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DrugSense Weekly
Nov. 14, 2003 #325


Table of Contents

* Breaking News (03/28/24)


* This Just In


(1) Watauga Prosecutor Fights Ruling On USing Terror Law In Meth Cases
(2) Bolivian Leader Seeks More Money To Quell Unrest
(3) Cannabis Changes Agreed By Lords
(4) Compassion Clubbed

* Weekly News in Review


Drug Policy-

COMMENT: (5-8)
(5) Stratford Raid Criticized, Praised
(6) Illinois Targets Campus Club Drugs
(7) Drugs Delivered With School Supplies
(8) Call Off Those School Dogs

Law Enforcement & Prisons-

COMMENT: (9-12)
(9) N.C. Court Rules Simple Possession Of Cocaine A Misdemeanor
(10) Support Seen For Latitude In Car Arrests
(11) Fake-Drug Victims Struggling
(12) Tactics Anger Residents

Cannabis & Hemp-

COMMENT: (13-17)
(13) Campaigns No Longer Go Up In Smoke
(14) Robbers Invade Oakland Pot Club
(15) Anti-Smoking Laws Threaten 'Oaksterdam'
(16) Australian Clinics To Help Cannabis Addicts Quit
(17) NDP Leader Boosts Legalization Of 'Wonderful' Pot

International News-

COMMENT: (18-21)
(18) Amnesty Slams Thailand For Drug War Killings
(19) Drug Production Rising In Areas Bordering Burma
(20) Brazil Official: U.S. May 'Occupy' Colombia, Amazon Area
(21) Safe Injection Site Proving A Success

* Hot Off The 'Net


     Jeb Bush Invades Doctor/Patient Privacy
     If Cannabis Could Cure Cancer, They Would Tell Us, Right?
     Cultural Baggage Radio Show
     Canada's Special Comittee on the Non-Medical Use of Drugs
     John Stewart of Comedy Central on the Goose Creek South Carolina

* Letter Of The Week


     Take Criminal Element Out Of Marijuana / By  Tim Meehan

* Letter Writer Of The Month - October


     Scott Russ

* Feature Article


     Score One For The Good Guys / By David Mackey

* Quote of the Week


     Saul Bellow


THIS JUST IN    (Top)

(1) WATAUGA PROSECUTOR FIGHTS RULING ON USING TERROR LAW IN METH CASES    (Top)

BOONE - The Watauga County prosecutor who used a law intended to combat terrorism to fight the spread of clandestine methamphetamine laboratories in Northwest North Carolina will fight a judge's recent ruling against him.

Judge James Baker of Watauga Superior Court ruled Friday that the process of "cooking" methamphetamine does not create a weapon of mass destruction - throwing out 15 charges against at least 10 people in the process.

Jerry Wilson, Watauga's district attorney, filed an appeal yesterday.

Since July.  Wilson has charged a number of Watauga County residents under the North Carolina weapons-of-mass-destruction statute because meth "cooks" combine toxic and volatile chemicals to produce the illegal drug.

[snip]

He said yesterday that he still thinks that his application of the weapons statute was appropriate because of the threat to society posed by the toxic compounds and deadly gases created in meth production.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 13 Nov 2003
Source:   Winston-Salem Journal (NC)
Copyright:   2003 Piedmont Publishing Co.  Inc.
Website:   http://www.journalnow.com/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/504
Author:   Jim Sparks
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n1760.a11.html


(2) BOLIVIAN LEADER SEEKS MORE MONEY TO QUELL UNREST    (Top)

LA PAZ, Bolivia -- The U.S.  hasn't fairly compensated Bolivia for the economic loss suffered as a result of its coca-eradication program, complained the country's new president, who issued an appeal for stepped-up aid from the international community.

"Coca production has fallen, but Bolivia's income has fallen as well and we haven't received the equivalent compensation," said President Carlos Mesa, in an interview at his ornate office.  Mr. Mesa assumed the presidency of this poor, landlocked country last month after violent protests, including demonstrations by angry coca growers, forced the resignation of President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada.

Mr.  Mesa emphasized that he doesn't plan "essentially" to change the country's U.S.-backed program to limit the production of coca, the key ingredient in cocaine.  Between 1995 and 2002, the Bolivian government eradicated nearly 50% of the country's coca crop and urged peasants to plant alternative crops.  The U.S., which has hailed the program as a victory in the war on narcotics, last year gave $174 million in foreign aid to Bolivia.

