| Jan. 9, 2009 #582 |
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- * Breaking News (01/09/09)
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- * This Just In
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(1) OPED: Ending the Taliban's Money Stream
(2) U.S. Plans Border 'Surge' Against Any Drug Wars
(3) Colombia Drugs Lord Shot Dead In Madrid Hospital
(4) Appeals Court Questions Police Dog's Qualifications
- * Weekly News in Review
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Drug Policy-
COMMENT: (5-8)
(5) Khat -- Is It More Coffee or Cocaine?
(6) Downgrade Ecstasy To Class B Drug, Say Ministerial Advisers
(7) Mayor Vetoes Resolution Asking For Debate On Legalizing Drugs
(8) Rockefeller Drug Reform, Not Forgotten
Law Enforcement & Prisons-
COMMENT: (9-12)
(9) Mexican Drug Cartels Negotiating A Peace Agreement
(10) Bribery Probe Snares Bailiff
(11) Drugs Drive DARE Speaker Back To A Life Of Crime
(12) As His Inmates Grew Thinner, a Sheriff's Wallet Grew
Cannabis & Hemp-
COMMENT: (13-16)
(13) Court To Rule On Pot's Use In Religion
(14) 12-Months For Compassionate Marijuana Grower
(15) America Begins To Ease Up On Marijuana Smokers
(16) Lawsuit Filed Over Refusal To Issue Medical Marijuana Card
International News-
COMMENT: (17-20)
(17) Mexico Under Siege
(18) Taking The Fun Out Of Pot
(19) The Drug Problem Hasn't Gone Away You Know
(20) Now We See The Victims Of Victimless Crimes
- * Hot Off The 'Net
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The Failed Drug War On TV
Why Head Shop Raids Are Unfair And Unjust / By Norman Kent
Mainstream Media Looks At Marijuana Prohibition / By Allen St. Pierre
Drug Truth Network
Sanjay Gupta: What The Next Surgeon General Doesn't Know About Pot
DEA Rejects Yet Another Rescheduling Petition
When People Are Stupid / By Pete Guither
Lou Dobbs Reacts To El Paso Resolution To Discuss Drug Policy Reform
- * What You Can Do This Week
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Write A Letter
Join The "Pardon Me" Protest
- * Letter Of The Week
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Drug War Has Been A Failure, So It's Time To Legalize The Stuff / Michelle Cohen
- * Letter Writer Of The Year - 2008
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Robert Sharpe
- * Feature Article
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Three Things You Can Do to Make a Difference / Robert Sharpe
- * Quote of the Week
-
Thomas Huxley
DrugSense needs your support to continue this newsletter and many
other important projects - see how you can help at
http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
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THIS JUST IN
(Top)
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(1) OPED: ENDING THE TALIBAN'S MONEY STREAM
(Top) |
| Source: | Washington Times (DC)
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| Copyright: | 2009 The Washington Times, LLC. |
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| Note: | James Nathan, a former Foreign Service officer, is the Khalid
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bin Sultan Eminent Scholar at Auburn University.
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At the start of the Afghan war, the British government implored the
Bush administration to bomb Afghanistan's heroin labs and opium
storehouses. The United States refused. America's Afghan partners in
the struggle against the Taliban were involved in the drug trade.
They were crooked, but useful.
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In 2004, Afghan President Hamid Karzai declared a "jihad on the
cultivation of drugs." Europeans guffawed. European intelligence had
already named both the head of the Afghan Central Bank and Mr.
Karzai's "anti-corruption czar" as "drug lords." And Mr. Karzai's
youngest brother, Ahmed Wali, was named as a trafficker in early
2005 in U.S. intelligence documents discovered by CBS' "60 Minutes."
In fact, there has never been a "drug lord" arrested in post
September 11th Afghanistan. Drug Enforcement Administration agents
in 2005 found more than nine tons of opium in the office of Sher
Muhammad Akhundzada, the governor of Helmand Province. Under British
pressure, Mr. Akhundzada was removed, but the next year, Mr. Karzai
found a place for him in the Afghan Senate.
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In April 2006, John Walters, director of the White House Office of
National Drug Control Policy, enthused to reporters that "enormous
progress" had been made in eradication of opium crops in
Afghanistan. But by the end of 2007, U.S. officials estimated that
Afghanistan had monopolized the world's supply of opium and heroin,
with 93 percent of world supply.
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"Eradication" was America's answer to the explosion of Afghanistan
opium. The policy of paying day workers to attack poppy fields of
farmers, with everything from sticks and weed whackers to tractors,
backfired. "Hearts and minds" were lost. Eradication was billed to
American taxpayers by contractors at up to $90,000 an acre - for a
crop with a "commercial" value averaging less than $2,000, per
farmer.
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In sum, America's effort at Afghan drug control, seemed, in the
words of one expert, Peter Bergen, "bananas." Few serious alternates
to eradication were advanced except by a London based
non-governmental organization, Senlis, which has suggested
small-scale pilot programs of licensing villages for production of
medically useful opiates. The Senlis approach has the backing of the
European Parliament and many in the Canadian and British
governments. But a reading of Senlis' proposals reveals an amazingly
complicated scheme that would hardly impact the Taliban and drug
lords in any meaningful way for years.
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[snip]
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(2) U.S. PLANS BORDER 'SURGE' AGAINST ANY DRUG WARS
(Top) |
| Pubdate: | Thu, 08 Jan 2009
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| Source: | New York Times (NY)
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| Copyright: | 2009 The New York Times Company
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| Author: | Randal C. Archibold
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The soaring level of violence in Mexico resulting from the drug wars
there has led the United States to develop plans for a "surge" of
civilian and perhaps even military law enforcement should the
bloodshed spread across the border, Homeland Security Secretary
Michael Chertoff said Wednesday.
