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More Danes grow their own cannabis

esbe

hybridsfromhell
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http://cphpost.dk/national/more-danes-grow-their-own-cannabi

More Danes grow their own cannabis

Christian Wenande
February 25, 2013 - 21:44

While it is illegal to grow cannabis plants in Denmark, it is legal to buy and sell cannabis seeds

More and more Danes are growing cannabis plants in their own homes, many in order to self-medicate (Photo: Colourbox)
A large number of Danes are growing their own cannabis plants at home, according to a new investigation by drug researcher Helle Dahl.

Dahl, a researcher at the Centre for Alcohol and Drug Research at Aarhus University, said that her investigation suggested that there were at least 1,200 Danes who grew cannabis plants in their homes, but that many grow the plants for a reason other than getting high.

“There are a number of people who self-medicate against ADHD, as is the case with cancer and AIDS patients who also benefit from [cannabis],” Dahl told P3 radio station.

While it is illegal to grow the plants, it is legal to buy and sell cannabis seeds in Denmark and Dahl said that while there is a grey zone as a result, by growing their own cannabis people are not supporting the criminal element involved in the underground drug trade.

But while growing the plants is illegal, police are cracking down more often on the larger production facilities that have begun springing up in the country recently, which are able to produce up to 400 kilos of cannabis every year. That's just under one fifth of the total amount of cannabis confiscated in Denmark in 2011, according to a publication from last year entitled ‘Cannabis – forbrug, interventioner og markeder i Danmark’ (Cannabis – consumption, interventions and markets in Denmark) by the Centre for Alcohol and Drug Research.

The cannabis output from home growers, on the other hand, is relatively small.

Of 550 Danish home growers contacted for the study, only 22 indicated that their home production consisted of more than 100 plants and just five of them had more than 500 plants, which could provide 60 kilos of smoke-ready cannabis a year. Most of the growers had only between one and 50 plants.

“Most of the people grow cannabis for their own use. But people generally grow more plants than they need because you don’t know how much you get from your production beforehand,” Vibeke Asmussen Frank, one of the authors of the publication, told Berlingske newspaper.

The publication also attempts to identify just who the typically Danish cannabis grower really is. But aside from fact that they are mostly male and employed, there are no other general traits in common.

“There are too many Danes who smoke cannabis for them to be part of a marginalised group, and we are not surprised over how widespread growing cannabis actually is,” Frank said.

Related articles:
Majority supports legal cannabis
Legal cannabis rejected by government
Mayor and police at odds over cannabis approach
Experts: Zero-tolerance on ‘cannabis driving’ too severe
 

esbe

hybridsfromhell
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This is the third time the capital of Denmark, Copenhagen asks to try legal project. We have a lot of crime here due to cannabis illigal status, including several young dead by shootings.

http://cphpost.dk/local/mayors-reject-legal-cannabis-proposal

Mayors reject legal cannabis proposal

Jyllands-Posten
March 4, 2013 - 10:16
Ahead of conference on the subject, neighbouring councils express their disapproval of City Council's idea to legalise cannabis for a trial period

While neighbouring councils - both Danish and Swedish - have expressed their apprehension about Copenhagen's plan, the City Council will hold a conference later this month to re-fire the legal cannabis debate (Photo: Colourbox)
In Copenhagen, a majority of City Council dreams of legally selling cannabis from pharmacies throughout the city to residents who are over 18 and have a home address within the council's borders.

The plan would, according to Mayor Frank Jensen and his Socialdemokraterne (S) colleagues, be a blow to the gangs who finance a large part of their illegal activities with money earned through the illegal cannabis trade. The council also wants to have closer contact to young cannabis abusers, who today are left to interact with criminals.

Like flies to honey

The justice minister, Morten Bødskov (S), has already rejected City Council's proposal to legalise hash for a trial period, but in two weeks City Council will once again set focus on the subject when it hosts a conference on the legalisation of cannabis. Councillors also plan to release a more detailed proposal for the three-year trial.

