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DrugSense Weekly
July 21, 2006 #458


Table of Contents

* Breaking News (03/29/24)


* This Just In


(1) Police Raid Holy Smoke
(2) Police Release A New Policy For Drug Crimes
(3) Rules Relaxed For Industrial Hemp Growing
(4) Boston Officers Accused Of 'Selling Badges' To Drug Dealers

* Weekly News in Review


Drug Policy-

COMMENT: (5-9)
(5) 'Crack Tax' Struck Down
(6) Court Halts New Law On Drug Terms
(7) Rumsfeld Links Drugs, Taliban
(8) More Schools Test For Drugs
(9) Fabrizi Forfeits Raise After Cocaine Admission

Law Enforcement & Prisons-

COMMENT: (10-14)
(10) Sharp Dip Noted In Meth Labs, But Not In Availability Of Drugs
(11) Border Bribery Cases Worry U.S. Officials
(12) OPED: Setting Kingpins Free
(13) Drug Overdoses Are Outpacing Homicides
(14) Drug Lieutenant Breaks Long Silence

Cannabis & Hemp-

COMMENT: (15-19)
(15) Prosecutors Take A Tough Line On Cannabis Supplied To Relieve Pain
(16) Pima Couple Uses Freedom Of Religion To Fight Drug Charges
(17) No Medical Cannabis At Fisherman's Wharf
(18) Bill's Authors Are Trying To Rope In Support For Hemp
(19) Eco-Store Strives To Retail Hemp, Dissolve Myths

International News-

COMMENT: (20-24)
(20) Greens In A Heroin Trial Plan
(21) Heroin Policy 'Loopy'
(22) Australia Backs Safe Injection Program
(23) Harper Gets Invite To Tour Safe-Injection Site
(24) 'Prison System Needs To Expand'

* Hot Off The 'Net


    Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids In America
    Hallucinogens And Medicine
    Cultural Baggage Radio Show
    What  Would  Jesus Do? Religious Communities As Drug Reform Allies
    Who Would Jesus Incarcerate?

* What You Can Do This Week


    Be A MAP Newshawk
    Job Opportunities At MPP

* Letter Of The Week


    Marijuana Case: Asset Laws An Unjust Way Of Bringing About
    Justice / By D.H. Michon

* Feature Article


    The 'Just Say No' Approach Is No Good / By Robert Sharpe

* Quote of the Week


    Harry Emerson Fosdick

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THIS JUST IN    (Top)

(1) POLICE RAID HOLY SMOKE    (Top)

THE WAR ON DRUGS: Saturday night arrest once again shines the spotlight on controversial Herridge Lane shop

Nelson City Police raided Holy Smoke Saturday evening and arrested Paul DeFelice, one of the controversial culture shop's three owners.

DeFelice was charged with trafficking and possession of a substance and spent four hours in lock-up while police conducted a search of Holy Smoke.  DeFelice is not permitted within 50 metres of the store.

"It was a bit frightening at first because this unmarked SUV just came barreling straight at me.  I was almost being run down on Herridge Lane, said DeFelice, who was alone at the Holy Smoke store when the police tracked him down.  "Then about four, maybe five cops - I couldn't quite keep track of them - all jumped out at once.  It instantly turned into a Trailer Park Boys scene."

Speaking on his day off, Sgt.  Steve Bank confirmed that the warrant was executed and DeFelice was charged, but could not provide greater detail as it could jeopardize his investigation.

"The warrant was for trafficking in a substance," said Bank, adding that the substance was marijuana.  "Further arrests are imminent."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 19 Jul 2006
Source:   Nelson Daily News (CN BC)
Copyright:   2006 Nelson Daily News
Website:   http://www.nelsondailynews.com/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/288
Author:   Sara Newham
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n948.a02.html


(2) POLICE RELEASE A NEW POLICY FOR DRUG CRIMES    (Top)

Focus on arresting dealers, not quiet users

Vancouver police are making it their official policy not to arrest people for quietly using drugs, but to focus instead on those who sell and make them.

The new policy, unveiled yesterday, also says drug prevention is one pillar of the city's Four Pillars drug policy that is being overlooked.

"A person's behaviour, rather than the unlawful possession or use, should be the primary factor in determining whether to lay a charge," Insp.  Scott Thompson, the Vancouver Police Department's drug policy co-ordinator, said yesterday.

[snip]

"If you're a drug addict, that's one thing.  But if you're a drug addict who stands and bothers people, and overtly displays bad behaviour, that's going to trigger the next stage."

[snip]

Deputy Chief Const.  Doug LePard said officers will take drug users to the safe-injection site instead of down to the station.

[snip]

The Vancouver Police Board will vote on the policy in September.

Pubdate:   Thursday, July 20, 2006
Source:   Province, The (CN BC)
Website:   http://www.canada.com/theprovince/
Author:   John Bermingham
Webpage:   http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=b5640c14-69d6-4ee9-8986-4160faeff270


(3) RULES RELAXED FOR INDUSTRIAL HEMP GROWING    (Top)

The rules around the commercial cultivation of industrial hemp are being relaxed.

Industrial hemp is a low-drug variety of the marijuana plant.

The Health Ministry's medicine regulatory agency Medsafe said that from August 1 it would be implementing a new but less onerous regulatory regime for the cultivation, processing and distribution of industrial hemp as an agricultural crop.

But those who wished to grow, trade in or process hemp would still need to be licensed.

Medsafe compliance team leader Derek Fitzgerald said individuals and organisations would be allowed to grow hemp for industrial purposes and research under certain conditions.

