> Date: Fri, 7 Sep 2007 13:32:44 -0700
> From: webmaster@... (Drug Sense)
> Subject: DrugSense Weekly, September 7, 2007, #515
>
>
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>
> DRUGSENSE WEEKLY
>
>
***********************************************************************
>
> DrugSense Weekly, September 7, 2007
> #515
>
> Read This Publication On-line at:
> http://www.drugsense.org/current.htm
>
> ------------------
>
> TABLE OF CONTENTS:
>
> * This Just In
>
> (1) Minister Rules Out Prescribing Heroin To
> Help Drug Addicts
> (2) 'Bong Hits' Case Goes Back To Court
> (3) Youth Abusing Drugs By 14, Report Finds
> (4) Addict Hookers Nailed
>
> * Weekly News in Review
>
> Drug Policy-
>
> (5) Man Given Life Sentence In Drug Possession
> Case
> (6) Column: Drug War's Latest Achievement:
> Boosting Global Terrorism
> (7) OPED: The War On Poppies
> (8) OPED: Leave It To Us To End The Poppy Curse
>
> Law Enforcement & Prisons-
>
> (9) Trooper Accused Of Dog Abuse
> (10) Court Says Search Violated Rights
> (11) Police Narcotics Unit Has A Busy Year
>
> Cannabis & Hemp-
>
> (12) Ruling Protects Pot Patients Privacy
> (13) Medical Marijuana Patients Face Difficult
> Task Of Finding Drug
> (14) More Pot Means More Law Officers In
> California's National Forests
> (15) Marijuana Busts Set A Record
> (16) OPED: An Epidemic Of Cannabis Use?
>
> International News-
>
> (17) 'Drug War' Panel Outlines Its Work
> (18) Editorial: Losing The Drugs War
> (19) Politicos Pushing For Safe Needle Disposal
> (20) Justice, Belfast-style, For Drug Dealer
>
> * Hot Off The 'Net
>
> The Top Ten Reasons Marijuana Should Be Legal /
> High Times Magazine
> America's Taliban-Support Program / By Jacob
> Sullum
> NORML Launches `In-World' Office On Second Life
> In Pot We Trust
> Why Do People The Government Says Don't
> Exist Keep Writing Us?
> Cultural Baggage Radio Show
> The War On Drug's Bloody Face / By Joseph Grosso
> DRCNet Publishes Drug War Chronicle Issue 500
>
> * What You Can Do This Week
>
> Colombia: Human Rights & Wars
> Job Announcement: Executive Director,
> Justice Policy Institute
>
> * Letter Of The Week
>
> Legalize, Regulate / J. Michael Jones
>
> * Feature Article
>
> Stories Can Hurt / Jo-D Harrison
>
> * Quote of the Week
>
> Charles Mackaya
>
> 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) MINISTER RULES OUT PRESCRIBING HEROIN TO HELP
> DRUG ADDICTS
>
> Pubdate: Fri, 07 Sep 2007
> Source: Scotsman (UK)
> Copyright: 2007 The Scotsman Publications Ltd
> Author: Peter MacMahon, Scottish Government Editor
>
> FERGUS Ewing last night firmly rejected
> growing demands for drug
> addicts to be prescribed heroin.
>
> The minister for community safety said the
> Scottish National Party
> government would instead concentrate on getting
> people off drugs.
>
> Mr Ewing's intervention came as the Scottish
> Parliament heard details
> of how prescribing heroin works in the Netherlands
> and one Nationalist
> MSP publicly advocated the idea.
>
> Vincent Hendriks, a researcher with the Parnassia
> Addiction Research
> Centre, told parliament's Future's Forum yesterday
> that giving out the
> drug was a good use of taxpayers money.
>
> He said that it had been shown in the
> Netherlands that prescribing
> heroin led to a reduction in petty crime, as
> addicts did not steal to
> fund their habit. It also stabilised addicts'
> lives and so they did
> not require so much attention from social services.
>
> Mr Hendriks argued that prescribing heroin was good
> medical practice.
> He said: "The first thing a physician does
> is try to cure the
> 'disease'. If he cannot, he tries to
> alleviate the symptoms.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n1032.a03.html
>
> ===
>
> (2) 'BONG HITS' CASE GOES BACK TO COURT
>
> Pubdate: Thu, 06 Sep 2007
> Source: Juneau Empire (AK)
> Copyright: 2007 Southeastern Newspaper Corp
>
> Frederick's Attorney Says Client Has Right to
> Sue for Damages
>
> Despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling earlier
> this year on Joseph
> Frederick's free-speech case, the legal debate is
> not over.
>
> The case of the former Juneau-Douglas High School
> student was returned
> to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which is
> an automatic part
> of the legal process.
>
> "There is still a dispute," said Frederick's
> attorney, Doug Mertz.
>
> The 9th Circuit Court will either dismiss the case
> outright or send it
> to the U.S. District Court in Alaska for
> Frederick to argue for his
> banner, "Bong Hits 4 Jesus," under state free
> speech laws and civil
> liability issues.
>
> At the heart of Mertz's argument is Frederick's
> motive when he and
> others lifted the 14-foot banner - and whether
> Frederick retains the
> right to sue for damages. Mertz said part of
> Frederick's argument
> attempts to protect future JDHS students from
> a district policy
> enforced by then-Principal Deborah Morse.
>
> The attorney said that five years later, the
> Juneau School District
> "continues to deny that students have free speech on
> serious matters."
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n1032.a04.html
>
> ===
>
> (3) YOUTH ABUSING DRUGS BY 14, REPORT FINDS
>
> Pubdate: Thu, 06 Sep 2007
> Source: National Post (Canada)
> Copyright: 2007 Southam Inc.
> Author: Meagan Fitzpatrick, CanWest News Service
>
> More Smoke Pot Than Cigarettes, Abuse Centre Says
>
> OTTAWA - By the time they're 14, many Canadian
> youth have done it all
> - -- cigarettes, drugs and alcohol -- and a new
> report on substance
> abuse and addiction should serve as a "call to
> action" to change that,
> the organization behind the research says.
>
> The Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse says
> Canadians need to pay
> closer attention to the facts that the average age
> when a child smokes
> a cigarette for the first time is about 12, 13
> when he or she uses
> alcohol and 14 for first-time drug use.
>
> In a report released yesterday, titled
> Substance Abuse in Canada:
> Youth in Focus, the CCSA outlines gaps in Canada's
> overall approach to
> dealing with these worrying statistics and suggests
> several strategies
> to plug the holes.
