| October 12, 2001 #221 | ||||||||||||||||||
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Listen On-line at: http://www.drugsense.org/radio/ | ||||||||||||||||||
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Table of Contents
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THIS JUST IN (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
(1) US: LAW ENFORCEMENT SHARES THE WEALTH IN WAR ON DRUGS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
DEA Distributes $2.2 Million From Traffickers' Assets for
Collaborative Efforts. | ||||||||||||||||||
Washington area police and sheriffs departments received nearly $2.2
million last year from cars, houses, cash and other assets seized
from drug traffickers, according to the Drug Enforcement
Administration. | ||||||||||||||||||
Joint federal-local task forces assembled by the DEA's Washington
Division made 491 seizures from drug dealers in the District, and
from counties and cities surrounding Washington, in the fiscal year
that ended last month. | ||||||||||||||||||
The seized assets were sold, and 80 percent of the proceeds were
passed to the local police and sheriffs departments, said Supervisory
Special Agent Michael Turner. The DEA keeps the rest to cover costs
of administering the program. | ||||||||||||||||||
"The checks are a result of your hard work," said R.C. Gamble, the
division's special agent in charge, at a reception held for seven
departments receiving money. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(2) US: BUSH'S CHOICE AS 'DRUG CZAR' RECEIVES HEAVY FIRE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - John Walters, President Bush's nominee to head the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy, came under Democratic fire on Thursday at his U.S. Senate confirmation hearing. | ||||||||||||||||||
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Sen.
Joseph Biden of Delaware, both Democrats, openly challenged Walter's
drug-fighting philosophy. | ||||||||||||||||||
They noted Walters, who served in the office of drug control policy
in the administration of Bush's father, President George Bush, has
questioned the effectiveness of drug-abuse treatment and the need for
federal support of drug-abuse prevention. | ||||||||||||||||||
Leahy also said while a number of lawmakers and judges have called
for the repeal of federal mandatory minimum sentences, Walters has
defended such punishment. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(3) PORTUGAL SHIFTS AIM IN DRUG WAR (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
A new Law Focuses On Treating Drug Users, Rather Than Jailing Them. | ||||||||||||||||||
When Alberto de Oliveria was stopped in the Lisbon metro recently, he
feared the worst: Being caught with heroin could mean a return to
jail. "I was afraid," he recalls. "But the police didn't arrest me.
They just sent me to a drug commission that told me I needed
treatment." | ||||||||||||||||||
Mr. Oliveria is one of the first to benefit from a new law, in effect since July 1, that focuses on trying to rehabilitate drug users. Portugal has become the first European country to decriminalize the use - but not sale - of all drugs, from cannabis to crack cocaine. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(4) US: SPREADING RUMORS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Did The White House Give The Taliban $43 Million? | ||||||||||||||||||
According to commentators of all ideological stripes -- from the Nation's Christopher Hitchens on the left to the New Yorker's Hendrik Hertzberg in the center to the Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly on the right -- the U.S. gave $43 million to Afghanistan's Taliban government as a reward for its efforts to stamp out opium-poppy cultivation. That would have been a shockingly inappropriate gift to a government that had been sanctioned by the United Nations for its refusal to hand over international terrorist Osama bin Laden. | ||||||||||||||||||
Would have been, that is, if it had really happened. It didn't. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
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Domestic News- Policy | ||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (5-10) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Contrary to reports from last week, a look at statistics indicates
that increased security in the country haven't stopped drug cartels
from trying to move their products across borders. Those who want a
military presence at the border were reminded how the drug war
version of that policy killed an innocent U.S. citizen near the
Mexican border. | ||||||||||||||||||
Also in the fallout from terror attacks, one columnist explained why abandoning the entire drug war would help to serve justice. | ||||||||||||||||||
Elsewhere, drug prohibition slogged along with the usual dismal
results. It didn't change levels of drug use from the previous year,
but it did start denying financial aid to some college students. And
