THIS JUST IN

(1) YOUNG PEOPLE USING LESS CANNABIS SINCE DOWNGRADE

Pubdate: Thu, 25 Oct 2007
Source: Times, The (UK)
Copyright: 2007 Times Newspapers Ltd
Author: Richard Ford, Home Correspondent of The Times

Cannabis use among young people has fallen sharply since the
Government downgraded it to a Class C drug three years ago, according
to figures published today.

The proportion of 16 to 24 year olds who said they had used cannabis
in the past year fell from 25 per cent when the law was changed, to
21 per cent in 2006/7, a total of about 1.3m youngsters.

But the findings show a continuing rise in the use of cocaine by both
youngsters and adults though the use of heroin and ecstasy remains
broadly stable.

The figures show significant increase in the use of amyl nitrate the
sex enhancing drug known as poppers among adults and increases in the
use of glue by youngsters.

[snip]

Separate figures published today on drug seizures in 2005 show the
impact of the policy towards cannabis of confiscating and warning
those found with small amounts of the drug.

The number of cannabis seizures jumped 47 per cent to 114,202.

The figures also highlighted the increasing amount of home-grown
cannabis in England and Wales. Police and customs seized 208,357
cannabis plants of which 82 per cent were found growing in areas of
less than 50 plants.

Overall police and customs seized 69 tonnes of cannabis including 49
tonnes of traditional imported resin and 20 tonnes of herbal cannabis.

Gordon Brown has signalled that he may reclassify cannabis from a
Class C to a Class B drug amidst fears that there are links between
more potent strains known as skunk and mental illness.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1233/a06.html

(2) ANTI-DRUG AID PACKAGE WOULD GIVE MEXICO AIR-POWER BOOST

Pubdate: Fri, 26 Oct 2007
Source: USA Today (US)
Copyright: 2007 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc
Author: Chris Hawley, USA TODAY

MEXICO CITY -- Nearly half of a new $500 million U.S. aid package for
Mexico would be used to purchase surveillance planes and helicopters
so that Mexican police can track drug traffickers who are often
better armed and operating faster vehicles than they are.

The aircraft would help the Mexican government build on its recent
success in cracking down on drug cartels, Thomas Shannon, the State
Department's top diplomat for Latin America, said Thursday in a
telephone interview.

The $500 million, which has not yet been approved by Congress, is the
first phase of a $1.4 billion anti-drug package that would be
distributed in the next three years. The surveillance aircraft would
help Mexican agents chase down the planes and speedboats that carry
cocaine from South America to remote areas of Mexico, where it is
then taken to the U.S. border.

[snip]

An additional $100 million in the first wave of U.S. aid would go
toward making Mexico's law enforcement system more effective,
including classes and equipment to help conduct investigations,
perform forensic tests, manage prisons and prepare court cases, Shannon said.

Another large share of the money would go toward X-ray machines, ion
scanners and other devices for searching cargo, he said.

The package also calls for a major increase in U.S.-led training
programs, although U.S. officials have stressed that U.S. forces will
not be going on missions with Mexican soldiers or police, and the
number of U.S. personnel operating in Mexico will not increase.

A small part of the $500 million would go toward weapons, Shannon
said. He declined to elaborate. Mexican police complain they are
increasingly outgunned by drug smugglers who buy assault-style
rifles, grenade launchers and hand grenades in the USA.

Some experts in Mexico worry that increased military activity will
lead to more drug-related violence. "I don't think (the aid) is going
to stop the violence in Mexico. It's going to exacerbate it, raise
the cost of drugs and worsen things," said Miguel Sarre, a criminal
justice professor at the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico.

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1235/a03.html

(3) 'METH GUN' IS LATEST WEAPON AGAINST DRUGS

Pubdate: Fri, 26 Oct 2007
Source: Springfield News-Leader (MO)
Copyright: 2007 The Springfield News-Leader
Author: Pete Smith, News-Leader

The Missouri Highway Patrol has been quietly testing a new scanning
device that can detect the presence of meth with only the click of a button.

To law enforcement, it could be the future of crime-fighting technology.

To meth dealers and manufacturers, this might signal the turning
point in the war against one of the country's greatest drug scourges.

But before police can begin widespread use of the scanner, it has to
overcome several hurdles.

The company needs to confirm its reliability while securing enough
investment to bring the device to market. The scanner models will
cost between $2,000-$5,500, but the price could drop after several years.

Civil libertarians and defense attorneys are also raising concerns
about the device's use in the prosecution of drug offenses, although
no prosecutors yet have submitted evidence derived from the scanner.

Regardless of the obstacles, the meth scanner will likely debut in
the coming months.

[snip]

Because the meth scanner's current and future use in law enforcement
falls into a gray area, Eric E. Sterling, president of the
Washington, D.C.-based Criminal Justice Policy Foundation, laid out
some scenarios of the device's use and how a court system might
handle them -- assuming that the science behind the scanner is valid.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1235/a05.html

(4) THE QUEST FOR THE ULTIMATE CURE FOR ADDICTION

Pubdate: Thu, 25 Oct 2007
Source: Georgia Straight, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2007 The Georgia Straight
Author: Alex Roslin

Could the root of an African shrub hold the key to getting millions
of addicts off heroin, coke, and crack - oh, yeah, and cure
alcoholism in its spare time? Can a single dose of an extract from
the mysterious shrub's root bark be worth years on a therapist's couch?

