Tag: Cannabis

Singapore executes man over plot to smuggle 1kg of cannabis

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Singapore has hanged a prisoner for conspiracy to smuggle one kilogram of cannabis, authorities said, ignoring international protests and concerns that he lacked full access to a lawyer or interpreter.
The United Nations Human Rights Office had called for Singapore to “urgently reconsider” the hanging and British tycoon Richard Branson had urged the city state halt it.
Tangaraju Suppiah, 46, was sentenced to death in 2018 after a judge found he was the owner of a phone number used to coordinate an attempt to traffic the cannabis.
He was executed at Changi prison complex on Wednesday, Singapore Prisons Service told Agence France-Presse.
Campaigners had cited various concerns over the handling of his case, including claims he was questioned by police without legal counsel, and claims made in court that Suppiah, a Tamil speaker, was questioned by police in English without an interpreter.
In November last year, when Tangaraju filed an application for his case to be reviewed after an unsuccessful appeal, he represented himself in court. Activists say he is one of a growing number of death row prisoners doing so, because of difficulties in accessing lawyers.
On Tuesday night, Tangaraju’s family filmed a video appeal, asking the public to continue calling on Singapore’s president, Halimah Yacob, to stop his execution. They would not give up hope, said his niece. “They will kill him at 6am, we’ll keep the hope until 5.55am,” she said. “My uncle is a very good man, he didn’t have education or money but he worked very hard to look after us.”
Phil Robertson from Human Rights Watch called the execution outrageous. “Singapore’s continued use of the death penalty for drug possession is a human rights outrage that makes much of the world recoil, and wonder whether the image of modern, civilised Singapore is just a mirage,” he said.

The Singaporean government maintains that the death penalty is an effective deterrent against drug-related crime and that it is widely supported by the public.
Last year Singapore executed 11 people for drug-related cases, including Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam, a Malaysian man with learning difficulties whose case caused a global outcry as well as a rare protest in Singapore.
Maya Foa, director of non-profit organisation Reprieve, said Tangaraju’s execution “will only lead to increased opposition to the death penalty in Singapore”.
“Singapore claims it affords people on death row ‘due process’, but in reality fair-trial violations in capital punishment cases are the norm: defendants are being left without legal representation when faced with imminent execution, as lawyers who take such cases are intimidated and harassed,” she said.
Ming Yu Hah at Amnesty International also condemned the execution, saying there were “many flaws in the case”.
Branson, a member of the Geneva-based Global Commission on Drug Policy, wrote Monday on his blog that Tangaraju was “not anywhere near” the drugs at the time of his arrest and that Singapore may be about to put an innocent man to death.
Singapore’s Home Affairs Ministry responded on Tuesday, stating that Tangaraju’s guilt had been proven beyond a reasonable doubt. The ministry said two mobile phone numbers that prosecutors said belonged to him had been used to coordinate the delivery of the drugs.
It accused Branson of disrespecting Singapore’s courts, which it said had “thoroughly and comprehensively” examined the case over more than three years.
In many parts of the world – including neighbouring Thailand – cannabis has been decriminalised, with authorities abandoning prison sentences.
Rights groups have been heaping pressure on Singapore to abolish capital punishment. The Asian financial hub has some of the world’s toughest anti-narcotics laws and insists the death penalty remains an effective deterrent against trafficking.
The United Nations says the death penalty has not proven to be an effective deterrent globally and is incompatible with international human rights law, which only permits capital punishment for the most serious crimes
The UN’s Office of the high commissioner for Human Rights said on Tuesday: “The death penalty is still being used in a small number of countries, largely because of the myth that it deters crime.”
With Agence France-Presse

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#Singapore #executes #man #plot #smuggle #1kg #cannabis
( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )

April 26, 2023
Former Michigan House speaker charged with accepting bribes for cannabis licenses

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“[The marijuana industry has] been held out as an equalizing opportunity,” U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan Mark Totten said at a press conference Thursday. “Yet what we’ve learned today is that one of its key leaders … acted corruptly and did so at a moment that mattered most for those who want to get ahead in this industry.”
The background: Johnson served as a state representative from 1999 to 2004, including three years as House speaker. After leaving office, he ran a lobbying firm in Lansing, before serving as the chair of the Michigan marijuana licensing board from 2017 to 2019, according to court documents.
Johnson was “at the heart of this corrupt scheme,” Totten said, outlining cash payments and other perks like private chartered flights through Dalaly’s companies.
The investigation, which started in 2017, was spearheaded by the FBI.
“Rooting out corruption is exceptionally difficult,” FBI special agent Jim Tarasca told reporters. Tarasca thanked forensic accountants and computer forensic examiners who helped determine the money trail and digital evidence to support the charges.
For years, the FBI has been warning states about the threat of public corruption posed by the cannabis industry. Local officials have been charged with similar crimes from California to Massachusetts, and corruption allegations targeting state officials in Arkansas and Missouri have been swirling for years.
More details: Dalaly operated a company that was seeking a medical marijuana license from the board. Pierce and Brown lobbied on behalf of another company that was seeking a license. Johnson not only voted in favor of those companies obtaining licenses, but also provided “valuable non-public information about the anticipated rules” surrounding the medical marijuana program, court documents allege.
Pierce and Brown attempted to hide payments to Johnson by funneling them through various companies that Johnson controlled, Totten explained. These payments came out of their client’s retainer fees, according to court documents.

