| May 26, 2006 #450 | ||||||||||||||||||
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Table of Contents
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THIS JUST IN (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
(1) DISTRICT TAKES AIM AT TEENS' WEB POSTS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Schools Say MySpace Within Their Space Too | ||||||||||||||||||
By Andrew L. Wang Tribune staff reporter Published May 18, 2006 | ||||||||||||||||||
A north suburban school district could become one of the first in the state to adopt rules holding students accountable for what they post on blogs or social-networking Web sites like MySpace.com. | ||||||||||||||||||
The school board of Community High School District 128, which includes
Libertyville and Vernon Hills High Schools, is expected to vote Monday
on a change to student conduct codes that would make evidence of
"illegal or inappropriate behavior" posted on the sites grounds for
disciplinary action. | ||||||||||||||||||
"We're really making parents and students aware that they would be accountable" for what goes online, said Associate Supt. Prentiss Lea. | ||||||||||||||||||
He said posting a photo of bad behavior on a Web site is the same as
if a student dropped the picture on his desk. | ||||||||||||||||||
Some students chafe at the notion of school officials trolling their
personal Web sites for rule infractions. | ||||||||||||||||||
"It's called 'MySpace' for a reason, not 'What-I-do-at-school Space,'"
said Katy Bauschke, 18, a senior at Libertyville. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(2) LABOUR MPS SUPPORT MEDICINAL CANNABIS USE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Two MPs today backed calls to legalise cannabis for medicinal use,
saying it would offer relief to thousands of sick and elderly people
suffering from chronic pain. | ||||||||||||||||||
The Labour MPs Paul Flynn and Brian Iddon were supporting a rally today
in Parliament Square by the Cannabis Education Trust to raise awareness
of the problems faced by medicinal cannabis users. | ||||||||||||||||||
Mr Flynn, who has campaigned for the legalisation of the drug for
medical purposes for 12 years, said he planned to reintroduce his
private member's bill, first presented to parliament in 2001, to
prevent the prosecution of chronically ill people. | ||||||||||||||||||
"People around the world have testified in their thousands about the benefits of taking cannabis to relieve chronic pain," he said. "But because of our hang-up in this country with recreational use of the drug, we've condemned otherwise law-abiding citizens to risk jail." | ||||||||||||||||||
He said there had been legal cases in which juries had let off people
who said they were using cannabis medicinally. | ||||||||||||||||||
"We must test the waters again. The law is an ass. Judges have called
for parliament to revisit the issue." | ||||||||||||||||||
Mr Flynn blamed the political parties' fear of being painted as weak on law and order for the failure to legalise cannabis for medicinal use. | ||||||||||||||||||
"We had a bill last year that wasn't opposed by anybody to reclassify
magic mushrooms as a class A drug - the same level as heroin, which
is stupid because they're not at all that dangerous." | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(3) HARPER 'NOT COMMITTED' TO DRUG SITE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Backers of first supervised injection site say he should be -- the
centre's saving lives | ||||||||||||||||||
VANCOUVER -- Proponents of Canada's first supervised-injection site for
heroin addicts say they don't understand why Prime Minister Stephen
Harper isn't committed to the facility that appears to have saved lives
and slowed the spread of diseases such as HIV. | ||||||||||||||||||
Mr. Harper told a news conference yesterday that the Conservative
government is still weighing the fate of the site, where addicts are
allowed to shoot heroin or use other injection drugs under the
supervision of health-care workers. | ||||||||||||||||||
"I'm not committed to it," he said in Vancouver. | ||||||||||||||||||
"We're asking various agencies, including the RCMP, to give us
evaluations of that program as it comes to a conclusion, and we'll go
from there." | ||||||||||||||||||
The previous Liberal government approved the facility as a three-year
pilot project. In September, Health Canada must decide whether to
extend its approval. | ||||||||||||||||||
Perry Kendall, B.C.'s provincial health officer, said there are already
enough evaluations in peer-reviewed journals to suggest the site should
be maintained. | ||||||||||||||||||
"I would very much hope that no government agency would act to impede something that was showing health benefits and public order benefits." | ||||||||||||||||||
Dr. Kendall is supporting Victoria Mayor Alan Lowe, who wants a
supervised-injection site in his city. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(4) POPPYCOCK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
In 1822, Thomas De Quincey published a short book, "The Confessions of
an English Opium Eater." The nature of addiction to opiates has been
misunderstood ever since. | ||||||||||||||||||
De Quincey took opiates in the form of laudanum, which was tincture of
opium in alcohol. | ||||||||||||||||||
He claimed that special philosophical insights and emotional states were available to opium-eaters, as they were then called, that were not available to abstainers; but he also claimed that the effort to stop taking opium involved a titanic struggle of almost superhuman misery. | ||||||||||||||||||
Thus, those who wanted to know the heights had also to plumb the
depths. | ||||||||||||||||||
This romantic nonsense has been accepted wholesale by doctors and
litterateurs for nearly two centuries. | ||||||||||||||||||
It has given rise to an orthodoxy about opiate addiction, including heroin addiction, that the general public likewise takes for granted: To wit, a person takes a little of a drug, and is hooked; the drug renders him incapable of work, but since withdrawal from the drug is such a terrible experience, and since the drug is expensive, the addict is virtually forced into criminal activity to fund his habit. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Domestic News- Policy | ||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (5-9) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
