( Top )
(1) A COLLAPSE IN INTEGRITY OF SCIENTIFIC ADVICE IN THE UK
Pubdate: Sat, 17 Apr 2010
Source: Lancet, The (UK)
Copyright: 2010 The Lancet Ltd
Over the past 6 months the UK's Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) - an independent expert body that advises government on drug-related issues - has hardly been out of the headlines.
One sacking and seven resignations is not a good track record for any organisation. The public's discontent at the ACMD over how it operates and how it is unduly influenced by government has left a bitter taste, together with a crisis in confidence about evidence-based policy making in the UK.
The trouble at the ACMD began in October, 2009, after the controversial sacking of the then chairman, Professor David Nutt for criticising the government's policy over cannabis and ecstasy.
Five more members quit soon after in protest.
[snip]
During the past 12 years the Labour Government has done a great deal to build up a strong science base in the UK and enhance the important role that science plays in our economy and society.
However, the events surrounding the ACMD signal a disappointing finale to the government's relationship with science.
[snip]
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10/n281/a11.html
(2) MEDICAL MARIJUANA ISSUE WILL GO TO PUBLIC ON NOVEMBER BALLOT ( Top )
Pubdate: Thu, 15 Apr 2010
Source: Sierra Vista Herald (AZ)
Copyright: 2010 Sierra Vista Herald
Author: Howard Fischer
PHOENIX - It looks like Arizonans are going to get to decide whether they want to be able to use marijuana for medical reasons.
Backers of a plan to let doctors provide written recommendations for marijuana turned in petitions Wednesday with what they said are about 252,000 signatures in support of the plan. That is nearly 100,000 more than need to be found valid to put the question on the November ballot.
If approved, Arizona would become the 15th state in the nation with a medical marijuana law.
But campaign manager Andrew Myers said what voters are being asked to approve here would be different.
Of note, he said, there could be no more than 120 dispensaries for medical marijuana set up in the entire state. And they would have to operate as nonprofit entities.
[snip]
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10/n281/a03.html
(3) MOST CANADIANS STILL SUPPORT DECRIMINALIZATION OF POT: POLL ( Top )
Pubdate: Fri, 16 Apr 2010
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2010 The Vancouver Sun
Author: Jeff Lee, , Vancouver Sun
A new poll shows the majority of Canadians support the legalizing of marijuana but not other, hard-core drugs. And nowhere is that support higher than in British Columbia, where more than six in 10 people say having a toke shouldn't earn you a date with the courts.
But the Angus Reid poll, released Thursday, also shows many Canadians believe there is a serious nationwide drug abuse problem and 70 per cent want mandatory minimum prison sentences and fines for drug dealers and marijuana grow operators.
The poll supports the findings of Angus Reid polls in the past that showed most Canadians believe decriminalization of marijuana possession is appropriate, but that other illegal drugs should remain illegal.
[snip]
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10/n281/a10.html
(4) MEDICAL MARIJUANA CARD OFFERS NO JOB PROTECTION ( Top )
Pubdate: Fri, 16 Apr 2010
Source: Statesman Journal (Salem, OR)
Copyright: 2010 Statesman Journal
Author: Peter Wong, Statesman Journal
Court Rules That Businesses Can Fire Employees Who Test Positive
A business can fire workers who test positive for marijuana use despite their having a medical marijuana card, the Oregon Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
In a 5-2 decision, the court majority said that the state law voters approved in 1998 does not override a federal law that classifies marijuana as a drug with no medicinal uses.
"Because employee did not take marijuana under supervision of a licensed health care professional and because the authorization to use marijuana found (in state law) is unenforceable, it follows that employee was currently engaged in the illegal use of drugs," said the majority opinion written by Justice Rives Kistler.
The opinion did not strike down the 1998 law, which shields the possession, growing and distribution of specified amounts of medical marijuana from state criminal liability. Lawmakers have revised it a couple of times.
[snip]
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10/n281/a09.html
( Top )
Domestic News- Policy
COMMENTS: ( Top )
Some major institutions, or at least their representatives, continue
to challenge drug prohibition. This week, we hear from doctors and
the head of a teachers union. And, another U.S. institution in
Mexico finds the drug war there creeping closer. And, finally, a
good column about the psychology of prohibition that needs to be
overcome.
(5) HALLUCINOGENS HAVE DOCTORS TUNING IN AGAIN ( Top )
Pubdate: Mon, 12 Apr 2010
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2010 The New York Times Company
Author: John Tierney
As a retired clinical psychologist, Clark Martin was well acquainted with traditional treatments for depression, but his own case seemed untreatable as he struggled through chemotherapy and other grueling regimens for kidney cancer. Counseling seemed futile to him. So did the antidepressant pills he tried.
