Drug War Chronicle, Issue #599 -(urls + lead editorial)- 8/28/09
B Sellers
Drug War Chronicle, Issue #599 -- 8/28/09
Phillip S. Smith, Editor, psm...@drcnet.org
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/599
A Publication of Stop the Drug War (DRCNet)
David Borden, Executive Director, bor...@drcnet.org
"Raising Awareness of the Consequences of Drug Prohibition"
Book Offer: "This is Your Country on Drugs: The Secret History
of Getting High in America":
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/599/book_offer_this_is_your_country_on_drugs
Table of Contents:
1. FEATURE: MEXICO AND ARGENTINA ENACT DRUG DECRIMINALIZATION,
US DRUG POLICY INCREASINGLY OUT OF STEP
The drug policy wheel is turning, and the US and its hard-line
repressive drug policies are becoming increasingly isolated in
the hemisphere as in the past week alone 150 million Latin
Americans came under one form of decriminalization or another.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/599/mexico_argentina_drug_decriminalization
2. FEATURE: PRINCE OF POT MARC EMERY ON FAREWELL TOUR AS US
PRISON TERM LOOMS
Canadian cannabis entrepreneur and legalization advocate Marc
Emery is just weeks away from a US federal prison term. But if
US and Canadian authorities think they can shut him and his
supporters up, they are in for a surprise.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/599/marc_emery_prince_pot_farewell_tour
3. LATIN AMERICA: MEXICO DRUG WAR UPDATE
Here's the latest on the prohibition-related carnage wracking
Mexico.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/599/mexican_drug_war_update
4. LAW ENFORCEMENT: THIS WEEK'S CORRUPT COPS STORIES
We have a Deep South trio of dirty cops this week.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/599/police_drug_corruption
5. MEDICAL MARIJUANA: FIRST CALIFORNIA DEA ARRESTS UNDER OBAMA
TOOK PLACE LAST WEEK
The Obama administration said it wouldn't raid medical marijuana
providers who act in accordance with state law, but a bust last
week raises a few questions.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/599/first_DEA_medical_marijuana_arrests_under_Obama
6. MEDICAL MARIJUANA: WILL FOSTER EXTRADITED TO OKLAHOMA
In the latest ugly twist in the Will Foster saga, the medical
marijuana patient has been extradited back to Oklahoma so the
Sooner State can extract a few more pounds of flesh -- and a few
more years in prison for growing a plant.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/599/will_foster_in_oklahoma_prison_again
7. MARIJUANA: DENVER TO MOVE TO $1 FINE FOR POT POSSESSION?
Who has the lowest marijuana possession fine in the nation?
Denver is poised to take that honor.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/599/denver_panel_one_dollar_marijuana_fine
8. CANADA: IN MARIJUANA GROW CASE, ALBERTA'S TOP COURT RULES
POLICE USE OF POWER RECORDING DEVICE VIOLATES PRIVACY RIGHTS
The cops need to get a warrant before asking power companies to
record electricity usage, an Alberta court says.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/599/alberta_appeals_court_gomboc_marijuana_grow_electricity_meter
9. EUROPE: DUTCH GOVERNMENT TO FUND MEMBERSHIP CARD SCHEME FOR
MAASTRICHT COFFEE SHOPS
Here's the latest twist on Dutch efforts to deal with "drug
tourism." Maybe Belgium, France, and Germany should just change
their laws instead.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/599/maastricht_dutch_marijuana_coffeeshop_membership_cards
10. EUROPE: BRITAIN TO BAN SPICE, GBL, BZP
Some legal highs in Britain soon won't be so legal.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/599/britain_banning_spice_gbl_bzp
11. WEEKLY: THIS WEEK IN HISTORY
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of
years past.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/599/drug_war_history
12. ANNOUNCEMENT: THE 2009 INTERNATIONAL DRUG POLICY REFORM
CONFERENCE, ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO, NOVEMBER 12-14
Every two years drug policy reformers from across the United
States and around the world come to the International Drug
Policy Reform Conference to listen, learn, network and
strategize together for change. This year the conference is in
Albuquerque, in November, and StoptheDrugWar.org is a partner.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/599/2009_international_drug_policy_reform_conference_albuquerque_new_mexico
13. BOOK OFFER: THIS IS YOUR COUNTRY ON DRUGS
As part of our summer fundraising drive, DRCNet is pleased to
offer Ryan Grim's exciting new book, "This Is Your Country on
Drugs: The Secret History of Getting High in America," as our
latest membership premium. Things are happening, and the
importance of your support at this time could not be greater.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/599/book_offer_this_is_your_country_on_drugs
14. 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/599/do_you_read_drug_war_chronicle
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/599/drcnet_internships_to_stop_the_drug_war
(Not subscribed? Visit http://stopthedrugwar.org to sign up
today!)
