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DrugSense Weekly
Feb. 23, 2007 #488


Table of Contents

* Breaking News (03/28/24)


* This Just In


(1) U.S. Drug Czar Finds Ally In Tory Government
(2) Chong To Raise Funds For 'Ganja Guru' Rosenthal
(3) Advocacy Group's Suit Calls On U.S. To Acknowledge Pot's
        Medicinal Value
(4) California Prison Drug Treatment Called Waste Of Money

* Weekly News in Review


Drug Policy-

COMMENT: (5-8)
(5) Meth Use Damages Heart, UH Shows
(6) Graphic Video On Meth Grabs Kids
(7) Drug Test Proposal Exempts Higher-Ups
(8) Editorial: DEA Stymies Science

Law Enforcement & Prisons-

COMMENT: (9-12)
(9) Dad Seeks Answers In Killing By Wharton Police
(10) How To Bust A Meth Lab
(11) GOP Lawmakers Look For Advice On Drug War
(12) Prisons Projected to Outpace U.S. in Population Growth

Cannabis & Hemp-

COMMENT: (13-16)
(13) Corporate America, Say Hello To Your New Partner - NORML
(14) Senate Considers Marijuana, Kids Bill
(15) Marijuana Provider's Death Spurs Questions
(16) Pro-Cannabis Group Says Shift Towards Amphetamines

International News-

COMMENT: (17-21)
(17) DSI Links Police To Drug War Killings
(18) Bush Plans Deep Cuts To Andean Drug War Budget
(19) Judges Lash Out At PM's Comments
(20) Heroin Should Be Made Legal
(21) Young People Are The Victims Of The War On Drugs

* Hot Off The 'Net


    New  Study  Shows  Medical  Value  Of  Marijuana  /  By Rob Kampia
    The  War Within - Tremendous Dangers Of Marijuana / With Lou Dobbs
    Challenge  To U.S. Drug Czar's Criticisms Of Canadian Drug Policy
    The  Politicisation  Of  Fumigations  /  Transnational  Institute
    Cannabis Poses Less On-Road Risk Than Alcohol, U.S. Crash Data Says
    Cultural Baggage Radio Show / With Dean Becker
    A Video Response To ONDCP Youtube Advertisements / By John Holowatch
    Hands Off The Capos, Bust The Users / By John Ross

* What You Can Do This Week


    Join DPR Activists From Around North America

* Letter Of The Week


    Legalize Marijuana / Amy George

* Feature Article


    The Waiting Game / Mary Jane Borden

* Quote of the Week


    Tacitus

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THIS JUST IN    (Top)

(1) U.S. DRUG CZAR FINDS ALLY IN TORY GOVERNMENT    (Top)

OTTAWA -- The man known as the U.S.  drug czar offered an unusually friendly message to Canada yesterday, thanking officials on this side of the border for their "renewed focus on illicit drug abuse."

John Walters, the director of the National Drug Control Policy, was in Ottawa to speak at a meeting of the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse, where he boasted that his policies have reduced drug use among American teens by 23.2 per cent since 2001.

"We want work on controlling both supply and demand so we can see not only declines, but sustained declines," he told reporters.

Mr.  Walters has previously had tough talk for Canada when it comes to this country's anti-drug measures.  In 2002, he said British Columbia was a major source of high-potency marijuana being imported into the United States.  That same year, he complained that liberalizing drug laws in Canada would increase the flow of marijuana into his country.

[snip]

Later in the day, critics of the U.S.  drug policy expressed surprise at Mr.  Walter's tone.

"It was very much of a soft-pedal that seemed to be designed for a Canadian audience.  There was a lot of talk about health and helping addicts," said Ethan Nadelmann, the founder of the Drug Policy Alliance in New York, which promotes alternatives to the so-called war on drugs.  In fact, he said, U.S. drug policy is overwhelmingly punitive.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 23 Feb 2007
Source:   Globe and Mail (Canada)
Website:   http://www.globeandmail.ca/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author:   Gloria Galloway
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/walters.htm (Walters, John)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n228.a02.html


(2) CHONG TO RAISE FUNDS FOR 'GANJA GURU' ROSENTHAL    (Top)

"Guru of Ganja" Ed Rosenthal is bringing in another martyr of the marijuana movement to help him raise funds for his upcoming federal trial.

Tommy Chong -- half of the Cheech and Chong comedy duo renowned for stoner movie classics such as "Up in Smoke" and "Nice Dreams" -- will appear a $125-per-head event March 4 at Rosenthal's Lake Avenue home in Piedmont.  Some advance tickets are available for only $100 at Rosenthal's legal defense fund's Web site, www.green-aid.com

"The party will celebrate how far we've come in legalizing medical marijuana as well as provide me with the money I need to fund my current trial that is defending all of our rights," Rosenthal, 62, said in an e-mail Thursday.  He's scheduled to appear in federal court March 19, and he estimates his trial and related expenses could cost more than $300,000.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Fri, 23 Feb 2007
Source:   Oakland Tribune, The (CA)
Website:   http://www.oaklandtribune.com/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/314
Author:   Josh Richman, Staff Writer
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/people/Ed+Rosenthal
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/people/Tommy+Chong
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n227.a09.html


(3) ADVOCACY GROUP'S SUIT CALLS ON U.S. TO ACKNOWLEDGE POT'S MEDICINAL VALUE    (Top)

SACRAMENTO -- A patient advocacy group sued the federal government Wednesday to try to force U.S.  health agencies to acknowledge that marijuana has merit as a medicine.

The lawsuit by Americans for Safe Access follows a two-year effort to reverse what it calls a "misinformation campaign" by U.S.  health agencies.

Americans for Safe Access is suing under the Data Quality Act, a little-known statute that lets citizens challenge the accuracy of government-disseminated information.

The Oakland-based group filed a petition in October 2004 asking the United States to reverse its staunch opposition to pot as medicine. After months of delays, the government rejected the petition.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services said the agency could not comment because of the litigation.

