• Drug War Drug War Chronicle 1201 -- International Drug Policy in 2023,

    From Bobbie Sellers@21:1/5 to All on Thu Dec 21 23:00:48 2023
    XPost: alt.drugs.psychedelics, alt.drugs.pot, alt.hemp.politics

    Drug War Chronicle, Issue #1201 -- 12/21/23
    Phillip S. Smith, Editor, psmith@drcnet.org https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/1201

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

    After 30 years we still have work left to do. Will you support us? https://stopthedrugwar.org/donate

    Table of Contents:

    1. WHAT ARE WE UP TO AFTER 30 YEARS?
    30 years ago this month, we sent the first bulletins to our fledgling
    email list. Today StoptheDrugWar.org continues to target unfilled or underfilled roles in drug policy reform where can make a needed difference. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2023/dec/21/what_are_we_after_30_years

    2. THE TOP TEN INTERNATIONAL DRUG POLICY STORIES OF 2023 [FEATURE]
    There were signs of progress on the global drug policy front in 2023,
    but drug war brutality endures. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2023/dec/19/top_ten_international_drug

    3. MEDICAL MARIJUANA UPDATE
    A Pennsylvania medical marijuana expansion bill heads to the governor's
    desk, a Delaware medical marijuana expansion bill gets filed, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2023/dec/19/medical_marijuana_update

    4. THIS WEEK'S CORRUPT COPS STORIES
    A North Carolina cop was acting like a gangster, a Florida deputy let
    his habits get the best of him, jail guards go wild, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2023/dec/19/weeks_corrupt_cops_stories

    5. PA MEDMJ PERMIT EXPANSION BILL GOES TO GOVERNOR, KY PONDERS IBOGAINE
    FOR OPIOID TREATMENT, MORE... (12/14/23)
    The Ohio legislature's effort to revise the voter-approved marijuana legalization law will not get done this year, the Kansas Republican
    Senate leader says he is open to medical marijuana, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2023/dec/14/pa_medmj_permit_expansion_bill

    6. OK SUPREME COURT ASKED TO BLOCK PROSECUTIONS OF MEDMJ-USING PREGNANT
    WOMEN, MORE... (12/15/23)
    Maryland's governor orders a bureaucratic reshuffling in a bid to stem
    the overdose crisis, a fentanyl and xylazine testing bill heads to the Pennsylvania governor's desk, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2023/dec/15/ok_supreme_court_asked_block

    7. CO GUN RIGHTS FOR POT USERS INITIATIVE FILED, DE MEDMJ BILL FILED,
    MORE... (12/18/23)
    The parties in a lawsuit over the constitutionality of imposing federal
    pot prohibition in legal marijuana states agree to an extension, an
    Italian petition drive to force parliament to take up marijuana
    legalization is underway, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2023/dec/18/co_gun_rights_pot_users

    8. UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY SYNTHETIC DRUGS RESOLUTION, JORDAN STRIKES DRUG SMUGGLERS IN SYRIA, MORE... (12/19/23)
    Presumed drug gangs kill a dozen people at a Christmas party in Mexico, Peruvian coca farmers are blamed for killing an indigenous leader, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2023/dec/19/un_general_assembly_synthetic

    9. SAN FRANCISCO DRUG CRACKDOWN, SWISS CAPITAL CITY CONSIDERS LEGAL
    COCAINE SALES, MORE... (12/20/23)
    Voters in California's fabled Humboldt County will vote in March on
    whether to rein in marijuana grows, Colombia ponders whether to legalize
    coca and poppy production for non-drug purposes, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2023/dec/20/san_francisco_drug_crackdown

    10. CA AG KILLS DREAM OF INTERSTATE POT SALES, UKRAINE APPROVES MEDMJ,
    MORE... (12/21/23)
    Pennsylvania bills to protect medical marijuana patients from DUI
    charges are moving, Oregon releases an audit of the state's progress in
    dealing with its drug problem in the Measure 110 era, and more. https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2023/dec/21/ca_ag_kills_dream_interstate_pot

    (Not subscribed? Visit https://stopthedrugwar.org to sign up today!)

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

    1. WHAT ARE WE UP TO AFTER 30 YEARS? https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2023/dec/21/what_are_we_after_30_years

    Dear reformer,

    30 years ago this month, I sent the first bulletin to our fledgling
    email list. Our network in the 1990s was the first movement-wide
    structure for drug policy reform efforts online. You can read about our
    early work, and some of the directions it's taken us, in the history
    section of our About page (https://stopthedrugwar.org/about).

    We are still following some of those directions in the 2020s. One is our practice of identifying roles in the issue that are unfilled or
    underfilled, and for which we're able to bring something new or needed.
    But sometimes needs in a movement go unfilled because the movement's
    funders aren't focused on it.

