WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW
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Domestic News- Policy
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COMMENT: (5-9)

If you've ever been curious about Salvia divinorum, the time for
ingesting it legally is nearing an end. Four states have already
banned it and Wisconsin now joins 7 other states with pending
legislation.

The Atlantic Monthly published a fairly extensive review of Plan
Colombia beginning with the 15 and 20 ton recent cocaine busts.
After 7 years and 5 billion dollars, cocaine production has not
decreased and U.S. street prices have dropped from the 1980's $600
grams to 2007 $50 grams.

In 1989, Jackson County, Missouri was the first U.S. County to pass
an anti-drug sales tax with proceeds being spread between
enforcement, treatment and prevention programs. Since prohibition
prevents valid drug use data collection officials have only arrest
statistics and court proceedings to rely on while determining how
well the tax money is being spent.

Although DARE officers will probably never admit DARE does not work
- there is hope that a new replacement program is on the way. The
Lexington Herald-Leader reports the new program, based on actual
research, is being evaluated in several pilot cities and may be
implemented in more schools next year.

Ending this section on a positive note - the U.S. Supreme Court
ruled that car passengers have the same constitutional rights as
drivers during traffic stops!

(5) BILL WOULD BAN SALE OF HALLUCINOGENIC SALVIA DIVINORUM

Pubdate: Mon, 18 Jun 2007
Source: Wisconsin State Journal (WI)
Copyright: 2007 Madison Newspapers, Inc.
Author: Chris Martell

[snip]

Salvia divinorum, related to but different from the backyard salvia,
is a perennial herb of the mint family native to the Sierra Mazateca
region of Oaxaca, Mexico. It contains a powerful hallucinogen
considered by some to be as potent as LSD, according to the Drug
Enforcement Administration.

[snip]

Federal authorities consider salvia a "drug of concern," but it's
not outlawed. In Wisconsin, as in other states, that could soon
change. Democratic Reps. Sheldon Wasserman and David Cullen of
Milwaukee last week began seeking sponsors for a bill that would ban
the manufacture and sale of Salvia divinorum for consumption in
Wisconsin, with a penalty of up to $10,000.

[snip]

But not everywhere. Four states have banned Salvia divinorum or
salvinorin A, the ingredient responsible for the plant's
psychoactive effects. In addition, as of January, legislative bills
proposing regulatory controls on salvinorin A or Salvia divinorum
were pending in Alaska, Illinois, Maine, New Jersey, New York, North
Dakota and Virginia.

Internationally, a variety of regulatory controls have been enacted
in Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Italy, Spain and
Sweden.

[snip]

Salvia would join the list of banned substances only after a long
trip through the legislative process that starts with the
introduction of the bill and its referral to an Assembly committees.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n732/a08.html

(6) SNOW FALL

Pubdate: Sun, 01 Jul 2007
Source: Atlantic Monthly, The (US)
Copyright: 2007 The Atlantic Monthly Company
Author: Ken Dermota

The World In Numbers

Attacking Cocaine at Its Source Was Meant to Drive Up Prices, Yet
U.S. Street Dealers Are Selling It for Less Than Ever.

[snip]

In March, the U.S. Coast Guard intercepted a freighter off Panama
laden with 20 tons of cocaine, in the largest maritime bust ever.
That was followed in April by Colombian authorities' seizure of a
15-ton cache most likely awaiting shipment to Mexico.

Of course, the good news is soured by the fact that cocaine
production remains robust enough to allow shipment in 20-ton
batches.

The Coast Guard would need to repeat its recent haul about every two
weeks to intercept all the cocaine that Colombia sends north, and
there's no guarantee traffickers wouldn't just ship more to make up
for the losses, as they have always done.

[snip]

Clearly, policing has a big impact on cocaine prices: On the streets
of Bogota, a gram of cocaine can be had for under $2. Recreational
users in America, on the other hand, typically pay upward of $50 a
gram.

Yet over time, cocaine prices per pure gram in the United States
have steadily fallen, from $600 in the early 1980s to less than $200
by the mid-1990s. In 2000, under Plan Colombia, the U.S. took the
fight directly to the coca fields, spending nearly as much each year
on aerial coca eradication and fighting cocaine-dealing rebels in
Colombia as Ireland spends on its entire military. Plan Colombia has
cost $4.7 billion since its inception, but cocaine on U.S. streets
has only gotten cheaper, while American demand has remained steady.

Why the Price Decline?

More-efficient distribution networks may be part of the answer. Some
smugglers now bring "factory-to-you" prices to New York by picking
up their dope in Colombia and eliminating middlemen.

