Regularisation of migrants in Spain: ‘Every person is an end in themselves'

A man walks the beach in Las Palmas, Spain, a week after arriving from Gambia (AFP or licensors)
World

Regularisation of migrants in Spain: ‘Every person is an end in themselves'

Amaya Valcárcel, International Advocacy Advisor at Jesuit Refugee Service, speaks to Vatican News about the Spanish government’s recent decision to grant legal residency to hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants.


By Joseph Tulloch

Last month, the Spanish cabinet approved a decree granting legal residency to hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants.

At a time when deportation and detention dominate discussions on migration elsewhere, it was a striking choice.

In Spain, irregular migrants had lived “for years in the shadows,” said Amaya Valcárcel, International Advocacy Advisor at Jesuit Refugee Service. For the estimated 500,000 to one million affected, regularisation means “recognition of their civil existence” and “a step toward legal security.”

Speaking to Vatican News via email, Valcárcel, who is Spanish, emphasised that irregular migrants carry out “indispensable” work in Spain, in sectors such as agriculture, hospitality, construction and domestic work. However, without access to formal job contracts or safety nets, they live “under constant risk”.

'Weed Apocalypse' dawns for California pot dealers on Sunday

By Rollo Ross, Reuters • June 29, 2018





FILE PHOTO: Customers queue for recreational marijuana outside the MedMen store in West Hollywood, California U.S. January 2, 2018. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson/File PhotoMore


By Rollo Ross

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Six months after California made recreational marijuana use legal, the so-called "Weed Apocalypse" arrives this weekend, as tight state regulations going into effect on Sunday have dispensaries scrambling to unload non-compliant product.

But while the deadline is giving pot shop owners headaches, it is creating an opportunity for consumers. They are already anticipating deep discounts on their favorite marijuana products on what has been dubbed "Green Saturday" - for the color of cannabis - and for black market dealers.

"There's going to be a lot of massive sales, a lot of retails fire-selling a lot of products," said Nick Danias, manager of The Pottery cannabis dispensary in mid-city Los Angeles.

"It's about getting rid of a lot of older product that doesn't meet city and state requirements and getting through that old inventory and moving on to the next steps after July 1," he said.

The state Bureau of Cannabis Control regulations require shops to sell only marijuana that has been tested for pesticides, potency and microbiological contaminants.

The government-approved pot will be marked with a harvest and "best use by" date and sealed in child-resistant packaging. The rules were designed to take effect on July 1, six months after legalization approved by voters in November formally took effect on Jan. 1.

Business owners say they have struggled to meet the deadline because of a lack of approved testing facilities in California, which has created a bottleneck in the supply of compliant marijuana that could drive customers to the black market.

The Bureau of Cannabis Control lists 31 labs for testing on its website but says only 19 are operational.

"We issued our emergency regulations back in November, and at that time, we were pretty clear about the fact that there would be a six-month transition period for retailers to use up their existing supply," said Alex Traverso, a spokesman for the bureau. "We felt that was a sufficient amount of time to deplete stock on hand and adapt to California’s new rules."

All eyes on Canada as first G7 nation prepares to make marijuana legal

From crime to health to business, Canada’s decision to legalize marijuana is a grand progressive experiment that promises to answer a host of questions


Selena Ross in Montreal

Wed 6 Jun 2018 02.00 EDT Last modified on Wed 6 Jun 2018 17.00 EDT

Marijuana legalization could affect Canada’s crime patterns, health and countless other factors. Photograph: Bernard Weil/Toronto Star via Getty Images

When Canopy Growth opened its first cannabis factory in an old chocolate plant near Ottawa four years ago, it did so predicting a bright future. Canada had already legalized medical marijuana, and Canopy predicted full legalization for recreational use to be next.

What the company hadn’t predicted, however, was the sudden flood of foreign visitors. Politicians and police authorities from Jamaica, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Greece and Australia have all come knocking, as well as doctors from New Zealand, Brazil and Chile, along with groups of corporate investors and bankers – so many that Canopy now sometimes splits up the groups according to their birthdays.

“We knew we’d have to give a lot of tours, so we just cut a window into the wall,” said the company spokesman, Jordan Sinclair. “We put windows in all of the doors.” 

Canada will be thrust even more directly under the international microscope on Thursday, when a vote in the Senate is expected to ratify Bill C-45, effectively making Canada the first G20 nation to legalize recreational marijuana.