| April 12, 2002 #246 | ||||||||||||||||
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Listen On-line at: http://www.drugsense.org/radio/ | ||||||||||||||||
NOTE TO READERS: Most of the DrugSense staff will be busy attending
the NORML conference in San Francisco next week, so DrugSense Weekly
will not be distributed on April 19. We will resume our regular
publication schedule April 26. We look forward to seeing some of our
readers at the conference. | ||||||||||||||||
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Table of Contents
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THIS JUST IN (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
(1) AUSTRALIA: DRUG LAW CHOICE FOR POLICE: KUCERA (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
POLICE would get the discretion to override proposed new cannabis
laws and charge people who possessed or cultivated small but
otherwise legal amounts of the drug, Health Minister Bob Kucera said
yesterday. | ||||||||||||||||
A task force appointed by Mr Kucera to advise on softer cannabis laws has found that a problem with South Australian cannabis law is the inability of police to use their discretion and charge people they believe are selling the drug when technically not breaking the law. | ||||||||||||||||
"Police discretion should always override these issues in this State
on anything to do with drugs," he said in debate in the Legislative
Assembly on the new laws. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(2) MEXICO CORRUPTION SWEEP NETS COPS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
TIJUANA, Mexico -- The police officers were expecting to receive an
evaluation of their work. | ||||||||||||||||
Instead, soldiers and federal police stormed a meeting Wednesday at
a state police academy in the border city of Tecate, ordering dozens
of officers -- including Tijuana's police chief -- to hand over their
guns and placing them under arrest. | ||||||||||||||||
The Baja California governor's office said as many as 120 police
were detained, and the federal government's Notimex news agency put
the number at about 200. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
The mass arrest was one of President Vicente Fox's biggest corruption
crackdowns and came only weeks after Mexican authorities delivered
stunning blows to the powerful Arellano Felix gang that operated in
the state for nearly two decades. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(3) U.S. DRUG CHIEF WAVES THE FLAG (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Thousands Attend International Conference In Cincinnati | ||||||||||||||||
The nation's drug czar on Wednesday unveiled a new tool in the war against
alcohol and other drugs - patriotism. | ||||||||||||||||
John Walters, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, told
the Pride World Drug Prevention Conference that illegal drug trafficking is
helping fund at least 12 terrorist groups. | ||||||||||||||||
"Drugs are not only dangerous for you and your friends," he said. "It's bad for your country and bad for people who want to live in peace and democracy." | ||||||||||||||||
Mr. Walters spoke to 4,500 teens and adults attending the opening day of
the four-day conference at the Albert B. Sabin Cincinnati Convention
Center. Pride, the sponsoring organization, takes its name from the acronym
for Parents' Resource Institute for Drug Education. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Marijuana is the most misunderstood drug, Mr. Walters said, because it's
peddled as harmless. Sixty-five percent of drug-dependent people have a
primary or secondary dependence on marijuana. | ||||||||||||||||
"Marijuana is two-thirds of the addiction problem in America today .... We
have too many people trapped in addiction to marijuana because they thought
it couldn't happen, or they were told it couldn't happen. That's the lie
you have to help us change." | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(4) WAR ON DRUGS NEEDS NEW DIRECTION, SOME AT DRUG CONFERENCE SAY (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
America's war on drugs should focus more on an individual's actions
and less on what substances a person might possess or ingest,
officials attending a drug policy conference at Rice University said
Wednesday. | ||||||||||||||||
The two-day drug policy conference taking place at the Baker
Institute for Public Policy in Houston concludes Thursday. Besides
focusing on the United States' drug policy, attendees will discuss
policies in other countries with hopes of eventually making
recommendations for policy changes in the United States to "reduce
negative consequences of drug use and abuse, including attention to
