| Sept. 23, 2005 #418 | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Table of Contents
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THIS JUST IN (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
(1) LEGALIZE IT: SEVEN STATES CAMPAIGN FOR MARIJUANA (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
A pro-marijuana group based in Washington, D.C., is looking for
activists in seven states, including New Hampshire and Maine, to build
grass-roots support for legalized marijuana, with the eventual goal
being to get the drug legalized for all adults. | ||||||||||||||||||||
The nonprofit Marijuana Policy Project also is targeting Arizona,
Delaware, Idaho, Montana and Oregon. | ||||||||||||||||||||
The effort is in its infancy, and project officials emphasize they have
no master plan for the seven states. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Instead, the group is looking for local activists whose efforts would
be funded by the project's grant program. The eventual goal is to put
marijuana in the same category as alcohol, with the same kind of taxes
and regulation. | ||||||||||||||||||||
A request for proposals has been issued in the seven states, where
grant applicants are asked to list "escalating tactics that would lead
to a change in state law in three to five years via the state
Legislature or the statewide ballot initiative process," according to a
job listing on the Internet. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Tactics could include organizing demonstrations, lobbying state
lawmakers, building a coalition of supportive organizations and
generating favorable news coverage. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"It's about providing funding and providing organization," said Krissy
Oechslin, a spokeswoman for the project. "We'd like to bring it off the
street and regulate it." | ||||||||||||||||||||
Barnett Lotstein, a special assistant in the Maricopa County (Ariz.) Attorney's Office, said the effort would go much further than previous Arizona medical marijuana initiatives, but it's not surprising. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"The objective was, once you get people to think of drugs as medicine,
the next step is legalization," he said. "The ultimate goal of people
who propose the legalization of marijuana is the legalization of all
drugs." | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(2) WAR DECLARED ON DESIGNER DRUGS AS CHINESE MIDDLE CLASS GETS HIGH (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
A "people's war" on narcotics in China has turned into a campaign against designer drugs after police found a surge in usage of ecstasy, ketamine and methamphetamine, or ice, among urban professionals. | ||||||||||||||||||||
In a shift that may be down to a booming economy and the growing
influence of globalised culture, Chinese authorities said this week the
focus of their anti-drugs campaigns has widened from disadvantaged
social groups - such as minorities, prostitutes and the unemployed - to
affluent white-collar workers. | ||||||||||||||||||||
According to the domestic media, the public security ministry launched a campaign against "new drugs" - synthetic stimulants and hallucinogenic chemicals - which are popular in nightclubs and karaoke bars in the fast-growing cities such as Shanghai and Chongqing. | ||||||||||||||||||||
In November, the government will introduce new rules to crack down on
the use of such narcotics, which are not clearly covered by existing
laws. The new policy follows a sharp rise in seizures of laboratory-
made drugs. According to the ministry spokesman, Wu Heping, police
confiscated 370,000 tablets of ecstasy in the first seven months of the
year - a rise of 54% over the same period last year - and 2.2 tonnes of
ice, up 9.5%. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Previous campaigns have focussed on traditional narcotics, such as
heroin, in poor border provinces long linked with drug abuse, such as
Yunnan - near the Golden Triangle with Burma and Thailand - and
Xinjiang - close to the poppy fields of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Although dealers face the death penalty if caught, police believe there
has been a steady growth in the trade in recent years. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(3) RUSSIA: DRUG ENFORCERS SHARPLY CRITICIZED (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
The Federal Drug Control Service is opaque and prone to corruption,
while its rank-and-file staff lack any clear-cut mission and often
commit abuses, according to a scathing independent study of the two-
year-old agency released Tuesday. | ||||||||||||||||||||
The report, written under the auspices of the Moscow Helsinki Group, a
human rights organization, and Indem, an anti-corruption think tank, is
the latest blow to the Federal Drug Control Service, which President
Vladimir Putin created to tackle the country's drug problem. The agency
has been repeatedly accused of ignoring the real problems behind drug
abuse and instead chasing veterinarians and dacha poppy-growers to pad
its arrest statistics. | ||||||||||||||||||||
That lack of focus on its core mission is a big problem, said Lev
Levinson, a co-author of the report and the head of the New Drug
Policy, an advocacy group for drug law reform. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"One of the main conclusions we arrived at is that the Federal Drug
Control Service's focus is not on undermining the financial foundation
of the illegal market, as the president instructed it to be, or on
preventing drug use from spreading, rehabilitating drug users or
coordinating all of these efforts," he said. "It is focusing on
cracking down on so-called drug crimes." | ||||||||||||||||||||
The 76-page report, which is based on nine months of research in six regions, documents several raids that targeted apparently innocent young people suspected of using drugs. In one example, the report says the agency's Tula region branch dispatched two buses with SOBR special troops to raid several apartments and a cafe in the town of Bezhetsk on March 3. The masked and armed troops beat several young men, handcuffed them and illegally held them at the agency's office for almost 24 hours, it says. No charges were filed against the young men. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Report co-author Olga Fyodorova, of the Moscow Helsinki Group, said the
drug control agency refused to comment on the raid or any of its other
