DrugSense Home
DrugSense Weekly
Feb. 16, 2007 #487


Table of Contents

* Breaking News (03/28/24)


* This Just In


(1) School Administrators Meet With Students After Lockdown
(2) Teens Pop Pills As Use Of Pot Falls: U.S. Survey
(3) 'Safest City' Now Has Drug War
(4) Mired In Violence At Ramona Gardens

* Weekly News in Review


Drug Policy-

COMMENT: (5-8)
(5) Warlord or Druglord?
(6) Tribe To Banish Drug Dealers
(7) House Opts Against Making Meth Pregnancies A Felony
(8) Deadly Abuse Of Methadone Tops Other Prescription Drugs

Law Enforcement & Prisons-

COMMENT: (9-12)
(9) 2nd-Grader Faces Drug Charge
(10) Report Concludes Convicted Agents Lied, Covered Up Shooting
(11) Anti-Drug Bill Could Confuse Privacy, Secrecy
(12) Aiming For Course Corrections On Prison Priorities

Cannabis & Hemp-

COMMENT: (13-17)
(13) Smoking Pot Reduces Pain, Study Shows
(14) Judge Sides With Botanist On Pot Supply
(15) Pot Prisoners Cost Americans $1 Billion A Year
(16) Starting To Prepare Your Returns? Don't Forget Those
         Marijuana Tax Stamps
(17) B.C. 'Exports' Marijuana Expertise Worldwide

International News-

COMMENT: (18-21)
(18) Yes, I Took Drugs, Says Cameron
(19) Mayor Pushes Drug Plan
(20) Mexico Proposes New Drug Bill
(21) Clark Snuffs Out Dope Law Hope

* Hot Off The 'Net


    Did "Bogota Connection" Embassy Leaks Doom U.S. Spy Plane In Colombia?
    Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind. Defends ONDCP Media Campaign
    Addressing  Key  Criminal  Justice  Issues  In  The  21St  Century
    "Industrial Hemp Farming Act" Reintroduced In Congress
    Cultural Baggage Radio Show
    California's Prison-Transfer Plan Angers Critics
    The War Within, Killing Ourselves / By Lou Dobbs
    A  Tribute  To  Eddie  Ellison  / Transform Drug Policy Foundation

* What You Can Do This Week


    Write A Letter To Increase Medical Marijuana Research
    Support Medical Cannabis Inmates

* Letter Of The Week


    End Federal Intervention / Mark Hughes

* Letter Writer Of The Month - January


    George Kosinski

* Feature Article


    'Progress' In A Glacial Debate / Dr. Tom O'Connell

* Quote of the Week


    Gene Roddenberry

DrugSense needs your support to continue this newsletter and many
other important projects - see how you can help at
http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm


THIS JUST IN    (Top)

(1) SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS MEET WITH STUDENTS AFTER LOCKDOWN    (Top)

After almost two weeks of discussion between students and administrators, the effects of a school-wide lockdown drill can still be felt throughout the halls of Scituate High School.

The school was the site of lockdown drill coordinated by Scituate Police earlier this month that lead to the arrest of seven students on various charges, including drug and weapons possession.  Students and teachers were forced to remain in their classrooms for nearly two hours as police searched the building and student parking lot for drugs.

The drill, which started as a routine run though the school, escalated to a legitimate lockdown after dogs brought in by police allegedly detected traces of marijuana in the building.  A cardboard box allegedly containing marijuana and various drug paraphernalia was found in the building, while police said canines also found a scarf with traces of marijuana in a music room and additional drugs in a student locker.

Police said they also found drugs, bongs, beer and in one instance a weapon in plain sight upon searching four vehicles in the student parking lot.

While police and school officials have received accolades for their treatment of the incident, several students reacted with anger and confusion to the drill, which some saw as an invasion of their Fourth Amendment rights.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 15 Feb 2007
Source:   Scituate Mariner (MA)
Website:   http://www2.townonline.com/scituate/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/3842
Author:   Ryan Bray
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n186.a05.html


(2) TEENS POP PILLS AS USE OF POT FALLS: U.S. SURVEY    (Top)

White House Drug Czar Sounds Alarm

Junior's been helping himself to Mother's little helper.

That's the conclusion of a report released Wednesday by White House drug czar John Walters that found while U.S.  teenagers' use of marijuana is declining, their abuse of prescription drugs is holding steady or, in some cases, increasing.

"The drug dealer is us," said Walters, the national drug policy director.

[snip]

While their use of marijuana declined from 30.1 per cent to 25.8 per cent from 2002 to 2006, use of OxyContin, a painkiller, increased from 2.7 per cent to 3.5 per cent over the same period.  Use of Vicodin,
another painkiller, increased slightly from six per cent to 6.3 per cent.

[snip]

Teens are also abusing stimulants like Adderall and anti-anxiety drugs like Xanax because they are readily available and perceived as safer than street drugs, Walters said.

[snip]

Dr.  Terry Horton, the medical director of Phoenix House, which operates nearly 100 substance abuse programs in nine states, said the belief that prescription drugs are safer than street drugs is false.

"These medicines cause dependence and addiction when misused and have the potential to cause death," he said.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 15 Feb 2007
Source:   Calgary Herald (CN AB)
Website:   http://www.canada.com/calgary/calgaryherald/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/66
Author:   Karen Matthews, Associated Press
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n184.a02.html


(3) 'SAFEST CITY' NOW HAS DRUG WAR    (Top)

An Affluent City Just Two Hours From Texas Is The Newest Battleground In A War Between Drug Cartels

SAN PEDRO GARZA GARCIA, Mexico -- From the shopping malls and the fashionable clothes of its residents, this could be any affluent U.S. suburb.  Residents pride themselves on their prosperity.

