| Aug. 23, 2002 #264 | ||||||||||||||||
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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) SOUTH AMERICA: DRUG WAR IS SLIPPING AWAY FROM U.S. (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Coca's Profitability Brings Farmers Back | ||||||||||||||||
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- Despite spending billions of dollars to train
police forces, whip soldiers into shape, spray crops with defoliants
and teach farmers how to grow anything but coca plants, the United
States is losing ground in the South American drug war. | ||||||||||||||||
In Peru, coca eradication efforts stopped July 2. In Bolivia, where by last year authorities had nearly ended the growing of coca leaves that are refined to make cocaine, farmers are back at it. In Colombia, the president-elect's pledge to eliminate the nation's burgeoning coca crop has shrunk to a pledge to attack only industrial-size plots. The three Andean countries produce virtually all the world's cocaine. | ||||||||||||||||
At a time when market prices for coffee and other substitute crops are
at record lows, the political will to continue the unpopular pressuring
of coca farmers in the three countries is questionable. To make matters
worse, government opponents and rebels in the three countries are
siding with the cocaine industry. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(2) JURY INDICTS PARENTS IN SON'S OVERDOSE DEATH (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Prosecutor says Lebanon Township pair failed to try to prevent his death. | ||||||||||||||||
FLEMINGTON -- A Lebanon Township teen's parents and three of his
friends will face charges stemming from his July 2001 drug overdose
death, a Hunterdon County grand jury decided Tuesday. | ||||||||||||||||
Leonardo DiPasquale, 18, died July 7, 2001, at his parents' home after he took a cocktail of heroin and Xanax, a prescription drug used to treat anxiety. An autopsy showed DiPasquale died of a heroin overdose. | ||||||||||||||||
A seven-month investigation led authorities to three friends who allegedly provided the drugs DiPasquale took before his death. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
The grand jury on Tuesday affirmed the state's case against Poch,
Curtin and Bowkley. It also returned indictments for DiPasquale's
parents, Mary and Lewis Hockenbury of 645 Winding Brook Road in Lebanon
Township. | ||||||||||||||||
Mary and Lewis Hockenbury face one count of reckless manslaughter.
Acting Hunterdon County Prosecutor Steven Lember said Wednesday that
DiPasquale's parents failed to take action that would have prevented
his death. | ||||||||||||||||
"The theory is that the Hockenburys were well aware that their son was in the throes of a heroin overdose," Lember said. "Knowing that, they should have taken steps that reasonable parents would have taken under those circumstances, and our allegation is that they did not." | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(3) HOPES FADING FOR REVISION OF ROCKEFELLER DRUG LAWS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Gov. George E. Pataki and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver acknowledged yesterday that they had reached a stalemate over revising the state's Rockefeller drug laws, and heatedly disagreed over who was responsible. | ||||||||||||||||
Each accused the other of lacking the will to act, and each called the other guilty of playing politics. The charges seemed to dampen hopes that a revision of the laws could be achieved this year " a year that advocates of revision had seen as favorable to their cause, given the backdrop of the race for governor and legislative elections. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(4) MARIJUANA DRUG TOUTED AS A SAFE PAIN RELIEVER (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
U.S. researchers say they have derived a drug from marijuana that relieves pain without the mood-altering, giggle-inducing side effects. | ||||||||||||||||
And you don't need to roll it and smoke it, either. | ||||||||||||||||
Sumner Burstein, a professor of molecular pharmacology at the
University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, Mass., said
the drug, called ajulemic acid, could improve treatment of a variety of
conditions, including chronic pain, arthritis and multiple sclerosis.
