| July 13, 2001 #207 | ||||||||||||||||
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Listen On-line at: http://www.drugsense.org/radio/ | ||||||||||||||||
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Table of Contents
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THIS JUST IN (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
(1) CHANGE IN THE WIND ON DRUG LAWS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
The dam burst last weekend. There had been cracks in the concrete of
consensus and growing trickles of dissent for some time, but suddenly
the issue of legalizing the use of marijuana is on the table in a
major country and an English speaking one, at that. | ||||||||||||||||
In Spain, Italy, Portugal and Switzerland, it is already practically
impossible to get arrested for buying or using "soft drugs." In the
Netherlands, users may buy up to 5 grams of marijuana or hashish for
private use at 1,500 licensed "coffee shops," and they are opening
two drive-through outlets in the border town of Venlo to cater to
German purchasers. | ||||||||||||||||
Even in Canada, Conservative leader and former Prime Minister Joe
Clark is openly calling for the decriminalization of pot. But that is
still far short of what Sir David Ramsbotham, the outgoing chief
inspector of prisons, suggested in Britain. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(2) BAD INVESTMENT (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Take it from a businessman: The War on Drugs is just money down the
drain. | ||||||||||||||||
As the Republican governor of New Mexico, I'm neither soft on crime nor pro-drugs in any sense. I believe a person who harms another person should be punished. But as a successful businessman, I also believe that locking up more and more people who are nonviolent drug offenders, people whose real problem is that they are addicted to drugs, is simply a waste of money and human resources. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(3) WHY KICKING THE COCAINE HABIT IS SO DIFFICULT (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
LONDON, July 11 (Reuters) - Cocaine addicts may have such a tough time kicking the habit because cravings for the drug increase long after they have stopped taking it, scientists said on Wednesday. | ||||||||||||||||
Instead of gradually diminishing with time, an animal study showed
that longings for the popular recreational drug get worse with time
and increase the likelihood of a relapse. | ||||||||||||||||
The findings by scientists at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) in the United States could offer new insights into how to help addicts who have repeatedly tried but failed to give up cocaine. | ||||||||||||||||
"This phenomenon helps explain why addiction is a chronic, relapsing
disease," Dr Alan Leshner, the director of the NIDA, said in a
statement. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(4) MEDICAL POT WAR ENGULFS BOY, 7 (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
A Placer Mom Says Cannabis Muffins Aid His Brain Disorder | ||||||||||||||||
He's 7 years old and afflicted with a disorder of the brain that for
years has wracked his body with extreme changes in mood, energy and
behavior. And today, he's at the center of a controversy that pits a
caring parent against a protective bureaucracy on the high-octane
battlefield of medical marijuana. | ||||||||||||||||
It's a war being conducted behind closed doors because it involves a child, a boy Placer County seeks to take away from a mother who says the cannabis muffins she feeds her son have improved his life. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Domestic News- Policy | ||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (5-9) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
In an entire issue on the drug war, the LA Weekly subjected our
policy to an irreverent scrutiny not often received from more
conventional outlets. | ||||||||||||||||
That schools are critical arenas for the clash of cultural values
symbolized by our drug policy is reflected in two items archived
last week. | ||||||||||||||||
Another article demonstrated the ripple effect of drug policy at the federal level: to what extent should our Coast Guard be redesigned and re-equipped for its (futile) role in drug interdiction? | ||||||||||||||||
Just by chance, a National Review editorial clarified some of the real reasons for the Coast Guard's commitment to the war on drugs. | ||||||||||||||||
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(5) THIS IS YOUR COUNTRY ON DRUGS, INTRODUCTION (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Maybe it's got to do with television: It goads us, but it's too banal
to hold us. Maybe it's religion, how it failed us, or we failed it.
