WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW

THIS JUST IN

(1) BLACKS, HISPANICS IMPRISONED IN LARGER NUMBERS THAN WHITES, REPORT SAYS

Pubdate: Thu, 19 Jul 2007
Source: New Haven Register (CT)
Copyright: 2007 New Haven Register
Author: Maria Garriga, Register Staff
Cited: http://www.sentencingproject.org/NewsDetails.aspx?NewsID=454

Blacks in Connecticut are jailed at more than 12 times the rate of
whites, and Hispanics nearly seven times the white rate, according to
a study released Wednesday by a criminal justice policy group.

The study shows that Connecticut has one of the greatest disparities
in the nation in incarceration rates. Blacks are incarcerated 5.6
times the rate as whites nationally.

Hispanic men in Connecticut are incarcerated at 6.6 times the rate of
whites, the largest disparity in the nation. Nationally, the rate is 1.8.

The study by the Washington, D.C., nonprofit advocacy group The
Sentencing Project also shows that Connecticut incarcerates whites at
a lower rate than the national average, according to the report.

"The national figures are disturbing, with African Americans
incarcerated at six times the rate of whites and Connecticut has
twice that rate," said Marc Mauer, executive director of The
Sentencing Project.

Put another way, the national ratios suggest that out of every
100,000 whites, 412 are incarcerated; out of every 100,000 blacks,
2,290 are incarcerated; and out of every 100,000 Hispanics, 742 are
incarcerated.

In Connecticut, out of every 100,000 whites, 211 are incarcerated;
out of every 100,000 blacks, 2,532 are jailed; out of every 100,000
Hispanics, 1,401 are in prison.

"If you are black and born in Connecticut, you are more likely to be
incarcerated," Mauer said.

He said minorities were less likely to have the resources to avoid
prison when charged with a crime. "It's not that wealthy people don't
commit crimes. They can afford better defense attorneys and pay for
treatment programs," he said.

Out of the nation's 2.2 million prisoners, 900,000 are black. The
study concluded that if current trends continue, one in every three
black men and one in six Hispanic men can expect to spend time in prison.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n871.a03.html

(2) SEVEN CABINET MEMBERS ADMIT SMOKING CANNABIS IN YOUTH

Pubdate: Fri, 20 Jul 2007
Source: Guardian, The (UK)
Copyright: 2007 Guardian Newspapers Limited
Author: Patrick Wintour, The Guardian

Seven cabinet members, including Jacqui Smith the home secretary,
admitted yesterday they had broken the law by smoking cannabis.

The admissions came before a government statement next week that will
see ministers propose the drug's classification is raised from class
C to the more serious status of class B. Possession of a class C drug
is largely a non-arrestable offence.

It also emerged that two members of Ms Smith's Home Office frontbench
team, Vernon Coaker and Tony McNulty, smoked cannabis in their youth.

The prime minister's spokesman insisted that Gordon Brown regarded it
as a personal matter and said he did not send out questionnaires
asking cabinet colleagues whether they had taken drugs. He did not
ask Ms Smith about her past when he appointed her as home secretary
although she will have been subject to positive vetting by the
security services.

Ms Smith's indiscretion - she has been described as sensible but fun-
loving at university - is unlikely to cost her politically as
admissions of drug taking do not usually result in a serious backlash.

David Cameron, the Conservative leader, who has repeatedly refused to
say whether he took drugs before he became a public figure, again
refused to follow the cabinet's example and admit he had taken
cannabis. There have been persistent rumours that he took more
serious drugs in his youth.

The Conservatives refused to make any political capital out of the
revelations, partly due to Mr Cameron's position and partly because
many members of the shadow cabinet have admitted they used cannabis.

Ms Smith started a day of personal admissions before 8am yesterday
when she talked on breakfast television about smoking cannabis while
at Oxford University in the 1980s. "I did break the law ... I was
wrong ... drugs are wrong," she said.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n870.a04.html

(3) DEA FEARS SPREAD OF NEW DRUG

Pubdate: Thu, 19 Jul 2007
Source: Miami Herald (FL)
Copyright: 2007 The Miami Herald
Author: Dave Montgomery

WASHINGTON -- Federal and state officials are stepping up efforts to
block the spread of an emerging drug menace called cheese heroin,
which has been blamed for the deaths of at least 20 young people in
the Dallas-Fort Worth area over the past two years.

The drug, a mixture of black tar heroin and cold medicine, sells for
as little as $2 a hit and is being targeted at kids, often as an
inducement to join a gang.

Thus far, the drug is largely confined to Dallas and its suburbs. But
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and other officials warn that, with its
low price and easy marketability by drug dealers, deadly cheese
heroin could spread into other communities.

"We're still seeing the highest concentration in the Dallas area, but
last year we started to see a spread to outlying cities," said Jeremy
Liebbe, a police officer with the Dallas Independent School District
who has investigated nearly 250 cheese heroin cases. "What that tells
us is that it isn't a problem that's going to go away anytime soon."

Cornyn sponsored an amendment to pending Senate antigang legislation
that would add cheese heroin to the list of targeted drugs in a
youth- oriented media campaign sponsored by the White House Office of
National Drug Control Policy.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n867.a03.html

(4) COCAINE DRUG OF CHOICE IN EUROPE

Pubdate: Wed, 18 Jul 2007
Source: Regina Leader-Post (CN SN)
Copyright: 2007 The Leader-Post Ltd.
Author: Henrique Almeida, Reuters

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -- Saturday night and thrill-seekers from around
the world crowd the streets of Amsterdam's red-light district ready
to binge on sex, drugs and alcohol.

