CRRH's "Restore" Daily Ezine V9#244 - Sun, 14 Oct 01
D. Paul Stanford
In this issue:
URGENT ACTION ALERT: John Walters, Bush's Proposed Drug Czar
DEA Bans Hemp Products (10/13/01)
Brain Injury Heals With Organ's Version of Pot
US: Drug Czar Nominee Reverses His View On Policy Issues
Walters: "treatment not effective"
OR: Home May Become Haven For Marijuana
CA: Lone Patient Quits Marijuana Study
Poll Shows Coloradans Favor Reduced Drug Penalties
Canada: Grow-Op Pot Baron Gets 4 Years' Jail
Canada: Martin Wants Fines For Pot
SF Chron: Judge's pot use leads to sentence rehearing
DrugSense Weekly, October 12, 2001, #221
Transcript: Dr. O'Connell's Visit to the NYT Drug Policy Forum
*
res...@crrh.org daily digest web version:
http://www.crrh.org/hempnews/viewrestore.asp
*
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 13 Oct 2001 16:30:54 -0700
From: "D. Paul Stanford" <stan...@crrh.org>
To: res...@crrh.org
Subject: URGENT ACTION ALERT: John Walters, Bush's Proposed Drug Czar
Message-ID: <5.1.0.14.2.200110...@mail.olywa.net>
THE LINDESMITH CENTER - DRUG POLICY FOUNDATION
http://www.drugpolicy.org
...on the web
URGENT ACTION ALERT AND SPECIAL REPORT:
John Walters, Bush's Proposed Drug Czar
Thursday, October 12, 2001
URGENT: If you live in one of the following states
go to http://www.stopjohnwalters.org and send a
fax to your Senator(s) right away: Alabama,
Arizona, California, Delaware, Kansas, Kentucky,
Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, New York, North
Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina,
Utah, Vermont, Washington, or Wisconsin.
Please forward this special edition of our
eNewsletter to as many people as possible. We have
a chance of preventing John Walters from becoming
our nation's next drug czar, but we need the help
of thousands of Americans just like you.
__________________________________________________
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Special Thanks to Our Supporters
2. URGENT ACTION ALERT: How You Can Help Stop
John Walters
3. Update on the John Walters Confirmation Hearing
4. The Case Against John Walters
5. Background Information
__________________________________________________
SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR SUPPORTERS
We would like to give a very special thanks to all
of our supporters. Thanks to your hard work,
Senators have received thousands of phone calls,
letters, and faxes. Senators were very critical of
John Walters during his confirmation hearing on
October 10th. They criticized Walters on a number
of issues that we asked you to raise, including
Walters' lack of commitment to drug treatment, his
discredited view that racial disparities in the
drug war are just an "urban myth," and his
opposition to reforming mandatory minimum sentences.
Thanks to you, our message is getting through to
Senators. We need you to keep it up. Please read
the Action Alert below and respond immediately.
__________________________________________________
URGENT ACTION ALERT: HOW YOU CAN HELP STOP
JOHN WALTERS
We need your help! Many members of the Senate
Judiciary Committee are considering voting against
John Walters as drug czar. If we can get ten
Senators on the Committee to vote against him, we
can prevent Walters from becoming our nation's next
drug czar. We have as little as two weeks to
convince Judiciary Members to vote against Walters.
What can you do to help?
First, are you a voter in one of the following
states: Alabama, Arizona, California, Delaware,
Kansas, Kentucky, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts,
New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South
Carolina, Utah, Vermont, Washington, or Wisconsin?
If you are, please go to
http://www.stopjohnwalters.org and send a fax to
your Senator(s) on the Judiciary Committee,
telling them to vote against Walters.
PLEASE SEND A FAX NOW, Senators need to hear from
you right away. Go to
http://www.stopjohnwalters.org .
Second, please forward this e-mail to as many
friends, family members, and co-workers as
possible. Ask them to read it and take action.
Third, and very important: Please consider giving
us a contribution to help us wage our campaign
against John Walters. Go to
http://www.drugpolicy.org/membership
to find out how to give a donation. Even a small
contribution of $25, $50, or $100 helps. We need
money for our grassroots efforts to influence
Senators.
__________________________________________________
UPDATE ON THE JOHN WALTERS CONFIRMATION HEARING
On October 10th the Senate Judiciary Committee
held a confirmation hearing on John Walters. Many
Senators were very critical of Walters and his
views, especially on drug treatment, mandatory
minimums, and racial disparities in the drug war.
While Walters handled most of the questions posed
to him quite well, he could not adequately defend
his record. Indeed, he often backtracked from
long-held positions - a tactic referred to as a
"confirmation conversion" in Washington.
Written testimony can be read at:
http://www.drugpolicy.org/news/DailyNews/10_12_01Walters.html
Senator Joe Biden (D-DE), who chaired the hearing,
gave the hearing's opening remarks. Much of what he
said was critical of Walters. While he emphasized
that he had the utmost respect for John Walters, he
noted that there are a number of issues on which he
and Walters disagree.
"I am particularly troubled by Mr. Walters many
writings regarding drug treatment," he said. "He
has written that the 'view that therapy by a team
of counselors, physicians and specialists is the
only effective way to reduce drug use' is a 'myth.'
In contrast, the top doctors and scientists in the
field of addiction believe that addiction is a
chronic, relapsing brain disease and that addiction
treatment is as successful as treatment for other
chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and
asthma."
Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Chairman of the
Senate Judiciary Committee, was equally critical of
Walters.
"I do not doubt that John Walters has thought
seriously about our nation's drug problems," Leahy
said, "but I do doubt the conclusions that he has
reached and forcefully expressed on issues ranging
from drug treatment to interdiction to sentencing
issues." "In short, I'm not yet convinced that he
is the right person to head the Office of National
Drug Control Policy."
Leahy criticized Walters heavily in four areas:
Walters' lack of commitment to treatment: "Although
Mr. Walters has not developed a lengthy record on
treatment questions, some of his statements have
caused great concern among those who care about
treating drug addiction."
Walters' punitive criminal justice views: "Many of
us - Democrats and Republicans - have come to
question our reliance on mandatory minimum sentences
for a wide variety of drug offenses, as well as the
100 to 1 disparity under current law between
sentences for crack and powder cocaine. In his
writings and statements, Mr. Walters has been
hostile to reconsideration of these issues."
Walters' opposition to state medical marijuana laws:
"Mr. Walters has responded to this trend by
advocating that the federal Government use the
Controlled Substances Act to take away the federal
licenses from any physician who prescribes
marijuana to a patient in states that permit the
practice...In addition to running roughshod over any
federalism concerns whatsoever, Mr. Walters'
draconian response raises questions about his
sense of proportion."
Walters' support for escalation of the Latin
American drug war: "I am concerned that Mr.
Walters will seek to have the United States
overextend its anti-drug role in Latin America...
The costs - both financial and political - of our
involvement in the internal affairs of Latin
American nations require close scrutiny."
Other Senators that criticized Walters on various
grounds included Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA), Senator
Dick Durbin (D-IL), and Senator Herbert Kohl (D-WI).
Senators that praised Walters included Senator Orrin
Hatch (R-UT), Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ), Senator Jeff
Sessions (R-AL) and Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS).
Senator Hatch, the Ranking Member of the Committee,
testified extensively in favor of Walters. He said
that, "John Walters' career in public service has
prepared him well for this office." He went on to
add that Walters "has unparalleled knowledge and
experience in all facets of drug control policy."
Senator Kyl also testified extensively in favor of
Walters, but used half of his allotted question-
asking time to attack the Lindesmith Center - Drug
Policy Foundation, which has been leading the
charge to defeat Walters, and the Coalition for
Compassionate Leadership on Drug Policy, which
issued a non-partisan analysis of Walters' views in
September. (The report can be read in its entirety
at: http://www.ccldp.org/white_paper.html )
While Walters spent several hours answering
questions from Senators, he spent most of the time
detailing his job experience, and little time
discussing the controversial statements he has made.
Despite a record of consistently favoring
incarceration over drug treatment, Walters told
Senators that he favored a balanced approach to the
problem of drug abuse.
"I have always believed that the fundamental
elements of effective drug control policy are
consistent with common sense," he told Senators.
"We need to prevent young people from experimenting
with drugs. We need to help those who have become
addicted get off and stay off drugs. We need to use
the coercive power of the criminal justice system
and other supply reduction programs to support the
domestic prevention and treatment efforts, as well
as pressuring and disrupting drug trafficking
organizations."
The Senate Judiciary Committee could vote on
Walters as early as two weeks from now.
__________________________________________________
THE CASE AGAINST JOHN WALTERS
President Bush has nominated John Walters, to be
our nation's next drug czar. Unfortunately, John
Walters is too divisive, too insensitive, and too
extreme to be an effective drug czar. Walters is an
ardent drug warrior who supports harsh sentences
for non-violent drug offenders, opposes meaningful
drug treatment programs, supports escalation of the
Latin American drug war, and denies that racial
disparities exist in the criminal justice system.
At a time that public sentiment is rapidly shifting
from a criminal justice approach to drug abuse
towards a cheaper and more effective public health
approach, Walters still believes we can arrest and
spend our way out of the drug problem.
Who Opposes John Walters?
-- A majority of Members of the Congressional Black
Caucus oppose John Walters. They have recently
issued a one and a half page statement to the
Senate Judiciary Committee. The statement reads,
in part:
"At a time when policymakers at all levels of
government are seeking to address racial
disparities in the criminal justice system,
John Walters denies that such disparities even
exist. His extensive record is one of extreme
insensitivity to the problems facing African
Americans. We believe his views on race and
crime make him unfit for a position that
requires sensitivity to racial fairness...We
find that John Walters is both woefully ill
informed on the facts of the day and
insensitive to the needs of the African
American community. We strongly urge you to
vote against John Walters as Director of the
Office of National Drug Control Policy."
Signers of the statement include Representative
John Conyers - Congress's most senior African
American Member and the Ranking Member of the
House Judiciary Committee.
-- Organizations opposing John Walters, include:
AIDS Action, AIDS Foundation of Chicago,
American College of Nurse-Midwives, California
Legislative Council for Older Americans,
Chicago Recovery Alliance, Colombia Action/CT,
Colombia Human Rights Committee, Latino Voters
League, Justice Policy Institute, National
Association for Public Health Policy, National
Black Police Association, National Center on
Institutions and Alternatives, National Women's
Health Network, Pesticide Action Network,
Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, School of Americas
Watch, and Witness for Peace.
-- Over 20 newspapers have raised concerns about
John Walters, including: New York Times, Los
Angeles Times, Boston Globe, St. Louis Post-
Dispatch, Austin American-Statesman, Chicago
Sun-Times, Albany Times Union, Tulsa World,
and the Houston Chronicle.
-- The Betty Ford Center has issued a letter to
the Senate Judiciary Committee stating, in part:
"Mr. Walters may not have the confidence in the
treatment and prevention strategies that we
believe are necessary for the creation and
implementation of a balanced and thoughtful
approach to U.S. drug policy. Now, more than
ever, with increased public criticism of U.S.
drug policies that rely heavily on interdiction
and criminal justice solutions to the drug
problem, we need a director with an unshakable
conviction in strategies to reduce the demand
for drugs in this country."
John Walters on the Issues
-- Racial Disparities, Sentencing, Mandatory
Minimums:
Just six months ago, in The Weekly Standard,
Walters stated: "Neither is it true that the
prison population is disproportionately made
up of young black men. Crime, after all, is
not evenly distributed throughout society. It
is common knowledge that the suburbs are safer
than the inner city, though we are not
supposed to mention it."
In the same article, he stunned academics and
researchers by stating that, "What really
drives the battle against law enforcement and
punishment, however, is not a commitment to
treatment, but the widely held view that (1) we
are imprisoning too many people for merely
possessing illegal drugs, (2) drug and other
criminal sentences are too long and harsh, and
(3) the criminal justice system is unjustly
punishing young black men. These are among the
great urban myths of our time."
