| June 3, 2005 #402 | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Table of Contents
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THIS JUST IN (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
(1) 9TH CIRCUIT SPLITS ON RESENTENCING (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
7-4 Ruling Tells District Courts to Decide Fate of Hundreds of 'Booker'
Appeals | ||||||||||||||||||||
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals gave district judges limited power to review their own sentences Wednesday in a compromise to resolving the hundreds of appeals thrown into disarray by U.S. v. Booker. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Wednesday's fractured 7-4 en banc decision was one of the most
acrimonious to come out of the circuit in recent memory. Dissenters
accused the majority of not following Supreme Court precedent and of
placing administrative concerns over the interests of justice. Neither
defense attorneys nor the U.S. Department of Justice had requested the
majority's "limited remand" approach to resolving cases affected by
Booker. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"Essentially, this is a punt," said Douglas Berman, a professor at Ohio
State University's Michael E. Moritz College of Law who runs the
Sentencing Law and Policy Blog. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Wednesday's ruling said that if the record is unclear regarding plain
error, a limited district court remand is appropriate to figure out
whether the sentence imposed would have been different had the
district court known that the sentencing guidelines were only advisory,
as the U.S. Supreme Court decided in Booker. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(2) SUPPORTERS OF DRUG SMUGGLER SUSPECTED IN EMBASSY ATTACK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
SYDNEY, Australia - A 27-year-old convicted drug smuggler and former
beauty school student is the unlikely center of the latest
controversy between Australia and Indonesia. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Supporters of Schapelle Corby were blamed Wednesday for sending what officials said was a "biological agent" to the Indonesian Embassy in the Australian capital of Canberra forcing police to seal off the compound and prompting an apology from Prime Minister John Howard. | ||||||||||||||||||||
The embassy remained closed Thursday as a tense wait continued for
the results of tests. Howard said that if they proved the powder
was dangerous, "it's an act of reckless indifference to human life
and I apologize on behalf of the Australian people to the Indonesian
government." | ||||||||||||||||||||
And Inodnesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mary Natalegawa told Metro TV: "If this act turns out to be related to Corby, we hope the Australian people do not make an enemy of the Indonesian people." | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(3) FORMER DA GETS FIVE YEARS ON FEDERAL CHARGE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
AMARILLO - A former district attorney who was elected on a
tough-on-drugs campaign was sentenced Wednesday to five years in
federal prison for a drug-related firearms charge. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Rick Roach, 55, had pleaded guilty in exchange for dismissal of
cocaine and methamphetamine possession charges. He had two
handguns in his briefcase at the Gray County Courthouse in
Pampa when he was arrested in January. | ||||||||||||||||||||
The judge Wednesday added 14 months to the recommended sentence
called for in federal guidelines because of Roach's position as
district attorney for five Texas Panhandle counties. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"The guidelines do not adequately address the extent to which
you have betrayed the public trust," Judge Mary Lou Robinson said.
She said his behavior was "out of bounds and at times seriously
unscrupulous." | ||||||||||||||||||||
Roach, who campaigned heavily against drugs in 2000 and was 11
days into his second four-year term when he was arrested, apologized
Wednesday before Robinson announced his sentence. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"Obviously I'm extremely sorry for what I've done," he said. "I
recognize that I used very poor judgment in everything I've done.
What makes it onerous is that I was a public official." | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(4) PARENTS ADD DRUG TESTS TO SHOPPING LISTS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Sales Rise for Kits That Detect Pot, Ecstasy and Cocaine; Taking a
Teen's Hair Sample | ||||||||||||||||||||
She is never quite sure when it will happen. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Sometimes it's first thing in the morning. Sometimes it is after she
comes home from a friend's house at night. Once it happened when one
of her best friends was over and the two were sitting quietly at the
computer. No matter what she's doing, 15-year-old Taylor Hancock
knows at any moment there is a chance her mother will hand her a
plastic cup, send her to the bathroom to urinate in it, then dip
little tabs into the liquid to check whether the ninth-grader has
been using drugs. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Taylor's mother, Jan, buys home drug-testing kits in bulk, either
on the Web or at a local pharmacy in Phoenix, to use on Taylor and
her 18-year-old brother, Hunter. Sometimes the kids are clean.