The Albany County District Attorney sure got an "earful" in the news
this week. A NY Post Editorial had no kind words for Mr. Soares
while the Albany Times Union suggested a peaceful team environment
between the Chief of Police and their DA. Mr. Soares was also
favorably compared to a neighboring DA in the Amherst Times in a
Drug Policy Alliance OPED. | ||||||||||||||||||
Public Defenders for Louisiana citizens have always been financed
via traffic tickets. This revenue "dried up" when the water came in
and legislators are just now getting around to providing additional
funds. No mention was made of the District Attorney's office
experiencing the same difficulties. Instead of this temporary
funding the representatives should just merge the public defenders
into the prosecutor's system and give both the state and poor
defendants more equal legal representation. | ||||||||||||||||||
A Virgina Roanoke Times Editorial pointed out how the billions of
dollars we've poured into school drug prevention programs has
resulted in little change of the percent of students who experiment
with illicit drugs. They reported that, "Then [1976], 58 percent of
high school seniors used an illicit drug. Today, 30 years later, 52
percent have." | ||||||||||||||||||
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(5) EDITORIAL: WHEN THE LAW IS A LOON (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Albany County District Attorney David Soares ventured north to
Canada last week to deliver a blistering attack on U.S. drug laws -
saying they exist only because they provide cops and prosecutors
with "a wonderful living." | ||||||||||||||||||
He has since recanted - sort of. | ||||||||||||||||||
Soares won his job in the 2004 primary, upsetting incumbent DA Paul Clyne with the backing of the far-left Working Families Party - which was itself bankrolled by the even-farther-left hedge-fund gazillionaire George Soros and his Drug Policy Alliance Network. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
Why any district attorney would choose to unleash a barrage against
U.S. law-enforcement officials - and in a foreign country - is
beyond us. | ||||||||||||||||||
And never mind that, once back home, he issued a weasel-worded
apology: "If I have offended [cops] . . . from the bottom of my
heart I apologize." | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
Soares, in a word, is frightening. | ||||||||||||||||||
Soros is terrifying. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(6) EDITORIAL: BEYOND THE CONFLICT, COMMON GOALS EMERGE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
But that's not the whole story, not at all, in this real-life drama
starring Jimmy Tuffey, the Albany police chief, and David Soares,
the Albany County district attorney. These men, like the best-drawn
characters in the movies, are more complex than the storyboards
initially suggest. The collision course they seemed to be on,
full-throttle, has been filling the seats, but there's still time
for a new plot line to emerge, and it's one that would be better for
our community. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
Here's what's surprising: They're closer to singing from the same
sheet than you might think. These guys need to get together. They
could do something. They'll never be Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, or
Belushi and Aykroyd, or even Bush and Cheney. But this isn't
Spider-Man versus the Green Goblin, either. | ||||||||||||||||||
An editorial board seat offers a great view of the movement of
public ideas and events. Several of us who sat around the table with
these two men saw both a clash of ideas and an opportunity for
progress on the issue that dominates hopes for the future of urban
life. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
What a seat on the editorial board revealed this week is two public
servants passionate about their jobs, determined to make Albany
better for its citizens. Two very different individuals, that is,
seeming to talk past each other. Two men who need to sit in the same
room to produce something that makes sense to those of us watching.
We're all hoping for a good ending. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(7) OPED: DEALING WITH DRUG LAWS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
Recently, while speaking at an international harm reduction
conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, he told the audience that
his advice to Canada is to "stay as far away from America's drug law
policy as possible." His comments echoed the criticisms he made of
New York's strict Rockefeller Drug Laws during his election campaign
two years ago by saying "the attempt to engage in cleaning the
streets of Albany one $20 sale on the street at a time is a failed
policy." He sticks by his view that more drug treatment, not more
jail time, is the answer. | ||||||||||||||||||
Only about 50 miles away, but worlds apart in their views, David
Capeless, the Berkshire County District Attorney represents the
polar opposite of Soares' philosophy. He see's the $20 method of
policing his streets as an acceptable policy of law enforcement.
Capeless recently pushed for and received--a mandatory-minimum
sentence of two years for 18 year-old Mitchell Lawrence for the $20
sale of one marijuana cigarette. It was part of a police sting
operation that netted 19 defendants. Capeless has been harshly
criticized by an array of concerned citizens for his use of
utilizing school zone laws that mandate mandatory minimum
sentencing, regardless of the circumstances. He has refused to use
discretion for these first time non-violent offenders that were
involved in small-time marijuana sales, turning his back on drug
rehabilitation and other alternatives to imprisonment. | ||||||||||||||||||
We have two District Attorneys with opposing views on how to deal
with the issue of treatment vs. incarceration for drug offenders.
Who is correct? | ||||||||||||||||||
Recent studies have shown that treatment is the most humane and cost-effective approach to addiction. In November 2000, California passed an initiative that allows most people convicted of first and second-time nonviolent, simple drug possession to receive drug treatment instead of incarceration. More than 140,000 participants have entered the treatment program instead of imprisoning them resulting in the cost savings of approximately $1 billion. | ||||||||||||||||||
"The financial benefits of Prop. 36 are more massive than expected.
