| Sept. 27, 2002 #269 | ||||||||||||||||||
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Listen On-line at: http://www.drugsense.org/radio/
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Table of Contents
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THIS JUST IN (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
(1) COLOMBIAN PARAMILITARY CHIEF FACING US DRUG CHARGES (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
WASHINGTON - The U.S. government on Tuesday accused outlaw paramilitary
leader Carlos Castano and two other members of his powerful
anti-guerrilla army in Colombia of smuggling 17 tons of cocaine to the
United States and Europe over the past five years. | ||||||||||||||||||
Attorney General John Ashcroft, noting that Castano recently said he wanted to "face the U.S. justice system," called on the sought-after paramilitary leader to "surrender to United States authorities." | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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The indictments of Castano, fellow commander Salvatore Mancuso and
paramilitary member Juan Carlos Sierra-Ramirez came at a critical
juncture in U.S.-Colombia relations and as President Alvaro Uribe
visited Washington seeking sustained economic and military assistance
to regain control of his homeland. | ||||||||||||||||||
Human rights monitors blame the 11,000 or so members of Castano's
paramilitary forces for the vast majority of atrocities and massacres
in Colombia in recent years. Even so, Castano has significant support
among Colombians, some of whom view his armed group, the United
Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC, as fighting harder to stand up
to leftist guerrillas than the conventional army. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(2) DRUG ECSTASY COULD DAMAGE USERS' BRAINS, RESEARCH SAYS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Studies Using Monkeys, Baboons Suggest Greater Risk Of Developing
Parkinsonism
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Ecstasy, the club drug popular at all-night dance parties, may do
serious damage to the brain. | ||||||||||||||||||
Research published today in the journal Science suggests that young people who pop two or three ecstasy pills in one evening may kill a vast number of brain cells and put themselves at risk of neurological disorders later in life. The study, on monkeys and baboons, suggests that one night on the drug may be enough to do the damage. | ||||||||||||||||||
"Young adults may be increasing their risk for developing Parkinsonism,
a condition with symptoms similar to Parkinson's disease," said George
Ricaurte of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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The drug clearly is bad for monkeys and baboons, but does that mean it
will hurt humans?
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"We can't be absolutely sure that the animal data will generalize to
human beings," Dr. Ricaurte said. "But based on what we know so far,
that is our concern."
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[snip]
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(3) CANADA: STOP THROWING CASH INTO POT POLICING: SENATOR (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Calls Drug Abuse A Public-Health Issue. Head Of Panel Backing Marijuana's Legalization Says Penal Measures Have Limited Benefits | ||||||||||||||||||
Marijuana prohibition is a costly failure and the federal government
shouldn't throw good money after bad by increasing law-enforcement
budgets, says the chairman of a Senate committee that recommends the
drug be legalized. | ||||||||||||||||||
Senator Pierre-Claude Nolin said the only way to stem drug use in
Canada is to approach substance abuse as a public-health issue, not a
policing one. | ||||||||||||||||||
"Penal measures have their place. But why do they take up so much room
in our drug strategies? They are of limited use, and they create more
negative effects than benefits," said Nolin, who yesterday addressed a
plenary session of World Forum 2002, a conference on drugs and
dependencies taking place at the Palais des Congres. | ||||||||||||||||||
"Some might say it's immoral to allow children access to psychoactive
substances. It's also immoral to encourage organized crime by making
those substances illegal," he said. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(4) OPED: POT GOT YOU CONFUSED? YOU MUST BE THE DEA (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Raids On Medical Marijuana Are Reefer Madness
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The leaders of the federal war on drugs are upset. At the very moment
they were launching a multimillion-dollar media campaign to educate
parents and kids about the risks of marijuana, the city fathers of
Santa Cruz gathered on the steps of City Hall to witness the
distribution of marijuana to the patients of a medical marijuana
collective. | ||||||||||||||||||
A representative of the Drug Enforcement Administration decried the
confusion this will create among our adolescent population: The Santa
Cruz festivities sent "the wrong message."
