THIS JUST IN

(1) GERALD LE DAIN, 83: JURIST

Pubdate: Thu, 3 Jan 2008
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2008 The Globe and Mail Company
Author: Noreen Shanahan, Special to The Globe and Mail

His Landmark Commission on Drugs Urged Legalizing Marijuana in 1973

Already a Respected Legal Scholar, He Became an Improbable
Counterculture Icon at the Height of the Hippy Era by Recommending
Leniency and the Decriminalization of Recreational Drugs

TORONTO -- Gerald Le Dain's respect for civil liberties went so far
as to rouse John Lennon and Yoko Ono from their bed. It was 1969, the
year of the couple's "bed-in for peace" at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel
in Montreal, and the year Judge Le Dain began chairing the much-
referenced but largely ignored Commission of Inquiry into the Non-
Medical Use of Drugs.

The Le Dain commission's final report was one of the most politically
explosive documents ever put before the federal government. The
commission held 46 days of public hearings, received 365 submissions
and heard from 12,000 people in about 30 cities and at more than 20
university campuses across the country. In its final report, in 1973,
the commission recommended decriminalizing marijuana possession
because the law-enforcement costs of prohibition were too great, and
suggested that Canada focus on frank education rather than harsh
penalization. It also recommended treatment for heroin addiction and
sharp warnings about nicotine and alcohol. This was delivered at a
time when hysteria about the evils of pot was on everyone's lips and
many parents wanted the law to save their drug-addled teenagers.

[snip]

In 1990, the U.S. Drug Policy Alliance instituted an award in Gerald
Le Dain's name, to be given to individuals involved in law who have
worked within official institutions "when extremist pressures
dominate government policies." The influential organization includes
law- enforcement officials, academics, professionals, health-care
workers, drug users and former users. "We sought to name the awards
after our heroes," said founder Arnold Trebach. "Gerald Le Dain was
certainly one of them. Few people realize the level of hate directed
at drug users and drug policy reformers decades ago."

Judge Le Dain, the first Canadian to be so honoured, had earlier been
made a companion of the Order of Canada.

[snip]

Gerald Eric Le Dain was born on Nov. 27, 1924, in Montreal. He died
in his sleep at home on Dec. 18, 2007. He was 83. He is survived by
his son Eric and daughters Barbara, Jennifer and Caroline. He was
predeceased by his wife, Cynthia, and by daughters Jacqueline and Catherine.

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(2) COLUMN: A MATTER OF NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY

Pubdate: Fri, 4 Jan 2008
Source: National Post (Canada)
Copyright: 2008 Southam Inc.
Author: Colby Cosh, National Post
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08.n004.a01.html

On Dec. 31, the National Post comment pages published an open letter
by columnist Karen Selick that asked Justice Minister Rob Nicholson
to intervene in the extradition process against "Prince of Pot" Marc
Emery, which is scheduled to begin Jan. 21. For years, Mr. Emery has
been openly running a lucrative business in mail-order marijuana
seeds, selling to customers in both Canada and the U.S. Though this
is technically illegal in both countries, the Vancouver police and
the federal authorities took an indulgent view for years; Mr. Emery
even reported his income to Revenue Canada and paid taxes, listing
his occupation explicitly as "marijuana seed vendor."

[snip]

Now Mr. Emery faces the possibility of lifelong imprisonment in a
U.S. federal penitentiary without parole. Needless to say, it is a
fate he has done much to tempt. He has been an overt opponent of the
DEA and the U.S. government, and never concealed his seed sales to
the United States or made any effort to avoid selling to American
customers. Quite the contrary: As he told CBS's 60 Minutes last year,
"The whole idea was that I would help facilitate the growth of so
much marijuana that the DEA and all the agencies of the United States
would never be able to destroy it at the rate I would help create it
and that, ultimately, I, one man, would neutralize the work of the
entire DEA with their multi-billion dollar budget."

He has taken his battle to the propaganda front too, making highly
visible donations to anti-prohibition groups in the United States.
It's no surprise to him that the Americans want to clap him in irons.
What might have been a surprise was the election of a Conservative
government in Canada, one which has made tougher laws against
marijuana growers and users a cornerstore of its political agenda.

Still, that should not deter us from a fair assessment of his
incredibly risky argument-by-botany. Many of those who consider Mr.
Emery's plight get distracted by what sometimes seems like a desire
for martyrdom on his part, or by the ethical and medical
considerations surrounding the use of marijuana. The plain fact is
that Canadian law never practically considered his seed business a
major peril to public order or morals, or it would have done
something about it. Dozens, perhaps hundreds of mail-order growers
are continuing in the trade in B.C. even now. Marijuana is
recognized as having medical benefits by our government, as it is in
the law of nearly a dozen U.S. states. The U.S. is using the
technical presence of an unenforced law on our books to carry its
drug war onto our soil. If the Honourable Mr. Nicholson allows this
to reach its logical conclusion, and Mr. Emery is sent south for
notional crimes committed entirely on Canadian soil, it will
constitute a blow to our national sovereignty.

