| May 28, 2004 #351 | ||||||||||||||||||
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Table of Contents
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THIS JUST IN (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
(1) ASSISTED SUICIDE DECISION COULD CAUSE PROBLEMS FOR ANTI-DRUG LAWS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
By now it has been widely reported that the Ninth Circuit Court of
Appeals "upheld" the assisted-suicide law in Oregon by a vote of 2-1
in Oregon v. Ashcroft yesterday. Not so: The validity of the Oregon
law was never at stake in the case. | ||||||||||||||||||
Regardless of whether Ashcroft or the State of Oregon prevailed in the
case, physician-assisted suicide would have remained legal within
Oregon's borders. | ||||||||||||||||||
The case is actually very narrow and arcane, but important nonetheless
- in a way that transcends the pros and cons of assisted suicide. The
question before the court was whether Ashcroft exceeded his legal
authority when, in 2001, he interpreted the federal Controlled
Substances Act (CSA) as prohibiting doctors from prescribing federally
regulated drugs for use in assisted suicide on the basis that
hastening death is not a "legitimate medical purpose" for the use of
drugs under federal law. | ||||||||||||||||||
The majority ruled that he did. First, it found that the states have
the near-exclusive right to regulate medical practice within their
borders and that Ashcroft's directive violated that constitutional
principle of federalism. But as dissenting justice J. Clifford Wallace
pointed out, even Ashcroft conceded that Oregon physicians would still
have been free to use lethal substances not regulated by the CSA to
help kill patients without running afoul of federal law. They would
merely have been precluded from using substances regulated by the feds
under the purview of the CSA. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(2) US NJ: PITMAN STUDENTS SPEAK OUT AGAINST DRUG TESTING PLAN (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
PITMAN -- A group of 20 high school students opposing a proposal that would require random drug testing for student athletes addressed its concerns to the Pitman Board of Education Tuesday night. | ||||||||||||||||||
"With this policy, you are guilty until proven innocent," said Mark
Arnone, 17, who does not compete in any varsity sports. "They are
holding athletes to a higher standard and saying that they are
automatically guilty until they pass a drug test proving their
innocence."
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Wayne Murschell, athletic director at the high school, presented the
31-page proposal to the board. It was formulated by a 17-member
committee made up of administrators, teachers, students and parents.
Murschell said the committee voted unanimously to recommend
implementation of the program. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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"Our entire goal is to give the young people in our school system an automatic out," Murschell said. "When they go to parties and are offered drugs, 'No, I might get tested on Monday or Tuesday' could be a response. We want them to have an opportunity to say no." | ||||||||||||||||||
Students speaking during the public hearing disagreed. | ||||||||||||||||||
Arnone, the junior class treasurer, cited a study done by the
University of Michigan that concluded that random testing of
students does not deter drug use. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(3) AUSTRALIA: CARR OPEN TO REDFERN INJECTING ROOM (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
NEW SOUTH WALES Premier Bob Carr has left the door open for
Australia's second legal heroin injecting room after acknowledging the
state Government must "think outside the square" in tackling the drug
epidemic. | ||||||||||||||||||
But Mr Carr said yesterday that an injecting room in the inner Sydney
suburb of Redfern would be considered only if there were unanimous
support from police and local indigenous leaders. | ||||||||||||||||||
"A precondition would be unanimity among Aboriginal leadership and the
police that this is the way forward," Mr Carr said. | ||||||||||||||||||
"I'm not dismissing it out of hand. We have got to think outside the
square when it comes to dealing with the awful problem that heroin
dependency creates for all of us."
