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DrugSense Weekly
July 28, 2006 #459


Table of Contents

* Breaking News (03/29/24)


* This Just In


(1) Wanted: Pot Growers
(2) Cannabis Therapy 'May Be Harmful'
(3) Sessions Seeks To Adjust Sentences For Crack, Powder Cocaine Offenses
(4) Former Robeson Deputy Pleads Guilty

* Weekly News in Review


Drug Policy-

COMMENT: (5-8)
(5) OPED: Legalize Drugs
(6) OPED: A Ceasefire For The "War On Drugs"
(7) OPED: The State Should Target The Real Drug Kingpins
(8) OPED: Gateway To Nowhere?

Law Enforcement & Prisons-

COMMENT: (9-12)
(9) Inmate Drug Rehab Key To Less Crime
(10) OPED: The Real Reason Behind Overcrowding In Prisons
(11) New Registry Will Identify Decertified Police Officers
(12) Fliers Heat Up Sheriff's Race

Cannabis & Hemp-

COMMENT: (13-16)
(13) Medical Marijuana Is Here To Stay
(14) Nall Looks To Ride Colorful Campaign
(15) Greenfield Man Rolls Pro-Pot Ideas, Skills Into Mock Pot Plants
(16) Prince Of Pot Weds As Extradition Hearing Looms

International News-

COMMENT: (17-21)
(17) Back Afghan Opium Legalisation, Tories Urge Cameron
(18) Heroin Deaths Tumble, But Stimulants A Problem
(19) Safe Injection Site's Fate Debated Anew
(20) Needles Dumped In Street
(21) Injecting Room Syringe 'Stunt'

* Hot Off The 'Net


    How  Legalizing  Drugs  Will  End  The  Violence / By Norm Stamper 
    DPA  Files  Brief  In  Medical  Marijuana  Job Discrimination Case 
    Cultural Baggage Radio Show / With Dean Becker 
    It's Time To Get Real About Opium In Afghanistan / By David Borden 

* What You Can Do This Week


    Stop The Reefer Madness, Senator Hatch!  

* Letter Of The Week


    Benefits  Of  Research  Outlasted  Drug  War  /  Mary  Jane Borden 

* Feature Article


    Book Review: Overkill / By Jo-D Harrison 

* Quote of the Week


    Marian Wright Edelman 


THIS JUST IN     (Top)

(1) WANTED: POT GROWERS     (Top)

Apply to Health Canada

WINNIPEG -- People who want to grow pot for the federal government may soon get the chance. 

Health Canada's five-year, $5.75-million contract with its current supplier of medicinal marijuana, Prairie Plant Systems, appears to be winding down and the department is preparing to seek proposals from all potential suppliers. 

"Public Works and Government Services Canada continues to negotiate with Prairie Plant Systems to ensure an uninterrupted supply of marijuana for research and for authorized users while a (request for proposal) process is carried out to identify a long-term supplier," said Health Canada spokeswoman Carole Saindon. 

As it does for a wide range of contracts -- from building maintenance to military supplies -- the government will invite interested companies and individuals to submit bids for a pot-growing contract. 

It will then try to choose the one offering top quality and value for taxpayers. 

The process could result in Prairie Plant Systems being selected again, or some other supplier could get the nod. 

Some who use the current pot supply are urging the government to shop around. 

"What we need to move beyond is the idea of a single monopoly producer of medical cannabis," Philippe Lucas, a medicinal pot user and spokesman for the group Canadians for Safe Access, said from Victoria, B.C.  "The end users of this product -- Canada's critically and chronically ill -- would benefit from having options."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 27 Jul 2006
Source:   Edmonton Sun (CN AB)
Website:   http://www.canoe.com/NewsStand/EdmontonSun/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/135
Author:   Canadian Press
Cited:   http://www.safeaccess.ca/
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Prairie+Plant+Systems
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n981.a07.html


(2) CANNABIS THERAPY 'MAY BE HARMFUL'     (Top)

Cannabis extracts used in medicines may worsen symptoms rather than have the beneficial effects that are intended, it has been reported. 

Cannabis extracts can be harmful because of the unpredictable way the body reacts, New Scientist said. 

Research detailed to the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies found boosting levels of some cannabinoids worsened epilepsy and Alzheimer's. 

Experts said it was hard to target the drug at specific parts of the body. 

Some compounds in cannabis interfere with a natural signalling system in the brain, nerves and immune system. 

The signalling system, which produces its own cannabinoids, plays a role in conditions such as MS, epilepsy, Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia and Parkinson's disease. 

Extra cannabinoids, from smoking cannabis or from medications, can therefore have a significant effect, researchers suggest. 

Vincenzo Di Marzo, of Italy's National Research Council, told the conference that he had found boosting the level of one natural cannabinoid, andandamide, in rats initially appeared to protect the animals from memory loss and nerve degeneration. 

But if the rise was prolonged, the cannabinoid could be ineffective, or even damaging. 

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 27 Jul 2006
Source:   BBC News (UK Web)
Copyright:   2006 BBC
Website:   http://news.bbc.co.uk/
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/find?323 (GW Pharmaceuticals)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n981.a01.html


(3) SESSIONS SEEKS TO ADJUST SENTENCES FOR CRACK, POWDER COCAINE OFFENSES     (Top)

WASHINGTON - Sen.  Jeff Sessions, a one-time federal prosecutor, introduced a bill Tuesday that would reduce the "unconscionable" disparity in federal prison terms for crack and powder cocaine offenses. 

