| March 24, 2006 #442 | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Table of Contents
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THIS JUST IN (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
(1) CN BC: GIVE HEROIN AND SPEED TO ADDICTS, DRUG CZAR URGES (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
City's Drug-Policy Adviser Also Seeks $1 Million To Extend His Tenure | ||||||||||||||||||||
Taxpayers should provide free prescription heroin and amphetamines to
drugs addicts, Vancouver's drug-policy co-ordinator mused yesterday in
a presentation to city council. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"You need different kinds of approaches for different kinds of people,"
Donald MacPherson told council, noting that the drug giveaway should
operate under Vancouver's Four Pillars drug strategy. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"One size doesn't fit all." | ||||||||||||||||||||
MacPherson -- who recently created headlines by suggesting free wine
should be given to chronic, street-level alcoholics -- also sought $1
million to keep his three-person office open for another three years
and that council make him a permanent city employee at his current wage
of $108,000 a year. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"I believe we've made some progress, but we're nowhere near out of the
woods," he said. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Coun. Peter Ladner said the request for cash is in no way guaranteed,
given the city's current money troubles. | ||||||||||||||||||||
MacPherson, a former director of the Downtown Eastside's powerful PHS Community Services Society, said the city should follow Switzerland and Holland's lead in providing free, safe heroin to addicts. | ||||||||||||||||||||
One in 10 users gave up the drug completely after taking part in the
Swiss program, he said. | ||||||||||||||||||||
He also said a pharmaceutical-grade amphetamine, provided by a doctor's
prescription, could be a safer way of treating those addicted to
cocaine, crack and crystal meth. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(2) INDIANA STUDENT PART OF CHALLENGE TO FEDERAL DRUG LAW (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
FORT WAYNE, Ind. - A Ball State University student is among those suing
the federal government over a law that blocks financial aid to college
students with drug convictions. | ||||||||||||||||||||
The lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court in South Dakota claims
that the law punishes people, including 20-year-old Alexis Schwab of
North Judson, twice for the same offense and makes education difficult
for some students to receive. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Under the law, written by Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind., students lose all
or part of the eligibility for federally subsidized college loans or
grants if they are convicted of drug offenses while enrolled at a
college or university. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Those facing loss of aid indefinitely can, however, get that lifted by
completing a drug rehabilitation program. | ||||||||||||||||||||
The American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of Schwab and two other students, said that about 200,000 college students have lost their financial aid because of the law, which it said singles out low-income and minority students. The lawsuit argues that wealthy students with drug convictions do not need financial aid. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"While any non-drug offender, from a murderer to a shoplifter, can receive financial aid, an individual who is caught with any amount of a controlled substance, including a small amount of marijuana, is automatically denied aid by the federal government," the lawsuit said. | ||||||||||||||||||||
But Souder told The Journal Gazette for a story Thursday he did not
take the lawsuit seriously. | ||||||||||||||||||||
If the federal court does not toss out the case, he said, "It will
force taxpayers to spend more money defending the law - money that
could be spent on education." | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(3) DRUG-FREE ZONES OFF-TARGET, GROUP SAYS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Report Links Areas to Racial Disparities in Convictions, Sentences | ||||||||||||||||||||
During the crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980s, dozens of states drew
wide circles around schools and called them "drug-free zones" to keep
dealers away from children. But a national report released yesterday
said the zones have failed to achieve that goal. | ||||||||||||||||||||
A report by the Justice Policy Institute, a liberal research
organization that advocates for alternatives to incarceration, said the
zones have led to a far different result: a disproportionately high
number of drug convictions and harsh sentences for black and Latino
citizens who live who live near urban schools and other protected
areas. | ||||||||||||||||||||
In some cases, entire cities are covered by the zones, leading to
mandatory sentences even for first-time offenders caught possessing
minuscule amounts of drugs far from any school. According to the
report, "Disparity by Design: How Drug-Free Zone Laws Impact Racial
Disparity -- and Fail to Protect Youth," only 1 percent of drug cases
that originated within a zone involved children. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Zones measure from 300 feet to three miles, averaging about 1,000 feet
-- about three football fields -- from school property to some other
facility, the report said. The zones exist in most states, from North
Carolina to Minnesota, Alaska and Hawaii. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Alabama's zones cover 27 square miles each, almost half the size of one
of its largest cities, Tuscaloosa. Convictions within the zones often
come with fixed sentences that are added to whatever jail time is
imposed for the crime committed. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(4) SUPREME COURT STRENGTHENS PROTECTION AGAINST SEARCHES (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Objection by One Resident Precludes Warrantless Entry Despite Another's
Permission | ||||||||||||||||||||
WASHINGTON -- Strengthening Fourth Amendment protections against
warrantless searches, the Supreme Court ruled that police can't enter a
house over a resident's objection simply because a second occupant
invites them in. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Chief Justice John Roberts led the three dissenters, reflecting his
longstanding deference to police. | ||||||||||||||||||||
The opinions recalled debates that have marked the court since the 1950s, when, under Chief Justice Earl Warren, it began imposing rules to deter police misconduct. Justice Samuel Alito sat out because the case was argued before his confirmation, but he has written elsewhere of his disagreement with Warren Court criminal-procedure cases. | ||||||||||||||||||||
The ruling by Justice David Souter was grounded in those doctrines,
which have limited warrantless searches when a third party, such as a
landlord or hotel clerk, has let police into an absent tenant's
quarters. "We have, after all, lived our whole national history with an
understanding of 'the ancient adage that a man's home is his castle,'"
Justice Souter wrote, citing a 1958 opinion by his predecessor, Justice