more effective drug education and treatment." | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
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Domestic News- Policy | ||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (5-9) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
It was a mixed bag in policy news this week, with grim stories
tempered by some good news. The U.S. Sentencing Commission
recommended the reduction of the disparity between prison sentences
for crack and powder cocaine. Despite supportive comments during the
2000 election campaign, the Bush administration expressed opposition
to any such changes. | ||||||||||||||||
The Colorado Supreme Court ruled that bookstores do not have to turn
over information about book buyers. In a widely watched case, the
court said it was appropriate for a bookstore owner to refuse police
requests for details about the purchaser of a book on drug
manufacture. In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court decision that
allows tenants of public housing to be evicted for drug use by a
single resident, at least one public housing unit in Florida seems
to be using more aggressive tactics. | ||||||||||||||||
Following the lead of federal officials who insist on throwing good
money after bad, Baltimore officials announced a new local $2
million ad campaign designed to discourage drug use. And in New
York, fire department officials are addressing the stress faced by
firefighters by strictly enforcing anti-drug rules. | ||||||||||||||||
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(5) U.S. PANEL TO URGE CHANGE IN CRACK PENALTIES (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Sentencing Commission will recommend Congress
close the gap in punishment for possession of crack vs. powder
cocaine. | ||||||||||||||||
Federal law now calls for dealers caught with 5 grams of crack to
get the same prison term -- a mandatory minimum of five years -- as
those caught with 500 grams of powder. | ||||||||||||||||
Critics say the 100-to-1 differential disproportionately affects
minorities because crack cocaine is linked more to urban areas.
Supporters of the status quo say crack is a more serious drug and
should be treated so. | ||||||||||||||||
The commission, which develops sentencing guidelines for federal
judges, will recommend next month that Congress raise to 25 grams
the amount of crack that a dealer would have to have to trigger the
five- year mandatory minimum prison sentence. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Momentum had been building at the commission and among lawmakers for the commissioners to force a change in the penalties. But last month, the Bush administration insisted on the status quo. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(6) COURT UPHOLDS ANONYMITY FOR BOOK BUYERS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
WASHINGTON -- The Colorado Supreme Court on Monday ruled that the
state's constitution protects the privacy of both bookstore owners
and their customers when it refused to force a Denver retailer to
turn sales records over to police. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
In the case decided Monday, police were trying to determine who had
run a methamphetamine lab. Two years ago, police raided a trailer
park in Thornton, Colo., and found the lab, but it was unclear who
among several suspects was the operator. | ||||||||||||||||
In the bedroom of one trailer, police found two how-to books on
making illegal drugs. They also found a mailing envelope from the
Tattered Cover, a popular Denver bookstore, but there was no receipt
to show who had purchased the books and no name on the envelope,
only the trailer's address. | ||||||||||||||||
The officers obtained a subpoena from the Drug Enforcement
Administration for the purchase records. Joyce Meskis, the owner of
Tattered Cover, refused to comply. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(7) GROUPS TRY TO DELAY EVICTIONS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Community and civil rights activists met Tuesday night to try and
delay the eviction of eight families from the Warrington Village
Apartments, a federally subsidized housing development. | ||||||||||||||||
The eviction notices were served after at least two people were
arrested by Escambia Sheriff's deputies following searches by armed
security guards hired by the Columbia Management Group, the company
that runs the complex. | ||||||||||||||||
The first evictions are to begin Thursday. | ||||||||||||||||
Before the searches, residents received a letter announcing that a
routine maintenance inspection was scheduled. | ||||||||||||||||
Resident Marquita Floyd said she was wearing her nightgown when she
answered the door and five uniformed security guards told her they