But in advance of the conference, several mayors from Copenhagen's neighbouring councils are speaking out against the capital city's wish for a council-run hash market.

"I don't think it is a good idea," Herlev's mayor, Thomas Gyldal Petersen (S), said.

Neither does Helle Adelborg (S), the mayor of Hvidore.

"If you legalise hash, you send the wrong signal to the youth," Adelborg said. "I fear that children will interpret it as acceptable behaviour."

She also didn't think the idea of selling only to Copenhagen residents would work in practice.

"Running water doesn't understand council borders, and this proposal wouldn't either. I have a hard time believing that the cannabis would remain in Copenhagen."

There is also scepticism in Frederiksberg.

"Legal cannabis in Copenhagen would be like flies to honey for some of the most vulnerable youth throughout Greater Copenhagen," Frederiksberg's mayor, Jørgen Glenthøj (Konservative) said.

Swedes are "hysterical"

In November, 19 mayors of councils in southern Sweden wrote to Jensen to warn against the legalisation of cannabis in Copenhagen. In his response to the Swedes, Jensen wrote that with legalisation he hoped to take money away from the criminal element.

"In no way is the objective of legalisation to get more to smoke cannabis," Jensen wrote. "Therefore, it would continue to be forbidden for those under 18. And as long as there are restrictions, there is a risk of a black market. That is a basic fact."

City Council member Lars Aslan Rasmussen (S) dismissed the Swedish mayors' concerns.

"The Swedes have a hysterical approach to drugs and alcohol, and they have a huge illegal market," he said. "Just because the Swedes don't have control over their own misuse policies, that shouldn't mean that we are kept from trying a new approach."
Related articles:
Sweden urges city not to legalise cannabis
More Danes grow their own cannabis
Mayor and police at odds over cannabis approach
Frank Jensen on accommodating foreigners, legalising dope and setting the national agenda
Majority supports legal cannabis
 

esbe

hybridsfromhell
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http://cphpost.dk/local/copenhagen-looking-import-cannabis-us

Copenhagen looking to import cannabis from the US

Justin Cremer
March 12, 2013 - 13:22

Part of the city's plan to legalise cannabis, which will be presented at a conference on Friday, is to explore importing from two US states that recently legalised use of the substance.

Although two US states have legalised cannabis, there are still several legal barriers that would hinder Copenhagen from importing the substance

Ahead of a City Council cannabis conference on Friday, Copenhagen officials say they are ready to make another push to legalise the substance.

According to prepared documents from the council, the city is proposing a three-year trial, arguing that “the legal sale of cannabis will result in decreased gang criminality, more prevention and a better life for average cannabis users”.

An intriguing element of the plan calls for the possible import of cannabis from the US states of Colorado and Washington, where voters in November legalised its recreational use.

The Copenhagen Post spoke with the deputy mayor for social affairs, Mikkel Warming (Enhedslisten), about the city's plans.

“If we get the three-year trial, it will be important to work as quickly and effectively as possible, so we are looking abroad for where we could import cannabis,” Warming said. “Yes, we are looking at Colorado and Washington, but we're also looking at places like Great Britain, where there is state-controlled production of marijuana for medical purposes.”

Mikkel Warming said the the ban on cannabis has failed and it is time to try something new

“We realise of course that there are a lot of international conventions and regulations to deal with, but we think it is possible,” he said, adding that despite the production of heroin being illegal, Denmark is still able to legally import it for use in municipal injection rooms.

“The US states of Colorado and Washington recently legalised marijuana for recreational use, so it makes sense to learn from their experiences and to explore the possibility of importing from them.”

Warming said that at this point there has been no formal outreach to officials in Colorado or Washington about the legality or practicality of importing cannabis, but one of the main speakers at Friday's conference will be Peter Holmes, the city attorney of Seattle, Washington.

