| Aug. 11, 2006 #461 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Table of Contents
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THIS JUST IN (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
(1) PSYCHEDELICS COULD HELP ADDICTS, SAY B.C. DRUG OFFICIALS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Some of Vancouver's top drug policy officials say the city should
consider treating drug and alcohol addicts with psychedelic drugs to
help them turn their lives around. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Zarina Mulla, the social planner for the City of Vancouver's drug
policy program, says hallucinogens such as peyote and ayahuasca could
offer addicts "profound benefits."
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"There have been profound, lasting and positive behavioural and
lifestyle changes in the clients who were given that sacrament," she
told CBC News. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
"I say this as a treatment so it is under very ritualistic and
therapeutic conditions. It helps people understand who they are and
leads to a process of self examination and recovery."
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She co-authored a report last year saying the use of peyote and
ayahuasca could be "beneficial," and is recommending that the city
spend some money to look into the idea. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
The idea already has the support of other drug addiction experts,
including David Marsh, the head of addiction medicine at the Vancouver
Coastal Health Authority. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(2) PROGRAM TO SUPPLY ADDICTS WITH HEROIN ANTIDOTE PROPOSED (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Battling to reverse an epidemic of lethal heroin overdoses, Boston health authorities are proposing giving drug users emergency kits of a medication that can revive them even as they spiral toward death. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
City paramedics or hospital emergency rooms now administer the drug, called naloxone (widely marketed under the name Narcan ) to overdose patients. But in a pilot program modeled after campaigns in New York, Chicago, and Baltimore, the Boston Public Health Commission would give addicts a cache of the medication in advance, which they would keep with them in case they took too much heroin or another opiate. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
"The number one hope with this is to save lives," said John Auerbach ,
executive director of the Public Health Commission. "Our paramedics
have said it's a miracle drug. They've seen people who are comatose who
are then revived and perfectly fine."
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[snip]
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As deaths have increased and the drug has migrated from city streets to wealthy suburbs, efforts to control heroin and its consequences have escalated: Just this summer, state legislators approved the over-the- counter sale of syringes as a way to reduce the spread of HIV and hepatitis from tainted needles. Governor Mitt Romney vetoed the measure, but lawmakers voted to override his rejection. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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Critics of the program in other cities have argued that supplying the medication gives addicts an excuse to continue shooting up. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(3) IN THIS WAR, TECHNOLOGY IS KEY (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Who is more tech-savvy--drug traffickers or federal agents? The answer
may determine who wins the war on drugs
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The war on terrorism grabs most of the headlines these days, but the
war on drugs is still very much underway. With legal and illegal entry
into the country falling under heavier scrutiny, the work of preventing
terrorism and keeping illegal drugs out of the country often overlap,
and often put to use some of the same tools. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
As with the war on terror, fighting drug use is a highly segmented
endeavor. Its missions include everything from after-school programs to
keep kids busy to elaborate sting operations targeting the substances
and those who make and move them. Various government agencies still
fight the war in traditional ways by patrolling national borders in
search of smugglers and searching out drug producing operations. But
nowadays those on the front lines of the drug war are getting some
pretty cool toys. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(4) COLUMN: THE GOVERNMENT'S SICK WAR ON MARIJUANA (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Excuse me for a moment while I vent about the mind-boggling stupidity
of the autocratic, bureaucratic, right-wing, Neanderthal numbskulls who
keep pushing an insane, inane, and inhumane holy war against marijuana
-- which is after all, a weed. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
The most embarrassing thing for these holy warriors is that the weed is winning! They've been at this war since 1937, spending billions and billions of our tax dollars, militarizing our borders, and stomping on our Bill of Rights. They've used phone taps, garbage searches, jack- booted raids, and draconian prison terms to... well, to do what? To nab peaceful, mellow tokers who aren't bothering anyone, that's what. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Despite 60 years of spending our money, they've failed: 85 percent of
Americans say marijuana is easy to obtain today, a third of our
population says they've tried it, nearly 15 million people partake of
it at least monthly -- and more high school students now smoke
marijuana than cigarettes. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Domestic News- Policy
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COMMENT: (5-8) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
When a state makes a big commitment to scaring kids away from meth
through heavy-handed propaganda, the results don't always match
expectations. A report out of Montana suggests some kids become more
suspicious of the tactics and less receptive to the message, even as
other states express interest in similar programs. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Drug tests are also supposed to scare kids away from drugs, but a
