> Date: Fri, 20 Jul 2007 14:55:07 -0700
> From: webmaster@... (Drug Sense)
> Subject: DrugSense Weekly, July 19, 2007, #508
>
>
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>
> DRUGSENSE WEEKLY
>
>
***********************************************************************
>
> DrugSense Weekly, July 19, 2007
> #508
>
> Read This Publication On-line at:
> http://www.drugsense.org/current.htm
>
> ------------------
>
> TABLE OF CONTENTS:
>
> * This Just In
>
> (1) Blacks, Hispanics Imprisoned In Larger
> Numbers Than Whites, Report Says
> (2) Seven Cabinet Members Admit Smoking Cannabis
> In Youth
> (3) DEA Fears Spread Of New Drug
> (4) Cocaine Drug Of Choice In Europe
>
> * Weekly News in Review
>
> Drug Policy-
>
> (5) White House Had Drug Officials Appear With
> GOP Candidates
> (6) OPED: American Guns Help Fuel Mexico's Drug
> Trade Killings
> (7) Editorial: A Direct Threat
> (8) For The Unrepentant Patriarch Of LSD, Long,
> Strange Trip Winds
> Back To Bay Area
>
> Law Enforcement & Prisons-
>
> (9) Woman Says Bradenton Police Traded Money,
> Drugs For Sex
> (10) Woman, 65, Says Sarasota Deputy Knocked Her
> Down
> (11) Witness Urged Suspect To Sell Him More
> Drugs
> (12) Column: State Commits To Fixing Prison
> Addiction Programs
> (13) Fewer California Parole Violators Being
> Sent Back To Jail
> (14) War On Drugs A Failure, Retired Police
> Officer Says
>
> Cannabis & Hemp-
>
> (15) Editorial: New Challenges For Medical
> Marijuana
> (16) Column: Arrests For Pot Are Excessive
> (17) O.C. To License Medical Marijuana
> (18) Pot Arrest Hike Worries Law Experts
>
> International News-
>
> (19) Review Heralds U-turn On Classification Of
> Cannabis As 'Soft' Drug
> (20) Cannabis Use Trebles In France
> (21) Legalising Drugs Will Only Worsen Crime -
> Lenihan
>
> * Hot Off The 'Net
>
> Pain Medication: Keep Chilled / By Jacob Sullum
> How "The Largest Corruption Sting In The History
> Of The FBI" Went Awry
> Politicization Of The White House Office Of
> National Drug Control Policy
> Cultural Baggage Radio Show / With Dean Becker
> Say It Ain't So, Ricky! / By Paul Armentano
> and Mark Stepnoski
> Multidisciplinary Association For Psychedelic
> Studies News Update
>
> * What You Can Do This Week
>
> Hinchey Medical Marijuana Amendment 2007
> Virginia Resner 1946-2007
>
> * Letter Of The Week
>
> We Chose Those Drug Gangs / Robert Guest
>
> * Letter Writer Of The Month - June
>
> Kirk Muse
>
> * Feature Article
>
> No Taxation without Representation in Court! /
> Sheldon Richman
>
> * Quote of the Week
>
> George Orwell
>
> 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) BLACKS, HISPANICS IMPRISONED IN LARGER NUMBERS
> THAN WHITES, REPORT SAYS
>
> Pubdate: Thu, 19 Jul 2007
> Source: New Haven Register (CT)
> Copyright: 2007 New Haven Register
> Author: Maria Garriga, Register Staff
> Cited:
>
http://www.sentencingproject.org/NewsDetails.aspx?NewsID=454
>
> Blacks in Connecticut are jailed at more than 12
> times the rate of
> whites, and Hispanics nearly seven times the white
> rate, according to
> a study released Wednesday by a criminal
> justice policy group.
>
> The study shows that Connecticut has one of the
> greatest disparities
> in the nation in incarceration rates. Blacks
> are incarcerated 5.6
> times the rate as whites nationally.
>
> Hispanic men in Connecticut are incarcerated at 6.6
> times the rate of
> whites, the largest disparity in the nation.
> Nationally, the rate is
> 1.8.
>
> The study by the Washington, D.C., nonprofit
> advocacy group The
> Sentencing Project also shows that Connecticut
> incarcerates whites at
> a lower rate than the national average,
> according to the report.
>
> "The national figures are disturbing, with
> African Americans
> incarcerated at six times the rate of whites and
> Connecticut has twice
> that rate," said Marc Mauer, executive director
> of The Sentencing
> Project.
>
> Put another way, the national ratios suggest that
> out of every 100,000
> whites, 412 are incarcerated; out of every 100,000
> blacks, 2,290 are
> incarcerated; and out of every 100,000 Hispanics,
> 742 are
> incarcerated.
>
> In Connecticut, out of every 100,000 whites, 211 are
> incarcerated; out
> of every 100,000 blacks, 2,532 are jailed;
> out of every 100,000
> Hispanics, 1,401 are in prison.
>
> "If you are black and born in Connecticut, you are
> more likely to be
> incarcerated," Mauer said.
>
> He said minorities were less likely to have the
> resources to avoid
> prison when charged with a crime. "It's not that
> wealthy people don't
> commit crimes. They can afford better defense
> attorneys and pay for
> treatment programs," he said.
>
> Out of the nation's 2.2 million prisoners,
> 900,000 are black. The
> study concluded that if current trends continue,
> one in every three
> black men and one in six Hispanic men can
> expect to spend time in
> prison.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n871.a03.html
>
> ===
>
> (2) SEVEN CABINET MEMBERS ADMIT SMOKING CANNABIS IN
> YOUTH
>
> Pubdate: Fri, 20 Jul 2007
> Source: Guardian, The (UK)
> Copyright: 2007 Guardian Newspapers Limited
> Author: Patrick Wintour, The Guardian
>
> Seven cabinet members, including Jacqui Smith
> the home secretary,
> admitted yesterday they had broken the law by
> smoking cannabis.
>
> The admissions came before a government statement
> next week that will
> see ministers propose the drug's classification is
> raised from class C
> to the more serious status of class B. Possession of
> a class C drug is
> largely a non-arrestable offence.
>
> It also emerged that two members of Ms Smith's Home
> Office frontbench
> team, Vernon Coaker and Tony McNulty, smoked
> cannabis in their youth.
>
> The prime minister's spokesman insisted that Gordon
> Brown regarded it
> as a personal matter and said he did not send
> out questionnaires
> asking cabinet colleagues whether they had taken
> drugs. He did not ask
> Ms Smith about her past when he appointed her
> as home secretary
> although she will have been subject to
> positive vetting by the
> security services.
>
> Ms Smith's indiscretion - she has been described as
> sensible but fun-
> loving at university - is unlikely to cost
> her politically as
> admissions of drug taking do not usually result in a
> serious backlash.
>
> David Cameron, the Conservative leader, who has
> repeatedly refused to
> say whether he took drugs before he became a
> public figure, again
> refused to follow the cabinet's example and
> admit he had taken
> cannabis. There have been persistent rumours that he
> took more serious
> drugs in his youth.
>
> The Conservatives refused to make any political
> capital out of the
> revelations, partly due to Mr Cameron's position
> and partly because
> many members of the shadow cabinet have admitted
> they used cannabis.
>
> Ms Smith started a day of personal admissions
> before 8am yesterday
> when she talked on breakfast television about
> smoking cannabis while
> at Oxford University in the 1980s. "I did break
> the law ... I was
> wrong ... drugs are wrong," she said.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n870.a04.html
>
> ===
>
> (3) DEA FEARS SPREAD OF NEW DRUG
>
> Pubdate: Thu, 19 Jul 2007
> Source: Miami Herald (FL)
> Copyright: 2007 The Miami Herald
> Author: Dave Montgomery
>
> WASHINGTON -- Federal and state officials are
> stepping up efforts to
> block the spread of an emerging drug menace
> called cheese heroin,
> which has been blamed for the deaths of at least
> 20 young people in
> the Dallas-Fort Worth area over the past two years.