"We believe that ajulemic acid will replace Aspirin and similar drugs
in most applications primarily because of a lack of toxic side
effects," he said. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Ajulemic acid is a synthetic derivative of THC. In animal tests, it was
up to 50 times more potent than THC as a pain-killer. People who took
the drug did not experience any of the mood-altering effects usually
associated with marijuana. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
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Domestic News- Policy | ||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (5-9) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
One of the week's most interesting stories was ignored by the
mainstream press. While the unseating of U.S. Rep. Bob Barr during a
Georgia primary election was widely covered, reports did not note
the role of the Libertarian Party and its ads showing a medical
marijuana patients who challenged Barr's extremism on the issue. The
Libertarian party's press release on the issue is highlighted as
this week's Feature Article in DrugSense Weekly. | ||||||||||||||||
Kids and drugs were a dominant theme in the news this week, as a new survey by a prohibitionists shows that teens say marijuana is easier to obtain than legal drugs like alcohol or tobacco. If school officials think student drug testing is going to change this situation, they might want to look at the experience of an Oklahoma district that is ready to drop random drug tests for extracurricular activities. Officials said after three years, the program brought many unforeseen consequences and few benefits. Kids of high-profile members of the criminal justice system apparently aren't immune from the lure of drugs. A Florida State Attorney's son was arrested for marijuana possession as he tried to board a plane with his mother. | ||||||||||||||||
In other news, marijuana initiative organizers in Nevada got a boost
when a state legislator endorsed the ballot measure. And it's a long
way from Nevada to New Jersey, where an activist has been jailed for
speaking his mind about drug prohibition. Parole supervisors decided
the activist's free speech rights conflict with the terms of his
parole. | ||||||||||||||||
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(5) TEENS SAY BUYING DOPE IS EASY (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
WASHINGTON (AP) - Few teenagers say they've tried marijuana, but
teens say it's easier to buy than cigarettes or beer, according to a
national survey. | ||||||||||||||||
More than one-third of teens polled by the National Center on
Addiction and Substance Abuse said they could buy marijuana in just
a few hours, 27 percent in an hour or less. | ||||||||||||||||
For the first time since the study began in 1996, marijuana edged
out cigarettes and beer as the easiest drug for teenagers to buy -
34 percent said it's the easiest of the three, compared with 31
percent for cigarettes and 14 percent for beer. | ||||||||||||||||
Overall, however, 75 percent of students said they have not smoked
marijuana. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(6) GUYMON TO ELIMINATE DRUG PROGRAM (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
GUYMON, Okla. - The Guymon Public Schools board of trustees decided
Monday night to end the 3-year-old program that randomly tested
student athletes and students in competitive extracurricular
activities for drug use. | ||||||||||||||||
Scot Dahl, vice president of the school board, said the program was
administered by an outside drug-testing firm that provided a list of
randomly selected students to be tested each month. | ||||||||||||||||
"We didn't think it was the deterrent that we thought it would be,"
Dahl said. "We didn't think it was as effective with the money we
spent on it." | ||||||||||||||||
School officials started hearing stories about how students tried to
beat the test by drinking bleach or researching test-beating
techniques on the Internet, Dahl said. | ||||||||||||||||
One student quit his athletic team before testing came up because he
knew he had smoked marijuana over the weekend, but his test came
back negative, Dahl said. | ||||||||||||||||
"Of people that called me, they were 100 percent in favor of doing
away with the program," Dahl said. "A lot of them thought it was a
big joke." | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(7) SON OF MIAMI PROSECUTOR ARRESTED (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
MIAMI -- The 18-year-old son of Miami-Dade County's top prosecutor
was arrested Thursday for allegedly trying to carry marijuana onto a
flight to Puerto Rico. | ||||||||||||||||
Justin Rundle was about to board the flight with his mother, State
Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle, and her sister when screeners
at the Miami airport found a pipe and 3 grams of suspected marijuana
in his pocket, police spokesman Robert Williams said. | ||||||||||||||||
Justin Rundle was allowed to board the American Airlines flight, but
an airline official later made him return to the gate. | ||||||||||||||||
The boy was released to his father. Police said his mother did not accompany him to the police station and did not leave on the flight. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(8) ASSEMBLYWOMAN STEPS UP TO ENDORSE MARIJUANA INITIATIVE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Nevada's Controversial Marijuana Initiative Finally Has A Formidable
And Familiar Face. | ||||||||||||||||
It's Chris Giunchigliani. | ||||||||||||||||
The 12-year assemblywoman and 23-year teacher has been hired as a
consultant to Billy Rogers of Nevadans for Responsible Law
