Children forced to work in cannabis factories
The News Review:
- Children forced to work in cannabis factories
- Cannabis plants are found in raid
- Marijuana Arrests Set New Record for 4th Year in a Row,
- Marijuana and the munchies
- Marijuana Arrests for 2006 Set New Record 4th Year in a Row
- Conflicting laws lead to arrests, confusion
- Mayor sees complexities of pot
Children forced to work in cannabis factories
NEWS.com.au - Sep 24, 2007
Campaign group End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and the Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes (ECPAT) said there had been a five-fold increase in the practice in the last year alone. Children as young as 13, many from Vietnam, were being brought to Britain to work as "slaves" for organised criminals to push production of the drug here to record levels, it said. They are forced to tend cannabis plants grown in suburban houses and often forced to sleep in cupboards, with little chance of escape for fear of being caught. "There is clear evidence that there are young people who are trafficked, bought and sold, for the purpose of forced labour in cannabis production in the UK," ECPAT’s director Christine Beddoe told The Independent on Sunday. "In the past 12 months there has been a 500 per cent increase in the number of cases being reported to us. "We now get told about one young person every week being removed from a cannabis factory. But nobody knows the true scale of the problem… "
Police believe the problem has emerged after organised crime gangs, many of them Vietnamese, moved to dominate the British cannabis market after the narcotic was downgraded from a Class B to Class C drug in 2004. Declassification increased the potential rewards of growing and selling cannabis but decreased the risk of punishment. One police officer was quoted as saying cannabis was the "cash machine of organised crime". The newspaper said one three-bedroom house converted into a cannabis factory can yield up to £300,000 ($700,000) a year. Simon Byrne, an assistant chief constable of Merseyside Police in north-west England and the Association of Chief Police Officers’ spokesman on cannabis, said the increase in cannabis production was down to risk and reward. "If you remove the risk, people exploit it. If you put the risk back into enforcement, they will adapt and go into another type of business," he was quoted as saying.
Cannabis plants are found in raid
BBC News - Sep 24, 2007
Officers found the plants - and the equipment used to grow them - concealed behind false walls at the house in Sussex Street, St Phillips. No-one was arrested at the property and detectives are trying to find who was responsible for cultivating the plants. Police spent Monday morning removing the plants and searching the property for clues.
Marijuana Arrests Set New Record for 4th Year in a Row,
Common Dreams - Common Dreams (press release) - Sep 24, 2007
marijuana arrests set an all-time record in 2006, according to the just-released FBI Uniform Crime Reports. Marijuana arrests totaled 829,627, an increase from 786,545 in 2005. Similar to previous years, 738,916 or 89 percent were for possession, not sale or manufacture, and marijuana possession arrests again exceeded arrests for all violent crimes combined… marijuana arrests set an all-time record in 2006, according to the just-released FBI Uniform Crime Reports. Marijuana arrests totaled 829,627, an increase from 786,545 in 2005. Similar to previous years, 738,916 or 89 percent were for possession, not sale or manufacture, and marijuana possession arrests again exceeded arrests for all violent crimes combined. “The steady escalation of marijuana arrests is happening in direct defiance of public opinion,” said Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D. “Voters in communities all over the country, from Denver to Seattle to Eureka Springs, Arkansas, and Missoula County, Montana, have passed measures saying they don’t want marijuana arrests to be a priority, yet marijuana arrests have set an all-time record for four years running.
Marijuana and the munchies
Macleans - Sep 24, 2007
The drug is one of the most used worldwide, but misconceptions about its therapeutic potential and safety continue. More research is on the way, but marijuana’s true rehabilitation could come from, of all things, a new diet drug that works by deactivating the same therapeutic neural network in our bodies that marijuana activates. Whether or not you’ve ever tried marijuana, whether or not you’ve inhaled, you have your own cannabis infrastructure, a grid of nerve receptors that changes your experience of pain, sleep and appetite. We all make our own natural cannabinoids, marijuana-like chemical compounds. “If you’re hungry,” says Dr. Mark Ware, a professor at McGill University’s pain centre, “they’re probably active in you right now. “But what if you’re hungry too often, as are 95 per cent of Canada’s 2.