>
> The drug, a mixture of black tar heroin and cold
> medicine, sells for
> as little as $2 a hit and is being targeted at
> kids, often as an
> inducement to join a gang.
>
> Thus far, the drug is largely confined to Dallas
> and its suburbs. But
> Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and other officials warn
> that, with its low
> price and easy marketability by drug dealers,
> deadly cheese heroin
> could spread into other communities.
>
> "We're still seeing the highest concentration in
> the Dallas area, but
> last year we started to see a spread to outlying
> cities," said Jeremy
> Liebbe, a police officer with the Dallas
> Independent School District
> who has investigated nearly 250 cheese heroin
> cases. "What that tells
> us is that it isn't a problem that's going to go
> away anytime soon."
>
> Cornyn sponsored an amendment to pending Senate
> antigang legislation
> that would add cheese heroin to the list of targeted
> drugs in a youth-
> oriented media campaign sponsored by the White
> House Office of
> National Drug Control Policy.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n867.a03.html
>
> ===
>
> (4) COCAINE DRUG OF CHOICE IN EUROPE
>
> Pubdate: Wed, 18 Jul 2007
> Source: Regina Leader-Post (CN SN)
> Copyright: 2007 The Leader-Post Ltd.
> Author: Henrique Almeida, Reuters
>
> AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -- Saturday night and
> thrill-seekers from around
> the world crowd the streets of Amsterdam's red-light
> district ready to
> binge on sex, drugs and alcohol.
>
> "Hey, mister, do you want some cocaine?" a man
> mutters from a dark
> corner while a blonde prostitute removes her bra in
> a shop window, to
> lure customers into her room.
>
> It's no accident the dealer was offering cocaine
> before he moved on to
> other drugs. Cocaine use has almost tripled in
> Europe over the past
> decade, while U.S. consumption has stabilised,
> according to U.N.
> figures released in June.
>
> "There is a certain glamour to cocaine in the
> media which has become
> very appealing to all sectors of European society,"
> said Peter Thomas,
> a spokesman for European Monitoring Centre for
> Drugs and Drug
> Addiction (EMCDDA) in Lisbon.
>
> Portuguese police say a stronger euro is also
> attracting cocaine
> smugglers into European cities like Amsterdam,
> London and Madrid where
> party-goers can easily pay up to 60 euros
> ($82.78) to get high on a
> few lines of the white powder.
>
> Wholesale, the drug in Europe fetches up to
> $77,000 per kg, almost
> twice the amount it sells for in the U.S.,
> according to the U.S. Drug
> Enforcement Administration.
>
> "Dealers focus their trade in cities with
> money," Jose Braz, the
> director of the Department of Narcotics in
> Portugal, which has become
> a significant entry-point for cocaine into
> Europe, told Reuters.
> "There is more and more dirty money in euros."
>
> "There was a lot of euphoria with love-drugs like
> ecstasy 10 years ago
> but that is going away now," said an employee of
> the Magic Mushroom
> Smartshop near Amsterdam's night club scene in
> Rembrandtplein square.
> He identified himself simply as AR.
>
> "Coke is cold and ego-boosting and allows people to
> forget about their
> insecurities. I suppose the world is becoming a
> colder place these
> days," he added.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n863.a10.html
>
>
***********************************************************************
>
> WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW
>
=======================================================================
>
> Domestic News- Policy
> ----------------------------------
>
> COMMENT: (5-8)
>
> The U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform
> Committee believes
> ONDCP representatives may have broken a 1994
> law by appearing at
> several republican campaign events. The
> supporting documents were
> found during an ongoing and broader investigation.
>
> After decades of blaming Mexico for allowing
> illegal drugs to flow
> into the US, the tables turned as Mexico claims
> illegal weapons from
> the north are fueling the recent explosion of
> violence. A Dallas
> Morning News editorial explains their fear as
> this violence
> continues to spill across the border and is
> now being directed
> towards U.S. reporters. Still, they refuse to
> point a finger at
> prohibition.
>
> On a lighter note, a pioneer LSD maker's
> visit to the bay area
> spurred a story in the San Francisco Chronicle.
> The article reveals
> he was much more than just the creator of
> the infamous Owsley
> Purple.
>
> ===
>
> (5) WHITE HOUSE HAD DRUG OFFICIALS APPEAR WITH GOP
> CANDIDATES
>
> Pubdate: Wed, 18 Jul 2007
> Source: Washington Post (DC)
> Author: Michael A. Fletcher, Washington Post Staff
> Writer
>
> White House officials arranged for top
> officials at the Office of
> National Drug Control Policy to help as many
> as 18 vulnerable
> Republican congressmen by making appearances and
> sometimes
> announcing new federal grants in the
> lawmakers' districts in the
> months leading up to the November 2006
> elections, a Democratic
> lawmaker said yesterday.
>
> Rep. Henry A. Waxman ( Calif. ), chairman of the
> House Oversight and
> Government Reform Committee, said documents
> obtained by his panel
> suggest that the appearances by the drug control
> officials were part
> of a larger White House effort to politicize
> the work of federal
> agencies that "may be more widespread than
> previously known."
>
> Waxman cited a memo written by former White House
> political director
> Sara M. Taylor showing that John P. Walters,
> director of the drug
> control office, and his deputies traveled at
> taxpayer expense to
> about 20 events with vulnerable GOP members of
> Congress in the three
> months leading up to the elections.
>
> [snip]
>
> The drug control office has had a history of
> being nonpartisan, and
> a 1994 law bars the agency's officials from
> engaging in political
> activities even on their own time.
>
> Waxman's investigation is part of a broad effort
> by Congress to look
> into White House political involvement in federal
> agencies. So far,
> Democratic lawmakers have found evidence that
> White House officials
> were involved with the firings of nine U.S.
> attorneys and that Rove
> deputies made presentations to officials at
> the General Services
> Administration and other agencies about
> Democrats targeted for
> defeat by the GOP in 2008.
>
> The new disclosure comes after former surgeon
> general Richard H.
> Carmona testified last week that the White House
> routinely blocked
> him from speaking out on politically sensitive
> public health matters
> such as stem cell research and abstinence-only
> sex education.
> Carmona also said he was asked to make appearances
> to help
> Republican candidates and discouraged from travel
> that might help a
> liberal politician.
>
> [snip]
>
> White House officials denied that Walters or
> other drug policy
> officials were directed to make appearances in an
> effort to prop up
> GOP candidates. Likewise, Taylor said through her
> attorney that she
> ran the White House political office no
> differently than her
> predecessors had under former presidents.
>
> [snip]
>
> But in the three months immediately leading up to
> the 2006 election,
> Walters or his deputies held events almost
> exclusively with GOP
> officials, many of whom were embroiled in tough
> reelection
> campaigns.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n862/a04.html
>
> ===
>
> (6) OPED: AMERICAN GUNS HELP FUEL MEXICO'S DRUG
> TRADE KILLINGS
>
> Pubdate: Sun, 15 Jul 2007
> Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
> Copyright: 2007 Hearst Communications Inc.
> Author: Louis E.V. Nevaer
> Note: Louis E.V. Nevaer is author of "HR and the New
> Hispanic Workforce," a
> book about Latinos in the labor force. This article
> was written for New
> America Media.
>
> Mexico City -- For more than a decade,
> Mexico has had military
> checkpoints on all northbound highways leading to
> the United States.
> It's part of the campaign to crack down on the
> flow of drugs to the
> United States. This summer, things have
> changed, and Mexico's
> military is inspecting vehicles traveling on the
> southbound lanes,
> checking for shipments of weapons.
>
> This reversal is testament to the dangers
> Mexico faces, bordering
> the United States, a country unable to secure its
> own borders, where
> assault and paramilitary weapons are sold to
> anyone with ready cash.
