| Dec. 13, 2002 #280 | ||||||||||||||||
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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) SUPREME COURT QUESTIONS OTTAWA'S MARIJUANA STANCE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
OTTAWA - The Supreme Court of Canada judges have written a letter
questioning whether they should proceed with a federal government case
against pot smoking today, given that Justice Minister Martin Cauchon
says he is going to decriminalize marijuana. | ||||||||||||||||
As soon as the judges read about Cauchon's announcement earlier this
week, the court wrote lawyers for the federal government and three
marijuana enthusiasts, asking whether the case should be put on hold in
light of the developments. | ||||||||||||||||
At the same time that Cauchon is planning decriminalization, his own Justice Department lawyers are scheduled to argue in the Supreme Court today that marijuana is a dangerous drug that should be outlawed. | ||||||||||||||||
The government has filed a report with the court that connects
marijuana use to driving accidents, upper-airway cancer, psychiatric
problems and drug addiction, among other things. | ||||||||||||||||
"Marijuana is not a benign substance and potentially is more harmful
than presently known," the Justice Department argues in a written
submission. | ||||||||||||||||
Meanwhile, Cauchon is planning to accept a recommendation of a special
parliamentary committee, which reported Thursday that people caught
with less than 30 grams of marijuana -- the equivalent of 25 to 30
joints -- should be given a fine akin to a parking ticket rather than
be saddled with a criminal record. | ||||||||||||||||
"There's a certain inconsistency in announcing decriminalization and going into court and saying this substance is sufficiently harmful to warrant a criminal sanction," observed Toronto lawyer Alan Young. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(2) U.S. OFFICIALS REJECT DRUG WAR CLAIMS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
U.S. anti-drug officials Thursday rejected lawmakers' claims that they
are doing little to eradicate Colombia's opium, the raw material for
most of the heroin sold in the United States. | ||||||||||||||||
Members of the House Government Reform Committee said a $1.8 billion
anti-drug program in Colombia is so focused on eradicating coca, little
is being done about opium. Fewer opium crops are being fumigated this
year than before U.S. helicopters and other anti-drug aid began
arriving two years ago. | ||||||||||||||||
The result has been a surge in heroin in the United States, lawmakers
said. "Plain and simple, the heroin that is flooding the United States
and is killing our citizens comes from Colombia," said Rep. Bob Barr,
R-Ga. "It is a weapon of mass destruction and we must help the
Colombian government eradicate it, before it gets to the United
States." | ||||||||||||||||
A top State Department antidrug official, Paul E. Simons, told
lawmakers that the United States is fighting opium as well as coca in
Colombia. | ||||||||||||||||
"We know the enemy and what we need to do," he said. "We have assets
in country deployed to do the job, and we have effective and strong
leadership in Colombia prepared to do its part." | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(3) STUDY: TREAT ADDICTS' MENTAL ILLNESS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Mental disorders are common among alcoholics and drug abusers, but
their mental illness and addictions are seldom treated at the same
time, preventing many from recovering from either, says a report sent
to Congress this week. | ||||||||||||||||
And the government, to get the most value, must take the lead in
tearing down the "firewall" between programs that treat addiction and
those that treat mental illness, the report concludes. | ||||||||||||||||
People who suffer from mental illness and are substance abusers have
traditionally been considered exceptions, "but it's time to get real,"
says Charles Curie, administrator of Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration (SAMHSA), which wrote the report at Congress'
request. | ||||||||||||||||
Major Overhaul Needed | ||||||||||||||||
About one-third of drug and alcohol abusers have mental disorders, Curie says, and adults with mental illness are three times more likely than others to be substance abusers. An estimated 7 million to 10 million Americans have mental and addictive disorders, he says. There's strong evidence that integrated programs work best for them. | ||||||||||||||||
But that's going to take a major overhaul of our treatment system.