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Mr Carr's comments yesterday came after several days of hearings by a NSW parliamentary committee, which focused in particular on the area in Redfern known as the Block - now the nation's biggest drug market. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(4) NEW ZEALAND: WHERE THERE'S SMOKE ... (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Cannabis makes you mellow, laid-back, carefree. That is the message
from the thousands of users in New Zealand as well as lobby groups
calling for the decriminalisation of the drug. | ||||||||||||||||||
But evidence from long-term studies around the world shows a clear
link between heavy and prolonged marijuana use and psychoses - serious
mental disorders in which people lose touch with reality - such as
schizophrenia and manic depression. | ||||||||||||||||||
Public attention is focusing on the role of cannabis following the
horrific slaying of Dunedin meat worker Kelvin Mercer's six-month-old
baby boy and estranged wife. | ||||||||||||||||||
The night before the murderous attack, which also saw Mercer slash the
throats of his two older daughters, the 32-year-old had sought help at
Dunedin Hospital for his heavy cannabis addiction. Mercer, who set
himself alight after the attack, died in hospital before anyone could
ask him why he did what he did. | ||||||||||||||||||
Police say it will be weeks before test results will be able to tell
them to what extent, if at all, Mercer was under the influence of
cannabis at the time of last Thursday morning's attack. But the
question of whether cannabis played a role in turning the once caring
father into a murderer is an important one for a country where the
pro-cannabis lobby has an increasingly strong voice. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
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Domestic News- Policy
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COMMENT: (5-9) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
The drug warriors are once again trying to hurt the live music
business. This time it's under the guise of a bill making its way
through congress called the CLEAN-UP Act. The would punish venue
owners and concert promoters if members of the audience use
marijuana. | ||||||||||||||||||
It's springtime in New York, which means the annual ritual of
legislative attempts to do something about the state's Rockefeller
drug laws is underway. Sadly, if reports are correct, there is
little agreement about precise changes to the laws, so they will
probably remain on the books for another year. | ||||||||||||||||||
Last week a California pain doctor was acquitted on several charges,
including murder, but that doesn't mean that his life, or the lives
of his patients, haven't been destroyed in the process. Finally, the
National Institute on Drug Abuse is funding studies into "meth
babies," and the press is already eating it up, even as studies
continue to refute the idea of "crack babies" that was popularized
nearly 20 years ago with hyped up media coverage. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(5) DRUG BILL MAKES BANDS PAY FOR FANS' POT USE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Promoters, Vendors Could Also Face Fines, Jail for Audience
Substance Abuse
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So you're at a music show, let's say Dave Matthews Band, when the
unmistakable smell of marijuana wafts your way. | ||||||||||||||||||
It's a scenario familiar to people who attend concerts regularly;
there's always somebody in the crowd who sneaks an illegal substance
past security. | ||||||||||||||||||
Under the terms of an anti-drug bill being considered by Congress,
Dave Matthews, his band, the show promoter, the bartender, and even
the guy who sells T-shirts could all be fined or jailed for that
fan's joint. | ||||||||||||||||||
The bill, known as The CLEAN-UP Act, has alarmed concert promoters,
musicians, deejays and nightclub owners across the nation. As the
summer concert season swings into high gear, they're fretting about
the bill, which they describe as an overly broad piece of
legislation that could put them out of business and strangle live
music. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(6) REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS CLASH ON NEW YORK DRUG LAWS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
One of the enduring mysteries here in recent years is why the state has been unable to overhaul the Rockefeller drug laws, which force judges to sentence drug offenders to lengthy prison terms that the three most powerful state officials, Gov. George E. Pataki and the leaders of both houses of the Legislature, agree are draconian. | ||||||||||||||||||
Officials came within a hair's breadth of rewriting the laws last
year, only to have the deal dissolve in the middle of the night
behind closed doors. | ||||||||||||||||||
This week, members of the Republican-controlled Senate and the
Democrat-controlled Assembly began negotiating with each other in
public. Their hearings offered a rare chance to see how the sausage
gets made in Albany. They laid bare some of their many policy and
political differences, and showed why even their broad areas of
agreement might not be enough to bring about change. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(7) MURDER CASE DISSOLVED, BUT SO DID DOCTOR'S LIFE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
EL CERRITO - With his mild manner and coifed white hair, Frank
Fisher doesn't seem like a guy who killed as many as nine people, as
the state once claimed. | ||||||||||||||||||
As it turns out, the doctor wasn't really part of what investigators once pronounced "a highly sophisticated drug-dealing operation." | ||||||||||||||||||
He's just a 50-year-old doctor, Harvard-trained, who has lost his practice and his assets, a man who's resorted to living in his parents' cramped home as the result of a five-year battle to prove he is not a killer, not a drug dealer, not guilty of Medi-Cal fraud. | ||||||||||||||||||
One of the final volleys in that battle came last week, when a jury
in Redding acquitted Fisher on eight misdemeanor counts of Medi-Cal
fraud. | ||||||||||||||||||
The verdict marked the prosecution's latest failure to make any of
its allegations stick, and the apparent end of state efforts to
prosecute Fisher on criminal charges stemming from his once-booming
medical practice in the Redding area. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(8) UNBORN SUFFER EFFECTS OF MOTHERS' METH USE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Elizabeth took her first hit of meth before she was born. It was a toe-curling experience, her grandmother, Sandy Chamberlain, said. | ||||||||||||||||||
The exposure to methamphetamine is thought to have caused her toes
to form at an angle, one of the more benign effects of her mother's
drug use, Chamberlain said. | ||||||||||||||||||
Now 4 years old, Elizabeth has speech difficulties and behavioral
problems, including unprovoked bouts of anger. She is one of a
growing number of children born each year with prenatal exposure to
meth. | ||||||||||||||||||
Researchers think thousands of Oklahoma babies are born each year with symptoms of meth exposure. Many more likely go unnoticed. | ||||||||||||||||||
