| June 18, 2004 #354 | ||||||||||||||||
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Table of Contents
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THIS JUST IN (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
(1) UN REPORT: ANDEAN COCA CULTIVATION AREA SHRINKS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
WASHINGTON (AP)--Land under cultivation for coca, the raw material
for cocaine , has declined 20% since 1998 in Bolivia, Colombia and
Peru, a United Nations report says. | ||||||||||||||||
It reached a 14-year low of 163,800 hectares, the report by the Vienna-based U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime released Thursday said. | ||||||||||||||||
The three Andean countries are the world's biggest source of coca,
the raw material for cocaine . | ||||||||||||||||
The estimate for Colombia -86,000 hectares -represented a decline of 16% in one year and 47% since 2000, the report said. | ||||||||||||||||
Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the U.N. Office on Drugs
and Crime, said at a news conference at the Organization of American
States that Colombia's figures were the most encouraging result of
this year's coca survey. | ||||||||||||||||
John Walters, head of the U.S. National Drug Control Policy, said in a statement that the report shows that "when democracy, stability and security flourish in drug-producing nations, progress can be made against the narco-terrorists who threaten our way of life." | ||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(2) DOE EYES METH CHEMICALS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
ORNL, Y-12 Show No Signs Of Stolen Drug Ingredients But Told To
Boost Security
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OAK RIDGE - Federal inspectors did not find any evidence that
chemicals of use in making methamphetamine had been stolen from
Oak Ridge National Laboratory or the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant,
according to a report released Wednesday. | ||||||||||||||||
However, the U.S. Department of Energy's inspector general did
recommend some additional steps to increase awareness of the
potential problem and help reduce the possibility of meth-making
chemicals being diverted from the federal plants here. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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While the team auditors found that the Oak Ridge plant adhered
to DOE policies for protecting hazardous materials, they also
found a lack of awareness about the link between certain chemicals
and possible drug-making. | ||||||||||||||||
During an inspection, the team found a container with 1.5 pounds of red phosphorous that was awaiting disposal. It was in a laboratory that was kept unlocked due to safety concerns, but the building was accessible to more than 1,000 lab employees. | ||||||||||||||||
"We explained to an ORNL official that red phosphorous could
be a target for diversion and used in manufacturing
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In another case, a 40-liter container of anhydrous ammonia
had been sitting on a loading dock for at least 12 years,
the report said. | ||||||||||||||||
The government contractors in Oak Ridge agreed to put in place
tighter controls on the chemicals.
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(3) NUMBERS FOR DRUG BUST NOT ACCURATE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Computing Error Led To Overestimation Of Mushroom Doses Seized | ||||||||||||||||
A calculating glitch appears to have caused the dollar amount to
mushroom into the millions on a major psilocybin mushroom bust in
North Texas. | ||||||||||||||||
The 25 pounds of mushrooms seized last week were worth only a fraction of the money authorities originally believed, police said. | ||||||||||||||||
The original figure topped $11 million. The North Texas Regional Drug Task Force said that amount was about 25 times too high. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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Drug investigators originally thought the 25 pounds of mushrooms held 1.13 million dosage units, making them worth $11.35 million. | ||||||||||||||||
Those are the numbers the DPS computerized reporting system came
up with, WFPD Sgt. Cindy Walker said.
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But that magic $11 million number didn't go with the magic mushrooms
after all - a glitch in the reporting system caused it to calculate
the figures as it would for LSD, instead, Walker said. The system
separates LSD and "other hallucinogenic drugs," DPS narcotics
investigator Jim Blake said after the bust. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(4) FIGHT THE DRUG WAR, PAY THE BILL (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
The Yalta Crewmen Are Free To Go Home, But their Acquittal In Tampa
Comes At A High Price
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TAMPA - A year ago, off the coast of Venezuela, a British war ship
intercepted a freighter bound for Europe and bearing nearly 4 tons of
cocaine. | ||||||||||||||||
Though the vessel was not coming to the United States, in the war on drugs it is U.S. taxpayers who will bear the high cost of the case. | ||||||||||||||||
Sixteen Lithuanian and Ukrainian crewmen were brought to Tampa and
held nearly a year. This week, after a 1 1/2-month trial, a federal
jury returned not a single guilty verdict. | ||||||||||||||||
The cost for all this could top $1-million, according to one of the 16
court-appointed lawyers, some of whom flew to Lithuania, the Ukraine
and Panama to take testimony. | ||||||||||||||||
"We've become the Big Brother of the drug industry," said defense
attorney Grady C. Irvin Jr. "If we're guarding the Pacific Ocean and
we're intercepting drugs bound for other countries, should that be the
responsibility of U.S. taxpayers? Why should U.S. taxpayers be footing
that bill?"
