> Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2007 13:35:01 -0800
> From: webmaster@... (Drug Sense)
> Subject: DrugSense Weekly, November 23, 2007, #526
>
>
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>
> DRUGSENSE WEEKLY
>
>
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>
> DrugSense Weekly, November 23, 2007
> #526
>
> Read This Publication On-line at:
> http://www.drugsense.org/current.htm
>
> ------------------
>
> TABLE OF CONTENTS:
>
> * This Just In
>
> (1) Trying To Break Cycle Of Prison At Street
> Level
> (2) One In Seven Under-13s Have Tried Cannabis
> (3) Editorial: Harper's Misguided War On Pot
> (4) Legal-Leaf Backers Claim Ballot Support
>
> * Weekly News in Review
>
> Drug Policy-
>
> (5) Edwards: War On Drugs Too Punitive
> (6) Recovering Addicts Find Home on the Florida
> Coast
> (7) Group Readies Drug Test Lawsuit
> (8) Brother's Drug Sentence Ignited Woman's
> Crusade
>
> Law Enforcement & Prisons-
>
> (9) Atlanta Police Chief Announces New Narcotics
> Unit
> (10) Family Files Suit in Fatal Police Raid
> (11) Bealefeld Urges More Effort To Fight
> Violent Crime
> (12) Column: Sheriff Shrugs At Deputies'
> Transgressions
>
> Cannabis & Hemp-
>
> (13) Nine-Year-Olds Among Thousands Seeking Help
> With Their Addiction Problems
> (14) Tories Reveal Mandatory Jail Terms For
> Growing Marijuana
> (15) Legal Pot For Very Ill Gets Lift
> (16) Medical Marijuana Access Eases
>
> International News-
>
> (17) Anti-Drugs Lobby Condemns Party For
> Legalisation Debate
> (18) Anti-Drug Plan Would Recast Legal System In
> Mexico
> (19) Dirty Cops Down South
> (20) Bid To Wipe Out Afghan Opium Failed, Says
> UN
>
> * Hot Off The 'Net
>
> Obama, Drugs And Everyone Else / By Froma Harrop
> Drug Truth Network
> LEAP Speaker Jerry Paradis On The Air In Calgary
> The Addict's Veto / By Jacob Sullum
> Legal Ease With Kirk Tousaw
> Texas Worst Court: Cops Can Hand Out Dope
> To Create Snitches
> Richard Paey Speaks
> Unlocking America / By James Austin [Et Al.]
> Britain's First Drug 'Shooting Galleries'
> Hailed A Success
>
> * What You Can Do This Week
>
> Become A MAP Volunteer From The Comfort Of Home
> MPP Download Materials
>
> * Letter Of The Week
>
> Outcome of Teachers' Case Is Tragic and Too
> Severe / Deb Walker
>
> * Feature Article
>
> Unparallel Paths / Mary Jane Borden
>
> * Quote of the Week
>
> Brian Tracy
>
> DrugSense needs your support to continue this
> newsletter and many
> other important projects - see how you can help at
> http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm
>
>
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>
> THIS JUST IN
>
=======================================================================
>
> (1) TRYING TO BREAK CYCLE OF PRISON AT STREET LEVEL
>
> Pubdate: Fri, 23 Nov 2007
> Source: New York Times (NY)
> Copyright: 2007 The New York Times Company
> Author: Solomon Moore
>
> HOUSTON -- Corey Taylor, a convicted drug
> dealer, recently got out
> of prison and moved into his grandmother's
> house in Sunnyside, a
> south central Houston neighborhood of small, tidy
> yards.
>
> During his first days home, Mr. Taylor, 26, got a
> sharp reminder of
> the neighborhood's chronic problems.
>
> "Out of 10 of my partners, only one is doing
> anything different," he
> said, referring to his former drug-dealing
> companions. "I have some
> friends I haven't seen for 10 years because
> either I was locked up
> or they were locked up."
>
> Last year, 32,585 prisoners were released on
> state parole in Texas,
> and many of them returned to neighborhoods
> where they live among
> thousands of other parolees and probationers.
>
> Sunnyside is one of 10 neighborhoods in
> Houston that together
> accounted for 15 percent of the city's population,
> yet received half
> of the 6,283 prisoners released in Houston in
> 2005, according to the
> Justice Mapping Center, a criminal justice research
> group.
>
> The group, which is based in Brooklyn, has done
> work for the Texas
> Legislature that helped lead to a $217 million
> expansion of
> rehabilitation services.
>
> Neighborhoods like Sunnyside can be found in
> virtually every big
> city in the nation. Even as violent crime
> statistics trend downward,
> incarceration rates throughout the country remain
> at a historic high
> of 750 per 100,000 residents. Each year about
> 650,000 prisoners are
> released on parole, according to the Bureau of
> Justice Statistics.
>
> Mapping studies in neighborhoods as distant as the
> Phoenix suburb of
> South Mountain and the Newhallville area of New
> Haven show
> incarceration rates far higher than the national
> rate.
>
> The parolees are almost always coming back to
> areas where support
> systems, like schools and public assistance
> programs, receive less
> money and attention than incarceration does, the
> studies show. In an
> effort to break the cycle, Texas this fall
> began its expansion of
> services for former inmates, including job
> training classes, drug
> treatment programs and psychological counseling.
>
> The approach, based in part on legislative
> presentations by the
> Justice Mapping Center, is a sharp departure
> from the state's
> longtime criminal justice focus on retribution.
>
> The shift is intended to save the state
> money by slowing the
> revolving door between state prisons and
> neighborhoods like
> Sunnyside. The parolees released last year
> cost the state $100
> million over the course of their prison terms;
> the 85 who returned
> to Sunnyside, population 21,000, accounted for
> almost $8 million of
> that, according to data by the mapping group.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1351/a08.html
>
> ===
>
> (2) ONE IN SEVEN UNDER-13s HAVE TRIED CANNABIS
>
> Pubdate: Fri, 23 Nov 2007
> Source: Guardian, The (UK)
> Copyright: 2007 Guardian Newspapers Limited
> Author: Alan Travis, in Brussels
> Referenced: The report
> http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/html.cfm/index407EN.html
>
> Britain Worst in EU on Child Drug Abuse, Report
> Finds
>
> Adult Cocaine Use Rises, but Cannabis Levels Down
>
> Evidence of a growing pre-teen drug problem
> in Britain emerged
> yesterday with research showing that one in
> seven children have
> tried cannabis before the age of 13.
>
> The study, reported by the EU's drug agency, says
> there has been an
> explosion in the number of children under 15
> going into drug
> treatment across Europe.
>
> The annual report from the European Monitoring
> Centre for Drugs and
> Drug Addiction shows that the UK's drug problem
> among young
> teenagers is far worse than in any other EU
> country. The research
> shows that 13% of British schoolchildren say
> they first tried
> cannabis before they were 13. This is much
> higher than any other
> European country - it compares with 8% in
> the Netherlands and
> Ireland - and is more than three times the EU
> average.
>
> [snip]
>
> The EU drugs agency also said that the growth
> of cocaine use in
> Britain and Spain had proved to be a
> precursor of a new boom in
> cocaine use across Europe. The market has
> grown by a million new
> users in the past year alone, making it the
> second most popular
> illegal drug after cannabis.
