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DrugSense Weekly
March 10, 2006 #440


Table of Contents

* Breaking News (03/28/24)


* This Just In


(1) Vouchers Help Drug Users Overcome Their Addictions
(2) Corrections In Crunch For Cash, Seeks Ideas
(3) Keep Marching, Pot Crusader Says
(4) Appeals Court: Cash With Drug Residue Can Be Seized

* Weekly News in Review


Drug Policy-

COMMENT: (5-8)
(5) Drugs Go To School With The Youngest
(6) Federal Court Records Being Kept Secret
(7) 'Meth-Mom' Bill Clears Senate 18-16
(8) Methamphetamine Propaganda

Law Enforcement & Prisons-

COMMENT: (9-13)
(9) Town Chief Suspended, Officer Fired
(10) Bond Denied For Air Marshals In Drug Scheme
(11) Gunshot Fatal To Assumption Deputy
(12) Inmate's Lawsuit Says She Was Kept In Shackles During Labor
(13) Mexican Military Not Seen In Video Of Standoff

Cannabis & Hemp-

COMMENT: (14-17)
(14) Freed Medical Marijuana Activist Voices New Praise For Jail Staff
(15) Tories Ditch Liberal Plans To Ease Pot Laws
(16) Medical Marijuana Mix-Up
(17) Emery Makes Case On 60 Minutes

International News-

COMMENT: (18-22)
(18) Revilla Incensed By UP Report RP Is Haven For Drug Smugglers
(19) Afghanistan Drug Threat Cited
(20) Afghans Begin Poppy-Eradication Program
(21) Vital Evidence Kept From Jury On Pong Su Drug Run
(22) How The Drug War Is Being Lost

* Hot Off The 'Net


    Rightwing Narco's Family Paid $83 Million to U.S. to Avoid Prosecution
    Proposition 36: Improving Lives, Delivering Results
    Register  For The 2006 National NORML Conference In San Francisco
    Citizens For A Safer Portland
    Cultural Baggage Radio Show
    Reformers  And  Un  Drug  Chief To Debate On The BBC This Weekend
    Kubby Out Of Jail, But Not Yet Free
    Regarding Medical Marijuana
    Multidisciplinary  Association For Psychedelic Studies News Update
    Drug War Chronicle Marijuana News Archive

* What You Can Do This Week


    Write A Letter
    Job Announcement

* Letter Of The Week


    In  Defense  Of  Educator  In  Marijuana  Case  /  By  D.H. Michon

* Letter Writer Of The Month - February


    Steven Epstein

* Feature Article


    Ricky Williams And The NFL's Brain Damaged Policy / By Stephen Young

* Quote of the Week


    Samuel Johnson


THIS JUST IN    (Top)

(1) VOUCHERS HELP DRUG USERS OVERCOME THEIR ADDICTIONS    (Top)

Studies:   Rewards Enhance Treatment

PHILADELPHIA -- It's a proposition as old as parenthood: Do this thing you don't want to do -- "please?" -- and you'll get something nice for your trouble.

Now, the idea that we can influence adult behavior by offering meaningful incentives -- gift cards, bus tokens, CD players and rent subsidies -- is slowly catching on in drug and alcohol treatment.

More than 60 studies in the United States and in Europe show that rewarding substance abusers for staying clean helps keep them enrolled in the crucial early weeks of outpatient rehab, when dropout rates can hit 40% or more.

It's also helped double abstinence rates later on to about 60%.

"Many of us recognize this as one of the most important and effective tools we have," said Charles R.  Schuster, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush, now head of addictions research at Wayne State University School of Medicine.

"But we've done a lousy job of selling it," he added.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 10 Mar 2006
Source:   Detroit Free Press (MI)
Copyright:   2006 Detroit Free Press
Website:   http://www.freep.com/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/125
Author:   Virginia A.  Smith, Knight Ridder Newspapers
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n301.a08.html


(2) CORRECTIONS IN CRUNCH FOR CASH, SEEKS IDEAS    (Top)

HELENA -- The state Department of Corrections needs an extra $11.5 million to make it until July and has temporarily scrapped plans to build a special needs prison for lack of funds, officials announced Thursday.

Corrections Director Bill Slaughter asked the interim Legislative Finance Committee Thursday for permission to spend the money out of the agency's pool of funds set aside for next year.  He also asked the lawmakers whether they had any ideas on how the department might cut down on costs -- a delicate task in an agency that cannot scrimp on staff at lock-down institutions.

Spending money set aside for next year will leave an even bigger hole down the line, David Ewer, the governor's budget director, said after the meeting.  But Ewer said until the state finds a better way of addressing crime and methamphetamine, bigger budgets for Corrections are unavoidable.

"If we thought there was a viable way of saving this money without jeopardizing public safety, we wouldn't be here," Ewer said.  Records show about half of the budget overrun comes from hundreds more people in Montana's penal system than agency officials and lawmakers expected when they set the department's budget in the 2005 Legislature.

Slaughter said the overrun isn't all bad.  If there wasn't stress on the system, he said, no one would ever think of new ways of looking at corrections and the state would continue building prisons and filling them up.