activities. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(4) POT CHARGES AGAINST ACTIVIST DROPPED (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
BURBANK - The Burbank City Attorney's Office on Thursday dropped a
misdemeanor drug possession charge against a Santa Cruz medical
marijuana patient who was cited in July at the Bob Hope Airport, the
ACLU said Thursday. | ||||||||||||||||||||
The charge against Valerie Corral, who was detained when screeners allegedly spotted marijuana in her carry-on bag, was dismissed. | ||||||||||||||||||||
She was cited by police even though she had a Santa Cruz County-issued
medical marijuana card, authorized under the state's Compassionate Use
Act, said her attorney, Christina Alvarez, with the American Civil
Liberties Union Drug Law Reform Project. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Police wrote her a misdemeanor drug possession citation, which carried
a $100 fine, and her marijuana was seized. The ACLU took up her case,
and challenged the citation in court. | ||||||||||||||||||||
The city attorney dropped the charge in a hearing in Burbank Superior Court on Thursday, but refused to clear her misdemeanor record, declaring her factually guilty, an issue the ACLU said it will challenge in court. As a result, if Corral were ever convicted of a federal crime, she could get an enhanced sentence, Alvarez said. | ||||||||||||||||||||
A call to the City Attorney's Office for comment was not returned. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Domestic News- Policy | ||||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (5-9) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
The U.S. Senate was busy last week passing a new national
methamphetamine law, duplicating efforts by states. Meanwhile, the
meth lab clean-up business gets busier. Despite the focus on meth in
many states, there are other types of serious drug problems. In
Boston, where treatment opportunities have been cut in recent years,
there's a lot more demand than supply. | ||||||||||||||||||||
For people who can't quit in Baltimore, there are needle exchanges,
but questions have been raised about why more young addicts aren't
participating. And, finally, an interesting circuit court decision
in Nevada, where the court decided that it was unconstitutional to
place restrictions, such as drug testing, on defendants as they
await trial. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(5) COMBAT METH ACT PASSES U.S. SENATE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Bill Co-Sponsored By Indiana's Evan Bayh | ||||||||||||||||||||
A bill that proposes to limit the purchase of drugs used to make
methamphetamine and provide at least $18 million for child services,
law enforcement and addiction treatment passed Thursday in the U.S.
Senate. | ||||||||||||||||||||
The Combat Meth Act, co-sponsored by Sen. Evan Bayh, would restrict
the sale of pseudoephedrine products nationwide by requiring
retailers to keep the drugs behind pharmacy counters. If passed by
the House of Representatives, it would also restrict the sale of
pseudoephedrine to 7.5 grams per month, about 250 30-milligram
tablets. | ||||||||||||||||||||
The act is part of the Commerce Justice Science appropriations bill
and must be approved by the House before it can be signed into law
by the president. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Under Indiana law and Vigo County ordinance, customers can buy about 100 pseudoephedrine tablets per week without a prescription. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"The ultimate challenge is to keep people from being addicted to
meth," Bayh said during a Thursday conference call. "This is a
uniform national standard that cannot be undercut by neighboring
states." | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(6) BUSINESS GOOD FOR CLEANUP SPECIALIST (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
In the past 11/2 years, calls for cleanup of recently raided methamphetamine labs have tripled at Dan Hannan's business. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Requests to the Minneapolis-based Assured Decontamination Services
come from all over: Michigan, Minnesota, South Carolina, North
Carolina, 17 states in all. Hannan estimates his company gets a call
a week from Tennessee. | ||||||||||||||||||||
North Carolina also provides frequent business for the company,
which has an office in Raleigh, Hannan says. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Assured Decontamination is one of five companies listed with the North Carolina Occupational and Environmental Branch that provide decontamination services at former methamphetamine labs. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(7) SHORTAGE OF BEDS MAKES DETOX DIFFICULT (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Four years after state officials slashed funding for detox beds, heroin addicts desperate to get clean are being turned away by the dozens daily at Boston's detox centers, health advocates say. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"When you reach out for help and it's just not there, it's like
signing a death sentence," said Tom Griffin, 37, a Charlestown
native who spent a week calling detox centers for a bed in June.
"The more they cut beds, they are killing people on the streets."
Every day, CAB Health and Recovery Services in Boston processes 35
or so requests for a detox bed from patients without insurance, said
CEO and president Kevin Norton. Of those requests, four to five
patients can be admitted. Beginning in 2001, a combination of cuts
to MassHealth basic insurance and state funding for detox beds
reduced the slots available in Boston from 310 to 190, said John
Auerbach, executive director of the Boston Public Health Commission.
Statewide, beds dropped from 950 to 500 in the same period. The cuts
closed detox programs at Lemuel Shattuck Hospital in Boston and
CASPAR in Cambridge, Auerbach said. The Faxon House in Quincy, which
also offered detox, went out of business. | ||||||||||||||||||||
To make up for the shortfall, Mayor Thomas M. Menino authorized
grants to offer low-cost alternative detox methods, including
acupuncture detoxification. A separate $180,000 grant awarded in
2003 funded a butrenorphine treatment program. Prescribed by a
doctor, butrenorphine is a maintenance drug that lessens an addict's
heroin cravings. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Some beds are coming back on line. Since fiscal 2004, $21 million
has been set aside in supplemental money for substance treatment.
