| Sept. 21, 2001 #218 | ||||||||||||||
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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) | ||||||||||||||
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(1) WAR ON TERRORISM THREATENS WAR ON DRUGS (Top) | ||||||||||||||
The U.S. war on terrorism could threaten the success of a battle that
Washington has been waging since Nancy Reagan first urged America to
``just say no'' nearly 20 years ago. | ||||||||||||||
U.N. officials said Thursday the current crisis gripping Afghanistan
in the wake of the attacks on Washington and New York could undermine
the ``remarkable'' progress the Taliban-ruled area of the country has
made in halting drug production. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
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(2) PAINKILLER BACKLASH FEARED (Top) | ||||||||||||||
Doctors Worry That Abuse Of Oxycontin Will Cause Setbacks In Pain
Treatment | ||||||||||||||
Rebecca Work doesn't like to take medicine, even aspirin. But when
she had surgery last fall, after doctors cut through her ribs, the
muscles in her back and her lungs, the pain was beyond anything she
had felt in her 52 years. "It was pain so bad you just couldn't think
about anything else," she said. | ||||||||||||||
She left the hospital with a prescription for Percocet, a strong
painkiller. It helped at first, but she could only take it every four
hours. By the third hour, the pain would start searing through her
again. | ||||||||||||||
So when she had to go back to the hospital a few weeks later, her
doctor almost immediately gave her OxyContin, a narcotic. Within
minutes, she felt no pain at all. Zero. And that relief lasted for 12
hours. | ||||||||||||||
"It was really like a miracle thing for me," she said. "It's a wonder
drug." | ||||||||||||||
Work's OxyContin story is not the kind most people read in the newspaper. Instead, there have been stories about addiction and abuse: People selling OxyContin like crack or heroin, people breaking into drugstores to steal OxyContin, people overdosing on OxyContin. | ||||||||||||||
All those stories have doctors worried about an OxyContin backlash that could set them back years in their war against pain. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
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(3) PROP 36 OFFENDERS SUFFER SEVERE ADDICTION (Top) | ||||||||||||||
Unforeseen trend for Prop. 36: A flood of hard-core addicts needing
treatment is likely to push costs higher than expected. | ||||||||||||||
Many of the drug offenders being sent to treatment instead of prison
under a new state law suffer from severe addictions and need more
therapy than expected, a trend that could put a strain on budgets for
drug programs and probation. Less than three months after Proposition
36 went into effect July 1, no statewide statistics have yet been
compiled. But officials have been struck by the preponderance of
hard-core addicts, as opposed to casual users who happened to run
afoul of the law. | ||||||||||||||
"We thought we would get a lot more low-level substance abuse cases,"
said Bill Demers, president of a statewide association of county drug
program administrators. "We're getting more on the higher end. I
think what it says is that there are a lot of people with drug and
alcohol problems out there." | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
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(4) COLOMBIA REBEL CHIEF BLASTS U.S. (Top) | ||||||||||||||
BOGOTA, Colombia -- Colombia's top rebel chieftain accused the United States on Monday of meddling with his country's internal affairs by sending "hundreds of military advisers and mercenaries." | ||||||||||||||
Manuel Marulanda, head of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia,
or FARC, also warned that peace talks with the government will
collapse if President Andres Pastrana forces the FARC to give up a
Switzerland-sized safe haven he ceded to the rebels in southern
Colombia. | ||||||||||||||
Marulanda, in a letter posted on the FARC's Internet site, said the
peace talks "will be over and not even the next president will have
an open door" should Pastrana send his troops into the | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW (Top) | ||||||||||||||
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Domestic News- Policy | ||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (5-11) (Top) | ||||||||||||||
DrugSense Weekly collects news stories from Tuesday to Tuesday each
week and then begins the editing process to get an issue to you by
Friday. Because of this timing, we had a chance to see how
priorities of the drug war may quickly change in the wake of
terrorist attacks in America. On Tuesday, Sept. 11, an LA Times
editorial raised important questions about the new drug czar. Drug
news quickly disappeared from the headlines, but later in the week,
little-noticed comments related to the terror attacks, like those of