“It would be strange not to use the occasion to address practicalities with Mr Holmes,” Warming said. He added that Copenhagen would not make any arrangements with Colorado or Washington without discussing the issue with the appropriate federal authorities in the US.

“It is vital that the production and import is legal on all levels,” he said, adding that although cannabis is still an illegal substance on the federal level in the US, he still thinks a solution could be found. “It's possible if there is the political will for it in the United States.”

Regardless of the feasibility of importing cannabis from the US, Warming said that the conference aims to put pressure on the national government to convince parliament that the legalisation of cannabis is a good idea.

“This is common sense,” he said. “As local politicians, we are closer to reality. The ban on cannabis has failed. People can get it anywhere, it is mixed with harder drugs and it finances crime.”

“If we get the trial, which would be a three-year experiment, we will try it and then see what the results are,” Warming said. “If it is successful, we will work towards permanent legalisation in Copenhagen and the whole of Denmark.”

Warming said that, in addition to questions about how to get legal cannabis if the proposal is approved, there are still several details to work out, including who would be allowed to purchase cannabis from city-run dispensaries. Warming said that, due to concerns over “hash tourism”, sales would only be made to residents of Denmark over the age of 18. However, Warming said sales could further be restricted to residents of either the Greater Copenhagen area or just residents of the city itself.
 

mean mr.mustard

I Pass Satellites
Veteran
"If you legalise hash, you send the wrong signal to the youth," Adelborg said. "I fear that children will interpret it as acceptable behaviour."

:yoinks:

Isn't this the same country where people may legally whore out their animals for sex?

Hash doesn't seem so bad all of a sudden.

It's about time somebody legalized herb there!!

If you're free enough to perform in your very own home donkey show you should be free enough to be high for it right??
 

GMT

The Tri Guy
Veteran
I find it interesting that they are talking about hash rather than bud. Hash is by definition a processed and concentrated form of the drug. I suspect that the idea is to remove as much impurity and therefore to seek a reliable strength, so as to move the product towards medicine. However there are more reliable methods of doing this. GW pharma the uk company they made reference to, produce their products containing 2 active compounds, what they are talking about would contain all of the compounds, making it harder to maintain constant strength. Given the natural variability in this situation, I would have assumed that the approach should also legalize the sale of bud, which will have a greater variability, yet a lower strength, allowing greater flexibility and control over the strength of the effect of the product from a customers point of view.
 

esbe

hybridsfromhell
Mentor
Veteran
Isn't this the same country where people may legally whore out their animals for sex?

Hash doesn't seem so bad all of a sudden.

It's about time somebody legalized herb there!!

If you're free enough to perform in your very own home donkey show you should be free enough to be high for it right??

jeje, here its legal to fuck a cow but illegal to blow a jay. the fine for getting caught for that is around 500 usd first time, and more and more the next times.
 

sprinkl

Member
Veteran
God damn conservatives... How anybody still votes for someone with christian ties is beyond my human comprehension. Bunch of child sodomizing, lying bastards...

I hope for you the power of common sense will win in your country... Here in Belgium they're trying hard to tackle the image of the most natural medicine we've ever had, again. More and more bad studies about cannabis in the news, nothing good ever... Can you say media control!
 

esbe

hybridsfromhell
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http://cphpost.dk/national/life-after-cannabis-prohibition-city-announces-its-ambitions

Life after cannabis prohibition: The city announces its ambitions

Peter Stanners
March 15, 2013 - 22:53

The Copenhagen Model will see the production, sale and consumption of cannabis legalised, but many questions remain

The conference was the latest attempt by mayor Frank Jensen (Socialdemokraterne), centre, to legalise cannabis in Copenhagen for a trial period

The tide is turning against the criminalisation of cannabis. Portugal, the Netherlands and several US states have to varying degrees decriminalised its use and now Copenhagen has decided to join the movement with a three-year trial to decriminalise the drug.

But while city officials envisage Copenhagen undertaking the world’s most ambitious decriminalisation project – both the production and sale would be legalised – large questions remain about what shape the so-called 'Copenhagen Model' would actually take.