Enforcement. Associated with the Washington-based Marijuana Policy
Project, the NRLE backs the passage of Question 9, which proposes to
change Nevada's Constitution to allow adults to possess up to 3
ounces of marijuana for private use. | ||||||||||||||||
An unabashedly liberal Democrat and tireless legislator,
Giunchigliani is also known as the driving force in Carson City
behind the passage of Nevada's medical marijuana law, which reduced
small-time pot possession from a felony to a misdemeanor and
provided protection for those using the controlled substance under a
physician's care. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(9) MARIJUANA ADVOCATE JAILED FOR ESPOUSING LEGALIZATION OF DRUG (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Marijuana legalization advocate Ed "njweedman" Forchion is in
trouble with the law again. | ||||||||||||||||
Forchion was jailed Monday night after he violated the terms of the
supervisory program in which he is enrolled, officials said
yesterday. | ||||||||||||||||
As a result, the Pemberton Township resident could be forced to
return to prison to serve the remainder of his 10-year sentence on
marijuana- related charges. | ||||||||||||||||
Tom Bartlett, regional director for the Intensive Supervision
Program, said Forchion violated provisions of the program by
advocating marijuana use. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
In a telephone interview from the Burlington County Jail in Mount
Holly yesterday, Forchion said he was told he violated the terms of
the program by taping three television commercials in which he
advocated the legalization of marijuana. | ||||||||||||||||
Forchion said he simply expressed his opinions on free speech and
the nation's war on drugs in the commercials. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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Law Enforcement & Prisons | ||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (10-13) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
If you ever get the feeling that certain elements of the criminal
justice system that deal with drug prohibition are charades, news
from this week might confirm your suspicions. In Virginia, a state
trooper who taught other officers how to conduct legal drug searches
was sued by a man who said his rights were violated repeatedly by
the trooper. In Kansas, a judge ruled that an area drug squad had
performed illegal searches, but she went on to praise their work
anyway. | ||||||||||||||||
In Louisiana, a local police chief was arrested for drug charges.
And in Missouri, an 82-year-old woman is awaiting sentencing for
selling a gram of methamphetamine. Surely neighbors will feel safer
knowing she is off the streets. | ||||||||||||||||
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(10) TROOPER ACCUSED OF ILLEGAL SEARCH (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
A state police field supervisor who instructed officers how to lawfully
conduct drug interdiction stops is facing a $20 million lawsuit for
allegedly violating those same standards during a traffic stop two
years ago in Hanover County. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
The lawsuit, filed last week in U.S. District Court in Richmond, alleges that Sgt. William C. Blydenburgh illegally detained and repeatedly searched Samuel H. Brown and his car for more than 90 minutes during an errant search for drugs along Interstate 95. | ||||||||||||||||
Brown was never charged with a crime. | ||||||||||||||||
He repeatedly asked to leave but was prevented from doing so, even after Blydenburgh's initial searches turned up nothing, Uvanni said. | ||||||||||||||||
"The search that he conducted, holding the man as long as he did,
continuously searching the car, and ignoring the man when he said he
wanted to leave - all of that would violate standard police practice,
and the law," said a senior law enforcement officer who recently viewed
the tape with a Times-Dispatch reporter. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(11) JUDGE RULES DRUG SEARCH ILLEGAL (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
But District Judge Rebecca Pilshaw finds no pattern of | ||||||||||||||||
In a closely watched ruling, a judge on Friday found serious
misconduct but no pattern of constitutional violations by a special
Wichita police team. | ||||||||||||||||
The finding came in a hearing on whether to suppress evidence the
officers obtained on a suspected methamphetamine lab. District Judge
Rebecca Pilshaw dismissed that evidence after finding the search
unconstitutional. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
She noted the accused officers are highly decorated members of a
west- side crime-fighting unit known as SCAT -- Special Community
Action Team. She credited them with "getting the baddest of the bad
guys off the street." | ||||||||||||||||
But she faulted their tactics, saying they sometimes coerced people
into giving consent to search or wrongfully looked through people's
belongings. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(12) GRAND COTEAU POLICE CHIEF ARRESTED ON DRUG CHARGES (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
CARENCRO - Grand Coteau Chief of Police Raymond Simmons was arrested
by Carencro police Friday night and charged with possession of
Schedule IV narcotics and malfeasance in office, Carencro Police
Chief Timmy Duhon said Saturday. | ||||||||||||||||
Simmons, 49, spent the night in the Lafayette Parish Correctional
Center. He was released at 9 a.m. Saturday after posting $20,000
bail, booking records show. | ||||||||||||||||
Simmons, an elected official, is accused of buying Lortab, a
prescription pain reliever, from a person in a house in Carencro.
