 Good evening. Join me. This is Drug and Report Air News. Promise. Life. Drug and Report Air News. Love and hope and trust and confidence. Tonight, there's something special to talk about. So won't you join us? Good evening. My name is Peter Sharossi. I'm the editor of the Drug Reporter website. And you are watching Drug Reporter News, our monthly news update from the world of drug policies. Italy set to hold a referendum on decriminalizing cannabis. Italy is set to decide whether to decriminalize cannabis in a referendum next year after Italian activists gather half a million signatures, the threshold required by law to trigger a nationwide vote. The referendum would eliminate prison sentences around most conduct relating to the cultivation of cannabis for personal use, but it would not regulate the trafficking of cannabis. The referendum would also remove a penalty that currently prevents people from legally driving or using a moped for up to three years if they are found to have used drugs. Warnings instead of prosecution for Class A drug users in Scotland. People called with Class A drugs in Scotland could be given a police warning instead of facing prosecution, reported BBC. Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain told MSPs this would now include Class A drugs in a bid to address the underlying causes of Scotland's drug death crisis. The conservatives said the move amounts to the de facto decriminalization of deadly substances. Miss Bain insisted this was not the case, adding that there is no one-size-fits-all response to drug addiction and that every case should be judged individually. The scheme does not extend to drug supply offenses. Robust prosecutorial action will continue to be taken in relation to the supply of controlled drugs. Scotland logged a record 1,339 drug-related deaths in 2020 by far the highest rates in Europe, with the Scottish government pledging to make it a national mission to cut fatalities. US House passes Bill to end disparities in crack cocaine sentences. The US House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the Bill to permanently end the sentence in disparities between crack cocaine and powder cocaine, a policy that has led to the disproportionate incarceration of African Americans, reports Sarah Lynch on Reuters. In a bipartisan vote of 361.66, the House approved the Equal Act, short of eliminating a quantifiably unjust application of the law. The Bill will now head to the Senate, where criminal justice advocates believe it has a chance of passing. The Justice Department also previously endorsed the Bill. The disparities between crack and powder cocaine date back to war on drugs policies in the 1980s. In response to a nation in panic, we passed, on a bipartisan basis, a law that imposed a 100-to-1 sentencing disparity between crack cocaine and powder cocaine offenses. The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986. Today, to this date, it is one of the worst votes I ever cast. Zurich to launch Recreational Cannabis Trial. Switzerland's largest city, Zurich, will next year allow people to buy cannabis products from pharmacies and social clubs under controlled conditions, reported SwissInfo.ch. The three-and-a-half-year pilot scheme takes advantage of a change in the law that was approved by Parliament last year. This allows cities to conduct scientific studies on the effects of the cannabis market and of the recreational use of the drug. The Zurich Cannabis with Responsibility Study will start in the autumn of 2022, making different products available, each with a different THC CBD content. Local manufacturers must have a production permit from the Federal Office of Public Health ensuring quality standards. Teen news of marijuana did not increase with legalization in the US. Dr. Nora Volkov, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, NIDA, came to admit that she was wrong about her expectations relating the legalization of cannabis. I was expecting the use of marijuana as a chance to go up, but overall it hasn't. Said Volkov in a new interview she gave to Ethel Nadelman in his new podcast series Psychoactive. And finally, we would like to call your attention to the hashtag more than video contest launched by the International Network of People Who Use Drugs together with Rice Reporter Foundation. The video contest is part of the more than campaign highlighting that people who use drugs are more than the sum of all the labels attached to them by the society. Find more info on our website, go and visit drugreporter.net slash more than. This was Drug Reporter News for today. If you like this initiative, please make a donation today for the Rice Reporter Foundation, the organization producing this show on our website, drugreporter.net slash support. Thank you and bye. Thank you for joining us. What we've been able to achieve has been done with your help. Now we go on to the next stop, making a final commitment. Now we need your support again. Support Drug and Report. Today...