"The new regulations - the Misuse of Drugs (Industrial Hemp) Regulations 2006 and the Misuse of Drugs Amendment Regulations 2006 - take into account the low drug content of hemp, which was previously subjected to the same strict controls as those placed on illicit cannabis," he said.

"They seek to balance growers' appeal for practical and reasonable requirements against the need to maintain adequate controls on hemp seed and plants."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 20 Jul 2006
Source:   New Zealand Herald (New Zealand)
Copyright:   2006 New Zealand Herald
Website:   http://www.nzherald.co.nz/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/300
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/find?330 (Hemp - Outside U.S.)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n950.a06.html


(4) BOSTON OFFICERS ACCUSED OF 'SELLING BADGES' TO DRUG DEALERS    (Top)

Three Boston police officers are accused of "selling their badges" to drug traffickers in a far-reaching corruption case that includes charges of identity fraud, money laundering and illegal after-hours parties involving prostitutes, law enforcement officials said today.

Federal agents arrested Roberto Pulido, 41, Nelson Carrasquillo, 35, and Carlos Pizarro, 36, Thursday night in Miami, where they allegedly went to get a $35,000 payment for protecting a drug shipment from Western Massachusetts to Boston, officials said.  The people they met were really undercover FBI agents as part of a sting that also took place in Atlantic City and Boston, officials said.

The officers are each charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute more than 100 kilograms of cocaine.

[snip]

Pulido, the alleged ringleader, is accused of running a criminal enterprise that prosecutors allege included framing a former business partner on drug and gun charges, insurance fraud, illegal alien smuggling and importing steroids.  The corruption probe could extend beyond the three officers as Pulido implicated others in the Boston Police Department during the sting, according to the affidavit.

"The allegations in the complaint reveal an extraordinary breadth of criminal activity by at least one officer and a willingness of other officers to join him in selling their badges to drug dealers," US Attorney Michael J.  Sullivan said at a press conference, adding that officers would face additional charges.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 21 Jul 2006
Source:   Boston Globe (MA)
Website:   http://www.boston.com/globe/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/52
Authors:   Suzanne Smalley and Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff
Webpage:   http://www.boston.com/news/globe/city_region/breaking_news/2006/07/boston_officers_1.html


WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW    (Top)

Domestic News- Policy


COMMENT: (5-9)    (Top)

As noted in this space last year when Tennessee adopted a "crack tax," such taxes on illegal drugs have been declared unconstitutional elsewhere.  Strangely, state officials still seemed surprised and disappointed when their own law got rightly shot down in court.  In other court news, a California judge has blocked a new state law which undermines a drug policy reform initiative approved by voters a couple years ago.

On the diplomatic front, Donald Rumsfeld blames drugs for the resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan.  In education news, more schools appear to be testing for drugs, despite what USA Today reporter Donna Leinwand described as "inconclusive" evidence to suggest such tactics actually reduce student drug use.  And in local political news, a Connecticut mayor who admitted to past drug use now has taken a pay cut and wants to get tough on drugs as he gears up for a reelection campaign.


(5) 'CRACK TAX' STRUCK DOWN    (Top)

Judge Rules State Law Unconstitutional In Jefferson County Drug Ring Case

A judge has struck down as unconstitutional the state's so-called "crack tax" in the case of a man accused in a massive Jefferson County marijuana trafficking ring.

But Knoxville attorneys insisted Tuesday that Davidson County Chancellor Richard H.  Dinkins should have added one more descriptor for the now 18-month-old tax - evil.

"It makes you ashamed for America," attorney Ralph Harwell said of the state's enforcement of the Unauthorized Substance Tax Act, a law enacted ostensibly to levy a tax on drug dealers.

"Of all the unconstitutional laws, this one should be in the hall of fame," attorney Gregory P.  Isaacs added.

It was defense attorneys James A.H.  Bell and Richard L. Holcomb who convinced Dinkins to strike down the tax, dubbed the "crack tax" soon after it became effective in January 2005.

Bell and Holcomb were challenging the state Department of Revenue's levying of a $1.1 million tax on Jeremy Robbins of Jefferson County, who is accused of dealing marijuana.

Robbins is charged along with at least eight other people of conspiring to funnel more than two tons of marijuana from Arizona to East Tennessee.  Arrested in April 2005, he has been indicted in U.S. District Court.  He has not been convicted.

Despite that, the state Department of Revenue had assessed a tax on the amount of marijuana authorities alleged he had sold and took steps to collect it.  Bell said Robbins was told to either ante up or watch the agency take his stuff.

That Robbins is presumed innocent did not matter, Bell and Holcomb argued.  The "crack tax" trounced on that right, along with rights guaranteed under both the state and U.S.  Constitutions, such as the right to due process and the right against self-incrimination, the pair of attorneys contended.  In a ruling issued late Monday, Dinkins agreed.

"The act on its face fails to ensure the constitutional guarantees in several particulars," Dinkins wrote.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 12 Jul 2006
Source:   Knoxville News-Sentinel (TN)
Copyright:   2006 The Knoxville News-Sentinel Co.
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/226
Author:   Jamie Satterfield
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n933/a02.html


(6) COURT HALTS NEW LAW ON DRUG TERMS    (Top)

Judge Says Lawsuit By Prop.  36 Backers Is Likely To Succeed.

An Alameda County judge on Thursday blocked implementation of a new law allowing judges to issue short-term jail sentences to drug offenders who fail to complete court-ordered treatment programs.