>
> The report paints an alarming portrait of drug
> and alcohol use by
> youth. By the time they are in their first year of
> high school, about
> two-thirds of students had consumed alcohol,
> according to one survey.
> Another survey of youth age 15-24 showed that
> 83% were currently
> drinking or had consumed alcohol within the past
> year. If it's any
> comfort to parents, the students characterized their
> drinking as light
> to infrequent.
>
> More than a third of students in Grades 7 to 9 have
> binged on alcohol,
> meaning they consumed five or more drinks on
> a single occasion,
> researchers found. The same was true for 40% of
> 15-to 19-year-olds,
> while another survey showed that one-third of young
> drinkers drank at
> a hazardous level.
>
> After alcohol, cannabis was the most commonly used
> illegal substance
> among youth. Cannabis use is reported by 17% of
> students in Grades 7
> to 9, about 29% of 15-to 17-year-olds and almost
> half of 18-to 19-
> year-olds, the CCSA report said.
>
> Pot smoking, in fact, now exceeds the rate of
> cigarette smoking among
> youth, the study found.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n1031.a06.html
>
> ===
>
> (4) ADDICT HOOKERS NAILED
>
> Pubdate: Thu, 06 Sep 2007
> Source: Toronto Sun (CN ON)
> Copyright: 2007, Canoe Limited Partnership.
> Author: Rob Lamberti, Sun Media
>
> Police Put Deep Freeze On 25 Prostitutes In
> Downtown Oshawa, Many Of
> Them Drug Users
>
> Twenty five women were arrested in a four-day
> prostitution sweep of
> downtown Oshawa.
>
> Durham police say most of the women are
> addicted to drugs and are
> plying the trade to pay for their habit.
>
> Project Minnesota was launched Tuesday in
> response to community
> complaints about prostitution in the downtown core,
> Community Response
> Sgt. Peter Keegan said.
>
> "The reasoning behind why they're doing this is
> often fuelled by drug
> use," primarily crack cocaine, he said. Keegan
> said one woman was
> arrested twice in one night.
>
> He said police impose conditions on the women,
> prohibiting them from
> returning to the area where they were arrested.
>
> 'WE DO WHAT WE CAN'
>
> Police filed 16 prostitution charges, five
> drug offences and 25
> breaches of court orders, mostly dealing with
> ignoring instructions to
> stay out of specific areas.
>
> "We try to keep them out of the downtown, but
> it's sometimes not
> easy," Keegan said. "When you see the amount of
> breaches, it's a tough
> one to enforce. We're fighting the oldest
> profession in the world, so
> to speak. We do what we can to address the
> community complaints."
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n1029.a06.html
>
>
***********************************************************************
>
> WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW
>
=======================================================================
>
> Domestic News- Policy
> ----------------------------------
>
> COMMENT: (5-8)
>
> The headline of this first story caught my
> eye as I had trouble
> believing anyone could get a life sentence on a
> possession charge.
> As I read the article I was further dismayed
> by what passes for
> justice in this small Texas town.
>
> Even though our last issue contained several poppy
> articles, I found
> some interesting opinion pieces to include this
> week. A Neal Peirce
> column found print in several papers examining
> Taliban profits from
> poppies. An OPED by members of the New America
> Foundation
> concentrated on the effects of our failed
> eradication efforts.
> Meanwhile, Afghanistan's Vice President calls for
> increased efforts
> by way of aerial spraying!
>
> ===
>
> (5) MAN GIVEN LIFE SENTENCE IN DRUG POSSESSION CASE
>
> Pubdate: Thu, 30 Aug 2007
> Source: Herald Democrat (Sherman,TX)
> Copyright: 2007 Herald Democrat
> Author: Jerrie Whiteley, Herald Democrat
>
> Jurors spent a little more than an hour
> Wednesday deliberating
> Michael Dewayne Kimmel's fate after convicting
> him of possessing
> approximately $8,000 worth of crack cocaine in a
> drug-free zone in
> 2005.
>
> Kimmel's vicious verbal outbursts earlier in the
> day assured he was
> almost encircled by law enforcement officers
> when he heard jurors'
> decision that he should spend the rest of
> his life in prison.
>
> [snip]
>
> The jurors started Wednesday hearing about
> Kimmel's previous
> interactions with the law. To that end, Cate
> introduced into
> evidence a stack of Texas Youth Commission
> records as a large as an
> American Collegiate Dictionary, as she prepared to
> question
> Kimmel's probation officer. The move seemed to
> cause Kimmel some
> concern because the young man grabbed his neck
> tie and held it up
> above his head as though he were being hanged.
>
> [snip]
>
> "Go ahead, my life is over. I am hung. I am as
> good as dead. I am as
> good as dead. Don't nobody give a ( explicative
> deleted ) about me.
> Com e on, give me the needle. Tell that deputy
> to pull out his gun
> and shoot me. Give her ( Cate ) what she wants,"
> Kimmel gushed in a
> voice loud enough that jurors would have had
> a hard time not
> hearing.
>
> [snip]
>
> The rest of the afternoon Cate presented jurors
> with testimony from
> Grays on County deputies and jailers who
> testified to problems they
> have had with Kimmel in the nearly two years he
> has been in their
> custody.
>
> The complaints ranged from cursing and
> threatening officers to
> attacking other inmates. Jailers testified that
> the situation
> reached the point where Kimmel is not allowed
> to leave his cell
> without his hands and feet shackled. And he still
> managed to attack
> a mentally challenged inmate.
>
> [snip]
>
> Garland Cardwell spent the day trying to
> remind jurors that the
> charge for which they convicted Kimmel had
> nothing to do with his
> problems with the jail staff, his previous
> activities with a Fort
> Worth street gang or the murder charge.
>
> He urged them to consider only the drug charge
> when they considered
> what he should pay for that charge.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1014/a06.html
>
> ===
>
> (6) COLUMN: DRUG WAR'S LATEST ACHIEVEMENT: BOOSTING
> GLOBAL TERRORISM
>
> Pubdate: Tue, 04 Sep 2007
> Source: Seattle Times (WA)
> Copyright: 2007 The Seattle Times Company
> Author: Neal Peirce, Syndicated columnist
>
> [snip]
>
> But now, we're learning, there's a jarring new
> dimension. The drug
> war i s directly feeding international terrorism.
> The most startling
> new evidence comes from Afghanistan, where the
> U.S. is leading a
> full-blown NATO campaign to eradicate
> production of poppies, the
> plant from which heroin is derived.
>
> Colossal failure is already apparent.
