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DrugSense Weekly
May 17, 2002 #250

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Table of Contents

* Breaking News (03/28/24)


* This Just In


(1) US: Column: Wasted
(2) US: Issue In 2 Death Sentences: Judge's Drug Use
(3) How Many 'burbs Must The Drug War Burn, Before We Call It A Bust?
(4) Canada: Pot Supply Isn't Bad -- It's Too Good

* Weekly News in Review


Drug Policy-

COMMENT: (5-8)
(5) New Drug Czar Says Ad Campaign Aimed At Children Has Flopped
(6) Nation's Drug Czar Speaks Out About How Office Is Faring
(7) Drugs Funding Warlords: Expert
(8) Pataki Nearing Drug Law Reform

Law Enforcement & Prisons-

COMMENT: (9-12)
(9) Jack In The Box Shootings
(10) Questions Surround Shooting
(11) Group To Inform Drivers Of Rights In Searches
(12) Police Scandal Details Emerge

Cannabis & Hemp-

COMMENT: (13-17)
(13) Government Admits: Our Marijuana Is Bad Weed
(14) Plan Floated To Ignore Some Prison Drug Use
(15) Constitutional Amendment Would Legalize Marijuana In Nevada
(16) Medical Marijuana Bill Hits A Snag
(17) Dying For A Smoke

International News-

COMMENT: (18-22)
(18) Missing U.S. Funds Lead To Colombia Scandal
(19) Mexican Soldiers In Border Crossings
(20) 'Fink Fund' Probe Kills 115 Drug Cases
(21) Cop Rejects Mayor's Drug Policy
(22) U.S. War On Drugs Crusader Gets Police Lift

* Hot Off The 'Net


    NORML 2002 Conference Speeches
    Dan Forbes High Times Report On NORML 2002
    Baker Institute Conference On-line
    MarijuanaInfo.org
    Judy  Hall  To  All  The  Women  Of  The  United  States Congress
    Drug Warriors Admit Their Propaganda Fails
    Report: Drug Use In Toronto 2001
    Canadian Marijuana Reform Concern To U.S.

* Letter Of The Week


    Drug  Law  Reform:  A  New  Vocabulary  /  By  Michael  J.  Gorman

* Feature Article


    Push  Back  The  DEA's  Expanding War On Americans / By Americans
    For Safe Access

* Quote of the Week


    Anonymous


THIS JUST IN    (Top)

(1) US: COLUMN: WASTED    (Top)

Why Tax-Funded Antidrug Ads Don't Work--And Some Approaches That Might.

There's new evidence out this week about the power of habit to create irrational behavior.

On Monday, "drug czar" John Walters announced that according to a new study, some $929 million worth of taxpayer funded antidrug ad campaigns haven't discouraged drug use among children at all.  Certain ads apparently achieved the opposite effect, making drug use seem sexier, especially to teenage girls.

Then Mr.  Walters announced plans to spend even more money on drug ads.

True, he made a point of saying he would try to spend it in a different way.  But all the money in the world won't make up for the failings of campaigns that treat kids like babies or puppets.  Kids aren't buying it and probably never did, even in the halcyon 1950s or whenever the people who dreamed up these campaigns were last in touch with youthful realities.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 16 May 2002
Source:   Wall Street Journal (US)
Copyright:   2002 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Website:   http://www.wsj.com/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/487
Author:   Collin Levey
Note:   Ms.  Levey is an assistant features editor of The Wall Street
Journal's editorial page.  Her column appears on alternate Thursdays.
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/campaign.htm (ONDCP Media Campaign)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02.n931.a09.html


(2) US: ISSUE IN 2 DEATH SENTENCES: JUDGE'S DRUG USE    (Top)

PHOENIX, May 15 - The judge bought marijuana by mail.  He paid with a cashier's check, and he used the office stationery.  The envelope bore a handsome imprint: "Philip Marquardt, Superior Court Judge, Phoenix, Arizona."

Mr.  Marquardt lost that job and his license to practice law after his second marijuana conviction, in 1991, and he is today a retired ski instructor in Carefree, just north of here.  Now, two men he sentenced to death in the 1980's are asking courts to look into whether his use of marijuana deprived them of a fair trial.

Their assertions test attitudes about whether using drugs while not working should be of concern in the workplace, about how much extra scrutiny is warranted in death penalty cases and about the limits of judicial privacy.  Judges and prosecutors worry that allowing criminal defendants to examine the human element in the judicial process will have enormous consequences.