At the same time, a surge in trade between the U.S. and Mexico has
made smuggling safer and cheaper by providing endless nooks and
crannies among the billions of dollars' worth of legitimate goods
flowing over the border each year.

Inside the United States, retailers have reduced prices by cutting
the take of street-corner vendors, some of whom now make less than
the minimum wage. Ironically, aggressive imprisonment of drug
offenders may contribute to this phenomenon: When convicts rotate
out of prison, stigmatized by felony convictions and possessing no
licit skills, they are sometimes willing to sell dope for less than
they were earning before they went in. Sellers up and down the food
chain also appear willing to work for less because the risks
involved in selling cocaine have declined: Violence has trailed off
since the 1980s crack boom ended, and since 2001, federal drug
prosecutions have fallen 25 percent, as agents have been reassigned
to chase terrorists.

Many experts say that if we can't keep the price of cocaine out of
reach for more people, some money would be better spent on
rehabilitation of drug users, and on education.

[snip]

'A Hell of a Lot of Coca'

Since 2000, American crop dusters have cumulatively sprayed an area
the size of Delaware and Rhode Island to eradicate coca bushes in
Colombia. But coca cultivation on small plots and in out-of-the-way
places has made up for lost production. The State Department, after
discovering thousands of hectares planted outside the areas it had
been tracking, said last year it cannot reliably tally coca
production. "It's all rather irrelevant," a State Department
official who wished to remain anonymous said. "There's still a hell
of a lot of coca out there."

[snip]

Cocaine bound for Brazil mostly stays there: A recent boom in demand
has made Brazil the No. 2 destination for cocaine, behind the U.S.;
it has also fueled the growth of larger and more powerful gangs.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n689/a03.html

(7) BATTLES WON, WAR GOES ON

Pubdate: Sun, 17 Jun 2007
Source: Kansas City Star (MO)
Copyright: 2007 The Kansas City Star
Author: Joe Lambe

Jackson County officials look at ways to best use sales-tax money to
get narcotics off the streets.

The number of drug cases filed in Jackson County dropped nearly 25
percent last year to the lowest level in five years.

Some people call that a hard-won victory in the first American
county to impose a tax to fight drugs. Others wonder whether dealers
simply have gotten smarter and harder to catch.

Despite the decline in prosecutions, Kansas City police officers
still spend a substantial amount of time fighting the war on drugs.
An examination of the local drug scene shows that crack cocaine
remains the city's big-money street drug, but marijuana seizures
have skyrocketed.

Jackson County officials now are pondering how best to spend future
anti-drug sales-tax money to keep the drug problem in retreat. It
may be time for changes, they say.

[snip]

On any given day in Kansas City, a disheveled man somewhere takes
cash and tells a customer to get his rock of cocaine nearby -- maybe
in a chink in a wall or under a box of diapers in a store. Or maybe
there is a quick handoff through a car window.

The street dealers often are addicts working to obtain some of the
product. Midlevel bosses roam elsewhere and control their help by
using cell phones.

Sergeants in the street narcotics unit would not say how many
officers monitor the streets, but they said the work is plentiful.

"We could put 2,000 down there on every shift and keep them busy,"
Mak said.

[snip]

Last year the amount of marijuana seized in Kansas City increased
more than 7,000 percent, in part because of one or two giant raids.
The amount of cocaine seized fell 70 percent. The amount of seized
methamphetamine fell 34 percent.

Overall, Jackson County's drug cases dropped from 2,223 two years
ago to 1,711 last year.

Possession cases dropped from 1,579 in 2004 to 1,037 in 2006.

Those numbers encourage Kanatzar, who said they signaled a drop in
drug use. But drug prices also are dropping -- and that typically
indicates a stronger market.

Undercover Kansas City police officers recently bought an ounce of
pure powder cocaine for $500, about half the price from five or six
years ago. And a dealer can still cook the powder cocaine into crack
and triple his money, police said.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n733/a01.html

(8) NEW DRUG EDUCATION PROGRAM WAITING IN WINGS

Pubdate: Mon, 18 Jun 2007
Source: Lexington Herald-Leader (KY)
Copyright: 2007 Lexington Herald-Leader
Author: Shawntaye Hopkins

DARE Is Expected To Adopt New Method After Evaluation

The drug prevention program that law enforcement officers have
delivered to youngsters nationwide for decades could change
significantly after a University of Akron study concludes this year.