Even a cursory glance at the facts, however,
proves that Walters is at odds with the truth:
=B7 Of the 1,559,100 arrests for drug law
violations in 1998, 78.8% were for possession
of a controlled substance. In 1997, over
100,000 people were in state or federal prison
for possession of an illegal drug. This does
not even count those among the roughly two
hundred thousand non-violent drug offenders in
local jails.
=B7 The average federal sentence for a drug offense
in 1997 was 78 months, over twice the average
sentence for manslaughter and almost four times
the average sentence for auto theft. Possession
of crack weighing the equivalent of two pennies
requires five years in federal prison with no
possibility of parole.
=B7 Although whites and African Americans use drugs
at equal rates, African American men are
admitted to state prison for drug offenses at
a rate that is 13.4 times greater than that of
white men. In 15 states, African American men
are admitted to state prison for drug charges
at a rate that is 20 to 57 times the white
male rate.
While both President Bush and DEA Administrator
Asa Hutchinson have said they are willing to
look at reforming mandatory minimums and
concentrating more resources on a demand-side
approach to drug abuse, John Walters has opposed
these positions in the past. He has even
actively opposed eliminating the crack/powder
cocaine sentencing disparity.
The immediate past drug czar, General Barry
McCaffrey, recognized that both sentence length
and sentence time served present a problem
for the U.S. criminal justice system, going so
far as to remark, "We must have law
enforcement authorities address the issue...but
having said that, I also believe that we have
created an American Gulag." In response, Walters
has said, "I am a strong supporter of
enforcement. It is prevention. A moral lesson.
And I am against the part of the discussion
earlier that suggests that there are too many
people in jail... And for the Director (McCaffrey)
to say, 'I am troubled by the number of people
in jail,' sends the wrong message, I think."
Walters' also holds radical 'super-predator'
theories on juvenile crime that have been
thoroughly discredited; yet he still supports
them. Just six months ago he wrote, "Instead of
retreating from punishment, we should be
contemplating the limited demographic window
before us: By 2010, the population between the
ages of 15 and 17, just entering the most crime-
prone years, will be 31 percent larger than it
was in 1990." In his book with Bill Bennett,
"Body Count," the authors suggest that
Americans should be prepared to lock up as many
as 150,000 children.
-- Latin America:
Walters believes that interdiction and
eradication are the most important, if not the
only, anti-drug strategy for the federal
government to follow. His record suggests that
he is willing to escalate our entanglement in
the Latin American drug war at the expense of
funding for drug treatment at home. In 1996 he
stated, "that we need to do more in Latin
America. Fighting drugs at the source makes
sense. Federal authorities ought to be going
after the beehive, not just the bees. Foreign
programs are also cheap and effective." He has
even praised the very shoot-down policy that
led to the tragic deaths of two missionaries
in Peru earlier this year.
Walters was an early champion for the U.S.
shootdown policy in Peru. In 1996, he told the
Senate Judiciary Committee: "America's
chronically under funded program in Peru cost
just $16 million to run in FY 1996...The
Peruvians have managed to shoot down or disable
20 trafficker airplanes since March 1, 1995.
Unfortunately Peruvian President Fujimori's
aggressive line on drugs actually caused
President Clinton to bar Peru from receiving
radar-tracking data. That decision has badly
damaged Peruvian-American relations...this is
an opportunity to save American lives by
helping the Peruvians press their attack on
traffickers." Under pressure from Walters and
others, President Clinton resumed the shootdown
program with new procedures established in a
1994 agreement between the two countries.
In April 2001, a Peruvian Air Force jet guided
by a CIA surveillance plane killed an American
missionary and her daughter. A U.S. report on
the incident stated that, "Peru and the United
States were undisciplined and 'sloppy' in the
way they conducted a joint program to interdict
airborne drug smugglers." This incident
occurred even after the protocols were
established. Mr. Walters' statement implying
that the shootdown policy should have been
implemented even without protocols is
particularly troubling.
-- Treatment:
Walters has made some recent public statements
that seem to indicate he has doubts about the
disease theory of addiction. In the Weekly
Standard article he wrote, "If it weren't for
the ideology associated with treatment --
addiction is a disease, not a pattern of
behavior for which people can be held
responsible -- law enforcement and punishment
would be natural partners of the treatment
providers."
Walters has referred to drug treatment as "this
ineffectual policy - the latest manifestation
of liberals' commitment to a 'therapeutic state'
in which government serves as the agent of
personal rehabilitation."
Even former drug czar Barry McCaffrey has
expressed concern about Walters' priorities
being heavily skewed against treatment and
prevention, saying that Walters is "focused too
much on interdiction" and "needs to educate
himself on prevention and treatment." In
McCaffrey's words, Walters' feels "that there
is too much treatment capacity in the United
States" -- a view the former drug czar found
"shocking."
__________________________________________________
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
John Walters' Weekly Standard article:
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n404/a01.html?1583
A non-partisan analysis of Walters' record by the
Coalition for Compassionate Leadership on Drug
Policy, whose members include the ACLU and NAACP:
http://www.ccldp.org/white_paper.html
Lindesmith-DPF press releases on John Walters:
-- Betty Ford Center, Majority of Congressional
Black Caucus, Civil Rights and Public Health
Groups All Urge Senate to Re-Think John Walters
as Drug Czar
http://www.drugpolicy.org/news/pr-october10b-01x.html
-- Majority of Congressional Black Caucus Members
Urges Senate to Reject John Walters
http://www.drugpolicy.org/news/pr-october10-01x.html
-- Critics Call Bush Drug Czar Pick -- John Walters -
"More Extreme Than Ashcroft"
http://www.drugpolicy.org/news/pr-may10-01x.html
=20
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 13 Oct 2001 16:41:13 -0700
From: "Colo. Hemp Init. Project" <co...@levellers.org> (by way of "D.
Paul Stanford" <stan...@crrh.org>)
To: res...@crrh.org
Subject: DEA Bans Hemp Products (10/13/01)
Message-ID: <5.1.0.14.2.200110...@mail.olywa.net>
Please copy and re-distribute this announcement.
Download copy-ready PDF FIle (21KB)
http://www.levellers.org/dea/actionalert.100901.pdf
DEA Bans Hemp Products
October 13, 2001
This week, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration banned all food
manufactured with hemp grain, delivering a shocking blow to consumers
and
producers of hemp foods. According to DEA notices published in the
Federal
Register on October 9, 2001, any product that contains any amount of
THC is,
and always has been, a Schedule I controlled substance.
The DEA published this notice as an "interpretive rule", not as a new
rule,
thereby bypassing the usual requirement for public notice and comment.
The
DEA is stating that hemp food products have always been illegal and
that
they are just clarifying that fact with this new interpretive rule.
The DEA
justifies their decision only by saying that it is to "protect the
public
health and safety", but the DEA does not provide any evidence that THC
in
any amount is harmful.
"For the first time in U.S. history, the federal government is
outlawing a
whole class of food products", says Kathleen Chippi, co-founder of the
Boulder Hemp Company, who was forced to suspend business last year
when
investors became nervous about rumors that the DEA was going to outlaw
hemp.
"It's the same as if the DEA outlawed wheat or corn."
Hemp grain, while not as commonplace as other grains, is touted by
health
food experts as being "the most nutritionally complete seed on the
planet
for human consumption."
THC may appear in trace amounts in some products made with hemp grain,
just
as opiates may appear in trace amounts in poppy seeds. Hemp food has
been
produced and safely consumed in the U.S. since the founding of the
country
and has been used worldwide for over 10,000 years without any adverse
health
effects ever.
The DEA notice in the Federal Register states that it is illegal to
consume
"any food or beverage (such as pasta, tortilla chips, candy bars,
nutritional bars, salad dressings, sauces, cheese, ice cream, and
beer) or
dietary supplement". Consumers and hemp food manufacturers have until
Feb.
6, 2002 to destroy any hemp food products they currently possess.
EXEMPTIONS: The DEA does exempt hemp products that "do not cause THC
to
enter the human body", such as paper, cloth, and rope. Sterilized
seed
remains legal for birds, but not humans. Sterilized seed will be
exempt
only if it is intended for bird seed and combined with some other seed
or
material that is "not derived from the cannabis plant". Raw hemp
fiber is
legal, but (strangely) unprocessed hemp stalks are illegal.
Personal care products, such as lotions, soap, shampoo, and lip balm
are
legal for now, while the DEA searches for evidence that these products
can
cause trace amounts of THC to enter the body.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
The DEA published two companion rules that do have a period for public
comment
1) A "proposed rule" that changes the definition of THC to include
both
natural and synthetic forms of THC; and
2) An "interim rule" that exempts hemp products that do not cause THC
to
enter the human body.
Comments on these aspects of the DEA's policy must be submitted by
December
10, 2001 to:
Deputy Assistant Administrator
Office of Diversion Control
Drug Enforcement Administration
Washington, D.C. 20537
Attention: DEA Federal Register Representative/CCD
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Frank Sapienza, Chief, Drug and
Chemical
Evaluation Section, Drug Enforcement Administration, Washington, DC
20537;
Telephone: (202) 307-7183.
LETTER-WRITING TIPS
Write that:
1) You are opposed to any attempt by the DEA to ban industrial hemp
products.
2) Outlawing hemp food products is a substantive change in federal
policy
and should be subject to the requirement for public notice and
comment.
3) The period of public comment should be extended to enable all
affected
parties to become informed about and comment on this change in DEA
policy.
4) The DEA should hold public hearings on these proposed rule changes.
There have been rumors for over a year that the DEA was going to ban
hemp
products. It's unfortunate for citizens that they chose to do this
now,
while the entire country is focused on terrorist attacks and the war
in
Afghanistan. You'd think they'd have more urgent things to do right
now,
like protecting us from bioterrorism, but such is the absurdity of our
federal government and its War on Drugs.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Notices in the Federal Register (Vol. 66, No. 195)
Tuesday, October 9, 2001
Rules and Regulations
1) DEA Interpretive Rule: Bans hemp foods
Public comment: not allowed
Text: http://www.levellers.org/dea/2001/interpret.529.txt
PDF: http://www.levellers.org/dea/2001/interpret.529.pdf
2) DEA Proposed Rule: Changes definition of THC to include both
synthetic
and natural THC
Public comment: By Dec. 10, 2001
Text: http://www.levellers.org/dea/2001/proposed.535.txt
PDF: http://www.levellers.org/dea/2001/proposed.535.pdf
3) DEA Interim Rule: Exempts hemp products "not used, or intended for
use,
for human consumption"
Public comment: By Dec. 10, 2001
Text: http://www.levellers.org/dea/2001/interim.539.txt
PDF: http://www.levellers.org/dea/2001/interim.539.pdf
All the regs. in one text file:
http://www.levellers.org/dea/2001/fedreg.all.txt
-------------------------------------------------------------------
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
DEA vs. Hemp
http://www.levellers.org/dea/
Frequently Asked Questions about Hemp Foods
http://www.levellers.org/cohip/faqs/hempfoods.faq.html
Vote Hemp
http://www.votehemp.com/
DEA's Press Release
http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/advisories/pa100901.html
-------------------------------------------------------------------
This Action Alert is available online at:
http://www.levellers.org/dea/actionalert.100901.html
COPY-READY PDF ACTION ALERT to distribute to health food stores and
other
places:
http://www.levellers.org/dea/actionalert.100901.pdf
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Colorado Hemp Initiative Project
P.O. Box 729
Nederland, CO 80466
Vmail: (303) 448-5640
Email: co...@levellers.org
http://www.levellers.org/cohip
"Fighting over 60 years of lies and dis-information
with 10,000 years of history and fact."
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 13 Oct 2001 16:40:12 -0700
From: "D. Paul Stanford" <stan...@crrh.org>
To: res...@crrh.org
Cc: me...@drcnet.org
Subject: Brain Injury Heals With Organ's Version of Pot
Message-ID: <5.1.0.14.2.200110...@mail.olywa.net>
Pubdate: Thur, 4 Oct. 2001
Source: HealthScoutNews
Author: Neil Sherman
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/hsn/20011003/hl/brain_injury_heals_with_organ_s_version_of_pot__1.html
Thursday October 04 02:46 AM EDT
Brain Injury Heals With Organ's Version of Pot?