the U.S. Attorney General, seemed to signal a realization that drug
prohibition may be overemphasized in U.S. policy. Next week, we
expect to have more explicit commentary from the press on the
relationship between prohibition and terrorism, though it will also
be found elsewhere in this issue of DrugSense Weekly. | ||||||||||||||
Other drug war issues received some coverage, like the ongoing
debate about the value of DARE. While supporters and opponents
generally maintained their position, a school district in Iowa may
have found some middle ground that seems to cut national DARE out of
the program. In other news, The Nation revealed that a Mexican
banker suspected of involvement in drug trafficking has tried to use
great family wealth to silence other critics along with Al Giordano
of Narconews. Finally, a Florida weekly was talking about reported
addiction cure ibogaine, but the FDA wasn't. | ||||||||||||||
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(5) A LITTLE DRUG-WAR QUIZ (Top) | ||||||||||||||
Most Americans have come to view the nation's escalating,
$20-billion-a-year drug war as a costly failure that is stuffing
prisons while producing few gains. They think our drug policy needs
an overhaul and are open-minded to the possibilities. John P. Walters
does not sound like one of those Americans. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
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(6) CIA POLICIES MUST CHANGE CHENEY SAYS (Top) | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
Other members of the Bush administration are also calling for
strengthening the nation's ability to find terrorists. | ||||||||||||||
Attorney General John Ashcroft said Sunday that the administration
would ask Congress for wider latitude in tapping the telephones and
computer lines of suspected terrorists. | ||||||||||||||
"In terms of wiretapping...its easier to get a wiretap against a drug dealer or someone who's involved in illegal gambling than it is against terrorists," Ashcroft said on "Fox News Sunday." | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
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(7) DARE PROGRAM SHOULD CONTINUE (Top) | ||||||||||||||
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The DARE - Drug Abuse Resistance Education - program has become quite
controversial in recent years, with local schools and police
departments that strongly support it squaring off against some
studies that show the program's effectiveness at reducing drug abuse
among teens is short-lived at best. | ||||||||||||||
Couple that controversy with the news recently that the Iowa State
Patrol has decided it can no longer afford to offer the DARE program
in some Iowa schools, and it's tempting to sigh, "Oh, well ... Bye-
bye, DARE." | ||||||||||||||
That would be the wrong decision. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
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(8) DOES DARE DETER DRUG USE? (Top) | ||||||||||||||
Studies have shown it does not work. The U.S. Department of Education now refuses to fund it, and its own authors have conceded changes are needed. Yet the Drug Abuse Resistance Education, or DARE, program remains the overwhelming prevention program of choice among East Tennessee's public school systems and continues to draw the unequivocal support of most local police agencies and parent groups. | ||||||||||||||
Only the Knoxville Police Department has opted to launch its own
study of the effectiveness of the drug prevention program. Spokesman
Darrell Debusk said Sgts. Melinda Claiborne and Jerry Armstrong are
preparing a report for administrators that will "outline some options
we would have," Debusk said. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
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(9) STORY COUNTY SHORTENS D.A.R.E. PROGRAM (Top) | ||||||||||||||
NEVADA - A popular drug prevention program is getting a makeover in
most Story County schools. | ||||||||||||||
The Drug Abuse Resistance Education program, more commonly known as
D.A.R.E., has been shortened from 17 to eight weeks to make room for
more classroom instruction, said Story County Deputy Craig McKinney,
the main D.A.R.E. instructor. | ||||||||||||||
"We talked to the schools and they were receptive to our proposal of teaching one time a week for eight weeks," McKinney said. "(In the past) giving us all that time took away from other times when they could be teaching something else. It works out for the both of us." | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
The new eight-week program, which does not have a name, will focus on
teen drinking, addiction, conflict management, violence in
relationships, crime and laws at the junior high level. The new
elementary program is still being developed. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
"D.A.R.E. has served Story County well ( since 1993)," said Capt.
