| Aug. 15, 2003 #313 | ||||||||||||||||||
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Table of Contents
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THIS JUST IN (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
(1) RAVES BECOME ALL THE RAGE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
PACHUCA -- Through the darkness, young people stumble along an uneven
path into the thick forest of Mineral del Chico, a national park 60
miles northeast of Mexico City. | ||||||||||||||||||
Flashes of neon-green and fuchsia-pink lights illuminate the
rock-strewn trail and the Technicolor hair and multiple piercings of
the hipsters. Police at the entrance to the trail frisk everyone who
passes through, as smoke from marijuana joints and the pyrotechnic
machine waft through the dense brush. | ||||||||||||||||||
Suddenly, the trees give way to a gigantic pit, where 4,000 to 5,000
kids sway to syncopated music booming from a DJ booth. | ||||||||||||||||||
This is a rave; a phenomenon imported from Europe that in Mexico draws legions of young psycheros. They see themselves as modern hippies. They dance all night to "psycho-trance" music. And they consume lots of drugs such as ecstasy, LSD and amphetamines, police say. | ||||||||||||||||||
"This is our Woodstock," said Fernando Cisneros Cruz, 17, of Mexico
City. "We're Mexico's counterculture. We take psychedelic drugs and
party nonstop." | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(2) COPS AGAINST THE DRUG WAR (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
They were two white guys cruising through the black part of Patterson,
N.J., back in the 1970s. One was an undercover police officer named
Jack Cole, the other an informant known as Fast Eddy. Posing as heroin
buyers, they ran into trouble with three thugs who tried to rip them
off and who slashed Fast Eddy's hand with a knife before being chased
off. Luckily, Cole recalls, a Good Samaritan came out into the road.
He was a young black man who was going to college to get out of the
ghetto. | ||||||||||||||||||
He said he didn't approve of drugs but felt bad about the white guys
getting roughed up in the neighborhood. He went into his house to get
bandages for Fast Eddy and then, since Cole continued to pretend like
he needed a fix, brought them to a supplier who wouldn't take
advantage of them. | ||||||||||||||||||
Back at the precinct, Cole felt he had no choice but to include the
Good Samaritan's name in his report. | ||||||||||||||||||
The Good Samaritan was duly charged with conspiracy to distribute
heroin, a charge that carried the same penalty as distribution: up to
seven years in jail. Cole was at the station when the Good Samaritan
was brought in. He looked Cole in the eye and said, "Man, I was trying
to be your friend." | ||||||||||||||||||
"So yeah, that got to me," Cole says now, his voice seeming to break
and going quiet. Speaking by phone from his current home of Boston,
the 64-year-old Cole is explaining why he ultimately turned against
the war on drugs. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(3) GOFF CALLS FOR NEW PENALTY FOR CANNABIS SMOKING STUDENTS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Justice Minister Phil Goff says the Government is concerned with the number of students suspended from schools for cannabis use and wants schools to find different ways of dealing with the problem. | ||||||||||||||||||
Mr Goff, in charge of the Government Youth Offending Strategy, said
the Government understood and supported schools' desire to take a
hard line on drugs. | ||||||||||||||||||
However, there was clear evidence that youth who were not in school,
whether because of suspension or truancy, were more likely to commit
crimes - - and to abuse the drug more frequently. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
A Post-Primary Teachers Association report released last year found
that drug-related suspensions amounted to a third of all suspensions
and more than half of those involved Maori students. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
"What the crime statistics show is that most crime committed by young
people who ought to be at school in fact aren't in school. If you
throw the kid out of school that young person then isn't under any
supervision. That produces a greater risk of that young person
offending in that way." | ||||||||||||||||||