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Mr. Chertoff said the criminal activity in Mexico, which has caused
more than 5,300 deaths in the last year, had long troubled American
authorities. But it reached a point last summer, he said, where he
ordered specific plans to confront in this country the kind of
shootouts and other mayhem that in Mexico have killed members of
warring drug cartels, law enforcement officials and bystanders,
often not far from the border.
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"We completed a contingency plan for border violence, so if we did
get a significant spillover, we have a surge - if I may use that
word - capability to bring in not only our own assets but even to
work with" the Defense Department, Mr. Chertoff said in a telephone
interview.
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Officials of the Homeland Security Department said the plan called
for aircraft, armored vehicles and special teams to converge on
border trouble spots, with the size of the force depending on the
scale of the problem. Military forces would be called upon if
civilian agencies like the Border Patrol and local law enforcement
were overwhelmed, but the officials said military involvement was
considered unlikely.
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[snip]
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(3) COLOMBIA DRUGS LORD SHOT DEAD IN MADRID HOSPITAL
(Top) |
| Pubdate: | Thu, 08 Jan 2009
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| Source: | International Herald-Tribune (International)
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| Copyright: | International Herald Tribune 2009
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| MADRID: | One of Colombia's most notorious drug lords, Leonidas
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Vargas, was shot dead in his Madrid hospital bed on Thursday,
Spanish police said.
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At least one person entered the room in Madrid's October 12th
Hospital where Vargas was being treated for a serious illness, and
shot the drugs kingpin four times just before 8 p.m. local time,
police said.
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Spanish newspaper El Mundo said the assassin asked another patient
who was sharing the Colombian's room if he was Vargas.
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When the man said no, he took out a gun fitted with a silencer and
shot Vargas, who was asleep. The hospital was still locked down at
10 p.m. as police searched for his killer, El Mundo said.
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[snip]
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(4) APPEALS COURT QUESTIONS POLICE DOG'S QUALIFICATIONS
(Top) |
| Pubdate: | Thu, 08 Jan 2009
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| Source: | Salt Lake Tribune (UT)
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| Copyright: | 2009 The Salt Lake Tribune
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Car Search ) Defendant Says Canine Inadequately Trained To Do His
Job
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An injury had kept K-9 officer Oso from completing an eight-week
narcotics certification course, but his law enforcement partners
insist he had the skills to perform his job.
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The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals isn't so sure.
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The court has ordered a federal judge in Salt Lake City to review
whether Oso was qualified to sniff out evidence on the night he
helped find a handgun and drug paraphernalia in a Utah man's car.
Police say Oso had 10 weeks of training with his handler, although
he hadn't completed certification.
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The Denver-based court said Tuesday police might be able to
establish the dog was reliable through presenting evidence other
than the certification course.
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[snip]
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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW
(Top)
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Domestic News- Policy
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COMMENT: (5-8)
(Top) |
If there was ever a doubt that the drug war isn't primarily an
effort toward cultural authoritarianism, check out the arguments for
further prohibiting khat in the United States. If somebody likes a
drug other than culturally accepted drugs, we better make it
illegal; at least that seems to be the attitude. Some advocates for
reclassifying ecstasy in the UK learned a similar lesson this week.
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Elsewhere, a mayor on the U.S. side of the Mexican border doesn't
want his city council to even propose a discussion about legalizing
drugs; while in New York, another year and another hope for
Rockefeller reform.
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(5) KHAT -- IS IT MORE COFFEE OR COCAINE?
(Top) |
| Source: | Los Angeles Times (CA)
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| Copyright: | 2009 Los Angeles Times
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| Author: | Cynthia Dizikes, Reporting from Washington
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The Narcotic Leaf Is a Time-Honored Tradition in Africa but Illegal
In the U.S., Where Demand Is Growing.
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In the heart of the Ethiopian community here, a group of friends
gathered after work in an office to chew on dried khat leaves before
going home to their wives and children. Sweet tea and sodas stood on
a circular wooden table between green mounds of the plant, a mild
narcotic grown in the Horn of Africa.
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As the sky grew darker the conversation became increasingly heated,
flipping from religion to jobs to local politics. Suddenly, one of
the men paused and turned in his chair. "See, it is the green leaf,"
he said, explaining the unusually animated discussion as he pinched
a few more leaves together and tossed them into his mouth.
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For centuries the "flower of paradise" has been used legally in East
Africa and the Arabian Peninsula as a stimulant and social tonic.
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But in the United States khat is illegal, and an increased demand
for the plant in cities such as Washington and San Diego is leading
to stepped up law enforcement efforts and escalating clashes between
narcotics officers and immigrants who defend their use of khat as a
time-honored tradition.
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In the last few years, San Diego, which has a large Somali
population, has seen an almost eight-fold increase in khat seizures.
Nationally, the amount of khat seized annually at the country's
ports of entry has grown from 14 metric tons to 55 in about the last
decade.
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Most recently, California joined 27 other states and the federal
government in banning the most potent substance in khat, and the
District of Columbia is proposing to do the same.
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[snip]
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(6) DOWNGRADE ECSTASY TO CLASS B DRUG, SAY MINISTERIAL ADVISERS
(Top) |
| Pubdate: | Sun, 04 Jan 2009
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| Copyright: | 2009 Independent Newspapers (UK) Ltd. |
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| Author: | Brian Brady and Jonathan Owen
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Advisory Council Has 'Pro-Drug' Agenda, Say Critics, Raising
Questions Over Its Fitness To Advise Ministers
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An independent committee that advises ministers on drug
classification is poised to recommend the controversial downgrading
of ecstasy to a class B drug. The Advisory Council on the Misuse of
Drugs ( ACMD ) is expected to call for ecstasy, a drug blamed for
the deaths of at least 30 people a year, to be changed from its
top-rated class A category when it reports later this month.
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The proposal will bring the council into direct conflict with the
Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith ( below ), who is expected to veto any
such move, and propel the Government into a row over its treatment
of expert bodies charged with advising ministers on key issues. The
controversy comes just months after the Home Office ignored ACMD
opposition to the decision to move cannabis from class C to class B.