The DARE program started in Los Angeles in 1983 with little, if any,
research to support its curriculum and delivery method. Still, the
program spread nationally and is now taught in every state and 43
countries. Fayette County implemented DARE as a pilot program in
1986, then as part of all public elementary school curricula the
next year.

Researchers at the University of Akron created an evidence-based,
research-driven drug prevention curriculum and delivery method after
receiving a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

DARE officers have been used to test the curriculum, although the
study is independent of the well-known drug prevention program.

But DARE is expected to adopt this new drug prevention program after
analysis concludes this year. Akron's curriculum is being evaluated
in Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Newark and St. Louis
with about 19,000 students followed from seventh through 11th
grades.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n735/a07.html

(9) SUPREME COURT EMBRACES RIGHTS FOR CAR PASSENGERS

Pubdate: Mon, 18 Jun 2007
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2007 The New York Times Company
Author: David Stout

WASHINGTON -- A passenger as well as a driver has the right to
challenge the legality of a police officer's decision to stop a car,
the Supreme Court ruled unanimously today.

The ruling came in the case of Bruce E. Brendlin, who was a
passenger in a car that was stopped by a deputy sheriff in Yuba
City, Calif., on Nov. 27, 2001. The deputy soon ascertained that Mr.
Brendlin was an ex-convict who was wanted for violating his parole.
An ensuing search of the driver, the car and Mr. Brendlin turned up
methamphetamine supplies.

Eventually, Mr. Brendlin pleaded guilty to a drug charge and drew a
four-year prison sentence. But he continued to appeal on the issue
of whether the evidence of drugs found on him resulted from an
illegal search and should have been suppressed because of the Fourth
Amendment's protection against unreasonable search and seizure.

The California Supreme Court found that, constitutionally speaking,
only the driver had been "seized" by the stop, and that therefore
Mr. Brendlin had no basis for challenging the search that turned up
the drugs. The State of California made that argument again when the
case was heard before the United States Supreme Court on April 23.

But Mr. Brendlin's lawyer, Elizabeth M. Campbell, argued that when
an officer makes a traffic stop, "he seizes not only the driver of
the car, but also the car, and every person and every thing in that
car."

The justices agreed. "When police make a traffic stop, a passenger
in the car, like the driver, is seized for Fourth Amendment purposes
and so may challenge the stop's constitutionality," Justice David H.
Souter wrote for the high court.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n732/a05.html

Law Enforcement & Prisons
-------------------------

COMMENT: (10-12)

It was refreshing this week to see an article about the DEA which
covered more than one side of the story. Houston Chronicle DC
reporter, Daniel Dale, included opinions from both supporters and
critics in his piece about the DEA's museum of "spoils".

A former DEA agent dedicated most of his OPED to defending the NDIC
and, of course, none of it justifying our current drug policies.
But, it was interesting to learn about this agency from an insider's
perspective.

And, not surprisingly, smuggling contraband into jails occurs in
places other than the U.S. as our closing story from Quebec reveals.

(10) SPOILS FROM DRUG WAR ON DISPLAY IN DISPUTED DEA MUSEUM

Pubdate: Sun, 17 Jun 2007
Source: Houston Chronicle (TX)
Copyright: 2007 Houston Chronicle Publishing Company Division, Hearst Newspaper
Author: Daniel Dale

The Drug Enforcement Agency Museum Highlights Law and Order, but
Critics Say Drug Policy Outcomes Are Distorted

ARLINGTON, VA. - Bongs, syringes and cocaine spoons line the
display's back wall. Across the aisle, next to yet more drug
paraphernalia, sits the replica crack house door.

You're not hallucinating: The Drug Enforcement Administration Museum
is a taxpayer-funded, government-run institution filled with
artifacts that could've been Cheech and Chong props.

Opened in 1999 on the ground floor of the DEA's offices in suburban
Washington, D.C., the one-room museum draws about 12,000 visitors
annually, director Sean Fearns says. Admission is free. Most
visitors are middle and high school students on class trips.

According to critics such as Allen St. Pierre, executive director of
the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, it's a
"terrific waste" of public money, a "boys with toys museum" that
glorifies the DEA and its agents at the expense of the truth.

[snip]

Fearns says students, parents and educators appreciate the museum
and the DEA's traveling exhibit, "Target America: Drug Traffickers,
Terrorists and You," which visited Dallas in 2003 and 2004 and has
drawn 150,000 to 350,000 visitors per year.

"Parents say to us, 'Thank you for allowing us to start the
conversation about drugs and drug abuse," he says.