Long-term studies Oklahoma researchers are doing long-term studies
to find out how the exposure affects a child from birth to
adulthood. | ||||||||||||||||||
A National Institute of Drug Abuse study involves researchers from
the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine in Tulsa and five
other universities nationwide. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(9) CRACK BABIES DO NOT HAVE LOWER IQ: STUDY (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Children born to mothers who used
cocaine heavily during pregnancy do not seem to have lower IQ scores
than their peers, although they may have problems with specific
skills, according to a report released Tuesday. | ||||||||||||||||||
Placing these so-called "crack babies" in foster care or adoptive
homes, however, seems to compensate for some of those problems, the
study findings suggest. | ||||||||||||||||||
During the cocaine epidemic in the U.S. in the late 1980s and early 1990s, many experts predicted that children exposed to cocaine in the womb would suffer lasting developmental impairment. | ||||||||||||||||||
"It's important to dispel the myth of the crack-exposed baby that condemned them to hopeless status," lead author Dr. Lynn T. Singer, of Case Western Reserve University in Ohio told Reuters Health. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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Law Enforcement & Prisons
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COMMENT: (10-13) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
The Orlando Sentinel published a troubling but fascinating
investigation into the way in which the number of people killed by
police are tracked. The newspaper showed that there is no methodical
system in place for tracking such deaths, and that the deaths are
substantially under-reported in official statistics. A question that
wasn't asked in the article: How many of those killings are related
to the drug war?
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The U.S. prison system also faced some unpleasant scrutiny through a
new report which suggests that prison populations distort
demographic figures within states. Those distortions leave counties
that house prisoners with more political influence than the counties
from which prisoners are taken. A different kind of scandal in U.K.
prisons, where critics say prison officials are letting drug using
inmates avoid drug tests in order to keep the percentage of positive
drug tests low. Finally, another week, another corrupt cop story.
This time it's a Kansas sheriff who tried to sell the cocaine he
found in an impounded car. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(10) KILLINGS BY POLICE UNDER-REPORTED (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Special Report: Deadly But Legal
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Area agencies not required to give Justice their numbers | ||||||||||||||||||
You can find reams of statistics for practically every aspect of law
enforcement in the United States, from the kind of holsters officers
are wearing when they're assaulted to the number of murders
committed every year using blunt objects. | ||||||||||||||||||
But there's one statistic you won't find among all those numbers: an accurate accounting of how often police officers use deadly force. | ||||||||||||||||||
The available nationwide statistics are so inaccurate that the numbers for Central Florida police agencies from 1999 through 2002 reported only a quarter of the actual fatal shootings by police, a review by the Orlando Sentinel and WESH-NewsChannel 2 has found. | ||||||||||||||||||
In other words, three out of four fatal shootings by Central Florida officers did not show up in federal reports for those four years. | ||||||||||||||||||
Critics said there are no reliable figures on killings by police
because some police agencies worry that a full accounting of deaths
by officers would be embarrassing. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(11) THE PRISON EFFECT ON POLITICAL LANDSCAPE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
DURHAM, N.C. - The U.S. prison boom of the past 30 years - which has nearly doubled the number of state prisons to more than 1,000 and increased the nation's prison population from 218,000 to 1.3 million - has had widely recognized economic, political, and social effects. | ||||||||||||||||||
But one important political effect of the forced relocation of millions of inmates has been largely overlooked: The dilution of the urban black vote to the benefit of rural white communities. | ||||||||||||||||||
A new Urban Institute report shows that inmates tend to come from
regions that are demographically distinct from those in which their
prisons are located. And because the Census Bureau counts prison
inmates as residents of the legislative districts in which they're
incarcerated, the relocation of inmates - who are not allowed to
vote in 48 states - skews both the distribution of government funds
and the apportionment of legislative representation. | ||||||||||||||||||
This is a particularly grievous injustice in an era in which presidential and legislative races are won by razor-thin margins. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(12) HOW JAILS COVER UP THE TRUE EXTENT OF DRUG ABUSE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Prison officers are deliberately failing to test inmates who are
taking drugs in an attempt to conceal the extent of substance abuse
in Britain's jails. | ||||||||||||||||||
An investigation by The Sunday Telegraph has uncovered evidence that
a secret policy is being operated by staff in which prisoners who
are not using drugs are tested repeatedly, while others who are
thought to be using drugs are selected for tests far less
frequently. | ||||||||||||||||||
The aim is to increase the proportion of negative results recorded for a prison, which in turn means that official government figures record a lower incidence of drug abuse in jails than is the case. | ||||||||||||||||||
The covert practice was disclosed to this newspaper in tape-recorded
interviews by senior officials, including a former prison governor
and a former head of prison security. | ||||||||||||||||||
Both reported that there was widespread collusion to give a false
impression of the level of drug use in jails and to help the Prison
Service meet government targets for reducing abuse. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(13) EX-SHERIFF GUILTY IN DRUG SCHEME (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
A former Kansas sheriff was convicted Wednesday on federal charges
of selling cocaine that had turned up in a seized car after a
sheriff's auction. | ||||||||||||||||||
Curtis L. Bender, 37, of Lawrence, was convicted in U.S. District
Court in Wichita of conspiracy to possess cocaine with the intent to
distribute it, attempting to distribute cocaine, possessing a
firearm during a drug trafficking crime and two counts of
distributing cocaine. | ||||||||||||||||||
Bender, the former Trego County sheriff, faces as much as 40 years
in prison on the most serious charge - attempting to distribute 1.92
pounds of cocaine. Sentencing is scheduled Sept. 13.
