| Jan. 11, 2002 #233 | ||||||||||||||||
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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) COLOMBIA: CANDIDATE: DRUG WAR FAILING (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
BOGOTA, Colombia ---- A leading Colombian presidential candidate says
drug trafficking is thriving despite U.S.-backed efforts to crush it,
and she called for an international drug summit to rethink failing
strategies. | ||||||||||||||||
"They're inadequate; drug trafficking keeps advancing, it keeps
financing our conflict and creating an economy which is very damaging
to democracy (and) its institutions," Noemi Sanin said in an
interview with The Associated Press. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Sanin, 52, has a reputation as a sophisticated politician, but one
unafraid to speak her mind. | ||||||||||||||||
As Colombia's foreign minister in the early 1990s, she once lashed out at the U.S. State Department amid suggestions in Washington that Colombia was coddling drug traffickers. She reminded U.S. officials that the lives of hundreds of Colombians had been sacrificed in the drug war. Sanin is equally blunt today in assessing results of the war on drugs. "We're not winning the war against drug trafficking -- not even close," she told AP on Tuesday. "And we're losing many battles." Echoing a call by President Andres Pastrana, whose term expires in August and who is barred by law from seeking re-election, Sanin said an international summit should be held to reassess counterdrug strategy. The theme is urgent now for Colombia, because leftist rebels who have been waging a 38-year civil war in Colombia are financed by production of cocaine and heroin, Sanin noted. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(2) US: TORPEDOED G-MAN UNIT RISING LIKE PHOENIX FROM ITS ASHES (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
A former Internal Affairs agent for the U.S. Customs Service has come forward to shine a light on a sordid tale of alleged law-enforcement corruption, cover-ups, drug trafficking and suspected murder. | ||||||||||||||||
The former agent, Steven Shelly, is going public with his story
because, he claims, no one in a position of power within law
enforcement is listening. | ||||||||||||||||
Shelly's story sounds like a bad rerun of history -- a repeat of the
rampant police corruption that wracked gangland Chicago during the
height of Prohibition. In fact, Shelly traces his troubles to his
involvement in a corruption-busting task force whose members were
dubbed by its founder as modern-day "Untouchables." | ||||||||||||||||
In Shelly's version of the story, though, it is the G-men, not the
crooks, who take it on the chin. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(3) CANADA: POTENT POT PROMISED (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Medical Marijuana 'Will Be Anything But Weak,' Vows Government Grower | ||||||||||||||||
The first crop of federal medical pot won't hit the streets until
spring but will pack enough punch to keep patients satisfied, says
the official government grower. | ||||||||||||||||
It will probably be two or three months before people with medical
exemptions will have access to his crop because Health Canada has yet
to decide how medical marijuana will be packaged and distributed,
said Brent Zettl, president of Prairie Plant Systems. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
The federal contract was for a plant with five or six per cent THC content, but Zettl said his last crop tested at about 10%. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Edmonton compassion club operator Munir Ahmad said that compared to
pot on the street, which can have between 15% and 20% THC content
or more, the government's crop is still only mediocre. | ||||||||||||||||
"Unless they're virtually giving it away, it's not worth it," said
Ahmad. "It's already a waste of money for the government to pay a
company to grow what's essentially a weed." | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(4) US MS: STRIP SEARCH STUDENTS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Declaring An 'All-Out War' On Drugs, Hancock School Superintendent
Warns He May | ||||||||||||||||
The superintendent of Hancock County schools says he is prepared to
strip search students to find drugs, if necessary. | ||||||||||||||||
"They're pretty creative about how they hide their drugs,"
Superintendent Mike Ladner said. "It may be in their crotch area,
where we're not patting them down . . . We're dealing with
criminals here." | ||||||||||||||||
Ladner said he is launching an "all-out war" on drugs after a high
school student overdosed on prescription sleeping pills before the
Christmas holiday. He said he is prepared to have students stripped
naked, if they are suspected of having drugs. | ||||||||||||||||
