Pubdate: Sat, 15 Feb 2014 Source: Taranaki Daily News (New Zealand) Copyright: 2014 Fairfax New Zealand Limited Contact: http://www.thedailynews.co.nz/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1056 US STIRS GLOBAL AWAKENING ON POT (AP) - In a former colonial mansion in Jamaica, politicians huddle to discuss trying to ease marijuana laws in the land of the late reggae musician and cannabis evangelist Bob Marley. In Morocco, one of the world's top producers of the concentrated pot known as hashish, two leading political parties want to legalise its cultivation, at least for medical and industrial use. And in Argentina, the nation's drug czar, a Catholic priest who has long served in its drug ravaged slums, is calling for a public debate about regulating marijuana. From the Americas to Europe to North Africa and beyond, the marijuana legalisation movement is gaining unprecedented traction a nod to successful efforts in Colorado, Washington state and Uruguay, which in December became the first country to approve nationwide pot legalisation. Leaders long weary of the drug war's violence and futility have been emboldened by changes in US policy, even in the face of opposition from their own conservative populations. Some are eager to try an approach that focuses on public health instead of prohibition, and some see a potentially lucrative industry in cannabis regulation. "A number of countries are saying, 'We've been curious about this, but we didn't think we could go this route,"' said Sam Kamin, a University of Denver law professor who helped write Colorado's marijuana regulations. "It's harder for the US to look at other countries and say, 'You can't legalise, you can't decriminalise,' because it's going on here." That's due largely to a White House that's more open to drug war alternatives. US President Barack Obama recently told The New Yorker magazine that he considers marijuana less dangerous to consumers than alcohol, and said it was important the legalisation experiments in Washington and Colorado went ahead, especially because blacks were arrested for the drug at a greater rate than whites, despite similar levels of use. His Administration also has criticised drug war-driven incarceration rates in the US and announced it will soon let banks do business with licensed marijuana operations, which have largely been cash-only because federal law forbids financial institutions from processing pot related transactions. Such actions underscore how the official US position has changed in recent years. In 2009, its Department of Justice announced it wouldn't target medical marijuana patients. In August, the agency said it wouldn't interfere with the laws in Colorado and Washington, which regulate the growth and sale of taxed pot for recreational use. Government officials and activists worldwide have taken note of the more open stance. Also not lost on them was the Obama administration's public silence before votes in both states and in Uruguay. It all creates a "sense that the US is no longer quite the drug war obsessed government it was" and that other nations have some political space to explore reform, said Ethan Nadelmann, head of the nonprofit Drug Policy Alliance, a pro-legalisation group based in New York. Anxiety over US reprisals has previously doused reform efforts in Jamaica, including a 2001 attempt to approve private use of marijuana by adults. Given America's evolution, "the discussion has changed", said Delano Seiveright, director of Ganja Law Reform Coalition Jamaica. Last summer eight lawmakers, evenly split between the ruling People's National Party and the opposition Jamaica Labor Party, met with Nadelmann and local cannabis crusaders at a luxury hotel in Kingston's financial district and discussed next steps, including a near-term effort to decriminalise pot possession. Officials are concerned about the roughly 300 young men each week who get criminal records for possessing small amounts of "ganja." Others worry about losing out on tourism dollars: For many, weed is synonymous with Marley's home country, where it has long been used as a medicinal herb by families, including as a cold remedy, and as a spiritual sacrament by Rastafarians. Influential politicians are increasingly taking up the idea of loosening restrictions. Jamaica's health minister delano Seiveright recently said he was "fully on board" with medical marijuana. "The cooperation on this issue far outweighs what I've seen before. Both sides are in agreement with the need to move forward." In Morocco, lawmakers have been inspired by the experiments in Washington, Colorado and Uruguay to push forward their longstanding desire to allow cannabis to be grown for medical and industrial uses. They say such a law would help small farmers who survive on the crop but live at the mercy of drug lords and police attempts to eradicate it. "Security policies aren't solving the problem because it's an economic and social issue," said Mehdi Bensaid, a legislator with the Party of Authenticity and Modernity. "We think this crop can become an important economic resource." In October, lawmakers from Uruguay, Mexico and Canada converged on Colorado for a firsthand look at how that state's law is being implemented. They toured a medical marijuana dispensary and sniffed bar-coded marijuana plants during a tour. "Mexico has outlets like that, but guarded by armed men," Mexican Congressman Ren Fujiwara Montelongo said afterward. There's no general push to legalise marijuana in