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DrugSense Weekly
June 18, 2004 #354


Table of Contents

* Breaking News (03/29/24)


* This Just In


(1) UN Report: Andean Coca Cultivation Area Shrinks
(2) DOE Eyes Meth Chemicals
(3) Numbers For Drug Bust Not Accurate
(4) Fight The Drug War, Pay The Bill

* Weekly News in Review


Drug Policy-

COMMENT: (5-8)
(5) Mom Not Guilty In Son's Death From Overdose
(6) A Bad Trip
(7) The Drug Risk No One Talks About
(8) Court Restores Job Lost To Drug Test

Law Enforcement & Prisons-

COMMENT: (9-13)
(9) Blacks Twice As Likely To Be Searched
(10) Current Technologies Can Aid In Meth Fight, Task Force Told
(11) Police Seize Millions In Drugs
(12) Editorial: Public Deserves Open Hearing In Fatal Shooting
(13) New Suit Filed against Task Force

Cannabis & Hemp-

COMMENT: (14-17)
(14) Medical Marijuana Backed
(15) City Withholds Permits From Cannabis Clubs
(16) Police Policy: 'Here We Blow'
(17) Hemp Group Wants Air Force OK for Lotion
(18) Parliament Rejects Decriminalisation Of Cannabis

International News-

COMMENT: (19-22)
(19) Hazy Logic Dictates A Painful Prohibition
(20) Guilty Mountie Made Pot Deals From Cruiser
(21) Duterte Will Not Submit Drug Test Result
(22) Tourists Into Drugs Under Watch

* Hot Off The 'Net

     
    Alison Myrden On The Campaign Trail 
    UN  Reports  Steady  Decline  Of Coca Cultivation In Andean Region 
    Cultural Baggage Radio Show 
    Reefer Madness: An Online Chat With Eric Schlosser 
    Animation Details The Absurdity Of New York'S Rockefeller Drug Laws 
    PBS Frontline "The Plea" 
    Happy Birthday Richard Lake 
     
* Letter Of The Week


    Legalize Marijuana / By Larry Seguin 

* Letter Writer Of The Month - May


    Alan Randell 

* Feature Article


    An  Honor  For  Derek  Rea,  MAP's  Published  Letter  Archivist   
    / By Richard Lake 

* Quote of the Week


    Sun Yat-Sen 


THIS JUST IN     (Top)

(1) UN REPORT: ANDEAN COCA CULTIVATION AREA SHRINKS     (Top)

WASHINGTON (AP)--Land under cultivation for coca, the raw material for cocaine , has declined 20% since 1998 in Bolivia, Colombia and Peru, a United Nations report says. 

It reached a 14-year low of 163,800 hectares, the report by the Vienna-based U.N.  Office on Drugs and Crime released Thursday said.

The three Andean countries are the world's biggest source of coca, the raw material for cocaine . 

The estimate for Colombia -86,000 hectares -represented a decline of 16% in one year and 47% since 2000, the report said. 

Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the U.N.  Office on Drugs and Crime, said at a news conference at the Organization of American States that Colombia's figures were the most encouraging result of this year's coca survey. 

John Walters, head of the U.S.  National Drug Control Policy, said in a statement that the report shows that "when democracy, stability and security flourish in drug-producing nations, progress can be made against the narco-terrorists who threaten our way of life."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 17 Jun 2004
Source:   Dow Jones Newswires (US Wire)
Copyright:   2004 Dow Jones & Company, Inc
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/2944
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04.n877.a01.html


(2) DOE EYES METH CHEMICALS     (Top)

ORNL, Y-12 Show No Signs Of Stolen Drug Ingredients But Told To Boost Security

OAK RIDGE - Federal inspectors did not find any evidence that chemicals of use in making methamphetamine had been stolen from Oak Ridge National Laboratory or the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant, according to a report released Wednesday. 

However, the U.S.  Department of Energy's inspector general did recommend some additional steps to increase awareness of the potential problem and help reduce the possibility of meth-making chemicals being diverted from the federal plants here. 

[snip]

While the team auditors found that the Oak Ridge plant adhered to DOE policies for protecting hazardous materials, they also found a lack of awareness about the link between certain chemicals and possible drug-making. 

During an inspection, the team found a container with 1.5 pounds of red phosphorous that was awaiting disposal.  It was in a laboratory that was kept unlocked due to safety concerns, but the building was accessible to more than 1,000 lab employees. 

"We explained to an ORNL official that red phosphorous could be a target for diversion and used in manufacturing
methamphetamine," the report's authors said.  "When we returned to the laboratory over two months later, we found that the red phosphorous remained unsecured."

In another case, a 40-liter container of anhydrous ammonia had been sitting on a loading dock for at least 12 years, the report said. 

The government contractors in Oak Ridge agreed to put in place tighter controls on the chemicals. 