After all, just imagine for a moment that the positions were reversed
- -- that by some historical quirk, it was the U.S. that had adopted
liberal attitudes toward marijuana, while we were suppressing it here
at home with paramilitary force and penalties normally reserved for
killers and armed robbers. Does anybody think for a moment that a
Canadian politician or prosecutor could blithely dash off a letter to
Massachusetts or Texas and have U.S. law enforcement mobilized from
coast to coast to deliver a peaceable, otherwise law-abiding American
seed dealer into our hands?

The Americans wouldn't stand for it. They'd raise hell about
foreigners telling them how to run their country. And they'd be
right to do it. The principle of extradition between friendly
neighbouring democracies is an important one, but where ideas of
justice are expressed in such a different manner as they are on a
point like this -- where the people of two countries so plainly
disagree about what is right -- co-operation is tantamount to a
surrender of values.

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(3) ROGUE COPS GET STIFF SENTENCES FOR SHAKING DOWN DRUG DEALERS

Pubdate: Fri, 4 Jan 2008
Source: Chicago Tribune (IL)
Copyright: 2008 Chicago Tribune Company
Author: Jeff Coen, Tribune staff reporter

25 Years for Alleged Ringleader of Group That Robbed Dealers

Three rogue Chicago police officers who robbed drug dealers of cash
and narcotics were sentenced to lengthy prison terms Thursday by a
federal judge who said the misconduct left him "at a total loss."

U.S. District Judge Ronald Guzman appeared most disturbed that the
officers resold the stolen drugs, putting "lethal poison" back onto
streets that they had sworn to serve and protect.

"You and your merry band essentially raped and plundered entire
areas," said the judge, noting the robberies by the plainclothes
tactical officers in the Englewood District took place in some of the
city's poorest neighborhoods.

The ring damaged the reputations of good cops and sullied the entire
legal system in neighborhoods where trust of the police already may
have been at its thinnest, the judge said.

"People see and hear what goes on in these courtrooms, and the next
time they look at a police officer, they see you," Guzman said.

The judge sentenced Broderick Jones, 36, the alleged ringleader, to
25 years in prison; Darek Haynes, 37, to 19 years; and Eural Black,
44, the only officer to take his case to trial, to 40 years, the
statutory minimum he could receive under the law.

Five officers in all were indicted in 2005 for robbing dealers while
on-duty after being tipped to drug deals about to go down. The
officers wore their stars and body armor and often tried to make the
"rip-offs" appear to be legitimate traffic stops.

One drug dealer, Brent Terry, 36, was also sentenced Thursday to more
than 20 years for helping target dealers for Jones.

[snip]

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(4) AGENTS WARN OF NEW DRUG HITTING U.S.

Pubdate: Fri, 4 Jan 2008
Source: Detroit News (MI)
Webpage: http://drugsense.org/url/3063rABP
Copyright: 2008 The Detroit News
Author: Santiago Esparza, The Detroit News

Federal Officials Say 'Extreme Ecstasy' Is a Potent Drug Laced With
Methamphetamines.

Federal agents are targeting a turbo-charged form of Ecstasy that is
gaining in popularity, fearing it will lead to fatal overdoses
similar to ones experienced a few years ago caused by heroin mixed
with fentanyl.

Michigan and nine other states along Canada's border would see the
first wave of any such overdoses, and officials are warning that the
so-called "extreme Ecstasy," which is mixed with methamphetamines, is
becoming a problem.

"They (drug dealers) are remarketing and packaging it and trying to
glamorize it," said Scott Burns, deputy director of the White House
Office of National Drug Control Policy. "We just went through this
issue with fentanyl. We learned a lot of things from that. We have to
get on it early and get on it aggressively."

Lax views toward drug use in Canada, coupled with successes scored by
U.S. agents against European Ecstasy producers and smugglers, have
fueled the problem, Burns said.

Federal agents seized about 5.4 million dosage units of Ecstasy in
the 10 states near the Canadian border in 2006, up dramatically from
the 568,000 units seized in 2003, according to statistics from Burns' office.

About 55 percent of the units had methamphetamines in them, Burns said.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police officials do not dispute that their
country has seen an increase in Ecstasy production or smuggling. They
said 5.2 million units smuggled in from Canada were seized in the
United States in 2004, up from 1.1 million in 2004, according to data
collected with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, RCMP officials said.