Today around 150 attendees gathered in the City Hall’s banquet room to hear the City Council’s plan.

“We would like to have fewer smokers, a lower incidence of cannabis psychosis and less crime,” the deputy mayor for social affairs, Mikkel Warming (Enhedslisten), told the audience. “But criminalising cannabis doesn’t work. It’s here to stay. Legalisation won’t be a miracle cure, but it will open up solutions to some of the problems that cannabis creates.”

The conflict is this. One the one hand, the city wants to take the one billion kroner cannabis trade out of the hands of criminals. But the fear is that legalisation could increase consumption. Given the documented connections between mental illness and cannabis use, more users could mean higher rate of mental health problems in Copenhagen.

So the question becomes whether it is possible to decriminalise cannabis while also minimising the number of people who use it.


Seattle city attorney Peter Holmes argues that the US government will soon have no choice but to decriminalise cannabis

One of the primary goals of the trial is to take the cannabis trade out of the hands of criminals. This would require offering a competitive product at competitive prices from locations in the city that are as accessible as the illegal market.

The city is open to both external and domestic suppliers for its product, which would most likely be sold through an established chain of stores, such as pharmacies. This would be easier to implement during a trial period as having to construct new specialist outlets or expecting the private sector to step up would likely take much longer to get running.

The city has not settled on a final model, however, nor has it established a concrete plan for preventing cannabis tourism and ensuring that vulnerable users get the help they need.

Let the state control it

There was plenty of advice to be heard from experts today, however. Among them was Willy Pedersen, a professor of sociology at the University of Oslo. He argued that that the best way to legalise cannabis, while also minimising its use, would be to establish state-run dispensaries similar to the Swedish and Norwegian alcohol monopolies.

Pedersen argued that if weren’t state controlled, the private sector would seek to use ‘cannabis culture’ to encourage more people to consume cannabis and boost its profits.

“What we all want is a reduced consumption of cannabis,” Pedersen told The Copenhagen Post. “But the cannabis culture romanticises cannabis use and encourages people to consume it, while privatised sale creates an incentive for businesses to sell as much product as possible.”

But if pot were in the hands of the state, would crime really be reduced? This is one of the major goals of the trial as Copenhagen's increase in gun crime has been attributed gangs fighting over a share in the highly lucrative illegal cannabis trade.

Speaking to the conference, Kim Møller from the Centre for Alcohol and Drug Research at Aarhus University said that while crime may drop in the long-term after decriminalisation, in the short-term the gangs would simply move to fighting over other sources of income.

Mental health issues

The connection between mental health problems and cannabis use is seen by many as the most troubling aspect of legalising cannabis. The city argues, however, that a legal network of cannabis outlets would provide new points of contact between social workers and at-risk users. Their hope is that more users would find treatment if legalisation were to be enacted.


Over 150 people attended the city council's conference about legalising cannabis in Copenhagen (Photo: Peter Stanners)
Dan Orbe from the council’s anonymous drug counselling organisation, U-Turn, argued that the city needed to recognise that it might need to set aside more funding for counselling and preventative programmes. Orbe also added that the city would probably have to completely overhaul its current strategy for preventing drug use among young people.

Laws and conventions

Gearing the police and social services to deal with changes brought about by legal cannabis may not be the most pressing problem facing the city, however. Denmark is a signatory of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs that controls the production and sale of cannabis.

Not wanting to break their commitment to the convention, the Netherlands’ novel solution was to make cannabis illegal but not punishable under certain conditions. This non-enforcement policy makes consumption in coffee shops legal, even though the coffee shops still have to source their products from illegal sources.

The Copenhagen Model will challenge the convention more directly, however, by decriminalising the possession and sale of cannabis. This approach more closely follow the strategy of the US state of Washington, where in November 2012, voters passed a law that legalised the possession and cultivation of cannabis.