were coming in to search her apartment. They pulled up seat
cushions, broke glasses and pulled out diapers from her bathroom, in
front of her child, she said. They found a rolled cigarette with
what they said appeared to be marijuana. She faces eviction by
Sunday. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(8) 'REALITY' AD CAMPAIGN WILL URGE FIGHTING DRUGS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Baltimore officials are launching an ambitious $2 million media
campaign that will urge residents to fight drugs and crime, and try
to alter the psychological fabric of city life. | ||||||||||||||||
The 13-week campaign, which officials will unveil at a news conference Friday at Israel Baptist Church in East Baltimore, will begin Monday with a four-minute television spot that is intended to shock residents into seeing the reality of the city's problems. | ||||||||||||||||
The campaign continues with a two-page advertisement -- a "Declaration of Independence from Drugs" -- in The Sun on April 14. | ||||||||||||||||
In the following weeks, four television advertisements will address
issues ranging from drug trafficking to drug abuse and police
recruiting -- each spot offering a phone number that connects
callers to operators who can offer information. The campaign is
being financed by the Baltimore Police Foundation, a private fund
that closely supports the city police department. | ||||||||||||||||
It is unclear how successful the campaign will be at dislodging a
drug culture that permeates the city, where nearly 60,000 residents
are addicts. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(9) FIRE OFFICIALS WILL ENFORCE ZERO TOLERANCE FOR DRUG ABUSE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
The New York Fire Department alerted firefighters yesterday that it
planned to begin strictly enforcing the department's zero tolerance
policy on the use of illegal drugs, and would dismiss those who
failed drug tests, department officials said. | ||||||||||||||||
Fire officials described the effort as a precautionary measure and
said they did not believe drug abuse within the agency was
widespread. But some in the department have said they worry that
firefighters may resort to drug or alcohol abuse to cope with the
devastating loss of 343 of their colleagues in the terrorist attack
of Sept. 11. | ||||||||||||||||
The department has long prohibited the use of illegal drugs, but
fire officials said that enforcement of the policy had been spotty.
To show leniency involving substance abuse of any form, the
officials said, would be dangerous and would undermine public
confidence in the force. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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Law Enforcement & Prisons | ||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (10-13) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Once again, it seems drug raids justify the shooting of innocents. A
Texas sheriff's deputy was not indicted after shooting an unarmed
19-year-old in a December drug raid. While that deputy was not
penalized, the regional drug task force that organized the raid lost
some of its manpower as another county removed officers from the
task force. | ||||||||||||||||
After prison guards in California got another unbelievably sweet
contract from the state, the San Francisco Chronicle editorialized
on collusion between the prison guards union and Gov. Gray Davis.
And a study out of the UK showed that "boot camp" incarceration for
young criminals proved successful at giving participants more
confidence when they returned to a life of crime outside the
program. | ||||||||||||||||
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(10) DEPUTY NOT INDICTED IN DRUG RAID DEATH (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Grand Jury Rules There's No Cause For Charges In Fatal Shooting | ||||||||||||||||
A Travis County grand jury declined to indict a sheriff's deputy
Wednesday for the shooting death of a 19-year-old man during a
December drug raid. | ||||||||||||||||
Deputy Derek Hill shot and killed Tony Martinez during the Dec. 20
raid of a mobile home in Del Valle. Martinez was not the target of
the drug raid and was not armed when he was shot. | ||||||||||||||||
His mother, Nadine Gonzales of Hayward, Calif., said officials had
not contacted her about the grand jury's decision that there was no
cause to indict Hill. | ||||||||||||||||
"How could they have no-billed him?" Gonzales said as she started
crying on the phone. "My son was asleep." She declined further
comment. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(11) TRAVIS COUNTY LEAVING ANTI-DRUG TASK FORCE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Sheriff Says Officers Can Work Better Outside Of Shrinking Group | ||||||||||||||||
