| Oct. 12, 2007 #520 | ||||||||||
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Table of Contents
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THIS JUST IN (Top) | ||||||||||
COMMENT: (1-4) (Top) | ||||||||||
Thursday more than 200 medical cannabis patients and advocates
rallied in front of the Governor's office in downtown Los Angeles
demanding that he stand up for patients' rights and the will of
California voters and lawmakers. Thursday evening the DEA and LAPD
staged a raid on one of Los Angeles' most respected collectives, the
Arts District Healing Center. Dozens of protesters turned out to
defend the dispensary. The newspaper articles did not relate the two
events, but we have to wonder if the DEA and the LAPD staged the raid
when they did to thumb their nose at both the patients and California
law. | ||||||||||
Rick Steves, a speaker at the NORML convention Friday, tells it like
it is. Your DrugSense Weekly staff wishes we could have attended the
conference. | ||||||||||
That people become folk heroes because they thumb their nose at drug
laws is fairly common, which shows the ambivalence of the public
towards the war on some drugs. | ||||||||||
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(1) MARIJUANA ACTIVISTS ASSEMBLE DOWNTOWN (Top) | ||||||||||
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About 200 pro-medical marijuana activists demonstrated Thursday outside Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office in downtown Los Angeles, demanding he do more to end federal raids on cannabis clinics. | ||||||||||
In a lively rally that lasted more than an hour, and was punctuated by
the smell of pot, the protesters gathered outside the Ronald Reagan
State Office Building to call on Schwarzenegger to urge the Bush
administration to tell federal drug agents to back off. | ||||||||||
Representatives from Schwarzenegger's office were not immediately
available for comment. | ||||||||||
Los Angeles City Councilman Dennis Zine did not attend today's rally, but released a statement in support of the dispensaries. | ||||||||||
"This year has seen a dramatic increase in federal law enforcement
activity surrounding medical cannabis, including raids, confiscation
of medicine and plants, and indictments," he stated. | ||||||||||
Orange County Board of Supervisors Chairman Chris Norby, who also did
not attend the rally, also expressed solidarity with the protesters
via e-mail. | ||||||||||
Norby urged Schwarzenegger to implement Proposition 215, the ballot
initiative California voters approved in 1996 that legalized the sale
and use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. Marijuana is still an
illegal drug under federal law. | ||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||
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(2) FEDS RAID DOWNTOWN L.A. MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISPENSARY (Top) | ||||||||||
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Federal agents seized marijuana and cash Thursday night from a medical
marijuana dispensary in the loft district near Little Tokyo, officials
said. | ||||||||||
Twenty agents with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration raided the Arts District Healing Center in the 600 block of East 1st Street. | ||||||||||
DEA spokesman Jose Martinez said the agents searched the two-story
building for 3 1/4 hours. | ||||||||||
There were no arrests. | ||||||||||
Authorities had not determined as of late Thursday night the amount of
cash and marijuana they seized, Martinez said. | ||||||||||
The affidavit submitted by the DEA to search the offices stated that
marijuana is classified as a schedule-one controlled substance, "which
under federal law means that is not recognized for having any
medicinal value." | ||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||
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(3) OPED: EUROPE: CURING, NOT PUNISHING, ADDICTS (Top) | ||||||||||
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In Contrast to U.S. Policy, European Countries Focus on Harm Reduction
-- and It Works. | ||||||||||
Europe has a drug problem, and knows it. But the Europeans' approach to it is quite different from the American "war on drugs." I spend 120 days a year in Europe as a travel writer, so I decided to see for myself how it's working. I talked with locals, researched European drug policies and even visited a smoky marijuana "coffee shop" in Amsterdam. I got a close look at the alternative to a war on drugs. | ||||||||||
Europeans are well aware of the U.S. track record against illegal drug
use. Since President Nixon first declared the war on drugs in 1971,
our country has locked up millions of its citizens and spent hundreds
of billions of dollars (many claim that if incarceration costs are
figured in, a trillion dollars) waging this "war." Despite these
efforts, U.S. government figures show the overall rate of illicit drug
use has remained about the same. | ||||||||||
By contrast, according to the 2007 U.N. World Drug Report, the
percentage of Europeans who use illicit drugs is about half that of
Americans. (Europe also has fewer than half as many deaths from
overdoses.) How have they managed that -- in Europe, no less, which
shocks some American sensibilities with its underage drinking,
marijuana tolerance and heroin-friendly "needle parks"? | ||||||||||
Recently, in Zurich, Switzerland, I walked into a public toilet that
had only blue lights. Why? So junkies can't find their veins. A short
walk away, I saw a heroin maintenance clinic that gives junkies
counseling, clean needles and a safe alternative to shooting up in the
streets. Need a syringe? Cigarette machines have been retooled to sell
clean, government-subsidized syringes. | ||||||||||
While each European nation has its own drug laws and policies, they
seem to share a pragmatic approach. They treat drug abuse not as a
crime but as an illness. And they measure the effectiveness of their
drug policy not in arrests but in harm reduction. | ||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||
Meanwhile, according to FBI statistics, in recent years about 40% of
the roughly 80,000 annual drug arrests were for marijuana -- the
majority (80%) for possession. | ||||||||||