For years, U.S.  regulators have said marijuana has no accepted medicinal value.

Such statements are "false and misleading," Americans for Safe Access said in its lawsuit, filed in U.S.  District Court in Oakland. The group cited peer-reviewed studies suggesting cannabis can be effective for AIDS wasting, muscle spasticity and chronic pain.

The government's stance ignores its own studies, activists say.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 22 Feb 2007
Source:   Los Angeles Times (CA)
Website:   http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author:   Eric Bailey
Cited:   http://www.safeaccessnow.org/downloads/DQA_Complaint.pdf
Background:   http://www.safeaccessnow.org/DQA
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Americans+for+Safe+Access
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n223.a06.html


(4) CALIFORNIA PRISON DRUG TREATMENT CALLED WASTE OF MONEY    (Top)

The State Overseer Of The Corrections System Says The $1 Billion Spent Since 1989 On Programs Has Failed To Lessen The Recidivism Rate

SACRAMENTO -- California's $1-billion investment in drug treatment for prisoners since 1989 has been "a complete waste of money," the state's inspector general said Wednesday, and has done nothing to reduce the number of inmates cycling in and out of custody.

One study of the two largest in-prison programs found that recidivism rates for inmates who participated were actually a bit higher than those of a group of convicts who did not receive treatment, Inspector General Matt Cate said.

He said corrections officials were told in more than 20 reports since 1997 that the programs were failing but did nothing to fix them, choosing instead to expand them and fund more studies of their results.

Successful treatment programs could increase public safety, "change lives and help relieve the state's prison overcrowding crisis," Cate said in releasing the 50-page special review.  "But so far the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has squandered that opportunity."

The Office of the Inspector General is an independent state agency that oversees the corrections department.

[snip]

The inspector general's report can be viewed at http://www.oig.ca.gov/.

Pubdate:   Thu, 22 Feb 2007
Source:   Los Angeles Times (CA)
Website:   http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author:   Jenifer Warren, Times Staff Writer
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n224.a01.html


WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW    (Top)

Domestic News- Policy


COMMENT: (5-8)    (Top)

Kind of a slow week for drug policy news, so, much as I hate to do it, we're leading with the latest bad meth news.  Yet to be seen is if this small study gets validated by further study.  Of course, however bad meth is, it's hard to imagine the drug deserving the new publicity it got from officials in Phoenix who designed a graphic anti-meth video specifically for the middle school crowd.  In other education news, a school district in West Virginia debating student drug testing showing a scary vision of the future where anyone who has anything to do with schools gets drug tested, all in the name of fairness.  And, in more upbeat news, mainstream editorialists are starting to understand the absurdity of the DEA's position on medical marijuana research.


(5) METH USE DAMAGES HEART, UH SHOWS    (Top)

The Study Of Patients At Queen's Confirms What Doctors Knew Of The Dangers Of "Ice"

A study of 221 patients at the Queen's Medical Center confirmed what doctors here have long known: Methamphetamine use causes heart trouble.

The risk of cardiomyopathy, a disease of the heart muscle, was nearly four times higher in methamphetamine, or "ice," users than in nonusers, researchers reported in this month's American Journal of Medicine.

"The problem was, for 10 to 15 years everybody knew methamphetamine caused heart failure," said Dr.  Irwin Schatz, professor of medicine and cardiologist in the University of Hawaii John A.  Burns School of Medicine.

Doctors saw such patients all the time but were told at science meetings that the cases were only anecdotal, he said.

Dr.  Khung-Keong Yeo of the University of California-Davis Medical Center in Sacramento said a controlled study was needed, and he and his colleagues conducted it with the UH medical school, Schatz said.

Schatz and Dr.  Todd Seto, associate professor of medicine, led the JABSOM team.  They reviewed charts of 221 patients age 45 and younger who were hospitalized at Queen's between January 2001 and June 2004.

Of the total, 107, or 48 percent, were discharged with a diagnosis of cardiomyopathy.  They were compared with 114 patients of similar ages who were discharged without evidence of heart problems.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 17 Feb 2007
Source:   Honolulu Star-Bulletin (HI)
Copyright:   2007 Honolulu Star-Bulletin
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/196
Author:   Helen Altonn
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n208/a08.html


(6) GRAPHIC VIDEO ON METH GRABS KIDS    (Top)

Phoenix, School Officials Hope Film Is Deterrent

People looking years older than their age, with hair loss, track marks, scabs on their bodies and rotted teeth were a few images shown to students from a new video called METH: Don't Even Start.

A select group of Desert Foothills Junior High School students were the first to view the middle school version of the video.

Zack Wilson, 14, called it graphic but interesting.  "It's good to inform kids our age," he said.  advertisement

Others also said it brought home the dangers of using
methamphetamine.

"It shows how you can die from it, and it's very addictive," said Emma Coleman, 13.

The video is just one step Phoenix is taking to deter kids from using meth.

Educators and community members join the students to watch the eight-minute video produced by the city.

It is airing several times on the city channel, PHX 11.  Eventually, city officials hope it will be shown to students across the state.

The video shows teenagers who have used meth talk about their experiences and the harmful effects it has had on their lives.

From one girl saying, "I don't think I'll ever be able to have children" because of it, to another victim of the drug saying he no longer cared whether he was alive or dead.

They weren't actors.  The young people in the video started using meth at 12 to 14 years old.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 17 Feb 2007
Source:   Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ)
Copyright:   2007 The Arizona Republic
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/24
Author:   Stephanie Armenta
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n199/a07.html


(7) DRUG TEST PROPOSAL EXEMPTS HIGHER-UPS    (Top)

Kanawha County schools' proposed drug-testing policy would exempt upper-level administrators and board members from screenings, while requiring principals, teachers and school service personnel to undergo random tests.

Board member Pete Thaw says that is not fair.

