The World Wide War on Drugs #12 - Legalize not criminalize

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Op zaterdag 23 februari 2019 18:28 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:
80% van de NL-se drugsproductie zou voor export zijn? Of word er in werkelijkheid meer geïmporteerd?

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Ketamine-Based Antidepressant Nasal Spray Gets FDA Greenlight: Reason Roundup

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration just approved a depression treatment derived from ketamine. A surgical anaesthetic turned party drug, ketamine has been enjoying a comeback this decade as an off-label treatment for clinically depressed patients who don't respond to other therapies.

Esketamine, a product recently approved by the FDA, is the first antidepressant "in decades to work in a completely new way in the brain," reports the Washington Post. "Older antidepressants target the neurotransmitters serotonin, norepinephrine or dopamine. Esketamine affects the receptor for a different brain chemical called glutamate." More:

. The spray acts within hours, rather than weeks or months as is typical for current antidepressants, and could offer a lifeline to about 5 million people in the United States with major depressive disorder who haven't been helped by current treatments. That accounts for about one in three people with depression. [...] Esketamine must be administered under medical supervision and can only be used in a certified doctor's office or clinic, according to the conditions of the FDA approval. It is to be taken with an oral antidepressant.

Studies of ketamine-derived antidepressant treatments have been going on now for more than two decades, with the first study published in 2000. "Several studies now provide evidence of ketamine hydrochloride's ability to produce rapid and robust antidepressant effects in patients with mood and anxiety disorders that were previously resistant to treatment," noted an array of scientists in JAMA Psychiatry back in 2017.

An FDA advisory committee voted in February to recommend approval of Esketamine, with only two members of the committee voting no despite having more mixed evidence than with many previous antidepressants.

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Op woensdag 13 maart 2019 18:42 schreef Zomaar-een-Chinees het volgende:
Ik hoorde Alex Jones opperen dat VS drugsgelden witwast. Maar hoe zou dit dan werken. Wat ik me wel kan voorstellen is wanneer de overheid geld inpikt van deze drugscriminelen. Om hoeveel geld zou dit dan gaan?

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The campaign for a 'drug-free world' is costing lives

Global policy on drug control is unrealistic, and has taken a harsh toll on millions of the world’s poorest people

_{Louise Arbour is former high commissioner for human rights. Mohamed ElBaradei is director-general emeritus of the International Atomic Energy Agency and Nobel peace prize laureate. They are both members of the Global Commission on Drug Policy}

Drug control efforts across the world are a threat to human dignity and the right to life.

In 2017, more than 70,000 people died from a drug overdose in the US. Among the reasons for these deaths are the lack of access to health and harm-reduction services, as well as the fear of legal repression, which often dissuades people who use drugs from asking for help.

More than two-thirds of these deaths were linked to opioids. At the same time, millions of people across Africa have been unable to access opioids for pain relief because of decades of fear of these drugs being diverted to the illegal, recreational market, forcing people there to endure – and often die in – serious pain.

In the Philippines, thousands of people have been killed extrajudicially in a brutal anti-drug campaign that began in 2016. And in Colombia, two years after a historic peace agreement, and the promise of better livelihoods, rural communities are braced for a return to crop eradication by aerial spraying with the chemical glyphosate.

These stories reflect just some of the harmful consequences of drug control. But why are these violations still taking place? In several declarations and documents, governments have committed to “respecting, protecting and promoting all human rights, fundamental freedoms and the inherent dignity of all individuals” in the development and implementation of drug policies. What is happening in Colombia, in Africa, in the Philippines and in the US tells us that something is very wrong with this global commitment.

The first problem lies with the founding aspiration of the international drug system: to create a “drug-free society”, which countries have sought to achieve through prohibition, enforced by repression. We believe this is an illusion.

Almost all civilisations and cultures throughout history show evidence of the use of some mind-altering substance or other. Aiming for a “drug-free world” means hoping to eradicate a near-universal human impulse. The result can only be, as we have seen in the past decades, a war whose costs can be counted in the loss of life and dignity of millions of people.

This war has demonstrably failed. Ten years ago, the international community established this month as a target date “to eliminate or reduce significantly and measurably” the illegal cultivation, production, trafficking and use of controlled drugs. During these same 10 years, opium poppy and coca cultivation have in fact increased, and a large number of potent synthetic drugs were designed. Nor have harsh drug control policies worked to address the harms associated with addiction.

Instead, drug control efforts have taken a harsh toll on the health and human rights of some of the world’s poorest and most marginalised people. These policies have stripped our most vulnerable fellow citizens of their basic dignity.

This human rights failure is the product of political choices made of several factors, including fear, moral panic, lack of pressure of public opinion for reform and denial of facts. Unfortunately, in Vienna this month, these same choices will lead the international community to renew the global response to the “world drug problem” based on prohibition and repression.

We know this is preventable and avoidable. The world deserves drug policies that are respectful of human rights and dignity, and more effective at reducing drug-related harm.

