| March 22, 2002 #243 | ||||||||||||||||
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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: JUST WHAT WAS HE SMOKING? (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Now that the latest tapes from the Nixon White House have been released, the press is all over them with characteristic glee, eager as always to remind us that not long ago the leader of the free world was buggier than a flophouse blanket. Don't you get tired of this? | ||||||||||||||||
Me neither. So when researcher Doug McVay from Common Sense for Drug
Policy sent me tapes he culled from Nixon's Oval Office rants about
drugs, I pounced on them. I figured it would be a welcome respite
from Nixon's recent rants about Jews. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(2) US: OUT OF JAIL AND OUT OF FOOD (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
WASHINGTON - After barely two minutes of debate, a floor amendment was
added to the 1996 welfare law that denies food stamps and welfare
(Temporary Aid to Needy Families) for life to anyone convicted of a
drug felony. It is doubtful that the members of Congress realized a
large part of this burden would fall on struggling women and their
young children. | ||||||||||||||||
A study by the Sentencing Project, a research organization based in
Washington, estimates that since the ban went into effect in 1996,
92,000 women have been convicted of drug offenses in the states
enforcing it. Of these, about two-thirds are mothers, with 135,000
children among them. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(3) UK: LONDON'S DRUGS EXPERIMENT WINS RESIDENTS' SUPPORT (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
A police scheme in which people possessing cannabis are given only a
verbal warning has won the overwhelming backing of the residents in the
area where it is being piloted. | ||||||||||||||||
More than 80 per cent of people questioned in the south London borough
of Lambeth, which includes Brixton, said they supported the liberal
approach to cannabis. | ||||||||||||||||
The Metropolitan Police and the Home Office are to continue monitoring
the scheme at least until June before deciding whether to make the
policy permanent and extend it to other areas. | ||||||||||||||||
The architect of the experiment, Commander Brian Paddick, has been moved from his job as head of the Lambeth division while allegations that he smoked cannabis "which he denies" and allowed a former boyfriend to take the drug in his flat are investigated. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(4) UK: DRUG-DRIVE RESEARCH SPARKS ROW (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
A row broke out tonight over government-backed research which compared driving performance under the influence of alcohol and cannabis. | ||||||||||||||||
New Scientist magazine said a leaked report from the Transport
Research Laboratory had found a single glass of wine impaired driving
more than a whole cannabis cigarette. | ||||||||||||||||
However, the laboratory in Crowthorne, Berkshire, said the magazine
article, published in its latest edition, was "full of inaccuracies"
- but would not say what these were. | ||||||||||||||||
A TRL spokeswoman said: "Although the testing is finished, the report the author saw was in draft form and was not yet completed. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
According to the article, researchers at TRL had found volunteers who
drank 60 per cent of the legal drink-drive limit were less able to
drive in a straight line or at a constant speed than those who had
smoked a specially prepared marijuana joint. | ||||||||||||||||
Unlike the tipsy drivers, the doped-up drivers tended to be aware of their state and drove cautiously to compensate, it added. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
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Domestic News- Policy | ||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (5-9) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments about a student drug testing case this week, and some justices appeared to buy the notion that getting tough on drugs will help to save young people. Those justices must not have read the report showing the widespread use of inhalants by young Americans. Drug testing won't detect inhalants, and other alleged solutions to youth drug use aren't that hot either. A report about juvenile detention centers in South Carolina indicated that drugs and violence are commomplace in the centers. | ||||||||||||||||
The limitations of drug testing were also shown in the U.S. Navy, where a new Ecstasy test failed miserably. Only 40 of 699 positive results proved to be true positives when more accurate tests were performed. Interdiction efforts aren't doing too hot either, as a tunnel from Arizona to Mexico appeared to be in use by drug smugglers again, only months after police thought they shut it down. | ||||||||||||||||