Other times they test positive and Ms. Hancock punishes them. After
a test indicated Taylor had smoked marijuana last summer, her
mother barred her from going on a long-planned trip to Florida with
a friend's family. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Worrying and wondering is part of the parental condition: Is she
doing drugs? Will there be booze after the prom? But though past
generations could only fret over such questions, parents of
adolescent kids today have a growing array of tools at their
disposal to actually find out the answers. While the first home
drug-testing kits and alcohol breathalyzers came on the market
about five years ago, these products - -- which started with
law enforcement, then moved into the workplace - -- are | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Domestic News- Policy | ||||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (5-8) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Why exactly do so many police support the drug war? Or, to be more
precise, why do police officials so frequently reject commonsense
drug policy reforms? It's hard to say, but supposedly, it's to keep
the public safe. At least that's what a state police bureaucrat in
North Carolina is claiming while announcing his department's
opposition to a bill that would let young people expunge criminal
records. The bureaucrat says he wants to keep people with criminal
records away from the police force. Think about that as you read
tales of police corruption and brutality in the Police and Prisons
section of DrugSense Weekly below. Or think about the idea that the
drug war is supposed to save the children, when it hurts young
people in so many ways, particularly when a group of young people
are mowed down over an apparent drug dispute. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Also this week, drug users are being blamed for identity theft in
Colorado, and while Big Brother gets further involved in the
distribution of pain pills. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(5) POLICE OPPOSE YOUTH BILL (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
RALEIGH -- Legislation to give youthful offenders the chance to
clear their criminal records has run into a stumbling block. Scott
Perry of the Criminal Justice Standards Division, has written a
letter to Rep. Alice Bordsen of Mebane, who sponsored the bill. In
the letter, Perry expresses the commission's "strong opposition" to
the bill. | ||||||||||||||||||||
The bill, prompted by the arrest of dozens of students in a February
2004 undercover drug bust in the Alamance-Burlington schools, would
allow a person who was younger than 18 at the time of the offense to
have his or her record wiped clean, following some provisions.
Supporters of the bill say that it's important to provide youthful
offenders with an opportunity for redemption, an incentive to turn
their lives around. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"These are minors," Bordsen said. "People make mistakes when they
are minors. People do stupid things when they are minors." Brian
Lewis of the Covenant With North Carolina's Children said lawmakers
will have to decide if young people should get such a reward if they
turn their lives around. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"Or do they think this should follow their lives for 30 years?"
Lewis said. In his letter, Perry cautioned lawmakers about standards
set for law enforcement officers in the state, noting that one
standard is that a criminal justice officer cannot have been
convicted of a felony. Bordsen's bill "would not only allow such
applicants to have a single felony conviction expunged, but multiple
felony convictions could be expunged if the person is convicted in
the same session of court," Perry's letter says. | ||||||||||||||||||||
John Glenn, a former Burlington police chief who chairs the commission, said the problem the commission had with the bill had to do with who the state will allow to wear a police uniform. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"Do you want a police officer out there who has committed a felony?"
Glenn asked. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(6) POLICE PURSUING LEADS IN SLAYINGS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
HUNTINGTON -- More than two dozen investigators from seven agencies
are "working around the clock'' to track down leads in the shootings
that left four teenagers dead, police said. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Huntington police continue to focus on connections to Detroit-based
drug dealers, but declined to divulge details about the shootings
Sunday. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"I feel quite comfortable it will be solved,'' said Huntington
Police Chief Gene Baumgardner. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"But we don't have any what I would call earthshaking news to bring
to you.'' | ||||||||||||||||||||
Police say 19-year-old Donte Ward was the likely target of the
shooting at his home, while Eddrick Clark, 18, Michael Dillon, 17,
and Megan Poston, 16, appear to have been shot because they were
witnesses. Poston, whose funeral was Thursday, was Dillon's date to
his high school prom Saturday night. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Police officials from other cities in Kentucky and Ohio have
contacted Huntington officers about problems with Detroit crack
dealers, Capt. Steve Hall said. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"So Huntington is not the only city that is infected with big city
drug dealers,'' he said. "I also don't want to make it sound like
Detroit is the only big city bringing drugs into Huntington. But
it's the predominant one.'' | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(7) DRUG USERS BANK ON YOU (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
More and More, Meth Addicts Turn to Check Forgery, ID Theft to Pay
For Their Habit | ||||||||||||||||||||
Stealing identities and counterfeiting checks are the new and
increasingly popular methods of making money for users of
methamphetamine and other drugs. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"It's huge," said Colorado Bureau of Investigation Agent Bob Brown.