He can do it, too, according to the state Attorney General's Office. | ||||||||||||||||
While police can't perform strip searches without probable cause to
believe they might find a weapon or drugs, school officials have to
have only a reasonable suspicion. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
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Domestic News- Policy | ||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (5-10) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
The fact that Sarnia, Ontario is losing its drug war generally
wouldn't be huge news. But, the new president of an international
prohibitionist group called Drug Watch resides in Sarnia, and he's
not predicting imminent victory. "The anti-drug movement is slowly
dying," he said. On the other side of the issue, New Mexico Governor
Gary Johnson plans to use his last term in office to continue
pushing for drug policy reform. | ||||||||||||||||
The idea of linking the war on drugs with the war on terror was
again challenged on oped pages of various newspapers from around the
world this week. Among those, an editorial from The Age in Australia
dared to ask THE BIG QUESTION: Will the Bush administration pursue a
war on drugs against known heroin traffickers among U.S. allies who
are now ruling Afghanistan? | ||||||||||||||||
In other news, medical marijuana activists are attempting to get
their issue back before the U.S. Supreme Court. | ||||||||||||||||
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(5) SARNIA LOSING DRUG WAR (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Crusader Claims Education Efforts Are Falling Short | ||||||||||||||||
Charlie Perkins, the newly-elected president of an international
anti-drug organization called Drug Watch, says the local war on
drugs has hit hard times. | ||||||||||||||||
"The drug problem among youth locally is getting worse," Perkins
told The Observer. "Ecstasy is replacing marijuana as the drug of
choice and I find that very frightening." | ||||||||||||||||
Ecstasy, known as the peace and love drug of the rave party culture,
comes in various forms and colours and is called everything from
Cadillac to Lollipop. | ||||||||||||||||
Teenagers aren't using drugs so much at school as outside of school
and at parties, Perkins said. | ||||||||||||||||
"I don't have any hard facts and I don't want to inflate the
figures, but parents are no longer involving themselves in providing
information. The anti-drug movement is slowly dying." | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(6) NM GOVERNOR LOOKING TO LEAVE HIS MARK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Education, Health Care, Taxes Top Republican's Agenda For Next
Session | ||||||||||||||||
SANTA FE, N.M. -- Time and money are running out for Gov. Gary
Johnson. | ||||||||||||||||
The Republican governor's term expires at the end of the year, and the upcoming 30-day session of the Legislature offers him a chance to leave a lasting imprint on state policies and programs. | ||||||||||||||||
The governor's wish list hasn't changed. | ||||||||||||||||
He will renew proposals that have failed before in the | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(7) U.S. SHOULD FOLLOW EUROPE'S LEAD IN DRUG-LAW REFORM (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
ONE OF THE MANY challenges facing a post-Taliban coalition government
is the corrupting influence of drug trafficking. | ||||||||||||||||
Afghanistan is the world's largest producer of opium, the raw
material used to make heroin. According to the State Department,
both the Taliban and the Northern Alliance have financed their
activities by taxing the opium trade. A recent State Department
report blames the Afghan drug trade for increased levels of global
terrorism and notes that the production of opium "undermines the
rule of law by generating large amounts of cash, contributing to
regional money-laundering and official corruption." | ||||||||||||||||
Paradoxically, Afghanistan's brutal Taliban regime was able to reap
obscene profits from the heroin trade because of drug prohibition,
not in spite of it. The same lesson, unfortunately, applies here at
home. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(8) BAD COMBINATION (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
The answer is not to tie the war on terrorism to the failed war on
drugs. | ||||||||||||||||
Terrorists use the profit from drug sales. The only way to stop that
activity is to eliminate the profit margin. By legalizing drugs and
ending the nonsensical prohibition, the cost of drugs would decrease
and the United States would effectively eliminate funding for
terrorists - along with reducing the U.S. crime rate, prison
overcrowding and a host of other domestic problems caused by the
failed war on drugs. | ||||||||||||||||
It's time to stop this futile effort to save people from themselves.