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"I can't answer that," said the prosecutor, Joseph Ruddy. "That's
really a kind of philosophical, rhetorical question. The law says we
should do it, we did it."
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[snip]
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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
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Domestic News- Policy
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COMMENT: (5-8) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
The drug war is always nasty, but it doesn't get much lower than
trying to throw a mother in jail because her son died of an
overdose. A Florida jury displayed more compassion and
responsibility than local prosecutors in the case when the jury
refused to convict the mother of child neglect charges. There was a
little justice in that case, but none in another story of drug
prosecution overkill. A Missouri woman is serving a life sentence
because she witnessed a murder that was part of a drug deal gone
bad. | ||||||||||||||||
Meanwhile, the Partnership for a Drug-Free America appears to be
underplaying the dangers of over-the-counter drugs. Interesting for
an organization that was started by the CEO of a pharmaceutical
company which sold popular over-the-counter drugs, and that is still
supported financially by the pharmaceutical industry. Also this
week, coca tea use may cause a false positive on a cocaine drug
test, according to one court. | ||||||||||||||||
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(5) MOM NOT GUILTY IN SON'S DEATH FROM OVERDOSE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
NEW PORT RICHEY - Diana Jones sat on the stand Tuesday, a witness in
the case against her mother. Her older brother, Perry Lennon Jones,
was dead. | ||||||||||||||||
Her mother, Mary Catherine Schwartz, faced a charge of neglect of a child, a felony punishable by 15 years in prison, for his death. | ||||||||||||||||
And Diana had to explain what happened Feb. 24, 2003.
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On that night, she and her mother believed that the 16-year-old boy
had been smoking marijuana in the living room of their New Port
Richey home as usual. | ||||||||||||||||
"He would smoke cigarettes and marijuana in front of my mother
because she could not stop him from doing it," testified Diana, now
16. "She gave up because it was only pot. Mom didn't know about the
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Her brother fell asleep on the couch that night. Soon he began
snoring and breathing rapidly. Two hours later he began making
gurgling sounds. Then his heart stopped.
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Doctors at Community Hospital pronounced him dead soon after 11 p.m.
Perry Jones had smoked heroin. He suffered a pulmonary edema when
his lungs filled with fluid. | ||||||||||||||||
Prosecutors argued that Schwartz, 50, did not take the appropriate
steps to prevent her son's death. | ||||||||||||||||
The jury did not agree Tuesday, finding her not guilty after a 40-
minute deliberation. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(6) A BAD TRIP (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Rebecca Beach didn't kill the drug dealer from Topeka. But she's in prison for life because Kansas' felony murder law says she did. | ||||||||||||||||
Rebecca Beach had bad taste in men -- and Jose Arevalo was no
exception. Sweet-talking, brown-eyed and slender, he had a nice
smile and he paid attention to her, which was something she craved.