    That makes organizations like ours more dependent on supporters like
    you. Will you make a donation to our work
    (https://stopthedrugwar.org/donate) today - or sometime before the end
    of this year - to help us continue doing work in drug policy reform that
    others aren't?

    Right now, some of the underfilled or otherwise unfilled roles we play
    in the movement are these:

        * Analyzing how the continuing prohibition of cannabis (marijuana)
    puts workers in danger (https://stopthedrugwar.org/delays) by increasing
    the use of cash for purchases, at a time when people are using less
    cash, and using our findings to help pass reforms like Safe Banking that Congress could pass now.

     We're not the only group trying to pass Safe Banking. But no one had
    studied what actually happens during cannabis retail robberies before we
    did, and that allowed some members of Congress to deprioritize the bill.
    Our research and our advocacy have made it harder to claim that fully
    legal banking access for cannabusinesses isn't a true worker safety issue.

     We're also more focused than most players in the issue on what may be
    needed beyond the SAFER Banking Act to reduce cash prevalence. Our first
    paper was about what happened in Washington State; our second will take
    a national and state-by-state look.

        * Arguing the human rights case for justifying drug legalization
    (and particularly cannabis legalization) in the United Nations treaty
    system, despite problematic language for legalization in the drug
    treaties. Our assertion is that the global prohibitionist drug control
    systems inevitably leads to very serious human rights violations. But
    it's human rights that takes precedence over other issues, according to
    the UN Charter. So does the core purpose that the drug treaties state -
    but which they don't achieve very well - which is the well-being of
    humankind.

     Our work at the UN (https://stopthedrugwar.org/global) has advanced
    this position in civil society, supported governments making similar
    arguments, and brought directly related issues to the attention of major
    media. We are returning to this thread of our work in 2024.

        * We are taking a "Modernizing Global Drug Policy" agenda to
    Congress, seeking to embed more of the key human rights, health and
    development concerns in drug policy into US foreign policy and
    diplomacy. Changes to the drug treaties are part of that, but there's a
    lot more. I can't share our legislative proposal publicly yet, but the
    issues you'll find on documents linked from our UN page (https://stopthedrugwar.org/global) suggest a lot of it.

        * We are championing advocacy for using international Rule of Law mechanisms, like the International Criminal Court and Magnitsky targeted sanctions against rights-abusing officials, to address serious human
    rights violations in the drug war around the world. We do this through a
    series of events we've held since 2017 at the Commission on Narcotic
    Drugs and other UN and international meetings, working with coalitions
    that support those kinds of programs, lobbying with allies on Capitol
    Hill, and even the occasional protest.

     Much of our work in this area has dealt with the drug war in the
    Philippines (https://stopthedrugwar.org/philippines), in which the
    former president instigated what's believed to have been more than
    30,000 extrajudicial killings, and which has continued under the new
    president. But we also played a role encouraging allies to undertake a successful effort seeking US Magnitsky sanctions for killings in the
    Bangladesh drug war
    (https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0526). Some of our work
    in this area has been very high profile, and plans are in the works
    right now for 2024.
      * We continue to publish the Drug War Chronicle (https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle) newsletter. While reporting on
    drug policy is more extensive than it was 30 years ago, Drug War
    Chronicle is still the only daily source bringing all the key news on
    the full range of drug reform issues together in one place, and plays an important role for the most interested advocates and observers.

    Your support will let us continue to play roles in the movement that are unfilled or underfilled, and make a needed difference both in cannabis
    policy reform and in efforts to end the larger war on drugs. If you
    donate to our educational 501(c)(3) nonprofit (link from our main
    donation form (https://stopthedrugwar.org/donate)) before the end of the
    year, and if you're a US taxpayer, you can get a deduction on your taxes
    for 2023. Non-deductible donations to our 501(c)(4) nonprofit are also
    needed, for our lobbying work and for a share of our publishing costs.

    Our donation forms let you make a one-time donation, or you can sign up
    to make your donation recurring, and it takes credit cards, PayPal or
    ACH. The donations section (https://stopthedrugwar.org/donate) on our
    About page has info for how to donate by mail or give stocks instead.

    Thank you for your new or continued support after these 30 years, and to
    those of you who have donated before.

    Sincerely,

    David Borden, Executive Director
     StoptheDrugWar.org
     P.O. Box 9853, Washington, DC 20016
     https://stopthedrugwar.org (https://stopthedrugwar.org)

    ================  ...


                                             ___________________

                                              It's time to correct the mistake:
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                                          Cops say legalize drugs--find out
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                                           Stoners are people too:
    <http://www.cannabisconsumers.org>
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