Toke of the Town

Browsing: Global

Group Fights For Cannabis Reform In Indonesia

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By on Global, News

Photo: LGN
Our brothers and sisters in Indonesia are already in the street. Why stand we here idle?

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Indonesia has some tough marijuana laws. In fact, having just a joint can get you up to four years in prison in this Southeast Asian island nation. But one brave and committed group of cannabis activists is leading the way towards legalization and regulation of the herb in Indonesia.

The group, Lingkar Ganja Nusantara (LGN), which means “Circle of Ganja Archipelago” in English, is raising consciousness on the cannabis issue in Indonesia, distributing information on the many uses and benefits of the plant.
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Medical Cannabis Patient With Cancer Facing Jail In New Zealand

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By on Global, Medical

Photo: Free Peter Davy
Peter Davy: “My partner has advanced multiple sclerosis and I am her 24-hour caregiver. She is dying and will die without me.”

​Peter Davy, a medical cannabis patient in New Zealand who suffers from cancer, deserves compassion and should not be sent to prison as a judge has threatened, according to activist group Greencross Auckland.

Davy, 51, who lives in Canterbury, New Zealand, has vowed to go on hunger strike if sentenced to prison.
“I want to make it clear that I will be going on a hunger strike the moment I am given a prison sentence and I absolutely do not want to be force fed under any circumstances,” Davy said. “I will also be refusing all cancer medication. I am 100 percent committed to continuing with a hunger strike until I am dead.”

“Here is a man capable of managing his own pain using medicinal cannabis while at the same time caring for a partner with multiple sclerosis,” said Greencross Auckland spokesman Stephen McIntyre.
“My partner has advanced multiple sclerosis and I am her 24-hour caregiver,” Davy said. “She is dying and will die without me.”
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Canada Expected To Appeal Decision Striking Down Pot Laws

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By on Global, Legislation, News

Photo: Matt Mernagh
Canadian medical marijuana patient and Toke of the Town contributor Matt Mernagh won big this week, with an Ontario judge striking down Canada’s pot laws

​An appeal by the federal government of yesterday’s Ontario court decision striking down Canada’s marijuana laws is all but certain, according to political observers.

The government is now awaiting direction from the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, reports Jennifer Yang at the Toronto Star. Lawmakers and law enforcement officers are “looking for guidance” on how to react to the court ruling.
“We are disappointed with this decision,” said Tim Vail, spokesperson for Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq. “The independent Public Prosecution Service has to decide whether to appeal this decision. While the courts have said that there must be reasonable access to marijuana for medical purposes, we believe that this must be done in a controlled fashion to ensure public safety.”
The Public Prosecution service is “studying” the decision and has 30 days to appeal the ruling, which it is expected to do.
In the meantime, Ontario Provincial Police will continue to enforce the marijuana laws, even though they could soon cease to exist.

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Jamaica Taking Another Look At Marijuana Decriminalization

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By on Global, Legislation

Photo: Matt Lennert/flickr
A Jamaican farmer in his field of ganja

​Top government officials in Jamaica have said they will review recommendations to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal and religious use in the Caribbean island nation.

Six Cabinet ministers in Prime Minister Bruce Golding’s administration will evaluate a 2001 report by the National Commission for Ganja, reports David McFadden of Bloomberg Businessweek.
The commission, which included academics and doctors and was appointed by a government led by the current opposition party, argued that cannabis was “culturally entrenched” in Jamaica and that moderate use had no negative health effects on most users.
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Ontario Court Strikes Down Canada’s Marijuana Laws

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By on Global, Legislation, News

Photo: Matt Mernagh
The case was brought by prominent Canadian cannabis activist, patient and writer Matt Mernagh, above, a contributor to Toke of the Town.

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An Ontario court has struck down Canada’s marijuana laws. The court struck down laws against possessing and growing cannabis as part of a ruling that found the country’s medical marijuana program is failing to provide access to the herb for patients who need it.

BUT. (And don’t you hate this?) That doesn’t mean smoking pot is legal yet, reports Adrian Morrow at The Globe and Mail. The federal government now has three months to launch an appeal or change its regulations to fix the problems identified by the court.
Justice Donald Taliano of the Ontario Superior Court struck down the Marihuana Medical Access Regulations, arguing they aren’t doing enough to ensure patients can obtain permission to use cannabis.
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Mexico’s Ex-President: Drug Prohibition Doesn’t Work

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By on Global, News

Photo: Marijuana.com
Former Mexico President Vicente Fox: “We’re talking about the last frontier of prohibition”

​Former Mexican President Vicente Fox, a onetime ally of the United States in the War On Drugs who now advocates legalization, said at Thursday news conference in San Diego that prohibiting drugs doesn’t work.

