| Sept. 5, 2008 #565 | ||||||||||
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Table of Contents
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THIS JUST IN (Top) | ||||||||||
(1) NEW POT CLUB LAWS CHANGE LITTLE, SAYS NORML (Top) | ||||||||||
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California Attorney General Jerry Brown has issued new guidelines for medical marijuana clubs, but Northern California's leading cannabis advocate says they don't represent any major changes. | ||||||||||
The new guidelines "could be a healthy development, if they indicate
the attorney general wants the state to take over enforcement
efforts and keep the DEA out of it," said Dale Gieringer, state
coordinator for California NORML. | ||||||||||
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(2) CITY REFUSES TO PAY FOR DEAD POT PLANTS (Top) | ||||||||||
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The city of Fort Collins has rejected a local couple's request for more than $200,000 in compensation for their destroyed marijuana plants, possibly leading to a precedent-setting court fight. | ||||||||||
Under the state's medical marijuana law, Amendment 20, the
government is supposed to maintain someone's marijuana plants if
they are seized as part of a criminal investigation. If the
investigation reveals the plants were properly kept as the law
permits, the agency is supposed to return them. | ||||||||||
But when James and Lisa Masters got their 39 plants back last
December, they were all dead. | ||||||||||
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(3) PRESCRIPTION DRUGS A GATEWAY FOR TEEN DRUG ABUSE (Top) | ||||||||||
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With Many Substances Harder to Find, Study Shows Drop in Illegal
Drug Abuse | ||||||||||
A new national survey that shows a continued decline in teen
substance abuse mirrors trends in the Houston area, local experts
say. | ||||||||||
The report, released Thursday by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental
Health Services Administration, also revealed that more American
teens trying drugs for the first time are getting high on
prescription medications. | ||||||||||
"Prescription medications are becoming the gateway drugs for
adolescents, where it used to be alcohol and marijuana," said Matt
Feehery, CEO of Memorial Hermann System's Prevention and Recovery
Center, a residential treatment facility that added a wing for
children 13 to 17 last month. | ||||||||||
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(4) ILLICIT DRUG USE DOWN AMONG YOUNG (Top) | ||||||||||
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But Survey Finds Jump in Abuse of Prescriptions in Those 18-25 | ||||||||||
Teenagers and young adults are using fewer street drugs -- cocaine,
heroin and marijuana -- than they did in 2002, says a government
report out Thursday. | ||||||||||
Children ages 12 to 17 are using fewer prescription drugs for
non-medical purposes. | ||||||||||
The survey by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration (SAMHSA) shows young adults 18 to 25 are using more
prescription drugs illicitly. | ||||||||||
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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW (Top) | ||||||||||
Domestic News- Policy | ||||||||||
COMMENT: (5-8) (Top) | ||||||||||
Interesting analysis was featured by the Sacramento Bee this week on
the potential for two drug reform initiatives in California to
change the state, and possibly the country. In Florida, at least one
state university government body seems to be looking out for their
classmates when it comes to marijuana policy. And, some thoughts
from a pair of psychiatrists that deviate from standard drug war
ideology. | ||||||||||
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(5) COLUMN: PROPS. 5 AND 8 WILL MAKE WAVES NATIONALLY (Top) | ||||||||||
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Although hardly anyone's noticed, billionaire financier George Soros
and some other very deep pockets are back on the California ballot
with a drug and criminal sentencing reform measure that makes their
prior efforts seem modest. | ||||||||||
Given the prison mess we've locked ourselves into, Soros' proposal
may be the brightest light on a bleak horizon. | ||||||||||
This one, Proposition 5, called NORA, the Nonviolent Offender
Rehabilitation Act, is a monster plan designed to direct many more
drug-using lawbreakers to treatment and keep them out of the slammer.
It puts more money into diversion and rehabilitation for both adults
and youthful offenders, for whom there is now no drug treatment
program at all. | ||||||||||
It's a complicated and costly plan, running to an estimated $1
billion a year. It would allocate more resources to treatment,
probation and parole. But the Legislative Analyst's Office believes
it could save the state as much money, especially in prison
construction, as it will cost, and maybe more. | ||||||||||
The numbers are a little iffy. Nonetheless, the LAO says the program could reduce the state's adult inmate population, now roughly 171,000 prisoners, by 18,000 at $46,000 per year apiece, that's not peanuts and reduce the rolls of parolees by an additional 22,000. | ||||||||||
NORA is part of what's become a long procession of drug reform and
criminal sentencing reforms underwritten by Soros, John Sperling,
the founder of the private for-profit University of Phoenix, and a
group of other rich liberals. | ||||||||||
They funded California's Proposition 215 in 1996 and a string of
similar measures in other states legalizing the medical use of
marijuana, as well as a variety of other drug "harm reduction" laws.
