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DrugSense Weekly
Feb. 21, 2003 #289

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Table of Contents

* Breaking News (03/28/24)


* This Just In


(1) DEA Slaying Of Girl Under Investigation
(2) US NM: National Drug Czar Pays Visit To Governor's Office
(3) Canada: Relaxed Pot Laws Favoured By Most
(4) Pot Activists Want DEA Out Of Oakland Building

* Weekly News in Review


Drug Policy-

COMMENT: (5-8)
(5) Utah Attorney General Proposes Rewrite Of Forfeiture Law
(6) A Call For Compassion
(7) She's 13 and Pushing Drugs
(8) Anti-Drug Education Analyzed By Youths

Law Enforcement & Prisons-

COMMENT: (9-12)
(9) Narcotics Agents Win Lawsuit Against PA Attorney General
(10) Juries Often Disagree With Official Findings In Drug War Deaths
(11) Paying The Price
(12) Partners in Crime

Cannabis & Hemp-

COMMENT: (13-16)
(13) Federal, State Laws Duel Over Pot
(14) Medical Pot Growers Find No Refuge From Feds
(15) LTE: Costs Of Enforcing Marijuana Laws
(16) LTE: It Can't Be Stopped

International News-

COMMENT: (17-21)
(17) Counting The Cost Of Going Drug-Free
(18) Thailand's Drug War Gets Messy
(19) Deaths Mount In Thai Drug Crackdown
(20) U.S. Trio Abducted During Secret Anti-Drug Mission
(21) Bolivia May Ease Coca-Growing Limits

* Hot Off The 'Net


     Chat with Richard Cowan
     Out from the Shadows
     Loretta Nall And Family In Hiding
     The Osburn Defense Fund
     Dr. Ethan Russo On Pot-TV

* Letter Of The Week


     Jurors Have A Duty / By Brett Cashman

* Feature Article


     Medical Marijuana on Dateline NBC Friday And Other Developments
     / By Alexis Baden-Mayer

* Quote of the Week


     Kate Scannell


THIS JUST IN    (Top)

(1) DEA SLAYING OF GIRL UNDER INVESTIGATION    (Top)

Federal and state law-enforcement authorities are investigating the death of a 14-year-old Texas girl shot by a Drug Enforcement Administration agent who was part of a team seeking to arrest her father, who was suspected of dealing cocaine.

Ashley Villarreal died Feb.  11 at Wilford Hall Medical Center in San Antonio after being taken off life support at the request of family members.  She was shot two days earlier by an unidentified DEA agent seeking to arrest her father, Joey Angel Villarreal, 36, who turned himself in Feb.  12 and was charged with drug trafficking.

[snip]

DEA Agent Javier Pena, who heads the agency's San Antonio field office, immediately called for an investigation after the shooting, telling reporters in San Antonio last week that Ashley's death was a painful incident for everyone involved.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 20 Feb 2003
Source:   Washington Times (DC)
Copyright:   2003 News World Communications, Inc.
Website:   http://www.washingtontimes.com/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/492
Author:   Jerry Seper, The Washington Times
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/people/Ashley+Villarreal
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/raids.htm (Drug Raids)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n274.a05.html


(2) US NM: NATIONAL DRUG CZAR PAYS VISIT TO GOVERNOR'S OFFICE    (Top)

The last time a top-level federal drug official came to New Mexico, it was to debate then-Gov.  Gary Johnson about legalizing marijuana.

But when John Walters, the director of National Drug Control Policy came to the governor's office Wednesday, it was "a symbolic meeting to show we support the director's mission," the new governor, Bill Richardson, said Wednesday.

Despite his general support of Walters' policies, Richardson said, he remains open to a "medical marijuana" bill that would legalize marijuana to treat symptoms of certain serious medical conditions.

However, when asked about details of what he would look for in such a bill, Richardson said medical marijuana "is not a major concern of mine."

[snip]

Unlike Johnson - who frequently called the War on Drugs a failure - Richardson said, "I believe there has been progress.  It's an intractable problem.  It's very hard to lick it. We need strong law enforcement and more treatment."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 23 Jan 2003
Source:   Santa Fe New Mexican (NM)
Copyright:   2003 The Santa Fe New Mexican
Website:   http://www.sfnewmexican.com/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/695
Author:   Steve Terrell, The New Mexican
Cited:   http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/
Cited:   http://www.improvenewmexico.org/
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n110.a08.html


(3) CANADA: RELAXED POT LAWS FAVOURED BY MOST    (Top)

OTTAWA -- Sixty-nine per cent of Canadians favour the
decriminalization of possession of small amounts of marijuana, according to an SES / Sun Media poll.

The survey found Canadians who were teenagers during the "flower power" 1960s were the group most likely to support easing pot laws.

Among age groups, it showed 76 per cent of Canadians between the ages of 50 and 59 support decriminalization while 72 per cent of the 40 to 49 age group agree the laws against smoking dope should be relaxed.

