( Top )
(1) MEDICAL POT SUPPORTERS CHEER END OF DEA RAIDS
Pubdate: Fri, 27 Feb 2009
Source: Oakland Tribune, The (CA)
Copyright: 2009sANG Newspapers
Author: Josh Richman, Oakland Tribune
California medical-marijuana advocates are celebrating a verbal promise that federal raids on the state-law-abiding dispensaries have ended.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, in a news conference on an unrelated matter Wednesday in Washington with Drug Enforcement Administration chief Michele Leonhart, said the raids -- in many cases, searches and seizures without arrests -- are not part of President Barack Obama's policy.
"What the president said during the campaign, you'll be surprised to know, will be consistent with what we'll be doing in law enforcement," Holder said. "What he said during the campaign is now American policy."
Obama last year said he wouldn't be "using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue," a stance reiterated earlier this month by White House spokesman Nick Shapiro.
"Today is a victory and a huge step forward," said Steph Sherer, executive director of Oakland-based Americans for Safe Access. "I'm overjoyed to finally have a news conference with some great news."
[snip]
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(2) VATICAN'S STANCE ON UN DRUGS POLICY 'RISKS LIVES' ( Top )
Pubdate: Fri, 27 Feb 2009
Source: Guardian, The (UK)
Copyright: 2009 Guardian News and Media Limited
Author: Duncan Campbell, The Guardian
The Vatican has been accused of putting the lives of thousands at risk by attempting to influence UN drugs policy on the eve of a major international declaration.
The Vatican's objection to "harm reduction" strategies, such as needle exchange schemes, has ignited a fierce debate between the U.S. and the EU over how drugs should be tackled.
A new UN declaration of intent is due to be signed in Vienna on 11 March. However, there are major disagreements between member countries over whether a commitment to "harm reduction" should be included in the document, which is published every 10 years.
Now the Vatican has issued a statement that claims that using drugs is "anti-life" and "so-called harm reduction leads to liberalisation of the use of drugs". The Vatican's last-minute intervention appears to have led to Italy withdrawing from the EU consensus on the issue and thrown the talks over the declaration into confusion.
In 1998, the declaration of intent was "a drug-free world - we can do it", which critics claimed was unrealistic and did not address the complex nature of drug treatment. In favour of including support for a harm reduction clause are most EU countries, Brazil and other Latin American countries, Australia and New Zealand. They argue that some commitment to tackling HIV and addiction through needle exchange programmes and methadone and other drugs should be included. Opposed to this are the US, Russia and Japan. The U.S. position has been that such inclusion sends the wrong message, although there have been indications a more liberal policy might be adopted under Barack Obama.
"By making a statement against harm reduction, the Vatican has indicated that its moral objection to drug use is more important than its commitment to the sanctity of life," said Release, the UK-based drugs and legal advice charity.
[snip]
Continues: : http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n229/a01.html
(3) HUNDREDS ARRESTED IN U.S. PROBE OF MEXICAN DRUG CARTEL ( Top )
Pubdate: Thu, 26 Feb 2009
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2009 Los Angeles Times
Author: Josh Meyer, Reporting from Washington
Fifty Arrests in California and Elsewhere Are the Latest Among 730 Targeting the Sinaloa Cartel in a 21-Month Investigation.
The Justice Department announced Wednesday that authorities had arrested more than 730 people across the country in a 21-month investigation targeting Mexico's Sinaloa drug cartel and its infiltration into U.S. cities.
The arrests, including 50 on Wednesday in California, Minnesota, Maryland and the nation's capital, come amid growing concern in Washington that Mexican crime organizations are out of control and threaten the stability of parts of Mexico and the safety of U.S. citizens.
The Homeland Security Department has developed a plan to send more agents and other resources, and possibly military support, to the U.S.-Mexico border if the drug violence continues to spill over and overwhelm the agents stationed there, a department official confirmed.
The Pentagon is looking into a larger role in bolstering counter-narcotics efforts. Adm. Dennis C. Blair, the director of national intelligence, told Congress on Wednesday that the corruptive influence and increasing violence of the cartels had undermined the Mexican government's ability to govern parts of its country.
[snip]
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09.n228.a10.html
(4) PANEL DISCUSSION CHALLENGES WAR ON DRUGS ( Top )
Pubdate: Thu, 26 Feb 2009
Source: Appalachian, The (NC Edu)
Copyright: 2009 Appalachian State University
Author: Edward Sztukowski, News Reporter
The student American Civil Liberties Union partnered with the Campus Anti-War Network to hold a discussion about the War on Drugs Monday.
The event was initially intended as a debate, but the plan went up in smoke because the police could not make it to the event.
Three members of the community led the panel discussion. Mathew Robinson and Renee G. Scherlen, both associate professors in the government and justice studies department, led the discussion for decriminalization.
On the other side of the room Charlie Byrd, assistant district attorney for Watauga County offered input and answered questions from the audience regarding legal aspects.
[snip]
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( Top )
Domestic News- Policy
COMMENTS: ( Top )
Three former presidents of Latin American countries published an
important editorial in the Wall Street Journal last week. The piece
did not mince words about the disaster of the drug war and the need
for reform. And as U.S. officials scheme about ways to enhance the
drug war in Mexico, that country's attorney general says U.S. troops
are not needed.
