| April, 14, 2006 #445 | ||||||||||||||||||
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NOTE TO READERS: Some DrugSense Weekly staff will be at the NORML Conference in San Francisco next week, so we will not publish a new issue next Friday. We will resume our regular publication schedule on April 28. In the meantime, stay up-to-date at www.drugnews.org | ||||||||||||||||||
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Table of Contents
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DrugSense needs your support to continue this newsletter and many
other important projects - see how you can help at | ||||||||||||||||||
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THIS JUST IN (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
(1) TOUGHER MARIJUANA RESTRICTIONS ADVANCE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Legislature - Bill Would Also Require Signing of Logbook to Buy
Ephedrine-Based Drugs. | ||||||||||||||||||
JUNEAU -- A legislative conference committee on Wednesday denied one last attempt to remove tougher restrictions on marijuana possession from a drug bill before approving a final version of the measure. | ||||||||||||||||||
The bill is meant to curb the manufacture of methamphetamine and give
the state the legal artillery to overturn Alaska Supreme Court
decisions that have made the state's marijuana laws among the most
lenient in the nation. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
The Senate Finance Committee had rolled into the House methamphetamine
bill Murkowski's priority marijuana measure that added harsher
penalties for possession of the drug. | ||||||||||||||||||
The Republican members of the conference committee voted Wednesday
against separating them into separate bills again. Sen. Con Bunde, R-
Anchorage, said the overall goal was to reduce the number of impaired
people in society. | ||||||||||||||||||
"Whether they're high on meth or stoned on pot, it's the same to me,"
Bunde said. | ||||||||||||||||||
Sen. Hollis French, D-Anchorage, attempted to remove from the bill a
list of legislative findings that say the marijuana available today is
much more potent than that of the 1960s and 1970s, and that it may be
addictive. | ||||||||||||||||||
The findings are meant to be used in an attempt to overturn a 31-year- old Supreme Court decision that allows small amounts of marijuana in Alaska homes -- an amount that was later set at 4 ounces. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(2) LANCET CALLS FOR LSD IN LABS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
"Use more psychedelic drugs," is not advice you would expect from your
GP, but that is the call from an influential US medical journal to
researchers. | ||||||||||||||||||
An editorial in the Lancet says that the "demonisation of psychedelic
drugs as a social evil" has stifled vital medical research that would
lead to a better understanding of the brain and better treatments for
conditions such as depression. | ||||||||||||||||||
The journal's editor Richard Horton said he was not advocating
recreational drug use, but championed the benefits of researchers
studying the effects of drugs such as LSD and Ecstasy by using them
themselves in the lab. | ||||||||||||||||||
"The blanket ban on psychedelic drugs enforced in many countries continues to hinder safe and controlled investigation, in a medical environment, of their potential benefits," said the editorial, "...criminalisation of these agents has also led to an excessively cautious approach to further research into their therapeutic benefits." | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(3) DRUG TREATMENT PROGRAM LOWERS JAIL POPULATION (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Taxpayers are saving hundreds of millions of dollars because of Prop.
36's success, study says. | ||||||||||||||||||
The state's 6-year-old program that mandates treatment instead of
prison sentences for drug offenders is dramatically decreasing
California's jail population and saving taxpayers hundreds of millions
of dollars, according to a study released Wednesday. | ||||||||||||||||||
The study, prepared by the left-leaning Justice Policy Institute in
Washington, echoes another report released by UCLA earlier this month
that also touted huge taxpayer savings through doing away with prison
sentences in favor of treatment. That report said the program, which
was passed by voters in 2000 as Proposition 36, saved California $173
million in its first year and $2.50 for every dollar invested since
then. | ||||||||||||||||||
The report by the Justice Policy Institute, which seeks alternatives to
incarceration, said the rate of imprisonment for drug possession
offenses has decreased by more than 34%. It also said that dire
predictions of a rise in violent crime with the passage of Proposition
36 were unfounded. | ||||||||||||||||||
"It really helps to put a context to the debate," said Jason
Ziedenberg, the executive director of the Justice Policy Institute. "I
think people need to understand how many people were in prison in 2000
as opposed to how many there are today and that there has been
progress." | ||||||||||||||||||
The release of the two reports comes at a critical juncture for
supporters who contend that the $120 million earmarked for Proposition
36 by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger when funding runs out this summer is
not adequate. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(4) COLOMBIA THE REAL VICTIM IN FAILED WAR ON DRUGS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Of the thousand shades of green that wash the hills of Tayrona National
Park the lightest is the coca leaf. | ||||||||||||||||||
Seen from the air, mud trails spread like yellow veins into the forest, each ending in burnt black scars. These clearances give way to dense coca fields as the growers move deeper into the primary forest, hacking and slashing as they go. Cocaine labs speckle the high ground, hoisted on stilts and wrapped in black polythene against the rain. | ||||||||||||||||||
These hills that rise out of the Caribbean Sea near Santa Marta in
northern Colombia are the latest front in a losing battle to stop the
"white stuff" that's washing up in ever-greater quantities on the
shores of Britain and beyond. | ||||||||||||||||||
While Europeans are turning in record numbers to cocaine for
recreational purposes, Colombia's environment and its people are paying
the price. The country has been left with three million internal
refugees from drug-fuelled conflicts; a rapidly diminishing rainforest;
the worst landmine problem in the world; and tribes driven from their
homelands deep in the Amazon. Eradication campaigns have driven the
narco-traffickers deeper into the protected national parks, where the
spraying planes are barred from going. | ||||||||||||||||||
Thirty-five years into the US-funded "War on Drugs" and supply of the
industrial world's favourite stimulant remains steady. In Bogota,
Sandro Calvani, head of the UN's Drugs and Serious Crime unit, said
eradication was simply making the traffickers better at farming. "In
the last five years there's been a significant reduction in hectorage .
