THIS JUST IN

(1) U.S., MEXICO IN TALKS TO BOLSTER DRUG FIGHT

Pubdate: Thu, 09 Aug 2007
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2007 Los Angeles Times
Author: Sam Enriquez

Amid Plans to Increase Levels of American Aid and Intelligence,
Calderon Tries to Balance the Need for Security and Preservation of
His Nation's Sovereignty.

Mexico and the Bush administration are negotiating plans to greatly
increase levels of U.S. aid and intelligence sharing on narcotics
trafficking, presenting President Felipe Calderon with a politically
challenging balancing act as his nation tries to stem runaway drug
violence and assuage fears of a greater U.S. role in Mexican affairs.

If approved by Congress, the reported aid package to Mexico would be
well below the $5 billion Washington has spent fighting the cocaine
industry in Colombia over the last seven years. But politically, such
an agreement could mark a turning point in U.S.-Mexico relations,
which for decades have been marked by mutual suspicion despite closer
trade ties.

Already, Mexico is installing a surveillance system, funded by the
U.S. State Department, to enable eavesdropping on e-mails and cellphone calls.

Further details of the new aid have been kept secret, but officials
said Wednesday that proposals totaled hundreds of millions of dollars
and included more surveillance, a national radar system, as well as
communications systems, aircraft and training.

[snip]

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(2) CANADA: CHURCH ARGUES MARIJUANA A SACRAMENT

Pubdate: Wed, 08 Aug 2007
Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2007 The Toronto Star
Author: Tracey Tyler

If some religions sip wine at the altar, others should be allowed to
smoke pot. At least according to Rev. Edwin Pearson and Rev. Michel
Ethier, two ordained ministers behind a proposed $25 million class
action lawsuit challenging Canada's marijuana laws.

The ministers, along with lay preacher James Hoad, allege the federal
government is violating the religious freedom of members of the
Church of the Universe, which claims marijuana as a "sacrament."

In a statement of claim filed with the Federal Court of Canada, the
trio accuses the government of harassing church members and
"denuding" them of their dignity, often stopping them as they leave
services seizing "sacramental cannabis" and rifling through parish records.

[snip]

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of as many as 4,000 church members,
claims $9,000 in damages for each member for various breaches of the
Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the alleged abuse of public office
by unnamed government officials. The plaintiffs are also seeking $25
million in punitive damages.

The case is the latest gambit in the church's long-running battle
against pot prohibitions. The basis of this latest challenge appears
to be the plaintiffs' claim that since 2003, Canada has had no valid
criminal law banning marijuana possession.

That allegation might just "have some foundation in reality," says
Toronto criminal lawyer Paul Burstein, who has no involvement in the
case but extensive litigation experience in the area.

Earlier this month, an Ontario Court judge in Toronto acquitted a man
named Clifford Long, holding that Canada's marijuana possession laws
are unconstitutional. Justice Howard Borenstein's verdict had its
roots in a case decided by the Ontario Court of Appeal seven years
ago. In that case, the court said the criminal prohibition on
marijuana possession was unconstitutional because the law did not
include provisions to allow medical users to obtain the drug legally.

[snip]

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(3) COLUMN: AND THE GOOD NEWS IS ...

Pubdate: Fri, 10 Aug 2007
Source: Calgary Sun, The (CN AB)
Copyright: 2007 The Calgary Sun
Author: Rick Bell

You want good news.

It is good to see the cops out in full force on the downtown river
pathway, the foot soldiers of Operation Riverwalk, a thin blue line
standing up for us and against those who figure they can do what they
damn well please.

Yes, it is mighty good to see the drug-dealing dirtbags crawl back
into their holes, nowhere to be seen, not smoking their crack in our
faces, not selling their stuff shamelessly in open view, not looking
to prey on an easy mark, not strutting around like they own the place
when they contribute sweet tweet to this city except grief.

And it is really good to hear citizens thank the badges and give a
thumbs-up and a smile, feeling just that little bit safer as they go
about their lives not wanting to be hassled. The folks closest to the
idiots, who have no way to be sheltered from a rude reality, know the
score all too well.

Chico Ziegler is with his shopping cart and his bottles, standing on
the sidelines yesterday afternoon.

"Get rid of the crackheads. Take them all down. Either that or let
them kill each other, then come back and pick up the aftermath," says
Chico, offering some advice to all the police on patrol -- the vans,
the cars, the bikes, the shoes on pavement.

"I'm alive but I could sleep here and be stabbed or shot. The
crackheads can slit your throat. You never know."

[snip]

And those going to work in the towers and in the storefronts see
things they do not like, things making them feel nervous, no matter
what public relations spin they hear.

Acting Sgt. Scott Todd does not dismiss the attitude of unease. "If
people say they don't feel safe, it's a legitimate belief. It doesn't
matter what the statistics say, you can't tell them what to feel," says Todd.