That's the good news," said Margaret Dooley, the Drug Policy
Alliance's Proposition 36 statewide coordinator. "But the great news
is that over 60,000 people have completed treatment and have been
able to rejoin their families and find work. This is the true
measure of Prop. 36's success." | ||||||||||||||||||
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(8) CITY'S PUBLIC DEFENDER SYSTEM TROUBLED BEFORE KATRINA (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
The Southern Center for Human Rights, an Atlanta-based public
interest law firm, sent attorneys and staff members to New Orleans
in March. In a scathing report, the center concluded that even
before Katrina, overwhelmed public defenders in New Orleans
generally "did not visit crime scenes, interview witnesses, check
out alibis, did not procure expert assistance, did not review
evidence, did not know the facts of the case even on the eve of
trial, did not do any legal research and did not otherwise prepare
for trial." | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
Public defender's offices across the nation have been plagued by a
lack of funding, but the problem has been particularly acute in
Louisiana. It's the only state that funds public defender's offices
primarily with traffic ticket revenue. | ||||||||||||||||||
The New Orleans public defender's office received 75% of its budget
from ticket revenue, which virtually dried up after Katrina. That
led to 31 of New Orleans' 39 public defenders being laid off from
their $29,000-a-year jobs. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
So far, the office has been awarded almost $2.8 million in federal hurricane relief. The Louisiana Bar Association has donated more than $100,000 toward hiring back some of the laid-off defenders. | ||||||||||||||||||
Meanwhile, the Louisiana Legislature is considering a proposal to
give $10 million to boost the state's public defender system, but it
has not passed. | ||||||||||||||||||
"The money the Legislature is talking about is wonderful and
welcome," says Pamela Metzger, director of the criminal law clinic
at Tulane Law School. | ||||||||||||||||||
"But they are not talking about a long-term sustained vision of how
to fund this system." | ||||||||||||||||||
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(9) EDITORIAL: ANTI-DRUG PROGRAMS FAIL TO MAKE THE GRADE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
The nation's schools pour $1 billion a year into ineffective
drug-prevention programs. | ||||||||||||||||||
High school students are no smarter about saying no to illicit drugs than their parents were -- despite the billions of dollars that the nation's schools have pumped into drug-prevention programs. | ||||||||||||||||||
The National Institute on Drug Abuse has tracked illicit drug use
since 1976. Then, 58 percent of high school seniors used an illicit
drug. Today, 30 years later, 52 percent have. | ||||||||||||||||||
The numbers have bounced around, dropping to a low of 40 percent in
1992. "The trend rises and falls, and we have no clue why," Richard | ||||||||||||||||||
But researchers do know this: DARE, or Drug Abuse Resistance
Education, doesn't work. Yet schools remain hooked. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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Law Enforcement & Prisons | ||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (10-13) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
DC corrections commissioner, Devon Brown, was disgusted while
watching incoming inmates joyfully looking forward to a
"homecoming". Whether these people are speaking truthfully or just
putting up a tough front, the U.S. continues to lead the world in
incarceration rates. Reports this week also reveal that the
"homecomings" are quickly extending to the female side of poor,
minority families. | ||||||||||||||||||
Some corrections professionals are taking steps to help inmates
change their future. Mr. Brown has implemented several programs
which concentrate on rehabilitation and preparation of release. An
Iowa prison held a prison job fair with several local companies
willing to hire ex-felons. | ||||||||||||||||||
While these efforts are commendable a couple columnist wrote of the
racial discrimination and poor social conditions which prison
statistics clearly reveal. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(10) COLUMN: AMERICA BEHIND BARS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
Our dilemma: America seems to have concluded that the way to deal
with misconduct and violent expression of anger is imprisonment. Our
drive to be "tough on crime" is exposing vast numbers of people to
prison life, triggering more crime in the process. Psychologists
understand the dynamics of aggression and which behaviors will lower
it. But we focus on the tail end -- incarceration -- rather than the
logical front end -- prevention. | ||||||||||||||||||
So, who's saying all this? It's not who you'd expect. It's a corrections professional, Devon Brown, who has been warden of several maximum-security prisons, served as New Jersey's corrections commissioner and now holds the same post in Washington, D.C. | ||||||||||||||||||
The single experience that most shocked him, says Brown, was
directing Maryland's prisoner intake facility in Baltimore. "I
noticed many of the men were reacting with laughter and joy. They
were being reunited with fathers, uncles, friends. They considered
it a great homecoming. I found that despicable." | ||||||||||||||||||
So Brown, a lawyer with master's degrees in psychology and public
administration, has chosen to speak out on -- and implement --
critical reforms. He'd like to staunch the flow of youth into
prisons by having every school start a curriculum based on building
positive pro-social behavior, especially for low-income young black
males whose "cool" attitudes and frequent disdain for learning have
become major problems for themselves, and society. | ||||||||||||||||||
But even in prison, Brown believes inmates' native intelligence can be tapped for much better results. In New Jersey, he got high numbers of prisoners into GED courses and saw 81 percent -- compared with 63 percent of the general public -- passing on the first test. | ||||||||||||||||||
Disgusted with the TV fare inmates normally watch, Brown turned off the soaps and commercial drivel and substituted educationally enriching videos at all hours. But he first wrote all the inmates, explaining that the switch was for their growth, so that they'd be able to carry on intelligent discussions on release, and more likely be able, if asked, to help their children on their homework. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(11) MOUNTAIN STATES SET PACE IN IMPRISONING WOMEN (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
NE Scaling Back | ||||||||||||||||||
NEW YORK --Oklahoma, Mississippi and the Mountain states have set
the pace in increasing the imprisonment of women, while several
