> Date: Fri, 27 Apr 2007 13:49:01 -0700
> From: webmaster@... (Drug Sense)
> Subject: DrugSense Weekly, Apr. 27, 2007, #496
>
>
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>
> DRUGSENSE WEEKLY
>
>
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>
> DrugSense Weekly, Apr. 27, 2007
> #496
>
> Read This Publication On-line at:
> http://www.drugsense.org/current.htm
>
> ------------------
>
> TABLE OF CONTENTS:
>
> * This Just In
>
> (1) Pleas Won't End Probe Of Atlanta Police
> (2) Court Upholds Marijuana Conviction
> (3) Inside Dope On Cannabis
> (4) Crack Habit A Disability, Ex-Officer's
> Appeal Says
>
> * Weekly News in Review
>
> Drug Policy-
>
> (5) Schools Urged Into Divisive Drug Crackdown
> (6) Broad School Drug Test Studied
> (7) Williamsburg School Board Hears Complaints
> About Drug Search
> (8) Teachers Call Drug Tests A Deal-Breaker For
> State
>
> Law Enforcement & Prisons-
>
> (9) Editorial: Fully Fund Prop. 36
> (10) OPED: Solution To Inmate Overcrowding Is
> More Prisons ...
> (11) Prison Costs Shackling Oregon
> (12) Hollywood Officers Plead Not Guilty
>
> Cannabis & Hemp-
>
> (13) Marijuana Martyr
> (14) Drug Possession Charges Against Alex City
> Gubernatorial Candidate Dropped
> (15) Music Legend Fined In Marijuana Case
> (16) Connoisseurs Of Cannabis
> (17) Heavy Cannabis Use By Teens Is More
> Dangerous Than Alcohol
>
> International News-
>
> (18) Editorial: Looking Behind The Bars
> (19) Squad Fights Ice
> (20) Britain's Cocaine Use Hits New High
> (21) Oxford Don - Cigarettes More Dangerous Than
> Ecstasy
>
> * Hot Off The 'Net
>
> U.S. Border Patrol Bars Canadian Psychotherapist
> Coca Growers Shake The Andes Once Again /
> By Jose Arenas
> 420 At The Vancouver Art Gallery 2007
> Interaction Between Opiates And Cannabinoids
> ONDCP's Reluctant Update On Cocaine Price And
> Purity
> Study Finds Highest Levels Of THC In U.S.
> Marijuana To Date
>
> * What You Can Do This Week
>
> Raise Your Voice
> Damage Done - The Drug War Odyssey
>
> * Letter Of The Week
>
> Testing Won't Stop Students' Drug Use / Dan Linn
>
> * Feature Article
>
> An Embarrassment For The Drug Czar / By Pete
> Guither
>
> * Quote of the Week
>
> Martin Luther King, Jr.
>
> DrugSense needs your support to continue this
> newsletter and many
> other important projects - see how you can help at
> http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
>
>
***********************************************************************
>
> THIS JUST IN
>
=======================================================================
>
> (1) PLEAS WON'T END PROBE OF ATLANTA POLICE
>
> Two Atlanta Cops Plead Guilty in Woman's Death
>
> What started with a few bags of marijuana
> being planted near a
> suspected street dealer quickly spiraled out of
> control. Narcotics
> officers lied to a judge, illegally broke into
> 92-year-old Kathryn
> Johnston's house, fired 39 shots at her -- and then
> one handcuffed her
> as she lay bleeding before he planted drugs
> in her basement.
>
> The events of Nov. 21, outlined in court
> documents, were almost an
> "inevitable" outcome of a troubled police unit, a
> federal prosecutor
> said Thursday as two former Atlanta narcotics
> officers pleaded guilty
> and promised to cooperate in a wider probe
> of the department.
>
> According to investigators, Atlanta narcotics
> officers hoped to
> satisfy goals set by police commanders by
> repeatedly lying to obtain
> search warrants, barging into homes and sometimes
> restraining innocent
> people, an atmosphere that led to tragedy.
>
> The sweeping accusations were made in the
> guilty-plea agreements of
> Gregg Junnier and Jason R. Smith, two on a team of
> officers that took
> part in the botched raid at Johnston's home.
>
> The deceit Nov. 21 didn't end with a faked
> warrant, according the
> officers' plea agreements -- they conspired to
> cover their actions by
> asking a confidential informant to lie for
> them. Instead, the
> informant went to authorities, giving birth to
> one of the biggest
> scandals to hit the Atlanta Police Department in
> years.
>
> [snip]
>
> Pubdate: Fri, 27 Apr 2007
> Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA)
> Website: http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/
> Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/28
> Author: Bill Torpy, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
> Bookmark:
> http://www.mapinc.org/people/Kathryn+Johnston
> Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/raids.htm (Drug
> Raids)
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n527.a03.html
>
> ===
>
> (2) COURT UPHOLDS MARIJUANA CONVICTION
>
> Coos County - Judges Say Helping a Friend Move
> Medical Plants Is
> Possession
>
> Helping a friend move some medical marijuana
> plants has proved quite
> costly for Thomas Patrick Fries.
>
> Although Fries, 38, had no criminal record, a
> Coos County judge
> convicted him of felony drug possession in 2003.
>
> And on Wednesday, a divided Oregon Court of
> Appeals upheld Fries'
> conviction, saying that Oregon's drug laws provide
> some exemptions but
> helping a friend move marijuana plants to a new
> home isn't one of
> them.
>
> "The Legislature knows how to create exemptions to
> criminal
> responsibility for those who knowingly have
> physical possession of
> controlled substances," Judge Walt Edmonds wrote for
> the 6-4 majority.
> "Because it did not create an exemption that applies
> to the
> circumstances of defendant in this case, we
> must infer that the
> Legislature's omission was deliberate."
>
> Four dissenting judges argued that Fries didn't
> possess the marijuana
> in a legal sense because he acted at the
> direction of his friend,
> Richard L. Albritton, 25, who had a legal right to
> have the marijuana.
>
> "The marijuana plants were never outright
> contraband, and Albritton
> never ceded to defendant any right to control or
> dispose of them,"
> Judge Rex Armstrong wrote in dissent. "In
> showing that defendant
> transported the plants with Albritton as his
> passenger, the state
> demonstrated only that defendant undertook to
> deliver the plants to
> Albritton's new residence at Albritton's direction."
>
> [snip]
>
> Pubdate: Thu, 26 Apr 2007
> Source: Oregonian, The (Portland, OR)
> Website: http://www.oregonlive.com/oregonian/
> Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/324
> Author: Ashbel S. Green, The Oregonian
> Cited:
> http://www.publications.ojd.state.or.us/A124253.htm
> Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Marijuana -
> Medicinal)
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n525.a11.html
>
> ===
>
> (3) INSIDE DOPE ON CANNABIS
>
> Indoor Marijuana Farming Becoming More Widespread
>
> From California to Connecticut, marijuana plants
> are budding behind a
> veil of suburban normalcy.
>
> Protected from neighbors, insects and weather,
> the indoor pot is
> flourishing among humidifiers, high-watt lamps and
> ventilation systems
> that filter and disperse the telling aroma.
