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DrugSense Weekly
Feb. 25, 2005 #389


Table of Contents

* Breaking News (03/29/24)


* This Just In


(1) Street Price Of Cocaine Falls Despite U.S. Efforts
(2) U.S. Seeks Colombian Help On Drugs
(3) Study: Marijuana Slows Alzheimer's Decline
(4) Harvard Seeks To Test Ecstasy Drug On The Dying

* Weekly News in Review


Drug Policy-

COMMENT: (5-9)
(5) Attorneys General Step Into Pain Prescribing Debate
(6) ONDCP Trial: Seifert Takes the Stand
(7) Prepackaged News Gets GAO Rebuke
(8) Drug Court Pioneer Under Fire
(9) Virginia House OKs Emergency Clause For Methadone Moratorium

Law Enforcement & Prisons-

COMMENT: (10-13)
(10) Campbell Officers To Plead Guilty
(11) Autopsy: Gray Hit 5 Times By 3 Shots
(12) State Wants Former Inmate To Pay Cost Of Incarceration
(13) Is State Going Overboard?

Cannabis & Hemp-

COMMENT: (14-18)
(14) Vermont Senators Sign On To Marijuana Bill
(15) Highlights Thursday From Texas Legislature
(16) State Will Issue ID Cards To Medical Marijuana Users This Summer
(17) On Secret Tape, Bush Implies He Used Marijuana
(18) Liberals To Debate Legal, Taxable Pot

International News-

COMMENT: (19-22)
(19) Ban On Death Penalty Stays, But Not For Drugs, Kidnapping
(20) Inmates Undercut Drug War
(21) 'Laughing Gas' Sale Could Be Curbed
(22) U.S. Bounty Hunters Sentenced In Kidnapping

* Hot Off The 'Net


    Educate Illinois Media About Medical Marijuana
    An  Audio  Web  Chat  With  Dr.  Sasha  Shulgin  and  Ann  Shulgin
    Cultural-Baggage Radio Show
    Job Openings At MPP
    White House Drug Czar Launches Blog
    Blogger's Head Explodes
    Web Site Looks At Marijuana Use By Students
    Walters Testifies On Illinois Medical Cannabis Act
    Dr. Hunter S. Thompson - Another Inspiration Gone

* Letter Of The Week


    'Drug Testing Is A Bad Idea' / By Harold Caldwell

* Feature Article


    Remember Nguyen Tuong Van? / By Gary Meyerhoff

* Quote of the Week


    Hunter S. Thompson


THIS JUST IN    (Top)

(1) STREET PRICE OF COCAINE FALLS DESPITE U.S. EFFORTS    (Top)

The drop in value has some drug experts questioning a $4.3 billion federal strategy to stem the supply from Latin America

Since last year, federal drug officials have touted the success of a $4.3 billion program they say has slashed the production of coca in Latin America by a third.

But federal data released Thursday showed that the price of cocaine on the street was lower in 2003 than when the program began.

Drug experts say the data raise serious questions about the ability of the Andean Counterdrug Initiative to choke off the supply of cocaine.

"There is no evidence in these data, any more than there's been evidence in the previous 20 years of data, that massive enforcement succeeds in pushing mass market prices up," said Mark A.R.  Kleiman, director of the drug policy analysis program at UCLA.

[snip]

In a report prepared for John Walters, the White House drug czar, the Rand Corp.  estimated that the price of a pure gram of powder cocaine dropped from $161 in 2000 to $107 in the first half of 2003.  The price of crack cocaine fell from $219 per pure gram in 2000 to $190 in 2003.

http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/publications/price_purity/price_purity.pdf

Aides to Walters declined to comment on the report Thursday.  State Department officials also declined to be interviewed.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 24 Feb 2005
Source:   Oregonian, The (Portland, OR)
Copyright:   2005 The Oregonian
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.oregonlive.com/oregonian/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/324
Author:   Steve Suo
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05.n314.a10.html


(2) US SEEKS COLOMBIAN HELP ON DRUGS

US counter-narcotics authorities are examining controversial policies used in Colombia, the world's top cocaine producer, to formulate efforts to combat the flow of drugs from Afghanistan, the world's leading supplier of heroin.

John Walters, director of the US National Drug Control Policy, said on Wednesday in Miami that methods used to combat drugs in Colombia principally aerial fumigation were being studied to see how they can be replicated in Afghanistan.

Under President Alvaro Uribe, who is strongly supported by Washington, the area of land cultivated with coca, the plant from which cocaine is made, has halved to about 212,000 acres, according to official figures.

Colombia's example shows that you can build institutional capacity and change the face of the threat of illegal narcotics, Mr Walters said. The Colombians have been very co-operative in helping to supply additional information on what they have done and how it works.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 23 Feb 2005
Source:   Financial Times (UK)
Copyright:   The Financial Times Limited 2005
Website:   http://www.ft.com/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/154
Author:   Andy Webb-Vidal, in Caracas
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/walters.htm (Walters, John)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05.n307.a05.html


(3) STUDY: MARIJUANA SLOWS ALZHEIMER'S DECLINE    (Top)

New Spanish and Israeli research shows that a synthetic analogue of the active component of marijuana can reduce the inflammation and prevent the mental decline associated with Alzheimer's disease. Although it was conducted on human brain tissue in the lab and in a rat model -- but not in living humans -- the research is regarded as a major step not only in understanding how the brain reacts to Alzheimer's disease, but also in helping to develop novel drugs for Alzheimer's and even Parkinson's disease.