Northeastern states are curtailing the practice, according to a new
report detailing sharp regional differences in the handling of
female offenders. | ||||||||||||||||||
The report, to be released Sunday by the New York-based Women's
Prison Association, is touted as the most comprehensive | ||||||||||||||||||
Overall, the number of female state inmates serving sentences of more than a year grew by 757 percent between 1977 and 2004, nearly twice the 388 percent increase for men, the report said. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
The report concurred with previous analyses attributing much of the
nationwide increase in women's imprisonment to the war on drugs. The
proportion of women serving time for drug offenses has risen sharply
in recent years, while the proportion convicted of serious violent
crimes has dropped, it said. | ||||||||||||||||||
Bob Anez, a Corrections Department spokesman in Montana, confirmed
that drug offenses -- especially related to methamphetamine -- were
a major factor in the high proportion of female inmates in the
state. Half the women imprisoned from January through March had
committed meth-related offenses, he said. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(12) JOB FAIR GIVES WOMEN HOPE FOR NORMAL LIFE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
About 100 prisoners, most due to be let out within three months,
strolled from table to table in the gym at the Mitchellville prison,
looking for employment. A dozen local companies and employment
agencies came, including Firestone, Spherion, Sibert Trucking,
Vermeer, Katecho and United Way. | ||||||||||||||||||
At Iowa's only all-female prison, with nearly 600 inmates, officials
know the chance of these inmates becoming repeat offenders often
depends on post-prison employment. | ||||||||||||||||||
"If they leave here and go out and have a job within a few days,
that helps avoid problems," said Linda Haack, the prison's volunteer
coordinator. | ||||||||||||||||||
The prison has several rehabilitation programs: anger management
classes, support groups for mothers, a chemical dependency support
group, a victim impact program. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(13) OPED: RACISM STILL THE BIGGEST REASON FOR BLACKS BEHIND BARS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Thank you, but I don't need a lecture on personal responsibility. | ||||||||||||||||||
Many of you apparently felt otherwise after reading my recent column on the use of the justice system as a cudgel against black children. | ||||||||||||||||||
The column dealt with the mistreatment of over 100 juveniles, most of them African American, who were left in a flooded New Orleans detention center for up to five days without food and water after Hurricane Katrina. It was also about the death of Martin Lee Anderson, an unresisting 14-year-old black kid who was hit, choked and restrained by up to nine guards in a Panama City "boot camp." | ||||||||||||||||||
The abuse and the disproportionate number of black kids who wind up
in those places was, I said, a legacy of the nation's historic
tendency to use its justice system to control a population it finds
frightening and inconvenient. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
I repeat: And Justice For Some, a 2000 study co-sponsored by the Justice Department, found that a black drug defendant is 48 times more likely to be jailed than a white one with the same record. | ||||||||||||||||||
There's more. According to The Real War on Crime: The Report of the
National Criminal Justice Commission, blacks account for 13 percent
of all regular drug users but 35 percent of those arrested, 55
percent of those convicted and 74 percent of those imprisoned for
drug possession. A 2004 Miami Herald report found that a judicial
procedure that allows a defendant's record to be wiped clean of a
felony offense is given freely to white drug dealers, rapists and
child molesters. But to blacks? Not so much. And this remains true,
even when adjusted for socioeconomic factors. | ||||||||||||||||||
Beg pardon, but "personal responsibility" does not explain those
disparities. And it's vexing that so many Caucasians find it so hard
to get their lips around the word that does. | ||||||||||||||||||
But then, that would require of them more than the easy ability to wag a finger at the failures of others. It would require a willingness to own their own failures and to face truths that do not flatter self-image -- something some white Americans clearly lack the intestinal fortitude to do. So you'll forgive me if I find it hard to take seriously all this pious advice to African Americans. | ||||||||||||||||||
Responsibility is a two-way street. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(14) COLUMN: RIGHT WHERE WE WANT THEM (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
And, the vast majority were, like Anderson, black. Indeed, while New
Orleans was about 67 percent black, the report says the prison was
well over 95 percent black. No surprise. Human Rights Watch reports
that black people are more than eight times as likely to wind up
behind bars as whites. | ||||||||||||||||||
It is telling how mutely we absorb that fact. Some see in it only
proof of the ravaging effects of poverty and miseducation; others
see support for the idiotic claim that criminality is a native
defect of African peoples. You seldom hear anyone suggest that it is
this way because we the people want it this way -- that in our
silence, we give tacit approval to this means of controlling a
population whose mere existence we have historically found
threatening and inconvenient. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
A 2002 report by the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University says
black kids are labeled as emotionally disturbed or mentally retarded
and shipped off to special-education classes at rates of up to four
times those of white kids. A 2000 study co-sponsored by the Justice
Department tells us that of people who've never done time in
juvenile facilities, a black drug defendant is 48 times more likely
to be jailed than a white one with the same record. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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Cannabis & Hemp- | ||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (15-19) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
We begin this week with a story that's perhaps not the most
newsworthy on our list, but which deserves notice for the strength,
commitment and perseverance of its protagonist. Since 2000, Alex
White Plume has been simultaneously challenging the sovereignty of
the U.S. government and America's federal prohibition on hemp
cultivation by planting a crop of hemp on the South Dakota land of
the Oglala Sioux Tribe, of which he is Vice-President. On all three
times that he has planted a hemp crop, the DEA has swept in on
helicopters and stolen his harvest, despite White Plume's claims
