| May 27, 2005 #401 | ||||||||||||||||||
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Table of Contents
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THIS JUST IN (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
(1) STUDY - ANTI-POT ADS ARE DOPEY (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Advertisements might work to warn young people off of cigarettes, but they're not buying it when it comes to anti-pot ads, a new study says. | ||||||||||||||||||
The research, commissioned by the Marijuana Policy Project, a group
advocating pot decriminalization, says government-sponsored
anti-marijuana ads aren't having the desired effect. | ||||||||||||||||||
In fact, Texas State University researchers who conducted the study
say the ads might actually "boomerang" - producing the opposite
effect. | ||||||||||||||||||
In the study, scientists had 123 Texas State University students watch
both anti-pot and anti-tobacco ads. | ||||||||||||||||||
Ads included a spot showing teens getting high in a car at a fast-food drive-thru, then unwittingly driving into a young girl on a bike. | ||||||||||||||||||
Harvey Ginsberg, a Texas State University psychology professor and the
study's senior author, said written responses from study participants
were surprising. | ||||||||||||||||||
"They wanted to know what kind of parents are letting a child ride on
busy intersection unattended, and so forth," he said. | ||||||||||||||||||
But a spokesman for the Office of National Drug Control Policy dismissed
the study as "sloppy science bought and paid for by the pro-marijuana
legalization lobby."
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[snip]
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(2) CORBY FOUND GUILTY; GETS 20 YEARS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
SCHAPELLE Corby has been found guilty of importing drugs into Indonesia
and sentenced to 20 years prison. | ||||||||||||||||||
Scenes of pandemonium broke out in the courtroom after the sentence with
Corby's family shouting "Schapelle is innocent". | ||||||||||||||||||
Corby then appeared to turn to her mother and mouth the words: "It's
okay mum". | ||||||||||||||||||
Judges also fined Corby 100 million rupiah ($A13,870). | ||||||||||||||||||
The judges said they accepted the evidence of police and customs officials that Corby admitted to owning the drugs, despite her denials. | ||||||||||||||||||
"The defendant has been proven legally and convincingly guilty" a
translator quoted the judges as saying on Sky News. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(3) DRUG WAR SOLDIERS ON, COLOMBIA SAYS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
MIAMI -- A senior member of the Colombian military says two recent
scandals involving the arrests of U.S. Army soldiers in suspected arms
and cocaine smuggling plots are having no negative effect on joint
U.S.-Colombian drug war efforts. | ||||||||||||||||||
Mauricio Soto Gomez, comandante-general of the Colombian navy, said he
believes the arrests of six soldiers -- whom U.S. military officials say
have been returned to the United States, but not yet charged with any
crimes -- are not indicative of a systematic problem. | ||||||||||||||||||
"There are about 600 U.S. military people in Colombia. Two or three
people don't represent the whole U.S. Army or U.S. Navy," the comandante
said in a telephone interview. The incidents haven't affected "our
relations with the U.S. military," he said.
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Four U.S. soldiers were arrested in April on suspicion of trying to
smuggle hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cocaine from Colombia
to the United States on a military aircraft. | ||||||||||||||||||
Two other soldiers were arrested this month on suspicion of trying to
sell ammunition to anti-government paramilitary forces that the United
States is training Colombian troops to fight against. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(4) PROPOSED BILL WOULD HOLD DRUG DEALERS CIVILLY LIABLE FOR INJURIES (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
A newly proposed bill could make drug offenders civilly liable at
the federal level for the first time. | ||||||||||||||||||
The Drug Dealer Liability Act, introduced by Rep. Tom Latham, R-Iowa,
makes illegal drug dealers and manufacturers civilly liable to anyone
who can prove they were directly or indirectly injured as a result of
an individual's drug use. | ||||||||||||||||||
Similar laws are in place in a dozen states, including Michigan and Illinois. Latham's proposal would take these laws to the federal level. | ||||||||||||||||||
"The bill will allow America to shift the cost of drug abuse back to the people that fuel it in the first place, the producers," said James Carstensen, communications director for Latham's office. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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Although the goals of the Drug Dealer Liability Act seem practical on paper, collecting payment from drug offenders is a daunting task. | ||||||||||||||||||
"There simply are not very many truly wealthy drug dealers here," said
Capt. Gary Foster of the Central Iowa Drug Task Force.