>
> "We are concerned about the number of weapons
> coming into Mexico and
> Central America illegally from the United
> States," Attorney General
> Alberto Gonzales said last month when he was
> attending a conference
> in Cuernavaca, south of Mexico City. "There is
> more that we can do,
> and we are looking to do, to try and stem
> the flow of illegal
> weapons into Mexico."
>
> Mexican officials are frantic over the
> escalation of violence --
> more than a thousand people have been slain
> throughout the country
> in the first six months of this year in
> drug-related violence as
> drug cartels establish new leaders to replace the
> ones who have been
> arrested and extradited to the United States.
>
> [snip]
>
> Combat-style rifles pour into Mexico, and this
> has escalated since
> the end of the U.S. Assault Weapons Ban in
> 2004. "In the United
> States, all you need is a pile of cash to buy
> all the weapons you
> want," said Santiago Vasconcelos. "These weapons
> are being sold like
> candy."
>
> The expiration of the Assault Weapons Ban has
> made it possible for
> assault rifles, including the AR-15, AK-47
> copies and the TEC-9
> pistols, which were banned, along with 16 other
> types of
> semiautomatic weapons, to be shipped throughout
> Mexico. The AK-15, a
> version of the U.S. Army's famous M16, and the
> AK-47, of Russian
> design, have been used in recent
> execution-style killings among
> rival gangs, and in attacks on Mexican police
> officers and soldiers.
>
> [snip]
>
> The White House claims that it is doing all it
> can: Joint police
> forces along the border look for weapons leaving
> the United States,
> Mexican police are equipped with X-ray scanners,
> and border cities
> have stepped up their gun "buy-back" programs.
>
> This has proved to be ineffectual: Mexico's
> military took over the
> airport at Mexicali to prevent shipments of
> smuggled weapons from
> being flown into the interior of the country;
> Mexico now X-rays all
> baggage arriving from U.S. flights into
> Mexico, because U.S.
> airlines do not prevent passengers from
> carrying weapons in their
> checked luggage; and the mandatory military
> checkpoints along the
> highways have seized more than 11,000 weapons in
> the first half of
> this year.
>
> Mexico has strong gun control laws. In a
> country of 110 million
> people, there are fewer than 6,000 legally
> registered guns. But it
> is now reeling from the gun-related violence.
> Making matters worse
> is the refusal of American officials to be
> on the same page.
> Although Gonzales admitted that the "iron
> river" of weapons was a
> problem, months ago, Homeland Security
> Secretary Michael Chertoff
> told Congress: "I don't know where the weapons come
> from."
>
> That infuriated Mexican officials. "The ATF's
> Operation Gunrunner
> knows where these weapons are coming from," fumed
> Santiago
> Vasconcelos.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n853/a08.html
>
> ===
>
> (7) EDITORIAL: A DIRECT THREAT
>
> Pubdate: Tue, 17 Jul 2007
> Source: Dallas Morning News (TX)
> Copyright: 2007 The Dallas Morning News
>
> Zetas Bring Fear of Violence to Our Back Yard
>
> It's a rare moment when American journalism
> goes into retreat.
> Reporters have been on the front lines of every
> U.S. conflict from
> World War II to Iraq. The presses have
> continued to roll despite
> earthquakes and hurricanes, riots and domestic
> political turmoil
> such as Watergate.
>
> That's because the dangers and threats always
> paled in comparison to
> the goal of keeping the public informed. But
> today, journalists are
> under direct threat and in retreat at
> America's doorstep because
> drug traffickers do not like the uncomfortable
> attention U.S.
> reporters are giving to their bloody enterprise.
>
> Last week, newspapers received word that the
> Zetas, Mafia-style hit
> squads working for drug traffickers, are
> threatening to kill an
> American reporter in Laredo. The San Antonio
> Express News decided to
> pull its reporter temporarily from the paper's
> Laredo bureau. The
> Dallas Morning News, which regularly covers
> cartel operations in
> Nuevo Laredo, also is taking precautions.
>
> [snip]
>
> One can only speculate why a group of killers,
> rich with drug money
> and obviously unconcerned about public opinion
> polls, would care
> what the U.S. news media report about them.
> But it's clear that
> these groups rule by fear. And when the
> public loses access to
> information, manipulation by fear becomes far
> easier.
>
> Last month, we decried the closure of Cambio
> Sonora because it
> signaled the slow death of civilized, sane
> discourse in Mexico.
> Cambio 's reporters and editors are not to blame
> because it's their
> government's job to provide for the public
> safety, and it has
> failed.
>
> We shudder to think that, now, we must sound a
> similar alert right
> here in Texas.
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n860/a07.html
>
> ===
>
> (8) FOR THE UNREPENTANT PATRIARCH OF LSD, LONG,
> STRANGE TRIP WINDS
> BACK TO BAY AREA
>
> Pubdate: Thu, 12 Jul 2007
> Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
> Copyright: 2007 Hearst Communications Inc.
> Author: Joel Selvin, Chronicle Senior Pop Music
> Critic
>
> The small, barefoot man in black T-shirt and blue
> jeans barely rates
> a second glance from the other Starbucks
> patrons in downtown San
> Rafael, although he is one of the men who
> virtually made the '60s.
> Because Augustus Owsley Stanley III has spent
> his life avoiding
> photographs, few people would know what he looks
> like.
>
> The name Owsley became a noun that appears in the
> Oxford dictionary
> as English street slang for good acid. It is the
> most famous brand
> name in LSD history. Probably the first
> private individual to
> manufacture the psychedelic, "Owsley" is a folk hero
> of the
> counterculture, celebrated in songs by the
> Grateful Dead and Steely
> Dan.
>
> For more than 20 years, Stanley -- at 72, still
> known as the Bear --
> has been living with his wife, Sheila, off the
> grid, in the outback
> of Queensland, Australia, where he makes small
> gold and enamel
> sculptures and keeps in touch with the world
> through the Internet.
>
> As a planned two-week visit to the Bay Area
> stretched to three, four
> and then five weeks, Bear agreed to give The
> Chronicle an interview
> because a friend asked him. He has rarely
> consented to speak to the
> press about his life, his work or his
> unconventional thinking on
> matters such as the coming ice age or his all-meat
> diet.
>
> [snip]
>
> By conservative estimates, Bear Research Group
> made more than 1.25
> million doses of LSD between 1965 and 1967,
> essentially seeding the
> entire modern psychedelic movement.
>
> Less well known are Bear's contributions to rock
> concert sound. As
> the original sound mixer for the Grateful Dead,
> he was responsible
> for fundamental advances in audio technology,
> things as basic now as
> monitor speakers that allow vocalists to hear
> themselves onstage.
>
> [snip]
>
> He found the recipe for making LSD in the
> Journal of Organic
> Chemistry at the UC Berkeley library. Soon after,
> Bear began to cook
> acid.
>
> The Berkeley police raided his first lab in 1966
> and confiscated a
> substance that they claimed was methedrine. When
> it turned out to be
> something else -- probably a component of LSD
> -- Bear not only
> walked free but successfully sued the cops for the
> return of his lab
> equipment.
>
> By the time he made a special batch called
> Monterey Purple for the
> 1967 Monterey Pop Festival -- Owsley Purple was
> the secret smile on
> Jimi Hendrix's face that night -- "Owsley"
> was an underground
> legend.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n844/a09.html
>
>
=======================================================================
>
> Law Enforcement & Prisons
> -------------------------
>
> COMMENT: (9-14)
>
> Some disturbing reports came out of Florida
> this week. Two cover
> alleged police misconduct and another reveals an
> incredible "deal"
> for a narc.
>
> After years of severe overcrowding and recent
> federal threats,
> California officials seem to finally be taking
> steps towards solving
> their bloated prison industrial complex. One
> article discusses
> improvements to inmate substance abuse
> treatment programs while
> another reveals a much lower rate of parolees
> being returned to
> prison.
>
> Thankfully, LEAP can always be counted on to end
> this section on a
> positive note.
