| July 7, 2006 #456 | ||||||||||||||||
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Table of Contents
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THIS JUST IN (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
(1) 1700 OVERDOSES THAT DIDN'T END IN DEATH (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
The Kings Cross injecting centre has been saving lives for five years,
writes Ruth Pollard. | ||||||||||||||||
IT IS one of the few State Government programs devoted to caring for
those living on the fringes of society rather than throwing them in
jail. | ||||||||||||||||
Lauded as brave and pioneering by many and derided by others as giving
tacit approval to illicit activities, the Medically Supervised
Injecting Centre quietly celebrated its fifth year of operation eight
weeks ago. | ||||||||||||||||
Such is the sensitivity surrounding its operation there were no obvious
celebrations, no fanfare - just a quiet determination to continue its
work in the face of growing political opposition amid a law-and-order
auction leading up to next year's state election. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(2) 15 HELD IN RAIDS ON POT STORES (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Medical Marijuana Profiteers Targeted | ||||||||||||||||
With dozens of medical marijuana dispensaries doing a brisk business across San Diego County, and many patients showing no signs of serious illness, state and federal prosecutors decided they had seen enough. | ||||||||||||||||
Yesterday they conducted a multi-agency sweep that snared what officials said were the worst offenders: dealers capitalizing on California's loosely drawn medical marijuana law to make a profit. | ||||||||||||||||
The pot dispensaries have become "magnets for crime in San Diego,"
Police Chief William Lansdowne said. The operators "have taken the
compassionate use of marijuana and convoluted it into a million-dollar
business." | ||||||||||||||||
Drug agents showed up at dispensaries in La Jolla, Ocean Beach, North
Park and elsewhere across the city, detaining patients, running warrant
checks on employees and arresting previously identified dispensary
owners. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
"Their motive was not to better society," U.S. Attorney Carol Lam said
at a news conference announcing the arrests. "But rather to make a
profit by breaking the law." | ||||||||||||||||
Prosecutors took the unusual step of filing official complaints with the California Medical Board against four physicians who they said sell an inordinate number of recommendations for medical marijuana. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(3) COP SAYS HE AIDED NARCOTICS RIP-OFF (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Metro Detective Says Fellow Officer Deceived Him About Traffic Stop | ||||||||||||||||
Two undercover Metro officers pretended they were making an arrest but
instead ripped off a kilo of cocaine from a drug dealer, one of the
officers claimed in court papers filed two weeks ago. | ||||||||||||||||
The April 30, 2003, incident involving detectives Charles Williams III
and Ernest Cecil is the subject of an investigation by the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration. | ||||||||||||||||
Williams, 38, was indicted in January and has been placed on paid
leave. Cecil, 49, was stripped of his police powers after a separate
incident and has been on desk duty at the Hermitage Precinct. He has
not been charged with a crime. | ||||||||||||||||
The case offers a rare glimpse into the Metro Police Specialized
Investigations Division, one of the department's most secretive units,
whose plainclothes detectives frequently mingle among Nashville's
narcotics underworld to root out drug criminals. | ||||||||||||||||
Federal prosecutors did not return several calls seeking comment
yesterday. Metro police officials confirmed that the federal probe was
continuing but could offer few details. | ||||||||||||||||
A department spokesman said he did not believe the alleged corruption
extends to other members of the SID or elsewhere in the Metro Police
Department. | ||||||||||||||||
"There has been no outside complaint or information that would lead us
to believe that anything is occurring ...," police spokesman Don Aaron
said. "We're not aware of any of these type of issues occurring now in
SID. Supervision would catch it. Word on the street would let us know
something was going on." | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(4) CANNABIS 'CAN LEAD TO HARDER DRUGS' (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
The long-running debate over the dangers of cannabis will be reignited
by a study that challenges the idea that experimenting with the drug is
harmless and does not lead to further drug use. | ||||||||||||||||
Prof Yasmin Hurd, Dr Sabrina Spano and Dr Maria Ellgren, working at the
Karolinksa Institute, in Sweden, have demonstrated that cannabis can
enhance future sensitivity to heroin. | ||||||||||||||||
Studying events in the brain of adolescent rats after cannabis exposure, they found that the drug affects the brain's natural chemicals, called endogenous opioids. The chemicals are known to play a role in heightening positive emotions and creating a sense of reward. | ||||||||||||||||
That is the same system that is stimulated by hard drugs and is also present in humans. In the case of the rats, those exposed to cannabis as adolescents took more heroin when given the opportunity. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
This year an independent report commissioned for the Commons science
and technology committee concluded that the "gateway" theory - that its
use leads on to the use of harder drugs - "has little evidence to
support it, despite copious research". | ||||||||||||||||
The Swedish team's results show that the brain may "remember" previous
cannabis usage and make users vulnerable to harder drugs later in life,
specifically opioids such as heroin and morphine. | ||||||||||||||||
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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Domestic News- Policy | ||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (5-8) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
