THIS JUST IN

(1) HOUSE PANEL CRITICIZES LATIN AMERICA ANTI-DRUG PLAN

Pubdate: Thu, 15 Nov 2007
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2007 Los Angeles Times
Author: Tina Marie Macias, Times Staff Writer

Members Say That Bush's $1.4-Billion Merida Initiative Focusing on
Mexico Would Spend Money Unwisely, That Supplies Could Be Misused,
and That Congress Should Have Been Involved in Planning.

WASHINGTON -- President Bush's proposal to send $1.4 billion worth of
equipment to Mexico and six South American nations to combat drug
cartels was met with hostility from members of a House committee that
examined the plan for the first time Wednesday.

Although most agreed that an initiative to stop drug cartels was
overdue, Bush's plan worried some members of the House Foreign
Affairs Committee. They said they thought that more money should be
spent to "curb the appetite" for drugs, feared that corrupt Mexican
military and police would take and misuse equipment, and were angry
that Congress had not been aware that such a plan was being considered.

"We first learned of the initiative from the media. For an
administration which is not particularly noted for its
bipartisanship, this cavalier disregard of congressional concern is
deeply disturbing," said committee Chairman Tom Lantos (D-Burlingame).

Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.) said that by bypassing Congress' opinion,
Bush was putting America's foreign relations in jeopardy.

"The Congress is not just a bank for the president to come to us for
money. This kind of foreign policy is what put the U.S. in the
position it's in worldwide," he said. "We're not just here to be a
rubber stamp."

In October, after months of closed-door negotiations, Bush unveiled
the Merida Initiative, named after the Mexican city where most of the
negotiations were held. Mexico's Felipe Calderon has made the drug
war the focus of his presidency, sending army troops to fight drug
cartels that have killed 4,000 people in the last two years.

[snip]

But many provisions of the plan were received skeptically by
lawmakers from both major parties.

Twelve years ago, Lantos said, the U.S. gave 73 helicopters to
Mexico. "They were used and did not work well, and we ended up with
the Mexicans giving them back to us," he said.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1319/a08.html

(2) 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.

"The men and women who teach in the classrooms of Hawaii's public
schools are demoralized by the governor's decision to spend hundreds
of dollars to drug test one teacher while they barely have enough
money to provide students with textbooks and school supplies," Ware said.

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.

Lingle said she is confident the policy will be upheld.

"It was voted for by a majority of the teachers," Lingle said
yesterday. "We feel it's important for student safety and for
teacher and staff safety as well."

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1322/a07.html

(3) EDITORIAL: SENTENCING FAIRNESS

Pubdate: Fri, 16 Nov 2007
Source: Blade, The (Toledo, OH)
Copyright: 2007 The Blade

JUSTICE is supposed to be blind, especially color-blind. But legal
and civil rights advocates have agreed that hasn't been the case in
sentencing crack cocaine offenders. Usually they have been black,
and usually they have received harsher penalties than middle-class
white offenders convicted in powdered cocaine cases.

The U.S. Sentencing Commission, an agency of the federal judicial
branch, is finally moving to correct this inequity.

For years, groups have lobbied for parity in sentencing for crack and
powdered cocaine offenders. Crack cocaine is potentially more
addictive, but its chemical properties are the same as powdered
cocaine. Crack appeals more to the poor, many of whom are
minorities, because it is less expensive. It's only right that the
commission try for consistency in sentencing. Last spring it set
more lenient sentencing guidelines to be issued to crack cocaine
offenders in the future. Now it is weighing retroactively reducing
sentences of crack inmates in federal prisons.

That would be the right thing to do, even though we don't condone
crack or powdered cocaine use at all. Cocaine destroys those who use
it. But there is no place for unfair sentencing in America, and
there is a wide consensus among many federal judges, public
defenders, and parole officers that penalties for crack fall
disproportionately on African-Americans.

Moreover, there is a precedent for the commission to reduce sentences
and make a policy retroactive. In fact, the panel, which was created
in 1984 to bring consistency to sentencing in federal courts, did
precisely that when it applied new sentencing guidelines in cases
involving LSD, the cultivation of marijuana, and the painkiller OxyContin.

Under the new proposal, the sentences of 19,500 inmates could be
reduced by an average of 27 months. It would apply only to those in
federal prisons, not state facilities, where most drug offenders are
incarcerated. Prison doors won't just start swinging open, though.
Former inmates would go to halfway houses first.