Drug abuse is not a criminal problem, but a social one. | ||||||||||||||||
Law-abiding citizens have lost many civil liberties in the name of
the drug war. Police officers have become soldiers in a war with a
military mentality. Drug raids are conducted by officials wearing
masks. Property is seized without a conviction. The Bill of Rights
is but a speed bump to drug warriors. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(9) BUSH'S WAR ON DRUGS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Any serious war on drugs will demand Bush find an answer to an issue
that has bedevilled policymakers since the 1960s: Just how blind an
eye should Washington turn to the drug-dealing activities of those
it counts as friends? | ||||||||||||||||
In Vietnam, the CIA placed Air America, its wholly-owned subsidiary,
at the service of anti-communist opium growers in the Golden
Triangle. In Reagan's clandestine war against the Sandinistas of
Nicaragua, it was the Contras' turn to run drugs while the US
sheriff looked the other way. In Panama, dictator Manuel Noriega's
control of drugs flowing through his country on their way to the
eager noses of el Norte did not crimp the CIA's affection for him,
at least not until his relations with Washington soured under Bush
the Elder. | ||||||||||||||||
Now, if Bush the Younger is serious about treating drug producers as
terrorists, he must decide what to do about Afghanistan, where
history appears poised to repeat. Hitting drug-dealing enemies like
the Taliban and al Qaeda is one thing. But how is he to handle
comrades-in-arms like the Northern Alliance, which deals in the same
Afghan opium? | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(10) CASE SEEKING RIGHT TO DISTRIBUTE MEDICAL MARIJUANA RESURFACES (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
A group the Supreme Court barred from distributing medical marijuana
reopened its case Tuesday and asked the courts to allow it to dole
out cannabis for the sick. | ||||||||||||||||
The move comes eight months after the nation's highest court said
the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative could not defend its actions
against federal drug laws by declaring it was dispensing marijuana
to the medically needy. | ||||||||||||||||
Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Oregon and Washington allow the infirm to receive, possess, grow or smoke marijuana for medical purposes without fear of state prosecution. | ||||||||||||||||
While the federal government has done little to enforce the high
court's ruling, it spread fear through the nation's medical
marijuana community. The ruling also left intact a court order
prohibiting the Oakland club from dispensing marijuana. | ||||||||||||||||
Lawyers expect the new case to reach the Supreme Court again, this
time on legal theories that the high court announced it was ducking
in its earlier ruling. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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Law Enforcement & Prisons | ||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (11-15) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
A Michigan prosecutor announced that law enforcement officials were
acting in self-defense when they killed the owners of Rainbow Farms
last year. The families of the dead men disagree. In legal news, the
Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that the federal government can seize
homes used by drug suspects despite a state law that prohibits such
an act. The U.S. Supreme Court will has accepted another case
regarding police power during drug searches. | ||||||||||||||||
In a rather bizarre story out of Tennessee, a local sheriff has been paying to use the airstrip of a man awaiting trial on marijuana smuggling charges. The sheriff said he didn't know. And in Maryland, law enforcement lobbyists are pushing for a relaxation of wiretapping laws, allegedly to keep track of drug dealers. | ||||||||||||||||
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(11) KILLINGS ARE RULED SELF-DEFENSE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Families Of 2 Men Shot At Drug Farm Could Sue | ||||||||||||||||
The FBI and Michigan State Police acted in self-defense when they
shot and killed the two men who owned and operated Rainbow Farm in
Vandalia after a four-day standoff, Cass County Prosecutor Scott
Teeter said Monday. | ||||||||||||||||
Teeter released his findings after a four-month review of more than
1,000 pages of documents from the law enforcement agencies involved
in the standoff. Families of the dead men and some neighbors had
questioned why the men, who ran a campground notorious for music and
marijuana smoking, had to die. | ||||||||||||||||
Teeter said he sent the findings to the Michigan Attorney General's
Office. | ||||||||||||||||
"I reviewed it as thoroughly as I've ever reviewed anything," Teeter
said. "How did something like this explode in a small town? That's a
valid question." | ||||||||||||||||
The families of the men killed are not satisfied with the findings.
