Anthropology

Israel officially decriminalizes marijuana use

Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, who led the reform, said that “the government’s approval is an important step on the way to implement the new policy, which will emphasize public information and treatment instead of criminal enforcement.” MK Tamar Zandberg (Meretz), the chairwoman of the Knesset Special Committee on Drug and Alcohol Abuse, said that…

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Anthropology

Numbers show marijuana raids more lethal than pot

“The US Drug Enforcement Agency has not yet documented one overdose fatality stemming from the drug itself… at least 20 marijuana-related drug raids since 2010 that have ended in at least one death… suspects have been killed during these raids for as little as 0.2 grams of marijuana.” Drug raids targeting marijuana have been a…

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Anthropology

Gov. Kate Brown… hands off Oregon legal pot biz

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown says she wants Oregonians left alone to “grow these jobs”. In Oregon alone, that’s roughly 12,500 jobs, said economist Beau Whitney of Portland, adding that he is making a conservative estimate. Oregon’s attorney general said she would be duty-bound to fight to protect the state’s marijuana industry… She noted that citizens…

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Anthropology

The link between drug policy and access to medicines

Harmful drug use is certainly a public health problem, but in many countries, drug control policies lean too heavily towards limiting access to medicines for which patients have a legitimate and urgent need. Drug policy can undermine research that could uncover the medical value of many substances. For example, cannabis and related compounds known as…

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Anthropology

In Sweden, Europe’s most LGBT-friendly country, admitting use of cannabis or psychedelics carries a big social stigma

“I find that in the contemporary Swedish context it would, in many cases, be more stigmatizing and have more negative social implications to come out of the closet as a psychedelic user than as a homosexual or bisexual.” One cannot talk about psychedelics or cannabis as separate from other drugs. All illegal drugs are bundled…

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