With four of its five partners abandoning a Travis County-led
anti-drug coalition, Sheriff Margo Frasier has been forced to pull
out of the Capital Area Narcotics Task Force - a dwindling
consortium of Central Texas agencies involved in two deadly drug
raids in little more than a year. | ||||||||||||||||
Frasier said Friday that despite the loss of her partners, she already had made up her mind to yank her officers from the troubled unit that was never "as successful as it could have been." | ||||||||||||||||
A state official said Frasier had no choice. | ||||||||||||||||
The county's withdrawal means that just more than $600,000 that would largely have been spent fighting drug trafficking in Travis County now will be spent on anti-drug efforts in surrounding rural counties and for substance abuse programs in Travis County. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(12) EDITORIAL: A BIG PRISON PAYCHECK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Maybe it's time to install a payment window in the governor's
office. Consider the raises that Gov. Gray Davis approved for the
state's prison guards. | ||||||||||||||||
On Jan. 16, he signed a 34 percent pay increase for the correctional
officers, raising pay from $50,000 to $65,000 per guard over the
four- year contract. Then, just over two weeks ago, he collected a
campaign donation of $251,000 from the officers' union. | ||||||||||||||||
It follows a familiar and dismaying pattern for both sides. Davis, a
nonstop fund-raiser, gets a step closer to a $30 million war chest
for his re-election drive. | ||||||||||||||||
The union shows its thanks for raises that put correctional officers
on a par with big-city police. The new contract totals $1 billion
over four years. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(13) BOOT CAMPS 'ONLY MAKE YOUNG THUGS BOLDER' (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
MILITARY-style "boot camp" regimes for young criminals fail to
reduce reoffending significantly but produce fitter, healthier and
more self-confident offenders, according to a report. | ||||||||||||||||
Many young male offenders returned to a life of crime within months
of being released from the army-style drill and discipline. Figures
in the Home Office study, published yesterday, show that initial
success in cutting reconviction rates was not sustained in the two
years after release. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
"While it is clear that many young offenders liked being kept busy
all day, liked an army-style regime, liked sports and physical
training, and became healthier, fitter and more self-confident, none
of these benefits seemed to be followed by decreased reconviction
rates," the report said. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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Cannabis & Hemp- | ||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (14-19) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
The 9th Circuit Court appears ready to support the right of doctors to recommend marijuana to patients. Led by judge Alex Kozinski, the panel persistently pointed to inconsistencies in the Department of Justice's attempt to punish physicians who recommend cannabis. And in New York, rookie mayor Michael Bloomberg was dismayed to hear that he is to be the spokesperson for NORML's new $500,000 ad campaign. The mayor is to be featured in a series of bus stop, print and radio ads that quotes a magazine interview done before he became mayor. When Bloomberg was asked if he had ever tried marijuana, he answered "you bet I did. And I enjoyed it." Meanwhile in Maryland, a medical cannabis bill was defeated by one vote in the state Senate. | ||||||||||||||||
In contrast, the Dutch continue their innovative and progressive social policy by becoming the first nation to legalize marijuana prescriptions. Health Minister Bas Kuik hopes to see marijuana available in drugstores by next year, and believes that costs for the medicine will be covered by the national health care plan shortly thereafter. And in Canada, the story of the Ottawa youth picked out by a police dog because his jacket apparently smelled of marijuana came to a swift conclusion. After the student's lawyer filed a motion against the school, the school board lifted the boy's suspension and the principal apologized for the incident. | ||||||||||||||||
And on a lighter note, DEA head Asa Hutchinson recently suffered
another public relations disaster. On the 18th of March, he arrived
to speak about prescription drug abuse at a Barnes & Nobles in
Rockville Maryland; unbeknownst to him, the Washington-based
Marijuana Policy Project was prepared for his appearance. When