"It's not just growing, it's humongous already." | ||||||||||||||||||||
Debra Jo Mellinger worked hard, when she wasn't sleeping. The admitted methamphetamine user would stay up for days straight on the drug, meticulously forging and brazenly cashing checks to support her habit. She was arrested last year and was convicted last month. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Forgery is the latest part of the meth lifestyle, authorities say,
joining paranoia, mood swings, malnutrition, tooth loss and
sleeplessness. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"Those cases are a plague upon us these days," said Dennis Hall,
senior deputy district attorney in the 1st Judicial District, which
includes Jefferson and Gilpin counties. "It's really a lifestyle for
these folks." | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(8) PURDUE PHARMA, H.D. SMITH PLAN TEST OF ELECTRONIC TRACKING OF (Top)DRUGS | ||||||||||||||||||||
Several companies are expected to announce today the first
commercial effort to use a radio-frequency identification-tracking
system for drugs. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Starting in July, Purdue Pharma LP, maker of painkiller OxyContin,
and drug wholesaler H.D. Smith will be trying out the "electronic
pedigree" tracking system to record the movement of Purdue Pharma's
drugs. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Two technology companies are working with Purdue Pharma and H.D. Smith on the system, which could serve as a national model because it is the first to comply with pending state legislation. | ||||||||||||||||||||
With more than a dozen states pushing for laws that will create a
record of the path a drug takes from manufacturer to patient, the
drug industry is trying to develop a viable electronic-tracking
system. An increase in counterfeit drugs is prompting greater
vigilance and control over the nation's drug supply. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Regulators have said the current system is easily susceptible to
tampering and theft. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Law Enforcement & Prisons | ||||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (9-13) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Incompetence, corruption, brutality, recidivism and greed rear their
ugly heads again this week as prohibition pushes law enforcement and
the criminal justice system to new lows. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(9) SUBSTANCE SEIZED IN DRUG ARREST PROVES TO BE LAUNDRY DETERGENT (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
WORCESTER- A Holland man who was arrested on charges of trafficking
methamphetamine says he's clean, that the drug confiscated from his
car by police was simply laundry detergent. | ||||||||||||||||||||
After laboratory results tested negative for the drug, charges of
trafficking in excess of 200 grams of methamphetamine were dismissed
in Central District Court against Leroy Wilcox, 42, of 1 Mashaupaug
Road, Holland, and a co-defendant, Edward J. MacIsaac, 20, of 317
Park St., Keene, N.H. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"It was a bag of laundry detergent from Wal-Mart," Mr. Wilcox said. | ||||||||||||||||||||
He and Mr. MacIsaac were arrested May 9 after police allegedly received a tip that a car with New Hampshire plates was supposed to make a delivery at the Best Western hotel on Oriol Drive. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Methamphetamine is a highly addictive form of amphetamine, a
stimulant known on the street as speed, meth, or crank, and is
typically manufactured in illegal laboratories. | ||||||||||||||||||||
At the hotel, vice squad officers said in their reports, a gray
Oldsmobile Delta 88 with New Hampshire plates pulled up with six
occupants. As police approached the car, they saw the front center
passenger, identified as Mr. MacIsaac, allegedly throw a piece of
foil from the car and the right rear passenger, identified as Mr.
Wilcox, allegedly step on a plastic bag, a move they saw as an
effort to smear its contents into the floor. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Police said they allegedly found directions on Mr. Wilcox on how to
make methamphetamine and the address of a Web site listing how to
make the drug. Officers also said they field tested the confiscated
substance at the police station and that results came back positive.
