XPost: alt.drugs.pot, alt.hemp.politics, rec.drugs.cannabis
From: bliss@mouse-potato.com

Drug War Chronicle, Issue #1120 -- 1/20/21
Phillip S. Smith, Editor, psmith@drcnet.org https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/1120

A Publication of StoptheDrugWar.org
David Borden, Executive Director, borden@drcnet.org
"Raising Awareness of the Consequences of Drug Prohibition"

Table of Contents:

1. YEAR FROM HELL II: THE TOP TEN INTERNATIONAL DRUG POLICY STORIES OF
2020 [FEATURE]
Here are the biggest world drug policy stories of 2020. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2020/dec/29/year_hell_ii_top_ten

2. THESE FIVE STATES ARE WELL-PLACED TO LEGALIZE MARIJUANA THIS YEAR
[FEATURE]
Which states could legalize marijuana in 2021? Here are some of the
brightest prospects. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2021/jan/07/these_five_states_are_wellplaced

3. FEDERAL APPEALS COURT RULES PLANNED PHILADELPHIA SAFER INJECTION SITE VIOLATES DRUG LAW [FEATURE]
There's a bad news appeals court ruling out of Philadelphia, but there
could still be hope in other parts of the country. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2021/jan/14/federal_appeals_court_rules

4. MEDICAL MARIJUANA UPDATE
Medical marijuana bills are being filed in state legislatures, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2021/jan/19/medical_marijuana_update

5. THIS WEEK'S CORRUPT COPS STORIES
A major federal operation in Georgia sweeps up three prison guards,
three Virgin Island cops are in hot water after a planeload of cocaine
got caught in Miami, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2021/jan/19/weeks_corrupt_cops_stories

6. FEDERAL APPEALS COURT RULES SAFE INJECTION SITES ILLEGAL, MOST THINK MARIJUANA IS SAFER THAN ALCOHOL, MORE... (1/13/21)
A federal appeals court has put the kibosh on a proposed Philadelphia
safer injection site, a Michigan prosecutor says no more magic mushrooms prosecutions, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2021/jan/13/federal_appeals_court_rules_safe

7. FEDS LOOSEN UP BUPRENORPHINE PRESCRIBING, VA MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION
BILL, MORE... (1/15/21)
State legislatures are beginning to turn their sights to marijuana legalization, the Trump administration loosens restrictions on
prescribing buprenorphine for opioid use disorder, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2021/jan/15/feds_loosen_buprenorphine

8. US AND MEXICO IN DRUG WAR TIFF, IL PASSES BILL TO ABOLISH CASH BAIL,
SANTA FE DA SOFTENS DRUG CHARGES, MORE... (1/19/21)
Marijuana legalization and medical marijuana bills get filed in
Nebraska, the US and Mexico spar over the undone arrest of a former
defense minister, a Washington state bill to allow home cultivation gets
a hearing, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2021/jan/19/us_and_mexico_drug_war_tiff_il

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

1. YEAR FROM HELL II: THE TOP TEN INTERNATIONAL DRUG POLICY STORIES OF
2020 [FEATURE] https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2020/dec/29/year_hell_ii_top_ten

As we wave an eager goodbye to 2020 in the rearview mirror, it's time to
assess the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to drug policy and
drug reform at the international level. As in other realms of human
behavior, the coronavirus pandemic is inescapable, but even as the
pandemic raged, drug policy developments kept happening. Here are the
biggest world drug policy stories of 2020:

The Coronavirus Pandemic and the World of Drugs

As with virtually every other aspect of human affairs, the year's deadly coronavirus pandemic impacted the world of drugs, from disruptions of
drug markets and anti-drug policing to drug trafficking groups as social distancing enforcers, fallout on efforts to reform drug policies, and
beyond.

Early on, there were reports (https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/bvgazz/sinaloa-cartel-drug-traffickers-explain-why-coronavirus-is-very-bad-for-their-business)
that Mexican drug traffickers were raising wholesale meth and fentanyl
prices because of disruptions in the precursor chemical supply, and that pandemic lockdowns had disrupted the cocaine supply chain (https://nacla.org/news/2020/05/27/corona-hits-cocaine-supply-chain),
driving down the farmgate price for coca and endangering the livelihoods
of nearly a quarter-million coca-producing families in the Andes.