>
> ===
>
> (9) WOMAN SAYS BRADENTON POLICE TRADED MONEY, DRUGS
> FOR SEX
>
> Pubdate: Sat, 14 Jul 2007
> Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune (FL)
> Copyright: 2007 Sarasota Herald-Tribune
> Author: Anthony Cormier and Michael A. Scarcella
>
> BRADENTON - On May 30, a woman in jail on
> prostitution charges was
> pulled from her cell by a Bradenton police
> internal affairs officer
> and taken to police headquarters, according to
> jail records.
>
> For three hours, Dawn Marie Gibson said she
> described to the
> investigators how she had sex numerous times with
> on-duty Bradenton
> police officers in a patrol car, at a substation
> and in alleyways.
>
> She said the officers gave her money and crack
> cocaine and offered
> her protection from arrest in exchange for the sex
> acts. The head of
> the police department's internal affairs division
> acknowledged that
> Gibson was taken from jail and interviewed.
>
> The day after the interview, Bradenton officer
> William Anderson
> resigned. Two days later, officer Larry Pritchett
> resigned.
>
> At about that time, decorated undercover agent
> Pete Biddlecome took
> a leave of absence. He resigned five weeks later,
> despite a service
> record that included recognition as officer of the
> year.
>
> [snip]
>
> Gibson claimed an officer once had oral sex
> with her and gave her
> five pieces of crack cocaine.
>
> She said the men offered to protect Gibson and
> her friends, looking
> the other way if they were caught up in
> undercover stings along
> Tamiami Trail. When she turned down the offer to
> be a confidential
> informant, Gibson said the officers remained
> persistent.
>
> She claimed that officers tailed her to her
> mother's house in the
> Manatee Woods apartment complex, picked her up
> outside motels and
> drove her to remote parts of the city. Her mother,
> Judy Dillon, said
> she saw officers' cars parked outside her home.
>
> Some of the officers, Gibson said, wanted sex and
> promised to "make
> old warrants go away" while protecting her
> from future arrests.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n841/a07.html
>
> ===
>
> (10) WOMAN, 65, SAYS SARASOTA DEPUTY KNOCKED HER
> DOWN
>
> Pubdate: Sat, 14 Jul 2007
> Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune (FL)
> Copyright: 2007 Sarasota Herald-Tribune
> Author: Todd Ruger
>
> SARASOTA -- A 65-year-old Arkansas woman is
> suing the sheriff,
> saying a deputy slammed her to the ground
> during a raid at the
> Sarasota house where she was staying.
>
> Patsy Croom came to visit her son in Sarasota
> when his wife died in
> 2004, and she was sunning herself in the yard when
> the raid started,
> the federal lawsuit filed this week states.
>
> Earlier in the day, an undercover U.S. Postal
> Service investigator
> came up to her as she watered flowers and asked
> her to sign for a
> package, Croom's lawsuit states.
>
> During the conversation, Croom told him the
> sunning made her
> rheumatoid arthritis feel better and she showed
> him scars from past
> surgeries for the disease.
>
> About 30 minutes later, deputies wearing masks
> and carrying guns
> descended on her, yelling at her to get on the
> ground. She told them
> her arthritis prevented her from getting down
> quickly.
>
> A deputy then put his foot on her back and pushed
> her to the ground.
> Croom said she suffered a torn rotator cuff and
> herniated disc, the
> lawsuit claims.
>
> She says the deputy who knocked her down was the
> one who planned the
> raid and directed all the law enforcement on the
> scene.
>
> Croom is asking for more than $75,000 in damages.
>
> The raid led to the arrest of Tashko Dinev, 32,
> another resident of
> the house, on charges of possession of illegal
> prescription drugs.
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n849/a04.html
>
> ===
>
> (11) WITNESS URGED SUSPECT TO SELL HIM MORE DRUGS
>
> Pubdate: Thu, 12 Jul 2007
> Source: Tampa Tribune (FL)
> Copyright: 2007 The Tribune Co.
> Author: Elaine Silvestrini, The Tampa Tribune
>
> He Helped DEA as Part of Plea Deal
>
> TAMPA - The prosecution's key witness in an
> overdose death case
> testified Wednesday he encouraged the defendant
> to sell him larger
> quantities of drugs.
>
> Brandon Erwin is standing trial on drug
> distribution charges and a
> charge that he is criminally responsible for
> the November 2005
> overdose death of Andrew Culver, a 35-year-old
> businessman who
> authorities say bought cocaine and methadone from
> Erwin.
>
> Erwin worked part time as a host in the Blue
> Martini nightclub in
> International Plaza. The key witness, Stephen
> Wilkinson, was free on
> bail after being arrested on drug distribution
> charges when he met
> Erwin and others in the club and told law
> enforcement he could
> provide information about drug dealing in the club.
>
> Wilkinson testified he was trying to find a way to
> provide
> "substantial assistance" to authorities in
> order to receive more
> lenient treatment in his own case.
>
> He was facing a minimum of 15 years behind
> bars and, after his
> cooperation, wound up with a year of probation,
> he said Wednesday
> under cross-examination from defense attorney Rachel
> May.
>
> "Kind of hit a home run, huh?" May remarked.
>
> Wilkinson didn't respond.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n835/a13.html
>
> ===
>
> (12) COLUMN: STATE COMMITS TO FIXING PRISON
> ADDICTION PROGRAMS
>
> Pubdate: Thu, 12 Jul 2007
> Source: Sacramento Bee (CA)
> Copyright: 2007 The Sacramento Bee
> Author: Daniel Weintraub
>
> It would be difficult to imagine a more
> scathing indictment of a
> government program than the Inspector General's
> report earlier this
> year on California's services for prison inmates
> addicted to alcohol
> and drugs.
>
> The programs, the report said, were almost a
> complete failure. There
> was no evidence that they were preventing
> inmates from committing
> new crimes after their release from prison. And
> remarkably, inmates
> who went through some of the programs were
> returning to prison at
> higher rates than criminals who got no treatment at
> all.
>
> [snip]
>
> "Overall, the state appears to be receiving
> almost no value for its
> $36 million annual investment in in-prison
> substance abuse treatment
> services," the audit concluded. "And because less
> than 10 percent of
> inmates who participate in in-prison substance
> abuse programs also
> attend aftercare for at least 90 days -- which
> studies show to be
> crucial in reducing recidivism -- the entire $143
> million the state
> spends each year for in-prison and aftercare
> substance abuse
> treatment combined appears to be wasted."
>
> That kind of critique would usually generate a
> defensive response
> from the bureaucracy. Excuses. Explanations.
> Finger-pointing.
>
> But something different happened in this case.
> The Department of
> Corrections and Rehabilitation essentially agreed
> with the Inspector
> General's conclusions. There was some quibbling
> about the details,
> but nobody tried to claim that the
> anti-addiction programs were
> actually a success.
>
> Since then, the department has hired Kathy
> Jett, formerly the
> state's highly regarded director of Drug and
> Alcohol Programs, to
> come run the prison programs for addicts. Jett
> was named a deputy
> director of the department, elevating her role
> and giving her more
> clout to do her job.
>
> [snip]
>
> Jett said that fixing the broken programs will
> be crucial to the
> Schwarzenegger administration's ability to keep
> its commitment to
> overhaul and vastly improve all rehabilitation
> efforts throughout
> the state's 170,000-inmate prison system.
>
> "The substance abuse program is a cornerstone of
> rehabilitation for
> the institutions," Jett said. "I believe
> strongly that we must get
> this right."
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n836/a01.html
>
> ===
>
> (13) FEWER CALIFORNIA PAROLE VIOLATORS BEING SENT
> BACK TO JAIL
>
> Pubdate: Fri, 13 Jul 2007
> Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
> Copyright: 2007 San Jose Mercury News
> Author: Edwin Garcia
>
> Rehab Option Helps Cut Overcrowding
>
> SACRAMENTO - Prison officials in Gov. Arnold
> Schwarzenegger's
> administration acknowledged Thursday that some
> parole violators are
> no longer being sent back to prison - part of a
> philosophical shift
> that will reduce overcrowding in the state's
> prisons.
