Talk about chutzpah! The United Nation’s Anti-drug agency, International Narcotic Control Board, recently attacked the Parliament-sanctioned Canadian Medical Cannabis Program, oddly looking right past Prohibition-addled but medical cannabis-friendly America. 
That’s right.
Despite the continued 73-year old federal prohibition against cannabis, with 90 million Americans currently living in 14 states and the District of Columbia that have legal protections for medical patients who use cannabis with a physician’s recommendation (and 120 million living in states where cannabis possession is decriminalized), 2,000 or more retail outlets or delivery services for medical cannabis (including 24/7 medical cannabis vending machines in California) and a federally subsidized cannabis farm that, among other projects, supplies five medical cannabis patients 300 pre-rolled ‘joints’ per month (which equates to about ten ounces per month!) for the rest of their lives in a closed, grandfathered program, the United Nation’s anti-drug agency ridiculously believes the world urgently needs to take great heed in the Canadian government’s eight-year old and largely uncontroversial medical cannabis program.
Why? Why does the United Nation’s anti-drug agency believe now is a good time to stick its unwanted nose in the national and local concerns of citizens–from The Netherlands to America to Canada to Mexico–who no longer support cannabis prohibition, most notably for medical purposes?
Cannabis policy reform advocates have been readily vexed by the United Nation’s extreme anti-cannabis advocacy and propaganda since the 1970s, and arguably after America’s original drug czar Harry J. Anslinger, in his last act as a life-long anti-cannabis zealot and 30-year plus federal drug czar, he watched President John F. Kennedy commit the world and then American-dominated United Nations to America’s Reefer Madness via the signing of the Single Convention Treaty in 1961.
Why would the United Nation’s attack Canada’s fairly limited medical cannabis program, where the federal government tightly controls production and distribution, yet some how not cast the same critical eye towards cannabis-tolerant America (and the near narco-state of Mexico to the south where the fields of cannabis are viewed by satellite and the federal government recently decriminalized small amounts of drugs)?
If Canada is getting grief from the blue helmet crowd, shouldn’t the governors of New Mexico, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Maine be receiving the same as their states sanction medical cannabis distribution?
One year after George Bush 2.0 left the White House, and with the general support and guidance provided by the Obama administration to move in a direction of greater governmental acceptance of medical cannabis, it seems unlikely that the US government is creating the institutional impetus that is encouraging the United Nations to sound like the ghost of Anslinger.
What is the source of Reefer Madness at the United Nations?
UN watchdog takes aim at Canada’s medical marijuana program
By Steven Edwards, Canwest News Service February 24, 2010UNITED NATIONS — Justice Minister Robert Nicholson said Wednesday the government’s medical marijuana regulations are under review after the UN’s drugs watchdog warned Canada needs to tighten up the system.The Vienna-based International Narcotics Control Board said Canada is operating outside international treaty rules aimed at minimizing the risk criminals will get hold of cannabis grown under the program.
“The whole question of medical marijuana is being looked at by the minister of health with respect to the options that she has,” said Nicholson, whose ministry serves as the umbrella agency for the government’s anti-drug efforts.
The warning in the INCB’s annual report accompanies praise for the government’s National Anti-Drug Strategy, which the board said it notes “with appreciation.”
Nicholson said he took heart from that, adding it “plays very well” into the government’s efforts to push through a crime bill containing tougher drugs-offences sentencing provisions that has been held up in the Senate.
Public Safety Minister Vic Toews also argued the report “provides further proof that Canada is recognized internationally as a leader in crime prevention.”
Canada increased the number of cannabis cultivation licences a person can hold last year after court decisions stated patients’ earlier access had been too restricted.
Currently, Health Canada has issued almost 4,900 permits allowing people to possess medical marijuana they get from more than 1,100 licensed growers, some of whom are growing it for their own use.
“Canada continues to be one of the few countries in the world that allows cannabis to be prescribed by doctors to patients with certain serious illnesses,” said the INCB report.
But the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotics, which Canada has signed, says the government must be the sole distributor of the otherwise illegal substance, which patients use as a pain reliever.