But the numbers don't lie: In this nation, in this culture, one of
our favorite ways to break out of the doldrums is to get high. ...
we've all got our stories. | ||||||||||||||||
We share a few of them here, because we want to celebrate, because we want to confess, ... We find drugs in the movies, and shot through the history of rock & roll. But it's not just fun and games. ... | ||||||||||||||||
The guns are muffled by distance and the casualties kept from view,
but there's a war going on, ...We may be inured, but the war
continues. We've armed our cops and our allies, we've filled our
prisons and then built new ones, ... Prices for cocaine are at an
all-time low, suggesting that quantities have reached an all-time
high. | ||||||||||||||||
What are we to make of this? What are the moral implications of a
society that outlaws drug use while indulging in it? What is the
imperative to punish inebriation? And why are we so committed to
creating a black market where the smugglers flourish? | ||||||||||||||||
We don't claim to have the answers, but we do come at these questions
from a unique perspective. ... | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(6) SCHOOL POLICE ENLIST AID OF STUDENTS IN NEW CRIME WATCH (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
A new crime prevention program begins this fall in all DeKalb County
middle and high schools. | ||||||||||||||||
Funded by a $722,126 federal grant, the Youth Crime Watch is part of
a national program to reduce violence, crime and drug abuse in
schools. It trains local police officers to teach students important
skills such as conflict resolution and peer mediation, and encourages
students to get involved in making schools safer. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
As part of the program, students will learn about the harmful effects of using drugs and smoking cigarettes. Also, interested students can volunteer to be crime watchers during their lunch or study hall hours. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(7) RANDOM DRUG TESTS TRAMPLE BASIC RIGHTS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
AND MAKE EVERY STUDENT A SUSPECT | ||||||||||||||||
Youth Correspondent America's "War on Drugs" has now reached a
deplorable low--in some ways violating fundamental rights the U.S.
Constitution guarantees to all citizens. | ||||||||||||||||
Some American high schools are beginning to adopt mandatory, random
drug testing among students participating in extracurricular
activities. | ||||||||||||||||
Gone are the days of probable cause and reasonable suspicion. | ||||||||||||||||
Now, faculty members of schools are the police--turning educational
centers into police states where children are escorted from class to
"testing" sites. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(8) ANSWERING THE COAST GUARD'S SOS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
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Tired of its image as a "second-class navy" outgunned by smugglers and stuck in the technological stone age, the Coast Guard hopes to spend more than $10 billion over the next 20 years to replace its fleet of aging ships, aircraft and communications systems. | ||||||||||||||||
The service wants to modernize a fleet whose fastest cutters strain
to hit 33 mph, vainly trying to keep up with 70-mph drug boats
zipping across the ocean. Its troops rely on eyesight to search for
troubled vessels. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(9) THE PROHIBITIONIST'S BURDEN (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Congress Has Repealed The Fourth Amendment For Everyone On A Ship | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Over the last five years, the Coast Guard has been involved in the seizure of over 490,000 pounds of cocaine with value of over 17 billion dollars, not counting the latest seizure. Yet today in America, cocaine is cheaper and purer than it was 15 years ago. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
The Coast Guard can come onboard and snoop around whenever it wants.
Recreational boaters in coastal waters tell numerous stories about
the Coast Guard inviting itself onto fishing boats, sailing sloops,
and every other kind of boat, in order to start looking about for a
stray joint, as a pretext to seize ship. Federal forfeiture laws
promote this form of legalized piracy. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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COMMENT: (10-13) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
The prolific Robert Sharpe found the ultimate formula for spreading
reform's message from coast to coast: get your LTE accepted by Ann
Landers; her syndicators will do the rest. | ||||||||||||||||
Even as his subject, club drugs, continued to vex authorities around
the nation, other problem drugs made news; hold-up men demanded
Oxycontin by name in Boston and newspapers in California, Washington
state, Oklahoma, Missouri, Minnesota, Michigan, and Ohio all
complained about their local meth problem. | ||||||||||||||||
The Tribune-Review reported meth has even made it to Pittsburgh. | ||||||||||||||||
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(10) ANN LANDERS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Dear Ann: | ||||||||||||||||
This is in response to the letter from DEA administrator Donnie
Marshall about ecstasy. The ecstasy knock-off known as PMA that has
been taking the lives of young Americans is today's version of
bathtub gin. The black market has no controls for quality or user