> Afghanistan is producing 95
> percent of the world's poppies; production
> rose 58 percent last
> year alone.
>
> And the biggest beneficiary? It's the Taliban,
> gaining popularity as
> it protects local poppy farmers against the
> Western-led eradication
> campaign. Then it becomes the opium sales agent
> into international
> markets, reaping huge amounts of money it can
> plow back into its
> terrorist campaign against the West.
>
> [snip]
>
> Will we find a presidential candidate willing to
> talk to us honestly
> about our disaster-strewn policy, to suggest
> rational paths toward
> drug legalization? To credit us with
> intelligence -- that if we
> cared enough about our health to reduce
> drastically our consumption
> of readily available red meat, alcohol and
> tobacco, we might just
> be smart enough to resist dangerous narcotics?
>
> I'm not holding my breath. Though,
> refreshingly, the rest of the
> world is starting to think afresh.
>
> A prime example: The Senlis Council, a
> European-Canadian drug-policy
> institute that's done major research in
> Afghanistan, proposes
> licensing Afghanistan with the International
> Narcotics Control Board
> to sell its opium legally. Even a Western
> subsidy to pay Afghan
> farmers the same price the Taliban and drug
> lords do -- about $600
> million a year -- would be well below what
> we're spending on
> eradication. And addiction is rare among pain
> patients.
>
> Here's a chance for the West to spend money,
> visibly, helping poor
> Afghan farmers survive, instead of destroying
> their livelihoods.
> Simultaneously, the Taliban would lose its big
> revenue source for
> terrorist activities. Couldn't we be this
> humanitarian and smart --
> for once?
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1026/a07.html
>
> ===
>
> (7) OPED: THE WAR ON POPPIES
>
> Pubdate: Sun, 02 Sep 2007
> Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
> Copyright: 2007 Los Angeles Times
> Authors: Peter Bergen and Sameer Lalwani
>
> U.S. Efforts to Eradicate Afghanistan's Crop
> Are Empowering the
> Taliban by Sowing Seeds of Resentment.
>
> Stepping onto the balcony of the governor's
> mansion in Uruzgan in
> southern Afghanistan, you quickly grasp the
> scale of the drug
> problem gripping the country.
>
> Beginning at the walls of the mansion and
> stretching as far as the
> eye can see are hundreds of acres of poppy fields
> ready for
> harvesting for opium sap, pretty much the only
> way to earn a living
> in poverty-stricken Uruzgan.
>
> [snip]
>
> All across the country, Afghan support for poppy
> cultivation is on
> the upswing; 40% of Afghans now consider it
> acceptable if there is
> no other way to earn a living, and in the
> southwest, where much of
> the poppy crop is grown, two out of three people say
> it is
> acceptable. In Uruzgan's neighboring province,
> Helmand -- which
> supplies about half the world's opium, the raw
> material for heroin
> -- favorable ratings for the Taliban now run
> as high as 27% (
> compared with 10% in the whole of Afghanistan ).
>
> [snip]
>
> Most farmers who cultivate poppies do so because
> few other options
> -- either alternative crops or alternative
> livelihoods -- exist in
> their part of the world.
>
> You simply cannot eviscerate the livelihoods
> of the estimated 3
> million Afghans who grow poppies and not expect a
> backlash.
>
> What's more, our policy is not effective.
>
> [snip]
>
> The Taliban derives not only substantial financial
> benefits from the
> opium trade, according to U.S. military
> officials in Afghanistan,
> but wins political benefits from its
> supportive stance on poppy
> growing, masterfully exploiting situations in
> which U.S.-sponsored
> eradication forces are pitted against poor farmers.
>
> Eradication has also become a wedge in the
> fragile relationship of
> the NATO countries that are part of the
> coalition in Afghanistan.
> Many European countries, including the Dutch,
> who have forces
> stationed in Uruzgan, oppose the American
> eradication policy.
>
> [snip]
>
> The priority of the United States and NATO should
> be first to thwart
> the Taliban insurgency while bettering the lives
> of typical Afghans
> through significant economic and reconstruction
> efforts to win
> hearts and minds. Doing nothing on the poppy
> front would do more to
> achieve this goal than the counterproductive
> eradication path the
> U.S. currently pursues.
>
> The U.S. should adopt a "first do no harm"
> policy that temporarily
> suspends eradication while implementing a
> promising portfolio of new
> initiatives to build up alternatives for farmers.
>
> [snip]
>
> The U.S. and NATO should also endorse a pilot
> project proposed by
> the Senlis Council, an international
> nongovernmental organization
> with office s in southern Afghanistan, to harness
> poppy cultivation
> for the production of legal medicinal opiates
> such as morphine for
> sale to countries, such as Brazil, that are in
> short supply of cheap
> pain drugs for patients.
>
> The U.S. must stop targeting poor farmers and focus
> on the
> traffickers who make the bulk of the profits from
> heroin.
>
> The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents on
> the ground should
> step up efforts to interrupt money-laundering
> networks and
> interdict labs and shipments.
>
> The DEA should also turn Afghanistan's
> shame-based culture to its
> advantage by making public the list of top
> Afghan drug suspects,
> including government officials, as it did in
> the 1990s, when it
> publicized the names of Colombia's drug kingpins.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1021/a05.html
>
> ===
>
> (8) OPED: LEAVE IT TO U.S. TO END THE POPPY CURSE
>
> Pubdate: Sun, 02 Sep 2007
> Source: Sunday Telegraph (UK)
> Copyright: Telegraph Group Limited 2007
> Author: Ahmad Zia Massoud, First Vice-President of
> Afghanistan
>
> I have no doubt that the efforts of Britain and
> the international
> community in fighting the opium trade in Afghanistan
> are
> well-intentioned and we are grateful for their
> support. But it is
> now clear that your policy in the south of our
> country has
> completely failed.
>
> [snip]
>
> Why, when so much has been spent, has the
> policy failed so badly?
> The primary reason is insecurity. Opium
> cultivation has continued
> due to the pressure exerted by the Taliban, who
> "tax" every aspect
> of the poppy crop. In more secure provinces,
> in the north and
> centre, we have succeeded in reducing opium
> cultivation. Second,
> and almost as important, the counter-narcotics
> policy has been much
> too soft. We are giving too much "carrot" and not
> enough "stick". Of
> course, it is important to bring development
> and alternative
> employment to the people. Millions of pounds have
> been committed in
> provinces including Helmand for irrigation projects
> and
> road-building to help farmers get their produce
> to market. But for
> now this has simply made it easier for them to
> grow and transport
> opium.
