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DrugSense Weekly
March 10, 2000 #140

A DrugSense publication                      http://www.drugsense.org/


Table of Contents

* Breaking News (03/28/24)


* Feature Article


    True Reform May Depend on the 'Greedy' Lawyers
    By JOSEPH D. MCNAMARA

* Weekly News in Review


Drug Policy-

COMMENT: (1-2)
(1) Column: Drug War Had to Fail
(2) Apart From Personal Use, a Key Issue Stays Away
COMMENT: (3-5)
(3) Making Campuses Drug-free Topic of Brainstorming Session
(4) Most Parents Caught Unaware of Rising Drug, 'Rave Culture'
(5) It's All the Rave

Law Enforcement & Prisons-

COMMENT: (6-7)
(6) Editorial: Cops Under Siege
(7) Editorial: L.A.'s Ungovernable Police
COMMENT: (8-9)
(8) DC: Editorial: Cars, Cash and Crime
(9) Column: Separating Jurors From Their Peers
COMMENT: (10)
(10) Virginia Is Paying The Price For Prison Boom

Cannabis & Hemp-

COMMENT: (11-14)
(11) Spain: Cannabis Destroys Brain Tumours
(12) UK: Cannabis Hope of Multiple Sclerosis Relief
(13) US: Report Links Heart Attacks to Marijuana
(14) Drug Czar Criticizes Medical Pot
COMMENT: (15)
(15) The World's Best Pot Now Comes From Vancouver

International News-

COMMENT: (16)
(16) Afghanistan: Distress in the Opium Bazaar: 'Can't Make a Profit'
COMMENT: (17-19)
(17) Australia: OPED: Just Say No to America
(18) UK: Drugs Lose Their Appeal for Under-16s
(19) BC In Dark Ages Tackling Drug Crisis
COMMENT: (20-21)
(20) Mexico and Colombia Win Certification in Fight Against Drugs
(21) Editorial: A Muddle in the Jungle

* Hot Off The 'Net


    Press Release Encourages Candidates/Media to Address Drug Policy
    "DRUG CRAZY" Now Available in Paperback
    Preventing Heroin Overdose: Pragmatic Approaches.

* Quote of the Week


    Thomas Jefferson


FEATURE ARTICLE    (Top)

True Reform May Depend on the 'Greedy' Lawyers

By JOSEPH D.  MCNAMARA

STANFORD--If high-powered lawyers experienced in police-brutality cases ever pool their resources and wage the common fight against alleged lawlessness at Rampart Division, the Los Angeles Police Department may have no alternative but to reinvent itself.  To be sure, cops and most Angelenos will be skeptical of these lawyers, among them Johnnie L. Cochran Jr.  and R. Samuel Paz, launching civil suits in the name of reforming police practices.  They know lawyers usually sue to collect multimillion-dollar fees.  Ironically, however, the outrage over the size of the potential settlements, which may bankrupt the city, could create the necessary political mandate to reform the LAPD for the first time in more than 40 years.

The department certainly has been insulated from the winds of reform. Responding to the progressive movement's conviction that city-hall politics corrupt police, Los Angeles citizens approved a city charter in 1925 that gave the Police Department extraordinary freedom from political oversight and extended Civil Service tenure to the police chief.  In addition, the Police Protective League, the union of rank-and-file officers, has evolved into a powerful political force. Few who coveted political office were inclined to displease the LAPD because some people complained about its aggressive policing tactics. Then and now, politicians need endorsements more than controversy. Consequently, the LAPD was able to avoid reforms imposed on other departments and do things its own way: a military style of policing.

When testifying in 1991 before the Christopher Commission, appointed to investigate the LAPD after the police beating of Rodney G.  King, some officers said that the culture of the department accepted the use of unnecessary force.  The commission also learned that the department wasn't receptive to complaints against officers, let alone conducting impartial investigations of them and administering appropriate discipline.

