#Cannabis amnesty

[beardedmrbean]

Brittney Griner will enter a system of isolation, grueling labor and psychological torment when she is transferred to a penal colony, the successor to the infamous Russian gulag, to fulfill a nine-year sentence handed down Tuesday in Moscow, former prisoners and advocates said. 

Human rights violations are a regular feature of many of the camps, according to the U.S. State Department, human rights groups and others who have maintained regular contact with prisoners in Russia. That the WNBA star, who lost her appeal Tuesday, is a gay Black woman could add unknown variables to a penal system that is known to be remote and harrowing. 

“Conditions in prisons and detention centers varied but were often harsh and life threatening,” a 2021 State Department report on Russian human rights abuses said. “Overcrowding, abuse by guards and inmates, limited access to health care, food shortages, and inadequate sanitation were common in prisons, penal colonies, and other detention facilities.

The report notes that “physical and sexual abuse by prison guards was systemic,” that torture of prisoners was pervasive — at times resulting in death or suicide — and that discriminatory protections against women and people of color were not often enforced. The law also does not prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation.

“Russian prisons are grim, even relative to prisons in other countries. And the Putin regime has ramped up hostility towards gays and lesbians as part of its broader policy of hard-line nationalism,” said Muriel Atkin, a Russian history professor at George Washington University.

That adds further concerns to a fraught situation. While tensions between the White House and the Kremlin continue to boil over the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Griner’s agent, Lindsay Colas, emphasized Tuesday that she believes Moscow is using Griner’s imprisonment as leverage against the U.S.

“Brittney Griner’s nine-plus year sentence is regarded as harsh and extreme by Russian legal standards,” Colas said in a statement Tuesday on Twitter. “Today’s disappointing, yet unsurprising, appeal outcome further validates the fact that she is being held hostage and is being used as a political pawn. Brittney Griner is being held by Russia simply because she is an American.”

The type of penal colony Griner — who was arrested for carrying two cartridges of cannabis oil — will be sent to is most likely a repurposed Soviet gulag, a brutal system of labor camps and prisons that incarcerated millions of people from the 1920s to the 1950s. Prisoners were used for farming, mining or logging in sparsely populated areas of the country or worked in sweatshop conditions. 

Typically such compounds are found in the far northern and eastern reaches of Russia as part of a unique system that aims to both imprison and exile convicts, according to an Amnesty International report published last year. It can often take weeks for prisoners to arrive at the prisons on prison trucks and specially designed train carriages called Stolypins.

Prisoners are extremely vulnerable and can be difficult to locate during the arduous journeys, Amnesty International noted. That has gained notice with the imprisonment of high-profile figures, such as oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Pussy Riot band member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and opposition leader Aleksei Navalny, among others.

[martysmusic]

The so-call "war on drugs” has done nothing but cause pain and strife for millions of (mostly minority) Americans and their families. Join the growing number of people calling to redirect funds presently budgeted for the "war on drugs" toward expanded research, education, counseling and treatment.

Congress needs to amend the Controlled Substances Act to reflect that drug use in itself is not a crime, and that persons living in the United States arrested for using drugs should not be incarcerated with those who have committed victim oriented crimes.

Let’s legalize possession, sale, and cultivation of cannabis/marijuana especially…but we need to go further than that. Let’s call to strike from the record prior felony convictions for marijuana possession, sale, or cultivation.

Let’s grant amnesty and release from confinement without any further parole or probation, those who have been incarcerated for the use, sale, or cultivation of marijuana in federal and state prisons and in county/city jails, and who otherwise are without convictions for victim oriented crimes, or who do not require treatment for abuse of hard drugs.

Our society should be providing options for drug treatment, especially to those leaving confinement in Prison and jail for drug crimes.

We need a step-by-step programs to decriminalize all drugs in the United States.

Let’s not stop at pot! Let’s go ahead and legalize psilocybin mushrooms and other entheogenic substances as well. These substances in many cases have been found to have therapeutic benefits and low medical risks for responsible adult users.

For more information, click here: NORML - Working to Reform Marijuana Laws Since 1970

And OF COURSE, I have a playlist to help you celebrate today. But you can only light it up if you’re an Apple Music or Spotify subscriber.