If you thought the drug war was a cruel, wasteful failure, a group of former drug czars have news for you: your' re wrong, the drug war is actually a cruel, wasteful success - or something like that. They claimed the drug war has been won and they gathered to pat themselves on the back recently, but strangely, they didn't invite the press or the public to the victory ceremony. Too many uncomfortable questions, presumably. Anyone with a newspaper or internet connection and the ability to read would know that these former drug czars don't seem to get follow the news that closely. | ||||||||||||||||
Drug reformers are running for public office, though at least one being harassed by police. Ben Masel, a U.S. Senate candidate and longtime drug policy activist appears to be inspiring so much fear that local authorities attacked him while trying to gather signatures on public property. And, if the drug czars believe their own rhetoric while they were in office about the horrors of needle exchanges, they can't be happy to see how the practice continues to spread, now finally legally to Delaware. Massachusetts is a lone holdout, and it looks like the governor there recently vetoed needle exchange legislation. Supporters of the legislation in the state house have vowed to use some common sense and override the veto. | ||||||||||||||||
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(5) OPED: FORMER DRUG CZARS BELIEVE THEIR WAR HAS BEEN WON (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
The United States has won the war against illegal drugs. That was the conclusion of a unique gathering on June 17, which marked the 35th anniversary of the war's beginning in 1971 with the appointment of Dr. Jerome H. Jaffe, a psychiatrist, as the first White House drug czar. | ||||||||||||||||
Jaffe was joined at the anniversary gathering by six other former
czars, Dr. Robert L. Du Pont, Dr. Peter G. Bourne, Lee I. Dogoloff, Dr.
Donald Ian Mac-Donald, Lee Brown and retired Army Gen. Barry R.
McCaffrey. Also attending were 20 former staff members and a handful of
experts, including me, a specialist historian. | ||||||||||||||||
The meeting, sponsored and hosted by the University of Maryland, was
held for the purpose of making a historical record. | ||||||||||||||||
The seven former czars and former staff members held remarkably unanimous views, though they come from a variety of backgrounds and included Democrats and Republicans who worked for five very different presidents. And what they had to say was often surprising. | ||||||||||||||||
The main conclusion that we won the war on drugs was the biggest
surprise, because advocates of illegal drugs have in recent years
filled the media with rhetoric about "the failed war on drugs." The
czars' straightforward conclusion may come as a shock, but, as they
outlined what the war was about, what they had to say made a lot of
sense. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(6) CANDIDATE MASEL SPRAYED, ARRESTED AT UNION TERRACE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
University police confronted Ben Masel, longtime local activist and
current U.S. Senate hopeful, while he was circulating nomination
papers on the Memorial Union Terrace Thursday night. | ||||||||||||||||
After a brief struggle, he was pepper-sprayed, arrested, and charged
with trespassing, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, then
released. | ||||||||||||||||
Masel says he's being singled out. | ||||||||||||||||
Several politicians confirmed today in interviews they have used the
terrace to solicit signatures, including both Democratic candidates
for secretary of state. | ||||||||||||||||
Incumbent Doug La Follette said today he's been at the terrace "four
or five lunch hours" this year soliciting signatures and was never
asked to leave. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(7) LEGISLATURE FINALLY OKS NEEDLE EXCHANGE PROGRAM (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Bill Aims To Cut Down On AIDS, Hepatitis C In Wilmington | ||||||||||||||||
DOVER -- Intravenous drug users in Wilmington will finally be able
to get clean syringes under a pilot needle exchange program the
General Assembly passed Thursday, delighting advocates who said the
measure will reduce the spread of AIDS. | ||||||||||||||||
Infection from dirty needles is a leading cause of AIDS in Delaware,
which had the nation's sixth-highest AIDS rate from all causes in
2004. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(8) MITT VETOES NEEDLE SALES BILL, RILED POLS VOW OVERRIDE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Gov. Mitt Romney yesterday vetoed a bill that would bring the Bay State in line with 47 other states by allowing over-the-counter sales of hypodermic needles to prevent the spread of HIV - claiming the measure would only add to the state's heroin epidemic. | ||||||||||||||||
The Democrat-controlled Legislature, which approved the measure by
wide margins in the House and Senate, swiftly vowed to override
Romney's veto. New Jersey and Delaware are the only other states
that don't allow sales of hypodermic needles in pharmacies without a
prescription. | ||||||||||||||||
"I'm just very disappointed," said state Rep. Peter Koutijian ( D-Waltham ), a former prosecutor, who said he questioned Romney's concern for heroin addiction rates considering last week the governor vetoed $8.2 million for substance abuse treatment. | ||||||||||||||||
Lt. Gov Kerry Healey pointed to state public health statistics that
suggest HIV transmission rates due to intravenous drug use have
declined annually while the number of heroin-related fatal overdoses
and hospitalizations have shot up. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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Law Enforcement & Prisons | ||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (9-12) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
The governor of West Virginia has expanded the drug war there, and
is about to toss another $1 million into the sinkhole of misery.