in Florida, mild reform efforts are already being attacked by drug
warriors. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(5) BORDER DRUG TRAFFICKING REBOUNDS FROM DROP (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Drug traffickers appear to have resumed business as usual across the
Mexico-U.S. border, U.S. officials said in El Paso. | ||||||||||||||||||
Security was tightened after the Sept. 11 attacks and drug
seizures--a trafficking barometer--along the 2,000-mile border fell
to 123 from Sept. 11 to Sept. 23, Customs Service figures show. Last
year there were 227 seizures in the same period. | ||||||||||||||||||
But since last Thursday, officials reported 159 drug seizures, up from 147 in the same period last year. Customs officials observed the biggest post-attack decrease in Southern California--from 138 seizures to 54--while the decrease in South Texas was only slight. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(6) DON'T DEPLOY MILITARY ALONG RIO GRANDE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Ohio congressman James A. Traficant Jr., D-Poland, wants to put troops along the U.S. border, a policy that has led to civilian deaths in the past. Unfortunately, he managed to convince a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives that it's a good idea. | ||||||||||||||||||
On Sept. 25, the House approved an amendment sponsored by Traficant
that would reinstate armed military patrols along the U.S.-Mexico
border. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
Perhaps Traficant, Hobson and Gillmor should talk to the family of Esequiel Hernandez Jr., who was shot by a Marine as he herded goats near his home in Redford in West Texas, close to the Rio Grande. | ||||||||||||||||||
The young man was watching over his family's livestock one evening
when he decided to shoot at targets with his .22-caliber rifle. He
had no way of knowing a group of Marines, deployed as part of the
federal government's futile attempt to stem the flow of illegal drugs
from Mexico into the United States, was hidden nearby. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(7) GUN, DRUG LAWS EXACERBATE PROFILING (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
What I'm especially sick of is promoting "solutions" that don't work. | ||||||||||||||||||
Let me tell you what happens when a police department is told to stop "racial profiling." The cops ( simply ) ... lie about it. ... | ||||||||||||||||||
Here's what might work: Repeal all the drug and gun laws. Not only
are they enforced in a racist manner, they were originally conceived
and authored with racist intent. ( Who carried "cheap Saturday night
specials"? Urban blacks, of course. Ban 'em. The far more deadly long
guns favored by white people? No problem. Who consumed marijuana,
cocaine and opium? Mexicans, blacks and Asians, of course. Ban 'em.
The drug that causes the most deaths in this country -- violent
deaths as well as traffic fatalities? Alcohol, favored by white
people. No problem. ) | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(8) REPORT - US DRUG USE RATE UNCHANGED (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
WASHINGTON ( AP ) - Drug abuse in America was essentially unchanged
last year, the government says. | ||||||||||||||||||
About 6 percent of those over 12 years old - or 14 million Americans
- were illegal drug users in 2000, according to an annual survey by
the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, an arm
of the Department of Health and Human Services. | ||||||||||||||||||
The findings were not significantly different from 1999, either in
the overall percentage of drug users or in the use of any of the
major illegal drugs. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(9) STUDENTS WITH DRUG CONVICTIONS NOW LOSING FEDERAL FINANCIAL AID (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
CLEVELAND ( AP ) -- About 36,000 college students won't get federal
financial aid this fall because of drug convictions. | ||||||||||||||||||
Under a law that is being fully enforced for the first time, students
convicted of drug possession are ineligible for federal financial aid
for one year. Students convicted of selling drugs lose aid for two
years. | ||||||||||||||||||
Justin Marino, 23, of Poland, a Youngstown State University student,
is one of them. | ||||||||||||||||||
Marino was convicted of two drug misdemeanors last year after he got caught growing a marijuana plant in his bedroom closet. He lost his eligibility for education loans, grants and work assistance this year. | ||||||||||||||||||
"It's got to be one of the stupidest laws I ever heard of," he said. "I wasn't using the money they gave for school on drugs." | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(10) FLORIDA ENTERS DEBATE OVER JAIL VS. TREATMENT (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Solving the crack problem, if possible at all, won't be easy in
Brevard County or anywhere else. | ||||||||||||||||||
