DrugSense Home
DrugSense Weekly
Dec. 13, 2002 #280

Listen On-line at: http://www.drugsense.org/radio/


Table of Contents

* Breaking News (03/28/24)


* This Just In


(1) Supreme Court Questions Ottawa's Marijuana Stance
(2) U.S. Officials Reject Drug War Claims
(3) Study: Treat Addicts' Mental Illness
(4) Dutch Could Teach US A Lot About Marijuana Laws

* Weekly News in Review


Drug Policy-

COMMENT: (5-9)
(5) Study Disputes Drug Link To Violence
(6) Taking Their Hits
(7) Bills Admit Drug Stance Went Too Far
(8) All in the Familia
(9) New Hiding Place For Drug Profits: Insurance Policies

Law Enforcement & Prisons-

COMMENT: (10-13)
(10) FBI Complicit in Crime?
(11) Neighbors Call Tactics In Drug Raid Militaristic
(12) Melton's Selection Amazes Experts
(13) Crowded Jails Yield New Fines For State

Cannabis & Hemp-

COMMENT: (14-17)
(14) Canada: The Commons Committee Report On Cannabis
(15) Lawyer Doubts Ottawa's Pot Talk
(16) Smoking Pot Should Not Be A Crime
(17) Council Deputizes Pot Club Founders

International News-

COMMENT: (18-22)
(18) Heroin Clinical Trial Gets MPs' Support
(19) Spy Ship Carried Drugs
(20) Lina Orders Probe On Shabu Factory
(21) Law An Ass On Ecstasy, Says Ex-Minister
(22) The Drug Addicts, The Pet Shop Boys And A Tale Of Missing Toads

* Hot Off The 'Net


      Report of The Special Committee On Non-Medical Use Of Drugs
      Chris Clay Interview / POT-TV
      The "New" Colombian Heroin Trade-Here We Go Again / by Preston Peet
      O, Canada! (Oh, the Embarrassment!) / by David Borden
      Cultural-Baggage Radio Show

* Letter Of The Week


     Rhode  Island  Reader  Speaks  Out  About  DARE  /  By Tom Angell

* Feature Article


     My  Good  Old  Pickup  Truck  Broke  Down (Again) / By Mark Greer

* Quote of the Week


     Thomas Jefferson


THIS JUST IN    (Top)

(1) SUPREME COURT QUESTIONS OTTAWA'S MARIJUANA STANCE    (Top)

OTTAWA - The Supreme Court of Canada judges have written a letter questioning whether they should proceed with a federal government case against pot smoking today, given that Justice Minister Martin Cauchon says he is going to decriminalize marijuana.

As soon as the judges read about Cauchon's announcement earlier this week, the court wrote lawyers for the federal government and three marijuana enthusiasts, asking whether the case should be put on hold in light of the developments.

At the same time that Cauchon is planning decriminalization, his own Justice Department lawyers are scheduled to argue in the Supreme Court today that marijuana is a dangerous drug that should be outlawed.

The government has filed a report with the court that connects marijuana use to driving accidents, upper-airway cancer, psychiatric problems and drug addiction, among other things.

"Marijuana is not a benign substance and potentially is more harmful than presently known," the Justice Department argues in a written submission.

Meanwhile, Cauchon is planning to accept a recommendation of a special parliamentary committee, which reported Thursday that people caught with less than 30 grams of marijuana -- the equivalent of 25 to 30 joints -- should be given a fine akin to a parking ticket rather than be saddled with a criminal record.

"There's a certain inconsistency in announcing decriminalization and going into court and saying this substance is sufficiently harmful to warrant a criminal sanction," observed Toronto lawyer Alan Young.

[snip]

Newshawk:   Carey Ker
Pubdate:   Dec.  13, 2002
Source:   Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Website:   http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/
Forum:   http://discussion.canada.com/user/forums.asp
Copyright:   2002 The Ottawa Citizen
Author:   Janice Tibbetts
Continues:   http://mapinc.org/cancom/33d32ebf-3967-4cc6-9972-3d635e312a31


(2) U.S. OFFICIALS REJECT DRUG WAR CLAIMS    (Top)

U.S.  anti-drug officials Thursday rejected lawmakers' claims that they are doing little to eradicate Colombia's opium, the raw material for most of the heroin sold in the United States.

Members of the House Government Reform Committee said a $1.8 billion anti-drug program in Colombia is so focused on eradicating coca, little is being done about opium.  Fewer opium crops are being fumigated this year than before U.S.  helicopters and other anti-drug aid began arriving two years ago.

The result has been a surge in heroin in the United States, lawmakers said.  "Plain and simple, the heroin that is flooding the United States and is killing our citizens comes from Colombia," said Rep.  Bob Barr, R-Ga.  "It is a weapon of mass destruction and we must help the Colombian government eradicate it, before it gets to the United States."

A top State Department antidrug official, Paul E.  Simons, told lawmakers that the United States is fighting opium as well as coca in Colombia.