William Brennan. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Yesterday's case originated with a 2001 marital dispute in Americus,
Ga. Janet Randolph told police that her husband, Scott, used cocaine
and that the house held "drug evidence." Mr. Randolph refused when an
officer asked permission to search the premises. The officer turned to
Mrs. Randolph, who led him to Mr. Randolph's bedroom, where the officer
found a drinking straw with cocaine residue. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Domestic News- Policy | ||||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (5-8) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
The right against warrantless searches for adult home owners was
supported this week but their children's rights continue to be
stripped away. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a co-tenant can not
"prevail over the express wishes of another". On the other hand,
parents continue to tolerate, and at times root for, increasing
privacy invasions on young adults without any evidence of productive
results. Every week stories similar to the ones below can be found
which report about drug dog searches and school and home drug
testing. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(5) SUPREME COURT STRENGTHENS PROTECTION AGAINST SEARCHES (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Objection by One Resident Precludes Warrantless Entry Despite
Another's Permission | ||||||||||||||||||||
WASHINGTON -- Strengthening Fourth Amendment protections against
warrantless searches, the Supreme Court ruled that police can't
enter a house over a resident's objection simply because a second
occupant invites them in. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
Although the Constitution generally provides that police obtain a
warrant before conducting a search, there are "reasonable"
exceptions, such as to prevent imminent harm or if the party
consents. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"The constant element...is the great significance given to widely
shared social expectations," Justice Souter wrote. "There is no
common understanding that one co-tenant" can "prevail over the
express wishes of another, whether the issue is the color of the
curtains or invitations to outsiders." Few visitors would enter a
house at "one occupant's invitation...when a fellow tenant stood
there saying, 'stay out.'" That distinguished the case from a 1974
Supreme Court decision allowing one tenant to let police search
while a co-tenant wasn't home. People who share housing "understand
that any one of them may admit visitors, with the consequence that a
guest obnoxious to one may nevertheless be admitted in his absence
by another," he wrote. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(6) K-9 UNITS SEARCH FM SCHOOLS; NO DRUGS FOUND (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
K-9 units searched the Fort Madison High and Fort Madison Middle
School for drugs on Wednesday. | ||||||||||||||||||||
According to Christine Niggemeyer, the liaison coordinator between the Iowa State Penitentiary, the Fort Madison Police Department and the Fort Madison school system, the dogs spent a half hour in the morning at the high school before moving on to the middle school. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Search teams used the dogs to sniff lockers and the trunks of cars
in the parking lots. | ||||||||||||||||||||
However, no drugs were found according to Niggemeyer. Rather, the
dogs had several "hits," which she said indicated that drugs had
been present recently. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Niggemeyer said that usually there is one search per year, but that
she hopes to increase that number with the continued support of the
ISP and the school system. | ||||||||||||||||||||
She said that the walk-throughs, which occur at random and are kept
secret until the day of, are a good deterrent | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(7) PORTER TOWNSHIP PARENTS IN FAVOR OF DRUG TESTING (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Forum Participants Want Middle, High Schoolers Tested | ||||||||||||||||||||
PORTER TOWNSHIP - The two dozen people who attended the public forum
on drug testing at Porter Township Schools were overwhelmingly in
favor of the measure for middle and high school students, but had
questions about the details of doing so. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"We're in our infancy in this whole process," Superintendent Nick
Brown said at the beginning of the 90-minute meeting. "What do you
think? Is this something we should pursue?" | ||||||||||||||||||||
The answer was a resounding 'yes' on testing from grades six to 12
and on testing all students, not just those in athletics and
extracurricular activities. | ||||||||||||||||||||
In fact, there was no one at the forum that openly opposed drug
testing completely. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(8) MORE PARENTS BUYING HOME DRUG-TEST KITS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
MILWAUKEE - Desperate parents dissatisfied with old-school ways of
trying to tell whether their kids are doing drugs - rifling through
their drawers, smelling their breath, searching their eyes - are now
instead demanding proof. | ||||||||||||||||||||
They're dragging their teens to drug-testing labs and buying
home-testing kits by the case over the Internet. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"I tell my daughter if you want to go out tonight you're going to
pee in a cup first," said Suzanne Fugarino, whose 17-year-old
daughter was expelled from high school last fall after bringing a
crack pipe to school. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Schools, too, are getting on board, hanging banners and sending home
brochures backing testmyteen.com, a Web-based company that promotes
home drug tests for children. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Although random drug testing in schools - heavily promoted by the
White House and done in numerous districts in Wisconsin - has drawn
some fire from the American Civil Liberties Union and the American
Academy of Pediatrics, among others, parental testing of teens has
gotten far less attention. | ||||||||||||||||||||
And the practice is quietly exploding. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Internet companies and drug-testing labs report huge upswings in
teen testing and sales of home drug-screening kits. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"( Business ) has been awesome," said Debra Auer, co-owner of
Express Drug Screening in Milwaukee. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Sales of home-testing kits and visits to the lab by teen-toting
parents have tripled in the last four years, Auer said. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
The Drug Policy Alliance, a national nonprofit agency that promotes
an overhaul of the nation's approach to drug problems, says parental
testing tears at the bond between children and adults. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"It can have consequences of breaking down communication, of
creating rebellion, breaking down relationships of trust," said
Jennifer Kern, a research associate with the office of legal affairs
for the Drug Policy Alliance. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Drug testing of teens should be done by medical professionals who
can better interpret test results and refer parents to appropriate