Superior Court Judge Winifred Smith said opponents of the new law had a "substantial likelihood of success" in the lawsuit they filed to overturn the law enacted with the governor's signature on Senate Bill 1137.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 14 Jul 2006
Source:   Sacramento Bee (CA)
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/376
Note:   Does not publish letters from outside its circulation area.
Author:   Laura Mecoy
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n930/a03.html


(7) RUMSFELD LINKS DRUGS, TALIBAN    (Top)

DUSHANBE, Tajikistan -- Defense Secretary Donald H.  Rumsfeld said yesterday that a flourishing drug trade in Afghanistan may be helping fuel a Taliban resurgence, potentially undermining the young Afghan democracy.  "I do worry that the funds that come from the sale of those products could conceivably end up adversely affecting the democratic process in the country," he told reporters accompanying him on an overnight flight from Washington.  "I also think any time there is that much money floating around and you have people like the Taliban that it gives them an opportunity to fund their efforts in various ways," he added.  U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 to oust the radical Taliban regime.

Although the country now has a democratically elected government, the Taliban has been making a comeback.  At a press conference after Mr.  Rumsfeld met with President Emomali Rakhmonov and other senior government officials, Foreign Minister Talbak Nazarov told reporters that the Taliban is trying to "turn Afghanistan back to its past." He expressed confidence that the fundamentalist movement would fail. Mr.  Rumsfeld said U.S. intelligence information indicates that the Taliban has taken a share of drug profits in exchange for providing protection.  He did not offer specifics or elaborate. The defense secretary also said the bulk of the demand for heroin and other drugs supplied by Afghanistan is largely in Europe and Russia, and he called on the Europeans to do more to help fight the problem. "Western Europe ought to have an enormous interest in the success in Afghanistan, and it's going to take a lot more effort on their part for the Karzai government to be successful," he said, referring to Afghan President Hamid Karzai.  Tajikistan, which has supported U.S. counterterrorism efforts including the war in neighboring Afghanistan, lies on a major route used by drug traffickers to smuggle narcotics to Russia and Eastern Europe.  The United States has worked with the Tajik government to attempt to improve its border security.  At the press conference, Mr. Nazarov said his country is given too much of the blame for being a drug conduit.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 11 Jul 2006
Source:   Washington Times (DC)
Copyright:   2006 News World Communications, Inc.
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/492
Author:   Robert Burns, Associated Press
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n918/a07.html


(8) MORE SCHOOLS TEST FOR DRUGS    (Top)

The number of schools testing students for drug use is rising as legal barriers to testing have fallen, funding for it has jumped and schools have begun to expand the categories of students who can be screened.

Since the Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that random testing of student athletes and others in competitive extracurricular activities did not violate the students' privacy rights, the Bush administration has made testing middle- and high-school students a priority.  In the 2005-06 school year, 373 public secondary schools got federal money for testing, up from 79 schools two years ago, U.S.  Department of Education records show.  The government has not tracked the rise of locally funded programs as closely, but the White House estimates that an additional 225 schools have them.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 12 Jul 2006
Source:   USA Today (US)
Copyright:   2006 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co.  Inc
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/466
Author:   Donna Leinwand, USA TODAY
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n920/a03.html


(9) FABRIZI FORFEITS RAISE AFTER COCAINE ADMISSION    (Top)

BRIDGEPORT -- Mayor John M.  Fabrizi, who tearfully confessed last month to occasional cocaine use while in office, said today he will forfeit two years worth of raises worth about $5,400.

Fabrizi, who is up for re-election next year, also said he directed the police to implement a plan to rid the city of drug dealers.

The move was part of a reform plan Fabrizi announced in an effort to restore trust with voters.

"My actions have made me re-evaluate my agenda and it is especially important that I sharpen my focus on how to move Bridgeport forward over the next 16 months," Fabrizi said.  "I am confident that over the next 16 months I will regain your trust and prove my ability to personally and professionally move this city forward."

Fabrizi, a Democrat and former City Council president who took office after former Mayor Joseph Ganim was convicted of corruption in 2003, confessed last month to occasional cocaine use over the years.

He said it never affected his work, and that he has been drug free for 18 months after seeking treatment.  The mayor apologized, saying he would take a random test "any time, anyplace, anywhere."

He would not say who sold him the drugs and has said he has no plans to leave office.

After the admission, Fabrizi passed a random drug test requested by the Connecticut Post.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 14 Jul 2006
Source:   Stamford Advocate, The (CT)
Copyright:   2006 Southern Connecticut Newspaper, Inc.
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/1522
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n938/a03.html


Law Enforcement & Prisons


COMMENT: (10-14)    (Top)

California law enforcement notes a trend that other regions have also noticed: less meth labs, but more (and allegedly more powerful) meth.  And among the usual stories about more corruption and destruction, a judge in New York worries that recent prison sentencing reform for drug offenders has helped the wrong kind of prisoner.


(10) SHARP DIP NOTED IN METH LABS, BUT NOT IN AVAILABILITY OF DRUG    (Top)

Back when he started cooking "crank" five years ago, Ryan Spencer had little trouble shopping for ingredients.

He bought or stole pseudoephedrine pills by the boxful.  He would hop from pharmacy to pharmacy, gathering enough of the cold and allergy medicine for a decent batch of methamphetamine.  For iodine he would drop by the local feed store.  Red phosphorous proved harder to find, so Spencer would soak matchbook strike pads in acetone and scrape it off.

That was until lawmakers and police clamped down on bulk sales of pseudoephedrine and a host of volatile chemicals used to make the potent stimulant known as "meth," "zip," "Tina" and "hillbilly crack."

Spencer, 27, who started smoking meth when he was 13, responded like any sensible crankster might.  He stopped cooking and bought from dealers, selling some off to subsidize a $80- to $110-a-day habit.

"The way it is now, it just seems they'll catch you" cooking, said Spencer, who lives in Antioch and recently completed a 90-day treatment program.  "There's very little payoff. Meth, especially in Antioch, is way easy to get."