"Hey, mister, do you want some cocaine?" a man mutters from a dark
corner while a blonde prostitute removes her bra in a shop window, to
lure customers into her room.

It's no accident the dealer was offering cocaine before he moved on
to other drugs. Cocaine use has almost tripled in Europe over the
past decade, while U.S. consumption has stabilised, according to
U.N. figures released in June.

"There is a certain glamour to cocaine in the media which has become
very appealing to all sectors of European society," said Peter
Thomas, a spokesman for European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug
Addiction (EMCDDA) in Lisbon.

Portuguese police say a stronger euro is also attracting cocaine
smugglers into European cities like Amsterdam, London and Madrid
where party-goers can easily pay up to 60 euros ($82.78) to get high
on a few lines of the white powder.

Wholesale, the drug in Europe fetches up to $77,000 per kg, almost
twice the amount it sells for in the U.S., according to the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration.

"Dealers focus their trade in cities with money," Jose Braz, the
director of the Department of Narcotics in Portugal, which has become
a significant entry-point for cocaine into Europe, told Reuters.
"There is more and more dirty money in euros."

"There was a lot of euphoria with love-drugs like ecstasy 10 years
ago but that is going away now," said an employee of the Magic
Mushroom Smartshop near Amsterdam's night club scene in
Rembrandtplein square. He identified himself simply as AR.

"Coke is cold and ego-boosting and allows people to forget about
their insecurities. I suppose the world is becoming a colder place
these days," he added.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n863.a10.html

WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW

Domestic News- Policy

COMMENT: (5-8)

The U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee believes
ONDCP representatives may have broken a 1994 law by appearing at
several republican campaign events. The supporting documents were
found during an ongoing and broader investigation.

After decades of blaming Mexico for allowing illegal drugs to flow
into the US, the tables turned as Mexico claims illegal weapons from
the north are fueling the recent explosion of violence. A Dallas
Morning News editorial explains their fear as this violence continues
to spill across the border and is now being directed towards
U.S. reporters. Still, they refuse to point a finger at prohibition.

On a lighter note, a pioneer LSD maker's visit to the bay area
spurred a story in the San Francisco Chronicle. The article reveals
he was much more than just the creator of the infamous Owsley Purple.

(5) WHITE HOUSE HAD DRUG OFFICIALS APPEAR WITH GOP CANDIDATES

Pubdate: Wed, 18 Jul 2007
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2007 The Washington Post Company
Author: Michael A. Fletcher, Washington Post Staff Writer

White House officials arranged for top officials at the Office of
National Drug Control Policy to help as many as 18 vulnerable
Republican congressmen by making appearances and sometimes announcing
new federal grants in the lawmakers' districts in the months leading
up to the November 2006 elections, a Democratic lawmaker said yesterday.

Rep. Henry A. Waxman ( Calif. ), chairman of the House Oversight and
Government Reform Committee, said documents obtained by his panel
suggest that the appearances by the drug control officials were part
of a larger White House effort to politicize the work of federal
agencies that "may be more widespread than previously known."

Waxman cited a memo written by former White House political director
Sara M. Taylor showing that John P. Walters, director of the drug
control office, and his deputies traveled at taxpayer expense to
about 20 events with vulnerable GOP members of Congress in the three
months leading up to the elections.

[snip]

The drug control office has had a history of being nonpartisan, and a
1994 law bars the agency's officials from engaging in political
activities even on their own time.

Waxman's investigation is part of a broad effort by Congress to look
into White House political involvement in federal agencies. So far,
Democratic lawmakers have found evidence that White House officials
were involved with the firings of nine U.S. attorneys and that Rove
deputies made presentations to officials at the General Services
Administration and other agencies about Democrats targeted for defeat
by the GOP in 2008.

The new disclosure comes after former surgeon general Richard H.
Carmona testified last week that the White House routinely blocked
him from speaking out on politically sensitive public health matters
such as stem cell research and abstinence-only sex education. Carmona
also said he was asked to make appearances to help Republican
candidates and discouraged from travel that might help a liberal politician.

[snip]

White House officials denied that Walters or other drug policy
officials were directed to make appearances in an effort to prop up
GOP candidates. Likewise, Taylor said through her attorney that she
ran the White House political office no differently than her
predecessors had under former presidents.

[snip]

But in the three months immediately leading up to the 2006 election,
Walters or his deputies held events almost exclusively with GOP
officials, many of whom were embroiled in tough reelection campaigns.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n862/a04.html

(6) OPED: AMERICAN GUNS HELP FUEL MEXICO'S DRUG TRADE KILLINGS

Pubdate: Sun, 15 Jul 2007
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 2007 Hearst Communications Inc.
Author: Louis E.V. Nevaer
Note: Louis E.V. Nevaer is author of "HR and the New Hispanic
Workforce," a book about Latinos in the labor force. This article was
written for New America Media.

Mexico City -- For more than a decade, Mexico has had military
checkpoints on all northbound highways leading to the United States.
It's part of the campaign to crack down on the flow of drugs to the
United States. This summer, things have changed, and Mexico's
military is inspecting vehicles traveling on the southbound lanes,
checking for shipments of weapons.