David Griem, an attorney for Brown, said his client cooperated with the FBI “like a good citizen” before even hiring a lawyer and that he didn’t “know any of the big fish in this case.”
Attorneys for the other defendants did not immediately return requests for comment.
What’s next: All four defendants are expected to be arraigned and have plea hearings in the next one to two weeks, Totten said.
The investigation is ongoing, and Tarasca asked any members of the public who have information related to the charges to contact the FBI.
The four defendants pledged to cooperate with the ongoing investigation.
Johnson and Dalaly face a maximum of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
In his plea deal, Johnson agreed to forfeit the $110,000 in bribes and the U.S. Attorney’s Office agreed not to oppose his request for a reduction in offense level, which would impact his sentencing.
Pierce and Brown face a maximum of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
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#Michigan #House #speaker #charged #accepting #bribes #cannabis #licenses
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 7, 2023
Why New York’s cannabis equity program is stranding women entrepreneurs

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“If we’re going to say that New York State is at the head of social equity and inclusion, it must consist of [women] or that is not full inclusion,” said Britni Tantalo, an entrepreneur who applied for one of the state’s first retail licenses through the Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary program.
New York isn’t the first state to leverage marijuana legalization as a way to bring people harmed by the war on drugs in on the financial benefits of a lucrative industry. But it has arguably taken the most aggressive approach to boost equity in the business and avoid the pitfalls of similar programs: It’s promising startup funding to entrepreneurs and even identifying and renovating real estate to help retailers.
Yet the small share of women awarded licenses so far shows how sophisticated attempts to manipulate the market to benefit a certain group of applicants can still leave others feeling snubbed.
The low share of women entrepreneurs in New York’s nascent cannabis program makes some sense since marijuana enforcement was disproportionately targeted at young men of color.
Between 1997 and 2007, 91 percent of people arrested for marijuana possession in New York City were male, according to a report from the ACLU of New York. Young Black and Latino men were overwhelmingly overrepresented in marijuana possession arrests during that time period.
New York officials say they allowed people who have immediate family members with cannabis convictions to qualify for the retail licensing program in order to open the door to more women.
“My team early on made an effort to make sure that women have a pathway to get a CAURD license,” said Damian Fagon, chief equity officer of the Office of Cannabis Management, in an interview.
But for scoring purposes, qualifying based on a conviction is weighted higher than one based on a family member, Fagon explained. That brings up some tricky issues for women seeking licenses.

“I understand that the person who actually went through [the arrest and conviction] should be awarded more points,” said Venus Rodriguez, an applicant who qualified based on her son’s arrest. “But what’s that scale? And how do we measure suffering? We’ve all suffered.”
Jillian Dragutsky can understand both sides. Her father was convicted for a cannabis offense, and Dragutsky herself was also later convicted for a similar crime.
The harms of both experiences were undeniable for Dragutsky, who was about 15 years old when her father, her primary caregiver, was arrested. She and her brother were sent to live with a friend of her father’s, she recounted.
Dragutsky’s own arrest was just as life-changing of an event. Despite being fortunate enough to be able to hire attorneys — “it was terrifying and challenging,” Dragutsky said.
She called for more transparency in the application process — particularly when it comes to awarding points for the justice-involved questions on the license application.
“Who makes that decision?” she wondered. “It’s a little frustrating not to have transparency.”
The OCM has not yet made a decision on how much information they will make public about license scoring, as the agency is still in the midst of scoring applications, Fagon explained. Regulators are giving applicants more time to cure any deficiencies on their applications, and to submit documentation to verify parts of their qualifications. Unlike other jurisdictions, “we gave everyone as much time as they needed,” Fagon said.
Slow rollout
Cannabis businesses already struggle to access capital, given the industry’s federal illegality. Many institutional investors stay away from the industry and entrepreneurs can’t access small business loans from banks.
Tantalo argued that women, particularly women of color, have even greater challenges accessing capital. That’s what makes the CAURD program attractive, as it gives licensees access to a fund for startup costs.
New York regulators have run into delays with the program. Gov. Kathy Hochul said last October that 20 dispensaries would be open by the end of 2022. But only four have opened their doors so far — one on a pop-up basis. The $200 million public-private effort to help applicants has yet to be fully funded.
“What is the plan? Do [regulators] even have conversations about it?,” said Rodriguez. “We don’t know, because we don’t hear.”
For now, women who qualified based on family members are going to continue to be at a disadvantage for licenses because of the way qualifications are weighted.
“CAURD highlighted this gender disparity that could exist in other areas of our social equity categories as well,” Fagon said. For example, he expects licensing for disabled veterans and distressed farmers to also favor men.
Fagon emphasized that his team is focused on providing opportunities to women. He expects to see a fair representation of women when the office starts licensing entrepreneurs who qualify for social equity based on living in a disproportionately impacted area.
Meanwhile, the OCM announced earlier this month that it would increase the number of initial retail licenses from 150 to 300. That decision is expected to increase the overall number of women licensees, though they will continue to be a small percentage overall.
“The structural disparities in ownership in farming, presence in the military and the disproportionate arrests of men — those are things we can’t change,” Fagon said.
With the first round of licensing underway, the agency isn’t making any immediate changes to the process.
Once the OCM finishes licensing the first applicants, “We’re going to look at the data — where we are and where we need to be,” Fagon said of licensing women entrepreneurs.
“I think we’re going to have to redouble our efforts in future licensing rounds,” he said.
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#Yorks #cannabis #equity #program #stranding #women #entrepreneurs
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