>
> [snip]
>
> Britain is no longer at the top of the
> European cannabis league
> among people aged 15-34, with 16.3% using it
> in the last year
> compared with 20% for Spain, 19% for the Czech
> Republic and 16.5%
> for Italy.
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1351/a06.html
>
> ===
>
> (3) EDITORIAL: HARPER'S MISGUIDED WAR ON POT
>
> Pubdate: Fri, 23 Nov 2007
> Source: National Post (Canada)
> Copyright: 2007 Southam Inc.
>
> We are glad to see the Conservative
> government using the excess
> lifespan donated by Her Majesty's Opposition to
> get tough on crime.
> But was it really necessary to include
> victimless acts among the
> list of crimes being targeted?
>
> Justice Minister Rob Nicholson's new package of
> mandatory sentences
> for marijuana dealers, announced on Tuesday,
> seems to involve some
> perverse incentives. Under the bill, a grower
> who is caught with
> between one and 200 plants and is found to
> have the intention of
> trafficking will receive a non-negotiable
> minimum of six months in
> prison, unless he can show that he is
> eligible for judicially
> ordered treatment under the auspices of a drug
> court. The maximum
> penalty for having a few pot plants on the premises
> will be
> increased to 14 years.
>
> Certainly, this will discourage some small-time
> growers from dealing
> marijuana, since only a fraction of them now
> receive jail terms for
> a first offence. But it's equally certain that
> it will encourage
> others to reason that they might as well go to
> prison for 199 plants
> as for five.
>
> The government of British Columbia, which is where
> the effect of the
> new sentencing guidelines is likely to hit
> hardest, doesn't think
> the province is going to transform overnight
> into a utopia of
> temperance. The provincial corrections department
> said on Wednesday
> that if Mr. Nicholson's guidelines are
> enacted, it will probably
> have to find room in its jails for about 700 more
> marijuana growers
> per year -- people who are currently punished with
> house arrest or a
> fine. And nobody is sure where these additional
> prisoners are going
> to be put, since 80% of provincial prisoners
> in B.C. are already
> double-bunked and the rest are either in
> protective custody or are
> too violent for a cellmate.
>
> [snip]
>
> There are serious criminal problems to be tackled
> in this country --
> such as those involving gangs and guns. Compared
> to these, marijuana
> is simply not on the risk radar screen. It is
> baffling that, at this
> point in history, any government in Ottawa would
> bring an
> American-style War on Drugs approach to
> Canada's small-scale
> marijuana growers.
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1351/a07.html
>
> ===
>
> (4) LEGAL-LEAF BACKERS CLAIM BALLOT SUPPORT
>
> Pubdate: Thu, 22 Nov 2007
> Source: Boston Herald (MA)
> Copyright: 2007 The Boston Herald, Inc
> Note: By Herald staff and wire services
>
> BOSTON - Advocates for decriminalizing
> marijuana in Massachusetts
> say they've collected more than enough
> signatures to get the
> initiative on next year's ballot.
>
> Supporters say they filed about 105,000
> signatures - far more than
> the 67,000 required.
>
> The ballot question would impose civil, not
> criminal, penalties on
> anyone caught with 1 ounce or less of marijuana.
>
> Backers say it would save millions in law
> enforcement costs and
> spare thousands from getting a criminal
> record. Opponents say
> loosening drug laws sets a bad precedent.
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1351/a05.html
>
>
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>
> WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW
>
=======================================================================
>
> Domestic News- Policy
> ----------------------------------
>
> COMMENT: (5-8)
>
> After spending yesterday recognizing all the
> things I am thankful
> for in my personal life, I was pleased to
> find several positive
> pieces in our archives to highlight.
>
> A nod to presidential candidate John Edwards
> who discussed drug
> policy reform at a campus rally. Thousands of
> recovering addicts
> appreciate the safe haven being provided by the
> community of Delray
> Beach, Florida. Many thanks to the ACLU for
> their preparation of a
> law suit against drug testing of Hawaiian
> public school teachers.
> Closing this section with immense gratitude to
> Julie Stewart for all
> the work she has done towards reforming our
> incredibly unjust
> mandatory minimum laws.
>
> ===
>
> (5) EDWARDS: WAR ON DRUGS TOO PUNITIVE
>
> Pubdate: Tue, 20 Nov 2007
> Source: Des Moines Register (IA)
> Author: Tony Leys, Register Staff Writer
>
> Grinnell, Ia. - America needs to reconsider its
> punitive approach to
> "the so-called war on drugs," presidential
> candidate John Edwards
> said here today.
>
> "We're not going to build enough prisons to solve
> this problem," he
> told a crowd of about 800 at Grinnell College.
>
> The former North Carolina senator grinned when a
> young man sitting
> behind him on stage asked about drug policy.
> "Only on college
> campuses," Edwards joked before answering.
>
> He said he's especially concerned about mandatory
> minimum sentences
> for first-time drug offenders, which he said
> should be reconsidered.
> He added that too few drug offenders get treatment.
>
> "You go to jail, you come out of jail, and a lot
> of people go right
> back to the environment that got them in trouble
> to begin with," he
> said. "...We need to get them the help that they
> need; if they need
> education, if they need job training, if they need
> drug
> rehabilitation."
>
> He also said he favored drug courts, in which
> non-violent offenders
> often are given alternatives to prison. And he
> said he would beef up
> the probation system, so probation officers
> aren't each expected to
> oversee hundreds of cases.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1345/a01.html
>
> ===
>
> (6) RECOVERING ADDICTS FIND HOME ON THE FLORIDA
> COAST
>
> Pubdate: Fri, 16 Nov 2007
> Source: New York Times (NY)
> Copyright: 2007 The New York Times Company
> Author: Jane Gross
> Note: Terry Aguayo contributed reporting from Miami.
>
> [snip]
>
> Delray Beach, a funky outpost of sobriety
> between Fort Lauderdale
> and West Palm Beach, is the epicenter of the
> country's largest and
> most vibrant recovery community, with scores of
> halfway houses, more
> than 5,000 people at 12-step meetings each
> week, recovery radio
> shows, a recovery motorcycle club and a
> coffeehouse that boasts its
> own therapy group.
>
> Recovery communities are springing up outside
> the walls of rehab
> centers for alumni seeking the safety in numbers.
>
> The prototype community is in Minnesota, near
> the Hazelden clinic.
> But recovering substance abusers are also sinking
> roots in Arizona,
> Southern California and the Gold Coast of
> Florida -- places with
> more sizzle and better weather. Lindsay Lohan
> spoke hopefully of
> finding eternal rehab in the Wasatch mountains of
> Utah, near Provo,
> where some graduates of her latest drug treatment
> center have moved.
>
> Delray Beach is in a class by itself, experts
> say, because of its
> compact geography and critical mass of recovering
> addicts who cross
> paths daily in the shops and bistros along
> Atlantic Avenue. They fly
> beneath the radar of tourists oblivious to
> telltale signs of
> addiction, like unapologetic chain smoking. But
> they see one another
> everywhere:
>
> [snip]
>
> It is difficult to count the recovery population
> here because only
> residential treatment beds are licensed by the
> state. As of Nov. 1,
> almost 3,500 people were being treated as
> in-patients in Palm Beach,
> Broward and Miami-Dade Counties in southeastern
> Florida, by far the
> largest concentration in the state.
>
> Halfway houses, by contrast, are unregulated.
