| June 27, 2003 #306 | ||||||||||||||||
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Table of Contents
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THIS JUST IN (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
(1) ACTIVIST'S FELONY DRUG CONVICTION IS RESTORED (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
The 3rd District Court of Appeal has reinstated medical-marijuana
activist Steven Wynn Kubby's felony conviction for possessing
mescaline. The decision reverses a Placer Superior Court judge's 2001
ruling that reduced the conviction to a misdemeanor. | ||||||||||||||||
The state appellate court's unpublished decision Monday said Judge John
L. Cosgrove incorrectly reasoned that mescaline possession could be
treated similarly to a related charge against Kubby for possessing
psilocyn, or psychedelic mushrooms. | ||||||||||||||||
Cosgrove reduced the psilocyn conviction from a felony to a misdemeanor because the crime is considered under the law as a "wobbler" -- one that could be interpreted as either a felony or misdemeanor. | ||||||||||||||||
The state appeals court said rules of statutory interpretation "do not permit a court to rewrite (the law) and ignore its plain language, which unambiguously makes mescaline possession a felony." | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(2) COURT HALTS DRUG CROP SPRAYING (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
A Colombian Court Has Ordered The Suspension Of The US-Backed Aerial
Drug Eradication Programme. | ||||||||||||||||
The administrative tribunal of Cundinamarca ruled that spraying of coca crops must be stopped until a study is conducted to determine the effects of the chemicals on the environment and public health. | ||||||||||||||||
The programme is the backbone of the anti-drug war in Colombia, and the
hardline government of President Alvaro Uribe had vowed to spray more
drug crops than ever over the course of this year. | ||||||||||||||||
It remains to be seen whether the Colombian Government and the United
States will obey the court's ruling. But it could signal a severe blow
to the war on drugs. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(3) FEDS WITHHOLDING MONEY FROM STATES WITH MEDICINAL MARIJUANA (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Although voters in seven states have decided they want medicinal
marijuana use to be legal, some federal legislators are not very happy
with those constituents. | ||||||||||||||||
Legislation currently under review by a U.S. House committee would
withhold law enforcement money for states where medicinal marijuana is
legal. | ||||||||||||||||
As it's now written, HR 2086 states "The [White House drug policy] Director may direct the reallocation of up to 5 percent of funds available for a fiscal year for the Program, from State and local law enforcement agencies to Federal law enforcement agencies to assist in enforcement of Federal law in high intensity drug trafficking areas containing States where State law permits the use of marijuana in a manner inconsistent with the Controlled Substances Act." | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
The proposed federal legislation has some people concerned that the federal government may be violating states' and citizens' rights to govern themselves. But according to Tom Riley, spokesman for White House drug policy director John Walters, marijuana is more dangerous than voters in the states with legalized pot may realize. | ||||||||||||||||
"One of the duties of the drug czar is to oppose efforts to legalize
drugs," said Riley. "There's a concern in Congress that marijuana is
more harmful than most people perceive. They want to make sure this
agency keeps a focus on that." | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(4) STUDY: POT DOESN'T CAUSE PERMANENT BRAIN DAMAGE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Smoking marijuana will certainly affect
perception, but it does not cause permanent brain damage, researchers
from the University of California at San Diego said on Friday in a
study. | ||||||||||||||||
"The findings were kind of a surprise. One might have expected to see
more impairment of higher mental function," said Dr. Igor Grant, a UCSD
professor of psychiatry and the study's lead author. Other illegal
drugs, or even alcohol, can cause brain damage. | ||||||||||||||||
His team analyzed data from 15 previously published, controlled studies
into the impact of long-term, recreational cannabis use on the
neurocognitive ability of adults. | ||||||||||||||||
The studies tested the mental functions of routine pot smokers, but not
while they were actually high, Grant said. | ||||||||||||||||
The results, published in the July issue of the Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, show that marijuana has only a marginally harmful long-term effect on learning and memory. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