People do have fears. They imagine nastiness happening to them. Is it
perception? Is it real? Save such stuff for the shrinks.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n947.a04.html

(4) LTE: HARSHER PUNISHMENTS NEEDED FOR CRIMINALS

Pubdate: Fri, 10 Aug 2007
Source: Florida Today (Melbourne, FL)
Copyright: 2007 Florida Today
Author: K.D. Williams

Americans are disgusted with light punishment of criminals.

Only really bad murderers are sometimes executed after years of
waiting, and everyone else gets tasty food, air conditioning,
exercise, television, and other amenities in prison.

Why? Liberal interpretation about what "cruel and unusual" punishment
means, plus ignorant interpretation of Jesus' teachings by religious activists.

Swift, severe punishment controls crime but lawyers and judges might
lose their jobs.

The Founding Fathers would turn in their graves if they could see
what liberal judges and lawmakers have done for "justice." Horse
thieves were once hanged and inmates had few of the "constitutional
rights" that today's lawyer's demand.

Jehovah was a merciless judge. Stoning of adulterers and rebellious
children was condoned. Enemies of the Jews were wiped out by the thousands.

Then along came Jesus of Nazareth, with messages of love and
compassion. Modern day judges listen to "turn the other cheek" and
"love your enemies" as something governments should implement.

Wrong. That philosophy was about personal behavior.

Stop burning millions of dollars in courtrooms over what is
supposedly cruel, and let voters decide. Why not execute murderers,
rapists, scammers, drug traffickers, and crooked politicians?

Because most legislators are either crooked or tied to crooked associates.

K.D. "Don" Williams,

Palm Bay

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n947.a07.html

WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW

Domestic News- Policy

COMMENT: (5-8)

A slow week in drug war news with few surprises. For example, as
usual, innocence is no excuse in the drug war in Florida. San
Francisco tries to fix a needle exchange program in which too few
needles are being returned compared to programs in other cities.
Hawaiian civil libertarians protest student locker searches; and the
FBI is further lifting restrictions on previous cannabis users as agents.

(5) AFTER 2 YEARS IN PRISON, A MAN IS FREE - MAYBE

Pubdate: Mon, 06 Aug 2007
Source: St. Petersburg Times (FL)
Copyright: 2007 St. Petersburg Times
Author: Colleen Jenkins, Times Staff Writer

Prosecutors May Retry Him For Having 58 Pills

TAMPA - Prosecutor Darrell Dirks couldn't help but be suspicious.

He had offered Mark O'Hara an out on a 25-year prison sentence. All
O'Hara had to do was tell prosecutors the truth about why he had 58
Vicodin pills in his possession.

But O'Hara, a bread business owner from Dunedin, wouldn't cooperate.
Three years in prison didn't sound like a deal, given that a doctor
had prescribed the pills.

He took his chances at trial and lost.

An appellate court overturned the drug trafficking conviction last
month, two years after O'Hara went to prison. The court said the
trial judge should have let O'Hara's lawyer tell jurors that it's
legal to possess Vicodin with a prescription.

Now, O'Hara waits for prosecutors to decide whether they will retry his case.

In their minds, O'Hara's stubbornness sent him to prison.

O'Hara's attorneys say he had no other choice.

[snip]

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(6) S.F. SCRAMBLES TO FIX NEEDLE-SWAP PROGRAM AFTER PUBLIC OUTCRY

Pubdate: Fri, 03 Aug 2007
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 2007 Hearst Communications Inc.
Author: Heather Knight, Chronicle Staff Writer

City officials and nonprofit agency leaders, responding to an outcry
over used syringes littering parks, say they are looking at ways to
reform San Francisco's needle-exchange program - including locked,
24-hour syringe drop boxes and technologically advanced syringes.

The city's needle-exchange program gives out 2.4 million needles a
year and receives 65 to 70 percent of them back after they're used.
Other cities - including Portland, Seattle and jurisdictions
throughout New Mexico - have return rates of well over 90 percent.

In San Francisco, The Chronicle reported recently, many unreturned
needles wind up in parks, playgrounds and other outdoor expanses.

"We can recover a lot more needles," said Mark Cloutier, executive
director of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, which runs most of the
city's needle-exchange sites. "We understand it's a public health
problem, and we're excited about the attention that's happening."

Cloutier said a locked, 24-hour biohazard drop box will be installed
on Sixth Street within the next six weeks. It will be available for
anonymous needle drop-off any time, sort of like drop boxes for
library books or rented movies. The AIDS Foundation likely will test
it for six months but expects to open others around the city.

"We're not going to put it in the middle of Union Square," he said.
"It's where people can experience some anonymity."

As it is now, injection drug users usually return their used syringes
during the hours needle exchanges or health clinics are open. The
AIDS Foundation operates seven exchange sites around the city, each
of which is open two to four hours a week.