A statewide ballot initiative that would give first- and second-time
non-violent drug offenders a choice between jail and drug treatment
could help, supporters say. But first the initiative must make it
onto the ballot. Then, it has to pass. | ||||||||||||||||||
Similar initiatives elsewhere in the United States have met with some success, while others are still in the experimental stage. | ||||||||||||||||||
But opponents of the concept, including some Florida Republican
lawmakers and law enforcement officials, strongly object to
eliminating jail time in all possession cases. Why? Because, they
say, most crack users who kick the habit and stay clean do so only if
they want to. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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Law Enforcement & Prisons | ||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (11 - 14) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
A Texas columnist clearly stated why the drug war hurts law
enforcement efforts, and how that point was driven home by terror
attacks. | ||||||||||||||||||
Other law enforcement stories from the past week reinforce his message. Acquittals of police officers in the deaths of a drug suspect and his companion have again caused racial polarization in a large city. And, while drug suspects seem to deserve no mercy, police accused of drug corruption seem to be avoiding any sanctions. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(11) THE OTHER WAR: WHILE LAW ENFORCEMENT FOCUSED ON DRUGS, AMERICANS (Top)BECAME TERRORISTS' VICTIMS | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
Most disturbingly, Ashcroft has continually referred to the War on
Drugs as his model. You remember the war on drugs, don't you? That's
the war that has locked up tens of thousands of Americans for the sin
of possessing chemical substances that the government disapproves of,
even if they have never harmed another soul. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
The war on drugs has steadily increased the alienation of the police
from more and more of the communities they serve. It has consumed tax
money at a voracious rate and has diverted law enforcement resources
at an alarming pace. | ||||||||||||||||||
What the drug war has not done, however, is stop a single American from snorting, inhaling, smoking, injecting or swallowing whatever substance he or she desires. And no amount of increase in laws, incarcerations, money or manpower will change that fact. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(12) BLACK LEADERS DENOUNCE DECISION (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Demonstration Is Held At Restaurant | ||||||||||||||||||
Many of the area's civil rights leaders and activists voiced
displeasure Wednesday that federal criminal charges would not be
filed against police officers who shot two black men last year at a
Jack in the Box. | ||||||||||||||||||
But some said they were not surprised by the outcome. | ||||||||||||||||||
"How can you be surprised?" said the Rev. Earl Nance Jr., head of the St. Louis Clergy Coalition and education liaison to Mayor Francis Slay. "These kinds of cases happen all over the country." | ||||||||||||||||||
In the case here, two undercover detectives with the St. Louis County Police Department drug unit fatally shot the two men on June 12, 2000, in Berkeley. One man, Earl Murray, was a drug suspect. The second man, Ronald Beasley, was not suspected of any wrongdoing. The two unarmed men were shot as they tried to escape in a car, police said. Officers said they feared the men would run them over. | ||||||||||||||||||
But federal officials found that the men's car traveled only in
reverse. "The car was in reverse and the officers were in front,"
Nance said. "Why didn't they just shoot the tires?" | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(13) FOR THOSE AWAITING TRIAL, TIME IS MONEY (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Here's a nice, round number to think about as the city totters toward
bankruptcy - $336,027 - and counting. | ||||||||||||||||||
That's how much Buffalo taxpayers have paid police Detectives Darnyl Parker, Robert Hill, David Rodriguez and John Ferby since their March 2000 arrests on charges of stealing cash from an FBI agent posing as a drug dealer. They haven't done any work for the city since then. | ||||||||||||||||||
Delays in the case are costing the city a small fortune. | ||||||||||||||||||
Some police officials wonder if the defense is stalling, dragging out
every motion so the officers can receive their pay and benefits for
as long as possible. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(14) LAWSUIT AGAINST KNOX COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT ENDS IN MISTRIAL (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
The trial of a lawsuit claiming the Knox County Sheriffs' Department
was responsible for the disappearance of a little more than $70,000
in cash after its owner suddenly died ended with a deadlocked jury.