By Neil Sherman
HealthScoutNews Reporter
WEDNESDAY, Oct. 3 (HealthScoutNews) -- A natural brain chemical that's
similar to the active ingredient in marijuana may help heal brain
injuries,
say researchers.
The body's natural version of a cannabinoid, called 2-arachidonoyl
glycerol
(2-AG), reduced brain swelling, cell death and inflammation in mice
with
brain injuries, say scientists at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
Animals
given 2-AG recovered more of their movement and mental sharpness than
those
that didn't get it, suggesting a drug made with the cannabinoid one
day
could be used to treat brain injuries in humans, the researchers say.
Some scientists have done research in the past that seems to show a
protective effect -- at least in the test tube -- of THC, marijuana's
active ingredient, in brain and nerve injury, says Esther Shohami,
associate professor in pharmacology at Hebrew University where THC was
first identified in the 1960s. She says because "THC mimics the
activities
of 2-AG," the researchers decided to use 2-AG in mice to see if it too
would protect nerves.
Shohami says the researchers also have identified two natural
chemicals --
endogenous cannabinoids -- in the human brain which may play a role in
short-term memory, motor coordination, appetite and pain. The findings
will
appear in the Oct. 4 issue of the journal Nature.
"In a mouse model, we induced [brain] injury similar to those observed
in
patients. We treated the injured mice once, at one hour after injury,
with
2-AG and found that the secondary damage, which is typical after the
injury, is reduced," Shohami says. Less water pooled in the brain,
there
was better recovery of movement, fewer brain cells died and less of
the
brain was injured, she says.
2-AG may keep the brain from releasing toxic chemicals that cause cell
damage and death after an injury, Shohami suggests. It also may
improve
blood circulation in the brain while slowing the release of chemicals
that
cause inflammation and cell death after injury. And what happens in a
mouse
brain also may happen in a human brain, Shohami says. "The basic
mechanisms
that are activated in the brain are similar between animal and human
models."
Brain injury is the major cause of death in the young population in
the
Western world, Shohami says. "The processes in the brain after trauma
that
lead to death or injury are only partially understood. After the
initial
injury, the brain produces compounds which cause further damage, and,
at
the same time, produces other compounds that may be protective.
Apparently
the endocannabinoid system is part of this neuroprotective mechanism."
"From a practical point of view, a compound, which reduces the damage
caused by brain trauma may be of significant importance in particular
since
no such drugs are available," Shohami says.
"Although 2-AG is a natural product produced in our brain, further
research
is needed before we introduce it into clinical use. However, I do
believe
it is a new avenue that should be pursued by the pharmaceutical
industries." Shohami says.
"This is exciting news," says Stanley Thayer, professor of
pharmacology at
the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis. "This
research
highlights how little we know about this endocannabinoid system. What
we
have here is a dramatic example of how this system may be involved in
a
response to a traumatic head injury."
"Our treatment of brain injury is very limited. We don't have much we
can
do to treat trauma, stroke or neurodegenerative disease. So this study
shows some potential because it also identifies several potential
targets
for drug therapies -- not only the brain receptors where the
psychoactive
ingredient in marijuana, THC, operates. The other targets could be the
processes that synthesize and metabolize these molecules like 2-AG."
"Those could be more subtle targets, with fewer side effects," Thayer
says.
What To Do: For more on cannabinoids and the brain, see the Society
for
Neuroscience or the Brain Injury Association of America.
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 13 Oct 2001 06:38:46 -0700
From: "D. Paul Stanford" <stan...@crrh.org>
To: res...@crrh.org
Subject: US: Drug Czar Nominee Reverses His View On Policy Issues
Message-ID: <5.1.0.14.2.200110...@mail.olywa.net>
Pubdate: Thu, 11 Oct 2001
Source: Houston Chronicle (TX)
Copyright: 2001 Houston Chronicle Publishing Company Division, Hearst
Newspaper
Contact: viewp...@chron.com
Website: http://www.chron.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/198
DRUG CZAR NOMINEE REVERSES HIS VIEW ON POLICY ISSUES
WASHINGTON -- John Walters, President Bush's controversial nominee to
become next White House drug policy director, said Wednesday he
supports
federal funding for drug abuse treatment and prevention, reversing his
past
view on the issue.
Asked by Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., if his opinion had changed since
1996,
when he wrote that federal funding was neither "necessary nor
sufficient"
for teaching children that drug abuse is wrong, Walters replied:
"Yeah, I
have changed my view on that."
Walters, testifying at his confirmation hearing before the Senate
Judiciary
Committee, said that earlier he had favored local and state government
responsibility alone for education and treatment programs.
"I would not recommend that today," he said. Noting that Bush favors
increased federal funding to help states and localities with such
programs,
he said, "It is the president's policy and I wouldn't have taken this
job
if I disagreed with him on that."
Bush named Walters as director of the White House Office of National
Drug
Control Policy in May. He was serving as president of the Philanthropy
Roundtable, a national group of more than 650 donors and charities.
Walters has drawn heavy criticism from drug-treatment advocates, civil
libertarians and public health officials, who accused him of promoting
a
"hard-line" policy of focusing on incarcerating drug addicts rather
than
treating them.
Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., asked Walters about an article he wrote
in
March for the conservative Weekly Standard. In it, the nominee said,
"What
really drives the battle against law enforcement and punishment is not
a
commitment to treatment, but the widely held view that (1) we are
imprisoning too many people for merely possessing illegal drugs, (2)
drug
and other criminal sentences are too long and harsh, and (3) the
criminal
justice system is unjustly punishing young black men. These are among
the
great urban myths of our time."
Walters replied that when he worked in the drug policy office during
the
first George Bush administration, he saw no evidence that there was
unfair
discrimination against blacks.
Walters was a former deputy to the nation's first so-called "drug
czar,"
William Bennett.
Republicans on the committee lauded Walters as well qualified for the
post.
"John Walters is the right man for this difficult job," said Sen. Jon
Kyl,
R-Ariz. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, added that during Walters' tenure in
the
drug policy office from 1989 to 1993, prevention spending increased by
88
percent. "No other component, including law enforcement and
interdiction,
was increased more than prevention," Hatch said.
But Sen. Joseph Biden, D-R.I., said he was concerned with Walters'
past
statements favoring criminal enforcement over treatment. "If we solely
focus on law enforcement and ignore treatment, our strategy will
fail,"
Biden said.
Vincent Schiraldi, president of the Justice Policy Institute, a
liberal
group that focuses on criminal sentencing, said that Walters "has
really
been a cheerleader for the harshest approach to the drug war. At best,
he
is tepid in his support for treatment. He is the hard-liner among the
hard-liners."
If confirmed, Walters would succeed Barry McCaffrey, who left the post
in
January.
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior
interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational
purposes.
---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 13 Oct 2001 08:36:42 -0700
From: "JT Barrie" <rimch...@onebox.com>
To: res...@crrh.org
Subject: Walters: "treatment not effective"
Message-ID: <20011013153642.COCJ1...@onebox.com>
Of course treatment doesn't work very well! What would you expect if
there's a criminal drug black market actively marketing their product.
You have to get the product at the point of sale and that means
decriminalization.
Yeah, yeah, full legalization would be faster and more effective - but
we have an activist Supreme Court and our lapdog media which refuses
to print the truth on a multitude of matters. Local activists should
press for decriminalization combined with massive civil penalties to
clean the streets of the vermin [like our own CIA clients] that profit
from the human misery of addiction. Now if only we could get SOME of
the truth printed by the lowlife scum who run our "free press"....
"Everybody does it" is usually not an acceptable reason for children
to use street drugs. However, it is the ONLY reason given by those who
endorse mainstream candidates who support policies which make those
drugs
so easily accessible for children.
--
JT Barrie
rimch...@onebox.com - email
(925) 695-2022 x7394 - voicemail/fax
__________________________________________________
FREE voicemail, email, and fax...all in one place.
Sign Up Now! http://www.onebox.com
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 13 Oct 2001 09:32:47 -0700
From: "D. Paul Stanford" <stan...@crrh.org>
To: res...@crrh.org
Subject: OR: Home May Become Haven For Marijuana
Message-ID: <5.1.0.14.2.200110...@mail.olywa.net>
Newshawk: Wars On Too Many Fronts - End The WOD
Pubdate: Fri, 12 Oct 2001
Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer (WA)
Copyright: 2001 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Contact: edit...@seattle-pi.com
Website: http://www.seattle-pi.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/408
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/spirit.htm (Spiritual or Sacramental)
HOME MAY BECOME HAVEN FOR MARIJUANA
PRINEVILLE, Ore. -- A Crook County man affiliated with the Church of
the Universe, which supports the use of marijuana, wants to turn his
home into a "religious mission," wedding chapel, bed and breakfast
and interior design studio.
But members of the Crook County Planning Commission want to ponder
Richard A.B. Szymanski's request because his property is zoned for
farm use.
Szymanski wants to use his home for monthly spiritual meetings and as
a gathering place for medical marijuana patients.
Szymanski, a plaster contractor, said he is registered as a medical
marijuana patient caregiver and grower. As a caregiver, he can
provide marijuana to others who are legally allowed to use the drug.
"We don't consider ourselves a church, but we do have a mission," he
told the board. "We're trying to start a new way of looking at
spirituality."
His 1.1-acre property includes a swimming pool, pond and Szymanski's
home, which was designed and decorated by his wife, Margaret
Szymanski.
He said people come to the home not only for the mission meeting, but
to see examples of his wife's work. Margaret Szymanski operates an
interior design studio.
He got his ordination as a minister of the Church of the Universe by
sending off for it.
A half-dozen of Szymanski's neighbors expressed concerns about the
number of people and cars Szymanski's medicinal marijuana mission
would bring to their neighborhood.
"The last thing I want to do is inconvenience the neighbors,"
Szymanski said. "This is a respectable thing. ... This mission would
give medical marijuana patients a place to go -- and it is
spiritually based."
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior
interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational
purposes.
---
MAP posted-by: Josh
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 13 Oct 2001 16:36:41 -0700
From: "D. Paul Stanford" <stan...@crrh.org>
To: res...@crrh.org
Subject: CA: Lone Patient Quits Marijuana Study
Message-ID: <5.1.0.14.2.200110...@mail.olywa.net>
Newshawk: Wars On Too Many Fronts - End The WOD
Pubdate: Sat, 13 Oct 2001
Source: Half Moon Bay Review (CA)
Copyright: 2001, Wick Communications, Inc.
Contact: hmbr...@hmbreview.com
Website: http://www.hmbreview.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/178
Author: Nicole Achs Freeling
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)
LONE PATIENT QUITS MARIJUANA STUDY
One evening last week, AIDS activist Phillip Alden unpacked some
groceries
in the kitchen of his stylishly appointed Redwood Shores condominium
and
prepared for his daily pre-dinner ritual.
Alden, a long-time AIDS survivor, pulled a tightly rolled joint of
marijuana from a plastic medicine jar, noted it on an index card, and
then
settled back into his recliner and took a long drag.
Seeds in the cigarette sparked and popped.
"I know after I take a few hits that within 10 minutes I'm going to be
hungry and my nausea is going to go away," said Alden, who suffers
from
chronic persistent wasting syndrome, a condition that inhibits the
body's
ability to absorb nutrients.
He says the drug gives him the appetite to keep the pounds on.
Last Thursday, however, in a development that could be a serious
setback to
San Mateo County's groundbreaking study on the medicinal use of pot,
Alden's participation came to an abrupt end.
A sudden throat inflammation, which he blamed on the poor quality of
the
pot, left Alden unable to eat and gulping for air,
Alden said the marijuana was not as good as the pot he was used to
getting
from Bay Area cannabis clubs.
"The pot was stale and it was full of seeds. When marijuana seeds
burn,
they smell and taste really bad."
Apparently, the two joints a day that he was required to smoke through
the
study had aggravated a throat condition. The doctor issued an edict -
no
more smoking.
