tests drugs found or handed in at festivals, said she and her colleagues found ecstasy pills at the Parklife festival containing as much as 250mg of MDMA, the active ingredient. That makes them significantly stronger than the pills available during ecstasy’s previous hey-day in the late 90s, when average pills contained about 100mg of MDMA.

After a string of recent deaths attributed to MDMA poisoning, particularly among young women, she is calling on clubbers in the north-west to beware of red Mastercard and yellow Mickey Mouse pills, which were found to contain doses that could prove harmful or even lethal to some users.

There are particular concerns that irregularly shaped tablets, often with no score lines to easily split them, are confounding harm reduction advice that tells users to test their reaction to a half or even a quarter of a pill rather than swallowing the whole thing.
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  donderdag 16 juni 2016 @ 09:16:29 #283
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_163054189
quote:
Public health bodies call for decriminalisation of drugs | Politics | The Guardian

Report from Royal Society for Public Health and Faculty of Public Health says misuse of drugs should be a health issue, not a criminal one

The UK’s two leading public health bodies, representing thousands of doctors and other professionals, are making an unprecedented call for the personal possession and use of drugs to be decriminalised.

The war on drugs has done more harm than good, say the Royal Society for Public Health and the Faculty of Public Health. They argue that drug misuse should be a health issue, not a matter for the courts and prisons, which have not succeeded in deterring people from taking drugs. More people than ever before are being harmed by drugs and then harmed again by the punishment meted out, instead of being helped to kick or contain the habit, they say.

“We have taken the view that it is time for endorsing a different approach,” said Shirley Cramer, chief executive of the Royal Society. “We have gone to our stakeholders and asked the public and tried to gain some consensus from our community and the public, because that is very important.”

The society commissioned a poll of more than 2,000 UK adults and found that more than half – 56% – agreed that drug users in their local area ought to be referred for treatment, rather than charged with a criminal offence. Fewer than a quarter – 23% – disagreed.

The public health specialists, whose work involves preventing disease through measures such as helping people to quit smoking, say there should be no leniency for those who sell drugs. “We think that people who are dealing drugs and the producers and suppliers absolutely should be prosecuted,” said Cramer. “But for people who have got a drug problem, why treat them differently from someone who has an alcohol problem or an obesity problem?”

The society has produced a report, Taking a New Line on Drugs, which the faculty has endorsed. A key recommendation is that all children and young people learn about drugs in school through personal, social, health and economic education (PHSE). “One of the things that strikes us in public health is how important the education piece is – and that we are missing,” said Cramer. Where there is provision, she said, “it is patchy; it depends on the school”.

The experts also want lead responsibility for drug policy to be moved from the Home Office to the Department of Health, where it should be aligned more closely with alcohol and tobacco strategies. Drugs should be better classified according to the harm they do, the bodies argue, adding that the current classification confuses the public.

Alcohol tops the society’s list of the 10 most harmful drugs, with heroin second and crack cocaine third. Tobacco is in sixth place, while cannabis is eighth.

The report is being published before the anticipated release of the government’s drug strategy, which is expected some time after the referendum. It admires the Portuguese model, in which drug possession is still illegal, but users are referred to treatment and support programmes, rather than being prosecuted. It argues that prosecution and jail sentences cause further harm, including greater exposure to drugs in prison and the severing of family relationships. They are also barriers to education and employment, the report says.

Professor John Middleton, president of the faculty, said: “We need a new, people-centred approach to drug policy, rooted in public health and the best available evidence. This report is an important part of a growing, powerful evidence base that sets out what that approach should look like.

“The time for reframing the global approach to illicit drugs is long overdue. The imbalance between criminal justice and health approaches to illicit drugs is counterproductive. Criminalisation and incarceration for minor, non-violent offences worsen problems linked to illicit drug use, such as social inequality, violence and infection. Possession and use should be decriminalised and health approaches prioritised.”

Professor David Nutt, who heads the Centre for Neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London, said: “I fully support the recommendations in this report. The current government approach of blindly prosecuting drug users, rather than trying to reduce the rising tide of drug harms, particularly deaths from alcohol, heroin and cocaine, in fact leads to more damage to individuals and society – and more costs to the taxpayer.”

A Home Office spokesman said: “The UK’s approach on drugs remains clear - we must prevent drug use in our communities and support people dependent on drugs through treatment and recovery.

“At the same time, we have to stop the supply of illegal drugs and tackle the organised crime behind the drugs trade.”

He said there had been a drop in drug misuse over the last decade and more people are recovering from dependency now than in 2009/10.