Mexico, where tens of thousands have died in cartel violence in recent years. But in more liberal Mexico City, legislators are planning to pitch a further loosening of pot laws by increasing personal possession limits, allowing residents to grow up to three plants and allowing private marijuana smoking clubs. Legalisation opponents worry marijuana could become heavily commercialised youth use will increase. They say the other side's political victories have reawakened their cause. "There's been a real hunger from people abroad to find out how we got ourselves into this mess in the first place and how to avoid it," said Kevin Sabet of Project Smart Approaches to Marijuana. Washington and Colorado passed recreational laws in 2012 to regulate the growth and sale of taxed pot at state-licensed stores. Sales began January 1 in Colorado, and are due to start later this year in Washington. Twenty states and the District of Columbia already have medical marijuana laws. Some states are considering whether to try for recreational laws. Voters in Alaska will have their say on a legalisation measure this summer. Oregon voters could also weigh in this year, and in California, drug reform groups are deciding whether to push a ballot measure in 2014 or wait until 2016's presidential election. Activists are pushing the issue before a United Nations summit in 2016. While some European countries, including Spain, Belgium and the Czech Republic, have taken steps over the years to liberalise pot laws in the face of international treaties that limit drug production to medical and research purposes, the Netherlands, famous for its pot "coffee shops," has started to pull back, calling on cities to close shops near schools and ban sales to tourists. There is, however, an effort afoot to legitimise the growing of cannabis sold in the coffee shops. While it's been legal to sell pot, it's never been legal to grow it, so shops must turn to the black market for their supply, which may wind up seized in a raid. In Latin America and the Caribbean, where some countries have decriminalised possession of small amounts of drugs, from cocaine to marijuana, there is significant public opposition to further legalisation. But officials are realising it is on the table, despite the longstanding efforts of the US, which has provided billions of dollars to support counter-narcotics work in the hemisphere. Current or former presidents in Colombia, Mexico, Guatemala and Brazil have called for a reevaluation of or end to the drug war, a chorus echoed by Roman Catholic priest Juan Carlos Molina, the drug czar in Argentina. He said he's following orders from President Cristina Fernandez to change the government's focus from enforcing drug laws against young people to getting them into treatment. He also said after Fernandez appointed him in December that Argentine society was ready to openly debate legalising marijuana. "Argentina deserves a good debate about this. We have the capacity to do it. The issue is fundamental for this country." The pace of change has put American legalisation activists in heavy demand at conferences in countries weighing their drug laws, including Chile, Poland and the Netherlands. The advocates have advised foreign lawmakers and activists on how to build campaigns. Clara Musto, a spokeswoman for the Uruguayan campaign, said meeting with the Americans helped her group see that it would need to promote arguments beyond ensuring the liberty of cannabis users if it wanted to increase public support. "They knew so much about how to lead," she said. John Walsh of the Washington Office on Latin America, a nongovernmental organisation that works to promote social and economic justice, was among the Americans who visited Uruguay as the president, the ruling party and activists pushed their proposal to create a government-controlled marijuana industry. [sidebar] What's Smoking Elsewhere Argentina Personal possession of controlled substances has been decriminalised, thanks to a Supreme Court ruling in 2009 that found imposing jail time for small amounts of drugs was a violation of Argentina's constitution, which protects private actions that don't harm others. Brazil Brazil doesn't punish personal drug use, but trafficking or transporting small amounts of controlled substances is a criminal offence, punishable by drug abuse education or community service. Guatemala President Otto Perez Molina of Guatemala, a hard-hit cocaine transit country, took the floor at the UN last year to join other nations calling the drug war a failed strategy. Jamaica Possession remains illegal and can result in mandated treatment or rehabilitation, though usually the defendant pays a small fine and is not incarcerated. Mexico Tens of thousands have been killed in drug war violence in recent years, but there is no general push to legalise or regulate marijuana for recreational use. Netherlands The Netherlands has liberal cannabis laws. Hoping to keep pot users away from dealers of harder drugs, the country in the late 1970s began allowing "coffee shops" to sell marijuana, which remains technically illegal. United States Since 1996, nearly half the states have allowed medical use of marijuana despite federal laws banning it, and some states are considering following the lead of Washington state and Colorado in legalising recreational use. Uruguay In December, Uruguay became the first nation to approve marijuana legalisation and regulation. AP - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom