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DrugSense Weekly
Feb. 13, 2004 #337


Table of Contents

* Breaking News (03/28/24)


* This Just In


(1) NAACP Official Mistaken For Suspect
(2) Marijuana Advocate Convicted On Drug Charge, Plans Appeal
(3) Medical Pot Backers Picket Federal Drug Czar
(4) For Dutch Pain Sufferers, Marijuana Is Just Another Prescription Drug

* Weekly News in Review


Drug Policy-

COMMENT: (5-8)
(5) Students Arrested In Drug Sting
(6) Students Talk About Undercover Officers
(7) System Hardens Youths
(8) U.N. Calls For War On Afghan Drugs

Law Enforcement & Prisons-

COMMENT: (9-12)
(9) Woman Plans To Contest Forfeiture
(10) Editorial: Miami Ordinance Penalizes The Wrong People
(11) Bill Would Let Drug Felons Get Food Stamps
(12) Super Sniffers

Cannabis & Hemp-

COMMENT: (13-16)
(13) Hemp Ruling Hailed - Court Rules DEA Cannot Regulate Food
(14) New Limits In Oakland For Medical Pot Clubs
(15) Illinois Representative Tests Pot Waters
(16) TBI Program Nets First Drug Conviction In Hawkins County
(17) Your Bias May Be Keeping Pot From Patients

International News-

COMMENT: (18-21)
(18) Drug Deaths Quadruple
(19) No Summary Executions, Only Unsolved Killings: Duterte
(20) Stronach Smoked Pot, Won't Decriminalize It
(21) Farmers Planning Hemp Factory

* Hot Off The 'Net


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    Battle For Canada #13
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    The Cannabis Conundrum
    Cannabis Correlates Survey
    Liberals Bring Back Pot Bill
    DrugSense Hosts NORML Chapters

* Letter Of The Week


     Drug Policies Contradict Aim Of U.S. Constitution / By Jose Melendez

* Feature Article


     Drinking With The Press During Alcohol Prohibition / By Stephen Young

* Quote of the Week


     Francis Bacon, Sr.


THIS JUST IN    (Top)

(1) NAACP OFFICIAL MISTAKEN FOR SUSPECT    (Top)

Law officers handcuffed an executive board member of Oklahoma City's NAACP Wednesday in northeast Oklahoma City before releasing him.

Sean Baker said members of the Drug Enforcement Agency forced him to the ground at a gasoline station with guns drawn, then released him about 6 p.m.  while his family watched.

"It was terrible," said Baker, who is a police and criminal justice investigator with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.  "My children are terrified. My children have never experienced anything like that in their life."

Agents were tracking a man wanted on drug complaints.  They nearly arrested the man they were looking for earlier but failed.  After the incident with Baker, they arrested the other man later.

Bob Surovec, assistant special agent in charge of the Oklahoma City DEA office, told KWTV NEWS 9 that agents received a tip that the wanted man was supposed to be near the gasoline station.

"Regrettably it was not the subject we were looking for, and regrettably he was there with his wife and family," Surovec said.

"We're sorry this incident happened."

Pubdate:   Thu, 12 Feb 2004
Source:   Oklahoman, The (OK)
Copyright:   2004 The Oklahoma Publishing Co.
Website:   http://www.oklahoman.com/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/318
Author:   Chad Previch
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/topics/regrettably
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04.n265.a11.html


(2) MARIJUANA ADVOCATE CONVICTED ON DRUG CHARGE, PLANS APPEAL    (Top)

ALEXANDER CITY, Ala.  (AP) -- A marijuana legalization activist who had argued that she was searched illegally has been convicted of possession of less than a gram of the drug and some paraphernalia.

Loretta Nall, who founded the U.S.  Marijuana Party in 2002, was given a 30-day suspended sentence for the misdemeanors and was ordered to pay several hundred dollars in fines.  She immediately filed a notice to appeal.

Nall and her attorney argued that the Tallapoosa County Narcotics Task Force illegally obtained the search warrant that resulted in her arrest.

Members of the drug squad raided her mobile home on Nov.  13, 2002, based on statements her daughter made in a kindergarten class.

Officers also used as evidence for the warrant a letter to the editor published in The Birmingham News.  The letter signed by Nall calls for marijuana users to come out of the closet and change laws against it.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 12 Feb 2004
Source:   Associated Press (Wire)
Copyright:   2004 Associated Press
Cited:   U.S.  Marijuana Party http://www.usmjparty.com/
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/people/Loretta+Nall
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04.n265.a10.html


(3) MEDICAL POT BACKERS PICKET FEDERAL DRUG CZAR    (Top)

About A Dozen Activists Protest As The Official Visits The State Capital.  He Says Such Demonstrations Are Part Of A Larger Effort To Legalize Recreational Drugs.

SACRAMENTO -- A visit Wednesday to the California capital by President Bush's drug czar prompted a placard-waving protest by medical marijuana supporters angry over the federal government's opposition to use of the drug by the ill.

The demonstration by about a dozen activists came as John Walters, director of the president's Office of National Drug Control Policy, met in a downtown office building with members of law enforcement and leaders of the drug treatment effort to discuss the U.S.  effort to stem abuse.

"The czar belongs in Russia, not in California," said state Sen.  John Vasconcellos, a Santa Clara Democrat who remains one of the Legislature's most vocal supporters of medical marijuana.

Walters, who encountered similar pickets during appearances in Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego, said the protesters were part of a broader movement to legalize recreational drugs.

[snip]

After the protest, Walters said that marijuana had not been shown to be a safe and effective medicine, and that marijuana was continuing to be the single most prevalent cause of drug treatment in the nation.

"Some people who use marijuana say it makes them feel better," Walters said.  "But feeling better is not the standard of modern medicine."

He said that a small group of wealthy businessmen led by billionaire financier George Soros, one of the most aggressive foes of President Bush heading into the 2004 election, was using the medical marijuana movement to promote efforts to legalize recreational drugs.

"They are using the sick and suffering as a prop for political action," Walters said.  "I think that is immoral and improper. I think this con has gone on long enough."

Pubdate:   Wed, 12 Feb 2003
Source:   Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright:   2003 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.latimes.com/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author:   Eric Bailey, Times Staff Writer
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04.n263.a07.html


(4) FOR DUTCH PAIN SUFFERERS, MARIJUANA IS JUST ANOTHER PRESCRIPTION DRUG    (Top)

GRONINGEN, Netherlands -- With a lever controlled by his left arm -- the only part of his body he still can move -- Peter Boonman maneuvers his motorized wheelchair across his spacious apartment to a table where he keeps a vaporizing pipe and small plastic pharmaceutical containers of pungent marijuana.

Getting high makes Mr.  Boonman's life bearable. Since his multiple sclerosis was diagnosed at the end of the 1980s, his body has slowly deteriorated.  At 52 years old, he is almost entirely paralyzed and is confined to his wheelchair or bed.

"The MS makes me tired," he said.  "The marijuana gives me strength and energy."

Mr.  Boonman smokes about three grams of marijuana each day. When he runs low, he picks up the phone and calls a pharmacy.  A pharmacist delivers the pot in small plastic jars -- usually 20 bottles, enough to last him a month.

Eighty percent of the cost is covered by national health insurance.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 12 Feb 2004
Source:   Wall Street Journal (US)
Copyright:   2004 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Website:   http://www.wsj.com/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/487
Author:   Keith B.  Richburg, The Washington Post
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04.n264.a03.html


WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW    (Top)


Domestic News- Policy


COMMENT: (5-8)    (Top)

The big news of the week appears in the Cannabis and Hemp section of DrugSense Weekly: A federal court has finally overturned the DEA's ban on edible hemp.  So hemp businesses will be a bit safer, but that doesn't mean the drug war has stopped targeting the wrong people, especially young people.  A North Carolina school district garnered lots of attention last week after the arrest of dozens of students on drug charges.  Administrators say undercover police did a good job; some students said they knew who the narcs were, and that young attractive agents lured some lonely kids into a trap.

Does dragging kids into the criminal justice system help them and society? Not in California where a disturbing new report suggests that young people leave the state's youth prisons more prone to violence than they were before incarceration.  And, while we can't control drugs in this country by locking everyone up, the U.N.  says the U.S.  should be somehow helping to reduce skyrocketing opium production in Afghanistan.


(5) STUDENTS ARRESTED IN DRUG STING    (Top)

BURLINGTON -- Authorities arrested 50 Alamance County high school students Wednesday on charges of peddling drugs after police officers posed as students and bought marijuana, cocaine and other drugs.

A basketball player who has signed a letter of intent to play for UNC-Chapel Hill next year was among those arrested.

Youthful-looking officers, some borrowed from law enforcement agencies in other counties, enrolled in all six Alamance County high schools and the Sellars-Gunn Education Center in August.  They spent five months posing as students and bought marijuana and other drugs from students in school classrooms, hallways and restrooms, as well as off campus.

"Some transactions were conducted in the classroom with the teacher's back to the class," said Sheriff Terry Johnson, who had undercover officers in three high schools.  The Burlington and Graham police departments also placed officers in schools.

The investigation, dubbed Operation Safe Schools, began last spring after Alamance-Burlington School System Superintendent James Merrill sought help from local authorities.  Since 2000, parents, teachers and principals had shown increasing concern about drug and alcohol use at the high schools, school officials said.  Officials were also concerned about an increase in violence.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 05 Feb 2004
Source:   Greensboro News & Record (NC)
Copyright:   2004 Greensboro News & Record, Inc.
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/173
Author:   Mark Tosczak
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n229/a07.html


(6) STUDENTS TALK ABOUT UNDERCOVER OFFICERS    (Top)

Maybe it's kids being bold after the fact, but some students at Cummings High School in Burlington say they knew who the undercover police officer at their school was.

They say she was a white girl named Cindy.  She was always asking other students about where to buy drugs.  To get sympathy, she told everyone that her grandmother had died.

They say she went to a party and even spent the night at students' houses.

Some students at local schools where 50 students were arrested on drug charges this week say that they knew there was an undercover officer in their ranks.  Others were as shocked as many parents when the arrests were made Wednesday morning.

Joe Bodenheimer says he shared a trigonometry class with Cindy but didn't suspect anything.  Kelly Deese, another student, said that Cindy would dress provocatively and play easy to get.  "She flaunted it," Deese said.

She thinks the boys who were charged at Cummings were attracted to Cindy and let it cloud suspicions that she was a cop.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 07 Feb 2004
Source:   Burlington Times-News (NC)
Copyright:   2004 The Times-News Publishing Company
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/1822
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n239/a05.html


(7) SYSTEM HARDENS YOUTHS    (Top)

Punishment, Fear for Safety 'Dehumanizes' Juveniles in State Facilities, Experts Say

California's youth prison system attempts to reform offenders by blasting them with powerful chemicals, confining them in cages, and keeping wards locked down 23 hours a day.

The punishments are the most severe in the country -- and perhaps the most ineffective -- according to experts who have just completed a year's review of the California Youth Authority.

Their reports, commissioned by state Attorney General Bill Lockyer, drew wide attention last week for their revelation that some wards were kept in cages.  But a closer look at these and other studies indicates that the mental health and crime experts, Stanford University psychiatrists and Office of the Inspector General who produced them have reached a common and far more important conclusion:

Inside the Youth Authority's 10 lockups, the climate of violence, punishment and fear makes young people more likely -- not less -- to resort to violence themselves.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 10 Feb 2004
Source:   San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright:   2004 San Jose Mercury News
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/390
Author:   Karen de Sa, Mercury News
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n260/a05.html


(8) U.N. CALLS FOR WAR ON AFGHAN DRUGS    (Top)

Foreign troops must target traffickers if Afghanistan is to win its war on drugs, a senior UN official says.

Antonio Mario Costa, head of the UN office on drugs and crime, said a rare U.S.  raid on an Afghan opium-processing lab last month should be repeated.

US and Nato-led forces have so far resisted calls to tackle drugs traffickers, saying their first responsibility is to maintain security.

Three-quarters of the world's opium was produced in Afghanistan last year.

The UN and other agencies have warned the country risks becoming economically dependent on the drug trade.

Mr Costa told a major conference in the capital, Kabul, on Tuesday that a bombing raid by American warplanes against a northern opium processing plant last month had sent ripples through the Afghan drugs world.

He said it was crucial that similar military action took place if the country was to win its war against drugs.

He warned that Afghanistan was at risk of becoming a narco state because corruption was aggravating the drugs problem.

"The more we tolerate that [corruption], the more dangerous the situation becomes," Mr Costa said.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 10 Feb 2004
Source:   BBC News (UK Web)
Copyright:   2004 BBC
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/558
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/areas/afghanistan
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/topics/opium
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n259/a03.html


Law Enforcement & Prisons


COMMENT: (9-12)    (Top)

A Mississippi woman is seeking the return of thousands of dollars in cash confiscated from her during an incident in which she did nothing.  Police are using drug-related seizure laws to justify the forfeiture of the money, even though there's no evidence drugs have anything to do with the case.  Another form of overkill in property seizures is being rightly criticized by the Miami Herald this week.

In Washington state, some legislators are attempting to correct an overreaching laws which prohibit drug convicts from receiving food stamps, a penalty that does not apply to murderers and rapists.  And from Georgia, a rare balanced assessment of the value of police dogs. According to one expert, some of them might be smarter than their handlers, but that doesn't mean the dogs are accurate.  "Dogs want rewards and so they will give false alerts to get them," said the expert.  "Dogs lie."


(9) WOMAN PLANS TO CONTEST FORFEITURE    (Top)

A McComb woman said she will contest the forfeiture of money seized by McComb police in December.

Police filed suit in Pike County Circuit Court in January seeking a judge's approval of the seizure.

Angela Harris said police seized $19,490 from her purse Dec.  31 after her husband Paul was charged with aggravated assault and conspiracy.  But she was not charged in the incident and said police don't have a right to the money.

Mrs.  Harris said she and her husband had taken $19,000 out of the bank to pay for a new house before the end of the year, and she had an additional $490 to get her truck out of the repair shop.

Paul Harris is out on bond.  The Harrises have hired Summit attorney Gus Sermos to represent them.

"We'll probably be submitting some bank record evidence and some other evidence to try to convince whatever judge has it to return the money," Sermos said.