Nothing had any lasting effect until, at the age of 65, he had his first psychedelic experience. He left his home in Vancouver, Wash., to take part in an experiment at Johns Hopkins medical school involving psilocybin, the psychoactive ingredient found in certain mushrooms.
Scientists are taking a new look at hallucinogens, which became taboo among regulators after enthusiasts like Timothy Leary promoted them in the 1960s with the slogan "Turn on, tune in, drop out." Now, using rigorous protocols and safeguards, scientists have won permission to study once again the drugs' potential for treating mental problems and illuminating the nature of consciousness.
After taking the hallucinogen, Dr. Martin put on an eye mask and headphones, and lay on a couch listening to classical music as he contemplated the universe.
"All of a sudden, everything familiar started evaporating," he recalled. "Imagine you fall off a boat out in the open ocean, and you turn around, and the boat is gone. And then the water's gone. And then you're gone."
Today, more than a year later, Dr. Martin credits that six-hour experience with helping him overcome his depression and profoundly transforming his relationships with his daughter and friends. He ranks it among the most meaningful events of his life, which makes him a fairly typical member of a growing club of experimental subjects.
[snip]
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10/n272/a05.html
(6) HEAD OF AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS RANDI WEINGARTEN ( Top )
Pubdate: Sun, 11 Apr 2010
Source: New York Daily News (NY)
Copyright: 2010 Daily News, L.P.
Author: George Rush
Teachers union boss Randi Weingarten thinks it's high time marijuana is legalized.
Weingarten - head of the American Federation of Teachers and former president of New York's United Federation of Teachers - came out in support of a California proposition to legalize pot for personal use.
"Everything in moderation is pretty much fine," Weingarten said when asked by "Real Time" host Bill Maher whether she'd back the measure.
[snip]
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10/n269/a02.html
(7) SMALL BOMB IS THROWN AT U.S. POST IN MEXICO ( Top )
Pubdate: Sun, 11 Apr 2010
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2010 The New York Times Company
Author: Marc Lacey
MEXICO CITY - An explosive device hurled over a wall at the United States Consulate in the Mexican border city of Nuevo Laredo on Friday night has renewed fears that Mexico's violent drug trafficking organizations may be focusing their wrath on the American government, which has backed President Felipe Calderon's antidrug offensive.
American officials said Saturday that the consulate in Nuevo Laredo and a consular office in nearby Piedras Negras were to be closed indefinitely beginning Monday. The attack, which occurred around 11 p.m. Friday, shattered windows but injured no one, American officials said in a statement on the consulate's Web site.
In Mexico City, federal prosecutors said in a statement on Saturday that they were reviewing video from security cameras at the consulate, along with other evidence from the scene. A federal official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told news services that the explosive appeared to have been homemade.
The episode follows the shooting deaths last month of three people linked to the United States Consulate in Ciudad Juarez, a border city that has been wracked by drug-related violence recently.
[snip]
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10/n264/a10.html
(8) THE PAY-ANY-PRICE PRINCIPLE ( Top )
Pubdate: Mon, 12 Apr 2010
Source: Summit Daily News (CO)
Copyright: 2010 Summit Daily News
Author: David Sirota
When choosing between frugality and security, history shows that America almost always selects the latter. To paraphrase President Kennedy, we'll pay any price and bear any burden to protect ourselves.
No doubt this was why the economic case against the Iraq invasion failed. To many, the war debate seemed to pose a binary question: debt or mushroom clouds? And when it's a scuffle between money arguments and security arguments (even dishonest security arguments), security wins every time.
Call this the Pay-Any-Price Principle -- an axiom that has impacted all of America's wars, and now, most poignantly, its War on Drugs. When faced with criticism of budget-busting prosecution and incarceration costs, law enforcement agencies and private prison interests have successfully depicted their cause as a willingness to pay any price to jail dealers of hard narcotics.
Of course, data undermine that story line. In 2008, the FBI reported that 82 percent of drug arrests were for possession -- not sales or manufacturing -- and almost half of those arrests were for marijuana, not hard drugs.
Fortunately, these numbers are seeping into the public consciousness. Gallup's latest survey shows record support for marijuana legalization, as more Americans see the Drug War for what it really is: an ideological and profit-making crusade by the Arrest-and-Incarceration Complex against a substance that is, according to most physicians, less toxic than alcohol.