>
> In the last several months in the Los Angeles area,
> authorities raided
> several upscale homes and found marijuana "grows"
> valued at a total of
> about $50 million. Similar operations also were
> uncovered recently in
> Georgia and New Hampshire. In Connecticut in 2004,
> police seized 1,200
> plants valued at $500,000 from swanky homes
> in Southington and
> Burlington.
>
> Legalization advocates say there's a lot more
> indoor weed the cops
> don't know about, both in large grows and
> clusters of plants tucked
> into back rooms. And all signs, they say, show
> an upward trend in
> housing the nation's most popular illegal drug.
>
> "It's a straight-up curve," said Allen St. Pierre,
> spokesman for the
> National Organization for the Reform of
> Marijuana Laws, or NORML.
>
> Reasons for the move indoors, according to a
> variety of sources and
> published reports, include the lesser chance of
> getting caught or
> having plants stolen; tighter borders since Sept.
> 11, 2001, that are
> squeezing imports from Mexico and Canada; the
> ability to grow high-
> quality marijuana in a controlled environment; the
> reluctance of some
> smokers to buy pot from dealers; the wide array
> of seeds available,
> particularly from the Netherlands and Canada;
> and the ease and low
> cost of setting up an indoor greenhouse for
> personal use or sales.
>
> [snip]
>
> Pubdate: Thu, 26 Apr 2007
> Source: Hartford Courant (CT)
> Website: http://www.courant.com/
> Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/183
> Author: Jesse Leavenworth, Courant Staff Writer
> Cited: http://www.norml.org/
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n524.a06.html
>
> ===
>
> (4) CRACK HABIT A DISABILITY, EX-OFFICER'S APPEAL
> SAYS
>
> An Ottawa police officer who was ordered to
> resign from the force
> after stealing crack cocaine and smoking it
> himself will have an
> appeal of his dismissal heard in Toronto today.
>
> Const. Kevin Hall is scheduled to go before a
> panel of board members
> of the Ontario Civilian Commission on Police
> Services in an attempt to
> overturn the dismissal.
>
> In early December, hearing officer Terence Kelly
> ordered the 43-year-
> old constable to resign from the Ottawa police
> within seven days or be
> fired.
>
> Const. Hall admitted to becoming addicted to
> crack cocaine after he
> tried the drug for the first time after seizing it
> from a suspect on
> Nov. 9, 2004.
>
> In addition to buying the drug while on and off
> duty, Const. Hall also
> admitted to stealing crack cocaine from an
> evidence envelope and
> taking drugs that were to be destroyed.
>
> In his notice of appeal, Const. Hall alleged Mr.
> Kelly failed to give
> "proper weight and consideration" to the idea that
> his drug addiction
> should be considered a disability under the Ontario
> Human Rights Code.
>
> [snip]
>
> Pubdate: Thu, 26 Apr 2007
> Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
> Website: http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/
> Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326
> Author: Andrew Seymour, The Ottawa Citizen
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n525.a07.html
>
>
***********************************************************************
>
> WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW
>
=======================================================================
>
> Domestic News- Policy
> ----------------------------------
>
> COMMENT: (5-8)
>
> It has certainly been a drug testing kind of week!
>
> Public school students are increasingly being
> subjected to drug
> testing even though the effectiveness of these
> programs has not been
> proven. The ONDCP continues to aggressively
> "market" these intrusive
> searches using selective studies, dangling
> federal grant money and,
> of course, fanning the flames of fear in
> parents across America.
>
> Thankfully, a U.S. Supreme Court ruling prevents
> this practice from
> reaching the entire school body and can "only"
> be used on students
> who wish to participate in extracurricular
> activities.
>
> An Ohio school board is considering inviting
> parents to voluntarily
> place their children into their random drug
> testing program which
> they believe will not conflict with this ruling.
> Meanwhile, a South
> Carolina school bus driver drove students to
> the local jail to be
> searched for drugs because she smelled marijuana
> smoke.
>
> Teachers may soon be forced to join the crowd as
> the State of Hawaii
> is holding salary increases hostage in return for
> implementation of
> teacher drug testing. With only the HSTA
> President voting against
> it, the teacher's negotiating team sent the
> tentative agreement to
> the members without a recommendation on
> whether to vote for or
> against it.
>
> ===
>
> (5) SCHOOLS URGED INTO DIVISIVE DRUG CRACKDOWN
>
> FOR its supporters, random drug testing sends
> out an important
> message to schoolchildren. "It provides them
> with a suit of armour
> against peer pressure, enabling them to say no to
> drugs," says John
> P. Walters, director of the White House
> Office of National Drug
> Control Policy (ONDCP). Since 2002, when the
> Supreme Court ruled
> that schools could drug-test middle and
> high-school students
> participating in extracurricular activities, the
> U.S. has seen a
> rapid increase in such testing.
>
> However, scientists have repeatedly called into
> question the
> effectiveness of such tests. Last month the
> American Academy of
> Pediatrics (AAP) reaffirmed its position that
> drug testing should
> not be widely implemented without additional
> evaluation of its
> safety and efficacy. It also recommended
> making drug treatment
> services more readily available for teens
> (Pediatrics, DOI:
> 10.1542/peds.2006-2278).
>
> In spite of the criticisms, proponents are
> already pushing ahead
> with plans to expand testing in schools. On
> 24 April, school
> administrators from across the south-west U.S.
> will gather in Las
> Vegas, Nevada, to hear ONDCP representatives
> speak in the fourth in
> a series of drug policy "summits" this year.
> Speakers will explain
> how schools can join the nearly 1000 that
> have already started
> random testing, and compete for a slice of $1.6
> million in federal
> support for such programmes.
>
> [snip]
>
> The ONDCP and others in favour of testing
> claim that a number of
> studies have shown it works. These include a
> survey in which 80 per
> cent of high-school principals in Indiana
> reported an increase in
> drug use after the cessation of a state-wide
> testing programme in
> 2000; a study by the U.S. Department of
> Defense which found that
> drug use among military personnel decreased from
> 27 per cent to less
> than 1 per cent in the 25 years following the
> introduction of random
> drug tests; and research by Oregon Health &
> Science University in
> Portland which found that drug use was 14 per cent
> lower in a school
> that used random drug testing compared with
> one that didn't -
> although it only compared these two schools.
>
> "I think that what is being presented is
> seductive," says Sharon
> Levy, director of the Adolescent Substance Abuse
> Program at
> Children's Hospital Boston. However, she believes
> the ONDCP
> overstates the effectiveness of drug testing, and
> she is not alone.
> A 2005 survey of 359 U.S. physicians
> specialising in paediatric,
> adolescent and family medicine, found that 80 per
> cent disagreed or
> strongly disagreed with the ONDCP's recommendation
> that all
> adolescent students be tested for drugs. John
> Knight, also of
> Children's Hospital Boston, says there are only
> two peer-reviewed
> articles. "One showed essentially no correlation
> between testing and
> drug use rates, the other showed a slight
> decline," he says.
>
> [snip]
>
> Pubdate: Sat, 21 Apr 2007
> Source: New Scientist (UK)
> Copyright: New Scientist, RBI Limited 2007
> Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/294
> Author: Phil McKenna
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n502.a06.html
>
> ===
>
> (6) BROAD SCHOOL DRUG TEST STUDIED
>
> [snip]
>
> The law allows schools to require drug
> testing only in certain
> circumstances, such as participation in
> after-school activities.
