Chronicle AM: ME Lawmakers Pass Pot Sales Bill, Amnesty Death Penalty Report, More... (4/12/18)

Chronicle AM: Hash Bash Looks to November, Philly Safe Injection Site Proposed, More... (4/9/18)

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Marijuana social consumption gets delayed in Alaska and rebuffed in Colorado, Ann Arbor's annual Hash Bash draws politicians this year, the US is ramping up its bombing campaign against Taliban drug labs, and more.

[image:1 align:left caption:true]Marijuana Policy

Alaska Regulators Postpone Discussion on Social Consumption. The state's Marijuana Control Board has postponed until June any further discussion of draft rules that would allow people to consume marijuana at authorized pot shops. Although the Alcohol and Marijuana Office had recommended that the board release the draft rules for public comment, the board decided to wait until it was back to full strength. One of the board's five members resigned last month.

Colorado Social Consumption Bill Killed. The General Assembly last week killed Senate Bill 211, which would have allowed businesses to obtain a marijuana consumption club license. The move came after both the Department of Revenue and the Marijuana Enforcement Division lobbied against it because of what they called "significant law enforcement challenges and health and safety risks." But the city of Denver is going ahead with licensing social consumption clubs.

Michigan's Hash Bash Becomes a Campaign Event. The 47th annual Hash Bash had a slightly different flavor this year: With a legalization initiative poised to appear on the November ballot and with opinion polls showing majority support for legalization, this year's event was all about imminent legalization -- and getting on the right side of the issue. Two Democratic gubernatorial candidates, Gretchen Whitmer and Abdul El-Sayed showed up to support the issue, as did Democratic attorney general candidate Dana Nessel.

Medical Marijuana

Pennsylvania Advisory Board Recommends Allowing Dry Leaf or Plant Form Medical Marijuana. The medical marijuana advisory board voted Monday to allow the use of "dry leaf or plant form for administration by vaporization." The vote is only a recommendation; the final decision is up to state Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine. The vote was 11-0.

Heroin and Prescription Opioids

Democratic Senators Want to Know What Happened to Trump's Opioid Commission. Democratic Sens. Patty Murry (WA) and Elizabeth Warren (MA) sent a letter to the White House Monday asking the administration to update on progress made on implementing recommendations made by its opioid commission last November. "We are concerned by reports that in spite of the opioid epidemic's devastating impact on American communities, your Administration has failed to act aggressively to combat it," Warren and Murray wrote. "You declared the opioid epidemic a national public health emergency on October 26, 2017, but there has been little evidence that your Administration has taken advantage of the supplemental executive branch authorities and resources provided by this designation."

Foreign Policy

US Expands Air Strikes Aimed at Taliban Drug Labs. US and Afghan government forces have expanded their campaign of air strikes aimed at Taliban opium processing labs, hitting 11 sites in the past week. These latest strikes were in Farah and Nimroz provinces in western Afghanistan and were the first in the region. So far this year, the about of bombs dropped is triple the number dropped in the first part of last year. The strikes are aimed at hurting Taliban finances, but analysts warn the could kill or injure civilians and are unlikely to have a major impact on the Taliban.

Harm Reduction

Philadelphia Joins List of Cities Pondering Safe Injection Sites. City officials are moving to make the city one of the first in the country to have a safe injection site. A public hearing to discuss the notion took place last Wednesday. "We have a crisis here in Philadelphia," said Dr. Tom Farley, Philadelphia Health Commissioner. "These facilities look sort of like a clinic. If they're simply there to inject, they bring in their own drugs that they have bought on the street, they're given sterile equipment and they inject at the site. If they were to overdose on site, there are medical staff on site who can revive them." But this is just a first step; actually getting one or more up and running in the city could take months or years. Other US cities pondering the harm reduction move include Boston, New York, San Francisco, and Seattle.

(This article was prepared by StoptheDrugWar.org's 501(c)(4) lobbying nonprofit, the Drug Reform Coordination Network, which also pays the cost of maintaining this web site. DRCNet Foundation takes no positions on candidates for public office, in compliance with section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, and does not pay for reporting that could be interpreted or misinterpreted as doing so.)

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Chronicle AM: 11K Tainted MA Drug Cases Thrown Out, Chronic Pain Patients to Rally, More... (4/6/18)

Culture Shock: American Activists Confront Compassionate Portuguese Drug Policy [FEATURE]

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The American activists couldn't wrap their heads around it. Sitting in a dingy office in a nondescript building in central Lisbon, they were being provided a fine-grained explanation of what happens to people caught with small amounts of drugs in Portugal, which decriminalized the possession of personal use amounts of drugs 17 years ago.

[image:1 align:left caption:true]The activists, having lived the American experience, wanted desperately to know when and how the coercive power of the state kicked in, how the drug users were to be punished for their transgressions, even if they had only been hit with an administrative citation, which is what happens to people caught with small quantities of drugs there.

Nuno Capaz was trying to explain. He is Vice Chairman of the Lisbon Dissuasion Commission, the three-member tribunal set up to handle people caught with drugs. He had to struggle mightily to convince the Americans that it wasn't about punishment, but about personal and public health.