But in recent weeks, drug-related violence has shattered the tranquillity.  The main targets are police, and seven officers have been gunned down in Monterrey and its suburbs this year.  Men with assault weapons killed two former police officers over the weekend.

Last year, 10 law enforcement officials were killed in the area.  Five were police chiefs, among them San Pedro's chief, Hector Ayala Moreno. A top state investigator, Marcelo Garza Y Garza, was shot and killed as he left church in San Pedro.

"One day you wake up and realize that your neighbors are not who you thought they were," said Denise Colyer, 22, a waitress at a Chili's here.  "We thought we were immune from the violence, but we're surrounded by fear and drug traffickers."

Law enforcement officials on both sides of the border say that the killings represent an attempt on part of the Gulf Cartel and its enforcement arm, the Zetas, to gain control of police.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 16 Feb 2007
Source:   Miami Herald (FL)
Website:   http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/262
Author:   Alfredo Corchado, Dallas Morning News
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n192.a01.html


(4) MIRED IN VIOLENCE AT RAMONA GARDENS    (Top)

L.A.  Housing Project Stuck in a Cycle of Violence and Distrust

School was out, and the municipal gym jumped with the wholesome noise of girls and boys slapping basketballs onto the hardwood.  Then came the clatter of a helicopter overhead.

"LAPD -- you see?" said Jose Saucedo, in a voice too weary for his 18 years.  He stood at the gym door, eyeing the police chopper as if it were a storm cloud.

"What's the reason for the helicopter? Why?"

The simple answer is that the gym sits in Ramona Gardens, an Eastside housing project that has seen countless confrontations between the police and its home-grown street gang, Big Hazard.  The cycles of seething standoffs and bursts of violence stretch back generations and have defeated every effort to bring lasting security to the neighborhood.

Caught in the middle are Saucedo and his fellow ballplayers, along with about 2,000 other folks determined to lead normal lives in the sprawl of barracks-like, World War II-era masonry buildings.

Some say they feel under siege more from the police than the gang, because of what they contend are heavy-handed tactics, a characterization that the Los Angeles Police Department disputes.

"Growing up here is as close as you're going to get to living in a police state," said Jose Navarro, 29, a USC doctoral student from Ramona Gardens.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 16 Feb 2007
Source:   Los Angeles Times (CA)
Page:   Front Page, lead article
Webpage:   http://www.latimes.com/includes/sectionfronts/A1.pdf
Website:   http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author:   Paul Pringle, Times Staff Writer
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n192.a07.html


WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW    (Top)

Domestic News- Policy


COMMENT: (5-8)    (Top)

A cover story from Time Magazine shows the federal government's priorities when it tires to choose between the drug war and the terror war.  Unfortunately, even those who have some autonomy from the U.S.  government within the borders of the U.S. are also choosing to make the drug war more of a priority.  Also last week: In Montana, legislators narrowly pulled back from another assault on pregnant women; and USA Today focused on the negative side of methadone.


(5) WARLORD OR DRUGLORD?    (Top)

For a week and a half in April 2005, one of the favorite warlords of fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar was sitting in a room at the Embassy Suites Hotel in lower Manhattan, not far from where the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center once stood.

But Haji Bashar Noorzai, the burly, bearded leader of one of Afghanistan's largest and most troublesome tribes, was not on a mission to case New York City for a terrorist attack.

On the contrary, Noorzai, a confidant of the fugitive Taliban overlord, who is a well-known ally of Osama bin Laden's, says he had been invited to Manhattan to prove that he could be of value in America's war on terrorism.  "I did not want to be considered an enemy of the United States," Noorzai told TIME.  "I wanted to help the Americans and to help the new government in Afghanistan."

For several days he hunkered down in that hotel room and was bombarded with questions by U.S.  government agents.

What was going on in the war in Afghanistan? Where was Mullah Omar? Where was bin Laden? What was the state of opium and heroin production in the tribal lands Noorzai commanded--the very region of Afghanistan where support for the Taliban remains strongest? Noorzai believed he had answered everything to the agents' satisfaction, that he had convinced them that he could help counter the Taliban's resurgent influence in his home province and that he could be an asset to the U.S.

He was wrong.

As he got up to leave, ready to be escorted to the airport to catch a flight back to Pakistan, one of the agents in the room told him he wasn't going anywhere.  That agent, who worked for the Drug Enforcement Administration ( DEA ), told him that a grand jury had issued a sealed indictment against Noorzai 3 1/2 months earlier and that he was now under arrest for conspiring to smuggle narcotics into the U.S.  from Afghanistan. An awkward silence ensued as the words were translated into his native Pashtu.  "I did not believe it," Noorzai later told TIME from his prison cell.  "I thought they were joking." The previous August, an American agent he had met with said the trip to the U.S.  would be "like a vacation."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 19 Feb 2006
Source:   Time Magazine (US)
Copyright:   2007 Time Inc
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/451
Author:   Bill Powell
Note:   With reporting by Aryn Baker / Kabul, Ghulam Hasnain / Quetta,
Brian Bennett, Elaine Shannon / Washington
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n162/a03.html


(6) TRIBE TO BANISH DRUG DEALERS    (Top)

CHEROKEE -- A tribal law awaiting ratification would banish members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians from the reservation if convicted of dealing drugs.

Members would have to petition for court permission to return under the law.  Nontribal members would be escorted off the Cherokee Indian Reservation immediately if they are suspected of selling drugs.