The opportunity for misuse of the system is reflected in an RCMP review identifying 40 cases in which licensed growers were also trafficking marijuana for profit. The same review found violations in a total of 70 cases.
While the INCB report noted that Canada “intends to reassess” its access-to-cannabis program, it said the board “requests the government to respect the provisions” of the 1961 convention in conducting its review.
The sole company among the growers that Health Canada has contracted to supply some 28 per cent of the current permit holders signalled Wednesday it would welcome a more focused oversight.
“We get severe criticism from the armchair critics and those who feel threatened that we’re infringing on their rights to produce cannabis,” said Brent Zettl, president of Prairie Plant Systems Inc., of Saskatoon.
“But we’re already essentially conforming to the convention.”
Health Canada frequently inspects the company’s operations, and officially “owns” the cannabis it produces for shipment to clients.
Even some involved in helping patients acquire the possession permits agree that the current system is flawed.
“To Health Canada’s self-admittance, there are a lot of grey areas,” said Chad Clelland, director of online and community relations with medicalmarihuana.ca, an Internet-based support site. “But they are so slow to change.”
Still, Clelland said he does not believe that centralized government-run production is the answer.
the u.n. needs to go the same route as league of nations..there only true ability is ts to screw stuff up, to view true bias check the U.N. out
http://www.drugwarrant.com/
Theres a story at drugwarrant about the UNODC trying to erase information of them admitting that prohibition and incarceration doesnt work. These dinosaurs dont seem to understand…what goes on the internet stays on the internet. I think these thugs have been cornered and are stricking out at what they percieve to be a weak country. Its time these globalist step down….they dont own the world….yet.
This is UNODC before they deleted section.
http://web.archive.org/web/20080526014905/http://www.unodc.org/youthnet/en/youthnet_youth_drugs_trends_cannabis.html%5D
This UNODC after the deletion
http://www.unodc.org/youthnet/en/youthnet_youth_drugs_trends_cannabis.html
To the UN…. go chase a nuke. If a person wants to smoke mj its none of the UN business. I`m sick of these do gooders that want to do good everybody elses business. To the UN go away. Find another reason to bitch. How about rogue nations with nukes.
Heres some common sense talk those at UNODC should listen to , which , also reflects the sections they removed from thier site that showed prohibition doesnt work. This guy should know, he was on the front lines of the drug war(war on Americans and peoples abroad).Part two discusses our governments involvement in drug trafficing from south america.
Part one:
Part two:
Part three:
All cannabis using citizens across the planet need to come together on this issue and somehow make our otherwise-perfectly-normal presence known. If cannabis were so detrimental to society, the consequences would be evident, but to my knowledge, nobody feels particulary unsafe travelling around cannabis-friendly Amsterdam.
So, UN conventions against torture mean nothing, as evidenced by the fact that Dick Cheney still walks free.
UN conventions against unprovoked invasions mean nothing, as evidenced by the fact that George Bush still walks free.
UN conventions against slavery mean nothing as evidenced by the lack of any action towards private prison labour in the US.
UN conventions on human rights mean nothing, as evidenced by the lack of action on Israeli treatment of Palestinians.
So, UN conventions mean nothing.
They must fear the loss of revenue for all those third world countries that “the drug war” perpetuates in those countries that are producing the world’s cannabis.
The United Nations should check the research that has been done worldwide. Anslinger was a blatant liar. Even Nixon disregarded the study he had done that basicaly said pot is not what the government said, dangerous killer weed. And continued to pursue the drug war.
Fuck the UN.