But St. Pierre and other critics of U.S. drug policy argue that the
public shouldn't have to pay for a supposedly educational
institution that provides a "massively flawed" education.

The museum received $349,000 from Congress to open. At present, it
operates as a public-private partnership, getting at least $380,000
per year from the government.

St. Pierre says the museum fails to note the cost of the war on
drugs to taxpayers and ignores the nuances of drug policy. Caren
Woodson, director of government affairs for the advocacy group
Americans for Safe Access, says its displays boast of raids on
violent cocaine traffickers without mentioning raids on harmless
medical marijuana users.

Fearns says the museum's space is limited. Tentative plans are in
the works for an exhibit on the history of marijuana use; drug
policy "is certainly an area we want to further look at."

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n729/a06.html

(11) OPED: CRITICS GIVE FALSE IMPRESSION OF NDIC'S VITAL TASK

Pubdate: Sun, 17 Jun 2007
Source: Tribune-Democrat, The (PA)
Copyright: 2007 The Tribune-Democrat
Author: John T. Counihan

What I read in or hear from the media about the National Drug
Intelligence Center can only be characterized as either
misinformation or disinformation.

It is difficult to ascertain whether this occurs because of benign
ignorance of NDIC's assigned role within the counter-drug community,
or more insidiously from petty partisan politics combined with
interagency funding envy. ( I have my idea as to the answer, and I
will let the reader decide for him-or herself. ) Unfortunately,
since the perception of media reporting about NDIC, although
inaccurate, is viewed as reality, both the reputation and employees
of NDIC are continuously painted with a tarnished brush. I speak
with some experience, as I am a retired Drug Enforcement
Administration supervisory special agent with 30-plus years of
narcotic enforcement experience - almost seven (1997-2004) of which
were an assignment by the DEA to the NDIC.

I served in a number of positions at NDIC. The majority of my time
was spent in the Document and Computer Exploitation Division ( DOCEX
), and for more than a year I had the privilege of serving as an
acting assistant director of NDIC, directly in charge of this
division. Among other assignments, I served in a supervisory
capacity in the intelligence division.

As a result of my service and experience with NDIC, I can
unequivocally state that the DOCEX performs a unique and invaluable
service for the federal narcotics-enforcement community, and on
occasion provides assistance to state and local
narcotics-enforcement agencies operating in a task-force environment
with a federal agency.

The tedious and labor-intensive work of NDIC's employees, which
results in comprehensive analysis of seized documents and electronic
equipment ( computers, cell phones, etc. ), has proven invaluable to
law-enforcement officers and prosecutors throughout the United
States. A testimony to their effectiveness in helping to obtain
guilty pleas and convictions in major drug-trafficking cases is
evidenced by the numerous letters received by NDIC from the agencies
to which assistance was provided. These letters, written by
assistant U.S. attorneys, local prosecutors and federal, state and
local law-enforcement agencies, are received on a regular basis and
contain effusive praise for the work and effort expended by NDIC
analysts.

[snip]

NDIC is involved in other tangential efforts, providing intelligence
and DOCEX training to law enforcement, but the core work is clearly
defined. There is no duplication of effort among the centers. The
constant media barrage against NDIC, most recently spearheaded by
Rep. Mike Rogers, a Michigan Republican who to my knowledge has
never been to NDIC, nor has any firsthand knowledge of this agency,
is difficult to comprehend unless seen in the light of petty
partisan politics. Also, the constant argument and harping that
NDIC's location in Pennsylvania is too far from Washington to be
effective is fallacious. It is an easy three-hour drive away. Does
anyone who puts forth this argument have a map of the United States?

[snip]

I do not know whether the Bush administration or Rogers actually
pays much attention to the war on drugs, but, in my assessment, it
is at best - utilizing all of the resources available - a holding
action. For the Bush administration - if in fact this is what is
occurring - to try to eliminate a national resource in the war on
drugs for purely political purposes is unconscionable.

[snip]

None of this affected the constant, consistent effort of the NDIC
work force to diligently complete its assigned responsibilities.
Unfortunately, the persistent negative media attention relating to
the possible removal of funding and closing of the center, through
the efforts of the Bush administration and Republican legislators,
affects the employees' morale, and this is unjust and unwarranted.
The war on drugs is not a partisan issue; it affects all Americans.
NDIC, because it is a small agency operating within the confines of
a vocal Democratic congressman, should not continually be made the
punching bag for Washington bureaucrats and for those who have no
clue, nor seem to care, how the NDIC employees' efforts and hard
work are assisting in the war on drugs.

