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DrugSense Weekly
May 4, 2001 #198

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Table of Contents

* Breaking News (03/28/24)


* This Just In


(1) Giving Teens Facts About Drug War
(2) Media Is Snowblind No More
(3) Like, Easy: Dutch Town Envisions Pair Of Marijuana Drive-Throughs
(4) Coming To A Neighbourhood Near You

* Weekly News in Review


Drug Policy-

COMMENT: (5-9)
(5) Tough Conservative Picked for Drug Czar, Officials Say
(6) A Draco Of Drugs
(7) Republican Polar Opposites Dictate Drug War But Where's Mainstream?
(8) Downey is Arrested in a Culver City Alley
(9) Drugs: A Decision, not a Disease
COMMENT: (10-13)
(10) Ecstasy Takes Toll on Teens Nationwide
(11) Tuesday, A New Tool To Combat Ecstasy Epidemic
(12) Club Owners are Focus of Effort to Combat Drug Use
COMMENT: (13-16)
(13) Drug War Exaggerations
(14) Shades Of Gray On The Drug War
(15) A War Against Ourselves
(16) Forum Attacks United State's Crackdown On Drug

Law Enforcement & Prisons-

COMMENT: (17-20)
(17) The Big Illinois Crack-Up
(18) Rockefeller Laws Decried by Ex-Drug Czar
(19) NAACP Rally Targets Drug War
(20) Working the American System

Cannabis & Hemp-

(21) Ready To Inhale
(22) Placer Jail Won't Allow Kubby Pot
(23) Hemp Makes The List Of Bureau's Banned Buzzwords
(24) Many Jobs If Hemp Trials Approved

International News-

COMMENT: (25-28)
(25) In Peru, Plane is a Back-Page Headline
(26) U.S. Shifts On Afghanistan Policy
(27) This Is Not Vietnam
(28) General Strike in Bolivia
COMMENT: (29-30)
(29) Russian Court Sentences US Scholar To 3 Years
(30) Elite Police Held In Drugs Inquiry

* Hot Off The 'Net


    Study: 99% of youth transferred to adult court for drug crimes are
    African American/Latino
    1999 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse Available On-line
    Compendium of Federal Justice Statistics, 1999 Available On-line
    Interview with Mark Bowden, author of "Killing Pablo"
    House Committee on Government Reform Hearing on the Peru Shootdown

* Quote of the Week


    Frank Odasz


THIS JUST IN    (Top)

(1) GIVING TEENS FACTS ABOUT DRUG WAR    (Top)

We should be careful what we tell teen-agers.

Speak out against the nation's failed drug war policies and you can expect to hear that comment from people who fear that kids can't handle the truth or could misapply the facts.

One particularly angry man told me we must be careful what information we make available to teen-agers after I had passed along some information from one of the scientific community's leading pharmacologists, G.  Alan Robison. Robison, who also is a founder of the Drug Policy Forum of Texas, once tested marijuana for toxicity by feeding it to rats to determine what amount would prove fatal.

What Robison discovered was that marijuana doesn't kill rats.  Booze kills them.  Tobacco kills them. Marijuana doesn't kill them.

The angry man did not dispute the scientific finding, but he contended that if we tell kids such a thing, they will view it as an endorsement of doing drugs, take it and run with it to the nearest street-corner dealer.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 2 May 2001
Source:   Houston Chronicle (TX)
Copyright:   2001 Houston Chronicle
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.chron.com/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/198
Author:   Thom Marshall
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01.n774.a09.html


(2) MEDIA IS SNOWBLIND NO MORE    (Top)

Spooked In Peru

A good litmus test for the integrity of any news organization is the aggressiveness of its reporting on the CIA.  And the test has never been more relevant than in the two weeks since April 20, when CIA operatives helped shoot down a missionary plane in Peru.  While many journalists concentrated on reconstructing events behind the "tragic" death of an American mother and child, others rejected the U.S.  government's spin and turned to unauthorized sources to piece together the more important back story.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 02 May 2001
Source:   Village Voice (NY)
Copyright:   2001 Village Voice Media, Inc
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.villagevoice.com/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/482
Author:   Cythia Cotts
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01.n790.a03.html


(3) LIKE, EASY: DUTCH TOWN ENVISIONS PAIR OF MARIJUANA DRIVE-THROUGHS    (Top)

VENLO, Netherlands -- The Dutch authorities plan to open two drive-through shops next year where German tourists from across the nearby border can buy marijuana and hashish.