"Virtually all programs are designed for one or the other," says
psychiatrist Kenneth Minkoff, a clinical professor at Harvard. People
with both problems "have poor outcomes at higher cost, and they're
more likely to end up in the correction system." | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(4) DUTCH COULD TEACH US A LOT ABOUT MARIJUANA LAWS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
While doing some research in the Netherlands recently, I was told a
curious story by an Amsterdam city councillor. This councillor is also
the owner of a "coffee shop" - a pub that sells marijuana - and so he
often plays host to the foreign officials who constantly tour Holland
and marvel at how the country's liberal justice policies have somehow
managed to fail to spawn depravity, misery and chaos of biblical
proportions. | ||||||||||||||||
One day, he told me, he showed a foreign politician around his pleasant
little shop. He pointed to the second floor and told the visitor he
had another room upstairs. "That's where they inject hashish," he said
with a straight face. | ||||||||||||||||
The politician nodded his head solemnly. Ah yes, junkies injecting
hashish. Awful stuff, these drugs. | ||||||||||||||||
I laughed. And I'm sure most of you got the gag, too. But for the
innocent, let me explain that injecting hashish makes as much sense as
injecting your granddad's pipe tobacco. Obviously, this politician
knew absolutely nothing about drugs. | ||||||||||||||||
Unfortunately, he's not unique in that. Public debate about drugs is
rife with nonsense, even - or especially - when the politicians who
draft laws are talking. Recall Liberal MP Paul Szabo's warning to
Parliament in 1995 that modern marijuana is "as potent as cocaine was
10 years ago." | ||||||||||||||||
Not only is this gibberish (it's like saying a shot of vodka is as potent as a pack of Marlboros). It was gibberish uttered by the chairman of the Commons committee that had reviewed the drug laws. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
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Domestic News- Policy | ||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (5-9) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Big things happening could be happening in Canada, thanks to the
release of government report on drugs. Some of the implications of
the report are examined in the Cannabis and International sections
of DrugSense Weekly. | ||||||||||||||||
In the U.S., many of the recurrent myths of prohibition were
challenged again last week. A report from Sacramento, Calif.,
suggested that there is not a strong link between violent crimes and
illegal drug use. The idea that the use of marijuana will stop
someone from becoming a professional athlete was demolished, as
Sports Illustrated took a look at several successful pro athletes who
have been caught with the weed in recent months. The notion that
long prison sentences will solve drug problems was finally
officially abandoned in Michigan, as the state's House of
Representatives voted to repeal laws that forced mandatory minimum
sentences based on drug weight. | ||||||||||||||||
Another story out of California challenged an even more basic belief
of prohibition: that federal drug law enforcers have the ability and
desire to actually heads of drug gangs. And, finally, the drug war
has helped to corrupt yet another institution, as the New York Times
reported that drug money is being laundered through life insurance
policies. | ||||||||||||||||
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(5) STUDY DISPUTES DRUG LINK TO VIOLENCE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Despite the perceived link between violence and illegal drug use,
the highest percentage of people booked into the Sacramento County
jail for violent crimes were not under the influence, a new study
has found. However, alcohol use may be a factor in violent crimes,
the study indicated. | ||||||||||||||||
Of more than 3,000 people arrested in 2000 and 2001, those with no
substance abuse were charged with the highest percentage of violent
offenses. | ||||||||||||||||
"That flies in the face of what we expect to find," said Carole
Barnes, director of the Institute for Social Research at California
State University, Sacramento. "You don't need to be high to be
violent." | ||||||||||||||||
The institute conducted the analysis in partnership with the federal
Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (ADAM) project, which is part of the
U.S. Department of Justice. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(6) TAKING THEIR HITS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
The NBA is going to pot. But so are the NFL and Major League
Baseball. Does a week go by nowadays without an athlete getting
busted for marijuana possession? The list of tokin' offenders is too
long to catalog here, but it cuts a wide swath, from Mets reliever
Grant Roberts -- who was pictured smoking in a New York tabloid in
September -- to Randy Moss, whose run-in with a traffic cop was
compounded when marijuana was found in his Lexus. | ||||||||||||||||
Two weeks ago, Trail Blazers' forward Rasheed Wallace and guard
Damon Stoudamire were passengers in Stoudamire's bright yellow
Humvee (a friend of Stoudamire's was driving) as it tore down I-5 in
Washington around midnight. When the vehicle was stopped for
speeding, it reeked like Jeff Spicoli's van; police found about a
gram of marijuana in the car. It would have been just another story
of two athletes caught with weed -- but for the fact that earlier
this year police, responding to a burglar alarm, found a pound of
marijuana at Stoudamire's home. Stoudamire is facing a felony charge