Some of the answers may soon be found in a three-bedroom house on the
Sunshine Coast. Tucked away there on a hill, with a stunning view of
the ocean and surrounded by tall trees, is the Iboga Therapy House.

Forty years after globetrotting backpackers introduced a substance
called ibogaine into the U.S. drug culture, the extract from western
Africa's Tabernanthe iboga shrub has become an underground rage among
drug-addled Hollywood celebs willing to plunk down between $3,500 and
$10,000 for ibogaine treatment at any one of about a dozen
unregulated clinics worldwide, including the one in B.C.

Because ibogaine is illegal in the U.S. - one of just three countries
to ban the substance, along with Belgium and Switzerland - clients
have to travel to clinics in countries such as Canada, Mexico, Costa
Rica, and Slovenia for an "ibogaine experience".

Advocates liken the miracle drug - which can unleash a reality-
shattering trip so powerful it has been described as "dying and going
to hell 1,000 times" - to the Holy Grail of addiction cures,
comparable in importance to the discovery of penicillin. Although
ibogaine's alleged ability to quickly cure opiate addiction without
withdrawal symptoms was discovered relatively recently, the substance
has long been used in Gabon by hunters to stay alert and, in larger
doses, in week-long sacred ceremonies in the Bwiti religion.

Yet despite the extraordinary claims about ibogaine's powers, a B.C.
study launched last February is the first time the drug's therapeutic
benefits for opiate addiction are being measured systematically in a
public investigation. (Other clinics haven't released data.)

Preliminary results from the Sunshine Coast clinic have justified
much of the hype. "I've witnessed people's lives being turned
around," said Leah Martin, one of the study leaders. Of 20 pre-study
clients who took ibogaine at the facility in 2004, 13 were found to
be abstaining when evaluated later, after an average interval of six
months. The abstainers included six out of seven cocaine or crack
addicts, three of eight opiate addicts and four of five people with
other addictions, including to meth and multiple substances.

With an overall abstinence rate of 65 percent, ibogaine does way
better than the 10-percent average of conventional drug-treatment
programs, Martin said. What's more, the clients at the B.C. facility
are usually the hardest cases.

[snip]

Advocates say the drug isn't addictive itself partly because the trip
is so hellacious. "It is not a recreational drug," said Rick Doblin,
president of the California-based Multidisciplinary Association of
Psychedelic Studies, which is helping to fund the Iboga Therapy House
study. Doblin is also the principal investigator.

The ibogaine work is just one of MAPS's stable of groundbreaking
research projects. The group is also funding the first-ever studies
of therapy involving ecstasy, LSD, and magic mushrooms to deal with
mental-health issues like posttraumatic stress, end-of-life anxiety,
and obsessive-compulsive disorder. The U.S. studies all have an
official okay from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and even of
the drug warriors at the Drug Enforcement Agency, and are attracting
interest from the U.S. military for treating PTSD among Iraq vets.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1235/a06.html

WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW

Domestic News- Policy

COMMENT: (5-8)

Red Ribbon Week swept through our schools this week and was dutifully
publicized by nearly every paper across our nation. Herb, our
Newshawk who specializes in educational issues, knows from past
experience he will be working hard to determine how many of the puff
pieces should be archived all the while attempting to locate articles
which are not merely regurgitating the same old story. Two editorials
did land in our database with slightly different takes albeit none
examined whether this program actually works.

A Wall Street Journal reporter wrote an informative article examining
the consequences of our added border security. Similar to corner
stores going out of business when the mega-stores move into the
neighborhood, small-scale migrant smuggling operations are seemingly
being replaced by large-scale drug cartels.

Drug Policy Alliance's Tony Newman provides an uplifting column to
close this week's policy section.

(5) EDITORIAL: BEHIND THOSE RED RIBBONS

Pubdate: Wed, 24 Oct 2007
Source: Dallas Morning News (TX)
Copyright: 2007 The Dallas Morning News

On Monday, Red Ribbon Week observations began across the nation to
focus students' attention on the dangers of drug abuse. The red
ribbon commemorates Enrique "Kiki" Camarena, a U.S. counternarcotics
agent who was kidnapped, tortured and bludgeoned to death in 1985
while working in northern Mexico.

[snip]

But U.S. counternarcotics aid to Mexico is still stuck in the past.
Washington devotes less than $50 million annually to help Mexico
fight drugs, compared with the financial resources of a $13.8 billion
Mexican trafficking industry that supplies most of the cocaine,
heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana consumed in the United States.

It is time for Washington to commit a level of counternarcotics
cooperation equal to the task of fighting a cutthroat mafia. On
Monday, President Bush asked Congress to approve a $1.4 billion
program to help Mexico with intelligence-sharing, eradication and
police training. This investment is long overdue.