Officials in Venlo say they want to make it easier on Germans who flock to the southern Dutch border town for drugs by opening two coffee shops with drive-throughs selling such drugs as marijuana and hashish.

They also want to keep the "drug tourists" from lingering in the Netherlands, where so-called soft drugs are legally sold in small quantities.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 03 May 2001
Source:   International Herald-Tribune (France)
Copyright:   International Herald Tribune 2001
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.iht.com/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/212
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01.n788.a06.html


(4) COMING TO A NEIGHBOURHOOD NEAR YOU    (Top)

A small hitch with America's policy of imprisoning more people than any other country on the planet: most have to be released at some point

Jose Vasquez has a scar on his right cheek and a conviction for accidental manslaughter.  Arrested at the age of 16, he was convicted as an adult and locked up for seven years in an upstate New York prison.  He should have been released earlier, but the prison authorities dished out "disciplinary sanctions" for a series of fights.  At first that meant solitary confinement; then, for several months, being locked in his cell for 23 hours a day.  The parole board twice put off his release. Now Mr Vasquez is 25 years old, has been free for two years, but must do at least two more years of parole.  Still, he counts himself "pretty fortunate".

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 03 May 2001
Source:   Economist, The (UK)
Copyright:   2001 The Economist Newspaper Limited
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.economist.com/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/132
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01.n789.a05.html


WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW    (Top)


Domestic News- Policy


COMMENT: (5-9)    (Top)

Rapid Response:

On Thursday, the NYT, which-- along with its print sisters-- had ignored Dan Forbes Salon scoop for six days, finally confirmed the proposed new czar's identity.

Washington Post columnist William Raspberry, obviously alerted by the Forbes piece, had a response which anticipated the Times article by a day and dwelt on Walters' total unsuitability for the position.

On Saturday, a New Mexico columnist took a far more detached view in a column which also highlighted the upcoming DPF conference.

Just a day before the Times announced his appointment, the LAT carried an item Walters probably found both interesting and satisfying: Robert Downey Jr.'s latest relapse.

On Friday, Sally Satel's Op-Ed condemning Downey's bad choices and absolving the drug war of any criticism was published in the WSJ.


(5) TOUGH CONSERVATIVE PICKED FOR DRUG CZAR, OFFICIALS SAY    (Top)

WASHINGTON, April 25 - President Bush plans to name John P.  Walters, a law-and-order conservative who was harshly critical of the Clinton administration's efforts against illegal narcotics, as the drug czar, Bush administration officials said today.

(snip)

Pubdate:   Thu, 26 Apr 2001
Source:   New York Times (NY)
Copyright:   2001 The New York Times Company
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author:   Christopher Marquis
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n737/a01.html


(6) A DRACO OF DRUGS    (Top)

President Bush, if the reports are to be believed, has picked John P. Walters to replace Barry McCaffrey as head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

At one level, the nomination would be no surprise.  It fits the pattern that has the president turning to retreads from his father's administration to fill key positions.  Walters was deputy to drug "czar" William Bennett under the previous Bush administration.

At another level, though, it is a peculiar choice.  Walters, almost alone among those who have spent serious professional time on drug abuse in America, harbors no misgivings over the fact that we've been crowding our prisons almost to the bursting point with nonviolent drug offenders.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 30 Apr 2001
Source:   Washington Post (DC)
Copyright:   2001 The Washington Post Company
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Author:   William Raspberry
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n762/a04.html


(7) REPUBLICAN POLAR OPPOSITES DICTATE DRUG WAR BUT WHERE'S MAINSTREAM?    (Top)

If Gov.  Gary Johnson thought Gen. Barry McCaffrey was a hard sell on drug reform, wait until he gets a load of the general's replacement as the nation's drug czar.

