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DrugSense Weekly
December 5, 2003 #328


Table of Contents

* Breaking News (03/28/24)


* This Just In


(1) Solicitor Won't Charge Police In School Drug Raid
(2) Reluctant Jurors Convict Albertan Pot Crusader
(3) Family Files Lawsuit In Rainbow Death
(4) Just Poppycock

* Weekly News in Review


Drug Policy-

COMMENT: (5-8)
(5) Research On Ecstasy Is Clouded By Errors
(6) Marijuana Ad On Metro Infuriates Lawmaker
(7) Court Allows Lawsuit Against School Drug Tests
(8) U.S. Drug Test Act Does Not Bar Torts

Law Enforcement & Prisons-

COMMENT: (9-12)
(9) Family Files Lawsuit in Rainbow Death
(10) Police Can Break Into Home Soon After Knocking, Court Says
(11) Traffic Search Was Illegal
(12) 'Coerced' Contribution Returned

Cannabis & Hemp-

COMMENT: (13-16)
(13) 'Oaksterdam' Pot Clubs May Face Licensing, Zoning Rules
(14) Joint Venture Has Montreal Abuzz
(15) Bud Out!
(16) Hemp, Hemp, Hooray? No Way, Says DEA

International News-

COMMENT: (17-20)
(17) PM Declares Nation Now Out Of Danger
(18) Evo Morales: 'After 500 Years Of Resistance, We Are Retaking
         Power'
(19) Afghan Heroin Poppies Double
(20) Himagsik Anti-Drugs Project Starts Tomorrow

* Hot Off The 'Net


     Drug Policy Reform Live Web Chat: Turning The Tide
     On 70th Anniversary of Repeal, MPP Calls for Rethinking
     Marc Emery and Boris St. Maurice Talk Pot Politics
     High Times Press Conference
     Cultural-Baggage Radio Show

* Letter Of The Week


     Modern-Day Version Of The Salem Witch Trials / By Marie Caldwell

* Feature Article


     Prohibition's Not-So-Great Moments in Science / By Stephen Young

* Quote of the Week


     George Orwell


THIS JUST IN    (Top)

(1) SOLICITOR WON'T CHARGE POLICE IN SCHOOL DRUG RAID    (Top)

GOOSE CREEK - A prosecutor will let the state attorney general decide whether to file charges in connection with the drug raid at Stratford High School.

"While I am confident the goals of the Goose Creek Police Department were appropriate, the actual methods employed by certain officers were ill-advised at best," Ninth Circuit Solicitor Ralph Hoisington said Thursday at City Hall.  "My review of the surveillance tapes and witness interviews left me with questions and concerns regarding the actions of several officers involved in the intervention."

Because the solicitor’s office has several pending cases with Goose Creek police, "it creates a certain amount of conflict" if he decided to prosecute, Hoisington said.

Hoisington is also asking that the State Law Enforcement Division share the results of its probe with the U.S.  attorney’s office and FBI to see if any federal criminal violations occurred.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 05 Dec 2003
Source:   State, The (SC)
Website:   http://www.thestate.com/
Copyright:   2003 The State
Author:   Lauren Leach
Continues:  //www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/7421925.htm


(2) RELUCTANT JURORS CONVICT ALBERTAN POT CRUSADER    (Top)

Judge Sentences Multiple-Sclerosis Sufferer to One Day in Jail

CALGARY -- An Alberta jury convicted a medicinal-marijuana crusader of drug trafficking last night almost 10 hours after the judge told jurors they had no choice but to find to find him guilty.

The verdict was reached after two jurors asked to be excused, saying they could not in good conscience convict Grant Krieger, a 49-year-old multiple-sclerosis sufferer who admitted in court that he ran a marijuana-grow operation to provide pot for himself and the ill.

Both jurors, one man and one woman, asked to be excused almost seven hours into deliberating Mr.  Krieger's fate.

"I don't feel this man is a guilty man," explained the male juror who fought back tears as he spoke to the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench.  ". . .I believe that I could not live with myself if I'm part of the conviction of this man."

The woman juror told the court she was too emotionally involved in the case to judge Mr.  Krieger, who she said was helping others. "I can take your instructions," she said told the judge, "But it's not in my heart."

Mr.  Justice Paul Chrumka reminded them there was only one option in the case -- a finding of guilty -- and refused their requests to be excused before sending them back for further discussion.

Judge Chrumka sentenced Mr.  Krieger to one day in jail, saying Mr.  Krieger's operation was non-profit and aimed to help the sick.  The maximum charge for drug trafficking is life
imprisonment.  Mr. Krieger's prison stay, however, is only a formality.  He will be required to sign in to a remand centre and then sign out without actually being put behind bars.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 04 Dec 2003
Source:   Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright:   2003, The Globe and Mail Company
Website:   http://www.globeandmail.ca/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author:   Dawn Walton
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/people/Grant+Krieger
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n1872.a10.html


(3) FAMILY FILES LAWSUIT IN RAINBOW DEATH    (Top)

Rohm's Shooting Called 'Hate Crime'

Authorities say 28-year-old Rolland Rohm signed his own death warrant when he pointed a gun at an armored vehicle full of police officers. Rohm's family says the authorities are blatantly lying.