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[snip]
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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
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Domestic News- Policy
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COMMENT: (5-9) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
The fallout from DEA raids at medical marijuana clubs in California continues to develop. Protests are covered in the Cannabis section of DrugSense Weekly, but in some more recent action, representatives of the Santa Cruz's Wo/Mens Alliance for Medical Marijuana are suing the feds to get their medicine back after recent raids. Some observers believe the case could go to the Supreme Court, and it will likely question the legality of the federal raids. | ||||||||||||||||||
If editorials and oped columns are any indication, the federal raids
are becoming a public relations disaster for the drug warriors. A
number newspapers and individual writers have condemned the raids,
particularly the raid in Santa Cruz. The New York Times allowed the
mayor of Santa Cruz some oped space to explain why he was passing
out marijuana on the steps of city hall. | ||||||||||||||||||
Harsh marijuana laws may be re-igniting young people's interest in
voting. Observers in Nevada said there are signs that more young
people are registering to vote, and they are being motivated by the
marijuana initiative being sponsored in the state. | ||||||||||||||||||
And a slight update from last week's issue, where it was reported
that some New Jersey high schools are part of a pilot program to
seek out drug residue inside schools using new technology. One of
those high schools has already dropped out of the program after
questioning the reliability of the tests. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(5) MEDICAL POT CLUB WANTS PLANTS BACK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
A medical marijuana collective near Santa Cruz went on the offensive
Tuesday, asking a federal judge to order the return of 167 pot
plants seized in a raid by federal drug agents. | ||||||||||||||||||
The unusual legal motion, filed in San Jose, was based on a states' rights constitutional defense of California's medical marijuana law that is expected to find its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. | ||||||||||||||||||
The federal government will fight the motion "tooth and nail," said
Richard Meyer, spokesman for the U.S. Drug Enforcement
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[snip]
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(6) EDITORIAL: DEA FIGHTING THE WRONG WAR (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
THE SANTA CRUZ rally for medical marijuana shows how strongly Californians feel about using cannabis products to relieve human suffering. | ||||||||||||||||||
Hundreds came to Tuesday's City Hall pot giveaway -- even the mayor,
council members and a county supervisor. As did most of the
participants, the public officials came to support the dozen or so
gravely ill residents who rely on marijuana to ease the effects of
chemotherapy, cancer and other diseases. | ||||||||||||||||||
But the rally went beyond a mere demonstration of compassion. It was
an act of defiance in the biggest skirmish yet between California
voters and the federal government over medical marijuana. Two weeks
ago, the Drug Enforcement Agency raided Santa Cruz's Wo/Mens
Alliance for Medical Marijuana, which opened in 1996 after voters
overwhelming passed Proposition 215, the medical marijuana
initiative. The raid curtailed pot distribution to the cooperative's
230 members. | ||||||||||||||||||
But the alliance is precisely what voters had in mind - a tightly
regulated program that mandates identification before giving away
organically grown pot. It's a program for very sick people with a
doctor's prescription. The DEA should wisely direct its drug war
efforts elsewhere. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(7) WHY I'M FIGHTING FEDERAL DRUG LAWS FROM CITY HALL (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
How did I, a mayor of a small town in California, wind up in a tug
of war with the Drug Enforcement Agency?
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This week, I stood in front of Santa Cruz's city hall as a local
group that provides medical marijuana went about its weekly task of
distributing the drug to the sick and dying. | ||||||||||||||||||
My story begins on the morning of Sept. 5 when approximately 30 men,
dressed in military fatigues and carrying automatic weapons,
descended on a small cooperative farm run by the Wo/Men's Alliance
for Medical Marijuana in northern Santa Cruz County, about 65 miles
south of San Francisco. They were pulling up organically grown
marijuana plants. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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And if there are more raids, more mayors and elected officials will find themselves doing what we did here this week: standing with people like the Corrals as they deliver medical marijuana to patients who are using the drug on the advice of a physician. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(8) NEW BREED OF VOTERS MAY STIR POT OF POLITICS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
The politics of pot is usually relegated to the extremes, with
libertarians arguing for legalization, liberals asking for lighter
sentences and social conservatives viewing marijuana as a scourge on
society. | ||||||||||||||||||
But Question 9 -- a Nov. 5 ballot initiative asking voters to
support legal possession of up to 3 ounces of marijuana for private
use -- has entered the mainstream this election cycle. | ||||||||||||||||||
A new breed of voter is registering for the first time and political
parties are at odds about whether the question will affect their
candidates. | ||||||||||||||||||
Already more than 100,000 registered voters signed the petition that
put the question on the ballot. And election officials and parents
of teenagers are noticing a spike in interest from a typically
apathetic voting demographic -- 18- to 25-year-olds. | ||||||||||||||||||
Clark County's Registrar of Voters Larry Lomax says that although
specific statistics on the number of teenagers registering to vote
for the general election are not kept, he has seen signs that
Question 9 is motivating teens to get involved. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(9) NJ SCHOOL DISTRICT HALTING USE OF KIT TO DETECT DRUGS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
NEPTUNE -(AP)- Four New Jersey school districts have been conducting
drug residue tests at some of their schools for several months, but
one has discontinued the practice because it found the testing kits
to be unreliable. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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Craig Henry, principal of the district's high school, said the
agents used to clean the surfaces before the tests would sometimes
react with the sprays, causing false positives. | ||||||||||||||||||
"We saw no practical application because of its lack of reliability
at the stage that we last saw the product," he said. "There was no
point in pursuing it."