The past four UN high commissioners for human rights have repeatedly asked countries to address the violation of fundamental rights in drug control. On 15 March in Vienna, a coalition of UN agencies, human rights experts and a few progressive governments, led by the United Nations Development Programme and the International Centre on Human Rights and Drug Policy at the University of Essex, launched the international guidelines on human rights and drug policy. It provides practical recommendations for better ways for the global community to manage the risks related to the presence of drugs, and restore human dignity to millions of people harmed by decades of drug prohibition.

The guidelines shift the conversation from the eradication of drugs to the nourishment of human development. Beyond merely highlighting the fundamental rights that are violated by repressive drug policies, they focus on providing better solutions for drug control. These include the right to benefit from scientific progress, particularly in risk reduction, pain relief and addiction treatment, the right to an adequate standard of living, the right to a fair trial, the right to privacy, and the freedom of thought, conscience, religion, opinion, expression and information.

Several countries have started to usher in reforms based on these principles. These include the decriminalisation of low-level drug offences in at least 26 countries, the use of legal exemptions to enable traditional communities to maintain their sacred relationship with plants in several Latin American and Caribbean nations, and more than 117 safe injection facilities in 11 countries around the world.

We challenge the rest of the global community to join them.

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Card Tricks – The Propaganda Fuelling Prohibition

I am unable to go out socially much due to PTSD but when I do I am often seen with a pack of cards. It is amazing; a group of people, some I know, others who just want to be entertained and manipulated into believing I have achieved the impossible. I could perform all night as I get a high doing something I shouldn’t be able to do according to doctors who see me struggling to talk or keep my head straight as strangers mill around me.

I start by doing an illusion I developed when I was very ill. It takes mind reading to another level. I can see some people trying to get one step ahead, looking to see what I am doing. They are easily controlled, I just take them where they want to go – or is it where they don’t want to go? Then there are those that are just going along with you. They know it isn’t magic, they just accept what’s happening.

You shouldn’t gamble with a magician. As I move along I do an impromptu demonstration, the cards travel freely, hidden and exposed at will, just as I want them too. Spectators look where I want them to look. They hear and feel what I want them to hear and feel. They do exactly what I want them to do.

Reading this introduction, you may be thinking it’s a simple trick. A hustle to entertain or gain a few pounds from an unsuspecting tourist using the Three Card Monty.

The reality is you are experiencing this every day. It is the smoke and mirrors, the magical illusion and misdirection that you experience regularly. Tactics used to manipulate everyone that the war on drugs is being won.

As a serving police officer I worked on drug crime from various angles, in varying degrees, from undercover work and investigating money laundering to recovery of assets or dealing with the media. Initially you look and see these methods and think they all have a key role in fighting the ‘war on drugs’. But what you get is misdirection. Information is worked by politicians and the media like playing cards in the hands of a magician.

They wrongly portray the war on drugs as something that can be won. Misdirection is a powerful tool for the magician just as it is for the politicians and the media, hiding the blatant failures of drug policy and the tactics used to fight the war on drugs.

I am reminded of a 2017 news headline, “Birmingham gangs banned from city in landmark ruling.” The article below explained that named gang members were banned from entering the city centre or associating with each other and were required to register mobile phones and vehicles with police. Over 80 people from the home office and police had given evidence.

These sentences were achieved at astronomical cost but what are the real results? What are the public getting for their money?

To answer that, we need to look at criminals and how they often work. They can register a mobile and/or a vehicle with police, then simply use others that are not tied to them, a method commonly used by criminals to avoid surveillance and maintain contact with each other without being detected.

As for entering the city centre, they will have others do their work there for them, or just do it themselves anyway. We know these things because criminals use similar tactics when bail conditions are applied to them. They don’t stop. They just find other ways of going about their business.

The final question you may be asking is, how will the bans be enforced? And the answer is, with great difficulty and at great expense. We are looking at a very expensive order that will be broken because it costs too much money to enforce. It is what we call a ‘toothless tiger’. Society is led to believe they’ve been dealt one card, where in reality the card in their hands is a completely different one.

Being involved in various investigations I saw police officers spend over a year investigating the finances of individual criminals or gangs, to gain little or nothing in the retrieval of funds from convicted people. When assets were seized it was often after pro-longed court cases, challenging legislation. This was a great expense to the taxpayer for little gain. The net effect of the war against drugs is minimal.

We have all seen sensational “Drug dealers sentenced to 100 years” headlines without ever clicking through to find that the number of convictions was high and the lengths of jail terms were relatively low. The true results of investigations are not always obvious to the public. They are distracted by a card with large numbers on it while the card with the cost of the operation or the true impact it will have is being buried in the pack, hidden among all the other cards.

I use to applaud headlines and results in court, such as the order made in Birmingham. They portrayed an element of success for modern policing methods. But it is only by looking past misdirecting headlines to the real results of the war on drugs that we can start to realise prohibition has failed. Regulation of drugs is the way forward. Don’t let the magician distract you with a card trick in one hand while hiding the real facts from you with the other.