"The 100-to-1 disparity in sentencing between crack cocaine and powder cocaine is not justifiable ...  these changes will make the criminal justice system more effective and fair," said the Republican senator and former Alabama attorney general. 

His bill is co-sponsored by Sens.  Mark Pryor, D-Ark., John Cornyn, R- Texas, and Ken Salazar, D-Colo., all former attorney generals. 

This is not Sessions' first attempt to bring such a bill to the Senate floor.  He introduced similar legislation in 2002 with the co- sponsorship of Sen.  Orrin Hatch (R-Utah).

[snip]

Sessions, a former U.S.  attorney in Mobile, said during a news conference Tuesday that crack is considered a more dangerous, addictive drug than powder cocaine. 

"We need to convince people that we're not going soft on crime," he said. 

Pubdate:   Wed, 26 Jul 2006
Source:   Tuscaloosa News, The (AL)
Website:   http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/1665
Author:   Suevon Lee, Washington Correspondent
Cited:   The Sentencing Project http://www.sentencingproject.org/
Cited:   http://www.ussc.gov/r_congress/02crack/2002crackrpt.htm
Cited:   Criminal Justice Policy Foundation http://www.cjpf.org/
Cited:   Tuscaloosa County District Attorney http://www.tuscaloosada.com/
Cited:   Families Against Mandatory Minimums http://www.famm.org/
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n978.a11.html


(4) FORMER ROBESON DEPUTY PLEADS GUILTY     (Top)

WILMINGTON - A former Robeson County deputy pleaded guilty Wednesday to stealing about $160,000 during six traffic stops along Interstate 95. 

James Owen Hunt spent about $8,000 of that money to pave his driveway and about $16,000 on a pontoon boat, Assistant U.S.  Attorney Erick Evenson said. 

Hunt, who is 39, pleaded guilty in U.S.  District Court to conspiracy to commit money laundering. 

As part of his plea agreement, he will pay $150,000 in restitution and testify against other former deputies of the Robeson County Drug Enforcement Division.  Hunt, who faces between 10 years and life in prison, will be sentenced later. 

Since June, federal investigators have charged five former deputies with stealing money from drug dealers along I-95.  One of those former deputies is Steven Lovin, Hunt's ex-partner. 

In court Wednesday, Evenson said Hunt and Lovin stole roughly $160,000 between 2001 and 2004 during drug interdiction stops.  They turned in nearly $1.7 million as evidence in those cases.  Evenson said Hunt and Lovin used racial profiling to stop people they thought might be carrying illegal drugs and money. 

"They were looking for clean-cut Hispanic individuals traveling down the interstate," Evenson told U.S.  District Court Judge Terrence Boyle.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 27 Jul 2006
Source:   Fayetteville Observer (NC)
Website:   http://www.fayettevillenc.com/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/150
Author:   Greg Barnes
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n977.a03.html


WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW     (Top)

Domestic News- Policy


COMMENT: (5-8)     (Top)

Week after week, year after year, our news sources continue to cover our War on Drugs in an egregiously one-sided manner.  In the spirit of optimism with a sprinkle of retaliation, I have selected several pro-reform op-eds for our policy section this week.  Another reason behind this decision is to show that there is still an outlet for our cherished "freedom of speech." I hope it will encourage others to exercise this right. 


(5) OPED: LEGALIZE DRUGS     (Top)

An open letter to Sen.  Orrin Hatch: stop reefer madness here, as well as in Dubai. 

Mr.  Hatch, you have demonstrated willingness to act beyond ideology, when a practical approach makes more sense than "conservative" or "liberal" purity. 

You did so recently, for an American victim of draconian drug penalties of the United Arab Emirates.  This is an appeal for your leadership to stop t he equally devastating American "War on Drugs."

Many officials admit behind closed doors that our drug policy needs radical revision.  Few will say so publicly. This "third rail" of politics is exacerbated by the collusion of mainstream media, suspending usual rules of journalistic practice, publishing government propaganda without quoting critics of drug-war policy. 

Our policies result in tremendous harm creation, about which much has bee n written, but I'll summarize here:

[snip]

Senator, it will take courage to lead in the battle to stop this war on America and its founding principles.  But you have shown the wisdom to change your mind before. 

Several decades ago, my Baby Boom generation laughed at "Reefer Madness."= Then we made it public policy.  It's time to stop the madness. 

Pubdate:   Mon, 24 Jul 2006
Source:   Washington Times (DC)
Copyright:   2006 News World Communications, Inc. 
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/492
Author:   Terry Michael
Alert:   http://www.mapinc.org/alert/0333.html
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n967/a02.html


(6) OPED: A CEASEFIRE FOR THE "WAR ON DRUGS"     (Top)

WE WERE somewhere around the 1970s on the edge of the Acid Wave when the drug war began to take hold.  The politically typical thing to say today is that the so-styled "War on Drugs" is without foreseeable victory -- and how unfortunate, really.  Almost without exception, however, America regards its beloved war as one worth fighting.  And it is, to an extent. But the tactics need some adjustment to accomplish anything beyond the current, hopeless stalemate.  The most crucial step to changing America's atrociously flawed drug policy is to reevaluate our rules of engagement, so to speak.  If we don't, we continue along a path to nowhere, entrenched in a war with endless enemies and no peace in sight. 