> But Dr. Jonas said
> there were about 1,200 halfway house beds in
> this city alone. With
> rent averaging $175 a week, these businesses
> generate almost $11
> million a year.
>
> Low-wage jobs for people in recovery are
> plentiful in a tourist
> economy. Recovering addicts make smoothies at
> Ben and Jerry's, and
> sell housewares at Crate and Barrel. Among the
> current worker bees
> are an executive chef and a professional
> baseball player, both
> busing tables.
>
> [snip]
>
> Typically modest bungalows, halfway houses
> provide structure and
> supervision -- curfews, random urine tests,
> the requirement that
> tenants have jobs and attend meetings. Still,
> unscrupulous owners
> prey on tenants by "flipping" the same bed,
> insisting on several
> months' rent up front, then evicting someone
> for rules violations
> and re-renting the room. Some owners also put
> rule-breakers out on
> the curb, with no alternative housing, which can
> lead to crime and
> an outcry from neighborhood homeowners.
>
> A movement to ban halfway houses in residential
> neighborhoods has so
> far been unsuccessful, with courts ruling that
> such restrictions
> violate the Americans with Disability Act. The
> association of
> halfway-house owners is trying self-regulation,
> and its members are
> required to find a placement for an evicted
> tenant, often at a
> discounted rate in a motel Dr. Jonas owns.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1323/a01.html
>
> ===
>
> (7) GROUP READIES DRUG TEST LAWSUIT
>
> Pubdate: Fri, 16 Nov 2007
> Source: Honolulu Star-Bulletin (HI)
> Copyright: 2007 Honolulu Star-Bulletin
> Author: B. J. Reyes
>
> The ACLU of Hawaii Intends to File Suit on
> Behalf of Teachers
>
> A civil rights group says it has been
> contacted by more than 200
> teachers who are interested in being part of
> a federal lawsuit
> challenging a new policy that calls for random
> drug tests for public
> school teachers.
>
> Carlie Ware, an attorney for the American Civil
> Liberties Union's
> Drug Law Reform Project, said the organization
> is interviewing
> potential plaintiffs and aims to file the
> lawsuit by January.
>
> [snip]
>
> The ACLU of Hawaii says the policy is
> unconstitutional, and had
> threatened legal action in a letter to Gov. Linda
> Lingle last month,
> asking her to scrap the policy by yesterday
> or face a lawsuit.
>
> [snip]
>
> The policy was added as a non-negotiable item in a
> contract ratified
> last spring by the 13,000-member Hawaii State
> Teachers Association.
> In May, 61.3 percent of more than 8,000 union
> members approved the
> contract, which also provided 4 percent raises
> in the current and
> next school years.
>
> Attorney General Mark Bennett has said the
> ratification makes any
> legal challenge moot. The ACLU argues that
> teachers' constitutional
> right to privacy cannot be negotiated into a
> contract.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1322/a07.html
>
> ===
>
> (8) BROTHER'S DRUG SENTENCE IGNITED WOMAN'S CRUSADE
>
> Pubdate: Tue, 20 Nov 2007
> Source: Washington Post (DC)
> Copyright: 2007 The Washington Post Company
> Author: Avis Thomas-Lester, Washington Post Staff
> Writer
>
> D.C. Group Helps Win Relaxed Penalties
>
> Julie Stewart was sitting at her desk at a
> think tank in the
> District 17 years ago when her telephone rang.
> It was her brother
> calling to say he had been busted for growing
> marijuana.
>
> "How stupid," she recalled thinking. She
> figured he would get off
> with a relatively light punishment -- perhaps a
> little jail time,
> maybe probation. After all, she reasoned, he had
> no record. And it
> was "only" marijuana.
>
> Instead, for cultivating 365 six-inch marijuana
> plants, Stewart's
> brother received five years in federal prison,
> a sentence Stewart
> considered harsh.
>
> "I was astounded," said Stewart, 51, of Chevy
> Chase. "We are putting
> people in prison with sentence lengths that used
> to be reserved for
> the most violent offenders."
>
> That was Stewart's introduction to the nation's
> mandatory minimum
> sentencing laws, which dictated how much time
> her brother would
> spend behind bars. Anguish over that sentence
> led her to establish
> Families Against Mandatory Minimums ( FAMM ),
> one of several
> advocacy groups credited with persuading the
> U.S. Sentencing
> Commission recently to relax the penalties
> prescribed for some crack
> cocaine offenses.
>
> [snip]
>
> A self-described libertarian, Stewart said she
> believes lawbreakers
> should face penalties. But the time, she said,
> should fit the crime.
>
> "I think it's easy for members of Congress to
> forget how long 10
> years is," Stewart said. "Sentences have gotten
> so inflated in the
> last 20 years that we no longer think about what
> that means to the
> person serving the sentence or their family."
>
> Besides fighting to get mandatory minimums
> repealed, FAMM also works
> to change some states' sentencing laws and serves
> as a resource for
> organizations across the country.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1337/a02.html
>
>
=======================================================================
>
> Law Enforcement & Prisons
> -------------------------
>
> COMMENT: (9-12)
>
> The one year anniversary of a botched drug raid,
> which ended in the
> death of a 92-year-old woman, gave the Atlanta
> Journal-Constitution
> an opportunity to provide updates in several
> articles. I have
> selected one covering the newly-formed narcotics
> squad and another
> addressing the family's civil suit.
>
> While not quite singing LEAP phrases, it
> appears that Baltimore's
> newest police commissioner will be
> concentrating his resources on
> violent crime. In a recent Baltimore Sun
> interview he called for
> increased funding for quality drug treatment
> and outlined some
> refreshing policy ideas.
>
> Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke Jr. gets
> the Law Enforcement
> Blunder of the Year Award with this quote: "If
> you're going to fire
> every cop who violates the Constitution," Clarke
> explained, "we're
> not going to have many left."
>
> ===
>
> (9) ATLANTA POLICE CHIEF ANNOUNCES NEW NARCOTICS
> UNIT
>
> Pubdate: Wed, 21 Nov 2007
> Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA)
> Copyright: 2007 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
> Author: Cameron McWhirter
>
> On the eve of the one-year anniversary of the
> worst scandal to hit
> the Atlanta Police Department in his four
> years as leader, Chief
> Richard Pennington announced that the
> department's newly revamped
> anti-drug section is "the best-trained
> narcotics unit in the
> Southeast."
>
> With Mayor Shirley Franklin by his side,
> Pennington said the Nov.
> 21, 2006, police killing of Kathryn Johnston, 92,
> in her home on the
> city's northwest side was a tragedy that "tore
> at the heart of the
> community" and caused an overhaul of police
> training and procedures
> to ensure such a thing doesn't happen again.
>
> [snip]
>
> The reborn unit -- doubled from 15 officers to 30
> -- has been up and
> running since the first week of October, Pennington
> said.
>
> [snip]
>
> At his news conference at police headquarters,
> Pennington detailed
> his overhaul of the narcotics unit, including
> replacing everyone in
> the entire unit and putting the new officers
> through extensive
> training from outside police agencies.
>
> Other APD narcotics changes include:
>
> * "No-knock" search warrants must be approved by a
> major.
>
> * Search warrants must be approved by a lieutenant.
>
> * Drugs seized must be field-tested.
>
> * Officers conducting raids will wear special
> uniforms, not street
> clothes.
>
> * Narcotics unit officers will be interviewed
> annually and given
> random drug tests.