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Domestic News- Policy | ||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (5-9) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
An appeals court last week found that it's OK for law enforcement to
ban items associated with raves, like glowsticks and pacifiers, at
rave-like events. Those items may not get anyone high, but somehow
their suppression aids the fight against raves. | ||||||||||||||||
It's sometimes said that close only counts in horseshoes and
hand-grenades, but it seems close is apparently good enough for the
drug war too. A judge delivered a guilty verdict in an internet drug
sales case in which the substance sold was very much like a
prohibited substance, even though it wasn't identical. | ||||||||||||||||
And while the banned substance in that case, GHB, was once sold at
health food stores, another substance found in health food stores is
being touted as a tool to be used against addiction. In other news,
some researchers want to look at adolescent drug use as a
"developmental disorder," while Missouri adopted the harshest
methamphetamine laws in the nation. | ||||||||||||||||
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(5) JUDGES OK BAN ON TRAPPINGS OF RAVES (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
No Inalienable Right to Glow Sticks, They Say | ||||||||||||||||
Saying a federal judge overstepped his bounds by blocking the
government's ban on glow sticks and pacifiers during raves at the
State Palace Theater, an appeals court Friday tossed out a decision
that sided with the American Civil Liberties Union. | ||||||||||||||||
U.S. District Judge Thomas Porteous can't stop federal prosecutors
from enforcing a condition of a plea bargain made in the criminal
case against the rave promoters, a unanimous three-judge panel of
the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled. | ||||||||||||||||
The court sent the case back to Porteous to be dismissed and took a swipe at the ACLU. "Concerning the First Amendment, they have not explained the significance of vapor rub," Judge Rhesa Hawkins Barksdale noted, referring to the mentholated product that Ecstasy users sometimes inhale for an added sensation during raves. | ||||||||||||||||
Acting U.S. Attorney Jim Letten called the ruling a vindication for
the government, which he said went after raves in the interest of
public safety. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(6) JUDGE HANDS DOWN GUILTY VERDICT IN INTERNET DRUG CASE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Kevin and Ronald Brown of Tennessee Made More Than $800,000 Selling
Toxic Industrial Solvent | ||||||||||||||||
Kevin and Ronald Brown hit the jackpot when they schemed to run a
vast chemical distribution company out of a Tennessee basement,
cutting an industrial solvent with other ingredients and hawking the
volatile potion over the Internet for up to $75 per 16.9-ounce
bottle. | ||||||||||||||||
By their own admission, their slice of what had become a cottage industry made them more than $800,000 in a little more than a year, reaching some 1,300 clients in 47 states plus Puerto Rico -- people seeking a muscle enhancer or sex aid or simply to get high. | ||||||||||||||||
But a federal judge in Mobile ruled Tuesday that the brothers knew
or should have known that the chemical 1,4 butanediol, or BD, was
nearly identical to one banned by Congress and that selling it to
people as a drug was against the law. | ||||||||||||||||
U.S. District Judge Charles Butler Jr. handed down a ruling Tuesday
convicting the Browns following a three-day, non-jury trial that
ended June 2. The trial is believed to be the first associated with
Operation Webslinger, a nationwide sting last fall targeting
Internet sales of BD and related drugs. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(7) MUSC RESEARCH OFFERS HELP FOR COCAINE ADDICTS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Hope for cocaine addicts desperate to conquer their cravings could lie in research at the Medical University of South Carolina. | ||||||||||||||||
In research, which eventually might help cigarette smokers and
alcoholics as well, scientists at MUSC found that an amino acid
compound you can buy in a health food store prevents cocaine
cravings in laboratory rats. | ||||||||||||||||
Researchers hope studies in humans will provide solutions for people
in the grip of addictions. | ||||||||||||||||
Cocaine addiction "produces long-term, if not permanent changes in
the brain," said Peter Kalivas, who chairs the Department of
Physiology & Neurosciences at MUSC. | ||||||||||||||||
"And these changes in the brain are what make it very difficult to avoid relapse," he said. "The craving becomes almost a compulsion." | ||||||||||||||||
Kalivas authored the MUSC study published in the July issue of
Nature Neuroscience. The compound that proved so promising --
N-acetylcysteine -- is used as an antioxidant and as a remedy for