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Weer handgranaat gevonden in Spuistraat Amsterdam; ook explosief in Utrecht

In Amsterdam en Utrecht zijn vannacht handgranaten gevonden. In de hoofdstad was het voor de tweede keer in een etmaal raak in de Spuistraat. Het explosief werd rond 03.30 uur vlak bij een coffeeshop ontdekt. De granaat is weggehaald door de Explosieven Opruimingsdienst.

Gisteren werd op ongeveer dezelfde plek ook al een handgranaat gevonden. Een schoonmaker zag hem liggen en belde de politie. Wie de granaten heeft neergelegd en waarom is nog niet bekend.

Eerder deze maand ontplofte er in de Spuistraat een granaat bij de club Mad Fox. Die is toen per direct gesloten.

Autobedrijf Utrecht

Ook in een bedrijfspand op industrieterrein Nieuw Overvecht in Utrecht is afgelopen nacht een handgranaat gevonden. De EOD heeft het explosief onschadelijk gemaakt. Over de achtergrond is niets bekend.

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Op zondag 5 mei 2019 00:37 schreef broodjepindakaashagelslag het volgende:

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Lachgas verboden op vrijwel alle Bevrijdingsfestivals

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Historische vondst: 1000 jaar oude drugs van sjamaan gevonden in Bolivia

In Bolivia is een historische vondst gedaan. In een grot zijn een tasje van aan elkaar genaaide vossensnuiten, een gedecoreerde houten snuifpijp en resten van cocaïne gevonden van duizend jaar oud. In het wetenschappelijke tijdschrift PNAS beschrijven onderzoekers de archeologische vondst die inzicht geeft in het Bolivia van duizend jaar geleden.

Waarschijnlijk was de gevonden tas met in totaal vijf hallucinerende stoffen van een sjamaan. "Dat is bijzonder, want door de volledigheid van de vondst krijgen we inzicht in hoe belangrijk het sjamanisme 1000 jaar geleden was", zei Edward de Bock, conservator Latijns-Amerika van voor de kolonisatie bij het Wereldmuseum vandaag in Nieuws & Co.

Sjamanen nemen hallucinerende middelen en zouden zo in contact komen met een andere wereld, en met voorouders. Op die manier zouden sjamanen antwoord vinden op uiteenlopende vragen, van waar de regen blijft tot hoe een ziekte bijvoorbeeld genezen moet worden.

"We hebben altijd wel geweten dat er sjamanen waren", zegt De Bock. "Er waren allerlei vondsten gedaan, maar deze compleetheid geeft een geweldig inzicht van de complexiteit van het sjamanisme."

Volgens hem geven de vijf hallucinerende poeders aan dat er toen veel kennis over de werking daarvan was bij de sjamaan van wie de tas was.

"En het tweede waar de onderzoekers op wijzen is dat deze poeders uit zeer uiteenlopende ecologische zones komen. Dat betekent dat er over duizenden kilometers handel was, of de sjamaan in kwestie zelf naar verschillende gebieden getrokken is."

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As legal marijuana booms, Denver votes on decriminalizing hallucinogenic mushrooms

Mile High City is first in nation to vote on psilocybin mushrooms, which would still be illegal but 'de-prioritized'

If you thought legalized marijuana truly put the "high" in the Mile High City, wait until you hear what Denver is up to now. On Tuesday, residents will vote on whether to effectively decriminalize psilocybin mushrooms, the hallucinogen used by some cultures for religious purposes for centuries, and outlawed by the federal government since 1970.

The movement to "Decriminalize Denver" is the nation's first public referendum on "magic mushrooms," after an effort in California failed to reach the ballot last year. Initiative 301 would apply only to Denver, not the entire state of Colorado. It would place into city code the directive that enforcing laws for personal use or possession of psilocybin mushrooms "shall be the lowest law enforcement priority in the City and County of Denver," though having the mushrooms would still technically be illegal. The mushrooms would not be available in the city's cannabis dispensaries, and sales would still be classified as a felony. They would remain classified a Schedule I drug under federal law, as is marijuana, with "no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse."

The image of hallucinogens as chemicals that launch users into a swirling mélange of colors and voices, presumably impairing one's ability to drive or operate heavy machinery, can be tough to overcome. But supporters say the mushrooms' powerful mind-altering qualities can have long-term positive effects on addiction, depression, chronic pain, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder, in addition to the eight-hour journeys into the mystic.

Psilocybin is not addictive, does not lead to overdoses and is not thought to have long-term side effects, research has shown. It is a naturally occurring compound in some fungi. A number of studies have shown positive effects on people addicted to opioids, alcohol or tobacco, as well as diminished depression and anxiety. Researchers have found such benefits to mushrooms that the Food and Drug Administration has granted "breakthrough therapy" status to study psilocybin for treating depression. The FDA describes breakthrough therapy as designed to expedite development of a drug after preliminary evidence shows "the drug may demonstrate substantial improvement over available therapy."

Kevin Matthews was a cadet at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point who was forced to retire due to major depression. He returned to Denver and struggled for years until he tried mushrooms for the first time.

"It was one of the most profound experiences of my life," he said. "It cleared the fog and lasted for weeks and weeks after. It enabled me to see outside the box of my own depression."