Gary Foster of the Sheriff's Office. "But like with anything else,
it's necessary to keep up with the times." | ||||||||||||||
All of the T-shirts, pens and pencils for the program will be done
locally, McKinney said. In addition, any deputy from the sheriff's
office will be able to teach the course without going through an
extensive, two-week training session. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
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(10) DRUG WAR ON TRIAL (Top) | ||||||||||||||
A new counteroffensive has been launched in the drug war: Financiers
have begun to retaliate against allegations of money laundering and
drug trafficking by suing the messengers. If successful, the suits
could hinder future investigations into the G spot of the drug trade,
where billions of dollars in illicit profits meet the highest
precincts of international finance. | ||||||||||||||
At the heart of the legal assault are a Mexican billionaire and
majority owner of a Texas bank, Carlos Hank Rhon, of the powerful
Hank family (frequently referred to as the "Mexican Rockefellers"),
and Roberto Hernandez, president of Banamex, Mexico's second-largest
bank. The suits are being fought out in U.S. courts, pitting scions
of the Mexican elite against an American journalist, a scholar and a
little-known agency of the US government. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
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(11) SMACKED OUT (Top) | ||||||||||||||
Believers say a little-known drug called ibogaine eases heroin
cravings and withdrawal, but it's never gained popularity with
pharmaceutical companies or street pushers. Here's why. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
While the ibogaine community is full of believers such as Peace, the
drug still can't shake the stigma of being little more than another
acid trip -- one that might kill. Three deaths in Europe have been
linked to ibogaine. In the U.S., doctors are mostly unaware of it or
deem it too kooky or dangerous for conventional care. It is, after
all, illegal. Government funding for research into ibogaine has
dwindled. | ||||||||||||||
"Of all the hallucinogens, this is probably the most toxic one that people take," says Dr. Frank Vocci, head of treatment research and development at the National Institute for Drug Abuse. "The FDA might want to proceed very cautiously, given the deaths that have occurred." | ||||||||||||||
We'd ask the FDA ourselves, but over the course of two weeks, they
didn't return phone calls. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
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Law Enforcement & Prisons | ||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (12-15) (Top) | ||||||||||||||
Prosecutors and defense attorneys are squaring off over a 1984
ruling that allows judges to increase the sentences of drug law
convicts. In August, an appeals court had overturned the ruling,
jeopardizing a large number of drug cases; now a circuit court will
give the rule a new hearing. | ||||||||||||||
Elsewhere, there was the endangerment of the public and police as an
officer and suspect were killed during an attempted drug bust over
$1,000 worth of heroin at a fast food restaurant. And as usual,
another case of police drug corruption was reported, while local and
national resources were wasted as helicopters continue to scour the
countryside for marijuana and hemp crops. | ||||||||||||||
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(12) DRUG TRIAL RULING TO BE REVISITED (Top) | ||||||||||||||
Decision Wiped Out Law That Gave Judges Power To Increase Sentences | ||||||||||||||
At the request of every U.S. attorney in the West, a federal appeals
court in San Francisco agreed late Friday to revisit a ruling that in
August wiped out a major drug-sentencing statute created during the
Reagan administration's war against drugs. | ||||||||||||||
The court agreed to rehear the three-judge panel's decision with 11 judges. In an unusually expedited manner, the circuit set oral arguments here for Sept. 29. Every federal public defender in the circuit that covers nine western states opposed the rehearing. | ||||||||||||||
In August, the judges found that a 1984 drug-sentencing law
unconstitutionally allowed a judge, rather than a jury, to increase
prison sentences based on the quantity of drugs found. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
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(13) DRUG SUSPECT RAN OVER LIEUTENANT BEFORE BEING SHOT, AUTHORITIES (Top) REPORT | ||||||||||||||
Police officer killed in Clayton | ||||||||||||||
CLAYTON -- A suspected drug dealer backed his car over a Clayton
police officer Friday morning, fatally wounding her as he dragged her
40 feet, before being shot to death by other officers, authorities
said. | ||||||||||||||
Lt. Monica Carey, commander of the investigative division, died after
a drug raid outside a Bojangles restaurant at U.S. 70 and Shotwell
Road, police said. | ||||||||||||||
The State Bureau of Investigation, which is handling the
investigation, identified the driver as Omar Garcia Fernandez, 27.