Bernard C.  Parks, the current chief, is far more discipline-minded than his predecessors, but he opposes an independent investigation of his department, because, he says, the Rampart scandal is limited to a relatively small number of officers, a claim that seems premature in what he describes as a continuing investigation.  Inevitably, some people will interpret his resistance to an outside inquiry as a sign of his intention to limit the scope of the scandal.  As a result, the public may learn more about the pervasiveness of corruption in the Police Department through civil lawsuits.

The Board of Inquiry report released last week, for all its candor and commendable self-criticism, does not cite the department's fundamental military style of policing as responsible for the horrible police crimes alleged by former Officer Rafael Perez, whose disclosures exposed the police misconduct at Rampart.  Rather than calling for the development of a new style of policing, the report focuses on internal management practices.  It contends that a few rotten apples, binge hiring, inadequate training, haphazard supervision, failure to hold supervisors accountable and other personnel shortcomings were the sources of the problems at Rampart.

All these should be addressed in any reform efforts.  Yet, it should be noted that these kinds of excuses are the staples of police departments embarrassed by the unmasking of gangster cops in their ranks.  But a troubling question arises: How can relatively few criminals wearing badges commit so many crimes for so many years without being reported by honest officers? In the LAPD, why weren't suggestions that some cops were robbing drug dealers and selling drugs handled the way the L.A. Sheriff's Department dealt with a similar scandal a decade ago? The Sheriff's Department sought FBI help and set up a sting operation that caught one of the suspected cops stealing money.  Confronted with a stiff prison sentence, he helped trap other crooked deputies.  In the end, 29 deputies were convicted.

In contrast, the LAPD and the district attorney are in the unhappy position of having to rely on Perez, a witness discredited by his own admissions.  A year before Perez was arrested for stealing cocaine and decided to blow the whistle, the LAPD promised a thorough investigation of complaints that cops were robbing drug dealers and selling drugs. Why did the LAPD and the district attorney fail to ask for federal help in setting up a sting operation like the ones that have nailed corrupt cops in other cities?

Because there is no reason to believe that such questions were even asked, the lawyers fixing their sights on the LAPD are looking at a target-rich environment, to borrow a phrase from Gen.  Colin L. Powell. The alleged misconduct at Rampart is consistent with that carried out by the convicted deputy sheriffs a decade ago and by cops elsewhere who confessed to crimes similar to those Perez describes.  All these rogue cops indicated that their departments supported "a kind of street-justice culture." Cops who used too much force were supported by a code of silence, which became so strong that even criminal cops were sheltered by it.

The primary reason the code prevailed was that police departments were pressuring their officers to engage in confrontational policing, which often escalated to the use of force.  Citizen complaints followed. The unwritten contract was that police management knew cops who produced a high volume of arrests would also be subject to complaints, and the officers had to be supported.  Political leaders and police chiefs began to believe their own rhetoric that "wars" on drugs and crime were effective.  Cops were soldiers going up against an enemy, not public servants who enforced the law and protected and served neighborhoods, regardless of affluence, race or ethnicity.

The Rampart scandal and how to investigate it has turned into a finger-pointing political circus.  Mayor Richard Riordan says he is "proud" of the way the department is handling the inquiry.  He sees no need for an independent investigation.  The City Council, meanwhile, is divided over the merits of such an investigation.  The Police Commission's relationships with the chief and mayor appear strained, and, in any case, the commission seems to be split over who should lead an inquiry.  Given all this infighting and fractiousness, it may well be that the public will only learn the truth about the magnitude of LAPD corruption when civil lawsuits strip away the layers of political spin.

"Greedy" lawyers, not idealism, may thus end up provoking citizens in Los Angeles to demand that those who enforce the law should also obey it.  When police behave lawfully, people can tell the good guys from the bad.  Folks don't have to worry about cops shooting their teenagers or framing them, or plunging their city into bankruptcy.  - - -

Joseph D.  Mcnamara Is the Retired Police Chief of San Jose and a Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution.  His Forthcoming Book Is "Gangster Cops: the Hidden Cost of America's War on Drugs."

