| Aug. 22, 2003 #314 | ||||||||||||||||
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Table of Contents
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THIS JUST IN (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
(1) HONDURAN PRESIDENT SAYS NO US DRUG BASE IN HIS COUNTRY (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) -- The United States has no interest in
setting up an anti-drug base in Honduras, President Ricardo Maduro
said Thursday in the wake a visit by U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H.
Rumsfeld. | ||||||||||||||||
"Honduras will not lend its territory as an anti-drug base for
Washington," Maduro told the Associated Press, though he noted that
the two countries do cooperate. | ||||||||||||||||
"Honduras is on the drug route between Colombia and the United States,
which greatly affects us, but there will not be a greater U.S. military
presence here," he said. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(2) REHABILITATION SINKING UNDER PATIENT OVERLOAD, STUDY SAYS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Some Suspects Just Hooked On Alcohol
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The government's war on drugs is hampering rehabilitation efforts with health officials burdened by too many patients, a study says. | ||||||||||||||||
Presented at an international conference on mental health and substance dependence yesterday, the study said rehabilitation centres, particularly in the provinces, could not cope with so many patients. | ||||||||||||||||
Some were sent there only because their names appeared on suspect
lists. Often they turned out to be alcoholics.
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[snip]
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Interviews with drug addicts suggested the war on drugs had not
deterred people buying drugs. The pattern of methamphetamine purchases
in the southern provinces had not changed. | ||||||||||||||||
However, the price of methamphetamines had increased by more than 60%
in the central and southern provinces, while in the northeastern
provinces it had increased by 17%. No change was reported in the
northern provinces. | ||||||||||||||||
The study said methamphetamines, marijuana and heroin could still be
purchased because the suppression drive did not touch major drug
smugglers and dealers. | ||||||||||||||||
The news was not all bad. Suan Prung psychiatric hospital in Chiang Mai said one positive outcome of the war on drugs was that fewer addicts were seeking treatment for mental health problems. | ||||||||||||||||
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(3) CHOIR, BAND STUDENTS TO BE TESTED FOR DRUGS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
PASCAGOULA - Choir and band students will undergo the same random drug
testing now performed on athletes in the Pascagoula School District,
the School Board decided Tuesday night. | ||||||||||||||||
District officials said their policies had not been updated in years, and that both athletes and choir and band students are classified the same by the Mississippi High School Activities Association. The district has been drug testing athletes since the 1990-91 school year. | ||||||||||||||||
"If you are a student representing our school in activities like that,
then you should be a leader, be tested and held up to a little bit
higher standard," said Paige Roberts, district spokeswoman. "And it is
a safety issue."
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[snip]
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Roberts said district officials believe the drug tests have been
effective over the years, largely because parents become involved
after a student fails a drug test. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(4) THIEF MAKES OFF WITH LOTS OF URINE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Athens City Police are investigating a daring urine heist that took
place sometime last Thursday night or Friday morning. | ||||||||||||||||
According to an incident report, sometime between 9 p.m. Thursday
and 7 a.m. Friday, someone broke into the offices of the Ohio Adult
Parole Authority on East State Street by forcing the door open.
An office in the building was ransacked. | ||||||||||||||||
According to Terry Minney, regional administrator for the parole agency, the intruder or intruders made off with 89 cups of urine. | ||||||||||||||||
These were drug-testing samples from parolees and people on probation. | ||||||||||||||||
One likely conclusion would be that the thief or thieves had broken
parole terms by using drugs, and wanted to escape detection.
Minney, however, said that "I'm not sure what the motive was.
We know what the behavior was."
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But if the intent was to make sure a sample or samples weren't
tested, why steal them? Rather than packing up and carting off 89
cups of urine, wouldn't it be easier to just empty them onto the
floor?
