Cannabis | openDemocracy

“Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.”

- Bertrand Russell

New pot law in Washington is a buzz kill

Charles Shaw 27 November 2012

Colorado & Washington State recently voted to legalize cannabis. Winston Ross of The Daily Beast takes a practical look at Washington’s new cannabis law.

How Chicago said yes to pot

Charles Shaw 9 July 2012

The sudden passage of the law is the latest example of the absurdity surrounding marijuana policies and politics—an ongoing saga in which elected officials vow to crack down on a behavior that millions of Americans have engaged in, then giggle at their own jokes about getting stoned and getting the munchies.

Oliver Stone on the Insanity of the War on Drugs

Charles Shaw 20 June 2012

American film icon Oliver Stone expounds on the true nature of the American War on Drugs to Current TVs Gavin Newson.

oD Drug & Criminal Justice Policy Forum: Front Line Report - March 15, 2012

Charles Shaw 15 March 2012

It's hard to know these days which way the proverbial worm is turning when it comes to shifts in drug policy. Election years tend to do that. Despite an historical turn of events in Central America which saw Presidents of drug trafficking nations come together to call for world wide decriminalization of drugs, in an effort to end the violence and corruption of the drug trade, the US continues to demur, absurdly claiming that the "War on Drugs" has been a success. Even stranger is Canada's recent announcement that they plan to follow the US model of a "tough on crime" approach to drug policy, which threatens to swell their correctional system in the same ways as in the US. Still, good news abounds with recent studies showing that LSD can cure alcoholism, psychedelics can cure PTSD, and cannabis smoking is not nearly as harmful as the prohibition governments claim. ~ CS

The Exile Nation Project - Interview with Julie Holland, M.D.

Charles Shaw 14 August 2011

A frank and honest conversation with one of America's leading drug policy experts and the author of the best-selling Weekends at Bellevue.

oD Drug Policy Forum: Front Line Report - Week of November 29th 2010

Mark Weiss and Charles Shaw 29 November 2010

Welcome to the latest Front Line Report - our largest yet - bringing you a collection of stories from across the globe, from national and international news and media outlets and UN agencies. This week we continue our documentary updates from the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union's Drug Reporter site, with a moving film about drug detention centres in Asia - 'Abuse in the name of Treatment'. We also bring you an Al Jazeera report on Whoonga, a 'tragic step backwards' in the fight against HIV ~ MW & CS

oD Drug Policy Forum: Front Line Report - Week of July 19, 2010

Charles Shaw 19 July 2010

A weekly summary of what's going on in drug policy and criminal justice reform in the US & UK.

The Cannabis Papers: a citizen’s guide to cannabinoids

Charles Shaw 14 June 2010

Taking their inspiration from "The Federalist Papers," a group of Illinois reformers have penned a series of 36 essays to detail the role of cannabinoids in Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

This week's editor

Heather McRobie is a regular contributor to 50.50

Europe from the bottom up

European Union stars in Paris. Flickr/notarim. Some rights reserved.

A new Europe can only come from the bottom up
Etienne Balibar

A social Europe must be a political Europe
Bo Stråth

As Europe is provincialized: a reply to Etienne Balibar
Sandro Mezzadra

European debate

A republican call for a basic income
Daniel Raventos and Julie Wark

Nuclear non-proliferation

Women and the Arab Spring

oDRussia at journalismfestival .com

Mali - the plot thickens

Remote control war

Stay Informed

Sign-up for a free weekly email

Advertising notice

Our Authors

Lis Howell On broadcasting

Dan Hancox Revel, Riot and Rebellion

Martin Rose Bliss Was It in that Dawn to Be Next Door

Vron Ware Up in Arms

Jim Gabour Sunday Comics

James Warner Standing Perpendicular, as books do

Markha Valenta Inter Alia: religion, politics, culture

Paul Rogers on Global security

Mary Kaldor on Human security

openDemocracy Ltd, The Print House, 18 Ashwin Street, London, E8 3DL. Tel: +44 (0) 207 193 0676

openDemocracy

Welcome to openDemocracy! We are a digital commons, publishing high quality news analysis, debates and blogs about the world and the way we govern ourselves. More...

Italian triple whammy

Best of the rest:

Arab Awakening | Can Europe Make it? | Drug and Criminal Justice Policy Forum | OurBeeb

OurKingdom

About us
OurKingdom works to investigate and illuminate the crisis of democracy in Britain and analyse how its failings can be redressed.

We encourage original debate untrammelled by party political loyalties.

We ask how we as citizens can secure liberty, human rights, self-government and real democracy. ...more on OurKingdom

Pick of the debates: Democratic Wealth: building a citizens' economy, edited by Stuart White, uses republican theory to explore ideas around how to democratise the economy. Co-hosted with Politics in Spires, a blog sponsored by the universities of Oxford and Cambridge.

oD Russia

50.50

Recent articles on 50.50

50.50 Dialogues

About 50.50
50.50 is openDemocracy's section dedicated to exploring issues of gender equality and social justice at the global level.

We are committed to promoting human rights and inclusive democracy through dialogue and debate. But a global debate without the female half of humanity is neither global nor democratic. With this in mind, 50.50 publishes women's analysis, insight and views on current affairs.

Can Europe Make It?

Spread the word

Spread the word is a brand new section of openDemocracy's not-for-profit web platform.

This space is for other not-for-profit organisations of all kinds to publicise your activities and spread the exchange of ideas.

You will be able to link to all your publications, and events anywhere in the world. You will have your own openDemocracy page and all new announcements will be ticker-taped to our front page.

This organisation subscription is available for a modest annual fee, dependent on the size of your organisation.

Please contact Jonathan Bowles at supporters@opendemocracy.net if you are interested in joining.

If you're interested in developing editorial projects on openDemocracy, please see our Editorial partnerships page

We are grateful to the following organisations for their support in developing this initiative:

Norwegian Peacebuilding Resource Centre

Rockefeller Brothers Fund

openSecurity

openEconomy

Arab Awakening

In the months following the start of the Arab Revolutions, articles and analysis poured into openDemocracy from contributors across the Middle East and Europe. Gradually, the impact of Tahrir Square began to extend well beyond the Middle East as democratic inspiration travelled from east to west. Arab Awakening tries to capture that inspiration and use it to help us read a rapidly changing world.

"As students of politics is it is vital to study the power of imagination." -Professor Charles Tripp, SOAS

Debates

Columnists | This week's window on the Middle East

OurNHS