> Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2007 15:25:17 -0700
> From: webmaster@... (Drug Sense)
> Subject: DrugSense Weekly, Sept. 14, 2007, #516
>
>
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>
> DRUGSENSE WEEKLY
>
>
***********************************************************************
>
> DrugSense Weekly, Sept. 14, 2007
> #516
>
> Read This Publication On-line at:
> http://www.drugsense.org/current.htm
>
> ------------------
>
> TABLE OF CONTENTS:
>
> * This Just In
>
> (1) Cops Say Resources Stretched Thin
> (2) Cocaine Flow To 26 Cities Curbed
> (3) Rapid Rise In Cocaine Use Aided By Two-Tier
> Prices, Say Charities
> (4) Editorial: Pot A Health Issue Regardless Of
> Law
>
> * Weekly News in Review
>
> Drug Policy-
>
> (5) MD Firm To Fight Narcoterrorism
> (6) State 'Crack Tax' Struck Down by Court of
> Appeals
> (7) Khat Legislation Worries Somali Community
> (8) McCain: Step Up Drug War
> (9) Marijuana Advocate Resurrects Legalization
> Campaign
>
> Law Enforcement & Prisons-
>
> (10) Forceful Impact
> (11) Police Narcotics Unit Has a Busy Year
> (12) Record Pot Busts in State
> (13) Record Drug Seizures on US-Mexico Border
>
> Cannabis & Hemp-
>
> (14) Patients Need Patience
> (15) For More Than 300 Rhode Islanders,
> Marijuana Provides Legal Relief
> (16) New Dosage Limits For Medical Marijuana
> (17) AG Hemp Measure Approved By Senate
>
> International News-
>
> (18) U.S. Praises Colombia's Arrest Of Alleged
> Drug Lord
> (19) Time For A Reality Check
> (20) No Controls On Sale Of Heavy Hallucinogen
> (21) 'Wait Period' For Drug Tourists
>
> * Hot Off The 'Net
>
> Spinning A Failed War On Drugs
> Cultural Baggage Radio Show
> Bill Maher Asks Dodd For "Why...Marijuana Should
> Be Illegal?"
> Women's Visionary Congress
> Cannabinoid Chronicles
> Harper's New Anti-Drug Strategy Is Not Anti-HIV
>
> * What You Can Do This Week
>
> Join The Global Village For A Different Drug
> Policy
>
> * Letter Of The Week
>
> Closing Vancouver's Insite Tantamount To
> Murder / Keith Martin
>
> * Feature Article
>
> It's Time to Shut Down Deadly, Ill-Conceived
> Drug War / Neal R. Peirce
>
> * Quote of the Week
>
> Eleanor Roosevelt
>
> 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) COPS SAY RESOURCES STRETCHED THIN
>
> Pubdate: Thu, 13 Sep 2007
> Source: Province, The (CN BC)
> Copyright: 2007 The Province
> Author: John Colebourn
>
> Vancouver police said yesterday their resources
> are being "stretched
> thin" in the war on gangs.
>
> "The violence is on everybody's radar," said Insp.
> Dean Robinson. "We
> are doing everything we can about it as a police
> department and we are
> working in concert with other agencies.
>
> "We're stretched thin . . . We're not the
> only section in the
> department that could use more numbers.
>
> "This city is a tremendous magnet for gang activity.
> Some gang members
> live here, many don't."
>
> Of most concern, Robinson said, is innocent citizens
> getting caught in
> the crossfire.
>
> [snip]
>
> Two people were shot last weekend at the upscale
> award-winning Quattro
> on Fourth restaurant.
>
> Last month, two gunmen entered the Fortune
> Happiness restaurant on
> East Broadway and opened fire, killing two and
> sending six others to
> hospital with serious injuries. .
>
> [snip]
>
> The lucrative drug trade is often the driving force.
>
> "In Vancouver there is a strong drug trade," he
> said. "There's a lot
> of money to be made and I believe 90 per cent of
> the violence points
> to the drug trade."
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n1060.a06.html
>
> ===
>
> (2) COCAINE FLOW TO 26 CITIES CURBED
>
> Pubdate: Thu, 13 Sep 2007
> Source: USA Today (US)
> Page: 1A, Front Page
> Copyright: 2007 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co.
> Inc
> Author: Donna Leinwand, USA TODAY
>
> Tough action by Mexico is driving down the cocaine
> supply in 26 U.S.
> cities, a recently declassified Drug
> Enforcement Administration
> analysis shows, an encouraging drop in narcotics
> crossing the border
> that law enforcement officials hope will continue.
>
> As evidence of the short supply, prices have spiked
> sharply and purity
> has decreased since September 2006, says the
> analysis, which
> previously had not been made public. A gram of
> pure cocaine sold for
> about $118.70 in the spring, a 29% increase from
> last fall. Purity
> decreases when dealers add other ingredients, such
> as baby formula and
> sugar, to stretch the supply.
>
> Cocaine prices are at their highest since the DEA
> began calculating
> the price and purity data in April 2005, when a
> pure gram of cocaine
> sold for $93.63.
>
> "The law enforcement community and intelligence
> community is asking,
> 'How did this work?' and 'How do we keep it
> going?' " says John
> Walters, director of the White House Office of
> National Drug Control
> Policy. "Less cocaine, less crack means fewer
> victims of drugs."
>
> [snip]
>
> In Cleveland, police noted a contraction in drug
> markets in January.
> Homicides are up as local drug organizations vie
> for the shrinking
> cocaine supply, says Mayor Frank Jackson, who
> lauds a six-city,
> federally led task force for cracking down on
> local traffickers.
>
> "It does create more violence, but that's a
> short-term thing," Jackson
> says. "That's the natural outcome of 20 years of
> crack cocaine and 30
> years of powder."
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n1059.a07.html
>
> ===
>
> (3) RAPID RISE IN COCAINE USE AIDED BY TWO-TIER
> PRICES, SAY CHARITIES
>
> Pubdate: Thu, 13 Sep 2007
> Source: Guardian, The (UK)
> Copyright: 2007 Guardian Newspapers Limited
> Author: Alan Travis, home affairs editor
>
> Number Of People Treated Almost Doubles
>
> Focus On Heroin And Crack 'Should Be Reviewed'
>
> A two-tier market in luxury and cut-price
> cocaine is developing in
> Britain, according to an annual survey by drug
> charities. Feedback
> from 80 drug services, police forces and drug action
> teams in 20 towns
> and cities shows that the rapid expansion in the
> use of the drug is
> being fuelled by street dealers selling cheaper,
> low-grade cocaine to
> teenagers, pub users and those on low incomes to mix
> with other drugs.
>
> This cut-price cocaine - at around UKP30 a gram -
> is reported to be
> available in virtually every part of Britain,
> while more affluent
> customers are being offered much higher quality
> cocaine at UKP50 a
> gram.