>
> The state's parole chief insisted that most of
> those being given a
> second chance are not violent offenders, but
> the notion that an
> increasing number of parolees are getting a
> break rankles some
> tough-on-crime advocates and conservative lawmakers.
>
> Nearly 10,000 more parolees are on the streets
> today than last July,
> according to the California Department of
> Corrections and
> Rehabilitation - an 8.4 percent increase that
> far outpaces the
> growth in the prison population, which was just
> 0.6 per cent over
> that same time.
>
> When asked about those numbers, administration
> officials
> acknowledged Thursday that, indeed, parole agents
> are directing more
> parolees into rehabilitation programs instead of
> prisons,
> particularly for minor violations that used to
> keep them locked up
> for months.
>
> The change in direction - hailed by
> parole-reform advocates and
> criminal defense attorneys - occurred quietly at a
> time when federal
> judges are threatening to impose a population
> cap for the state's
> prison system. Currently, 173,000 inmates are
> packed into space
> built for 100,000.
>
> [snip]
>
> Last month, the state's rehabilitation
> oversight board suggested
> that a policy shift on parolees was
> warranted, but the numbers
> suggest that parole commissioners had already
> stopped sending some
> parole violators back to prison. The parolee
> population has jumped
> to 127,151 from 117,354 over the past year.
>
> [snip]
>
> Assemblywoman Sally Lieber, D-Mountain View, a
> proponent of parole
> and sentencing reform, doubted the administration
> was succeeding in
> solving overcrowding.
>
> "So they've got more people in prison, and
> more people on parole
> than last year, and they're claiming victory?"
> she said. "I think
> they've got to keep working on it. I don't
> think they've got it
> solved yet."
>
> [snip]
>
> Schwarzenegger is a firm believer in recently
> enacted legislation,
> AB 900, which promises to build tens of thousands
> of prison and jail
> beds, and tie them to rehabilitation programs.
> And he has stated
> repeatedly that he will not release violent
> inmates from prison.
>
> His administration also is pleading with the
> federal court to not
> impose a prison population cap but instead allow
> the state to solve
> the overcrowding crisis through a number of
> measures, including
> rehabilitation of inmates who are addicted to drugs.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n839/a11.html
>
> ===
>
> (14) WAR ON DRUGS A FAILURE, RETIRED POLICE OFFICER
> SAYS
>
> Pubdate: Thu, 12 Jul 2007
> Source: Morning News, The (Springdale, AR)
> Copyright: 2007 The Stephens Media Group
> Author: John Lyon, The Morning News
>
> NORTH LITTLE ROCK -- America's war on drugs has
> done more to spur
> the drug trade than throttle it, said a former
> big-city cop who now
> advocates legalizing narcotics.
>
> "The war on drugs has been one of the biggest
> public policy failures
> this country has ever seen," former Denver police
> Lt. Tony Ryan, who
> was in Arkansas on Thursday as part of a speaking
> tour organized by
> Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, an
> nonprofit organization
> founded in 2002 that claims existing drug
> policies have failed.
>
> [snip]
>
> Ryan said in the decades since the Nixon
> administration launched the
> drug war, drugs have become stronger, cheaper and
> easier to obtain.
> About $69 billion is spent every year on drug
> enforcement, yet the
> percentage of Americans with drug addictions has
> remained constant
> at about 1.3 percent, he said.
>
> "In this country, which has 5 percent of the
> world's population, we
> have 25 percent of the world's prison
> population," he said. "About
> 28 percent of our prison population are people
> who were sentenced
> for drug possession -- drug possession, not
> even for sale or
> distribution."
>
> Ryan said 1.9 million Americans are arrested
> every year on drug
> charges, 760,000 of them on marijuana charges.
> Of the marijuana
> arrests, 88 percent are for simple possession, he
> said.
>
> A better approach, Ryan said, would be to
> legalize narcotics and
> allow the government to control and regulate
> them as it does other
> drugs. He said the government would do well to
> follow the examples
> of European countries such as Switzerland and The
> Netherlands, where
> drug addiction is regarded more as a health and
> social issue than a
> crime.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n836/a04.html
>
>
=======================================================================
>
> Cannabis & Hemp-
> ---------------------------
>
> COMMENT: (15-18)
>
> With about 250 marijuana or hemp related articles
> MAP archived since
> the last DSW, it is not easy to decide on four
> or five to call to
> your attention. The first reminds us that next
> week, the U.S. House
> of Representatives is expected to vote on the 2007
> Hinchey-Rohrabacher medical marijuana amendment.
> Have you contacted
> your congresscritter?
>
> A columnist points out New York City's version
> of reefer madness.
> The dedicated efforts of medicinal marijuana
> activists in
> conservative Orange County, California, are
> successful.
>
> And in Canada, while marijuana arrests rise, the
> laws remain under
> legal attack.
>
> ===
>
> (15) EDITORIAL: NEW CHALLENGES FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA
>
> Pubdate: Thu, 19 Jul 2007
> Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
> Copyright: 2007 Los Angeles Times
>
> [snip]
>
> THE DRUG ENFORCEMENT Administration has notified
> more than 150 Los
> Angeles property owners that their fortunes and
> their sacred honor
> are forfeit to the state. What crime must a
> landlady commit to
> deserve this punishment? Renting to a tenant who
> operates a medical
> marijuana dispensary. The DEA sent out letters
> last week notifying
> owners that they stand to lose their properties
> and face 20 years in
> prison for allowing their buildings to be used
> for "unlawfully ...
> distributing or using a controlled substance."
>
> The only good news in this deplorable new
> bullying tactic by the
> federal drug cops is that if you're a property
> owner, your least-bad
> option is fairly clear. You can honor the will of
> California voters,
> allow the dispensary to stay and lose your
> property, or you can
> evict the tenant and risk a costly lawsuit. You're
> better off taking
> your chances with the lawsuit, although the DEA
> will not admit this.
> A representative of the agency's L.A. office
> uses the Orwellian
> phrase "these letters were merely to educate
> property owners," but
> concedes that in fact the letters serve to weaken
> the legal position
> of landlords.
>
> That's because the Civil Asset Forfeiture
> Reform Act of 2000
> specifies that landlords must have provable
> knowledge of drug
> activities to be subject to asset forfeiture. The
> DEA's
> letter-writing campaign establishes that paper
> trail, while coyly
> avoiding giving property owners any advice
> about what to do. The
> agency confirms, however, that the "long-term
> goal" is to get
> landlords to evict dispensaries. Nor is this
> strictly a private
> property matter; public property is at risk,
> as the city of West
> Hollywood found out a few years ago when the DEA
> seized $300,000 the
> city had provided to help purchase a building
> for a dispensary.
>
> As they have for the last several years,
> Reps. Dana Rohrabacher
> (R-Huntington Beach) and Maurice D. Hinchey (D-N.Y.)
> are sponsoring
> an amendment that would kill funding for federal
> efforts to preempt
> state medical marijuana initiatives, and although
> Congress should in
> general avoid this kind of procedural finagling,
> it would at least
> halt the DEA's efforts to thwart the will of
> voters and legislatures
> in 12 states. And if the DEA refuses to
> listen, Congress should
> consider doing away with civil asset forfeiture
> altogether.
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n867/a05.html
>
> ===
>
> (16) COLUMN: ARRESTS FOR POT ARE EXCESSIVE
>
> Pubdate: Mon, 16 Jul 2007
> Source: Newsday (NY)
> Copyright: 2007 Newsday Inc.
> Author: Sheryl McCarthy
>
> 'I call it an epidemic of marijuana arrests. New
> York City has been
> on a binge of marijuana arrests for the last 10
> years."
>
> "I would call it a dragnet."
>
> These are the conclusions of Harry Levine, a
> professor of sociology
> at Queens College, and Deborah Small, director of
> Break the Chains,
> a nonprofit drug policy reform group and a
> longtime advocate of
> changing the city's drug policies.