And this week, the family of the slain pro-marijuana activist filed a civil lawsuit in U.S.  District Court in Detroit alleging that Rohm, known as Rollie to his friends, was wrongfully killed during a police standoff at the Rainbow Farm Campground during Labor Day weekend 2001 -- and that investigators conspired to cover it up.

"This was murder, pure and simple," Rohm's stepfather, John Livermore, said.  "It was a hate crime."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 03 Dec 2003
Source:   South Bend Tribune (IN)
Copyright:   2003 South Bend Tribune
Website:   http://www.southbendtribune.com/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/621
Author:   Adam Jackson, Tribune Staff Writer
Cited:   Rainbow Farm http://www.rainbowfarmcamp.com
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/find?200 (Rainbow Farm)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n1861.a01.html


(4) JUST POPPYCOCK    (Top)

In Afghanistan And Colombia, America's Allies In The War On Terror Should Be Its Enemies In The War On Drugs

In early November 2001, as the war in Afghanistan was getting under way, the United Nations held a press conference in Islamabad to announce the latest scores in the global drug eradication effort.  Those journalists who bothered to attend were surprised to learn that the previous year the Taliban had all but eradicated the opium poppy from the areas it controlled.  At the time, it was the crimes of the Taliban regime - from its treatment of women and its love for Osama bin Laden to its promotion of heroin addiction among western youth - that were of interest.  To discover that the Taliban had eradicated the opium poppy did not fit the picture of unhallowed evil that the moment demanded. The story made little impact.  Even if it was true - as it undoubtedly was - there was a feeling that the Taliban did not really mean it: they probably had their fingers crossed.  Praise was politically impossible.

Besides, if the story had been given more play it might have been noticed that in those parts of Afghanistan controlled by the Northern Alliance - who had successfully auditioned for the parts of noble heroes in the melodrama of the war against evil - opium production had risen sharply.  Had too much attention been paid to that, it might have raised the question of what would happen if our new friends, the warlords, had the whole country in which to plant their favourite crop.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 04 Dec 2003
Source:   Guardian, The (UK)
Copyright:   2003 Guardian Newspapers Limited
Website:   http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardian/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/175
Author:   Isabel Hilton
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n1870.a07.html


WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW    (Top)


Domestic News- Policy


COMMENT: (5-8)    (Top)

More details about the bias in anti-drug research were uncovered by the New York Times last week.  The story looked at the notorious Ecstasy study that had to be retracted from the journal Science because the nation's so-called leading drug experts couldn't tell the difference between methamphetamine and Ecstasy.  The Times looked at some other questionable research practices from the main author of the study.  The long tradition of poor research sponsored by prohibitionists is examined in today's DrugSense Weekly feature article.

Also seeking to restrict the honest flow of information about drugs is a crusading U.S.  Congressman. Ernest Istook of Oklahoma wants to cut part of the budget for Washington, D.C.  mass transit systems as punishment for the systems' acceptance of an ad about marijuana legalization and sex.  Without regard for the first amendment, Istook doesn't want to see a marijuana ad on a city bus ever again.

Challenges against drug tests are proceeding in two venues.  In Pennsylvania, a suit by two high school students who challenged their school's drug test policy moved forward, while in New York, a court ruled that a man whose life was destroyed by a false positive drug test does indeed have the right to sue over his firing.


(5) RESEARCH ON ECSTASY IS CLOUDED BY ERRORS    (Top)

In September, the journal Science issued a startling retraction.

A primate study it published in 2002, with heavy publicity, warned that the amount of the drug Ecstasy that a typical user consumes in a single night might cause permanent brain damage.

It turned out that the $1.3 million study, led by Dr.  George A. Ricaurte of Johns Hopkins University, had not used Ecstasy at all. His 10 squirrel monkeys and baboons had instead been injected with overdoses of methamphetamine, and two of them had died.  The labels on two vials he bought in 2000, he said, were somehow switched.

The problem corrupted four other studies in his lab, forcing him to withdraw four other papers.

It was not the first time Dr.  Ricaurte's lab was accused of using flawed studies to suggest that recreational drugs are highly dangerous.  In previous years he was accused of publicizing doubtful results without checking them, and was criticized for research that contributed to a government campaign suggesting that Ecstasy made "holes in the brain."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 02 Dec 2003
Source:   New York Times (NY)
Copyright:   2003 The New York Times Company
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author:   Donald G.  Mcneil Jr.
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/mdma.htm (Ecstasy)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1857/a03.html


(6) MARIJUANA AD ON METRO INFURIATES LAWMAKER    (Top)

An Oklahoma lawmaker is seeking to slice $92,500 from the federal government's annual payment to Metro because he is angry that the transit agency accepted advertising from a nonprofit group that wants to decriminalize marijuana.