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Despite the discouraging evidence for actual collection, the trials did
garner media attention. | ||||||||||||||||||
"There are few sizeable assets to be taken from most offenders, but
these cases play well on TV," Foster said. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
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Domestic News- Policy
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COMMENT: (5-8) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
The money keeps flowing in the drug war, but the streams are being
thinned in some places. This is causing discord among drug
assistance professionals in North Carolina. They should do what
officials in Mississippi did - seize a big haul of drug cash to fund
their pet projects, no matter how useless. | ||||||||||||||||||
In Ohio, the mayor of a town was way too cheerful when he had to
submit to a random drug test as part of a program he implemented to
save money on workers compensation expenses. Finally, a
Massachusetts legislator is proposing that health care workers be
forced to report drug overdoses or face a fine. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(5) MONEY FOR SAFE, DRUG-FREE SCHOOLS IN PERIL (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
After spending 10 years working to stem violence and drug use among
Durham Public Schools students, Jennifer Snyder has no intention of
looking for another job next year. That was the message that she and
about 40 other educators from across the state gave U.S. Rep. David
Price on Monday. They want him to share it with his colleagues on
the House Appropriations Committee when he returns to Washington to
debate next year's federal budget. | ||||||||||||||||||
After years of lagging membership, the N.C. Association of Student
Assistance Professionals is galvanizing against a proposal in
President Bush's budget that would eliminate state funding for Safe
and Drug-Free Schools programming. They asked Price to meet with
them Monday at the Durham schools' staff development center on
Hillandale Road. | ||||||||||||||||||
Bush's budget recommends getting rid of the Safe and Drug-Free
Schools state grants, which sent $437 million to 97 percent of the
nation's school districts. Last year, North Carolina's 117 school
districts shared $9.9 million. Bush proposed raising the federal
Safe and Drug-Free Schools programming funds from $235 million to
$317 million, cutting the overall program by half. | ||||||||||||||||||
Since the mid-1980s, educators across the country have used that
money to run the anti-drug DARE program as well as programs to
prevent gang involvement, drop-outs and bullying. Advocates say the
programs are crucial to improving school climate. | ||||||||||||||||||
But those programs have faced increasing scrutiny in recent years. Last year, a government rating tool deemed the program ineffective, saying it "distributes funds too thinly across eligible grantees, thereby preventing the use of high quality, proven reforms." | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(6) DRUG MONEY WILL LET DARE BE DEBT FREE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
PURVIS - The Lamar County Sheriff's Department will keep its DARE
program solvent, buy several new cruisers and pay for other expenses
- all without asking taxpayers for a dime. | ||||||||||||||||||
The money to pay for the projects will come from the seizure of a large amount of cash during an August 2004 traffic stop on I-59. | ||||||||||||||||||
Derryle Smith of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency on Friday gave
Lamar County Sheriff Danny Rigel $195,315 of the original $244,220
that was seized in the stop. DEA will get the remainder of the
money. | ||||||||||||||||||
"The best thing about this is we can use drug money, or money that
was gotten illegally, to help fight drugs at no cost to taxpayers,"
Rigel said. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(7) DRUG TEST SNEAKS UP ON MAYOR MELFI (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
About 10 Employees A Year Will Be Selected For Testing
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GIRARD -- Sometimes you just have to go with the flow. That's what
Mayor James Melfi says he has learned. | ||||||||||||||||||
The mayor walked in his office Tuesday morning to find out he was
one of the first city employees to take part in the random drug
testing provided by the Drug Free Workplace Program, offered by the
Bureau of Workers' Compensation. | ||||||||||||||||||
"I was shocked to find these people in my office right when I got here," Melfi said. "I had no clue they were coming but what the heck, I imposed it so I should be the first to take it." | ||||||||||||||||||
City Auditor Sam Zirafi also was asked to take the test, Melfi said. He was not sure if any other city employees were asked Tuesday. | ||||||||||||||||||
Cost-Saving
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The mayor imposed the random drug testing last month as part of a
program that will save the city more than $100,000 a year in
workers' compensation costs. | ||||||||||||||||||
About 10 employees a year will be selected for testing, Melfi said. | ||||||||||||||||||
According to the mayor, the city would pay $732,011 a year for
workers' compensation if it doesn't take part in the program.
