| Jan. 2, 2009 #581 | ||||||||||
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Table of Contents
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THIS JUST IN (Top) | ||||||||||
(1) POLICE PREPARE FOR NEW POT LAW (Top) | ||||||||||
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The state District Attorney's Office and area police departments
have been scrambling to prepare for the new marijuana possession law
that goes into effect today a measure law enforcement officials
strongly opposed. | ||||||||||
Only days ago, the state Executive Office of Public Safety and
Security released an outline of the new law's citation process,
potential legal issues and rules for dealing with minors. On
Tuesday, the Bristol County District Attorney's Office met with area
police chiefs to review the guidelines so officers can begin
enforcing the law. | ||||||||||
"We're professional police officers," said Swansea Police Chief George Arruda. "We're prepared to respond to Question 2." | ||||||||||
In Massachusetts, those caught with an ounce or less of marijuana
will be charged only with a criminal offense and fined $100. Minors
will also be required to complete a drug awareness program. Question
2 was approved on Nov. 4 with 65 percent support.
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Somerset Police Captain John Solomito said Somerset police "should be all set" to enforce the new law. On Wednesday, he sent out memos to officers with information he gathered from different state agencies. "I don't feel it'll be a major adjustment," he said. | ||||||||||
But many questions remain unanswered as the law goes into effect,
like what kind of citations to use, how to confirm that what is
seized is marijuana, or what to do with those caught with pot who
aren't required to identify themselves. "It's a little convoluted,"
said Fall River Police Chief John Souza. | ||||||||||
[snip]
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(2) NEW SENTENCING GUIDELINES FOR CRACK, NEW CHALLENGES (Top) | ||||||||||
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Michael D. Thompson, a former crack cocaine dealer, thought he
deserved a break. | ||||||||||
Sentenced in 2000 to 15 years and eight months in prison, Thompson
asked a federal judge in the District to release him, arguing that
he had received an unfair sentence and has turned his life around
behind bars, earning a general equivalency diploma and completing a
commercial driving course. | ||||||||||
Federal prosecutors said that was a terrible idea. Citing Thompson's
criminal past and prison disciplinary record, which includes
threatening a prison official with a knife, prosecutors argued in
court papers that the 37-year-old poses a danger to the community
and should complete his sentence. | ||||||||||
Thompson's case is one of thousands around the country in which
crack offenders and their defense attorneys are sparring with
federal prosecutors over how to interpret new sentencing guidelines
for crack possession or sale. The guidelines were issued to right
old wrongs. But they have led to time-consuming legal challenges
dealing with the often long-forgotten consequences of the bloody
crack wars in the late 1980s and 1990s. | ||||||||||
Defense lawyers say they are correcting systemic sentencing flaws
that removed their clients, mostly black men, from their communities
for too many years. Federal prosecutors say they are working to
prevent bad guys from returning to the streets to wreak more havoc.
Both sides say they are seeking justice. | ||||||||||
[snip]
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(3) LEWISTON'S ACTING MAYOR REPORTS VANISHED DOCUMENTS, DRUGS AND (Top)MONEY | ||||||||||
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LEWISTON, Minn. -- Money, drugs and documents are missing from the Lewiston Police Department's evidence locker; close to $50,000 sent to the city is unaccounted for; and a number of public records are missing from City Hall, acting Mayor Richard Ahrens said Wednesday. | ||||||||||
Ahrens made the comments at the conclusion of his final city council
meeting, saying that incoming council members should address the
problems. "I hope they get everything straightened out," Ahrens
said. | ||||||||||
A new mayor and two new council members will be sworn in next week,
but when contacted Wednesday afternoon, Mayor-elect David Sommer
said he hadn't been told about the problems. | ||||||||||
Police discovered that items, including an undisclosed amount of
drugs and "a couple thousand bucks," were missing, after taking an
inventory of the evidence locker shortly after Dan Walker was hired
as interim police chief Jan. 31, 2008, said Police Chief David
Kleinschmidt. | ||||||||||
The locker, which can be unlocked only with a key, is stored in the
police chief's office in City Hall, Kleinschmidt said. | ||||||||||
[snip]
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(4) COVINA ARRESTS MYSTIFY A NEIGHBORHOOD (Top) | ||||||||||
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Mexico Under Siege
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After Two Mexican Federal Agents and Two Others Were Arrested in
July on Drug-Related Charges, Little Has Emerged About the Case and
Residents Are Puzzled. | ||||||||||
The residents of North Monte Verde Drive, a stretch of oak-shaded suburban calm in the Covina area, normally would feel safe knowing that two off-duty police officers were visiting the neighborhood. | ||||||||||
Not this time. These officers were far from home -- agents of the
Mexican federal police -- and they ended up on the wrong side of a
bust, with a fortune in cash that prosecutors say was tied to
narcotics trafficking. | ||||||||||
The raid in July raised the specter that the often-brutal workings
of the Mexican drug trade have reached deep into Southern
California. But five months later, the fuller background of the case
remains a mystery. | ||||||||||
"We all just sort of went, 'Yikes!' " Susan Wood, a longtime Monte
Verde resident, said of the possible link between her neighborhood
and the mayhem a country away. "This isn't a drug-trafficky area at
all."