This reversal is testament to the dangers Mexico faces, bordering the
United States, a country unable to secure its own borders, where
assault and paramilitary weapons are sold to anyone with ready cash.

"We are concerned about the number of weapons coming into Mexico and
Central America illegally from the United States," Attorney General
Alberto Gonzales said last month when he was attending a conference
in Cuernavaca, south of Mexico City. "There is more that we can do,
and we are looking to do, to try and stem the flow of illegal weapons
into Mexico."

Mexican officials are frantic over the escalation of violence -- more
than a thousand people have been slain throughout the country in the
first six months of this year in drug-related violence as drug
cartels establish new leaders to replace the ones who have been
arrested and extradited to the United States.

[snip]

Combat-style rifles pour into Mexico, and this has escalated since
the end of the U.S. Assault Weapons Ban in 2004. "In the United
States, all you need is a pile of cash to buy all the weapons you
want," said Santiago Vasconcelos. "These weapons are being sold like candy."

The expiration of the Assault Weapons Ban has made it possible for
assault rifles, including the AR-15, AK-47 copies and the TEC-9
pistols, which were banned, along with 16 other types of
semiautomatic weapons, to be shipped throughout Mexico. The AK-15, a
version of the U.S. Army's famous M16, and the AK-47, of Russian
design, have been used in recent execution-style killings among rival
gangs, and in attacks on Mexican police officers and soldiers.

[snip]

The White House claims that it is doing all it can: Joint police
forces along the border look for weapons leaving the United States,
Mexican police are equipped with X-ray scanners, and border cities
have stepped up their gun "buy-back" programs.

This has proved to be ineffectual: Mexico's military took over the
airport at Mexicali to prevent shipments of smuggled weapons from
being flown into the interior of the country; Mexico now X-rays all
baggage arriving from U.S. flights into Mexico, because U.S.
airlines do not prevent passengers from carrying weapons in their
checked luggage; and the mandatory military checkpoints along the
highways have seized more than 11,000 weapons in the first half of this year.

Mexico has strong gun control laws. In a country of 110 million
people, there are fewer than 6,000 legally registered guns. But it is
now reeling from the gun-related violence. Making matters worse is
the refusal of American officials to be on the same page. Although
Gonzales admitted that the "iron river" of weapons was a problem,
months ago, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told
Congress: "I don't know where the weapons come from."
That infuriated Mexican officials. "The ATF's Operation Gunrunner
knows where these weapons are coming from," fumed Santiago Vasconcelos.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n853/a08.html

(7) EDITORIAL: A DIRECT THREAT

Pubdate: Tue, 17 Jul 2007
Source: Dallas Morning News (TX)
Copyright: 2007 The Dallas Morning News

Zetas Bring Fear of Violence to Our Back Yard

It's a rare moment when American journalism goes into retreat.
Reporters have been on the front lines of every U.S. conflict from
World War II to Iraq. The presses have continued to roll despite
earthquakes and hurricanes, riots and domestic political turmoil such
as Watergate.

That's because the dangers and threats always paled in comparison to
the goal of keeping the public informed. But today, journalists are
under direct threat and in retreat at America's doorstep because drug
traffickers do not like the uncomfortable attention U.S. reporters
are giving to their bloody enterprise.

Last week, newspapers received word that the Zetas, Mafia-style hit
squads working for drug traffickers, are threatening to kill an
American reporter in Laredo. The San Antonio Express News decided to
pull its reporter temporarily from the paper's Laredo bureau. The
Dallas Morning News, which regularly covers cartel operations in
Nuevo Laredo, also is taking precautions.

[snip]

One can only speculate why a group of killers, rich with drug money
and obviously unconcerned about public opinion polls, would care what
the U.S. news media report about them. But it's clear that these
groups rule by fear. And when the public loses access to
information, manipulation by fear becomes far easier.

Last month, we decried the closure of Cambio Sonora because it
signaled the slow death of civilized, sane discourse in Mexico.
Cambio 's reporters and editors are not to blame because it's their
government's job to provide for the public safety, and it has failed.

We shudder to think that, now, we must sound a similar alert right
here in Texas.

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n860/a07.html

(8) FOR THE UNREPENTANT PATRIARCH OF LSD, LONG, STRANGE TRIP WINDS
BACK TO BAY AREA

Pubdate: Thu, 12 Jul 2007
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 2007 Hearst Communications Inc.
Author: Joel Selvin, Chronicle Senior Pop Music Critic

The small, barefoot man in black T-shirt and blue jeans barely rates
a second glance from the other Starbucks patrons in downtown San
Rafael, although he is one of the men who virtually made the '60s.
Because Augustus Owsley Stanley III has spent his life avoiding
photographs, few people would know what he looks like.

The name Owsley became a noun that appears in the Oxford dictionary
as English street slang for good acid. It is the most famous brand
name in LSD history. Probably the first private individual to
manufacture the psychedelic, "Owsley" is a folk hero of the
counterculture, celebrated in songs by the Grateful Dead and Steely Dan.

For more than 20 years, Stanley -- at 72, still known as the Bear --
has been living with his wife, Sheila, off the grid, in the outback
of Queensland, Australia, where he makes small gold and enamel
sculptures and keeps in touch with the world through the Internet.

As a planned two-week visit to the Bay Area stretched to three, four
and then five weeks, Bear agreed to give The Chronicle an interview
because a friend asked him. He has rarely consented to speak to the
press about his life, his work or his unconventional thinking on
matters such as the coming ice age or his all-meat diet.