The law is a radical step for the tribe.  The 13,500 members of the Eastern Band identify themselves culturally with their homeland.

"Tribal communities such as ours have remained a cohesive group for thousands of years," spokeswoman Lynne Harlan said.  "Potential banishment is a serious issue because it disenfranchises the individuals from this tribal community and often their families."

Tribal Council passed the Controlled Substances Act last week. Principal Chief Michell Hicks is expected to sign off on the law in April.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 08 Feb 2007
Source:   Asheville Citizen-Times (NC)
Copyright:   2007 Asheville Citizen-Times
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/863
Author:   Jon Ostendorff
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n155/a07.html


(7) HOUSE OPTS AGAINST MAKING METH PREGNANCIES A FELONY    (Top)

CHEYENNE - The House on Thursday backed away from the prospect of imposing felony prosecutions on mothers who expose their newborn children to methamphetamine in the womb.

Instead, the House adopted a sweeping amendment drafted by Majority Floor Leader Colin Simpson, R-Cody, that expands the definition of abuse under the Child Protective Services Act to include prenatal exposure to methamphetamine.  The House then passed the bill 39-21 on final reading.

The change means that a mother who exposed her newborn to the drug during pregnancy could be referred to drug court.  The drug court, in turn, could order the woman to get treatment, and any violation of such an order could land the woman in jail for up to 90 days.

A felony conviction under the earlier version of the bill could have resulted in prison sentences.  Although the amendment removed the prospect of felony prosecution for meth mothers, the revised bill could still result in mothers losing custody of their children to the state.

Critics of the bill said they are concerned that the legislation threatens to deter drug-addicted women from seeking necessary medical care for themselves and their children.  Public health professionals from around the country wrote to Wyoming legislators this week urging them to oppose the original bill on the grounds that it would discourage women from seeking medical care.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 09 Feb 2007
Source:   Billings Gazette, The (MT)
Copyright:   2007 The Billings Gazette
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/515
Author:   Associated Press
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/women.htm (Women)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n161/a01.html


(8) DEADLY ABUSE OF METHADONE TOPS OTHER PRESCRIPTION DRUGS    (Top)

Only Cocaine Kills More By Overdose

Methadone, a painkiller that has been used to treat heroin addicts for decades, has emerged as an increasingly popular and deadly street drug, joining narcotics such as Vicodin and OxyContin as frequently abused prescription drugs.

Fatal overdoses of methadone rose at a higher rate than those involving any other narcotic from 1999 through 2004, according to a recent study by the National Center for Health Statistics ( NCHS ). The number of deaths from methadone in 2004 (3,849) represented a 390% rise from 1999, the study said.

Methadone was cited in nearly 13% of all the overdose deaths reported in the USA in 2004, up from about 4% five years earlier. Among drugs cited in fatal overdoses, only cocaine kills more people than methadone.

The NCHS study -- and reports from coroners nationwide that the trend is continuing -- indicate that doctors' increasing tendency to prescribe methadone as a cheap alternative to addictive pain relievers such as OxyContin has made it easier for addicts to get methadone, the Drug Enforcement Administration's Denise Curry says.

"It's out there, it's available, and it can be dangerous," Curry says.  Pharmacies report that methadone is among the most popular drugs stolen, along with Vicodin and OxyContin, she says.

At about $20 a pill on the black market and pennies a dose when prescribed, methadone is considerably cheaper than such opiates.

Methadone has long been viewed as a relatively safe and effective narcotic, in part because its effects are gradual and it can ease withdrawal symptoms for recovering heroin addicts.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 13 Feb 2007
Source:   USA Today (US)
Section:   Page 1A
Copyright:   2007 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co.  Inc
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/466
Author:   Donna Leinwand
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/find?232 (Chronic Pain)
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone)
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/oxycontin.htm (Oxycontin/Oxycodone)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n178/a04.html


Law Enforcement & Prisons


COMMENT: (9-12)    (Top)

In a strange story out of Connecticut, a seven-year-old will have to go to juvenile court after he allegedly found packets of drugs on the way to school and then distributed them to classmates.  Instead of punishing the kid, authorities might want to think how their own prohibitionist policies led to a situation where a kid can find dangerous drugs lying on the ground on the way to school.

Some pundits and legislators have tried to make martyrs out of two border patrol agents who were convicted of illegally shooting a suspect (and other crimes), but a new report on the incident offers nothing to show the agents acted properly.  Again, if supporters of those agents were serious, they would push for a repeal of the prohibition policies that place the agents in such situations.

Also last week, editorial writers in North Carolina rightly rip a silly proposed law to ban empty spaces in automobiles (because empty spaces can be used to hide drugs); and Colorado tries to come to grips with its prison crisis, which is appropriately described as "the pac man of state government."


(9) 2ND-GRADER FACES DRUG CHARGE    (Top)

NEW HAVEN -- A second-grader at Truman School is accused of bringing crack cocaine into school this week and may have dispensed it to classmates.

The 7-year-old, police said, is charged with possession of narcotics and will have to appear in juvenile court.

Sgt.  Rick Rodriguez, a supervisor in family services, said police released the boy to his parents, but made referrals to Yale Child Study, which can provide follow-up counseling, and the state Department of Children and Families "to take a look at the family situation."

Rodriguez said the boy told detectives he found the drugs on the way to school.

"We interviewed enough people that we're comfortable with that answer," he said.

Police were called to the school at 114 Truman St.  by a school official Thursday afternoon and two packets of crack were turned over.  It was unknown whether that was the extent of what was brought to the school.