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(5) SUPREME COURT HEARS STUDENT DRUG TEST ARGUMENTS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
WASHINGTON -- A rural Oklahoma school district took a sensible
approach to stemming what it saw as the general problem of drug use
among students when it required drug testing before students could
participate in after-school activities, the school lawyer argued to
the Supreme Court Tuesday. Several justices seemed ready to agree
with the school that the random drug tests are constitutional even
though the school had reported no widespread drug problem in the
past and there was no reason to suspect the students in band or 4-H
of using drugs. | ||||||||||||||||
"You think life and death is not at issue in the fight against
drugs?" Justice Antonin Scalia barked at an American Civil Liberties
Union lawyer challenging the tests. | ||||||||||||||||
Justice Stephen Breyer suggested the policy was a reasonable
response to dangerous drug use among young people nationwide, and in
keeping with the court's landmark 1995 ruling that schools could
test athletes for drugs. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(6) INHALANT ABUSE WIDESPREAD AMONG U.S. TEENS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
WASHINGTON (Reuters Health) - Nine percent of U.S. 8th graders are
regularly inhaling ordinary--and potentially deadly--household
products as a cheap and legal high, according to 2001 federal drug
statistics. | ||||||||||||||||
Substance abuse experts said that nearly 17 million Americans,
including 2.1 million teens reported at least some experience with
"huffing"--the popular name describing the sniffing of glues,
solvents or aerosol propellants. Americans are using inhalants at
more than twice the rate of Ecstasy and the prescription painkiller
Oxycontin, they said. | ||||||||||||||||
"What we are talking about here are legitimate substances that are
available in our homes and in our lives every day," said John
Walters, who directs the White House Office of National Drug Control
Policy as U.S. 'Drug Czar'. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(7) VIOLENCE, DRUGS IN JUVENILE CENTERS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
COLUMBIA - Juvenile detention center staff reports allege drugs,
alcohol and violence plague the state's facilities, while an
official said the agency is working on the problems. Documents from
the Juvenile Justice Department include allegations of fights
breaking out in darkened rooms and reports of juveniles obtaining
drugs not prescribed to them by answering other's names during calls
for medication, The Greenville News reported Wednesday. | ||||||||||||||||
The report includes allegations that weapons, such as knives and
box-cutters, were accessible. | ||||||||||||||||
And a guardian ad litem reported to U.S. District Judge Joseph
Anderson Jr. that she received reports of the availability of
cigarettes and illegal drugs. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(8) OVERLY SENSITIVE TEST FOULS MILITARY'S WAR ON ECSTASY (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Hundreds Of Sailors Hit With False Findings | ||||||||||||||||
The U.S. military's effort to reverse sharp increases in the number
of personnel using the drug Ecstasy hit a snag recently, when a new
urine test turned out to be too sensitive - flagging hundreds of
sailors who may have taken nothing more serious than | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
The Navy was to have served as a guinea pig for the new test. If the
test proved successful, its use would extend to the other armed
forces. | ||||||||||||||||
But tests of about 32,000 sailors in January identified a staggering
699 as positive for either Ecstasy or methamphetamine use. Follow-up
tests using a more precise - and more labor-intensive - confirmation
method found that only nine of the 699 samples contained Ecstasy and
31 contained methamphetamines. | ||||||||||||||||
The other 659, officials say, were false positives that experts
believe were triggered by cold medicines with chemical properties
similar to Ecstasy. The military is doing further analysis to
determine the exact cause. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(9) COPS DISCOVER SEALED DRUG TUNNEL IS BACK IN BUSINESS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Twelve Feet Of Concrete Could Not Keep Drug Smugglers From Reusing
An Existing Tunnel On West International Street | ||||||||||||||||
The Santa Cruz County Metro Task Force received information this
week that the tunnel was again being used, said Santa Cruz County
Sheriff Tony Estrada. | ||||||||||||||||
"Metro heard that the tunnel may have gone back into business and
after obtaining a search warrant, they discovered that the tunnel
had indeed been tapped into, probably by the same group," Estrada
said. | ||||||||||||||||
Smugglers dug around the concrete sealed entrance, creating a new
crawl space under the home, he said. | ||||||||||||||||