He noted the forfeiture suit was filed under authority of a drug crime statute, but Harris was not charged with a drug crime.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 06 Feb 2004
Source:   Enterprise-Journal, The (MS)
Copyright:   2004 The Enterprise-Journal
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/917
Author:   Ernest Herndon
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/af.htm (Asset Forfeiture)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n242/a09.html


(10) EDITORIAL: MIAMI ORDINANCE PENALIZES THE WRONG PEOPLE    (Top)

Court Puts The Brakes On Car-Seizure Policy

To deter persistent crimes, such as prostitution and drug dealing, municipalities sometimes get creative.  Some put johns' names on billboards; others create drug-free zones near schools and parks. The most effective initiatives target perpetrators, leave law-abiding residents unscathed and pass legal muster.

Last week, the Third District Court of Appeal upheld a ruling that Miami's car-impoundment policy fails on all three counts.  City ordinance allows police to impound vehicles believed to have been used to facilitate a crime.  If a driver tries make a deal with a prostitute or buy drugs, police make an arrest and take the vehicle. The owner must pay $1,000 to get the vehicle returned.  If not, the car can be sold, reaping revenue for private towing companies and the city.  Between 1997 and 2001 the city collected more than $8.5 million.

But the profits came, sometimes, at the expense of the wrong people. Several residents sued the city, saying the law was flawed: Defendants paid the $1,000 fine before a finding of guilt.  If they are acquitted, the fine isn't refunded.  The fine far exceeded the penalty for soliciting prostitution; and the city penalized ''innocent third parties'' -- spouses, for instance, who owned the car in which their partner was arrested for an alleged crime.  The spouses, too, have to pay the fine, even though they may not have been present during the alleged crime or aware of their partner's actions.  Too often, innocent spouses have been stuck without means to get to work or take children to school.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 09 Feb 2004
Source:   Miami Herald (FL)
Copyright:   2004 The Miami Herald
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/262
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n254/a05.html


(11) BILL WOULD LET DRUG FELONS GET FOOD STAMPS    (Top)

OLYMPIA - Eighteen months after finishing a three-month jail term for drug charges, Dawn Kortness has no health insurance, no home of her own, no job and no prospects.

She stays with relatives and applies for jobs.  Of 40 applications -- fast-food restaurants, convenience stores, a laundry, a
cabinetmaker, bingo hall and others -- she's only landed one interview.  As soon as she mentions her felony conviction, the door closes.

She's even tried attaching her graduation certificate from an intensive anti-drug program and that just made things worse.

"I'm an excellent worker," she said.  "I show up, I learn fast, I listen to rules.  I just can't get a chance."

Some state lawmakers want to throw a taxpayer-funded lifeline to people like Kortness.  They want to overturn the state's lifetime ban on giving food stamps to people convicted of a drug felony.

"You can be a child molester, a murderer, a rapist or a terrorist (and still qualify for food stamps when released), but you can't be a drug felon," said Linda Stone, Eastern Washington Director of the Children's Alliance, an advocacy group.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 09 Feb 2004
Source:   Spokesman-Review (WA)
Copyright:   2004 The Spokesman-Review
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/417
Author:   Richard Roesler, Staff writer
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/topics/food+stamps
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n256/a05.html


(12) SUPER SNIFFERS    (Top)

[snip]

Detection dogs aren't always on top of their game.

"Dental tartar can have an effect," Myers says.  "Really. Clean the teeth and you get an almost immediate recovery of smell.  Dogs get allergies.  They get colds."

"A dog's sense of smell is not forever," he says.  "A variety of diseases can destroy the sense of smell."

That's why he says that while he'd "bet my life" on certain dogs, he's not sure he'd want to bet someone else's.

"We really don't know what a dog is picking up on when it alerts," Myers says.  "In many ways we're still dealing with a black box. It could be picking up on a lot of things rather than just the scent of a person.  It'd be hard to convict someone on that kind of evidence."

Also, he says, not all dogs are trained well.  "Poor handlers can cause a dog's accuracy rate of 85-95 percent to drop to about 60 percent.  Dogs want rewards and so they will give false alerts to get them.  Dogs lie. Programs are supposed to train dogs so that doesn't happen.  Not all do."

The standard measure of a dog's accuracy, Myers says, is what it finds.  "The best programs subtract from that score the number of false alerts, but many do not.  They have no accurate measure of their dog's reliability."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 08 Feb 2004
Source:   Ledger-Enquirer (GA)
Copyright:   2004 Ledger-Enquirer
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/237
Author:   Larry Gierer
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n252/a09.html


Cannabis & Hemp-


COMMENT: (13-16)    (Top)

Great news for the hemp industry this week: the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has overturned a federal rule that would ban the sale of foods containing hemp.  This huge victory means that producers and distributors of hemp foods can continue their business without the threat of federal prosecution.  Our second story looks at the Oakland City Council's decision to regulate local compassion clubs.  The council has decided that as of June 1st, Oakland clubs will have to apply for a business license; the catch is that only 4 will be issued, effectively shutting at least 8 medicinal cannabis organizations down.  The new regulations will also prohibit smoking in the clubs, and will require that organizations be located at least 1000 feet from each other.

Our third story tracks the slow progress of a medical cannabis legislation introduced by Illinois state rep.  Angelo "Skip" Saviano, who now claims that he introduced the bill - which would protect state approved medicinal cannabis dispensaries from federal prosecution - with the hope of "educating" members of the house.  In our fourth story we hear of the first prosecution stemming from a disturbing new Tennessee Bureau of Investigation program that tracks the sale and purchase of indoor growing equipment such as high-intensity lights and fans.

And lastly this week, a study conducted by a palliative care specialist from UBC suggests that terminal patients may not seek pain relief from medicines such as cannabis or opiates because of the social stigma associated with their use.  She also cited physician bias against discussing and prescribing pain medication as major factor.


(13) HEMP RULING HAILED - COURT RULES DEA CANNOT REGULATE FOOD    (Top)

Rejecting one front of the government's drug war, a federal appeals court ruled Friday the United States cannot ban the sale of food made with natural hemp that contains only trace amounts of the psychoactive chemical in marijuana.

The decision overturns the Drug Enforcement Administration's ban on the domestic sale of hemp food products.  The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had suspended the prohibition so judges could hear a challenge from the hemp industry, which has been allowed to sell its products while awaiting the court's decision.

[snip]

"They cannot regulate naturally-occurring THC not contained within or derived from marijuana," the court ruled, noting it's not possible to get high from products with only trace amounts of the mind-altering chemical.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 07 Feb 2004
Source:   Santa Cruz Sentinel (CA)
Copyright:   2004 Santa Cruz Sentinel
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/394
Decision:   http://www.votehemp.com/PDF/HIAvDEA_9th_final_decision.pdf
Cited:   http://www.votehemp.com/
Cited:   http://www.hempindustries.org
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04.n240.a03.html


(14) NEW LIMITS IN OAKLAND FOR MEDICAL POT CLUBS    (Top)

Oakland will issue business licenses to four nonprofit medical marijuana vendors and force eight others to close or face possible prosecution.

The new limits adopted by the Oakland City Council will break up the cluster of downtown marijuana clubs -- collectively known as "Oaksterdam" - -- by forcing them to operate at least 1,000 feet apart.

During a six-hour meeting Tuesday night, the council voted to adopt new regulations on marijuana clubs, which have recently sprouted on the northern edge of downtown Oakland.

Effective June 1, Oakland medical marijuana clubs operating under state Proposition 215, approved by voters in 1996, must apply for business licenses.  The city will select four vendors from among the applicants.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 05 Feb 2004
Source:   San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
Author:   Jim Herron Zamora, Chronicle Staff Writer
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04.n229.a03.html


(15) ILLINOIS REPRESENTATIVE TESTS POT WATERS    (Top)

Cancer and AIDS sufferers as well as Illinoisans suffering from glaucoma, would be able to grow, possess and use marijuana without fear of arrest or jail under legislation just introduced in the General Assembly.

But House Bill 4868's sponsor, Rep.  Angelo "Skip" Saviano, R-River Grove, said his motivation in offering the measure is only to educate his fellow lawmakers.

"I'm approaching this with the idea of seeing where everybody lines up on it - law enforcement, the medical community - to see if this would be something feasible or palatable," he said.

As a practical matter, he said the measure probably will not make it to the electronic tote board in the House chamber that records the "ayes" and "nays."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 07 Feb 2004
Source:   Quad-City Times (IA)
Copyright:   2004 Quad-City Times
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/857
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04.n246.a07.html


(16) TBI PROGRAM NETS FIRST DRUG CONVICTION IN HAWKINS COUNTY    (Top)

A Tennessee Bureau of Investigation program which monitors the sale of growing lamps and accessories in hopes of catching people growing marijuana indoors has achieved its first conviction in Hawkins County.

[snip]

Assistant Attorney General Doug Godbee said the investigation that led to Fore's arrest was initiated by the new TBI program.

"We've actually got a part of the TBI drug task force that specializes in trying to target indoor marijuana growers by watching people who buy a certain kind of growing equipment and lights that are used for high intensity indoor growing," Godbee said.  "Part of our information that led to the search warrant on Mr.  Fore's property came from that TBI program.  The TBI forwarded that information to our sheriff's department, who was then able to build a good case against Mr.  Fore."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 09 Feb 2004
Source:   Kingsport Times-News (TN)
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/1437
Author:   Jeff Bobo
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04.n256.a06.html


(17) YOUR BIAS MAY BE KEEPING POT FROM PAIN PATIENTS    (Top)

Patients Humiliated Because They Have To keep Justifying Their Pain: Study

The stigma attached to cannabis use keeps dying patients from taking advantage of the medicinal benefits of the drug, according to a study by palliative care specialist Dr.  Romayne Gallagher, a professor at the University of British Columbia.