In short, Europe is making sure that the cure isn't more costly than the problem. While the U.S. spends tax dollars on police, courts and prisons, Europe spends its taxes on doctors, counselors and clinics. EU policymakers estimate that they save 15 euros in police and health costs for each euro invested in drug education and counseling. | ||||||||||
European leaders understand that a society has a choice: tolerate
alternative lifestyles or build more prisons. They've made their
choice. We're still building more prisons. | ||||||||||
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(4) IN MEXICO, A FUGITIVE'S ARREST CAPTIVATES THE CAMERAS (Top) | ||||||||||
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MEXICO CITY -- A woman who succeeds in a field dominated by men is
always intriguing to the public, but when that field happens to be
big-time cocaine trafficking, and the woman is graced with both charm
and beauty, a criminal celebrity is born. | ||||||||||
Ever since her arrest last month, Sandra Avila Beltran, better known
as the Queen of the Pacific, has been getting the kind of press here
that would have made Jesse James envious. Mexicans are closely
following the case against her and the efforts to extradite her to
United States, where she is wanted in Florida. | ||||||||||
Prosecutors here say Ms. Avila Beltran, a shapely, raven-haired, 46- year-old with a taste for high fashion, has played an important role in forging a federation of drug traffickers in western Sinaloa State as well as creating an alliance between them and Colombian suppliers. | ||||||||||
Along the way, she seduced many drug kingpins and upper-echelon police
officers, becoming a powerful force in the cocaine world through a
combination of ruthless business sense, a mobster's wiles and her sex
appeal, prosecutors say. | ||||||||||
It is a measure of her importance in the Mexican underworld that some
Tijuana musicians have written a song in her honor. This "narco-
corrido" extols her virtues as "a top lady who is a key part of the
business." It has been played over and over on radio stations since
her arrest. | ||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||
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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW (Top) | ||||||||||
Domestic News- Policy | ||||||||||
COMMENT: (5-8) (Top) | ||||||||||
Hawaiian education officials are still determining how to gently
take away student rights without seeming too unconcerned. Vocal
support for allowing school officials in the state to search student
lockers came, not surprisingly, from the industry which will gain
most from the new policy. In other education news, student activists
in Maryland are trying every route to lighten up on marijuana users
at a local college. And in New Hampshire, some college students are
unhappy about what they see as overbearing police tactics, which
relate to overbearing campus policies. | ||||||||||
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(5) BOE DEFERS DECISION ON LOCKER SEARCHES (Top) | ||||||||||
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HONOLULU - The state Board of Education tried to settle the
contentious issue of allowing school officials to order student
locker searches with drug-sniffing dogs late Thursday, but in the
end decided to put off a decision. | ||||||||||
With a 12-1 vote to defer a proposal to allow searches "with or
without cause" for further consideration, the board said it is not
satisfied with the proposal as written but could not decide on
acceptable language Thursday night. | ||||||||||
The state attorney general's office is expect to come up with new
wording, but it was not clear whether there would be any significant
change in the policy proposal that would expose student lockers to
"open inspection and external dog sniff." | ||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||
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(6) DRUG DOGS CRITICALLY NEEDED IN ISLE SCHOOLS (Top) | ||||||||||
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The Board of Education is considering the use of "drug-sniffing
dogs" as a tool to fight the substance-abuse crisis in Hawai'i
public schools. This program would use dogs that are proficient and
certified to detect not only drugs, but alcohol, gunpowder and
abused medications. | ||||||||||
A detection-canine program is critically needed in Hawai'i schools. School canine programs have been proven to be effective and have been supported by courts across the country. News reports have pointed to U.S. Department of Justice findings that Hawai'i has the highest rate in the nation of high school students who drink on campus -- more than twice the national average. And our state is tied for second in the nation for marijuana use on campus. | ||||||||||
A 2002 state Department of Health study reports that one in five
high school seniors admits to having been drunk or "stoned" on
campus; one in four needs treatment for drug and/or alcohol abuse
upon graduation. A 2003 study by the University of Hawai'i's Social
Sciences Department reports that one in three Hawai'i high school
students was "offered, sold or given an illegal drug on school
property." The same study reports that Hawai'i's youth are 26
percent more likely than Mainland counterparts to be offered or sold
drugs on public school campuses. | ||||||||||
Why does Hawai'i take top honors in this crisis? Perhaps because
Hawai'i and Alaska are the only two states that have not been using
detection canines in schools. Detection canines have been used in
schools for more than 30 years across the Mainland. In 2003, two
Hawai'i private schools began using this safety tool and continue to
benefit from the results. | ||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||
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(7) WITH NO-GO ON RESLIFE, SSDP TARGETS RAs (Top) | ||||||||||
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In a "last-ditch" effort to get better treatment for students
accused of using drugs in dorms, university activists are asking
resident assistants not to immediately call police or write students
up if they smell or suspect drug use. | ||||||||||
The university's chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy is
asking RAs to use discretion before calling police when they smell
marijuana in their halls because of the harsh consequences that come
with drug violations. Those punishments include expulsion from