But Mr.  Mesa, a one-time television newscaster who had served as Mr. Lozada's vice president, appeared to signal some willingness to reach a compromise with angry growers, saying he would try to deal "rationally" with eradication.  He didn't elaborate, but those comments may raise hackles here.  A U.S. official said Washington is sympathetic to Mr. Mesa's internal political situation but adds that he believes the Bolivian government understands the threat posed by coca production.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 13 Nov 2003
Source:   Wall Street Journal (US)
Copyright:   2003 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.wsj.com/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/487
Author:   Jose De Cordoba
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/areas/Bolivia
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n1761.a01.html


(3) CANNABIS CHANGES AGREED BY LORDS    (Top)

Peers have backed a move to downgrade cannabis, putting it in the same group as tranquilisers and steroids.

The reclassification of the drug from Class B to C - meaning people will not usually be arrested for possession - will now go ahead in January.

The change was approved in the Lords by 63 votes to 37, but peers also agreed an amendment attacking the plans.

"It may lead to increased use of cannabis, with risks to the health of young people," they said.

'Risky'

In the amendment, moved by Tory peer Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts, they added that the government should have waited to deal with cannabis until after its proposals for making penalties tougher for all Class C drugs had been finalised.

The amendment has no legal effect, however, and the reclassification will come into force on 29 January as planned.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 13 Nov 2003
Source:   BBC News (UK Web)
Copyright:   2003 BBC
Website:   http://news.bbc.co.uk/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/558
Continues:   http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3266177.stm


(4) COMPASSION CLUBBED    (Top)

Health Canada Sniffs At Court Ruling That Was Supposed To Open The Door For Growers

Imagine city hall just deciding not to grant marriage licences to gay couples in Ontario even though there was a court order demanding they do so.  Health Canada is doing just that to medical marijuana users. Health Canada, despite the recent Court of Appeal decision to make medical marijuana more available, isn't budging.

Last month, when the court tinkered with the medical marijuana access regulations to make them constitutional in a way that medicinal marijuana activists thought beneficial, I struck faster than the stereotypical pothead lunging for that last roach.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 13 Nov 2003
Source:   NOW Magazine (Canada)
Copyright:   2003 NOW Communications Inc.
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.nowtoronto.com/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/282
Author:   Matthew A.  Mernagh
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n1762.a03.html


WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW    (Top)


Domestic News- Policy


COMMENT: (5-8)    (Top)

The drug war is often justified by invoking the need to "save the children," but once again last week, the drug war endangered and terrorized the children while saving no one.  In a much publicized drug raid at a South Carolina high school, local police burst into the school and ordered students to the floor at gunpoint.  They also restrained students they perceived as uncooperative.  No drugs were found during the searches.  For more on the searches, see this week's feature article.

In Illinois, not only kids, but young adults must be saved from drugs ...  by concentrating more law enforcement attention on them. The state plans to put millions of dollars in resources toward monitoring college campuses for club drugs.

While the criminalization of youth continues in the name of the drug war, it seems the prohibitionists can't protect an elementary school from a large cocaine shipment.  An alert civilian delivery driver found the 15 pound package before taking it into the Mississippi school, an action which may have saved the little tykes from a lockdown situation while administrators called in the SWAT team.

School drug searches often come up empty, but more school districts seem eager to let the sniffer dogs loose in the hallways. Fortunately, there are some people who recognize where those searches lead, like an astute critic of a proposed drug search policy in Montana schools.


(5) STRATFORD RAID CRITICIZED, PRAISED    (Top)

Parents Address School Board, Goose Creek Officials

MONCKS CORNER--Parents demanded accountability Tuesday for last week's drug raid at Stratford High School, in which police officers charged into the school with guns drawn.

Some called for the resignation of Principal George McCrackin for inviting police into Berkeley County's largest school.

"I'm angry," Sharon Smalls, parent of a 14-year-old at Stratford High, said during the Berkeley County School Board meeting.  "My child was slammed to the ground with a gun to his head.  These police had to be invited into Stratford.  Someone has to take
responsibility."

In Goose Creek, discussion of the Stratford High School incident was brief at the City Council meeting Tuesday night with only one person in the crowd speaking out against the police actions.  "They way overstated the problem," said Rick Porter of Goose Creek.  "It was scare tactic for the kids, and it scared them.  It worked."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 12 Nov 2003
Source:   Post and Courier, The (Charleston, SC)
Copyright:   2003 Evening Post Publishing Co.
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/567
Author:   Seanna Adcox, of the Post and Courier Staff
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Goose+Creek
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1755/a10.html


(6) ILLINOIS TARGETS CAMPUS CLUB DRUGS    (Top)

You won't find "Club U" on any map.

Club U is the nickname of a new State Police undercover effort to ferret out club drugs in and around the state's major colleges and universities.