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Senior Home Office sources said they "fully expected" the ACMD to
call for the relaxation of ecstasy's classification. Professor David
Nutt, chairman of the committee, which is reviewing ecstasy at the
request of MPs, has suggested it is less dangerous than alcohol or
tobacco, and stated that it is "probably too highly classified".
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Downgrading the drug, which is popular with clubbers, to class B
would reduce the maximum prison sentence for possession from seven
years to five, while the maximum prison sentence for dealers would
fall from life in prison to 14 years. It shares its current
classification with drugs such as heroin and crack cocaine.
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[snip]
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(7) MAYOR VETOES RESOLUTION ASKING FOR DEBATE ON LEGALIZING DRUGS
(Top) |
| Pubdate: | Tue, 06 Jan 2009
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| Source: | El Paso Times (TX)
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| Copyright: | 2009 El Paso Times
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| Author: | Gustavo Reveles Acosta
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EL PASO - Mayor John Cook on Tuesday vetoed a unanimously supported
resolution from City Council asking the federal government to
seriously study the legalization of narcotics as a way to respond to
the plague of violence that last year killed 1,600 people in Juarez.
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The council on Tuesday had voted 8-0 on a resolution drafted by the
city's Border Relations Committee, outlining 11 steps the U.S. and
Mexican governments can take to help El Paso's "beleaguered and
besieged sister city."
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All city representatives also supported an amendment by South-West
city Rep. Beto O'Rourke that added a 12th step: the encouragement of
the U.S. federal government to start a "serious debate" on the
legalization of drugs.
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Cook said it was the amendment that forced him to use his veto power
for just the third time in his administration.
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"The action of council ... undermines the hard work of the committee
by adding new language which may affect the credibility of the
entire resolution," he said in his veto.
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"It is not realistic to believe that the U.S. Congress will
seriously consider any broad-based debate on the legalization of
narcotics," Cook added. "That position is not consistent with the
community standards both locally and nationally."
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[snip]
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(8) ROCKEFELLER DRUG REFORM, NOT FORGOTTEN
(Top) |
| Source: | New York Observer, The (NY)
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| Copyright: | 2009 The New York Observer
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ALBANY--Will this actually be the year for Rockefeller Drug Law
reform?
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"I think we have a better shot than ever if Paterson takes a
leadership role," said Anthony Papa, who served 12 years under the
laws before he was granted clemency by George Pataki in 1997.
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David Paterson mentioned the need to reform the laws in his speech
yesterday, saying he "cannot think of a criminal justice strategy
that has been more unsuccessful" in its purpose. He was a supporter
of reforming the laws as a state senator.
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"Even to have the issue addressed in the State of the State is big
news. It shows he has some compassion for Rockefeller offenders,"
said Papa. He noted that a week ago, the laws didn't appear to be on
Paterson's radar. The governor eventually granted clemency to one
inmate serving a drug crime sentence.
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Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said he was glad to hear the call
for reform in the speech, and called the laws "draconian."
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[snip]
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Law Enforcement & Prisons
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COMMENT: (9-12)
(Top) |
According to anonymous sources, Mexican drug cartels may be ready to
cut the violence - not in response to government force, but in order
to reduce bad publicity that could hurt business. Elsewhere, in Ohio
a court bailiff may have been corrupted by drug money; a Canadian
DARE speaker is such a great role model that he heads back to jail;
and an Alabama sheriff seems shocked to learn that he can't starve
the inmates in his jails and then keep all the money he saved on
food.
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(9) MEXICAN DRUG CARTELS NEGOTIATING A PEACE AGREEMENT
(Top) |
| Pubdate: | Sun, 04 Jan 2009
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| Source: | Dallas Morning News (TX)
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CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico -- Mexico's warring cartels are negotiating a
truce that, if it holds, could end one of the bloodiest eras since
the 1910-20 Mexican Revolution, according to a U.S. official and
experts familiar with the talks.
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A peace agreement would be the second in two years and, like the
last one, its chances of surviving are slim, the U.S. official said.
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"In the end, greed prevails over reason," the official said,
speaking on condition of anonymity.
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Last year was one of the bloodiest ever, with more than 5,700 people
killed nationwide, including 1,600 in Ciudad Juarez.
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Because of the mounting violence, some experts, including Howard
Campbell, author of the upcoming book Drug War Zone, believe a truce
is possible. Campbell, a border anthropologist at the University of
Texas at El Paso, said violence will soon "peak out because all the
attention is bad for business."
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"These guys are businessmen," Campbell said. "Violence hurts the
bottom line, their profits."
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However, many experts and analysts on both sides of the border
expect rising violence.
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[snip]
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(10) BRIBERY PROBE SNARES BAILIFF
(Top) |
| Pubdate: | Sun, 04 Jan 2009
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| Source: | Cincinnati Enquirer (OH)
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| Copyright: | 2009 The Cincinnati Enquirer
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Defendants Allegedly Could Buy Secret Friend In Courtroom
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Hoping to crack a federal drug case, investigators were listening in
on telephone calls when they stumbled across a conversation that is
sending shock waves through Hamilton County's judicial system.
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On that wiretap, federal officials heard what they believe was an
attempt by convicted drug dealer Charles Johnson to buy his freedom
by arranging a meeting with a court bailiff he hoped would fix his
sentence.
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That alleged incident is the centerpiece of a criminal investigation
into Damon Ridley, who was the bailiff for Hamilton County Common
Pleas Judge John "Skip" West until Ridley was confronted with the
allegations and resigned.
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Johnson's case has investigators poring over thousands of court
documents involving criminal cases before West over the last five
years. They are looking at why some cases presided over by West
never had their sentences carried out and why other cases before him
had no activity for years.
