Europe Chills Out
Not all countries conform to the Single Convention’s “schedules,” and some now have today adopted very tolerant enforcement policies—although (contrary to popular belief) cannabis is technically illegal even in the Netherlands. In the Netherlands, cannabis is a Schedule 2 drug and opiates are Schedule 1, in a reversal of the UN (and US) policy. Under the “Dutch model,” cannabis is decriminalized, and the fines that are technically on the books for possession are generally not enforced. Other European countries that have decriminalized include Spain, Italy and Belgium—although the enforcement policy in these countries is nowhere near as liberal as in the Netherlands. Italy especially has been cracking down in recent years.
Planning a vacation? Get the straight dope on your cannabis destination!
Although levels of tolerance for cannabis vary widely worldwide, nearly every nation on earth is a party to the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, which establishes uniform “schedules” for controlled substances—with our favorite herb in the most restrictive schedule. Nations may establish their own enforcement policies, in consultation with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
Over the past generation, an informal alliance of activists, cultivators, entrepreneurs and medical professionals have struggled to redefine how the United States views the cannabis plant. Victories at state and municipal levels have created a new field of medicinal treatment for a wide variety of ailments in California and other mostly western states. Medical marijuana marks the starkest point in the divide between an industrial model of healthcare and a millennia-long tradition of herbal self-treatment—because nowhere else has the federal government been so intransigent.
As you walk towards Foss Hill (often called The Hill, or Foss), a miniature hill at Wesleyan University, you are greeted by the prestigious Olin Library on your left and by rugged Hewitt (one of the many dorms on campus) on your right. Both buildings give the impression of a well known academic space.
Every year since 1972, the Rainbow Family of Living Light has been holding its Summer gathering in the National Forests of the United States, bouncing to a different state each year, from coast to coast. A loose network of hippie tribes that celebrate their diversity, the Rainbow People caravan cross-country for the annual back-to-nature affair that starts building in June and climaxes with a silent meditation for world peace when the rest of America is setting off fireworks on July 4.
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