Past letters and columns by Joseph D.  McNamara may be found at: http://www.mapinc.org/mcnamara.htm

Rampart coverage at: http://www.mapinc.org/rampart.htm


WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW    (Top)


Domestic News- Policy


COMMENT: (1-2)    (Top)

Signs of progress: a forthright Denver Post analysis of drug war failure was authored by a political insider; the Boston Globe published an intelligent Op-Ed noting the absence of drug policy issues in Campaign 2000.

(1) COLUMN: DRUG WAR HAD TO FAIL    (Top)

The war on drugs is a complete failure because it's based on false premises.

A drug-free society is almost certainly not possible or even desirable.  This leads to such incredible spectacles as Bill "Two Pack a Day" Bennett as drug Czar.  (Enforcing ideological purity is easier if you're not too sensitive to hypocrisy.)

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 03 Mar 2000
Source:   Denver Post (CO)
Copyright:   2000 The Denver Post
Contact:  
Address:   1560 Broadway, Denver, CO 80202
Fax:   (303) 820.1502
Website:   http://www.denverpost.com/
Forum:   http://www.denverpost.com/voice/voice.htm
Author:   Paul Kelly
Note:   Paul Kelly is a Boulder carpenter and former vicechair of the
Boulder County Democratic Party.
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n315/a06.html


(2) APART FROM PERSONAL USE, A KEY ISSUE STAYS AWAY    (Top)

The war on drugs, which is likely to get another huge boost in funds, seems to be missing in action in the presidential campaign.

The candidates' silence on drug policy, analysts say, may be attributable to the lack of easy solutions.  Or it may stem from a widely shared belief that any position even hinting at reducing penalties for drug use would be political suicide.

[snip]

''The drug war is the biggest head-in-the-sand issue in American policy, and we hope the candidates face up to it,'' said Kevin B. Zeese, president of Common Sense for Drug Policy, a nonprofit group based in Falls Church, Va.  ''It's always been safe to do more of the same, but now more of the same is getting to be absurdly expensive.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 05 Mar 2000
Source:   Boston Globe (MA)
Copyright:   2000 Globe Newspaper Company.
Contact:  
Address:   P.O.  Box 2378, Boston, MA 02107-2378
Feedback:   http://extranet.globe.com/LettersEditor/default.asp
Website:   http://www.boston.com/globe/
Author:   John Donnelly, Globe Staff
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n321/a04.html


COMMENT: (3-5)    (Top)

Meanwhile, drug warriors face their own problem: how to frighten the public into granting more money and power without admitting policy failures? The traditional solution is to hold a conference of "experts," to preach at, scold, and scare parents.

Unfortunately for the warriors, reports of ecstasy use among young urban, middle class whites - not as easy to demonize as poor rural meth users - continue to increase.

(3) MAKING CAMPUSES DRUG-FREE TOPIC OF BRAINSTORMING SESSION    (Top)

Conference:   Three-day Event Draws People From All Over The Nation.  Some
Suggest That Denial of Abuse, by Parents and Schools, is a Major Problem.

SIMI VALLEY-One day after a state report showed that students are continuing to use and sell drugs in California public schools, a panel of educators at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library brainstormed ways to make campuses drug-free.

The suggestions Wednesday weren't new: drug tests, locker searches, after-school activities, parental involvement, peer counseling.

But the urgency was.  No longer are teens smoking just cigarettes and marijuana.  Experts say they are increasingly experimenting with--and becoming addicted to--crack, speed and heroin.  And the tolls are alarming: teenagers dropping out of school, getting pregnant or committing suicide.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 02 Mar 2000
Source:   Los Angeles Times (CA), Ventura County Edition
Copyright:   2000 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  
Address:   Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053
Fax:   (213) 237-4712
Website:   http://www.latimes.com/
Forum:   http://www.latimes.com/home/discuss/
Author:   Anna Gorman, Times Staff Writer
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n309/a03.html


(4) MOST PARENTS CAUGHT UNAWARE OF RISING DRUG, 'RAVE CULTURE'    (Top)