"There is a floodgate that can be opened here," said Robert L.  Ellman, an Arizona assistant attorney general.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 16 May 2002
Source:   New York Times (NY)
Section:   National
Copyright:   2002 The New York Times Company
Website:   http://www.nytimes.com/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author:   Adam Liptak
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02.n931.a06.html


(3) HOW MANY 'BURBS MUST THE DRUG WAR BURN, BEFORE WE CALL IT A BUST?    (Top)

The latest drug-war scare, from Solicitor General Lawrence MacAulay and others, is that terrorists may be using drug money to finance their evil deeds.  If so, you can see why. Terrorism, like any real crime, produces victims rather than satisfied customers, so it's not exactly self-financing.  The drug trade, by contrast, turns a regular profit because it involves transactions so mutually satisfactory that buyers and sellers will risk jail to conduct them.  If this fundamental moral difference doesn't inspire today's Puritans to draw a legal distinction between them, perhaps its practical implications will.

Let us grant for purposes of argument that drugs cause grave harm to users and that users, even if adults, must not be allowed to weigh the consequences of a shorter but merrier life for themselves.  Let us grant that if we could stop drugs at no cost (except to users who'd rather be high) we should.  Let us even grant that it's worth paying some price, including harm to innocent bystanders, to stamp out illicit drugs.  Will the drug warriors concede in return that there is in principle some point at which the costs come to outweigh the benefits? If, for instance, we were to start letting police shoot people on sight who they suspected of involvement in the drug trade?

[snip]

Pubdate:   Friday, May 17, 2002
Source:   Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Website:   http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/
Copyright:   2002 The Ottawa Citizen
Author:   John Robson, Senior Editorial Writer and Columnist.
Webpage:   http://www.mapinc.org/cancom/9A107CAC-8330-41D6-B2CD-64ABCFDB9332


(4) CANADA: POT SUPPLY ISN'T BAD -- IT'S TOO GOOD    (Top)

Prairie Plant Systems maintains its marijuana is 'better in quality' than most U.S.  strains

The company that's growing Canada's official marijuana supply says the weed has turned out to be too potent.

The marijuana is not bad -- the problem is it's too good, Prairie Plant Systems said yesterday in a letter to Health Minister Anne McLellan.

Company president Brent Zettl is angry about the company's "damaged reputation" arising from Ms.  McLellan's revelations that the project to give marijuana to sick Canadians has been delayed because the supply is impure.  That sparked news reports of bad weed.

"Prairie Plant has respected the Health Canada request to not speak to the media regarding this project," wrote Mr.  Zettl.

"We request that Health Canada respond to these false reports in order to maintain the integrity of the project and begin repairing the damage these negative reports have created."

Ms.  McLellan said last week the distribution of marijuana for medicinal purposes is behind schedule because the first crop of nearly 2,000 plants contains 185 different kinds of marijuana.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 16 May 2002
Source:   Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Website:   http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/
Address:   P.O.  Box 5020, 1101 Baxter Rd., Ottawa, ON K2C 3M4
Copyright:   2002 The Ottawa Citizen
Author:   Janice Tibbetts
Webpage:   http://www.mapinc.org/cancom/75AA67C4-D0F5-48C6-AE98-4F1651E97BC1


WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW    (Top)

Domestic News- Policy


COMMENT: (5-8)    (Top)

It was an embarrassing week for prohibitionists, who were forced to confront a series of failures.  Drug Czar John Walters admitted the taxpayer-funded television ad campaign to discourage drug use had failed.  While it's hard to say what Walters knew and when, but only days earlier he had offered fairly upbeat comments about the propaganda campaign.

An embarrassing story that seemed to completely bypass the U.S. press was testimony from an expert suggesting that the new leadership structure in Afghanistan is dependent on heroin profits.

For a series of spectacular debacles, check out this week's International section in the DSW, where alleged U.S.  allies in Colombia have been ripping off financial aid, and the Mexican military charges onto U.S.  soil under the guise of drug investigations - or is it to protect drug traffickers?

Several stories out of New York this week suggested that Gov.  George Pataki is considering significant overhauls to the state's Rockefeller-era drug laws.  Some observers wonder whether the limitations of Pataki's plan will really accomplish anything.


(5) NEW DRUG CZAR SAYS AD CAMPAIGN AIMED AT CHILDREN HAS FLOPPED    (Top)

WASHINGTON -- So much for those flashy TV ads intended to inspire American kids to stay off drugs .  The new U.S. drug czar, John P. Walters, says the government's antidrug advertising of recent years has failed.  Worse, he fears it even may have inspired some youngsters to experiment with marijuana.

"This campaign isn't reducing drug use," said Mr.  Walters, who became head of the U.S.  Office of National Drug Control Policy earlier this year.

Mr.  Walters was openly critical of the ads even before taking office, and argued that the advertising effort was in dire need of an overhaul.  Now, he said, he is armed with survey data that support his suspicions that the campaign hasn't worked.