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The issue is whether Ridley, 37, who also is the girls' varsity
basketball coach at Woodward High, accepted money or favors in
exchange for fixing sentences handed down by West or delaying them
so long that thousands of dollars in fines and court fees were never
paid. Bailiffs run the day-to-day operations of courtrooms and
schedule when cases are heard.
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[snip]
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(11) DRUGS DRIVE DARE SPEAKER BACK TO A LIFE OF CRIME
(Top) |
| Pubdate: | Tue, 06 Jan 2009
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| Source: | Red Deer Advocate (CN AB)
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| Copyright: | 2009 Black Press
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A man who once spoke to students about the dangers of drugs for a
police program was sentenced to a federal jail term on Monday.
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Clinton Augustin McIntosh, 40, of Red Deer pleaded guilty to a
single armed robbery charge and a charge of resisting police when he
appeared in provincial court.
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He was sentenced to an additional 26 months in jail after receiving
a three-year term. Judge John Holmes reduced the sentence by 10
months based on five months that McIntosh spent in remand awaiting
his trial.
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His first five months in custody were tacked onto a previous federal
sentence he was forced to serve for violating terms of parole.
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McIntosh was set to begin a seven-day trial on 21 offences,
including eight robberies and an attempted robbery in Red Deer
between Feb. 24 and March 10, 2008.
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However, Crown prosecutor Denis Huot told the judge that he didn't
have enough evidence to proceed with the majority of charges.
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McIntosh once spoke to students for the RCMP during their DARE (
Drug Awareness Resistance Education ) program about drug use.
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[snip]
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(12) AS HIS INMATES GREW THINNER, A SHERIFF'S WALLET GREW FATTER
(Top) |
| Source: | New York Times (NY)
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| Copyright: | 2009 The New York Times Company
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DECATUR, Ala. -- The prisoners in the Morgan County jail here were
always hungry. The sheriff, meanwhile, was getting a little richer.
Alabama law allowed it: the chief lawman could go light on
prisoners' meals and pocket the leftover change.
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And that is just what the sheriff, Greg Bartlett, did, to the tune
of $212,000 over the last three years, despite a state food
allowance of only $1.75 per prisoner per day.
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In the view of a federal judge, who heard testimony from the hungry
inmates, the sheriff was in "blatant" violation of past agreements
that his prisoners be properly cared for.
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"There was undisputed evidence that most of the inmates had lost
significant weight," the judge, U. W. Clemon of Federal District
Court in Birmingham, said Thursday in an interview. "I could not
ignore them."
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So this week, Judge Clemon ordered Sheriff Bartlett himself jailed
until he came up with a plan to adequately feed prisoners more,
anyway, than a few spoonfuls of grits, part of an egg and a piece of
toast at breakfast, and bits of undercooked, bloody chicken at
supper.
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[snip]
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Cannabis & Hemp-
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COMMENT: (13-16)
(Top) |
Another attempt is being made to carve out a religious exemption
for the sacramental use of cannabis.
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A disturbing court ruling in New Brunswick, Canada, where a judge
considered an accused cultivators participation in online activism
and cannabis legalization advocacy an aggravating factor.
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In a reversal of fortune, Canadians are beginning to envy American
progress in cannabis law reform.
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Patients and advocates are seeking a judicial remedy to the
recalcitrance of some Californian counties to issue patient
identification cards.
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(13) COURT TO RULE ON POT'S USE IN RELIGION
(Top) |
| Pubdate: | Tue, 06 Jan 2009
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| Source: | East Valley Tribune (AZ)
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| Copyright: | 2009 East Valley Tribune. |
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The Arizona Supreme Court Agreed Tuesday To Decide Whether There Is A
Religious Right To Possess Marijuana.
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Without comment, the justices granted to hear the arguments of Daniel
Hardesty who contends the First Amendment protections of free exercise
of religion entitle him to use marijuana as a "sacrament" of his
church. Both a trial judge and the state Court of Appeals rejected
those arguments.
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If the high court decides otherwise, it would be the first time in
Arizona that judges have concluded there is a legal defense for those
who use marijuana.
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[snip]
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Attorney Daniel DeRienzo, who represents Hardesty, said there is no
evidence that allowing church members to use marijuana would result in
serious harms. He called that "the 'Reefer Madness' argument,"
referring to a 1936 propaganda film which showed high schoolers lured
into marijuana use engaging in manslaughter, suicide, rape and a
descent into madness.
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There is a precedent for what Hardesty wants. Arizona courts have
allowed the possession of peyote for religious use by the Native
American Church. But Weisberg said that is different, as prosecutors
in that case never showed that peyote was addictive or being used in
quantities that was harmful to the health of the participants.
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[snip]
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(14) 12-MONTHS FOR COMPASSIONATE MARIJUANA GROWER
(Top) |
| Pubdate: | Wed, 07 Jan 2009
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| Source: | Miramichi Leader (CN NK)
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| Copyright: | 2009 Brunswick News Inc. |
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MIRAMICHI - The woman who was caught growing what she described as a
"compassionate marijuana grow op" in her home in Bay du Vin will be
going to jail in spite of telling the court she was attempting to help
people who were sick and not to make money.
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Eva Marie Duplessie, 45, flew back to Miramichi from her home in
Toronto to hear her sentence on Monday, and found out she wouldn't be
flying home soon.
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Court of Queen's Bench Justice Jean-Paul Ouellette sentenced her to 12
months in jail for the operation, which was uncovered in 2007.
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During the investigation, officers uncovered 213 plants growing in her
home, along with highly elaborate equipment including lighting and
timers. In total 24 pounds of harvested marijuana bud was seized from
the home.
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Standing to hear the decision, Duplessie did not cry but grew stone-
faced, staring straight ahead.
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[snip]
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But in his decision Ouellette said it was not his job to assess the
ethics of her crime.
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"This court does not decide the rightfulness of the offense."
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He noted the large amounts of marijuana seized from her home and her
attitude toward the drug as part of the reason for the jail time.