[snip]

By conservative estimates, Bear Research Group made more than 1.25
million doses of LSD between 1965 and 1967, essentially seeding the
entire modern psychedelic movement.

Less well known are Bear's contributions to rock concert sound. As
the original sound mixer for the Grateful Dead, he was responsible
for fundamental advances in audio technology, things as basic now as
monitor speakers that allow vocalists to hear themselves onstage.

[snip]

He found the recipe for making LSD in the Journal of Organic
Chemistry at the UC Berkeley library. Soon after, Bear began to cook acid.

The Berkeley police raided his first lab in 1966 and confiscated a
substance that they claimed was methedrine. When it turned out to be
something else -- probably a component of LSD -- Bear not only walked
free but successfully sued the cops for the return of his lab equipment.

By the time he made a special batch called Monterey Purple for the
1967 Monterey Pop Festival -- Owsley Purple was the secret smile on
Jimi Hendrix's face that night -- "Owsley" was an underground legend.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n844/a09.html

Law Enforcement & Prisons

COMMENT: (9-14)

Some disturbing reports came out of Florida this week. Two cover
alleged police misconduct and another reveals an incredible "deal" for a narc.

After years of severe overcrowding and recent federal threats,
California officials seem to finally be taking steps towards solving
their bloated prison industrial complex. One article discusses
improvements to inmate substance abuse treatment programs while
another reveals a much lower rate of parolees being returned to prison.

Thankfully, LEAP can always be counted on to end this section on a
positive note.

(9) WOMAN SAYS BRADENTON POLICE TRADED MONEY, DRUGS FOR SEX

Pubdate: Sat, 14 Jul 2007
Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune (FL)
Copyright: 2007 Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Author: Anthony Cormier and Michael A. Scarcella

BRADENTON - On May 30, a woman in jail on prostitution charges was
pulled from her cell by a Bradenton police internal affairs officer
and taken to police headquarters, according to jail records.

For three hours, Dawn Marie Gibson said she described to the
investigators how she had sex numerous times with on-duty Bradenton
police officers in a patrol car, at a substation and in alleyways.

She said the officers gave her money and crack cocaine and offered
her protection from arrest in exchange for the sex acts. The head of
the police department's internal affairs division acknowledged that
Gibson was taken from jail and interviewed.

The day after the interview, Bradenton officer William Anderson
resigned. Two days later, officer Larry Pritchett resigned.

At about that time, decorated undercover agent Pete Biddlecome took a
leave of absence. He resigned five weeks later, despite a service
record that included recognition as officer of the year.

[snip]

Gibson claimed an officer once had oral sex with her and gave her
five pieces of crack cocaine.

She said the men offered to protect Gibson and her friends, looking
the other way if they were caught up in undercover stings along
Tamiami Trail. When she turned down the offer to be a confidential
informant, Gibson said the officers remained persistent.

She claimed that officers tailed her to her mother's house in the
Manatee Woods apartment complex, picked her up outside motels and
drove her to remote parts of the city. Her mother, Judy Dillon, said
she saw officers' cars parked outside her home.

Some of the officers, Gibson said, wanted sex and promised to "make
old warrants go away" while protecting her from future arrests.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n841/a07.html

(10) WOMAN, 65, SAYS SARASOTA DEPUTY KNOCKED HER DOWN

Pubdate: Sat, 14 Jul 2007
Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune (FL)
Copyright: 2007 Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Author: Todd Ruger

SARASOTA -- A 65-year-old Arkansas woman is suing the sheriff, saying
a deputy slammed her to the ground during a raid at the Sarasota
house where she was staying.

Patsy Croom came to visit her son in Sarasota when his wife died in
2004, and she was sunning herself in the yard when the raid started,
the federal lawsuit filed this week states.

Earlier in the day, an undercover U.S. Postal Service investigator
came up to her as she watered flowers and asked her to sign for a
package, Croom's lawsuit states.

During the conversation, Croom told him the sunning made her
rheumatoid arthritis feel better and she showed him scars from past
surgeries for the disease.

About 30 minutes later, deputies wearing masks and carrying guns
descended on her, yelling at her to get on the ground. She told them
her arthritis prevented her from getting down quickly.

A deputy then put his foot on her back and pushed her to the ground.
Croom said she suffered a torn rotator cuff and herniated disc, the
lawsuit claims.

She says the deputy who knocked her down was the one who planned the
raid and directed all the law enforcement on the scene.

Croom is asking for more than $75,000 in damages.

The raid led to the arrest of Tashko Dinev, 32, another resident of
the house, on charges of possession of illegal prescription drugs.

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n849/a04.html

(11) WITNESS URGED SUSPECT TO SELL HIM MORE DRUGS

Pubdate: Thu, 12 Jul 2007
Source: Tampa Tribune (FL)
Copyright: 2007 The Tribune Co.
Author: Elaine Silvestrini, The Tampa Tribune

He Helped DEA as Part of Plea Deal

TAMPA - The prosecution's key witness in an overdose death case
testified Wednesday he encouraged the defendant to sell him larger
quantities of drugs.

Brandon Erwin is standing trial on drug distribution charges and a
charge that he is criminally responsible for the November 2005
overdose death of Andrew Culver, a 35-year-old businessman who
authorities say bought cocaine and methadone from Erwin.

