No bridging the gap

REFLECTIONS by SUZANNE MILLS Friday, January 2 2015

A TEENAGER pleads guilty of being in possession of 106 grammes of marijuana which he tells the magistrate he received from a friend as a Christmas gift. The teen lacks two things: a good lawyer and a better legal system, one that doesn’t make criminals of weed smokers or even weed distributers for that matter.

The magistrate didn’t believe the weed was a gift and admonished him for possessing a large quantity of ganja. Yes, it would seem odd that his friend is so amazingly generous, but we don’t know the nature of their friendship and we don’t know how much the teen smokes so we can’t assume the weed was for trafficking.

BOULDER, Colo. — Recreational marijuana is both illegal and controversial in most of the country, and its relationship to food does not rise much above a joke about brownies or a stoner chef’s late-night pork belly poutine.

But cooking with cannabis is emerging as a legitimate and very lucrative culinary pursuit.

In Colorado, which has issued more than 160 edible marijuana licenses, skilled line cooks are leaving respected restaurants to take more lucrative jobs infusing cannabis into food and drinks. In Washington, one of four states that allow recreational marijuana sales, a large cannabis bakery dedicated to affluent customers with good palates will soon open in Seattle.

The medical marijuana business has never been healthier and riper for the picking than it is now.

More and more investors and entrepreneurs are getting in the booming industry everyday.

If you want to know where to invest in the cannabis business to get the most bang for the buck, keep on reading.

New markets have been created in states such as: Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New York and Oregon.  More and more states in America are expected to jump on the bandwagon in the next three years.

The revenues generated by medical marijuana industry in America are estimated to reach over $8 billion in the next few years.

High points for weed

IAN LAMBIE Wednesday, October 8 2014

At the 35th Caricom Heads of Governments meeting held in Antigua from 1st to 4 th July 2014, it was decided to establish a Regional Committee to conduct an enquiry into the social, economic, health and legal issues surrounding the use of marijuana in the region. Since then consultations on marijuana and its legalisation were held in Trinidad.

Two days ago, a headline stated “Jamaica changes law on small quantities of marijuana” while that in another stated “Ganja research lab set-up in Jamaica”. Legalisation of marijuana is being placed on the front burner in the Caribbean.

The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) has launched yet another propaganda campaign against people who grow cannabis. As usual this consists of fact free scaremongering and a complete distortion of the facts and evidence about the possible harms. Once again, Detective Chief Superintendent Bill Jephson, National Policing Lead for Cannabis-related Crime, is in charge of delivering a message that seeks to frighten the public with myth, misinformation and manipulation of data.

By Peter Reynolds

The last British politician to have the courage to follow the evidence on drugs policy and introduce radical reform was Margaret Thatcher.  Now Norman Baker isn't normally in the same category as Thatcher but they have both demonstrated courage in the face of opposition from their colleagues and widespread bigotry and ignorance in parliament and Whitehall.

Tory cabinet members in 1986 must have been spluttering into their claret and very large whiskies when they heard Margaret was insisting on introducing clean needle exchange for injecting drug users. She was absolutely right to do so and her action saved thousands of lives. Many other countries followed her lead and it slowed the spread of HIV dramatically.

Home Office minister Norman Baker called last week for medicinal cannabis to be legalised. This is the inside story of a campaign that began in 1999, started to gain real traction in 2011 and may finally come to fruition in 2014.

The last British politician to have the courage to follow the evidence on drugs policy and introduce radical reform was Margaret Thatcher. Now Norman Baker isn't normally in the same category as Thatcher but they have both demonstrated courage in the face of opposition from their colleagues and widespread bigotry and ignorance throughout parliament and Whitehall.