The poll surveyed 1,000 people between Feb.  2 and 11.

There was strong support for decriminalization in every region.  Only 25 per cent of those who responded to the survey opposed our marijuana possession laws going up in smoke.

[snip]

Liberal, Tory and Alliance MPs say pot shouldn't be considered a harmless recreational drug even though a Senate committee last fall recommended legalizing the smoking of pot for anyone older than 16.

[snip]

Toronto-area Liberal MP Dan McTeague says there needs to be a national debate on the issue.  "As if we have not had the lesson of the destruction that alcohol has reeked on families," he said.  "Do we need another form of mind-bending products that are going to ruin people's lives?"

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 21 Feb 2003
Source:   London Free Press (CN ON)
Copyright:   2003 The London Free Press a division of Sun Media Corporation.
Website:   http://www.fyilondon.com/londonfreepress/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/243
Author:   Bill Rodgers
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Cited:   http://www.sesresearch.com/news/press_releases/PR%20February%2021%202003.pdf
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n279.a03.html


(4) POT ACTIVISTS WANT DEA OUT OF OAKLAND BUILDING    (Top)

OAKLAND -- The fight for access to medical marijuana continued Tuesday across the nation and in downtown Oakland, as demonstrators demanded the eviction of the Drug Enforcement Administration from the Ronald V.  Dellums Federal Building.

Members of Americans for Safe Access (ASA) and medical marijuana supporters protested government actions preventing patients from using marijuana to treat illnesses.

Protesters gathered from noon to 1 p.m.  outside the building waiting for the DEA to respond.  Fake eviction notices from the protesters were posted on the building's front doors.

[snip]

Guards would not allow protesters or reporters inside the building and the DEA did not issue any statement about the protest.

Protesters, dressed up as furniture movers and using a makeshift desk and boxed supplies, pretended to evict Assistant U.S.  Attorney George Bevan.

Bevan, who recently prosecuted medical marijuana supplier Ed Rosenthal of Oakland, has prosecuted medical marijuana cases "without showing remorse," Konechy said.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 19 Feb 2003
Source:   Oakland Tribune, The (CA)
Copyright:   2003 MediaNews Group, Inc.  and ANG Newspapers
Website:   http://www.oaklandtribune.com/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/314
Author:   Colin Atagi
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n278.a02.html


WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW    (Top)


Domestic News- Policy


COMMENT: (5-8)    (Top)

This week's biggest stories can be found in DrugSense Weekly's International section.  It has details details on Thailand's continuing drug war pogrom, news of the Bolivian governments retreat from the coca war, and the fallout from a plane crash during an anti-drug misssion involving Americans in Colombia.

Back in the U.S., the drug war rolls on thanks to support from the usual suspects.  In Utah, citizens have so far blocked attempts by law enforcement to repeal laws that limit police use of drug seizure money.  However, the state attorney general apparently wants the law changed as well.

The abuse of pain patients by law enforcement is being criticized by doctors in a good piece printed in Texas.  The abuse of young teen girls recruited by older men to sell drugs was reported in San Francisco.  Sensational as the story was, it highlighted another way children can be hurt by the drug war.

On the positive side, given the chance, young people can take an honest look at so-called drug education.  A state youth advisory committee in Maine has recommended the abandonment of DARE.


(5) UTAH ATTORNEY GENERAL PROPOSES REWRITE OF FORFEITURE LAW THAT    (Top)COSTS SCHOOLS, VICTIMS

Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff has determined district attorneys and courts in Salt Lake, Davis and Weber counties violated state law by allowing law enforcement agencies to pocket more than a quarter of a million dollars in seized money and property that rightfully belongs to public schools.

But he doesn't yet know how to fix the mess and is still bent on rewriting the very forfeiture law that counties appear to have skirted.

"These were court ordered," Shurtleff said Tuesday, adding that retrieving the misplaced $237,999 could mean going to court.

Shurtleff delivered his legal opinion Monday to Senate President Al Mansell, who requested it in the wake of an audit that found proceeds from 28 forfeiture cases in 2001 never reached the state treasurer as set out in the Utah Uniform Forfeiture Procedures Act.

The law, a ballot measure known as Initiative B, was approved by 69 percent of Utah voters in the November 2000 election.  It was intended to remove the profit incentive from forfeitures and prevent police from zealously impounding the cars or seizing the property of innocent third parties in criminal cases.  Forfeiture proceeds are supposed to be used to compensate crime victims, pay legal fees of innocent forfeiture victims and help schools.

But according to a recent state audit, those groups haven't seen a penny since the law went into effect in March 2001.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 19 Feb 2003
Source:   Deseret News (UT)
Copyright:   2003 Deseret News Publishing Corp.
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/124
Author:   Kirsten Stewart
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/af.htm (Asset Forfeiture)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n267/a04.html


(6) A CALL FOR COMPASSION    (Top)

A Group Of Doctors Rallies To Fight Legal And Societal Barriers Keeping Patients From Getting The Pain Management They Need

Shannon O'Brien, 35, was at the drive-up window of her neighborhood Walgreens pharmacy in Tacoma, Wash., waiting to pick up her prescription for Percocet when two police officers dragged her out of her car, handcuffed her and took her to jail.