[snip]

The Lindesmith Center, a national organization that advocates drug-policy reform and strongly supports Johnson's efforts, is taking advantage of the political undertones of the debate.

The center, which has an office in Santa Fe, is planning a drug-policy conference June 1-2 in Albuquerque.

The conference, which will feature Johnson and others, is set to close with a session titled, "Debate: Republican or Democrat: Who will claim the drug reform issue?"

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 28 Apr 2001
Source:   Albuquerque Tribune (NM)
Copyright:   2001 The Albuquerque Tribune
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/11
Author:   Gilbert Gallegos
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n760/a10.html


(8) DOWNEY IS ARRESTED IN A CULVER CITY ALLEY    (Top)

Police:   Again Accused Of Drug Use, The Actor Checks Into A
Rehabilitation Clinic.  He Is Written Out Of 'Ally Mcbeal' For The Season.

Actor Robert Downey Jr.  was arrested again early Tuesday in a Culver City alley on suspicion of using drugs and promptly checked himself into a rehabilitation clinic...

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 25 Apr 2001
Source:   Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright:   2001 Los Angeles Times
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author:   Nicholas Riccardi, Times Staff Writer
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n729/a05.html
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/find?170 (Downey, Robert Jr.)


(9) DRUGS: A DECISION, NOT A DISEASE    (Top)

Robert Downey Jr.  is in trouble again. Los Angeles police took him into custody this week for public intoxication, the latest arrest in a long series of legal problems dating back to 1996...

[snip]

We must not make Robert Downey Jr.  into a symbol of anything larger than himself.  He is not an icon of a botched war on drugs; he is not evidence of the failure of criminal sanctions; his situation shouldn't be used to argue against the virtues of drug treatment.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 27 Apr 2001
Source:   Wall Street Journal (US)
Copyright:   2001 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/487
Author:   Sally Satel.
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n757/a09.html
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/author/Satel


COMMENT: (10-13)    (Top)

Updating club drugs; Florida's Senator Bob Graham used material from a widely distributed AP drug scare story to tout a new law 'cracking down' on ecstasy with increased penalties.  Didn't we learn from crack cocaine that the technique doesn't work?

A related NYT account summarized the status of various current attempts to "control" raves.


(10) ECSTASY TAKES TOLL ON TEENS NATIONWIDE    (Top)

CHICAGO -- One dead after a party in suburban Chicago.  Two more in Memphis,Tenn., and another two in Portland, Ore.

The fatal consequences of Ecstasy -- an illegal drug that some say is this decade's version of LSD -- are becoming increasingly apparent nationwide,further stirring the debate about how to deal with the large numbers of young people who are using it.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 28 Apr 2001
Source:   The Southeast Missourian (MO)
Copyright:   2001 Southeast Missourian
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/1322
Author:   Associated Press
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n752/a04.html
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/raves.htm (Raves)


(11) TUESDAY, A NEW TOOL TO COMBAT ECSTASY EPIDEMIC    (Top)

When Michelle C.  was 15 years old, she discovered something that made her feel great for a few hours...

[snip]

The new, tougher sentencing guidelines, which go into effect on Tuesday, nearly triple penalties for Ecstasy-related crimes.  The new guidelines are aimed at punishing profiteers, not young people who make a bad choice. Overall, the new guidelines boost the average penalty for Ecstasy trafficking from 25 months to 60 months.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 30 Apr 2001
Source:   Orlando Sentinel (FL)
Copyright:   2001 Orlando Sentinel
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/325
Author:   Bob Graham , Florida's senior U.S.  senator
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n762/a07.html
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/mdma.htm (Ecstasy)


(12) CLUB OWNERS ARE FOCUS OF EFFORT TO COMBAT DRUG USE    (Top)

Frustrated by the rising popularity of Ecstasy and other illegal drugs among young nightclub revelers, law enforcement agencies and local governments around the country are increasingly going after the clubs themselves, saying that the electronic music they play has a close connection to abuse of these drugs.

