| August 30, 2002 #265 | ||||||||||||||||||
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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) TEXAS TO PROBE DRUG SWEEP CRITICIZED AS RACIALLY BIASED (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
In 1999, Many Blacks In Town Were Arrested On One Man's Testimony | ||||||||||||||||||
HOUSTON -- Attorney General John Cornyn of Texas has opened an
investigation into a 1999 drug sweep in which about 12 percent of
the black population of Tulia, Texas, was arrested. The decision
failed to appease civil rights lawyers, who describe the arrests in
an undercover operation as atrocities and want the convictions
overturned. | ||||||||||||||||||
Cornyn, who announced the investigation Monday, suggested that he had opened the inquiry partly because of confusion that had arisen this month about whether the U.S. Justice Department was continuing its own civil rights investigation of more than two years. | ||||||||||||||||||
The confusion arose after a Justice Department official, in a letter
to the American Bar Association, described the investigation as
closed. Justice Department officials now say the letter was "in
error" and that the investigation is continuing. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(2) STEVE KUBBY WINS MEDICAL EXEMPTION (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
VANCOUVER- American cannabis refugee Steve Kubby, received an
exemption today from Health Canada to possess and cultivate medical
cannabis. The American will be allowed to grow 59 plants, possess
and travel with 360 grams (about 12 ounces), and store 2,655 grams
(about 6 pounds). The exemption lasts for one year. Mr. Kubby was
issued an exemption for a category 3 illness - chronic and
long-term. | ||||||||||||||||||
The exemption was initially submitted on the 12th of August,
received on the 13th and a final exemption was delivered by courier
to the Kubbys on August 29th. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(3) DAS WILL QUESTION LEGALITY OF BALLOT'S MARIJUANA QUESTION (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Washoe County District Attorney Dick Gammick says he is considering
challenging the legality of the marijuana initiative as it will be
printed on the November ballot. | ||||||||||||||||||
Clark County District Attorney Stewart Bell agrees with Gammick that
the Legislature cannot, as Question 9 is written, "provide a system
of regulation for the cultivation, taxation, sale and distribution
of marijuana" without breaking federal laws. | ||||||||||||||||||
However, both say nothing can be done until after the first of two
potential votes is taken in November that could legalize possession
of small amounts of marijuana, because the ballot has to go to the
printer by Sept. 10. | ||||||||||||||||||
The language for Question 9, complete with an explanation and brief
arguments for and against the measure, was released Tuesday by the
secretary of state's office. In the arguments against passage
section, marijuana is called a "gateway" drug that can lead to
cocaine and heroin use. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
The question and accompanying documentation are posted on the
secretary of state's website http://sos.state.nv.us/ | ||||||||||||||||||
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(4) YOUNGER POT SMOKERS CALLED LIKELIER ADDICTS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
The younger someone is when first trying marijuana, the more likely
he or she will become dependent on illegal drugs later in life, U.S.
government researchers said yesterday. They found that 62 percent of
adults age 26 or older who started using marijuana before they were
15 had also tried cocaine at some point. | ||||||||||||||||||
More than 9 percent reported they had used heroin, and more than half had used prescription drugs for recreational purposes. | ||||||||||||||||||
Fewer than 1 percent of those who said they had never tried
marijuana reported having tried cocaine or heroin. Five percent had
abused prescription drugs, according to the report by the Substance
Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. | ||||||||||||||||||
"These findings are of grave concern because studies show smoking
marijuana leads to changes in the brain similar to those caused by
cocaine, heroin and alcohol," SAMHSA Administrator Charles Curie
said. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
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Domestic News- Policy | ||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (5-9) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
A pair of challenges to the drug war establishment were publicized
this week. In Michigan, U.S. Rep. John Conyers questioned the
legality of the DEA's active opposition to drug reform initiatives.