APPLE

SPOTIFY

[rawsiebers]

Irre Argumentation - Andreas Philippi und ein Furz im Hirn

Man mag von der angedachten Cannabis-Legalisierung denken, was man will, was aber manche Politiker für Argumentationen erfinden, um das Inkrafttreten des entsprechenden Gesetzes zu verschieben, ist schon hanebüchen und erinnert daran, dass etwas dümmer als dumm immernoch möglich ist. “Wenn das Gesetz am 1. April in Kraft treten würde, käme es zu einer Amnestie, in der alle laufenden Verfahren…

[pdj-france]

Singapour a pendu une femme reconnue coupable d'avoir tenté de faire le trafic d'une once (un peu moins de 30 grammes) d'héroïne, la première exécution d'une prisonnière en près de deux décennies dans ce que les groupes de défense des droits de l'homme ont décrié comme une "sombre étape" pour la cité-état et sa notoirement sévères lois anti-drogue.Saridewi Djamani, un Singapourien de 45 ans, a été mis à mort vendredi dans la prison de Changi, a indiqué le Bureau central des stupéfiants (CNB) dans un communiqué publié quelques heures après la pendaison.Elle a été condamnée à la peine de mort obligatoire en 2018 après avoir été reconnue coupable de possession de 31 grammes d'héroïne.Les exécutions à Singapour ont lieu à la prison de Changi. (CNN)"Elle a bénéficié d'une procédure régulière en vertu de la loi et a été représentée par un avocat tout au long du processus", a déclaré la CNB, ajoutant que les lois de Singapour autorisent la peine de mort pour le trafic de tout ce qui dépasse 15 grammes d'héroïne.Saridewi est la première femme à être pendue à Singapour depuis la coiffeuse Yen May Woen, 36 ans, en 2004, également condamnée pour trafic de drogue.Singapour maintient certaines des lois sur les drogues les plus sévères au monde et son gouvernement reste catégorique sur le fait que la peine capitale a pour effet de dissuader les trafiquants de drogue et de maintenir la sécurité publique.En vertu de la loi, toute personne surprise en train de trafiquer, d'importer ou d'exporter certaines quantités de drogues illégales comme la méthamphétamine, l'héroïne, la cocaïne ou les produits à base de cannabis est passible de la peine de mort obligatoire.Singapour a maintenant pendu 15 personnes – dont des étrangers et un homme handicapé intellectuel – depuis la reprise des exécutions pour des condamnations pour drogue l'année dernière, dans ce que les militants disent être un rythme accéléré après avoir mis fin à une interruption de deux ans en raison de la pandémie."La peine capitale n'est utilisée que pour les crimes les plus graves, tels que le trafic de quantités importantes de drogues qui causent des dommages très graves, non seulement aux toxicomanes individuels, mais aussi à leurs familles et à la société en général", a déclaré le CNB.La pendaison de Saridewi a déclenché une nouvelle indignation des groupes de défense des droits."Le gouvernement de Singapour viole la croyance humaine en la rédemption et la capacité de réhabilitation en insistant plutôt pour prendre des mesures drastiques et irréversibles", a déclaré Celia Ouellette, fondatrice du groupe à but non lucratif Responsible Business Initiative for Justice."Singapour met en péril non seulement sa réputation internationale mais aussi son avenir financier. Il est temps pour elle d'abolir la peine capitale une fois pour toutes."Adilur Rahman Khan, secrétaire général de la Fédération internationale des droits de l'homme, une ONG basée en France, a qualifié l'exécution de Saridewi de "sombre jalon" et a renouvelé ses appels au gouvernement singapourien pour qu'il mette fin aux exécutions.Chiara Sangiorgio, spécialiste de la peine de mort à Amnesty International, a déclaré que la dernière exécution "avait défié les garanties internationales sur l'application de la peine de mort".Singapour est bien connue pour sa politique anti-drogue stricte. (Bloomberg)"Rien ne prouve que la peine de mort ait un effet dissuasif unique ou qu'elle ait un impact sur l'utilisation et la disponibilité des drogues. Alors que des pays du monde entier abolissent la peine de mort et adoptent une réforme de la politique en matière de drogue, les autorités de Singapour ne font ni l'un ni l'autre. ", a-t-elle déclaré dans un communiqué.Les chiffres partagés par le ministère de l'Intérieur avec CNN en 2022 indiquaient qu'environ 50 personnes étaient dans le couloir de la mort, dont la majorité étaient des hommes. Le nombre de femmes détenues dans le couloir de la mort n'est pas connu.L'avocat pénaliste