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The drugs had been hidden in a 1994 Dodge Intrepid that a couple
bought at a sheriff's auction. After the sale, the buyers found the
cocaine and turned it over to Bender. | ||||||||||||||||||
Prosecutors said that rather than destroy the drug, Bender conspired
in March 2003 to distribute it in Trego and Ellis counties. Hays is
in Ellis County; Trego is the next county to the west. | ||||||||||||||||||
Someone tipped off the Kansas Bureau of Investigation about Bender's intentions and authorities had someone buy some of the drugs. Prosecutors said Bender, who was carrying a gun, tried to distribute the cocaine to an undercover officer on March 25, 2003. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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Cannabis & Hemp-
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COMMENT: (14-17) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Even as Britain settles into a somewhat more relaxed cannabis laws, some people still can't accept the early stages. British police are being sued over the 2001 policy in Lambeth that directed officers to stop arresting people caught with small amounts of pot. Also in Britain, an entrepreneur plans to continue selling cannabis seeds out of his shop, even as an MP looks to curb the practice. | ||||||||||||||||||
Medical marijuana reform could be coming to Sri Lanka, where a
government minister has raised the issue, and the government is now
expected to study it. And, in the U.S., 82-year-old comedian Rodney
Dangerfield has earned our respect for coming out as a daily pot
smoker. He said he's been smoking since 21, so it didn't seem to
hurt his career. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(14) POLICE SUED OVER 'SOFTLY, SOFTLY' CANNABIS POLICY (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
The Metropolitan Police is being sued over its "softly, softly"
approach to cannabis possession. | ||||||||||||||||||
Papers have been lodged in the High Court claiming the controversial
policy -- launched in Lambeth, south London, in July 2001 -- fuelled
crime. | ||||||||||||||||||
The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) is also named in the application lodged by Lambeth resident Patrick Strahan. | ||||||||||||||||||
ACPO issued guidelines to the 43 police forces in England and Wales
on when to arrest and when not to arrest cannabis-users following
recent reclassification of the drug. | ||||||||||||||||||
Under the "softly, softly" scheme brought in by Met Deputy Assistant
Commissioner Brian Paddick -- who was then Lambeth's police chief --
people caught with small amounts of cannabis were given a formal
warning rather than being arrested and charged. | ||||||||||||||||||
Hundreds of hours of police time were saved as a result, allowing
police to tackle street crime and harder drugs. | ||||||||||||||||||
But opponents argued the experiment led to more drug dealers and users moving into the area and a boom in "drug tourism". | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(15) SHOP BOSS DEFENDS CANNABIS SALES (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
It looks like an ordinary packet of seeds available in any garden
centre. | ||||||||||||||||||
But the white envelope contains White Widow cannabis seeds which are
perfectly legal unless they are germinated and grown into plants.
And anyone can buy them, along with magic mushrooms, in Planet Bong
in Leamington's Regent Street. | ||||||||||||||||||
A Conservative MP Peter Luff this week called for the loophole in
the law which allows this to be closed but shop owner David
Clayton-Wright said he was not doing any harm. | ||||||||||||||||||
Mr Clayton-Wright said: "If the law changed tomorrow, we would stop
selling them. But while it's legal we don't see any reason why we
should stop. We recognise Leamington is a historic town and the town
planners and local constabulary can come and talk to us at any time
about our products."