Fans of the music, nightclub owners and some civil rights lawyers say singling out clubs based on the music they play raises First Amendment concerns.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 28 Apr 2001
Source:   New York Times (NY)
Copyright:   2001 The New York Times Company
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author:   Jennifer Steinhauer
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n751/a05.html


COMMENT: (13-16)    (Top)

In other news, two articles highlighted the growing disenchantment with drug policy at the grass roots level; a disenchantment which continues to be ignored by policy makers.

Expressions of discontent were prompted not only by events in Peru, but also by the Bush Administrations' decision to strictly enforce sanctions against students convicted of drug charges.

Another indicator of the inroads reform is making in key areas is the rapid growth of SSDP.  The feds may someday realize how imprudent it was to antagonize students by denying student loans for previous drug offenses.


(13) DRUG WAR EXAGGERATIONS    (Top)

In a recent editorial published by The Sun, Family Research Council member Robert L.  Maginnis asserted that "last year, in the United States alone, more citizens died of illegal drug overdoses than were murdered."

This statement is not true and represents typical drug war propaganda and hyperbole.

It appears as though the drug warriors are getting desperate as the nation finally wakes up and realizes that drug war policies ...  have utterly failed to reduce the quantity, quality or cost of drugs on our streets.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 30 Apr 2001
Source:   Gainesville Sun, The (FL)
Copyright:   2001 The Gainesville Sun
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/163
Author:   Steve Hach
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n759/a10.html


(14) SHADES OF GRAY ON THE DRUG WAR    (Top)

Further evidence that the winds of war are changing directions was the presence of several local judges at a luncheon where the speaker lambasted our current drug laws and called for reform.

They had to know ahead of time that such would be the tenor of the talk because the man at the rostrum was James Gray, author of a new book "Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed and What We Can Do About It" and because the Thursday noontime event was produced by the Drug Policy Forum of Texas, which promotes open discussion about options to our current drug policies.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 28 Apr 2001
Source:   Houston Chronicle (TX)
Copyright:   2001 Houston Chronicle
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/198
Author:   Thom Marshall
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n757/a03.html
Cited:   http://www.temple.edu/tempress/titles/1589_reg.html


(15) A WAR AGAINST OURSELVES    (Top)

BOSTON -- "They are killing us," the pilot of the small plane carrying an American missionary family said as a Peruvian Air Force fighter fired.  Veronica Bowers and her 7-month-old daughter, Charity, died. But the "they" in the pilot's words were not just the Peruvian gunners, and the "us" were not only Veronica and Charity Bowers.  The ultimate cause of their death was U.S.  drug policy, the war on drugs; and that war has damaged the lives of millions of Americans.

[snip]

Yet around the country some politicians, and many members of the public, have begun to call for change.  But not George W. Bush and his administration.  Mr. Bush's reported choice as drug czar is John P. Walters, an all-out warrior who has spoken scornfully of drug treatment and wants to intensify the fight to cut off drug supplies abroad.  The Bush administration has also started to enforce a little-known 1998 law that bars financial aid to students who have been convicted of even a minor drug offense.

The result, defying reason, is to discourage one of the best routes to rehabilitation, higher education.  The "war on drugs" is more than just a slogan.

In war, collateral damage is often regarded as unavoidable.  In any sane civilian policy, the collateral damage of the drug war to ourselves and our neighbors would long since have been found unacceptable.  The result of the U.S.  drug war, The Economist of London said last week, "is to undermine democracy, human rights and the environment in much of Latin America.  A radical rethink of drug policy is long overdue."

