HOT OFF THE 'NET

U.S. COCAINE PLANE INVASION SPOOKING LATIN AMERICA

By Bill Conroy, Narconews.com

http://www.narconews.com/Issue51/article3031.html

CRAZY 'POT WILL MAKE YOU SELL YOUR CHILDREN'

Warning from Otherwise Sane Senator

By Ron Fisher, NORML

Iowa constituent writes to Sen. Tom Harkin asking why medical pot is
illegal, constituent gets off-the-wall fearmongering reply.

http://alternet.org/drugreporter/79425/

OUR MOST IMPORTANT LEGISLATION EVER

By Ethan Nadelmann

I am excited to announce that the Drug Policy Alliance Network (DPA's
lobbying arm) is sponsoring a ballot measure in California that
represents the biggest sentencing and prison reform in United States history.

http://www.drugpolicy.org/news/031408nora.cfm

THE GOLDEN AGE

How Americans Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Workplace Drug Testing

By Greg Beato, Reason Magazine

In the increasingly divided American landscape, where language,
faith, and prime-time television no longer unite us as they once did,
a thin golden line holds the nation together

http://www.reason.com/news/show/124385.html

UNODC DIRECTOR DESCRIBES DPA EVENT AS '1000 LUNATICS', 'OBVIOUSLY ON DRUGS'

By Steve Rolles, Transform Drug Policy Foundation

In a strange and disturbing turn of events here in Vienna at the UN
CND, the UNODC director Antonio Maria Costa, who had seemed to be
making positive rhetorical gestures to the concerns of the NGO
community with his speech on Monday, has this morning managed to
spectacularly embarrass the UNODC with some intemperate remarks
insulting a large swathe of the very civil society he has been at
such pains to claim meaningful engagement with.

http://drugsense.org/url/bBlvt1Cn

UNITED NATIONS DRUG POLICIES VIOLATE UNITED NATIONS CHARTER

A coalition of groups including the International Harm Reduction
Association, Human Rights Watch and the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal
Network, have published a report taking the United Nations drug
control policies to task for not being in compliance with essential
human rights principles -- principles which, by United Nations
charter, take precedence over other United Nations treaties.

The report is: Recalibrating the Regime: The Need for a Human Rights-
Based Approach to International Drug Policy

http://hrw.org/pub/2008/hivaids/beckley0308.pdf

SOMEONE HAS TO START WONDERING WHAT THE F IS GOING ON

The Wire co-creator Ed Burns talks about failure in the drug war,
public education, the war in Iraq, and police strategies.

By Radley Balko

http://www.reason.com/news/show/125309.html

DPA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ETHAN NADELMANN ON THE COLBERT REPORT

The Comedy Central funnyman recently visited DPA's New York City
office to shoot a segment of "Better Know a Lobbyist" for The Colbert Report.

http://www.spike.com/video/2952263/

DRUG TRUTH NETWORK

Cultural Baggage - 03/12/08 - John Baeza

John Baeza with 24 years of law enforcement experience now a speaker
for LEAP, (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) + Poppygate Report
with Glenn Greenway and a call for the first ever "Friends of LEAP"
meeting, to make a coordinated contact with elected officials.

http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/?q=node/1800

Century of Lies - 03/11/08 - Virginia McDavid

Virginia McDavid, running for a congressional seat in the state of
Texas dares to discuss the need for change to our drug laws + NPR
interview of "The Wire" writer & extract from "Faces of Colombia"

http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/?q=node/1799

WHAT YOU CAN DO THIS WEEK

CONTACT THE 2008 CANDIDATES: DEMAND ACTION FOR SAFE ACCESS!

As the presidential primaries get closer and closer, we need to know
where all the candidates stand on important medical marijuana issues.
Call, write, and ask the candidates in person on their campaign trail
where they stand on medical marijuana.

http://www.safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=5103

THE WORLD PSYCHEDELIC FORUM

The World Psychedelic Forum with over 60 seminars, lectures, and
panel discussions, presented by more than 50 experts, and some 30
young researchers from all over the world, with a rich audio-visual
supporting program, and a variety of external events during 3 nights
offers a unique Easter weekend in Basel for the young and the young
at heart, for the interested lay persons, as well as the
professional, a gathering you will never forget!

http://www.psychedelic.info/index_2_eng.html