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DrugSense Weekly
April 16, 2004 #346

NOTE TO READERS: Some DrugSense staff will be attending the NORML conference in Washington, D.C.  next week, so DrugSense Weekly will not be distributed on April 23.  We will resume our regular publication schedule April 30.


Table of Contents

* Breaking News (03/29/24)


* This Just In


(1) State Would Keep List Of Controlled Substance Users Under Bill
(2) Insomnia In Kids Linked To Later Drug Use
(3) 11 Kalispell Teens Charged In Marijuana Sting
(4) Group Fights To Eliminate Drug Provision

* Weekly News in Review


Drug Policy-

COMMENT: (5-8)
(5) U.S. Considers Drug Screenings That Test Sweat, Saliva And Hair
(6) Drug-Testing Firm Puts Connick on Payroll
(7) Proposed Law Targets Pregnant Drug Users
(8) Curry Still Hopes For D-I Career

Law Enforcement & Prisons-

COMMENT: (9-12)
(9) Editorial: Testing The Test
(10) Bond Reduced on Justice Court Judge
(11) Former DA Charged With Bribery, Tax Evasion
(12) Tulia Trials Prosecutor Could Be Disbarred

Cannabis & Hemp-

COMMENT: (13-17)
(13) More Delay For Medical Pot ID Cards
(14) Medical Marijuana: Working To Smoke Out Abusers
(15) Hash Bash '04 Turnout Not As High As Expected
(16) Use Of Rare Rule In Pot Case Helps County Pair
(17) End Pot Persecution, Activist Says

International News-

COMMENT: (18-21)
(18) Mexican Governor Fires All State's Police Officers
(19) Saudi Arabia Makes Largest Ever Drug Bust Of Five Tons Of Hashish
(20) Peruvian Beverages Get A Kick Out Of Coca Leaf
(21) Netherlands Moves To Outlaw Superstrong 'Skunk' Cannabis

* Hot Off The 'Net


    Prince Of Pot 10 Year Retrospective
    Cultural Baggage Radio Show
    Six  Questions  -  Rick  Doblin,  Ph.D.  Talks  To  The  Alliance
    Coast To Coast Interview With Michael Ruppert
    MPP's Rob Kampia Testifies Before House Subcommittee
    Battle For Canada, Part 23 / Richard Cowan

* Letter Of The Week


    The  Best  Damn  Letter  We  Received  All  Week!  / By Jim Miller

* Feature Article


    You Can't Trust the Drug 'Experts' / By Dan Gardner

* Quote of the Week


    Gary Dongilli


THIS JUST IN    (Top)


(1) STATE WOULD KEEP LIST OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE USERS UNDER BILL    (Top)

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.  - State government would create a database of everyone in Florida who gets a prescription of certain controlled substances, under a measure approved by a House subcommittee Wednesday.

The measure, aimed at saving lives and fighting fraud and backed by Gov.  Jeb Bush, passed over the objections of a few who said it could violate privacy issues.

Supporters say the sometimes deadly abuse of addictive prescription drugs is fast becoming an epidemic, and they cite a desperate need to slow the spiraling costs of government health care programs beset by fraud.

Prescription drug abuse now kills more people than murders in Florida, said bill sponsor Rep.  Gayle Harrell, R-Stuart, and more people die overdosing on legal drugs than heroin.

"This is going to save lives," said Harrell.

Some lawmakers opposed the (CS HB 397) because it may give government another way to track what people do and that medications can be a very private matter.  Rep. Rene Garcia, R-Hialeah, likened it to Communist practices in Cuba.

"My parents fled a Communist country because everything was being centralized," Garcia said.  "A centralized database, knowing what they're taking, what they're not taking, is a little concerning to me."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 14 Apr 2004
Source:   Tallahassee Democrat (FL)
Copyright:   2004 Tallahassee Democrat.
Website:   http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/democrat/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/444
Note:   Prints email address for LTEs sent by email
Author:   David Royse, Associated Press
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04.n580.a06.html


(2) INSOMNIA IN KIDS LINKED TO LATER DRUG USE    (Top)

Young children with sleep problems are more likely to grow up into teens who drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes and use illegal drugs, a new study has found.

Researchers have already made the connection with sleep problems and alcohol abuse in grownups, but this is the first study to draw the link between children who have trouble sleeping and the later use of alcohol and drugs.

Maria Wong, a researcher in the psychiatry department at the University of Michigan, looked at data from a study of 275 boys that began 16 years ago.  When the boys were aged three to five, their mothers were asked if their child had had trouble sleeping in the past six months, or if he seemed overtired.

When the boys were adolescents, aged 12 to 14, they answered questions about how much they smoked, drank alcohol and used illegal drugs. (They were guaranteed anonymity.) It turned out that the boys who had had trouble sleeping as toddlers were twice as likely to smoke cigarettes or marijuana, drink alcohol or use other drugs early in their adolescence.

"Not all of the children with sleep problems do, but half do.  So it is a significant risk factor, and it is a robust risk factor," Dr.  Wong said in an interview.  Her study is published in today's edition of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 15 Apr 2004
Source:   Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright:   2004, The Globe and Mail Company
Website:   http://www.globeandmail.ca/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author:   Anne McIlroy
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04.n580.a07.html


(3) 11 KALISPELL TEENS CHARGED IN MARIJUANA STING    (Top)

KALISPELL - A police officer posing as a high school student wrapped up more than two months in the classroom Tuesday with the arrest of 11 Kalispell teens on charges of drug dealing.

"There will probably be more arrests," said Frank Garner, chief of police in Kalispell.  "We're also investigating reports that one parent might have been supplying some of the drugs to the kids."

All 11 were busted for selling marijuana to an undercover policeman during the past couple months.

[snip]

Robinson, while taking a "fairly typical class schedule," established a network of drug sources, buying marijuana on many occasions.  Most of the young sellers were unrelated, Garner said, and were not organized into any sort of drug ring.

That is not uncommon in high schools, he said, adding that most teens buy drugs from peers, not from a shady stranger on a street corner.

While at the school, Robinson also set up purchases of the club drug ecstasy and methamphetamine, but those drug deals fell through.

"He tried," Garner said, "but we finally needed to cut it off.  We couldn't allow it to go on any longer.  We didn't want the drug dealers feeling safe dealing drugs in the school."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 15 Apr 2004
Source:   Missoulian (MT)
Copyright:   2004 Missoulian
Website:   http://www.missoulian.com/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/720
Author:   Michael Jamison, of the Missoulian
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04.n578.a03.html


(4) GROUP FIGHTS TO ELIMINATE DRUG PROVISION    (Top)

Students For Sensible Drug Policy Call Politicians

Members of Students for a Sensible Drug Policy inspired more than 80 students to make phone calls to state legislative offices Tuesday as part of a national "phone slam" to repeal the Higher Education Act's drug provision.

"We wanted to raise awareness and have as many phone calls go in to the offices as possible," said Gabrielle Guzzardo, president of SSDP.

[snip]

The group set up a booth in front of Zimmerman Library with cell phones and written scripts.  The members asked passers-by to make phone calls to the offices of Sen.  Pete Domenici, Sen. Jeff Bingaman and Rep.  Heather Wilson.

Guzzardo said more than 50 calls were made to Bingaman's office Tuesday afternoon, and by the end of the day, his office confirmed the senator would support the bill.

Guzzardo said she was happy about the progress made with Bingaman, but was disappointed with Wilson's office, which hung up on students four times Tuesday.

Pubdate:   Wed, 14 Apr 2004
Source:   Daily Lobo (U of NM, Edu, NM)
Copyright:   2004 Daily Lobo
Website:   http://www.dailylobo.com/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/766
Author:   Mandi Kane
Cited:   UNM SSDP http://www.unm.edu/~ssdp/
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/hea.htm (Higher Education Act)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04.n574.a07.html


WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW    (Top)


Domestic News- Policy


COMMENT: (5-8)    (Top)

Not content with inspecting the urine of employees, federal officials appear poised to dip a metaphorical toe in a river of other bodily fluids.  Instead of just demanding employees' urine as proof against presumed guiltiness, the feds will likely be able to collect hair, sweat and saliva.  The drug-testing industry is elated, which is to be expected, since the industry pushed for the changes. "This opensup a whole new arena for us," one drug testing company executive told the Wall Street Journal.  Fortunately, the WSJ also interviewed critics who discussed the downside of workplace drug testing.

As the drug-testing industry prepares for its latest jackpot, could it be just a coincidence that a former Louisiana district attorney who pushed for hair-testing in local schools is being put on the drug-testing company's payroll? A Louisiana newspaper looked at that question, but the story raised another question: Is it also just coincidence that the former DA's nephew, who is also a Louisiana district attorney who pushed for hair-based drug testing in his local school district, has been touring the country for the Office of National Drug Control Policy talking about the great virtues of hair-testing in schools? For more on the nephew and work on behalf of the drug testing company, read the recent DrugSense Weekly report at http://www.drugsense.org/dsw/2004/ds04.n342.html#sec5

Also last week, legislators in Utah discussed a law that would make it a crime for expectant mothers to harm a fetus with controlled substances; and North Carolina's leading high school basketball player lost a college scholarship in the wake of an undercover drug investigation at his school.


(5) U.S. CONSIDERS DRUG SCREENINGS THAT TEST SWEAT, SALIVA AND HAIR    (Top)

Many workers may no longer need a cup to demonstrate to employers that they aren't using illegal drugs.

Last week, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, part of the U.S.  Department of Health and Human Services, announced the proposal of a new rule that would allow federal agencies to use sweat, saliva and hair in federal drug-testing programs that now test only urine.

[snip]

The American Management Association found that 67% of big companies tested employees or job applicants for illegal substances in 2001, the last time it surveyed employers on the topic.  Roughly 60% of companies tested new hires.  Tests typically screen for drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, amphetamines, heroin and other opiates.

Many drug-testing companies are eager for the new business they expect to get from the government as well as from corporations. "This opens up a whole new arena for us," says Roger Dietch, chief executive of Global Detection & Reporting Inc., New York.  The company tests for the presence of illegal drugs that are secreted by the skin.  As a sign of the wider trend in adopting new testing methods, Mr.  Dietch says the company will announce a deal to provide testing for a national retailer this week.

Many employee and privacy-rights groups have expressed concern about the proposed changes.  "There's no benefit from this," says Lewis Maltby, president of the National Workrights Institute, in Princeton, N.J.  Mr. Maltby says he receives complaints "every day" from people who say they have failed a drug test but have never done drugs.  "It is just going to increase the number of people who are going to lose their jobs who never did drugs," he says.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 13 Apr 2004
Source:   Wall Street Journal (US)
Copyright:   2004 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/487
Author:   Kris Maher
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n570/a10.html


(6) DRUG-TESTING FIRM PUTS CONNICK ON PAYROLL    (Top)

Advocacy Turns into Job for Former DA

For years before his retirement as Orleans Parish district attorney, Harry Connick beat the drum for a Massachusetts company that uses hair samples to test people for drug use.  He spoke out publicly in favor of testing students' hair and on occasion escorted its officers to meetings with officials and opinion-shapers in the media.

Civil rights concerns and other issues led Orleans Parish public school officials to reject the testing regimen Connick advocated, but his efforts on behalf of Psychemedics, as the company is known, were not unavailing.

In December, Connick was made a Psychemedics board member at an annual stipend of $20,000.  Last month the pot was sweetened further when Psychemedics gave Connick stock options for 5,150 shares at $11.67 each, available until 2014.  The stock closed Thursday at $12.30 on the American stock exchange.

"We sought him out," said Raymond Kubacki, president and CEO of Psychemedics, which reported $16 million in revenues for 2003 by catering to some 2,600 mostly corporate clients, including General Motors and Toyota.  "He does the right things for the right reasons, not because they're popular.  We're honored to have him."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 11 Apr 2004
Source:   Times-Picayune, The (LA)
Copyright:   2004 The Times-Picayune
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/848
Author:   Gwen Filosa, Staff writer
Cited:   Psychemedics http://www.psychemedics.com/
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm ( Corruption - United States)
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/find?225 ( Students - United States)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n566/a05.html


(7) PROPOSED LAW TARGETS PREGNANT DRUG USERS    (Top)

Police reports indicate a pregnant Melissa Ann Rowland had opiates, barbiturates and amphetamines in her blood when she visited Jordan Valley Hospital in December.  But Rowland was allowed to walk away because abusing a fetus is not a crime in Utah.

At least not yet.

A proposed law being discussed by the Statewide Association of Prosecutors targets drug-abusing pregnant women.

Harming a fetus by using controlled substances should be a crime, according to Paul Boyden, executive director of the association, but instead of sending pregnant women to jail, they need to be forced into drug treatment.

"We are concerned about the child -- these kids born dependent to drugs," said Boyden, who hopes to have a law before the state Legislature next year.

The idea of adding the fetus to the child endangerment statute cropped up about two years ago in reaction to the number of pregnant women seen around meth labs, but drug treatment providers opposed the change, saying it would scare drug-dependent women from seeking help for fear of being jailed.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 10 Apr 2004
Source:   Salt Lake Tribune (UT)
Copyright:   2004 The Salt Lake Tribune
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/383
Author:   Matt Canham, Salt Lake Tribune
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/women.htm (Women)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n557/a09.html


(8) CURRY STILL HOPES FOR D-I CAREER    (Top)

RALEIGH - JamesOn Curry, the high school basketball player whose scholarship offer from North Carolina was withdrawn after he pleaded guilty to drug charges, says he still wants to join a Division I program.

"I want to go where I'm wanted," said Curry, a former player at Eastern Alamance High in Mebane.

He didn't identify a school, and Leon Curry said no schools have contacted his son.

John Moon, Curry's coach at Eastern Alamance, said he had talked by telephone Thursday to interested coaches.  Moon declined to identify those schools.

Curry, the state's all-time leading high school scorer, pleaded guilty Monday to two felony counts of sale and delivery of marijuana to an undercover officer on the Eastern Alamance campus.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 10 Apr 2004
Source:   Charlotte Observer (NC)
Copyright:   2004 The Charlotte Observer
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/78
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n571/a03.html


Law Enforcement & Prisons


COMMENT: (9-12)    (Top)

In a rare acknowledgement of problems common in drug testing, some officials and newspapers in Alabama are calling for more safeguards against false positives for prison inmates.  Also this week, various officials from various parts of the criminal justice system are accused of corruption that is at least partially drug-related.


(9) TESTING THE TEST

Prison drug screens need closer look

Prison Commissioner Donal Campbell is right to take complaints about inmate drug screens seriously.  It serves no good purpose to ignore possible flaws in the tests or in the process for verifying them - unless one thinks it is a swell idea to punish inmates for the sport of it and to stick taxpayers with the bill.

Prisoners who test positive for drugs can lose work-release jobs, forfeit the good time they've earned, blow their chance for parole or get sent to a more secure lockup.  While it's fitting to punish inmates who use drugs - they obviously need more attention from the prison system - it is imperative the penalties are doled out based on accurate information.

Prison officials acknowledge there is a small chance for their drug tests to have a false positive result, indicating an inmate has used illicit substances when he has not.  In some cases, cold medicines, valid prescription drugs and other substances have been known to trigger an incorrect reading.

In recent weeks, lawyers who represent Tutwiler inmates in a suit against the Department of Corrections have raised the issue, calling the current testing procedures unreliable.  But the same concerns can apply to other prisons as well, since the same procedures are being used elsewhere.

