| Feb. 1, 2002 #236 | ||||||||||||||||
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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) JEB BUSH URGED TO RECONSIDER DRUG LAW VIEW (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
MIAMI, Jan. 31 -- Advocates of reforming Florida's drug laws say it is understandable that Gov. Jeb Bush (R) is asking for compassion and privacy for his daughter, arrested this week on prescription fraud charges. But they also think he should reconsider his tough "drug warrior" approach to the state's other nonviolent drug offenders. | ||||||||||||||||
"The question is, are you going to treat other kids in trouble the way
you'd want your kid treated? That is where people in Florida have
fallen short, with the drug policy there -- they're all willing to be
tough and hard and lock everybody up," said Ethan Nadelmann, executive
director of the Drug Policy Alliance, a national organization working
for drug law reform. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(2) WHITE HOUSE DRUG AGENCY SCORES LAST-MINUTE SUPER BOWL AD DEAL (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Who bought some of the last advertising spots to be sold for this
Sunday's Super Bowl? You did. | ||||||||||||||||
But American taxpayers also got a great deal, thanks to the current ad
recession. | ||||||||||||||||
During the final moments of its efforts to pull in advertisers for this
weekend's game, News Corp.'s Fox made some unusual concessions to
buyers, including the White House Office of National Drug Control
Policy. | ||||||||||||||||
In a deal struck late last week with the antidrug agency, Fox agreed to
broadcast two new commercials for a major government antidrug campaign
linking the rise in terrorism to illegal drug use. Congress mandates
that media outlets that take paid advertising from this particular
agency are required to cover at least half of the cost of the effort
with a so-called media match. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(3) FRANCE: POT'S EFFECTS: MORE THAN MUNCHIES (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
NEW YORK -- Dawn was 12 when she started smoking marijuana with her
friends. It was just something the cool kids did to relax and forget
their problems, she says. | ||||||||||||||||
But, after a while, the cigar-shaped "blunts" she smoked also seemed to
make learning difficult. "I would just forget school stuff," said Dawn,
now 17. "I'd learn something one day and the next day I'd have no idea
what the teacher was talking about." At first Dawn limited her marijuana
smoking to the weekends, but soon it became an everyday habit that
ultimately landed her in a treatment program. | ||||||||||||||||
The debate over whether marijuana is harmful and habit-forming, as Dawn found, or a fairly benign intoxicant, is an old one. And until recently little research had been done to settle the controversy. For several decades, research on marijuana lagged that for other illicit substances as scientists focused on such drugs as cocaine and heroin with more obvious addictive qualities and more drastic and dire effects. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(4) PERU: US EYES RESUMING DRUG SURVEILLANCE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
WASHINGTON - The United States hopes to complete a plan next month for resuming anti-drug surveillance flights over Peru and Colombia - flights that could lead to the shooting down of planes flown by suspected traffickers, a State Department official said yesterday. | ||||||||||||||||
The flights have been suspended since the Peruvian military mistakenly
shot down a Baptist missionary plane last year, killing an American
woman and her infant daughter. | ||||||||||||||||
Assistant Secretary of State Rand Beers said the United States is
determined to resume the flights with changes in procedures to prevent
other accidents. | ||||||||||||||||
''The issue is how, not whether'' to resume flights, Beers said after meeting with reporters at the Organization of American States. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
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Domestic News- Policy | ||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (5-11) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
DARE, generously described as a drug education program, faced a
series of embarrassments this week. The acting governor of
Massachusetts proposed a state budget devoid of funds for DARE, a
sensible savings of $4.3 million for state taxpayers. As usual, DARE
supporters were mystified. The notion that DARE is a failure was
reinforced as a high school student in Howell, Michigan organized a
survey of classmates. A higher percentage of DARE graduates
experimented with drugs compared with the group that missed DARE,
according to the survey. Leaders in Howell also refused to fund an
expansion of DARE in the town. | ||||||||||||||||
Could there be a drug education program more troubling than DARE?
