| April 26, 2002 #247 | ||||||||||||||||
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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: EDITORIAL: ANTI-DRUG LAW BACKFIRES (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
When Congress passed a law four years ago taking federal financial aid
away from college students who had been convicted of drug crimes, it was
hailed as a miracle cure. "The best thing we can do for education is to
get somebody clean and then get them back into school," said Rep. Mark
Souder, R-Ind., the law's chief sponsor. | ||||||||||||||||
Not a bad goal. But the supposed benefits haven't materialized. | ||||||||||||||||
Instead, the law has sparked countermeasures at several universities and
protests on more than 80 campuses by students who are seeing other
results. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(2) OPIUM HAULS GO MISSING IN AFGHAN CRACKDOWN (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
IT WAS business as usual in Ghani Khel, eastern Afghanistan, until 10am on Monday. In the labyrinthine bazaar of the small town in Nangarhar Province, traders jostled with farmers in the dusty alleys, weighing and selling their wares as they have done each year, bar one, since 1980. | ||||||||||||||||
Then there was a shout of alarm, the sound of approaching engines, a
scuffle and armed men burst through the bazaar gates. Some traders tried
to flee, others to hide. Stall shutters were kicked in, merchants were
beaten and arrested, their scales were thrown to the ground and the
searches began. The operation, by men loyal to Haji Qadir, Governor of
Jalalabad, lasted until 5pm. | ||||||||||||||||
When it had finished, Ghani Khel's bazaar, the largest open opium market
in the world, lay gutted and empty. | ||||||||||||||||
Afghanistan's interim Government was quick to crow. In Jalalabad, provincial capital of the opium-rich Nangarhar, Haji Qadir announced that more than 2,000kg (4,400lb) of opium, 250kg of heroin and 400kg of refining chemicals had been seized and 69 people had been arrested. | ||||||||||||||||
The raid was the latest act in the Government's two-week-old operation to eradicate poppy cultivation and opium trading. It was intended to prove to the West the authorities' intent to crack down on opium and speed the passage of the UKP490 million in aid promised by donors at the Tokyo conference for Afghanistan's reconstruction in January. | ||||||||||||||||
Yet behind the public face of the anti-drug campaign, backed by British
soldiers and European money, lurks a mess of corruption and ineptitude
that falls far short of its intended aim and is instead destabilising
eastern Afghanistan. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(3) UK: DRUGS SWOOP AS CAFE ON TV (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
BOURNEMOUTH'S "cannabis coffee shop" was raided last night as the
Boscombe site featured on prime time TV. | ||||||||||||||||
Seven people were arrested for drug-related offences and a quantity of
substances, believed to be cannabis, were seized. | ||||||||||||||||
Police officers attended the cafe in Station Approach, Boscombe, at
7.30pm - - just as BBC2's Money Programme was highlighting the issue of | ||||||||||||||||
The coffee shop is run by James Ward. | ||||||||||||||||
The 30-minute documentary followed Mr Ward to Amsterdam where he
underwent a cannabis cafe management course. | ||||||||||||||||
And the programme also highlighted his search for premises in Bournemouth. | ||||||||||||||||
Chief Inspector Nick Hazelton of Bournemouth police said at 7.30pm yesterday the police executed a warrant under the Misuse of Drugs Act. | ||||||||||||||||
"Twenty-five persons were in the premises, seven were arrested for
drug-related offences," he added. | ||||||||||||||||
[end] | ||||||||||||||||
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(4) US CA: CITY DIRECTS POLICE TO SHUN DEA IN POT BUSTS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Measure Passes Council Smoothly | ||||||||||||||||
The Berkeley City Council quietly and unanimously passed a resolution affirming the city's support for medical marijuana Tuesday night. | ||||||||||||||||
Against the recommendation of City Manager Weldon Rucker, the council directed the Berkeley Police Department not to cooperate with the Drug Enforcement Administration in investigations of medical marijuana clubs. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
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Domestic News- Policy | ||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (5-11) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Important legal cases regarding drug law continue to make their way through the justice system. A federal judged ruled against the Bush administration on the issue of a voter-enacted assisted suicide law in Oregon. The ruling seems to bode well for other states where medical marijuana laws have been adopted. Also, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on how much consent needs to be given before police can search suspects, particularly drug suspects. | ||||||||||||||||
The cruel folly of drug testing was exposed in different stories.
