MAP Drugnews

Straight.com
Councillor says cannabis supply motion aims to rid dispensaries of links to “organized crime and gangs”
Straight.com
One issue that the City of Vancouver has yet to address is that its bylaws stipulate provisions for “medical marijuana-related use” storefronts. B.C.'s proposed cannabis laws will prevent legal recreational cannabis storefronts from using words like ...
NPA urges city to require cannabis dispensaries to reveal suppliersBusiness in Vancouver

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Calgary Herald
Alberta colleges, universities wrestle with issue of cannabis on campus
Calgary Herald
As Canada inches closer toward the cannabis legalization, Alberta post-secondary institutions are pondering how they should deal with use of the substance on campus. Mount Royal University was initially leaning toward allowing marijuana consumption in ...
Trends in Cannabis and Cigarette Use Among Parents With Children at Home: 2002 to 2015AAP News

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Ottawa Citizen
Canopy Growth's position as top global cannabis company shaken by merger of two rivals
Ottawa Citizen
Who's the largest pot producer of them all? Canopy Growth Corp., the company headquartered in an old chocolate factory in Smiths Falls, had its perch at the top of the global cannabis trade shaken on Monday by two rivals who merged to form a formidable ...
Aurora Cannabis to buy MedReleaf in $3.2B takeoverCBC.ca
Aurora Cannabis is chasing billion-dollar deals. Do investors benefit?The Globe and Mail
Edmonton's Aurora Cannabis buys MedReleaf for $3.2-billion, becoming 'largest cannabis producer in the world'Toronto Star
Financial Post -Financial Times -Globalnews.ca
all 86 news articles »

The Hill
On marijuana and opioids — the DEA has no clue what it's talking about
The Hill
That is because numerous peer-reviewed studies show that increased cannabis access is associated with declining rates of opioid use, abuse, hospitalizations, and mortality. Among patients enrolled in state-sanctioned medical marijuana access programs, ...

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New York Times
Black people in NYC are 8 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana than whites
Vox
Black New York City residents are arrested much more often than white people for marijuana-related charges, according to a new investigation from the New York Times. The report is just the latest in a growing body of research that highlights a ...
Two District Attorneys May Stop Prosecuting Most Marijuana OffensesNew York Times
NYPD Tried to Blame High Marijuana Arrest Rates for Black People on Higher Call Rates. Here's Why That Doesn't ...The Root

all 8 news articles »

The Globe and Mail
Medical marijuana is a mirage
The Globe and Mail
On Monday, a medical-marijuana company called MedReleaf (get it?) was snapped up for a dizzying $3.2-billion. The medical market is the back door to the honeypot. According to marijuana producers and industry advocates, cannabis is a sort of magic ...

If past experience is any guide, don't hold your breath waiting for justice.

New Orleans resident Keeven Robinson, 22, died after being arrested by Jefferson Parish narcotics officers last week. Police originally tried to blame his death on asthma, but now the Jefferson Parish coroner is telling a very different tale.

At a press conference Monday, Coroner Gerry Cvitanovich laid out what initial autopsy results revealed: "Our initial autopsy findings reveal significant traumatic injuries to the neck, the soft tissue of the neck," he said. "These findings are consistent with compressional asphyxia. We are confident that at the end of our process, this is going to be the cause of death.  Regarding manner of death, at this point, manner of death is homicide."

Cvitanovich was quick to point out that when he said "homicide," he did not mean in the legal sense, but in the sense that Robinson died as a result of the actions of others.

According to the sheriff's office, four undercover narcotics deputies, whom Sheriff Joe Lopinto did not name but identified as white, were surveilling Robinson, a black man, as part of a drug-dealing investigation and followed him to a gas station on Jefferson Highway late last Thursday morning.

When Robinson noticed the agents, who wore badges, approaching him, he attempted to drive off, but jumped from his car about a block away after running into two sheriff's vehicles. The officers pursued Robinson in a foot chase as he leaped over fences before catching him in the backyard of a residence.

Again, according to the sheriff's office, the deputies then struggled with Robinson, who was carrying what they suspected to be heroin, before they managed to handcuff him. At that point, he stopped breathing. He was rushed to Ochsner Medical Center nearby, but died there.

Jefferson Parish sheriff's deputies do not wear body cams.

Robinson was not armed, though Sheriff Lopinto said a gun was found in his car.

Lopinto originally said investigators were looking into whether Robinson's history of asthma contributed to his death, but his family immediately expressed skepticism about that possibility. They said they feared the officers had either beaten or strangled him to death.

And the coroner's report is proving them correct. Jefferson Parish NAACP President Gaylor Spiller said she was pleased the coroner's office issued a ruling on Robinson's death so quickly and that "there was no cover up."

But Spiller was speaking prematurely. The investigation into the killing of Keeven Robinson is just getting started, and the inevitable finding that no one is criminally responsible is still months away. Call me cynical, or call me a student of what happens when police kill people.

In this case, an unarmed black drug suspect was choked to death by four white officers. They're now on desk duty, while Robinson is in the ground. Who wants to bet on any of them being charged with a crime?

 

 

 Related Stories

• Four White Louisiana Officers Choked This Young Black Man to Death in a Low-Level Drug Bust
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Drug policy should be based on evidence, and the evidence calls for an end to drug prohibition, the British Medical Journal says.

Embracing a harm reduction and public health perspective, one of the world's most prestigious medical journals has released a signed editorial calling for the legalization, taxation, and regulation of currently illegal drugs.