The five-year-old antidrug program is unusual among public-health advertising because it is funded largely by taxpayers -- $929 million so far -- rather than nonprofit groups or public service spots that media outlets run free of charge.  Moreover, Congress enacted an unusual law requiring TV networks, cable outlets, magazines and other media to donate an equal amount of ad space for each ad purchase, effectively doubling the impact of the government dollars.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 14 May 2002
Source:   Wall Street Journal (US)
Copyright:   2002 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/487
Author:   Vanessa O'connell
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n915/a09.htm


(6) NATION'S DRUG CZAR SPEAKS OUT ABOUT HOW OFFICE IS FARING    (Top)

[snip]

The White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy, run by drug czar John P.  Walters, has a media budget of $180 million to use in the war on drugs.

Walters, who worked in the drug office under the first President Bush, joined the current Bush administration in December.  He recently sat down for a question-and-answer session on his plans and policies.  Here are excerpts from the discussion:

Question:   Are these advertising campaigns successful, and how do you
measure that success?

Answer:   We have a media campaign that is designed to produce changes in
the attitudes about taking drugs and prevent drug use.  We have a sophisticated evaluation mechanism that measures attitudinal changes and tries to isolate what contribution the ads themselves make.  Means to the end of actually achieving something through action.

[snip]

The last evaluation showed that not only had the message to parents been received but that the questions asked of young people - do your parents talk to you about drugs? - showed that kids were actually having conversations with their parents initiated by their parents in larger numbers than any advertising campaign before.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 08 May 2002
Source:   Bloomington Herald Times (IN)
Copyright:   2002 Bloomington Herald Times
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/49
Author:   Del Quentin Wilber
Note:   Originally published in the Baltimore Sun.
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n860/a02.html
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/campaign.htm (ONDCP Media Campaign)
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/walters.htm (Walters, John)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n907/a09.html


(7) DRUGS FUNDING WARLORDS: EXPERT    (Top)

Money earned from the opium and heroin trade in Afghanistan is what is allowing pro-US warlords in the country to operate, a high-profile Washington lawyer and expert in international financial crime said today.

"The revenue of poppies is essential for the warlords supporting the United States," Jack Blum told a House panel focusing on international corruption.

The country's largest domestic product, Blum explained, was heroin, and without the profit from the drug trade any government would be hard-pressed to provide for its people and support the war on terrorism.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 10 May 2002
Source:   Agence France-Presses (France Wire)
Copyright:   2002 Agence France-Presse
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n889/a10.html


(8) PATAKI NEARING DRUG LAW REFORM    (Top)

Albany -- Plan Would Ease Penalties For Nonviolent Crime, Stiffen Them For Dealers With Guns

Gov.  George Pataki's latest proposal to reform the Rockefeller Drug Laws would give judges some discretion in sentencing nonviolent offenders with drug addictions but force them to be more strict with dealers who carry guns.

The plan would also expand funding for drug treatment programs that provide eligible offenders an alternative to prison.  But it remains unclear how much will be allocated in the 2002-03 budget, according to state Director of Criminal Justice Services Chauncey Parker.

The new proposal does not yet exist on paper, but Parker called it "the most comprehensive reform" since the laws were enacted in 1973.

The reforms would not apply to those currently incarcerated under the drug laws.

Robert Gangi, director of the Correctional Association of New York, a prison watchdog organization, said judicial discretion is still too limited and called the lack of retroactivity "a serious problem. It should be a deal breaker."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 10 May 2002
Source:   Times Union (Albany, NY)
Webpage:  
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyKey=82547&category=Y
Copyright:   2002 Capital Newspapers Division of The Hearst Corporation
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/452
Author:   Elizabeth Benjamin
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/find?140 (Rockefeller Drug Laws)
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing)


Law Enforcement & Prisons


COMMENT: (9-12)    (Top)

Further investigations into two separate drug-related police shootings showed that official accounts of the incidents were questionable.  One of the shootings had taken place in Missouri; the other was in Alabama.

In New Jersey, a group of ministers are urging citizens to refuse the search requests of overzealous drug law enforcers.

While prohibition laws push some officers to be overzealous, it pushes some in the other direction of complete corruption.  In Georgia, a case is being built against a narcotics officers who allegedly threw a party for a local convict after the convict's release on narcotics charges.


(9) JACK IN THE BOX SHOOTINGS    (Top)

Black Leaders Want New Inquiry

Civil rights leaders called Tuesday for prosecutors to reopen their investigation into the actions of two undercover drug detectives who killed a suspect and his passenger in a car on the parking lot of the Jack in the Box restaurant in Berkeley.

James Buford, president of the St.  Louis Urban League, accused public officials of withholding crucial information about what happened two years ago from both the public and a St.  Louis County grand jury.