Salon examined random drug tests for students and found that the
tests don't protect kids from drug use. Strangely, a school board in
Wisconsin seems to think drug tests will save the board itself from
something, because new policy dictates that all board members be
tested for drugs. If they are lucky, none of those school board
members suffer from paruresis, or the inability to urinate front of
other people. The New York Times reported how that group is being
seriously hurt by drug testing policies. | ||||||||||||||||
Recent reports out of the UK are debunking some Ecstasy hype. And
just when you think the results of prohibition can't get any worse,
it was revealed that at least one unsupervised kindergartner crossed
international borders to carry kilos for cartels. | ||||||||||||||||
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(5) OREGON'S ASSISTED SUICIDES UPHELD (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Ashcroft Challenge Called Attempt to Usurp State Rights | ||||||||||||||||
A federal judge in Portland ruled today that the Bush administration
lacks the authority to overturn a voter-backed Oregon law permitting
physician-assisted suicide. | ||||||||||||||||
U.S. District Judge Robert Jones scolded Attorney General John D.
Ashcroft, saying that the federal government was attempting to usurp
the rights of a state when the Justice Department announced its
intent to prosecute doctors who prescribe lethal doses of drugs to
their terminally ill and dying patients. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(6) JUSTICES HEAR ARGUMENTS ON SEARCHES OF BUS RIDERS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
WASHINGTON, April 16 -- A Supreme Court argument today considered the constitutional dimensions of an increasingly common law enforcement technique: police searches of long-distance bus passengers and their luggage in an effort to find drugs and weapons. | ||||||||||||||||
Because such searches take place without a warrant and usually
without any reason to suspect a particular passenger of wrongdoing,
the police must obtain the passengers' consent, as they apparently
did before patting down two passengers on a bus at the Greyhound
Terminal in Tallahassee, Fla., in February 1999. | ||||||||||||||||
The two men, wearing heavy, baggy clothing, were found to have packages of cocaine concealed beneath their undershorts. The question in the case is whether their acquiescence to the search amounted to consent under circumstances that a federal appeals court found, in overturning their convictions, to be inherently coercive. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(7) WHY DRUG TESTS FLUNK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
According to the students at rural Rushville Consolidated High
School, there are a dozen ways to pass a drug test. You can march
down to the local video store and buy a packet of "Karma"
urine-cleansing powder. You can toss salt in your urine sample or
drop in a strand of hair coated with hairspray. | ||||||||||||||||
More often than not, it's simply a matter of choosing the right kinds of drugs, say the teens -- Ecstasy and alcohol disappear from your system within hours; marijuana can take up to 30 days. | ||||||||||||||||
Some of these methods -- such as the hairspray and the salt -- sound
more mythic than magic, but whatever the kids are doing, it seems to
work. | ||||||||||||||||
The drug testing vans roll up to the Rushville campus every few
weeks, and 25 students are randomly asked to produce a urine sample;
yet hardly anybody is ever get caught with drugs in their system.