After hearing four days of testimony a Knox County Circuit Court jury
deliberated into the night Friday before indicating to Circuit Judge
Dale C. Workman that it was unable to reach a verdict. | ||||||||||||||||||
Workman subsequently declared a mistrial. | ||||||||||||||||||
"We will just try it again," said Knoxville lawyer, Herbert S. Moncier, who represented Jane Higgins, the plaintiff in the case. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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Cannabis & Hemp- | ||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (15-19) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
This week brought the usual bag of mixed news from cannabis fronts
around the world. In California, a Federal Magistrate will hear the
case of the California Medical Research Center, which was busted for
apparently supplying certificates allowing the medical use of
cannabis to over 5000 sick West Coasters. | ||||||||||||||||||
Meanwhile a Dutch study reported that cannabis may be useful in treating cocaine addiction. Unless you happen to be a Norwegian hash smoker: a report by Norway's Forensic Toxicology Institute suggests that six otherwise healthy Norwegians have died over the last six years from smoking hash. Since the Median Lethal Dose of cannabis is estimated to be 1:40, 000 (in other words 40, 000 regular doses of cannabis must be ingested to cause death. The MLD for aspirin is 1:50), and that there have been no reported deaths in over 3000 years of use, Norway must be producing some kick ass stuff. | ||||||||||||||||||
In the UK the spirited fight against the drug war continues. Tim
Summers, a cannabis activist, plans to open the first licensed,
Dutch-style coffeehouse in Brixton. Let's hope that he has more luck
staying open than a similar project in central London; it was
recently closed as the doors opened on the first day. | ||||||||||||||||||
And in Canada, Marc-Boris St-Maurice has gathered statistics showing
that the federal and provincial policing authorities continue to
focus their drug war on adult cannabis users. Sgt. Obst of the
Canadian Police Association recently suggested that only large-scale
distributors were being targeted. | ||||||||||||||||||
And so the chasm between compassion and criminalization continues to
widen. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(15) MARIJUANA COULD HELP COCAINE ADDICTS KICK HABIT (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Smoking marijuana could help prevent recovering cocaine addicts
relapsing, research on rats suggests. Dutch and US scientists
deprived cocaine-addicted rats of the drug for 14 days and then
exposed them to environmental cues associated with their
drug-taking. Such cues often trigger relapse in recovering human
addicts. | ||||||||||||||||||
When the rats were also injected with a synthetic drug that blocks
cannabinoid receptors - the same receptors targeted by the active
compounds in marijuana - they were much less likely to seek an
injection of cocaine. | ||||||||||||||||||
"We found that in the rats exposed to environmental cues associated
with cocaine injection in the past, or to cocaine itself, the
likelihood of relapse was reduced by 50 to 60 per cent," says Taco de
Vries, who led the research at Vrije University in Amsterdam and the
US National Institute on Drug Abuse. Unpublished studies by the team
on heroin-addicted rats have shown similar results, he told New
Scientist. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(16) FEDERAL MAGISTRATE TO HEAR ARGUMENTS ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
SACRAMENTO (AP) - A federal magistrate will hear arguments Oct. 22 to
decide if records for more than 5,000 Northern California medical
marijuana users can be viewed by federal authorities. | ||||||||||||||||||
Chief Magistrate Gregory Hollows set the hearing Thursday in a courtroom packed with medical marijuana users, several in wheelchairs. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency seized thousands of records Sept. 28 from the California Medical Research Center in El Dorado County in what was portrayed as an investigation into alleged marijuana distribution. Clinic owners Dr. Mollie Fry and her attorney husband, Dale Schafer, deny selling marijuana or certificates to buy | ||||||||||||||||||
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Neither was arrested and the seized records of their clients, which include several hundred South Shore residents, remain sealed. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(17) CANNABIS CAFES SET TO OPEN IN LONDON (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Tim Summers, a cannabis campaigner, plans to open the first licensed,
Dutch-style cannabis cafes in Britain, including one fast takeaway
service. | ||||||||||||||||||
He intends to locate them in Brixton, south London, encouraged by the current six month experiment under which police in Lambeth do not arrest people found in possession of small amounts of cannabis. | ||||||||||||||||||
Mr Summers said that, in keeping with Dutch regulations, his cafes
would not advertise, and would not sell more than 30g of cannabis to
each customer, who would have to be more than 18 years of age. They
would not sell hard drugs or alcohol, but would try to hit the
