| June 13, 2008 #553 | ||||||||||||
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Table of Contents
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THIS JUST IN (Top) | ||||||||||||
(1) REPORT SAYS POT POTENCY IS AT HIGHEST LEVEL SINCE '75 (Top) | ||||||||||||
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WASHINGTON - Marijuana potency increased last year to the highest
level in more than 30 years, posing greater health risks to people
who may view the drug as harmless, according to a report released
today by the White House. | ||||||||||||
The latest analysis from the University of Mississippi's Potency
Monitoring Project tracked the average amount of THC, the
psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, in samples seized by law
enforcement agencies from 1975 through 2007. It found that the
average amount of THC reached 9.6 percent in 2007, compared with
8.75 percent the previous year. | ||||||||||||
The 9.6 percent level represents more than a doubling of marijuana potency since 1983, when it averaged just under 4 percent. | ||||||||||||
John Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug
Control Policy, cited the risk of psychological, cognitive and
respiratory problems, and the potential for marijuana users to
become dependent on drugs such as cocaine and heroin. | ||||||||||||
The White House office attributed the increases in marijuana potency
to sophisticated growing techniques that drug traffickers are using
at sites in the United States and Canada. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
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(2) IN RIO SLUM, ARMED MILITIA REPLACES DRUG GANG'S CRIMINALITY WITH (Top)ITS OWN | ||||||||||||
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RIO DE JANEIRO -- When several Brazilian journalists decided to go
undercover here in May to report on life in one of the hundreds of
slums that have sprouted up around Rio, they thought they had chosen
carefully. | ||||||||||||
The slum they picked, Batan, was under the control of a militia that
had expelled a drug gang last September. The journalists assumed
that a slum under the thumb of a gun-toting militia, which included
off-duty policemen, would be safer than one controlled by drug
dealers. | ||||||||||||
They were wrong. And what they lived through has become a public scandal that has focused attention on the growing danger posed by these militias, which have supplanted drug gangs as the violent overlords who run many of Rio's slums and their illicit enterprises, often with links to corrupt police officers and politicians. | ||||||||||||
On the night of May 14 six ninja-hooded men entered the rented house
where a 28-year-old reporter for the daily O Dia, a photographer and
a driver were staying. They captured the three, with a neighbor, and
tortured them for more than six hours. | ||||||||||||
They made them play Russian roulette, nearly suffocated them with
plastic bags, delivered electric shocks and slapped and kicked them.
They threatened to sexually assault the reporter, who is a woman,
and kill all of the captives, according to written accounts the
reporter and the 31-year-old driver gave the Rio police organized
crime unit. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
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(3) SOGGY WEATHER THREATENS B.C. POT CROP, ACTIVIST SAYS (Top) | ||||||||||||
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Without More Sunlight, Plants Will Rot | ||||||||||||
There's little hope for this dope. | ||||||||||||
British Columbia's famed outdoor pot crops -- and particularly those
on Vancouver Island -- will rot if the sun remains a no-show, says
marijuana activist and seed-seller Marc Emery. | ||||||||||||
That dire warning came yesterday from Emery, the so-called "Prince
of Pot," on yet another cold, drizzly day. | ||||||||||||
"A couple more days of cold and rain and you can get root rot, or
powdery mildew or the plants washing away," said Emery of the vast
outdoor pot crops now in peril all over B.C. | ||||||||||||
He estimates the outdoor crop in B.C. is worth about $1 billion. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
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(4) NEEDLE EXCHANGE WON'T BE 'ONE-FOR-ONE' (Top) | ||||||||||||
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Ottawa's Top Health Official Convinces O'Brien To Make New Program
Less Restrictive | ||||||||||||
Ottawa's new drug-needle policy won't be the one-for-one exchange
some had hoped for, but Mayor Larry O'Brien and Ottawa Police Chief
Vern White heralded it as a co-operative step in the right
direction. | ||||||||||||
At a news conference yesterday, the mayor, who had previously called
a one-for-one needle exchange an "ideal" solution to the problem of
loose needles downtown, said Ottawa's interim medical officer of
health has convinced him otherwise. | ||||||||||||
Dr. Isra Levy, who has succeeded Dr. David Salisbury at the top of
the public-health department, said extensive research shows HIV
rates decline in cities that have policies like Ottawa's and
increase in cities that have restrictive, one-for-one programs. Dr.
Levy said a one-for-one needle exchange also translates into more
people carrying needles with them, creating a health risk for
police, paramedics and others who might have to deal with drug
users. | ||||||||||||
"We have been persuaded that the one-for-one exchange will not bring
the benefits we imagined it would. The returns are not there, based
on scientific research," Mr. O'Brien said. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW (Top) | ||||||||||||
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Domestic News- Policy | ||||||||||||
COMMENT: (5-8) (Top) | ||||||||||||
There's a series of "what's wrong with this picture" stories in
prohibition news this week: George Bush is set to dine with drug
convict; a long-time activist was arrested because his money
allegedly smelled like cannabis; the FDA is spending more resources
on becoming drug cops and falling behind in its mandate of ensuring
drug safety; and the drug war is getting so bad in some Mexico
cities that even missionaries are cancelling trips there, rightfully
concerned that even God won't protect them prohibition-related
violence. | ||||||||||||
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(5) GOP TO HONOR HEMMERT DESPITE DRUG CHARGES (Top) | ||||||||||||
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SPRINGBORO - Three weeks after being sentenced in two cocaine
possession cases, former Springboro City Councilman Michael W.
