Nov. 6, 2009 #625 |
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READERS, PLEASE NOTE: Some DrugSense staff members will be attending
the International Drug Policy Reform Conference in Albuquerque, New
Mexico next week, so we will not be publishing DrugSense Weekly on
Nov. 13. We will resume our regular publishing schedule on Nov. 20.
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- * Breaking News (03/28/24)
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- * This Just In
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(1) Mexican Pot Gangs Infiltrate Indian Reservations In U.S.
(2) At Home A Daunting Frontier
(3) Report: Pot Use, Arrests Rising In California
(4) Supreme Court Hears People Vs. Kelly Arguments
- * Weekly News in Review
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Drug Policy-
COMMENT: (5-8)
(5) U.S. And Mexico Agree On Shift In Drug Trials
(6) Don't Try Smuggling Drugs, Federal Agents Tell Students
(7) Berks Judge: End Mandatory Sentences Involving Drug Sales In School Zones
(8) New Drug Czar Must Plot Realistic Course
Law Enforcement & Prisons-
COMMENT: (9-12)
(9) Family Of Woman Killed In APD Raid Asks For Sanctions In Lawsuit
(10) Epping Officer Suspended, Alleges Harassment
(11) Tories Seek Power To Order Offenders' Bodily Samples
(12) Police Have More Power To Take DNA
Cannabis & Hemp-
COMMENT: (13-16)
(13) Using Marijuana Stores To Market Food
(14) Breckenridge Voters OK Marijuana Decriminalization
(15) On The Quiet, The US Is Legalising Marijuana
(16) The End Of Prohibition
International News-
COMMENT: (17-20)
(17) The Promise Of Safer Inhalation
(18) What's Brit PM Been Smoking?
(19) PHDs Should Run For Office To Push Policy
(20) My Views On Drugs Classification
- * Hot Off The 'Net
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The Supreme Court Hears People Vs. Kelly Arguments - Video
Letting The Science, Not The Politicians, Decide About Marijuana
Peace With Poppies / Jacob Sullum
Maine Voters Approve Medical Marijuana Initiative, Question 5
Dutch Among Lowest Cannabis Users In Europe - Report
Drug Truth Network
Healing A Broken System
- * What You Can Do This Week
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Write A Letter
Reform Conference - Register Now
- * Letter Of The Week
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Marijuana Prohibition Does Not Pass The Logic Test / Justin Davis
- * Letter Writer Of The Month - October
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Travis Erbacher
- * Feature Article
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Pot Acceptable? Not For Young And Nonwhite / Stephen Gutwillig
- * Quote of the Week
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James Madison
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) MEXICAN POT GANGS INFILTRATE INDIAN RESERVATIONS IN U.S.
(Top) |
Source: | Wall Street Journal (US)
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Copyright: | 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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WARM SPRINGS, Ore. -- Police Chief Carmen Smith says he knows three
things about suspected drug trafficker Artemio Corona: He's from
Mexico, prefers a Glock .40-caliber handgun, and is quite possibly
growing marijuana on the Indian reservation that Mr. Smith patrols.
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Last year, Mr. Smith's detectives identified Mr. Corona as the
alleged mastermind behind several large marijuana plantations on the
Warm Springs Indian Reservation in central Oregon. These "grows," as
police call them, had a harvest of 12,000 adult plants, with an
estimated street value of $10 million. Five suspects were arrested
and pleaded guilty to federal trafficking charges. But their alleged
boss, Mr. Corona, who has not been indicted, remains a "person of
interest" to federal authorities and hasn't been found.
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Cultivating marijuana in Indian country represents a new twist in
the decades-old illicit drug trade between Mexico and the U.S., the
world's largest drug-consuming market. For decades, Mexican drug
gangs grew marijuana in Mexico, smuggled it across the border, and
sold it in the U.S. But in the past few years, they have done what
any burgeoning business would do: move closer to their customers.
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Illicit pot farms, the vast majority run by gangs with ties to
Mexico, are growing fast across the country. The U.S. Forest Service
has discovered pot farms in 61 national forests across 16 states
this year, up from 49 forests in 10 states last year. New
territories include public land in Colorado, Wisconsin, Michigan,
Alabama and Virginia.
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[snip]
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(2) AT HOME ON A DAUNTING FRONTIER
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Source: | Los Angeles Times (CA)
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Copyright: | 2009 Los Angeles Times
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Author: | Sebastian Rotella, Reporting from Nogales, Ariz.
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Few people understand the Mexican border like Alan Bersin. Now posed
to lead Customs, he thinks the terrain can be tamed.
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Alan Bersin is back at the border and on the move.
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On the third day of a sprint through Texas and Arizona, a law
enforcement convoy zooms into Nogales. Riding in a sport utility
vehicle, Bersin scans a dusty landscape that he knows well: this
desert town of 20,000 with its fast-food joints and discount shops
facing the pastel facades and helter-skelter skyline of Nogales,
Mexico, a city of 300,000 just south of the fence.
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Bersin, a compact 63-year-old with the stride of a former star
football player at Harvard, arrives at the Nogales station, the U.S.
Border Patrol's biggest. His entourage hurries into a roll call room
crowded with U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers, many of
them Latinos whose small talk is sprinkled with Spanish.
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Bersin is the federal point man at the border for the second time in
his career and the officers' likely new boss, having been nominated
for commissioner of Customs and Border Protection. He gives a pep
talk in crisp tones tinged with his native Brooklyn.