But the narco-traffickers have responded by caring for the coca plant
better. They're treating them like tea plants." | ||||||||||||||||||
The logic of Washington's war, endorsed by Britain, is to limit demand
by choking the supply line. Billions of Washington dollars have been
spent every year on spraying tens of thousands of hectares with
pesticides, but there has been little or no impact on the street value
of cocaine, according to this year's US State Department narcotics
report. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Domestic News- Policy | ||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (5-8) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Some industries seem to go along with drug testing so as not to rock
the boat, but it looks like one industry may have been pushed too
far. The Federal Aviation Administration wants to expand drug
testing to subcontractors of those who do work for airplane repair
services. Some in the industry are rightly saying the rules are an
expensive waste of time that won't make anyone safer. | ||||||||||||||||||
Other people and organizations are challenging the drug war in general. In Rhode Island, a coalition of groups are calling for saner drug sentencing laws. In Delaware, the state's chief prosecutor stepped down and immediately called the drug war a failure. Sadly, some drug war critics say the effort is failing, but they seem to think the only solution is more resources and more violence. Included in the group, sadly, is U.S. Rep. Henry Hyde, who used to be such a strong advocate for asset forfeiture reform. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(5) FIRMS BATTLE FAA OVER DRUG TESTING (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Approximately once a month, a portable drug- and alcohol-testing lab
arrives at the 64,000-square-foot Kent facility that houses Pacific
Propeller International ( PPI ). | ||||||||||||||||||
Workplace Systems, an independent testing consortium that PPI pays a
$1,000 annual fee plus $20 per test, selects a handful of employees
at random to provide breath and urine samples. The lab screens the
samples to ensure PPI's workers are clean and sober, per government
mandate. The Federal Aviation Administration ( FAA ) has required
aircraft-repair shops to administer drug tests to employees who
perform "safety-sensitive" work since 1990; it added alcohol tests
in 1995. | ||||||||||||||||||
PPI maintains and overhauls high-tech propellers that power both short-range commercial aircraft and military transports, so President Jeff Heikke accepts the tests as a necessary cost of doing business. Though the expense is not onerous, Heikke said, the program requires extensive recordkeeping and is frequently audited. | ||||||||||||||||||
"It's quite a bit of paperwork and dotting of i's," Heikke said. Now
the FAA wants to extend its drug-testing program, and PPI is not
pleased. The 60-year-old company is one of four plaintiffs suing the
federal government to block a rule change that the aircraft-repair
industry thinks will create "a drug- and alcohol-testing regime that
is irrational, unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious." | ||||||||||||||||||
An FAA regulation slated to take effect Monday would require that
any subcontractors hired by repair stations start testing workers
who handle "safety-sensitive" tasks. | ||||||||||||||||||
"The testing should follow the work," said Laura Brown, an FAA
spokeswoman. | ||||||||||||||||||
The agency put its motives more starkly in federal documents: "Only
one link in the safety chain would have to fail for an accident to
occur." Backing up its concerns, the FAA said around 18,000
maintenance workers tested positive for drugs in the first 15 years
of the program. Roughly 540 other workers tested positive for
alcohol from 1995 to 2004. PPI, the Aeronautical Repair Station
Association ( ARSA ) and their supporters counter that testing
subcontractors will add onerous costs and bureaucracy but do nothing
to improve safety. | ||||||||||||||||||
"It's a silly rule," Heikke said. "It's really affecting vendors
that have no airworthiness content." | ||||||||||||||||||
What's more, they say, the new rule could cause U.S. airlines to outsource more work to foreign repair stations, since FAA drug and alcohol rules do not apply to maintenance shops outside the U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(6) DRUG WAR TERMED A FAILURE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Bill Would Roll Back Mandatory Sentencing | ||||||||||||||||||
PROVIDENCE -- Residents, civil-rights advocates and community
leaders held a news conference at the State House yesterday to
announce widespread support for legislation that would eliminate
mandatory minimum drug sentences and allow judges more discretion in
doling out punishment. | ||||||||||||||||||
The event, which was hosted by Direct Action for Rights & Equality (DARE), coincided with the introduction this week of House and Senate bills by Rep. Joseph Almeida and Sen. Harold Metts. | ||||||||||||||||||
"For over 30 years, this country and this state have been fighting
an ill-conceived war against drugs," Steven Brown, executive
director of the Rhode Island Affiliate of the American Civil
Liberties Union, told the audience. | ||||||||||||||||||
The fight consisted of poorly conceived laws, such as mandatory
minimum sentences, that were designed to reduce drug use and
distribution. | ||||||||||||||||||