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"We're very grateful they didn't," Minney said. | ||||||||||||||||
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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
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Domestic News- Policy
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COMMENT: (5-9) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
U.S. foreign policy on drug markets seems to vary by country. A brief report in Time Magazine last week suggested that U.S. forces in Afghanistan are turning a blind eye to the exploding drug trade there. But the U.S. is still ostensibly pursuing a fierce anti-drug strategy in Colombia, including the resurrection of a shoot-down policy for unidentified aircraft in the country. The U.S. drug warriors are also hoping to get tough on so-called narco-terror in the United States, as indicated by a leaked copy of a senate bill circulating called the VICTORY Act. There hasn't been much mainstream media coverage of the VICTORY Act, but we have a little analysis of our own in DrugSense Weekly's Feature Article this week. | ||||||||||||||||
We're used to government officials hiding behind the drug war, but
it's rare to see a college basketball coach trying to scapegoat one
of his dead players as a marijuana dealer. But it apparently
happened at Baylor University, and Texans were treated to many of
the disturbing details last week. | ||||||||||||||||
And a Kentucky newspaper took an in depth look at how pharmaceutical company Purdue Pharma built and defended its OxyContin empire. The folks at Purdue also know how to keep relations smooth with some police departments - by helping to finance the local drug war. | ||||||||||||||||
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(5) DRUGS? WHAT DRUGS? (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
The U.S. Military May Be Turning A Blind Eye To Afghanistan's Drug Trade, Which Fills The Coffers Of Both Enemies And Allies | ||||||||||||||||
While searching for Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters, U.S. special forces
in Afghanistan routinely come across something they're not looking for:
evidence of a thriving Afghan drug trade. But they're not doing
anything about it, antinarcotics experts tell TIME. Several Kabul
diplomats familiar with U.S. military operations say that while
carrying out searches in eastern and southern Afghanistan -
opium-growing areas that are also Taliban strongholds. | ||||||||||||||||
Antinarcotics experts in Kabul say the U.S. is making a mistake by
ignoring the Afghan drug smugglers. Taking action against them would
hurt the terrorists, they argue, since both use the same underground
pipeline to move cash, guns and fugitives across borders. "I'm positive
that the Taliban are heavily involved in drug trafficking," says Wais
Yasini, counter-narcotics adviser to Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
"How else do you account for the source of their money?" This year,
after a bumper crop of opium poppies, say U.N. officials, Afghanistan
became the world's largest heroin producer, with an estimated $1.2
billion in profits. | ||||||||||||||||
The debate over whether to crack down on the drug trade has reached the
top levels of the Pentagon. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
doesn't want the already over-stretched 8,000 U.S. soldiers in
Afghanistan to become sidetracked from their main goal: to capture and
kill terrorists. And chasing drug smugglers could take away allies from
the Americans. Diplomats say many of the local commanders the U.S.
military relies on for intelligence on al-Qaeda and the Taliban and to
provide hired guns are mixed up in the drug business. "Without money
from drugs, our friendly warlords can't pay their militias," says a
Kabul diplomat. "It's as simple as that."
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(6) DRUG-PLANE DOWNINGS RESTART (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
BOGOTA, Colombia - Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld announced
Tuesday that President Bush has approved the resumption of a U.S.-
supported program in which Colombian fighter pilots can force or
shoot down airplanes suspected of ferrying drugs. | ||||||||||||||||
The program, called Airbridge Denial and a key component in Washington's war on drugs in South America since 1995, was suspended in Colombia and Peru after a Peruvian fighter in April 2001 shot down a private plane that was carrying American missionaries. | ||||||||||||||||
Now, after more than two years of preparations to install safeguards to prevent another mistaken downing, the United States and Colombia will work together to identify drug planes and force them down, American officials said. A much more limited program will be implemented in Peru, officials said, but that is still months away. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(7) DRUG WARRIOR OF THE YEAR: DAVE BLISS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Earlier this summer the local and national media reported the mysterious disappearance of Patrick Dennehy, a member of the Baylor basketball team who had grown up in Richmond. Dennehy's body was found in late July; it had been ditched outside the Waco city limits. Soon thereafter a teammate, Carlton Dotson, was arrested and charged with murder. Dotson was a troubled young man whom Dennehy had invited to room with him, thinking he could be of help. | ||||||||||||||||
Investigators were informed by Patrick Dennehy, Sr., that his son
had been paid under-the-table by Baylor coach Dave Bliss. (Young
Dennehy wasn't paid much, given the coach's $300,000 salary and the
revenue athletes generate for the university.)