It's part of an anti-drug campaign targeting Ecstasy and methamphetamine announced Sunday by Gov.  Blagojevich.

Blagojevich said the campaign, dubbed Project X, will use $2.5 million -- primarily from confiscated drug money -- to combat club drugs with public service announcements, treatment services and the Club U undercover effort, as well as other law enforcement plans.

An estimated $200,000 is earmarked for public service announcements that are to begin appearing this week in newspapers and on radio and TV, said gubernatorial spokeswoman Angelynne Amores.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 10 Nov 2003
Source:   Chicago Sun-Times (IL)
Copyright:   2003 The Sun-Times Co.
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/81
Author:   Maureen O'Donnell
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/find?158 (Club Drugs)
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/mdma.htm (Ecstasy)
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1745/a02.html


(7) DRUGS DELIVERED WITH SCHOOL SUPPLIES    (Top)

Cocaine discovered in shipment of food to Ellisville Elementary

ELLISVILLE - Police are investigating the discovery this week of 15 pounds of cocaine in a shipment of food to an elementary school.

No arrest have been made in the case, police said Friday.

"This shows just how big a drug problem this nation has when this kind of illegal substance can be delivered to a school," Police Chief Bruce Russell said.  "It's not every day you come across a large amount of cocaine like this.  But to a school?"

Scott Brown, driver of the delivery truck, owned by the Merchants Company of Hattiesburg, became suspicious while unloading a shipment of food Wednesday at Ellisville Elementary School.

"The boxes are supposed to weigh 40 pounds each and I'd already unloaded several of them," Brown said.  "But when I lifted this one box, I almost threw it through the roof of the truck.  It was so much lighter than the rest."

Brown notified cafeteria staff and other school officials.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 08 Nov 2003
Source:   Clarion-Ledger, The (MS)
Copyright:   2003 The Clarion-Ledger
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/805
Author:   Associated Press
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1736/a03.html


(8) CALL OFF THOSE SCHOOL DOGS    (Top)

Recently I attended a public meeting of the Helena Public School Board of Trustees for the purpose of discussing their continuing to allow law enforcement officers with police dogs to sniff all high school lockers while teachers and students are locked in their rooms under the suspicion of being common criminals.

We pay administrators of public schools generous salaries because we expect them to use good judgment in providing a quality education to our students, the most important resource in the community.  On the issue of police dogs running down the hall with no warning, the policy is disruptive and is doing more harm than good.  It is time to call off the dogs.

The Board has adopted as their motto "Helena Public Schools foster dynamic educational experiences that prepare all students for life." Becoming an arm of law enforcement to prosecute students hardly meets their chosen standard.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 06 Nov 2003
Source:   Helena Independent Record (MT)
Copyright:   2003 Helena Independent Record
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/1187
Author:   Bob Campbell
Note:   Bob Campbell of Helena is a pharmacist, attorney and as a delegate to
the constitutional convention proposed the right of privacy and 18-year-old adulthood, which are both in the Montana Constitution.
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1739/a02.html


Law Enforcement & Prisons


COMMENT: (9-12)    (Top)

A ruling from a North Carolina appeals court has changed the status of simple cocaine possession from a felony to a misdemeanor in the state.  The ruling is expected to impact other simple drug possession charges as well, and prosecutors aren't happy about it.

The U.S.  Supreme Court heard a case last week about police car searches.  Court observers indicated that most justices seemed willing to extend the ability of police to arrest passengers in cars where drugs are found.  But, even if drugs are found, are they real? As trials approach for police involved in the Texas fake drug scandal, the Dallas Morning News examined the impact of the scandal on its victims.  And in North Carolina, some hotel residents are losing their tolerance for repeated drug searches that seem to occur whenever local police feel like it.


(9) N.C. COURT RULES SIMPLE POSSESSION OF COCAINE A MISDEMEANOR    (Top)

RALEIGH - The North Carolina Court of Appeals has ruled that simple possession of cocaine is a misdemeanor, not a felony, a decision that could impact thousands of cases in Cleveland County and many more across the state.

The ruling means that someone could be arrested for having as many as 150 $20 rocks of cocaine, and be charged with only a misdemeanor, according to state and local officials.

The ruling will affect multiple areas of the judicial system - from habitual felon prosecutions to sentencing guidelines to cases already disposed.  And it also applies to different drugs, including PCP and methamphetamine, said Robert Farb, professor of public law and government at the Institute of Government.

The court's ruling stemmed from a Forsyth County case, State vs. Norman Jones, in which the defendant pleaded guilty to possession with intent to sell and deliver cocaine.  This plea classified Jones as a habitual felon.

