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DrugSense Weekly
Feb. 8, 2002 #237

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Table of Contents

* Breaking News (03/28/24)


* This Just In


(1) US: Editorial: Drugs And Terrorism
(2) Canada: U.S. Pot War Comes North
(3) US: Check Aisle 7 For War On Drugs
(4) Australia: Dope Lessens Ecstasy Harm

* Weekly News in Review


Drug Policy-

COMMENT: (5-11)
(5) Drug Seizures Are Counted Twice, GAO Says
(6) Baltimore Drug Programs Prove Effect, Study Finds
(7) Judges Say New Drug Law Is Working
(8) Dare To Change
(9) Anti-Drug Fear Tactic Mixes The Messages
(10) MBTA Asks Court For Freedom To Disapprove Ads
(11) New Pitch In Anti-Drug Ads: Anti-Terrorism

Law Enforcement & Prisons-

COMMENT: (12-17)
(12) Trial Casts Spotlight On Work Of Drug Unit
(13) Jail Time Looms For Priest
(14) Zapata Fire Chief Arrested
(15) Sepulvedas Settle Federal Lawsuit Over Death
(16) Squad Trains For Drug Task Force
(17) Tobacco Becomes Most-Wanted Illicit Drug In Prison

Cannabis & Hemp-

COMMENT: (18-21)
(18) New Mexico Marijuana Decriminalization Plan Dies
(19) New Mexico Medicinal Pot Law Might Face Challenge
(20) Vermont Lawmakers Renew Bid For Medical Marijuana
(21) Raids On Grow Houses Span All Of Canada
(22) Waiting For Your Share Of The Government's 256 Kilos Of Legal Pot?

International News-

COMMENT: (23-26)
(23) Bush Seeks More Aid For War In Colombia
(24) Name-And-Shame Strategy Used In Drug War
(25) Give Addicts Free Heroin, Says Chief Constable
(26) Breakthrough In Painkilling

* Hot Off The 'Net


ONDCP Drugs and Terror Quiz
Listen as Votehemp Debates DEA's Asa Hutchinson On Public Radio
Report On Heroin Prescription Trials In The Netherlands
See Latest ONDCP Anti-Drug Ads And Rate Them
Ethan Nadelmann On The O'Reilly Factor
Government's War on Raves Went Too Far, Louisiana Court Rules
Super Bowl Ad Out of Bounds
DrugSense Chat With Catherine Austin Fitts
30th Anniversary of the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug
Abuse

* Letter Of The Week


Drug-Sniffing Dogs / By Stephen Young

* Published Letter To The Editor Writer Of The Month - January


Dave Michon

* Feature Article


The New Propaganda / By Jay R.  Cavanaugh, Ph.D.

* Quote of the Week


Edward Abbey


THIS JUST IN    (Top)

(1) US: EDITORIAL: DRUGS AND TERRORISM    (Top)

During The Super Bowl The Office Of National Drug Control Policy Ran Ads Connecting Drugs With Terrorism.  Is That Really Fair?

THE FAMOUSLY FLUSH Office of National Drug Control Policy bought $3 million worth of advertising during the Super Bowl.  We can leave aside the general question of whether government agencies ought to be spending the public's money to--in effect--lobby that very same public to keep shelling out money for them.

[snip]

We can leave aside, too, whether it's worth spending more money on a single-afternoon binge of anti-drug propaganda than it would cost to build a train station for a small city, or bring an internationally renowned production of the Ring Cycle to an opera-starved metropolis, or supply the air force with 120 daisy-cutter bombs to be used in the war on terrorism.  (About as much money, in fact, as it cost to build the stadium the Super Bowl champion Patriots have played in for the past 31 years.)

But, as I say, let's leave that aside and focus on the content of the ads.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 07 Feb 2002
Source:   Weekly Standard, The (US)
Copyright:   2002 The Weekly Standard
Website:   http://www.weeklystandard.com/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/808
Author:   Christopher Caldwell
Note:   Christopher Caldwell is a senior editor at The Weekly Standard.
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02.n204.a11.html


(2) CANADA: U.S. POT WAR COMES NORTH    (Top)

EVER SINCE THE U.S.  STATE DEPARTMENT leaked word a little more than a year ago that it was considering adding Canada to its list of major drug-exporting countries -- thanks to massive bud exports from grow operations -- cops here have been anxious to prove they're not going soft on weed.  Police forces across the country have been on a rampage, busting any and every grow operation in sight.

The rash of busts culminated last week in the much-publicized cross-country Operation Green Sweep, which police say netted law enforcement authorities more than 46,000 plants, most of them destined for the U.S.

[snip]

"That's all we're concentrating on right now," Hogarth says.  "It's becoming all-encompassing." The story is much the same in BC and Quebec, where hundreds of pot-growing operations have been busted every year of the last three.

This country was supposed to be reviewing its drug policy.  Both the Senate and House have struck committees to re-evaluate our drug laws. The courts have mandated decriminalizing pot for medical purposes. Polls on both ends of the political spectrum, including the right-wing Fraser Institute, have turned over a new leaf, declaring the "war on drugs" a failure and advocating decriminalization.