Change the Climate Inc.  has been using public service advertising space on the Metro system since 2001, but it was the latest round of advertising, this fall, that drew the ire of Rep.  Ernest J. Istook Jr.  (R-Okla.).

The ad showed a man carrying a tanned blonde in a short white dress, the two of them set against the azure sky of some tropical retreat. Under the picture appeared the declaration: "Enjoy better sex! Legalize and tax marijuana."

In a Nov.  10 letter to Jim Graham, chairman of the Metro board, Istook called the ad "shocking" and said the board had "exercised the poorest possible judgment, so I must assure that [Metro] will learn the proper lessons from this experience and will only accept appropriate ads in the future."

This week, Istook inserted language into a bill that would cut Metro's funds by $92,500 and prohibit any transit system that receives federal funds from running advertising from a group that wants to decriminalize marijuana.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 3 Dec 2003
Source:   Washington Post (DC)
Copyright:   2003 The Washington Post Company
Author:   Lyndsey Layton
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1860/a02.html


(7) COURT ALLOWS LAWSUIT AGAINST SCHOOL DRUG TESTS    (Top)

HARRISBURG - A desire to discourage drug use among students is not a sufficient reason to justify "suspicionless" drug screening targeted at student-athletes, parking-permit holders, and participants in extracurricular activities, the state Supreme Court has ruled.

The justices on Thursday turned down the Delaware Valley School District's attempt to have a lawsuit in Pike County dismissed, meaning a legal challenge seeking to block the testing can proceed. The challenge was filed by two sisters, who had passed the drug screening and have since graduated, and their parents.

The family's lawyer said the ruling provides Pennsylvania students with privacy rights beyond the limits of a 2002 U.S.  Supreme Court case that upheld random testing of participants in an Oklahoma school district's extracurricular activities.

"What the Pennsylvania court did is [it] said, 'Well, the Pennsylvania Constitution does recognize the privacy right.' That is, it affords the students [a] broader right of privacy than the U.S.  Supreme Court held," said the lawyer, Robert N. Isseks.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 25 Nov 2003
Source:   Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA)
Copyright:   2003 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/340
Author:   Mark Scolforo, Associated Press
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1835/a07.html


(8) U.S. DRUG TEST ACT DOES NOT BAR TORTS    (Top)

The federal scheme for the drug testing of transportation employees does not pre-empt a state common-law cause of action brought for a false positive drug test, an Eastern District of New York judge has ruled.

Judge Frederic Block, ruling on an issue that has divided some circuit courts, found that the pre-emption language of Federal Omnibus Transportation Employee Testing Act (OTETA) and rules passed to implement the act make clear that the federal government intended only to prevent state or local law from interfering with its drug testing regime.

The ruling came in the case of Drake v.  Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings, 02-CV-1924, the latest filing in the 10-year effort of former Delta Airlines flight attendant Richard W.  Drake to clear his name.

Drake lost his job in 1993 because he allegedly failed a drug test required by OTETA.  He claimed the test was a false positive, the result of a series of errors in handling the sample and the alteration of test results.  He also claimed that the false positive contradicted other tests on the same sample that clearly showed a lack of narcotics or adulterants in his system.

When he was fired after refusing to resign, Drake claimed, he asked the defendants for records relating to his drug test, but he was told the records had either been lost or destroyed.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 24 Nov 2003
Source:   New York Law Journal (NY)
Copyright:   2003 ALM Properties, Inc.
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/615
Author:   Mark Hamblett, New York Law Journal
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1835/a09.html


Law Enforcement & Prisons


COMMENT: (9-12)    (Top)

A lawsuit has been filed by the family of a man shot to death by police in a standoff at the Rainbow Farm campground in 2001.

Obviously not troubled by overuse of police force in the drug war, the U.S.= Supreme Court ruled that preserving cocaine as evidence is more important than preserving the privacy and dignity of citizens.

Other court actions on police conduct were more encouraging.  A federal appeals court in Georgia ruled that an unjustified search for illegal drugs during a traffic stop was not allowable as evidence.  And in Tennessee, a judge ordered that cash be returned to citizen who was urged to "donate" the money during an encounter with police.  The judge said the incident amounted to extortion on the part of the police.


(9) FAMILY FILES LAWSUIT IN RAINBOW DEATH    (Top)

Authorities say 28-year-old Rolland Rohm signed his own death warrant when he pointed a gun at an armored vehicle full of police officers.  Rohm's family says the authorities are blatantly lying.

And this week, the family of the slain pro-marijuana activist filed a civil lawsuit in U.S.  District Court in Detroit alleging that Rohm, known as Rollie to his friends, was wrongfully killed during a police standoff at the Rainbow Farm Campground during Labor Day weekend 2001 -- and that investigators conspired to cover it up.