In South Dakota, a ballot proposal that would allow criminal
defendants to object to the laws under which they are being tried
was covered in the Wall Street Journal. | ||||||||||||||||||
At the same time, prosecutors and police are trying to break new
ground in punishing drug law offenders. Prosecutors in Arizona have
charged a mother and a grandmother with murder after the young child
in their care died from internal injuries caused by crack smoke. In
New Hampshire, a police chief wants to seize a dorm building from
the culinary academy of a local college because of drug arrests made
at the dorm. | ||||||||||||||||||
And a columnist in California noticed that there seems to be little
room for objectivity in the drug war. A panel convened to evaluate
so-called anti-drug programs in schools was partially composed of
people with professional ties to programs that got the highest
ratings. Imagine that, a stacked deck in the drug war. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(5) LAWMAKER QUESTIONS DRUG-POLICY MEETING (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Detroit -- A meeting of state and federal law enforcement officials scheduled for today in Detroit to discuss a Michigan ballot proposal may violate federal law, U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Detroit, has charged in a letter to the Drug Enforcement Administration. | ||||||||||||||||||
Conyers asked DEA Director Asa Hutchinson to investigate whether the meeting -- described in a letter from the Detroit DEA office as an opportunity to discuss ways to combat drug legalization proposals -- was political activity by a government agency that is prohibited. | ||||||||||||||||||
The proposal, expected to appear on the Nov. 5 ballot, would require
the state to relax sentences for drug crimes and provide treatment
to drug users. | ||||||||||||||||||
Conyers, a frequent critic of current prison policies, said he had no objection to citizens expressing their views about a proposal, but said it is unclear whether "federally funded agencies and their employees can be used to spread a message or promote a campaign." | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(6) SOUTH DAKOTA BALLOT INITIATIVE PUTS THE STATE'S LAW ON TRIAL (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- Matthew Ducheneaux goes on trial here Tuesday for marijuana possession, but the jury's verdict could do more than decide whether the 38-year-old quadriplegic is fined or sent to jail. | ||||||||||||||||||
Win or lose, his trial will showcase a ballot initiative that could
spark a revolution in South Dakota's criminal laws -- something far
beyond measures authorizing the medical use of marijuana adopted by
nine states since 1996. | ||||||||||||||||||
South Dakota courts barred Mr. Ducheneaux from arguing that his
medical condition, which he says is helped by smoking marijuana ,
justified breaking the law. That has made him, supporters say, the
"poster child" for Constitutional Amendment A, a voter initiative on
the Nov. 5 ballot that would authorize every criminal defendant in
the state to challenge "the merits, validity and applicability of
the law, including the sentencing laws." | ||||||||||||||||||
South Dakota is home to only .03% of the U.S. population, or 757,000
people. Still, should the measure pass, proponents predict a wave of
similar measures in other states where zero-tolerance law
enforcement and harsh mandatory-sentencing rules have bred distrust
of the justice system. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(7) CRACK DEATH WILL BE HARD CASE TO PROVE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Maricopa County prosecutors are charting new legal ground with the prosecution of a mother and grandmother in the death of an infant whose intestines were destroyed by secondhand cocaine smoke. | ||||||||||||||||||
Officials say they know of no other Arizona prosecutions aimed at
parents whose children died of exposure to homegrown meth labs or
other drugs, but they are confident in the case. | ||||||||||||||||||
Demitres Robertson, 23, was charged Wednesday with first-degree murder and child abuse in the November death of daughter Anndreah. | ||||||||||||||||||
The baby's grandmother, Lillian Ann Butler, 44, also is charged with child abuse because of her role as one of the baby's caretakers. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(8) N.H. POLICE CHIEF WANTS DORM FORFEITED UNDER DRUG LAWS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
DOVER, N.H. (AP) Police arrested nine current and former McIntosh
College students on drug charges Tuesday, as the city police chief
said he was pushing federal prosecutors to seize a college dorm
under federal drug forfeiture laws. | ||||||||||||||||||
''It is an open-air drug market like we've never seen in the city,''
Chief William Fenniman said of the dormitory at 181 Silver St.,
where most of the suspects lived. ''My idea is ... to stop the
building from being used for illicit activity. Whatever it takes to
do that, I'm willing to do.'' | ||||||||||||||||||
The two-month undercover investigation by city police and the state
Attorney General's Drug Task Force, dubbed ''Operation Home
Cookin','' focused on students at the college's Atlantic Culinary
Academy. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
Culinary students who saw the raid had mixed reactions. Amy Todd,
19, of Billerica, Mass., and Cecilia Self, 18, of Harrisville, N.H.,
said police used excessive force. | ||||||||||||||||||
They said reporters were present before the raid started and news
photographers took pictures as students were thrown to the ground
and arrested. | ||||||||||||||||||
''They had guns like in a movie,'' Todd said. ''I thought they were
going to arrest all of us.'' | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(9) YOUR TAX DOLLARS ON DRUGS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
If the Department of Education's list of America's best school drug-
prevention programs were a game, it would be called: The judges