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"We will make a huge change at this border," he says. "You are here
at a moment of history being made. You will tell your grandchildren
about it someday."
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The border czar has come to Arizona to assess a smuggling onslaught
that generates more arrests and marijuana seizures than anywhere
else on the international line. Smugglers use cranes to lift
drug-laden cars over the fence; unemployed Mexican miners dig
tunnels; cartel pilots fly above the oxygen limit. In Sonora state
this summer, police found a Chevy Suburban containing victims of
Mexico's drug war: 11 corpses chopped into pieces.
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[snip]
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(3) REPORT: POT USE, ARRESTS RISING IN CALIFORNIA
(Top) |
Source: | San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
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Copyright: | 2009 Hearst Communications Inc.
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Author: | Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
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Marijuana arrests in California are increasing faster than the
nationwide rate, and African Americans are being booked for
pot-related crimes much more often than whites, a new report says.
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But despite the rise in arrests and in the seizure of marijuana
plants, use of pot in California has increased slightly, said the
report, part of a nationwide study released Thursday by a Virginia
researcher.
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In both California and the United States as a whole, "we keep
arresting more and more people, but it's not having a deterrent
effect," said Jon Gettman, an adjunct assistant professor of
criminal justice at Shenandoah University in Winchester, Va.
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Nationally, Gettman said, marijuana arrests have doubled since
1991,but marijuana use is unchanged.
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[snip]
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(4) SUPREME COURT HEARS PEOPLE VS. KELLY ARGUMENTS
(Top) |
Source: | Willits News (CA)
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Copyright: | 2009 Willits News
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The California Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a live
televised broadcast Tuesday morning for the pivotal medical
marijuana case of People vs. Kelly. The special session was held at
the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law.
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The landmark case could decide whether any limits on possession of
marijuana for medical purposes can be legally imposed by the
Legislature. A ruling on the constitutionality of the limits could
end the hodgepodge of interpretations currently in place.
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The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case in August 2008, leaving in
place the California Attorney General's guidelines also issued in
August 2008. A ruling in December 2008 by Mendocino County Superior
Court Judge John Behnke allowed the Measure B limits approved by
Mendocino County voters in June 2008 to take effect.
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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) |
There are changes coming to how drug defendants from Mexico will be
treated when caught in the U.S., but don't expect that to impact any
problems on either side of the border. In fact, smuggling is
becoming so common, anti-drug rallies for students sponsored by law
enforcement are turning into anti-smuggling rallies in some
communities.
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The good news is that least one sitting judge is demanding sensible
drug policy reforms with regard to illegal drug sales near schools.
And columnist George Will continues his persistent yet oblique
critique of the war on drugs by focusing on the U.S. drug czar.
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(5) U.S. AND MEXICO AGREE ON SHIFT IN DRUG TRIALS
(Top) |
Pubdate: | Sat, 31 Oct 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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NOGALES, Ariz. -- In a break with a longstanding drug enforcement
practice, the authorities in the United States and Mexico have
agreed to have some Mexicans caught smuggling drugs into the United
States returned to Mexico for prosecution.
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Last weekend, for the first time, a suspected marijuana smuggler,
found at the border with 44 pounds of the drug hidden in his car,
was turned over to Mexican prosecutors. He could be prosecuted under
Mexican law for felony export violations and other charges.
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The new approach is a step toward resolving a nettlesome problem at
the border: very often, Mexicans caught smuggling drugs do not face
prosecution in the United States for that crime.
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The reasons vary, but federal prosecutors here and across the
Southwest have often rejected cases involving relatively small
amounts of drugs, usually less than 500 pounds of marijuana, because
of the large volume of those cases and limited resources to handle
them. In recent years, prosecutions for immigration violations have
surged while drug prosecutions have declined.
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[snip]
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(6) DON'T TRY SMUGGLING DRUGS, FEDERAL AGENTS TELL STUDENTS
(Top) |
Pubdate: | Fri, 30 Oct 2009
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Source: | San Diego Union Tribune (CA)
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Copyright: | 2009 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
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SOUTH COUNTY -- Not long ago, the anti-drug message from the
government to teens was just say no to taking drugs. These days in
San Diego County, kids are learning to just say no to smuggling
drugs.
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Yesterday, a stream of students shuffled into the gym at Montgomery
High School in South County, clambering onto the bleachers as if
attending a pep rally. They were there to listen to agents from U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement warn them about the dangers of
being recruited to work as drug mules.
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From Oct. 1 of last year to the end of September, 54 youths from 14
to 17 were caught smuggling marijuana, methamphetamine, heroin and
cocaine through the pedestrian lanes of the San Ysidro port of
entry, the drugs taped to their bodies. Only one teen was caught
doing this during the same period the previous year. Arrests of
teens for drug smuggling were up at other California ports of entry
as well, according to ICE.
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[snip]
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(7) BERKS JUDGE: END MANDATORY SENTENCES INVOLVING DRUG SALES IN
(Top)SCHOOL ZONES
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Source: | Reading Eagle-Times (PA)
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Copyright: | 2009 Reading Eagle Company
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Punishment for Drug Sales Within 1,000 Feet of Schools Has
Unintended Consequences
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A Berks County judge called for immediate action from legislators to
repeal a law allowing prosecutors to seek mandatory sentences for
drug dealers selling within 1,000 feet of a school.
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"We cannot continue to fill up the prisons with nonviolent people
who sell marijuana," Judge Linda K.M. Ludgate said. "We are in a
state budget crisis. This law no longer makes sense."