Maybe. A ghoulish effort in Louisiana brings students to a morgue to
witness autopsies as part of their anti-drug education. Don't worry
about the kids - only those who are "psychologically prepared" are
allowed to participate. Displaying the candor typical of DARE-style
drug education, one organizer was very reassuring when she said,
"We're not trying to scare kids." | ||||||||||||||||
A good drug education program might highlight the injustice caused
by drug prohibition. That injustice was illustrated by other stories
this week, including a California State Supreme Court ruling that
allows more unwarranted searches. The possible deportation of an
Afghan son of American citizens who has lived most of his life in
the U.S. is also being caused by cannabis laws. And, in Florida,
notions about a kinder, gentler drug war were dashed as the state
prepared to gut funding for drug treatment both inside and outside
prison. Hmmm, I wonder if that will impact anyone in Gov. Jeb Bush's
family? | ||||||||||||||||
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(5) SWIFT PLANS DEEP CUTS: DARE PROGRAM, SEWER RELIEF FACE AX (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Acting Gov. Jane Swift is poised to quietly annihilate scores of
popular initiatives - from smoking cessation to water and sewer rate
relief - even as she tries to cast herself as the election-year
savior of school programs. | ||||||||||||||||
Swift's 2003 budget, to be filed tomorrow, includes $500 million in
cuts that whack everything from the huge state pension fund to the
$4.3 million D.A.R.E. program, which teaches kids to avoid drugs,
administration officials told the Herald. | ||||||||||||||||
``Oh wow - this blows me away,'' said Massachusetts D.A.R.E. Officers Association President Leonard Johnson, when told of Swift's plans to vaporize his popular program. ``This is unbelievable.'' | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(6) SURVEY: DARE FAILING STUDENTS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
HOWELL -- The effectiveness of the DARE program was recently
questioned by a Howell High School senior who conducted a survey of
fellow students. | ||||||||||||||||
T.J. Zawacki, a frequent contributor to the school's newspaper
called the Main Four, surveyed 480 students, about 20 percent of the
student body. | ||||||||||||||||
What Zawacki found disappointed him. | ||||||||||||||||
While more than 90 percent of the surveyed students went through the
DARE program, 55 percent of them said they had experimented with
drugs after completing DARE training. Of the students who had never
participated in DARE, 50 percent said they had experimented with
drugs | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(7) ANTI-DRUG CLASS FIGHTS TO SURVIVE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
DARE Needs Funds, Support | ||||||||||||||||
HOWELL -- As experts debate the effectiveness of the Drug Awareness
Resistance Education (DARE) program, local officials are struggling
to find money to expand the program beyond the fifth grade and into
middle schools. | ||||||||||||||||
Police, city officials and school administrators have been unable to
come up with the estimated $60,000 needed to offer the DARE program
to students in the sixth , seventh and eighth grades. | ||||||||||||||||
State grant money used to set up Howell's DARE program is drying up,
and the Howell Public Schools is tightening spending after the
district failed to receive $2 million in additional funding from the
state, said Richard Terres, associate superintendent. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(8) KIDS WATCH AUTOPSY UNFOLD IN PROGRAM (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Teens Have Brush With Death At Coroner's Youth Seminar | ||||||||||||||||
Taking a knife to the lifeless body that lay on a stainless-steel
gurney, the pathologist made a few deft and decisive incisions. Ten
teen-agers, wearing yellow gowns, blue hats and white masks, looked
on wide-eyed, stoically stomaching the autopsy of a woman with a
history of smoking marijuana. "I've never been to anything like that
before," Dennis Borja, 15, of Grand Isle, said after the ordeal.