If you reread my first paragraph, you will hopefully notice the absurd way martial analogies pervade even casual discourse.  We are fighting a war.  Drugs are the enemy. Enemies must be killed, etc. The militant analogies swell further when politicians rant about "an all-out offensive" against "public enemy number one," as Nixon did during the dope-sodden 1970s.  Such unthinking saber rattling strangulates thoughtful debate, it removes the tactics from rational discussion (we are at war, mind you), and it brands anyone with a different opinion a dissenter and, therefore, a traitor. 

As my horrific first paragraph no doubt suggests, the limited lexicon from which we draw our descriptions of American's drug problem cripples our ability to deal with it.  The height of ignorance and inarticulacy, of course, being American policy regarding marijuana. 

[snip]

During war, as President Bush parrots frequently, one is either "with us" or "against us." Obviously, anyone who challenges American lawmakers or their war making knows precisely to which side he or she belongs.  Hence, war analogies. It makes disagreement treasonous and skepticism seditious.  An effective strategy, you must admit. 

It seems a bit curious that while marijuana is outright banned, alcohol and tobacco dwell comfortably on nearly every college campus.  Which is okay, even great. But our standards for regulation ought to have some ringing of justice and fairness.  Other states will be well served to move, however gradually, toward the progressive example of decriminalizing legislation set by Denver.  By finally matching punishment with the gravity of the crime, we might finally be able to declare victory in a war against a more fearsome foe, stupid wars. 

Pubdate:   Thu, 27 Jul 2006
Source:   Cavalier Daily (U of VA Edu)
Copyright:   2006 The Cavalier Daily, Inc. 
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/550
Author:   Dan Keyserling, Cavalier Daily Associate Editor
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n975/a08.html


(7) OPED: THE STATE SHOULD TARGET THE REAL DRUG KINGPINS     (Top)

Ashley O'Donoghue is a low-level, nonviolent offender currently serving a 7-to-21-year sentence for the sale of 2 1/2 ounces of cocaine.  In September 2003, the Oneida County district attorney claimed that the 20-year-old was a major drug kingpin and needed to face a life sentence under the Rockefeller Drug Laws. 

Reacting to a commonly used scare tactic, O'Donoghue agreed to a plea bargain.  His A-1 felony, the highest possible felony, was reduced to a B felony.  Like magic, O'Donoghue was no longer a kingpin - that is, a drug dealer distributing extraordinarily large quantities. 

There are thousands of defendants just like O'Donoghue, whom prosecutors claim are kingpins one day and then, through plea negotiations, kingpins no more. 

[snip]

Recently, a report released by Bridget Brennan, New York City's special narcotics prosecutor, proclaimed that kingpins and people convicted of high-level drug offenses are being released under the new Rockefeller Drug Law revisions.  The report, titled "The Law of Unintended Consequences," is a lopsided review of the Drug Law Reform Act of 2004.  The modest changes to the Rockefeller Drug Laws have allowed approximately 1,000 people convicted of A-1 and A-2 drug felonies to apply for resentencing.  The controversial findings in the report bolster Brennan's final conclusions: a clarion call for a kingpin statute and opposition to any additional reforms to the Rockefeller Drug Laws.  Critics quickly questioned the validity of the report, claiming that it contained skewed data and its creation was politically motivated. 

[snip]

Brennan needs to be reminded that the governor, State Senate and Assembly leaders agreed reforms were necessary to equally balance the scales of justice in applying the law with the needs of protecting our communities. 

To cause a panic by releasing a questionable report is nothing more than additional punishment for those incarcerated and an underhanded political tactic to stop further needed reform.  If Brennan wants a kingpin statute, let's fashion one for real kingpins, not for the low-level offenders. 

Source:   Newsday (NY)
Copyright:   2006 Newsday Inc. 
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/308
Author:   Anthony Papa
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n974/a07.html


(8) OPED: GATEWAY TO NOWHERE?     (Top)

The Evidence That Pot Doesn't Lead to Heroin. 

Earlier this month, professor Yasmin Hurd of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine released a study showing that rats exposed to the main ingredient in marijuana during their adolescence showed a greater sensitivity to heroin as adults.  The wire lit up with articles announcing confirmation for the "gateway theory" -- the claim that marijuana use leads to harder drugs. 

It's a theory that has long seemed to make intuitive sense, but remained unproven.  The federal government's last National Survey on Drug Use and Health, conducted in 2004, counted about 97 million Americans who have tried marijuana, compared to 3 million who have tried heroin (166,000 had used it in the previous month ).  That's not much of a rush through the gateway.  And a number of studies have demonstrated that your chances of becoming an addict are higher if addiction runs in your family, or if heroin is readily available in your community, or if you're a risk-taker.  These factors can account for the total number of heroin addicts, which could make the gateway theory superfluous. 

On close inspection, Hurd's research, published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, doesn't show otherwise.  For the most part, it's a blow to the gateway theory.  To be sure, Hurd found that rats who got high on pot as adolescents used more heroin once they were addicted.  But she found no evidence that they were more likely to become addicted than the rats in the control group who'd never been exposed to delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, marijuana's main ingredient. 