The seizure of 153 pounds of marijuana on Monday led agents to the
recently sealed drug smuggling tunnel, that was first discovered by
U.S. Customs agents in December 2001. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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Law Enforcement & Prisons | ||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (10-15) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
"Just say no - to the drug war" seemed to be a theme recurring in
law enforcement and prison news this week. Clergy said no to
invasive drug law enforcement in New Jersey. A council of ministers
said it would launch a media campaign in the state to encourage
citizens to refuse car searches by police, unless laws were changed
by legislators. New York City's police commissioner formally said no
to racial profiling as the department issued guidelines on the
practice for the first time. | ||||||||||||||||
California's governor just said no to private prisons. While it's nice to see prisons being rejected, it appears Gov. Gray Davis is acting on behalf of the state's powerful prison guard union, which feels threatened by the private prisons. Legislators in Missouri said no to drug task forces even as those task force representatives whimper and whine over the loss of asset forfeiture money. Similar whining and whimpering may be heard in Colorado in the future, as legislators there start a campaign to reform asset forfeiture. | ||||||||||||||||
But not every law enforcement officer manages to say no to lucrative
corruption of the drug war. There were more cases unveiled this
week, and a New York city cop pled guilty to laundering millions in
drug money. If we as a nation had said no to the entire drug war
earlier, the officer wouldn't have faced such a strong temptation to
say yes to corruption. | ||||||||||||||||
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(10) 'JUST SAY NO' PLAN TARGETS CONSENT SEARCHES (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
The Black Ministers Council of New Jersey yesterday said it would
launch a statewide media campaign next month encouraging drivers to
refuse police requests to search their cars, if lawmakers don't vote
to ban the practice. | ||||||||||||||||
The council's executive director, the Rev. Reginald Jackson, said
the publicity campaign against "consent searches" is part of a
renewed effort to stoke interest in ending racial profiling by
police. The searches are a much-criticized procedure at the heart of
the racial profiling debate. | ||||||||||||||||
"We are going to say to the people of this state, whether you are
black, brown, white, yellow; red, whatever, (if) law enforcement
(asks) to search your car that you just say no," Jackson said.
"Under no circumstances should a citizen of this state consent to
what is known as a consent search." | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(11) COMMISSIONER BANS PROFILING USING RACE BY THE POLICE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly has issued a strongly worded order to his top commanders against the use of racial profiling as a tool for arrests, car stops or any other law enforcement actions. | ||||||||||||||||
Although the Police Department has never acknowledged that it
engages in racial profiling the use of race, ethnicity or national
origin as clues to criminality Mr. Kelly said he put out the order
to make the department's position clear among officers and the
public. | ||||||||||||||||
Police officials said the order, the first of its kind issued by the
department, takes admonitions from its existing guidelines, as well
as from legal rulings on the issue, and puts them in one policy
statement so that no one will be confused about the department's
stance. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(12) CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR PROPOSES SHUTTING 5 PRIVATE PRISONS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - In a move he says could save the state about $5
million a year, Gov. Gray Davis has proposed shutting down five of
the state's nine private prisons. | ||||||||||||||||
Davis' plan, outlined in the state budget, also suggests phasing out
the remaining prisons after their contracts expire. | ||||||||||||||||
Davis had promised the Correctional Peace Officers Association, one
of the most influential interest groups in the state, that he
eventually would end the state's experiment with private prisons. In
return, the union spent $2.3 million to help elect Davis four years
ago. | ||||||||||||||||
The union has fought the use of private prisons because it has no
jurisdiction over them. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(13) OFFICERS SAY BYE TO 'BUY MONEY' (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Law Strips Money From Drug Task Force; Lawmakers Say It Was Never
Theirs To Begin With. | ||||||||||||||||
Mike Cooper constantly crunches the numbers. He's got to make sure
there's money to pay the electric bill, put gas in officers' cars