[snip]

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(4) POLITICAL CRISIS NETS LARGEST CANNABIS CROP SINCE CIVIL WAR

Pubdate: Fri, 16 Nov 2007
Source: Daily Star, The (Lebanon)
Copyright: 2007 The Daily Star
Author: Rym Ghazal, Daily Star staff

With the Army Busy With Security and Its Battle in Nahr AL-Bared,
None of the Annual Cannabis-Eradication Projects Have Been Carried Out

Sporting a grey and green suit and a watch with golden trimmings, Abu
Abbas takes a long drag from his cigarette, smiles, exhales into a
room already filled with smoke, and declares that "business is good."
His freshly cut fields of cannabis are being prepared for consumption.

"When there is political instability, business is always good," says
Abu Abbas, 40, who like scores of other farmers in Baalbek, has
benefited from the ongoing political crisis in the country. Like
many others, he decided this year not to plant conventional crops
like potatoes, opting instead to grow the more profitable cannabis plant.

According to the farmers interviewed, the cannabis industry is at its
best this year, with the rate of production in 2007 matching that of
the "golden years" of drug cultivation during the 1975-90 Civil War,
when militias and warlords raked in hundreds of millions of dollars
from the industry.

"The army couldn't get to us this year, it was busy with other
crises," says Abu Abbas.

Away from the main roads and beyond the fields of grapes and tomatoes
lay hundreds of hectares of freshly cut fields of cannabis. Much of
the abundant marijuana harvest is being processed into hashish in
hidden workshops in the mountainous area of Baalbek, near the Syrian border.

[snip]

The production of hashish is nothing new in the Bekaa Valley.
Cultivated off and on for centuries, popularized by the Turks of the
Ottoman empire, but hashish first gained notoriety from an 11th-
century sect, the "assassins." It was said that members would indulge
in hashish consumption before undertaking killing assignments - -
hence the term "assassin" derived from the Arabic hashashin.

More recently, the "red Lebanon" variety gained fame and became the
household name for Lebanese hashish - allegedly called that due to
the red soil in which it grows - and it sells for $1,200 per kilo.

Drugs dealers told The Daily Star that most of the drugs cultivated
in Lebanon get exported to Europe, and a large amount to Israel,
Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries. The drugs are then sold for
two to three times their price - in Saudi Arabia the prices reach as
high as $4,000 a kilo.

[snip]

There have been several UN-backed programs and non-governmental
projects launched over the past 10 years to assist farmers in Baalbek
and surrounding areas in finding sustainable means of livelihood.
However, none of them has proven successful or sustainable, due to an
apparent lack of commitment on the part of officials and the overall
instability in the country.

[snip]

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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW

Domestic News- Policy

COMMENT: (5-8)

Is the artificial sweetener saccharin more addictive than cocaine? A
bunch of lab rats in Bordeaux, France apparently think so. What would
happen if scientists gave the rats a substance that actually tastes good?

In a seemingly, but not really, unrelated story, some businessmen in
Northern California apparently think the financial benefits of
medical cannabis outweigh any benefits of total cannabis
prohibition. In other news, drug tests are becoming a legitimate
part of one tribal council's political process in South Dakota; and
more thoughts on cannabis and young people.

(5) RATS MORE ADDICTED TO SUGAR THAN COCAINE

Pubdate: Sat, 10 Nov 2007
Source: Edmonton Journal (CN AB)
Copyright: 2007 The Edmonton Journal

LOS ANGELES - Researchers have learned that rats overwhelmingly
prefer water sweetened with saccharin to cocaine, a finding that
demonstrates the addictive potential of sweets.

Offering larger doses of cocaine did not alter the rats' preference
for saccharin.

Scientists said the study, presented this week in San Diego at the
annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, might help explain
the rise in human obesity, which has been driven, in part, by an
overconsumption of sugary foods.

"Intense sweetness is more rewarding to the rats than cocaine," said
co-author Magalie Lenoir of the University of Bordeaux in France.

[snip]

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(6) GOLD FROM GREEN IN A GRAY AREA

Pubdate: Thu, 8 Nov 2007
Source: North Coast Journal (Arcatia, CA)
Copyright: 2007 North Coast Journal
Author: Bob Doran

You Might Be Surprised Who Profits From the Semi-Legal Marijuana Trade

A gentleman with a neatly trimmed beard stands at the counter of an
Arcata business on a weekday morning and asks the clerk for an eighth
of an ounce of Trainwreck, a popular strain of sinsemilla marijuana.
The young woman on the other side of a glass partition, who looks to
be a typical Arcata college student, reaches under the counter and
produces a bag of fresh green buds. She pours a portion into a paper
cup set on an electronic scale, then carefully transfers it to a
plastic bag.As she does so, the customer asks questions about other
strains available. He's looking for some variety. He ends up buying
small bags of several different kinds, paying the going rate - $40
per eighth of an ounce - with a handful of $20 bills.