[snip]

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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW

Domestic News- Policy

COMMENT: (5-8)

A year-end report out of Pennsylvania suggested that deaths related
to oxycontin have decreased, deaths related to methadone have
increased. At the same time, one Pennsylvania newspaper took the
time to determine whether officials were following the law when they
charged a man with possessing a toad with the intent of licking it.

A pair of interesting opinion pieces fill out the section this week;
the first features Cynthia Tucker cogently dissecting the racial
implications of the drug war again; and Stanton Peele explaining why
presidential candidates who have tried drugs show that the drug war
is an unnecessary waste.

(5) METHADONE-RELATED DEATHS SOAR

Pubdate: Sun, 23 Dec 2007
Source: Tribune-Democrat, The (PA)
Copyright: 2007 The Tribune-Democrat
Author: Julie Benamati

A recent report issued by the National Drug Intelligence Center
indicates an alarming trend in the number of methadone-related deaths
- -- estimated to be about a 400 percent increase since 1999.

And while some local experts agree that the NDIC's figure mirrors
that of local trends, they say the increase is not a result of
methadone clinics, commonly frequented by drug addicts to treat
heroin addiction.

According to the report, methadone-related deaths increased from 786
in 1999 to almost 4,000 in 2004, as reported by the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention.

In comparison, the number of cocaine-related deaths during the same
period increased 43 percent.

In addition to treating heroin addiction, methadone is a commonly
prescribed narcotic used to treat chronic pain.

Key findings of the report say the total amount of methadone
distributed in the last five years has increased, with the greatest
percentage occurring at the practitioner level.

In addition, thefts of the drug from manufacturers and distributors,
such as pharmacies, are on the rise.

Cambria County Coroner Dennis Kwiatkowski agrees with NDIC's assessment.

"Most of the drug deaths that we have had lately are
methadone-related," Kwiatkowski said. "For most of them, it's just
like NDIC says ... it's coming from a prescription."

Kwiatkowski said methadone has become the illegal drug of choice on the street.

"It seems like methadone has taken over for Oxycontin," Kwiatkowski
said. "We don't see ( Oxycontin ) deaths like we used to.

"Three or four years ago, there was a lot of Oxycontin on the
streets, and the drug task force and FDA really busted down on the
Oxycontin pushers," he continued. "Now there is a trend for methadone."

Kwiatkowski said people are obtaining prescriptions from physicians
and then selling it on the street. Others are stealing the drug.

[snip]

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(6) DRUG CZAR: JUST SAY NO TO TOAD LICKING

Pubdate: Thu, 27 Dec 2007
Source: Evening Sun (Hanover, PA)
Copyright: 2007 Evening Sun
Author: Rick Lee, For The Evening Sun

After he stopped laughing, York County drug czar Bill Graff got on
the phone with the Pennsylvania State Police crime lab.

"You can lick all the toads you want," had been Graff's initial
response. "I don't think it's a crime. There's nothing in the (
state ) crimes code banning the licking of toads."

Graff didn't believe it, but the question of toad licking came up
after a man was arrested in November in Missouri, accused of
possession of a Colorado River toad with the intent to lick it to get high.

But the chemists at the crime lab informed Graff, the county's first
assistant district attorney and head of the county drug task force,
that certain members of the bufo toad family - specifically the
Colorado River toad and the cane toad - secrete bufotenine, a
hallucinogenic alkaloid and a Schedule I controlled substance under
both federal and state drug laws.

The chemists told Graff the question of toad licking to get high does
not come up very often. They said they vaguely remembered a toad
licking case "a long time Advertisement ago." The toads in question
are native to western and southwestern states.

"I stand corrected," Graff said. "It's not just an urban legend.

"So, I guess if you caught someone with a Colorado River toad, you
could charge them with a Schedule I violation. It's no different from
mushrooms or LSD. You would have to prove they intended to use them
to lick. I mean not having them as pets.

"It would be delivery of a controlled substance, and the package is
the frog, I mean the toad."

Pennsylvania State law does not specifically address bufo toads or
any other non-endangered amphibians.

[snip]

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(7) COLUMN: DECADES LATER, WAR ON DRUGS IS STILL A LOSER

Pubdate: Sun, 30 Dec 2007
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA)
Copyright: 2007 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Author: Cynthia Tucker

You don't hear much about the nation's "war on drugs" these days.
It's a has-been, a glamorless geezer, a holdover from bygone days.
Its glitz has been stolen by the "war on terror," which gets the news
media hype and campaign trail rhetoric. Railing against recreational
drug use and demanding that offenders be locked away is so '90s.