>
> The DrugScope 2007 survey reports that in
> Birmingham individual
> dealers are offering their customers a choice of two
> grades of cocaine
> - "commercialised" at UKP30 a gram and "Peruvian"
> at UKP50 a gram. In
> Nottingham a higher-quality form of cocaine is known
> as "rocket fuel".
>
> The rapid growth in cut-price cocaine is reflected
> in new figures from
> the National Treatment Agency which show that
> the number of people
> going into treatment with cocaine as their
> main problem drug has
> nearly doubled, from 4,474 in 2003-04 to 8,609 in
> 2005-06. The number
> of teenagers in treatment for cocaine in the last
> two years has risen
> from 231 to 471.
>
> [snip]
>
> Many users appear unconcerned about its class A
> criminal status or its
> serious health risks of heart problems, mental
> ill health and
> potential for dependency.
>
> [snip]
>
> Martin Barnes, chief executive of DrugScope,
> said the government's
> strategy of concentrating on tackling use of heroin
> and crack cocaine
> was not necessarily the right response. "We are
> concerned that we may
> be entering a new era of problem drug use relating
> less to heroin and
> crack and more to the misuse of alcohol,
> cocaine, cannabis and
> ecstasy. The longer-term public health impacts of
> such a shift should
> not be underestimated," he said.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n1057.a06.html
>
> ===
>
> (4) EDITORIAL: POT A HEALTH ISSUE REGARDLESS OF LAW
>
> Pubdate: Thu, 13 Sep 2007
> Source: Cape Breton Post (CN NS)
> Copyright: 2007 Cape Breton Post
>
> The head of the RCMP drug squad in Sydney offered a
> revealingly muted
> defence of the use of expensive helicopter
> time in the recent
> marijuana grow-op sweep that netted 1,122 plants
> at 25 sites. Cape
> Bretoners pay federal taxes that go to pay for
> the helicopter so it
> makes sense to put it to some use here, suggested
> Sgt. Loran Gavel.
>
> Const. D.W. Reginato of the regional police
> force, which found more
> than 50 plants at a Millville residence the
> same day in the co-
> ordinated operation, related the bust to crimes
> committed for drug
> money. Though marijuana traffic is often linked
> to other drugs and
> other crimes, it's doubtful that much
> secondary crime can be
> attributed to cannabis itself.
>
> Advocates for the relaxation of pot laws would
> say the only link
> between marijuana and other crime arises from the
> fact that possession
> and sale of this so-called soft drug is by
> definition illegal, which
> makes it a commodity of the criminal underworld.
> Legalize the drug in
> Canada and the crime connection would vanish, it's
> claimed - except,
> of course, for the case of big-time growers
> smuggling into the U.S.
>
> Police don't really have to defend their
> enforcement efforts against
> marijuana trafficking. They're enforcing a
> federal law which
> governments across the country want enforced.
> The federal Liberal
> flirtation with the partial decriminalization of
> marijuana, making
> simple possession subject to only a modest
> fine, ended with the
> Conservative victory in January 2006.
>
> Meanwhile the debate rages on, with one
> significant addition. New
> research is suggesting that cannabis may not be
> quite as benign a drug
> as the flower children of the Sixties - who now find
> themselves in the
> 60s again, in another sense - believed.
>
> [snip]
>
> Marijuana advocates dismiss the new research
> as just more of the
> 1950s-vintage reefer madness scare dressed up in
> academic
> respectability. But the studies say what they
> say: there are risks,
> from moderate as well as from heavy use.
>
> Enforcement zealots may cite such studies as
> clinching their case but
> they are wrong. There's ample evidence that
> enforcement bears little
> relationship to prevalence of use, and
> Canadians are the heaviest
> users in the industrialized world. Regardless of
> where the marijuana
> law goes from here, widespread use of the drug must
> be recognized as a
> public health issue which Canadians need to know
> a lot more about.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n1059.a06.html
>
>
***********************************************************************
>
> WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW
>
=======================================================================
>
> Domestic News- Policy
> ----------------------------------
>
> COMMENT: (5-9)
>
> The drug war is still highly profitable,
> even as government
> officials have supposedly turned their main
> attention on the terror
> war. The Baltimore Sun reported last week that a
> Maryland firm has
> landed a "narcoterrorism" contract worth up to $15
> billion. No one's
> saying exactly what the money will pay for, or
> how it will make the
> drug problem worse instead of better, as high
> dollar "anti-drug"
> initiatives often do.
>
> As predicted in this space three years ago, a
> North Carolina "crack
> tax" which imposed taxes on those caught with
> illegal drugs, has
> been decisively declared unconstitutional. In
> Ohio, a legislator
> wants to further criminalize khat, a drug
> popular with the Somali
> immigrant community. Some Somalis seem to
> support the crackdown,
> while others understand that the move is likely
> to turn friends and
> neighbors into outlaws.
>
> Also last week, Presidential hopeful John McCain
> continues to show
> no understanding of prohibition or his own
> personal experience (his
> wife had a drug problem, but nobody tried to send
> her or the person
> who sold her the drugs to prison) as he calls for
> a more aggressive
> drug war; and an Idaho man continues to push
> for a local cannabis
> legalization referendum.
>
> ===
>
> (5) MD FIRM TO FIGHT NARCOTERRORISM
>
> Pubdate: Wed, 12 Sep 2007
> Source: Baltimore Sun (MD)
> Copyright: 2007 The Baltimore Sun, a Times Mirror
> Newspaper.
> Author: Tricia Bishop, Sun reporter
>
> Annapolis Company Will Target DOD Jobs
>
> ARINC Inc., which has spent the past eight
> decades supplying
> airlines with communications technology, said
> yesterday that it
> plans to also fight "narcoterrorism" - the
> flow of illegal drugs
> that finance terrorists - as part of a
> Department of Defense
> contract worth up to $15 billion.
>
> The Annapolis company is one of five chosen from a
> pool of
> applicants to compete for jobs under the
> five-year contract, which
> was awarded by the U.S. Army Space and Missile
> Defense Command. That
> agency supports the U.S. Department of Defense
> Counter-Narcoterrorism Technology Program Office.
>
> An official at the Army Space and Missile Defense
> Command confirmed
> the contract's existence yesterday, but could
> not provide details.
> Telephone calls to the counter-narcoterrorism
> office were not
> returned.
>
> The trade publication, Washington Technology,
> reported other winners
> as Lockheed Martin Corp., Northrup Grumman Corp.,
> Blackwater USA and
> Raytheon Technical Services Co.
>
> The companies will compete for orders, including
> anti-drug
> technologies, special-purpose vehicles and
> aircraft, security
> training and advanced communications. Most of the
> work will be done
> outside the United States in areas such as
> Afghanistan and Colombia.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1053/a10.html
>
> ===
>
> (6) STATE 'CRACK TAX' STRUCK DOWN BY COURT OF
> APPEALS
>
> Pubdate: Sat, 08 Sep 2007
> Source: Knoxville News-Sentinel (TN)
> Copyright: 2007 The Knoxville News-Sentinel Co.