"They have perpetrated a fraud upon the public," Buford said.

[snip]

In addition, a nationally noted collision expert, who investigated the case for the U.S.  Justice Department, disclosed in an interview that the suspect's car was always in reverse gear - added proof that it did not move toward the detectives.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 08 May 2002
Source:   St.  Louis Post-Dispatch (MO)
Copyright:   2002 St.  Louis Post-Dispatch
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/418
Author:   Michael D.  Sorkin
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n891/a11.html


(10) QUESTIONS SURROUND SHOOTING    (Top)

Investigators' Report Raises Doubts About Whether Officers Who Fired Into Vehicle Actually Felt Their Lives Were In Danger

Of the two Prichard officers who shot into a car last year in the Alabama Village community, one of them reported fearing for his life, though evidence does not appear to support his contention, according to a report by Prichard investigators.

Prichard Police Chief Sammie Brown has said both officers, Eric Pettway and Aaron Tucker, felt their lives were in danger.  Brown has said they followed proper procedure when firing at the vehicle, wounding three of the four occupants.

Police did not report finding any weapons at the scene.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 10 May 2002
Source:   Mobile Register (AL)
Copyright:   2002 Mobile Register.
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/269
Author:   Jeb Schrenk, Staff Reporter
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n893/a03.html


(11) GROUP TO INFORM DRIVERS OF RIGHTS IN SEARCHES    (Top)

TRENTON, May 8 - The Black Ministers Council of New Jersey today announced a campaign to inform minority drivers that they have a right to refuse to submit to so-called automobile consent searches, which have been the focus of the fight over racial profiling.

The ministers said at a State House news conference that they would begin their "Just Say No" campaign next week, in messages to minority churches and the news media.

Consent searches, in the past, could be based on little more than a trooper's hunch.  But in March, the State Supreme Court handed down a ruling requiring that police officers have an "articulable suspicion" before searching a driver's car, effectively ending a majority of searches.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 09 May 2002
Source:   New York Times (NY)
Copyright:   2002 The New York Times Company
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author:   The New York Times
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n887/a10.html


(12) POLICE SCANDAL DETAILS EMERGE    (Top)

Ex-Officer Gave Party For Felon, Prosecutors Say

A local drug dealer was the guest of honor at a 1997 party thrown by narcotics officer Ralph Tyrone Williams and attended by several other Richmond County Sheriff's Office deputies, according to new documents filed in federal court.  In addition to the federal charges that Mr.  Williams and former Officer Joseph Ellick already face, prosecutors have filed documents seeking permission to tell a U.S. District Court more about alleged discoveries by federal investigators.

Prosecutors want a jury to hear about the party held after convicted drug dealer Joe Nathan Green was paroled in February 1997, and they want to expand on the charges lodged against Mr.  Williams and Mr. Ellick in a February indictment.

The two former officers have pleaded innocent to charges of conspiracy to possess crack cocaine for distribution, attempting to possess cocaine, conspiracy to interfere with commerce and misprision of a felony.  A trial date has not been set.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 09 May 2002
Source:   Augusta Chronicle, The (GA)
Copyright:   2002 The Augusta Chronicle
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/31
Author:   Sandy Hodson
Note:   Does not publishing letters from outside of the immediate Georgia and
South Carolina circulation area
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n888/a01.html


Cannabis & Hemp-


COMMENT: (13-17)    (Top)

Much marijuana news from up north this week.  Canadian Justice Minister Anne McLellan revealed that the cannabis being grown for Health Canada's Medical Access Program is unusable because of the wide strain diversity found within the crop.  The thousand or so legal Canadian users have been told to be "patient", which rather is unfortunate since many are registered under category 1 of the program, meaning that they have been diagnosed with less than 1 year to live.

Things might be looking up for those already caught in the snares of the drug war, however: The Correctional Service of Canada has put forth a cost-cutting plan that included ending or ignoring the testing of current prisoners and parolees for cannabis use.  The report claims that unlike harder drugs or alcohol, cannabis actually sedates offenders and reduces violence in prison.

In the U.S.  this week, the usual yin/yang of drug news. In Nevada, a group calling itself Nevadans for Responsible Law Enforcement are seeking to legalize the personal use of cannabis by adults through the state initiative process.  They have 5 weeks to collect the 61, 000 valid signatures necessary to have the motion put on the ballot this fall.  The ballot question would then have to be approved by a majority of voters on two successive general elections.  Meanwhile, a much watered down Vermont medical marijuana bill may not get passed this year.  Stalls in both the House and Senate appear to have left too little time to have the bill - which would give medical users the right to use a medical marijuana defense in court - approved and passed into law.

