On Wednesday, the Colombian House of Representatives passed the first draft of a drug crop bill that would decriminalize the growing of certain illicit substances - including marijuana.
While "the processing and trafficking of drugs would remain subject to criminal sentencing," the bill's primary supporter, Representative Hugo Velasquez Jaramillo, says that it would decriminalize the growing of coca, opium poppies and marijuana.
Colombia's Minister of Justice, Juan Carlos Esguerra does not agree with Jaramillo. According to Colombia Reports, Esguerra says that this is a "turning point in the fight against drugs," and is not time to make a change in policy.
As lawyers and sporting commissions in the United States are fighting over whether MMA fighter Nick Diaz had violated drug rules in testing positive for marijuana, Australian sport commissions deemed today that marijuana should be removed from the list of performance-enhancing substances.
The word came today from the Coalition of Major Professional and Participation Sports, representing Australian Rugby Union, Australian Rugby League, Cricket Australia, Australian Football League, Football Federation of Australia, Tennis Australia and Netball Australia.
Following the news that a Dutch court upheld the decision to ban tourists from buying marijuana in the Netherlands, a councillor of the United Kingdom's Green Party has suggested that Brighton be "the new Amsterdam" of Europe.
Ben Duncan, the Home Affairs speaker of the UK's Green Party says that licensing cannabis shops in Brighton would boost tourism, according to The Telegraph.
"Cannabis use can be harmful, but all analysis shows that it's much less likely to harm you than, say, driving a car, or crossing a road," says Duncan. “So what about it? Brighton, the liberal, tolerant, tourist capital of Europe?”
Eight British Columbia mayors sent a letter today to Premier Christy Clark as well as opposition party leaders in the hopes that they will support legitimate and regulated marijuana.
The mayors argue that citizens are looking for a new approach to marijuana policy.
"It is time to tax and strictly regulate marijuana under a public health framework," the letter implores. "Regulating marijuana would allow the government to rationally address the health concerns of marijuana, raise government tax revenue and eliminate the huge profits from the marijuana industry that flow directly to organized crime."