Joshua Tong a déclaré que les personnes reconnues coupables de trafic de drogue étaient généralement des hommes, mais qu'il avait vu "sa juste part" de femmes délinquantes.Sur la question des crimes liés à la drogue, Tong a déclaré qu'il n'y avait généralement "aucune distinction entre les hommes et les femmes pour les sanctions pénales"."La seule distinction faite serait de savoir si la bastonnade doit être imposée", a-t-il ajouté, notant que la loi singapourienne n'autorise que la bastonnade des hommes.La population de la "prison la plus critiquée au monde" vient de doublerPeine capitale pour le cannabisLa mort de Saridewi était la deuxième exécution effectuée à Singapour cette semaine.Mercredi, Mohd Aziz bin Hussain, 57 ans, a été mis à mort pour trafic d'environ 50 grammes d'héroïne.L'exécution d'un autre Singapourien, un chauffeur-livreur, est prévue mercredi prochain, a déclaré la militante Kirsten Han du groupe local anti-peine de mort Transformative Justice Collective (TJC)."TJC condamne, dans les termes les plus forts, la tendance sanguinaire de l'État. Nous exigeons un moratoire immédiat sur l'application de la peine de mort", a écrit le groupe sur X, anciennement connu sous le nom de Twitter.Un nombre croissant de détenus sont envoyés à la potence, mais une liste complète des condamnés à mort n'est pas rendue publique, selon des groupes de défense des droits, ce qui rend la lutte contre le trafic de drogue à Singapour extrêmement opaque.Tangaraju Suppiah, 46 ans, a été exécuté pour un kilo de cannabis. (Avec l'aimable autorisation de Trishnu Kaur)L'année dernière, la pendaison du Malais Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam, 34 ans, a déclenché un tollé international suite à l'évaluation par des psychologues qu'il était atteint d'une déficience intellectuelle.L'affaire a remis en cause les lois de Singapour sur la tolérance zéro en matière de drogue, les défenseurs des droits affirmant que la peine de mort obligatoire pour trafic de drogue est une punition inhumaine.La peine de mort n'a pas fait grand-chose pour réduire le trafic de drogue dans la région, affirment les militants.Le trafic de drogue en Asie a atteint des "niveaux extrêmes", selon un rapport de l'Office des Nations Unies contre la drogue et le crime (ONUDC) en juin. Le rapport indique que les groupes criminels établissent de nouvelles routes de trafic pour échapper à la répression et que les prix de la méthamphétamine ont atteint de nouveaux creux.Il a déclaré que les saisies de méthamphétamine en Asie de l'Est et du Sud-Est, qui ont atteint des niveaux record pendant la pandémie alors que les cartels passaient à des expéditions en vrac plus importantes et plus risquées, sont revenues aux chiffres d'avant Covid l'année dernière.Inscrivez-vous ici pour recevoir nos newsletters quotidiennes et nos alertes d'actualités, envoyées directement dans votre boîte de réception.

[ladydevinejournal]