medicinal cannabis users in the crowd began to ask Hutchinson if
they should be arrested for treating their illnesses with cannabis,
he hurried off in a rage and left in a waiting car. So much for
dialogue, discussion or compassion. | ||||||||||||||||
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(14) RECOMMENDING POT SOUNDS OK TO US 9TH CIRCUIT (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
A 9th Circuit panel sounded ready Monday to uphold an injunction that prohibits the federal government from investigating or punishing California doctors who recommend marijuana to patients. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
With Judge Alex Kozinski setting the tone, the panel hammered away at Department of Justice attorney Michael Stern, who argued the injunction has tied the government's hands from going after abuses. | ||||||||||||||||
"How is getting a note from your doctor," Kozinski asked him several
times, "interfering with federal enforcement [of drug laws]? Be
specific." | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(15) ADS QUOTE A MAYOR WHO INHALED AND LIKED IT (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws
Foundation said yesterday that it was beginning a $500,000
advertising campaign featuring Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg paired
with a remark he made praising marijuana to a magazine reporter last
year before he announced he was running for mayor. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
The ads will feature the mayor responding to the question of whether
he had ever tried marijuana by saying: "You bet I did. And I enjoyed
it." The quotation comes from an interview the mayor gave to New
York magazine last year. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(16) MARYLAND MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL KILLED BY 1 VOTE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
By one vote, a Senate panel killed a medical marijuana measure
Friday, causing a rift between the General Assembly's crime
committees that could threaten other bills as the legislative
session nears its end for 2002. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
The medical marijuana measure would allow the terminally ill to
defend themselves from drug possession charges by saying they have a
medical necessity to use it. If they can prove that claim, they
would face no greater penalty than a $100 fine. | ||||||||||||||||
After three years of struggling through the General Assembly, the bill, HB 1222, passed the House of Delegates 80-56 on March 24. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(17) DUTCH LAWMAKERS FAVOR MEDICINAL MARIJUANA (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
THE HAGUE, Netherlands - A large majority of legislators in the
Dutch parliament's lower chamber said Monday that they will support
a government-backed bill to legalize marijuana prescriptions for
severely ill patients. | ||||||||||||||||
The lower house is expected to vote next week on the proposal to let
doctors prescribe marijuana produced by government-regulated growers
for medicinal purposes. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
There are also plans to put marijuana on the national health care
plan, but initially the drug will only be free under special health
insurance programs. | ||||||||||||||||
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(18) SWEET SMELL OF ABSOLUTION FOR OTTAWA STUDENT (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
OTTAWA (CP) -- A local high school that suspended a 15-year-old
student after a police dog smelled marijuana on his jacket has
apologized and wiped his record clean. | ||||||||||||||||
Chris Laurin was suspended after an impromptu drug search at his
school March 26. A police dog identified the scent of marijuana on
his jacket, and the Grade 10 student at St. Matthew high school in
suburban Orleans was suspended for two days -- even though police
didn't find any drugs and the vice-principal admitted she couldn't
smell it. | ||||||||||||||||
"The school board did make a mistake in suspending me before; they
have corrected that mistake," said Laurin. "I feel it was a sincere
apology, and I've been justified. And I've paved the way for other
students to fight back if they're wrongly punished." | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(19) ASA HAS LEFT THE BUILDING (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
After being greeted by 200 protestors in San Francisco just a month
earlier, Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) Chief Asa Hutchinson went to
the Barnes and Noble bookstore in Rockville, Md., just outside
Washington, D.C. on March 18, "looking for friendly audiences."