Hemmert will accept a Republican Congressional Medal of Distinction
during a two-day celebration in the nation's Capitol culminating in
a dinner honoring President George W. Bush. | ||||||||||||
"I will be attending my second President's Dinner on Wed., June 18,
2008. This is considered the 'Event in Washington, DC' each year," | ||||||||||||
On May 27, Hemmert, 53, of Springboro, was granted treatment in lieu
of conviction on two sets of charges of possession of cocaine and
marijuana and a single count of possession of drug paraphernalia
during a hearing in Warren County Common Pleas Court. | ||||||||||||
Judge James Heath ordered Hemmert to abstain from alcohol and drugs,
submit to random drug tests and follow other restrictions while on
probation for three years. | ||||||||||||
Provided Hemmert notifies his probation officer before leaving, "he shouldn't have any problem traveling," Scott McVey, administrator of the Warren County Common Pleas Court, said on Tuesday, June 3. | ||||||||||||
The events are planned by the National Republican Congressional
Committee. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
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(6) YIPPIE VETERAN IS IN JAIL FAR FROM THE EAST VILLAGE (Top) | ||||||||||||
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It has been more than 40 years since Dana Beal came to prominence as
a theoretician for the Youth International Party, known as the
Yippies, and embarked on a long career in the world of | ||||||||||||
Since 1973, Mr. Beal and other Yippies have used a brick tenement on
Bleecker Street, just west of the East Village, as a base for
planning large-scale events, including demonstrations at national
political conventions and worldwide marches calling for the
legalization of medical marijuana, among other causes. | ||||||||||||
But Mr. Beal, 61, was far from the national stage last week when he
found himself arrested on charges of money laundering in Mattoon,
Ill., about 170 miles south of Chicago. He is being held in a county
jail in nearby Charleston, awaiting an appearance before a judge on
Thursday. | ||||||||||||
Ronald Tulin, a Charleston lawyer representing Mr. Beal, said that
the police found his client with a large sum of cash, which was
sniffed by police dogs. | ||||||||||||
"They're saying the money smelled like marijuana," Mr. Tulin said. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
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(7) CONGRESS PRESSES FDA ON INVESTIGATIONS (Top) | ||||||||||||
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WASHINGTON -- The criminal-investigations wing of the Food and Drug
Administration is in hot water with Democrats and Republicans in
both the Senate and the House. | ||||||||||||
The Office of Criminal Investigations, or OCI, has operated largely autonomously in recent years, emphasizing a crackdown on illegal abuse of drugs such as Oxycontin. Its budget doubled to $42.8 million from fiscal 2000 to fiscal 2009, even as FDA officials were conceding that funds for assuring the quality of imported drugs weren't adequate. Monday, the Bush administration announced it would ask Congress for an extra $275 million to beef up FDA inspections. | ||||||||||||
In May, Rep. Joe Barton of Texas, the ranking Republican on the
House Energy and Commerce Committee, demanded information from OCI
that would explain why its arrests and convictions in fiscal 2006
were 20% lower than in fiscal 2000, according to numbers on the
agency's Web site. During the same period, the number of
investigators jumped nearly 50%. The FDA says unpublished statistics
for this year show arrests moving upward. Sen. Chuck Grassley of
Iowa has asked the Government Accountability Office, or GAO, to
review whether OCI dropped some cases because of direction from
other FDA officials. | ||||||||||||
Sen. Grassley's request follows questions raised by Democrats on the
House Energy and Commerce Committee in February during a hearing on
Ketek, the antibiotic made by Sanofi-Aventis SA. OCI agents
testified about their unsuccessful efforts to initiate a task force
on Ketek that would have looked at whether Sanofi's executives knew
that an outside contractor had used fraudulent data in a clinical
trial of the drug. Rep. Bart Stupak ( D., Mich. ), who leads the
Ketek investigation in the House, wrote in a release that "OCI
management did not follow through on the line agents' work, and
recommendations to expand fraud investigations were ignored." The
company says it acted in good faith and didn't know the | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
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(8) EFFORTS OF CHARITY GROUP HINDERED BY DRUG WAR (Top) | ||||||||||||
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The sound of gunfire now threatens to silence the sound of hammers
in the poorest neighborhoods of Juarez. | ||||||||||||
Every year hundreds of U.S. missionaries travel to outlying areas in
Juarez to help low-income families build new homes. But some
volunteers are now afraid to cross the border because of the
violence believed to be linked to warring drug cartels, program
officials said Wednesday. | ||||||||||||
Alfonso "Poncho" Cisneros, a member of El Chaday Temple in Juarez
and Casas por Cristo in El Paso, said that the violence in Juarez
has put on hold the construction of homes for low-income families in
colonias. | ||||||||||||
"Some projects have been canceled; the missionaries from the United
States don't want to come because they're afraid of crossing to
Mexico," Cisneros said. | ||||||||||||
At least 14 groups from the United States and Canada have canceled