>
> What is missing is the "stick". Eradication was so
> low last year, at
> only about 10 per cent of the crop, that it
> hardly made an impact
> on the production and will not be enough to
> deter farmers from
> planting in the future.
>
> [snip]
>
> The time has come for us to adopt a more forceful
> approach. We must
> switch from ground-based eradication to aerial
> spraying. This has
> several advantages. It is safe - the main
> ingredient, glyphosate,
> has been in use for 30 years - it requires
> fewer people, and they
> will be able to operate in greater safety. It
> also has the benefit
> of being indiscriminate: farmers will no
> longer be able to bribe
> officials to protect their crop.
>
> This should not create anger against the
> government, since it is
> acting with religious and legal justification,
> nor should it
> increase rural poverty. Some of the poorest
> provinces are succeeding
> in getting rid of the poppy, though it is
> essential that long-term
> projects are implemented to develop the economy and
> provide
> alternative livelihoods.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1025/a06.html
>
>
=======================================================================
>
> Law Enforcement & Prisons
> -------------------------
>
> COMMENT: (9-11)
>
> Thank goodness there was one humane being in
> the crowd at a North
> Carolina State Trooper training exercise. An
> officer made the brave
> decision to hand over a recording of animal
> abuse to the proper
> authorities.
>
> Many citizens end up in cuffs when police
> officers use the "knock
> and talk" method. A 7th Circuit U.S. Court of
> Appeals decision may
> set a Wisconsin man free after ruling the
> officers went too far.
>
> Closing with a puff piece reporting an
> increase in the number of
> narcotics officers has led to an increase in
> arrests. Nothing
> extraordinary here but it continues to aggravate
> me when the media
> treats this as if it is somehow newsworthy.
>
> ===
>
> (9) TROOPER ACCUSED OF DOG ABUSE
>
> Pubdate: Sat, 01 Sep 2007
> Source: News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)
> Copyright: 2007 The News and Observer Publishing
> Company
>
> Internal Affairs Got Cell-Phone Video
>
> The state Highway Patrol stripped one of its
> canine handlers of his
> badge and dog Friday while officials
> investigate an animal abuse
> complaint against him, a spokesman said.
>
> Sgt. Charles L. Jones, a 12-year veteran of
> the patrol, has been
> under scrutiny by internal affairs
> investigators since a training
> exercise in Raleigh in early August. A fellow
> patrolman recorded
> Jones' treatment of Ricoh, a Belgian Malinois,
> with his cell-phone
> video camera. The patrolman turned the video
> over to internal
> affairs investigators. On Friday, week s after
> the incident, Brian
> Beatty, the state Secretary of Crime Control
> an d Public Safety,
> asked agents at the State Bureau of
> Investigation to determine
> whether Jones broke the law. It is a felony to abuse
> a law
> enforcement animal.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1020/a05.html
>
> ===
>
> (10) COURT SAYS SEARCH VIOLATED RIGHTS
>
> Pubdate: Wed, 29 Aug 2007
> Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI)
> Copyright: 2007 Journal Sentinel Inc.
> Author: John Diedrich
>
> Milwaukee Police Lacked Warrant
>
> Taking aim at a tactic used by Milwaukee
> police, a federal court
> found that officers and federal drug agents
> violated constitutional
> protections when they broke down the door of a
> north side home in
> 2005 in a search that le d to 500 grams of
> cocaine and a gun.
>
> The 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversed the
> decision to allow
> the drugs and gun as evidence against Darnell
> Ellis, who was
> sentenced to nearly six years in prison,
> according to the ruling
> released this week. "The problem in this case is
> that the officers
> and agents lacked a warrant when they
> approached the home and
> utilized tactics that, if allow ed to go
> unchecked, would eliminate
> the Fourth Amendment warrant requirement for a
> home with any
> connection to drugs," the opinion written by
> Appeals Court Judge
> Michael Kanne says.
>
> [snip]
>
> Ellis' attorney, Brian Kinstler, said officers
> crossed the line in
> their search.
>
> "That line is the Constitution," he said. "The war
> on drugs has more
> officers close to that line than ever before."
>
> [snip]
>
> The uniformed officers knocked and asked Ellis,
> 27, if they could
> come in because they were investigating a missing
> child, which was a
> lie. Ellis said he didn't live in the house, also
> a lie, and refused
> to let them in.
>
> An officer at a side door said he heard
> running on stairs in the
> house an d concluded someone was trying to
> destroy drugs, calling
> that out to the others. They broke down the door
> and found cocaine
> residue. Then they got a warrant signed by a
> state judge, searched
> more and found a gun and 2.5 kilograms of cocaine.
>
> The appeals court found that people running inside a
> house
> surrounded by police wasn't enough to conclude
> drugs were being
> destroyed.
>
> [snip]
>
> The search was upheld by Magistrate Judge Aaron
> Goodstein and U.S.
> District Chief Judge Rudolph Randa. Ellis
> pleaded guilty but
> reserved the right to appeal the search.
>
> Ellis remains in prison, Kinstler said. If
> prosecutors don't appeal
> the ruling, the case will return to Randa.
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1007/a01.html
>
> ===
>
> (11) POLICE NARCOTICS UNIT HAS A BUSY YEAR
>
> Pubdate: Tue, 04 Sep 2007
> Source: Stamford Advocate, The (CT)
> Copyright: 2007 Southern Connecticut Newspaper, Inc.
> Author: Natasha Lee, Staff Writer
>
> STAMFORD - The Police Department's narcotics
> and organized crime
> unit nearly doubled its arrests in 2006,
> crediting a citywide
> crackdown and increase in officers for the success.
>
> Narcotics officers made more than 1,200 arrests
> last year, up from
> 677 in 2005, the unit reported. Arrests include
> narcotics
> violations, warrant arrests, liquor law
> violations, assaults and
> larcenies.
>
> Police also seized close to $3 million worth of
> drugs, including $2
> million of cocaine and heroin.
>
> [snip]
>
> With 17 narcotics officers, the unit was able to
> beef up
> surveillance at the city's downtown train
> station, where police say
> drugs are trafficked in from New York City, and
> had more officers
> available for surveillance.
>
> [snip]
>
> Investigations with federal agencies such as
> the FBI and the Drug
> Enforcement Administration, along with state
> parole and probation
> departments, have helped Stamford police nab
> criminals and seek
> harsher and lengthier prison sentences, Fontneau
> said.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1028/a01.html
>
>
=======================================================================
>
> Cannabis & Hemp-
> ---------------------------
>
> COMMENT: (12-16)
>
> In Oregon a rare victory for medicinal
> marijuana patients from a
> federal judge. But in New Mexico we find a
> cowardly Attorney General
> who refuses to support and defend the state's
> laws as AGs in other
> states normally do.