But if Operation Green Sweep and the hundreds of busts that preceded it prove anything, it's that reefer madness is back -- with a vengeance.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 07 Feb 2002
Source:   NOW Magazine (Canada)
Copyright:   2002 NOW Communications Inc.
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.nowtoronto.com/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/282
Author:   Enzo Di Matteo
Cited:   Drug Policy Alliance http://www.drugpolicyalliance.org/
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02.n202.a01.html


(3) US: CHECK AISLE 7 FOR WAR ON DRUGS    (Top)

Law: Here's The Latest Buzz: The DEA Has Ordered All Hemp Foods Off Grocers' Shelves.

There's a guy you have to know to get the stuff.  Isn't there always? You know a little something about him and vice versa, so everything's cool.  In hours the feds will put down the hammer and then things will really get tense.  This should be easy. A phone call, a short drive, and you make the hemp connection.

No time to waste.  You drive into a wind-whipped parking lot, slipping into the dim, greasy lamp light, going through the steps again.  No surprises pal, not tonight.  Save it for your birthday.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 07 Feb 2002
Source:   Baltimore Sun (MD)
Copyright:   2002 The Baltimore Sun, a Times Mirror Newspaper.
Website:   http://www.sunspot.net/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/37
Author:   Arthur Hirsch, Sun Staff
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/hemp.htm (Hemp)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02.n203.a10.html


(4) AUSTRALIA: DOPE LESSENS ECSTASY HARM    (Top)

THE harmful effects of ecstasy on brain cells and people's moods could be lessened by smoking dope at the same time, a world-first study by Australian researchers has found.

Sydney University associate professor of psychology Iain McGregor and a research team found in experiments on rats that ecstasy causes anxiousness and a depletion of brain messenger cells.

However, when rats are given ecstasy and cannabis together they have less depletion of brain cells and are less anxious.  While they are not as badly affected as rats given cannabis alone or no drugs, the effects are not as bad as those brought about by ecstasy use alone.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 02 Feb 2002
Source:   Australian, The (Australia)
Copyright:   2002 News Limited
Website:   http://www.theaustralian.com.au/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/35
Author:   Sarah Stock, Medical Reporter
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02.n209.a08.html


WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW    (Top)
Domestic News- Policy

COMMENT: (5-11)    (Top)

The dismal results of drug interdiction efforts appear even more dismal, as a new government report shows that some drug seizure numbers have been doubled, as different agencies claimed credit for the same load of drugs.  It's no surprise that numbers are being fudged by the drug warriors, but some solid data showed the benefits of drug reform in Baltimore and California.

A scathing report explored the virtual non-existence of scientific support for the DARE program, while a report from California also critiques current drug education.

Despite the evidence against the drug war's effectiveness, a public transit system in Boston is going to court to avoid placing advertising on the system that challenges drug war mythology.  And that mythology was pushed to another level this week as new prohibitionist propaganda debuted at the Super Bowl.  This is your brain ...  this is your brain on a six-week, multi-million-dollar, cross-media blitz that tries to blame casual drug users for terrorism.  Any questions?


(5) DRUG SEIZURES ARE COUNTED TWICE, GAO SAYS    (Top)

Reports by the Coast Guard, Customs Service and Pentagon do not add up, the office found.

Federal agencies that oversee drug seizures on the high seas are double-counting the same cocaine confiscations, according to an investigation by the auditing arm of Congress.

The Coast Guard, Customs Service and Department of Defense are each taking credit for many of their joint seizures and presenting them to Congress as if they acted alone, the General Accounting Office says in a report to be released Monday.  A copy of the GAO report was obtained by the Inquirer Washington Bureau.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 02 Feb 2002
Source:   Inquirer (PA)
Copyright:   2002 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/340
Author:   Lenny Savino, Inquirer Washington Bureau
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n199/a01.html,
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1920/a07.html
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n175/a04.html


(6) BALTIMORE DRUG PROGRAMS PROVE EFFECT, STUDY FINDS    (Top)

Significant Drops In Crime And Abuse

An independent evaluation of Baltimore's drug programs shows significant drops in crime and drug abuse up to a year after addicts start treatment, findings that suggest the city is finally making headway against its seemingly intractable heroin and cocaine problem.

The study, to be released today, is the most rigorous review ever of the $52 million public drug-treatment system.  Researchers tracked drug tests, arrest records and other data on almost 1,000 patients in 16 city programs for a year.

[snip]

The study's findings were drastic and consistent.  Within a month after entering treatment, use of alcohol, cocaine and heroin each fell by more than 60 percent.  One year later, the classic point at which to look for relapse, the changes stayed: Heroin use dropped 69 percent, cocaine use dropped 48 percent, and criminal activity dropped by 64 percent.  Also a year later, those in the study worked twice as many days a month and earned $200 more a month in legal income.  And they reported far less risky behavior such as using needles to inject drugs.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 31 Jan 2002
Source:   Baltimore Sun (MD)
Copyright:   2002 The Baltimore Sun, a Times Mirror Newspaper.
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/37
Author:   Diana K.  Sugg
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n160/a09.html


(7) JUDGES SAY NEW DRUG LAW IS WORKING    (Top)

Treatment:   Statistics indicate rehabilitation instead of jail fails
to reach 30% of users, but many applaud results.