"This was murder, pure and simple," Rohm's stepfather, John Livermore, said.  "It was a hate crime."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 03 Dec 2003
Source:   South Bend Tribune (IN)
Copyright:   2003 South Bend Tribune
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/621
Author:   Adam Jackson, Tribune Staff Writer
Cited:   Rainbow Farm http://www.rainbowfarmcamp.com
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/find?200 (Rainbow Farm)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1861/a01.html


(10) POLICE CAN BREAK INTO HOME SOON AFTER KNOCKING, COURT SAYS    (Top)

WASHINGTON -- After knocking, police don't have to wait longer than 20 seconds before breaking into the home of a drug suspect, a unanimous Supreme Court ruled yesterday in a case involving a man who said he needed more time to get from the shower to the door.

LaShawn Banks emerged soapy and naked to find masked, heavily armed officers searching for drugs in his Las Vegas apartment in 1998.  His case gave the court its first opportunity to say how long police must wait before breaking into a home to serve a warrant.

The court didn't set a specific standard but said the brief delay in the Banks case was long enough.  More time would give drug suspects an opportunity to flush evidence down the toilet.

Justice David Souter, writing for the nine justices, said that although "this call is a close one, we think that after 15 or 20 seconds without a response, police could fairly suspect that cocaine would be gone if they were reticent any longer."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 03 Dec 2003
Source:   Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright:   2003 The Seattle Times Company
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/409
Author:   Gina Holland
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1860/a08.html


(11) TRAFFIC SEARCH WAS ILLEGAL    (Top)

Court Rules In Favor Of Motorist Found With Illegal Drugs

The federal appeals court in Atlanta has found that a South Georgia deputy made an illegal search when he uncovered 10,000 pills of Ecstasy after a traffic stop.

In a ruling issued Friday, the 11th U.S.  Circuit Court of Appeals said there was no lawful basis for the deputy to detain Jody James Boyce long enough to have a drug-sniffing dog brought to the scene. For this reason, the search that found the Ecstasy and two large containers of marijuana was illegal, the court said.

"While we recognize that drug trafficking is a serious problem in this country and we encourage law enforcement agencies to use every available means to control it, we cannot condone methods that offend the protections afforded by the Constitution," Judge Stanley Birch wrote for a unanimous three-judge panel.

Boyce pleaded guilty in July 2002 to possession with intent to distribute the drugs and was sentenced to 12 years in prison.  But his plea was entered conditionally, because Boyce believes he was illegally searched and detained.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 28 Nov 2003
Source:   Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA)
Copyright:   2003 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/28
Author:   Bill Rankin
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1842/a05.html


(12) 'COERCED' CONTRIBUTION RETURNED    (Top)

The Loudon County Sheriff's Office has returned nearly $10,000 and paid the legal fees of a man who said he was pressured into making a "contribution" to the county's law-enforcement drug fund by deputies who stopped him last year.

The Sheriff's Office never filed an answer to a Loudon County Circuit Court lawsuit filed in June by Eddie W.  Witt of Soddy-Daisy, Tenn.

Early this week, Witt agreed to dismiss the lawsuit after all of his money was returned and his attorney fees were paid.

"Essentially, that money was extorted from Mr.  Witt," said Witt's lawyer, Jes Beard of Chattanooga.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 29 Nov 2003
Source:   Knoxville News-Sentinel (TN)
Copyright:   2003 The Knoxville News-Sentinel Co.
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/226
Author:   Jim Balloch
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/af.htm (Asset Forfeiture)
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption - United States)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1846/a07.html


Cannabis & Hemp-


COMMENT: (13-16)    (Top)

This week the Oakland City Council is expected to impose new restrictions on the growing number of medicinal cannabis distribution organizations found in the city's so-called "Oaksterdam".  The restrictions may include limiting the number of clubs, imposing rules on proper ventilation, and tougher licensing guidelines.  Activists have argued that any restrictions on the clubs will make them more vulnerable to federal DEA raids, and may force sick Californians to buy medicine off of the streets.

Our second story takes us North to Montreal, where the opening of the city's first "smoke-easy" has caused quite a stir.  Chez Marijane's, a cafe that doesn't actually sell cannabis but permits its use within the premises, opened last weekend to much publicity and public scrutiny.  Despite two arrests the cafe - which is sponsored in large part by the Quebec Marijuana Party (better known as Bloc Pot) - Marijane's plans to keep on offering Montrealers a safe and social place to their herb.

Our third story examines a controversy surrounding the
NORML-sponsored Oregon Medical Cannabis Awards Banquet.  In a misuse of the RAVE Act, the Oregon office of the DEA tried to dissuade the DoubleTree hotel chain from hosting the event.  The hotel initially cancelled its contract with Oregon NORML, but when NORML contacted the ACLU and a local lawyer, DoubleTree agreed to host the gathering, which occurred without incidence.

And lastly a story about Gale Glenn's efforts to legalize the industrial production of hemp in the U.S.  Glenn, who has spent years fighting a DEA ban on domestic hemp cultivation, is Vice-Chairwoman of the North American Hemp Council.