Erwin worked part time as a host in the Blue Martini nightclub in
International Plaza. The key witness, Stephen Wilkinson, was free on
bail after being arrested on drug distribution charges when he met
Erwin and others in the club and told law enforcement he could
provide information about drug dealing in the club.

Wilkinson testified he was trying to find a way to provide
"substantial assistance" to authorities in order to receive more
lenient treatment in his own case.

He was facing a minimum of 15 years behind bars and, after his
cooperation, wound up with a year of probation, he said Wednesday
under cross-examination from defense attorney Rachel May.

"Kind of hit a home run, huh?" May remarked.

Wilkinson didn't respond.

[snip]

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(12) COLUMN: STATE COMMITS TO FIXING PRISON ADDICTION PROGRAMS

Pubdate: Thu, 12 Jul 2007
Source: Sacramento Bee (CA)
Copyright: 2007 The Sacramento Bee
Author: Daniel Weintraub

It would be difficult to imagine a more scathing indictment of a
government program than the Inspector General's report earlier this
year on California's services for prison inmates addicted to alcohol and drugs.

The programs, the report said, were almost a complete failure. There
was no evidence that they were preventing inmates from committing new
crimes after their release from prison. And remarkably, inmates who
went through some of the programs were returning to prison at higher
rates than criminals who got no treatment at all.

[snip]

"Overall, the state appears to be receiving almost no value for its
$36 million annual investment in in-prison substance abuse treatment
services," the audit concluded. "And because less than 10 percent of
inmates who participate in in-prison substance abuse programs also
attend aftercare for at least 90 days -- which studies show to be
crucial in reducing recidivism -- the entire $143 million the state
spends each year for in-prison and aftercare substance abuse
treatment combined appears to be wasted."

That kind of critique would usually generate a defensive response
from the bureaucracy. Excuses. Explanations. Finger-pointing.

But something different happened in this case. The Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation essentially agreed with the Inspector
General's conclusions. There was some quibbling about the details,
but nobody tried to claim that the anti-addiction programs were
actually a success.

Since then, the department has hired Kathy Jett, formerly the state's
highly regarded director of Drug and Alcohol Programs, to come run
the prison programs for addicts. Jett was named a deputy director of
the department, elevating her role and giving her more clout to do her job.

[snip]

Jett said that fixing the broken programs will be crucial to the
Schwarzenegger administration's ability to keep its commitment to
overhaul and vastly improve all rehabilitation efforts throughout the
state's 170,000-inmate prison system.

"The substance abuse program is a cornerstone of rehabilitation for
the institutions," Jett said. "I believe strongly that we must get
this right."

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n836/a01.html

(13) FEWER CALIFORNIA PAROLE VIOLATORS BEING SENT BACK TO JAIL

Pubdate: Fri, 13 Jul 2007
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright: 2007 San Jose Mercury News
Author: Edwin Garcia

Rehab Option Helps Cut Overcrowding

SACRAMENTO - Prison officials in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's
administration acknowledged Thursday that some parole violators are
no longer being sent back to prison - part of a philosophical shift
that will reduce overcrowding in the state's prisons.

The state's parole chief insisted that most of those being given a
second chance are not violent offenders, but the notion that an
increasing number of parolees are getting a break rankles some
tough-on-crime advocates and conservative lawmakers.

Nearly 10,000 more parolees are on the streets today than last July,
according to the California Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation - an 8.4 percent increase that far outpaces the growth
in the prison population, which was just 0.6 per cent over that same time.

When asked about those numbers, administration officials acknowledged
Thursday that, indeed, parole agents are directing more parolees into
rehabilitation programs instead of prisons, particularly for minor
violations that used to keep them locked up for months.

The change in direction - hailed by parole-reform advocates and
criminal defense attorneys - occurred quietly at a time when federal
judges are threatening to impose a population cap for the state's
prison system. Currently, 173,000 inmates are packed into space
built for 100,000.

[snip]

Last month, the state's rehabilitation oversight board suggested that
a policy shift on parolees was warranted, but the numbers suggest
that parole commissioners had already stopped sending some parole
violators back to prison. The parolee population has jumped to
127,151 from 117,354 over the past year.

[snip]

Assemblywoman Sally Lieber, D-Mountain View, a proponent of parole
and sentencing reform, doubted the administration was succeeding in
solving overcrowding.

"So they've got more people in prison, and more people on parole than
last year, and they're claiming victory?" she said. "I think they've
got to keep working on it. I don't think they've got it solved yet."

[snip]

Schwarzenegger is a firm believer in recently enacted legislation, AB
900, which promises to build tens of thousands of prison and jail
beds, and tie them to rehabilitation programs. And he has stated
repeatedly that he will not release violent inmates from prison.

His administration also is pleading with the federal court to not
impose a prison population cap but instead allow the state to solve
the overcrowding crisis through a number of measures, including
rehabilitation of inmates who are addicted to drugs.

[snip]

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(14) WAR ON DRUGS A FAILURE, RETIRED POLICE OFFICER SAYS

Pubdate: Thu, 12 Jul 2007
Source: Morning News, The (Springdale, AR)
Copyright: 2007 The Stephens Media Group
Author: John Lyon, The Morning News

NORTH LITTLE ROCK -- America's war on drugs has done more to spur the
drug trade than throttle it, said a former big-city cop who now
advocates legalizing narcotics.