And it's not because they aren't doing drugs. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(8) FIRST THE ELECTION, THEN THE DRUG TEST (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Lac du Flambeau Board Sets A First With Policy | ||||||||||||||||
While many school districts now require athletes and some employees
to submit to drug tests, a northern Wisconsin district has become
the first in the state to subject school board members to the same
scrutiny. | ||||||||||||||||
The Lac du Flambeau School Board, in Vilas County, has approved a
policy that says board members cannot hold office unless they pass
an annual drug test. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(9) FOR SOME, DRUG TESTS ARE ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Joseph Kinneary's inability to urinate in close proximity to other
people almost cost him his job. Even now, he is fighting sanctions
that have relegated him to desk work from his old perch as a boat
captain for New York City. | ||||||||||||||||
It might sound like the stuff of late-night comedy, but the anxiety
disorder that plagues Mr. Kinneary is a harsh reality for a
surprisingly large number of men. For some of them, it can be a
career killer because it deprives them of the ability to produce
urine for random drug tests. | ||||||||||||||||
Now, though, those who suffer from the syndrome, technically called
paruresis but more commonly referred to as shy bladder syndrome, are
beginning to fight back. They argue that penalties exacted against
them by their employers, from demotions to dismissals, violate
antidiscrimination laws. They are demanding the right to request
alternate forms of drug testing. And a few are risking ridicule by
going public. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(10) ECSTASY LINK TO DAMAGE OF THE BRAIN 'MISLEADING' THE PUBLIC (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Research claiming to prove that ecstasy damages the brain is
fundamentally flawed and has misled politicians and the public,
independent scientists say today. | ||||||||||||||||
An inquiry by New Scientist magazine concluded that many of the
findings published in respected journals that purported to show long
or short-term damage could not be trusted. It puts this down to two
principal reasons: huge variations in experimental results and the
fact that scientific journals are unwilling to publish "null"
results in which research shows no difference between ecstasy users
and non-users. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(11) GIRL, 5, ON COLOMBIAN FLIGHT FOUND WITH HEROIN (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
More than two pounds of heroin were seized from a 5-year-old girl at
Kennedy Airport after she traveled alone on a flight from Colombia,
U.S. customs officials said Monday. | ||||||||||||||||
"The youngest drug mule in history, I believe,'' said Customs
spokesman Dean Boyd. The girl, whose name was withheld by
authorities, is in the custody of the city Administration for
Children's Services. | ||||||||||||||||
She arrived at Kennedy on Thursday aboard an Avianca Airlines flight
from Bogota and then picked up two suitcases from baggage claim,
Customs officials said. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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Law Enforcement & Prisons | ||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (12-15) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
A trial in Tulia, Texas showed that an undercover narcotics officer
responsible for dozens of drug arrests in the small town is less
than trustworthy. Drug charges against Tonya White were dropped
after lawyers showed she was actually in Oklahoma on a day when the
undercover narc said he met with her in Texas. | ||||||||||||||||
While a little bit of justice may be coming to Tulia, other small
towns experienced the terrible violence of prohibition. In New York,
police killed an unarmed man during a botched drug raid. In
Kentucky, a long-serving sheriff was assassinated, allegedly by
conspirators that include a political opponent and a drug-dealing
police informant. | ||||||||||||||||
Prison news out of California is more positive, unless you're a member of the prison guards' union. The women's prison population is shrinking in California, and some observers attribute the decline to Prop. 36, the treatment initiative passed by voters last year. | ||||||||||||||||
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(12) DRUG CHARGES DROPPED AFTER TULIA CASE COLLAPSES (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
TULIA - Drug charges against a black woman from Tulia were dismissed Tuesday after overwhelming evidence shot holes in criminal allegations brought against her by a police undercover agent. | ||||||||||||||||
Jeff Blackburn, an attorney for Tonya White, said the evidence that
proved her innocence also casts doubt on the trustworthiness of Tom
Coleman, a white drug agent whose operations in 1998 and 1999 led to
the arrests of 43 people, 37 of whom are black. | ||||||||||||||||
Special FBI agent Tim Reid in Amarillo said Tuesday that he will add
White's dismissal to his investigation of the Tulia arrests, which
already has been sent to the Justice Department in Washington, D.C.,
for review. | ||||||||||||||||
