DrugSense Weekly, Jan. 23, 2004 #334

Read This Publication On-line at:
http://www.drugsense.org/dsw/2004/ds04.n334.html

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

* This Just In

(1) Little Hope For Decriminalisation Of Ganja (2) Government Ads Aim To
End Confusion (3) Doctor Faces New Painkiller Charges (4) Top U.S. Drug
Agent Targets 'Microcartels'

* Weekly News in Review

Drug Policy-

(5) U.S. On Alert For Young Pot Users (6) Schools Oppose Medical Marijuana
Plan (7) Nation's Schools Eye Wider Drug-Testing (8) Column: I Kicked The Habit

Law Enforcement & Prisons-

(9) Drug Addiction Keeps Women's Prison Filled (10) Dirty, Crowded Cells
Becoming Norm As Meth Epidemic Spreads (11) Requiem For IDEA (12) Pair Cry
Foul Over Arrests In Court On U.S. Pot Charges

Cannabis & Hemp-

(13) Cannabis Is Blamed As Cause Of U.K. Man's Death (14) U.K. Doctors'
Fears At Cannabis Change (15) Oakland Plans To Snuff Out Some Pot Shops
(16) Donor Keeps Marijuana Dispensary Alive (17) Study Faults White House
Anti-Drug Ads

International News-

(18) Death Sentence In Huge Heroin Haul (19) Canadian-Led Raid Uncovers 16
Drug Suspects In Kabul (20) Fantino Denies Force Rife With Corruption (21)
Morocco Targets Cannabis But Production Soars

* Hot Off The 'Net

New Jersey Drug Prosecutor Defends Drug War

Lynn Harichy Memorial Page

Election 2004 Issue Survey - Let's Talk About Drugs

In Memory of Ron Crickenberger

San Mateo Marijuana Recognition & Compassion Petition

Cultural Baggage, the Unvarnished Truth About the Drug War

ONDCP Ad Campaign Evaluation

Battle For Canada #11: Phoney Decrim and Reefer Madness

Canadian Comics on the Barrie Bud Bust

* Letter Of The Week

Marijuana Web Site Questioned / By Stan White

* Star-Ledger 2003 Silver Pen Award

Acceptable Medicine / Jim Miller

* Feature Article

SOTU on Drugs / By Pete Guither

* Quote of the Week

Charles Caleb Colton

HOT OFF THE 'NET

NEW JERSEY DRUG PROSECUTOR DEFENDS DRUG WAR

A DrugSense Focus Alert.

http://www.mapinc.org/alert/0284.html

LYNN HARICHY MEMORIAL PAGE

http://www.drugsense.org/lccc/lynnmemorial.html

In Memory of Ron Crickenberger

"Ron gave everything he had to the cause he believed in so passionately,
and he received something priceless in return - the love and respect of
everyone whose life he touched. His dream and his legacy will continue to
live on, wherever free men and women stand up and fight for liberty." -
Steve Dasbach

http://www.roncrickenberger.com/

ELECTION 2004 ISSUE SURVEY - LET'S TALK ABOUT DRUGS

The Associated Press Managing Editors Association, on behalf of newsrooms
around the country, invites you to help determine what issues our newsrooms
should address in our political coverage. We need to ask you a few simple
questions about which issues are most important to you.

As the campaign season progresses, and new issues arise both nationally and
locally, we'll be in touch with readers again to ask more specific
questions. This is part of APME's Credibility Roundtables Project, which
works to encourage communication and build trust between journalists and
the public.

The survey, hosted by the Spokesman-Review, is an opportunity for you to
let these folks know what you think is important news. Please take the
survey at:

http://www.spokesmanreview.com/survey/apme/

For more about APME see http://www.apme.com/

Submitted by Kim Hanna

SAN MATEO PETITION

I have just read and signed the petition: "San Mateo County Medical
Marijuana Recognition & Compassion Act"

We are trying to reach 50000 signatures, and we need YOUR HELP!