The study, which drew on a survey of dying patients in palliative care units in Kelowna and Vancouver, showed these patients worried that smoking marijuana could damage their lungs, be illegal or cause addiction.  They were also worried about the impact pot smoke might have on family members.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 04 Feb 2004
Source:   Medical Post (Canada)
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/3180
Author:   Lynn Haley
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04.n229.a05.html


International News


COMMENT: (18-21)    (Top)

Sweden's prohibitionist policies are paying deadly dividends as the numbers of "drug" deaths (mostly heroin overdoses) has increased by more than 400 percent over the past nine years.  As the stats roll in from forensic medicine stations across Sweden, the picture painted is one of another utter failure of prohibitionist laws, laws which were ostensibly enacted to save Swedish lives.  According to Swedish television reports, "addicts are refused care." Don't expect much to change; Sweden loves repressive prohibition and will have nothing but more of the same failed policy.  Says Swedish government drug czar Bjorn Fries: "efforts must be redoubled."

There are no "summary" executions of drug suspects by the Davao Death Squad, Mayor Rodrigo Duterte insisted again last week in a media forum.  Besides that, Davao City mayor Duterte proclaimed, the Davao Death Squad only makes life dangerous for criminals.  The so-called "summary" executions aren't really executions at all: they are merely "unsolved killings," explained the mayor.  While not revealing how he was able to ascertain killers' motives in the mounting unsolved murders, the mayor did express his desire to mete out the death penalty, in order to cut crime.  Some 90 "suspected drug and theft suspects" were executed by the Davao Death Squad last year; nine drug suspects were killed by the death squad last month.

Canadian federal Conservative party leadership hopeful Belinda Stronach admits she's consumed cannabis in the past, but frets over the possibility that cannabis may be discovered to have some impact on health in the future.  Because such unanswered questions exist over cannabis, Stronach says she is against decriminalization of the weed.  Stronach did not address the impacts on health that prison may have for those caught with cannabis.

Meanwhile in Canada, the Parkland Industrial Hemp Growers Co-op, a group of farmers in Dauphin, Manitoba are planning on building a "hemp factory" to process the fiber.  Construction of the planned $15-million plant may begin this summer, according to Joe Federowich, chairman of the farmer's group.  Federowich hailed the new administration in Ottawa, saying "doors have swung wide open" for the project.


(18) DRUG DEATHS QUADRUPLE    (Top)

The number of deaths resulting from drug abuse have more than quadrupled in Sweden during the last nine years according to statistics from the countries six forensic medicine stations.

This is alarming and probably reflects a big increase of both heroin and mixed drug abuse, especially amongst younger persons, says associate professor Peter Kranz of the Forensic Medicine Institution in Lund to the newspaper Upsala Nya Tidning.

99 persons died in 1995 in connection with drug abuse.  For the last two years the figures have been 425 and 413 respectively.

[snip]

The governments drug co-ordinator Bjorn Fries is worried about the statistics:

The developments show that efforts must be redoubled on a broad front.  The number of heavy drug abusers has increased and we must improve care for these people, he says to TT (the Swedish television news service)

The number of heavy drug abusers is steadily increasing.  At the end of the 1990's they were estimated to be 26,000 and Bjorn Fries believes that today they are upwards of 30,000.

"Drug Addicts Refused Care"

What is causing the increasing mortality? According to Peter Krantz it is a reflection of increased drug abuse.  Per Sternbeck of the National Organisation for Helping Drug Addicts (RFHL) agrees that drug abuse has increased, but he also has other ideas.

The reason is because addicts are refused care which is based on real needs, but instead on abstract ideas, he says to Swedish Television Text.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 11 Feb 2004
Source:   Sveriges Television (SVT) (Sweden, web)
Copyright:   svt.se 2004
Note:   Translation by John Yates
Note:   Sveriges Television (SVT) is the Swedish public
service television company.  The original is below the
translation, and also currently at the above Webpage.
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04.n262.a05.html


(19) NO SUMMARY EXECUTIONS, ONLY UNSOLVED KILLINGS: DUTERTE    (Top)

THERE are no summary executions in Davao City, only unsolved killings, according to Mayor Rodrigo Duterte during the weekly Ato ni Bay media forum Sunday.

This after Chief Supt.  Isidro Lapena, regional police chief, said killings in the city allegedly committed by the Davao Death Squad (DDS) could have been solved if there were citizens willing to testify.

[snip]

Last year, motorcycle-riding gunmen killed at least 90 suspected drug and theft suspects.  Nine victims were executed last month. Not a single incident has been solved so far and suspects have remained at large.

As this developed, Duterte reiterated that Davao City is the most dangerous place for criminals, but it is the safest haven for law-abiding citizens.

Death Penalty

Meanwhile, Duterte on Sunday said he supports the implementation of the death penalty to curb the increasing number of criminals in the country.