Prof.  Raphael Mechoulam, a medicinal chemistry expert who discovered marijuana's active component (called THC), conducted the study with researchers at the Cajal Institute and Complutense University in Madrid, led by Maria de Ceballos.  The study appears in Wednesday's issue of The Journal of Neuroscience, which is published by the Society for Neuroscience, an organization of more than 36,000 basic scientists and clinicians who study the brain and nervous system.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 24 Feb 2005
Source:   Jerusalem Post (Israel)
Website:   http://www.jpost.com/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/516
Author:   Judy Siegel-Itzkovich
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05.n307.a10.html


(4) HARVARD SEEKS TO TEST ECSTASY DRUG ON THE DYING    (Top)

BELMONT -- Harvard researchers are preparing for the first time in three decades to conduct human experiments using a psychedelic drug, a study that would seek to harness the mind-altering effects of the drug ecstasy to help ease the crushing psychic burdens faced by dying cancer patients.

In the experiment, 12 terminal cancer patients would be given MDMA, the active ingredient in ecstasy, to determine whether the drug helps alleviate their anxiety.  If the results are positive, the Harvard scientists said, they will push forward with large-scale tests that could make end-of-life ecstasy treatments generally available to terminally-ill patients.  The experiment seeks to establish a medical use for a drug whose abuse has been on the rise among some young people, who use it recreationally for its euphoric effects.

A small but growing group of scientists contends the drug, administered in a controlled medical setting, can improve mental and emotional health.  But critics, including some in the Bush administration, said the experiment may destigmatize a dangerous substance.

Complicating matters, the experiment will be bankrolled by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, a nonprofit that advocates legalizing psychedelic drugs.

The group, run by a longtime drug-legalization activist from Belmont named Rick Doblin, has ambitions to one day establish a nationwide chain of psychedelic therapy clinics that would dispense LSD, marijuana, and ecstasy to people with emotional problems.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 23 Feb 2005
Source:   Boston Globe (MA)
Copyright:   2005 Globe Newspaper Company
Website:   http://www.boston.com/globe/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/52
Author:   Raja Mishra
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/mdma.htm (Ecstasy)
Cited:   http://www.mapinc.org/people/Rick+Doblin
Cited:   http://www.maps.org/
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05.n304.a04.html


WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW    (Top)

Domestic News- Policy


COMMENT: (5-9)    (Top)

A group of attorneys general from around the country has asked the DEA to back off on pain doctors.  Hard to say if the DEA will respond to the embarrassing pressure, since the ONDCP is facing a series of embarrassments this week, but still not backing down.  A trial for executives of an ad agency that made anti-drug propaganda for the federal government revealed how dismal the effort was, and how the ONDCP pushed hard to get propaganda incorporated into television programs.  The ONDCP was also stung for not properly labeling its propaganda, despite protestations from high-profile congressional drug warriors.  The head of the ONDCP was touting drug courts last week, but the head of a much lauded Illinois drug court found himself under fire last week.  And, in Virginia, the legislature is fast-tracking a moratorium on methadone clinics.


(5) ATTORNEYS GENERAL STEP INTO PAIN PRESCRIBING DEBATE    (Top)

The group is asking the DEA not to impede "the legitimate practice of medicine," but the agency says it is not a barrier to care.

A new voice has joined the chorus claiming that recent actions by the U.S.  Drug Enforcement Administration appear to impede the prescribing of controlled substances to treat pain.

The National Assn.  of Attorneys General, in a Jan. 19 letter, called on DEA Administrator Karen P.  Tandy to meet with representatives of the organization to "find ways to prevent abuse and diversion without infringing on the legitimate practice of medicine or exerting a chilling effect on the willingness of physicians to treat patients who are in pain."

The letter was signed by the attorneys general from 29 states and the District of Columbia.  The effort was led by Oklahoma Attorney General and NAAG Past President W.A.  Drew Edmondson, who said he was approaching the issue from a consumer-protection standpoint.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 21 Feb 2005
Source:   American Medical News (US)
Copyright:   2005 American Medical Association
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/1235
Author:   Andis Robeznieks
Cited:   U.S.  Drug Enforcement Administration http://www.dea.gov
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/find?232 (Chronic Pain)
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n299/a04.html


(6) ONDCP TRIAL: SEIFERT TAKES THE STAND    (Top)

NEW YORK - Shona Seifert, the former Ogilvy & Mather executive accused of orchestrating a billings scam on the White House's anti-drug ad account, on Tuesday testified in her own defense here in U.S.  District Court.

[snip]

Seifert also described how the ONDCP began to become disenchanted with Ogilvy less than a year after the agency took on the business. "Client frustration was mounting rapidly," she said.

At one point, former ONDCP director Alan Levitt wrote an e-mail that said the agency, "for the record, it's doing a horrible job-yes that's the word."

The same e-mail mentioned that the previous shops on the account-Bates and Zenith Media-had done better.  Levitt's particular complaint was about the seriousness with which Ogilvy was taking the media matches-the free ad time that TV networks had to agree to provide if they wanted to get some of the paid advertising.  The matches were important, Levitt wrote, and "O&M is treating it as if it weren't."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 15 Feb 2005
Source:   Ad Week (US)
Copyright:   2005 Ad Week
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/3163
Author:   Jim Edwards
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption - United States)
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/campaign.htm (ONDCP Media Campaign)
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/topics/ONDCP (ONDCP)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n287/a02.html


(7) PREPACKAGED NEWS GETS GAO REBUKE    (Top)

Walker:   PR Must Be Clearly Labeled

The Government Accountability Office warned federal departments last week against using a popular public relations tool that already has landed two agencies in hot water for breaking federal
anti-propaganda laws.

In a Feb.  17 memo, Comptroller General David M. Walker reminded department and agency heads that prepackaged news stories that do not identify the government as their source violate provisions in annual appropriations laws that ban covert propaganda.

"It is not enough that the contents of an agency's communication may be unobjectionable," Walker wrote.  "Neither is it enough for an agency to identify itself to the broadcasting organization as the source of the prepackaged news story."