Back in the U.S.A, some citizens are demanding their constitutional
rights, even if those rights conflict with drug war ideology. A
religious group from Oregon that ingests an illegal tea during
ceremonies is pushing their case in court in order to legally use
the drug. And, finally, in Georgia, a university takes a stand
against free speech, but the local NORML chapter resists.
(5) OPED: THE WAR ON DRUGS IS A FAILURE ( Top )
Pubdate: Mon, 23 Feb 2009
Source: Wall Street Journal (US)
Copyright: 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Authors: Fernando Henrique Cardoso, CeSar Gaviria and Ernesto Zedillo
We Should Focus Instead on Reducing Harm to Users and on Tackling Organized Crime.
The war on drugs has failed. And it's high time to replace an ineffective strategy with more humane and efficient drug policies. This is the central message of the report by the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy we presented to the public recently in Rio de Janeiro.
Prohibitionist policies based on eradication, interdiction and criminalization of consumption simply haven't worked. Violence and the organized crime associated with the narcotics trade remain critical problems in our countries. Latin America remains the world's largest exporter of cocaine and cannabis, and is fast becoming a major supplier of opium and heroin. Today, we are further than ever from the goal of eradicating drugs.
Over the last 30 years, Colombia implemented all conceivable measures to fight the drug trade in a massive effort where the benefits were not proportional to the resources invested. Despite the country's achievements in lowering levels of violence and crime, the areas of illegal cultivation are again expanding. In Mexico -- another epicenter of drug trafficking -- narcotics-related violence has claimed more than 5,000 lives in the past year alone.
The revision of U.S.-inspired drug policies is urgent in light of the rising levels of violence and corruption associated with narcotics. The alarming power of the drug cartels is leading to a criminalization of politics and a politicization of crime. And the corruption of the judicial and political system is undermining the foundations of democracy in several Latin American countries.
The first step in the search for alternative solutions is to acknowledge the disastrous consequences of current policies. Next, we must shatter the taboos that inhibit public debate about drugs in our societies. Antinarcotic policies are firmly rooted in prejudices and fears that sometimes bear little relation to reality. The association of drugs with crime segregates addicts in closed circles where they become even more exposed to organized crime.
[snip]
Note: Mr. Cardoso is the former president of Brazil. Mr. Gaviria is a former president of Colombia. Mr. Zedillo is a former president of Mexico.
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n218/a03.html
(6) MEXICO ATTORNEY GENERAL: WE DON'T NEED U.S. TROOPS TO INTERVENE ( Top )
Pubdate: Wed, 25 Feb 2009
Source: Dallas Morning News (TX)
Copyright: 2009 The Dallas Morning News, Inc.
Author: Todd J. Gillman, Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- Mexico's attorney general said Tuesday he sees no need for U.S. troops to intervene in his country's war on drug cartels, nor to gear up for a spillover of violence across the border.
"I don't see that," Attorney General Eduardo Medina-Mora said in an interview with The Dallas Morning News. "I don't see the U.S. military playing an active role. The size of the problem on the U.S. side is not calling for that, and certainly Mexico has enough institutional capabilities to deal with this."
U.S. officials view the violence as a potential national security threat, and last month the Bush administration's homeland security chief, Michael Chertoff, said Washington has drawn up contingency plans for a "surge" of both civilian law enforcement and military assets along the border.
Texas also has developed a contingency plan to cope with spillover violence. On Tuesday, Gov. Rick Perry demanded a tighter security net from Washington, saying he's asked the Obama administration for more aircraft and "a thousand more troops" to the border.
"I don't care whether they're military troops, or they're National Guard troops or whether they're customs agents," he said during a visit to El Paso with retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey, the former U.S. drug czar who warned two months ago that Mexico could soon become a "narco state."
[snip]
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(7) OREGON CHURCH ASKS JUDGE TO ALLOW USE OF CEREMONIAL HERB ( Top )
Pubdate: Fri, 20 Feb 2009
Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer (WA)
Copyright: 2009 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Oregon members of a Christian church based in Brazil are asking a federal judge to allow the use of a hallucinogenic tea during religious services.
The Church of the Holy Light of the Queen blends Christian theology with traditional indigenous religious beliefs from Brazil.
Church members also consume ayahuasca tea, made from Amazonian plants. But federal agents seized a shipment of the disputed tea leaves in 1999.
Now the Ashland chapter of the church has gone to federal court to argue the tea should be allowed under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
[snip]
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n217/a01.html
(8) UNIVERSITY LOGO POLICY STIRS AN IRE WITH MARIJUANA ADVOCACY GROUP ( Top )
Pubdate: Fri, 20 Feb 2009
Source: Red and Black, The (U of Georgia, GA Edu)
Copyright: 2009 The Red and Black Publishing Co., Inc.
Author: Tiffany Stevens
University Logo Policy Stirs An Ire With Marijuana Advocacy Group
A T-shirt depiction of Hairy Dawg smoking marijuana at the Arch has stirred the copyright debate between a student marijuana advocacy group and the University.