Considering both the public opinion shift and the facts about marijuana, this should be the moment that drug policy reformers drop their budget attacks and flip the security argument on their opponents -- specifically, by pointing out how safety is actually compromised by the status quo.
[snip]
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10/n273/a02.html
Law Enforcement & Prisons
COMMENTS: ( Top )
The legacy of drug war-related police corruption in another American
city starts to unfold. The violence of the Mexican drug war starts
to hit tourist country. And, in Canada, a disturbing trend toward
U.S.-style drug law enforcement.
(9) LAW AND DISORDER: PROBE CASTS DARK CLOUD OVER CITY ( Top )
Pubdate: Sun, 11 Apr 2010
Source: Courier-Post (Cherry Hill, NJ)
Copyright: 2010 Courier-Post
Author: George Mast
For nine months last year, Ron Mills was locked in the Camden County Jail.
For nine months he held firm to his story that the drugs he was charged with possessing didn't exist.
Last month Mills' story was validated when a former Camden police officer admitted in federal court that for more than two years he and four other officers arrested suspects with planted drugs, carried out illegal searches and wrote false arrest reports.
Mills' story, which was detailed by former Patrolman Kevin Parry in court, is now being laid out in one of a growing number of lawsuits planned against the city.
As of Friday, lawsuits, or notice of future lawsuits, have been filed against the city in 10 cases, according to city attorney Howard McCoach.
"We're gong to be looking at each of these and determining how to proceed," he said.
McCoach said city officials are discussing the pending lawsuits with Camden's insurance providers. The city is responsible for all payouts up to $300,000 -- anything above that is covered by Meadowbrook Insurance Group.
While opinions differ on the extent of the liability Camden faces in the still unfolding police scandal, most agree it's unlikely the city will escape without settlements in some of the cases.
[snip]
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10/n270/a05.html
(10) STREET SHOOTOUT STRIKES FEAR IN ACAPULCO ( Top )
Pubdate: Thu, 15 Apr 2010
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2010 Los Angeles Times
Author: Ken Ellingwood, Reporting from Mexico City
Mexico Under Siege
As Many As Six People Are Killed As Gunmen Open Fire on Motorists and Federal Police
A chaotic shootout Wednesday on a hotel-lined boulevard in the beach resort city of Acapulco left as many as six people dead, Mexican authorities said.
Federal police officers patrolling the area came under fire after they heard gunshots and saw attackers shooting at two men in a car, authorities said. The gunmen also shot at other vehicles as they tried to flee, riddling dozens of cars with bullet holes.
The victims included a woman and her 8-year-old daughter. No tourists appeared to have been killed. A federal officer was also slain during the shootout with gunmen, which erupted on busy Miguel Aleman Boulevard, the main tourist drag.
Five people were wounded, according to public safety authorities in Guerrero state.
The midafternoon gun battle could be heard in nearby hotels. Hundreds of spent casings from AK-47 assault rifles -- the type favored by drug-gang hit men -- littered the street. Cars reportedly crashed into one another as innocent drivers tried to escape the shooting.
Guests and workers at the beach-side Hotel Playa Suites, next to where the shooting took place, were rattled by the confusing scene as police poured into the area.
[snip]
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10/n279/a07.html
(11) FORMER TORONTO DRUG SQUAD OFFICERS MUST FACE TRIAL, TOP COURT ( Top )
Pubdate: Tue, 13 Apr 2010
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2010 The Globe and Mail Company
Author: Kirk Makin
Five Men Lose Bid To End Corruption Case
Five former Toronto drug squad officers caught up in a massive allegation of police corruption must face trial, the Supreme Court of Canada said Monday.
In a 3-0 ruling, a panel of Supreme Court judges denied the officers leave to appeal an earlier Ontario Court of Appeal decision that had rejected a lower-court finding that their right to a speedy trial had been violated.
The officers - John Schertzer, Steven Correia, Joseph Miched, Ned Maodus and Raymond Pollard - are charged with falsifying notes, robbing and beating drug dealers, and conducting illegal searches between 1997 and 2002.
Monday's decision was an important triumph for Crown counsel Kenneth Campbell: The original trial ruling had tarnished the reputation of the Ministry of the Attorney-General, finding that it moved the 56-month case along at a "glacial" pace.
In staying the charges in January, 2008, Mr. Justice Ian Nordheimer of the Superior Court said that the Crown acted without urgency in disclosing material to the defence. "The Crown was sitting on its hands rather than actively assisting the investigation," he said. Judge Nordheimer cited damage done to the careers, families and psychological welfare of the officers.