But the drug war proceeds, mostly away from news cameras and photo
ops, still chewing up federal and state resources and casting
criminal sanctions over entire neighborhoods. Some four or so
decades into an intensive effort to stamp out recreational drug use,
billions of dollars have been spent; thousands of criminals, many of
them foreigners, have been enriched; and hundreds of thousands of
Americans have been imprisoned. And the use of illegal substances
continues unabated.

With the nation poised on the brink of a new political era, isn't it
time to abandon the wrongheaded war on drugs? Isn't it time to admit
that this second Prohibition has been as big a failure as the last -
the one aimed at alcohol?

Every war has its collateral damage, and the war on drugs is no
different. As it happens, its unintended victims have been
disproportionately black. The stunning rise in incarceration rates
for black men began after the nation became serious about stamping
out recreational drug use.

In 1954, black inmates accounted for 30 percent of the nation's
prison population, according to Marc Mauer, assistant director of The
Sentencing Project, a Washington-based group that advocates
alternative sentencing. Fifty years later, he wrote, blacks account
for almost half of all prison admissions. Much of that increase has
come from arrests for drug crimes. Very few of those black men are
wildly successful drug lords, such as the Harlem kingpin Frank Lucas,
portrayed by Denzel Washington in the film "American Gangster."
Instead, they are usually penny-ante dealers addicted to their product.

[snip]

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(8) OPED: DRUG USE AND THE CANDIDATES

Pubdate: Mon, 31 Dec 2007
Source: Wall Street Journal (US)
Copyright: 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Author: Stanton Peele

In his 1996 autobiography, "Dreams from My Father," presidential
candidate Barack Obama admitted using alcohol and drugs in high school.

He was unusually frank compared to Bill Clinton and George W. Bush --
to name just two politicians reputed to have used drugs.

Mr. Obama raised the issue again in November in Manchester, N.H. In
response to a request by Central High School's principal that he
reveal his "human side," he discussed his high school years in
Hawaii: "I was kind of a goof-off. . . . There were times when I got
into drinking and experimented with drugs." He added that he had
righted himself to become a "grind" by the end of college.

Then an influential New Hampshire Democrat and Hillary Clinton
supporter, Bill Shaheen, said Mr. Obama's drug use made him
vulnerable to attacks from Republicans. Mr. Shaheen quickly retracted
his remarks, but voter attention was directed to the candidate's teen
behavior just weeks before the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses and Jan. 8 New
Hampshire primary.

Are there many other prominent people who used illicit substances
when young? Messrs. Bush and Clinton are likely only the tip of the
iceberg. According to the University of Michigan's Monitoring the
Future Survey, in 2007 about half of high school seniors had used an
illegal drug. More than seven of 10 seniors had consumed alcohol,
and 55% had been drunk.

In fact, 44% drank alcohol in the past month.

These figures rise and fall over the years: In 1980, the spring of
Mr. Obama's 18th year, two-thirds of seniors had used an illicit
drug and more than 70% had consumed alcohol in the past month. There
has been massive drug and underage alcohol use by Americans over the
years -- more than 110 million Americans, according to the National
Survey on Drug Use and Health, have used illicit drugs.

Yet the overwhelming majority of them -- like Messrs. Bush, Clinton
and Obama -- have grown up to be productive citizens.

Some believe there's no need to know about their youthful misconduct.

[snip]

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Law Enforcement & Prisons

COMMENT: (9-12)

While politicians are still trying to think of new ways to get tough
on meth, their excesses are starting to be exposed by the people
impacted by the laws, like one mother from Arkansas. She may find
those excesses hard to undo, as story in the New York Times about the
unintended consequences of Newark, New Jersey's war on crack
shows. Also, another county takes a hard look at the drug war's race
statistics; and major newspaper rightfully mocks a state legislature
for taking the time to ban Salvia Divinorum when the state clearly
has more serious problems.

(9) MOTHER WORKS TO MAKE SHORTENED SENTENCES FOR METH OFFENSES RETROACTIVE

Pubdate: Sun, 23 Dec 2007
Source: Morning News, The (Springdale, AR)
Copyright: 2007 The Stephens Media Group
Author: Rob Moritz, The Morning News

LITTLE ROCK -- The one thing Lynn Burch wants for Christmas more than
anything else is for her son to come home from prison.

Nearly four years ago, Lynn and her husband, Jeff, who live in
Springdale, watched as their middle son, Daniel, stood before a judge
and was sentenced to 10 years in prison for manufacturing and
possessing methamphetamine with intent to deliver.

The highly addictive drug, which had already made addicts of her two
other boys -- they have since gone into drug rehab and have kicked
the habit -- had their third son in its clutches.