And finally, an interview with Robin Prosser, a 45 year-old mother from Missoulli, Montana who has been on hunger strike since April 20th, in an attempt to get legal permission to use marijuana to treat an immunosuppressive disorder.

Where's Dionne Warwick when you need a benefit concert?


(13) GOVERNMENT ADMITS: OUR MARIJUANA IS BAD WEED    (Top)

Ooops! The official supply of federal marijuana is bad weed.

So impure, in fact, that the first crop contains 185 different varieties of marijuana.  Hardly the stuff a health minister would want to provide to a seriously ill patient to relieve their symptoms.

Health Minister Anne McLellan revealed the "problem" yesterday, saying it's responsible for the delay -- which could last at least several more months - -- in getting the department's much-heralded plan off the ground to provide marijuana to Canadians who need it for medicinal purposes.

She said the unreliable marijuana stems from the seeds that were used.  Initially, the federal government had hoped to obtain a standardized seed from the U.S.  government, but the American Drug Enforcement Agency refused to share the stuff.

That meant our officially sanctioned grower was left using seeds obtained by police, who confiscated them during their law enforcement work.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 08 May 2002
Source:   Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Copyright:   2002 The Ottawa Citizen - Reprinted with permission.
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/326
Author:   Mark Kennedy, The Ottawa Citizen
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/mmjcn.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal - Canada)
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02.n886.a06.html


(14) PLAN FLOATED TO IGNORE SOME PRISON DRUG USE    (Top)

The Correctional Service of Canada has put together a proposal to turn a blind eye to some positive tests for marijuana and hashish use among prisoners and offenders released in the community, The Globe and Mail has learned.

The correctional service, which has a zero-tolerance policy on drugs and alcohol, would continue to test for tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active ingredient in marijuana.  But it would act on positive tests only when the drug use is considered to be a problem for an offender and there is concern about increased criminal risk.  The proposal might, for example, lead to fewer people returned in prison for using marijuana after their release, and fewer disciplinary measures against prisoners who test positive.

The paper describes THC as a soft drug that sedates prisoners, reduces their propensity for violence and does not impair cognitive function and perception as other drugs and alcohol do.  It says THC use does not lead to dependence, has few side effects, even with heavy use, and is not a gateway to more serious drugs such as cocaine and heroin.  It also says there is only a weak relationship between THC and criminal activity.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 11 May 2002
Source:   Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright:   2002, The Globe and Mail Company
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author:   Victor Malarek
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02.n904.a03.html


(15) CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT WOULD LEGALIZE MARIJUANA IN NEVADA    (Top)

A Las Vegas group named Nevadans for Responsible Law Enforcement wants to amend the state constitution to legalize possession and use of marijuana.

The petition drive was begun Friday by filing with the Secretary of State's Office, but it has just five weeks to collect more than 61,000 valid signatures.

[snip]

The proposed amendment would greatly expand the scope of that section to make Nevada treat marijuana much like it now treats the sale and use of alcohol.

It would add that "the use or possession of three ounces or less of marijuana by a person who has attained the age of 21 years is not cause for arrest, civil or criminal penalty, or seizure of forfeiture of assets."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 11 May 2002
Source:   Nevada Appeal (NV)
Copyright:   2002 Nevada Appeal
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/896
Author:   Geoff Dornan
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02.n903.a03.html


(16) MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL HITS A SNAG    (Top)

Efforts to pass a measure providing some legal protections to seriously ill patients who use marijuana for medicinal purposes failed Tuesday, raising doubts among some lawmakers that any bill would make it into law this year.

[snip]

Despite the failures, Sears said he was not giving up hope of getting some proposal out of the Senate by the end of the week.

"At this point, I've kind of made a commitment to move forward with my position on the issue of medical marijuana.  Admittedly, it's a baby step.  The challenge now is the people who originally advocated for it don't want this baby step," he said.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 07 May 2002
Source:   Rutland Herald (VT)
Copyright:   2002 Rutland Herald
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/892
Author:   Tracy Schmaler, Vermont Press Bureau
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Note:   Read more about efforts to provide legal protections to patients
who use medical marijuana - http://www.mapinc.org/areas/Vermont
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02.n887.a03.html


(17) DYING FOR A SMOKE    (Top)

Robin Prosser is a 45-year-old Missoula woman who has been on a hunger strike since April 20 protesting her inability to secure legal, medicinal marijuana in Montana to treat her diagnosed immunosuppressive disorder.  The Independent sat down with Prosser earlier this week to discuss the circumstances that would lead a disabled, middle-aged mother to entertain thoughts of making the ultimate sacrifice.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 09 May 2002
Source:   Missoula Independent (MT)
Copyright:   2002 Missoula Independent
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/1534
Author:   Nick Davis
Cited:   Starving for Medicine http://www.cannabisnow.org/home.html
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02.n889.a09.html


International News


COMMENT: (18-22)    (Top)

In Colombia last week, police corruption was again revealed as the head of the Colombian National Police assigned the head of the Narcotics police to another position, after millions of dollars disappeared.  The U.S. had given the money to the Colombian government as part of a drug-fighting package.