[snip]
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10/n276/a09.html
(12) RCMP'S TACTICAL VEHICLE USED TO ACCESS RURAL GROW OP ( Top )
Pubdate: Wed, 07 Apr 2010
Source: Agassiz Harrison Observer (CN BC)
Copyright: 2010 Agassiz Observer
Author: Jessica Murdy
One of the tactical vehicles recently added to the RCMP's arsenal has been used in a drug raid close to Agassiz.
Last Tuesday, RCMP used their new Tactical Armoured Vehicle, or TAV, to gain access to a property on Fielder Road, between Agassiz and Harrison Mills.
Corporal Scott Stoughton says that the use of the vehicle is "a sign of the times" and that the public will notice the TAV being used regularly.
"I think the plan, from what I understand, is to use it frequently," the Agassiz RCMP member says.
The TAV is based in Chilliwack and will be used in high risk situations that "meet certain thresholds," he says.
Stoughton wasn't part of the raid on the grow op at 2061 Fielder Road, but he says that the TAV was needed to gain access to the property.
Police seized 924 marijuana plants at the property, a loaded .38 caliber hand gun and growing equipment at the property. They consider it a sophisticated operation, due to the value of the equipment and number of plants being grown.
[snip]
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10/n272/a04.html
Cannabis & Hemp-
COMMENTS: ( Top )
California Assemblyman Tom Ammiano remains confident that he will
find a co-sponsor for his Bill that would "regulate, control and tax"
cannabis in November 2010.
Canadian compassion clubs are ill at ease after one of the oldest and
largest clubs in the country was raided by police last week, ending
several years of unofficial detente.
Grim economics continue to make cannabis law reform increasingly
attractive to impoverished state governments.
A Los Angeles Superior Court judge ordered the Organica medical
marijuana dispensary in Del Rey to stop selling cannabis, finding
that California law allows for only non-profit collectives.
(13) WITHOUT CO-SPONSOR, AMMIANO'S POT BILL LAGGING ( Top )
Pubdate: Mon, 12 Apr 2010
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 2010 Hearst Communications Inc.
Author: Joe Garofoli, Chronicle Staff Writer
California Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, started a national conversation by introducing a bill to legalize and tax marijuana for recreational use in California. In the days afterward, even Fox News commentator Glenn Beck said, "It is about time we legalized marijuana."
While Ammiano's bill, introduced in February, has sparked cable and blog chatter and supportive editorials from around the world, it hasn't received a single co-sponsor. He pulled it from a committee hearing scheduled for late March - he said it was scheduled without his knowledge - and plans to hold a hearing in late fall or early winter. The measure is now a two-year bill, giving the freshman legislator through next year to build support.
Few doubt Ammiano's political bravery in introducing legislation that challenges one of society's long-standing taboos - he calls it the "wink-wink" attitude many have toward weed. But is the former stand-up comedian and first-term legislator representing one of the most liberal parts of the country the right person to lead the fight for pot legalization?
Can a longtime San Francisco supervisor convince his conservative colleagues from districts that don't have dozens of pot clubs that they're not taking a political risk by supporting a bill the state Board of Equalization says could raise more than $1 billion in revenue for a cash-starved state?
"Oh, don't underestimate me, pal," Ammiano said. He isn't concerned about not having co-sponsors so early in the process, especially for a highly detailed bill that could be reviewed by three different Assembly committees. Privately, he has been having conversations with his more conservative colleagues, many of whom he said are telling him, " 'Great idea - I don't think I can vote for it yet.' I think they need the assurance of their constituents that they won't be thrown out of office, which I think would be highly unlikely. They won't be thrown out of office for this."
[snip]
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10.n277.a05.html
(14) PROTESTERS DEMAND LEGAL ACCESS TO CANNABIS ( Top )
Pubdate: Sun, 11 Apr 2010
Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2010 The Toronto Star
Author: Adrian Morrow
Some lit up bongs, some blasted Bob Marley and others waved flags emblazoned with the marijuana leaf in a Sunday afternoon protest outside police headquarters to protest the shuttering of Cannabis as Living Medicine.
Officers raided the Queen St. E. clinic of CALM, an organization that sells marijuana to medicinal users, on March 31 and charged nine people with a variety of drug-related offences.
On Sunday, some 300 people took to the street outside police headquarters to protest the raid and subsequent closure of the clinic, and to demand that Health Canada make it easier for those with medical needs to access the drug.