"I'll try not to die." | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
While the autopsy smacks the teen-agers senses, the seminar also includes a slide show depicting victims of drug and alcohol abuse, goggles that simulate alcohol-altered vision, a video featuring inmates of the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, a substance abuse counselor, a member of the clergy and TJ, a drug-sniffing dog. | ||||||||||||||||
Only youths who are psychologically prepared to participate are
referred to the program. | ||||||||||||||||
"We're not trying to scare kids," [the cororner's special projects
manager Charlene] Lauricella said. "The whole point we're trying to
stress is choices and consequences." | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(9) AFGHAN GUILTY OF DRUG TRAFFICKING (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
An immigration judge decided Thursday that an Afghan-born man raised in Madison was guilty of drug trafficking, making Mirwais Ali's deportation to Afghanistan all but inevitable, his lawyer said. | ||||||||||||||||
But a deportation order is not necessarily a certainty in the
22-year-old's case, an Immigration and Naturalization Service
spokeswoman in Chicago said. The judge could decide against
deportation if he thinks Ali would be persecuted in Afghanistan, or
if he believes Ali's'crime is less serious than first appears, said
Marilu Cabrera. | ||||||||||||||||
Ali is a 1998 graduate of East High School whose parents moved to
Madison when he was 1 year old. He has lived all his life in their
East Side apartment. He knows no one in Afghanistan. He does not
speak the language. Due to a parental misunderstanding, he never
became a U.S. citizen. | ||||||||||||||||
"The only thing Mirwais can hope for is a delay," said Ali's lawyer,
Taher Kameli, after Judge James Fujimoto in Chicago concluded that
Ali's 1998 Wisconsin conviction for felony possession of marijuana
with intent to sell should stand. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(10) STATE COURT BACKS POLICE ON SEARCHES (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
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SAN FRANCISCO -- Police in California may search cars if a driver fails to produce a license or registration regardless of whether the officer has a warrant, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday. | ||||||||||||||||
The high court, in a 4-3 vote, sided in favor of law enforcement
despite sharply worded dissents declaring that such searches violate
the U.S. Constitution. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
The state high court's majority, in an opinion written by Chief
Justice Ronald M. George, reasoned that police can look for
documents in a vehicle to determine the identity of the driver and
the owner of the vehicle. The decision upheld two police searches in
Orange and Solano counties in which drugs were found under car seats
and the drivers were prosecuted for possession. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(11) FLORIDA SLASHING CARE FOR DRUG ADDICTS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Cuts Affect Dade, Broward, Prisons | ||||||||||||||||
In a state where nearly a third of all crimes are drug-related, the
Department of Corrections has approved a budget cut that will
eliminate the bulk of drug treatment among inmates and greatly
reduce the state's program to help drug addicts outside the prison
system. | ||||||||||||||||
The cuts -- expected to save Florida taxpayers $13 million this fiscal year -- will eliminate in-house drug treatment programs at all but four of Florida's 55 major prisons, said Sterling Ivey, a spokesman for the Corrections Department in Tallahassee. | ||||||||||||||||
The cuts also will reduce by 34 percent the number of beds available
to treat drug addicts at 20 residential treatment programs
throughout the state. | ||||||||||||||||
Nearly one in four prisoners in Florida are treated for substance
abuse. After the cuts, only informal efforts such as Alcoholics
Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous will remain in 51 of the state's
major prisons. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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Law Enforcement & Prisons | ||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (12-16) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Asset forfeiture for allegations of drug felonies just isn't enough for a district attorney in New York state. He wants the property of drug misdemeanor suspects to be eligible for confiscation as well. | ||||||||||||||||
Otherwise, it was another typical week in drug law enforcement. A
citizen sued after being terrorized in an unwarranted drug raid. A
state prison system faces more overcrowding, despite recent building
booms. There was also another arrest of an officer for drug-related
corruption. | ||||||||||||||||
And, the unsavory background of a undercover police officer who
brought infamy to Tulia, Texas was explored as preparations for
another trial get underway. | ||||||||||||||||
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(12) ASSET CONFISCATIONS URGED (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
DA Wants To Attack Drug Problem With Misdemeanor Seizures | ||||||||||||||||
MALONE - A public hearing next month will determine if Franklin
County residents want the district attorney to go after small-time
drug operations. | ||||||||||||||||
Federal laws already allow law-enforcement agencies to seize
vehicles, cash and other items that are used in felony-level
narcotics- trafficking cases. | ||||||||||||||||
But DA Derek Champagne wants the county to adopt a new law that