Jones appealed and the Court of Appeals ruled that statutes were conflicting on the issue of whether possession of cocaine is a felony or misdemeanor.  The court sided with the defense contention that it is a misdemeanor.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 09 Nov 2003
Source:   Shelby Star, The (NC)
Copyright:   2003sThe Shelby Star
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/1722
Author:   Skip Foster
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1748/a04.html


(10) SUPPORT SEEN FOR LATITUDE IN CAR ARRESTS    (Top)

WASHINGTON -- In a case that could give law enforcement greater power to arrest passengers in vehicles, Supreme Court justices Monday appeared skeptical of arguments that police went too far when they arrested a man in the front seat of a car after they found drugs behind a back-seat armrest.

A lawyer for Joseph Pringle argued that police violated his constitutional rights when they arrested him after discovering the drugs stuffed behind the armrest.  She said police had no evidence that Pringle, who was riding in the front passenger seat, knew about the drugs.

But several justices, including liberals David Souter and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, suggested that police acted reasonably when they arrested Pringle, the driver of the car and another man riding in the back seat.

"It just doesn't strike me as plausible .  . . that one would stuff drugs into an armrest unless the other two knew about it," Justice Stephen Breyer told Pringle's lawyer, Nancy Forster.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 4 Nov 2003
Source:   Chicago Tribune (IL)
Copyright:   2003 Chicago Tribune Company
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/82
Author:   Jan Crawford Greenburg
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/people/Pringle (Maryland vs Pringle)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1749/a07.html


(11) FAKE-DRUG VICTIMS STRUGGLING    (Top)

'Because Of The Police, I Lost Everything'

Lorenzo Escamilla lost his wife and four children.  Yvonne Gwyn's auto repair shop went out of business.  Victor Alvarado Deleon missed the birth of his second son.

Less tangible but just as difficult to reclaim are the feelings of self-respect, dignity and peace of mind that faded as they sat in jail for crimes they didn't commit.

"I couldn't sleep thinking about my family and why they did this to me," said Jorge Hernandez, who spent more than three months behind bars.  "It's not easy to forget."

On the eve of the federal criminal trial for the former Dallas detective who arrested them, some of the 24 victims of the city's so-called fake drug scandal are still struggling.

Those arrested in the scandal share an immigrant heritage and a strong work ethic as mechanics, day laborers, small-business owners and carpet layers.  All were arrested between April and October 2001 by the same detective, who worked with a stable of corrupt criminal informants.

Three informants have pleaded guilty to fabricating drugs and setting up innocent people for arrest.  The motive: more than $275,000 in cash paid by Dallas police for the seizures of white powdery substances that ultimately proved to be mostly crushed gypsum, the main ingredient in pool chalk and wallboard.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 11 Sep 2003
Source:   Dallas Morning News (TX)
Copyright:   2003 The Dallas Morning News
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/117
Author:   Robert Tharp
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1746/a09.html


(12) TACTICS ANGER RESIDENTS    (Top)

GREENSBORO -- Six times this summer police officers knocked on Janet Washington's door.  Each time, they asked to search her room for drugs.  Each time, she agreed and officers went away with nothing.

Officers returned twice in the past two weeks with the same request. Both times her answer was different.

"I said no," Washington said.  "I've decided not to let them do it anymore.  I get upset when they come and harass me like that."

What Washington calls harassment police call standard procedure.

The tactic that agitates Washington and other residents of the Southgate Motor Inn on Randleman Road is commonly called a "knock-and-talk." Officers who are suspicious that illegal activity is happening in an apartment or house often ask the residents for permission to search the home rather than getting a written search warrant from a judge.

"Knock-and-talks" are a quick way for officers to handle complaints of drug activity without the red tape, said Capt.  Richard Hunt, who heads the patrol district that includes the Southgate Motor Inn.

Last month Hunt headed an investigation into officer conduct at the Southgate Motor Inn, prompted by complaints filed by 17 residents at the hotel who said officers were violating their 4th Amendment rights by illegally searching their rooms.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 09 Nov 2003
Source:   Greensboro News & Record (NC)
Copyright:   2003 Greensboro News & Record, Inc.
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/173
Author:   Russ Rizzo
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1748/a02.html


Cannabis & Hemp-


COMMENT: (13-17)    (Top)

The times they are a changin': with the Democratic presidential candidacy still up for grabs, candidates participating in the youth-centered Rock the Vote forum in Boston were asked whether or not they would admit to using marijuana in the past.  The fact that all of the presidential hopefuls were essentially candid in their responses bodes well for those who hope for a less hypocritical approach to cannabis use from the federal government.