Coleman had accused White of selling him drugs on Oct. 9, 1998. White has contended for three years that she didn't sell drugs to Coleman because she was living in Oklahoma at the time. She now lives in another state and could not be reached for comment Tuesday. | ||||||||||||||||
Bank records show that White was living in Oklahoma on Oct. 9, 1998,
and made a deposit at her bank that day for $168. | ||||||||||||||||
In a report made to the drug task force in Amarillo, Coleman stated that he approached White in Tulia that day and asked her for drugs. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(13) COP KILLS BELLPORT MAN (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Suffolk Police: Accidental Shooting in Botched Drug Raid | ||||||||||||||||
A 20-year-old Bellport man was accidentally shot to death by a Suffolk police officer Friday night during a botched raid of a suspected drug house in Bellport, police said yesterday. | ||||||||||||||||
The shooting occurred about 10:30 p.m., just after eight highly
trained Emergency Service officers arrived at 862 Doane Ave. to
execute a search warrant, police said. As four officers charged
toward the front door, two men - Jose Colon and Aaron Hatcher, also
20 - unexpectedly came out the front door, Chief of Department
Philip Robilotto said during a news conference. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(14) MURDER SUSPECT HAS LONG RECORD AS DRUG DEALER, POLICE INFORMANT (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
'Political' Motive Cited In Slaying Of Pulaski Sheriff | ||||||||||||||||
SOMERSET, Ky. -- A man charged with complicity in the murder of
Pulaski County Sheriff Sam Catron is a longtime drug dealer and
police informant who traded information for leniency going back some
20 years. | ||||||||||||||||
As hundreds of people turned out yesterday to walk past the casket
of Catron, the lead detective in the case said the motive for
Catron's shooting Saturday night at a fish fry and political rally
appears to link politics and drugs. | ||||||||||||||||
One of Catron's opponents in the May 28 Republican primary for sheriff also is charged with complicity in Catron's death. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(15) CHANGING POPULATION BEHIND BARS - MAJOR DROP IN WOMEN IN STATE (Top) PRISONS | ||||||||||||||||
Sacramento -- The number of women in California prisons has fallen
10 percent in the past year, a decline that corrections officials
attribute largely to the state's voter-approved drug treatment
initiative. | ||||||||||||||||
In response, two Democratic lawmakers have proposed closing one or
two of the four women's prisons to shrink California's budget
deficit -- a move that would probably set up a battle with
Republicans and the powerful prison guards' union. | ||||||||||||||||
"There are a lot of reasons the population is down -- crime rates have fallen, parole programs are working -- but we think the biggest factor with the women's numbers is Proposition 36," said Margot Bach, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections. | ||||||||||||||||
Under the initiative, passed by voters in 2000, most people
convicted of nonviolent drug possession since July have been
diverted to treatment programs instead of prison. So far, monthly
tallies of female inmates show drops of between 8 percent and 11
percent over the previous year, according to CDC figures. There are
now fewer than 10,000 women behind bars, of whom more than 40
percent have drug convictions. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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Cannabis & Hemp- | ||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (16-20) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Much news (but unfortunately little progress) out of Canada this
week. Government approved medicinal cannabis users were told that
Health Canada has no intention of distributing its home-grown
marijuana any time soon. In fact the supply, which is grown in a
mineshaft in Manitoba, may only be used for clinical studies,
leaving legal users no choice but to break the law to obtain their
supply. Meanwhile, American drug war refugees and pot activists
Steve Kubby, Steve Tuck, and Ken Hayes were all arrested on separate
charges last week in Gibson's, British Columbia. All three use
marijuana for medical purposes and now face deportation hearings.
And in Parliament, Dr. Keith Martin's (Alliance MP) | ||||||||||||||||
In the US, the Oakland Cannabis Buyer's Club headed back to court to
ask U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer to lift the ban preventing
the club from distributing cannabis to its members. Attorneys from
the Justice Department requested that the judge make the ban
permanent. | ||||||||||||||||
And sadly, Dr. Levesque, the Molalla, Oregon doctor who has recommended cannabis for nearly 2000 patients currently registered under the state program, has been fined $5000 and had his license suspended for 90 days for prescribing marijuana without conducting a full physical examination of some of his patients. The 78 year-old doctor plans to travel Oregon during his suspension to promote a more comprehensive and compassionate state medical marijuana law. | ||||||||||||||||
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(16) CANADIAN MEDICINAL-MARIJUANA HARVEST ON HOLD (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Hundreds of sick Canadians awaiting the government's first shipment
of medicinal marijuana had better not hold their breath: Ottawa
bureaucrats now say that they have no idea when their weed will be