"I feel really bad about the whole thing," Alden added. "I'm a big
proponent of medical marijuana and I'm very much in support of the
study."
For the last several months he has been the sole patient in the novel
clinical trial in the use of medical marijuana to treat AIDS-related
symptoms.
The study, being conducted by San Mateo County Health Center, is the
first
to be done with the aid and support of the federal government.
The study, which has involved cautious cooperation among county
government
officials, health care professionals and federal policy makers, has
been
off to a slow start.
It was launched to great media fanfare in April, but so far the only
confirmed participants are Alden, who has been in the study since
early
July, and another patient who joined in the past two weeks.
The trials have stringent participation requirements that bar many
potential participants. Subjects must have used marijuana before, but
cannot be active recreational drug users.
"It is a long, tedious process," said Jonathan Messinger, an assistant
to
program director Dr. Dennis Israelski. "We just have to let the
research
run its course."
The marijuana is grown in a federal government laboratory at the
University
of Mississippi, and then shipped to the San Mateo County Hospital,
where it
is kept under lock and key. It arrives dried and frozen and is
rehydrated
the night before it is dispensed to patients.
"In terms of the quality of the marijuana, we have to go by what the
patients say since we're not trying it ourselves," Messinger said. "We
know
the level of THC is lower in this federal-provided marijuana, but
unfortunately we don't have nay control over that. We have to use
whatever
we're given by the federal government for this study."
The joints are rolled in tobacco-company cigarette paper, rather than
traditional rolling papers. Alden said that besides the poor quality
of the
pot he believed the cigarette paper was harsher on his throat.
Messinger said he was hopeful other subjects would fare better with
the
treatment.
"It's built into any study that you'll have people that don't complete
the
study," he said
"We're optimistic that most people who enter will be able to complete
it.
We realize that isn't going to be the case with everyone, however."
Doctors have said that they hope to recruit 60 participants over the
next
two years and to have some results of their research next fall.
Messinger said he believed the study was still on track to meet those
estimates. "We've been fine-tuning our recruiting process," he said.
A clean-cut man who opposes recreational drug use and rarely finishes
a
glass of wine, Alden is an unusual spokesman for medical marijuana.
But he
credits the drug with enabling him to live with his disease.
"I think a lot of people, even those who support medical marijuana,
think
it's a party scene.
"In the (pot) clubs, what I see are very sick people. These are people
with
canes and with limps. They have multiple sclerosis or cancer or
advanced
AIDS. It's not a bunch of hippies trying to get stoned."
For him, marijuana has been particularly effective in alleviating
peripheral neuropathy, a condition that causes stabbing pains in the
hands
and feet.
"All of a sudden, it'll feel like someone stuck a knife through my
foot,"
he said.
That pain was severe during the control arm of the study, when Alden
was
prohibited from smoking.
"When I left the control arm of the study and started smoking again, I
had
no neuropathy pain at all. It worked really, really well."
Alden also says marijuana controls the anxiety attacks he has suffered
from
for years and the nausea and stomach pains that are chronic side
effects of
AIDS medication.
When he started taking one particular protease inhibitor, "I couldn't
work
for a month. I literally did not leave the house," he said.
"Medical marijuana was a godsend for me."
Such results motivated Alden to take part in the study, which requires
a
demanding schedule from its participants.
Subjects fill out daily logs, go for weekly blood tests and check-ups
and
follow strict protocols for consuming the joints.
They are given three containers: one for new joints, one for those in
progress and a third for the butts, or "roaches," which must be logged
in
at the pharmacy when they receive a new supply.
Patients get less than a week's supply at a time and must log all
their
consumption.
During the study, Alden would smoke a marijuana cigarette in the
evening
before dinner to stimulate his appetite and another before bed to calm
his
stomach.
Once his throat condition clears, Alden says he will go back to
treating
himself at the cannabis clubs.
"It works. I have no doubt about that," he said.
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior
interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational
purposes.
---
MAP posted-by: Jackl
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 13 Oct 2001 16:37:36 -0700
From: "D. Paul Stanford" <stan...@crrh.org>
To: res...@crrh.org
Subject: Poll Shows Coloradans Favor Reduced Drug Penalties
Message-ID: <5.1.0.14.2.200110...@mail.olywa.net>
>Status: U
>Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2001 15:24:19 -0700
>From: Kevin Zeese <kevz...@laser.net>
>To: ARO <A...@drugsense.org>
>Subject: ARO: [Fwd: Colorado drug poll survey results]
>Sender: owne...@drugsense.org
>Reply-To: Kevin Zeese <kevz...@laser.net>
>Organization: DrugSense http://www.drugsense.org/
>
>Friends:
>
>I think it is generally useful to share this type of information so
we
>can all be better informed.
>
>Kevin
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------------=
Hi=20
>Kevin. Wanted to share with you the results of our Colorado poll.
>Feel free to distribute. Also available on our website
>www.prison-moratorium.org. I hope you are well. Peace, Christie
Donner,
>Rocky Mountain Peace & Justice Center
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Attachment: http://www.drugsense.org/temp/surveyreport.PDF
Key Findings
Colorado Voters Believe "We are Losing the War on Drugs."
83% of Colorado voters believe that we are losing the war on drugs.
The=
=20
majority of voters believe the war on drugs has been ineffective in=20
reducing drug use and supply in Colorado. These results were
consistent=20
across all demographic categories. =D8 88% of voters believe that we
will=
=20
never be able to stop drugs from coming into this country until demand
is=20
reduced. A similarly high 85% believe that the current war on drugs
is=20
dealing with symptoms of drug abuse but failing to solve the
underlying=20
causes. These results were consistent across all demographic
categories.
Colorado Voters View Addiction More as a Health Problem than a Crime
A=20
clear majority (59%) of voters view addiction primarily as a health=20
problem. Only 11% view drug addiction primarily as a crime. Another
16%=20
responded "both."
Colorado Voters Believe Treatment is an Effective Solution and
Support=20
Increasing Funding 86% of voters believe that providing treatment
and=20
education to people with a drug problem would be effective in reducing
drug=
=20
use. 80% of voters also believe that providing effective treatment
would=20
help reduce drug related crime. 74% of voters support increasing
funding=
=20
to expand the availability of drug treatment. The results were
consistent=20
across all demographic categories. Voters believe that State funding
is=20
currently too heavily weighted towards criminal justice, and over=20
three-quarters (77%) favored increasing the amount spent on
education,=20
prevention, and treatment. Only 12% thought the current ratio was=20
appropriate and even fewer voters (5%) favored increasing the
percentage=20
spent on criminal justice.
Colorado Voters Favor Reducing Sentences for Drug Possession Voters
were=
=20
asked what they thought the sentence should be for someone convicted
of=20
possession of small quantities of drugs. 60% said treatment and
supervision=
=20
was an appropriate sentence, while 21% favored incarceration.
Nearly=20
three-quarters (73%) of voters believe that we should decrease
criminal=20
penalties for possession of small quantities of drugs from a felony to
a=20
misdemeanor and spend the money saved on prison costs to increase
drug=20
treatment and prevention programs. A majority of voters in every=20
demographic category favored the reduction in criminal penalties. A
strong=
=20
majority (85%) of voters agree that a person convicted of possession
should=
=20
be allowed to remain in the community under supervision, like an
alcoholic,=
=20
so long as they do not commit other crimes.
Colorado Voters Rank Prison Expansion Low on Funding Priorities
There is=
=20
very little support from voters to decrease funding for education,
state=20
colleges and universities, roads and highways and public health
programs to=
=20
fund prison expansion. Conclusion
Colorado voters clearly view the current war on drugs as a failure
and=20
view addiction as primarily a health problem, not a crime. Voters are
also=
=20
strongly supportive of increasing the emphasis on funding for
treatment and=
=20
prevention as well as decreasing sentences for drug possession.
Voters=20
believe these reforms would be effective in reducing both drug use and
drug=
=20
related crime in Colorado
--=20
----
Dale Gieringer (415) 563-5858 // can...@igc.org
2215-R Market St. #278, San Francisco CA 94114
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 13 Oct 2001 09:29:31 -0700
From: "D. Paul Stanford" <stan...@crrh.org>
To: res...@crrh.org
Subject: Canada: Grow-Op Pot Baron Gets 4 Years' Jail
Message-ID: <5.1.0.14.2.200110...@mail.olywa.net>
Newshawk: Herb
Pubdate: Thu, 11 Oct 2001
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Page: A26
Copyright: 2001 The Province
Contact: provl...@pacpress.southam.ca
Website: http://www.canada.com/vancouver/theprovince/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476
Author: Steve Berry
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
GROW-OP POT BARON GETS 4 YEARS' JAIL
One of B.C.'s biggest marijuana growers has been sentenced to four
years in
prison.
Don Briere, 50, a former B.C. Marijuana Party provincial candidate,
was
also prohibited from owning firearms for 15 years.
Briere pleaded guilty to five counts: production of marijuana,
possession
for the purpose of trafficking, the unsafe storage of ammunition,
unsafe
storage of a firearm, and laundering $2.3 million.
Surrey provincial court Judge Gurmail Gill said Briere "was the
directing
mind" behind a very large operation.
He said the Surrey man must be sentenced to federal time as a
"deterrence
and denunciation" of his activities.
Briere controlled a number of grow-ops in the Lower Mainland and other
areas of B.C. between 1991 and 1999 and employed dozens of people.
When Briere was busted in March 1999, police found 113 kilograms of
dried
B.C. bud valued at $650,000 and about $50,000 in grow equipment in his
Surrey warehouse.
Police also found $300,000 in cash at his home. Briere also bought
properties in the Lower Mainland and the Interior.
"He was a very busy man," said Gill yesterday.
Briere still faces the Canadian Customs and Revenue Agency which wants
$1.3
million in back taxes.
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior
interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational
purposes.
---
MAP posted-by: Beth
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 13 Oct 2001 09:34:40 -0700
From: "D. Paul Stanford" <stan...@crrh.org>
To: res...@crrh.org
Subject: Canada: Martin Wants Fines For Pot
Message-ID: <5.1.0.14.2.200110...@mail.olywa.net>
Newshawk: Herb
Pubdate: Fri, 12 Oct 2001
Source: Esquimalt News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2001 Esquimalt News
Contact: esquim...@vinewsgroup.com
Website: http://www.esquimaltnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1290
Author: Mark Browne
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)
MARTIN WANTS FINES FOR POT
If Keith Martin had his way, anyone caught by the police with a small
amount of pot wouldn't have to worry about facing a criminal charge.
The Canadian Alliance MP for Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca addressed a House
of Commons sub-committee on Oct. 3 and argued to have his Private
Members Bill, which pushes for decriminalization of marijuana, voted
on in the House of Commons.
If everything goes well, Martin will get the opportunity to have his
bill debated in the House of Commons.
Martin's bill calls for the decriminalization of marijuana for anyone
found to be in simple possession of pot.
If the bill were to ever become legislation, a person caught with a
small amount of marijuana wouldn't face criminal prosecution.
Instead, says Martin, they would be fined in the same way you pay a
fine for a traffic violation. Fines would be $200 for the first
offence, $500 for the second offence and $1,000 for the third offence.
Martin contends keeping people who are found with a small amount of
pot in their possession out of the criminal courts will save the
taxpayers a lot of money.
"It will enable us to save about $150 million out of our criminal
justice system," he says.
The money saved could be used to go after drug traffickers and
organized crime, says Martin.
As well, more money would be available for police to focus on more
serious offences and for drug prevention programs.
Attempts at decriminalizing marijuana have a good track record in
other countries.
Martin points out that in London, England authorities have
experimented with fining people instead of charging them for being in
possession of small amounts of marijuana. "And it's working out very
well," he says.
Martin notes that since the Netherlands decriminalized pot, heroin
use in that country has significantly dropped.
The time is ripe to decriminalize pot in Canada, he says, noting that
75 per cent of Canadians polled support decriminalizing marijuana.
Martin says he's received little opposition from other Alliance MPs
in his quest to have marijuana decriminalized.
There's another reason why Martin is trying to get his Private
Members Bill debated in the House of Commons.