Matthews is now the campaign manager for the Denver Psilocybin Initiative, which he said has raised about $45,000 and is advertising almost exclusively on social media and posters around Denver. There is no organized opposition and no polling. He sees the initiative as the start of a national conversation about the healing powers of psilocybin and stands ready to start working with government and police officials on Wednesday, if the initiative passes on Tuesday.

Even in weed-friendly Denver, the government and police may need more convincing. Mayor Michael Hancock is opposed to the initiative, though his office declined to elaborate on why. The Denver police declined to offer a position. Denver District Attorney Beth McCann said, "At this point, I don't think it's a good idea."

"We're still figuring out marijuana, and even though things are going well so far, we're still measuring the impacts on the people of Denver," McCann said.

She said there has not been a rise in violent crime around pot dispensaries, but there has been a rise in hospital visits by young people and children associated with marijuana intake. McCann said she wanted to see more research on the short- and long-term benefits and side effects of mushrooms. She noted that the referendum does not truly decriminalize mushrooms but only de-prioritizes it for police, who can still make arrests.

Statistics show Denver police arrested about 50 people in each of the past three years for sale or possession of mushrooms, and prosecutors pursued only 11 of those cases.


McCann said she feared Denver, already becoming a haven for marijuana tourists, would become a preferred destination for drug users of all stripes. She also was not enamored of the idea of psilocybin-infused drivers. "The idea that we're driving around while hallucinating is not reassuring," the prosecutor said.

Matthews acknowledged the possibility of abuse of hallucinogens if they become more widely available.

"There is a risk. I'm not belittling that," Matthews said. "There's a responsible way to use it. Just like with alcohol, it's something to be used responsibly."

For Matthews, that means in a safe environment, with friends, in the proper dosage. "The last thing most people would want to do is get behind the driver's wheel when they're under the influence," he said.

Taken properly, the mushroom can have profound effects, many studies have shown. "Classic psychedelic use is associated with reduced psychological distress and suicidality in the United States adult population," a 2015 paper from the University of Alabama found. Imperial College London has published a number of studies showing positive effects on depression. And in 2006, researchers at Johns Hopkins University studied 36 people who took high doses of psilocybin and then were monitored for the next eight hours as they relaxed a couch and listened to classical music.

"67 percent of the volunteers," the Hopkins study found, "rated the experience with psilocybin to be either the single most meaningful experience of his or her life or among the top five most meaningful experiences of his or her life ... to be similar, for example, to the birth of a first child or death of a parent." The study was entitled, "Psilocybin can occasion mystical-type experiences having substantial and sustained personal meaning and spiritual significance."

But getting the American government to embrace similar enlightenment is a tedious process, so in the case of marijuana, activists simply took their case to the voters. That's happening again in Denver, where activists gathered 5,000 signatures required to put the measure on the ballot. Attorney Noah Potter, who writes a blog about "psychedelic law" and deconstructs the problems with American drug law, helped Matthews write the language that is proposed to become law in Denver.

It started with activists getting medical marijuana passed in 1996 in California, Potter said, "because the regulatory system is nonresponsive to facts. It's a non-evidence-based regulatory system." The government's disdain for the growing body of reports on psilocybin, Potter said, "is one of the reasons why it's necessary to do these end runs around government."

The initiative has largely flown under the radar, especially nationally. "I think it'll pass," said Jeff Hunt, director of the conservative Centennial Institute at Colorado Christian University.

Hunt added, "Colorado's a very libertarian state. We're in the midst of a backlash against the 'War on Drugs,' to the current feeling that marijuana's harmless."

He said since Colorado legalized marijuana, there had been a 151 percent increase in marijuana-related traffic fatalities, and that a survey found 60 percent of pot users admitted to driving while high. Hunt said 10 percent thought it made them drive better.

Hunt has been critical of how marijuana was legalized in Colorado and feels there should be the level of education on pot that there is on tobacco. He also said no one has studied how mushrooms might interact with other medications. "We've got to rein in the idea that this is a miracle drug," Hunt said.

Matthews said mushroom use can be challenging, and a "bad experience" can happen. The Hopkins study said "31 percent of the group ... experienced significant fear."

Matthews said the campaign "has a lot to do with educating the people of Denver, and the American people, about psilocybin and what it does. A recreational model wouldn't work. But we've had 50 years of blatant government misinformation about mushrooms and their prohibition. It's going to take some time to change the minds of people. We just don't think that anybody should go to jail for possessing a mushroom."

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All illegal drugs in Mexico could be decriminalized in radical government plan

.. A five-year policy document by the Mexican government has included a plan to decriminalize illegal drugs.
.. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said lifting prohibition was the only real way to curb drug use.
.. It is estimated that Mexico's drug gangs rake in as much as $29 billion a year from the United States.

Mexico has drafted plans to decriminalize all currently illegal drugs after admitting that the current "war on drugs" is endangering public safety.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador sketched out the country's radical change of plan in his administration's National Development Plan for 2019-2024, released last week.