[snip]

It's true, there's gold in those green buds. How much is anybody's
guess. Since 1996, when California voters passed Proposition 215 and
legalized marijuana for medical use, the drug has slowly been working
its way out of the shadows. There's still not much data on the
marijuana trade - almost none on the black market side and precious
little on the medical marijuana gray market. That said, according to
a report in The Economist magazine last month, pot is California's
biggest cash crop, surpassing grapes. Everyone agrees, it's a
lucrative business.

And that fact might make things difficult for those who, like
Richmond, oppose the ever-expanding marijuana trade in Humboldt
County. In Arcata, at least, some high-powered members of the
business establishment are getting their taste of the proceeds. So is
the public. It's not just the problems of the marijuana trade in the
City Council's lap - it's the profits, too.

It's not news to anyone that plenty of legitimate businesses are
thriving off the marijuana gray market. Examples? Take a look in the
new phonebook and you'll find a dozen or more hydroponic supply
businesses. Know anybody who grows hydroponic tomatoes or lettuce?

But with medical marijuana becoming more and more mainstream, even
straight businesses are getting their cut. One such business is the
Danco Group, Arcata's largest contractor and real estate company. The
Humboldt Cooperative is only one of four medical marijuana
dispensaries in Arcata. Danco is currently landlord to two of those
dispensaries, and it's building a brand-spanking-new facility right
off the Arcata Plaza for another of them.

Danco manages the large building that once housed Arcata's Isaacson
Ford auto dealership, at the corner of Sixth and I streets. The
building complex is currently home to two medical marijuana
dispensaries - the Humboldt Cooperative and the Humboldt Patient
Resource Center - as well as a hydroponics store. Both dispensaries
grow marijuana on site. ( Danco manages the property through one of
its arms, Danco Property Management. It's owned by a land partnership
called RUI Partners, whose ownership is not clear.)

You'll also see the Danco name in the window of the former P.C.
Sacchi Chevy dealership next door to the Arcata Post Office,
immediately off the Arcata Plaza, which is currently being remodeled.
Soon the Sacchi building will be home to Humboldt Medical Supply
(HMS), a medical marijuana clinic currently located in a hole in the
wall office on Eleventh Street. HMS's plans will feature an "intake
area," where patients will be able to purchase their marijuana, as
well as a large growing operation. The Sacchi property belongs to JBL
Plaza Associates, a partnership between three prominent local
businessmen - "J" for Dan Johnson of Danco, "B" for local realtor
Mark Burtchett and "L" for Paul Lubitz of Holly Yashi Jewelry.

In an e-mailed statement, Danco spokesperson Lindsey Myers emphasized
that all the facilities strictly comply with the law.

[snip]

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(7) OGLALA TRIBAL COUNCIL SUSPENDS MEMBERS REFUSING DRUG TEST

Pubdate: Fri, 09 Nov 2007
Source: Rapid City Journal (SD)
Copyright: 2007 The Rapid City Journal
Author: Bill Harlan, Journal staff

The Oglala Sioux Tribal Council has suspended some members for
refusing to take a drug test, and a tribal judge in Pine Ridge upheld
the suspensions in a ruling Friday afternoon.

In the same ruling, Chief Judge Lisa Adams reversed the suspension of
the tribe's treasurer, Crystal Eagle Elk, saying the council did not
have authority to suspend her.

"My ruling was really simple," Adams said late Friday afternoon,
after a court hearing that lasted all day. It was not clear Friday
how many council members had been suspended for refusing the test.
Adams' list had six members, and possibly a seventh, but council
members put the number at four or five.

It was clear, however, that Eagle Elk was not suspended. The judge
said suspending her would have resulted in a "crisis" because the
tribe would have been unable to pay employees or provide vital assistance.

Adams also struck down two parts of a resolution to suspend council
members who refused the drug test. One of those provisions would have
required publication of the results of the drug tests in newspapers.
The other would have required members who failed tests to resign or
be impeached.

[snip]

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(8) COULD SMOKING POT BE GOOD FOR TEENS?

Pubdate: Sat, 10 Nov 2007
Source: AlterNet (US Web)
Copyright: 2007 Independent Media Institute
Author: Bruce Mirken

A new study from Switzerland raises the question: Might marijuana
actually be good for teens? The answer is almost certainly no, but if
one follows the logic used by the White House Office of National Drug
Control Policy (ONDCP, aka the Drug Czar's office), the answer would
be, "In some ways, yes."

