THIS JUST IN

(1) COPS SAY RESOURCES STRETCHED THIN

Pubdate: Thu, 13 Sep 2007
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2007 The Province
Author: John Colebourn

Vancouver police said yesterday their resources are being "stretched
thin" in the war on gangs.

"The violence is on everybody's radar," said Insp. Dean Robinson. "We
are doing everything we can about it as a police department and we
are working in concert with other agencies.

"We're stretched thin .... We're not the only section in the
department that could use more numbers.

"This city is a tremendous magnet for gang activity. Some gang
members live here, many don't."

Of most concern, Robinson said, is innocent citizens getting caught
in the crossfire.

[snip]

Two people were shot last weekend at the upscale award-winning
Quattro on Fourth restaurant.

Last month, two gunmen entered the Fortune Happiness restaurant on
East Broadway and opened fire, killing two and sending six others to
hospital with serious injuries. .

[snip]

The lucrative drug trade is often the driving force.

"In Vancouver there is a strong drug trade," he said. "There's a lot
of money to be made and I believe 90 per cent of the violence points
to the drug trade."

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(2) COCAINE FLOW TO 26 CITIES CURBED

Pubdate: Thu, 13 Sep 2007
Source: USA Today (US)
Page: 1A, Front Page
Copyright: 2007 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc
Author: Donna Leinwand, USA TODAY

Tough action by Mexico is driving down the cocaine supply in 26 U.S.
cities, a recently declassified Drug Enforcement Administration
analysis shows, an encouraging drop in narcotics crossing the border
that law enforcement officials hope will continue.

As evidence of the short supply, prices have spiked sharply and
purity has decreased since September 2006, says the analysis, which
previously had not been made public. A gram of pure cocaine sold for
about $118.70 in the spring, a 29% increase from last fall. Purity
decreases when dealers add other ingredients, such as baby formula
and sugar, to stretch the supply.

Cocaine prices are at their highest since the DEA began calculating
the price and purity data in April 2005, when a pure gram of cocaine
sold for $93.63.

"The law enforcement community and intelligence community is asking,
'How did this work?' and 'How do we keep it going?' " says John
Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control
Policy. "Less cocaine, less crack means fewer victims of drugs."

[snip]

In Cleveland, police noted a contraction in drug markets in January.
Homicides are up as local drug organizations vie for the shrinking
cocaine supply, says Mayor Frank Jackson, who lauds a six-city,
federally led task force for cracking down on local traffickers.

"It does create more violence, but that's a short-term thing,"
Jackson says. "That's the natural outcome of 20 years of crack
cocaine and 30 years of powder."

[snip]

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(3) RAPID RISE IN COCAINE USE AIDED BY TWO-TIER PRICES, SAY CHARITIES

Pubdate: Thu, 13 Sep 2007
Source: Guardian, The (UK)
Copyright: 2007 Guardian Newspapers Limited
Author: Alan Travis, home affairs editor

Number of People Treated Almost Doubles

Focus on Heroin and Crack 'Should Be Reviewed'

A two-tier market in luxury and cut-price cocaine is developing in
Britain, according to an annual survey by drug charities. Feedback
from 80 drug services, police forces and drug action teams in 20
towns and cities shows that the rapid expansion in the use of the
drug is being fuelled by street dealers selling cheaper, low-grade
cocaine to teenagers, pub users and those on low incomes to mix with
other drugs.

This cut-price cocaine - at around UKP30 a gram - is reported to be
available in virtually every part of Britain, while more affluent
customers are being offered much higher quality cocaine at UKP50 a gram.

The DrugScope 2007 survey reports that in Birmingham individual
dealers are offering their customers a choice of two grades of
cocaine - "commercialised" at UKP30 a gram and "Peruvian" at UKP50 a
gram. In Nottingham a higher-quality form of cocaine is known as "rocket fuel".

The rapid growth in cut-price cocaine is reflected in new figures
from the National Treatment Agency which show that the number of
people going into treatment with cocaine as their main problem drug
has nearly doubled, from 4,474 in 2003-04 to 8,609 in 2005-06. The
number of teenagers in treatment for cocaine in the last two years
has risen from 231 to 471.

[snip]

Many users appear unconcerned about its class A criminal status or
its serious health risks of heart problems, mental ill health and
potential for dependency.

[snip]

Martin Barnes, chief executive of DrugScope, said the government's
strategy of concentrating on tackling use of heroin and crack cocaine
was not necessarily the right response. "We are concerned that we may
be entering a new era of problem drug use relating less to heroin and
crack and more to the misuse of alcohol, cocaine, cannabis and
ecstasy. The longer-term public health impacts of such a shift
should not be underestimated," he said.