Under a new approach, drugs would not become legal, but arrests would be replaced by enforcing medical treatments including detoxification programs and attempts to break addictions.

"The only real possibility of reducing the levels of drug consumption is to lift the ban on those that are currently illegal," Obrador's policy statement read, "and redirect the resources currently destined to combat their transfer and apply them in programs— massive, but personalized—of reinsertion and detoxification."

In 2006, Mexican President Felipe Calderon deployed more than 6,500 Mexican soldiers to battle drug traffickers in what is seen as the beginning of the country's modern "war on drugs."

A 2018 report from the Congressional Research Service has estimated that since that year, 150,000 people have died because of organized gang killings.

Obrador's statement has described Mexico's current prohibitionist strategy as unsustainable and a danger to everyday Mexicans.

"Public safety strategies applied by previous administrations have been catastrophic: far from resolving or mitigating the catastrophe has sharpened it."

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has estimated that as much as $29 billion in cash flows across the border to Mexican drug gangs each year.

Last month, President Donald Trump said he would give Mexico a year to stem the flow of illegal drugs and migrants over the southern border or he would impose auto tariffs, and potentially close the border.

Those comments rowed back from an earlier threat by Trump to close the border in April this year.

In Europe, Portugal decriminalized drug possession in 2001 and has maintained a non-prohibition stance ever since. A study conducted in 2015 by the CATO Institute suggested that while rates of heroin use in Portugal had not declined, drug-related outcomes — such as deaths due to drug usage and sexually transmitted diseases — had decreased sharply.

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Mexico Wants to Decriminalize All Drugs and Negotiate With the U.S. to Do the Same

Mexico’s president released a new plan last week that called for radical reform to the nation’s drug laws and negotiating with the United States to take similar steps.

The plan put forward by the administration of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, often referred to by his initials as AMLO, calls for decriminalizing illegal drugs and transferring funding for combating the illicit substances to pay for treatment programs instead. It points to the failure of the decades-long international war on drugs, and calls for negotiating with the international community, and specifically the U.S., to ensure the new strategy’s success.

“The ‘war on drugs’ has escalated the public health problem posed by currently banned substances to a public safety crisis,” the policy proposal, which came as part of AMLO’s National Development Plan for 2019-2024, read. Mexico’s current “prohibitionist strategy is unsustainable,” it argued.

The document says that ending prohibition is “the only real possibility” to address the problem. “This should be pursued in a negotiated manner, both in the bilateral relationship with the United States and in the multilateral sphere, within the [United Nations] U.N.,” it explained.

Drug reform advocates have welcomed AMLO’s plan. Steve Hawkins, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project, told Newsweek that the Mexican president’s plan “reflects a shift in thinking on drug policy that is taking place around the world, including here in the U.S.”

“The war on drugs has been extremely costly, not just in terms of government resources, but also human lives, and it has failed to accomplish its objective,” he explained. “Prohibition policies have, by and large, caused more harm to people and communities than the drugs they were intended to eliminate, and they haven’t come anywhere close to eliminating the supply or the demand.”

Last October, the International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC), a global coalition of 170 nongovernmental organizations working on drug policy issues, released a report that highlighted the “spectacular” failure and global increase in violence that has been caused by the war on drugs. Instead of curbing the problem, “consumption and illegal trafficking of drugs have reached record levels,” Helen Clark, former prime minister of New Zealand and a member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, wrote in the document’s foreword.

The IDPC report found that there had been a 145 percent increase in drug-related deaths over the previous 10 years. The number of deaths reached an estimated 450,000 in 2015 alone. Drug overdose deaths have also skyrocketed, with 71,000 overdose deaths in the U.S. alone in 2017. Additionally, one in five prisoners globally are incarcerated due to drug-related crimes, often for simply possessing cannabis or other illicit substances.

“Mexico’s president is rightly identifying one of the major drivers of violence and corruption in his country: the prohibition of drugs,” Maria McFarland Sánchez-Moreno, the executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, a nonprofit that advocates for ending the war on drugs, said in an emailed statement to Newsweek. “The next step is to translate words into action, by pursuing both a domestic and international agenda of drug policy reform, grounded in respect for human rights.”

AMLO’s policy plan shouldn’t have come as a surprise to Mexican voters. During his campaign and after winning election, he has consistently called for major reforms to his country’s prohibition on drugs. Mexico’s Supreme Court also issued its fifth ruling on cannabis prohibition at the end of last October, determining that punishing people for using the drug violated the constitution. Mexican lawmakers have since worked to push forward legislation to regulate the use of recreational mairijuana.

“More and more countries are developing programs for regulating cannabis for medical and adult use, and there is a growing sentiment that drug use should be treated more like a public health matter than a criminal justice issue,” Hawkins told Newsweek .

Canada became the first major major economic power to legalize and regulate the sale of recreational cannabis last year. With Canada’s decision to legalize and Mexico pushing to decriminalize all drugs, the U.S. may soon find itself isolated by its neighbors when it comes to drug policy. Although 10 states and Washington, D.C., have legalized recreational marijuana, and more than 30 have legalized some form of cannabis for medicinal use, it remains classified as a Schedule 1 illegal drug by the federal government.