>
> The two, who are studying the city's marijuana
> arrest policy, want
> to see the police give summonses to people who
> are caught smoking
> marijuana in public or with small amounts of
> marijuana on them,
> instead of the current practice of arresting
> them and jailing them
> overnight.
>
> According to arrest data from the New York
> State Division of
> Criminal Justice Services, the number of
> arrests for marijuana
> possession skyrocketed from about 10,000 in 1996
> to more than 50,000
> in 2000. The arrests have tapered off
> somewhat since then, but
> remain high: 33,000 arrests for marijuana
> possession last year.
>
> [snip]
>
> Marijuana arrests in the city surged in the
> late 1990s as part of
> Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's quality-of-life policing
> strategy, and have
> continued under Mayor Michael Bloomberg. But
> although early law
> enforcement efforts concentrated on heavily
> trafficked public areas
> like Central Park and midtown Manhattan, the
> efforts shifted to
> lower-income black and Latino communities, the
> studies say.
>
> [snip]
>
> "We're socializing black and Latino youths to
> the criminal justice
> system," Levine says. "We're teaching them how to
> be in the system."
> It's like telling them this is a rehearsal for a
> future of getting
> arrested and spending time in jail, Small says.
>
> [snip]
>
> Arresting people, especially teenagers, for
> smoking a joint, passing
> one to a friend, or having a small bag of
> marijuana needs to stop.
> Far more serious crimes are going on. And no
> parent of a teenager
> wants to see her kid thrown in jail and treated
> like a criminal for
> a minor transgression that could be handled with a
> summons.
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n851/a01.html
>
> ===
>
> (17) O.C. TO LICENSE MEDICAL MARIJUANA
>
> Pubdate: Wed, 18 Jul 2007
> Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
> Copyright: 2007 Los Angeles Times
> Author: Christian Berthelsen, Times Staff Writer
>
> Orange County will begin licensing medical
> marijuana use and issuing
> identification cards to patients who are entitled
> to it under a plan
> approved by county supervisors Tuesday.
>
> The decision marked a surprise turnabout from just
> three months ago,
> when the proposal initially seemed doomed to
> failure.
>
> Under the plan, the county will create a system to
> identify patients
> eligible to use marijuana for medical
> purposes, and issue them
> identification cards, validate prescriptions and
> monitor the
> qualifications of care providers who dispense the
> drug.
>
> It was a departure from Orange County's usual
> conservative position,
> one that overrode objections by the county's
> top law enforcement
> officials and put the county squarely in the
> middle of a years-long
> tussle between federal and state governments
> over the legality of
> marijuana use for medical purposes.
>
> [snip]
>
> Since the issue first surfaced three months ago
> in Orange County,
> advocates of medical marijuana use have
> lobbied intensely to
> convince the supervisors of its worth, and
> ultimately succeeded in
> changing enough minds to win a decisive 4-1 vote.
>
> Advocates said their pitch to the
> all-Republican board focused on
> fiscal soundness -- that issuing the IDs
> would eliminate wasted
> court costs and prosecution time on medical
> possession cases.
>
> Though 32 other counties, including Los Angeles
> and Riverside, have
> already moved forward with plans, getting Orange
> County's approval
> was a milestone.
>
> "By having this in Orange County, it sends a
> message to other
> counties throughout California that it's time to
> move forward," said
> Aaron Smith, the statewide coordinator for
> Safe Access Now, a
> medical marijuana advocacy group. "If Orange
> County can do it,
> anybody can do it."
>
> The bill's passage was also a testament to the
> vociferous advocacy
> of board Chairman Chris Norby, who first floated
> the proposal, and
> the consensus-building skill of Supervisor Bill
> Campbell, who
> resuscitated the proposal after it failed on a
> first vote by getting
> supervisors to find enough common ground to give
> it another chance.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n864/a05.html
>
> ===
>
> (18) POT ARREST HIKE WORRIES LAW EXPERTS
>
> Pubdate: Wed, 18 Jul 2007
> Source: Chronicle Herald (CN NS)
> Copyright: 2007 The Halifax Herald Limited
> Cited: http://cannabislink.ca/legal/r_vs_long.htm
>
> TORONTO (CP) - Ottawa needs to fix
> long-standing loopholes and
> inconsistencies in Canada's marijuana laws to
> help the justice
> system contend with a surge of court cases
> resulting from the
> Conservative government's new zeal for
> enforcement, legal experts
> say.
>
> With witnesses reporting a dramatic increase
> in the number of
> possession cases before the courts, those familiar
> with the
> intricacies of the law say it remains
> vulnerable to the argument
> that Canada's medicinal marijuana program renders it
> unconstitutional.
>
> "Every time a judge calls into question our
> marijuana laws, it
> undercuts the legitimacy of the law," said
> Alan Young, a Osgoode
> Hall law professor and veteran of the
> long-standing debate about
> marijuana, its medicinal benefits and
> decriminalizing its
> possession.
>
> Four years after Ottawa supposedly closed off
> a complex legal
> loophole that effectively rendered the law
> unenforceable, an Ontario
> Court judge agreed Friday that the law governing
> pot possession in
> Canada was unconstitutional.
>
> The Liberal government's decision in 2003 to allow
> eligible patients
> access to marijuana for medicinal reasons was
> made by an informal
> policy statement and never changed the existing
> statutes or
> regulations, Lawyer Bryan McAllister argued.
>
> "It is a departmental policy that can be
> changed at whim, or even
> ignored," McAllister said in an interview.
>
> "An aggrieved party cannot go to court to
> seek enforcement of a
> government policy."
>
> Without a clause that makes an exception for
> medicinal marijuana
> users, "the policy is not enshrined in law, it has
> no value, and the
> law as it stands is unconstitutional," McAllister
> said.
>
> [snip]
>
> Eric Nash, who has testified as an expert
> witness in a number of
> cannabis cases across Canada, said the number of
> cases he has been
> involved in has "tripled" in recent months.
>
> "All of the sudden there seems to be a huge
> increase in the number
> of marijuana possession cases going to court," Nash
> said.
>
> That's because the number of people arrested
> for smoking pot rose
> dramatically in several Canadian cities last year
> after the
> Conservatives took office and killed Liberal
> legislation to
> decriminalize small amounts of marijuana.
>
> Preliminary figures suggested the number of
> arrests jumped by more
> than one-third in several Canadian cities;
> Toronto, Vancouver,
> Ottawa and Halifax all reported increases of
> between 20 and 50 per
> cent in 2006.
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n863/a05.html
>
>
=======================================================================
>
> International News
> ---------------------------
>
> COMMENT: (19-21)
>
> When the fortunes of your political party are
> waning because of
> failing foreign adventures, what's a politician to
> do for diversion?
> Go after pot smokers, of course! In the UK,
> prime minister Gordon
> Brown surprised onlookers by ordering a review of
> the laws that have
> lessened the penalties for cannabis use. The
> move follows a media
> flap over "concerns" and "fears" that "potent
> 'skunk'" cannabis is
> causing youth to become "psychotic". The UK
> government will release
> a report next week which is expected to call for
> greater punishment
> ("enforcement") for cannabis use. In the UK,
> penalties for
> possessing small amounts of cannabis were
> reduced in 2004 after a
> re-classification from "Class B" to a less-serious
> "Class C". Former
> Home Secretary David Blunkett, author of the
> reclassification of
> cannabis in 2004, noted that cannabis use has
> actually dropped.
> "[C]annabis use amongst young people has fallen
> and the campaign to
> educate and inform young people has been the
> most successful
> government information programme in recent years."
>
> In France, a new national study that shows
> teenagers are using more
> cannabis than ever before. "Our studies show
> that they are turning
> to cannabis because its effects reinforce
> their state of mind
> without fundamentally altering it. They don't
> want to get wasted,"
> said Jean-Michel Costes, author of the study
> and director of the
> drugs and addiction group, OFDT. The upsurge in
> French youth using
> cannabis follows the passage of harsher
> punishments for cannabis
> possession enacted in France in 2004.