housing at the university level, and arrest and automatic loss of
state and federal financial aid if the case enters the judicial
system. | ||||||||||
"As you know, university policy dictates that students caught with
marijuana be automatically evicted from the residence halls and
suspended or expelled," states the letter the group has distributed
to most North Campus RAs. Over the next week, they expect to deliver
a total of 250 letters. "But as you also know, most of your
residents don't deserve such harsh punishments for a relatively
minor and common offense." | ||||||||||
After months of lobbying for looser punishments for students caught
with marijuana, the Department of Resident Life budged slightly this
summer. Previously, community directors who doled out punishments
would automatically suspend residents from housing for at least a
year. Now community assistants can simply suspend students for a
semester or less if they have a "small" amount of marijuana. The
punishments for any large amounts remains the same. | ||||||||||
"Something we didn't want to suggest [in a policy change] was that the university would literally be more tolerant [of marijuana]," said Steven Petkas, associate director of Resident Life. | ||||||||||
Unsatisfied with the change - which would have only saved four of 92
students accused of using marijuana in the dorms during the past two
years, according to Petkas - the activists are using letters as a
last resort to curb the number of students who get in trouble for
marijuana violations in their rooms. | ||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||
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(8) STUDENTS PROTEST POLICE TACTICS (Top) | ||||||||||
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FPU Dorm Locked While Search Warrant Obtained | ||||||||||
RINDGE - The handcuffs that circled Robert Braverman's wrists made
him more victim than villain in the eyes of the nearly 30 students
who rallied in support Wednesday as police escorted him from his
home at Franklin Pierce University. | ||||||||||
"You're the bravest one of us, Rob," supporters shouted to
Braverman, one of four students displaced from their on-campus house
this week after Rindge police allegedly found marijuana | ||||||||||
"Stay strong. You'll be out soon," they said. | ||||||||||
Parts of the campus community erupted in protest this week after
Rindge police locked Braverman, a sophomore, and his roommates -
juniors Jeff E. Bernier, Robert C. Nicholson and Skye Perry - out of
their on-campus home, they said, while police obtained a search
warrant. | ||||||||||
But the student body grew even more enraged when Braverman was taken
away in handcuffs, facing a misdemeanor charge of possession of a
controlled drug. | ||||||||||
"We're students," they shouted as police walked Braverman to the
police cruiser. "Not criminals." | ||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||
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Law Enforcement & Prisons | ||||||||||
COMMENT: (9-12) (Top) | ||||||||||
Our first two stories show again that law enforcement in small towns are not immune from drug corruption. In Portland, now that drug zone laws have been repealed, officials are trying to figure out why the laws impacted minorities much more heavily. And a first person story out of California show how the drug war has failed at the street level and what that failure is doing to one small neighborhood. | ||||||||||
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(9) ZANESVILLE COPS ARRESTED (Top) | ||||||||||
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COLUMBUS -- Three Zanesville police officers remained locked up in the Franklin County jail today following their arrest Monday on federal charges resulting from an alleged cocaine distribution ring. | ||||||||||
Officers Sean Beck, 28, Trevor Fusner, 31, and Chad Mills, 29, were
arrested by the FBI and Muskingum County sheriff's deputies on
charges of conspiracy to distribute cocaine. | ||||||||||
The locations of their arrests were not released by authorities. | ||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||
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(10) AIKEN COUNTY OFFICIALS DEAL WITH NARCOTICS UNIT'S FIRING (Top) | ||||||||||
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Aiken, S.C. - Aiken County is dealing with the fallout of the
firings of the sheriff's entire narcotics unit as prosecutors check
cases made by the investigators and the county asks federal agents
to help with drug crimes. | ||||||||||
The four officers were fired Thursday by Sheriff Michael Hunt who
said they drove unmarked, county-owned cars to bars last month. The
sheriff said at least one woman performed a sex act on one of the
officers as they drove around. | ||||||||||
Hunt has asked the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division to investigate whether the officers misused government money, improperly destroyed evidence or committed other misconduct. | ||||||||||
Prosecutor Barbara Morgan said how she handles the drug cases made
by the fired investigators depends on whether they are charged with
any crimes. | ||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||
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(11) POLICE TRY TO SOLVE ARRESTS DISPARITY (Top) | ||||||||||
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Drug-Free Zones - Hidden Bias Is Among the Ideas Floated for Why
More Blacks Were Cited | ||||||||||
A vexing mystery faces Portland police: Why did they ban African
Americans from the city's defunct drug-free zones more often than
whites or Latinos? | ||||||||||
The drug-free zones, which faded into oblivion Sunday, lost key
political support last week when a report showed that police did not
equally issue exclusion notices, which bar people arrested or cited
on drug accusations from returning to the zones where the alleged
crimes happened. | ||||||||||
More than two-thirds -- 68.2 percent -- of the African Americans arrested got exclusion notices. That compares with 53.5 percent of the non-Latino whites arrested and 46.4 percent of Latinos arrested. | ||||||||||
"Pretty obviously, there was racial disparity in the numbers. That's
a huge concern," Police Chief Rosie Sizer said. | ||||||||||
The numbers don't explain how that disparity came to be. But