About 30% of Los Angeles County defendants sentenced to drug rehabilitation rather than prison or county jail under Proposition 36 either failed to show up or dropped out of treatment programs in the first six months the new law was in effect, officials said.

However, judges and county officials say they are pleased with the early results, considering drug users are the ones being served by California's novel sentencing program.

"The preliminary indication is that this is working," said Carol Morris Lowe, director of planning for the county Alcohol and Drug Program.  "We're going to have to refine it and tweak it, but I think it's a good start." Proposition 36, approved in 2000 by 61% of the voters, requires that nonviolent drug offenders convicted of possession, use or transportation of drugs for personal use be offered treatment and probation rather than being locked up.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 05 Feb 2002
Source:   Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright:   2002 Los Angeles Times
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author:   Anna Gorman, Times Staff Writer


(8) DARE TO CHANGE    (Top)

[snip]

The DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) programme is an even bigger scandal, if only because it operates on such a large scale. DARE is conducted by police officers in 80 per cent of American schools.  Children are taught that all drugs - including alcohol and tobacco - are equally harmful and given tips on the best ways to "just say no".  In the past Glenn Levant, the programme's founder, regularly demonised researchers for faulting his programme, calling their work "voodoo science" and accusing them of "kicking Santa Claus" and "setting out to find ways to attack our programmes".

But a year ago he changed his tune.  The government, embarrassed over the absence of any sound data supporting DARE, threatened to withdraw funding.  No published, peer-reviewed study has found that DARE reduces drug use among adolescents, while several have indicated increased use among participants.  Yet it took more than 18 years and a dozen solid negative studies of thousands of children before the point hit home.

More remarkable still, at the same time that Levant was reflecting on the ineffectiveness of his programme, he announced that he'd received a $13.7 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to revamp it.  DARE is so deeply entrenched in so many schools, that the foundation decided it would be better not to start from scratch.

The media's ambivalent attitude towards DARE surely influenced its decision.  Just weeks before Levant's announcement, a reporter from the Long Island-based tabloid Newsday, one of the largest local newspapers in the US, summed up the DARE debate in the following way: "Different camps cite conflicting studies, some indicating that DARE is effective and some that it isn't." If Newsday had done a five-second Web search to check both sides' citations, it would have found that the real data supports only one position.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 02 Feb 2002
Source:   New Scientist (UK)
PageS:   44 - 45
Copyright:   New Scientist, RBI Limited 2002
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/294
Author:   Maia Szalavitz
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/find?135 (Drug Education)
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/dare.htm (D.A.R.E.)
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n181/a02.html


(9) ANTI-DRUG FEAR TACTIC MIXES THE MESSAGES    (Top)

"Just say no" doesn't cut it and the billions spent on drug education aren't working either, says medical sociologist Marsha Rosenbaum.  Addressing a parent education session at Campolindo High School last week, Rosenbaum criticized DARE-type drug education efforts and debunked more than a few myths.

Rosenbaum directs San Francisco's Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation, advocates for national drug policy reforms, including legalization of medicinal marijuana and changes in both the criminal justice and education arenas.

"Eighty-one percent of American people have used a drug in the last week.  Fifty percent use a prescription drug. Paxil, Zoloft and Prozac use has tripled in the last year.  These are psycho-active drugs," she says.  "Ritalin? Kids see that one up close ... America is not drug- free and kids know it.  When they see a line outside Starbucks, they know what that's for."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 30 Jan 2002
Source:   Contra Costa Times (CA)
Copyright:   2002 Contra Costa Newspapers Inc.
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/96
Author:   Jackie Burrell
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n153/a02.html


(10) MBTA ASKS COURT FOR FREEDOM TO DISAPPROVE ADS    (Top)

There are lots of great places to debate American drug laws, or promote alternative churches, or discourage binge drinking.  But the MBTA doesn't think its subway cars, trains, or buses are the proper forum for political discussion and embarked yesterday on its latest legal fight over advertisements it deems offensive.

In the face of numerous legal defeats, the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority is back in federal court, this time defending its right to refuse ads questioning marijuana laws.

It's the T's fifth legal battle against a would-be advertiser in three decades, but the lawsuit by the drug law reform group Change the Climate is the first to go to trial.

For the courts, it's a relatively straightforward question of First Amendment Law: Do free speech protections apply to advertisers?

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 02 Feb 2002
Source:   Boston Globe (MA)
Page:   B1
Copyright:   2002 Globe Newspaper Company
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/52
Author:   Thanassis Cambanis
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n181/a11.html


(11) NEW PITCH IN ANTI-DRUG ADS: ANTI-TERRORISM    (Top)

The ads by the President's Office of National Drug Control Policy aired during last night's Super Bowl marked an escalation in the selling of the administration's war on drugs -- for the first time, the illegal narcotics trade is linked to terrorism.