But that's only half the challenge. On this side of the border, we'd
like to see a similarly redoubled effort to reduce demand. It starts
by making our children understand the deadly stakes. Whatever message
they're getting at home and in the classroom, it isn't working.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1232/a03.html

(6) EDITORIAL: MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Pubdate: Mon, 22 Oct 2007
Source: Lufkin Daily News (TX)
Copyright: 2007 The Lufkin Daily News

[snip]

Many of those whose lives are endangered by illegal substances aren't
undercover narcotics agents who die at the hand of drug cartel
assassins. They're minors who consume alcohol, many of whom die at
the hand of a friend - friends who give them alcohol and friends who
drink and drive.

The friends who provided 19-year-old Nik Gallegos, an SFA freshman
who died last month after drinking too much at a party, are now
facing criminal charges. Even if they were to be dropped or they
never spend a day in jail, it's likely that thoughts of what happened
that night will torture them the rest of their days.

Although SFA officials say Gallegos' death was the first such
occurrence for the college, it's likely that Gallegos isn't the first
student to suffer from alcohol poisoning. We don't have the
statistics on those who have come close.

Alcohol is a drug, and in the possession of a minor, an illegal
substance, although far too often, it isn't considered as such.
Alcohol continues to be the most widely used substance among Texas
students, according to a survey of 78 Texas school districts by the
Department of State Health Services. Binge drinking, which was
defined as having five or more drinks on one occasion, was reported
by 23 percent; 24 percent of high school seniors said they had driven
a car after having a "good bit" to drink; and 10 percent had gone to
class drunk.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1226/a07.html

(7) SHIFT IS AFOOT ON MEXICAN BORDER

Pubdate: Thu, 25 Oct 2007
Source: Wall Street Journal (US)
Copyright: 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Author: Joel Millman

Security Crackdown Cuts Illegal Crossing But Aids Smugglers

EL PASO, Texas -- A security crackdown on the Mexican border is
believed to have reduced the number of people trying to cross
illegally into the U.S. while increasing business for professional
smugglers with ties to the drug trade.

Data to be released next week by the Department of Homeland Security
are expected to show the number of illegal border crossers caught
fell to less than one million for the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30,
the first time that has occurred since 2003. Through the end of
August, barely 800,000 apprehensions were recorded along the
U.S.-Mexico border, a drop of more than 20% from the previous fiscal year.

[snip]

But the crackdown also appears to be affecting the markets for
smuggling people and drugs in Mexico. As tighter security makes
crossing the border trickier and more hazardous, the traditional
mom-and-pop operations in Mexico that used to ferry people across
have been replaced by larger, more-professional criminal gangs, often
with ties to the illegal-drug trade.

U.S. officials are reporting increased violence along the border,
including gunfights between rival smuggling gangs, gangs hijacking
each others' customers en route to U.S. destinations and the rape or
assault of migrants.

[snip]

Border Patrol agents have noticed that smaller-scale smugglers on the
Mexican side are being replaced by more-sophisticated ones who appear
to have ties to Mexico's cocaine cartels. Smugglers are carrying
higher-caliber weapons and sometimes dress in camouflage uniforms and
use military tactics to evade capture.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1234/a01.html

(8) OPED: THE INHUMANE DRUG WAR: TOP 10 REASONS FOR OPTIMISM

Pubdate: Thu, 25 Oct 2007
Source: Huffington Post (US Web)
Copyright: 2007 HuffingtonPost com, Inc.
Author: Tony Newman
Note: Tony Newman is the director of media relations at the Drug
Policy Alliance.

The United States has spent hundreds of billions of dollars waging a
40-year "war on drugs" that is responsible for the imprisonment of
500,000 of our fellow Americans. Despite the enormous waste of money
and lives, drugs are as easily available as ever. The warmongers say
it is for the protection of the kids, yet high schoolers can easily
obtain whatever they are looking for in this unregulated market.
Fifty percent of high-school seniors will try marijuana before they graduate.

While I could easily write about my frustration and despair when
thinking about how our elected officials wage this war on their
fellow Americans and around the world, there is reason to be
optimistic for change.

Here are my Top 10 reasons for optimism in the Fight Against the War on Drugs

* #1) The Public Supports Treatment instead of Jail for nonviolent
drug offenders

[snip]

* # 2) Millions Have Been Able to Overcome Addictions

[snip]

* #3) The Science is with Us

[snip]

* #4) Booker, Newsome, Rocky: Mayors Speaking Out Forcefully

[snip]

* #5) Legalization reconsidered?

[snip]

* #6) The Public Supports Medical Marijuana for People with HIV,
Cancer and Others in Need

[snip]

* #7) The Democrats Control House and Head Committees

[snip]

* #8) Europe Continues to Lead the Way

[snip]

* #9) The Public Is Tiring From Failed Wars

[snip]

* #10) The Movement for Alternatives to the Drug War is Growing on
Left, Right and Center

[snip]

I have been a part of the drug policy reform movement for 8 and 1/2
years. There are times that I am discouraged and feel like we are
taking two steps forward, two steps backwards and sometimes two steps
to the side. But in my heart, I truly believe that there are many
reasons to be optimistic and hopeful. We have to learn how to coexist
with drugs. They have been around for thousands of years and will be
around for thousands more. We are smart and passionate people and we
can figure out how to reduce the harms from drugs and from drug prohibition.