> Author: Jamie Satterfield
>
> You can tax sin, but you can't tax crime.
>
> So concludes the state Court of Appeals in striking
> down as
> unconstitutional the state's Unauthorized
> Substance Tax Act, more
> commonly known as the "crack tax." In an opinion
> delivered Friday by
> Appellate Judge Sharon G. Lee, the court joined
> a growing list of
> chancellors across the state in declaring the crack
> tax
> unconstitutional. But it did so from an
> entirely different angle,
> thus sidestepping what has been the primary legal
> beef with the tax.
> Rather than address whether the tax violates
> an alleged drug
> dealer's rights to due process and against
> self-incrimination, the
> court instead determined that the tax itself is
> unconstitutional.
>
> "Because it seeks to levy a tax on the
> privilege to engage in an
> activity that the Legislature has previously
> declared to be a crime,
> not a privilege, we must necessarily conclude
> that the drug tax is
> arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable and,
> therefore, invalid under
> the Constitution of this state," Lee wrote. The
> ruling comes in the
> case of construction worker Steven Waters.
> Waters was nabbed in
> April 2005 in a reverse sting operation by the
> Knox County Sheriff's
> Office. Ten days later, the state Department of
> Revenue slapped him
> with a tax bill of more than $55,000, including
> penalty and interest
> of more than $5,000 for not voluntarilypaying
> the tax by buying an
> "excise" sticker.
>
> The agency filed a lien on his Lenoir City home and
> later
> confiscated $4,000 from his bank account -- all
> this before Waters
> had even appeared in court to face the charges.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1040/a04.html
>
> ===
>
> (7) KHAT LEGISLATION WORRIES SOMALI COMMUNITY
>
> Pubdate: Fri, 07 Sep 2007
> Source: Columbus Dispatch (OH)
> Copyright: 2007 The Columbus Dispatch
> Author: Sherri Williams
>
> Efforts to further criminalize khat, an illegal
> stimulant used here
> by some Somalis, should wait until East Africans
> are more educated
> about its penalties.
>
> That's what immigrants told a state senator who's
> trying to make its
> prosecution easier last night.
>
> Though some Somalis gathered at the meeting said
> the leafy substance
> is not harmful and has been used socially for
> centuries, others said
> it has an adverse impact on families.
>
> More than 150 Somali immigrants and community
> leaders attended a
> forum held at the Global Mall on the North Side
> to discuss khat's
> presence in Columbus.
>
> About 4,000 pounds of khat were seized by
> the Columbus Police
> narcotics division in 2006 and about 600 pounds
> have been seized so
> far this year, said Mike Weinman, legislative
> liaison for the
> division.
>
> Khat already is illegal. But state Sen. Steve
> Stivers, a Republican
> from Columbus, drafted legislation last fall to
> make it easier to
> prosecute people for having khat.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1039/a02.html
>
> ===
>
> (8) MCCAIN: STEP UP DRUG WAR
>
> Pubdate: Mon, 03 Sep 2007
> Source: Denver Post (CO)
> Copyright: 2007 The Denver Post Corp
>
> Republican presidential hopeful John McCain on
> Sunday said the U.S.
> should step up its war on drugs as part of
> efforts to secure the
> country's borders.
>
> He said that's because Americans are to blame
> for "creating the
> demand" for illegal drugs that come into the
> country and give too
> much power to drug cartels that terrorize border
> areas.
>
> "We are creating the demand. We are creating
> the demand for these
> drugs coming across our border, which maybe means
> that we should go
> back more trying to make some progress and in
> telling Americans,
> particularly young Americans, that the use of
> drugs is a terrible
> thing for them to do," he said.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1031/a10.html
>
> ===
>
> (9) MARIJUANA ADVOCATE RESURRECTS LEGALIZATION
> CAMPAIGN
>
> Pubdate: Wed, 05 Sep 2007
> Source: Idaho Mountain Express (ID)
> Copyright: 2007 Express Publishing, Inc
> Author: Terry Smith, Express Staff Writer
>
> Davidson Seeks Referendum Votes in Valley's
> Municipalities
>
> If pro-marijuana advocate Ryan Davidson has his
> way, puffs of smoke
> in the Wood River Valley will be from more
> than just wildfires.
>
> Davidson, a Garden City man who formerly
> lived in Bellevue, is
> trying to resurrect his three-year old campaign to
> legalize
> marijuana in some of the valley's municipalities.
> Specifically, the
> cities of Sun Valley and Hailey are on his hit list.
>
> Davidson has initiated steps to try to get the
> issue on the ballots
> in those cities, perhaps as early as the general
> elections on Nov.
> 6.
>
> As chairman of a group called Liberty Lobby of
> Idaho, Davidson has
> been embroiled in on-and-off legal battles
> with three of the
> valley's municipalities for the past three
> years. The various
> lawsuits started after Davidson filed
> prospective petitions in
> August 2004 to initiate referendum votes on
> legalizing marijuana in
> the cities of Sun Valley, Hailey and Ketchum.
>
> All three cities denied his petitions on the
> constitutionality of
> the issue. Hailey further declined to process
> his petition because
> Davidson was not a resident of Hailey, a
> requirement that Davidson
> expects to be struck down in federal court.
>
> His drive to legalize marijuana was given new life
> in September 2006
> when the Idaho Supreme Court ruled that the city
> of Sun Valley did
> not have the right to determine the
> constitutionality of the issue,
> regardless of whether or not the proposed
> initiative appeared to be
> in violation of state or federal law.
>
> The Supreme Court, in a precedent-setting
> decision, ruled that only
> the courts have the authority to determine the
> constitutionality of
> a referendum issue. However, if a referendum to
> legalize marijuana
> were passed in Idaho, it would likely be subject
> to litigation as it
> would be at odds with both state and federal law.
>
> Nonetheless, with his Supreme Court victory in
> hand, Davidson
> formally requested on Aug. 24 that the city of
> Sun Valley certify
> his three-year-old petition. He got his
> certification a few days
> later in a letter from Sun Valley Assistant City
> Attorney Adam King.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1034/a08.html
>
>
=======================================================================
>
> Law Enforcement & Prisons
> -------------------------
>
> COMMENT: (10-13)
>
> An important story was published by the
> Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
> about rogue cops who abuse the public, but then
> bounce around from
> local police force to local police force with
> little attention paid
> to their past. For as much resources as we spend
> on fighting drugs,
> at least a little could be put toward
> protecting communities from
> those who are supposed to protect them.
>
> And as the drug war rolls on with huge amounts
> spent to fight drugs,
> police report record seizures at local, state
> and federal levels.
> And yet there appears to be no shortage of drugs
> on the street. Once
> again, nothing succeeds like failure in the drug
> war.
>
> ===
>
> (10) FORCEFUL IMPACT
>
> Pubdate: Sun, 9 Sep 2007
> Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI)
> Copyright: 2007 Journal Sentinel Inc.