[snip]

Last month, Rep.  Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.), chairman of the House Committee on Government Reform, said the GAO was wrong in ruling against the drug control office because the agency's mission is to produce media campaigns to prevent and reduce drug abuse.  Davis and Rep.  Mark Edward Souder (R-Ind.) sent Walker a letter urging him to withdraw the ruling and reconsider the law.  They wrote that it was the news organizations, not the agency, that had a duty to disclose the source of the video news release.

Walker declined to overturn the ruling in a Feb.  15 letter. He wrote that the drug control office was bound by the disclosure requirement and that appropriations laws govern the behavior of federal agencies, not of independent news organizations.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 21 Feb 2005
Source:   Washington Post (DC)
Copyright:   2005 The Washington Post Company
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Author:   Christopher Lee, Washington Post Staff Writer
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/campaign.htm (ONDCP Media Campaign)
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/people/Mark+Souder
Cited:   http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n296/a02.html


(8) DRUG COURT PIONEER UNDER FIRE    (Top)

One of the most-recognizable names in Illinois for keeping drug offenders out of jail is facing his own trial.

On Wednesday, the Illinois Judicial Inquiry Board leveled a 20-count complaint against Kane County Judge James Doyle, accusing him of violating the constitutional rights of defendants by engaging in intimidation, violating privacy laws, denying legal counsel and showing bias in his decisions.

The charges stem from a months-long investigation by the board of five judges and two citizens into complaints from attorneys, a probation officer and drug court participants.

The board's decision to move forward with what amounts to a civil trial puts Doyle in rare company.  Although nearly 500 complaints are filed annually against Illinois judges, the board has found only 71 complaints valid enough in the past 34 years to launch a trial by the Illinois Courts Commission.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 17 Feb 2005
Source:   Daily Herald (IL)
Copyright:   2005 The Daily Herald Company
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/107
Author:   Tona Kunz, Daily Herald Staff Writer
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/find?159 (Drug Courts)
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Test)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n274/a10.html


(9) VIRGINIA HOUSE OKS EMERGENCY CLAUSE FOR METHADONE MORATORIUM    (Top)

A bill establishing a moratorium on future methadone clinics will become law as soon as the governor signs it because of an emergency clause approved Thursday by the Virginia House of Delegates.

Gov.  Mark Warner is expected to sign the bill within the next two weeks.

Most of Virginia's new laws go into effect on July 1 at the beginning of the new fiscal year.

The emergency clause was sought by Delegate Terry Kilgore, R-Gate City.

"We had to act fast on this one.  But now (the Virginia Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services) will have the chance to have an in-depth review of these clinics and the regulations that go with them,'' Kilgore said.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 18 Feb 2005
Source:   Kingsport Times-News (TN)
Copyright:   2005 Kingsport Publishing Corporation
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/1437
Author:   Kevin Castle
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n280/a05.html


Law Enforcement & Prisons


COMMENT: (10-13)    (Top)

More death, mayhem and outrageous conduct on the front lines of the drug war this week, along with a lonely voice of reason in Iowa.


(10) CAMPBELL OFFICERS TO PLEAD GUILTY    (Top)

Prosecutor Says He Will Ask Judge to Put Them in Jail Pending Sentencing

Four Campbell County lawmen will plead guilty this week to the beating and torture of a drug dealer, and federal prosecutors will ask a judge to put them behind bars pending sentencing.

A court date for a fifth Campbell County Sheriff's Department employee accused in the two-hour attack on Lester Eugene Siler has not yet been set.

David Webber, 40, who headed narcotics investigations for Campbell County and is accused of being the ringleader in the alleged torture, is set to plead guilty today to an information charging him with conspiracy to violate Siler's civil rights.

Samuel Franklin, 42, a veteran detective at the agency and head of its D.A.R.E.  program, is scheduled to plead guilty Wednesday, court records show.  Rookie Deputy Joshua Monday, 24, and process server Shayne Green, 35, are expected to plead guilty Thursday, according to records.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 22 Feb 2005
Source:   Knoxville News-Sentinel (TN)
Copyright:   2005 The Knoxville News-Sentinel Co.
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/226
Author:   Jamie Satterfield
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption - United States)
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/raids.htm (Drug Raids)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n307/a01.html


(11) AUTOPSY: GRAY HIT 5 TIMES BY 3 SHOTS    (Top)

After almost two weeks of speculation, the Spartanburg County Coroner's Office released an autopsy report Wednesday for a man killed by undercover sheriff's officers.

Spartanburg County Coroner Jim Burnett said Aaron Clark Gray, 24, was wounded five times from three gunshots from officers following a drug buy two weeks ago.

Burnett said the Coroner's Office couldn't determine the total number of shots fired, but only the number of times they believe Gray was hit.

Burnett said Gray's death is being ruled a homicide and the fatal shot was to the forehead.  Gray also suffered a grazing wound to the chin, in and out wounds to the upper chest and a wound to the cheek possibly from a bullet splitting, Burnett said.

Gray's family has said he was wounded seven times and the Rev.  Jesse Jackson held a news conference in Spartanburg earlier this week and reiterated the number.

Jackson said Gray was shot in the face four times, once in the back of the head and twice in the chest.

Burnett said one bullet could lead to multiple wounds

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 24 Feb 2005
Source:   Spartanburg Herald Journal (SC)
Copyright:   2005 The Spartanburg Herald-Journal
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/977
Author:   Dudley Brown
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/raids.htm (Drug Raids)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n309/a07.html


(12) STATE WANTS FORMER INMATE TO PAY COST OF INCARCERATION    (Top)

BETHANY - After more than two years behind bars, recovering narcotics addict Kathleen White figured she'd paid her debt to society.