although a judge ruled in August that the stash had been illegally
seized. (Prosecutors have appealed the ruling.) So much for scared
straight. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(7) BILLS ADMIT DRUG STANCE WENT TOO FAR (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
More than two decades after enacting some of the nation's harshest
penalties for the possession and sale of illegal drugs, Michigan
lawmakers are poised to acknowledge that the state's approach to
narcotics crime has been a costly failure. | ||||||||||||||||
Legislation adopted by the state House of Representatives last week would abolish mandatory prison sentences based solely on the amount of the drugs seized in an arrest and give judges in drug cases the same discretion they now enjoy in sentencing violent offenders. | ||||||||||||||||
Instead of being dispatched to prison for minimum terms of 10 and 20
years, newly convicted drug offenders would be sentenced under
guidelines that take into account an offender's criminal history,
the use or absence of deadly weapons, and the likelihood that the
offender would benefit from substance abuse treatment. | ||||||||||||||||
Mandatory lifetime probation for drug offenders would be eliminated,
and more than 4,000 ex-cons now required to report to state
probation officers for the rest of their lives would be eligible for
discharge after five years of supervision. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(8) ALL IN THE FAMILIA (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
For the next 11 years, Ensley built his life around the pursuit of
Luis Valenzuela, the head of the family trafficking business and a
ranking lieutenant in the notorious Arellano-Felix drug cartel.
Working primarily with the FBI but also with the DEA and local
authorities, Ensley socialized with Valenzuela at family functions
and enticed him into partnership schemes, serving as a steady
conduit for information on Valenzuela's movements as he imported and
distributed thousands of kilos of cocaine. Over the course of his
collaboration with the Southwest Border Task Force, the FBI paid
Ensley more than $30,000 in fees and expenses. | ||||||||||||||||
It was a bargain for the government. Tracking Valenzuela opened a
window on the single largest cartel moving drugs across America's
border with Mexico. In 1997, a decade after the funeral for Raul
Valenzuela, the investigation moved into high gear. The task force
monitored Luis and his organization through extensive wiretaps, a
phone bank of interpreters, and a team of more than 10 officers and
agents. Over the next 18 months, agents confiscated nearly 4 tons of
cocaine and more than $15 million in cash. As the totals mounted,
Ensley looked forward to a personal windfall, based on government
assurances that he would collect a bounty of 10 percent of all the
seized currency. | ||||||||||||||||
Operation Rio Blanco culminated in June 1998 with the arrest of
Jorge Castro, a Valenzuela associate identified by the U.S.
Attorney's Office as "one of the highest-level narcotraffickers ever
arrested in the United States." But just as Ensley prepared to
celebrate, he found himself abandoned. Luis Valenzuela and most of
his associates escaped the government dragnet, and Ensley's cover as
an informant was blown. | ||||||||||||||||
Rather than collect the $1 million-plus he figured should be his
reward, Ensley was advised by the FBI to lease a recreational
vehicle and go into hiding. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(9) NEW HIDING PLACE FOR DRUG PROFITS: INSURANCE POLICIES (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 -- Law enforcement officials said today that
Colombian cocaine traffickers seeking to launder tens of millions in
drug profits from the United States and Mexico had begun exploiting
an unlikely haven -- life insurance policies. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
In interviews and court documents, law enforcement officials at the
Customs Service said that in recent years, brokers connected to the
Cali drug cartel in Colombia had bought insurance policies in the
Isle of Man and other British islands, as well as perhaps Florida
and other locations, to launder more than $80 million. | ||||||||||||||||
Using drug proceeds from the United States and Mexico, the suspects
opened some 250 different investment-grade life insurance accounts
in the Isle of Man alone, investigators said. The insurance
policies, worth as much as $1.9 million each, were sometimes taken
out in the names of nieces, nephews and other relatives of the
traffickers, investigators said. | ||||||||||||||||
The traffickers would typically cash out all or part of the Isle of
Man policies prematurely after a year or so, paying penalties of 25
percent or more to get access to the laundered cash more quickly,
investigators said. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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Law Enforcement & Prisons | ||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (10-13) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
An interesting contrast between approaches to drug law enforcement
was revealed through two stories out of California. On one hand,
when the FBI learned about a violent drug gang operating out of a
prison, they let the operation continue, allegedly in order to
gather more information. On the other hand, large paramilitary
forces raided three residential houses suspected of cultivating
marijuana, though no drugs were found and neighbors were shocked by
the use of force in the raids. | ||||||||||||||||