would give him the same powers to seize items in misdemeanor-level
drug cases. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(13) CIVIL RIGHTS SUIT: COUNTY ACTED ILLEGALLY IN RAID (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Travis County narcotics officers who mistook ragweed for marijuana
when they raided a Spicewood home last May illegally held residents
at gunpoint as they ransacked the property and kicked the
homeowner's dog, according to a federal civil rights lawsuit filed
Thursday. | ||||||||||||||||
If the allegations hold up, it would mark the third time in 2001
that a raid by the Capital Area Narcotics Task Force went seriously
awry. A sheriff's deputy and an unarmed teenager died in other raids
last year. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
More than a dozen officers in SWAT team uniforms and a helicopter
descended on Sandra Smith's property on Happy Valley Pathway on May
8 to investigate whether Smith was growing marijuana, according to
the lawsuit, filed by the Texas Civil Rights Project on behalf of
Smith and three tenants of her rental homes. | ||||||||||||||||
The officers did not have a warrant and found no drugs, said Jim
Harrington, director of the Civil Rights Project. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(14) INCREASE IN INMATES FORCING NC INTO HARD DECISIONS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
More Cells, Cut Sentences Considered | ||||||||||||||||
RALEIGH - The early 1990s, before the state went on a | ||||||||||||||||
Lawsuits threatened to force a federal takeover of North Carolina's
prison system, so officials put a cap on the state prison
population. When the population neared the limit, officials released
inmates well before their full time was served. | ||||||||||||||||
"The jails were so overcrowded that the average criminal only served about a month for each year of his or her sentence," Keith said. | ||||||||||||||||
And now officials say that the population has again outgrown the
system's capacity. Even after the state agreed last year to build
and lease three new prisons with 1,000 beds each, officials project
that the inmate population will again outgrow the capacity of state
prisons by 2005. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(15) SECOND FORMER OFFICER CHARGED (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
A decorated former Mobile Police narcotics detective turned himself
in at Mobile County Metro Jail on felony theft charges Friday night,
hours after his former partner surrendered on a related perjury
charge. | ||||||||||||||||
Rodney Patrick, once Mobile's officer of the year, faces two counts
of first-degree theft and three counts of second-degree theft. The
Mobile County grand jury indictment accuses him of taking nearly
$6,000 in cash. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
The task force has not referred a case for prosecution since late last summer, Tyson said. Around that same time, Mobile Police launched an internal probe into accusations that task force agents, including Patrick, took cash from drug suspects without reporting | ||||||||||||||||
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[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(16) OPED: STING STILL BURNS: COLEMAN SHORTS LONG ARM OF THE LAW (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
TULIA - In the early morning hours of July 23, 1999, dozens of gun-toting officers fanned out through the Panhandle town of Tulia. | ||||||||||||||||
By nightfall, 16 percent of the town's black population was behind
bars. | ||||||||||||||||
A single narcotics agent, Thomas Rolland Coleman, had scored 132
separate narcotics buys over an 18-month period. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Coleman will shortly return to the witness stand to testify against
Tanya Michelle White and Zuri Bossett in trials stemming from the
1999 sting. | ||||||||||||||||
Everything still hinges on the agent's credibility. | ||||||||||||||||
Since so little is known about how Coleman spent his time on the
mean streets of Tulia, it is fortunate that we know so much about
his pre- Tulia and post-Tulia record. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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Cannabis & Hemp- | ||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (17-21) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Much nasty news from up North this week. A group of Canadian doctors
called the Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada made headlines by
criticizing Health Canada's current Medical Marijuana Access Program
and sending the new Health Minister Anne McLellan non-pot brownies,
with the hope of redirecting the federal program away from smoked
cannabis research and distribution. | ||||||||||||||||
In hemp news, Kenex, Ontario's largest producer of hemp, is suing the U.S. government for $20 million dollars over the DEA's edible-hemp products ban. The ban, which will outlaw the sale of edible hemp products like corn chips, pasta, oil and ice cream, comes into effect on February 6th. Just to add injury to insult, Vancouver's Medical Marijuana Teahouse was raided and shut down after under cover police apparently made purchases of cannabis on two separate occasions. | ||||||||||||||||
In the U.S., the finer points of New Mexico's medical marijuana
legislation were debated this week. The outcome was that the state
Department Of Health will explore the possibility of growing cannabis
to supply New Mexico's legal users. | ||||||||||||||||
Bad news from Australia this week. A recent poll suggested that
Australian support for legalization of cannabis is slipping. Support