[snip]

Hurd says that because the marijuana-exposed rats demonstrated this heightened sensitivity, she expected them to be more motivated in pursuing the drug.  But they weren't. The control rats paced their cages and repeatedly pressed the active bars even when the light indicating availability wasn't on.  The pot rats, on the other hand, figured out that the heroin was available only at certain times, and that pacing and tapping the bar incessantly wasn't worth the trouble.  When heroin was available, the marijuana rats took more of it.  But when it wasn't, they chilled in the corner.

Extrapolate the study to human behavior, Hurd says, and it suggests that teenagers who smoke pot are no more likely than other kids to become addicted to heroin.  ( Her study doesn't speak to whether they'd be more likely to try the drug.  ) If teens do get hooked on the hard drug, though, they may develop a stronger addiction. 

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 20 Jul 2006
Source:   Slate (US Web)
Copyright:   2006 Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive Co.  LLC
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/982
Author:   Ryan Grim
Note:   Ryan Grim writes for the Washington City Paper. 
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n971/a06.html


Law Enforcement & Prisons


COMMENT: (9-12)     (Top)

After decades of locking citizens up for violating drug laws, a government agency has finally published a report on how to issue effective treatment within the system.  The National Institute on Drug Abuse's Principles of Drug Abuse Treatment for Criminal Justice Populations - A Research-Based Guide is available at
http://www.drugabuse.gov/PODAT_CJ/.  It will be interesting to see if these "guidelines" are actually carried out. 

Meanwhile, a California resident raises the point that "More prisoners are locked away for drug violations than all violent crimes combined." The writer does an excellent job of explaining why these people should not be behind bars in the first place. 

A remedy for the practice of "bad" cops moving from state to state is in the works.  Even though only 20 states are currently reporting decertified officers to a national database - it is a step in the right direction. 

An anonymous group of Wisconsin citizens is ensuring that voters know that a sheriff candidate's daughter "was charged with delivering marijuana to a police informant".  The justice system worked in the daughter's favor as she recently reached a plea agreement with the local DA but apparently won't be timely enough to undue any damage done by the informational fliers. 


(9) INMATE DRUG REHAB KEY TO LESS CRIME     (Top)

Federal drug officials published a report yesterday showing that treatment for drug addiction in the criminal justice system is key to reducing the prison population and keeping the nation's streets safer. 

Dr.  Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, said that many people in the system are there because of drugs - either using, selling or committing crimes to get money to buy drugs.  Experts used to think that treatment worked only if a person was ready to accept help, but new treatment studies on prisoners suggest this captive population can benefit from treatment - even if they don't want it. 

"Treatment works," said Volkow, whose agency just published the first guidelines on treating drug abuse in the criminal justice system.  "This is an extraordinary opportunity to help these people and to decrease crime.  They need access to treatment. This is a no-brainer."

Volkow said that about 70 percent of those in the criminal justice system qualify for treatment for drug abuse, yet only 20 percent actually receive it. 

[snip]

The report calls for proper assessment of drug problems, tailored services, treatments that last long enough to produce behavioral changes, ongoing care when re-entering the community, and medications. 

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 25 Jul 2006
Source:   Newsday (NY)
Copyright:   2006 Newsday Inc. 
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/308
Author:   Jamie Talan, Newsday Staff Writer
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n970/a10.html


(10) OPED: THE REAL REASON BEHIND OVERCROWDING IN PRISONS     (Top)

[snip]

In a typical example of the failure of big government, we see that no matter how many prisons are built, no matter how much money the politicians throw at the problem, there is overcrowding. 

Conditions for prisoners deteriorate.  Rape and brutality have become the norm. 

The most obvious reform is almost never mentioned: Stop locking up so many people and start letting a lot of people out. 

[snip]

People have a right to liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness.  It is an affront to the founding principles of America to lock peaceful people into cages just because they consume or sell drugs. 

It is also ineffective in reducing drug abuse.  And it leads to more violent crime, gang warfare, judicial and police corruption, and all the other problems that accompanied alcohol prohibition. 

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 23 Jul 2006
Source:   Contra Costa Times (CA)
Copyright:   2006 Knight Ridder
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/96
Author:   Anthony Gregory
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n961/a03.html


(11) NEW REGISTRY WILL IDENTIFY DECERTIFIED POLICE OFFICERS     (Top)

WASHINGTON -- A national registry of more than 7,000 police officers who have been stripped of their law enforcement licenses is being readied for use by police agencies throughout the USA to identify officers with troubled histories. 

The registry, which for the first time would give police agencies direct access to a list of decertified officers, is designed to help avoid hiring officers ousted from jobs elsewhere. 

So far, 20 states are contributing to a computer database being assembled by the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training ( IADLEST ).  The database could be ready this fall. 

Although there have been no national studies on how often disciplined or decertified officers have found work at other departments, the database reflects rising concerns about the quality of police recruits. 

[snip]

Police officers typically are licensed by state agencies when the officers graduate from law enforcement academies.  Officers remain accredited as long as they meet job standards.  When they violate such standards, the loss of their law enforcement accreditation is supposed to prevent them from working as officers elsewhere.  However, police departments -- particularly those in different states -- historically have not shared such information. 

In the past three decades, more than 19,000 officers have been stripped of licenses for misconduct, according to a 2005 IADLEST survey. 

"Some people view this as kind of like a blacklist," Franklin says.  "It's really not.  It's more like a pointer system, a reference for public safety agencies."