Police found the boy at home.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 09 Feb 2007
Source:   New Haven Register (CT)
Copyright:   2007 New Haven Register
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/292
Author:   William Kaempffer, Staff
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n161/a03.html


(10) REPORT CONCLUDES CONVICTED AGENTS LIED, COVERED UP SHOOTING    (Top)

EL PASO, Texas -- A federal report released Wednesday on the shooting of a suspected drug smuggler by Border Patrol agents concurs with prosecutors that the men committed obstruction of justice by failing to report the shooting, destroying evidence and lying to investigators.  Conservative members of Congress have criticized the case against the former agents, who were fired after their convictions, saying the men were doing their job when they injured Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila in 2005 near El Paso.

The U.S.  Department of Homeland Security report on the investigation was drafted in 2006 after Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean were convicted and each was sentenced to more than a decade in federal prison.  The 77-page report was made public Wednesday and offered few if any new details on the case.

The report, which is heavily redacted of names and some specific details, primarily outlines what Aldrete said happened on Feb.  17, 2005, as he tried to run from Border Patrol agents after trying to elude them in a van loaded with marijuana.

According to the report, Aldrete, who was given immunity and has filed a multimillion dollar claim against the federal government, told investigators he was unarmed and shot as he ran away from Compean and other agents.  He said he tried to surrender and ran again after Compean slipped while trying to hit him with the butt of a shotgun.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 08 Feb 2007
Source:   Herald Democrat (Sherman,TX)
Copyright:   2007 Herald Democrat
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/2710
Authors:   Alicia A.  Caldwell and Suzanne Gamboa, Associated Press
Related:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v06/n1412/a04.html
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Border+Patrol
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n153/a02.html


(11) ANTI-DRUG BILL COULD CONFUSE PRIVACY, SECRECY    (Top)

How many of you have a safe in your home? What about a secret place in a closet or drawer where you hide money or mementos or anything else? Perhaps it's a truly elaborate hiding place, because what you want to conceal is so valuable or treasured that you never want anyone else to find it or see it.

Is there anything wrong with these types of arrangements? Of course not.

It's your home and you can hide what you want, how you want it, right? If you agree with all that, then our question is: Why should a car be any different? State Rep.  Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, is well-intentioned, but seriously misguided when he proposes a new state law making it a felony for people to "have any compartment, space or box" in their vehicle for the purposes of hiding illegal items.

Let's really think about this.  If this law were passed, it would make it illegal to have empty space in your vehicle.

Empty space.  Why could it possibly be the government's business if you want to conceal something in your car? Some folks might want to hide sensitive documents, cash, legally possessed guns or a computer.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 10 Feb 2007
Source:   Free Press, The (Kinston, NC)
Copyright:   2007 Kinston Free Press
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/1732
Cited:   State Rep.  Tim Moore
http://www.timmooreforhouse.com
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n163/a07.html


(12) AIMING FOR COURSE CORRECTIONS ON PRISON PRIORITIES    (Top)

Ari Zavaras felt sick when he had to appear before the legislature's Joint Budget Committee recently.  It was not because he thought the lawmakers would turn down his request for more money.  No, it made him queasy to think they'd probably approve it.

The new director of the Department of Corrections calls his bureaucratic empire "the Pac-Man of state government" because it gobbles all the money.

Nobody disagrees.

Since 1985, general fund spending on corrections has grown from $57 million a year to $533.1 million; it's gone from 2.8 percent of the operating budget to 8.6 percent; and it keeps falling behind.

The latest estimate for meeting the needs of the exploding prison population in the state is $806 million over the next five years - and that's just to build the gulags.  Staffing them is another cancer on the state budget, spreading at the rate of $27,500 per year for each inmate.

Zavaras' baby step toward slaying the monster that is savaging Colorado's quality of life is to restore funding for programs to rehabilitate prison inmates.

He's asking for money for treating things such as substance abuse, illiteracy, mental health problems, anger issues and the critically insufficient life skills of the inmates incarcerated in the state.

The objective, he said, is to keep inmates from committing crimes after they complete their sentences and are released to the community.

"For every 1 percent we can lower recidivism rates, it means $4.9 million we don't have to spend on prisons."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 14 Feb 2007
Source:   Denver Post (CO)
Copyright:   2007 The Denver Post Corp
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author:   Diane Carman
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n183/a11.html


Cannabis & Hemp-


COMMENT: (13-17)    (Top)

The world is literally abuzz with cannabis news again this week, thanks in part to the published results of a short-term U.S. cannabis study involving AIDS patients with nerve pain.  Despite using NIDA pot, the researchers found a significant number of patients experienced greater relief from pain.

The issue of NIDA pot was also addressed in the courts and media. Thanks to a ruling, a recommendation will be made to the DEA to allow a researcher to break the monopoly on the government supply.  But the deputy administrator will make the final decision, which could then be appealed, so it will be a long haul.

Besides the billion dollars of taxpayer money per year to keep American pot smokers in jail, will 800,000 citizens arrested on marijuana charges in 2005 become more fodder for the Pentagon? With every barrier imaginable blocking their quality of life - from financial aid to housing, jobs, and travel - where do they turn? Jail or the army may become the only options for many drug war recruits in the prison-industrial complex.

Direct quote: "Attention all drug dealers, a tip for tax season: Don't forget to purchase your marijuana tax stamps at the state Department of Revenue Services.  Three people arrested this week by the Groton/Stonington Narcotics Task Force were charged with possession of marijuana without a tax stamp."

After possibly watching a South Park (1999) movie rerun, U.S. officials were inspired to directly blame Canadians once again for their woes.  Without ever explaining what they mean, law enforcers convinced their Canadian counterparts to claim that B.C.  is exporting "marijuana growing expertise" into the U.S.  via "information sharing." They want the nature of the connections to remain a mystery, but let it be known that every B.C.  citizen is suspect.