He said he would like to see a decrease in crimes, even if it means executing five criminals everyday.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 08 Feb 2004
Source:   Sunstar Davao (Philippines)
Copyright:   2004 Sunstar
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/1991
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04.n245.a13.html


(20) STRONACH SMOKED POT, WON'T DECRIMINALIZE IT    (Top)

EDMUNSTON, N.B.  - Belinda Stronach says she's smoked pot, but still won't decriminalize it.

The federal Conservative leadership candidate admitted to reporters in New Brunswick Sunday that she's smoked up before - back in her highschool days.  But Stronach says she's against decriminalizing marijuana because there are too many unanswered questions about the drug.

Stronach says she's concerned for public safety because it is still not known what smoking pot does to your health.

She also says until there is a better way to test for the drug, especially if someone is driving high, then penalties for pot should not be reduced.

Stronach stressed that Canadians must seriously consider what decriminalizing pot might do to economic relations with the U.S.

She says Canadians need to ask themselves if they are prepared to be stopped and searched for drugs at the border more frequently.

Pubdate:   Mon, 09 Feb 2004
Source:   Canadian Press (Canada Wire)
Copyright:   2004 The Canadian Press (CP)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04.n254.a09.html


(21) FARMERS PLANNING HEMP FACTORY    (Top)

Dauphin Group Hopes To Build This Summer

A group of farmers is hoping to build Manitoba's first hemp processing plant in Dauphin.

Construction of the $15-million plant, which would turn hemp fibres into products such as insulation, has been five years in the making, but hopefully ground can be broken this summer, said Joe Federowich, chairman of the Parkland Industrial Hemp Growers Co-op.

[snip]

But he said recently "the doors have swung wide open" since a new administration in Ottawa began to look at the future blueprint for agriculture.

[snip]

"We've been doing our homework," he said.  Parkland Industrial Hemp Growers Co-op, a group of 59 farmers, went to work on a sustainable business plan in the fall of 2000.

The proposed processing plant would give local hemp farmers a place to bring their crop.  The hemp, which is a drug-free marijuana with almost no THC (tetrahydrocannabinol -- the cannabis narcotic), would be turned into fibre and sold on the open market.

[snip]

Federowich hopes Dauphin can be the hemp capital of Canada.  "Our target goal is not just one facility," he said, noting the goal is to build similar plants every 100 to 200 miles.

"Once you build the first one and it's up and running and proving itself, others will be built quite quickly."

Federowich said the economic spinoffs for the Dauphin-area would mean up to 25 jobs for the community, not including people needed to haul the crop to and from the plant.

He said the project is crucial for hemp farmers in rural communities struggling to make ends meet.  "Our rural communities are dying a slow death and this may breathe new life into them."

The RM of Dauphin and City of Dauphin continue to support the project 100 per cent, said Dauphin Mayor Alex Paul.

Pubdate:   Mon, 09 Feb 2004
Source:   Winnipeg Free Press (CN MB)
Copyright:   2004 Winnipeg Free Press
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/502
Author:   James Low
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/find?330 (Hemp -
Outside U.S.)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04.n251.a06.html


HOT OFF THE 'NET    (Top)

DRUG WAR PROSECUTOR DEFAMES REFORMERS

A DrugSense Focus Alert

http://www.mapinc.org/alert/0285.html


ENTHEOGENESIS CONFERENCE

Speakers from the first annual Entheogenesis Conference

http://www.pot-tv.net/archive/series/pottvseries-124-0.html


BATTLE FOR CANADA #13

BC Bud & Afghan Guns?

Analysis by Richard Cowan

http://www.pot-tv.net/archive/shows/pottvshowse-2459.html


CULTURAL BAGGAGE RADIO SHOW

Last:   02/10/04, Those Crazy Canadians!

During the last week of KPFT's pledge drive, we offer some current and past "best of" the Canadian look at the drug war and the war on marijuana consumers.

MP3: http://www.cultural-baggage.com/Audio/FDBCB_021004.mp3
Real:   http://www.cultural-baggage.com/ramtorm/to021004.ram

Next:   02/17/04, George Martorano

Live Interview from the Federal Pen George is serving life without parole for drug charges.


THE CANNABIS CONUNDRUM

Journalist Bill Breen has done a excellent job in presenting the clinical cannabis/GW Pharmaceuticals issue.  Please see the magazine article from Fast Company plus added bonuses at the bottom of the page under "Web Exclusives and Extras":

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/79/cannabis.html


CANNABIS CORRELATES SURVEY

Dr.  Mitch Earleywine, Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Southern California and author of 'Understanding Marijuana' (Oxford University Press, 2002) is conducting an online survey designed to assess correlates of cannabis use, so we need users and non users.

Please help science and get a chance at a $500, $250 or $100 prize by completing the survey.  It takes 20-30 minutes and does ask about your personal habits, but all answers are completely confidential.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?A=19861449E3270


LIBERALS BRING BACK POT BILL

OTTAWA - The Liberal government has formally reintroduced legislation to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana.

http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2004/02/12/marijuana_bill040212


DRUGSENSE HOSTS NORML CHAPTERS

DrugSense has offered to host websites for any NORML chapter that is interested.  Any chapter that chooses to take advantage of this offer will be able to use a norml.net address for their website.  DrugSense will host sites such as texas.norml.net, florida.norml.net, fsu.norml.net, etc.