================
1. Feature: Mexico and Argentina Enact Drug Decriminalization,
US Drug Policy Increasingly Out of Step
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/599/mexico_argentina_drug_decriminalization
In the last eight days, the decriminalization of drug possession
has gone into effect for 150 million Latin Americans. Last
Thursday, as part of a broader bill, Mexico (pop. 110 million)
decriminalized the possession of small amounts of all drugs
through the legislative process. Four days later, the Argentine
Supreme Court declared unconstitutional that country's law
criminalizing drug possession. While the Argentine case involved
marijuana possession, the ruling clears the way for the
government to draft a new law decriminalizing all drug
possession.
The shift in policies toward drug users in the two countries is
a dramatic indication of the seismic shift in drug policy
already well underway in Latin America. Colombia's high court
declared the law against drug possession unconstitutional in
1994. Brazil has had a version of decriminalization since 2006
-- users cannot be imprisoned, but can be forced into treatment,
educational programs, or community service -- and Uruguay now
allows judges to determine if someone in possession of drugs
intended to use them or sell and to act accordingly. Movement
toward decriminalization is also underway in Ecuador.
That reformist zeitgeist is perhaps best encapsulated in the
Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy
(http://www.drogasedemocracia.org/English), led by former
presidents Cesar Gaviria of Colombia, Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico,
and Enrique Cardoso of Brazil. In its report earlier this year,
Drugs and Democracy: Toward a Paradigm Shift
(http://www.drogasedemocracia.org/Arquivos/declaracao_ingles_site.pdf),
the commission called for decriminalization of drug use,
especially marijuana, and treating drug use as a public health
-- not a law enforcement -- issue. A similar commission got
underway in Brazil last week
(http://www.beckleyfoundation.org/policy/cannabis_press2.html).
"Decriminalization permits a distinction between users and drug
traffickers," said John Walsh of the Washington Office on Latin
America (http://www.wola.org). "This allows governments to focus
their efforts in reducing the terrible harms caused by the big
criminal networks and the violence related to the illicit
traffic, instead of repressing users and small-scale dealers."
"What's happened in Mexico and now Argentina is very consistent
with the broader trend in Europe and Latin America in terms of
decriminalizing small amounts of drugs and promoting
alternatives to incarceration and a public health approach for
people struggling with drug addiction," said Ethan Nadelmann,
executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance
(http://www.drugpolicy.org). "The decision in Argentina reminds
me of similar rulings in Colombia more than a decade ago and in
Germany before that, and, more generally, what's been going on
in the Netherlands, Portugal, and Switzerland. In some cases,
there is a legal or constitutional notion about personal
sovereignty or autonomy, but there is also a recognition of the
failures of the drug war approach vis a vis low-level offenders.
There is a kind of human rights element that you see popping up
in both contexts," Nadelmann said.
But the devil is in the details. Mexico's decriminalization, for
example, comes as part of a broader law aimed at "narcomenudeo,"
or small-scale drug dealing. In addition to decriminalizing drug
possession, the law for the first time allows state and local
authorities to arrest and prosecute drug offenders. Previously,
such powers had been the sole province of federal authorities.
The new law also allows police to make undercover drug buys, a
power they did not previously possess. (Visit
http://www.drugsense.org/temp/NarcomenudeoXDOF.pdf and go to
page 83 of the Official Daily to read the full text of the law
in Spanish.)
Under the Mexican law, the amounts of various drugs
decriminalized are as follows:
* opium -- 2 grams
* cocaine -- 1/2 gram
* heroin -- 1/10 gram
* marijuana -- 5 grams
* LSD -- 150 micrograms
* methamphetamine -- 1/5 gram
* ecstasy -- 1/5 gram
For Mexican drug reformers, the law is definitely a mixed bag.
The Collective for an Integral Drug Policy
(http://www.cupihd.org), a Mexico City-based reform think-tank,
felt compelled to note that while "the law represents certain
advances... it could have very negative consequences for the
country" because the public health and human rights perspectives
are not implicated strongly enough in it.
While the collective applauded the law's distinctions between
consumer, addict, and criminal; its rejection of forced drug
treatment, its lip service to harm reduction, and its
recognition of the traditional, ritual use of some substances,
it challenged other aspects of the law. "It focuses on
intensifying a military and police strategy that has proven to
be a failure," the collective said, alluding to the more than
12,000 people killed in prohibition-related violence since
President Felipe Calderon unleashed the military against the
cartels in December 2006.
"The law will criminalize a vast group of people who make a
living off the small-time dealing of drugs, but who in reality
do not consciously form part of organized crime," but who are
instead merely trying to make a living, the collective argued.
"Imprisoning them will not diminish the supply of drugs on the
street, nor will it improve public security, yet it will justify
the war on drugs, since the government will be able to boast of
the number of people incarcerated with this policy."