He says he's hoping if the bill receives debate it will pave the way
for discussion on ways to address problems associated with the
international drug trade.
For instance, says Martin, heroin addicts could be dealt with through
a medical model rather than through a criminal model.
As well, Martin says changes to laws could make it easier to put
large criminal organizations that sell drugs out of business.
Also, governments need to have the powers to prevent such
organizations from obtaining chemicals used to manufacture illicit
drugs, says Martin.
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior
interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational
purposes.
---
MAP posted-by: Josh
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 13 Oct 2001 16:29:17 -0700
From: Dale Gieringer <can...@igc.org> (by way of "D. Paul Stanford"
<stan...@crrh.org>)
To: res...@crrh.org
Subject: SF Chron: Judge's pot use leads to sentence rehearing
Message-ID: <5.1.0.14.2.200110...@mail.olywa.net>
----------------------------------------------------------------------
This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SF Gate.
The original article can be found on SFGate.com here:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/10/13/MN222019.DTL
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, October 13, 2001 (SF Chronicle)
Judge's pot use leads to death row hearing
Chronicle Staff Report
A federal appeals court ordered a new hearing for an Arizona death
row
inmate yesterday because the judge who sentenced him to death admitted
later that he was a chronic marijuana user.
In a 2-to-1 ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco
said Warren
Summerlin would be entitled to a new penalty trial if his lawyers
could
show that Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Philip Marquardt was
under
the influence of marijuana when he was considering Summerlin's
sentence in
1982. In Arizona, unlike California, the death sentence is decided by
the
trial judge without a jury.
Summerlin was convicted of sexually assaulting and murdering
Brenna
Bailey, who had gone to his home to collect a debt.
A drug-impaired judge, like a judge who accepts bribes, deprives a
defendant of the untainted judgment required for a fair trial, wrote
Judge
Stephen Trott. Dissenting Judge Alex Kozinski said there was no
evidence
that Marquardt was impaired during the trial and warned that the
ruling
would invite thousands of dubious appeals by inmates who claimed their
trial judges suffered mental infirmities.
Marquardt, a judge for 20 years, resigned in 1991 after his second
marijuana conviction.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2001 SF Chronicle
--
----
Dale Gieringer (415) 563-5858 // can...@igc.org
2215-R Market St. #278, San Francisco CA 94114
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2001 12:09:32 -0700
From: webm...@drugsense.org (DrugSense)
To: newsl...@drugsense.org
Subject: DrugSense Weekly, October 12, 2001, #221
Message-ID: <s/zx7giA8...@drugsense.org>
**********************************************************************
DRUGSENSE WEEKLY
**********************************************************************
DrugSense Weekly, October 12, 2001 #221
Read This Publication On-line at: http://www.drugsense.org/current.htm
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TABLE OF CONTENTS:
* This Just In
(1) US: Law Enforcement Shares The Wealth In War On Drugs
(2) US: Bush's Choice As 'Drug Czar' Receives Heavy Fire
(3) Portugal Shifts Aim In Drug War
(4) US: Spreading Rumors
* Weekly News in Review
Drug Policy-
(5) Border Drug Trafficking Rebounds From Drop
(6) Don't Deploy Military Along Rio Grande
(7) Gun, Drug Laws Exacerbate Profiling
(8) Report - US Drug Use Rate Unchanged
(9) Students With Drug Convictions Now Losing Federal Aid
(10) Florida Enters Debate Over Jail Vs. Treatment
Law Enforcement & Prisons-
(11) The Other War: While Law Enforcement Focused On Drugs,
Americans
Became Terrorists' Victims
(12) Black Leaders Denounce Decision
(13) For Those Awaiting Trial, Time Is Money
(14) Lawsuit Against Knox County Sheriff's Department Ends
Cannabis & Hemp-
(15) Marijuana Could Help Cocaine Addicts Kick Habit
(16) Federal Magistrate To Hear Arguments On Medical Marijuana
(17) Cannabis Cafes Set To Open In London
(18) A Canadian Doobie Witch Hunt
(19) Six Norwegians Killed By Hash Over Six Years
International News-
(20) Opium Production Plummets 91% In Afghanistan
(21) Afghan Opposition Harvests More Opium Than Taliban: UN
(22) Tears Of Allah
(23) Brazil To Shoot Down Illegal Planes
(24) PNP NEC Backs Patterson's Call For Ganja Debate
(25) The Borders: Customs Switches Priority From Drugs To
Terrorism
* Hot Off The 'Net
Narcoterror.org Now Online
DEA Issues New Rules To Ban Hemp Products
Ecstasy and club drug studies released
Over 1 Million Americans Regularly Use Entheogens
* Letter Of The Week
Diminishing Freedoms / by Myron Von Hollingsworth
* Feature Article
War On Drugs And War On Terror (Part 1) / By Tom O'Connell
* Quote of the Week
Lysander Spooner
***********************************************************************
THIS JUST IN
=======================================================================
(1) US: LAW ENFORCEMENT SHARES THE WEALTH IN WAR ON DRUGS
DEA Distributes $2.2 Million From Traffickers' Assets for
Collaborative Efforts.
Washington area police and sheriffs departments received nearly $2.2
million last year from cars, houses, cash and other assets seized
from drug traffickers, according to the Drug Enforcement
Administration.
Joint federal-local task forces assembled by the DEA's Washington
Division made 491 seizures from drug dealers in the District, and
from counties and cities surrounding Washington, in the fiscal year
that ended last month.
The seized assets were sold, and 80 percent of the proceeds were
passed to the local police and sheriffs departments, said Supervisory
Special Agent Michael Turner. The DEA keeps the rest to cover costs
of administering the program.
"The checks are a result of your hard work," said R.C. Gamble, the
division's special agent in charge, at a reception held for seven
departments receiving money.
[snip]
Pubdate: Wed, 10 Oct 2001
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2001 The Washington Post Company
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Author: Brooke A. Masters
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/af.htm (Asset Forfeiture)
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01.n1761.a01.html
===
(2) US: BUSH'S CHOICE AS 'DRUG CZAR' RECEIVES HEAVY FIRE
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - John Walters, President Bush's nominee to
head the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy, came under
Democratic fire on Thursday at his U.S. Senate confirmation hearing.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Sen.
Joseph Biden of Delaware, both Democrats, openly challenged Walter's
drug-fighting philosophy.
They noted Walters, who served in the office of drug control policy
in the administration of Bush's father, President George Bush, has
questioned the effectiveness of drug-abuse treatment and the need for
federal support of drug-abuse prevention.
Leahy also said while a number of lawmakers and judges have called
for the repeal of federal mandatory minimum sentences, Walters has
defended such punishment.
[snip]
Pubdate: Wed, 10 Oct 2001
Source: Reuters (Wire)
Copyright: 2001 Reuters Limited
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01.n1761.a05.html
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/walters.htm (Walters, John)
===
(3) PORTUGAL SHIFTS AIM IN DRUG WAR
A new Law Focuses On Treating Drug Users, Rather Than Jailing Them.
When Alberto de Oliveria was stopped in the Lisbon metro recently, he
feared the worst: Being caught with heroin could mean a return to
jail. "I was afraid," he recalls. "But the police didn't arrest me.
They just sent me to a drug commission that told me I needed
treatment."
Mr. Oliveria is one of the first to benefit from a new law, in effect
since July 1, that focuses on trying to rehabilitate drug users.
Portugal has become the first European country to decriminalize the
use - but not sale - of all drugs, from cannabis to crack cocaine.
[snip]
Pubdate: Wed, 10 Oct 2001
Source: Christian Science Monitor (US)
Copyright: 2001 The Christian Science Publishing Society
Website: http://www.csmonitor.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/83
Author: Otto Pohl
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/areas/Portugul
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01.n1760.a09.html
===
(4) US: SPREADING RUMORS
Did The White House Give The Taliban $43 Million?
According to commentators of all ideological stripes -- from the
Nation's Christopher Hitchens on the left to the New Yorker's Hendrik
Hertzberg in the center to the Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly on
the right -- the U.S. gave $43 million to Afghanistan's Taliban
government as a reward for its efforts to stamp out opium-poppy
cultivation. That would have been a shockingly inappropriate gift to
a government that had been sanctioned by the United Nations for its
refusal to hand over international terrorist Osama bin Laden.
Would have been, that is, if it had really happened. It didn't.
[snip]
Pubdate: Thu, 11 Oct 2001
Source: Illinois Times (IL)
Copyright: 2001 Yesse Communications
Website: http://www.illinoistimes.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/206
Author: Dan Kennedy
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?203 (Terrorism)
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01.n1764.a01.html
***********************************************************************
WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW
=======================================================================
Domestic News- Policy
----------------------------------
COMMENT: (5-10)
Contrary to reports from last week, a look at statistics indicates
that increased security in the country haven't stopped drug cartels
from trying to move their products across borders. Those who want a
military presence at the border were reminded how the drug war
version of that policy killed an innocent U.S. citizen near the
Mexican border.
Also in the fallout from terror attacks, one columnist explained why
abandoning the entire drug war would help to serve justice.
Elsewhere, drug prohibition slogged along with the usual dismal
results. It didn't change levels of drug use from the previous year,
but it did start denying financial aid to some college students. And
in Florida, mild reform efforts are already being attacked by drug
warriors.
===
(5) BORDER DRUG TRAFFICKING REBOUNDS FROM DROP
Drug traffickers appear to have resumed business as usual across the
Mexico-U.S. border, U.S. officials said in El Paso.
Security was tightened after the Sept. 11 attacks and drug
seizures--a trafficking barometer--along the 2,000-mile border fell
to 123 from Sept. 11 to Sept. 23, Customs Service figures show. Last
year there were 227 seizures in the same period.
But since last Thursday, officials reported 159 drug seizures, up
from 147 in the same period last year. Customs officials observed the
biggest post-attack decrease in Southern California--from 138
seizures to 54--while the decrease in South Texas was only slight.
[snip]
Pubdate: Thu, 04 Oct 2001
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2001 Los Angeles Times
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1742/a08.html
===
(6) DON'T DEPLOY MILITARY ALONG RIO GRANDE
Ohio congressman James A. Traficant Jr., D-Poland, wants to put
troops along the U.S. border, a policy that has led to civilian
deaths in the past. Unfortunately, he managed to convince a majority
in the U.S. House of Representatives that it's a good idea.
On Sept. 25, the House approved an amendment sponsored by Traficant
that would reinstate armed military patrols along the U.S.-Mexico
border.
[snip]
Perhaps Traficant, Hobson and Gillmor should talk to the family of
Esequiel Hernandez Jr., who was shot by a Marine as he herded goats
near his home in Redford in West Texas, close to the Rio Grande.
The young man was watching over his family's livestock one evening
when he decided to shoot at targets with his .22-caliber rifle. He
had no way of knowing a group of Marines, deployed as part of the
federal government's futile attempt to stem the flow of illegal drugs
from Mexico into the United States, was hidden nearby.
[snip]
Pubdate: Tue, 09 Oct 2001
Source: Lima News (OH)
Copyright: 2001 Freedom Newspapers Inc.
Contact: let...@limanews.com
Website: http://www.limanews.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/990
===
(7) GUN, DRUG LAWS EXACERBATE PROFILING
[snip]
What I'm especially sick of is promoting "solutions" that don't work.
Let me tell you what happens when a police department is told to stop
"racial profiling." The cops ( simply ) ... lie about it. ...
Here's what might work: Repeal all the drug and gun laws. Not only
are they enforced in a racist manner, they were originally conceived
and authored with racist intent. ( Who carried "cheap Saturday night
specials"? Urban blacks, of course. Ban 'em. The far more deadly long
guns favored by white people? No problem. Who consumed marijuana,
cocaine and opium? Mexicans, blacks and Asians, of course. Ban 'em.
The drug that causes the most deaths in this country -- violent
deaths as well as traffic fatalities? Alcohol, favored by white
people. No problem. )
[snip]
Pubdate: Sun, 7 Oct 2001
Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal (NV)
Copyright: 2001 Las Vegas Review-Journal
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/233
Author: Vin Suprynowicz, assistant editorial page editor
Note: The writer is the author of "Send in the Waco Killers."