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Ludgate, head of criminal court, was on a Pennsylvania Commission on
Sentencing advisory committee that concluded the law must be
repealed.
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[snip]
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(8) NEW DRUG CZAR MUST PLOT REALISTIC COURSE
(Top) |
Pubdate: | Thu, 29 Oct 2009
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Source: | Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ)
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Copyright: | 2009 The Washington Post Writers Group
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WASHINGTON -- During his immersion in his new job, Gil Kerlikowske
attended a focus group of 7-year-old girls and was mystified by
their talk about "farm parties." Then he realized they meant "pharm
parties" -- sampling pharmaceuticals from their parents' medicine
cabinets. What he learned -- besides that young humans have less
native sense than young dachshunds have -- is that his job has
wrinkles unanticipated when he became director of the Office of
National Drug Control Policy.
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"People," he says, "want a different conversation" about drug
policies. With his first report to the president early next year, he
could increase the quotient of realism.
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Law enforcement has a "can-do culture" but it also instructs its
practitioners about what cannot be done, at least by law enforcement
alone. Kerlikowske, who was top cop in Buffalo and then Seattle,
knows that officers sweeping drug users from cities' streets feel as
though they are "regurgitating perps through the system."
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He dryly notes that "not many people think the drug war is a
success." Furthermore, the recession's toll on state budgets has
concentrated minds on the costs of drug offense incarcerations --
costs that in some states are larger than expenditures on secondary
education. Fortunately, the first drug courts were established two
decades ago and today there are 2,300 nationwide, pointing drug
policy away from punishment and toward treatment.
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Kerlikowske is familiar with Portugal's experience since 2001 with
decriminalization of all drugs, including heroin and cocaine. Nature
made Kerlikowske laconic and experience has made him prudent, so he
steers clear of the "L" word, legalization, even regarding
marijuana.
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[snip]
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Law Enforcement & Prisons
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COMMENT: (9-12)
(Top) |
Three years after Atlanta police killed a 92-year-old woman in a
trumped up drug raid, police officials are still withholding
documents related to the incident. Shameful. Also, disturbing
behavior by leaders of a New Hampshire police department, where an
officer has been suspended, allegedly due to his support of drug
policy reform. And, officials in both Canada and New Zealand insist
on more power to collect bodily fluids. Yuck.
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(9) FAMILY OF WOMAN KILLED IN APD RAID ASKS FOR SANCTIONS IN LAWSUIT
(Top) |
Pubdate: | Sat, 31 Oct 2009
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Source: | Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA)
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Copyright: | 2009 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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A relative of the 92-year-old woman killed in an Atlanta police raid
three years ago asked a federal judge Friday to sanction the city
for withholding documents in a wrongful death lawsuit.
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"Such evasion and misconduct makes a mockery of the truth-finding
process that is at the heart of the judicial system and must be
severely punished," said a motion filed by Sarah Dozier, the
victim's niece.
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An APD spokeswoman, Sgt. Lisa Keyes, deferred comment to the city's
law department. Acting city attorney Roger Bhadari said the city is
reviewing the motion and "will respond accordingly." Beyond that, he
said, the city has no further comment.
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In 2007, Dozier, the niece of Kathryn Johnston, filed suit against
the city and APD over Johnston's killing.
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[snip]
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(10) EPPING OFFICER SUSPENDED, ALLEGES HARASSMENT
(Top) |
Pubdate: | Fri, 30 Oct 2009
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Source: | Union Leader (Manchester, NH)
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Copyright: | 2009 The Union Leader Corp.
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EPPING - A local police officer who claims he has been targeted
because of his involvement with a group that wants to legalize drugs
has been suspended from the force.
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Officer Bradley Jardis said he was told Monday that he was being
suspended with pay pending an investigation.
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Police Chief Gregory Dodge would not comment on the suspension, but
Jardis said he believes it resulted from his decision to go public
with disciplinary action taken against him in July and claims that
he has been ridiculed by certain Epping police personnel because
he's a member of an international organization called Law
Enforcement Against Prohibition.
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An outspoken critic of current drug laws, Jardis was the subject of
an internal police investigation in July that resulted from a
disagreement between him and then-police Sgt. Sean Gallagher. That
investigation led to a recommendation that Jardis be suspended for
six days.
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[snip]
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(11) TORIES SEEK POWER TO ORDER OFFENDERS' BODILY SAMPLES
(Top) |
Pubdate: | Sat, 31 Oct 2009
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Source: | Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
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Copyright: | 2009 The Ottawa Citizen
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Author: | Canwest News Service
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Canwest News Service The Harper government has tabled a bill that
would restore a power for the courts to order offenders to surrender
urine samples or other bodily fluids if they are on probation and
suspected of violating an order not to drink or take drugs.
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The ability to demand random samples was struck down three years ago
by the Supreme Court, which invited Parliament to craft legislation
that complies with the Charter of Rights.
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Under the revamped regime proposed Friday, judges would be able to
impose drug-and-alcohol prohibition orders that would permit police
and probation officers to request samples when there is reasonable
grounds to believe that an individual has breached a condition of
their release.
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[snip]
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(12) POLICE HAVE MORE POWER TO TAKE DNA
(Top) |
Pubdate: | Wed, 28 Oct 2009
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Source: | Otago Daily Times (New Zealand)
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Copyright: | 2009 Allied Press Limited
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Police will have wider powers to take DNA samples, under a law
passed by Parliament today in the face of strong opposition from the
Green Party.