[snip]

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(7) ACLU PROTESTS BLANKET STUDENT LOCKER SEARCHES

Pubdate: Wed, 01 Aug 2007
Source: Honolulu Star-Bulletin (HI)
Copyright: 2007 Honolulu Star-Bulletin
Author: Alexandre Da Silva

It Says a Push to Allow Principals Access With No Cause Is Worrisome

The American Civil Liberties Union is protesting a state push to
allow drug-sniffing dogs in public schools and let officials open
students' lockers without establishing reasonable suspicion.

The state Department of Education argues that changes to the student
discipline code known as Chapter 19 are needed to make campuses safer.

The revisions come as education officials are considering expanding a
pilot program through which a drug-sniffing dog found marijuana and
several liquor bottles at all three Maui public schools it visited this spring.

Members of a Board of Education committee debating the revisions to
Chapter 19 agree the code needs to be updated with definitions like
cyberbullying, forgery and hazing; and a prohibition of gadgets like
laser pointers, iPods and DVD players, as well as gang paraphernalia,
on school grounds.

The issue of locker searches has been more controversial.

"I think that if you are on a school campus, that it's not really
your own personal property," said board Chairwoman Karen Knudsen.
"But if the dog is specifically trained to be able to detect drugs, I
don't see that that should be a problem if you don't have drugs."

But Laurie Temple, a Hawaii ACLU attorney, said giving principals
access to students' lockers at any time without reason or cause is
"unnecessary, potentially unconstitutional and opens the schools up
to liability."

[snip]

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(8) FBI BOWS TO MODERN REALITIES, EASES RULES ON PAST DRUG USE

Pubdate: Tue, 07 Aug 2007
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2007 The Washington Post Company
Author: Dan Eggen, Washington Post Staff Writer

Policy Change Comes as Agency Struggles to Fill Openings

The buttoned-down FBI is loosening up: Under a little-noticed new
hiring policy introduced this year, job applicants with a history of
drug use will no longer be disqualified from employment throughout the bureau.

Old guidelines barred FBI employment to anyone who had used marijuana
more than 15 times in their lives or who had tried other illegal
narcotics more than five times.

But those strict numbers no longer apply. Applicants for jobs such as
analysts, programmers or special agents must still swear that they
have not used any illegal substances recently -- three years for
marijuana and 10 years for other drugs -- but they are no longer
ruled out of consideration because of more frequent drug use in the past.

Such tolerance of admitted lawbreaking might seem odd for the FBI,
whose longtime director J. Edgar Hoover once railed against young
thugs filled with "false courage from a Marijuana cigarette."

But FBI officials say the move is simply an acknowledgment of reality
in a country where, according to some estimates, up to a third of the
population has tried marijuana at some point.

The loosened standards also come as the FBI struggles to fill the
jobs it has -- particularly in the areas of counterterrorism and
intelligence, which draw from a more varied pool of applicants than
traditional agent positions.

[snip]

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Law Enforcement & Prisons

COMMENT: (9-12)

The drug war claims another innocent victim, this time in
Jacksonville, Florida, where an 80 year-old man was shot and killed
by undercover officers after he assumed they were drug dealers and
confronted them about being on his property.

Even a minor bust can claim a citizen's voting rights too.

And Texas justice is interesting as always. In Dallas, a former
officer is making accusations of high level corruption; while in
Bexar County, the local DA says police may be unable to control
themselves from busting a needle exchange, despite a new law from the
legislature.

(9) FAMILY BLAMES COPS IN 80-YEAR-OLD's FATAL SHOOTING

Pubdate: Sat, 28 Jul 2007
Source: Savannah Morning News (GA)
Copyright: 2007 Savannah Morning News
Author: Bridget Murphy

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - If anyone besides police had fatally shot
80-year-old Issac Singletary on his own Jacksonville property, they'd
be charged with murder and in jail awaiting justice, his family said Friday.

Standing on the front lawn of the Westmont Street property where
police fired four shots that killed Singletary six months ago Friday
during an undercover drug operation, some local leaders along with
the family's lawyers demanded that the police officers be held accountable.

Singletary came outside on Jan. 27 to tell two undercover detectives
he mistook for drug dealers to get off his property, "which the law
said he had every right to do," lawyer Benjamin Crump said, also
standing with local NAACP President Isaiah Rumlin and state Sen. Tony Hill.

Crump said Singletary's autopsy report shows police shot the man four
times, including once in the back, something else that makes the
family believe that authorities used excessive force.

In April, State Attorney Harry Shorstein cleared police of any
criminal wrongdoing in the case, although he found some aspects of it
troubling. After one police official changed stories about whether
he believed Singletary or a detective fired first, Shorstein said
police actions were justified anyway since the 80-year-old man was an
armed civilian who refused orders to drop his gun.

[snip]

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(10) GETTING BUSTED FOR POT CAN COST YOUR RIGHT TO VOTE

Pubdate: Tue, 31 Jul 2007
Source: AlterNet (US Web)
Copyright: 2007 Independent Media Institute
Author: Silja J. A. Talvi

When a person is sent to prison for the first time on a drug-related
felony charge, there is little chance that he or she will be told
about the "collateral consequences" of their sentence.

