The Ganja Growers and Producers Association says the industry was not designed with a ground-up approach and that regulations are unworkable, restrictive and draconian.
As farmers are left with acres of coca leaf but no means to sell it and cartels are adapting their trafficking patterns, the economic consequences of the pandemic are becoming increasingly visible.
Regulation is likely to lead to better outcomes for health, education and justice, but the bill needs to offer further clarity on issues such as potency and the role of for-benefit companies, according to legal expert.
The main causal factor for homelessness and drug use is the same: Policies that constrain people's ability to meet their daily needs, secure steady employment, afford rent and be part of a stable community.
The criminalisation of sex work and drug use disproportionately affects sex workers in the LGBTQ+ community by increasing the incidence of assaults and fatal overdoses and exposing them to unsafe prison conditions in these times of COVID-19.
This first community-based harm reduction, treatment and care project in Myanmar aims to show that supporting people who use drugs is far more effective than punishment.