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Mr Clayton-Wright said he sells the seeds and mushrooms as novelty
items and checks customers are not going to use them to produce
drugs, know the law and are over 18-years-old. | ||||||||||||||||||
Planet Bong originally opened in Clemens Street three years ago and as well as selling Fair Trade clothes and furniture, the shop has an entire room devoted to bongs, devices used for smoking cannabis, which are kept in glass cases normally found in jewellery stores. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(16) CANNABIS CULTIVATION: RELAXING THE STRONG ARM OF THE LAW (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
The recent media reports of the Ministry of Indigenous Medicine
moving to legalise limited cultivation of cannabis for the usage of
Ayurvedic practitioners were of considerable interest to those in
the practice. | ||||||||||||||||||
And to the public - who had been aware that cannabis is categorised
as a "dangerous drug" in Sri Lanka and that its cultivation,
production, possession, sale and trafficking amounted to a criminal
offence. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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"There is no Bill as yet. The Minister of Indigenous Medicine has
only made certain suggestions," said W.E. Karunasena, Secretary to
the newly established Ministry of Indigenous Medicine, in an attempt
to squash wild surmises. "Our first step is to formulate a National
Policy document for the indigenous medicine sector which will become
part of the National Health Policy. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(17) GONE TO POT (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Rodney Dangerfield Finally Gets a Little Respect
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You may be wondering what Rodney Dangerfield, at the age of
eighty-two, after nearly a lifetime in the business of making other
people laugh, is up to these days. Mainly, he's bathrobed and
hanging out in his airy, ultradeluxe twenty-first-floor apartment in
Los Angeles, smoking pot. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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Back at the table, Rodney lifts his big head and says, "You want to
smoke a little shit? I don't know how good this is. I just got it.
Decent shit costs you a minimum of $500 an ounce. As a kid I bought
pot for $25 an ounce. An ounce! Oh, everything's insane. Oh,
everything's wild!"
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He hands me a joint, fires it up, then fires one up for himself. He
says he's been getting high since he was twenty-one. He says he once
got stoned at the White House, during the Reagan years. He says that
about two years ago, during a heart-attack scare, after being
wheeled into the intensive-care unit at an L.A. hospital, he lit up
a joint in the bathroom and caught holy hell for it. He says that
the only days he isn't smoking pot are the days when he's in surgery
or similarly indisposed; most recently, he went under the knife to
have the superficial temporal artery near his left ear inserted into
the middle cerebral artery of his Rodney brain, in a high-risk,
high-cost, no-laughs procedure known as an extracranial-intracranial
brain bypass. "The surgeon who did that one calls Rodney his
Picasso," says Joan. Joan also says that she's a good Mormon and
never gets high with her pothead husband. Rodney says that he's a
legal pothead these days, having received doctor's orders to smoke
the stuff, mostly to control his high blood pressure. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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International News
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COMMENT: (18-21) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
From British Columbia, Canada this week, a new study shows that the Vancouver shortage of addiction treatment and detox beds was linked with spread of HIV. The Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS researchers reported addicts who tried but failed to get into treatment were about a third more likely to share needles than were other addicts. | ||||||||||||||||||
The government of the Scottish capital city of Edinburgh has bestowed upon the people a new blessing: a grand poo-bah of prohibition: a municipal drug czar, the Edinburgh Evening News reported this week. Hired to lead the glorious "fight against drugs," the new tsar will be a bureaucratic liaison, doing his part to make "projects across the city work together and share information." Expect the admitted "figurehead" bureaucrat to achieve exactly nothing: in the U.S. other drug czars merely attend to higher rates of hard-drug usage, as they give fiery prohibitionist sermons to rally the faithful. | ||||||||||||||||||
Meanwhile in Scotland, government's arrest and seizure figures are up: but the price of hard drugs are at historic lows. This is a pattern seen repeated in prohibitionist regimes: police boasts of success ring hollow as more and bigger busts indicate increased supplies. Prices fall as markets saturate. Those who want illegal drugs are able to obtain all they care to buy. This shows just how badly prohibition has failed. The solution, according to police? New laws that allow police to take property from those suspected of drug offences, without the fuss of having to prove anything. Being a prohibitionist means never having to say you're sorry. | ||||||||||||||||||
In the Philippine city of Davao, Mayor Rodrigo Duterte is miffed.
Duterte has been busy, cheerleading the Davao Death Squad's wholesale
slaughter of drug suspects (April 29: "Shoot them in the head...They
deserve to die.") Duterte is now chafing at the Commission on
Elections (Comelec) requirement that even he, the mayor-elect, must
take a drug test. Duterte was insulted at "the manner by which
Comelec officials in the city have demanded that he submit the
required drug test results," according to a report last week in the
Philippine Star. Comelec officials say that even winning candidates
can't assume office June 30, if they don't provide drug test results.