Bill McMaster, a spokesman hired by the families to research
documents connected with the shootings, said the families are
considering a wrongful-death lawsuit. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(12) APPEALS COURT RULES IN HOME SEIZURE CASE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Federal law overrides an Oklahoma law that
exempts homes used in drug crimes from being taken by state
authorities, an appeals court ruled. | ||||||||||||||||
That means the federal government can take an Oklahoma home if its
owner is selling or possessing drugs. | ||||||||||||||||
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver ruled 3-0 Wednesday
that a federal law on property forfeiture preempts a state law that
prohibits home seizure. | ||||||||||||||||
The case began with Nanette Lees, a Wagoner grandmother who is
awaiting trial on a state charge of possessing Valium. Federal
authorities want to seize and sell her $136,000 home. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(13) SUPREME COURT WILL HEAR CASE CLARIFYING POLICE POWERS DURING (Top)DRUG SEARCHES | ||||||||||||||||
Bush Administration Invoked The War On Terrorism As Reason To Take
Case | ||||||||||||||||
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court agreed Friday to hear a case about police power to search passengers on public transportation, a case the Bush administration says applies to the war on terrorism. | ||||||||||||||||
The court said it will decide if police who want to look for drugs
or evidence of other crimes must first must inform public
transportation passengers of their legal rights. The ruling could
clarify what police may and may not do as they approach and search a
passenger. | ||||||||||||||||
Buses and trains are sometimes used by drug couriers. Airplanes are also commonly used to transport drugs, although it is not clear whether the Supreme Court's ruling would apply to plane passengers. | ||||||||||||||||
Without mentioning the Sept. 11 jetliner hijackings specifically,
the Bush administration invoked the war on terrorism and the concern
over airplane security in trying to persuade the high court to take
the case. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(14) QUESTIONS ARISE OVER SHERIFF'S AIRSTRIP (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Lawyer Says Property Owned By Drug Dealer | ||||||||||||||||
Knox County is paying a convicted drug dealer at least $2,700 a
month so the Sheriffs Department can operate its helicopters out of
his airstrip, a Knoxville lawyer said in court Friday. But Sheriff
Tim Hutchison said Friday evening he didn't know Scott Sheldon
Walker had pleaded guilty to conspiring to possess and distribute
marijuana. | ||||||||||||||||
Walker, 38, of Gatlinburg is set to be sentenced next month in
federal court after being caught last year with a load of 300 pounds
of marijuana at a Louisiana airport. | ||||||||||||||||
Knoxville lawyer Herbert S. Moncier filed court papers that included
the Sept. 7, 2001, agreement between Knox County and Walker Aviation
Services LLC, "for the purpose of landing and parking its aircraft"
at a site off Mascot Road. | ||||||||||||||||
"Absolutely not," Hutchison said when asked if he knew of Walker's
background. The sheriff said a representative from the aviation
company offered its field, and the company was referred to the Knox
County Law Department. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(15) AUTHORITIES SEEK TO STREAMLINE PROCESS OF APPROVING WIRETAPS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Use Of Technology By Criminals Outruns Current Authority | ||||||||||||||||
Aware that police might be eavesdropping, drug dealers not only
watch what they say on their cell phones. They "burn" their phones
and "bust" them. They create phantom phone numbers and treat a
handset the way a tourist might treat a disposable camera,
discarding it after a few good shots. | ||||||||||||||||
As prosecutors and detectives in Baltimore increase the use of
wiretaps against major drug organizations, they have discovered that
their targets' phone capabilities outpace their own. | ||||||||||||||||
To catch up, law enforcement officials from across Maryland are
proposing legislative changes that would expand and simplify the use
of wiretaps. | ||||||||||||||||
A principal objective is to be able to quickly switch a wiretap from
phone to phone, mirroring a suspect's maneuvers. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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Cannabis & Hemp- | ||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (16-20) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
This week, news that the Calgary, Alberta Health Region was devising a plan to allow authorized medical marijuana patients staying in regional hospitals to use cannabis while on hospital property was greeted with support from both advocates and the medical community. | ||||||||||||||||
A study released in the UK suggests that women who use cannabis
during pregnancy may stunt the fetal growth of their infants.