acetaminophen overdose. | ||||||||||||||||
It doesn't reconstruct the affected parts of the brain, Kalivas
said. But it restores cognitive control that enables the lab rats to
resist cues enticing them back to cocaine use. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(8) DRUG ADDICTION AS A DEVELOPMENTAL DISORDER (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
A new study from Yale suggests that drug addiction should be thought
of as a developmental disorder, because the changing circuitry of
teenagers' brains appears to leave them especially vulnerable to the
effects of drugs and alcohol. | ||||||||||||||||
Dr. R. Andrew Chambers of the Yale School of Medicine, lead author
of the article, said addictive drugs worked by stimulating parts of
the brain that are changing rapidly in adolescence. | ||||||||||||||||
In particular, Dr. Chambers said, the drugs tap into a neural
imbalance that may underlie teenagers' affinity for impulsive and
risky behavior. The circuitry that releases chemicals that associate
novel experiences with the motivation to repeat them develops far
more quickly in adolescence than the mechanisms that inhibit urges
and impulses. | ||||||||||||||||
As a result, he said, teenagers are not only more likely to experiment with drugs than other groups, but the experience also has more profound effects on the brain - and sometimes permanent ones. | ||||||||||||||||
The article, published in the June issue of The American Journal of Psychiatry, was based on a review of 140 earlier studies. Dr. Chambers wrote that although it had long been known that most addicts began using drugs in adolescence, most research into the mechanisms of addictions or treatment focused on adults. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(9) NEW BREW OF METH LAWS MAKES MISSOURI AN ANTI-DRUG LAB (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Some of the nation's toughest measures targeting methamphetamine
production were signed into Missouri law Tuesday. Now, more than
ever, the state will be watched by narcotics experts and
policymakers who want to stop the biggest drug explosion since crack
cocaine more than 15 years ago. | ||||||||||||||||
Missouri drug investigators say the meth made here is often twice as strong as meth found in other parts of the country because of a potent recipe. The new laws target key ingredients in that recipe. | ||||||||||||||||
Meth is a powerful stimulant that can be smoked, injected or taken in pill form. In recent years, use of the drug has exploded across the Midwest, especially in Missouri. The state leads the nation in meth raids and seizures, with 2,725 recorded last year. In Illinois, authorities made 525 seizures last year, up from about 229 the year before. Illinois now ranks ninth in the number of meth raids. | ||||||||||||||||
One of the new laws makes it harder to buy or shoplift ephedrine and
the more common pseudoephedrine, which is used in many | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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Law Enforcement & Prisons | ||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (10-13) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
A "get tough," self-promoting county sheriff from North Carolina is now getting more attention than he really wants. Gerald Hege is being investigated for a number of suspicious incidents involving the misuse of funds and authority. Readers of this space may recall Hege claims to target drugs, but was shocked and surprised when several of his employees were charged with drug corruption. | ||||||||||||||||
A Virginia sheriff faced other drug corruption accusations this
week. He allegedly attempted to derail an investigation into his own
son's drug dealing. In New York, police incompetence and arrogance
is being highlighted as more victims of "no-knock" raids come
forward to tell their stories. The stories are being shared in the
wake of a mistaken raid that led to a fatal heart attack in an
innocent woman. | ||||||||||||||||
And while its rare when American newspapers say anything bad about
drug courts here in the U.S., a Scottish newspaper is reporting
serious criticism of the exported versions. | ||||||||||||||||
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(10) HEGE PROBE FOCUSES ON MONEY, CRIME STATS AND POLITICS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Davidson County Sheriff Gerald Hege is being investigated for how he
has handled money and reported crime and whether he has let politics
interfere with his enforcement of the law, people interviewed by the
State Bureau of Investigation say. | ||||||||||||||||
Among other things, SBI agents are asking about the finances of
Hege's Blue Line Foundation and of the county DARE (Drug Abuse
Resistance Education) program during his administration and about
how he has spent drug-forfeiture funds obtained from county
government for conducting drug investigations, people interviewed