resources if necessary, Kern said. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Law Enforcement & Prisons | ||||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (9-11) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Several disingenuous misinterpretations by law enforcement appear in
the news this week. An Indiana sheriff and police chief have
misinterpreted their COUNTY and CITY duties by abandoning their
local task force to join a FEDERAL task force. Florida deputies
seemingly misinterpreted fear for cooperation as they allegedly
strip searched two females on the side of the road. Federal agents
in Georgia have misinterpreted the command of the English language
by store clerks by arresting them of allegedly knowingly selling
legal items to meth cooks. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(9) VALPO, PORTER COUNTY COPS TO LEAVE COUNTY DRUG TASK FORCE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
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VALPARAISO -- The Porter County Sheriff and the Valparaiso police
chief will pull their officers out the Porter County Drug Task Force
and instead join forces with a federal drug task force already
operating in the region. | ||||||||||||||||||||
During a meeting Friday representatives of several local law
enforcement agencies met to discuss the future of the county task
force, which is run by the Porter County Prosecutor's Office. Porter
County Sheriff Dave Reynolds said Friday evening his department will
join the federal Drug Enforcement Agency task force. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"Obviously we're not making a difference," Reynolds said of the
local drug problem. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Valparaiso Police Chief Michael Brickner said Friday that he had
intended pull out of the local task force at the meeting to
immediately join DEA task force. But he and other police officials
decided to stay in the task force temporarily to allow time for a
transition. | ||||||||||||||||||||
But Brickner said his department will definitely end its involvement
with the county drug task force. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Reynolds said officials from the DEA offered their assistance to
Porter County. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"How do you turn down the United States government?" he asked. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(10) GIRL TELLS JURY OF DEPUTIES' STRIP-SEARCH (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
TALLAHASSEE -- After a nighttime traffic stop in North Florida, a
Delray Beach family waited for about an hour as they let sheriff
deputies search the car. | ||||||||||||||||||||
The search turned up nothing, both the McCloud family and Jefferson
County sheriff's deputies agree. | ||||||||||||||||||||
But what happened next on that July 2001 night is the subject of a
jury trial that started Monday in U.S. District Court in
Tallahassee, where Arnetta McCloud and her daughter claim deputies
abused, illegally searched and falsely imprisoned them. | ||||||||||||||||||||
The family is seeking damages "between six and seven figures,"
attorney Guy Rubin of Stuart said. | ||||||||||||||||||||
The daughter, who was 15 at the time, sobbed as she told the jury
Monday that she stood on the roadside when deputies forced her to
drop her pants and underwear and used a flashlight to search her for
cocaine. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"I was so scared I didn't know what to do," she said. "They took my
mom away from me. They took my daddy away and all the officers were
watching as cars passed by. I felt so violated." | ||||||||||||||||||||
McCloud said Sgt. Michael Joyner threatened to take her "to a children's home if I didn't tell him what he wanted to know." | ||||||||||||||||||||
"I didn't know what he was talking about," she said. "I didn't know
if we were going to walk away from that night." | ||||||||||||||||||||
Arnetta McCloud also was strip-searched without consent, left in the back of a squad car and forced to lead deputies to her sister's Monticello home, Rubin said Monday in his opening statement. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
The attorney for the sheriff's office and deputies, however, said
the daughter offered to be strip-searched, Arnetta McCloud invited
deputies to check her sister's home and the family was "cooperative
and pleasant" during the search of the house, just as they were when
they gave consent to check the car. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"It was all by the book," attorney David Cornell said. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(11) WRONG MAN, WRONG WAR (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
A Case Of Mistaken Identity In The War On Drugs, And Not An Isolated
Case, Either. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Last summer, when Siddharth Patel stepped off the plane in Newark
Airport on the way back from his honeymoon in India, a team of
federal agents was waiting for him. They snatched the surprised
newlywed from the customs gate and spirited him down in handcuffs to
a detention cell where they told him he was under arrest. He asked
to know what he had done wrong, but the arresting officials refused
to tell him. Over the next twelve days, Patel would be transported
to and from several prisons across the country, often unable to talk
to his family or even his attorneys for days at a time. Discussing
it after the fact, his tone is still heavy with bewilderment: "I had
no idea what was going on." | ||||||||||||||||||||
Patel, a U.S. citizen, had been snared in the dragnet of "Operation
Meth Merchant," and undercover federal sting operation designed to
crack down on the manufacturing of illegal methamphetamines in the
state of Georgia. As his luck would have it, he was quickly being
cast as yet another unhappy player in the perverse drama that is the
federal war on drugs. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
As Patel eventually learned, it is illegal to sell a product to a
person if you now or should know that he is going to use it to
produce illicit drugs. In the meth production process, various
chemical ingredients can be extracted from household products. Red
phosphorus, for example, is a key meth component that can be taken
from matchbook scratchpads. | ||||||||||||||||||||
So the feds thought Patel was a convenience-store clerk in Georgia
who had sold products to people who he had reason to believe were
drug producers. For this, they sought to lock him away, refusing to
release him on bond for almost two weeks and threatening him with up
to 20 years in jail and $200,000 in fines. They claimed to have
undercover audio and video evidence of the sales, along with
testimony from a confidential informant who swore that he had made
illicit purchases from Patel. | ||||||||||||||||||||
The only problem, Patel kept protesting, was that he wasn't a
convenience-store clerk; he hadn't been in the store in question on
the day the feds said he was; in fact, he hadn't even been in the
state of Georgia that day. He had been in his new hometown of
Hicksville, N.Y. where he had recently moved from Georgia working at
his sister's Subway sandwich shop. The feds' undercover tapes must
have had someone else on them. | ||||||||||||||||||||
One of Patel's defense attorneys, McCracken Poston, knew that the
misidentification of his client was not just an isolated mistake.