commonsense editorial out of Oklahoma this week makes a good case
against such programs. Also this week, a family sues an Ohio
university after a wrongful drug suspension led to tragedy; and
another big American city finally looks at naloxone. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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(5) WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE? (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Why The Montana Meth Project Isn't All It's Cranked Up To Be | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Never has a so-called picture of success sported such a gruesome
mug. It was one year ago this September that the Montana Meth
Project launched its efforts to transform the face of
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On the cusp of its first anniversary and the autumn launch of a
third round of ads, the Montana Meth Project's aggressive, confident
and moneyed approach has been lauded as a raving success in more
than 500 media stories in publications as close to home as the
Missoulian, as prestigious as The New York Times, and as far afield
as the UK's Guardian. Montana officials at every level have cozied
up to the project and are now working to secure public funding to
sustain it, while the state's congressional delegation is looking
for ways to export it beyond Montana's borders through federal
grants. Arizona and Utah are hastily trying to import the ads,
encouraged by their dramatic profile and the unanimous support
they've received from politicians and news coverage alike. The
Montana Meth Project has successfully developed a public image of
itself as not only a bighearted offering from a deep-pocketed man,
but also as a revolutionary and, more important, successful attempt
to rein in Montana's meth problem. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
But look closer and that picture changes. Conspicuously absent from the discussion are simmering concerns about the Meth Project's shock-and-awe approach, as well as unfavorable data the campaign has collected through commissioned surveys about its own impact. Most observers seem all too eager to latch onto the Montana Meth Project as a stylish solution to a difficult problem, though some are starting to question that popular logic. It's not easy to find people in Montana willing to publicly take a hard look at the project--though some will do so off the record--but conversations with politicians and drug prevention officials in the states now on the brink of duplicating the campaign reveal plenty about the Montana Meth Project you wouldn't know by reading its press. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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What you won't learn from project officials, the mainstream media or
politicians is that meth use by Montana teens, the specific target
of the Montana Meth Project, has been on the decline for seven
steady years. You won't hear that the project's own survey,
conducted once before the ads ran and again six months into their
run, found a statistically significant increase in the number of
teens who said they saw no risk in trying meth once or twice. Nor
will you learn of the survey's finding that large numbers of teens
report that the project's ads exaggerate meth's risks, or that
decades of drug prevention research has found similar scare tactics
to be ineffective. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(6) DON'T DRUG TEST STUDENTS
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Fort Gibson School District is considering drug testing its high
school students, and we wish they wouldn't. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Undoubtedly, some students are involved in drugs, but the district
is in danger of driving those students away with testing, not
helping them steer away from drugs. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Many districts in the United States in the last 10 years have begun
random drug testing of students involved in extracurricular
activities. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(7) PLINTON FAMILY SUES UA, SHERIFF (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wrongful Death Lawsuit Filed, Federal Civil Suit Expected Today on
Behalf of Former Student
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The parents of Charles Theodore Plinton are suing the University of
Akron and the Summit County Sheriff for the death of their son,
claiming he was denied his constitutional rights. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
A wrongful death civil suit was filed Thursday against the
university and two former UA police officers in the Ohio Court of
Claims in Columbus, which handles civil lawsuits filed against the
state and its agencies. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
A federal civil rights suit naming the university and Summit County
is expected to be filed in U.S. District Court in Akron this
morning. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Charles Plinton was pursuing a master's degree at the University of
Akron when drug allegations in 2004 resulted in his suspension, even
though he had been acquitted by a trial jury. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
He took his own life last December. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(8) PROGRAM TO SUPPLY ADDICTS WITH HEROIN ANTIDOTE PROPOSED (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Battling to reverse an epidemic of lethal heroin overdoses, Boston health authorities are proposing giving drug users emergency kits of a medication that can revive them even as they spiral toward death. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
City paramedics or hospital emergency rooms now administer the drug,
called naloxone ( widely marketed under the name Narcan ) to
overdose patients. But in a pilot program modeled after campaigns in
New York, Chicago, and Baltimore, the Boston Public Health
Commission would give addicts a cache of the medication in advance,
which they would keep with them in case they took too much heroin or
another opiate. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
"The number one hope with this is to save lives," said John Auerbach
, executive director of the Public Health Commission. "Our
paramedics have said it's a miracle drug. They've seen people who
are comatose who are then revived and perfectly fine."