age. Unlike legitimate businesses that sell alcohol, illegal drug
dealers do not ask for ID. They push trendy, synthetic "club drugs"
when given the chance. The drug war fails miserably at its primary
mandate -- protecting children from drugs. | ||||||||||||||||
The Netherlands has successfully reduced overall drug use by regulating and taxing marijuana as a legal drug and establishing age controls. Politicians should stop worrying about the message drug policy reform sends and start thinking about the children. | ||||||||||||||||
Robert Sharpe, MPA, Program Officer The Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy
Foundation Washington | ||||||||||||||||
Thanks for your interesting viewpoint. I hope your letter will wake up some of those "sleeping beauties." Here's more on the subject: | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(11) 'HILLBILLY HEROIN' BRINGS ROBBERS TO PHARMACIES (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
They Take Only The Oxycontin | ||||||||||||||||
Weymouth, Mass. -- On the afternoon of the Fourth of July, a slow
business day, a young man walked into the Walgreens on this town's
main thoroughfare and said he had a gun. He did not want money. All
he wanted was OxyContin, ... | ||||||||||||||||
It was the latest in a series of 14 robberies of pharmacies in Boston
and its suburbs in the last six weeks. ... | ||||||||||||||||
The holdups in the Boston area are part of a surge in OxyContin
robberies and thefts at drugstores in several states, from Maine and
Vermont in New England to Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and
Kentucky in the nation's midsection, and as far south as Florida and
as far west as California. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(12) CRANK TURNING UP AT CITY BARS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Tolerating sales pitches from drug dealers is just one of the
byproducts of spending too much time in bars. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Most recently, the usual pitches "Yo, got that good herb" (for pot)
and "white lady in the house" (cocaine) have been replaced by offers
to "go tweakin'." | ||||||||||||||||
To most Pittsburghers, going tweakin' sounds like taking a ride in a
car that needs its brakes fixed. In reality, tweak, or crank, is one
of the country's most notorious street drugs.... | ||||||||||||||||
Because Pittsburgh is a city notoriously late to pick up on new
fashion trends, it only figures that crank has taken years to reach
our streets. ... | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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Law Enforcement & Prisons | ||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (13-15) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
California's Proposition 36 went into effect on July 1; editorial comment within the state was mostly positive-- even those newspapers which had opposed it admitted endorsing its basic purpose. | ||||||||||||||||
From Florida-- already involved in signature gathering for a similar
measure-- came clear indications of the deep division such proposals
are creating within the ranks of prohibitionists. | ||||||||||||||||
In a rare, and perhaps precedent-setting, demonstration of compassion, a federal appellate court stretched the rules and overturned a state court's extraordinarily harsh sentence. | ||||||||||||||||
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(13) FROM IDEA TO SYSTEM (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Californians voted overwhelmingly last fall to send nonviolent drug users to treatment instead of jail, beginning July 1, whether the state was ready or not. As The Bee's special report on Proposition 36 showed this week, voters may have asked too much, too soon. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
In short, Proposition 36 is probably headed for a rocky shakedown
cruise. Inevitably, there will be some foul-ups, scandals and a lot
of wasted money. | ||||||||||||||||
But elected officials, at both the state and local level, have a duty
to make the measure work. The 61 percent of the vote won last year by
Proposition 36 sent a signal across the nation that Californians are
weary of a drug war that has no end in sight. They want to try moving
from jailing the drug problem to curing it. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(14) A DRUG TREATMENT LAW WORTH WATCHING (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
On July 1 California began a noble experiment. | ||||||||||||||||
Back in November its voters decided they were willing to make the criminal justice system the primary source of drug treatment in the state to the tune of $120 million a year. Proposition 36, which was approved by 61 percent of voters, will require treatment instead of jail time for most first- and second-time drug offenders. | ||||||||||||||||
Because California is the most populous state, the nation will be watching to see what happens there. Residents of Florida should pay particular attention because there is a nascent movement here to get voters to approve a measure modeled after California's Proposition 36 that would require courts to offer treatment to certain drug | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(15) OFFERS ILLUSION OF TREATMENT (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Floridians should refuse to sign petitions in support of or vote for
a proposed state constitutional amendment titled "Right to Treatment
and Rehabilitation for Nonviolent Drug Offenses." | ||||||||||||||||
After studying the amendment at great length, I find no merit in it.