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(4) THE BUD REPORT (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Each day, 2 million Americans smoke marijuana, among them many thousands of Seattleites. And, according to sources in the pot community, those Seattleites aren't smoking B.C. bud, at least not to the degree they were a few years ago, despite press accounts and law-enforcement claims that what's harvested in British Columbia one day hits the streets of Seattle the next. Instead, it's locally grown weed that's eroding the market share of the much-hyped, supposedly highly potent Canadian cannabis. There's a simple reason for this. | ||||||||||||||||||
"B.C. bud sucks," says a grower who agreed to be interviewed on condition of anonymity. "It's dry, there are no [THC] crystals on it, it doesn't smell good, and you have to smoke it every 15 minutes to stay high. Now, if I open a bag of my stuff in the next room, you'll know it. And you only have to smoke it maybe once an hour." | ||||||||||||||||||
What he means is that Washington weed is the "kine," the Bordeaux of bud, while B.C. bud has become the equivalent of a quart of Ripple. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
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Domestic News- Policy | ||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (5-8) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
The Bush administration's grand moral vision was further articulated last week as advocates of medical marijuana were likened to segregationists by a lawyer from the Justice Department. Throughout the rest of the country, real people had to cope with the realities of the drug war. In Kentucky, a county coroner had his medical license suspended for prescribing methadone to addicts. In Florida, a mother was jailed for a week after her daughter and her friends overdosed on prescription drugs kept at the house by a roommate. The local states attorney finally declined to press charges. | ||||||||||||||||||
Also in Florida, an appeals court tossed out a judgement against a
drug suspect because the police dog that allegedly sniffed drugs in
his car was under-trained and under-qualified. Makes you wonder how
many other sub-par drug dogs are barking randomly and just getting
lucky now and then. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(5) BUSH LAWYER COMPARES POT TO CIVIL RIGHTS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- California and other states that want to make marijuana available to sick or dying patients are flouting federal drug laws in much the same way that Southern states defied national civil rights laws, a senior Bush administration lawyer said. | ||||||||||||||||||
California is ground zero in a long tug of war with the federal
government over the medical value of marijuana and the power of
state governments and voters to make exceptions for people who may
benefit from the illegal drug. | ||||||||||||||||||
Five major federal lawsuits involve those who grow, use or recommend
marijuana for medical use in California. | ||||||||||||||||||
The Bush administration has asked the Supreme Court to settle the
latest fight by agreeing that Washington has the power to revoke
medical licenses of doctors who invoke state laws and recommend pot
for their patients. | ||||||||||||||||||
States cannot choose when to abide by federal law and when not to,
Justice Department lawyer Mark Quinlivan said Saturday. | ||||||||||||||||||
"You cannot cherry-pick," said Quinlivan, the top federal trial
lawyer in three of the pending cases and a panelist at an American
Bar Association discussion of medical marijuana. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(6) THE KENTON COUNTY CORONER BROKE METHADONE LAW (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
The Kenton County coroner, a respected family doctor and an elected
official, lost his license to prescribe drugs for a year because, he
says, he was following his conscience and writing forbidden
prescriptions for methadone, a drug used to treat heroin and
OxyContin addiction. Legally, family practitioners can write
methadone prescriptions only for pain relief. Even when Dr. David
Suetholz learned he was not allowed to prescribe methadone for his
drug-addicted patients, though, he continued to prescribe the drug
for some of them. | ||||||||||||||||||
During a Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure inquiry last year,
Suetholz told the board in a written response that his conscience
would not allow him to do otherwise because he thought the addicts
would go back on the street using drugs. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(7) CHARGES NOT FILED IN TEENS' OVERDOSE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