ready for distribution and that only a select group will be eligible
to receive it. | ||||||||||||||||
Facing acute concern from doctors about prescribing pot as medicine and a cabinet shuffle that has landed new Health Minister Anne McLellan with a heavy agenda, the government's much-touted medicinal-marijuana program seems to have slipped into slow gear. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(17) CANADA ARRESTS THIRD U.S. POT ACTIVIST (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Canada appears to be cracking down on Americans seeking sanctuary
from drug-related charges in the United States. | ||||||||||||||||
On Thursday, Canadian immigration authorities arrested former
Petaluma resident Kenneth E. Hayes. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Hayes was the third American medical marijuana activist facing drug
charges in the United States arrested in as many days in British
Columbia for alleged immigration violations. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
All three of the Americans arrested in Canada last week have said
they would seek political refugee status in Canada if the United
States asked for their extradition, or if Canada attempted to deport
them. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(18) CANADIAN MARIJUANA DECRIM BILL SENT TO 'NEVER-NEVER LAND' BY LIBERALS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
A private member's bill to decriminalize marijuana went up in smoke
Wednesday, set alight by an amendment from the federal Liberal
government. "Rather than deal with it, they just sent it off to
Never-Never Land," complained Fraser Valley MP Chuck Strahl, who
hosted a town hall meeting here in Chilliwack two months ago on the
controversial issue. | ||||||||||||||||
The government's use of parliamentary process to kill a private
member's bill "really is outrageous," said Mr. Strahl. He added that
Alliance MP Keith Martin, a B.C. doctor who authored the bill, was
also outraged by the Liberal tactic, and may face parliamentary
censure for touching a symbolic mace that resides in the House of
Commons. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(19) OAKLAND POT COOPERATIVE HEADS BACK TO COURT (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
More than 11 months after the U.S. Supreme Court shot down part of
its case, the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative goes back before a
federal judge today with other arguments for why it should be
allowed to resume dispensing marijuana as medicine. | ||||||||||||||||
Lawyers for the cooperative and the federal government will flesh
out briefs they've filed during the past few months in a hearing
this morning before U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer of San
Francisco, who issued the 1998 injunction that's keeping the
cooperative shut down. | ||||||||||||||||
The cooperative is arguing that the federal government is
overstepping its control of interstate commerce by interfering with
an issue completely within California's borders. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(20) PROBATION, $5,000 FINE FORMALLY IMPOSED ON OREGON CANNABIS DOCTOR (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
The state Board of Medical Examiners imposed final disciplinary
action Friday against a Molalla doctor who has signed medical
marijuana applications for close to 2,000 Oregonians, some of whom
he never met in person. | ||||||||||||||||
Dr. Phillip Leveque, an osteopath, will be suspended from practicing
medicine for 90 days, starting May 1, fined $5,000 and placed on 10
years' probation. The board's order also requires him to follow
accepted standards of medical care when signing for medical
marijuana patients. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
"The people who are being punished are my patients," he said. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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International News | ||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (21-24) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
While the Bush administration cheerfully asserted that more US
intervention in Colombia's decades-old civil war would turn the tide
against terror and drugs, others last week saw only quagmire. Such
policy isn't merely a "slippery slope," stated Rep. Ron Paul
(R-Tex.) at one subcommittee hearing, "I think we're approaching a
cliff." | ||||||||||||||||
Admitting "drugs have been around a long time and I don't think you
are ever going to get away from that," Scottish police | ||||||||||||||||
The Australian New South Wales government last week announced plans
to extend the King's Cross heroin injection room trials for another
12 months. The injection room, in the King's Cross area of Sydney,
was originally scheduled to close October 2002. | ||||||||||||||||
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(21) COLOMBIAN AID LIMITS REVIEWED (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Pastrana, Bush Ask a Skeptical Congress to Lift Restrictions | ||||||||||||||||
Another difficult and controversial foreign policy issue is about to
crowd onto President Bush's already overflowing plate, as Congress
takes up his plan for a major expansion of U.S. involvement in
Colombia's guerrilla war. | ||||||||||||||||
Hearings scheduled to stretch into next month began last week on the
proposal to stop restricting U.S. military aid to Colombia's fight