"The first question," he explained, "is whether this person is a recreational user or an addict."

If the person is deemed only a recreational user, he may face a fine or a call to community service. If he is deemed an addict, treatment is recommended -- but not required.

"But what if they don't comply?" one of the activists demanded. "Don't they go to jail then?"

No, they do not. Instead, Capaz patiently explained, they may face sanctions for non-compliance, but those sanctions may be little more than a demand that they regularly present themselves to a hospital or health center for monitoring.

In a later hallway conversation, I asked Capaz about drug users who simply refused to go along or to participate at all. What happens then? I wanted to know.

Capaz shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing," he said. "I tell them to try not to get caught again."

Welcome to Portugal. The country's low-key, non-headline-generating drug policy, based on compassion, public health, and public safety, is a stark contrast with the US, as the mind-boggled response of the activists suggests.

Organized by the Drug Policy Alliance and consisting of members of local and national groups that work with the organization, as well as a handful of journalists, the group spent three days in-country last month seeing what an enlightened drug policy looks like. They met with high government officials directly involved in creating and implementing drug decriminalization, toured drug treatment, harm reduction, and mobile methadone maintenance facilities, and heard from Portuguese drug users and harm reduction workers as well.

The Portuguese Model and Its Accomplishments

They had good reason to go to Portugal. After nearly two decades of drug decriminalization, there is ample evidence that the Portuguese model is working well. Treating drug users like citizens who could possibly use some help instead of like criminals to be locked up is paying off by all the standard metrics -- as well as by not replicating the thuggish and brutal American-style war on drugs, with all the deleterious and corrosive impacts that has on the communities particularly targeted for American drug law enforcement.

Here, according to independent academic researchers, as well as the UN Office on Drugs and Crime and the European Monitoring Center of Drugs and Drug Abuse, is what the Portuguese have accomplished:

Drug use has not dramatically increased. Rates of past year and past month drug use have not changed significantly or have actually declined since 2001. And Portugal's drug use rates remain among the lowest in Europe, and well below those in the United States.

Both teen drug use and "problematic" drug use (people who are dependent or who inject drugs) have declined.

Drug arrests and incarceration are way down. Drug arrests have dropped by 60% (selling drugs remains illegal) and the percentage of prisoners doing time for drug offenses has dropped from 44% to 24%. Meanwhile, the number of people referred to the Dissuasion Commission has remained steady, indicating that no "net-widening" has taken place. And the vast majority of cases that go before the commission are found to be non-problematic drug users and are dismissed without sanction.

More people are receiving drug treatment -- and on demand, not by court order. The number of people receiving drug treatment increased by 60% by 2011, with most of them receiving opiate-substitution therapy (methadone). Treatment is voluntary and largely paid for by the national health system.

Drug overdose deaths are greatly reduced. Some 80 people died of drug overdoses in 2001; that number shrunk to just 16 by 2012. That's an 80% reduction in drug overdose deaths.

Drug injection-related HIV/AIDS infections are greatly reduced. Between 2000 and 2013, the number of new HIV cases shrank from nearly 1,600 to only 78. The number of new AIDS cases declined from 626 to 74.

"We came to the conclusion that the criminal system was not the best suited to deal with this situation," explained Capaz. "The best option should be referring them to treatment, but we do not force or coerce anyone. If they are willing to go, it's because they actually want to, so the success rate is really high. We can surely say that decriminalization does not increase drug usage, and that it does not mean legalizing drugs. It's still illegal to use drugs in Portugal, it's just not considered a crime. It's possible to deal with these users outside the criminal system."

Dr. Joao Goulao, who largely authored the decriminalization law and who is still General Director for Intervention on Addictive Behaviors -- the Portuguese "drug czar" -- pointed to unquantifiable positives resulting from the move: "The biggest effect," he said, "has been to allow the stigma of drug addiction to fall, to let people speak clearly and to pursue professional help without fear."

They Take the Kids! (with them to treatment)

The American activists know all about fear and stigma. And the cultural disconnect -- between a country that treats drug users with compassion and one that seeks to punish them -- was on display again when a smaller group of the activists met with Dr. Miguel Vasconcelos, the head psychologist at the Centro Taipa, a former mental hospital that now serves as the country's largest drug treatment center.

As Dr.Vasconcelos explained the history and practice of drug treatment in Portugal, one of his listeners asked what happened to drug users who were pregnant or had children.

"They take the kids," Vasconcelos said, smiling. But his smile turned to puzzlement as he saw his listeners react with resignation and dismay.

For the Americans, "they take the kids" meant child protective services swooping in to seize custody of the children of drug-using parents while the parents go to jail.

But that's not what Vasconcelos meant. After some back and forth, came clarity: "No, I mean they take the kids with them to treatment."

Once again, the Americans, caught firmly in the mind set of their own punishing society, expected only the worst of the state. But once again, light bulbs came on as they realized it doesn't have to be like that.

Now that cadre of activists is back home, and they are going to begin to try to apply the lessons they learned in their own states and communities. And although they had some abstract understanding of Portuguese drug decriminalization before they came, their experiences with the concrete reality of it should only serve to strengthen their desire to make our own country a little less like a punitive authoritarian state and bit more like Portugal.