The severity of these residual punishments depends on the state.
"Life Sentences: The Collateral Sanctions Associated with Marijuana
Offenses," a report released in July by the Center for Cognitive
Liberty and Ethics ( CCLE ), ranks Florida, Delaware, Alabama,
Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Virginia, Utah, Arizona and
South Carolina as the 10 states with the worst records for continuing
the punishments of people who have already served their time.

"Life Sentences" author Richard Boire writes that the long-term
sanctions for drug crimes, even for relatively benign drugs like
marijuana, can exceed those of violent crimes like premeditated
assault, rape and murder. Intense criminalization of drugs began
with the Nixon administration, which ignored its own appointed
"marihuana" commission's recommendation that legalization for
personal use was a logical alternative to costly and ineffective
criminalization. The drug war intensified during the Reagan era and
has since grown worse: Today, fully 45 percent of 1.5 million annual
drug arrests are related to marijuana.

Up until the early '90s, people who smoked pot were rarely arrested
in large numbers. If sentenced, most users and small-time dealers
did not face long sentences. That has changed. According to the
Washington D.C.-based Sentencing Project, marijuana-related arrests
jumped up by 113 percent from 1990 to 2002, while overall drug
arrests only increased by three percent during that time. Meanwhile,
the Office of National Drug Control Policy ( ONDCP ) has linked
smoking weed to everything from teen violence to terrorism.

"ONDCP's crusade seems to get more incoherent and detached from
reality every day," says Bruce Mirken, communications director for
the Marijuana Policy Project. "One minute they say marijuana makes
you an apathetic slug, the next they say it turns you into a violent
gangbanger. Neither has the remotest connection with reality, and
these latest claims of a link between marijuana and violence are
based on shameless manipulation of statistics taken completely out of context."

Government-funded propaganda has been disseminated everywhere, from
ads in some progressive magazines, to press releases regurgitated as
"news" on cable stations like FOX News, to websites such as
BlackNews.com, which recently posted an ONDCP article, "Early
Marijuana Use an Early Warning Sign for Gang Involvement." For all of
its hoopla about the consequences of drug use, the ONDCP hasn't shown
an interest in documenting the problems faced by those convicted of
felony drug charges after release.

[snip]

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(11) A BUST GOES BUST

Pubdate: Thu, 02 Aug 2007
Source: Dallas Observer (TX)
Copyright: 2007 New Times, Inc.
Author: Matt Pulle

A Former Dallas Police Officer Says Her Partner Had No Right To
Search A Car For Drugs

On an April evening in 2006, two police officers were patrolling a
crime-ridden neighborhood in Northwest Dallas, a few miles south of
Love Field. One cop was a respected veteran, the other a rookie less
than a month out of the academy, now learning on the job. The two saw
a BMW pull out of a dilapidated apartment complex where drugs are
often peddled.

Suspicious that the driver of the car may have just hooked up with a
dealer, they looked for an excuse to stop the vehicle for a traffic violation.

When the driver rolled through a stop sign on a right turn onto Maple
Avenue, the officers pulled the car over into a lit parking lot.

The veteran officer, David W. Kattner, approached the vehicle on the
driver's side window, while the rookie, Shanna Lopez, took the
passenger side. Both shined their flashlights into the BMW. According
to the police report, Kattner could clearly see a bright-blue plastic
bottle top with an attached spoon, which is commonly used for snorting cocaine.

On the tip of the spoon, he saw a residue of white powder.

Also, on the passenger seat, they saw a pink plastic straw, which
appeared to contain a powdery white substance.

They arrested the driver, a Mongolian woman named Buyandelger
Galbadrakh, and Kattner searched the vehicle and found meth, ecstasy
and coke. That night they took her to the Dallas County jail and
booked her on felony drug possession charges.

It was just another routine drug arrest in a bad part of town, but
more than a year later, it may come back to haunt a department
reeling from accusations that at least three of its officers may have
written fake tickets and made false arrests.

[snip]

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(12) DA WARNS OF NEEDLE EXCHANGE PROBLEM

Pubdate: Thu, 02 Aug 2007
Source: San Antonio Express-News (TX)
Copyright: 2007 San Antonio Express-News
Author: Don Finley, Express-News Medical Writer

In a move that could threaten a pilot syringe exchange program for
drug addicts in Bexar County, District Attorney Susan Reed has warned
local officials that the legislation authorizing it doesn't trump the
state's narcotics laws.

"I'm telling them, and I'm telling the police chief, I don't think
they have any kind of criminal immunity," Reed said. "That's the
bottom line. It has nothing to do with whether they do it or don't
do it -- other than if you do it you might find yourself in jail."

An attorney general's opinion likely will be sought to resolve the
issue, Reed and others said, which at best could delay the start of
the program until sometime next year.