In the spring of 2000, 22-year-old Beach was feeling even more
vulnerable than usual. Her brother had died a few months earlier,
she was having money problems and she had two small children to
feed. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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She didn't know that she could be charged with a crime she didn't
commit. | ||||||||||||||||
But under Kansas' felony murder law, a defendant can be charged with
first-degree murder for any killing -- even if the defendant didn't
kill anyone -- if the murder happened during the commission of a
dangerous felony. | ||||||||||||||||
The law is designed to deter criminals from committing felonies, or
at least from acting in a way that might lead to a death. But like
Beach, many criminals don't know about the law, and opponents argue
that it doesn't have much effect on crime. The statute dates back to
English common law from the Elizabethan period of the 1500s, though
England stopped enforcing it in 1957 because it was considered too
harsh. Most states have a version of the law, though a few have
abolished it. In Missouri, the law is slightly more lenient,
classifying felony murder as second-degree murder. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(7) THE DRUG RISK NO ONE TALKS ABOUT (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
An eighth-grader I know and love is in a rehab program. Her drug of
choice? Coricidin cold medicine. | ||||||||||||||||
Turns out she is not the only kid who has found a way to get high
off the products commonly found in our medicine cabinets and on
drugstore shelves. The number of calls to poison centers across the
country about the abuse of cold medicines containing
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Experts at the Partnership for a Drug-Free America are in the midst
of surveying young people about their experience with drug use. For
the first time, the interviewers will ask whether the youths have
abused over-the-counter medicines. | ||||||||||||||||
Until they have that data, researchers aren't too worried about kids
abusing cold pills. They're much more concerned about kids abusing
cleaning products. | ||||||||||||||||
This practice, known among the hip set as "sniffing" or "huffing," involves inhaling the poisons that are used to propel cooking spray, the fumes from gasoline or any of 1,000 common household products. | ||||||||||||||||
The last survey of drug use conducted by the Partnership, released
this month, found a stunning one in four eighth-graders admit to
having inhaled household chemicals to get high. Even more shocking:
Less than half of the sixth-graders polled say they believe it can
kill them. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(8) COURT RESTORES JOB LOST TO DRUG TEST (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Charmaine Garrido Insists She's Never Used Cocaine. | ||||||||||||||||
So she was floored when told a random drug test came back positive
and that she would lose her job as an investigator with the Cook
County sheriff's department. | ||||||||||||||||
But last week, the Illinois Court of Appeals ruled Garrido should
not have lost her job in 2001 because the positive test result
probably didn't come from cocaine, but instead from the tea she'd
been drinking. | ||||||||||||||||
Garrido, the wife of a Chicago narcotics officer, said she drank "a
significant amount" of the coca-tinged tea, which she got from Peru,
just before her drug test. | ||||||||||||||||
Though the sheriff's merit board didn't buy it -- and fired her -- the judges ruled the small traces of cocaine metabolites in Garrido's system were more likely to have come from tea than drugs. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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Law Enforcement & Prisons
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COMMENT: (9-13) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Another sign of racial bias in drug law enforcement was unveiled
last week. In Missouri, a new study found that black drivers are
about twice as likely as whites to be searched during a police
traffic stop. | ||||||||||||||||
In Tennessee, some police want the type of technology used to deter
terrorism, but they don't want to use it against terror threats.
They want to use it against methamphetamine labs. A drug task force
in Texas might want to invest in a bit of valuable technology
commonly referred to as a calculator. Then they might not make
embarrassing claims like they did last week, when they said a
25-pound seizure of psilocybin mushrooms had a street value of $11
million. The newspaper that printed the story might want to get a
calculator too. | ||||||||||||||||
In California, the San Jose Mercury News is rightfully
editorializing about grand jury proceedings in a fatal police
shooting. The SJMN wants the proceedings to be open, so the public
can learn what happened. And in Texas, the Tulia case simply won't
go away, as a new lawsuit is being filed. | ||||||||||||||||
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(9) BLACKS TWICE AS LIKELY TO BE SEARCHED (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
A Columbia Police Study Finds Evidence Of A Racial Gap. | ||||||||||||||||
Blacks in Columbia are more than twice as likely to be searched during a traffic stop than whites, according to data compiled by Columbia police and reported to the state attorney general. | ||||||||||||||||
In 2003, Columbia police conducted 1,777 searches during traffic
stops. Whites were searched less than 9 percent of the time; blacks
were searched just under 24 percent. | ||||||||||||||||
Yet, the percentage of total searches in which contraband was found
was slightly higher among whites. | ||||||||||||||||
Scott Decker, professor of criminology at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, said both the search rates and contraband hit rates were consistent with data from across the state and country. The Columbia Police Department and other law enforcement agencies in Missouri are required to report racial data of their traffic stops. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(10) CURRENT TECHNOLOGIES CAN AID IN METH FIGHT, TASK FORCE TOLD (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
HARRIMAN - In the near future, technologies currently used to detect
chemical weapons and explosives could be adapted to the government's
struggle against methamphetamine. | ||||||||||||||||
That was the message delivered to the Governor's Task Force on
Methamphetamine Abuse at a meeting Monday at Roane State Community
College in Harriman by officials from the Tennessee National Guard
and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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Lee Riedinger, deputy director for science and technology at ORNL,
opened up a presentation on several different technologies under
development that could potentially be adapted to help detect meth
labs. | ||||||||||||||||
For instance, hyperspectral imaging, used to detect leaking freon
and ammonia after the collapse of the World Trade Center on Sept.