Polls have shown that legalizing marijuana nationwide enjoys bipartisan support. Republicans and Democrats have come together in Congress to support legalization as well as protecting states that have already legalized at the local level. President Donald Trump has previously suggested he is supportive of easing laws surrounding marijuana, although his administration has given mixed messages.

Attorney General William Barr said last month during testimony before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee that he would "still favor one uniform federal rule against marijuana." However, he added that he thought the "way to go is to permit a more federal approach so states can, you know, make their own decisions within the framework of the federal law."

Decriminalizing all drugs is not a perspective that is widely advocated or discussed in Washington. This week though, Denver became the first city in the country to pass a ballot measure to fully decriminalize psilocybin mushrooms, commonly known as magic mushrooms or simply shrooms.

“The vote [in Denver] shows again that the public is ahead of politicians on drug law reform—and shows the power and potential of public action in demanding it!,” the drug policy foundation Transform said in an email to supporters.

How the U.S. would respond to AMLO’s plan remains to be seen. Globally, however, it’s clear the conversation around drugs has shifted. Countries from Uruguay to South Africa to Georgia to Thailand have been reforming their drug laws, specifically when it comes to cannabis. Meanwhile, momentum has increased in the past few years within the U.S. as state after state has pushed through medical or recreational marijuana legalization.

Congressman Earl Blumenauer, a Democrat from Oregon, who co-founded the bipartisan Congressional Cannabis Caucus in 2017, told Newsweek last summer that he envisions marijuana will soon be traded across North American borders. “In the course of the next decade, I think there will be a North American cannabis market,” he said. If AMLO’s plan succeeds, that cross-border cannabis market could more likely come to fruition.

“Governments are increasingly finding they can neither justify nor afford maintaining the war on drugs,” Hawkins pointed out. “Leaders are looking for exit strategies, as we are now seeing in Mexico."

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Duitse grenspolitie vangt zorgwekkend veel drugs uit Nederland

Aan de grens tussen Nederland en Duitsland is goed te zien dat Nederland een draaischijf is geworden voor de internationale drugscriminaliteit. Grote zorgen zijn er in Duitsland vooral over de enorme toename van de hoeveelheden harddrugs die vanuit Nederland naar Duitsland komen.

Het afgelopen jaar verdubbelde de hoeveelheid drugs die aan de grens tussen Nederland en de deelstaat Noordrijn-Westfalen werd onderschept. Voorheen vingen politie en douane aan dit stukje grens zo'n 250 kilo per jaar, nu is dat 500 kilo. De Duitse politievakbonden trekken aan de bel en hopen dat ook de Nederlanders meer mankracht gaan inzetten.

Thomas Mischke, vakbondsbestuurder voor de Bundespolizei bij de politievakbond BDK, vindt de ontwikkeling ernstig, vooral omdat er te weinig personeel is aan de grens om de drugsexport een halt toe te roepen. "Er gaat geen week voorbij of we hebben vangsten van meerdere kilo's. Bijzonder bezorgd ben ik over het feit dat ineens synthetische drugs, zoals crystal meth, die voorheen uit Oost-Europa kwamen, nu ook uit Nederland komen."

En ook de hoeveelheid onderschept drugsgeld stijgt. Vond de politie van Noordrijn-Westfalen tot 2017 zo'n 400.000 euro per jaar in auto's. Vorig jaar was dat al bijna 3 miljoen. Ook de verstopplaatsen laten zien dat de koeriers steeds professioneler worden. Met ingenieuze hydraulische technieken zijn geld, drugs en wapens in auto's weggewerkt.

De vakbondsman wil de grenzen natuurlijk niet sluiten, zegt hij. Maar hij wil wel dat de grenscontroles samen met de Nederlanders drastisch worden uitgebreid en dat er ook weer faciliteiten komen aan de grens van waaruit de politie haar werk kan doen. "Voor criminelen zijn de grenzen geheel open maar voor ons niet. En we missen de grenskantoren die tegenwoordig weg staan te rotten."

"We moeten nu opereren vanuit een kantoor twintig kilometer verderop. En dat werkt vertragend. Bovendien werken vele diensten geheel langs elkaar heen", zegt Mischke.

Omdat de grenzen al heel lang open zijn, worden de controles uitgevoerd door vijf mobiele teams, de zogeheten Grensoverschrijdende Politieteams (GPT). Duitse politieagenten jagen samen met Nederlandse collega's van de Nationale Politie of de Koninklijke Marechaussee op verdachte voertuigen. Hoewel deze mobiele teams succesvol zijn gebleken, moeten ze volgens de vakbond enorm worden uitgebreid.

Mischke doet een oproep. "We willen graag dat de Nederlanders nog meer gaan samenwerken binnen onze teams, zodat we de stijgende criminaliteit samen kunnen bestrijden om zo meer veiligheid voor onze burgers te creëren."