An amendment attached to Medicaid legislation by state Rep. Ruth
Jones McClendon, D-San Antonio, in the waning hours of the
legislative session authorized the pilot program here, after her bill
that would have permitted such programs statewide died in committee.

McClendon said she might seek an attorney general's opinion on the
matter, which could take as long as six months. That would make it
difficult for local authorities to gather enough evidence of the
program's success -- should it prove successful -- to show the
Legislature when it meets again in 2009. Supporters hope a successful
local program will ease passage of a statewide bill next time.

[snip]

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Cannabis & Hemp

COMMENT: (13-16)

The constitutional challenge to Canada's marijuana laws and
regulations under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms being
heard in the British Columbia Supreme Court may be the most important
challenge of this decade. The first hearings were in May. More
testimony is scheduled for later this year. The constitutional
challenge contends government regulations force Canadians onto the
black market to buy marijuana. That interferes with the charter
right to life, liberty and security of person, a position supported
by other court rulings.

While United States farmers, and a growing number of states, struggle
to convince the DEA that they should be allowed to grow hemp like
their Canadian counterparts, we read about how easily the British
treat hemp for what it is.

There is a growing awareness of the damage caused by marijuana
gardens hidden in forests, as the report below notes.

From a California newspaper which has supported Proposition 215 in
the past comes a call for a new initiative to bring into check the
excesses which it believes the voters never intended. If you have
been following the news from California you should be aware that a
backlash is growing. Could California be faced with an initiative
which would roll back some of the medicinal marijuana progress of the
past decade? An initiative to do just that in Oregon appears likely
to be on the ballot.

(13) POT NOT A POLICE PRIORITY, DEPUTY CHIEF TESTIFIES AT TRIAL

Pubdate: Fri, 10 Aug 2007
Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC)
Copyright: 2007 Times Colonist
Author: Richard Watts, Times Colonist

Victoria's No. 2 cop testified in B.C. Supreme Court yesterday that
neither the Vancouver Island Compassion Society nor its distribution
of medical marijuana has ever been the subject of a criminal investigation.

Deputy Chief Bill Naughton said the society's Cormorant Street office
of the Vancouver Island Compassion Society has not generated any
complaints, adding marijuana ranks behind drugs like cocaine,
methamphetamine and heroin in terms of Victoria police priorities.

"The enforcement of federal laws against marijuana takes a back
seat," said Naughton, who was subpoenaed by the defence in the trial
of Michael Swallow, 41, and Mat Beren, 33.

Both men were charged with possession of marijuana for the purpose of
trafficking and production of marijuana after a police raid on a
compassion club grow-op.

In fact, it was the RCMP, not Victoria police, who in May 2004 raided
the house near Sooke used by the Vancouver Island Compassion Society
to grow marijuana for its 600-odd members. Compassion club is the
name commonly given to groups organized by citizens to supply
marijuana as medicine.

Swallow and Beren's lawyers have mounted a constitutional challenge
to Canada's medical-marijuana regulations, contending they force
people to obtain drugs on the black market.

That's because, critics say, government-produced pot is poor quality,
and rules for designated growers are too restrictive.

Also testifying yesterday in Victoria was Senator Pierre Claude
Nolin, who chaired the Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs,
which called in 2002 for the legalization of marijuana in Canada.

Nolin told the court the regulations, as they currently exist, are an
obstacle to Canadians who want access to medical marijuana.

He said the rules ask doctors to be "gatekeepers" for access to legal
marijuana. It's a role doctors don't want, and so Canadians are
being denied access to a medical product.

"[The] medical profession is reluctant, generally reluctant," he
said. "They don't want to be the gatekeepers, they don't want that
responsibility."

Canada's medical-marijuana laws, developed in response to earlier
court rulings, allow citizens to use marijuana for medical purposes -
for example, for relief from seizures or nausea. But approval
requires a doctor to fill out and sign a form.

Patients can then grow their own marijuana, designate someone to grow
it for them or buy it from the government, which has hired a company
to grow pot in Flin Flon, Man.

Nolin, a Tory, said it would be more effective to have the government
control the flow of marijuana through licensed distribution centres
set up across the country.

"We need to have a controlled environment," he said.

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n946/a03.html

(14) HUGE HEMP FACTORY SET FOR HALESWORTH

Pubdate: Wed, 8 Aug 2007
Source: East Anglian Daily Times (UK)
Copyright: 2007 Archant
Author: David Green

THE WORLD'S biggest factory for processing hemp - claimed to be the
"green" building material of the future - is being planned for a
Suffolk town at a cost of UKP3.6 million.

When running at full capacity the plant will employ 35 people and
enable operator, Hemcore Limited, the UK's only commercial hemp
processing company, to process 50,000 tonnes of hemp straw a year.

[snip]

Use of hemp-based products would help the UK to reduce its carbon
emissions. Emerging markets included plastics reinforcement,
nutrition, clothing and horticulture, he added.