11, 2001, could probably detect large meth-making operations from
the air, officials said. | ||||||||||||||||
Even though small labs make up 95 percent of those labs seized by
the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, "super labs" account
for 78 percent of the methamphetamine production in the United
States, according to an ORNL summary handed out to task force
members. | ||||||||||||||||
A mass spectrometer that has been used to detect chemical weapons around the world could also be adapted to sniff out meth labs, ORNL officials said, and other technologies also show promise. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(11) POLICE SEIZE MILLIONS IN DRUGS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Sizeable Mushroom Bust Said To Be One Of Biggest On Record | ||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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Drug officers from several agencies made a rare find in Clay County
this week. | ||||||||||||||||
They made a mushroom bust bigger than anything the North Texas Drug
Task Force has seen before. | ||||||||||||||||
Investigators Tuesday turned up 25 pounds of psilocybin mushrooms - hallucinogenic drugs - with a street value topping $11 million. | ||||||||||||||||
One Clay County residence housed 21 pounds of the mushrooms,
investigators said. | ||||||||||||||||
"We were kind of amazed at the value," Wichita Falls police Sgt.
Cindy Walker said. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(12) EDITORIAL: PUBLIC DESERVES OPEN HEARING IN FATAL SHOOTING BY (Top)DRUG AGENT | ||||||||||||||||
The San Jose Police Officers' Association is urging District
Attorney George Kennedy to close the grand jury proceedings into the
shooting death of an unarmed man by a state narcotics agent. The
association's president is hoping other police groups will lobby
Kennedy as well. | ||||||||||||||||
Kennedy should ignore them. After Rodolfo ``Rudy'' Cardenas was
fatally shot in February, Kennedy's chief deputy called for an open
process. ``The public deserves and needs to hear all the facts
surrounding the shooting,'' said Assistant District Attorney Karyn
Sinunu. | ||||||||||||||||
That's the right position. The circumstances behind the death are
tragic and suspicious. | ||||||||||||||||
Agent Michael Walker shot who he thought was an armed fugitive.
Cardenas turned out to be neither that man nor armed. The paramedics
who arrived at the scene were kept from him for a critical five
minutes, during which he bled profusely. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(13) NEW SUIT FILED AGAINST TASK FORCE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Man Claims He Suffered Abuse During 2001 Drug Raid
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Almost two months after it was settled, the specter of the Tulia
drug bust lawsuit still hangs over the Texas Panhandle, haunting
city and county officials who were wrong if they thought they were
done with the controversy. The latest incarnation of the Tulia suit
comes in the form of a federal suit, similar in form to the Tulia
action, that was filed this year by an Amarillo man who says he was
abused by members of the same drug task force that conducted the
controversial 1999 Tulia drug sting. | ||||||||||||||||
For the 26 counties and four municipalities that made up the task force, officials say this latest suit is unlikely to be the last. | ||||||||||||||||
"We anticipated when we settled the Tulia case that there would be some plaintiffs' lawyers that would view the city as a slot machine," said Amarillo City Attorney Marcus Norris. "We anticipated having to go to trial. Win, lose or draw, we're going to have to correct that misconception by taking these cases to court." | ||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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Cannabis & Hemp-
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COMMENT: (14-17) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
A Manhattan District Attorney has come out in favor of medical
marijuana. His announcement, which came as he stood with the ever
more visibly active Montel Williams, offered a boost for medical
marijuana legislation in New York. While that state takes a step
forward, the city of Oakland, California takes a step back as the
vibrant era of Oaksterdam closes. Most cannabis dispensaries
concentrated in one Oakland neighborhood have closed in the wake of
new regulations aimed at containing the clubs. | ||||||||||||||||
Portugal showed its understanding of the benefits of cannabis last
week, as police turned a blind eye to marijuana smokers during the
Euro 2004 soccer match in Lisbon. Police hoped the marijuana would
reduce violence officials have come to expect from British fans, as
it did four years ago during a Euro match in the Netherlands. The
policy worked again, as there were no problems with violence from
Brit supporters in Lisbon. Officials in London, where a mob of 400
violent, drunken soccer fans rampaged through the streets, might
want to take note. | ||||||||||||||||
Also last week, hemp advocates are disputing a U.S. Air Force ban on hand lotion containing hemp; and in it's fourth attempt since 2001, the Swiss parliament again failed to decriminalize cannabis. | ||||||||||||||||
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(14) MANHATTAN: MEDICAL MARIJUANA BACKED
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District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau, left, announced his support yesterday for the medical use of marijuana during an unusual news conference with the talk-show host Montel Williams. They joined forces to support legislation in the State Assembly that would legalize the use of marijuana for the treatment of illnesses. Ten states allow such use now. "Morphine, codeine and other controlled substances have been available for years to those who are in pain and for other medical purposes," said Mr. Morgenthau. "Medical marijuana should join the list of carefully monitored drugs that should be made available to those in need." Mr. Williams, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, was overcome with emotion as he described the severe pain for which he uses legally prescribed marijuana, saying, "There are times I can barely put my feet on the floor." Mr. Morgenthau said he had been swayed in part by one of his daughters, a medical doctor at a drug treatment program in a hospital in the city, who approves of medical marijuana. | ||||||||||||||||
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(15) CITY WITHHOLDS PERMITS FROM CANNABIS CLUBS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Ordinance Dooms Thriving Businesses In Oaksterdam Area
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Oaksterdam is on its deathbed. | ||||||||||||||||
Oakland's once-bustling downtown enclave of medical marijuana clubs
is about to disappear -- less than a year after it earned its
nickname -- after city officials refused last week to issue permits
to several popular establishments. | ||||||||||||||||
"All that you see around us will be gone," Jeff Jones, executive
director of Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative, said Monday.