Among them was California's Proposition 36 to divert drug using
offenders to treatment instead of prison. | ||||||||||
Proposition 5 expands on that idea, creates "rehabilitation wardens"
in the prison system and makes possession of small amounts of
marijuana an infraction, not a misdemeanor. All those changes are
part of a larger strategy by Soros and his co-sponsors to radically
reform U.S. drug-control policy, with its vast establishment of
narcs and other drug cops, by shifting from a criminal model to a
medical model, as much of Europe has done. | ||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||
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(6) SGA PASSES RESOLUTION TOWARD DECRIMINALIZING MARIJUANA (Top) | ||||||||||
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Amid a nationwide debate on the legality of marijuana, last month the Florida State University Student Government Association passed a resolution in support of two federal bills on marijuana. | ||||||||||
The bills, HR5842 and HR5843, would both move federal law toward
weakening penalties for possession of marijuana and both go before
the United States House of Representatives in the 2009 session.
HR5843, of particular interest to proponents of decriminalization,
would abolish criminal penalties for possession of up to 100 grams
of marijuana. While redundant state laws would effectively eliminate
any pragmatic effects for Floridians were the bill to pass through
the House and U.S. Senate, FSU NORML President John Mola said that
the bill would nonetheless be a victory for pro-legalization groups
such as NORML ( National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana
Laws ). | ||||||||||
"If the federal government decided that it was in their best
interest to leave it up to the states to decide, it would leave the
door open for us to further work on trying to get it decriminalized
in Florida," Mola said. | ||||||||||
FSU SGA Resolution 67, which was voted through the student senate by a 12-to-10 vote on Aug. 6, was authored and sponsored by FSU Sen. Forat Lutfi, who had listened to Mola speak "several times" in front of Senate before approaching him to propose the resolution. | ||||||||||
Lutfi himself is not involved in any pro-legalization groups and
cited the 2006 "safer initiative" - an item on the ballot in the
2006 SGA elections at FSU in which 60 percent of the voting student
body voted in favor of decriminalization - as his primary reason for
drafting the resolution. | ||||||||||
"A lot of students feel strongly about the decriminalization of
marijuana," Lutfi said. "As senators, it's our duty to represent the
voice of all students. That was my main concern: to make sure their
voice was heard." | ||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||
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(7) OPED: ADDICTION DOESN'T DISCRIMINATE? WRONG (Top) | ||||||||||
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We've heard it before. "Drug abuse is an equal opportunity
destroyer." "Drug addiction is a bipartisan illness." "Addiction
does not discriminate; it doesn't care if you are rich or poor,
famous or unknown, a man or woman, or even a child." | ||||||||||
The phrase "addiction doesn't care" is not meant to remind us that
addiction casts a long shadow -- everyone knows that. Rather, it is
supposed to suggest that any individual, no matter who, is
vulnerable to the ravages of drugs and alcohol. | ||||||||||
The same rhetoric has been applied to other problems, including
child abuse, domestic violence, alcoholism -- even suicide. Don't
stigmatize the afflicted, it cautions; you could be next. Be kind,
don't judge. | ||||||||||
The democratization of addiction may be an appealing message, but it
does not reflect reality. | ||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||
Though the National Institute on Drug Abuse describes addiction as a
"chronic and relapsing disease," my patients, seeking help, are
actually the exception. Addiction is not an equal opportunity
destroyer even among addicts because, thankfully, most eventually
extricate themselves from the worst of it. | ||||||||||
Gene Heyman, a lecturer and research psychologist at Harvard Medical
School and McLean Hospital, said in an interview that "between 60
and 80 percent of people who meet criteria for addiction in their
teens and 20s are no longer heavy, problem users by their 30s." His
analysis of large national surveys revealed that those who kept
using were almost twice as likely to have a concurrent psychiatric
illness. | ||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||
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(8) COLUMN: MAYBE THE PSYCHIATRIST'S IDEA ISN'T CRAZY (Top) | ||||||||||
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Dr. Stephen Frye, a psychiatrist who served 30 years ago as Sonoma County's mental health director, is giving over his retirement to working to legalize all the drugs that people rob and kill for. | ||||||||||
"The war on drugs kills far more people than the drugs themselves,"
Frye said from his home in Reno. "We have to stop getting tough and
start getting smart." | ||||||||||
He's talking to anybody who will listen about his book, "We Really
Lost This War! 25 Reasons to Legalize Drugs." | ||||||||||
It's a jarring notion, but Frye makes a strong argument that drug
laws, like prohibition, have succeeded mostly in making the
narcotics trade obscenely profitable and bloody, and providing job
security to prison guards. | ||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||
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Law Enforcement & Prisons | ||||||||||