against cocaine and heroin production and export. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
With virtually no progress in the drug fight, some in Congress have
suggested the administration is creating a terrorist danger in
Colombia to justify throwing good money after bad, and in the
process risking a Vietnam-type quagmire. | ||||||||||||||||
Worse than a "slippery slope . . . I think we're approaching a
cliff," Rep. Ron Paul ( R-Tex. ) told Assistant Secretary of State
Otto J. Reich at a House International Relations subcommittee
hearing last week. | ||||||||||||||||
Administration officials say that the infusion of drug money into
FARC and AUC has led to their rapid growth and inserted a new
element into the long history of Colombian insurgency. The drug and
terror wars are now so intertwined, they argue, that neither can be
won without U.S. involvement in both. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(22) GO EASY ON DRUGS USERS TO WIN WAR (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
THE possession of small amounts of cannabis should be legalised and being caught with cocaine or heroin should not automatically mean jail, according to a former head of Lothian's drugs squad. | ||||||||||||||||
Superintendent Jinty Kerr - the first woman to run a drugs squad in
Scotland - said allowing people to have cannabis for personal use
would allow the police to target drug dealers. | ||||||||||||||||
And simply throwing people into prison because they are using class
A drugs, such as cocaine and heroin, is not the way to solve the
country's drugs problems, she said. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
The officer told BBC Radio Scotland yesterday that police involved in the fight against drugs are trying to tackle "a problem that has been around a long time" and one that is "unlikely to go away". | ||||||||||||||||
Asked by interviewer Gary Robertson whether police were "beating
their heads against a brick wall" in trying to contain the country's
drugs problems, she said: "Basically you are, drugs have been around
a long time and I don't think you are ever going to get away from
that. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(23) "LEGALIZE COCAINE" SAYS LIB DEM MP (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Cocaine should be legalised and heroin made more available on the
NHS, a leading Liberal Democrat MP has suggested. | ||||||||||||||||
Frontbencher Jenny Tonge said in an interview with BBC News Online
that she had sympathy with the view that cocaine should be available
over the counter like alcohol and tobacco. | ||||||||||||||||
She said the UK's drugs policy was not working and needed a radical
overhaul. "I think cocaine is a difficult one, but I would agree
with a lot of people that you would do less damage if cocaine was
actually legalised and sold at registered outlets like alcohol than
leaving it to the boys on the streets," she said. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(24) HEROIN TRIAL EXTENDED 12 MONTHS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
A decision on the ACT heroin-injecting room proposal would be postponed for 12 months after the NSW Government announced yesterday the Kings Cross trial would be extended, a spokesman said. | ||||||||||||||||
A spokesman for Chief Minister Jon Stanhope said the ACT Government pledged to wait for the "rigorous academic assessment" of the first Australian clinic before making its decision on a Canberra trial. | ||||||||||||||||
The evaluation report would now be issued after October 31, 2003, which would force the ACT Government to delay its decision, he said. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Centre medical director Dr Ingrid van Beek also welcomed the
extension, saying the centre received between 120 and 180 clients on
an average day. | ||||||||||||||||
"It is vital the MSIC [medically supervised injecting centre]
remains open until the evaluation team assesses the success or
otherwise of this important trial," Dr van Beek said. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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HOT OFF THE 'NET (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Drugs Uncovered | ||||||||||||||||
A 17-part series from the Observer in the UK archived and indexed by
MAP. | ||||||||||||||||
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Lynn Paltrow Addresses the First Annual Meeting of National Advocates
for Pregnant Women | ||||||||||||||||
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Politically Incorrect Transcript for Wednesday, April 24, 2002 | ||||||||||||||||
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http://abc.abcnews.go.com/primetime/politicallyincorrect/episodes/2001-02/424.html | ||||||||||||||||
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Cannabis Consumers Campaign | ||||||||||||||||
Come out of the closet and stand up for your equal rights | ||||||||||||||||
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USC MEDICAL STUDY OF STEVE KUBBY FINALLY POSTED TO INTERNET | ||||||||||||||||
The medical study which showed Steve Kubby's lungs in perfect condition
and his cognitive function in the 99th percentile is now available
online, thanks to the work of Bob Doyle. This comprehensive study,
performed at the University of Southern California in 1999, verified
zero damage to Mr. Kubby, after two decades of heavy cannabis smoking.
