Europe

DrugSense

Belfast Telegraph, 07 May 2012 - David Cameron has confirmed the Government would outlaw drug driving in England and Wales as he praised the family of a schoolgirl killed by a cannabis user for their "brave" campaign to change the law. Lillian Groves was 14 when she was knocked down and the driver went on to serve just four months in jail.

New York Times, 02 May 2012 - A policy barring foreign tourists from buying marijuana took effect in three southern provinces on Tuesday, with attention focused on the city of Maastricht, which borders Belgium and is near Germany, where more than a million foreigners a year go to buy marijuana. Marijuana is technically illegal in the Netherlands, but the sale of small quantities is tolerated. Under the new policy, coffee shops that sell marijuana are allowed to sell it to only 2,000 registered customers each, who must be legal residents. Most shops in Maastricht closed on Tuesday rather than comply with the plan. One cafe opened just long enough to provoke two legal conflicts in hopes of derailing the policy. The cafe turned away a group of foreigners, who then filed a discrimination complaint with the police. Then it started selling anyone without checking for passes. The policy is not scheduled to take effect in Amsterdam, home to about a third of the country's marijuana coffee shops, until next year. - --- MAP posted-by: Matt

Croydon Advertiser, 01 May 2012 - AS HE listens to a drugs expert explain why roadside testing devices would save lives if used in the UK, Gary Groves' eyes begin to well-up. It is almost two years since his 14-year-old daughter Lillian was killed outside their New Addington home by a speeding driver who took cannabis before getting behind the wheel.

Sheffield Telegraph, 01 May 2012 - SOUTH Yorkshire had the highest ratio of cannabis factories found per 100,000 residents last year, new figures reveal. A study by the Association of Chief Police Officers reveals that over the last 12 months there were 851 cannabis farms discovered in South Yorkshire -- the equivalent of 64 per 100,000 residents.

New York Times, 28 Apr 2012 - PARIS - The Dutch government's plan to prohibit the purchase of marijuana by nonresidents cleared an important hurdle on Friday, when a court in The Hague dismissed a lawsuit brought by shop owners challenging the plan on the grounds that it was discriminatory. The court agreed with the government that the prohibition was justified because of crime associated with people who travel to the Netherlands to buy marijuana and hashish, a resin derived from the cannabis plant. Although illegal in the Netherlands, soft drugs are tolerated. Licensed shops, called coffee shops, have been allowed to sell them since 1997, and Dutch citizens may grow up to five marijuana plants for personal use without fear of prosecution.

The Copenhagen Post, 19 Apr 2012 - the Location of Copenhagen's First Permanent Injection Room Has Been Found in the City's Vesterbro District After years of political wrangling, Copenhagen City Council decided yesterday that a community centre on Istedgade in Vesterbro will be the site of Copenhagen's first permanent injection room.

Evening Standard, 16 Apr 2012 - GW Pharmaceuticals is to pocket an =8011.9 million (UKP9.7 million) payment after its cannabis-based medicine Sativex reached the target number of patients needed for a cancer pain trial programme. The payment - by Spanish drugmaker Almirall - comes after GW successfully bought Sativex onto the market as a prescription medicine for MS sufferers. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom

New York Times, 03 Apr 2012 - AMSTERDAM - The scene at the 420 Cafe on a recent Friday was typical of what many travelers have come to associate with Amsterdam. Behind the bar, Janne Svensson, 34, a self-described "cannabis refugee" from Norway, weighed out small quantities of marijuana and hashish for her customers, many from foreign countries. They sat quietly, smoking and sipping coffee, as familiar strains of Jimi Hendrix drifted softly from the stereo and giant manta rays cavorted in a nature video on a big-screen television. While there are many attractions that draw visitors to the Netherlands - including the friendly and straightforward people, world-class museums, charming architecture and elegant canal scenes - nearly a quarter of this city's more than four million foreign tourists a year will visit its coffee shops, where the sale of small quantities of cannabis is tolerated.