She was wrong.

In early January, White received an unexpected correspondence from the state Department of Administrative Services: an itemized bill for $67,165, which the Department of Correction says was the cost of her incarcerations.

"I'd heard about that, but I didn't think they'd do it to anyone who didn't win the lottery," White said ruefully during an interview at her mother's home in Bethany.  "How dare (they) charge me to be treated like a dog?"

White, 36, served time on charges of possession of narcotics and violation of probation.

White and her attorney, Jack Keyes of New Haven, maintain White drew attention to herself by filing a civil lawsuit against a former friend's landlord.  The lawsuit alleges the landlord's oven blew up in White's face, causing her serious injury.

Keyes believes he has a good chance of winning a substantial sum for White.  Unfortunately for his client, the Department of Correction is entitled to half of any money White wins from that lawsuit, and White said the state medical insurance program is after the other half.

White said she doesn't mind paying for the cost of her medical care over the years in prison.  But paying the Department of Correction for her incarceration is another story.

Keyes says the department is making the claim under a rarely enforced law that allows the state to recoup the cost of incarceration if an inmate wins the lottery, inherits a substantial amount of money or wins a legal claim.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 14 Feb 2005
Source:   New Haven Register (CT)
Copyright:   2005, New Haven Register
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/292
Author:   Meggan Clark
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n275/a04.html


(13) SPEAKER: IS STATE GOING OVERBOARD?

DES MOINES -- Iowa House Speaker Christopher Rants said Thursday he believes lawmakers are getting "carried away" in their zeal to crack down on the sale of over-the-counter cold remedies that can be used to make methamphetamine.

Rants, R-Sioux City, argues House and Senate bills go too far in seeking to limit the sale of pseudoephedrine -- a common nasal decongestant found in dozens of cold, flu and allergy medications.

Lawmakers are considering limits with hopes of keeping the drug out of the hands of meth makers.  Senators voted 50-0 Thursday for legislation restricting where Iowans can get pseudoephedrine and how much they can buy daily or monthly.

But ultimately, Rants will decide whether the bill is debated or shelved.

"It seems like public policy is being driven without really thinking about what the ramifications are for average, law-abiding citizens," Rants said.

"Everybody wants to get the meth cookers.  But people are afraid of politics and that they're somehow going to be accused of being soft on crime if they allow people to buy two boxes of Benadryl," he said.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 18 Feb 2005
Source:   Globe-Gazette (IA)
Copyright:   2005 Globe-Gazette
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/1568
Author:   Todd Dorman, Globe Des Moines Bureau
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n279/a03.html


Cannabis & Hemp-


COMMENT: (14-18)    (Top)

This week we begin with solid evidence that progressive cannabis reform can indeed take place under a Republican-led White House. Vermont Senators Patrick Leahy and James Jeffords have co-sponsored the Truth in Trials Act introduced by Illinois Democrat Richard Durban, which would finally allow defendants facing federal cannabis charges to introduce any relevant evidence regarding medical use of the drug.  And from the president's own backyard, Rep. Elliot Naishat (D-Austin) has introduced an affirmative defense medical marijuana bill which would allow both patients and their physicians to introduce evidence of medical use where relevant into state cannabis trials.  Republican state reps. Terry Keel and Suzanna Hupp have co-sponsored the bill.

In other news, California has announced plans to issue medicinal cannabis patient ID cards in 10 counties this summer.  The long-awaited pilot proposal is designed to protect legitimate medical users from arrest and prosecution by police.

Last weekend's New York Times caused a bit of an uproar by reporting on taped conversations with President Bush from 1998-2000.  In the conversations, which were recorded by a former Bush Sr.  aide (aptly) named Doug Wead, the then Governor of Texas hints that he had used cannabis in the past, although all recent evidence suggests that he unfortunately didn't use nearly enough to gain significant insight, compassion or empathy.  And lastly this week, news that Canada's governing Liberal Party will be debating a resolution to legalize and tax cannabis at their yearly party convention.  The resolution, which was introduced by the Alberta Liberal caucus, suggests that taxing and regulating cannabis sales could raise over $3 billion a year for the federal government.  In addition, otherwise uneventful political conventions could become far more entertaining.


(14) VERMONT SENATORS SIGN ON TO MARIJUANA BILL    (Top)

Vermont's Sens.  Patrick Leahy and James Jeffords have signed on as co-sponsors of a medical marijuana bill introduced by Illinois Democrat Richard Durban.

Like the House version of the bill, the Senate Truth in Trials Act would end the federal government's gag on medical marijuana defendants in court, according to the Marijuana Policy Project.

By providing an affirmative defense to federal marijuana charges, it would not only ensure that defendants could introduce evidence about the medical aspects of their marijuana-related activities, but also keep them from being sent to federal prison if it is determined that they were acting in compliance with state medical marijuana laws.

Pubdate:   Fri, 18 Feb 2005
Source:   Vermont Guardian (VT)
Copyright:   2005 Vermont Guardian
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/3698
Cited:   Marijuana Policy Project (www.mpp.org)
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Continues:   w.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05.n298.a05.html


(15) HIGHLIGHTS THURSDAY FROM TEXAS LEGISLATURE    (Top)

[snip]

MEDICAL POT

Proponents of the medical use of marijuana on Thursday urged the Texas Legislature to listen to their plea: Allow sick and dying patients to turn to marijuana to relieve their pain.

Texans suffering from leukemia, multiple sclerosis, paralysis and other afflictions told of the pain-reducing benefits of marijuana and said medical marijuana users should be given grounds to avoid prosecution.

Rep.  Elliott Naishtat, an Austin Democrat, has filed a bill that would create a defense to prosecution for patients who are being treated by a licensed physician and who use marijuana to relieve the effects of a legitimate medical condition.  The bill also offers protection for doctors who discuss marijuana with their patients as a treatment option, but it would not allow physicians to write a prescription for marijuana.