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[snip]
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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW (Top) | ||||||||||
Domestic News- Policy
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COMMENT: (5-9) (Top) | ||||||||||
A rare bit of questioning of the drug rehab movement from the mainstream media - the New York Times, even - was published right before Christmas. In West Virginia, a federal judge halts plans to widely test public school teachers for drugs. Note to state legislators in Hawaii who are trying to do the same thing: You might want to pay attention to this one. And, in Louisiana, teacher drug testing creeps into new realms, even though it wasn't supposed to. | ||||||||||
Also last week, the Los Angeles Times takes a longer look at the
dangers for the U.S. in assuming it can help Mexico defeat drug
cartels while prohibition remains in effect; and the merging of the
terror war and the drug war produces its first wasteful fruit, as a
man from Afghanistan becomes the first sentenced under federal
narco-terror laws. | ||||||||||
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(5) DRUG REHABILITATION OR REVOLVING DOOR? (Top) | ||||||||||
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The Evidence Gap
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ROSEBURG, Ore. - Their first love might be the rum or vodka or gin
and juice that is going around the bonfire. Or maybe the smoke, the
potent marijuana that grows in the misted hills here like moss on a
wet stone. | ||||||||||
But it hardly matters. Here as elsewhere in the country, some users
start early, fall fast and in their reckless prime can swallow,
snort, inject or smoke anything available, from crystal meth to
prescription pills to heroin and ecstasy. And treatment, if they get
it at all, can seem like a joke. | ||||||||||
"After the first couple of times I went through, they basically told
me that there was nothing they could do," said Angella, a
17-year-old from the central Oregon city of Bend, who by freshman
year in high school was drinking hard liquor every day, smoking pot
and sampling a variety of harder drugs. "They were like, 'Uh, I
don't think so.' "
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She tried residential programs twice, living away from home for three months each time. In those, she learned how dangerous her habit was, how much pain it was causing others in her life. She worked on strengthening her relationship with her grandparents, with whom she lived. For two months or so afterward she stayed clean. | ||||||||||
"Then I went right back," Angella said in an interview. "After a
while, you know, you just start missing your friends."
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Every year, state and federal governments spend more than $15
billion, and insurers at least $5 billion more, on substance-abuse
treatment services for some four million people. That amount may
soon increase sharply: last year, Congress passed the mental health
parity law, which for the first time includes addiction treatment
under a federal law requiring that insurers cover mental and
physical ailments at equal levels. | ||||||||||
Many clinics across the county have waiting lists, and researchers
estimate that some 20 million Americans who could benefit from
treatment do not get it. | ||||||||||
Yet very few rehabilitation programs have the evidence to show that
they are effective. The resort-and-spa private clinics generally do
not allow outside researchers to verify their published success
rates. The publicly supported programs spend their scarce resources
on patient care, not costly studies. | ||||||||||
And the field has no standard guidelines. Each program has its own philosophy; so, for that matter, do individual counselors. No one knows which approach is best for which patient, because these programs rarely if ever track clients closely after they graduate. Even Alcoholics Anonymous, the best known of all the substance-abuse programs, does not publish data on its participants' success rate. | ||||||||||
[snip]
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(6) FEDERAL JUDGE FREEZES, BLASTS TEACHER DRUG TESTING POLICY (Top) | ||||||||||
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CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A federal judge halted the Kanawha County
school system's plan to randomly drug test teachers. | ||||||||||
U.S. District Judge Joseph Robert Goodwin said the drug testing plan
would force teachers to submit to an unconstitutional and
unjustified search. He also gave a scathing rebuke of the policy and
the school board that approved it. | ||||||||||
Goodwin said the Kanawha school system's plan to randomly test 25
percent of its teachers and other school personnel each year was
made even though it does not appear that there is a pervasive drug
problem in the county. | ||||||||||
He said that the school board's argument that something bad could
happen while a teacher under the influence of drugs was supervising
children was based on an unreasonable kind of worse-case-scenario
thinking. Goodwin asked why the board had not also passed a policy
to randomly test teachers for tropical diseases. | ||||||||||
"Total security for us and our children is only possible - if
unlikely - in a totalitarian state," Goodwin said. | ||||||||||
[snip]
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(7) DRUG-TESTING SUIT DISPUTED (Top) | ||||||||||
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School Board Says It Has New Policy
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A teachers' lawsuit over drug and alcohol tests should be considered
moot because of changes to testing policy, the East Baton Rouge
Parish School Board said in a court filing. | ||||||||||
But the document, filed Friday, does not specify what changes have
been made to a policy that members of the East Baton Rouge
Federation of Teachers say is unconstitutional. The federation
opposes mandatory tests for injured educators who are not suspected
of abusing drugs or alcohol. | ||||||||||
Two attorneys for the School Board said Monday a policy that
mandated testing of teachers injured during work hours was suspended
before the federation filed its suit Oct. 21.