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Chronicle AM: Decrim Vote in Albuquerque, Bad "Fake Weed" in Illinois, More... (4/3/18)

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A legalization bill fails in Arizona, another one sputters in Connecticut, a bad batch of synthetic cannabinoids is wreaking havoc in Illinois, and more.

[image:1 align:right caption:true]Marijuana Policy

Arizona Legalization Fails Dies in Statehouse. There will be no legalization via the legislature in Phoenix this year after lawmakers refused to act on a measure that would have put the issue before the voters. HCR 2037 had been assigned to three different committees, but never got any action in any of them. Sponsors Reps. Todd Clodfelter (R-Phoenix) and Mark Cardenas (D-Phoenix) vow to try again next year.

Connecticut Legalization Bill Gets Committee Hearing. The House Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee held a hearing on a legalization bill, House Bill 5582, on Monday, making it the fourth committee to hold a hearing on marijuana legalization this session. But the bill is unlikely to pass this year since one committee has already rejected it and another will not be voting on whether to advance it. At the hearing, the Office of Fiscal Analysis reported that the state could expect tax revenues from pot at between $30 million and $63 million, depending on the tax model used.

Albuquerque City Council Votes to Decriminalize Marijuana Possession. City council members voted Monday night on a party line vote to decriminalize the possession of up to an ounce of marijuana. Offenders would be hit with a $25 fine on a first offense. A similar measure passed in 2015, only to be vetoed by the mayor. But now there's a new mayor, so stay tuned.

New Psychoactive Substances

Illinois Sees Bad Synthetic Cannabinoids Kill Two, Leave Dozens Bleeding. Synthetic cannabinoids apparently cut with rat poison have killed two people in Illinois and left 56 others experiencing severe bleeding. The bad dope has shown up in Chicago and the central part of the state, the Department of Public Health said Monday.

Asset Forfeiture

Kansas Governor Signs Minor Asset Forfeiture Reform Bill. Gov. Jeff Colyer (R) has signed into law House Bill 2459, which would make small reforms in the state's civil asset forfeiture law. Under the bill, police who seize property will have to report on what they took and how they used the seized property.

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Chronicle AM: Coachella to Allow Marijuana, Opioid 'Scrips Decline in Legal Weed States, More... (4/2/18)

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Two new studies find that opioid prescriptions and daily doses decline in legal marijuana states, a California judge has blocked the Coachella music festival from banning marijuana, the Swiss are on the verge of a legal marijuana sales pilot program, and more.

[image:1 align:left caption:true]Marijuana Policy

After States Legalize Weed, Opioid Prescriptions Decline, Studies Find. Two papers published Monday in the JAMA Internal Medicine that analyzed more than five years of Medicare Part D and Medicaid prescription data found that the number of opioid prescription and the daily dose of opioids declined after states legalized marijuana. "In this time when we are so concerned -- rightly so -- about opiate misuse and abuse and the mortality that's occurring, we need to be clear-eyed and use evidence to drive our policies," said W. David Bradford, an economist at the University of Georgia and an author of one of the studies. "If you're interested in giving people options for pain management that don't bring the particular risks that opiates do, states should contemplate turning on dispensary-based cannabis policies."

California's Coachella Music Festival Must Allow Marijuana, Court Rules. Concert goers at Coachella will be able to fire up this year, despite the wishes of Coachella owner Phillip Anschutz, the founder of AEG. A Riverside County Superior Court judge ruled that Anschutz cannot ban the herb from the festival because usage of the Empire Polo Grounds, where the event is held, is governed by an ordinance specifying that "all manner of spirit and substance hereby permitted by the state of California shall always be permitted…" Thus, the judge ruled, Anschutz is out of luck: "Marijuana cannot be prohibited given those ordinances." Anschutz is now threatening to take his ball and go home. Stay tuned.

Medical Marijuana

Maryland Senate Committee Approves Medical Marijuana Expansion Bill. The Senate Finance Committee voted last Friday to approve a bill that would increase the number of licenses for medical marijuana growers from 15 to 20 and the number of licenses for processors from 15 to 25 -- largely in a bid to increase minority business ownership in the industry. None of the companies licensed so far has a black owner. House Bill 0002 has already passed the House and now heads for a Senate floor vote.

International

Swiss Legislature Considers Legal Marijuana Sales Pilot Program. The country is the verge of approving a trial program that could allow up to a thousand people to purchase weed legally from government approved establishments. The measure has already passed the lower house with unanimous approval and is now headed to the National Council for final approval. Switzerland decriminalized the possession of small amounts five years ago.

Italy, France in Diplomatic Spat Over Forced Drug Test of Migrant. Armed French border patrol agents used an Italian train station to force a Nigerian passenger to provide a urine sample for a drug test, provoking the Italians to summon the French ambassador for consultations. The Italians said they had launched a "firm protest" and that border cooperation between the two countries was now undermined. France claimed it had the right to use the facility at the train station under a 1990 agreement, but Italy said it had told French authorities last month that the station was now off limits because it was being used by a humanitarian aid group.

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