Grand Coteau is located a few miles north of Carencro, across the
parish line in southern St. Landry Parish. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(13) WOMAN, 82, JAILED OVER METH SALES (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
West Plains - An 82-year-old woman, who authorities said is known
for dealing drugs, is awaiting sentencing on a methamphetamine
charge after telling a Howell County judge that prosecutors had
enough evidence to convict her. | ||||||||||||||||
Josephine Mary Greer has entered an Alford plea in Howell County Circuit Court to a felony charge of distributing meth. The plea does not admit guilt but acknowledges that the prosecution has enough evidence to secure a conviction if the case were to go to trial. | ||||||||||||||||
Greer, of Caulfield, is accused of selling one gram of meth to an
undercover officer in March 2001 at the Sahara Motel, north of West
Plains. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
"That's the oldest lady we've had in jail for anything," said Howell County Sheriff Bill Shephard, adding that in his 29-year law enforcement career, Greer is the oldest person he's incarcerated. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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Cannabis & Hemp- | ||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (14-18) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Ahhh summer - a time for tans and bbqs, forest fires and floods; and
if you're a cannabis activist this summer, it's a time for ballot
initiatives and potfests. In Nevada this week, Erik Herzig, the
chief author of the Nevada Substance Abuse Report and associate
professor of Political Science at the University of Nevada supported
the claims made by the leaders of the Nevadans for Responsible Law
Enforcement's initiative that police in the state spend an
inordinate amount of time chasing and convicting cannabis users. And
in Washington, D.C., the Marijuana Policy Project has asked the D.C.
Board of Elections and Ethics to reconsider pulling the local
medical marijuana initiative off the ballot. The Board has ruled
that MPP fell 122 signatures short in one of the 5 wards necessary
to allow local constituents to vote on the issue in the November
election. | ||||||||||||||||
This weekend's Seattle Hempfest was a huge success once again. North
America's biggest two-day celebration of pot pride and personal
liberties drew an estimated 150,000 people this year, with only a
few minor arrests reported. | ||||||||||||||||
Frustrating news this week for Canada's medicinal cannabis users.
Justice Minister McLellan has suggested that she expects the federal
government's home-grown cannabis supply to go through the same
rigorous (and altogether unnecessary) development and research
protocol as a pharmaceutical product would. Sadly, this suggests
that the cannabis - which is being grown by Prairie Plant Systems in
a mineshaft in Flin Flon Manitoba - will not make its way into the
hands of the sick and suffering who need it any time soon. To add
insult to injury, Ottawa took the time to announce that Prairie
Plant Systems had narrowed their genetics down to two high-potency
strains, with the eventual goal of developing a standardized
cannabis product for research (rather than distribution) purposes.