Strange happenings in Mississippi this week, as a television executive with no law enforcement experience was chosen as the head of the state's anti-narcotics efforts. And, state prison crowding continues in Alabama, which means the state will likely face more fines, which are now reaching the multi-million dollar level. | ||||||||||||||||
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(10) FBI COMPLICIT IN CRIME? (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
The FBI didn't just infiltrate the notorious Nuestra Familia prison gang, it allowed an informant to continue the group's violent and criminal activities for seven months, pulling off drug and gun deals and the killing of a rival gang leader, a defense attorney for one of the men accused in the case alleges in a court filing. | ||||||||||||||||
Federal investigators refuse to comment on the case, saying they
will eventually answer in court, and at least one local law enforcer
calls the charge bogus. | ||||||||||||||||
But San Francisco attorney Marc Zilversmit contends the government's
own legal filings reveal a federal role in the brutal prison-based
gang, and raise troubling questions about how far the FBI can take
an undercover operation. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(11) NEIGHBORS CALL TACTICS IN DRUG RAID MILITARISTIC (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
The sound of heavy machinery, exploding grenades and blaring
announcements cracked the early morning silence. | ||||||||||||||||
Neighbors looked out their windows Oct. 17 to see an armored truck
rolling down the street. They saw at least 45 officers armed with
shotguns and assault rifles entering a trio of houses, standing
guard at alleyways and blocking traffic lanes. | ||||||||||||||||
Officers wouldn't explain to startled residents what was going | ||||||||||||||||
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Police pulled four people - including a nude woman and another woman wearing only underpants and a T-shirt - from their beds and kept them in handcuffs in a room of one of the houses for several hours. One woman reported that an officer covered her head with a black fabric bag and removed it only when she agreed to cooperate. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
The raid sparked immediate outrage among more than a dozen neighbors and friends of the property owners and in recent weeks has become a rallying point for community organizers. The fact that police found no marijuana plants or weapons has only angered neighbors further. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(12) MELTON'S SELECTION AMAZES EXPERTS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Frank Melton's management and leadership skills can't compensate for
his lack of law enforcement experience as the new director of the
Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, experts say. | ||||||||||||||||
However, Melton, the chief executive officer of TV-3 Inc.
Foundation, said, "Law enforcement is not that complicated. It's
about making decisions and doing the right thing." | ||||||||||||||||
Gov. Ronnie Musgrove named Melton, 52, Wednesday to head the MBN. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(13) CROWDED JAILS YIELD NEW FINES FOR STATE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
MONTGOMERY A Montgomery judge imposed millions of dollars in new
fines against the state prison system Friday and said he will use
the money to find space for more than 1,600 state convicts
backlogged in Alabama's crowded county jails. | ||||||||||||||||
Montgomery County Circuit Judge William Shashy ordered the prison
system to pay $50 a day for each state convict left in county jails
more than 30 days, starting Aug. 13. | ||||||||||||||||
He had warned the state in a June 14 order that he would raise
contempt fines to that amount if it did not clear its inmates out of
the county jails. Friday, he also ordered the state to immediately
pay fines he imposed in June, which have been accruing at a rate of
$26 per day per inmate. The state's total had hit $2.16 million as
of mid-April. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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Cannabis & Hemp- | ||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (14-17) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
This week we devote most of this section to another episode of
Canada's journey towards an equitable cannabis policy. | ||||||||||||||||
As it is within all bureaucracies, the longer an issue soaks in the
legislature - the further away from "comme il faut " it travels. In
October the Senate's Special Committee On Illegal Drugs recommended
that cannabis be regulated similarly to alcohol and tobacco. This
month finds cannabis policy, having been run through the rinse/spin
cycle of the House of Commons, watered down to mere | ||||||||||||||||
The next two articles demonstrate how difficult it is to force
justice at the judicial level when the opposition is yanking at the
reins of the very law being challenged. In a Globe and Mail article,
attorney Bernstein contends the parliamentary activities are mere
posturing and cannabis laws will not be liberalized while Bush is
president. Another piece for this section is an editorial by the
National Post explains the entire situation in a very concise
manner. | ||||||||||||||||
And, finally, there is a bit of good news out of the U.S., where the
Santa Cruz, Calif. City Council has deputized the co-founders of a
local medical marijuana club. | ||||||||||||||||
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(14) CANADA: THE COMMONS COMMITTEE REPORT ON CANNABIS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
CHAPTER 9: CANNABIS | ||||||||||||||||