COMMENT: (9-12) (Top) | ||||||||||
Some Canadian police appear more skeptical of drug war hype than
some of their U.S. counterparts. When an email suggesting that
fruit-flavored methamphetamine was the latest drug craze started
circulating in Vancouver, the police decided to debunk it. And
representatives of a smaller Canadian police department show some
compassion in dealing with the addicted. Elsewhere, an Illinois
deputy is arrested on drug charges out of state; and in Minnesota,
police claim success in the drug war, even if a significant local
area doesn't want to be part of that war. | ||||||||||
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(9) COPS DEBUNK CRYSTAL METH EMAIL (Top) | ||||||||||
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No Evidence To Support Schoolyard 'Strawberry Quick' Warning | ||||||||||
Do you know "strawberry quick"? Coloured pink, it looks like
strawberry pop rocks--the candy that sizzles and pops in your
mouth--but it's actually crystal methamphetamine circulated in
schoolyards to lure kids into drug use. | ||||||||||
Kids ingest it, believing it's candy, and must be rushed to
hospital. The drug also comes in chocolate, peanut butter, cola,
cherry, grape and orange. | ||||||||||
This warning is being circulated through email as the new school
year approaches. People who receive it are asked to read it and tell
their kids. | ||||||||||
"Pass this email on to as many people as you can ( even if they
don't have kids ) so that we can raise awareness and hopefully
prevent any tragedies from occurring," the message advises. Sounds
scary, but there's one major problem--according to police, the story
is an Internet hoax. | ||||||||||
Detective Jim Fisher, Vancouver Police Department Drug/Gang Section
Operational Intelligence Coordinator, said the flavoured crystal
meth advisory has circulated online since January 2007, but there
appears to be no truth to it. The drug section has not recovered or
been made aware of any methamphetamine flavoured with anything
resembling Strawberry Quik. | ||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||
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(10) CITY POLICE CRAVE A FIX FOR ADDICTS (Top) | ||||||||||
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Law Officers Say Most Of The Calls They Receive Are Related To Drugs | ||||||||||
SAINT JOHN - "I'm going to commit a crime." | ||||||||||
Hearing those words sounded odd to Const. Michelle Bliss of the
Saint John Police Force. | ||||||||||
It's not often someone confesses to police before committing a
crime. | ||||||||||
However, not much surprises Bliss and Sgt. Jim Fleming when it comes
to dealing with drug and drug addiction in the city. | ||||||||||
In terms of a pre-emptive confession, Bliss said it was out of
desperation - a criminal act as a cry for help. | ||||||||||
"I've had girls tell me they were going to commit a crime hoping the
judge would put them in ( methadone ) treatment," Bliss said. "They
don't want to do something bad, but they feel they need to do
something to get the help they need." | ||||||||||
Police deal with the barrage of people in need of help due to an opiate addiction, many committing crimes to feed their habit. | ||||||||||
Fleming and Bliss deal with drugs and their spin-offs such as crime
and mental health issues on a daily basis. In fact, the pair agree
that dealing with a call or individual not associated with drugs is
rare. | ||||||||||
"The vast majority of crimes we deal with - car breaks, damage,
disorder, fighting, arguing - is from a desperation to get drugs,"
Fleming said. "It's very seldom we deal with someone who isn't
addicted - it's the exception." | ||||||||||
Both have heard pleas from addicts for help. Some want to change, but the city's lone methadone maintenance program is at capacity and not accepting any new patients. The program involves treating the addiction with methadone, a drug that helps reduce an addict's cravings, and a variety of social services, including counselling. | ||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||
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(11) ILLINOIS DEPUTY ARRESTED ON DRUG CHARGES (Top) | ||||||||||
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GROOM, Texas ( AP ) - An Illinois sheriff's deputy and his traveling companion have been arrested on drug possession charges after Texas authorities say they found 138 pounds of marijuana and 4,000 grams of cocaine in their vehicle during a traffic stop along Interstate | ||||||||||
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Cook County Deputy Darryl Jenkins, 47, and [Redacted] both of Calumet City, Ill., were arrested Sunday evening after Texas Department of Public Safety troopers pulled over a minivan near Groom in Carson County, about 50 miles east of Amarillo. | ||||||||||
The two remained in the Carson County Jail on Tuesday on bail of
$60,000 each, said Carson County Sheriff Tam Terry. He said the two
did not have attorneys retained. | ||||||||||
During the traffic stop, troopers noticed something suspicious and
were given consent to search the vehicle, DPS said in a news
release. The drugs, with a street value of about $368,000, were
found inside luggage, DPS said. | ||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||
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(12) PETERSON: WAR ON DRUGS IS WORKING IN BELTRAMI COUNTY (Top) | ||||||||||
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Beltrami County has been holding its own in the war against drugs, says Gary Peterson, supervisor of local drug task force efforts. | ||||||||||