State crime data suggests that meth cooks like Spencer have quit in droves.  And Contra Costa County, once the Bay Area's notorious hotbed for meth labs, has seen the sharpest drop in lab seizures of any California county that recorded 15 or more lab busts in 2000, a Times analysis of the data shows.

The crackdown on precursor chemicals is one factor.  But a bigger one, say authorities, may be the flood of cheap and stronger meth coming north from "superlabs" in the Central Valley and Mexico.

[snip]

The drop in lab activity locally means fewer contaminated homes and less dumping of toxic chemicals in streams and creeks.  But meth remains widely available, and if anything, the problem has only grown worse, say drug agents, prosecutors, treatment providers and health officials.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 14 Jul 2006
Source:   San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright:   2006 San Jose Mercury News
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/390
Author:   John Simerman
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n930/a04.html


(11) BORDER BRIBERY CASES WORRY U.S. OFFICIALS    (Top)

SAN DIEGO - Federal law enforcement officials are investigating a series of bribery and smuggling cases in what they fear is a sign of increased corruption among officers who patrol the Mexican border. Two brothers who worked for the U.S.  Border Patrol disappeared in June while under investigation for smuggling drugs and immigrants, and are believed to have fled to Mexico.  In the past month, two agents from Customs and Border Protection, which guards border checkpoints, were indicted for taking bribes to allow illegal immigrants to enter the United States.  And this month, two Border Patrol supervisory agents pleaded guilty to accepting nearly $200,000 in payoffs to release detainees.

Authorities say two trends are at work: The massive buildup of Border Patrol agents in recent years has led to worries that hiring standards have been lowered; and, smugglers are intensifying efforts to bribe those guarding the border.

Pubdate:   Sun, 16 Jul 2006
Source:   Charlotte Observer (NC)
Copyright:   2006 The Charlotte Observer
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/78
Author:   John Pomfret, Washington Post
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n932/a03.html


(12) OPED: SETTING KINGPINS FREE    (Top)

IN 2004, the New York State Legislature finally enacted changes to the draconian Rockefeller drug laws that imposed long mandatory sentences on major and minor drug dealers.  The goal of these changes ( later supplemented by further minor reform last year ) was to prevent first-time nonviolent offenders -- especially low-level dealers and addicts selling to support their drug habits -- from serving unreasonably lengthy jail sentences.

The new law, the Drug Law Reform Act, reduced penalties, eliminated life sentences and afforded more plea-bargaining options, among other things.

While the changes themselves were less extensive than what many of us had hoped for, it was a good beginning, especially since it gave judges discretion to lower sentences that were unduly harsh for low-level, nonviolent offenders.  No one envisioned that the sentences of drug kingpins would be reduced.

Now the first report that details at least some of the cases resentenced under the new law must force us to re-examine these changes.

Unfortunately, according to the comprehensive report by Bridget Brennan, New York City's special prosecutor for narcotics, of the 84 drug offenders who applied for resentencing under the new law, only one was a first-time, low-level, nonviolent offender.  Instead, drug "kingpins," or major dealers and leaders of drug organizations, received some of the biggest sentence reductions, as did some defendants with felony records, drug suppliers and dealers with large amounts of narcotics and weapons.  And, sadly, almost no women benefited from the new law.

Why has this happened? Because the new legislation allowed all convicted high-level drug offenders to apply for resentencing.  And the majority of those offenders were significant drug dealers or had violated the public trust.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 16 Jul 2006
Source:   New York Times (NY)
Copyright:   2006 The New York Times Company
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author:   Leslie Crocker Snyder
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n942/a04.html


(13) DRUG OVERDOSES ARE OUTPACING HOMICIDES    (Top)

Death Grip

Drug deaths are outpacing homicides in Philadelphia, even as the bodies piled up during one of the city's deadliest weekends with 19 shot - six of them fatally.

The last drug overdose occurred on Friday when a 36-year-old man was dead on arrival at 5:03 p.m.  at Temple University Hospital.

Early yesterday, Kareem Smith, 33, found shot once in the chest and lying between two parked cars in South Philadelphia, became the most recent homicide.

As of yesterday, city records show there were 266 drug deaths.  This compares to 211 homicides, more than 80 percent of them committed with handguns.

And authorities expect both homicides and drug deaths to surpass last year's totals, when there were 488 drug deaths and 380 homicides.

In 2004, drug deaths also outnumbered homicides 361 to 330.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 18 Jul 2006
Source:   Philadelphia Daily News (PA)
Copyright:   2006 Philadelphia Newspapers Inc.
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/339
Author:   Kitty Caparella & Regina Medina
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n944/a06.html


(14) DRUG LIEUTENANT BREAKS LONG SILENCE    (Top)

TAMPA - For 18 years, Justo Jay has kept quiet about his involvement in a drug ring that authorities say helped make Miami the drug capital of the world in the 1980s.

On Monday, Jay broke his silence to testify that Joaquin Mario Valencia- Trujillo was the ring's main Colombian cocaine supplier.

Serving a life sentence for drug trafficking, Jay, 50, said he has applied for clemency from President Bush.  He said he hopes his testimony against Valencia will help that application.

Valencia is standing trial on charges including drug trafficking and money laundering.  Authorities say he was a leader in Colombia's Cali Cartel.  He was the main target of Tampa-based Operation Panama Express, one of the largest international drug investigations in U.S.  history.

[snip]

That year, he said, he went to work for Magluta and Magluta's partner, Willie Falcon.  Authorities say Magluta and Falcon made $2 billion smuggling cocaine into Miami in the 1980s.