Pubdate:   Thu, 17 Jun 2004
Source:   Knoxville News-Sentinel (TN)
Copyright:   2004 The Knoxville News-Sentinel Co. 
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.knoxnews.com/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/226
Author:   Frank Munger
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04.n873.a04.html


(3) NUMBERS FOR DRUG BUST NOT ACCURATE     (Top)

Computing Error Led To Overestimation Of Mushroom Doses Seized

A calculating glitch appears to have caused the dollar amount to mushroom into the millions on a major psilocybin mushroom bust in North Texas. 

The 25 pounds of mushrooms seized last week were worth only a fraction of the money authorities originally believed, police said. 

The original figure topped $11 million.  The North Texas Regional Drug Task Force said that amount was about 25 times too high. 

[snip]

Drug investigators originally thought the 25 pounds of mushrooms held 1.13 million dosage units, making them worth $11.35 million. 

Those are the numbers the DPS computerized reporting system came up with, WFPD Sgt.  Cindy Walker said.

But that magic $11 million number didn't go with the magic mushrooms after all - a glitch in the reporting system caused it to calculate the figures as it would for LSD, instead, Walker said.  The system separates LSD and "other hallucinogenic drugs," DPS narcotics investigator Jim Blake said after the bust. 

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 18 Jun 2004
Source:   Times Record News (Wichita Falls, TX)
Copyright:   2004 The E.W.  Scripps Co.
Website:   http://TimesRecordNews.com
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/995
Author:   Jessica Langdon,Times Record News
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/topics/mushrooms
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04.n877.a02.html


(4) FIGHT THE DRUG WAR, PAY THE BILL     (Top)

The Yalta Crewmen Are Free To Go Home, But their Acquittal In Tampa Comes At A High Price

TAMPA - A year ago, off the coast of Venezuela, a British war ship intercepted a freighter bound for Europe and bearing nearly 4 tons of cocaine. 

Though the vessel was not coming to the United States, in the war on drugs it is U.S.  taxpayers who will bear the high cost of the case.

Sixteen Lithuanian and Ukrainian crewmen were brought to Tampa and held nearly a year.  This week, after a 1 1/2-month trial, a federal jury returned not a single guilty verdict. 

The cost for all this could top $1-million, according to one of the 16 court-appointed lawyers, some of whom flew to Lithuania, the Ukraine and Panama to take testimony. 

"We've become the Big Brother of the drug industry," said defense attorney Grady C.  Irvin Jr. "If we're guarding the Pacific Ocean and we're intercepting drugs bound for other countries, should that be the responsibility of U.S.  taxpayers? Why should U.S. taxpayers be footing that bill?"

"I can't answer that," said the prosecutor, Joseph Ruddy.  "That's really a kind of philosophical, rhetorical question.  The law says we should do it, we did it."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 18 Jun 2004
Source:   St.  Petersburg Times (FL)
Website:   http://www.sptimes.com/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/419
Author:   Richard Bockman and Jamie Thompson
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
URL:   http://www.sptimes.com/2004/06/18/Tampabay/Fight_the_drug_war__p.shtml


WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW     (Top)


Domestic News- Policy


COMMENT: (5-8)     (Top)

The drug war is always nasty, but it doesn't get much lower than trying to throw a mother in jail because her son died of an overdose.  A Florida jury displayed more compassion and responsibility than local prosecutors in the case when the jury refused to convict the mother of child neglect charges.  There was a little justice in that case, but none in another story of drug prosecution overkill.  A Missouri woman is serving a life sentence because she witnessed a murder that was part of a drug deal gone bad. 

Meanwhile, the Partnership for a Drug-Free America appears to be underplaying the dangers of over-the-counter drugs.  Interesting for an organization that was started by the CEO of a pharmaceutical company which sold popular over-the-counter drugs, and that is still supported financially by the pharmaceutical industry.  Also this week, coca tea use may cause a false positive on a cocaine drug test, according to one court. 


(5) MOM NOT GUILTY IN SON'S DEATH FROM OVERDOSE     (Top)

NEW PORT RICHEY - Diana Jones sat on the stand Tuesday, a witness in the case against her mother.  Her older brother, Perry Lennon Jones, was dead. 

Her mother, Mary Catherine Schwartz, faced a charge of neglect of a child, a felony punishable by 15 years in prison, for his death. 

And Diana had to explain what happened Feb.  24, 2003.

On that night, she and her mother believed that the 16-year-old boy had been smoking marijuana in the living room of their New Port Richey home as usual. 

"He would smoke cigarettes and marijuana in front of my mother because she could not stop him from doing it," testified Diana, now 16.  "She gave up because it was only pot. Mom didn't know about the
others."

Her brother fell asleep on the couch that night.  Soon he began snoring and breathing rapidly.  Two hours later he began making gurgling sounds.  Then his heart stopped.

Doctors at Community Hospital pronounced him dead soon after 11 p.m.  Perry Jones had smoked heroin.  He suffered a pulmonary edema when his lungs filled with fluid. 

Prosecutors argued that Schwartz, 50, did not take the appropriate steps to prevent her son's death. 

The jury did not agree Tuesday, finding her not guilty after a 40- minute deliberation. 