dipped to 31%, down from last year's 33%. | ||||||||||||||||
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(17) MEDICINAL POT SMOKE DANGEROUS, CANADIAN MDS SAY (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
OTTAWA -- Marijuana smoke is dangerous, and the federal government
should not allow the use of pipes, joints or bongs (a type of pipe)
when it is taken for medicinal purposes, a doctors' group said
yesterday. | ||||||||||||||||
Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada said the government is being
irresponsible in distributing marijuana without proving that the
medical benefits outweigh the health risks. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(18) CANADIAN HEMP COMPANY TO SUE U.S. DRUG AGENCY (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
A Canadian company that produces hemp-based products is using a
controversial section of the North American Free Trade Agreement to try
to force its way into the American market. | ||||||||||||||||
Kenex Ltd. of Chatham, Ont., said last week it plans to sue the American
government for $20 million because of harassment by the United States
Drug Enforcement Agency. | ||||||||||||||||
On Feb. 6 the DEA plans to enforce a ban on hemp-based food on the
assumption such products contain hallucinogenic drugs. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(19) VANCOUVER MEDICINAL MARIJUANA TEAHOUSE SHUTTERED (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
VANCOUVER -- A marijuana teahouse designed to take advantage of new
federal regulations for medicinal marijuana use has been closed down,
two months after its grand opening. | ||||||||||||||||
Police padlocked the doors last weekend and arrested two people involved
in running the teahouse, Detective Scott Driemel, spokesman for the
Vancouver police department, said yesterday. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Det. Driemel said undercover police officers had bought marijuana at
the teahouse on two occasions prior to the raid. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(20) NEW MEXICO HEALTH AGENCY WOULD BE IN CHARGE OF MARIJUANA INVENTORY (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
SANTA FE - The question is fairly straightforward: Can the state be
in charge of growing and distributing marijuana to patients who
qualify to use it for medical purposes? | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
The bill that decriminalizes the use of marijuana for medicinal
purposes, Senate Bill 8, was changed Thursday to put the onus on the
Health Department to create rules for a medicinal cannabis, or
marijuana, program. | ||||||||||||||||
The department would "ensure that the cannabis produced for the
program is grown only in a secure facility and that the producer of
the cannabis provides an inventory of the product at regular
intervals." | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(21) MOST AUSTRALIANS WANT MARIJUANA ILLEGAL: SURVEY (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Australians have become more conservative over the legalisation of marijuana, according to a national survey by Morgan Research. | ||||||||||||||||
"A clear majority (60 per cent) believe marijuana should remain
'illegal'," pollster Gary Morgan said. | ||||||||||||||||
The survey, conducted late last year, also showed the percentage who
wanted to legalise the drug had fallen 2 per cent in 2001, reversing
previous trends. | ||||||||||||||||
"The December 2001 poll revealed fewer Australians (31 per cent)
believe cannabis should be made legal now than at any time in the
past eight years," he said. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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International News | ||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (22-26) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Brazil's President Fernando Cardoso last week vetoed drug reform
legislation that would have eased penalties for drug users, citing
constitutional problems. Cardoso had earlier indicated that he would
sign the legislation. As Brazilian law now stands, people possessing
a single marijuana cigarette are subject to the same penalties as
for possession of a pound of cocaine. | ||||||||||||||||
In the UK, the Greater Manchester Ambulance Service announced that
police would no longer be called when responding to overdoses. The
move is expected to encourage drug users to utilize emergency
services in case of overdose. | ||||||||||||||||
Canadian customs agents are on "high alert" for drugs-swallowers
after a "record number" of arrests. At Toronto's Pearson Airport,
agents are now requesting urine samples from those they suspect of
smuggling drugs by swallowing them. | ||||||||||||||||
A former top Cuban official last week accused the Cuban government of links to "international drug trade and money laundering," WorldNetDaily reported. The official, Ernesto Betancourt, claimed Cuba used the island of Key Largo as a location for laundering money. | ||||||||||||||||
Philippine and Chinese officials last week announced a mutual
cooperation agreement to "fight drug trafficking, kidnapping and
other transnational crimes." Philippine authorities believe much
of the methamphetamine smuggled into the nation is of Chinese
origin. | ||||||||||||||||
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(22) NOT SO FAST ON REFORM LEGISLATION IN BRAZIL (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
It was reported last week that the Brazilian legislature had passed
and President Fernando Cardoso was ready to sign a bill that would
keep small-time drug offenders out of prison ( see this article. ).