Check In~ 05/14/2023

I've been busy these past couple weeks adjusting to day-shift. I haven't really had time to check in with myself about how I'm doing. My sleep has been very disrupted. I am sleeping for about four hours at night and then I am wide awake for 2-3. I have been having to take a melatonin in order to put myself back to sleep. This is a 180 from the oversleeping I was doing because of the waking up from daytime and nightmares. I am unable to force myself to get more sleep and I am mildly scatterbrained (forgetful and unable to concentrate) because of this. I recently stopped ingesting cannabis on a regular basis. I have not had it in my system for a few weeks. I have also been feeling a small dip in my mood. This may be the reason and I may still be adjusting my brain chemistry. I have a follow-up with the psychiatrist soon. I need to pay my bill up before my next appointment. I am still searching for a therapist. I am planning to make calls sometime this week. I am apprehensive about giving my boyfriend his cat back. My cat, Bean, and I have become very attached to Bubba, and he has become very attached to us. I feel very guilty because my boyfriend never got to bond with him the way Bubba bonded with us. I also know that he misses Bubba, and it is wrong to keep him, but I love him so much it is hard to imagine giving him back. I recently had an interview for a promotion at work. I do not think the interview went the best that it could have gone, but I think I am a great candidate for the job and the schedule would be an improvement from my current schedule because it would be more accessible by bus and would give me the chance to afford to use rideshare more often. It would also be a 20k per year raise, which would solve many of my problems and be a massive improvement to my life. I am trying not to get my hopes up too high, but I am praying that I do get this job. I am passionate about amnesty and I am certain that if given this position I would excel at it. I have officially enrolled in my first year at Southern New Hampshire University. As of now, my plan is to get a PhD in psychology, and specialize in marriage and family therapy. I'd like to have my own practice so that I could be in control of my hours, location, and clients. That's all I have for now.

[thinktosee]

DEFEAT BY KAHLIL GIBRAN (1883-1931)

"Defeat, my Defeat, my solitude and my aloofness;

You are dearer to me than a thousand triumphs,

And sweeter to my heart than all world-glory.

Defeat, my Defeat, my self-knowledge and my defiance,

Through you I know that I am yet young and swift of foot

And not to be trapped by withering laurels.

And in you I have found aloneness

And the joy of being shunned and scorned.

Defeat, my Defeat, my shining sword and shield,

In your eyes I have read

That to be enthroned is to be enslaved,

And to be understood is to be leveled down,

And to be grasped is but to reach one’s fullness

And like a ripe fruit to fall and be consumed.

Defeat, my Defeat, my bold companion,

You shall hear my songs and my cries and my silences,

And none but you shall speak to me of the beating of wings,

And urging of seas,

And of mountains that burn in the night,

And you alone shall climb my steep and rocky soul.

Defeat, my Defeat, my deathless courage,

You and I shall laugh together with the storm,

And together we shall dig graves for all that die in us,

And we shall stand in the sun with a will,

And we shall be dangerous." (1,2)

This morning, I learnt of the institutionally-sanctioned murder of Mr.Tangaraju Suppiah. (3,4,5) This saddened me immensely, more especially to the extent that man’s inhumanity to man knows no limits and accountability. As I pondered on this avoidable and malicious crime by the state, Gibran’s poem, Defeat, came to mind.

Our heartfelt condolences to the Family of Mr. Tangaraju.

Sources/References

1. Defeat by Kahlil Gibran - Poems | Academy of American Poets

2. The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Madman: His Parables and Poems by Kahlil Gibran

3. Tangaraju Suppiah: Singapore executes man for trafficking two pounds of cannabis | CNN

4. Singapore executes alleged cannabis dealer, ignores U.N. request to "urgently reconsider" - CBS News

5. Singapore: Arbitrary and unlawful execution for drug-related offence shows disregard for human rights - Amnesty International

[cbdx6hemphealth]

Kansas Lawmaker Introduces Cannabis Amnesty Bill https://t.co/PAaC9UL1pj

Kansas Lawmaker Introduces Cannabis Amnesty Bill https://t.co/PAaC9UL1pj

— CBDX6 Hemp Health (@Cbdx6H) Feb 14, 2023

from Twitter https://twitter.com/Cbdx6H

[college-girl199328]

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says she is no longer pursuing amnesty for COVID-19 health-rule violators because Canada doesn’t work that way. However, law professor Lorian Hardcastle says there is a way.

Hardcastle says pardoning provisions exist at the federal level, and Ottawa has used them to offer exemptions to those convicted of simple criminal possession of cannabis.

Hardcastle says a similar framework for COVID-19 public health violations would be unusual at the provincial level but could be done if Smith’s government passes a bill to set up the framework.