(13) SMOKING POT REDUCES PAIN, STUDY SHOWS    (Top)

Marijuana Better Than Prescriptions, It Says

AIDS patients suffering from debilitating nerve pain got as much or more relief by smoking marijuana as they would typically get from prescription drugs -- and with fewer side effects -- according to a study conducted under rigorously controlled conditions with government-grown pot.

In a five-day study performed in a specially ventilated hospital ward where patients smoked three marijuana cigarettes a day, more than half the participants tallied significant reductions in pain.

Less than one-quarter of those who smoked "placebo" pot, which had its primary psychoactive ingredients removed, reported benefits, as measured by subjective pain reports and standardized neurological tests.

The White House belittled the study as "a smoke screen," short on proof of efficacy and flawed because it did not consider the health impacts of inhaling smoke.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 13 Feb 2007
Source:   Tampa Tribune (FL)
Section:   National/World, page 4
Copyright:   2007 The Washington Post Company
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/446
Author:   Rick Weiss, Washington Post Staff Writer
Alert:   http://www.mapinc.org/alert/0342.html
Cited:   Americans for Safe Access http://www.americansforsafeaccess.org/
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/people/Donald+Abrams (Donald Abrams)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n177.a01.html


(14) JUDGE SIDES WITH BOTANIST ON POT SUPPLY    (Top)

A Massachusetts botanist should be allowed to grow marijuana for medical study, a hearing officer said Monday in a ruling that would end a longtime government requirement that all federally approved researchers get their pot supplies from the University of Mississippi.

[snip]

The ruling is actually only a recommendation to the DEA, which supports the current policy.  Agency spokesman Garrison Courtney said a deputy administrator would make the final decision after reviewing arguments from lawyers for the DEA staff and for Craker.  The agency's decision could be appealed to a federal court in Washington, D.C.

"It's going to be a hard case to win," said Anjuli Verna of the American Civil Liberties Union's drug law reform project, which represents Craker.  She said the court could overturn a DEA veto of Bittner's ruling only if it was found that the agency was acting arbitrarily.

[snip]

The agency turned Craker down in 2003, saying there was no need for additional research supplies.


Pubdate:   Tue, 13 Feb 2007
Source:   San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
Author:   Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Cited:   http://www.maps.org/ALJfindings.PDF
Cited:   http://www.aclu.org/drugpolicy/gen/10831res20051128.html
Cited:   http://www.maps.org/
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/people/Lyle+Craker (Lyle Craker)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n174.a01.html


(15) POT PRISONERS COST AMERICANS $1 BILLION A YEAR    (Top)

The latest numbers are out: nearly 800,000 Americans were arrested on marijuana charges in 2005.  When will the insanity stop?

American taxpayers are now spending more than a billion dollars per year to incarcerate its citizens for pot.  That's according to statistics recently released by the U.S.  Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics.

According to the new BJS report, "Drug Use and Dependence, State and Federal Prisoners, 2004," 12.7 percent of state inmates and 12.4 percent of federal inmates incarcerated for drug violations are serving time for marijuana offenses.  Combining these percentages with separate U.S.  Department of Justice statistics on the total number of state and federal drug prisoners suggests that there are now about 33,655 state inmates and 10,785 federal inmates behind bars for marijuana offenses.  The report failed to include estimates on the percentage of inmates incarcerated in county and/or local jails for pot-related offenses.

Multiplying these totals by U.S.  DOJ prison expenditure data reveals that taxpayers are spending more than $1 billion annually to imprison pot offenders.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 10 Feb 2007
Source:   AlterNet (US Web)
Copyright:   2007 Independent Media Institute
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/1451
Author:   Paul Armentano
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n160.a01.html


(16) STARTING TO PREPARE YOUR RETURNS? DON'T FORGET THOSE MARIJUANA    (Top)TAX STAMPS

[snip]

By state law, not only are drug dealers expected to pay the tax, they also are expected to keep detailed records for tax purposes, logging each transaction.  Connecticut is one of 20 states with similar laws.

Sarah Kaufman, director of communications for the revenue department, said the stamps can be purchased anonymously by walking in the front door of the department and paying in cash.

The tax is $3.50 per gram if the owner possesses 42.5 grams or more. Civil and criminal penalties for not having the stamps include 200 percent of the tax up to $10,000, six years in prison or both.

[snip]

"Never in my 18 years have I seen somebody pay tax on marijuana," said Detective Cody Floyd at the Stonington Police Department.

Pubdate:   Sat, 10 Feb 2007
Source:   Day, The (New London,CT)
Copyright:   2007 The Day Publishing Co.
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/293
Author:   Julie Wernau, Day, Staff Writer
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n177.a06.html


(17) B.C. 'EXPORTS' MARIJUANA EXPERTISE WORLDWIDE    (Top)

VANCOUVER - A different kind of brain drain is under way in B.C.  as marijuana growers share their billions of dollars worth of skills with a worldwide audience.

"We think they're exporting their expertise," said Supt.  Paul Nadeau, director of the RCMP's national drug branch.

"We've heard of it on an international scale."

[snip]

Ironically, it's enhanced border security in the post 9/11 U.S.  that is driving the information-sharing and possibly adding an unintended front to the U.S.  "war on drugs."

[snip]

Sgt.  Urquhart was reluctant to expand on the nature of the connections and the organization involved.