Fox, a member of the conservative National Action Party, or PAN, compared drug use to sexual orientation and a woman’s right to an abortion, reports Richard Marosi at the Los Angeles Times.
“We’re talking about the last frontier of prohibition,” Fox said. “Tell me something else that is prohibited today? Abortion is permitted. Marriage between same-sex [people]now is permitted … Smoking cigarettes is permitted; alcohol is permitted.”
Fox, who was in San Diego on a fund-raising trip for his presidential library, has become an outspoken proponent of drug legalization, joining other prominent Latin American leaders who agree that law enforcement efforts to stop drug consumption and distribution are futile.
Fox’s views on drug legalization caused Point Loma Nazarene University to cancel its invitation to have him speak at their San Diego campus earlier this year.
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50th Anniversary Of Treaty Outlawing Cannabis Worldwide

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By on Global, Legislation

Photo: The Vaults of Erowid
Harry J. Anslinger is responsible for both the 1937 Marihuana Tax Act, effectively outlawing cannabis in the U.S., and the 1961 Single Convention Treaty on Narcotic Drugs, which outlawed weed worldwide and is still in effect.

​​Today, March 30, 2011, marks an unhappy birthday. Fifty years ago, marijuana became illegal worldwide.

The Single Convention Treaty on Narcotic Drugs, which started the international policy of cannabis prohibition, was signed on this day in 1961. In accordance with the treaty, marijuana is still illegal in every country on Earth — including the Netherlands, where laws remain on the books despite official policy “tolerating” its use.

The Single Convention Treaty was the handiwork of the powerful ex-director of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, Harry Anslinger, architect of the first federal cannabis prohibition law, the 1937 Marihuana Tax Act.
“Anslinger had pushed for a treaty against cannabis in order to shore up the act’s dubious constitutionality under U.S. law,” said Dale Gieringer, director of California NORML. (The act was later declared unconstitutional for other reasons, only to be supplanted by the Controlled Substances Act in 1970, which kicked off Nixon’s War On Drugs.)
“Today, the international treaty stands as the principal cause of prohibition-related crime and violence worldwide with drug wars from Mexico to Afghanistan plus the criminalization of millions of users,” Gieringer said.
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Sewer Clogged With Bales Of Marijuana In Arizona

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By on Global, News

Photo: Nogales Police Department
Nogales, Arizona public works employees pulled two bales of marijuana connected to 900 feet of rope from this manhole on Wednesday

​Police said public works employees hauled out an estimated 39 pounds of marijuana while investigating a clogged sewer line in Nogales, Arizona on Wednesday.

Workers in the southern Arizona city, near the Mexico border, found two wet, feces-covered bales of marijuana tied to a rope feeding into the sewer system, reports Hank Stephenson at the Nogales International.
The bales, tied with about 900 feet and rope, were hauled out through a manhole on Hudgins Street. The sewer line from which the pot was removed feeds into the International Outflow Interceptor (IOI) from the Heroes neighborhood in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico. A search of the Rio Rico sewer plant, where the IOI ends, “didn’t turn up any more drugs,” a Nogales Police Department spokesman said.
Police Lt. Carlos Jiminez said it’s the first time they’ve discovered bales of marijuana tied to a rope that they believe smugglers were trying to maneuver through the sewer line, reports The Associated Press.
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Caution: B.C. Medical Marijuana Grow-Ops Targeted By Thieves

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By on Global, Growing, News

Photo: PNG/Regina Leader-Post
Home basement grow-ops like these are being targeted by thieves around Langley, British Columbia, Canada.

​Some British Columbia residents who are legally licensed to grow medical marijuana are being ripped off by thieves.
Three Langley, B.C., medical marijuana grow-ops have been robbed in the past six months, reports Cassidy Olivier at The Province. But Royal Canadian Mounted Police said there is “no way to tell” if the grows are being specifically targeted because they are a medicinal cannabis operation, or simply because they have pot.
“We’re very concerned,” said Supt. Derek Cooke of the Langley RCMP, reports CBC News. “This is a significant problem for the community.” There are more than 800 legal medical marijuana grow-ops in B.C., according to Cooke.
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Top 11 Women Of Weed

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By on Culture, Global

Graphic: Lifeboat Foundation
Queen Victoria famously used cannabis to ease her royal menstrual cramps.

​By Jack Rikess

Toke of the Town

Northern California Correspondent

In honor of the 100th anniversary of Women’s Day, I present the Top 11 Women of Weed, ladies I think have made a difference, cannabis-wise, in my life.

11. Queen Victoria
If you are of a certain age, she is the first famous pot smoker that we heard of in the Sixties.
Because she used cannabis for her majestic cramps, she also was the first internationally known medical marijuana patient.
England may be getting a new king soon, but Queen Vicky will always be the royal “oui” to me.
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