Meanwhile, the sick and needy, who aren't near a compassion club,
continue to either suffer without relief, or to brave back alleys to
purchase their medicine. Do these seem like the actions of a modern,
compassionate nation? Et tu, Canada? | ||||||||||||||||
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(14) POLITICAL SCIENTIST: NEVADA POT PROPONENTS HAVE GOOD POINTS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Despite the recent chaos, leaders of Nevadans for Responsible Law Enforcement - the group behind the ballot question that would legalize the possession of three ounces or less of marijuana - remain optimistic about Question 9's chances come Election Day. | ||||||||||||||||
Billy Rogers, the spokesman and leader of NRLE, said the recent
controversy over the endorsement-turned-nonendorsement by the Nevada
Conference of Police and Sheriffs won't hurt the initiative's
chances; if anything, he said, it will help it by showing that the
police are divided over the initiative. | ||||||||||||||||
And at least one of the state's most prominent political scientists
agrees - on that point and several others. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Eric Herzik, an associate professor and director of graduate studies in political science at the University of Nevada, Reno, was hired by NDI to head up the Nevada Substance Abuse Report. He said that its numbers clearly show what NRLE has been saying all along: Nevada police spend a lot of time on marijuana possession arrests. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(15) D.C. MARIJUANA ACTIVISTS URGE BALLOT REVIEW (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Representatives of the Marijuana Policy Project yesterday asked the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics to reconsider its decision to keep a medical marijuana initiative off the November ballot. | ||||||||||||||||
This month, the board ruled that the group failed to gather enough
valid signatures to place an initiative on the general election
ballot that would decriminalize the medical use of marijuana. The
group's appeal said the board had made "massive errors" that
resulted in the rejection of thousands of petition signatures. It
asked for a review of those signatures. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(16) SEATTLE HEMPFEST CROWD RALLIES FOR POT-POLICY REFORM (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Around 75,000 people were living the high life yesterday as they
packed Seattle's Myrtle Edwards Park for Hempfest 11, one of the
largest marijuana-reform rallies in the world. | ||||||||||||||||
This year's two-day event, which organizers estimated drew an
all-time high of 150,000, served as an opportunity for marijuana
smokers to show their "Pot Pride" and for supporters of drug-policy
reform to unite and support the city's Initiative 75. The initiative
would make law enforcement's lowest priority enforcement of laws on
personal marijuana possession. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(17) OTTAWA SHELVES MEDICINAL POT (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Canada's Health Minister has all but snuffed out the government's
much-ballyhooed plans to supply marijuana as medicine. | ||||||||||||||||
Anne McLellan says that she feels uncomfortable with the idea of
people smoking pot to relieve pain, and that Ottawa will not
distribute marijuana for medicinal purposes until clinical trials
are completed -- trials that have yet to begin. | ||||||||||||||||
Ending months of silence and speculation that the federal government
may be backing away from its controversial $5.7-million project to
grow "medicinal-grade" marijuana, Ms. McLellan made her comments
yesterday while speaking to doctors at the annual meeting of the
Canadian Medical Association in Saint John. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(18) SEIZED POT PACKS PUNCH, OTTAWA FINDS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
But whatever their origins, two strains of marijuana have been
selected, from hundreds of others, as possible candidates for
clinical research in Health Canada's beleaguered program to
investigate and supply cannabis as medicine. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Any approved harvest from the government's year-old pot-growing operation in Flin Flon will be used in clinical trials to assess the safety and effectiveness of marijuana in treating symptoms associated with diseases such as AIDS and multiple sclerosis. | ||||||||||||||||
But the program, on which the government is spending $5.7-million,
was originally designed to supply the drug to all sick Canadians
medically qualified to possess it. | ||||||||||||||||
Now, however, Ms. Lynch said that aside from approved strains, the
bulk of the pot grown to date -- more than 250 kilograms worth --
will be used only for non-human research. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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International News | ||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (19-22) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Peruvian courts last week ordered the release of the two pilots who
shot down a missionary plane in 2001, killing American Veronica Bowers
and her child. The pilots, held for the shooting of the plane, still
have pending charges of disobedience and negligence. That they were
jailed at all might come as a surprise: in the many articles gushing
over the surviving missionaries' forgiveness (after all, the pilots
were fighting "drugs"), the jailing of the Peruvian pilots who pulled
the trigger was somehow overlooked in U.S. reports. | ||||||||||||||||
In another stark testament to the futility of prohibition, the
government of Vietnam executed five more "drug traffickers" last week,
making 24 drug-executions so far this year. Even in this totalitarian
communist regime, it seems the laws do little to stop people from
taking the drugs they choose. | ||||||||||||||||
A UN report released last week predicts a bumper harvest of Afghan poppies will yield a record level of opium production. Everyone seems to want their own poppy farm: the report noted that now "non-traditional areas had also begun growing the crop." | ||||||||||||||||
Still not sure exactly what American forces are doing in Colombia to
defend freedom and purity in the US? Whatever it is, the U.S.