Adam and Eve, Special K and Vitamin K don't only refer to paradise and a healthy breakfast anymore.  These are also the names of some popular drugs circulating in dance clubs and rave parties across the country. It is common knowledge for most teens, but not for their parents.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 01 Mar 2000
Source:   St.  Augustine Record (FL)
Copyright:   2000 The St.  Augustine Record
Contact:  
Address:   P.O.  Box 1630, St. Augustine, FL 32085
Fax:   (904)829-6664
Feedback:   http://www.staugustine.com/news/editor/send.shtml
Website:   http://www.staugustine.com/
Author:   Rooz Walkate
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n298/a10.html
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/raves.htm


(5) IT'S ALL THE RAVE    (Top)

By John Cloud

SUDDENLY PEOPLE ALL OVER THE country are talking about "ecstasy" as if it were something other than what an eight-year-old feels at Disney World. Occasionally the trickle from the fringe to the heartland turns into a slipstream, and that seems to have happened with the heart-pulsing, mildly psychedelic drug called ecstasy.

[snip]

The busts have had little effect.  Nationwide, customs officers have already seized more ecstasy this fiscal year (nearly 3.3 million hits) than in all of last year; in 1997, they seized just 400,000 hits.  In a 1998 survey, 8% of high school seniors said they had tried e, up from 5.8% the year before. In New York

[snip]

"We're seeing more and more hardened criminals," says Cees van Doorn, a Dutch organized- crime specialist.  They are drawn by the profits. After setup the marginal cost of each pill is maybe 10 cents .  It's sold in New York City clubs for $30,

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 13 Mar 2000
Source:   Time Magazine (US)
Page:   64
Copyright:   2000 Time Inc.
Contact:  
Address:   Time Magazine Letters, Time & Life Bldg., Rockefeller Center, NY,
NY 10020
Fax:   (212) 522-8949
Website:   http://www.time.com/
Author:   John Cloud
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00.n330.a08.html
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/raves.htm


Law Enforcement & Prisons
---------

COMMENT: (6-7)    (Top)

Law enforcement credibility is still plummeting; this analysis by a conservative, "law and order" newspaper underscores the profound effect of our bi-coastal police scandals.

Speaking of bi-coastal; are New York's skirts clean enough to justify this obnoxious finger pointing? Didn't the Diallo and Louima cases encourage any introspection- or is Giuliani surrounded by yes-papers as well as yes-men?

(6) EDITORIAL: COPS UNDER SIEGE    (Top)

SCANDALS IN NEW YORK, L.A.  COULD HAPPEN ANYWHERE

At a time when the crime rate has plummeted all across the country, you might expect the nation's police to be universally hailed as heroes.  In an odd turn, they are under siege as never before.

[snip]

Joseph McNamara, the respected former police chief of San Jose, has been sounding the alarm for some time.  He blames the hyper ventilated rhetoric about "the war on drugs," which sends the wrong message to police - that they are soldiers and the accused is the enemy.  In a war, the enemy is not entitled to the constitutional protections that safeguard us all.

[snip]

Whom should we blame? Politicians with their rabid tough-on-crime rhetoric; the public, which has been seduced by it; and, yes, even the media, who've fanned the flames with reporting that's too often long on sensationalism and short on thoughtful analysis.  We are all to blame.

Pubdate:   Wed, 01 Mar 2000
Source:   Sacramento Bee (CA)
Copyright:   2000 The Sacramento Bee
Contact:  
Address:   P.O.Box 15779, Sacramento CA 95852
Feedback:   http://www.sacbee.com/about_us/sacbeemail.html
Website:   http://www.sacbee.com/
Forum:   http://www.sacbee.com/voices/voices_forum.html
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n299/a01.html
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/rampart.htm


(7) EDITORIAL: L.A.'S UNGOVERNABLE POLICE    (Top)

Los Angeles is not the only American city that has problems with its police department, but the L.A.P.D.  seems uniquely hospitable to rogue cops and uniquely resistant to reform.

[snip]

But what appears to be a feud between Mr.  Garcetti and Mr. Parks - as well as plummeting public confidence in the police - have prompted federal and state authorities to step into the case.  Both Mr. Garcetti and Mr.  Parks have denied the existence of a turf war. But given the city's mediocre record of policing its own police, federal intervention may be exactly what is needed to get to the bottom of a deep, systemic problem.