March 12, 2023
Why is Lesotho’s cannabis boom failing to deliver the prosperity it promised?

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In Mapoteng, in north-western Lesotho, near the border with South Africa, on sloping landscapes that in winter are the colour of the donkeys that traverse them, cannabis grows – in hard-to-access ravines and in people’s front yards, alongside pea and spinach patches.
The plants are mostly hidden, because even though legislation in 2008 made it possible to grow cannabis for medical or scientific purposes in Lesotho, doing so without a licence from the health ministry, and for recreational use, remains illegal.
Mapoteng in Berea District, Lesotho, where people farm cannabis in their gardens and in ravines, hidden from view. Photograph: Cebelihle Mbuyisa/The Guardian
By the time the first licences were issued in 2017, Teboho Mohale* had just finished high school. Except for a police station and the Maluti Adventist hospital, which employ a handful of people, there are few job opportunities in Mapoteng. So, Mohale started planting matekoane (cannabis) to sell to local people. Five years on, he still does not have a licence and at a cost of 500,000 maloti (about £23,000), he doubts he will ever get one.
He and other Basotho people, many of whom have grown cannabis for decades, say only the elite and multinationals have benefited from the legislation that was heralded as something that would spread the economic gains among many.
In the 2019 African Cannabis Report, Lesotho’s industry was projected to be worth at least $92m (£76m) by 2023. Yet Mohale and others, whose plants take eight months to mature in open fields, say they have been left out of the booming industry.
We need to have total control of our natural resources as Africans
Samuel Molemo
All Mohale can do is sell the crop from his roadside stall where grilled chicken gizzards and feet, among other things, are also on offer. “When I sell to locals for 5 maloti or 10 maloti, sometimes I get 600 maloti in total,” he says.
His customers are poor and pay in trickles, “like droplets from a tap”. So he prefers selling his entire harvest, 12.5kg of cannabis, in Hlotse, a market town near the South African border, where he gets 500 maloti in one go – not enough for the monthly upkeep of his family.