The revamped policy -- up for discussion at a meeting Thursday -- will require all workers deemed to be in "safety sensitive" jobs to be randomly drug tested.  The policy, however, does not include testing of administrators at the county's central board office.

Thaw said all administrators, even board members, should be tested.

"I would feel very uncomfortable if I didn't submit to the testing myself, when we're asking all these other people to do it," he said Tuesday.

According to the proposed guidelines, "safety-sensitive" positions include principals, assistant principals, guidance counselors, teachers, mechanics, carpenters, cooks, custodians, electricians, locksmiths and machinists.

"Not once does it mention the staff at 200 Elizabeth Street or the board," Thaw said.

"How much more safety sensitive can you get? They're the ones running the school system, making the big decisions.  They should be included, too."

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 14 Feb 2007
Source:   Charleston Daily Mail (WV)
Copyright:   2007 Charleston Daily Mail
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/76
Author:   Jessica M.  Karmasek
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n190/a03.html


(8) EDITORIAL: DEA STYMIES SCIENCE    (Top)

Disingenuousness is a specialty of the Drug Enforcement
Administration when it comes to the issue of medical marijuana.

The federal government likes to claim that there is little scientific proof that smoking marijuana is therapeutic and relieves patient suffering.  Yet much of the research that legitimate academic and medical scientists have tried to conduct to confirm the anecdotal evidence of marijuana's benefits has been stymied through tight federal supplies of legal marijuana available for testing purposes.

Former DEA Administrator Robert Bonner once told supporters of medical marijuana that they would "serve society better by promoting or sponsoring more legitimate scientific research" rather than using the political process to make it legal.  Of course, Bonner knew at the time that it was his agency that had helped block that research.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 21 Feb 2007
Source:   St.  Petersburg Times (FL)
Copyright:   2007 St.  Petersburg Times
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/419
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/people/craker (Lyle Craker)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n219/a04.html


Law Enforcement & Prisons


COMMENT: (9-12)    (Top)

Last week, another family faced the sudden death of an innocent during a botched drug raid, this time in Wharton, TX.  As people ask how this could happen again, the next two rather mundane stories help to explain: A drug bust training facility by the DEA makes learning to be a home invader fun; while law enforcement "experts" advise state legislators on the need for a crackdown.  Which leads to another ongoing story, which is almost obscured by our current prison crisis: At its current pace, the crisis is going to get much worse in the future.


(9) DAD SEEKS ANSWERS IN KILLING BY WHARTON POLICE    (Top)

Dad Seeks Answers in Killing by Police

He Says His 17-Year-Old Son Was Awakened by His Sister's Cries Before Being Shot

WHARTON -- The father of a 17-year-old killed by a police officer who was looking for drugs at his home said the shooting was unprovoked.

Daniel Castillo Sr.  said his son, Daniel Jr., was awakened by pleas from the teen's sister asking officers not to shoot her in the Tuesday morning incident, during which law enforcement agencies were executing a narcotics search warrant.

"I just want justice," the elder Castillo said Wednesday from his home in Wharton.

Officials from the agencies involved in the shooting or its investigation continued to decline comment.

The Wharton police officer who shot the teen is on paid
administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

Don Falks was hired six years ago with no prior experience in law enforcement, said Capt.  David Coleman of the Wharton Police Department.  Coleman would not say whether Falks previously had discharged his weapon while on duty or had been investigated under similar circumstances.

Falks was a member of the Wharton Police Department's emergency response team, which was executing a narcotics search warrant with members of the Wharton County District Attorney Narcotics Task Force and the Wharton County Sheriff's Office Star Team.

The elder Castillo said his son was awakened by the pleas of his 20-year-old sister, Ashley.  When the younger Castillo turned toward Falks, he said, the officer shot him in the face.

"My son heard her say, 'Don't shoot.' He got up to see what was going on," the elder Castillo said.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 15 Feb 2007
Source:   Houston Chronicle (TX)
Copyright:   2007 Houston Chronicle Publishing Company Division, Hearst Newspaper
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/198
Author:   Armando Villafranca
Bookmark:   http://mapinc.org/people/Daniel+Castillo
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n194/a04.html


(10) HOW TO BUST A METH LAB    (Top)

Training Essential For Extremely Dangerous Task

A certain adrenaline rush comes with busting a meth lab, even if the gun in your hand is loaded with paintball bullets.

The bad guys may be cardboard cutouts and the lab a Quonset hut at a Drug Enforcement Administration training facility, rather than some backwoods shack or ramshackle trailer.  But the Kevlar vest can withstand bullets fired from most handguns.  The helmet is real. The gas mask makes a Darth Vader-like metallic click with each breath.

The instructor knocks on the front door, shouting, "DEA.  Police. We have a search warrant." The next thing you know you're inside, clearing rooms like a SWAT team on Cops, firing only at targets with odd numbers.  The even-numbered targets could be the good guys, even children.  Everyone shoots at the dog. It's covered with paintball splatters.

Over the past 20 years, more than 12,000 mostly state and local law enforcement officers have taken the weeklong DEA course on raiding and securing a methamphetamine lab.

Though the number of meth lab busts has declined dramatically over the past several years, it remains one of the most dangerous tasks in law enforcement.  Suspects can act like someone out of Night of the Living Dead.  Labs are sometimes booby-trapped. The chemicals used to cook the meth are explosive, flammable and so toxic they can blister flesh and damage internal organs.

"It's rough stuff," said John Donnelly, a lead instructor at the DEA training facility on the sprawling Marine base at Quantico.  Donnelly got his start in the late 1980s busting meth labs in California's Central Valley.

Even though he's raided meth labs more than 100 times, he said there was nothing routine about it.

"Your heart races at the critical time," he said.