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 09 Jun 2004
Source:   St.  Petersburg Times (FL)
Copyright:   2004 St.  Petersburg Times
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/419
Author:   Richard Raeke
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n851/a04.html


(6) A BAD TRIP     (Top)

Rebecca Beach didn't kill the drug dealer from Topeka.  But she's in prison for life because Kansas' felony murder law says she did. 

Rebecca Beach had bad taste in men -- and Jose Arevalo was no exception.  Sweet-talking, brown-eyed and slender, he had a nice smile and he paid attention to her, which was something she craved.  In the spring of 2000, 22-year-old Beach was feeling even more vulnerable than usual.  Her brother had died a few months earlier, she was having money problems and she had two small children to feed. 

[snip]

She didn't know that she could be charged with a crime she didn't commit. 

But under Kansas' felony murder law, a defendant can be charged with first-degree murder for any killing -- even if the defendant didn't kill anyone -- if the murder happened during the commission of a dangerous felony. 

The law is designed to deter criminals from committing felonies, or at least from acting in a way that might lead to a death.  But like Beach, many criminals don't know about the law, and opponents argue that it doesn't have much effect on crime.  The statute dates back to English common law from the Elizabethan period of the 1500s, though England stopped enforcing it in 1957 because it was considered too harsh.  Most states have a version of the law, though a few have abolished it.  In Missouri, the law is slightly more lenient, classifying felony murder as second-degree murder. 

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 10 Jun 2004
Source:   Pitch, The (Kansas City, MO)
Copyright:   2004 New Times, Inc. 
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/1120
Author:   Allie Johnson
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n848/a06.html


(7) THE DRUG RISK NO ONE TALKS ABOUT     (Top)

An eighth-grader I know and love is in a rehab program.  Her drug of choice? Coricidin cold medicine. 

Turns out she is not the only kid who has found a way to get high off the products commonly found in our medicine cabinets and on drugstore shelves.  The number of calls to poison centers across the country about the abuse of cold medicines containing
dextromethorphan, or DXM, doubled in the last three years, according to the American Association of Poison Control Centers.  In 2003, the centers took 4,382 calls about DXM -- 3,271 of which involved teens.  Separately, the U.S.  Substance Abuse & Mental Health Service Administration reports that 2,311 people were admitted to emergency rooms in 2002 for over-the-counter medicine overdoses. 

Experts at the Partnership for a Drug-Free America are in the midst of surveying young people about their experience with drug use.  For the first time, the interviewers will ask whether the youths have abused over-the-counter medicines. 

Until they have that data, researchers aren't too worried about kids abusing cold pills.  They're much more concerned about kids abusing cleaning products. 

This practice, known among the hip set as "sniffing" or "huffing," involves inhaling the poisons that are used to propel cooking spray, the fumes from gasoline or any of 1,000 common household products. 

The last survey of drug use conducted by the Partnership, released this month, found a stunning one in four eighth-graders admit to having inhaled household chemicals to get high.  Even more shocking: Less than half of the sixth-graders polled say they believe it can kill them. 

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 16 Jun 2004
Source:   Chicago Sun-Times (IL)
Copyright:   2004 The Sun-Times Co. 
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/81
Author:   Cindy Richards
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n872/a04.html


(8) COURT RESTORES JOB LOST TO DRUG TEST     (Top)

Charmaine Garrido Insists She's Never Used Cocaine. 

So she was floored when told a random drug test came back positive and that she would lose her job as an investigator with the Cook County sheriff's department. 

But last week, the Illinois Court of Appeals ruled Garrido should not have lost her job in 2001 because the positive test result probably didn't come from cocaine, but instead from the tea she'd been drinking. 

Garrido, the wife of a Chicago narcotics officer, said she drank "a significant amount" of the coca-tinged tea, which she got from Peru, just before her drug test. 

Though the sheriff's merit board didn't buy it -- and fired her -- the judges ruled the small traces of cocaine metabolites in Garrido's system were more likely to have come from tea than drugs. 

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 14 Jun 2004
Source:   Chicago Sun-Times (IL)
Copyright:   2004 The Sun-Times Co. 
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/81
Author:   Steve Patterson
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n861/a01.html


Law Enforcement & Prisons


COMMENT: (9-13)     (Top)

Another sign of racial bias in drug law enforcement was unveiled last week.  In Missouri, a new study found that black drivers are about twice as likely as whites to be searched during a police traffic stop. 

In Tennessee, some police want the type of technology used to deter terrorism, but they don't want to use it against terror threats.  They want to use it against methamphetamine labs.  A drug task force in Texas might want to invest in a bit of valuable technology commonly referred to as a calculator.  Then they might not make embarrassing claims like they did last week, when they said a 25-pound seizure of psilocybin mushrooms had a street value of $11 million.  The newspaper that printed the story might want to get a calculator too. 

In California, the San Jose Mercury News is rightfully editorializing about grand jury proceedings in a fatal police shooting.  The SJMN wants the proceedings to be open, so the public can learn what happened.  And in Texas, the Tulia case simply won't go away, as a new lawsuit is being filed. 


(9) BLACKS TWICE AS LIKELY TO BE SEARCHED     (Top)

A Columbia Police Study Finds Evidence Of A Racial Gap. 