"The war on drugs has been one of the biggest public policy failures
this country has ever seen," former Denver police Lt. Tony Ryan, who
was in Arkansas on Thursday as part of a speaking tour organized by
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, an nonprofit organization
founded in 2002 that claims existing drug policies have failed.

[snip]

Ryan said in the decades since the Nixon administration launched the
drug war, drugs have become stronger, cheaper and easier to obtain.
About $69 billion is spent every year on drug enforcement, yet the
percentage of Americans with drug addictions has remained constant at
about 1.3 percent, he said.

"In this country, which has 5 percent of the world's population, we
have 25 percent of the world's prison population," he said. "About 28
percent of our prison population are people who were sentenced for
drug possession -- drug possession, not even for sale or distribution."

Ryan said 1.9 million Americans are arrested every year on drug
charges, 760,000 of them on marijuana charges. Of the marijuana
arrests, 88 percent are for simple possession, he said.

A better approach, Ryan said, would be to legalize narcotics and
allow the government to control and regulate them as it does other
drugs. He said the government would do well to follow the examples
of European countries such as Switzerland and The Netherlands, where
drug addiction is regarded more as a health and social issue than a crime.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n836/a04.html

Cannabis & Hemp

COMMENT: (15-18)

With about 250 marijuana or hemp related articles MAP archived since
the last DSW, it is not easy to decide on four or five to call to
your attention. The first reminds us that next week, the U.S. House
of Representatives is expected to vote on the 2007
Hinchey-Rohrabacher medical marijuana amendment. Have you contacted
your congresscritter?

A columnist points out New York City's version of reefer madness. The
dedicated efforts of medicinal marijuana activists in conservative
Orange County, California, are successful.

And in Canada, while marijuana arrests rise, the laws remain under
legal attack.

(15) EDITORIAL: NEW CHALLENGES FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Pubdate: Thu, 19 Jul 2007
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2007 Los Angeles Times

[snip]

THE DRUG ENFORCEMENT Administration has notified more than 150 Los
Angeles property owners that their fortunes and their sacred honor
are forfeit to the state. What crime must a landlady commit to
deserve this punishment? Renting to a tenant who operates a medical
marijuana dispensary. The DEA sent out letters last week notifying
owners that they stand to lose their properties and face 20 years in
prison for allowing their buildings to be used for "unlawfully ...
distributing or using a controlled substance."

The only good news in this deplorable new bullying tactic by the
federal drug cops is that if you're a property owner, your least-bad
option is fairly clear. You can honor the will of California voters,
allow the dispensary to stay and lose your property, or you can evict
the tenant and risk a costly lawsuit. You're better off taking your
chances with the lawsuit, although the DEA will not admit this. A
representative of the agency's L.A. office uses the Orwellian phrase
"these letters were merely to educate property owners," but concedes
that in fact the letters serve to weaken the legal position of landlords.

That's because the Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act of 2000
specifies that landlords must have provable knowledge of drug
activities to be subject to asset forfeiture. The DEA's
letter-writing campaign establishes that paper trail, while coyly
avoiding giving property owners any advice about what to do. The
agency confirms, however, that the "long-term goal" is to get
landlords to evict dispensaries. Nor is this strictly a private
property matter; public property is at risk, as the city of West
Hollywood found out a few years ago when the DEA seized $300,000 the
city had provided to help purchase a building for a dispensary.

As they have for the last several years, Reps. Dana Rohrabacher
(R-Huntington Beach) and Maurice D. Hinchey (D-N.Y.) are sponsoring
an amendment that would kill funding for federal efforts to preempt
state medical marijuana initiatives, and although Congress should in
general avoid this kind of procedural finagling, it would at least
halt the DEA's efforts to thwart the will of voters and legislatures
in 12 states. And if the DEA refuses to listen, Congress should
consider doing away with civil asset forfeiture altogether.

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n867/a05.html

(16) COLUMN: ARRESTS FOR POT ARE EXCESSIVE

Pubdate: Mon, 16 Jul 2007
Source: Newsday (NY)
Copyright: 2007 Newsday Inc.
Author: Sheryl McCarthy

'I call it an epidemic of marijuana arrests. New York City has been
on a binge of marijuana arrests for the last 10 years."

"I would call it a dragnet."

These are the conclusions of Harry Levine, a professor of sociology
at Queens College, and Deborah Small, director of Break the Chains, a
nonprofit drug policy reform group and a longtime advocate of
changing the city's drug policies.

The two, who are studying the city's marijuana arrest policy, want to
see the police give summonses to people who are caught smoking
marijuana in public or with small amounts of marijuana on them,
instead of the current practice of arresting them and jailing them overnight.

According to arrest data from the New York State Division of Criminal
Justice Services, the number of arrests for marijuana possession
skyrocketed from about 10,000 in 1996 to more than 50,000 in
2000. The arrests have tapered off somewhat since then, but remain
high: 33,000 arrests for marijuana possession last year.

[snip]

Marijuana arrests in the city surged in the late 1990s as part of
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's quality-of-life policing strategy, and have
continued under Mayor Michael Bloomberg. But although early law
enforcement efforts concentrated on heavily trafficked public areas
like Central Park and midtown Manhattan, the efforts shifted to
lower-income black and Latino communities, the studies say.

[snip]

"We're socializing black and Latino youths to the criminal justice
system," Levine says. "We're teaching them how to be in the system."
It's like telling them this is a rehearsal for a future of getting
arrested and spending time in jail, Small says.