say. | ||||||||||||||||
As employees of the agency that compiles the annual state crime
report, SBI agents also are asking if the sheriff has mislabeled
crimes in the county so he can claim a 62 percent reduction in crime
since he took office. | ||||||||||||||||
Agents further are asking if Hege directed detectives to place the
investigation of the disappearance of former Davidson County Museum
of Art Director Mark Alley on the back burner because Alley's father
supported Roy Holman, Hege's Democratic opponent, in last year's
election. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Hege's office has employed several officers during his tenure to
conduct DARE classes in county elementary and middle schools. The
effort has been funded partly by the sale of Hege posters, action
figures and other memorabilia related to the sheriff. That has led
to criticism that Hege has used the DARE program to promote himself
politically. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(11) TESTIMONY: SHERIFF INTERFERED IN FEDERAL INVESTIGATION OF SON | ||||||||||||||||
James Edwin Falls, Son Of The Giles County Sheriff, Was Arrested On Federal Charges Of Distributing Cocaine And OxyContin June 8. | ||||||||||||||||
Shortly after his son was arrested on drug charges, Giles County
Sheriff Larry Falls threatened to fire any employee who cooperated
with a federal investigation that led to the charges, a federal
agent testified Monday. | ||||||||||||||||
The sheriff made the comment to one of his investigators following a
June 8 raid in which his 36-year-old son, James Edwin Falls, was
arrested on federal charges of distributing cocaine and OxyContin,
according to Terry Henderson of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms and Explosives. | ||||||||||||||||
Henderson also testified that Mike Falls, the sheriff's other son
and a captain for the Giles County Sheriff's Office, leaked
information about the identities of at least two confidential
informants to the wife of James Falls. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(12) MORE NYPD NO-KNOCKS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
New Yorkers Tell Their Tales of Botched Raids | ||||||||||||||||
A thundering boom in her Brooklyn apartment exploded into Jeanine
Jean's sleep. Shrieking, she grabbed her crying six-year-old son and
the phone, and leapt into the closet. | ||||||||||||||||
Somehow smoke was filling her home. She frantically dialed 911. But
that was futile, because it was the NYPD who had by then broken down
her front door, and tossed a stun grenade into the apartment in a
botched search for guns and a man nicknamed "Danger." They found
neither. | ||||||||||||||||
It was 1998, long before Harlem resident Alberta Spruill, 57,
suffered a fatal heart attack when police lobbed a stun grenade into
her home this May 16. In Spruill's case, officers were seeking drugs
and a man who lived elsewhere, who they later realized had already
been arrested. | ||||||||||||||||
Except for the cardiac arrest, the two incidents seem incredibly
parallel. | ||||||||||||||||
Yet they are identical to scores of similar stories emerging over
the last two weeks from individuals in communities of color who have
fallen prey to faulty and excessive police raids. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Presenting numbers backed up by incomplete data, Kelly testified
before a City Council hearing this month that about 13,000 warrants
were issued between January 2001 and May 2003, the vast majority
being no-knock. He estimated approximately 10 percent - or about
1,300 - yielded no evidence or arrests. | ||||||||||||||||
Councilmember Peter Vallone Jr., the chair of the public safety
committee, who sees the need for some policy reform, said many of
the 1,300 might be cases of removed evidence and that the numbers
could be worse. | ||||||||||||||||
Looking to deflate claims that no-knock raids occur more often in
communities of color, Kelly explained at the hearing that warrants
are issued in neighborhoods in which crime statistics are the
highest. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(13) REVEALED: DRUG COURT SCHEME A FAILURE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
A CENTRAL plank of the Scottish Executive's war against drugs, the
introduction of American-style courts to deal with offenders, can
today be revealed as a failure. | ||||||||||||||||
The courts are designed to offer a structured programme of
rehabilitation to offending addicts, but The Scotsman has been told
by court staff that: | ||||||||||||||||
Six out of ten addicts are not even turning up; | ||||||||||||||||
Offenders treat the scheme as a "laughing stock" and a "soft
option"; | ||||||||||||||||
The courts are short-staffed with an enormous workload and low
morale. | ||||||||||||||||
Opposition politicians said criminals were "cocking a snook" at the