Pubdate:   Sat, 28 Apr 2001
Source:   New York Times (NY)
Copyright:   2001 The New York Times Company
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author:   Anthony Lewis
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n749/a04.html
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/find?172 (Peruvian Aircraft Shooting)


(16) FORUM ATTACKS UNITED STATE'S CRACKDOWN ON DRUG TRAFFICKING    (Top)

The fight against the war on drugs took center stage last weekend as the UW-Madison Students for a Sensible Drug Policy held its first drug policy reform conference on campus.

The conference brought together speakers from around the country to address social and political issues relating to the government's attempted crackdown on drug trafficking and usage.

[snip]

David Borden, executive director of the Drug Reform Coordination Network, cited the immense number of prisoners incarcerated on drug convictions as one of the main problems of the drug war, as well as mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenders.

Borden, along with other panelists, argued for the legalization of all drugs within the United States.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 30 Apr 2001
Source:   Badger Herald (WI)
Copyright:   2001 Badger Herald
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/711
Author:   Jonathan Goldman, Campus Reporter
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n765/a05.html
Cited:   http://www.ssdp.org/


Law Enforcement & Prisons


COMMENT: (17-20)    (Top)

William Raspberry claims the first 'double' in Weekly history; his column on the racist impact (regardless of original motivation) of Eighties crack laws suggests he's become energized by the drug war;

While in office, Barry McCzar became famous for speaking out of both sides of his mouth; now that his term is over, his public statements are somewhat more rational and consistent.

When Lindesmith's Deborah Small ventured into prohibitionist country, she touched on a subject of growing importance: prisons cost money (and will become much more burdensome if recession becomes reality).

For those interested in the gory details, the LA Times carried a detailed account of how the Vignali pardon was (probably) bought and paid for.


(17) THE BIG ILLINOIS CRACK-UP    (Top)

In the late 1980s -- around the time Congress was enacting harsher sentences for "crack" than for powder cocaine offenses -- the state of Illinois was passing legislation automatically transferring certain juvenile drug offenders to adult court.

The chief result of the congressional action is well known.  The nation's prisons are bursting with black inmates...

Here, from a report done for a consortium called Building Blocks for Youth, is the result of the Illinois law: Ninety-nine percent of the automatic transfers to adult court in Cook County during 1999 and 2000 were either black or Hispanic.  Of 393 juveniles automatically excluded from juvenile court, just three were white.

And here's the kicker.  The lawmakers, far from intending this racially outrageous result, were most likely acting to make black communities safer from the scourge of drugs.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 27 Apr 2001
Source:   Washington Post (DC)
Section:   Editorial; Pg A23
Copyright:   2001 The Washington Post Company
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Author:   William Raspberry
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n744/a06.html
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/racial.htm (Racial Issues)


(18) ROCKEFELLER LAWS DECRIED BY EX-DRUG CZAR    (Top)

Albany-- Gen.  Barry McCaffrey Endorses Assembly's Reform Plan

Former top White House drug advisor Gen.  Barry McCaffrey again denounced New York's Rockefeller Drug Laws Tuesday and endorsed a Democratic Assembly majority plan that would allow low-level repeat drug offenders to forgo long prison sentences in favor of addiction treatment.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 25 Apr 2001
Source:   Albany Times Union (NY)
Copyright:   2001 Capital Newspapers
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/8
Author:   Elizabeth Benjamin
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n740/a03.html
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/find?140 (Rockefeller Drug Laws)


(19) NAACP RALLY TARGETS DRUG WAR    (Top)

The nation's drug war was in the spotlight Saturday night at a rally sponsored by the Amarillo chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

The rally, which was held at the Amarillo United Citizens Forum Black Cultural Center, attracted about 75 participants and featured Harvard graduate and noted drug policy expert Deborah Peterson Small.

[snip]

Small said another major motivating factor for change will be money, pointing to the uproar over recent calls to institute an income tax in Texas, which would be used in part to support an increasing prison population.