Portland officials have hypotheses ranging from hidden bias to
inadequate training for police patrolling the most recently created
East zone, which ran along 82nd Avenue. | ||||||||||
Mayor Tom Potter commissioned the report by consultant John
Campbell. Potter said the difference in arrests could share roots
with "racial profiling," the concept that police stop and question
minorities more often than they do whites. The mayor has started a
committee to study whether Portland has a racial profiling problem,
how bad it is and how to address it. | ||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||
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(12) THE DEALERS NEXT DOOR | ||||||||||
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Open drug dealing in a quiet Riverside neighborhood is perfectly ignorable if you're the police--but if you're a resident? | ||||||||||
The neighbors to the right of us are moving, which bothers me like you wouldn't believe. Good neighbors are hard to come by, and these folks--a couple and their three small children--were good neighbors. My wife talked to the husband, who confirmed what we already knew: The family was moving to get away from the drug dealers. | ||||||||||
If it were just he and his wife, they'd try to stick it out, he
said. But they had kids to think about, and the dealers were a
problem that wouldn't go away. They'd tried getting the city to do
something, but nothing had been done and there was every reason to
believe nothing would continue being done. For all practical
purposes, our little corner of central Riverside had been ceded to
the drug trade. No one at City Hall seemed to care, and the
Riverside cops were invisible. | ||||||||||
Was the husband bitter about any of this? | ||||||||||
"I'm selling to the worst buyer I can find," he said. "For every car
the buyer agrees to park on the grass, I'm dropping the price
$10,000." | ||||||||||
From what we could tell, the plight of the neighbors to the right of
us affected the neighbors to the left of us not at all. Those
neighbors, who we refer to as "the dealers next door" to distinguish
them from our other neighbors, don't care about quality of life or
property values, and they sure as hell don't care about who lives
next to them. These neighbors--a constantly shifting assortment of
parents, adult siblings, aunts, uncles and assorted nephews and
nieces--appear to care about only one thing: making money as fast as
they can by selling drugs to anyone who wants them. | ||||||||||
With an invisible police department and a city hall that can't be
bothered, business is booming. | ||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||
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Cannabis & Hemp- | ||||||||||
COMMENT: (13-16) (Top) | ||||||||||
The Canadian Medical Association Journal inexplicably published a
target-rich oped for MAP letter writers. It seems chronic cannabis
consumers face a 200 per cent risk of schizophrenia, a brain
disorder exacerbated by stress. | ||||||||||
A British mother who allowed her teenagers to raid her hashish stash concluded that there is "nothing relaxing about it if you think the police are going to burst into your home at any moment." | ||||||||||
Would-be presidents Giuliani, McCain and Romney were agitated by
wheelchair-bound patients asking if and why they should worry about
federal agents bursting into their homes. | ||||||||||
Is the fastest way to a cold heart through the stomach? Is the
slippery slope lubricated with Canadian hemp oil? | ||||||||||
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(13) REEFER MADNESS (Top) | ||||||||||
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Studies have suggested that as many as 1 in 4 cannabis users may be
genetically at risk for developing schizophrenia or a related
psychotic disorder. Now, a new study reveals all users are at
risk. | ||||||||||
Given recent United Nations' statistics citing Canada as the
industrial world's leading consumer of cannabis, this news should
set alarm bells ringing. After all, a leading role in cannabis
consumption sets the stage for a leading role in psychotic
disorders. Instead, Canada's mainstream media responded in chorus
from The Happy Hippy Hymn Book, failing to notice that it is 10
years out of date. | ||||||||||
"Legalizing pot makes sense," intoned a National Post editorial
earlier this summer, while a Globe and Mail article entitled "The
True North Stoned and Free" giggled about Canada's "little pot
habit." | ||||||||||
Schizophrenia, a severe form of psychosis, is a brain disorder that
typically produces delusions, hallucinations, paranoia, disturbances
in problem solving, memory and concentration, along with depressed
mood, anxiety and social withdrawal. Its causes are not fully
understood though environmental stressors (e.g., childhood trauma,
neglect) are thought to interact with genes to produce disruptions
in brain chemistry. | ||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||
According to a recent study, 14% of British patients with schizophrenia could have avoided the illness if they had not used cannabis. This meta-analysis also reveals that while the issue of whether cannabis causes psychosis remains unclear, the risk of developing psychosis from cannabis use by the general population, irrespective of age or genes, is 41%. For heavy users - defined as daily or weekly - the risk is in the range of 50% to 200%. | ||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||
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(14) SPARED JAIL, THE TEACHING ASSISTANT WHO GAVE CHILDREN CANNABIS (Top)SO THEY WOULDN'T GO TO DEALERS | ||||||||||
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A teaching assistant who gave her children cannabis was spared jail
yesterday after a judge heard she did it to stop them visiting
street dealers. | ||||||||||
Nicola Cooper, 43, intervened when she learned her teenage son and
daughter had experimented with the drug. | ||||||||||
She feared they would be lured into trying harder drugs and become
involved in crime. | ||||||||||
When police raided her home they found 116 grams of cannabis resin,
worth UKP200. | ||||||||||
Cooper could have been jailed but a district judge ordered her to 200 hours' community work after hearing about her good character. | ||||||||||