"The pressure forces us to be innovative," he said after the meeting.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 10 Mar 2006
Source:   Billings Gazette, The (MT)
Copyright:   2006 The Billings Gazette
Website:   http://www.billingsgazette.com/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/515
Author:   Jennifer Mckee, Gazette State Bureau
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n302.a04.html


(3) KEEP MARCHING, POT CRUSADER SAYS    (Top)

B.C.'S Emery Says Protests Must Go On Despite Arrests At Hamilton Cafe

Pot crusader Marc Emery says fellow activists shouldn't abandon the battle to legalize marijuana even though the owner of Hamilton's pot cafe has been charged with trafficking.

"We have to keep protesting and keep marching," Emery told about 50 people who marched to the downtown police station yesterday afternoon in the wake of Chris Goodwin's arrest.

"They are trying to wipe out our movement," the founder of the B.C. Marijuana Party said over a phone linkup from his home in Vancouver, where he is fighting extradition to the United States to face drug charges for selling pot seeds through the mail.  "They're trying to intimidate us out of business."

Goodwin, owner of the Up In Smoke cafe, was arrested Wednesday and charged with possession and possession for the purpose of trafficking.

It's his latest run-in with Hamilton police, who he says have visited his business more than 300 times since he opened it in August 2004 on King Street East.

The former Liberal government talked of decriminalizing possession of small amounts of pot, but the new Conservative government rejects that position and has promised mandatory minimum jail time and large fines for serious drug offenders and a crackdown on pot growers.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 10 Mar 2006
Source:   Hamilton Spectator (CN ON)
Copyright:   2006 The Hamilton Spectator
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/181
Author:   Daniel Nolan
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/find?196 (Emery, Marc)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n301.a03.html


(4) APPEALS COURT: CASH WITH DRUG RESIDUE CAN BE SEIZED    (Top)

Harrisburg - Cash with far-higher-than-normal trace levels of cocaine can be seized as illegal drug proceeds if found in vehicles pulled over for speeding, Commonwealth Court ruled yesterday.

The 4-3 ruling concerned the seizure of $451,000 during separate vehicle stops in Somerset and Cumberland Counties by state police on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in 2002 and 2004 in which no drugs or paraphernalia were found and no criminal charges were filed.

The majority opinion by Judge Mary Hannah Leavitt said the amount of money, the way it was bundled, the amount of drug residue found on the bills, and suspicions about the stories told by the vehicle occupants all helped link the money to drug trafficking.

A dissenting judge, Rochelle S.  Friedman, called the ion-scan test used to detect cocaine traces on the bills "nothing more than junk science" as it was performed in the two cases.

Pubdate:   Thu, 09 Mar 2006
Source:   Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA)
Section:   Pg B6, Suburbs - Metropolitan Area News In Brief
Copyright:   2006 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc
Contact:  
Website:   http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/340
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n298.a07.html



WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW    (Top)

Domestic News- Policy


COMMENT: (5-8)    (Top)

The contradictions of the drug war continue.  In Philadelphia, apparently it's not all that uncommon for elementary school children to show up to class with illegal drugs.  (Rarely with alcohol, though.  Hmmm). While the kids know where to find the drugs, the government doesn't want you or any other citizens to know about a whole bunch of drug cases.  The records are being kept secret. The Idaho legislature passed a "meth mom" bill that would lead to prison for women who use illegal drugs during pregnancy.  At about the same time, Slate's Jack Shafer dismantled more propaganda to show that descriptions of a "meth epidemic" are overblown.


(5) DRUGS GO TO SCHOOL WITH THE YOUNGEST    (Top)

Phila.  Cases Like The 7-Year-Old's Are Not So Rare

As police tried to determine how a second grader obtained the dozen bags of cocaine she carried Monday to her elementary school in Southwest Philadelphia, a check of school district statistics suggested that the incident was hardly an aberration.

Although elementary students account for only a small percentage of drug-related reports in city schools, the number appears to be increasing.  At the current pace, the total this school year could surpass last year's, according to school district data.

Seventeen students from kindergarten through sixth grade were involved in drug or alcohol incidents at their schools through Christmas, compared with 26 in the entire 2004-05 academic year, data collected by the state's Office of the Safe Schools Advocate show.

Heroin was discovered in the pocket of a kindergartner.  A second grader took a bag of suspected cocaine to class.

At Patterson Elementary School, where this week's case occurred, drug-awareness assemblies are scheduled today for all five second-grade classrooms.

"We have a serious drug problem in many of our communities, and ultimately what is happening in the communities filters into the schools," said Paul Vallas, the schools' chief executive.  "If you have drugs lying around, kids are going to eventually put it into their pockets and take it to school."

Most of the reported cases involved students who brought drugs, rather than alcohol, to school, he said.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 02 Mar 2006
Source:   Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA)
Copyright:   2006 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/340
Author:   Martha Woodall And Mitch Lipka
Bookmark:  
http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n264/a09.html


(6) FEDERAL COURT RECORDS BEING KEPT SECRET    (Top)

Outcome Of Cases For 5,000-Plus Defendants Are Hidden From Public

WASHINGTON - Despite the Sixth Amendment's guarantee of public trials, nearly all records are being kept secret for more than 5,000 defendants who completed their journey through the federal courts over the last three years.  Instances of such secrecy more than doubled from 2003 to 2005.  An Associated Press investigation found, and court observers agree, that most of these defendants are cooperating government witnesses, but the secrecy surrounding their records prevents the public from knowing details of any plea bargains.

Most of these defendants are involved in drug gangs, though lately a very small number come from terrorism cases.