Meanwhile compassion clubs in Oakland are experiencing problems that for once have nothing to do with federal law enforcement.  Last Sunday morning, the Compassionate Caregivers club on Telegraph Ave. was robbed at gunpoint after the club's bouncer was tied up.  The thieves, who are still at large, made away with an unspecified amount of cash and cannabis.  To further add to the growing pains of the Telegraph Ave.  dispensaries, the 420 Cafe was served with a warning that it may

face high fines if it did not post "no smoking" signs throughout, and move to curb smoking in and around the organization.  The city of Oakland claims that it is merely enforcing the "no smoking" regulations that affect all city businesses.

From Australia this week, news that New South Wales will be establishing clinics aimed at helping youths and chronic cannabis users deal with their addiction to pot.  The program is part of a $2.4 million program to address the high use of cannabis in the region.  And finally from Canada, federal NDP leader Jack Layton has caused a bit of a furor by endorsing the legalization of cannabis, calling it a "wonderful substance".  And so the see-saw of international cannabis policy continues its rocky, nauseating ride.


(13) CAMPAIGNS NO LONGER GO UP IN SMOKE    (Top)

Past Marijuana Use Now More Acceptable

Near the end of the Rock the Vote presidential candidates' forum in Boston this week, the moderator posed a question that once filled

politicians with dread.

"Which of you are ready to admit to having used marijuana in the past?"

Though Howard Dean joked that the candidates would "keep our hands down on this one," only former ambassador Carol Moseley Braun declined to answer the question.  Dean, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry and North Carolina Sen.  John Edwards said they had. The Rev. Al Sharpton said he had not.

Ohio Rep.  Dennis Kucinich said he hadn't but added that he would decriminalize marijuana use.

Connecticut Sen.  Joe Lieberman actually apologized - for not having smoked pot.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 07 Nov 2003
Source:   Concord Monitor (NH)
Copyright:   2003 Monitor Publishing Company
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/767
Author:   Lisa Wangsness
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n1747.a11.html


(14) ROBBERS INVADE OAKLAND POT CLUB    (Top)

A medical marijuana club in Oakland's so-called Oaksterdam district

the target of an invasion-style armed robbery Sunday morning.

Four men, one with a gun, tied up a bouncer outside Compassionate Caregivers at about 8:10 a.m.  and barrelled their way to where the cannabis club is located on the top floor of the three-story building, police said.

Several medical marijuana patients and staff members were inside the club at 1740 Telegraph Ave., part of an area known as Oaksterdam because of the proliferation of marijuana dispensaries that have opened in the triangle between Telegraph Avenue, Broadway and 17th and 19th streets in recent months.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 10 Nov 2003
Source:   Oakland Tribune, The (CA)
Copyright:   2003 MediaNews Group, Inc.  and ANG Newspapers

Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/314
Authors:   Susan McDonough and Harry Harris
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/find?115
(Cannabis - California)
Continues:  
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n1750.a02.html


(15) ANTI-SMOKING LAWS THREATEN 'OAKSTERDAM'    (Top)

The city's conflict with medical marijuana clubs in the "Oaksterdam" area continued this week, when one club was threatened with hundreds of dollars in fines for violating Oakland's anti-smoking laws.

The city sent a letter Friday to the 420 Cafe on Telegraph Avenue, charging the club with violating city ordinances by allowing patrons to smoke inside and outside the building, and by not posting "No Smoking" signs.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 08 Nov 2003
Source:   Oakland Tribune, The (CA)
Copyright:   2003 MediaNews Group, Inc.  and ANG Newspapers
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/314
Author:   Alex Katz, , Staff Writer
Photos:  
http://www.immly.org/19_20_norml03.htm
Continues:  
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n1739.a01.html


(16) AUSTRALIAN CLINICS TO HELP CANNABIS ADDICTS QUIT    (Top)

Cannabis clinics designed to curb use of the drug by young people

help heavy users quit will be established in NSW.

Detoxification, counselling and psychological assistance will be available for clinic patients, but cannabis will not be provided as part of the treatment.

Special Minister of State John Della Bosca said the Parramatta clinic would open by the end of the year.  It would be the first of four such facilities to be set up under a $2.4 million program.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 10 Nov 2003
Source:   West Australian (Australia)
Copyright:   2003 West Australian Newspapers Limited

Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/495
Continues:  
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n1750.a10.html


(17) NDP LEADER BOOSTS LEGALIZATION OF 'WONDERFUL' POT    (Top)

Marijuana is a "wonderful substance" that should be legalized, not just decriminalized, says NDP Leader Jack Layton.

Canadians must be able to freely purchase or grow their own pot, Layton

said in a recent interview with Pot TV, a Vancouver-based Internet site.