their summer trips to Juarez, program officials said. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
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Law Enforcement & Prisons | ||||||||||||
COMMENT: (9-12) (Top) | ||||||||||||
Last week, the Washington Post took a look at the readjustment
process former prisoners who have had sentences reduced thanks to
new sentencing guidelines on crack. In the UK, illegal drug use
within some prisons is said to be at epidemic levels. And the judge
who became famous for smoking pot at a Rolling Stones concert is now
speaking out about addictions. All well and good, but as our last
story indicates, just because someone claims to have overcome drugs,
they may not be the best role model to encourage others not to use
drugs. | ||||||||||||
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(9) COMING HOME AFTER A REDUCED SENTENCE (Top) | ||||||||||||
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Those Released Since Disparities in Cocaine Penalties Were Offset
Find a Different World | ||||||||||||
Days after her release from prison, Nerika Jenkins made a bold
prediction: "I'll bounce right back into society." | ||||||||||||
Although the world changed considerably over the 11 years of her
imprisonment, she said, "I'm not afraid." She took vocational
classes - -- masonry, carpentry, painting, culinary arts, Microsoft
Excel and horticulture -- while serving time in Philadelphia and
Danbury, Conn. "I'm just ready to achieve my short-term goal,
building a nursing home," she said. "They're always in need of
places for the elderly." | ||||||||||||
More than 7,000 crack cocaine offenders such as Jenkins, 36, have
received reduced sentences since March, when the U.S. Sentencing
Commission put retroactive sentences guidelines into effect to
offset what the commission felt was overly harsh punishments for
crack cocaine related crimes, and it is an open question whether
they will succeed or return to a life behind bars. | ||||||||||||
The majority of the reductions so far have been granted in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, covering Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and the Carolinas, according to a report by the Sentencing Commission on retroactive crack cocaine sentencing released in May. By contrast, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, covering California, Washington, Oregon, Arizona, Alaska, Nevada, as well as other states and territories, has granted about the same number of reductions as the smallest jurisdiction, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in Washington. | ||||||||||||
About 35 percent of inmates who were granted reductions by federal
courts had been released as of May 31, according to the Bureau of
Prisons. Among them is Willie Mays Aikens, the former Major League
Baseball slugger whose 15-year sentence for possessing 63 grams
crack cocaine -- about the weight of a large Snickers candy bar --
made him a cause celebre among activists fighting long crack cocaine
punishments. | ||||||||||||
Aikens was released in the first week of June, nearly 22 years to
the day after the cocaine overdose of University of Maryland
basketball star Len Bias. Bias's death spurred Congress to pass the
Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986. Under the mistaken belief that Bias's
death was caused by crack cocaine, lawmakers made sentences for
crack cocaine crimes harsher than those committed for powder cocaine
by a 100-to-1 ratio. | ||||||||||||
Nearly 90 percent of those who received the tough sentences for
crack cocaine were black men and women. Most users and dealers of
powder cocaine are white and Latino. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
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(10) PRISON DRUGS CRISIS IS 'OUT OF CONTROL' (Top) | ||||||||||||
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Prisons are in the grip of an uncontrollable drugs crisis, according to a devastating report compiled by Britain's probation officers. | ||||||||||||
Their evidence flies in the face of Government claims that inmates
are using fewer drugs. | ||||||||||||
The shocking report says: | ||||||||||||
People being sent back to jail ask for specific prisons where they
know drugs are easy to get. | ||||||||||||
Drug dealers are actually breaking into jails to sell their goods. | ||||||||||||
Governors fiddle the results of drug tests to show they are on top
of the problem. | ||||||||||||
Convicts buy "clean" urine samples from non-drug users to get them
through tests. | ||||||||||||
And the report by the National Association of Probation Officers -
Napo - concludes that heroin, cocaine and cannabis are "rife" in
jails with staff unable to control the supply. | ||||||||||||
Insiders quoted in the report accuse governors of doctoring the
figures of those failing tests to make it seem the problem is under
control. | ||||||||||||
Official figures from Prisons Minister David Hanson in March showed that random positive drug tests had decreased by 64 per cent over recent years. But a former prison governor told Napo that samples of known users were often not sent for testing or were contaminated. | ||||||||||||
"It was also reported that urine samples were regularly exchanged
between prisoners," the report says. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
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(11) COLUMN: NOW SOBER, THE 'POT-SMOKING JUDGE' HELPS OTHERS WITH (Top)ADDICTIONS | ||||||||||||
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He remembers the beginning of the end, the long walk home from work that Halloween evening, the longest two blocks of his life. | ||||||||||||
"Our neighborhood is a Norman Rockwell painting," Tom Gilbert says.