can't lose. It turns out that five of the 15 panelists who picked
the nine exemplary and 33 promising programs were involved with drug
programs that the panelists found to be the best. Four programs were
deemed exemplary, one promising. Some coincidence. | ||||||||||||||||||
School districts that look to this list for help choosing which anti-drug programs to adopt, however, won't see affiliations between panelist and program clearly posted in the glossy 8-by-11-inch brochure the Dept of Ed folk put out. Panelist Gilbert Botvin, for example, is listed for his affiliation with Cornell University Medical College -- not with the exemplary "clearly articulated and logically appropriate" Life Skills Training program he developed. | ||||||||||||||||||
Botvin's on vacation. The Dept of Ed folks couldn't offer a good response by deadline. Phyllis Ellickson of Rand and its "exemplary" Project Alert, denied the relationship was incestuous. "You should realize before any programs came to the panel for review," she said, "they had been reviewed by a larger group of experts in the field." Ellickson recused herself from evaluating Rand's program. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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Law Enforcement & Prisons | ||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (10-14) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
The prison state continues to grow and shatter old records. A new
report showed that one in every 32 adults in the United States is
behind bars or on probation. A different report showed that the
number of incarcerated black men in America is roughly three times
higher than the number of black men going to college. The drug war
played a part in both reports. | ||||||||||||||||||
In California, the family of a teenager who was tortured and killed
while working as a drug informant for police was awarded a $1
million settlement. In a sign that some citizens might have had
enough of the drug war, a small town in Tennessee fired its entire
police force. The reasons given by different sources close to the
issue varied, ranging from corruption to high costs. But some
observers said the force spent too much time hunting out meth labs
and not enough on mundane local crimes, like speeding and drunk
driving. | ||||||||||||||||||
Finally, Gov. Frank Keating of Oklahoma still clearly supports the
drug war. He vetoed a parole board recommendation to shorten the
life sentence of a man convicted of drug trafficking after being
caught with a single ounce of cocaine. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(10) 6.6M ADULTS IN PRISON OR ON PAROLE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
WASHINGTON - One in every 32 adults in the United States was behind
bars or on probation or parole by the end of last year, according to
a government report Sunday that found a record 6.6 million people in
the nation's correctional system. | ||||||||||||||||||
The number of adults under supervision by the criminal justice
system rose by 147,700, or 2.3 percent, between 2000 and 2001, the
Justice Department reported. In 1990, almost 4.4 million adults were
incarcerated or being supervised. | ||||||||||||||||||
"The overall figures suggest that we've come to rely on the criminal
justice system as a way of responding to social problems in a way
that's unprecedented," said Marc Mauer, assistant director of the
Sentencing Project, an advocacy and research group that favors
alternatives to incarceration. "We're setting a new record every
day." | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(11) MORE BLACK MEN IN PRISON THAN COLLEGE, STUDY SAYS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
The number of black men in jail or prison has grown fivefold in the
past 20 years, to the point where more black men are behind bars
than are enrolled in colleges or universities, according to a study
released Tuesday. | ||||||||||||||||||
The increase coincides with the prison construction boom that began
1980. Then, black men enrolled in institutions of higher learning | ||||||||||||||||||
The report was prepared by the Justice Policy Institute, which
supports alternatives to incarceration. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
The study did not directly address why the number of black men in
jail and prison climbed so quickly. Some experts suggested as one
explanation a rise in the number of black men serving time for drug
offenses. But Justice Department figures show that from 1990 to
2000, 50 percent of the growth in inmate populations at state
prisons was for violent crimes, and that only 20 percent was for
drug crimes. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(12) CITY AGREES TO $1 MILLION SETTLEMENT IN TORTURE SLAYING OF (Top)TEENAGE POLICE INFORMANT | ||||||||||||||||||
BREA, Calif. (Associated Press) The city has agreed to a $1 million settlement for the mother of a teenager who was tortured and killed because of his undercover work as a police drug ''snitch.'' | ||||||||||||||||||
City Manager Tim O'Donnell said the settlement would be paid by an
insurance company to Cindy MacDonald, mother of 17-year-old Chad
MacDonald. | ||||||||||||||||||
"This is a number that will send out a message to all police departments that they can't use juveniles as drug informants," MacDonald's attorney, Lloyd Charton, said of the settlement. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(13) FIRING OF POLICE FORCE CALLED MONEY-SAVING MOVE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
GRUETLI-LAAGER, Tenn. - This tiny town's former mayor and the
district attorney both said Monday they thought the firing of the
town's police force was about money, not corruption. | ||||||||||||||||||
The mayor and aldermen voted last week to dissolve the force. One
vote came from an alderman who had been arrested just days before on
prescription fraud charges. | ||||||||||||||||||
Rumors flew that the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the U.S.