"We know the enemy and what we need to do," he said.  "We have assets in country deployed to do the job, and we have effective and strong leadership in Colombia prepared to do its part."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 12 Dec 2002
Source:   Sarasota Herald-Tribune (FL)
Copyright:   2002 Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Website:   http://www.newscoast.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/398
Author:   Ken Guggenheim, Associated Press Writer
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02.n2251.a01.html


(3) STUDY: TREAT ADDICTS' MENTAL ILLNESS    (Top)

Mental disorders are common among alcoholics and drug abusers, but their mental illness and addictions are seldom treated at the same time, preventing many from recovering from either, says a report sent to Congress this week.

And the government, to get the most value, must take the lead in tearing down the "firewall" between programs that treat addiction and those that treat mental illness, the report concludes.

People who suffer from mental illness and are substance abusers have traditionally been considered exceptions, "but it's time to get real," says Charles Curie, administrator of Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), which wrote the report at Congress' request.

Major Overhaul Needed

About one-third of drug and alcohol abusers have mental disorders, Curie says, and adults with mental illness are three times more likely than others to be substance abusers.  An estimated 7 million to 10 million Americans have mental and addictive disorders, he says.  There's strong evidence that integrated programs work best for them.

But that's going to take a major overhaul of our treatment system. "Virtually all programs are designed for one or the other," says psychiatrist Kenneth Minkoff, a clinical professor at Harvard.  People with both problems "have poor outcomes at higher cost, and they're more likely to end up in the correction system."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 11 Dec 2002
Source:   Daily Times, The (TN)
Copyright:   2002 Horvitz Newspapers
Website:   http://www.thedailytimes.com/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/1455
Author:   Marilyn Elias, Gannett News Service
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2248/a04.html


(4) DUTCH COULD TEACH US A LOT ABOUT MARIJUANA LAWS    (Top)

While doing some research in the Netherlands recently, I was told a curious story by an Amsterdam city councillor.  This councillor is also the owner of a "coffee shop" - a pub that sells marijuana - and so he often plays host to the foreign officials who constantly tour Holland and marvel at how the country's liberal justice policies have somehow managed to fail to spawn depravity, misery and chaos of biblical proportions.

One day, he told me, he showed a foreign politician around his pleasant little shop.  He pointed to the second floor and told the visitor he had another room upstairs.  "That's where they inject hashish," he said with a straight face.

The politician nodded his head solemnly.  Ah yes, junkies injecting hashish.  Awful stuff, these drugs.

I laughed.  And I'm sure most of you got the gag, too. But for the innocent, let me explain that injecting hashish makes as much sense as injecting your granddad's pipe tobacco.  Obviously, this politician knew absolutely nothing about drugs.

Unfortunately, he's not unique in that.  Public debate about drugs is rife with nonsense, even - or especially - when the politicians who draft laws are talking.  Recall Liberal MP Paul Szabo's warning to Parliament in 1995 that modern marijuana is "as potent as cocaine was 10 years ago."

Not only is this gibberish (it's like saying a shot of vodka is as potent as a pack of Marlboros).  It was gibberish uttered by the chairman of the Commons committee that had reviewed the drug laws.

[snip]

Source:   Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC)
Pubdate:   Thu, 12 Dec 2002
Website:   http://www.canada.com/victoria/timescolonist/
Copyright:   2002 Times Colonist
Author:   Dan Gardner
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n000/a245.html


WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW    (Top)


Domestic News- Policy


COMMENT: (5-9)    (Top)

Big things happening could be happening in Canada, thanks to the release of government report on drugs.  Some of the implications of the report are examined in the Cannabis and International sections of DrugSense Weekly.

In the U.S., many of the recurrent myths of prohibition were challenged again last week.  A report from Sacramento, Calif., suggested that there is not a strong link between violent crimes and illegal drug use.  The idea that the use of marijuana will stop someone from becoming a professional athlete was demolished, as Sports Illustrated took a look at several successful pro athletes who have been caught with the weed in recent months.  The notion that long prison sentences will solve drug problems was finally officially abandoned in Michigan, as the state's House of Representatives voted to repeal laws that forced mandatory minimum sentences based on drug weight.

Another story out of California challenged an even more basic belief of prohibition: that federal drug law enforcers have the ability and desire to actually heads of drug gangs.  And, finally, the drug war has helped to corrupt yet another institution, as the New York Times reported that drug money is being laundered through life insurance policies.


(5) STUDY DISPUTES DRUG LINK TO VIOLENCE    (Top)

Despite the perceived link between violence and illegal drug use, the highest percentage of people booked into the Sacramento County jail for violent crimes were not under the influence, a new study has found.  However, alcohol use may be a factor in violent crimes, the study indicated.

Of more than 3,000 people arrested in 2000 and 2001, those with no substance abuse were charged with the highest percentage of violent offenses.

"That flies in the face of what we expect to find," said Carole Barnes, director of the Institute for Social Research at California State University, Sacramento.  "You don't need to be high to be violent."