Among the areas of concern: Should a positive drug test be sent to a private laboratory for confirmation? That's the protocol for prison system employees who test positive, but not for inmates.  Should inmates be allowed to pay for a test outside the prison system? Parolees get that option, but not those still in prison.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 07 Apr 2004
Source:   Birmingham News, The (AL)
Copyright:   2004 The Birmingham News
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/45
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n552/a14.html


(10) BOND REDUCED ON JUSTICE COURT JUDGE    (Top)

A $1 million cash bond on a Lawrence County Justice Court judge accused of drug trafficking was reduced to $300,000 by Circuit Judge Mike Smith Friday evening.

However, Justice Court Judge Post 1 Robert "Bobby" Fortenberry, 46, of 60 Mary Lou Turner Road, New Hebron, remained in jail Saturday following the bond reduction.  He was arrested March 26 in Brookhaven and charged with possession of 2.5 grams of methamphetamine with intent to distribute and conspiracy to distribute meth.

Smith also issued a gag order in the case.  The order prevents attorneys, prosecutors and law enforcement officers involved in the case from speaking to the public or media.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 05 Apr 2004
Source:   Daily Leader, The (MS)
Copyright:   The Daily Leader 2004
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/1955
Author:   Scott Tynes
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n575/a03.html


(11) FORMER DA CHARGED WITH BRIBERY, TAX EVASION    (Top)

Former Winnebago County District Attorney Joe Paulus was charged Tuesday with bribery and accepting nearly $50,000 in bribes from a defense attorney and for failing to report the money on his federal tax return.

Paulus, who served as the county's top prosecutor for more than 13 years, is accused of taking bribes in 22 cases, six of which were criminal and 16 of which were drunken driving or traffic cases, according to documents filed Tuesday in U.S.  District Court in Green Bay.

[snip]

Paulus, who was a finalist for U.S.  attorney and interviewed for the job at the White House, solicited and accepted $48,050 in bribes over two years - from June 1998 through June 2000, according to the charges.

In each of the 22 cases, Paulus received half the defense attorney's fee in exchange for "dismissing cases, reducing charges, returning seized property and requesting lenient treatment" for a defendant in a neighboring county, according to the documents.

The case in the neighboring county involved a defendant who had been charged with felony possession of marijuana.  Paulus lied to the prosecutor there, asking him to reduce the charge to a misdemeanor because the defendant was cooperating in a Winnebago County drug investigation, the documents said.  In return, Paulus received half the defense attorney's $2,500 fee.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 14 Apr 2004
Source:   Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI)
Copyright:   2004 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/265
Author:   Gina Barton
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption - United States)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n572/a09.html


(12) TULIA TRIALS PROSECUTOR COULD BE DISBARRED    (Top)

The State Bar of Texas has filed a disciplinary petition against the district attorney who prosecuted cases in the since-discredited Tulia drug busts, seeking sanctions that could include disbarment.

Terry McEachern is accused in the petition filed Wednesday with the Texas Supreme Court of not conveying information to defense attorneys about his knowledge of the criminal history of Tom Coleman, the lone undercover agent in the stings.

He is also accused of failing to correct testimony by Coleman that he knew was false.  In five defendants' trials, Coleman said that he had no criminal history and had never been arrested.

Coleman was arrested in August 1998 -- before any trials -- on charges of theft and abuse of official capacity in Cochran County, where he worked previously.  He paid $7,000 in restitution for debts incurred while working as an officer in Cochran County and for his alleged theft of gasoline there.

McEachern's punishment could range from a public reprimand to loss of his law license if the finding goes against him.  He said Thursday that he had not seen the lawsuit.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 09 Apr 2004
Source:   Ft.  Worth Star-Telegram (TX)
Copyright:   2004 Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, Texas
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/162
Author:   Betsy Blaney, The Associated Press
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/tulia.htm (Tulia, Texas)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n552/a03.html


Cannabis & Hemp-


COMMENT: (13-17)    (Top)

A budget crisis in California is being cited for delays in the issuance of state medicinal cannabis ID cards, which were supposed to be available from the Department of Health as of January 1st of this year.  The cards would protect patients from arrest by identifying the holders as legal medical users.  And from Nevada this week an article looking at the inner workings of the state med. cannabis program, which currently allows around 350 medicinal users to legally grow seven plants and to possess up to one ounce of dried cannabis.

Our third article this week is a look at the 33rd annual Ann Arbor Hash Bash, which took place last Saturday in Michigan.  The event drew around 1500 people and was considered a success by organizers. Some mixed news on the med-pot legal front this week, as Lynn and Judy Osburn were convicted of growing cannabis for the now defunct West Hollywood compassion club.  Citing the rarely used "lesser harm doctrine", U.S.  District Judge A. Howard Matz sentenced Judy to one year's probation and her husband Lynn to one year in prison for a firearms violation.

And lastly this week, proof that bad laws can't take the fight out of dedicated activists.  Fresh out of a 3-day stay in a Saskatchewan prison for the distribution of marijuana, Uber-activist Marc Emery gave a speech at Dalhousie University touting the benefits of cannabis, urging others to join him in a protest in honor of Wallace Gouthro, a local "straight-A" high school student recently sentenced to 90 days in prison (to be served over consecutive weekends) for selling $5 bags of cannabis at a high school dance.