"Mexican decriminalization will have no impact whatsoever on the
broader issues of drug trafficking and violence," agreed
Nadelmann. "From the legal and institutional perspective, this
is very, very significant, but in terms of actual impact on the
ground in Mexico, that remains to be seen."
The collective also criticized the law's provision allowing
police to make drug buys to nab small-time dealers and warned
that the small quantities of drugs decriminalized "are not
realistic" and will as a consequence lead to "a significant
increase in corruption and extortion of consumers by police
forces."
University of Texas-El Paso anthropologist Howard Campbell, who
has studied the street drug scene across the river in Ciudad
Juarez, was more cynical. "It was a good move by the government
to make that distinction between users and traffickers, but I'm
not sure what the effects of the law will be," he said. "All
over Mexico, cops prey on junkies, and one effect of this might
be to give low-down junkies a bit of a break from the cops. On
the other hand, street-level drug dealing is often controlled by
the cops... but if the cops are corrupt and in control, it
doesn't really matter what the law says."
Campbell also doubted the new law would have much effect in
reducing the prohibition-related violence. "I don't think it
will have much initial impact, but still, the overarching
importance of this law is symbolic. It shows that governments
can revamp their policies, not just keep on working with failed
ones," he said.
In Argentina, the situation is less dire and the reform is less
ambiguous. On Tuesday, the Argentine Supreme Court, ratifying a
series of lower court decisions in recent years, declared that
the section of the country's drug law that criminalizes drug
possession is unconstitutional. While the ruling referred only
to marijuana possession, the portion of the law it threw out
makes no distinction among drugs.
The decision came in the Arriola case
(http://www.clarin.com/diario/2009/08/25/um/marihuana.pdf), in
which a group of young men from the provincial city of Rosario
were each caught with small amounts of marijuana, arrested, and
convicted. Under Argentina's 1989 drug law, they faced up to two
years in prison.
But imprisoning people absent harm to others violated
constitutional protections, a unanimous court held. "Each
individual adult is responsible for making decisions freely
about their desired lifestyle without state interference," their
ruling said. "Private conduct is allowed unless it constitutes a
real danger or causes damage to property or the rights of
others. The state cannot establish morality."
"It is significant that the ruling was unanimous," said Martin
Jelsma, coordinator of the Drugs and Democracy program at the
Transnational Institute (http://www.tni.org), which has worked
closely with Latin American activists and politicians on drug
reform issues. "It confirms the paradigm shift visible
throughout the continent, which recognizes that drug use should
be treated as a public health matter instead of, as in the past,
when all involved, including users, were seen as criminals."
That paradigm shift has also occurred within the current
Argentine government of President Cristina Kirchner, which
favors a public health approach to drug use. The government has
been waiting on this decision before moving forward with a bill
that would decriminalize possession of small quantities of all
drugs.
"The declaration of the unconstitutionality of the application
of the drug law for marijuana possession is a great advance
since it eliminates the repressive arm from a problem that
should be confronted with public health policies," said
Intercambios (http://intercambios.org.ar), an Argentine harm
reduction organization. "Whatever retreat in the application of
the criminal law in relation to drug users is positive; not only
to stop criminalizing and stigmatizing users, but to permit the
advance of educational, social, and health responses that are
appropriate for this phenomenon."
Some Argentine harm reductionists warned that while the ruling
was of transcendent importance, its real impact would be
measured by its effect on the policies of the state. "In the
vertical sense, it should oblige all the judges in the country
to take heed of this declaration of the unconstitutionality of
punishing drug possession for personal use," said Silvia
Inchaurraga of the Argentine Harm Reduction Association (ARDA --
http://www.infoarda.org.ar). "In the horizontal sense, it should
force all the agencies of the state involved in drug policy to
redefine their involvement to guarantee that they do not fail to
comply with international human rights treaties subscribed to by
the country," she added.
For the Argentine section of the global cannabis nation, it was
a happy day. "Wow! This feels like honest good vibrations from
the Supreme Court and the government," said Argentine marijuana
activist Mike Bifari. "They really do have this new policy of
generally being more tolerant and talking about human rights in
the drug issue nationally and internationally, instead of that
tired old war on drugs."
The Supreme Court decision will pave the way to full
decriminalization, he said. "Although this was a marijuana case,
the current law is about all types of drugs," said Bifari. "Now
we have to wait for the government's scientific committee to
come up with a draft of a new drug law, and that will be the
government's bill in the congress. We think there are going to
be lot of media debates and lots of discussion, and what we will
try to do is to occupy all the different cultural spaces and try
to advance on issues such as access and medical marijuana."
And so the wheel turns, and the United States and its hard-line
drug policies are increasingly isolated in the hemisphere. As
anthropologist Campbell noted, "This is happening all over Latin
America. You'd think we might be able to do it here, too."
================
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