(13) 'OAKSTERDAM' POT CLUBS MAY FACE LICENSING, ZONING RULES    (Top)

If there's an epicenter of the nation's medicinal marijuana movement, it may be right here in a gritty six-block area near Oakland City Hall, where at least 11 dispensaries sell pot to any California resident with a doctor's note.

[snip]

Now the council is considering a requirement that clubs carry business licenses, or zoning rules that would limit the
concentration of clubs in an area.  The city's far-reaching anti-smoking ordinance, which prohibits smoking in any commercial building unless it has a separate ventilation system, probably will be applied to the clubs as well.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 28 Nov 2003
Source:   San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright:   2003 San Jose Mercury News
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/390
Author:   Beth Fouhy
Contiues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n1844.a04.html


(14) JOINT VENTURE HAS MONTREAL ABUZZ    (Top)

Montreal-By most measures, Chez Marijane ought not to create much of a buzz.

[snip]

When it opened its doors yesterday at noon, an event marked by a crowd of about 50 patrons lighting up joints, this spartan cafe in Montreal's eastside became a notable institution in Quebec.

Its patrons plan to come here on a daily basis to thumb their nose at Canada's drug laws, which they believe should be changed to legalize pot.

[snip]

Marijane's is not the first place in Canada that allows its customers to openly smoke marijuana.  There are a handful of such establishments in Toronto and Vancouver and other Canadian cities.

But Montreal's pot cafe may be the first that challenges police so directly - it is located across the street from a police station.

Yesterday, police arrested two people at the cafe who were holding joints, said Hugo St-Onge, president of the Bloc Pot party.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 30 Nov 2003
Source:   Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright:   2003 The Toronto Star
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/456
Author:   Miro Cernetig
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n1849.a01.html


(15) BUD OUT!    (Top)

Local Civil-Rights Lawyers Fend Off Feds' Attempt To Shut Down Medical-Marijuana Conference.

Organizers from the Oregon chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws are still fuming over what they view as an effort to intimidate advocates of medicinal pot.

[snip]

This conflict was underlined on Nov.  13, when Ken Magee of the Oregon office of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration wrote a letter to the DoubleTree Hotel.  Delivered in person by two DEA agents, the letter noted NORML's plans for a marijuana-judging event to be held at the banquet and asked an ominous question: Did the hotel intend to "knowingly permit...the illegal possession, conspiracy to possess or to aid and abet the possession of marijuana"?

Facing the possibility of having their hotel seized by the feds, DoubleTree officials promptly informed NORML it was canceling its contract to host the banquet (see Murmurs, WW, Nov.  19, 2003).

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 26 Nov 2003
Source:   Willamette Week (OR)
Copyright:   2003 Willamette Week
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/499
Author:   Nick Budnick
Cited:   http://www.norml.org/
Cited:   http://www.dea.gov/
Cited:   http://www.aclu.org/
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n1852.a05.html


(16) HEMP, HEMP, HOORAY? NO WAY, SAYS DEA    (Top)

Durham's Gale Glenn could rightly be called the hemp lady.

No, not that kind of hemp, she says; it's the kind that can be harvested to make clothes, paper and other textile products, the kind that produces the longest and strongest natural fibers in the world.  But because it's in the cannabis family, along with marijuana, it's illegal.

As a former Kentucky tobacco farmer, Glenn sees industrial hemp as the perfect money-making alternative crop.  From her Durham home, she has been lobbying Congress, the U.S.  Drug Enforcement Administration and the White House for years.

"It's an illegal crop, even though it's grown in 35 Western countries because the DEA is convinced it is a stalking horse for illegal marijuana.  We've been working in a concerted effort for about eight years to legalize it as an alternative crop," said Glenn, who is vice chairwoman of the North American Industrial Hemp Council.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 29 Nov 2003
Source:   Herald-Sun, The (Durham, NC)
Copyright:   2003 The Herald-Sun
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/1428
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/hemp.htm (Hemp)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n1847.a03.html


International News


COMMENT: (17-20)    (Top)

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra this week declared the Thai kingdom had won the war on drugs.  "Illegal drugs have been eradicated to the point they [no] longer have any great influence on people's lives," boasted Shinawatra.  Last October, observers will recall the PM's new Thai drug war was "aimed at eliminating illicit drugs from the country before December 3 to please His Majesty the King." But now, "the fight will continue until Thailand is completely drug free," admitted the Thai Prime Minister.  Evidently, "drug free" means whatever the Prime Minister says it means.

Bolivian leader Evo Morales, a coca-farmer turned leader of a revolution, last week denounced the US government's abuse of the Bolivian people.  "The US government does not understand our way of life and our philosophy," noted Morales.  He also pointed out that the U.S.  has not moved on its policy to eradicate traditional coca farming, calling the stationing of US troops in Bolivia "permanent aggression." Morales concluded what many drug reformers have seen here in the U.S.  itself; the war on drugs is a governmental power grab. "For the U.S.  government, the 'war on drugs' is just an excuse for the U.S.  to increase its power and control over other countries," said Morales.