[snip]

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(4) EDITORIAL: POT A HEALTH ISSUE REGARDLESS OF LAW

Pubdate: Thu, 13 Sep 2007
Source: Cape Breton Post (CN NS)
Copyright: 2007 Cape Breton Post

The head of the RCMP drug squad in Sydney offered a revealingly muted
defence of the use of expensive helicopter time in the recent
marijuana grow-op sweep that netted 1,122 plants at 25 sites. Cape
Bretoners pay federal taxes that go to pay for the helicopter so it
makes sense to put it to some use here, suggested Sgt. Loran Gavel.

Const. D.W. Reginato of the regional police force, which found more
than 50 plants at a Millville residence the same day in the co-
ordinated operation, related the bust to crimes committed for drug
money. Though marijuana traffic is often linked to other drugs and
other crimes, it's doubtful that much secondary crime can be
attributed to cannabis itself.

Advocates for the relaxation of pot laws would say the only link
between marijuana and other crime arises from the fact that
possession and sale of this so-called soft drug is by definition
illegal, which makes it a commodity of the criminal underworld.
Legalize the drug in Canada and the crime connection would vanish,
it's claimed - except, of course, for the case of big-time growers
smuggling into the U.S.

Police don't really have to defend their enforcement efforts against
marijuana trafficking. They're enforcing a federal law which
governments across the country want enforced. The federal Liberal
flirtation with the partial decriminalization of marijuana, making
simple possession subject to only a modest fine, ended with the
Conservative victory in January 2006.

Meanwhile the debate rages on, with one significant addition. New
research is suggesting that cannabis may not be quite as benign a
drug as the flower children of the Sixties - who now find themselves
in the 60s again, in another sense - believed.

[snip]

Marijuana advocates dismiss the new research as just more of the
1950s-vintage reefer madness scare dressed up in academic
respectability. But the studies say what they say: there are risks,
from moderate as well as from heavy use.

Enforcement zealots may cite such studies as clinching their case but
they are wrong. There's ample evidence that enforcement bears little
relationship to prevalence of use, and Canadians are the heaviest
users in the industrialized world. Regardless of where the marijuana
law goes from here, widespread use of the drug must be recognized as
a public health issue which Canadians need to know a lot more about.

[snip]

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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW

Domestic News- Policy

COMMENT: (5-9)

The drug war is still highly profitable, even as government officials
have supposedly turned their main attention on the terror war. The
Baltimore Sun reported last week that a Maryland firm has landed a
"narcoterrorism" contract worth up to $15 billion. No one's saying
exactly what the money will pay for, or how it will make the drug
problem worse instead of better, as high dollar "anti-drug"
initiatives often do.

As predicted in this space three years ago, a North Carolina "crack
tax" which imposed taxes on those caught with illegal drugs, has been
decisively declared unconstitutional. In Ohio, a legislator wants to
further criminalize khat, a drug popular with the Somali immigrant
community. Some Somalis seem to support the crackdown, while others
understand that the move is likely to turn friends and neighbors into outlaws.

Also last week, Presidential hopeful John McCain continues to show no
understanding of prohibition or his own personal experience (his wife
had a drug problem, but nobody tried to send her or the person who
sold her the drugs to prison) as he calls for a more aggressive drug
war; and an Idaho man continues to push for a local cannabis
legalization referendum.

(5) MD FIRM TO FIGHT NARCOTERRORISM

Pubdate: Wed, 12 Sep 2007
Source: Baltimore Sun (MD)
Copyright: 2007 The Baltimore Sun, a Times Mirror Newspaper.
Author: Tricia Bishop, Sun reporter

Annapolis Company Will Target DOD Jobs

ARINC Inc., which has spent the past eight decades supplying airlines
with communications technology, said yesterday that it plans to also
fight "narcoterrorism" - the flow of illegal drugs that finance
terrorists - as part of a Department of Defense contract worth up to
$15 billion.

The Annapolis company is one of five chosen from a pool of applicants
to compete for jobs under the five-year contract, which was awarded
by the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command. That agency
supports the U.S. Department of Defense Counter-Narcoterrorism
Technology Program Office.

An official at the Army Space and Missile Defense Command confirmed
the contract's existence yesterday, but could not provide details.
Telephone calls to the counter-narcoterrorism office were not returned.

The trade publication, Washington Technology, reported other winners
as Lockheed Martin Corp., Northrup Grumman Corp., Blackwater USA and
Raytheon Technical Services Co.

The companies will compete for orders, including anti-drug
technologies, special-purpose vehicles and aircraft, security
training and advanced communications. Most of the work will be done
outside the United States in areas such as Afghanistan and Colombia.

[snip]

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(6) STATE 'CRACK TAX' STRUCK DOWN BY COURT OF APPEALS

Pubdate: Sat, 08 Sep 2007
Source: Knoxville News-Sentinel (TN)
Copyright: 2007 The Knoxville News-Sentinel Co.
Author: Jamie Satterfield

You can tax sin, but you can't tax crime.