She had already quit her job following her arrest earlier this year. | ||||||||||
Speaking after the hearing, Cooper insisted she had "done the right
thing" to keep her children away from dealers. | ||||||||||
But she added: "I don't want my children involved in it any more. | ||||||||||
"I think I was very lucky today. I could have been given a much
heavier sentence or even jailed. | ||||||||||
"The kids would just come down and say, 'Do you mind if we pinch a
little smoke because we fancy one?' | ||||||||||
"I regret breaking the law and feel sorry for that. | ||||||||||
"Some people give their children alcohol and cigarettes at an early
age - but I gave mine cannabis." | ||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||
Cooper, a former nursery nurse, nanny and ceramics painter, added
after the case that while she had smoked cannabis since her teens,
she had often gone without it for long periods. | ||||||||||
"I don't want to touch it again," she said. | ||||||||||
"The whole point was that it was a relaxing thing. But there is
nothing relaxing about it if you think the police are going to burst
into your home at any moment." | ||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||
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(15) THE TRUTH ABOUT MEDICAL MARIJUANA (Top) | ||||||||||
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Through all his years in politics, despite the endless obligation to
shake hands, smile for the cameras and coax money out of
contributors, John McCain has somehow avoided becoming a complete
phony - something that John Edwards and Mitt Romney managed to
achieve within a week of entering politics. Annoy McCain, and you
won't have to wait long to find out. | ||||||||||
Even a sickly, soft-spoken woman in a wheelchair gets no pass from
him. The other day, at a meeting with voters in New Hampshire, Linda
Macia mentioned her use of medical marijuana and politely asked his
position on permitting it. Barely were the words out of her mouth
before the Arizona senator spun on his heel, stalked away and heaped
scorn on the idea. | ||||||||||
"You may be one of the unique cases in America that only medical
marijuana can relieve pain from," he said, in a skeptical tone.
"Every medical expert I know of, including the AMA, says there are
much more effective and much more, uh, better treatments for pain."
He also ridiculed the notion that police would arrest patients for
using marijuana as medicine. | ||||||||||
It's refreshing that McCain is willing to state his position with
such unvarnished candor. It would be even better if he knew what he
was talking about. | ||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||
The mystery is not why anyone believes cannabis can be safe and
effective therapy. The mystery is why so many politicians,
particularly Republican presidential candidates - Ron Paul, a
physician, being the heroic exception - are unwilling to consider
the possibility, or to leave the matter up to the states. It's not
even clear their hardline stance is smart politics in their own
party. | ||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||
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(16) GREAT HEMP HOPE (Top) | ||||||||||
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Is Barrie Farmer's Hemp Oil The Key To The Future Of Ontario
Agriculture? | ||||||||||
"Rope, not dope" was my slogan some years back, when I was involved
in a successful campaign (yes, we do win some battles) to legalize
industrial hemp in Canada. | ||||||||||
My eye was on the 25,000 industrial products hemp was thought to
offer, a farm-friendly, pesticide-free, green source for everything
from clothing to rope to paper to plastic. | ||||||||||
It never occurred to me that food would be first out of the gate
once the plant was legalized. | ||||||||||
But it did occur to Greg Herriott, who was then running a design
shop that had just won acclaim for producing a reusable takeout
coffee cup. | ||||||||||
Herriott understood that paper, clothing and plastic are volume businesses. Manufacturers won't switch inputs until they can be guaranteed a continuous and reliable supply. So the place to start ramping up the volume of the hemp supply was food, he figured. | ||||||||||
Food products are small-scale, niche-friendly and offer a base for
independent entrepreneurs who can substitute sweat and chutzpah for
equity a gateway industry, so to speak. | ||||||||||
As soon as he tasted some hemp oil in 1993, Herriott was hooked. "It
was a no-brainer, since it could work itself into gourmet and health
circles," he said, referring to the rich store of essential fatty
acids and antioxidants that make hemp oil an alternative to flax and
fish oils, the latter not an option for vegans or those concerned
about mercury contamination. | ||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||
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International News | ||||||||||
COMMENT: (17-20) (Top) | ||||||||||
Pressure mounts on U.S.-installed Afghan "president" Hamid Karzai to
allow the U.S. to put chemicals on Afghan poppy crops. Like the
proverbial pusher trying to foist unwanted chemicals on his little
brother, U.S. officials are again trying to "persuade" Karzai to
give in and take the spray according to a report in this week's San
Jose Mercury News. Of course, "Bush administration officials say
they will respect whatever decision the Afghan government makes on
the matter." | ||||||||||
In Canada this week, a chorus of articles across the country gave
Prime Minister Steven Harper rotten tomatoes for his blatant
electioneering of the drugs issue. The Vancouver Courier this week
saw Harper's handling of Insite as playing politics. "This is simply
a delaying tactic to get Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his
minority government past the next general election. Once it's over,
the injection site will be shut down." | ||||||||||
The Edmonton Criminal Trial Lawyers Association saw Harper's
mandatory minimum sentences for drugs announcement last week as
"electioneering", also. Quoted in the Edmonton Journal last week,
association president Brian Hurley describes Harper as, "a man in
full election mode who would like nothing better than his government
to be brought down on a piece of legislation for mandatory minimum
drug sentences... This is about a callous, callous effort by Mr.