Volgens Andor van Leerdam, brigadecommandant van de Koninklijke Marechaussee, komt er uitbreiding. Er zal van de vierhonderd nieuwe krachten die nu nog in opleiding zijn, ook een deel aan de Duitse grens gaan werken. "Lag tot nu toe de focus op de luchthavens, in de toekomst willen we ook hier nog meer present zijn", zegt Van Leerdam.

Steekproeven

De Duitse politie krijgt er volgend jaar maar liefst 12.500 mensen bij. Daarvan komt een deel de grens met Nederland versterken. "We werken al sinds 1958 nauw samen met de Nederlanders. Dat moet zo blijven, want we kunnen heel goed van elkaars bevoegdheden en techniek gebruik maken", zegt Christoph Weber, plaatsvervangend commandant van de Bundespolizei in Kleve.

Bij een landelijke gezamenlijke actiedag vorige week woensdag zijn langs de gehele grens door Nederlandse en Duitse autoriteiten ruim tienduizend mensen gecontroleerd. Daarvoor werden zelfs de snelwegen afgezet en moest het verkeer via de vluchtstrook langs de controle.

Ook op die dag waren de vangsten van de Duitsers en Nederlanders aanzienlijk: er zijn 33 mensen aangehouden, er werden 79 strafbare feiten geregistreerd in het kader van de Opiumwet en er waren 27 overtredingen in het kader van de Vreemdelingenwet. Aan de Duitse kant werd vijf kilo cannabis, vier kilo amfetamine en ruim tien kilo cocaïne onderschept.

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Gemeente Eindhoven doet niet mee met wietproef

De gemeente Eindhoven doet niet mee aan het experiment met de teelt van staatswiet. In een brief aan de gemeenteraad schrijft de burgemeester dat hij zich niet kan vinden in de opzet en voorwaarden van het experiment.

"Ik realiseer me dat dit besluit haaks staat op het aanbod dat ik het kabinet in oktober 2017 deed om het experiment samen met de partners in Eindhoven vorm te geven", schrijft burgemeester John Jorritsma (VVD). "Nu de contouren van het experiment bekend zijn, zie ik geen andere keus dan de inschrijving aan mij voorbij te laten gaan."

Samen met het college van B en W heeft de burgemeester zich gebogen over het experiment. Ook heeft hij gesproken met de belangenvereniging van coffeeshops in Eindhoven. De coffeeshops kunnen zich niet vinden in de eisen die gesteld worden aan de voorraden die ze mogen hebben en vinden dat ze te weinig invloed krijgen op het aanbod van de telers.

Kritiek

Ook is er kritiek op de eis dat in een deelnemende gemeente alle coffeeshops moeten meedoen aan de proef. Jorritsma vindt het onwenselijk om coffeeshops die niet meedoen te sluiten, omdat daardoor straathandel kan ontstaan met risico's op verstoring van de veiligheid en de openbare orde.

De burgemeester verwacht verder dat de effecten op criminaliteit, veiligheid, overlast en de volksgezondheid in de landelijke proef te klein zullen zijn, schrijft Omroep Brabant. Bovendien vindt hij dat er veel meer gemeenten moeten meedoen om tot een representatief onderzoek te komen. Het kabinet wil niet meer dan tien gemeenten toelaten tot de proef.

Ook denkt Jorritsma dat het budget van 2 miljoen euro per jaar dat door het Rijk voor de landelijke proef beschikbaar is gesteld, niet genoeg is om alle kosten te dekken. Zo zal er meer politie voor controle nodig zijn.

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Bedrijven testen personeel op alcohol en drugs, ook al mag dat niet

Het mag niet, maar toch doen minstens tientallen bedrijven in de industrie, in de havens en de chemie het: testen of werknemers onder invloed zijn van alcohol of drugs. Dat blijkt uit een rondgang van de NOS. De bedrijven doen dat omdat ze vinden dat de veiligheid belangrijker is dan de privacy van werknemers.

De Europese AVG-privacyregels, die een jaar geleden ingingen, verbieden bedrijven om personeel te testen op alcohol en drugs, zegt de Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens, de toezichthouder. Het mag alleen als er een speciale wettelijke regeling is en die is er slechts voor een beperkt aantal beroepen, zoals piloten, treinmachinisten en schippers. De bedrijven riskeren hiermee een boete.
'Mensen onder invloed kunnen grote incidenten veroorzaken'

Een Nederlands bedrijf wilde, op voorwaarde van anonimiteit, wel vertellen waarom het noodzakelijk is om te testen. "Er wordt gewerkt met zeer gevaarlijke stoffen. Wij hebben als bedrijf verplichtingen op het gebied van veiligheid en het bieden van een veilige werkomgeving. Mensen onder invloed maken fouten en kunnen zeer grote incidenten veroorzaken."

"Wij testen op alcohol en drugs, maar proberen zoveel mogelijk maatregelen te nemen om de privacy te waarborgen. Zo worden testen van tevoren aangekondigd, worden mensen willekeurig gekozen, gebeurt het anoniem en worden geen gegevens bewaard of geregistreerd. Iemand die positief test wordt 24 uur de toegang tot het terrein ontzegd en de leidinggevende wordt niet direct geïnformeerd." Het gaat dan om testen die aantonen of iemand op dat moment onder invloed is.