"Right now, that money (for incarceration) is hidden away," Small said. "But as the penal system keeps growing, people will start to see how much of their money is going to keep this non-producing enterprise going."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 30 Apr 2001
Source:   Amarillo Globe-News (TX)
Copyright:   2001 Amarillo Globe-News
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/13
Author:   Greg Cunningham
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n766/a01.html
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/racial.htm (Racial Issues)


(20) WORKING THE AMERICAN SYSTEM    (Top)

On the day Carlos Vignali went to prison, he was already thinking about freedom.  Led to a holding cell, the convicted cocaine dealer turned to a co-defendant.  "My father's going to get me out," he said. It had the ring of a rich boy's boast.  It also was true.

[snip]

The American political system, warmed by money from Vignali's father, overturned the judicial system that had sent Carlos to prison in 1995. Horacio Vignali says President Clinton's pardon of his son in January is "a case where America worked." He called it a miracle.  Perhaps it is.  But if so, it's a miracle with a road map, one providing a cold look at the influence that money and connections play in the American system.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 29 Apr 2001
Source:   Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright:   2001 Los Angeles Times
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author:   Richard A.  Serrano, Stephen Braun
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n758/a03.html


Cannabis & Hemp-


Comment:   (21-22)

Alan Bock is admittedly very knowledgeable, but his optimism about law enforcement and local DA's prospective tolerance of medical use isn't shared by many patients.

The unabashed malignancy of at least some DAs is evident in the demands of Steve Kubby's prosecutors who clearly don't care if his claims to require it for survival are, in fact, true.


(21) READY TO INHALE    (Top)

Alan Bock Says The Medical-marijuana War Is Over, And The Good Guys Won

[snip]

And California's law on this matter is pretty unambiguous: if you have a doctor's recommendation, you have the right to possess and cultivate cannabis.  If you cultivate it for personal use and aren't transporting it or distributing it, then you shouldn't have any problems.

Pubdate:   Fri, 27 Apr 2001
Source:   Orange County Weekly (CA)
Copyright:   2001, Orange County Weekly, Inc.
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/322
Author:   Nick Schou
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n744/a08.html
Cited:   http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0929765826/familywatch/


(22) PLACER JAIL WON'T ALLOW KUBBY POT    (Top)

Medical marijuana proponent Steve Kubby -- who won acquittal earlier this year on charges that he grew 265 pot plants at his home for personal profit -- was told Friday that he wouldn't be able to smoke cannabis while serving a 120-day jail term on the two drug charges he was convicted of.

[snip]

Cosgrove agreed to extend Kubby's deadline for admission to the jail from May 11 to July 20.  The extra time is expected to provide enough time for the U.S.  Supreme Court to rule on the use of medical marijuana.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 29 Apr 2001
Source:   Auburn Journal (CA)
Copyright:   2001 Auburn Journal
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/530
Author:   Gus Thomson, Journal Staff Writer
Related:   http://www.kubby.com/
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n757/a02.html


Comment:   (23-24)

What ever happened to the First Amendment? Those looking for hempen essence in their favorite brew will now have to check the fine print of the ingredients label.

While the "Land of the Free" continues to resist hemp, New Zealand becomes the next country in line to reap its benefits.


(23) HEMP MAKES THE LIST OF BUREAU'S BANNED BUZZWORDS    (Top)

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms may be loose on language, but it's getting tough on drugs.

In a reversal of an earlier label approval, the agency has told Frederick Brewing of Maryland it can no longer call its popular dark ale Hempen Ale.

The beer is made with hemp seeds, like those used to grow marijuana. The seeds are sterile, however, and contain no THC, the psychotropic substance that gets users stoned.

