Drug War Chronicle, Issue #611 -(urls + editorial)- 12/4/09
B Sellers
Phillip S. Smith, Editor, psm...@drcnet.org
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/611
A Publication of Stop the Drug War (DRCNet)
David Borden, Executive Director, bor...@drcnet.org
"Raising Awareness of the Consequences of Drug Prohibition"
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Table of Contents:
1. FEATURE: MEDICAL MARIJUANA GETS HISTORIC FIRST LEGISLATIVE
HEARING IN PENNSYLVANIA
For the first time in Pennsylvania history, a state legislative
committee held a hearing on medical marijuana Tuesday. It was a
good start, and although there are significant hurdles to pass,
momentum seems to be building.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/611/pennsylvania_medical_marijuana_hearing
2. FEATURE: AT THE STATEHOUSE -- SALVIA BANNED IN FOUR MORE
STATES THIS YEAR
Some legislators' reflexive response to a newly known
psychoactive substance is to ban it. That's certainly been the
case with salvia divinorum, which was banned in four more states
this year. Similar efforts failed or have yet to reach fruition
in at least seven others.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/611/salvia_divinorum_state_legislation
3. ALERT: TELL CONGRESS TO REPEAL UNJUST CRACK COCAINE SENTENCES
A rare window of opportunity has opened for addressing one of
the drug war's most glaring injustices.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/611/repeal_unjust_crack_cocaine_sentences
4. MEDICAL MARIJUANA: IN SLAP TO DA, JURY ACQUITS SAN DIEGO
MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISPENSARY OPERATOR
San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis thinks selling
medical marijuana is illegal. But a San Diego jury disagreed
Tuesday in the first dispensary case since her latest round of
raids back in September.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/611/san_diego_medical_marijuana_dispensary_operator_not_guilty_jovan_jackson
5. LATIN AMERICA: MEXICO DRUG WAR UPDATE
Three years ago this month, Mexican President Felipe Calderon
sicced the military on the so-called drug cartels. Three years
later, the drugs keep flowing north, the cash and guns keep
flowing south, and more than 16,000 people have been killed.
Here's the latest.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/611/mexico_drug_war_update
6. MARIJUANA: CALIFORNIA TAX AND REGULATE CANNABIS 2010
INITIATIVE SUSPENDS SIGNATURE GATHERING -- BECAUSE THEY HAVE
ENOUGH
There are at least three marijuana legalization initiative
campaigns under way in California, but Richard Lee's "Tax and
Regulate Cannabis 2010 campaign" is the first to announce it has
achieved its signature-gathering goals. Lee says they need
434,000 and they will end up with 700,000.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/611/california_tax_regulate_cannabis_marijuana_initiative_signatures
7. LAW ENFORCEMENT: THIS WEEK'S CORRUPT COPS STORIES
It's an odd mix this week: A cop with a gambling jones doing
petty bribery, a pair of narcs misbehaving, and a Customs
officer and a small town cop heading for prison are just the
half of it.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/611/police_drug_corruption
8. LAW ENFORCEMENT: MAN TRYING TO SNUFF JOINT AT CHECKPOINT ENDS
UP DEAD -- ATTORNEY ACCUSES POLICE
A Worcester, Massachusetts, resident tried to snuff out an
ill-timed joint and fasten his seat belt as the vehicle he was
in rolled up to a police sobriety checkpoint last week. He was
dead within minutes, and his family's attorney claims he was
beaten by police. Police have a different version of events.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/611/man_dies_marijuana_joint_police_checkpoint_kenneth_howe
9. LAW ENFORCEMENT: FEDERAL JUDGE SLAMS NYPD FOR WIDESPREAD
LYING IN DRUG CASES
Testilying -- the practice of police perjuring themselves to get
an arrest or win a case -- is so prevalent in the NYPD that
something has to be done, a federal judge complained this week.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/611/federal_judge_jack_weinstein_says_NYPD_lies
10. LAW ENFORCEMENT: UTAH "METH COPS" LOSE OUT ON HEALTH CLAIMS
Police in Utah who cleaned up meth labs in the 1980s and 1990s
have filed dozens of workers compensation claims asserting
exposure to the caustic chemicals caused a variety of physical
ailments. Now, those claims are being dismissed for lack of
evidence.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/611/utah_meth_cops_workers_compensation
11. MIDDLE EAST: HAMAS ADOPTS TOUGH NEW DRUG LAWS, INCLUDES
DEATH PENALTY FOR DEALERS
Taking a step firmly backward, the Hamas government in the Gaza
Strip is foregoing Israeli military drug law -- a remnant of the
occupation -- for Egyptian drug law, which includes the death
penalty for dealing.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/611/gaza_hamas_new_drug_laws_death_penalty
12. WEEKLY: THIS WEEK IN HISTORY
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of
years past.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/611/drug_war_history