Blacks in Columbia are more than twice as likely to be searched during a traffic stop than whites, according to data compiled by Columbia police and reported to the state attorney general. 

In 2003, Columbia police conducted 1,777 searches during traffic stops.  Whites were searched less than 9 percent of the time; blacks were searched just under 24 percent. 

Yet, the percentage of total searches in which contraband was found was slightly higher among whites. 

Scott Decker, professor of criminology at the University of Missouri-St.  Louis, said both the search rates and contraband hit rates were consistent with data from across the state and country.  The Columbia Police Department and other law enforcement agencies in Missouri are required to report racial data of their traffic stops. 

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 13 Jun 2004
Source:   Columbia Missourian (MO)
Copyright:   2004 Columbia Missourian
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/2282
Author:   Andrew Eder
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/racial.htm (Racial Issues)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n863/a01.html


(10) CURRENT TECHNOLOGIES CAN AID IN METH FIGHT, TASK FORCE TOLD     (Top)

HARRIMAN - In the near future, technologies currently used to detect chemical weapons and explosives could be adapted to the government's struggle against methamphetamine. 

That was the message delivered to the Governor's Task Force on Methamphetamine Abuse at a meeting Monday at Roane State Community College in Harriman by officials from the Tennessee National Guard and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. 

[snip]

Lee Riedinger, deputy director for science and technology at ORNL, opened up a presentation on several different technologies under development that could potentially be adapted to help detect meth labs. 

For instance, hyperspectral imaging, used to detect leaking freon and ammonia after the collapse of the World Trade Center on Sept.  11, 2001, could probably detect large meth-making operations from the air, officials said. 

Even though small labs make up 95 percent of those labs seized by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, "super labs" account for 78 percent of the methamphetamine production in the United States, according to an ORNL summary handed out to task force members. 

A mass spectrometer that has been used to detect chemical weapons around the world could also be adapted to sniff out meth labs, ORNL officials said, and other technologies also show promise. 

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 15 Jun 2004
Source:   Knoxville News-Sentinel (TN)
Copyright:   2004 The Knoxville News-Sentinel Co. 
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/226
Author:   J.J.  STAMBAUGH
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n866/a03.html


(11) POLICE SEIZE MILLIONS IN DRUGS     (Top)

Sizeable Mushroom Bust Said To Be One Of Biggest On Record

[snip]

Drug officers from several agencies made a rare find in Clay County this week. 

They made a mushroom bust bigger than anything the North Texas Drug Task Force has seen before. 

Investigators Tuesday turned up 25 pounds of psilocybin mushrooms - hallucinogenic drugs - with a street value topping $11 million. 

One Clay County residence housed 21 pounds of the mushrooms, investigators said. 

"We were kind of amazed at the value," Wichita Falls police Sgt.  Cindy Walker said. 

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 11 Jun 2004
Source:   Times Record News (Wichita Falls, TX)
Copyright:   2004 The E.W.  Scripps Co.
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/995
Author:   Jessica Langdon
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n857/a03.html


(12) EDITORIAL: PUBLIC DESERVES OPEN HEARING IN FATAL SHOOTING BY     (Top)DRUG AGENT

The San Jose Police Officers' Association is urging District Attorney George Kennedy to close the grand jury proceedings into the shooting death of an unarmed man by a state narcotics agent.  The association's president is hoping other police groups will lobby Kennedy as well. 

Kennedy should ignore them.  After Rodolfo ``Rudy'' Cardenas was fatally shot in February, Kennedy's chief deputy called for an open process.  ``The public deserves and needs to hear all the facts surrounding the shooting,'' said Assistant District Attorney Karyn Sinunu. 

That's the right position.  The circumstances behind the death are tragic and suspicious. 

Agent Michael Walker shot who he thought was an armed fugitive.  Cardenas turned out to be neither that man nor armed.  The paramedics who arrived at the scene were kept from him for a critical five minutes, during which he bled profusely. 

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 11 Jun 2004
Source:   San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright:   2004 San Jose Mercury News
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/390
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n849/a01.html


(13) NEW SUIT FILED AGAINST TASK FORCE     (Top)

Man Claims He Suffered Abuse During 2001 Drug Raid

Almost two months after it was settled, the specter of the Tulia drug bust lawsuit still hangs over the Texas Panhandle, haunting city and county officials who were wrong if they thought they were done with the controversy.  The latest incarnation of the Tulia suit comes in the form of a federal suit, similar in form to the Tulia action, that was filed this year by an Amarillo man who says he was abused by members of the same drug task force that conducted the controversial 1999 Tulia drug sting. 

For the 26 counties and four municipalities that made up the task force, officials say this latest suit is unlikely to be the last. 

