Under the revision, which takes effect July 1, 2016, the country also will abolish the death penalty for seven crimes: surrendering to the enemy, opposing order, destruction of projects of national security importance, robbery, drug possession, drug appropriation, and the production and trade of fake food.

Death sentences imposed on corrupt Vietnamese officials will also now be commuted to life in prison if they pay back at least 75 percent of the illegal money they made.

The online newspaper VnExpress said the new regulation was part of the revised Penal Code that an overwhelmingly majority passed in the National Assembly on Friday.

The revised law will also spare the lives of those who are 75 years old or older.

The ruling Communist Party has made fighting corruption one of its top priorities.

However, some lawmakers had voiced opposition to the changes when they were debated in the assembly in June, arguing that they would weaken the fight against corruption.

"This would create a loophole for corrupt officials to use money to trade for their life," state media quoted deputy Do Ngoc Nien as saying at the time.

International human rights groups and some Western countries have been urging Vietnam to abolish its death penalty.

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Vietnam passes law abolishing death penalty for 7 crimes

Q: Recreational marijuana markets arrived in the United States after a relatively long experience with medical marijuana. Does it make sense to have an intermediate stage between prohibition and legalization for recreational purposes?

A: There are a number of supply options between marijuana prohibition and for-profit commercial legalization (see figure below from Options and Issues Regarding Marijuana Legalization). Since removing prohibition and allowing large-scale production and retail sales is new, no one knows how this is going to play out. One of the concerns in the U.S. is that jurisdictions moving to the commercial model may eventually decide that they would like to try something else; however, it will be hard to make changes with a growing industry and powerful lobbyists. Jurisdictions could instead start with middle-ground options and give them a try before committing to the commercial model. In addition, policymakers may also want to consider including sunset clauses which would give them the ability to change course without getting locked into a particular regime.

Q: In general terms, what are the policy goals that should be pursued when setting up the rules for a legal marijuana market?

A: Policy preferences will be shaped by values of the decision makers. For example, most libertarians will prefer options with fewer regulations while those unhappy with the status quo but worried about an increase in marijuana misuse and dependence because of the advertising and price declines associated with commercialization may be more open to a government monopoly on supply (which is very different from the proposal recently rejected in Ohio. German Lopez has a nice explainer on this issue here).

Based on my research collaborations as well as interactions with policymakers contemplating, designing, or actually implementing marijuana legalization, I’ve identified 10 policy design choices that will largely shape whether legalization ends up being good or bad for public health (which all conveniently begin with the letter P): Production, profit motive, promotion, prevention, policing and enforcement, penalties, potency, purity, price and permanency.

I can’t say enough about the importance of price (shapes consumption, revenues, and the size of the black market), but I wish more people would discuss the last P, permanency. I do worry about jurisdictions locking themselves into supply architectures that they may eventually regret.

Marijuana regulation: There are many options

Macedonia’s health ministry is “seriously listening” to medical marijuana experts about potentially legalizing medical marijuana, according to Turkish Weekly.

Recent opinion polls in the country show 70 percent of Macedonians support legalizing medical marijuana use for patients suffering with serious diseases.

Macedonian health officials held a public debate on the topic of medical marijuana on Sunday to discuss the pros and cons of medical marijuana with medical specialists, pharmacologists and patients who might benefit from cannabis treatment, as reported by Balkan Insight.

“We are consulting experts, specialist doctors from various fields, pharmacologists, representatives of civil society… We believe that they will help us in finding the most optimal solution,” the ministry told BIRN.

So far, 13 EU countries have legalised the use of marijuana for medical purposes. The latest was Croatia in October, becoming the first Balkan country to allow patients to legally buy and use marijuana products.

Macedonia may legalise medical marijuana

Drug policy activists long have said that decriminalizing parts of the drug trade would relieve some of the burden on overcrowded prisons. But some researchers have pushed back against this notion in recent years.

They point out that drug offenders only account for about 1-in-5 state and federal inmates. The Urban Institute showed earlier this year that cutting drug admissions in half would only reduce the state prison population by about 7 percent. Facts like these have led some to conclude that ending the drug war will do little to end the mass incarceration crisis.

But in a new analysis published this week, Brookings Institution fellow Jonathan Rothwell says that arguments about the impact of drug reforms on prison populations have overlooked one key distinction: the difference between the number of people 

He points out that while drug offenses only account for 20 percent of the prison population, they make up nearly one third — 31 percent — of the total 

 to prison. The reason for the difference? Drug offenders typically serve shorter sentences than say, murderers or other violent criminals. So simply looking at the number of people in prison at a given point in time understates the true impact of drug laws on incarceration.

"Drug crimes have been the predominant reason for new admissions into state and federal prisons in recent decades," Rothwell writes. "In every year from 1993 to 2009, more people were admitted for drug crimes than violent crimes."