Concerned over alleged incidents of Mexican soldiers illegally crossing the border, U.S.  Rep. Tom Tancredo last week asked Mexican President Vicente Fox to stop the border incursions.  Tancredo accused the Mexican soldiers of protecting drug shipments.

In Toronto, Canada, police are stung as 150 drug cases are dropped amidst a widening corruption scandal involving the narcotics unit. Included among the charges leveled against officers in the drug squad are kidnapping and theft.

Meanwhile in Vancouver, reverberations over the recent
anti-harm-reduction "IDEAS" conference are still felt as columnists continue to fume over police resources used to facilitate it.  The U.S. financial backer Mel Sembler (founder of Straight, Inc.) described as a "foreign political machine with an agenda detrimental to our own," was chauffeured to the conference in a police cruiser.  Officers also "used a police information computer to obtain criminal records," which were then posted at the conference.


(18) MISSING U.S. FUNDS LEAD TO COLOMBIA SCANDAL    (Top)

BOGOTA, Colombia - The head of the Colombian anti-narcotics police force was reassigned Friday after a "significant amount" of millions of dollars in U.S.  funds earmarked to fight drugs vanished.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said about $2 million had disappeared.

The widening corruption scandal already had led to the suspension of some U.S.  aid to Washington's key drug war ally and the dismissals of at least 12 police officers.

Gen.  Gustavo Socha was reassigned to a police unit that provides security to dignitaries, said Gen.  Ernesto Gilibert, chief of the Colombian National Police.

He said Socha has not been found personally involved in any wrongdoing, calling him "an honest man," but said he had to go to lend "transparency" to the investigation into the missing funds.

On Thursday, the U.S.  Embassy said it had suspended some aid to the counternarcotics police after discovering two months ago that a "significant amount of money" was missing.

Boucher said the United States believed that action would be taken against still more Colombian police officials.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 11 May 2002
Source:   Register-Guard, The (OR)
Copyright:   2002 The Register-Guard
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/362
Author:   Associated Press
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n905/a02.html


(19) MEXICAN SOLDIERS IN BORDER CROSSINGS    (Top)

Heavily armed Mexican soldiers and police are crossing the U.S. border repeatedly, provoking charges from Capitol Hill that they are providing cover for drug smugglers and illegal immigrants.

Last year, there were 23 incursions documented by the U.S.  Border Patrol, prompting Rep.  Tom Tancredo to contact Mexican President Vicente Fox last week, asking for an end to these incidents.

The Mexican government denies Mr.  Tancredo's accusation and maintains that Mexican military forces are working the same area as U.S.  Border Patrol agents in fighting the illegal transport of drugs and people into this country.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 13 May 2002
Source:   Washington Times (DC)
Copyright:   2002 News World Communications, Inc.
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/492
Author:   Steve Miller
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n911/a09.html


(20) 'FINK FUND' PROBE KILLS 115 DRUG CASES    (Top)

RCMP Investigates Alleged Corruption Of City Police Force

The federal Justice Department is continuing to stay drug prosecutions without explanation as a 10-month-old RCMP-led probe into allegations of corruption in the Toronto police force appears to be widening its investigation.

Charges have been withdrawn or put on hold in as many as 150 drug cases in Toronto since the fall of 1999 because of the corruption allegations.

The Toronto police force and a number of former drug squad officers are also facing at least six civil suits seeking a total of more than $17-million in damages.  The allegations, which have not been proven in court, include harassment, kidnapping and theft.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 13 May 2002
Source:   National Post (Canada)
Copyright:   2002 Southam Inc.
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/286
Author:   Shannon Kari, Southam News
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n908/a09.html


(21) COP REJECTS MAYOR'S DRUG POLICY    (Top)

One of the Vancouver police officers whose involvement in an anti-drug conference last weekend is under scrutiny says he joined the controversial organization because he believes in its philosophy.

Const.  Toby Hinton declined to discuss his role in the conference while it's under review, but said that like Bob and Lynda Bentall, who formed the International Drug Education and Awareness Society, he doesn't believe "harm reduction" methods like safe-injection sites would solve the city's drug crisis.  Harm reduction is one of the four pillars in Mayor Philip Owen's drug policy.