However, Brown said, enforcement of the laws has been arbitrary and
capricious -- consistent only in the resulting discriminatory effect
that they have had on people of color and the poor. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(7) OPED: ARE WE LOSING THE WAR? (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Despite Millions of Dollars and Crowded Prisons, Drugs Are Still a
Problem | ||||||||||||||||||
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Drug profiteers are parasites on American society. The removal of corner street dealers, or larger regional distributors, or of international drug cartels has provided minimal temporary relief in that the profit motive will always provide a replacement. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(8) HYDE SAYS WAR ON DRUGS 'ADRIFT' (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
The chairman of the House International Relations Committee says the
Bush administration is claiming a "premature victory" in the war
against Colombian drug traffickers and diverting its focus to the
Middle East. | ||||||||||||||||||
"I am concerned our efforts to fight the scourge of illegal
narcotics seem to be adrift in our hemisphere," said Rep. Henry J.
Hyde, Illinois Republican. "After five years of Plan Colombia, we
are finally seeing success in our war on drugs. | ||||||||||||||||||
"Unfortunately, these positive results seem to have lulled the
administration into a false sense of security, causing it to claim
premature victory in Colombia and turn its attention to the Middle
East and elsewhere," Mr. Hyde said. "By doing this, it is likely to
turn a winning hand into a losing one." | ||||||||||||||||||
Plan Colombia is a multibillion-dollar anti-drug initiative that
includes interdiction efforts and an aerial fumigation program to
eradicate coca, the source of cocaine. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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Law Enforcement & Prisons | ||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (9-12) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Last week, a North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled that giving consent to a car search does not equal giving consent to dismantle a vehicle; the Washington Post discovered the horrors associated with plastic roses in small glass tubes; and more police deception and corruption were exposed as standard byproducts of the drug war. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(9) VAN SEARCH EXCEEDED LEGAL LIMITS (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
A man arrested in Robeson County with about 22 pounds of cocaine
could go free because the N.C. Court of Appeals ruled the search of
his van was illegal. | ||||||||||||||||||
Under the ruling, the court said that someone who gives an officer
permission to search a vehicle is not granting the authority to take
it apart in the hunt for drugs. | ||||||||||||||||||
According to the court ruling, Tony Simmons Johnson was pulled over
by Robeson County detective Steven Lovin on Aug. 13, 2003, when
Lovin noticed that his Plymouth van's license plate was partly
obscured. | ||||||||||||||||||
Lovin wrote Johnson a warning ticket and asked if he could search
the vehicle. Johnson told him "Yeah," the record says. | ||||||||||||||||||
Lovin and Deputy James Hunt searched the van. No drugs were in plain
view. But Hunt partly disassembled the van and found the cocaine
hidden inside the wall between the interior trim and the sheet
metal. | ||||||||||||||||||
Johnson's lawyer, Hubert N. Rogers, tried to block the cocaine from being presented as evidence. The judge ruled against him, so Johnson pleaded guilty to trafficking in cocaine. Superior Court Judge Frank Floyd sentenced him to serve at least 14 years, seven months. | ||||||||||||||||||
The Court of Appeals, citing previous cases, said that when a driver
gives an officer permission to search his car, the search can be
thorough, but it's unreasonable for that search to include taking
apart the car. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(10) A FAKE ROSE IN A GLASS TUBE GIVES ROOT TO ILLEGAL ACTIVITY (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
At an Exxon station in Southeast Washington, behind a thick pane of
protective glass, an attendant in a white Yankees cap peddles chips,
cheap cigars and fake roses inside tiny glass tubes. | ||||||||||||||||||
The little cloth flower looks like a novelty item, something a
smitten teenager might buy his sweetheart. But the rose is a ruse,
police say, a distraction to be thrown away. The real attraction is
the four-inch-long tube that holds the flower. It's a thinly
disguised crack pipe, law enforcement officials say. | ||||||||||||||||||
Convenience stores, liquor stores and gas stations in crack-infested neighborhoods in the Washington area sell what the street calls "rosebuds" or "stems" for $1 to $2. For an extra $1 or so, a crack user can buy a golf-ball-size wad of scouring pad for a filter -- the "Chore Boy" or "Chore," named after an unlucky brand. | ||||||||||||||||||
"I kind of laughed the first time I saw one," said Sgt. John Brennan
of the D.C. police narcotics unit. "They're always trying to beat
us. They're always thinking of new things." | ||||||||||||||||||
And authorities and activists are always there to fight them:
Anacostia residents, with the help of the Korean American Business
Association, have launched a campaign to stop the sale of the