Some of these cooperating witnesses are among the most unsavory characters in America's courts -- multiple murderers and drug dealers - -- but the public cannot learn whether their testimony against confederates won them drastically reduced prison sentences or even freedom.  At the request of the AP, the Administrative Office of U.S.  Courts conducted its first tally of secrecy in federal criminal cases.  The nationwide data it provided the AP showed 5,116 defendants whose cases were completed in 2003, 2004 and 2005, but the bulk of their records remain secret.  The court office's tally also shows the percentage has more than doubled in the last three years.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 05 Mar 2006
Source:   Charlotte Observer (NC)
Copyright:   2006 The Charlotte Observer
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/78
Author:   Michael J.  Sniffen And John Solomon, Associated Press
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n277/a02.html


(7) 'METH MOM' BILL CLEARS SENATE BY 18-16 VOTE: GET-TOUGH MEASURE
SPARKS CONTROVERSY

BOISE - The so-called "meth moms" bill that could lead to pregnant drug users serving jail time in Idaho squeaked through the Senate Tuesday by a mere two votes.

Sen.  Denton Darrington, R-Declo, the bill's sponsor, acknowledged treatment programs would be a preferable alternative to law enforcement intervention, but said under the state's current landscape meth babies are being born with increasing frequency.

"Shouldn't it be a crime for a mother to induce those chemicals into her baby?" he asked during his closing argument.

But the controversial get-tough measure worries care providers and women's groups who fear it could lead to higher abortion rates and less pre-natal care.

During a passionate debate, Sen.  Dick Compton, R-Coeur d'Alene, said he'd like to see drug dealers publicly stoned, but voted against the bill out of a fear of unintended consequences.

"It is my great fear that these mothers will not come forward because now they've got felony charges waiting around the bend for them," he said.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 01 Mar 2006
Source:   Idaho State Journal (ID)
Copyright:   2006 Idaho State Journal
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/936
Author:   Dan Boyd, Journal Writer
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n279/a01.html


(8) METHAMPHETAMINE PROPAGANDA    (Top)

The Government And The Press Are Addicted

The press goes mad for meth.  The myth of the adversary press holds that reporters assume that every government statement contains at least one flagrant lie, and that before disseminating the information the press must expunge or otherwise expose the government propaganda.

Nowhere does the myth of the adversary press break down more often than on the illicit-drug beat, where most government press releases receive only a gentle rewrite before publication.  Today's offender, the Associated Press, took the handoff from a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration March 1 press release to produce a piece of junk journalism about an explosive increase of methamphetamine users in drug treatment.

The SAMHSA-AP story has gotten wide play, with the Web sites of 307 news outlets picking up a version ( "Sharp Rise in People Seeking Meth Treatment, Report Finds" ), according to a Friday morning Google News search.  At least four top newspapers (the Washington Post, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Miami Herald, and
News day) published some form of the wire service's account.

Citing SAMHSA, the AP reports that the number of meth users admitted to substance-abuse programs had quadrupled between 1993 and 2003. There were 28,000 admissions for meth or amphetamines in 1993 ( about 2 percent of 1.6 million admissions nationally ) and almost 136,000 admissions in 2003 ( more than 7 percent of the total 1.8 million admissions ).

Neither the AP nor SAMHSA explains why treatment numbers are up, up, up.  A SAMHSA official indicates to the AP that the addictiveness of meth is to blame, not an increase in prevalence; the AP reporter cites unnamed experts to say meth use is "epidemic in some states," indicating that an increase in use might be behind more users seeking help.

A cursory look at the SAMHSA report points to another reason why additional meth users are "seeking" treatment: coercion.  If you read all the way to the bottom of the SAMHSA report and consult the endnotes, you learn that changes in drug law have helped boost meth-therapy admissions.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 03 Mar 2006
Source:   Slate (US Web)
Copyright:   2006 Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive Co.  LLC
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/982
Author:   Jack Shafer
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n281/a07.html


Law Enforcement & Prisons


COMMENT: (9-13)    (Top)

More corruption, destruction and cruelty in the name of the drug war this week.  Also, earlier accounts of a standoff at the U.S.-Mexican border may have been overblown.


(9) TOWN CHIEF SUSPENDED, OFFICER FIRED    (Top)

TROUP, Texas ( AP ) -- City officials in this East Texas town have suspended the police chief and fired an officer after they were arrested as part of an investigation into corruption, drugs and tampering with evidence.

The Troup City Council held an emergency meeting Monday following last week's arrest of Chief Chester Kennedy and Officer Samuel Mark Turner.

The council voted to place Kennedy on unpaid leave for 30 days.  He was charged last week with tampering with or fabricating physical evidence and released from jail on a $400,000 bond.

The council approved the firing of Turner, who remained jailed Tuesday night on bonds totaling $500,000.  He's charged with misdemeanor delivery of marijuana and felony tampering with or fabricating physical evidence.

The two men's arrest followed an eight-week investigation by the FBI and Smith County officials after Turner allegedly delivered marijuana.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 08 Mar 2006
Source:   Herald Democrat (TX)
Copyright:   2006 Herald Democrat
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/2710
Note:   from the Associated Press
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n295/a02.html


(10) BOND DENIED FOR AIR MARSHALS IN DRUG SCHEME    (Top)

HOUSTON A judge denied bond Wednesday for two U.S.  air marshals accused of smuggling narcotics onto planes, after hearing testimony alleging the men had dealt drugs including cocaine and had planned to rob a drug stash house.