Bron: www.theguardian.com
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  donderdag 16 juni 2016 @ 11:34:16 #284
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_163056675
quote:
quote:
Van der Steur ziet echter de nodige haken en ogen aan het onderzoek. Hij stelt dat het niet bewezen is dat de criminaliteit ook daadwerkelijk zal afnemen.
Jezus, als je een activiteit legaliseert, is die activiteit niet langer crimineel en daalt daarmee dus de criminaliteit. Maar van de Steur ziet dat niet? Moet ie misschien de basisschool overdoen en leren optellen en aftrekken? :')
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  donderdag 16 juni 2016 @ 13:50:46 #285
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_163059243
AnnajoyDavid twitterde op donderdag 16-06-2016 om 11:20:46 Brilliant stuff. #decriminalize. Public Health not Criminal Justice is the way to go. #warondrugs https://t.co/YjsdKVnTDT reageer retweet
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The Times also says the government should see decriminalisation as a first step towards legal regulation of drugs
quote:
The Times calls for decriminalisation of all illegal drugs | Media | The Guardian


Newspaper breaks new ground by declaring itself in favour of treating drug use and possession as a health issue rather than a crime

The Times has boldly gone where few newspapers - and very, very few politicians - have ever dared to go before by declaring itself in favour of legalising drugs in Britain.

In a leading article, "Breaking Good", the paper has supported a call on the government by the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) to decriminalise both the possession and use of all illegal drugs.

Accepting that it "is radical advice", the Times thought it "sound" and urged ministers to "give it serious consideration".

Newspapers have usually shied away from adopting such a stance. In 1997, the Independent on Sunday, then edited by Rosie Boycott, came out in favour of decriminalising cannabis. The following year, thousands gathered in London's Hyde Park in support of her campaign to change the law.

But 10 years later, long after Boycott had departed, the paper changed its mind. It argued that new strains of cannabis, notably skunk, were dangerous, causing disorders such as psychosis and schizophrenia.

Although the Observer and the Guardian have raised questions about potential changes of laws within countries that produce drugs neither have advocated decriminalisation in Britain.

The Observer noted in 2011 that the war on drugs had failed and argued that "when policies fail it is incumbent on our leaders to look for new ones."

The Times has adopted the logic of that position. Even so, its initiative, especially going beyond cannabis to embrace all illegal drugs, is something of a first.

Its front page news story reported on the "landmark intervention" by the RSPH and the Faculty of Public Health as "the first leading medical organisations to come out in favour of radical drugs reform."

Both bodies believe that addiction to all drugs - ranging from heroin and cocaine to cannabis and so-called legal highs - should be regarded as a health problem rather than a crime.

The Times's editorial, while agreeing that decriminalisation would put Britain in the company of a small group of countries that have made such a policy switch, supported that change of direction.

It is not "to be taken lightly", it said, "yet the logic behind it and evidence from elsewhere are persuasive". It added:

"The government should be encouraged to think of decriminalisation not as an end in itself but as a first step towards legalising and regulating drugs as it already regulates alcohol and tobacco."

It pointed to the situation in Portugal, where drug decriminalisation has existed for 15 years. Possession there "does not earn the user a criminal record" and "the country's drug-related death rate was three per million citizens compared with 10 per million in the Netherlands and 44.6 in Britain."

The Times said: "Recreational drug use [in Portugal] has not soared, as critics of decriminalisation had feared. HIV infection rates have fallen and the use of so-called legal highs is, according to a study last year, lower than in any other European country."

It contended: "It may be politic not to rush discussion of full legalisation but that should still be the ultimate goal. In the long term it is not tenable to decriminalise possession of a substance while preserving the profit motive of the criminal gangs that supply it."

And the paper concluded, again like the Observer, that international drug wars have "proved unwinnable". Instead, it urged the government "to move gradually towards legalised supply chains such as those allowed for cannabis in Uruguay and a minority of US states."

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Bron: www.theguardian.com


[ Bericht 63% gewijzigd door Papierversnipperaar op 16-06-2016 16:53:37 ]
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  vrijdag 17 juni 2016 @ 12:24:50 #286
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_163083107
quote:
Microsoft high: stapt in software voor tracken wietteelt - rtlz.nl

Microsoft raakt in hogere sferen en levert cloudtechnologie aan een startup die overheden helpt om de legale wietteelt te monitoren. Dat is booming business in de VS.

Microsoft is een samenwerking aangegaan met de Amerikaanse startup Kind Financial, dat gericht is op overheidstoezicht op de legale wietteelt en cannabishandel. Microsofts Azure-cloudtechnologie moet helpen bij het volgen van de wietplantjes en het toezicht op de verkoop van zaden. Overheidsdiensten in staten waar cannabis is gelegaliseerd kunnen de software gebruiken.