Adopting the drug testing program lowers the premium to $622,852. In
three years, the city would save about $330,000 by taking part in
the program, he said. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(8) STATE WOULD MANDATE OVERDOSE REPORTING (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
BOSTON - Overdose in Massachusetts and the state's going to know
about it. The state would mandate doctors, hospitals and clinics to
report cases within 24 hours under a measure adopted yesterday by
the Senate. The data will help measure the size of a problem that
has grown to epidemic proportions North of Boston, said Sen. Thomas
M. McGee, D-Lynn, a co-sponsor of the measure added to the state
budget. | ||||||||||||||||||
"This isn't about criminally prosecuting these people who overdose," he said. "This transcends communities, economics, race." | ||||||||||||||||||
It would require every physician attending or treating an overdose
to report it to the state Department of Public Health within 24
hours. Managers of hospitals, clinics or other institutions would be
subject to the same requirement. | ||||||||||||||||||
The reports would be confidential and regulated by the Department of
Public Health. A violator would face a fine of not less than $50 and
not more than $100. Essex District Attorney Jonathan W. Blodgett
said reporting overdoses, which could show what he described as an
epidemic, would help Massachusetts when it seeks federal funding for
anti-drug efforts. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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Law Enforcement & Prisons
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COMMENT: (9-13) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Like is was in the Policy section above, money is a big issue this
week in the world of Law Enforcement and Prisons. Massachusetts
judges rightly criticized the seizure of cash intended for bail
money on the mere suspicion that it was drug money. Also in
Massachusetts, drug money is being used to pay a no-bid contract for
fingerprint consultants. | ||||||||||||||||||
In Tennessee, a police evidence room scandal continues to grow; and
while some police may see the drug war as an opportunity for free
money, two other articles about life in prison and after prison show
we are all paying a high financial and ethical price for the drug
war. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(9) JUDGES DERIDE SEIZURE OF BAIL MONEY BY POLICE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
SALEM - State police working for the district attorney's office are confiscating cash from some people seeking to bail individuals out of Middleton Jail, an act two local judges say is unconstitutional. | ||||||||||||||||||
Prosecutors defend the practice, saying that they have the right to
investigate when they suspect the bail money comes from drug
dealing. But lawyers for two men whose bail was seized earlier this
month say police had no legal right to take the money - a view the
judges shared in separate rulings last week. | ||||||||||||||||||
"It was unconstitutional and unlawful for the state police to seize
that money," Salem Superior Court Judge Peter Agnes said Friday
during a hearing in the case of Carlos Sanchez, a Methuen man
charged with cocaine and heroin trafficking. | ||||||||||||||||||
A friend of Sanchez had tried to post $50,000 cash bail at the jail on May 10, but the money was seized by a state trooper, who had been sent to the jail when the friend showed up with a bag of cash. | ||||||||||||||||||
Agnes gave prosecutors until Friday to prove the money is from
illegal activity. If they do not, he will release Sanchez. He also
ordered police to turn the cash over to the court clerk's office
immediately. Across the street in Salem District Court, Judge Robert
Cornetta had come to a similar conclusion a day earlier in the case
of Jorge Lopez, a Salem man charged with cocaine distribution. In
this case, too, a state police trooper seized the $25,000 cash
before friends could use it to post bail. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(10) SEIZED DRUG $$ USED ON BACKLOG OF FINGERPRINTS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
The Boston Police Department has used $187,000 in cash earmarked for
drug programs to process a backlog of fingerprint evidence by hiring
out-of-state experts and will continue to pay until the BPD can
create a crime scene unit, police Commissioner Kathleen O'Toole said
yesterday. | ||||||||||||||||||