So concludes the state Court of Appeals in striking down as
unconstitutional the state's Unauthorized Substance Tax Act, more
commonly known as the "crack tax." In an opinion delivered Friday by
Appellate Judge Sharon G. Lee, the court joined a growing list of
chancellors across the state in declaring the crack tax
unconstitutional. But it did so from an entirely different angle,
thus sidestepping what has been the primary legal beef with the tax.
Rather than address whether the tax violates an alleged drug dealer's
rights to due process and against self-incrimination, the court
instead determined that the tax itself is unconstitutional.

"Because it seeks to levy a tax on the privilege to engage in an
activity that the Legislature has previously declared to be a crime,
not a privilege, we must necessarily conclude that the drug tax is
arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable and, therefore, invalid under
the Constitution of this state," Lee wrote. The ruling comes in the
case of construction worker Steven Waters. Waters was nabbed in
April 2005 in a reverse sting operation by the Knox County Sheriff's
Office. Ten days later, the state Department of Revenue slapped him
with a tax bill of more than $55,000, including penalty and interest
of more than $5,000 for not voluntarily paying the tax by buying an
"excise" sticker.

The agency filed a lien on his Lenoir City home and later confiscated
$4,000 from his bank account -- all this before Waters had even
appeared in court to face the charges.

[snip]

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(7) KHAT LEGISLATION WORRIES SOMALI COMMUNITY

Pubdate: Fri, 07 Sep 2007
Source: Columbus Dispatch (OH)
Copyright: 2007 The Columbus Dispatch
Author: Sherri Williams

Efforts to further criminalize khat, an illegal stimulant used here
by some Somalis, should wait until East Africans are more educated
about its penalties.

That's what immigrants told a state senator who's trying to make its
prosecution easier last night.

Though some Somalis gathered at the meeting said the leafy substance
is not harmful and has been used socially for centuries, others said
it has an adverse impact on families.

More than 150 Somali immigrants and community leaders attended a
forum held at the Global Mall on the North Side to discuss khat's
presence in Columbus.

About 4,000 pounds of khat were seized by the Columbus Police
narcotics division in 2006 and about 600 pounds have been seized so
far this year, said Mike Weinman, legislative liaison for the division.

Khat already is illegal. But state Sen. Steve Stivers, a Republican
from Columbus, drafted legislation last fall to make it easier to
prosecute people for having khat.

[snip]

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(8) MCCAIN: STEP UP DRUG WAR

Pubdate: Mon, 03 Sep 2007
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2007 The Denver Post Corp

Republican presidential hopeful John McCain on Sunday said the U.S.
should step up its war on drugs as part of efforts to secure the
country's borders.

He said that's because Americans are to blame for "creating the
demand" for illegal drugs that come into the country and give too
much power to drug cartels that terrorize border areas.

"We are creating the demand. We are creating the demand for these
drugs coming across our border, which maybe means that we should go
back more trying to make some progress and in telling Americans,
particularly young Americans, that the use of drugs is a terrible
thing for them to do," he said.

[snip]

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(9) MARIJUANA ADVOCATE RESURRECTS LEGALIZATION CAMPAIGN

Pubdate: Wed, 05 Sep 2007
Source: Idaho Mountain Express (ID)
Copyright: 2007 Express Publishing, Inc
Author: Terry Smith, Express Staff Writer

Davidson Seeks Referendum Votes in Valley's Municipalities

If pro-marijuana advocate Ryan Davidson has his way, puffs of smoke
in the Wood River Valley will be from more than just wildfires.

Davidson, a Garden City man who formerly lived in Bellevue, is trying
to resurrect his three-year old campaign to legalize marijuana in
some of the valley's municipalities. Specifically, the cities of Sun
Valley and Hailey are on his hit list.

Davidson has initiated steps to try to get the issue on the ballots
in those cities, perhaps as early as the general elections on Nov. 6.

As chairman of a group called Liberty Lobby of Idaho, Davidson has
been embroiled in on-and-off legal battles with three of the valley's
municipalities for the past three years. The various lawsuits
started after Davidson filed prospective petitions in August 2004 to
initiate referendum votes on legalizing marijuana in the cities of
Sun Valley, Hailey and Ketchum.

All three cities denied his petitions on the constitutionality of the
issue. Hailey further declined to process his petition because
Davidson was not a resident of Hailey, a requirement that Davidson
expects to be struck down in federal court.

His drive to legalize marijuana was given new life in September 2006
when the Idaho Supreme Court ruled that the city of Sun Valley did
not have the right to determine the constitutionality of the issue,
regardless of whether or not the proposed initiative appeared to be
in violation of state or federal law.