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"This was clearly to feed her own addiction, but she felt morally
justified," said Ouellette. "The offender does not intend to seek
help."
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As an aggravating factor he listed her presence in the drug culture
and online network involved in aims to legalize marijuana.
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"This was not one of impulse or a momentary lapse of judgment," he
said.
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[snip]
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(15) AMERICA BEGINS TO EASE UP ON MARIJUANA SMOKERS
(Top) |
| Pubdate: | Thu, 08 Jan 2009
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| Source: | Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
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| Copyright: | 2009 The Vancouver Sun
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| Author: | Ian Mulgrew, Staff Writer
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Barricade the border, America is going to pot.
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For years we've heard Canada couldn't liberalize its marijuana laws
without inciting a crackdown by U.S. authorities and creating chaos
along the international boundary.
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Well, the shoe's now on the other foot with some American
jurisdictions telling police forces to quit making minor marijuana
arrests and instead issue tickets.
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In the country that four decades ago launched the interminable so-
called War on Drugs? Perfidy.
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Imagine, American legislators have been adopting progressive drug
policies while Ottawa invoked Washington's wrath every time a
commission or smart person said hobbling someone with a criminal
record for smoking a joint is misguided.
|
Massachusetts last week became the latest American bailiwick to
abandon the failed criminal prohibition strategy and embrace a more
cost-effective regulatory approach to marijuana.
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Guidelines for the new state law that went into effect at the start of
the New Year end criminal penalties for possession of an ounce or less
of THC -- the primary psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, hashish or
hash oil. They also recommend local municipalities adopt bylaws
banning the use of cannabis in public.
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The change was the result of a referendum in November that proposed
treating pot possession not as a crime but as a civil offence carrying
a penalty of a $100 fine and forfeiture of the drug.
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It's not the best approach, but it's a start and it would be a good
place for Canada to begin in terms of crafting a better drug
regulatory regime. And I've learned a move is already under way here.
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[snip]
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(16) LAWSUIT FILED OVER REFUSAL TO ISSUE MEDICAL MARIJUANA CARD
(Top) |
| Source: | Press-Enterprise (Riverside, CA)
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| Copyright: | 2009 The Press-Enterprise Company
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| Author: | Cindy Martinez Rhodes
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SAN BERNARDINO - About 20 people from all points of San Bernardino
County met in front of a San Bernardino courthouse Monday to cheer one
of the last vestiges of the counterculture -- marijuana.
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They came to show support for medical marijuana activist Scott
Bledsoe, of Crestline, who filed a lawsuit Monday against San
Bernardino County for refusing to issue him a medical marijuana card.
|
Named in the petition writ as respondent is Jim Lindley, director of
the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health. A petition writ
such as this only seeks enforcement of a law. It does not ask for
financial compensation.
|
The pull between state law, which allows the sale of prescription
marijuana, and federal law that bans it, has muddled the issue
throughout the state. Locally, Riverside and Orange counties issue
cards, while San Bernardino and San Diego counties do not.
|
"I'm thrilled. Beyond thrilled," Bledsoe said after filing his lawsuit
with his lawyer, J. David Nick. "My phone rings constantly, people
thanking me and telling me their stories. My heart breaks. They fear
going to jail and in San Bernardino, it's a real possibility."
|
Nick said the lawsuit has been referred to the Superior Court in
Needles and would be assigned a hearing date within the next week.
|
[snip]
|
|
|
International News
|
COMMENT: (17-20)
(Top) |
As the lame-duck Bush administration prepares to hand over power to
an Obama administration, Washington "released" another 100 million
dollars of U.S. taxpayer money to Mexico's notoriously corrupt
police and military to "fight against drug cartels." In the past two
years of intensified drug warring, the Calderon regime in Mexico has
only managed to make the drug trade more violence filled, as drugs
flow freely. Throwing U.S. taxpayer money freely at Mexican
politicians, U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza claimed the money would go
to the Mexican military: to stop drugs, of course.
|
Quick, call out the drug war propagandists, because another
newspaper let slip some prohibition heresy. Despite all the
sensational publicity over decriminalized cannabis coffee shops in
Holland, the Dutch use less cannabis than where cannabis is illegal,
like Alabama, or Alberta. "UN statistics tell it like it is: 16.8
per cent of adult Canadians have tried cannabis, yet only 6.1 per
cent of Dutch have," Canwest newspaper The Montreal Gazette
admitted. "We want to make the case," said psychiatrist Frederik
Polak, "that for most users, the recreational and functional use of
drugs provides pleasure and enhances quality of life." Oh, the
blasphemy!
|
And finally this week, two editorials, two prohibitionist points of
view, two different places, yet both share the same big blind spot
and just can't seem to understand how prohibition causes the very
problems they attribute to "drugs". In the Westmeath Examiner's
editorial this week, heroin use in rural Ireland (we are told)
causes Aids, causes crime to pay for the heroin. Yet the Examiner's
editors can't see how prohibition causes illicit heroin to assume
black market prices, and the sharing of scarce, illegal needles
encourages spread of disease. Instead, the answer is to denounce
"your neighbors, your friends, or your relations" to the drug
police.
|
Similarly, an editorial in the Calgary Herald attempted to persuade
readers that, rather than blaming prohibition for violent drug turf
battles, "Calgarians must accept that if they do illegal drugs, they
are part of the problem." Pontificating from on high, the Calgary
Herald editorial board asserted "society has already taken a
position on the availability of substances likely to be harmful to
one's health" so "legalizing narcotics" is an idea held by
"holdouts" who are thus in "denial". "The truth is that a straight
line of consequence connects the recreational buyer of banned drugs
to Keni Su'a's body in the morgue". The answer -- and just in time
to mesh with the Harper regime's lust to jail more cannabis users --
"time to go after the buyers."