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In late July Bliss tried to orchestrate a posthumous frame-up of
Dennehy. Telling several players that he knew they used marijuana,
he suggested that they mislead the investigators "to create the
perception... that Pat may have been a dealer." If Dennehy had an
illicit source of funds, Bliss and Baylor's basketball program would
be in the clear. | ||||||||||||||||
A newly hired assistant coach named Abar Rouse, a black man, was told he'd lose his coveted job if he didn't help Bliss. Rouse, 28, had the savvy to secretly tape his boss pursuing the vile scheme. Rouse then gave the tapes to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, which broke the story and posted the transcripts on its website. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(8) 'WE WILL NOT GIVE IN' (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
HAMILTON, Ohio - "It's going to be a war," Louisville attorney David
Ewing predicted recently about a lawsuit he's pursuing in Butler
County common pleas court. | ||||||||||||||||
Lawyerly exaggeration, but forgivable given the opponent he has
chosen. | ||||||||||||||||
Ewing is on a team of attorneys that is trying to prove that Purdue
Pharma over-promoted the painkiller OxyContin and failed to warn
patients and doctors of its risks. | ||||||||||||||||
He's doing better than most others in his shoes -- 290 such cases
are pending in state and federal courts nationally, including seven
in Kentucky. The Butler County suit is the only one so far to
achieve class action status. | ||||||||||||||||
That means that if it reaches trial and Purdue loses, thousands of Ohio residents could be in line for a piece of a damage award. | ||||||||||||||||
But Ewing's odds aren't great. Purdue has vigorously denied any improper marketing. And in court it has exhibited a tough, no-compromise stance right from the very first suit two years ago. | ||||||||||||||||
The company publicizes the fact that it has never lost an OxyContin
case, never settled one and never paid anything in fees or
compensation. In fact, no case has ever made it to trial, partly
because Purdue works hard to win early. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(9) DRUG FIRM HELPS FIGHT ILLICIT OXYCONTIN USE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Since March, undercover deputies in Letcher County have arrested more than two dozen suspected OxyContin abusers and dealers by using new $250 hidden tape recorders to document stings. | ||||||||||||||||
Purdue Pharma, which manufacturers the pain drug, provided the money
to buy the machines -- and a lot more. | ||||||||||||||||
The company has given Letcher County and seven other Kentucky police
agencies $10,000 each this year to fight illicit drugs. Five more
grants are pending. | ||||||||||||||||
"This money was like a blessing," said Letcher County Sheriff Danny
Webb, who had no such funds available when he took office in
January. | ||||||||||||||||
For Purdue, the handouts are part of a high-dollar program aimed at
repairing OxyContin's battered image. | ||||||||||||||||
As OxyContin became a favorite of narcotics abusers, many doctors in Appalachia and other rural parts of the nation turned skittish about prescribing it and a number of patients shied away from taking it. | ||||||||||||||||
Purdue now is spending heavily -- some $130 million a year by its measure -- to help curb that illicit use and restore the drug's medical reputation, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported Sunday. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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Law Enforcement & Prisons
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COMMENT: (10-13) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Another week, another report about the staggering reach of prisons in the United States. The latest research suggests one in every 37 adults in the U.S. was incarcerated or had been incarcerated at one time. The drug war takes part of the blame in that study, but it plays a bigger role in a story out of Florida. There prison populations grow as funds for substance abuse treatment evaporate. | ||||||||||||||||
Another failed drug war plan in Philadelphia, where violent crime is
rising despite millions of dollars in overtime for police to have a
constant presence at notorious open air drug markets. And, on the
police corruption beat this week, an Atlanta cop once recognized as
"Officer of the Year" apparently had more allegiance to a local drug
gang than the public. | ||||||||||||||||
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(10) 5.6 MILLION HAVE BEEN IMPRISONED (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Washington--About one in every 37 U.S. adults was either imprisoned
at the end of 2001 or had been incarcerated at one time, the
government reported Sunday. | ||||||||||||||||
The 5.6 million people with "prison experience" represented about
2.7 percent of the adult population of 210 million as of Dec. 31,
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The study is the first to measure the prevalence of prison time
among American adults. Last month, the bureau reported that a record
2.1 million people were in federal, state or local custody at the
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Between 1974 and 2001, the number of current and former inmates rose
by 3.8 million, the study found. Of those, 2.7 million were former
inmates. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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The number of people sent to prison for the first time tripled from
1974 to 2001 as sentences got tougher, especially for drug offenses.