Drug Enforcement Administration were investigating in connection
with the methamphetamine trade that thrives on the Cumberland
Plateau. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
Former Mayor Wanda Hart, whose administration preceded Mayor
Rollins', said the police department takes about 50 percent of the
town's budget and citizens were unhappy with the department's
service. She said residents were becoming concerned the police
department had become too focused on "big-time" meth lab busts in
Grundy and surrounding counties. People were worried the officers
were overlooking "small time" crimes like speeding, public
intoxication and drunken driving, she said. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(14) KEATING DENIES RELIEF IN DRUG TRAFFICKING CONVICTION (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Gov. Frank Keating on Thursday denied drug trafficker Larry
Yarbrough relief from his prison sentence of life without parole.
Keating rejected a Pardon and Parole Board recommendation to reduce
Yarbrough's sentence to 20 years, noting that commutation would make
Yarbrough eligible for parole in January after serving just six
years. | ||||||||||||||||||
"That is unacceptable," Keating said in a news release. "The Pardon
and Parole Board should not seek to act as a 'super court' that
changes sentences it may disagree with." | ||||||||||||||||||
Yarbrough, 52, was convicted in 1997. Officers found 28 grams --
about an ounce -- of powdered cocaine during a 1994 search of
Yarbrough's Kingfisher home. That amount -- coupled with five prior
felony convictions in 1982 for unlawful delivery of LSD and
marijuana -- meant Yarbrough could be prosecuted under the state's
drug trafficking law. | ||||||||||||||||||
Life without parole is an automatic sentence for anyone convicted of
drug trafficking with two prior felony offenses involving controlled
and dangerous substances. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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Cannabis & Hemp- | ||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (15-19) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Billy Rogers, spokesman for Nevadans for Responsible Law
Enforcement, is touting the potential financial windfall in Nevada
should the state vote to legalize and tax cannabis in the fall
elections. According to Rogers, Nevada could raise upwards of $200
million a year by voting "yes" on Question 9 and taxing the
state-controlled sale of cannabis. | ||||||||||||||||||
Good news from the world of science: a professor of molecular
biology at the University of Massachussets Medical School claims
that a chemical derivative of THC can provide effective pain relief
without the "high" associated with marijuana use. Prof. Sumner
Burnstein believes that the compound, called Ajulenic Acid (CT-3)
may be safer and more effective than common pain relievers such as
aspirin or acetominophen. | ||||||||||||||||||
Even as the summer's forest fires are finally being quelled by cool
fall winds, things have been seriously heating up in Canada's drug
policy debate. Last week Herb Krieling, head of the Canadian
Association of Police Boards (which represents police officers,
chiefs of police, and police boards) announced that the organization
had passed a motion denouncing the legalization of illicit drugs,
including cannabis. Meanwhile, deep in the mines of Flin Flon,
Manitoba, Canada's official cultivator of medicinal cannabis is
exploring its options. Following the announcement by Health Minister
McLellan that Health Canada will not be distributing cannabis to the
over 800 federally approved users for the foreseeable future,
Prairie Plant Systems has been looking into using its extensive
underground facilities to grow other pharmaceutical herbs or
possibly even GM crops. How nice that they are able to make the
transition from growing a completely prohibited benign herb like
cannabis, to completely legal yet environmentally (and potentially
physically) dangerous GM plants and pharmaceuticals. | ||||||||||||||||||
And in Toronto, about 100 people took part in a rally last Friday to
protest the local recent police raid on the Toronto Compassion