The agency did not release a hometown for Fernandez, SBI spokesman
John Bason said. Clayton police said Fernandez had $1,000 worth of
heroin in a white Ford Taurus station wagon. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
The incident played out at 10:10 a.m. as customers in the
glass-walled Bojangles ate their breakfasts. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
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(14) EX-POLICEMAN FACES LIFE IN PRISON FOR HIS CRIMES (Top) | ||||||||||||||
NORFOLK -- A 46-year-old Chesapeake man faces up to life in prison when he is sentenced in December for trafficking in cocaine, witness tampering, retaliation against an informant and firearms violations. | ||||||||||||||
Douglas Emanuel Foreman, a Portsmouth police officer in the 1980s,
was found guilty last month by a jury in U.S. District Court in
Norfolk. | ||||||||||||||
He was convicted of possession of a firearm and ammunition by a
convicted felon; cocaine trafficking; possession of a firearm in
furtherance of a drug trafficking crime; witness tampering and
retaliation against a witness. He also was convicted of possession of
marijuana, a misdemeanor upgraded to a felony because of prior drug
convictions. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
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(15) TIPS, HELICOPTER FLIGHTS LEAD LAWMEN TO RECORD HAUL OF MARIJUANA (Top) PLANTS | ||||||||||||||
Law enforcement agencies working in an anti-drug operation in Berrien
County last week confiscated 1,900 growing marijuana plants,
described as a record haul for the area. | ||||||||||||||
The plants, spotted from a helicopter in fields and small patches, were mature and nearly ready for harvest, said Lt. Keith Hafer, commander of the Berrien County Sheriff's Narcotics Unit. | ||||||||||||||
The plants were found in several locations, including one field where
1,485 plants were seized. | ||||||||||||||
The effort was part of Operation HEMP, which aims to find and destroy
growing marijuana. Sheriff's officers work with the state police,
National Guard and Coast Guard in the search operation. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
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Cannabis News | ||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (16-21) (Top) | ||||||||||||||
Frankly, it was a refreshingly slow week in cannabis/hemp stories,
with the NYC events of 9/11 pre-empting most other news coverage.
However, during the fall harvest season, no news is good news. It is
apparent that law enforcement officials throughout the U.S. have
focused their efforts away from this year's eradication efforts and
towards the very real threat of further incidents of domestic
terrorism. This may offset the tightening of security measures at
the Canada/US border, which will surely disrupt the seasonal
southerly flow of Canadian outdoor cannabis. | ||||||||||||||
This week saw a few brave folks strive to put aside some of the
horror of last week's attacks to take a stand against unjust law
enforcement policies worldwide. The Boston Freedom Rally, one the
east coast's premiere drug policy reform events, went on as planned,
but suffered lower attendance than previous years. In Britain, an
activist named Colin Davies opened the UK's first Dutch-style
cafe; he was promptly arrested and charged. Canadian lawyer and
Osgoode Hall law professor Alan Young testified before the Senate
Sub-Committee on Illegal Drugs, arguing for an end of this
unscientific prohibition. And, lest we forget that even industrial
hemp is still illegal in so much of the developed world, Nevada took
the first steps towards legalizing its cultivation. | ||||||||||||||
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(16) BOSTON MARIJUANA RALLY DRAWS THOUSANDS (Top) | ||||||||||||||
While concerts, sporting events, and other activities were postponed
yesterday in the wake of Tuesday's terrorist attacks in New York and
Washington, more than 10,000 people gathered on Boston Common
yesterday to support the overhaul of marijuana laws. | ||||||||||||||
The Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition hosted its 12th annual
Freedom Rally despite a request from Mayor Thomas M. Menino to
reschedule the event. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
Organizers said the purpose of the rally, which has seen blatant drug
use and numerous arrests in the past, is to protect rights of freedom
and privacy, and to promote a grassroots movement aimed making
marijuana legal, especially in health-related cases. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
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(17) MONTANA OPENS DOOR FOR INDUSTRIAL HEMP BUT WAITS ON FEDS (Top) | ||||||||||||||
Though often accused of being backward or behind the times, the 2001
Montana Legislature placed Montana among a group of forward-thinking
states and organizations with the passage last April of Senate Bill
261, which could free the growth of industrial hemp from the auspices
of the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA) passed by Congress in
1970. | ||||||||||||||
The bill, sponsored in the Senate by Sen. B.F. "Chris" Christiaens
(D-Great Falls) and in the House by Rep. Christopher Harris
(D-Bozeman), legalizes the growth and sale of "industrial hemp"--that
is, "all parts and varieties of the plant Cannabis sativa L.
