Encod.org

CAN PSYCHEDELIC DRUGS TREAT DEPRESSION?

encod — 2010-09-07T07:55:39Z

Terminally ill cancer patients struggling with anxiety may get some relief from a guided "trip" on the hallucinogenic drug psilocybin, a new study suggests.

The study included 12 patients who took a small dose of psilocybin — the active ingredient in "magic mushrooms" — while under the supervision of trained therapists. In a separate session, the participants took a placebo pill, which had little effect on their symptoms.

By contrast, one to three months after taking psilocybin the patients reported feeling less anxious and their overall mood had improved. By the six-month mark, the group's average score on a common scale used to measure depression had declined by 30 percent, according to the study, which was published in the Archives of General Psychiatry.

- NEWS

MANUAL TO CREATE A CANNABIS SOCIAL CLUB

encod — 2010-09-06T16:15:13Z

All visitors of the Encod website are invited to comment the following text.

It is a draft version for a manual to create a Cannabis Social Club. All comments will be considered in the edition of the final version, that will be edited after 1st November 2010.

- EXAMPLES OF CSC'S IN EUROPE / English (en)

BRITAIN'S DRUG POLICY WILL NOT IMPROVE UNTIL WE ARE BOLD ENOUGH TO EXPERIMENT

encod — 2010-09-06T12:52:06Z

The idea that decriminalisation increases drug problems was already on shaky ground. Several countries and US states have reduced or eliminated criminal penalties for drug possession. They do not generally have higher rates of drug use than their neighbours. The rate of cannabis use in the Netherlands, for example, is lower than in the UK, even though the Dutch decriminalised the use of cannabis in 1976. The Portuguese experience again shows that there is no necessary link between the severity of sanctions and rates of drug use. There have been some increases reported in drug use by Portuguese adults since 2001, but these are no greater than those seen in other southern European countries. More important are rates of drug use among children, as they are more vulnerable to the harmful effects of illicit drugs. In Portugal, these rates have fallen since decriminalisation. - NEWS

THE BIGGEST FREE HEMP MARCH EVER, IN POLAND

encod — 2010-09-05T20:00:51Z

Since spring 2010 our FREE HEMP society has presented a citizen's legislation initiative on marihuana, being a much better proposal for resolving the cannabis problem which has been unsolvable by our government during the last decade. Meanwhile, the Marshal of the Lower Chamber of Parliament blocks our citizen's project from proceeding. On 9th September our Supreme Court will considerate our complaint against the parliament's speaker in this respect. - NEWS

LETTER TO THE LOS ANGELES TIMES

encod — 2010-09-03T10:37:51Z

It is my firm belief that the American people, and certainly Californians, would support decriminalizing drugs and regulating drug markets, if only they knew that the drug problem in their country is much worse than in countries with more liberal policies. The problem is that Americans do know that their country has a serious drug problem, but they also believe or are convinced that in the Netherlands and other European countries the situation is even worse. This is what they have heard from their governments and drug czars. - STATEMENTS

California Legislature Passes Marijuana Decriminalization Bill

Martin Steldinger — 2010-09-02T23:30:22Z

Just hours before the state's legislative session ended Tuesday, the California Assembly voted to approve SB 1449, Sen. Mark Leno's bill to fully decriminalize simple marijuana possession. The bill passed the Senate in June and now goes to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's desk. - NEWS

ENCOD BULLETIN 67

encod — 2010-09-01T14:36:19Z

ENCOD BULLETIN ON DRUG POLICIES IN EUROPE

NR 67 SEPTEMBER 2010

TIME TO DISCUSS THE ALTERNATIVES

- BULLETIN

PRAGUE HIGH

encod — 2010-08-31T19:43:23Z

The freshly appointed National Drug Coordinator Jindřich Vobořil, who assumed his post on 1 July, has his hands full. Although the partial decriminalization of cannabis at the beginning of this year didn't transform the capital into the new Amsterdam, as some headlines suggested, the accessibility of soft drugs, Vobořil says, has secured the Czech Republic one of the highest rankings in Europe regarding cannabis use.

According to a 2009 report by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, for the third time in a row, Czechs rank among top four heaviest cannabis users in Europe, and almost half of those aged between 15 and 24 have used marihuana at least once.

- NEWS

THE ONLY THING DRUG GANGS FEAR IS LEGALISATION

encod — 2010-08-29T17:00:08Z

To many people, the "war on drugs" sounds like a metaphor, like the "war on poverty". It is not. It is being fought with tanks and sub-machine guns and hand grenades, funded in part by your taxes, and it has killed 28,000 people under the current Mexican President alone. The death toll in Tijuana one of the front lines of this war is now higher than in Baghdad. Yesterday, another pile of 72 mutilated corpses was found near San Fernando an event that no longer shocks the country. - NEWS

IACM BULLETIN

encod — 2010-08-29T16:47:20Z

IACM-Bulletin of 29 August 2010

Source: International Association for Cannabinoid Medicines (IACM)

29 August 2010

- NEWS