[snip]

John T. Counihan spent 17 years as a special agent with the Drug
Enforcement Administration in New York City before being assigned to
the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa, Canada. While in Canada, he spent almost
seven years as a DEA special agent ( his title was assistant country
attache ) assigned to work on collaborative cross-border
investigations with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. He retired in
2004 as a supervisor with the National Drug Intelligence Center.

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n727/a04.html

(12) JAIL A SMUGGLERS' BAZAAR

Pubdate: Thu, 21 Jun 2007
Source: Montreal Gazette (CN QU)
Copyright: 2007 The Gazette, a division of Southam Inc.
Author: Paul Cherry, The Gazette

Street Gang Runs Ring. Bordeaux Guards Implicated In Operation That
Supplied Drugs, Booze, Cellphones

Provincial prison guard Pierre-Arold Agnant will see what life is
like on the other side of the bars for at least a week after he was
arrested on allegations he helped a street gang smuggle drugs into
the Montreal Detention Centre.

He was among nine people arrested yesterday by the Surete du Quebec
in an investigation of corruption at the site, formerly known as
Bordeaux jail, in north-end Montreal.

Agnant, 44, is alleged to have taken bribes to allow a smuggling
ring - - said to be controlled by members of the Crack Down Posse, a
street gang - to bring drugs, alcohol and other contraband into the
prison for months.

In a statement, the public security minister confirmed that four
provincial prison guards, including Agnant, have been suspended
pending the results of an internal investigation. The three other
guards were not arrested yesterday.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n741/a07.html

Cannabis & Hemp-
---------------------------

COMMENT: (13-17)

Neither Connecticut nor New York will become the 13th state to
approve of the use of medical marijuana under state law, at least
during the current sessions of the state legislature. Connecticut's
Governor prefers to have state and local police arrest medical
marijuana users, perhaps because she believes the federal
government's propaganda.

When the issue hits close to home a California newspaper
editorializes for easier access for medical marijuana users. Health
Canada, never happy with the court ordered medical marijuana
program, continues to do everything possible to scare doctors away
from approving applications. The Canadian free speech issue heats up
while we wait for the results of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in
the 'Bong Hits 4 Jesus' case.

Industrial hemp receives attention from the largest circulation
newspaper in the United States.

(13) RELL VETOES MARIJUANA BILL

Pubdate: Wed, 20 Jun 2007
Source: Hartford Courant (CT)
Copyright: 2007 The Hartford Courant
Author: Mark Pazniokas, Courant Staff Writer

Gov. M. Jodi Rell vetoed legislation Tuesday that would have
legalized the medical use of marijuana, saying that the bill was a
well-intended, but flawed attempt to alleviate suffering.

"I am not unfamiliar with the incredible pain and heartbreak
associated with battling cancer," said Rell, who was treated for
breast cancer 2 1/2 years ago. "I have struggled with the decision
about signing or vetoing this bill."

The legislation would have allowed patients with conditions such as
cancer, epilepsy, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis or AIDS to grow up to
four marijuana plants in their homes with a doctor's prescription.

But in a three-page veto message, Rell said her sympathies for those
with unmanageable pain did not overcome her concern that citizens
still would have to break the law to obtain marijuana or marijuana
seeds.

"There are no pharmacies, storefronts or mail order catalogs where
patients or caregivers can legally purchase marijuana plants or
seeds," Rell said. "I am troubled by the fact that in essence, this
bill forces law-abiding citizens to seek out drug dealers to make
their marijuana purchases."

Medical marijuana is supported by 83 percent of residents, according
to a poll by the University of Connecticut Center for Survey
Research and Analysis.

The bill passed easily, 89-58 in the House and 23-13 in the Senate.
But supporters are short of the votes necessary for a veto override:
24 in the Senate and 101 in the House.

Sen. Andrew J. McDonald, D-Stamford, a proponent, said the veto is
the result of Rell's failure to engage the legislature about her
objections prior to passage.

"We've been trying to pass this for three years in a complicated
legal and medical environment with little or no involvement from the
governor or her staff," McDonald said.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n736/a08.html

(14) EDITORIAL: FOR ILL, MEDICAL MARIJUANA OUGHT TO BE OBTAINABLE

Pubdate: Thu, 21 Jun 2007
Source: Inland Valley Daily Bulletin (Ontario, CA)
Copyright: 2007 Los Angeles Newspaper Group

We can't say it any better than Leo said it. Still, it bears
repeating.