containing no greater than 0.3 percent tetrahydrocannabinol"--within
Montana's borders. Tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, is the chemical that
produces the high sought by users of marijuana. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
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(18) UK CANNABIS CAFE OWNER RELEASED (Top) | ||||||||||||||
A campaigner for the legalisation of cannabis who was arrested after
attempting to open the UK's first Amsterdam-style marijuana cafe has
been released without charge. | ||||||||||||||
Colin Davies, 44, was questioned by detectives on suspicion of
possessing cannabis with intent to supply. | ||||||||||||||
He was arrested on Saturday morning just minutes after opening the
doors of "The Dutch Experience" cafe, in Stockport, Greater
Manchester. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
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(19) A BREATH OF FRESH AIR IN POT DEBATE (Top) | ||||||||||||||
ALAN YOUNG is, as law professors go, a gold-plated hoot. He's
engaging, erudite, as apt to quote Baudelaire as constitutional
texts. He's, by his own admission, a bit of a troublemaker. Not least
of all, Young is the hero of Canadian potheads from sea to sea to
shimmering lemon meringue pie. | ||||||||||||||
Yesterday, he testified before a Senate special committee on illegal drugs, a panel charged most particularly with considering Canada's current marijuana laws. That he followed Toronto police Chief Julian Fantino to the mike suggests at least someone in the employ of our chamber of sober second thought tends a little to the giddy side. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
"Marijuana has never, in the entire recorded history of mankind,
caused a death directly," he said. "You can kill rats with sugar and
caffeine. You can't kill them with marijuana." | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
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International News | ||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (20-24) (Top) | ||||||||||||||
U.S. and Colombian officials last week expressed alarm at a jump in Colombian poppy growing and heroin production. "We're seeing a dramatic increase in heroin purity and seizures," explained Leo Arreguin, the DEA chief in Bogota. Not explained was how this could be so, given the intensive anti-drug spraying of the region. | ||||||||||||||
In Florida, seven South American sailors were sentenced to terms of
up to 13 years. Believed to be associated with Colombia's Cali
cartel, U.S. authorities had accused them of trying to smuggle
"three-quarters of a ton of cocaine." | ||||||||||||||
In Manitoba, Canada, the trial of a man arrested in the area's
"largest cocaine bust" was abandoned after allegations of racial
profiling by the RCMP. The accused denied knowledge of the four
kilograms of cocaine the RCMP claimed to find in his car; Crown
attorneys refused comment on the matter. | ||||||||||||||
Stirred by the presence of new U.S. DEA offices on Canadian soil, one British Columbian paper suggested the real reason the DEA is permitted on Canadian territory is because of bullying. U.S. drug law enforcement is allowed in Canada due to "pressure from the US" in the form of threatened trade restrictions, the paper stated. | ||||||||||||||
And in New Zealand, testimony to the health select committee on
cannabis revealed that government and anti-drugs groups were actually
helping dealers to make large profits. "Whether they realise it or
not they're actually working in their interests," noted Green Party
leader Gary Clarkson. | ||||||||||||||
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(20) HEROIN FIGHT TAKES SHAPE (Top) | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
But U.S. and Colombian officials are sounding an alarm over a
dramatic increase in the number and size of U.S.-bound shipments of
heroin seized in recent months, and a possible boom in poppy
cultivation. | ||||||||||||||
While Colombia grows only 2 percent of the world's opium poppies, its
heroin accounts for 66 percent of all U.S. seizures and 72 percent of
the total seized on the East Coast, according to the Drug Enforcement
Administration. | ||||||||||||||
With Afghanistan's Taliban rulers outlawing poppies in a country that
produced 70 percent of the world's heroin last year, mostly for Asian
and European consumption, Colombian traffickers may be tempted to
fill the gap. | ||||||||||||||