"We've got front porches and kids and dogs and sidewalks. It's
America, and everybody is getting ready for Halloween, and we're
going to have 500 kids at our door, and Marsha loves Halloween and
is dressed as a witch and there's chili on the stove. | ||||||||||||
"But I told her I didn't feel well and just went up to bed." | ||||||||||||
The next day, she would cry at their small round kitchen table when
he told her the news: Someone had seen him smoking dope at a Rolling
Stones concert in Detroit 19 days earlier. | ||||||||||||
Ford Field is 250 miles from the Traverse City courtroom where he
served as a district court judge. It took more than two weeks for
the couple who had watched him inhale to describe it to friends, who
happened to be court employees, who felt compelled to tell their
supervisors, who finally confronted him. | ||||||||||||
That long walk home, the beginning of the end, would also become the
beginning of the beginning. | ||||||||||||
Five and a half years after his 15 minutes of fame as the
pot-smoking judge won him a couple of jokes from Jay Leno, Tom
Gilbert is a recovering alcoholic: sober, chastened and no longer
casting judgment on anyone. | ||||||||||||
Instead, he embraces those ready to make the changes he did, changes
he might never have made on his own. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
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(12) MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER GOES ON ALCOHOL- AND DRUG-FUELED RAMPAGE (Top) | ||||||||||||
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Smithville R-II School District officials were disappointed last
week after hearing reports that a recent motivational speaker
invited to talk about the dangers of alcohol and drugs was charged
with several felonies because of those substances. | ||||||||||||
According to The Associated Press, Russell Simon Jr., 45, was
arrested May 15 and is now being held in the Isanti County, Minn.,
Jail with bail set at $1 million after he allegedly went on an
alcohol- and methamphetamine-fueled rampage. | ||||||||||||
The charges against Simon - who spoke in March to Smithville
students and parents during a special program - include first-degree
premeditated attempted murder, second-degree attempted murder,
first-degree criminal sexual conduct, assault with a dangerous
weapon, and violating the terms of his earlier prison release by
using a firearm. He could be facing 30 years in prison. | ||||||||||||
The AP reported that police were called to the home of Simon's
live-in girlfriend May 14 on reports of shots fired. According to
authorities, after a night of drinking with an old prison buddy,
Simon - drunk on alcohol and high on meth - took off all his clothes
and began fighting with the man. It's not clear what the argument
was about, according to the AP, but it allegedly ended with Simon
pulling a gun and firing as many as seven times. He is also accused
of sexually assaulting his girlfriend in front of her nine-year-old
son. | ||||||||||||
Simon's motivational speech, named "10 Seconds Can Change Your Life
Forever" is drawn from his experience as a convicted felon and how
we worked to stay clean for more than 14 years. According to his Web
site, he has spoken to more than 250,000 teens including the
Smithville students. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
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Cannabis & Hemp- | ||||||||||||
COMMENT: (13-16) (Top) | ||||||||||||
Yet another well-argued, evidenced-based report calling for cannabis
regulation has emerged from Scotland. However, it seems the Scottish
government has asked the parliamentary librarian to shelve it in the
basement with the ACMD report, Le Dain, Schafer, La Guardia, Runciman
and Nolin. | ||||||||||||
The New York Times took a long look at the recent backlash against
the nascent medicinal cannabis industry in California, admirably
including sound bites from many familiar voices of the cannabis law
reform community. | ||||||||||||
In addition to the issues surrounding medicinal cannabis in the
workplace and in public spaces, medicinal cannabis laws are forcing
states to accommodate patients in custodial relationships with the
criminal justice system. | ||||||||||||
Cannabinoid research pioneer Billy R. Martin passed away last
week. | ||||||||||||
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(13) NOW EXPERTS SAY CANNABIS SHOULD BE LEGAL (Top) | ||||||||||||
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Cannabis should be legalised and taxed, an influential Scottish think
tank recommended yesterday, just weeks after the Government hardened
its attitude towards the drug, reclassifying it as a class B
substance. | ||||||||||||
The Scottish Futures Forum yesterday published a report on drugs and
alcohol in Scotland, saying one way to tackle the problem of addiction
to harder drugs was to tax and regulate cannabis. | ||||||||||||
Forum chairman Frank Pignatelli said studies of San Francisco, where
cannabis is illegal, and the Netherlands, where it is decriminalised,
showed that the idea is worth considering because it breaks the link
with class A drugs. In the Netherlands, only 17 per cent of cannabis
sellers were also selling drugs such as crack, cocaine and heroin,
while in San Francisco it was more than 50 per cent. | ||||||||||||
The idea was one of several aimed at halving drug addiction in
Scotland by 2025. | ||||||||||||
This included introducing shooting galleries, where heroin addicts can
go and take drugs in supervised surroundings, as revealed in
yesterday's Scotsman. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
Both the Home Office and the Scottish Government have made it clear
that they do not support the idea of legalisation. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
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(14) MARIJUANA HOTBED RETREATS ON MEDICINAL USE (Top) | ||||||||||||
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UKIAH, Calif. -- There is probably no marijuana-friendlier place in
the country than here in Mendocino County, where plants can grow more
than 15 feet high, medical marijuana clubs adopt stretches of highway,
and the sticky, sweet aroma of cannabis fills this city's streets
during the autumn harvest. | ||||||||||||
Lately, however, residents of Mendocino County, like those in other
parts of California, are wondering if the state's embrace of marijuana
for medicinal purposes has gone too far. | ||||||||||||
Medical marijuana was legalized under state law by California voters
in 1996, and since then 11 other states have followed, even though
federal law still bans the sale of any marijuana. But some frustrated
residents and law enforcement officials say the California law has
increasingly and unintentionally provided legal cover for large-scale
marijuana growers -- and the problems such big-money operations can
attract. | ||||||||||||
"It's a clear shield for commercial operations," said Mike Sweeney,
60, a supporter of both medical marijuana and a local ballot measure
on June 3 that called for new limits on the drug in Mendocino. "And we
don't want those here." | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
"If folks had to get their dope, sorry, they would just have to get it somewhere else," said Sheriff Mark Pazin of Merced County, east of San Francisco, one of the many jurisdictions to impose new restrictions. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
But while even advocates of medical marijuana say they recognize that the system has problems, they question the bans. "I think there's no doubt there's been abuse, but there's probably no system created by human beings that hasn't been abused," said Bruce Mirken, the director of communications for the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, which promotes the drug's legalization. "But the answer to that is not the wholesale throwing out the baby with the bath water." | ||||||||||||
All told, about 80 California cities have adopted moratoriums with
more than 60 others banning the clubs outright, according to Americans
for Safe Access, which advocates for medical marijuana research and
treatment. In addition, 11 counties have also adopted some sort of ban
or moratorium. | ||||||||||||
Such laws have led to a kind of Prohibition patchwork of "wet" and
