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Mary Jane’s Garden

A proposed bill in Chile would legalize the consumption, possession and cultivation of marijuana in this South American nation. The proposed reform was introduced in July by liberal senators Fulvio Rossi and Ricard Lagos Weber.

If the bill is passed, it would legalize cannabis for both personal and medical use, reports Tom Murphy at the Santiago Times. The logic behind the bill, the Times reports, is that by creating a legal way for users to consume marijuana, drug cartels will be robbed of business by those who choose to take advantage of the legal channel.

Cannabis Culture

The Union of British Columbia Municipalities voted Wednesday in favour of a resolution calling for the decriminalization of marijuana and the study of a taxed and regulated system. The vote followed an extensive debate of the issue on Monday where delegates heard arguments in favour and against the resolution.
Speaking in favour of the resolution were Dr. Evan Wood, physician, researcher and founder of Stop the Violence as well as David Bratzer, a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) and Geoff Plant, former attorney general of B.C.
The UBCM vote came after the Sensible BC campaign to decriminalize cannabis through a provincial referendum held a public forum in Victoria, which drew more than 500 attendees.

U.S. Open Borders
President Otto Perez Molina says the War On Drugs has failed

President Perez Molina Breaks New Ground by Proposing Legal Regulation of Drugs on Eve of Wednesday’s Speech at U.N. General Assembly
Proposal Bolsters Opposition to Drug War Among Latin American Leaders as Drug Prohibition Debate Continues to Escalate
President Otto Perez Molina of Guatemala on Tuesday announced his intention to propose legally regulating currently illicit drugs as a means of reducing crime, violence and corruption. He is expected to elaborate on his proposal Wednesday when he addresses the United Nations General Assembly. 

Clark French
U.K. multiple sclerosis patient/cannabis activist Clark French: “Police time is wasted on cannabis”

Multiple sclerosis patient Clark French is one of thousands of patients in Britain and the world over who use cannabis to help with their medical conditions. These conditions include multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, Alzheimer’s, HIV/AIDS, and Crohn’s disease. Trials are currently being conducted to determine if cannabis can stop the growth of cancers.
French, one of the founding members of NORML UK (National Organisation for the Reform of Marijuana Laws), will be appearing on Channel’s 4 4Thought program, to discuss his medical use of cannabis. 
Cannabis has become increasingly prominent in the United Kingdom in last few years, as more people and politicians have realized its therapeutic benefits and the harms produced by the black market. A July 2012 YouGov poll for The Sun showed that 45 percent supported at least decriminalization of cannabis, and that 25 percent of the population do not believe that cannabis is harmful at all.

Hispanically Speaking News
Uruguay President Jose Mujica: “We feel that putting it aboveboard, regulating it, can be a lesser evil than what is happening today”

Aw, man! If Uruguay’s parliament approves a historic plan to legalize marijuana, drug tourism will not be allowed in the South American nation, President Jose Mujica said on Wednesday.

The plan, under which Uruguay would sell marijuana to its citizens, will require people to prove they are Uruguayan before scoring any weed, Mujica told Agence France Presse (AFP). The legalization bill — the first complete legalization in the world, as opposed to decriminalization of “tolerance” as practiced in places like the Netherlands and Portugal — “is to resolve a problem that we ourselves have,” President Mujica said.

Dampfparade 2012

Rally Would Likely Have Been Largest Cannabis Demonstration In German History

A cannabis demonstration and parade planned for Saturday in Cologne, Germany — which was shaping up to be the largest marijuana protest ever held in Germany — is being shut down at the last minute by the Versammlungsbehörde, a local government office that oversees public gatherings.

“This is the first time a pro-cannabis march has been planned for Cologne, which is located in the most populous area of Germany,” Daniel S. of Duisburg, Germany, told Toke of the Town on Wednesday morning. (Dan in no way speaks for the parade or any associated organizations; he just happens to live nearby and knows some people involved in the parade’s planning.)
The march was shaping up to possibly be the largest demonstration of its kind ever in Germany, thanks in large part to a positive response on Facebook and word-of-mouth advertising.
Planned speakers included Lars Scheimann, the first German citizen to be granted a medical marijuana card to treat his Tourette’s and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Scheimann has since helped more than 60 other people get similar approval for medicinal cannabis to treat various conditions through his organization, “Cannabis Als Medizin” (Cannabis As Medicine).