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1691/a02.html
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/racial.htm (Racial Issues)
More from this author - http://www.mapinc.org/authors/vin+suprynowicz
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1748/a03.html
===
(8) REPORT - US DRUG USE RATE UNCHANGED
WASHINGTON ( AP ) - Drug abuse in America was essentially unchanged
last year, the government says.
About 6 percent of those over 12 years old - or 14 million Americans
- were illegal drug users in 2000, according to an annual survey by
the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, an arm
of the Department of Health and Human Services.
The findings were not significantly different from 1999, either in
the overall percentage of drug users or in the use of any of the
major illegal drugs.
[snip]
Pubdate: Thu, 4 Oct 2001
Source: Associated Press (Wire)
Copyright: 2001 Associated Press
Author: Jennifer Loven, Associated Press
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1740/a05.html
===
(9) STUDENTS WITH DRUG CONVICTIONS NOW LOSING FEDERAL FINANCIAL AID
CLEVELAND ( AP ) -- About 36,000 college students won't get federal
financial aid this fall because of drug convictions.
Under a law that is being fully enforced for the first time, students
convicted of drug possession are ineligible for federal financial aid
for one year. Students convicted of selling drugs lose aid for two
years.
Justin Marino, 23, of Poland, a Youngstown State University student,
is one of them.
Marino was convicted of two drug misdemeanors last year after he got
caught growing a marijuana plant in his bedroom closet. He lost his
eligibility for education loans, grants and work assistance this year.
"It's got to be one of the stupidest laws I ever heard of," he said.
"I wasn't using the money they gave for school on drugs."
[snip]
Pubdate: Sat, 06 Oct 2001
Source: Columbus Dispatch (OH)
Copyright: 2001 The Columbus Dispatch
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/93
Author: Associated Press
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1747/a10.html
===
(10) FLORIDA ENTERS DEBATE OVER JAIL VS. TREATMENT
Solving the crack problem, if possible at all, won't be easy in
Brevard County or anywhere else.
A statewide ballot initiative that would give first- and second-time
non-violent drug offenders a choice between jail and drug treatment
could help, supporters say. But first the initiative must make it
onto the ballot. Then, it has to pass.
Similar initiatives elsewhere in the United States have met with some
success, while others are still in the experimental stage.
But opponents of the concept, including some Florida Republican
lawmakers and law enforcement officials, strongly object to
eliminating jail time in all possession cases. Why? Because, they
say, most crack users who kick the habit and stay clean do so only if
they want to.
[snip]
Pubdate: Mon, 08 Oct 2001
Source: Florida Today (FL)
Copyright: 2001 Florida Today
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/532
Author: Tony Manolatos
Related: http://www.drugreform.org/
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1754/a03.html
=======================================================================
Law Enforcement & Prisons
-------------------------
COMMENT: (11 - 14)
A Texas columnist clearly stated why the drug war hurts law
enforcement efforts, and how that point was driven home by terror
attacks.
Other law enforcement stories from the past week reinforce his
message. Acquittals of police officers in the deaths of a drug
suspect and his companion have again caused racial polarization in a
large city. And, while drug suspects seem to deserve no mercy,
police accused of drug corruption seem to be avoiding any sanctions.
===
(11) THE OTHER WAR: WHILE LAW ENFORCEMENT FOCUSED ON DRUGS, AMERICANS
BECAME TERRORISTS' VICTIMS
[snip]
Most disturbingly, Ashcroft has continually referred to the War on
Drugs as his model. You remember the war on drugs, don't you? That's
the war that has locked up tens of thousands of Americans for the sin
of possessing chemical substances that the government disapproves of,
even if they have never harmed another soul.
[snip]
The war on drugs has steadily increased the alienation of the police
from more and more of the communities they serve. It has consumed tax
money at a voracious rate and has diverted law enforcement resources
at an alarming pace.
What the drug war has not done, however, is stop a single American
from snorting, inhaling, smoking, injecting or swallowing whatever
substance he or she desires. And no amount of increase in laws,
incarcerations, money or manpower will change that fact.
[snip]
Pubdate: Sat, 06 Oct 2001
Source: Times Record News (TX)
Copyright: 2001 The E.W. Scripps Co.
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/995
Author: Scott Davison
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1747/a05.html
===
(12) BLACK LEADERS DENOUNCE DECISION
Demonstration Is Held At Restaurant
Many of the area's civil rights leaders and activists voiced
displeasure Wednesday that federal criminal charges would not be
filed against police officers who shot two black men last year at a
Jack in the Box.
But some said they were not surprised by the outcome.
"How can you be surprised?" said the Rev. Earl Nance Jr., head of the
St. Louis Clergy Coalition and education liaison to Mayor Francis
Slay. "These kinds of cases happen all over the country."
In the case here, two undercover detectives with the St. Louis County
Police Department drug unit fatally shot the two men on June 12,
2000, in Berkeley. One man, Earl Murray, was a drug suspect. The
second man, Ronald Beasley, was not suspected of any wrongdoing. The
two unarmed men were shot as they tried to escape in a car, police
said. Officers said they feared the men would run them over.
But federal officials found that the men's car traveled only in
reverse. "The car was in reverse and the officers were in front,"
Nance said. "Why didn't they just shoot the tires?"
[snip]
Pubdate: Thu, 04 Oct 2001
Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO)
Copyright: 2001 St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/418
Author: Norm Parish, Denise Hollinshed
Note: Jeremy Kohler of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report
Reference: URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01.n1736.a08.html
Reference: URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n248/a05.html
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1737/a02.html
===
(13) FOR THOSE AWAITING TRIAL, TIME IS MONEY
Here's a nice, round number to think about as the city totters toward
bankruptcy - $336,027 - and counting.
That's how much Buffalo taxpayers have paid police Detectives Darnyl
Parker, Robert Hill, David Rodriguez and John Ferby since their March
2000 arrests on charges of stealing cash from an FBI agent posing as
a drug dealer. They haven't done any work for the city since then.
Delays in the case are costing the city a small fortune.
Some police officials wonder if the defense is stalling, dragging out
every motion so the officers can receive their pay and benefits for
as long as possible.
[snip]
Newshawk: Wars On Too Many Fronts - End The WOD
Pubdate: Sun, 07 Oct 2001
Source: Buffalo News (NY)
Copyright: 2001 The Buffalo News
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/61
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption)
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1752/a05.html
===
(14) LAWSUIT AGAINST KNOX COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT ENDS IN MISTRIAL
The trial of a lawsuit claiming the Knox County Sheriffs' Department
was responsible for the disappearance of a little more than $70,000
in cash after its owner suddenly died ended with a deadlocked jury.
After hearing four days of testimony a Knox County Circuit Court jury
deliberated into the night Friday before indicating to Circuit Judge
Dale C. Workman that it was unable to reach a verdict.
Workman subsequently declared a mistrial.
"We will just try it again," said Knoxville lawyer, Herbert S.
Moncier, who represented Jane Higgins, the plaintiff in the case.
[snip]
Pubdate: Tue, 09 Oct 2001
Source: Knoxville News-Sentinel (TN)
Copyright: 2001 The Knoxville News-Sentinel Co.
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/226
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1756/a02.html?3372
=======================================================================
Cannabis & Hemp-
---------------------------
COMMENT: (15-19)
This week brought the usual bag of mixed news from cannabis fronts
around the world. In California, a Federal Magistrate will hear the
case of the California Medical Research Center, which was busted for
apparently supplying certificates allowing the medical use of
cannabis to over 5000 sick West Coasters.
Meanwhile a Dutch study reported that cannabis may be useful in
treating cocaine addiction. Unless you happen to be a Norwegian hash
smoker: a report by Norway's Forensic Toxicology Institute suggests
that six otherwise healthy Norwegians have died over the last six
years from smoking hash. Since the Median Lethal Dose of cannabis is
estimated to be 1:40, 000 (in other words 40, 000 regular doses of
cannabis must be ingested to cause death. The MLD for aspirin is
1:50), and that there have been no reported deaths in over 3000
years of use, Norway must be producing some kick ass stuff.
In the UK the spirited fight against the drug war continues. Tim
Summers, a cannabis activist, plans to open the first licensed,
Dutch-style coffeehouse in Brixton. Let's hope that he has more luck
staying open than a similar project in central London; it was
recently closed as the doors opened on the first day.
And in Canada, Marc-Boris St-Maurice has gathered statistics showing
that the federal and provincial policing authorities continue to
focus their drug war on adult cannabis users. Sgt. Obst of the
Canadian Police Association recently suggested that only large-scale
distributors were being targeted.
And so the chasm between compassion and criminalization continues to
widen.
===
(15) MARIJUANA COULD HELP COCAINE ADDICTS KICK HABIT
Smoking marijuana could help prevent recovering cocaine addicts
relapsing, research on rats suggests. Dutch and US scientists
deprived cocaine-addicted rats of the drug for 14 days and then
exposed them to environmental cues associated with their
drug-taking. Such cues often trigger relapse in recovering human
addicts.
When the rats were also injected with a synthetic drug that blocks
cannabinoid receptors - the same receptors targeted by the active
compounds in marijuana - they were much less likely to seek an
injection of cocaine.
"We found that in the rats exposed to environmental cues associated
with cocaine injection in the past, or to cocaine itself, the
likelihood of relapse was reduced by 50 to 60 per cent," says Taco de
Vries, who led the research at Vrije University in Amsterdam and the
US National Institute on Drug Abuse. Unpublished studies by the team
on heroin-addicted rats have shown similar results, he told New
Scientist.
[snip]
Pubdate: Thu, 04 Oct 2001
Source: New Scientist (UK)
Copyright: New Scientist, RBI Limited 2001
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/294
Author: Emma Young
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01.n1739.a08.html
===
(16) FEDERAL MAGISTRATE TO HEAR ARGUMENTS ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA
SACRAMENTO (AP) - A federal magistrate will hear arguments Oct. 22 to
decide if records for more than 5,000 Northern California medical
marijuana users can be viewed by federal authorities.
Chief Magistrate Gregory Hollows set the hearing Thursday in a
courtroom packed with medical marijuana users, several in
wheelchairs. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency seized thousands of
records Sept. 28 from the California Medical Research Center in El
Dorado County in what was portrayed as an investigation into alleged
marijuana distribution. Clinic owners Dr. Mollie Fry and her attorney
husband, Dale Schafer, deny selling marijuana or certificates to buy
it.
Neither was arrested and the seized records of their clients, which
include several hundred South Shore residents, remain sealed.
[snip]
Pubdate: Fri, 5 Oct 2001
Source: Tahoe Daily Tribune (CA)
Copyright: 2001 Tahoe-Carson Area Newspapers
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/443
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01.n1738.a09.html
===
(17) CANNABIS CAFES SET TO OPEN IN LONDON
Tim Summers, a cannabis campaigner, plans to open the first licensed,
Dutch-style cannabis cafes in Britain, including one fast takeaway
service.
He intends to locate them in Brixton, south London, encouraged by the
current six month experiment under which police in Lambeth do not
arrest people found in possession of small amounts of cannabis.
Mr Summers said that, in keeping with Dutch regulations, his cafes
would not advertise, and would not sell more than 30g of cannabis to
each customer, who would have to be more than 18 years of age. They
would not sell hard drugs or alcohol, but would try to hit the
criminal street trade by staying open for long hours.
The Metropolitan Police said that it would be for the Home Office to
decide whether the cafes should be allowed to operate. In Greater
Manchester recently the owner of a would-be cannabis cafe was
arrested before he had opened for business.
Pubdate: Sun, 07 Oct 2001
Source: Guardian Weekly, The (UK)
Copyright: Guardian Publications 2001
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/633
Author: James Lewis
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01.n1748.a11.html
===
(18) A CANADIAN DOOBIE WITCH HUNT
To impress a quasi-concerned public and bolster police budget
demands, Statistics Canada has had the questionable habit of lumping
all drug cases into one figurative basket. Unimpressed, the Bloc Pot
and the federal Marijuana Party recently sponsored a joint initiative
to cut through the smoke and mirrors of official Ottawa and reveal a
disturbing truth.