Unfortunately, the study was unclear about how the effects of
cigarette smoking might have altered or mitigated the suggested
results. | ||||||||||||||||
In the US, increasing national support for marijuana-policy reform has led the Washington-based Marijuana Policy Project to announce a new program that will make up to $50,000 in funds available for groups proposing local and federal policy reform initiatives. | ||||||||||||||||
Meanwhile, the Maine medical marijuana initiative, passed overwhelmingly by voters in 1999, has recently had to reduce its goals. Although the program was supposed to look into setting up models for distribution of medical cannabis to registered users, the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that the CSA does not allow for a medical necessity defense for compassion clubs and the Bush administrations prosecution of medicinal cannabis clubs in California has led to a more conservative approach in its implementation. | ||||||||||||||||
And in Hawaii, religious users of cannabis have accused the police
of running an "inquisition" by targeting and prosecuting them
unjustly. | ||||||||||||||||
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(16) CALGARY HEALTH REGION EYES MEDICINAL POT 'ROOM' (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
The city's health authority is drafting procedural plans that will
allow patients to smoke marijuana while in their care, officials
have told the Sun. | ||||||||||||||||
As the Canadian government readies its first batch of medicinal
marijuana for transport, officials at the Calgary Health Region are
devising strategy to deal with requests by patients wanting to use
marijuana while on hospital property, by providing "a safe and
private place" for users to smoke. | ||||||||||||||||
"It would be appropriate to recognize ... that we have to look at
all options for the use of marijuana in our hospitals," CHR
communications adviser Brenda Barootes told the Sun. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(17) UK STUDY SUGGESTS THAT CANNABIS 'STUNTS BABY GROWTH' (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Women who smoke cannabis during pregnancy may be stunting the growth of their babies, research suggests. The effect of one smoking one cannabis joint a week throughout pregnancy appears to be equivalent to the effect produced by smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Once the researchers had taken into account other factors, such as cigarette smoking, they calculated that regular use of cannabis during pregnancy reduced average birth weight by an average of 90g. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
The reason why cannabis retards growth is still unclear. However,
smoking the drug mixed with tobacco releases a cocktail of toxic
chemicals that are thought likely to have a negative effect on the
developing foetus. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(18) THE US' SMOKING ECONOMY (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Unprecedented fund raising and increasing national support for
marijuana-policy reform has led the Washington-based Marijuana
Policy Project to increase its full-time staff from five to 11 in
just three months. | ||||||||||||||||
The project credits several unnamed "major donors" for doubling the
project's budget from $500,000 in 2001 to more than $1 million this
year. Now, organizations seeking to change state and federal
marijuana laws or articulating tactics and strategies to regulate
marijuana similarly to alcohol will be eligible for first-of-a-kind
grants of up to $50,000 each under a new program administered by the
project. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(19) MAINE LAWMAKERS TO RETHINK MEDICAL MARIJUANA ISSUE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
AUGUSTA -- Some lawmakers left little doubt Friday that they
wouldn't buck the U.S. Supreme Court by recommending a bill to
create a statewide distribution system for marijuana used for
medical purposes. | ||||||||||||||||
Last year the Supreme Court struck down distribution efforts in
California, even as Maine lawmakers were considering a similar
system for Maine. In 1999, Mainers overwhelmingly approved a
referendum legalizing the use of small amounts of marijuana for
medical purposes. | ||||||||||||||||
On Friday, members of the Health and Human Services and Judiciary
committees pointed out that huge expenditures of time have been
devoted to finding a mechanism to help sick people get marijuana
without having to resort to the black market. Now, with the Supreme
Court's 2000 decision, they said the biggest issue -- creating a
large-scale distribution system - was moot. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Although the majority opinion of the Supreme Court was that
marijuana has no accepted medical use, proponents say it is helpful
to people suffering from cancer, AIDS, multiple sclerosis and other
diseases. For instance, it helps curb the side effects of
chemotherapy, they say. | ||||||||||||||||
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(20) HAWAII POT ADVOCATES ACCUSE POLICE OF AN INQUISITION (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Accusing police of an inquisition and "scorched earth" policies,
advocates of relaxing marijuana enforcement asked police for
tolerance when dealing with those who use cannabis for medicinal or
religious purposes. | ||||||||||||||||
About 20 people, many referring to themselves as clergy members, testified to police officials Thursday on draft rules regarding aerial eradication and the medicinal and religious use of marijuana. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Leaders and followers of such religions as "First Hawaiian Church of
the Holy Smoke" and "Church of Realized Fantasies" insisted they
have a Constitutional right to practice in the privacy of their own
sanctuaries a religion that requires the use of pot. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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International News | ||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (21-25) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
The Vietnamese government sentenced 55 people to death last week
because of drug charges. Also sentenced to life due to drugs were
some 59 others, Vietnamese state-run media reported. | ||||||||||||||||
Afghan leader Hamid Karzai last week pledged to stop poppy growing "by whatever means," but added that without a good economic and agricultural base, "it will be hard to stop the production of poppy or to prevent smuggling or the trafficking of narcotics." | ||||||||||||||||
The Deputy High Commissioner for the UK in Jamaica last week stated
that one in ten passengers from Jamaica to Britain were smuggling
drugs, often by swallowing them. Some UK police have suggested that
as many as 80 percent of passengers might be attempting to smuggle
drugs on some such flights. | ||||||||||||||||
After ordering a review of UK drugs policy to probe for "any gaps or
weaknesses" UK Home Secretary David Blunkett said "unrealistic"
government drugs campaigns might have to be abandoned. | ||||||||||||||||
And Brazil last week became "the first major South American country
to introduce more lenient legislation" for minor drug possession.