Previously, government anti-drug messages focused on how users harm themselves.  The two Super Bowl ads, which cost nearly $3.5 million to place during the widely watched Fox television broadcast, claim that money to purchase drugs likely ends up in the hands of terrorists and narco-criminals.

[snip]

The ads kick off a four-to-six-week nationwide campaign, which also includes ads on radio and in 293 newspapers (including The Washington Post), an augmented Web site (www.theantidrug.com) and teaching materials to be distributed to middle and high school students.  Walters estimated the campaign's cost at $10 million.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 03 Feb 2002
Source:   Washington Post (DC)
Page:   A03
Copyright:   2002 The Washington Post Company
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Author:   Frank Ahrens, Washington Post Staff Writer
Cited:   Drug Policy Alliance http://www.drugpolicyalliance.org/
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/campaign.htm (ONDCP Media Campaign)
http://www.mapinc.org/find?203 (Terrorism)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n195/a05.html


Law Enforcement & Prisons


COMMENT: (12-17)    (Top)

Extensive corruption within a drug unit in Buffalo, N.Y.  could be exposed as officers go on trial to face a number of allegations. Drug-related police corruption is nothing new, but other drug corruption stories should have raised some eyebrows.  Two different stories about priests who allegedly dealt drugs broke last week, along with a story of a local fire chief who was arrested for involvement in illegal drug sales.

In California, the family of an 11-year-old boy who was killed in a drug raid in 2000 was awarded $450,000 in a lawsuit, and they've got others pending.  Despite the terrible results of this kind of paramilitary-style drug law enforcement, training continues to go on around the country.

Maine officials are learning a lesson about the economics of prohibition after implementing a tobacco ban in state prisons. Tobacco cigarettes are reportedly selling at twice the price of cannabis cigarettes in prison black markets.


(12) TRIAL CASTS SPOTLIGHT ON WORK OF DRUG UNIT    (Top)

While Darnyl Parker and three other Buffalo narcotics detectives go through a well-publicized corruption trial in U.S.  District Court, a fifth narcotics detective recently admitted to engaging in felony cocaine trafficking while he was supposed to be arresting drug dealers.

As part of his plea deal, Rene Gil agreed to tell federal agents all he knows about illegal activities by Buffalo police officers, including "embezzlement, theft, violations of civil rights and public corruption."

In the federal court trial, meanwhile, the star prosecution witness claimed last week that Parker once told him that $5,000 a month was "the going rate" for bribing a narcotics detective.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 03 Feb 2002
Source:   Buffalo News (NY)
Copyright:   2002 The Buffalo News
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/61
Author:   Dan Herbeck
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n185/a03.html


(13) JAIL TIME LOOMS FOR PRIEST    (Top)

Crandall Pleads Guilty To Federal Drug Charges

In keeping with the faith he defied, the Rev.  Thomas Crandall confessed to crimes in U.S.  District Court on Friday that left his unsuspecting Milton parishioners aghast.

Standing in a green jumpsuit before Chief Magistrate Roger Vinson, the Roman Catholic priest pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess and distribute more than 5 grams of methamphetamine and an indefinite amount of Ecstasy, waiving his right to a jury trial.

Crandall, 47, who never again will be allowed to lead a parish, faces a minimum mandatory sentence of five to 40 years in federal prison and fines as high as $4 million.  His incarceration will be followed by five years of supervised release.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 02 Feb 2002
Source:   Pensacola News Journal (FL)
Copyright:   2002 The Pensacola News Journal
Author:   Brett Norman
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n177/a09.html


(14) ZAPATA FIRE CHIEF ARRESTED    (Top)

Zapata County lost its fire chief Wednesday night after he was arrested allegedly driving the "scout vehicle" in a smuggling operation that involved more than 1,000 pounds of marijuana.

[snip]

Gonzalez has served with the Zapata County Fire Department for 18 years.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 01 Feb 2002
Source:   Laredo Morning Times (TX)
Copyright:   2002 Laredo Morning Times
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/1140
Author:   Robert Garcia


(15) SEPULVEDAS SETTLE FEDERAL LAWSUIT OVER DEATH    (Top)

The family of an 11-year-old Modesto boy killed during a SWAT raid has agreed to a $450,000 settlement in a lawsuit against the federal government, a lawyer for the family confirmed Tuesday.

Lawyers for the Sepulveda family and government reached the agreement after marathon talks last week.  The family's legal action against the city of Modesto and police officers is still pending.

The Sepulvedas' deal with the U.S.  government could make it difficult for the city to win its own lawsuit against the federal government over the death of Alberto Sepulveda on Sept.  13, 2000.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 30 Jan 2002
Source:   Modesto Bee, The (CA)
Copyright:   2002 The Modesto Bee
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/271
Author:   Michael G.  Mooney


(16) SQUAD TRAINS FOR DRUG TASK FORCE    (Top)

HUMBOLDT - More than a dozen area police officers are undergoing weeklong federal training to better handle the risks involved with drug-related crimes.

