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  Richard Lake 5:48 am on May 19, 2010 Permalink  

  Mexico’s ‘Eliot Ness’ Seeks U.S. Help 

  Pubdate: Wed, 19 May 2010
  Source: Wall Street Journal (US)
  Copyright: 2010 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
  Contact: wsj.ltrs@wsj.com
  Author: David Luhnow
  Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Mexico
  Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Felipe+Calderon

  MEXICO’S ‘ELIOT NESS’ SEEKS U.S.  HELP

  MEXICO CITY-Ten days after taking power following a hotly contested election in 2006, Felipe Calderon sat in the gilded presidential chair and signed a decree that would shape his presidency: an order to deploy 6,000 army troops to his home state of Michoacan to take on drug gangs.  Like many, the president believed the army might have trouble with the drug lords, but would at least force them out of city plazas and back into the shadows.

  It hasn’t worked out that way.  Some three years later, more than 23,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence across Mexico, according to government figures.  The bloodshed keeps rising despite the presence of an estimated 45,000 to 60,000 soldiers-roughly a fourth of Mexico’s army-in nine states.

  The 47-year-old career politician begins his first official visit to Washington on Wednesday as a leader who started a battle on the doorstep of the U.S.  that turned into a war-a conflict whose consequences will shape Mexico for years to come.

  Polls show that while most Mexicans support the president’s war, most think the drug lords are winning.  In the past few weeks, cartel gunmen burst into the Holiday Inn hotel in Monterrey and snatched guests from their rooms.  Drug gangs also blocked the highways leading out of Monterrey, Mexico’s business capital.  Among the victims of the war: a groom coming out of his wedding, a 12-year-old and his mother, and scores of teens.

  Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10.n371.a11.html

   
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  Richard Lake 4:55 am on May 19, 2010 Permalink  

  Souder, Leading Drug Warrior, Asks Forgiveness for Sins 

  Pubdate: Tue, 18 May 2010
  Source: Huffington Post (US Web)
  Copyright: 2010 HuffingtonPost com, Inc.
  Author: Ryan Grim
  Note: Ryan Grim is the author of This Is Your Country On Drugs
  Referenced: SSDP’s State-by-State Report http://ssdp.org/states/
  Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Mark+Souder

  SOUDER, LEADING DRUG WARRIOR, ASKS FORGIVENESS FOR SINS

  Mark Souder resigned his congressional seat on Tuesday, confessing to an affair with a staffer and ending an eight-term career as a Republican from Indiana.

  In stepping down, he asked God for forgiveness in a rambling, all-caps public statement.  “I SINNED AGAINST GOD, MY WIFE AND MY FAMILY BY HAVING A MUTUAL RELATIONSHIP WITH A PART-TIME MEMBER OF MY STAFF,” he wrote.  “MY COMFORT IS THAT GOD IS A GRACIOUS AND FORGIVING GOD TO THOSE WHO SINCERELY SEEK HIS FORGIVENESS AS I DO.”

  Forgiveness, however, is not a quality that Souder shares with his Lord.  No Republican has been more outspoken in Congress in his moral condemnation of Americans who use illicit drugs.  In order to punish such sinning, Souder championed and vigorously defended perhaps the least forgiving law on the federal books: the denial of federal student aid for any student convicted of drug possession, no matter how minor.

  Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10/n369/a04.html

   
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  Richard Lake 6:07 am on May 18, 2010 Permalink  

  Web: We Are The Drug Policy Alliance 

  Pubdate: Mon, 17 May 2010
  Source: Huffington Post (US Web)
  Copyright: 2010 HuffingtonPost com, Inc.
  Website: http://www.huffingtonpost.com
  Author: Ethan Nadelmann
  Note: Ethan Nadelmann is the Executive Director of the Drug Policy Alliance. http://www.drugpolicy.org
  Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0A1XTlJAio

  Sting, Soros, Montel and More

  WE ARE THE DRUG POLICY ALLIANCE

  I’ve often felt in years past that our struggle to end the drug war is relentlessly uphill.  But that’s changing now, sometimes more quickly than even I can believe.  The principal reason is us, by which I mean every person who grasps the lunacy of drug policies in this country and throughout much of the world, and who takes some action – no matter how small – to advance a better way.