The University chapter of the Georgia National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws held a press conference Thursday discussing what the group describes as the hypocrisy of the University's stance on recreational drugs.
"We have launched a grassroots campaign to respectfully call out and stop the hypocrisy of UGA," said John Hill, treasurer of GA NORML. "UGA officials should leave GA NORML alone and stop sending its dangerous 'alcohol only' message towards students."
NORML was asked by the Center for Student Organizations "to surrender any and all remaining T- shirts that carry the logo/trademark violation to the Center for Student Organizations" by Wednesday, despite being told by a CSO official that it was alright for them to distribute their shirts after a previous warning to surrender.
Joshua Podvin, the assistant director for student activities and organization, told The Red & Black earlier this week the final decision was made by the Office of Legal Affairs.
Others say that the Hairy Dawg depiction is protected under free speech for political satire.
[snip]
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Law Enforcement & Prisons
COMMENTS: ( Top )
As three Atlanta cops receive relatively light sentences for a
trumped-up drug raid that killed a 92- year-old woman, the Atlanta
Journal-Constitution looks at some of the heinous details of the
case. In Texas, one city's police force is paying attention to a
former Mexican mayor in town, and a profile of an active New
Hampshire cop who promotes drug war reform in his off-duty hours.
(9) EX-ATLANTA COPS GET PRISON FOR DRUG RAID KILLLING ( Top )
Pubdate: Mon, 23 Feb 2009
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA)
Copyright: 2009 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Author: Bill Rankin
A federal judge on Tuesday handed down varying prison terms to three Atlanta police officers for their roles in the notorious 2006 drug raid that left an elderly woman dead and disgraced the department's narcotics unit.
U.S. District Judge Julie Carnes sentenced former officer Gregg Junnier to six years in prison, Jason Smith to 10 years in prison and Arthur Tesler to five years in prison.
Junnier, 42, and Tesler, 42, had faced recommended 10 years in prison under sentencing guidelines, while Smith, 36, faced 12 years and seven months.
[snip]
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n225/a10.html
(10) A KILLING, A COVER-UP, A BREAK IN RANKS ( Top )
Pubdate: Sun, 22 Feb 2009
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA)
Copyright: 2009 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Authors: Bill Torpy, Bill Rankin, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
3 Police Officers: Their Actions Lost Public Trust in the Atlanta Police Department.
Jason Smith was losing it.
"I [screwed] up; I think I killed this woman," the Atlanta narcotics cop told partner Arthur Tesler in the yard behind a small brick bungalow on Neal Street. "You guys got to help me."
Inside, a 92-year-old woman lay dead, killed by a fusillade of police bullets. Officer Gregg Junnier, his face grazed by a bullet and bleeding, stalked through the home looking for suspects and contraband.
But there were no dealers, no kilo of cocaine. The tip that brought police to 933 Neal St. was as bogus as the story they used to sell a judge on the raid.
Desperation and self-preservation kicked in. Smith remembered the marijuana seized earlier that day. Better make it look like a drug house, he reckoned. He pulled baggies of pot from his sleeve, nodded to Tesler, and planted them in the basement.
The Nov. 21, 2006, killing of Kathryn Johnston, two days before Thanksgiving, outraged residents of the northwest neighborhood, shocked the nation and rocked Atlanta's police force. It laid bare the corruption of an out-of-control narcotics squad that lied to get search warrants and planted drugs on suspects.
This time, Smith had authored the trumped-up affidavit. For all three, it was business as usual.
On Monday, the three former officers will be together again in federal court to be sentenced for conspiring to violate Johnston's civil rights. A sentencing memo from prosecutors to the judge, along with prior testimony and other court records, reveals how the officers concocted a sophisticated cover-up that fell apart when Junnier, the squad veteran and the son of a cop, turned on his colleagues. He crossed the "blue line."
[snip]
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n213/a01.html
(11) EL PASO POLICE INVESTIGATE THREATS AGAINST JUAREZ MAYOR ( Top )
Pubdate: Tue, 24 Feb 2009
Source: El Paso Times (TX)
Copyright: 2009 El Paso Times
Author: Diana Washington Valdez, El Paso Times
EL PASO - The El Paso Police Department is investigating alleged threats against Juarez Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz, who reportedly moved his family to El Paso for safety reasons, Det. Carlos Carrillo said Monday.
"We received information that the Juarez mayor lives in El Paso, and that possibly they were going to come to El Paso to get him," Carrillo said. "He has not asked us for our help, but it's our duty to protect any resident of our city who may be under threat."
Juarez police said written threats against Reyes Ferriz and his family were left in different parts of Juarez after ex-police chief Roberto Orduna Cruz resigned Friday.
The threats were written on banners the Juarez drug cartel has used to send messages to the police and others.
In light of the threats, Juarez city spokesman Sergio Belmonte said the mayor has increased security for himself and other city officials.
[snip]
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n223/a06.html
(12) OPPOSING THE DRUG LAWS THEY ENFORCE ( Top )
Pubdate: Sun, 22 Feb 2009
Source: Union Leader (Manchester, NH)
Copyright: 2009 The Union Leader Corp.