If that seems confusing, allow me to explain.

The Swiss study, just published in Archives of Pediatric and
Adolescent Medicine was based on a survey of 5,263 students, aged
16-20. Scientists compared teens who smoked both cigarettes and
marijuana, those who used only marijuana, and those who abstained
from both substances. The results were surprising.

By pretty much all measures, the youths using both marijuana and
tobacco were doing the worst. Compared to those using marijuana
only, they had poorer grades, were less likely to finish school, more
likely to be depressed and more likely to get drunk frequently. Their
marijuana use was also much more frequent than the marijuana-only
group, and they were much more likely to have started smoking
marijuana before age 15.

But the marijuana-only teens were strikingly similar to the
abstainers, with very few statistically significant differences. The
marijuana smokers were more likely to skip school but had comparable
grades and were just as likely to finish their schooling as the
abstainers. The marijuana users had more "sensation-seeking"
personalities, which -- not surprisingly -- translated to somewhat
higher use of alcohol or other drugs than the abstainers. But the
marijuana-only group's use of alcohol and other drugs was far lower
than the marijuana/cigarette group.

And in some ways the teens using marijuana looked better than the
abstainers. They had better peer relationships, were more likely to
be involved in sports and more likely to be on an academic (as
opposed to vocational) track in school.

[snip]

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Law Enforcement & Prisons

COMMENT: (9-12)

Lots of questions this week, many with answers too obvious to be
recognized by the drug war establishment. A Michigan legislator
looking for reasons that prisons are so overcrowded made the
connection between drug laws and low-level offenders, but stopped
short of talking about real reform. Speaking of wrong answers, how
much bad behavior does one government contractor have to display
before being denied consideration for federal drug war dollars? The
contractor in question seems to hope that "infinite" is the correct response.

In Hawaii, the question, "When is a rising cocaine supply a good
thing?" leads police to reply, "When it indicates a dwindling supply
of meth!" And in Virginia, asked if district attorneys have to follow
the law, even in drug cases, the State Supreme Court said, "Yes."

(9) ARE STRICT DRUG LAWS OVERFILLING PRISONS?

Pubdate: Sun, 11 Nov 2007
Source: Michigan Citizen (Detroit, MI)
Copyright: 2007 Michigan Citizen
Author: David Salisbury, Capital News Service

LANSING - Drug abuse can lead to criminal activity, but are the
state's current drug laws too uncompromising?

Many convicted drug violators are non-violent, but they are lumped in
with other criminals who harm people, critics of the present
sentencing rules say.

But Rep. Paul Condino, D-Southfield, chair of the House Judiciary
Committee, wants to revamp the punishment for possessing small
amounts of marijuana.

Condino is working on legislation to divert marijuana offenders from
prison into drug courts and programs where rehabilitation and
court-mandated screenings attempt to treat drug users.

"These aren't people who are murderers or rapists," he said. "These
are non-violent people who need treatment."

Patricia Caruso, director of the Department of Corrections, said that
prison sentences for drug violations are "extremely lengthy" in
Michigan compared to other states.

For example, a person convicted of dealing or possessing more than
1.75 ounces of cocaine faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years
in prison.

[snip]

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(10) NEXT TEST FOR BLACKWATER

Pubdate: Tue, 13 Nov 2007
Source: Wall Street Journal (US)
Copyright: 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Author: August Cole

Can Firm Get New Pentagon Work After Iraq Incident?

A Defense Department contract involving antidrug training missions
may test the durability of the political controversy over Blackwater
Worldwide's security work in Iraq.

The Moyock, N.C., company, which was involved in a September shooting
in Baghdad that left 17 Iraqis dead, is one of five military
contractors competing for as much as $15 billion over five years to
help fight a narcotics trade that the government says finances
terrorist groups. Also competing for contracts from the Pentagon's
Counter Narcoterrorism Technology Program Office are
military-industry giants Raytheon Co., Lockheed Martin Corp. and
Northrop Grumman Corp., as well as Arinc Inc., a smaller aerospace
and technology contractor.

The contracts are expected to be awarded as the need arises, so the
Pentagon's level of concern about employing Blackwater will likely be
measured over time and by whether the company wins leading roles or
is shut out. Companies competing for the work might be called on to
develop detection or surveillance technology; train U.S. and foreign
forces; or provide logistics, communications and
information-technology systems, among other areas. Blackwater faces
the question of whether it is too tainted to be tapped for such work,
even though the contract doesn't involve the kind of security detail
that it performs in Iraq. The Sept. 16 shooting in Baghdad strained
relations between Washington and the Iraqi government, which alleged
that the shooting was unnecessary.