Yes, “the United States”, or 14 of them or whatever, is/are moving toward cannabis liberalization, but we must remember that the UN, its member nations at al. are still on big-money feed from the more recalcitrant “administrative” wing of US government (successors to Anslinger) which is/are in turn the stooge/deputy of the Tobackgo Industry.
a. Various nations (Pakistan, 10%, Russia 8%) are heavily dependent on $igarette taxes to stay afloat;
b. To any figures you see for $igarette taxes or campaign contributions, add a MULTIPLE for what the industry spends on well-dressed, well-trained attractive young lawbuyists sent to schmooze with the government administrators and legislators and their staffs.
the united nations sucks dick
Canadian prohibitionist politicians have been communicating with the U.N. in Vienna to get some back-up leverage, to get some support, to make Canadian anti-cannabis laws more in line with U.S. sentencing. Vienna is just not going to come out and say, hey, they asked us for our opinion on it and we put out this report/paper so the Canadian prohibitionists could say, hey, even the German pharmaceutical and chemical conglomerate puppets in Vienna are saying that cannabis should remain illegal so their prescription drug and pill profits aren’t hurt because people find relief using cannabis instead.
You all should realize that both the DNC and the RNC are slaves to the UN. Obomba is a slave to the UN. The only way to end prohibition and keep it that way is to stop supporting establishment politicians. Time to think outside the box.
Oh dear, our world is going in the wrong direction…very disheartening.
THE CANADIANS MOST B DOIN $UMTHING RIGHT!NOW EVERY1 WANTS A PIECE OF D PIE..WAIT UR TURN UN E ZAYAS!
The whole medical marijuana debate is fake. Medical marijuana is proof that narco-terrorists and dope dealers are running everything.
If the UN were serious about confronting illegal drug distribution, they would quit talking about the drugs and start talking about money.
Everywhere medical marijuana is sold, people pay black market prices. When you have to spend no more on medical marijuana then you do on lettuce, then I’ll believe in the sincerity of medical marijuan dispenseries.
the UN doesn’t have anything better to worry about?
and wtf is chutzpah
If I were Canadian I’d Ship a Moose to their office!
http://www.moose-pictures.com/moose_crossing.jpg
this has nothing to do with this topic , But I cant post in the MA section caus eim from california anyways its about magic mushrooms…and how they make people jump off buildings or do something soo crazy they die cause there tripping so hard…lol where the fuck do u find these people..I know many people like myself who have tripped doezens of time (on mushies 10 x stronger than some hick ville country mushies) and Ive takin huge amounts…and yes I can say when I took those huge doses I was over the top TRIPPIN out but…never once not once did I think I could jump out of abuilding and think I can fly…No matter how mind fucked I was I could easily comprehend what would kill me and what wouldnt….Mushies , pot, all the good natural things should be legal but its because we have dumb mother F’ers that cant handel shit and jump outta windows cause there trippin to hard gimme a break…if they make u do that u already have mental probklems and dont need to be takin the shit anyways
always aim just below chinstrap of blue helmets
I think we just named a new strain… Chuztpah!
And to think we pay tax dollars to have “them” in this country. Ugh!
ENRIQUE is a retard who needs to go back to kindergarden
to learn more about spelling and life ..
BALLS!
The U.N. couldn’t pour piss out of a boot if the instructions were printed on the bottom of the heel. All people who think they are somehow entitled to even try and run other people’s lives, in direct violation of God’s will for people to live in freedom and liberty (as acknowledged and cited in the Constitution of the United States), should be locked away in prison until they learn how to mind their own damn business.
The U.N still listens to 8 track players and watches bata max. The U.N should be out there in Iraq and afganistan policing the world not the US. So put down your pet rocks U.N. and get off your asses and do something productive!
Dear UN Office of Intervention into Sovereign Nation’s Affairs:
Would you prefer us to be like our Southern friends?
No health-care system, a hundred million people without health insurance, let alone millions of people consuming hard drugs, and the largest prison population on the planet. An ambulance ride yields you a bill for $850 dollars. Is this what you want Canada to be? Eh? Nice picture that makes eh? I’m sure you’d love for us to do likewise, but FAT CHANCE FATCATS, not now, not EVER.
Look at America, you dolts. Everywhere, young teenagers using hard drugs. This is what cannabis prohibition brings. Now examine countries where marijuana is legal. It’s use is 1/2 or less of that in
How easy it is to see through the agenda of the fattest-cats and their blue-helmeted army.