Author: Jason Schreiber, Sunday News Correspondent
When he's working, Epping Police Officer Bradley Jardis is just like any other cop.
He's patrolling the streets to catch people with drugs because that's what he's supposed to do.
But when he's off the clock, this 28-year-old officer is speaking publicly about why he believes existing drug policies have failed and why it's time for lawmakers to legalize drugs.
It's an unusual position to take for a police officer charged with enforcing laws, but Jardis insists that prohibiting drugs leaves the dealers in control, creating a dangerous black market that breeds crime and gives kids easy access.
Jardis believes drugs should be regulated by the government just like alcohol. "We treat alcoholism as a public health problem, but we treat drug addiction as a criminal problem, and that's wrong," he said.
And he's not the only officer who feels this way.
Jardis, of Hooksett, is among a growing number of current and former New Hampshire law enforcement officers and others in criminal justice who have joined a Massachusetts-based nonprofit organization called Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, or LEAP.
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n212/a03.html
Cannabis & Hemp-
COMMENTS: ( Top )
More collateral damage in the war on cannabis, as a wounded veteran
learned how a criminal conviction can be a life-changing disability.
Californian Assemblyman Tom Ammiano caused a media maelstrom last
week when he introduced a bill that would tax and regulate cannabis
in an effort to bail out his bankrupt state.
New Jersey moved closer to becoming the fourteenth state to legalize
medical marijuana, as the state Senate voted 22 to 16 in favor of the
New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act, which would
require the state to issue registration cards to patients who have
been diagnosed with debilitating medical conditions.
Mason Tavert, executive director of SAFER, weighed in on a
free speech controversy in Georgia, where the NORML chapter at the
University of Georgia produced a t-shirt featuring the school
mascot smoking weed. "Why is it OK for UGA to put its logos on shot
glasses and other alcohol-related paraphernalia ... but not OK for
Georgia NORML to depict Hairy Dawg making the safer choice to use
marijuana instead?"
(13) CHARITY YANKS FREE HOUSE TO VET OVER POT BUST ( Top )
Pubdate: Tue, 24 Feb 2009
Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO)
Copyright: 2009 St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Author: Phillip O'Connor, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Branson, Mo. - Newlyweds Scott and Samantha West drove their SUV through the gate of the exclusive housing community, winding upward to an empty cul-de-sac that offers commanding views of the surrounding valleys.
For months, the young couple visited this site and dreamed of their bright future, ever since a charity that serves wounded veterans announced last year it was building a house for Scott at no charge.
The gift, like his new bride, seemed heaven-sent to Scott West, 23, who had lost his legs to a roadside bomb in Iraq in December 2005. The new home would feature wide hallways, voice-activated lighting and other amenities tailored to Scott's needs.
And when a developer offered to give the Wests a free lot in Saddlebrooke, a community where house prices range from $350,000 to more than $1 million, the couple thought it was too good to be true.
"This was a place where I thought I could live the rest of my life and never have to worry," West said.
On this night, the couple didn't linger long at the vacant lot. The winter wind was bitter. So too, are the memories.
In January, just two days after the couple had returned from their honeymoon, the charity took back its gift after learning that Scott West had been arrested on marijuana charges in 2007 and pleaded guilty in December to a felony of possession with intent to distribute. Last week, a judge placed West on five years probation.
[snip]
Homes for Our Troops founder John Gonsalves did not respond to several requests for an interview. The nonprofit organization has built more than three dozen homes nationwide since it was established in 2004. It has about two dozen more homes under construction.
A spokeswoman for the charity said it was grateful for West's service and sacrifice. She described the decision to drop West from the program as the most painful Gonsalves has had to make.
"It hurts him; it haunts him," spokeswoman Vicki Thomas said.
[snip]
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(14) CALIFORNIA LEGISLATOR SEES BENEFIT IN LEGALIZING POT ( Top )
Pubdate: Wed, 25 Feb 2009
Source: Wall Street Journal (US)
Copyright: 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Author: Stu Woo
SAN FRANCISCO -- A state legislator proposed legalizing the sale of marijuana in California, saying the plan would generate more than $1 billion annually for the cash-strapped state.
Assemblyman Tom Ammiano introduced a bill Monday that would legalize possession and sales of the drug for people aged 21 and older. The legislation would impose regulations and taxation similar to those for alcohol sales. Federal law makes it a crime to possess or sell marijuana, so the measure, if passed, would likely face an immediate legal challenge. Mr. Ammiano, a San Francisco Democrat who is well known in the state as a champion of liberal causes, proposes a tax of $50 on an ounce of marijuana, which sells for a few hundred dollars on the street. California's dire financial situation was the impetus for proposing the bill, said Quintin Mecke, a spokesman for Mr. Ammiano. The state, which last week closed a $42 billion budget deficit through steep spending cuts and tax increases, should be making money on pot sales, Mr. Mecke said. He estimated that marijuana is a $14 billion-a- year crop in California.
The pot-legalization bill will be up against significant opposition. "It's one of these [proposals] that is based on fallacious assumption that if we could only legalize marijuana, that we will have fiscal and social Shangri-La," said John Lovell, a lobbyist who represents three California police groups.