Indeed, if there is any outcome, should the amendment be passed, it
would all be negative, effectively increasing crime and undermining
effective treatment in the state of Florida. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(16) LIFE TERM IN STATE DRUG CASE UNUSUAL, CRUEL, COURT DECIDES (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
In a rare move, a federal appellate court declared Monday that an
Arkansas man's life sentence for selling a small amount of crack
cocaine constituted cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the
Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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Cannabis & Hemp- | ||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (17-20) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
The hypocrisy of the our federal government's position on hemp was underscored in two articles; a WorldNetDaily reporter used history and humor to suggest that limited law enforcement resources might be put to better use than spraying herbicides on "ditch weed," and a Libertarian writer tried to shame the DEA by pointing out that Canadian cops apparently have no trouble distinguishing hemp from marijuana. | ||||||||||||||||
The prize for hypocrisy must go to the Nevada bureaucrats who
couldn't find $60,000 in their $3.8 billion budget to run a voter
mandated medical marijuana program. Maybe the sick folks of Nevada
should beg British GW Pharmaceuticals who just raised 25 million pounds
in investment cash! | ||||||||||||||||
Even as British investors were pumping up GW shares, three of that nation's more conservative ex-government officials were signalling their agreement with decriminalization of recreational use. | ||||||||||||||||
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(17) POISON POT (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Authorities in England announced last week that they would no longer
bother chasing after smugglers and dealers of cannabis. Apparently,
time, personnel and resources are better spent elsewhere -- maybe, if
I might suggest it, knocking some sense into the hard heads of
American drug warriors. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
According to the July 6 Munster, Ind., Times, "law enforcement
officials have begun searching trenches, roadways and farm fields for
ditch weed...." | ||||||||||||||||
In 2000, DEA shelled out $13 million to aid local efforts like
Indiana's. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(18) HEMP MAKES WONDERFUL FIBER (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
The number one problem in this field is that the DEA unlike its
Canadian counterparts cannot tell the difference between hemp and
marijuana. In America you need DEA approval, a fenced garden with
razor wire to top the fences and 24 hour monitoring. In Canada all
you need is a license. Admittedly the Canadians had a little problem
with pot poachers the first year they grew a hemp crop. But soon
enough the word got out that all you got from smoking hemp was a
headache and the poaching all but ceased. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(19) MEDICINAL MARIJUANA: FUNDING TO RUN PROGRAM LACKING (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
CARSON CITY -- Applications to use marijuana medicinally have been
printed, and registry cards will be issued to qualifying patients
beginning Oct. 1. But without financial support from the public,
Nevada's medical marijuana program could go broke. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Ed Foster, the Agriculture Department spokesman in Reno who manages
the medical marijuana program, said his agency needs about $30,000 a
year to run a program that eventually could allow 1,000 patients with
debilitating illnesses to grow their own marijuana. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Kenny Guinn did not include costs of operating the medical marijuana
program in his $3.8 billion budget for 2001-03. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(20) HIGH HOPES FOR GW'S MEDICINAL CANNABIS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Investors Trip Over Themselves For A Stake In The Only Firm With A
Licence To Grow Marijuana | ||||||||||||||||
LAST time Geoffrey Guy tried to bring a pharmaceutical company to
market, he couldn't create enough investor interest. Ethical
Holdings, which specialised in drug delivery, failed to float in June
1997. This time, it couldn't have been more different. To a fanfare | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(21) PEERS SUPPORT THE REFORM OF CANNABIS LAW (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
TWO former home secretaries said yesterday that possession of cannabis should be decriminalised amid signs from the Home Office that change may be contemplated during the course of this parliament. | ||||||||||||||||
Lord Jenkins and Lord Baker each supported a change in the law under which possession of cannabis for personal use would no longer be an arrestable offence. A third former home secretary, Lord Waddington, said he would regard decriminalisation as a "minor step." | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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International News | ||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (22-27) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
The good news this week is that influential people around the world
are rejecting drug prohibition. In England, the outgoing chief
inspector for prisons went beyond the trend toward cannabis
tolerance and called for the wider legalization of drugs. A
columnist in Lebanon explained how an outright drug war is bad for
the nation. And a Canadian columnist expressed outrage at plans to
station U.S. drug police in his country. | ||||||||||||||||
The international bad news makes it clear why more people are waking
up. A report from British Colombia indicated police may have broken
the law during drug raids. In Mexico, a national security advisor
realized that the "successful" breakup of a cartel will probably
mean more violence. And in Brazil, the never-ending drug war seems
to be promoting more cocaine use within the country. | ||||||||||||||||
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(22) PRISON BOSS CALLS FOR DRUGS LEGALISATION (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Sir David Is Convinced Of The Need For Drastic Action | ||||||||||||||||
The chief inspector of prisons in England and Wales has called for
drugs to be legalised. | ||||||||||||||||
Sir David Ramsbotham told the BBC's A Parting Shot on Prisons programme that "exposure to what the drug culture has done to the people I am seeing in prison, their families and the community from which they come" had convinced him of the need for drastic action. | ||||||||||||||||
Sir David, who retires on 1 August, said legalisation would reduce
crime motivated by the need to buy drugs. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(23) TIME TO STOP THE HYPOCRISY ON THE DRUG TRADE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
AND LOOK THE OTHER WAY | ||||||||||||||||
The debate on the revival of drug cultivation in the impoverished
Baalbek-Hermel area has exposed the hypocrisy of all the parties
concerned. | ||||||||||||||||
There is, first, the hypocrisy of Hizbullah, whose Ammar Musawi
deployed splendid duplicity on Tuesday to both defend drug
cultivation while also insisting it was a problem. The party has had
a mixed record in the Bekaa in the past few years, and does not want
to lose its drug-cultivating electorate as it did the followers of
Sheikh Sobhi Toufeili. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
Yet is there really a problem here? Certainly Rafik Hariri has no
interest in being branded the prime minister of a Levantine Colombia.