>
> But the law doesn't prevent parents from
> voluntarily asking their
> child be tested, Farrell said.
>
> [snip]
>
> School board members told Farrell to include
> language in the next
> draft to allow parents to put their minor child
> in the drug-testing
> pool. Parents would not be allowed to volunteer
> their adult
> children, but students 18 and older could
> volunteer themselves.
>
> Board President Mark Morris raised several
> questions about the
> proposed policy, including asking staff for
> copies of studies
> showing that random testing actually deters
> student drug abuse. So
> far, the only studies he has found show that
> random drug testing
> does not deter drug use, he said.
>
> "Do we have any evidence anywhere that suggests
> this will do what we
> want it to do?" Morris said.
>
> [snip]
>
> Parent Heidi Bruzina, who has five children, said
> she supported the
> board's stance, but had some concerns with
> drug screens, which
> sometimes showed false-positive results.
>
> "There are some issues with interfering
> substances that could cause
> a test to show positive for certain substances,"
> said Bruzina, who
> has worked in the medical diagnostic field
> for nearly 20 years.
>
> [snip]
>
> Pubdate: Sat, 21 Apr 2007
> Source: Cincinnati Enquirer (OH)
> Copyright: 2007 The Cincinnati Enquirer
> Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/86
> Author: Sue Kiesewetter, Enquirer Contributor
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n506.a10.html
>
> ===
>
> (7) WILLIAMSBURG SCHOOL BOARD HEARS COMPLAINTS ABOUT
> DRUG SEARCH OF
> STUDENTS
>
> KINGSTREE - Community members filled the
> Williamsburg County School
> District board/staff development meeting room
> during a regular
> meeting Monday to voice their concerns about
> several items including
> an incident where a Kingstree bus driver took
> her students to the
> Williamsburg County Detention center and had
> police search them for
> drugs.
>
> [snip]
>
> Mayers said he was told by students involved in
> the incident that
> the driver told police she smelled marijuana on
> the bus. Students
> were taken off the bus and told to open their
> bookbags, purses and
> pockets. Mayers said about 40 students between the
> ages of 11 and 17
> were "patted down" by male officers, which made
> some female students
> uncomfortable. According to WCSC Live 5 News,
> Kingstree Police Chief
> Robert Ford says the search was legal because
> the driver smelled
> drugs, which gave them probable cause to search
> the bus. "The bus
> driver, because of what was happening on the bus,
> did what she felt
> was in the best interest of the safety of all
> the children on that
> bus," Williamsburg County School District
> Superintendent Ralph
> Fennell said.
>
> Fennell said officers found a cigar, some
> cigarettes, lighters, a
> knife and some marijuana.
>
> [snip]
>
> Pubdate: Tue, 24 Apr 2007
> Source: Florence Morning News, The (SC)
> Copyright: 2007 Media General, Inc.
> Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1525
> Author: Shireese Bell
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n519.a09.html
>
> ===
>
> (8) TEACHERS CALL DRUG TESTS A DEAL-BREAKER FOR
> STATE
>
> [snip]
>
> The state made drug and alcohol testing of public
> school teachers "a
> non-negotiable demand" when settling on a new
> contract last week,
> according to the Hawaii State Teachers Association.
>
> If the teachers union had objected to drug
> testing, the state would
> not have agreed to a tentative contract
> offering some 13,000
> teachers 4 percent raises in each of the next
> two years and other
> benefits, according to a video posted on the HSTA
> Web site.
>
> [snip]
>
> Without giving details, Yamasaki [chairwoman of
> the negotiations
> committee for the union] said the union and the
> state would devise a
> drug-testing program that would protect teachers'
> rights.
>
> State chief negotiator Marie Laderta would not
> comment on why the
> administration wanted drug testing.
>
> [snip]
>
> On Wednesday, HSTA President Roger Takabayashi
> was the only member
> of the union's board of directors to vote
> against sending the
> contract for ratification. Twenty-six members
> backed the contract
> and one abstained.
>
> [snip]
>
> Teachers will vote on the contract Thursday
> afternoon. If the vote
> fails, the union likely will miss a legislative
> deadline to submit
> the contract to lawmakers to fund pay raises,
> and the HSTA would
> have to go back to the bargaining table with the
> state.
>
> Pubdate: Tue, 24 Apr 2007
> Source: Honolulu Star-Bulletin (HI)
> Copyright: 2007 Honolulu Star-Bulletin
> Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/196
> Author: Alexandre Da Silva
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n518.a01.html
>
>
=======================================================================
>
> Law Enforcement & Prisons
> -------------------------
>
> COMMENT: (9-12)
>
> I clearly remember seeing temporary 65 mph
> signs while driving up
> the 101 the day after California lifted the
> decades-old 55 mph speed
> limits. It was certainly proof that a law can be
> executed quickly if
> officials agree with it. This has not,
> unfortunately, been the case
> with updated drug laws. A sign of the
> continued struggles is
> revealed with the juxtaposition of a LA Times
> Editorial supporting
> Prop. 36 and a Modesto Bee OPED demanding
> more jails be built.
>
> In 1994 Oregon voters passed a ballot initiative,
> Measure 11, which
> required longer prison sentences for violent
> offenders. An Oregonian
> reporter thoroughly examines the effects of this
> law.
>
> Closing this section with an example of how drug
> prohibition profits
> continue to lure in the very people who have
> sworn to uphold those
> laws.
>
> ===
>
> (9) EDITORIAL: FULLY FUND PROP. 36
>
> Voters Approved the Measure to Give Drug Offenders
> Treatment Instead
> of Prison Time, but the Governor Wants to Cut or
> Even Eliminate the
> Program.
>
> PROPOSITION 36, the voter initiative that mandated
> treatment instead
> of jail for drug users, is under funding
> pressure from Gov. Arnold
> Schwarzenegger and under fire from critics who
> say the program is
> failing. A Times study showed that nearly half
> of those sentenced
> never complete their treatment regimen and that
> more than a quarter
> fail to even show up for rehab. A recently
> released UCLA study
> showed that even more drug users are
> rearrested now than was the
> case before voters adopted the experiment in 2000.
>
> There's not much point running a rehab program
> if no one shows up
> for treatment. Schwarzenegger, to his credit,
> says he wants to
> increase participation. But he also wants to
> slash funding and
> return a dose of jail to treatment protocol.
> That's the wrong way to
> go.
>
> The UCLA study flagged numerous shortcomings in
> Proposition 36, most
> of which point to a need for longer, more
> intensive treatment. That
> means more funding, not less. It makes no sense
> to expect that an
> offender with a lifelong drug problem will
> drop into rehab and
> emerge three months later completely free of the
> habit and ready to
> start life over. It's encouraging, in fact, that
> as many as 25% of
> offenders ordered into rehab in lieu of jail
> completed their course
> of treatment. That qualified success suggests that
> offenders need to
> get to rehab quicker, for longer, and with
> follow-up monitoring,
> which is now nonexistent.
>
> Schwarzenegger instead is cutting funding from
> this year's $120
> million to a proposed $60 million in the
> coming budget. Or even
> nothing, if offenders continue to shirk their
> programs or re-offend.