After pumping $1.3 billion in U.S. aid into a Colombian | ||||||||||||||
"We must develop a heroin strategy," U.S. Ambassador Anne Patterson
said. "We're seeing a dramatic increase in heroin purity and
seizures." | ||||||||||||||
Leo Arreguin, head of the DEA office in Bogota, said that is why he
is working to add 13 agents to his staff, a 10-percent increase,
devoted solely to what he called "a priority for probably everyone in
the United States." | ||||||||||||||
"Hospitals are flooded with overdoses in Miami, in Orlando, all along the East Coast, North Carolina, South Carolina, Baltimore, New York and New Jersey, everywhere, because of this," Arreguin said. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
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(21) COCAINE SMUGGLERS SENTENCED TO PRISON (Top) | ||||||||||||||
TAMPA -- Seven South American sailors caught in the dragnet of a major federal drug investigation were sentenced Thursday to lengthy prison terms for trying to smuggle cocaine into the United States. | ||||||||||||||
The men were aboard a speedboat seized by the U.S. Coast Guard and Navy in the Pacific off South America. Authorities found three-quarters of a ton of cocaine on the boat and in water nearby, | ||||||||||||||
The vessel was one of more than a dozen loaded with cocaine worth
hundreds of millions of dollars that authorities have seized in the
past 18 months. The investigation, code-named Operation Panama
Express, is aimed at toppling the leaders of Colombia's notorious
Cali cartel. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
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(22) GIANT COCAINE TRIAL FALLS APART (Top) | ||||||||||||||
Crown Stays Charges, Defence Lawyer Blasts RCMP | ||||||||||||||
THE largest cocaine bust in Manitoba's history has gone up in smoke
amid allegations that RCMP illegally stopped a car driven by a
Vancouver man because of his ethnic background. | ||||||||||||||
Kin Wong, 34, was freed from custody Wednesday after the Crown stayed
drug charges in a Brandon courtroom. The charge carried a potential
prison term of seven to 10 years. | ||||||||||||||
The Crown gave no reason for the surprise abandonment of the case,
which comes only weeks after Wong's arrest on the Trans-Canada
Highway near Virden. | ||||||||||||||
It also follows stinging accusations made by a Winnipeg lawyer during
a recent court hearing that suggested RCMP unfairly targeted Wong
because of his race. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
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(23) NO WAY TO THE DEA (Top) | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
Why are they here? | ||||||||||||||
Media reports state the DEA says it's all part of an effort to fight
drug-smuggling and organized crime. | ||||||||||||||
But conjecture has it that the pressure from the U.S. to bring in
drug control has Canada worried about trade restrictions if they
refuse them. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
It's all too easy to forget the U.S. in indeed a foreign country to
Canadians. | ||||||||||||||
More serious is the big obstacle the DEA presence will pose to the
hard work on the part of civic, provincial and federal politicians to
craft a "four-pillar approach" to help reform in the Downtown
Eastside. | ||||||||||||||
The long struggle to reduce the harm of drug addiction on community
health and safety can only be undermined by the presence of any
foreign government much less one whose policies lie at opposite ends
of the spectrum of understanding drug addiction. | ||||||||||||||
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(24) DRUGS BAN AIDING DEALERS (Top) | ||||||||||||||
The National Party and anti-cannabis groups are unwittingly helping
drug dealers, a health select committee on cannabis was told in
Hamilton. | ||||||||||||||
Waikato Green Party executive Gary Clarkson said: "Whether they realise it or not they're actually working in their interests. | ||||||||||||||
"Prohibition always favours an unregulated black market." | ||||||||||||||
If he were a dealer, Mr Clarkson said, he would want dope banned. | ||||||||||||||
"If anything, I suggest going harder. It's all good for business. It
will ensure we've got a healthy profit for a long time," he told the
committee, which sat in Hamilton last week and included Green MP
Nandor Tanczos, who uses cannabis. | ||||||||||||||