Center, which supplies cannabis to upwards of 1,200 people with
serious medical conditions, and to ask Health Canada to begin
supplying sick Canadians with federally grown cannabis. On the same
day, the Sunshine Coast Compassion Center in British Columbia was
raided by local police. Le plus ca change. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(15) NEVADA MARIJUANA INITIATIVE: ECONOMIC BENEFITS TOUTED (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
The leader of the drive to permit adult Nevadans to legally possess
marijuana said Friday the state could reap untold millions of
dollars by selling and taxing marijuana. | ||||||||||||||||||
Billy Rogers, spokesman for Nevadans for Responsible Law
Enforcement, said his group has commissioned a study to determine
how much the state might receive if it grew marijuana and sold it in
stores like the ones Utah uses for liquor sales. Other options for
the cultivation and sale also are being studied. Results are
expected in late September. | ||||||||||||||||||
"We are talking millions and millions of dollars of tax revenue,"
Rogers said. "We figure there are 150,000 regular marijuana users in
Nevada who might buy an ounce per month." | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(16) NEW PAIN RELIEVER DERIVED FROM MARIJUANA (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
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, said the
drug, called ajulemic acid, could improve the 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. "The indications so far are that it's safe and
effective." | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(17) DON'T EASE UP ON POT: CANADIAN POLICE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
A group representing Canadian municipal police authorities urged the
federal government to implement a national drug strategy yesterday
as it denounced the legalization of illicit drugs, including
marijuana. | ||||||||||||||||||
"This resolution, which has been endorsed by all three of the
country's national policing advocates -- the boards, the officers
and the chiefs -- we believe will send a clear message to our
nation's leaders," Herb Kreling, president of the Canadian
Association of Police Boards, told a news conference. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(18) FEDERAL POT PROGRAM IN PERIL, FLIN FLON LOOKS TO OTHER CROPS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
With the future of the federal medicinal marijuana program
potentially in doubt, the company chosen to grow the crop
underground in a Flin Flon mine shaft is exploring what other crops
it could produce there. | ||||||||||||||||||
Phil Robinson, president of the Flin Flon and Area Chamber of
Commerce, says Prairie Plant Systems is looking into growing
genetically-modified crops and pharmaceuticals. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(19) SMOKING MAD IN TORONTO (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Medicinal marijuana users lit up on a downtown street yesterday to protest a delay in releasing government-grown cannabis to sick people and a recent police raid on a Toronto cannabis supply centre. | ||||||||||||||||||
About 100 marijuana users smoked their natural medicine on a busy
street in front of Justice Department offices. | ||||||||||||||||||
The Toronto Compassion Centre was providing marijuana to 1,200 sick
people before it was raided last week. | ||||||||||||||||||
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International News | ||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (20-24) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
A senior official of Guyana's anti-drug bureaucracy was killed last week, shot by unidentified gunmen. The deputy chief of Guyana's Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit, Vibert Inniss, was shot near the capitol of Georgetown while buying newspapers. Attackers had also recently thrown grenades into an the headquarters of Guyana's anti-drug squad, which is said to work closely with the U.S. DEA. | ||||||||||||||||||
In another bid to make the world drug "free", multinational,
coordinated drug-raids led by the DEA ended in "the arrest or
detention of thousands of suspects," proclaimed anti-drug officials.