Leo, of course, is Leo Greene, our colleague and friend who is
battling ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease. He has been chronicling his
thoughts and feelings as he confronts his illness in an
award-winning series of columns and videos called "Leo's Story."

In Sunday's installment, he made the case for the use of medical
marijuana to fight his terminal disease. It could buy him time, he
wrote:

"Time to see my two younger sons graduate. Time to see another
grandson born.

"Time, perhaps, for a cure to come along."

Those are powerful words, especially for those of us who know and
love Leo and admire the incredible grace and dignity with which he
has faced his illness. It puts the legal and law-enforcement
wrangling over medical marijuana in a new light - a personal,
gut-wrenching light.

Leo reported on marijuana research that has shown great promise for
extending the life of those with ALS, as well as relieving the
muscle twitching, spasms and potentially fatal excess mucous
associated with the disease. Cannabis compounds have been found to
offer symptomatic relief and slow the progression of multiple
sclerosis and Parkinson's disease; to relieve rheumatoid arthritis;
to slow nerve degeneration in Alzheimer's patients; and of course,
to help cancer patients being treated with chemotherapy.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n740/a11.html

(15) LIMIT POT RX: OTTAWA

Pubdate: Sun, 17 Jun 2007
Source: Winnipeg Sun (CN MB)
Copyright: 2007 Canoe Limited Partnership
Author: Canadian Press

OTTAWA -- Health Canada has been contacting doctors who prescribe
medical marijuana for their government-approved patients, advising
them to keep the dosages low.

Some users say that not only violates doctor-patient
confidentiality, it's also wrong for bureaucrats to make judgments
about the medical needs of people they've never seen.

"A person's medication should be between him and his doctor," said
Tony Adams, 60, a medical marijuana user in Victoria. "There
shouldn't be some bureaucrat in Ottawa that's never met me.

[snip]

Similarly, Alison Myrden in Burlington, Ont., says her doctor was
challenged by Health Canada bureaucrats about her 20- to 28-gram
daily dose.

"They asked to lower it more than once, and my doctor and I both
refused," said Myrden, 43, who uses marijuana for multiple sclerosis
and another painful condition. Her message to Health Canada: "Back
off -- leave our doctors alone."

The department's campaign to keep doses to five grams or less
includes postings on its website.

Health Canada also sent a letter recently to the Canadian Medical
Association advising doctors about appropriate amounts.

A spokesman for the department said dosage decisions are always left
to doctors.

As of last month, 1,774 patients were licensed to use medical
marijuana, about a thousand of whom grow it themselves. Another 166
have someone else grow it for them under licence, and 538 are
approved to order government-certified marijuana grown in Flin Flon,
Man., by a firm under contract with the department.

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n727/a05.html

(16) LEGAL ACTION CONSIDERED AGAINST SUSPENSION

Pubdate: Thu, 21 Jun 2007
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2007 The Globe and Mail Company
Author: Joe Friesen

WINNIPEG -- A video recording of a free-speech protest at a
Saskatchewan high school shows a school superintendent saying
publicly that 15-year-old Kieran King had been accused of selling
drugs at his school, even though his mother says he had never been
investigated or charged, or even spoken to by the school principal.

Kieran's mother, Jo Anne Euler, says the drug-selling accusation is
false, but hasn't yet decided whether to pursue legal action. Her
first priority is to appeal the school's decision to prevent Kieran
from writing his final exams, which means his grades will fall from
the high 80s to the mid-50s.

The video, which can be seen on YouTube, shows the peculiar
seven-person protest outside Wawota Parkland School last week. It
was organized, with the help of the Saskatchewan Marijuana Party,
after the principal threatened to call police if Kieran continued to
talk about the relative health risks of cannabis, alcohol and
tobacco - his response to a school presentation on the dangers of
drugs.

Just before the start of the protest, the principal ordered a school
lockdown, brought in the RCMP and later conducted a
threat-assessment on Kieran. He and his brother were suspended for
three days for leaving school grounds, preventing him from writing
his exams.

Superintendent of education Velda Weatherald tries to explain on the
video why Kieran was told not to talk about marijuana in school
after a student complained to the principal.

"When a student or parent comes with a complaint to the principal,
all she did say was if ever anyone was promoting drug use or was
actually trying to sell drugs - and there was an accusation," Ms.
Weatherald says.

A voice off camera asks, "Against Kieran?"

"Yes," Ms. Weatherald replies, but refuses to offer further details.

Kieran has said several times that he has never used or even seen
marijuana.

[snip]

Eugene Oscapella, an Ottawa lawyer and founding member of the
Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy, said Kieran should be commended
for standing up for his rights.