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[snip]
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Law Enforcement & Prisons
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COMMENT: (9-12) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Last week Law Enforcement Against Prohibition made an appearance at
National Night Out (though the local press didn't quite get it); a
Tennessee judge dismisses several meth cases because prosecutors
interpreted the law too broadly; one officer pled guilty in a larger
corruption scandal in North Carolina; and a former state drug czar
cuts prison fees to prison families (so the fees are only somewhat
outrageous, instead of totally outrageous). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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(9) JUST SAY YES TO DRUGS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
As kids were frolicking around the Foss Park pool or strolling with
their parents, Jack Cole made sure they heard his message: drugs
shouldn't be illegal. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
"We always get the same reaction," said Cole, who was standing at a
table displaying anti-drug prohibition paraphernalia at Tuesday's
National Night Out. "At least 80 percent of the people we talk to
agree with us."
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Cole, the executive director of Medford-based Law Enforcement
Against Prohibition and a retired New Jersey state trooper, said
interest was high among the dozens of people who turned out for
Somerville's National Night Out Tuesday. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
The organization was founded four years ago and is made up of
current and former members of the law enforcement and criminal
justice communities who are going public "about the failures of our
existing drug policies," according to its Web site. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
It was the first time Cole and his group were promoting their message at National Night Out and it's probably not the last. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
National Night Out is an event sponsored by the National Association
of Town Watch that seeks to heighten awareness about drugs and
crime. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(10) PROSECUTOR TO APPEAL DISMISSAL OF METH CASES (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - A prosecutor says the state will appeal a
judge's decision to dismiss methamphetamine charges against 30
people after ruling that prosecutors misinterpreted a 1-year-old
Tennessee law. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
David McGovern, an assistant district attorney general for the 12th
Judicial District, said the Aug. 3 ruling by Circuit Judge Thomas W.
Graham would be challenged. McGovern said the Tennessee attorney
general's office was preparing the notice of appeal. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
The 2005 law restricts purchases of cold and allergy tablets that contain pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient in making the addictive stimulant, as well as other common products such as coffee filters or matches if they are knowingly purchased to make methamphetamine. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
State law limits purchases to no more than 9 grams of
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The 30 defendants were charged after making multiple buys during a 30-day period that totaled more than 9 grams, records show. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Thomas said it was "clear that since none of the purchases in these
cases exceeded 9 grams, the state simply cannot legally make a
promotion case as to any of these defendants." His decision said the
law must be applied to a single purchase to withstand a
constitutional challenge for vagueness. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(11) FORMER DEPUTY PLEADS GUILTY (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
RALEIGH -- A former Robeson County deputy pleaded guilty Friday in
U.S. District Court to stealing about $25,000 in federal drug
forfeiture money. Kevin Meares, 37, admitted that he forged the
names of confidential informants on vouchers used to get the federal
money from the Robeson County Sheriff's Office. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Drug investigators routinely give informants money to make drug
buys. But Meares admitted that he filed fraudulent vouchers -- used
as an accounting measure -- either by forging an informant's
signature and pocketing all of the money or by making out the
vouchers for more than he gave his informants. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Frank Bradsher said Meares acknowledged that C.T. Strickland, his former supervisor in the sheriff's Drug Enforcement Division, taught him how to file the fraudulent vouchers. Strickland and former drug deputies Steven Lovin and Roger Taylor were charged June 9 in a 10-count indictment alleging that the men burned two homes and a business, assaulted people, paid informants with drugs and stole and laundered public money. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
The four are among seven former deputies charged in a three-year state and federal investigation called Operation Tarnished Badge. The investigation continues. Meares and James Hunt were charged by a bill of criminal information and have agreed to testify against other former deputies in exchange for their guilty pleas. Hunt pleaded guilty last week in U.S. District Court in Wilmington. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(12) CHIEF OF DOC CUTS COSTS OF PRISON (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
TALLAHASSEE -- While much of the state was focusing on corruption in
the Department of Corrections that toppled his predecessor earlier
this year, Secretary James McDonough couldn't ignore e-mails from
families of inmates. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Many were similar to this: "I have had to bear the brunt of high phone bills, outrageous canteen prices and banking fees, just so my fiance could have a hint of normalcy," one woman wrote. "I don't take away the fact that my fiance did something wrong and had to pay for his mistakes, but I have often felt that I too was being punished. After all, it is the families that have to pay." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
The e-mails have led McDonough to partly reverse a national trend of
generating profit from inmates. Since McDonough replaced James
Crosby in February, he has cut fees on prisoners' bank accounts,
reduced price hikes in canteens that sell items to inmates and cut
the cost of long-distance collect calls by 30 percent. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
McDonough classifies the reaction from inmates' families as
"absolutely shocked."
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"I started thinking, 'There but for the grace of God go I,' "
McDonough said. "If I had a loved one in prison, if they wanted to
call me, I'd take the phone call. If I couldn't afford it, I'd take
the phone call because that's it, that's the only connection you
have."