Smith’s office, asked if the premier would consider such a bill, said in a one-line statement: “The government of Alberta is not contemplating any such legislation.” Smith has come under fire over COVID-19 prosecutions and pardons after announcing last week that she was no longer pursuing amnesties but instead talking to prosecutors about how they proceed with cases involving violations of COVID-19 public health orders.

Smith has delivered multiple — and contradictory — explanations for who she talked to and what she told them about prosecutions. Just before Christmas, she announced she was meeting with prosecutors. She urged them to consider that she believes the public is no longer onside with prosecuting such cases. Additionally, she said she had asked prosecutors about the matter, which had been dismissed in court.

Last week, in a scrum with reporters, Smith repeated that she was talking to prosecutors but didn’t mention she had asked them to consider factors unique to the COVID-19 cases.

Instead, she said she only reminded prosecutors of the overarching guidelines for pursuing any case: it has to be in the public interest and have a reasonable chance of conviction.

The Opposition NDP called for an independent investigation into whether Smith interfered in the administration of justice by trying to influence prosecutors. In response, Smith said in a statement Friday, “my language may have been imprecise.”

In that statement, Smith also said she had not met with prosecutors — an assertion corroborated by the Justice Department — but with Justice Minister Tyler Shandro and the deputy attorney general to discuss “options” for the cases.

A day later, on her Corus radio call-in show, Smith did not mention she was seeking options but said the meeting with Shandro and the deputy attorney general was about reminding them that the cases have to be in the public interest and have a reasonable chance of conviction.

Previously, Smith said that her involvement in the cases was ongoing, and she continues. On the Newman podcast, she suggested that is no longer happening: “I’m watching it all with eager interest and watching to see what those judgments are. But I do have to let that process play out.”

Smith has been a staunch advocate for protesters against COVID-19 health restrictions. She became premier in October after winning the United Conservative Party leadership and promising to redress perceived abuses of individual rights and freedoms during the pandemic.

As premier, Smith has apologized to those charged under the restrictions and called those unvaccinated against the virus the most discriminated group she has seen in her lifetime.

In late October, when asked by reporters about offering amnesty to those prosecuted for breaking COVID-19 rules, Smith said she would pursue it.

[donaydonay]

A friend of mine traveling just posted this pic.

It reminded me of the Army. Back in 1988 at Ft. Jackson, my basic training unit had a cannabis amnesty box for new recruits. You walked through a room by yourself with your luggage and dumped anything you weren’t supposed to have.

Pretty sure the drill sergeants had a big party after.

[brn1029]

This date in music history. Sure, it was Halloween, but what else happened?

October 31st

2013 - Marvin Gaye

Marvin Gaye's family were taking legal action against Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams for copyright infringement over their hit song Blurred Lines. Three of Gaye's children filed legal papers accusing them of copying elements of the song 'Got To Give It Up'. The Gaye family cited excerpts of magazine interviews given by Thicke to support their claim he had admitted to drawing on 'Got to Give it Up' when producing Blurred Lines.

2005 - John Lennon

The white suit worn by John Lennon on the cover of the Beatles' Abbey Road album sold for $118,000 (£66,385) at an auction in Las Vegas. And an Austin Princess hearse driven by the late star in the documentary Imagine sold for $150,000 (£84,388). A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the items went to Amnesty International.

1998 - Cher

Chart history was made when the UK Top 5 singles chart was made up entirely of new entries. Alanis Morissette went in at No.5, Culture Club at No.4, U2 at No.3, George Michael at No.2 and Cher with 'Believe' at No.1. It made Cher (who was 52) the first female artist to have a No.1 single over the age of 50. The song was a No.1 in 23 countries.

1996 - Slash

Slash announced he was no longer in Guns N' Roses. The guitarist said that Axl Rose and he had only been civil to each other on two occasions since 1994.

1995 - James Brown

James Brown was arrested in Aiken, South Carolina for assaulting his 47 year old wife, Adrienne, who said that her husband hit her with a mirror. Adrienne died in January, 1996 and the assault charges against James were dropped.