"They're shutting almost everyone down, and I don't think that's
good for the patients. I'm glad the city is involved in regulation,
but it's also driving away businesses that could be paying revenue"
to the city. | ||||||||||||||||
Most of about a dozen cannabis enterprises in the city, including
four in the 1700 block of Telegraph Avenue, are being forced to
close or stay open as cafes -- without selling marijuana -- or risk
the wrath of Oakland police. The closures began June 1 when a new
ordinance took effect. | ||||||||||||||||
In February, the Oakland City Council adopted an ordinance allowing
the city to regulate marijuana clubs and limited their number to
four. The ordinance requires that no marijuana dispensary be located
within 1,000 feet of another. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(16) POLICE POLICY: 'HERE WE BLOW' (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Apparently the plan worked. Police reported no arrests or trouble
during France's 2-1 win over England in their opening Euro 2004
match. The plan? It was widely reported, including in The Guardian,
that Portuguese police in Lisbon would turn a blind eye to soccer
fans who openly smoked pot before or during the game. | ||||||||||||||||
Apparently, a stoned crowd is a happy crowd. Cops, however, planned to crack down on drunk supporters. Alan Buffry of the Legalise Cannabis Alliance said: "If people are drinking they lose control; if they smoke cannabis they don't. Alcohol makes fans fight. But cannabis smokers will be shaking hands and singing along together." | ||||||||||||||||
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(17) HEMP GROUP WANTS AIR FORCE OK FOR LOTION (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
CANNON AIR FORCE BASE -- A trade organization is asking the Air
Force to clarify that its ban on marijuana use doesn't apply to
personal care products that contain hemp seed oil. | ||||||||||||||||
The California-based Hemp Industries Association and the Indoor
Tanning Association have sent Air Force Secretary James Roche a
letter this week criticizing a recent article in the Cannon Air
Force Base newspaper -- Mach Meter. | ||||||||||||||||
The article warned airmen not to use products containing hemp seed
oil, hemp oil or delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol -- known as THC --
marijuana's main active chemical. | ||||||||||||||||
The article said using such products created the "statistically
small" chance of flunking a drug test and could attract attention
from the base's drug-sniffing dogs. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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The Cannon story said while base officials don't believe anyone would ingest a lotion, the lotion could be applied over a cut or scrape, creating a chance of absorption under certain circumstances. | ||||||||||||||||
A spokesman for the Hemp Industries Association disputes that such
use could lead to a positive drug test. | ||||||||||||||||
"There's no way a personal care product will cause someone to fail a
drug test," association spokesman Adam Eidinger said Thursday during
a telephone interview. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(18) PARLIAMENT REJECTS DECRIMINALISATION OF CANNABIS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Smoking a joint will remain illegal in Switzerland after parliament threw out government proposals to decriminalise cannabis. | ||||||||||||||||
The House of Representatives refused by 102 votes to 92 to debate
amendments to the drug law -- the second time it has dismissed the
proposal. It was the fourth attempt since December 2001 to vote on a
government proposal aimed at decriminalising the production and
consumption of cannabis for personal use. | ||||||||||||||||
The other parliamentary chamber, the Senate, has twice come out in
favour of a more liberal drugs policy. | ||||||||||||||||
But in last autumn's session, which came just ahead of parliamentary
elections, the House of Representatives dismissed the proposal
outright. Monday's debate was touted as the last chance for the bill
and its rejection means that current drugs legislation -- which is
30 years old -- will remain in force. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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International News
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COMMENT: (19-22) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
A piece this week from The Australian sheds some light on the
regrettable history of heroin prohibition down under. Why, it is
asked, must terminal cancer patients be denied the most effective
painkiller, heroin? U.S. International prohibition power politics,
that's why. In 1953, the U.S. (via the U.N.) pressured Australia to
criminalize all heroin use, even for dying cancer patients in
terrible pain. There was "no drug problem" at the time in Australia.