Shawn Ray Nguyen, 38, and Burlie L.  Sholar III, 32, both from Houston, had been granted bonds of $100,000 last month by a federal magistrate judge.

Prosecutors appealed and U.S.  District Judge David Hittner agreed, saying both men were a flight risk and a danger to the community.

Stuart Maneth, a special agent with the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General, testified that a third air marshal told authorities that Sholar had given him 25 tables of ecstasy.

That marshal also told authorities that Sholar had asked him how he and Nguyen could rob a drug stash house worth $3 million to $4 million inside it, Maneth said.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 02 Mar 2006
Source:   Herald Democrat (TX)
Copyright:   2006 Herald Democrat
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/2710
Author:   Juan A.  Lozano, Associated Press Writer
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/mdma.htm (Ecstasy)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n260/a03.html


(11) GUNSHOT FATAL TO ASSUMPTION DEPUTY    (Top)

Paincourtville Officer Died After Sting Operation

An Assumption Parish Sheriff's deputy was killed Wednesday night during an undercover drug operation, Sheriff Mike Waguespack said this morning.

Sgt.  Jeremy Newchurch, 31, of Paincourtville, died at Assumption Community Hospital following the 8:30 p.m.  shooting, Waguespack said.

Newchurch was shot in the upper chest area just above his bullet proof vest during a scuffle with a man officers were trying to arrest after a high-speed chase, Waguespack said.

Newchurch and seven other drug agents were trying to execute felony drug warrants, Waguespack said.

Officers walked up to a vehicle that was illegally parked.  The driver put the car in reverse, fled and later crashed into a ditch on Georgette Street, south of Napoleonville, Waguespack said.

[snip]

Webpage:  
http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/2394521.html
Pubdate:   Thu, 02 Mar 2006
Source:   Advocate, The (LA)
Copyright:   2006 The Advocate, Capital City Press
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/2
Author:   Steven Ward, River Parishes Bureau
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n265/a06.html


(12) INMATE'S LAWSUIT SAYS SHE WAS KEPT IN SHACKLES DURING LABOR    (Top)

Despite complaints, only 2 states have laws forbidding practice Shawanna Nelson, a prisoner at the McPherson Unit in Newport, Ark., had been in labor for more than 12 hours when she arrived at Newport Hospital on Sept.  20, 2003. Ms. Nelson, whose legs were shackled together and who had been given nothing stronger than Tylenol all day, begged, according to court papers, to have the shackles removed.

Though her doctor and two nurses joined in the request, her lawsuit says, the guard in charge of her refused.

"She was shackled all through labor," said Ms.  Nelson's lawyer, Cathleen V.  Compton. "The doctor who was delivering the baby made them remove the shackles for the actual delivery at the very end."

Despite sporadic complaints and occasional lawsuits, the practice of shackling prisoners in labor continues to be relatively common, state legislators and a human rights group said.

Only two states, California and Illinois, have laws forbidding the practice.  The New York Legislature is considering a similar bill. Ms.  Nelson's suit, which seeks to ban the use of restraints on Arkansas prisoners during labor and delivery, is to be tried in Little Rock this spring.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 02 Mar 2006
Source:   Dallas Morning News (TX)
Copyright:   2006 The New York Times
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/117
Author:   Adam Liptak
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n278/a01.html


(13) MEXICAN MILITARY NOT SEEN IN VIDEO OF STANDOFF    (Top)

Video of the standoff between U.S.  authorities and drug smugglers in Hudspeth County in January does not prove the involvement of the Mexican military, according to several officials who viewed the two tapes taken by the Texas Department of Public Safety.

But Hudspeth County Sheriff's Deputy Esequiel Legarreta, who said he was first on the scene, said the tapes do not show the entire incident, and Hudspeth County Sheriff Arvin West said new evidence, such as the alleged military identification plate on one of the Humvees, should be considered.

The two videotapes, which were obtained by the El Paso Times, total 47 minutes and show patrol cars chasing three SUVs to the Rio Grande on Jan.  23. One video shows the standoff that followed.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 03 Mar 2006
Source:   El Paso Times (TX)
Copyright:   2006 El Paso Times
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/829
Author:   Louie Gilot and Jake Rollow
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n266/a02.html


Cannabis & Hemp-


COMMENT: (14-17)    (Top)

Great news from California this week, as former medical cannabis refugee and California gubernatorial candidate Steve Kubby was released from Placer County Jail after serving 40 days of a 120 day sentence.  The L.A. Times article reports that Kubby is in good spirits despite losing over 25 pounds during his imprisonment.  Kubby must still face a hearing on March 14th for failing to appear at his original sentencing when he fled for Canada over five years ago.

And from Canada this week, news that the new minority Tory (conservative) government has absolutely no intention of following the advice of recent parliamentary reports by lessening the penalties in regards to cannabis, sending fears that increased crackdowns and U.S.-style mandatory minimums may be proposed by the Prime Minister Harper.  Our next article is comprehensive examination of the recent police arrest of AIDS sufferer and legal cannabis user Tom Shapiro.  The RCMP were forced to return Mr. Shapiro's plants and equipment after the prosecutor stayed the charges against the Health Canada certified medical user, but the irreparable damage to his therapeutic garden will not be addressed or compensated.  Lastly this week, a short article on Canadian cannabis activist Marc Emery's recent appearance on 60 Minutes, where he had a chance to discuss the ongoing war on the personal freedoms of both Canadians and Americans being waged by our own federal governments.  To see the entire interview, please go to:
http://www.pot-tv.net/archive/shows/pottvshowse-4168.html


(14) FREED MEDICAL MARIJUANA ACTIVIST VOICES NEW PRAISE FOR JAIL    (Top)STAFF

Steve Kubby, a California medical marijuana pioneer who was forced to return from Canada earlier this year and was thrown into jail, earned his freedom Monday after serving a third of the four-month sentence his doctor predicted might kill him.