1990 - Roger Scott

UK DJ Roger Scott died of cancer aged 46. Scott was one of the most respected broadcasters in the UK, working on Capital Radio for 15 years and then BBC Radio 1. Working as a presenter at the Montreal station 1470 CFOX, Scott sang on ‘Give Peace a Chance’, recorded by John Lennon and Yoko Ono during their "Bed-in" for peace at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Canada.

1990 - Billy Idol

During a gig in Seattle, Washington, Billy Idol dumped 600 dead fish in Faith No More's dressing room. They responded by walking on stage, naked during Idol's set.

1974 - Led Zeppelin

Led Zeppelin held the UK launch for their new record label Swan Song at Chislehurst Caves, Kent, England on Halloween night. Drinks were served by nuns in suspenders, a naked woman lay in a coffin covered in jelly and naked male wrestlers cavorted in recesses of the caves. Label mates Bad Company, The Pretty Things and Maggie Bell also attended. The launch also tied in with the releases of The Pretty Things new album Silk Torpedo. The label was named after an unreleased Zeppelin instrumental track.

1969 - David Bowie

David Bowie appeared at a Halloween night at the General Gordon, Gravesend, England. The gig lasted about 15 minutes, after Bowie sang 'Space Oddity' to everyone’s delight and then dragged a stool on stage, along with a huge book. He then sat and read poems and was booed off stage.

1967 - Brian Jones

Rolling Stone Brian Jones was released from Wormwood Scrubs prison on £750 bail pending appeal. Jones had been found guilty of possession of cannabis. Seven Stones fans were arrested and charged with obstructing the police after demonstrating outside the prison gates.

1964 - Ray Charles

Ray Charles was arrested by Logan Airport customs officials in Boston and charged with possession of heroin. This was his third drug charge, following incidents in 1958 and 1961. Charles avoided prison after kicking the habit in a clinic in Los Angeles, but spent a year on parole in 1966.

1964 - The Supremes

The Supremes started a four week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Baby Love', the group's second of five consecutive US No.1's. The group were formerly known as the five piece group The Primettes.

1963 - Gerry And The Pacemakers

Gerry And The Pacemakers were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'You'll Never Walk Alone.' The group's third and final No.1.

1963 - The Beatles

The Beatles returned to London from Sweden and were greeted by hundreds of screaming fans and a mob of photographers and journalists. American television host Ed Sullivan was at Heathrow as The Beatles arrived, and was struck by the sight of Beatlemania in full swing; he decided to look into getting this group to appear on his US television program.

1959 - The Quarry Men

The Quarry Men decided to change their name to Johnny and the Moondogs. The band were in Liverpool auditioning for the Carrol Levis show. The Quarry Men featured John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison.

1954 - Vera Lynn

Vera Lynn was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'My Son, My Son.' The singers only No.1 hit. Lynn who had three songs in the first ever Top 12 in 1952 was known as the "Forces Sweetheart" during World War II.

1952 - Chuck Berry

Pianist Johnnie Johnson hired 26 year old Chuck Berry as a guitarist in his band. While playing evening gigs in the St. Louis area, Berry kept his day job as a hairdresser for the next three years.

[reveal-the-news]

Cannabis Chart Of The Week: Biden's Announcement – Stock Market Reactions And A Longer View

Cannabis Chart Of The Week: Biden’s Announcement – Stock Market Reactions And A Longer View

Biden’s federal marijuana amnesty announcement and review of the marijuana CSA schedule produced a massive 32.4% pop in the MSOS ETF for the week, easily the biggest gain since the ETF’s creation. After a 10-point retracement, MSOs remain 20% higher. The pullback signals a realization that Biden’s program is not an immediate fix for the industry’s woes and leaves important questions about future…

[martysmusic]

The so-call "war on drugs” has done nothing but cause pain and strife for millions of (mostly minority) Americans and their families. Join the growing number of people calling to redirect funds presently budgeted for the "war on drugs" toward expanded research, education, counseling and treatment.

Congress needs to amend the Controlled Substances Act to reflect that drug use in itself is not a crime, and that persons living in the United States arrested for using drugs should not be incarcerated with those who have committed victim oriented crimes.