Unbeknownst to Hutchinson, that was not to be his fate. | ||||||||||||||||
Hutchinson's appearance was supposed to be about Cindy R. Mogil's
book Swallowing a Bitter Pill: How Prescription and Over-the-Counter
Drug Addictions Are Ruining Lives--My Story, but the audience was
seeded with medical marijuana advocates from the Marijuana Policy
Project (MPP). | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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International News | ||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (20-24) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Afghan opium farmers revolted last week, firing on government agents charged with eradicating the crop. One official was reported killed. | ||||||||||||||||
The Burmese government proclaimed that drug trafficking by members
of minority groups would no longer be tolerated. The United Wa Army,
accused of smuggling speed and heroin, ordered its forces not to get
involved with drugs, saying that no group should "refine heroin and
manufacture stimulant tablets in the Wa region," reported the
Bangkok Post. | ||||||||||||||||
US officials are becoming increasingly sour on alternative crop plans for Colombia, the Washington Post revealed last week. Citing unnamed officials, the Post said some U.S. authorities believe "funding for the current $42.5 million program is in doubt." | ||||||||||||||||
Indonesian police made the country's largest MDMA haul, seizing 150,000 tablets in Jakarta. Police are still searching for the leaders of what was called "an international drug gang." | ||||||||||||||||
In the UK, a 13-year-old girl was charged with heroin smuggling after she was arrested in Manchester Airport. The girl, carrying 13 kilograms of heroin, was arrested after arriving from Pakistan. | ||||||||||||||||
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(20) AFGHAN POPPY FARMERS REVOLT (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Afghan Poppy Farmers Open Fire On Government Officials Seeking To
Eradicate Drug Crop | ||||||||||||||||
PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Tribal poppy farmers in eastern Afghanistan
opened fire on provincial officials surveying their fields as a
government program to eradicate opium poppies began Monday. At least
one official was reported killed. | ||||||||||||||||
Shenwari tribesmen also blocked the highway between Kabul, the
Afghan capital, and Pakistan, pelting vehicles with rocks, according
to travelers arriving in this border town. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(21) JUNTA ORDERS END TO DRUG TRAFFICKING (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Bid to Improve Image Overseas | ||||||||||||||||
In a bid to improve the way it is viewed overseas, the Burmese
military junta has told minority groups that drug trafficking will
no longer be tolerated by Rangoon. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
The intelligence chief was quoted as saying that drug crimes --
including production of heroin and methamphetamine, trafficking,
possession of precursor chemicals and drug paraphernalia, and poppy
cultivation -- would no longer be tolerated. | ||||||||||||||||
Punishment would range from life imprisonment to death. | ||||||||||||||||
The United Wa State Army, widely regarded as the biggest drug traffickers in the region, had been told about the order. | ||||||||||||||||
The UWSA, in turn, had told its forces not to get involved in drugs.
"No organisation nor individual shall refine heroin and manufacture
stimulant tablets in the Wa region." | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(22) ALTERNATIVE-CROP PLAN FOR COLOMBIA ROOTED IN FAILURE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
CAIRO, Colombia -- As the civil war in Colombia persists, U.S.
officials have become more pessimistic about whether a popular U.S.-
sponsored program that pays farmers to uproot coca and replace it
with legal crops will have any lasting success against the drug
industry. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
But a number of U.S. officials are rethinking the program less than a year after it began here in southern Colombia's coca fields. | ||||||||||||||||
Security concerns, unfavorable economics and a history of mistrust
between the Colombian government and coca farmers, who produce 90
percent of the cocaine arriving in the United States, have
complicated the program in ways that U.S. officials now believe
could be insurmountable. | ||||||||||||||||
In light of two recent critical reviews, U.S. officials have decided
to shift the program's focus from helping individual farmers to
creating public-works jobs in coca-growing regions, tailor
development projects by community and begin new development efforts
in areas less fraught by civil war than this one 350 miles south of
the capital, Bogota. | ||||||||||||||||
Even so, U.S. officials acknowledge, funding for the current $42.5
million program is in doubt. | ||||||||||||||||
Here in the province of Putumayo, the heart of Colombia's coca
trade, only a few of farmers who agreed to uproot their coca plants
by the end of July have done so. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(23) HUGE ECSTASY BUST (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
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[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(24) TEENAGER HELD OVER HEROIN HAUL (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
A 13-year-old girl has been charged with smuggling heroin valued at
almost UKP 1m through Manchester Airport. | ||||||||||||||||
The teenager was arrested after stepping off a flight from Pakistan.