"dry" areas. In Visalia, a city of 120,000 in the state's Central
Valley, the local club was denied a permit on Main Street, so instead
set up shop on a lonely section of country highway. Other clubs have
retreated into people's homes. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
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(15) EX-FELON THANKFUL FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA (Top) | ||||||||||||
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A week after the state Corrections Department abandoned a proposed
rule that would have banned anyone on probation or parole from using
medical marijuana, one Missoula man says he's already reaping the
benefits. | ||||||||||||
"I was told that I could go ahead and toke up again," said David
Michaud, 39, a convicted felon and stay-at-home dad who uses medical
marijuana to relieve chronic migraine headaches, pain and nausea. "Now
I'm just following my doctor's advice." | ||||||||||||
In 2000, Michaud was arrested with 4 ounces of marijuana during a ski trip to Breckenridge, Colo., and was subsequently convicted of felony drug possession. Earlier this year, Michaud and his wife moved to Montana, where he is registered as a medical marijuana patient and has four prescriptions for the drug signed by three physicians. | ||||||||||||
But Michaud said his probation officer told him he couldn't fill those
prescriptions, and suggested he instead ask his doctor for a
prescription to Marinol, a synthetic version of the active ingredient
in marijuana. But Michaud says, and many patients agree, that the
synthetic treatment is not as effective because it mimics just one
substance in the cannabis plant, when a combination of substances may
be what helps relieve the pain. | ||||||||||||
During a March hearing in Helena, Michaud and other critics of the proposed Corrections rule testified that Montana's medical marijuana law, passed by voters in 2004, does not allow any penalty for using medical marijuana, regardless of a person's criminal history. | ||||||||||||
Michaud said he disclosed his marijuana use to his probation officer after studying the finer points of Montana's medical marijuana law, which places no restrictions on probationers or parolees. | ||||||||||||
"So I told my probation officer that I had started following my
doctor's advice again and was smoking marijuana, and she sent me to
jail for three days," Michaud said. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
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(16) SCIENTIST BILLY R. MARTIN DIES (Top) | ||||||||||||
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He Worked 32 Years at VCU and Was a Top Marijuana Researcher | ||||||||||||
During the past 35 years, Dr. Billy Ray Martin established himself as
a world leader in marijuana research. | ||||||||||||
In the late 1970s, he was the first to show that most of the
behavioral effects of marijuana were attributable to delta-9-
tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the substance's principal psychoactive
ingredient. | ||||||||||||
Later, he was chosen by the National Institute on Drug Abuse to lead a
team of international researchers to study anandamide, a marijuana-
like substance that occurs naturally in the brain. | ||||||||||||
Since 2000, Dr. Martin served as chairman of Virginia Commonwealth
University's department of pharmacology and toxicology. He died Sunday
at his Richmond home of cancer. He was 65. | ||||||||||||
During his tenure leading the department, it ranked in the top 10 in
the nation in terms of National Institutes of Health funding. This
year, U.S. News & World Report ranked VCU 16th in the nation among
programs in substance abuse. | ||||||||||||
As a leader in the department, Dr. Martin "recruited excellent scientists and built a highly collaborative research team," said Dr. Jerome F. Strauss III, dean of the VCU School of Medicine. | ||||||||||||
Dr. Martin's research into marijuana looked at both avenues of the
drug -- its dangers and its therapeutic potential, said his mentor,
Dr. William L. Dewey, a professor at VCU's department of pharmacology
and toxicology. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
Dr. Martin, described as a kind, soft-spoken man, was the founder and
first president of the International Cannabinoid Research Society and
won the group's Raphael Mechoulam Award for outstanding contributions
to cannabinoid research. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
International News | ||||||||||||
COMMENT: (17-20) (Top) | ||||||||||||
Argentina appears to be joining nearby Brazil and Uruguay in halting arrests for simple drug use or possession. The change happened after Argentinean legal tribunals ruled laws penalizing drug use were unconstitutional. "We have to stop being hypocrites," pled Argentinean minister of justice, security and health Anibal Fernandez earlier this year. "Young people also get sick from the consumption of alcohol and pills, which they get freely, and we criminalize those for possessing a marijuana cigarette." | ||||||||||||
Surprise, surprise: as many other trials have shown before, when heroin addicts are simply prescribed the pharmaceutical grade stuff, their lives stabilize. In Montreal, Canada, the first trial of prescribed heroin in North America is coming to a close. "What was surprising was that, as their lives gained stability, many came only twice a day," noted the lead researcher. "Because the heroin was free, people thought an escalation in use would occur. But this didn't happen." Other fears proved unfounded, as well. "There was a fear we'd attract more users by giving out free heroin." Don't expect grandstanding politicians to listen; such studies are regularly ignored by government. Meanwhile, the right-wing government of Stephen Harper vowed to appeal the B.C. Supreme court ruling that allows Insite to remain operating. With over 90% of Canada's anti-drug budget going to law enforcement, a powerful law enforcement lobby keeps a stranglehold on politicians and resources. | ||||||||||||
In Scotland, media and politicians alike were aghast at the very
idea: supervised injection centers should be established, and
cannabis should be legalized. The idea came from a think-tank which
was set up by the Scottish Parliament. Response from prohibitionists
was predictable. "We believe that people should be assisted to get
off drugs, not helped to take them," said member of parliament
Annabel Goldie. Scotland's punitive drug prohibition laws have
earned the region the distinction of having "the highest
drug-related death rate in Europe." | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
(17) IN ARGENTINE DRUG COURTS, A SHOCKER AT SENTENCING (Top) | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
BUENOS AIRES -- After getting caught with contraband like ecstasy
tablets and marijuana, a few young Argentines have been asked by
judges recently to pay an unexpected price for breaking the nation's
drug laws: None at all. | ||||||||||||
That's because separate federal tribunals here have ruled that a law
penalizing the personal use of drugs is unconstitutional. Two
offenders have been let off the hook in Buenos Aires. And this week
another group of judges echoed the ruling after considering the case
of a young man arrested with marijuana. | ||||||||||||
"Criminalization will only apply in cases where the possession of
narcotics for personal consumption represents a danger for the
public health of others," the judges announced. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
Then there are such critics as Claudio Mate, a former health minister for the province of Buenos Aires, who told reporters the trend threatened to create the "absurdity that we would have more regulations for smokers of tobacco than for consumers of cocaine." | ||||||||||||
He and others have predicted spiraling rates of drug use,
particularly among teenagers. | ||||||||||||
"Imagine how bad it could be if the state were to renounce even
further its punitive power," Roberto Castellano, president of
Pro-Life Argentina, said in a news release criticizing legalization
efforts. | ||||||||||||
Those naysayers seem to be swimming against the prevailing tide,
however, which has been moving toward a change for several months.