The company, formerly known as Blackwater USA, maintains that its
ability to win additional government business hasn't been affected by
scrutiny from Congress, the State Department and the Justice
Department. Blackwater spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell said customers have
"confidence in our ability to perform in a capable and professional manner."

[snip]

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(11) MORE COCAINE MEANS LESS ICE

Pubdate: Tue, 06 Nov 2007
Source: Garden Island (Lihue, HI)
Copyright: 2007 Kauai Publishing Co.
Author: Amanda C. Gregg, The Garden Island

Cocaine continues to grow in popularity on the island and across the
state as law enforcement puts the pinch on methamphetamine dealers,
officials said yesterday.

Though the U.S. Attorney General's Office recently alluded to an
increase in the amounts of crack cocaine and powdered cocaine present
statewide - the Attorney General's Office said more than 500 grams of
crack cocaine had been seized through September of this year, up from
442 grams in 2006 - Lt. Michael Contrades of the Kaua'i Police
Department narcotics and vice section said local law enforcement
hasn't seen an increase in seizures of the smokeable,
highly-addictive version of the drug.

What Kaua'i police have seen, he said, is "a tremendous increase in
cocaine seizures as opposed to ice."

The shift has made the demand and cost of ice higher, he added.

"Currently the cost of ice is at an all-time high and more difficult
to acquire," he said.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1294/a11.html

(12) STATE SUPREME COURT REVERSES HAMPTON DRUG CONVICTION

Pubdate: Fri, 09 Nov 2007
Source: Daily Press (Newport News,VA)
Copyright: 2007 The Daily Press
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/585
Author: Peter Dujardin

The state's highest court says it was wrong for a Hampton Circuit
Court judge to allow evidence about a separate crime into a drug dealing case.

HAMPTON - The Virginia Supreme Court has reversed a Hampton
conviction in a cocaine distribution case, saying a Hampton Circuit
Court judge erred in allowing "misleading" evidence to be introduced
at a jury trial.

The state's highest court said last week that it was wrong for Judge
William C. Andrews to allow a prosecutor from the Hampton
Commonwealth Attorney's office to question a defendant about a drug
possession incident that occurred four months after the drug dealing
charge at issue at the trial.

"The Commonwealth cannot be allowed to essentially smuggle into
evidence during its cross examination ... proof of another crime not
admissible in its case-in-chief," the state's highest court said in
the Nov. 2 ruling.

Kyna Chanelle McGowan was found guilty and sentenced to five years in
prison for distributing cocaine in March 2004.

While on the witness stand, McGowan testified that she "wouldn't know
crack cocaine if she saw it." But during a cross-examination, Deputy
Commonwealth Attorney Matthew Hoffman attempted to question her
credibility by bringing up a separate incident that occurred four
months later. "So when you were arrested on July 13, 2004, did you
have any crack cocaine on your person?"

Evidence of other crimes is generally not allowed at trials. But
Andrews allowed such questioning to proceed, reasoning that McGowan
had "opened the door" to such questioning when she said she didn't
know what it looked like.

Though the Virginia Court of Appeals ruled twice in split decisions
that the line of questioning was justified, the Virginia Supreme
Court unanimously disagreed. Bringing up the later incident "is not
only highly inflammatory and misleading to a jury," but also lacking
a serious attempt to answer the issue, the court said.

[snip]

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Cannabis & Hemp

COMMENT: (13-16)

A federal judge in North Dakota has said that the legality of growing
hemp should be handled by Congress, not the courts. However, many
members of Congress are waiting on legislating until the North Dakota
legal case is resolved. The judge has promised a decision by December.

The Bush administration may have finally found a way to reduce the
flow of "B.C. Bud" crossing the northern border. One wonders how
much longer the U.S. can afford to import Canadian hemp.

A Malaysian man is relieved to be facing a mere twenty years in
prison and strokes with a cane after languishing on death row for
almost a decade. Presumably he has already served half of his sentence.

Finally, a sad reminder that you can never get over a conviction,
even in Denver, where voters think a $100.00 fine is too harsh. One
wonders how much longer the U.S. can afford to "send a message to
kids" by undermining their futures.