"If he is saying that cannabis is less harmful than alcohol or
tobacco, he's probably dead right," Mr. Oscapella said. "So what is
wrong in an educational institution with discussing these issues?"

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n740/a14.html

(17) 2 FARMERS SUING DEA OVER RIGHT TO GROW HEMP

Pubdate: Mon, 18 Jun 2007
Source: USA Today (US)
Copyright: 2007 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc
Author: Donna Leinwand, USA TODAY

Two North Dakota farmers who want to grow hemp are filing a federal
lawsuit today to challenge the Drug Enforcement Administration's ban
on the plant that is the same species that produces marijuana.

Hemp can be imported from Canada, Europe and China, but growing hemp
in the USA is illegal, the DEA says.

"Hemp is marijuana," DEA spokesman Garrison Courtney says. "There's
no distinguishing feature between marijuana and hemp."

Lawyers for the farmers say the Controlled Substances Act, which
governs illegal drugs, makes a specific exception for hemp, a
non-drug version of the marijuana plant. They are seeking a court
ruling that says the federal authorities cannot arrest the North
Dakota farmers for growing hemp.

The federal government used to encourage farmers to grow what is
known as "industrial hemp," says attorney Joseph Sandler in
Washington, D.C., who is representing the farmers. Hemp plants have
a low concentration of the psychoactive chemical that gives
marijuana users a high, he said.

"You can smoke 17 fields of this stuff, and it's not going to do
anything," Sandler says. "It doesn't make sense to say you can
import all this hemp, but you can't grow it and import it from North
Dakota to South Dakota."

North Dakota's Legislature began considering allowing farmers to
grow hemp more than 10 years ago after disease wiped out the wheat
and barley crop, says state Rep. Dave Monson, a Republican leader in
the Legislature and one of the farmers filing the lawsuit.

In 1993, the disease was so bad, "we actually burned every acre of
wheat and barley we produced," says Monson, who lives in Osnabrock.
"I came to the realization that we needed alternative crops."

Just across the North Dakota border, farmers in Canada are growing
hemp and making a profit, he says. U.S. manufacturers who use hemp
to produce textiles, soaps and other materials must import the crop
from countries that allow hemp farming.

A North Dakota State University study in 1997 found a good market
for hemp in the USA, so the Legislature passed laws to regulate hemp
farming, Monson said. The laws require background checks on the
farmers and monitoring to make sure illicit marijuana crops aren't
growing in the middle of the hemp field, he says.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07/n731/a01.html

International News
---------------------------

COMMENT: (18-20)

Prohibitionists in Washington D.C. cheer on any ratcheting-up of any
drug war anywhere, so don't expect the bloodbath south of the border
in Mexico to change hard-core prohibitionists' minds. (But what
does?) While more than 1,000 people have died in prohibition-related
violence in Mexico so far this year, there is also word of
widespread human rights abuses at the hands of the Mexican military,
according to a report in the In These Times newspaper this week.
Even the Mexican Congress urged President Calderon not to use the
army for domestic counter-drug operations. Noting Calderon's
prohibitionist zeal, the Mexican Congressional resolution stated
Calderon's drug war had "taken on a Messianic dimension."

A secretive report concerning Afghan opium was prepared by the
Canadian Privy Council Office last November, and warned then that an
opium crackdown "would provoke economic dislocation and hardship for
large numbers of Afghan citizens," posing, "added threats to
security and political stability... Counter-narcotic eradication
programs are making things worse," said the report, entitled,
"Afghanistan: Curse of the Opium Economy." The sensitive government
report, obtained by the Canadian Globe and Mail newspaper, was
"heavily redacted" (censored). No mention was made of an Afghan
opium buy-back program, an idea which has been gaining adherents in
recent months.

And in Dubai this week, a Canadian counter-narcotics official was
this week sentenced to fours years in prison for attempting to get
two poppy heads and .6 of a gram of hashish through a Dubai airport
in May. The counter-narcotics official claimed the poppies were for
lecture props, and he had no idea how the hash got there. The
official, Vancouver resident Bert Tatham, plans to appeal the
verdict.

(18) MILITARIZING MEXICO'S DRUG WAR

Pubdate: Sun, 1 Jul 2007
Source: In These Times (US)
Copyright: 2007 In These Times
Author: John Gibler

More Than 1,000 Police Officers, Soldiers and Members of Enemy
Cartels Have Been Killed This Year As President Calderon Has Turned
Up the Heat

"In the helicopter is where they began to beat us," recalls Sara, a
17-year-old who was released on May 16 after a week in military
detention. (Her name has been changed to protect her identity.)