Utilizing more than 25,000 police and stretching across 15 nations
in Central Asia and the Balkans, the raids netted little more than a
ton of heroin, but nine tons of "other narcotics" (probably
cannabis). | ||||||||||||||||||
DEA violations of Canadian sovereignty has the B.C. Supreme Court
hopping mad. Calling recent DEA sorties into Canada "a shocking
abuse of Canadian law", the Court decried the "illegal conduct," as
"extremely offensive because of the violation of Canadian
sovereignty without explanation or apology." | ||||||||||||||||||
Mayor Yoyong Yap of the Philippine city of Glan has a new tactic in the eternal war against the users of some drugs: the government will give a reward to anyone who denounces a drug user to the police. To demonstrate his fitness for office, Mayor Yap along with 200 government employees, took drug tests. The drug-loyalty tests for government were decreed as an "all-out war campaign against drugs." | ||||||||||||||||||
And finally this week, Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra
declared he was "receptive" to the suggestion that the government
should produce fake pills that would make drugs users sick. The
pills would have "sickening effects such as nausea and vomiting to
make them unattractive to buyers." | ||||||||||||||||||
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(20) GUNMEN KILL OFFICIAL IN ANTI-DRUG AGENCY (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
GEORGETOWN, GUYANA -- Gunmen killed the deputy head of Guyana's
anti- drug agency Saturday, the latest murder of a law-enforcement
official along the South American nation's coast. | ||||||||||||||||||
Vibert Inniss, deputy chief of Guyana's Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit,
was shot several times when he stopped his car to buy newspapers
from a vendor in Buxton, 12 miles east of the capital Georgetown,
police said. | ||||||||||||||||||
Gunmen recently hurled concussion grenades into the headquarters of
the anti-drug unit, which works with the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Agency. Eight police officers and several businessmen have been
killed in recent attacks. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(21) DEA ANNOUNCES SWEEP IN CENTRAL ASIA, EUROPE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
A broad narcotics sweep involving 25,000 law enforcement officers and coordinated by the Drug Enforcement Administration across 15 countries of Central Asia and the Balkans has resulted in the arrest or detention of thousands of suspects, officials said last week. | ||||||||||||||||||
The sweep this summer -- from June 10 to July 11 -- seized more than 3,700 pounds of heroin and nine tons of other narcotics. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(22) SILENCE ON U.S. ILLEGAL OPERATION IN B.C. (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Maybe they just don't care up in Ottawa that U.S. agents feel free
to enter Canada illegally, break our laws and then conceal the
evidence from the courts here. | ||||||||||||||||||
For a week I've been trying to get someone - anyone - in the federal government to describe Canada's response to a B.C. court ruling that U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency operatives knowingly broke our laws. | ||||||||||||||||||
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Janice Dillon found the Americans
knowingly snuck into Canada, ran an illegal operation and then tried
to conceal their activities from the court - a shocking abuse of
Canadian law, she called it. | ||||||||||||||||||
"The illegal conduct is extremely offensive because of the violation of Canadian sovereignty without explanation or apology," she wrote. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
The rules governing a DEA operation in Canada are clear. A U.S. -
Canada agreement requires the DEA to get RCMP consent. They also
needed a special permit from the immigration minister because the
undercover agent had a criminal record. And they needed approval
from the RCMP's top narcotics officer to pretend they had drugs for
sale. | ||||||||||||||||||
The tactic is illegal in Canada except under tight controls, because
of the risk of injustice. When police approach potential buyers,
they may be creating a crime that would never have happened without
their instigation. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
(23) MAYOR, COPS, AND LGU EXECS YIELD TO DRUG TEST (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
GLAN Municipal Mayor Yoyong Yap together with some 203 local