and, if there's any money left, buy illicit drugs. | ||||||||||||||||
"We're out of buy money ... we're broke," said Sgt. Cooper, supervisor of COMET - Combined Ozarks Multi-jurisdictional Enforcement Team. The regionwide anti-drug task force could get nearly $100,000 less than it did last year from forfeiture funds. | ||||||||||||||||
This is real life for COMET and other law agencies after state
lawmakers took steps to prevent them from keeping the illicit money
they seize during investigations. | ||||||||||||||||
Law officers say the legislature has robbed them of funds they need
to snare drug dealers. Lawmakers argue that money doesn't belong to
cops - and that the state's constitution clearly directs those funds
to schools. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(14) BILL TO TARGET FORFEITURE LAW (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Bipartisan Colo. Measure A Response To Complaints About Police
Actions | ||||||||||||||||
Tuesday, March 19, 2002 - Cash, cars, boats, firearms - even a hot
tub - are being confiscated from citizens before they're ever
charged with a crime. | ||||||||||||||||
And few people know where the money or property is going because
most law enforcement agencies aren't reporting it. Police have used
the cash to pay for everything from pizzas to Christmas parties and
use the cars for undercover work. | ||||||||||||||||
Two lawyer-lawmakers are forging an unlikely alliance to limit the power of law enforcement to snatch property thought to be connected to illegal activity before criminal charges have been filed. | ||||||||||||||||
Democratic Sen. Bill Thiebaut and Republican Rep. Shawn Mitchell are
introducing legislation this week after years of complaints of
police abuse in Colorado and two years after Congress passed a law
limiting the federal government's forfeiture power. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(15) COUPLE ADMITS TO LAUNDERING DRUG MONEY (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
A former New York City police officer and his wife pleaded guilty
yesterday to charges of laundering $6 million to $10 million from
cocaine sales. | ||||||||||||||||
The former officer, Homero Zapata, who had resigned after his
arrest, and his wife, Liliana, of Glen Cove, entered pleas in
federal court on Long Island after prosecutors presented their case
at a trial. | ||||||||||||||||
The prosecutors said that a Colombian narcotics ring sold 60 tons of
cocaine in the New York region, and that the Zapatas took the money
to Miami to buy goods and ship them to Colombia. | ||||||||||||||||
The couple were caught with $208,000 when an officer stopped their
car in South Carolina in 1999. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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Cannabis & Hemp- | ||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (16-20) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
This week's Hemp and Cannabis section will focus entirely on the
incredible policy shifts being undertaken in England. Like the fall
of the Berlin Wall, the reclassifying/decriminalization of cannabis
in England seems as quick as it does inevitable. England has been
called (to the dismay of more than one Canadian) the U.S.'s best
friend and greatest international ally; so what do their doctors,
researchers, politicians and policemen know that has eluded American
policy makers? The answer is: nothing. They have used the same base
of evidence readily available to U.S. lawmakers for the last 20
years. What the Brits have shown is the political courage to act on
this evidence, and to stop criminalizing an entire sub-culture for
the use of an herb that is far more benign than either alcohol or
tobacco. This "revolution" in social policy has occurred without
bloodshed, mass arrests, or impossibly long and costly legal
battles. When Britain's Home Secretary David Blunkett reclassifies
cannabis, he will be reflecting the will of the people; if only that
truly democratic notion were enough to save the U.S. from its own
unwinnable war on responsible adult cannabis use. | ||||||||||||||||
This week' s first story deals with the recent pressure on David
Blunkett to reclassify cannabis. As the government's own advisory
bodies continue to recommend the reclassifying of the herb, the
decriminalization of cannabis now seems all but inevitable. The
second story shows broad public and private support for the
reclassifying of cannabis. This is evident in the third story, which
shows that over half of British police officers polled have tried
cannabis themselves. As the laws relax in the UK, entrepreneurs are
preparing to meet the need for weed. Plans are in place to open up
Dutch-style coffeeshops across much of England. And lastly, a Church
of England Bishop from Hereford has become the first high-level
cleric to support decriminalization. Twelve months ago, many of
these changes would have appeared years away from actualization; yet