But some things couldn't be disrupted: Just a day after closing its
famous cannabis cafes in response to the pandemic, the Dutch reopened
them (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8122025/Holland-REOPENS-cannabis-cafes-shutting-coronavirus.html)
as the government was confronted with long lines of people queuing up to
score after the ban was initially announced. In France, the price of
hashish nearly doubled in a week (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-france-cannabis/cannabis-street-prices-surge-under-coronavirus-lockdown-in-france-idUSKBN21E2AZ)
as increased border controls due to the pandemic put the squeeze on. By midyear, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime reported (https://wkzo.com/news/articles/2020/may/06/coronavirus-pandemic-is-pushing-up-the-price-of-illegal-drugs-un-says/1015292/)
pandemic-related border closures, lockdowns, and flight shortages were
making drugs more expensive and difficult to obtain around the world.

Those same drug organizations struggling with the pandemic took on roles normally assumed by government in some countries. In Mexico, the Gulf
Cartel and Los Viagras handed out food to poor families in Tamaulipas (https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/12038-mexican-drug-cartel-gives-out-food-to-the-poor-amid-pandemic)
and the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel did the
same in Guadalajara, spurring President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to (https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/coronavirus/el-chapos-daughter-mexican-cartels-hand-out-coronavirus-aid/ar-BB12KzOz)
acknowledge their efforts and implore them to knock it off and just stay
home. (https://komonews.com/news/coronavirus/mexico-cant-stop-drug-cartels-from-handing-out-virus-aid)
Instead, the Sinaloa Cartel locked down the city of Culiacan (https://www.foxnews.com/world/el-chapos-sons-impose-coronavirus-curfew-threaten-beatings-on-mexican-town-controlled-by-cartel-report),
its home base, and patrolled the streets in heavily armed convoys to
enforce a curfew. In Brazil, Rio de Janeiro drug gangs enforced social distancing and handed out cash and medications (https://www.wiscnews.com/news/world/rio-cartels-go-from-running-drugs-to-pushing-medication/article_f30f031c-48f2-5b47-b140-bd49431ff149.html)
as the government of rightist authoritarian populist President Jair
Bolsonaro was largely absent and in denial about coronavirus. In
Colombia, with the government missing in action, drug gangs and armed
groups enforced lockdown orders (https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article244250522.html), even killing people who didn't comply, according to Human Rights Watch.

Some countries took positive steps to ameliorate these effects of the
pandemic. In Great Britain, the government agreed to hand out methadone
without a prescription to those already receiving it (https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/apr/08/methadone-to-be-handed-out-without-prescription-during-covid-19-crisis)
and shortly later began allowing monthly buprenorphine injections for
heroin addicts (https://www.itv.com/news/wales/2020-04-18/recovering-heroin-addicts-offered-monthly-injections-during-pandemic/).
In Canada, British Columbia early on moved to increase a "safe supply"
of drugs (https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/british-columbia/article-bc-moves-to-dramatically-increase-access-to-safe-alternatives-to/)
that registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses to prescribe,
make more medications available, and expand eligibility to people who
are at risk of overdose, including those who may not necessarily be
diagnosed with a substance use disorder. The province followed that move
by lowering barriers to prescription medications (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-canada-drugs/coronavirus-prompts-canada-to-roll-out-safe-drugs-for-street-users-idUSKBN21Y30Z),
increasing the supply of opiate maintenance drugs and even dispensing
some of them via a unique vending machine. By providing a safe supply of
legal drug alternatives, the province hoped to lower a sudden spike in
drug overdose deaths that coincided with the coronavirus outbreak in
Vancouver.

Not everybody let a measly little coronavirus get in the way of their
drug war. In Colombia, President Ivan Duque ordered a nationwide
lockdown in March, but exempted coca eradicators (https://www.insightcrime.org/news/analysis/colombias-coca-eradicators-coronavirus)
and launched a major offensive against small producer coca farms (https://riotimesonline.com/brazil-news/mercosur/attacks-on-coca-production-during-coronavirus-pandemic-and-curfew-in-colombia/).
And Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte let his drug war rage on in the
midst of the pandemic (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/03/duterte-presses-drug-war-coronavirus-lockdown-200325073658942.html)
despite imposing a national partial lockdown in March. At least nine
people were killed by unknown gunmen in Cebu Province alone. "Reports of drug-related killings continuing amid the lockdown order are deeply
concerning, but not surprising," said Rachel Chhoa-Howard of Amnesty International. "The climate of impunity in the Philippines is so
entrenched that police and others remain free to kill without
consequence." In September Human Rights Watch noted the pace of
acknowledged drug war killings by police had doubled (https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/09/08/killings-philippines-50-percent-during-pandemic).
Duterte has also threatened to have the police and military shoot people
who violate quarantine.