Meanwhile, a judge dismisses a case against cops convicted of
corruption; a judge rules that it is not unconstitutional to require
drug defendants to pay for and take drug tests as they wait for
trial; and California legislators go against the will of voters on a
ballot initiative while initiative supporters take their case to
court. | ||||||||||||||||
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(9) STATE DRUG WAR NETS BIG HAUL (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
State and local police have seized almost $6 million in illegal
drugs over the past 18 months as part of a crackdown on the drug
trade in West Virginia. | ||||||||||||||||
Gov. Joe Manchin today was to unveil evidence gathered during two of
the most recent drug raids: 6.5-pounds of crystal methamphetamine
and five kilograms of cocaine, all seized by police during raids in
the Charleston area. | ||||||||||||||||
Those drugs alone have a street value of more than $750,000. | ||||||||||||||||
When Manchin took office in 2005, he asked state and local police
departments to refocus their efforts on eradicating the drug trade,
which in recent years has become a hotbed of activity by dealers
coming in from out of state. | ||||||||||||||||
Since then, the State Police have spearheaded dozens of raids and
made as many arrests, targeting illegal drug operations all over the
state. | ||||||||||||||||
Drug enforcement officials working undercover have made more than
500 drug buys in the past six months, State Police Col. Dave Lemmon
said this morning. That's as many as were made during the entire
year in 2004. | ||||||||||||||||
"The governor gave us a mandate, and we've accepted it and we've
really been working hard," Lemmon said. "The amount of meth and coke
we've taken in recently, just around here, that's very uncommon. But
it's going to be ongoing, and we're going to be stepping up the pace
even more." | ||||||||||||||||
Manchin pledged during his State of the State address in January to
give the State Police $1 million this year to continue their
efforts. The money, which becomes available July 1, will allow
police to work more undercover operations, set up additional drug
buys and get more drug-related training. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(10) NEW YORK CITY JUDGE THROWS OUT MAFIA COPS CONSPIRACY CONVICTION (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
They did the crimes but might not do the time. | ||||||||||||||||
In a stunning development Friday, a federal judge threw out key racketeering conspiracy convictions against "Mafia Cops" Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa -- convictions that included their involvement in eight gangland killings from 1986 to 1991 -- because of a conflict with the federal five-year statute of limitations. | ||||||||||||||||
U.S. District Court Judge Jack B. Weinstein, in a 77-page ruling,
said the trial "overwhelmingly established" the guilt of Eppolito,
57, and Caracappa, 64, in the slayings and other crimes, but wrote
that the legal issue compelled him to acquit them. | ||||||||||||||||
"As a result of spillover prejudice resulting from the trial of that
charge [racketeering conspiracy] with other crimes charged in the
indictment, defendants are entitled to a new trial on the remaining
charges," Weinstein said. | ||||||||||||||||
Weinstein ordered a new trial for both men on charges of drug
dealing and, in Eppolito's case, money laundering. The retrial would
involve charges that Eppolito and Caracappa were involved in a small
methamphetamine transaction in Nevada, where they both lived after
retiring from the Police Department. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(11) COURT RESTORES DRUG TESTS IN METH CASES (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
North Dakota's Supreme Court has reinstated a law that requires
methamphetamine defendants to assent to random drug testing, at
their own expense, if they're freed on bail. A Fargo judge had
declared the provision unconstitutional. | ||||||||||||||||
East Central District Judge Steven McCullough used a procedure that
was "not conducive to reasoned decision-making" in ruling the law
should not be enforced, the state Supreme Court justices said in a
unanimous opinion. | ||||||||||||||||
"Our jurisprudence for deciding constitutional issues requires an
orderly process for the development of constitutional claims, which
. was not followed in this case," Chief Justice Gerald VandeWalle | ||||||||||||||||
The case affects a law passed by the Legislature last year, which says people who are charged with methamphetamine crimes must agree to pay for their own random drug tests if they are granted bail. | ||||||||||||||||
The issue arose when Brent Alan Hansen, of Fargo, made his initial
court appearance last October on four drug charges, including two
felony methamphetamine charges. | ||||||||||||||||
McCullough asked Hansen's court-appointed attorney, Steven
Mottinger, whether he wanted to question whether the law that
required testing for his client as a condition of bail was
constitutional. | ||||||||||||||||
Mottinger quickly took the hint. Later that day, McCullough issued a written opinion saying the law encroached on the judicial system's own rules for granting bail. The law also allows police to conduct a search without providing reasons to justify it, the judge concluded. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(12) BILL TO REVISE PROPOSITION 36 UNDER FIRE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Jail Proposed For Refusal To Comply With Treatment | ||||||||||||||||
LOS ANGELES - Oliver Hamilton says he wasn't afraid of jail: He was
afraid of change. | ||||||||||||||||
Two years ago, the San Diego Navy veteran overcame his fears and his
36-year drug and alcohol addiction with the help of Proposition 36,
the ballot measure requiring treatment instead of prison for
nonviolent drug offenders. | ||||||||||||||||
Today, the 49-year-old warehouse manager is fighting a bill that the
governor plans to sign this week that rewrites the initiative. It
would allow judges to impose short-term jail sentences for