criminal street trade by staying open for long hours. | ||||||||||||||||||
The Metropolitan Police said that it would be for the Home Office to
decide whether the cafes should be allowed to operate. In Greater
Manchester recently the owner of a would-be cannabis cafe was
arrested before he had opened for business. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(18) A CANADIAN DOOBIE WITCH HUNT (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
To impress a quasi-concerned public and bolster police budget
demands, Statistics Canada has had the questionable habit of lumping
all drug cases into one figurative basket. Unimpressed, the Bloc Pot
and the federal Marijuana Party recently sponsored a joint initiative
to cut through the smoke and mirrors of official Ottawa and reveal a
disturbing truth. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
"We recently had the president of the Canadian Police Association say simple marijuana possession was no longer a police priority--that's an insult and a blatant lie and we now have the numbers to prove it." | ||||||||||||||||||
Acting on St-Maurice's request, a Statistics Canada researcher
volunteered to re-examine drug-arrest figures and separate marijuana
arrests from other drug cases. Results showed that 66 000 people were
arrested for marijuana offences in 2000, including trafficking and
importation. Of those arrested, 45 350--69 percent of all cases--were
for simple possession. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(19) SIX NORWEGIANS KILLED BY HASH OVER SIX YEARS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
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We have made a remarkable discovery says the chief of the Forensic
Toxicology Institute, Jorg Morland. The findings were published in
the latest issue of the journal Mot Stoff (Against Drugs), published
by the National Organisation Against Drug Abuse, and they shall
shortly be published in an international journal. | ||||||||||||||||||
It is widely known that hash smoking puts a strain on the heart and
that blood pressure rises. But that someone should die as a direct
result of smoking hash is new to us, and these findings will arouse
international attention, says Morland. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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International News | ||||||||||||||||||
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UN officials last week hailed a claimed 91 percent drop in opium
poppy production in Afghanistan, but noted Northern Alliance rebels
had grown most of the opium harvested. "Next spring the Taliban
probably won't be there," admitted Pino Arlacchi, the outgoing head
of the UNDCP, "but the opium poppy will." However, an Australian
Broadcasting Corporation report, citing UN figures, revealed that
world markets are saturated with opium and "heroin is becoming
cheaper than ever." | ||||||||||||||||||
Quoting unnamed "intelligence reports," U.S. News and World Report
asserted last week that Osama Bin Laden tried to produce a powerful
liquid heroin called the "Tears of Allah." The attempts apparently
failed. Unspecified officials leaked the alleged plan in a bid to
emphasize Bin Laden's desire to "worsen addiction and possibly even
kill the infidels." | ||||||||||||||||||
Brazilian president Fernando Henrique Cardoso announced Brazil would
shoot down "planes involved in terrorism, smuggling or drug
trafficking," according to a BBC report. The report neglected to
mention how such planes could be distinguished from ordinary private
aircraft. | ||||||||||||||||||
Jamaica's People's National Party (PNP) endorsed calls for a
national debate on the decriminalization of marijuana. Prime Master
(and PNP party president) P J Patterson, who endorses the debate,
cautioned diplomatic efforts must be made "in order to avoid
international repercussions." | ||||||||||||||||||
US Customs, the New York Times reported, has changed priorities from
drugs to terrorism. Additional agents were deployed along the
US-Canadian border. "Terrorism is our highest priority, bar none,"
proclaimed customs commissioner Robert C. Bonner. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(20) OPIUM PRODUCTION PLUMMETS 91% IN AFGHANISTAN (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
VIENNA, Austria ( AP ) -- Production of the opium poppy in
Afghanistan plunged 91 percent this year, thanks to a ban its Taliban
rulers imposed last year against poppy growing, UN officials said
Friday. | ||||||||||||||||||
Growers this year harvested 200 tonnes of the poppy -- the plant used
for the production of opium, heroin and other drugs -compared with
4,600 tonnes in 1999 and 3,300 tonnes last year, said Mohammad
Amirkhizi, senior policy adviser at the Vienna-based UN Office for
Drug Control and Crime Prevention. | ||||||||||||||||||
About 150 tonnes of this year's harvest came from the 10 percent of
Afghan land controlled by the opposition Northern Alliance, which is
fighting a protracted war against the Taliban regime from its bases
in the north. The harvest season this year has ended and the planting
season will soon begin. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
"We won't know whether the ban is being implemented," Arlacchi said. Although cultivation season is about to begin, "we won't know until February 2002 when flowers blossom if the ban is holding." | ||||||||||||||||||