The study also verified that Mr. Kubby had no drugs, other than
cannabis, in his system or hair, going back 18 months, when he was
arrested. | ||||||||||||||||
These fascinating medical records have been converted to PDF at: | ||||||||||||||||
SPECIAL THANKS TO: | ||||||||||||||||
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LETTER OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
POLICE SHOULD CHANGE THEIR PRIORITIES | ||||||||||||||||
By Matthew M. Elrod | ||||||||||||||||
To the editor, | ||||||||||||||||
Justifying busting medicinal cannabis provider Ted Smith, sending
his chronically ill clients back to the street dealers, ("Pot
advocate faces charges," Mar 28), Victoria police Sgt. Darren Laur
explained, "There is a strong and reasonable suspicion, based upon
reasonable grounds, that some of the individuals that we're
arresting for trafficking in the downtown core have purchased from
the (club)." | ||||||||||||||||
I am reminded of the explanation a bachelor friend once gave me for
rarely vacuuming his home. "Eventually an equilibrium is reached
were as much dirt gets tracked out as gets tracked in." | ||||||||||||||||
I appreciate that the police are simply doing what our ancestors asked them to do in 1923, but cannabis was seldom seen in those days. Now our streets, schools and communities are awash in unregulated cannabis and compassion clubs are an improvement. | ||||||||||||||||
Two studies were released this week on the success of a pilot
program in Lambeth, England, in which cannabis offenders are given a
warning only. One, from the Metropolitan Police, estimates that more
than 1,300 hours of police time were saved during the first six
months of the program because of the change, | ||||||||||||||||
The second is a report of the results of a survey by the Police
Foundation of Lambeth residents, which shows strong support for the
cannabis policing scheme | ||||||||||||||||
Until the federal government, or more likely the Supreme Court of
Canada, strikes down cannabis prohibition, Victoria City Council
should follow Vancouver's lead and make cannabis law enforcement
their lowest priority. | ||||||||||||||||
Matthew M. Elrod | ||||||||||||||||
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Honorable Mentions Letters of the Week | ||||||||||||||||
CANNABIS MAY CAUSE INCREASED LEVELS OF INTELLIGENCE
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A COLOSSAL WASTE
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FEATURE ARTICLE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
WHAT I'VE LEARNED | ||||||||||||||||
By Anonymous | ||||||||||||||||
EDITOR'S NOTE: Buford Terrell, who is a professor at the South Texas
College of Law in Houston, Texas, teaches a Controlled Substances
Seminar. As part of the seminar, Buford provided a way for students
to anonymously talk about how their thinking has changed during the
seminar. Here is one law student's comment, and it shows the value
of honest drug education: | ||||||||||||||||
When this course began, I was uncomfortable with the whole drug law
reform subject. A product of a conservative home, I thought long
prison terms for drug offenders was what they deserved. Drug laws
didn't really affect me, only drug users. I believed that Marijuana
damaged cognitive ability, lowered sperm count, caused lung cancer,
"fried your brain", and was a gateway drug. Now, I realize that drug
law reform affects all of us. | ||||||||||||||||
Our drug policy is grounded in fear, prejudice, and false
information. Money that could be spent building schools is spent
building prisons. Drug addiction is a health issue and should be
removed from law enforcement. Educational programs should give
children and parents information based on medical and scientific
results. The truth is marijuana is a relatively safe drug and should
be legalized. It is less harmful that both alcohol and tobacco. Our
government has known this since l968, but refused to release the
information because it was politically incompatible with the
administration's political agenda. | ||||||||||||||||
At times, I wish I hadn't learned so much because I was far more
comfortable supporting the government's argument. I enjoyed being on
Asa Hutchinson's side, the side of the law. I now must admit that no
thinking person armed with the facts can defend our government's
current drug policy. We have utterly failed and I want to do
something about it. | ||||||||||||||||
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QUOTE OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
"I hope we never live to see the day when a thing is as bad as some
of our newspapers make it." | ||||||||||||||||
- Will Rogers | ||||||||||||||||
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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 () | ||||||||||||||||
We wish to thank all our contributors, editors, NewsHawks and letter writing activists. Please help us help reform. Become a NewsHawk See http://www.mapinc.org/hawk.htm for info on contributing clippings. | ||||||||||||||||
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