recalcitrant drug offenders who refuse to comply with their
court-ordered treatment. | ||||||||||||||||
"Really, no addict is afraid of jail," Hamilton said. "Put them in
inpatient programs. That's what works." | ||||||||||||||||
But treatment hasn't worked for three out of four of the first- and
second-time drug offenders sentenced to recovery programs under
Proposition 36 since it went into effect July 1, 2001. | ||||||||||||||||
They never showed up for their court-ordered programs or they
dropped out of the programs. | ||||||||||||||||
So a task force of prosecutors, public defenders, judges and
treatment professionals proposed the short-term jail sentences and
other changes in the initiative in hopes of getting more addicts
into treatment and off drugs. | ||||||||||||||||
Lawmakers adopted the revisions last week in Senate Bill 1137. Now
Proposition 36's authors are planning to sue the state. | ||||||||||||||||
"It would reverse the intent of Prop. 36," said Margaret Dooley,
Drug Policy Alliance Proposition 36 outreach director. "It would
take Prop. 36 from ( mandating ) treatment instead of incarceration,
and make it ( require ) treatment and incarceration." | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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Cannabis & Hemp- | ||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (13-16) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
We begin this week with a New York Times article on the ongoing
issues facing San Francisco's emerging medical cannabis policies and
program. The recent controversy involves the opening of a medical
cannabis compassion club at Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco's most
popular tourist destination. The Green Cross has submitted an
application to open their doors in August, but local businesses and
residents have expressed concerns about opening up a dispensary in
such a high traffic, tourist-driven area. San Francisco currently
boasts about 40 compassion clubs, which assist over 25,000 medical
cannabis patients. | ||||||||||||||||
Our second story comes to us from the U.K., where a report from the
Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime suggests that teens
coming from a more affluent background are more likely to use
cannabis than those from lower social and economic classes. The
report stems from a questionnaire sent to over 4000 school aged
children in Edinburgh, and seems to re-enforce previous studies
showing that cannabis users are generally of a higher income and
education level than non-users. | ||||||||||||||||
Our next article comes to us from Canada, where Edmonton Sun
columnist Mindelle Jacobs looks at ongoing problems with the federal
medical cannabis program, with a focus on the recently released
Canadian AIDS Society report on the human rights, ethical and legal
challenges facing people with HIV/AIDS who wish to use medical
cannabis. And lastly this week, a Langley Times editorial calling
for a common sense approach to regulated cannabis access for
responsible adults that was prompted by the recent bust of two B.C.
men who are charged with smuggling cannabis into (and cocaine out
of) B.C. by helicopter. | ||||||||||||||||
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(13) MARIJUANA FIGHT ENVELOPS FISHERMAN'S WHARF (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
The newest attraction planned for Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco's
most popular tourist destination, has no sign, no advertisements and
not even a scrap of sourdough. Yet everyone seems to think that the
new business, the Green Cross, will be a hit, drawing customers from
all over the region to sample its aromatic wares. | ||||||||||||||||
For some, that is exactly the problem. | ||||||||||||||||
The Green Cross is a cannabis club, one of scores that sell
marijuana to patients with a doctor's note. They have sprouted
around California in the decade since the passage of Proposition
215, which legalized the use and sale of marijuana to those
suffering from chronic pain, illness or infirmity. San Francisco, a
hot spot in the AIDS epidemic, voted overwhelmingly in favor of the
proposition in 1996 and has about 30 clubs, serving some 25,000
patients and caregivers. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(14) MIDDLE-CLASS KIDS 'MORE LIKELY TO USE CANNABIS' (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Teenagers from affluent areas are more likely to smoke cannabis than
those from poorer backgrounds, say researchers who believe
middle-class parents encourage their children to take the drug
rather than alcohol. | ||||||||||||||||
The Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime reveals that by
the age of 16 one-third of teenagers had taken some form of drug and
for 79% of these it was cannabis alone. | ||||||||||||||||
But 35% of teenagers from more affluent backgrounds, with parents
working in non-manual jobs, had used cannabis within the past year
compared with 30% of those whose parents were either in manual
occupations or unemployed. | ||||||||||||||||
The researchers, based at Edinburgh University, say this finding is "statistically significant". While delinquency and hard-drug use are more common in areas of greater deprivation or high crime rates, more frequent cannabis use was greater within prosperous neighbourhoods, particularly those with a high student population. | ||||||||||||||||
The researchers carried out the study using questionnaires sent to
around 4,000 Edinburgh schoolchildren. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(15) TORIES KEEP MEDICAL POT (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
As much as the Tories would probably love to ditch the medical
marijuana program, they have quietly extended the contract with the
government's official pot grower. | ||||||||||||||||
The five-year, $5.7-million deal the Liberals inked with Prairie
Plant Systems, which grows Ottawa's weed in an abandoned mine in
Manitoba, expired Friday (after a six-month extension was previously
granted). | ||||||||||||||||