Seattle's city attorney, Peter Holmes, explained that the initiative passed by promising voters that cannabis would be heavily taxed and regulated.

Cannabis possession and cultivation in the United States is still highly illegal under federal law, however, meaning that the state of Washington - along with Colorado, which also passed legalisation in November - has placed itself in a tricky position with Washington, DC.

But Holmes argues that there is no option left except legalising cannabis.

“The prohibition of cannabis has not achieved its stated objectives because the demand is too strong,” Holmes told The Copenhagen Post, adding that pressure from the US to maintain Draconian legislation on cannabis may be a reason why the Danish government has repeatedly turned down the city’s attempts to legalise the drug, most recently last year.

But as more countries move to legalise the drug, Holmes argues that the US will have to accept that prohibition has not worked

“The world hasn’t ended [after cannabis was legalised]. What we are witnessing now is just the crack in the dyke and more states will soon follow our lead with legalisation," he said. "The genie is out of the bottle.”

Holmes was careful to state that Copenhagen needed to find its own solution, however, and that what works in Seattle may not work in Copenhagen.

“The conference has confirmed that we need to find our own plan for Copenhagen,” Mayor Frank Jensen (Socialdemokraterne) said in his closing statements. “We need to end a failed policy and take responsibility. City Hall now needs to take the lead.”

Related articles:
Stop criminalising pot smokers, demonstrators say
Copenhagen looking to import cannabis from the US
Majority supports legal cannabis
Legal cannabis rejected by government
Could legalising pot clean up the rot?
 

esbe

hybridsfromhell
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http://m.theatlanticcities.com/poli...lize-marijuana-puts-it-odds-rest-demark/5035/

The Next Marijuana Legalization Fight? Copenhagen vs. the Rest of Denmark

The city of Copenhagen wants to legalize cannabis and, if possible, get supplies of the drug from the United States. Following a Europe-wide trend, Denmark’s capital has been planning a three-year experiment that would aim to wrest the city’s soft drugs trade away from criminal gangs and place it under direct municipal control. But while city officials overwhelmingly support the move, the Danish national government may not let them proceed.

Last year the national government rejected more tentative plans that Copenhagen city councillors had approved by 39 votes to 9. So it's no coincidence that representatives from Seattle were flown in to the city for a conference last week, invited to help craft a policy that stands a better chance of surviving resistance from non-metropolitan Danish and neighboring Swedish mayors. The move reveals two longstanding fault lines: one between the progressive city and its more conservative hinterland, and another between those who see the drug trade as a distant metropolitan phenomenon and those who have to live with it on their doorstep.

In Copenhagen, violence and sleaze have never been accepted as the inevitable backdrop to urban life.

The distinctively Scandinavian legalization scheme Copenhagen is working towards could be influential worldwide. One issue is key: No one wants the "Copenhagen model" to turn the city into a Little Amsterdam, a place aping long-standing Dutch laws where tourists flock to get baked in commercially run "coffee shops." Copenhagen, by contrast, would prefer to keep cannabis sales under state monopoly, fixing prices and importing supplies themselves, possibly from U.S. states Colorado or Washington, which have recently legalized marijuana (though Washington is already chary about this). To prevent drug tourism, only Danish passport holders over 18 would be allowed to buy, while outlets might also restrict sales further by demanding proof of Copenhagen residency.

If the idea of a state-sponsored weed peddler sounds bizarre, it’s not entirely without Nordic precedents. Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Iceland all sell strong alcohol for home consumption exclusively through a public monopoly of state-owned liquor chains, while Sweden was experimenting with state-controlled bars as early as 1860. Copenhagen already has a successful, loosely related project offering free heroin for addicts that is credited with cutting deaths, reducing public nuisance and getting some users clean.