|
|
(17) MEXICO UNDER SIEGE
(Top) |
| Source: | Los Angeles Times (CA)
|
|---|
| Copyright: | 2009 The Associated Press
|
|---|
|
MORE U.S. FUNDS FREED FOR MEXICO'S DRUG FIGHT
|
Washington Releases an Additional $99 Million As Part of an Aid
Package to Help Security Forces in Their Battle With Drug Cartels.
|
Mexico City -- The United States has released an additional $99
million as part of an aid package to support Mexico's police and
soldiers in their fight against drug cartels.
|
U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza said Wednesday that the funds would help
Mexico's military buy aircraft and other equipment to help detect
drugs, cash and weapons. He said the equipment would arrive in the
fall.
|
Washington released $197 million in December as part of a
$400-million U.S. anti-drug package for Mexico for this fiscal year.
|
The money is coming at a crucial time. Mexico's death toll from drug
violence soared above 5,000 in 2008, and the killing has continued
this year.
|
[snip]
|
|
|
(18) TAKING THE FUN OUT OF POT
(Top) |
| Pubdate: | Thu, 08 Jan 2009
|
|---|
| Source: | Montreal Gazette (CN QU)
|
|---|
| Copyright: | 2009 Canwest Publishing Inc. |
|---|
| Author: | Connie Littlefield
|
|---|
|
Dutch Experience Shows Usage Going Down When Marijuana
Is Legalized
|
It's official: The Dutch have managed to make pot smoking uncool.
The Dutch don't smoke nearly as much cannabis as Canadians, which is
surprising because cannabis use is legal in the Netherlands. What
can we learn from this?
|
Cannabis is not taboo, as it is in North America under prohibition.
That could be why there is no real attraction for Dutch youth to take
up the practice. UN statistics tell it like it is: 16.8 per cent of
adult Canadians have tried cannabis, yet only 6.1 per cent of Dutch
have (2007 World Drug Report, United Nations Office on Drugs and
Crime). Yet cannabis is legally available in 280 licensed coffeeshops
in the Netherlands. Obviously, there is no connection between
availability and higher consumption rates.
|
Despite the lower rates of use among adults, and despite the fact
that Dutch teens try cannabis at much lower rates than North
Americans, the coffeeshops are constantly threatened with closing.
That's because the drug-warrior mentality has spread like
fundamentalist wildfire across the globe.
|
I met a few folks on a recent trip to Amsterdam, and of those who
grew up there, many said that they had not been interested in
cannabis as teens. Most didn't even try it until they were adults -
that's very different from the Great White North. When teens in
Amsterdam think of pot smoking, they think of the chronically
bewildered tourists they have to look out for while cycling
downtown. For many, smoking pot is just not that much fun if there
aren't any laws being broken.
|
[snip]
|
"Another point that is not clear is whether this must be seen as a
grave problem, a small problem, or as no problem," he said. "In
general it is automatically assumed that higher drug-use levels are
a bad thing. Many people see even unproblematic drug use as morally
wrong. We want to make the case that for most users, the
recreational and functional use of drugs provides pleasure and
enhances quality of life."
|
[snip]
|
Connie Littlefield's films include, Hofmann's Potion: The Early
Years of LSD, and Damage Done: The Drug War Odyssey.
|
|
|
(19) THE DRUG PROBLEM HASN'T GONE AWAY YOU KNOW
(Top) |
| Source: | Westmeath Examiner (Ireland)
|
|---|
| Copyright: | 2009 Westmeath Examiner
|
|---|
|
That there could be as many as 200 people in Mullingar using heroin
is a shock. But to anyone who sits in a regular basis in Mullingar
courthouse, it's probably less of a shock than to most people.
|
At every court sitting in Mullingar, there are appearances by people
caught in possession of drugs - and by people in possession of drugs
with intent to sell them or supply them to others.
|
[snip]
|
So serious, indeed, is Westmeath's drugs problem that the Midland
Regional Drugs Taskforce wants a needle exchange programme set up
for the midlands, to reduce the possibility of addicts sharing
needles, and perhaps, contracting and/or spreading diseases such as
Aids.
|
It sounds like we could be facing into the sort of problems that
bedevilled the 1980s, when drug addicts desperate to get money to
pay for their drugs, were engaged heavily in crime, breaking into
houses, snatching handbags, and selling whatever they could get
their hands on for whatever they could get. And what's worrying is
that if drugs are now so great a problem that there is a need for a
needle exchange problem locally, it's clear that rural Ireland could
be about to feel the full force of the sort of drugs problems that
cities have long been coping with.
|
That said, there is not a village in this county where drugs are not
available, nor where drugs are not used. We may console ourselves by
thinking "Ah, it's only cannabis", even though it's long been known
that cannabis is a "gateway" drug, one that starts people off on the
road to addiction.
|
But make no mistake about it: even in rural Ireland, cocaine is in
use - - and widely so. Ecstasy is in use. And it's not that
difficult to come by, and indeed, in some circles, there is
absolutely no stigma about using drugs.
|
The responsibility is back with us now. If we know who is involved
in the drugs scene, it's not enough that we warn our children to
keep away from them. We need to get on the phone, and tell the
guards. It doesn't matter if they are your neighbours, your friends,
or your relations. The fight against drugs must be absolute.
|
[snip]
|
|
|
(20) NOW WE SEE THE VICTIMS OF VICTIMLESS CRIMES
(Top) |
| Pubdate: | Wed, 07 Jan 2009
|
|---|
| Source: | Calgary Herald (CN AB)
|
|---|
| Copyright: | 2009 Canwest Publishing Inc. |
|---|
|
First it was an innocent person blinded by a bullet in the face.