>
> Legal herbs are not grown in forests so they do not
> cause
> environmental damage. But it seems that the
> governments of two
> countries are determined to provide price
> support for marijuana
> growers as part of a publicity stunt. B.C. Bud is
> grown indoors, not
> in forests on Vancouver Island, where three of
> the four members of
> the DrugSense webmastering team live (
> http://www.drugpolicycentral.com ).
>
> And in the United Kingdom the reefer mania
> continues.
>
> ===
>
> (12) RULING PROTECTS POT PATIENTS PRIVACY
>
> Pubdate: Thu, 06 Sep 2007
> Source: Oregonian, The (Portland, OR)
> Copyright: 2007 The Oregonian
> Author: Anne Saker, The Oregonian
>
> A Federal Judge Denies a Grand Jury Access
> to Oregon Medical
> Marijuana Treatment Records
>
> A federal judge has thrown out sweeping
> subpoenas for patient
> records kept by Oregon's medical marijuana
> program and a private
> clinic, saying privacy concerns overruled a grand
> jury's demand for
> information.
>
> Chief U.S. District Judge Robert H. Whaley in
> Yakima ruled on the
> subpoenas four months after a grand jury in that
> city issued them.
> The grand jury wanted to know about 17
> patients who got medical
> marijuana from a grower with operations in
> Oregon and Washington.
>
> Advocates for medical marijuana have said the
> subpoenas marked a new
> tactic in federal efforts to stop state-run
> programs such as
> Oregon's. In California, federal drug agents
> have closed medical
> marijuana dispensaries and prosecuted doctors
> who prescribed
> marijuana to patients.
>
> The state of Oregon and the private Hemp and
> Cannabis Foundation
> went to court this summer to stop the subpoenas,
> and Whaley convened
> a hearing Au g. 1.
>
> In his eight-page decision issued Tuesday,
> Whaley wrote that grand
> juries have wide latitude to conduct
> investigations and can issue
> subpoenas for almost any kind of information.
> The subpoenas cannot
> be quashed unless the person or organization
> fighting the subpoena
> can show the demand is unreasonable, the judge said.
>
> Whaley found that the subpoenas against
> Oregon's program and the
> foundation were unreasonable.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1030/a01.html
>
> ===
>
> (13) MEDICAL MARIJUANA PATIENTS FACE DIFFICULT TASK
> OF FINDING DRUG
>
> Pubdate: Tue, 04 Sep 2007
> Source: Albuquerque Tribune (NM)
> Copyright: 2007 The Albuquerque Tribune
> Author: Sue Vorenberg
>
> [snip]
>
> Earlier this year, the Legislature told the
> Department of Health to
> find a way to produce and distribute medical
> marijuana - but to do
> so would subject its employees to federal
> prosecution.
>
> Gov. Bill Richardson told Attorney General Gary
> King to support the
> Department of Health, but to do so would subject
> him to removal from
> office under state law.
>
> "It's a fairly complex situation," King said.
>
> Since the Lynn and Erin Compassionate Use Act
> was signed in April,
> the issues have put the Attorney General's
> Office and the Health
> Department in a bind, said Alfredo Vigil, secretary
> of the
> Department of Health.
>
> "We're going to continue the certification
> process for patients as
> long a s possible, but the whole distribution
> system - which was a
> way we thought we could break new ground - has
> turned out to be a
> total impossibility," Vigil said.
>
> So far, about 30 people have been certified to use
> medical marijuana
> in New Mexico, and applications are starting
> to slow down, Vigil
> said.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1027/a03.html
>
> ===
>
> (14) MORE POT MEANS MORE LAW OFFICERS IN
> CALIFORNIA'S NATIONAL
> FORESTS
>
> Pubdate: Wed, 05 Sep 2007
> Source: Record Searchlight (Redding, CA)
> Copyright: 2007 Record Searchlight
> Author: Dylan Darling
>
> Bucking the national trend of shrinking forest
> staff, the U.S.
> Forest Service is doubling the number of law
> enforcement officers in
> the state a s part of an effort to uproot illicit
> marijuana growing
> operations.
>
> By May, there should be 160 law enforcement
> officers, patrol
> captains and special agents working the 18
> national forests in
> California, said Ron Pugh, special agent in
> charge of the Forest
> Service's Pacific Southwest region, which
> encompasses all of the
> state.
>
> Although he said the increase in workers --
> which will cost $6
> million --= should help, Pugh said the Forest
> Service could use more
> in tackling the "daunting task" of stopping
> those behind marijuana
> plantings.
>
> "A hundred and sixty is about a third of what
> we should have," he
> said.
>
> [snip]
>
> Even with the increased staff and other
> strategies, the Forest
> Service will be hard-pressed to stop those
> planting marijuana
> gardens in the state, said Bruce Mirken, spokesman
> for the
> Marijuana Policy Project, a Washington,
> D.C.-based group advocating
> for marijuana legalization.
>
> "This is a war they can't ever win, but they
> can keep a lot of
> people employed fighting it," Mirken said.
>
> By busting more gardens and groups funding the
> gardens, the Forest
> Service will drive the price of marijuana up, he
> said, giving more
> incentive for others to grow.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1028/a06.html
>
> ===
>
> (15) MARIJUANA BUSTS SET A RECORD
>
> Pubdate: Fri, 31 Aug 2007
> Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC)
> Copyright: 2007 Times Colonist
> Author: Rob Shaw, Times Colonist
>
> Team Finds 19,000 Plants at 350 Sites in Nine-Day
> Campaign
>
> Island police say they've destroyed the largest
> amount of marijuana
> since they started a summer eradication
> program eight years ago.
>
> A combined team of RCMP, municipal police and
> Canadian Forces
> personnel found more than 19,000 plants at
> 350 sites during a
> nine-day campaign that ended this week.
>
> [snip]
>
> Critics call the police's summer eradication program
> a
> public-relations exercise and an ineffective
> use of taxpayer
> dollars.
>
> Last year's program cost approximately $40,000,
> including fuel for
> the helicopters, said Cox. But he said value of
> the marijuana seized
> exceeded the costs.
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1019/a13.html
>
> ===
>
> (16) OPED: AN EPIDEMIC OF CANNABIS USE?