Duterte counters that no punishment is listed for candidates testing
positive. Duterte's hypocrisy -- balking at a drug test for himself
while encouraging death squads to murder drug suspects -- seems not
to matter much to Davao City voters. Duterte won by a 2-to-1
landslide in the most recent elections, even as voters knew he
refused to take a drug test. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(18) B.C. DETOX BED SHORTAGE HELPS SPREAD HIV, STUDY SUGGESTS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Addicts Who Try To Get Treatment And Fail Are More Likely To Share
Needles
| ||||||||||||||||||
A shortage of addiction treatment and detox beds in Vancouver may be
contributing to the spread of HIV in the city, according to a new
study. | ||||||||||||||||||
The study, by researchers at the B.C. Centre for Excellence in
HIV/AIDS, found that drug addicts who tried to get into treatment
programs but failed were 29-per-cent more likely to share their
needles than other addicts, putting them at greater risk of
contracting the human immunodeficiency virus. | ||||||||||||||||||
The researchers tracked close to a thousand HIV-negative injection
drug users in Vancouver from May 1996 to May 2002 who weren't
already in treatment. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(19) CAPITAL IS THE FIRST TO GET OWN DRUGS TSAR (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
EDINBURGH is set to become the first Scots city to get its own drugs
and alcohol "tsar". | ||||||||||||||||||
The move is in response to the growing problems of drugs and alcohol
in the Capital. | ||||||||||||||||||
Latest figures show a worrying rise in the number of drug-related
deaths in Edinburgh. In the first three months of 2004, 11 people
died as a result of drug abuse - nearly half the death toll, of 27,
for the whole of 2002. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
| ||||||||||||||||||
The new "tsar" will be tasked with leading the fight against drugs
and alcohol misuse by ensuring the various projects across the city
work together and share information. | ||||||||||||||||||
The figurehead will also be expected to come up with new ways of
tackling the scourge of substance abuse. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(20) DRUGS BATTLE EVER HARDER AS MENACE TAKES ON NEW GUISE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
According to some in police circles, the maxim "if it ain't broke,
don't fix it" could easily be applied to the Scottish Drug Enforcement
Agency (SDEA). They argue that, since its inception in June 2000, the
organisation has successfully carved out an international reputation
for effective, intelligence-led policing. | ||||||||||||||||||
Admirers of the organisation also argue that you do not need police
jargon or political spin to embellish the SDEA's achievements - you
just need to look at the statistics. In the past year, the agency has
seen a four-fold increase in the weight of class-A drug seizures, and
a 22 per cent increase in arrests. | ||||||||||||||||||
This may all sound like a cut-and-dried success story in the battle against organised crime, but the reality is very different. | ||||||||||||||||||
The truth is that drug seizures north of the Border have increased
largely because there are simply more illegal substances on the
streets. At the same time, the street price of class-A substances in
Glasgow and Edinburgh has significantly fallen. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
| ||||||||||||||||||
During an interview with The Scotsman Mr Pearson, a former assistant chief constable with Strathclyde Police, said he was still "acclimatising" to the political aspects of his new role. | ||||||||||||||||||
High up on his agenda is the Proceeds of Crime Act, which, since its
inception last year, has seen the seizure of millions of pounds
worth of assets from criminals across Scotland, the profits from
which have been earmarked by the Executive for rehabilitation
programmes. | ||||||||||||||||||
According to Mr Pearson, as well as assisting drug rehabilitation
and community projects, the assets the police seize should also be
ploughed back into crime-fighting. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
| ||||||||||||||||||
"As the SDEA, our running costs are UKP 21 million a year, and as
SSOCA they will be much higher than that. Fundamentally, we want to
be able to pay for ourselves by seizing the assets from serious and
organised crime. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
| ||||||||||||||||||
He went on: "For example, technology can give criminals a huge
advantage, and as things stand we are forced to hire external
private sector help in key investigations. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
| ||||||||||||||||||
Another concern is the falling price of drugs. A recent "shopping
list" compiled by London-based charity DrugScope, revealed
Birmingham, Liverpool and Glasgow as the cheap drugs centres of the
UK. | ||||||||||||||||||
These days a gram of heroin can fetch as little as UKP 30, with the same quantity of cocaine costing between UKP 40 and UKP 45. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(21) DUTERTE DARES COMELEC TO CHALLENGE HIS ASSUMPTION OF OFFICE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
DAVAO CITY -- Mayor Rodrigo Duterte yesterday dared the Commission
on Elections (Comelec) to stop his assumption into office by the end
of June following his refusal to take the drug test required for
candidates in the May 10 elections. | ||||||||||||||||||
Duterte, who garnered over 315,000 votes, won by an overwhelming
margin of over 160,000 votes over his rival, former mayor Benjamin
de Guzman. He was proclaimed last May 16 along with the other