"We anticipated when we settled the Tulia case that there would be some plaintiffs' lawyers that would view the city as a slot machine," said Amarillo City Attorney Marcus Norris.  "We anticipated having to go to trial.  Win, lose or draw, we're going to have to correct that misconception by taking these cases to court."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 11 Jun 2004
Source:   Amarillo Globe-News (TX)
Copyright:   2004 Amarillo Globe-News
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/13
Author:   Greg Cunningham
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/raids.htm (Drug Raids)
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/tulia.htm (Tulia, Texas)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n861/a06.html


Cannabis & Hemp-


COMMENT: (14-17)     (Top)

A Manhattan District Attorney has come out in favor of medical marijuana.  His announcement, which came as he stood with the ever more visibly active Montel Williams, offered a boost for medical marijuana legislation in New York.  While that state takes a step forward, the city of Oakland, California takes a step back as the vibrant era of Oaksterdam closes.  Most cannabis dispensaries concentrated in one Oakland neighborhood have closed in the wake of new regulations aimed at containing the clubs. 

Portugal showed its understanding of the benefits of cannabis last week, as police turned a blind eye to marijuana smokers during the Euro 2004 soccer match in Lisbon.  Police hoped the marijuana would reduce violence officials have come to expect from British fans, as it did four years ago during a Euro match in the Netherlands.  The policy worked again, as there were no problems with violence from Brit supporters in Lisbon.  Officials in London, where a mob of 400 violent, drunken soccer fans rampaged through the streets, might want to take note. 

Also last week, hemp advocates are disputing a U.S.  Air Force ban on hand lotion containing hemp; and in it's fourth attempt since 2001, the Swiss parliament again failed to decriminalize cannabis. 


(14) MANHATTAN: MEDICAL MARIJUANA BACKED

District Attorney Robert M.  Morgenthau, left, announced his support yesterday for the medical use of marijuana during an unusual news conference with the talk-show host Montel Williams.  They joined forces to support legislation in the State Assembly that would legalize the use of marijuana for the treatment of illnesses.  Ten states allow such use now.  "Morphine, codeine and other controlled substances have been available for years to those who are in pain and for other medical purposes," said Mr.  Morgenthau. "Medical marijuana should join the list of carefully monitored drugs that should be made available to those in need." Mr.  Williams, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, was overcome with emotion as he described the severe pain for which he uses legally prescribed marijuana, saying, "There are times I can barely put my feet on the floor." Mr.  Morgenthau said he had been swayed in part by one of his daughters, a medical doctor at a drug treatment program in a hospital in the city, who approves of medical marijuana. 

Pubdate:   Wed, 16 Jun 2004
Source:   New York Times (NY)
Copyright:   2004 The New York Times Company
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author:   Susan Saulny
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n867/a08.html


(15) CITY WITHHOLDS PERMITS FROM CANNABIS CLUBS     (Top)

Ordinance Dooms Thriving Businesses In Oaksterdam Area

Oaksterdam is on its deathbed. 

Oakland's once-bustling downtown enclave of medical marijuana clubs is about to disappear -- less than a year after it earned its nickname -- after city officials refused last week to issue permits to several popular establishments. 

"All that you see around us will be gone," Jeff Jones, executive director of Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative, said Monday.  "They're shutting almost everyone down, and I don't think that's good for the patients.  I'm glad the city is involved in regulation, but it's also driving away businesses that could be paying revenue" to the city. 

Most of about a dozen cannabis enterprises in the city, including four in the 1700 block of Telegraph Avenue, are being forced to close or stay open as cafes -- without selling marijuana -- or risk the wrath of Oakland police.  The closures began June 1 when a new ordinance took effect. 

In February, the Oakland City Council adopted an ordinance allowing the city to regulate marijuana clubs and limited their number to four.  The ordinance requires that no marijuana dispensary be located within 1,000 feet of another. 

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 15 Jun 2004
Source:   San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright:   2004 Hearst Communications Inc. 
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
Author:   Jim Herron Zamora, Chronicle Staff Writer
Cited:   http://www.norml.org/
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n868/a01.html


(16) POLICE POLICY: 'HERE WE BLOW'     (Top)

Apparently the plan worked.  Police reported no arrests or trouble during France's 2-1 win over England in their opening Euro 2004 match.  The plan? It was widely reported, including in The Guardian, that Portuguese police in Lisbon would turn a blind eye to soccer fans who openly smoked pot before or during the game. 

Apparently, a stoned crowd is a happy crowd.  Cops, however, planned to crack down on drunk supporters.  Alan Buffry of the Legalise Cannabis Alliance said: "If people are drinking they lose control; if they smoke cannabis they don't.  Alcohol makes fans fight. But cannabis smokers will be shaking hands and singing along together."

Pubdate:   Tue, 15 Jun 2004
Source:   San Diego Union Tribune (CA)
Copyright:   2004 Union-Tribune Publishing Co. 
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/386
Cited:   Legalise Cannabis Alliance http://www.lca-uk.org
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n866/a08.html


(17) HEMP GROUP WANTS AIR FORCE OK FOR LOTION     (Top)

CANNON AIR FORCE BASE -- A trade organization is asking the Air Force to clarify that its ban on marijuana use doesn't apply to personal care products that contain hemp seed oil. 