But when Supt.  Nadeau was asked who in B.C. is exporting their skills, his answer was simple -- "Everybody."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 12 Feb 2007
Source:   Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Copyright:   2007 The Ottawa Citizen
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/326
Author:   Matthew Ramsey, The Vancouver Province
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n171.a06.html


International News


COMMENT: (18-21)    (Top)

In the U.K.  last week, newspapers were buzzing with talk that David Cameron, head of the U.K.  Conservative party, took "drugs". Well, at least cannabis was taken by the Conservative party leader, and it was when Cameron was a lad of but 15.  Still, this makes Mr. Cameron "the first party leader...  to confess to breaking the law over its use," said the Independent on Sunday, which broke the story.

In Vancouver, Canada, Mayor Sam Sullivan is moving forward with plans to pursue new strategies in drug treatment, including "drug maintenance for at least 700 cocaine and crystal-meth users," according to the Vancouver Sun.  The proposed program, Chronic Addiction Substitution Treatment (CAST), reduces harms to hard drug users by "providing legal drugs (such as opiate-based Oxy Contin) as substitutes for the stimulant-type illegal drugs."

In Mexico this week, lawmakers re-introduced a modified "drug-abuse" bill into the Mexican national Senate.  Last year (under President Fox) a similar bill was vetoed after it was denounced in Washington D.C.  as enabling "American tourists to go on drug binges," according to a Houston Chronicle feature report this week.  The proposed bill lowers "personal use" amounts, adding mandatory drug treatment for first-time offenders.  As Fox did before him, the current Mexican President, Felipe Calderon, is expected to vet proposed changes to Mexican drug laws with prohibition officials in the U.S.  government.

In New Zealand, Prime Minister Helen Clark was handed a political hot potato when it was leaked to the press that Health Minister Pete Hodgson presented a report to the PM - last October - which endorsed medical marijuana, the Dominion Post newspaper revealed.  The Health Ministry report admitted there were indeed grounds for compassionate use of cannabis, and there existed "sufficient evidence of safety and efficacy of cannabis in some medical conditions." Prime Minister Clark was swift to downplay the report, emphasizing that the government's own Health Department report wasn't really a "major" recommendation for medical cannabis.


(18) YES, I TOOK DRUGS, SAYS CAMERON    (Top)

Independent on Sunday journalists reveal how Tory leader broke the

David Cameron, the Conservative leader, has admitted taking drugs when he was a 15-year-old schoolboy at Eton, The Independent on Sunday can reveal today.

The disclosures that Mr Cameron has smoked cannabis came in a new biography serialised in today's paper.  It is expected to mark a watershed in the debate about drugs in Britain, making him the first party leader and prospective British prime minister to confess to breaking the law over its use.  The disclosure - in a biography written by Independent on Sunday journalists Francis Elliott and James Hanning - is conclusive evidence of Mr Cameron's drugs past.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 11 Feb 2007
Source:   Independent on Sunday (UK)
Copyright:   Independent Newspapers (UK) Ltd.
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/208
Author:   James Hanning, Francis Elliott
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/people/David+Cameron
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n164.a05.html


(19) MAYOR PUSHES DRUG PLAN    (Top)

A Private Poll Showed Support For Alternative Measures

Mayor Sam Sullivan ramped up his marketing of a new alternative drug-treatment plan for cocaine and crystal-meth addicts with the release of a new poll showing that most Vancouver residents support his approach.

The survey, commissioned by Sullivan and released Friday, found that 61 per cent of respondents would support a prescription drug program to deal with rampant drug addiction in the Downtown Eastside.

The mayor is lobbying the federal government for an exemption from Canada's narcotics laws that would sanction a large-scale program in Vancouver for drug maintenance for at least 700 cocaine and crystal-meth users.

Sullivan's plan, called CAST (chronic addiction substitution treatment), would involve providing legal drugs (such as opiate-based Oxy Contin) as substitutes for the stimulant-type illegal drugs.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 10 Feb 2007
Source:   Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright:   2007 The Vancouver Sun
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author:   Doug Ward
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n158.a04.html


(20) MEXICO PROPOSES NEW DRUG BILL    (Top)

Updated Version Drops A Clause Allowing Users To Skirt
Punishment

MEXICO CITY -- A new drug-abuse bill is making its way through the Mexican Senate, just months after a more liberal measure was scrapped amid pressure from Washington.

The proposed legislation, due to be voted on Wednesday by the Justice and Health committees, drops a clause that would have allowed drug users to escape punishment.

U.S.  officials complained that the provision, which they viewed as decriminalization, would have inspired some American tourists to go on drug binges.

The bill, which Mexican officials said is needed to curb a soaring drug problem, would require first-time offenders caught with small quantities to enter mandatory treatment programs.

Second-time offenders would face criminal charges and could serve jail terms.

[snip]

'Personal Use'

But people carrying small quantities of drugs for so-called "personal use" -- defined in the bill as 2 grams of marijuana or 40 milligrams of methamphetamine -- would escape prosecution, which officials said was a continuation of current policy.

Officials said 2 grams of marijuana would make four cigarettes, and 40 milligrams of methamphetamine is the equivalent of about one pill.

[snip]

Increases Police Power

The original bill passed both houses of Congress but was vetoed by then-President Vicente Fox in May 2006 after U.S.  officials expressed their opposition to the measure's provisions.

[snip]

Mario Moronatti, a technical adviser to the Senate Health Committee, insisted that the new bill makes it clear the government does not condone drug use.  "Nor is it legalizing consumption," he said.

[snip]

Ritual use allowed

In addition, indigenous groups would be permitted to use peyote and mushrooms as part of their rituals, an attempt to spare them frequent police harassment and jail.