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1233/a07.html

Law Enforcement & Prisons

COMMENT: (9-13)

Our nation is packed with overcrowded prisons and jails largely due
to our erroneous drug policies. This week several authors covered
this crisis and suggested similar resolutions.

Our first female DEA chief is headed for a top spot in the company
which pays for one of the DEA's traveling museums. Don't expect many
changes as her likely successor will be just as zealous about
enforcing our failed policies instead of looking for solutions.

Speaking of righteous solutions, a University of Texas reporter
provided good coverage of LEAP's Executive Director's recent speech
which included drug policy history, Mr. Cole's background and his
current views.

(9) OPED: UNINTENDED CASUALTIES APLENTY IN DRUG WAR

Pubdate: Wed, 24 Oct 2007
Source: Boston Herald (MA)
Copyright: 2007 The Boston Herald, Inc
Author: David W. White, Jr.
Note: David W. White Jr. is president of the Massachusetts Bar Association.

Prison populations now total more than 11,000, compared to about 2,500 in 1990.

Since long before Richard Nixon coined the phrase "War on Drugs," our
country experienced a sharp increase in the penalties associated with
illegal drug possession, distribution and trafficking. In
Massachusetts, as in many states, more than a dozen minimum mandatory
sentences were added to the books.

The demand for "truth in sentencing" was answered by a series of laws
enhancing or restricting parole eligibility in 1980s and 1990s. But
in the political shuffle, sentencing guidelines were unfortunately
left on the sidelines.

[snip]

Are we getting much bang for our buck? The answer is a resounding
"No." Crimes of possession have not been reduced by the threat of
longer sentences. Without effective parole, an increasing number of
prisoners are being released from medium and maximum security
prisons, unsupervised, uneducated and untrained. Recidivism rates
are more than 50 percent in the three years following prisoner release.

The failure of the corrections system to reduce recidivism is a
guarantee that there will be a continuing stream of victims.

[snip]

Now is the time to advocate for meaningful reform, especially given
the Legislature's current appetite for change.

However, such action will be incomplete if we fail to restore
meaningful programs to the prisons, including education, job training
and treatment for addiction and mental illness. To ensure a more
harmonious transition from the cell block to society, we need to
expand and improve our existing parole system.

Meaningful reforms will ensure improvements to only better society.
These include reducing crime, restoring families and communities and
cost savings to taxpayers. Our citizens deserve nothing less.

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1232/a02.html

(10) OPED: REVAMP DRUG-OFFENDER LAWS TO EASE STATE PRISON CROWDING

Pubdate: Thu, 18 Oct 2007
Source: Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA)
Copyright: 2007 Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Author: Ronald Fraser
Note: Ronald Fraser, Ph.D., writes on public policy issues for the
DKT Liberty Project, a Washington-based civil liberties organization.

Massachusetts' prison system is like an out-of-control carousel. In
2005, for example, 2,500 new inmates got on board just as 2,100
parolees stepped off and headed for home -- up from 1,300 in 1980.
Nowadays Massachusetts towns and cities are struggling to cope with
the special services needed by new parolees returning home each year.

America's lock-'em-up drug laws are keeping this merry-go-round
spinning faster and faster. Nationally, the portion of inmates
leaving state prisons after serving time for nonviolent drug offenses
has shot up from 11 percent in 1985 to 37 percent in 2005. Here is
how this trend plays out in Massachusetts.

[snip]

While the enforcement of federal and state drug laws has not lowered
the availability or use of illegal drugs, those laws have done more
harm than good for drug users, taxpayers and local communities.
Instead of dealing with drug abuse as a health issue in education and
treatment centers, drug laws have sent thousands of otherwise
law-abiding citizens to prison. But prison time can backfire.

[snip]

What to do? About one-half of all U.S. inmates are nonviolent
offenders. Would it not make a lot more sense to solve the returning
prisoner crisis by drastically cutting the number of nonviolent
people cycled through Massachusetts' prisons and sent back to their
hometowns every year?

Policymakers in Boston need to stop sending nonviolent offenders to
prison and increase the use of non-prison punishments, including
treatment for drug abusers and support services for other non-violent
offenders.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1221/a08.html

(11) OPED: PRISON CRISIS: WILL CALIFORNIA SPEND MORE ON JAILS THAN
UNIVERSITIES?

Pubdate: Tue, 23 Oct 2007
Source: AlterNet (US Web)
Copyright: 2007 Independent Media Institute
Author: Sasha Abramsky, In These Times

Note: Sasha Abramsky is the author, most recently, of American
Furies: Crime, Punishment, and Vengeance in the Age of Mass Imprisonment.

Halfway between Sacramento and San Francisco is Solano Correctional
Facility, nestled against a series of rolling hills, on the outskirts
of the small city of Vacaville.