government thoughtfully requested that Colombia make American troops
exempt from prosecution by the International Criminal Court. The
Colombian government quickly agreed that exempting the U.S. military
from the cramping constraints of international law was the correct
course of action. | ||||||||||||||||
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(19) CIVILIAN COURT ORDERS RELEASE OF PERUVIAN AIR FORCE PILOTS (Top)JAILED FOR MISSIONARY PLANE DOWNING | ||||||||||||||||
LIMA, Peru ( AP ) -- A civilian court has ordered the release of two
air force pilots who were jailed after they mistakenly shot down a
small plane in 2001, killing an American missionary and her infant
child, their lawyer said Monday. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Redhead and Hercilla piloted a fighter plane that shot down a Cessna
float plane, instantly killing American missionary Veronica Bowers,
35, and her 7-month-old daughter, Charity, in a botched drug
interdiction mission in April 2001. | ||||||||||||||||
Power said the pilots still face charges including disobedience and negligence, but did not know when they would go to trial. | ||||||||||||||||
Pilot Kevin Donaldson, who sustained serious leg wounds, crash-landed the plane on the Amazon River. Bowers' husband, Jim Bowers, and the couple's son, Cory, escaped serious injury. | ||||||||||||||||
The Peruvian plane downed the Cessna the Bowers were traveling in
after a CIA-operated surveillance flight identified it as a possible
drug courier. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(20) FIVE DRUG TRAFFICKERS SENTENCED TO DEATH IN VIETNAM (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Five drug traffickers, including three women, were sentenced to
death in northern Vietnam as part of the government's crackdown
against the narcotics trade, officials said Monday. | ||||||||||||||||
The People's Court in Hung Yen province handed eight other
defendants prison sentences ranging from 13 years to life
imprisonment on Saturday after a three-day trial, a court official
told AFP. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Under Vietnam's tough drug laws, anyone found in possession of 300
grams or more of heroin, or 10 kilograms or more of opium, faces the
death penalty. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
At least 24 people have been executed so far this year, according to
partial figures published in the official press. | ||||||||||||||||
Drug-trafficking alone accounted for 55 executions in 2001. | ||||||||||||||||
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(21) U.N. REPORT: AFGHAN POPPY CULTIVATION NEAR RECORD (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
KABUL - Poppy cultivation in Afghanistan is close to record levels a
year after being nearly wiped out under the hard-line Taliban
regime, the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said in a
report obtained on Tuesday. | ||||||||||||||||
The assessment report, originally designed to survey the annual food
deficit in drought-stricken Afghanistan, found poppy cultivation has
surged under the government of President Hamid Karzai despite a ban
and steps to entice farmers to stop planting the crop. | ||||||||||||||||
"Poppy cultivation, that was virtually halted last year, has resumed
again in most poppy growing areas of Afghanistan. It is estimated
that the area under cultivation for poppy this year is very close to
the record level of 90,000 hectares (225,000 acres ) set in 1999,"
the report obtained by Reuters said. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Another FAO official even some non-traditional areas had also begun
growing the crop. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(22) U.S. MAY GET COLOMBIAN SUPPORT FOR COURT EXEMPTION (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
The Colombian government indicated Saturday that it will agree to a
U.S. request to exempt American troops from prosecution by the
International Criminal Court. | ||||||||||||||||
The request, made earlier this week by a visiting State Department
official in Colombia, is part of a global campaign by the Bush
administration to shield U.S. military personnel from the reach of
the new international war crimes court. | ||||||||||||||||
Vice President Francisco Santos said Saturday that he does not
foresee the desired immunity pledge as posing any problems for the
Colombian government. | ||||||||||||||||
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HOT OFF THE 'NET (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Bombing the Mind | ||||||||||||||||
The Pentagon's Program for Psychopharmalogical Warfare by Edward
Hammond / From The Sunshine Project and Counterpunch | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
DRUG WARRIORS IN A DEAD HEAT | ||||||||||||||||