He is aware that this would only harm his reconstruction efforts,
since foreign funding will soon come with conditions attached to
enforce drug eradication programs. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(24) JUST SAY NO TO U.S. DRUG OUTPOST (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
If ever there was something to protest, it is the proposed opening of
a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration office in Vancouver. Are the
Mounties nuts? | ||||||||||||||||
The idea that the ugly face of the Americans' draconian, failed and idiotic drug policy is being welcomed in Vancouver is outrageous. All the more so because the avowed intention of the Americans is to target marijuana: B.C. Bud. Not heroin, not cocaine -- pot. | ||||||||||||||||
I have no use at all for pot. One hit and I go to sleep. I happen to
very much like Americans, but their deranged attitude toward
marijuana has become so vicious that their enforcement officers
cannot be allowed in Canada. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(25) CITY POLICE FAULTED FOR CONDUCT ON DRUG RAIDS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Vancouver police should have consulted a lawyer before destroying property during drug raids and conducting searches without warrants, says a report released Friday by the Police Complaints Commissioner. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
The internal documents, obtained under the Freedom of Information
Act, also showed police conducted searches without warrants and
destroyed private property -- even though senior officers were warned
such actions might be against the law. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(26) INTERVIEW-MEXICO SAYS DRUG TRADE CHANGING, WARNS OF VIOLENCE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
MEXICO CITY, July 5 ( Reuters ) - Mexico's national security adviser
believes recent strikes against leading drug cartels have caused a
fragmentation of the cocaine trade but warns they could also lead to
a new round of violent turf battles. | ||||||||||||||||
Adolfo Aguilar Zinser said the cartels were being forced to split up
different parts of their business in response to an assault on their
networks by U.S. and Mexican forces, now working closer with each
other than ever before. | ||||||||||||||||
He said the emergence of smaller drug gangs and independent operators
showed the cartels were in trouble but he stopped well short of
claiming victory in the war on drugs and said there could be a surge
of violence if rival traffickers go after each other. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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(27) COCAINE USE SPREADS IN BRAZIL (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
There is a deadly new drug problem in Latin America's largest
country: cocaine consumption. | ||||||||||||||||
Brazil, a sprawling country of 170 million, once was mainly a transit point for cocaine smuggled from Colombia, Bolivia and Peru and bound for the United States and Europe. But today, Brazil has become one of the world's largest markets for illicit drugs, particularly cocaine. | ||||||||||||||||
The sharp increase in Brazilian consumption has changed an important
dynamic in the drug war: a belief in Latin America that U.S. demand
alone has fueled the vast illegal drug industry in countries where
coca leaves are grown and transformed into cocaine and from which the
drugs are smuggled north. | ||||||||||||||||
"Cocaine use is becoming globalized," said a U.S. diplomat in Latin
America. "We're all in this together now." | ||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||
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HOT OFF THE 'NET (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Change the Climate Adds a DrugSense News Feed | ||||||||||||||||
Change the Climate Is the latest in a growing list of organizations
to utilize the MAP services to include a news feed on their web page.