Another of his clients, Malvika Patel ( no relation to Siddharth ),
had also been misidentified, mistakenly arrested, and wrongfully
jailed in the Meth Merchant mess. Poston had already helped Malvika
corroborate he alibi and get her charges dropped, and eventually he
was able to do the same for Siddharth but not before the hapless
defendant had to spend $55,000 in legal fees and endure twelve days
of incarceration. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
In order to be guilty of providing material support to drug
producers, the accused store clerks would have had to know or have
reason to believe that they were selling products that would be used
to manufacture illegal drugs. Yet 44 out of the 49 defendants in
this operation are of Indian descent, and in many cases their
English falls short of fluency. As Anjuli Verma of the ACLU points
out, many of them simply lack the conversational and cultural
aptitude necessary to determine when a customer might be planning to
cook up some meth. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
Such is the state of the ongoing war on drugs, where a sales clerk's
misunderstanding can land him in the crosshairs of a federal task
force. Add this to the burden of costs that our country has borne
for the sake of drug prohibition. We have put up with wasted tax
dollars, broken families, swollen prisons, and swamped police
forces. Now shopkeepers are being hounded by federal agents for
selling legal products that have the alchemical potential to be
transmuted into street drugs. And, on top of that, the feds can't
even pick the right shopkeepers to hound. As these outrages
multiply, and the costs keep piling up, why do we continue to
tolerate it? | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Cannabis & Hemp- | ||||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (12-16) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
We begin this week with an article about the recent DEA bust of the
Bay areas medical cannabis candyland. Last week federal agents
stormed four warehouses in Emeryville and Oakland belonging to
Beyond Bomb, a manufacturer of medicinal cannabis edibles that
included chocolate bars, sodas pops and lollipops. Ignoring the fact
that the organization claims to have only sold their goods through
medical dispensaries, the DEA seized over 10,000 plants and have
charged 12 people in connection with the organization, troubling
advocates who see this as yet another attack against California's
critically and chronically ill medical cannabis users. Our next
story is from New York Times health columnist Nicholas Bakalar, who
reports on a Greek study conducted by Dr. Lambros Massinis that
suggests that long-term cannabis users drawn from a drug
rehabilitation program appear to do worse on cognitive and
coordination tests. He admits that his conclusions may not translate
to cannabis users in the general population. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Our next three stories cast an eye and a nod up north to Canada.
This week the Washington Post had a look at the DEA's attempt to
extradite Canadian cannabis seed salesman and uber-activist Marc
Emery, and the BBC published an interesting online article on the
growing political debate surrounding cannabis prohibition in Canada.