> Instead, the governor wants to put the money in a
> parallel program,
> one that currently supplements counties that
> spend all of their
> Proposition 36 allocation. But that program comes
> with
> prescriptions, such as jail, that directly
> contradict the intent of
> voters. Californians have reasonably concluded
> that incarceration is
> no longer a tenable treatment for drug addiction.
> This is a
> conclusion the governor may not ignore.
>
> There are those who insist that only the threat
> of jail will bring
> an addict the necessary moment of clarity and
> spur him or her to
> show up for treatment. For some, that may be
> the case. Voters did
> not put jail out of reach -- the initiative gives
> an offender three
> chances. But the governor is wrong to introduce
> jail back into the
> mix earlier and to threaten an innovative
> program that is showing
> real progress.
>
> Pubdate: Tue, 24 Apr 2007
> Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
> Copyright: 2007 Los Angeles Times
> Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n516.a08.html
>
> ===
>
> (10) OPED: SOLUTION TO INMATE OVERCROWDING IS MORE
> PRISONS, NOT
> FEWER PRISONERS
>
> California's prison system is literally
> bursting at the seams and
> stands at the point of crisis.
>
> A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to join my
> Assembly
> Republican colleagues on a tour of Folsom State
> Prison. Going behind
> the iron gates, we saw the overcrowded facilities
> and learned about
> the less-than-effective rehabilitation programs
> and health care
> programs that have come under scrutiny from the
> federal courts. We
> learned that at some prisons, inmates are
> even being housed in
> dayrooms and gymnasiums, which are less than secure
> and put
> correctional officers at risk.
>
> For too long, the Legislature has virtually ignored
> prison
> overcrowding. In fact, just one new 3,000-bed
> prison facility has
> been built in the state over the past 15
> years, despite the fact
> that the prison population has grown significantly.
> Gov.
> Schwarzenegger declared a special legislative
> session last summer to
> address the prison crisis, but his reforms were
> all rejected with
> little debate.
>
> [snip]
>
> After months of inaction, some in Sacramento
> have proposed a
> sentencing review commission as their solution
> to reduce prison
> overcrowding, arguing that our prisons are nearly
> full today because
> too many "nonviolent" prisoners are serving
> time under mandatory
> sentencing laws. They contend that these felons
> pose no danger to
> society and should be released into the community
> to free up prison
> beds.
>
> Make no mistake, when we talk about a sentencing
> review commission,
> we are not talking about releasing those
> convicted of parking
> violations, but rather the early release of
> serious and repeat
> criminals into communities across the state.
> Consider that
> California prisons are home to some of the
> most dangerous and
> violent criminals in the entire country -- with
> more than 80 percent
> of inmates having been convicted of at least
> one prior felony,
> according to the Department of Corrections. Even
> worse, 12 percent
> have had an astonishing 11 or more prior
> convictions.
>
> I don't believe giving thousands of serious and
> repeat criminals a
> get-out-of-jail-early card is the responsible
> way to solve our
> prison problems. Our prisons are not
> overcrowded because we are
> locking up too many murderers, rapists and
> sexual predators, but
> rather because we have not built enough capacity.
>
> [snip]
>
> Pubdate: Mon, 23 Apr 2007
> Source: Modesto Bee, The (CA)
> Copyright: 2007 The Modesto Bee
> Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/271
> Author: Tom Berryhill
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n515.a06.html
>
> ===
>
> (11) PRISON COSTS SHACKLING OREGON
>
> The Benefits of Tough Sentencing Laws Diminish As
> the Prison System
> Expands, Researchers Say
>
> Oregon is on the verge of a milestone: In the
> next two years, the
> state will spend tens of millions more tax money
> to lock up prison
> inmates than it does to educate students at
> community colleges and
> state universities.
>
> The trend results from more than a decade of
> explosive prison growth
> largely fueled by Measure 11, the 1994 ballot
> initiative that
> mandated lengthy sentences for violent crimes.
> Since then, the
> number of inmates has nearly doubled and
> spending on prisons has
> nearly tripled.
>
> As legislators and the governor debate how much
> money to spend on
> schools and higher education, there is little
> discussion in Salem on
> spiraling prison costs.
>
> Oregon taxpayers now spend roughly the same
> money to incarcerate
> 13,401 inmates as they do to educate 438,000
> university and
> community college students. But spending on
> prisons is growing at a
> faster rate than education and other state services.
>
> The Department of Corrections and Oregon Youth
> Authority budget is
> projected to grow 19 percent in the next two
> years, to $1.66
> billion, under Gov. Ted Kulongoski's budget --
> $174 million more
> than what Kulongoski proposes to spend on
> universities and colleges.
>
> [snip]
>
> With so many criminals locked up, both Oregon
> and the nation have
> seen a steady decline in violent crime rates. In
> Oregon, there were
> about five violent crimes -- homicide, rape,
> robbery and aggravated
> assault -- per 1,000 population in the 1980s
> compared with 2.8
> crimes in 2005.
>
> But the decline has leveled off in recent years. A
> growing consensus
> among researchers concludes that the benefits
> of longer sentences
> diminish as a state prison system grows. Their
> studies show that
> each new cell added to a prison system has less
> impact on crime than
> earlier additions because so many career
> criminals already are
> locked up.
>
> [snip]
>
> Pubdate: Sun, 22 Apr 2007
> Source: Oregonian, The (Portland, OR)
> Copyright: 2007 The Oregonian
> Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/324
> Author: Edward Walsh, The Oregonian
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n509.a02.html
>
> ===
>
> (12) HOLLYWOOD OFFICERS PLEAD NOT GUILTY
>
> Four Hollywood [FL] police officers are ready to
> admit they brought
> a large shipment of heroin into the city,
> prosecutors said Thursday,
> but the men gave no hint whether they'll try to
> bring down others in
> a department long plagued by allegations of
> corruption.
>
> Sgt. Jeffry Courtney, Detectives Kevin Companion
> and Thomas Simcox,
> and Officer Stephen Harrison pleaded not guilty
> to a single drug-
> trafficking charge in U.S. District Court on
> Thursday, almost two
> months after they were accused of running a
> protection racket for
> FBI agents posing as mobsters.
>
> Shortly after the plea, Assistant U.S.
> Attorney Edward Stamm
> announced the men will soon plead guilty to the
> charge, which could
> land them in prison for more than a decade.
>
> Prosecutors said they will pursue no other
> charges against the
> officers. Neither the officers nor their
> attorneys would comment.
>
> [snip]
>
> Prosecutors and FBI agents have said that in
> late January, they
> convinced Simcox to work undercover as an
> informant as they tried to
> expand their investigation deeper into the
> department.
>
> Those efforts collapsed in early February after
> someone leaked news
> of the investigation, forcing prosecutors to
> shut down the probe.
>
> [snip]
>
> Until Thursday, prosecutors had been treating
> Simcox differently,
> letting him surrender a day after his alleged
> conspirators were
> arrested Feb. 22 and holding a separate hearing
> for him in March.
> But under federal guidelines, all men face prison
> terms ranging from
> about nine to 14 years if they plead to the
> trafficking charge.
>
> They faced life sentences if found guilty of the
> original criminal
> complaints, which included running stolen
> diamonds from New Jersey
> to Florida, protecting loads of stolen
> cigarettes and operating as
> enforcers at a rigged, high-stakes card game on a
> yacht.