by this summer, the personal use of cannabis by adults in England
will most likely become a non-arrestable offense. What needs to be
done to push the U.S. federal government into finally representing
the will of its own people and following Britain's lead into
sensible, scientific drug policy? | ||||||||||||||||
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(16) BRITISH CANNABIS REPORT RENEWS PRESSURE ON MINISTERS (Top) TO REFORM DRUG LAWS REPORT | ||||||||||||||||
The finding by the Government's drugs advisory body that cannabis is
less addictive than alcohol or tobacco is the latest in a long series
of acknowledgements that Britain's drug laws are unnecessarily
draconian. | ||||||||||||||||
The status of cannabis as a Class B substance under the Misuse of Drugs
Act 1971 has long been criticised as being out of step with public
opinion of the dangers of the drug. | ||||||||||||||||
According to the latest British Crime Survey, 52 per cent of people
aged between 20 and 24 admitted smoking cannabis. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(17) PUBLIC SUPPORT RELAXING BRITISH LAW ON CANNABIS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
The Government will face mounting pressure this week to review the laws
on cannabis with the publication of two new studies backing
reclassification of the drug. | ||||||||||||||||
The Police Foundation, a research charity whose patron is Prince Charles, and the Metropolitan Police are both expected to reveal overwhelming public support for relaxed policing of the drug. | ||||||||||||||||
Their findings are based on the results of a six-month pilot scheme in
Lambeth, south London, where police warned cannabis users instead of
arresting them. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(18) HALF OF BRITISH POLICE HAVE TRIED CANNABIS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Half of police officers questioned about enforcing the law on using cannabis admitted that they had taken the drug at some time in their lives. The research now being studied by David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, was carried out among Metropolitan and South Yorkshire police and shows that many support a more liberal approach. | ||||||||||||||||
Many clearly would support the Lambeth experiment in South London where
users are given a warning and lose their drugs. Some have already been
informally using a similar approach. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(19) CANNABIS CAFES SET TO OPEN ALL AROUND BRITAIN AS LAW CHANGES (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
More than a dozen Dutch-style cannabis cafes are being planned from
Brighton to Glasgow in a major movement across the country. They range
from converted warehouses to upmarket cafes in London with budgets of
UKP 250,000. | ||||||||||||||||
Less than a week after the Government's top drugs advisory committee
called for cannabis to be downgraded from Class B to Class C - severely
reducing penalties for possession - campaigners are setting up coffee
shops confident that such a move is now all but inevitable. Last week
the Liberal Democrats became the first mainstream party to adopt a
policy of legalising the drug. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(20) CHURCH OF ENGLAND BISHOP CALLS FOR CANNABIS LAW TO BE RELAXED (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
THE Bishop of Hereford, the Rt Rev John Oliver, has become the first
senior cleric in the Church of England to call for the | ||||||||||||||||
The bishop, who denied having tried the drug himself, told The
Telegraph yesterday that so many young people now smoked it that the
law had become discredited and the police would be better off using
their resources to tackle hard drugs. | ||||||||||||||||
The 67-year-old bishop said that when he was a student in the early
1950s cannabis was "virtually unknown" but was "sure" that other
bishops must have experimented with it. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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International News | ||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (21-26) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
In Colombia, the past week saw continuing mayhem: the "Anti-Drug" Archbishop of Cali, Isaias Duarte Cancino, was shot dead before horrified onlookers. Trumpeting "the terrorism/drug trafficking nexus," U.S. government officials indicted Colombian FARC rebels and others for alleged drug trafficking. A "State Department" drug-spraying plane crashed and burned last week, also. | ||||||||||||||||
Loudly beating the "terror-drugs" drum, Assistant Secretary of State for "drug and law enforcement" Rand Beers, and Ambassador at Large for "counter-terrorism" Francis Taylor, re-classified the Burmese rebel United Wa Army as "a terrorist group with known links to drug trafficking around the world," the Bangkok Post reported. | ||||||||||||||||
The Japanese government announced plans to ban psilocybe mushrooms.