He accused the Liberal government of "not going nearly far enough" with its current plan to ensure simple possession doesn't result in a criminal record.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 08 Nov 2003
Source:   Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright:   2003 The Vancouver Sun
http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author:   Troy Reeb
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm
(Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark:  
http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm
(Decrim/Legalization)
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/find?196
(Emery, Marc)
Continues:  
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n1736.a06.html


International News


COMMENT: (18-21)    (Top)

Amnesty International last week finally acknowledged that more than 2000 summary executions (of suspected drug users over the past year) were committed by the Thai government.  "The Thai government appeared to condone killing of drug suspects by unknown assailants as one method of fighting the drugs war," admitted Amnesty.  Police death squads worked off of lists drawn up by government; drug suspects would often be killed returning home from a police station, Amnesty reports confirmed.  Still, shabu (amphetamines) production is rising in bordering Burma, according to Thai anti-drug officials.  Rising production often indicates a rising demand, which means a strong demand for shabu still exists in neighboring Thailand, despite death-squad government prohibition tactics.

Brazilian officials last week admitted that U.S.  military forces now "occupy" Colombia and will never leave it.  Confessed Brazilian presidential Chief of

Staff Jose Dirceu: "If the U.S.  occupies Colombia, they will occupy the Amazon region." Dirceu made the remarks during the
Ibero-American Forum gathering of leaders from Spain, Portugal, and Latin America.  This was the first time a "high official" mentioned the possibility of a wider U.S.  occupation of Latin America according to an Associated Press report.  The AP report dutifully slammed supposed Brazilian intransigence in the U.S-led anti-drug crusade: "Brazil has opposed the military aspects of the U.S.-sponsored Colombia Plan to fight drug trafficking and guerillas."

And from Vancouver, Canada, this week reports say that North America's first safe-injection site is a success, with over 450 people a day using the facilities.  Staff at the site, which provides supervision, clean water and hypodermic needles, has intervened in over 20 recorded overdoses so far.  "If those people (who overdosed) had been on the street or in a hotel,

obviously some of them would be dead," noted officials running the so-called shooting-gallery.


(18) AMNESTY SLAMS THAILAND FOR DRUG WAR KILLINGS    (Top)

BANGKOK -- THE Thai government appears to have condoned the killings of more than 2,000 suspected drug dealers as a way to win its war on drugs, Amnesty International said on Wednesday.

It said Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's government had failed to bring anyone to justice for the killings, despite its promises to investigate the deaths of 2,245 people, most of them killed by "unknown assailants" during a bloody 90-day campaign.  Thaksin has consistently denied police were guilty of extrajudicial killings. His government says 2,194 of the deaths were the result of drug traffickers killing one another.  The rest were killed in shootouts with police.

"The government has failed to initiate independent, impartial, effective and prompt investigations into these killings," the group said in a 30-page report on

alleged rights abuses in the Southeast Asian country.

"The Thai government appeared to condone killing of drug suspects by unknown assailants as one method of fighting the drugs war," it said.

"The lack of political will has been exacerbated by the weak criminal justice system in Thailand, which is open to corruption, undermined by undue delays and a lack of investigative skills on the part of law enforcement officials," the report said.

[snip]

Rights groups say most of the deaths were extrajudicial killings by police and security forces, in some cases under pressure to clear so-called blacklists of suspected drug dealers and users in their areas.

Police used the lists, usually drawn up by local officials, to summon people for questioning.  In some cases cited by Amnesty, suspects were killed soon after returing home from a police station.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 07 Nov 2003
Source:   Vanguard (Nigeria)
Copyright:   2003 Vanguard.

Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/2890
Continues:  
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n1745.a07.html


(19) DRUG PRODUCTION RISING IN AREAS BORDERING BURMA    (Top)

Drug armies operating on the Burmese side of the border have recently boosted methamphetamine production, a senior narcotics officer said yesterday.

Units of the United Wa State Army and the Kokang Chinese have stepped up production of the illegal drug in the area adjacent to Mae Hong Son, said the director of the Narcotic Control Board's Chiang Mai branch, Pithaya Jinawat.  He also singled out two villages in Mae Hong Son as transit points for the drugs trade.  The area in Burma was once a stronghold of opium warlord Khun Sa, who surrendered in early 1996 to the Burmese government in return for a generous amnesty.