(13) MORE DELAY FOR MEDICAL POT ID CARDS    (Top)

Those who smoke pot to relieve suffering have been waiting since the start of the year for identification cards a new state law says they are entitled to.  They will have to continue waiting.

Although the law took effect Jan.  1, the state Department of Health Services has yet to devise rules for the cards' issuance because of a funding shortage brought on by the chronic California budget crisis.  A report being delivered to the Riverside County Board of Supervisors today suggests that the county wait on the state for guidelines before striking out on its own with a temporary medical marijuana program.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 13 Apr 2004
Source:   North County Times (CA)
Copyright:   2004 North County Times
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/1080
Author:   Dave Downey, Staff Writer
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04.n570.a03.html


(14) MEDICAL MARIJUANA: WORKING TO SMOKE OUT ABUSERS    (Top)

Three years ago, Pierre Werner went to prison in New Jersey after being convicted of conspiring to distribute 170 pounds of marijuana.

He moved to Southern Nevada and secured a registration card from the state Department of Agriculture that legally permits him to grow as many as seven marijuana plants.

"I'm bipolar," said Werner, a congenial man who admits he is stoned most of the time.  "I'm mental. I'm crazy. I have an illness, and cannabis has always been my medicine."

Don Henderson, the state agriculture director, doesn't think so.  His agency, directed by the Legislature to run the medical marijuana program, revoked Werner's license Feb.  25.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 12 Apr 2004
Source:   Las Vegas Review-Journal (NV)
Copyright:   2004 Las Vegas Review-Journal
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/233
Author:   Ed Vogel, Las Vegas Review-Journal Capital Bureau
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/people/Pierre+Werner
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04.n568.a03.html


(15) HASH BASH '04 TURNOUT NOT AS HIGH AS EXPECTED    (Top)

The smell of incense wafted through the Diag Saturday as costumed demonstrators, middle-aged activists and hacky-sack-playing students gathered together amid the sound of bongo drums to participate in Ann Arbor's 33rd Annual Hash Bash.

Hash Bash organizer Adam Brook said he was pleased with the turnout, which the University's Department of Public Safety estimated at 1,500.  Brook had previously said he expected 50,000 people to attend.

The event began at the Ann Arbor Federal Building at 11 a.m., when demonstrators congregated and marched to the Diag for the "High Noon" rally.  Attendees later moved to Monroe Street for a block party.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 05 Apr 2004
Source:   Michigan Daily (Ann Arbor, MI Edu)
Copyright:   2004 The Michigan Daily
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/582
Authors:   Ashley Dinges and Donn M.  Fresard, Daily Staff Reporters
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04.n558.a05.html


(16) USE OF RARE RULE IN POT CASE HELPS COUNTY PAIR    (Top)

'Lesser harm doctrine' is invoked as couple who grew marijuana get reduced sentences.

Invoking a rarely used doctrine that says a defendant may commit a crime to avoid a perceived greater harm, a federal judge granted reduced sentences Tuesday to a Ventura County couple who grew marijuana for a now defunct West Hollywood cannabis club.

U.S.  District Judge A. Howard Matz sentenced Judy Osburn, 50, to one year of probation for maintaining a place for the manufacture of marijuana.  She could have received as much as 37 months in prison.

[snip]

Osburn's husband, Lynn, 54, received a one-year prison sentence because it was found that he had kept weapons at their ranch, despite a previous conviction that barred him from possessing guns.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 14 Apr 2004
Source:   Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright:   2004 Los Angeles Times
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author:   David Rosenzweig
Related:   http://www.osburndefensefund.com/
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/people/Judy+Osburn
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04.n573.a10.html


(17) END POT PERSECUTION, ACTIVIST SAYS    (Top)

Speaking in a hall thick with the scent of the illegal drug, Canada's leading marijuana activist might be accused of preaching to the converted.

But Marc Emery said his Monday-afternoon talk was meant to mobilize members of a cultural group whose continued persecution he compared to that of Jews, blacks and Chinese-Canadians.

"Pot improves life in every single way," Mr.  Emery, president of the British Columbia Marijuana Party, publisher of Cannabis Culture magazine and millionaire owner of a seed distribution company, told an audience at Dalhousie University.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 13 Apr 2004
Source:   Halifax Herald (CN NS)
Copyright:   2004 The Halifax Herald Limited
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/180
Author:   John Gillis
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/find?196 (Emery, Marc)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04.n570.a07.html


International News


COMMENT: (18-21)    (Top)

Last week, we lamented the regular and predictable corruption of police enforcing drug prohibition when two investigators in the Mexican state of Morelos were caught protecting drug traffickers. This week the governor of Morelos fired an astounding 550 police -- all the state police in Morelos -- on charges they too protected narcotraffickers.  The mass firing of so many drug-corrupted Mexican police at one time is indeed a dramatic flourish.  But don't expect much to change.  As long as drug prohibition continues, there will be the same corrupting pressures on the officers' replacements.

Don't let anyone tell you otherwise: the Saudi Arabians enjoy their cannabis.  Saudi "security" forces last week seized some 5,200 kilos of hashish in the Riyadh region.  Police estimate they can stop only a small percentage of prohibited drugs, so large busts indicate a large supply matched by a large demand.  Ten people were arrested in the scheme, believed to be the largest hashish seizure to date in the oil-enriched gulf kingdom.  Drug traffickers are regularly executed in Saudi Arabia, a fundamentalist Islamic nation with close ties to the United States.