Marijuana Arrests for 2006 Set New Record 4th Year in a Row
BBSNews - Sep 24, 2007
marijuana arrests set an all-time record in
2006, according to the just-released FBI Uniform Crime Reports. Marijuana arrests totaled 829,627, an increase from 786,545
in 2005. Similar to previous years, 738,916 or 89 percent were for possession, not sale or manufacture, and marijuana
possession arrests again exceeded arrests for all violent crimes combined. “The steady escalation of marijuana arrests is happening in direct defiance of public opinion,” said Rob Kampia, executive
director of the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D. “Voters in communities all over the country, from Denver to
Seattle to Eureka Springs, Arkansas, and Missoula County, Montana, have passed measures saying they don’t want marijuana
arrests to be a priority, yet marijuana arrests have set an all-time record for four years running… Marijuana arrests totaled 829,627, an increase from 786,545
in 2005. Similar to previous years, 738,916 or 89 percent were for possession, not sale or manufacture, and marijuana
possession arrests again exceeded arrests for all violent crimes combined. “The steady escalation of marijuana arrests is happening in direct defiance of public opinion,” said Rob Kampia, executive
director of the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D. “Voters in communities all over the country, from Denver to
Seattle to Eureka Springs, Arkansas, and Missoula County, Montana, have passed measures saying they don’t want marijuana
arrests to be a priority, yet marijuana arrests have set an all-time record for four years running. It appears that police
are taking their cue from White House Drug Czar John Walters, who is obsessed with marijuana, rather than the public who
pays their salaries. “The bottom line is that we are wasting billions of dollars each year on a failed policy,” Kampia continued.
Conflicting laws lead to arrests, confusion
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin - Sep 24, 2007
Visit our special section: Grass ValleyMore videos, audio, photos and related stories In some parts of the state, use of the drug is readily accepted by local governments and police departments, with dispensaries and doctors specializing in marijuana openly advertising their businesses. Such is not the case in the Inland Empire, where medical- marijuana users, dispensers and growers generally face hostile local governments and police departments. In San Bernardino County, sheriff’s deputies are instructed to arrest medical-marijuana users for possession even if they produce a state-sanctioned ID card proving their status as a medical user. Medical-marijuana dispensaries that have opened without the blessings of local governments have been raided, sued and faced with ordinances barring them from those communities. Much of the chaos surrounding medical marijuana in the Inland Empire results from ambiguous state laws, conflicts between state and federal law, and the relative newness of the program. Following federal law Although the laws governing the medical use of marijuana were passed at the state level, they are largely implemented and enforced at the county level… Such is not the case in the Inland Empire, where medical- marijuana users, dispensers and growers generally face hostile local governments and police departments. In San Bernardino County, sheriff’s deputies are instructed to arrest medical-marijuana users for possession even if they produce a state-sanctioned ID card proving their status as a medical user. Medical-marijuana dispensaries that have opened without the blessings of local governments have been raided, sued and faced with ordinances barring them from those communities. Much of the chaos surrounding medical marijuana in the Inland Empire results from ambiguous state laws, conflicts between state and federal law, and the relative newness of the program. Following federal law Although the laws governing the medical use of marijuana were passed at the state level, they are largely implemented and enforced at the county level. Among Advertisement.
Mayor sees complexities of pot
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin - Sep 24, 2007
: Marijuana is used as a recreational drug in India. 1500s: The Spanish are believed to have introduced marijuana to the Western Hemisphere, but historians disagree on how cannabis left the Old World. Other researchers contend the drug was transported during the slave trade or brought to the Americas in the late 18th century by migrants from India. 1611: English colonists grow hemp in Jamestown for its value as a fiber. 1850-1942: Marijuana is listed in the United States Pharmacopeia as a drug for the treatment of labor pains, nausea and rheumatism. During the 19th century, the drug was frequently prescribed by doctors and also was available without a prescription.