The institute conducted the analysis in partnership with the federal Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (ADAM) project, which is part of the U.S.  Department of Justice.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 09 Dec 2002
Source:   Sacramento Bee (CA)
Copyright:   2002 The Sacramento Bee
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/376
Page:   B1
Author:   Nancy Weaver Teichert, Bee Staff Writer
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2230/a03.html


(6) TAKING THEIR HITS    (Top)

The NBA is going to pot.  But so are the NFL and Major League Baseball.  Does a week go by nowadays without an athlete getting busted for marijuana possession? The list of tokin' offenders is too long to catalog here, but it cuts a wide swath, from Mets reliever Grant Roberts -- who was pictured smoking in a New York tabloid in September -- to Randy Moss, whose run-in with a traffic cop was compounded when marijuana was found in his Lexus.

Two weeks ago, Trail Blazers' forward Rasheed Wallace and guard Damon Stoudamire were passengers in Stoudamire's bright yellow Humvee (a friend of Stoudamire's was driving) as it tore down I-5 in Washington around midnight.  When the vehicle was stopped for speeding, it reeked like Jeff Spicoli's van; police found about a gram of marijuana in the car.  It would have been just another story of two athletes caught with weed -- but for the fact that earlier this year police, responding to a burglar alarm, found a pound of marijuana at Stoudamire's home.  Stoudamire is facing a felony charge although a judge ruled in August that the stash had been illegally seized.  (Prosecutors have appealed the ruling.) So much for scared straight.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 09 Dec 2002
Source:   Sports Illustrated (US)
Copyright:   2002 Sports Illustrated
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/2690
Author:   L.  Jon Wertheim
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2218/a01.html


(7) BILLS ADMIT DRUG STANCE WENT TOO FAR    (Top)

More than two decades after enacting some of the nation's harshest penalties for the possession and sale of illegal drugs, Michigan lawmakers are poised to acknowledge that the state's approach to narcotics crime has been a costly failure.

Legislation adopted by the state House of Representatives last week would abolish mandatory prison sentences based solely on the amount of the drugs seized in an arrest and give judges in drug cases the same discretion they now enjoy in sentencing violent offenders.

Instead of being dispatched to prison for minimum terms of 10 and 20 years, newly convicted drug offenders would be sentenced under guidelines that take into account an offender's criminal history, the use or absence of deadly weapons, and the likelihood that the offender would benefit from substance abuse treatment.

Mandatory lifetime probation for drug offenders would be eliminated, and more than 4,000 ex-cons now required to report to state probation officers for the rest of their lives would be eligible for discharge after five years of supervision.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 9 Dec 2002
Source:   Detroit Free Press (MI)
Copyright:   2002 Detroit Free Press
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/125
Author:   Brian Dickerson
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2229/a01.html


(8) ALL IN THE FAMILIA    (Top)

[snip]

For the next 11 years, Ensley built his life around the pursuit of Luis Valenzuela, the head of the family trafficking business and a ranking lieutenant in the notorious Arellano-Felix drug cartel. Working primarily with the FBI but also with the DEA and local authorities, Ensley socialized with Valenzuela at family functions and enticed him into partnership schemes, serving as a steady conduit for information on Valenzuela's movements as he imported and distributed thousands of kilos of cocaine.  Over the course of his collaboration with the Southwest Border Task Force, the FBI paid Ensley more than $30,000 in fees and expenses.

It was a bargain for the government.  Tracking Valenzuela opened a window on the single largest cartel moving drugs across America's border with Mexico.  In 1997, a decade after the funeral for Raul Valenzuela, the investigation moved into high gear.  The task force monitored Luis and his organization through extensive wiretaps, a phone bank of interpreters, and a team of more than 10 officers and agents.  Over the next 18 months, agents confiscated nearly 4 tons of cocaine and more than $15 million in cash.  As the totals mounted, Ensley looked forward to a personal windfall, based on government assurances that he would collect a bounty of 10 percent of all the seized currency.

Operation Rio Blanco culminated in June 1998 with the arrest of Jorge Castro, a Valenzuela associate identified by the U.S. Attorney's Office as "one of the highest-level narcotraffickers ever arrested in the United States." But just as Ensley prepared to celebrate, he found himself abandoned.  Luis Valenzuela and most of his associates escaped the government dragnet, and Ensley's cover as an informant was blown.

Rather than collect the $1 million-plus he figured should be his reward, Ensley was advised by the FBI to lease a recreational vehicle and go into hiding.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 03 Dec 2002
Source:   LA Weekly (CA)
Copyright:   2002, L.A.  Weekly Media, Inc.
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/228
Author:   Charles Rappleye
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2211/a01.html


(9) NEW HIDING PLACE FOR DRUG PROFITS: INSURANCE POLICIES    (Top)

WASHINGTON, Dec.  5 -- Law enforcement officials said today that Colombian cocaine traffickers seeking to launder tens of millions in drug profits from the United States and Mexico had begun exploiting an unlikely haven -- life insurance policies.

[snip]

In interviews and court documents, law enforcement officials at the Customs Service said that in recent years, brokers connected to the Cali drug cartel in Colombia had bought insurance policies in the Isle of Man and other British islands, as well as perhaps Florida and other locations, to launder more than $80 million.