That cash opened 87 beds and restored "transitional" beds for
patients leaving detox, said Michael Botticelli, assistant
commissioner for substance abuse services at the Department of
Public Health. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(8) REACHING OUT TO THE FRINGES (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Baltimore's Needle Exchange Program Has Been Deemed An Overall
Public Health Success. But Most Younger Drug Users Aren't
Participating, And The City's Worried. | ||||||||||||||||||||
The young redhead with the stylish black backpack and heart-shaped
earrings had come a long way to be standing at Monroe and Ramsay
streets in Southwest Baltimore, waiting her turn outside the big
white van. For years, she'd put off this moment: signing up herself
and her husband for the city's needle exchange program. | ||||||||||||||||||||
The couple -- their street names are Pebbles and Bam-Bam, a nod to the Flintstones television characters -- have been injecting heroin since they were 17, she said. They've been sharing used syringes with others and attempting to clean them with water and bleach between uses, rather than coming to the exchange for new ones, even though they were aware of the serious health risks in sharing. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"I always think, 'I'm going to get clean, so I don't need to [join the exchange],' but then we don't get clean, and we don't accept the fact that we're using," said the 21-year-old woman, who is from southwestern Baltimore County. "So just today, I said, 'We're going.' I've been thinking about getting clean, but if I'm going to keep living this lifestyle, then I ought to at least do this." | ||||||||||||||||||||
At a time when heroin remains Baltimore's leading drug scourge, city officials wish more addicts like the couple would make use of the exchange program -- a key tool in efforts to curb the spread of HIV. But despite growing up in the shadow of AIDS, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome, most younger drug users are not participating, a problem especially acute among whites in their teens and 20s. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(9) DECISION ISSUED BY NINTH CIRCUIT COURT WILL AFFECT FALLON OR (Top)RELEASES FROM JAIL | ||||||||||||||||||||
A recent ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals could have wide ranging implications for Fallon defendants accused of crimes. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Churchill County District Attorney Arthur Mallory said the decision
means conditions cannot be put on defendants who are released from
jail on their promise to appear in court. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Local judges commonly impose conditions on a defendant who is
released from jail on his or her own recognizance, such as no
drinking or no driving for a person accused of driving under the
influence of alcohol. | ||||||||||||||||||||
A majority opinion by a three-judge panel of the appeal court said
putting conditions on an arrestee's OR release from custody violates
their Fourth Amendment right to privacy. | ||||||||||||||||||||
The court reviewed a Reno case where Raymond Lee Scott consented to
random drug testing and searches of his home without a warrant as
conditions of his release from jail on his own recognizance. Scott
was charged with drug possession at the time. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Police later went to Scott's home based on a tip and administered a
urine test, which tested positive for methamphetamine. Scott was
arrested, his home was searched and an illegal shotgun was found,
according to the published opinion. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Ninth Circuit Court justices ruled the search of Scott's home and
the drug test were not valid because they violated Scott's right to
privacy. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
Test)
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Law Enforcement & Prisons | ||||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (10-14) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Our stories this week reveal more questions than answers. Two
prosecutors in Indiana were punished for stealing a drug defendant's
note during a trial. It's interesting that they were punished at
all, but it's also interesting that the deputy prosecutor apologized
but said his behavior wasn't unusual in his old job. " | ||||||||||||||||||||
I acted like the police officer I had been for 10 years," he said. Since when has it been OK for police to steal evidence? | ||||||||||||||||||||
There has been some interest in a case from Nevada in which a woman
may lose her house to forfeiture laws because she pled no contest to
possession of six marijuana plants. In Wisconsin, police are
celebrating a similar case, except the homeowner was accused of
growing 40 plants. Is there much of a difference? | ||||||||||||||||||||
Also, why does the Boston police union insist on maintaining the
status quo on the local drug war? And why is a teen being retried in
Massachusetts on minor charges even after an earlier, high-profile
mistrial? | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(10) INDIANA COURT SUSPENDS WASHINGTON PROSECUTOR (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Defendant's Notes Taken Improperly | ||||||||||||||||||||
The Indiana Supreme Court yesterday suspended Washington County Prosecutor Cynthia Winkler from practicing law for 120 days and her chief deputy for 60 days in a case in which they surreptitiously took handwritten notes from a drug defendant during a deposition. | ||||||||||||||||||||
The suspensions will begin after the high court arranges for a
temporary replacement prosecutor. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Yesterday's ruling stems from a May determination by a hearing officer for the court's Disciplinary Commission that Winkler and Blaine Goode, her deputy, violated the Rules of Professional Conduct for Indiana attorneys while prosecuting the drug charges in 2003. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
Winkler and Goode were prosecuting Lewis Steward on methamphetamine charges in February 2003 when defense attorney Mark Clark, preparing for the trial, questioned a police officer involved in the case. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Steward communicated with Clark during the deposition by writing on
a legal pad passed between the two of them. Steward left the pad
face down on a table when he and Clark left the courtroom to confer
in private. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Goode, who remained at the table with Winkler, ripped the page of notes from the legal pad and handed it to his boss. Winkler then "concealed them by placing the notes among a stack of files she had before her on the table," according to the Supreme Court. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Winkler wanted to compare Steward's handwriting to that on a methamphetamine recipe being used as evidence in the drug case. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
Goode, who had been a lawyer for only eight months before the
incident, said he apologized "for my action in seizing the note.