A U.S.  Defense Department drug interdiction group, known as Joint Task Force Six, is providing the training.  During the week, the officers will learn how to execute high-risk drug warrants and how to deal with hostage situations.  Officials say this is the first time such training has been offered in rural West Tennessee.

[snip]

Officers spent Tuesday getting firearms training at the Humboldt Police firing range.  The next three days will involve activities including vehicle assault, officer recovery and "dynamic entry." The latter is "going in, kicking down doors, that kind of situation," Stan Hernandez, a master sergeant, said.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 30 Jan 2002
Source:   Jackson Sun News (TN)
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/1482
Author:   Tonya Smith-King
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n171/a10.html


(17) TOBACCO BECOMES MOST-WANTED ILLICIT DRUG IN PRISON    (Top)

[snip]

Tobacco has become the hottest illicit commodity in Maine prisons since 2000, when the Legislature banned smoking in state prisons.

Like other addictive drugs, tobacco commands exorbitant prices in prison.  Some inmates have accumulated huge "tobacco debts" they are unable to pay.  Many prisoners and even a few guards have been tempted into the illegal trade by the potential for huge profit.

Prisons like the one in Windham still cope with more serious drugs being smuggled in: prescription painkillers, methadone, heroin and methamphetamines.  In addition, staff members have intercepted steroids, protein drinks and even tattoo equipment.

But tobacco has displaced much of the other contraband because it is so valuable.

"The amount of marijuana and drugs like that we confiscate now has really diminished.  There's more money in tobacco and a better market," Herring said.  Most of the 620 prisoners housed in the Windham prison smoke cigarettes, when they are able to obtain them.

A cigarette can cost between $7 and $10 inside the prison, twice the price of a marijuana joint, Herring said.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 03 Feb 2002
Source:   Portland Press Herald (ME)
Copyright:   2002 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/744
Author:   David Hench


Cannabis & Hemp-


COMMENT: (18-21)    (Top)

New Mexico Republican Governor Gary Johnson's campaign to lessen the state's drug laws has hit a few snags.  A plan to make personal possession of cannabis a civil (rather than criminal) penalty has been tabled by a house committee, and warnings from the state Attorney General suggest that an addition to New Mexico's medical marijuana bill calling for state-sponsored cultivation and distribution, may render the bill federally unconstitutional. Meanwhile, in Vermont, lawmakers have brought forward a motion to legalize cannabis use for medical purposes.  A similar state bill died last year without receiving a hearing.

On January 30th Canadian police authorities showed their concern over the surging number of marijuana grow operations with Operation Green Sweep.  The nation-wide operation executed 149 search warrants and led to 136 arrests.  Over 46,000 marijuana plants were seized. Unfortunately this came on the heels of news and rumours that Health Canada's medical cannabis distribution system was being delayed indefinitely.  Health Canada is apparently analyzing the 250kg grown by their contracted supplier, Manitoba's Prairie Plant Systems.

P.S.  Bad news that didn't get press yet this week. On February 8th the U.S.  DEA's ban of edible hemp products goes into effect. Fly your freak hemp-flags at half-mast, my friends; the federal government may come after those next.


(18) NEW MEXICO MARIJUANA DECRIMINALIZATION PLAN DIES    (Top)

SANTA FE -- A proposal to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana for personal use appears to be dead for the year.

A House committee voted unanimously Tuesday to table the most controversial measure of Gov.  Gary Johnson's drug reform package. It would have provided for only civil penalties, rather than criminal, for possession of up to an ounce of marijuana by people 18 years or older.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 30 Jan 2002
Source:   Albuquerque Journal (NM)
Copyright:   2002 Albuquerque Journal
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/10
Author:   S.U.  Mahesh
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/johnson.htm (Johnson, Gary)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02.n161.a01.html


(19) NEW MEXICO MEDICINAL POT LAW MIGHT FACE CHALLENGE    (Top)

The New Mexico Attorney General's Office is raising a red flag over a provision added to the medicinal marijuana bill making its way through the Legislature.

Assistant Attorney General Michael Cox warned in an analysis of the bill that a change designed to make the measure comply with federal law might actually make it unconstitutional.

The Senate Public Affairs Committee revamped the measure, Senate Bill 8, to allow the state to cultivate and distribute marijuana to patients suffering from specific debilitating illnesses.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 01 Feb 2002
Source:   Denver Rocky Mountain News (CO)
Copyright:   2002, Denver Publishing Co.
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/371
Author:   Gilbert Gallegos
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02.n173.a03.html


(20) VERMONT LAWMAKERS RENEW BID FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA    (Top)

Lawmakers introduced a bill Wednesday that would make marijuana available to seriously ill people who could be helped by it.

The measure, which is similar to one introduced in the Vermont House last year, would allow patients with certain disorders to grow marijuana for their own use if they had a statement from their physician saying its potential benefits would likely outweigh its risks.