Using drug proceeds from the United States and Mexico, the suspects opened some 250 different investment-grade life insurance accounts in the Isle of Man alone, investigators said.  The insurance policies, worth as much as $1.9 million each, were sometimes taken out in the names of nieces, nephews and other relatives of the traffickers, investigators said.

The traffickers would typically cash out all or part of the Isle of Man policies prematurely after a year or so, paying penalties of 25 percent or more to get access to the laundered cash more quickly, investigators said.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 6 Dec 2002
Source:   New York Times (NY)
Copyright:   2002 The New York Times Company
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author:   Eric Lichtblau
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2216/a04.html


Law Enforcement & Prisons


COMMENT: (10-13)    (Top)

An interesting contrast between approaches to drug law enforcement was revealed through two stories out of California.  On one hand, when the FBI learned about a violent drug gang operating out of a prison, they let the operation continue, allegedly in order to gather more information.  On the other hand, large paramilitary forces raided three residential houses suspected of cultivating marijuana, though no drugs were found and neighbors were shocked by the use of force in the raids.

Strange happenings in Mississippi this week, as a television executive with no law enforcement experience was chosen as the head of the state's anti-narcotics efforts.  And, state prison crowding continues in Alabama, which means the state will likely face more fines, which are now reaching the multi-million dollar level.


(10) FBI COMPLICIT IN CRIME?    (Top)

The FBI didn't just infiltrate the notorious Nuestra Familia prison gang, it allowed an informant to continue the group's violent and criminal activities for seven months, pulling off drug and gun deals and the killing of a rival gang leader, a defense attorney for one of the men accused in the case alleges in a court filing.

Federal investigators refuse to comment on the case, saying they will eventually answer in court, and at least one local law enforcer calls the charge bogus.

But San Francisco attorney Marc Zilversmit contends the government's own legal filings reveal a federal role in the brutal prison-based gang, and raise troubling questions about how far the FBI can take an undercover operation.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 09 Dec 2002
Source:   ABC News (US Web)
Copyright:   2002 ABC News
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/2105
Author:   Dean Schabner
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption - United States)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2232/a06.html


(11) NEIGHBORS CALL TACTICS IN DRUG RAID MILITARISTIC    (Top)

The sound of heavy machinery, exploding grenades and blaring announcements cracked the early morning silence.

Neighbors looked out their windows Oct.  17 to see an armored truck rolling down the street.  They saw at least 45 officers armed with shotguns and assault rifles entering a trio of houses, standing guard at alleyways and blocking traffic lanes.

Officers wouldn't explain to startled residents what was going

Police pulled four people - including a nude woman and another woman wearing only underpants and a T-shirt - from their beds and kept them in handcuffs in a room of one of the houses for several hours. One woman reported that an officer covered her head with a black fabric bag and removed it only when she agreed to cooperate.

[snip]

The raid sparked immediate outrage among more than a dozen neighbors and friends of the property owners and in recent weeks has become a rallying point for community organizers.  The fact that police found no marijuana plants or weapons has only angered neighbors further.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 05 Dec 2002
Source:   Register-Guard, The (OR)
Copyright:   2002 The Register-Guard
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/362
Author:   Rebecca Nolan, The Register-Guard
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/raids.htm (Drug Raids)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2221/a09.html


(12) MELTON'S SELECTION AMAZES EXPERTS    (Top)

Frank Melton's management and leadership skills can't compensate for his lack of law enforcement experience as the new director of the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, experts say.

However, Melton, the chief executive officer of TV-3 Inc. Foundation, said, "Law enforcement is not that complicated.  It's about making decisions and doing the right thing."

Gov.  Ronnie Musgrove named Melton, 52, Wednesday to head the MBN.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 06 Dec 2002
Source:   Clarion-Ledger, The (MS)
Copyright:   2002 The Clarion-Ledger
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/805
Author:   Theresa Kiely
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2216/a06.html


(13) CROWDED JAILS YIELD NEW FINES FOR STATE    (Top)

MONTGOMERY A Montgomery judge imposed millions of dollars in new fines against the state prison system Friday and said he will use the money to find space for more than 1,600 state convicts backlogged in Alabama's crowded county jails.

Montgomery County Circuit Judge William Shashy ordered the prison system to pay $50 a day for each state convict left in county jails more than 30 days, starting Aug.  13.

He had warned the state in a June 14 order that he would raise contempt fines to that amount if it did not clear its inmates out of the county jails.  Friday, he also ordered the state to immediately pay fines he imposed in June, which have been accruing at a rate of $26 per day per inmate.  The state's total had hit $2.16 million as of mid-April.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 07 Dec 2002
Source:   Birmingham News, The (AL)
Copyright:   2002 The Birmingham News
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/45
Author:   Stan Bailey, News staff writer
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2190/a07.html
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2223/a04.html


Cannabis & Hemp-


COMMENT: (14-17)    (Top)

This week we devote most of this section to another episode of Canada's journey towards an equitable cannabis policy.