Pubdate:   Tue, 25 Jul 2006
Source:   USA Today (US)
Copyright:   2006 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co.  Inc
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/466
Author:   Kevin Johnson
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/newscsa/v06.n970.a07.html


(12) FLIERS HEAT UP SHERIFF'S RACE     (Top)

As a heated campaign for Columbia County sheriff approaches its final month, the campaign of Dennis Richards is questioning some campaign tactics targeting his candidacy. 

But the campaign doesn't know who it is carrying them out. 

And beyond the fliers of an anonymous group calling itself Concerned Citizens of Columbia County, Richards campaign manager Steve Sarbacker said the campaign is also skeptical about the structure in place for them to seek any remedy. 

[snip]

The fliers began appearing throughout the county after a June 20 Daily Register story outlining a plea agreement between the Columbia County District Attorney's Office and Richards' daughter, who was charged with delivering marijuana to a police informant in April 2005.  The fliers, which Richards claims has appeared in three
different versions, attack the candidate's parenting, his daughter's representation by a public defender , Richards' ability as a teacher of the D.A.R.E.  program and his ability to manage the Sheriff's Department. 

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 26 Jul 2006
Source:   Portage Daily Register (WI)
Copyright:   2006 Portage Daily Register
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/3779
Author:   Paul Ferguson
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n973/a02.html


Cannabis & Hemp-


COMMENT: (13-16)     (Top)

We start this week with a fantastic op-ed by Kevin Keenan (Director of the ACLU for San Diego and Imperial County), Steph Sherer (Executive Director of Americans for Safe Access), and Donald Abrahamson (Director of Legal Affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance).  The article, which ran in the San Diego Union Tribune, condemns the San Diego County Board of Supervisors baseless and ill-considered decision to sue the state over the implementation of prop.  215.

Next, the Anniston Star takes a look at Loretta Nall's campaign for Governor of Alabama.  The founder of the U.S. Marijuana Party sounds like she's having much fun and adventure keeping the other candidates honest (keep it up, girl!).  Our third article this week is a fascinating story about Joseph White, a Massachusetts cannabis activist (he founded "Change the Climate") who has turned his love of the cannabis plant into a lucrative home business ...  without breaking any laws. 

And lastly this week, a story about Marc Emery's new legal troubles: he's gotten married again :-).  Your faithful editor had the pleasure to attend the ceremony, which took place in a rose garden in Vancouver last weekend, and this article from Metro Magazine will fill you in on the details of the nuptials. 


(13) MEDICAL MARIJUANA IS HERE TO STAY     (Top)

San Diego County has adopted an official head-in-the-sand policy on medic al marijuana: Sit back and hope the courts outlaw it. 

But an ostrich strategy won't work.  Doctors will continue to recommend it , patients will continue to use it, and the law is clear: the judiciary will not overturn California's medical marijuana in favor of federal prohibition.  To do so would violate centuries of legal precedent firmly establishing the boundaries between state and federal power.  Instead of pursuing baseless litigation, San Diego County should implement the law and work with the rest of the state to find practical ways for law enforcement and others to distinguish between legitimate patients and those who would abuse the system. 

Our nation is built on the principle that states do not have to march in lock-step with all federal policy decisions.  It is true that Congress could have chosen to make the federal government solely responsible for making and enforcing criminal drug laws.  But it has not. 

[snip]

It is time for San Diego County's supervisors and local officials to find compassion, pull their heads out of the sand, and start making sensible, responsible policy decisions. 

Pubdate:   Tue, 25 Jul 2006
Source:   San Diego Union Tribune (CA)
Copyright:   2006 Union-Tribune Publishing Co. 
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/386
Authors:   Kevin Keenan, Steph Sherer and Daniel Abrahamson
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n969.a05.html


(14) NALL LOOKS TO RIDE COLORFUL CAMPAIGN     (Top)

Loretta Nall speaks frankly.  She is an atheist, a marijuana smoker and, recently, an escort for women attempting to get abortions.  She's also a candidate for governor on the Libertarian Party ticket, and her positions don't seem to jibe with mainstream Alabama thinking. 

So when Nall says getting 250,000 votes - equivalent to about 18 percent of the vote in the 2002 gubernatorial election - would be a good result, it sounds ambitious. 

"It is," she said over lunch at Davis Cafe, a soul food restaurant in Montgomery.  "I'm an ambitious girl."

[snip]

Nall was convicted of misdemeanor marijuana possession in 2004, a conviction she is appealing.  A mother of a 14-year-old and 9-year-old, Nall said she smokes marijuana but claimed she does not smoke in front of her children and discourages them from doing it. 

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 23 Jul 2006
Source:   Anniston Star (AL)
Copyright:   2006 Consolidated Publishing
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/923
Author:   Brian Lyman, Capitol Correspondent
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n966.a03.html


(15) GREENFIELD MAN ROLLS PRO-POT IDEAS, SKILLS INTO MOCK POT PLANTS     (Top)

Joseph White's home office is like a modern-day hippie hangout. 

Books on Buddhism and yoga mingle with business planners and a laptop computer.  An acoustic guitar rests next to a shuffle of sheet music for "Mr.  Tambourine Man," just across the room from a fax machine. 

And then there are the marijuana stalks.  Towering six-footers. Pint-sized plants for personal medical use.  He even has a few ripe buds kicking around on a desk, not far from his cell phone. 

His stash is for sale, but it won't get you stoned.  These lifelike botanicals are made of silk and wood. 

Behold, counterfeit cannabis. 