Pubdate:   Thu, 02 Mar 2000
Source:   New York Times (NY)
Copyright:   2000 The New York Times Company
Contact:  
Address:   229 West 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036
Fax:   (212) 556-3622
Website:   http://www.nytimes.com/
Forum:   http://www10.nytimes.com/comment/
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n302/a07.html


COMMENT: (8-9)    (Top)

Two collateral law enforcement issues received unusually intelligent treatment in mainstream newspapers:

The Washington Post, while supporting the more police-friendly Senate bill, at least got some basic forfeiture issues right; the Houston Chronicle's Thom Marshall has been zeroing in on unfair drug laws with rare candor; go, Thom, go!

(8) DC: EDITORIAL: CARS, CASH AND CRIME    (Top)

THE SENATE Judiciary Committee is scheduled today to take up the question of civil asset forfeiture, a procedure under which the government takes property used to commit crimes.  The idea is unassailable: If you use your boat to ship drugs, you lose the boat.  In practice, however, asset forfeiture has become a dicey business, largely because the rules are stacked in the government's favor.

[snip]

A Senate bill sponsored by Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and ranking member Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) does better.  It too would shift the burden of proof to the government, but it would make it somewhat easier for authorities to prove their case than the Hyde-Conyers bill does.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 02 Mar 2000
Source:   Washington Post (DC)
Copyright:   2000 The Washington Post Company
Address:   1150 15th Street Northwest, Washington, DC 20071
Website:   http://www.washingtonpost.com/
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n302/a01.html


(9) COLUMN: SEPARATING JURORS FROM THEIR PEERS    (Top)

Serving as a juror can be an awkward-feeling, strange-fitting task for many of us.

There you are, one-twelfth of the most important part of a jury trial. Yet you aren't required to know anything about the job when you report to work.  You haven't been tutored about how to weigh evidence on the scales of justice.  You haven't had to memorize any rules or answer any test questions about what a juror may or may not do.

[snip]

As a matter of fact, the less you know about being a juror, the more likely you are to get picked to be one.  Judges and prosecutors generally don't want jurors who know too much.

They don't want jurors who understand jury nullification enough to know that they can acquit a factually guilty defendant if they determine a law is unjust or unjustly applied.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 3 Mar 2000
Source:   Houston Chronicle (TX)
Copyright:   2000 Houston Chronicle
Contact:  
Address:   Viewpoints Editor, P.O.  Box 4260 Houston, Texas 77210-4260
Fax:   (713) 220-3575
Website:   http://www.chron.com/
Forum:   http://www.chron.com/content/hcitalk/index.html
Author:   Thom Marshall
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n314/a04.html


COMMENT: (10)    (Top)

An investigative series took dead aim on how Virginia's rampant (and unjustified) prison spending in the early Nineties created an entitlement program which is seriously impairing public education.

(10) VIRGINIA IS PAYING THE PRICE FOR PRISON BOOM    (Top)

Six years ago, an underdog ex-congressman named George Allen was elected governor of Virginia in a landslide after riding a campaign that portrayed the state in the grip of a violent crime wave.

[snip]

Republicans and Democrats in the General Assembly obliged, passing sweeping laws that lengthened many criminal sentences, abolished parole and launched Virginia on a $400 million wave of prison construction.

Today Virginia -- a historically low-crime state -- has a criminal justice system that stands out as one of the most punitive in the United States and the world.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 5 Mar 2000
Source:   Virginian-Pilot (VA)
Copyright:   2000 Landmark Communications Inc.
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.pilotonline.com
Forum:   http://www.pilotonline.com/webx/cgi-bin/WebX
Author:   Bill Sizemore, The Virginia-Pilot
Note:   This is series item 1
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n326/a09.html
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm


Cannabis & Hemp-


COMMENT: (11-14)    (Top)

In one of the more memorable weeks on record, disclosures of newly elucidated pharmacologic, therapeutic, and untoward effects of cannabis appeared.

McCzar's response: "It's all a crock, but we need more research!"

(11) SPAIN: CANNABIS DESTROYS BRAIN TUMOURS    (Top)

Chemicals in cannabis have destroyed brain tumours in laboratory rats, a new study found.