As it is within all bureaucracies, the longer an issue soaks in the legislature - the further away from "comme il faut " it travels.  In October the Senate's Special Committee On Illegal Drugs recommended that cannabis be regulated similarly to alcohol and tobacco.  This month finds cannabis policy, having been run through the rinse/spin cycle of the House of Commons, watered down to mere
decriminalization.  Thankfully there is only one more step, approval by the Crown (Royal Assent), left.

The next two articles demonstrate how difficult it is to force justice at the judicial level when the opposition is yanking at the reins of the very law being challenged.  In a Globe and Mail article, attorney Bernstein contends the parliamentary activities are mere posturing and cannabis laws will not be liberalized while Bush is president.  Another piece for this section is an editorial by the National Post explains the entire situation in a very concise manner.

And, finally, there is a bit of good news out of the U.S., where the Santa Cruz, Calif.  City Council has deputized the co-founders of a local medical marijuana club.


(14) CANADA: THE COMMONS COMMITTEE REPORT ON CANNABIS    (Top)

CHAPTER 9: CANNABIS

1.  MANDATE OF THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON NON-MEDICAL USE OF DRUGS

As explained in Chapter 1, the Special Committee on Non-Medical Use of Drugs was initially mandated to study "the factors underlying or relating to the non-medical use of drugs in Canada" and to bring forward recommendations aimed at reducing "the dimensions of the problem involved in such use."

[snip]

RECOMMENDATION 40

The Committee recommends that the possession of cannabis continue to be illegal and that trafficking in any amount of cannabis remain a crime.

RECOMMENDATION 41

The Committee recommends that the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Health establish a comprehensive strategy for decriminalizing the possession and cultivation of not more than thirty grams of cannabis for personal use.  This strategy should include:

Prevention and education programs outlining the risks of cannabis use and, in particular, the heightened risk it poses to young persons; and

The development of more effective tools to facilitate the enforcement of existing Criminal Code prohibitions against driving while impaired by a drug.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 12 Dec 2002
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2245/a02.html


(15) LAWYER DOUBTS OTTAWA'S POT TALK    (Top)

Believes Politicians Are Simply Trying to Influence Call of Supreme Court

A federal proposal to decriminalize marijuana is nothing more than a ruse to influence the Supreme Court of Canada as it prepares for a major challenge to marijuana laws, a lawyer in the case says.

Lawyer Paul Burstein said Justice Minister Martin Cauchon's ruminations about decriminalization echo a tactic used by his department in the past to derail litigation that threatens marijuana laws.

[snip]

The three appellants are as follows:

David Malmo-Levine, a Vancouver activist who formed an 1,800-member "Harm Reduction Club" in 1996 to cater to marijuana-fanciers.

Christopher Clay, who owned a London, Ont., store called the Great Canadian Hempatorium that sold marijuana implements, seeds and cuttings.

Victor Caine, a B.C.  man who was arrested while sharing a joint with a friend in his car.

Upon conviction, the three men joined an estimated 600,000 Canadians with criminal records for cannabis-related offences under the 79-year-old possession law.

Government lawyers say in their brief that Parliament has a perfect right to pass laws in the general good, and that challengers must show it acted in "an irrational or arbitrary manner."

The appellants contend that the law is both an unwarranted intrusion into provincial jurisdiction and a violation of the constitutional right to life, liberty and security of the person.

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association, which has been permitted to make legal arguments in the case, maintains that the health effects of marijuana are minimal, particularly when compared with those of tobacco and alcohol.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 12 Dec 2002
Source:   Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright:   2002, The Globe and Mail Company
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author:   Kirk Makin, Justice Reporter
Background:   http://www.cannabislink.ca/legal/index.htm#legalcases
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2247/a06.html


(16) SMOKING POT SHOULD NOT BE A CRIME    (Top)

This Thursday, the House of Commons committee on illegal drugs will issue its long awaited report.  The old good news is that the committee members will likely recommend the decriminalization of marijuana possession.  The new good news is that those
recommendations might then quickly become law: On Monday, federal Justice Minister Martin Cauchon told reporters the government could "move ahead quickly" on pot decriminalization once the committee delivers its expected verdict.

Of course, no one worth listening to thinks recreational marijuana use is something to be encouraged: It damages the lungs and dulls the mind.  But pot is neither addictive nor criminogenic, nor acutely toxic.  Indeed, it is less dangerous than alcohol and tobacco. Given this, a majority of Canadians have sensibly concluded that it is foolish to treat the substance the way we do such pure killers as heroin and cocaine.  In fact, the possibility of decriminalization no longer seems controversial.  Just three months ago, the Senate's Special Committee on Illegal Drugs went farther than is expected of its Commons counterpart, and concluded the government should make smoking pot completely legal.  (Under a decriminalized regime, by contrast, pot smokers would still, technically, be lawbreakers -- and might be required to pay small fines).

Several factors have contributed to the popular attitude shift on pot.  One was the rise of AIDS and the medical marijuana movement.