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[snip]
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Cannabis & Hemp-
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COMMENT: (13-17) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
We being this week with a story from the New York Daily news, which reports that a study funded by NIDA and MPP has found patterns of racial discrimination in NYPD cannabis use arrests. The study findings, which appear in the most recent issue of the internet-based Harm Reduction Journal, indicate that the NYPD focus their cannabis enforcement in poorer black and Hispanic neighbourhoods. The NYPD responded to this study by suggesting that since these neighbourhoods are the victims of more drug-related crime, it's only natural that arrests rates would be higher as well. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Our second story comes to us from Portland, where a ballot
initiative that would have made the personal possession of cannabis
by adults the lowest police priority has failed to gather enough
signatures to appear on the November ballot. Organizers vow to try
again next year. Our third story reports that a California judge has
ruled that a number of medical cannabis patients and advocates will
be allowed to intervene on the side of the defendant in a lawsuit
launched by the San Diego Board of Supervisors against the state of
California in regards to the implementation of Prop. 215. The
interveners include the ACLU, DPA, ASA and WAMM. Additionally,
it has been reported that San Bernardino and Merced Counties have now
joined San Diego County's attempt to overturn California's medical
cannabis law. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
And in other med-cannabis news from California, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors has agreed to give compassion clubs an additional 12 months to comply to a November 2005 ordinance restricting dispensaries to commercial and industrial areas. And lastly this week, an incredibly alarmist, misinformed and misguided Globe and Mail op-ed by Antonio Maria Costa, Executive Director of the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime; please do enjoy! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
In closing I'd like to announce that after nearly five years and
countless editions of the DrugSense Newsweekly, I will be giving up
my post as editor of the hemp/cannabis section in order to free up a
bit more time to complete a Masters in Studies in Policy and
Practice from the University of Victoria. It has been both a great
task and joy to sift through the hundreds of cannabis-related news
articles that appear on the Media Awareness Project (www.mapinc.org)
every week, and has certainly kept me informed about important
events, research and policy developments from all around the globe.
I'd like to take this opportunity to introduce and welcome Debra
Harper, my friend and long-time co-worker at DrugSense who will now
take over this section; and to thank my fellow editors for their
continued hard work, and all of you for reading (and contributing!)
to this amazing online newsweekly. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
With pax and pot,
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Philippe Lucas
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(13) NYPD BUSTS FOR POT PUFFING SHOW RACISM, STUDY ASSERTS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
The NYPD disproportionately targets poor, black and Hispanic
neighborhoods when enforcing marijuana smoking-in-public laws,
according to a hotly debated new study. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
The results of the study, funded by the Marijuana Policy Project and
the National Institute on Drug Abuse, are published in the new issue
of Harm Reduction Journal, an open-access online journal published
by BioMed Central. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
The NYPD says that this type of enforcement goes along with its focus on where the heaviest crime patterns exist and is part of the department's successful quality-of-life policing strategy. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
But study author Dr. Andrew Golub of the National Development and Research Institute in New York City contends that is not the case. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
He says a review of arrests for smoking marijuana in public from
1992 to 2003 shows enforcement shifted dramatically from the lower
half of Manhattan and scattered broadly throughout the city in the
early '90s. The majority of that enforcement, he states, occurred in
high-poverty, minority communities in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens
by the late '90s. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(14) MARIJUANA INITIATIVE FAILS TO MAKE THE BALLOT (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
An initiative that would have made marijuana offenses the lowest law
enforcement priority in Portland failed to make the ballot this
week, after a Multnomah County analysis of the initiative's
signatures showed that the petition's backers, Citizens for a Safer
Portland, didn't submit 26,691 valid signatures. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
The initiative--largely funded by the Washington, DC-based Marijuana
Policy Project, which gave the campaign over $120,000 to
date--collected a little over 40,000 signatures. But the campaign
scrubbed duplicates, the city tossed another 5,000 due to
"circulator error"--a decision the campaign is not happy about--and
only 62 percent of the remaining 27,000 signatures were valid,
according to Multnomah County Elections' calculations. The campaign
spent over $94,000 on petition circulators, according to the July 24
campaign finance filings. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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In Seattle, where a similar measure made the ballot and passed in
2003, there was a 63 percent reduction in arrests, prosecutions, and
sentences for marijuana offenses. Portland's measure could have had
a similar effect by making "adult marijuana-related offenses the
lowest law-enforcement priority in the City of Portland," and