Kind Financial biedt systemen waarmee overheden de legale cannabisverkoop in de gaten houden. Zo kan voorkomen worden dat cannabiszaden op de zwarte markt belanden. Enkele lokale overheden gebruiken het systeem al. Microsoft wil zijn cloudsoftware voor dit doeleinde de komende tijd gaan promoten onder overheden en mogelijk ook tijdens cannabis-evenementen.

Staten als Colorado, Alaska en Washington (niet te verwarren met de hoofdstad Washington DC) hebben recreatief en medisch gebruik van cannabis al gelegaliseerd. De verwachting is dat veel meer Amerikaanse staten dat voorbeeld zullen volgen.

Bron: www.rtlz.nl
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  vrijdag 17 juni 2016 @ 23:51:17 #287
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_163102146
quote:
The evidence against the 'war on drugs' is so overwhelming it cannot be ignored | Editorials | Voices | The Independent

In the final editorial of our print edition in March, this column pointed out that over the lifetime of the newspaper, we had made friends of heresies and watched with glee as they became common sense. Perhaps no issue has moved in this direction so far, and so fast, as the debate around the legal status of drugs.

Yesterday, two of the most august public health bodies in Britain added their considerable weight to the growing body of opinion in this country that accepts the catastrophic, murderous stupidity of the so-called “war on drugs” must be reversed.

In a historic intervention, the Royal Society for Public Health and the Faculty of Public Health have made explicit their view that the law as it presently stands is a grim litany of failure. The first British medical bodies to publicly favour radical reform in this way, they argue that drug use should be regarded as a health matter, like consumption of tobacco and alcohol, rather than a crime.

No lefty, liberal conspiracy this: both organisations have looked hard at the evidence, and seen the horror caused by our current laws. They favour decriminalisation of consumption, but not – yet – supply, arguing that it would lead to lower incarceration rates.

Prison is the worst possible way, they note, to address drug use: the widespread availability of drugs in prison increases consumption and endangers addicts; the vast cost of keeping prisoners behind bars diverts precious funds to unproductive, counter-effective uses; and the devastating impact of prison – which damages morale, destroys families, and is antithetical to career and educational opportunities – is the very last thing that addicts need.

This harm principle, best articulated by John Stuart Mill in On Liberty, illustrates precisely why our drug laws are so absurd: at present they vastly increase the harm caused to other citizens. The principal effect of drug laws is to inflate the salaries of the nastiest barons and gangsters on earth, funding organised crime and corruption, and fuelling the self-immolation of whole nations, from Mexico to Albania and Afghanistan.

That is why we would go further than these two bodies, in arguing for full legalisation. This differs from decriminalisation in the essential respect that the latter still leaves control of supply in the hands of organised crime syndicates. We wouldn’t ask them to control the supply of our tobacco or alcohol, so why heroin and cocaine?

What prompts these two health bodies to intervene now, however, is the undeniable evidence from countries that have adopted a more liberal approach. These reforms have been astonishingly effective.

Counterintuitively, the evidence is emphatic that drug use has actually come down in Portugal since that country decriminalised hard drugs in 2001. And, amazingly, drug-related deaths have fallen by 80 per cent – yes, 80 per cent – over the same period, while HIV infection rates have also fallen.

In any other area of policy, such remarkably impressive results from radical reform would be seen as a blueprint for the rest of the world to follow.

For the Royal Society of Public Health and the Faculty of Public Health – bodies whose members proceed by a calm appraisal of the evidence available, rather than in accordance with moral fervour or ideology – it is blatantly obvious that current drug laws are so stupid they could have been devised by a bunch of addled smack addicts. Obviously our political class it too stuffed with cowards and prisoners of religious and superstitious thinking for such reform to happen in the short term.

But if enough people keep making forceful arguments based on the available evidence, the heresy of reformed drug laws will graduate not just to common sense but prevailing wisdom soon enough.

Bron: www.independent.co.uk
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zaterdag 18 juni 2016 @ 22:55:06 #288
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_163124956
Dit is van 1 juni:

quote:
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Soms word je aangenaam verrast door initiatieven van anderen die handig gebruik maken van de mogelijkheden die de wet biedt. Een journalist van Reporter deed een beroep op de Wet Openbaarheid van Bestuur om informatie te krijgen van het Ministerie van Veiligheid en Justitie over nut en noodzaak van de bestrijding van cannabisteelt. De resultaten werden deze week gepubliceerd.
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In de pogingen vorm te geven aan een oplossing voor een (deels) zelf gecreëerd probleem, speelt de toenemende druk van de rechterlijke macht een prominente rol. Rechters wijzen er immers op dat de overheid zelf debet is aan het ontstaan van criminele organisaties door de ogen te sluiten voor de noodzaak van teelt en bevoorrading van coffeeshops. Dit oordeel is hard aangekomen binnen de burelen van het Ministerie van Veiligheid en Justitie.

