'Fill Berlin Up With Weed:' Hemp Shoes Brand Campaign Sends CEO To Jail & More Global Cannabis Updates

‘Filling Berlin Up With Weed’ — Hemp Shoes Brand’s Original Campaign

• Those who happened to be in Berlin in early July had a chance to see an original campaign thanks to which the city was full of hemp plants. More precisely, 500 industrial hemp plants were placed near churches, hospitals, train stations, and universities.
• 8000Kicks, a Portugal-American hemp shoe and backpack company, launched this campaign on July 3 to promote its newest product: WEEDO. These are limited-edition shoes made from premium ground hemp flower — 500gr per shoe.
• The results: On one hand, the CEO and founder of the brand, Bernardo Carreira ended up briefly in jail, and the judge released him saying “Your campaign is over. Get your plants off the streets and get the f--- out of Germany,” reported Cannabis Now. On the other hand, Carierra said they needed to do something crazy and get everyone’s attention, something like “fill Berlin up with weed,” which resulted in getting a lot of “encouragement and enthusiasm,” he said. “People were going crazy taking pictures of these plants everywhere in Berlin.”

Bern Might Launch A Pilot Trial On Controlled Cocaine Sales

• After launching pilot cannabis trials across several cities in Switzerland this year, administrative capital went one step further. This June, Bern’s city parliament approved a motion from the Alternative Left party asking the city to launch a pilot trial on controlled sales of cocaine, reported Swiss Info. 
• Politicians who supported the idea agreed that cocaine is a harmful drug, but also that supervised sales could provide better control. 
• Right-leaning parties mostly opposed the idea, and argued that such a call should be left to the government, while Bern’s director of Education, Social Affairs and Sport said that “the government only agreed to the cannabis pilot project under pressure from the cities.” 
• Cities in Switzerland are known for having among the highest cocaine consumption rate in Europe. “The costs are low, the purity is high: it’s a thriving market. And there are people who consume a lot of it,” said Frank Zobel of Addiction Switzerland. He believes that Bern’s suggestion is definitely worth considering. “There definitely is a problem and something has to be done. We must think it through carefully, as we did with the heroin question many years ago,” he concluded. 

Victorian Government Ponders Closed Trail To Allow Medical Marijuana Patients To Drive 

• The government of Victoria, Australia is reportedly considering launching a closed trial to explore allowing medical marijuana users to drive while consuming the medicine.
• While the current law in Victoria allows medical marijuana use but forbids driving with any amount of THC found in a person's system, the new proposal would allow driving while not being impaired. How do you measure impairment?
• Western Metropolitan Region Legalise Cannabis MP David Ettershank said that while there’s no one conclusive method to determine impairment, there are some useful ways, and that the main issue here is to treat marijuana as any other prescription drug. Ettershank highlighted that people are allowed to drive if they have taken opioids or benzodiazepines if not impaired, and agreed that medical marijuana users should be cautious and consult with their doctors. 
• Tasmania already allowed unimpaired medical marijuana patients to drive.

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Photo: Courtesy of CRYSTALWEED cannabis on Unsplash