"Next spring the Taliban probably won't be there, but the opium poppy
will," Arlacchi said, adding that the UN and world governments should
begin to develop a plan for banning opium after the Taliban fall from
power. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(21) AFGHAN OPPOSITION HARVESTS MORE OPIUM THAN TALIBAN: UN (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
The United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention says
it believes most of the opium grown in Afghanistan is now in areas
controlled by the Northern Alliance. | ||||||||||||||||||
However, the Vienna-based agency says the Taliban is still an active
player in the world drug market. | ||||||||||||||||||
Opium, the raw ingredient that eventually becomes heroin, has been
funding war in Afghanistan for decades. | ||||||||||||||||||
The UN says the Northern Alliance has now become the biggest grower
of opium in the region. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(22) TEARS OF ALLAH (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Another Weapon In Osama Bin Laden's War Against The West | ||||||||||||||||||
Osama bin Laden's search for new ways to strike at the West may have
gone beyond planes and bombs. Officials believe that shortly after
the Saudi exile's operatives bombed two U.S. embassies in August
1998, he began searching for another weapon in his war against the
West -- a super-charged drug that bin Laden hoped would worsen
addiction and possibly even kill the infidels. He called it the
"Tears of Allah." | ||||||||||||||||||
These officials told U.S. News that bin Laden's plan to let loose a
plague of potent heroin on the United States and its friends was
detailed in intelligence reports from U.S. allies. | ||||||||||||||||||
Tears of Allah was described as a liquid drug, requiring 50 kilograms
of opium to produce one liter of heroin. Officials say the reports
describe how bin Laden and his al Qaeda network of terrorists
recruited chemists in South Asia in an unsuccessful attempt to create
the powerful new concoction. "It was a chemical dud,'' explains one
official. "He wanted a deadly form of the drug and he wanted to get
it to the U.S. He wanted to kill." | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(23) BRAZIL TO SHOOT DOWN ILLEGAL PLANES (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
The Brazilian president, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, has said he would
authorize the shooting down of planes involved in terrorism,
smuggling or drug trafficking. | ||||||||||||||||||
Mr Cardoso was speaking during a visit to the border with Colombia, a
region where illegal airplanes have been involved in several
incidents in the last years. | ||||||||||||||||||
A law approved by the Congress in 1998 allows the armed forces to
shoot down airplanes within Brazilian airspace. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(24) PNP NEC BACKS PATTERSON'S CALL FOR GANJA DEBATE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
THE National Executive Council ( NEC ) of the ruling People's
National Party ( PNP ) has endorsed the proposal by party president,
Prime Master P J Patterson for a national debate on whether or not to
decriminalise the use of ganja. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
He noted that the commission had recommended decriminalisation for
personal use in private places, religious sacraments and defined
medicinal purposes, but that issues of lawful access would need to be
further explored. | ||||||||||||||||||
The prime minister added that the commission's report had itself
identified the need for diplomatic efforts to be pursued in order to
avoid international repercussions. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(25) THE BORDERS: CUSTOMS SWITCHES PRIORITY FROM DRUGS TO TERRORISM (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
WASHINGTON -- The new head of the United States Customs Service said
today that terrorism has replaced drug smuggling as the agency's top
priority, and that he has redeployed hundreds of agents to provide
round-the-clock inspections at the Canadian border to prevent
terrorists from entering the country. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
"Terrorism is our highest priority, bar none," said Mr. Bonner, a former federal judge who has also served as the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration. "Ninety-eight percent of my attention as commissioner of customs has been devoted to that one issue." | ||||||||||||||||||
The terrorist attacks have brought about sharp changes at several
other federal agencies, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Public Health
Service and the Internal Revenue Service. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
The shift in focus has startled many longtime customs officers like
Harold H. Zagar, the chief customs inspector at Dulles International
Airport, in the Virginia suburbs of Washington. | ||||||||||||||||||
"For 31 years," he said, "I've been fighting the war on drugs." | ||||||||||||||||||
Now, suddenly, drug trafficking is a distant, secondary priority. To
say the change is disorienting understates the case. "Whoa!" Mr.