1. MANDATE OF THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON NON-MEDICAL USE OF DRUGS | ||||||||||||||||
As explained in Chapter 1, the Special Committee on Non-Medical Use
of Drugs was initially mandated to study "the factors underlying or
relating to the non-medical use of drugs in Canada" and to bring
forward recommendations aimed at reducing "the dimensions of the
problem involved in such use." | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
RECOMMENDATION 40 | ||||||||||||||||
The Committee recommends that the possession of cannabis continue to
be illegal and that trafficking in any amount of cannabis remain a
crime. | ||||||||||||||||
RECOMMENDATION 41 | ||||||||||||||||
The Committee recommends that the Minister of Justice and the
Minister of Health establish a comprehensive strategy for
decriminalizing the possession and cultivation of not more than
thirty grams of cannabis for personal use. This strategy should
include: | ||||||||||||||||
Prevention and education programs outlining the risks of cannabis
use and, in particular, the heightened risk it poses to young
persons; and | ||||||||||||||||
The development of more effective tools to facilitate the
enforcement of existing Criminal Code prohibitions against driving
while impaired by a drug. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(15) LAWYER DOUBTS OTTAWA'S POT TALK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Believes Politicians Are Simply Trying to Influence Call of Supreme
Court | ||||||||||||||||
A federal proposal to decriminalize marijuana is nothing more than a ruse to influence the Supreme Court of Canada as it prepares for a major challenge to marijuana laws, a lawyer in the case says. | ||||||||||||||||
Lawyer Paul Burstein said Justice Minister Martin Cauchon's
ruminations about decriminalization echo a tactic used by his
department in the past to derail litigation that threatens marijuana
laws. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
The three appellants are as follows: | ||||||||||||||||
David Malmo-Levine, a Vancouver activist who formed an 1,800-member "Harm Reduction Club" in 1996 to cater to marijuana-fanciers. | ||||||||||||||||
Christopher Clay, who owned a London, Ont., store called the Great
Canadian Hempatorium that sold marijuana implements, seeds and
cuttings. | ||||||||||||||||
Victor Caine, a B.C. man who was arrested while sharing a joint with
a friend in his car. | ||||||||||||||||
Upon conviction, the three men joined an estimated 600,000 Canadians
with criminal records for cannabis-related offences under the
79-year-old possession law. | ||||||||||||||||
Government lawyers say in their brief that Parliament has a perfect
right to pass laws in the general good, and that challengers must
show it acted in "an irrational or arbitrary manner." | ||||||||||||||||
The appellants contend that the law is both an unwarranted intrusion
into provincial jurisdiction and a violation of the constitutional
right to life, liberty and security of the person. | ||||||||||||||||
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association, which has been permitted
to make legal arguments in the case, maintains that the health
effects of marijuana are minimal, particularly when compared with
those of tobacco and alcohol. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(16) SMOKING POT SHOULD NOT BE A CRIME (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
This Thursday, the House of Commons committee on illegal drugs will
issue its long awaited report. The old good news is that the
committee members will likely recommend the decriminalization of
marijuana possession. The new good news is that those | ||||||||||||||||
Of course, no one worth listening to thinks recreational marijuana
use is something to be encouraged: It damages the lungs and dulls
the mind. But pot is neither addictive nor criminogenic, nor acutely
toxic. Indeed, it is less dangerous than alcohol and tobacco. Given
this, a majority of Canadians have sensibly concluded that it is
foolish to treat the substance the way we do such pure killers as
heroin and cocaine. In fact, the possibility of decriminalization no
longer seems controversial. Just three months ago, the Senate's
Special Committee on Illegal Drugs went farther than is expected of
its Commons counterpart, and concluded the government should make
smoking pot completely legal. (Under a decriminalized regime, by
contrast, pot smokers would still, technically, be lawbreakers --
and might be required to pay small fines). | ||||||||||||||||
Several factors have contributed to the popular attitude shift on pot. One was the rise of AIDS and the medical marijuana movement. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
A second factor is the mounting evidence that some of the fears surrounding marijuana are unjustified. The Office of National Drug Control Policy in the United States, the world's most influential booster of the war-on-drugs status quo, has long claimed that marijuana is a "gateway" drug that leads users to cocaine and heroin. But recent studies -- including a thorough RAND corporation analysis published in this month's issue of the journal Addiction -- cast doubt on this theory. While marijuana use correlates strongly to hard-drug use, there is nothing in the data that shows the former causes the latter. The stronger hypothesis is that the same genetic and environmental factors that cause people to use marijuana and tobacco (and overuse alcohol) also lead them to hard drugs. | ||||||||||||||||
Pot decriminalization has long been seen as a liberal cause:
Left-wingers have traditionally opposed government efforts to outlaw
good times. But conservatives should get on the bandwagon as well.