Finally, an optimistic look at the present and potential future of
Ontario's ever-expanding hemp industry. Here's a bit of legal advice
to those Ontario hemp producers and manufacturers: don't make
anything in the shape of a lollipop! | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(12) RAIDED POT 'EDIBLES' TROUBLE ADVOCATES (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
A day after federal agents seized thousands of marijuana plants and
a booty of pot-laced candy and soda pop in raids on warehouses in
Emeryville and Oakland, local medical cannabis advocates reacted
coolly -- bitter at another federal plunder on a substance the state
deems legal for the sick, but leery of an operation that packaged
its products to mimic popular brands of sweets. | ||||||||||||||||||||
The raids on a business called Beyond Bomb netted some 10,000 rooted plants, thousands of tiny plant "clones," as well as boxes of candy and soda with take-off names such as "Pot Tarts," "Toka-Cola," "Stoney Rancher" and "Munchy Way," with labels to match. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Agents also raided the Lafayette home of Kenneth Dean Affolter, 39,
who they say ran the business. He and 11 others were taken into
custody and charged with of distributing marijuana. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Authorities say they believe the snacks and soda were headed to pot
dispensaries and cooperatives across the Bay Area and California,
said Special Agent Casey McEnry, a spokeswoman for the federal Drug
Enforcement Administration. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"We don't have any information that these products did ultimately
end up in the hands of minors, but that doesn't mean it didn't
happen," she said. "They look so similar to the real products, it
would almost suggest ... that's the way it looks." | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(13) MARIJUANA AND A SLOWER MIND AND BODY (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Long-term heavy users of marijuana perform significantly worse on
tests of mental agility and physical dexterity than short-term users
or nonusers, even when they have abstained from smoking for more
than 24 hours, new research shows. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Scientists, led by Lambros Messinis, a neuropsychologist at University Hospital in Petras, Greece, tested three groups. | ||||||||||||||||||||
They were 20 long-term users who had smoked four or more marijuana
cigarettes a week for at least 10 years, 20 short-term users who had
smoked a similar amount for 5 to 10 years and, finally, 24 people,
representing a control group, who had used marijuana no more than 20
times in their lives and not in the prior two years. | ||||||||||||||||||||
The long- and short-term users were drawn from participants in a
drug rehabilitation program. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(14) HIGH CRIMES, OR A TOKIN' FIGURE? (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Canadians Find the 'Prince of Pot' Harmless. The DEA Begs to Differ. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Sweet marijuana smoke tumbles down the steps from "the Vapor
Lounge," a corner of Marc Emery's bookstore where customers toke up
at will. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"We get high with everybody," Emery says, shrugging. "This is a
pilgrimage spot, and people come here from all over the world. We
get high." | ||||||||||||||||||||
Illegal? Yes. | ||||||||||||||||||||
So were the seeds he used to keep in a case in the store, with
exotic names like Afghan Dream and Chemo Grizzly. So was the booming
business he ran, complete with glossy seed catalogues describing the
subtle and sublime nuances of his varieties. ("Nebula: Fruity flavor
and scent. Transcendental buzz. Harvest outdoor.") So, for that
matter, are the other marijuana businesses that have sprouted up in
the block around his Vancouver bookstore. The street is nicknamed
"Vansterdam," with pot-hazy cafes, headshops filled with pipes and
bongs, and neon signs advertising illegal seed sales. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Until recently, nobody much cared, it seemed. The police hadn't
bothered to come around for eight years. Before that, they busted
Emery for seed sales and raided him four times. But he just got
fined - -- once with "a nice speech from the judge saying what a
nice person I was and how marijuana probably shouldn't be illegal,"
Emery says -- and the police stopped trying. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
(15) CANADA'S GROWING MARIJUANA PROBLEM (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
But tens of thousands of illegal "grow-ops" remain in Canada.
Estimates suggest marijuana may generate up to C$7bn (UKP3.5bn;
US$6.1bn) a year in BC, the sunny province thought to be at the
heart of the industry. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Canada's new Conservative government says people like Frank are a menace to society, putting drugs on the streets and fuelling organised crime - and it has vowed to get tough on them. | ||||||||||||||||||||
But critics accuse the government of being wilfully blind to the
historic failures of law enforcement, and ignoring public opinion
and the findings of expert committees in favour of a policy of
demonising marijuana - a policy they liken to the short-lived
Prohibition of alcohol in 1920s and 30s America. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
(16) HEMP'S FUTURE BRIGHT SAY PROPONENTS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
The perspectives on hemp are as varied as its potential uses but the
small group of growers, marketers and researchers who gathered here
earlier this month is convinced of the grain's potential to earn a
steady income. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Just make sure you have a contract lined up in advance of planting
and, when planting, choose a spot well in the public eye to prevent
police and others from mistaking your hemp from its more potent
cousin, were the words of advice offered at the Ontario Hemp
Alliance's annual meeting March 1. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Currently, there are roughly 300 acres of commercial hemp grown in Ontario produced by about 10 growers said Gordon Scheifele, president of the provincial organization. That's considerably less than the 8,000 to 10,000 acres produced annually in Manitoba but he says the progress on acceptance of the crop is right on target. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
International News | ||||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (17-20) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
This year's opium crop in Afghanistan is going to be big, and U.S.