They call them "Beavis and Butt-Head" labs, the small labs where meth addicts produce less than an ounce or so of the chemical cocktail for themselves and their friends.  Most of the "super" labs, which can produce 10 pounds or more in a single batch, are now in Mexico.  Mexican gangs increasingly are using their cocaine-, heroin- and marijuana-distribution networks to transport meth to the United States.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sun, 18 Feb 2007
Source:   Lexington Herald-Leader (KY)
Copyright:   2007 Lexington Herald-Leader
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/240
Author:   Les Blumenthal, McClatchy Newspapers
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n203/a03.html


(11) GOP LAWMAKERS LOOK FOR ADVICE ON DRUG WAR    (Top)

Panel members listen to testimonials during the House Republican Policy Committee meeting at the Pennsylvania College of Technology on Tuesday.

We need to build more jail cells" and impose "significant mandatory sentences" whenever gun and drug crimes occur together.

These were two of the get-tough recommendations local law enforcement gave to a group of Republican lawmakers during the first of a series of hearings planned across the Commonwealth by the state House of Representatives Republican Policy Committee.

The committees chairman, Rep.  Mike Turzai of Allegheny County, brought the panel to the Pennsylvania College of Technology's Professional Development Center Tuesday for almost four hours of testimony that included input from both the law enforcement and treatment-prevention professions.

The event was co-hosted by local state representatives Steven W. Cappelli, city, and Garth Everett, Muncy, and began with a pointed critique by Capt.  Kenneth Hill, commanding officer of Troop F and a former undercover state police drug investigator.

Hill set the tone by calling for tougher penalties and more prison space, saying Drug Court programs are worthwhile but should concentrate on younger, non-violent offenders and be a second, but last chance to turn drug offenders around.

He said the state should also create sentencing standards similar to those in place in the federal system with significant mandatory enhancements for gun and drug crimes and "a no-bail clause for those determined to be a danger to the community."

According to Hill, in the long run it will prove cheaper to build and staff new prisons than the cost of allowing the drug problem to go unchecked.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 20 Feb 2007
Source:   Williamsport Sun-Gazette (PA)
Copyright:   2007 Williamsport Sun-Gazette
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/3630
Authors:   R.A.  Walker, and Mark Nance
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n218/a04.html


(12) PRISONS PROJECTED TO OUTPACE U.S. IN POPULATION GROWTH    (Top)

Washington - Prison populations will grow 13 percent in five years, triple the expected U.S.  population growth rate during that time, and will cost an additional $27.5 billion, a report released Wednesday projected.

The report by the Pew Charitable Trusts attributes the estimated addition of 192,000 inmates to overall demographic growth, coupled with current state policy decisions and a slowdown of parole grants.

In addition to growth in the federal prison system, four states - Florida, Texas, California and Arizona - will account for about 45 percent of the total prison population increase, the study found.

As for Colorado, it ranks sixth in expected growth between 2006 and 2011, at 31 percent, the report said.  Barring reforms in sentencing or release policies, it said, there will be one new prisoner for every four now in prison in Colorado by 2011.

James Austin, a co-author of the report, placed the onus for stemming the growth on probation and parole systems.

"If we can get some kind of improvement in that area, these numbers would change radically," he told a news conference.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Thu, 15 Feb 2007
Source:   Denver Post (CO)
Copyright:   2007 The Denver Post Corp
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author:   Gerry Smith, Cox News Service
Cited:   http://www.pewtrusts.com/pdf/PSPP_prison_projections_0207.pdf
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n195/a09.html


Cannabis & Hemp-


COMMENT: (13-16)    (Top)

Cannabis went more mainstream recently when consumers were offered affordable life-insurance policies for any responsible, "moderate" pot smoker.  This is a change from long-standing prejudicial practice of denying cannabis consumers any coverage at all.

Some opponents of cannabis regulation in Nevada are advocating for more collateral damage.  A bill debated this week at the Legislature calls for parents to possibly face up to 15 years in prison if they grow even one cannabis plant in a home where children reside. Coincidentally, the Department of Corrections is seeking $300 million over the next two years for prison construction projects.

The war on drugs claimed another victim when a Colorado activist lost his life in a home invasion after recently being profiled in the media.  While the death of Ken Gorman could have been the work of random vandals, some locals and family members wonder if he was purposely targeted.

A "pro-marijuana group" in Australia is sounding the alarm over propaganda contained in a government report which claims people are moving away from cannabis.  What the report does not reveal is like other places where cannabis prohibition is pursued, Aussies are using more amphetamines and pharmaceuticals instead, probably because they are less detectable in drug tests, manufacturing and consumption.


(13) CORPORATE AMERICA, SAY HELLO TO YOUR NEW PARTNER - NORML    (Top)

Question:   What does a Texas small-business owner have in common with
a former associate attorney general, friend of Bill -- and convicted, then pardoned, felon - -- Webster Hubbell? Answer: The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws and life insurance.

To hear NORML Executive Director Allen St.  Pierre tell it, the story of Hubbell, NORML, and one of its Texas members goes like this: About a year ago, a Texas NORML member called up the organization's Washington, D.C., office with a problem.

He was ready to expand his small business, but the bank -- in order to secure additional funds -- was requiring that he up his life insurance.  This is pretty standard, sure, but the small-business owner is also a casual pot smoker and, as such, wouldn't be able to pee in a cup and come out clean, so, ultimately, his carrier told him that he would be uninsurable unless he gave up toking.

[snip]

To find out more about NORML-Hubbell life insurance, contact Hubbell at , or call 202/293-5566.

Pubdate:   Fri, 16 Feb 2007
Source:   Austin Chronicle (TX)
Copyright:   2007 Austin Chronicle Corp.
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/33
Author:   Jordan Smith
Note:   Smith writes a periodic column titled Reefer Madness
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n212.a09.html


(14) SENATE CONSIDERS MARIJUANA, KIDS BILL    (Top)

Nevada parents who grow a single marijuana plant in their home where children live could be subject to a prison term of up to 15 years, according to a bill that was debated Monday at the Nevada Legislature.