In an editorial last Thursday entitled Drugs Should Be Legalized, Regulated, and Taxed, Fiona Godlee, editor in chief of the British Medical Journal, notes that under drug prohibition, the global trade "fuels organized crime and human misery," and asks, "Why should it not instead fund public services?"

Citing an opinion piece in the same issue of the BMJ from British members of the Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP, formerly known as Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) Jason Reed and Paul Whitehouse, Godlee notes that in the United Kingdom (as in the United States) "vast sums are spent prosecuting individuals and trying vainly to interrupt the flow of drugs into cities" while that money would be much better "spent on quality control, education, treatment for drug users, and child protection." Under legalization, "revenues could be diverted from criminal gangs into government coffers," she writes.

Godlee notes that the global drug prohibition consensus is fraying around the edges, and points to the example of Portugal, which decriminalized the possession of all drugs in 2001. There, drug use remains in line with levels in other European countries, but the harms associated with drug use under prohibition have decreased dramatically, particularly in terms of fatal drug overdoses and the spread of injection drug-related infectious disease.

Godlee also points to the Netherlands, the United States, and soon, Canada, where "regulated markets for the sale of cannabis generate substantial tax revenues."

Again returning to the opinion piece by Reed and Whitehouse, Godlee writes that "when law enforcement officers call for drugs to be legalized, we have to listen." Ditto for when doctors speak up, she adds, noting that just last month, the Royal College of Physicians came out in favor of drug decriminalization, joining the British Medical Association, the Faculty of Pubic Health, and the Royal Society of Public Health in supporting drug policy reform.

"This is not about whether you think drugs are good or bad," Godlee concludes. "It is an evidence based position entirely in line with the public health approach to violent crime…The BMJ is firmly behind efforts to legalize, regulate, and tax the sale of drugs for recreational and medicinal use. This is an issue on which doctors can and should make their voices heard."

Unfortunately for the BMJ and the other public health advocates, as in the United States, the political class in the United Kingdom isn't yet on board with evidence-based best practices on drug policy. But this editorial loosens another brick in the wall—on both sides of the Atlantic.

 

 

 Related Stories

• Marijuana Is Now Expected to Become a $25 Billion Industry by 2025
• Four White Louisiana Officers Choked This Young Black Man to Death in a Low-Level Drug Bust
• Illinois Cop's Warning: If You Legalize Weed, We'll Have to Kill Our Drug Dogs

CTV News
Oregon marijuana growers diversify with hemp
CTV News
SPRINGFIELD, Ore. -- A glut of legal marijuana has driven Oregon pot prices to rock-bottom levels, prompting some nervous growers to start pivoting to another type of cannabis to make ends meet -- one that doesn't come with a high. Applications for ...
Marijuana growers turning to hemp as CBD extract explodes ...OregonLive.com
Oregon Cannabis Processor Quits Industry Over CBD Oil ViolationsLeafly
30 Marijuana Stocks to Buy as the Future Turns Green | InvestorPlaceInvestorplace.com

all 35 news articles »

The Guardian
Should I grow my own weed at home? Here's what you need to know
The Guardian
The Canadian government, which is likely to legalize cannabis nationwide this summer, said it planned to allow home grows of up to four marijuana plants, which might yield 5lb in a year to an experienced grower, and is certainly consumable by an ...

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The Globe and Mail
Canopy Growth applies for first NYSE listing by a marijuana producer
The Globe and Mail
The Canadian company expects its shares to begin trading in New York before the end of May.
Canopy seeks to become first marijuana producer traded on New York Stock ExchangeMarijuana Business Daily
Canadian cannabis company Canopy Growth to list shares on NYSEMarketWatch

all 17 news articles »

NOW Magazine
Seven ways to boost your cannabis flower's power
NOW Magazine
Smoking is actually one of the least effective ways of getting marijuana into your body. You can save a bunch of money by de-carbing and eating your flower. When cannabis is digested rather than inhaled, more of it is converted to 11-Hydroxy-THC, ...

wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu (US) Whole plants are currently not allowed to be sold at medical marijuana dispensaries in Florida. (Mon May 14 20:46:19 2018 PDT)

kdrv.com (US) Justin Shier is the co-owner of Forward Cannabis. (Mon May 14 21:33:12 2018 PDT)

kdrv.com (US) Grants Pass City Council to Discuss Marijuana Tax Marijuana Growers Turning to Hemp as CBD ... (Mon May 14 21:33:12 2018 PDT)

kdrv.com (US) A glut of legal marijuana is driving Oregon pot prices to rock-bottom levels. "Word on the street is everybody thinks hemp's the new gold rush. That stark prospect is driving more of Oregon's marijuana entrepreneurs toward hemp. (Mon May 14 21:33:12 2018 PDT)

kbnd.com Cannabis has Affected Beer Sales ... (Mon May 14 21:29:36 2018 PDT)

FL: Investigations (US) Medical marijuana is now legal in Florida. (Mon May 14 20:20:46 2018 PDT)

capitalpress.com (US) Have increased more than twentyfold since 2015 and Oregon now ranks No. 2 behind Colorado among the 19 states with hemp cultivation. Have increased more than twentyfold since 2015. Word on the street is everybody thinks hemp&#x2019. This is a business. That stark prospect is driving more of Oregon&#x2019. (Mon May 14 21:19:02 2018 PDT)

bendbulletin.com On Thursday, April 5, 2018, Hummel and Sheriff Shane Nelson questioned the Oregon Health Authority's explanation for refusing to provide them with a list of medical marijuana grow sites. State denies De... (Mon May 14 21:16:44 2018 PDT)