"I kept asking, what's going on? What did I do? I had no idea why they were arresting me," O'Brien says.

When asked about the prescription, O'Brien told the officers that she has brain cancer and that her medical information card was in her wallet.

"They were going through my purse, but they wouldn't even look at my medical card," O'Brien said in a telephone interview.  "I was in hysterics, crying, very upset and very embarrassed, shocked and humiliated,"

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 17 Feb 2003
Source:   Ft.  Worth Star-Telegram (TX)
Copyright:   2003 Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, Texas
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/162
Author:   Carolyn Poirot, Star-Telegram Staff Writer
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n256/a13.html


(7) SHE'S 13 AND PUSHING DRUGS    (Top)

With Fubu on her back and Jordans on her feet, Marie owned her stretch of Mission Street near 24th, bringing in about $1,000 a day in drug sales.

It was the 13-year-old's turf, and, of the five dealers working the area, the dope fiends usually chose her.

Marie is just one of the growing number of underage female drug dealers in The City.  Like other dealers, Marie was put on the street by an older man.  For her it was a 20-year-old boyfriend who convinced her she had to sell drugs because the street was "too hot" and rife with undercover narcotics officers for him to risk his own back by dealing.

And while Marie, who has since turned her life around, remembers the "rush" she got -- and the money that let her afford "bling bling" clothes and goods -- experts say the girls are being exploited as much as if they were turning tricks.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 18 Feb 2003
Source:   San Francisco Examiner (CA)
Copyright:   2003 San Francisco Examiner
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/389
Author:   Alison Soltau
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n262/a07.html


(8) ANTI-DRUG EDUCATION ANALYZED BY YOUTHS    (Top)

The Maine Legislative Youth Advisory Council, the first group of its kind in the nation, will recommend today that the state take several steps to improve substance abuse education.

The proposals, part of the group's first annual report to the Legislature, include revamping the state's annual survey of teen drug use and replacing DARE, the widely used Drug Abuse Resistance Education program.

The report will also urge lawmakers to routinely seek the advice of young people when addressing issues related to teens, drugs and alcohol.  The suggestions come as state officials are stepping up efforts to combat underage drinking and reduce fatalities involving young drivers.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 14 Feb 2003
Source:   Portland Press Herald (ME)
Copyright:   2003 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/744
Author:   Selena Ricks, Portland Press Herald Writer
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n247/a01.html


Law Enforcement & Prisons


COMMENT: (9-12)    (Top)

There are some drug rings that ardent drug law enforcers don't want exposed.  A pair of narcotics agents who said they were harassed after exposing the connection between a drug ring and a Dominican political party with links to the CIA have won a $1.5 million lawsuit against the Attorney General of Pennsylvania.

In the wake of the killing of a 14-year-old girl by DEA agents, a Texas columnist reminded readers that denials of responsibility by law enforcement officers in such drug war deaths is common, but those denials often undercut through successful lawsuits.

And the harsh injustice of conspiracy laws and mandatory minimum sentences were grimly demonstrated in a good series from the Billings Gazette in Montana.


(9) NARCOTICS AGENTS WIN LAWSUIT AGAINST PA ATTORNEY GENERAL    (Top)

PHILADELPHIA - A federal jury awarded $1.5 million to two narcotics agents who claimed the Pennsylvania attorney general retaliated against them because they uncovered a drug-trafficking ring they said diverted profits to a CIA (news - web sites)-backed Dominican presidential candidate.

John McLaughlin and Charles Micewski sued over their transfer from the Philadelphia office of the state Bureau of Narcotics Investigation in 1996.

"They won their lives and their reputations back," said their attorney, Don Bailey.

Attorney General Mike Fisher said he will appeal.  It was his predecessor, Tom Corbett, who transferred the agents.

McLaughlin and Micewski said they uncovered a drug-trafficking ring operating in Philadelphia, New York and other Eastern cities that funneled drug profits to the left-wing Dominican Revolutionary Party, which they claimed was supported by the CIA and State Department.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 12 Feb 2003
Source:   Tribune Review (Pittsburgh, PA)
Copyright:   2003 Tribune-Review Publishing Co.
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/460
Author:   Associated Press
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n244/a10.html


(10) JURIES OFTEN DISAGREE WITH OFFICIAL FINDINGS IN DRUG WAR DEATHS    (Top)

Given that Drug Enforcement Administration officials already have said 14-year-old Ashley Villarreal caused her own death, we shouldn't hold our breath for that agency's investigation into the tragedy.

Can't police agencies learn to at least pretend they are conducting a thorough investigation before declaring their agents free of blame?