"A lot of people need help from cannabis, but it's hard to get high- quality cannabis," said Neev Tapiero, CALM's owner, adding that the clinic's users have rallied in the wake of the closure.
"Everyone's in great spirits; the community is behind us."
Police officers lined both the north and south sides of the building behind security fences and shut down part of the street, but no incidents were reported.
The crowd was a mix, with dreadlock-sporting marijuana legalization activists rubbing shoulders with sufferers of epilepsy and people with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, who say the drug helps their conditions.
[snip]
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10.n275.a06.html
(15) SOLVING REVENUE WOES BY LEGALIZING MARIJUANA ( Top )
Pubdate: Sun, 11 Apr 2010
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2010 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc
Author: Dick Polman
The voters of trendsetting California may well decide this November to legalize marijuana -- there's a ballot referendum, and 56 percent of Californians are in favor -- and no doubt this would be great news for the munchie industry, the bootleggers of Grateful Dead music, and the millions of stoners who have long yearned for an era of reefer gladness.
Seriously, this is a story about how desperate times require desperate measures.
Legalization advocates, including many ex-cops and ex-prosecutors, have long contended that it's nuts to keep criminalizing otherwise law-abiding citizens while wasting $8 billion a year in law enforcement costs. That argument has never worked. But the new argument, cleverly synced to the recession mind-set, may well herald a new chapter in the history of pot prohibition.
It's simple, really: State governments awash in red ink can solve some of their revenue woes by legalizing marijuana for adults and slapping it with a sin tax.
So much of the marijuana debate used to be about morality; now it's mostly about economics and practicality -- which is why New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Rhode Island are also floating measures to legalize and tax; why similar voter referendums are in the works in Washington state and Oregon; why 14 states (including, most recently, New Jersey) have legalized medical marijuana, and why even Pennsylvania, hardly a pacesetting state, is weighing the sanction of medical pot, complete with 6 percent sales tax.
But California is the likeliest lab for a massive toke tax, given its dire financial straits and the fact that marijuana is the state's top cash crop, racking up an estimated $14 billion in annual sales -- twice as much as the No. 2 agricultural commodity, milk and cream.
[snip]
The bottom line is that public support for legalizing the crop has been building for a very long time. Gallup found only 12 percent of Americans in favor back in 1969, but 31 percent said yes in 2000, 36 percent said yes in 2005, and 44 percent said yes in 2009.
The economic crisis has put wind behind the sentiment, and it seems inevitable that there will come a day -- perhaps in the next major recession -- when a presidential candidate will find it perfectly politic to speechify about the audacity of dope.
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10.n274.a01.html
(16) DISPENSARY BARRED FROM SELLING MEDICAL POT ( Top )
Pubdate: Wed, 14 Apr 2010
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2010 Los Angeles Times
Author: John Hoeffel
In a Preliminary Order Against a Venice-Area Outlet, Judge Says State Law Does Not Allow Sales by Collectives
In a second ruling against a medical marijuana dispensary, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge issued a preliminary injunction Tuesday that bars a popular Venice-area outlet from selling or distributing the drug at its sprawling store on Washington Boulevard.
The decision by Judge James C. Chalfant could embolden city prosecutors to seek more court orders to close dispensaries as they try to find the most efficient way to reduce the number in Los Angeles. As he did in a previous case, Chalfant concluded that the state's medical marijuana laws do not allow collectives to sell cannabis.
Chalfant's decisions are preliminary orders and both cases are slated to go to trial. But his rulings against Hemp Factory V in Eagle Rock and Organica, which straddles the Los Angeles-Culver City line, could eventually force the courts to settle the issue, which has become increasingly contentious as prosecutors in Southern California step up efforts to halt such sales.
Most, if not all, collectives sell marijuana to their members for set prices.
In the hearing, Chalfant strongly reiterated his view that the state's laws were intended to allow medical marijuana patients and caregivers to form collectives to grow pot together and share the harvest, but not to sell it like a product in a retail store. "Maybe I am too old, but those of us who grew up in the 1960s know what a collective is," he said.
Asha Greenberg, the assistant Los Angeles city attorney who is handling the case, said Chalfant's decision should make it clear to the city's dispensaries that selling marijuana is illegal.
Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley and Los Angeles City Atty. Carmen Trutanich have pressed that view. Dispensary operators and their advocates, including Americans for Safe Access, the nation's main advocacy group for medical marijuana, have insisted that the two prosecutors are misinterpreting the law and recent court decisions.