Our marijuana laws represent an entirely unjustified government
intrusion into citizens' lives. About 20,000 people are arrested
annually on marijuana-related charges. The investigation, arrest,
trial and punishment of this small army represents a massive,
unjustifiable waste of our tax dollars. | ||||||||||||||||
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(17) COUNCIL DEPUTIZES POT CLUB FOUNDERS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
SANTA CRUZ -- The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to deputize the
co-founders of a medical-marijuana club, symbolically making them officers
of the city government. | ||||||||||||||||
That doesn't mean Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana's Mike and
Valerie Corral are actual deputies, have any special powers or will
"need to show any stinkin' badges," said City Councilman Tim
Fitzmaurice. Instead, their status means the council officially
sanctions WAMM's activities. | ||||||||||||||||
Council members said they hope the formal link between the city and
the group will increase legal protections for the Corrals, who have
not been charged with a crime in connection with a September raid by
federal agents on their pot farm, but are wary of future
prosecution. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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International News | ||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (18-22) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
In international news this week, Canada steams ahead towards harm
reduction as a parliamentary committee lends support for plans to
create safe-injection sites and programs to distribute heroin to
addicts. Expecting the usual meddling in Canadian affairs from the
US, members of parliament intend to "show the U.S. that there are
real alternatives." Adds committee member Libby Davies, "This
strategy is a lot more realistic. And if the Americans don't like,
it, tough." | ||||||||||||||||
Revelations last week a North Korean spy ship sunk by the Japanese
coast guard last year was used for smuggling amphetamines to
gangsters, rocked Japan. Authorities estimate the North Korean spy
ship smuggled about a third of a ton of the illegal amphetamines to
Japan in 1998 alone. | ||||||||||||||||
In the Philippines, officials continue to investigate an amphetamine
factory gutted by a fire in Valenzuela City. Firemen found some one
million pesos worth of amphetamines, along with roughly 50 drums of
chemicals used in amphetamine manufacture. | ||||||||||||||||
MDMA ("Ecstasy") should be reclassified from class A to B, according
to Chris Mullin, former chairman of the UK Commons home affairs
committee, who last week admitted that the law on the drug "is an
ass." Joined by Peter Lilley (former cabinet minister) and Simon
Hughes (Liberal Democrat spokesman), Mullin disclosed that evidence
did not show MDMA was as harmful as heroin or crack cocaine, which
along with MDMA, are also class A drugs. | ||||||||||||||||
And finally this week, a sad tale of toady capers. No, not the usual
servile prohibitionist toady again, but psychedelic-oozing toads of
the literal kind. Police and pet shops in Holland are looking for a
pair of stolen cane toads. The toads, filched from a shop in the
city of Leeuwarden, exude hallucinogenic liquid similar to LSD. Toad
lickers are advised licking toads may cause health problems, not to
mention trauma to the terrorized toads. | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
(18) HEROIN CLINICAL TRIAL GETS MPS' SUPPORT (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Hedy Fry, Libby Davies Say Harm Reduction Key | ||||||||||||||||
A clinical trial to provide heroin to users, pilot safe-injection sites and the conversion of two federal jails to treatment centres were among ground-breaking ideas supported Monday by an all-party parliamentary committee studying ways to tackle drug abuse. | ||||||||||||||||
"We're looking for a national drug strategy that fits across the
country," MP Randy White said at a news conference in Vancouver held
jointly with MPs Hedy Fry and Libby Davies. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
But Davies said she hopes that the national drug strategy that
Canada develops, using the committees recommendations, will "show
the U.S. that there are real alternatives." | ||||||||||||||||
"This strategy is a lot more realistic. And if the Americans don't
like, it, tough." | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
(19) SPY SHIP CARRIED DRUGS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
A North Korean spy ship sunk by Japan last year when it refused to
stop for coastguards was used to smuggle drugs to Yakuza gangsters,
Tokyo said yesterday. | ||||||||||||||||
Japan had already identified the ship, raised earlier this year, as