backing up the measure with a citizens' oversight committee to
ensure the directive was being followed by cops and the district
attorney. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(15) JUDGE ALLOWS MEDICAL MARIJUANA ADVOCATES TO OPPOSE SAN DIEGO SUIT (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medical marijuana advocates and patients will be allowed to oppose a
lawsuit filed by San Diego County seeking to overturn a state law
legalizing medicinal use of the drug, a state court judge ruled
Friday. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
The county sued the state of California and its director of health services in San Diego Superior Court in February, saying federal laws prohibiting marijuana use trump the state law permitting individuals to use the drug with a physician's approval. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
The San Diego chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of
Marijuana Laws is also named in the suit. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
California approved the use of marijuana for medical purposes with
the passage of Proposition 215, which won 55 percent of votes cast
in 1996. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
The ruling by Superior Court Judge William R. Nevitt, Jr. permits
six California patients and caregivers -- represented by the
American Civil Liberties Union and the Drug Policy Alliance -- and
the advocacy groups Americans for Safe Access and the Wo/Men's
Alliance for Medical Marijuana to intervene in the case on the side
of the defendants. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(16) SUPES PANEL OKS A GRACE PERIOD FOR POT CLUBS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
A Board of Supervisors committee voted Wednesday to relax the city's
new medical marijuana regulations to give pot clubs operating in
residential neighborhoods a grace period before they have to shut
down and relocate. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
An ordinance passed in November establishing rules for where
cannabis outlets can be located, how they are run and by whom
restricts them to commercial and industrial areas. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
The proposed change -- approved by the supervisors' Land Use Committee and sent to the full board for the first of two votes on Tuesday -- would give clubs in residential areas at least a year longer to remain in business while searching for a new location. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(17) REEFER IS WORTH GETTING MAD ABOUT (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Supporters of the legalization of cannabis would have us believe
that it is a gentle, harmless substance that gives you little more
than a sense of mellow euphoria. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sellers of the world's most popular illicit drug know better. Trawl
through websites offering cannabis seeds for sale and you will find
brand names such as Armageddon, AK-47 and White Widow. "This will
put you in pieces, then reduce you to rubble -- maybe quicksand if
you go too far," one seller boasts. This is much closer to the
truth. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
In Canada, as in most parts of the world, cannabis is by far the drug of choice. An estimated 4 per cent of the world's adult population -- that's about 162 million people -- consume cannabis at least once a year, more than all other illicit drugs combined. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Does that matter? I firmly believe it does, because the cannabis now in circulation (like Canada's BC Bud) is many times more powerful than the weed that today's aging baby boomers smoked in college. The characteristics of cannabis are no longer that different from those of other plant-based drugs, such as cocaine and heroin. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
International News
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (18-22) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Although British army chief General Sir Mike Jackson says attempts
at opium eradication in southern Afghanistan are
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
How many times have we heard the mantra repeated? Grow "ops"
(meaning, any time cannabis plants are grown indoors) are terrible
dangers to community and child, responsible for mould and mildew and
fire. An article this week in the Guelph Mercury newspaper in
Ontario, Canada, is typical of a genre of alarmist "grow lab"
stories, and scares readers with the alleged dangers of growing
cannabis indoors. Conflating crystal meth labs with cannabis plants,
the article heaps praise on new laws. But meanwhile back in England,
a rare ray of common sense shone through the fog of rhetoric when
Judge Charles Harris told the Oxford City Council that, really now,
growing pot was as harmful as growing any other houseplant. "If you
are Sherlock Holmes and you go back to Baker Street and inject
yourself with cocaine, as he did, you cannot be called a nuisance.
So quietly smoking cannabis at home, not that it is to be
encouraged, I'm not sure at all it constitutes a nuisance. If you
are simply growing it, it's no more offensive to neighbours than
tomato plants."
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
And finally in this week's international section, we leave you with a wonderfully lucid column by Ben Goldacre which appeared in the The U.K. Guardian newspaper. Goldacre explores the uncanny way prohibition attracts "bad science" to prop it up. "Why are drugs such a bad science magnet?" asks Goldacre. "Partly, of course, it's the moral panic. But more than that, sat squarely at the heart of our discourse on drugs, is one fabulously reductionist notion: it is the idea that a complex web of social, moral, criminal, health, and political problems can be simplified to, blamed on, or treated via a molecule or a plant. You'd have a job keeping that idea afloat." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
(18) U.S. DEFENDS OPIUM POLICY DESPITE AFGHANISTAN VIOLENCE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
America's drug tsar, John Walters, today acknowledged that U.S.
