"Hemp and medical cannabis as a driving factor of growth and employment"

 is organized by GUE/NGL Greek MEP Stelios Kouloglou which will take place on 

 at the European Parliament in Brussels. The conference aims at understanding the alternative and sustainable use of cannabis variations as industrial hemp and as a medicine. The guest speakers will highlight that cannabis can be a boost for growth and employment in the EU.

Stelios Kouloglou MEP (Greece, GUE/NGL-SYRIZA)

European Commission representative: Financing hemp production and processing in Europe (tbc)

Francesco Tropea, EPRS Policy Analyst: EP studies, national legislation on hemp production and processing in selected EU countries,

Mark Reinders, Deputy president of the European Industrial Hemp Association (EIHA) and HempFlax (NL)

15:30 - 17:00 2nd Panel: Medical Cannabis

 Beatriz Becerra Basterrechea MEP (Spain, ALDE - Unión, Progreso y Democracia)

Michael Carus, Manager Director of the European Industrial Hemp Association (EIHA) and nova-Institute (DE)

Joep Oomen, ENCOD coordinator - The European Coalition for Just and Effective Drug Policies

Michel Degens, MAMBO representative - medical social club

Should you require a badge to access the European Parliament, please confirm your attendance to stelios.kouloglou@europarl.europa.eu by Monday, February 15th 2016. The e-mail should include: your full name, full address, nationality, number of passport (with expiry date) or ID number and date of birth (and e-mail of the participant, if you register for more than one person). Entrance: Rue Wiertz - Altiero Spinelli building.

Keep up-to-date with drug policy developments by subscribing to the IDPC Monthly Alert

Hemp and medical cannabis as a driving factor of growth and employment

The next CND Intersessional meeting will be held on 24 February 2016 from 9am to 6pm in Conference Room C1, C Building of the Vienna International Centre.

Representatives of NGOs in ECOSOC consultative status are as usually invited to attend.

For those unable to participate in person, the meeting will be webcast here.

Keep up-to-date with drug policy developments by subscribing to the IDPC Monthly Alert.

CND Intersessional Meeting - 24 February 2016

In a few weeks time, world leaders will descend on the United Nations in New York for the first UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on Drugs Policy in 18 years.

In 1998, John Mordaunt Trust and friends after much work organising arranged for an African American Woman living with HIV to address the assembled gathering about the failure of the global drug war, with some focus on the AIDS pandemic. Alongside Marsha Burnett RIP was Omarya Morales,(RIP) who was a Cocalera and whose house was burnt to the ground : she very nearly lost her own child in the fire. Together these two soldierinas spoke truth to power for the first time explaining the dangers of aerial spraying, destroying huge areas of land and air space and much more: Needle Exchange for example, was still illegal in most US States at that point.

Back then June 1998, there were but five NGOs raising the issues European NGO Coalition for Just & Effective Drug Policies (ENCOD,) Transnational Radical Party (TRP) at the UN.
In parallel the Lindesmith Centre now the Drug Policy Alliance got a two page spread with petitoners from high level society calling for the end to the war on drugs , and pointing out that huge amounts of money were being wasted trying to upkeep a broken system.
The demonisation of drug injectors, even people living with HIV/AIDS , lack of access to treatment of all kinds to this group, the criminalisation and incarceration of 100s of thousands of people around the world, exploitation of small producers and the fact that so much of the profits of illegal drug selling is funding war in diferent parts of the world: for all these reasons and more, many of us, in increasing numbers are still fighting to end the war on our poor, often black and brown communities..who happen to use drugs..

Today as we stand in February 2016, there are Many Many more NGOs including INPUD, a global peer-based organisation that seeks to promote the health and defend the rights of people who use drugs, working on this and this should give us some hope of significant change. Sadly progressive drug policy change in the UK appears to have stagnated, while many people living with Epilepsy, MS, Cancers and AIDS wasting Syndrome now know that they could benefit from the use of Cannabis products . This is a disgrace to the UK particularly in light of the fact that the USA has now turned its "punitive Titanic" around and is legally allowing for recreational and Medical Use of Cannabis in five different States

 to addresss several issues pertaining to the upcoming UNGASS: Baroness Molly Meacher will address the UN Conventions and what meaning they hold today.., Lord Brian Paddick (who was a Police Officer, that had Cannabis effectively decriminalised in Lambeth), Leigh Neal representing a large part of the directly affected community and Mike Trace the CEO of RAPT and the founder of the International Drug Policy Consortium. The meeting is a collaborative effort of the globalnet21.org and the John Mordaunt Trust www.usersvoice.org

: Commitee Room 4a, House of Commons, Parliament, London SW1A 0AA

The need for drug policy reform in the United Kingdom

Zero Discrimination in Health Care #zerodiscrimination Twitter Conversation – 1 March 2016, 14h30 CET

New York 08:30 |Geneva 14:30 |Nairobi 16:30 | Bangkok 20:30]

As we approach 1 March, 

, we would like to highlight that discrimination in health care, on various grounds, remains widespread and takes many forms. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development puts respect for equality and non-discrimination at the centre of its goals that aim to ensure healthy lives for all, build inclusive societies. Concerted action is needed to prioritize ending discrimination in health care settings. Join the Global Health Workforce Alliance 

 on March 1 at 14h30 CET and participate in the full conversation!

Joining the #zerodiscrimination Twitter chat is simple. Be sure to log on to Twitter at 14h30 (CET) on March 1, and search the hashtag #zerodiscrimination. There, you’ll be able to follow and participate in the full conversation, which will feature questions from @GHWAlliance and responses from participants. The session will be moderated by (@Lzloures), Luiz Lourez, Deputy Executive Director, UNAIDS and (@JimC_HRH), Jim Campbell Executive Director, Global Health Workforce Alliance; Director, WHO Health Workforce.

#zerodiscrimination Chat Questions
Below are the questions to give you an opportunity to prepare your answers. We encourage you to share your ideas, the great work of both your organization and your partners during the chat, including photos and links to blog posts, news articles, or other materials.

Q1: What are the elements of discrimination-free health care settings? #zerodiscrimination
Q2: Why is eliminating #discrimination in health care important for #UHC and the #SDGs? #zerodiscrimination Q3. What coherent actions, by whom should be taken to achieve #zerodiscrimination in health care settings.
Q4. What can be done to strengthen #accountability for #zerodiscrimination in health care?

Stamp out #discrimination in healthcare. Join @ghwalliance on 1 March,14h30 CET to discuss #zerodiscrimination http://bit.ly/1pbmfE4

Access 2 quality #health services must be universal. Join the #ZeroDiscrimination twitter chat on 1 March, 14h30 CET. http://bit.ly/1pbmfE4

Everyone, everywhere should have quality #health services. Join the #ZeroDiscrimination chat on 1 March 14h30CET http://bit.ly/1pbmfE4

Obstacles that inhibit access to #health-care facilities must be removed. Join the #ZeroDiscrimination twitter chat. http://bit.ly/1pbmfE4

Stop #discrimination against #HealthWorkers ! Join our #zerodiscrimination chat 1 March, http://bit.ly/1pbmfE4. Moderated by @JimC_HRH, @Lzloures<https://twitter.com/Lzloures>

Click here for more information and find generic tweets for the Zero Discrimination day.

Events

Hemp and medical cannabis as a driving factor of growth and employment

CND Intersessional Meeting - 24 February 2016

The need for drug policy reform in the United Kingdom

UNAIDS #zerodiscrimination Twitter chat