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07/11/2012
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Fonte: Folha SP
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Data: 07/11/2012
Colorado e Washington legalizam uso recreativo da maconha nos EUA
FERNANDA EZABELLA
ENVIADA ESPECIAL A DENVER, COLORADO (EUA)
Colorado e Washington são os primeiros Estados americanos a legalizar o uso recreativo da
maconha, após referendos votados nesta terça-feira (6) junto com a eleição presidencial que
reelegeu o democrata Barack Obama.
Os resultados colocam os dois Estados em choque direto com o governo federal, que
continuará considerando a droga de alto risco e sem teor medicinal. O Departamento de
Justiça afirmou que sua política não mudará.
No Colorado, com mais de 50% das urnas apuradas, 52,7% dos votos foram a favor da
medida. Já em Washington, onde a campanha do sim arrecadou o equivalente a R$ 12
milhões, passou com 55% dos votos. Em Oregon, um referendo similar não foi aprovado pela
população.
Em ambas regiões, a posse de até 28 gramas de maconha será legalizada para maiores de 21
anos. Também serão permitidas a venda e taxação da droga em lojas licenciadas pelos
Estados, num sistema parecido com controle de bebidas alcoólicas.
"Ainda temos muito trabalho a fazer para implementar. Mas, pelo menos, no ano que vem não
teremos mais 10.000 pessoas sendo presas por causa de marijuana", disse Mason Tvert, um
dos diretores da campanha, em seu discurso de vitória para cerca de 200 pessoas que
acompanhavam a apuração dos votos num bar em Denver.
Moradora de Broomfield, Colorado, a aposentada Jean Henderson, 73, disse ter votado pela
legalização. "Não é pior do que o álcool, e de qualquer forma é amplamente usada no
Colorado. O Estado pode se beneficiar dos impostos em vez de colocar as pessoas na cadeia",
disse.
A legalização da maconha deve acontecer em 30 dias, e a abertura de lojas só deve ocorrer
em 2014, com possível interferência do governo federal. As medidas também legalizam plantio
de cânhamo para fabricação de produtos como tecidos e alimentos.
Segundo os organizadores do referendo no Colorado, a medida prevê US$ 60 milhões por ano
em novos impostos para o Estado, começando em 2014. "É uma receita que atualmente está
na mão de cartéis, no submundo, e que agora poderá ser capturada pelo Estado", disse à
Folha Brian Vicente, principal proponente da causa, que tentou em 2006 um referendo
parecido.
USO MEDICINAL
Colorado, Washington e Oregon já estão entre os 17 Estados que, junto com o Distrito de
Columbia, onde fica a capital dos EUA, Washington DC, autorizam o uso médico da maconha.
Também na eleição de terça, o Estado de Massachusetts aprovou o uso medicinal da droga.
Segundo o jornal "The Boston Globe", com 49% dos votos apurados, 63% tinham votado a
favor da medida.
O uso medicinal está liberado a partir de 2013 para pessoas com doenças debilitantes que
tenham permissão médica. Elas poderão comprar maconha em centros de distribuição do
Estado.
O governo federal considera a planta uma droga de alto risco e liderou uma série de
apreensões contra fazendeiros e lojas na Califórnia entre 2011 e 2012, após o fracasso do
referendo para legalizar seu uso recreativo em 2010.
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Fonte: Guardian
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Data: 07/11/2012
Colorado and Washington enjoy their marijuana moment
Pot users celebrate historic victory – but drug's continuing illegality under federal law promises
confusion
Pro-cannabis protesters were celebrating in Colorado and Washington – but were left
disappointed in Oregon. Photograph: Alan Porritt/EPA
Marijuana users and activists celebrated the drug's legalisation inColorado and Washington as
landmark victories on Wednesday but uncertainty over the federal government's response
tempered jubilation.
Voters in both states on Tuesday approved amendments legalising the recreational use of
marijuana, historic decisions that reflect growing disenchantment across the US with the
decades-old "war on drugs".
A coalition of pot shop dispensaries, civil rights advocates and former law enforcers argued that
legalisation would hit drug cartels' profits, boost state tax revenues and reduce the mass
incarceration of African Americans and Latinos.
"I really think this is the beginning of the end for marijuana prohibition, not only in the US, but in
many countries across the world, including the UK," said Sean McAllister, a former assistant
attorney general in Colorado who supported the change. "We didn't just legalise it – we created
a regulatory system."
Norm Stamper, a former Seattle police chief and member of the groupLaw Enforcement Against
Prohibition, said he was very happy. "After 40 years of the racist, destructive exercise in futility
that is the war on drugs, my home state of Washington has now put us on a different path."