winning candidates in the city's local elections. | ||||||||||||||||||
The Comelec ruled, however, that winning candidates who have not
submitted their drug test results should not assume office by June
30. The mayor stressed that the drug test requirement for those
| ||||||||||||||||||
Duterte likewise maintained that no punitive actions have also been
stipulated against candidates found to be positive of using illegal
drugs. | ||||||||||||||||||
The mayor admitted he was particularly irked by the manner by which
Comelec officials in the city have demanded that he submit the
required drug test results, otherwise he cannot assume office on
June 30. | ||||||||||||||||||
As this developed, Duterte reportedly decided to stop giving assistance to the Comelec office in the city. According to City Administrator Wendel Avisado, the city government provides not only funding for the operations of the city Comelec office but also hired 50 additional staff to augment the agency's lack of manpower. | ||||||||||||||||||
The mayor said he will continue to refuse Comelec's ruling and shall push through with his assumption of a new term of office on June 30. | ||||||||||||||||||
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HOT OFF THE 'NET (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
MORE VIDEO FROM THE "BEYOND PROHIBITION" CONFERENCE IN VANCOUVER
| ||||||||||||||||||
Recent additions include Jeffrey Miron, Professor of Economics
at Boston University, and Walter McKay of Law Enforcement Against
Prohibition (LEAP). | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
BULLSHIT
| ||||||||||||||||||
Penn & Teller, challenge the U.S. drug war on its own people, backed
up with facts and a good sense of humour. | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
COGNITIVE OUTCOMES OF PRESCHOOL CHILDREN WITH PRENATAL COCAINE EXPOSURE
| ||||||||||||||||||
The new Journal of the American Medical Association has an article that will be of interest, "Cognitive Outcomes of Preschool Children with Prenatal Cocaine Exposure." An abstract is available at: | ||||||||||||||||||
A pdf copy of the article is available at:
| ||||||||||||||||||
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WORLD NO TOBACCO DAY 2004
| ||||||||||||||||||
In May 2003, the World Health Organization (WHO) took a historic step.
Completing five years of work that brought together scientific
certainty and political will around a set of global rules for tobacco
sales, promotion and consumption, the Organization's 192 Member States
unanimously adopted the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control
(FCTC). | ||||||||||||||||||
http://www.who.int/tobacco/areas/communications/events/wntd/2004/en/ | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
GLOBAL 2004 MILLION MARIJUANA MARCH
| ||||||||||||||||||
This slideshow with ganja music highlights photos uploaded to the web
from activists countries around the world on their participation in
the Million Marijuana March, May 1st. | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
CULTURAL BAGGAGE RADIO SHOW
| ||||||||||||||||||
05/25/04: Congressman Conyers
| ||||||||||||||||||
The Drug Truth Network Program features in-depth interviews with US
Congressman John Conyers comparing the Iraq abuses with US drug war
prisoner abuses. | ||||||||||||||||||
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JUNE 4 DAY OF ACTION ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA
| ||||||||||||||||||
Join us to stop federal agents from arresting AIDS and cancer patients who use marijuana to relieve their pain and suffering. The Alliance and other drug policy reform groups have chosen Friday, June 4th for a National Day of Action on Medical Marijuana. | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
FILL THE HILL - FREEDOM MARCH ON PARLIAMENT HILL
| ||||||||||||||||||
On Saturday, June 5, 2004 Canadians from across the country will stage an unprecedented political demonstration on Parliament Hill. Endorsed by the B.C. Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA), Fill the
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LETTER OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Drug War Strategy II
| ||||||||||||||||||
By Clifford Schaffer
| ||||||||||||||||||
In an effort to bolster the "team," the Drug Strike Force went out
and signed the Drug Enforcement Administration to a short-term
contract. The DEA has never succeeded in stopping any more than 10
percent of the drugs on the market, even by the most optimistic
estimates. | ||||||||||||||||||
The Drug Strike Force hopes that this solid .100 or less hitter will
greatly improve their winning percentage. Naturally, the Drug Strike
Force will not focus on the overall percentage of wins but will
instead highly publicize every bloop single and accidental score. No
matter what happens, every member of the team will be deemed a hero,
even when they wind up with a winning percentage that wouldn't get
them into the minor leagues. | ||||||||||||||||||
Yeah, this will really work out great. Keep up the good media work.
It is the only success they will ever see. | ||||||||||||||||||
Clifford Schaffer, director, DRCNet Online Library of Drug Policy,
Agua Dulce, Calif. | ||||||||||||||||||
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| ||||||||||||||||||
FEATURE ARTICLE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
How To Prevent Cannabis-Induced Psychological Distress ... in
Politicians
| ||||||||||||||||||
The Lancet
| ||||||||||||||||||
Cannabis can cause anxiety, agitation, and anger among politicians.
The consequences of this cannabis-induced psychological distress
syndrome (CIPDS) include over-reaction with respect to legislation and
politics and a lack of distinction between use and misuse of cannabis.