>
> Pubdate: Mon, 03 Sep 2007
> Source: New Statesman (UK)
> Copyright: 2007 New Statesman
> Author: Raj Persaud
>
> An enigma which frequently clouds the cannabis
> debate is - if it's
> as dangerous as doctors and scientists claim
> - how come despite
> being possibly the most used illicit drug
> worldwide, the ill
> effects appear to affect so few?
>
> For example surveys suggest that as many as
> one in four of those
> aged fro m the late teens to the early twenties
> in the UK admit to
> having smoked cannabis recently -- yet the
> rate of schizophrenia
> remains relatively but stubbornly low in
> comparison -- roughly one
> in a hundred.
>
> Previously the debate over the dangers of
> cannabis had focused on
> other controversial areas such as how dependency
> inducing it was and
> what was t he physical damage, but now
> psychiatrists in particular
> are concerned at the accumulating evidence
> cannabis produces
> devastating effects on mental health in the
> form of psychosis.
>
> As far back as 2002 a large-scale study of
> more than 50,000 men
> conscript ed into the Swedish army between 1969
> and 1970 suggested
> that those who had used cannabis more than 50
> times before the age
> of 18 years had an almost sevenfold increased
> risk of developing
> schizophrenia in later life. In a New Zealand
> study published at the
> same time, those who started cannabis use by age
> 15 years (but not
> those who started later) showed a fourfold
> increase in the risk of
> developing schizophrenia-like illness by age 26 y
> ears.
>
> [snip]
>
> But in a sense all the statistics or data in
> the world may make
> little difference to the cannabis debate for one
> key psychological
> reason -- we have a natural human tendency to be
> poor at assessing
> risk when its presented to us in the form of
> numbers or data. Our
> brains are wired up much more to making
> decisions over risk in
> actual real world situations -= - we make
> assessments from our
> direct experience.
>
> Few will directly experience psychosis either
> in themselves or
> others.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1026/a12.html
>
>
=======================================================================
>
> International News
> ---------------------------
>
> COMMENT: (17-20)
>
> In Thailand, the long-awaited independent panel
> investigating over
> 2,500 extralegal executions of drug offenders
> during the Shinawatra
> government,= met for the first time last week.
> The 12-member panel
> was empowered by the new government "to sort
> out human rights
> violations in Thailand." Of the 2,500
> (roughly) killings, "fewer
> than 100 complaints had been lodged by
> relatives of victims - but
> that reflected public lack of faith in the
> justice system."
>
> A rather bleak editorial from The Herald
> newspaper outlines the
> failure of Scottish drug policy, noting deaths
> from drugs rose last
> year. The reason, according to The Herald?
> No, it is not that
> prohibition (punishing, jailing drug users)
> makes the problem
> worse. Why, it is "too much emphasis on harm
> reduction" that's
> caused the deaths, the Herald insinuates.
>
> On beautiful Vancouver Island, that pretty park
> could hide needles
> an IV drug user has tossed aside. This has
> Cowichan Valley Regional
> District's Community Safety Advisory Committee
> and the mayor of
> Cowichan asking, if not a full needle-exchange,
> why not at least a
> safe needle disposal program? "We're focused on
> public safety about
> sharps left in the open environment," said
> Mayor Phil Kent.
>
> And from Belfast, Northern Ireland this week,
> news of a tarring and
> feathering: of an alleged "drug dealer." Because
> police refused to
> "take action" against the south Belfast man,
> "masked men poured tar
> over him an d covered him in feathers as women
> and children looked
> on." According to some observers, those
> responsible for the tarry
> assault on the suspected drug dealer, were
> themselves suspected
> paramilitary group members.
>
> ===
>
> (17) 'DRUG WAR' PANEL OUTLINES ITS WORK
>
> Pubdate: Thu, 30 Aug 2007
> Source: Nation, The (Thailand)
> Copyright: 2007 Nation Multimedia Group
>
> In its first meeting yesterday, an independent
> committee looking
> into 2,5 69 drug-related killings during the first
> Thaksin
> Shinawatra government laid out its work agenda
> and officially
> appointed heads of six sub-panels.
>
> The 12-member committee, headed by former
> attorney-general Khanitna
> Nakhon, repeated that it was authorised to
> prosecute anyone found to
> be involved in the killings and would mainly
> perform a fact-finding
> role and work out compensatory solutions for
> relatives of the
> victims.
>
> [snip]
>
> Kraisak said fewer than 100 complaints had been
> lodged by relatives
> of victims - but that reflected public lack of
> faith in the justice
> system.
>
> "If the investigation can bring the wrongdoers
> to justice in only
> one of two cases, that would mean a historic
> success."
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n1022.a09.html
>
> ===
>
> (18) EDITORIAL: LOSING THE DRUGS WAR
>
> Pubdate: Fri, 31 Aug 2007
> Source: Herald, The (UK)
> Copyright: 2007 The Herald
>
> It is both frustrating and depressing that
> despite the expenditure
> of literally hundreds of millions of pounds on
> tackling Scotland's
> illicit drugs problems, drug-related deaths rose
> sharply last year.
> Statistics released yesterday show 421 deaths, a
> 25% increase over
> the previous year . Of that total, 280
> fatalities were the direct
> result of drug abuse, 76 mo re than 2005. Even
> breaking down the
> figures offers little comfort beyond a slight dip
> in such deaths in
> Lothian and fewer dying from the effects of
> cocaine and diazepam.
>
> In both Grampian and west-central Scotland, drug
> deaths have risen
> sharply and heroin and morphine - responsible
> for just 84 deaths a
> decade ago - last year claimed the lives of 260.
>
> [snip]
>
> This is an indictment of a policy that has placed
> too much emphasis
> on harm reduction and not enough on effective
> treatment and
> rehabilitation. It is a scandal that after three
> years on methadone
> only 3% of addicts are drug free.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n1024.a01.html
>
> ===
>
> (19) POLITICOS PUSHING FOR SAFE NEEDLE DISPOSAL
>
> Pubdate: Sat, 01 Sep 2007
> Source: Cowichan News Leader (CN BC)
> Copyright: 2007 Cowichan News Leader
> Author: Peter Rusland
>
> Regional politicians want public feedback about
> providing public
> tool kit s for safe disposal of used drug
> syringes found locally.
>
> The Cowichan Valley Regional District's
> Community Safety Advisory
> Committee recently introduced the issue.
>
> Following debate, it may back a funding
> application by an agency
> such as Social Planning Cowichan toward the
> public safety drive
> against a glut of used needles being found locally.
>
> City Mayor Phil Kent describes a community
> partnership among various
> groups that might provide tool kits for residents.