During the past two years, White -- a trim 51-year-old with thinning hair and a small stud in his left earlobe -- has rolled his pro-pot activism and business savvy into New Image Plants, a startup company that sells the make-believe marijuana online. 

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 23 Jul 2006
Source:   Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA)
Copyright:   2006 Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/509
Author:   Adam Gorlick, Associated Press Writer
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n965.a05.html


(16) PRINCE OF POT WEDS AS EXTRADITION HEARING LOOMS     (Top)

Guests, Happy Couple Celebrate With Joints

Marc Emery, Canada's so-called Prince of Pot, got married Sunday to a woman who apparently doesn't mind the idea that her new husband could spend large parts of their marriage in court or in jail as part of his mission to legalize marijuana. 

"I will support him no matter what happens in any situation," Jodie Emery , 21, said shortly after the wedding.  "I'm just so happy right now to be married to him."

She said she married Emery, who has been arrested 21 times, knowing full well he may spend many years in a U.S.  jail.

Emery, 48, heads the B.C.  Marijuana Party and publishes Cannabis Culture magazine.  He is currently charged with selling marijuana seeds to America ns through the mail, conspiracy to manufacture pot and conspiracy to engage in money laundering. 

He was arrested last July along with Michelle Rainey-Fenkarek and Greg Williams after police raided Emery's pot paraphernalia store in Vancouver following an 18-month investigation by the U.S.  Drug Enforcement Administration. 

[snip]

The activist said he'll continue to challenge the Americans and their war on drugs.  Emery claims to be the first marijuana seed vendor to sell seeds directly over the Internet.  His website, Marc Emery Direct, sold seeds to anyone in the world. 

Over 10 years, Emery claims to have sold about $15 million worth of seeds .  He has said his lawyers told him he has a 98 per cent chance of being extradited.  A date for the extradition hearing will be set Aug.  21 in B.C. Supreme Court.

Pubdate:   Tue, 25 Jul 2006
Source:   Calgary Herald (CN AB)
Copyright:   2006 Canadian Press
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/66
Author:   Tiffany Crawford, Canadian Press
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n969.a07.html


International News


COMMENT: (17-21)     (Top)

In a surprise move in the UK, senior Conservative members of parliament came out publicly this week in support of legalizing the opium grown by farmers in Afghanistan.  "The poppy crops are the elephant in the room of the Afghan problem.  We're in complete denial of the power that the crops have on the nation as a whole, and the tactics of eradication are simply not working," admitted Conservative Opposition whip Tobias Ellwood.  "Last year we spent 600 [million pounds] on eradication and all that resulted was the biggest-ever export of opium from the country."

Prohibitionists are loudly taking credit for Australian government statistics claiming heroin deaths have fallen there.  In one Australian state, Victoria, deaths fell from a reported 359 in 1999 to just nine heroin-related deaths reported so far this year.  Yet while heroin use is claimed to be declining, amphetamine use is increasing.  "We have a culture at this moment more attracted to stimulants," notes Australian National Drug Research Institute director Professor Steve Allsop.  "If heroin became more available tomorrow, we would see an increase in use, but we would no t see a dramatic reduction in the use of amphetamines."

In Canada, funding for Insite, the supervised injection center in downtown Vancouver is due to run out in September.  The ruling conservative government of Stephen Harper is widely expected to stop Insite, as a bone tossed to Harper's political base.  The injection-center is credited with saving many lives: while more than 300 drug overdoses have occurred there over the past 18 months, intervention by medical staff has prevented any fatalities. 

A supervised injection facility in Sydney, Australia stirred controversy this past week.  A conservative newspaper, the Australian Daily Telegraph, published photographs of needle exchange bins which were overflowing with (what the Telegraph claimed were) used drug-needles.  Conservative politicians (at prepared press conferences) thundered against the King's Cross injection center, which has been open since 2001 and is funded with "money seized from criminals".  Controversy exploded when Dr Ingrid van Beek, who runs the King's Cross injecting center announced the photos were faked, and that photos of syringes shown overflowing from needle-return bins, "would appear likely to be a stunt...  None of the many syringes had actually been used...  There were no traces of blood or drugs in any of the syringes.  They were most certainly not syringes used by drug users.  They were also not the brand of syringes distributed in this area."


(17) BACK AFGHAN OPIUM LEGALISATION, TORIES URGE CAMERON     (Top)

Senior Conservative MPs are urging David Cameron to push for the licensing of legal opium farming in Afghanistan as he pays a surprise visit to the country today, Guardian Unlimited has learned. 

Opposition whip Tobias Ellwood said that the lives of British troops in t he south of the country were being endangered because of the coalition's insistence on eradicating opium crops, which are often the sole means of livelihood for impoverished families in the region. 

[snip]

"The poppy crops are the elephant in the room of the Afghan problem.  We're in complete denial of the power that the crops have on the nation as a whole, and the tactics of eradication are simply not working," Mr Ellwood told Guardian Unlimited. 

"Last year we spent 600m on eradication and all that resulted was the biggest-ever export of opium from the country."

He said that opium farming should be licensed so that the harvest could b e sold legally on the open market, bringing in income for Afghan farmers an d helping to plug a global shortage of opiate-based medicines. 

The plan would also limit the supply of opium to the black market, where it finds its way into Britain as heroin, he said. 

Mr Ellwood said the plan had the support of several Conservative MPs and senior military figures in Afghanistan.  He will meet international development secretary Hilary Benn to discuss the issue later this week. 