allies have voiced doubts about the wisdom of opium eradication in
parts of southern Afghanistan where insurgents have killed 10
British troops over the past two months. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Speaking during a visit to London for talks with British officials,
Mr Walters recognised that the situation in Helmand province had
been "difficult". | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
In recent months, officials within the British government and
military have privately expressed growing disquiet about the role of
opium eradication in fuelling the Afghan insurgency. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Unrest in Helmand, where 4,800 British troops are stationed under
the command of the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf),
has claimed the lives of 10 British soldiers since the start of
June. Before then, only two British soldiers had been killed in the
whole country since October 2001. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
The British army chief, General Sir Mike Jackson, has said
eradication would be "counterproductive" unless done when all other
conditions were right and the Conservative whip, Tobias Ellwood,
last month called for the opium crop to be legalised. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
"Sometimes we talk as if security and drugs control are at odds, but
the places where we have the best security are the places where we
have some of the best drugs control," he said. "[Afghan farmers]
know that their future and that of Afghanistan depends on rule of
law, not being ruled by drug mafias."
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Local officials say that the eradication programme is corrupting local government and driving support for the insurgency, as richer farmers pay bribes to protect their opium crops and poor farmers who can't afford bribes are forced into the pay of the Taliban. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Emmanuel Reinart, the director of the Senlis Council, a pro-licensing thinktank, said that the eradication policy was destroying trust between Afghan farmers and central government. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
"Directly attacking the livelihood of farmers like this has very
counterproductive side effects. Locals see these eradication
programmes are conducted by foreigners and they often assume that
they're being organised by Nato troops, which makes it harder for
those troops to gain local trust," he said. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
But Mr Walters dismissed the group's proposals to license opium
production as "a sideshow" and said there was no market for the
legal opium that licensing would produce. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
"[Farmers] understand that the Taliban and the drug barons are on
one side and [the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai] and the
international community are on the other side, and we are trying to
allow them to make the choice between those sides in a way that
works," he said. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
(19) WAR ON DRUGS 'HAS FAILED' (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
"Nobody can say that we have been successful if the poppy production has increased," Tom Koenigs, the UN Secretary-General's special representative in Afghanistan, told a monthly press conference. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
"Certainly the strategy and the effort have to be rethought," said
Koenigs, adding: "The problem has increased and the remedy has to
adjust."
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Figures for Afghanistan's 2006 harvest of opium poppies - which are
used to make heroin - are not yet known but the UN has said that it
is set to pass the 4,100 tonnes produced in 2005. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
(20) GROW OPS AN UNSAFE BURDEN (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
In recent years, Guelph residents have increasingly been surprised to find some people have been engaging in illicit activity behind closed doors nearby, including growing marijuana. And for real estate agents, it is often the hunch of neighbours that is the only thing they have to go on when selling a house that could have been a grow operation in a former life. Both home buyers and the agents, however, are on the verge of having more protection when it comes to listing or purchasing a home that has a less-than-appealing history. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
The registry, which the government must move to get off the ground,
would fix the current situation, which allows for such a home to be
sold without anyone knowing what took place there. Homes that have
been used to grow marijuana can be full of mould and electrical
hazards. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
The problems posed by marijuana and crystal meth operations are not
simply cosmetic. They are deadly, and in the case of mould, can
cause health problems if anyone were to unwittingly purchase a
former grow house. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
New legislation introduced this week will go a long way to help real estate agents and buyers. Municipal inspectors must now look over grow operations and order repairs if necessary. Perhaps it would also be a good idea if real estate agents were obliged to tell police they think they may have a former grow op on their hands. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
(21) CULTIVATING CANNABIS? IT'S LIKE GROWING TOMATOES, SAYS JUDGE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
A JUDGE has refused to impose an antisocial behaviour order on a man
cultivating cannabis because it is "no worse than having tomato
plants". | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
He also told Oxford City Council, who applied for the ASBO, that it
was "the sort of thing they do in Russia or China". | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Twelve cannabis plants, worth UKP3,400, were discovered growing
under special hydroponic lights at Phillip Pledge's council flat.
The council sought a possession order for the National Blood Service
driver's home and an ASBO banning him from the housing estate for
two years. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Judge Charles Harris, QC, refused both applications, saying that
smoking cannabis did not constitute a nuisance. The judge said:
"Smoking or possession of a quantity of cannabis, though a criminal
offence, does not constitute a nuisance. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
The plants were found on the Blackbird Leys estate in Oxford during
a police raid in February. The city council said that Mr Pledge was
causing "alarm, harassment and distress" to his neighbours by
growing the marijuana. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Judge Harris said: "If you are Sherlock Holmes and you go back to
Baker Street and inject yourself with cocaine, as he did, you cannot
be called a nuisance. So quietly smoking cannabis at home, not that
it is to be encouraged, I'm not sure at all it constitutes a
nuisance. If you are simply growing it, it's no more offensive to
neighbours than tomato plants."