If you would like to set up a norml.net address for your web site, simply contact Matt Elrod at

For more information on DrugSense website hosting visit:

http://drugpolicycentral.com/


LETTER OF THE WEEK    (Top)

Drug Policies Contradict Aim Of U.S.  Constitution

By Jose Melendez

Eugene R.  Dunn's letter against George Soros and anything liberal suggests that under the current aggressive Republican World War III strategy, those attacking our homeland are the only ones at risk of life or liberty.

Yet news reports and studies consistently show that opium and heroin production and trafficking from Afghanistan -- and therefore illicit profits to the aforementioned "bad guys" -- have increased ever since.

In fact, a few months before 9/11, the current regime in Washington provided $43 million in aid to the Afghans in exchange for a promise from Taliban leadership to outlaw poppy production.

If increasing the cash value of resulting opium stockpiles and flooding American streets with cheap heroin does not fall under "aid and comfort to the enemy," then what does?

If this sounds familiar, there is an established historical precedent.  During a previous Republican administration,
Congressional testimony made it clear that: "senior U.S.  policy makers were not immune to the idea that drug money was a perfect solution to the Contras' funding problems."

Perhaps conservatives, war hawks and drug warriors ought to read Article III, Section 3 of the U.S.  Constitution, before they complain about others providing aid and comfort to the enemy.  As drug control policies and incarceration statistics prove, we wage war on our own citizens to protect them from marijuana!

Meanwhile, political contributions protect poisonous alcohol, tobacco and pharmaceutical dealers and users from arrest, prosecution and asset forfeiture, even though half a million citizens die annually from the use of those products.

Jose Melendez, http://www.mapinc.org/writers/jose+melendez DeLand, Fla.

Referenced:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n036/a06.html
Date:   02/04/2004
Source:   Ocean County Observer (NJ)
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/1212


FEATURE ARTICLE    (Top)

Drinking With The Press During Alcohol Prohibition

By Stephen Young

I called Walter Trohan just after his 100th birthday last summer.  He answered the phone at the house where he lived by himself.

I didn't know him, but I had questions about something that happened at the Chicago Tribune, his former employer.  Trohan had headed the Tribune's Washington Bureau in the 1930s and I had read about hemp growing on the estate of the Tribune's publisher in the 1930s.

He remembered part of the hemp story vaguely, but he couldn't offer any new details.  As we talked, I mentioned some names he recognized, which seemed to spur his memory.  Eventually, the conversation turned to the St.  Valentine's Day Massacre of 1929.

Trohan was the first reporter on the scene 75 years ago when 7 Chicago mobsters were lined up and gunned down in a north side warehouse.  The violence shocked a city that had been desensitized by years of gang warfare over the illegal alcohol market.  Some historians look at the massacre as a pivotal point in public perceptions turning against alcohol prohibition.  A few years after the massacre, prohibition would be repealed.

The old journalist told me he beat the competition to the story because some of his colleagues were engaged in "rackets" to make money on the side, instead of looking after their beat.  It was fascinating, but after I got off the phone I realized I should have asked more questions about alcohol prohibition in general, and what he thought of modern prohibition.  I planned to call him back in time to have a story for Valentine's Day.

Trohan died in October, leaving me with an important lesson about procrastination.  However, with the anniversary of the massacre looming, I went back to the tape of our conversation.  One interesting section indicate how some in the press felt about prohibition at the time.

"I know one reporter who ran off with a case of liquor," said Trohan.  "The liquor commissioner was screaming. The reporter said the case was just hanging around so he took it.  What was his name? He later became city day editor of the Tribune.  But I don't think they knew he stole a case of liquor from the government.  He was city editor when I was in Washington, so I knew him from when we were at City News together.  In a way I was kind of proud of him, running off with a case of government liquor.  I didn't get any of it."

I told him I was sorry to hear that.

"I am too.  I could have used that at the time," he said.

"We had quite a bit of it of course.  It wasn't hard to get for the press.  There was a warehouse in Chicago, Brum's Warwick, it was loaded with bourbon.  Lawyers and whatnot had access to it, I don't know if the government allowed them or not, but they were taking it out case by case.  Damn good whiskey. I think somebody was getting paid off with it.  As you know, the police were always getting paid off, and liquor to them was extra pay, so they were all on the make, and the cops would get you a bottle of bourbon to get their name in the paper or some damn thing."

Stephen Young is an editor with DrugSense Weekly and the author of Maximizing Harm, www.maximizingharm.com


QUOTE OF THE WEEK    (Top)

"The root of all superstition is that men observe when a thing hits, but not when it misses." -- Francis Bacon, Sr.


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CREDITS:  

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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