"Our efforts are unique in Minnesota, and probably in the United States," Peterson, a Beltrami County deputy assigned supervise the task forces, told Beltrami County commissioners last month. | ||||||||||
A state-funded task force, the Paul Bunyan Drug Task Force, operates out of Bemidji and includes officers from many local city and county jurisdictions. The Headwaters Safe Trails Task Force, funded through the FBI, is also headquartered at Bemidji, and is responsible for drug enforcement efforts on area American Indian reservations. | ||||||||||
"We have the benefit of two task forces here, with two Beltrami
County deputies on each," Peterson said. "The FBI furnishes vehicles
and gas to all on the task force, as well as cell phones and
overtime up to $15,310 a year. These are dollars that don't have to
come out of county budgets." | ||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||
The Red Lake Band of Chippewas initially pulled out of the Safe Trails Task Force, but Peterson said the task force still operates on the reservation, as all officers are cross-deputized as federal agents and the Red Lake Police Department recognizes that authority. | ||||||||||
The Red Lake Tribal Council "had a difference of opinion" in puling
out, Peterson said, but the band's public safety director, "sees it
as an officer safety issue too. ... We do go up there, even though
there is no signed memorandum of understanding. | ||||||||||
"The work is getting done, as we have special federal jurisdiction,"
he added. "The Sheriff's Office, however, can't pursue ( suspects )
on the reservation." | ||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||
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Cannabis & Hemp- | ||||||||||
COMMENT: (13-16) (Top) | ||||||||||
Authorities are still grappling with how to handle large gatherings and events in which a significant proportion of the attendees elect to partake of the forbidden herb, such as Reggae concerts. | ||||||||||
Known for attracting crowds and clouds, Marc Emery, Canada's Prince of Pot, savoured his freedom by paying a visit to his northern subjects in the Yukon Territory, to extol the virtues and champion the rights of cannabis culture, and sample the local weed. | ||||||||||
Cannabis culture icons Cheech and Chong sparked up their reunion tour, "Light Up America," at the prestigious National Arts Centre in Ottawa, reigniting a serious debate within the Canadian cannabis community over the costs and benefits of cannabis comedy. | ||||||||||
In case cannabis law reformers are being too discrete, there are
still a few vocal anti-drug groups left over from the late '70s to
expose us in the media for being the late '60s counter-culture
radicals we are. | ||||||||||
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(13) STAMPING OUT POT AT SHOWS IS NO EASY TASK (Top) | ||||||||||
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Outdoor Concerts Can Hinder Enforcement | ||||||||||
The stage lights go dim. A pungent odor saturates the air. | ||||||||||
And those aren't fireflies flickering in the summer night. | ||||||||||
In American culture, music and marijuana have been like popcorn and butter since the advent of the jazz era in the early 20th century. | ||||||||||
That history doesn't discourage drug-prevention specialist Lisa
Silverman of Carmel Valley from trying to reverse society's casual
attitude toward the forbidden herb. | ||||||||||
In August, Silverman attended a free Ziggy Marley concert at the Del
Mar Racetrack, just as she had the previous year, to see if pot
smokers were as abundant as before. Sure enough, bongs, blunts and
joints were ablaze. | ||||||||||
Not only were the pot-puffing reggae fans not intimidated by security guards, they offered some to anti-marijuana crusader Silverman, 49. | ||||||||||
"There were very few attendees who were not smoking marijuana,"
Silverman said, recounting her reconnaissance mission recently to a
stunned board of directors for the fairgrounds. | ||||||||||
Officials for the 22nd District Agricultural Association, the state
agency that oversees the 360-acre fairgrounds, appeared concerned and
agreed to investigate. | ||||||||||
One possible backlash: The state-owned fairgrounds may avoid booking
bands that attract a plethora of pot smokers. The fairgrounds hosts
about 30 major concerts each year, including 10 booked by the Del Mar
Thoroughbred Club to boost attendance at the summer races. The club
leases the fairgrounds' racetrack. | ||||||||||
"The ball is in their court," said Tim Fennell, the fairgrounds'
general manager, referring to music fans. "Don't jeopardize the music
you like by doing something improper." | ||||||||||
Experts on the concert scene say snuffing out marijuana smoking, especially at outdoor venues, might not be a realistic goal. | ||||||||||
"If people want to get high, they will get high no matter what the
regulations are," said Kenny Weissberg, a veteran San Diego concert
promoter. | ||||||||||
Reggae, hip-hop and classic rock groups seem to attract more cannabis
users than a traditional country act such as George Strait, Weissberg
said. | ||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||
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(14) CANNABIS CRUSADER CALLS ON WHITEHORSE (Top) | ||||||||||
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Marc Emery smokes a lot of pot. | ||||||||||
And he has a lot of beliefs that some might consider. wacky. | ||||||||||
You're a safer driver if you're high. Smoking pot during pregnancy
cures morning sickness and makes your children more creative. Pot
smokers will never get lung cancer. And marijuana helps grow new brain
cells. The Prince of Pot admits these claims sound a little radical.