Senate Bill 5, sponsored by state Sen.  Joe Heck, R-Las Vegas, would subject parents who grow or sell marijuana in the presence of children to the same penalties as adults who operate methamphetamine labs in front of children.

[snip]

"You are exposing children to dangers when you are selling any illegal substance out of your house or growing any illegal substance out of your house, so you should be held to the higher penalties," Heck told the Senate Human Services and Education Committee.

[snip]

The new law could negatively impact Nevada's overflowing prison population, said Peck, who noted the Nevada Department of Corrections is seeking $300 million over the next two years for prison construction projects.

"No one who is testifying in support of the bill can actually talk about the implications in respect to the incarceration rate," Peck said.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 20 Feb 2007
Source:   Reno Gazette-Journal (NV)
Copyright:   2007 Reno Gazette-Journal
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/363
Author:   Guy Clifton, Reno Gazette-Journal
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Marijuana)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n215.a08.html


(15) MARIJUANA PROVIDER'S DEATH SPURS QUESTIONS    (Top)

While Denver police hunt for a motive in the deadly shooting of medical-marijuana provider Ken Gorman, his brother and marijuana activists said the business of providing the drug to sick people isn't the safest line of work.

[snip]

Gorman, 59, was shot to death Saturday night in his home in the 1000 block of South Decatur Street in Denver.  No arrests were announced Monday.

The marijuana activist often led pot-smoking festivals near the state Capitol.

[snip]

Gorman recently was profiled on TV station KCNC (Channel 4) in a story about providing medicinal marijuana.  Vicente believes the story might have prompted someone to rob Gorman.

"To me, he seems like a victim of the war on drugs," Vicente said. "If marijuana were legal, there would be no incentive for someone to break into his home and steal it."

[snip]

Gorman's 71-year-old brother, Gregory Gorman, also believes the TV exposure may have contributed to his death.  But there also were marijuana opponents who had made threats against Ken Gorman, his brother said.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 20 Feb 2007
Source:   Denver Post (CO)
Copyright:   2007 The Denver Post Corp
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author:   Felisa Cardona, Denver Post Staff Writer
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)
Bookmark:   http://mapinc.org/people/Ken+Gorman
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n215.a07.html


(16) PRO-CANNABIS GROUP SAYS SHIFT TOWARDS AMPHETAMINES    (Top)

A pro-marijuana group says a recent report on cannabis shows people are moving away from the drug and are using more amphetamines.

The Nimbin Hemp Embassy in northern New South Wales has slammed the Federal Government for claiming the latest research shows it is winning the war on drugs.

The report from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre has revealed many young people believe cannabis is uncool and dangerous.

Hemp embassy spokesman Michael Balderstone says the Prime Minister and Assistant Health Minister Christopher Pyne have no idea of the affect of cannabis, or what people are using on the street.

"They would really know a lot about cannabis wouldn't they ...  these are people that have no idea of what's going on in the street I reckon," he said.

"Pot is the easy bust.  You have to smoke it, it's smelly but alcohol is legal and 'ice', powders, pills they're very hard to detect, so there are changes happening there's no doubt about it."

Pubdate:   Tue, 20 Feb 2007
Source:   Australian Broadcasting Corporation (Australia Web)
Copyright:   2007 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n218.a05.html


International News


COMMENT: (17-21)    (Top)

Thailand's ousted Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra could be indicted for the "extra-judicial killings" inflicted upon drug suspects in 2002-2003, says the Bangkok Post this week.  The Thai Department of Special Investigation, looking into the police killings of just four of the victims of the bloodbath Thaksin unleashed upon blacklisted drug suspects, was able to link these killings to police death squads.  However, police will be called to account for the extra-legal death squad killings only if "the reasons they killed the victims" were not the best of reasons, says DSI director-general Sunai Manomai-udom.  If the illegal police death squads were found to have used "fake witnesses or evidence" then police might be prosecuted for "contempt of court, giving false evidence, providing fake witnesses and malfeasance of duty." However, murder was not listed as one of the crimes with which Thai police death squads could be prosecuted.

According to a report in the right-wing Washington Times newspaper, the Bush regime has decided on "the largest across-the-board" cuts to the flow of Washington D.C.  cash for programs sold to "fight drug trafficking" in the Andes.  Cuts have are planned for Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela and Bolivia, but no funding cuts are planned for Colombia. The Andean Counterdrug Initiative has been a pet project for vocal prohibitionists in Washington since the late 1980s.  But since then, the street price of cocaine in the U.S.  has plummeted, indicating that despite the billions of dollars thrown at arresting cocaine traffickers, dousing rain forests with plant poison, or even shooting down the aircraft of "kingpins" (or missionaries), the supply of cocaine exceeds the demand for it.

In Canada, the Harper government continues to attempt to stack the judiciary with ideological cronies who are "tough on crime" (meaning, eager to jail people involved with cannabis).  This week Canada's Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin spoke out against attempts to subvert the judicial process, which she said was "in peril". Judges need to be independent of "political or ideological considerations," added McLachlin.  Stacking judicial panels with police, as Harper suggests, contradicts "the concept of an independent body that advises the government on who is best qualified to be a judge," noted the Canadian Judicial Council.

In the U.K.  this week, Brighton Labour MP David Lepper added his voice to calls that heroin should be prescribed to "hardcore" addicts to prevent them from committing crimes.  Earlier, the president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, Ken Jones, had also called for heroin prescription trials.  There's "a hard core, a minority, who nevertheless commit masses of crime to feed their addiction," said Jones.  "We have to find a way of dealing with them and licensed prescription is definitely something we should be thinking about."

And finally this week, we leave you with a rather lucid editorial from the (U.K.) Independent newspaper.  Guns and violence, says the Independent, don't come from "drugs" as we are led to assume. Rather, the violence of the drug trade stems from "prohibition". Writes the Independent, "one key word has been missing: prohibition...  Here's how it works. By criminalising the trade in cannabis, cocaine and heroin, we don't make the drugs disappear.  We simply hand this multi-billion pound industry - around 3 per cent of Britain's GDP - to armed gangs...  Yet our politicians are too pickled in prohibitionist platitudes to see this." Amen.