This follows the drug policy of nations like Holland, Switzerland,
Portugal and others. | ||||||||||||||||
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(21) VIETNAM SENTENCED 55 PEOPLE TO DEATH ON DRUG CHARGES LAST YEAR (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Vietnamese courts sentenced 55 people to death last year on drug-related charges, state-controlled media reported Friday. | ||||||||||||||||
Fifty-nine other people were given life sentences for drug offenses
and 2,241 others received jail terms ranging from seven to 20 years,
the official Vietnam News Agency said. No comparative figures were
provided for previous years. | ||||||||||||||||
In all, 5,948 drug-related cases were brought to trial last year,
VNA said. | ||||||||||||||||
Officials detected 12,811 drug-related cases involving 21,103
suspects, an increase of 24.4 percent and 8.2 percent, respectively,
from the previous year, according to VNA. | ||||||||||||||||
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(22) KARZAI PROMISES TO RID HIS COUNTRY OF DRUG TRADE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Hamid Karzai, the new leader of Afghanistan, pledged to rid his
country of drug trafficking yesterday but said it would be a very
difficult task without investment in its devastated agricultural
economy. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Interviewed on NBC's Meet the Press, Mr Karzai was asked if his
government would be able to eliminate poppy production and prevent
narcotics trafficking. | ||||||||||||||||
"Yes, we are very determined to stop this by whatever means," he
said. But he stressed that "we must also try to return to the Afghan
people what is theirs. That's a good life, a good agriculture base
and economic opportunity. | ||||||||||||||||
"Without that kind of medium, it will be hard to stop the production of poppy or to prevent smuggling or the trafficking of narcotics." | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(23) TERRORIST ATTACKS DROVE JAMAICAN DRUG MULES TO UK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Last week the UK's Deputy High Commissioner in Jamaica, Phil
Sinkinson, ignited a political row by claiming that as many as one
in 10 passengers on flights from Jamaica to Britain was attempting
to smuggle drugs. However, according to police officers on the trail
of the mules, such estimates are conservative and the true figure on
certain flights could be as high as 80 per cent. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
The smugglers are becoming more dynamic and the trade is growing all
the time,' he said. 'In terms of what is happening in Britain, the
trade has escalated sharply since 11 September. The couriers who
would normally be travelling to America are unable to get their
drugs through because security at the borders has become so tight.
Cocaine is stockpiling in Jamaica and that is no good for the
dealers - there is no viable market for the drug here. So it is all
being diverted to Britain.' | ||||||||||||||||
In December, 23 drug mules were caught on a single Air Jamaica
flight into Heathrow. A week later a further 19 were caught on a BA
flight into Gatwick. Both aircraft were targeted for checks at
random. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(24) BLUNKETT TO ABANDON DRUG TARGETS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Fresh doubts about the Government's strategy for curbing illegal
drug use have been raised after David Blunkett signalled he was
ready to abandon "unrealistic" targets such as halving heroin and
cocaine use among the young. | ||||||||||||||||
The Home Secretary's tacit admission that the key objective of the
Government's drugs strategy may be out of reach will fuel calls for
hard drugs to be decriminalised. | ||||||||||||||||
Mr Blunkett reveals in a memorandum to a Commons select committee that he has ordered a "stocktaking review" of the Government's drugs strategy to see "whether there are any gaps or weaknesses". | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
The strains put on the existing prohibition policy were highlighted
in recent days after claims by British authorities that one in 10
passengers on jets from Jamaica are acting as cocaine-smuggling
"mules". Mr Blunkett is under increasing pressure to announce the
introduction of visas for Jamaican visitors. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(25) BRAZIL'S DRUG USERS WILL GET HELP, INSTEAD OF JAIL (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Sweeping New Laws Are Based On The View That Drug Users Need
Treatment, Not Criminal Punishment. | ||||||||||||||||
RIO DE JANEIRO - On the continent that produces most of the world's
cocaine and much of its heroin and marijuana, its largest country is
softening punishment on recreational drug users. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
The new legislation makes Brazil the first major South American
country to introduce more lenient legislation concerning drugs and
follows the trend in Europe where a host of nations including
Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Portugal and Britain, have softened
their stances toward minor drug possession. | ||||||||||||||||
Although regional experts say Brazil's decision is unlikely to spur
similar strategies in other Latin American nations - partly because
the United States is so opposed to such measures - Brazilian
officials are celebrating what they say is a humane and common-sense
response to a problem that refuses to go away. | ||||||||||||||||
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HOT OFF THE 'NET (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Jon Gettman's Marijuana Rescheduling Appeal | ||||||||||||||||