Still, the laws were passed even though the Australian medical
associations objected. Sadly, those with pain from terminal cancer
shouldn't hold out hope for a cure to the prohibitionist politicians
who would rather moralize about junkies and jail druggies than help
the dying with the stroke of a pen. | ||||||||||||||||
The cavalcade of prohibition-corrupted police continues this week as
another Canadian Mountie is found guilty of selling drugs, this time
an ex-Mountie from Tantallon, Nova Scotia. Particularly bold, the
condemned Mountie had sold drugs from his police cruiser, according
to reports. "This undermines the basic confidence between prosecutor
and police," noted the attorney for the government. | ||||||||||||||||
Staunch and gung ho little drug warrior he may be, but Rodrigo R.
Duterte, Mayor of Davao City, Philippines, angrily put down his foot
and rejected the idea that he need submit drug test results. Though
he backs local death squads in their druggie-killing labors, Duterte
feels that he himself is above having to urinate in a cup for public
analysis. His excuse? The government bureaucrats that must evaluate
his excreta are of a department that is not to his liking. For his
job, claims the drug warrior, drug testing is "silly." Duterte is
supposed to assume office at the end of the month. | ||||||||||||||||
And finally, a warning from the Philippine government about visiting the prohibitionist archipelago. Drug war bureaucrats warned last week that efforts have been "stepped-up" to "identify and arrest tourists" who use even small, personal amounts of marijuana. "We're regularly conducting 'profiling of individuals' who might be carriers of dangerous drugs even in small quantities," huffed Philippine drug warriors. Travellers are warned that while the Philippine drug war is fought with death squads and on the backs of cannabis users, other destinations might be safer and more fun. | ||||||||||||||||
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(19) HAZY LOGIC DICTATES A PAINFUL PROHIBITION (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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Australia has an irrational history when it comes to using heroin
for those dying in pain. In May 1953, the Menzies government
prohibited its importation after pressure from the World Health
Organisation, in turn under pressure from the US, where a burgeoning
drug problem was emerging. Yet in Australia there was no drug
problem to speak of; instead heroin was used to manage serious pain,
especially for the terminally ill. | ||||||||||||||||
The ban went ahead despite objections from the director-general of
health in NSW that "heroin ... is quite effectively controlled in
this state and ... I see no justification to enforce absolute
prohibition". And despite similar protests by the Royal Australasian
College of Physicians and the predecessor to the Australian Medical
Association, then the Australian Federal Council of the British
Medical Association. | ||||||||||||||||
Ever since, heroin has been lost to the moral battlefield of illicit
drugs. | ||||||||||||||||
Once banned, it was a drug with no legitimate role, one that junkies
use and drug criminals deal in. What strikes me as more criminal is
that, in 2004, the terminally ill still die in pain. Irrational
responses get in the way of treating their pain. | ||||||||||||||||
On the one hand, politicians parade their massive heroin hauls,
piles of white bricks, as wins in the tough war on drugs. On the
other, they help drug addicts on the street shoot up, providing them
with clean needles and clean rooms. Those left out in the cold are
the terminally ill. | ||||||||||||||||
It does not require much nuance to understand that allowing doctors
to administer heroin to the dying is not a slippery slope to its
legalisation. Nor will it lead to a nation of addicts. Doctors
prescribe prohibited substances by the hundreds. Why is heroin
different? A stubborn, unthinking abstinence lobby. That is the
difference. | ||||||||||||||||
It does not require much compassion to understand that a fear that someone you love, dying of cancer, may become addicted to heroin is less important than ensuring they are relieved of terrible pain. | ||||||||||||||||
Why the irrational fear? Addiction as a moral evil has little
resonance for those in pain. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip]
| ||||||||||||||||
I don't want junkies determining drug policy but that they favour
heroin over morphine suggests that the terminally ill might also
prefer it. Euphoria is the wrong word for those dying of cancer, but
if heroin can offer any kind of relief, mental or physical, why not
offer it?
| ||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(20) GUILTY MOUNTIE MADE POT DEALS FROM CRUISER (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Details of disgraced former Mountie Danny Ryan's drug peddling came
out yesterday, showing he brazenly scored deals right out of his
police car. | ||||||||||||||||
The ex-Tantallon officer - who was about to join then-Prime Minister
Jean Chretien's security detail when he was arrested - has been
found guilty of trafficking about 1.4 kilograms of marijuana and
breach of trust. He'll be sentenced Aug. 30.