The costly hire of Ron Smith & Associates, a Mississippi-based forensic consulting firm which released a critical report of the BPD fingerprint unit, is being covered by the Law Enforcement Trust Fund, which is built with proceeds from drug-related seizures. | ||||||||||||||||||
"Those monies should be reinvested in preventive anti-drug
measures," city councilman Charles Yancey said yesterday after a
City Council hearing on police staffing levels. | ||||||||||||||||||
Yancey also grilled O'Toole on why the contract to process latent
prints was not put out to public bid. The commissioner said Smith's
company was recommended by the FBI. | ||||||||||||||||||
The experts - who are paid up to $30,000 for hotel, travel and per
diem expenses - were slated to end their contract this month. So
far, the company has been paid $187,000 from the law enforcement
trust, BPD officials said yesterday. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(11) PROPERTY-ROOM THEFT FIGURES NAMING OTHERS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
In October 2002, Memphis narcotics officer Dion Cicinelli wanted to
see 1,500 pounds of marijuana he had seized. | ||||||||||||||||||
Property room supervisor Kenneth Dansberry, panicking, at first
tried to show the officer 1,500 grams of the drug. That's a little
more than 3 pounds. | ||||||||||||||||||
He eventually scraped together 1,500 pounds of pot -- but Cicinelli
knew it wasn't the dope he had seized. | ||||||||||||||||||
That realization was a turning point in the investigation into
massive drug and money theft from the property room, court records
show. | ||||||||||||||||||
Until then, there had only been rumors that Dansberry, department
employee Carl Johnson, Memphis drug dealer Eric Brown and Atlanta
drug kingpin Patrick Maxwell were a pipeline, putting tons of drugs
back on the street. | ||||||||||||||||||
Eighteen people, including Dansberry and other police department
employees, have pleaded guilty. | ||||||||||||||||||
But the investigation isn't over. | ||||||||||||||||||
Other department employees -- possibly high-ranking officers on the job while the thefts were going on -- are now in the cross hairs. | ||||||||||||||||||
Sentencing for several defendants has been put on hold because they
are naming names -- new ones. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(12) ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
After Prison Boom, A Focus On Hurdles Faced By Ex-Cons
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Housing, Work -- Even An ID -- Can Be Hard To Attain; A Bill Would
Smooth Path
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[snip]
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Ms. Smith is one of more than 630,000 people released each year from
corrections institutions in the U.S. Not surprisingly, people who
have been locked up for many years, often poorly educated and
lacking in financial support, face a range of obstacles to
re-entering society. Yet some of the biggest are put there by
federal, state and local governments, including hurdles to getting
student loans, public housing and other forms of government
assistance. | ||||||||||||||||||
For years, the thinking among law-enforcement officials and
politicians was that this was the price people should pay for
breaking the law. Now there is an emerging belief that the larger
price is being borne by society, since the practical barriers facing
ex-prisoners make it more likely that they will slip back into a
life of crime. | ||||||||||||||||||
Two-thirds of ex-felons return to police custody within three years
of their release for new crimes or for probation or parole
violations, according to Justice Department studies. U.S. taxpayers
spent $60 billion on corrections in 2002 at the local, state and
federal levels, up from $9 billion two decades earlier. Over that
same time frame, corrections has been the second fastest growing
government spending category after health care. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(13) MOTHERS IN CHAINS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Why Keeping U.S. Women Prisoners in Shackles During Labor and
Delivery Is the Real Crime Against Society. | ||||||||||||||||||
May 23, 2005 - Anna ( not her real name ), a prisoner at Valley
State Prison for Women in Chowchilla, Calif., spent the last two
weeks of her pregnancy in preterm labor, shackled to a hospital bed.
If she needed to use the bathroom, or even turn over, she had to beg
permission of the officer on duty. Given these strict security
arrangements, you might assume that Anna was a terrorist, a
murderer, some kind of hardened criminal at risk for escape. No.