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The provisions of the Criminal Investigations (Bodily Samples)
Amendment Bill will be introduced in stages.
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The first stage allows police to take samples from people charged
with a range of serious offences, wider than the present category.
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The second stage, to take effect in 2011, will allow police to take
DNA samples from anyone they intend charging with an imprisonable
offence.
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Police won't need to gain consent and they will be able to take
samples without judicial approval.
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Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei said the bill would bring
extraordinary powers to police, who could use "assault" to obtain a
bodily sample when there was only an intent to charge.
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Ms Turei said there was an element of racism in the justice system
and Maori would be more likely to suffer under the legislation.
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[snip]
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Cannabis & Hemp
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COMMENT: (13-16)
(Top) |
Last week the New York Times noticed how ancillary industries and
businesses are being spawned, and perhaps irrevocably established,
by the expanding medicinal cannabis market.
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The citizens of Breckenridge, CO voted to decriminalize possession of
small amounts of cannabis and paraphernalia last week and, according
to the police chief, those who wish to avoid a ticket and fine can
get a medicinal cannabis card "without much difficulty."
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The world is taking notice of the winds of change blowing around
cannabis attitudes and policy in the United States, and a writer at
slate.com optimistically predicts progress in other areas of
personal liberty, thanks in part to the internet.
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(13) USING MARIJUANA STORES TO MARKET FOOD
(Top) |
Source: | New York Times (NY)
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Copyright: | 2009 The New York Times Company
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Author: | Andrew Adam Newman
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AFTER Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced in March that he
would end the Bush administration practice of frequently raiding
medical marijuana dispensaries, the dispensaries have been growing,
appropriately enough, like weeds.
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Among the 14 states with medical marijuana laws, Colorado has
experienced particularly brisk growth in the stores. From fewer than
two dozen dispensaries in the state in January, there are now more
than 60 just in Denver and nearby Boulder, and more than 10,000
registered medical marijuana patients statewide, according to reports
in Westword, a Denver alternative weekly.
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When Westword announced recently that it would hire a registered
patient to write reviews of the dispensaries (for a column called
"Mile Highs and Lows"), it received 400 applications, according to
Patricia Calhoun, its editor. And dispensary owners -- called
ganjapreneurs in a recent headline in the weekly -- are placing ads,
accounting for nearly seven pages of advertising in a recent 92-page
issue.
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Now a business that has nothing to do with cannabis is aiming its ads
at medical marijuana patients. A new print ad -- by TDA Advertising
and Design of Boulder -- for Hapa Sushi, a restaurant chain based in
Boulder, features a map of Denver and Boulder with 63 dots. Four dots
are red, representing the four Hapa locations, and the remaining 59
are blue, representing medical marijuana dispensaries, some of which,
it turns out, are just a stone's throw from the restaurants. The ad
was to appear Thursday in the Denver/Boulder edition of The Onion and
in Westword later in the month.
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"We're just kind of saying, 'Look, these dispensaries exist and
they're becoming part of our community, so let's welcome them in and
have some fun,'" said Mark Van Grack, owner of Hapa Sushi, a privately
held, 10-year-old chain. "If you're going to smoke pot, you're going
to get the munchies, so come to Hapa to eat."
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[snip]
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(14) BRECKENRIDGE VOTERS OK MARIJUANA DECRIMINALIZATION
(Top) |
Pubdate: | Tue, 03 Nov 2009
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Source: | Summit Daily News (CO)
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Copyright: | 2009 Summit Daily News
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Author: | Robert Allen, Staff Writer
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BRECKENRIDGE - Breckenridge residents voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to
decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana and
paraphernalia Tuesday under town law. In early returns, some 72
percent of voters approved the measure.
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The vote means that, effective Jan. 1, people 21 and up in
Breckenridge will be able to legally possess one ounce or less of the
drug.
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Possession remains illegal under state law, but Breckenridge Police
Chief Rick Holman said his department will "still have the ability to
exercise discretion."
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"It's never been something that we've spent a lot of time on, so I
don't expect this to be a big change in how we really do business," he
said.
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Currently, the petty, non-jailable offense under town code carries a
maximum $100 fine. In 2008, Breckenridge Police Department ticketed 10
people under the town marijuana possession law, according to BPD
ticket statistics.
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[snip]
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And like many other towns in the state, Breckenridge could soon be
home to a medical marijuana dispensary. The town passed a set of
regulations for such businesses in October, and the dispensaries
already exist in Frisco and Silverthorne.
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Holman said that while his department may still ticket people for
possessing marijuana, people who want to smoke it legally can obtain a
state-issued medical marijuana card without much difficulty.
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(15) ON THE QUIET, THE US IS LEGALISING MARIJUANA
(Top) |
Source: | Sunday Times (UK)
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Copyright: | 2009 Times Newspapers Ltd. |
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The Humble Joint Can Save Lives. We Look Forward to the End of
Senseless Prohibition
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You know things are shifting in America when Fortune magazine, the
bible for business journalism, runs a cover story titled "Is pot
already legal?". You also know it when Barack Obama's Department of
Justice publishes a long-expected memo signalling that the federal
government will no longer raid medical marijuana dispensaries if they
are legal under state law. That happened formally this month.