(17) DSI LINKS POLICE TO DRUG WAR KILLINGS    (Top)

The Department of Special Investigation has evidence linking police to four extra-judicial killings during deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra's war on drugs in 2003.  Ex-premier Thaksin could face charges of incitement.

DSI director-general Sunai Manomai-udom said on Monday that all four cases were transferred from the police to the DSI which began its investigation in December 2006 following complaints lodged by victims' families.

[snip]

"The DSI will query the officers who were on duty at that time [of the killings] in order to ascertain the reasons they killed the victims," said Mr Sunai.

He said if the DSI found evidence that police procured fake witnesses or evidence in the death of Nong Fluke, the officials involved would be prosecuted on many counts including contempt of court, giving false evidence, providing fake witnesses and malfeasance of duty.

He said he has assigned his deputy, Tarit Pengdit, to collect the speeches by Mr Thaksin on drug suppression, to find evidence that may link the former prime minister to the extra-judicial killings.

In one well-known case, Mr Thaksin was heard mentioning an "iron-fist" method in approving brutal measures for drug suppression.  In particular, he said it was not uncommon for people to die during a war on drugs.

A source said the DSI may bring in criminologists as witnesses to Mr Thaksin's "iron-fist" approach to determine if this constituted abuse of power.

He said if the evidence is clear, the DSI will bring it to Justice Minister Chanchai Likhitjitta and Justice permanent secretary Jarun Pukditanakul to discuss if there are sufficient grounds to issue an arrest warrant for Mr Thaksin on charges of supporting or inciting officials to kill suspects.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 19 Feb 2007
Source:   Bangkok Post (Thailand)
Copyright:   The Post Publishing Public Co., Ltd.  2007
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/39
Author:   Bhanravee Tansubhapol
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n212.a03.html


(18) BUSH PLANS DEEP CUTS TO ANDEAN DRUG WAR BUDGET    (Top)

SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia -- President Bush's new budget calls for deep cuts in the leading U.S.  program to fight drug trafficking in the Andean region, amid growing clashes over drug policy between Washington and leftist governments in Venezuela and Bolivia.

The cuts to the Andean Counterdrug Initiative (ACI) affect every country in the region except Colombia.  They have been criticized by governments in the area, as well as by U.S.  counternarcotics officials and some lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

"It would be the largest across-the-board reduction in aid since the war on drugs began," said one U.S.  diplomatic official, who asked not to be named.  The ACI was designed to help local efforts to reduce the flow of illegal drugs, which surged in the late 1980s when cocaine production skyrocketed and powerful drug cartels emerged.

The ACI would receive $442.8 million under the fiscal 2008 budget that Mr.  Bush submitted to Congress earlier this month, down 23 percent from the estimated spending for the current fiscal year and off nearly 40 percent from $727.2 million in fiscal 2006.  The largest percentage cuts would be in Peru and Bolivia, which remain major producers of coca.  More than $2 million in anti-drug aid budgeted for Venezuela in fiscal 2007 was never spent as American officials feuded with populist anti-U.S.  President Hugo Chavez over counternarcotics policy.  Venezuela would get no ACI money in the new budget.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Sat, 17 Feb 2007
Source:   Washington Times (DC)
Copyright:   2007 News World Communications, Inc.
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/492
Author:   Martin Arostegui
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n205.a06.html


(19) JUDGES LASH OUT AT PM'S COMMENTS    (Top)

Say Independence Of Judiciary 'In Peril'

Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin and a contingent of other senior judges took a swipe yesterday at the Conservative government by asserting that the independence of the judiciary is "in peril" and that it must be free to make rulings "irrespective of political or ideological considerations."

The rebuke from the Canadian Judicial Council has once again thrust judges into a public battle with the government.  It was delivered amid a fierce debate fuelled last week by Prime Minister Stephen Harper's blunt acknowledgment that he wants judges who are tough on crime.

[snip]

The council also denounced the Harper government for tampering with the system of appointing federal judges so that the appearance of judicial independence is in jeopardy.

[snip]

The government now holds the balance of power in that the minister of justice's appointees to the panels have the majority of votes.

"This puts in peril the concept of an independent body that advises the government on who is best qualified to be a judge," said the council.

[snip]

The Conservative government recently added one more, a member of the police force, to each committee, giving the minister of justice's representatives the bulk of power in the event of a tie, because the judge on each committee does not vote.

[snip]

It is rare for judges to dive into a public spat with the government.

Norman Sabourin, the council's executive director, said senior judges felt they had to add their voice.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Wed, 21 Feb 2007
Source:   Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Copyright:   2007 The Ottawa Citizen
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/326
Author:   Janice Tibbetts, The Ottawa Citizen
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n217.a06.html


(20) HEROIN SHOULD BE MADE LEGAL    (Top)

Heroin should be given to hardcore drug addicts to stop them committing crime, a Brighton MP has said.

David Lepper, Labour MP for Brighton Pavilion, warned that drugs were still a "big problem" in the city and backed calls to expand licensed prescription.

Home Office research has found heroin addicts commit on average 432 crimes a year, each costing victims a total of UKP45,000.

In the UK only a few hundred of the 40,000 registered heroin addicts are being prescribed the drug by doctors as part of a limited experiment.

Yesterday Ken Jones, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers which represents the most senior ranks of the 43 police forces in England and Wales, called for the drug to be made available to more long-term users.

Mr Jones, a former chief constable of Sussex Police, said: "You need to understand there is a hard core, a minority, who nevertheless commit masses of crime to feed their addiction.

"We have to find a way of dealing with them and licensed prescription is definitely something we should be thinking about."