What the plans have little to do with is a breezily tolerant attitude. Following past counterproductive attempts to crack down on drug gangs, the city’s prime objective is to starve criminals out of the market. Back in 2004 when police raided drug dealers in the city’s Freetown Christiania, a once squatted alternative district housed in a former barracks, the drug trade actually proliferated and spread, resulting in a bloody gangland shooting the following year. It’s crimes like these that have kick-started the city’s push for legalization, rather than a belief in the public’s right to get stoned. In this small, wealthy and largely calm country, violence and sleaze have never been accepted as the inevitable backdrop to urban life, and with even Freetown Christiania being brought to heel this year, Copenhagen’s legalization plans fit into a wider pattern of tighter state control.

Copenhagen is no island, however. Around 35 percent of the 5 1/2 million strong Danish population live in its metropolitan area, so while it’s economically and culturally dominant, the city doesn’t quite have the casting vote in national politics. Mayors in suburban districts outside the city’s official limits are wary of legalization, as are Swedish authorities, fearing a tide of drugs flowing the short distance across the Øresund Bridge. This is understandable, as the new bridge has bound the two countries so closely that Copenhagen and the Swedish city of Malmö are increasingly being considered as a single metropolitan area. It’s also somewhat myopic – Copenhagen already fills at weekends with leery Swedes chasing Denmark’s cheaper booze and easier-to-buy cannabis as it is. In creating a heavily regulated scheme that draws on the Scandinavian temperance tradition, Copenhagen is trying to sidestep these concerns. Failure to get the plan pushed through will only highlight the sense of disconnect between the city and its region.

Keywords: Copenhagen, Marijuana, Pot Legalization, drugs
 

esbe

hybridsfromhell
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http://cphpost.dk/local/cannabis-supporters-take-streets

video http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=BerSFOYcOWg

Cannabis supporters take to the streets

Justin Cremer
April 20, 2013 - 21:38
While city officials continue their quest for legalisation, hundreds turn out to the city centre for '420 day' celebration

300-500 people marched through Copenhagen at Saturday's pro-cannabis rally (All photos: Justin Cremer)
Hundreds of supporters of legalising cannabis participated in a demonstration and march in central Copenhagen on a day that it is an unofficial holiday of sorts for smokers around the world.

Written the American way, April 20 is 4/20, a popular shorthand term for smoking marijuana and a day that has become a rallying cry for cannabis supporters.

In central Copenhagen, '420 Cannabis Day: Retten til et fri valg' (The write to a free choice), was organised by Khodr ‘Cutter’ Mehri, a vocal advocate of legalising cannabis who last year opened an Amsterdam-style 'coffee shop' that was shut down after nine months.

Mehri, who was recently released from jail after serving 24 days for an arrest on drug selling charges, told The Copenhagen Post that it is important for marijuana smokers be public about their use and their support for changing Denmark's current laws.

That, he said, was why he led the demonstration on a march from the town hall square, Rådhuspladsen, around Kongens Nytorv and back.

"It's important to be out and be seen," he said. "If other Danes, and tourists, see that many people openly support cannabis, then they might go home and think it is okay to smoke it tonight."

About 1,800 people signed up for the event on Facebook, and Mehri said he was very happy with the turnout though he wished that more "closet smokers" would have come out. He estimated the crowd at around 500, while a Copenhagen Police officer providing traffic support guessed the crowd at slightly over 300.


Maria Pedersen said that people would be more sure of what they were smoking if it were legal and regulated
Participants tout legalisation

One of the marchers was 28-year-old Maria Pedersen, who said that, even though she had chosen not to smoke cannabis today because of plans later in the evening, she supports legalisation.

"If it was controlled and regulated, people could get a healthier and cleaner product," she said. "I think it would also cut down on violence - both the gang violence that goes with the illegal drug trade and the more casual violence from those who go out drinking. There would be a lot fewer fights if people could get legally stoned."

For David, a participant in a 'Cannabis = Medicine" t-shirt who did not want to provide his last name, the event was about free choice and promoting the various uses of cannabis.