Placer County jail officials said Kubby's release after 40 days came because of his good behavior in custody and their need to reduce crowding under a federal court order.

Kubby has spent the last six years vociferously fighting Placer County authorities over his conviction for possession of a peyote button and a psychedelic mushroom.  But his early release underscored a sudden shift in his once bitter attitude toward law enforcement authorities.

In jail, Kubby lost 25 pounds, yet said he gained respect for his jailers and the medical staff who tended to the rare -- and typically terminal -- form of adrenal cancer he has been treating with marijuana for three decades.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 07 Mar 2006
Source:   Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright:   2006 Los Angeles Times
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author:   Eric Bailey, Times Staff Writer
Cited:   Steve Kubby http://www.kubby.com
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/kubby.htm (Kubby, Steve)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n285.a02.html


(15) TORIES DITCH LIBERAL PLANS TO EASE POT LAWS    (Top)

Potheads beware: The Conservative government has no plans to relax marijuana laws as arrests in some regions are expected to rise.

A spokesman for Justice Minister Vic Toews was brusk when asked if the Tories would resurrect Liberal efforts to decriminalize simple possession of marijuana.

"It is a very short answer and the answer is No," said Mike Storeshaw.

"We have no plans to bring any bill forward."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 08 Mar 2006
Source:   Edmonton Journal (CN AB)
Copyright:   2006 The Canadian Press
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/134
Author:   Sue Bailey, Canadian Press
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n292.a12.html


(16) MEDICAL MARIJUANA MIX-UP    (Top)

Last Thursday, Tom Shapiro walked into the Regina Police department, where he had recently been detained for possession of drugs.  He walked out with two large bags of dried marijuana.

Shapiro, who is infected with AIDS, has used marijuana for the last five years to alleviate the nausea that is a side-effect of his medication.  His large, medically-sanctioned supply of marijuana was returned to him legally on March 2.

Police seized his basement full of plants on January 31; his permit to grow and possess marijuana had expired in October.  Shapiro said that he had applied to renew it before it expired, but it was late coming in the mail and he lost status as a legal user.  Tipped off by his electricity bill, police entered his Regina home and seized 21 plants.

"Health Canada said I'm not on the list, so I must be illegal," Shapiro said.  He added that he believed the police did undue damage to his property in seizing the plants.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 08 Mar 2006
Source:   Manitoban, The (CN MB Edu)
Copyright:   2006, The Manitoban
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/2665
Author:   Tessa Vanderhart, Staff
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/mmjcn.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal - Canada)
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/find?232 (Chronic Pain)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n294.a03.html


(17) EMERY MAKES CASE ON 60 MINUTES    (Top)

Marijuana activist Marc Emery, who is facing extradition to the U.S., got to share his story with approximately 12 million Americans on CBS's Sunday night broadcast of 60 Minutes.

The self-proclaimed "Prince of Pot" told interviewer Bob Simon that everything in the U.S.  indictment against him is true, estimating that he sold cannabis seeds over the Internet to about 70,000 Americans.

U.S.  Attorney for the Western District of Washington John McKay told Simon the charges against Emery are not political; the issue is the amount of B.C.  bud crossing the border.

"It has a reputation -- it's almost been marketed," said McKay. "This marijuana from British Columbia is great pot."

Simon also spoke with ex-Vancouver mayor, Senator Larry Campbell, who predicted Canadians will react with "outrage" if Emery is extradited.

Pubdate:   Tue, 07 Mar 2006
Source:   Metro (CN BC)
Copyright:   Metro 2006
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/3775
Author:   Jared Ferrie
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n292.a05.html


International News


COMMENT: (18-22)    (Top)

Philippine government officials were stung once again this year by the U.S.  State Department's International Narcotics Control Report, which again charged the Philippines with not jumping high enough when the U.S.  cracks the prohibition whip. The report, which accuses the Philippines of having a large drug industry worth billions of dollars, was fodder for opposition politicians who accused the President with not doing enough.

Things sure have changed since the spring of 2001, when the Bush administration trotted Colin Powell out to personally present the Taliban with millions of U.S.  taxpayer dollars. Why? When it came to "drugs", the Taliban, vicious prohibitionists, were just to the Bush regime's taste.  Opium production was down to record lows in the former Taliban Afghanistan.  A year after the glorious U.S. Army defeated the foe in Afghanistan, new opium records were being set, only this time, records for bumper opium crops.  This week, officials announced with much fanfare new U.S.  and British opium eradication programs.  The programs will concentrate on former Taliban strongholds in the south.

In Australia, a jury found four crew members of a North Korean vessel innocent of smuggling heroin.  Four other crew members of the North Korean ship earlier pled guilty to attempting to smuggle 150 kilos of heroin to Australia from the ship in 2001.  Those found innocent included the captain and the "political officer" of the North Korean ship.