officials are eager to shift the blame to the Taliban. True, the
Taliban had managed to erase Afghanistan's opium production (Bush
regime envoy Colin Powell bestowed some fifty million U.S. taxpayer
dollars to the Taliban in the spring of 2001 as thanks for the
Taliban's prohibitionist zeal), but it is time to forget all that,
says the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. That's because "in private
sessions" says the Dispatch, the Taliban are now bent on "poisoning
'infidels'" with deadly opium and heroin. Coalition governments are
increasingly desperate to deflect growing criticisms that the
occupation of Afghanistan has caused opium and heroin production to
soar. | ||||||||||||||||||||
The Australian Prime Minister has been leading a government and media propaganda blitz on the dangers of cannabis, which, according to the PM, "caused a rise in mental illness," aided by a "tolerant and absurdly compromised" political opinion of the taboo plant. But an editorial this week by The Age newspaper in Australia, "A Big Stick Is No Way To Fight Drug Use," revealed no such rise in schizophrenia happened. "While there was a marked increase in cannabis use among the Australian population from the 1970s to the end of the 1990s, there has been no change in the incidence of schizophrenia among the population during that time." Recent prohibitionist scare campaigns in the Aussie and U.K. media blamed cannabis for a (nonexistent) epidemic of schizophrenia. | ||||||||||||||||||||
In the South American nation of Peru national elections are next
month and candidate Ollanta Humala with "two cocalero leaders in his
parliamentary lists" could win, according to observers. Like the
recently elected president of Bolivia, Evo Morales, Ollanta Humala
has promised to halt coca eradication in Peru. Writes the Hamilton
Spectator newspaper in Canada, "The problem is that containment
carries heavy political costs for democratic governments in the
Andes. The drug trade itself undermines democracy, but so do the
heavy-handed American efforts to contain it." | ||||||||||||||||||||
In the Mexican border town of Nuevo Laredo, a Mexican general assigned to fight drugs at the U.S. border is missing and hasn't been heard from in weeks. Previous police chiefs there have had appallingly short life expectancies: one chief was murdered hours after he took office last year. The violence, escalating since drug cartel arrests and killings in the past year or so, has claimed scores of lives in recent weeks. "It won't be resolved until this war is over, until one of the cartels wins," asserted Jorge Chabat, "an expert on U.S.-Mexico relations and border security," quoted in the San Jose Mercury News earlier this week. But when "one of the cartels wins" won't that cartel be broken up, by the U.S. and Mexican governments, repeating the cycle? Expect more of the same. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
(17) POPPY CROP THREATENS NASCENT DEMOCRACY (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Helmand Province, Afghanistan | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
Poisoning "infidels" | ||||||||||||||||||||
There is also a little-noted bonus for al-Qaida in the burgeoning
heroin production. Afghan sources say the terrorist group has
acknowledged in private sessions its satisfaction that expanding
heroin use is poisoning "infidels" in other countries. One example
is a skyrocketing rate of AIDS, sparked by dirty needles, in Russia
and former Soviet republics. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Kahir Ismailee of Kabul has worked for years with international
groups on health, education and human rights issues in rural areas
where anti-Western sentiment is strong. | ||||||||||||||||||||
He says that in the terrorists' "jihad against all Westerners, one
of their tactics to ruin a society was to make them addicts, so they
export heroin to the Western countries." | ||||||||||||||||||||
Ismailee says an influential Taliban cleric told him: "Drugs are
illegal in Islam, but we want infidels to die." | ||||||||||||||||||||
Mohammad Nabi Hussaini directs the poppy eradication program in the Afghan Ministry of Counter Narcotics. It's dangerous work; when traveling around the country, he wears a turban to disguise himself. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"They say this, if you go to their gatherings, their religious
gatherings: 'Western countries, they are sending us alcohol, they
are sending us rockets - this is our rocket, poppy. This is how we
can fight them,' " Hussaini says. "But they are also fighting their
own people, because it brings the moral degradation of our society.
It is against Islam." | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
In its last years in power, the Taliban clamped down on the drug
trade in an effective but brutal way. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"There were executions without any transparent trials, hands were cut off, legs were severed," Ismailee says. By 2001, the extremist government had reduced the opium production to virtually nothing. | ||||||||||||||||||||
The U.S.-led removal of the Taliban removed the fear ordinary Afghans felt, spurring many to get back into poppy farming. | ||||||||||||||||||||
In addition, American and Afghan policies initially contributed to
the growth of the narcotics problem. U.S. forces enlisted the
support of warlords in the fight against the Taliban, turning a
blind eye to their drug trafficking. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
(18) A BIG STICK IS NO WAY TO FIGHT DRUG USE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Prevention, Education and Treatment Are the Way to Tackle Cannabis. | ||||||||||||||||||||
What is the real dope on cannabis? Over the past year, the Prime
Minister and other federal ministers have been calling for a tougher
criminal approach to cannabis. The PM talks of "tolerant and
absurdly compromised" attitudes towards marijuana use, saying
marijuana had "caused a rise in mental illness and was a classic
case of chickens coming home to roost". | ||||||||||||||||||||
The South Australian cannabis laws, using civil rather than criminal
penalties, were an issue in the weekend's state election, with the
Opposition reported as saying it will re-criminalise the growing or
possessing of cannabis for personal use. | ||||||||||||||||||||
On the other hand, the Australia Institute's recently released
report Drug Law Reform: Beyond Prohibition calls for a shift from
law enforcement to treatment and prevention strategies, claiming
that far too much of the funds for illicit drugs such as cannabis
are spent ineffectively on law enforcement at the expense of
treatment and prevention. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
But are the Prime Minister and others right when they say that
cannabis has been the cause of rises in mental illness in Australia?