Langzamerhand ontstaat achter de schermen het politieke besef dat de redeloze en weerbarstige Opstelten-doctrine zijn langste tijd gehad heeft. Zelfs binnen de VVD neemt de roep om regulering toe. Tijdens het laatste VVD-congres deed de liberale achterban een oproep aan het partijbestuur om pleitbezorger te worden van regulering.
quote:
Op ambtelijk niveau wordt serieus nagedacht om softdrugsteelt te reguleren. Dit blijkt het duidelijkst uit welgeteld één pagina in de stukken die dankzij Reporter gepubliceerd zijn. Deze stukken zijn afkomstig van de ‘Taskforce beleidsalternatieven’ van het Ministerie van Veiligheid en Justitie. Deze taskforce stelt voor de teelt van softdrugs toe te laten op basis van vergunningen onder strikte voorwaarden.
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zondag 19 juni 2016 @ 00:34:13 #289
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_163128360
quote:
Congresswoman Who Used To Receive Welfare Wants To Drug Test Rich People Who Get Tax Breaks | ThinkProgress

Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI) has had enough of the growing movement to drug test poor people who need government assistance. So on Tuesday, she’s introducing a bill that she says will make things fairer.

Her “Top 1% Accountability Act” would require anyone claiming itemized tax deductions of over $150,000 in a given year to submit a clean drug test. If a filer doesn’t submit a clean test within three months of filing, he won’t be able to take advantage of tax deductions like the mortgage interest deduction or health insurance tax breaks. Instead he would have to make use of the standard deduction.

Her office has calculated that the people impacted will be those who make at least $500,000 a year. “By drug testing those with itemized deductions over $150,000, this bill will level the playing field for drug testing people who are the recipients of social programs,” a memo on her bill notes.

Moore has a personal stake in the fight. “I am a former welfare recipient,” she explained. “I’ve used food stamps, I’ve received Aid for Families with Dependent Children, Medicaid, Head Start for my kids, Title XX daycare [subsidies]. I’m truly grateful for the social safety net.”

Ten states require applicants to their cash welfare programs to undergo a drug test. States are currently barred from implementing drug testing for the food stamps program, but Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) has sued the federal government to allow him to do so and has gotten some Congressional Republican support.

Moore has been frustrated to witness attempts to tie those who avail themselves of the safety net to drug use. “Republicans continue to criminalize poverty and to put forward the narrative, the false narrative in fact, that people who are poor and reliant upon the social safety net are drug users,” she said.

In fact, evidence from test results among states that test welfare recipients indicates that they are no more likely to use drugs than the general population — in fact, they may be less likely.

That didn’t stop House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) from using a drug rehab center as the backdrop while he unveiled his poverty plan last week. “I think this is what tipped me over the edge,” Moore said, “rolling out his poverty initiative in front of a drug treatment program to sort of drive that false narrative forward.”

Moore also wants to use her bill to question why some recipients of government aid are treated differently than others. “On the one hand, poor people…are entitled to things like Medicaid and SNAP [food stamps],” she said. “People who take tax deductions and particularly those in the top 1 percent…are not entitled to anything.” But they still benefit from a large pot of government money. The government loses about $900 billion in revenue to tax expenditures every year, which mostly flow to the wealthy.

When it comes to drug abuse, “There are no boundaries with regard to class or race,” she said. “If these poor people who are entitled to SNAP for survival are required to be drug tested, then certainly those people who claim $150,000 or more in tax deductions should be subjected to the same in order to receive this benefit from the government.”

Moore also thinks that while there is no evidence that drug testing welfare recipients saves states any money, drug tests for wealthy taxpayers could be different. “We would save a lot of money on this,” she said. “When you add up all of the tax expenditures, all the money we give really wealthy people, it really rivals the amount we spend on Defense, Social Security, Medicare.” The mortgage interest deduction, which overwhelmingly benefits people making more than $100,000, alone cost $70 billion in 2013, or 0.4 percent of GDP.

Her bill will also help illuminate this very fact: that so much is spent on tax expenditures, not just on direct aid programs like welfare and food stamps. “We think it’s important to engage in some transparency and accountability around tax deductions,” she said.

Moore is not the only lawmaker in Congress who has raised questions about unequal treatment between the poor who make use of government programs and everyone else who needs them. In February, Rep. Rosa DeLauro asked why only recipients of food stamps were being considered for drug testing but not the farmers who also make use of programs run by the Agriculture Department.