HUDSON - A mother jailed since Sunday won't face child neglect
charges in connection with a prescription drug overdose that sent
four teens to hospitals. | ||||||||||||||||||
Assistant State Attorney Mike Halkitis said the case didn't rise to the level of criminal neglect. He said, however, a Pasco County sheriff's deputy had probable cause to arrest Kathleen McMenemy. | ||||||||||||||||||
``After the detectives did a full and thorough investigation, there
was no evidence of legal neglect on her part,'' Halkitis said
Friday. ``She almost immediately called 911.'' | ||||||||||||||||||
McMenemy, 41, remained in the Land O' Lakes Jail on Friday, held
with bail set at $10,500, on unrelated charges. She declined an
interview request through the sheriff's office. | ||||||||||||||||||
McMenemy's mother, Margarida Warnitz, said the prosecutor's decision confirmed what she believed all along: McMenemy did nothing wrong last weekend after she found the teens, including her 13-year-old daughter, unconscious in her mobile home during a sleepover. | ||||||||||||||||||
The three girls - another 13-year-old and a 14-year-old - and a
17-year-old boy were hooked to respirators to aid their breathing
before being released from hospitals this week. | ||||||||||||||||||
Halkitis said the teens took four prescription medications belonging
to McMenemy's roommate: the anti-inflammatory drug Vioxx,
antianxiety drugs Xanax and Ativan and the antipsychotic drug
Risperdal. | ||||||||||||||||||
``They just took pills, a combination of those pills, and just
started popping them,'' he said. ``Mom, in her bedroom, doesn't know
what's going on.'' | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(8) ACCURACY OF DRUG DOGS IS CHALLENGED (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
An Appeals Court Throws Out A Hillsborough Case, Saying No Evidence Was Presented To Show A Drug-sniffing Dog's "Track Record" | ||||||||||||||||||
TAMPA - Hillsborough sheriff's deputies deployed their | ||||||||||||||||||
The German shepherd signaled the presence of drugs, which deputies
used as probable cause for the May 1999 search. The search revealed
morphine and methamphetamine. | ||||||||||||||||||
After failing to get the evidence suppressed in court, Matheson
pleaded guilty to drug-possession charges. He received probation in
2000. | ||||||||||||||||||
This week, however, the 2nd District Court of Appeal threw out the case against Matheson, saying the state had not presented any evidence of the dog's "track record" of sniffing out drugs. | ||||||||||||||||||
The Sheriff's Office acknowledged that it did not keep records of
Razor's success rate in the field and that the dog had no training
to distinguish between actual drugs and "dead scents" from drugs no
longer present. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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Law Enforcement & Prisons | ||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (9-12) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Judges need discretion in sentencing, according to U.S. Supreme
Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. He called for the repeal of mandatory
minimum sentences in the federal system, which frequently impact
drug offenders. The American Bar Association quickly echoed Kennedy.
Are any legislators listening? | ||||||||||||||||||
Marion County, Ind. officials apparently weren't listening to the
Supreme Court's ruling that determined random drug check points were
unconstitutional. Until recently, police there had been setting up
fake drug check points and then searching people who tried to avoid
them. In other news about police challenging acceptable boundaries,
administrators and officers in the Tampa, Fla. Police Department are
cruising in style with luxury cars confiscated from alleged drug
dealers. The St. Petersburg Times rightly editorialized against the
practice. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(9) HIGH COURT JUSTICE CRUSADES FOR MERCY (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
San Francisco -- U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, in a
striking departure from his court's and the Bush administration's
hard line on crime, criticized the nation 's imprisonment policies
Saturday and called for the repeal of mandatory-minimum sentences
for federal crimes. | ||||||||||||||||||
"Our resources are being misspent. Our punishments are too severe.