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
(22) DRUGS AND PROHIBITION (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Certain areas of human conduct lend themselves so readily to bad
science that you have to wonder if there is a pattern emerging. Last
week the parliamentary science and technology committee looked into
the ABC classification of illegal drugs, and found it was rubbish.
This is not an article about that report, but it is a good place to
start: drugs, they found, are supposed to be ranked by harm, in
classes A, B, and C, but they're not; and the ranking is supposed to
act as a deterrent, but it doesn't. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Watching this small area of prohibition collapse like wet tissue
paper got me thinking: how does the world of prohibition match up
against our gold standards for bad science, like the nutritionists
or the anti-MMR movement?
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
That's before you even get started on workaday bad science. Like the food gurus, prohibitionists will cherry pick research that suits them, measure inappropriate surrogate outcomes, and wishfully over-interpret data: a prohibitionist will observe that less cannabis has been seized, and declare that this means there is less cannabis on the streets, rather than less police interest. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
For textbook bad science we'd also want to see the media distorting
research: overstating the stuff it likes, and ignoring stuff it
doesn't, especially negative findings. We used to read a lot about
cannabis and lung cancer in the papers. The largest ever study of
whether cannabis causes lung cancer reported its findings recently,
to total UK media silence. Lifelong cannabis users, who had smoked
more than 22,000 joints, showed no greater risk of cancer than
people who had never smoked cannabis. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
While no journalist has written a single word on that study, the
Times did manage to make a front page story headed "Cocaine floods
the playground: use of the addictive drug by children doubles in a
year," out of their misinterpretation of a government report that
showed nothing of the sort. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Why are drugs such a bad science magnet? Partly, of course, it's the moral panic. But more than that, sat squarely at the heart of our discourse on drugs, is one fabulously reductionist notion: it is the idea that a complex web of social, moral, criminal, health, and political problems can be simplified to, blamed on, or treated via a molecule or a plant. You'd have a job keeping that idea afloat. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
HOT OFF THE 'NET (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
MONITORING DRUG POLICY OUTCOMES
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Measurement of Drug Related Harm
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
This latest report from the Beckley Foundation Drug Policy Programme
looks at the various attempts by governments and academic institutions
to develop a methodology for assessing and measuring the level of drug
related harm. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
HOW MUCH DOES AUSTRALIA SPEND ON ILLICIT DRUGS?
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
In an Australian first, researchers have estimated the amount of money spent on the illicit drug problem in this country, with a staggering $3.2 billion spent in 2002/2003 by federal and state governments. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
CULTURAL BAGGAGE RADIO SHOW
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
GET OFF THE POT, GEORGE!
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
New video from Emperor of Hemp creator Jeff Meyers -- currently ranked
#2 in the Huffington Post Contagious Festival
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
TIME TO DELIVER
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Real Deal from Activists at the 16th International AIDS Conference
in Toronto, Canada. Independent. Uncensored.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
AFSCME ENDORSES MEDICAL MARIJUANA ACCESS AT CHICAGO NATIONAL CONVENTION
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nation's Largest Public Employee Union Joins Growing Movement | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
SMOKING MARIJUANA IN PUBLIC
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
The spatial and policy shift in New York City arrests, 1992-2003 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Andrew Golub , Bruce D. Johnson and Eloise Dunlap
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Harm Reduction Journal 2006, 3:22
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
NEVADA CONSERVATIVES AGAINST THE WAR ON DRUGS
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
If passed, a fall ballot initiative with some unlikely supporters could
turn Reno and Vegas into American Amsterdams. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
By Sasha Abramsky
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
August 11, 2006
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
http://www.motherjones.com/news/update/2006/08/conservatives_against_war_on_drugs.html | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
DRUG ADDICTION TREATMENT SEES DROP IN SUCCESS RATE
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
According to research by LJMU's Centre for Public Health, the proportion
of drug users who completed treatment for drug addiction decreased between
1998 and 2002, although the overall number of drug users who entered
treatment increased. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
The study also reveals that drug users were more likely to drop out
of treatment if they had been coerced into it by the criminal justice
system than if they had entered by other routes. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
WHAT YOU CAN DO THIS WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
NARCO NEWS SEEKS WEBMASTER
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
http://narconews.com/Issue42/article2004.html
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
HELP COUNTER JOHN WALTERS IN THE UK
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
"US Drug Chief Promotes Random Testing in Schools"
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Please send letters to the editor of the Guardian. The harm reduction issues (particularly re injecting rooms) are politically more important than the cannabis health stuff in the UK right now. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
You will need to include full contact details. A frothing pint of warm
English beer to anyone who gets published.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Thanks
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Steve Rolles
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
LETTER OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
IF CORPORATE REGULATION IS SO WRONG, THEN WHY IS REGULATING OUR
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
By Geoff Kennedy
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Paula Easley whines corporations aren't free to lard food with trans
fats and pesticides and expose their workers to cigarette smoke (
"Lifestyle police take away our rights," July 22). She interprets
regulating corporations as control over "our lives."