13. FEEDBACK: DO YOU READ DRUG WAR CHRONICLE?
Do you read Drug War Chronicle? If so, we need your feedback to
evaluate our work and make the case for Drug War Chronicle to
funders. We need donations too.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/611/do_you_read_drug_war_chronicle
14. WEEKLY: BLOGGING @ THE SPEAKEASY
"Proof that the Drug War Sucks: Mexico," "Why Legalizing
Marijuana Will Reduce Violent Crime," "BBC News Says Hash is
Safer Than Marijuana," "Study Shows Marijuana Reduces Other Drug
Use," "Attorney General Promises Aggressive Marijuana
Enforcement," "Deputy Drug Czar Asks: Why is Everyone Talking
About Legalizing Marijuana?"
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/611/blogging_at_the_speakeasy
15. STUDENTS: INTERN AT STOPTHEDRUGWAR.ORG (DRCNET) AND HELP
STOP THE DRUG WAR!
Apply for an internship at DRCNet and you could spend a semester
fighting the good fight!
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/611/drcnet_internships_to_stop_the_drug_war
(Not subscribed? Visit http://stopthedrugwar.org to sign up
today!)
================
1. Feature: Medical Marijuana Gets Historic First Legislative
Hearing in Pennsylvania
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/611/pennsylvania_medical_marijuana_hearing
A Pennsylvania House committee in Harrisburg held the first
hearing ever on medical marijuana in the Keystone State today.
The hearing, which featured a raft of supportive witnesses,
sparked interest and questioning from legislators and left
medical marijuana advocates optimistic.
The hearing before the House Health and Human Services Committee
was on HB 1393
(http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/PN/Public/btCheck.cfm?txtType=HTM&sessYr=2009&sessInd=0&billBody=H&billTyp=B&billNbr=1393&pn=1714),
introduced by Rep. Mark Cohen (D-Philadelphia). The bill would
provide immunity from arrest for patients suffering from
HIV/AIDS, cancer, and other illnesses who have a doctor's
recommendation to use marijuana and a registration ID card.
Patients could possess an ounce of marijuana and up to six
plants. The bill also provides for state-licensed compassion
centers which could sell marijuana to patients. Such sales would
be subject to state and local sales taxes.
Witnesses included patients, medical marijuana advocates,
physicians, attorneys, and a rabbi. It wasn't completely
one-sided -- there to testify against the bill were the
Pennsylvania Elks and a woman who lost a daughter to a drug
overdose.
Some witness testimony tugged heart strings. In one such moment,
Charles Rocha, who had travelled from Pittsburgh, told
legislators how, at age 24, he obtained medical marijuana for
his breast cancer-ridden mother and how it helped her get
through end of life hospice care.
But Sharon Smith gave an equally emotion-laden presentation.
Smith, who started a drug-treatment advocacy group after her
daughter's death from a heroin overdose in 1998, worried that
allowing medicinal use of marijuana would lead to drug abuse and
addiction, citing supposed "abuses" that have occurred in other
medical marijuana states.
Smith also said legislators shouldn't be the ones deciding
whether any given substance is a medicine. "Let the medical
experts decide, not the legislators," she told the committee.
Smith's concern about abuse potential was addressed head-on by
Edward Pane, CEO of Serento Gardens Alcoholism and Drug
Services, Inc. in Hazleton. He told the committee that the
gateway theory had been discredited and that patients given
small amounts of marijuana were unlikely to develop a physical
dependency.
"Concerns that the medical use of marijuana will spur
individuals into the world of chemical addiction are baseless,"
said Pane, a part-time instructor on addictions studies at the
University of Scranton.
HIV sufferer Brad Walter of Larksville told the committee he
smoked marijuana four or five times a day to alleviate
gastrointestinal distress from the 14 pills he takes each day
for his diseases. Walter said he obtained marijuana on the black
market because nothing else, including Marinol, worked as well.