The Supreme Court, in a precedent-setting decision, ruled that only
the courts have the authority to determine the constitutionality of a
referendum issue. However, if a referendum to legalize marijuana
were passed in Idaho, it would likely be subject to litigation as it
would be at odds with both state and federal law.

Nonetheless, with his Supreme Court victory in hand, Davidson
formally requested on Aug. 24 that the city of Sun Valley certify
his three-year-old petition. He got his certification a few days
later in a letter from Sun Valley Assistant City Attorney Adam King.

[snip]

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Law Enforcement & Prisons

COMMENT: (10-13)

An important story was published by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
about rogue cops who abuse the public, but then bounce around from
local police force to local police force with little attention paid
to their past. For as much resources as we spend on fighting drugs,
at least a little could be put toward protecting communities from
those who are supposed to protect them.

And as the drug war rolls on with huge amounts spent to fight drugs,
police report record seizures at local, state and federal levels. And
yet there appears to be no shortage of drugs on the street. Once
again, nothing succeeds like failure in the drug war.

(10) FORCEFUL IMPACT

Pubdate: Sun, 9 Sep 2007
Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (WI)
Copyright: 2007 Journal Sentinel Inc.
Author: Gina Barton

Journal Sentinel Watchdog Report

Suspects Have Accused Sgt. Jason Mucha 10 Times of Beating Them or
Planting Drugs. He Wasn't Disciplined, but Courts Took Notice.

Jason Mucha has wanted to be a police detective since he was in high school.

He started building his resume upon graduation, becoming a Milwaukee
police aide more than 10 years ago. He has worked in some of the
city's toughest neighborhoods and made sergeant at 26.

But Mucha has built a resume of another kind.

In a three-year span, he was accused at least 10 times of beating
suspects, planting drugs or both - claims so similar that judges took notice.

Mucha's record shows how an individual can be the subject of numerous
misconduct allegations and continue to advance his career inside a
department that lacks a reliable way to track problematic
behavior. His story also shows how a single officer was instrumental
in changing the way Wisconsin courts consider claims of police misconduct.

As far back as 1993, Milwaukee Police Department leaders recommended
using computers to analyze use-of-force statistics. Ten years later,
when Nannette Hegerty became chief, a tracking system created in 1999
wasn't working. She committed $500,000 more to get a better system,
but it still isn't monitoring officers.

[snip]

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(11) POLICE NARCOTICS UNIT HAS A BUSY YEAR

Pubdate: Tue, 04 Sep 2007
Source: Stamford Advocate, The (CT)
Copyright: 2007 Southern Connecticut Newspaper, Inc.
Author: Natasha Lee, Staff Writer

STAMFORD - The Police Department's narcotics and organized crime unit
nearly doubled its arrests in 2006, crediting a citywide crackdown
and increase in officers for the success.

Narcotics officers made more than 1,200 arrests last year, up from
677 in 2005, the unit reported. Arrests include narcotics violations,
warrant arrests, liquor law violations, assaults and larcenies.

Police also seized close to $3 million worth of drugs, including $2
million of cocaine and heroin.

Lt. Jon Fontneau, who heads the narcotics and organized crime unit,
said PCP and cocaine continue to be popular drugs for dealers and
buyers, and that sales of illegally obtained prescription drugs have increased.

Last year, police seized $22,000 worth of prescription drugs,
compared to $700 in 2005.

"They're a very aggressive, proactive group," said Capt. Richard
Conklin, head of the detective bureau.

[snip]

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(12) RECORD POT BUSTS IN STATE

Pubdate: Fri, 07 Sep 2007
Source: Press Democrat, The (Santa Rosa, CA)
Copyright: 2007 The Press Democrat
Author: Katy Hillenmeyer, The Press Democrat

2.2 Million Marijuana Plants Seized by Authorities So Far This Year,
Including 25,000 Destroyed in Raids This Week in Sonoma, Mendocino Counties

Narcotics agents have seized more than 2.2 million marijuana plants
this year in California, topping a record of 1.6 million set last
year through the state Department of Justice's Campaign Against
Marijuana Planting.

One team of raiders removed 25,000 plants this week from the
backcountry of Sonoma and Mendocino counties, clearing marijuana from
two commercial growing operations in the Yorkville Highlands
northwest of Cloverdale and The Geysers.

They whacked down 8,000 plants on private land off Highway 128 on
Wednesday, a day after destroying 17,000 plants at The Geysers, said
Sonoma County Sheriff's Sgt. Chris Bertoli, who supervises the
Sonoma County Narcotics Task Force.

With a street value of $3,500 per pound, the cannabis -- prized for
its buds that flower and mature outdoors in late summer and early
fall -- would have supplied a nationwide black market, according to
law enforcement.