Researchers at Complutense University in the Spanish capital, Madrid, induced tumours in 45 rats.

They treated a third with THC, the main active chemical in cannabis, and a third with a synthetic cannabinoid while using a third as a control group.  The untreated rats died within 18 days while one third of those which received THC and the man-made cannabinoid had their tumours destroyed and the remaining third had their lives prolonged by up to six weeks.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 1 Mar 2000
Source:   Press & Journal (UK)
Copyright:   2000: Northcliffe Newspapers Group Ltd.
Contact:  
Address:   Lang Stracht, Mastrick, Aberdeen, AB15 6DF
Fax:   01224 663575
Website:   http://www.thisisnorthscotland.co.uk/
Forum:   http://www.thisisnorthscotland.co.uk/scripts/bb/
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n296/a03.html


(12) UK: CANNABIS HOPE OF MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS RELIEF    (Top)

CANNABIS may ameliorate the symptoms of multiple sclerosis, experiments on mice have shown.

There have been many anecdotal reports of benefits from MS sufferers who have taken cannabis illegally but scientific evidence has been lacking.  Now a team led by David Baker of the Institute of Neurology in London has shown that in a strain of mice which suffer a similar disease, the active agents in cannabis reduce rigidity and trembling of the muscles.

The team also found that synthetic chemicals mimicking
tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), an active chemical in cannabis, had a similar effect, pointing the way to new drugs to treat MS.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 2 Mar 2000
Source:   Times, The (UK)
Copyright:   2000 Times Newspapers Ltd
Contact:  
Address:   PO Box 496, London E1 9XN, United Kingdom
Fax:   +44-(0)171-782 5046
Website:   http://www.the-times.co.uk/
Author:   Nigel Hawkes, Science Editor
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n302/a05.html


(13) US: REPORT LINKS HEART ATTACKS TO MARIJUANA    (Top)

In what is believed to be the first documented link between smoking marijuana and heart attacks, a study has found that a middle-age person's risk of heart attack rises nearly fivefold in the first hour after smoking marijuana.

The study was presented yesterday by Dr.  Murray A. Middleman at the American Heart Association's annual conference on cardiovascular disease in San Diego.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 03 Mar 2000
Source:   New York Times (NY)
Copyright:   2000 The New York Times Company
Contact:  
Address:   229 West 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036
Fax:   (212) 556-3622
Website:   http://www.nytimes.com/
Forum:   http://www10.nytimes.com/comment/
Author:   Holcomb B.  Noble
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n311/a06.html


(14) DRUG CZAR CRITICIZES MEDICAL POT    (Top)

SIMI VALLEY, Calif.  (AP) -- White House drug czar Barry McCaffrey spoke harshly against the medical use of marijuana, calling much of it ``a crock'' and saying more research is needed.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 04 Mar 2000
Source:   Associated Press
Copyright:   2000 Associated Press
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n321/a07.html


COMMENT: (15)    (Top)

On the recreational front, Time confirmed what many have claimed for the past few years: British Columbian pot is the world's best.

(15) THE WORLD'S BEST POT NOW COMES FROM VANCOUVER    (Top)

MARC EMERY expects to earn about $1 million this year selling seed for high octane marijuana and books on how to grow it.  Most of his customers live in Vancouver, not far from his illegal mail-order business, which is largely ignored by Canadian authorities.  It's not a place widely regarded as a hotbed of pot cultivation, but that's changing fast, and Emery, 42, steps to his office window to demonstrate why.

[snip]

Known as "B.C.  Bud," this pot is finding a lucrative market among U.S. users of recreational drugs.  A pound of dried B.C. Bud-whose active ingredient, tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, accounts for up to 30% of its weight-sells for about $8,000 in New York City.  The more common marijuana from Mexico, with a THC content of about 5% sells for as little as $300 per lb.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 13 Mar 2000
Source:   Time Magazine (US)
Copyright:   2000 Time Inc.
Page:   66
Contact:  
Address:   Time Magazine Letters, Time & Life Bldg., Rockefeller Center, NY,
NY 10020
Fax:   (212) 522-8949
Website:   http://www.time.com/
Author:   Elaine Shannon, Vancouver
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00.n330.a03.html
Note:   Marc Emery is the publisher of Cannabis Culture magazine
http://www.cannabisculture.com/


International News


COMMENT: (16)    (Top)

This long NY Times piece provided background on the genesis of the world heroin glut and the ultimate futility of "interdiction."