Mr Lepper said: "If it was part of a carefully controlled scheme with carefully chosen clients then it would be good to try it to see if it does help to get people off drugs and help reduce crime.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Tue, 20 Feb 2007
Source:   Argus, The (UK)
Copyright:   2007 Newsquest Media Group
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/2706
Author:   Andy Tate
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n215.a10.html


(21) YOUNG PEOPLE ARE THE VICTIMS OF THE WAR ON DRUGS    (Top)

Guns Are Not Inherent to the Sale of Drugs, Only to the Sale of Drugs Under Prohibition

In our week-long national shriek about south London slowly morphing into South Central, one key word has been missing: prohibition.

[snip]

But we have failed to see that the events of the past week are simply following the inexorable logic of drug prohibition.

Here's how it works.  By criminalising the trade in cannabis, cocaine and heroin, we don't make the drugs disappear.  We simply hand this multi-billion pound industry - around 3 per cent of Britain's GDP - to armed gangs.  A fortnight ago, two of the most powerful drug dealers in south London were sent to prison, so a slew of gangs is now fighting to take over their patch, their trade and their profits.  The boys who are being gunned down are rivals for these riches.  They will keep shooting their opponents until one gang emerges as the clear winner, or until a few gangs band together in an obviously unbeatable alliance.

So these gun-toting posses of kids have not tooled up simply to play the Big Man and look like Snoop Dogg (though no doubt it's an incidental pleasure).  This is not Columbine-style senseless violence.  It is happening for hard economic reasons. Milton Friedman, the late Nobel Prize-winning economist, understood this. He explained: "Al Capone epitomises our earlier attempt at Prohibition; the Crips and Bloods epitomise this one."

He saw a central truth.  Guns are not inherent to the sale of drugs. They are only inherent to the sale of drugs under prohibition.  Go to a pub or off-license in Hackney, and you'll find that Oddbins and Costcutters are not engaged in a turf-war.

[snip]

Yet our politicians are too pickled in prohibitionist platitudes to see this.  Tony Blair is talking about extending prison sentences for carrying guns, but this is a weapon with no ammunition.  If you talk to any of these gang-kids, they'll tell you their odds of ever being caught are tiny.

They're right.  As Stephen Lander, chairman of the Serious and Organised Crime Agency, puts it: "If you are an organised crook for 20 years, you have a 5 per cent chance of getting nicked." This isn't because of police laxness; it's because the drugs trade is so vast the police can only ever hope to pick at its surface.  Adding a few extra years to a hypothetical sentence you'll never serve is no deterrent at all to a gang member.

[snip]

No.  The only real solution is to take the drugs trade back from the gun-wielding gangster-children, and hand it to doctors and pharmacists and off-licenses.  This would bankrupt most of our criminal gangs overnight, and remove the need for (and purchasing power behind) 95 per cent of the guns in Britain.

[snip]

Pubdate:   Mon, 19 Feb 2007
Source:   Independent (UK)
Copyright:   2007 Independent Newspapers (UK) Ltd.
Details:   http://www.mapinc.org/media/209
Author:   Johann Hari
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/find?207 (Cannabis - United Kingdom)
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Bookmark:   http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Continues:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n210.a02.html


HOT OFF THE 'NET    (Top)

NEW STUDY SHOWS MEDICAL VALUE OF MARIJUANA

New research gives more ammunition to those hoping to change federal marijuana policy.

By Rob Kampia, Marijuana Policy Project

http://alternet.org/drugreporter/48322/


THE WAR WITHIN - TREMENDOUS DANGERS OF MARIJUANA

With Lou Dobbs

The detrimental effects, the dangerous effects of marijuana. Researchers now say marijuana may cause long-term brain damage and cancer.

Video:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96N7nTW50r0

Transcript:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n221/a03.html


CHALLENGE TO U.S.  DRUG CZAR'S CRITICISMS OF CANADIAN DRUG POLICY

The Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy (Ottawa) and the Drug Policy Alliance (New York) held a press conference yesterday in Ottawa on the occasion of a visit from the head of the ONDCP, John Walters.

Ethan Nadelmann of the DPA had the following oped published in the Ottawa Citizen.

CANADA MUST NOT FOLLOW THE U.S.  ON DRUG POLICY
URL:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n223.a02.html

Thanks to Canadian activist Russell Barth for providing video of the CFDP/DPA press conference at:

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=RussLBarth


THE POLITICISATION OF FUMIGATIONS

Glyphosate on the Colombian-Ecuadorian border

A report by the Transnational Institute

After six long years of intensive fumigation within the scope of Plan Colombia, it is surprising that we are still embroiled in the old controversy over whether or not to perform aerial spraying with glyphosate.

http://www.tni.org/detail_page.phtml?page=policybriefings_brief20


CANNABIS POSES LESS ON-ROAD RISK THAN ALCOHOL, U.S.  CRASH DATA SAYS

U.S.  drivers involved in fatal crashes who had trace levels of cannabis in their blood or urine are less likely to have engaged in risky driving behavior than drivers who test positive for low levels of alcohol, according to case-control data published in the current issue of the Canadian Journal of Public Health.

http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=7189


CULTURAL BAGGAGE RADIO SHOW

The Impact of the Drug War on the African-American Community

Part-1:   Deborah Small of Breakchains.org & Ex Warden Rich Watkins.

Audio:   http://drugtruth.net/007DTNaudio/BlackHistory07-01.mp3

Part-2 Cliff Thornton of Efficacy-online.org, Author L.V.  Gaither & Phil Jackson

Audio:   http://drugtruth.net/007DTNaudio/BlackHistory07-02.mp3


A VIDEO RESPONSE TO ONDCP YOUTUBE ADVERTISEMENTS

John Holowatch, creator and director of the documentary High: The True Tale of American Marijuana, has taken on a new project, video commentary on the Drug Czar's YouTube advertisements.

http://www.truehigh.com/


HANDS OFF THE CAPOS, BUST THE USERS

Calderon's War on Drugs

By John Ross

http://www.counterpunch.org/ross02222007.html


WHAT YOU CAN DO THIS WEEK    (Top)

JOIN DPR ACTIVISTS FROM AROUND NORTH AMERICA

Tue.  February 27, 2007, 09:00 p.m. ET

Join leading hearts and minds from the drug policy reform movement as we discuss ways to write Letters to the Editor that get printed.  We'll also discuss ways to get notable OPEDS printed in your local and in-state newspapers.