government employees including members of the Philippine National
Police (PNP) in Glan Sarangani Province submitted themselves to drug
test. | ||||||||||||||||||
Mayor Yap ordered the drug test to government workers as part of his
all-out war campaign against drugs in the municipality. | ||||||||||||||||||
Yap vowed to fire immediately any employee or member of the PNP in his town who will turn positive of illegal dugs in their system. | ||||||||||||||||||
Also, Yap decided to give a reward to anybody who can pinpoint a
drug pusher and user operating in his area of responsibility just to
contain the rampant drug addiction in Glan. | ||||||||||||||||||
Yap said through the reward system he is offering to the public, many drug pushers have gone now while number of drug users declined. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
(24) WAR ON NARCOTICS: PM BACKS CALL TO USE DRUG FUNDS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
Mr Thaksin was also receptive, albeit cautiously, to a suggestion
for the government to churn out fake speed pills causing minor
sickening effects such as nausea and vomiting to make them
unattractive to buyers. | ||||||||||||||||||
Sitha Thiwaree, secretary to the deputy defence minister who floated
the idea, said the fake pills should be made available at low prices
or even free of charge in a market-dumping tactic to destroy the
mainstream drug network. | ||||||||||||||||||
The prime minister said the suggestion was made "in jest". But it
would not hurt for the Public Health Ministry to study the idea, he
added. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
HOT OFF THE 'NET (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
CONYERS QUESTIONS DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION ON USE OF FEDERAL | ||||||||||||||||||
A press release from U.S. Rep. John Conyers of Michigan | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
Video Of Seattle Hempfest | ||||||||||||||||||
Posted at Pot-TV.net | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
Treatment or Jail - Is This Really a Choice? | ||||||||||||||||||
By Preston Peet; posted at Drugwar.com | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
The Canadian Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs will release
its final report on cannabis at a news conference in the National
Press Theatre, 1st floor, 150 Wellington St. in Ottawa at 11:00
a.m., Wednesday, September 4, 2002. | ||||||||||||||||||
The news conference will be broadcast on the Senate Internet site
(floor sound) http://senate-senat.ca/webcast.asp | ||||||||||||||||||
The report will also be available on the Committee's Internet web site at that time http://www.parl.gc.ca/illegal-drugs.asp | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
WHITE HOUSE DRUG CZAR RELEASES GUIDE ON STUDENT DRUG TESTING | ||||||||||||||||||
(Washington, D.C.) - John P. Walters, Director of National Drug
Control Policy (ONDCP), today released a new publication entitled
What You Need to Know About Drug Testing in Schools. The publication
is being released as millions of young people return to school,
and is designed to assist educators, parents, and community
leaders in determining whether student drug testing is appropriate
for their schools. | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
What You Need to Know About Drug Testing in Schools is available at http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/pdf/drug_testing.pdf | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
30,000 Californians Using Medicinal Marijuana Legally, Study Says | ||||||||||||||||||
San Francisco, CA: An estimated 30,000 California patients possess
physician's recommendations to use pot medicinally, according to the
results of a study to be published in The Journal of Cannabis
Therapeutics. California NORML conducted the study, which surveyed
numerous statewide patient support groups, local registration
programs and physicians. | ||||||||||||||||||
For more information, please contact either Dale Gieringer, California NORML Coordinator, at (415) 563-5858 or Allen St. Pierre, Executive Director of The NORML Foundation, at (202) 483-8751. The Journal of Cannabis Therapeutics is available online at: | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
LETTER OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
PAPER RIGHT TO BACK LEGALIZATION | ||||||||||||||||||
By Suzanne Wills | ||||||||||||||||||
To the editor: | ||||||||||||||||||
Last year, the King County, Wash., Bar Association, in conjunction
with the medical society in King County, did a drug policy study.