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The Washington D.C.-based Mistral Group, which manufactures the
kits, said the kits have been modified since the problem was
discovered. | ||||||||||||||||||
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Law Enforcement & Prisons
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COMMENT: (10-13) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Yet another study has concluded that many prisoners in the U.S. are
nonviolent drug offenders. The study estimates that $5 billion is
spent each year to jail drug offenders. While it's clear what effect
the drug war is having on the United States, a new study from Canada
states that efforts and results are at best hazy there. The report
suggests it's impossible to determine whether Canadian law
enforcement efforts are impacting the drug trade. | ||||||||||||||||||
Canadian citizens are also not immune to terrifying, botched drug raids. A family in Vancouver was shocked when gun-totting drug agents burst into their house looking for a marijuana operation. An 86-year-old man in the house was said to be to disturbed to eat for some time after the raid. Another scary situation in New York, where drug agents were shocked to find TNT being passed off as heroin. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(10) UNINTENDED EFFECT OF WAR ON DRUGS FOUND IN STUDY (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
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WASHINGTON -- More than half of convicted drug offenders at state
prisons have no history of violent crime or serious drug offenses,
and a disproportionate number of them come from poor, minority
communities, a study to be released today has found. | ||||||||||||||||||
The study by the Sentencing Project, a Washington-based advocacy
group that promotes alternatives to prison, offers a detailed look
at state-incarcerated drug offenders, who made up almost a quarter
of all inmates. It is based on information collected in 1997, when
the last federal survey of state drug prisoners was conducted. An
estimated $5 billion is spent each year to keep drug offenders
locked up. | ||||||||||||||||||
The findings suggest that what critics call harsh sentencing laws
and shortsighted law enforcement policies to combat illicit drug use
have had the unintended consequence of imprisoning mostly nonviolent
drug offenders, many of them black and Latino. | ||||||||||||||||||
The record-setting incarceration policies over two decades of the
country's war on drugs have been misguided, ineffective and costly,
said Marc Mauer, coauthor of the study and assistant director of the
Sentencing Project. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(11) ILLICIT-DRUG PROGRAM SLAMMED BY AUDITOR (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
VANCOUVER -- In a strong indictment of Canada's illicit-drug
strategy, a representative of the federal auditor-general charged
yesterday that the 10-year program lacks leadership, focus and any
information about whether it works. | ||||||||||||||||||
"Are we any better off than we were 10 years ago? We don't know,"
declared David Brittian, author of an investigative report for the
auditor-general that found gaping data holes in the extent of
Canada's drug problem and what is being done about it. | ||||||||||||||||||
The federal government spends $450-million a year addressing illicit
drugs, with 95 per cent of that earmarked for enforcement. Yet there
are no national figures on convictions and sentencing, Mr. Brittian
said. | ||||||||||||||||||
Although the estimated economic cost of illicit drugs now tops
$5-billion a year in Canada, just $28-million goes toward federal
treatment programs, according to the auditor-general. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(12) BOTCHED RAID LEAVES FAMILY IN SHOCK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Police 'apologize' For Invading Their Home During East-end Drug
Search
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Rowena Liu says she was scared to death when a small army of police officers put a gun to her head and handcuffed her in a botched marijuana raid on her 86-year-old father's east-end home. | ||||||||||||||||||
The police left an hour later after searching every room in the
house -- and then told the 43-year-old Vancouver woman that someone
had apparently supplied the wrong information. | ||||||||||||||||||
Her elderly dad was so shaken he has barely eaten in more than 24
hours since the raid, Liu said yesterday as she took a reporter
around the neatly kept home. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(13) AGENTS BUY HEROIN BUT FIND OUT IT'S TNT (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Federal agents, working on a tip from an informant, were all set to
buy 3 kilos of heroin Thursday at a Town of Evans motel. But when
they tested samples to make sure they were getting the real thing,
they got a big surprise. | ||||||||||||||||||
Field tests on two samples from different parts of the shipment
didn't test positive for heroin - or anything else, said Special
Agent Mark Peterson of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration's
office in Buffalo. | ||||||||||||||||||