(16) AFGHANISTAN: DISTRESS IN THE OPIUM BAZAAR: 'CAN'T MAKE A PROFIT'    (Top)

HANI KHEL, Afghanistan - The merchants at the big opium bazaar here are crying the blues, what with sales so low and prices down by half.  Abdul Wahab picked up a few chunks of his unrefined goods, which look like dried-up cow pies.  He put the opium on his scale and measured the weight with lead balances.  A year ago he was getting $140 per kilogram (2.2 pounds); now he gets $62.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 03 Mar 2000
Source:   New York Times (NY)
Copyright:   2000 The New York Times Company
Contact:  
Address:   229 West 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036
Fax:   (212) 556-3622
Website:   http://www.nytimes.com/
Forum:   http://www10.nytimes.com/comment/
Author:   Barry Bearak
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n311/a09.html


COMMENT: (17-19)    (Top)

News from the English-speaking world continues to suggest that although their self-inflicted wounds from the ardent pursuit of prohibition are less severe than ours, they do tend to be worse than in nations that embrace harm reduction.

Ernie Drucker's piece should be read with the knowledge that the battle between prohibitionists and harm reduction forces is even more polarized in Australia than elsewhere.

(17) AUSTRALIA: OPED: JUST SAY NO TO AMERICA    (Top)

Australia Is Taking The Correct Approach To Tackling The Drug Problem, Writes Ernest Drucker.

AS AN an American public health professional who has worked for more than 30 years in the treatment of drug addiction and, more recently, in research on AIDS prevention (these days on sabbatical leave here in Australia), I have followed the twists and turns of your national debate on the establishment of safe injecting rooms and heroin trials with more than casual interest.

In my own country, command centre of the global "war on drugs", even such a debate would be impossible and the actual implementation of such programs still unthinkable.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 06 Mar 2000
Source:   Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
Copyright:   2000 The Sydney Morning Herald
Contact:  
Address:   GPO Box 3771, Sydney NSW 2001
Fax:   +61-(0)2-9282 3492
Website:   http://www.smh.com.au/
Forum:   http://forums.fairfax.com.au/
Author:   Ernest Drucker
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n323/a05.html
Note:   Dr Ernest Drucker is Professor of Epidemiology and Social
Medicine at New York's Montefiore Medical Centre/Albert Einstein College of Medicine.


(18) UK: DRUGS LOSE THEIR APPEAL FOR UNDER-16S    (Top)

DRUG use among the under-16s appears to have peaked and would be unlikely to worsen if cannabis were legalised, according to research published today.

Surveys of more than 500,000 young people, dating back to 1987, show drug use declining for the third successive year.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 6 Mar 2000
Source:   Times, The (UK)
Copyright:   2000 Times Newspapers Ltd
Contact:  
Address:   PO Box 496, London E1 9XN, United Kingdom
Fax:   +44-(0)171-782 5046
Website:   http://www.the-times.co.uk/
Author:   John O'leary, Education Editor
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n325/a12.html


(19) B.C.  IN DARK AGES TACKLING DRUG CRISIS

Canada and the U.S.  are in the Dark Ages in dealing with the drug problem, says Diane Riley, deputy director of the International Harm Reduction Association.

And when it comes to drug addiction and overdose deaths, AIDS, hepatitis C and drug-induced poverty, unemployment and social disorder, Riley says it doesn't get much worse than B.C.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 01 Mar 2000
Source:   Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright:   2000 The Province
Contact:  
Address:   200 Granville Street, Ste.  #1, Vancouver, BC V6C 3N3 Canada
Fax:   (604) 605-2323
Website:   http://www.vancouverprovince.com/
Author:   Kathy Tait
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n303/a05.html


COMMENT: (20-21)    (Top)

As usual, the greatest folly can be found in American pursuit of drug purity for our unfortunate neighbors to the South.