[snip]

The constables' participation in the conference-and that of fellow officers Chris Graham and Gerry Wickstead-came to the attention of Owen and their boss, Chief Terry Blythe, after allegations surfaced Tuesday that officers used a police vehicle to pick up delegates at the airport and that one officer used a police information computer to obtain criminal records and post them at the conference, with the names blacked out.

Owen told the Courier he wants to know who approved the use of the Canadian Police Information Computer and the police car.  Owen, who is the chairman of the police board, said taxpayers shouldn't be funding police officers and the use of equipment for private functions.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 13 May 2002
Source:   Vancouver Courier (CN BC)
Copyright:   2002 Vancouver Courier
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/474
Author:   Mike Howell
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n915/a07.html


(22) U.S. WAR ON DRUGS CRUSADER GETS POLICE LIFT    (Top)

Once you understand just who that Vancouver cop was supposed to be chauffeuring to the IDEAS drug conference in a "nice unmarked police car," you'll be able to figure out the size of the problem we have on our hands.

[snip]

Graham was scheduled to pick up Betty S.  Sembler. She is the mother of all War on Drugs crusaders.  Betty and her husband Mel started the Drug Free America Foundation Inc.  and its earlier incarnation, STRAIGHT Inc.

STRAIGHT Inc.  grew from The Seed, which applied a forced treatment approach to children-an approach the U.S.  Senate denounced as similar to brainwashing methods used by North Korea.

Betty's Florida-based foundation first inspired, then sponsored and helped fund the IDEAS conference.  Bob Bentall told me that Arsenault and Hinton took a trip to foundation headquarters in Florida and came back with a plan that became the conference.

[snip]

But when members of the Vancouver Police force actively organize these large-scale events to undermine public policy, it's unacceptable, regardless of whose cars they use.  When these cops tie themselves to a foreign political machine with an agenda detrimental to our own - which is what the Odd Squad has done - it's time to stop them.

Pubdate:   Mon, 13 May 2002
Source:   Vancouver Courier (CN BC)
Copyright:   2002 Vancouver Courier
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/474
Author:   Allen Garr
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/hr.htm (Harm Reduction)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n916/a02.html


HOT OFF THE 'NET    (Top)

NORML Conference Speeches

Footage of comedian/talk show host Bill Maher, San Francisco District Attorney Terence Hallinan and Minnesota Jesse Ventura as they addressed the recent NORML conference in San Francisco.

http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=5282


Dan Forbes has an excellent report on the NORML conference in High Times Magazine.  The long version -- on the HT web site can be viewed at:

http://www.hightimes.com/News/2002_05/norml.html

Make sure it's the version of the HT story that ends with this sentence, please: "Personally, I hate to think of the mayhem that would have ensued if it had been hundreds of boozers crammed into that office for hours on end."

There will be a shorter version published in the magazine.


Baker Institute Conference On-line

The Baker Institute Panel discussion 'Moving Beyond the "War on Drugs"' is now on line in RealVideo G2 multistream format.

Included in the discussions, held last April 10-11, 2002 are Edward Djerejian, William Martin, Asa Hutchinson, Kevin Zeese, James Gray, Ronald Earle, Deborah Small, Ernest Drucker, C.  Stratton Hill, M.D., Robert Kampia, Marsha Rosenbaum, Michael Trace, Alex Wodak, M.D., Eugene Oscapella, Peter Cohen, Francois van der Linde, M.D., Gina Amatangelo, Sanho Tree, Lee P.  Brown, Ethan Nadelmann and William Martin

http://www.rice.edu/webcast/speeches/20020410drugpolicy.html


MarijuanaInfo.org:   New Medical Marijuana Web Site Provides Forum for
Warring Views, In-Depth Exploration of Issue

A recently launched web site, MarijuanaInfo.org, is attempting to bring an unbiased, scientific approach to the contentious issue of medical marijuana.  Shaped around a central question -- should smoked marijuana be a medical option now? -- the easy to use web site provides a massive FAQ on various related topics, along with responses from scientific studies, experts and interested laypersons, all ranked on a straightforward "credibility scale."

Source:   DRCNet: The Week Online
Cited:   http://www.marijuanainfo.org/
Continues:   http://www.drcnet.org/wol/index.html#marijuanainfo


Judy Hall To All The Women Of The United States Congress

The federal government is making medical decisions for pain patients they've never seen and never will.  Sometimes that pain becomes too great a burden to bear for these unfortunate souls, as it did for Judy Hall, the woman whose letter Drugwar.com reprints.  In early November, 2001, Judy Hall took her own life, a life that could have been saved if it weren't for the inhuman War on Some Drugs.

http://www.drugwar.com/pjudyhall.shtm


Drug Warriors Admit Their Propaganda Fails

A Media Awareness Project Focus Alert.  Check it out and send your own letter.

http://www.mapinc.org/alert/0241.html


Report:   Drug Use In Toronto 2001

This is the 11th anniversary edition of the Drug use in Toronto report.  This report highlights many of the trends of the last decade, while at the same time featuring new and emerging issues in a changing landscape of drug use.

http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/drugcentre/rgdu00/rgdu1.htm


Canadian marijuana reform concern to U.S.