Executive's flagship policy. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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Cannabis & Hemp- | ||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (14-18) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Good news from California this week. The State Senate has passed Assemblyman Mark Leno's resolution urging Congress to recognize Prop. 215, the state's medical marijuana law. Leno will now recruit the help of legislators from the 8 other states that have passed medical marijuana laws in taking his motion to Washington D.C. | ||||||||||||||||
Meanwhile in the U.K., a political uproar has developed around the
government's newly proposed cannabis policy. In a situation
frighteningly similar to Canada's new Cannabis Reform bill, Labour's
Criminal Justice bill - which proposes to reclassify cannabis as a
class C drug making personal possession a non-arrestable offense -
will also nearly triple the penalties for cultivation and
distribution, to a maximum of 14 years in prison. Further stirring
the controversy is Home Secretary David Blunkett's new Anti-Social
bill, which he has suggested may be amended to include the closure
of premises associated with the use of soft drugs for up to 3 months
time. With a bit more of this kind of "progressive cannabis law
reform", Western nations may as well just start shooting pot users
on sight; it might save us from the false hope of ever seeing
sensible, science-based drug policy reform. | ||||||||||||||||
And from Canada, a 2001 federal law allowing the Crown to seize
property used in the committing of a crime has resulted in the
seizure of a grow house in B.C. for the first time, and has sparked
a financial scrap between local municipalities, the feds and the
provinces; all of which are fighting a Hell's Angels style turf war
over the potential revenue from the seizure of homes that contained
grow-ops. So I guess that growing pot truly is profitable for the
government. | ||||||||||||||||
Court rulings in 3 Canadian provinces have struck down the laws around the personal possession of cannabis; is Quebec next? Montreal lawyer Pierre Cloutier, who is currently defending Quebec Cannabis Cup organizer and sponsor Alain Berthiaume, certainly hopes so. | ||||||||||||||||
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(14) STATE URGES CONGRESS TO RECOGNIZE POT LAW (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Last week the State Senate passed the resolution, AJR-13, in a 21-15 vote. On April 24, the State Assembly passed it by a vote of 42-32. | ||||||||||||||||
With the small victory in California won, Leno said he will enlist
the help of governors and legislators of the eight other
marijuana-friendly states in his crusade. | ||||||||||||||||
"The federal government has no business interfering with how state voters care for their dying and suffering citizens," Leno said. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(15) HOSTS OF U.K. POT PARTIES FACE 14 YEARS' JAIL (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
People who allow cannabis to be smoked at parties at their homes
could face a 14-year jail sentence under new laws designed to show
that the Government is not going soft on drugs. | ||||||||||||||||
Ministers have delayed the controversial reclassification of
cannabis from Class B to Class C until the end of the year to
coincide with the introduction of the harsh new penalties. The move
was originally planned for next month, but was postponed after
lobbying by police and anti-drug groups, who feared that the
Government was sending out the wrong message. | ||||||||||||||||
The tougher sentences will also affect universities which fail to stop students supplying each other with drugs at halls of residence, voluntary organisations working with drug users and even parents who tolerate the casual use of soft drugs by their children and friends. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(16) UPROAR OVER PLAN TO SEIZE DRUG (CANNABIS) HOMES (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
THE home secretary has sparked a row with fellow ministers by
proposing to allow police to seize the homes of cannabis users if
they are deemed to be a "serious nuisance". | ||||||||||||||||
Leaked cabinet papers reveal David Blunkett's plans to amend his Anti-social Behaviour Bill so that police could close and seal premises associated with soft drugs for up to three months. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(17) CANADIAN CITIES WANT THEIR CUT ON GROW OPS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Mayors from Port Moody and Coquitlam want a piece of the pie - the
lucrative grow-op pie, which the federal and provincial government
recently stuck their fingers in. | ||||||||||||||||
A grow-op seized in a Surrey residence last week became the first
home in B.C. to be turned over to the Crown, with both the federal