[snip]

On paper, Solano has some of the best vocational training programs of
any prison in California, with a metal shop that makes snowplow
blades for the California Department of Transportation and a lens
shop that manufactures almost all spectacle lenses for Medi-Cal --
the state's more expansive version of Medicaid -- and Medicare
recipients statewide. The facility also routinely places
soon-to-be-paroled workers in free-world jobs, such as in lens labs
and opticians' offices, around the state. But on any given day,
Solano has thousands of idle inmates because there aren't enough
jobs, education slots and drug addiction treatment spots available
for the surplus prisoners.

[snip]

California's experiment in wholesale incarceration is one of the
great policy failures of our times. Thirty years ago, California had
12 prisons and fewer than 30,000 prisoners. Today, after a generation
of "tough-on-crime" legislation pushed through the legislature and
the initiative process -- from three-strikes-and-you're-out to
draconian anti-drug and anti-gang legislation -- the state has close
to 175,000 inmates living in 34 prisons. That means almost one in
every 200 California residents is now a prisoner of the state. ( And
these numbers don't even include the tens of thousands more prisoners
in county jails. ) The annual cost to taxpayers is about $10 billion
per year, just shy of the amount the state annually puts into its
vaunted public university system. If current spending trends
continue, California will soon be spending more on prisons than on
universities.

[snip]

Perhaps most damning, by the early years of the century, California
had a return-to-prison rate for parolees near 70 percent, which was
worse than any other state. By contrast, as of December 2006,
Florida's return-to-prison rate was 53 percent, New York's was 56
percent and Texas' was 25 percent, according to data collected by the
Center for Evidence-Based Corrections at the University of California
at Irvine.

[snip]

Facing at least the possibility of the entire prison system being
placed under court control because of chronic overcrowding, panicked
state politicians -- urged on by Schwarzenegger -- this year approved
a $7.3 billion emergency measure, known as AB 900, to expand the
system by a mammoth 53,000 beds.

[snip]

While more and more dollars are being devoted to corrections, the
amount of money available per inmate for programming ( such as
education, drug treatment, vocational training, mental health care
and so on ) has declined as a percentage of the total cost of
incarceration. In June, the state senate subcommittee in charge of
overseeing the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's budget
reported that a mere 5 percent of the $43,000 California spends on
each inmate each year currently goes toward rehabilitation programs.

[snip]

Yet California's prison system is peculiarly dysfunctional. A half
century ago, under Gov. Edmund "Pat" Brown, the state was known for
having one of the most progressive prison systems in the country, one
that emphasized rehabilitation, drug treatment, education and
alternatives to incarceration. Some of its prisons even boasted
world-class libraries behind their imposing walls. That trend held
through Ronald Reagan's years in Sacramento (1966-1974), and stayed
good as recently as the gubernatorial tenure of Pat Brown's son,
Jerry, in the late '70s. But today, after the disastrously "tough"
consecutive gubernatorial tenures of George Deukmejian, Pete Wilson
and Gray Davis from 1983 to 2003, the system is a byword for failure.

[snip]

Don Specter, from the Prison Law Office, argued the situation is now
so dire that only a court-imposed population cap on the prison system
can nudge the state toward effective changes. He calls overcrowding
"a crisis of constitutional dimensions that is dangerous for
prisoners, unsafe for staff and a threat to the public." Specter and
his colleagues urged the two judges to form a three-judge panel that
would hear arguments and decide whether to force the state to
rollback its prison population. To the amazement of many observers,
they received an amicus brief from the prison workers' trade union, CCPOA.

[snip]

Today, California stands on the threshold of a new era. Unless the
state's residents send strong signals to their elected officials that
enough's enough when it comes to prison-building, it will only be a
matter of time before more state dollars go into locking up its
citizens than providing its young people with a public university education.

In many ways, California remains a place of dreams, the pot of gold
at the end of the American rainbow. But its criminal justice
policies have, at the very least, put a dent in the optimism.
California's gold rush to mass incarceration reflects priorities gone
awry to a spectacular degree. It has taken three decades to get this
far off track. Let's hope it doesn't take that long to put the
state's criminal justice system back on a fairer, saner footing.

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1226/a08.html

(12) DEA ADMINISTRATOR RESIGNS

Pubdate: Tue, 23 Oct 2007
Source: Wall Street Journal (US)
Copyright: 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Author: Associated Press

Post's First Woman, Tandy, Will Take Job With Motorola

Drug Enforcement Administration chief Karen Tandy is resigning,
ending her four-year tenure as the first woman to hold the post, and
she will take a job at Motorola Inc.

Ms. Tandy told employees that she was leaving to take a job as a
senior vice president of the Schaumburg, Ill.,
telecommunications-equipment company, said DEA spokesman Garrison Courtney.

Motorola is the chief sponsor of a DEA traveling museum exhibit about
global drug trafficking and terrorism that Mr. Courtney said is
funded solely by private donors and corporations, not taxpayers.