But Moore is very serious about pushing her bill forward. “I’m motivated,” she said. “I’m going to work on it very seriously. I’m going to try to get cosponsors.”

She also wants to “engage the wealthy in this poverty debate,” she said. “I would love to see some hedge fund manager on Wall Street who might be sniffing a little cocaine here and there to stay awake realize that he can’t get his $150,000 worth of deductions unless he submits to a drug test.”

Bron: thinkprogress.org
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zondag 19 juni 2016 @ 01:29:43 #290
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_163129470
quote:
Ohio Medical Marijuana Legalization Is Signed Into Law

Way to go Ohio.

You’re almost there. Governor and former presidential candidate John Kasich recently announced that he signed Ohio House Bill 523 into law.

The bill “authorizes the use of marijuana for medical purposes and establishes the Medical Marijuana Control Program,” his office stated.

Ohio has a love-hate relationship with medical pot though. So does Kasich.

The law will allow medical patients with a doctor’s recommendation to get weed on the black market or in other states starting around September.

The state’s own medical marijuana dispensaries won’t be up and running for at least another year.

And you’re not allowed to smoke in public. And you can’t grow it at home. And employees can still be fired for using cannabis, even if their doctors say it’s legitimate medicine.

Kasich has called recreational legalization a “terrible idea.”

Late last year he explained his stance to Stephen Colbert. “We don’t need to take the approach where we send a confusing and mixed message to our children” – where we say drugs are bad except for this one.

Colbert said we already do that with alcohol. True.

Ohio, by the way, is now the nation’s 25th medical pot state.

Bron: the420times.com
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zondag 19 juni 2016 @ 18:17:26 #291
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_163142655
quote:
Regime favours ending war on methamphetamine | Bangkok Post: news

Justice Minister Paiboon Koomchaya has proposed that ya ba (methamphetamines) be taken off the dangerous illicit narcotics list and put under the normal drugs category as current measures to suppress the drugs have failed.


However, if and when the drugs are to be taken off the list, all agencies will have to work out measures to ensure that the distribution, sale and use of the drugs are strictly controlled, Gen Paiboon said.

He made the proposal Wednesday at a meeting which discussed the results of the 2016 UN General Assembly Special Session on Drugs (UNGASS), adapting the recommendations to deal with drug problems in Thailand. The Supreme Court president Veerapol Tungsuwan was a speaker at the meeting and he echoed Gen Paiboon's opinion.

Addressing the meeting, Gen Paiboon said the world has fought a war on drugs over the past 28 years, but achieved little. Several countries have now changed their approach to dealing with drugs and have considered how to adapt and live with drugs, instead of continuing the traditional approach.

Justice Minister Gen Paiboon Koomchaya shocked the country Wednesday with a proposal to stop criminalising methamphetamines. (Photo by Pattanapong Hirunard)

"The world has now surrendered to drugs, and has come to think of how to live with drugs. It is like a man suffering from cancer and having no cure and he has to live a happy life with the cancer," Gen Paiboon said.

Numerous countries have discussed solutions to the drug problem in terms of looking after drug users and safeguarding their rights, the minister said.

Gen Paiboon said Thailand is among several countries which supports the idea of a proportionate punishment for drug offences involving the use of amphetamine-type stimulants, as well as alternatives to imprisonment.

Many countries have adopted such ideas, but Thailand has failed to implement them because the country's drug laws still have certain limitations and need to be amended to accommodate these measures, Gen Paiboon said. A bill was drawn up to reform the system of drug laws and has received the endorsement of the cabinet. The bill will be tabled to the National Legislative Assembly for deliberation, Gen Paiboon said.

The bill would allow the courts of justice to determine whether a drug offender deserves punishments such as a jail term or a fine that is less severe than the minimum penalties stipulated by law. He said the status of methamphetamines or ya ba should be changed from a severe to a normal drug. Citing medical studies, Gen Paiboon said methamphetamines's effects on health are less harmful than those of alcohol and cigarettes.

The Justice Ministry will hold discussions with the Public Health Ministry, the courts of justice and prosecutors, and other agencies to amend the law and find ways to take methamphetamines off the narcotics list.

Mr Veerapol told the meeting that Thailand has failed in its bid to use harsh legal measures against drug abuse and drug trafficking. Despite the harsh measures, the drug problem has continued unabated. More than half of about 270,000 legal cases pending in court are drugs-related, Mr Veerapol said. The Supreme Court president also admitted that several agencies, including the courts of justice, have still failed to work together to address the drug problem.

Under the law, drug addicts are now treated as patients as part of a move to improve measures to deal with the problem, he said.

However, a drug user who possesses 15 methamphetamine pills or more is considered a drug dealer and is liable for the same punishment imposed on drug dealers, Mr Veerapol said.