However, official state laboratory tests came back negative, and the
charges were dismissed days later. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(10) CORRUPTION CROSSES THE BORDER WITH AGENT BRIBES (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
U.S. Officers Have Been Charged With Taking Money To Let Traffickers
Cross Checkpoints | ||||||||||||||||||||
MCALLEN - The Border Patrol checkpoint on a remote stretch of South
Texas ranchland was the ideal route for a drug trafficking ring to
move tons of marijuana. | ||||||||||||||||||||
To make sure their product got through, traffickers paid $1.5
million to U.S. Border Patrol agent Juan Alfredo Alvarez, 35, to
wave trucks loaded with a ton or more of marijuana through
checkpoints outside Hebbronville, according to a plea bargain
Alvarez agreed to earlier this month. | ||||||||||||||||||||
As Mexican drug cartels have transformed the Texas-Mexico border into one of the major transport corridors for marijuana, cocaine and heroin, traffickers have stepped up their efforts to bribe agents. | ||||||||||||||||||||
While attention has been focused on the wide-scale corruption of
Mexican law enforcement officials by powerful drug organizations,
recent investigations along the border have revealed corruption of
several U.S. agents at key international crossings. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(11) 5th LAWMAN INVOLVED IN BEATINGS SENT TO JAIL (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Campbell Deputy Behind Bars Pending Sentencing | ||||||||||||||||||||
The last of a group of Campbell County lawmen who beat and tortured
a handcuffed man is behind bars. | ||||||||||||||||||||
U.S. District Court Judge Tom Varlan on Monday ordered William
Carroll, a reserve deputy with the Campbell County Sheriff's Office,
jailed pending a sentencing hearing. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Carroll pleaded guilty at a hearing Monday to conspiring with four
other Campbell County deputies to violate the civil rights of Lester
Eugene Siler, a convicted drug dealer, in an encounter at Siler's
White Oak community home last July. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Carroll's partners in crime - narcotics chief David Webber, veteran
Detective Samuel Franklin, rookie Deputy Joshua Monday and part-time
process server Shayne Green - pleaded guilty earlier this year. All
were ordered jailed pending sentencing. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Carroll had been set to plead guilty alongside his co-defendants,
but his plea to an information prepared by Assistant U.S. Attorney
Charles Atchley wound up delayed for several months. | ||||||||||||||||||||
It's not clear why. Neither Atchley nor Carroll's attorney, Federal
Defender Beth Ford, has explained the delay, nor was any reason
given at Monday's hearing. | ||||||||||||||||||||
As a result of the delay in getting Carroll before a judge,
sentencing hearings for his co-defendants, originally set for this
month, have been delayed until late June. | ||||||||||||||||||||
The five lawmen have admitted violating Siler's civil rights through
force and intimidation. According to court records and an FBI
transcript of a secret recording of the incident made by Siler's
wife, the deputies handcuffed Siler and engaged in a two-hour attack
on him. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Siler was repeatedly beaten and threatened with death. His head was
held underwater in a fish tank and a toilet. He was struck with a
slapjack and a baseball bat. The deputies threatened to electrocute
him and shoot him. | ||||||||||||||||||||
The reason for the attack remains murky. The FBI transcript shows
the deputies were trying to force Siler to sign a form giving
permission to search his trailer. But the transcript suggests a more
sinister motive, with comments from Webber, deemed by authorities as
the ringleader in the attack, that he planned to take any cash or
drugs found in the home. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(12) OPED: SYSTEM'S 'BACK END' NEGLECTED (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Stan Basler During a recent forum hosted by the Citizens League of
Central Oklahoma, panelists and the audience considered the
paradoxical nature of prisoner re-entry policy: "Is $50 and a Bus
Ticket Good Policy for Oklahoma?" | ||||||||||||||||||||
Imagine that you have been locked up for at least three years in
Oklahoma prisons and jails. You have made few choices for yourself.
Today you are released with a $50 check and no place will cash it
for you for free. Suddenly it's up to you to feed and clothe
yourself, find a place to live (without a rental history or deposit
money), find health care, address substance treatment needs, find
transportation, look for work, and, if you are lucky, begin a job
that likely will pay only subsistence wages for the foreseeable
future. | ||||||||||||||||||||
You have been accustomed to wearing penal clothing with "INMATE"
stamped on the back. You would like respect and acceptance, but the
court wants money, parole fees must be paid and many prospective
employers will dismiss your application categorically because you
are a convicted felon. You need companionship with positive,
compassionate role models. The people you know are the "old crowd"--
folks with whom you did drugs or crime. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Welcome back to society. | ||||||||||||||||||||
We, the taxpayers, supported these people to the tune of $16,000 per year during their incarceration. Many people believe that $50 and a bus ticket is enough. They argue that investing resources in released prisoners rewards criminal behavior. Yet our hope is they will be productive, law-abiding taxpayers themselves upon release. | ||||||||||||||||||||