Rothwell agrees that rolling back the drug war won't totally solve the incarceration problem. "But it could help a great deal, by reducing exposure to prison," he writes. Even a brief jail or prison sentence — even just an arrest — can have dire consequences for people at the poorer margins of society.

Drug offenders make up nearly one third of prison admissions, new analysis shows

On 26 and 27 November 2015, Commissioners Mary Chinery-Hesse (Ghana) and Adeolu Ogunrombi (Nigeria) will share key findings of the Commission’s report Not Just in Transit: Drugs, the State and Society in West Africa with the Minister of Health, the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Drugs Control and civil society groups.

The visit of the Commissioners follows President Muhammadu Buhari acceptance speech remarks that Nigeria aims to become “a more forceful and constructive player” on global issues, such as countering the global drugs problem.

“The West Africa Commission on Drugs is ready to support Nigeria in this endeavour” says Mary Chinery-Hesse.” “Drug trafficking, consumption and production in Nigeria and beyond can undermine institutions, threaten public health and damage development efforts”.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Chair of the West Africa Commission on Drugs, says: “I caution against the militarisation of drug policy in Nigeria and West Africa. The war on drugs has not succeeded, and should not be replicated in Africa. Today, the small fry is caught while the big fish swim free.”

“In line with the findings of our report, we call on Nigeria and the other West African governments to reform drug laws and policies and decriminalise low-level and non-violent drug offences”, says Adeolu Ogunrombi.

The West African Commission on Drugs visits Nigeria

In early 2015, the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, stated that Indonesia was in a state of emergency due to rampant drug use and declared a renewed ‘war on drugs’. In practice, this led to increased funding for law enforcement and a series of punitive measures that have exacerbated the problem instead of addressing it.

PKNI and Drugreporter now launch their new documentary film in 4 cities across Indonesia ahead of World AIDS Day 2015.

The short documentary film Dying a Slow Death: Inside Indonesia's Drug War, produced by the Indonesian Drug Users Network (PKNI) and the Drugreporter, documents the first-hand impacts of the drug war as experienced by the community itself. The documentary features testimony and interviews with people who use drugs, methadone patients, academics and religious leaders, and was filmed and conceived by local drug user community activists. Beginning with the execution of 14 drug traffickers earlier this year, the film details how Indonesia is sliding toward compulsory drug treatment, increased extortion and bribery, while creating more barriers to access of health and support services.

Watch and share the film to end the war on drugs in Indonesia!

Dying a slow death: Inside Indonesia's drug war

As the world calls for reform in drug laws, Sierra Leone should make use of this window of opportunity to harmonise her drug policies in line with the West Africa Drug Commission evidence-based recommendations.

The current universal clarion call for global reform of drug laws is an excellent opportunity for our country to harmonise her drug policies in line with the West Africa Drug Commission evidence-based recommendations. Drug abuse has a long history in Sierra Leone. However, it was heightened during the eleven years brutal rebel war, during which both sides of the conflict excessively used drugs especially on the teenagers and child soldiers. Little wonder the barbaric behaviour can never be understood by human minds.

Sadly, at the end of the war, no attention was paid to the aspect of drug addiction; the ex-combatants went back to their various communities, with the acquired dangerous new habit of drug abuse. Many became drug dependent to forget the horrors of the war. (...)

The issue of drug abuse is also compounded by campaigners. In West Africa, we have demonised drug users and call for society to have nothing to do with them. We call for their marginalisation, rejection and ostracise them, making them carry the entire social filth and treat them like lepers or deadly contagious virus/disease. Campaigners continually call for drug users to be harassed by law enforcement agencies; we call for tougher laws, with scant regard paid to the human rights of drug abusers, who are stigmatised. We woefully fail to show the human face to their plight. Our “holier than thou attitude” only place heavy burden on the criminal justice sector as many languish in overcrowded prisons/correctional centres where many have lost their lives.

Today the UN and many international organisations like the West Africa Commission on Drugs (WACD), West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI) and the International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) and Kofi Annan Foundation (KAF) are all calling for reform in drug laws/policies, with focus on the human rights of drug users, and to treat drug use as a public health issue with socio-economic causes and consequences, rather than as a criminal justice matter.

Campaigners call on Sierra Leone government to harmonise drug policies

The Dutch local authorities’ organisation VNG is calling on the government to sanction regulated marijuana production by introducing licences for growers.

The move is necessary to take marijuana out of the hands of organised crime and smugglers, the VNG says in a new report, previewed in the Volkskrant. All 393 local authorities in the Netherlands are members of the VNG.

Marijuana may be legally sold in small quantities in the Netherlands via licensed cafes, known as coffee shops, but the supply remains a grey area and in criminal hands.

‘The current situation cannot continue,’ the report states. ‘As local officials, we are experiencing major social problems.’

‘By turning a blind eye [to marijuana], the government is giving criminals free rein to sell their products. The cannabis industry is closely entwined with organised crime, which is also involved in ecstasy and human trafficking,’ the report says.

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