However, the bill needs the support of President Felipe Calderon, who has won praise in Washington for his aggressive crackdowns on the drug gangs since taking office Dec.  1.

Like Fox, he may choose caution over ruffling feathers in Washington, analysts say.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 13 Feb 2007
Source:   Houston Chronicle (TX)
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/198
Author:   Marion Lloyd, Houston Chronicle Foreign Service
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/areas/Mexico
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/people/Felipe+Calderon
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n181.a04.html


(21) CLARK SNUFFS OUT DOPE LAW HOPE    (Top)

Prime Minister Helen Clark has dampened down expectations of an immediate change to medicinal cannabis laws, saying Health Ministry advice should not be read as a "major endorsement" of its use.

Miss Clark also made it clear that the ministry came down against the use of leaf cannabis to ease pain, as the release of new papers raises fresh debate over what has become a politically contentious issue.

[snip]

The Dominion Post revealed yesterday that health authorities had acknowledged that there was enough evidence to support the use of cannabis on compassionate grounds.

In an October briefing paper to Health Minister Pete Hodgson, the ministry said there was "sufficient evidence of safety and efficacy of cannabis in some medical conditions" to support consideration of compassionate, controlled use.

Miss Clark said her reading of the Health Department paper was that it was "not a major endorsement of the use of cannabis".

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 13 Feb 2007
Source:   Dominion Post, The (New Zealand)
Copyright:   2007 The Dominion Post
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/2550
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n174.a03.html


HOT OFF THE 'NET    (Top)

DID "BOGOTA CONNECTION" EMBASSY LEAKS DOOM U.S.  SPY PLANE IN COLOMBIA?

By Bill Conroy

http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2007/2/15/232526/118


REP.  MARK SOUDER, R-IND. DEFENDS ONDCP MEDIA CAMPAIGN

Feb.  8: President Bush is asking for a 31 percent increase for his anti-drug campaign that studies suggest actually increases drug use among teens.  Tucker Carlson discusses with Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind.

http://tinyurl.com/2l47w6


ADDRESSING KEY CRIMINAL JUSTICE ISSUES IN THE 21ST CENTURY

This report, released from the Correctional Association of New York, aims to establish more accountable and transparent criminal justice and prison systems that treat the youth and adults in their charge more fairly and humanely and that operate more effectively to cut unnecessary costs and to reduce crime.

http://www.drugpolicy.org/docUploads/Key_Criminal_Justice_Issues_Feb07.pdf


"INDUSTRIAL HEMP FARMING ACT" REINTRODUCED IN CONGRESS

Washington, DC: Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX), along with nine Democrat co-sponsors, reintroduced legislation in Congress this week to authorize the state-sanctioned cultivation of industrial hemp for commercial purposes.

http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=7180


CULTURAL BAGGAGE RADIO SHOW

Tonight:   02/16/07 - Bruce Mirken of Marijuana Policy Project + Dr.
Rick Doblin of Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies & Terry Nelson of LEAP, Poppygate, Drug War Facts & CBS4 Denver: "New Marijuana Law Forces Judge to Quit"

Audio:   http://drugtruth.net/007DTNaudio/FDBCB_021607.mp3

Last:   02/09/07 - Methamphetamine Conference III: Executive Dir.  of
Drug Policy Alliance Ethan Nadelmann, Terry Nelson of LEAP

Audio:   http://drugtruth.net/007DTNaudio/FDBCB_020907.mp3


CALIFORNIA'S PRISON-TRANSFER PLAN ANGERS CRITICS

All Things Considered, February 15, 2007

The California prison guards' union will take the state to court Friday, trying to stop inmates from being shipped to prisons in other states.

The transfers are part of Gov.  Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to deal with severe overcrowding.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7431201


THE WAR WITHIN, KILLING OURSELVES

By Lou Dobbs

NEW YORK (CNN) -- We're fighting a war that is inflicting even greater casualties than the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and, incredibly, costing even more money.  We're losing the War on Drugs, and we've been in retreat for three decades.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/02/13/Dobbs.Feb14/index.html


A TRIBUTE TO EDDIE ELLISON

By Transform Drug Policy Foundation

It was with great sadness we learnt that Eddie Ellison, a long time friend and Patron of Transform, had lost his battle with cancer on January 29th this year.

http://transform-drugs.blogspot.com/2007/02/tribute-to-eddie-ellison.html


WHAT YOU CAN DO THIS WEEK    (Top)

WRITE A LETTER TO INCREASE MEDICAL MARIJUANA RESEARCH

A DrugSense Focus Alert.

http://www.mapinc.org/alert/0342.html


SUPPORT MEDICAL CANNABIS INMATES

Write Letters, Buy Reading Materials & Donate Money

Several patients and providers are in jail awaiting trial or in prison serving out their sentences.  These medical cannabis inmates depend on support from people like you to stay connected to the outside world.

http://www.safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=4127


LETTER OF THE WEEK    (Top)

END FEDERAL INTERVENTION

By Mark Hughes

Your editorial says it's "hard to blame" feds for intervening against unregulated medical marijuana dispensaries.

But the feds assert that even the most ethical provider dispensing medical marijuana to the most suffering patient is no different than a common drug dealer, so the raids would continue even in a stringently regulated environment.

Indeed, the DEA raided five dispensaries in West Hollywood, despite the fact that the city was making a good-faith effort to regulate them.

You dismissed the increased use of medical marijuana as attributable to "rampant abuse." While there may be people fraudulently obtaining medical marijuana, scientific research has found widespread efficacy, including for illnesses that encompass a large patient community ( such as Hepatitis C ).