  It’s time now for DPA – the Drug Policy Alliance – to launch a new organizational identity that fully expresses each of our roles as agents of change.

  This change represents the once-unimaginable progress that you and I have made over the past decade to bring drug policy reform that much closer to the tipping point.  Now is the time to make drug policy reform more personal – creating an even greater sense of moral urgency, connecting the dots with more allies, and building on the common interests of everyone who makes up this movement.  We can keep chipping away at the drug war but it won’t really end until a critical mass of people, communities and elected officials demand a new way of dealing with drugs in our society.  That’s why we are the Drug Policy Alliance.

  I’m often asked, “Who is this growing drug policy reform movement?”

  We vary of course in what brings us to this cause.  We are people who care about fundamental freedoms, civil liberties and human rights.  We are people who care about social and economic justice.  We are people who want to end racism.  We are people who want addiction treated as a health issue rather than a criminal justice problem.  We are people who want honest drug education for our youth that fosters trust rather than fear.  And every one of us – no matter our reason – believes that the war on drugs is not the way to deal with the reality of drugs in our society.  That’s why we are the Drug Policy Alliance.

  [snip]

  P.S.  Today we’re introducing a new video featuring Sting, George Soros and Montel Williams.  Each of them – like so many of us – believes that our drug policies must be grounded in science, compassion, health and human rights.

  Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10/n368/a09.html

   
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  Richard Lake 6:00 am on May 18, 2010 Permalink  

  Editorial: Will Feds Allow State Pot Laws? 

  Pubdate: Tue, 18 May 2010
  Source: Denver Post (CO)
  Copyright: 2010 The Denver Post Corp
  Contact: openforum@denverpost.com
  Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?253 (Cannabis – Medicinal – U.S.)

  WILL FEDS ALLOW STATE POT LAWS?

  Colorado and Other States That Have Enacted Medical Marijuana Laws Should Be Allowed to Proceed Without Federal Interference.

  Now that Colorado is poised to begin regulating medical marijuana dispensaries, it makes sense to consider how the potential state law jibes with the long arm of federal law.

  Though President Obama’s administration is taking a tolerant view toward the 14 states with medical pot laws, future administrations might decide to strictly enforce federal laws, which don’t recognize the drug as anything other than illegal.

  Colorado’s Rep.  Jared Polis, D-Boulder, has co-sponsored a measure that says as long as the doctors who prescribe, patients who use, dispensaries that sell and growers that provide medical marijuana follow state laws, federal drug agents would not be allowed to arrest or charge them with drug crimes.

  That’s an important exception to make because unless Gov.  Bill Ritter surprises lawmakers with a veto, Colorado is on its way to sanctioning dispensaries and creating a vast new regulatory framework for the burgeoning new industry.

  Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10.n368.a07.html

   
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  Richard Lake 5:53 am on May 18, 2010 Permalink  

  Fifteen Applications to Run Marijuana ‘Compassion Centers’ 

  ubdate: Tue, 18 May 2010
  Source: Providence Journal, The (RI)
  Copyright: 2010 The Providence Journal Company
  Contact: letters@projo.com
  Author: W. Zachary Malinowski, Journal Staff Writer
  Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?253 (Cannabis – Medicinal – U.S.)

  FIFTEEN APPLICATIONS TO RUN MARIJUANA ‘COMPASSION CENTERS’

  PROVIDENCE – The state Department of Health received 15 proposals by Monday from applicants seeking to establish the state’s first compassion center, or store, to sell marijuana to patients registered in the medicinal-marijuana program.

  Two of the applications had been submitted through Friday, while 13 more came in just before the deadline passed at 4:30 p.m., health officials said.

  Annemarie Beardsworth, Health Department spokeswoman, said that the department will not release the names of the applicants or other details of the proposals, including proposed center locations, until department officials review the applications.

  “If we asked for a security plan, we want to know whether a security plan is enclosed,” she said.

  In the coming weeks, the department will post the proposals for public view.  A public hearing on the proposals is scheduled for June 21 at the department, 3 Capitol Hill.

  Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10/n368/a04.html

   
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  Richard Lake 5:48 am on May 18, 2010 Permalink  

  Ruling Hurts in Modesto Needle Exchange Case 

  Pubdate: Tue, 18 May 2010
  Source: Modesto Bee, The (CA)
  Copyright: 2010 The Modesto Bee
  Contact: letters@modbee.com
  Author: Merrill Balassone
  Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?137 (Needle Exchange)

  RULING HURTS IN MODESTO NEEDLE EXCHANGE CASE

  A judge ruled Monday that two people arrested for handing out clean syringes to drug users and collecting dirty ones will be barred from telling a jury they did so to help prevent a public health emergency.

  Kristy Tribuzio, 36, and Brian Robinson, 38, face up to a year in jail after undercover officers said they caught the two operating an unauthorized needle exchange in a south Modesto park in April 2009.

  Stanislaus County Superior Court Judge Ricardo Cordova said the pair had other options that were legal, such as lobbying local officials to change the law.  In September 2008, the county Board of Supervisors voted against legalizing needle exchange programs over the recommendation of county health officials.

  Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10.n368.a11.html

   
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  Richard Lake 7:42 pm on May 17, 2010 Permalink  

  OPED: Time for a Reset in U.S.-Mexican Relations 

  Pubdate: Mon, 17 May 2010
  Source: Washington Post (DC)
  Page: A13
  Copyright: 2010 The Washington Post Company
  Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/mUgeOPdZ
  Author: Jorge G. Castaneda
  Note: Jorge G. Castaneda was foreign secretary of Mexico from 2000 to 2003 in the government of Vicente Fox. He teaches international relations at New York University and is a fellow at the New America Foundation.
  Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Felipe+Calderon
  Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Mexico

  TIME FOR A RESET IN U.S.-MEXICAN RELATIONS

  Mexican President Felipe Calderon will make his first full-fledged visit to Washington this week since taking office 3 1/2 years ago.  Given the issues facing their countries, Calderon and President Obama might be tempted to nickel-and-dime their encounter.  But the time is a ripe for a “big idea,” not unlike what NAFTA — warts and all — was when it was proposed in 1990.  Instead of narrowing everything down to drugs, security and how the United States can best back Mexico’s war, the two countries should “de-narcoticize” their relationship and make their goal Mexico’s development and transformation into a middle-class society.

  Calderon has been battered by the effects of the international economic crisis at home ( Mexico’s economy shrank 6.5 percent last year ); by 23,000 deaths in the drug war ( 257 deaths in early May constituted the highest weekly toll since 2007 ); by opposition intransigence to reforms and institutional gridlock; this past weekend, by the kidnapping and possible death of the most influential figure of his party for the past two decades; and by Arizona’s new immigration law, which is seen in Mexico as anti-Mexican.  With the 2012 Mexican presidential campaign already underway, Calderon, on his way to lame-duck status, would probably be content with raising a few specific issues ( trucking, American gun-running into Mexico ), obtaining a categorical restatement of U.S.  support for Mexico’s fight against organized crime and one more acknowledgement of U.S.  responsibility for drug use.

  [snip]

  Consider the border.  On paper, the two governments want freer flows of legal goods, services and people but much tighter control over illicit flows: people and drugs from south to north, guns, chemicals and “blood money” from north to south.  But what about the reality of Arizona, where the Obama administration may have to send the National Guard and against which Mexico has issued a travel advisory? Pressure is also growing on Calderon to legalize marijuana if California does so in November.  Can these contradictory points be dealt with one by one?

  Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10.n367.a07.html

   
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  Richard Lake 7:33 pm on May 17, 2010 Permalink  

  OPED: Lynne Abraham’s Costly Reefer Madness 

  Source: Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA)
  Copyright: 2010 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc
  Contact: inquirer.letters@phillynews.com
  Author: Chris Goldstein
  Note: Chris Goldstein is the communications director for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, Philadelphia Chapter. For more information, see http://www.phillynorml.org
  Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?261 (Cannabis – United States)
  Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/NORML (NORML)

  LYNNE ABRAHAM’S COSTLY REEFER MADNESS

  The Ex-D.A.’S Drug Demagoguery Made for Bad Policy.