Jay said that at first, large loads - 180 to 250 kilograms - of cocaine were flown from Colombia to a private airstrip on a farm in Clewiston.  The witness said he received the shipments, distributed them to clients and collected money.  Jay said he would help unload the plane, put the cocaine into a car and drive it to a stash house in Miami.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 18 Jul 2006
Source:   Tampa Tribune (FL)
Copyright:   2006 The Tribune Co.
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/446
Author:   Elaine Silvestrini, The Tampa Tribune
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n843/a05.html
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n947/a09.html


Cannabis & Hemp-


COMMENT: (15-19)    (Top)

Prosecutors in Britain are cracking down on medical cannabis suppliers who cater to people with Multiple Sclerosis.  In an atrociously cruel move, medical cannabis suppliers are being charged with distributing illegal drugs, leaving some MS patients without any other channel.  As coverage in the Guardian noted, a pharmaceutical spray made from cannabis has still not been approved for distribution in the country, so the those who need the medicine find themselves with no alternative but the street.

A couple in Arizona who says cannabis serves as a sacrament in their religion is fighting federal drug charges on constitutional grounds. A story out of a local Arizona newspaper shows how the pair's religious freedom has been rescinded more drastically as the case continues.

In other news, after a high profile fight, a request to place a medical cannabis dispensary at tourist-friendly Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco has been denied; and a pair of California legislators continues to push for legal industrial hemp, while another entrepreneur hopes to take advantage of the consumer market.


(15) PROSECUTORS TAKE A TOUGH LINE ON CANNABIS SUPPLIED TO RELIEVE    (Top)PAIN

Up To 30% of MS Sufferers Estimated To Use Drug

Four Linked To Support Groups Face Charges

Prosecutors are taking a firm line on the supply of cannabis for pain relief to people with chronically painful conditions such as multiple sclerosis, despite the downgrading of the drug from class B to class C.

Two crown court trials, one starting this week and one next week, will accuse four individuals of supplying illegal drugs through the organisations Bud Buddies and THCforMS ( Therapeutic Help from Cannabis for Multiple Sclerosis ).

THCforMS says on its website that it has supplied 33,000 bars of cannabis chocolate to bona fide MS sufferers over the last five years.  Mark Gibson, Lezley Gibson and Marcus Davies of THCforMS face a charge of conspiracy to supply cannabis in a trial that begins next Wednesday at Carlisle crown court.

Bud Buddies offered a number of cannabis preparations including cannabis cream for topical application to anyone with a proven medical need.

Its founder, Jeffrey Ditchfield, faces nine charges of cultivation and supply of cannabis, including a charge of supplying a cannabis plant received by John Reid, now home secretary, in November 2005. His trial starts on July 24 at Mold crown court.  All four face maximum sentences of 14 years in prison.

Estimates suggest that between 10% and 30% of MS sufferers in Europe use cannabis to alleviate the pain and distressing symptoms of the disease.

Many say it alleviates their symptoms where ordinary prescription drugs have failed.  Few medicines are effective for treating MS, which affects around 85,000 people in the UK.

MS patients say the prosecutions, if successful, will close down this route to help, while the government drags its heels on licensing a cannabis-based drug.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 17 Jul 2006
Source:   Guardian, The (UK)
Copyright:   2006 Guardian Newspapers Limited
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/175
Author:   Clare Dyer, legal editor The Guardian
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n938/a10.html


(16) PIMA COUPLE USES FREEDOM OF RELIGION TO FIGHT DRUG CHARGES    (Top)

A local couple who claims to practice an ancient religion that deifies and allows them to consume marijuana will be in court next month to fight for freedom to practice their religion.

Dan and Mary Quaintance of Pima are the founders of the Church of Cognizance, which practices the Zoroastrian religion.  According to Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia, the Zoroastrian beliefs are ancient, though its holy book, the Avesta, only dates back to the second century.

Because the church's members, or cognoscenti, believe that the cannabis plant is an ancient holy entity and use the plant as its holy sacrament, the Quaintances have found themselves in legal trouble because the use, distribution and possession of the substance is illegal in the United States.

In February, the couple was arrested in New Mexico for having 172 pounds of marijuana in their possession.  The Drug Enforcement Agency took the Quaintances into custody and executed a search warrant, with help from the Southeastern Arizona Drug Task Force, on their property in Pima.

Though the task force was aware of the group and its activities, it did not have enough evidence for a search warrant until the task force joined with the DEA, Task Force Spokesman Dave Boyd said.

Though the search warrant produced minimal results, the couple were jailed briefly on the possession charges.  Released until their dismissal hearing, the Quaintances are dealing with several different release orders, which have made it difficult -- if not impossible -- for them to be involved with their church.

"The first release order said we couldn't talk to any members of our church, but we could talk to the press," Dan said.  "That was amended to allow us contact with members of our church, but we weren't supposed to talk to the press or promote our church in any way.  It has been changed again, and we really aren't sure who we can or cannot talk to."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 13 Jul 2006
Source:   Eastern Arizona Courier (AZ)
Copyright:   2006, Eastern Arizona Courier
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/1674
Author:   Lindsey Stockton, Assistant Editor
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n934/a06.html


(17) NO MEDICAL CANNABIS AT FISHERMAN'S WHARF    (Top)

SAN FRANCISCO -- Marijuana cannot be sold alongside the cracked crab and souvenirs of Fisherman's Wharf, the San Francisco Planning Commission decided late Thursday.

On a vote of 4 to 2, the commission denied the Green Cross, one of scores of cannabis clubs authorized to dispense medical marijuana to patients who have a doctor's prescription, a permit for a storefront near the wharf, a popular tourist destination.

The owners of the Green Cross said they would appeal, despite strong opposition to their proposal from merchants of Fisherman's Wharf and neighborhood residents.