And finally this week, from we leave you with an unexpectedly lucid background article published this week in The Jakarta Post, a newspaper in staunchly prohibitionist Indonesia.  The article, by Duncan Graham, is notable because it admits that prohibition isn't working, that "The Drug War Is Being Lost." Yet rhetorical, propaganda "wars" get politicians elected in many places.  "When politicians announce 'crackdowns' and 'tough stances' they know they're on a vote-winner." The "Drug Policy Alliance advocates public health alternatives to the criminal justice approach; this means treatment instead of jail for users.  The Alliance says the war on drugs has become a war against public health, constitutional rights and families who suffer dreadfully when a breadwinner is jailed." Despite an appealing 'tough on drugs' stance for years, Indonesia has a serious problem with HIV spread by drug users illicitly injecting prohibited drugs.


(18) REVILLA INCENSED BY U.S.  REPORT RP IS HAVEN FOR DRUG SMUGGLERS

An embarrassment, a big slap on the law enforcement capability and sincerity by a government claiming to be serious in curbing drug trafficking, an administration senator yesterday said as he fired at the executive on the latest international report citing the Philippines as having a booming illegal drugs industry with billions of dollars involved the past few years.

Sen.  Ramon "Bong" Revilla Jr., reacting to the 2006 international narcotics control report of the U.S.  State Department, chastised the apparent lapses of the government as manifested in the report, saying this should serve as a wake-up call as it not only caused the latest humiliation for the country but is also alarming.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 09 Mar 2006
Source:   Daily Tribune, The (Philippines)
Copyright:   2006 The Tribune Publishing Co., Inc.
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/2973
Author:   Angie Rosales
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Philippines
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n295.a06.html


(19) AFGHANISTAN DRUG THREAT CITED    (Top)

Marine General Says Issue Is Bigger Risk Than Taliban,
Al-Qaida

WASHINGTON - The top military commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization said Monday that the narcotics trade poses a greater threat to Afghanistan than a rekindled insurgency by Taliban and al- Qaida fighters.

Marine Corps Gen.  James Jones, NATO's supreme commander, said he doesn't think that Taliban and al-Qaida remnants can "restart an insurgency of any size or major scope," but that they're part of a "wider span of problems" that includes the opium trade and rampant criminality.

[snip]

About 21,000 NATO troops from 36 countries are preparing to take over stability and security operations in southern and eastern Afghanistan in coming months.  NATO will very likely take over stability operations throughout Afghanistan by the end of 2006, Jones said.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 07 Mar 2006
Source:   Charlotte Observer (NC)
Copyright:   2006 The Charlotte Observer
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/78
Author:   Drew Brown, Knight Ridder
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n285.a04.html


(20) AFGHANS BEGIN POPPY-ERADICATION PROGRAM    (Top)

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Driving tractors through fields of poppy plants, Afghan counternarcotics agents started a major opium eradication campaign Wednesday in the heartland of the world's largest producer of illicit drugs.

The effort comes amid warnings of another bumper crop that would feed millions of heroin addicts in Asia and the West and endanger Afghanistan's emerging democracy.

Some 1,000 heavily armed police and soldiers guarded the drug agents because Taliban insurgents have threatened to defend the poppy farms, said provincial administrator Ghulam Muhiddin.

However, there were no reports of violence as about 100 tractors moved across the poppy fields, grinding up the young plants in southern Helmand province's Dishu district, he said.

The eradication, part of a U.S.- and British-funded initiative, comes two days after the Afghan government and the United Nations warned that they expect cultivation of opium poppies to increase across large swaths of the country this year.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 08 Mar 2006
Source:   Columbian, The (WA)
Copyright:   2006 The Columbian Publishing Co.
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/92
Author:   Noor Khan, Associated Press Writer
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n297.a07.html


(21) VITAL EVIDENCE KEPT FROM JURY ON PONG SU DRUG RUN    (Top)

[snip]

While four men pleaded guilty to their role in the heroin mission, the captain of the ship and its political officer were among the crew members who walked free from court this week.

[snip]

On Sunday the Supreme Court jury found all four innocent.  For the AFP, the failure to convict the senior officers was a significant blow.  Vital evidence exploring the North Korean Government's history of international drug smuggling was not allowed to be presented to the jury, including testimony from two North Korean defectors.  And the jury heard nothing about a direct radio communication between the ship and North Korea.

Pubdate:   Tue, 07 Mar 2006
Source:   Australian, The (Australia)
Copyright:   2006 The Australian
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/35
Author:   Carmel Egan
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n288.a02.html


(22) HOW THE DRUG WAR IS BEING LOST    (Top)

[snip]

Indonesian statistics, as former president Megawati Soekarnoputri once observed, are not to be trusted.  Officially, the police say they handled almost 6,000 drug cases in Jakarta last year and made almost 8,000 arrests.

The Jakarta Narcotics Agency reckons there are up to 15,000 injecting drug users in the capital alone.  NGOs talk about a pandemic and say maybe a quarter of a million people around the archipelago already have HIV -- with the number growing daily.

One study involving the National Narcotics Agency and the University of Indonesia claimed Indonesians are spending more than Rp 12 trillion (US$ 1 billion) on drugs.