[snip]
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10.n278.a02.html
International News
COMMENTS: ( Top )
As we close the international news section our thanks to Doug Snead
for his analysis over the years. The drug war outside the United
States should be of concern to the reform community, as the
following articles indicate. - Richard Lake
(17) DRUG WAR TOLL TOPS 22,000 ( Top )
Pubdate: Wed, 14 Apr 2010
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2010 Los Angeles Times
Author: Ken Ellingwood
The Tally, Based on Official Mexican Figures, Is Higher Than Previously Reported
The death toll from the Mexican government's three-year war on drug cartels is far higher than previously reported -- more than 22,000, according to news reports published Tuesday that cited confidential government figures.
The figure is significantly higher than tallies assembled by Mexican media. They estimate that more than 18,000 people have died since President Felipe Calderon launched a crackdown against drug-trafficking groups after taking office in December 2006.
The unofficial media tallies have often been cited by foreign news outlets, including The Times.
The government has seldom released official counts of those killed in the skyrocketing violence, which stems largely from fighting between rival drug-trafficking groups.
The Interior Ministry said Tuesday that it was preparing to make its count public, but it had not issued its report by the evening.
The daily Reforma newspaper first published the toll number, which it said was contained in a confidential file that top security officials gave federal senators during a hearing Monday. The Associated Press, which said it had gained access to the report, said the total given was 22,700.
The figures present a starker picture than previously known of the violence that has buffeted the country, especially along the U.S. border and in drug-smuggling corridors.
Last year was the deadliest since the Calderon anti-crime offensive began, with 8,928 people killed, according to Reforma. So far this year, 2,904 people have died, the newspaper said. The AP said the report put the toll at 9,635 last year and 3,365 in January through March this year. It was unclear why there were discrepancies in the report's figures.
[snip]
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10/n278/a01.html
(18) SPIKE IN HEPATITIS C CASES RAISES HIV FEARS ( Top )
Pubdate: Wed, 14 Apr 2010
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2010 The Vancouver Sun
Author: Dustin Walker, Canwest News Service
Health officials hope providing clean needles and crack pipes to addicts will reduce an expected spike in the number of central Vancouver Island residents who contract HIV.
A relatively high number of people suffering with hepatitis C in the region could be a sign that a surge in HIV is on its way, said Dr. Lorna Medd, medical health officer with the Vancouver Island Health Authority.
Central Vancouver Island's HIV rate was at 4.9 cases per 100,000 in 2008, well below the provincial rate of 7.9, according to BC Centre for Disease Control statistics. But the region has among the highest rates of hepatitis C in the province at 87.6. The B.C. rate was just 55.8 in 2008.
VIHA has said it plans on having sterile needles and other drug paraphernalia available at front-line health care centres. About 12 sites in Nanaimo have been shortlisted, but final selections won't be made until sometime this summer.
"The HIV rates tend to follow the Hep C rates," said Medd. "We think we're in a window, and if we're able to get in with good harm reduction support and safety supplies, we could prevent some cases of HIV."
Other social service providers are glad VIHA is looking at further harm reduction strategies, but say more education and other supports are needed to best tackle such problems. Both HIV and hepatitis C, a virus that attacks the liver, can be spread by sharing needles and crack-cocaine pipes.
Medd said that past experiences with areas such as Vancouver's drug-riddled Downtown Eastside have shown health officials that when hepatitis C cases are up, HIV cases are usually not far behind. Often, there is a two-to-three-year lag before the two statistics stabilize.
[snip]
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10/n279/a03.html
(19) AFRICA'S DRUG PROBLEM ( Top )
Pubdate: Sun, 11 Apr 2010
Source: New York Times Magazine (NY)
Copyright: 2010 The New York Times Company
Author: James Traub
On the tarmac of Osvaldo Vieira, the international airport of the West African coastal country of Guinea-Bissau, sits a once-elegant Gulfstream jet, which in the normal course of events would have no reason to land in a country with no business opportunities and virtually no economy.
In recent years, however, Guinea-Bissau has emerged as a nodal point in three-way cocaine-trafficking operations linking producers in South America with users in Europe; the value of the cocaine that transits this small and heartbreakingly impoverished country dwarfs its gross national product.
The Gulfstream arrived unexpectedly from Venezuela on July 12, 2008, and taxied to a hangar at the adjacent military airbase - where soldiers formed a line and unloaded its contents.
The contents, reportedly more than a half-ton of cocaine, vanished.
The crew was arrested and released.