Anna is a minimum-security prisoner currently serving an
approximately 18-month sentence for drug possession and probation
violation, and according to Karen Shain, administrative director of
Legal Services for Prisoners With Children, the treatment she
received was routine. Whether they are violent offenders or not --
and approximately 66 percent of incarcerated women in the United
States are not -- pregnant prisoners are subject to the same
dehumanizing treatment. | ||||||||||||||||||
On May 16, the California state Assembly passed A.B. 478 (49 to 26 with 5 abstentions ), and sent it on to the state Senate. The bill provides that, unless necessary, prisoners "shall not be shackled by the wrists, ankles, or both during labor, including during transport to the hospital, during delivery, and while in recovery after giving birth." It's hard to believe that this doesn't go without saying. | ||||||||||||||||||
But according to Robin Levi, human rights director at Justice Now, a
women prisoner's rights organization, California and at least 20
other states permit the chaining of laboring women to hospital beds,
even when their attending physicians would prefer that they get up
and walk around, or just shift from side to side. She also told me
that women who return to prison from the hospital days after having
Caesarean sections are routinely denied pain medication and even
antibiotics. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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Cannabis & Hemp-
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COMMENT: (14-18) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
We begin this week with a trip to England and the Netherlands, both
of which are lovely in the springtime. In our first story Scotland
Yard Chief Sir Ian Blair explains why he opposes efforts to upgrade
the classification of cannabis, citing that the downgrading which
took place just over 12 months ago has saved much police time and
resources and allowed officers to focus on more pressing criminal
concerns. From Holland we have the report of a pilot program hoping
to diminish drug tourism by limiting the sale of cannabis through
coffee shops to those with Dutch citizenship. The controversial
program is slated to begin this summer on the border town of
Maastricht, which sees an estimated 1.5 million drug tourists per
year. | ||||||||||||||||||
From the U.S. this week, a comprehensive article on the pros and
cons of Colorado's medicinal cannabis policy. Implemented in
November of 2000, the state-administered program allows medical
users to possess up to two ounces and to grow six plants, but makes
no other provisions for safe access or supply. | ||||||||||||||||||
And lastly this week, two stories on the Schapelle Corby saga that
continues to dominate the news in Australia and has also captivated
the world at large. The first story is a detailed examination of the
case so far, while the second story suggests that no matter what the
outcome of this week's verdict (scheduled for Friday), she is likely
to remain in jail for at least a few more months pending appeal.
Prosecutors in the case have made it clear that they plan to appeal
anything but a life sentence, while defense attorneys have suggested
that they would appeal any decision resulting in prison time. Lost
in all of this is that innocent or guilty, what is being considered
by the Bali court is destroying the life of a young woman for being
in possession of a plant that has never resulted in a single
reported death, and which is plentiful in both Indonesia and
Australia in the first place. Free Schapelle Corby and all the
world's forgotten victims of cannabis prohibition!
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(14) DON'T UPGRADE CANNABIS SAYS TOP POLICEMAN (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Law U-Turn Would 'Waste Our Time'
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THE law on cannabis should not be reversed to crack down on dope smokers, Scotland Yard chief Sir Ian Blair declared yesterday. | ||||||||||||||||||
The Metropolitan Police Commissioner said: "In my view, we should
stay where we are."