>
> If you're a "Justice" Minister in Ireland, you've
> got a bully pulpit
> from which to rail against those "who make
> the argument for
> decriminalisation". Best of all, you needn't
> provide any evidence
> whatsoever for your assertions. Irish Justice
> Minister Brian Lenihan
> did just that last week when he announced
> decriminalizing or
> legalizing "drugs" would worsen crime and
> dependency. "The harm that
> would be done by going down that road would far
> exceed any benefits
> that might be gained from it," proclaimed the
> prescient minister. He
> added, "We have seen a spate of savage
> killings. Sometimes, they
> happen because of rows that take place related to
> the drugs trade."
>
> Why don't we see Pfizer or Bayer act this way?
>
> ===
>
> (19) REVIEW HERALDS U-TURN ON CLASSIFICATION OF
> CANNABIS AS 'SOFT'
> DRUG
>
> Pubdate: Thu, 19 Jul 2007
> Source: Times, The (UK)
> Copyright: 2007 Times Newspapers Ltd
> Author: Richard Ford, Home Correspondent
>
> Gordon Brown signalled a tougher approach to
> "soft" drugs yesterday
> with a surprise announcement of the second
> review in two years of
> the classification of cannabis.
>
> Concern has been raised over the increased
> use of more potent
> "skunk" forms of the drug. There have been
> fears that its use is
> linked to psychotic illness, depression and
> suicide among young
> people.
>
> [snip]
>
> Next week, Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, will
> publish a
> consultation paper on the next steps for the
> Government's drug
> strategy, focusing on education and enforcement.
>
> Mr Brown told MPs at Prime Minister's
> Questions: "As part of the
> consultation, and the Cabinet discussed this
> yesterday, the Home
> Secretary will also consult on whether it is now
> right that cannabis
> should be moved from Class C to Class B."
>
> [snip]
>
> The council said at the time that smoking cannabis
> may worsen asthma
> and damage the respiratory tract and that its
> use during pregnancy
> produced adverse effects on the child. It added
> that cannabis use
> may worsen the symptoms of schizophrenia and
> lead to a relapse in
> some patients. But it said: "For individuals,
> the current evidence
> suggests, at worst, that using cannabis increases
> the lifetime risk
> of developing schizophrenia by 1 per cent."
>
> It added: "The evidence for the existence of an
> association between
> frequency of cannabis use and the development
> of psychosis is, on
> the available evidence, weak.
>
> "In the last year, over three million people
> appear to have used
> cannabis but very few will ever develop this
> distressing and
> disabling condition.
>
> "And many people who develop schizophrenia
> have never consumed
> cannabis. Based on the available data the use of
> cannabis makes (at
> worst) only a small contribution to an
> individual's risk for
> developing schizophrenia."
>
> [snip]
>
> Mr Blunkett said in a statement that he was
> "quite relaxed" about
> the prospect of a review of his decision to
> downgrade the drug. The
> statement said: "It is worth reflecting that
> cannabis use amongst
> young people has fallen and the campaign to
> educate and inform young
> people has been the most successful government
> information programme
> in recent years."
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n869.a02.html
>
> ===
>
> (20) CANNABIS USE TREBLES IN FRANCE
>
> Pubdate: Thu, 12 Jul 2007
> Source: Daily Telegraph (UK)
> Author: Henry Samuel, in Paris
>
> French teenagers see wine and alcohol as "old
> France" and are
> increasingly turning to cannabis to let their
> hair down, according
> to a national study on its consumption.
>
> Jean-Michel Costes, head of the French drugs and
> addiction watchdog,
> OFDT, said yesterday that French cannabis use has
> soared in the past
> 15 years and is now almost on a par with Britain.
>
> While the French drink half the amount they
> did in the 1960s,
> cannabis consumption among the 18- to 35-year
> age group has more
> than trebled since the early 1990s, the report
> found.
>
> France is now just behind Britain, Spain,
> Switzerland and Europe's
> heaviest cannabis users, the Czech Republic.
>
> [snip]
>
> "Young people who want to rebel don't want the
> 'old-fashioned' image
> associated with wine and alcohol," said Mr
> Costes. "Unlike in the
> UK, binge-drinking is very uncommon - the
> French steer clear of
> hangovers or feeling ill.
>
> "Our studies show that they are turning to
> cannabis because its
> effects reinforce their state of mind without
> fundamentally altering
> it. They don't want to get wasted."
>
> [snip]
>
> "There is a general rise in the amount of
> anti-depressants taken in
> France and the precursor to this in the young is
> cannabis," he said.
>
> [snip]
>
> Marie Choquet, research head of the medical
> body Inserm, said
> yesterday that anti-cannabis legislation had
> only been in force
> since 2004.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n852.a02.html
>
> ===
>
> (21) LEGALISING DRUGS WILL ONLY WORSEN CRIME -
> LENIHAN
>
> Pubdate: Wed, 18 Jul 2007
> Source: Irish Independent (Ireland)
>
> Decriminalisation, he argued, would be a
> recipe for a vastly
> increased dependency on drugs.
>
> "The harm that would be done by going down
> that road would far
> exceed any benefits that might be gained from
> it," he told the
> MacGill Summer School in Glenties, Co Donegal.
>
> Mr Lenihan said it was nonsense to think
> Ireland could take that
> step while drugs remained controlled in other
> jurisdictions.
>
> "People who make the argument for
> decriminalisation rarely seem to
> carry its logic to its conclusion and say that
> if people stopped
> using illicit drugs then the crime associated
> with supply would
> disappear."
>
> [snip]
>
> "We have seen a spate of savage killings.
> Sometimes, they happen
> because of rows that take place related to the drugs
> trade.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n869.a04.html
>
>
***********************************************************************
>
> HOT OFF THE 'NET
> -------------------------------
>
> PAIN MEDICATION: KEEP CHILLED
>
> Why would a legitimate doctor worry about the DEA?
>
> By Jacob Sullum, July 18, 2007
>
> http://www.reason.com/news/show/121438.html
>
> ===
>
> HOW "THE LARGEST CORRUPTION STING IN THE HISTORY OF
> THE FBI" WENT AWRY
>
> The story of a FBI-sponsored orgy, the cocaine sting
> that went wrong,
> and the ensuing fall-out
>
> By Michael Marizco
>
> http://borderreporter.com/blog/?p=242
>
> ===
>
> POLITICIZATION OF THE WHITE HOUSE OFFICE OF NATIONAL
> DRUG CONTROL POLICY
>
> The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
>
> Tuesday, July 17, 2007
>
> http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1414
>
> ===
>
> CULTURAL BAGGAGE RADIO SHOW
>
> Tonight: 07/20/07 - Jack Cole, Director Law
> Enforcement Against
> Prohibition
>
> Listen Live Fridays 8:00 PM, ET, 7:00 CT,
> 6:00 MT & 5:00 PT at
> http://www.kpft.org/
>
> Last: 07/13/07 - Jay Fisher, asst Atty General in
> Georgia, a member
> of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
>
> Audio:
> http://drugtruth.net/007DTNaudio/FDBCB_071307.mp3
>
> ===
>
> SAY IT AIN'T SO, RICKY!
>
> Why are pro sports bosses so skittish about
> marijuana?
>
> By Paul Armentano and Mark Stepnoski, July 19, 2007
>
> http://www.reason.com/news/show/121497.html
>
> ===
>
> MULTIDISCIPLINARY ASSOCIATION FOR PSYCHEDELIC
> STUDIES NEWS UPDATE
>
> July 18, 2007
>
> http://www.maps.org/news/
>
>
***********************************************************************
>
> WHAT YOU CAN DO THIS WEEK
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> HINCHEY MEDICAL MARIJUANA AMENDMENT 2007
>
> On June 6, 2005, the US Supreme Court,
> unfortunately, upheld the power
> of the federal government to ban medical
> marijuana. This month
> (probably next week, mid-July, 2007), Congress will
> vote on an
> amendment that if passed would give patients the
> protection the court
> has denied. There might not be another
> Congressional vote on medical
> marijuana until next year, so your emails and
> phone calls are
> critically needed right now.