[snip]

Hemp, which grows up to four metres high, is tolerant of both drought
and heavy rain and does not require pesticides.

Environment Minister, Phil Woolas, said: "This new investment in
Suffolk will provide many benefits - for local jobs, the economy, and
for those farmers who will have the opportunity to help meet
increased demand for this crop.

"It also gives a clear signal that the UK is serious about developing
the bio-economy because of the many benefits it can provide -
including reducing greenhouse gases, cutting waste and pollution and
helping biodiversity."

Hemp is a member of the cannabis family but has virtually no drug
content. It has been used to make textiles for at least 6,000 years
and was once widely cultivated in the UK to produce fibre for sails
and rigging.

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(15) MARIJUANA CROPS ALSO BAD FOR ENVIRONMENT

Pubdate: Mon, 06 Aug 2007
Source: Record, The (Stockton, CA)
Copyright: 2007 The Record
Author: Alex Breitler, Record Staff Writer

Toxic Poisons, Waste Foul Public Lands

Come September, marijuana growers who have labored for five months in
some of California's most remote country will abandon their secret
gardens, taking their multimillion-dollar crops.

What will they leave behind? Irrigation tubes that snake for a mile
or more over forested ridges. Pesticides that have drained into
creeks and entered the food chain, sickening wildlife. Piles of trash
and human waste in the most rugged and bucolic drainages.

The environmental consequences of marijuana gardens - or plantations,
as they're more aptly called - are increasingly apparent as law
enforcement continues its statewide crackdown on the illicit operations.

[snip]

Another concern revolves around endangered species. Pesticides are
used to keep rodents out of the marijuana; those rodents, including
wood rats, are a primary food source for the California spotted owl.

At Whiskeytown National Recreation Area near Redding, park rangers
investigating a tadpole die-off in a creek wandered upstream and
found a small dam in which someone had rigged an open can of
fertilizer. According to testimony later delivered before Congress,
rangers crawled on their bellies up steep slopes and found marijuana
gardens perched atop cliffs.

Supporters of legalizing marijuana say the environmental destruction
that accompanies these hidden gardens would not occur if pot was
treated like any legal agricultural product.

[snip]

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(16) EDITORIAL: MARIJUANA LAW STILL BEING ABUSED

Pubdate: Wed, 08 Aug 2007
Source: Ukiah Daily Journal, The (CA)
Copyright: 2007 The Ukiah Daily Journal

[snip]

While Prop. 215, the medical marijuana law, allows patients to
appoint caregivers to grow their marijuana for them, we believe the
vast majority who voted for Prop. 215 did not mean for it to allow
any local resident to start growing enormous quantities of marijuana
for people in San Francisco. We also believe that anyone who takes
even one thin dime in return, is nothing more than a drug dealer. We
believe medical marijuana caregivers are intended to be construed as
caregivers are in other health care arenas: people who have personal
contact with a patient and who care for them in many ways, not just
by growing marijuana for them at a distance of hundreds of miles and
then selling it to cooperatives. The law does not cite medical
marijuana patients and their appointed "growers." It cites
caregivers. That is something very different which has been twisted
out of all proportion by people who are making big bucks using our
neighborhoods to grow pot under false pretenses.

We think it may be time for a new statewide ballot measure to amend
Prop. 215 to specify exactly - and limit - what a caregiver is, how
many plants can be grown by one person, and provide for local
governments to regulate medical marijuana as they see fit as long as
patients have access to marijuana - which we believe can be provided
through local government growing programs in places like county jail gardens.

It's time to bring Prop. 215 back to the compassionate law it was
intended to be, not the drug dealer's haven it is now.

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n943/a05.html

International News

COMMENT: (17-20)

The policies of prohibition once again brings a bumper harvest of
opium from Afghanistan, news this week confirms. NATO has allocated
some $475 million for "counternarcotics" there, but the allies can't
decide how best to spend it. Gung-ho Washington prohibitionists are
trembling with excitement at the prospect of using additional
"coercive" tactics spending the loot. "[Opium farmers] need to be
dealt with in a more severe way... There needs to be a coercive
element, that's something we're not going to back away from or shy
away from," proclaimed Tom Schweich, the State Department's top
counternarcotics official. Others, including even the U.S. ONDCP,
ironically, say use of more force "will drive farmers with no other
income to join extremists."

Just like Vietnam was back in the 1960s, modern Afghanistan is
becoming a heroin bazaar for U.S. troops, according to an
investigative report by Shaun McCanna in this week's Salon magazine.
Detailing the ease which U.S. troops can score heroin near the big
U.S. base at Bagram, McCanna looks at heroin addiction in the ranks.
What can troops expect if they're caught using heroin? "They don't do
anything to you... Two from my unit were sent home after they got
caught more than once... They're still in the unit. Just got sent home."