The coronavirus also wreaked havoc with drug reform initiative signature gathering campaigns in the US, preventing several marijuana legalization
and one drug decriminalization initiative from qualifying for the ballot
this year, and played a role in delaying marijuana legalization in
Mexico when its Senate shut down in the spring because of the pandemic.

UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs Votes to Remove Cannabis from Most
Restrictive Drug Schedule

In an historic move on December 2, the 53 member states of the
Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND), the UN body charged with setting
drug policy, voted to remove cannabis from Schedule IV (https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2020/dec/02/historic_vote_un_cnd_votes) of the United Nations' drug classification system as they met in Vienna. Cannabis was both a Schedule I and a Schedule IV drug under the
international drug treaties. Schedule I includes "substances that are
highly addictive and liable to abuse or easily convertible into those
(e.g. opium, heroin, cocaine, coca leaf"), while Schedule IV includes
Schedule I drugs with "particularly dangerous properties and little or
no therapeutic value" (e.g. heroin, carfentanil).

The vote removing cannabis from Schedule IV means the global anti-drug bureaucracy now recognizes the therapeutic value of cannabis and no
longer considers it "particularly liable to abuse and to produce ill
effects." With medical marijuana legal in dozens of countries (https://www.fool.com/investing/stock-market/market-sectors/healthcare/marijuana-stocks/marijuana-legalization/)
in; one form or another, the ever-increasing mountain of evidence
supporting the therapeutic uses of cannabis, not to mention outright legalization in 15 American states Canada and Uruguay, with Mexico about
to come on board, this decision by the CND is long past due, but
nonetheless welcome.

The UN Common Position on Drug Policy Gains Traction

Change at the United Nations comes at a glacial pace, but it can and
does come. The shift away from punitive, law enforcement-heavy
approaches to drug use has been building for years and picked up steam
at the 2016 UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on Drugs in
2016 and advanced further with the adoption of the UN Common Position on
Drug Policy (http://fileserver.idpc.net/library/UN-Common-Position-Briefing-Paper.pdf)
in 2018.

That approach, which seeks to get all the UN agencies involved in drug
policy, public health, and human rights on the same page, explicitly
calls for the decriminalization of drug use and possession for personal
use. Among the position's directions for action is the following: "To
promote alternatives to conviction and punishment in appropriate cases, including the decriminalization of drug possession for personal use, and
to promote the principle of proportionality, to address prison
overcrowding and overincarceration by people accused of drug crimes, to
support implementation of effective criminal justice responses that
ensure legal guarantees and due process safeguards pertaining to
criminal justice proceedings and ensure timely access to legal aid and
the right to a fair trial, and to support practical measures to prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention and torture."

At least 30 countries (https://www.citywide.ie/decriminalisation/countries.html) have
instituted some form of drug decriminalization (although in many it is
only marijuana that has been decriminalized), and the Common Position is providing breathing space for others that may be inclined to take the
plunge. In 2020, the US state of Oregon (https://drugpolicy.org/press-release/2020/11/drug-policy-actions-measure-110-prevails-making-oregon-first-us-state)
broke ground by becoming the first state to decriminalize the use and possession of all drugs, and just a few hundred miles to the north and
across the Canadian border, the city council of Vancouver (http://www.hivlegalnetwork.ca/site/statement-legal-and-civil-society-groups-commend-city-of-vancouvers-leadership-on-drug-decriminalization/),
British Columbia, voted to decriminalize and seek an exemption from the
federal government to do so.

Decriminalization could also be around the corner in Norway, where a
proposal first bruited in 2017 could pass some time next year. And Ghana
(see below) has also effectively decriminalized drug use and possession.
With a more consistent message from the UN, which the Common Position represents, we can expect further progress on this front in years to come.

The Philippine Drug War Faces Increasing Pressure

Four years into the government of Rodrigo Duterte, the Philippines
remains embroiled in a bloody war on drug users and sellers, but is
facing increasing pressure from human rights groups, domestic critics,
and international institutions over mass killings that are believed to

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