Republican Reps.  Terry Keel of Austin, a former sheriff and prosecutor, and Suzanna Hupp of Lampasas are co-sponsoring the proposal.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 21 Feb 2005
Source:   Herald Democrat (TX)
Copyright:   2005 Herald Democrat
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/2710
Note:   from the Associated Press
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05.n293.a11.html


(16) STATE WILL ISSUE ID CARDS TO MEDICAL MARIJUANA USERS THIS    (Top)SUMMER

California will begin issuing identification cards to medical marijuana users in 10 counties this summer, part of a pilot program designed to protect certified users from arrest and marijuana seizures.

The voluntary ID card program, developed by the state Department of Health Services, will be expanded statewide by year's end, said Norma Arceo, a spokeswoman for the department.

Law enforcement officials hailed the move, saying it will simplify a confusing patchwork of local policies and make it easier to distinguish between legal marijuana users and criminals.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 20 Feb 2005
Source:   Contra Costa Times (CA)
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/96
Author:   Glenda Anderson, Santa Rosa Press Democrat
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05.n296.a05.html


(17) ON SECRET TAPE, BUSH IMPLIES HE USED MARIJUANA    (Top)

Private conversations with George Bush secretly taped by an old friend before he was elected president foreshadow some of his political strategies and appear to reveal that he acknowledged using marijuana, The New York Times reported Saturday.

The conversations were recorded by Doug Wead, a former aide to George W.  Bush's father, beginning in 1998, when Bush was weighing a presidential bid, until just before the Republican National Convention in 2000, the Times said in a story posted on its Web site.

[snip]

Bush also criticizes then-Vice President Al Gore for admitting marijuana use and explains why he would not do the same.

"I wouldn't answer the marijuana questions," he said, according to the Times.  "You know why? Because I don't want some little kid doing what I tried."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 21 Feb 2005
Source:   Quad-City Times (IA)
Copyright:   2005 Quad-City Times
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/857
Author:   Associated Press
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/people/George+Bush
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05.n297.a06.html


(18) LIBERALS TO DEBATE LEGAL, TAXABLE POT    (Top)

Delegates to the Liberal party convention next month will debate a motion to legalize and tax marijuana sales, bringing in billions in new tax revenue.  Parliament is already debating legislation to decriminalize marijuana, but a resolution by Alberta Liberals would go much further.

It would tax the proceeds of legalized pot sales, which the resolution says would bring in $3 billion in revenue each year.

"Legalizing marijuana would be a serious blow to drug dealers and organized crime financially," says the resolution for the March 5-6 gathering.  Delegates are told part of the money could go to drug awareness.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 22 Feb 2005
Source:   London Free Press (CN ON)
Copyright:   2005 The London Free Press a division of Sun Media Corporation.
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/243
Author:   Dan Dugas, Canadian Press
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05.n300.a08.html


International News


COMMENT: (19-22)    (Top)

Philippine President Gloria Magapal Arroyo's administration announced last week a ban on the death penalty, except for kidnapping and "drugs." The Philippines, which has the death penalty for trafficking in even small amounts of cannabis, has been plagued by death squads who indiscriminately 'salvage' (summarily execute) drug suspects and formerly arrested drug users.  As it stands now in the Philippines, admitted murderers won't be executed, but those who sell about four ounces of pot can be executed.

U.S.  prohibitionists are fuming mad at the Mexican government for backing down on harsher conditions for drug "lords" (translation: anyone in a Mexican prison).  U.S. drug warriors, via a Washington Post opinion piece last week, blasted Mexicans for refusing to ban conjugal visits by Mexican inmates' wives.  Making Mexican prison conditions as harsh as possible for "drug lords" (and the other 200,000 people languishing in Mexico's jails) was seen by Washington Post opinion authors Kevin Sullivan and Mary Jordan as imperative. Why, do these U.S.  prohibitionists say, should Mexico now eliminate traditional laws that protected the liberty of all Mexicans? Because violent "sophisticated modern-day drug cartels" exist, asserts the Post.

Nitrous Oxide sales are no laughing matter to zealous New Zealand prohibitionists, who aim to restrict sales of laughing gas with a new law.  A New Zealand Health Ministry spokesman last week denounced the sale of the gas as a danger at youth.  To protect the kids, age restrictions would limit sales to adults, and labeling changes would warn that the gas was not for use as a drug.

And finally this week, a blow was given to a wild-west anything-goes style of bounty hunting, in Canada at least.  A pair of U.S. bounty hunters were convicted last week for kidnapping a Canadian citizen and attempting to drag him into the states for skipping bail on past petty pot changes.  The two errant bounty hunters were prosecuted in the U.S.; Canadian officials are seeking extradition to prosecute them for Canadian crimes related to the kidnapping, as well.


(19) BAN ON DEATH PENALTY STAYS, BUT NOT FOR DRUGS, KIDNAPPING    (Top)

Malacanang said yesterday the moratorium on the implementation of death penalty through lethal injection will stay indefinitely, except for convicted kidnappers and drug traffickers, in order to strike fear among criminal syndicates victimizing innocent individuals.

Press Secretary and Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye made the clarification after Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita announced that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is poised to grant today a 90-day reprieve to 14 prisoners sentenced to death for rape.

"It has not changed.  The President would like to impose the death penalty, especially on kidnapping and drug-related cases.  But for other (cases), the President prefers to be lenient," he said of the state-imposed moratorium on execution among Death Row convicts.

[snip]

However, in her State-of-the-Nation Addresses, the President has repeatedly ordered authorities to ready the lethal injection chamber so that those convicted kidnappers and drug traffickers shall be meted out with capital punishment affirmed with finality by the Supreme Court.