The bill would make such users exempt from prosecution, and is similar to measures that have passed in Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Washington, said Rep. David Zuckerman, P- Burlington, the lead sponsor of the bill.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 31 Jan 2002
Source:   Times Argus (VT)
Copyright:   2002 Times Argus
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/893
Author:   Anne Wallace Allen
Cited:   Marijuana Policy Project http://www.mpp.org/
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02.n164.a06.html


(21) RAIDS ON GROW HOUSES SPAN ALL OF CANADA    (Top)

Police officers from city, regional, provincial and federal forces swept down on home-grow marijuana operations from Nova Scotia to British Columbia today.  "Police executed 149 search warrants across Canada by 3:30 p.m.  (ET)," Det. Mike Klimm, spokesman for police in Ontario's York Region, said Wednesday afternoon.

"We've made 136 arrests and laid 289 charges.  ... A total of 46,796 plants were seized in the raids."

About 500 officers from more than 20 agencies were involved in the raids.  In addition to the marijuana plants, police seized growing equipment worth about $3.2 million, Klimm said.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 31 Jan 2002
Source:   Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright:   2002 The Toronto Star
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/456
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02.n161.a02.html


(22) WAITING FOR YOUR SHARE OF THE GOVERNMENT'S 256 KILOS OF LEGAL POT?    (Top)

[snip]

"The real shame," St-Maurice says, "are reports that Health Canada is looking to delay their medical marijuana distribution yet another year."

Possibly true.  Health Canada is currently sitting on 250 kilos of primo bud with 10 per cent tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content, direct from their $5 million grow-op at the bottom of a Manitoba mineshaft, which they're seemingly in no hurry to deliver.  Boris St-Maurice expressed concern that with former Justice Minister Anne McClellan in charge, Allan Rock's medical marijuana pipe dream may soon go the way of the roach clip.

Not so, asserts Health Canada spokesperson Andrew Swift: "A change of minister would have absolutely no impact on the marijuana program." Distribution delays are necessary, he explained, "because it's currently being tested to make sure that it is a safe, reliable strain of homogenized marijuana, suitable for medical use."

So, how long will that take?

"I couldn't say," he said.  "Months, maybe more. I wouldn't put a deadline on it."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 31 Jan 2002
Source:   Hour Magazine (CN QU)
Copyright:   2002, Communications Voir Inc.
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/971
Author:   Charlie McKenzie
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02.n173.a02.html


International News


COMMENT: (23-26)    (Top)

So, it turns out oil might have something to do with the U.S. getting involved in Colombia.  Military efforts will go toward protecting a pipeline in the South American nation, but the Bush administration also wants to pump more aid for anti-drug efforts into the region.  In Thailand, local mobs are deciding who is a drug user and who isn't, based on information from secret informers.

Scary as that is, there's good news from the UK, where another police official is pushing greater drug reform.  The head of North Wales Police wants heroin to be distributed to addicts.  And some fascinating research was reported in Canada suggesting that opiate antagonists might actually help to enhance the pain-killing quality of opiate drugs without raising tolerance.


(23) BUSH SEEKS MORE AID FOR WAR IN COLOMBIA    (Top)

Millions Would Help Protect Oil For U.S.

BOGOTA, Colombia -- A top-level Bush administration delegation announced plans Tuesday to widen U.S.  involvement in Colombia's civil war.  Under the plan, the United States would provide training, weapons and aircraft to Colombian troops to protect a pipeline carrying U.S.  oil.

"We are committed to help Colombians create a Colombia that is a peaceful, prosperous, drug-free and terror-free democracy," said Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Marc Grossman.

He said the Bush administration would ask Congress for $98 million to strengthen a Colombian army brigade to guard the 490-mile Cano Limon pipeline, whose oil field is operated by U.S.  firm Occidental Petroleum Corp.

The aid comes on top of already massive U.S.  assistance intended to wipe out cocaine and heroin production in the Andean nation.

The Bush administration sent Congress a fiscal year 2003 budget Monday that included money for training a second antidrug brigade as part of a 14-percent increase in anti-narcotics spending in the Andean region.  Of the $731 million proposed for the regional effort, $439 million was for Colombia.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 06 Feb 2002
Source:   Detroit Free Press (MI)
Copyright:   2002 Detroit Free Press
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/125\
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n197/a12.html


(24) NAME-AND-SHAME STRATEGY USED IN DRUG WAR    (Top)

BAN PA-KWOW (Thailand) - The authorities have a new weapon in their war on drugs in the Golden Triangle area: a secret ballot that residents can use to shame suspected users and pushers.

Informers in these small, close-knit communities are encouraged to tell on friends, relatives and neighbours.

The secret forums were introduced in Chiang Rai province, about 640 km north of Bangkok, last October.

So far, 340 of 1,510 villages have held these forums.

Though the gatherings do not follow court-like procedures, it is assumed that the opinion of a majority of villagers is a safeguard against score-settling and malicious finger-pointing.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 31 Jan 2002
Source:   Straits Times (Singapore)
Copyright:   2002 Singapore Press Holdings Ltd.
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/429
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n171/a03.html


(25) GIVE ADDICTS FREE HEROIN, SAYS CHIEF CONSTABLE    (Top)

A chief constable has called for heroin to be prescribed free to Britain's 300,000 addicts.