>
> [snip]
>
> "We're focused on public safety about sharps
> left in the open
> environment ."
>
> Needles are regularly dropped in a disposal
> container in the city's
> train station washroom.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n1025.a08.html
>
> ===
>
> (20) JUSTICE, BELFAST-STYLE, FOR DRUG DEALER
>
> Pubdate: Wed, 29 Aug 2007
> Source: Scotsman (UK)
> Copyright: 2007 The Scotsman Publications Ltd
> Author: Alan Erwin
>
> STREET vigilantes tarred and feathered an
> alleged drug dealer
> because police refused to take action against
> him, it was claimed
> yesterday.
>
> [snip]
>
> But despite the heavy influence of Ulster
> Defence Association men
> within the Taughmonagh estate, the paramilitary
> organisation's
> advisers insisted they were not involved.
>
> [snip]
>
> According to Alban Maginness, a nationalist
> SDLP Assembly member,
> the paramilitary organisation was to blame.
>
> He said: "It is quite clear that it was an
> element of the UDA which
> was responsible for this.
>
> "These things are not done spontaneously by the
> community. It would
> seem to be a very provocative act."
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n1018.a08.html
>
>
***********************************************************************
>
> HOT OFF THE 'NET
> -------------------------------
>
> THE TOP TEN REASONS MARIJUANA SHOULD BE LEGAL
>
> High Times Magazine
>
> Prohibition has failed to control the use and
> domestic production of
> marijuana -- it's time everyone faced this
> and the rest of the
> compelling arguments for legalizing it.
>
> http://alternet.org/drugreporter/60959/
>
> ===
>
> AMERICA'S TALIBAN-SUPPORT PROGRAM
>
> With luck, Afghanistan could become the Colombia
> of the Middle East
>
> By Jacob Sullum, September 5, 2007
>
> http://www.reason.com/news/show/122295.html
>
> ===
>
> NORML LAUNCHES `IN-WORLD' OFFICE ON SECOND LIFE
>
> September 5, 2007 - Washington, DC, USA
>
> Washington, DC: The National Organization for the
> Reform of Marijuana
> Laws (NORML) is expanding its online message
> and presence to the
> popular 3-D virtual world Second Life.
>
> http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=7348
>
> ===
>
> IN POT WE TRUST
>
> The medical use of marijuana is examined from
> every side of a very
> complex issue with this documentary that charts the
> suffering of four
> ... all ¯ chronically ill patients whose reliance
> on the illegal drug
> as a pain killer is in jeopardy due to
> federal anti-narcotic
> legislation. Reform organizations, prohibitionist
> groups, politicians,
> drug war critics, scientists, and celebrities
> all get their say in
> this fascinating analysis.
>
>
http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=8522278716457973331
>
> ===
>
> WHY DO PEOPLE THE GOVERNMENT SAYS DON'T EXIST
> KEEP WRITING US?
>
> By David Borden and Paul Armentano
>
>
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-borden-and-paul-armentano/
>
> ===
>
> CULTURAL BAGGAGE RADIO SHOW
>
> Tonight: 09/07/07 - Wash Post Writer Neal Peirce +
> Drug War Facts,
> Poppygate & Hempfest heroes
>
> Audio:
> http://drugtruth.net/007DTNaudio/FDBCB_090707.mp3
>
> Last: 08/31/07 - Seattle Hempfest "Pot Pride" +
> Terry Nelson & LEAP
> report, Drug War Facts & BBC News re Afghanistan
>
> Audio:
> http://drugtruth.net/007DTNaudio/FDBCB_083107.mp3
>
> Listen Live Fridays 8:00 PM, ET, 7:00 CT,
> 6:00 MT & 5:00 PT at
> http://www.kpft.org/
>
> ===
>
> THE WAR ON DRUG'S BLOODY FACE
>
> By Joseph Grosso / September 6th, 2007
>
>
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2007/09/the-war-on-drugs-bloody-face/
>
> ===
>
> DRCNET PUBLISHES DRUG WAR CHRONICLE ISSUE 500
>
> If you want to be in the loop about what's going
> on in drug policy
> and the reform movement, Drug War Chronicle is a
> concise but essential
> read.
>
> http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle
>
>
***********************************************************************
>
> WHAT YOU CAN DO THIS WEEK
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> COLOMBIA: HUMAN RIGHTS & WARS
>
> Radio & Internet Broadcast
>
> Sep 8, 2007 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
>
> The show will broadcast from Cincinnati on 88.3 FM
> WAIF, live streamed
> via www.waifstream.com
>
> More Info:
>
http://www.drugpolicy.org/events/event.cfm?eventID=733
>
> ===
>
> JOB ANNOUNCEMENT: EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, JUSTICE
> POLICY INSTITUTE
>
> The Justice Policy Institute is a Washington,
> DC-based research, policy
> and communications advocacy organization whose
> mission is to end
> society's reliance on incarceration, and to promote
> effective solutions
> to social problems.
>
> To apply, please first visit the website (
> www.justicepolicy.org ); to
> review the full position announcement, and review
> the organizations
> work.
>
>
***********************************************************************
>
> LETTER OF THE WEEK
> ------------------------------------
>
> LEGALIZE, REGULATE
>
> By J. Michael Jones
>
> I appreciate the concerns expressed by Santa Fe
> County Commissioner
> Harry Montoya and Diego Lopez in the Aug. 30
> article, "Montoya takes
> on new pot law."
>
> However, fear might have clouded their minds.
>
> I do not advocate drug use.
>
> I do advocate personal responsibility and the
> legalized regulation
> of drugs.
>
> I share similar goals with Montoya and Lopez: the
> protection of, and
> chance for a better life for, our children.
>
> Who makes the decision to sell drugs to our
> children?
>
> Criminals, who aren't licensed or regulated,
> whose drugs vary in
> strength , purity and fillers because there
> are no standards.
>
> Will legalized regulation end the drug problem?
> No, but experience
> indicates it will improve the situation.
>
> Drug use and abuse should be treated as what they
> are -- health care
> issues, not crimes.
>
> Divert a large portion of the $69 billion being
> spent annually on
> enforcement toward prevention, education, and
> treatment.