that the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 protects hemp farming from
federal interference on the Sioux land. This week an 8th Circuit
judge sided with the government, and although he expressed some
sympathy for White Plume's situation, he agreed with federal lawyers
that the Oglala hemp crop was illegal. This week I'm dedicating this
section of the DrugSense Newsletter to White Plume and all of the
other anti-prohibition warriors who continue to fight the federal
government's ever-increasing attack on compassion, common sense, and
all of our personal rights and freedoms. Despite this recent legal
setback, we honor Alex White Plume as an individual of great grit,
determination and personal integrity. | ||||||||||||||||||
Our second story is a Scientific American report on a | ||||||||||||||||||
Our fourth story comes to us from the Colorado Daily News, and reports on a cross-country bike trip being attempted by members of Americans for Safe Access to raise awareness about medical cannabis and the rights of both patients and physicians in regards to its therapeutic use. The cyclists, many of whom are medical cannabis patients, began their journey in South Carolina, and hope to arrive in San Francisco by June 1st. Our last article this week reports on the trial of Barbara Kathleen Higgs, a 43 year old Australian woman living in Indonesia who was caught with 49.7 grams of cannabis and now faces trafficking charges, with a maximum penalty of death by firing squad. I salute and express my deepest sympathy to Ms. Higgs and the BC3, who like Alex White Plume and the Oglala Sioux are the innocent victims of a nefarious and nonsensical worldwide campaign against a benign plant and its responsible use by adults. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(15) COURT NIXES PINE RIDGE HEMP FARM (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
An American Indian treaty and United States law do not allow for the
cultivation of industrial hemp on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation,
a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday. | ||||||||||||||||||
Alex White Plume, who is vice president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe,
and members of his family planted hemp on their property but it was
cut down and confiscated by federal agents. | ||||||||||||||||||
Industrial hemp, which is related to marijuana, is used to make rope
and other products. | ||||||||||||||||||
It has only a trace of the drug in marijuana, but it is illegal to
grow hemp in the United States. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
(16) STUDY FINDS NO CANCER, MARIJUANA CONNECTION (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
The largest study of its kind has unexpectedly concluded that
smoking marijuana, even regularly and heavily, does not lead to lung
cancer. | ||||||||||||||||||
The new findings "were against our expectations," said Donald
Tashkin of the University of California at Los Angeles, a
pulmonologist who has studied marijuana for 30 years. | ||||||||||||||||||
"We hypothesized that there would be a positive association between
marijuana use and lung cancer, and that the association would be
more positive with heavier use," he said. "What we found instead was
no association at all, and even a suggestion of some protective
effect." | ||||||||||||||||||
Federal health and drug enforcement officials have widely used
Tashkin's previous work on marijuana to make the case that the drug
is dangerous. Tashkin said that while he still believes marijuana is
potentially harmful, its cancer-causing effects appear to be of less
concern than previously thought. | ||||||||||||||||||
Earlier work established that marijuana does contain cancer-causing
chemicals as potentially harmful as those in tobacco, he said.
However, marijuana also contains the chemical THC, which he said may
kill aging cells and keep them from becoming cancerous. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
(17) POT CRUSADER ONE STEP CLOSER TO EXTRADITION (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
A British Columbia Supreme Court judge has ruled in favour of the
federal government and removed a potential impediment to the
extradition of Marc Emery and his two co-defendants. | ||||||||||||||||||
Mr. Justice Robert Crawford dismissed a motion that would have
prohibited federal prosecutors from taking control of a conspiracy
charge filed privately against Mr. Emery, Michelle Rainey and Greg
Williams. | ||||||||||||||||||
The private charge was filed last August in Provincial Court in
Nelson, by Patrick Roberts, chairman of the nationalist Bloc British
Columbia party. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
(18) PEDALING FOR POT (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Bicycling members of Americans for Safe Access (ASA) will be blazing
through the Boulder area today in part of their Journey for Justice,
advocating the right of patients and doctors to use medical
marijuana. | ||||||||||||||||||
The group left Folly Beach, South Carolina on April 7, hoping to smoke across the country and reach San Francisco on June 1. | ||||||||||||||||||
"We want to see legislation pass where medical marijuana is no
longer illegal," said Mark Pedersen, ASA's traveling coordinator.
Over the phone while heading west on Highway 24 through Kansas last
Friday, Pedersen added, "We're proving we're not going to quit until
this becomes a blatant public issue." | ||||||||||||||||||
The goal after reaching California is to have enough finances to go back to Washington and lobby for pro-medical marijuana legislation. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
(19) AUSTRALIAN MAY FACE FIRING SQUAD (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
AN Australian woman allegedly caught with a small amount of cannabis has tearfully appeared before an Indonesian court on charges that carry lengthy jail terms and even death by firing squad. | ||||||||||||||||||
Prosecutors said Barbara Kathleen Higgs, 43, was arrested in
February with 49.7g of cannabis and two small bags of seeds at
Sengiggi beach on Lombok island, where she part owns a hotel named
the Bulan Baru, or New Moon. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
Prosecutors charged Ms Higgs with three sections of Indonesia's
tough anti-drugs laws, including Article 82 for trafficking, which
carries the death penalty. | ||||||||||||||||||
They also charged her with Article 78 for possession, which carries
a 10-year jail term, and Article 85 for personal use, which has a
maximum penalty of four years imprisonment. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
International News | ||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (20-23) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Three weeks ago, the Mexican congress passed a modest drug reform
bill, which would have allowed adults to possess small amounts of
drugs like marijuana or cocaine, without fear of arrest.