[snip]

Arresting people, especially teenagers, for smoking a joint, passing
one to a friend, or having a small bag of marijuana needs to stop.
Far more serious crimes are going on. And no parent of a teenager
wants to see her kid thrown in jail and treated like a criminal for a
minor transgression that could be handled with a summons.

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n851/a01.html

(17) O.C. TO LICENSE MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Pubdate: Wed, 18 Jul 2007
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2007 Los Angeles Times
Author: Christian Berthelsen, Times Staff Writer

Orange County will begin licensing medical marijuana use and issuing
identification cards to patients who are entitled to it under a plan
approved by county supervisors Tuesday.

The decision marked a surprise turnabout from just three months ago,
when the proposal initially seemed doomed to failure.

Under the plan, the county will create a system to identify patients
eligible to use marijuana for medical purposes, and issue them
identification cards, validate prescriptions and monitor the
qualifications of care providers who dispense the drug.

It was a departure from Orange County's usual conservative position,
one that overrode objections by the county's top law enforcement
officials and put the county squarely in the middle of a years-long
tussle between federal and state governments over the legality of
marijuana use for medical purposes.

[snip]

Since the issue first surfaced three months ago in Orange County,
advocates of medical marijuana use have lobbied intensely to convince
the supervisors of its worth, and ultimately succeeded in changing
enough minds to win a decisive 4-1 vote.

Advocates said their pitch to the all-Republican board focused on
fiscal soundness -- that issuing the IDs would eliminate wasted court
costs and prosecution time on medical possession cases.

Though 32 other counties, including Los Angeles and Riverside, have
already moved forward with plans, getting Orange County's approval
was a milestone.

"By having this in Orange County, it sends a message to other
counties throughout California that it's time to move forward," said
Aaron Smith, the statewide coordinator for Safe Access Now, a medical
marijuana advocacy group. "If Orange County can do it, anybody can do it."

The bill's passage was also a testament to the vociferous advocacy of
board Chairman Chris Norby, who first floated the proposal, and the
consensus-building skill of Supervisor Bill Campbell, who
resuscitated the proposal after it failed on a first vote by getting
supervisors to find enough common ground to give it another chance.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n864/a05.html

(18) POT ARREST HIKE WORRIES LAW EXPERTS

Pubdate: Wed, 18 Jul 2007
Source: Chronicle Herald (CN NS)
Copyright: 2007 The Halifax Herald Limited
Cited: http://cannabislink.ca/legal/r_vs_long.htm

TORONTO (CP) - Ottawa needs to fix long-standing loopholes and
inconsistencies in Canada's marijuana laws to help the justice system
contend with a surge of court cases resulting from the Conservative
government's new zeal for enforcement, legal experts say.

With witnesses reporting a dramatic increase in the number of
possession cases before the courts, those familiar with the
intricacies of the law say it remains vulnerable to the argument that
Canada's medicinal marijuana program renders it unconstitutional.

"Every time a judge calls into question our marijuana laws, it
undercuts the legitimacy of the law," said Alan Young, a Osgoode Hall
law professor and veteran of the long-standing debate about
marijuana, its medicinal benefits and decriminalizing its possession.

Four years after Ottawa supposedly closed off a complex legal
loophole that effectively rendered the law unenforceable, an Ontario
Court judge agreed Friday that the law governing pot possession in
Canada was unconstitutional.

The Liberal government's decision in 2003 to allow eligible patients
access to marijuana for medicinal reasons was made by an informal
policy statement and never changed the existing statutes or
regulations, Lawyer Bryan McAllister argued.

"It is a departmental policy that can be changed at whim, or even
ignored," McAllister said in an interview.

"An aggrieved party cannot go to court to seek enforcement of a
government policy."

Without a clause that makes an exception for medicinal marijuana
users, "the policy is not enshrined in law, it has no value, and the
law as it stands is unconstitutional," McAllister said.

[snip]

Eric Nash, who has testified as an expert witness in a number of
cannabis cases across Canada, said the number of cases he has been
involved in has "tripled" in recent months.

"All of the sudden there seems to be a huge increase in the number of
marijuana possession cases going to court," Nash said.

That's because the number of people arrested for smoking pot rose
dramatically in several Canadian cities last year after the
Conservatives took office and killed Liberal legislation to
decriminalize small amounts of marijuana.

Preliminary figures suggested the number of arrests jumped by more
than one-third in several Canadian cities; Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa
and Halifax all reported increases of between 20 and 50 per cent in 2006.

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n863/a05.html

International News

COMMENT: (19-21)

When the fortunes of your political party are waning because of
failing foreign adventures, what's a politician to do for diversion?
Go after pot smokers, of course! In the UK, prime minister Gordon
Brown surprised onlookers by ordering a review of the laws that have
lessened the penalties for cannabis use. The move follows a media
flap over "concerns" and "fears" that "potent 'skunk'" cannabis is
causing youth to become "psychotic". The UK government will release a
report next week which is expected to call for greater punishment
("enforcement") for cannabis use. In the UK, penalties for possessing
small amounts of cannabis were reduced in 2004 after a
re-classification from "Class B" to a less-serious "Class C". Former
Home Secretary David Blunkett, author of the reclassification of
cannabis in 2004, noted that cannabis use has actually dropped.
"[C]annabis use amongst young people has fallen and the campaign to
educate and inform young people has been the most successful
government information programme in recent years."