Our sentences are too long," Kennedy said in a speech at the
American Bar Association convention in San Francisco. | ||||||||||||||||||
Mandatory-minimum sentences are an increasingly common feature of
federal laws, particularly drug laws, and require prison terms of a
specified number of years for defendants convicted of particular
crimes, regardless of the sentencing judge's views. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(10) LAWYERS TO RESPOND TO SUPREME COURT JUSTICE'S CRITICISM (Top)OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM | ||||||||||||||||||
SAN FRANCISCO -- Following up on blunt criticism of the U.S. criminal justice system from Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, the nation's largest lawyers' organization plans an examination of long prison terms and conditions behind bars. | ||||||||||||||||||
The American Bar Association will look at whether mandatory minimum
prison terms should be abolished, the group's new president, Dennis
Archer, said Monday. | ||||||||||||||||||
Over the coming year, the ABA will also consider whether federal
sentencing guidelines should be relaxed so that prisoners face less
severe terms, and whether some current prisoners should win pardons,
said Archer, a former Detroit mayor and Michigan Supreme Court
justice. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(11) PHONY DRUG CHECKPOINTS PUT ON HOLD FOR REVIEW (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Marion County Sheriff Frank Anderson decided Monday not to use more
phony drug checkpoints on interstate highways until he reviews their
effectiveness. | ||||||||||||||||||
Anderson made the decision after discussing the controversial
strategy with sheriff's Maj. Scott Robinett, the department's covert
operations commander. | ||||||||||||||||||
Robinett organized a two-day effort last week on the Northwestside
where deputies set up phony checkpoints and patrolled the southbound
lanes of I-65 between 71st and 86th streets. | ||||||||||||||||||
Deputies issued 42 traffic tickets, some to motorists making illegal
U-turns trying to avoid the checkpoints. Deputies also made four
arrests for marijuana or drug paraphernalia possession. | ||||||||||||||||||
The checkpoints snared no big drug dealers, but "you cast your net to sea enough times, you'll catch a whale," Robinett said. | ||||||||||||||||||
Authorities believe I-65 is a major pipeline for bringing illegal
drugs into Marion County. | ||||||||||||||||||
Actual drug checkpoints aren't allowed in Indiana because of a U.S.
Supreme Court decision. | ||||||||||||||||||
The Indiana Civil Liberties Union is assessing the legality of the
phony checkpoints. Others worry the checkpoints create the potential
for accidents as motorists try to avoid them. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(12) EDITORIAL: POLICE PERKS ON WHEELS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
It is disappointing that neither Tampa's mayor nor police chief
recognize how unbecoming it is for police brass to drive confiscated
cars. The purpose of property seizure laws is to strip criminals of
their illegal gains; they're not intended to be a honey pot so the
chief and his staff can tool around in luxury cars. Mayor Pam Iorio
should end this practice. | ||||||||||||||||||
The Tampa Police Department uses 43 seized vehicles, including
Lincoln Navigators, Ford Expeditions, a BMW and a Lexus. Chief
Bennie Holder once cruised around in a $35,000 Navigator - the one
that got burglarized while the chief was eating lunch. Now he drives
a $38,000 Chevy Tahoe. Several of his staff drive seized SUVs. Other
bay area law enforcement agencies auction the cars and provide their
staff with department vehicles. | ||||||||||||||||||
Holder makes two ridiculous arguments, that using seized vehicles
"makes good fiscal sense" and that they're used "for legitimate law
enforcement purposes." This is not about money, and everyone knows
it. There is no "legitimate law enforcement purpose" served by
giving the chief and his senior commanders the use of pricey
vehicles. It is a perk, and they know it. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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Cannabis & Hemp- | ||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (13-16) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
My friends, either our hard-working newshawks are enjoying too much
fun in the sun this find summer, or there truly is little to tell on
the cannabis and hemp front this week. Our first story is an update
of Marc Emery's Summer of Legalization Tour, which has seen the
infamous owner of Cannabis Culture Magazine and head of the BC
Marijuana Party "light up" in front of police stations throughout
Canada. Emery is trying to call attention to an Ontario Supreme
Court decision known as Rogin, which has struck the penalty for
cannabis possession as unconstitutional for not properly addressing
medicinal cannabis. | ||||||||||||||||||
Our second story is an in depth article examining "Oaksterdam", an
area on the edge of downtown Oakland that has become the home to a
number of therapeutic cannabis dispensaries. Although there will no
doubt be some controversy about the influx of compassion clubs to
the area, I believe that this is a positive model to demonstrate how
cannabis can safely and effectively be distributed to thousands in
need (if only it wasn't so blatantly being done "for profit," but
that's and issue for another day). | ||||||||||||||||||
Our third story is an article serving as an announcement and
invitation for those in the Toronto area to join in the August 30th
"Cannabian Day" protest (my spellcheck is having a fit over this
awkward namesake). A group calling itself Cannabis Canada is
organizing the rally in conjunction with the Marijuana Party of
Ontario. The gathering is part of a campaign by Ontario activists to
normalize the recreational use of cannabis. | ||||||||||||||||||
Our last article is an interesting LTE that sees an American
defending the liberalization of Canadian prohibition as being
"reasonable and sane", and urging his northern neighbours to ignore
the banging drums of drug war propaganda emanating from south of the
border. Enjoy the end of summer, y' all; it's going to be a busy
fall on the cannabis front! | ||||||||||||||||||
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(13) CANADIAN POT ACTIVIST HAS COPS SMOKIN' (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
In-Your-Face Protester Headed Here After Being Arrested By Calgary
Police | ||||||||||||||||||
Fresh from a brief detention by Calgary police yesterday, Marc Emery
is headed for the steps of Edmonton's downtown police headquarters
today with weed in hand. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
Emery has been smoking pot in front of cops all over the country,
with mixed reactions. So far he's been read his rights in Calgary,
Regina, Winnipeg - where he was put in leg irons - Moncton and St.