There is no excuse for it. I acted like the police officer I had
been for 10 years." | ||||||||||||||||||||
Taking the notes violated a rule against obtaining evidence by means
that violate a person's rights, the Supreme Court said. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(11) MISDEMEANOR CHARGE - POT MAY COST HOMEOWNER (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Boulder City Takes Steps to Seize House After Woman Admits
Possessing Six Marijuana Plants | ||||||||||||||||||||
A Boulder City woman who pleaded no contest to possession of six
marijuana plants could lose her house over the case. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Officials in the small town, which prides itself on being the only
community in the state that doesn't allow gambling, said their move
to seize Cynthia Warren's home is intended to send a message that
drugs won't be tolerated in Boulder City. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"In the drug world, this thing is probably nothing," said City
Attorney Dave Olsen. "But in a town of 15,000 people where we have
one or two children die every year because of controlled substances,
it is a big deal to us." | ||||||||||||||||||||
Olsen, who pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor drunken driving
charge in 2004, further defended the attempt to take Warren's
residence using drug seizure laws, saying police suspected the home
was being used for drug dealing. | ||||||||||||||||||||
However, the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada said the
attempted seizure is disturbing. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"The police ... get to eat what they kill," said Allen Lichtenstein, an ACLU attorney. "They have an incentive to fund themselves through these seizures, and it can be very disproportionate ( to the crime ). A misdemeanor, yet a fine that takes away the entire property?" | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(12) COUNTY GETS PROPERTY CHECK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
JEFFERSON - Western District United States Attorney Stephen Sinnott
recently presented Jefferson County representatives with a property
forfeiture check in the amount of $61,651. This award stems from a
federal forfeiture of property owned by James Armstrong, age 56, of
Cambridge. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Accepting the check were Jefferson County Detective Sgt. Tim Madson,
Sheriff Paul Milbrath and Capt. Patrick Brown. | ||||||||||||||||||||
The Jefferson County Drug Task Force arrested and charged Armstrong
on July 6, 2004, with manufacturing marijuana. Armstrong was
arrested while tending an outdoor field located in the township of
Oakland where officers of the task force seized 40 growing marijuana
plants. Officers also executed a search warrant at Armstrong's
residence located at N4214 Sleepy Hollow Road, Cambridge, where they
discovered processed marijuana, paraphernalia, and evidence of the
residence being used to facilitate the growing and processing of
marijuana. | ||||||||||||||||||||
The Western District of the United States Attorney's Office filed
claim on the property in Cambridge in federal court, maintaining
that the property was being used in connection with drug felonies
which makes it subject to forfeiture proceedings. On Sept. 28, 2004,
Armstrong pleaded no contest to a Class G felony of manufacturing
marijuana. On July 13, Armstrong entered into an agreement with the
United States Attorney's Office to settle the property claim for the
sum of $77,500. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(13) UNION HITS CITY ON NARC UNIT CUT (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
The Boston Police union that represents detectives has filed an
unfair labor practice against the city of Boston, accusing police
department brass of decimating the narcotics unit and leaving entire
neighborhoods without drug cops. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Earlier this year a dozen cops assigned to take down dealers and
build cases against narcotics bigshots were transferred and entire
units were shuttered. West Roxbury, Roslindale, Hyde Park and
Jamaica Plain are being covered by a single drug unit. Before the
reshuffling, there were three units. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Narcotics officers in the South End are responsible for drug duties
in Brighton. Charlestown, which had two drug-related homicides this
year, does not have a dedicated narcotics unit. | ||||||||||||||||||||
The grievance deals with the issue of patrolmen filling slots historically held by detectives. "Right now, detectives have been pushed out of the unit," said union president Robert Kenney. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Boston police spokesman Sgt. Tom Sexton said the number of drug unit
investigators has been reduced, but that the focus of the force
remains the same. Sexton would not comment on the union's grievance,
saying the BPD had not been notified of its filing. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(14) GREAT BARRINGTON SCHOOL-ZONE DRUG TRIAL STARTS OVER (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
PITTSFIELD -- For the second time this summer, prosecutors Tuesday
began to lay out their case against an 18-year-old man snared in a
controversial drug sting in Great Barrington. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Kyle W. Sawin of Otis faces three counts each of distribution of marijuana and committing a drug violation in a drug-free school zone in connection with sales he allegedly made to an undercover officer in the parking lot of the former Taconic Lumber store last summer. | ||||||||||||||||||||
A mistrial was declared in July after a Berkshire Superior Court
jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict in the case. If convicted
of the school zone offenses, Sawin faces a mandatory minimum 2-year
jail sentence. | ||||||||||||||||||||
In his opening statement, Assistant District Attorney Richard M.
Locke said Sawin sold marijuana to undercover Berkshire County Drug
Task Force member Felix Aguirre, three times during the four-month
investigation that eventually netted 18 arrests. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Authorities said Sawin's sales, which allegedly occurred on June 30, 2004, July 6, 2004, and Sept. 3, 2004, took place in the vicinity of the lot, which is within 1,000 feet of both the Great Barrington Cooperative Preschool and the Searles/Bryant middle school. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Sawin's attorney, Judith Knight contends that her client, who
admitted to being a marijuana user, was the victim of entrapment
targeted by a "wolf in sheep's clothing." | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Cannabis & Hemp- | ||||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (15-19) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
I'm happy to start off this week's hemp and cannabis section with an
article from Salon that systematically debunks some of the modern
marijuana myths being spread by the ONDCP. Author Maia Szalavitz
examined many recent studies suggesting that cannabis use leads to
schizophrenia, depression, and cancer, and found them all to be
lacking scientific merit. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Our second story reports on the East Coasts biggest yearly cannabis
event, the Boston Freedom Rally. After being cancelled due to
hurricane Ivan last year, this year cannabis users were greeted by a
storm of arrests, as 44 people were charged with drug related
offenses during the well-attended event. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Our third story also comes to us from Massachusetts, which is slowly moving towards the legalization of medical use, and may some day be the home of the U.S.' only private cannabis production facility. The Boston Phoenix' Mike Millard takes a good look at upcoming state-level medical cannabis bills, as well as UMass' federal application to produce cannabis for use in clinical research. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Our fourth story shifts us to the left coast, where the city of
Santa Rosa may join Oakland by regulating dispensaries in its
jurisdiction. The city council is currently considering an ordinance
that limit the number of clubs allowed to operate in the city to
two, and that would set a cap on membership at the two clubs to 500.