Pol Lt Gen Rewat Klinkesorn, chief of the Narcotics Suppression Bureau, said the police need to follow government policy.

Prateep Ungsongtham Hata, the Duang Prateep Foundation's secretary-general, warned that if methamphetamines are removed from the narcotics list and put in the normal drugs category, there will be an increase in the drug supply and an increase in demand.

Their prices may drop due to higher competition, said Ms Prateep, who has been battling illicit drugs in the Klong Toey slum community in Bangkok.

Ms Prateep, a 1978 Ramon Magsaysay Award winner, said she wanted to see Gen Paiboon come up with plans to educate Thais about the dangers of methamphetamine abuse.

She also disputed Gen Paiboon's claim that methamphetamines are less harmful than alcohol and cigarettes.

Bron: www.bangkokpost.com
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De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  zondag 19 juni 2016 @ 21:24:24 #292
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_163147695
Heeft ooit iemand een bende slijters dit zien doen?

quote:
Criminelen bestormen ziekenhuis in Rio de Janeiro | NOS

Een groep zwaarbewapende criminelen heeft een ziekenhuis in Rio de Janeiro bestormd. De groep bevrijdde een drugscrimineel die werd behandeld voor een schotwond. Bij het daaropvolgende vuurgevecht met de politie werd een patiënt doodgeschoten. Twee andere mensen raakten gewond.

"Het was een goed geplande aanval", zegt een woordvoerder van de Braziliaanse politie. "Het was een roekeloze actie die niet ongestraft zal blijven. Dit is onacceptabel."

Minstens vijf van de aanvallers gingen het ziekenhuis binnen, vijftien anderen hielden buiten de wacht. De man die bevrijd werd, heeft de bijnaam 'Fat Family'. Hij zou de leider zijn van een drugsbende in de stad. Hij lag in het ziekenhuis omdat hij bij een eerder vuurgevecht met de politie gewond was geraakt.

Het ziekenhuis is een van de vijf die buitenlanders mogen behandelen tijdens de Olympische Spelen in de Braziliaanse stad. Het is het dichtstbijzijnde ziekenhuis bij het Maracanã-stadion, waar op 5 augustus de openingsceremonie wordt gehouden.

Bron: nos.nl
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  maandag 20 juni 2016 @ 21:44:32 #293
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_163174856
quote:
The U.S. Government And The Sinaloa Cartel - Business Insider

An investigation by El Universal found that between the years 2000 and 2012, the U.S. government had an arrangement with Mexico's Sinaloa drug cartel that allowed the organization to smuggle billions of dollars of drugs while Sinaloa provided information on rival cartels.

Sinaloa, led by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, supplies 80% of the drugs entering the Chicago area and has a presence in cities across the U.S.

There have long been allegations that Guzman, considered to be "the world's most powerful drug trafficker," coordinates with American authorities.

But the El Universal investigation is the first to publish court documents that include corroborating testimony from a DEA agent and a Justice Department official.

The written statements were made to the U.S. District Court in Chicago in relation to the arrest of Jesus Vicente Zambada-Niebla, the son of Sinaloa leader Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada and allegedly the Sinaloa cartel's "logistics coordinator."

Here's what DEA agent Manuel Castanon told the Chicago court:

"On March 17, 2009, I met for approximately 30 minutes in a hotel room in Mexico City with Vincente Zambada-Niebla and two other individuals - DEA agent David Herrod and a cooperating source [Sinaloa lawyer Loya Castro] with whom I had worked since 2005. ... I did all of the talking on behalf of [the] DEA."

A few hours later, Mexican Marines arrested Zambada-Niebla (a.k.a. "El Vicentillo") on charges of trafficking more than a billion dollars in cocaine and heroin. Castanon and three other agents then visited Zambada-Niebla in prison, where the Sinaloa officer "reiterated his desire to cooperate," according to Castanon.

El Universal, citing court documents, reports that DEA agents met with high-level Sinaloa officials such as Castro more than 50 times since 2000.

Then-Justice Department prosecutor Patrick Hearn told the Chicago court that, according to DEA special agent Steve Fraga, Castro "provided information leading to a 23-ton cocaine seizure, other seizures related to" various drug trafficking organizations, and that "El Mayo" Zambada wanted his son to cooperate with the U.S.

Screen Shot 2014 01 12 at 7.05.37 PM A screenshot from the documents published by El Universal. El Universal

"The DEA agents met with members of the cartel in Mexico to obtain information about their rivals and simultaneously built a network of informants who sign drug cooperation agreements, subject to results, to enable them to obtain future benefits, including cancellation of charges in the U.S.," reports El Universal, which also interviewed more than one hundred active and retired police officers as well as prisoners and experts.