Afghan opium poppy production doubled over the last year, the U.S. government reported last week.  Growing "enough poppies in 2003 to make 2,865 tonnes of opium," a statement by U.S.  drug "czar" John Walters advised that this year "61,000 hectares were under cultivation in 2003, compared with 30,750 hectares in 2002." Good luck in trying to persuade farmers to switch to tomatoes while "opium-growing families were making an average 3,900 dollars a year against the gross domestic product per capita of 184 dollars," according to UN estimates.

Philippine president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo launched a new governmental propaganda offensive, "The Nation's Outrage Against Drugs: Saving This Generation" (Himagsik) project in Manilla last week.  This latest anti-drugs program in the Philippines follows last year's all-around toughening of the prohibition, including (for example) the death penalty for trafficking a few ounces of cannabis. In carefully orchestrated propaganda rallies and other events, "representatives from the youth and religious sectors as well as civil society," as well as "sports personalities" shall "exhort the youth to junk drugs in favor of sports." Surely this will make the Philippines drug free!


(17) PM DECLARES NATION NOW OUT OF DANGER    (Top)

People Have Their Sons, Daughters Back

Illegal drugs have been eradicated to the point they longer have any great influence on people's lives, but the fight will continue until Thailand is completely drug free, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said yesterday.

The government would declare its victory over drugs tomorrow, he said.

It was made possible by the people's contribution of physical and spiritual forces, and even their lives, to protect their society.

"We are now in a position to declare that drugs, which formerly were a big danger to our nation, can no longer hurt us.  Many Thai people now have their sons and daughters back," he said.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 02 Dec 2003
Source:   Bangkok Post (Thailand)
Copyright:   The Post Publishing Public Co., Ltd.  2003
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/39
Author:   Yuwadee Tunyasiri Supoj Wancharoen
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n1852.a07.html


(18) EVO MORALES: 'AFTER 500 YEARS OF RESISTANCE, WE ARE RETAKING    (Top)POWER'

COCHABAMBA -- This interview with socialist leader Evo Morales took place a month after the massive popular uprising against the Bolivian government's proposal to export the country's natural gas to the U.S.  for a meagre sum. Huge demonstrations demanded that the gas reserves be nationalised to benefit the neediest sections of Bolivian society.  On October 17, President Sanchez de Lozada was forced to flee to Miami and the gas export plan was postponed. Lozada's vice-president Carlos Mesa took over the presidency.

Morales played a central role in mobilising opposition to Lozada's plan.  For years, he has been an active leader of social movements in Bolivia.  He is a member of congress and the leader of the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) party.  He is also leader of the coca growers in the Chapare, a tropical region in Bolivia where much coca is grown.  Morales narrowly failed to be elected president in 2002, losing to Lozada by just 1.5% of the votes.

Morales' role as both the most prominent socialist in Bolivia and a top leader of the coca growers (coca is the raw material from which cocaine is made) has meant that he is not popular in Washington.

[snip]

Many in Bolivia say that you should be president and that you have more support nationally than any other candidate.  What do you have to say about the pressure you may receive from the U.S.  government if you are elected president? The U.S.  ambassador in Bolivia has stated that if you are elected, the U.S.  will pull its financial support from Bolivia.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 03 Dec 2003
Source:   Green Left Weekly (Australia)
Copyright:   2003, Green Left Weekly
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/2753
Author:   Benjamin Dangl
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/areas/Bolivia
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n1849.a08.html


(19) AFGHAN HEROIN POPPIES DOUBLE    (Top)

WASHINGTON:   The number of heroin poppies growing in Afghanistan
nearly doubled over the past year, the White House announced Friday.

"Poppy cultivation in Afghanistan is a major and growing problem," drug "czar" John Walters said in a statement.

Some 61,000 hectares (acres) were under cultivation in 2003, compared with 30,750 hectares (acres) in 2002, the statement said.

Afghanistan grew enough poppies in 2003 to make 2,865 tonnes of opium.  That is an increase of 1,587 tonnes over the 2002 level, the statement said.

[snip]

The UN reported that opium-growing families were making an average 3,900 dollars a year against the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita of 184 dollars, based on 2002 estimates.

Pubdate:   Sun, 30 Nov 2003
Source:   Daily Times (Pakistan)
Copyright:   2003 Daily Times
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/2893
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n1848.a02.html


(20) HIMAGSIK ANTI-DRUGS PROJECT STARTS TOMORROW    (Top)

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo will launch "The Nation's Outrage Against Drugs: Saving This Generation" (Himagsik) project at the Liwasang Bonifacio in Manila tomorrow, Monday.

Representatives from the youth and religious sectors as well as civil society are expected to join Mrs.  Arroyo in the nationwide launch of Himagsik.