This concerns activists who claim that there are already 3000 legal
medical users in Santa Rosa. And lastly this week, a quick update
from Canada on the Marc Emery case. During a preliminary court
appearance last Friday, a judge agreed to allow Emery to travel to
other provinces for fundraising appearances. The full extradition
hearing is unlikely to start until next year. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(15) THE RETURN OF REEFER MADNESS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
The U.S. drug czar's office is running ads implying that smoking
marijuana can lead to insanity. But pushing dubious science is no
way to convince teenagers not to do drugs. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Parents who read the New York Times or Newsweek this past summer could be forgiven for freaking out when they came across a full-page ad warning them about the effects of marijuana on their teenagers. If the kids were off somewhere sparking up a joint, the federally funded message seemed to say, they were at risk for severe mental illness. Were those parents hallucinating, or was Reefer Madness, long since debunked, suddenly a real problem to be reckoned with? | ||||||||||||||||||||
The latest salvo in the never-ending war on drugs, the ads, which
also ran in magazines like the Nation and the National Review, bore
a stark warning. Under the headline "Marijuana and Your Teen's
Mental Health," the bold-faced subhead announced: "Depression.
Suicidal Thoughts. Schizophrenia." | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
The rhetoric is alarming. But the research data used to support the ad campaign is hazy at best. Though carefully worded, the campaign blurs the key scientific distinction between correlation and causation. The ad uses some correlations between marijuana use and mental illness to imply that the drug can cause madness and depression. Yet these conclusions are unproven by current research. And several leading researchers are highly skeptical of them. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| ||||||||||||||||||||
(16) CANNABIS ADVOCATES RALLY FOR RIGHTS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Under hovering storm clouds, thousands gathered on the Boston Common
yesterday to sway to gritty rock music, shop for T-shirts with
slogans like "Thank You for Pot Smoking," and rally against
marijuana prohibition. Police motorcycles were parked seven deep at
the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition's 16th Annual Freedom
Rally, and uniformed and undercover police trolled the crowd for
marijuana smokers. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Puffs of smoke hovering over the crowd came mostly from cigarettes,
but police made 44 arrests, mostly for drug possession, although
there were some distribution charges. "There is no day off from the
law today," said Deputy Superintendent Paul Fitzgerald. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
(17) GRASS IN MASS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
It would seem these are dark days for the medical-marijuana
movement. | ||||||||||||||||||||
In June, the Supreme Court ruled in Gonzales v. Raich that the feds
can prosecute patients even in states with laws allowing prescribed
use -- a decision that would seem to be a definitive "no" on the
subject handed down by the highest court in the land. White House
drug czar John Walters even claimed the ruling "marks the end of
medical marijuana as a political issue." Not so. "The Raich decision
really wasn't a setback in legal terms, it just preserved the status
quo," says Krissy Oechslin, assistant director of communication for
the Marijuana Policy Project. "Federal law remains the same. The
decision did not overturn state laws, and it didn't prevent other
states from passing laws. It also didn't prevent Congress from
changing federal law." | ||||||||||||||||||||
So, even in the wake of the Raich ruling, we see Rhode Island, our
plucky neighbor to the south, poised to join Maine, Vermont, and
eight other states in passing its own medical-marijuana law. (See
"Rhode Trip," News and Features, Jul! y 8.) The state senate
overrode Governor Donald Carcieri's veto in June, and the House of
Representatives is expected to gather for a series of override votes
by the end of the year, and may well have the majority they'll need.
But what about Massachusetts, ostensibly the bluest of the blue
states? Where's our medical-marijuana law? In fact, there is
legislation on the books that was signed into law by then-governor
William Weld in the 1990s. But the law requires that the marijuana
in any state-sponsored program be supplied by the feds. | ||||||||||||||||||||
That may be changing. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
(18) SR READIES LAW TO CONTROL POT CLUBS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Santa Rosa would license medical marijuana dispensaries and control
how they operate under a proposed ordinance that could set a
standard along the pot-friendly North Coast. | ||||||||||||||||||||
The law, scheduled for review by the City Council Tuesday [Sept 27],
would limit how close dispensaries can be to schools and how many
people they may serve. And it would create an application process
that charges fees and requires employees to undergo | ||||||||||||||||||||
California voters legalized marijuana for medical use in 1996,
opening the way for a burgeoning enterprise that has gone mostly
unregulated. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
(19) EMERY APPEARS IN COURT IN EXTRADITION PROCEEDINGS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Marc Emery, who is facing extradition to the United States on
charges that he sold marijuana seeds, conspired to manufacture
marijuana and laundered money, made a brief appearance in a
Vancouver courtroom yesterday to set a date for the start of his
extradition hearing. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Mr. Emery, 47, appeared alongside two co-accused, Michelle Rainey
Fenkarek and Greg Williams. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Their next court appearance is Oct. 21, but the hearing likely won't
start until next year. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
International News | ||||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (20-23) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Gung ho prohibitionists in Washington D.C. have never encountered a means which was too coercive, or took too heavy a toll on civil rights for them not to use against "drugs". For the South American nation of Colombia, prohibitionists in Washington D.C. knew best. Little Colombia was to be sprayed with plant-killing glyphosate, to kill coca. So for the last 20 years or so, Colombia, at Washington's dictate and financing, was doused with plant poisons. What do the prohibitionists have to show for their multi-billion dollar "Plan Colombia"? Nothing at all. Cocaine prices have plummeted, while availability has remained steady, even the U.S. government admits. "The plan is producing results," a blithe President Bush pretended in August, but he should know better. In June the Senate Appropriations Committee confessed, "There is no indication that the quantity of cocaine entering the United States has decreased." Spin doctors at the ONDCP blamed other plants for hiding the demon coca. "There's a lot more scattering of small plots. There's a lot more growing in shade, among tall weeds - places where it's harder to find," according to a report in last week's Los Angeles Times. | ||||||||||||||||||||
In the Philippines, drug suspects continue to be slaughtered by
extra-legal death squads, who dispatch those blacklisted by police.