Zambada-Niebla's lawyer claimed to the court that in the late 1990s, Castro struck a deal with U.S. agents in which Sinaloa would provide information about rival drug trafficking organizations while the U.S. would dismiss its case against the Sinaloa lawyer and refrain from interfering with Sinaloa drug trafficking activities or actively prosecuting Sinaloa leadership.

"The agents stated that this arrangement had been approved by high-ranking officials and federal prosecutors," Zambada-Niebla lawyer wrote.

After being extradited to Chicago in February 2010, Zambada-Niebla argued that he was also "immune from arrest or prosecution" because he actively provided information to U.S. federal agents.

Zambada-Niebla also alleged that Operation Fast and Furious was part of an agreement to finance and arm the cartel in exchange for information used to take down its rivals. (If true, that re-raises the issue regarding what Attorney General Eric Holder knew about the gun-running arrangements.)

A Mexican foreign service officer told Stratfor in April 2010 that the U.S. seemed to have sided with the Sinaloa cartel in an attempt to limit the violence in Mexico.

El Universal reported that the coordination between the U.S. and Sinaloa, as well as other cartels, peaked between 2006 and 2012, which is when drug traffickers consolidated their grip on Mexico. The paper concluded by saying that it is unclear whether the arrangements continue.

The DEA and other U.S. agencies declined to comment to El Universal.

[UPDATE 1/14] This post has caused many to interpret that the U.S. government is actively supporting Sinaloa. That has not been established, despite claims by Zambada-Niebla's lawyer and Stratfor's source. What El Universal's investigation and the newly published court documents reveal is that there was a strong correlation from 2005 and 2009 between the rise of the Sinaloa cartel and the DEA's relatively regular contact with a top Sinaloa lawyer.

Bron: www.businessinsider.com
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  maandag 20 juni 2016 @ 21:56:02 #294
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_163175271
Ierland:

quote:
quote:
As the former chair of the Oireachtas Justice Committee, the Cork East TD produced a report recommending that Ireland should follow the Portuguese legal system on possession drugs.

In Portugal, people caught in possession of certain small amounts of drugs, including cannabis, cocaine and heroin, are not prosecuted by the courts.

Instead, police have the discretion to send drug users for counselling or education on the dangers of drugs.

"When we went to Portugal, I was quite in impressed with the whole system from start to finish," Mr Stanton told the Sunday Independent.

"The police were very happy about it because it meant they weren't tied up in courts. If somebody had a small amount of stuff on them, the police chiefs had the discretion to send them to dissuasion centres where they had interaction with a social worker, counsellor and a legal person," he added.

The minister said his report on decriminalising drugs was submitted last year to Ms Fitzgerald and he believes she accepted the findings "positively".

Mr Stanton said he will be urging his colleagues, including new junior minister with responsibility for drugs policy, Catherine Byrne, to have "an open mind" to the possibility of decriminalising drugs.
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
  maandag 20 juni 2016 @ 22:01:18 #295
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_163175464
quote:
quote:
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration will reclassify marijuana as a “Schedule Two” drug on August 1, 2016, essentially legalizing medicinal cannabis in all 50 states with a doctor’s prescription, said a DEA lawyer with knowledge of the matter.

The DEA Lawyer had told the lawyer representing a DEA informant of the DEA’s plan to legalize medicinal cannibis nationwide on August 1, 2016. When questioned by our reporter, the DEA lawyer felt compelled to admit the truth to him as well.

“Whatever the law may be in California, Arizona or Utah or any other State, because of Federal preemption this will have the effect of making THC products legal with a prescription, in all 50 states,” the DEA attorney told the Observer. Federal Preemption is a legal doctrine that where the US Government regulates a particular field, State and local laws are overridden and of no effect.

He explained that “there are five DEA schedules. Nothing on Schedule One is ever legal, and that is where Cannabis is today. Schedule Two drugs are available with a prescription.”
Het artikel gaat verder.
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
pi_163180526
Er is wel wat vooruitgang in het debat over legalisering te bespeuren! ;)

As the officer took her away, she recalled that she asked,
"Why do you push us around?"
And she remembered him saying,
"I don't know, but the law's the law, and you're under arrest."
  woensdag 22 juni 2016 @ 19:27:59 #297
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_163221656
quote:
Buitenlandse drugstoeristen mijden Limburgse coffeeshops | NOS

Belgische drugstoeristen mijden steeds vaker de coffeeshops in Sittard en Geleen. Sinds 1 juni mogen in die plaatsen buitenlanders coffeeshops niet meer in.