"But sometimes the truth appears radical," said Emery. | ||||||||||
"It does make for better drivers and healthier children." But the
marijuana activist didn't bring any weed to the Yukon. "Typically I
let the locals smoke me up," said the 50-year-old leader of BC's
Marijuana Party. "That way, I can experience what you're smoking
here." | ||||||||||
It's Emery's first time championing cannabis in the territory. And
Whitehorse RCMP is worried. Known for smoking big reefers in front of
police stations across the country, Emery is a self-described
"crusader for freedom." When local RCMP heard Emery was coming, they
called up organizer Chris Gilbert and asked why he was bringing him
north. | ||||||||||
"They asked why I didn't just watch him on TV," said Gilbert. "Then
they told me, 'If there's illegal activity, and you're part of the
event, you're responsible.'" According to Emery, the RCMP also called
the owner of Doc's Deli, the venue where Emery was speaking on
Thursday night, and gave him a similar warning. | ||||||||||
"They said they were going to have a uniformed officer here tonight," said Emery. "But they can't do that - what we have here is a police state." However deli owner Dave Locke never heard officially from the RCMP. And there were no uniformed officers at Thursday's event. | ||||||||||
"I got about 20 calls inquiring whether the talk was here," said
Locke. "And one of them could have been the RCMP, but no one
identified themselves as RCMP." When he first offered the restaurant
to Gilbert, Locke had no idea who Emery was. | ||||||||||
"I thought it was going to be poems," he said. "I didn't know what was
going on." However, now that he's done a bit of research, Locke
doesn't regret his offer. "Freedom of speech - I'm all for it," he
said. "As long as there's nothing illegal going on, and they assured
me there wouldn't be." | ||||||||||
There were rumours Emery would be throwing hash into the crowd, and there'd be a big smoke-up at the end of the night, said Gilberts. | ||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||
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(15) ON GOLDEN BONG | ||||||||||
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Grumpy Old Stoners Cheech & Chong Are Back On Tour And Unrepentant | ||||||||||
When Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong attempted to reconcile their professional differences earlier this year, the meeting degenerated into a bickering session over who had written the best routines during their heady days as cultural icons. Chong went home and told his wife Shelby that Cheech had a bad attitude and was acting weird. | ||||||||||
"You guys should call your next movie Grumpy Old Stoners," sighed
Shelby Chong, "because that's what you've become." | ||||||||||
It seemed impossible back in the spring, but with the help of skilled managerial mediation, and wifely common sense, the grumpy old stoners buried their hatchets. Light Up America, their first tour in almost 30 years, starts Sept. 5 with two shows at the National Arts Centre. | ||||||||||
"It came down to what we can argue about the least," says Cheech, in
an interview from Malibu. "A short time ago we had a row and were
calling each other every kind of motherf#%&*er that there is and
everyone around us was looking at us like we're crazy. So we've
decided to be friends and it's as friends that we can go forward and
do this." | ||||||||||
The two or three previous efforts to recreate the old Cheech and Chong spark had ended in similar fashion -- fighting over past-perceived injustices and reviving old resentments. Like most successful show business duos, they had grown so close the friction became unbearable. They were part competing brothers, part old, bitter married couple. | ||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||
The two grandfathers, still hippies to their tie-dyed cores, did a dry run at a comedy club a few weeks back and clicked immediately. | ||||||||||
"Neither one of us knew how much we missed each other until we started
working again," says Chong. | ||||||||||
Cheech admits to being surprised: "We haven't worked together for 27
years," he says, "and if felt like a week. It's a strange
relationship. We are each other's biggest fans and are fiercely loyal
to each other, but can still piss each other off at the drop of a
hat." | ||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||
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(16) S.B. COUNTY GETS KUDOS FOR SEEING THROUGH THE SMOKE | ||||||||||
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The Inland Valley Drug Free Community Coalition supports San
Bernardino County's decision to ask the state Supreme Court to
intervene on State Attorney General Brown's demands that people be
allowed to smoke pot. San Bernardino County was not fooled by a small
group of pro-pot users who marched in mid-August demanding the county
issue pot ID cards. The failed protest attempt by pro-drug legalizers
is reminiscent of a drug culture craze a generation ago. Those days
are long gone and so is the perceived innocence of marijuana.
Thankfully, the leaders of San Bernardino County saw through their
smoke. | ||||||||||
However, in Riverside County, where the Board of Supervisors approved
medical marijuana ID cards, more than 1,000 ID cards have been issued.