David, who did not give his last name, pointed to cannabis's medical uses
"I believe that everybody should have a right to smoke it if they want to, but marijuana is also a plant with many medical and practical purposes. Hemp is a very eco-friendly and low-cost alternative for making clothing, animal feed, fuel and even homes."

He pointed to the success of hemp houses in South Africa, where according to a 2011 Associated Press report, entrepreneurs using a mix of hemp and lime have found success in building sustainable housing.

Nikolai Henriksen, 32, also pointed to the many uses of a plant that he said is misunderstood.

"The demonisation of cannabis has contributed greatly to this world's addiction to fossil fuels," Henriksen said. "The real 'green' solution is marijuana."


Nikolai Henriksen "bangs the drum of legalization", the political hopeful said
Henriksen, who will be seeking a place on the ballot in autumn's local elections representing the pro-cannabis Hampepartiet Frederiksberg, said the plant's most well-known use is also beneficial.

"Smoking cannabis frees people up somehow so that they can relax and enjoy the day instead of running around dealing with their jobs and everyday stress."

Deputy mayor asks for support

After the 90-minute parade through the city, Copenhagen's deputy mayor for social affairs, Mikkel Warming (Enhdeslisten), spoke to the crowd about the city's efforts to legalise cannabis for a three-year trial period. Warming, along with a majority on the City Council, are pushing for legalisation by arguing that it would take the estimated one billion annual kroner generated by the illegal cannabis trade out of the hands of gangs.

"It's a lot of money and the gangs are so happy to have that money that they have begun shooting people in our streets for it," Warming said. "We think it is time to think differently."

Warming said that besides the gang violence, the current cannabis laws also slap unnecessary punishments on regular people who choose to smoke cannabis.

"Prohibition has criminalised a lot of people who aren't doing anything particularly bad," he said.

He added that he would rather that his 12-year-old daughter, if she were to become curious about marijuana one day, be able to buy the drug in a controlled environment.

"Prohibition creates insecurity because the many people who smoke cannabis are forced to interact with people who don't wish them well and want to sell them other, more dangerous substances,” Warming said. He added, however, that smoking too much cannabis, just like drinking too much beer or whisky, can be dangerous.

Although Warming and his cohorts on City Council support legalisation, and recently held a high-profile cannabis conference, efforts to get the national government to approve legalisation have yet to bear fruit.

But with a majority of city councillors from Mayor Frank Jensen's Socialdemorkaterne (S) party having formally adopted cannabis legalisation as a campaign plank, they will continue to apply pressure to national S leaders, including PM Helle Thorning-Schimdt and Justice Minister Morten Bødskov.

Warming encouraged the large crowd that marched past Christiansborg earlier in the day to push MPs to support the city's plan.

“If, against all of our expectations, the trial doesn’t work, we can always give all the money and cannabis back to the gangs after three years,” he said. “But I think it will work.”


Related articles:
Life after cannabis prohibition: The city announces its ambitions
Up in smoke: Notorious ‘coffee shop’ closes its doors
Stop criminalising pot smokers, demonstrators say
Copenhagen looking to import cannabis from the US
 

esbe

hybridsfromhell
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http://cphpost.dk/news/local/copenhageners-cautiously-support-legal-cannabis-provinces-unconvinced

Copenhageners cautiously support legal cannabis, but provinces unconvinced

RW
May 6, 2013 - 14:54
Poll reveals a solid ’maybe’ to the idea of a legal marijuana trial

Cannabis supporters in Copenhagen joined protesters from 36 countries who marched over the weekend to show their support for legal cannabis
Copenhagen's mayor, Frank Jensen (Socialdemokraterne), has asked for a three-year trial of legal marijuana in Copenhagen and he has a majority of City Hall on his side. Now a slim majority of Danes have said that they think that taking the idea of legal cannabis for a test drive in the capital is a good idea, according to a poll conducted by Rambøll for Jyllands-Posten newspaper.