The California-based Hemp Industries Association and the Indoor Tanning Association have sent Air Force Secretary James Roche a letter this week criticizing a recent article in the Cannon Air Force Base newspaper -- Mach Meter. 

The article warned airmen not to use products containing hemp seed oil, hemp oil or delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol -- known as THC -- marijuana's main active chemical. 

The article said using such products created the "statistically small" chance of flunking a drug test and could attract attention from the base's drug-sniffing dogs. 

[snip]

The Cannon story said while base officials don't believe anyone would ingest a lotion, the lotion could be applied over a cut or scrape, creating a chance of absorption under certain circumstances. 

A spokesman for the Hemp Industries Association disputes that such use could lead to a positive drug test. 

"There's no way a personal care product will cause someone to fail a drug test," association spokesman Adam Eidinger said Thursday during a telephone interview. 

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 10 Jun 2004
Source:   Albuquerque Journal (NM)
Copyright:   2004 Albuquerque Journal
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/10
Cited:   Hemp Industries Association http://www.thehia.org/
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n845/a04.html


(18) PARLIAMENT REJECTS DECRIMINALISATION OF CANNABIS     (Top)

Smoking a joint will remain illegal in Switzerland after parliament threw out government proposals to decriminalise cannabis. 

The House of Representatives refused by 102 votes to 92 to debate amendments to the drug law -- the second time it has dismissed the proposal.  It was the fourth attempt since December 2001 to vote on a government proposal aimed at decriminalising the production and consumption of cannabis for personal use. 

The other parliamentary chamber, the Senate, has twice come out in favour of a more liberal drugs policy. 

But in last autumn's session, which came just ahead of parliamentary elections, the House of Representatives dismissed the proposal outright.  Monday's debate was touted as the last chance for the bill and its rejection means that current drugs legislation -- which is 30 years old -- will remain in force. 

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 15 Jun 2004
Source:   Swissinfo / SRI (Switzerland Web)
Copyright:   2004 Swissinfo SRI Swiss Radio International
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/2897
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n866/a01.html


International News


COMMENT: (19-22)     (Top)

A piece this week from The Australian sheds some light on the regrettable history of heroin prohibition down under.  Why, it is asked, must terminal cancer patients be denied the most effective painkiller, heroin? U.S.  International prohibition power politics, that's why.  In 1953, the U.S. (via the U.N.) pressured Australia to criminalize all heroin use, even for dying cancer patients in terrible pain.  There was "no drug problem" at the time in Australia. Still, the laws were passed even though the Australian medical associations objected.  Sadly, those with pain from terminal cancer shouldn't hold out hope for a cure to the prohibitionist politicians who would rather moralize about junkies and jail druggies than help the dying with the stroke of a pen. 

The cavalcade of prohibition-corrupted police continues this week as another Canadian Mountie is found guilty of selling drugs, this time an ex-Mountie from Tantallon, Nova Scotia.  Particularly bold, the condemned Mountie had sold drugs from his police cruiser, according to reports.  "This undermines the basic confidence between prosecutor and police," noted the attorney for the government. 

Staunch and gung ho little drug warrior he may be, but Rodrigo R.  Duterte, Mayor of Davao City, Philippines, angrily put down his foot and rejected the idea that he need submit drug test results.  Though he backs local death squads in their druggie-killing labors, Duterte feels that he himself is above having to urinate in a cup for public analysis.  His excuse? The government bureaucrats that must evaluate his excreta are of a department that is not to his liking.  For his job, claims the drug warrior, drug testing is "silly." Duterte is supposed to assume office at the end of the month. 

And finally, a warning from the Philippine government about visiting the prohibitionist archipelago.  Drug war bureaucrats warned last week that efforts have been "stepped-up" to "identify and arrest tourists" who use even small, personal amounts of marijuana.  "We're regularly conducting 'profiling of individuals' who might be carriers of dangerous drugs even in small quantities," huffed Philippine drug warriors.  Travellers are warned that while the Philippine drug war is fought with death squads and on the backs of cannabis users, other destinations might be safer and more fun. 


(19) HAZY LOGIC DICTATES A PAINFUL PROHIBITION     (Top)

[snip]

Australia has an irrational history when it comes to using heroin for those dying in pain.  In May 1953, the Menzies government prohibited its importation after pressure from the World Health Organisation, in turn under pressure from the US, where a burgeoning drug problem was emerging.  Yet in Australia there was no drug problem to speak of; instead heroin was used to manage serious pain, especially for the terminally ill. 

The ban went ahead despite objections from the director-general of health in NSW that "heroin ...  is quite effectively controlled in this state and ...  I see no justification to enforce absolute prohibition".  And despite similar protests by the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and the predecessor to the Australian Medical Association, then the Australian Federal Council of the British Medical Association. 

Ever since, heroin has been lost to the moral battlefield of illicit drugs. 

Once banned, it was a drug with no legitimate role, one that junkies use and drug criminals deal in.  What strikes me as more criminal is that, in 2004, the terminally ill still die in pain.  Irrational responses get in the way of treating their pain. 