and provincial government sharing the assets. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Port Moody Mayor Joe Trasolini and Coquitlam Mayor Jon Kingsbury are
letting the federal and provincial governments know that cities
carrying out the drug busts and seizures should be compensated with
the seized property assets. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(18) SMOKED OUT IN CANADA (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
The courts are in an uproar. The cops don't know what to do. Life
couldn't be better for tokers. | ||||||||||||||||
When politicians do nothing, things get done. | ||||||||||||||||
Thus, de facto, decriminalized pot is just a shade shy of being a
fait accompli and Montreal lawyer Pierre Cloutier has this free
advice for local tokers: a) if busted, plead NOT guilty; and b) call
him*. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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International News | ||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (19-22) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Brushing aside criticism from U.S. prohibitionists, Health Canada
gave the go-ahead for a government-approved safe-injection facility
in Vancouver this week. The injection site, in Vancouver's
heroin-ridden east side, will employ a small nursing and addiction
counseling staff. The facility is expected to help curb HIV and
hepatitis infections. | ||||||||||||||||
The U.S. government continues to extradite foreign nationals to the U.S. for show trials and summary convictions in an effort to garner publicity and maintain budgets for U.S. drug warriors. Again last week, a servile Colombian government coughed up 12 more "drug traffickers". That makes 79 "smugglers" extradited so far this year from Colombia; expect more "drug lord" extraditions to be paraded before media as the U.S. 2004 election season approaches. | ||||||||||||||||
Gung ho prohibitionists in the U.S. would do well to remember the
Chinese example. Freedom-loving drug warriors in the U.S. are
forever singing praise to the communist Chinese government's weekly
executions of drug "dealers" as the final solution to the "drug
problem." Trouble is, even weekly executions (while making
prohibitionists happy), don't seem to have much of an effect on drug
sales. Last week was another reminder of the corrupting power of
prohibition as yet another Chinese anti-drugs official (a highly
decorated narcotics officer) was busted for corruption. Don't hold
your breath waiting for prohibitionists to see the link between
prohibition and police corruption any time soon. | ||||||||||||||||
From Europe, there's more evidence the "war on drugs" is largely a
cover for a war on cannabis. The UK government admitted again last
week that even as drug seizures soared to new heights in the
Kingdom, the "overwhelming bulk" of "drugs" seizures were actually
cannabis. | ||||||||||||||||
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(19) B.C SAFE-INJECTION SITE WINS POLICE IMMUNITY (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
VANCOUVER -- North America's first sanctioned injection site for
illegal drug-users could be up and running by September, after
Health Canada yesterday granted the proposed venue an unprecedented
exemption from police action. | ||||||||||||||||
"This is an opportunity to be the first health authority . . . to
establish, scientifically, whether supervised injection sites can
improve health outcomes and reduce the harm to drug users," said
Heather Hay, the Vancouver Community Director who will oversee the
site's operation. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
"We are two-thirds of the way through our renovations and we expect to be ready to open in September," said Viviana Zanocco, media relations officer with the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority. | ||||||||||||||||
Ms. Zanocco said the proposed site, located in the heart of the city's drug-ravaged Downtown Eastside, will contain a dozen seats for drug users to shoot up in a clean and safe environment. | ||||||||||||||||
She said at least one registered nurse, licensed practical nurse and addiction counsellor will be on duty at the site 24 hours a day. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
The goal of the safe injection site, the opening of which has
dominated local municipal politics for the past two years, is to
reduce the high number of fatal drug overdoses and the transmission
of diseases such as hepatitis and HIV. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Health Canada's exemption had been anticipated for some time. Many believe it was delayed because of strong objections from federal drug authorities in the United States, who are opposed to the idea. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(20) COLOMBIA SENDS 12 TO U.S. TO CONFRONT DRUG CHARGES (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
BOGOTA Colombia-- Colombia extradited 12 suspected drug traffickers