>
> * Informants receiving money for information will
> have to be paid in
> the presence of a supervisor.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1347/a04.html
>
> ===
>
> (10) FAMILY FILES SUIT IN FATAL POLICE RAID
>
> Pubdate: Thu, 22 Nov 2007
> Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA)
> Copyright: 2007 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
> Author: Cameron McWhirter, Saeed Ahmed, The Atlanta
> Journal-Constitution
>
> The family of the 92-year-old woman fatally shot
> in a botched police
> raid filed a civil suit against the city and the
> Police Department
> on Wednesday, the one-year anniversary of a
> police killing that
> shocked the nation.
>
> [snip]
>
> The suit, filed in Fulton County Court by
> Johnston's family, does
> not specify a dollar amount, but Markel
> Hutchins, an Atlanta
> minister who is serving as a spokesman for
> the estate, said the
> family would consider anything less than a
> multimillion-dollar
> settlement an insult.
>
> As a comparison, Hutchins cited a
> reverse-discrimination lawsuit
> that awarded $17 million to seven white Fulton
> County librarians who
> were ousted from their jobs and said the
> circumstances in that case
> were "far less egregious."
>
> [snip]
>
> The suit charges the corrupt practices of the
> Police Department led
> to violations of the U.S. Constitution and state
> law.
>
> It names the city of Atlanta, Pennington and
> individual officers
> involved in the fateful raid on Johnston's home.
>
> The officers named include Gregg Junnier and
> Jason Smith, who have
> both pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter
> and other state
> charges in the incident.
>
> They face sentencing soon.
>
> It also names Arthur Tesler, who has been
> indicted on federal
> charges in the case, and two supervisors involved
> in the raid, Sgt.
> W.T. Stallings and Lt. Stacie Gibbs.
>
> [snip]
>
> Police had raided Johnston's northwest Atlanta
> house using a warrant
> obtained with false testimony from an
> informant. They obtained a
> "no-knock" search warrant, meaning they could
> enter the house
> without warning.
>
> A fearful Johnston apparently thought the police
> were criminals and
> brought out an old gun to stop the intruders. She
> fired one shot and
> missed. Police fired 39 times, fatally
> injuring her and wounding
> other officers.
>
> They handcuffed Johnston as she lay dying, and
> then several officers
> attempted to plant marijuana in the house to
> cover up the mistake.
> They falsified reports to make it look as
> though drug dealing had
> occurred in the house.
>
> The fiasco caused national headlines and led to a
> hiatus of almost a
> year on police efforts to shut down drug houses.
> The city's reborn
> narcotics unit, made up of entirely new officers,
> began
> investigating drug houses in October.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1347/a05.html
>
> ===
>
> (11) BEALEFELD URGES MORE EFFORT TO FIGHT VIOLENT
> CRIME
>
> Pubdate: Mon, 19 Nov 2007
> Source: Baltimore Sun (MD)
> Copyright: 2007 The Baltimore Sun Company
> Author: Gus G. Sentementes, Sun Reporter
>
> [snip]
>
> Here are excerpts from a 45-minute interview with
> Bealefeld, during
> which he questioned how the drug war is being
> fought and policies of
> predecessors that led to thousands of questionable
> arrests:
>
> Fighting drugs: Can anyone in this country say
> the war on drugs has
> been a success? If they can, I really don't know
> who they are. ...
> We've had victories here and there. But have
> we solved the drug
> problem in America?
>
> We can't be overwhelmed by the notion of drug
> enforcement. The fact
> of the matter is old strategies, a drug
> arrest, in the scheme of
> things, was ranked as high as some other
> arrests, because the
> problem was mounted so high on our radar
> screen. Drugs, drugs,
> drugs, drugs. So cops, a lot of these guys
> came through their
> careers thinking, "Man, I got to attack this
> drug problem ... " We
> can't do that and give burglars and car thieves
> and robbers a pass.
>
> [snip]
>
> Drug treatment: I can tell you this ... without
> trepidation: We need
> real investments - and there have been
> incremental investments -
> there needs to be real, real work on drug
> treatment in this city.
> That has to be done. And we need to come to grips
> with that. We need
> real treatment programs, and they have to be
> effective. That is as
> important as holding me accountable for arresting
> more drug
> offenders. It can't be one or the other
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1336/a08.html
>
> ===
>
> (12) SHERIFF SHRUGS AT DEPUTIES' TRANSGRESSIONS
>
> Pubdate: Thu, 15 Nov 2007
> Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI)
> Copyright: 2007 Journal Sentinel Inc.
> Author: Daniel Bice
>
> Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke Jr. was
> rightfully angry the
> other day at officials who shrugged their
> shoulders after a felon on
> probation recently failed two drug tests. Clarke
> went so far as to
> call Judge Joe Donald "soft."
>
> It was easy to identify with the tough-talking
> sheriff's
> frustration.
>
> But now the question must be asked of Clarke: Why
> did he use such a
> light touch himself with a half-dozen deputies who
> violated
> department policy - and the U.S. Constitution - by
> entering an empty
> house without a warrant?
>
> Recall that two of the deputies were less
> than honest about the
> improper search in their reports, and county
> prosecutors have said
> they won't use the pair on the stand again.
>
> All six walked with nothing more than a written
> reprimand and some
> training on the Fourth Amendment.
>
> "If you're going to fire every cop who violates
> the Constitution,"
> Clarke explained, "we're not going to have many
> left."
>
> Read that again. It's just a stunning admission
> for a guy who likes
> to talk about his high standards.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1321/a09.html
>
>
=======================================================================
>
> Cannabis & Hemp-
> ---------------------------
>
> COMMENT: (13-16)
>
> As in the U.S., British youngsters are being
> referred to treatment
> in greater numbers for cannabis dependence. It
> seems many depend on
> cannabis to ameliorate anxiety and psychological
> disorders stemming
> from dysfunctional upbringings.
>
> Seemingly oblivious to the U.S. experience,
> Canada's conservative
> government tabled legislation last week that would
> impose mandatory
> minimum prison sentences for various drug crimes,
> including cannabis
> cultivation.
>
> It appears the Michigan Coalition for Compassionate
> Care has gathered
> more than enough signatures to put a medicinal
> cannabis initiative on
> the 2008 ballot. If the measure is certified and
> passed by a majority
> of voters, it will allow patients to use, possess,
> and grow their own
> with a doctors' approval.
>
> A Denver judge may have cleared the way for
> compassion clubs in
> Colorado by striking down a health department
> policy which limited
> caregivers to five patients or less.
>
> ===
>
> (13) NINE-YEAR-OLDS AMONG THOUSANDS SEEKING HELP
> WITH THEIR ADDICTION
> PROBLEMS
>
> Pubdate: Sun, 18 Nov 2007
> Source: Independent on Sunday (UK)
> Copyright: Independent Newspapers Ltd.
> Author: Brian Brady and Nina Lakhani
>
> Family breakdown and school exclusion are just
> two factors that are
> turning Britain's youngsters into drug abusers,
> especially of
> cannabis. Last year, more than 9,000 went
> into treatment - an
> increase of 20 per cent.
>
> Thousands of British children are receiving
> treatment for drug abuse
> as stresses including family breakdown and
> expulsion from school
> fuel a rise in young people appealing for help with
> their
> addictions.