Zagar said. "We've gone full circle." | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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HOT OFF THE 'NET (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
NARCOTERROR.ORG NOW ONLINE | ||||||||||||||||||
Crime, Drug Prohibition and Terrorism: An Inevitable Convergence | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
DEA ISSUES NEW RULES TO BAN HEMP PRODUCTS | ||||||||||||||||||
On Tuesday October 9, 2001, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)
issued three new rules, two of which take effect immediately, banning
consumption of food products containing hemp seed or oil that contain
any amount of trace THC. Find out more information and how to take
action. | ||||||||||||||||||
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ECSTASY AND CLUB DRUG STUDIES RELEASED | ||||||||||||||||||
Aong with education campaign aimed at assisting overdose victims. | ||||||||||||||||||
More than 200,000 people in | ||||||||||||||||||
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OVER 1 MILLION AMERICANS REGULARLY USE ENTHEOGENS | ||||||||||||||||||
On Thursday October 4, 2001, the US government released the results of the 2000 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, the primary method of estimating the prevalence of illicit drug, alcohol and tobacco use in the US. According to the Survey, last year roughly 1 million Americans were current users of "hallucinogens," meaning that they had used LSD, PCP, peyote, mescaline, mushrooms, or MDMA (Ecstasy) during the month prior to the interview. This number represents 0.4 percent of the population aged 12 and older. | ||||||||||||||||||
Read More at: http://www.alchemind.org/News/Household_Survey_2000.htm | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
LETTER OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
DIMINISHING FREEDOMS | ||||||||||||||||||
By Myron Von Hollingsworth | ||||||||||||||||||
Thanks to Scott Davison for his insightful column. | ||||||||||||||||||
Think of all the manpower, resources, time and effort devoted to
cannabis prohibition. If we devoted those people and resources to the
interdiction of terrorists and terrorism over the last 10 years we
would likely still have a World Trade Center and the more than 5,000
souls who perished inside while the drug warriors used politics and
propaganda and profane amounts of money to lie and perpetuate their
budgets. | ||||||||||||||||||
Maybe the corrupt politicians and media are required to adhere to the
party line of prohibition because law enforcement, customs, the prison
and military industrial complex, the drug testing industry, the "drug
treatment" industry, the INS, the CIA, the FBI, the DEA, the
politicians themselves, et al, can't live without the budget
justification, not to mention the invisible profits, bribery,
corruption and forfeiture benefits that prohibition affords them. The
drug war also promotes, justifies and perpetuates racist enforcement
policies and is diminishing many freedoms and liberties that are
supposed to be inalienable according to the Constitution and Bill of
Rights. | ||||||||||||||||||
Myron Von Hollingsworth,
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Honorable Mention Letters of the Week | ||||||||||||||||||
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FEATURE ARTICLE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
WAR ON DRUGS AND WAR ON TERROR (Part 1) | ||||||||||||||||||
By Tom O'Connell | ||||||||||||||||||
Although a 1993 attempt to destroy the World Trade center came
dangerously close to succeeding, the implied warning was -- for
whatever reasons -- largely ignored. Beyond that, if anyone in a
position of responsibility thought to link the audaciously selected
target to a wide open side door -- America's vast, but lightly
defended domestic airline network -- the connection was neither made
publicly nor acted upon. On September 11, a brilliantly conceived
suicide attack on the Twin Towers, using highjacked airliners as
fuel-laden bombs, was executed flawlessly, causing as-yet undefined
damage to our economy at a critical juncture in history. To add insult
to serious injury, a more symbolic second attack. using the same
tactics against the icon of America's defense establishment in
Washington DC, was at least 50% successful. | ||||||||||||||||||