[snip]
"We recently had the president of the Canadian Police Association say
simple marijuana possession was no longer a police priority--that's
an insult and a blatant lie and we now have the numbers to prove it."
Acting on St-Maurice's request, a Statistics Canada researcher
volunteered to re-examine drug-arrest figures and separate marijuana
arrests from other drug cases. Results showed that 66 000 people were
arrested for marijuana offences in 2000, including trafficking and
importation. Of those arrested, 45 350--69 percent of all cases--were
for simple possession.
[snip]
Pubdate: Thu, 04 Oct 2001
Source: Hour
Copyright: 2001 Hour
Website: www.hour.ca
Author: Charlie McKenzie
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01.n1755.a12.html
===
(19) SIX NORWEGIANS KILLED BY HASH OVER SIX YEARS
Oslo: The myth that cannabis is harmless has been destroyed. The
Forensic Toxicology Institute reports that six Norwegians have died
as a direct result of smoking hash in a period of six years.
We have made a remarkable discovery says the chief of the Forensic
Toxicology Institute, Jorg Morland. The findings were published in
the latest issue of the journal Mot Stoff (Against Drugs), published
by the National Organisation Against Drug Abuse, and they shall
shortly be published in an international journal.
It is widely known that hash smoking puts a strain on the heart and
that blood pressure rises. But that someone should die as a direct
result of smoking hash is new to us, and these findings will arouse
international attention, says Morland.
[snip]
Pubdate: Tue, 2 Oct 2001
Source: Bergensavisen (Norway)
Copyright: 2001 A-pressen Interaktiv A/S
Translated: by John Yates
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01.n1745.a01.html
=======================================================================
International News
---------------------------
Comment: (20-25)
UN officials last week hailed a claimed 91 percent drop in opium
poppy production in Afghanistan, but noted Northern Alliance rebels
had grown most of the opium harvested. "Next spring the Taliban
probably won't be there," admitted Pino Arlacchi, the outgoing head
of the UNDCP, "but the opium poppy will." However, an Australian
Broadcasting Corporation report, citing UN figures, revealed that
world markets are saturated with opium and "heroin is becoming
cheaper than ever."
Quoting unnamed "intelligence reports," U.S. News and World Report
asserted last week that Osama Bin Laden tried to produce a powerful
liquid heroin called the "Tears of Allah." The attempts apparently
failed. Unspecified officials leaked the alleged plan in a bid to
emphasize Bin Laden's desire to "worsen addiction and possibly even
kill the infidels."
Brazilian president Fernando Henrique Cardoso announced Brazil would
shoot down "planes involved in terrorism, smuggling or drug
trafficking," according to a BBC report. The report neglected to
mention how such planes could be distinguished from ordinary private
aircraft.
Jamaica's People's National Party (PNP) endorsed calls for a
national debate on the decriminalization of marijuana. Prime Master
(and PNP party president) P J Patterson, who endorses the debate,
cautioned diplomatic efforts must be made "in order to avoid
international repercussions."
US Customs, the New York Times reported, has changed priorities from
drugs to terrorism. Additional agents were deployed along the
US-Canadian border. "Terrorism is our highest priority, bar none,"
proclaimed customs commissioner Robert C. Bonner.
===
(20) OPIUM PRODUCTION PLUMMETS 91% IN AFGHANISTAN
VIENNA, Austria ( AP ) -- Production of the opium poppy in
Afghanistan plunged 91 percent this year, thanks to a ban its Taliban
rulers imposed last year against poppy growing, UN officials said
Friday.
Growers this year harvested 200 tonnes of the poppy -- the plant used
for the production of opium, heroin and other drugs -compared with
4,600 tonnes in 1999 and 3,300 tonnes last year, said Mohammad
Amirkhizi, senior policy adviser at the Vienna-based UN Office for
Drug Control and Crime Prevention.
About 150 tonnes of this year's harvest came from the 10 percent of
Afghan land controlled by the opposition Northern Alliance, which is
fighting a protracted war against the Taliban regime from its bases
in the north. The harvest season this year has ended and the planting
season will soon begin.
[snip]
"We won't know whether the ban is being implemented," Arlacchi said.
Although cultivation season is about to begin, "we won't know until
February 2002 when flowers blossom if the ban is holding."
"Next spring the Taliban probably won't be there, but the opium poppy
will," Arlacchi said, adding that the UN and world governments should
begin to develop a plan for banning opium after the Taliban fall from
power.
[snip]
Pubdate: Sun, 07 Oct 2001
Source: Taipei Times, The (Taiwan)
Copyright: 2001 The Taipei Times
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1553
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?203 (Terrorism)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1755/a04.html
===
(21) AFGHAN OPPOSITION HARVESTS MORE OPIUM THAN TALIBAN: UN
The United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention says
it believes most of the opium grown in Afghanistan is now in areas
controlled by the Northern Alliance.
However, the Vienna-based agency says the Taliban is still an active
player in the world drug market.
Opium, the raw ingredient that eventually becomes heroin, has been
funding war in Afghanistan for decades.
The UN says the Northern Alliance has now become the biggest grower
of opium in the region.
[snip]
Pubdate: Sat, 06 Oct 2001
Source: Australian Broadcasting Corporation (Australia Web)
Website: http://www.abc.net.au/
Copyright: 2001 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1747/a07.html
===
(22) TEARS OF ALLAH
Another Weapon In Osama Bin Laden's War Against The West
Osama bin Laden's search for new ways to strike at the West may have
gone beyond planes and bombs. Officials believe that shortly after
the Saudi exile's operatives bombed two U.S. embassies in August
1998, he began searching for another weapon in his war against the
West -- a super-charged drug that bin Laden hoped would worsen
addiction and possibly even kill the infidels. He called it the
"Tears of Allah."
These officials told U.S. News that bin Laden's plan to let loose a
plague of potent heroin on the United States and its friends was
detailed in intelligence reports from U.S. allies.
Tears of Allah was described as a liquid drug, requiring 50 kilograms
of opium to produce one liter of heroin. Officials say the reports
describe how bin Laden and his al Qaeda network of terrorists
recruited chemists in South Asia in an unsuccessful attempt to create
the powerful new concoction. "It was a chemical dud,'' explains one
official. "He wanted a deadly form of the drug and he wanted to get
it to the U.S. He wanted to kill."
[snip]
Pubdate: Thu, 04 Oct 2001
Source: U.S. News and World Report (US)
Copyright: 2001 U.S. News & World Report
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/464
Author: Edward T. Pound, Chitra Ragavan, Linda Robinson
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1746/a03.html
===
(23) BRAZIL TO SHOOT DOWN ILLEGAL PLANES
The Brazilian president, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, has said he would
authorize the shooting down of planes involved in terrorism,
smuggling or drug trafficking.
Mr Cardoso was speaking during a visit to the border with Colombia, a
region where illegal airplanes have been involved in several
incidents in the last years.
A law approved by the Congress in 1998 allows the armed forces to
shoot down airplanes within Brazilian airspace.
[snip]
Pubdate: Thu, 4 Oct 2001
Source: BBC News (UK Web)
Copyright: 2001 BBC
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/558
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1736/a03.html
===
(24) PNP NEC BACKS PATTERSON'S CALL FOR GANJA DEBATE
THE National Executive Council ( NEC ) of the ruling People's
National Party ( PNP ) has endorsed the proposal by party president,
Prime Master P J Patterson for a national debate on whether or not to
decriminalise the use of ganja.
[snip]
He noted that the commission had recommended decriminalisation for
personal use in private places, religious sacraments and defined
medicinal purposes, but that issues of lawful access would need to be
further explored.
The prime minister added that the commission's report had itself
identified the need for diplomatic efforts to be pursued in order to
avoid international repercussions.
[snip]
Pubdate: Wed, 03 Oct 2001
Source: Jamaica Observer (Jamaica)
Copyright: 2001 The Jamaica Observer Ltd,
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1127
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1736/a02.html
===
(25) THE BORDERS: CUSTOMS SWITCHES PRIORITY FROM DRUGS TO TERRORISM
WASHINGTON -- The new head of the United States Customs Service said
today that terrorism has replaced drug smuggling as the agency's top
priority, and that he has redeployed hundreds of agents to provide
round-the-clock inspections at the Canadian border to prevent
terrorists from entering the country.
[snip]
"Terrorism is our highest priority, bar none," said Mr. Bonner, a
former federal judge who has also served as the head of the Drug
Enforcement Administration. "Ninety-eight percent of my attention as
commissioner of customs has been devoted to that one issue."
The terrorist attacks have brought about sharp changes at several
other federal agencies, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Public Health
Service and the Internal Revenue Service.
[snip]
The shift in focus has startled many longtime customs officers like
Harold H. Zagar, the chief customs inspector at Dulles International
Airport, in the Virginia suburbs of Washington.
"For 31 years," he said, "I've been fighting the war on drugs."
Now, suddenly, drug trafficking is a distant, secondary priority. To
say the change is disorienting understates the case. "Whoa!" Mr.
Zagar said. "We've gone full circle."
[snip]
Pubdate: Wed, 10 Oct 2001
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2001 The New York Times Company
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: Robert Pear and Philip Shenon
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?203 (Terrorism)
Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1757/a04.html
***********************************************************************
HOT OFF THE 'NET
-------------------------------
NARCOTERROR.ORG NOW ONLINE
Crime, Drug Prohibition and Terrorism: An Inevitable Convergence
===
DEA ISSUES NEW RULES TO BAN HEMP PRODUCTS
On Tuesday October 9, 2001, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)
issued three new rules, two of which take effect immediately, banning
consumption of food products containing hemp seed or oil that contain
any amount of trace THC. Find out more information and how to take
action.
http://www.votehemp.com/action.html
===
ECSTASY AND CLUB DRUG STUDIES RELEASED
Aong with education campaign aimed at assisting overdose victims.
More than 200,000 people in
Ontario have used ecstasy at least once in their lifetime according
to a new study released today by the Centre for Addiction and Mental
Health (CAMH).
http://www.camh.net/press_releases/club_drugs_102001.html
===
OVER 1 MILLION AMERICANS REGULARLY USE ENTHEOGENS
On Thursday October 4, 2001, the US government released the results
of the 2000 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, the primary
method of estimating the prevalence of illicit drug, alcohol and
tobacco use in the US. According to the Survey, last year roughly
1 million Americans were current users of "hallucinogens," meaning
that they had used LSD, PCP, peyote, mescaline, mushrooms, or MDMA
(Ecstasy) during the month prior to the interview. This number
represents 0.4 percent of the population aged 12 and older.
Read More at: http://www.alchemind.org/News/Household_Survey_2000.htm
***********************************************************************
LETTER OF THE WEEK
------------------------------------
DIMINISHING FREEDOMS
By Myron Von Hollingsworth
Thanks to Scott Davison for his insightful column.
Think of all the manpower, resources, time and effort devoted to
cannabis prohibition. If we devoted those people and resources to the
interdiction of terrorists and terrorism over the last 10 years we
would likely still have a World Trade Center and the more than 5,000
souls who perished inside while the drug warriors used politics and
propaganda and profane amounts of money to lie and perpetuate their
budgets.
Maybe the corrupt politicians and media are required to adhere to the
party line of prohibition because law enforcement, customs, the prison
and military industrial complex, the drug testing industry, the "drug
treatment" industry, the INS, the CIA, the FBI, the DEA, the
politicians themselves, et al, can't live without the budget
justification, not to mention the invisible profits, bribery,
corruption and forfeiture benefits that prohibition affords them. The
drug war also promotes, justifies and perpetuates racist enforcement
policies and is diminishing many freedoms and liberties that are
supposed to be inalienable according to the Constitution and Bill of
Rights.