In France, a new national study that shows teenagers are using more
cannabis than ever before. "Our studies show that they are turning to
cannabis because its effects reinforce their state of mind without
fundamentally altering it. They don't want to get wasted," said
Jean-Michel Costes, author of the study and director of the drugs and
addiction group, OFDT. The upsurge in French youth using cannabis
follows the passage of harsher punishments for cannabis possession
enacted in France in 2004.

If you're a "Justice" Minister in Ireland, you've got a bully pulpit
from which to rail against those "who make the argument for
decriminalisation". Best of all, you needn't provide any evidence
whatsoever for your assertions. Irish Justice Minister Brian Lenihan
did just that last week when he announced decriminalizing or
legalizing "drugs" would worsen crime and dependency. "The harm that
would be done by going down that road would far exceed any benefits
that might be gained from it," proclaimed the prescient minister. He
added, "We have seen a spate of savage killings. Sometimes, they
happen because of rows that take place related to the drugs trade."

Why don't we see Pfizer or Bayer act this way?

(19) REVIEW HERALDS U-TURN ON CLASSIFICATION OF CANNABIS AS 'SOFT' DRUG

Pubdate: Thu, 19 Jul 2007
Source: Times, The (UK)
Copyright: 2007 Times Newspapers Ltd
Author: Richard Ford, Home Correspondent

Gordon Brown signalled a tougher approach to "soft" drugs yesterday
with a surprise announcement of the second review in two years of the
classification of cannabis.

Concern has been raised over the increased use of more potent "skunk"
forms of the drug. There have been fears that its use is linked to
psychotic illness, depression and suicide among young people.

[snip]

Next week, Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, will publish a
consultation paper on the next steps for the Government's drug
strategy, focusing on education and enforcement.

Mr Brown told MPs at Prime Minister's Questions: "As part of the
consultation, and the Cabinet discussed this yesterday, the Home
Secretary will also consult on whether it is now right that cannabis
should be moved from Class C to Class B."

[snip]

The council said at the time that smoking cannabis may worsen asthma
and damage the respiratory tract and that its use during pregnancy
produced adverse effects on the child. It added that cannabis use may
worsen the symptoms of schizophrenia and lead to a relapse in some
patients. But it said: "For individuals, the current evidence
suggests, at worst, that using cannabis increases the lifetime risk
of developing schizophrenia by 1 per cent."

It added: "The evidence for the existence of an association between
frequency of cannabis use and the development of psychosis is, on the
available evidence, weak.

"In the last year, over three million people appear to have used
cannabis but very few will ever develop this distressing and
disabling condition.

"And many people who develop schizophrenia have never consumed
cannabis. Based on the available data the use of cannabis makes (at
worst) only a small contribution to an individual's risk for
developing schizophrenia."

[snip]

Mr Blunkett said in a statement that he was "quite relaxed" about the
prospect of a review of his decision to downgrade the drug. The
statement said: "It is worth reflecting that cannabis use amongst
young people has fallen and the campaign to educate and inform young
people has been the most successful government information programme
in recent years."

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n869.a02.html

(20) CANNABIS USE TREBLES IN FRANCE

Pubdate: Thu, 12 Jul 2007
Source: Daily Telegraph (UK)
Author: Henry Samuel, in Paris

French teenagers see wine and alcohol as "old France" and are
increasingly turning to cannabis to let their hair down, according to
a national study on its consumption.

Jean-Michel Costes, head of the French drugs and addiction watchdog,
OFDT, said yesterday that French cannabis use has soared in the past
15 years and is now almost on a par with Britain.

While the French drink half the amount they did in the 1960s,
cannabis consumption among the 18- to 35-year age group has more than
trebled since the early 1990s, the report found.

France is now just behind Britain, Spain, Switzerland and Europe's
heaviest cannabis users, the Czech Republic.

[snip]

"Young people who want to rebel don't want the 'old-fashioned' image
associated with wine and alcohol," said Mr Costes. "Unlike in the UK,
binge-drinking is very uncommon - the French steer clear of hangovers
or feeling ill.

"Our studies show that they are turning to cannabis because its
effects reinforce their state of mind without fundamentally altering
it. They don't want to get wasted."

[snip]

"There is a general rise in the amount of anti-depressants taken in
France and the precursor to this in the young is cannabis," he said.

[snip]

Marie Choquet, research head of the medical body Inserm, said
yesterday that anti-cannabis legislation had only been in force since 2004.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n852.a02.html

(21) LEGALISING DRUGS WILL ONLY WORSEN CRIME - LENIHAN

Pubdate: Wed, 18 Jul 2007
Source: Irish Independent (Ireland)
Copyright: Independent Newspapers Ltd

Decriminalisation, he argued, would be a recipe for a vastly
increased dependency on drugs.

"The harm that would be done by going down that road would far exceed
any benefits that might be gained from it," he told the MacGill
Summer School in Glenties, Co Donegal.

Mr Lenihan said it was nonsense to think Ireland could take that step
while drugs remained controlled in other jurisdictions.

"People who make the argument for decriminalisation rarely seem to
carry its logic to its conclusion and say that if people stopped
using illicit drugs then the crime associated with supply would disappear."

[snip]

"We have seen a spate of savage killings. Sometimes, they happen
because of rows that take place related to the drugs trade.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n869.a04.html