The army permitted the government to impound the plane only after several days. Since then, the plane has sat in the harsh sun, a reminder of Guinea-Bissau's helplessness before forces far more powerful than itself.
The most evident of those forces are South American crime syndicates with billions of dollars at their disposal and new markets to explore. But the dynamic before which Guinea-Bissau and its neighbors along the West African coast are truly helpless is globalization, which ensures that producers will find a way to deliver all things insatiably desired, whether good or bad. West Africa, which neither produces nor consumes significant quantities of cocaine, is a victim of changes in global supply and demand.
Partly because of heightened American and South American efforts in recent years, the flow of cocaine to the United States diminished. Traffickers increasingly turned to Europe, where cocaine use grew significantly over the last decade. European law-enforcement officials responded by cracking down on air and maritime routes from South America. And the traffickers in turn adapted by establishing the West Africa connection.
[snip]
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10/n266/a04.html
(20) JUAREZ VIOLENCE ( Top )
Pubdate: Tue, 13 Apr 2010
Source: El Paso Times (TX)
Copyright: 2010 El Paso Times
Author: Zahira Torres
Street Gangs Responsible for Killings, Mayor Says
AUSTIN -- Street gangs, not drug cartels, are behind most murders in Juarez these days, the city's mayor said Monday.
Juarez Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz told a crowd of more than 100 people at the University of Texas at Austin that law enforcement efforts have made it more difficult for drug cartels to transport cocaine into the United States.
He said the increased patrols forced the cartels to find alternate routes. That, he said, created a separate battle between Juarez gangs that are now hunting for additional income.
"For the most part, the killings between the Sinaloa cartel and the Juarez cartel have ceased in Juarez," Reyes Ferriz said. He blamed the majority of the 2,600 killings in the city during the past year on the feud between warring gangs.
He said the Aztecas and their rivals the Mexicles and Artistas Asesinos (Artists Assassins) are now fighting for control of the retail distribution of drugs in Juarez. The Aztecas are linked to the Juarez cartel, and the Mexicles and Artistas Asesinos are linked to the Sinaloa cartel.
Nearly 5,000 people have been killed in Juarez since 2008.
[snip]
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10/n276/a03.html
( Top )
10 RULES FOR DEALING WITH THE POLICE AVAILABLE ONLINE ( Top )
Flex Your Rights has made their new film, 10 Rules for Dealing with Police, available for free on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmrbNLt7Om8
For more information see:
http://flexyourrights.org/10_Rules/
WILL CALIFORNIA LEGALIZE MARIJUANA? ( Top )
Q&A With Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, Who Wants to do Just That.
http://reason.com/blog/2010/04/13/reasontv-will-california-legal
MAJORITY OF CANADIANS WOULD LEGALIZE MARIJUANA, BUT NOT OTHER DRUGS ( Top )
In the online survey of a representative national sample of 1,010 Canadian adults, two-in-five respondents (42%, -2 since May 2008) believe Canada has a serious drug abuse problem that affects the whole country.
http://mapinc.org/url/PzeE79bH
HOW LOS ANGELES BECAME THE "WILD WEST" OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA ( Top )
By Brian Doherty
How Los Angeles became the medical marijuana capital of America thanks to a combination of entrepreneurial energy and benign political neglect.
http://mapinc.org/url/pfH1YKYf
SMOKE A JOINT, LOSE YOUR COUNTRY ( Top )
Rigid deportation rules make a mockery of justice.
By Jacob Sullum
http://mapinc.org/url/F7MIvfkf
ETHAN NADELMANN TESTIFIES BEFORE CONGRESS ( Top )
DPA Executive Director Ethan Nadelmann testified before Congress this week about the future of the ONDCP. His recommendations for the agency included adding a focus on harm reduction and establishing a mechanism to independently evaluate effectiveness. Read his written testimony.
Watch a webcast of the hearing here:
http://mapinc.org/url/e9MZUoVC
Read Ethan Nadelmann's written testimony here:
http://drugsense.org/url/wM4Kw1xp
'JUST SAY NO' JUST DOESN'T WORK: YOUTH ( Top )
National Student Organization Forms New Anti-Drug Website
A national youth and student drug reform organization says young Canadians don't put much stock in the federal government's anti-drug approach, so it has created a new website it says may better educate young people about the risks they take by using drugs.
Canadian Students for a Sensible Drug Policy designed www.not4me.org which it says moves away from the government's "just say no" approach, which it calls ineffective.