> Author: Gina Barton
>
> Journal Sentinel Watchdog Report
>
> Suspects Have Accused Sgt. Jason Mucha 10 Times
> of Beating Them or
> Planting Drugs. He Wasn't Disciplined, but
> Courts Took Notice.
>
> Jason Mucha has wanted to be a police detective
> since he was in high
> school.
>
> He started building his resume upon graduation,
> becoming a Milwaukee
> police aide more than 10 years ago. He has
> worked in some of the
> city's toughest neighborhoods and made sergeant at
> 26.
>
> But Mucha has built a resume of another kind.
>
> In a three-year span, he was accused at least
> 10 times of beating
> suspects, planting drugs or both - claims so
> similar that judges
> took notice.
>
> Mucha's record shows how an individual can be
> the subject of
> numerous misconduct allegations and continue to
> advance his career
> inside a department that lacks a reliable way to
> track problematic
> behavior. His story also shows how a single
> officer was instrumental
> in changing the way Wisconsin courts consider
> claims of police
> misconduct.
>
> As far back as 1993, Milwaukee Police Department
> leaders recommended
> using computers to analyze use-of-force
> statistics. Ten years later,
> when Nannette Hegerty became chief, a tracking
> system created in
> 1999 wasn't working. She committed $500,000
> more to get a better
> system, but it still isn't monitoring officers.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1040/a06.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.
>
> Lt. Jon Fontneau, who heads the narcotics and
> organized crime unit,
> said PCP and cocaine continue to be popular
> drugs for dealers and
> buyers, and that sales of illegally obtained
> prescription drugs have
> increased.
>
> Last year, police seized $22,000 worth of
> prescription drugs,
> compared to $700 in 2005.
>
> "They're a very aggressive, proactive group,"
> said Capt. Richard
> Conklin, head of the detective bureau.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1028/a01.html
>
> ===
>
> (12) RECORD POT BUSTS IN STATE
>
> Pubdate: Fri, 07 Sep 2007
> Source: Press Democrat, The (Santa Rosa, CA)
> Copyright: 2007 The Press Democrat
> Author: Katy Hillenmeyer, The Press Democrat
>
> 2.2 Million Marijuana Plants Seized by Authorities
> So Far This Year,
> Including 25,000 Destroyed in Raids This Week in
> Sonoma, Mendocino
> Counties
>
> Narcotics agents have seized more than 2.2
> million marijuana plants
> this year in California, topping a record of
> 1.6 million set last
> year through the state Department of Justice's
> Campaign Against
> Marijuana Planting.
>
> One team of raiders removed 25,000 plants
> this week from the
> backcountry of Sonoma and Mendocino counties,
> clearing marijuana
> from two commercial growing operations in the
> Yorkville Highlands
> northwest of Cloverdale and The Geysers.
>
> They whacked down 8,000 plants on private land
> off Highway 128 on
> Wednesday, a day after destroying 17,000 plants at
> The Geysers, said
> Sonoma County Sheriff's Sgt. Chris Bertoli,
> who supervises the
> Sonoma County Narcotics Task Force.
>
> With a street value of $3,500 per pound, the
> cannabis -- prized for
> its buds that flower and mature outdoors in
> late summer and early
> fall -- would have supplied a nationwide black
> market, according to
> law enforcement.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1038/a05.html
>
> ===
>
> (13) RECORD DRUG SEIZURES ON US-MEXICO BORDER
>
> Pubdate: Fri, 07 Sep 2007
> Source: Christian Science Monitor (US)
> Copyright: 2007 The Christian Science Publishing
> Society
> Author: Faye Bowers, Staff writer of The Christian
> Science Monitor
>
> Seizures of illegal drugs -- from marijuana to
> heroin -- are on the
> rise along the US-Mexican border again this
> year, breaking the
> previous record for major busts set just last year.
>
> "We're overwhelmed with marijuana," says Anthony
> Coulson, assistant
> special agent in charge of the U.S. Drug
> Enforcement Administration
> ( DEA ) in Tucson. "We passed last year's record
> about two months
> ago."
>
> Marijuana is the most-seized drug, followed by
> cocaine,
> methamphetamine, and heroin, Mr. Coulson says.
> "All of them are
> trending up."
>
> The jump in drug seizures could be a result of
> tighter borders --
> from more border patrol agents to new technology
> at ports of entry
> -- and newly established checkpoints within the
> United States. But
> the increase could also mean that more drugs
> are being shipped
> across the border -- possibly because Mexico has
> had a good growing
> season, much as Afghanistan did in producing
> record numbers of opium
> poppies this year. Or it could be because two drug
> cartels
> apparently formed an alliance to thwart a
> crackdown by Mexico's
> government and are now shipping more drugs to the
> north.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1033/a01.html
>
>
=======================================================================
>
> Cannabis & Hemp-
> ---------------------------
>
> COMMENT: (14-17)
>
> We could wish that major newspapers would
> address the medicinal
> marijuana issues as well as the author of the
> small weekly Reno News
> & Review did.
>
> From Rhode Island's major newspaper comes an in
> depth article about
> their medicinal marijuana program, and the
> experiences of some of
> the patients. The efforts to pass their law by
> Rhonda O'Donnell, Tom
> Angell's mom is covered, but the paper does not
> make clear that Tom
> was the President of his university SSDP chapter
> at the time, while
> also serving as a MAP volunteer editor. Today Tom
> is the Government
> Relations Director for the national SSDP
> organization.
>
> Canada's major medical journal takes Health
> Canada's bureaucrats to
> task for claiming they know how much marijuana
> approved patients
> need as medicine.
>
> Governor Schwarzenegger has a new industrial hemp
> bill on his desk.
> Californians may wish to encourage the
> Governor to sign it.
>
> ===
>
> (14) PATIENTS NEED PATIENCE
>
> Pubdate: Thu, 13 Sep 2007
> Source: Reno News & Review (NV)
> Copyright: 2007, Chico Community Publishing, Inc.
> Author: Dennis Myers
>
> A Decade After Voters Started Approving Medical
> Marijuana, Congress
> Still Hasn't Gotten the Message
>
> Nevada voters may have voted for medical
> marijuana, but that doesn't
> mean that law enforcement is willing to make it
> easy for them, nor
> are the politicians who set federal policy.
>
> At this point, the greatest hope patients and
> their physicians have
> is next year's presidential election, which could
> bring into office
> a candidate willing to stop law enforcement raids
> on health care use
> of marijuana. And for Nevadans, the best way to
> affect that decision
> is in the January presidential caucuses in
> which most candidates
> have pledged to stop the raids.
>
> [snip]
>
> On July 29, a vote was held in the U.S. House of
> Representatives on
> whether to tell federal agents and prosecutors to
> knock off
> harassment of patients in 12 states that have
> approved medical
> marijuana by cutting off money for such raids.
>
> Nevada House members Shelley Berkley and Jon
> Porter voted for it.
> Dean Heller voted against it.