[snip]

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(13) RECORD DRUG SEIZURES ON US-MEXICO BORDER

Pubdate: Fri, 07 Sep 2007
Source: Christian Science Monitor (US)
Copyright: 2007 The Christian Science Publishing Society
Author: Faye Bowers, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Seizures of illegal drugs -- from marijuana to heroin -- are on the
rise along the US-Mexican border again this year, breaking the
previous record for major busts set just last year.

"We're overwhelmed with marijuana," says Anthony Coulson, assistant
special agent in charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration
(DEA) in Tucson. "We passed last year's record about two months ago."

Marijuana is the most-seized drug, followed by cocaine,
methamphetamine, and heroin, Mr. Coulson says. "All of them are trending up."

The jump in drug seizures could be a result of tighter borders --
from more border patrol agents to new technology at ports of entry --
and newly established checkpoints within the United States. But the
increase could also mean that more drugs are being shipped across the
border -- possibly because Mexico has had a good growing season, much
as Afghanistan did in producing record numbers of opium poppies this
year. Or it could be because two drug cartels apparently formed an
alliance to thwart a crackdown by Mexico's government and are now
shipping more drugs to the north.

[snip]

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Cannabis & Hemp

COMMENT: (14-17)

We could wish that major newspapers would address the medicinal
marijuana issues as well as the author of the small weekly Reno News
& Review did.

From Rhode Island's major newspaper comes an in depth article about
their medicinal marijuana program, and the experiences of some of the
patients. The efforts to pass their law by Rhonda O'Donnell, Tom
Angell's mom is covered, but the paper does not make clear that Tom
was the President of his university SSDP chapter at the time, while
also serving as a MAP volunteer editor. Today Tom is the Government
Relations Director for the national SSDP organization.

Canada's major medical journal takes Health Canada's bureaucrats to
task for claiming they know how much marijuana approved patients need
as medicine.

Governor Schwarzenegger has a new industrial hemp bill on his desk.
Californians may wish to encourage the Governor to sign it.

(14) PATIENTS NEED PATIENCE

Pubdate: Thu, 13 Sep 2007
Source: Reno News & Review (NV)
Copyright: 2007, Chico Community Publishing, Inc.
Author: Dennis Myers

A Decade After Voters Started Approving Medical Marijuana, Congress
Still Hasn't Gotten the Message

Nevada voters may have voted for medical marijuana, but that doesn't
mean that law enforcement is willing to make it easy for them, nor
are the politicians who set federal policy.

At this point, the greatest hope patients and their physicians have
is next year's presidential election, which could bring into office a
candidate willing to stop law enforcement raids on health care use of
marijuana. And for Nevadans, the best way to affect that decision is
in the January presidential caucuses in which most candidates have
pledged to stop the raids.

[snip]

On July 29, a vote was held in the U.S. House of Representatives on
whether to tell federal agents and prosecutors to knock off
harassment of patients in 12 states that have approved medical
marijuana by cutting off money for such raids.

Nevada House members Shelley Berkley and Jon Porter voted for it.
Dean Heller voted against it.

The measure failed, 165-262, nearly identical to a similar vote last
year of 163-259.

It was the best showing the measure has received but still a long way
from victory. Worse for proponents, it showed little growth in
strength, even with the Democratic takeover of the House.

[snip]

The vote was the subject of a great deal of online organizing and
campaigning, with groups like the Drug Reform Coordination Network
(DRCN) and the Drug Policy Alliance getting their constituencies to
pressure their House members to vote for the Hinchey amendment.

But it has failed to crack the barrier to being a national news
story. Of the news services, only Reuters covered the story and
newspaper coverage tended to be concentrated in the states that have
made medical marijuana legal under state law.

[snip]

With presidential caucuses and primaries scheduled to start in four
months, every presidential candidate has been questioned about the
issue on the campaign trail, and most of them have said they would
de-emphasize the raids. In New Hampshire, the first primary state,
Granite Staters for Medical Marijuana has tracked the statements of
the candidates.

So far, Democrats Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Christopher Dodd, John
Edwards, Dennis Kucinich, Barack Obama and Bill Richardson, and
Republicans Ron Paul and Tom Tancredo have said they support ending
the raids. John McCain has given conflicting statements on the issue.

Republicans Sam Brownback, Rudolph Giuliani, Michael Huckabee, Duncan
Hunter and Mitt Romney have said they would continue the raids.

Democrat Mike Gravel has not expressed himself on the specific issue
of the raids, but supports making marijuana legal.

There are additional bits of information in the candidates'
backgrounds that reflect on their stands. Barack Obama sponsored an
amendment in the senate to stop the raids. Bill Richardson, as New
Mexico governor, signed New Mexico's medical marijuana measure into
law and last month criticized the arrest of a wheelchair-bound
Malaga, N.M., man who was certified by the state Health Department to
possess and smoke marijuana for medical reasons. The arrest took
place in a raid on the man's home.