The deal wasn't going to go through unless what the man was selling was a controlled substance, so the Erie County Central Police Services laboratory agreed to do a more sophisticated analysis of the second sample. The result wasn't what anyone expected. | ||||||||||||||||||
"They said, "Come and get this stuff out of here - it's TNT,' "
Peterson said Thursday night. | ||||||||||||||||||
"I have never had anybody purport a high explosive to us as a
controlled substance," he said. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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Cannabis & Hemp-
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COMMENT: (14-18) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
This week's protests over DEA persecution of legitimate medicinal cannabis users and distributors resulted in the arrest of two brave activists in Washington D.C. (DSW sends respects and condolences to Doug McVay and Chuck Thomas - thank you for saying what needed to be said). The protests, took place on Monday across the U.S., were the largest rallies in support of medical marijuana rights to date. | ||||||||||||||||||
Meanwhile, a document showing that Canadian Prime Minister Jean
Chretien led the fight to reform the country's cannabis laws in the
early eighties surfaced this week. The document delighted cannabis
reform activists who have been pressuring the government to relax
the laws around personal possession with renewed intensity since the
Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs recommended legalizing
cannabis use and distribution 3 weeks ago. The document should also
please Alan Young, the Toronto lawyer who is currently suing Health
Canada on behalf of 7 medical users and one caregiver. In court last
Thursday and Friday, he asked the judge to either strike down the
regulations dealing with the medical use of cannabis as being
unconstitutional - as they only provide the "illusion" of access to
cannabis - or to force Health Canada to begin distributing it's
government-grown supply. | ||||||||||||||||||
Next, a look at cannabis use and sports in light of the "scandal" of
alleged pot use by the New York Mets. It's interesting to note that
although cannabis is deemed to be non-performance enhancing, over
27% of college athletes reported using it, a far higher average than
the general population. And lastly, a look at the growing use and
cultivation of cannabis in France, which still boasts one of
Europe's most Draconian drug policies. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(14) MARIJUANA PROTEST LEADS TO ARRESTS AT WHITE HOUSE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Two people were arrested Monday after handcuffing themselves to the
White House fence to protest recent federal government raids on
"medical marijuana" cooperatives in California. | ||||||||||||||||||
The arrests occurred after about two dozen demonstrators gathered in front of the White House, holding signs and chanting slogans demanding an end to what they see as Bush administration interference with state laws governing marijuana use. About an hour after the protests began, US Park Police took a pair of protesters into custody who had bound themselves to the iron barricade separating the White House lawn from Pennsylvania Avenue. | ||||||||||||||||||
"Stop the war on patients. Support the patients by any nonviolent
means necessary," protester Charles Thomas said through a bullhorn
before being removed and handcuffed by police. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(15) CANADIAN PM LED '81 POT REFORM ATTEMPT (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Jean Chretien helped launch an initiative to radically reform
marijuana laws when he was justice minister in 1981, newly released
records show. | ||||||||||||||||||
Cabinet documents from the government of then-Prime Minister Pierre
Trudeau show that Chretien pressed cabinet to lower fines, reduce
jail sentences and eliminate the criminal records of Canadians
convicted of possessing small amounts of marijuana. | ||||||||||||||||||
Chretien also tabled a discussion paper at cabinet that, among other things, raised the possibility of legalizing marijuana. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(16) SICK PEOPLE HAVE RIGHT TO USE POT, LAWYER ARGUES (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Laws Governing Marijuana As Medication Violate Constitution, Ontario
Court Hears
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[snip]
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"This is about the right to make fundamental personal decisions,"
Toronto lawyer Alan Young told Mr. Justice Sidney Lederman of the
Ontario Superior Court. | ||||||||||||||||||
"Forcing the applicants by threat of criminal sanctions to refrain from using marijuana unless they meet criteria is a profound interference with the right to make personal decisions," he said. | ||||||||||||||||||
Seven seriously ill people from across Canada and one caregiver
launched the constitutional challenge against two federal laws, the
Medical Marijuana Access Regulations, and the section of the
Controlled Drugs and Substances Act that prohibits possession of
marijuana. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(17) THE SEARCH FOR A JOINT RESOLUTION (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Marijuana Use In All Sports, But Detection Is Inconsistent | ||||||||||||||||||