Officials insinuated that children would be protected by new laws
that jailed adults for using "magic-mushrooms." | ||||||||||||||||
And the Philippine House of Representatives last week again affirmed its upright stance in the War on substances by approving the "death penalty on people in possession of 10 grams" of methamphetamine, ecstacy, LSD, heroin, and cocaine, and for 150 grams of cannabis. | ||||||||||||||||
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(21) BRAVE ANTI-DRUG BISHOP SHOT DEAD (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
ONLY days after denouncing the influence of drug money on Colombia's
elections, the Archbishop of Cali was shot dead on the steps of a
church as he was leaving a mass wedding. | ||||||||||||||||
Msgr Isaias Duarte Cancino (69), was one of the country's most respected champions of peace and social justice. The Pope said the archbishop had paid a high price for his opposition to violence. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(22) U.S. INDICTS COLOMBIAN REBELS OVER DRUGS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
The United States has initiated drug-trafficking charges against
several suspected Colombian rebels, U.S. Attorney General John
Ashcroft announced. | ||||||||||||||||
The move signals what American officials say is a tougher stance
from Washington towards the guerrillas. | ||||||||||||||||
According to the U.S. Justice Department, rebels from the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the FARC, have been charged
with conspiring to import cocaine into the US. | ||||||||||||||||
One of the indicted rebels is Tomas Molina, described by Mr Ashcroft
as the leader of a rebel faction operating on the Colombia-Venezuela
border. | ||||||||||||||||
The indictment accuses him of collecting cocaine from other rebel units at his base in the remote Colombian village of Barranco Minas. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(23) PILOT DIES AS U.S. SPRAY PLANE EXPLODES OVER COCA FIELDS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
BOGOTA, Colombia ( AP ) - A State Department plane crashed Monday
and exploded while spraying to destroy drug crops in southern
Colombia, killing the pilot, the U.S. Embassy said. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(24) WA DRUG CARTEL IN U.S. SIGHTS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Rand Beers, assistant secretary of state for drug and law
enforcement, and Francis Taylor, ambassador at large for
counter-terrorism, said terrorism and drugs are increasingly linked.
Often, drug gangs raise money for terrorists, as well as try to
weaken target nations by flooding them with drugs. | ||||||||||||||||
The most significant part of their announcement designated the United Wa State Army _ for the first time _ as ``a terrorist group with known links to drug trafficking around the world''. Before last week, Washington considered the UWSA only as a drug gang. | ||||||||||||||||
``The UWSA controlled major drug producing areas in Burma and used the proceeds to carry out an insurgency against the Burmese government,'' Mr Beers told the senate judiciary committee's sub-committee on technology, terrorism and government information. | ||||||||||||||||
``A ceasefire agreement granted the UWSA enough autonomy to continue
drug trafficking for profit,'' he said. | ||||||||||||||||
The testimony was not the first time U.S. officials have linked the war on terrorism to drugs, as well as weapons proliferation. | ||||||||||||||||
But it marks the first time that a drug-trafficking cartel has been
re-designated as a terrorist organisation. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(25) HEALTH MINISTRY PLANS TO BAN 'MAGIC MUSHROOMS' (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry has decided to ban the sale
and possession of mushrooms containing narcotic elements, in
accordance with the Narcotics Control Law, ministry officials said
Sunday. | ||||||||||||||||
The fungi, dubbed "magic mushrooms," have gained popularity among
young people as a so-called legal drug. The ministry plans to revise
relevant laws to designate the mushrooms a raw material narcotic