If the social and economic hurdles are formidable, at some point many just give up and resume the old criminal lifestyle. Within three years of release, 67 percent are re-arrested and 26.2 percent return to prison. Isn't it good business to ensure the provision of the most basic human needs to ex-prisoners -- food, shelter, job, health care and treatment, transportation and acceptance? | ||||||||||||||||||||
The average Oklahoma inmate leaves prison with $318; 30 percent are
released with just $50. Usually inmates have at least $2,000 in
court costs alone to repay, not to mention past-due child support,
restitution and other fees. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(13) COUNTY OFFICER CERTIFIED TO STOP AND SEARCH TRUCKS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Are commercial trucks hauling illegal drugs through Albemarle County? Local authorities say they're going to find out. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Officer Dennis Harvey has been federally certified to conduct safety inspections of commercial vehicles. By law, he doesn't need probable cause to pull them over. The officer typically conducts the checks during daylight hours, but authorities are planning to start inspecting trucks at night, and to bring along a drug-sniffing dog. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"The only probable cause I need to pull them over is that they're a
truck," Harvey says. | ||||||||||||||||||||
County police say Harvey is helping to rid the roads of dangerous
trucks. Of the more than 100 commercial vehicles Harvey has
inspected since October, between 60 percent and 80 percent of had
serious violations, such as bad brakes or steering problems, he
said. Nonetheless, the plan to bring in the drug-detection dog has
raised some concern. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Kent Willis, executive director of the American Civil Liberties
Union of Virginia, said he opposes any searches without probable
cause, but he conceded that the courts generally have not considered
the use of narcotics-detection dogs to be searches. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Cannabis & Hemp- | ||||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (14-18) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Big news this week, as Nobel Prize winning economist Milton Friedman
has added his name to a list of 500 leading American economists who
would like to see an honest debate on the merits of taxing and
regulating cannabis. The economists have all endorsed a report by
Harvard University's Jeffrey Miron called "The Budgetary
Implications of Marijuana Prohibition" (available at | ||||||||||||||||||||
With the shocking news that Australian Corby Schapelle has been
handed a 20-year sentence for apparently smuggling cannabis into
Bali (a charge which she denies), Indonesia's Attorney General Abdul
Rahman has declared that the sentence is too light and that he
supports an appeal by prosecutors to increase her punishment to life
in prison. Meanwhile Australian PM John Howard has suggested that
calls for him to ask for a presidential pardon are premature since
Schapelle has not exhausted all of her appeals and continues to
maintain her innocence. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Back in the U.S. we have a disturbing report that DEA agents have
raided 4 "head shops" in Montana, seizing paraphernalia ranging from
pipes to pot-shirts but not pressing any charges. Your tax money at
work, my friends: keeping America's youth safe - one tie-dye t-shirt
at a time. Lastly this week, bad news from England, where the
British Court of Appeals ruling has quashed an attempt to legalize
cannabis for medical use. Dr. Willy Notcutt, a cannabis researcher
who has initiated trials on the use of GW's Sativex for chronic pain
in MS patients, expressed his frustration with the court's decision,
citing it as further evidence that the U.K. needs to quickly approve
cannabis-based pharmaceuticals. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(14) MILTON FRIEDMAN: LEGALIZE IT! (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
A founding father of the Reagan Revolution has put his John Hancock
on a pro-pot report. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Milton Friedman leads a list of more than 500 economists from around the U.S. who today will publicly endorse a Harvard University economist's report on the costs of marijuana prohibition and the potential revenue gains from the U.S. government instead legalizing it and taxing its sale. Ending prohibition enforcement would save $7.7 billion in combined state and federal spending, the report says, while taxation would yield up to $6.2 billion a year. | ||||||||||||||||||||
The report, "The Budgetary Implications of Marijuana Prohibition,"
(available at www.prohibitioncosts.org) was written by Jeffrey A.
Miron, a professor at Harvard , and largely paid for by the
Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), a Washington, D.C., group advocating
the review and liberalization of marijuana laws. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(15) LAW CHIEF WANTS LIFE TERM IMPOSED (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesia's Attorney-General says Schapelle Corby should be
sentenced to life in prison. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"The 20 years in jail handed down by the Denpasar District Court is too light," Abdul Rahman Saleh told the Bali Post yesterday. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"She deserves to be sentenced to life." | ||||||||||||||||||||
Mr Saleh is supporting an appeal by prosecutors, who also say 20
years in prison for Corby is not sufficient punishment for
drug-running. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Mr Saleh's comments came as the Australian Government lobbied
Indonesia to enter into a prisoner transfer treaty to get the
27-year-old Gold Coast woman out of Bali's Kerobokan jail so that