Beau Kilmer, co-director of the Rand Drug Policy Research Centre, called the votes
groundbreaking.
Once the elections are certified – which could take up to two months – personal possession of
up to an ounce (28.5 grams) of marijuana will be legal for anyone aged 21 or over in
Washington and Colorado. Pot, previously available for medicinal purposes at dispensaries, will
be sold and taxed at state-licensed stores.
Washington still bans personal cultivation, but Colorado will allow six plants per person. Neither
state allows public use. Voters in Oregon rejected legalisation in their state.
Social media erupted with jokes and puns, many focusing on Denver's nickname as the Mile
High City and Colorado's official song, Rocky Mountain High.
Questions abound over whether Colorado and Washington will become Amsterdam-style
magnets for marijuana tourism, and over how federal authorities will respond.
The justice department said federal law making pot illegal remained unchanged. The Obama
administration has used federal law to crack down on dispensaries in California and elsewhere,
making some Colorado and Washington dispensaries nervous of a backlash. "We don't know
what's going to happen – no clue," said one Denver store owner, declining to be named.
McAllister, the former assistant attorney general, predicted that Obama, secure in a second
term, would leave Colorado alone because its regulations were tighter and clearer than the
nebulous regulations which left California's open to abuse.
State leaders had opposed the legalisation but promised to respect the vote.
"This will be a complicated process, but we intend to follow through," said the Democratic
governor, John Hickenlooper. "That said, federal law still says marijuana is an illegal drug, so
don't break out the Cheetos or Goldfish too quickly."
Mike Coffman, a re-elected Republican congressman, told the Guardian: "I need to see what
other states are doing but clearly if there is a sentiment that is moving nationally to legalise
marijuana, then I certainly respect the decisions by the states. And I would support the forming
of legislation at the federal level. But I don't know if I'm there yet. I need to study and see what
the other states are doing."
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Fonte: Guardian
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Data: 07/11/2012
Marijuana ballot measures: US voters send mixed message on pot
Voters were deciding on legalization in some states while others weighed medical cannabis
schemes. How did they fare?
Medical marijuana on sale in Denver. Voters in Colorado and Washington have backed
legalising its sale for recreational use. Photograph: Rick Wilking/Reuters
The results are in from the US 2012 elections, and among the many issues voters weighed in
on were several ballot initiatives regulating the sale and legality of marijuana. The pot measures
in Oregon, Washington, Montana and Colorado seemed set to pass. Here is how they broke
down on election night:
Massachusetts
Measure: Eliminating state civil and criminal penalties for patients who use medical marijuana
Result: Yes, 63% to 37%
How we called it: Yes, by 25 to 30 percentage points
Arkansas
Measure: Legalizing the use of medical marijuana and establishing nonprofit dispensaries to
supply the drug
Result: Against, 51% to 49%
How we called it: Against, by 15 to 20 percentage points
Colorado
Measure: Legalizing marijuana use for those 21 years and over. It would also be regulated and
taxed much like tobacco and alcohol
Result: Yes, 55% to 45%
How we called it: Yes, by 5 to 10 percentage points
Montana
Measure: Impose tighter restrictions on the use, cultivation and distribution of medical
marijuana
Result: For, 57% to 43%
How we called it: For, by 15 to 30 percentage points
Oregon
Measure: Legalizing the use and cultivation of marijuana without a license, while a commission
would regulate commercial cultivation/sale
Result: No, 55% to 45%
How we called it: No, by 5 to 10 percentage points
Washington
Measure: Loosening restrictions on the sale, production and use of marijuana, with a 25%
excise tax imposed on commercial sales of the drug
Result: Yes, 55% to 45%
How we called it: Yes, by 10 to 20 percentage points
Photograph: Juan
Mabromata/AFP/Getty Images
Joanna Walters reported on the three key states that would essentially be outright legalizing
marijuana in the lead up to election day – in the end, only Oregon failed to pass the measure.
States legalizing cannabisis seen by many as being in defiance of the federal government's
annual $44bn war on drugs, which the Global Commission on Drug Policy declared a failure:
If recreational use is approved, a new drug industry would inevitably boom and the states
expect a tax bonanza from the income generated. Colorado plans to spend the first $40m a
year on schools, although the state's largest teachers' union is firmly against legalisation. A yes
vote would allow the possession and private use of up to an ounce of cannabis, but it would not
be legal to smoke a joint in the street.
However, owners of medical dispensaries are worried that in the midst of the federal
government taking the states to court over the issue, the progresses made by the medical
community will be set back.