(13) FARMERS ASK FEDERAL COURT TO DISSOCIATE HEMP AND POT

Pubdate: Mon, 12 Nov 2007
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2007 The Washington Post Company
Author: Peter Slevin, Washington Post Staff Writer

Wayne Hauge grows grains, chickpeas and some lentils on 2,000 acres
in northern North Dakota. Business is up and down, as the farming
trade tends to be, and he is always on the lookout for a new crop. He
tried sunflowers and safflowers and black beans. Now he has set his
sights on hemp.

Hemp, a strait-laced cousin of marijuana, is an ingredient in
products from fabric and food to carpet backing and car door panels.
Farmers in 30 countries grow it. But it is illegal to cultivate the
plant in the United States without federal approval, to the
frustration of Hauge and many boosters of North Dakota agriculture.

On Wednesday, Hauge and David C. Monson, a fellow aspiring hemp
farmer, will ask a federal judge in Bismarck to force the Drug
Enforcement Administration to yield to a state law that would license
them to become hemp growers.

"I'm looking forward to the court battle," said Hauge, a 49-year-old
father of three. "I don't know why the DEA is so afraid of this."

[snip]

"In Canada and Europe, where industrial hemp is grown, no one is
trying to smoke it and the sky is not falling," said Bronner,
president of the Hemp Industries Association, a trade group. Likening
hemp seeds to marijuana, he said, is like equating poppy seeds with opium.

Hauge is joined by Monson, a Republican state legislator who helped
pass a law in 1999 that would permit hemp cultivation and establish
limits to ease the federal government's worries. They have the
backing of Vote Hemp, an advocacy organization, and state Agriculture
Commissioner Roger Johnson, who personally delivered paperwork to the
DEA in February on the farmers' behalf.

[snip]

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(14) U.S. DOLLAR DETERRING CANADIAN MARIJUANA SMUGGLERS

Pubdate: Sun, 11 Nov 2007
Source: Missoulian (MT)
Copyright: 2007 Missoulian
Author: Michael Jamison

WHITEFISH - For years, backpacks crammed with cash have slipped north
into Canada, followed closely by hockey bags packed with premium
marijuana skating south into Montana.

A favorable exchange rate (not long ago, one American dollar bought
one and a half Canadian dollars) made the smuggling profitable, and
thus popular.

But last month, for the first time in more than 30 years, the two
currencies were at par, matched in value, and today a Canadian dollar
buys $1.10 U.S.

The financial tables have turned, and global economics have done what
U.S. law enforcement could not: Capitalism has stopped the smugglers
in their tracks.

Call it Marijuanomics 101.

America borrows itself deep into the hole, ratchets up its trade
deficits, buries itself beneath subprime mortgage debt, devalues its
dollar with interest-rate cuts, and the currency plunges.

Meanwhile, Canada's economy booms on oil, foreign investors turn
north for stability, and the "Loonie" - Canada's dollar, named for
the bird on the coin - hits a 50-year high.

Suddenly, it's far more expensive to buy Canadian exports, legal or
otherwise, and smuggling profits disappear.

"It's very simple," said Stephen Easton, professor of economics at
Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, B.C. "Canadian marijuana
production costs are met in Canadian dollars, and those are worth more now."

[snip]

"The upshot is that the Canadian marijuana is now less competitive
against marijuana grown elsewhere," Easton said. "This is a cost-
driven business. With exports no longer viable, the British Columbia
marijuana industry has certainly taken a hit, so to speak."

[snip]

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(15) DRUG CONVICT SPARED THE GALLOWS AFTER 9-YEAR WAIT

Pubdate: Tue, 13 Nov 2007
Source: New Straits Times (Malaysia)
Copyright: 2007 New Straits Times
Author: A. Hafiz Yatim

PUTRAJAYA: He was on Death Row for the past nine years but when his
case came up for appeal yesterday, a vegetable seller had every
reason to smile. Baha Jambol's conviction was amended from
trafficking to possession which meant that his death sentence was overturned.

The reason for the amendment was simply because the High Court judge
who had found him guilty of trafficking in 50kg of cannabis and had
sentenced him to death, only delivered the written judgment on Sept
26 -- more than nine years after sentencing Baha.

Deputy public prosecutor C.K. Wong told the court that the
prosecution realised the special circumstances in Baha's case. "There
was a delay in providing the judgment. But this, in no way
represented the weakness of the prosecution," Wong said.

Baha's counsel Karpal Singh said he accepted the reduction of the
charge and withdrew his application for his client to be freed. Baha,
45, a vegetable seller from Pasir Mas, Kelantan, was charged with
trafficking in 50,607.5g of cannabis in front of the Gua Musang
police station about 12.30am on Dec 31, 1996.