Yes, nearly 1,000 - and at taxpayer expense. This angers citizens,
especially in tough economic times when funds should be diverted to
legitimate services for the community. The fact that taxpayer dollars
are being used to pay county employees to issue these cards is beyond
absurd. Nonetheless, a small radical group of drug legalizers got
their way. Riverside County made a mistake and we are confident they
will learn from this failure and join San Bernardino and San Diego
counties in the courts to fight back against the failures of
Proposition 215. | ||||||||||
California was fooled by Proposition 215. Guess how many people in
California use so-called medical marijuana? A jaw-dropping quarter
million Californians, and growing! Tell me there isn't something
seriously wrong with that. Thankfully not a single pot card has been
issued in San Bernardino County. But the pot protestors have the
audacity to march on the county and demand more pot use! Give us a
break. | ||||||||||
Marijuana use brings harm to our children and our communities. It's
clear now that a faltering drug legalization movement is afoot in the
Inland Empire and the Inland Valley Drug Free Community Coalition
stands alongside law enforcement and elected officials in San
Bernardino for their decision to not issue or recognize marijuana ID
cards. Our hearts go out to anyone suffering from an illness; however,
in the case of marijuana, we have seen time and again how the drug
legalization movement hides behind the sick for their own selfish
cause. | ||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||
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International News | ||||||||||
COMMENT: (17-20) (Top) | ||||||||||
In British Columbia, Canada, the 17th Al Capone style gangland
slaying this year isn't blamed on prohibition, as it was for the
prohibition of alcohol. No, say the editors of the Langley Times
newspaper, such slayings are instead to be blamed on the pot smoker,
"recreational drug users who can't see through their own smoke."
Maybe one day we'll see a headline closer to the mark, like, "Drug
Prohibition Funds Gangland Slayings." | ||||||||||
As the ruling minority Canadian Conservatives prepare to call an election this fall they are again casting about for an issue which they may show themselves to be "tough on drugs". This week Tories have settled upon the issue of drugs getting into prisons, which is ironic considering the numbers of people in prison for drug law violations in the first place. Not asking why tough-on-drug Tories haven't been able to rid even prisons of drugs, many Canadian papers instead uncritically reported the Harper prohibition plan de jour. | ||||||||||
What's 80 feet long and carries 12 tons of Colombian contraband
cocaine, underwater? If you answered "drug smuggling | ||||||||||
Speaking in New Zealand, retired Canadian judge Jerry Paradis
delivered the message that it is time to rethink the failed war on
drugs. "Drugs are too important to leave in the hands of criminals.
We have to start thinking about a better way of dealing with it,"
noted the former British Columbia judge of 30 years. "Drugs 101:
Safety, Health and Human Rights" was the topic of the judge's
speech, delivered at the University of Otago. | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
(17) DRUG USE LEADS TO GANGLAND SLAYINGS (Top) | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
The gangland-style assassination of a local realtor last week sent
shock waves through Chilliwack. | ||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||
But onus should not rest solely with the person who pulled the
trigger. | ||||||||||
If Gordon was indeed killed by organized crime, his murder was funded - - in part - by the recreational drug users who can't see through their own smoke to understand the world they are financing. | ||||||||||
Money drives organized crime. And every dollar spent on illicit
drugs trickles up the ladder to people who think nothing of ending a
life. | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
(18) TORIES ANNOUNCE CASH FOR PRISON DRUGS CRACKDOWN (Top) | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
The Conservative government announced last week that it will
increase prison security in an effort to restrict the flow of
illicit drugs.The initiative includes more drug-sniffing dogs,
security staff, scanners, and new search rules to detect smugglers
visiting the institutions. | ||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
(19) THE CRAFT POKE OUT ONLY A FOOT ABOVE WATER AND CAN CARRY 12 TONS (Top)OF DRUGS | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
WASHINGTON - Drug cartels have turned to a new and effective vehicle
to smuggle their goods, using small, homemade "semi-submersibles"
that are hard to detect and yet effective at carrying millions of
dollars worth of cocaine and other illicit drugs that end up in the
United States. | ||||||||||
Military officials who oversee Latin and South America have grown
alarmed by the increased use of these boats, which poke out above
the water only a foot or so but carry more than 12 tons of cargo.