There are more ex-prisoners as well, the result of longer life
expectancies and a larger U.S. population.
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[snip]
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(11) DRUG OFFENDERS LEAD THE PACK AS PRISONS SWELL (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
TALLAHASSEE -- Florida's sudden upsurge in inmates imprisoned on
drug-related charges comes after two years of state budget cuts that
have dramatically reduced treatment dollars for drug offenders
behind bars. | ||||||||||||||||
Experts say that may have contributed to the need for state lawmakers to dip into reserve funds last week and approve $66 million in emergency funding to build about 4,000 new prison beds. | ||||||||||||||||
With Florida's serious-crime rate at its lowest point in 30 years,
this summer's sharp increase in prison admissions caught state
leaders by surprise. | ||||||||||||||||
"I think it's probably going to wind up being a combination of
several things," said Gov. Jeb Bush, who has steered tougher
sentencing laws through a willing Republican Legislature since
taking office in 1999. | ||||||||||||||||
"It's a significant investment," Bush said of the additional prison
funding. "But if we need to build prisons in order to make sure
public safety is first and foremost, we'll do that."
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Although those convicted of drug-related crimes account for the
single largest group of offenders in Florida's more than
77,000-inmate prison system, lawmakers began slashing state dollars
for prisoner substance-abuse treatment in late 2001. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(12) VIOLENT CRIMES RISE AS ARRESTS FALL IN CITY (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
As overall crime continues to diminish in Philadelphia, violent
crime - including homicide and gunpoint robberies - is on the
increase. | ||||||||||||||||
At the same time, police are arresting fewer people and solving
fewer crimes. Those are the highlights gleaned from the latest crime
statistics released by the police department. | ||||||||||||||||
The trend appears to present the biggest challenge yet for Police
Commissioner Sylvester Johnson, who has pursued a far different
policing strategy than his predecessor, John F. Timoney, since
taking over in early 2002. That strategy relies less on arrests and
more on police presence in high-crime areas. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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Johnson, by contrast, is a fervent advocate of police "partnerships"
with community groups, religious leaders and others. Through his
Safe Streets program, which he started in spring 2002, he has sought
to virtually end open-air drug markets in the city's poorest
neighborhoods by flooding those areas with police. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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Under Safe Streets, the department has stationed officers at each of
the city's 300 most notorious drug corners to scare off dealers and
addicts. | ||||||||||||||||
It has cost a bundle - $35 million a year in overtime - but police have been out on the street in greater numbers for more hours. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(13) FEDS SAY COP LED GANG (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Acclaimed officer arrested on job
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An Atlanta police "Officer of the Year" was arrested Wednesday on
federal racketeering charges as an alleged leader of a notorious
drug gang. | ||||||||||||||||
Officer David Alan Freeman, 38, is among 16 people indicted since
March as members of the Diablos gang, which authorities describe as
"very violent."
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Freeman was arrested after a morning "roll call" to start his 7
a.m.-to-3 p.m. shift. The officer was assigned to the Zone 1
district in the northwest part of the city. | ||||||||||||||||
He is charged with warning the Diablos of police investigations,
confiscating drugs from arrested suspects in rival gangs and
attempting to recruit gang members. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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Cannabis & Hemp-
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COMMENT: (14-17) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Thank goddess for the Seattle Hempfest; without it your faithful
reefer reporter would have had little to write about this week! Our
first story profiles Hempfest organizer Dominic Holden and examines
some of the history of the U.S.'s biggest hemp and cannabis
celebration. Our next article is an inside look at the evolution of
modern indoor cannabis cultivation in the Northwest. This is
followed by a paranoia-inducing look at the perils of pot
cultivation; is your garden safe?