to the United States yesterday, bringing to 79 the number of
suspected smugglers President Alvaro Uribe's government has handed
over to U.S. custody since taking office in August. | ||||||||||||||||
Mr. Uribe, a close Washington ally, has intensified a U.S. backed
crop-spraying offensive to destroy drug crops and stepped up the
pace of arrests and extradition of drug smugglers to the United
States. | ||||||||||||||||
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(21) CHINESE NARCOTICS OFFICER BUSTED FOR DRUGS SMUGGLING (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
A Chinese police officer named a national hero for relentless campaigns
against drug trafficking gangs faces prosecution for smuggling heroin,
says the official Xinhua news agency. | ||||||||||||||||
Zhou Kun had captured more than 1000 drug smugglers, but in November
police caught two members of a trafficking ring who said they were
working for Zhou. Xinhua says he has confessed to smuggling narcotics
on repeated occasions. | ||||||||||||||||
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(22) POLICE DRUGS HAULS HIT NEW RECORD (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Ministers claimed yesterday that seizures of hard drugs had reached
an all-time high, after figures showed that the amount of crack
cocaine recovered had doubled in a year. | ||||||||||||||||
The 2001 police and customs figures published yesterday show that
class A drug seizures, which include heroin and ecstasy, rose by 10%
to 38,000 seizures against the figures for 2000. | ||||||||||||||||
But the overwhelming bulk of the 131,000 cases in which drugs were
recovered by the police and customs involved either cannabis resin -
59,000kg (130,000lb) - or herbal cannabis, 26,700kg. | ||||||||||||||||
A further 71,000 cannabis plants were seized in 2001, providing more evidence of the increase in home-grown production in Britain. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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HOT OFF THE 'NET (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
DEA nominee put on the spot by the Marijuana Policy Project | ||||||||||||||||
As an added bonus, MPP, with the help of Suzanne Pfeil, a medical
marijuana patient with post-polio syndrome, has revealed nominee Karen
Tandy, nominee for DEA administrator, to be nothing more than a coward.
After Tandy's hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Pfeil
waited patiently to hand her a letter. Instead of approaching Pfeil,
Tandy tried to sneak away through a back door. Undeterred, Pfeil
actually chased Tandy down the halls of Congress -- in her wheelchair
-- to hand-deliver her letter. To read about -- and see pictures of --
Pfeil's adventure, please see | ||||||||||||||||
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The Prince of Pot at the Ontario Police Headquarters, June 19th, 4:20pm | ||||||||||||||||
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| ||||||||||||||||
Footage of Marc Emery at the Tornoto Police Headquarters smoke-out
where Marc firmly establishes that there are no laws against the
personal possession of marijuana in Toronto! | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
An Isolated Voice in Brazil's Congress | ||||||||||||||||
The Narco News Interview with Senator Jefferson Peres, Legalization
Advocate / By Karine Muller, Narco News, June 24, 2003 | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
Skate for Justice 2003, http://skateforjustice.org/ | ||||||||||||||||
This event was an exhilarating experience. It was amazing to witness the sheer courage and spirit the skaters and bikers showed. | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
Submitted by Shawn Heller | ||||||||||||||||
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Tues, June 24, 2003 | ||||||||||||||||
A nationwide poll by Zogby International released today found that 41%
of Americans agree that "the government should treat marijuana more or
less the same way it treats alcohol: it should regulate it, control it,
tax it and only make it illegal for children." | ||||||||||||||||
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LETTER OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Marijuana Laws Have A Negative Impact | ||||||||||||||||
By Gary Storck | ||||||||||||||||
MADISON - I wonder what substance David Lee Gauthier might be indulging
in after reading his erroneous conclusions in his June 13 Forum letter,
"Relaxing drug laws is stupid." | ||||||||||||||||
Gauthier's claim that tobacco impairs memory is suspect and no link to
cancer from smoking marijuana has ever been proven. Marijuana is much
safer than tobacco. | ||||||||||||||||
Regarding the medicinal use of marijuana, unlike most over-the-counter
and prescription drugs, it has no lethal dose. Some people are allergic
to or intolerant of most prescription drugs used for pain relief.
Should these people suffer needlessly to send a message to children?