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"We've not completed the new policy, but we have suspended the
current practice," said Domoine Rutledge, the board's general
counsel. | ||||||||||
"It was suspended," added Dennis Blunt, a Baton Rouge attorney hired
to represent the School Board in the suit. | ||||||||||
"I don't think anyone is tested ( now ) absent some reasonable
suspicion," Blunt added. | ||||||||||
But Yigal Bander, an attorney for the federation, noted that an
exemplary teacher was subjected to mandatory drug testing in
September after she suffered a minor injury while breaking up a
fight between two students. | ||||||||||
Bander added that some of the board's written policies and procedures still require mandatory testing for injured teachers. | ||||||||||
[snip]
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(8) MISTRUST BEDEVILS WAR ON CARTELS (Top) | ||||||||||
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Mexico Under Siege
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The U.S. has begun pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into
Mexico to help stanch the expansion of drug-fueled violence and
corruption that has claimed more than 5,000 lives south of the
border this year. | ||||||||||
The bloodshed has spread to American cities, even to the heartland, and U.S. officials are realizing that their fight against powerful drug cartels responsible for the carnage has come down to this: Either walk away or support Mexican President Felipe Calderon's strategy, even with the risk that counter-narcotics intelligence, equipment and training could end up in the hands of cartel bosses. | ||||||||||
Both nations agree that the cartels have morphed into transnational
crime syndicates that pose an urgent threat to their security and
that of the region. Law enforcement agencies from the border to
Maine acknowledge that the traffickers have brought a war once
dismissed as a foreign affair to the doorstep of local communities.
The trail of slayings, kidnappings and other crimes stretches
through at least 195 U.S. cities.
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The rapidly escalating problem will probably present the Obama
administration with hard choices on how to work with Mexico to
combat the cartels and the gun-running, money-laundering and other
illicit businesses that nourish them. | ||||||||||
So far, the fight has largely been waged by the Calderon
administration, which deployed thousands of federal troops and
police to 18 states to take on the cartels, some of which have
paramilitary forces protecting them and many police officers and
politicians in their pockets. | ||||||||||
[snip]
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(9) LIFE IN PRISON (Top) | ||||||||||
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WASHINGTON ( AP ) An Afghan enemy combatant convicted on drug
charges has been sentenced to life in prison. | ||||||||||
Heroin dealer Khan Mohammed on Monday received two life sentences
running concurrently from U. S. District Judge Colleen
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In addiction to selling drugs, federal prosecutors said Mohammed
also was an arms trafficker who targeted Afghans and U. S. personnel
in Afghanistan. He was held as an enemy combatant before he agreed
in 2006 to face trail in the United States. | ||||||||||
A federal jury found Khan guilty of securing heroin and opium that
he knew were bound for the United States and, in doing so, assisting
terrorism activity. | ||||||||||
His conviction on narco-terrorism charges in May was the first under
new narco-terrorism laws, the Justice department said. | ||||||||||
[snip]
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Law Enforcement & Prisons
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COMMENT: (10-13) (Top) | ||||||||||
More violence and injustice in the drug war, and a slight bit of
hope from the U.S. Senate of all places.
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(10) DRUG MULES FACE POTENTIALLY DEADLY CONSEQUENCES (Top) | ||||||||||
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LAWRENCE, Mass. - Miguel Tavera came to Lawrence last March, living with relatives and working several jobs so he could send money back to his wife and two young daughters in the Dominican Republic. | ||||||||||
But when the 27-year-old was laid off several months ago, he had to
find another way to make money. He hooked up with two local drug
dealers who offered to pay him to fly to the Dominican Republic and
carry small, tightly-wrapped packages of heroin back into the
country in his stomach. | ||||||||||
But no one has seen Tavera since he flew back to Boston on Nov. 18.
His family and police believe he is dead. | ||||||||||
It's not an uncommon story. Last spring, Merlyn Gonzalez, 26, left
Lawrence and flew to the Dominican Republic. She was paid $4,000 to
ingest 47 tiny bags of heroin, which carried a street value of
approximately $50,000. | ||||||||||
Unlike Tavera, Gonzalez made it back to Lawrence. But when she got
home, she became ill when some of the bags ripped open, causing an
overdose. She was rushed to the hospital, and after the drugs had
passed through her system, she was charged with trafficking heroin.
She recently pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years and a
day in prison. | ||||||||||
[snip]
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(11) 200 MARCH AFTER ELMORE'S FUNERAL (Top) | ||||||||||
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Panthers Carry Guns, But Protest Is Peaceful
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Pumping fists and chanting "no justice, no peace," about 200 people
marched through Cherry Tree Crossing housing development Monday in a
demonstration against police brutality, led by shotgun-toting
members of the New Black Panthers Party's Augusta chapter. The march
went off peacefully, but when it ended at the site where 23-year-old
Justin "Jed" Elmore's SUV crashed after he was shot by deputies last
week, officers in riot gear were waiting by a package store across
15th Street. Sheriff Ronnie Strength said Cherry Tree residents
called the department complaining about Panthers members carrying
guns. | ||||||||||
"This created a major problem there, but it was not caused by folks
living there," the sheriff said. "We were not going to let anyone be
over there with weapons."
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The march followed Mr. Elmore's funeral Monday morning at Macedonia Baptist Church on Wrightsboro Road. Uniformed members of the New Black Panthers -- a militant black supremacist organization founded in Dallas in 1989 and not affiliated with the Black Panther Party that became well-known in the 1960s -- were on hand for that, too. | ||||||||||
Augusta chapter Chairman Bobby Price said he wanted to give
neighborhood residents a nonviolent outlet to vent against Mr.
Elmore's Dec. 14 killing, which sparked civil unrest with residents
hurling rocks, bottles and invectives at deputies. | ||||||||||
Not wanting to spark another confrontation when police arrived, Mr.