>
> http://ga0.org/campaign/hinchey2007
>
> ===
>
> VIRGINIA RESNER 1946-2007
>
> It is with deep sorrow that I inform you that
> our dear friend and
> colleague, Virginia Resner, passed away July
> 18th. We are calling
> it her "liberation" day as she is now released
> from her body and the
> suffering from her 5 1/2 year battle with breast
> cancer.
>
> Her energy, her compassion, her efforts, and her
> selfless and loving
> friendship will be greatly missed by all who knew
> her. Please light a
> candle, burn some sage, and pray for peace (which
> is what she wanted
> above all) in her honor.
>
> More details to come regarding Virginia's life and
> plans for memorial
> services.
>
> We are truly blessed to have known her and to
> have had her in our
> lives.
>
> -- Mikki Norris
>
>
***********************************************************************
>
> LETTER OF THE WEEK
> ------------------------------------
>
> WE CHOSE THOSE DRUG GANGS
>
> By Robert Guest
>
> Re: "At the End of the Line - There are hidden costs
> of recreational
> drug use," July 8 Editorials.
>
> Let me tell you why you can step away from the
> sink and put down the
> blood-washing soap: Your editorial points out
> negative externalities
> of prohibition. By choosing prohibition, we have
> chosen everything
> the editorial wants people to feel bad about.
>
> Do you really think the Taliban can supply
> heroin better than
> Pfizer? Do Colombian guerrilla armies sell us
> laptops or organic
> milk? Do we have Oak Cliff gangs enforcing
> alcohol and tobacco turf
> and selling beer to kids?
>
> If we had legal markets for drugs, those
> entities would be out of
> business. The government chose criminals and
> terrorists as our
> nation's drug suppliers. We incarcerate
> millions of Americans and
> conduct home invasion searches to enforce this
> failed policy.
>
> This misguided guilt trip from The Dallas Morning
> News is typical of
> those who do not understand that prohibition
> is the cause of our
> nation's drug problems, foreign and domestic.
> We can only win the
> drug war by ending prohibition.
>
> Until then, spare me the moral outrage.
>
> Robert Guest, Ennis
>
> Pubdate: Sun, 15 Jul 2007
> Source: Dallas Morning News (TX)
> Referenced:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n812/a01.html
>
>
***********************************************************************
>
> LETTER WRITER OF THE MONTH - JUNE
> ------------------------------------
>
> DrugSense recognizes Kirk Muse of Mesa, Arizona
> for his 20 letters
> published during June, bringing the total
> number of published
> letters archived by MAP to 915. Kirk is also a
> dedicated volunteer
> newshawk, having newshawked 542 MAP archived
> articles so far this
> year.
>
> You may read Kirk's published letters at
> http://www.mapinc.org/writer/Kirk+Muse
>
>
***********************************************************************
>
> FEATURE ARTICLE
> -------------------------------
>
> No Taxation without Representation in Court!
>
> By Sheldon Richman
>
> The July 4th holiday readily brings to mind the
> phrase "no taxation
> without representation." A major reason for the
> Americans' wish to
> be independent from the British empire was their
> belief that people
> should have a say in the tax policies imposed on
> them.
>
> Well, we got representation -- and a whole lot
> more taxes too. Is
> representation the taxpayers' only recourse?
> Perhaps the courts
> could provide another form of recourse. If
> the government is
> supposed to be bound by the Constitution, then
> shouldn't taxpayers
> be able to sue the government when their money
> is used improperly?
>
> Alas, that's not how the courts see it.
>
> Last week the U.S. Supreme Court ruled -- once
> again -- that merely
> being a taxpayer confers no standing to sue the
> government when it
> spends money unconstitutionally. The 5-4 decision
> in Hein v. Freedom
> from Religion Foundation left intact the Bush
> administration's power
> to run its Faith-Based Organization and
> Communities Initiative. The
> Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) filed
> suit after officials
> of the Bush administration held conferences
> and gave speeches to
> encourage the participation of religious groups
> in the Faith-Based
> Initiative. The purpose of this program is to
> permit religious
> social-service organizations to compete with
> secular organizations
> for taxpayer money to carry out various government
> purposes, such as
> drug counseling. FFRF argued that using tax
> money for religious
> beneficiaries violates the First Amendment's
> Establishment Clause,
> which states, "Congress shall make no law
> respecting establishment
> of religion."
>
> The Court did not say the plaintiff's argument had
> no constitutional
> merit. It said that simply being a taxpayer
> does not qualify a
> person to make that argument in court.
>
> The Supreme Court has allowed one exception
> to its rule against
> taxpayer suits. If a specific congressional
> appropriation violates
> the Establishment Clause, a taxpayer can sue.
> But a majority of
> justices said the FFRF case doesn't qualify
> because a presidential
> order, not Congress, authorized spending on the
> Faith-Based
> Initiative. Why that distinction should matter
> is anyone's guess.
>
> What explains this bad attitude toward taxpayer
> suits? The answer
> given is that no taxpayer is specifically harmed
> by the spending. As
> the Supreme Court put it previously, "Interest in
> the moneys of the
> Treasury ... is shared with millions of
> others; is comparatively
> minute and indeterminable; and the effect upon
> future taxation, of
> any payment out of the funds, so remote,
> fluctuating and uncertain,
> that no basis is afforded for an appeal to the
> preventive powers of
> a court of equity."
>
> In the FFRF case Justice Antonin Scalia
> added, "Is a taxpayer's
> purely psychological displeasure that his funds
> are being spent in
> an allegedly unlawful manner ever sufficiently
> concrete and
> particularized to support ... standing? The
> answer is plainly no."
>
> Another rationale for not permitting the suits
> is that they would
> prompt a violation of the separation of powers.
> As Justice Anthony
> Kennedy wrote, "Permitting any and all
> taxpayers to challenge the
> content of ... executive operations and
> dialogues would lead to
> judicial intervention so far exceeding traditional
> boundaries on the
> Judiciary that there would arise a real danger of
> judicial oversight
> of executive duties."
>
> Justice Samuel Alito added another reason: "In
> light of the size of
> the federal budget, it is a complete fiction
> to argue that an
> unconstitutional federal expenditure causes an
> individual federal
> taxpayer any measurable economic harm. And if
> every federal taxpayer
> could sue to challenge any Government
> expenditure, the federal
> courts would cease to function as courts of law
> and would be cast in
> the role of general complaint bureaus."
>
> To all of which, one may ask, so what? Who's
> supposed to be in
> charge, the government or the people?
>
> Taxpayer standing may seem like an arcane
> technical legal issue of
> little consequence for freedom But that's not
> the case. It's
> critical to keeping government on a short leash.
>
> Isn't that why our ancestors revolted?
>
> Sheldon Richman is senior fellow at The Future of
> Freedom
> Foundation, author of Tethered Citizens: Time to
> Repeal the Welfare
> State, and editor of The Freeman magazine (
> http://www.fee.org/publications/the-freeman/ ).
> Visit his blog "Free
> Association" at http://www.sheldonrichman.com.
> Send him email @
> sheldon@....
>
>
***********************************************************************
>
> QUOTE OF THE WEEK
> ------------------------------------
>
> "During times of universal deceit, telling the
> truth becomes a
> revolutionary act." - George Orwell
>
>
***********************************************************************
>
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> Policy and Law Enforcement/Prison content
> selection and analysis by
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> selection and analysis by Doug Snead
> (doug@...), This Just
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> (webmaster@...). Analysis comments
> represent the personal
> views of editors, not necessarily the views of
> DrugSense.
>
> We wish to thank all our contributors, editors,
> NewsHawks and letter
> writing activists. Please help us help reform.
> Become a NewsHawk See
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> ===
>
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>
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