rosebuds, and D.C. Council members introduced legislation yesterday
to toughen the drug parahernalia laws. | ||||||||||||||||||
D.C. police say it is unclear whether the rosebuds are intended as
harmless trinkets, but they say they have never seen them used as
anything but crack pipes. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(11) OFFICER POSING AS HIGH SCHOOLER LEADS DRUG STING (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
9 Are Arrested in Falmouth | ||||||||||||||||||
FALMOUTH -- She was new in school, a demure blonde with a sob story. | ||||||||||||||||||
With her mother dead and father chronically absent, the girl said,
she needed to get high to kill the pain. For three months, students
at Falmouth High bought her story and sold her the drugs she said
she needed. | ||||||||||||||||||
But yesterday, the real story emerged. | ||||||||||||||||||
The girl who some students yesterday said they knew as Keane was in
fact a fresh-faced cop whose three months at Falmouth High School
culminated before the start of classes yesterday when nine teenage
boys were led out of their homes in handcuffs on charges of selling
her marijuana and ecstasy. | ||||||||||||||||||
Police had decided on the strategy in response to some parents'
complaints about rampant drug use at Falmouth High School. But the
tactic enraged other parents, who said the teens had been lured in
by a dishonest and manipulative police sting inappropriate for a
public high school. | ||||||||||||||||||
"My kid was impressed by this pretty undercover drug officer," said
the mother of a 16-year-old Falmouth student arraigned yesterday in
juvenile court. | ||||||||||||||||||
"He has issues with low self-esteem, and this pretty girl gave him
attention," said the mother. "He wanted to impress her by providing
her with what she needed. The approach by the police was not
justified. Drugs may be a problem at the school, but they have to
change their approach." | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(12) OFFICERS IN CORRUPTION CASE GUILTY OF GUN, DRUG CHARGES (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Federal Convictions Could Keep Former Partners in Jail For Life | ||||||||||||||||||
Detectives William A. King and Antonio L. Murray tried to explain it
all. Their names surfaced in the infamous Stop Snitching video
because they said drug peddlers feared them. They stole cocaine and
heroin to give to informants because they said their training
endorsed it. Their own police department abandoned them because,
they said, commanders dare not admit that cracking the drug trade
means breaking the rules. | ||||||||||||||||||
Yesterday, a jury in U.S. District Court in Baltimore rejected every
one of those explanations and convicted the Baltimore police
officers of acting no better than the drug dealers they were sworn
to arrest. Convicted on federal charges of carrying a gun during
multiple robberies and conspiracy to sell drugs, King and Murray
could spend the rest of their lives in prison. The guilty verdicts
for running a renegade drug operation were an extraordinary turn of
fate for King, the son of a police officer, and Murray, who had been
shot in the line of duty and returned to uniform only to face a slew
of public corruption charges. | ||||||||||||||||||
Their superiors once viewed King and Murray, both 35, as a
well-oiled team, selecting them to root out drugs in the
department's new public housing unit. Jurors decided they were also
ruthless partners in crime. "They had an opportunity to accept
responsibility for what they had done," said Maryland U.S. Attorney
Rod J. Rosenstein, whose office shepherded the FBI investigation and
brought the case to trial. "But they didn't want to. They took the
stand, and the jury very resoundingly rejected them and didn't
believe them." | ||||||||||||||||||
In a packed but somber courtroom, King was found guilty on all but one of the charges in the 33-count indictment against him. Jurors found Murray, who played a less prominent role in the conspiracy, guilty on all but two of the 15 counts he faced in the indictment. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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Cannabis & Hemp- | ||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (13-16) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
We start this week with an entertaining and comprehensive story on
the 4th Clinical Conference on Cannabis Therapeutics (at which this
author presented recently published research). Fred Gardner's
article looks at the emerging clinical applications for cannabis,
and then reviews the current progress of the U.S.' 12 med-cannabis
states. Next some worrying news from Nevada's Las Vegas
Review-Journal, who report that a poll commissioned by Mason-Dixon
Polling and Research suggests that 56% of voters oppose an upcoming
fall ballot initiative that would legalize possession of one ounce
of cannabis for adults over 21 years old. | ||||||||||||||||||
Our nest story outlines a new bill that would give British Columbia
municipalities the power to access residential electricity records
without a warrant, and then pass on suspicious consumption rates to
police to help then to track down cannabis grow-ops. Bill 25
(otherwise known as the Safety Standards Amendment Act) has drawn
strong opposition from the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, who
expressed serious concern about further erosion to privacy rights.