But Cardoso, who had given the green light for the legislature to
pass the 10-year-old reform bill in December, has now vetoed the
bill's provisions that would have eased penalties, citing
constitutional reasons. Cardoso did, however, sign provisions of the
bill enhancing penalties for drug traffickers. | ||||||||||||||||
Under current Brazilian law, possession of a joint can get the same
six-month to two-year sentence as possession of a pound of cocaine.
The new law would have allowed for alternatives, including
treatment, community service, fines, or license suspensions. It was
widely hailed in South America's largest and most populous nation,
where marijuana smoking occurs openly on its fabled beaches and in
the nightclubs of Rio and Sao Paulo. | ||||||||||||||||
At a January 11 news conference, Gen. Alberto Cardoso, the
president's top security adviser, told reporters President Cardoso
vetoed some of the articles because they failed to specify the
length of alternative sentences, according to a Reuters account.
Another vetoed article would have permitted jailed traffickers to
move out of maximum security facilities after having served a third
of their sentence. | ||||||||||||||||
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(23) PROSECUTION REPRIEVE FOR DRUG CASUALTIES (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
POLICE will no longer automatically be called to incidents where
drug users have overdosed. | ||||||||||||||||
Greater Manchester Ambulance Service ( GMAS ) has changed its policy
in a move designed to encourage drug users to ring 999 when someone
is in trouble. | ||||||||||||||||
Ambulance chiefs believe that many drug users and their friends are discouraged from calling for help because they fear penalties if the police become involved. It is a situation that may be costing lives. | ||||||||||||||||
In the past, GMAS says many users have even been stripped of all
identification and left alone before the ambulance arrives. Time is
obviously being lost, as is helpful information. | ||||||||||||||||
GMAS currently deals with more than 1,100 heroin and methadone
overdoses a year, and in the vast majority of cases death is
avoidable if paramedics can get there in time. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(24) CUSTOMS AGENTS FIGHTING TO STAY AHEAD OF DRUG RUNNERS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Officers Face Record Number Of Drug-swallowing Smugglers | ||||||||||||||||
Customs officers at the Ottawa airport are on high alert for
drug-swallowing smugglers following a record number of seizures
involving this dangerous method of drug running. | ||||||||||||||||
Between last May and September, customs inspectors made three major
busts involving drug swallowers. In total, about four kilograms of
cocaine were seized, and five people were arrested. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Last October, Mr. Murray was on duty with Gunner, his drug-sniffing Labrador retriever, when the pair was called to investigate a flight from the U.S. with a number of passengers from the Caribbean. A subsequent search turned up a drug swallower. "People think dogs can't detect swallowers, but this one can," says Mr. Murray. | ||||||||||||||||
Across the country, customs and the RCMP arrest several hundred drug
swallowers at airports every year. About 120 come from Toronto's
Pearson Airport. Police at Pearson have started taking urine samples
of travellers they suspect are smuggling drugs. Those singled out
are given the option of a urine test or detention until they have a
bowel movement. | ||||||||||||||||
The program is the first of its kind at any North American
airport. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(25) CASTRO LINKED TO DRUG TRADE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Former Cuban Official: Money Laundered Through Fidel's Accounts | ||||||||||||||||
A former top aide to Cuban President Fidel Castro has provided
WorldNetDaily with information he claims links the Cuban government
to the international drug trade and money laundering. | ||||||||||||||||
In an exclusive interview with WorldNetDaily, Ernesto Betancourt,
who was Castro's special representative to the U.S. government
during the earliest years of the Cuban revolution, stated that the
Castro government retains its ties with drug trafficking, despite