Now the contract has been stretched until the end of September while the feds put out a request for proposals for a new five-year deal. | ||||||||||||||||
The Tories must wish the whole medical pot issue would just go up in
smoke. In fact, things are about to heat up. | ||||||||||||||||
In a recent report, the Canadian AIDS Society (CAS) slammed Ottawa's
marijuana monopoly and urged the government to allow designated
producers to grow pot for multiple people. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(16) LEGALIZATION AN OPTION (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
The arrest of two men in a scheme which saw marijuana hauled into
the U.S. by helicopter is being hailed by law enforcement officials
on both sides of the border. | ||||||||||||||||
They say the helicopter was hauling cocaine back into Canada, after
dropping off marijuana in remote areas that were accessible by
helicopter. | ||||||||||||||||
This is just another indication of the massive scale of drug
smuggling that goes on in this area. | ||||||||||||||||
In addition to marijuana being traded for cocaine, it is often used
to purchase handguns. These guns are then distributed among people
involved with the drug trade, and this has led to many murders
throughout the Lower Mainland. [snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Medicinal use of marijuana is proven to have some beneficial
effects, and is legal in Canada. Perhaps it is time to consider
wider legalization. | ||||||||||||||||
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International News | ||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (17-20) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
There's just no stopping those poppies from popping up all over
Afghanistan, especially this year where a another bumper crop is
expected. The invading powers of the U.S. and U.K. are concerned,
about poppies "in the south" of Afghanistan, because that's where
the Taliban are. (Bumper opium poppy crops in U.S.-allied northern
Afghanistan are no problem of course.) The deaths of two British
soldiers there last week highlighted the dilemma: should the
invading armies pretend to give a "grace period" to farmers who
would be "allowed" to grow poppies in the south? The Americans,
according to the Belfast Telegraph, will have none of it, naturally
preferring a more gung ho and aggressive approach that involves a
technological fix, "such as aerial eradication. Western sources say
that the US may use a form of Agent Orange, a defoliant which was
once used to notorious effect in South Vietnam." Expect similar
results. | ||||||||||||||||
Canadian police are "irked" at laws that don't punish "dealers" as
harshly as in the U.S., the Canadian National Post paper reported
this week. Police, which in Canada as elsewhere seem have far more
influence with government than the mere will of the majority of the
people, were reportedly incensed at the lack of jail time given a
Canadian transferred from the U.S. prison system to the Canadian
system, according to a Canadian police association spokesman. When
the man was found to be shot (the victim) after his release in an
apparent botched drug deal, police jumped on the event as proof that
Canadians need to be jailed more often and longer for non-violent
drug offences. "He won the lottery when he was transferred" to
Canada rued a police spokesman. | ||||||||||||||||
Australian drug treatment expert Dr. Alex Wodak said that the so-called "war on drugs" isn't working. Wodak, director of alcohol and drug services at St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney, Australia, made his comments in Canberra last week. "The scientific debate is well and truly over. Harm reduction clearly works, it's effective, practical, affordable, whereas the war on drugs more and more is seen as expensive, ineffective and severely counterproductive." | ||||||||||||||||
When the Canadian Conservative government took the reins of power this year, they promised that mandatory prison terms would be enacted to send a stern "message" that government drug laws must be obeyed. But within days of taking office, senior federal lawyers in the Canadian Justice Department warned Justice Minister Vic Toews that mandatory minimums don't deter crime one bit, but do pack jails with petty offenders. "Research into the effectiveness of mandatory minimum sentences has established that they do not have any obvious special deterrent or educative effect and are no more effective than less serious sanctions in preventing crime," revealed a briefing book prepared for the incoming justice minister. The warning against ineffective mandatory minimums came to light via an Access to Information request. The briefing confirmed mandatory minimums have "no discernible benefits" and "could run afoul of Charter of Rights and Freedoms protection against cruel and unusual punishment." | ||||||||||||||||
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(17) TWO BRITISH SOLDIERS KILLED AS AFGHAN POPPY CROP BOOMS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Two more British soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan, as
Western officials there admit that the country is about to produce
its largest ever poppy harvest. | ||||||||||||||||
The two soldiers were named today as Corporal Peter Thorpe, 27, of
the Royal Signals, from Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, and Lance
Corporal Jabron Hashmi, 24, of the Intelligence Corps, from
Birmingham. | ||||||||||||||||
The deaths, on Saturday, bring the number of Britons killed in the
past three weeks to five. The members of 3rd Para Battlegroup were
killed when a rocket-propelled grenade struck a defensive post at
the regional headquarters in the town of Sangin, in Helmand
province. Other soldiers were injured but it is not yet known how
many. | ||||||||||||||||
The incident came as Western military commanders and | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Hamid Karzai, the President, announced last year a jihad on opium
poppy production, backed by a near-$1bn campaign, led by the UK. It
led to a fall by 21 per cent drop in the area under cultivation.