HOW STANISLAV GROF HELPED LAUNCH A NEW PSYCHEDELIC RESEARCH ERA ( Top )
By Alexander Zaitchik
The world of medicine may finally be ready to catch back up with psychedelic pioneers, whose work was rejected a half-century ago.
http://mapinc.org/url/0NsMCa4a
PSYCHEDELIC RENAISSANCE ( Top )
MAPS' role in the psychedelic renaissance is featured in Playboy magazine, including a lengthy and detailed interview with Rick Doblin, Ph.D.
http://drugsense.org/url/paSUoksn
DRUG TRUTH NETWORK ( Top )
Century of Lies - 04/11/10 - Jeff Blackburn
Jeff Blackburn, Dir of Innocence Project of Texas + Loretta Nall of Alabamians for Compassionate Care
http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/node/2861
Cultural Baggage Radio Show - 04/11/10 - Rabbi Jeffrey Kahn
Rabbi Jeffrey Kahn, Dir of Clergy Against Prohibition + DEA bust of 16 year old, Chris Hermes of Americans for Safe Access
http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/node/2860
NORML REMEMBERS `THE HEMPEROR' JACK HERER ( Top )
By Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director
http://mapinc.org/url/VmhPNrrx
( Top )
WRITE A LETTER ( Top )
Whiffs Of Change
A DrugSense Focus Alert
http://www.mapinc.org/alert/0437.html
DON'T JUST SMOKE A JOINT ON 4/20 ( Top )
Take Action Against Marijuana Prohibition
By Bill Piper
Stand up today with other Americans and get the word out there. This war will end; how soon depends, in part, on you.
http://mapinc.org/url/T7qc4b4o
( Top )
LEGALIZATION MAY END THE NARCOTIC WARS ( Top )
By Kirk Muse
I'm writing about your not-so-thoughtful editorial: "Legalization wouldn't end narcotics wars" (April 3, 2010). Ending alcohol prohibition got rid of the alcohol cartels.
When is the last time the Albany Democrat-Herald had a story about alcohol merchants settling scores with their competitors with gun battles in the streets?
Probably 1933, the year we ended the disaster known as alcohol prohibition.
Kirk Muse, Mesa, Ariz.
Pubdate: Fri, 09 Apr 2010
Source: Albany Democrat-Herald (OR)
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10/n242/a05.html
( Top )
DrugSense recognizes Stan White of Dillon, Colorado for his ten letters published during March, bringing his career total that we know of to 680.
You may read Stan's published letters by clicking this link: http://www.mapinc.org/writers/Stan+White
( Top )
Transforming the DrugSense Weekly ( Top )
By Richard Lake
On Independence Day, 1997, the first DrugSense Weekly was published on line and distributed via email. Today, our 644th issue is our last in the current format.
Today we transform the DrugSense Weekly into a blog. As a blog we will be able to keep you updated on a continuous basis rather than just once a week.
Two features will continue to be published on a periodic basis - the Letter Of The Week and Letter Writer Of The Month.
As a blog will be able to point to and comment on news worthy of attention faster. The same applies to items formerly featured in Hot Off The 'Net and What You Can Do This Week.
Thank You to all who contributed to the DrugSense Weekly over all the years!
Starting a blog in place of the DrugSense Weekly will be a new experience. There will likely be some rough edges as the blog evolves in the weeks ahead. We hope you will bookmark the link to the blog and check in frequently.
Richard Lake is Senior Editor of MAP.
( Top )
"He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery." -- Harold Wilson
DS Weekly is one of the many free educational services DrugSense offers our members. Watch this feature to learn more about what DrugSense can do for you.
TO SUBSCRIBE, UNSUBSCRIBE, OR UPDATE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS:
Please utilize the following URLs
http://www.drugsense.org/hurry.htm
http://www.drugsense.org/unsub.htm
CREDITS:
Policy and Law Enforcement/Prison content selection and analysis by Stephen Young (steve@drugsense.org), This Just In selection by Richard Lake (rlake@mapinc.org) and Stephen Young, International content selection and analysis by Richard Lake (rlake@mapinc.org), Cannabis/Hemp content selection and analysis, Hot Off The Net selection and Layout by Matt Elrod (webmaster@drugsense.org). 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.
NOTICE: ( Top )
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
MAKE A TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATION TO DRUGSENSE ON-LINE ( Top )
http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
-OR-
Mail in your contribution. Make checks payable to MAP Inc. send your contribution to:
The Media Awareness Project (MAP) Inc. D/B/a DrugSense 14252 Culver Drive #328 Irvine, CA, 92604-0326 (800) 266 5759 MGreer@mapinc.org