Price had his members put their guns away and, after an interview
with a local television reporter, wrapped up the demonstration and
left. | ||||||||||
[snip]
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(12) 101 AND LOSING HER HOME (Top) | ||||||||||
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Mamie Singleton, 101, and her granddaughter, Mary Reaves, 56, are
being evicted from their home of 45 years. | ||||||||||
They received a notice last week from Syracuse police Chief Gary Miguel, giving them five days to leave their two-family house at 114 Baker Ave. They were supposed to move out by Christmas Eve. | ||||||||||
The property is being closed for six months under the city's
nuisance abatement law because of drug arrests at the house, Miguel
said. | ||||||||||
The women's lawyer, Randi Bianco, appealed for an emergency stay to
halt the proceedings until after the holidays and Onondaga County
Judge Anthony Aloi granted the request Tuesday, moving back the
case until Jan. 5.
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[snip]
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(13) WEBB SETS HIS SIGHTS ON PRISON REFORM (Top) | ||||||||||
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Senator Proposes National Panel
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Somewhere along the meandering career path that led James Webb to
the U.S. Senate, he found himself in the frigid interior of a
Japanese prison. | ||||||||||
A journalist at the time, he was working on an article about Ed
Arnett, an American who had spent two years in Fuchu Prison for
possession of marijuana. In a January 1984 Parade magazine piece,
Webb described the harsh conditions imposed on Arnett, who had
frostbite and sometimes labored in solitary confinement making paper
bags. | ||||||||||
"But, surprisingly, Arnett, home in Omaha, Neb., says he prefers
Japan's legal system to ours," Webb wrote. "Why? 'Because it's
fair,' he said."
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This spring, Webb ( D-Va. ) plans to introduce legislation on a
long-standing passion of his: reforming the U.S. prison system.
Jails teem with young black men who later struggle to rejoin
society, he says. Drug addicts and the mentally ill take up cells
that would be better used for violent criminals. And politicians
have failed to address this costly problem for fear of being labeled
"soft on crime."
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[snip]
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Cannabis & Hemp-
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COMMENT: (14-17) (Top) | ||||||||||
Despite presenting a somewhat inaccurate and misleading
interpretation of the recent Beckley Commission report, which
advocated cannabis regulation and control, The New Scientist
deduced the correct question to the Commission's answer; "What should
we do to minimise the harm cannabis can cause to the health and
welfare of users and to society at large?"
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Sceptics of the new civil penalty regime in Massachusetts are proposing additional fines and sanctions for those found smoking cannabis in public, presumably reserving the smaller fines voters approved last November for smokers apprehended in their homes? | ||||||||||
Tired of waiting for cannabis legalization, Torontonians are
establishing cannabis-friendly cafes and social clubs in defiance of
the law. | ||||||||||
A botched paramilitary police raid in Missouri last December is
causing some to wonder what these expensive and inherently perilous
operations give us in return. | ||||||||||
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(14) RADICAL ALTERNATIVES PROPOSED FOR CANNABIS CONTROLS (Top) | ||||||||||
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What should we do to minimise the harm cannabis can cause to the
health and welfare of users and to society at large? The answer,
according to a report by a group of prominent academics and government
advisers, is to change the law to allow the state to prepare and
distribute the drug for recreational use. | ||||||||||
This controversial proposal comes from a commission assembled by the
Beckley Foundation, a British charity dedicated to exploring the
science of psychoactive substances. "The damage done by prohibition is
worse than from the substance itself," says Amanda Feilding, the
founder of the Beckley Foundation. | ||||||||||
The Beckley commission's ideas will be aired in March at a meeting in
Vienna, Austria, of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs. The UNCND
will report to a meeting of the UN general assembly later this year
that will set international policy on drug control for the decade to
come. | ||||||||||
[snip]
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The legalisation proposed by the Beckley group is likely to face
strong opposition in Vienna both from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime
and from many governments. The fear is that easing up on cannabis will
undermine the whole international effort to combat recreational drug
use. "Cannabis is the most vulnerable point of the whole multilateral
edifice," Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the UNODC, said
in a speech in March 2008. | ||||||||||
The US has set its face firmly against any move towards legalisation,
fearing that this would produce a nation of dope-heads. A document
launched in July 2008 by the US Office of National Drug Control Policy
(ONDCP) declared marijuana to be "the greatest cause of illegal drug
abuse". | ||||||||||
Dave Murray, head of research at the ONDCP, told New Scientist that strict enforcement of anti-drug laws had helped cut teenage use of marijuana by 25 per cent between 2001 and 2008. In the absence of prohibition, it would have been difficult to achieve that," he says. | ||||||||||
[snip]
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Feilding accepts that there may be few takers in Vienna for her
group's proposals. But the mere fact that an alternative to the strict
prohibition of cannabis will even be considered is a breakthrough in
itself, she says. | ||||||||||
[snip]
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(15) JOINT MOVE TO TARGET PUBLIC POT SMOKING (Top) | ||||||||||
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Pot smokers flying high over a new law providing simple tickets for
possessing small amounts of weed could still find themselves in cuffs
as city leaders weigh a state recommendation to get tough on public
toking. | ||||||||||
I'd sign it in a second," Lynn Mayor Edward "Chip" Clancy said. "I wasn't in favor of the ballot question. I don't think the expansion of marijuana use, or any other drug for that matter, is a good idea." | ||||||||||
The soft-on-pot law just approved by Bay State voters takes effect
Friday, making possession of less than an ounce of marijuana
punishable by a $100 fine, rather than arrest. | ||||||||||
But in guidelines issued by the Executive Office of Public Safety and
Security yesterday, state officials urged cities and towns to pass
local laws to pile on additional fines and make it a crime to smoke
pot in public. | ||||||||||
I think communities would have to take a hard look at doing something
like that," said Woburn Mayor Thomas McLaughlin, calling the state's
recommendation "interesting."
