Blog59 Videos

Coming up: Coffeeshop owners speak out

The Dutch association “Platform Coffeeshop owners in the Netherlands” (PCN) held a conference in order to unite the coffeeshop community, and to make a strong stand against the current cannabis policy of the Dutch government. LEARN MORE ABOUT THE DUTCH HYPOCRITE CANNABIS POLICY IN THIS VIDEO Over the last years the once so tolerant and […]

Countries can reform under UN law

The international drug control regimes are outdated and do not meet current human rights standards and public health needs. Provisions in three historically prohibitionist United Nations treaties – the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances, and the 1988 Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances – […]

Legal Cannabis in Canada: Legalization 1.0?

October 17 2018 is a historic day, remembered as the day legalization of cannabis in Canada came into effect. And while the small South American country of Uruguay was the first country to legalize cannabis, Canada is the first western country and part of the G7, consisting of the 7 largest advanced economies in the […]

Hemp farmers in Portugal: 2019 is a lost year.

Portuguese hemp farmers are giving up on the 2019 growing season due to continuing jurisdictional confusion between two government agencies over licensing. The problem started when Portugal’s Ministry of Agriculture issued a clarification in January 2019 making all hemp related authorizations subject to review by INFARMED, the Portuguese Health Regulator that has authority over pharmaceutical […]

Cannabis and the United Nations: Last Chance for Relevance?

Once pushing for a Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, nowadays the United States is the main violator of the 1961 treaty. In April this year, in New York, the UN General Assembly Special Session on Drugs, UNGASS, is going to reevaluate this convention.

Hawaii, hemp capital of the world?

or eight years, the Hawaii Farmers Union United Convention has been a key knowledge bank for farmers from Australia to Singapore, Kenya to Britain. Now, hemp and cannabis are working into the model. Doug Fine was there in the mountains farm country of Maui, Hawaii, and brings us this report about the role hemp and […]

Bobby Greenhash not prosecuted

On October 6 2015 we reported on Sheldon Cramer, also known as Bobby Greenhash. After the police raided the house of this South African medicinal cannabis oil producer and activist while he wasn’t home, Cramer handed himself over to the police the Monday after. After a productive meeting in the police station he was told they won’t […]

UN to adopt cannabis rescheduling recommendations?

nyone who has ever done research into why cannabis and other substances are considered illegal will have stumbled upon the so-called narcotic scheduling. Generally, all countries follow the classifications from the UN conventions of 1961 and 1971. Countries must follow by passing laws to carry out the provisions of the UN Drug Conventions. For instance, […]

Hemp, booming business, more difficult than you think.

Hemp, it is a booming business, you would say. But, as we showed in our last report, hemp producers are facing problems they never encountered before and CBD, as being the main ingredient of the enormous demand, is still a questionable product in most countries. Like the UK. “Instead of capitalizing on the booming CBD […]