Sources close to the U.S.  Drug Enforcement Agency say it will soon issue a report claiming there are 15 to 20,000 marijuana growing operations in British Columbia alone and 95 per cent of the output is headed south.

"A dramatic increase in the gross quantity of marijuana of high potency coming across the border," says Colonel Robert Maginnis, a U.S.  government adviser on drug policy. He says the bush administration is alarmed by a recent Senate study that says Canada’s marijuana laws are ineffective.

Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/cancom/A75EC010-5378-4E0A-8631-84C7CA9DC948
Video:   http://www.pot-tv.net/archive/shows/pottvshowse-1322.html


LETTER OF THE WEEK    (Top)

Drug Law Reform: A New Vocabulary

By Michael J.  Gorman

To the Editor:

When politicians talk about the victims of New York's draconian Rockefeller drug laws - people like 73-year-old Martha Weatherspoon, who is serving a 20-year sentence ( Our Towns column, May 8) - they are careful to mention the difficulty in changing these laws.

I think that Albany lawmakers are reluctant to change these laws because they see no widespread public demand for reform.  While the laws are often criticized as being unfair, harsh and
counterproductive, such words rarely motivate lawmakers to action, especially when support for fairer, more reasonable sentences would make them vulnerable to criticism for being "soft on crime."

But if elected officials were made to see these drug laws as "evil" ( in their effect ) rather than merely "harsh," and as having a racially discriminatory effect, they might be motivated to consider serious reform.  No elected official wants to be seen as a proponent of evil.

MICHAEL J.  GORMAN

Whitestone, Queens, May 8, 2002

The writer is a lawyer and a lieutenant in the New York City Police Department.

Pubdate:   Fri, 10 May 2002
Source:   New York Times (NY)
Referenced:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n884/a12.html


FEATURE ARTICLE    (Top)

PUSH BACK THE DEA'S EXPANDING WAR ON AMERICANS

By Americans For Safe Access

KEEP MEDICAL MARIJUANA SAFE AND LEGAL

NATIONWIDE DAY OF DIRECT ACTION JUNE 6th

Please Distribute Far And Wide

WHO: You!

What:   Direct Action to Push Back the DEA

Where:   Your Local DEA Outpost (See List That Follows)

When:   Noon On Thursday, June 6th, 2002

WHAT IS IT? June 6th is a nation-wide day of action to push back DEA attempts to re-criminalize medical cannabis! The DEA is imminently expected to attempt to shut down dispensaries now legally providing medical cannabis to patients in California.  To respond, activists in cities across the nation will use creative, non-violent tactics to disrupt DEA offices and post their own "cease and desist" orders at DEA outposts.  Through this action, we will build an "emergency response" network of committed activists to escalate our resistance to the Federal Government's expanding war on democracy and patients in need of safe access to medical marijuana.

WHO ARE WE? Americans for Safe Access (ASA) is an aggressive grassroots campaign designed to push the Bush Administration to grant states the right to choose their own medical marijuana laws. We serve as a catalyst for committed grassroots activists to work effectively with drug policy reform groups and supportive local officials and to unify medical marijuana advocates patients, and caregivers around a focused national strategy.  We aim to draw national media attention to our struggle and build a nationwide network of local activists committed to pushing back destructive DEA policies through action.  If you are unable to participate in the actions, visit http://www.safeaccessnow.org/ to sign a petition and lobby your government representatives.

WHY DO IT? As part of the 73 percent of Americans who support the legalization of medical marijuana, we have taken all of the legal steps available to us.  We know that medical marijuana is the most effective treatment available for many with chronic pain and other illness.  We passed state laws through popular referendums. We took our cases to court.  We sought negotiations with the federal government.  And despite all the evidence and overwhelming public support, our democratic will is still pushed aside by the Federal Government.  It's time to show that we won't back down. We will escalate our tactics to demand effective policy reform on this important issue.  We have zero tolerance for the harassment of medical marijuana patients and dispensaries, and we will put our bodies on the line to prove it.

For more specific information about what to do to organize and participate in a local protest, as well as a list of DEA offices, please visit http://www.safeaccessnow.org/


QUOTE OF THE WEEK    (Top)

"A lie on the throne is a lie, still, and truth in a dungeon is truth, still; and a lie on the throne is on the way to defeat, and truth in a dungeon is on the way to victory." - Anonymous


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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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