A report from Dan Forbes before Bob Barr's primary defeat in
Georgia. | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
Good Riddance, Bob Barr! | ||||||||||||||||
A DrugSense Focus Alert. | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
Please Thank the San Francisco Chronicle - Exceptional Recent
Coverage on the damage being done by the War on Drugs in South
America. | ||||||||||||||||
A DrugSense Focus Alert. | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
The Monitoring the Future project has issued Volume 2 of its
indepth trend report showing data for young adults (through age
40) from 1980-2001. | ||||||||||||||||
It's available from http://www.monitoringthefuture.org/new.html
or directly as a PDF from | ||||||||||||||||
Submitted by Doug McVay | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
Joe Califano's Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at
Columbia University released its new teen survey on drug use in
schools. | ||||||||||||||||
Submitted by Doug McVay | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
SAMHSA Releases 2001 DAWN Survey | ||||||||||||||||
Marijuana, Cocaine Emergency Department Visits Up | ||||||||||||||||
Emergency department mentions of cocaine increased 10 percent and
marijuana increased 15 percent from 2000 to 2001, according to new data
in the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) released today by the
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) in
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). | ||||||||||||||||
DAWN is a nationally representative survey of hospitals with emergency departments conducted annually by SAMHSA. In 2001, 458 hospitals participated in DAWN. The survey is designed to provide information about emergency department visits that are induced by or related to the use of an illegal drug or the nonmedical use of a legal drug. | ||||||||||||||||
The complete report (text and tables) are available online at | ||||||||||||||||
Submitted by Kevin Zeese | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
Criminal Intelligence Service Canada | ||||||||||||||||
Annual Report on Organized Crime in Canada 2002 | ||||||||||||||||
This report is designed to present a comprehensive review of targeted
organized crime groups and their activities, based on intelligence
and investigation reports from Canadian and international enforcement
agencies. In particular, CISC relies on intelligence from CISC member
agencies across Canada. | ||||||||||||||||
Asian-based organized crime (AOC) groups remain extensively engaged
in the large-scale manufacture and distribution of counterfeit credit
cards, software and electronic entertainment such as CDs and DVDs. AOC
groups in Canada are involved in the importation and distribution of
cocaine and southeast Asian heroin at the multi-kilogram quantity
and, increasingly, the importation and distribution of designer
synthetic drugs, including ecstasy. | ||||||||||||||||
Across the country, the HELLS ANGELS and Asian-based organized crime
groups, particularly Vietnamese-based groups, prevail as major
participants in the large-scale cultivation and exportation of
marihuana. In January and April 2002, police across Canada launched
Operations GREENSWEEP I & II to counter the nationally widespread
phenomenon of residential marihuana growing operations. | ||||||||||||||||
http://www.cisc.gc.ca/AnnualReport2002/Cisc2002/frontpage2002.html | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
Streaming Media on Canadian Medicinal Cannabis Developments | ||||||||||||||||
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation | ||||||||||||||||
http://www.cbc.ca/news/radionews/house_includes/latest-the_house.ram | ||||||||||||||||
Scroll to 15min 50sec | ||||||||||||||||
http://www.cbc.ca/clips/ram-newsworld/buckner_neuberger020821.ram | ||||||||||||||||
CTV Television Network | ||||||||||||||||
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20020820/mclellan_medicinal_pot_020820/ | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
LETTER OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
WAR ON DRUGS LARGER TRAGEDY | ||||||||||||||||
By Dean Becker | ||||||||||||||||
Regarding the Chronicle's Aug. 10 article, "Drug dealer convicted of
killing teenage client, sentenced to life": It took a jury less than
two hours to sentence Nathan Neil McKinney to life in prison for the
murder of a teenage drug user. | ||||||||||||||||
According to the evidence and testimony presented to the court, the
sentence seems appropriate. | ||||||||||||||||
There is, however, a larger, continual tragedy when we fail to
consider the reasons behind this and thousands of similar deaths
each year -- the tragedy of drug prohibition. | ||||||||||||||||
Houston has had more than its share of prohibition-related deaths.