While there was a marked increase in cannabis use among the
Australian population from the 1970s to the end of the 1990s, there
has been no change in the incidence of schizophrenia among the
population during that time. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
(19) TUG OF WAR OVER COCAINE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
But while Uribe seems set for a second term, eradication faces a new political challenge in both Bolivia and Peru, countries which until recently were seen as success stories in the drug "war." Evo Morales, long the leader of Bolivia's "cocaleros" -- "coca farmers" -- won a landslide victory in a presidential election in December. | ||||||||||||||||||||
He says he will halt forcible eradication. He also says that he
opposes cocaine and the drug trade, but wants to promote new uses of
coca. These include pharmaceuticals and, improbably, biscuits, bread
and chewing gum. | ||||||||||||||||||||
In Peru, Ollanta Humala, a nationalist former army officer, might
win a presidential election whose first round is next month. He has
two cocalero leaders in his parliamentary lists and says that he
would stop eradication. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
The two countries are in an "uncomfortable detente," according to
Kathryn Ledebur of the Andean Information Network, an NGO. She sees
in the moderate tone toward Bolivia in the State Department's report
signs of a "more strategic approach" to coca. But reaching a deal --
which could involve a harsher crackdown on trafficking and more aid
for alternative crops -- will not be easy. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
Even in Colombia, the success of the drug warriors is fragile.
Manual eradication is far more laborious than spraying. An American
study found that the manual teams pulled up an average of 20.5
hectares a day, while the spray planes covered 734 hectares a day.
But unlike manual eradication, spraying may merely wipe out one
harvest, rather than the plant. | ||||||||||||||||||||
American officials say replanting almost matches eradication. They
admit their figures may be underestimates. The United Nations
reported last year that 60 per cent of the coca fields it detected
in 2004 were new, some of them in virgin areas. There is evidence,
too, that yields are steadily increasing. | ||||||||||||||||||||
A "clear-cut victory" over coca is impossible, Patterson concedes. "It's just a question of containing it where it breaks out." | ||||||||||||||||||||
The problem is that containment carries heavy political costs for
democratic governments in the Andes. The drug trade itself
undermines democracy, but so do the heavy-handed American efforts to
contain it. | ||||||||||||||||||||
As long as rich-country governments insist on imposing an
unenforceable prohibition on cocaine consumption, Andean governments
will continue to be faced with the thankless task of trying to
repress market forces. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
(20) BORDER TOWN CAUGHT IN CROSS-FIRE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Killings Escalate As Drug Cartels Fight For Control, Despite
Mexico's Attempts To Root Out Corruption | ||||||||||||||||||||
NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico - The general who'd been in charge of Mexico's
efforts to quell drug violence on the border with the United States
hasn't been seen by officials here in weeks, and the program is in
disarray. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Drug killings are on the rise, local news outlets have been cowed
into silence, and evidence is mounting that members of two warring
drug-trafficking cartels have infiltrated the program's elite
anti-drug forces. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
New program kicks off | ||||||||||||||||||||
Mexican officials, recognizing that the 9-month-old Secure Mexico
program had failed, announced a new program last week, dubbed
Northern Border. Under the program, 600 to 800 more federal police
agents were dispatched to this besieged border city. | ||||||||||||||||||||
But few expect that to make much difference, and drug traffickers
aren't intimidated. After the announcement of the new initiative,
they gunned down four federal police intelligence agents in broad
daylight outside a school. At least 30 shots were fired into the
agents' bodies. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Adding to the confusion is the absence of Gen. Alvaro Moreno Moreno,
who'd been in charge of Secure Mexico. Nuevo Laredo city officials
and a Mexican diplomat on the U.S. side of the border said they'd
had no contact with the general in weeks. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"I couldn't tell you where he is," said Eloy Caloca, a spokesman in
Mexico City for the federal Ministry of Public Security, the agency
to which Moreno reports. Asked who's in charge in Nuevo Laredo now,
Caloca said: "I don't have his name right now." | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
Experts see no end to the killings as long as the two cartels battle to control the distribution routes that lead into the United States. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"It won't be resolved until this war is over, until one of the
cartels wins," said Jorge Chabat, an expert on U.S.-Mexico relations
and border security. "It's clear that the federal government doesn't
have the capacity to stop this wave of violence," he said, referring
to Mexico. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Mexico's federal authorities launched Secure Mexico last year after
Nuevo Laredo's police chief, Alejandro Dominguez, was gunned down by
suspected traffickers only hours after he took the job. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
Few are optimistic. "Last year, there were over 170-something murders. I don't think anyone was charged or has been arrested in connection with those murders, and the majority of those were drug-related," said a U.S. official involved in drug enforcement who was granted anonymity because his agency doesn't allow him to speak publicly. "They've had the military employed at different occasions during those spates of murder, and they've continued to happen." | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
Police forces infiltrated | ||||||||||||||||||||
Meanwhile, Mexican media reports and public statements have raised questions about whether the PFP forces sent to restore order under Secure Mexico have been infiltrated by elements of the drug cartels. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Public Security Secretary Eduardo Medina Mora acknowledged during a
December news conference that there were PFP agents -- he wouldn't
say how many -- who'd been involved in organized criminal activity,
acts that he said were "totally intolerable" and under | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
HOT OFF THE 'NET (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