official Cuban denials. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Betancourt identified the island resort of Cayo Largo, south of the
main island of Cuba, as a key location for the laundering of drug
money. | ||||||||||||||||
Cuban defectors, according to Betancourt, have stated that visiting
drug barons would take advantage of Cayo Largo's amicable banking
facilities to begin the process of exchanging "dirty" money for
untraceable, "clean" bank accounts. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(26) RP, CHINA FORGE PACT VS DRUGS, KIDNAPPING (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Philippine and Chinese law enforcers have agreed to strengthen
bilateral cooperation to fight drug trafficking, kidnapping and
other transnational crimes, an official said yesterday. | ||||||||||||||||
Officials from the National Bureau of Investigation and China TMs
Ministry of Public Security and Criminal Investigation Department
met in Beijing earlier this month to follow up an agreement between
Chinese President Jiang Zemin and President Arroyo. | ||||||||||||||||
The agreement "aims to stop drug trafficking, kidnapping and transnational crimes," said NBI Director Reynaldo Wycoco. | ||||||||||||||||
The Philippines and China signed a mutual extradition treaty during
Mrs. Arroyoa TMs trip to China last October. Philippine authorities
hope this will deter Chinese drug traffickers and organized crime
groups operating in the Philippines. | ||||||||||||||||
Wycoco said he met with Zhao Yongji, Chinese deputy minister for
public security. | ||||||||||||||||
Philippine officers told their Chinese counterparts that many of the suspected drug traffickers and some alleged kidnappers arrested in the Philippines are Chinese nationals, an NBI statement said. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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HOT OFF THE 'NET (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
DARE TO TELL YOUR KIDS THE TRUTH - QUANDARIES OF A THINKING PARENT | ||||||||||||||||
An article on drug education by "Mama" Sandee Burbank in
Alternatives For Cultural Creativity Magazine | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
PROSECUTORS FOILED IN ATTEMPT TO PROSECUTE MINOR FOR A CRIME THAT DOES | ||||||||||||||||
From The Idaho Observer. A horrifying statement, reportedly from the judge in the case: "Don't laugh when you leave this courtroom, thinking you have beat the system because you have looked these things up yourself. We are going to get you down the road." | ||||||||||||||||
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DOONESBURY SKEWERS CANNABIS PROHIBITION AGAIN | ||||||||||||||||
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STOCKPORT POLICE REFUSE TO CHARGE ITALIAN MEP WHEN HE WALKS INTO STATION | ||||||||||||||||
A report for Richard Cowan's 420 Marijuana Headline News on Pot-TV | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
THE LINDESMITH CENTER - DPF BECOMES DRUG POLICY ALLIANCE | ||||||||||||||||
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SAFEGAMES 2002 DURING WINTER OLYMPICS | ||||||||||||||||
American Red Cross, Utah AIDS Foundation, Harm Reduction Project Launch
SafeGames 2002 During Winter Olympics | ||||||||||||||||
Salt Lake City Outreach Workers Will Distribute Safe-Sex Kits and Social
Service Referrals to Olympics Participants and Visitors | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
LETTER OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
'END THIS INSANITY' | ||||||||||||||||
By Kirk Muse | ||||||||||||||||
Thank you for publishing Robert Sharpe's outstanding letter, "Institutional corruption," on Jan. 15. Our prohibition of recreational drugs has proven to be just as counterproductive as alcohol prohibition. It has corrupted all levels of government from the cops on the beat and prison guards to heads of government. | ||||||||||||||||
If we can't keep illegal drugs out of high-security prisons, we
certainly are not going to be able to keep drugs from getting into
our country with thousands of miles of international boarders and
coastline. | ||||||||||||||||
Almost all of our so-called drug-related crime is actually drug
prohibition caused crime. Nobody was robbing, stealing or committing
acts of prostitution to get money to buy drugs at the beginning of
the last century. | ||||||||||||||||
That's because Bayer heroin was available at local pharmacies for