>
> Official figures obtained by The Independent on
> Sunday have revealed
> that more than 9,000 children aged as young as nine
> entered
> treatment for drug problems in England last
> year. The total,
> revealed by health ministers, was up a fifth
> on the figure for
> 2005-06.
>
> More than half the young people in residential
> treatment units or
> reporting to GPs and community action teams
> list cannabis as the
> main drug they are abusing. But, in a disturbing
> signal that abuse
> of class A drugs is creeping into Britain's
> playgrounds, the
> proportion of young people in treatment listing
> cannabis as their
> principal drug is falling.
>
> The latest Department of Health figures come
> only days after the
> school inspection organisation, Ofsted, warned
> that one in seven 12-
> to 15-year-olds had tried illegal drugs.
>
> Experts warned that the rising toll of disclosed
> drug problems did
> not tell the full story, as many youngsters
> were suffering in
> silence - - or refusing to accept that their
> drug use had become a
> problem. But they insisted that the most of the
> youngsters involved
> were turning to drugs in a desperate attempt to
> deal with a mountain
> of problems.
>
> [snip]
>
> Drugscope spokesman Harry Shapiro said the rise
> was closely linked
> to an increase in the stresses facing Britain's
> youth, documented in
> a shocking United Nations survey that put the
> UK bottom of an
> international table of child well-being.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n1329.a02.html
>
> ===
>
> (14) TORIES REVEAL MANDATORY JAIL TERMS FOR GROWING
> MARIJUANA
>
> Pubdate: Wed, 21 Nov 2007
> Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
> Copyright: 2007 The Vancouver Sun
> Authors: Richard Foot, Canwest News Service, Kelly
> Sinoski, Vancouver Sun
>
> OTTAWA -- The Conservative government unveiled
> legislation Tuesday
> to create the first mandatory prison terms in
> Canada for people
> convicted of trafficking illicit drugs,
> including those who grow
> marijuana for profit.
>
> The proposed changes are the newest chapter in the
> Harper
> government's sweeping crackdown on crime, which
> includes bills
> before Parliament to toughen rules for repeat
> violent offenders, to
> keep accused young offenders in jail before
> their trials, and now,
> to impose automatic prison penalties on
> serious drug offenders.
>
> Canada's Controlled Drugs and Substances Act has
> no mandatory prison
> sentences. Judges use their own discretion
> about whether to send
> drug pushers and growers to jail.
>
> The new bill proposes:
>
> - A mandatory six-month sentence for growing
> as little as one
> marijuana plant for the purposes of trafficking,
> sure to be felt in
> B.C., where marijuana-growing operations are
> common and fines are
> the usual penalty.
>
> - A two-year mandatory term for running a
> marijuana-growing
> operation of 500 plants or more.
>
> - A doubling of the maximum prison term for
> cannabis production from
> seven to 14 years.
>
> [snip]
>
> Vancouver's "Prince of Pot," Marc Emery, said he
> was alarmed by the
> news, and it will clog the courts and jails.
>
> "You can never beat organized crime as long as you
> have
> prohibition," Emery said. "If we just
> legalized these drugs and
> distributed them to addicts, we'd see an
> evaporation of organized
> crime."
>
> Eugene Oscapella, a criminal lawyer who teaches
> drug policy at the
> University of Ottawa, said decades of
> experience with tough,
> mandatory penalties in the United States have
> proven that the threat
> of prison terms doesn't deter drug traffickers or
> growers.
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n1344.a06.html
>
> ===
>
> (15) LEGAL POT FOR VERY ILL GETS LIFT
>
> Pubdate: Wed, 21 Nov 2007
> Source: Detroit Free Press (MI)
> Copyright: 2007 Detroit Free Press
> Authors: Dawson Bell and Naomi R. Patton, Free Press
> Staff Writers
> Cited: http://stoparrestingpatients.org/
>
> LANSING -- Michigan residents may get a chance to
> vote next fall on
> whether to decriminalize the use of marijuana for
> medical purposes,
> after supporters of the idea submitted nearly
> a half-million
> petition signatures to state elections officials
> Tuesday.
>
> The Michigan Coalition for Compassionate Care
> claimed to have
> gathered the signatures of 496,000 registered
> voters, far in excess
> of the 304,000 required to put the issue before
> the Legislature and,
> if no action is taken, to state voters.
>
> Dianne Byrum, a former state legislator from
> Ingham County now
> working with the coalition, said the use of
> medical marijuana enjoys
> broad support around the country and in Michigan.
>
> Twelve states allow citizens some access to
> medical marijuana,
> giving seriously ill patients the right to use
> the drug, mainly for
> pain relief. They also may be able to grow it.
> Voters in five cities
> in Michigan -- Detroit, Flint, Ann Arbor, Ferndale
> and Traverse City
> -- have approved similar ordinances in recent years.
>
> But use and possession of marijuana for any
> purpose remains illegal
> under state and federal laws.
>
> Byrum said the Michigan initiative has been
> narrowly crafted to
> restrict marijuana use to people who have specific,
> serious
> illnesses certified by physicians. It has been
> endorsed in concept
> by resolution of the state Democratic Party,
> said Byrum, a former
> Democratic state senator and representative who
> runs a political
> consulting firm.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n1341.a03.html
>
> ===
>
> (16) MEDICAL MARIJUANA ACCESS EASES
>
> Pubdate: Tue, 20 Nov 2007
> Source: Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO)
> Copyright: 2007 Denver Publishing Co.
> Author: Sue Lindsay
>
> Access to medical marijuana will be easier as a
> result of a ruling
> by a Denver judge.
>
> District Judge Larry Naves last week
> overturned a state health
> department policy that restricted providers of
> medical marijuana to
> five patients.
>
> The ruling endorses a settlement reached between the
> health
> department and attorneys for AIDS patient
> Damien LaGoy, who sued
> after his caregiver request was denied in May based
> on the
> five-patient rule.
>
> The denial forced him to buy marijuana on the
> street, LaGoy said.
>
> "I was in a very dangerous situation," LaGoy said at
> a news
> conference Monday. "I was trying to get medical
> marijuana from some
> of the darkest spots in town, risking my life at
> times. I actually
> have been robbed once trying to find medical
> marijuana. Also, you
> never know what you're getting."
>
> [snip]
>
> Naves granted an injunction this summer
> preventing the health
> department from enforcing the policy, which he
> said was adopted by
> the department in a closed meeting in 2004.
>
> That ruling led to negotiations in which the
> state agreed not to
> enforce the five-patient rule and to notify
> patients, caregivers and
> others when considering policies affecting
> medical marijuana users.
>
> Naves subsequently overturned the five-patient
> policy, saying its
> adoption violated the Colorado open meetings act.
>
> "The health department just randomly selected five
> as the limit in a
> secret, clandestine meeting that was not open
> to patients or
> caregivers or doctors or the scientific
> community," said attorney
> Brian Vicente.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n1340.a07.html
>
>
=======================================================================
>
> International News
> ---------------------------
>
> COMMENT: (17-20)
>
> While political parties should be able to
> debate certain issues,
> debating the legalization of cannabis is
> off-limits, according to
> the European prohibitionist organization EURAD.
> Only "those who have
> a vested interest or are merely armchair
> generals" could debate the
> legalization of cannabis, said Grainne Kenny,
> EURAD spokesperson.
> Kenny made the remarks in a letter to Irish
> Labour Party leaders
> last week after the party attempted to simply
> debate the issue.