Harper to win votes and get a majority." | ||||||||||
And from the U.K. this week, police chief Richard Brunstrom of North
Wales joins the ranks of police officials who have denounced the
prohibition of drugs, calling present drugs laws "not fit for
purpose" and "immoral," labeling the drug war "unwinnable." Said
Police Chief Brunstrom, "The Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 should be
repealed and replaced by a new Substance Misuse Act based upon the
legalisation and careful regulation of all substances of abuse in
one consistent manner... one based upon evidence, not moralistic
dogma." | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
(17) AFGHAN PRESIDENT RECONSIDERS REQUEST TO SPRAY OPIUM CROP (Top) | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
KABUL, Afghanistan - After the biggest opium harvest in | ||||||||||
Since early this year, Karzai has repeatedly declared his opposition
to spraying the poppy fields, whether by crop-dusting airplanes or
by eradication teams on the ground. | ||||||||||
But Afghan officials said that the Karzai administration was now
re-evaluating that stance. Some proponents within the government are
pushing a trial program of ground spraying that could begin before
the harvest next spring. | ||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||
"There has always been a need to balance the obvious greater
effectiveness of spray against the potential for losing hearts and
minds," said Thomas Schweich, the assistant secretary of state for
international narcotics issues. | ||||||||||
Bush administration officials say they will respect whatever
decision the Afghan government makes on the matter. Crop-eradication
efforts, they insist, are only part of a broad, new | ||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
(18) TORIES PUT GAG ON INSITE STUDIES (Top) | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
No one should have any illusion about Ottawa's decision to grant the
supervised injection site a six-month extension. | ||||||||||
Rather than breathing a sigh of relief at Tory Health Minister Tony
Clement's curt announcement Tuesday, people were outraged. Former
mayors, leading scientists and community activists have all come to
the same cynical conclusion: This is simply a delaying tactic to get
Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his minority government past the
next general election. Once it's over, the injection site will be
shut down. | ||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||
Meanwhile, qualified scientists have been refusing the work in
droves. And not just because of the short time frame. Ottawa is
insisting on a gag rule in all its contracts. People involved in the
research are prohibited from talking about their results publicly
until six months after their work is completed. | ||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||
The B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS at UBC had one project approved but turned it down. Both UBC's lawyers and the university's research ethics board considered the gag order "unethical." | ||||||||||
Further, an article in Open Medicine by University of Toronto researcher Stephen Hwang, signed by 130 Canadian doctors, scientists and public health public health professionals, denounced Clement saying: "Scientific evidence is about to be trumped by ideology." | ||||||||||
And do the Tories care? Apparently not. | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
(19) HARPER PLAN 'REPUGNANT ELECTIONEERING' (Top) | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
Mandatory Minimum Sentences Don't Work, Local Criminal Trial Lawyers
Group Says | ||||||||||
EDMONTON - The Harper government's promise of mandatory | ||||||||||
The federal government knows through its own studies that mandatory
minimum sentences don't work, association president Brian Hurley
said Friday. | ||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||
Harper announced his government will introduce legislation this fall to impose minimum jail terms for making and trafficking dangerous drugs such as methamphetamines and cocaine. He has suggested the defeat of major government bills may trigger an election. | ||||||||||
"This is a man in full election mode who would like nothing better
than his government to be brought down on a piece of legislation for
mandatory minimum drug sentences," Hurley said. | ||||||||||
"This is about a callous, callous effort by Mr. Harper to win votes
and get a majority," he said. "To do something as significant as to
change the criminal code in a way you know is not going to be
helpful, for pure electioneering, is just repugnant." | ||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||
The promise of minimum prison terms comes as federal prosecutors, who handle drug prosecutions in Alberta, are negotiating for higher pay. Most of the 2,900 federal prosecutors across Canada were unionized last year, under the Association of Justice Counsel. | ||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
(20) POLICE CHIEF CALLS FOR DRUGS LEGALISATION BY SCRAPPING CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM (Top) | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
Controversial police chief Richard Brunstrom has called for the
