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Drug War Chronicle, Issue #1020 -- 5/17/18

Phillip S. Smith, Editor,psmith@drcnet.org https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/1020

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

Table of Contents:

1. ONE OF THE WORLD'S MOST PRESTIGIOUS MEDICAL JOURNALS JUST CALLED FOR LEGALIZING ALL DRUGS
Drug policy should be based on evidence, and the evidence calls for an end to drug prohibition, the British Medical Journal opined last week.
https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/may/16/one_worlds_most_prestigious

2. FOUR WHITE LOUISIANA NARCS CHOKED THIS YOUNG BLACK MAN TO DEATH IN A LOW-LEVEL DRUG BUST
If past experience is any guide, don't hold your breath waiting for justice. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/may/16/four_white_louisiana_narcs

3. MEDICAL MARIJUANA UPDATE
Medical marijuana could expand in Louisiana and New Jersey, CBD cannabis oil gets regulated in Michigan, and more.
https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/may/16/medical_marijuana_update

4. CHRONICLE AM: MI MJ POLL, LEADING MX PRES CONTENDER SAYS DEBATE LEGALIZING DRUGS, MORE... (5/10/18)
Michigan marijuana stories abound, another Democratic presidential contender signs on to the federal legalization bill, Mexico's probable next president says he wants a debate on drug legalization, and more.
https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/may/10/chronicle_am_mi_mj_poll_leading

5. CHRONICLE AM: BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL CALLS FOR DRUG LEGALIZATION, OHIO MARIJUANA INIT, MORE... (5/11/28)
One of the world's most prestigious medical journals comes out for drug legalization, an Ohio marijuana legalization initiative aimed at 2019 gets initial approval, Quebec will take a look at festival pill testing, and more.
https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/may/11/british_medical_journal_legalization

6. CHRONICLE AM: NYC MARIJUANA ARREST DISPARITIES CONTINUE, DRUG PROTESTS SHAKE TBILISI, MORE ... (5/14/18)
New York City has yet to escape from racially disproportionate marijuana arrests, the Mormon Church picks a fight with medical marijuana, nursing homes can't discriminate against people taking addiction medications, protests rock the capital of Georgia
after a massive weekend drug bust, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/may/14/chronicle_am_nyc_marijuana

7. CHRONICLE AM: NEW YORK POT POLITICS, MO COPS DIVERTING SCHOOL FUNDS, UK PILL TESTING, MORE... (5/15/18)
Marijuana policy is front and center in New York, Missouri cops are doing an end run around a state law requiring seized cash go the the state's schools, Britain sees its first permanent pill testing center for recreational drug users, and more.
https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/may/15/chronicle_am_new_york_pot

8. CHRONICLE AM: MANHATTAN DA TO QUIT TRYING SMALL POT CASES, KEEVEN ROBINSON PROTESTS, MORE... (5/16/18)
Marijuana policy continues to roil New York, a US territory is on the verge of legalizing it, marchers protesting the killing of Keeven Robinson by Louisiana narcs demand justice, and more.
https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/may/16/chronicle_am_manhattan_da_quit

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1. ONE OF THE WORLD'S MOST PRESTIGIOUS MEDICAL JOURNALS JUST CALLED FOR LEGALIZING ALL DRUGS
https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2018/may/16/one_worlds_most_prestigious

Embracing a harm reduction and public health perspective, one of the world's most prestigious medical journals (https://www.healthwriterhub.com/top-medical-journals/) has released a signed editorial calling for the legalization, taxation, and regulation
of currently illegal drugs.

In a editorial last Thursday entitled Drugs Should Be Legalised, Regulated, and Taxed (https://www.bmj.com/content/361/bmj.k2057.full), 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 (https://www.bmj.com/content/361/bmj.k1999) 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 pointed 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 (https://www.bmj.com/content/361/bmj.k1832), joining the British Medical Association, the Faculty of Public Health, and the Royal Society of Public Health in supporting drug policy reform (https://
www.bmj.com/content/358/bmj.j3461).

"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.


================  ...


                                         ___________________

                                          It's time to correct the mistake:
                                        Truth:the Anti-drugwar
<http://www.briancbennett.com>

                                      Cops say legalize drugs--find out
why:
<http://www.leap.cc>

                                       Stoners are people too:
<http://www.cannabisconsumers.org>
                                       ___________________

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