Mr Tanczos said a disproportionate number of Maori were convicted of
cannabis crimes. | ||||||||||||||
In 1980, 1997 European and 517 Maori people were convicted, in 2000,
1350 Europeans and 1106 Maori people were convicted. But this was not
because of more Maori using dope. "I think it's obvious that's to do
with the way the law is applied," Mr Tanczos said. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
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HOT OFF THE 'NET (Top) | ||||||||||||||
DRUG POLICY AND TERRORISM | ||||||||||||||
The Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy has assembled materials on the extent to which many terrorist organizations fund their operations in part, sometimes substantially, through the profits flowing from the prohibition of drugs. Just as prohibition has enriched organized crime around the world, prohibition has often enriched terrorist groups and financed their activities. | ||||||||||||||
The materials at following web address more fully explain the links between the drug policy of prohibition and the financing of terrorism. | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
JOHNSON - HUTCHINSON DEBATE AUDIO CLIPS Online | ||||||||||||||
At the University of New Mexico's Continuing Education Center Gary Johnson, New Mexico's governor, and Asa Hutchinson, administrator of the nation's Drug Enforcement Administration squared off in a public debate over drug policy reform Monday, 10 September 2001. | ||||||||||||||
As of this date, neither a transcript nor audio or video of the entire debate has been released. DrugSense Net Radio has obtained sound files made with a small tape recorder and created 14 short audio clips from the debate. These clips are located at: | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
RAINBOW FARM WEBSITE UPDATED | ||||||||||||||
In Memory of Tom Crosslin and Rollie Rohm | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
THE KUBBY FILES: DEA BUST FOOTAGE | ||||||||||||||
Steve and Michele Kubby describe the horror of being held at gunpoint
with their two year old child by twenty DEA agents and local narcs as
they terrorize their family home in search of "Medical Marijuana."
Extensive footage of high-tech medical marijuana garden. Advice on
surviving a raid. Bust footage courtesy of the Placer County
District Attorney/DEA. | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
RICHARD COWAN: FIGHT TERRORISM, NOT CANNABIS | ||||||||||||||
420 MarijuanaNews And Analysis for September 19, 2001 | ||||||||||||||
420 MarijuanaNews with Richard Cowan
| ||||||||||||||
You won't want to miss Richard Cowan discussing 9 key points to consider in re-establishing our national priorities after the recent terrorist attacks. Available as MP3 download or streaming audio. | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
THOUSANDS PROTEST U.S. DRUG POLICY IN BOSTON | ||||||||||||||
Mourn Terrorist Attacks at Boston Freedom Rally | ||||||||||||||
Boston, MA: An estimated 40,000 people gathered Saturday at the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition's (MassCann/NORML) 12th Annual Freedom Rally to show their support for reforming US marijuana laws and reflect upon last week's tragic terrorist attacks. | ||||||||||||||
To view photos or read first hand accounts of this year's rally,
please visit http://www.masscann.org/ | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
PRDI DIRECTORY OF DRUG AND DRUG POLICY EXPERTS | ||||||||||||||
After many delays, the PRDI Directory of drug and drug policy experts
is available on the PRDI website, http://www.prdi.org/, as a
searchable database. It includes about 220 individuals, and covers
about 80 areas of expertise. | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
PETITION IN SUPPORT OF BILL MAHER | ||||||||||||||
ABC is likely to cancel Bill Maher's late night discussion show
Politically Incorrect as of Friday night due in large part to some
comments he made on monday 9/17 regarding US policy in the Middle
East. | ||||||||||||||
http://abc.go.com/primetime/politicallyincorrect/press_release.html | ||||||||||||||
A petition in support of Bill Maher has been posted on the web at: | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
ADOPT A GREEN PRISONER | ||||||||||||||
Check out http://www.adoptagreenprisoner.org/ and help a marijuana
prisoner currently in America's prison system. | ||||||||||||||
Submitted by William Foster | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