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It was not, moreover, a symbolic gesture. Marijuana for medical
reasons -- to tackle chemotherapy-induced nausea or Aids-related
wasting or glaucoma, among other conditions -- is now legal in 13
states, including the biggest, California. Next year, 13 more states
are planning referendums or new laws following suit. Last week a
California legislative committee held the first hearings not simply on
whether medical marijuana should remain legal, but on whether all
marijuana should be decriminalised, full stop. The incentive? The vast
amounts of money the bankrupt state could raise by taxing cannabis.
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Now look at the polling on the question. In 1970, 84% of Americans
supported keeping marijuana illegal. Today, that number has collapsed
to 54%. The proportion believing that marijuana should be legal has
gone from 18% at the end of the 1960s to 44% today. On current trends,
a majority of Americans will favour legalisation by the end of Obama's
first term. In the western states, 53% already favour legalising and
taxing the stuff. Support for legalisation is strongest among the
young -- the Obama generation -- but has climbed among self-described
Republicans as well.
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But the reality is already ahead of the polls. Take a trip, so to
speak, to Los Angeles today, where one would be forgiven for thinking
that marijuana was already legal. There are more than 800 marijuana
dispensaries in the city -- and an estimated 7,000 in the state of
California as a whole (many times more than in Holland).
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Getting a doctor's recommendation for marijuana is easier than getting
health insurance -- just look at the ads in the papers, where a
consultation costs about $200.
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[snip]
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(16) THE END OF PROHIBITION
(Top) |
Pubdate: | Tue, 03 Nov 2009
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Source: | National Post (Canada)
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Copyright: | 2009 Washington Post. Newsweek Interactive Co. LLC
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Author: | Jacob Weisberg, Slate
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Getting High, Gay Marriage And Going To Cuba Will Soon Be Legal In The
U.S.
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'I think this would be a good time for a beer," Franklin D. Roosevelt
said upon signing a bill that made 3.2% lager legal again, some months
ahead of the full repeal of Prohibition. I hope Barack Obama will come
up with some comparably witty remarks as he presides over the
dismantling of contemporary forms of prohibition in the U.S. --laws
that prevent gay marriage, restrict cannabis as a Schedule I
Controlled Substance and ban travel to Cuba.
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Prohibition now is different from Prohibition then. When the 18th
Amendment went into effect in 1920, it was a radical social experiment
challenging a custom as old as civilization. Its predictable failure
came to an end when Utah became the 36th state to ratify the 21st
Amendment in 1933. Today prohibition is a byword for futile attempts
to legislate morality and remake human nature.
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Our forms of prohibition are more sins of omission than commission.
Rather than trying to take away long-standing rights, they're
instances of conservative laws failing to keep pace with a
liberalizing society. But like Prohibition in the '20s, these
restrictions have become indefensible as well as impractical, and as a
result are fading fast. Within 10 years, it seems a reasonable guess
that Americans will travel freely to Cuba, that all states will
recognize gay unions and that few will retain criminal penalties for
marijuana use by individuals. Whether or not Democrats retain control
of Congress, whether or not Obama is reelected, these reforms are
inevitable -- not because politics has changed but because society
has.
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[snip]
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International News
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COMMENT: (17-20)
(Top) |
Canada was the first country in North America to allow a supervised
injection site. Now, some are calling for a "Safer Inhalation" site,
where crack cocaine smokers can use the drug in a manner that won't
result in additional harm to the user, like the spread of infection
diseases. Dr. Evan Wood, director of the Urban Health Research
Initiative at the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, argues
such an inhalation facility would facilitate the "rapid uptake of
addiction treatment" in addition to other benefits.
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A storm of criticism was unleashed on the UK Government last week
following the firing of Professor David Nutt as "Drugs Tsar", which
in turn followed Nutt's comments concerning the relative harms of
drugs. Why? Such advice was, apparently, not the type of advice
government wanted when it appointed Nutt to the Advisory panel.
Children might be confused, said the Prime Minister.
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"Politicians hate it when experts shine the light of truth on
supposedly unimpeachable government ideology," noted Mindelle Jacobs
in the Calgary Sun. "Drug policy experts don't go around promoting
drug use. The braver ones, however, do point out the absurdity of
the world's drug laws."
|
On the other hand, Jon Ferry (columnist writing on the former UK
Tsar in this week's The Province newspaper in British Columbia,
Canada) argues scientists should be seen and not heard -- especially
if they might be helpful to those "drug-legalization advocates". And
we all know, explains Ferry, that "peer review" stuff is "often
little more than an ideological rubber stamp."
|
While much was made in the media last week over The UK Drug Tsar's
firing, we leave you hear with a bit of media awareness straight
from Professor Nutt, the former UK Drugs Tsar himself. David Nutt:
|
"The following data illustrates a remarkable finding. It derives
from the PhD of a Scottish graduate, Alasdair JM Forsyth, who looked
at every single newspaper report of drug deaths in Scotland from
1990 to 1999 and compared them with the coroners' data.
|
"Over the decade, there were 2,255 drug deaths, of which the
Scottish newspapers reported 546. For aspirin, only one in every 265
deaths were reported... They were more interested in heroin, where
one in five deaths were reported, and methadone, where one in 16
deaths were reported.
|
"They were also more interested in stimulants. With amphetamines,
deaths are relatively rare at 36, but one in three were reported;
for cocaine it was one in eight. Amazingly, almost every single
ecstasy death - that is, 26 out of 28 of those where ecstasy was
named as a possible contributory factor - was reported. So there's a
peculiar imbalance in terms of reporting that is clearly
inappropriate in relation to the relative harms of ecstasy compared
with other drugs. The reporting gives the impression that ecstasy is
a much more dangerous drug than it is. This is one of the reasons I
wrote the article about horse riding that caused such extreme media
reactions earlier this year."
|
|
(17) THE PROMISE OF SAFER INHALATION
(Top) |
Source: | National Post (Canada)
|
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Copyright: | 2009 Canwest Publishing Inc.