[snip]

When politicians announce "crackdowns" and "tough stances" they know they're on a vote-winner.  [snip]

In 2001 then president Megawati declared a "war" against drug trafficking to much acclaim.  But despite his past experiences and present front-line commitment Dony refuses to be conscripted.  The bumper sticker on his little red car reads: DRUG ABUSE IS BAD; THE DRUG WAR IS WORSE.

The U.S.  has been running its drug war for years. Millions of dollars have been spent and nearly 500,000 are behind bars for drug crimes.  Yet drugs get cheaper and more readily available.

The U.S.-based Drug Policy Alliance advocates public health alternatives to the criminal justice approach; this means treatment instead of jail for users.  The Alliance says the war on drugs has become a war against public health, constitutional rights and families who suffer dreadfully when a breadwinner is jailed.

The reasoning runs that a war has a clearly defined enemy, while the drug issue is too complex for them-and-us, good-and-bad solutions. But like all snappy slogans the appeal lies in the mind-numbing simplicity.

We get warm fuzzies by sponsoring a SAY NO banner, even when it hangs alongside a slick ad promoting cigarettes -- which many say is the gateway drug to narcotics.

Drugs have founded a major legal industry in Indonesia.  The police, lawyers, jailers (50 per cent of prisoners have been sentenced for drug crimes), bureaucrats, doctors, clinics, journalists, ad agents and many other professionals are making money.  They do so by catching, prosecuting, defending, denouncing and treating users. There's no shortage of work.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 08 Mar 2006
Source:   Jakarta Post (Indonesia)
Copyright:   The Jakarta Post
Author:   Duncan Graham
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/hr.htm (Harm Reduction)
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/find?137 (Needle Exchange)
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n294.a02.html


HOT OFF THE 'NET    (Top)

RIGHTWING NARCO'S FAMILY PAID $83 MILLION TO U.S.  TO AVOID PROSECUTION

By Dan Feder at Narconews.com

http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2006/3/9/174557/4342


PROPOSITION 36: IMPROVING LIVES, DELIVERING RESULTS

The Drug Policy Alliance published Proposition 36: Improving Lives, Delivering Results to help California state and county officials understand the positive impact of the historic Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act of 2000 on California's correctional system, drug treatment centers, and state budget over its first four years.

http://www.drugpolicy.org/library/Prop360306.cfm


REGISTER FOR THE 2006 NATIONAL NORML CONFERENCE IN SAN FRANCISCO

Join NORML April 20-22 -- Sign Up Today For Discounted Pricing

Online registration is now available at:

http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6828


CITIZENS FOR A SAFER PORTLAND

Campaigning for the initiative - on the November 2006 ballot in Portland, Oregon - that would make enforcement of marijuana offenses by adults aged 21 and older the lowest priority.

http://saferportland.org/


CULTURAL BAGGAGE RADIO SHOW

Tonight:   03/10/06 - Marc Emery, Canada's "Prince of Pot"

Listen Live Fridays 8:00 PM, ET, 7:00 CT, 6:00 MT & 5:00 PT at http://www.KPFT.org/

Last:   03/03/06 - San Francisco Atty.  Tony Serra plus Poppygate and
Black Perspective

Audio:   http://drugtruth.net/cbaudio06/FDBCB_030306.mp3


REFORMERS AND UN DRUG CHIEF TO DEBATE ON THE BBC THIS WEEKEND

This Sunday, March 12, at 2:00 GMT (Greenwich Mean Time), the BBC program "Have Your Say" will discuss the global drug trade in "Can the War on Drugs Be Won?" The segment will feature UNDCP chief Antonio Maria Costa as well as drug reformers Danny Kushlick of Transform and Jack Cole of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP).

Visit http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?threadID=1261 to participate in the discussion before and during the show.


KUBBY OUT OF JAIL, BUT NOT YET FREE

Must Return to Court On March 14 On Probation Violation Charges.

Exclusive to MarijuanaNews

http://marijuananews.com/news.php3?sid=888


REGARDING MEDICAL MARIJUANA

This film, produced by Martin O'Brien, is a hard hitting look at medical marijuana in the modern day.  Particularly relating to the California front line battle to distribute and buy a medicine that under state law is legal, yet under federal law is still a Schedule 1 narcotic.

http://www.freespeech.org/fscm2/contentviewer.php?content_id=1188


MULTIDISCIPLINARY ASSOCIATION FOR PSYCHEDELIC STUDIES NEWS UPDATE

Monday, March 6, 2006

http://www.maps.org/news/


DRUG WAR CHRONICLE MARIJUANA NEWS ARCHIVE

The Drug Reform Coordination Network have now posted a topical archives page with just the marijuana news portion of the Drug War Chronicle newsletter, including over a thousand articles dating back to 1997.

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/archives-marijuana.shtml


WHAT YOU CAN DO THIS WEEK    (Top)

Job Announcement

Communications Assistant in the New York City office of the Drug Policy Alliance.  Assist the Communications Department with the development and execution of strategic media campaigns on a variety of issues related to drug policy reform.  Details on line at: http://www.drugpolicy.org/about/jobsfunding/jobs/comassist030906.cfm


Write A Letter

Washington's Drug War Contradictions.  A DrugSense Focus Alert.

http://www.mapinc.org/alert/0325.html


LETTER OF THE WEEK    (Top)

In Defense Of Educator In Marijuana Case

By D.H.  Michon

For years I have been a frequent visitor to the Kalamazoo area for the fine fishing opportunities.  I have also had the distinct pleasure, at a national drug policy conference, of getting to know Greg Francisco - - who is suffering this spurious prosecution for a tiny stem fragment of what was alleged to be marijuana.