UsualRedAnt
A 5 ng/ml cutoff point is simply wrong, according to Michael Knodt of Germany’s Hanf Journal, the largest German cannabis magazine

Stringent Cutoff Point Still Ensnares Many Unimpaired Cannabis Users

The debate over restrictive Washington state marijuana “legalization” ballot Initiative 502 has reached epic proportions, with much of the controversy centering around the measure’s stringent “driving under the influence” limits for cannabis.

According to most scientists and medical marijuana patient advocates, the limit of five nanograms per milliliter (5 ng/ml) is arbitrary and unsupported scientifically, and could result in DUI convictions for many patients and others, even when they’re unimpaired. The reason for this is that even though the 5 ng/ml limit would apply to active THC, many patients and others who use cannabis daily, especially heavy users, wake up in the morning, unimpaired, over the 5 ng limit.
Toke of the Town recently had a revealing talk on this subject with Michael Knodt, editor in chief of Hanf JournalGermany’s biggest hemp magazine.
It turns out the Germans had the good sense to exclude patients from their marijuana DUI limits. Even so, lots of recreational cannabis users are being caught up by the law, even though they don’t drive impaired.

Caravan For Peace, Justice and Dignity


Despite fear, Mexican victims of Drug War on Caravan for Peace to visit El Paso-Juarez border to deliver clear message: End the War On Drugs
Families, including exiled residents of Juarez — epicenter of Drug War violence — and relatives of the more than 60,000 killed in the Drug War, go to DEA to demand alternatives to costly, catastrophic failure of drug prohibition, military aid, and the open gun market
Members of the Caravan for Peace with Justice and Dignity will gather on Tuesday in front of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) division office in El Paso to demand accountability from the principal United States government agency charged with prosecuting the drug war in both Mexico and the U.S., and to seek a dialogue about the costs of this war — and how to bring it to an end.
Families carrying large and small pictures of loved ones lost in Mexico’s Drug War will join Mexican exiles and U.S. families and communities hurt by the Drug War in actions and community events designed to call attention to the human and economic toll of this war on both sides of the border.

Guardia di Finanza
Italian police discovered a thousand marijuana plants growing in an abandoned railroad tunnel

Drug Dogs Pulled From Tunnel In A Swoon

It’s always the smell. Tipped off by the dankness emanating from a suburban street, Italian police discovered a huge subterranean cannabis grow operation in an old railroad tunnel originally built by Benito Mussolini.

The cops in Rome seized what they claimed was 340 kilos of marijuana, and they claimed it was worth three million euros ($3.7 million) on the street, reports Tom Kington of The Guardian. The grow-op was hidden behind a legal mushroom-growing business at the entrance of the tunnel; a fake wall had been built with revolving breeze blocks to conceal the plants.
When police climbed a ladder and looked over a makeshift wall at the back of the mushroom farm, they said they discovered a 43,000-square-foot tunnel housing the growing cannabis.

Fox News

Law Would Make Uruguay First Government In World To Legally Supply Marijuana 
The president of Uruguay on Wednesday submitted a proposal to Parliament to legalize marijuana under government-controlled regulation and sale, making it the first country in the world where the state would sell marijuana directly to its citizens. The proposal, signed by Uruguayan President José Mujica, is part of a package of measures aimed at fighting crime and requires parliamentary approval before being enacted.
Despite Uruguay being one of the safest countries in Latin America, it has faced an increase in crime from drug gangs due to its position on a drug transit route to Europe via West Africa. The aim of the measure is to combat the rising insecurity in Uruguay by removing the profits of marijuana sales from drug gangs, separating the marijuana market from those for other illegal drugs, and avoiding marijuana users’ exposure to drug dealers who also sell coca paste and cocaine. Additionally, the revenues from marijuana sales will be invested into treatment for “problem” drug users.
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