CLEAN AIR CALABASAS | ||||||||||||||||||||
A smoke-free, family-friendly atmosphere of moralistic intolerance | ||||||||||||||||||||
By Jacob Sullum | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
U.S. Elevates River-Combat Role in Colombian 'Counter Narco-Terrorist' Ops | ||||||||||||||||||||
By Stephen Peacock | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
DISPARITY BY DESIGN | ||||||||||||||||||||
How drug-free zone laws impact racial disparity-and fail to protect
youth | ||||||||||||||||||||
by Judith Greene, Kevin Pranis and Jason Ziedenberg, The Justice Policy
Institute | ||||||||||||||||||||
March 23rd, 2006 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
CULTURAL BAGGAGE RADIO SHOW | ||||||||||||||||||||
Listen Live Fridays 8:00 PM, ET, 7:00 CT, 6:00 MT & 5:00 PT at: | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
DRUG CZAR BLASTS MEDICINAL MARIJUANA | ||||||||||||||||||||
Makes Other Controversial Comments | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
U.S. DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION CONFERENCE COMING TO CANADA | ||||||||||||||||||||
By Dana Larsen | ||||||||||||||||||||
Activists planning protests against the Drug Enforcement Administration's annual conference in Montreal, May 8-11 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
WHAT YOU CAN DO THIS WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
PAID SUMMER INTERNSHIP AT IDPI | ||||||||||||||||||||
The Interfaith Drug Policy Initiative, http://idpi.us/, seeks a paid
summer intern to assist in reaching out to religious leaders on issues
of drug policy reform. | ||||||||||||||||||||
For more information please contact | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
MPP SEEKS COMMUNICATIONS ASSISTANT | ||||||||||||||||||||
The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) is hiring a Communications Assistant, to be based in the organization's main office in Washington, DC. The Communications Assistant works in MPP's Communications Department, which is responsible for effectively communicating MPP's message to the media and the public through written materials and media relations. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
LETTER OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
NEED FOR DRUG MONEY, NOT DRUGS, CAUSES CRIME | ||||||||||||||||||||
By Joseph R. Barrie, M.D. | ||||||||||||||||||||
I was astonished by the outlook of Robert Weiner, former spokesman
for the White House National Drug Policy Office, in his March 7
Letter to the Editor; it's a reflection of what is wrong with the
government's notions about drugs. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Mr. Weiner seems to think that drugs cause people to commit crimes. The crimes are committed so that the users can get money to pay the prices for drugs that are dramatically increased on the street, in contrast to what they cost when obtained through prescriptions. | ||||||||||||||||||||
The analogy with the prohibition of alcohol is actually quite valid.
That sorry experiment created organized crime. The prohibition of
narcotics has created corruption on a scale never imagined by Al
Capone and his associates. It has also created the largest prison
system in the world, built largely to house people who have never
committed violent crimes. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Joseph R. Barrie, M.D. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Harvard, Mass. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
FEATURE ARTICLE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Book Abstract: Drug War Propaganda | ||||||||||||||||||||
By Doug Snead | ||||||||||||||||||||
When a newspaper article says police will get tough on "dealers and
users" of dangerous drugs, what do think? Good? It is about time? Or
do you think, "Hey, that's drug war propaganda"? | ||||||||||||||||||||
Media in the U.S. and abroad constantly tell us that drug users are
evil people who deserve to be treated harshly. Media repeats
government proclamations that drugs (deemed illegal by government)
cause illness, insanity, and death. Society will collapse, unless we
"get tough" on drugs. One drug is a gateway to another, says media,
and all use of drugs is unquestionably abuse. Jailing adults who
take "drugs", it is insinuated, is only to save our precious little
children, so who could argue? It is war, says government, and those
who take or sell drugs are demons. Since it is a moral battle
against the evil of "drugs", we are told, no one could possibly
question the righteousness of such a crusade. Of course, as
government and media sing in unison, anything but eternally
increasing punishments for "drugs" is the same as "legalizing" drugs
for toddlers. Above all, those who question the glorious war on
"drugs", they are the problem. Those who question our leaders (on
the subject of illegal drugs), they deserve punishment, say
government and media alike. | ||||||||||||||||||||
On and on it goes, from what seems to be everywhere in the media.
Continually we are told what bad people drug users must be, and how
evil are their drugs. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Many people, born and bred on such government dictates and edicts
concerning "drugs" swallow it all. Life is complicated enough
already. But for those who feel their stomach tighten when
established media daily "explain" why drug users should be jailed
and treated harshly, "Drug War Propaganda" is for them. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"Drug War Propaganda" (2003, Cafe Press, 324 pages) systematically
lays bare the methods and techniques media use everyday to demonize
drug users. The book is divided into eight chapters, each chapter
examines a rhetorical theme and tactic drug warriors use to smear
the very idea of not jailing drug users. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Without drug war propaganda, it would be impossible for government
to hunt down, arrest, jail, enslave, and often kill people who, like
those who consume alcohol or tobacco, are no different from their
non-drug using neighbors. Drug war (prohibition) propaganda lets
government get away with their brutal war on drug users, because the
public has been softened up with years of propaganda which makes
government prevarication about drugs and those who take them seem as
natural as springtime. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Doug Snead is an editor with DrugSense Weekly and author of the book
Drug War Propaganda. Please visit | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
QUOTE OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
"I received instructions through military channels to provide opium for the Chinese people by establishing an opium suppression board." | ||||||||||||||||||||
- Harada Kumakichi, Japanese Military Attache at Shanghai from 1937
to 1939 | ||||||||||||||||||||
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