Also appearing before the committee was a delegation from the
Jewish Social Policy Action Network (http://www.jspan.org),
including Dr. Howard Swidler, MD, Chief of Emergency Medicine at
Warren Hospital, Conservative Rabbi Eric Cytryn of Harrisburg,
and former Montgomery County Commissioner Ruth Damsker, whose
husband died of brain cancer. The trio packed a punch, and
legislators were especially intrigued by Swidler's testimony,
interrupting him frequently with questions.
"Marijuana is non-addicting," Dr. Swidler bluntly avowed. "There
is no physical dependence or physical withdrawal associated with
its use. It is, from a practical standpoint, non-toxic.
Marijuana is safer by some measures than any other drug," he
told the committee. "There is simply no known quantity of
marijuana capable of killing a person."
Saying she wanted to address a "common myth" that medical
marijuana is a stalking horse for legalization, Damsker said:
"This bill is about people like my late husband, Dr. Jeffrey
Damsker, who could have benefited from medical marijuana while
undergoing chemotherapy for a malignant brain tumor. This bill
is about a better quality of life for Pennsylvania patients.
This bill is about compassion, and it's about science."
"I am here to state that Jewish values and ethics unequivocally
support passage of HB 1393," said Rabbi Citron.
While the committee Democrats were generally supportive, that
wasn't the case with Republican committee co-chair Rep. Matt
Baker (R-Wellsboro), who said that federal health officials had
found little evidence of marijuana's medical benefits and that
marijuana remains illegal under federal law. "I can't support
the legalizing of medical marijuana," he said.
Similarly, Republican Attorney General Tom Corbett, who is
running for his party's gubernatorial nomination, objected. In a
letter to the committee, Corbett said the measure would weaken
existing drug laws and make a dangerous substance more
available.
With Republicans in control of the state Senate, the bill's
immediate prospects are cloudy. Spokesmen for Senate Majority
Leader Dominic Pileggi (R-Lawrence) have said Senate Republicans
have no intention of moving on the bill even if were to pass the
Democratically-controlled House.
But even a House vote is a ways off. Committee Chairman Frank
Oliver (D-Philadelphia) said he plans to hold hearings across
the state before taking a committee vote.
Still, after the session, supporters were stoked. "It was a
great hearing," said Rep. Cohen, the bill's sponsor. "We moved
the bill forward dramatically. There was a lot of thoughtful
testimony."
"I feel very positive," said Chris Goldstein of Pennsylvanians
for Medical Marijuana (http://www.pa4mmj.org), which has led the
campaign in the Keystone Stone. "This was the first medical
marijuana hearing ever in Pennsylvania, and the legislators
asked a lot of good questions. This was a non-voting hearing,
and we still had 18 of 26 committee members show up, and they
extended the hearing an hour past when it was supposed to end."
That the bill managed to get a hearing at all was a good sign,
Goldstein said. "The legislature has been wrapped up dealing
with the budget crisis, and there is a lot of stuff that isn't
even going to get heard. That there were hearings at all says a
lot. And, frankly, we look forward to having hearings all across
the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania."
"Getting a hearing is always important, particularly in a state
without a lot of progress before," said Bruce Mirken,
communications director for the Marijuana Policy Project
(http://www.mpp.org), whose Bob Ceppecchio testified at the
hearing. "It has generated a lot of press interest, and even if
a bill isn't going to pass immediately, the educational process
takes a huge leap when you start airing the issue in this kind
of official forum."
"This will inevitably succeed," said addiction specialist Pane.
"On one side, we have overwhelming support and the scientific
evidence, and on the other side, hyperbole."
Pane said he thought he had gotten through the hostility of
Republican co-chair Baker when he reminded legislators about how
they struggled to get drug treatment resources. "People are not
endangered by marijuana being in the hands of doctors, but they
don't give you the resources to keep it out of the hands of
12-year-olds."
"I think this has a realistic chance of passing in 2010," said
Goldstein. "Progress has been lightning-fast so far. We just
started talking about a bill in March, it got introduced in
April, it was supposed to have a hearing in September, but the
budget crisis happened. A lot of important issues are getting
dealt with, but medical marijuana got a hearing today."
================ ...
___________________
It's time to correct the mistake:
truth:the Anti-drugwar
<http://www.briancbennett.com>
Cops say legalize drugs--find out why:
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Stoners are people too:
<http://www.cannabisconsumers.org>
___________________
later
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