Discussion is conducted via the TeamSpeak voicechat and text messaging program.  See http://mapinc.org/resource/teamspeak/ for full details on the easy, free download.

http://www.mapinc.org/onair/details.php?id=2398


LETTER OF THE WEEK    (Top)

LEGALIZE MARIJUANA

By Amy George

As a mother of a high school teenager I've read with interest the recent letters in your newspaper about how drug education is presented to our kids.

While I'm no expert on the Holy Bible, I've observed that there are literally hundreds of ways people read it and choose to interpret it.  So I won't quibble with either letter writer Ben Hooker ( No Justification For Pot, Feb.  7), nor Stan White ( Conflict of Interest - Feb.  2) and their personal opinion of popular scripture.

Rather, I'll just submit that for my son and for his peers, accurate education about all drugs is vital.  And I know that one fact about drugs is that our current laws in Texas regarding marijuana possession can create far more harm for teenagers than marijuana use itself.  This makes using cops as "drug teachers" a bad idea.

I'm teaching my teenager that abstinence from marijuana is best for his health.  But in the unlikely event that he might ignore my counsel and somehow get caught by police, a lifetime criminal record will burden him far longer than the effects of any teenage experimentation with pot.

Let's change our laws to legalize marijuana and get its dealing off the streets where kids have easier access.  Than we can use our cops for police work and leave the drug education to health care professionals who aren't conflicted in delivering accurate information about all drugs to our teens.

Amy George
Plano

Pubdate:   Wed, 14 Feb 2007
Source:   Lufkin Daily News (TX)
Referenced:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n163/a03.html
Referenced:   http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n164/a08.html


FEATURE ARTICLE    (Top)

The Waiting Game

By Mary Jane Borden

Like many patients, I make frequent trips to the doctor.  There's always that seemingly endless wait.  Waiting in the Waiting Room. Waiting in the exam room.  Waiting. Waiting. Frankly, I become bored. During one visit - after I perused the golf course paintings, thumbed through the magazines left by other patients, and scrutinized the proudly displayed diplomas - I noticed a consistent presence: the pharmaceutical industry.  I decided to write down the names of all the products I saw in the exam room.  Mind you, this list doesn't come from the waiting area, nor the hallway, nor lab, nor even the office in its entirety.  Merely one little exam room:

Flexeril
Tylenol 8 Hour
Zomig
Betaseron
Trileptal
Carbitol
Cymbalta
Depakote
Ticlid
Lexapro

Neither does this list represent the universe of drug names I saw in the room.  Logos were affixed to posters, calendars, instruments, note pads, pencils, and a host of other artifacts.  As with stadiums, I expected to see signs that read the "Rozerem Room" or the "Cylert Closet."

You might ask why should we as patients be concerned about this kind of advertising.  The International Herald Tribune recently reported about one reason: "Spending on consumer drug advertising, meanwhile, has been growing robustly, from $1.1 billion in 1997 to $4.2 billion in 2005, according to a report to Congress by the U.S.  Government Accountability Office.  In the first nine months of 2006, spending rose 8.4 percent, to $3.29 billion, and was on track to reach $4.5 billion for the year, according to TNS Media Intelligence, an advertising research firm."

( see http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/01/22/business/drug.php )

Further, direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising - all $4.5 billion of it - is only one way in which the industry promotes its wares.  Drug makers also field expensive sales forces, offer incentives to pharmacies, entertain lavishly at trade shows, dole out free samples, and maintain detailed data on physician prescribing and consumer buying habits.  In all, the Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that the industry's marketing costs as a percentage of revenue exceeds 35%.

( see http://www.nybooks.com/articles/17244#fnr13 )

With this excessive and costly physician information overload, is it any wonder why, when the doctor finally enters the exam room, cannabis becomes denigrated? After all, advocates of a simple plant can't compete with a multi-billion dollar advertising campaign.  Or can we?

What if each of us the next time we visited a physician became reps for our own industry? A wait of any length in a doctor's office will easily reveal who the pharmaceutical rep is: the impeccably dressed individual carrying a big bag who seems to gain access to the office quicker than any of the waiting patients.

Certainly portraying a rep might not lessen our wait, but getting into the office what counts.  Many doctors, while polite, won't listen all that keenly to the drug reps - they're not patients.  But doctors will listen to us.

The recipe? Dress nicely, be polite, and carry a packet of professionally prepared materials about cannabis.  For help getting started, visit OPN's library.

( see http://www.ohiopatient.net/v2/content/view/31/53/ )

Be prepared for rejection - every sales rep should - but be persistent. To one office, I carried a copy of Drug War Facts
( see http://www.DrugWarFacts.org ) like a rock star, and gave it to the physician asking that he keep it in his library reference materials.

There's an old saying in sales and marketing: repetition = recognition.  Perhaps I'm forever the optimist, but I believe that the more we professionally 'sell' cannabis to physicians and as more of us do this on a regular basis, the medical community will eventually 'get it'.

But if not, in a mere two years, we'll be reading Sativex on posters, calendars, instruments, note pads, pencils, and a host of other artifacts as we wait and wait and wait.

Mary Jane Borden is a writer, artist, and activist in drug policy from Westerville, Ohio.  She serves as Business Manager for DrugSense and is President of the Ohio Patient Network.


QUOTE OF THE WEEK    (Top)

"A desire to resist oppression is implanted in the nature of man." - Tacitus


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