The problem is, when juries get to examine all the facts, they often disagree.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 14 Feb 2003
Source:   San Antonio Express-News (TX)
Copyright:   2003 San Antonio Express-News
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/384
Author:   Rick Casey
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n236/a04.html
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/raids.htm (Drug Raids)
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/people/Ashley+Villarreal
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n272/a04.html


(11) PAYING THE PRICE    (Top)

Never in his worst nightmares did Dan Feist believe that his partying days would cost 6 1/2 years of his life.

"I was just like a hundred others in that group -- partying on weekends, living on the wild side.  And it all came tumbling down," he said, snapping his fingers, "that fast."

In 1994, Feist was sentenced to 90 months in federal custody -- 30 months for distribution of drugs and a 60-month mandatory minimum sentence for possession of a firearm in relation to drug trafficking.  With credit for "good time," he ended up serving 78 months.

[snip]

Despite his guilty plea on the drug charges, Feist said he never sold drugs and denied that he had anywhere near the amount of drugs the government charged -- between 30 and 50 grams.  Feist said in a recent Gazette interview that he wasn't selling drugs, but sharing with friends.

Under federal law, sharing is distribution.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 18 Feb 2003
Source:   Billings Gazette, The (MT)
Copyright:   2003 The Billings Gazette
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/515
Author:   Lorna Thackeray, Of The Gazette Staff
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing)
Note:   The series 'No Second Chances' so far -
Hard Time http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n262.a04.html No 2nd Chances With Drug Crimes
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n250.a11.html
It's The Law http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n258.a02.html Prison Means Marking Time for Family, Too
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n263.a05.html
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n265/a04.html


(12) PARTNERS IN CRIME    (Top)

Korrie Schauer's attorney swore she'd never sold methamphetamine - not even as little as a gram.

She used the powerfully addictive drug and drove a car for a drug-dealing boyfriend who didn't have a drivers license, Tim Cavan told U.S.  District Judge Jack Shanstrom at Schauer's 2000 sentencing hearing.  But she didn't deal.

It didn't matter.  She was behind the wheel trying to elude police when her boyfriend, James Gunderson, now 40, tossed a gun and more than a pound of meth out of the car.  A search of the house they shared on Cook Avenue turned up another 316.7 grams in Gunderson's room.

Gunderson took responsibility for all the drugs.  That didn't matter either.  Schauer, 31, knew what was going on and she helped. The result - a minimum mandatory five-year sentence for possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 19 Feb 2003
Source:   Billings Gazette, The (MT)
Copyright:   2003 The Billings Gazette
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/515
Author:   Lorna Thackeray, Of The Gazette Staff
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n270/a03.html


Cannabis & Hemp-


COMMENT: (13-16)    (Top)

Some say that no news is good news, but for your faithful canna-editor, the void of marijuana-related stories this week practically had me breaking laws and calling up the press on myself. With the upcoming war on Iraq stealing most of the headlines, we have the Press Democrat to thank for the first two stories this week.  In an examination of California's current and continuing battle with the feds over medicinal cannabis, our first story looks at the efforts by the state's politicians and Attorney General to put an end to medical marijuana prosecutions.  Our second story outlines some of the high profile prosecutions that have stemmed from federal interference in California's medicinal cannabis program.

In an attempt to fill this hollow news week, I have examined and included two very different LTE's (Letter to the Editor) in this edition of the DSW.  The first is an exercise in precision, control, and delivery by none other than Robert Sharpe, one of the masters of this medium.  In 6 short paragraphs examining the fiscal/social costs of the war on drugs, Sharpe manages to attack the racist origins of marijuana prohibition, the uneven justice of the Rosenthal trial, and the wrongful prosecution of California's sick and dying medicinal cannabis community.  We can all learn much about the LTE medium from this concise piece of critical prose.

And our second LTE.well, let's just say that sometimes
uncontrollable laughter can say more than a thousand well-chosen words.  Until next week, I wish you all a healthy bout of laughter, peace and pot.


(13) FEDERAL, STATE LAWS DUEL OVER POT    (Top)

A string of DEA raids across California triggered an exchange of letters between state Attorney General Bill Lockyer and Asa Hutchinson, the agency's director at the time, highlighting the conflict between state and federal marijuana laws.

Lockyer called on Hutchinson to stop what Lockyer described as "punitive expeditions whether or not a crime can be successfully prosecuted." He charged the agency was going after small cooperatives that met local guidelines.