Part of Tebogo Mohale’s 2022 cannabis harvest. He says he farms and sells illegally because he has no choice. Photograph: Cebelihle Mbuyisa/The Guardian
Since the first marijuana cultivation licence was issued, Lesotho’s politicians have talked about opening up the industry to benefit ordinary people.
Emmanuel Letete, then an economist at the ministry for development planning, said in 2019 that cannabis was going to “set the country free”. Letete, now governor of the Central Bank of Lesotho, says the industry hasn’t lived up to expectations. He said the government has not done much to improve the possibilities of those already farming cannabis outside the legal framework because “there are no resources”.
The then prime minister, Moeketsi Majoro, said he wanted to see commercial cannabis companies forming partnerships with communities. But neither his government nor his party, the All Basotho Convention, has achieved any. Likewise, in 2018, the then health minister, now opposition leader Nkaku Kabi, said that he was working to allow more Basotho to benefit from the cannabis industry. Nearly five years on, there has been no word from government or opposition on any such strategy.
One of the first companies to get a licence in 2017 was Medigrow Health, which in 2021 announced it had brokered a multimillion-pound deal to sell medicinal cannabis into Europe. Andre Bothma, its CEO, did not respond to a Guardian request for an interview, but did tell a Quartz Africa journalist in 2019 that he planned to employ the entire village of Marakabei, where the company is located and which has a population of about 2,000.
Women pick cannabis leaves at a Medigrow greenhouse near Marakabei, Lesotho, August 2019. Photograph: Guillem Sartorio/AFP/Getty Images
In 2022, he said in another interview that he employed 200 people from the local communities. In a country where almost a quarter of the population is unemployed, and 31% live below the poverty line, any jobs are significant.
However, Mohale says employment is not the goal for him. He would like to grow cannabis legally on his own land. He says he would have started already had it not been for the prohibitive cost of the government licence.
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New commercial companies, with international investors, continue to move into Lesotho, building production plants in rural communities. In 2020, Morama Holdings started operations at Ohala Matebele in Letsatsing, in the north-east. When the company launched, Majoro praised the investors for giving a 20% shareholding of the company to Basotho nationals. However, Samuel Molemo, chief of the Letsatsing area was unhappy that the Basotho shareholders in Morama are not local people, but from the capital Maseru.
Molemo says the way Lesotho politicians make deals has to change. “We need to change our mindsets, especially when it comes to things that we own, like cannabis, natural resources and water. We need to have total control of our natural resources as Africans.”
“But as a chief, I have no say on people’s personal land and payment issues because in Lesotho we don’t sell (communal) soil,” says Molemo.
Dr Motšelisi Mokhethi of the University of Lesotho says some of these companies give landowners a lump sum to establish plants in rural areas. “Initially, the money seems significant. But they only realise after a few years that they got a raw deal,” says Mokhethi.
Dr Julian Bloomer, of Mary Immaculate College in Ireland, has written extensively about Lesotho’s long historical connections with cannabis cultivation. “Whilst I heard of the desire to help those from the illicit cannabis sector into the medical cannabis sector, I haven’t seen any plans for how this might happen.
“Clearly the high cost of licences mean that only those with access to capital have been able to enter the medical cannabis market,” he says.
From left, Nyefolo Mathinya and Liteboho Thahamane who are both seeking work at Morama Holdings cannabis plant in Letsatsing. Photograph: Cebelihle Mbuyisa/The Guardian
But there are undeniably jobs from this new industry. Thato Polane, 21, has been hired by Morama Holdings and takes home 3,000 maloti ($179) a month in return for tending plants. Far better than the 500 maloti ($30) a month she used to earn as a cleaner.
She is luckier than her two friends, Nyefolo Mathinya, 31, and Liteboho Thamahane, 23, who go every day to the gates of the cannabis plant to ask for work. Mathinya says she wakes up with the chickens every morning so she can walk there. She is tired but won’t give up. Like many young people in Lesotho, they have never been formally employed and the cannabis farms are the first industry to arrive in their area in their lifetimes.
A spokesperson for Morama Holdings said: “We take our community responsibility very seriously, hence we have an incredibly stable workforce with most of the team being with us since we started operations.”
* Name changed on request
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#Lesothos #cannabis #boom #failing #deliver #prosperity #promised
( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )

February 15, 2023
Drug Peddler alongwith 110 grams of Charas and 1200 grams of Cannabis Hemp contraband like substance arrested – Kashmir News

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Drug Peddler alongwith 110 grams of Charas and 1200 grams of Cannabis Hemp contraband like substance arrested – Kashmir News
Cannabis most commonly used among teens in Kerala, says report by Excise

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Thiruvananthapuram: Cannabis is the most common drug used among teenagers who were either arrested or treated for related cases in Kerala, according to a report on a survey by the State Excise Department.
The report, released by Excise Minister M B Rajesh on Saturday, was based on a study conducted among 600 people under the age of 19.
“Cannabis is the most common drug used among teenegers… They get into it through smoking cigarettes,” said the report received by the Excise Commissioner Ananthakrishnan.
The Excise Department said the survey was conducted only among the drug cases detected by the department and the teenagers who were in the de-addiction centre under Vimukti scheme and not the general public.
“All the 600 people were either arrested in drug cases or housed and treated at de-addiction centres under Vimukti in the State. Of the total 600 people, 155 are accused in various drug cases while 376 were those who reached various de-addiction centres,” an official statement said.
The study, led by Excise sociologist Vinu Vijayan and psychologist Reeja Rajan, sought for stronger enforcement measures.
Also, the department initiated a study, in association with the Student Police Cadets, among the general public on the same matter.
“A comprehensive survey is being conducted by collecting information from one lakh people. The source of intoxication, the main intoxicating substances used, and the reasons why teenagers are attracted to intoxication will be surveyed in the first phase,” the statement said.

The effectiveness of the activities and further suggestions would be collected in the second phase while the strengthening of enforcement activities would be studied in the final phase, it said.
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#Cannabis #commonly #among #teens #Kerala #report #Excise
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

January 28, 2023