[snip]

Ms. Tandy will succeed Michael Kennedy, who plans to retire at the
end of the year, the company said. She was confirmed to head the DEA
in July 2003. Ms. Tandy could be succeeded by another woman, Michele
Leonhart, her second-in-command, who is a possible candidate for the
top job. The DEA employs about 4,600 agents in the U.S. and in 85
countries. During her years at DEA, Ms. Tandy began its program to
curb opium and heroin traffic by deploying agents to Afghanistan to
track down local drug barons accused of financing the Taliban
insurgency. The DEA has said its annual program has helped bring a
more-than-700% increase in the seizure of opium, heroin and clandestine labs.

But a recent United Nations report forecast that Afghanistan would
produce 9,000 tons of opium this year, up 34% from 2006 and enough to
make more than 880 tons of heroin.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1226/a04.html

(13) FORMER NARCOTICS COP PROMOTES LEGALIZATION

Pubdate: Thu, 18 Oct 2007
Source: Daily Texan (U of TX at Austin, Edu)
Copyright: 2007 Daily Texan
Author: Christopher Sanchez

Retired undercover narcotics officer, Jack A. Cole, the Executive
Director of LEAP, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, speaks
passionately Wednesday afternoon in the atrium of the Peter T. Flawn
Academic Center.

In 1970, narcotics officer Jack Cole went undercover to infiltrate
the seedy world of drug pushers, users and abusers. For 14 years, he
was a frontline soldier in the U.S. war on drugs.

Cole said he started having reservations about what he was doing
three years into the gig, after living and working with the people he
was trying to bust.

[snip]

The retired officer denounced the war as racist and corrupt Wednesday
in front of a packed room in the Flawn Academic Center. The
government should legalize all drugs and distribute them for free in
small maintenance doses to adults who want them, said Cole, executive
director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.

[snip]

There were no illegal drugs before 1914, Cole said. To illustrate the
point, he showed a flyer from the period advertising heroin as a
cough suppressant.

[snip]

The decision to ban the domestic distribution of narcotics in 1914
was done "for reasons steeped in racism," he said.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1217/a03.html

Cannabis & Hemp

COMMENT: (14-17)

Yet another study on the correlation between daily cannabis use and
"troubled" youth. The actual study discusses how "using cannabis
functions as a form of self-medication and allows many ... to relax
and forget about their worries," but the press disregarded that part.

No serious injuries were reported after British police deployed a
tractor to gain entry to a cannabis cafe. "This is not about
recreational drug use on a minor scale. We are not talking about an
individual having a quiet joint in their own home. We are talking
about 30 or 40 people in one place, many of them from out of town."

Oregonians are testing tolerance as prosecutors in Montana get their
priorities straight.

(14) CANNABIS SETS DEPRIVED ON A SPIRAL OF DECLINE

Pubdate: Wed, 24 Oct 2007
Source: Scotsman (UK)
Copyright: 2007 The Scotsman Publications Ltd
Author: Lindsay McIntosh
Cited: http://www.jrf.org.uk/bookshop/eBooks/2109-impact-cannabis-youth.pdf

Deprived youngsters who become involved in heavy cannabis use are
less likely than their peers to be able to pull themselves out of the
downward spiral the drug causes, a new study has found.

The report, for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, also warns that drugs
workers may not be treating cannabis users' concerns about their
behaviour seriously enough.

Researchers from the University of Bedfordshire discovered heavy
cannabis abuse among vulnerable young people could worsen their
existing social problems, such as low educational achievement,
homelessness and unemployment.

Professor Neil McKeganey, of the University of Glasgow, who oversaw
the project, said not enough studies had examined the lives of heavy users.

[snip]

The report also suggests youth workers see cannabis use as a less
serious problem than cocaine or heroin abuse.

The researchers say this may be because of their differing experience
of cannabis, which was not available at such a high strength in
previous decades.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n1232.a04.html

(15) POLICE VOW ON FORTRESS "CANNABIS CAFE"

Pubdate: Sun, 21 Oct 2007
Source: Argus, The (UK)
Copyright: 2007 Newsquest Media Group

A controversial "cannabis cafe" has reopened just days after police
used a tractor to smash their way in.

During the dramatic raid the side of the building collapsed while
people were still inside.

Now the owner of the cafe, which police believe is being used to sell
cannabis, has tried to turn it into an impregnable fortress.

He has stacked car tyres filled with concrete around the building in
Freshbrook Road, Lancing, and installed razor wire to deter intruders.

A spokesman for the owner, who did not want to be identified, said:
"We were back up and running within days of the police raid."

One of those inside at the time said: "It was like something out of a
Bruce Willis film. Somebody could have very easily been very badly
hurt of even killed."

Another said: "It could have easily collapsed completely with
everyone inside it. As it was people did get minor injuries, bumps
and bruises, and one woman suffered an asthma attack."

But police were unapologetic about the estimated UKP20,000 worth of
damage caused to the building when the tractor pulled away a window
so officers could gain entry.

And they vowed to step up the pressure in a bid to close the cafe
once and for all.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n1219.a05.html

(16) POT IDEAS WILL TEST ACCEPTANCE

Pubdate: Mon, 22 Oct 2007
Source: Oregonian, The (Portland, OR)
Copyright: 2007 The Oregonian
Author: Andy Dworkin, The Oregonian

Signature Gatherers Want to Change Marijuana Laws in Oregon, Which
Has a High Rate of Users

Oregonians, prepare for reefer referendum madness.