a North Korean spy vessel but yesterday Chikage Ogi, the transport
minister, said it delivered a third of a ton of stimulants to
Japanese gangsters in 1998. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
(20) LINA ORDERS PROBE ON SHABU FACTORY (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
INTERIOR Secretary and Dangerous Drug Board ( DDB ) chairman Joey
Lina Jr. Tuesday asked the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency ( PDEA
) to conduct a deeper investigation on the reported shabu laboratory
gutted down in Valenzuela City Monday night. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Report said firemen responding to a fire incident discovered some P1
million worth of shabu in a burning warehouse as well as some 50
drums of chemicals suspected of being used in the production of the
banned substance. | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
(21) LAW AN ASS ON ECSTASY, SAYS EX-MINISTER (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Ecstasy should be reclassified from class A to B, according to the
chairman of the Commons home affairs committee, who yesterday
claimed that the law on the drug "is an ass". | ||||||||||||||||
Chris Mullin, a former Home Office minister, said scientific
evidence showed ecstasy was not as harmful as heroin and crack
cocaine, which share its legal classification. Despite its ranking,
it was often "dabbled" in by youngsters who shared drugs, he told
MPs during a debate on government drugs policy. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Mr Mullin was backed by former Tory cabinet minister Peter Lilley
and by Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Simon Hughes in his call for
the reclassification of ecstasy. | ||||||||||||||||
He told MPs: "Half of all young people at some stage dabble in
drugs. I am in no doubt that drugs need to be categorised according
to the degree of harmfulness and as far as ecstasy is concerned ...
the science is clear." On ecstasy, he said "at present the law is an
ass". | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
(22) THE DRUG ADDICTS, THE PET SHOP BOYS AND A TALE OF MISSING TOADS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Dutch pet shops have been warned to be on the lookout | ||||||||||||||||
Police in the city of Leeuwarden, capital of the province of
Friesland, are hunting drug addicts who raided a shop specialising
in toads and reptiles, and stole three of its South American cane
toads. According to local media reports, addicts have been queueing
up to lick the toads' backs in several hostels for drug-abuse
victims. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Richard Mastenbroek, a pet shop owner, said: "I really fear for the
toads' welfare; the addicts who have taken them to lick their backs
for a high would have no idea of how to care for them. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
HOT OFF THE 'NET (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
REPORT OF THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON NON-MEDICAL USE OF DRUGS | ||||||||||||||||
POLICY FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUM: WORKING TOGETHER TO REDEFINE | ||||||||||||||||
http://www.parl.gc.ca/InfoComDoc/37/2/SNUD/Studies/Reports/snudrp02-e.htm | ||||||||||||||||
Safe Injection Sites Recommended by Commons Committee | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
MPs Call For Relaxing of Marijuana Laws | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
U.S. Fuming Over Ottawa Pot Proposal | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
CHRIS CLAY INTERVIEW | ||||||||||||||||
Chris Clay, who is part of the historical Caine, Clay & Malmo-Levine
Supreme Court Challenge of Canadian cannabis laws, gives us the inside
story on how he became involved with this historical and potentially
precedent setting case. | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
THE "NEW" COLOMBIAN HEROIN TRADE-HERE WE GO AGAIN | ||||||||||||||||
by Preston Peet - for DrugWar.com | ||||||||||||||||
Posted Dec. 13, 2002 | ||||||||||||||||
At the hearing "America's Heroin Crisis, Colombian Heroin, and How We
Can Improve Plan Colombia," held by the Committee on Government Reform,
(Dec. 12, 2002) one long-time prohibitionist publicly pondered what
might happen if profit motives were removed from the drug trade, and
another voiced his support for shooting down unarmed civilian
aircraft and dumping mass amounts of deadly mycoherbicides on the
country of Colombia and everything that lives there. | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
O, CANADA! (OH, THE EMBARRASSMENT!) | ||||||||||||||||
David Borden, Executive Director, , 12/13/02 | ||||||||||||||||
Though a critic of US drug policies, the US is still my home, its
government is mine, its leaders were elected by my fellow US citizens.