[snip]

A second factor is the mounting evidence that some of the fears surrounding marijuana are unjustified.  The Office of National Drug Control Policy in the United States, the world's most influential booster of the war-on-drugs status quo, has long claimed that marijuana is a "gateway" drug that leads users to cocaine and heroin.  But recent studies -- including a thorough RAND corporation analysis published in this month's issue of the journal Addiction -- cast doubt on this theory.  While marijuana use correlates strongly to hard-drug use, there is nothing in the data that shows the former causes the latter.  The stronger hypothesis is that the same genetic and environmental factors that cause people to use marijuana and tobacco (and overuse alcohol) also lead them to hard drugs.

Pot decriminalization has long been seen as a liberal cause: Left-wingers have traditionally opposed government efforts to outlaw good times.  But conservatives should get on the bandwagon as well. Our marijuana laws represent an entirely unjustified government intrusion into citizens' lives.  About 20,000 people are arrested annually on marijuana-related charges.  The investigation, arrest, trial and punishment of this small army represents a massive, unjustifiable waste of our tax dollars.

Pubdate:   Wed, 11 Dec 2002
Source:   National Post (Canada)
Copyright:   2002 Southam Inc.
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/286
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2245/a02.html


(17) COUNCIL DEPUTIZES POT CLUB FOUNDERS    (Top)

SANTA CRUZ -- The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to deputize the co-founders of a medical-marijuana club, symbolically making them officers of the city government.

That doesn't mean Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana's Mike and Valerie Corral are actual deputies, have any special powers or will "need to show any stinkin' badges," said City Councilman Tim Fitzmaurice.  Instead, their status means the council officially sanctions WAMM's activities.

Council members said they hope the formal link between the city and the group will increase legal protections for the Corrals, who have not been charged with a crime in connection with a September raid by federal agents on their pot farm, but are wary of future prosecution.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 11 Dec 2002
Source:   Santa Cruz Sentinel (CA)
Copyright:   2002 Santa Cruz Sentinel
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/394
Author:   Dan White, Sentinel Staff Writer
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2242/a02.html


International News


COMMENT: (18-22)    (Top)

In international news this week, Canada steams ahead towards harm reduction as a parliamentary committee lends support for plans to create safe-injection sites and programs to distribute heroin to addicts.  Expecting the usual meddling in Canadian affairs from the US, members of parliament intend to "show the U.S.  that there are real alternatives." Adds committee member Libby Davies, "This strategy is a lot more realistic.  And if the Americans don't like, it, tough."

Revelations last week a North Korean spy ship sunk by the Japanese coast guard last year was used for smuggling amphetamines to gangsters, rocked Japan.  Authorities estimate the North Korean spy ship smuggled about a third of a ton of the illegal amphetamines to Japan in 1998 alone.

In the Philippines, officials continue to investigate an amphetamine factory gutted by a fire in Valenzuela City.  Firemen found some one million pesos worth of amphetamines, along with roughly 50 drums of chemicals used in amphetamine manufacture.

MDMA ("Ecstasy") should be reclassified from class A to B, according to Chris Mullin, former chairman of the UK Commons home affairs committee, who last week admitted that the law on the drug "is an ass." Joined by Peter Lilley (former cabinet minister) and Simon Hughes (Liberal Democrat spokesman), Mullin disclosed that evidence did not show MDMA was as harmful as heroin or crack cocaine, which along with MDMA, are also class A drugs.

And finally this week, a sad tale of toady capers.  No, not the usual servile prohibitionist toady again, but psychedelic-oozing toads of the literal kind.  Police and pet shops in Holland are looking for a pair of stolen cane toads.  The toads, filched from a shop in the city of Leeuwarden, exude hallucinogenic liquid similar to LSD.  Toad lickers are advised licking toads may cause health problems, not to mention trauma to the terrorized toads.


(18) HEROIN CLINICAL TRIAL GETS MPS' SUPPORT    (Top)

Hedy Fry, Libby Davies Say Harm Reduction Key

A clinical trial to provide heroin to users, pilot safe-injection sites and the conversion of two federal jails to treatment centres were among ground-breaking ideas supported Monday by an all-party parliamentary committee studying ways to tackle drug abuse.

"We're looking for a national drug strategy that fits across the country," MP Randy White said at a news conference in Vancouver held jointly with MPs Hedy Fry and Libby Davies.

[snip]

But Davies said she hopes that the national drug strategy that Canada develops, using the committees recommendations, will "show the U.S.  that there are real alternatives."

"This strategy is a lot more realistic.  And if the Americans don't like, it, tough."

Pubdate:   Tue, 10 Dec 2002
Source:   Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright:   2002 The Vancouver Sun
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author:   Frances Bula
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2237/a03.html


(19) SPY SHIP CARRIED DRUGS    (Top)

A North Korean spy ship sunk by Japan last year when it refused to stop for coastguards was used to smuggle drugs to Yakuza gangsters, Tokyo said yesterday.