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[snip]
| ||||||||||||||||
"This undermines the basic confidence between prosecutor and police," Bright said. "Secondly, it undermines the confidence of the court in police officers, because it's very important that police officers be deemed to be objective and fair when they attend court." | ||||||||||||||||
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(21) DUTERTE WILL NOT SUBMIT DRUG TEST RESULT (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
DAVAO City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte is stamping his foot against
submitting his drug test result to the Commission on Elections
(Comelec). | ||||||||||||||||
"I'll be assuming office on June 30 but I will not submit my drug
test result to the Comelec," Duterte said. "I would rather submit my
drug test result to the Office of the President, the DILG
(Department of Interior and Local Government, the Office of the
Ombudsman or the Inquirer," Duterte added. | ||||||||||||||||
Duterte said he is still questioning the validity of the Comelec
requirement for drug test among political candidates. | ||||||||||||||||
In earlier interviews, Duterte even described this requirement to be
silly and unconstitutional. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(22) TOURISTS INTO DRUGS UNDER WATCH (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency chair Undersecretary Anselmo
Avenido Jr. yesterday said they have stepped-up efforts to identify
and arrest tourists who smuggle shabu and marijuana into the
country's tourist spots. | ||||||||||||||||
"We're regularly conducting 'profiling of individuals' who might be carriers of dangerous drugs even in small quantities," he said. | ||||||||||||||||
Avenido said a number of domestic and foreign tourists have been
apprehended in the past two years for smuggling prohibited drugs
into the country. | ||||||||||||||||
Police said they were also looking into reports that drug dealers
have invaded known tourist destinations like Boracay Island and are
selling small quantities of shabu, marijuana and the designer drug
"Ecstacy."
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HOT OFF THE 'NET (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
ALISON MYRDEN ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL
| ||||||||||||||||
Tim Meehan put this footage together of med-pot activist turned NDP
candidate Alison Myrden on the NDP Campaign Trail. Let this be some
inspiration for the rest of us, we need more people like Alison
messing with the system!
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UN REPORTS STEADY DECLINE OF COCA CULTIVATION IN ANDEAN REGION
| ||||||||||||||||
UN Drugs Office Launches Coca Surveys for Colombia, Bolivia and Peru | ||||||||||||||||
VIENNA, 17 June (UN Information Service) -- In the five-year period
following the 1998 United Nations General Assembly Special Session on
Drugs, the total area under coca cultivation in the Andean region -
Bolivia, Colombia and Peru - declined by 20 per cent, reaching a
14-year low of 153,800 hectares in 2003. | ||||||||||||||||
http://www.unis.unvienna.org/unis/pressrels/2004/unisnar847.html | ||||||||||||||||
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CULTURAL BAGGAGE RADIO SHOW
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06/15/04: Harris Co. DA Chuck Rosenthal
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The district attorney of the "Gulag Filling Station." Topics include
racial bias, knowledge of the genesis of this war, medical marijuana
and the fact that he sends more people to prison than anyone in Red
China, Russia or N. Korea.