Those gains have been wiped out. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Some military commanders argue that eradication operations in the
south should be suspended for a year or more. A Nato officer said:
"There may have to be a period of grace where we say that by a
certain time frame there can be no more poppy cultivation and at
that point we will eradicate." | ||||||||||||||||
The officer said that such an approach would give Western forces the
"moral high ground" against the Taliban's ongoing campaign to
present itself as the defender of poppy farmers. | ||||||||||||||||
Counter-narcotics officials contend that a suspension of eradication would only produce a surge in production. They argue this would help to fund elements with a vested interest in maintaining the current instability, which has resulted in more than 1,600 people being killed this year. The drugs economy is valued at $2.7bn, more than 50 per cent of the legal economy. The government's legal revenues, outside of foreign aid, were $330m last year. Corruption is endemic. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
In Washington, there is pressure for a more radical approach, such
as aerial eradication. Western sources say that the U.S. may use a
form of Agent Orange, a defoliant which was once used to notorious
effect in South Vietnam. | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
(18) DEALER'S REDUCED TERM IRKS U.S., CANADIAN POLICE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
TORONTO - When Sean Erez was found crumpled and bleeding in the elevator of the Westin Harbour Castle hotel this week, shot when an alleged drug deal went awry, he could well have still been inside an American prison for his international drug trafficking enterprise. | ||||||||||||||||
That a decade was shaved off his 15-year sentence | ||||||||||||||||
"He won the lottery when he was transferred here. What a hell of a
deal he got on the exchange rate," said Tony Cannavino, president of
the Canadian Professional Police Association, which represents
54,000 police officers. | ||||||||||||||||
"That's what you do with drug traffickers in Canada, is it? Did your
government pay for his hotel room as well?" asked a U.S. federal
drug investigator. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Since drug trafficking is not considered a crime of violence in Canada and because this is Mr. Erez's first time in a Canadian prison, under law, he was eligible for Accelerated Parole Review. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Mr. Erez survived but has been charged with drug trafficking. Police
described the incident as a botched drug transaction. | ||||||||||||||||
This case highlights the need for changes in Canada's justice
system, critics said. | ||||||||||||||||
"It seems odd that anyone can pretend there isn't an element of
violence in this person's lifestyle and career choice and the kind
of activities he has done," said Mr. Sullivan. "If it wasn't so
serious it would almost be funny." | ||||||||||||||||
Mr. Cannavino called on the new Conservative government to conduct a
review of the prison and parole system in Canada. | ||||||||||||||||
"They are handling cases like they get a bonus every time they let
someone out," he said. | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
(19) WAR ON DRUGS WON'T STOP PROBLEM: EXPERT (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Australia's drug problem will worsen if governments continue to
treat substance abuse as a law-enforcement matter ahead of a health
issue, a leading expert on the subject has warned. | ||||||||||||||||
Alex Wodak, director of St Vincent's Hospital's alcohol and drug
service, said harm-reduction initiatives such as injecting rooms and
needle-exchange programs had proven successful. | ||||||||||||||||
But he said the so-called "war on drugs" was costing a bomb and
failing to lessen the impact of drug use. | ||||||||||||||||
Dr Wodak was speaking in Canberra after addressing the Parliamentary
Group for Drug Law Reform. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
"The scientific debate is well and truly over. Harm reduction
clearly works, it's effective, practical, affordable, whereas the
war on drugs more and more is seen as expensive, ineffective and
severely counterproductive." | ||||||||||||||||
Dr Wodak said there was considerable community support for harm