The military's ability to interdict the craft is hampered in part
because its attention has been focused on the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan and on border security. | ||||||||||
"We're in a holding pattern," says Rear Adm. Joseph Nimmich, who
heads a military joint task force in the Florida Keys overseeing the
drug fight. "We are maintaining our own but not making huge
progress." | ||||||||||
The semi-subs, known as "self-propelled semi-submersibles," also
represent a serious national security threat: Today it's drugs, but
tomorrow's cargo could be heavy weaponry, senior defense officials
warn. | ||||||||||
Interdictions set to double from 2006 | ||||||||||
Military officials, working in conjunction with the US Coast Guard
and law-enforcement agencies, say they apprehended about 25 of the
hard-to-find semi-subs a couple of years ago but this year are on
track to find as many as 60. Another military official says that
number could be as high as 100 by the end of the year. | ||||||||||
Meanwhile, the semi-subs have an estimated success rate - actual
delivery of cargo - of about 80 percent, Admiral Nimmich says,
adding that he is confident the US can tackle the problem given more
focus and resources. | ||||||||||
Most of the boats have been intercepted in the eastern Pacific between South and Central America. In the last two years, the vessels have emerged as an increasingly viable way to transport large quantities of drugs that ultimately make their way into the | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
(20) THE DRUG WAR HAS 'FAILED' SAYS VISITING JUDGE (Top) | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
New Zealand is ideally placed to rethink the "huge" international hysteria surrounding drug prohibition, and to take a more rational approach to drug use, retired Canadian judge Jerry Paradis says. | ||||||||||
Judge Paradis, who retired as a judge for the Provincial Court of
British Columbia in 2003 after nearly 30 years on the bench, was in
Dunedin this week as part of a national speaking tour supported by
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP). | ||||||||||
Leap is an international organisation comprising current and former
members of the law enforcement and criminal justice communities who
speak out about the failures of existing drug policies. | ||||||||||
Judge Paradis, who lives in Vancouver and is an executive board member of LEAP, will next week make a presentation to the New Zealand Law Commission's review on drug policy and the law. | ||||||||||
The long-running "war against drugs" had failed, with illicit drugs
more readily available, and associated violence and deaths rising
internationally through the involvement of criminals in drug
distribution and supply, he said in an interview. | ||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||
"Drugs are too important to leave in the hands of criminals. We have to start thinking about a better way of dealing with it," he said. | ||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||
Mr Paradis gave a public lecture on "Drugs 101: Safety, Health and Human Rights" at the University of Otago on Monday night. | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
HOT OFF THE 'NET (Top) | ||||||||||
KEEPING THE PSYCHEDELIC DREAM ALIVE: AN INTERVIEW WITH RICK DOBLIN | ||||||||||
By Arran Frood, New Scientist. Posted September 2, 2008. | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
DRUG TRUTH NETWORK | ||||||||||
Century of Lies - 09/02/08 - Richard Van Winkler | ||||||||||
Richard Van Wickler, superintendent for the Cheshire County (NH)
Department of Corrections and member of Law Enforcement Against
Prohibition. | ||||||||||
Cultural Baggage Radio Show - 09/04/08 - Peter Christ | ||||||||||
Peter Christ, one of the founding members of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition discusses failings of current drug war policy. | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
MCCAIN, PALIN & POT | ||||||||||
By Ethan Nadelmann, Drug Policy Alliance | ||||||||||
It's hard to know what to make of Senator McCain's selection of Alaska
Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. She's admitted to smoking
marijuana -- but then again that's also true of every Democratic
nominee for president since 1992, as well as Newt Gingrich, Clarence
Thomas and lots of other prominent Republicans. | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
CHEMICALS IN MARIJUANA MAY FIGHT MRSA | ||||||||||
By Paul Armentano, NORML | ||||||||||
Well what do you know? A mainstream media outlet finally picked up on
this story! | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
VENEZUELA, US GOVERNMENTS SPAR OVER DRUG FIGHTING | ||||||||||
Drug War Chronicle, Issue #550, 9/5/08 | ||||||||||
The tense relations between the Bush administration and Venezuela's
President Hugo Chavez grew even more strained this week as Washington
and Caracas traded charges and counter-charges over Venezuela's fight
against cocaine trafficking. | ||||||||||
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/550/US_Venezuela_cocaine | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
2007 NATIONAL SURVEY ON DRUG USE AND HEALTH | ||||||||||
This report presents the first information from the 2007 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), an annual survey of the civilian, noninstitutionalized population of the United States aged 12 years old or older. This initial report on the 2007 data presents national estimates of rates of use, numbers of users, and other measures related to illicit drugs, alcohol, and tobacco products. | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
OBAMA, MCCAIN: WHO'LL LEAD ON DRUGS, BLOATED PRISONS? | ||||||||||
By Neal Peirce | ||||||||||
Will America's ill-starred "war on drugs" and its expanding prison
culture make it into the presidential campaign? | ||||||||||
Standard wisdom says "no way." | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
ETERNAL WAR MUSIC VIDEO | ||||||||||
The Drug Truth Network has released of a new anti-drug-war song,
Eternal War from "Adult Users" | ||||||||||
The radio version in WAV and MP3 formats as well as video versions
in AVI, MOV, MPG and WMV formats are available at: | ||||||||||
The video is now on YouTube at: | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
WHAT YOU CAN DO THIS WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||
SHOULD NO-KNOCK POLICE RAIDS BE RARE-OR ROUTINE? | ||||||||||
Policy Forum, Thursday, September 11, 2008, 4:00 PM | ||||||||||
The Cato Institute will be hosting an event next week on no-knock
police raids featuring Mayor Cheye Calvo, Radley Balko, author of the
Cato study, Overkill, and LEAP's Peter Christ. If you're in the DC area,
they hope you can make it. For those outside the DC area, you can watch
the event live on the web. | ||||||||||
For more information, visit: | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
TELL THE NFL TO STOP DRIVING ITS PLAYERS TO DRINK. | ||||||||||
SAFER has a fun on-line petition going on... Please check it out and
spread the word if you're interested. | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
LETTER OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||
WHY IT'S TIME TO END DRUG WAR | ||||||||||
By Edward H. Decker | ||||||||||
Some people don't seem to understand why crime is associated with
the drug war. ( Don't give up on drug war," Aug. 26. ) | ||||||||||
It's no different than the U.S. experience with Prohibition. Before
Prohibition, there were people with drinking problems. After
Prohibition, there still were people with drinking problems, but we
added organized crime such as Al Capone, the Purple Gang and Murder
Inc. | ||||||||||
Law enforcement can't enforce all laws all the time. Ask any of the
illegal immigrants in this country who have been caught with fake
IDs. | ||||||||||
The bottom line is that if drugs weren't illegal, drug addicts could
get help without fear of going to jail and there would be no profit
for drug hustlers. We taxpayers would save billions of dollars.