John's, Nfld. Police in Halifax, Toronto and Charlottetown have left
him alone. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
"There are a lot of courts to be heard from yet, but currently there
is no cannabis in the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and
several courts have validated that," Emery said. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
An Ontario court ruled in January there are currently no laws
against possession of small amounts. | ||||||||||||||||||
Emery predicts the federal government will "introduce a package to re-criminalize marijuana" sometime this fall, but hopes the Supreme Court will overturn it in a decision expected over the winter. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(14) OAKLAND POT CLUBS GROW BELOW CITY'S RADAR (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
OAKLAND -- In the heart of Uptown, the battered northern edge of
downtown that City Hall has long sought to revitalize, a new
commercial district has sprouted: Oaksterdam. | ||||||||||||||||||
Nurtured by the city's benign neglect, half a dozen cannabis
dispensaries and related suppliers have set up shop in a green
triangle bounded by 17th and 19th streets and Telegraph Avenue and
Broadway. | ||||||||||||||||||
Several operate cafes in the front and direct medical marijuana
patients to back rooms or basements to get their supplies. Others
look more like nightclubs with guards posted outside to check
identification. | ||||||||||||||||||
Unlike Amsterdam, however, where marijuana is legal but regulated,
cannabis clubs here are operating in a netherworld between federal,
state and local laws. Their activities may be lawful under
California's Proposition 215, but the feds have argued they are
illegal. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(15) TORONTO PARK MAY GO TO POT AUGUST 30 (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Steven Bacon wants Toronto's tokers to smoke up and be proud. He's
inviting pot enthusiasts to what he hopes will be a massive smoke-in
scheduled for a west-end park later this month. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
Calling themselves Cannabis Canada, members of the the group
yesterday hoped the rally -- organized in conjunction with the
Ontario Marijuana Party -- will help to lift stigmas associated with
the herb by comparing it to other legal vices. | ||||||||||||||||||
Since May 16, when an Ontario Superior Court justice in Windsor
upheld an overturned conviction of a youth caught with less than 30
grams of pot, Canada's weed laws have been up in the air, with the
courts and Parliament yet to clarify them. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(16) CANADA IS REASONABLE AND SANE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
RE "ONLY in Canada" (Aug. 4): You ask what is going on in Canada? I
think it is called being reasonable and sane. Who is Robert Knight
to speak for me or my fellow Americans? Is he reporting poll data
when he states we disrespect your social policy moves, or is he
simply engaged in wishful thinking? I think it is called spin,
salesmanship, and misreporting. | ||||||||||||||||||
To be civil and kind about it, I can tell you every single major
drug policy study ever done recommends decriminalization of
marijuana. If you want to compete with the United States to have the
most intoxicated kids on the planet, continue looking for wisdom
from the likes of Robert Knight and Phil McLean. | ||||||||||||||||||
While you are quoting conservatives, why not quote one of my acquaintances who is far better educated and respected than either of these two commentators: "As often as not, democracy sucks. But on the question of marijuana laws, the good sense of the people is doing yeoman work ... it is teaching that however ill-advised it may be to take the drug, it is less well-advised to continue to arrest ten thousand people every week for a practice or indulgence of such exiguous social consequence." Those would be the words of William F. Buckley Jr., a man with whom these two cannot begin to compete. | ||||||||||||||||||
Matthew Hulett | ||||||||||||||||||
Brick, N.J. | ||||||||||||||||||
(And a former Sun columnist, as it happens) | ||||||||||||||||||
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International News | ||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (17-20) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
This week rabidly prohibitionist states once again executed more
drug offenders, ostensibly to curtail the use of drugs. Collectivist
China, widely known for respect of liberty and due process,
"collectively" sentenced 26 to death for "trafficking" drugs.