reduction but many people, wrongly, saw law enforcement as the only
way to reduce the impact of drug use. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
He said ice - crystallised methamphetamine - had supplanted heroin
as the major problem drug in some parts of Australia, posing serious
ramifications for health authorities. | ||||||||||||||||
"We see people coming down with amphetamine psychosis and they are
now presenting at major hospitals in ever-increasing numbers,
presenting major problems for mental health units," | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
(20) PS WARNING THAT TORIES' CRIME LAWS WON'T WORK WAS IGNORED (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Mandatory Prison Terms Ineffective, Lawyers Told New Justice
Minister | ||||||||||||||||
The Conservative government, within days of taking office, was
warned by senior federal bureaucrats that its central election
pledge to impose new automatic prison terms won't deter crime or
protect the public, internal documents reveal. | ||||||||||||||||
The Tories apparently ignored the advice from Justice Department
lawyers, which was contained in a briefing book for Justice Minister
Vic Toews released yesterday through an Access to Information
request. | ||||||||||||||||
"Research into the effectiveness of mandatory minimum sentences has
established that they do not have any obvious special deterrent or
educative effect and are no more effective than less serious
sanctions in preventing crime," said the briefing book. | ||||||||||||||||
It added that minimum mandatory sentences have "no discernible
benefits" in terms of public safety, and could run afoul of Charter
of Rights and Freedoms protection against cruel and unusual
punishment. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
The Conservatives, motivated in part by an increase in gun violence
in major Canadian cities, particularly Toronto, say heavier
penalties send a public message to would-be criminals. | ||||||||||||||||
The Justice Department's advice echoes warnings from academics and
interest groups outside government. | ||||||||||||||||
Minimum mandatory sentences are controversial because they eliminate flexibility for judges to impose sentences as they see fit. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day confirmed in May the government
has set aside between $220 million and $245 million over the next
five years to build new prison cells, in anticipation of passing new
laws to impose longer sentences. | ||||||||||||||||
The money, however, does not include the cost of the Conservatives'
election promise to impose new minimum mandatory sentences for
drug-related crimes, which critics predict would flood prisons, as
it has in the United States. Mandatory prison terms for drug
trafficking alone could put thousands more prisoners in the federal
system, which houses 12,500 inmates. | ||||||||||||||||
So far, the Tories have not gone ahead with the mandatory drug
sentences. | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
HOT OFF THE 'NET (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
LYNN ZIMMER 1947-2006 | ||||||||||||||||
Lynn Zimmer died Sunday morning at the age of 59. | ||||||||||||||||
Professor Zimmer, a sociologist at Queens College in New York, was widely regarded among both drug policy scholars and activists as the most original thinker on drug issues in the United States. | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
BRINGING THE GATEWAY THEORY BACK | ||||||||||||||||
By Maia Szalavitz | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
IMPAIRED REASONING | ||||||||||||||||
Should last week's joint disqualify a pot smoker from driving today? | ||||||||||||||||
By Jacob Sullum | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
10 NEWS EXPOSES 'MARIJUANA DOCTORS' | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
CANNABINOID CHRONICLES | ||||||||||||||||
Volume 3, Issue 11, July/August 2006 | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
CULTURAL BAGGAGE RADIO SHOW | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
LISTEN Live Fridays 8:00 PM, ET, 7:00 CT, 6:00 MT & 5:00 PT at
www.KPFT.org | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
NEW RADIO AD CALLS OUT POLITICIANS WHO HAVE USED MARIJUANA | ||||||||||||||||
A potentially controversial new ad campaign from the Marijuana Policy
Project names prominent public officials, including President George W.