Hutchinson replied that the U.S.  Supreme Court ruled marijuana had no accepted medical use under federal law and would remain a target under federal drug enforcement efforts until Congress changes the law.  "The landscape's not real friendly right now. That seems to be the price we're paying for being open and honest," said Chris Andrian, a Santa Rosa attorney who has defended medical marijuana cases and commended local law enforcement authorities for approving Sonoma County's guidelines.  "We're at one of those places where we don't know how things are going to shake out.  We're caught in this kind of power play that is leaving patients in the lurch," he said. "Now they're taking more of a chance." California and Arizona voters sparked the conflict by approving initiatives to permit marijuana use for medical purposes in 1996.  Seven other states have followed with similar laws: Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 16 Feb 2003
Source:   Press Democrat, The (CA)
Copyright:   2002 The Press Democrat
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/348
Author:   Michael Coit, The Press Democrat
Note:   This article is part of a multi-part series which ran in today's
Press Democrat
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/find?194 (Hutchinson, Asa)
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California)
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n254.a01.html


(14) MEDICAL POT GROWERS FIND NO REFUGE FROM FEDS    (Top)

Marijuana growers who believed they were protected by the movement in Sonoma County and across California to sanction medicinal marijuana have been targeted by federal agents in a stepped up battle against pot.  The crackdown in the wake of a key U.S. Supreme Court ruling almost two years ago has swept up seven Sonoma County medical marijuana growers.  A Windsor man has been sent to federal prison.  Santa Rosa and Jenner men face sentencing in San Francisco federal court.  Two Santa Rosa men await federal charges. And one Petaluma man is preparing for trial while another has fled to Canada.

Medical marijuana advocates say they are casualties of the federal government's campaign against people who grow and use marijuana for cancer, chronic pain, AIDS and other illnesses allowed under the ballot measure California voters approved seven years ago.

Federal authorities counter they are enforcing federal laws to protect communities from illegal drugs and traffickers.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 16 Feb 2003
Source:   Press Democrat, The (CA)
Copyright:   2003 The Press Democrat
Author:   Michael Coit
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n257.a11.html


(15) LTE: COSTS OF ENFORCING MARIJUANA LAWS    (Top)

Few Americans realize that the United States may soon be one of the few Western countries that uses its criminal justice system to punish otherwise law-abiding citizens who prefer marijuana to martinis.

Evidence of the federal government's reefer madness is best exemplified by the kangaroo court trial of Ed Rosenthal, highlighted in Clarence Page's column, "Marijuana jury hoodwinked" (Commentary, Tuesday).  By denying an Oakland, Calif., police officer the ability to use California's voter-approved medical marijuana law and the Constitution's 10th Amendment protection of states' rights as a defense, the judge foisted a predetermined guilty verdict onto a grossly misinformed jury.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 16 Feb 2003
Source:   Washington Times (DC)
Copyright:   2002 News World Communications, Inc.
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/492
Author:   Robert Sharpe
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California)
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/people/Ed+Rosenthal
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n254.a08.html


(16) LTE: IT CAN'T BE STOPPED    (Top)

RE: "High times in Calgary," Feb.  9.) Ha Ha Ha Ha Woooo! Ha Ha Ha Whaaa Ha Ha Ha Ha, it can't be stopp...  Ha Ha Ha .... stop ... Haaa wooo aaa Ha Ha Ha it, it, it can't be stopped ...  Woooo! Ha Ha. Maybe we should give the cops more money, then they could stop the weed growers ...  Ha Ha Ha, ahhhhh, I can't help it! Wooooo! Ha Ha Ha

Trevor Houlahan

(Maybe it's time to cut back a little, Trevor.)

Pubdate:   Fri, 14 Feb 2003
Source:   Calgary Sun, The (CN AB)
Copyright:   2003 The Calgary Sun
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/67
Author:   Trevor Houlahan
Note:   Parenthetical remark by the Sun editor, headline by newshawk
Referenced:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n227/a06.html
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n244.a08.html


International News


COMMENT: (17-21)    (Top)

Thailand continues to unleash a river of blood, as the Thai government encourages police to kill as many people suspected of using drugs as possible.  Police death-squads roam the country, working off death-lists consisting of previously arrested drug offenders.  In only the first two weeks of the government-sponsored massacre, over 350 drug "dealers" have been killed by death-squads.

"This is supposed to be a democracy under the rule of
law.  There is no law that covers the gunning down of
people on the whim of the local authorities.  This is a
step back into the dark ages," noted Pradit
Charoenthaithawee, a Thai human rights commission
member.

Thai Prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, whose commands to officials began the bloodbath, remained sanguine: "These officers do not deal in drugs.  I think it's quite unusual the drug dealers are getting sympathy."

While the pile of bodies grows (estimated at 40 death-squad murders of drug users a day), the UN has heaped praise on the Thai government for killing so many suspected drug users.  "Thailand has always been a leader in the fight against drugs during the past 30 years, and the current effort is another good example," gushes UNDCP official Sandro Calvani.

In Colombia, the UK Times citing "military sources," reported three Americans captured by FARC guerillas recently were Pentagon contractors on a "secret intelligence" and anti-drug mission.  The US intelligence operatives were using "jungle-busting" radar to find rebels, according to Newsweek.  The combined U.S. and Colombian militaries have so far failed to find the three captive U.S. intelligence assets.

In Bolivia last week, the embattled government made another concession to traditional peasant coca farmers by easing coca growing restrictions and halting some eradication efforts.  (Earlier the Bolivian government was forced by widespread rioting to abandon plans to raise taxes.) The reversal of policies which prohibit coca farmers from growing their crop may come as early as next week, according to reports.  The U.S. angrily denounced plans to disobey Washington's anti-drug dictates, threatening Bolivia with a cut-off in aid.  "A pause in eradication is a pause in development," huffed US Ambassador David Greenlee.