And lastly this week, good news from Emeryville, CA where a medical
user named James Blair has won a $15,000 settlement from the city as
a result of a grow-op bust in 2003. It seems that the local police
had seized Blair's plants and equipment in the raid, and then were
subsequently unable to return it when it was stolen from a storage
locker. | ||||||||||||||||||
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(13) CONTINUING MEDICAL EDUCATION (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Given the cannabis-free curriculum provided by U.S. medical and
nursing schools, "continuing education" is not the apt term, but
more than 100 healthcare providers (including 40 MDs) will receive
credit for attending a conference on cannabis therapeutics at Santa
Barbara Community College April 7-8. | ||||||||||||||||||
The event was organized by Al Byrne and Mary Lynn Mathre of Patients
Out of Time, a Virginia-based advocacy group, with help from David
Bearman, MD, and students from Santa Barbara1s NORML chapter led by
Loren Vazquez. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(14) LEGALIZATION INITIATIVE: MARIJUANA MEASURE OPPOSED (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Nevadans strongly oppose a ballot question to legalize the
possession of one ounce or less of marijuana by adults 21 and older,
a Review-Journal poll shows. | ||||||||||||||||||
The poll found just 34 percent favor the question placed on this
November's election ballot by the Committee to Regulate and Control
Marijuana. The measure is opposed by 56 percent of 625 Nevadans who
responded to the poll; 10 percent are undecided. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
But Neal Levine, campaign manager for the Committee to Regulate and
Control Marijuana, said the results "don't jibe" with his internal
polls. | ||||||||||||||||||
"We know we have a tough road to climb, but I don't think we are
that far behind," he said. | ||||||||||||||||||
Levine said legalizing marijuana would take the drug out of the hands of illegal drug dealers and submit it to state regulation. | ||||||||||||||||||
"There are people who are going to smoke marijuana, regardless of
the law," he said. "Are we going to continue to let criminal gangs
benefit financially? We think we are putting forward a sensible
proposal to a failed marijuana policy." | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(15) NEW HYDRO LAW ON GROW OPS DEBATED (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
A newly proposed law aimed at locating marijuana grow operations
could be a valuable weapon in the battle to drive them from the
North Shore, say authorities, but the proposed rule change is also
raising hackles among privacy advocates. | ||||||||||||||||||
If passed Bill 25, The Safety Standards Amendment Act, introduced in
the provincial legislature Thursday, will grant municipalities the
right to access electricity records of BC Hydro customers without
going through the judicial system. Under the proposed law, local
governments could then pass on any of that information to their
police force for further investigation. | ||||||||||||||||||
The law is meant to make it easier for police to spot grow ops,
which typically devour power at a high rate, but the move has civil
liberties advocates fuming. | ||||||||||||||||||
"Anything I do in my home is my business. It's nobody else's unless
the state has a compelling interest and justification for accessing
my information," said Murray Mollard, executive director of the B.C.
Civil Liberties Union. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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(16) CITY SETTLES CASE OF SEIZED, STOLEN MEDICAL MARIJUANA (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
The city of Emeryville has paid $15,000 to settle a suit by a medical marijuana patient whose pot plants and indoor cultivation equipment were seized by police from his apartment in 2003. | ||||||||||||||||||
James Blair was arrested and jailed on suspicion of growing marijuana for sale. But the charges were dropped in February 2004 when the Alameda County district attorney's office learned that he had his doctor's approval to use the drug, his lawyer, Joe Elford of the advocacy group Americans for Safe Access, said Wednesday. | ||||||||||||||||||
Elford said Blair takes marijuana to ease back spasms from a broken
neck he suffered in a diving accident. | ||||||||||||||||||
Blair asked for the return of his equipment and 30 plants, but
police told him most of it had been lost in a burglary at a storage
facility, Elford said. | ||||||||||||||||||
When Blair sued for compensation, the city argued that it had no
obligation to return drugs that are illegal under federal law. The
city settled after an Alameda County judge refused to dismiss the
case. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
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International News | ||||||||||||||||||
COMMENT: (17-21) (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
In British Columbia (B.C.) Canada, commentators could hardly
believe it: here was a former police chief, a loyal soldier in
the war on drugs, who dares to say the obvious. The war on
drugs is a failure, says Norman Stamper, former Seattle police
chief who talked this week in B.C. "We have spent $1 trillion
prosecuting the war on drugs -- $67 billion to $69 billion a
year to wage this unwinnable war. ... It is an obscene amount
of money and for what?" Prohibition, noted Stamper, "doesn't
work because it can't work." Some B.C. police even seem to
agree. "Obviously, we're all looking for another solution
because we live in a narcocentric universe. Clearly, we can't
arrest our way out of this problem," stated Victoria Deputy
Police Chief Bill Naughton. | ||||||||||||||||||
Peruvian presidential candidate Ollanta Humala, who favors
re-legalizing the farming of coca, will face several other
candidates in runoff elections, after no candidate took a majority
of votes in this elections last week. Ollanta, who leads with some
30% of the vote, was favored by popular Venezuelan president Hugo
Chavez. In addition to allowing the farming of coca, Humala has
alarmed Washington by promising to renegotiate foreign oil and
mineral contracts. | ||||||||||||||||||
We include this week an interview of Danny Kushlick which appeared
in the Cambridge Evening News, in the UK. Kushlick, a former drugs
worker saw firsthand the effects of punitive drug laws, later
founded the Transform Drug Policy organization. "As a drugs worker I
found heavy users' problems were created or compounded by the fact
drugs were illegal." Jailing drug users, "has had the same results
as the prohibition of alcohol - only a thousand times worse. ...