While big multinational companies like Coca-Cola can have U.S.  and UN drug laws written to their liking, smaller beverage companies are banned from doing the same thing.  Small Peruvian companies would love to sell coca-based beverages to U.S.  consumers, like Coca-Cola does, but they are prohibited from doing so.  Take the Peruvian beverage called "Kdrink" which "contains a trace 0.6 milligrams" of coca alkaloids per bottle.  Not nearly enough to make you a crack head, but too much to legally make it to coddled U.S.  consumers. Peruvian farmers are hoping "vague anti-coca rules" will be "clarified" to allow greater legal use of coca.  Currently, Peru allows some 12,000 hectares of coca to be grown for legally approved products.

And from Holland this week, the Dutch Cabinet announced that it would commission research looking into "whether skunk is as dangerous as hard drugs." Skunk is touted as a particularly potent variety of herbal cannabis.  Dutch authorities are this year concerned with "skunk," and plan to pass laws to ban it, if research shows it is harmful.  The Dutch government made no mention of hashish (concentrated cannabis resin), which has been used for millennia.


(18) MEXICAN GOVERNOR FIRES ALL STATE'S POLICE OFFICERS    (Top)

Corruption Investigation

MEXICO CITY --- The governor of the central Mexican state of Morelos ordered the firing of all 552 state police officers Monday, several days after top police commanders were arrested on charges they provided protection for drug traffickers.

Gov.  Sergio Estrada told a news conference that he would launch a complete restructuring of the so-called investigative police so that it has agents ``fully trained in criminal investigation .  . . respecting a code of ethics in strict compliance with the law and human rights.''

The record of each of the dismissed officers will be investigated, said Estrada, who added that the new force would comprise officers graduated from the state police academy who will be aided by federal police forces.

The new members of the force will be subjected to regular lie-detector tests as well as psychological and drug and alcohol testing, he said.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 13 Apr 2004
Source:   Miami Herald (FL)
Copyright:   2004 The Miami Herald
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/262
Author:   Associated Press
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/people/vicente+carrillo
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04.n570.a08.html


(19) SAUDI ARABIA MAKES LARGEST EVER DRUG BUST OF FIVE TONS OF    (Top)HASHISH

RIYADH - Saudi security forces made the kingdom's largest ever drug bust, foiling a bid to smuggle in more than five tons of hashish, a newspaper reported Tuesday, citing drug enforcement agency officials.

"The Drug Combating Department in the Riyadh region, in cooperation with the customs at the dry port in Riyadh, foiled an attempt to smuggle 5,200 kilograms (11,464 pounds) of hashish into the kingdom," on Monday, Arab News quoted the departments director as saying.

Eight suspects, "seven from an east Asian country and one Arab," were arrested as they attempted to receive the cargo at a warehouse, said Major General Othman al-Assaf.

Another three suspected of taking part in the operation were arrested later, he added.

"The drug consignment contained 5,291 kilograms of hashish, which is the largest quantity of drugs ever seized in the history of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia," the official said.

Saudi Arabia applies a strict form of sharia, or Islamic law, and convicted drug traffickers can face beheading.

Pubdate:   Tue, 13 Apr 2004
Source:   Khaleej Times (UAE)
Copyright:   2004 Khaleej Times
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/996
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04.n571.a10.html


(20) PERUVIAN BEVERAGES GET A KICK OUT OF COCA LEAF    (Top)

LIMA (AP) - It looks and tastes pretty much like the many brands of bottled iced tea that line American supermarket shelves - just don't drink it before a drug test.

Kdrink is one of two new bottled beverages to hit Peruvian stores this year using a formula made from coca leaves, the base ingredient in cocaine.  Each bottle of Kdrink contains a trace 0.6 milligrams of the outlawed stimulant.

Although that amount of natural, unprocessed cocaine carries less kick than a cup of coffee, it is enough to create a legal headache for exporters.  With the notable exception of Coca-Cola, products using coca leaves are banned in most countries beyond the Andes by strict U.S.  and UN import regulations.

But the two new Peruvian drinks - Kdrink iced tea and Vortex energy drink - hope to buck the system and find legal paths into foreign markets.  The makers of Kdrink believe many countries will allow their drink if vague anti-coca rules are clarified, while the bottlers of Vortex are banking on a cocaine-free coca formula.

[snip]

In February, hundreds of Peruvian coca farmers from remote mountainous jungle regions met in Lima.  Among their demands, they want the government to end eradication campaigns and develop new markets for coca-based products.

[snip]

Thousands of years before the existence of processed cocaine, highland Indians chewed coca to ward off hunger and fatigue. Considered an integral part of Peruvian culture, coca is offered to Andean gods and sold in packaged tea bags in grocery stores.

To meet local demand, Peru permits the legal cultivation of about 12,000 hectares of coca bushes.

Eduardo Mazzini, director of Kokka Royal Food & Drink, says the idea for Kdrink arose two years ago.  He says some Spanish friends were visiting the former Inca capital of Cuzco and became enchanted with the coca tea served to tourists as a remedy for altitude sickness. They suggested bottling the tea.