>
> Police Chief James Scarberry said Thursday that he
> believes the four
> officers can provide no information to federal
> prosecutors because
> there is no more corruption in his department.
> And he reiterated
> that he won't discipline any ranking officers
> who supervised
> Courtney, Harrison, Simcox and Companion during
> their alleged crime
> spree, which FBI agents said lasted more than two
> years.
>
> [snip]
>
> The one question hovering over the investigation
> and possible plea
> deal is who leaked news of the probe. FBI agents
> informed Scarberry
> in January, and he said he relayed the
> information to eight people:
> his command staff, Mayor Mara Giulianti and
> City Manager Cameron
> Benson.
>
> Scarberry said Thursday that the information was
> leaked to Courtney
> and insisted federal investigators -- not
> Hollywood officers or
> officials -- were responsible.
>
> "I just hope that when the real source of the
> leak comes out, the
> same people who have been accusing me and the
> department will be
> just as quick to say we did nothing wrong,"
> Scarberry said.
>
> Pubdate: Fri, 20 Apr 2007
> Source: Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL)
> Copyright: 2007 Sun-Sentinel Company
> Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/159
> Author: John Holland, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n500.a15.html
>
>
=======================================================================
>
> Cannabis & Hemp-
> ---------------------------
>
> COMMENT: (13-17)
>
> Bernie Ellis, a professional public health
> consultant who resides in
> Tennessee, has worked for anti-substance abuse
> programs across the
> country. He was also unrepentant about growing
> and providing free
> cannabis to terminally ill patients, so the cold,
> heartless feds are
> determined he pays an exorbitant price for his
> compassion - they
> want his farm.
>
> The outstanding Alabama activist and
> gubernatorial candidate,
> Loretta Nall, had great reason to celebrate 420 -
> in court on Friday
> she was finally cleared of cannabis possession
> charges that have
> been dogging her for several years.
>
> In other celebrity news, Willie Nelson pleaded
> guilty to cannabis
> possession, and was ordered to pay $1,024
> along with six months
> unsupervised probation. Though the fine is
> heftier than normal,
> luckily he was not charged with a felony for the
> one and half pounds
> found on the tour bus.
>
> Cannabis in the US/Canada has evolved from the
> two kinds of pot in
> the 70's - good or bad - to hundreds of
> exquisite, potent hybrids
> for consumers to partake of. Like anything
> that people develop a
> taste for, cannabis has spawned an elite, very
> knowledgeable class
> of connoisseurs who embrace the very essence
> of their culture.
>
> In not-so-jolly England, the relentless wave
> of reefer-madness
> brainwashing continues unabated, this time
> flogging a 10 year study
> from reefer-mad Australia that concludes that teen
> pot consumers are
> destined to become losers, but drinkers turn
> out just fine. Huh?
>
> ===
>
> (13) MARIJUANA MARTYR
>
> Bernie Ellis Gave Comfort to the Sick and Dying.
> For That Crime, the
> Government Means to Take Everything He's Got.
>
> [snip]
>
> It must have been a real disappointment.
> Ellis, a public health
> epidemiologist, readily acknowledged that he
> was growing a small
> amount of medical marijuana to cope with a
> degenerative condition in
> his hips and spine. He was giving pot away to a
> few terminally ill
> people too. There were only a couple dozen
> plants of any size
> scattered around his place-enough to produce
> seven or eight pounds
> of marijuana worth about $7,000.
>
> But for that crime-growing a little herb to
> ease his own pain and
> the agony of a few sick and dying people-Ellis
> was prosecuted like
> an ordinary drug pusher. Actually, if he had
> been one, he probably
> would have been treated less harshly. He has
> mounted $70,000 in debt
> to his lawyers, lost his livelihood and spent
> the past 18 months
> living in a Nashville halfway house. Worst of
> all, he risks losing
> his beloved Middle Tennessee farm-187 acres of
> rolling green hills
> along the Natchez Trace Parkway. Prosecutors are
> trying to seize the
> property as a drug-case forfeiture, and Ellis
> is fighting against
> the odds to save his home of nearly 40 years.
>
> "If I were a rapist, the government couldn't
> take my farm," Ellis
> says. "I grew cannabis and provided it free
> of charge to sick
> people, so I run the risk of losing
> everything I own. That just
> doesn't compute to me."
>
> But a strange thing has happened while the
> government has been
> trying to make an example out of Ellis.
> Colleagues, friends and
> neighbors are rallying around him-along with a
> whole lot of people
> who had never heard of him before. The
> balding, bespectacled
> 57-year-old with the amiable manner of a
> favorite uncle has become
> an improbable cause celebre. National
> organizations working for the
> liberalization of drug laws are hailing Ellis as
> a folk hero and a
> martyr of the medical marijuana movement.
>
> [snip]
>
> Pubdate: Thu, 26 Apr 2007
> Source: Nashville Scene (TN)
> Copyright: 2007 Nashville Scene
> Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2409
> Author: Jeff Woods
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n523.a08.html
>
> ===
>
> (14) DRUG POSSESSION CHARGES AGAINST ALEX CITY
> GUBERNATORIAL
> CANDIDATE DROPPED
>
> After years of court battles, U.S. Marijuana
> Party founder Loretta
> Nall of Alexander City was cleared Friday of drug
> possession charges
> in a Tallapoosa County circuit court.
>
> "I'm almost speechless," Nall said. "It's been a
> long time coming."
>
> The Tallapoosa County Narcotics Task Force
> arrested Nall in a
> November 2002 raid on her house where 0.87
> grams of marijuana was
> discovered. She was convicted of misdemeanor
> marijuana possession
> and possession of drug paraphernalia in district
> court in February
> 2004. Nall appealed the conviction to circuit
> court, seeking to
> suppress the evidence used to obtain the search
> warrant for the raid
> on her house.
>
> Investigators obtained a search warrant by
> using a letter to the
> editor that Nall wrote to the Birmingham News in
> support of changing
> marijuana laws and by using statements made by
> Nall's daughter in
> her kindergarten class.
>
> "They illegally questioned my daughter and
> violated my right to free
> speech," Nall said. "The judge ruled it a bad
> search and the judge
> dropped the charges."
>
> [snip]
>
> Nall also has aspirations of running against
> Rep. Mike Rogers in
> 2008.
>
> Pubdate: Fri, 20 Apr 2007
> Source: Alexander City Outlook, The (AL)
> Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2401
> Author: Patrick McCreless
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n510.a06.html
>
> ===
>
> (15) MUSIC LEGEND FINED IN MARIJUANA CASE
>
> ST. MARTINVILLE -- Country music legend Willie
> Nelson and his tour
> manager were ordered to pay $1,024 each and
> were sentenced to six
> months of probation after pleading guilty to
> possession of marijuana
> here Tuesday.
>
> Nelson, tour manager David Anderson, Nelson's
> sister and two of the
> singer's tour bus drivers were cited on
> misdemeanor drug charges in
> September while traveling on Interstate 10
> through St. Martin
> Parish.
>
> State Police investigators said they found 1 1/2
> pounds of marijuana
> and a small amount of hallucinogenic mushrooms in
> a search prompted
> by a "strong odor of marijuana" during a
> routine motor coach
> inspection stop of his tour bus.