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And finally news from Canada: a new poll by Alberta pollsters JMCK
suggests that the federal Liberal party's new Cannabis Reform Bill
will have strong support from the electors, who appear to favor
lowering penalties for personal possession, while raising the
penalties for cultivation. This apparently contradictory poll only
reinforces the general impression that neither politicians nor the
Canadian public understand what the hell is going on in regards to
cannabis policy. My advice to all; get some sun and rest while you
can, because when government gets back in session, we'll all have
our work cut out for us. And special thanks to all who made Hempfest
fun and freaky again this year. Fuck the RAVE act; we'll see you
again next year!
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(14) SEATTLE HOME GROWN (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Nine years ago a high-school dropout and daily pot smoker attended
his first Hempfest. That teenager, Dominic Holden, got involved and
helped turn a backwater hippie smoke-out into the largest
marijuana-law reform rally in the world. | ||||||||||||||||
So how come Holden isn't smoking pot anymore?
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"One of the greatest things anyone with a political agenda can have
is to be exactly not what people are expecting you to be," Hempfest
organizer Dominic Holden tells me while sipping a Bloody Mary and
holding my gaze intently. "I think a lot of people anticipate that
marijuana-policy reformists are all in their 40s and 50s, have long
gray hair, say 'far out' all the time, and are so aligned with the
counterculture that everything from the way they act and the clothes
they wear reflects that."
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[snip]
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(15) 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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(16) MR. NARC'S NEIGHBORHOOD (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
As a general rule of agriculture, says Seattle attorney Jeff
Steinborn, "If you are going to grow dope, it's best not to tell
anyone about it." That's especially important in Washington, one of
the top states for indoor marijuana grows and busts-almost all of
which are sparked by tips from informants you had figured to be
friends, visitors, or relatives. They include the Butt-Crack
Narc-plumbers, dryer repairers, or maybe one of the furnace guys-who
comes to your house, spots your dinky marijuana grow, and calls the
cops. | ||||||||||||||||
The Utility Narc, from the power or gas companies, might peek
through your window or notice you're consuming electricity like an
aluminum factory, and drop a dime. The Trash Narc-garbage
haulers-can spy your discarded hydroponics packaging and rat you out
(your garbage can also later be searched without a warrant for
evidence). The Business Narc you had a falling-out with may make an
anonymous call about your smoke-filled office, or the Ex-Lover Narc
can tell 911 about the reefers in your nightstand. A Criminal Narc
informs the cop putting on the plastic cuffs that he bought those
joints from you and just happens to know your address. | ||||||||||||||||
And on rare occasions, the Family Member Narc spills your tribe's
secret to authorities. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(17) DROP THE REEFER AND LISTEN UP! (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Let's say, for argument's sake, you're an Albertan male aged 25, have
a university degree, earn more than $80,000 a year and you voted
Alliance in the last federal election. | ||||||||||||||||
That sound like you? Then drop that reefer, pal, and pay attention.
