The government is considering decriminalising the possession of a small amount of drugs like heroin, cannabis and cocaine.

NEARLY HALF OF people in Ireland are against the proposal to no longer make it a criminal offence for a person to possess a small amount of drugs for personal use, according to a new poll.

However, there is significantly stronger backing for the idea among men with 51% favouring the decriminalisation idea compared to 35% of women.

The findings of the Claire Byrne Live/Amárach Research poll show that 43% of all people favour decriminalisation, while 46% are against it. Eleven per cent said they don’t know.

DUBLIN — Brendan Kennedy wants his obituary to read: "I built companies that helped end the cannabis prohibition around the world."

He also predicts that recreational marijuana use will be "fully legal at the federal level in the United States within the next two years."

Kennedy, chief executive of a Silicon Valley-founded firm, Privateer Holdings, is competing to establish a national brand of pot. But his comments Wednesday on stage at Dublin's Web Summit come when there is little clarity that U.S. federal laws would allow such a potentially massive market and with little reliable data.

Next year's U.S. presidential election could further complicate a debate on the issue that has divided Congress, regulators and the American public.

Portugal is a hot topic in drug reform debates. Yet, the experiment being carried out in that European country is often mischaracterized by both supporters and critics. The secret of Portugal’s drug policy success is not decriminalization, but its capacity to tailor responses to the needs of specific users.

The current debate surrounding failures in drug policy, particularly in the United States, has largely centered on over-incarceration, strong-armed law enforcement, and harmful drug use.

In France, the drug market generates an annual sales of € 2.3 billion, equal to 0.117% of GDP, which means that each person spends an average of € 36 for illicit substances. This huge business is dominated by two leading products – marijuana and cocaine – which together account for over 85% of total sales. With a turnover estimated at 55 million, synthetic drugs (MDMA and amphetamines) have, however, the fourth place behind heroin. In contrast to the success they have in other European countries like the Czech Republic,the market of these substances appears to be relatively marginal in France.

Ireland will move towards legalising supervised heroin use, and possible future decriminalisation of other drugs, according to Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, the Irish minister who is redrafting Ireland’s national drugs strategy.

The minister announced that new laws to legalise injection of heroin under medical supervision could be in force next year. Further measures to decriminalise the recreational use of other drugs could be on the agenda after that.

“Our national strategy is due for renewal, and my job is to review it and make sure it’s relevant, and addresses the constantly changing drug landscape,” said Ó Ríordáin, speaking at a workshop on drug control at the London School of Economics this week.

Parts of Ireland are set to decriminalise the possession of small amounts of drugs for personal use, including heroin, cocaine and cannabis. 

The radical change in law has been announced by the Minister in charge of the National Drugs Strategy, Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, who says that injecting drug users will be able to use a supervised injecting room in Dublin next year, followed by users in Cork, Galway and Limerick.

Irishtimes.com reports:

AXIM Biotechnologies, Inc. (OTC: AXIM), an innovative company focused on the research, development and production of hemp-based pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and cosmetic products with an emphasis on the well-being of their customers, announced today that it has secured the down payment on land to build a brand new, state-of-the-art facility on 6,000 square meters of land located at the industrial estate of Stichtsekant, in the city of Almere, The Netherlands. AXIM Biotech’s future high-tech factory will be located on the corner of Fort de Gagel and Fort Blauwkape.

If anyone in the world has experience with marijuana legalization, it's the Dutch. For nearly 40 years, the limited sale and use of the plant has been effectively legalized — so-called "coffee shops" are allowed to stock and sell small quantities of cannabis to adult buyers.

Germany's government has plans to set up a pharmaceutical agency to regulate the cultivation of cannabis for medicinal purposes, according to a media report. Such a step could make the drug more accessible to ill people.

A so-called cannabis agency has been proposed in draft legislation put forward by the federal health ministry, the "Welt am Sonntag" newspaper reported on Sunday.

The bill was reportedly awaiting approval from the office of Chancellor Angela Merkel. As outlined in the draft, the new state-owned body would be tasked with regulating the price of medicinal hemp and making sure the drug was grown and sold purely for pharmaceutical purposes. Patients in need of pain relief would not be allowed to grow their own cannabis plants.

Cannabis should be on prescription soon - at least for pain patients. This emerges from a bill of the Federal Health Ministry, which is to audit the Federal Chancellery. As the "Welt am Sonntag" reported to regulate the cultivation and trafficking of cannabis for pain therapy in Germany, a State cannabis agency.

To avoid supply bottlenecks from the Netherlands, marijuana is to be produced in the state. Already at the beginning of the Drug Commissioner of the Federal Government, Marlene Mortler had demanded from the CSU, dispense the drug on prescription to chronically ill patients in pain. Cultivation for themselves remains still prohibited to patients.