Hard-core prohibitionists in western nations have cheered communist
Chinese summary executions of drug offenders since the days of
Chairman Mao in the 1950s. But even such regular drug-executions
demonstrate the harshest of laws have little effect on the law of
supply and demand. Sources estimate China executes about 15,000
people yearly, a boon to China's flourishing but illegal trade in
human organs. | ||||||||||||||||||
As for China, Saudi Arabia's executions of infidel drug offenders is
always good politics at home, and it appeases U.S. prohibitionists
abroad, as well. The Saudi Arabian oil sheikdom announced last week
it beheaded two more drug "dealers," bringing the official number of
executions to 30 so far this year. | ||||||||||||||||||
The U.S. government pledged to divert more money from fighting drugs
in Colombia, to fighting leftist rebels there, a senior Pentagon
bureaucrat reported last week. General Richard Myers, chairman of
the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, asserted U.S. interests dictated the
move, which would take funds earlier earmarked for counter-narcotics
missions. The money would then be used to train the Colombian
military. Last month, the US House approved some $730 million for
Colombia and neighboring countries. | ||||||||||||||||||
As is traditional in forced-labor concentration camps, Thai
authorities proudly announced that Thai "drug inmates" (members of
the Thai underclass and ethnic minorities rounded up for "drugs")
would be forced to build their own prison "houses." Putting a happy
face on the brutality of forced labor and the horror of
concentration camps, Thai officials chirped that forcing prisoners
to build their own prisons would "forge a sense of unity." Thai
justice ministry statistics says over 400,000 drug "addicts" are
currently entered into Thai government "treatment" centers
(concentration camps). | ||||||||||||||||||
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(17) 26 SENTENCED TO DEATH IN SOUTHERN CHINA (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
BEIJING - Twenty-six convicted criminals were collectively sentenced
to death in China's southern city of Guangzhou as part of a
government effort to clear a back-log of cases awaiting verdict,
state press reported on Sunday. | ||||||||||||||||||
The 26 criminals were mostly convicted of "drug trafficking and
other heinous crimes", and were sentenced to death on Saturday, the
China News Service reported. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
China's state prosecutor's office began clearing away back logged
cases on August 1, the report said. China liberally uses the death
penalty in its court rulings but regards the number of executions as
a closely guarded state secret. | ||||||||||||||||||
According to a book titled "Disidai" purportedly written by a
high-placed government source and published recently in the United
States, China has executed up to 15,000 people a year during its
four-year-old "strike hard" campaign against crime. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(18) SAUDIS BEHEAD TWO DRUG DEALERS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP)-- Two days after Canadian William Sampson was spared a death sentence and released from a Saudi jail, the Mideast kingdom beheaded two foreigners convicted of drug trafficking, the official Saudi Press Agency reported yesterday. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
The executions raised the number of beheadings this year to 30. Last year, at least 49 people - including two women - were beheaded. | ||||||||||||||||||
Saudi Arabia follows a strict interpretation of Islam law, under
which people convicted of murder, rape, drug trafficking and armed
robbery are executed in public. Beheadings are carried out with
swords. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(19) U.S. TO INCREASE TRAINING OF TROOPS IN COLOMBIA TO FIGHT (Top)LEFTIST REBELS | ||||||||||||||||||
BOGOTA - (AP) -- The United States will intensify its training of
Colombian troops to bolster their campaign against leftist rebels, a
senior Pentagon official said Tuesday. | ||||||||||||||||||
Gen. Richard Myers, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff,
said it is in the United States' own interest -- and of other
countries in the region -- to see the rebels defeated. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
The general said the United States could shift some of its aid from
fighting drug trafficking to bolstering Colombia's counterinsurgency
campaign by training additional troops. | ||||||||||||||||||
Myers' visit came as Washington contemplated how much aid to give
the South American country. | ||||||||||||||||||
The U.S. House of Representatives last month approved $731 million
in military and economic aid for Colombia and six of its neighbors
for 2004. The U.S. Senate is still working on its version of the
bill. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
Myers also said the Colombian military, assisted by U.S. soldiers, continues to search for three U.S. military contractors captured by FARC rebels in February after their plane crash-landed in Colombia. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(20) DRUG INMATES BUILDING OWN CAMP HOUSES (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