That marijuana decriminalization plan you've heard so much about is
all about you, and winning your loyalty for the Liberal Party of
Canada. | ||||||||||||||||
New polling by the Alberta firm JMCK seems to suggest that Ottawa's plan to decriminalize small-scale possession - while simultaneously promising tough new measures against grow operations and traffickers - is just jim-dandy with your average voting-age Canadian. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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International News
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COMMENT: (18-21) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
There was another cannabis confessional week in the UK as Hazel
Blears (MP for Salford and the UK Home Office minister) admitted she
too had once sampled the forbidden fruit. The minister's marijuana
confession came on the heels of an admission that the incoming chief
of the Crown Prosecution Service had also used and been busted for
cannabis in the 1970s. | ||||||||||||||||
As prohibitionists fight their holy wars against the drugs "epidemic" of the week, other branches of government are more sanguine in their attitudes about kids and drugs. This week we feature an article from Scotland showing that the potent stimulant Ritalin (widely pushed on schoolboys by government to make them more docile and obedient), is sold on the black market much as any other potent stimulant like amphetamines or cocaine would be traded. Said one drugs worker of Ritalin: "When we interviewed parents, none knew it was a class B drug and had the same pharmacology as cocaine." | ||||||||||||||||
In Canada, Liberal backbencher MPs attracted some unwanted publicity
when it was revealed last week they had enlisted U.S. drug control
bureaucrats to attempt to derail the marijuana decriminalization
legislation of Prime Minister Jean Chretien. The exposed backbencher
MPs denied that the meetings with the U.S. ONDCP officials --
denounced as "sneaky" by editorials -- were designed to get help in
overturning the cannabis decriminalization bill. | ||||||||||||||||
And finally, the drug laws in Alabama may be harsh, but then again
just be thankful you don't live in Malaysia. Last week, a fisherman
was sentenced to be hanged for possessing an alleged 500 grams of
cannabis (about a five-month supply), which he protested was for his
own use. | ||||||||||||||||
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(18) HOME OFFICE MINISTER TRIED CANNABIS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Home Office minister Hazel Blears has admitted experimenting once
with cannabis. | ||||||||||||||||
A week after it emerged the incoming head of the Crown Prosecution
Service was once convicted of possessing the drug, the junior
minister said she tried cannabis about 25 years ago. | ||||||||||||||||
"I literally had cannabis once from somebody that I knew and I
literally never did it again because basically it didn't work. It
had no effect on me," she said. | ||||||||||||||||
Ms Blears, MP for Salford, said she never touched cannabis again and was "never really associated with people who took drugs". | ||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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The MP was involved in controversy in May when, as health minister,
she launched an anti-drugs campaign while admitting drugs were
"pleasurable". | ||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(19) ALARM OVER RISE IN 'KIDDY COKE' DEALING (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Ritalin, a Class B drug, is being abused by children. | ||||||||||||||||
THE city council faces demands for an inquiry into the abuse of
hyperactivity drug Ritalin by city schoolchildren. | ||||||||||||||||
Corstorphine councillor Paul Edie wants an investigation after drugs
workers reported more children trading their prescribed Ritalin
pills as a cocaine substitute. | ||||||||||||||||
The latest craze has been reported in the Capital by Janice Hill of
the charity Overload Network. She said children as young as 12 were
crushing up the tablets with codeine and snorting the powder, dubbed
"kiddy coke", for an instant high. More than 400 people contacted
the charity over the last year about the drug. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip]
| ||||||||||||||||
She said: "We have to look at the surge in the number of children
being medicated and address the appalling lack of information
parents are given. When we interviewed parents, none knew it was a
class B drug and had the same pharmacology as cocaine. This is not
scaremongering, it is not a benign stimulant and parents need to
know that, it's not a Smartie. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip]
| ||||||||||||||||
Workers also discovered a large pocket of dependency in Leith, where dealers were replacing poor quality amphetamine with Ritalin. | ||||||||||||||||
In Scotland prescriptions for methylphenidate hydrochloride, the scientific name for Ritalin, increased by almost 11 per cent in a year from 22,401 in 2000/01 to 24,801 in 2001/02. The drug, meant to calm children who are hyperactive or have attention deficit disorder, has the opposite effect when snorted or injected. | ||||||||||||||||
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(20) HOW FAR WILL MPS GO TO TORPEDO A BILL? (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
If Canadian Alliance MPs had met with the deputy U.S. drug czar to
enlist his help in stopping the federal government from
decriminalizing marijuana, Liberal MPs would have criticized them as
sneaky, if not disloyal. | ||||||||||||||||
So, news that a group of Liberal MPs may have done just that ought
to concern members of the Liberal caucus, now meeting in North Bay,
Ont. | ||||||||||||||||
The backbenchers in question -- Roger Gallaway, Brenda Chamberlain,
