Drugs Regulation

Consensus is growing that the prohibition on production, supply, and use of certain drugs has not only failed to deliver its intended goals but has been counterproductive. Evidence is mounting that this policy has not only exacerbated many public health problems, but has created a much larger set of social harms associated with the criminal market such as violence, corruption, organised crime, and endemic violence.

Colombian President Santos, OAS Chief Insulza to Present New Study on Drug Policy Alternatives

May 2013

Washington, D.C.—This Friday, May 17, in Bogotá, Colombia, Organization of American States (OAS) Secretary General José Miguel Insulza will present Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos with the outcomes of the hemispheric drug policy review that was mandated by the heads of state at the 2012 Summit of the Americas in Cartagena.

Who is winning "the war on drugs"?

March 2013

Tom Blickman and Martin Jelsma from TNI are speaking at the debate Who is winning "the war on drugs"? about the global context of drug policy. The debate was organized by Krytyka Polityczna in Warsaw on 13 February 2013.

Cannabis pass, si cambia?

November 2012
Tom Blickman

Nell’accordo, è abolito il cannabis pass, necessario per entrare nei coffeeshops.

Portugal progresses toward integrated cannabis regulation

October 2012
Martín Barriuso Alonso

The “Portuguese model” of drugs decriminalisation has clearly demonstrated that greater tolerance to drug users does not lead to an increase in consumption. Nevertheless it is a model with immense loopholes and contradictions.

The Dutch election result and the coffeeshops

October 2012
Tom Blickman

The Dutch elections were hailed as decisive for the future of the coffeeshops. The result however is inconclusive given that a coalition government has to be formed.

Crises and radical thinking on drug policy

August 2012
Kasia Malinowska-Sempruch

Drug policy reform has always been a “two-steps forward, one-step back” undertaking and while creativity is being sought in the Americas, Europe is losing some of its pioneering spirit.

Between collective organisation and commercialisation

August 2012
Martín Barriuso Alonso

The last few years have witnessed a boom in new cannabis user associations in Spain. Although there are no reliable figures for them, most are known to have been created for the collective cultivation of marihuana crops, and are now several hundred-strong. They are mainly found in Catalonia, which is also home to the largest of them: some have existed for only a short time but already have several thousand members.

Far but near: Marijuana reform in Mexico?

August 2012
Jorge Hernández Tinajero

The world-wide debate over cannabis reform appears to be gaining uncommon speed and unexpectedly it is in Latin America that the winds of change have greatest force. So where is Mexico in this panorama?

Cannabis regulation in Uruguay

July 2012
Martin Jelsma
John Walsh

Uruguay may be poised to become the first country to opt for a state controlled and legally regulated cannabis market for medical as well as recreational purposes, including cultivation and distribution.

Cannabis reaches parliament

June 2012
Martín Barriuso Alonso

On 19 June, 2012, the Ganjazz Art Club in Donostia, one of the oldest Cannabis Social Clubs in Spain, received a visit that was unimaginable a few years earlier: a group of members of the autonomous regional Basque parliament on official business. Its goal was to find out how one of these cannabis users’ associations, that have proliferated over the past few years, operates.