The appeal of the DEA denial of the marijuana rescheduling petition
by Jon Gettman and High Times Magazine, Petitioners, against Drug
Enforcement Administration, Respondent, has been scheduled for oral
argument on March 19, 2002 In the United States Court of Appeals for
the District of Columbia Circuit. | ||||||||||||||||
A copy of the appeal brief is at: | ||||||||||||||||
Issues include whether marijuana has the "high potential for abuse" required for a prohibited Schedule I substance and whether or not DEA has sufficiently considered the impact of their decision to retain marijuana in schedule I on the people most affected by it, specifically the impact of marijuana prohibition on patients and state governments. | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
Top Drug War Distortions | ||||||||||||||||
Posted at the Common Sense for Drug Policy web site. I encourage -
indeed I implore you - to visit it at: | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
Christian Ministers Write Against Drug Laws | ||||||||||||||||
Books by clergymen calling for an end to drug prohibition. | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
Nol van Schaik's Visit To The DrugSense Chat Room | ||||||||||||||||
A transcript. | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
Cannabis Conference Speech By Dutch Minister Of Justice | ||||||||||||||||
From European Cities Conference on Cannabis Policy Utrecht, The
Netherlands December 8, 2001 | ||||||||||||||||
http://www.lindesmith.org/library/Dutch_Cannabis_Policy_speech.html | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
LETTER OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
FIGHTING TERRORISM, IN HINDSIGHT | ||||||||||||||||
By Joseph D. McNamara | ||||||||||||||||
To the Editor: | ||||||||||||||||
Re "Planning for Terror but Failing to Act" (front page, Dec. 30): | ||||||||||||||||
Last May, Louis J. Freeh, then the director of the F.B.I., testified
before Congress on the nature of global terrorism and the bureau's
actions to prevent it. Mr. Freeh asked for only eight additional
agents to combat terrorism. During the last few years, Congress has
increased the number of Drug Enforcement Agency personnel by 26
percent while adding only 2 percent to the F.B.I. | ||||||||||||||||
The magnitude of the country's drug problem remains undiminished. On
the other hand, if the F.B.I.'s paltry 11,500 agents (New York City
has 40,000 police officers) had been expanded by 26 percent to work
against terrorism, the many federal blunders that permitted a
devastating act of war against our country most likely would have
been avoided. | ||||||||||||||||
Joseph D. McNamara, | ||||||||||||||||
Stanford, Calif. | ||||||||||||||||
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Honorable Mention Letters of the Week | ||||||||||||||||
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FEATURE ARTICLE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Liberty & LSD | ||||||||||||||||
By John Perry Barlow, co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and member of the Alchemind Society Board of Advisors | ||||||||||||||||
Over the last 25 years, I've watched a lot of Deadheads, Buddhists,
and other freethinkers do acid. I've taken it myself. I still do
occasionally, in a ritual sort of way. On the basis of their
experience and my own, I know that the public terror of LSD is based
more on media propagated superstition than familiarity with its
effects on the real world. | ||||||||||||||||
I know this, and, like most others who know it, I have kept quiet
about it. | ||||||||||||||||
Shortly after the Bill of Rights was drafted, the English philosopher John Stuart Mill said, "Liberty resides in the rights of that person whose views you find most odious." The Buddha was wise to point out that people must be free to work out for themselves what is true from actual experience and express it without censure. | ||||||||||||||||
I will go further and say that liberty resides in its exercise. It is preserved in the actual spouting of those odious views. It is maintained, and always has been, by brave and lonely cranks. | ||||||||||||||||
Lately it seems that our necessary cranks have been falling silent,
struck dumb by a general assault on liberty in America. This is no
right-wing plot from the top. Like most totalitarian impulses, it
has arisen among the people themselves. Terrified of virtual
bogeymen we know only from the evening news, we have asked the
government for shorter chains and smaller cages. And, market-driven
as ever, it has been obliging us. | ||||||||||||||||
This is what is now taking place in our conduct of the War on Some Drugs. In this futile jihad, Americans have largely suspended habeas corpus, have allowed the government to permanently confiscate our goods without indictment or trial, have flat-out discarded the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution, and are voluntarily crippling the First, at least insofar as any expression might relate to drugs. | ||||||||||||||||
In my gloomier moments, I wonder if the elimination of freedom in
America is not what the War on Some Drugs was actually designed to
accomplish. | ||||||||||||||||
Certainly we haven't engaged this campaign because the psychoactive substances we are so determined to eliminate are inherently more dangerous than those we keep in plentiful and legal supply. Indeed, the most dangerous, antisocial, and addictive drugs I've ever taken-the ones I'm afraid to touch in any quantity today-are legal. | ||||||||||||||||
Alcohol, nicotine, and prescription sedatives do more American
damage every day than LSD has done since it was derived in 1942.