Daniel Burch was sentenced under a 1997 state law that added meth
offenses to the list of crimes that require murderers, rapists and
other violent offenders to serve at least 70 percent of their
sentence before they are eligible for parole.

"It's heartbreaking," Lynn Burch said. "I've never said my son
shouldn't do time. But I don't think they need to send him away for
seven years when he was 23 years old. He won't get out until he's 30.

"He's having to serve more time than some child molesters or people
that rape ... Ricky Crisp even served less time and he was convicted
of killing two."

Crisp, whose 16-month-old daughter and her 4-month-old cousin died in
a sweltering car after he and a friend went looking for mushrooms and
arrowheads, was convicted in early 1999 of two counts of
second-degree murder and sentenced to 14 years in prison. The
Garfield man was paroled in December 2002 after serving just over
three years in prison.

"I just don't understand it. I've just given up asking why," Lynn Burch said.

She said her son and other meth offenders need rehabilitation and
treatment rather than extended prison time. She said she has
counseled and helped several friends of her sons who are addicted to
the drug kick the habit.

[snip]

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(10) DRUG WAR, MINUS SIGNS, PERSISTS

Pubdate: Sat, 29 Dec 2007
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2007 The New York Times Company
Author: Kevin Coyne

AS he drove slowly along the streets he first traveled more than 40
years ago, when he was still a young parole officer who wished he
could do more than just check in and move on, David Kerr was looking
for a sign.

"It's been a while since I've seen one," he said about the signs that
are meant to mark the 1,000-foot perimeter around all schools within
which the penalty for dealing drugs is mandatory and more severe than
elsewhere. "The problem is, there are schools everywhere. 'Entering
Newark, Drug-Free School Zone,' that's what the signs should say."

But block after block, school after school, none were to be found.
The "Drug-Free School Zone" signs may be mostly gone here in the
Central Ward, but their impact persists, and they have surfaced again
at the center of a policy debate that exposes the wide gulf between
the two New Jerseys: the one that is dense and urban and heavily
black and Hispanic; and the one that is not.

"It snares everybody, and really does nothing but put nonviolent
addicts in jail for a long time, people who should be in treatment
instead," said Mr. Kerr, 65, who left his state parole job in 1968
and started what is now the state's oldest and largest drug-treatment
center, Integrity House, which has 360 always-full beds -- in one
large building in Secaucus, and 18 smaller ones in Newark -- and a
waiting list of 450. "It's clear it's just a net that's very biased
toward any community that has schools close together, like Newark."

It was hard to argue against drug-free school zones when they were
established in New Jersey as part of a tough antidrug law in 1987.
Crack was spreading, and the war on drugs was escalating, arming the
police and prosecutors with new legal weapons. Dealers anywhere near
schoolchildren? Lock them up.

[snip]

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(11) JAIL MORE LIKELY FOR BLACK DRUG USERS, STUDY FINDS

Pubdate: Sat, 29 Dec 2007
Source: Chattanooga Times Free Press (TN)
Copyright: 2007 Chattanooga Publishing Co.
Author: Adam Crisp, Staff Writer

Black Hamilton County residents are sent to prison on drug
convictions 19 times more often per capita than whites, but local
District Attorney Bill Cox challenged the recent study that reached
the conclusion.

The study, compiled by the nonprofit Justice Policy Institute,
compared the nation's 200 largest counties. It stated that 97
percent of those counties sent blacks to prison more often than
whites for drug-related convictions.

Mr. Cox said the Justice Institute's claims are tied to a Substance
Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration study showing that in
2006 about 8.9 percent of blacks admitted to using drugs in the last
month, and 8.5 percent of whites admitted to the same practices.

"There is a difference between being a drug user and being someone
who goes to jail for drugs," Mr. Cox said. "Drug users don't
typically go to jail. People who possess quantities of drugs for
resale go to jail."

The Justice Policy Institute, based in Washington, D.C., reported
that, despite similar use patterns, black people account for more
than 50 percent of sentenced drug offenders, while they are about 13
percent of the nation's population. The research institution is
"dedicated to ending society's reliance on incarceration" and
promotes "appropriate alternatives" to it, according to its Internet site.

The institute found that in Hamilton County about 24 out of every
100,000 people are sent to state prison each year for a drug crime.
Whites are sent to prison at a rate of five per 100,000 white people,
while blacks are sent at a rate of about 95 per 100,000 black people,
the report found.

Walter Williams, a retired Chattanooga City Court judge now in
private practice, said the institute's findings confirm "what all of
us have been saying through the years."

[snip]

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(12) EDITORIAL: LAWMAKERS MANAGE TO OUTLAW LICKING AN OBSCURE PLANT

Pubdate: Mon, 31 Dec 2007
Source: Chicago Sun-Times (IL)
Copyright: 2007 The Sun-Times Co.