she can serve her sentence in Australia. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(16) CORBY PARDON TALK UNHELPFUL: PM (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
The Prime Minister, John Howard, has refused to say whether he will
ask for a presidential pardon for Schapelle Corby once her appeal
process has been completed. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Last Friday, a Denpasar court found the 27-year-old Gold Coast woman
guilty of trying to smuggle more than four kilograms of marijuana
and sentenced her to 20 years in jail. | ||||||||||||||||||||
In 2002, Mr Howard appealed for clemency for an Australian serving
life imprisonment in the Maldives after he was found carrying
cannabis oil. | ||||||||||||||||||||
That appeal was granted, but Mr Howard says it is too early to
compare that case to Corby's situation. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"It is not helpful to Schapelle's appeal processes for me to be
canvassing conduct by me that would - if it occurred - be posited
upon an acceptance of guilt," Mr Howard told the ABC's Lateline
program. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(17) PARAPHE-NAIL-YA (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Last Wednesday DEA agents swept through Missoula and four other
Montana cities, stopping in one tobacco-accessory-selling store in
each town and seizing everything from pipes to T-shirts with pot
leaves on them. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Owners of the Vault in Missoula, the Grateful Shed in Bozeman and
the Blue Moon in Great Falls all confirmed the DEA's visit, and two
other warrants were also served statewide. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Blue Moon owner Sue Kerkes wouldn't comment beyond affirming the
DEA's visit, but Vault owner David Sil and Grateful Shed manager Bob
Holstine did confirm that agents confiscated thousands of dollars
worth of merchandise. They said agents served the businesses with
warrants but issued no charges; they simply loaded up the goods and
moved on. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(18) DOCTOR SPEAKS OUT OVER CANNABIS RULING (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
An eminent Norfolk doctor said today that patients may be forced
into criminality if a medicinal form of cannabis is not made
available. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Consultant anaesthetist Dr William Notcutt, from the James Paget
Hospital, Gorleston, spoke of his frustration after today's Court of
Appeal ruling quashing an attempt to effectively legalise the use of
the Class C drug for the relief of severe pain. | ||||||||||||||||||||
It means sufferers of conditions including multiple sclerosis, serious bone conditions and chronic back pain now face a Hobson's choice: break the law or live in pain on less effective treatments. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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International News | ||||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (19-22) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Philippine vigilante death squads, believed to be police themselves, gun down people suspected of involvement with "drugs," daily. Cebu and Davao cities continue to be centers of the gruesome and extra-legal killings. Cebu City alone has the blood-soaked distinction of playing host to 59 such killings this year, so far. Philippine officials and media daily denounce the evils of "drugs," imploring teens to turn in one another to police. Yet few speak out against the ceaseless death squad murders of drug suspects. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Ironically, while the Philippine "Officer Friendly" orders kids to rat on one another, or dons a mask to shoot drug suspects in their sleep, some villagers attempted to blackmail government into funding road projects -- by growing marijuana. Villagers in the rural Philippine town of Tinoc (where earlier a 6-acre pot farm was torched by authorities for publicity photos), have decided to wheel and deal with the Philippine government. Tinoc villagers announced last week that they'll stop growing cannabis. One condition. Government must build them a road so they can get produce to market. No word yet from Philippine authorities on how they like the deal. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Mainland (and yes, still officially) communist China last week
admitted that the "drug war is failing," according to a Taipei Times
report. The admission, made on a nationally-televised program by the
secretary-general of the National Narcotics Control Commission,
fingered ecstasy and marijuana as enemies of the people. Happily, a
new collective "People's War on Drugs," proclaimed the commissar,
shall stop drugs in The People's Republic of China. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
(19) CEBU'S VIGILANTE KILLINGS RISE TO 59 (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
CEBU CITY: Men wearing helmets gunned down two men 19 hours on
Friday, bringing to 59 the number of vigilante-style executions
since December 22. | ||||||||||||||||||||
First to fall was a suspected drug peddler, shot thrice by a gunman
who barged into his house Friday night. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(20) POLICE INTENSIFY ANTI-DRUG CAMPAIGN (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
The Anti-Illegal-Drugs Special Operations Task Force (AID-SOTF) has
embarked on an intensified campaign to recruit parents and students
in the war against illegal drugs. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"While we are conducting massive raids to stop the supply of illegal
drugs in the streets, we are also meeting with parents and students
to educate them on the evils of illegal drugs," said AID-SOTF chief
Deputy Director General Ricardo de Leon. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