Now, another innocent man lies dead, a victim of gang violence in
Calgary.The time has come for us all to adjust to a disturbing new
reality.
|
[snip]
|
Even more, however, Calgarians must accept that if they do illegal
drugs, they are part of the problem. For without the attraction of
the high profits for little effort that goes with the trade in
illegal substances, there would be little reason for gangs to
organize. Some holdouts, of course, might make this an argument for
legalizing narcotics. But that, too, is a form of denial; society
has already taken a position on the availability of substances
likely to be harmful to one's health. The idea that the tobacco
trade should be legally and progressively stifled, but that far more
damaging substances should be legalized simply stands common sense
on its head.
|
The truth is that a straight line of consequence connects the
recreational buyer of banned drugs to Keni Su'a's body in the morgue
and Jose Ribeiro Neto's blindness.
|
[snip]
|
However, it's also time to go after the buyers. The Canadian
Criminal Code already contains significant penalties for drug
possession, that judges are strangely reluctant to impose. That has
to change: the law not only forbids certain behaviours, but also
signals what is right, and wrong. That is, contrary to the popular
bromide one can legislate morality and when the penalties imposed on
the customers of organized crime become sufficiently meaningful,
public perceptions will change. It is within the power of government
and the judicial system to make getting caught with drugs so harmful
to personal reputations that it, too, won't be worth the risk.
|
[snip]
|
|
|
HOT OFF THE 'NET
(Top)
|
THE FAILED DRUG WAR ON TV
|
DPA's executive director, Ethan Nadelmann was interviewed for the
Independent Film Channel's intriguing, and often hilarious, episode of
"The IFC Media Project" which dissects the history and policies of
drug prohibition in the U.S.
|
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrmKmQrKT3Q
|
|
WHY HEAD SHOP RAIDS ARE UNFAIR AND UNJUST
|
How a reckless mayor, heartless federal agents and a disorganized
drug-consuming public led to a pointless raid on head shops.
|
By Norman Kent, CounterPunch
|
http://drugsense.org/url/lU34Isr6
|
|
MAINSTREAM MEDIA LOOKS AT MARIJUANA PROHIBITION
|
Fire Up The Digital Recorders! January Is `Marijuana' Month On The Groove Tube
|
By Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director
|
http://drugsense.org/url/DkJOzbD4
|
|
DRUG TRUTH NETWORK
|
Century of Lies - 01/06/09 - Norm Stamper
|
Norm Stamper, former police chief of Seattle and author of Breaking Rank - A
Top Cops' Expose of the Dark Side of Policing
|
http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/?q=node/2245
|
Cultural Baggage Radio Show - 01/07/09 - Brian Bennett
|
Brian Bennett discusses the history of the drug war + Fred Burton, VP of
counterterrorism at Stratfor & author of "Ghost - Confessions of a
Counterterrorism Agent", Sigifredo Gonzales, sheriff of Zapata county and
Sheriff Arvin West of Hudspeth county both call for a look at legalization
& Terry Nelson of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
|
http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/?q=node/2246
|
|
SANJAY GUPTA: WHAT THE NEXT SURGEON GENERAL DOESN'T KNOW ABOUT POT
|
The Next Surgeon General Needs to Stop Putting Politics Before
Science. Gupta May Not Be Ready for That.
|
By Russ Belville, NORML
|
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n022/a08.html
|
|
DEA REJECTS YET ANOTHER RESCHEDULING PETITION
|
Drug War Chronicle, Issue #567, 1/9/09
|
The DEA has rejected yet another petition seeking to remove marijuana
from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), this one from
Iowa-based marijuana reformer Carl Olsen. It is only the latest
petition rejection by the agency in a glacially-paced struggle to
reschedule marijuana that has been going on since 1972.
|
http://drugsense.org/url/gZpu7smG
|
|
WHEN PEOPLE ARE STUPID
|
The recent comments to various articles in the El Paso story yesterday
reminded me of one of the frustrating parts of being in drug policy
reform and, well, having a brain. It's the incredibly stupid arguments
that reappear time and time again.
|
By Pete Guither
|
http://blogs.salon.com/0002762/2009/01/08.html#a3214
|
|
LOU DOBBS REACTS TO EL PASO RESOLUTION TO DISCUSS DRUG POLICY REFORM
|
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=cFUpYIGKyZg
|
|
WHAT YOU CAN DO THIS WEEK
(Top)
|
WRITE A LETTER
|
DrugSense FOCUS Alert #390 - Monday, 29 December 2008
|
It's A War' - Mexican President Felipe Calderon
|
http://www.mapinc.org/alert/0390.html
|
|
JOIN THE "PARDON ME" PROTEST
|
Tuesday and Wednesday January 12th & 13th 2009, Washington DC
|
A Demonstration And Campaign To Gain Amnesty For Medical Marijuana Patients
|
For more information visit: http://www.smoke-in.org/
|
|
LETTER OF THE WEEK
(Top)
|
DRUG WAR HAS BEEN A FAILURE, SO IT'S TIME TO LEGALIZE THE STUFF
|
By Michelle Cohen
|
After nearly four decades of fueling the U.S. war on drugs with over
a trillion tax dollars and 37 million arrests for nonviolent drug
offenses, our confined population has quadrupled, making prison
building the fastest growing industry in the United States.
|
More than 2.2 million of our citizens are currently incarcerated,
and every year we arrest an additional 1.9 million more,
guaranteeing those prisons will be bursting at their seams. Every
year we choose to continue this war will cost U.S. taxpayers another
$69 billion. Despite all the lives we have destroyed and all the
money so ill spent, today illicit drugs are cheaper, more potent and
far easier to get than they were 35 years ago, at the beginning of
the war on drugs.
|
Meanwhile, people continue dying in our streets while drug barons
and terrorists continue to grow richer than ever before. We would
suggest that this scenario must be the very definition of a failed
public policy. This madness must cease!
|
We believe that to save lives and lower the rates of disease, crime
and addiction, as well as to conserve tax dollars, we must end drug
prohibition. LEAP [Law Enforcement Against Prohibition] believes
that a system of regulation, and control of production and
distribution, will be far more effective and ethical than one of
prohibition.
|
We do this in hopes that we in law enforcement can regain the
public's respect and trust, which have been greatly diminished by
our involvement in imposing drug prohibition.