(17) COUNTING THE COST OF GOING DRUG-FREE    (Top)

40 Thais a day are being killed in a drug eradication drive.  To critics it is a step backwards, but authorities are unmoved.

A two-year-old girl is found sleeping in her mother's arms; the woman has been shot dead and their home ransacked.

An eight-year-old boy wears a permanent frown; his parents were bringing him back from a temple fair when his father was shot in the head.  His mother was shot in the back and took a bit longer to die.

[snip]

Welcome to the brave new world of Drug-Free Thailand.

This campaign, launched by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to wipe out drug trafficking within three months, is not yet three weeks old.  Already 596 people have been killed - just eight of them by police - according to Interior Ministry figures released on Tuesday.

[snip]

It may not only be a travesty of justice, it could usher in a new era of rule by gun and goon - a practice the country has so painfully tried to bury - said a member of the human rights commission, Pradit Charoenthaithawee.

"This is supposed to be a democracy under the rule of law.  There is no law that covers the gunning down of people on the whim of the local authorities.  This is a step back into the dark ages," said Mr Pradit.

There will be no early let-up in the killing: provincial governors and police chiefs have been told firmly this week that their jobs depend on their "success" in joining the drug war.  And in this war, success is measured principally by body the count.

The police blame all but a handful of the deaths on shootouts between traffickers trying to "cover up evidence and silence witnesses".

[snip]

Most concerned observers think that "off duty" death squads have been unleashed.  Many say this is the only explanation for the high number of deaths.

Some army officers in a position to observe police activity say that since rogue policemen have been heavily involved in the drug trade, elements in the police force have a keen interest in silencing certain traffickers.

The prime minister and his colleagues brush off as so much "crying for the devil" the fears that private scores may be being settled, that only small-time traffickers tend to be killed and that the law says everyone deserves a fair trial.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 20 Feb 2003
Source:   South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)
Copyright:   2003 South China Morning Post Publishers
Limited.
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/416
Author:   William Barnes
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n269/a05.html


(18) THAILAND'S DRUG WAR GETS MESSY    (Top)

BANGKOK -- On the face of it, Thailand's drug traffickers appear to have gone on a killing spree - if you believe the police, that is.

[snip]

What is clearly different, though, is the tone and tenor of the current war on drugs, he explained.  "The language is new. The government is taking the campaign very seriously, and [has conveyed that it] will use violence to pursue it."

That has been implied in the comments this week by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who mounted this anti-drug crusade with precise objectives - the police and local authorities have three months, from February to April, to rid the country of drugs.  He appealed to the public to appreciate the police's efforts, and to show some understanding when suspected drug dealers were killed by police officers in acts of self-defense.

"These officers do not deal in drugs.  I think it's quite unusual the drug dealers [killed by the police] are getting sympathy," Thaksin was quoted in Wednesday's Post.

[snip]

This drive has been praised by the United Nations' drug control agency.  "Thailand has always been a leader in the fight against drugs during the past 30 years, and the current effort is another good example," said Sandro Calvani, who heads the East Asia and Pacific office of the UN Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention ( UNDCP ).

"The Thai campaign makes sense," he argued, since it is pursuing the problem in a broad measure, "mobilizing many government resources and civil society's help." There is also "a sense of urgency", he said.

These efforts, Calvani said, will ensure that the
communities in Thailand will control the drug
traffickers, rather than the traffickers controlling
the community, which is often the reality.

Asked about an anti-drug crusade that has resulted in so many killings, Calvani explained that the United Nations is committed to human rights and it is concerned about rights violations, but the UN is also committed to "the rights of the children and youth to live in a drug-free environment".

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 14 Feb 2003
Source:   Asia Times
Copyright:   2003 Asia Times Online Co.  Limited
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/2712
Author:   Marwaan Macan-Markar
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm
(Methamphetamine)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n253/a01.html


(19) DEATHS MOUNT IN THAI DRUG CRACKDOWN    (Top)

BANGKOK, Feb.  16 - Two weeks: 350 dead. But this is only the beginning of a crackdown in which Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has vowed to eliminate Thailand's drug problems, once and for all, within three months.

The police assert that they are responsible for only a dozen of the deaths, and that all of those were in self-defense.

[snip]

"I think human rights activists shouldn't worry too much about these traffickers' lives," said the interior minister, Wan Noor Muhammad Noor Matha.

He has put police chiefs and provincial governors on notice that he is watching their progress with the campaign, and counting, and that their jobs are on the line if they fall short.

[snip]

The report of 350 dead came directly from Mr.  Thaksin on Saturday - 25 killings a day since the campaign began on Feb.  1.

[snip]

Most villagers are convinced that the police are behind the killings, said Somchai Homlaor, who heads a local human rights group called Forum Asia.