The case of disabled veteran Michael Krawitz covered by Karen McVeighhighlights the
struggles many US citizens face in trying to attain medical marijuana today:
Krawitz now divides his time between Oregon, the only state that allows non-residents to use
medical marijuana, and his family's home state Virginia, where medical marijuana is illegal. His
needs are now met by three different physicians, with his medical records split accordingly, he
said.
Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson contributed his thoughts on the issue last
month to Comment is free, emphasizing the inherent failure in banning marijuana:
Think of the strain and costs to our law enforcement, court system and prisons. And for what? Is
marijuana use decreasing? No. Are cartels any less powerful and violent? I'm afraid not. Is pot
difficult for minors to obtain? Nope. In fact, when polled, kids say it's easier to get marijuana
than it is to get alcohol. Why? It's simple. Black market dealers don't ID.
In sum, it was a historic night for advocates of the legalization of marijuana with the victories in
Colorado and Washington. However, it is only a matter of time before the federal
government steps in to challenge them.
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Fonte: Guardian
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Data: 07/11/2012
Ritalin before an exam fails the test of common sense
Students don't need to be tested for drugs before exams – the idea of Ritalin being
performance-enhancing is bogus
'Drugs give your brain chemistry a kick. But this is hardly going to help you in the dreary world of
exams and coursework.' Photograph: Murdo Macleod for the Guardian
Here's the latest panic about drugs. Students are, apparently, taking drugs to give them an
academic edge. Some are taking Ritalin, the medicine more typically used to treat ADHD – it
seems to make them feel sharper on exam day, and might improve concentration and shortterm memory. So academics are worried that these dopers might have an advantage
unavailable to people who can't, or won't, get hold of the drugs. In a survey, as many as 10%
say they've done it. Oh dear, people are saying. Test them! Root them out!
But should we really worry about drugs enhancing academic performance? For centuries,
people have got it into their heads that taking drugs might improve one's mental state. Three
hundred years ago, it was thought that smoking opium fired the imagination, and might have
figured in some of Coleridge's best poetry. Sure, it makes you feel like a poet. But it doesn't, in
my experience, make you write like one. You stare at things, such as bricks or drainpipes, and
think new thoughts about them. But I don't think drugs or drink can make you write good poetry;
it's just that artist-types tend to drink and get high, because being an artist is so frustrating.
In the 19th century, all sorts of people, including Sigmund Freud, believed that cocaine gave the
mind special powers. And now, of course, everybody knows that it just makes the mind think it
has special powers, while actually turning it, as Robert de Niro tells the coke-snorting Ray Liotta
in Goodfellas, into a "mush".
In the 1990s, in his book Listening to Prozac, psychiatrist Peter Kramerdescribed his moral
qualms about prescribing this new drug. Might it be giving certain patients an unfair advantage?
Two decades on, I think we all know the answer to that question. Prozac helps you to hide from
your problems. But will it solve them? I think not.
The thing about drugs is that they alter your mind. They give your brain chemistry a kick. But
this is hardly going to help you in the dreary world of exams and coursework. Drugs might
appear to have a brief upside – but anyone who's ever taken them knows that, mostly, they
have a worse downside. That's because your brain is designed to work on its own – it produces
tiny amounts of different chemicals, in response to a complex world, in order to help you live in
that world. It's like a tiny orchestra, spritzing out bits of dopamine here and serotonin there,
learning as it goes. Imagine a Mozart concerto. Now imagine the Sex Pistols. That's what
happens when you take drugs.
It's what happens every time you take a drag from a cigarette. You get a blast of brain
chemicals. It's also why taking drugs can be horribly addictive. With the Sex Pistols on stage,
the Mozart orchestra packs up and goes home. The subtlety and complexity of your brain
diminishes.
When you take drugs, your brain fights back. Take too many painkillers, and you eventually
become more sensitive to pain; take too much ecstasy, or anti-depressants, and you'll be more
susceptible to misery. Drink coffee all the time and you'll be tired. Take speed and you'll slow
down. Smoke weed and you'll get the giggles, but smoke weed all the time and you'll never feel
like laughing.
What was it these students were taking? Ah yes – Ritalin. The seasoned addiction writer
Elizabeth Wurtzel, having weaned herself off cocaine, spent some time in the thrall of Ritalin. In
her brilliant book More, Now, Again she says about Ritalin that she crushes it up and snorts it.
Might Ritalin be an unfair advantage? Possibly, if conditions were perfect, on a good day. But
not consistently. Put it this way: if I had to take a competitive exam, and I had the choice, I
would want the other guys to be on Ritalin. If you really want your mind to be sharp, have three
good nights' sleep in a row, followed by a brisk walk. Then take the exam. That really would be
an unfair advantage.