Author: hashtshish

A referendum next month on legalising recreational cannabis has divided opinion in New Zealand with ruling party politicians staying clear of the contentious issue ahead of a general election they are likely to win, report Reuters.*

If passed, New Zealand would be only the third country in the world after Uruguay and Canada to legalise the adult use and sale of cannabis, and the first in the Asia Pacific. The referendum will be held along with the Oct. 17 general election in which Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is seeking a second term.*

Ardern is a strong favourite to win the election but opinion is sharply divided on the referendum – 49.5% of respondents in a nationwide Horizon Research survey earlier this month said they were in favour of legalising cannabis while 49.5% were against, and 1% gave no response.*

“This is the one opportunity we get. A no vote will entrench the current system and scare politicians away,” said Ross Bell, Executive Director at the New Zealand Drug Foundation, a charitable trust that works to prevent alcohol and drug harm.*

Ardern has repeatedly refused to be drawn on whether she would support the change, claiming she does not want to influence the decision.*

Under the proposed bill, licensed cannabis retailers could sell up to 14 grams of cannabis per person each day, to customers over the age of 20. It allows people to consume cannabis on private property or licensed premises and grow two plants.*

A yes vote would open up a new market in New Zealand for the $100 billion global marijuana industry, that is valued annually at NZ$1.5 billion ($981.75 million) in the country.*

As seen in Canada, Uruguay and almost a dozen U.S. states that legalized cannabis for both medicinal and recreational use, pharmaceutical and other companies are expected to move into the market with new weed-infused products.

A report commissioned by the government said more than 400 retail stores could pop up to supply the estimated 49.7 tonnes of cannabis products consumed in New Zealand each year.*

Supporters of the yes vote say regulating cannabis will put an end to the black market, and bring down drug convictions, which are disproportionately higher among the marginalized and the indigenous Maori community.*

STAYING CLEAR

Campaigners against legalising marijuana, which include some faith based institutions, refute these claims.*

“The black market will remain, and a new legal market of 400 stores appearing around the country, and then a whole lot of people growing cannabis plants in their backyard. It’s hard to believe in that scenario that cannabis use will be reduced,” said Aaron Ironside, spokesman for the Say Nope to Dope campaign.*

Analysts say with all recent polls pointing to a comfortable election victory for Ardern due to her success in handling the coronavirus, she would not want to get into other topics.*

“She just would not want to talk about any other issue other than COVID-19,” said Geoffrey Miller, political analyst at the Democracy Project.*

“It’s just not in Labour’s interest to talk about cannabis…there is no upside,” he said.*

Ardern’s Labour Party is governing in a coalition with the Greens and New Zealand First. The Greens made the cannabis referendum a condition of their support for Ardern back in 2017.*

The 40-year-old leader has however kept the topic of cannabis at arms length as she campaigns across the country.*

The main opposition National Party has said it will vote against legalising cannabis, and challenged Ardern to reveal her stand.*

NZ Drug Foundation’s Bell said there’s been a failure of political leadership on the subject.*

“While ultimately the referendum is a vote for New Zealand’s public, a lot of voters would want senior minister or even the prime minister herself to talk about why they wrote the bill in the way they did,” he said.*

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A cannabis ‘garden’ sprouting next to Mexico’s Senate building has become a smoker’s paradise, with Mexican stoners lighting up joints without fear of arrest, report Reuters.*

The cannabis seeds sowed in a plaza by Mexico’s Senate by pro-marijuana activists in February have mushroomed into strikingly large plants, and become symbolic of a drive to legalize marijuana in a nation riven by drugs-related violence.*

“Being able to smoke here (in the garden) in freedom is very important to me,” said Marco Flores, a barista sitting on a bench overlooking the Congress building.*

“I no longer go out on the streets in fear”.*

Mexico’s Supreme Court has ruled that laws prohibiting cannabis use are unconstitutional but the government is yet to draft legislation that would formally legalise marijuana, leaving pot-smokers facing criminal charges if caught smoking.*

But in the garden run by pro-marijuana activists, people are allowed in for 30 minutes at a time and can light up in peace. So far police appear to be turning a blind eye to the practice, though it’s unclear how long that will last.*

“It’s great that they have opened a space for people who are open to new experiences, or who want to find out a little bit about this subject,” said Carlos Diaz, another smoker. “They can come and check it out.”*

For Jose Rivera, a cannabis activist, the garden is a tool to educate and offer ‘human rights’.*

“We want (Mexican lawmakers) to understand that we are smoking quietly and that we are not a risk to anyone,” he said. “Enough of the mistreatment.”*

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Britain’s markets watchdog opened the door to cannabis company listings on Friday by setting out how it would navigate laws to prevent pocketing proceeds from criminal use of the drug, reports Reuters.*

The Financial Conduct Authority set out its “approach” to cannabis-related companies interested in a UK listing, pending public consultation on more formal guidance in due course.*

The legalisation of cannabis, including for recreational use in Canada and a number of U.S. states, fuelled a speculative “green rush” on Toronto and New York stock markets last year, with analysts expecting some listings in Europe in 2020.*

The FCA said that while medicinal cannabis was legalised in Britain in 2018, investment in overseas licensed medicial cannabis companies remains a legally complex area, with a risk of triggering broadly-defined British law that prevent financial gain from criminal activity.*

Proceeds from recreational cannabis companies, even when located in countries that have legalised it, are proceeds of crime under the law, it said.*

“We can’t assume a person who has been licensed in an overseas country would receive a licence here in the UK as licensing regimes differ globally,” the FCA said.*

“UK-based medicinal cannabis companies can be admitted to the Official List, if the company has the appropriate Home Office licences for their activities where they are required,” it added.*

The FCA said overseas-licensed medicinal cannabis companies and cannabis oil companies could list in Britain if the proceeds of crime law does not apply, and they meet listing criteria.*

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Canadian biotech Pascal Biosciences Inc will start an early stage study of a cannabis-based cancer therapy in partnership with SoRSE Technology Corp, the companies told Reuters on Monday, reports Reuters.*

Seattle, Washington-based SoRSE’s technology helps create water-soluble cannabidiol, a non-psychoactive chemical found in cannabis plants that is being widely used to make beverages, chocolates, lotions and other products.*

Chief Executive Officer Howard Lee said SoRSE would pay Pascal for research expenses as it tests the experimental treatment PAS-393, which the companies hope can complement the so-called checkpoint inhibitors thought to help take the brakes off the immune system in fighting cancer.*

“We’ve got the drug discovery and development expertise and SoRSE has formulation capabilities and that will help get the drug into the clinic,” said Pascal Chief Executive Officer Patrick Gray, adding the companies hope to begin Phase I trials over the next year.*

Gray added Pascal would be able to complete Phase-1A testing by the end of the 15-month partnership with SoRSE and may choose to continue clinical development as equal partners after that.*

The collaboration marks a push to test cannabis-based compounds in extensive clinical trials, a leap for an industry that has struggled to prove the medical benefits of marijuana-derived products.*

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2018 approved the first marijuana plant-derived drug, GW Pharmaceuticals Plc’s Epidiolex, to treat two severe forms of epilepsy.*

In 1985, the FDA signed off on Marinol, a medicine containing synthetic cannabis molecules, which is used to treat weight loss in AIDS patients and nausea in cancer patients on chemotherapy.*

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