>
> The measure failed, 165-262, nearly identical to a
> similar vote last
> year of 163-259.
>
> It was the best showing the measure has
> received but still a long
> way from victory. Worse for proponents, it
> showed little growth in
> strength, even with the Democratic takeover of the
> House.
>
> [snip]
>
> The vote was the subject of a great deal of
> online organizing and
> campaigning, with groups like the Drug Reform
> Coordination Network
> (DRCN) and the Drug Policy Alliance getting their
> constituencies to
> pressure their House members to vote for the
> Hinchey amendment.
>
> But it has failed to crack the barrier to
> being a national news
> story. Of the news services, only Reuters
> covered the story and
> newspaper coverage tended to be concentrated in
> the states that have
> made medical marijuana legal under state law.
>
> [snip]
>
> With presidential caucuses and primaries
> scheduled to start in four
> months, every presidential candidate has been
> questioned about the
> issue on the campaign trail, and most of them
> have said they would
> de-emphasize the raids. In New Hampshire, the
> first primary state,
> Granite Staters for Medical Marijuana has tracked
> the statements of
> the candidates.
>
> So far, Democrats Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton,
> Christopher Dodd, John
> Edwards, Dennis Kucinich, Barack Obama and
> Bill Richardson, and
> Republicans Ron Paul and Tom Tancredo have said
> they support ending
> the raids. John McCain has given conflicting
> statements on the
> issue.
>
> Republicans Sam Brownback, Rudolph Giuliani,
> Michael Huckabee,
> Duncan Hunter and Mitt Romney have said they
> would continue the
> raids.
>
> Democrat Mike Gravel has not expressed himself on
> the specific issue
> of the raids, but supports making marijuana legal.
>
> There are additional bits of information in the
> candidates'
> backgrounds that reflect on their stands. Barack
> Obama sponsored an
> amendment in the senate to stop the raids. Bill
> Richardson, as New
> Mexico governor, signed New Mexico's medical
> marijuana measure into
> law and last month criticized the arrest of
> a wheelchair-bound
> Malaga, N.M., man who was certified by the state
> Health Department
> to possess and smoke marijuana for medical
> reasons. The arrest took
> place in a raid on the man's home.
>
> Joe Biden's stance on the raids stands in sharp
> contrast with most
> of his record on drugs in Congress, where he
> has been one of the
> most aggressive supporters of prohibition and
> the war on drugs.
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1060/a11.html
>
> ===
>
> (15) FOR MORE THAN 300 RHODE ISLANDERS, MARIJUANA
> PROVIDES LEGAL
> RELIEF
>
> Pubdate: Sun, 9 Sep 2007
> Source: Providence Journal, The (RI)
> Copyright: 2007 The Providence Journal Company
> Author: Amanda Milkovits, Journal Staff Writer
>
> [snip]
>
> O'Donnell, now 44, was a dynamo in a
> wheelchair, lobbying at the
> State House for marijuana to be made legal for
> the chronically ill
> in Rhode Island. Her son Tom Angell had
> brainstormed the idea with a
> friend in his dorm room at the University of
> Rhode Island. Angell,
> who was president of Students for a Sensible
> Drug Policy at the
> time, had heard a speaker hosted by the
> group whose wife used
> marijuana to relieve her pain. He thought about his
> mother.
>
> Angell and his mother lobbied for the
> medical-marijuana legislation,
> which became law in January 2006 on a
> one-year trial after the
> General Assembly overrode Governor Carcieri's
> veto. The law became
> permanent this summer.
>
> [snip]
>
> THE NEW STATE LAW, called the Edward O. Hawkins
> and Thomas C. Slater
> Medical Marijuana Act, allows patients with
> debilitating medical
> conditions, such as cancer, HIV and multiple
> sclerosis, to possess
> up to 12 marijuana plants and 2.5 ounces of
> marijuana.
>
> An adult without any felony drug convictions may
> serve as a
> "caregiver" for a patient, providing him or her
> with marijuana. A
> caregiver can have up to five patients, and up
> to 24 plants and 5
> ounces of usable marijuana if they have more
> than one patient. A
> caregiver with one patient can have up to 12
> plants and 2.5 ounces
> of marijuana.
>
> As of early last month, 302 patients and 316
> caregivers were
> enrolled in the program, according to the
> state Department of
> Health. A total of 149 physicians in Rhode
> Island have referred
> patients to the program. The Health Department
> has rejected 10
> applicants as caregivers because of felony drug
> convictions, and a
> caregiver and patient have had their
> medical-marijuana identity
> cards revoked after being arrested for having
> dozens more plants
> than allowed.
>
> [snip]
>
> Some Rhode Island patients say they worry
> that the U.S. Drug
> Enforcement Administration may target them. Some
> worry about losing
> their jobs or their federally subsidized housing.
> The DEA has raided
> dozens of dispensaries in California, outlets
> that sell marijuana
> products to people with marijuana identity
> cards, and warned
> landlords in Los Angeles that they could face
> conviction and seizure
> of their property for renting to the
> dispensaries. And in Oregon,
> the agency subpoenaed the medical records of
> patients in the state's
> medical-marijuana program for an investigation
> into marijuana
> growers.
>
> But Anthony Pettigrew, agent for the New England
> field office of the
> DEA, said that while marijuana possession is
> against federal law,
> "the DEA never targets the sick and dying."
> The agency is more
> interested in organized drug traffickers,
> Pettigrew said. "I've been
> here for 22 years," he said, and
> "realistically, I've never seen
> anyone go to federal jail for possessing a joint."
>
> O'Donnell said she knew the legislation left some
> issues unresolved,
> but she believed the state needed to start
> somewhere. "People say,
> 'Why don't you wait?'" O'Donnell said. "That's
> stupid to wait. We'd
> be waiting 25 years."
>
> The work of O'Donnell and other patients helped
> make Rhode Island
> the 11th state in the country to legalize
> marijuana for medical use.
> But the very public battle overshadows the very
> private decisions of
> hundreds of people using the drug to deal
> with the ravages of
> cancer, HIV, multiple sclerosis and other
> debilitating diseases.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1033/a02.html
>
> ===
>
> (16) NEW DOSAGE LIMITS FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA
>
> Pubdate: Tue, 11 Sep 2007
> Source: Canadian Medical Association Journal
> (Canada)
> Copyright: 2007 Canadian Medical Association
> Author: Pauline Comeau, Ottawa
>
> But Where's The Science?
>
> New evidence-based guidelines are urgently
> needed to help doctors
> negotiate Canada's hazy medical marijuana
> landscape, particularly in
> light of Health Canada's efforts to impose new
> dose limits, say the
> nation's leading cannabis researcher and
> doctors who have been
> queried about their marijuana authorizations.
>
> Canada should also re-establish a formal
> process for developing
> responsible dosing strategies, says Mark Ware of
> McGill's University
> Health Centre, the sole researcher funded
> under the now defunct
> Medical Marijuana Research Program (CMAJ
> 2006;175:[12]: 1507-8).