The sooner this worthless, useless world squatter is put out of business, the better.
UN conventions aren’t worth the toilet paper they’re written on.
You think were just gonna roll over eh? Go hug a nuke. Harry died many years ago.
USELESS FUCKERS YOU ARE. NY STATE SHOULD EVICT YOUR ASSES.
Uhh. No thanks, UN. Go hug a nuke, eh.
#17. chutzpah is sort of like gall, as in “he has the gall to say that he is going all the work”
Chutzpah (N)
1. unmitigated effrontery or impudence; gall.
2. audacity; nerve.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/chutzpah
———–
Chutzpah (pronounced /?x?tsp?/) is the quality of audacity, for good or for bad. The word derives from the Hebrew word ?u?pâ (????????), meaning “insolence”, “audacity”, and “impertinence.” The modern English usage of the word has taken on a wider spectrum of meaning, however, having been popularized through vernacular use in film, literature, and television.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chutzpah
Hope this helps with the word.
The un is a ban of misfits & thieves that is obviously bought & paid for ! Fuck them ! They should all be tried for Racketeering !
I’ve noticed that most of the people posting these days have started using the English name CANNABIS. It has only taken 73 years to get over what Anslinger, Hearst and DuPont did to vilify our beloved plant. Fuck the United Nations and anyone that supports prohibition! We the free people of the world will consume whatever we want. After all it’s our bodies.
#15: “Everywhere medical marijuana is sold, people pay black market prices. When you have to spend no more on medical marijuana then you do on lettuce, then I’ll believe in the sincerity of medical marijuan dispenseries.”
Well Paul, let’s take a look at the situation…
The dispensaries are regulated to a strict limit on how much they can grow not mass produced like a head of lettuce.
Not to mention the fact that any market is going to charge what that market will bear and the majority of cannabis is sold on the black hence that is what controls the prices of this commodity.
it would appear to me that they are just testing the waters with canada first to see what they do. Kinda picking on Canada, (the loner kid at school) to see what the bully can get away with. It will eventually come to America too if it is allowed in Canada.
I just wanna clarify by my canada (the loner kid at school) comment. I meant it that Canada never starts problems with anyone and kinda does their own thing, i definitely did not mean that Canada is weak or an outcast in any way 🙂
Chutzpah (pronounced /?x?tsp?/) is the quality of audacity, for good or for bad. The word derives from the Hebrew word ?u?pâ (????????), meaning “insolence”, “audacity”, and “impertinence.” The modern English usage of the word has taken on a wider spectrum of meaning, however, having been popularized through vernacular use in film, literature, and television.
The UN is nothing more than a tick on the ass of world societies. Time to get the matches out.
So how many more years till all of the anti-marijuana oldies die of old age ? Weed will be legal as long as all the old spots of power are tooken* up by a newer generation that isn’t half retarded
The UN pulled that with Canada because they know the USA would have told them to piss off. America has a not-so-subtle loathing for the UN. The UN knows this and thus picks on Canada. What are they going to do? Levy sanctions?? haha. The DEA is bad enough without some ignorant international politicians at the helm. The UN might be the one agency more corrupt than the DEA.
#38 poster is dead on folks! Corruption is the head of these snakes.
People are pathetic. Some of the garbage spewed by these international leaderships are pathetic. We need real people with real scientific data running this whole thing, yet the big guys restrict even the research of such a “dangerous” substance as marijuana.
I heard it from a friend that if I smoke marijuana, my pp gets smaller. What kind of crap info are we living on these days?
So I go to college, right? If I write a “real” paper, I have to cite like every damned thing on that page that was not my own work or study. Where the hell are these citations any more? I see them on NORML in places, and on many pro-legalization sites; we tend to look at the facts. Instead, others find it necessary to rely on word of mouth. Johnny’s mom caught his smoking pot and having sex, all of a sudden mj leads to sexual behavior. I wont lie, I like sex in combination with marijuana, but the weed surely didn’t make me do it.
When the UN comes up with some solid research on why our governments should not be looking pro-marijuana, then we will have a debate, but until then I plan to keep looking at the cold hard solid facts, no matter how illogical they may seem to these old farts in power.