I found Francisco to be a principled and gentle man who should never have been targeted this way.  He is a credit to the area and his impressive abilities should be back at work for the people.  I read that prosecutor Cory Johnson said Francisco "has not been targeted" and that the prosecution is a "routine matter." So, citizens are routinely arrested and lose their jobs for such trivia? Ridiculous.

This fine man and his family should never have had to endure this harassment just because he advocates reform of a policy which makes police and prosecutors much too powerful over our lives.  It is a picayune affair for which the people's money should never have been wasted, and much greater expense lies ahead if Greg is forced to defend his constitutional right to free speech.

D.H.  Michon Eau Claire, Wis. Referenced:
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n216.a03.html

Pubdate:   Tue, 28 Feb 2006
Source:   Kalamazoo Gazette (MI)


LETTER WRITER OF THE MONTH - FEBRUARY    (Top)

DrugSense recognizes Steven Epstein of Georgetown, Massachusetts for his four published letters during February, which brings his total published letters that we know of to 34.  An attorney, he is a founder of the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition
http://www.masscann.org and has long been active in the effort to loosen the laws regarding marijuana use.

You may read his published letters at:

http://www.mapinc.org/writers/Steven+Epstein


FEATURE ARTICLE    (Top)

Ricky Williams And The NFL's Brain Damaged Policy

By Stephen Young

"Steve Young? The football player?" asked a mildly amused voice on the other end of the phone line.

It was the kind of response I got sometimes while making calls from a small newspaper office in the late 1990s.

The question usually came shortly after I introduced myself: "Hi, this is Steve Young.  I'm a reporter with the Bartlett Press, and I have some questions for a story I'm writing."

Frequently, the more playful interviewees would respond with a little joke involving the name I shared with the San Francisco 49ers quarterback.

"Reporter? So that's what you're doing after the NFL," they might say.

Near the end of the other Steve Young's career, the lauded player racked up astonishing career numbers, but he also had his brain beaten by a series of concussions.  By that time, I had developed my own stock response.

"Yes, that's right," I would say as dryly as possible, "After all the repeated head trauma, journalism seemed like the only job to suit me."

It usually got a laugh, more (I think) at the expense of a profession that is distrusted by many than at the expense of Mr. Young and his health problems.

But, as I read in an interesting article from ESPN Magazine last month ( see http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2314899), concussions in the NFL aren't funny at all.  It's a serious issue for players, but if the article is any indication, some league officials think it's a big joke.

A Massachusetts dentist has been fitting members of the New England Patriots with special mouth guards for several years.  The Patriots had no incidents of concussions between 2000-2003.  Other teams recorded as many as 20 concussions in the same time period.  Serious concussions, particularly multiple concussions, can lead to long-term health problems.

Other players in the league, as well as other athletes prone to concussion, are starting to catch on, but NFL administrators have their heads buried in the sand.  According to the ESPN article, the NFL official entrusted with safeguarding the health of players won't even talk to the dentist.  The league does not require players to wear mouth guards, and only about 40 percent of players do.  From the league's comfortable standpoint on the sidelines, the policy is working out just fine.

While NFL minimizes such an issue, it's interesting what the league (and the broader media) portrays as a tragic controversy: Ricky Williams' alleged drug use.

About the same time ESPN showed the NFL's recklessness on head injuries, word leaked out that Williams, the amazing running back for the Miami Dolphins, flunked his fourth drug test.  The news was based on rumor, but reliable sources didn't deny the story.  While some press accounts indicate that this drug test problem doesn't involve marijuana, Williams' other drug test failures were for marijuana.  When he left the league for a year, he made no secret of his love for the herb.

NFL players are required to be routinely tested for
performance-enhancing drugs.  They are also tested for drugs for which are, according to the dominant mythology,
performance-impeding.

Except, the players who test positive for marijuana, like Williams, are frequently at the top of their game.  Yes, he appears to have broken some rules, but those rules are tied to
political/pharmacological correctness, not player safety or fairness on the field.

Instead of lamenting Williams' supposed lack of self-control, some commentators recognize the absurdity.  In a piece posted at Alternet (see http://www.alternet.org/drugreporter/32756/ ) Mike Beacom lauds Williams as a light of non-conformity in the world of pro athletics.

"He is human first, football player second, and there are far too few of those in the NFL, or any league these days," Beacom writes.

Perhaps that's true.  Maybe it's not. But I can say for certain that the NFL demonstrates much more concern about reputations tarnished by drug war expectations than it does about brains bruised during play.  When it comes to marijuana off the field, the league sees its players as temples not to be defiled; but once they hit field, they're pieces of meat who are supposed to play through the pain.

If trends continue, the ultimate irony could arrive in a few years when the DEA comes after some of those retired, broken bodies and their doctors for the alleged overuse of pain medication.  Some colleagues who now gravely wag fingers at Ricky Williams for his "drug problem," might wish more people like Williams had made at least an attempt to question the drug war.

Stephen "Steve" Young is an editor with DrugSense Weekly.  A new edition of his book Maximizing Harm is scheduled for release soon.


QUOTE OF THE WEEK    (Top)

"Political liberty is good only so far as it produces private liberty." - Samuel Johnson


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