> "While cannabis is banned and criminalised,
> criminals will continue
> to supply it and young people and others will
> continue to use it and
> will be placed in the hands and control of
> criminals," noted Labour
> party official Emmett Stagg.
>
> Usually, one country must conquer another
> before the victor may
> re-write the laws of the vanquished. But
> Prohibitionists from
> Washington D.C. have descended upon Mexico and
> are determined to
> re-write the Mexicans' drug laws for them. "The
> Bush
> administration's proposed counternarcotics aid
> package for Mexico
> would set in motion a vast reengineering of the
> country's justice
> system, revamping the legal education
> process." The $500 million
> carrot contains money for Mexican military and
> Mexican police, and
> anti-drug propaganda.
>
> East of Mexico, in the West Indies, the
> nation of Trinidad and
> Tobago was rocked with allegations that
> "police officers are
> involved in the drug and guns trade in the
> Southern Division."
> Police Superintendent Chandrabhan Maharaj made
> the allegations last
> week. The accusations came to light after
> Maharaj refused a
> promotion, citing the entrenched corruption as a
> reason.
>
> Another year of the North Atlantic Treaty
> Organization's occupation
> of the central Asian nation of Afghanistan,
> and another record
> bumper harvest of opium, especially troubling
> to the western
> occupying forces when it is grown in hostile
> Helmand province in the
> south. While some have proposed simply buying the
> opium from Afghan
> farmers, UK PM Gordon Brown has another idea.
> Why not pay farmers
> for not growing opium? Reports did not say how it
> will be determined
> how much opium each farmer has not been growing.
>
> ===
>
> (17) ANTI-DRUGS LOBBY CONDEMNS PARTY FOR
> LEGALISATION DEBATE
>
> Pubdate: Mon, 19 Nov 2007
> Source: Irish Independent (Ireland)
> Copyright: Independent Newspapers (Ireland) Ltd
> Author: Fionnan Sheahan
>
> Anti-drugs campaigners yesterday criticised the
> Labour Party for
> even debating the legalisation of cannabis.
>
> The party kicked to touch a call for the
> decriminalisation,
> regulation and taxation of the supply of
> marijuana and cannabis.
>
> A motion at the party conference, supported by
> Labour chief whip
> Emmett Stagg, was passed on to the national
> executive for further
> consideration.
>
> [snip]
>
> "While cannabis is banned and criminalised,
> criminals will continue
> to supply it and young people and others will
> continue to use it and
> will be placed in the hands and control of
> criminals," he said.
>
> But Europe Against Drugs (EURAD) spokeswoman,
> Grainne Kenny, in a
> letter to Labour leader Eamon Gilmore and deputy
> leader Joan Burton,
> criticised the debate.
>
> "I am indeed surprised that the 'new' Labour
> Party is wasting
> precious time at your very important conference
> debating an issue
> that is wearing thin, except of course to those
> who have a vested
> interest or are merely armchair generals," she said.
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n1343.a04.htm
>
> ===
>
> (18) ANTI-DRUG PLAN WOULD RECAST LEGAL SYSTEM IN
> MEXICO
>
> Pubdate: Sun, 18 Nov 2007
> Source: Washington Post (DC)
> Copyright: 2007 The Washington Post Company
> Author: Manuel Roig-Franzia, Washington Post Foreign
> Service
>
> MEXICO CITY -- The Bush administration's
> proposed counternarcotics
> aid package for Mexico would set in motion a
> vast reengineering of
> the country's justice system, revamping the legal
> education process,
> creating a network of court clerks and helping
> to write new laws,
> according to two summaries obtained by The
> Washington Post.
>
> The $500 million plan would also fund
> anti-drug and human rights
> campaigns and new citizen complaint centers. It
> would provide money
> for efforts to develop "centers of moral
> authority" and for media
> campaigns to create "a culture of lawfulness."
>
> Under the plan, which has drawn criticism from
> some on Capitol Hill,
> officials from the U.S. Department of Justice,
> the U.S. Marshals
> Service and the Federal Bureau of Prisons
> would conduct training
> sessions and military officers would provide
> instruction related to
> aircraft.
>
> Nearly every sector of Mexico's federal justice
> system would receive
> a slice of the proposed aid, with millions
> being doled out for
> equipment and training for prosecutors, federal
> police, prison
> managers and customs inspectors. It would also
> give birth to new
> institutions: Money has been set aside, for
> instance, to help
> establish a training academy for drug-sniffing
> dogs and their
> handlers.
>
> [snip]
>
> The documents include unusually blunt criticisms
> of Mexico, with one
> declaring that "there is widespread popular
> distrust within Mexico
> for its law enforcement institutions."
>
> [snip]
>
> While the documents provide a trove of details
> about the drug plan,
> some areas are not fully fleshed out. Half a
> million dollars would
> be set aside for media campaigns designed to
> create a "culture of
> lawfulness" and for helping nongovernmental
> organizations develop
> "centers of moral authority." But the document
> does not define a
> center of moral authority.
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n1330.a04.htm
>
> ===
>
> (19) DIRTY COPS DOWN SOUTH
>
> Pubdate: Thu, 22 Nov 2007
> Source: Trinidad Express (Trinidad)
> Copyright: 2007 Trinidad Express
> Author: Richard Charan
>
> Senior Officer Refuses Promotion
>
> An investigation has been launched into claims
> made by a Police
> Superintendent that police officers are
> involved in the drug and
> guns trade in the Southern Division.
>
> The allegation that rampant corruption exists
> in the division was
> made by Supt Chandrabhan Maharaj, in a letter
> written to Police
> Commissioner Trevor Paul.
>
> In the letter, Maharaj, who is in charge of the
> Princes Town Police
> Station, refused to accept a promotion to the
> position of Acting
> Senior Superintendent in charge of the entire
> Southern Division
> because of the alleged crooked activities of
> police officers.
>
> [snip]
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n1348.a01.htm
>
> ===
>
> (20) BID TO WIPE OUT AFGHAN OPIUM FAILED, SAYS UN
>
> Pubdate: Sat, 17 Nov 2007
> Source: Independent (UK)
> Copyright: 2007 Independent Newspapers (UK) Ltd.
> Author: Colin Brown, Deputy Political Editor
>
> The head of the UN's anti-narcotics unit has
> called on Nato forces
> to crack down on heroin production in Afghanistan
> -- a policy which
> contradicts proposals by the Brown government.
>
> Gordon Brown will propose paying farmers more
> than they earn from
> their poppy harvests in return for ceasing to
> grow the crop when he
> makes a statement to the Commons in the next
> few weeks on his
> strategy for winning over Afghans and curbing
> the influence of the
> Taliban.
>
> Thus far the British campaign to destroy poppy
> production has been
> an abject failure, according to the annual
> report of the UN Office
> on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The biggest growth
> area is in Helmand
> province, a Taliban stronghold, where British
> forces are fighting
> daily battles.
>
> British and allied forces are looking at ways
> of targeting the
> heroin dealers by destroying drug factories
> inside Afghanistan.
> However, British ministers are keen to avoid
> alienating the farmers
> who are making a living out of the poppy crop.
>
> That has caused tensions with the U.S.
> administration, which has
> been pressing Britain to support aerial
> spraying to destroy the
> crop. But aerial spraying is opposed by
> Afghanistan's President
> Hamid Karzai and a senior Downing Street
> official made it clear
> yesterday that Mr Brown will call for a more
> sympathetic approach to
> the farmers. "We have to work closely with the
> communities
> involved," he said.