De gemeente is positief over de ontwikkelingen sinds de invoering van de zogenoemde ingezetenen-criterium. "Het drugstoerisme is fors teruggelopen", zegt burgemeester Sjraar Cox. Het is niet duidelijk waar de toeristen nu heen gaan om drugs te kopen.

In Maastricht werden coffeeshops in 2012 afgesloten voor buitenlanders. Daardoor gingen Belgische drugstoeristen vaker naar Sittard-Geleen. Omdat daar steeds meer overlast werd ervaren, besloot burgemeester Cox het ingezeten-criterium in te voeren.

Begin deze maand nam het aantal straatdealers wel toe, schrijft 1Limburg. Volgens de gemeente zagen die kans om gebruik te maken van de nieuwe afzetmarkt. De politie heeft het aantal dealers in Sittard flink kunnen terugdringen, maar in Geleen gaat dat moeizamer.

Om de dealers ook uit de straten van Sittard te weren, worden extra agenten ingezet. Die worden geassisteerd door bijzondere opsporingsbeambten (boa's).

Bron: nos.nl
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
pi_163236904
quote:
TILBURG - De Tilburgse coffeeshops mogen ook buitenlandse gasten bedienen tijdens de festivals Roadburn en Woo Hah!

Dat heeft burgemeester Peter Noordanus toegezegd nadat daar op aan werd gedrongen door een meerderheid van de gemeenteraad.
Bekijk ook...
Roadburner, wiet haalt u elders
Raad Tilburg: buitenlanders welkom in coffeeshop
Festival Woo Hah in Tilburg is uitverkocht
Buitenlanders zijn niet welkom in coffeeshops. Roadburn en Woo Hah! trekken veel buitenlandse bezoekers 'die tot de doelgroep van coffeeshopbezoekers behoren', stelt de gemeente. Om de huidige wetgeving te omzeilen, worden de buitenlandse bezoekers tijdelijk ingezetene van Tilburg. Zij kunnen met hun festivalticket toegang krijgen tot de coffeeshop.

Een meerderheid van de Tilburgse gemeenteraad wil soepelere regels rondom softdrugs. Noordanus is daar geen voorstander van.
Wat een doetje is noordanus ook. :')
  zaterdag 25 juni 2016 @ 21:25:55 #299
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_163296671
quote:
Paraguay: Drug Czar Steps Down After Deadly Anti-Cannabis Operation | High Times

On Monday, Paraguay's top anti-drug official stepped down, two days after a botched anti-cannabis operation left a three-year-old girl dead at the hands of his troops.

Luis Rojas resigned as head of the National Anti-Drug Secretariat (SENAD), under apparent pressure from President Horacio Cartes. The deadly operation took place in the Nueva Italia municipality, where SENAD troops searching for cannabis plantations apparently fired on a van—which proved to be carrying members of the Zanotti Cavazzoni family, owners of a local sugar plantation and mill. The girl's uncle was also wounded in the attack. The girl was the grand-daughter of Ulrico Zanotti Cavazzoni, local sugar oligarch and land-owner.

Paraguay has seen escalating gunplay in recent months, in an apparent struggle by rival gangs for control of the underground cannabis trade. Last week, a commando-style assassination of a local businessman occurred in the town of Pedro Juan Caballero, on the Brazilian border and a key transfer point for cannabis and other contraband. The "border businessman" Jorge Rafaat Toumani was killed in a road ambush by a team of at least 10 gunmen—armed not only with assault rifles but also a heavy machine-gun. This was apparently needed to penetrate Rafaat Toumani's personal armored vehicle. Another five were injured in the attack. Nine suspects have been apprehended. Authorities say they suspect First Capital Command (PCC), the Brazilian crime network which is said to control much of the cannabis trade in Paraguay.

Paraguay is by far South America's largest cannabis producer, having surpassed Colombia over the past decade. But in vivid contrast to nearby Uruguay, the traditionally conservative landlocked country continues to pursue a policy of hardline intransigence. Rojas had been a particularly outspoken opponent of Uruguay's new legalization program.

But dissent is growing. On Wednesday, members of the opposition Paraguay Pyahurâ Party (PPP) held a protest march in Asunción, the capital, against the "anti-popular and anti-national" drug policies of President Cartes.

Bron: hightimes.com
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
pi_163297786
wat een lappen tekst :)
"A lie is a lie even if everyone believes it. The truth is the truth even if no one believes it."
  zondag 26 juni 2016 @ 16:17:21 #301
172669 Papierversnipperaar
Cafeïne is ook maar een drug.
pi_163313450
Vol!
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[b]Op dinsdag 6 januari 2009 19:59 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:[/b]
De gevolgen van de argumenten van de anti-rook maffia
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