"My men are presently in the field following up leads given by our
informants," De Leon told The Star. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
"We are able to greatly curb the supply side and we are now working
on the demand side," said De Leon. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(21) BUILD A ROAD, AND WE'LL STOP PLANTING MARIJUANA VILLAGERS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
TINOC, Ifugao - Villagers of this remote Ifugao town belittled the marijuana-eradication drive of the government but offered to become partners in the anti-illegal drug operation of the government if a road is built to cut across a few remaining kilometers to connect the municipality to the nearest provincial road of Ifugao. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Last May 21, Chief Supt. Noe Wong, Cordillera regional police
director, led the torching of marijuana plants and seedlings worth
some R229 million at sitio Mulam, barangay Ahin, Tinoc. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Barangay officials and elders admitted they are helpless in
preventing farmers from intercropping marijuana with corn and other
crops because production of fruits and vegetables in abundant
quantity would only rot if it fails to reach the market on time due
to the lack of road. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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(22) CHINA ADMITS DRUG WAR IS FAILING (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese officials issued an unusual appeal to the public yesterday
for help fighting drug trafficking, acknowledging in a nationally
televised news conference that they have failed to stop surging
narcotics abuse despite repeated crackdowns. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Drug smuggling and the difficulty of fighting it are rising as a
result of globalization and freer trade, the officials said, citing
the seizure this month of 400kg of the party drug ketamine brought
in from India via the Middle East. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"Although we've made a lot of achievements, the spread of drug
problems remains serious," said Yang Fengrui, secretary-general of
the National Narcotics Control Commission. "Heroin use is down in
some areas, but the use of new drugs such as ecstasy, marijuana and
others is increasing." | ||||||||||||||||||||
Communist Party leaders declared a "People's War on Drugs" last month, Feng said. He appealed to the public to inform on traffickers and to help addicts reform -- a rare step by a government that usually says it can handle crime and social problems on its own. | ||||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| ||||||||||||||||||||
HOT OFF THE 'NET (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
AMERICAN STYLE DRUG WAR BEGINS IN CHINA? | ||||||||||||||||||||
By Loretta Nall | ||||||||||||||||||||
http://usmjparty.blogspot.com/2005/05/american-style-drug-war-begins-in.html | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
MPP JOB OPENINGS | ||||||||||||||||||||
The Marijuana Policy Project currently has four full-time job openings
-- two in Las Vegas and two in Washington, D.C. | ||||||||||||||||||||
All six positions require outstanding written and oral communications skills, a professional appearance, and an exceptional attention to detail. Please visit www.mpp.org/jobs/ for detailed job descriptions for each of the above positions and instructions for applying. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
THE MARIJUANANEWS WORLD REPORT FOR MAY 31, 2005 | ||||||||||||||||||||
With Richard Cowan | ||||||||||||||||||||
Australians Outraged By Corby Case, But They Should Look In Mirror.
Indonesian Judges Say Smugglers Go To Prison. UK Judges Say Sick
and Dying Are Criminals, As UK Hard Drug Use Soars. Who Is
Uncivilized? UK Home Grow Booms. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
O'REILLY FACTOR SIDES WITH THE ALLIANCE ON "SNITCH" BILL | ||||||||||||||||||||
Thursday, June 2, 2005 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Alliance Executive Director Ethan Nadelmann appeared on Fox's
"The O'Reilly Factor" last week alongside former DEA agent Ann Hayes
to discuss the repercussions of Sensenbrenner's "snitch" bill.
Read the transcript of the show. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
NORML Comments On Pending Supreme Court Medical Cannabis Ruling | ||||||||||||||||||||
June 2, 2005 - Washington, DC, USA | ||||||||||||||||||||
Washington, DC: The US Supreme Court could rule as early as next
week on whether to uphold a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision
which found that the federal prosecution of patients who cultivate
and possess marijuana for their own medicinal use is an | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
CULTURAL BAGGAGE RADIO SHOW | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
LISTEN Live Fridays 8:00 PM, ET, 7:00 CT, 6:00 MT & 5:00 PT at
www.KPFT.org | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
LETTER OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
CUT THE RED TAPE AROUND MEDICAL POT | ||||||||||||||||||||
By Rick Steeb | ||||||||||||||||||||
Despite Nevada's permitting medicinal cannabis use, the few heroic
people actually willing to provide medicinal cannabis face more
bureaucratic red tape than brothel operators ["High and Dry," May
19]. | ||||||||||||||||||||
A similar problem exists here in California, where terrified city
councils are rampantly passing bans and moratoriums blocking new
dispensaries. | ||||||||||||||||||||
As a glaucoma patient and cannabis user since 1968, I can personally
attest to the therapeutic benefits of both the herb AND its
legalization. But despite decisive margins of public support,
somehow the actual dispensing of medical cannabis is too often seen
as a major public risk or as "sending the wrong message to the