Dwight S.  Alexander, the commission's president, said tourism had been an issue in the voting, but not the only issue.  "It wasn't an appropriate location," Mr.  Alexander said. "There are several youth facilities nearby."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 15 Jul 2006
Source:   New York Times (NY)
Copyright:   2006 The New York Times Company
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n942/a07.html


(18) BILL'S AUTHORS ARE TRYING TO ROPE IN SUPPORT FOR HEMP    (Top)

AB 1147 is not the biggest bill of this legislative session, but it is one of the most intriguing -- and most fun.

Start with its purpose: to legalize the growing of hemp, a cousin of marijuana -- both members of the notorious cannabis family.

Then proceed to the bill's joint authors, a pun that's unavoidable.

One is a liberal San Francisco Democrat, Assemblyman Mark Leno; the other a conservative Irvine Republican, Chuck DeVore.

If nothing else, this bill shows it is possible for two legislators of diametrically opposite ideologies to acknowledge some common ground and work together to change public policy.

Both agree that hemp -- advocates call it industrial hemp -- is taking off worldwide as a plant used for fiber ( in car door panels, for example ), food ( energy bars, granola, smoothies ) and body care ( shampoos, soaps ).

And they think it's illogical that the federal government allows the importation of foreign hemp for American manufacturing into legally sold products, but bans the growing of hemp by American farmers.  So they're trying to force the issue.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 17 Jul 2006
Source:   Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright:   2006 Los Angeles Times
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author:   George Skelton, Capitol Journal
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n942/a06.html


(19) ECO-STORE STRIVES TO RETAIL HEMP, DISSOLVE MYTHS    (Top)

Consumer products made from a renewable resource are all you will find at Hempen Goods.  At the near East Side store, clothing, backpacks, wallets, footwear, paper, even lip balm, soap, candles and dietary supplements are derived from seeds, stems and fibers of the versatile hemp plant.

Hempen Goods owner Rich Ray said Americans are the world's leading consumers of hemp products.  With the advantage of being an annual crop that can be grown easily throughout much of the world, hemp can be made into a variety of consumer goods from bio-diesel fuel to building materials for homes.

Ray said he hopes his shop can help dispel some of the myths and controversy around the raw material that people may associate with illegal drug use.

"It's really an eco-store.  People see hemp and a lot of times they think head shop," Ray said.  "Sometimes I think people believe hemp is produced to justify some backdoor marijuana legalization.  It's really about offering people sustainable, quality products that function better than what they replace.  What I'm trying to do is offer people that alternative."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 13 Jul 2006
Source:   Wisconsin State Journal (WI)
Section:   Business, E1
Copyright:   2006 Madison Newspapers, Inc.
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/506
Author:   James Edward Mills
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n935/a01.html


International News


COMMENT: (20-24)    (Top)

In Australia, the Green Party in the State of Victoria has proposed some drug policy changes that have government officials upset.  The Greens' proposed new drug policy is designed to "minimise the harm and save lives." While trafficking would still be a crime, drug users who are caught would receive a "court order requiring them to participate in a health scheme." What has officials really upset are ideas the Greens wish to copy from the U.K.  and Switzerland: prescribing heroin to addicts, and safe-injection rooms.  "'It's not the decriminalisation of heroin," explained Greens candidate Colleen Hartland.  "It is time to step back from the emotional debate and work to implement programs that will effectively tackle the problems associated with legal and illegal drugs." Federal Health Minister Tony Abbott immediately denounced the Green's proposals as "loopy."

A group representing over 100 Australian politicians sent a letter to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, supporting Vancouver's supervised injection center.  The center's three-year legal permission to operate ends September 12, becoming the political football of Harper's government.  Harper, a far-right politician elected by less than half of Canadian voters early this year, is expected to kill the program to score points with his political base.  The supervised injection center in Vancouver has been credited with saving lives because medical staff is on duty and can get users medical help in case of overdose.  Also last week, The Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users invited Harper on a little tour of Vancouver's blighted Downtown Eastside "so he can see the devastation of drug abuse for himself."

Meanwhile Canadian law enforcement, long jealous of the budgets, salaries and career opportunities offered U.S.  cops by the Americans' ever-expanding "war on drugs", complained again in the press last week that the "prison system needs to expand." Jails aren't big and profitable enough (like they are in the states) and "I don't have any money in my budget, as we speak, for expansion," wailed British Columbia Solicitor General John Les.  New prisons are needed, explain officials, because those incarcerated must "share cells".  As expected, officials insinuated "crystal meth" and "drugs" were the reason that more prisons should be built.


(20) GREENS IN A HEROIN TRIAL PLAN    (Top)

CLINICALLY produced heroin would be imported into Australia to trial a new treatment for long-term addicts under the Victorian Greens drug policy released yesterday.

Supervised heroin injection rooms, such as one running in Sydney's Kings Cross, would also be trialled in Victoria while the policy also proposes to scrap all criminal penalties for drug use.

The production, sale or trafficking of illicit drugs would remain an offence, but users would only face a court order requiring them to participate in a health scheme.

Greens Victorian Upper House candidate Colleen Hartland, who unveiled the policy at a needle exchange in Footscray, said the proposals would 'minimise the harm and save lives'.

"It is time to step back from the emotional debate and work to implement programs that will effectively tackle the problems associated with legal and illegal drugs," Ms Hartland said.

The heroin trial was needed for those addicts who, through their long-term use, had become resistant to methadone-based treatments, she said.

"'It's not the decriminalisation of heroin," Ms
Hartland said.