Those creatively efficient politicians down in the Illinois
Legislature might be stumped on really important issues like funding
the CTA or betting our future on casinos. But they are clear about
saving us from ourselves -- even if we don't need it. Case in point:
the salvia ban.

Lawmakers banned the sale and possession of Salvia divinorum, a
virtually unknown sage plant that causes hallucinations. People who
buy it in tobacco and "head" shops or online experience a 5- to
10-minute high, followed by a 20-minute comedown. Come New Year's
Day, anyone who smokes, licks, chews or possesses salvia will go
directly to jail -- for no less than four years. The penalty is the
same as shooting heroin or snorting cocaine.

"I've seen the argument to legalize marijuana. It is a gateway drug,
like salvia could be a gateway drug," said state Rep. Dennis
Reboletti ( R-Elmhurst ), a former narcotics prosecutor who sponsored
the bill. Reboletti admitted he wanted to move forward on banning
the plant "rather than waiting for someone to be killed because of it."

Legislators must have been on something to zero in on this obscure
organic substance, sometimes called "magic mint" or "Sally D" by
salvia afficionados. The last time we checked, Illinois was not
besieged by a salvia epidemic. We don't see the urgency in
criminalizing a substance with no clear track record of causing
people to act in a dangerous manner or hurt other people.

[snip]

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Cannabis & Hemp

COMMENT: (13-16)

A new year begins, but the drug war rhetoric remains as tedious as
ever. Critics in Texas are concerned that treating cannabis
possession as a misdemeanor sends the wrong message to kids.

Despite a recommendation last month from U.S. District Judge Daniel
Hovland that hemp advocates take their cause to congress, it seems
congress lacks the political will to risk appearing soft on drugs.

The Alberta Court of Appeal struck down an earlier human rights
tribunal ruling which found that an employer discriminated against a
cannabis consumer when they fired him for failing a drug test, noting
that the consumer did not seem to be "addicted," and was therefore
not "disabled" as he claimed, and that "the evidence established that
effects of cannabis use lingers for days particularly given that the
concentration of active ingredients is now many times higher than it
was in the past."

Last year marked the passing of too many medicinal cannabis activists
and patients, including Catherine Devries of Kitchener, Ontario.

(13) MARIJUANA TICKETS NOT CATCHING ON

Pubdate: Mon, 31 Dec 2007
Source: Dallas Morning News (TX)
Copyright: 2007 The Dallas Morning News
Author: Tiara M. Ellis, The Dallas Morning News

Law Designed to Free Jail Space Not Used Beyond Austin As Prosecutors
Question Propriety

Texas lawmakers thought they could help ease jail overcrowding when
they passed legislation allowing police to write tickets for
misdemeanor marijuana possession and a few other nonviolent crimes,
instead of hauling suspects to the clink.

But the new law, which went into effect Sept. 1, is being used only
in Travis County. Prosecutors in Dallas, Tarrant and Collin counties
never set up a system to process the misdemeanor citations and, they
say, they have no plans to do so.

"I think the Legislature was very sensitive to the fact that there
are so many jails that are overcrowded," said Terri Moore, Dallas
County's first assistant district attorney. "This was a great idea,
but it raises a lot more questions that we are not ready to answer."

The new law gives officers the option to arrest, as they have been
doing, or write tickets for possession of less than 4 ounces of
marijuana. Some supporters of the law say these nonviolent offenders
could be treated the same as drivers who get caught speeding and
agree to go before a judge. But critics say these class A and B
misdemeanors, although not violent crimes, could still result in jail
time and require investigators to build a solid case for prosecution.

As a result, the burden of making sure that suspects make it to court
and no one is misidentified is higher. For Greg Davis, Collin
County's first assistant district attorney, one of his qualms with
the new law is the perception created by ticketing for a drug
offense, instead of making an arrest.

"It may... lead some people to believe that drug use is no more
serious than double parking," Mr. Davis said. "We don't want to send
that message to potential drug users, particularly young people."

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n1514.a01.html

(14) N.D. DELEGATION WON'T TAKE UP HEMP ISSUE

Pubdate: Tue, 01 Jan 2008
Source: Minot Daily News (ND)
Copyright: 2008 Minot Daily News

The three members of North Dakota's congressional delegation see
little hope in Congress for state farmers who want to grow industrial hemp.

Members of the state's all-Democratic delegation -- Sens. Byron
Dorgan and Kent Conrad and Rep. Earl Pomeroy -- say they have no
plans to introduce or push legislation that would make it easier for
farmers around the country to grow the crop.