Customs officers recovered 13 kilograms of heroin, with a street
value of UKP 910,000. Matthew King, a Customs and Excise spokesman,
said: "She appears to have been travelling alone." | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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HOT OFF THE 'NET (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Matt Elrod Talk On Pot-TV | ||||||||||||||||
"Cyber-activist extraordinaire Matt Elrod educates and inspires with
techniques and tales of how to effectively use your computer to help
end the drug-war. Be a web-jedi." | ||||||||||||||||
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SSDP Events | ||||||||||||||||
April 12th, Chicago, IL - Protest the Higher Education Act. Downtown, 11am. Hosted by SSDP. www.ssdp.org or Matt Atwood (847) 800-6696 | ||||||||||||||||
April 13th & 14th, Chicago, IL - Coalition to Promote Sensible Drug
Policy. Hosted by Students for a Sensible Drug Policy and the National
Lawyers Guild Drug Policy Project. Loyola University. www.ssdp.org or
Matt Atwood (847) 800-6696 | ||||||||||||||||
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Unlikely Bedfellows: Media Literacy and Anti-Drug Education | ||||||||||||||||
By Maia Szalavitz | ||||||||||||||||
"An educator's dream is to have kids apply critical thinking across
contexts -- but for the drug czar's office, this could well be a
nightmare." | ||||||||||||||||
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Ruling on Housing Law a Blow to Battered Women By Tom Schram for
Women's ENews | ||||||||||||||||
http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/863/context/archive | ||||||||||||||||
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Establishing Safe Injection Facilities in Canada: Legal and
Ethical Issues | ||||||||||||||||
The legal status of drugs in Canada contributes to the difficulty of addressing HIV among people who use injection drugs. The HIV/AIDS Legal Network has undertaken an in-depth examination of the legal and ethical issues surrounding HIV/AIDS and injection drug use, and continues to follow up on these issues. | ||||||||||||||||
http://aidslaw.ca/Maincontent/issues/druglaws/safeinjectionfacilities/toc.htm | ||||||||||||||||
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Proceedings of Canada's Special Committee on Illegal Drugs | ||||||||||||||||
Issue No. 14 | ||||||||||||||||
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* John W. Conroy, Barrister, Counsel in R. Malmo-Levine and Caine. * Federation of Canadian Municipalities * Canadian Medical Association * Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police | ||||||||||||||||
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LETTER OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Shooting Dealers Won't Solve Illegal Drug Mess | ||||||||||||||||
By Clifford A. Schaffer | ||||||||||||||||
Arthur S. Lyon (Letter Box, March 29) claims that we ought to
summarily shoot drug dealers to solve the illegal drugs problem. I
have heard this assertion many times, and I always have two
questions to ask anyone who makes such an assertion: 1. How many
people are actually killed by drugs in the United States in a
typical year? Please include the figures for alcohol, tobacco and
prescription drugs, as well as the illegal drugs. | ||||||||||||||||
2. How many people do you propose that we kill to solve that | ||||||||||||||||
If your answer to Question 2 is more than the figures in the answer
to Question 1, please explain why you want to kill more people than
the problem you are trying to solve. | ||||||||||||||||
Of course, I have been asking these two questions of people who make
Lyon's proposal for several years. | ||||||||||||||||
I have found that, invariably, people who make such a suggestion
don't even know enough about the subject to answer the first
question, let alone the second. | ||||||||||||||||
Clifford A. Schaffer, | ||||||||||||||||
Canyon Country, Calif. | ||||||||||||||||
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Honorable Mention Letters of the Week | ||||||||||||||||
DIS-JOINTED ARGUMENT
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SCHOOL DRUG-TESTING NO QUICK FIX FOR SOCIAL ILLS
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FEATURE ARTICLE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Hemp Industry Stands Up to DEA | ||||||||||||||||
By Don E. Wirtshafter | ||||||||||||||||
A packed courtroom in San Francisco today heard the hemp foods industry defend its very existence against an assault by the Drug Enforcement Administration. On October 9, 2001, the DEA issued a new interpretation of their rules that purported to make hemp foods illegal. The use of hemp foods goes back millennia in history and remains in ethnic recipes for Europe and Asia. The nutritious seeds were making a comeback in a variety of health foods from breads and waffles to ice creams and candies before the DEA stepped in to halt this momentum. | ||||||||||||||||