>
> The 1053 doctors now authorizing marijuana use
> for 1816 patients
> need "more evidence" regarding rational dose
> levels, he says. And
> Ware suggests the Canadian Consortium for the
> Investigation of
> Cannabinoid could lead such an effort.
>
> "There is more research, more trials,
> formulations that could be
> done," says Ware. "If we had a couple of days in
> a room with people
> and pharmacologists then we could sit around
> and say, here is the
> best we can come up with, here are some guidelines."
>
> Under current medical marijuana rules, doctors
> authorize the amount
> of marijuana they and their patients feel is
> necessary. However,
> several who have recommended above 5 g per
> day were recently
> telephoned by a Health Canada medical marijuana
> program officer, and
> advised that the department recommends no more
> than 1-3 g per day,
> irrespective of the medical condition or means
> of consumption
> (inhaled, ingested or both). Health Canada also
> posted that
> recommendation on its Web site in October
> 2006, after officials
> noted the number of authorized users prescribed at
> more than 5 g per
> day had increased to 15% in June, 2006 from
> 10% a year earlier.
>
> [snip]
>
> Health Canada's Russell says the goal of the
> calls to doctors is
> merely to "verify or clarify the proposed daily
> amount." But some
> physicians say they have felt challenged, and have
> either prescribed
> lower doses or withdrawn from the program
> altogether. "You wonder,
> like with the narcotic control program, if they're
> going to flag the
> doctors that have high [tetrahydrocannabinol
> authorization]
> practices or something; if you're going to be
> under scrutiny," said
> one physician on condition of anonymity.
>
> "In the pain practice, there is enough potential
> heat on this that I
> do not want to stand out too much," says Dr.
> David Boyd of Victoria
> Hospital's London Health Sciences Centre,
> London, Ont. He has
> 50-plus patients using marijuana, and no longer
> authorizes more than
> 5 g per day.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1050/a05.html
>
> ===
>
> (17) AG HEMP MEASURE APPROVED BY SENATE
>
> Pubdate: Thu, 13 Sep 2007
> Source: Ukiah Daily Journal, The (CA)
> Copyright: 2007 The Ukiah Daily Journal
> Author: Ben Brown, The Daily Journal
>
> Late Tuesday night, the California Senate passed
> a bill that would
> allow four counties, including Mendocino County,
> to participate in a
> pilot program to test the viability of growing
> industrial hemp in
> California.
>
> Assembly Bill 684, sponsored by Assemblyman
> Mark Leno (D-San
> Francisco) and Assemblyman Chuck DeVore
> (R-Irvine), would institute
> a five-year program to test the viability of
> growing industrial hemp
> in California with pilot programs in Mendocino,
> Imperial, Kings and
> Yolo counties.
>
> The bill now goes to Gov. Arnold
> Schwarzenegger for approval or
> veto.
>
> The bill is an amended version of one that passed
> both the Assembly
> and Senate in 2006, but was vetoed by
> Schwarzenegger. It has been
> amended to address his concerns.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1060/a12.html
>
>
=======================================================================
>
> International News
> ---------------------------
>
> COMMENT: (18-21)
>
> In international news this week, U.S. officials
> publicly crow the
> latest bust of a Colombian "drug lord" will shake
> up "trafficking".
> Yet, "It was like getting Al Capone at the
> height of Prohibition,"
> Adm. James Stavridis, commander of USSOUTHCOM
> let slip. Indeed it
> is, Admiral. Drug prohibition (also known as,
> Prohibition II) has
> its Al Capones, lined up waiting for a job.
> And when they are
> removed? Did Al Capone's arrest stop anyone
> from drinking, or
> disrupt the flow of alcohol?
>
> A thought-provoking piece from the Sunday Mail
> in Australia this
> week ("Time For A Reality Check") didn't make
> any bones about it.
> They just came right out and said it. "The
> stereotype of a user is
> someone whose life is out of control but the
> truth is they are
> probably in the minority." Blasphemy! "The
> police officer admitted
> that some drug users, particularly those on
> marijuana or ecstasy,
> were often less trouble than alcohol or
> amphetamine abusers." How
> dare he admit that? Well, they have some
> political cover, in the
> form of a Queensland Drug Strategy report which
> has "uncomfortable
> facts for those who argue drug use is
> inherently 'wrong' while
> alcohol and tobacco use are acceptable."
>
> And finally this week, compare and contrast
> (as only the Mapinc
> archives will let you do) the approaches two
> places are taking to
> two hallucinogens. One place, Hamilton
> Ontario, isn't having a
> problem with salvia divinorum, But this isn't
> stopping officials
> from trying to ban the 5-minute trip-producing
> plant. In Holland,
> where magic mushrooms are openly sold,
> officials have to react to
> the death of a 17-year-old tourist. A blanket ban
> for everyone, you
> know, to save the children? Let's go jail
> some adults? Hardly.
> Amsterdam mayor Job Cohen is proposing the
> following: a three-day
> waiting period, so that buyers don't impulsively
> take the powerful
> and long-lasting mushrooms, without some idea
> of what they are
> bargaining for.
>
> ===
>
> (18) U.S. PRAISES COLOMBIA'S ARREST OF ALLEGED DRUG
> LORD
>
> Pubdate: Thu, 13 Sep 2007
> Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
> Copyright: 2007 Los Angeles Times
> Author: Chris Kraul, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
>
> Officials say the capture of Diego Montoya this
> week will at least
> disrupt trafficking and could set off a power
> struggle.
>
> MIAMI -- U.S. officials hailed the capture
> this week of a man
> alleged to be Colombia's most powerful drug lord,
> saying the arrest
> will at least disrupt trafficking and could set
> off a divisive power
> struggle among cartel leaders.
>
> The officials and some experts hastened to
> add that the arrest
> Monday of Diego Montoya wasn't likely to
> significantly reduce the
> flow of drugs to North America, given U.S.
> demand for cocaine and
> the willingness of lesser capos to fill the
> leadership vacuum. As
> Bogota's newspaper El Tiempo editorialized
> Wednesday, the lesson of
> past arrests and killings of capos is akin to the
> durability of the
> English monarchy: "The King is Dead. Long Live the
> King."
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n1059.a08.html
>
> ===
>
> (19) TIME FOR A REALITY CHECK
>
> Pubdate: Sun, 09 Sep 2007
> Source: Sunday Mail (Australia)
> Copyright: 2007 Queensland Newspapers
> Author: Edmund Burke
>
> "SARAH" sometimes likes to do a line of cocaine
> with friends after a
> nice glass of red wine. Occasionally the
> 28-year-old Brisbane-based
> university lecturer will drop some ecstasy.
>
> She has tried ice, but says she didn't like it.
> She has dabbled in
> heroin, and now and again she'll smoke some
> weed. She doesn't view
> her occasional drug use as a problem - she says
> she doesn't see it
> as anybody's business but her own - and she
> has absolutely no
> intention of stopping.