He noted that despite the government's assertion that hundreds of drug runners were killing one another, not one arrest had been made on murder charges.

Srirak Plipat, the director of the Thai branch of the human rights group Amnesty International, said the Thai phrase "ying ting" was echoing around the country these days - "kill and throw away."

"People are afraid of being ying ting," he said.

[snip]

A senator, Sak Korsaengrueng, voiced emerging public doubts.  "The way things are going now, many people are getting uncomfortable with the rising death toll of suspected drug dealers," he said.  "It is wrong for the police to take matters into their own hands and kill drug suspects, who must be guaranteed due process of the law."

Mr.  Thaksin seems to have little time for such
niceties.

"Put things into perspective," he said.  "How many police officers have been killed by drug dealers? Do our critics consider the wretched lives of drug dealers more precious than those of our police officers?"

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 17 Feb 2003
Source:   New York Times (NY)
Copyright:   2003 The New York Times Company
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author:   Seth Mydans
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n272/a11.html


(20) U.S. TRIO ABDUCTED DURING SECRET ANTI-DRUG MISSION    (Top)

THREE Americans thought to have been captured by left-wing guerrillas in Colombia were on a secret intelligence mission inside rebel-held territory, according to military sources.

[snip]

The men were travelling on Thursday morning from Bogota, the capital, to the Larandia military base, an anti-drug and counter-insurgency operations centre in thick jungle about 235 miles to the south.  U.S. special forces have trained Colombian anti-drug battalions at Larandia and U.S.  military intelligence experts also operate radar facilities that track drug-smuggling flights, as well as co-ordinating aerial eradication of drug crops.

The men were described as Pentagon contractors who were
assisting the Colombian military on an unspecified
anti-drug mission.  They were equipped with
"jungle-busting" radar to identify FARC units, sources
quoted by Newsweek magazine said.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 17 Feb 2003
Source:   Times, The (UK)
Copyright:   2003 Times Newspapers Ltd
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/454
Author:   David Adams
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n255/a03.html


(21) BOLIVIA MAY EASE COCA-GROWING LIMITS    (Top)

Leader Is Pressured By His Political Rivals

COCHABAMBA, Bolivia -- Bolivia's government is preparing to ease its unpopular effort to eradicate coca and allow farmers to grow the raw material from which cocaine is made.

The move, which could come within a week, would be a sharp reversal of the United States' only success in curbing drug production in South America's Andean region.

[snip]

Government negotiators and coca growers came to a tentative agreement on coca growing last week in Cochabamba, even as violent demonstrations nationwide killed more than two dozen people and destroyed several government buildings.

[snip]

Many Bolivians chew coca legally as a stimulant, appetite suppressant or to cope with exertion at high altitudes.

[snip]

The United States insists that no more coca growing can be justified.

"A pause in eradication is a pause in development," U.S.  Ambassador David Greenlee has warned repeatedly in the Bolivian news media, reminding Bolivians that U.S.  aid remains tied to "zero coca" in the Chapare region east of Cochabamba, where most coca is grown and clandestine cocaine laboratories are found.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 20 Feb 2003
Source:   Detroit Free Press (MI)
Copyright:   2003 Detroit Free Press
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/125
Author:   Kevin G.  Hall, Free Press Foreign Correspondent
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/people/Evo+Morales
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n271/a10.html


HOT OFF THE 'NET    (Top)

CHAT WITH RICHARD COWAN

Saturday, February 22, 2003 at 9 p.m.  Eastern, 6 p.m. Pacific, Cannabis News will Host a Special Chat with Richard Cowan, editor of http://MarijuanaNews.com/, a former National Director of NORML, and a member of the board of directors of the NORML Foundation.

Join us at http://www.cannabisnews.com/chat


OUT FROM THE SHADOWS

First Latin American Anti-Prohibition Summit Convenes in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico

The first hemispheric conference organized to call for an end to prohibition and the drug war took place in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico, Wednesday, February 12 through Saturday, February 15.  Some 300 academics, activists, government officials, journalists and legislators from the United States, Latin America and Europe gathered at the Out from the Shadows: Ending Drug Prohibition in the 21st Century conference to seek new approaches to drug policy centered on regulation and legalization of drug consumption and the drug trade.