Canada's Conservative Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, for well over a
year now, has dramatically increased the number of Canadian troops in
Afghanistan. Now we are informed by the RCMP, that, lo and behold,
more heroin from Afghanistan now "makes its way" back to
Canada. "It's clear: there is a disaster there. Nobody can say that
it's working. It's not working," said Thomas Pietschmann, researcher
and author of the UN drug report warning of a flood of Afghan heroin
headed for Canada.

And we leave you this week with a plea from professor of European
political economy Willem Buiter, which appeared in the Financial
Times this week. "As an economist with a strong commitment to
personal liberty and responsibility, my preference would be to see
all illegal drugs legalised... Following legalisation, the production
and sale of these drugs should be regulated to ensure quality and
purity. They should also be taxed, as are tobacco products and
alcoholic beverages... The principle-based argument for legalisation
is that behaviour that harms others ought to be criminalised, not
behaviour that hurts only the person engaged in it." Hard to put it
any better than that.

(17) AFGHANISTAN EXPECTS RECORD POPPY HARVEST

Pubdate: Sun, 05 Aug 2007
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright: 2007 San Jose Mercury News
Author: Matthew Lee, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Afghanistan will produce another record poppy
harvest this year that cements its status as the world's near-sole
supplier of the heroin source, yet a furious debate over how to
reverse the trend is stalling proposals to cut the crop, U.S. officials say.

As President Bush prepares for weekend talks with Afghan President
Hamid Karzai, divisions within the U.S. administration and among
NATO allies have delayed release of a $475 million counternarcotics
program for Afghanistan, where intelligence officials see growing
links between drugs and the Taliban, the officials said.

U.N. figures to be released in September are expected to show that
Afghanistan's poppy production has risen up to 15 percent since 2006
and that the country now accounts for 95 percent of the world's crop,
3 percentage points more than last year, officials familiar with
preliminary statistics told The Associated Press.

[snip]

The program represents a 13 percent increase over the $420 million in
U.S. counternarcotics aid to Afghanistan last year. It would adopt a
bold new approach to "coercive eradication" and set out criteria for
local officials to receive development assistance based on their
cooperation, the officials said.

[snip]

"Afghanistan is providing close to 95 percent of the world's heroin,"
the State Department's top counternarcotics official, Tom Schweich,
said at a recent conference. "That makes it almost a sole-source
supplier" and presents a situation "unique in world history."

[snip]

Schweich, an advocate of the now-stalled plan, has argued for more
vigorous eradication efforts, particularly in southern Helmand
province, responsible for some 80 percent of Afghanistan's poppy
production. It is where, he says, growers must be punished for
ignoring good-faith appeals to switch to alternative, but less
lucrative, crops.

"They need to be dealt with in a more severe way," he said at the
conference sponsored by the Center for Strategic and International
Studies. "There needs to be a coercive element, that's something
we're not going to back away from or shy away from."

But, in fact, many question whether this is the right approach with
Afghanistan mired in poverty and in the throes of an insurgency run
by the Taliban and residual al-Qaida forces.

Along with Britain, whose troops patrol Helmand, elements in the
State Department, U.S. Agency for International Development, the
Defense Department and White House Office of National Drug Control
Policy have expressed concern, saying that more raids will drive
farmers with no other income to join extremists.

There is also skepticism about the incentives in the new strategy
from those who believe development assistance should not be denied to
local communities because of poppy growth, officials said.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n931.a06.html

(18) IT'S EASY FOR SOLDIERS TO SCORE HEROIN IN AFGHANISTAN

Pubdate: Wed, 08 Aug 2007
Source: Salon (US Web)
Copyright: 2007 Salon
Author: Shaun McCanna

Simultaneously Stressed and Bored, U.S. Soldiers Are Turning to the
Widely Available Drug for a Quick Escape.

[snip]

The true extent of the heroin problem among American soldiers now
serving in Iraq and Afghanistan is unknown.

At Bagram, according to a written statement provided by a
spokesperson for the base, Army Maj. Chris Belcher, the "Military
Police receive few reports of alcohol or drug issues." The military
has statistics on how many troops failed drug tests, but the best
information on long-term addiction comes from the U.S. Veterans
Administration. The VA is the world's largest provider of substance
abuse services, caring for more than 350,000 veterans per year, of
whom about 30,000 are being treated for opiate addiction.

[snip]

Experts think it could be a decade before the true scope of heroin
use in Iraq and Afghanistan is known.

Dr. Jodie Trafton, a healthcare specialist with the VA's Center for
Health Care Evaluation in Palo Alto, Calif., says it takes five or 10
years after a conflict for veterans to enter the system in significant numbers.

The VA has recently seen a surge in cases from the first U.S. war in
Iraq. "We're just starting to get a lot of Gulf War veterans," she explains.

For the first few years after a conflict, it's hard to gauge the
number of soldiers who've developed a substance problem.

[snip]

The anecdotal information, however, suggests there may be a wave of
new patients coming, and it will include many heroin users.