legalisation and regulation of all drugs in a report published
today. | ||||||||||
Mr Brunstrom, the chief constable of North Wales, described the
Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 as "not fit for purpose" and "immoral" and
urged its repeal. | ||||||||||
Mr Brunstrom, in a report to North Wales police authority, described
the current UK drugs strategy as "unwinnable". | ||||||||||
He said: "The Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 should be repealed and
replaced by a new Substance Misuse Act based upon the legalisation
and careful regulation of all substances of abuse in one consistent
manner." | ||||||||||
Mr Brunstrom urged his authority to support the stance in its
response to the Government's Drugs: Our Community, Your Say
consultation paper. | ||||||||||
In a 30-page document - Drugs Policy, A Radical Look Ahead - Mr Brunstrom said: "UK drugs policy for the last several decades has been based upon prohibition with a list of banned substances placed into three classes - the ABC system - and draconian criminal penalties for the possession or supply of controlled drugs. | ||||||||||
"This system has not worked well. Illegal drugs are now in plentiful
supply, and have become consistently cheaper in real terms over the
years. | ||||||||||
"The number of users has increased dramatically. Drug crime has
soared equally dramatically as a direct consequence of the
illegality of some drugs and the huge profits from illegal trading
have supported a massive rise in organised criminality. | ||||||||||
"Most importantly, the current system illogically excludes both
alcohol and tobacco. | ||||||||||
"A new classification system, a 'hierarchy of harm' encompassing all
substances of abuse and based upon identified social harms, should,
in my opinion, be at the centre of a new substance misuse regime -
one based upon evidence, not moralistic dogma." | ||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
HOT OFF THE 'NET (Top) | ||||||||||
GAO CONCERNS REGARDING RESIDENTIAL TREATMENT PROGRAMS FOR YOUTH | ||||||||||
GAO-08-146T, October 10, 2007 | ||||||||||
GAO found thousands of allegations of abuse, some of which involved
death, at residential treatment programs across the country and in
American-owned and American-operated facilities abroad between the
years 1990 and 2007. | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
THE WAR ON POT - AMERICA'S $42 BILLION ANNUAL BOONDOGGLE | ||||||||||
By Rob Kampia | ||||||||||
What else could we spend $42 billion each year on? Health insurance
for kids? Better paid teachers? It's our choice. | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
THE UN REVIEW OF GLOBAL POLICY ON ILLEGAL DRUGS | ||||||||||
An Advocacy Guide for Civil Society | ||||||||||
This advocacy guide, published by the International Drug Policy Consortium, serves as an introduction to the structure and operation of the UN drug control system, and describes the forthcoming process of review leading to the political meeting in 2009. It also introduces the advocacy themes that the IDPC will be working on throughout this process, and invites like-minded NGOs to become involved. | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
CULTURAL BAGGAGE RADIO SHOW | ||||||||||
10/10/07: Celebrating 6 Years of Drug Truth, Mike Smithson LEAP, Kevin Zeese, Bruce Mirken + Canada's PM, Marc Emery, Poppygate & more! | ||||||||||
09/28/07: Sanho Tree situation in Colombia + Poppygate & Bruce Mirken
Marijuana Policy Project | ||||||||||
Listen Live Tuesdays 12.30 PM ET, 11:30 AM CT, 10:30 MT & 9:30 AM PT
at www.KPFT.org | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
GOP CANDIDATES COLD-SHOULDER MEDICINAL CANNABIS PATIENTS | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
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| ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
THE DRUG CZAR IS REQUIRED BY LAW TO LIE | ||||||||||
By Peter Guither | ||||||||||
Most people know that the "drug czar" -- the director of the White
House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) -- is an advocate
for the government position regarding the drug war. But not everyone
knows that he and his office are mandated to tell lies as part of
their Congressional authorization. | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
AUTHOR SAYS LETTING KIDS DRINK EARLY REDUCES BINGING | ||||||||||
Stanton Peele says other cultures have figured it out. He points to
Italy, Greece and Israel, where children are given small amounts of
wine at religious celebrations or watered-down alcohol on special
occasions. | ||||||||||
But many other experts say the psychologist is off base. "That's ridiculous," says Calvina Fay, executive director of the Drug Free America Foundation. "By allowing teens to drink," Fay says, "you are giving permission to your children to do harmful things." | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
WHAT YOU CAN DO THIS WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||
CONTACT THE 2008 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES | ||||||||||
Demand Action for Safe Access! | ||||||||||
As the presidential primaries get closer and closer, we need to know
where all the candidates stand on important medical marijuana issues.