Each year, alcohol kills hundreds of thousands of Americans, many of
them violently. Alcohol is a factor in most murders and suicides in
America. It is a rare case of domestic violence or abuse where
alcohol plays no role. | ||||||||||||||||
Yet I don't hear people calling for its prohibition, nor would I
support such an effort. I know it won't work. | ||||||||||||||||
It's not working for LSD either; and it's even less likely to.
Lysergic acid diethylamide-25 is active in doses so small you can't
see them. It's colorless, odorless, and it doesn't show up in drug
tests. And you have to be pretty high on acid before anyone's going
to notice you being anything but extremely alert. | ||||||||||||||||
Does this mean that I think LSD is safe or that I am recommending
its use? Hardly. I consider LSD to be a serious medicine, strong
enough to make some people see God or the dharma. That's serious
medicine. There are two points that need making: First, by
diminishing the hazards inherent in our cultural drugs of choice and
demonizing psychedelics, we head our children straight down the most
dangerous path their youthful adventurism can take. Second, LSD is
dangerous but not in the ways generally portrayed. By dressing it up
in a Halloween costume of fictitious dangers, we encourage our kids
to think we were also lying about its real ones. And LSD is
dangerous. | ||||||||||||||||
It is dangerous because it promotes the idea that reality is
something to be manipulated rather than accepted. This notion can
seriously cripple one's coping abilities, although I would still
argue that both alcohol and advertising do that more persuasively
than LSD. And of course, if you're lightly sprung, it can leave you
nuts. | ||||||||||||||||
But LSD is not illegal because it endangers your sanity. LSD is
illegal because it endangers Control. Worse, it makes authority seem
funny. But laugh at authority in America and you will know risk. LSD
is illegal primarily because it threatens the dominant American
culture, the culture of Control. | ||||||||||||||||
This is not a sound use of law. Just laws arise to support the
ethics of a whole society and not as a means for one of its cultural
factions to impose power on another. | ||||||||||||||||
There are probably 25 million Americans who have taken LSD, and who
would, if hard pressed in private, also tell you that it profoundly
changed their lives, and not necessarily for the worse. | ||||||||||||||||
I will readily grant that some of these are hopeless crystal
worshipers or psychedelic derelicts creeping around Oregon woods.
But far more of them are successful members of society, CEOs,
politicians, Buddhist meditation teachers, ministers, and community
leaders. | ||||||||||||||||
This is true. Whether we want it to be or not. | ||||||||||||||||
But the fact that so few among these millions dare utter this truth
is, in a supposedly free country, a symptom of collective mental
illness. | ||||||||||||||||
I neither expect nor ask any young person to regard me as a role
model. There are easier routes through this world than the one I've
taken. But I do like to think of myself as someone who defends his
convictions. And I hope to raise my three daughters to be brave
enough to own their beliefs, no matter how unorthodox, and to own
them in public, no matter how risky. I dream of a day when anyone's
daughters will feel free to do that. | ||||||||||||||||
The most I can do toward a world in which their liberty is assured
is to exercise mine in this one. | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
QUOTE OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
"Laws are only words words written on paper, words that change on
society's whim and are interpreted differently daily by politicians,
lawyers, judges, and policemen. Anyone who believes that all laws
should always be obeyed would have made a fine slave catcher. Anyone
who believes that all laws are applied equally, despite race,
religion, or economic status, is a fool." -- John J. Miller, And
Hope to Die (in Jokertown Shuffle Wild Cards IX) | ||||||||||||||||
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