This is not a critique of the security lapses that allowed those devastating attacks; rather, it's an attempt to place the attacks themselves in perspective so they can be responsibly analyzed. It's clear from expectations of "war" being sustained in our media that we may be poised to compound our problems by failing to recognize that some major policy errors helped enable their development. | ||||||||||||||||||
Terrorism is a weapon classically used by zealots united by shared
grievances and outgunned by conventional forces. Although often state
sponsored or encouraged, it's not a weapon that can be openly employed
by governments seeking formal recognition from other nations. To rise
to the level of a serious threat, terrorism, like any other complex
human activity, requires funding. In that connection, kidnapping,
extortion, and bank robbery have all been employed by various
terrorist organizations; another funding vehicle for terrorists has
become participation in -- or the ability to tax -- illegal drug
markets within their areas of control. | ||||||||||||||||||
A look at today's "source countries" for illegal drugs, illustrates the mutual affinities of terrorists, rogue governments, and participants in illegal drug markets. Traditional drugs are based on crops that must be grown, harvested, and processed. Suppliers require a suitable climate, a large territory in which to operate, and a peasant population willing to work at near subsistence levels. Local government must either be ineffective, complicit, or both. That such conditions can be found in all major drug producing nations from Colombia to Burma is clearly not an accident; if we look closely, we can also understand how the illegal markets themselves tend to produce those pernicious conditions by favoring the emergence of a controlling criminal class with the ability to corrupt government, murder opposition, and coopt the local peasantry by paying more for illegal crops than for staples. They can easily afford to do so because of the huge profit margins created by drug prohibition. | ||||||||||||||||||
The ultimate noxious effect of such markets is well illustrated in the smaller nations which are now the world's prime producers of illegal drugs: Burma, Afghanistan and Colombia. All have stagnant economies because foreign investment has been driven away; larger bordering nations (Mexico and Pakistan and Thailand) also have extreme difficulty in attracting foreign capital for legitimate enterprises as a result of their inevitable participation in illegal drug markets through processing, trans shipment, and distribution. | ||||||||||||||||||
As the domestic American policy of drug prohibition gradually became
globalized after WW2, the illegal markets dependent on our policy
have thrived. The milestones are familiar; the Single Convention
Treaty of New York (1961), promulgated by the UN, made the same
drugs illegal around the world; the discovery of marijuana and
psychedelics by American youth in the Sixties added impetus for
further growth, and the "war on drugs" declared by Nixon and
expanded by every president since Reagan has been accompanied by
relentless increase in that fraction of the world's gross domestic
product flowing into illegal drug markets. While that share can't be
measured with the same precision as with legitimate markets, it was
recently estimated by the UN to be 8-9%, rivalling petroleum products
and motor vehicles. | ||||||||||||||||||
It can be appreciated, at least in retrospect, that Muslim outrage
over America's sponsorship and support of Israel coupled with the
gradual expansion of illegal drug markets in the Middle East made
the current alliance between Islamic terrorism and drug supplying
nations almost inevitable. What might have originally been in doubt
-- which specific nations would become leaders in drug production --
has since been defined by specific events. | ||||||||||||||||||
Editor's Note: The second half of Tom O'Connell's essay will
published in this space next week. | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
QUOTE OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
"If the jury have no right to judge the justice of a law of the
government, they plainly can do nothing to protect the people against
the oppressions of the government; for there are no oppressions which
the government may not authorize by law." | ||||||||||||||||||
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Policy and Law Enforcement/Prison content selection and analyses by Stephen Young (), Cannabis/Hemp content selection and analysis by Phillipe Lucas (), International content selection and analysis by Doug Snead (), Layout by Matt Elrod () | ||||||||||||||||||
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