(20) MEXICO AND COLOMBIA WIN CERTIFICATION IN FIGHT AGAINST DRUGS    (Top)

WASHINGTON, March 1 - The Clinton administration reported today that Mexico and Colombia are doing their share to stop the production and smuggling of illegal drugs, even though both countries are prominent drug exporters as well as centers of drug-related corruption.

[snip]

Only Afghanistan and Myanmar, the former Burma, which produce most of the world's opium, were denied certification again this year.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 02 Mar 2000
Source:   New York Times (NY)
Copyright:   2000 The New York Times Company
Contact:  
Address:   229 West 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036
Fax:   (212) 556-3622
Website:   http://www.nytimes.com/
Forum:   http://www10.nytimes.com/comment/
Author:   David Stout And Christopher S.  Wren
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n301/a08.html


(21) EDITORIAL: A MUDDLE IN THE JUNGLE    (Top)

IT IS not Vietnam, nor will it become so.  But once again the United States is preparing to commit lots of cash, military hardware and advisers to a battle in a foreign jungle.

[snip]

Latin Americans pay a high price for the drugs trade: it corrupts their societies from top to bottom.

If this price is ever to be reduced, Americans will have to look not just at the supply but also at the demand for drugs.

That means they will have to consider alternative policies at home, even at decriminalisation.  This is a war that will not be won with helicopters.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 03 Mar 2000
Source:   Economist, The (UK)
Copyright:   2000 The Economist Newspaper Limited
Contact:  
Address:   111 West 57th Street, New York NY 10019 (US office)
Fax:   (212) 541 9378
Website:   http://www.economist.com/
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n315/a04.html
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/latin.htm


HOT OFF THE 'NET    (Top)

Press Release Encourages Candidates/Media to Address Drug Policy

The URLs below flesh out an important story; the failure of the media to force a discussion of drug policy among presidential candidates.  The links provide a copy of the original press release, an open the letter to all presidential candidates (signed by many important groups,) and the ten questions developed by the NCEDP to be posed to our candidates.

Original Press Release
http://www.csdp.org/ncedp/release.htm

Open Letter to Presidential Candidates
http://www.csdp.org/ncedp/letter.htm

Ten Questions for Our Presidential Candidates
http://www.csdp.org/ncedp/question.htm

There was also a simultaneous DrugSense Focus Alert aimed and resolving this problem: http://www.mapinc.org/alert/0155.html


"DRUG CRAZY" Now Available in Paperback

"DRUG CRAZY: How We Got Into This Mess and How We Can Get Out," is now out in paperback from Routledge, list price $14.95.  Significant discounts available to reform groups.

http://www.drugsense.org/crazy.htm

To place an order, contact Routledge special sales representative Joanne Rosenshein at 718-797-1968.

Any problems, call Mike Gray, 323-650-7212, or

Retail orders can also be placed at Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/


Preventing Heroin Overdose: Pragmatic Approaches.

On January 13 and 14, 2000 the University of Washington Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute and The Lindesmith Center held a conference in Seattle, Washington entitled Preventing Heroin Overdose: Pragmatic Approaches.

This two day conference brought together leading experts from around the world -- scholars, service providers, outreach workers and others who deal with and are affected by heroin overdoses -- to present and discuss a wide range of topics including heroin overdose risk factors, naloxone distribution, the epidemiology of overdose deaths, outreach and education, and international innovations in heroin overdose prevention.

You can now hear (with the proper hardware and software installed on your computer) recordings of these sessions online.  Please point your browser to:

http://www.lindesmith.org/library/ODconferenceaudio.html

Jeanette Irwin
The Lindesmith Center
http://www.lindesmith.org/


QUOTE OF THE WEEK    (Top)

"Boys, cigars are not smoking, in much the same way that marijuana is not drugs and single-malts are not alcohol.  There is a vital difference between connoisseurs and addicts."

-- E.  Norfolk-Ingway, to his children. 1999.


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