There will also be launching ceremonies at the City Park in Davao City, Fuente Osmena in Cebu, and Burnham Park in Baguio City starting at 4:30 p.m.

The Himagsik launch will also be graced by International Boxing Federation (IBP) superbantamweight champion Manny Pacquiao, billiards legend Efren "Bata" Reyes, and other sports personalities who will exhort the youth to junk drugs in favor of sports.

Singers and other movie personalities have also been invited to join the President in celebrating the first nationwide coordinated and multi-sectoral fight against illegal drugs.

The launching of Himagsik comes on the heels of the recent success of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in the fight against illegal drugs with over P18 billion confiscated from raids of shabu factories.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 29 Nov 2003
Source:   Manila Bulletin (The Philippines)
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/906
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n1847.a02.html


HOT OFF THE 'NET    (Top)

DRUG POLICY REFORM LIVE WEB CHAT: TURNING THE TIDE

How can I get the presidential candidates to talk about drug policy reform? What's up with Rush Limbaugh? What is the status of medical marijuana legalization? What craziness is the Drug Czar up to? Could the RAVE Act be repealed any time soon?

Join the country's preeminent drug policy reformers, Ethan Nadelmann, director of the Alliance, and Ira Glasser, retired ACLU director, when they take your questions in a live online audio chat Tuesday, December 9, at 3 p.m.  EDT.

Visit:   http://actioncenter.drugpolicy.org/ctt.asp?u=5652&l=11014 for
more information, to submit questions, and to listen live on the day of the chat.  And please feel free to forward this to your friends and colleagues.


ON 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF PROHIBITION REPEAL, MPP CALLS FOR RETHINKING
OF FAILED POLICIES

http://www.mpp.org/releases/nr120303.html


MARC EMERY AND BORIS ST.  MAURICE TALK CANADIAN POT POLITICS

Marc Emery President of the BC Marijuana Party and President of the Federal Marijuana Party Marc Boris' St.  Maurice discuss whether or not Marijuana Party members would be better off joining the NDP in the next Federal election in order to attain their goal of cannabis legalization.

http://www.pot-tv.net/archive/shows/pottvshowse-2321.html


HIGH TIMES PRESS CONFERENCE

The new Heads at High Times Richard Stratton and John Mailer, explain the new format and direction the famous counter culture magazine is taking.  Filmed at the 2003 cannabis cup in Amsterdam.

http://www.pot-tv.net/archive/shows/pottvshowse-2328.html


CULTURAL-BAGGAGE RADIO SHOW

Last:   Dr.  Mitch Earleywine, 12/02/03

Dr.  Earleywine is the author of "Understanding Marijuana, a New Look at the Scientific Evidence."

MP3: http://cultural-baggage.com/Audio/FDBCB_120203.mp3
RealAudio:   http://cultural-baggage.com/ramtorm/to120203.ram

Next:   Deborah Small, 12/09/03

Deborah Small of the Drug Policy Alliance will be our guest. She is the coordinator of the "Breaking the Chains" conference on racial bias to be held in Houston Texas on April 1 to April 3 of 2004.

Listen online at http://cultural-baggage.com/kpft.htm


LETTER OF THE WEEK    (Top)

Modern-Day Version Of The Salem Witch Trials

By Marie Caldwell

The Salem witch trials reveal striking similarities to our present-day war on drugs.  Both were/are fueled by fear, not logic. The war on drugs is waged against substances deemed to "possess" individuals, either causing them to become evil or deliver death. The war on witches was against spirits declared to produce the same results.  Both were/are moralistic in their declaration of saving humanity from sin by destroying a menace.

In reality, both were/are attacks on individuals, free will and choice.  The tactics used in seeking out violators are the same. Enforcers must hunt.  During the war on witches, those admitting guilt were given reduced sentences while those declaring innocence obtained harsher sentences.

Under either plea, the government confiscated the assets of the accused.  Prosecutors were more interested in conviction than truth. Acquaintances were persuaded to snitch.  In federal drug cases, every one of these same tactics are used today.

Both wars result in overcrowded prisons and favor conviction over rehabilitation.  Both demonize the accused and financially and physically destroy families.  Oddly, they both turn a deaf ear and instantly demonize individuals requesting consideration of alternative solutions.  They brand them as either pro-drug or pro-Satan and play on public fear to maintain the status quo.

When a prominent governor's daughter was accused of being a witch, it was declared a private matter and never entered the courts.  Today we have examples of this same practice in Noelle Bush and Rush Limbaugh.  When poverty-stricken villagers were accused, a conviction nearly always ensued.  Nothing has changed.

Mankind is still allowing a fear of spell-binding potions to overrule common sense.  History will not be kind to us. They will sigh at our ignorance, bemuse our blind insanity and eventually vindicate our accused.