>
> [snip]
>
> Sarah is a successful academic, who by most
> people's standards seems
> to have her life in good order.
>
> She doesn't suffer from depression and she isn't
> bipolar. She says
> she doesn't have a mental illness or emotional
> problems. She doesn't
> fit into the stereotype of a drug user but the
> confronting fact is,
> experts say, that most drug users in
> Queensland and the rest of
> Australia don't.
>
> [snip]
>
> "The stereotype of a user is someone whose life
> is out of control
> but the truth is they are probably in the minority.
>
> "We don't condone or condemn drug use but
> there are recreational
> users. People will make their own choices and we
> need to be
> presenting a more balanced view so at least it
> can be an informed
> one."
>
> [snip]
>
> The police officer admitted that some drug users,
> particularly those
> on marijuana or ecstasy, were often less
> trouble than alcohol or
> amphetamine abusers.
>
> [snip]
>
> The State Government's Queensland Drug Strategy
> 2006-2010 contains
> some uncomfortable facts for those who argue drug
> use is inherently
> "wrong" while alcohol and tobacco use are
> acceptable.
>
> "Despite the widely held perception that
> drug-related problems are
> mainly caused by the use of illicit drugs,
> tobacco and alcohol are
> responsible for the most harm associated with drugs
> in our
> community," reads the report.
>
> [snip]
>
> That means about seven times more people drink
> than take drugs, but
> about nine times as many deaths are attributed
> to alcohol than to
> illicit drug use.
>
> It is this apparent hypocrisy in our attitude to
> drugs and alcohol
> which is often seized upon by young drug users.
>
> [snip]
>
> "There is a line on Page 5 of that booklet that
> says when parents
> talk to their children they should not
> exaggerate or make false
> claims because if they do their children will
> not accept their
> advice," he says. "That is a lesson the
> Government would do well to
> listen to itself."
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n1038.a03.html
>
> ===
>
> (20) NO CONTROLS ON SALE OF HEAVY HALLUCINOGEN
>
> Pubdate: Tue, 11 Sep 2007
> Source: Hamilton Spectator (CN ON)
> Copyright: 2007 The Hamilton Spectator
> Author: Jessica Mcdiarmid
>
> A powerful unregulated hallucinogen is being
> sold in shops and
> convenience stores across Hamilton. And there's
> nothing illegal
> about it.
>
> [snip]
>
> Store clerk Madi McCann said the popularity of the
> herb, also called
> magic mint or diviner's sage, is on the rise.
>
> But she said she doesn't think there is much
> potential for abuse.
> "It's like a 15-minute (magic) mushroom trip,"
> said McCann, who
> works at Rock Universe, a store in Eastgate
> Square that sells
> salvia. "The effects are so overwhelming, it's
> usually a one-time
> thing."
>
> [snip]
>
> At least one Ontario municipality has called
> for a ban. Port
> Colborne sent a resolution to all Ontario
> municipalities in May
> petitioning Health Canada to review salvia.
>
> After seeing an ad in a store and researching the
> herb, Janice Coker
> of Stoney Creek was terrified.
>
> [snip]
>
> Wende Wood, a psychiatric pharmacist at the Centre
> for Addiction and
> Mental Health in Toronto, said most users don't do
> salvia
> frequently.
>
> "Even experienced hallucinogen users say it's
> very intense," said
> Wood. "Not a lot of people want to do it
> again." What people do
> under the influence is a concern, she said.
>
> "People can freak out and do unsafe things,"
> she said. "Their
> judgment and perception is off."
>
> But other hallucinogenic plants such as jimson
> weed are more
> worrisome, said Wood. Research hasn't found
> salvia addictive or
> physically harmful.
>
> [snip]
>
> "Most people that do it don't do it again. I
> don't have repeat
> customers."
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n1057.a01.html
>
> ===
>
> (21) 'WAIT PERIOD' FOR DRUG TOURISTS
>
> Pubdate: Wed, 12 Sep 2007
> Source: Edmonton Journal (CN AB)
> Copyright: 2007 The Edmonton Journal
>
> THE HAGUE (CNS)- A new proposal from the mayor of
> Amsterdam is sure
> to be considered a bummer by certain visitors to
> the Dutch city: a
> three-day waiting period to buy hallucinogenic
> mushrooms. Mayor Job
> Cohen wants to require the wait period to allow
> mushroom buyers to
> fully understand exactly what it is they are
> purchasing, ANP news
> agency reported Tuesday.
>
> The proposal seeks to prevent impulse purchases
> and follows several
> incidents that have occurred in the city involving
> tourists who have
> eaten hallucinogenic mushrooms.
>
> In March, a 17-year-old French girl killed herself
> by jumping from a
> bridge in the city after having eaten mushrooms.
>
> [end]
>
>
***********************************************************************
>
> HOT OFF THE 'NET
> -------------------------------
>
> SPINNING A FAILED WAR ON DRUGS
>
> By Bruce Mirken, September 11, 2007.
>
> It gets harder and harder for the government
> to try and convince
> people that we are winning the war on drugs, yet
> they keep trying.
>
> http://alternet.org/drugreporter/61842/
>
> ===
>
> CULTURAL BAGGAGE RADIO SHOW
>
> Tonight: 09/14/07 - Dr. Stanton Peele author
> "Addiction-Proof Your
> Child" + Drug War Facts
>
> LISTEN Live 8:00 PM, ET, 7:00 CT, 6:00 MT & 5:00
> PT at www.KPFT.org
>
> Last: 09/07/07 - Wash Post Writer Neal Peirce + Drug
> War Facts,
> Poppygate & Hempfest heroes
>
> Audio:
> http://drugtruth.net/007DTNaudio/FDBCB_090707.mp3
>
> Century of Lies, 09/14/07
>
> Paul Armentano, Jack Cole and Russ Jones of Law
> Enforcement Against
> Prohibition + Alexis Baden-Meyer of VoteHemp &
> Poppygate
>
> Audio:
> http://drugtruth.net/007DTNaudio/COL_091407.mp3
>
> ===
>
> BILL MAHER ASKS DODD FOR "WHY...MARIJUANA
> SHOULD BE ILLEGAL?"
>
> In this video, Bill Maher asks Senator Chris Dodd
> for a "good reason"
> why marijuana should be illegal. Senator Dodd
> says he supports some
> legalization.
>
>
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/09/13/maher-asks-dodd-for-a-go_n_64248.html
>
> ===
>
> WOMEN'S VISIONARY CONGRESS
>
> The 2007 Women's Visionary Congress audio
> recordings are now
> available for download and streaming audio
> (mp3) in the MAPS
> A/V Archive.