Under the programme, drug inmates sent to undertake rehabilitation
and vocational training build their own camps, wooden houses,
command headquarters, canteen, library, schools, vocational training
hall and farming areas. | ||||||||||||||||||
Col Ongart Pongsak, of Surasee military camp in Kanchanaburi, said
the government thought inmates would benefit from building the
camps. The task would forge a sense of unity. | ||||||||||||||||||
``When they feel like this, I believe they will not run from the
programme and might summon the inspiration to give up drug abuse and
other crimes,'' Col Ongart said. | ||||||||||||||||||
At Surasee camp, the programme has been underway since May. About
200 inmates turned up from prisons in Kanchanaburi, Nakhon Pathom
and Ratchaburi. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
Meanwhile, the Justice Ministry held a seminar yesterday to work out measures for slowing down or suspending prosecution of drug addicts since the new law regards them as patients and not criminals. | ||||||||||||||||||
However, they will have to meet the conditions set for medical treatment and if they do not meet them then the authorities will still have the option of prosecuting the cases against them. | ||||||||||||||||||
Pongthep Thepkanchana, the justice minister, said that at present
there are some 400,000 drug addicts who have voluntarily entered
treatment and another 5,000 who were forced to undergo the programme
against their will. | ||||||||||||||||||
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HOT OFF THE 'NET (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Be Stylish And Help MAP/DrugSense | ||||||||||||||||||
Show support for your favorite drug policy reform organization by wearing a MAP baseball cap or a DrugSense hooded sweatshirt. There's also DrugSense coffee mugs, flying discs, lunch boxes and a whole lot more for sale at this online store. It's cool paraphernalia via the Internet that won't get you busted! Some proceeds go to MAP/DrugSense. | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
Cultural Baggage Radio Show | ||||||||||||||||||
Cliff Schaffer - Creator druglibrary.org | ||||||||||||||||||
The man who first inundated the internet with the facts about the drug
war. Cliff has a long term and unique perspective on this drug war.
Join us as we discuss the history, the hysteria and the lies that gave
us the first eternal war, the war on drugs. | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
Next Week: Geoffrey Guy of GW Pharma in the UK and Al Byrne of
Patients Out of Time | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
The New York Times Gets It Right | ||||||||||||||||||
A DrugSense Focus Alert. | ||||||||||||||||||
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Memorial In Washington, D.C. For Cheryl Miller Announced | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
Politics and Science in the Bush Administration | ||||||||||||||||||
Drug policy reform advocates may be especially interested in the
section title "Substance Abuse." | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
A Note About One Of Last Week's Items | ||||||||||||||||||
Hot Off The Net inadvertently linked a very cold item last week. The
site listing state by state drug laws actually featured information
from the year 2000, so it is out of date for some states. Apologies
for any confusion this may have caused. | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
LETTER OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
By Howard J. Wooldridge | ||||||||||||||||||
Having citizens report meth labs is like reporting a moonshine still
80 years ago. As you bust up one, another springs up. | ||||||||||||||||||
While not ignoring the real dangers posed by meth labs, you might
encourage your readers to do some critical thinking of why meth labs
exist at all; namely, drug prohibition. Moonshine used to blind or
kill its users, while meth labs contaminate an area, both bad
things. | ||||||||||||||||||
Will we ever be as wise as our grandparents and end drug prohibition
and return to a policy based on personal responsibility (like we
have with alcohol and cigarettes)? | ||||||||||||||||||
Howard J. Wooldridge, Fort Worth, TX Member, Law Enforcement Against
Prohibition | ||||||||||||||||||
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FEATURE ARTICLE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
AN M.S. PATIENT'S APPEAL | ||||||||||||||||||
By Mark Tucci | ||||||||||||||||||
Less than six months from now, New Hampshire Democrats will help
select our next president. Please, do not choose someone who wants
to put me in jail for taking my medicine. | ||||||||||||||||||
I am a single parent, raising two teenaged boys alone since my ex-
wife Cathy died of leukemia several years ago. I have had multiple
sclerosis for 10 years. | ||||||||||||||||||
I hope you never have to endure a painful, disabling illness like
M.S. Imagine, if you can, living with constant, throbbing pain, day
after day. Imagine muscle spasms so intense it is hard to move or
perform simple tasks. | ||||||||||||||||||
Imagine trying every drug medicine has to offer, as much as $2,000
per month worth of pharmaceuticals, with little or no benefit.
