Health and law enforcement officials around the nation are scrambling to figure out how to regulate medical marijuana now that the federal government has decided it will no longer prosecute legal users or providers. For years, since the first medical marijuana laws were passed in the mid-1990s, many local and state governments could be confident, if not complacent, knowing that marijuana would be kept in check because it remained illegal under federal law, and that hard-nosed federal prosecutors were not about to forget it. But with the Justice Department's announcement last week that it would not prosecute people who use marijuana for medical purposes in states where it is legal, local and state officials say they will now have to take on the job themselves.
For years, since the first medical marijuana laws were passed in the mid-1990s, many local and state governments could be confident, if not complacent, knowing that marijuana would be kept in check because it remained illegal under federal law, and that hard-nosed federal prosecutors were not about to forget it.
But with the Justice Department's announcement last week that it would not prosecute people who use marijuana for medical purposes in states where it is legal, local and state officials say they will now have to take on the job themselves.
The escalating instability in Afghanistan, corruption and war in Africa, organized crime in Central Asia and Eastern Europe, and cartel wars in Latin America are all contributing to the flow of illegal drugs into Europe. New figures on the state of the drugs problem in Europe will be released by the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) in the first week of November. The figures, which in recent years have seen stabilization in addiction figures and even reversal of some drug trends, are likely to be impacted by increasingly fluid security situations around the world. The continuing instability in Afghanistan remains a huge concern on many levels, including the effect it is having on Europe's illegal drug trade. The seemingly unstoppable flow of heroin and opium out of the country feeds the habits of an estimated 15 million addicts worldwide, with Europe, Russia and Iran consuming half of Afghanistan's supply. With Afghanistan producing 92 percent of the world's opium and trafficking the equivalent of 3,500 tons of opium per year in the form of heroin, the war-torn Central Asian country is Europe's biggest pusher. As the security situation worsens and the focus of Western strategists remains largely on a military defeat of the Taliban rather than a coordinated attempt to both destroy the insurgents' main cash crop while providing poor famers with an alternative source of income, experts believe Europe's dependency on Afghanistan is unlikely to wane any time soon. The situation in countries surrounding Afghanistan is also likely to keep the flood gates open.
New figures on the state of the drugs problem in Europe will be released by the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) in the first week of November. The figures, which in recent years have seen stabilization in addiction figures and even reversal of some drug trends, are likely to be impacted by increasingly fluid security situations around the world.
The continuing instability in Afghanistan remains a huge concern on many levels, including the effect it is having on Europe's illegal drug trade. The seemingly unstoppable flow of heroin and opium out of the country feeds the habits of an estimated 15 million addicts worldwide, with Europe, Russia and Iran consuming half of Afghanistan's supply. With Afghanistan producing 92 percent of the world's opium and trafficking the equivalent of 3,500 tons of opium per year in the form of heroin, the war-torn Central Asian country is Europe's biggest pusher.
As the security situation worsens and the focus of Western strategists remains largely on a military defeat of the Taliban rather than a coordinated attempt to both destroy the insurgents' main cash crop while providing poor famers with an alternative source of income, experts believe Europe's dependency on Afghanistan is unlikely to wane any time soon. The situation in countries surrounding Afghanistan is also likely to keep the flood gates open.
On the firefly platform on sunny goodge street Violent hash-smoker shook a chocolate machine Bobbed in an eating scene Smashing into neon streets in their stillness Smearing their eyes on the crazy kali goddess Listenin' to sounds of mingus mellow fantastic "My, my", they sigh "My, my", they sigh