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Which "lifestyle police" decide corporations have more rights in public than people in their own homes? Why don't women have the right to decide if their pregnancy will kill them, which sex they may marry, which country they get their medicine from, whether that medicine includes marijuana, whether to burn their own property if it's a flag, whether they can phone or e-mail friends without government spying or whether the material in their homes is porn? (
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Why aren't people in other countries free to govern themselves without being controlled by U.S. Nanny in Chief George W. Bush? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
And which nanny put Paula Easley in charge of deciding for us that
"today secondhand smoke exposure is not widespread?"
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
What's the principle here? The nanny state is bad, except when we
become the nannies?
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Geoff Kennedy
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
FEATURE ARTICLE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
DEA Exhibit at Museum of Science and Industry Ignores Costs of
Prohibition
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chicago-area residents are asking the Museum of Science and Industry
not to display a government exhibit linking drug use to terrorism.
These citizens say that the Drug Enforcement Administration Museum
exhibit, from August 11-December 3, 2006, hides the true link
between drugs and terrorism: drug prohibition itself. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
According to Pete Guither, a drug policy reform researcher and
editor of Drug WarRant: "This is a blatant publicity effort by the
DEA aimed at tying its budget to the war on terror. It's also
desperate and hypocritical. The DEA has received a failing grade
from the White House Performance and Management Assessments for
their taxpayer funded war -- a war that actually makes criminal drug
trafficking obscenely profitable."
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Jack Cole, Executive Director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
(LEAP -- an organization of current and former cops, judges,
prosecutors, prison wardens and others who all believe in ending
prohibition) says: "If you ended prohibition today, there wouldn't
be any of those drug lords making a penny on drugs tomorrow."
Retired police captain (and LEAP co-founder) Peter Christ adds:
"America's drug use is a serious problem, but in reality it is
America's drug policy that creates the underground economy that
supports terrorism."
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Drug WarRant, along with local chapters of Students for Sensible
Drug Policy (a nation-wide group that educates about the harms of
the War on Drugs and promotes an open discussion of alternative
solutions), has organized a response and supplement to the DEA
exhibit, including a website and materials to be distributed by
volunteers, along with other events to take place throughout the run
of the exhibit. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
The counter-exhibit, (available at http://www.DEAtargetsAmerica.com
) highlights the parallels between the lawless days of alcohol
prohibition under Al Capone and today's drug prohibition. As noted
at the website, even the FBI acknowledges Al Capone's rackets were
"spawned by enactment of the prohibition amendment."
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
None of the groups or individuals involved in the response advocates
illicit drug use. In fact, they believe that the DEA and prohibition
add to the problems of drug abuse by putting the control, safety,
and age regulation in the hands of criminals. They point to the
recent Chicago-area deaths from fentanyl-laced heroin as a grim echo
of the startling number of Chicago residents who died from tainted
alcohol during alcohol prohibition. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Drug WarRant and Students for Sensible Drug Policy hope to counter
what they consider to be a one-sided exhibit, and to engage the
Chicago community in a dialog to discover more effective
alternatives to the failed drug war. As they note on their website:
"The drug war is a great deal for traffickers, terrorists, and
especially the DEA, but not for communities dealing with the war's
violence, or the American citizens who pay the bill."
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
According to Jeanne Barr, history teacher at Chicago's Francis W.
Parker School: "As educators, we look to the MSI to enlighten the
community, not to promote political propaganda that selects
self-serving elements of truth out of a more complex whole. It's not
good science, and it's not good history. Da Vinci and the DEA under
one roof? What are they thinking?"
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
QUOTE OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
"The goal of modern propaganda is no longer to transform opinion but to arouse an active and mythical belief." - Jacques Ellul | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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content selection and analysis by Doug Snead (),
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