Marie Caldwell,
Biloxi

Date:   11/26/2003
Source:   Sun Herald (MS)
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/432


FEATURE ARTICLE    (Top)

Prohibition's Not-So-Great Moments in Science

By Stephen Young

Descriptions of "scientific" studies used to support the drug war frequently sound as if they were conducted by Jerry Lewis (or Eddie Murphy) in "The Nutty Professor."

The slapstick hilarity hit a new low last week.  It inspired me to attempt a joke.

How many National Institute on Drug Abuse researchers does it take to change a light bulb?

The answer depends on two factors: results expected by NIDA administrators and the amount of funding available.

If NIDA-funded researchers are encountering more ridicule than usual this week, they've got one of their brightest stars to thank.  George Ricaurte, who literally carved a career out of Ecstasy hysteria, was the subject of an unflattering but generally tame profile in the New York Times - http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1857/a03.html

His research had been exposed as shoddy before, but Ricaurte found new notoriety in September after he retracted a study which purported a single exposure to Ecstasy to be capable of causing brain damage in monkeys.

Ricaurte initially said he injected Ecstasy into monkeys as part of the study - which is strange in itself, since no humans inject Ecstasy.  The retraction indicated that he really injected the poor creatures with a dose methamphetamine that proved deadly to some. Whoops! Such a silly mistake! Nobody's perfect, it seems, even if they warrant $10 million in funding from NIDA.

Embarrassing as the story might be, the Times let Ricaurte off the hook regarding the mysterious drug mix-up.  The story states: "The labels on two vials he bought in 2000, he said, were somehow switched."

In previous stories, Ricaurte blamed the supplier of the drugs for the switched labels, but the supplier has since offered a vehement denial - http://www.maps.org/media/tbj111003.html

"Somehow switched"? Who could have been so wacky?

The Times does suggest Ricaurte didn't want just any data in his studies; he wanted data that would fit his (and NIDA's) preconceived notions about Ecstasy.

A pair of human subjects who had participated in another Ricaurte study told the Times they were coached to deny using drugs other than Ecstasy in the days prior to the study, even though one had done just that.  They also said they took memory tests while they were jet-lagged and sleep tests while they were in pain, conditions that could obviously impact test results negatively.

The human subjects should count their blessings - at least they weren't "accidentally" injected with a lethal dose of crank.

Kudos to the Times for finding some new details, but skewed government research on illegal drugs isn't exactly news.  It is, however, always interesting to learn how the skewing occurs.

Back in 2000, the Orlando Sentinel published a story -
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n675/a02.html  -    about  research commissioned by the State of Florida on "club drug" deaths.  State researchers asked medical examiners for statistics about people who died with any government-designated "club drugs" in their systems. The medical examiners tried to explain the list would include a lot of people who didn't know what club drugs were.  The state did not listen.  When publicized, the list included a 15-year-old with a heart ailment who had been taking prescription Adderall at the time of his death,= and an 82-year-old who died days after being hit by a car.  More than half of the deaths surveyed by the Sentinel were not caused by illicit drug use.

Predictably, Florida officials blamed medical examiners for bad data, but medical examiners said they answered state requests with precision.  "I spent weeks trying to educate them on what they were really looking for," one medical examiner told the Sentinel.  "I talked until I was blue in the face."

The research was announced at the same time Florida's drug czar unveiled a plan to cut state drug use rates in half within five years.  Do the math - if you want to cut future drug use rate by 50 percent, it's awfully convenient to have current drug use rates overstated by 50 percent.  (Set back in 1999, the five year mark hits in less than a month.  Good luck to Governor Bush on pulling it out in the home stretch, but not even the bloated numbers would help at this point.)

The history of drug war rhetoric sold as research goes back several decades.  In his 1965 book "The Addict and the Law," drug research pioneer Alfred Lindesmith wrote about the federal anti-drug establishment and its methods of controlling information.

"...  any individual investigator who found himself at odds with the comprehensive official line laid down by the Federal Bureau of Narcotics had to contend with the solid, monolithic phalanxes of the government bureaucracy.  The latter, with the mass media and government printing presses available to them, could readily brand the heretic as an irresponsible self-appointed expert,' or inspire a stooge to attack him or label his work as unscientific.'"

As Lindesmith wrote, he hoped the era of scientific bias was ending. Just seven years later, the Shafer Commission appointed by President Nixon to study marijuana dispelled many long-standing myths about marijuana and urged a tolerant policy.  The study was dismissed by Nixon and generally ignored.  The same sort of thing happened when the National Academy of Science released another honest marijuana report in 1982.

In the upside down world of the drug war, the situation sort of makes sense.  Solid research efforts are blocked; those that get through are consciously overlooked by prohibitionists.  But when biased researchers are challenged on deliberately twisted studies, it's always explained away as an honest mistake.

The paradox might seem funny if it did not advance such a destructive force.

Stephen Young is an editor with DrugSense Weekly and Author of "Maximizing Harm: Losers and Winners in the Drug War"
www.maximizingharm.com


QUOTE OF THE WEEK    (Top)

"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." - George Orwell


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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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