On the one hand, officials like Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte
have applauded death squads; on the other hand President Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo has decried exposure of death squad activity in the
press. Even the U.S. State Department was forced to say something by
last February, so blatant had death squad killings become. Last
week, Philippine Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez ordered the
National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to investigate reports of
vigilante killings. Police there have long maintained that death
squad killings of police-blacklisted drug suspects are not the work
of police, but of other drug suspects. Expect the NBI to exonerate
police. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Trade in prohibited drugs generates money that inevitably corrupts
the very officials entrusted to use guns on the rest of us. In
Florida, the U.S.-ordered trial of Evintz Brillant, a former top
Haitian police official, is expected to begin next week. U.S.
Federal District Judge Marcia Cooke will preside over the case.
After U.S. prosecutors denounce the accused, expect a guilty verdict
followed by a life prison sentence. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Senior police officers in the U.K. don't want government to
flip-flop on cannabis, according to the Guardian Newspaper this
week. Charles Clarke, heard of the Blair government's "expert
committee on drug abuse," intends to look at stiffening the
penalties for cannabis again, after lowering them in recent years.
But some senior police believe the government is using new fears
over stronger "skunk" cannabis as an excuse to stiffen penalties for
all types of cannabis. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
(20) PLAN COLOMBIA FAILS TO STEM COCAINE SUPPLY (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
The Flow Of Drugs To The U.S. Raises Questions About The Two
Nations' War Against Narcotics | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
After several years and billions of American tax dollars spent
fighting drug trafficking, cocaine is still making its way from
Colombia to the U.S. in what appear to be hardly diminished
quantities, throwing into question the efficacy of counter-narcotics
efforts by both countries. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
At the same time, a program that began five years ago to fumigate
coca crops in Colombia, hailed by the Bush administration as a major
success, appears to have had little effect on overall supply,
judging by the availability and price of cocaine on the street. U.S.
officials acknowledge that access to cocaine, its purity level and
its street price remain virtually unchanged. | ||||||||||||||||||||
The dismaying results come as President Bush is requesting an
extension for aid to Plan Colombia, a five-year strategy to combat
narco-trafficking set to expire at the end of this year. The U.S.
has already poured about $3 billion into the project, primarily to
augment Colombia's fleet of military aircraft and ships and to train
soldiers and police. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"The plan is producing results," Bush told reporters last month
during a visit to his Texas ranch by Colombian President Alvaro
Uribe, who asked for more money and support for Plan Colombia during
a visit to Washington last week. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Officials from both countries cite the number of seizures of cocaine
shipments as proof that Plan Colombia is bearing fruit. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
The beefed-up efforts have also failed to translate into higher
prices on the street, as would be expected if supply were declining.
Instead, a gram of cocaine now costs less, not more, than it did
before Plan Colombia was introduced in 2000, according to the White
House's Office of National Drug Control Policy. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
Farmers may have modified their methods to outsmart fumigators, Isacson said, adding that sketchy reports had surfaced of a new strain of coca that offered a higher yield in making cocaine. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"Satellites are totally useless at finding plots of about two-thirds
of an acre or less, and nobody's so stupid in a place like Putumayo
these days to grow coca in massive, easy-to-find plots," Isacson
said. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"There's a lot more scattering of small plots. There's a lot more
growing in shade, among tall weeds - places where it's harder to
find." | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
The Senate Appropriations Committee, considering Bush's request for
more aid for Colombia, expressed concern in June that "the aerial
eradication program is falling far short of predictions and that
coca cultivation is shifting to new locations . There is no
indication that the quantity of cocaine entering the United States
has decreased." | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
But Diaz acknowledged that the law of supply and demand would
continue to work against them. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"You will have traffic in drugs as long as there are consumers," he
said. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
(21) NBI ASKED TO INVESTIGATE DAVAO VIGILANTE KILLINGS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez yesterday said he has ordered the
National Bureau of Investigation to look into reports of alleged
"vigilante" killings in Davao City. | ||||||||||||||||||||
In its country report on the Philippines for 2004, released Feb. 28,
the U.S. State Department noted the alleged links of Davao City
Mayor Rodrigo Duterte with shadowy vigilante group Davao Death
Squad. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"Reports on the so-called vigilante killings in Davao City is murder
- and shall never be encouraged nor condoned. President Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo was unhappy about such reports," Gonzalez said in a
statement. "... The Department of Justice has called on the NBI to
look into these reports as it also directed the agency to
investigate other major crimes. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
The U.S. State Department report said: "Summary killings by
vigilante groups continued to rise in Davao City, Mindanao, where
the mayor was alleged to be linked to the vigilantes. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Most of the victims were suspected of involvement in illegal drug
trade or other criminal activities. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
(22) DRUG TRIAL TO BEGIN FOR FORMER HAITIAN ANTI-NARCOTICS CHIEF (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
MIAMI - A top Haitian police official in the government of ousted
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide is facing trial on charges that he
accepted thousands of dollars in bribes to help Colombian drug lords
move huge loads of cocaine through the impoverished Caribbean
country. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Jury selection is scheduled to begin later this week in the case
against Evintz Brillant, the only one of four former senior Haitian
police officials who has not pleaded guilty in the investigation of
drug trafficking inside the Aristide government. | ||||||||||||||||||||
The three who pleaded guilty are expected to cooperate in the U.S.