>
> Nelson and Anderson, both of Texas, entered their
> guilty pleas on a
> regular court day in St. Martinville, arriving
> with their attorney a
> few minutes before the plea hearing and taking
> seats at the front of
> a courtroom filled with other defendants.
>
> [snip]
>
> A criminal background check indicated that
> Nelson, who has made no
> secret of his marijuana use, had never before
> been convicted on a
> drug charge, according to Cedars.
>
> "We did something apparently nobody else has
> done," he said.
>
> [snip]
>
> Pubdate: Wed, 25 Apr 2007
> Source: Advocate, The (Baton Rouge, LA)
> Copyright: 2007 The Advocate, Capital City Press
> Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n520.a01.html
>
> ===
>
> (16) CONNOISSEURS OF CANNABIS
>
> Like Fine Wine, Growing Medicinal Weed Has Become
> So Specialized As
> to Inspire Tastings and a New Vocabulary
>
> Stephen DeAngelo bent and sniffed deeply over
> a clump of frizzy
> purple nuggets in a petri dish, one of eight
> sitting in the middle
> of a long refectory table. They were not labeled
> or arranged in any
> particular order, although to the experts
> assembled in DeAngelo's
> Oakland loft -- "cannabis is my calling," he says
> -- their identity
> was no mystery.
>
> "I would describe this as grapey, candy-like,
> sweet, with a slight
> undertone of spice," said DeAngelo, a longtime
> activist and hemp
> promoter who is now chief executive officer of
> Harborside Health
> Center, a medical marijuana dispensary in
> Oakland. He was holding
> the tasting at home where he could properly and
> legally -- at least
> in the eyes of California, if not the federal
> government -- evaluate
> some samples. To prepare, he'd taken off his
> green tweed coat,
> loosened his tie and settled in a chair near
> his vaporizer, an
> apparatus that allows him to breathe vapor instead
> of smoke, because
> it's less harsh.
>
> [snip]
>
> As the quality and variety of marijuana products
> in pot clubs have
> grown, so too has an emerging marijuana
> connoisseurship or, as some
> call it, "cannasseurship." "I guess," said
> DeAngelo, when asked
> about the term after trying several samples, "I'm
> a cannasaurus." In
> medical marijuana circles, the treatment
> potential of a certain
> strain, whether it produces a "body high" or
> a "head high" that
> dulls pain or stimulates appetite, treats pain,
> nausea,
> sleeplessness or other ailments, is paramount. But
> to a distinct and
> discerning subculture, there is another dimension.
>
> [snip]
>
> Cervantes, who now lives in Spain, says part of
> the publicity about
> new strains can come down to "money, money,
> money" in America.
> Consumers in Northern California, for example,
> are crazy about
> purple strains, he said. In general, they're not
> as high quality as
> green varieties, but someone has figured out
> that "purple sells."
>
> [snip]
>
> Pubdate: Sun, 22 Apr 2007
> Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
> Copyright: 2007 Hearst Communications Inc.
> Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
> Author: Katherine Seligman
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n504.a09.html
>
> ===
>
> (17) HEAVY CANNABIS USE BY TEENS IS MORE DANGEROUS
> THAN ALCOHOL
>
> Ten-Year Study Finds Long-Term Users Have
> Problems With Work and in
> Relationships
>
> People who start using cannabis as teenagers
> are more likely than
> drinkers to suffer from mental illness, have
> relationship problems,
> and fail to get decent qualifications or jobs,
> according to a new
> study by academics.
>
> "Cannabis really does look like the drug of choice
> for life's future
> losers," says Professor George Patton, who
> conducted the 10-year
> study that followed the fortunes of 1,900
> schoolchildren until they
> were 25. "It's the young people who were using
> cannabis in their
> teens who were doing really badly in terms of
> their mental health.
> They were also less likely to be working, have
> qualifications or be
> in a relationship and more likely to be
> taking other drugs."
>
> The 10-year study is the first of its kind to
> compare drinkers with
> cannabis users. Almost two-thirds of people
> had tried cannabis
> before they turned 18.
>
> Heavy users of the drug were between three and six
> times more likely
> to use other drugs, compared with drinkers, less
> likely to be in a
> stable relationship and up to three times more
> likely than drinkers
> to have dropped out of education or be unemployed.
>
> [snip]
>
> Pubdate: Sun, 22 Apr 2007
> Source: Independent on Sunday (UK)
> Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/208
> Author: Jonathan Owen
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n515.a02.html
>
>
=======================================================================
>
> International News
> ---------------------------
>
> COMMENT: (18-21)
>
> Led by prime minister Stephen Harper, Canadian
> conservatives have
> tried to paint crime as 'out of control'. Only the
> fist of
> authority, says Canada's ruling conservative
> party, in the form of
> "get tough" jail sentences for "crime" (read:
> marijuana) will do. In
> March, a Tory-created $3.5 million panel was
> seated to review
> Canada's jails. Led by Rob Sampson, a former
> Ontario corrections
> minister who spearheaded prison privatization
> there, the federal
> panel is expected to echo the Harper
> conservatives' calls for more
> prisons. While "privatization is expressly
> excluded from the panel's
> mandate," reported the Ottawa Citizen, other
> observers see the panel
> as a rubber stamp for expanding for-profit
> prisons in Canada.
>
> Historically, politicians can easily sound
> "tough" by lavishing
> taxpayer money on police, in the name of fighting
> "drugs."
> Australian Prime Minister John Howard is no
> different, and last week
> announced the creation of a $150 million elite
> "flying squad" of
> narcotics police who will target the production of
> illegally-produced methamphetamine. (This is not
> to be confused with
> the legal form of methamphetamine, which is
> prescribed and sold
> under the trade-name Desoxyn.) Howard's
> widely-announced move came
> on the heels of a study claiming Australians
> have the highest
> per-capita usage of illicit methamphetamines
> (called "ice" there),
> in the world.
>
> The UK Drug Policy Commission's recent report
> continues to
> reverberate in the press. The New Zealand
> Herald this week, while
> stressing the numbers of British who say they take
> cocaine, let slip
> the "street price has dropped from UKP 69
> ($187) to UKP 49 a gram
> over the past six years," yet another stark
> failure of prohibition.
> Government "attempts to stem the use of
> illegal substances have
> failed", noted the Herald. On top of that, most
> use of illegal drugs
> isn't even a problem. Admitted the Herald, "most
> try cannabis only a
> few times with a small minority going on to be
> problematic users of
> harder drugs."
>
> If you thought that Ecstasy (MDMA) must be more
> dangerous than booze
> or cigarettes -- because after all MDMA is
> illegal, and tobacco and
> alcohol are legal -- then you'd be wrong,
> according to Oxford
> Professor Colin Blakemore. Blakemore co-wrote a
> report in the Lancet
> last March, which ranked drugs according to their
> harms. The "system
> pays too much attention to adverse reactions
> which affect very few
> people... The clearest message that came out of
> our report is that
> we must consider the real social harms
> caused by alcohol and
> tobacco... 90% of all drug related deaths are
> caused by alcohol and
> tobacco."
>
> ===
>
> (18) EDITORIAL: LOOKING BEHIND THE BARS
>
> Prisons figure large in the federal
> Conservative plan to tackle
> crime. If Canada starts locking up more
> criminals for longer
> sentences, it had better make sure the prisons are
> working properly.