about the same price as Bayer aspirin. | ||||||||||||||||
Also Coca-Cola contained cocaine instead of caffeine and sold for
five cents a bottle. | ||||||||||||||||
If we re-legalized recreational drugs they could be taxed, regulated
and controlled by our government. Now drugs are untaxed, unregulated
and controlled by criminal gangs and terrorists. | ||||||||||||||||
Let's end this insanity now! | ||||||||||||||||
Kirk Muse | ||||||||||||||||
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Honorable Mentions Letters of the Week | ||||||||||||||||
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FEATURE ARTICLE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Deliberate Deceit or Gross Incompetence? | ||||||||||||||||
By The Drug Policy Alliance | ||||||||||||||||
In a Jan. 23rd press release announcing the release of a new study
titled The Economic Costs of Drug Abuse in the United States, Drug Czar
John Walters confuses the economic costs of the drug war and associated
collateral damage with drugs themselves. According to the press release,
"[t]he report shows that drugs sapped a staggering $143.4 billion from
the U.S. economy in 1998 and projects the loss for 2000 at over $160
billion." The press release quotes Walters as claiming that "[t]his
study provides some grim accounting, putting a specific dollar figure on
the economic waste that illegal drugs represent." The $160 billion
figure is a substantial increase from the $110 billion figure frequently
cited by former Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey. Unlike the unpublished study
McCaffrey used, the most recent ONDCP commissioned report on economic
costs is available online. Whether or not Walters has actually read the
study in question is debatable. A quick review reveals that the vast
majority of the economic costs allegedly caused by drug abuse are
attributable to the drug war itself. | ||||||||||||||||
The report's executive summary breaks costs down into three categories:
health, productivity, and other. Health costs include expenses taken
directly out of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy's
(ONDCP) annual budget breakdown and more tangible outcomes such as
tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis B and C. The latter are easily
preventable health threats which are exacerbated by the war on drugs.
Prisons serve as incubators for diseases such as tuberculosis and
syphilis, diseases which many public health experts erroneously thought
would be completely eradicated by modern medicine. The high incidence of
HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis B and C among intravenous drug users and their
partners are direct results of zero tolerance laws that restrict access
to clean syringes. In terms of productivity losses, incarceration is the
highest line item, followed by crime careers. The other category
includes costs related to the criminal justice system and the supply
reduction efforts that make illicit drug production and trafficking so
lucrative. | ||||||||||||||||
The ONDCP's press release can be read at: | ||||||||||||||||
http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/news/press02/012302.html | ||||||||||||||||
The full report is available as a PDF file at: | ||||||||||||||||
http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/publications/pdf/economic_costs98.pdf | ||||||||||||||||
This article was published on the Drug Policy Alliance's web site.
It is available here: | ||||||||||||||||
Editors Note: Letter writers are encouraged to bookmark these pages, as we can expect to hear these bogus numbers from the new drug czar - and other prohibitionists - again. Be prepared to debunk the disinformation! | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
QUOTE OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
"The objector and the rebel who raises his voice against what he believes to be the injustice of the present and the wrongs of the past is the one who hunches the world along." - Clarence Darrow, 1920 | ||||||||||||||||
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Policy and Law Enforcement/Prison content selection and analysis by Stephen Young (), Cannabis/Hemp content selection and analysis by Philippe Lucas (), International content selection and analysis by Doug Snead (), Layout by Matt Elrod () | ||||||||||||||||
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