He was convicted and sentenced to death by the High Court on April
26, 1998, while his friend, Azman Ahmad, 35, was acquitted without
his defence being called.

Karpal, in mitigation, had earlier said while there was no doubt the
amount of cannabis was large, his client had to wait nine years and
six months to get the judgment. Baha is also married with three children.

"I urge the court to consider these important factors as this is the
first case where a person on Death Row had to wait more than nine
years for the written judgment," Karpal said.

[snip]

"We are proposing that he be sentenced to the maximum 20 years'
imprisonment with more than 10 strokes of the rotan," Wong said.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n1318.a06.html

(16) COLUMN: POT LAW STIRRING UP TROUBLE

Pubdate: Mon, 12 Nov 2007
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2007 The Denver Post Corp
Author: David Harsanyi, The Denver Post

Hayley Jaqua has a big problem.

Jaqua is a 25-year-old full-time student at Metropolitan State
College of Denver and an anthropology major who also works part time
at a trendy restaurant on the 16th Street Mall.

In September, Jaqua was ticketed for possessing a small amount of marijuana.

I've spoken to Jaqua only once, so I dare not vouch for the
incorruptibility of her soul. But from what I can tell, we have a
pleasant and bright person here - a woman whose only brush with the
law before this incident was an improperly licensed dog in 2003.

Jaqua's petty offense carries with it a maximum fine of $100. Not a
huge deal, to be sure. But the long-term consequences of this
transgression could be life-changing.

According to the Higher Education Act's aid elimination penalty
provision - passed through Congress without any debate in 1998 - a
student must check off a box on financial aid applications, revealing
any drug offenses. A check could mean no college aid.

There is no box for "child molestation" or "arson" or "racketeering"
or ... well, you get the point.

[snip]

"It's a lot to take on the government," Jaqua tells me. "If you're in
class, it's tough to go to court hearings and conferences. It's
taking time away from concentrating on graduating. But I guess I am
happy to do it. Because it's a good cause. Though I definitely wish
it never happened to me to begin with."

Typically, I'd say stop being a crybaby; the law is the law. But in
the case of Denver, the law isn't exactly the law.

In case anyone has forgotten, Denver residents - the same residents
who just passed I-100 last week, making marijuana the city's lowest
enforcement priority, by a 57 percent majority - passed a 2005 SAFER
initiative that made the possession of small amounts of marijuana
legal in the city.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n1306.a10.html

International News

COMMENT: (17-20)

In the beginning, MDMA was legal. So the New Zealand government
banned it. In response, BZP became popular. So the New Zealand
government is banning that, too. New Zealand's "party pill" saga
continues. Side-stepping the government's looming ban on BZP pills,
there are new, legal pills (diphenyl prolinol, a.k.a., "Neuro Blast")
which have prohibitionists up in arms and politicians ready to ban
this one, too. While the effects of MDMA and BZP are documented, the
effects of diphenyl prolinol aren't as understood.

By day western occupying forces in Afghanistan may be slashing and
burning opium fields to American ideals of drug-free purity. But the
opportunity to smuggle a little opium or heroin home on a military
transport hasn't gone unnoticed. The Canadian Chronicle Herald
newspaper this week reports Canadian military police have begun to
more closely monitor troops returning home. Drugs are a "temptation
for Canadian troops in the form of personal use and in the form of
importation for the purpose of trafficking."

While cannibalism is supposedly no longer practiced in New Guinea,
politicians there are lusting after the blood of potheads. Because
"rapes, armed robberies, arms trafficking, assaults and many other
types of crime were often committed by people under the influence of
marijuana," said former politician Francis Harokave, New Guinea
"should consider capital punishment as practiced by countries like
Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand." Harokave's "get tough" comments
were reported in New Guinea's The National newspaper.

And again, in this week's Record newspaper, in British Columbia,
Canada, columnist Keith Baldrey pleads, as so many have before him,
that "the legalization of drugs might at least be considered". For,
apparently, while many things may be considered, "the legalization of
drugs" is something the politicians are only rarely able to
consider. "Neither the B.C. Liberals nor the New Democrats want to
go down that road. They prefer to yell at each other about which
party is tougher on criminals. ... [E]liminating the profit margin
from the gangs' core economic activity - drug trafficking - may do a
heck of a lot more than shuffling the police bureaucracy."

(17) PARTY PILLS' CONTENTS 'VIRTUALLY UNTESTED'

Pubdate: Sat, 10 Nov 2007
Source: New Zealand Herald (New Zealand)
Copyright: 2007 New Zealand Herald
Author: Patrick Gower

Party pills on sale in Auckland are made with an experimental
substance virtually unknown to scientists worldwide.