U.S. District Judge Daniel Hovland last month dismissed a lawsuit
filed against the U.S government by two North Dakota farmers, saying
federal law considers industrial hemp to be the same as marijuana,
which is an illegal drug. In his ruling, Hovland suggested asking
Congress to change the definition of industrial hemp to explicitly
distinguish it from marijuana.

That idea has no traction in Congress, the state's delegation says.

"When the (federal) drug enforcement agency takes this hard line
position, there is not the political will in Congress to challenge
them," Pomeroy said. "No one wants to be involved in something that
some might perceive as loosening our drug laws."

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08.n002.a06.html

(15) JOB DRUG-TESTING DEBATE NOT OVER

Pubdate: Thu, 03 Jan 2008
Source: Edmonton Sun (CN AB)
Copyright: 2008 Canoe Limited Partnership.
Author: Glenn Kauth, Sun Media
Cited: http://drugsense.org/url/3063rABP

A court ruling against a fired marijuana user won't stop the
province's human rights commission seeking changes to workplace drug-
testing policies, a lawyer on the case said yesterday.

"I think automatic termination is troubling because you're denying
someone employment," said Arman Chak, an Alberta Human Rights and
Citizenship Commission lawyer who represented the fired worker, John
Chiasson, during a recent court case.

Chak noted the commission hasn't yet decided on whether to challenge
a ruling from the Alberta Court of Appeal rejecting Chiasson's claims
that a Fort McMurray employer's drug-testing policies were
discriminatory. While Chiasson himself admitted he was only a
recreational pot smoker, a lower-court judge had earlier ruled that
in firing anyone who tested positive for drugs, engineering and
construction company Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR) had essentially
treated him as an addict and therefore disabled.

Alberta's human-rights legislation forbids discrimination on the
basis of disability. The appeal judges, however, have now ruled that
safety concerns justify workplace drug-testing policies, thereby
overturning the earlier court decision.

[snip]

Chak pointed to evidence that a urine test showing the presence of
marijuana doesn't necessarily mean a person is impaired. He noted
that in Chiasson's case, the worker had started his job as a
receiving clerk at a Syncrude Canada construction site by the time
the test results came back. By then, it had been weeks since he had
smoked the pot.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08.n004.a06.html

(16) WOMAN LED FIGHT TO LEGALIZE MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Pubdate: Sat, 29 Dec 2007
Source: Record, The (Kitchener, CN ON)
Copyright: 2007 The Record
Author: Karen Kawawada, Record Staff

KITCHENER - In recent years, when people saw Catherine Devries of
Kitchener, they saw a tiny and obviously ill woman who needed to use
a wheelchair when she managed to get out of bed at all.

But her family and friends don't remember the trail-blazing medical-
marijuana activist as frail. Anything but.

"Cathy was a very, very strong fighter," said her father Carl
Devries. "She would not give up even when her life was extremely
difficult for her."

Catherine died last Sunday in St. Mary's Hospital, at the age of 49.
Most of her life, she had struggled with a host of health problems and pain.

[snip]

The more public side of her was her activism. She was one of the
first Canadians to be legally allowed to use marijuana for medical purposes.

"Catherine fought very hard for that licence," said fellow medical-
marijuana activist Alison Myrden of Burlington. "She was one of the
first people to speak up about it and she should be recognized for that . . .

"She knew cannabis worked for her. I watched the difference when I
saw her smoke. She'd go from lying in bed and slumping over and
falling asleep to sitting up and talking a mile a minute. It was
incredible, the transformation."

In 2000, police seized 21 grams of marijuana she had ordered from
B.C.'s Compassion Club, which provides the drug to sick people.
Devries went to court to get it back, and won.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n1509.a01.html

International News

COMMENT: (17-21)

In the UK this week, North Wales Chief Constable Richard Brunstrom
was again at the center of a media-created tempest when he announced
that "ecstasy is safer than aspirin... Ecstasy is not a safe
substance and I'm not suggesting that it is. But it's much less
dangerous than, for instance, tobacco and alcohol, both of which are
freely available." Subsequent howls from prohibitionists were swift
and predictable, calling for the Chief Constable to resign for
holding such opinions. While the legalization of all drugs was
"inevitable" Brunstrom added, decriminalization was some "10 years away."

In Canada, two provinces were in the news because of harm reducing
crack pipe giveaway programs. In Ontario, the province agreed to
pick up the cost for the crack pipe program in the city of Ottawa.
Ottawa's crack pipe program had been funded by the city, but
discontinued. In the Province of B.C., Interior Health is "looking
into the possibility" for a crack pipe distribution of its own. Crack
pipe programs are intended to decrease transmission of hepatitis B, C
and tuberculosis.