De organisatie van haven- en industriebedrijven in Rotterdam bevestigt dat tientallen ondernemingen hun personeel testen. "Onze leden worden geconfronteerd met tegenstrijdige wetgeving: aan de ene kant de privacywetgeving en aan de andere kant de veiligheidswetgeving. Voor ons gaat veiligheid altijd voor", zegt Deltalinqs-voorzitter Steven Lak. "Wij vinden dat de Tweede Kamer de wet moet aanpassen."

Het komt regelmatig voor dat werknemers tegen de lamp lopen, vertelt Stephan Roelofs van Be Responsible. Dat adviesbureau helpt bedrijven om alcohol- en drugsvrij te werken. "Een paar weken geleden nog een kraanmachinist. Die rook naar alcohol en moest van de werkgever een alcoholtest doen. De machinist bleek zo'n 2,5 promille te blazen." Dat staat gelijk aan grofweg tien tot twaalf glazen bier.

Be Responsible helpt bedrijven ook om te gaan met dit soort problematisch drank- en drugsgebruik. "We koppelen mensen aan de juiste zorg. Deze persoon mag voorlopig niet op de kraan werken. Er is sprake van alcoholisme en daar moet eerst aan gewerkt worden."

Een ander voorbeeld van Roelofs: "Een vrachtwagenchauffeur van in de vijftig, die dronk 1,5 liter Beerenburg per dag. Hij moest 's ochtends eerst een limonadeglas vol drinken, anders trilde hij te veel om de sleutel in zijn autoslot te krijgen. Hij zit nu sinds twee weken in een verslavingskliniek."

Testapparatuurfabrikant Dräger levert onder meer een wangslijmtester aan bedrijven. "Deze test op methamfetamines, thc, opiaten, amfetamines, cocaïne en benzodiazepinen", zegt Marlou Verspruij.

"We horen van klanten dat tussen de 5 en 8 procent van de medewerkers positief test op een van deze drugsgroepen. Het wordt steeds normaler gevonden om iets te gebruiken. Ik denk dat testen daarom nodig is om een veilige werkvloer te creëren."

Het bedrijf Arbofit voert alcohol- en drugstesten uit bij organisaties. "Wij faciliteren een behoefte in de markt", zegt René Buitelaar van Arbofit. "Het gaat om bedrijven met verhoogde veiligheidsrisico's: in de petrochemie, productie, in de haven en het vervoer. Het gaat nooit om bedrijven in een kantooromgeving. Men vindt dat het veiligheidsbelang prevaleert boven het individuele privacybelang en bedrijven proberen het zo netjes mogelijk te doen."

"Wij ontkennen op geen enkele wijze het grote belang van een veilige werkplek", zegt een woordvoerder van de Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens. "De vraag is hoe je erachter komt of iemand nuchter zijn werk doet. Er zijn allerlei manieren: oplettende teamleiders, elkaar erop aanspreken, het bevorderen van een veiligheidscultuur, een intensief hr-beleid."

"Maar wij trekken een duidelijke grens bij het afnemen van lichaamseigen stoffen en het verzamelen van medische gegevens. Dit mag echt alleen bij uitzondering, als je dit wettelijk regelt in een democratisch proces."

FNV: alleen onder zeer strikte voorwaarden

Vakbond FNV is tegen het routinematig testen van personeel. "Maar voor functies met een hoog veiligheidsrisico kan een periodieke test overwogen worden, onder strikte voorwaarden en als uiterste middel", zegt Rik van Steenbergen van de FNV.

"Want het is een behoorlijke inbreuk op de privacy en lichamelijke integriteit. Als het er in de praktijk op neerkomt dat grote groepen werknemers getest gaan worden die zelf niet omgaan met gevaarlijke stoffen of grote ongelukken kunnen veroorzaken, dan zijn we daar fel op tegen."

Werkgevers: 'regel dit'

Werkgeversorganisaties VNO-NCW en MKB Nederland willen dan ook dat het kabinet gaat regelen dat er meer wettelijke testmogelijkheden komen voor bedrijven. De huidige situatie levert volgens de werkgevers potentieel gevaarlijke situaties op voor medewerkers, omwonenden of zelfs voor de continuïteit van nutsvoorzieningen.

"Het is belangrijk dat hier nu stappen gezet worden vanwege de veiligheid", aldus een woordvoerder. "Dit wél mogelijk maken behoeft een concrete wetswijziging."

Maar of en hoe het kabinet dit zal doen, is nog onduidelijk. Minister Dekker voor Rechtsbescherming zei onlangs wel dat het kabinet over het onderwerp met vakbonden en werkgevers in gesprek gaat. "We gaan bespreken in welke specifieke gevallen de behoefte bestaat voor het afnemen van alcohol- en drugstesten met het oog op de veiligheid. Hierbij dient rekening gehouden te worden met het belang van werknemers bij bescherming van hun privacy."