Children can tell the difference between substance abuse and medical
use. Marijuana use among youth actually declined after California
passed its medical marijuana law in 1996. | ||||||||||||||||
While most Western nations have stopped arresting pot smokers, the
United States is headed in the opposite direction, with over 700,000
arrested annually. | ||||||||||||||||
Marijuana prohibition is a counterproductive, harmful fraud. These laws
are doomed. The sooner they end, the better for taxpayers funding this
barbaric monstrosity, and for society, which bears the brunt of its
negative effects. | ||||||||||||||||
Gary Storck, | ||||||||||||||||
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FEATURE ARTICLE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Two-Year Court Fight Over Hemp Foods in Final Stages | ||||||||||||||||
Hemp Industry Association Files Brief to Keep Hemp Foods Legal | ||||||||||||||||
SAN FRANCISCO, June 26 /U.S. Newswire/ -- U.S. Court of Appeals for
the Ninth Circuit - On Tuesday, June 24, the Hemp Industries
Association (HIA), which represents the interests of the Hemp
Industry and encourages the research and development of new hemp
products, filed a brief in the Ninth Circuit asking for a review of
the Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) "Final Rule" regarding
hemp foods. If this new "Final Rule" were to take effect, it would
ban hemp seed and oil and consequently destroy the multimillion
dollar hemp food industry. | ||||||||||||||||
Due to a Court ordered Stay, hemp foods remain perfectly legal to
import, sell and consume while the Court hears arguments from the
HIA and DEA and renders a decision. | ||||||||||||||||
The HIA brief charges that the DEA's "Final Rule" should be
invalidated because the agency is exercising arbitrary and
capricious authority by attempting to outlaw hemp seed and oil
without holding formal hearings on the issue or finding any
potential for abuse. Because trace infinitesimal THC in hemp seed is
non-psychoactive and insignificant, Congress exempted non-viable
hemp seed and oil from control under the Controlled Substances Act
(CSA), just as Congress exempted poppy seeds from the CSA, although
they contain trace opiates otherwise subject to control. The brief
also charges that the DEA acted in an arbitrary and capricious
manner in exempting hemp seed mixed with animal feed, although
Congress made no such distinction in the CSA. | ||||||||||||||||
Additionally, the brief elucidates other major failures by the
DEA-namely, the lack of hearings on this issue and the failure to
comply with the Regulatory Flexibility Act, which requires assessing
effects of the proposed change on small businesses. The brief and
other court documents are available at | ||||||||||||||||
Final Legal Schedule in Hemp Food Fight | ||||||||||||||||
-- July 24, 2003: Deadline for DEA's response to HIA brief. | ||||||||||||||||
-- August 8, 2003: Deadline for HIA's reply to DEA's response. | ||||||||||||||||
-- September 17, 2003: Oral Arguments begin in San Francisco, Calif. | ||||||||||||||||
The "Final Rule," issued on March 21, 2003, is virtually identical
to an "Interpretive Rule" issued on October 9, 2001 that never went
into effect because of a Ninth Circuit Stay issued on March 7, 2002.
On March 28, 2003 the HIA, several hemp food and cosmetic
manufacturers and the Organic Consumers Association petitioned the
Ninth Circuit to once again prevent the DEA from ending the legal
sale of hemp seed and oil products in the U.S. and on April 16,
2003, the Ninth Circuit again issued a Stay. | ||||||||||||||||
North American hemp food companies voluntarily observe reasonable
THC limits similar to those adopted by European nations as well as
Canada and Australia. These limits protect consumers with a wide
margin of safety from any psychoactive effects or workplace
drug-testing interference (see hemp industry standards regarding
trace THC at http://www.testpledge.com). The DEA has hypocritically
not targeted food manufacturers for using poppy seeds (in bagels and
muffins, for example) even though they contain far higher levels of
trace opiates. The recently revived global hemp market is a thriving
commercial success. Unfortunately, because the DEA's Drug War
paranoia has confused non-psychoactive industrial hemp varieties of
cannabis with psychoactive "marihuana" varieties, the U.S. is the
only major industrialized nation to prohibit the growing of
industrial hemp. | ||||||||||||||||
Please visit http://www.VoteHemp.com to read scientific studies of hemp
foods and see court documents. | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
QUOTE OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
"Knowledge is more than equivalent to force." - Samuel Johnson | ||||||||||||||||
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Policy and Law Enforcement/Prison content selection and analysis by Stephen Young (), Cannabis/Hemp content selection and analysis by Philippe Lucas (), International content selection and analysis by Doug Snead (), Layout by Matt Elrod () | ||||||||||||||||
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