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Sir Ian stressed the Met was continuing major operations against
cannabis importers. | ||||||||||||||||||
But he said: "I am talking about pragmatic policing. It's a waste of
time, in terms of policing, to deal with small amounts of cannabis
because the courts and the Crown Prosecution Service have
consistently failed to do anything about it. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(15) POT TOURISTS TARGETED IN DUTCH COFFEE SHOP CRACKDOWN (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Tourists hoping to buy a cannabis joint in Dutch coffee shops could
be in for a rude awakening this year under a test plan to curb drug
tourism. | ||||||||||||||||||
Soft drugs are legally banned in the Netherlands but under its
policy of "tolerance", people are allowed to have less than 5 grams
of cannabis in their possession. | ||||||||||||||||||
Government-regulated coffee shops can hold a stock of up to 500
grams. | ||||||||||||||||||
"We are developing a system whereby people not registered in the
Netherlands will not be allowed into coffee shops," Justice Ministry
spokesman Ivo Hommes said. | ||||||||||||||||||
A pilot project will start up in Maastricht, on the southern tip of
the Netherlands. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(16) THE GRAY AREA ON MEDICAL GREENERY (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Dave Schreiner was a church deacon and Boy Scout leader in Ohio for
25 years before moving to Summit County in 1999. Now, what occupies
his mind - besides his wife, children, bills and the typical family
travails - is growing marijuana. | ||||||||||||||||||
Born with congenital defects in both femurs, Schreiner has been
addled by pain since his teenage years. He has spent monthlong
stints in the hospital in full-body casts. He has endured more than
20 surgeries, leaving more than a dozen rods, plates and pins
affixed to and drilled into his bones. He even broke both femurs
while in physical therapy. A lifetime of weak legs has also thrown
his back out of alignment, requiring more doctors. And six years
ago, he suffered a heart attack. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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So, three years ago, he got his first medical marijuana card. Lacking space in their Summit Cove home, Schreiner's growing operation took root in the living room. He didn't like it, he says, as his older children couldn't bring friends over and he had to lie to his younger kids' friends and say they were tomato plants. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(17) THE CASE AGAINST OUR SCHAPELLE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
THE evidence stacked against Schapelle Corby is enough to put her on
trial anywhere in the world, according to legal experts, and will
almost certainly keep her behind bars in Bali. | ||||||||||||||||||
Almost obscured by the mushrooming cloud of Corby hysteria, the
mounting Australian anger, the death threats and xenophobia, the
blanket media coverage and the mouthings of various singers,
talkback hosts, film stars and politicians, three Indonesian judges
have concentrated on a few basic facts. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(18) MORE JAIL FOR CORBY WHATEVER THE RESULT (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
SCHAPELLE Corby will remain in a Bali jail possibly for months even
if three Indonesian judges acquit her on Friday. | ||||||||||||||||||
Chief prosecutor Ida Bagus Wiswantanu has told The Australian he
intends to launch an appeal if the 27-year-old Gold Coast woman were
found guilty of drug smuggling but sentenced to anything less than
life in prison, the sentence he has recommended. | ||||||||||||||||||
"What is suitable is a life sentence," he said. "If it is less than that, it will not fit our sense of what is just, so we will appeal." | ||||||||||||||||||
Appeals to Bali's High Court can take anywhere from weeks to months
to be decided. Either side can then appeal to Indonesia's Supreme
Court, based in Jakarta. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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International News
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COMMENT: (19-22) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Jubilant Afghan government pronouncements last week
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In Bahrain this week, a GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) meeting
decided that a new, yet always politically correct "Anti-Drugs
Awareness Campaign" should commence. This was the chief
recommendation of "anti-drugs" officials at the 19th meeting of GCC
directors of prohibition organizations. | ||||||||||||||||||
Police across Canada are lobbying for more money and power, like
their counterparts in the states get to have. When any police
outpost is closed, police paint it as a dire threat to society. Why?
"Drugs." In a Quebec meeting of police union bosses this week, cops
bemoaned the loss of detachments near the border in the province,
saying that now, marijuana may be smuggled across the region. Just
as bootleg rum did almost a century ago, contraband cannabis has
traditionally moved in both directions across the border between
Canada and the U.S., to the south. | ||||||||||||||||||
In Vancouver, Canada, scary scenarios of hoards of heroin addicts
knocking down the door for free heroin, proved to be premature.