"Drug prohibition has been a disaster from Kabul to Cambridge and
Bogota to Brixton." | ||||||||||||||||||
And finally this week, we report on a sadly all-too-typical event.
Police (this time in the Mediterranean isle of Cyprus) beat two
young men so badly the men both had broken arms, one a broken face.
The men, police claimed, hurt themselves, you see. While the men
filed complaints (to police), the investigation went nowhere (as
such investigations usually go). Until a video of the beatings
emerged, that is. Police lied copiously on their reports: the men,
it could be seen, were handcuffed before they were beaten to bloody
pulps. As is customary, "drugs" were the reason police gave. The
cops "claimed the men's behavior gave them cause to believe they
were on drugs and they called in the drugs squad to search their
vehicles." No drugs were found. | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
(17) U.S. COP BRINGS CAMPAIGN TO LEGALIZE DRUGS TO CITY HALL (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
A former Seattle police chief who advocates legalizing all drugs,
including crystal meth and heroin, has reservations about proposals
to provide free booze to chronic alcoholics. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
Stamper said he had some concerns about focusing on a drug (alcohol)
already regulated when he and the organization Law Enforcement
Against Prohibition (LEAP) are trying to end prohibition of illegal
drugs. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
In Victoria "wet" housing -- a place where people can live and don't have to stay sober -- has been suggested for homeless alcoholics. | ||||||||||||||||||
Stamper, now a spokesman for LEAP, told a lunchtime audience at
Victoria City Hall that the so-called war on drugs, declared by
former U.S. president Richard Nixon in 1970, is outrageously
expensive; has never worked and will never work. | ||||||||||||||||||
"We have spent $1 trillion prosecuting the war on drugs -- $67
billion to $69 billion a year to wage this unwinnable war. ... It is
an obscene amount of money and for what? | ||||||||||||||||||
"Drug prohibition, I have come to believe very strongly, doesn't
work because it can't work," he said. | ||||||||||||||||||
Victoria Deputy Police Chief Bill Naughton was one of several
Victoria police in the audience. Naughton, who has read Stamper's
book, met with him before his talk. | ||||||||||||||||||
"Obviously, we're all looking for another solution because we live
in a narcocentric universe. Clearly, we can't arrest our way out of
this problem," Naughton said. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
(18) U.S. DRUG WAR A BUST: EX-COP (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Vancouver's Methods Praised But America's Programs Get | ||||||||||||||||||
A former Seattle police chief yesterday condemned his country's war
on drugs and advocated wholesale decriminalization. | ||||||||||||||||||
"Prohibition does not work now, never has worked, and never will work," said Norman Stamper at Vancouver's Fraser Institute. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
He pointed out that drugs are already easily accessible, and said regulating them would take organized crime out of the picture. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
(19) HUMALA FACING RUNOFF IN TIGHT PERU PRESIDENTIAL VOTE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
LIMA, Peru -- The polls have closed and the ballot count is
underway. But Peruvians will have to wait at least a month until
they know who will be their next president. | ||||||||||||||||||
With more than 80% of the votes tallied Monday, Ollanta Humala, 43,
a retired army officer supported by many of the country's indigenous
and mixed-race poor, led with 30.3%, Peru's election authority said.
Alan Garcia, 56, a center-left former president, was second with
24.9%. Conservative congresswoman Lourdes Flores, 46, was close with | ||||||||||||||||||
Humala was endorsed by Hugo Chvez, Venezuela's militantly anti-U.S.