Japan had already identified the ship, raised earlier this year, as a North Korean spy vessel but yesterday Chikage Ogi, the transport minister, said it delivered a third of a ton of stimulants to Japanese gangsters in 1998.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 07 Dec 2002
Source:   Daily Telegraph (UK)
Copyright:   2002 Telegraph Group Limited
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/114
Author:   Colin Joyce, in Tokyo
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2220/a01.html


(20) LINA ORDERS PROBE ON SHABU FACTORY    (Top)

INTERIOR Secretary and Dangerous Drug Board ( DDB ) chairman Joey Lina Jr.  Tuesday asked the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency ( PDEA ) to conduct a deeper investigation on the reported shabu laboratory gutted down in Valenzuela City Monday night.

[snip]

Report said firemen responding to a fire incident discovered some P1 million worth of shabu in a burning warehouse as well as some 50 drums of chemicals suspected of being used in the production of the banned substance.

Pubdate:   Wed, 11 Dec 2002
Source:   Sunstar Manila (Philippines)
Copyright:   2002, Sunstar
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/2304
Author:   Jonathan Fernandez
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2241/a08.html


(21) LAW AN ASS ON ECSTASY, SAYS EX-MINISTER    (Top)

Ecstasy should be reclassified from class A to B, according to the chairman of the Commons home affairs committee, who yesterday claimed that the law on the drug "is an ass".

Chris Mullin, a former Home Office minister, said scientific evidence showed ecstasy was not as harmful as heroin and crack cocaine, which share its legal classification.  Despite its ranking, it was often "dabbled" in by youngsters who shared drugs, he told MPs during a debate on government drugs policy.

[snip]

Mr Mullin was backed by former Tory cabinet minister Peter Lilley and by Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Simon Hughes in his call for the reclassification of ecstasy.

He told MPs: "Half of all young people at some stage dabble in drugs.  I am in no doubt that drugs need to be categorised according to the degree of harmfulness and as far as ecstasy is concerned ... the science is clear." On ecstasy, he said "at present the law is an ass".

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 6 Dec 2002
Source:   Guardian, The (UK)
Copyright:   2002 Guardian Newspapers Limited
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/175
Author:   Lucy Ward, political correspondent
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/mdma.htm (Ecstasy)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2224/a07.html


(22) THE DRUG ADDICTS, THE PET SHOP BOYS AND A TALE OF MISSING TOADS    (Top)

[snip]

Dutch pet shops have been warned to be on the lookout
after the theft of a number of South American giant
cane toads ( Bufo marinus ) The toads, measuring up to
30cm long, excrete a milky white liquid from behind
their bulging eyes which, when licked, causes
hallucinations described as 12 times stronger than LSD.
The effects can last for up to seven hours.

Police in the city of Leeuwarden, capital of the province of Friesland, are hunting drug addicts who raided a shop specialising in toads and reptiles, and stole three of its South American cane toads.  According to local media reports, addicts have been queueing up to lick the toads' backs in several hostels for drug-abuse victims.

[snip]

Richard Mastenbroek, a pet shop owner, said: "I really fear for the toads' welfare; the addicts who have taken them to lick their backs for a high would have no idea of how to care for them.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 10 Dec 2002
Source:   Independent (UK)
Copyright:   2002 Independent Newspapers (UK) Ltd.
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/209
Author:   Isabel Conway, in Amsterdam
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2239/a07.html


HOT OFF THE 'NET    (Top)

REPORT OF THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON NON-MEDICAL USE OF DRUGS

POLICY FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUM: WORKING TOGETHER TO REDEFINE
CANADA'S DRUG STRATEGY

http://www.parl.gc.ca/InfoComDoc/37/2/SNUD/Studies/Reports/snudrp02-e.htm

Safe Injection Sites Recommended by Commons Committee

Video:   http://cbc.ca/storyview/CBC/2002/12/09/drug_rept021209

MPs Call For Relaxing of Marijuana Laws

Video:   http://cbc.ca/storyview/CBC/2002/12/12/potlaws021212

U.S.  Fuming Over Ottawa Pot Proposal

Video:   http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2002/12/12/drugreax021212


CHRIS CLAY INTERVIEW

Chris Clay, who is part of the historical Caine, Clay & Malmo-Levine Supreme Court Challenge of Canadian cannabis laws, gives us the inside story on how he became involved with this historical and potentially precedent setting case.

http://www.pot-tv.net/archive/shows/pottvshowse-1672.html


THE "NEW" COLOMBIAN HEROIN TRADE-HERE WE GO AGAIN

by Preston Peet - for DrugWar.com

Posted Dec.  13, 2002

At the hearing "America's Heroin Crisis, Colombian Heroin, and How We Can Improve Plan Colombia," held by the Committee on Government Reform, (Dec.  12, 2002) one long-time prohibitionist publicly pondered what might happen if profit motives were removed from the drug trade, and another voiced his support for shooting down unarmed civilian aircraft and dumping mass amounts of deadly mycoherbicides on the country of Colombia and everything that lives there.

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


O, CANADA! (OH, THE EMBARRASSMENT!)