Dan McTeague and a few others -- are frequent and often bitter
critics of Prime Minister Jean Chretien's government, an unofficial
opposition that works from within. Last month they met with Barry
Crane, deputy director for supply reduction at the White House
Office of National Drug Control Policy. | ||||||||||||||||
According to a memo written by a Canadian Foreign Affairs official who sat in on that meeting, the rebel MPs were looking for help in defeating the cannabis reform bill. Mr. McTeague denies this, and says the main goal of the meeting was simply to exchange views. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip]
| ||||||||||||||||
Maybe the meeting was an innocent one, as the MPs contend. Maybe, as
they say, any suggestions about how to help defeat the bill were
made in asides, not directly to Dr. Crane. But given their vocal
opposition to this bill and many other government policies, it is
more likely the backbenchers were looking for help in the fight to
keep a much tougher drug law in place. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip]
| ||||||||||||||||
The outgoing Prime Minister probably can't bring them into line, but
the censure of their fellow MPs may have some influence. They look
like sneaks, and deserve to be criticized. | ||||||||||||||||
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(21) FISHERMAN TO HANG FOR DRUG PEDDLING (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
KOTA BARU: A 57-year-old fisherman was sent to the gallows after he
was found guilty of trafficking in more than 500gm of cannabis two
years ago. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip]
| ||||||||||||||||
He added that the court could not accept Mijan's testimony that he was a drug addict and the cannabis was for his own consumption. | ||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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HOT OFF THE 'NET (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Rumsfeld Reiterates Supply Side Failure
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A DrugSense Focus Alert. | ||||||||||||||||
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The Shifting View On Medical Marijuana
| ||||||||||||||||
By Dr. Lester Grinspoon
| ||||||||||||||||
"Marijuana should be removed from the medical and criminal control systems. It should be legalized for adults for all uses." | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
Last One Speaks
| ||||||||||||||||
A Weblog billed as, "A Voice of Reason in the Cacophony of Drug War
Rhetoric."
| ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
Cheryl Miller Memorial Project
| ||||||||||||||||
On Monday and Tuesday, September 22 and 23, 2003, Cheryl Miller's
family and friends will join with medical marijuana supporters to
memorialize her life and contributions to the medical marijuana
movement.
| ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
Cultural Baggage Radio Show
| ||||||||||||||||
Al Byrne and Mary Lynn Mathre, RVN
| ||||||||||||||||
Co-founders of Patients Out of Time
| ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
Next Week, Tuesday Aug 26 6:30 PM CDT
| ||||||||||||||||
Sanho Tree of the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington D.C. | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
Marc "Prince of Pot" Emery Interviews Kieth Stroup of NORML | ||||||||||||||||
Running Time: 23 min
| ||||||||||||||||
Keith Stroup is a Washington, DC public-interest attorney who founded
NORML in 1970. Stroup served as the National Director of NORML from
its founding through 1979, when marijuana was decriminalized in eleven
states. He rejoined the board in 1994, and currently serves as the
executive director. | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
High on Life : Transcending Addiction Exhibit
| ||||||||||||||||
The American Visionary Art Museum,
| ||||||||||||||||
In the final days before the exhibit closes forever, Students for
Sensible Drug Policy is pleased to announce a fundraising event at
AVAM, featuring artist Alex Grey, http://alexgrey.com/, discussing his
powerful and transcendental works. | ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
LETTER OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
Drug War Pure Hypocrisy
| ||||||||||||||||
By Eric Lekander
| ||||||||||||||||
Regarding Lou Dobb's column, "Drug war worth fighting despite
opposition, cost" (Opinions, Thursday):
| ||||||||||||||||
Sounds like he's still stuck in the '60s trying to bust hippies. | ||||||||||||||||
He says drug users cost the country $160 billion annually in lost
productivity. This pales in comparison to the lost productivity due
to alcohol, poor fitness/diet, family issues, depression, chatting,
smoking, Internet surfing, day-dreaming, extended breaks, and pure
boredom. | ||||||||||||||||
With the magnified potential savings, we could hire SS storm trooper
efficiency experts at every office to monitor your productivity. Oh,
I forgot. We already have a system for poor employees. It's called
getting fired. | ||||||||||||||||
Bottom line, alcohol is far more harmful than marijuana and causes
our society far more damage. Smoking a joint is the moral equivalent
of drinking a martini, except one can get you jailed. This is
hypocrisy, and hypocrisy is dishonest. Drug war support is tepid
because fair-minded people are repelled by the cruelty and hypocrisy
of it all. | ||||||||||||||||
Ironically, drug war fanatics and big-time drug dealers are on the same side. Decriminalizing drugs would kill their cash cow. | ||||||||||||||||
Eric Lekander
| ||||||||||||||||
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FEATURE ARTICLE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
The Institutionalization of "Nacro-terror"
| ||||||||||||||||
By Stephen Young
| ||||||||||||||||
Are you scared yet?