>
> Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the
> UNODC, gave new
> figures showing Afghanistan's export of drugs
> to the West was
> fuelling the insurgency in Afghanistan. Releasing
> the final draft of
> its 2007 Afghan opium survey, the UNODC chief
> said poppy growth
> increased 17 per cent to 193,000 hectares and
> the growth in heroin
> production leapt a third to 8,200 tonnes.
>
> The report shows that Afghanistan now accounts
> for 93 per cent of
> world opium production and is the biggest
> narcotics producer since
> 19th-century China. Helmand produces about half
> of the national
> output of heroin. Farmers gained around $1bn
> (UKP 500m) from the
> total income from the heroin trade, estimated
> at $4bn, while
> district officials took a percentage through a
> levy on the crops.
> The rest was shared among insurgents, warlords and
> drugs
> traffickers, it said.
>
> The wholesale price of a gram of heroin grew
> with every border
> crossed, it noted, rising from $2.50 in
> Afghanistan itself to $3.50
> in Pakistan and Iran, $8 in Turkey, $22 in
> Germany, $30 in Britain
> and $33 in Russia.
>
> "The potential windfall for criminals, insurgents
> and terrorists is
> staggering and runs into the hundreds of
> millions of dollars," Mr
> Costa said.
>
> "Since drugs are funding the insurgency, Nato has
> a self-interest in
> supporting Afghan forces in destroying drugs
> labs, markets and
> convoys. Destroy the drug trade and you cut off
> the Taliban's main
> funding source."
>
> Lord Malloch-Brown, the Foreign Office minister,
> told peers recently
> that the Department for International
> Development was preparing
> plans to provide long-term payments to farmers
> for stopping poppy
> production and growing alternative crops.
>
> However, a British charity, the Senlis Council,
> is winning support
> from MPs for an alternative plan to buy up the
> annual poppy harvest
> for morphine, which is in short supply.
>
> Continues:
> http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n1331.a06.htm
>
>
***********************************************************************
>
> HOT OFF THE 'NET
> -------------------------------
>
> OBAMA, DRUGS AND EVERYONE ELSE
>
> By Froma Harrop
>
> And so Barack Obama tells high school kids in New
> Hampshire that he
> "made some bad decisions" at their age. He
> "experimented" with pot and
> cocaine. This is old news -- but even if it were new
> news, it would be
> ho-hum in today's politics.
>
> http://drugsense.org/url/25hYzkvg
>
> ===
>
> DRUG TRUTH NETWORK
>
> Cultural Baggage Radio Show
>
> 11/21/07 - Dr. David Bearman speaks to
> Wisconsin Medical School
>
> Audio:
> http://drugtruth.net/007DTNaudio/FDBCB_112107.mp3
>
> Century of Lies
>
> 11/20/07 - Medical Marijuana to Senior Citizens
> and "Flushing Kids
> Down the Toilet"
>
> Audio:
> http://drugtruth.net/007DTNaudio/COL_112007.mp3
>
> ===
>
> LEAP SPEAKER JERRY PARADIS ON THE AIR IN CALGARY
>
> Guest Jerry Paradis and caller Alison Myrden
> of Law Enforcement
> Against Prohibition discuss proposed mandatory
> minimum prison
> sentences on The World Tonight, CHQR AM Radio,
> Calgary, Alberta,
> November 22, 2007
>
>
http://leap.cc/cms/index.php?name=Web_Links&l_op=visit&lid=125
>
> ===
>
> THE ADDICT'S VETO
>
> By Jacob Sullum
>
> Why should problem gamblers ruin online
> betting for everyone?
>
> http://www.reason.com/news/show/123603.html
>
> ===
>
> LEGAL EASE WITH KIRK TOUSAW
>
> Criminal lawyer and friend to the Cannabis
> Culture, Kirk Tousaw
> discusses Canadian cannabis law, his current case
> with The Vancouver
> Island Compassionate Society and gives an
> update on the "BC3"
> extradition proceedings.
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AciwO5Zs53g
>
> ===
>
> TEXAS WORST COURT: COPS CAN HAND OUT DOPE TO
> CREATE SNITCHES
>
> Grits for Breakfast
>
> If court watchers didn't already have enough
> reasons to disdain the
> Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which Texas
> Monthly famously called
> "Texas' Worst Court," now they've ruled that
> it's okay for police
> officers to distribute drugs to informants in
> order to convince them
> to become snitches.
>
> http://drugsense.org/url/24chinL7
>
> ===
>
> RICHARD PAEY SPEAKS
>
> An interview with the paraplegic man sentenced to
> 25 years in prison
> for treating his own pain.
>
> http://www.reason.com/news/show/123589.html
>
> ===
>
> UNLOCKING AMERICA
>
> Why and How to Reduce America's Prison Population
>
> By James Austin [et al.], JFA Institute, November
> 2007
>
>
http://www.jfa-associates.com/publications/srs/UnlockingAmerica.pdf
>
> ===
>
> BRITAIN'S FIRST DRUG 'SHOOTING GALLERIES' HAILED A
> SUCCESS
>
> By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor
>
> A trial scheme which set up "shooting
> galleries" in three cities,
> enabling heroin users to obtain drugs and inject
> them under
> supervision, has dramatically cut crime rates
> and stopped addicts
> buying their supplies on the streets.
>
>
http://news.independent.co.uk/health/article3177003.ece
>
>
***********************************************************************
>
> WHAT YOU CAN DO THIS WEEK
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> BECOME A MAP VOLUNTEER FROM THE COMFORT OF HOME
>
> http://www.mapinc.org/alert/0355.html
>
> ===
>
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>
> LETTER OF THE WEEK
> ------------------------------------
>
> OUTCOME OF TEACHERS' CASE IS TRAGIC AND TOO SEVERE
>
> By Deb Walker
>
> Regarding the Oct. 27 article, "Former Gull Lake
> teachers sentenced
> for growing pot," I don't know any more of the
> facts than what I
> read and I haven't heard any of the local gossip
> since my youngest
> child graduated from Gull Lake High School in
> 2002, but I was deeply
> saddened to hear about the legal troubles
> facing Brett and Keri
> Johnson.
>
> Both of my children were students of Mr.
> Johnson's. My oldest child
> had Mr. Johnson when he was a student teacher at
> Gull Lake, and my
> youngest child had Mr. Johnson as an English
> teacher for several
> classes. They both liked him very much. I thought he
> was an
> excellent teacher, also.
>
> I think the penalties the Johnsons face,
> including possibly losing
> their home and their teaching licenses, already
> having lost their
> jobs at Gull Lake, are far too severe for
> what they have done.
>
> I don't use marijuana or alcohol, but I cannot
> condemn those ADULTS
> who do use them in moderation.
>
> The Johnsons were not harming anyone else by their
> actions. They are
> not accused of selling marijuana, pushing it
> to their students,
> teaching classes while impaired, giving it to
> their own children or
> making their own children suffer the effects of
> secondhand marijuana
> smoke. The punishment does not fit the crime in this
> case.
>
> People who choose to drink alcohol and drive and
> injure and/or kill
> others face less punishment. I think what has
> happened to the
> Johnsons is tragic, and I think they deserve
> support at this
> difficult time.