children." | ||||||||||||||||||||
Children most assuredly need to stay away from substances, including
alcohol, cigarettes, unprescribed pharmaceuticals and pot. Parents
need to be diligent, knowledgeable, honest and communicate
generously with their children. | ||||||||||||||||||||
It would be ludicrous to suggest that diabetics, or even
OxyContin-or morphine-using patients travel to distant and scattered
drug stores to fill their legitimate prescriptions. And who would
suggest we should "protect the children" by sending adult drinkers
70 miles round-trip to get a case of beer? | ||||||||||||||||||||
It benefits no one for bona fide cannabis patients to be forced to
either attempt to grow their own medicine, travel long distances or
have to buy potentially tainted herb from random black-market street
dealers. | ||||||||||||||||||||
It is time for the various city councils and other authorities
involved to streamline the Byzantine regulatory hurdles, and help
rather than hinder providers in their attempts to serve the
legitimate needs of suffering patients. | ||||||||||||||||||||
RICK STEEB SAN JOSE | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
FEATURE ARTICLE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
THE HIGH COST OF MARIJUANA PROHIBITION | ||||||||||||||||||||
By Bruce Mirken | ||||||||||||||||||||
This week, over 500 leading economists, led by conservative icon Dr. Milton Friedman, called for a national debate about whether prohibition of marijuana is worth the cost. The occasion was a new report by Harvard University economist Dr. Jeffrey Miron estimating - - probably conservatively -- that replacing prohibition with a system of common-sense regulation could mean $10 billion to $14 billion per year in reduced government spending and new revenues. | ||||||||||||||||||||
"We believe such a debate will favor a regime in which marijuana is legal but taxed and regulated like other goods," Friedman and colleagues wrote. "At a minimum, this debate will force advocates of current policy to show that prohibition has benefits sufficient to justify the cost to taxpayers, foregone tax revenues, and numerous ancillary consequences that result from marijuana prohibition." | ||||||||||||||||||||
Miron's full report and the open letter are available at
www.prohibitioncosts.org . | ||||||||||||||||||||
A good case can be made that prohibition costs too much -- in money,
but also in ruined lives and harm done to society. But first, let's
talk about dollars: | ||||||||||||||||||||
Using figures from a variety of federal and state government
sources, Miron estimates that replacing prohibition with regulation
would save $7.7 billion annually in government spending on
enforcement. Taxes on regulated marijuana sales could generate $2.4
billion if marijuana were taxed like ordinary consumer goods. If --
as seems more likely - - marijuana were taxed like alcohol and
tobacco, tax receipts would be about $6.2 billion, and conceivably
more, depending on the tax rate. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Such estimates, of course, aren't perfect. Available data is
incomplete, so economists must make assumptions that could turn out
to be either too high or too low. Miron's numbers may be
conservative: He didn't attempt to quantify every possible saving,
and in one major expense category -- the number of inmates locked in
state prisons on marijuana charges -- the White House Office of
National Drug Control Policy just released an estimate 60 percent
higher than the one Miron used. | ||||||||||||||||||||
These are not trivial sums. In the words of the late Sen. Everett
Dirksen, "A billion dollars here, a billion dollars there, and soon
you're talking about real money" -- money that could be used to fix
our schools, strengthen Social Security, or protect America against
terrorism. | ||||||||||||||||||||
For example, the $30 billion cost of securing thousands of
Soviet-era "loose nukes" -- unsecured nuclear weapons that security
experts fear might fall into terrorist hands -- could be paid for in
less than three years with the savings and revenues generated by
marijuana regulation. One year's savings alone would cover the full
cost of port security measures required by the Maritime | ||||||||||||||||||||
What are we getting for the billions spent on marijuana prohibition?
We certainly haven't gotten marijuana off the streets. Last year,
85.8 percent of high school seniors told government survey-takers | ||||||||||||||||||||
According to the federal government, nearly 15 million Americans use
marijuana at least once a month. That's equal to every man, woman
and child in the states of Oregon, Nebraska, Indiana and Oklahoma
combined. It's nearly as many Americans as will buy a new car or
truck this year. It's a huge market. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Prohibition cannot and will not make that market go away. It has simply given criminals and violent gangs an exclusive franchise, and society pays the price every day: In unregulated drug dealers with no incentive not to sell to kids, in clandestine grows hidden in national parks and surrounded by booby traps, in the bloodshed that inevitably comes with prohibition -- just as it did during America's ill-fated experiment with alcohol prohibition during the 1920s. | ||||||||||||||||||||
These 500 economists are right: There might be a better way, and
it's time to start talking about it. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Bruce Mirken is director of communications for the Marijuana Policy
Project in Washington, D.C., www.mpp.org. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
QUOTE OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||||
"The United States is a nation of laws: badly written and randomly
enforced." - Frank Zappa | ||||||||||||||||||||
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