[snip]

In a little publicized order, the agency said that while brewers could continue to use hemp in alcoholic beverages, they could no longer advertise that fact.  That includes any reference to word "hemp" in a brand name.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 27 Apr 2001
Source:   Philadelphia Daily News (PA)
Copyright:   2001 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc.
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/339
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n749/a05.html
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/hemp.htm (Hemp)


(24) MANY JOBS IF HEMP TRIALS APPROVED    (Top)

A new food product business rivalling the size of Barkers could be operating in South Canterbury within a couple of years, providing hemp growing trials get the green light, Waihi Bush organic farmers David Musgrave said on Friday.

Health Minister Annette King has finally approved the cultivation of trial plots of industrial hemp will be allowed under strict conditions.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 28 Apr 2001
Source:   Timaru Herald (New Zealand)
Copyright:   2001 Timaru Herald
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/1039
Author:   Helen Pickering
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n767/a04.html
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/find?330 (Hemp - Outside U.S.)


International News


COMMENT: (25-28)    (Top)

Although the downing of an unarmed civilian plane has been big news here in the US, it's remained an obscure item in Peru.

Two items from opposite sides of the world also illustrate the importance of large populations of poor peasants to drug production and how government interaction with them becomes a critical factor in a nation's economic and political stability.

In that connection, a threatened strike by Bolivia's coca farmers may have serious implications for Plan Colombia and beyond...


(25) IN PERU, PLANE IS A BACK-PAGE HEADLINE    (Top)

Nation Focused On Presidential Race And Recent Scandals

LIMA, Peru -- Peruvians and Peru's media are immersed in nearly daily reports on scandals involving top government and military officials and a heated presidential campaign.  They have had little time for the story of an American woman and her child who died last week when a Peruvian air force fighter shot down their light plane.

"What plane?" is the most common response from Lima residents when asked what they think about last Friday's downing of a plane carrying American missionaries.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 27 Apr 2001
Source:   USA Today (US)
Copyright:   2001 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co.  Inc
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/466
Author:   Sibylla Brodzinsky, Special for USA TODAY
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n743/a06.html
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/find?172 (Peruvian Aircraft Shooting)


(26) U.S. SHIFTS ON AFGHANISTAN POLICY    (Top)

2 Narcotics Experts Join International Team To Help Farmers

United Nations, New York -- In a first cautious step toward reducing the near-total isolation of the Taleban, the Bush administration has sent two U.S.  narcotics experts to Afghanistan as part of an international team assessing how to help farmers who have ended opium poppy cultivation, according to UN officials.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 27 Apr 2001
Source:   International Herald-Tribune (France)
Section:   News; Pg.  7
Copyright:   International Herald Tribune 2001
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/212
Author:   Barbara Crossette, New York Times Service
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n742/a11.html
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/areas/Afghanistan


(27) THIS IS NOT VIETNAM    (Top)

Our War Against Colombian Coca Farmers Is Good For Sikorsky, Says Sen. Lieberman.  But Are We On The Right Side?

Four thousand five hundred policemen were on hand to protect President Clinton last August, in the "secure oasis" of Cartagena, Colombia. Announcing a $1.3 billion American plan to eradicate the country's most valuable crop, the president sounded an unavoidably defensive note. "This is not Vietnam," he said.  "Nor is it Yankee imperialism." Violent protests rocked the American embassy in Bogota, and three banks were bombed.  On national television that night, Clinton said: "We do not believe your conflict has a military solution.  " But 60 armored helicopters would soon be on their way, along with herbicides to defoliate the coca fields, and military advisers to train new army battalions: Plan Colombia.

Colombian farmers have become the world's most productive growers of coca leaf.  In the Andean foothills, poppies also flourish. Colombia furnishes the raw material for 80 percent of the world's cocaine supply, and perhaps half the heroin.  Coca production, down elsewhere as a result of American pressure, has in recent years soared in Colombia. The cocaine is increasingly said to be "pharmaceutical grade."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 30 Apr 2001
Source:   American Spectator Magazine (US)
Issue:   March 2001
Email:  
Copyright:   2001 The American Spectator
Author:   William Boot
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n764/a01.html


(28) GENERAL STRIKE IN BOLIVIA    (Top)

The Bolivian Central Union (COB, in its Spanish acronym, the AFL-CIO of Bolivia) has just decided to begin a National General Strike tomorrow, Tuesday, May 1st, and to continue the work stoppage in all industries indefinitely until the Banzer regime meets the 15 demands of coca-growers and other sectors including urban workers, farmers and retirees.