>
> [snip]
>
> The total budget could reach $3.5 million.
>
> Mr. Sampson's appointment has worried some
> because of his openness
> to private-sector involvement in the
> corrections system. But
> privatization is expressly excluded from the
> panel's mandate.
>
> [snip]
>
> It will also examine the effectiveness of
> rehabilitation programs.
> About 36 per cent of federal offenders are
> convicted of new crimes
> within two years of completing their sentences.
> About five per cent
> of offenders commit new violent offences within
> two years. That's a
> small number, but it's enough to make
> rehabilitation a key part of
> justice policy, and the priority for this panel.
>
> Pubdate: Mon, 23 Apr 2007
> Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
> Copyright: 2007 The Ottawa Citizen
> Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n513.a03.html
>
> ===
>
> (19) SQUAD FIGHTS ICE
>
> THE Federal Government is to establish an
> international "flying
> squad" of elite police to target production
> of the killer drug
> crystal methamphetamine, or "ice". The new
> Australian Federal Police
> squad will be announced by Prime Minister John
> Howard today as part
> of an additional $150 million over four years to
> boost the
> Government's "tough on drugs" strategy.
>
> [snip]
>
> Some of the largest ice factories supplying
> Australia are in
> South-East Asian countries such as Indonesia. The
> new international
> AFP squad, to be known as the Regional Deployment
> Team, will aim to
> intercept the drug before it reaches Australia.
>
> The team will operate via an international
> liaison officer network,
> and travel to regional sites of drug production if
> the case
> requires.
>
> The package to be announced by Mr Howard will also
> include money for
> the Australian Crime Commission aimed at
> improving its technical
> communications interception capabilities.
>
> [snip]
>
> It will recognise that the treatment of ice
> addicts often requires
> specialist skills, because chronic users can
> be psychotic and
> violent.
>
> An international study released two weeks ago
> showed Australia had
> the highest per-capita ice usage in the
> English-speaking world.
>
> [snip]
>
> Pubdate: Sun, 22 Apr 2007
> Source: Courier-Mail, The (Australia)
> Copyright: 2007 Queensland Newspapers
> Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/98
> Author: Glenn Milne
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n506.a03.html
>
> ===
>
> (20) BRITAIN'S COCAINE USE HITS NEW HIGH
>
> More than 750,000 people take cocaine at least
> once a year as its
> price falls and ecstasy loses its popularity
> among clubbers,
> according to a wide-ranging study of drug abuse in
> Britain.
>
> Official attempts to stem the use of illegal
> substances have failed,
> with cocaine soaring in popularity and addiction
> to heroin remaining
> stubbornly high.
>
> [snip]
>
> Cocaine use among young people has tripled since
> the late 1990s to
> more than 750,000 in 2005-2006, the study for the
> new UK Drug Policy
> Commission says.
>
> Nearly 5 per cent of people entering drug
> rehabilitation programmes
> say their main problem is with cocaine. The
> average street price has
> dropped from UKP 69 ($187) to UKP 49 a gram over
> the past six years.
>
> [snip]
>
> It said one in four people aged 26 to 30 have
> tried a class A drug,
> such as heroin, cocaine or ecstasy, at least once.
>
> The number of heroin users has risen from
> 5000 in 1975 to an
> estimated 281,000 in England and 50,000 in
> Scotland. It has now
> stabilised at "levels that are very high by
> international
> standards".
>
> With around 20 per cent of people arrested
> dependent on heroin, the
> cost of drug-related crime in England and Wales is
> estimated at more
> than UKP 13 billion.
>
> Drug use is now of common experience for
> people born since 1970,
> although most try cannabis only a few times
> with a small minority
> going on to be problematic users of harder drugs.
>
> Pubdate: Fri, 20 Apr 2007
> Source: New Zealand Herald (New Zealand)
> Copyright: 2007 New Zealand Herald
> Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/300
> Author: Nigel Morris
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n512.a05.html
>
> ===
>
> (21) OXFORD DON - CIGARETTES MORE DANGEROUS THAN
> ECSTASY
>
> An Oxford Professor has co-written a report which
> ranked ecstasy and
> cannobis [sic] below alcohol and tobacco in terms
> of individual and
> social harm. The report, published by The Lancet in
> March, criticises
> the current ABC system of classification of drugs in
> the UK. It claims
> to "suggest a new system for assessing the potential
> harms of drugs on
> the basis of fact and scientific knowledge".
> Three categories --
> physical harm, dependence and social harm --
> were established.
>
> Each drug was given a score in each category and
> these scores were
> added up to produce a final result. Heroin was
> ranked as the most
> dangerous drug. Controversially, ecstasy was
> ranked 18th and
> cannobis 11th whilst tobacco was ranked 9th
> and alcohol 5th.
> Professor Colin Blakemore, of Magdalen College
> and chief of the
> Medical Research Council, said, "The current
> ABC system pays too
> much attention to adverse reactions which
> affect very few people.
>
> Class A drugs have been demonised by the media,
> who have not been
> terribly responsible by focusing on cases such
> as Leah Betts. They
> do not say that this is one of a very few
> people who die from
> ecstasy compared with the tens of thousands
> who die from alcohol
> consumption -- one has to get these things into
> balance. "90% of all
> drug related deaths are caused by alcohol and
> tobacco and we accept
> it because they are legal, we think we can't do
> anything about it.
> Well, we should.
>
> The clearest message that came out of our
> report is that we must
> consider the real social harms caused by
> alcohol and tobacco."
> Professor Blakemore also criticised the
> government's policy on
> drugs. "Their scare tactics simply do not work,
> as the facts show.
> Half a million to a million young people will use
> ecstasy on any one
> weekend. They are using their personal experience
> to guide them when
> they should have objective evidence at their
> disposal.
>
> [snip]
>
> Pubdate: Thu, 19 Apr 2007
> Source: Oxford Student (UK Edu)
> Copyright: 2007 Oxford Student Services Limited
> Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4154
> Author: Katie Cotton
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n506.a01.html
>
>
***********************************************************************
>
> HOT OFF THE 'NET
> -------------------------------
>
> U.S. BORDER PATROL BARS CANADIAN PSYCHOTHERAPIST
>
> U.S. Border Patrol Bars Canadian Psychotherapist
> With Drug Research
> Far in His Past
>
> By Linda Solomon, The Tyee. Posted April 25, 2007.
>
> A Canadian psychotherapist who conducted research
> with LSD was denied
> entry to the United States after a border guard
> Googled his work.
>
> http://alternet.org/drugreporter/50948/
>
> ===
>
> COCA GROWERS SHAKE THE ANDES ONCE AGAIN
>
> Struggles Heat Up in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia
>
> By Jose Arenas, Former Colombian Congressman
>
> During the last few days, coca growers,
> especially in Peru and
> Colombia, have been in the news again, as their
> actions have given the
> media something to talk about.
>
> http://narconews.com/Issue45/article2636.html
>
> ===
>
> 420 AT THE VANCOUVER ART GALLERY 2007
>
> Cannabis users observe 4:20 as a time to smoke
> communally. It has
> evolved into a counterculture holiday. A
> gathering to celebrate and
> consume cannabis.