The Hemp Industry did a great job banding together to bring a great case to the court. Competitors fighting neck and neck for market position put aside their differences and presented a unified front against the DEA. With only one notable exception, every major hemp foods manufacturer signed on to industry standards that assured the public of hemp food's safety and assurance to consumers that consumption of hemp foods would not affect work-place drug testing. Over 100,000 public comments were received by the DEA in opposition to the hemp foods ban. The one dissenting company submitted the only public comment in favor of the DEA's actions. And of course the DEA tried to use this one company s publicity efforts against the industry saying if that company thought it could comply with the new rules then the whole industry could do it. But the DEA is demanding zero THC content, and in today's science, where parts per billion can be analyzed, there is no such thing as zero. | ||||||||||||||||
Our attorneys did a great job. Joe Sandler and Jack Young, of Sandler,
Reiff & Young, PC, of Washington, D.C., helped us define our issues and
prepare great briefs for the court. Joe Sandler looked great in court
and held up well to some tough questioning by the judges. Patrick
Goggin, an old friend with a San Francisco practice that we were able to
rope into being our local counsel, was quite helpful through the whole
process. David Frankel, hempster-attorney, also contributed a lot of
work to our legal team. | ||||||||||||||||
My largest personal thanks go out to David Bronner for taking over (from
me) the position of chairman of the HIA Foods and Oils Committee only
three days before the DEA assault started. David rose to the task with
incredible energy, skill and determination, learning the law and legal
reasoning as well as any lawyer and pulling together the energy and
resources needed to surmount this defense. His family and his company
also stepped forward to cover the bulk of the huge expense such a
professionally managed campaign demands. Thank you David and the entire
Bronner family from the bottom of my heart. | ||||||||||||||||
VoteHemp, the 501(C ) (4) organization the industry formed to lobby
Congress but then stepped into a coordination role for the litigation
and its president, Eric Steenstra, did a great job. And somehow they
found us the miracle of Mintwood Media Collective, a new D.C.-based PR
firm with a lot of energy and talent. Adam and Alexis from Mintwood have
done extraordinary work for us both in media relations and increasingly
in Congressional lobbying. | ||||||||||||||||
Also deserving thanks are the various hemp companies that stepped in on
behalf of their industry. There are too many to list. | ||||||||||||||||
It's not easy fighting the government, especially when it is attacking you in a dishonest, vengeful and politically-charged manner. But our efforts to circle our wagons and fight have made us look like David standing up to Goliath and firing the critical blow. The DEA looks ridiculous trying to assert its jurisdiction over hemp and hopefully will emerge quite embarrassed from this decision and leave us alone. | ||||||||||||||||
Of course, this is just round one in what looks to be a long battle.
Unless the Appeals Court gives us a dream decision that clearly puts
hemp regulations outside the DEA jurisdiction, this is going to be a
long battle. The DEA has already closed the comment period for their
separate attempt to change their regulations to ban hemp foods. If they
do issue final rules in that effort, we will probably be in litigation
with them for years. So this is going to continue to demand a unified
response from the industry, much vigilance and a huge amount of money.
So dig in and help us in this fight through your financial contributions
to Votehemp which can be made on their website, http://www.votehemp.com/
which is incidentally the best place to read details about the
litigation. | ||||||||||||||||
I felt confident going into the hearing and left even more confident.
The government doesn't have a case for banning hemp, especially in the
underhanded way that they attempted it. And working together we have the
strength to stand up and fight for our rights. | ||||||||||||||||
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QUOTE OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
"You bet I did. And I enjoyed it." | ||||||||||||||||
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg after being asked if he inhaled marijuana last year during a campaign interview. | ||||||||||||||||
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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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