Call, write, and ask the candidates in person on their campaign trail
where they stand on medical marijuana. | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
STOP BUSH'S DRUG WAR DRAFT! | ||||||||||
Largely due to the unpopular war in Iraq, the U.S. Military is having
trouble meeting its recruiting goals. | ||||||||||
To make up for the enlistment shortcomings, the Bush administration has loosened restrictions and is granting more so-called "character waivers" to allow more people with drug convictions to sign up. | ||||||||||
Meanwhile, President Bush and some of his friends in Congress support a law that has prevented 200,000 aspiring students from getting the financial aid they need to afford college just because they have drug convictions (most often for misdemeanor marijuana possession). | ||||||||||
Take action now and tell Congress to have the character it takes to give young people all the opportunities they need for success. | ||||||||||
Visit http://drugwardraft.com/ | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
LETTER OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||
THE WRONG WAY TO FIGHT DRUGS | ||||||||||
By Craig Jones | ||||||||||
Re: Tories Take Harder Line On Illegal Drug Users, Oct. 5. | ||||||||||
The Conservative government's antidrug strategy -- relying heavily
on prohibition, punishment and fear mongering -- empowers organized
crime, stigmatizes already marginalized people and further endangers
the health and lives of persons battling addictions. Although we
don't have the actual strategy in front of us yet, it is telling
that the words "evidence-based" and "harm reduction" appear nowhere
in the Prime Minister's remarks. | ||||||||||
There is no reason to think that what has not worked for the last 40
years, and what has swollen the U.S. prison population beyond those
of China and Russia, will produce any positive effect on drug use or
abuse in Canada. | ||||||||||
And mandatory minimum sentences are unjust because they punish
classes of crimes rather than individual wrong-doers. | ||||||||||
After 40 years of "getting tough" by following the failed U.S. war
on drugs model, street prices for most drugs are lower, their purity
is higher and their availability is better. If the Conservatives
would listen to their own experts, they would have devised a very
different, much more humane, just, effective, compassionate and
evidence-based drug strategy. | ||||||||||
But this is not it. | ||||||||||
Craig Jones, executive director of the John Howard Society of
Canada, Kingston, Ont. | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
LETTER WRITER OF THE MONTH - SEPTEMBER (Top) | ||||||||||
DrugSense recognizes our own Matt Elrod of Metchosin, B.C. for his
four letters published during September, bringing his career
total that we know of to 113. Matt does this in spare cycles while
leading the Drug Policy Central http://www.drugpolicycentral.com
webmastering team. Check out his home page at | ||||||||||
You may read Matt's published letters here: | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
FEATURE ARTICLE (Top) | ||||||||||
Is Justice Just A Matter Of Perspective? | ||||||||||
By Stephen Young | ||||||||||
Editing this newsletter each week offers an opportunity not only to
see how the drug war works, but to see how news works. | ||||||||||
Despite claims of objectivity, the news media is informed (sometimes
dictated) by particular perspectives, just as judgements about drug
prohibition are impacted by personal observations of the drug war in
action. | ||||||||||
In recent weeks, two different reporters at two different newspapers
in two different states wrote essentially the same story in an almost
completely contradictory way. | ||||||||||
Both stories were about police generating revenue by seizing the
assets of alleged drug suspects. But one story started like this:
"Even if you're a law-abiding citizen who's never been convicted of a
crime, local police are allowed to confiscate your property and money
and keep up to 80 percent of it for themselves, with the legal
stipulation that this windfall be spent only on programs likely to
result in additional confiscations where the police can keep up to 80
percent of the booty for themselves." | ||||||||||
This is the opening of the second story: " If a criminal conviction,
the potential loss of freedom and a ruined reputation aren't enough to
get drug dealers to say no to the lucrative trade, how about
homelessness?" | ||||||||||
The first story was written by Jennifer Abel and published in
Connecticut's Hartford Advocate ( see | ||||||||||
The second story, by Mary Schenk, was published in the News-Gazette
out of Champaign, IL ( see | ||||||||||
To describe the anecdotes in Schenk's story as self-serving is an
astonishing understatement. Calling the piece a press release instead
of a news story doesn't convey the sycophantism at work; it's actually
more of a love letter (or at least a crush note). | ||||||||||
The author would likely protest that she was just conveying the
opinions and statements of the subjects. Which is not completely
untrue, but journalists are taught that there are at least two sides
to every story. For too long the drug war has been a one-sided story
in which only the prohibitionists had a voice - those individuals
subject to the laws were more like mute props merely tossed in to add
realism to certain scenes. | ||||||||||
Now, there are more reporters who are willing to interview sources who challenge the drug war, as Abel's excellent piece shows. | ||||||||||
Articles that allow uncritical cheerleading for the drug war simply
aren't telling the whole story - which is why MAP exists. The Media
Awareness Project of DrugSense has likely helped to accelerate this
process of getting more perspectives out in the open - so why not show
your support and offer a donation today at | ||||||||||
You may help others understand how one side of the story just isn't
enough. | ||||||||||
Stephen Young is an editor with DrugSense Weekly. | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
QUOTE OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||
"The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion." - Albert Camus | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
DS Weekly is one of the many free educational services DrugSense
offers our members. Watch this feature to learn more about what
DrugSense can do for you. | ||||||||||
TO SUBSCRIBE, UNSUBSCRIBE, OR UPDATE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS: | ||||||||||
Please utilize the following URLs | ||||||||||
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Policy and Law Enforcement/Prison content selection and analysis by
Stephen Young (), This Just In selection by
Richard Lake (), International content selection
and analysis by Doug Snead (), Cannabis/Hemp
content selection and analysis, Hot Off The Net selection and Layout
by Matt Elrod (). Analysis comments represent
the personal views of editors, not necessarily the views of
DrugSense. | ||||||||||
We wish to thank all our contributors, editors, NewsHawks and letter writing activists. Please help us help reform. Become a NewsHawk See http://www.mapinc.org/hawk.htm for info on contributing clippings. | ||||||||||
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