There would be no profit for drug dealers, and we taxpayers would
save hundreds of billions of dollars. | ||||||||||
The drug war is 94 years old, and yet we arrest more than 800,000
people a year just for marijuana offenses. | ||||||||||
Don't give up? Sorry, but no matter how much you beat a dead horse,
it still isn't getting back up again. If you pick up a hot pot and
it hurts, the smart person puts on a hot mitt or puts down the pot,
instead of doing the same dumb thing again. | ||||||||||
Edward H. Decker | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
LETTER WRITER OF THE MONTH - AUGUST (Top) | ||||||||||
DrugSense recognizes Alan Randell of Victoria, B.C. for his three letters published during August which brings his career total, that we know of, to 480. You may review his superb letters at | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
FEATURE ARTICLE (Top) | ||||||||||
New Drug Survey Demolishes Drug Czar's Claims | ||||||||||
By Bruce Mirken | ||||||||||
"When we push back against the drug problem, it gets smaller." --
John Walters, White House Drug Czar | ||||||||||
Well, now we know why federal officials chose to release the 2007
National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) ( see | ||||||||||
First, some raw numbers: The total number of Americans who have used
illicit drugs is up from 108 million in 2002, the first full year of
Walters' tenure, to 114 million in 2007. And the number of Americans
who've used marijuana has passed the 100 million mark for the first
time -- up from 95 million in 2002. | ||||||||||
Rates of drug use have gone up as well. In 2002, 46.0 percent of Americans had used an illicit drug at some point in their lives. In 2007 it was 46.1 percent. For marijuana, the rate went from 40.4 percent to 40.6 percent. Both the "any illicit drug" and marijuana use rates had dropped a bit in 2006 and spiked notably in the new survey. Illicit use of painkillers such as OxyContin is up notably -- a disturbing trend considering the addictive nature of such drugs, not to mention the risk of fatal overdose (a nonexistent risk with marijuana). "Current" (past 30 days) use of illicit drugs is down only marginally since 2002 -- from 8.3 percent to 8.0 percent for all illicit drugs, and the trend for marijuana is similar. | ||||||||||
And, strikingly, despite all of Walters' huffing and puffing about
marijuana, the number of Americans starting marijuana use for the
first time has not budged during his tenure. | ||||||||||
If this is success, someone please tell me what failure looks like. | ||||||||||
But wait, there's more. ONDCP officials regularly argue that
maintaining criminal penalties for marijuana possession is essential
to stopping drug abuse. So what's happened with a dangerous drug
whose possession is legal: cigarettes? NSDUH conveniently provides
figures for past-month cigarette use, and both the number of users
and the rate of cigarette use is down markedly. In 2002, 26 percent
of Americans were current cigarette smokers; now it's 24.2 percent,
continuing a decades-long decline. And the decline in current
cigarette smoking for 12-to-17-year-olds is even more dramatic, from
13 percent to 9.8 percent. | ||||||||||
That, of course, is with zero arrests for cigarette possession,
compared with 739,000 marijuana possession arrests in 2006 (the last
year for which stats are available). | ||||||||||
The numbers are in. Marijuana prohibition is a wasteful farce. And
John Walters' tenure as drug czar has been a failure. | ||||||||||
Bruce Mirken is communications director for the Marijuana Policy
Project - http://www.mpp.org | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
QUOTE OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||
"It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by
men of their own choice if the laws are so voluminous that they
cannot be read, or so incoherent that they can't be understood."
- Alexander Hamilton (from the Federalist Papers) | ||||||||||
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Policy and Law Enforcement/Prison content selection and analysis by
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