government's against Brillant, who has pleaded innocent and faces a
life sentence if convicted. The trial's scheduled Monday start
before U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke was delayed a few days by
the approach of Tropical Storm Rita. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
(23) SENIOR POLICE FEAR U-TURN ON CLASSIFICATION OF CANNABIS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Senior police officers fear that the government is to use Dutch
concerns over high-strength "skunk" to reverse the decision to relax
the laws on possession of all types of cannabis. | ||||||||||||||||||||
The government's expert committee on drug abuse will meet at the end
of the week to consider a request from the home secretary, Charles
Clarke, that it look again at last year's decision to downgrade
cannabis from class B to class C in the light of new studies linking
long-term use with mental health problems. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
The police fear a decision that more potent forms of "skunk" should
carry heavier penalties will cause more confusion, as it will mean
officers being expected to recognise the differences during a street
search. "You cannot have a two tier approach," said one senior
officer, who asked not to be named. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
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HOT OFF THE 'NET (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
A LESS FASHIONABLE WAR | ||||||||||||||||||||
By Charles Shaw | ||||||||||||||||||||
At Newtopia - http://www.newtopiamagazine.net/ | ||||||||||||||||||||
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CULTURAL BAGGAGE RADIO SHOW | ||||||||||||||||||||
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SEX AND DRUGS FLASH ANIMATION | ||||||||||||||||||||
Brought to you by Change the Climate | ||||||||||||||||||||
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MEXICAN BORDER TOWN CAUGHT IN DRUG WAR | ||||||||||||||||||||
Listen to this story by Lourdes Garcia-Navarro | ||||||||||||||||||||
Morning Edition, September 21, 2005 ú Mexican drug cartels are battling
each other and authorities for control of transit routes into the United
States. The border town of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, across the Rio Grande
from Texas is caught in the middle of this war, with more than 130
murders so far this year. | ||||||||||||||||||||
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4857114 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
PRINCE OF POT: CC #57 AND THE LATEST UPDATES | ||||||||||||||||||||
Marc Emery tells us about the latest issue of Cannabis Culture Magazine and thanks viewers for their moral and financial support, as well as fills everyone in on the latest developments in his case. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
KATRINA CAUSES WAVE OF ADDICTION PROBLEMS | ||||||||||||||||||||
By Bob Curley | ||||||||||||||||||||
Hurricane Katrina displaced thousands of people with addictions from their treatment programs and support networks, added strain on people who may have been walking the line between moderate use and addiction, and put millions at risk of turning to alcohol or other drugs to ease the pain of dislocation, financial ruin, and personal tragedy. | ||||||||||||||||||||
http://www.jointogether.org/sa/news/features/reader/0,1854,578331,00.html | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
WHAT YOU CAN DO THIS WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Sign-On Letter Supporting UMASS Amherst Marijuana Production Facility | ||||||||||||||||||||
Please join us in sending a letter to the Drug Enforcement
Administration's Administrator (DEA) Karen P. Tandy expressing our
strong support for the application by the University of Massachusetts -
Amherst to manufacture marijuana for FDA-approved research at DEA-
licensed laboratories. The University will make marijuana available
solely for research purposes. This research could finally settle
whether or not marijuana has any medical benefits. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
LETTER OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
DATA CAN'T PROVE THAT MARIJUANA CAUSES MENTAL ILLNESS | ||||||||||||||||||||
By Jim Grose | ||||||||||||||||||||
Re: We need the truth about marijuana, Sept. 15. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Letter-writer L.S. Davidson proposes more research on the long-term
effects of marijuana use. She specifically proposes a data base,
with hospital psychiatrists collecting data on patient use and
illness. | ||||||||||||||||||||
There are several problems with this approach. | ||||||||||||||||||||
First, we would only have data on people who have used marijuana and
are seeking treatment. What about all those who have used marijuana
but are not suffering from mental illness? What about all those who
have used marijuana, are suffering from mental illness but are not
seeking treatment? To compute rates we would need the total number
of users and the number who suffer from mental illness. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Even so, this would not reveal any cause-effect relationship.