20130504-hash_22Mb.jpg


Just over 52 percent of those responding said that legal hash was a good idea, while 42 percent rejected the plan. Support depended very much on the age and location of the respondent. Young people were strongly in favour, as were those who live in and around Copenhagen. Support thinned out the further that those responding lived from the capital city. For example, only 38 percent of those living in northern Jutland thought legal marijuana was a good idea.

The results did not surprise City Hall spokesperson Ikram Sarwar (Socialdemokraterne).

"Copenhagen residents and those living in the metropolitan area know the consequences of the current situation,” Sarwar told Jyllands-Posten. “They deal with drug dealers in the park and other consequences of the criminal marijuana market and therefore want new initiatives.”

Sarwar said that the poll results are an acknowledgement that current methods being used to control the drug trade - more police, tougher enforcement, and stop-and-search zones – are not working.

The justice minister, Morten Bødskov (Socialdemokraterne), has vetoed previous legal marijuana proposals and remains unconvinced that the idea of a trial is a good one, as do the mayors from towns surrounding the capital and politicians in Sweden.

"Healthy scepticism is a good idea, and legalising cannabis will not fix every problem,” said Sarwar. “Smoking marijuana won’t become healthy just because we make it legal and there will still need to be information and counselling available.”

Even those poll respondents in favour of the trial were reluctant to allow cannabis to be offered at the corner shop, preferring a more controlled and limited availability.

Not every city councillor, or member of Socialdemokraterne, is thrilled by the idea of a legal cannabis trial, however. Council member Sophie Led quit Socialdemokraterne because she did not want to support its efforts to legalise marijuana in Copenhagen.

"It is totally frivolous to launch a study in which you have not clearly defined what you will use the results for,” Led told Jyllands-Posten. “Some say it is about fighting the illegal drug market, some say it is about contact with drug addicts and others say it is to prevent young people from starting to smoke cannabis.”

Led also said that a trial could cost as much as a billion kroner and that the council has not said what they plan to do with any results they may gather during the trial period.

Sarwar countered that resistance to the idea was similar to the debate surrounding injection rooms for heroin users when that idea was first put on the table.

"There was criticism at first, but now they are in place and we can see the positive results," said Sarwar.

Related articles:
Life after cannabis prohibition: The city announces its ambitions
Cannabis supporters take to the streets
Legal cannabis rejected by government
Legal marijuana gets one step closer
‘Hash Lars’ battles drug laws through Facebook campaign
 

esbe

hybridsfromhell
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http://www.nyuinterventional.com/christiania-hash-pushers-will-pay-tax/

Christiania hash pushers will pay tax

Friday, May 31st, 2013

Although proponents of the controversial strait Pusher Street in Christiania operates criminal business, they would like on the right side of the law and are recorded as ordinary traders so that they can pay taxes.

Vendors have even gone together on a common position on the legality of marijuana sales, writes Politiken.

– We can guarantee that it is desirable scenario for 99 percent of sales. Everyone would rather be standing here with a legitimate store, says a prominent drug dealer, who wishes to remain anonymous, told Politiken.

Would like to be legal
This report pushers, each day selling marijuana from about 25-30 stalls at one of Europe’s largest illegal cannabis markets into the discussion of Copenhagen’s proposal for the legalization of marijuana sales in the capital.

– There’s nothing we’d rather than being able to go up in the evening and put the money in a night safe, like other grocery stores do, say pusher Politiken.

The move evokes however sharp reactions from Mayor Frank Jensen (S) and Minister of Justice Morten Bødskov (S).

Minister: NO!

– The answer to any proposal of legalization are three letters: N – E – J says Bødskov.

– I can only give pushers one advice: Drop your illegal activities and find a decent job, says Frank Jensen to Politiken.

pushers believes, as with the Copenhagen Police, the turnover of the entire Copenhagen market is between 750 million and 1 billion.

pushers refuse to Politiken that they are biker henchmen. They claim that biker and gang crime accounts for only between 10 and 20 percent of marijuana deliveries.

/ REUTERS /
 

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