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Public toking laws were not previously needed on the books because simple possession was a criminal offense, albeit a misdemeanor. | ||||||||||
Attorney General Martha Coakley, who opposed the pot power play overwhelmingly approved by voters in November, suggested towns tack on an additional $300 civil penalty as well as criminal penalties. | ||||||||||
Decriminalization backers fear the proposed local crackdown amounts to
an "end-run" around the spirit of the new law. | ||||||||||
[snip]
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(16) LAW OR NO, THESE JOINTS ARE SMOKIN' IN THE CITY (Top) | ||||||||||
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Marijuana activist Matt Mernagh likes to show off Toronto's cannabis community, which he considers one of its untapped tourist attractions | ||||||||||
When police raided the Kindred Cafe Nov. 20 for allegedly trafficking
marijuana, it shone a spotlight on one of the city's biggest open
secrets. | ||||||||||
There are places where you can smoke weed with relative impunity,
provided you don't make a scene. | ||||||||||
With a couple of well-known pot cafes and a smattering of private
smokers' clubs - not to mention a thriving network of bong shops and
hemp stores - Toronto's marijuana scene rivals Vancouver's, according
to some herb aficionados. | ||||||||||
Most of the action centres on "Yongesterdam," a strip of Yonge St. near Wellesley St. nicknamed after pot-friendly Amsterdam. | ||||||||||
Each summer, pot activist Matt Mernagh leads a weekly tour of the
area's cannabis community, showing off what he considers one of the
city's untapped tourist attractions. | ||||||||||
The tour starts at Vapor Central, a vaporizer store and "tester
lounge," then on to various seed and hemp stores. If the group feels
particularly energetic, Mernagh says, they'll hit the Hot Box Cafe in
Kensington Market, famous for its backyard "potio."
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The cafe is among a handful of establishments in the city that allow
customers to smoke weed, though owner Abi Roach stresses they don't
sell it in any form. | ||||||||||
[snip]
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(17) EFFORT TO GET MARIJUANA RAISES QUESTION OF WORTH (Top) | ||||||||||
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In the case against the Smith family, the police raided the home to
find the four pounds of marijuana which they knew was in the house.
They burst in, using flash bang grenades to disorient and confuse the
people in the house, and hoped to safely remove the marijuana without
anyone getting hurt. However, they were prepared to fight for the
"pot" and do whatever was necessary to get it. No one got hurt, a
miracle considering that shots were fired. | ||||||||||
Now I ask you all, was it worth it?
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The potential was here for loss of life, and I ask again, is that
worth it? A 19-year-old girl could potentially go to prison for the
best years of her life, so that four pounds of marijuana, an herb, is
taken out of circulation. | ||||||||||
At the end of this raid, did the police congratulate themselves on
serving "justice"? How about if the worst possible scenario had played
out? Had the girl accidentally killed the policeman, and I do believe
that she had no idea what was going on in the house for her to have
shot through that door (what do we think, that this girl was planning
on taking out an entire SWAT team but stopped at the one shot?), and
then the police responded by shooting her, would it still have been
worth it? Had the other policemen decided to be rougher on the
remaining suspects in the house, after seeing two people shot and
killed, and a policeman decided to sit on the young pregnant girl, as
officers do to stop a struggling suspect, and the baby been killed,
would it still have been worth it?
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For four pounds of marijuana?
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That means that, to stop four pounds of herb from hitting the street,
it is possible to have two people die and a baby killed in the womb
and consider this an acceptable exchange. How far off have our
priorities fallen to allow this?
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[snip]
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International News
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COMMENT: (18-21) (Top) | ||||||||||
In a gesture of mercy, the communist Chinese Supreme People's Court
last week proclaimed that not all those selling drugs deserved the
death penalty. Those selling drugs from the "lowest income group...
have very little power and are not considered as 'harmful' to
society" as gang leaders, said the court. As it stands, those in
China caught with 50 grams or more of heroin are subject to the
death penalty. | ||||||||||
In Victoria, Canada, mobile needle exchanges aren't getting nearly
the same return rate on needles as the previous, fixed location. In
2006, before the storefront needle exchange location was replaced by
outreach workers on bicycles, the fixed location needle exchange saw
needle return rates of 99.8%. Now, the mobile needle exchange return
rate has dropped to about 36%. A recent University of Victoria study
notes, "when you make it difficult for drug addicts to get clean
needles, they are more likely to reuse what they have, increasing
the risk of infection and the spread of diseases such as HIV and
hepatitis C."
| ||||||||||
In Argentina last week, opposition leader Elisa Carrio, publicly
joined calls to decriminalize drug use. Police, ecclesiastical and
anti-drug groups were quick to find fault with the idea, describing
the move as "a huge favour for drug dealers," which "goes against
human life." Federal Prosecutor Monica Cunarro (on a government
committee to amend drug laws) disagreed, pointing the finger at
prohibition. "The current drug law is the one that's been functional
to drug trafficking."
| ||||||||||
And from Uganda this week, Nsaba Buturo, Minister of Ethics and
Integrity holds forth in the Ugandan New Vision newspaper on the
topic of Ugandan morals. While "human rights" may have caught the
fancy of others, Buturo identified witchcraft, witchdoctors, and
time mismanagers as the big problems in Uganda. Singled out as
corrupters of the morals of Ugandan youth were drug-taking artists.