This year, Anibal Fernandez -- Argentina's highly influential
minister of justice, security and health -- publicly denounced
Argentina's current drug laws as a "catastrophe." | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
"We have to stop being hypocrites," Fernandez said at a U.N. forum
this year. "Young people also get sick from the consumption of
alcohol and pills, which they get freely, and we criminalize those
for possessing a marijuana cigarette." | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
(18) PRESCRIBED HEROIN PROJECT 'PROMISING' (Top) | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
Gave Free Pharma-Grade Drugs. Quebec Health Minister Considering
Opening Safe-Injection Site In Montreal | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
North America's first research study on medically prescribed heroin
will wrap up in a few weeks. The goal of the North American Opiate
Medication Initiative, funded by the Canadian Institute of Health
Research, is to examine harm reduction and the treatment of illicit
drug use. | ||||||||||||
The $8-million clinical trial started in 2005 in Montreal and
Vancouver, the site of Insite, North America's only safe-injection
site. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
But unlike a safe-injection site, where addicts inject themselves
with their own street drugs under the supervision of a nurse, the
research study uses medically prescribed pharmaceutical-grade
narcotics. | ||||||||||||
Although the findings will not be published until the fall, the preliminary results are promising, said Suzanne Brissette, one of the study's doctors and the lead investigator in Montreal. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
Similar studies in Europe suggest prescribed heroin programs can
save the public nearly $20,000 a year per addict, after research and
clinical costs are factored in. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
"What was surprising was that, as their lives gained stability, many
came only twice a day," Brissette said. | ||||||||||||
In addition, the maximum heroin dose allowed was about 400
milligrams, but on average addicts chose to take only 170 milligrams
at a time. | ||||||||||||
"Because the heroin was free, people thought an escalation in use
would occur. But this didn't happen," Brissette said. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
Many users put on weight and some managed to find jobs, Brissette
said. | ||||||||||||
"Instead of worrying about their next fix, they had time to worry
about far more important issues like their health and finding a job
or an apartment," Brissette said. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
(19) OTTAWA'S BAD PRESCRIPTION ON ADDICTION (Top) | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
When the federal government announced it would appeal the B.C.
Supreme Court's decision on Vancouver's safe injection site, it
chose to dismiss growing scientific evidence of the positive role
harm-reduction programs can play in society. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
While the federal government rejects scientific evidence that harm-
reduction programs are successful, health-care professionals and
public-health experts know they are an important part of the puzzle
in addressing illegal drug use. Harm reduction, along with
treatment, policing and prevention are cornerstones of a
comprehensive, integrated public-health strategy. | ||||||||||||
Conservatives contend that money could be diverted away from Insite into treatment and rehabilitation programs for addicts. Money does need to be diverted, but it's not from facilities like Insite. | ||||||||||||
Of all the money that Canada spends to combat illegal drug use, less
than 10 per cent is spent on treatment and rehabilitation. The vast
majority of the money goes to interdiction and law enforcement.