source under the law, after hearing opinions from the public by the
beginning of April. | ||||||||||||||||
The ministry aims to eventually classify all such mushrooms, which
contain hallucinogenic ingredients psilocybin or psilocin, as
narcotics and also ban the import, cultivation and advertisement of
such mushrooms. | ||||||||||||||||
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(26) HOUSE OK'S DEATH PENALTY FOR 10 GRAMS OF ILLEGAL DRUGS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
THE House of Representatives approved death penalty on people in possession of 10 grams of illegal drugs as approved in third reading of the house bill amending the Anti Dangerous Drugs Act. | ||||||||||||||||
Death will also be imposed on policemen and other law enforcers found to have planted evidence against suspected pushers. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
The Senate approved version of the bill imposes death by lethal
injection to people caught with 99 grams of shabu. | ||||||||||||||||
Its counterpart in the congress ( House Bill 4433) is far lower at
10 grams of shabu and other identified illegal drugs such as LSD,
Opium, morphine and cocaine. | ||||||||||||||||
Under the approved bill, Marijuana possession of 150 grams has the
same punishment. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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HOT OFF THE 'NET (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Once-Secret "Nixon Tapes" Show Why the U.S. Outlawed Pot | ||||||||||||||||
Kevin Zeese, AlterNet March 21, 2002 | ||||||||||||||||
Thirty years ago the United States came to a critical juncture in the
drug war. A Nixon-appointed presidential commission had recommended
that marijuana use not be a criminal offense under state or federal
law. But Nixon himself, based on his zealous personal preferences,
overruled the commission's research and doomed marijuana to its
current illegal status. | ||||||||||||||||
This newly revealed information comes from declassified tapes of
Oval Office conversations from 1971 and 1972, which show Nixon's
aggressive anti-drug stance putting him directly at odds against
many of his close advisors. Transcripts of the tape, and a report
based on them, are available at http://www.csdp.org/ | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
The full text of the report of the National Commission on Marihuana
and Drug Abuse is online at: | ||||||||||||||||
http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/Library/studies/nc/ncmenu.htm | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
DrugTruth Abrahamson to Zeese | ||||||||||||||||
A collection of wisdom about drug policy is now available for review and download at http://www.cultural-baggage.com/drugtruth.htm | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
Medical Co-Prescription Of Heroin - Two Randomized Controlled Trials | ||||||||||||||||
A report by the Central Committee on the Treatment of Heroin Addicts
( http://www.ccbh.nl/ENG/index.htm ) in the Netherlands | ||||||||||||||||
Among the conclusions of the report: | ||||||||||||||||
"Conclusion 5. Supervised medical co-prescription of heroin is practicable with no excess of serious medical adverse events and with a limited number of controllable public order problems." | ||||||||||||||||
For a link to an English version of the report: | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
Vicious Circle: The Chemical and Biological 'War on Drugs' | ||||||||||||||||
A Briefing from the Transnational Institute Drugs & Democracy
Project | ||||||||||||||||
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Government Admits Spying on Drug Reformers | ||||||||||||||||
The Alchemind Society reports on the recent NDIC report. | ||||||||||||||||
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DrugSense/MAP To be Featured on C-Span | ||||||||||||||||
Mark Greer will be interviewed on C-Span's Washington Journal tomorrow (Saturday March 23) at 4:45 AM PST - 7:45 AM EST. | ||||||||||||||||
C-Span features innovative web sites with a political/public
policy agenda on Saturday mornings and tomorrow is our turn.