| ||||||||||||||||
U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft wants you to stop worrying about
your privacy and civil liberties. Since fear of terrorism doesn't
seem to be a strong enough incentive, he may be ready to play the
drug card. | ||||||||||||||||
Ashcroft is touring the country giving presentations to private
groups, including some law enforcement groups. The public is not
welcome. Many news reports suggest that Ashcroft is simply
interested in mustering support for the controversial PATRIOT Act,
which several local governments have officially criticized. Some
other reports indicate he's pushing new legislation that surpasses
the PATRIOT Act - the VICTORY Act. | ||||||||||||||||
An apparent draft of the VICTORY Act -
| ||||||||||||||||
"A Bill to combat narco-terrorism, to dismantle narco-terrorist
criminal enterprises, to disrupt narco-terrorist financing and money
laundering schemes, to enact national drug sentencing reform, to
prevent drug trafficking to children to deter drug-related violence,
to provide law enforcement with the tools needed to win the war
against narco-terrorists and major drug traffickers, and for other
purposes."
| ||||||||||||||||
The rest of bill is just as troubling. As presented, the bill drags
the Office of Homeland Security into the drug war, giving it the
power to seize assets of narco-terrorists. | ||||||||||||||||
According to the draft, accused narco-terrorists don't have to know
that any of their work was related to terror in order to be
prosecuted under the act. | ||||||||||||||||
The language in the draft goes way beyond drugs, alarming civil
libertarians - see http://www.talkleft.com/archives/003998.html -
and privacy advocates - see
| ||||||||||||||||
And everyone should be scared, according to an ACLU lawyer quoted in
an ABC News report on the VICTORY Act: "Absolutely nothing would
prevent the attorney general from using these subpoenas to obtain
the records of people who have no connection to terrorism, drug
trafficking or crime of any sort."
| ||||||||||||||||
The idea of narco-terror has been widely publicized through a series
of propaganda ads, which, mercifully, have ceased to run. Those ads
were allegedly meant to help drug users to confront the ugly
realities of their habits. I doubt the ads worked at all on that
level, but I think they were actually geared to provoke fresh
disgust for drugs and drug users. | ||||||||||||||||
We must ask the real reason for the VICTORY Act. Surely current
federal drug laws aren't so weak that they don't apply equally well
to drug kingpins who have a connection with terror. Naturally, when
this bill is officially introduced, supporters will pledge not to
abuse it. | ||||||||||||||||
I hope, however, the feds show more restraint than prosecutors in
North Carolina, which has its own state terror laws. Common meth
cooks without broader connections are being indicted as terrorists
-http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1070/a03.html
| ||||||||||||||||
The drug war itself causes terror - look at the violence associated
with prohibited drugs in any major city, or even in more rural
places, like Kanawha County, W. Virginia, where a series of sniper
killings has been linked to the illegal drug trade -
| ||||||||||||||||
It's not about the drugs - are any snipers settling scores in the
alcohol or tobacco trade? It's about economics. | ||||||||||||||||
Formalizing the link between illegal drugs and terror protects us
from neither. | ||||||||||||||||
Stephen Young is an editor with DrugSense Weekly and author of
Maximizing Harm - www.maximizingharm.com
| ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
QUOTE OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||
"Drugs are very much a part of professional sports today, but when you
think about it, golf is the only sport where the players aren't
penalized for being on grass." -- Bob Hope
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