Other groups we recently added to this service include, the Harm
Reduction Coalition. NORML, SSDP, MPP, DanceSafe and a number of
others we are still working on. This service helps attract more
visitors to these sites and we can set up custom feeds to cover
particular topics or geography areas. | ||||||||||||||||
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The British Medical Journal on Cannabis | ||||||||||||||||
The British Medical Journal's current issue features a couple of new
articles on cannabis as medicine. The URL for BMJ is: | ||||||||||||||||
The URL for the lead editorial, "Cannabinoids for pain and nausea,"
in the current issue is: | ||||||||||||||||
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Debt to Society: The Real Price of Prisons | ||||||||||||||||
A MotherJones.com Special Report | ||||||||||||||||
In a unique online investigation, MotherJones.com details the economic, social and moral costs of prison growth -- including data on prison spending compared to spending on higher education, growth in the number of drug offenders, and disparity between white and nonwhite incarceration rates in every state. This special project also features a package of articles by a group of award-winning journalists as well as Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr. and New Mexico's governor, Gary Johnson | ||||||||||||||||
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Police Executive Research Forum Report On Racially Biased Policing | ||||||||||||||||
Monday (7/16) morning @ 9:25am the Police Executive Research Forum is
going to release a report prepared for the Justice Department on the
best ways to address racially biased policing. The report will
include a model anti-bias policy and a discussion of problems with
interpreting data on racial profiling. The report will be available
on the PERF website as of 10am Monday (sorry, I don't have a copy
yet). | ||||||||||||||||
Their web address is http://www.policeforum.org/. | ||||||||||||||||
Submitted by Doug McVay | ||||||||||||||||
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DrugSense Chat | ||||||||||||||||
Join us on Saturday July 14, 5 p.m. Pacific, 8 p.m. Eastern, when our special guest will be Al Giordano, publisher of the Narco News Bulletin: | ||||||||||||||||
For information on future guests see: | ||||||||||||||||
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LETTER OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
DRUG RAIDS | ||||||||||||||||
by Larry Seguin | ||||||||||||||||
To The Editor; | ||||||||||||||||
A dent in the North Country's narcotics trafficking? More like a dent in
the pocket of North Country tax payer's pockets? Editorial, Tue 19 Jun
2001, Drug Task Force. | ||||||||||||||||
41 offenders rounded up. Total seizures 0.5 pounds Hashish, 0.25 Marijuana,
and $850 cash, (OJ 6/01 Ogdensburg Journal) Hardly dealer classification.
13 agencies, year long investigation. Cost to tax payers must be close to
$100,000 to seize $2,500 in drugs. Still yet, the cost of prosecuting the
41 personal users. Don't forget the 26 inmates boarded out at $1500 per
day. Why did tax payers have to furnish $20,000 buy money? On just 3 dates,
1/19/00, 2/15/00, and 3/8/00 there was $23,982 taken in on forfeitures and
restitution's for DTF. | ||||||||||||||||
Was there ever a dent in drug use in St. Law Co? | ||||||||||||||||
(OJ 19 Sept 1995). 26,000 Marijuana plants seized in 1993. 38,000 Marijuana plants seized in 1994. Legislature meeting, Canton NY, more budget money needed for DTF budget. Large demand is because of the colleges. One problem, most if not all, the collage students would be DARE graduates? | ||||||||||||||||
(OJ 2 June 1996). 80,000 Marijuana plants seized in 1995. $120 million
worth. Again Legislature meeting, Canton NY, Need increase in DTF budget.
Two interesting quotes at meeting, "Marijuana County's biggest cash crop".
" 1996 won't bring in as many plants as 1995". | ||||||||||||||||
(OJ 14 Jan. 1997) 105,000 Marijuana plants seized in 1996. Again
Legislature meeting, Canton NY, Need increase in DTF budget. More money is
needed because " cocaine, heroin, hashish, and hallucinogenic mushrooms are
in County". " Cut supply, prices will go up and less sales". As we see with
the oil companies, supply down, prices up so is record profits. Same with
prohibition! | ||||||||||||||||
1997 and 1998 request for bigger budget and new jail didn't do very good.