LETTER OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||
FEDS HAVEN'T DONE THEIR JOB | ||||||||||||||
The U.S. federal government was shown to be completely incompetent
once again when terrorists hijacked four different planes from three
different airports within the span of an hour on Sept. 11. I suppose
this attack should come as no surprise, since this is the same federal
government that "accidentally" bombed the Chinese embassy during the
war against Yugoslavia because their "intelligence" couldn't provide
them with a map any Belgrade tourist could have gotten, and the same
government that engaged in their own terrorist act by destroying a
pharmaceutical factory in Sudan because they mistakenly thought it was
a chemical weapons facility. | ||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||
Laura Kriho | ||||||||||||||
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Honorable Mention Letter of the Week | ||||||||||||||
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| ||||||||||||||
FEATURE ARTICLE (Top) | ||||||||||||||
Love, Light and Peace | ||||||||||||||
By Kevin B. Zeese | ||||||||||||||
(Editor's Note: This piece was written to be presented at the Rainbow
Farm memorial service for Tom Crosslin and Rollie Rohm) | ||||||||||||||
I am sorry that I cannot be in Vandalia to join you in remembering
Tom and Rollie - two compatriots who were not afraid to stand up and
call for an end to the senseless war on marijuana. I had planned on
attending this Memorial to remember their work at the Rainbow Farm -
concerts, hemp fests, advocacy, community outreach - but the events
of recent days have made air travel impossible. But I am with you in
spirit and have asked a friend and colleague - a fellow Journeyer for
Justice - to read this statement. | ||||||||||||||
Obviously, I do not know what happened on the day Tom and Rollie were
fatally shot by police agents - none of us here know what actually
happened. Indeed, I encourage all of you who cared about Tom, Rollie
and their work to use your voices and influence to ensure that there
is a thorough investigation of the circumstances surrounding their
deaths. We need to know the truth so that deaths like these do not
occur again. | ||||||||||||||
We do know that if there were no war on marijuana Tom and Rollie
would be here with us, planning the next concert on the Rainbow Farm.
We also know that they had been peaceful people who seem to have been
changed by the marijuana war - the threat to their liberty and
property was too much and they courageously fought back. In their
honor we should continue our advocacy against the war on drugs. It is
time for this war to end - we should not be fighting an unjust war
against our fellow citizens over what they put into their body, or
how they want to affect their consciousness. | ||||||||||||||
We also know that the prohibited drugs are one of the biggest,
multi-billion dollar industries in the world. Thanks to prohibition we
have created a market that fuels crime, violence and terrorism around
the world. As Interpol has reported "Drugs have taken over as the
chief means of financing terrorism." So if we want to injure
terrorists we need to end the war on drugs that provides them with the
fuel for their terrorism. | ||||||||||||||
The tragedies of recent days, the tragedy of Tom and Rollie and the
tragedies of the other drug war deaths in the U.S. and around the
world bring to mind the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. from his
book "Strength of Love:" | ||||||||||||||
"Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiples violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction . . . ." | ||||||||||||||
Let us all pledge to stop the hate with love, drive out the darkness
with light and never resort to violence. Tom and Rollie's death
highlights a lesson we must all learn - non-violent resistance is the
only sensible and strategic approach to ending the violent war on
drugs. We must stop the spiral of destruction by constructing sensible
and peaceful methods of dealing with marijuana and other drugs. And,
we must not forget Tom and Rollie. | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
QUOTE OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||
"Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism." - George
Washington, "Farewell Address to the People of the United
States," September, 1796 | ||||||||||||||
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