Pithaya said Ban Rak Thai and Ban Rung Arun, two villages in Mae Hong Son, were transit points for methamphetamines from clandestine labs belonging to the

two armies.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 09 Nov 2003
Source:   Nation, The (Thailand)
Copyright:   2003 Nation Multimedia Group

Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/1963
Author:   Mae Hong Son
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm
(Methamphetamine)
Continues:  
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n1745.a04.html


(20) BRAZIL OFFICIAL: U.S. MAY 'OCCUPY' COLOMBIA, AMAZON AREA    (Top)

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP)--Latin American countries must join together in efforts to help Colombia fight guerrillas and drug trafficking, otherwise the U.S.  will "occupy" the neighboring country and never leave it, a top Brazilian policy-maker was quoted as saying.

"If the U.S.  occupies Colombia, they will occupy the Amazon region," presidential Chief of Staff Jose Dirceu said at a meeting Sunday, according to Rio de Janeiro's daily O Globo.

[snip]

The Ibero-American Forum is a non-governmental

organization that annually gathers leaders from Latin America, Spain and Portugal.  Among attendants this year were former Uruguayan president Luis Maria Sanguinetti, former Spanish Primer Minister Felipe Gonzalez, Mexican industrialist Carlos Slim, Venezuelan media magnate Gustavo Cisneros, and diplomats from Argentina and Mexico.

[snip]

Brazil has opposed the military aspects of the U.S.-sponsored Colombia Plan to fight drug trafficking and guerillas in the neighboring country.  But it was the first time that a high official mentioned the possibility of an "occupation" of Colombia and of the Amazon region.

[snip]

Dirceu was talking about security in the region and the
U.S.

Pubdate:   Mon, 10 Nov 2003
Source:   Associated Press
Copyright:   2003 Associated Press
Continues:  
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n1754.a08.html


(21) SAFE INJECTION SITE PROVING A SUCCESS    (Top)

Canadian Press

VANCOUVER, B.C.  -- Less than seven weeks after North

America's first legal supervised injection site opened its doors, the site's operators say they are surprised by its early popularity.

On average, the site's nurses are supervising about 450 drug injections per day.  Since the site opened Sept. 21, they have intervened in 25 overdoses.

"If those people (who overdosed) had been on the street or in a hotel, obviously some of them would be dead," said Mark Townsend of the Portland Hotel Society which runs the site in conjunction with the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority.

[snip]

There is no official capacity at the site but both Townsend and Viviana Zanocco, spokeswoman for the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, said 600 visits would be close to capacity during an 18-hour day.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 09 Nov 2003
Source:   Winnipeg Free Press (CN MB)
Copyright:   2003 Winnipeg Free Press

Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/502
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n1746.a07.html


HOT OFF THE 'NET    (Top)

Jeb Bush Invades Doctor/Patient Privacy

A DrugSense Focus Alert

http://www.mapinc.org/alert/0281.html


If Cannabis Could Cure Cancer, They Would Tell Us, Right?

By Richard Cowan at Marijuananews.com

http://www.marijuananews.com/news.php3?sid=717


Cultural Baggage Radio Show

Tues, 11/11/03

Voices from the Drug Policy Alliance Biennial Conference

MP3: http://www.cultural-baggage.com/Audio/FDBCB_111103.mp3

Real:   http://www.cultural-baggage.com/ramtorm/to111103.ram


The Special Comittee on the Non-Medical Use of Drugs

Canada's Special Committee on the Non-medical Use of Drugs convened to discuss Bill C-38, An Act to amend the Contraventions Act and the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.

http://www.pot-tv.net/archive/series/pottvseries-118-0.html


John Stewart of Comedy Central on the Goose Creek South Carolina Drug Raid

Video:   http://highwire.stanford.edu/~straffin/JS1111.rm


LETTER OF THE WEEK    (Top)

Take Criminal Element Out Of Marijuana

By Tim Meehan

Re: 'An organized crime gang war,' News, Oct.  24.

Another grow-op, another shootout.  Another comparison to Chicago during alcohol prohibition and yet another police spokesperson who doesn't get it.  Enough. It's time to get the profit motive and the criminal element out of this business.  It's time to stop coming up with specious, easily disproven health reasons for not treating marijuana like tobacco and alcohol.

It's time to stop using children as an excuse that we might send the wrong message when they have an easier time buying marijuana than cigarettes and beer because drug dealers don't ask for proof of age. It's time to stop butting into the private lives of people who prefer marijuana to martinis.

It's also time to stop treating everyone like children because some people make the bad choice to drive after smoking pot (even though it has been convincingly argued that impairment is minimal compared to cellphones, CD players and liquor).

It's time to stop listening to special interests like the police unions, ill-informed MPs bent on scoring political points and the United States, who we now know fight wars, be it drug or conventional, based on lies.  It's time to legalize, regulate and gently tax marijuana.