Joe Biden's stance on the raids stands in sharp contrast with most of
his record on drugs in Congress, where he has been one of the most
aggressive supporters of prohibition and the war on drugs.

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(15) FOR MORE THAN 300 RHODE ISLANDERS, MARIJUANA PROVIDES LEGAL RELIEF

Pubdate: Sun, 9 Sep 2007
Source: Providence Journal, The (RI)
Copyright: 2007 The Providence Journal Company
Author: Amanda Milkovits, Journal Staff Writer

[snip]

O'Donnell, now 44, was a dynamo in a wheelchair, lobbying at the
State House for marijuana to be made legal for the chronically ill in
Rhode Island. Her son Tom Angell had brainstormed the idea with a
friend in his dorm room at the University of Rhode Island. Angell,
who was president of Students for a Sensible Drug Policy at the time,
had heard a speaker hosted by the group whose wife used marijuana to
relieve her pain. He thought about his mother.

Angell and his mother lobbied for the medical-marijuana legislation,
which became law in January 2006 on a one-year trial after the
General Assembly overrode Governor Carcieri's veto. The law became
permanent this summer.

[snip]

THE NEW STATE LAW, called the Edward O. Hawkins and Thomas C. Slater
Medical Marijuana Act, allows patients with debilitating medical
conditions, such as cancer, HIV and multiple sclerosis, to possess up
to 12 marijuana plants and 2.5 ounces of marijuana.

An adult without any felony drug convictions may serve as a
"caregiver" for a patient, providing him or her with marijuana. A
caregiver can have up to five patients, and up to 24 plants and 5
ounces of usable marijuana if they have more than one patient. A
caregiver with one patient can have up to 12 plants and 2.5 ounces of
marijuana.

As of early last month, 302 patients and 316 caregivers were enrolled
in the program, according to the state Department of Health. A total
of 149 physicians in Rhode Island have referred patients to the
program. The Health Department has rejected 10 applicants as
caregivers because of felony drug convictions, and a caregiver and
patient have had their medical-marijuana identity cards revoked after
being arrested for having dozens more plants than allowed.

[snip]

Some Rhode Island patients say they worry that the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration may target them. Some worry about losing
their jobs or their federally subsidized housing. The DEA has raided
dozens of dispensaries in California, outlets that sell marijuana
products to people with marijuana identity cards, and warned
landlords in Los Angeles that they could face conviction and seizure
of their property for renting to the dispensaries. And in Oregon, the
agency subpoenaed the medical records of patients in the state's
medical-marijuana program for an investigation into marijuana growers.

But Anthony Pettigrew, agent for the New England field office of the
DEA, said that while marijuana possession is against federal law,
"the DEA never targets the sick and dying." The agency is more
interested in organized drug traffickers, Pettigrew said. "I've been
here for 22 years," he said, and "realistically, I've never seen
anyone go to federal jail for possessing a joint."

O'Donnell said she knew the legislation left some issues unresolved,
but she believed the state needed to start somewhere. "People say,
'Why don't you wait?'" O'Donnell said. "That's stupid to wait. We'd
be waiting 25 years."

The work of O'Donnell and other patients helped make Rhode Island the
11th state in the country to legalize marijuana for medical use. But
the very public battle overshadows the very private decisions of
hundreds of people using the drug to deal with the ravages of cancer,
HIV, multiple sclerosis and other debilitating diseases.

[snip]

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(16) NEW DOSAGE LIMITS FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Pubdate: Tue, 11 Sep 2007
Source: Canadian Medical Association Journal (Canada)
Copyright: 2007 Canadian Medical Association
Author: Pauline Comeau, Ottawa

But Where's The Science?

New evidence-based guidelines are urgently needed to help doctors
negotiate Canada's hazy medical marijuana landscape, particularly in
light of Health Canada's efforts to impose new dose limits, say the
nation's leading cannabis researcher and doctors who have been
queried about their marijuana authorizations.

Canada should also re-establish a formal process for developing
responsible dosing strategies, says Mark Ware of McGill's University
Health Centre, the sole researcher funded under the now defunct
Medical Marijuana Research Program (CMAJ 2006;175:[12]: 1507-8).

The 1053 doctors now authorizing marijuana use for 1816 patients need
"more evidence" regarding rational dose levels, he says. And Ware
suggests the Canadian Consortium for the Investigation of Cannabinoid
could lead such an effort.

"There is more research, more trials, formulations that could be
done," says Ware. "If we had a couple of days in a room with people
and pharmacologists then we could sit around and say, here is the
best we can come up with, here are some guidelines."