Pubdate:   Tue, 18 Jul 2006
Source:   Border Mail (Australia)
Copyright:   2006 Border Mail
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/1017
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n946.a04.html


(21) HEROIN POLICY 'LOOPY'    (Top)

THE Federal Government would stop any moves to supply heroin to addicts under a plan put forward by the Australian Greens.  Labelling the Greens' policy unworkable, federal Health Minister Tony Abbott said the Government would never allow importing heroin for addicts.

Mr Abbott said the policy was "loopy stuff" and called on the State Government to make it clear it would not deal with the party.

The Greens want to provide free heroin to long-term users, create injecting rooms across Victoria, and scrap penalties for drug possession.

Premier Steve Bracks has rejected the plan.

Victorian Greens health spokesman Richard Di Natale said he was not surprised by Mr Abbott's opposition to the policy.

Pubdate:   Wed, 19 Jul 2006
Source:   Herald Sun (Australia)
Copyright:   2006 Herald and Weekly Times
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/187
Author:   Ben Packham and Ashley Gardiner
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n946.a02.html


(22) AUSTRALIA BACKS SAFE INJECTION PROGRAM    (Top)

VANCOUVER -- The escalating campaign to keep the doors open at Vancouver's landmark safe-injection site for heroin addicts has reached across the Pacific to Australia.

A group representing more than 100 Australian federal and state politicians wrote last week to Prime Minister Stephen Harper expressing its strong support for the city's injection site, known as Insite.

The Vancouver facility's three-year legal protection to allow on-site heroin use expires on Sept.  12, and the Conservative government, with Mr.  Harper previously on record opposing the safe-injection site, has not committed itself to renewing it.

Nor has the government agreed to any further funds for the ambitious research project on the site's impact on injection drug users.

"Our message to your Prime Minister is not to close his eyes to the success of safe-injection sites," Australian federal MP Duncan Kerr, a former attorney-general, said in an interview yesterday.

"The option of criminalization and drug enforcement is a recipe for disaster that drugs will bring to your community."

The letter from the Australian Parliamentary Group for Drug Law Reform was released by a remarkably broad-based community group, Insite for Community Safety (IFCS), which is pressing the Harper government to keep the site running.

[snip]

Vancouver's injection site has had similar, albeit preliminary, results.

So far, there have been 453 incidents of drug overdose at the site without a single death.  As well, on-site nurses have treated more than 2,000 serious abscesses at the facility, easing the strain on hospital emergency departments, and 368 heroin addicts have been referred to withdrawal programs.

"A lot of evidence is already in and it's clear," said researcher Martin Schechter.  "The safe-injection site does not increase drug use and it does reduce harm."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 18 Jul 2006
Source:   Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright:   2006, The Globe and Mail Company
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author:   Rod Mickleburgh
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/find?142 (Safe Injecting Rooms)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n944.a02.html


(23) HARPER GETS INVITE TO TOUR SAFE-INJECTION SITE    (Top)

The Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users has invited Prime Minister Stephen Harper to tour the alleys of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside so he can see the devastation of drug abuse for himself.

The invitation was issued as advocates continue a campaign to urge Health Canada to extend the exemption that allows North America's only safe injection site to operate legally.  The exemption expires in September.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 18 Jul 2006
Source:   Guelph Mercury (CN ON)
Copyright:   2006 Guelph Mercury Newspapers Limited
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/1418
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n947.a04.html


(24) 'PRISON SYSTEM NEEDS TO EXPAND'    (Top)

Don't count on a larger Fraser Regional Correctional Centre within the next year, it's just not in the budget, according to Solicitor General John Les.

"I don't have any money in my budget, as we speak, for expansion," Les said Monday.

[snip]

"There's actually an incentive there to spend as much time as possible in remand."

[snip]

But it's possible Fraser Regional could grow in the future as a way of relieving the population pressures in the branch.  Les said the ministry is talking about expansion somewhere in the system because of the high number of inmates who have to share cells.

Currently, 468 inmates are doing time in the institution that was built with a capacity for 300.  In 2000-01, Fraser Regional's population stood at 293.

About 75 per cent of those inmates, as in the rest of the B.C. Corrections Branch, are double bunked.

That's an increase from a province-wide double bunking rate of 36 per cent in the late 1990s, according to Bruce Bannerman, spokesman with the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General.

Les told council the education ministry is developing crystal meth awareness materials which will be introduced into the curriculum as part of the career and personal planning course.

But Coun.  Judy Dueck told Les she disagreed with focusing solely on crystal meth, saying other drugs can't be ignored.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 19 Jul 2006
Source:   Maple Ridge News (CN BC)
Copyright:   2006 Maple Ridge News
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/1328
Author:   Phil Melnychuk
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n948.a10.html


HOT OFF THE 'NET    (Top)

OVERKILL - THE RISE OF PARAMILITARY POLICE RAIDS IN AMERICA

By Radley Balko

http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=6476


HALLUCINOGENS AND MEDICINE

Kojo Nnamdi interviewed psychedelics experts, including the author of a recently published study on mushrooms and mystical experience, on his NPR program yesterday.  The show explored the therapeutic potential of hallucinogenic drugs.

http://www.wamu.org/programs/kn/06/07/19.php#11565#11564


CULTURAL BAGGAGE RADIO SHOW

Tonight:   07/21/06 - Former Sheriff Earl Barnett + Chris Conrad marijuana
expert.

Audio:   http://drugtruth.net/cbaudio06/FDBCB_072106.mp3

Last:   07/14/06 - Senator Larry Campbell- former mayor, coroner and
drug cop in Vancouver.