In times of a war against drugs, this distinction might even be
regarded as unpatriotic, as irresoluteness in the face of the enemy.
One trend associated with CIPDS involves taking away the driving
licence of people who drive and are discovered to have inactive
tetrahydrocannabinol metabolites in their urine. In a more severe
state of paranoia even medicinal use can be perceived as a threat to
society, since it might "destabilize the societal norm that drug use
is dangerous," ignoring the fact that many prescription and
over-the-counter drugs are potentially harmful. Exaggerated laws on
cannabis made by anxious individuals could be regarded as a modern
version of the generational conflict. | ||||||||||||||||||
Rationality and factuality are needed to calm down politicians
affected by CIPDS. That cannabis might cause infertility, cancer,
cognitive decline, dependency, traffic accidents, and heart attacks,
and that it can lead to the use of more dangerous drugs, are all
arguments that have been used to justify the war on cannabis. Drugs
can be harmful, whether they are legal or illegal, but claims about
the dangers of cannabis are often overstated. | ||||||||||||||||||
One main justification for today's war on cannabis is its possible detrimental effect on the mental health and social wellbeing of adolescents. In this week's Lancet, John Macleod and colleagues show that the causal relation is less certain than often claimed, and point out several common misunderstandings about the difficulties encountered when studying drug use, such as the limits of confounder adjustment. The results of one often-cited Swedish study, for example, indicate a crude odds ratio of 6.77 for schizophrenia risk at age 26 years in individuals who used cannabis more than 50 times before age 18 years. This finding suggests cannabis is an important contributor to schizophrenia. After adjustment for several possible confounders, however, the risk decreased to 3.71, a strong indication of residual confounding -- i.e., the presence of factors that would further reduce the risk if included in the statistical model but that could not be included because of a lack of data. | ||||||||||||||||||
Another review details the findings of an investigation into the
association between cannabis and psychosis on the basis of five
longitudinal studies. The authors conceded that only one of these
studies was able to record whether prodromal manifestations of
schizophrenia preceded cannabis use. The results of the study
indicated that "cannabis users at age 18 years had elevated scores
on the schizophrenic symptom scale only if they had reported
psychotic symptoms at 11 years", and that people who used cannabis
at age 15 years had a higher risk for adult schizophreniform
disorder at age 26 years even if psychotic symptoms at age 11 years
were controlled for. The researchers concluded that cannabis was a
causal factor for psychosis in "vulnerable youths". | ||||||||||||||||||
There is some reason to believe that cannabis contributes to psychosocial problems in adolescents and young adults, and no responsible adult would want young people to take drugs. There is no question that this issue is an important candidate for education and prevention, but there is a fierce debate on the place repressive measures should have in this context. There is little reason to believe that criminalisation has had a strong effect on the extent of cannabis use by young people. Moreover, prohibition itself seems to increase the harmfulness of drug use and cause social harm. | ||||||||||||||||||
By stopping all cannabis users from being treated as criminals, I
believe this year's change by the British Government of its cannabis
law (a declassification from class B to C) is a sensible attempt to
balance the possible harms caused by cannabis and its prohibition.
The concern expressed by Peter Maguire of the British Medical
Association and others, that "the public might think that
reclassification equals safe," is based on the wrong assumption that
cannabis became illegal because its use is unsafe and dangerous.
Many unsafe activities are legal, including skiing downhill, having
sex, drinking beer, eating hamburgers, and taking aspirin. Cannabis
did not become illegal because it was shown to be dangerous but,
more likely, because Harry Anslinger, Commissioner of the U.S.
Bureau of Narcotics 1930-62, and his colleagues needed a new target
and battlefield after the end of alcohol prohibition in 1933.
Reputed dangers, presented in his statements before the U.S. Senate
in 1937, were used as a shocking means of manipulation -- e.g., "A
man under the influence of marijuana actually decapitated his best
friend; and then, coming out of the effects of the drug, was as
horrified as anyone over what he had done." The representative of
the American Medical Association strongly opposed the Marijuana Tax
Act of 1937: "To say ... that the use of the drug should be
prevented by a prohibitive tax, loses sight of the fact that future
investigation may show that there are substantial medical uses for
cannabis."
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We live in a time in which the unrealistic and unproductive paradigm of complete abstinence from drugs is slowly dissipating. Proponents of a drug-free society find this fact hard to accept, and responsible politicians and doctors can find achieving an appropriate position in the debate difficult. However, we must learn to deal with drugs and their possible dangers without fear. | ||||||||||||||||||
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QUOTE OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
"The function of the true State is to impose the minimum restrictions
and safeguard the maximum liberties of the people, and it never
regards the person as a thing." - Immanuel Kant
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