"So called artistes were in the lead of popularising possession and
taking of drugs. They elevated drug taking to a bizarre level which
is harmful to our young generation. Such drugs include -marijuana,
cannabis, cocaine and opium."
| ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
(18) POOR DRUG SELLERS 'DESERVE LENIENCY' (Top) | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
The Supreme People's Court (SPC) said yesterday that people driven
by poverty to join drug traffickers' gangs but not playing important
roles may not be given the death sentence. | ||||||||||
"Some of the people involved in drug trafficking are from the lowest
income group or are unemployed they are paid small amounts (of
money) to peddle or carry drugs," says an SPC guideline, issued to
lower courts. | ||||||||||
Unlike drug dealers and gang leaders they have very little power and
are not considered as "harmful" to society. | ||||||||||
"All courts should deal with them with leniency, instead of simply
punishing them according to the quantity of drugs" they are found
carrying or peddling, the guideline says. | ||||||||||
While deciding on capital punishment, courts should consider comprehensively the quantity of drug carried by the accused, how he/she joined a gang and his/her subjective culpability. | ||||||||||
At present, people found guilty of selling or carrying more than 50 g of heroin are given the death sentence, but if dealt leniently some of them could be spared capital punishment, the SPC said. | ||||||||||
[snip]
| ||||||||||
Qiu Baochang, dean of Beijing-based Huijia Law Firm, said such
considerations make sentences more logical and humane. | ||||||||||
"In remote, not-so-well developed areas where crime is high, some
people are forced to peddle drugs to make a living. It would be
unfair if they are punished as severely as those who organize such
crimes," Qiu said. | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
(19) SHARING NEEDLES AND THE DAMAGE DONE (Top) | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
[snip]
| ||||||||||
VICTORIA -- In the past six months, drug addicts in Victoria have
misplaced more than 60,000 needles, proving the city's needle
exchange program is, increasingly, a misnomer. Since public pressure
led to the closing of a long-time storefront exchange site in May,
AIDS Vancouver Island has tried to fill the gap with a mobile
service, where outreach workers on foot and on bicycles roam the
streets trying to find addicts in need of clean gear. | ||||||||||
[snip]
| ||||||||||
A report from the University of Victoria's School of Nursing confirms what Ms. Gibson already knows: The mobile service isn't as effective as a fixed site. There are fewer clean needles reaching the addicts, and even fewer dirty needles being safely returned. | ||||||||||
In October, Ms. Gibson's crew from AIDS Vancouver Island handed out
just over 22,000 new syringes. They recovered fewer than 8,000. In
2006, the agency was seeing a return rate on used needles of 99.8
per cent. | ||||||||||
[snip]
| ||||||||||
Mobile Site Not As Effective, UVIC Study Says
| ||||||||||
Joan MacNeil and Bernadette Pauly, of the University of Victoria's
School of Nursing, were studying needle-exchange programs on
Vancouver Island last year when the ground shifted under them:
Victoria's main exchange site was shut down. | ||||||||||
The fixed site was replaced with mobile needle-exchange services
only. And it provided an opportunity to evaluate the effectiveness
of the two models. | ||||||||||
Not surprisingly, the study concluded that when you make it
difficult for drug addicts to get clean needles, they are more
likely to reuse what they have, increasing the risk of infection and
the spread of diseases such as HIV and hepatitis C. In November,
close to one in five users reported reusing a syringe in Victoria,
while the practice was unheard-of in the other communities they
surveyed with fixes sites. | ||||||||||
[snip]
| ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
(20) CARRIO BACKS DRUG USE DECRIMINALIZATION (Top) | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
Anti-drug NGO Criticizes Move, Says It Will Favour Dealers | ||||||||||
"This ruling would be a huge favour for drug dealers," said Claudio
Izaguirre - head of the Argentine Anti-drug Association. "Until now,
drug addicts who were arrested for possession of narcotics for
personal use were sent to a rehabilitation centre, which was
afforded by the state," added Izaguirre. | ||||||||||
"If possession is legalized, only those who have the money to pay
for the treatment will have a chance to recover from drug
addiction," warned Izaguirre. "This will only favour drug dealers,
but not the addicts," he concluded. | ||||||||||
A Catholic Church leader yesterday rejected the decriminalization of
drug use. | ||||||||||
"The Church will continue to oppose anything that goes against human
life, our rejection is drastic" said Eduardo Serantes, head of the
National Commission of Justice and Peace of the Argentine Synod.
Serantes called on the authorities to fight the "narco-business in
politics." He criticized the government for "tolerating drugs
instead of focusing on consumer treatment and chasing drug
traffickers and producers."
| ||||||||||
In September, Serantes and San Isidro bishop Jorge Casaretto handed out to lawmakers a the draft of a plan for drug use prevention. | ||||||||||
In November 2007, the head of the Argentine Synod, Jorge Cardinal
Bergoglio, said the "narco-business is prospering in our country,
destroying many families. Argentina has ceased to be a mere path of
drug trafficking."