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REEFER MADNESS: AN ONLINE CHAT WITH ERIC SCHLOSSER
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Originally aired June 15, 2004
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An archive of our online chat about marijuana prohibition with renowned author Eric Schlosser and Drug Policy Alliance Executive Director Ethan Nadelmann is now available for listening. Schlosser and Nadelmann spoke for nearly an hour on topics ranging from the roots of prohibition to the prospects for industrial hemp. | ||||||||||||||||
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ANIMATION DETAILS THE ABSURDITY OF NEW YORK'S ROCKEFELLER DRUG LAWS
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PBS FRONTLINE "THE PLEA"
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It is the centerpiece of America's judicial process: the right to a
trial by jury system that places a defendant's fate in the hands of a
jury of one's peers. | ||||||||||||||||
But it may surprise many to learn that nearly 95 percent of all cases
resulting in felony convictions never reach a jury, but instead are
settled through plea bargains, in which a defendant agrees to plead
guilty in exchange for a reduced sentence. | ||||||||||||||||
Watch the program online, coming Monday, June 21. | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
HAPPY BIRTHDAY RICHARD LAKE
| ||||||||||||||||
The Media Awareness Project's Richard Lake, (without whom this
newsletter would not be possible), turned 64 today, further securing
his title as our "Senior" Editor. Happy Birthday Chief! We still
need you. | ||||||||||||||||
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LETTER OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Legalize Marijuana
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By Larry Seguin
| ||||||||||||||||
LEGALIZE MARIJUANA
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I find it disturbing when law enforcement moves from enforcing the law to commanding the law. ( "Law Enforcement Enters The Fray Over Rolling Back Drug Sentencing," Watertown Daily Times, June 7. | ||||||||||||||||
The Rockefeller drug laws have New York taxpayers paying more for
prisons than for education. It has put mothers in prison for life on
conspiracy charges. Conspiracy charges mean no drugs were found in
their possession. | ||||||||||||||||
It has made the legislators lazy in St. Lawrence, Jefferson,
Franklin, and Lewis counties. They depend on prison population to
secure census related funding. Look at what the Law Enforcement
Coalition Against drug Decriminalization is made up of. All are
supported by New York Taxpayers. | ||||||||||||||||
With crime at a 20 year low, they want to chase low-level
non-violent substance users. They say they "are not trying to kill
reform". But yet they want to block the diversion of drug offenders
to treatment. Ninety percent of drug crimes are prohibition not drug
use. | ||||||||||||||||
The prohibition of alcohol gave birth to the potent and very
dangerous moonshine. The crack down on marijuana ditch weed created
hydroponic marijuana. The crack down on cross tops and black
beauties gave birth to Methamphetamine. When alcohol was
re-legalized moonshine became a nonissue. | ||||||||||||||||
It is time to legalize marijuana. That will be our gateway out of hard drugs. We would no longer need the Rockefeller drug laws. Maybe then the taxpayer can travel without being profiled as a drug user for tinted windows or a burnt out bulb on our vehicles. | ||||||||||||||||
Larry Seguin
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LETTER WRITER OF THE MONTH - MAY (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
This month we recognize Alan Randell of Victoria, B.C. During May
MAP archived five published letters by Alan which brings his career
total, that we know of, to 337. You can review his superb letters
at:
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To understand why Alan and Eleanor Randell dedicate so much time to
their reform efforts please read this article:
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FEATURE ARTICLE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
AN HONOR FOR DEREK REA, MAP'S PUBLISHED LETTER ARCHIVIST
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By Richard Lake
| ||||||||||||||||
Derek Rea, for years, has maintained the special archive of pro
reform published letters at http://www.mapinc.org/lte/ -- adding
each letter -- over 16,000!
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The archive has always been a very powerful example of what the
Media Awareness Project of DrugSense - though it's many volunteers -
accomplishes. And it serves as a research tool for letter writers --
examples of what specific newspapers will publish, from whom, and
how many words. | ||||||||||||||||
But this week MAP webmaster Matt Elrod automated that task, so the
webpages at http://www.mapinc.org/lte/ have a new look. Be sure to
check them out, to see the great thoughts and value of all MAP's
letter writers. | ||||||||||||||||
Derek, we are sure, will find other MAP tasks that need doing. He
already manages the process that identifies letter writers of the
week and of the month. Plus he is an editor @ MAP.
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Derek, you represent MAP's greatest strength - it's volunteers. On behalf of MAP and the reform community, Thank You, Derek! | ||||||||||||||||
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QUOTE OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
"To understand is hard. Once one understands, action is easy."
- Sun Yat-Sen
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DS Weekly is one of the many free educational services DrugSense
offers our members. Watch this feature to learn more about what
DrugSense can do for you. | ||||||||||||||||
TO SUBSCRIBE, UNSUBSCRIBE, OR UPDATE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS:
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Please utilize the following URLs
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Policy, Law Enforcement/Prison, and Cannabis/Hemp content selection
and analysis by Stephen Young (), International
content selection and analysis by Doug Snead (),
Layout by Matt Elrod ()
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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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In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is
distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior
interest in receiving the included information for research and
educational purposes. | ||||||||||||||||
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