Researchers for the NAOMI (North American Opiate Medication
Initiative) project reported this week they were having trouble
finding enough addicts to fill the 150 slots in the program. So far,
only 21 have signed up for the "free" government heroin. Canadian
addicts in he program will be offered heroin from European sources,
and allowed to inject it under the watch of medical staff. Similar
programs in Europe have proven successful. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(19) AFGHAN FORCES ARREST OPIUM SMUGGLERS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) Afghan anti-drug forces arrested suspected
drug traffickers and seized a huge cache of opium in a show of
resolve after President Hamid Karzai came under fire for his record
in fighting the world's largest narcotics industry. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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The drug operation took place Sunday and Monday in southern Helmand
province. Provincial officials said up to 15 suspects were arrested,
including a former intelligence chief. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(20) GCC PLANS ANTI-DRUGS CAMPAIGN (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
A New Anti-Drugs Awareness Campaign Is To Be Launched Across The
GCC. | ||||||||||||||||||
GCC drug combating officials agreed at a meeting in Bahrain to set
up a joint association to run the campaign. | ||||||||||||||||||
Its creation is one of a list of recommendations to come out of the 19th meeting of GCC directors of drug-combating organisations. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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(21) U.S. WORRIED ABOUT DRUGS FROM QUEBEC (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
RCMP Officer Cites Trafficking Concerns. Criticizes Force's Closing Of 9 Detachments In Province, Shifting Resources From Border Area | ||||||||||||||||||
U.S. law enforcement officials are starting to worry about an
increase in drug trafficking across the Quebec border, RCMP Staff
Sgt. Gaetan Delisle said yesterday at a meeting of provincial police
unions. | ||||||||||||||||||
"They are putting the emphasis on national security, and week after
week they react when they find a lot more substances like marijuana
on routes that are not guarded," said Delisle, president of the
association representing Mounties in Quebec. | ||||||||||||||||||
"So, as you can imagine, this troubles them
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[snip]
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(22) ENLISTING ADDICTS FOR STUDY PROVES DIFFICULT (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
VANCOUVER -- The clinic is ready and the government-supplied heroin
is waiting to be injected, but researchers undertaking the first
drug study of its kind in North America are having trouble finding
enough addicts. | ||||||||||||||||||
In Vancouver, a city with one of the worst illicit drug problems in
the world, that wasn't expected to be an issue. | ||||||||||||||||||
But Jim Boothroyd, spokesman for the North American Opiate
Medication Initiative, which started recruiting in February, said
researchers have experienced some difficulty in signing up its
target of 157 addicts. | ||||||||||||||||||
A little over two months into the Vancouver project, only 21 addicts
have been recruited. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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Mr. Boothroyd described the setback as a "hiccup" and said the
failure of the phone-in approach isn't surprising, considering that
researchers are dealing with hard-core heroin addicts. | ||||||||||||||||||
"This is a very, very marginalized group," he said. "These are
people who've tried methadone more than once, who have been
chronically addicted for more than five years, who have been
needle-injecting daily for the last year and they tend to be beyond
the pale anyway. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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The main study group is provided with heroin obtained under
government supervision from pharmaceutical sources in Europe, where
a number of heroin-maintenance programs have been established. The
addicts come in three times a day to shoot up under the supervision
of clinical staff. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip]
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HOT OFF THE 'NET (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
NORML CONFERENCE 2005
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TV travel guru Rick Steves' Keynote Speech and 101 photos from the
conference are now on line at:
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Federal "No More Tulias" Legislation Filed
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By Scott Henson at Grits For Breakfast
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http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2005/05/federal-no-more-tulias-legislation.html | ||||||||||||||||||
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SCHAPELLE CORBY - GUILTY AS CHARGED
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Talk Left blog - http://talkleft.com/
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TELL CONGRESS TO OPPOSE SENSENBRENNER'S HR 1528
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Drug war extremists in Congress want to throw you in prison for two years if you fail to turn your neighbor in for committing a non-violent drug offense. They also want to create mandatory minimum sentences for EVERY federal offense. E-mail Congress right now. | ||||||||||||||||||
http://actioncenter.drugpolicy.org/action/index.asp?step=2&item=26179 | ||||||||||||||||||
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THE US MARIJUANA PARTY WITH LORETTA NALL
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In this edition of "The Loretta Nall Show" Loretta covers the past
6 weeks on the road. Travel along with her as she visits North
Carolina, Niagara Falls, Canada and Washington DC. | ||||||||||||||||||
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CULTURAL BAGGAGE RADIO SHOW
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LISTEN Live Fridays 8:00 PM, ET, 7:00 CT, 6:00 MT & 5:00 PT at
www.KPFT.org
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DRUG TOURISTS GO DUTCH
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By Megan Farrington, AlterNet. Posted May 27, 2005.