Within the last year, several law enforcement officers have been
shot and killed by drug users trying to avoid arrest. | ||||||||||||||||
Last summer, 15 young people died in just one weekend from heroin
overdoses because they thought the powder was cocaine. | ||||||||||||||||
What our society has done through the implementation and escalation
of the drug war is to create a huge and often violent subset of the
population with no recourse to the law. Drug users and vendors have
no legal recourse,= having to either write off any losses or to take
the law into their own hands. | ||||||||||||||||
Until such time that we realize the utter failure of drug prohibition,
we are certain to reap a continual harvest of ignorance, death and
destruction. | ||||||||||||||||
Dean Becker, | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
FEATURE ARTICLE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
LP's Medical Marijuana Ads Play Role In Defeat Of U.S. Rep. Bob Barr | ||||||||||||||||
By The Libertarian Party | ||||||||||||||||
WASHINGTON, DC -- The "worst drug warrior in Congress" has lost his
seat, and the Libertarian Party appears to have played a small role
in making it happen. | ||||||||||||||||
U.S. Rep. Bob Barr, a four-term incumbent, lost the Republican
primary in Georgia's 7th District on Tuesday night to fellow
Republican John Linder, 67 percent to 33 percent. | ||||||||||||||||
Over the past two weeks, Barr's Libertarian opponent, Carole Ann Rand, flooded Georgia's 7th District with more than 4,000 TV spots. The ads feature a multiple sclerosis victim who lashes out against the Congressman for his crusade against medical marijuana. | ||||||||||||||||
"Barr's defeat is a victory for every American who believes that
doctors and patients - rather than politicians - should be making
medical decisions," said Rand. "Like Babe Ruth pointing to a spot in
the bleachers before he hit that home run, we pointed out our target
and knocked him right out of Congress." | ||||||||||||||||
The party's political director, Ron Crickenberger, acknowledged that
many factors contributed to Barr's defeat. | ||||||||||||||||
"Actually, it's impossible to gauge the precise effect that this or any other ad had on the outcome," he said. "Nevertheless, there are a number of reasons to believe that our ad had an impact. | ||||||||||||||||
"For one thing, our ad was virtually the only issue-based TV spot in
the campaign, so it became a lightning rod for publicity. Both Barr
and Linder ran personality-based, feel-good ads. Linder's main ad
simply described how he met his wife, which was designed to leave
voters with a warm, fuzzy feeling. And Barr's TV spot came to be
called the 'Barr is gooder' ad. It portrayed a good 'ol boy saying,
'Linder is good. But I'm going to vote for Barr, because he's
gooder.' | ||||||||||||||||
"That left us a huge opportunity to inject our issue into the public
debate - and we did." | ||||||||||||||||
For another thing, media interest was piqued by the dramatic ads,
Crickenberger said. | ||||||||||||||||
"Political reporters for every major paper in the district,
including the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, wrote about the ad's
expected impact," he said. "In addition, local talk radio hosts
turned it into a topic for discussion, and Atlanta-based, syndicated
radio host Neal Boortz really beat Barr up over the medical
marijuana issue. | ||||||||||||||||
"So while Barr's loss was attributable to many factors, I believe
these ads put another nail into his political coffin." | ||||||||||||||||
The 30-second ad opens with a shot of multiple sclerosis sufferer Cheryl Miller lying on a stretcher as an announcer asks: "Why does Bob Barr want this woman in jail?" Miller introduces herself as a medical marijuana user and says, "Bob Barr thinks I should be in jail for using my medicine. Why would you do that to me, Bob?" | ||||||||||||||||
The ad concludes: "When the Drug War turns on our own sick and
dying, it's gone too far -- and so has Bob Barr." | ||||||||||||||||
The 30-second ads ran in Barr's district on two broadcast networks -
Fox and NBC - as well as on CNN, TNT, Comedy Central, MS/NBC, and
dozens of other cable networks. | ||||||||||||||||
Produced by the national Libertarian Party, the ads are part of its
goal of defeating the worst drug warriors in Congress, whether
Republican or Democrat. Other targets for defeat include U.S. Rep.
Henry Bonilla, R-TX; Sen. Max Cleland, D-GA; Senator Tim Hutchison,
R- AR; and Senator Max Baucus, D-MT. | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
QUOTE OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
"Let's try to protect our community instead of repelling out of helicopters. This is outrageous what's going on in this community." | ||||||||||||||||
- Curtis Tyler, member of the Hawaii County Council, referring to a recent incident in which police operating from a helicopter destroyed three marijuana plants belonging to a medical marijuana user in Puna. See http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1518/a07.html | ||||||||||||||||
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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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