[snip]
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09.n225.a01.html
(15) MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL OK'D ( Top )
Pubdate: Tue, 24 Feb 2009
Source: Today's Sunbeam (NJ)
Copyright: 2009 Today's Sunbeam
TRENTON - The state Senate voted Monday to legalize the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes, taking a huge step toward making New Jersey the 14th state in the nation to allow residents with serious debilitating conditions to use it for relief.
"We aren't talking about thrill-seekers or drug addicts here. We are talking about very sick people who are in desperate need of relief," said Sen. Nicholas Scutari, D-Union, the bill's sponsor. "These people are not criminals and it does not behoove us as a society to treat them as such."
The legislation passed by a 22 to 16 vote. The Assembly has yet to consider the bill, although Gov. Jon S. Corzine has said he would sign it if it made it to his desk.
Sen. Stephen Sweeney, D-3rd Dist., voted in favor of the bill.
The measure would give residents, with a doctor's recommendation, the ability to obtain a registration card from the state Department of Health and Senior Services to use marijuana for medicinal purposes without the possibility of arrest, prosecution or penalty.
Those approved by the state could possess up to six marijuana plants and one usable ounce of marijuana, grown at home or obtained from an alternative treatment center, a facility that would be designated to grow and distribute the drug. Patients under the age of 18 could also seek eligibility from the state with the permission of a parent or guardian.
The measure set off a range of emotions from those on both sides of the issue. Supporters, both Democrats and Republicans, said the legislation would give healthcare professionals options in treating their patients pain and suffering. Many of those patients are facing terminal diseases.
But opponents said the lack of regulation over the use of marijuana, with no prescriptions needed and little oversight over registrants growing the plant, could make it too easily available, opening the door to wide-ranging abuses.
[snip]
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09.n220.a08.html
(16) UNIVERSITY LOGO POLICY STIRS AN IRE WITH MARIJUNA ADVOCACY GROUP ( Top )
Pubdate: Fri, 20 Feb 2009
Source: Red and Black, The (U of Georgia, GA Edu)
Copyright: 2009 The Red and Black Publishing Co., Inc.
Author: Tiffany Stevens
University Logo Policy Stirs An Ire With Marijuana Advocacy Group
A T-shirt depiction of Hairy Dawg smoking marijuana at the Arch has stirred the copyright debate between a student marijuana advocacy group and the University.
The University chapter of the Georgia National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws held a press conference Thursday discussing what the group describes as the hypocrisy of the University's stance on recreational drugs.
"We have launched a grassroots campaign to respectfully call out and stop the hypocrisy of UGA," said John Hill, treasurer of GA NORML. "UGA officials should leave GA NORML alone and stop sending its dangerous 'alcohol only' message towards students."
NORML was asked by the Center for Student Organizations "to surrender any and all remaining T-shirts that carry the logo/trademark violation to the Center for Student Organizations" by Wednesday, despite being told by a CSO official that it was alright for them to distribute their shirts after a previous warning to surrender.
[snip]
Others say that the Hairy Dawg depiction is protected under free speech for political satire.
Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation teamed up with GA NORML students on Wednesday to begin a "Stop the Hypocrisy" campaign.
Mason Tvert, executive director of SAFER, said in a press release that Hairy Dawg is a public figure, and the group was employing political satire.
"Surely UGA's lawyers are aware of the sound legal precedent that protects the freedom to such political speech," Tvert wrote. "The administration simply dislikes the marijuana-related content of that speech."
[snip]
According to Tvert, objective studies on marijuana have found it safer than alcohol.
The conference tried to compare the University's stance on alcohol use versus its drug policy.
"Alcohol contributes to overdose deaths, injuries, sexual assaults and date rapes, whereas the use of marijuana does not," said Tvert. "Why is it OK for UGA to put its logos on shot glasses and other alcohol- related paraphernalia - and sell it to students and visitors at the campus bookstore - but not OK for Georgia NORML to depict Hairy Dawg making the safer choice to use marijuana instead?"
[snip]
GA NORML members also gathered wearing shirts with the controversial picture in question.
Efforts to reach the Office of Legal Affairs for University comment were unsuccessful Thursday afternoon.
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09.n215.a12.html
International News
COMMENTS: ( Top )
In Canada, U.S. champion swimmer Michael Phelps was "uninvited" from
motivational speaking events in continuing fallout from a photo of
the swimmer using a bong, the "widely publicized alleged use of
marijuana." Phelps was replaced as a speaker by prohibitionist actor
Martin Sheen.
It is time this year for officials from the South American nation of
Colombia to make the pilgrimage to the north, to ask for money from
the Americans. Potential threats to the pipeline of money from D.C.
to Colombia were portrayed as "pulling the rug out" from the nation;
a menace to American children. "A reduction means more cocaine ends
up on the streets of U.S. cities," warned Colombian officials. Noted
observers: "It's a tricky case to make, because they have to show
progress... But if you claim too much progress, the question
becomes, 'Why do you need such significant assistance?'"