Please assist and support all citizens, patients & caregivers of San Mateo
County by signing this petition. It takes 30 seconds and will help
tremendously. Please follow this link:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/798428402

Once you have signed, help even more, by telling your friends and family to
sign as well!

Thank you!

Marnie Regen

(patient and advocate, san jose)

CULTURAL BAGGAGE, THE UNVARNISHED TRUTH ABOUT THE DRUG WAR

Last: 01/20/04, Reverend Edwin C. Sanders II

Senior Servant and Founder, Metropolitan Interdenominational Church of
Nashville, Tenn., which has outreach ministries in the areas of substance
abuse, advocacy for children, sexual violence, and harm reduction.

MP3: http://www.cultural-baggage.com/Audio/FDBCB_012004.mp3

Real: http://www.cultural-baggage.com/ramtorm/to012004.ram

Next: 01/27/04 Steve Bloom

Chief Editor, High Times Magazine.

7:30 EDT, 6:30 CDT and 4:30 PDT. Live, online at http://www.kpft.org/

http://www.cultural-baggage.com/kpft.htm

ONDCP AD CAMPAIGN EVALUATION

A new NIDA-funded evaluation of the ONDCP ad campaign has been
released. The report, by Westat and the Annenberg School, once again found
that the ad campaign is ineffective at best.

The evaluation, in full and an executive summary, can be downloaded from:

http://www.nida.nih.gov/despr/westat/

An article in Advertising Age also talks about the evaluation. It's
available through the MAPINC archive at:

http://www.mapinc.org/newscsdp/v04/n124/a01.html "Study Faults White House
Anti-Drug Ads," Ad Age, Jan. 19, 2004

Please also note, this study refutes recent assertions by Lloyd Johnston of
the Monitoring the Future project and John Walters of ONDCP that these ads
may have helped bring about a reported decrease in drug use by some young
people.

Submitted by Doug McVay, http://www.csdp.org/

BATTLE FOR CANADA #11

Phoney Decrim and Reefer Madness / Analysis by Richard Cowan

UK Reefer Madness Spreads To Canada As Both Countries Move Toward Phoney
Decrim Bills. One Cannabis User Dies of An Overdose, Another Commits
Murder. Learning Lessons from "the old country."

http://www.pot-tv.net/archive/shows/pottvshowse-2430.html

CANADIAN COMICS ON THE BARRIE BUD BUST

The Royal Canadian Air Farce pokes some fun at the recent Brewery turned
grow-op bust in Barrie Ontario, a subject also commented on by Canadian
funny man, Rick Mercer.

http://www.pot-tv.net/archive/shows/pottvshowse-2437.html

STAR-LEDGER 2003 SILVER PEN AWARD

Whenever any newspaper editor or reporter is feeling self-important and
tempted to puff up like a toad (or a TV pundit), there is always that one
thing to keep us honest and humble about what we do for a living.

Every time a newspaper surveys it's readers to see what they do and do not
like, one feature invariably leads the pack of favorites. It is the
letters to the editor, the only part of the paper not written by professionals

The letters section is where average people get a chance to shoot off their
mouths right next to the columnists and editorial writers, sometimes
balancing the often more predictable thoughts of the presumed
experts. Their feelings reflect public opinion in a deeply textured way
that no poll could ever duplicate.

So we decided to recognize our letter writers. There are prizes, after
all, for other contributions to the paper far less read than the letters.

[snip]

Pubdate: Sun, 18 Jan 2004
Source: Star-Ledger (NJ)
Website: http://www.nj.com/starledger/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/424
Author: Richard Aregood
Cited: Multiple Sclerosis Patients Union http://www.drugsense.org/mspu/
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n121/a01.html

Note: The Star-Ledger is the 16th largest daily newspaper in the United
States with a circulation of over 400,000 copies. It prints hundreds of
letters each year. Thus the recognition of Jim Miller as one of the
recipients of the newspaper's Silver Pen Award is a high honor. You may
read all of Jim's published letters at http://www.mapinc.org/writers/Jim+Miller