The National Strike comes on the Seventh Day of a blockade in which coca growers - protesting U.S.-imposed drug policies - have stopped traffic on the nation's major highway.  And it comes on the heels of dictator-turned-president Hugo Banzer's recent trip to Washington where he met with U.S.  Secretary of State Colin Powell and other officials.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 30 Apr 2001
Source:   Agence France-Presses
Copyright:   2001 AFP
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/1128
Translation:   The Narco News Bulletin http://www.narconews.com
Note:   Headlines by translator
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n779/a03.html


COMMENT: (29-30)    (Top)

An item from Russia demonstrated that the US isn't alone in using Draconian marijuana sentences to "send messages," and one from Britain suggests that Mexico and the US aren't the only countries where elite police units succumb to the blandishments of drug criminals.


(29) RUSSIAN COURT SENTENCES US SCHOLAR TO 3 YEARS IN PRISON ON DRUG CHARGES    (Top)

VORONEZH, Russia (AP) -- A Russian judge sentenced an American Fulbright scholar on Friday to three years and one month in prison after convicting him on charges of drug possession, purchase and distribution.

John Tobin, 24 years old, of Ridgefield, Conn., was found innocent of another charge, persuading others to use narcotics.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 27 Apr 2001
Source:   Wall Street Journal (US)
Copyright:   2001 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/487
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n757/a06.html


(30) ELITE POLICE HELD IN DRUGS INQUIRY    (Top)

Police have promised a thorough investigation Five police officers are among 10 people arrested on suspicion of drug dealing in a series of raids on Saturday.

The officers from Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire include four who have worked with the elite National Crime Squad (NCS), two of whom were currently seconded to the squad.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 28 Apr 2001
Source:   BBC News (UK Web)
Copyright:   2001 BBC
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/558
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n756/a05.html


HOT OFF THE 'NET    (Top)

99% of youth transferred to adult court for drug crimes are African American/Latino

A copy of the "Drugs and Disparity: The Racial Impact of Illinois Practice of Transferring Young Drug Offenders to Adult Court" can be viewed at http://www.buildingblocksforyouth.org/

Submitted by Jason Ziedenberg - The Justice Policy Institute.


1999 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse Available On-line

A report entitled "1999 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse Data Collection Final Report" done for the feds by Research Triangle Institute is available from SAMHSA at the following URL.

http://www.samhsa.gov/oas/NHSDA/1999/Collect/Toc.htm

The document was issued in April 2001.

Submitted by Doug McVay


Compendium of Federal Justice Statistics, 1999 Available On-line

The new "Compendium of Federal Justice Statistics, 1999," is now available as a free download from the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/cfjs99.htm

Submitted by Doug McVay


The Fresh Air interview of Mark Bowden, the author of "Killing Pablo," can now be heard online.

http://freshair.npr.org/dayFA.cfm?todayDate=archive

Submitted by Tom O'Connell


The House Committee on Government Reform held a remarkable hearing on the Peru shootdown.  Rep. Jan Schakowsky slammed the nomination of John Walters who has been a big supporter of the shootdown policy ...

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/il09_schakowsky/pr05_01_2001peru.html

...  and introduced a bill (HR 1591) to prohibit the funding of private
military contractors (mercenaries) in our Latin American drug war.

Submitted by Sanho Tree


QUOTE OF THE WEEK    (Top)

"If you don't like the content on the Internet, bring your shining light to make sure others will find something of value.  Caring and connectivity go together, and with this God-given capability you can no longer claim powerlessness to change the world." - Frank Odasz, Director of Big Sky Telegraph, Western Montana College of the University of Montana


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