| ||||||||||
Federal Prosecutor Monica Cunarro - a member of the Justice Ministry
committee working to amend the drug law - disagreed with Izaguirre's
criticism and claimed it is the current drug law what favours drug
trafficking. | ||||||||||
"The current drug law is the one that's been functional to drug trafficking," said Cunarro. "For the past 28 years, people has been arrested on the streets for possession of small quantities of drugs while shady deals were made with drug-traffickers," she added. | ||||||||||
[snip]
| ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
(21) OUR MORALS REVEAL A BIG NATIONAL PROBLEM (Top) | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
UGANDA deserves a social audit for the year 2008. For the first time
in her history, the ugly side of human behaviour reared its ugly
face on the conscience of Ugandans as never before. Attempts to
dress this ugly face in popular catch phrases such as human rights
and freedom were made by advocates of immorality with some degree of
success. | ||||||||||
Promoters of homosexuality, pornography and witchcraft, etc. were on
the offensive seeking to market their philosophies contrary to
tenets of Uganda's laws as well as nature. The venom of
embezzlement, poor time management and drug abuse, too, had their
toll on public service. | ||||||||||
[snip]
| ||||||||||
Practitioners in witchcraft continued to wreck havoc on many
Ugandans. As a result, many of them are living in round the clock
fear for their lives. Those who chose to live in fear were 'pleased'
their gods by selling or offering their possessions. Witchdoctors
whose pastime is to fleece unsuspecting Ugandans of their money and
possessions were responsible for some of the rampant poverty in the
country. | ||||||||||
In other cases, individuals masquerading as traditional healers or
herbalists but in reality they are witchdoctors and criminals
contributed to the high spate of murders and child sacrificing in
the country. | ||||||||||
[snip]
| ||||||||||
Failure to keep and manage time marked every activity or transaction of most Ugandans. If the time lost during the year were to be valued in monetary terms, the cost would dwarf the money which is lost through theft that are associated with abuse of office. | ||||||||||
[snip]
| ||||||||||
Drug abuse was a growing problem. So called artistes were in the
lead of popularising possession and taking of drugs. They elevated
drug taking to a bizarre level which is harmful to our young
generation. Such drugs include -marijuana, cannabis, cocaine and
opium. Rather than being entertainers, they such artists have become
a social problem. | ||||||||||
[snip]
| ||||||||||
The Government will renew its efforts against law breakers. It
recognizes that enforcement of laws on witchcraft, embezzlement or
theft of public funds, drug abuse, homosexuality and pornography has
been weak. | ||||||||||
[snip]
| ||||||||||
The Government is appealing to the public to report all criminal
individuals cum witchdoctors in their communities. | ||||||||||
[snip]
| ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
HOT OFF THE 'NET (Top) | ||||||||||
THE SENSATIONAL WORLD OF DRUG PAPERBACKS
| ||||||||||
By Stephen J. Gertz, Feral House
| ||||||||||
Famed for their campy kitsch, gloriously bad writing and outlandish
misinformation, drug paperback books embodied seductive cultural
taboos. | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
MEXICO'S DRUG WAR DEATH TOLL: 8,463 AND COUNTING
| ||||||||||
By Kristin Bricker
| ||||||||||
A record-breaking 5,612 people were executed in Mexico's drug war in
2008, making the drug war more deadly than the drugs. | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
DRUG TRUTH NETWORK
| ||||||||||
Century of Lies - 12/30/08 - Jacob Sullum
| ||||||||||
Jacob Sullum editor of Reason magazine, Russ Bellville producer of NORML's audio stash, Harvey Stein producer of new movie RX Cannabis | ||||||||||
Cultural Baggage Radio Show - 12/31/08 - Redford Givens | ||||||||||
Redford Givens regarding drugs and the Bible, High Times focus on
Drug Truth Network + Terry Nelson of Law Enforcement Against
Prohibition
| ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
TOP 100 DRUG-RELATED NEWS CLIPPINGS FROM 2008
| ||||||||||
2008 saw 11441 new news clippings added to the Media Awareness Project
drugnews.org archives. | ||||||||||
Over a half million different readers from about 125 countries
accessed the clippings during the year. Selections of the 600 most
read clippings by area of the world can be found at the following
links:
| ||||||||||
http://mapinc.org/find?369 2008 in Review - Australasia
http://mapinc.org/find?370 2008 in Review - Asia
| ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
YEAR IN REVIEW: 2008 A HUGE YEAR FOR MARIJUANA REFORM
| ||||||||||
by Bruce Mirken
| ||||||||||
Since this is the season for year-end reviews, "best of" lists and the like, it seems like a good time to take note of why 2008 was one of the most successful years ever for marijuana policy reform. | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
THE TOP 10 DRUG POLICY STORIES OF 2008
| ||||||||||
Drug War Chronicle Feature
| ||||||||||
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/566/top_10_drug_policy_stories_2008 | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
JAILBIRDS
| ||||||||||
There are currently more than 2.3 million people incarcerated in the
United States. What does that look like, exactly? That's equivalent to
putting the combined populations of Miami, Las Vegas, and Minneapolis
behind bars. | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
WHAT YOU CAN DO THIS WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||
WRITE A LETTER
| ||||||||||
'It's A War' - A DrugSense Focus Alert
| ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN?
| ||||||||||
Change.gov, the official website of President-Elect Obama, has reopened its online polling page, "Open for Questions." | ||||||||||
Please take a moment and log onto the Change.gov site to voice your support for questions pertaining to drug policy reform. | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
LETTER OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||
DRUG PROHIBITION ISN'T WORKING, EITHER
| ||||||||||
By Lennice Werth
| ||||||||||
Editor, Times-Dispatch:
| ||||||||||
Thank you for your article on alcohol prohibition, including the
observation that it was "a tremendous failure."