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 24 Jul 2006
Source:   Guardian, The (UK)
Copyright:   2006 Guardian Newspapers Limited
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/175
Author:   David Fickling
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n969.a09.html


(18) HEROIN DEATHS TUMBLE, BUT STIMULANTS A PROBLEM     (Top)

VICTORIA leads the world in the fight against heroin, but is following international trends with an escalation in mental health problems caused by amphetamines. 

A heroin shortage coupled with innovative drug treatment programs has resulted in Victoria's heroin death toll falling from a peak of 359 in 19 99 to nine deaths so far this year. 

But drug researchers and police warn against complacency.  International and Australian drug syndicates are diversifying from heroin production and trafficking into amphetamines. 

"This is no time for complacency," said Professor Steve Allsop, director of the National Drug Research Institute.  "We have to be vigilant about heroin.  It is likely to re-emerge at some point and services and governments have to be prepared for that. 

[snip]

"If heroin became more available tomorrow, we would see an increase in us e, but we would not see a dramatic reduction in the use of amphetamines. 

"We have a culture at this moment more attracted to stimulants. 

[snip]

"Behavioural and mental health problems are on the rise from amphetamine use, creating a lot of problems for emergency service workers and police and families."

[snip]

Less heroin on the streets and increased preference for amphetamines is also believed to be behind overdose rates falling in Britain and Canada. 

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 23 Jul 2006
Source:   Age, The (Australia)
Copyright:   2006 The Age Company Ltd
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/5
Author:   Carmel Egan
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n961.a05.html


(19) SAFE INJECTION SITE'S FATE DEBATED ANEW     (Top)

Despite An MP's Comments Last Week, Ottawa Says It Has Not Made Any Decisions

VANCOUVER -- The fate of Vancouver's safe injection site has not been decided, despite contrary comments made last week, the federal government said yesterday. 

Concerns arose after Manitoba Conservative MP Steven Fletcher said the federal government would let the trial project come to an end before deciding whether to renew its legal exemption, which allows heroin users to inject without penalty.  The contract expires Sept. 12. 

But a spokesman for federal Health Minister Tony Clement said the statement was not accurate. 

[snip]

The assurance from Health Canada that such a plan had not been made, and a recent statement of support from federal cabinet minister David Emerson, the MP for Vancouver Kingsway, are hopeful signs, Ms.  Maxwell said, "so m y nerves calmed."

Still, "we can't celebrate until we see the signature on the exemption an d it's not there yet," she added. 

"We're just assessing the research that's been done to date," Mr.  Waddell said of the federal government's position. 

Recently, a study into the site's work found that not a single death resulted from 336 drug overdoses during an 18-month period. 

Pubdate:   Wed, 26 Jul 2006
Source:   Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright:   2006, The Globe and Mail Company
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author:   Eva Salinas
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n975.a04.html


(20) NEEDLES DUMPED IN STREET     (Top)

THESE are the photographs that shame the so-called "safe" injecting room in Kings Cross dozens of syringes spilling from a bin in a public street. 

At best, the photographs prove critics' claims that the taxpayer-funded centre is a honeypot that attracts and keeps drug addicts in the area. 

At worst, they show that centre staff are exposing the public to potentially deadly blood-tainted needles by showing no care in their disp osal. 

The bins overflowing with syringes have stood for three days on a footpath at the rear of the Kings Cross Medically Supervised Injecting Centre in Kellett St in the path of pedestrians and school children. 

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 27 Jul 2006
Source:   Daily Telegraph (Australia)
Copyright:   2006 News Limited
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/113
Author:   Larissa Cummings
Photo:   http://www.mapinc.org/images/needles1of2.jpg
Photo:   http://www.mapinc.org/images/needles2of2.jpg
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n974.a01.html
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n973.a09.html


(21) INJECTING ROOM SYRINGE 'STUNT'     (Top)

A bin full of exposed syringes was planted near a Kings Cross injecting clinic to discredit the centre, its medical director says. 

[snip]

But Dr Ingrid van Beek, who heads the Sydney Medically Supervised Injecting Centre, said the syringes did not belong to the centre. 

"It would appear likely to be a stunt," Dr van Beek said. 

"None of the many syringes had actually been used.  They had been taken ou t of their packets, the caps were removed, and they were strewn on top of a garbage bin. 

"There were no traces of blood or drugs in any of the syringes.  They were most certainly not syringes used by drug users. 

"They were also not the brand of syringes distributed in this area."

[snip]

The injecting room opened in 2001 and is funded by the State Government with money seized from criminals. 

The program has also attracted criticism from some local businesspeople, who claim it attracts drug dealers. 

However, a recent survey showed about three-quarters of Kings Cross residents supported the centre, and police say there is no evidence it contributes to crime. 

"There is nothing to indicate that the centre is anything but good for the area," Kings Cross Local Area Commander Mark Murdoch said this month. 

Pubdate:   Thu, 27 Jul 2006
Source:   Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
Copyright:   2006 The Sydney Morning Herald
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/441
Author:   David Braithwaite
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n973.a09.html
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06.n974.a01.html


HOT OFF THE 'NET     (Top)

HOW LEGALIZING DRUGS WILL END THE VIOLENCE

By Norm Stamper, AlterNet.  Posted July 28, 2006.