[snip]

"Coca has been demonized for too long," says Vortex co-founder Christian Chang, who extols the leaves' healthful attributes. "Having said that, coca does have its problems."

The company is pursuing cocaine-free certification from the Peruvian government before presenting Vortex to U.S.  authorities for approval, which would open energy drink markets worldwide, Chang says.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 11 Apr 2004
Source:   Associated Press (Wire)
Copyright:   2004 Associated Press
Author:   Drew Benson
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04.n566.a07.html


(21) NETHERLANDS MOVES TO OUTLAW SUPERSTRONG 'SKUNK' CANNABIS    (Top)

THE sale of certain types of cannabis could be banned in the Netherlands amid concern that they have become so powerful they could have the same addictive and psychological impact as hard drugs.

The Dutch Government said that it would ban the most powerful forms of cannabis, such as "skunk", after research showed that they had doubled in strength in the past few years and could now be classified as a hard drug.

Levels of THC -- tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychologically active ingredient -- in skunk have almost doubled from 9 per cent in 1999 to 15 per cent now, according to the Trimbos Institute, a drug research institute that monitors cannabis sales for the Health Ministry.  The rise is due to new professional growing techniques. The institute said: "It has almost doubled in strength but we don't know what the effect on public health is."

Skunk has now become one of the most popular forms of cannabis on sale in the Netherlands.  Between 2.5 per cent and 3 per cent of the Dutch population regularly use cannabis and there are between 30,000 and 80,000 cannabis addicts.  However, it is not clear whether stronger cannabis means that more people are likely to become addicted or develop other psychological problems.

The Dutch Cabinet agreed last week to commission research to determine whether skunk is as dangerous as hard drugs, and this week will lay legislation before parliament to ban its sale if it is found to be harmful.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 14 Apr 2004
Source:   Times, The (UK)
Copyright:   2004 Times Newspapers Ltd
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/454
Author:   Anthony Browne
Cited:   Trimbos Institute http://www.trimbos.nl/default.asp?id=37
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/topics/skunk
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Dutch
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04.n575.a02.html


HOT OFF THE 'NET    (Top)

PRINCE OF POT 10 YEAR RETROSPECTIVE

Marc Emery is joined by companions from BC's Cannabis Culture David Malmo-levine, Dana Larsen, Chris Bennett, Reverend Damuzzi, and Marijuana Man to recount and reflect on the past 10 years in his struggle for marijuana tolerance and legalization.

http://www.pot-tv.net/archive/shows/pottvshowse-2616.html


CULTURAL BAGGAGE RADIO SHOW

Last:   04/13/04, Chris Conrad

Internationally respected authority on cannabis, industrial hemp, medical marijuana, cultivation, yields and cannabis culture.

MPEG:   http://cultural-baggage.com/Audio/FDBCB_041304.MP3
REAL:   http://cultural-baggage.com/ramtorm/to041304.ram


SIX QUESTIONS - RICK DOBLIN, PH.D.  TALKS TO THE ALLIANCE

Drug Policy Alliance, "Six Questions: Rick Doblin, Ph.D.  Talks to the Alliance." Drug Policy Alliance.  April 14, 2004.

Rick Doblin is the founder (in 1986) and president of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS).

http://drugpolicy.org/news/rick_doblin.cfm


COAST TO COAST INTERVIEW WITH MICHAEL RUPPERT

Publisher and editor of the From the Wilderness newsletter, Michael Ruppert, talks about peak oil, alternate energy, the war on drugs, insider trading, and 911.

http://www.salvagingelectrons.com/drugradio/mojo-c2c-20040415-ruppert.ram


MPP'S ROB KAMPIA TESTIFIES BEFORE HOUSE SUBCOMMITTEE

On April 2, 2004, MPP Executive Director Rob Kampia testified before the the U.S.  House Government Reform Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy, and Human Resources.

http://www.mpp.org/hearing/


BATTLE FOR CANADA, PART 23

With Richard Cowan

BC Chamber of Commerce Calls for Tougher Sentences for Growers.  Fails Economics 101.  But They Like Slot Machines!

http://www.pot-tv.net/archive/shows/pottvshowse-2624.html


LETTER OF THE WEEK    (Top)

The Best Damn Letter We Received All Week!

By Jim Miller

So, drug czar John Walters is back in Nevada again.  Get used to it. With petition signatures being gathered to get a marijuana legalization initiative on November's ballot, you haven't seen the last of him -- not by a long shot.

The Office of National Drug Control Policy is by law not supposed to be involved in state initiatives.  That doesn't matter. Czar Walters is going to be Nevada's best buddy until after November -- but he will of course be visiting to talk about the national problem of prescription drug abuse, not a state initiative.  If a reporter should happen to ask about his opinion of the state initiative, his real plan will work and he can respond however he wants.  How clever.

Czar Walters was in Nevada to tell everybody that prescription drug abuse has hit an all-time high and is now second only to marijuana in what he calls the national drug problem.  There is a sad irony here.  Czar Walters is against the rights of seriously ill and dying Americans to use marijuana medically, saying that there are safer more reliable drugs available for them to use.  Now, when they use those allegedly safer drugs, they can apparently join the new national prescription drug problem.