  In recent testimony before a U.S. Senate subcommittee, former
  Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham displayed dangerous
  ignorance about America’s marijuana market, engaged in bombastic
  Reefer Madness rhetoric, and made demeaning generalizations about
  marijuana users.

  The truth is that countless area residents choose cannabis for
  medical therapy or as a form of recreation that’s safer than
  drinking. They are otherwise law-abiding citizens who represent every
  neighborhood, class, ethnicity, and walk of life.

  Abraham also implied that local marijuana consumers are funding
  cartels. But much of the pot consumed in the United States,
  particularly in the Northeast, is grown within the country.

  Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10.n367.a06.html

   
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  Richard Lake 7:26 pm on May 17, 2010 Permalink  

  Judge Jim Gray on Coast to Coast AM 

  Judge Gray was on Coast to Coast AM last night. This is the show website summary:

  “George Knapp welcomed Judge Jim Gray for a discussion on the possibility of reforming America’s drug laws, taking illegal drug usage from a criminal issue into a social and medical one. “Drug prohibition is the biggest failed policy in the history of our country, second only to slavery,” he declared, adding that a victory today in the War on Drugs is simply slowing the pace of defeat. People should be held accountable for their actions (such as putting others’ safety at risk), but not for what they put in their body, he commented.

  “Judge Gray cited four steps that could help with the drug problem, and serve as an alternative to incarcerating people for usage– education, treatment/prevention, economic incentives, and individual responsibility. The Rand Corporation released a study that said there was 7 times more benefit for drug treatment per dollar as compared to imprisoning users, he reported.

  “He cited a successful program in Switzerland for heroin users that gets away from the punitive mentality. Right now, such groups as drug lords/dealers, juvenile gangs, and terrorists are benefiting from the current drug policy–and almost everyone else is losing, Gray remarked. An initiative to legalize marijuana is on the November ballot in California, and if it passes, the state could generate huge amounts of tax revenue, end the medical marijuana dispute, and allow for the drug to be strictly regulated. Gray advocated not for legalization of drugs, but for them to be sold under strict regulations, such that they are not advertised, or made available to children. He also spoke in favor of allowing individual states to try out new policies that would work best for them.”

  Show Audio http://www.coasttocoastam.com/show/2010/05/16

  Coast to Coast AM airs on more than 500 stations in the U.S., as well as Canada, Mexico and Guam, and is heard by nearly three million weekly listeners.

   
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  Richard Lake 11:52 am on May 16, 2010 Permalink  

  Marijuana Farming in Monroe? 

  Pubdate: Sun, 16 May 2010
  Source: Monroe Evening News (MI)
  Copyright: 2010, The Monroe Evening News
  Contact: letters@monroenews.com
  Website: http://www.monroenews.com
  Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2302
  Author: Ray Kisonas
  Referenced: Michigan Medical Marihuana Program http://drugsense.org/url/nDFeNDPs
  Referenced: Michigan’s law http://drugsense.org/url/8mvr7sW8
  Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Michigan+medical+marijuana
  Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?253 (Cannabis – Medicinal – U.S.)

  MARIJUANA FARMING IN MONROE?

  There’s an eye-popping proposal that’s a bit unsettling to some
  community leaders even though it could produce much-needed revenue
  for Monroe County.

  An entrepreneur from Florida has set his sights on a large vacant
  building in Frenchtown Township that he hopes to convert into a
  marijuana-producing facility. It could house close to 25,000 plants
  in an operation that is sure to produce million of dollars.

  But the big question remains: Is it legal?

  It is, by far, the most ambitious venture regarding medical marijuana
  being discussed in Michigan since voters in 2008 passed into the law
  allowing its use among patients.

  James McCurtis, a spokesman for the Michigan Department of Community
  Health in Lansing, the agency that oversees the state’s medical
  marijuana industry, said the Frenchtown Township proposal is huge.

  “I must say, it is creative,” Mr. McCurtis said. “I have not heard of
  something like that, not in Michigan. But that has a chance of being
  legal.” What is legal and illegal under the law is being discussed
  and researched by local law enforcement officials, attorneys and
  community leaders.

  Continues:  http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10.n366.a03.html