Richard Brunstrom, the head of North Wales Police, wants heroin possession to be decriminalised and people caught with small quantities of the drug to be treated.  His comments are the latest proposal by a senior police officer for a more liberal approach to drug use.

Mr Brunstrom said pure heroin should be provided on prescription for addicts, because that would remove the need for users to commit crime to pay for their habit.  He told Police Review magazine: "Heroin does not make you commit crime; it gets you addicted.  If you could get free heroin you wouldn't commit crime.

"We know that a third of all crime is committed by people to get money to support their drug habit.

"In theory, at least, if we gave away heroin to those people who needed it, they should not need to commit crime and crime should go down.  Why are we allowing these people to become criminals?

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 4 Feb 2002
Source:   Independent (UK)
Copyright:   2002 Independent Newspapers (UK) Ltd.
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/209
Author:   Jason Bennett
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/find?131 (Heroin Maintenance)
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/hr.htm (Harm Reduction)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n185/a05.html


(26) BREAKTHROUGH IN PAINKILLING    (Top)

NEWS - Researchers at Queen's University have made a discovery that could lead to safer and more effective use of morphine and other painkillers.

Their groundbreaking research, which could change the way people suffering from chronic diseases deal with severe pain, will appear next month in the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.

Dr.  Khem Jhamandas, who headed the research at Queen's, said his team found that small doses of drugs known as opioid antagonists - normally used to block the toxic effects of opioids such as morphine - can actually enhance painkilling action.

Their surprising finding also showed that the combination of small amounts of opioids and opioid antagonists stopped the development of a tolerance to morphine, and in cases where tolerance had already developed, it was actually reversed.

The experiments conducted at Queen's reveal that in cases where tolerance had developed, the effectiveness of morphine was restored to between 80 and 90 per cent of the original dose.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 30 Jan 2002
Source:   Kingston Whig-Standard (CN ON)
Copyright:   2002 The Kingston Whig-Standard
Website:   http://www.kingstonwhigstandard.com/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/224
Author:   Jennifer Pritchett
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n157/a01.html


HOT OFF THE 'NET    (Top)

ONDCP Drugs and Terror Quiz

If you're using drugs in America, whether you're shooting heroin, snorting cocaine, taking Ecstasy or sharing a joint in your friend's back yard, evidence is mounting that what you're doing may be connected to events far beyond your own existence.

An American is kidnapped overseas.  A Latin American political candidate is assassinated.  What does this have to do with you? If you're using drugs, the answer could be: plenty.

Now more than ever, it's a global marketplace.  Like most potential consumers, you're a target for one of the world's most profitable businesses.  What does this have to do with terrorism? Let's find out what you know in the following quiz:

http://www1.theantidrug.com/drugs_terror/quiz.html


Listen as Votehemp Debates DEA's Asa Hutchinson On Public Radio

Asa Hutchinson says he will "listen to science" on this NPR radio broadcast.

Check out this link: http://www.wamu.org/ram/2002/p2020130.ram


Report On Heroin Prescription Trials In The Netherlands

http://www.ccbh.nl/ENG/index.htm


See Latest ONDCP Anti-Drug Ads And Rate Them

If you, your friends, and your members want to see the anti-drug ads and rate them go to:

http://www.ifilm.com/superbowl scroll down to the ONDCP ads, and click on "Rate and Review." The direct links to the rating pages are:

http://www.ifilm.com/ifilm/product/film_info/0,3699,2419298,00.html http://www.ifilm.com/ifilm/product/film_info/0,3699,2419299,00.html


Ethan Nadelmann On The O'Reilly Factor

A transcript of a discussion over new drug/terror ads is at:

http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n198/a03.html

The video from the show is currently available in Windows Media Player format at http://www.homeisschool.org/video/nadel1.WMV (for low bandwidth) and http://www.homeisschool.org/video/nadel2.WMV for a bit more bandwidth.


Government's War on Raves Went Too Far, Louisiana Court Rules

A press release from The American Civil Liberties Union - which scored a victory when U.S.  District Judge G. Thomas Porteous ruled that prosecutors cannot force the organizers of a rave dance party to ban pacifiers or glow sticks.

http://www.aclu.org/issues/drugpolicy/cases/McClure_v_Ashcroft/McClure_v_Ashcroft.html


Super Bowl Ad Out of Bounds

A WorkingForChange action alert

http://www.workingforchange.com/activism/action.cfm?ItemId=12761


DrugSense Chat with Catherine Austin Fitts

Join us online, Sunday, Feb 10, 8 pm EDT, when our special guest will be Catherine Austin Fitts, http://www.solari.com/

With the ever breaking news about the Enron scandal, its tie ins to the Anderson auditors, the Harvard Endowment Fund, Hud, Dyn Corp and the launder of perhaps trillions of dollars by the same corrupt businessmen and politicians that perpetuate the drug war, Catherine has been very busy.  This should be a visit we will all remember.

http://www.drugsense.org/chat/


National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse 30th Anniversary

Common Sense for Drug Policy will be running an ad around the 30th anniversary of the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse.  The anniversary of the report is March 22. If any other organization is planning on a media campaign about the Commission or would like to participate in such a campaign, please contact CSDP, , to coordinate efforts.