Continues:   http://drcnet.org/wol/275.html#reportfrommerida


LORETTA NALL AND FAMILY IN HIDING

U.S.  Marijuana Party president, Loretta Nall had to flee home after a rogue cop obtained a search warrant -- based on a letter to the editor -- and tried to grab her kids.

http://www.pot-tv.net/archive/shows/pottvshowse-1791.html


THE OSBURN DEFENSE FUND

Lynn and Judy Osburn are members of the largest patient-run medical cannabis cooperative in California, Los Angeles Cannabis Resource Cooperative.  LACRC had over 960 active members when the Bush administration assailed its resource center headquarters in October 2001.  Ten months after that federal assault Lynn and Judy were
arrested and became the first of the LACRC patients to be charged under federal law for activities protected under California's Prop. 215.

http://www.osburndefensefund.com


DR.  ETHAN RUSSO ON POT-TV

Chris Bennett asks Cannibinoid expert Dr.  Ethan Russo about the possibility that NIDA "standardized" cannabis is a spray on THC product and the importance of a full range of canabinoids in effective medical marijuana.  As well Dr. Russo gives his opinion on the potential medical activity of the kaneh-bosem annointing oils used by early Hebrews and Christians and Chris asks him about the use of cannabis medicines for survivors of a Nuclear Holocaust.

http://www.pot-tv.net/archive/shows/pottvshowse-1786.html


LETTER OF THE WEEK    (Top)

JURORS HAVE A DUTY

By Brett Cashman

JUROR Marney Craig laments voting to convict Ed Rosenthal of drug charges (Opinion, Feb.  7), for which Rosenthal will now endure prison time.  Craig relates that Judge Charles Breyer instructed the jurors that they could not substitute their sense of justice for their duty to follow the law.

It is a juror's right and duty to reach a verdict according to his or her conscience, regardless of the instructions of some black-robed political appointee.  In the words of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, juries have an "unreviewable and irreversible power .  . . to acquit in disregard of the instructions on the law given by the trial judge." This principle, known as jury nullification, has its historical precedent in the acquittal of John Peter Zenger on libel charges against the English crown in 1734.

It's tragic that Rosenthal will be punished not only for violating an absurd and arbitrary legislative edict against certain kinds of gardening, but also because his fellow citizens, like Craig, do not understand the rights and responsibilities of jurors.

Brett Cashman,
Sunnyvale

Date:   02/09/2003
Source:   San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/390
Referenced:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n195/a01.html


FEATURE ARTICLE    (Top)

Medical Marijuana on Dateline NBC Friday And Other Developments

By Alexis Baden-Mayer

Just last week the Marijuana Policy Project informed you that the momentum for medical marijuana in this country is building.  Well, we have even stronger evidence this week.  On Friday night, Feb. 21, Dateline NBC will be airing a lengthy segment on the trial of Ed Rosenthal, a California man who was deputized by the city of Oakland to grow marijuana for compassion centers that served sick people in accordance with California's medical marijuana law.

The Dateline segment will include interviews with many of the jurors who convicted Mr.  Rosenthal on three federal counts of marijuana cultivation and conspiracy, and it will focus on the conflict between state and federal laws.  Please check your local listings to find out when this program airs in your area.

There has also been an important medical marijuana development in Congress.  U.S. Representatives Sam Farr (D-CA), Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), and Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) have agreed to sponsor a medical marijuana affirmative defense bill drafted by MPP.  The purpose of this bill is to correct the injustice of having jurors convict individuals without knowing that their "crimes" were aiding the sick and dying.  If the bill passes, medical marijuana providers will be allowed to defend themselves by proving that their actions were legal under their states' laws.  We expect that this bill will be introduced in the near future with a large number of co-sponsors.

The credit for this momentum in Congress must be shared with MPP's e-mail subscribers.  Since our first alert on this subject two weeks ago, nearly 11,000 faxes have been delivered to Capitol Hill! (Please scroll down to see which states are generating the most and the fewest faxes.) Let's keep this pressure building.  If you have not yet sent faxes to your three members of Congress asking them to protect states' rights to medical marijuana and to remove the "gag" that the federal government is placing on medical marijuana defendants in court, please visit http://www.mpp.org/USA/action.html to do so now.

(Reminder: If you receive a response from your member of Congress, please fax this letter to us at 202-232-0442.  These letters are a valuable source of information for us.)

Even in parts of the country previously assumed to be inhospitable, support for medical marijuana is growing.  On February 4, the politically conservative city of San Diego helped fortify California law by passing a set of local guidelines for the medical use of marijuana.  The guidelines allow patients to possess one pound of marijuana and grow up to 24 plants -- and caregivers to possess two pounds and grow 48 plants.  The passage of the guidelines was a major coup, as the city's own medical marijuana task force faced opposition from the mayor, the police chief, and a slew of anti-drug groups flush with federal funding earmarked for the fight.

Alexis Baden-Mayer is National Field Director for Marijuana Policy Project - http://www.mpp.org/


QUOTE OF THE WEEK    (Top)

"I want Attorney General Aschroft to wipe the vomit off this woman's chest, help lift her belly so she doesn't hurt as much when she rolls onto her back, and explain straight to her grimacing face why she can't try marijuana.  I want him to tell me why it does not matter to him that almost every sick and dying patient I've ever known who's tried medical marijuana experienced a kinder death.  Face to face, I want him to explain all these things to her and to me and to the heartbroken family who is standing by."

- Kate Scannell, a doctor in Oakland who is co-director of the Northern California Ethics Department of Kaiser-Permanente.  For more information see "Mr.  Attorney General, Listen to the Doctors and Patients" from the San Francisco Chronicle
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n255/a05.html


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