quintessence

 According to an article on the website of Shayana Head Shop:

After a few incidents with tourists taking magic mushrooms in Amsterdam the Dutch government wants to ban magic mushroom. However, it seems now that all these incidents were completely unrelated to mushrooms. Nevertheless, the government is still thinking about making magic mushrooms illegal and will decide on the matter this Friday.

(thanks, joan) 

.... or something like that.

According to this story from KCBA, Monterey Sheriff’s Deputies:

• "pulled-up thousands of pot plants from a ranch in Carmel Valley owned by media mogul Rupert Murdoch."
• "say Murdoch’s employees stumbled upon the illegal gardens and called authorities."
• "say a man had been illegally camping on the property to grow the dope. "

[John P. Walters, President Bush's drug czar] said people need to overcome their "reefer blindness" and see that illicit marijuana gardens are a terrorist threat to the public's health and safety, as well as to the environment.

.... the people who plant and tend the gardens are terrorists who wouldn't hesitate to help other terrorists get into the country with the aim of causing mass casualties. Walters made the comments at a Thursday press conference that provided an update on the "Operation Alesia" marijuana-eradication effort.

I wonder what the NRA thinks about another of Walters' statements: "These people are armed; they're dangerous, [..], violent criminal terrorists."

Read more at http://www.redding.com/news/2007/jul/13/drug-czar-gives-warning/.

The French Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction (OFTD) released a report on cannabis consumption and cultivation in France.

(via ENCOD's eurodrug-list) 

The British Medial association issued a press release  2 weeks ago on the use of drugs as "non-lethal weapons":

“It is disingenuous of governments to describe drugs as non-lethal – there is no difference between a drug and a poison except the dose. Using drugs as a method of law enforcement may constitute a violation of international conventions which prohibit the use of chemical weapons. This is of great concern to the BMA.”

The Miami Herald published  a well-written account of the wide-spread hypocrisy when it comes to Marijuana-usage.

(via  Fefe's blog (german))