David Borden, Executive Director, , 12/13/02

Though a critic of US drug policies, the US is still my home, its government is mine, its leaders were elected by my fellow US citizens. So I can't help but get a little embarrassed -- though mostly entertained -- when United States drug warriors say ridiculous things in other countries that make them look stupid.

Continues:   http://drcnet.org/wol/#ocanada


CULTURAL-BAGGAGE RADIO SHOW

Friday, Dec.  13, Midnite CDT

ACLU attorney Greg Gladden will be our guest to discuss the drug laws, the "Fatherland" bill and many other aspects that impact our freedoms.

http://cultural-baggage.com/kpft.htm


LETTER OF THE WEEK    (Top)

Rhode Island Reader Speaks Out About DARE

By Tom Angell

To the editor:

The goals of the D.A.R.E.  program are admirable - nobody wants our youth doing drugs.  However, good intentions are no substitute for real drug education.

The D.A.R.E.  program uses scare tactics to influence children not to try drugs.

Some students who realize that they've been lied to by their D.A.R.E.  officers about marijuana often make the mistake of assuming that harder drugs like cocaine and heroin are relatively harmless as well.

If we truly want to keep our kids safe, we must provide them with honest, accurate and reality-based drug education.  Programs like D.A.R.E.  that intend to scare our children out of using drugs will do nothing but cause more harm than they could ever prevent.

Thomas Angell, President, University of Rhode Island Students for Sensible Drug Policy, Warwick, R.I.

Referenced:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2165/a09.html

Date:   12/04/2002
Source:   Tri-Town Transcript (MA)
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/2643


FEATURE ARTICLE    (Top)

My Good Old Pickup Truck Broke Down (Again) - DrugSense Needs Your Year End Contribution.

Dear DrugSense/MAP Supporter:

My 12 year old pick up is in the shop again.  I'll probably have to put the $850 in repairs on my credit card and pay it off over time. After 7 years of mostly seven day weeks and countless hours of hard work in developing DrugSense/MAP I would have hoped to report a better fiscal picture for DrugSense/MAP in general, for our overworked and underpaid staff, and alas for yours truly.

Unfortunately such is not the case.  While I've tried valiantly for years to convince some of the major funding sources of our exceptional value to the reform movement, I'm sorry to report that I have been largely ineffective.  Not to say that we have not received any support of course, but our level of support has simply never come close to the funding levels of other important organizations within reform and, despite our gallant efforts and long hours, we struggle mightily to make ends meet.  This is especially true at year end when our annual grant money has run out.

In my weaker moments, I look back wistfully to the days when I drove late model cars, had an ocean view home, pulled down a six figure salary, and even owned a race horse at one point.  But that was long ago and far away and, in my experience, trying to "save the world" isn't a very good career choice for people who hope to pay the rent and keep an aging vehicle running.

Bottom Line: The only option I can come up with is to come to you, hat in hand, and again ask for your financial help, if you are able, to keep our important work moving forward.

Contributing is easy.  You can charge your contribution to your credit card or a PayPal account at:
http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm

If you prefer to donate via check, please mail your checks payable

DrugSense or MAP Inc.
PO Box 651,
Porterville,
CA 93258.

Please be our partner in helping to save the world from the excesses of the War on Drugs.

Our most sincere thanks,

Mark Greer and DrugSense/MAP Staff, Tom Angell, Chip Ausley, Jay Bergstrom, Mary Jane Borden, Ashley Clements, Matt Elrod, Van Estes (Doc Hawk), Jo-D Harrison, Steve Heath, Richard Lake, Jack Lebowitz, Terry Liittschwager, Philippe Lucas, Alexandra Meyerson, Derek Rea, Doug Snead, Larry Stevens, Josh Sutcliffe and Steve Young


QUOTE OF THE WEEK    (Top)

"The whole of government consists in the art of being honest."

Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Adams


DS Weekly is one of the many free educational services DrugSense offers our members.  Watch this feature to learn more about what DrugSense can do for you.

TO SUBSCRIBE, UNSUBSCRIBE, OR UPDATE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS:

Please utilize the following URLs

http://www.drugsense.org/hurry.htm

http://www.drugsense.org/unsub.htm

CREDITS:  

Policy and Law Enforcement/Prison content selection and analysis by Stephen Young (), Cannabis/Hemp content selection and analysis by guest editor Jo-D Harrison
(), International content selection and analysis by Doug Snead (), Layout by Matt Elrod ()

We wish to thank all our contributors, editors, NewsHawks and letter writing activists.  Please help us help reform. Become a NewsHawk See http://www.mapinc.org/hawk.htm for info on contributing clippings.


NOTICE:  

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C.  Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.


MAKE A TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATION TO DRUGSENSE ON-LINE

http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm

-OR-

Mail in your contribution.  Make checks payable to MAP Inc. send your contribution to:

The Media Awareness Project (MAP) Inc.
D/B/a DrugSense
PO Box 651
Porterville,
CA 93258
(800) 266 5759


RSS DrugSense Weekly current issue this issue

Back Issues: 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010