Meanwhile in Europe, officials admit that the prohibition of cocaine
is failing miserably - as cocaine prices continue to plummet, and
this in the face of inflated currencies. Said to retail for little
as little as UKP 20 a gram, officials in Europe are blaming
body-packing African and Eastern European "drug mules" for the
cocaine glut.
In the U.K., the government launches a 2.2 million pound ad campaign
criticized for overstating negative claims about cannabis. The moves
comes in the wake of government insistence that cannabis be
re-classified, despite evidence presented by its own scientific
advisors against such a move. We "do need to be assured that advice
is evidence-based, that the authorities haven't just ignored the
evidence and gone ahead anyway... public health messages have to
chime with experience... when they don't, they are not simply a bit
less effective: they discredit the promulgating authority."
And finally, from Canada this week, editorial after editorial used
alleged gang violence to prepare Canadians to accept prime minister
Harper's ready-made solution in the form of mandatory minimums for
"drug crimes". Some went against the trend, like this piece from Ian
Mulgrew in the Vancouver Sun. Time to end the "war on drugs" says
Mulgrew: "we are discussing everything except the obvious solution
-- an end to the continental prohibition on illicit drugs." Can't
legalize in Canada for fear of offending the colossus to the south?
Think again. "Those who continue to offer the hoary shibboleth that
Canada can't consider legalization without offending Uncle Sam
haven't kept up to date." Time to "end the drug prohibition. Drug
use should be a medical issue, not a crime."
(17) SWIMMER PHELPS UNINVITED FROM SPEECHES IN CANADA ( Top )
Pubdate: Wed, 25 Feb 2009
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2009 The Globe and Mail Company
Author: Dawn Walton
CALGARY -- A promoter has flip-flopped on plans to bring U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps to events in Calgary and Vancouver in light of a photograph that surfaced of the Olympic gold medalist using a bong associated with smoking marijuana. Power Within Inc., a Toronto-based company that organizes motivational speaking events and initially stood by the superstar's involvement in next week's engagements in Western Canada, has suddenly pulled the plug.
"Due to widely publicized alleged use of marijuana by Michael Phelps, the decision has been made to present the program without Mr. Phelps' participation," the company said in statement released to a local newspaper.
Both nonrefundable events were well on their way to selling out. Tickets for next Tuesday's event in Calgary cost $229 and will now feature actor Martin Sheen as its keynote speaker.
[snip]
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(18) COLOMBIA'S WORRY: LOOSER U.S. TIES ( Top )
Pubdate: Wed, 25 Feb 2009
Source: Christian Science Monitor (US)
Copyright: 2009 The Christian Science Publishing Society
Author: Howard LaFranchi, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
Officials Visiting This Week Press for Continued Funding of an Antidrug Strategy and Passage of a Free-Trade Agreement.
Washington - Colombian officials are mounting a full-court diplomatic press in the United States this week as they seek to stave off a fall from the high-flying status their country achieved in Washington as a favored ally of the Bush administration.
[snip]
Colombian officials are responding to the negative publicity with a mix of economic optimism and warnings about the consequences of cuts in counternarcotics assistance.
In wire-service interviews before leaving Colombia for Washington, Defense Minister Santos equated any cut in what is now about $500 million in annual aid to "pulling the rug out" from under Colombia just as it is "winning" its decades-old fight with a drug-financed guerrilla. At the same time, he said, any cut would have a direct impact in the US.
"A reduction means more cocaine ends up on the streets of U.S. cities," he said.
Colombian officials are caught between the consequences of claiming too much progress and the need to demonstrate that the country's human rights situation in particular has improved, says Mr. Shifter of the Inter-American Dialogue. "It's a tricky case to make, because they have to show progress," he says. "But if you claim too much progress, the question becomes, 'Why do you need such significant assistance?' "
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09.n224.a02.html
(19) COCAINE PRICE FALLS AS GANGS SWITCH ROUTES ( Top )
Pubdate: Thu, 19 Feb 2009
Source: Times, The (UK)
Copyright: 2009 Times Newspapers Ltd
Author: Richard Ford
Cocaine prices will fall as traffickers exploit new routes to Britain through West Africa and Eastern Europe, a United Nations agency warns today.
The new routes have emerged as anti-smuggling operations have forced South American drugs cartels to abandon the trail through the Caribbean and north Atlantic.
Stockpiles of drugs are building in West African states, from where they are shipped to Britain and the rest of Europe via the Balkans, according to a report by the UN's International Narcotics Control Board.
Traffickers load commercial flights with "large numbers" of drug mules, swallowing as much as a kilogram of cocaine each, the report says.
Almost 30 per cent of cocaine used in Europe now arrives through countries such as Ghana, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal and Sierra Leone.
[snip]
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09.n208.a03.html
(20) MUM DOESN'T KNOW BEST ( Top )
Pubdate: Wed, 18 Feb 2009
Source: Guardian, The (UK)
Copyright: 2009 Guardian News and Media Limited
Author: Zoe Williams, The Guardian
The Effect of an Ad That Overstates the Dangers of Cannabis Is to Discredit All Public Health Advice
A new UKP 2.2m ad campaign about cannabis targets 11- to 18-year-olds. Before you decide that's a waste of money, imagine how much more it would have cost before the collapse of ad revenues. I think the government should take advantage of this to advertise the dangers of all drugs. Indeed, so what if ecstasy is only about as dangerous as horse riding? Why not have an ad about how dangerous horse riding is?