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|
When Canadians think of crack cocaine, many remember disturbing
television images seen in the late 1980's, when the drug first
gained notoriety in the United States. More recently, crack has
emerged as an enormous health and social problem in many Canadian
cities.
|
[snip]
|
Finally, although studies from the United States have implied that
the HIV virus may be transmitted by the sharing of crack pipes or
oral sex among individuals with cuts and burns on their lips from
crack smoking, we do not believe this is the primary reason an
inhalation room should be evaluated. A study published in the New
England Journal of Medicine demonstrated that the use of the Insite
injecting facility in Vancouver enabled more rapid uptake of
addiction treatment. A similar investigation should be the primary
aim for any clinical trial of an inhalation facility.
|
|
|
(18) WHAT'S BRIT PM BEEN SMOKING?
(Top) |
Pubdate: | Wed, 04 Nov 2009
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Source: | Calgary Sun, The (CN AB)
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Copyright: | 2009 The Calgary Sun
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|
Politicians hate it when experts shine the light of truth on
supposedly unimpeachable government ideology.
|
[snip]
|
Drug policy experts don't go around promoting drug use.
|
The braver ones, however, do point out the absurdity of the world's
drug laws.
|
[snip]
|
In 2002, more than 37,000 Canadians died from tobacco use and
another 4,000 died from booze-related causes. In contrast, less than
1,700 Canadians (.8% of all deaths) succumbed from illegal drug use.
|
Politicians would rather shuffle an inconvenient scientist out of
the way than confront the truth.
|
|
|
(19) PHDS SHOULD RUN FOR OFFICE TO PUSH POLICY
(Top) |
Pubdate: | Mon, 02 Nov 2009
|
---|
Source: | Province, The (CN BC)
|
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Copyright: | 2009 Canwest Publishing Inc.
|
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Author: | Jon Ferry, Columnist
|
---|
|
Stick To Research Or Get Into Politics -- But Not Both
|
Prince Charles, who visits Vancouver later this week, may have had
his shortcomings as a husband. But it's obvious he tried to be a
good father to son Harry over the so-called wild child's
substance-abuse problems.
|
When Harry admitted smoking pot and boozing as a teenager, Charles
sent him for a short, sharp visit to a London rehabilitation clinic
to learn about the dangers of drug addiction.
|
If Harry had been over here, of course, a quick trip to Main and
Hastings would have sufficed. For sheer shock value, the drug bazaar
there always gets high ratings from overseas visitors.
|
In Britain, as in Canada meanwhile, the public debate
continues to rage over the proliferation and
politicization of drugs. Indeed, the parallels are
striking.
|
The latest U.K. controversy surrounds top government drug adviser
David Nutt who, amongst other things, said British ministers ignored
scientific evidence when taking a tougher stand against marijuana.
Nutt claimed smoking pot created only a "relatively small risk" of
psychotic illness and accused the minister who reclassified the drug
of "distorting and devaluing" scientific research.
|
He suggested all drugs, legal and illegal, be ranked on a harm
index, with alcohol coming fifth, behind heroin, cocaine,
barbiturates and methadone. Tobacco would rank ninth, ahead of
marijuana, LSD and ecstasy.
|
"No one is suggesting that drugs are not harmful," the high-profile
medical professor said. "The critical question is one of scale and
degree."
|
Nutt repeated his quirky claim that the risks of taking ecstasy are
no worse than riding a horse. He also attacked the "artificial"
separation of alcohol and tobacco from other currently illegal
drugs.
|
However, his outspoken sentiments sat ill with Britain's Labour
government, in tough against the resurgent Tories. And he was fired
late last week as chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of
Drugs.
|
Nutt's words, though, will be music to Metro Vancouver's
drug-legalization advocates, who argue the issue should be taken out
of the hands of politicians and put into those of scientists.
|
I disagree. Scientists nowadays appear no less biased than
politicians. And "peer review" in scientific papers is often little
more than an ideological rubber stamp.
|
For example, any scientist brave enough to seriously question his
peers about the notion of human-induced global warming would be as
welcome at B.C.'s politically correct universities as a skunk at a
wedding. His funding sources would soon dry up.
|
[snip]
|
|
|
(20) MY VIEWS ON DRUGS CLASSIFICATION
(Top) |
Source: | Guardian, The (UK)
|
---|
Copyright: | 2009 Guardian News and Media Limited
|
---|
|
David Nutt, the Government's Former Chief Drugs Adviser, on How He
Formulated His Controversial Views on Drugs
|
[snip]
|
Media Bias
|
I want to move on now to look at how people gather information about
drugs and the challenges of communicating the best evidence relating
to drug harms to the public. This is difficult in the face of what
you might call a peculiar media imbalance in relation to drugs. The
following data illustrates a remarkable finding. It derives from the
PhD of a Scottish graduate, Alasdair JM Forsyth, who looked at every
single newspaper report of drug deaths in Scotland from 1990 to 1999
and compared them with the coroners' data.