Perhaps medical marijuana patients have been telling the truth all along when they say marijuana is less dangerous than their legal prescriptions.  Do you suppose that they are also telling the truth about marijuana relieving their pain better than the available addictive alternatives? If you ask John Walters, he will say no -- but he's not the one dying in pain.  It's simply his job.

Jim Miller, Co-Founder, Multiple Sclerosis Patients Union Toms River, N.J.

Editor's note: Each issue, CityLife selects its favorite letter. This week's winner is courtesy of Jim Miller.

Date:   04/07/2004
Source:   Las Vegas City Life (NV)
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/1653


FEATURE ARTICLE    (Top)

You Can't Trust the Drug 'Experts'

By Dan Gardner

Research on Illicit Substances Is As Biased As Its Funding Source

"One night's ecstasy use can cause brain damage," shouted a newspaper headline in September 2002, after the journal Science published a study that found a single dose of the drug ecstasy injected into monkeys and baboons caused terrible brain damage.  Two of the 10 primates in the study had even died.  The media trumpeted the news around the world and drug enforcement officials held it up as definitive proof of the vileness of ecstasy.

But a year later, an odd thing happened.  The author of the study, George Ricaurte, admitted his team had mistakenly injected the baboons and monkeys with massive doses of methamphetamine, not ecstasy, and Science formally retracted the article.

The retraction was scarcely reported and drug enforcement officials said nothing about it.  Obscure as this incident may sound, it actually demonstrates something vitally important about research on illicit drugs, something few laymen understand but is well known among researchers and academics.  It's a deeply politicized field, says Peter Cohen, a professor at the Centre for Drug Research at the University of Amsterdam.  "There is no neutral science."

For critics such as Cohen, George Ricaurte illustrates the problems in illicit drug research.  Long before the Science study made him notorious, Dr.  Ricaurte was accused by some academics of producing biased science designed to make drugs look as dangerous as possible. The motive was funding.  Scientific research and scientific careers are built on funding and drug research is particularly expensive -- the flawed Science study cost $1.3 million U.S.  alone.

"Researchers need to get their money from somewhere," says Cohen, but funding options are extremely limited.  Pharmaceutical companies aren't interested.  And most governments aren't prepared to pay a great deal of money for research on drugs they have already banned. The one exception is the United States, which lavishes money on drug research.  As a result, the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse boasts that it "supports over 85 per cent of the world's research on the health aspects of drug abuse and addiction."

But that money comes with ideological strings attached.  The American government is dominated by a drug-war ideology in which drugs are not simply another health risk that can be rationally studied and regulated.  Drugs are criminal, immoral, even evil. When most people think of alcohol, we draw a line between "use" and "abuse" -- consumption that does no harm versus consumption that does.  But because the drug-war ideology sees drugs as inherently wicked, it erases the line between use and abuse of illicit drugs.  Any use is abuse.  Any use is destructive. And the job of science is to prove

In his now-retracted study, Dr.  Ricaurte was trying to prove something -- that even one dose of ecstasy causes brain damage --which neatly fits drug-war ideology.  Not surprisingly, NIDA covered the $1.3 million U.S.  cost of the research. In fact, Dr. Ricaurte has been given $10 million U.S.  by NIDA over his career. In exchange, NIDA consistently got what it wanted: Research that hyped the dangers of ecstasy.

But funding research is just one way American drug-war ideologues control the scientific research on illicit drugs.  Not funding research can be just as effective when almost all the funding in the world comes from the U.S.  "If I would approach NIDA and say I want to show that marijuana use is far less problematic than the use of alcohol, I wouldn't be funded," says Cohen.

This control can skew research in subtle but powerful ways.  Cohen mentions his own research into ordinary people whose moderate use of cocaine causes little or no physical or social harm.  He had been able to fund this work with money from the Dutch government.  "But in many other countries, my colleagues could not find such money.  They could find money to do research on cocaine use, but only in people who are in (rehab) clinics or living on the streets." In any other field this "selection bias" would be unacceptable because it distorts the results.  In illicit drug research, it's standard.

A final method of control is crude suppression.  "It goes on all the time," insists Cohen.  "I was involved in the cocaine research of the World Health Organization and I saw this happen."

In the early 1990s, the WHO asked a group of international scientists, including Cohen, to produce what it billed as "the largest global study on cocaine use ever undertaken." In 1995, the study was done.  It concluded that most users consume cocaine occasionally, that occasional use usually does not lead to compulsive use, and that occasional use does little or no harm to users.  It was a flat contradiction of the drug-war ideology, so the U.S.  threatened to pull its funding if the report was released. The WHO buckled.  The report was buried.

Journalists are starting to catch on to the fact that they cannot always trust what officials say about drugs, Cohen feels, but few know how "poisoned the production of knowledge about drugs is." As a result, misinformation abounds and "drug policy is not yet a topic that society can deal with in a rational manner."

Pubdate:   Thu, 15 Apr 2004
Source:   Edmonton Journal (CN AB)
Copyright:   2004 The Edmonton Journal
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/134
Note:   Dan Gardner is a senior writer for the Ottawa Citizen


QUOTE OF THE WEEK    (Top)

"I'd never again advise a school system to do it.  It became a political thing.  There was supposed to be confidentiality with the testing, but there wasn't." - Former high school football coach Gary Dongilli, who once advocated drug testing in schools until he saw how the program was actually implemented.  For more details see http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n542/a03.html


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