>
> http://www.maps.org/avarchive/wvc_audio.html
>
> ===
>
> CANNABINOID CHRONICLES
>
> Please find the September 2007 issue of Cannabinoid
> Chronicles for your
> perusal at:
>
>
http://www.thevics.com/publications/vol5/VICSNews5_1.pdf
>
> ===
>
> HARPER'S NEW ANTI-DRUG STRATEGY IS NOT ANTI-HIV
>
> National Review of Medicine Editorial, September 15,
> 2007
>
>
http://nationalreviewofmedicine.com/issue/2007/09_15/4_editorial_15.html
>
>
***********************************************************************
>
> WHAT YOU CAN DO THIS WEEK
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> JOIN THE GLOBAL VILLAGE FOR A DIFFERENT DRUG POLICY
>
> In June 1998, in a Special Session of the
> United Nations General
> Assembly held in New York, the governments of the
> world announced a
> 10-year strategy to achieve significant and
> measurable results in the
> fight against drugs by the year 2008.
>
> In Vienna in March 2008, we can show the world
> there is much more to
> fear from drug prohibition than from a
> tolerant alternative.
>
>
http://www.encod.org/info/VIENNA-2008-TEN-YEARS-AFTER.html
>
>
***********************************************************************
>
> LETTER OF THE WEEK
> ------------------------------------
>
> CLOSING VANCOUVER'S INSITE TANTAMOUNT TO MURDER
>
> By Keith Martin
>
> Let's face facts. The impending closure of
> Vancouver's Insite
> supervised injection site by the federal
> Conservative government
> will be the first casualty in their "New
> National Drug Strategy".
>
> In killing this program, they will be committing
> thousands of people
> in the coming years to deaths that were entirely
> preventable, from
> overdoses, HIV/AIDS, sepsis, hepatitis C, etc.
>
> Tragically, this decision will be driven by
> ideology and not facts
> as some of the most reputable medical
> journals in the world,
> including the Lancet and the British Medical
> Journal have published
> scientific, peer reviewed articles illustrating
> the enormous
> benefits of this program.
>
> Scientific evaluations at the site, which opened
> in September 2003,
> have shown a 30 per cent increase in the
> rate of addicts using
> detoxification services, an increased use of
> methadone and other
> forms of addiction treatment and reduced
> injecting at the site. All
> of this amid a population that is the most
> difficult to reach with
> existing addiction services.
>
> Many of these addicts live on the street or in
> flop houses and a
> good percentage also have what is referred to as
> dual diagnosis, an
> addiction problem and a psychiatric disease.
> Insite has reached into
> this population and given them access to
> health-care services and a
> way out of the hell that is Vancouver's Downtown
> East Side. It has
> also reduced costs to the taxpayer through fewer
> emergency hospital
> visits and a reduction in crime.
>
> If Prime Minister Harper's government shuts Insite
> down they will be
> committing more than an egregious,
> ideologically driven mistake.
> They will be committing an act that is tantamount
> to murder against
> those whom society has forgotten.
>
> Keith Martin Note: Dr. Keith Martin is the Member
> of Parliament for
> Esquimalt - Juan de Fuca and a physician who
> worked in detox, and
> alcohol and drug rehabilitation centres for 14 years
>
> Pubdate: Fri, 07 Sep 2007
> Source: Victoria News (CN BC)
>
>
***********************************************************************
>
> FEATURE ARTICLE
> -------------------------------
>
> IT'S TIME TO SHUT DOWN DEADLY, ILL-CONCEIVED DRUG
> WAR
>
> By Neal R. Peirce
>
> Thirty-eight million arrests, most for simple
> possession. Lives
> ruined, families disrupted. America turned into the
> most
> prison-happy nation on the face of the Earth.
>
> Illegal rewards incentivizing shooting fields in
> inner-city
> neighborhoods -- enough bloodshed to appall even
> an Al Capone. Over
> $1 trillion in taxpayer outlays.
>
> Thirty-six years after President Richard Nixon
> inaugurated this
> country's misbegotten "war on drugs," worldwide
> narcotics markets
> are booming, drug ring profits are higher than
> ever, and drugs cost
> less than ever on the street.
>
> Our "war" is a miserable, incredibly costly failure.
>
> But now, we're learning, there's a jarring new
> dimension. The drug
> war is directly feeding international terrorism.
> The most startling
> new evidence comes from Afghanistan, where the
> United States 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; its 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.
>
> One result, it's fair to say: American soldiers,
> dying in skirmishes
> in Afghanistan, are the latest casualties in
> the international
> campaign we've waged incessantly -- with
> friendly governments,
> inside the United Nations, wherever we've had the
> chance -- to make
> drugs globally illegal. American
> administrations, Republican and
> Democratic, persistently blame foreign countries
> and international
> drug supplies for our own domestic narcotics
> appetite.
>
> And then, notes Jack Cole, executive director
> of Law Enforcement
> Against Prohibition, "we go to countries like
> Afghanistan, spend
> millions or billions over the years to spray
> poppies and coca
> plants, in the process risking poisoning of
> other crops and people
> on the ground. And despite that, every year we
> see bumper crops."
>
> The other prime example is "Plan Colombia" --
> our multiyear, $4.7
> billion ( so far ) campaign to stamp out coca
> production through
> spraying Colombia's farms, together with
> providing the Colombian
> government with military helicopters and sensitive
> intelligence-gathering technology. Our billions
> are also supposed to
> fight back FARC -- the Revolutionary Armed
> Forces of Colombia -- a
> 17,000-strong peasant-based army described by
> international crime
> and terrorism expert Misha Glenny as "by far the
> largest terrorist
> organization in the Southern Hemisphere." But
> FARC, like the
> Taliban, allies itself with local farmers and
> finances operations
> through the drug trade. Last year, coca production
> was up 8 percent.
>
> Will we ever learn? President Bush now wants
> to channel about $1
> billion to Mexico to fight "narco-trafficking
> and violence on our
> border." Like past Mexican presidents, Felipe
> Calderon has pledged a
> major anti-trafficking campaign, fighting drug
> cartels responsible
> just this year for more than 1,000 murders (
> including reporters,
> police and judges ).
>
> But more drug-fighting money to Mexico won't do
> any good, says Cole:
> The United States' prohibition policy has
> created a "super-obscene
> profit motive." The inducements are so powerful
> that for every drug
> kingpin, domestic or foreign, that we put out of
> business, there's
> an aspirant ready to coerce and, if need be,
> kill his way to
> dominance.
>
> Will we find any 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 personal health to
> reduce drastically our
> consumption of readily available red meat,
> alcohol and tobacco, we
> might just be smart enough to resist dangerous
> narcotics? And that
> we could look to the Swiss and others for ways
> to wean addicts off
> truly dangerous substances?
>
> 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?
>
> Pubdate: Tue, 04 Sep 2007
> Copyright: 2007 The Washington Post Writers Group
> Note: Peirce is a syndicated columnist who
> specializes in city and
> state affairs.
>
>
***********************************************************************
>
> QUOTE OF THE WEEK
> ------------------------------------
>
> "Justice cannot be for one side alone, but
> must be for both."
> - Eleanor Roosevelt
>
>
***********************************************************************
>
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