As the wise Sherlock Holmes once mentioned, when all logical explanations are proven false, the only explanation must be an illogical one, no matter how illogical it may seem. Some people fight this war on drugs with a scewed logic they have been taught by our government for their entire life. Brainwashed, not by some conspiracy, but by society itself run by the government and the big companies that have that government by the balls.
People like me on the other hand are looking for real answers. Its like some of these people never stepped foot in a college. In two semesters I have relearned so many social ideas that have stained my outlook on society. Society used to seem so beautiful to me, and now I see it for the heap of shit it really is. Can we not do something to make this stupid planet worth living on for once instead of constructing a bunch of social norms that force us into a life of oppression? To fuck with that. If it were possible, I would make a big ship, take a bunch of weed, and go find a planet that doesn’t have this bullshit and start fresh. This place almost lacks hope with all the money in the hands of these big greedy companies. They want everything, including the drugs, for themselves so it seems…
The UN is actually helping us with rescheduling. They are telling America that there can be no “legal” schedule 1 drug. They have a scheduling process also,and since we wrote or heavily edited every one of the World’s drug agreements. We convinced them,years ago,that marijuana was the “great evil”,and we used lies to convince them and keep them vested in the war on drugs,with marijuana as the main target.
Now the US has 14 states with with “m/m” and the US DOJ
has a m/m policy,with states number 15,16,17,etc,etc,
waiting in the wings.
Although they have tried to keep marijuana schedule 1,
with as little adverse attention paid to it as possible,the UN and our allies in the war on drugs are demanding a clearer explanation of how it is possible
to have “legal” marijuana,with nothing more than a 3 page memo. Our ally countries spend most of their drug war funds on marijuana,the same as we do,and they are cutting their budgets,any way they can,and they can read the writing on the wall,better than our politicians can.
America may have to spend more money in their funding of the war on drugs,to get all our ally countries to continue budgeting their tax dollars for this insanity.
ONDCP spent over 357 million with the United States Agency for International Development,under the State Department last year,and the price is fixing to go up.
United Nations = One of the largest criminal organizations in the world next to United States of America being the number one drug dealer in the world.
Way to go USA! Allways have to be top dog..
criminals…
“The whole question of medical marijuana is being looked at by the minister of health with respect to the options that she has,” said Nicholson
Which to me, sounds like nothing more than “review medical marijuana, but make a choice out of the options that we give you, not based on the facts that are actually present!”
Dear House Rep.
As it has been said time and time again, our government and it’s ability to act in the best interest of it’s citizens is broken, broken on the federal and state levels of Congress. The policies and rules coming out of our three branches of government reflects that dysfunction, like much of our infrastructure of levies, dams, highways, bridges, and parks. Our branches of government lay broken and in disrepair. Due to this neglectful behavior of our elected employees in Congress we as a Nation, as a society are in danger from within as well as from outside our country. The welfare, the security, and well being of our entire society has been placed up for auction. Those in government whether on the local or federal level are not, can not, or simply refuse to work with each other as a team to repair this fine Nation now in crisis. Instead our government employees continue to neglect the most important element of this fine Nation, US, you, your parents, your grandparents, your children and all your kin too! Our government continues to spend our tax paying dollars on themselves while blaming each other and us for the mess they themselves have created by their behavior and acts of entitlement. Our government, having our best interest in mind has turned our country and it’s citizens into a Nation of debtors. Each branch of government has failed to protect, failed to serve, failed to act in it’s citizens best interest, instead those very branches of government, the executive, the judicial, and the legislative bodies of this country appear to work very hard at protecting, promoting, and serving themselves and those special interest groups that have had the money to buy the rules, regulation, justice, and legislators to rule our country. Our elected leaders have forever damaged the works of our founding fathers, the Constitution, the welfare, and the sense of security of this nation while assaulting the very fabrics of our cultures and beliefs in this society. What will it take to turn away from the bastardized Constitutional concepts, special interest groups, and government promoted lobbyist? What will it take to once again get justice in a Courtroom from a Judge, instead of the dog and pony show which now showing in every courtroom theater this Country. When will our elected employees hear the voices of the employers and do as they were elected to do, represent the people not the American Corporation that has brought this country to ruin and bankruptcy.