Communist China has a drug problem (despite the copious executions of
traffickers), but government there have just the solution, you know,
to protect the "children." The solution? Forced rehab, just like they
do in Mississippi, Texas and Sweden. The compulsory drug-rehab
measures, now before the Law Committee of the National People's
Congress, lists opium, heroin, marijuana, methamphetamine, morphine
and cocaine as banned drugs. (No word on LSD, psilocybin, MDMA, and khat.)

(17) DRUGS 'LEGAL IN 10 YEARS' CLAIM

Pubdate: Tue, 01 Jan 2008
Source: BBC News (UK Web)
Copyright: 2008 BBC

The legalisation of all drugs is "inevitable", according to the Chief
Constable of North Wales.

Richard Brunstrom, who has campaigned for drugs like heroin to be
made legal, says he believes the move towards decriminalisation is
"10 years away."

The chief constable said repealing the Misuse of Drugs Act would
destroy a major source of organised crime.

He also said he thinks ecstasy is safer than aspirin.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n1514.a10.htm

(18) DRUG CALL CHIEF 'SHOULD QUIT'

Pubdate: Wed, 2 Jan 2008
Source: Evening Gazette (UK)
Copyright: 2008 Gazette Media Company Limited
Author: Simon Haworth, Evening Gazette

A CONTROVERSIAL former Cleveland Police chief was facing calls to
quit today after claiming ecstasy is safer than aspirin.

[snip]

"Ecstasy is a remarkably safe substance - it's far safer than
aspirin," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"But if you look at the Government's own research you will find that
ecstasy by comparison to many other substances, legal and illegal, is
a comparatively safe substance.

"Ecstasy is not a safe substance and I'm not suggesting that it is.
But it's much less dangerous than, for instance, tobacco and alcohol,
both of which are freely available."

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08.n004.a09.htm

(19) INTERIOR HEALTH CONSIDERS PROVIDING CRACK PIPE KITS

Pubdate: Wed, 26 Dec 2007
Source: Penticton Western (CN BC)
Copyright: 2007 Penticton Western

Interior Health is looking into the possibility of distributing
"crack kits" to help prevent the spread of disease.

But it could be some time yet before people on the streets get them.

The kits, supplied by the provincial government through the Harm
Reduction Supply Services Committee, are really just pieces of rubber
tubing which go on the end of crack pipes, that drug users routinely share.

[snip]

"At Interior Health we haven't made any decision about if or how we
would distribute them or use them," said IH's senior medical health
officer Andrew Larder.

The province has given health authorities a year to decide whether to
take and distribute the kits to drug users.

[snip]

Larder said researchers have known for years that using crack puts
someone at higher risk of testing positive for hepatitis B or C and
is associated with the spread of tuberculosis.

A recent study found live Hep C virus on the ends of crack pipes

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n1498.a07.htm

(20) PROVINCE TO FUND CRACK-PIPE PROGRAM IN CITY

Pubdate: Sun, 23 Dec 2007
Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Copyright: 2007 The Ottawa Citizen

Access to free, clean crack pipes in Ottawa will continue next year
despite the city's opposition to the controversial program.

Jack McCarthy, director of the Somerset West Community Health Centre,
confirmed Friday in a conversation with a Ministry of Health and
Long-Term Care spokesman that the province will fund the program
without city involvement.

"The minister is committed to funding this program," Mr. McCarthy
said, adding he is pleased with the news.

The province will provide $287,000 to run the crack pipe program in
2008. The money will go toward paying for two outreach workers,
transportation and supplies. Mr. McCarthy said he hopes the funding
will be made permanent.

The goal of the crack-pipe program is to reduce the sharing of used
crack pipes in order to curb the spread of diseases such as hepatitis
C and HIV.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n1493.a05.htm

(21) READY TO ADOPT ANTI-DRUG RULES TO PROTECT NATION'S CHILDREN

Pubdate: Mon, 24 Dec 2007
Source: China Daily (China)
Copyright: 2007 China Daily

Chinese lawmakers are expected to adopt the country's first anti-drug
law to curb drug-related crime, reduce the soaring number of users
and provide more appropriate care for under-aged addicts.

The law's final draft was "ready for adoption", the Law Committee of
the National People's Congress (NPC) told the 31st session of the NPC
Standing Committee on its opening day Sunday, when the third and
possibly final deliberation of the began.

[snip]

Lawmakers said the introduction of an anti-drug law was imperative to
prevent and seriously punish drug-related crimes, protect public
health and maintain social order.

Opium, heroin, marijuana, methamphetamine hydrochloride - commonly
known as "ice" - morphine and cocaine were listed as banned drugs in the draft.

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n1500.a06.htm

CREDITS:

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.

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