There is some sense in the ads. Cannabis was reclassified last year, from a class C drug to class B, and what's the point in making it more dangerous without a public health warning? Nevertheless, this raised questions - compounded by the government's refusal to downgrade ecstasy from class A - about why ministers commission reports from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, only to ignore them.
[snip]
Naturally, there is some very banal motivation at play, which is that nobody ever won votes campaigning for laxity on drugs. But, to give the health minister Dawn Primarolo and her ilk the benefit of the doubt, they would not overstate the dangers of drugs if they did not regard overstatement as a neutral, benign policy, beneficial to some hoodlums and harmful to none.
I disagree profoundly with this: public health messages have to chime with experience. When they do they have an incredible impact, but when they don't, they are not simply a bit less effective: they discredit the promulgating authority. An individual who hears from Primarolo that cannabis causes "serious and long-term health problems" but finds little empirical evidence for the same, stops listening to the government - not on those drugs alone, but altogether.
We don't need to see things with our own eyes to believe them; we're not Neanderthals. But we do need to be assured that advice is evidence-based, that the authorities haven't just ignored the evidence and gone ahead anyway. I contend that the negative consequences of this mummy-knows-best approach have already gone beyond the world of class C drugs. I bet this is why so many young people have stopped using condoms and are getting syphilis.
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09.n212.a07.html
(21) IT JUST MAKES SENSE TO END THE WAR ON DRUGS ( Top )
Pubdate: Mon, 23 Feb 2009
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2009 The Vancouver Sun
Author: Ian Mulgrew
Marijuana and drug trafficking are the central catalysts in the current Lower Mainland gang war, yet we are discussing everything except the obvious solution -- an end to the continental prohibition on illicit drugs.
[snip]
Those who continue to offer the hoary shibboleth that Canada can't consider legalization without offending Uncle Sam haven't kept up to date.
Massachusetts voters last year passed a statewide initiative to decriminalize marijuana. Thirteen states already have laws permitting medicinal use of pot.
New Mexico, the most recent to liberalize its laws in 2007, is trying to figure out how to supply the roughly 200 patients it has licensed to possess up to six ounces of marijuana.
[snip]
Let's face it. The current drug laws are not working. Too many lives have been lost, too many families shattered and too many futures ruined by the War on Drugs. It is too expensive and it is socially corrosive. It is time to end it.
With its own mounting sanguinary gang problem, Mexico already is debating sweeping drug-law reform at a national level.
Just as we ended the alcohol prohibition in the face of gang violence and mounting social costs, we need to end the drug prohibition. Drug use should be a medical issue, not a crime.
[snip]
The shootings and the deaths of the last few weeks underscore the need to reform our drug laws. Let's "officially" start to talk about it.
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09.n218.a08.html
( Top )
AREN'T DRUG WARRIORS FUNNY? ( Top )
By Pete Guither at DrugWarrant.com
"Smoking marijuana causes people to wear the same trench coat for 20 years. That's why it's illegal!"
http://blogs.salon.com/0002762/2009/02/24.html#a3314
WILL LEGALIZING POT SAVE CALIFORNIA FROM ITS CASH CRUNCH? ( Top )
By Bruce Mirken, Marijuana Policy Project
A new bill could make marijuana California's newest cash crop.
http://drugsense.org/url/1QZh5vXn
PLAN MEXICO IS BACK IN CONGRESS ( Top )
By Kristin Bricker
Yesterday the House Passed 2009 Plan Mexico Funding Despite Mexico's Failure to Comply with the 2008 Funding's Human Rights Conditions.
http://drugsense.org/url/mO7j8qhE
DRUG TRUTH NETWORK ( Top )
Century of Lies - 02/24/09 - Richard Lee
Oaksterdam I - Richard Lee, founder of Oaksterdam University, Dale Gieringer of California NORML, Roger LaChance of Medical Cannabis Safety Commission, Chris Conrad, publisher and Court Qualified Marijuana Expert, Atty. James Anthony, Atty. Robert Raich.
http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/?q=node/2310
Cultural Baggage Radio Show - 02/25/09 - Richard Lee
Oaksterdam II - Founder Richard Lee, anonymous instructor, Keith Stevenson of Purple Heart Dispensary, Atty. James Anthony of LEAP, Atty. Robert Raich
http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/?q=node/2311
ROB KAMPIA INTERVIEWED ON GLENN BECK SHOW ( Top )
Rob Kampia, executive director of MPP, is interviewed by Glenn Beck about the California bill introduced by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano to tax and regulate marijuana like alcohol.
http://tv.mpp.org/news/rob-kampia-interviewed-on-glenn-beck-show-22509/
STATE CONSIDERS MARIJUANA TAX ( Top )
A California bill to regulate recreational use could spark confrontation with federal government. CNN's Casey Wian reports.