Bush, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, former Vice President
Al Gore, and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas as having admitted
to using marijuana. The ad then asks, "Is it fair to arrest three
quarters of a million people a year for doing what presidents and a
Supreme Court justice have done?" | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
WHAT YOU CAN DO THIS WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
WRITE A LETTER FOR MAP | ||||||||||||||||
Former Drug Czars Declare "Victory" In War On Drugs - A MAP Focus
Alert | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
DPA JOBS AND INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITIES | ||||||||||||||||
Policy Assistant, New Mexico Office - Santa Fe, NM | ||||||||||||||||
Policy/Administrative Assistant, New Jersey Office - Trenton, NJ | ||||||||||||||||
Deputy Director, State Organizing and Policy Project - New York, NY | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
LETTER OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
TAYLOR WAS WRONG TO BLAME ALL ADDICTS' PARENTS | ||||||||||||||||
By Phyllis Spitler | ||||||||||||||||
I felt compelled to respond to the statements Bob Taylor made in The
Times' special report on heroin. I respect Bob's work as the Porter
County Drug Task Force coordinator. That he is expected to perform
this important and difficult mission with little manpower and
abysmal funds is appalling. That needs to be changed. | ||||||||||||||||
However, I was stunned by statements he made concerning parents. He
declared that 100 percent of the drug problems of young people is
the parents' fault. I find that statement to be 100 percent
incorrect! For instance, in our home: | ||||||||||||||||
* My husband and I have never been "all wrapped up in our big paying
jobs." I am an elementary school teacher, for heaven's sake. I don't
make big bucks! | ||||||||||||||||
* "Never at home"? We were always home! | ||||||||||||||||
* "Have all this money ( from their parents )"? Manda was working
three jobs to make her own money! | ||||||||||||||||
* "No parental involvement"? My husband and I were always involved in Manda's life. Manda was the most important person to her dad and | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
I took Bob's statements very personally. Bob, of all people, should
know drug addiction is a complex societal problem. However, he
painted all people addicted to drugs and their families with a
hugely broad brush. | ||||||||||||||||
How can his statements possibly be universally accurate? | ||||||||||||||||
As parents, we love our children so very deeply. However,
drug-addicted people have one person to hold responsible for their
addiction, and that person is themselves. Before she died from a
heroin overdose, my daughter, Manda said she had only herself to
blame ( for her drug use ). | ||||||||||||||||
Phyllis Spitler Valparaiso | ||||||||||||||||
Mother of Manda Marie Spitler, who died at age 20 of a heroin overdose
on March 31, 2002 | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
FEATURE ARTICLE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
INDEPENDENCE DAY | ||||||||||||||||
By Colleen McCool | ||||||||||||||||
On the 4th of July we celebrate freedom from tyranny and oppression
but, of course, that doesn't mean we have it. With more people in
prison here than anywhere else on earth, is this the way to be the
land of the free? | ||||||||||||||||
The drug war is a senseless, hypocritical, failed policy. It has
turned Texas into a prison kingdom, incarcerating around a 1000 poor
souls out of every 100,000 of us, more than any totalitarian regime
in the whole world.. | ||||||||||||||||
Our official's betrayal of the public trust is an epidemic! They
have forgotten their role as public servants! Instead they would
have us cower before our masters! Our law enforcement have forgotten
how to serve and protect! | ||||||||||||||||
Big government tries to legislate morality. Like flagellant priests,
overzealous drug warriors draw blood daily from their brothers for
their medicinal and recreational drug use. | ||||||||||||||||
No legitimate business last long if it kills it's customers or shoots the competition. No legitimate business would sell drugs to children or recruit them to sell to their peers. This happened during alcohol prohibition and it is happening today. Once again, prohibition creates more danger to the user and society by increasing violent crime and corruption of public officials. | ||||||||||||||||
The drug war obviously exacerbates, rather than reduces, racial
prejudice! The White incarceration rate nationwide was 393 per
100,000, Latino-957 and Black-2,531. | ||||||||||||||||
The Controlled Substances Act is one of those bad laws like the
Fugitive Slave Act and the Volstead Act. When juries refuse to
convict on "drug crime," drug warriors will be politically dead
bodies. Jury nullification is a constitutional power tool we the
people pack! | ||||||||||||||||
Yes, the truth is out and spreading like wildfire! It will not be suppressed, until every household knows the clamor, the swelling protest, exposing dark, dirty secrets of heinous crimes against humanity! Truth is our fireworks for this dry year in Texas. | ||||||||||||||||
We are in Iraq, Afghanistan, Colombia, etc. for the oil or power and
money. | ||||||||||||||||
War is a tool governments use to make us more accepting of their waste of our precious lives and resources. The Iraq war and drug war are smokescreens for corruption but something smells rotten! | ||||||||||||||||
We tolerate tobacco, alcohol and pharmaceuticals. They are implicated in about a quarter of the deaths that occur each year in this country. War, prisons, the militarization of police creates a booming economy for some on the suffering of many. A less hypocritical policy, in the spirit of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. with our Bible and Constitution always close at hand, "will overcome," drug abuse with compassion, education and treatment. | ||||||||||||||||
We can see where our laws are causing more harm than good with
modern statistical reporting, and change accordingly. We can't take
that necessary evil, money out of the equation but we can demand
compassionate policy and ethics from our leaders when peace lovers,
liberty lovers, true patriots unite! | ||||||||||||||||
Leaders responsible for current quagmire will one day answer to a
higher power for their crimes against humanity. It's time to end the
terror by changing our intrusive, big-bully policies, both foreign
and domestic. The monetary costs are staggering and the human
suffering unconscionable. | ||||||||||||||||
"God bless America, land that I love!" | ||||||||||||||||
Colleen McCool is a Texas portrait artist, poet and political
activist Her poem, "Spirit of '76," proves her point that support
for the federal war on drugs is inconsistent with support for
individual freedom, constitutional government and the teachings of
Jesus. www.mccoolportraits.com/Spirit.htm | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
QUOTE OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
"As long as you keep a person down, some part of you has to be down
there to hold him down, so it means you cannot soar as you otherwise
might." - Marian Anderson | ||||||||||||||||
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