Prohibitionists in the U.S. panicked, attacking the perceived "drug
legalization" bill as an invitation (for Americans) to go to Mexico
and take drugs. Mexico's President Fox, who had vowed to sign the
bill (passed by his own party), but after the Americans screamed
bloody murder, Fox backed down. This week, Mexican legislators said
they would override Fox's veto and pass the bill anyway. Supporters
of the bill, which was widely described as decriminalizing drugs in
Mexico, insist the proposed law will only make it easier to arrest
drug users. | ||||||||||||||||||
Australian state MP Sandra Kanck brought down a firestorm of criticism when she suggested that MDMA wasn't a dangerous drug at all. "I remind members who might think that all drugs are evil that Jesus partook of wine. He did not have any silly laws that said 'this drug is legal, and this one isn't legal'," she noted. | ||||||||||||||||||
Stop preaching at kids, and get "realistic" says Richard Midford, keynote speaker at the Australian Drug Foundation conference in Sydney this week. "They [prohibitionists] really are very much taking the moral stance and saying it's a bad thing to do," said Midford. Despite the law against using cannabis, about half of Australians had tried the illicit weed before they turned 17. "If you are realistic and acknowledge that these things go on, you can then deal with them... If you do a shock horror scare tactic on them ... they're just going to ignore you, it's going to be irrelevant." | ||||||||||||||||||
Observers in the UK were surprised last week when the Tories
(conservative party) did not rule out supervised injection centers
for heroin addicts. However, the Tory leader (Edward Garnier, shadow
home affairs minister), stressed that such centers should be used
only to wean addicts off of drugs. Currently, there are over 60 such
injection centers in existence in Europe, Canada and Australia,
which are credited with saving lives by preventing fatal overdoses.
The Blair government has rejected the creation of injection centers
in the UK, citing such problems as "localised dealing, anti-social
behaviour and acquisitive crime." | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
(20) MEXICANS' VIEWS SPLIT ON DRUG PLAN (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
One Side Fears Decriminalization Will Tempt Youth; Other Insists
Target Should Be Dealers | ||||||||||||||||||
CIUDAD NEZAHUALCOYOTL, MEXICO - Mexican lawmakers have vowed to
rescue a controversial law that would decriminalize small amounts of
drugs for personal consumption, despite a presidential veto and
outcry from U.S. officials. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
Fox's Reversal | ||||||||||||||||||
President Vicente Fox applauded the measures initially then abruptly
sent them back to Congress on May 3, urging legislators to clarify
that "in our country the possession and consumption of drugs are and
will continue being crimes." | ||||||||||||||||||
He was seen as bowing to pressure from U.S. officials, who warned
that the reforms would increase domestic drug abuse in Mexico and
encourage Americans to head south of the border for drug sprees --
charges the bill's supporters deny. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
Officials and experts blame rising drug use on a shift in the way
Mexican traffickers are paid -- increasingly they receive drugs
instead of money. As a result, prices have plummeted, making even
cocaine accessible to the poor. | ||||||||||||||||||
Many professionals who work with addicts warn the proposed reforms
could exacerbate drug use by emboldening non-users to give drugs a
try. | ||||||||||||||||||
"It puts drug possession on a level with illegal parking," said
Otoniel Nava, a psychologist who directs a network of private
clinics in Mexico City and nearby Cuernavaca. | ||||||||||||||||||
He argued that Mexico was not ready to liberalize drugs. "Saying
it's OK to carry around drugs," he said, "is like giving a kid a
loaded gun." | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
(21) MP SAYS ECSTASY ISN'T DANGEROUS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
STATE MP Sandra Kanck says ecstasy - which has been linked to more than 110 deaths in three years - "is not a dangerous drug". | ||||||||||||||||||
The Democrats leader told Parliament that after 20 years, there was
still no "evidence that it is a dangerous substance". | ||||||||||||||||||
She suggested the drug could have been given to victims of last
year's fatal Eyre Peninsula bushfires to help them cope with their
trauma. | ||||||||||||||||||
Bushfire recovery effort chairman Vince Monterola said he was astounded by the comment, labelling it "an absurd proposition". | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
"I remind members who might think that all drugs are evil that Jesus
partook of wine. He did not have any silly laws that said 'this drug
is legal, and this one isn't legal'," she said. | ||||||||||||||||||
"We have been told that ecstasy is a dangerous substance. We do not
have the evidence. | ||||||||||||||||||
"The original 1985 listing of ecstasy, or MDMA, is still being
contested. So more than 20 years later, the matter has not yet been
resolved. | ||||||||||||||||||
"In fact, I was saying to people last year after the bushfires on Eyre Peninsula, with all the trauma that was associated with it, that one of the best things you could probably have done for the people on EP who had gone through that trauma was to give them MDMA. | ||||||||||||||||||
"However, one dare not advocate that, because we are all being tough
on drugs, aren't we?" | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
(22) DRUG EDUCATORS 'SHOULD BE REALISTIC' (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Drug educators should be realistic with young people who can see drugs as glamorous and exciting, a leading researcher says. | ||||||||||||||||||
