by Ross Eventon Bogota, Colombia After decades of studies demonstrating the inefficiency and the harmful effects, the environmental damage and the health problems, the Colombian government announced in June that it would be stopping aerial fumigation of illicit crops using the herbicide glyphosate. It has been an interesting and somewhat depressing experience to read the…Continue Reading View From the Ground: Magical Journalism and the Chemical War
View from the Ground: Infrastructure and Coca in Guaviare, Colombia
By Alastair Smith, GDPO Research Associate. In mid-May 2015, Ross, Dave and I left the relatively comfortable climate of Bogotá and headed to the humidity of South East Colombia and the Department of Guaviare to conduct fieldwork. Leaving the Department’s capital, San José del Guaviare, Pedro Arenas – the city’s previous mayor, current director of…Continue Reading View from the Ground: Infrastructure and Coca in Guaviare, Colombia
Is too much discussion on regulation making us forget prohibition?
Reflections on the 9th Conference of the International Society for the Study of Drug Policy By Constanza Sánchez Avilés, ICEERS Foundation and GDPO Research Associate From 20 to 22 May, the beautiful city of Ghent hosted the 9th Annual Conference of the International Society for the Study of Drug Policy (ISSDP), an excellent opportunity for…Continue Reading Is too much discussion on regulation making us forget prohibition?
View From the Ground: Heading for the Hills; Cannabis in Malana
By Romesh Bhattacharji (GDPO Technical Advisor) Cannabis use in India is thousands of years old. It is traditional, cultural and linked to many indigenous rituals. As such, to believe that modern, and largely externally imposed, laws can prevent its cultivation and use is little more than wishful thinking. Until 1985 Indian law essentially ignored cannabis….Continue Reading View From the Ground: Heading for the Hills; Cannabis in Malana
Ketamine secured for medical and veterinary use!
Originally posted here By Willem Scholten On Friday 13th March, the Commision on Narcotic Drugs discussed the possible bringing of ketamine under international drug control. Initially, China proposed to add the substance under Schedule I of the UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances. Such a scheduling means that the substance can be used for medical purposes only…Continue Reading Ketamine secured for medical and veterinary use!
Another UN agency savages the drug war
Originally posted here The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the UN agency charged with developing strategies to reduce global poverty, has strongly criticised current international drug policy, highlighting the disastrous costs it is producing – particularly for the world’s poor. In the agency’s formal submission to the UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on drugs (PDF), launched…Continue Reading Another UN agency savages the drug war
Ketamine under international law
This blog was originally posted here Psychoactive substances or ‘drugs’, often associated with recreational use, are in fact commonly used for a variety of medicinal purposes. It is even less understood that the supply of more than 100 of these drugs is regulated by a complex system of international drug control underpinned by three United…Continue Reading Ketamine under international law
The ketamine controversy, continued
This blog was originally posted here UN legal opinion adds confusion while China changes its scheduling proposal Martin Jelsma Friday, March 6, 2015 The Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) in Vienna will decide next week between two opposite proposals by China and the WHO about international control ofketamine, an essential anaesthetic in human and veterinary…Continue Reading The ketamine controversy, continued
View From the Ground: Rosario, Argentina
In early January around 2,000 members of Argentina’s military-style border force – known as the gendarmeria – left the country’s second city of Rosario. They had arrived 9 months earlier, on April 9th, carried clandestinely into the city as part of an elaborate rouse involving a fake climate change conference. In a surprise display of force the…Continue Reading View From the Ground: Rosario, Argentina
CND decision to schedule ketamine would undermine WHO treaty mandate
This blog was first posted here The UN Commission considers to bring ketamine under the control of the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances contrary to WHO recommendations Martin Jelsma Monday, February 16, 2015 The 58th Session of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) in March 2015 has been asked to consider a Chinese proposal…Continue Reading CND decision to schedule ketamine would undermine WHO treaty mandate