While law enforcement has an important role to play, it is obvious
we need a rebalancing of resources and focus. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
When it comes to safe injection sites, Conservatives need to consider the health of all Canadians, not just those who agree with the government's ideological bias against drug-addicted patients. | ||||||||||||
Dr. Brian Day is president of the Canadian Medical | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
(20) CALLS TO OFFER 'SAFE' ROOMS WHERE USERS COULD TAKE DRUGS (Top) | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
Radical calls to consider prescribing heroin to addicts in Scotland
and setting up "safe" rooms where users could take drugs divided
politicians yesterday. | ||||||||||||
Scotland's Futures Forum, a think-tank set up by the Scottish Parliament, proposed that both initiatives should be given a trial after proving successful in tackling drug abuse in the Netherlands. | ||||||||||||
The forum's suggestions yesterday were part of a raft of new options
for Scotland put forward in a bid to halve the massive amount of
damage caused by drug and alcohol abuse by 2025. | ||||||||||||
Scotland has the highest drug-related death rate in Europe, with the
overall cost of damage through alcohol and drugs in terms of crime
and neglect estimated at nearly UKP5bn. | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
Leader Annabel Goldie MSP said yesterday: "We believe that people
should be assisted to get off drugs, not helped to take them. The
approach of the last Scottish Executive in dealing with drugs abuse
was deeply flawed and I'm afraid the recommendations we see today
are siphoned from the same school of thought." | ||||||||||||
[snip] | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
HOT OFF THE 'NET (Top) | ||||||||||||
THE WHITE HOUSE RETURNS TO STOKING FEARS ABOUT POTENT POT | ||||||||||||
By Bruce Mirken | ||||||||||||
In what is becoming a nearly annual ritual, the ONDCP has
released yet another report filled with dire warnings about
rising marijuana potency. | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
SCOTTISH FUTURE FORUM REPORT | ||||||||||||
A report published by a Scottish Parliament-backed think tank has
called for radical new ways to tackle the damage done by drugs
and alcohol. Recommendations include the setting up of | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
RAIDING CALIFORNIA-DREW CAREY ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA AND MINORS | ||||||||||||
Should medical marijuana be kept from minors at all costs? Why is it
that pharmacists can dispense amphetamines without getting busted, but
legal operators who dispense medical marijuana face prison time? Why
do armed federal agents persist in raiding California? | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
OBAMA AND MCCAIN: WHERE THEY STAND ON ADDICTION ISSUES | ||||||||||||
By Bob Curley | ||||||||||||
Based on their records, neither John McCain or Barack Obama can really
be considered a leader in the drug-policy arena. | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
MARIJUANA PROHIBITION AND FATHERHOOD 2008 | ||||||||||||
A Father's Day Message From NORML | ||||||||||||
By George Rohrbacher, NORML Board Member | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
DRUG TRUTH NETWORK | ||||||||||||
Century of Lies- 06/10/08 - Dean Becker | ||||||||||||
Patients from around North America discuss their use of medical marijuana for numerous maladies and how it cuts down on their use of more dangerous and deadly pharmaceutical medicines. | ||||||||||||
Cultural Baggage Radio Show - 06/11/08 - Ray Hill | ||||||||||||
Ray Hill one of the founders of Pacifica's KPFT compares the war on
gays to the war on drugs + Terry Nelson of Law Enforcement Against
Prohibition & Drug War Facts with Doug McVay | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
WESTERN HEMISPHERE'S ONLY HEROIN MAINTENANCE PROGRAM COMING TO AN END | ||||||||||||
Feature Article, Drug War Chronicle, Issue #539, 6/13/08 | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
INCARCEREX - THE CANADIAN VERSION | ||||||||||||
Cannabis Culture commissioned a Canadian version of "Incarcerex",
a very well done anti Drug War message by the Drug Policy Alliance.
CC intends to run their ad on mainstream television during the
next federal election. | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
WHAT YOU CAN DO THIS WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||
DRUG WAR CHRONICLE SEEKING CASES OF INFORMANT ABUSE | ||||||||||||
Many of our readers know about the tragic case of Rachel Hoffman, a
23-year-old in Tallahassee, Florida, who was killed by drug dealers
after police coerced her into acting as an informant without having
access to an attorney. Drug War Chronicle is currently looking for
cases, reported or unreported, in which police appear to have
committed misconduct or made serious misjudgements in their treatment
of informants. | ||||||||||||
If you can help us find such cases, please email David Borden at
. We will keep your name and personal information
confidential unless you tell us otherwise. If you are uncomfortable
sending this information by email, feel free to contact us by phone
instead; our office number is (202) 293-8340, and you can speak or
leave a message with David Borden or David Guard. Thank you in advance
for your help. | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
MPP LAUNCHES AD CAMPAIGN FOR NEW YORK MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL | ||||||||||||
This week, MPP began airing a TV ad to urge the New York state Senate
to pass a medical marijuana bill. There are less than three weeks left
in the legislative session, so there is no time to lose. Please urge
your senator to support A. 4867-B and to ask leadership to bring the
issue to a vote. | ||||||||||||
If you are a patient who could benefit from medical marijuana, or a
supportive medical professional, please e-mail to see
how your voice can help. | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
LETTER OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||
PATIENTS NEED POT | ||||||||||||
By Mitch Earleywine | ||||||||||||
The recent op-ed on medical marijuana says science, not politics, should drive California's drug policy ( "Pot propaganda," June 4). | ||||||||||||
Though the piece suggests otherwise, science reveals that marijuana
is superb for battling nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, insomnia,
muscle spasms and pain. For some people, it can mean the difference
between life and death. | ||||||||||||
An Institute of Medicine report, the same one mentioned in the op-ed, actually confirms that marijuana has these medical uses. | ||||||||||||
The writer suggests that Marinol, a synthetic pill that contains only one of the many active ingredients in the plant, could suffice for patients. But research reveals that the pill is impossible to swallow during bouts of nausea and vomiting, its effects are slow and unpredictable, and for some patients, it simply doesn't work. | ||||||||||||
Indeed, science should drive drug policy. Medical marijuana should be available as needed to end human anguish whenever possible. Standing idly by while the sickest of the sick suffer is truly inhumane. | ||||||||||||
Mitch Earleywine | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
LETTER WRITER OF THE MONTH - MAY (Top) | ||||||||||||
DrugSense recognizes Tim Meehan of Ottawa, the capitol of Canada, for