Both the www.DrugSense.org and www.MAPinc.org sites will be
featured in a segment lasting 7-10 minutes. | ||||||||||||||||
Tune in if your schedule permits and maybe call in to discuss
drug policy after the interview. There are normally no call
ins during the web site interview but there is likely to be
an open phones segment shortly thereafter. | ||||||||||||||||
Watch online at: http://c-span.org/journal/ | ||||||||||||||||
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LETTER OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Don't Exaggerate Health Risks Of Medicinal Marijuana | ||||||||||||||||
By Peter Webster | ||||||||||||||||
Re: Ignoring health hazards of marijuana 'hypocritical', March 7. | ||||||||||||||||
The claim that medicinal cannabis is more harmful than tobacco has
little recognized scientific support. It represents a moralistic
stance that capitalizes on current anti-tobacco hysteria to support
continued cannabis prohibition. | ||||||||||||||||
It is surely more dangerous to the respiratory passages to live in a
polluted urban area such as London or Los Angeles than to have a few
daily puffs of medical cannabis. The quantity and frequency of
marijuana use required for a given application such as anti-nausea
is low, so the smoke intake is very modest compared with the
around-the-clock breathing of polluted air. | ||||||||||||||||
There are thousands of deaths yearly in major cities directly caused
by air polluted with a wide range of carcinogens and irritants (in
the U.K., microparticulates from diesel exhaust alone are thought to
kill 10,000 people a year). In contrast, no one has identified a
single death or cancer caused by marijuana smoking. | ||||||||||||||||
Why should living in polluted air seem an acceptable, even
disregarded risk, while light to moderate medical marijuana smoking
is denounced as unconscionable? | ||||||||||||||||
The smoked method of using medical marijuana may lead to some
as-yet-unproved harm to the respiratory passages. But there is
simply no practical, logical, or medical argument that can justify
the risking of stomach lesions when taking Aspirin for its
neurological effects, while denouncing the smoking of medical
marijuana for effective therapeutic purposes, because of the risk of
possible lung damage. Is lung tissue more sacred than the stomach
lining? | ||||||||||||||||
Peter Webster, | ||||||||||||||||
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Honorable Mention Letters of the Week | ||||||||||||||||
FAILED DRUG WAR
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GOVERNMENT'S DECEIT IS NOTHING NEW
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FEATURE ARTICLE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Drug Supply Is Resilient | ||||||||||||||||
By Ron Bennett | ||||||||||||||||
The resilience of supply is something many people fighting the drug
war don't fully comprehend. | ||||||||||||||||
I recall back when I was experimenting with illicit substances, I
was amazed how constant the supply was no matter how many busts
there were...even after some big regional busts, that authorities
said were going to disrupt drug trade, there's was basically no
difference in quality, quality, nor price of most illicit substances
in my area. | ||||||||||||||||
I couldn't understand that...I asked some drug dealers how the
supply could be so consistent, and the answer basically was "well
that's because everyone and their friends are dealing"...so while
the authorities would hit a few dealers, etc there are more than
enough dealers to take their place - greed is a powerful force - and
that was the other part I learned from both dealers and various
people I know that work in law enforcement...the police often KNOW
where the drug dealers are, etc and yet do nothing for various
reasons ranging from lack of resources, lack of evidence, to keep
the peace (better to have citizens down and out than an all out turf
war or other more serious crime), and then of course greed...a
small, but sizable number of law enforcement are playing on both
sides to put kindly. | ||||||||||||||||
The drug war is a sham and wastes squanders immense amounts of resources that could be better used elsewhere, yet many people and politicians believe they can win a drug war...yeah, right...about as well as a nuclear war; and sadly many politicians have forgotten the cold war and are pushing for nuclear weapons for use in smaller conflicts...America's "war" mentality will eventually destroy us all...and probably much sooner than later given that as soon as America detonates even one nuke all bets are off...the gloves will come off and within months we'll be seeing nuclear weapons being used by terrorists and others; in essence using our technology against ourselves. Rambling off topic a little here, but the point is that the drug war is unwinnable and the best move is not to wage it...and instead end it and reform the drug laws and restore the many rights taken away during the drug war back to the people. | ||||||||||||||||
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QUOTE OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
"It is widely assumed by the other side on the drug question that to
decriminalize drugs would be to register a social assent to drug
consumption. [I] ... stress the contrary. The initial problem is to
make clear that to license an activity is not to approve it. We license
the publication of Hustler magazine even as we gag at the knowledge of
what goes on within its covers." | ||||||||||||||||
-- William F. Buckley Jr. | ||||||||||||||||
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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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