On the one hand, politicians parade their massive heroin hauls, piles of white bricks, as wins in the tough war on drugs.  On the other, they help drug addicts on the street shoot up, providing them with clean needles and clean rooms.  Those left out in the cold are the terminally ill. 

It does not require much nuance to understand that allowing doctors to administer heroin to the dying is not a slippery slope to its legalisation.  Nor will it lead to a nation of addicts. Doctors prescribe prohibited substances by the hundreds.  Why is heroin different? A stubborn, unthinking abstinence lobby.  That is the difference. 

It does not require much compassion to understand that a fear that someone you love, dying of cancer, may become addicted to heroin is less important than ensuring they are relieved of terrible pain. 

Why the irrational fear? Addiction as a moral evil has little resonance for those in pain. 

[snip]

I don't want junkies determining drug policy but that they favour heroin over morphine suggests that the terminally ill might also prefer it.  Euphoria is the wrong word for those dying of cancer, but if heroin can offer any kind of relief, mental or physical, why not offer it?

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 16 Jun 2004
Source:   Australian, The (Australia)
Copyright:   2004 The Australian
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/35
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04.n864.a03.html


(20) GUILTY MOUNTIE MADE POT DEALS FROM CRUISER     (Top)

Details of disgraced former Mountie Danny Ryan's drug peddling came out yesterday, showing he brazenly scored deals right out of his police car. 

The ex-Tantallon officer - who was about to join then-Prime Minister Jean Chretien's security detail when he was arrested - has been found guilty of trafficking about 1.4 kilograms of marijuana and breach of trust.  He'll be sentenced Aug. 30.

[snip]

"This undermines the basic confidence between prosecutor and police," Bright said.  "Secondly, it undermines the confidence of the court in police officers, because it's very important that police officers be deemed to be objective and fair when they attend court."

Pubdate:   Tue, 15 Jun 2004
Source:   Daily News, The (CN NS)
Copyright:   2004 The Daily News
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/179
Author:   Andrea MacDonald
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04.n863.a04.html


(21) DUTERTE WILL NOT SUBMIT DRUG TEST RESULT     (Top)

DAVAO City Mayor Rodrigo R.  Duterte is stamping his foot against submitting his drug test result to the Commission on Elections (Comelec). 

"I'll be assuming office on June 30 but I will not submit my drug test result to the Comelec," Duterte said.  "I would rather submit my drug test result to the Office of the President, the DILG (Department of Interior and Local Government, the Office of the Ombudsman or the Inquirer," Duterte added. 

Duterte said he is still questioning the validity of the Comelec requirement for drug test among political candidates. 

In earlier interviews, Duterte even described this requirement to be silly and unconstitutional. 

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 14 Jun 2004
Source:   Sunstar Davao (Philippines)
Copyright:   2004 Sunstar
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/1991
Note:   also listed for feedback
Author:   Aurea A.  Gerundio
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04.n861.a09.html


(22) TOURISTS INTO DRUGS UNDER WATCH     (Top)

Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency chair Undersecretary Anselmo Avenido Jr.  yesterday said they have stepped-up efforts to identify and arrest tourists who smuggle shabu and marijuana into the country's tourist spots. 

"We're regularly conducting 'profiling of individuals' who might be carriers of dangerous drugs even in small quantities," he said. 

Avenido said a number of domestic and foreign tourists have been apprehended in the past two years for smuggling prohibited drugs into the country. 

Police said they were also looking into reports that drug dealers have invaded known tourist destinations like Boracay Island and are selling small quantities of shabu, marijuana and the designer drug "Ecstacy."

Pubdate:   Fri, 11 Jun 2004
Source:   People's Journal (Philippines)
Copyright:   2004 People's Journal.ph/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/3381
Author:   Alfred Dalizon, People's Journal
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04.n852.a01.html


HOT OFF THE 'NET     (Top)

ALISON MYRDEN ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL

Tim Meehan put this footage together of med-pot activist turned NDP candidate Alison Myrden on the NDP Campaign Trail.  Let this be some inspiration for the rest of us, we need more people like Alison messing with the system!

http://www.pot-tv.net/archive/shows/pottvshowse-2759.html


UN REPORTS STEADY DECLINE OF COCA CULTIVATION IN ANDEAN REGION

UN Drugs Office Launches Coca Surveys for Colombia, Bolivia and Peru

VIENNA, 17 June (UN Information Service) -- In the five-year period following the 1998 United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Drugs, the total area under coca cultivation in the Andean region - Bolivia, Colombia and Peru - declined by 20 per cent, reaching a 14-year low of 153,800 hectares in 2003. 

http://www.unis.unvienna.org/unis/pressrels/2004/unisnar847.html


CULTURAL BAGGAGE RADIO SHOW

06/15/04: Harris Co.  DA Chuck Rosenthal

The district attorney of the "Gulag Filling Station." Topics include racial bias, knowledge of the genesis of this war, medical marijuana and the fact that he sends more people to prison than anyone in Red China, Russia or N.  Korea.