Let’s legalize possession, sale, and cultivation of cannabis/marijuana especially…but we need to go further than that. Let’s call to strike from the record prior felony convictions for marijuana possession, sale, or cultivation.

Let’s grant amnesty and release from confinement without any further parole or probation, those who have been incarcerated for the use, sale, or cultivation of marijuana in federal and state prisons and in county/city jails, and who otherwise are without convictions for victim oriented crimes, or who do not require treatment for abuse of hard drugs.

Our society should be providing options for drug treatment, especially to those leaving confinement in Prison and jail for drug crimes.

We need a step-by-step programs to decriminalize all drugs in the United States.

Let’s not stop at pot! Let’s go ahead and legalize psilocybin mushrooms and other entheogenic substances as well. These substances in many cases have been found to have therapeutic benefits and low medical risks for responsible adult users.

For more information, check out: NORML - Working to Reform Marijuana Laws Since 1970

And OF COURSE, I have a playlist to help you celebrate today. But you can only light it up if you’re an Apple Music or Spotify subscriber.

[tumamek]

It’s important to understand that the criminalization of cannabis was steeped in racism.

For example, Harry Anslinger, America’s first drug czar, warned that “reefer makes darkies think they’re as good as white men.” Here in Canada, Emily Murphy, an otherwise celebrated women’s rights activist, led a temperance movement grounded in a belief that “aliens of colour” used drugs to corrupt the white race.

To put it simply, we fear different drugs today because we used to fear different people. As the Le Dain Commission noted in 1970, “There can be no doubt that Canada’s drug laws were for a long time primarily associated in the minds of its legislators and the public with general attitudes and policy towards persons of Asiatic origin.”

As lawmakers scrambled to find new justifications for old policies, the racist application of the criminal law against cannabis continued, with Black and Indigenous men disproportionately represented in cannabis possession arrests across the country.

In addition to the obvious racial injustice, cannabis criminalization has been an assault on common sense – almost half of Canadians report having tried cannabis.

It is impossible to accept that half of Canadians are criminals. And when you review the actual evidence associated with cannabis use, a substance with fewer potential harms than drinking alcohol or riding a horse, criminal prohibition veers further into absurdity.

The Campaign for Cannabis Amnesty is still a thing.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Canada has officially become the second country in the world to legalize cannabis.

While Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party is busy using the legislation as an opportunity for partisan fundraising, Trudeau’s party has very little to say about hundreds of thousands of Canadians whose lives are impacted by old criminal records for possessing a substance that will soon be sold in stores.

On Wednesday, Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould and Liberal pot czar Bill Blair refused to answer direct questions from reporters about whether the Liberal government intends to pardon Canadians with old pot possession convictions.

The Liberals also voted against an NDP motion calling on the government to take steps to “immediately provide pardons for those burdened by criminal records for cannabis offences that will soon be legal.”

Continue Reading.

[pdj-france]

Singapour s'apprête à exécuter deux condamnés à mort pour trafic de drogue, dont une femme qui sera la première à subir ce châtiment en près de 20 ans. Une Singapourienne de 45 ans, Saridewi Djamani, a été condamnée à la peine de mort en 2018 pour le trafic d'environ 30 grammes d'héroïne. Elle sera pendue vendredi, devenant ainsi la première femme exécutée à Singapour depuis 2004. Un homme de 56 ans, condamné pour trafic de 50 grammes d'héroïne, sera également pendu mercredi. Les organisations de défense des droits appellent à mettre fin à ces exécutions. Singapour a l'une des législations antidrogue les plus sévères au monde, prévoyant la peine de mort pour certains crimes, y compris le trafic de drogue. Le trafic de plus de 500 grammes de cannabis et de 15 grammes d'héroïne est passible de cette sentence. Depuis la reprise des exécutions par le gouvernement, au moins 13 personnes ont été pendues. Amnesty International a appelé Singapour à mettre fin à ces exécutions, soulignant que la peine de mort n'a pas d'effet dissuasif prouvé et que de nombreux pays abandonnent cette pratique. Les autorités de Singapour insistent sur l'efficacité dissuasive de la peine de mort, mais les défenseurs des droits humains contestent cette affirmation.