As controversy surrounding alleged marijuana use by players swirls
around the Mets, baseball officials have embraced a familiar mantra:
We're just a reflection of society. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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Reports about marijuana use among the Mets, Wadler said, "really call into play the comprehensiveness of the drug-testing policy in baseball and how the new agreement has dealt with that." | ||||||||||||||||||
When players and owners agreed last month to establish Major League
Baseball's first drug-testing program, the only banned substance
listed was steroids. Besides raising eyebrows, the agreement
underscored the different ways various sports organizations have
dealt with drugs and, in particular, with marijuana, which enjoys an
unusual status - illegal but not performance-enhancing, and socially
acceptable by many. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(18) HIGH TIMES FOR HOME-GROWN CANNABIS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Cultivation And Consumption Of The Plant In France Have Soared In
Recent Years
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In France the secret growing of Cannabis sativa , which existed on
only a small scale a few years ago, is booming. More than 50 shops
around the country now sell the equipment required for this new form
of "gardening", whose practitioners, according to Ananda, a
specialised wholesaler, number tens of thousands. | ||||||||||||||||||
The craze for home-grown cannabis is also evident from the
proliferation of books, magazines and websites devoted to the
subject, as well as from the increase in the number of events that
aim to promote the plant's legal and industrial form, hemp, which
contains almost no psychoactive substances. This has already given
its name to a trade show, the Salon Europeen du Chanvre, which has
been held in Paris for the past two years, to a line of mass-market
cosmetics, and to a folkloric festival in Montjean-sur-Loire,
western France. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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International News
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COMMENT: (19-23) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
In the UK, former drugs policy minister Mo Mowlam last week called for
worldwide legalization of the drugs trade, as way to fight terror.
Legalization, noted Mowlam, would solve problems caused by drugs, and
could help isolate terrorists as well. | ||||||||||||||||||
Antonio Maria Costa, head of the UN drug control agency admitted last week that Afghanistan was once again the number one opium producing nation. But the top UN drug bureaucrat optimistically forecasted poppy production could be erased there in several years. Estimates peg the seasons's bountiful Afghan opium harvest at up to 2,700 metric tons. | ||||||||||||||||||
Costa, in Montreal for an international anti-drug conference, also
decreed that Canada should not legalize marijuana. Echoing the "bad
message to children" prohibitionist line familiar to US readers, Costa
claimed that western nations might confuse other countries and send a
"bad message" to them by eschewing harsh punishment for drug use.
Costa asserted that marijuana was a health hazard and that prohibiting
it was necessary in the global fight against "drugs." Costa may want
to consider Mowlam's sage advice and ponder the corruption wrought by
modern Al Capones: elsewhere in Canada last week the government
quietly dropped charges against a "drug kingpin" caught with "$4
million in marijuana, hashish, LSD and ecstasy." Why? Narcotics police
had stolen over $300,000 from the bank safety deposit box of the
so-called "kingpin", it was alleged. | ||||||||||||||||||
In western Australia, the government announced schoolchildren there are more likely to be given amphetamines (often at the request of government officials) than children elsewhere in the nation. Government figures show 4.3 percent of all western Australians (adults and children) were prescribed amphetamines in 1999-2000. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(19) FIGHT TERROR: LEGALISE THE DRUGS TRADE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Prohibition Only Fuels Criminality, Corruption And Violence | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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Even President Bush has made the connection: "It is important for
Americans to know that the traffic in drugs finances the work of
terror, sustaining terrorists, that terrorists use drug profits to
fund their cells to commit acts of murder."
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May I suggest that rather than bombing civilians in various Muslim countries, the United States and Britain begin to take a more intelligent approach to the international drugs trade: namely, to legalise it. For by doing this, not only will we help solve one of the major problems facing the world today, the unregulated growth of drugs trafficking, but it would also further isolate the terrorists. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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Drugs and terrorism are linked and are set to become more so.