[snip]

I asked to buy heroin a dozen times during two trips a year apart and
never heard the word "no"; I also saw ample evidence that soldiers
were trading sensitive military equipment, like computer drives and
bulletproof vests, for drugs.

Other soldiers who have served at Bagram agree: Heroin, they say "is
everywhere." And although they haven't shown up in the statistics
yet, reports from methadone clinics suggest the VA's future patients
may already be back in the States in force.

Much like the caskets that return to the Dover Air Force base in the
dead of night, America's new addicts are returning undetected.

Back in the States, it is not difficult to find a soldier who has
returned from Afghanistan with an addiction.

[snip]

"They don't do anything to you [for using]," a reservist tells me.
"Two from my unit were sent home after they got caught more than
once." What happened to them? "Nothing. They're still in the unit.
Just got sent home." Are they still using? "Don't know. I never asked."

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n943.a01.html

(19) MORE AFGHAN HEROIN MAKES WAY TO CANADA

Pubdate: Mon, 06 Aug 2007
Source: Chronicle Herald (CN NS)
Copyright: 2007 The Halifax Herald Limited
Author: Steve Rennie, Canadian Press

Counter-Narcotics Efforts Clearly Flawed, Says Report Researcher

The Mounties have warned at least two federal agencies that Afghan
heroin is "increasingly" making its way to Canada and poses a direct
threat to the public despite millions of dollars from Ottawa to fund
the war-torn country' s counter-narcotics efforts, newly released
documents reveal.

"The RCMP informs us that Afghan heroin is increasingly ending up on,
or is destined for Canadian streets," say Foreign Affairs and Defence
Department briefings, obtained separately by The Canadian Press under
the Access to Information Act.

The Afghan-produced heroin "directly threatens" Canadians, say the
identically worded briefings.

Paul Nadeau, the director of the RCMP's drug branch in Ottawa, said
about 60 per cent of the heroin on Canadian streets comes from Afghanistan.

[snip]

Roughly 92 per cent of the world's heroin comes from opium poppies
grown in Afghanistan, according to the 2007 World Drug Report,
released in June by the United Nations Office on Drugs.

[snip]

The Afghan counter-narcotics programs are co-ordinated by that
country's national drug control strategy. But the drug control
strategy is badly flawed, said Thomas Pietschmann, a researcher who
authored the UN drug report.

"It's clear: there is a disaster there. Nobody can say that it's
working. It's not working," Pietschmann said from his office in
Vienna, Austria.

[snip]

Pietschmann said it's "extremely logical" that there's more Afghan
heroin on Canadian streets because of a spike in the central Asian
nation's opium poppy production.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n935.a05.html

(20) LEGALISE DRUGS TO BEAT TERRORISTS

Pubdate: Tue, 07 Aug 2007
Source: Financial Times (UK)
Copyright: The Financial Times Limited 2007
Author: Willem Buiter

The UK government is considering reclassifying cannabis from a class
C drug to a class B drug, carrying higher penalties for using and
dealing. As an economist with a strong commitment to personal
liberty and responsibility, my preference would be to see all illegal
drugs legalised. The only exception would be substances whose
consumption leads to behaviour likely to cause material harm to others.

Following legalisation, the production and sale of these drugs should
be regulated to ensure quality and purity. They should also be taxed,
as are tobacco products and alcoholic beverages. Greater resources
should be devoted to educating the public, especially children and
teenagers, about the health hazards associated with the drugs; more
money should be spent on the rehabilitation of addicts.

[snip]

The principle-based argument for legalisation is that behaviour that
harms others ought to be criminalised, not behaviour that hurts only
the person engaged in it. It is not the government's job to protect
adults of sound mind from the predictable consequences of their actions.

[snip]

Parents should be paternalistic, but when it comes to mentally
competent grown-ups the state should not be. It is not the
responsibility of the state to ensure our "happiness" - whatever that
is. That is the road to a Brave New World.

[snip]

The United Nations estimates that opium production in Afghanistan
grew to more than 6,000 metric tonnes last year with a value
exceeding $3bn. It is the origin of more than 90 per cent of the
world's illegally consumed opiates.

A significant portion of the profits flows to the Taliban, who act as
middlemen in the opium business. They combine extortion and threats
of violence towards the poppy farmers with the sale of protection to
these same farmers against those who would destroy their livelihood,
mainly the Nato allies and the Afghan central government.

Following legalisation, the allies in Afghanistan could further
undermine the financial strength of the Taliban and al-Qaeda by
buying up the entire poppy harvest. If a sufficient premium over the
prevailing market price were offered, the Taliban/al-Qaeda middle-man
could be cut out altogether, and thus would lose his tax
base. Winning the hearts and minds of poppy growers and coca growers
is a lot easier when you are not seen as intent on destroying their livelihood.

[snip]

So legalise, regulate, tax, educate and rehabilitate. Stop a losing
war, get the government off our backs, beat the Taliban and deal a
blow to al-Qaeda in the process. Not a bad deal!

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n941.a06.html

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