Draft PDF: http://www.csdp.org/ads/shafer.pdf


LETTER OF THE WEEK    (Top)

DRUG-SNIFFING DOGS
By Stephen Young

I found the story "Hounding the Public" informative, and I think Wayne Laugesen did a good job getting the perspectives of supporters and detractors of "sniffer dogs" .

The one thing that was missing, however, was any indication of how reliable the dogs really are, particularly in the case of drug searches.  Last year, drug charges against a Tennessee couple were dismissed after a judge determined the drug-sniffing dog that led police to a drug stash was more likely to be wrong than right (see: www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1376/a08.html?1283 for the story).

Testimony in the case showed that the dog indicated drugs 225 times over two years, but officers found drugs in only 80 of those cases. Defense lawyers in that case were smart enough to check the record, but how often does that happen?

This reminds me of urine testing, where the automatic assumption is that the tests must be right, even though there are plenty of false positives (and false negatives) reported every year.

It's yet another price we pay for the ridiculous war on drugs - putting more faith in pee and animals than we do in our fellow man.  Dogs and urine analysis have their own dangerous flaws, and those flaws can hurt people more than they help.

Stephen Young,

Roselle, Ill.

Pubdate:   01/31/2002
Source:   Boulder Weekly (CO)


Honorable Mention Letters of the Week

Headline:   No Health Issues
Author:   Matthew M.  Elrod
Pubdate:   01/29/2002
Source:   Langley Advance (CN BC)
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/letters/2002/01/lte233.html


Headline:   Voice Of Reason
Author:   Stephen Heath
Pubdate:   01/29/2002
Source:   Edinburgh Evening News (UK)
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/letters/2002/01/lte220.html


PUBLISHED LETTER TO THE EDITOR WRITER OF THE MONTH - JANUARY

Each month this year we will recognize a different Letter to the Editor writer for the number of published letters in the previous month.

A big Way to Go to Dave Michon of Eau Claire, WI for the 17 published letters in January and a total of 42 published letters that we know of.  You can review Dave's letters here:

http://www.mapinc.org/writers/Dave+Michon

Dave is also an active participant in the Drug Policy Forum of Wisconsin, http://www.drugsense.org/dpfwi and MAPTalk,
http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm#talk email action discussion lists.


FEATURE ARTICLE    (Top)

The New Propaganda

By Jay R.  Cavanaugh, Ph.D.

Many awoke this Monday to see a full-page advertisement in their morning newspaper (i.e.  the Los Angeles Times), vividly linking the use of illicit drugs with murder of families in Colombia.  The message is simple; the use of banned drugs is a direct contribution to worldwide terrorism and the slaughter of innocents.

Some now feel they are in the world of 1984 and "Newspeak".  Wasn't it just a few months ago that the United States gave a 43 million dollar reward to the Taliban for suppressing opium production? Didn't we just read that the "War on Terrorism" had resulted in the new planting of poppies in Afghanistan?

In Columbia the United States is funding one side in a civil war where extremists on both sides are reaping blood money from the cocaine trade.  Did the U.S. declare war on the right wing death squad "narco-terrorists" in Columbia? Or just the left wing "narco-terrorists"? Is the question now academic since the government makes clear that it is the appetite for banned drugs here in America that is responsible for worldwide terrorism?

Sensible citizens in local communities have already decided that folks with drug abuse problems need treatment not incarceration. They have also decided that honest and intense education for our children is far past due.  They resent the twisted logic of the government in its latest propaganda effort.  We used to call announcements from our government "news".  Now, few are sure just what to call it.  If our fellow citizens are responsible for terrorist murder, is the government now calling on "war" on them? Are we to send folks experimenting with banned drugs or medicating with such, to Guantanomo Bay for imprisonment in cages?

Just who is America fighting? Are we fighting the sick and dying who find relief from medical cannabis? Are we assaulting our young people for using bad judgment in youthful experimentation? Why do I keep thinking this is some bad re-run of uptight and stupid parents raging at their children when what really bothers them is that they can't pay their bills or get over the abuse they received as children?

These are questions that must be answered and answered quickly.  The entire world is watching America destroy itself and threaten innocents everywhere in what started as a noble cause.  It is time for moral sensibility, cool logic, and open debate before perverted personal and cultural attitudes undermine the values that hold America together.

The "War on Drugs" was a failure from the start.  Linking it to the "War on Terror" only paints the current war with the stink of the last wars hypocrisy and moral bankruptcy.


QUOTE OF THE WEEK    (Top)

"When looking for wit, wisdom, knowledge or intelligence in a newspaper, any newspaper, your only hope is the Letters column." - Edward Abbey, "Hayduke Lives!"


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Policy and Law Enforcement/Prison content selection and analysis by Stephen Young (), Cannabis/Hemp content selection and analysis by Philippe Lucas (), International content selection and analysis by Doug Snead (), Layout by Matt Elrod ()

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