his five letters published during May which brings his total
published letters that we know of up to 96. Tim frequently signs his
letters as representing Patients Against Ignorance and Discrimination
on Cannabis. You may read his published letters at: | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
FEATURE ARTICLE (Top) | ||||||||||||
I Was Wrong About The War On Drugs - It's A Failure | ||||||||||||
By Bob Barr | ||||||||||||
I'll admit it, just five years ago I was "Public Enemy Number 1" in
the eyes of the Libertarian Party. In my 2002 congressional race for
Georgia's Seventh District, the Libertarian Party ran scathing
attack ads against my stand on Medical Marijuana. | ||||||||||||
Today, I am their presidential nominee and will represent
libertarians at the top of the ticket on November 4th. | ||||||||||||
Huh? | ||||||||||||
That's right, Bob Barr, formerly the War on Drugs loving, Wiccan
mocking, Clinton impeaching Republican is the presidential nominee
for the Libertarian Party. | ||||||||||||
Now, you may be asking how this happened and my answer is simple:
"The libertarians won." | ||||||||||||
For more than three decades, the Libertarian Party and small "l"
libertarians have done their part to prove to America that liberty
is the answer to most of the problems that we face today. Over the
past several years, I was one of the many people influenced by this
small party. | ||||||||||||
Whether through the free market or by simply allowing families to make their own decisions regarding the education of their children, libertarians have taught us that liberty does truly work. | ||||||||||||
In stark contrast, when government attempts to solve our societal
problems, it tends to create even more of them, often increasing the
size and depth of the original problem. A perfect example of this is
the federal War on Drugs. | ||||||||||||
For years, I served as a federal prosecutor and member of the House
of Representatives defending the federal pursuit of the drug
prohibition. | ||||||||||||
Today, I can reflect on my efforts and see no progress in stopping
the widespread use of drugs. I'll even argue that America's drug
problem is larger today than it was when Richard Nixon first coined
the phrase, "War on Drugs," in 1972. | ||||||||||||
America's drug problem is only compounded by the vast amounts of
money directed at this ongoing battle. In 2005, more than $12
billion dollars was spent on federal drug enforcement efforts while
another $30 billion was spent to incarcerate non-violent drug
offenders. | ||||||||||||
The result of spending all of those taxpayer's dollars? We now have
a huge incarceration tab for non-violent drug offenders and, at
most, a 30% interception rate of hard drugs. We are also now plagued
with the meth labs that are popping up like poisonous mushrooms
across the country. | ||||||||||||
While it is clear the War on Drugs has been a failure, it is not
enough to simply acknowledge that reality. We need to look for
solutions that deal with the drug problem without costly and
intrusive government agencies, and instead allow for private
industry and organizations to put forward solutions that address the
real problems. | ||||||||||||
One such solution was presented to me recently by a libertarian
friend and supporter, Glenn Jacobs. | ||||||||||||
Glenn is a very unique guy with a very unique job. To say Glenn is a
"big guy" or "intimidating" is an understatement. He gives people
nightmares ...= literally. | ||||||||||||
Each week Glenn, who stands nearly seven feet tall, walks into a
wrestling ring under the stage name "Kane" to beat other large men
for sheer entertainment purposes. | ||||||||||||
Had I not pursued a career in politics -- and were about two feet taller -- I might have chosen a similar career path.= Maybe=85 | ||||||||||||
In June of 2007, Glenn and many of his friends and co-workers in the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) were rocked by the news of the Chris Benoit tragedy that took place in my home state of Georgia. | ||||||||||||
It was speculated that Chris had murdered his family and committed suicide in a steroid or "roid" rage. While it is unclear how much of a role drugs played in Benoit's actions, and whether mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) may also have been a contributing factor, it was clear the WWE had some serious problems within its organization. | ||||||||||||
In the wake of the tragedy, the head of the WWE, Vince McMahon, and
its other leaders looked internally to recognize these problems and
address them. Although in the two years before Benoit's death,
dozens of wrestlers had been suspended, gone to rehab, or been
dismissed under the WWE's recently adopted "Wellness Program," the
WWE strengthened its drug policy further, re-emphasizing that its
policy wasn't merely a document, but the internal laws of the
company that would be enforced. | ||||||||||||
Additionally, in response to speculation by brain trauma experts
that Benoit may have been suffering from brain damage caused by
years of blows to the head, WWE added a MTBI component to its
Wellness Program. | ||||||||||||
McMahon didn't wait for Congress to pass a law or parade his
wrestlers in front of congressional committee hearings; he took the
lead and assumed responsibility over the health and welfare of the
individuals who work for the WWE. | ||||||||||||
As part of the WWE Wellness Program, wrestlers go through regular
drug testing and even cardiovascular testing. The latter identified
a previously unknown heart condition for the wrestler "MVP" and he
was treated for Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome. The government's War
on Drugs wouldn't have done that. | ||||||||||||
Sadly, the long standing War on Drugs also did not save the life of
Chris Benoit and his family. The truth is, only Chris could have
saved himself through personal responsibility. However, the efforts
of Vince McMahon are making progress in preventing other tragedies
and harm. | ||||||||||||
The WWE is taking responsibility for its talent and giving its
participants the resources that they need, through rehabilitation,
testing and even anonymous help lines, to deal with any possible
problems. | ||||||||||||
While there may be some employees of the organization who may not
like random drug tests or being thrown on a treadmill for an EKG,
they have the choice of finding a new employer. | ||||||||||||
That's the beauty of this libertarian solution. It does not take
government intervention or our tax dollars. It also does not force
anyone to do anything, as it only requires voluntary action and
decisions. | ||||||||||||
While I applaud the WWE for taking on this responsibility with a
libertarian solution, don't bother looking for me at an upcoming
cage match on Friday Night Smackdown. I don't want to be responsible
for hurting any of those little guys. | ||||||||||||
Bob Barr is the 2008 Libertarian nominee for President of the United
States. Previously, he represented the 7th District of Georgia in
the U. S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003. This piece
originally appeared at Huffington Post. | ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
QUOTE OF THE WEEK (Top) | ||||||||||||
"When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could
hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be
twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven
years." -- Mark Twain | ||||||||||||
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