|
Over the decade, there were 2,255 drug deaths, of which the Scottish
newspapers reported 546. For aspirin, only one in every 265 deaths
were reported. For morphine, one in 72 deaths were reported,
indicating that editors were not interested in this opiate. They
were more interested in heroin, where one in five deaths were
reported, and methadone, where one in 16 deaths were reported.
|
They were also more interested in stimulants. With amphetamines,
deaths are relatively rare at 36, but one in three were reported;
for cocaine it was one in eight. Amazingly, almost every single
ecstasy death - that is, 26 out of 28 of those where ecstasy was
named as a possible contributory factor - was reported. So there's a
peculiar imbalance in terms of reporting that is clearly
inappropriate in relation to the relative harms of ecstasy compared
with other drugs. The reporting gives the impression that ecstasy is
a much more dangerous drug than it is. This is one of the reasons I
wrote the article about horse riding that caused such extreme media
reactions earlier this year. The other thing you'll notice is that
there is a drug missing, and that's cannabis. Also missing is
alcohol, which will have killed a similar number - 2,000-3,000
people - in Scotland over that time, maybe more. Of course, cannabis
wouldn't have killed anyone because it doesn't kill. And that's one
of the reasons why we thought cannabis should be class C, because
you cannot die of cannabis overdose.
|
[snip]
|
|
|
HOT OFF THE 'NET
(Top)
|
SUPREME COURT HEARS PEOPLE VS. KELLY ARGUMENTS - Video
|
http://www.calchannel.com/channel/viewVideo/829 (Part 1)
|
http://www.calchannel.com/channel/viewvideo/830 (Part 2)
|
|
LETTING THE SCIENCE, NOT THE POLITICIANS, DECIDE ABOUT MARIJUANA
|
By Jag Davies
|
The federal govt. is still blocking the process that would allow the
marijuana plant to be brought to market as a prescription medicine.
|
http://drugsense.org/url/VR4Dm6Ce
|
|
PEACE WITH POPPIES
|
Opium in Afghanistan
|
By Jacob Sullum
|
http://reason.com/archives/2009/11/03/peace-with-poppies
|
|
MAINE VOTERS APPROVE MEDICAL MARIJUANA INITIATIVE, QUESTION 5
|
First State to Weigh In on Issue Since Obama Administration Announced
It Would Not Prosecute Medical Marijuana Patients and Caregivers Who
Comply with State Laws
|
http://www.drugpolicy.org/news/pressroom/pressrelease/pr110309.cfm
|
|
DUTCH AMONG LOWEST CANNABIS USERS IN EUROPE - REPORT
|
AMSTERDAM, Nov 5 (Reuters) - The Dutch are among the lowest users of
marijuana or cannabis in Europe despite the Netherlands' well-known
tolerance of the drug, according to a regional study published on
Thursday.
|
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL5730185
|
|
DRUG TRUTH NETWORK
|
Century of Lies - 11/01/09 - Bradley Jardis
|
Bradley Jardis, a working policeman is under fire for his involvement
with Law Enforcement Against Prohibition + Cliff Thornton of Efficacy
& extract from PBS program: "Botany of Desire"
|
http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/node/2646
|
Cultural Baggage Radio Show - 11/01/09 - Howard Wooldridge
|
Howard Wooldridge, founder of Citizens Opposing Prohibition + Phil
Smith of Drug War Chronicle on the level of violence in Mexico
|
http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/node/2644
|
|
HEALING A BROKEN SYSTEM
|
Veterans Battling Addiction and Incarceration.
|
Drug Policy Alliance; November 2009.
|
This report examines the significant barriers that veterans of the
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan face in obtaining effective treatment for
mental health and substance abuse problems, and the tragic
consequences of leaving these wounds of war untreated: addiction,
homelessness, suicide, overdose and incarceration.
|
http://www.drugpolicy.org/library/veterans2009.cfm
|
|
WHAT YOU CAN DO THIS WEEK
(Top)
|
WRITE A LETTER
|
Science Clashes With Politics In The United Kingdom - A DrugSense
Focus Alert
|
http://www.mapinc.org/alert/0418.html
|
|
REFORM CONFERENCE - REGISTER NOW
|
It's not too late to register for the premier drug policy event of the
year taking place next week in Albuquerque. Join us for sessions on
everything from ending marijuana prohibition to preventing overdose,
and honor luminaries of the drug policy reform movement at our awards
dinner.
|
http://www.reformconference.org/registration.php
|
|
LETTER OF THE WEEK
(Top)
|
MARIJUANA PROHIBITION DOES NOT PASS THE 'LOGIC' TEST
|
By Justin Davis
|
Why isn't marijuana legal? People who don't smoke still pay for it.