president. He has pledged to renegotiate the contracts of foreign
mining and oil companies, rewrite the constitution to take away
powers from the ruling classes and legalize farming of coca, the
plant used to make cocaine. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
(20) BAN ON DRUGS 'IS BIG PART OF THE PROBLEM' (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
DANNY Kushlick set up the Transform Drug Policy Unit 10 years ago to
give a voice to those who believe prohibition of drugs does more to
compound the problems they bring than solve them. | ||||||||||||||||||
He said: "As a drugs worker I found heavy users' problems were
created or compounded by the fact drugs were illegal. | ||||||||||||||||||
"I began to ask some fairly naive questions to try to establish what
evidence supported prohibition, and I discovered the laws are based
on no evidence whatsoever - just history. | ||||||||||||||||||
"The criminalisation of drugs, which makes addiction a matter for
the criminal justice system rather than the health service, has had
the same results as the prohibition of alcohol - only a thousand
times worse." | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
"Drug prohibition has been a disaster from Kabul to Cambridge and
Bogota to Brixton. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
(21) 'TANTAMOUNT TO TORTURE' (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
OMBUDSWOMAN Eliana Nicolaou said yesterday the treatment of two
young men mercilessly beaten by plain clothes officers last year was
tantamount to torture. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
The statement was made yesterday morning during a news conference to
announce the findings of her report regarding the December 20
beating of two 27-year-old men in Nicosia. | ||||||||||||||||||
Marcos Papageorgiou and his friend, Yiannis Nicolaou, were beaten
just off Armenias Street by plain clothes officers after they
"resisted arrest" during an ID check. The incident was videotaped by
an anonymous witness and widely broadcast on television 10 days ago.
It shows the two handcuffed youths being punched and kicked
senseless by several officers. | ||||||||||||||||||
Both men ended up in hospital and had their left arms put in casts.
Pagageorgiou also underwent maxillofacial surgery. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
She added the men's behaviour could in no way be connected to the officers' abuse, because they were unable to react while handcuffed. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
She also expressed concern that the officers had blatantly lied
about what had happened and colluded to hide the truth. | ||||||||||||||||||
Unsurprisingly, the accounts given by the two victims and that of
the five arresting officers - four MMAD (Mobile Rapid Reaction Unit)
officers and one female police constable from Lakatamia-Orinis
police station - are very different. The latter claimed the youths
had harmed themselves by thrashing about on the floor. They denied
exercising any violence - including reasonable force - and said they
did not see any other officer using any violence. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
The police claimed the men's behaviour gave them cause to believe
they were on drugs and they called in the drugs squad to search
their vehicles, but admitted no traces of drugs were found in either
car. | ||||||||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
HOT OFF THE 'NET (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
TWO YEARS IN JAIL FOR A JOINT? | ||||||||||||||||||
By Anthony Papa, AlterNet. Posted April 14, 2006. | ||||||||||||||||||
The drug war, and the hard-nosed zealots who wage it, have reached
new lows in Massachusetts. | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
WATCH LORETTA NALL ON WAKA CHANNEL 8'S "TALK BACK" | ||||||||||||||||||
http://nallforgovernor.blogspot.com/2006/04/talk-back-video.html | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
MARC EMERY INTERVIEWS NORM STAMPER | ||||||||||||||||||
Marc is joined by Norm Stamper, ex Chief of Police in Seattle and
currently on tour to promote his book "Breaking Rank" an expose on
the darker side of policing. At the same time he is promoting L.E.A.P.
(Law Enforcement Against Prohibition)and is a tireless advocate of
ending the Drug War. | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
THE MIND-BODY CONNECTION | ||||||||||||||||||
The 4th National Clinical Conference on Cannabis Therapeutics | ||||||||||||||||||
Presented by the Drug Truth Network | ||||||||||||||||||
The Doctors | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
The Nurses | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
The Patients | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
CULTURAL BAGGAGE RADIO SHOW | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
Listen Live Fridays 8:00 PM, ET, 7:00 CT, 6:00 MT & 5:00 PT at
http://www.KPFT.org/ | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
JUST CHECK NO? | ||||||||||||||||||
A lie college students might want to tell. | ||||||||||||||||||
By Ryan Grim | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
TAKING THE "DRUG WAR"... SERIOUSLY | ||||||||||||||||||
By John Fugelsang | ||||||||||||||||||
http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/20060414/cm_huffpost/019082 | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
WHAT YOU CAN DO THIS WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
BE A NEWSHAWK FOR MAP/DRUGSENSE | ||||||||||||||||||
The Media Awareness Project of DrugSense relies on volunteers to follow print media and submit articles that would be interesting to other advocates fighting against the drug war. Don't let your fellow activists miss out on any big news - If you see important stories, please hawk them. Full instructions provided at the following link. | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
LETTER OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
WAR ON DRUGS' SIDE EFFECTS MAKE EFFORT INEFFECTIVE | ||||||||||||||||||
By Daniel Insdorf | ||||||||||||||||||
A recent headline touts, "Task Force Cracks Major Cocaine Ring." The
Polk County High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area supposedly shut
down a major cocaine-trafficking ring. As a former law enforcement
officer, I was not impressed. | ||||||||||||||||||