[snip]

Seven months ago, President Felipe Calderon of the conservative
National Action Party took office and declared war on drug
traffickers, ordering 20,000 troops into the streets to put an end
to drug-cartel related murders. Despite the troops, the number of
drug-related murders has tripled and the army's massive deployment
has yielded tales of widespread human rights violations, like that
of Sara.

More than 1,000 people, mostly police officers, soldiers and members
of enemy cartels, have been killed since Jan. 1.

[snip]

Two of the girls told members of the Human Rights Commission that
during the helicopter ride, after being threatened, beaten and
molested, the soldiers placed warm rags over their mouths that
caused them to lose consciousness. One girl awoke with vaginal pain
and bleeding.

Police with close connections to the army said that Sara and her
friends were "connected to the Zetas," a gang connected to the Gulf
Cartel. One police official told the Mexican national newspaper, El
Milenio: "No, look, these girls even have kids and like to party. I
don't think the soldiers raped them; I'm sure they just grabbed them
in a few places, just a couple of touches here and there, but no
rape, they were even ugly."

[snip]

On May 23, the Mexican Congress passed a resolution urging Calderon
to professionalize and train the federal police forces so as to
avoid using the army to fight drug traffickers. The resolution noted
that the army's involvement has "taken on a Messianic dimension."
But the following day Calderon said he had no intention of backing
down.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n737.a02.html

(19) THE PERILS OF TRYING TO UPROOT AN OPIUM ECONOMY

Pubdate: Mon, 18 Jun 2007
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2007, The Globe and Mail Company
Author: Alan Freeman, with a report from Jeff Esau

Report Warned Federal Government That Poppy Eradication Could Lead
To Instability, And Leave The International Security Assistance
Force At Risk

OTTAWA - Top government officials were warned last fall that
Western-led efforts to wipe out Afghanistan's opium trade risked
undermining the country's shaky economy, increasing instability and
endangering Canadian and other NATO troops in the country.

The report, prepared by the International Assessment Staff of the
Privy Council Office, points out that the huge increase in Afghan
poppy production is damaging efforts to create a healthy, stable
economy. Yet Afghans have become so financially dependent on the
drug trade that simply eradicating poppy plants could risk making
things worse.

"Any aggressive clampdown on the opium trade would provoke economic
dislocation and hardship for large numbers of Afghan citizens," said
the report, entitled Afghanistan: Curse of the Opium Economy.

"Such an outcome would pose added threats to security and political
stability in Afghanistan, and could add to the vulnerability of ISAF
(International Security Assistance Force) forces."

The report, dated Nov. 22, was provided to The Globe and Mail by
Access to Information expert and writer Jeff Esau, who obtained the
documents from the PCO under an access request.

[snip]

The report was circulated widely among top levels of the government
with recipients including Ward Elcock, deputy minister of National
Defence; Peter Harder, who was then deputy minister of Foreign
Affairs; and David Mulroney, who was then Prime Minister Stephen
Harper's foreign and defence policy adviser.

[snip]

"Counter-narcotic eradication programs are making things worse
because the other elements of the counter-narcotics strategy are not
being implemented," says the heavily-redacted document, which is
dated Nov. 24.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n730.a08.html

(20) CANADIAN TO APPEAL DUBAI DRUG CONVICTION

Pubdate: Wed, 20 Jun 2007
Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Copyright: 2007 The Ottawa Citizen
Author: Steven Edwards

Anti-Narcotics Official Fights 4-Year Sentence

UNITED NATIONS - Sentenced to four years in an Arab prison
yesterday, Canadian anti-drugs official Bert Tatham vows to clear
his name of his drug possession conviction.

Within minutes of the verdict in Dubai, the Vancouver resident
instructed his lawyers to launch appeal proceedings.

[snip]

A three-judge panel sentenced Mr. Tatham after finding him guilty of
entering Dubai on April 23 with two poppy flowers and a tiny
quantity of hashish -- both banned substances in the emirate --
despite defence arguments the possession had been job-related.

Mr. Tatham had flown into Dubai after completing the first leg of a
return trip to Canada from Afghanistan, where he'd spent the
previous 12 months working in drug eradication, which involved
handling the narcotics he had with him.

While he said he intended to use the poppy flowers as props while
giving lectures in Canada, he speculated that he'd inadvertently
neglected to dispose of the hashish before leaving Afghanistan.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v07.n737.a08.html