How? You're paying taxes to keep it illegal for law enforcement
people who are in jail on marijuana charges for their housing and
their food.
|
People are getting their kids taken away because of weed, and kids
are getting cancer from secondhand smoke from cigarettes. Innocent
people get killed all the time from drunk drivers, but it is legal
to drink.
|
If marijuana was legalized, it would create thousands of new jobs
from plant stores, growers, coffee shops and transporting. Sure,
marijuana has some bad effects, but nowhere near what cigarettes
have.
|
Thousands of people die from cigarettes a year; nobody died off of
marijuana alone.
|
Crime rates would go down as well. It would keep hardworking people
who do smoke out of bad neighborhoods and away from serious
criminals. It should be a personal decision whether you want to
smoke or not, not the government's.
|
Wouldn't it be better for the billions of dollars spent on marijuana
to go to the government instead of criminal's pockets?
|
Justin Davis, Ridgecrest
|
Pubdate: | Tue, 27 Oct 2009
|
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Source: | Asheville Citizen-Times (NC)
|
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|
|
LETTER WRITER OF THE MONTH - OCTOBER
(Top)
|
DrugSense recognizes Travis Erbacher of Langley, British Columbia
for his five letters published during October which brings his
career total, that we know of, to 14. You may review his published
letters at:
|
http://www.mapinc.org/writer/Travis+Erbacher
|
|
FEATURE ARTICLE
(Top)
|
Pot Acceptable? Not For Young And Nonwhite
|
By Stephen Gutwillig
|
This year is a watershed year in pot politics.
|
The Obama administration recently announced it would defer to state
medical marijuana laws and stop federal prosecutions of patients and
providers who comply with them.
|
In California, the tanking economy inspired Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger to call for debating marijuana taxation and
regulation, a bill was introduced in Sacramento to do just that, and
four separate ballot initiatives are circulating to allow voters the
chance to decide the issue for themselves.
|
Schwarzenegger's position was echoed by New York Gov. David Paterson
and by Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard, who suggested
legalizing pot could cripple Mexican and U.S. gangs. The
unprecedented momentum to question marijuana prohibition is being
fueled by a widely remarked-upon phenomenon -- the cultural
mainstreaming of marijuana.
|
From Showtime's established hit "Weeds" to the "Is Pot Already
Legal?" cover of Fortune magazine in September, marijuana is
commanding attention and an odd kind of respect for its sheer
popularity and massive revenues.
|
Marie Claire magazine and the "Today Show" profiled "stiletto
stoners," stressed-out women professionals who unwind with a doobie
instead of a cosmo. And in a recent style feature, the Los Angeles
Times gushed that "cannabis culture is coming out of the closet,"
citing its ubiquity across the spectrum of pop culture and high-end
design. "It's here to stay," the Times proclaimed.
|
Pot is indeed flourishing in the mainstream as never before, but the
sometimes giddy discussion overlooks a sinister parallel phenomenon:
More people are being arrested for pot crimes than ever; they are
increasingly young and disproportionately nonwhite.
|
In 2008, the police arrested 847,864 people nationwide for marijuana
violations, according to the 2008 FBI Uniform Crime Report. Pot
arrests represent fully half of all drug arrests reported in the
United States. The overwhelming majority -- a whopping 89 percent --
were charged with possession only.
|
Most striking, the marijuana arrest rate in the United States has
nearly tripled since 1991.
|
Examples from both coasts illustrate this. In California, according
to the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, crime arrest rates
have generally plummeted statewide from 1990 to 2008 by an average
of 40 percent. Drug possession arrests for everything but marijuana
collectively fell by nearly 30 percent. But during that same 18-year
period, arrests for marijuana possession in California skyrocketed
127 percent. In 2008, more Californians were arrested for pot
offenses than any year since decriminalization took effect 34 years
ago.
|
Similarly, New York state decriminalized simple marijuana possession
in the 1970s. But under Mayors Rudolph Giuliani and Michael
Bloomberg, New York City has become one of the marijuana arrest
capitals of the world -- 40,300 arrests last year.
|
In the years between 1997 and 2008, the NYPD made 12 times as many
pot possession arrests as in the previous 12 years, according to a
study by the New York Civil Liberties Union. How can the notion
that marijuana is "here to stay" coexist with these rates of
marijuana arrests? Apparently because the people caught in the
crossfire aren't considered part of the mainstream. In California,
African-Americans are three times as likely as whites to be arrested
for a pot crime, according to the Center for Juvenile and Criminal
Justice. If you're young and nonwhite, you are especially targeted.
|
The increase in marijuana possession arrests of California teenagers
of color since 1990 is quadruple that group's population growth.
|
In New York City, blacks and Latinos -- who represent about half the
city's population -- accounted for 86 percent of everyone charged
with pot possession in 2008. The NYCLU report says federal studies
show young whites use marijuana at higher rates than blacks and
Latinos.
|
Supporters of marijuana prohibition often argue that few possession
busts lead to incarceration. First, that argument ignores the
countless parolees and probationers sent back to jail and prison
nationwide for failing drug tests or being caught with a joint. And
it seriously diminishes the lifelong stigma any criminal conviction
has for many young people of color, whose educational and
professional opportunities are severely curtailed as a result of
racist enforcement.
|
Getting caught with a joint means being photographed, fingerprinted
and permanently entered in the vast criminal database. Apparently
marijuana serves as a gateway after all, feeding young people into
the criminal justice system and on to a marginalized adulthood.
|
Widespread discussion of everyday marijuana consumption is helping
turn the tide against decades of failed marijuana prohibition.
However, too much of that conversation is ignoring the people most
impacted by our punitive policies.
|
We must end pot prohibition and stop the massive number of arrests
and biased enforcement that are at its core.
|
Stephen Gutwillig is the California state director of the Drug
Policy Alliance, an organization working to promote alternatives to
the federal war on drugs. The opinions expressed in this commentary
are solely those of Stephen Gutwillig. This piece first appear at
http://www.cnn.com/2009/OPINION/11/05/marijuana.racial.arrests
|
|
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
(Top)
|
"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom
of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power
than by violent and sudden usurpations." - James Madison
|
|
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offers our members. Watch this feature to learn more about what
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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.
|
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