Imagine being so groggy from all those drugs that one day you
realize your son has grown four inches in just eight months -- and
you didn't even notice. | ||||||||||||||||||
Then imagine finding one medicine that helps, a medicine that eases the pain and spasms without making you so drugged out you can't function -- a medicine with hardly any side effects at all. Imagine knowing you risk a prison sentence every time you use it, because that medicine is marijuana. That is what I live with every day. | ||||||||||||||||||
Last year, my state's governor, Howard Dean, made sure that I still
face jail. A medical marijuana bill like the successful laws in
Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon, and
Washington was on the verge of passage in Vermont's legislature
until Gov. Dean -- described by the Rutland Herald as a "staunch
opponent" -- twisted arms in the statehouse to make sure it never
reached his desk. | ||||||||||||||||||
Dean, who styles himself as Mr. Straight Talk, explained his
opposition with a succession of whoppers. At one point he made the
absurd claim that the bill would have let patients possess three
pounds of marijuana, when the actual amount -- clearly spelled out
in the legislation -- was three ounces. | ||||||||||||||||||
After taking some flak on the campaign trail, Dean moderated his
rhetoric without really changing his position. Now he says he wants
the Food and Drug Administration to look at the data on medical
marijuana and give him a report within a year. | ||||||||||||||||||
But just such a report has already been done, by the National
Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine. It was commissioned by
the previous White House Drug Czar, Gen. Barry McCaffrey, and
published in 1999. | ||||||||||||||||||
That report declared, "Nausea, appetite loss, pain and anxiety are
all afflictions of wasting, and all can be mitigated by marijuana.
... [T]here are patients with debilitating symptoms for whom smoked | ||||||||||||||||||
Dean says that politicians shouldn't interfere in medicine, but political interference is precisely why medical marijuana is illegal. It wasn't the FDA that banned marijuana, it was Congress. We don't need to wait for FDA approval of medical marijuana to know it is wrong to jail people with M.S., cancer, or AIDS who find relief from using marijuana under their doctors' supervision. | ||||||||||||||||||
Dean isn't alone. Sen. John Edwards (D-NC) has said he has no
problem with arresting patients, and Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) has
waffled embarrassingly. Thus far only Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)
has clearly called for an end to the Bush administration's war on
the sick. | ||||||||||||||||||
Studies and reports are fine, but what I need from the next
president is much simpler: A promise not to put me in jail for using
my medicine. | ||||||||||||||||||
Mark Tucci lives in Manchester Center, Vermont. | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
QUOTE OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
"If our democracy is to flourish, it must have criticism; if our
government is to function, it must have dissent." - Henry Steele
Commager | ||||||||||||||||||
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Policy and Law Enforcement/Prison content selection and analysis by Stephen Young (), Cannabis/Hemp content selection and analysis by Philippe Lucas (), International content selection and analysis by Doug Snead (), Layout by Matt Elrod () | ||||||||||||||||||
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