Associate Professor Richard Midford will give the keynote address at
the International Conference on Drugs and Young People in Sydney,
arguing that the federal government's drug education strategy for
schools is in need of reform. | ||||||||||||||||||
"They really are very much taking the moral stance and saying it's a
bad thing to do, and that we should be giving a clear 'just say no'
message," Prof Midford said. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
Prof Midford, from the National Drug and Research Institute in
Perth, said just under 50 per cent of young people had tried
cannabis by the time they reached 17 years old, while most had
experimented with alcohol before leaving high school. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
"If you are realistic and acknowledge that these things go on, you
can then deal with them. | ||||||||||||||||||
"If you do a shock horror scare tactic on them (the students) and
they've got different information from their own experiences that
it's not that bad, they're just going to ignore you, it's going to
be irrelevant. | ||||||||||||||||||
The three-day conference hosted by the Australian Drug Foundation will discuss ways of reducing the impact of drugs on youth. | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
(23) TORIES BACK INJECTION CENTRES FOR DRUG ADDICTS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
The Tories tentatively supported calls yesterday for the Government
to set up special centres where heroin addicts could legally inject
themselves. | ||||||||||||||||||
In a surprise move, Edward Garnier, the shadow home affairs
minister, said: "We do not rule out [these] recommendations. If this
is to take place in a controlled environment and is to be used as a
stepping stone to actually getting people off drugs, we will look at
this carefully." | ||||||||||||||||||
His reaction surprised groups such as Civitas, the Right-of-centre
think-tank, and the Tories' political opponents because of the
anticipated public reaction to it and because the issue of drugs has
stalked David Cameron, the Conservative leader, since the party's
leadership race. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
There are about 65 so-called "shooting galleries" in Australia,
Canada and across Europe. In 2002 Mr Cameron was a member of a
Parliamentary committee that said the Government should set up a
trial of drug rooms but the plan was rejected over concerns about
their legality, public opinion and crime. | ||||||||||||||||||
Vernon Coaker, the Home Office minister, said the Government's
position was unchanged. "The reasons for rejecting it in 2002 are as
valid today - the risk of an increase in localised dealing,
anti-social behaviour and acquisitive crime," he said. | ||||||||||||||||||
But the DrugScope charity, which campaigns to shape drugs policy,
welcomed the Joseph Rowntree Foundation report and said it hoped for
a rational debate. "A policy which can save lives deserves serious
consideration, however controversial it may seem at first," said
Martin Barnes, the charity's chief executive. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
HOT OFF THE 'NET (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
THE ELECTRIC KOOL-AID MEDICINE TEST | ||||||||||||||||||
By Terrence McNally, AlterNet. Posted May 24, 2006. | ||||||||||||||||||
Hallucinogen researcher Charles Grob says psychedelic drugs have the
potential to alter modern medicine. | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
CANNABIS SMOKING NOT LINKED TO LUNG CANCER, CASE-CONTROL STUDY SAYS | ||||||||||||||||||
NORML Podcast | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
CULTURAL BAGGAGE RADIO SHOW | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
Listen Live Fridays 8:00 PM, ET, 7:00 CT, 6:00 MT & 5:00 PT at
www.KPFT.org | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
DRUG WAR FLUNKS OUT | ||||||||||||||||||
by Hasdai Westbrook | ||||||||||||||||||
The Nation, May 25, 2006 (June 12, 2006 issue) | ||||||||||||||||||
Kraig Selken is a model student. A history major at Northern State
University in South Dakota, Selken has maintained a GPA above 3.0 and
was looking forward to a career as a teacher after his graduation in
June 2007. But last October his hopes became a casualty of the "war on
drugs" after he pled guilty to a misdemeanor for possessing a small
amount of marijuana. | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
PEOPLE BEHIND BARS IN U.S. INCREASING BY MORE THAN A 1000 PER WEEK | ||||||||||||||||||
Despite half a decade of sentencing reform efforts, America's jail and
prison population is increasing at a rate of more than a thousand per
week, according to the latest annual report by the Justice Department's
Bureau of Justice Statistics. | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
TUSKEGEE SHERIFF CANDIDATES "NALL RIGHT ON DRUG POLICY" | ||||||||||||||||||
Thursday, May 25, 2006 | ||||||||||||||||||
http://nallforgovernor.blogspot.com/2006/05/tuskegee-sheriff-candidates-nall-right.html | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT WORKING GROUP ON DRUG CONSUMPTION ROOMS | ||||||||||||||||||
A detailed examination of whether Drug Consumption Rooms (DCRs) should
be introduced in the UK. | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
RIP ESEQUIEL | ||||||||||||||||||
Thursday, May 25, 2006 | ||||||||||||||||||
RIP Esequiel | ||||||||||||||||||
Sometimes a story can make you mad enough to cry even 10 years after
the fact. That's how I feel every time I'm reminded about what happened
to Esequiel Hernandez, a 18 year old American boy killed by US Marines
who mistook him for a drug smuggler while patrolling the US/Mexican
border. | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
WHAT YOU CAN DO THIS WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
ASA Job Opportunities | ||||||||||||||||||
Phone Bank Manager in Oakland, CA, The deadline to apply is May 31st.