Pubdate:   Thu, 24 Feb 2005
Source:   Manila Bulletin (The Philippines)
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/906
Author:   Ferdie J.  Maglalang
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/areas/Philippines
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05.n307.a07.html


(20) INMATES UNDERCUT DRUG WAR    (Top)

President's Efforts Stalled By Corruption

MEXICO CITY The drug traffickers' wives clicked through the halls of Congress in high-heeled boots, glowering behind designer sunglasses. For several days, they had been barred from La Palma federal penitentiary, and they were upset that their usual privileges -- including conjugal visits -- had been suspended.

The visits were halted when the government sent hundreds of army troops, backed by tanks and helicopters, to take control of La Palma on Jan.  14, after federal officials learned that drug traffickers were running criminal empires from their cells in the
maximum-security prison and ordering executions both inside and outside its walls.

But Gilberto Ensastiga, a congressman who listened to the wives' complaints, agreed that all prisoners had the legal right to family visits, and accompanied them to a meeting with the national human rights commission.  Privileges were restored the next day.

Even as President Vicente Fox vows to wage the "mother of all battles" against drug traffickers, many criminal justice analysts say his efforts are being undermined by outdated laws, lenient penal policies and corruption inside the jails.  As a result, one of Fox's proudest accomplishments in four years in office, putting an unprecedented number of drug cartel leaders behind bars, is turning into a crisis.

[snip]

Almost 200,000 inmates are in 454 federal, state and local prisons, and at some, inmates' wives and children are allowed to stay overnight.  Some prison yards resemble villages, with children riding bicycles and prisoners earning money by selling tacos or renting out videos.

Escaping from prison is not a crime in Mexico.  There is no penalty as long as another crime, such as assaulting a guard, is not committed during an escape.  As one Supreme Court justice has explained, "The person who tries to escape is seeking liberty, and that is deeply respected in the law."

A growing number of critics, however, question whether current laws and prison regulations, many dating back 70 to 80 years, can deal with the extreme violence caused by sophisticated modern-day drug cartels that ship billions of dollars worth of marijuana, cocaine and heroin into the United States.

Fox has proposed an overhaul of the prison and criminal justice system that would give police broader authority to investigate crime, rein in the excessive power of federal prosecutors, and reduce the system's notorious reliance on confessions obtained by torture.  It would also give judges more flexibility to order restitution or community service for minor offenders.  The plan is now before Congress.

Pubdate:   Wed, 23 Feb 2005
Source:   Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL)
Copyright:   2005 Sun-Sentinel Company
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/159
Author:   Kevin Sullivan and Mary Jordan, The Washington Post
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05.n305.a09.html


(21) 'LAUGHING GAS' SALE COULD BE CURBED    (Top)

A Proposed New Law Could Restrict The Sale Of Nitrous Oxide As A Recreational Drug.

A North Shore Times story revealed that dairies and adult shops are selling small canisters of the substance, designed for whipping cream, as a cheap high to youngsters.

[snip]

The Health Ministry's chief public health adviser Ashley Bloomfield says nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas, is a substance that could be considered for regulation under the new laws.

This would include the age of sale and supply, advertising, labelling and signage.

[snip]

She says the ministry discourages the misuse of all substances, including nitrous oxide.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 22 Feb 2005
Source:   North Shore Times Advertiser (New Zealand)
Copyright:   2005, Independent Newspapers Limited
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/2238
Author:   Haley Lynch
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05.n308.a10.html


(22) U.S. BOUNTY HUNTERS SENTENCED IN KIDNAPPING    (Top)

Eganville Man Was Taken Across Border

A pair of American bounty hunters who plucked a man from the Ottawa Valley village of Golden Lake have received fines and jail for trying to smuggle the Canadian across the border.

Reginald Bailey and Robert Carden Roberts hunted for Kenny Weckwerth in his home town of Eganville and nearby Golden Lake in
mid-November.  In an appearance in a U.S. court later that month, they admitted to attempting to trick border officials when they tried to take Mr.  Weckwerth back to Ohio, where he was wanted for breaking bail conditions on drug charges.

[snip]

Mr.  Bailey's lawyer refused to comment, but Mr. Littlefield said Mr. Bailey had a previous criminal record that included assault charges.

The two bounty hunters worked for a private bail bond company in the U.S., where accused criminals can hire such companies to put up thousands of dollars to receive bail.

The companies get their money back as long as the accused continues to attend court.  Companies stand to lose their money when an accused flees, so bounty hunters are sent to track down anyone who runs off.

In November, federal agents would not allow Mr.  Weckwerth, who had twice been deported from the U.S., into the country.  Mr. Bailey and Mr.  Roberts somehow convinced Mr. Weckwerth to say he was a U.S. citizen.

Mr.  Weckwerth told agents he had lost his wallet during a visit to Casino Niagara, where Mr.  Roberts had said the three "friends" had stayed.  The story unravelled when agents found Mr. Weckwerth's wallet containing his Canadian identification.  The wallet had been placed inside a map beneath a passenger seat.

The judge mentioned the issue of enforcing the law while violating it, said Mr.  Littlefield. He said the judge also said the case had caused international ripples.