|
Michelle Cohen
Schenectady
|
The writer is a LEAP volunteer and criminal justice student at SCCC.
|
| Pubdate: | Mon, 29 Dec 2008
|
|---|
| Source: | Daily Gazette (NY)
|
|---|
|
|
LETTER WRITER OF THE YEAR - 2008
(Top)
|
DrugSense recognizes Robert Sharpe as Letter to the Editor Writer of
the Year for 2008.
|
Robert had 162 letters published last year, raising his career total
to 2,075 published.
|
Robert writes as a volunteer for Common Sense for Drug Policy,
http://www.csdp.org/. Robert tells us that he is spending about an
hour a day after work sending out letters, and yes, many more are not
published than are. Robert's tips for letter writing are at
http://www.mapinc.org/resource/tips.htm. You may read all of Robert's
published letters at http://www.mapinc.org/writer/Robert+Sharpe
|
|
FEATURE ARTICLE
(Top)
|
Three Things You Can Do to Make a Difference
|
By Robert Sharpe
|
2009 presents unprecedented opportunities for drug policy reform.
The drug war has always been part of a larger culture war, with
grassroots activists on the frontlines. Now is the time to step it
up. The economic downturn is putting tremendous pressure on state
and local governments. Faced with the prospect of cutting police
forces and reducing education funding, legislators are going to
think twice before adding to what is already the highest
incarceration rate in the world. The drug war as it is waged today
is not sustainable. Following are three things you can do to speed
up its inevitable end:
|
1. Write letters to the editor -- This especially applies to small
community newspapers. According to a 2008 University of Missouri
study, in towns served by community newspapers of 25,000 circulation
or less, 86 percent of the population read a community newspaper
each week. This is a critical prohibitionist audience that, before
the Media Awareness Project came along, had little, if any, exposure
to reform arguments.
|
Don't forget the major dailies. While readership has declined and
their business model is suffering due to online ad competition, 2008
Pew Research suggests impressive newspaper readership, ranging from
a low of 33 percent weekly readers among 18-24 year olds to a high
of a 66 percent among those over 65. Until someone gives me $100
million to place ads on television, I'll continue to make use of the
most cost-effective means of reaching large segments of the
population with a reform message.
|
The newspaper vs. internet debate is a false dichotomy. Published
LTEs appear online and reverberate in blogs throughout the internet.
Pew research suggests that consumers who abandon hard copy
newspapers turn to tradition media sources online. For local news,
increasingly relevant during an economic decline, this means online
newspapers.
|
2. Write your local elected officials - This is an area the reform
movement has long overlooked. I don't get paid for drug policy
activism. My day job is in a small local government. You'd be
surprised at how easy it is for a handful of engaged citizens to
sway a County Board. We're talking responsive government, not
Congress members skeptical of e-activism with staff who respond with
non-committal form letters when they respond at all.
|
When you write a local elected official, it's highly likely that he
or she will personally read your letter. So if you want to kill DARE
in your community because you don't want your school-age kids
exposed to a counterproductive program, don't write your Senator,
write your County Board member. Get a handful of like-minded
citizens to do the same, throw in some credible research findings,
and you might be surprised at the results.
|
I challenge all grassroots activists to do the following. Write your
local elected officials and ask them three questions. How many drug
offenders are currently incarcerated in the County jail? What does
it cost to incarcerate someone for one day? How much does it cost to
incarcerate someone for an entire year? Don't use a Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA) request for this. You won't get good results.
FOIA requests are considered obnoxious. Unless a document already
exists that directly relates to your concerns, you won't get a
response. Write as a concerned citizen. Be polite, keep it short,
and avoid long-winded policy prescriptions.
|
Your question will come at a time when elected officials are
agonizing over the prospect of laying off dozens if not hundreds of
local government employees. You'll definitely get them thinking. You
may well inspire a new reform advocate. This is important. Elected
officials become state legislators, who go on to become Congress
members. Sow the seeds of reform.
|
If you get a written response that answers your questions - and
there is a very good chance you will - put a press release cover
page on it filled with reform arguments and send it to your local
community newspaper as a citizen activist. Again, you might be
surprised at the results. Starting a heated community debate during
desperate economic times is easier done than you might think.
|
3. Support the Media Awareness Project - Last but definitely not
least, support the Media Awareness Project: newshawk articles,
volunteer as an editor, donate to DrugSense. The latter is
especially important during these tough economic times. The Media
Awareness Project leverages tremendous volunteer support and gets
tremendous results on a shoestring budget. It serves as an
information repository and catalyst for the entire movement; the sum
is greater than the parts. I consider myself one of many grassroots
activists. I get a lot of LTE hits, but I'm nothing without the
newshawks, volunteer editors and donors. I give what I can and
encourage you to do the same. Together, we are making a difference!
|
Activist Robert Sharpe is MAP's Letter Writer of The Year.
|
|
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
(Top)
|
"Every great advance in natural knowledge has involved the absolute
rejection of authority." - Thomas Huxley
|
|
DS Weekly is one of the many free educational services DrugSense
offers our members. Watch this feature to learn more about what
DrugSense can do for you.
|
TO SUBSCRIBE, UNSUBSCRIBE, OR UPDATE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS:
|
Please utilize the following URLs
|
http://www.drugsense.org/hurry.htm
|
http://www.drugsense.org/unsub.htm
|
|
Policy and Law Enforcement/Prison content selection and analysis by
Stephen Young (), This Just In selection by
Richard Lake () and Stephen Young, International
content selection and analysis by Doug Snead (),
Cannabis/Hemp content selection and analysis, Hot Off The Net
selection and Layout by Matt Elrod ().
Analysis comments represent the personal views of editors, not
necessarily the views of DrugSense.
|
We wish to thank all our contributors, editors, NewsHawks and letter
writing activists. Please help us help reform. Become a NewsHawk See
http://www.mapinc.org/hawk.htm for info on contributing clippings.
|
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|
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