Smoking marijuana may predispose a person to mental illness. Mental
illness may predispose a person to smoke marijuana. Which came
first, the chicken or the egg? | ||||||||||||||||||||
Additionally, a third unknown factor may predispose a person to both
mental illness and smoking marijuana; that is, both are effects and
neither is the cause of the other. | ||||||||||||||||||||
In fact, the necessary data are already collected by Statistics
Canada. The Canadian Community Health Survey collects | ||||||||||||||||||||
Why reinvent the wheel? | ||||||||||||||||||||
Jim Grose, | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
FEATURE ARTICLE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
JUSTICE FOR A 'DEATH OF NEGLECT' | ||||||||||||||||||||
By Colbert I. King | ||||||||||||||||||||
Next Tuesday marks the first anniversary of 27-year-old Jonathan
Magbie's final encounter with the D.C. government. It will be no
cause for celebration. | ||||||||||||||||||||
It was on Sept. 20, 2004, that D.C. Superior Court Judge Judith Retchin sentenced Magbie, a quadriplegic since an accident at age 4, to 10 days in the D.C. jail. His crime? Possession of marijuana. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Five days after falling into the hands of the D.C. government,
Magbie was dead. He died a horrible death. It was preventable. But
nobody in the system cared. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Looking down from her bench, Retchin saw a first-time offender. He
controlled his wheelchair with a mouth-operated device. He could
breathe only with a battery-controlled pulmonary pacemaker. At night
he needed the assistance of a respirator. He could have been
sentenced to home detention, where he would have had round-the-clock
attention. Instead, Retchin, apparently upset when Magbie refused to
swear off weed, which helped him get through a miserable existence,
sent him to that taxpayer-supported hellhole near the Anacostia
River known as the D.C. jail. | ||||||||||||||||||||
What happened to Magbie at the jail and at Greater Southeast
Community Hospital, where his life ended five days later, shouldn't
happen to a dog. In fact, it doesn't happen to dogs and cats in the
custody of decent and caring people. But Magbie had no one in his
corner except his mother, Mary Scott, and she could not join him in
jail. In the intervening 12 months, the continuum of players
responsible for Magbie's last days on Earth has never had it so
good. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Retchin's handling of the Magbie case was reviewed by the D.C.
Commission on Judicial Disabilities and Tenure: It gave her grace,
and she was subsequently rewarded with a renewed assignment to the
court's coveted criminal docket so that more Retchin-style justice
can be meted out to the criminal-minded. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Odie Washington, director of the Corrections Department, which runs the D.C. jail, retired with full honors and words of praise from the mayor. And Greater Southeast Community Hospital, which treats the District's sick inmates under a lucrative D.C. government contract, continues to collect D.C. checks, courtesy of city taxpayers. | ||||||||||||||||||||
The only person made to pay for the mistreatment of Jonathan Magbie
has been Magbie himself. But perhaps not for long. | ||||||||||||||||||||
On the anniversary of his imprisonment, attorneys retained by
Magbie's mother will file a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against
the D.C. government and the hospital charging them with medical
malpractice and violations of the D.C. Human Rights Act, the
Americans With Disabilities Act and the constitutional prohibition
against cruel and unusual punishment. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Magbie's lawyers are no slouches. Two of them, Donald Temple and Ed
Connor, successfully sued the Eddie Bauer clothing store chain in
1997 for falsely imprisoning and defaming three young black men on
suspicion of shoplifting. The federal jury required the company to
pay $1 million. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Temple and Connor are joined by the American Civil Liberties Union's
Eighth Amendment specialists in prisoners' rights, Elizabeth
Alexander and Arthur Spitzer. Together they have done the job that
the D.C. inspector general's office and the mayor's office told me
they would do -- but did not. Magbie's lawyer found out what
happened to him during those five fateful days a year ago. And they
want to tell that story to a federal judge and jury. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Among the evidence they will present is an affidavit and medical
opinion from Jerry S. Walden, a prison medicine expert and former
chief medical officer at the U.S. penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind.
After a review of records from the D.C. jail and Greater Southeast
Community Hospital, interviews with various sources and a look at
the pertinent medical literature, Walden concluded that "Jonathan
Magbie died a death of neglect." | ||||||||||||||||||||
There were, Walden said, many parts to the failure to take Magbie's
health seriously. "Certainly the tracheostomy accident [Magbie's
tracheostomy was misaligned, shoved back in, and not tied to
maintain a correct position] could have been prevented and happened
while being monitored. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"His pneumonia [noted during the initial jail examination] was essentially undiagnosed and untreated. Despite the early X-ray and the sputum production, no one sent a sputum specimen and started treatment. All this was complicated by his nutritional status." ( Magbie weighed 130 pounds at jail intake on Monday, Sept. 20. Five days later, at his autopsy exam, he weighed 90 pounds ). | ||||||||||||||||||||
"He had been in the emergency room on day one [rushed from the jail
to Greater Southeast and returned the next day] and had fluid and
sugar deficits noted. No one cared that he wasn't eating or measured
his fluid intake after." | ||||||||||||||||||||
Although Magbie needed a respirator and made that fact known on his
first day at the jail, he was never given one during his five days
in custody. "There were no physicians consult nor pulmonary consult
performed while in the jail. He was monitored by license practical
nurses. No RN [registered nurse] or PA [physician's assistant] or
doctor followed him or was even consulted about" drastic changes in
his condition. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Disaster struck on Sept. 24, his last day at the jail -- and in this
world. The lawsuit will detail what happened that day. | ||||||||||||||||||||
None of this will soften the blows that Magbie received from the
D.C. government. None of this will bring him back or end the weeping
and sorrow in his family. But Magbie deserves justice. This is an
opportunity. We are obliged to try. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| ||||||||||||||||||||
QUOTE OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
"Persecution, wherever it occurs, establishes only the power and
cunning of the persecutor, not the truth and worth of his belief."
- H.M. Kallen | ||||||||||||||||||||
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