It's also time for closet cannabis consumers - and there are many in Scarborough - to speak out for our community and put an end to the violence that organized crime brings to underground markets.  More police resources and more intrusions of privacy are not the answer. A half-hearted decriminalization bill that makes it easier to bust people isn't either.

Tim Meehan, Communications director, Ontario Consumers for Safe Access to Recreational Cannabis

Referenced:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1662/a04.html
Date:   10/31/2003
Source:   Bloor West Villager (CN ON)
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/2220


LETTER WRITER OF THE MONTH - OCTOBER    (Top)

DrugSense recognizes Scott Russ of Baton Rouge, Louisiana for his ten letters to the editor published during October.  Scott's first published letter was that we know of was in August.  He has reached a career total of eighteen published letters.  Scott is an active member of the Drug Policy Forum of Florida http://www.dpffl.org/

Scott exemplifies a person who has dedicated a real effort to sending letters to the editor, which he also posts to MAP's Sent Letter list for others to see and gain ideas for their own letters. The Sent Letter digests can be viewed at
http://www.mapinc.org/mapcgi/dndex/sentlte?d1 Writers may join the Sent Letter email list by using the dropdown at
http://www.mapinc.org/lists/#form

You can read all of Scott's excellent published letters by clicking this link:

http://www.mapinc.org/writers/Scott+Russ


FEATURE ARTICLE    (Top)

Score One For The Good Guys
By David Mackey

In a crowded field, a new frontrunner has emerged for this year's worst abuse of power in the War on Drugs.  The latest harbinger of liberty's death comes from unsuspecting Goose Creek, S.  C. Last Wednesday, a small army of cops stormed Stratford High School, following a student's tip that others were dealing drugs.

Fourteen officers burst into a crowded hallway with guns drawn, handcuffing students who were insufficiently submissive.  Snarling drug dogs roamed the halls sniffing for contraband.

They didn't find anything.  No drugs, no weapons, pretty much no reason whatsoever for the raid.

Missing the point entirely is Principal George McCrackin.  "I'll utilize whatever forces I deem necessary to keep this campus safe and clean," he decreed.

It's a good thing for him that kids today don't know anything about history or civics.  If they did, they might realize that the Fourth Amendment's protection against "unreasonable search and seizure" doesn't stop at the schoolhouse doors.  They might realize that America was supposed to be a place where you can go about your day without being harassed by the government.  They might realize that our forefathers fought a bloody revolution to ensure things like this wouldn't happen.

"I'm sure it was an inconvenience to those individuals who were in the hallway, but there is a valuable experience there," the principal said.

Yes, those kids did learn an important lesson.  They learned that the biggest threat to your freedom is your own government.

The tyrant comes in the guise of savior.  Power is not stolen, but swindled.  No one blinks at giving the king carte blanche to slay the dragon, but the sword is inevitably turned upon the people.

Americans have gladly sacrificed liberty after liberty at the altar of Ashcroft in the name of fighting the crime du jour--drugs, terrorism, it doesn't matter.  History's most egregious abuses are always born of irrational fear--the Inquisition, the Salem Witch Trials, McCarthyism and now the War on Drugs.

I like to say that if you're free to call your country a police state, then you don't live in one, but how long can that excuse hold up? Parents might fear that their child will have a gun stuck in their face at school, but until now they didn't have to worry that a cop would be on the other end of it.

Sadly, it should come as no surprise.  The Supreme Court considers participating in any extracurricular activity at a public school probable cause for a drug test.  Maybe if we didn't treat kids like drug dealers, they wouldn't act like them.

I mean no disrespect to police in general--by and large, they do more to defend our rights to life, liberty and property than anyone else.  But can we not agree that a line was crossed here?

An entire school should not be treated like criminals because some people may be breaking the law.  It is not worth throwing away our basic principles of justice and fairness to stop a few kids from getting high.

No doubt the hundreds of innocent students degraded in this incident have gained a new respect for authority.  As they lay facedown on the floor, hands behind their heads with a German shepherd's breath on their neck, they must have been thanking their wise elders for the opportunity to prove their innocence in such dramatic fashion.

If there is a War on Drugs, then this was a war crime.  There will be no Nuremberg for these criminals, but their judgment will come in time.  The people of this nation are slowly realizing that drug prohibition is a moral and practical failure, as any attempt to regulate peaceful commerce must be.

To you, Principal McCrackin, and your compatriots in fascism, I tip my hat--slowly, with my hands where you can see them.

David Mackey is a journalism student at Auburn University.  This piece originally appeared in the Auburn Plainsman.


QUOTE OF THE WEEK    (Top)

"A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep." - Saul Bellow


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