Legalisation of drugs would stop this connection: it would begin to
solve problems caused by drugs today and would isolate the
terrorists. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(20) AFGHANISTAN BACK ON TOP IN OPIUM PRODUCTION (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Time And Financial Aid Are Needed To Curb Soaring Cultivation, UN
Drug Official Says
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MONTREAL -- Afghanistan has reclaimed the top spot as a world
producer of opium, and, despite optimistic signs, it will take
several years to erase poppy production, the head of the United
Nations drug control agency said yesterday. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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Mr. Costa was in Montreal for the World Forum on Drugs and
Dependencies, which has drawn 3,000 delegates. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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The UN is to release its survey of Afghanistan's opium production in
a few weeks. Although Mr. Costa would not confirm figures, estimates
so far indicate that this year's harvests will yield 1,900 to 2,700
metric tonnes of opium. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(21) DON'T MAKE POT LEGAL, UN OFFICIAL WARNS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
MONTREAL -- Canadian politicians will be making a major error if
they try to legalize cannabis, the head of the United Nations drug
control agency warned yesterday. | ||||||||||||||||||
While marijuana does not have the same association with violent crime and severe dependency as harder narcotics, it remains a health hazard and its prohibition is needed in the global effort against drugs and criminality, said Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the Vienna-based UN Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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Western countries are sending a bad message to other countries by
being lax against softer drugs, he warned. "The drug scene cannot be
parcelled out to individual countries. The dug scene has to be seen
in its totality."
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[snip]
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(22) JUDGE TOSSES CASE, COP SCANDAL GROWS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Charges Dropped Because Of Crown Delays
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Trafficking charges against an alleged drug kingpin who has accused
police of stealing more than $300,000 from a bank safety deposit box
were stayed yesterday in a development linked to the widening drug
squad scandal. | ||||||||||||||||||
Roman Paryniuk was charged with possessing almost $4 million in
marijuana, hashish, LSD and ecstasy stemming from a March, 1999 bust
but these charges were tossed after Justice Russell Juriansz ruled
that Paryniuk, 39, had been deprived of his right to be tried within
a reasonable time. | ||||||||||||||||||
His lawyer Edward Sapiano was denied information on the RCMP probe
into drug squad officers. Sapiano has alleged in court documents
there was a "long-standing pattern" of "theft by search warrant" by
central field command drug squad. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(23) WA TOP STATE FOR 'DEXIES' (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
WA Schoolchildren are more likely to be prescribed dexamphetamine
than students in any other State or Territory, according to Health
Minister Bob Kucera. | ||||||||||||||||||
Mr Kucera said dexamphetamines were over-prescribed in WA and he
hoped to set up a policy to tackle the problem. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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Australian Bureau of Statistics figures published in June 2000
showed that 43.2 out of 1000 West Australians were prescribed
dexamphetamine in 1999-2000. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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Australian Medical Association State president Bernard Pearn-Rowe
said WA doctors did not over-prescribe dexamphetamine. | ||||||||||||||||||
Other States and Territories in Australia under-prescribed because
they did not have as many paediatricians who specialised in treating
ADHD, he said. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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HOT OFF THE 'NET (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
My Visit To The White House
| ||||||||||||||||||
by Doug McVay- for DrugWar.com
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September 26, 2002
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Things would have turned out differently if we'd gone to Sacramento
instead. After all, that's where the big rally was being held. Monday,
Sept. 23rd, nearly a thousand protesters gathered at the state capitol
to call for an end to federal harassment of California cannabis
clinics. | ||||||||||||||||||
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Photographer Jeremy Bigwood has a set of 122 photos from the White
House medical marijuana demonstration on line. The images are available
at: http://bigwood.biz/MedMJ/index.htm
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The Hospice Raid and the War on Drugs
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The war on drugs keeps getting bigger and meaner.
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Just when you think the tide is beginning to turn, someone in
charge takes it a step further.
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Marijuana Update: National Drug Threat Assessment
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An "Intelligence Brief" from the U.S. Department of Justice | ||||||||||||||||||
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DEA Destroys 20 Plants In Latest California Raid
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A DrugSense Focus Alet. | ||||||||||||||||||
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For almost 40 years, Colombia has been torn apart by violence
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High Times for Alzheimers
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Does cannabis help to prevent Alzheimers?