Under current medical marijuana rules, doctors authorize the amount
of marijuana they and their patients feel is necessary. However,
several who have recommended above 5 g per day were recently
telephoned by a Health Canada medical marijuana program officer, and
advised that the department recommends no more than 1-3 g per day,
irrespective of the medical condition or means of consumption
(inhaled, ingested or both). Health Canada also posted that
recommendation on its Web site in October 2006, after officials noted
the number of authorized users prescribed at more than 5 g per day
had increased to 15% in June, 2006 from 10% a year earlier.

[snip]

Health Canada's Russell says the goal of the calls to doctors is
merely to "verify or clarify the proposed daily amount." But some
physicians say they have felt challenged, and have either prescribed
lower doses or withdrawn from the program altogether. "You wonder,
like with the narcotic control program, if they're going to flag the
doctors that have high [tetrahydrocannabinol authorization] practices
or something; if you're going to be under scrutiny," said one
physician on condition of anonymity.

"In the pain practice, there is enough potential heat on this that I
do not want to stand out too much," says Dr. David Boyd of Victoria
Hospital's London Health Sciences Centre, London, Ont. He has
50-plus patients using marijuana, and no longer authorizes more than
5 g per day.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1050/a05.html

(17) AG HEMP MEASURE APPROVED BY SENATE

Pubdate: Thu, 13 Sep 2007
Source: Ukiah Daily Journal, The (CA)
Copyright: 2007 The Ukiah Daily Journal
Author: Ben Brown, The Daily Journal

Late Tuesday night, the California Senate passed a bill that would
allow four counties, including Mendocino County, to participate in a
pilot program to test the viability of growing industrial hemp in California.

Assembly Bill 684, sponsored by Assemblyman Mark Leno (D-San
Francisco) and Assemblyman Chuck DeVore (R-Irvine), would institute a
five-year program to test the viability of growing industrial hemp in
California with pilot programs in Mendocino, Imperial, Kings and Yolo counties.

The bill now goes to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for approval or veto.

The bill is an amended version of one that passed both the Assembly
and Senate in 2006, but was vetoed by Schwarzenegger. It has been
amended to address his concerns.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n1060/a12.html

International News

COMMENT: (18-21)

In international news this week, U.S. officials publicly crow the
latest bust of a Colombian "drug lord" will shake up "trafficking".
Yet, "It was like getting Al Capone at the height of Prohibition,"
Adm. James Stavridis, commander of USSOUTHCOM let slip. Indeed it
is, Admiral. Drug prohibition (also known as, Prohibition II) has
its Al Capones, lined up waiting for a job. And when they are
removed? Did Al Capone's arrest stop anyone from drinking, or disrupt
the flow of alcohol?

A thought-provoking piece from the Sunday Mail in Australia this week
("Time For A Reality Check") didn't make any bones about it. They
just came right out and said it. "The stereotype of a user is someone
whose life is out of control but the truth is they are probably in
the minority." Blasphemy! "The police officer admitted that some drug
users, particularly those on marijuana or ecstasy, were often less
trouble than alcohol or amphetamine abusers." How dare he admit that?
Well, they have some political cover, in the form of a Queensland
Drug Strategy report which has "uncomfortable facts for those who
argue drug use is inherently 'wrong' while alcohol and tobacco use
are acceptable."

And finally this week, compare and contrast (as only the Mapinc
archives will let you do) the approaches two places are taking to two
hallucinogens. One place, Hamilton Ontario, isn't having a problem
with salvia divinorum, But this isn't stopping officials from trying
to ban the 5-minute trip-producing plant. In Holland, where magic
mushrooms are openly sold, officials have to react to the death of a
17-year-old tourist. A blanket ban for everyone, you know, to save
the children? Let's go jail some adults? Hardly. Amsterdam mayor Job
Cohen is proposing the following: a three-day waiting period, so that
buyers don't impulsively take the powerful and long-lasting
mushrooms, without some idea of what they are bargaining for.

(18) U.S. PRAISES COLOMBIA'S ARREST OF ALLEGED DRUG LORD

Pubdate: Thu, 13 Sep 2007
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2007 Los Angeles Times
Author: Chris Kraul, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

Officials Say the Capture of Diego Montoya This Week Will at Least
Disrupt Trafficking and Could Set Off a Power Struggle.

MIAMI -- U.S. officials hailed the capture this week of a man
alleged to be Colombia's most powerful drug lord, saying the arrest
will at least disrupt trafficking and could set off a divisive power
struggle among cartel leaders.

The officials and some experts hastened to add that the arrest Monday
of Diego Montoya wasn't likely to significantly reduce the flow of
drugs to North America, given U.S. demand for cocaine and the
willingness of lesser capos to fill the leadership vacuum. As
Bogota's newspaper El Tiempo editorialized Wednesday, the lesson of
past arrests and killings of capos is akin to the durability of the
English monarchy: "The King is Dead. Long Live the King."