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A Dutch official hopes the creation of "cannabis boulevards" will help alleviate the problem of drug tourism in the Netherlands. | ||||||||||||||||||
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TARGETING TEMPTATION
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The puritanical impulse behind alcohol vaporizer bans and anti-drug
vaccines. | ||||||||||||||||||
Jacob Sullum
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LETTER OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
LEGALIZE MARIJUANA FOR MEDICAL PURPOSES
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By Elizabeth Wehrman
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Thank you, Marc Hansen and state Sen. Joe Bolkcom. Let the
discussion about legal access to medical marijuana begin in earnest
here in Iowa. | ||||||||||||||||||
As a nurse of 32 years, I've had many opportunities to witness the utility of marijuana for the sick. From chemotherapy to AIDS, smoking pot worked when Marinol and other prescription meds didn't. | ||||||||||||||||||
There's a disconnect in Des Moines. Discussion is squelched, and
discussers are labeled. What's to be afraid of? We should fear those
so concerned about appearances or re-election efforts that they
refuse to explore possibilities. | ||||||||||||||||||
As for the children: I'm mom to four and grandma to four. I'm
concerned by empty assertions, that they will be confused with
conflicting messages. The conflict arises when the facts don't match
the rhetoric, when they know those who benefit from smoking
marijuana risk becoming criminalized because of it. | ||||||||||||||||||
Early in my HIV/AIDS career, my mother told me I was sending
conflicting messages to our daughters, that they would feel free to
have sex because condoms were always around. Well, Mom, you were
wrong. | ||||||||||||||||||
The girls, now adults, were informed and capable of making informed decisions. They said I quenched their curiosity. Repeatedly they tell me what a gift it is to have parents who talked about it all. Many of their peers wished their parents had done the same. | ||||||||||||||||||
The Iowa Legislature needs to listen to everyone. | ||||||||||||||||||
Beth Wehrman, BSN, RN
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FEATURE ARTICLE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Drug Czar And Staff Flaunt Needle Exchange Ignorance For The Last
Time?
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http://www.anypositivechange.org/walters.2005.5.25.pdf | ||||||||||||||||||
Dear Mr. Walters:
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Last month, my staff met with staff from the Office of National Drug
Control Policy to discuss needle exchange programs. At this meeting,
the ONDCP staff appeared unaware of the extensive scientific
evidence and expert opinion that supports needle exchange programs
as an effective public health intervention. In fact, your staff
asked my staff for references to expert statements that support the
effectiveness of these programs. | ||||||||||||||||||
This letter responds to ONDCP's request for information about needle exchange programs. Since 1991, there have been at least 17 major reviews and assessments of needle exchange programs by expert bodies such as the National Commission on AIDS, the Institute of Medicine, the National Institute of Health, the Centers for Disease Control, the American Medical Association, the American Society of Addiction Medicine, and the World Health Organization. These assessments have found that needle exchange programs help reduce the spread of AIDS and other dangerous infectious disease without encouraging or increasing drug use. In fact, according to experts, needle exchange programs provide valuable opportunities to reduce illegal drug use. | ||||||||||||||||||
In part as a result of these conclusions, needle exchange programs have been endorsed by a wide range of expert scientific and medical organizations, including the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Physician Assistants, the American College of Preventative Medicine, the American Medical Association, the American Nurses Association, the American Psychological Association, the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, and the Infectious Diseases Society of America. | ||||||||||||||||||
(The letter then goes on for several pages offering summaries of each of
the 17 major reviews of needle exchange programs, including specific
citations and publication data.)
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As I understand it, ONDCP does not currently support needle exchange
programs. I would hope that the information in this letter will
change your position. | ||||||||||||||||||
If your position does not change, I would respectfully request an
explanation of the scientific basis of ONDCP's position. In
addition, if you believe that any of the sources I have cited are in
error or are not reliable, I would request an explanation of the
errors you have identified. | ||||||||||||||||||
Sincerely,
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QUOTE OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
"Medicine in the hands of a fool is poison, just as poison becomes medicine in the hands of the wise." -- Giacomo Casanova | ||||||||||||||||||
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