Starting today, signature gatherers will ask Portland residents to
put a law on next year's ballot decriminalizing possession of as much
as an ounce of marijuana.

It's a weird request, as possessing that much pot is already
decriminalized statewide. Oregon was the first state to decriminalize
a little dope, way back in 1973. Having a little marijuana is now a
civil violation, like speeding, punishable by a $500 to $1,000 fine.

Other Oregon pot fanciers want to move way beyond removing
penalties. They're aiming for a 2010 ballot measure to legally sell
marijuana through Oregon liquor stores, taxing the sales for state
revenue -- a law that, if passed, guarantees a war with the federal government.

NORML, the main U.S. group backing marijuana legalization, identifies
Oregon, Nevada and Vermont as the three states where its legal pot
dream seems most possible.

"We just had a conference in D.C., and there were so many people from
Oregon declaring their intent for this initiative, that initiative,
medical marijuana," NORML spokesman Allen St. Pierre said. "I'm not
really sure what's going on up there."

What seems to be happening is a union of two of this pioneering
state's great loves: ballot initiatives and dope smoking.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n1218.a04.html

(17) PROSECUTOR ADOPTS POT-IS-LOWEST-PRIORITY POLICY

Pubdate: Sun, 21 Oct 2007
Source: Billings Gazette, The (MT)
Copyright: 2007 The Billings Gazette
Author: Tristan Scott

Missoulian MISSOULA - Nearly a year after voters asked county law
enforcement to ignore adult marijuana offenses, Missoula's top
prosecutor has adopted an official policy to uphold the referendum.

"In the interest of compliance with the 2006 voter initiative on
marijuana .. we are asking law enforcement officers to stop arresting
individuals or writing and submitting tickets (with mandatory
appearance dates) where the offense committed is solely possession of
marijuana in misdemeanor amounts or possession of drug paraphernalia
intended for use of marijuana," according to a draft of the policy by
Missoula County Attorney Fred Van Valkenburg, an outspoken opponent
of the measure.

Van Valkenburg's policy also instructs deputy prosecutors to charge
misdemeanor marijuana cases on a lowest-priority basis when marijuana
is the sole offense

"We will treat them as uncharged cases that will be assigned to a
prosecutor and charged on a lowest priority basis," according to the
policy. "If charged, we will seek issuance of a summons with the complaint."

If a defendant is charged but has no criminal record of consequence,
county attorneys will offer a deferred prosecution agreement rather
than filing formal charges. No court appearance would be required.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n1217.a08.html

International News

COMMENT: (18-21)

The Transform Drug Policy Foundation released a report this week
calling drugs policies in the United Kingdom a "sham." The report,
"After the War on Drugs: Tools for the Debate" laid blame for a
"malfunctioning" drugs policy with prohibition. "Prohibition's
failure is now widely understood and acknowledged among key
stakeholders in the debate." The "political benefits of pursuing
prohibition are now waning and the political costs of its
continuation are becoming unsustainable."

While U.S. prohibitionists are still crowing their drug war (after
all these years) finally caused the price U.S. consumers pay for
cocaine to marginally rise, police in Queensland, Australia say they
expect to see increases in the availability of the stimulant drug. A
government study made the prediction this week, based on trends in
"organised crime and bikie gangs".

Like their U.S. counterparts, Canadian jurors have the power to
"nullify" laws they do not like by acquitting people who may have
indeed broken laws, but when the law itself might be misguided, or
unfairly applied in a given instance. The recent case of R. v.
Krieger (2006) sheds some light on a Canadian precedent. The judge
told jurors they must convict. But on appeal, the Canadian Supreme
Court overturned it. Judges can no longer order jurors to convict.
While defense attorneys are not permitted to tell jurors of their
right to nullify laws (by refusing to convict), Canadian jurors are
free to acquit or convict and needn't explain their choice to anyone.

And finally this week, the Bush administration requested another $1.4
billion "aid package to Mexico, to help the Mexican government fight
narcotics traffickers." The aid will be spread out over the next
three years and is earmarked for "the police and tools to dismantle
drug cartels, including helicopters, surveillance planes,
drug-sniffing dogs and software to track cases."

(18) DRUGS STRATEGY DEBATE 'IS A SHAM'

Pubdate: Sun, 21 Oct 2007
Source: Observer, The (UK)
Copyright: 2007 The Observer
Author: Jamie Doward, home affairs editor, The Observer

Think-Tank Says Prohibition Has Failed and Wants Talks on
Legalisation As Home Office Defends Ban

The government's consultation on a new 10-year drugs strategy is a
'sham', according to one of Britain's leading think-tanks on
narcotics, which warns that the current policy is fuelling a crime epidemic.