>
> Deb Walker
>
> Kalamazoo
>
> Pubdate: Sun, 11 Nov 2007
> Source: Kalamazoo Gazette (MI)
>
>
***********************************************************************
>
> FEATURE ARTICLE
> -------------------------------
>
> UNPARALLEL PATHS
>
> By Mary Jane Borden
>
> The statistics are staggering. In 2006, marijuana
> arrests reached a
> record 829,627, with one occurring every 38
> seconds. Of these, 89%
> involved mere possession, not sale or
> 'manufacture'. (1) The Bureau
> of Justice Statistics reported in 2004 that
> state and federal
> prisons held 41,507 individuals on
> marijuana-related offenses. (2)
>
> So, when Irv Rosenfeld of Ft. Lauderdale,
> Florida, lit a joint at a
> press conference this past Tuesday, November
> 20, the fact that he
> wasn't arrested should be newsworthy by itself.
> But the absence of
> handcuffs, Miranda warnings, plea agreements,
> and parole officers
> are what make Irv Rosenfeld a prominent
> public figure and what
> formed the basis for this groundbreaking press
> conference. That day,
> he celebrated his 25th anniversary as the
> second individual to
> participate in FDA's now defunct Compassionate
> IND program. He
> marked this 'Silver Anniversary' by pulling
> another pre-rolled joint
> out of a round, silver tin containing 300 such
> cigarettes that he
> continues to receive each month from the
> federal government.
>
> To me, Irv would have been just another reform
> advocate had it not
> been for a video of him taken on the steps of the
> U.S. Supreme Court
> after the U.S. vs. Oakland Cannabis Buyers
> Cooperative hearing. In
> that video, he uttered four magic words,
> "Multiple Congenital
> Cartilogenous Exostosis." I played it over and over.
>
> That snowy February evening, I had returned
> from the Alzheimer's
> care unit where my father lay dying. Until that
> video, my dad was
> only one of three people whom I had ever known
> to have 'Multiple
> Exostosis.' My son and I were the other two. In a
> matter of days, I
> would lose one of those people, only to find
> another. It had always
> been comforting to be close to someone who
> understood this condition
> so well.
>
> Multiple Exostosis is a rather rare disorder,
> occurring in one of
> every 50,000 people, for an estimated 5,000 cases
> nationwide. (3) It
> is characterized by numerous lesions called
> tumors, which occur at
> the end of long bones and can result in a
> deformity of the bone,
> pain, spasticity, and even cancer.
>
> Even though we share an uncommon condition,
> it's hard to suggest
> that Irv's life and my life followed parallel
> paths. Although we're
> almost the same age, Irv's condition occurred
> spontaneously, while
> mine manifested genetically. Irv learned he had it
> after a childhood
> baseball injury; I knew from birth. We both grew
> up in middle class
> homes, but his condition was treated in a
> prestigious New England
> medical center; I went to a community hospital.
> By age 17, we both
> had relearned walking as a result of multiple
> surgeries. Irv
> underwent four procedures, three on his left
> leg and one on his
> right wrist; I had tumors removed from both of my
> knees.
>
> We both entered college in the early 1970s,
> and because it was,
> well, the 1970s, experimentation with marijuana
> was a 'required
> course.' From cannabis, Irv regained the
> ability to sit for more
> than 10 minutes. I was introduced to cannabis
> by my boyfriend and
> have enjoyed a 35-year love affair with both ever
> since.
>
> During the early 1980s, Irv was accepted into the
> FDA's
> Compassionate IND program, which provided
> cannabis to patients who
> could complete a complex application process. I
> tracked this program
> through that decade as a market analyst for
> a pharmaceutical
> company. In the early 1990s, the program closed
> to all but current
> patients at about the same time a corporate
> merger eliminated my
> job.
>
> Both Irv and I have gone on to successful
> careers, which defy the
> stereotypes that often accompany marijuana. As
> a Ft. Lauderdale
> stockbroker, Irv handles financial transactions
> each day in the
> millions of dollars. He is also a skilled
> disabled sailor and avid
> softball player. A graphic designer by trade, I
> earned my APR (5)
> certification in 2000 and, shortly thereafter,
> joined the staff of
> DrugSense/MAP and co-founded the Ohio Patient
> Network.
>
> Fast-forward to 2007 finds us both well-known
> medical marijuana
> activists who share the same rare bone disorder.
> This commonality is
> where our unparallel paths end.
>
> When medical marijuana laws slice and dice
> qualifiers, the condition
> becomes a pivotal point. Have the more common
> cancer, glaucoma, or
> Multiple Sclerosis, and you're in. Have a
> rare disorder like
> Multiple Congenital Cartilogenous Exostosis and
> you're out ...
> unless you have been grandfathered into the
> Compassionate IND
> program.
>
> This program accords Irv the special privilege
> of lighting a joint
> at a press conference without fear of arrest or
> prosecution. He will
> not lose any driving privileges or professional
> licenses. There will
> be no handcuffs, Miranda warnings, plea
> agreements, and parole
> officers. Unlike me, if I were to do the same, he
> will never become
> a statistic.
>
> And that's the poignant irony. The Compassionate
> IND program showed
> what was possible for those with both common
> and rare medical
> conditions. It was based on cannabis' therapeutic
> value, a
> physician's care, a prescription, and a
> distribution model. Under
> the Compassionate IND, participants - even 25
> years later - cannot
> be arrested, prosecuted, or hassled in any way
> for their marijuana
> use.
>
> Irv is a remarkable man. He could remain a
> successful Ft. Lauderdale
> stockbroker, who quietly receives his
> government-issued silver tin
> each month. Instead, he chooses to venture into a
> world where others
> risk arrest to testify before the cameras about
> the difference that
> cannabis has made in his life. He is a hero to many.
>
> To me, however, there is a unique connection. I
> hearken back to that
> snowy February evening, remembering the special
> man that Irv
> replaced. Irv holds an esteemed position. He
> is now only one of
> three people whom I have ever known to have
> Multiple Congenital
> Cartilogenous Exostosis.
>
> Happy 25th Anniversary, Irv. May our paths
> converge to end this war
> on medicinal cannabis.
>
> (1) "War Against Marijuana Consumers" NORML
> http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=3400
>
> (2) "Senate Committee Weighs Costs of 'Mass
> Incarceration' as Marijuana
> Arrests Top 800,000," Marijuana Policy Project.
> http://drugsense.org/url/25hYzkvg
>
> (3) "The Genetics of Hereditary Multiple Exostosis
> (HME)," Sandra A.
> Darilek, MS and Jaqueline T. Hecht, PhD.
> http://drugsense.org/url/26WU5cOZ
>
> (4) Accredited in Public Relations (APR)
> certification by the Public
> Relations Society of America (PRSA).
> http://www.prsa.org/PD/apr/index.html
>
> Mary Jane Borden is a writer, artist, and
> activist in drug policy,
> with a focus on medical marijuana. She serves
> as the Fundraising
> Specialist/Business Manager for DrugSense/MAP.
> This article was
> composed with the grateful assistance of Irv
> Rosenfeld to mark his
> 25th anniversary as a Compassionate IND patient.
>
>
***********************************************************************
>
> QUOTE OF THE WEEK
> ------------------------------------
>
> "Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks
> for everything that
> happens to you, knowing that every step
> forward is a step toward
> achieving something bigger and better than your
> current situation."
> -- Brian Tracy
>
>
***********************************************************************
>
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