I can promise to work on my social skill in communicating in a way that will be less threatening to others if you could only promise to work on being a better legislator and hear the voice of the people. It is going to be a two way street, not a one way. As I said before I have grown very very tired of my government’s inability to preform and the excuses as to why our government is unable to carry out the request of their employers, the Citizens.
Let me try this again a little calmer, sorry if I offended before.
The UN, like many internation organizations, likes to stick its nose in other people’s “naz”. Its getting to a point where it is rather pathetic. I’m getting tired of so many things in this world, and UN is one of them. People need to know the truth about marijuana: the cold hard facts based upon research and evidence.
For example, when was the last time you saw an anti-marijuana propaganda or claim that was backed by a well reviewed and cited resource. They say marijuana can cause all these adverse effects that are all speculation to me until research is done properly. America tends to take everything these people spew as fact. They are like a dog, you can teach them something, but they have no clue why or how they learn it, why its true, or have any capability of using their better judgement to think to double check that information.
Metacognition, the cognition of your ability as a cognitive being, seems to lack. It is one of a list of mental capabilities that differentiate us from that dog who only learns through incentive. We learn on so many different levels. I don’t mean to offend, but unfortunately our older generations seem to have issues with this cognitive ability. Whether its through the physical effects of age on the mind, or how they were taught to learn, older generations just seem less and less capable of comprehending the fact that what they had been taught (legitimately or not) has been proven false.
Instead, older generations cling on to older ideas. These ideas may hold some water, but many of them have been proven false today. I could give an older person 25 individual educated reasons why marijuana should be out right legalized with full citation from respectable sources, yet they would still cling to the morals, values, and teachings of the generations before us.
What does this do in the long run? It puts America 40 years behind. Why do you think we are here in 2010 with marijuana still illegalized in most of the world even though people knew better in the 70’s? Because the older generations from the 60’s, who were all taught that marijuana was a demon drug, have been in power for so long. As the new politicians replace the old, so do the ideas that come with them. By the time anybody who wants to change our goverment is capable of policitally doing so, years have gone by with the issue unresolved and people unhappy.
This is why we are in this delema. The ignorance of generations before us is shoved upon us. In order to change, we must jump these hurdles, which often require unwanted and/or uneeded compromise just to appease the insecurities of the generations before us who fail to accept the truth. They don’t understand that if all logical explanations fail, only the illogical remains, regardless of how illogical it may be. To an older person, logic may say that weed is not healthy. The younger and more educated person does not accept that as fact, as it has not been proven.
Now if we could just get some legal research on the thing to have even more evidence that legalization is legit. With our means of communication today, the world will soon see.
whoa, sorry for the (now) triple post. I didn’t see my old one come up, figured it was immature and brutally blunt, as well as crude. Please excuse my first post, I was having a bad hair day this morning.
If the UN delegates were voted in democratically, things would be different. Instead, they are typically appointed by the governments, who are usually staunchly against sensible cannabis policies.
I also think this is just another example of political inertia. Its hard for just one or two nations to stand up against the rest, so none ever do and the policies stay the same!
Give it time. Once one nation or state does decide to stand up (only a matter of time now), the positive effect of regulation will be a strong argument for a revamping of the UN’s policies.
Ignore the U.N. It’s an oxymoron to suggest that the nations are united anyway.
Of all drugs. the most harmless one is left vulnerable to be picked apart. I believe Marijuana could be medically benificial as a form of treatment for various addictions. Sales of legal canibus could fund addiction rehads and educational programs for the heavy problematic drugs. Isn’t prison just a crime school? its only natural that humans learn to adapt to their enviroment. what would the unemployment rate be if all the these enforcers lost their jobs. Marijuana should be legal and non profit’d only benifiting the lives of real drug addicts.