They determined that the most important objectives of a drug policy
should be: | ||||||||||||||||||
Enhanced public order and reduced crime. Improved public health. | ||||||||||||||||||
Protection of children. Efficient use of scarce public resources. | ||||||||||||||||||
Their report concluded that "The War on Drugs has not only failed to
fulfill any of these objectives, but also has exacerbated the very
problems it was designed to address." You are quite right to support
change. | ||||||||||||||||||
The war on drugs benefits formidable special interests and remains
in place for that reason only. The special interests include every
federal agency, the defense industry, the prison industry, law
enforcement, the drug testing industry, the drug treatment industry,
the home security industry, the tobacco and liquor industries, the
media, the pharmaceutical industry and, of course, the international
illicit drug cartels. | ||||||||||||||||||
I am certain that Byron D. Cagle ("Stupid to back legalization,"
Aug. 15) earns his living in one of these areas. Fear of losing his
livelihood is the only logical reason for such a hysterical,
illogical defense of the status quo. | ||||||||||||||||||
Suzanne Wills, | ||||||||||||||||||
Drug Policy Forum of Texas, | ||||||||||||||||||
Dallas | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
FEATURE ARTICLE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Remembering Activist Martyrs Tom Crosslin and Rollie Rohm | ||||||||||||||||||
By Richard Lake http://www.mapinc.org/rlake/ | ||||||||||||||||||
It's also time to remember the Rainbow Farm Campground. | ||||||||||||||||||
Rainbow Farm owner Tom Crosslin, 46, and his partner, Rolland Rohm,
28, were killed by police Labor Day weekend last year during a
four-day standoff at the farm. | ||||||||||||||||||
Crosslin was shot to death Sept. 3, 2001 by two FBI agents, allegedly after he pointed a gun at them. Rohm was killed by Michigan state police in a similar scenario early the next morning. | ||||||||||||||||||
Details are at the Rainbow Farm memorial website: | ||||||||||||||||||
This weekend and next week we remember Tom and Rollie. Here are some
events and links of interest. If I have missed any please drop me a
note so I can do an update. | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
Rainbow Farm Tributes: | ||||||||||||||||||
Friday, August 30th at 12 Midnight CDT, Cultural Baggage Radio at
90.1 FM in Houston or online at http://www.kpft.org will feature | ||||||||||||||||||
Sunday, Sept. 1 at 9 p.m. EDT, 8 CDT, 7 MDT and 6 PDT, Drug Sense
Chat room, with guests Doug Leinbach and Greg Schmid. 60-90 Minutes.
http://www.drugsense.org/chat | ||||||||||||||||||
Tuesday, Sept. 3 at 8 p.m. EDT, 7 CDT, 6 MDT, 5 PDT, New York Times
Drug Policy Forum, scheduled for 60-90 Minutes. | ||||||||||||||||||
See: http://www.cultural-baggage.com/schedule.htm and 'Instructions:
Participate in NY Times Forum & Drugsense Chat' | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
The Michigan Marijuana Movement has a memorial page for Tom and
Rollie | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
Tom Crosslin & Rollie Rohm Memorial Page | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
Federal and state police kill owner of Rainbow Farm | ||||||||||||||||||
http://www.november.org/razorwire/oct-nov-dec2001/page1.html | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
A 9 minute video tribute from High Times magazine to Tom Crosslin | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
Musical Tribute | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
Rainbow Farm news clippings: http://www.mapinc.org/find?200 | ||||||||||||||||||
The ten most read clippings: | ||||||||||||||||||
US IL: PUB LTE: Justice Department Priorities Skewed
| ||||||||||||||||||
US MI: Column: Was Rainbow Farm 'Our Own Little Waco'?
| ||||||||||||||||||
US MI: Was Rainbow Farm Another Waco?
| ||||||||||||||||||
US MI: Rainbow Farm Fallout
| ||||||||||||||||||
US MI: Westland Lawyer Questions Deadly SWET Raid
| ||||||||||||||||||
US MI: Rage Over Slain Pot-Pushers
| ||||||||||||||||||
US IN: More Questions Than Answers at Rainbow Farm
| ||||||||||||||||||
US MI: Rainbow Farm - What Others Are Saying
| ||||||||||||||||||
US MI: 10 PUB LTEs: Rainbow Farm Outcry
| ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
Hemp Aid 98! from Hemp Magazine | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
Rainbow Farm Mailing List | ||||||||||||||||||
The list is a one way announcement list. As such during average
months there should be less than a dozen email announcements. It's
purpose is to alert list members of events, activities, webpages,
and news related to remembering activist martyrs Tom Crosslin and
Rollie Rohm - as well as the Rainbow Farm Campground. | ||||||||||||||||||
http://www.rainbowfarmcamp.com/mlist.htm sign on/off webform. | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
QUOTE OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
''Why do you need M-14s to arrest kids with weed?'' | ||||||||||||||||||
- Cecilia Self, a student at McIntosh College in New Hampshire,
where a police chief is threatening to seize a dorm building where
drug arrests were made recently. See | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
DS Weekly is one of the many free educational services DrugSense
offers our members. Watch this feature to learn more about what
DrugSense can do for you. | ||||||||||||||||||
TO SUBSCRIBE, UNSUBSCRIBE, OR UPDATE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS: | ||||||||||||||||||
Please utilize the following URLs | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
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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distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior
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