After Mr.  Weckwerth was grabbed, Ontario Provincial Police issued a warrant for the bounty hunters' arrest on charges related to break and enter, kidnapping and confinement.  OPP Det. Colin Reinke said yesterday police are currently getting extradition applications to have the men face Canadian charges.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 23 Feb 2005
Source:   Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Copyright:   2005 The Ottawa Citizen
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/326
Author:   Neco Cockburn
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption - United States)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05.n304.a12.html


HOT OFF THE 'NET    (Top)

EDUCATE ILLINOIS MEDIA ABOUT MEDICAL MARIJUANA

A DrugSense Focus Alert.

http://www.mapinc.org/alert/0301.html


AN AUDIO WEB CHAT WITH DR.  SASHA SHULGIN AND ANN SHULGIN

Dr.  Sasha (Alexander) and Ann Shulgin are pioneers in psychedelic research and authored the landmark books PIHKAL: A Chemical Love Story and TIHKAL: The Continuation.  On Tuesday, February 22, 2005 they were online with the Drug Policy Alliance to discuss topics from the "war on drugs" to the use of MDMA in psychotherapy.

http://www.drugpolicy.org/news/022205shulginchat.cfm


CULTURAL-BAGGAGE RADIO SHOW

Last:   2/22/05 - Texans for Medical Marijuana Lobby Day

MPEG:   http://www.drugtruth.net/MP3/FDBCB_022205.mp3
REAL:   http://www.drugtruth.net/ram2rm/to022205.ram

Archive:   http://www.drugtruth.net/


JOB OPENINGS AT MPP

The Marijuana Policy Project currently has 14 full-time job openings, all of which are based in Las Vegas.

The available positions are:

* Campaign Manager

* Field Director

* 10 canvassers and 2 team leaders

Please visit http://www.mpp.org/jobs to see detailed job descriptions for each of the above positions and instructions for applying.

Additionally, MPP is seeking proposals from accomplished and creative videographers to direct and produce an inspirational 15- or 20-minute videotape/DVD that explains -- in emotional and educational terms -- the horrors of marijuana prohibition and the need to end it.

Interested videographers should visit
http://mpp.org/jobs/videorfp.html to apply


WHITE HOUSE DRUG CZAR LAUNCHES BLOG

ONDCP Becomes First Cabinet-Level Agency to Launch Online Web Log; New Web Site Will Showcase Nationwide, Local, and
International Efforts That "Push Back" Against Drug Use

http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/news/press05/022505.html

http://www.pushingback.com/


BLOGGER'S HEAD EXPLODES

By Pete Guiter at Drug WarRant - http://www.drugwarrant.com

http://blogs.salon.com/0002762/2005/02/24.html#a788


WEB SITE LOOKS AT MARIJUANA USE BY STUDENTS

Researchers at San Diego State University have created a Web site allowing students to perform a confidential self-assessment of their marijuana use.

The researchers created e-TOKE -- the electronic THC Online Knowledge Experience -- in response to research from the Harvard School of Public Health showing that the percentage of college students using marijuana is increasing.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 22 Feb 2005
Source:   Daily Tar Heel, The (U of NC Edu)
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/1949
Author:   Joe Ngan
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05.n313.a03.html
Cited:   http://interwork.sdsu.edu/etoke/index.php?id=SDSU


DRUG CZAR TESTIFIES ON ILLINOIS BILL HB 407, THE MEDICAL CANNABIS ACT

Drug Czar John P.  Walters testifies and answers questions in Springfield, Illinois at a committee hearing on HB 407, The Medical Cannabis Act.

http://www.pot-tv.net/archive/shows/pottvshowse-3508.html


DR.  HUNTER S. THOMPSON - ANOTHER INSPIRATION GONE

A commentary by Preston Peet

Posted at DrugWar.com, Feb.  21, 2005

"I'd hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me."

-- Dr.  Hunter Stockton Thompson (July 18, 1937 - Feb. 20, 2005)

http://www.drugwar.com/pthompson.shtm


LETTER OF THE WEEK    (Top)

'DRUG TESTING IS A BAD IDEA'

By Harold Caldwell

Concerning random drug testing of students, the Dothan Eagle editor is absolutely correct.  It is a totally insane idea to random drug test students in Dothan schools.  I was amazed when Superintendent Leon Hobbs said he would back the idea if that is what the people want.

It is a very indecisive stance probably fostered by the fact that the state teachers' union has not yet handed down the position school employees must take.

Why should we randomly test students for drugs? Can we save a young person from a life of crime and imprisonment? Of course not.  All we would have then would be a known drug user.  If he or she does not have a proper home environment, drug use and imprisonment are probably inevitable.

Parents who are pushing for random drug testing in school are saying to me: "My kid may be using drugs and I want you to find out for me." That is scary.  People who want the government to take over their parenting responsibilities are way out in left field somewhere.

It is not the responsibility of the school to keep children off drugs or to find out if they are on drugs.  Since school is not an industrial setting, a drug-using student is not a danger to his fellow students.  He or she may be a nuisance, but I don't see how they could be a threat to life and limb.

Drug testing in school is a terrible idea.  It would be a costly investment with no return on monies invested.  It would be a nightmare to administer.  It would lead to dozens or hundreds of lawsuits by unhappy parents of children whose "rights" have been trampled.

If the parents of Dothan want their children tested for drug use, they can go to the drug store and buy a home drug testing kit.  Then stand up straight and be a parent.

Harold Caldwell
Dothan

Pubdate:   Fri, 18 Feb 2005
Source:   Dothan Eagle, The (AL)


FEATURE ARTICLE    (Top)

Remember Nguyen Tuong Van?

By Gary Meyerhoff

Days to execution: Unknown

As far as I know, 24-year-old Melbourne man Nguyen Tuong Van is still in a cell at Singapore's Changi Prison facing execution.  He will be given less than 24 hours notice of his hanging; and we won't be told until it is done.  The Australian Government and our media are failing him miserably.  After ten months on death row, Nguyen Tuong Van should be a household name.

I remember back when I was eleven years old.  I was at a friend's place and like most Australian homes the television was blaring constantly in the background.  I vividly remember stopping to watch a report that Kevin Barlow and Brian Chambers had been executed and I remember a horrible feeling as I tried to make sense of what had just happened.