The London Underground "Neuro Blast" pills were withdrawn from sale
this week after a Weekend Herald investigation revealed they
contained the potentially illegal substance diphenyl prolinol.

But further testing by the Institute of Environmental Science and
Research (ESR) has found the "Head Candy" pills from the same range -
still available in the city yesterday - also contain the substance.

The pills, marketed as "next generation" and "non-BZP", are designed
to side-step the Government's imminent ban on BZP.

[snip]

"We have essentially come up with next to nothing on the effects or
hazards or risks associated with it.

"There has been virtually no testing that we can identify."

Police were first alerted to the potential illegality of the Neuro
Blast pills by the Ministry of Health in late September. They
notified London Underground but followed that up only last Friday
with a visit by officers.

[snip]

The Government aims to ban BZP by Christmas, with a law change making
it a class-C controlled drug.

A legal loophole means party-pill makers can sell products without
having to prove their safety.

Associate Health Minister Jim Anderton is aware of the loophole, but
says it will not be addressed until after a Law Commission review of
the 30-year-old Misuse of Drugs Act scheduled for some time next year.

National Party health spokeswoman Jacqui Dean called for the loophole
to be closed immediately.

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n1311.a05.htm

(18) UNLEASHED IN KANDAHAR SEARCHES

Pubdate: Mon, 12 Nov 2007
Source: Chronicle Herald (CN NS)
Copyright: 2007 The Halifax Herald Limited
Author: Steve Rennie, Canadian Press

OTTAWA - Canadian military police have started using drug dogs to
search troops' bags at Kandahar Air Field after being tipped about
soldiers suspected of using heroin, hash and pot, say newly released documents.

Although there were no drug seizures reported, a briefing note says
illegal drugs are readily available in Afghanistan and present a
"temptation for Canadian troops in the form of personal use and in
the form of importation for the purpose of trafficking."

[snip]

Defence Department spokeswoman Capt. Julie Roberge said she wouldn't
comment on specific searches.

She said the military uses the dogs if it has a "reasonable doubt"
there may be drugs at Kandahar Air Field or at one of the forward
operating bases.

"As soon as there's a doubt . . . of course there's going to be a
followup," Roberge said.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n1308.a06.htm

(19) TOUGH ON PENALTIES - EX-MP

Pubdate: Mon, 12 Nov 2007
Source: National, The (New Guinea)
Copyright: 2007, The National
Author: James Kila

A FORMER politician in Goroka has urged the Government to get tough
on the penalties for marijuana-related offences, saying that the drug
was the cause of many other crimes.

Francis Harokave said marijuana had become a serious problem among
youths nationwide.

He said rapes, armed robberies, arms trafficking, assaults and many
other types of crime were often committed by people under the
influence of marijuana.

"The authorities must amend the laws as the present prison sentences
of between three months and nine are not tough enough," he told The National.

He said the Government should consider capital punishment as
practised by countries like Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.

"The Government must act before the problem really gets out of hand," he said.

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n1305.a05.htm

(20) SOLUTION TO GANGS LIES IN DRUG LAWS

Pubdate: Wed, 14 Nov 2007
Source: Record, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2007 Lower Mainland Publishing Group Inc.
Author: Keith Baldrey

It's not often that gang warfare makes its way into the legislature
as the main topic of debate, but that's exactly what happened this
month as the Lower Mainland seemed to morph into something out of The
Untouchables.

Gangland shootings - almost a dozen deaths in recent weeks - have
dominated the headlines and newscasts, and politicians on both sides
of the house found themselves grappling with an issue usually far
from their bailiwick.

[snip]

But one issue wasn't raised: whether or not the legalization of drugs
might at least be considered a viable option in the face of apparent
unstoppable growth of organized crime and gang activity in this province.

Neither the B.C. Liberals nor the New Democrats want to go down that road.

They prefer to yell at each other about which party is tougher on criminals.

[snip]

However, eliminating the profit margin from the gangs' core economic
activity - drug trafficking - may do a heck of a lot more than
shuffling the police bureaucracy.

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n1319.a02.htm

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Policy and Law Enforcement/Prison content selection and analysis by
Stephen Young (steve@drugsense.org), This Just In selection by
Richard Lake (rlake@mapinc.org), International content selection and
analysis by Doug Snead (doug@drugsense.org), Cannabis/Hemp content
selection and analysis, Hot Off The Net selection and Layout by Matt
Elrod (webmaster@drugsense.org). Analysis comments represent the
personal views of editors, not necessarily the views of DrugSense.