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyRSW0yvZ7M
>
> ===
>
> INTERACTION BETWEEN OPIATES AND CANNABINOIDS
>
> by Sandra Welch
>
> Presented to 2004 Cannabis Therapeutics
> Conference, Sandra Welch,PhD
> examines the analgesic effects of combining
> Cannabinoids and Opiates.
>
>
http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=7462551044217885349
>
> ===
>
> CONNECTING THE DOTS
>
> ONDCP'S Reluctant Update On Cocaine Price And Purity
>
> A Report by the Drug Policy Program of the
> Washington Office on Latin
> America / By John M. Walsh, Senior Associate, WOLA
>
> Preliminary U.S. government data, quietly disclosed
> by ONDCP, indicate
> that cocaine's price per pure gram on U.S. streets
> fell in 2006, while
> its purity increased. These latest estimates,
> continuing a 25-year
> trend, suggest that cocaine supplies are stable
> or even increasing.
>
>
http://wola.org/media/Connecting%20the%20Dots%204-23-2007.pdf
>
> ===
>
> STUDY FINDS HIGHEST LEVELS OF THC IN U.S. MARIJUANA
> TO DATE
>
> 20 Year Analysis of Marijuana Seizures Reveals
> a Doubling in Pot
> Potency Since Mid-80's;
>
> New Strains of Marijuana May Be Behind Increase
> in Teen Marijuana
> Treatment Admissions and Rise in Emergency Room
> Episodes Related to
> Marijuana
>
> White House Drug Czar Warns: "This isn't your
> father's marijuana."
>
>
http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/news/press07/042507_2.html
>
>
***********************************************************************
>
> WHAT YOU CAN DO THIS WEEK
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> RAISE YOUR VOICE
>
> Don't let Congress hold education funding hostage to
> drug war politics!
>
> Calls and E-Mails Needed in These States: Alaska,
> Colorado,
> Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas,
> Maryland, Massachusetts,
> New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North
> Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma,
> Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Washington,
> Wyoming
>
> http://www.raiseyourvoice.com/
>
> ===
>
> DAMAGE DONE - THE DRUG WAR ODYSSEY
>
> After 30 years of drug war, illegal narcotics are
> decreasing in price,
> increasing in purity and demand continues to
> surge. The heroes of
> this film are veterans of the drug war and they
> urge us to consider
> ending drug prohibition.
>
> Saturday, April 28, 2007
>
> 7:00 pm on Global Television (Canada)
>
> http://www.drugwarodyssey.com/home.php
>
>
***********************************************************************
>
> LETTER OF THE WEEK
> ------------------------------------
>
> TESTING WON'T STOP STUDENTS' DRUG USE
>
> By Dan Linn
>
> In response to the article, "Most Antioch high
> school board
> candidates want drug testing expanded," I would
> like to comment that
> such a policy of drug testing all students
> would not only be
> expensive and ineffective, but could also lead
> to more drug use.
>
> Drug testing is not effective because it
> often severs the very
> relationships between adults and students that
> are effective at
> curbing drug use.
>
> Last month, the American Association of
> Pediatrics released its
> opposition to random drug testing in its monthly
> journal.
>
> Parents and educators should turn to Safety
> First: A Reality-Based
> Approach to Teens and Drugs (safety1st.org) when
> trying to prevent
> teen drug use. An open and honest discussion
> between adults and
> teens about the potential harms of drugs and
> the likelihood that
> teens will come into a situation where drugs
> will be offered to
> them, without the teens being afraid of a
> harsh punishment is
> crucial.
>
> Safety is at the heart of the issue when
> dealing with teens and
> drugs; a preventive measure that simply makes
> the consequences
> harsher and more likely has not been effective and
> will continue not
> to be effective.
>
> Allowing teens to discuss drugs among their peers
> under the
> supervision of an adult is a better solution
> than drug testing.
> Plus, if a teen does not join an extracurricular
> activity for fear
> of failing a drug test, how does that prevent
> the teen from using
> drugs in the future?
>
> If the student were allowed into the
> extracurricular activity
> without a drug test, then maybe his or her free
> time after school
> would be taken up in a productive activity as
> opposed to being a
> prime time for drug use.
>
> All in all, drug testing will not stop drug use
> among students at
> any high school, but an honest approach to
> drugs by adults can at
> least focus on the most important aspect and
> that is safety.
>
> Dan Linn
>
> Executive Director
>
> Illinois NORML
>
> Antioch
>
> Pubdate: Sat, 21 Apr 2007
> Source: Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL)
>
>
***********************************************************************
>
> FEATURE ARTICLE
> -------------------------------
>
> AN EMBARRASSMENT FOR THE DRUG CZAR
>
> By Pete Guither
>
> White House letter: U.S. cocaine prices drop
> despite billions spent
> on drug war
>
(http://www.taiwannews.com.tw/etn/news_content.php?id=438560):
>
> "The street price of cocaine fell in the United
> States last year as
> purity rose, the White House drug czar said in a
> private letter to a
> key senator, seemingly contradicting U.S. claims
> that US$4 billion
> (euro2.9 billion) in aid to Colombia is stemming the
> flow. The drug
> czar, John Walters, wrote that retail cocaine
> prices fell by 11
> percent from February 2005 to October 2006, to
> about US$135 (euro99)
> per gram of pure cocaine. That's way below the
> US$600 a gram pure
> cocaine fetched in 1981, when the U.S.
> government began collecting
> data, and near the level it has been at
> since the early 1990s.
>
> During the same period, analysis of data
> collected by the U.S. Drug
> Enforcement Administration showed that after a
> drop in 2005, levels
> of purity "have trended somewhat toward former
> levels," Walters
> said.
>
> Walters made the disclosure in a January
> letter to Sen. Charles
> Grassley, the Republican co-chair of the Senate
> Caucus on
> International Narcotics Control. The Washington
> Office on Latin
> America, a think tank, obtained the letter and
> made it available to
> The Associated Press."
>
> Oops.
>
> "... Grassley, in an e-mailed statement, said the
> letter is 'all the
> proof that anybody needs" that the White
> House drug office "has
> gotten quite good at spinning the numbers, but
> cooking the books
> doesn't help our efforts to curb cocaine and
> heroin production and
> consumption.'
>
> The numbers cited by Walters contradict upbeat
> appraisals made by
> U.S. officials as recently in March _ two
> months after Walters'
> letter."
>
> Wait a second. I think I just heard... Was that
> the sound of someone
> calling Walters a liar?
>
> "Rep. Jim McGovern, a Massachusetts Democrat,
> said despite the
> existence of the new estimates, senior U.S.
> Embassy officials
> provided him with older, more upbeat data
> during a March visit to
> Bogota."
>
> More lying?
>
> So far, this story has shown up in Taiwan and France
>
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/04/27/america/LA-GEN-Colombia-Drug-War.php
> Wonder when it'll hit here? And what this will do
> to funding for the
> Colombian drug war?
>
> Update: Huffington Post has it.
>
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/04/26/us-spends-billions-as-dru_n_46988.html
>
> Pete Guither is the author of Drug War Rant -
> www.drugwarrant.com -
> a weblog at the front lines of the drug war,
> where this piece first
> appeared.
>
>
***********************************************************************
>
> QUOTE OF THE WEEK
> ------------------------------------
>
> "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice
> everywhere." - Martin
> Luther King, Jr.
>
>
***********************************************************************
>
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