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Drug War Terrorism
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Thursday, September 26, 2002
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By Radley Balko
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On the heels of the "I Helped _" commercials that began last January,
the Drug Enforcement Administration has again engaged in a propaganda
campaign aimed at likening drug-using Americans to the most notorious
financiers of terrorism. | ||||||||||||||||||
This time, it's a traveling museum exhibit entitled "Target America: Traffickers, Terrorists and You." The exhibit harmonizes chunks of World Trade Center rubble and pictures of the scarred Pentagon with paraphernalia seized in international drug busts, and offers a "history" of the links between the drug trade and terrorism. | ||||||||||||||||||
The aim? Stain the hands of the growing decriminalization movement with
the blood of Sept. 11 victims. It's shameless, exploitative and not
even remotely accurate. | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
Add our Drug War Clock to your Website
| ||||||||||||||||||
DrugSense now offers the gadget below which will generate a snippet of
JavaScript that webmasters may use to add our Drug War Clock to their
websites. | ||||||||||||||||||
Our JavaScript clock will always be up-to-date with the latest figures. | ||||||||||||||||||
Please help yourselves. | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
LETTER OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
TIME TO HALT THE FAILED WAR AGAINST MARIJUANA
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By Bryan Brickner
| ||||||||||||||||||
The recent image of "victory" in the war on marijuana was too much
to take. The Aug. 16 story reported that Cook County Forest Preserve
police spent the day destroying millions of dollars of marijuana.
The only criminals arrested were seven teenage boys, ranging in age
from 16 to 19, all charged with marijuana possession. | ||||||||||||||||||
The seven teens, seemingly guilty of being at the wrong place at the
wrong time, did not have any criminal intent. The police report the
teens were looking at the leaves of one of the large plants and then
tried to hide it under a car. The teens said they didn't grow the
marijuana. Now, thanks to the social policy of marijuana
prohibition, they have a criminal record. | ||||||||||||||||||
In the war on marijuana, their arrest is a trivial statistic, but
its consequences, from possible expulsion from school, loss of
federal student loan opportunities and the social stigma of a
criminal record, are not trivial. | ||||||||||||||||||
But is any of this doing any good?
| ||||||||||||||||||
The 1999 National Household Survey estimates that 472,000 Illinois
residents use marijuana every month. The Illinois State Police
report that in 1999 there were 3,590 arrests per month for all
marijuana violations, to include the crimes of dealing, trafficking,
cultivation, etc. That means we arrest an individual less than 99.2
percent of the time for the crime of marijuana possession. If all
marijuana crimes were included, the failure rate would inch closer
and closer to 100 percent. | ||||||||||||||||||
With such a high failure rate, it is irrational and irresponsible to
pursue this policy any longer. Victory in the war on marijuana is a
mirage. The war is successful less than 0.8 percent of the time. No
other social policy has failed so miserably, cost so much and harmed
so many, as marijuana prohibition. It is time to end the smoke
screen of success and look at the alternatives to the failed policy
of marijuana prohibition. | ||||||||||||||||||
Bryan Brickner
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FEATURE ARTICLE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Birth of an Activist
| ||||||||||||||||||
By Kay Busher
| ||||||||||||||||||
Today I was arrested. Until today I have spent my life quietly and
far from the interest of law enforcement. | ||||||||||||||||||
It began in 1996 when Proposition 215, the Medical Marijuana
Initiative, was passed by California voters by an overwhelming
margin. Despite never even having tried marijuana I was one of those
voters. I was happy that the initiative won the day and went on
about life mostly forgetting about the issue. | ||||||||||||||||||
Yet over the past year more and more DEA & FBI raids on compassion
clubs filtered through the media. This summer there was a trial in
my hometown of Sacramento against Bryan Epis, a medical marijuana
patient and founder of the Chico Compassionate Club. The judge
ordered that no mention of Prop 215; medical marijuana, medical
conditions or Bryan's physician's recommendation for medical
marijuana was to be allowed in the trial. | ||||||||||||||||||
Mr. Epis' trial got a lot of media attention, in part due to a small band of activists who kept coming back to the Federal Courthouse day after day in support of him. Judge Garland Damrell dismissed the entire first pool of jurors fearing the they had been "contaminated" by pamphlets on juror's rights which the protesters had been passing out. I wondered what was so inflammatory about the rights of jurors that a federal judge would dismiss an entire pool of potential jurors on the mere chance that they're read a pamphlet. | ||||||||||||||||||