Barlow and Chambers were hanged in Malaysia on July 07, 1986 for the alleged trafficking of 141.9 grams of heroin.  Back then, I didn't really know what heroin was, but I knew who Barlow and Chambers were.

The Australian media lapped up the Barlow and Chambers case, using it to sell more and more newspapers and to increase the ratings on their news and current affairs programs.  Australia's press gallery went into a frenzy in an attempt to save the men.

For political reasons, this media pressure backfired.  Rajendran Kuppusamy, the Malaysian hangman who performed the executions, told the Sydney Daily Telegraph newspaper in 1996 that the case was rushed through the Malaysian legal system.

"The Attorney-General wanted us to make it fast, he didn't want to delay the case," said Kuppusamy.  "It was really fast because they were getting pressure from all over."

Facing an election, Malaysian President Dr Mahathir Mohamad was under immense pressure to show that he was the man prepared to stand-up against the West - against White people.

Once the executions had happened the Australian news barons dropped the story as quickly as the two young Australians had dropped through the trapdoor in Pudu Prison.

The journalists returned to their usual mundane reporting and the issue was dead.  They might have failed to prevent the executions, and possibly even contributed to the executions being rushed, but Australia's press gallery had succeeded in imprinting the names Barlow and Chambers firmly in the Australian psyche.

Almost twenty years after the deaths of Barlow and Chambers, Nguyen Tuong Van, on his first trip overseas from Australia, was arrested at Singapore airport.  Police alleged that Nguyen was in possession of 400g of heroin.  A Singapore court sentenced him to death for this crime in March 2004.

In stark contrast to events in 1986, Nguyen Tuong Van has been virtually ignored by the Australian Government and the media. Michael Fay, the white American kid who damaged a car or two and was flogged by the Singapore Government with the rattan cane, received more attention from the Australian media than this young Aussie from Melbourne.  Nguyen Tuong Van is definitely not a household name!

Why are the media ignoring Nguyen? Is it because they can't pronounce his name or is the real reason a little more insidious than that? I mean, Schapelle Corby doesn't exactly roll off the tongue and she has been turned into a media celebrity, not to mention the millionaire Aussie yachtsman Chris Packer, recently released from an Indonesian jail after serving three months for failing to declare firearms.

I don't want to take away from the seriousness of Schapelle's situation.  This young woman may also face the death penalty if she is found guilty of her alleged crime.  Her trial has even been invaded by an Indonesian anti-drugs group demanding her execution.

With regards to media reporting though, there is obviously some sort of double standard happening.

Brian Chambers, Kevin Barlow, Schapelle Corby and Chris Packer all have one thing in common.  They are all white Australians. Nguyen Tuong Van's crime is that he is an Australian of Vietnamese origin. Australia's predominantly white journalists (and our white Prime Minister) have written him off as just another Viet boy dealing smack, just like they write off the residents of the Block in Redfern and Cabramatta in Sydney.

Like Singapore's judiciary, they ignore Nguyen's claims that he was only carrying the drugs in a desperate bid to pay off legal fees owed by his twin brother to a Sydney-based drugs syndicate.

During a recent visit to Singapore, Australian Prime Minister John Howard held a meeting with his counterpart Lee Hsien Loong where he put forward a half-hearted request for clemency.  Mr Howard told the Melbourne Age; "I believe there's a very good case for clemency but people must understand that the laws of Singapore are well known and I think we'll leave it at that."

Responding to the Age reporters question on whether the execution of Nguyen would have an impact on bilateral relations between the two countries, Howard said: "Look, I think we have to keep a balance here."

What he is saying is that Australia's military relationship with Singapore is worth more to us economically than Nguyen Tuong Van. The Republic of Singapore Air Force has aircraft and personnel permanently stationed at the Pearce air force base north of Perth and Singaporean fighter jets and naval vessels are regularly in and out of the Northern Australian city of Darwin.  Australian military personnel provide ongoing training to Singapore's soldiers, sailors and airmen and Australian naval vessels are often in Singapore undergoing repairs that would cost ten times as much back home.

Our military alliance and the subsequent boost to the Australian economy is not the only reason Howard is dragging his feet on this case.  Singapore isn't in the midst of an election and there doesn't seem to be too much pressure from Singaporeans for Nguyen to be put to death.  Sadly it looks like race is a factor in Howard's laissez faire approach to Nguyen's pending execution.  Surely little Johnny wouldn't let a white boy hang so easily? If Nguyen was called Barry and he was from Vaucluse or Sydney's North Shore, Howard would be doing everything in his power to stop the hanging.

The Australian Prime Minister is acutely aware that the island nation has executed more than four hundred people since 1991, mostly for drug trafficking, giving Singapore the dubious distinction of having the highest execution rate in the world relative to population.  If Nguyen hangs, Howard will have the dubious distinction of being the Prime Minister who sat by while a young Australian went to the gallows, just like he sat by while 353 asylum seekers drowned in the SievX disaster.

Nguyen awaits the results of John Howard's request for clemency.  We can only hope and pray that 81-year-old Singaporean President, Sellapan Ramanathan Nathan, will find it in his heart to call off the execution.  In the meantime, you might want to contact your local media and ask them one question; do they remember Nguyen Tuong Van?

As for Schapelle, we train Indonesia's troops too.  This could be a sticky one for the Australian Prime Minister.  Let's just hope that she gets a fair trial and that some sanity prevails in Bali.

Gary Meyerhoff is a freelance journalist and an active member of the Darwin, Australia-based drug law-reform group the Network Against Prohibition ( http://www.napnt.org ).  This article was published in the NAPNT email digest on the 25th of February 2005.


QUOTE OF THE WEEK    (Top)

"Absolute truth is a very rare and dangerous commodity in the context of professional journalism." - Hunter S.  Thompson


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