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n1059.a08.html

(19) TIME FOR A REALITY CHECK

Pubdate: Sun, 09 Sep 2007
Source: Sunday Mail (Australia)
Copyright: 2007 Queensland Newspapers
Author: Edmund Burke

"SARAH" sometimes likes to do a line of cocaine with friends after a
nice glass of red wine. Occasionally the 28-year-old Brisbane-based
university lecturer will drop some ecstasy.

She has tried ice, but says she didn't like it. She has dabbled in
heroin, and now and again she'll smoke some weed. She doesn't view
her occasional drug use as a problem - she says she doesn't see it as
anybody's business but her own - and she has absolutely no intention
of stopping.

[snip]

Sarah is a successful academic, who by most people's standards seems
to have her life in good order.

She doesn't suffer from depression and she isn't bipolar. She says
she doesn't have a mental illness or emotional problems. She doesn't
fit into the stereotype of a drug user but the confronting fact is,
experts say, that most drug users in Queensland and the rest of
Australia don't.

[snip]

"The stereotype of a user is someone whose life is out of control but
the truth is they are probably in the minority.

"We don't condone or condemn drug use but there are recreational
users. People will make their own choices and we need to be
presenting a more balanced view so at least it can be an informed one."

[snip]

The police officer admitted that some drug users, particularly those
on marijuana or ecstasy, were often less trouble than alcohol or
amphetamine abusers.

[snip]

The State Government's Queensland Drug Strategy 2006-2010 contains
some uncomfortable facts for those who argue drug use is inherently
"wrong" while alcohol and tobacco use are acceptable.

"Despite the widely held perception that drug-related problems are
mainly caused by the use of illicit drugs, tobacco and alcohol are
responsible for the most harm associated with drugs in our
community," reads the report.

[snip]

That means about seven times more people drink than take drugs, but
about nine times as many deaths are attributed to alcohol than to
illicit drug use.

It is this apparent hypocrisy in our attitude to drugs and alcohol
which is often seized upon by young drug users.

[snip]

"There is a line on Page 5 of that booklet that says when parents
talk to their children they should not exaggerate or make false
claims because if they do their children will not accept their
advice," he says. "That is a lesson the Government would do well to
listen to itself."

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n1038.a03.html

(20) NO CONTROLS ON SALE OF HEAVY HALLUCINOGEN

Pubdate: Tue, 11 Sep 2007
Source: Hamilton Spectator (CN ON)
Copyright: 2007 The Hamilton Spectator
Author: Jessica Mcdiarmid

A powerful unregulated hallucinogen is being sold in shops and
convenience stores across Hamilton. And there's nothing illegal about it.

[snip]

Store clerk Madi McCann said the popularity of the herb, also called
magic mint or diviner's sage, is on the rise.

But she said she doesn't think there is much potential for abuse.
"It's like a 15-minute (magic) mushroom trip," said McCann, who works
at Rock Universe, a store in Eastgate Square that sells salvia. "The
effects are so overwhelming, it's usually a one-time thing."

[snip]

At least one Ontario municipality has called for a ban. Port
Colborne sent a resolution to all Ontario municipalities in May
petitioning Health Canada to review salvia.

After seeing an ad in a store and researching the herb, Janice Coker
of Stoney Creek was terrified.

[snip]

Wende Wood, a psychiatric pharmacist at the Centre for Addiction and
Mental Health in Toronto, said most users don't do salvia frequently.

"Even experienced hallucinogen users say it's very intense," said
Wood. "Not a lot of people want to do it again." What people do
under the influence is a concern, she said.

"People can freak out and do unsafe things," she said. "Their
judgment and perception is off."

But other hallucinogenic plants such as jimson weed are more
worrisome, said Wood. Research hasn't found salvia addictive or
physically harmful.

[snip]

"Most people that do it don't do it again. I don't have repeat customers."

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n1057.a01.html

(21) 'WAIT PERIOD' FOR DRUG TOURISTS

Pubdate: Wed, 12 Sep 2007
Source: Edmonton Journal (CN AB)
Copyright: 2007 The Edmonton Journal

THE HAGUE (CNS)- A new proposal from the mayor of Amsterdam is sure
to be considered a bummer by certain visitors to the Dutch city: a
three-day waiting period to buy hallucinogenic mushrooms. Mayor Job
Cohen wants to require the wait period to allow mushroom buyers to
fully understand exactly what it is they are purchasing, ANP news
agency reported Tuesday.

The proposal seeks to prevent impulse purchases and follows several
incidents that have occurred in the city involving tourists who have
eaten hallucinogenic mushrooms.

In March, a 17-year-old French girl killed herself by jumping from a
bridge in the city after having eaten mushrooms.

[end]

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