I did some research and discovered what no judge had told me on any
of the three juries upon which I've served. That is that the
Constitution of the United States gives jurors the right not only to
judge upon the law, but specifically gives jurors the duty to judge
the law upon which the defendant was brought to trial. If a jury
decides that the law itself is wrong they may acquit the
defendant(s) and even the Supreme Court must bow to the will of the
jury with no recourse or penalty against them. This is called "Jury
Nullification" and is where our freedoms are truly protected. I
asked myself why Federal Judges didn't want jurors to know about
that. | ||||||||||||||||||
Bryan Epis was convicted, no doubt by a jury which was instructed to
judge based on the law alone. He will be sentenced on October 7,
2002 and under federal mandatory sentencing guidelines will face no
less than ten years and up to life in prison. On September 5, 2002,
just a few weeks after Mr. Epis' conviction, the WoMen's Alliance
for Medical Marijuana (WAMM), in Santa Cruz, California, was raided
by the DEA. It was raided even though they were breaking no laws in
the State of California and had the support of community leaders and
local law enforcement. | ||||||||||||||||||
All of WAMM's patients are seriously ill. Eighty-five percent of
them are living with terminal illnesses. Forty of them died last
year. No money ever changed hands, and other patient services
besides medical marijuana were provided at the center. The founders
of WAMM, Valerie & Michael Corral along with others, were arrested
and their garden destroyed. In response to the raid the Santa Cruz
City Council, and a thousand others stood with WAMM as they
distributed their weeks' supply of medical marijuana to patients on
the steps of City Hall. I was one of the thousand.
| ||||||||||||||||||
I have never been an activist, I didn't know anyone who was. I drove
five hours that day to stand in support of WAMM, the City of Santa
Cruz and the right of the people of California lawfully using and
providing medical marijuana to live in peace. The next day I looked
up the Sacramento Chapter of Americans for Safe Access and
discovered that these four people had been the courageous activists
who stood at the courthouse and refused to let Bryan Epis be
railroaded into prison with out a fight. I am proud to be counted
among them now. | ||||||||||||||||||
I voted for Prop 215 six years ago. Over the past few months I have
been so outraged by the brutal actions of my federal government in
terrorizing law abiding Californians that I could no longer justify
standing idly by. I can no longer sit comfortably on the passive
side of my television and watch my federal government subvert
democracy in California. | ||||||||||||||||||
This weekend I worked helping to put on the Protest Rally in
Sacramento; I stood in the one-hundred and four degree sun, and
walked as one with them to the Federal Courthouse. With twenty-eight
others I sat in front of the police line at the doors, not for the
purpose of being arrested, but allowing ourselves to be arrested if
necessary in protest of the conviction of Bryan Epis and the brutal
actions of the Bush Administration against sick and dying
Californians. | ||||||||||||||||||
From here on I stand with them and with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
who taught me from the Birmingham jail that it is the duty of
honorable people to obey just laws and to disobey unjust laws. It is
unjust to terrorize and imprison patients and caregivers who are
acting in compliance to the laws of the state in which they live. I
will no longer stand by and let that happen. | ||||||||||||||||||
Come on, Mr. President, how hard a job is it really to send dozens of agents under cover of darkness armed with automatic weapons to kick in the doors of the sick and dying? I'm amazed and dismayed that you can stomach it. You work for us, remember? As a fellow citizen and a voter I demand that you answer for why you are unleashing paramilitary operations against the most vulnerable of Americans. I promise you that I will no longer tolerate it. | ||||||||||||||||||
In your campaign you said that each state has the right to choose their own laws on medical marijuana. It's time to keep your word about that and call off of your federal enforcers. You are ordering officers of the law to become government sanctioned thugs, and I'm sure many of them would be relieved to no longer be used in an immoral war against helpless U.S. citizens. Medical marijuana patients are not the problem, Mr. President. Why not give federal officers an honorable job, like protecting us against terrorists? | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
QUOTE OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
"Cannabis is essentially a good drug with a bad reputation." | ||||||||||||||||||
- Dr. Peter Silverstone, a psychopharmacologist and clinical
psychiatrist from Edmonton who helped organize the Banff conference
on neuropsychopharmacology. See
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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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