>
> Take criminals out of the equation -- for
> our children. Visit
> www.leap.com [sic]
>
> J. Michael Jones, Ret. Deputy Chief of
> Police, Ranchos de Taos
>
> Pubdate: Sat, 01 Sep 2007
> Source: New Mexican, The (Santa Fe, NM)
> Referenced:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1009/a09.html
> Note: The correct link to Law Enforcement Against
> Prohibition is
> http://www.leap.cc/
>
>
***********************************************************************
>
> FEATURE ARTICLE
> -------------------------------
>
> STORIES CAN HURT
>
> By Jo-D Harrison
>
> I always tell people I joined the fight for drug
> policy reform when
> my employer asked me to pee in a cup. While
> this was certainly a
> major turning point in my life, I recently
> re-discovered my first
> brush with our drug war during a class called
> "Telling Our Stories".
>
> Due to massive disharmony in my dad's house,
> I moved in with my
> mother and step-father in the middle of my
> freshman year of high
> school. The transition of my home life went
> fairly smooth and was
> certainly for the better, but moving from an
> Illinois middle class
> school to an upper class Virginia school proved
> to be challenging.
>
> Mount Vernon High School is located in Fairfax
> County, Virginia and
> is one of the suburbs of Washington D.C. Many
> wealthy Senators and
> Congressmen make the crowded commute from this
> location, since
> living in downtown D.C. is not pleasant. Even
> though Mount Vernon
> is a public school, from the first time I walked
> down the carpeted
> hallways in search of the main office it was
> obvious that more
> money poured into it.
>
> Since this was an unplanned move, my
> transcripts had not arrived,
> and my counselor was forced to try to figure
> out my new class
> schedule by asking me questions. Everything
> seemed to match up
> fairly well except for an Illinois history class.
> I was assigned to
> work in the office to fill this blank, and off I
> went to try to find
> my way in my new school.
>
> Everyone's probably seen it in the movies or on
> TV -- the new kid
> walks late into a classroom and all eyes turn
> toward her. She's
> dressed differently from the "wrong" tennis
> shoes all the way to
> "wrong" book bag she carries. But, until you
> have personally
> experienced those curious stares, you just can not
> imagine the weight
> that they carry. Sure, the teacher tries to be
> overly nice, but the
> introduction she is making is barely heard as
> the new student
> clumsily works her way to an open desk.
>
> The rest of that day and week were a blur as I
> negotiated my way
> from class to class and attempted to learn
> the ways of this new
> world. My parents were very supportive and
> encouraged me in every
> way they could. That first weekend they
> introduced me to neighbors
> with a daughter my age who also attended Mount
> Vernon. Her name was
> Lisa and she did her best to help me find my way.
>
> It was during the second week that darkness began
> to surround me. I
> started noticing cliques of people seemingly
> whispering and
> pointing at me as I walked by. My mom had taken
> me shopping and I
> had tried to upgrade my clothes to more accurately
> match "theirs." I
> even talked her into buying me the best
> backpack available for my
> books. In band I was doing fairly well playing
> french horn and had
> started, I thought, to make some new friends.
>
> It was in the restroom that I began to get a hint
> at what was going
> on. I had just sat down when I heard the
> main door burst open,
> "NARC! You Suck!" echoed throughout the tiled
> walls. I later found
> out that the local paper had recently printed
> an article which
> claimed undercover narcotic agents were to be
> planted in the school
> system. This meant the timing of my transfer
> just could not have
> been worse.
>
> Adding to my problems, my transcripts had
> still not arrived, and
> another student office worker had spread this
> fact around far and
> wide. Her name was Terri, and I still do not know
> why she had taken
> an instant dislike to me. Perhaps she had an
> inferiority complex
> and I became her latest mark.
>
> But "marked" I was, and the next few weeks went
> from bad to worse.
> People stopped talking every time I walked up,
> lunchtime was a total
> nightmare, and I felt sure I'd never have
> another boyfriend. Terri
> had gotten her buddies to help her make my life
> miserable. Riding
> home on the school bus gave them their favorite
> place to taunt me.
>
> My parents did their best to comfort me as I
> sat crying at our
> kitchen table every afternoon. Lisa promised she
> would try to pass
> counter-rumors since she knew the truth about
> me. But, as usual,
> gossip was much more interesting than truth, and
> by the end of the
> following week the story made me "the lead federal
> narc."
>
> At this point Terri had decided she'd just take
> things into her own
> flaming-red fingernailed hands and challenge me
> to a duel! During
> math class a note was passed back to me which
> said, "Get off at my
> bus stop and I'm gonna kick your ass!"
>
> I spent the rest of the day trying to figure
> out whether to call
> home sick, purposely miss the bus or actually
> try to fight. I
> decided that I didn't want to cause more hassles
> for my parents, and
> the first two options would just delay the
> confrontation that
> seemed inevitable. I didn't then, and still
> don't believe in
> violence, so I continued to try to come up with
> a better solution.
>
> The bus seemed fuller that day as we headed into
> the posh townhouse
> subdivisions. Of course I knew which stop was
> Terri's and could feel
> the tension and whispers mounting as it neared.
> The only "idea" I
> had come up with was to ignore whatever happened
> and to continue to
> deny their accusations.
>
> As the bus door flew open, Terri and her friends
> stood up and stared
> at me.
>
> "Come on, narc - time to face your jury," she
> sneered.
>
> "I'm not a narc and I'm not gonna fight you," I
> replied and stared
> out the window feeling, once again, all eyes upon
> me.
>
> "Move it on out, I've a schedule to keep," shouted
> the bus driver. I
> heard a few more taunts, "Narcs suck" and "We'll
> get you," as they
> slowly shuffled off the bus.
>
> The very next day my transcripts finally
> arrived, and it slowly
> filtered throughout the hallways that I was,
> indeed, just another
> gangly freshman with a "B" average and an
> interest in sports and
> music.
>
> Within weeks I realized that Terri was not
> as popular as I had
> originally thought and her group of friends was
> smaller than I had
> imagined. As I continued to ignore her, I found
> there were plenty of
> other kids I could hang with. There were many
> who had not believed
> the rumors she started.
>
> I will never forget the added stress and fear I
> felt due to Terri's
> choosing to start those stories about me. I
> had never been a
> "gossip" before that time and certainly avoided
> passing along juicy
> tidbits thereafter. To this day, when I hear
> someone spouting off
> about someone else, I try to interject an "Are
> you sure" or "How do
> you know that" into the conversation.
>
> Jo-D Harrison is the DrugSense Membership
> Coordinator and an
> Assistant Webmaster.
>
>
***********************************************************************
>
> QUOTE OF THE WEEK
> ------------------------------------
>
> "Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it
> will be seen that
> they go mad in herds, while they only recover
> their senses slowly,
> and one by one." -- Charles Mackaya
>
>
***********************************************************************
>
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