If Steven Soderbergh's gritty 2000 film "Traffic" caused you to squirm in your seat, the real-life story of Mexican drug dealing is even more disquieting. 

http://alternet.org/drugreporter/39565/


DPA FILES BRIEF IN MEDICAL MARIJUANA JOB DISCRIMINATION CASE

On Monday July 24, the Drug Policy Alliance filed an amicus (friend-of-the-court) brief in the California Supreme Court on behalf of leading public health organizations in the case of Ross v.  Ragingwire Telecommunications, Inc.  The brief supports the appeal of Gary Ross, a medical marijuana patient under California's Compassionate Use Act, who was fired by his employer after testing positive for medical marijuana he used during off-hours in accordance with his doctor's recommendation for the treatment of severe pain. 

http://www.drugpolicy.org/news/072606ross.cfm


CULTURAL BAGGAGE RADIO SHOW

Tonight:   07/28/06 - Prof.  Arnold Trebach, author "Fatal Distraction - Drug
War in a time of Islamic Terror"

Audio:   http://drugtruth.net/cbaudio06/FDBCB_072806.mp3

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

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


IT'S TIME TO GET REAL ABOUT OPIUM IN AFGHANISTAN

By David Borden

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/446/get_real_about_afghan_opium.shtml


WHAT YOU CAN DO THIS WEEK     (Top)

STOP THE REEFER MADNESS, SENATOR HATCH!

Please consider writing a succinct Letter to the Editor and sending it to the Washington Times with your own personal appeal to federal lawmakers to call an end to The War on Drugs. 

http://www.mapinc.org/alert/0333.html


LETTER OF THE WEEK     (Top)

Benefits Of Research Outlasted Drug War

By Mary Jane Borden

In his June 30 Forum column, "Former drug czars believe their war has bee n won," John Burnham asserted that, when the first drug czar was appointed in 1971, the serious effects of pot smoking were largely unknown. 

True, but among these serious effects, scientists have since found an anti-emetic for chemotherapy, an anti-spasmodic for multiple sclerosis, a neuroprotectant for head injury, and even a potential anti-cancer agent, all with few side effects compared to the myriad other pharmaceutical dru gs developed and marketed since then. 

Back then, we didn't know that our own brains contain cannabinoid recepto rs and actually produce natural marijuana-like compounds called endocannabinoids.  These findings have been hailed as among the most exciting developments in brain chemistry of our time and are leading to t he discovery of a host of new drugs, unfortunately outside of the United Sta tes. 

In the United States, we still fight a "war" on this beneficial substance.  Instead of vigorously researching it and providing it to patients, we're left with backslapping drug czars who advance stifling bureaucratic control.  As if they haven't left the 1970s, Burnham and the czars continue to hype the falsehood that "brains got fried" when we now know the opposite is true.  In declaring victory, are patients and medici ne their collateral damage?

MARY JANE BORDEN

Westerville

Pubdate:   Fri, 14 Jul 2006
Source:   Columbus Dispatch (OH)
Website:   http://www.dispatch.com/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/93
Referenced:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n869/a05.html
Author:   Mary Jane Borden


FEATURE ARTICLE     (Top)

Book Review: Overkill

By Jo-D Harrison

On a beautiful California May morning in 1998 I was working on drug law reform material while my parrot chased the cursor from atop my computer monitor.  Suddenly, she let out a squawk as we both noticed an odd movement to our left.  I looked out my office window and saw a group of military-clad men sprinting down the alley.  My first thought, even though I had read thousands of drug raid horror stories, was, "Wow, wonder where they're going?!" Then, it sunk in.  They were coming to raid my boyfriend's medical marijuana garden.  For the next few minutes I could only utter, "Shit, Holy Shit!" as I ran to place my pet in the safety of her cage. 

I have never fully recovered from what occurred during the following 12 hours but I knew that the experience could have been much worse.  The Cato Institute's recently published study, Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America, verifies this many times over. 

After a year of research, the author, Radley Balko, found the rising use of and number of mistakes by SWAT teams troubling and full of heartbreak.  I found myself in tears as I forced my way through the numerous examples contained in the appendix.  I also experienced several flashbacks to that day in May 1998 as I read through the superbly organized and detailed orientated report. 

The study begins with a history of how and why it has become seemingly acceptable to use military tactics to execute search warrants on American citizens.  This is followed by a discussion about the legal issues of such tactics.  The necessity and problematic dependence on informants appears next.  Mr. Balko concludes with suggestions on how to correct the reported problems. 

An interactive map, Botched Paramilitary Police Raids: An Epidemic of "Isolated Incidents", accompanies the study and is available at http://www.cato.org/raidmap/.  This fantastic utility categorizes botched SWAT raids, allows users to isolate the incidents by type and provides a search function which produces printable descriptions of the raids plotted on the map. 

Please show your support by purchasing the very reasonably-priced hard copy from the Cato Bookstore.  A free PDF version is also available online.  Both options are available at
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=6476

The author, Radley Balko is a Cato policy analyst specializing in civil liberties issues and is the author of the Cato study, "Back Door to Prohibition: The New War on Social Drinking." Additional information about Mr.  Balko and the Cato Institute is available at http://www.cato.org/


QUOTE OF THE WEEK     (Top)

"You just need to be a flea against injustice.  Enough committed fleas biti ng strategically can make even the biggest dog uncomfortable and transform even the biggest nation." - Marian Wright Edelman


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