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2009/02/24/wian.pot.tax.cnn
MEDICAL CANNABIS AN "AMERICAN POLICY". ( Top )
By Steph Sherer
I wish everyone were here to see it. As many of you know by now, on Wednesday U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told reporters at a press conference, while standing next to Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrator Michele Leonhart that ending federal raids on medical cannabis dispensaries "is now American policy."
http://safeaccessnow.org/blog/?p=217
DRUG POLICY REFORM: CUTTING THE GORDIAN KNOT ( Top )
Sanho Tree, a drug policy analyst from the Washington based Institute for Policy Studies, has contributed a chapter on drug policy reform to a new book titled Mandate for Change, published this month and presented to the White House last week.
http://drugsense.org/url/Qamf89MV
( Top )
WRITE A LETTER ( Top )
The Drug War South Of The Border. A DrugSense Focus Alert
http://www.mapinc.org/alert/0397.html
( Top )
PROHIBITION PROBLEM ( Top )
By John Chase
You offered two recent opinion pieces about the drug war. One would continue this war; the other would treat drugs as a public health problem. In effect, the issue is whether to stop all use or to stop problem use. History teaches that the latter is more effective.
National Prohibition (1920-1933) failed because it tried to stamp out all drinking by prosecuting bootleggers. By the late 1920s the public had begun to withdraw their support for Prohibition because they saw 1 ) an alcohol-free America was not possible, 2 ) the illegal wealth enabled by Prohibition fostered street violence and official corruption, 3 ) it was costly to imprison bootleggers, and 4 ) there was a need for liquor tax revenue.
We ended Prohibition in 1933 and have learned to live with legal alcohol by focusing on problem drinking. While many of us believe alcohol regulation is still too soft, no responsible person has proposed that we try again to stop all drinking.
John Chase Palm Harbor
Pubdate: Sun, 22 Feb 2009
Source: St. Petersburg Times (FL)
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n187/a07.html
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n185/a08.html
( Top )
Tearful Atlanta Cops Express Remorse For Shooting 92-year-old Kathryn ( Top )
Planted Drugs In Her Basement, Then Threatening an Informant So He Would Lie To Cover It All Up
By Radley Balko
Sorry, but I'm having a hard time conjuring up any sympathy for these guys. They were sentenced earlier this week: U.S. District Judge Julie Carnes sentenced former officer Gregg Junnier to six years in prison, Jason Smith to 10 years in prison and Arthur Tesler to 5 years in prison.
To put it into perspective, all three are expected to receive about the same sentence as Ryan Frederick (who shot a police officer to death during a drug raid that Frederick believed was a home invasion). That ain't justice.
I will say, however, that evil and inexcusable as these bastards are, there's some truth in this excerpt:
Tesler said when he joined the narcotics unit, he was told to "sit, watch and learn" from superiors who cut corners to meet performance quotas for arrests and warrants. "I was a new part and plugged into a broken system," Tesler said.
Tesler said when he saw Smith about to plant baggies of marijuana inside Johnston's home to make it look like a drug house, he shook his head in disapproval. Tesler said he falsified the police report and later lied about the raid because Smith told him to follow the cover-up script. Tesler said he wasn't about to "rat" on a senior officer.
His father, Jack Tesler, said his son was "being vilified and over-prosecuted."
Smith said his moral compass failed when he began to think "drug dealers were no longer human."
"I saw myself above them," he said.
This is what happens when you declare "war" on American citizens. You dehumanize them. And you instill an ends-justifies-the-means, win at all costs mindset in your "warriors." This mindset infected the entire narcotics unit at Atlanta PD. You'd have to be awfully naive to believe the problem is limited to Atlanta.
Officers Junnier, Smith, and Tesler are going to prison. But you could make a good case that they were only responding to incentives. A lot of other people have Kathryn Johnston's blood on their hands too, people with names like Bennett, Gates, Walters, Souder, Tandy, and Meese. They've been ratcheting up the war rhetoric of drug prohibition for 30 years. It boggles my mind that I'm "known" for this issue. For this to even be an issue, we had to have reached the point where most of America is now accustomed to the notion that state agents dressed in battle garb can and will tear down the doors of private homes in the middle of the night for nothing more than mere possession of psychoactive substances. And most of the time, they do it under the full color of law.
It shouldn't be at all surprising that this particular war's boots on the ground might start to take all of that war imagery to heart, and take shortcuts around whatever largely ritualistic Fourth Amendment procedures we have left to "protect" against whatever it is we still might call "unreasonable" searches (if a violent, terrifying, paramilitary-style raid in the middle of the night on someone suspected of a nonviolent, consensual crime isn't "unreasonable," I don't know what would be).
Kathryn Johnston's death is tragic. But the real tragedy here is that had the cops found a stash of marijuana in her basement that actually did belong to her-say for pain treatment or nausea-her death would have faded quickly from the national news, these tactics would have been deemed by most to be wholly legitimate, and we probably wouldn't still be talking about her today.
These cops were evil. But they worked within an evil system that's not only immoral on its face, but is rife with bad incentives and plays to the worst instincts in human nature.
Radley Balko is a senior editor for Reason magazine. For additional information and to view his blog, please visit his website, http://www.theagitator.com/ - where this piece first appeared.
( Top )
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