The Transform Drug Policy Foundation, the only UK organisation of its
kind to advise the United Nations on such issues, will this week
publish a new report claiming the current strategy has failed. The
report, 'After the War on Drugs: Tools for the Debate', claims there
is an urgent need for full consultation on allowing the controlled
supply of illegal drugs. 'It is clear our drug policy cannot
continue down the same failed path forever,' the report states.
'Prohibition's failure is now widely understood and acknowledged
among key stakeholders in the debate... the political benefits of
pursuing prohibition are now waning and the political costs of its
continuation are becoming unsustainable.'

The report claims that drug prohibition has allowed organised crime
to control the market and criminalised millions of users, putting a
huge strain on the justice system. The Home Office estimates that
half of all property crime is linked to fundraising to buy illegal
drugs. The police claim that drug markets are the main driver of the
UK's burgeoning gun culture. Official figures released last week
showed that drug offences recorded by police had risen 14 per cent in
April to June of this year, compared with the same period in 2006.

Politicians claim tough anti-drugs laws send clear signals to
society. But Transform points to a Home Office survey, commissioned
in 2000, which showed the social and economic costs of heroin and
cocaine use were between UKP10.1 and UKP17.4 billion - the bulk of
which were costs to the victims of drug-related crime.

'Over the course of 10 years, a series of different inquiry reports
into UK drugs policy all say the same thing: the policy is
malfunctioning,' said Steve Rolles, the report's author. 'They've all
been blithely ignored by the government, which insists it is making progress.'

Last week, North Wales Police chief constable Richard Brunstrom said
he would 'campaign hard' for drugs such as heroin to be legalised.
Previously he has said that drugs laws are out of date and that the
Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 should be replaced by a new 'Substance Misuse Act'.

[snip]

A spokeswoman for the Home Office said: 'We have undertaken an open
consultation and we welcome constructive ideas and views on how we
can continue to reduce drug harm. However, the government is
emphatically opposed to the legalisation of drugs which would
increase drug-related harm and break both international and domestic law.'

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n1212.a07.html

(19) COCAINE MARKET 'SET TO INCREASE' IN QLD

Pubdate: Mon, 22 Oct 2007
Source: Sunshine Coast Daily (Australia)
Copyright: 2007 APN News & Media Ltd
Author: Drew Cratchley

The prevalence of cocaine in Queensland is set to expand in the next
three years as organised crime and bikie gangs work together to
traffic the drug, a new report says.

A CMC study into trends in the Queensland cocaine industry concluded
that while cocaine is less prevalent than amphetamines and cannabis,
its market had expanded in recent years and had the potential for
further growth.

CMC intelligence director Chris Keen said the supply of cocaine was
increasing as crime groups begin to work with each other to import the drug.

[snip]

Premier Anna Bligh said an increase in drug use was a by-product of
the state's massive population growth.

[snip]

"With more people moving here, unfortunately we do see an increase in
some of those areas such as drug use."

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n1223.a07.html

(20) A CRIMINAL MIND: JURIES CAN NULLIFY, JUST DON'T TELL THEM

Pubdate: Mon, 22 Oct 2007
Source: Law Times (Canada)
Copyright: CLB Media 2007
Author: Rosalind Conway

The common law recognizes the jury's power not to convict when a law
is unfair, or when it would unfairly impact upon the accused. This is
known as jury nullification. The trilogy of Canadian cases from the
Supreme Court of Canada that have dealt with this are R. v.
Morgentaler (1988), R. v. Latimer (2001), and the recent case of R.
v. Krieger (2006).

Can a trial lawyer inform the jury of its power to nullify? Our law
grants jurors the power to nullify, but prohibits counsel from
telling them about it.

[snip]

While the Supreme Court recognized in Morgentaler that the power to
nullify exists, counsel cannot encourage it: "It is no doubt true
that juries have a de facto power to disregard the law as stated to
the jury by the judge. We cannot enter the jury room. The jury is
never called upon to explain the reasons which lie behind a verdict
. . . . But recognizing this reality is a far cry from suggesting
that counsel may encourage a jury to ignore a law they do not support
or to tell a jury that it has a right to do so."

[snip]

On the other hand, the judge has the delicate task of preventing jury
nullification without telling jurors that they must convict. This
happened recently in the case of R. v. Krieger, a marijuana
production case involving personal use for medical purposes and
sharing for palliative purposes. The judge directed jurors to
convict, and told them that they were bound to do so. However, the
Supreme Court of Canada ruled that, even when the evidence is
overwhelming, the judge cannot direct a verdict of guilty.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n1227.a03.html

(21) BUSH ASKS CONGRESS FOR $1.4 BILLION TO FIGHT DRUGS IN MEXICO

Pubdate: Tue, 23 Oct 2007
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2007 The New York Times Company
Author: James C. McKinley Jr.

MEXICO CITY -- President Bush asked Congress on Monday to approve a
$1.4 billion aid package over the next three years to help the
Mexican government fight narcotics traffickers, who have unleashed a
bloody underworld war that has left more than 4,000 dead across
Mexico in the last two years.

The plan calls for the United States to give Mexico $500 million over
the next 12 months to provide training for the police and tools to
dismantle drug cartels, including helicopters, surveillance planes,
drug-sniffing dogs and software to track cases.

An additional $50 million would go to Central American countries for
the same purposes.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n1228.a09.html

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