So I can't help but get a little embarrassed -- though mostly
entertained -- when United States drug warriors say ridiculous things
in other countries that make them look stupid. | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
CULTURAL-BAGGAGE RADIO SHOW | ||||||||||||||||
Friday, Dec. 13, Midnite CDT | ||||||||||||||||
ACLU attorney Greg Gladden will be our guest to discuss the drug laws, the "Fatherland" bill and many other aspects that impact our freedoms. | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
LETTER OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Rhode Island Reader Speaks Out About DARE | ||||||||||||||||
By Tom Angell | ||||||||||||||||
To the editor: | ||||||||||||||||
The goals of the D.A.R.E. program are admirable - nobody wants our
youth doing drugs. However, good intentions are no substitute for
real drug education. | ||||||||||||||||
The D.A.R.E. program uses scare tactics to influence children not to
try drugs. | ||||||||||||||||
Some students who realize that they've been lied to by their
D.A.R.E. officers about marijuana often make the mistake of assuming
that harder drugs like cocaine and heroin are relatively harmless as
well. | ||||||||||||||||
If we truly want to keep our kids safe, we must provide them with honest, accurate and reality-based drug education. Programs like D.A.R.E. that intend to scare our children out of using drugs will do nothing but cause more harm than they could ever prevent. | ||||||||||||||||
Thomas Angell, President, University of Rhode Island Students for
Sensible Drug Policy, Warwick, R.I. | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
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| ||||||||||||||||
FEATURE ARTICLE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
My Good Old Pickup Truck Broke Down (Again) - DrugSense Needs Your
Year End Contribution. | ||||||||||||||||
Dear DrugSense/MAP Supporter: | ||||||||||||||||
My 12 year old pick up is in the shop again. I'll probably have to put the $850 in repairs on my credit card and pay it off over time. After 7 years of mostly seven day weeks and countless hours of hard work in developing DrugSense/MAP I would have hoped to report a better fiscal picture for DrugSense/MAP in general, for our overworked and underpaid staff, and alas for yours truly. | ||||||||||||||||
Unfortunately such is not the case. While I've tried valiantly for
years to convince some of the major funding sources of our
exceptional value to the reform movement, I'm sorry to report that I
have been largely ineffective. Not to say that we have not received
any support of course, but our level of support has simply never
come close to the funding levels of other important organizations
within reform and, despite our gallant efforts and long hours, we
struggle mightily to make ends meet. This is especially true at year
end when our annual grant money has run out. | ||||||||||||||||
In my weaker moments, I look back wistfully to the days when I drove
late model cars, had an ocean view home, pulled down a six figure
salary, and even owned a race horse at one point. But that was long
ago and far away and, in my experience, trying to "save the world"
isn't a very good career choice for people who hope to pay the rent
and keep an aging vehicle running. | ||||||||||||||||
Bottom Line: The only option I can come up with is to come to you,
hat in hand, and again ask for your financial help, if you are able,
to keep our important work moving forward. | ||||||||||||||||
Contributing is easy. You can charge your contribution to your
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If you prefer to donate via check, please mail your checks payable | ||||||||||||||||
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Please be our partner in helping to save the world from the excesses
of the War on Drugs. | ||||||||||||||||
Our most sincere thanks, | ||||||||||||||||
Mark Greer and DrugSense/MAP Staff, Tom Angell, Chip Ausley, Jay Bergstrom, Mary Jane Borden, Ashley Clements, Matt Elrod, Van Estes (Doc Hawk), Jo-D Harrison, Steve Heath, Richard Lake, Jack Lebowitz, Terry Liittschwager, Philippe Lucas, Alexandra Meyerson, Derek Rea, Doug Snead, Larry Stevens, Josh Sutcliffe and Steve Young | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
QUOTE OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
"The whole of government consists in the art of being honest." | ||||||||||||||||
Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Adams | ||||||||||||||||
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Policy and Law Enforcement/Prison content selection and analysis by
Stephen Young (), Cannabis/Hemp content
selection and analysis by guest editor Jo-D Harrison | ||||||||||||||||
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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