MPEG:   http://cultural-baggage.com/Audio/FDBCB_061504.mp3
REAL:   http://cultural-baggage.com/ramtorm/to061504.ram


REEFER MADNESS: AN ONLINE CHAT WITH ERIC SCHLOSSER

Originally aired June 15, 2004

An archive of our online chat about marijuana prohibition with renowned author Eric Schlosser and Drug Policy Alliance Executive Director Ethan Nadelmann is now available for listening.  Schlosser and Nadelmann spoke for nearly an hour on topics ranging from the roots of prohibition to the prospects for industrial hemp. 

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


ANIMATION DETAILS THE ABSURDITY OF NEW YORK'S ROCKEFELLER DRUG LAWS

http://www.realreform2004.org/flash/


PBS FRONTLINE "THE PLEA"

It is the centerpiece of America's judicial process: the right to a trial by jury system that places a defendant's fate in the hands of a jury of one's peers. 

But it may surprise many to learn that nearly 95 percent of all cases resulting in felony convictions never reach a jury, but instead are settled through plea bargains, in which a defendant agrees to plead guilty in exchange for a reduced sentence. 

Watch the program online, coming Monday, June 21. 

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/plea/


HAPPY BIRTHDAY RICHARD LAKE

The Media Awareness Project's Richard Lake, (without whom this newsletter would not be possible), turned 64 today, further securing his title as our "Senior" Editor.  Happy Birthday Chief! We still need you. 

http://www.mapinc.org/rlake/


LETTER OF THE WEEK     (Top)

Legalize Marijuana

By Larry Seguin

LEGALIZE MARIJUANA

I find it disturbing when law enforcement moves from enforcing the law to commanding the law.  ( "Law Enforcement Enters The Fray Over Rolling Back Drug Sentencing," Watertown Daily Times, June 7. 

The Rockefeller drug laws have New York taxpayers paying more for prisons than for education.  It has put mothers in prison for life on conspiracy charges.  Conspiracy charges mean no drugs were found in their possession. 

It has made the legislators lazy in St.  Lawrence, Jefferson, Franklin, and Lewis counties.  They depend on prison population to secure census related funding.  Look at what the Law Enforcement Coalition Against drug Decriminalization is made up of.  All are supported by New York Taxpayers. 

With crime at a 20 year low, they want to chase low-level non-violent substance users.  They say they "are not trying to kill reform".  But yet they want to block the diversion of drug offenders to treatment.  Ninety percent of drug crimes are prohibition not drug use. 

The prohibition of alcohol gave birth to the potent and very dangerous moonshine.  The crack down on marijuana ditch weed created hydroponic marijuana.  The crack down on cross tops and black beauties gave birth to Methamphetamine.  When alcohol was re-legalized moonshine became a nonissue. 

It is time to legalize marijuana.  That will be our gateway out of hard drugs.  We would no longer need the Rockefeller drug laws. Maybe then the taxpayer can travel without being profiled as a drug user for tinted windows or a burnt out bulb on our vehicles. 

Larry Seguin
Lisbon

Referenced:  
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04.n830.a06.html

Pubdate:   Fri, 11 Jun 2004
Source:   Watertown Daily Times (NY)
Copyright:   2004 Watertown Daily Times
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/792


LETTER WRITER OF THE MONTH - MAY     (Top)

This month we recognize Alan Randell of Victoria, B.C.  During May MAP archived five published letters by Alan which brings his career total, that we know of, to 337.  You can review his superb letters at:

http://www.mapinc.org/writer/Randell+Alan

To understand why Alan and Eleanor Randell dedicate so much time to their reform efforts please read this article:

http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v00/n1355/a06.html


FEATURE ARTICLE     (Top)

AN HONOR FOR DEREK REA, MAP'S PUBLISHED LETTER ARCHIVIST

By Richard Lake

Derek Rea, for years, has maintained the special archive of pro reform published letters at http://www.mapinc.org/lte/ -- adding each letter -- over 16,000!

The archive has always been a very powerful example of what the Media Awareness Project of DrugSense - though it's many volunteers - accomplishes.  And it serves as a research tool for letter writers -- examples of what specific newspapers will publish, from whom, and how many words. 

But this week MAP webmaster Matt Elrod automated that task, so the webpages at http://www.mapinc.org/lte/ have a new look.  Be sure to check them out, to see the great thoughts and value of all MAP's letter writers. 

Derek, we are sure, will find other MAP tasks that need doing.  He already manages the process that identifies letter writers of the week and of the month.  Plus he is an editor @ MAP.

Derek, you represent MAP's greatest strength - it's volunteers.  On behalf of MAP and the reform community, Thank You, Derek!


QUOTE OF THE WEEK     (Top)

"To understand is hard.  Once one understands, action is easy." - Sun Yat-Sen


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CREDITS:  

Policy, Law Enforcement/Prison, and Cannabis/Hemp content selection and analysis by Stephen Young (), International content selection and analysis by Doug Snead (), Layout by Matt Elrod ()

We wish to thank all our contributors, editors, NewsHawks and letter writing activists.  Please help us help reform. Become a NewsHawk See http://www.mapinc.org/hawk.htm for info on contributing clippings. 


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