The flier distribution incident you claim proves widespread illicit use appears to be an isolated incident best handled by local officials, not armed federal intervention.  Indeed, the heavy hand of the federal government has actually discouraged local regulation of dispensaries.

You are correct that Proposition 215 should be administered.  The best way to accomplish this is to end federal intervention, not excuse it.

Mark Hughes
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.

Pubdate:   Thu, 01 Feb 2007
Source:   San Gabriel Valley Tribune (CA)


LETTER WRITER OF THE MONTH - JANUARY    (Top)

DrugSense recognizes George Kosinski of Gibsons, British Colombia for his four letters published during January.  This brings his total published letters, that we know of, to 39.

You may read his published letters at:

http://www.mapinc.org/writers/George+Kosinski


FEATURE ARTICLE    (Top)

'Progress' In A Glacial Debate

By Dr.  Tom O'Connell

In addition to DEA Administrative Judge Mary Ellen Bittner's non-binding recommendation that Professor Lyle Craker be allowed to grow cannabis for research purposes ( see
http://www.doctortom.org/archives/2007/02/a_little_known.html ), a second cannabis-related medical milestone was reached this week: a paper from the University of California Medical School in San Francisco reporting that inhaled cannabis significantly reduced AIDS-related neuropathic pain in a small, but carefully controlled series of human subjects, was published in the peer-reviewed journal, Neurology ( see
http://www.aidsmeds.com/articles/1667_11275.shtml ).  Of the two events, the latter seems more likely to have both immediate and lasting impact on drug policy.  There is also a decent possibility that the almost simultaneous announcement of the two events might have a synergistic effect by deterring Bitten's DEA superiors from rejecting her recommendation as they would otherwise be certain to

My optimism stems from the historical impact of an earlier peer reviewed paper which 'officially' established a medical benefit from cannabis that could not be easily dismissed (see
http://www.jco.org/cgi/content/abstract/9/7/1314).  It's significant that by the time Proposition 215 made it to the ballot in 1996, federal rhetoric had shifted from the dogmatic assertion that, as a schedule one drug, pot couldn't possible have 'medical utility' to the significantly different position that other medications worked 'better,' and without the 'undesirable' (code for immoral) effects of 'crude' marijuana.  It was also certainly more than coincidence that Marinol, a semisynthetic form of THC, was developed for oral use by Unimed during the protracted DEA hearings that led to Judge Francis Young's famous opinion and then approved for schedule two the same year.

More recently, the rhetorical argument with which Barry McCaffrey, following cues within the report itself, minimized the impact of the 1999 IOM report by stating that anything 'smoked' couldn't be 'medicine' ( see
http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2006/NEW01362.html ), was adopted by the FDA this past year as the main reason it would never be approved for therapeutic use.  Just coincidentally, vaporization, the technic that the cannabis Professor Craker hopes to grow would be used to study, is of interest primarily because it would obviate most of the theoretical danger from inhaling the products of plant combustion, a danger recent studies have unexpectedly failed to confirm ( see
http://www.canorml.org/healthfacts/tashkinlungcancer.html ).  Thus is the glacial progress of the arcane, largely rhetorical, and completely dishonest 'debate' that's been raging between the feds and reform since 'medical use' was first raised as an issue in the early Eighties.  Sadly, that debate has been neither understood nor accurately reported by the media and what my own experience underscores is the enormous advantage the government has always enjoyed from being able to use the criminal code to place millions of self-medicating humans off limits for clinical research.

Of course, the insistence by most lobbyists for medical use that it's only valid for the 'seriously' ill, and that their lifetime use has been strictly 'recreational' hasn't helped to either clarify a murky situation or advance their cause.  Quite the opposite; it has tended to validate the exaggerated Cheech and Chong image of the Seventies.  In that way, opinionated reformers have been more than a little like the Congressional Democrats who painted themselves into a corner by voting for a feckless war in Iraq.

Incidentally, neuropathic pain is a well known, but poorly understood, medical problem which also tends to be undertreated; the fact that cannabis can do so effectively wasn't news to me because I'd been enlightened by several patients seeking recommendations; unfortunately, that still isn't 'official,' because it has yet to be published in a peer reviewed journal.

But I'm working on it...

Dr.  Tom O'Connell publishes a blog at http://www.doctortom.org/ , where this piece originally appeared.  He is a former editor of DrugSense Weekly.


QUOTE OF THE WEEK    (Top)

"The present blitz about drugs - I think it looks very much like how we treated insane people 100 years ago -- throw them in the cage - as if that's the whole answer." - Gene Roddenberry


DS Weekly is one of the many free educational services DrugSense offers our members.  Watch this feature to learn more about what DrugSense can do for you.

TO SUBSCRIBE, UNSUBSCRIBE, OR UPDATE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS:

Please utilize the following URLs

http://www.drugsense.org/hurry.htm

http://www.drugsense.org/unsub.htm

CREDITS:  

Policy and Law Enforcement/Prison content selection and analysis by Stephen Young (), Cannabis/Hemp content selection and analysis by Deb Harper (), 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.

We wish to thank all our contributors, editors, NewsHawks and letter writing activists.  Please help us help reform. Become a NewsHawk See http://www.mapinc.org/hawk.htm for info on contributing clippings.


NOTICE:  

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C.  Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.


MAKE A TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATION TO DRUGSENSE ON-LINE

http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm

-OR-

Mail in your contribution.  Make checks payable to MAP Inc. send your contribution to:

The Media Awareness Project (MAP) Inc.
D/B/a DrugSense
14252 Culver Drive #328
Irvine, CA, 92604-0326
(800) 266 5759


RSS DrugSense Weekly current issue this issue

Back Issues: 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010