Audio:   http://drugtruth.net/cbaudio06/FDBCB_071406.mp3

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


WHAT WOULD JESUS DO? RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES AS DRUG REFORM ALLIES

By any measure, the United States is a highly religious country.  More Americans claim to believe in God and attend church regularly than in any other Western industrial democracy, and religiously-based claims carry great weight in American politics.  But the drug reform movement, much of it secular and unattached to traditional religious practices, has only begun to make serious inroads with these powerful groups.

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/445/religious-communities-in-drug-policy-reform.shtml


WHO WOULD JESUS INCARCERATE?

The American Civil Liberties Union has recently launched The ACLU Freedom Files, a revolutionary, 10-part series that tells the stories of real people in America whose civil liberties have been threatened, and how they fought back.  And I'm proud to be a part of the current "Drug Wars" episode - which premiered on Link TV on July 13, Court TV on July 15th and, and is available now via the web at www.aclu.tv

by John Fugelsang

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/7/20/13816/4634


WHAT YOU CAN DO THIS WEEK    (Top)

BE A MAP NEWSHAWK

http://www.mapinc.org/hawk.htm


JOB OPPORTUNITIES AT MPP

http://www.mpp.org/jobs


LETTER OF THE WEEK    (Top)

Marijuana Case: Asset Laws An Unjust Way Of Bringing About Justice

By D.H.  Michon

The "potent asset forfeiture laws," used to seize land and cash from Jerry Hartman, have another definition: extortion - and by the government, no less ( "Law dents dealer's lifestyle," July 8).

These laws do not pass the smell test.  There may be something said for reclaiming assets associated with illegal drug wholesaling, provided it is applied within a system of rational drug laws - which is now most certainly not the case.  But the way prosecutors go after assets, by filing charges far in excess of what true justice requires in order to have the maximum leverage with which to mulct their targets, is deplorable.

This is about money, not drugs.  Can the attorneys and cops operate honorably realizing these funds are usually used to pay for people's employment and pet projects? Justice should not be priced as piecework.

D.H.  Michon
Eau Claire

Pubdate:   Sat, 15 Jul 2006
Source:   Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI)
Referenced:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n901/a09.html


FEATURE ARTICLE    (Top)

THE 'JUST SAY NO' APPROACH IS NO GOOD

By Robert Sharpe

There is a lot about heroin that even people "in the know" may not know.

Because heroin is sold via an unregulated illicit market, its quality and purity fluctuate tremendously.  A user accustomed to low-quality heroin who unknowingly uses pure heroin will likely overdose.  The inevitable tough-on-drugs reaction to overdose deaths is a very real threat to public safety.

Attempts to limit the supply of illegal drugs while demand remains constant only increase the profitability of drug trafficking.

For addictive drugs like heroin, a spike in street prices leads desperate addicts to increase criminal activity to feed desperate habits.  The drug war doesn't fight crime, it fuels crime.

While the U.S.  remains committed to moralistic drug policies modeled after America's disastrous experiment with alcohol prohibition, Europe has largely abandoned the drug war in favor of harm reduction alternatives.  Examples of harm reduction include needle exchange programs to stop the spread of HIV, marijuana regulation aimed at separating the hard and soft drug markets, and treatment alternatives that do not require incarceration as a prerequisite.

On the cutting edge of harm reduction, Switzerland's heroin maintenance program has been shown to reduce drug-related disease, death and crime among chronic users.  Providing addicts with standardized doses in a clinical setting eliminates many of the problems associated with illicit heroin use.  Addicts would not be sharing needles if not for zero-tolerance laws that restrict access to clean syringes, nor would they be committing crimes if not for artificially inflated black-market prices.

Unfortunately, tough-on-drugs politicians have built careers on confusing drug prohibition's collateral damage with drugs themselves.  When politics trumps science, people die. Centers for Disease Control researchers estimate that 57 percent of AIDS cases among women and 36 percent of overall AIDS cases in the U.S.  are linked to injection-drug use or sex with partners who inject drugs. This easily preventable public health crisis is a direct result of zero-tolerance laws that restrict access to clean syringes.

The practice of prescribing heroin to addicts was standard in England from the 1920s to the 1960s.  In response to U.S. pressure, prescription heroin maintenance was discontinued in 1971.  There are only a handful of English general practitioners that still prescribe heroin.

New licensing requirements and overzealous drug enforcement have effectively discouraged what was once a common practice.  The loss of a controlled heroin distribution system and subsequent creation of an unregulated illicit market led the number of heroin addicts in England to skyrocket from fewer than 2,000 in 1970 to roughly 200,000 chronic users today.

Heroin maintenance pilot projects are under way in Canada, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands.  The drug is distributed to addicts in a clinical setting.  You can think of it as a needle exchange program, and then some.

If expanded, prescription heroin maintenance would deprive organized crime of a core client base.

This would render illegal heroin trafficking unprofitable and spare future generations addiction.  Putting public health before politics may send the wrong message to children, but I like to think the children are more important than the message.

Robert Sharpe is policy analyst for Common Sense for Drug Policy, Washington, D.C.

Pubdate:   Sun, 16 Jul 2006
Source:   Daily Record, The (Parsippany, NJ)
Copyright:   2006 The Daily Record
http://www.dailyrecord.com/customerservice/forms/letters.htm#form
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/112
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/people/Robert+Sharpe (Robert Sharpe)


QUOTE OF THE WEEK    (Top)

"Liberty is always dangerous, but it is the safest thing we have." - Harry Emerson Fosdick


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CREDITS:  

Policy and Law Enforcement/Prison content selection and analysis by Stephen Young (), Cannabis/Hemp content selection and analysis by Philippe Lucas (), International content selection and analysis by Doug Snead (), Layout by Matt Elrod ().  Analysis comments represent the personal views of editors, and not necessarily the views of DrugSense.

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