The Phone Bank Manager will start in early-mid June. | ||||||||||||||||||
Staff Assistant in Washington, D.C., To apply, please send a cover
letter and resume no later than May 31, 2006. | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
LETTER OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Don't Give Up The Diabetes Fight | ||||||||||||||||||
By Jerry Epstein | ||||||||||||||||||
To the Editor: | ||||||||||||||||||
Your article about the rising costs of diabetes serves to highlight
our insane policy against the medical use of marijuana. | ||||||||||||||||||
Hadassah University Hospital in Jerusalem just reported an experiment with marijuana cannabinoids that significantly reduced the prevalence of Type 1 diabetes in mice from an incidence of 86 percent in non-treated controls to an incidence of only 30 percent. | ||||||||||||||||||
Meanwhile, even powerful figures like Senators John Kerry and Edward
M. Kennedy, working with the University of Massachusetts at Amherst
on behalf of would-be researchers, cannot break through the barriers
to research thrown up by the federal government. | ||||||||||||||||||
The witch hunt on marijuana has endured for years; we got past the
Salem witch trials a lot faster. | ||||||||||||||||||
Jerry Epstein, Houston, | ||||||||||||||||||
The writer is a board member, Drug Policy Forum of Texas. | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
FEATURE ARTICLE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
They Want a New Drug | ||||||||||||||||||
by Robert Merkin | ||||||||||||||||||
In Texas, teens are doing a new drug. Hallelujah! | ||||||||||||||||||
And the usual suspects are rejoicing, because the Drug War's ancient
cycle of terrifying the public will keep the usual suspects
employed, busy, prosperous, powerful and in demand again ... until
the next new drug comes along and the ancient cycle begins all over
again. | ||||||||||||||||||
The drug isn't exactly new; it's heroin, but packaged (according to
USA Today and The Dallas Morning News) in a kid-friendly,
kid-affordable way. Its street name is "cheese," and according to
the Drug Enforcement Administration, Dallas police and Dallas
public school police, a light dose of it -- from 2 to 8 percent --
is mixed into a snortable powder with crushed over-the-counter
Tylenol PM, giving cheese a "speedball" effect: a simultaneous
stimulant up buzz and heroin/opiate down. | ||||||||||||||||||
To date, the only death attributed to cheese isn't smoking-gun
clear; the 18-year-old high school woman had been drinking alcohol,
and Texas authorities say testing will take a month before they know
the cause of her death. The DEA and Dallas police are tallying
seizures of cheese and circulating memos. | ||||||||||||||||||
Could USA Today investigate and report on cheese in some more
creative and responsible way than parroting the predictable and
self-serving publicity handouts of law enforcement agencies, and
industries that depend on public fear-mongering for their perpetual
growth and profit? In her 27 April USA Today story "Texas Schools
Battle 'Starter Heroin,'" Donna Leinwand interviews only the DEA,
local police, and, for the scientific insight, employees at
for-profit drug-treatment clinics; The Dallas Morning News has
followed suit. | ||||||||||||||||||
Helping police, prosecutors and elected officials terrify voters
about this week's new dangerous drug du jour is a strategy proven
repeatedly to accomplish nothing for the past 35 years of The War On
Drugs. For this entire period, law enforcement and the Drug Czar
have frightened us in precisely the same "template" way annually --
"Insert Name of Scary New Drug Here" -- with the rise in youth
popularity of yet another drug. | ||||||||||||||||||
What is accomplished? The budgets and personnel of the Drug Czar,
the Drug Enforcement Administration, and local police drug agencies
are promptly and rapidly increased. | ||||||||||||||||||
Congress has increased the DEA's budget every year since President
Richard Nixon founded the DEA in 1973. | ||||||||||||||||||
And each year, more kids discover and ingest more new drugs. | ||||||||||||||||||
I am by no means suggesting that cheese is not something responsible
journalists and government leaders should be properly concerned
about. Cheese IS bad. | ||||||||||||||||||
The way our state and federal governments are gearing up to deal
with cheese will be worse -- for kids. | ||||||||||||||||||
The brain-dead way USA Today and the Dallas Morning News are covering this story will help our clueless, irresponsible government and law-enforcement officials make it worse -- for kids. | ||||||||||||||||||
At-risk kids have a right to and a need for better, deeper, smarter
journalism about drug use and abuse in America than we're getting.
There are actual ways to reduce drug use and reduce drug harm. But
mainstream journalism just isn't asking the right people -- public
health experts with no for-profit, for-power axe to grind -- the
right questions, so nobody's getting the right answers. | ||||||||||||||||||
As mainstream journalism spams law-enforcement's corny, ancient script and scares the bejeebers out of every American parent, it's helping the for-profit, for-power industry we call the War on Drugs grow rich on our tax dollars, and grow politically powerful. | ||||||||||||||||||
But it's not helping kids. Reporters who cover the Drug War beat
need to get less "imbedded," more creative and independent; they
need to ratchet up their standards, do their core job with
excellence, and help kids. | ||||||||||||||||||
Robert Merkin is a novelist ("Zombie Jamboree," "The South Florida
Book of the Dead") and newspaper journalist from Northampton,
Massachusetts. Mr Merkin is a longtime reform activist and LTE
writer. He spews about drug policy, and a few other things, like the
Iraq war and the Eurovision Song Contest, on his blog, | ||||||||||||||||||
He wrote this column in cooperation with MAP's Drug Policy Writer's
Group project. For more information on the DPWG; how to submit
columns and also how to get DPWG columns printed in your local
media, visit the MAP Media Activism Center | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
QUOTE OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
You just need to be a flea against injustice. Enough committed fleas
biting strategically can make even the biggest dog uncomfortable and
transform even the biggest nation. | ||||||||||||||||||
- Marian Wright Edelman | ||||||||||||||||||
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