This useless and senseless waste of money and manpower exemplifies the futility of the war on illegal drugs. The confiscation of $1 million in marijuana and cocaine will do absolutely nothing to stem the flow. Not a single drug user will have any more difficulty obtaining these substances as a result of this costly police action. | ||||||||||||||||||
The only effect will be a temporary increase in the price and a
corresponding rise in crime. Drug users will have to break into more
houses, steal more cars and rob more people to cover the additional
cost. Drug addicts are basically lazy people with only one goal in
mind, and that is to use drugs. They do not want to commit crimes,
but the system forces them to do so. | ||||||||||||||||||
This writer, having served in law enforcement on the local, state
and federal levels, believes that the lack of willingness to stop
the drug trafficking is calculated. There is simply too much money
involved. It is big business. | ||||||||||||||||||
Many smaller countries could not survive without American drug
dollars floating their economies. There are many neighborhoods in
the United States that depend heavily on the drug trade and the
money it brings to the community. | ||||||||||||||||||
The occasional police actions, which are for show, only create more
problems for law-abiding citizens. | ||||||||||||||||||
DANIEL INSDORF Winter Haven | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
LETTER WRITER OF THE MONTH - MARCH (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
DrugSense recognizes Jack A. Cole, from Medford, Massachusetts for
his five published letters during March, which brings his total
published letters that we know of to twelve. Jack is the Executive
Director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition | ||||||||||||||||||
You may read his published letters at: | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
FEATURE ARTICLE (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
Is Addiction Real? | ||||||||||||||||||
By M. Simon | ||||||||||||||||||
Is addiction real? A very interesting question.I think there is an
answer to that question. Obviously I think the answer is not in the
affirmative. Why? Well there in lies a tale. | ||||||||||||||||||
For me it started with Dr. Lonnie Shavelson. In July of 2001 I read
a review of his book "Hooked" and learned some things. One of the
things I learned was that in his sample of female heroin users 70%
were sexually molested before they started heroin use. He also found
that male heroin users were 25 to 50 times more likely to have been
sexually abused than the general population. I wrote an article on
the subject called Heroin ( | ||||||||||||||||||
The next piece of the puzzle came to me in November of 2002 when I
read this report, | ||||||||||||||||||
What I figured out from the report is that the reason drugs are
addictive (long term use) for some and not others was based on
genetics. A very big key to the puzzle of addiction. In the past the
fact that some get addicted and others do not was ascribed to the
"addictive personality". Now no one could tell you what an addictive
personality was. It couldn't be defined. So in fact it was mumbo
jumbo. I now had another piece of the puzzle. However twin studies
showed that genetics only accounted for 50% of the cause for
addiction. What was the other 50%? Pretty obvious from Dr.
Shavelson's report. Trauma. | ||||||||||||||||||
Well that lead me to look deeper into the genetics aspect. I wrote
an article: Genetic Discrimination, | ||||||||||||||||||
Looking further into the opiate question I looked into endorphins,
the body's natural heroin, and how the body produces them. Sex,
food, and exercise. And of course we know about sex junkies, food
junkies, and even exercise junkies.I wrote about that in an article
called Big Mac Heroin Attack, | ||||||||||||||||||
What about stimulants? Stimulants seem to work well for people with
ADD/ADHD problems. Of course this has got the pharma folks in full
hue and cry mode against street drugs (see The War On Unpantented
Drugs - | ||||||||||||||||||
To sum up: 1. We now know that severe PTSD may be the cause of 70% or more of heroin use. 2. We know that there is a genetic connection. 3. We know there is a trauma connection. 4. We know that stimulants treat a different class of problems than opiates | ||||||||||||||||||
What I have done is come up with a hypothesis that fits the facts.
Why some people and not others are susceptible to addiction (as
opposed to habituation which we know how to treat: Detox).
Surprisingly this is a Well Known Secret, | ||||||||||||||||||
What we do not know is the true extent of the problem. Exactly how
much of what we call addiction is due trauma/genetics? We don't know
the answer because the problem is not being studied in any
systematic way. We have the most information on pot/PTSD and
stimulants/ADD-ADHD. A very few studies on opiates. Most studies so
far have been anecdotal rather than statistical. The reason in my
opinion is that there is no research money out there to make a
statistical study of the self medication hypothesis. Such studies
would be very expensive if they included DNA work ups and extensive
interviews. | ||||||||||||||||||
Self medication appears to be a very large part of our "addiction"
problem. In fact we may not even have an addiction problem. What we
may have is seriously under-treated population with various mental
problems caused by imbalances in the brain. | ||||||||||||||||||
What is needed is more research. The only way we will get that any
time soon is to pressure the government.Obviously the drug companies
have no interest in finding out what addiction is because it will
impact their bottom line if people take drugs for Problem Solving.
In fact there are a lot of actors in this farce who would stand to
lose big if such a study showed what I expect it might. The only
folks to benefit would be "addicts." And they don't have much of a
lobby in Washington. | ||||||||||||||||||
M. Simon is an industrial controls engineer and proprietor of the
Power And Control blog, http://powerandcontrol.blogspot.com/,
which explores drug policy and a variety of other topics. He is
looking for a publisher to print a collection of his writings on
addiction. | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
QUOTE OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||||||||
"Why is there so much controversy about drug testing? I know plenty
of guys who would be willing to test any drug they could come up
with." - George Carlin | ||||||||||||||||||
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