| ||||||||||
Nothing has changed in human nature since the 1930s. As the
historian pointed out, "the distribution of liquor was turned over
to a whole group of criminal entrepreneurs." And while the premise
of our current drug war is that we must be protected from dangerous
substances, drugs are sold, unregulated, by this criminal class to
its extreme enrichment. The ensuing game of cops, robbers, and
snitches is painful to watch. | ||||||||||
Nobody thinks this is working, yet our political leaders offer only
longer prison sentences. We have 5 percent of the world's population
and 25 percent of its prisoners. So many men and women are in prison
that their children are stressing our foster-care system. When they
get out, their opportunities to get on the right track are blocked
by laws that bar them from receiving help such as housing and
education aid. In this regard, the stigma of a drug offender is
worse than that of a murderer or thief, as they are eligible for
such benefits. | ||||||||||
Today, illegal drugs are cheap and easily available, even though we
spend millions -- maybe billions -- on our current failed
prohibition, and we have alienated our allies in South America due
to the drug war. | ||||||||||
Why can't we figure out how to have a better policy even with the
vivid historical example of alcohol prohibition?
| ||||||||||
Tobacco is a very additive substance, yet we are having great success discouraging use without putting anyone in prison. | ||||||||||
Regulation is an option under which we could require that folks
buying drugs would be asked to prove that they are adults. We could
identify those with the most severe problems and gently guide them
toward treatment. Regulation is the answer we found for alcohol. It
is not perfect, but it would be a tremendous improvement over the
violent, adversarial, and terribly harmful policy of drug
prohibition. | ||||||||||
Lennice Werth
| ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
LETTER WRITER OF THE MONTH - DECEMBER (Top) | ||||||||||
DrugSense recognizes Stan White of Dillon, Colorado for his twenty
letters published during December, bringing his career total that we
know of to 536. DrugSense recognized Stan with its Gold Award
http://www.mapinc.org/lte_awards/lte_gold.htm for reaching 500
published letters last May. | ||||||||||
You may read Stan's published letters by clicking this link:
http://www.mapinc.org/writers/Stan+White
| ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
FEATURE ARTICLE (Top) | ||||||||||
New Marijuana Law Shouldn't Pose Problems
| ||||||||||
On Nov. 4, a majority of voters in Massachusetts chose to
decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana. Those in
possession of less than an ounce of marijuana are no longer charged
with a criminal offense, but instead face a $100 fine. | ||||||||||
Today, the new law takes effect. Yet some local police departments,
as well as others across the state, say they are uncertain about how
to enforce it. The state Executive Office of Public Safety and
Security just Monday issued guidelines for police departments on
enforcement of the law. | ||||||||||
"We're ringing in the new year with a new law not everyone knows how to enforce," Lawrence police Chief John Romero told our reporters. | ||||||||||
Nearly two months have passed since 65 percent of Massachusetts
voters changed the law. Despite their lack of enthusiasm for the
law, state and local law enforcement agencies have had time to
prepare. | ||||||||||
Under the new law, people caught with a small amount of marijuana
will be forced to hand over the drug and pay a $100 fine. Those
under 18 will be required to complete a drug awareness program or
face a stiffer $1,000 fine. They can either pay a fine to a clerk or
request a District Court hearing. | ||||||||||
To be sure, the new law on marijuana possession does raise
questions. Police are now required to issue civil citations,
essentially tickets, to violators. Police have pre-printed books of
citations to issue to those who violate motor vehicle laws. These
are carefully worded to conform to the existing laws and explain the
violator's rights and responsibilities. What should the citations
for the marijuana violations say?
| ||||||||||
For some departments, the citations themselves pose no problem. Those police departments are more concerned about what happens next. | ||||||||||
"We already have the citation paper. It's like any other civil
infraction," Andover police Lt. James Hashem said. "It's what
happens after, that is what's up in the air. The majority of
headaches will be after the citation is issued."
| ||||||||||
Hashem said the law is ambiguous and its scope will have to be
settled by the first cases that make it to the courts. | ||||||||||
The appeal process leaves police wondering how much of their limited
resources they should commit to marijuana cases. | ||||||||||
Groveland police Chief Robert Kirmelewicz wondered if departments
will still have to send all confiscated marijuana to the drug lab to
be tested as if it were a criminal case. | ||||||||||
"If this is the case, it's going to require a lot of time, money and
energy for what, a $100 fine?" he said. | ||||||||||
This should not be so difficult. Massachusetts is not the first state to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana. Eleven other states have done so. Is there no experience from those states that Massachusetts law enforcement officials can draw upon? | ||||||||||
It's apparent that the will of the voters, for good or ill, was that
simple possession of marijuana should be treated as a trivial
matter. Pay a small fine and be done with it. The best course for
police is to enforce the law as written and expend as few resources
as possible doing so. | ||||||||||
The public doesn't see small amounts of marijuana as a problem.
Neither should police. | ||||||||||
This unsigned editorial appeared in the Jan. 2 edition of the
Eagle-Tribune newspaper of North Andover, MA. - see
| ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
QUOTE OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||
"If addiction is judged by how long a dumb animal will sit pressing
a lever to get a 'fix' of something, to its own detriment, then I
would conclude that netnews is far more addictive than cocaine."
- Rob Stampfli
| ||||||||||
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Policy and Law Enforcement/Prison content selection and analysis by
Stephen Young (), This Just In selection by
Richard Lake () and Stephen Young, 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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