Break for the tax payers. | ||||||||||||||||
(OJ 3/99) Sweep nets 32. ( Editorial claims "our jails are not full of low
level drug dealers and most addicts are given the opportunity to obtain
treatment for their addictions".( OJ 8/99) 22 0f the 32 did time in jail or
prison. ( OJ 15 June 2000) Probation Director Francine M. Perretta "
Non-violent drug crimes are required by the State to serve jail or prison
time, are not eligible for Electronic Home Monitoring" | ||||||||||||||||
(OJ 19 Sept 99) $40 million worth marijuana plants seized so far this year.
DTF "Need more money". | ||||||||||||||||
(OJ 23 Oct 99) DTF needs more money. " Cocaine major problem". | ||||||||||||||||
(OJ 28 Nov 99) DTF needs more money. "Seizures since May 99 were: 635 grams
marijuana, ( Where did the $40 million go)? 167 grams cocaine, 124 grams
crack, 124 grams LSD, and 76 pills". These high gram figures work out to
combined total of less than 2 pounds! | ||||||||||||||||
Just think of the budget surplus St. Law Co would have now, if marijuana was regulated and taxed since 1993. As I looked back over these articles I felt the war on marijuana pushed society into 'hard drugs'. | ||||||||||||||||
Larry Seguin | ||||||||||||||||
Lisbon, New York | ||||||||||||||||
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Honorable Mention Letters Of The Week | ||||||||||||||||
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FEATURE ARTICLE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Here's Proof That The Drug War Is Working! / by Steve Kubby | ||||||||||||||||
Who says the drug war isn't working? Here's a clear example of how
the drug war continues to fill the pockets of government parasites
who live and retire off of the funds they collect from their victims.
Note that the feed store grandmothers (busted for selling iodine to
farmers) were ordered to pay a $2,700 fine and contribute $1,000 to a
crime victims restitution fund. That's in addition to the $20,000 a
year the county will collect from the feds for each year of
probation. Total take for the county: $20,000 times 3 sisters times 3
years $180,000. Also, each sister will have to pay for their
probation and that will add another $30,000 to $50,000 hard cash.
That brings the total take to nearly a quarter of a million dollars
for these government drug war profiteers, to be paid in salaries,
bonuses and retirements of up to $100,000 per year. | ||||||||||||||||
Feed Store Sisters Given Probation For Selling Alleged Drug-Making
Chemical | ||||||||||||||||
LANCASTER (AP) -- Three grandmothers who run a feed store were
sentenced to probation on Friday for illegally selling crystallized
iodine, which can be used to make methamphetamine. | ||||||||||||||||
Dorothy Jean Manning, 67, Ramona Ann Beck, 62, and Armitta Mae
Granicy, 60, say they sold the chemical as a cure for equine hoof
disease. | ||||||||||||||||
The sisters sold $40,000 of the iodine at Granicy's Valley Wide Feed,
60 miles north of Los Angeles. | ||||||||||||||||
"For a store our size, that's not a lot of money," said Granicy, who
has owned the store with her husband for four decades. | ||||||||||||||||
Their attorney said he will appeal the decision. | ||||||||||||||||
"There is not a shred of evidence in this case ... that any meth
dealer, or any drug dealer, ever set foot in that store," attorney
Robert Sheahen said outside court. "There is not the slightest bit of
evidence that these good, God-fearing ladies ever sold to a drug
dealer." | ||||||||||||||||
The sisters, who had no criminal record, were convicted in April of misdemeanor failure to properly prepare bills of sale for the iodine. A 1998 anti-drug law requires merchants to log detailed information -- including driver's license and vehicle license numbers -- for all iodine crystal buyers. Manning was also convicted of selling more than eight ounces of iodine to one customer in a 30-day period. | ||||||||||||||||
Granicy's husband, 64-year-old Robert Roy Granicy, was acquitted of
all charges. | ||||||||||||||||
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge David Mintz gave each sister
three years probation and 100 hours of community service. He also
ordered them to pay a minor fine yet to be determined. | ||||||||||||||||
Granicy also was ordered to pay a $2,700 fine and contribute $1,000
to a crime victims restitution fund. | ||||||||||||||||
All three were barred from selling iodine during the probation period. | ||||||||||||||||
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QUOTE OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
"They who would combat general authority with particular opinion, must first establish themselves a reputation of understanding better than other men. -- John Dryden, "Heroic Poetry and Heroic Licence", 1677 | ||||||||||||||||
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