Myron Von Hollingsworth,
Fort Worth, Texas
Date: 10/09/2001
Source: Times Record News (TX)
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1747/a05.html?1743
===
Honorable Mention Letters of the Week
Headline: Drug Laws Erode Our Civil Liberties
Author: Ray Carlson
Pubdate: 10/04/2001
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/letters/2001/10/lte16.html
===
Headline: Terrorists Profit from the "War on Drugs"
Author: Christopher Palkow
Pubdate: 10/03/2001
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/letters/2001/10/lte12.html
***********************************************************************
FEATURE ARTICLE
-------------------------------
WAR ON DRUGS AND WAR ON TERROR (Part 1)
By Tom O'Connell
Although a 1993 attempt to destroy the World Trade center came
dangerously close to succeeding, the implied warning was -- for
whatever reasons -- largely ignored. Beyond that, if anyone in a
position of responsibility thought to link the audaciously selected
target to a wide open side door -- America's vast, but lightly
defended domestic airline network -- the connection was neither made
publicly nor acted upon. On September 11, a brilliantly conceived
suicide attack on the Twin Towers, using highjacked airliners as
fuel-laden bombs, was executed flawlessly, causing as-yet undefined
damage to our economy at a critical juncture in history. To add insult
to serious injury, a more symbolic second attack. using the same
tactics against the icon of America's defense establishment in
Washington DC, was at least 50% successful.
This is not a critique of the security lapses that allowed those
devastating attacks; rather, it's an attempt to place the attacks
themselves in perspective so they can be responsibly analyzed. It's
clear from expectations of "war" being sustained in our media that we
may be poised to compound our problems by failing to recognize that
some major policy errors helped enable their development.
Terrorism is a weapon classically used by zealots united by shared
grievances and outgunned by conventional forces. Although often state
sponsored or encouraged, it's not a weapon that can be openly employed
by governments seeking formal recognition from other nations. To rise
to the level of a serious threat, terrorism, like any other complex
human activity, requires funding. In that connection, kidnapping,
extortion, and bank robbery have all been employed by various
terrorist organizations; another funding vehicle for terrorists has
become participation in -- or the ability to tax -- illegal drug
markets within their areas of control.
A look at today's "source countries" for illegal drugs, illustrates
the mutual affinities of terrorists, rogue governments, and
participants in illegal drug markets. Traditional drugs are based on
crops that must be grown, harvested, and processed. Suppliers require
a suitable climate, a large territory in which to operate, and a
peasant population willing to work at near subsistence levels. Local
government must either be ineffective, complicit, or both. That such
conditions can be found in all major drug producing nations from
Colombia to Burma is clearly not an accident; if we look closely, we
can also understand how the illegal markets themselves tend to
produce those pernicious conditions by favoring the emergence of a
controlling criminal class with the ability to corrupt government,
murder opposition, and coopt the local peasantry by paying more
for illegal crops than for staples. They can easily afford to do so
because of the huge profit margins created by drug prohibition.
The ultimate noxious effect of such markets is well illustrated in
the smaller nations which are now the world's prime producers of
illegal drugs: Burma, Afghanistan and Colombia. All have stagnant
economies because foreign investment has been driven away; larger
bordering nations (Mexico and Pakistan and Thailand) also have
extreme difficulty in attracting foreign capital for legitimate
enterprises as a result of their inevitable participation in illegal
drug markets through processing, trans shipment, and distribution.
As the domestic American policy of drug prohibition gradually became
globalized after WW2, the illegal markets dependent on our policy
have thrived. The milestones are familiar; the Single Convention
Treaty of New York (1961), promulgated by the UN, made the same
drugs illegal around the world; the discovery of marijuana and
psychedelics by American youth in the Sixties added impetus for
further growth, and the "war on drugs" declared by Nixon and
expanded by every president since Reagan has been accompanied by
relentless increase in that fraction of the world's gross domestic
product flowing into illegal drug markets. While that share can't be
measured with the same precision as with legitimate markets, it was
recently estimated by the UN to be 8-9%, rivalling petroleum products
and motor vehicles.
It can be appreciated, at least in retrospect, that Muslim outrage
over America's sponsorship and support of Israel coupled with the
gradual expansion of illegal drug markets in the Middle East made
the current alliance between Islamic terrorism and drug supplying
nations almost inevitable. What might have originally been in doubt
-- which specific nations would become leaders in drug production --
has since been defined by specific events.
Editor's Note: The second half of Tom O'Connell's essay will
published in this space next week.
***********************************************************************
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
------------------------------------
"If the jury have no right to judge the justice of a law of the
government, they plainly can do nothing to protect the people against
the oppressions of the government; for there are no oppressions which
the government may not authorize by law."
- Lysander Spooner, "Trial by Jury"
***********************************************************************
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selection and analysis by Phillipe Lucas (ph...@drugsense.org),
International content selection and analysis by Doug Snead
(do...@drugsense.org), Layout by Matt Elrod (webm...@drugsense.org)
We wish to thank all our contributors, editors, NewsHawks and letter
writing activists. Please help us help reform.
===
NOTICE:
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===
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------------------------------
Date: Sat, 13 Oct 2001 23:02:56 -0700
From: "D. Paul Stanford" <stan...@crrh.org>
To: res...@crrh.org
Subject: Transcript: Dr. O'Connell's Visit to the NYT Drug Policy
Forum
Message-ID: <5.1.0.14.2.200110...@mail.olywa.net>
Newshawk: Guest Schedule http://www.cultural-baggage.com/schedule.htm
Pubdate: Tue, 9 Oct 2001
Source: New York Times Drug Policy Forum
Website: http://forums.nytimes.com/comment/index-national.html
Note: This, and the series of forums, is being archived at MAP as an
exception to our web only source posting policies.
Join: Dr. O'Connell when he visits the DrugSense Chat Room
http://www.drugsense.org/chat this Sunday evening, 14 October at 8
p.m.
Eastern, 5 p.m. Pacific.
TRANSCRIPT OF DR. THOMAS J. O'CONNELL'S VISIT TO THE DRUG POLICY FORUM
On Tuesday, Oct. 9, the NYTimes's Drug Policy forum hosted Dr.
O'Connell.
Dr. O'Connell, a semi-retired thoracic surgeon, is a Vice President of
the
Media Awareness Project, Inc. dba DrugSense.
http://www.drugsense.org/whoweare.htm
dean_becker
Dr. O'Connell, welcome to the NYT Drug Policy Forum. I have noticed
since
the war started last month the number of posters here has dropped off
significantly and the list serves for reform have dropped off as well.
One
could suppose that this stems from the fear that the government is
watching, taking names in preparation for additional crack-downs on US
citizens. Do you think the government will soon escalate the drug war
as
part of their "narco-terrorist" efforts?
Dr. O'Connell
Dean wrote: "Dr. O'Connell, welcome to the NYT Drug Policy Forum. I
have
noticed since the war started last month the number of posters here
has
dropped off significantly and the list serves for reform have dropped
off
as well. One could suppose that this stems from the fear that the
government is watching, taking names in preparation for additional
crack-downs on US citizens."
Thanks, Dean. I hope I can get the hang of responding accurately. As
for
your question, I just don't know, but I don't put much past our
federal
government when it comes to the war on drugs... and I think many of
their
same people will have roles in the "war" against terror.
Richard Lake
Welcome, Tom Don't know how many lurk here, but I do know that the
showing
at the DrugSense chat has not changed much since 911. Richard
Dr. O'Connell
Welcome yourself, Richard. Are my replies showing up ok? This is a
different pace than the DrugSense chats.
dean_becker
Dr. O'Connell, your posts are displaying just fine.
celaya
Dr. O'Connell Thanks for coming. Why do you think the government holds
on
to marijuana prohibition with a death grip in the face of all the
proof
that it is many times less harmful than alcohol?
Dr. O'Connell
Celaya asks: Why do you think the government holds on to marijuana
prohibition with a death grip in the face of all the proof that it is
many
times less harmful than alcohol?
That's an easy one to start with; cannabis is the most frequently
"abused"
illegal substance-- therefore the most common excuse for arresting
people.
Without cannabis prohibition, the criminal justice system couldn't
command
its present budget.
Besides, "kids" wouldn't get the right message.
celaya
Right. So why is the public so deluded into thinking marijuana is such
a
menace? Have we really lost our capacity for critical thought?
donaldway
Dr. O'Connell, Hi and welcome to the forum. One of the things that I
and
others have been criticized for of late is for coming up with possible
body
counts attributable to the war on drugs. Stories like the one about
the
research into THC's effects on tumors (
http://www.projectcensored.org/c2001stories/22.html ) seem to support
the
view that there could be very many deaths attributable to this
nation's
drug policy, yet even though it is the government that prohibits the
research we get criticized for not having enough evidence. It seems
that
some actions the government takes are so reprehensible as to be
unbelievable, and then when attempting to bring them to light one gets
labeled as a nut. Is the story like the one appropriate to make an
issue
of? Is it wrong to portray the likely damage prohibiting such research
has
done?
Dr. O'Connell
Have we really lost our capacity for critical thought?
Celaya; you'd have to work hard to convince me we ever had that
capacity to
begin with. Is the story like the one appropriate to make an issue of?
Is
it wrong to portray the likely damage prohibiting such research has
done?
Donald; I think it's impossible to overestimate the damage the WoD has
done
to American science; but it would be impossible for dedicated warriors
and
many in the general public to comprehend that criticism. It's what we
mean
by "cognitive dissonance."
donaldway
Dr. O'Connell, So when I observe that over a half million people die
in
America each year from cancer, and that we're but one twentieth of the
world's population, and that the research I alluded to earlier has
been
suppressed for nearly thirty years... the math that suggests is in the
ball-park, which is to say not that this is the number of people who
would
be alive today were it not for the government suppressing this
research,
but that it sets some kind of theoretical maximum, would that be
right?
dean_becker
Through your experience in Viet Nam, elsewhere in the service and in
private practice you have had the chance to see the changes (if any)
in
drug usage as a physician. The government continually finds "new"
drugs to
prohibit, notably ecstasy in the past year or two. Are these "new
things
under the sun" really new, are the threats they ascribe to these drugs
new,
or are they simply building a better band wagon, a bigger universe to
hurl
US taxpayer dollars at?
Richard Lake
I agree with Dean that some folks are not posting as much as a result
of
911 on the various private DPR email lists, but the decline has been
small
IMHO. And there does not appear to be folks signing off of the lists -
indeed they continue to grow. However, there was a large drop in the
number
of news items being posted to MAP after 911. Before 911 we were
posting
about 60 items a day. For the week of Sept. 23 thru 29 it was only 26
items
per day. It increased to 40 items per day for the week of Sept. 30
thru
Oct. 6th. It appears this is because the WOD just has not been as
major a
story now. The newshawks continue to search just as hard for stories.
Website visits have continued strong. Richard www.mapinc.org
Dr. O'Connell
I'm curious to learn if any of you are seeing any evidence that your
friends and associates are beginning to see a connection between the
drug
war and the terrorist attacks of last month.
dean_becker
Dr. O'Connell, earlier today you said you were working on an OPED
about
"cognitive dissonance". Can you give us an excerpt, a snapshot of your
approach to the subject?
dean_becker
Dr. O'Connell, I make it a point to bring up the drug war, the terror
war
to people I meet, folks I work with and nobody seems to feel
comfortable
with either war. Everyone wants to squash bin Laden but other than
that
nobody sees any purpose in the US making more enemies abroad with the
terror war or domestically with the incarceration of more drug war
prisoners. I'm talking about folks from 20 to 70 years of age, none of
them
see any justification at all in the drug war.
Dr. O'Connell
It's the situation that obtains when someone is so partisan that they
seem
simply unable to comprehend arguments against their position.
Therefore
they either ignore those arguments; or, if forced to deal with them,
they
distort them into a form they can "refute." Cognitive dissonance is a
hall
mark of prohibitionists. In arguments about other topics, it may be
that
both sides are affected. Say like Israelis and Palestinians, for
example.
donaldway
The newly minted "Uniting and Strengthening America" act
(http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d107:s.01510:) talks about
"domestic terrorism" as being conduct that "involves acts dangerous to
human life." If you consider they view drugs as being dangerous to
human
life, it would appear the linkage between drug reform and terrorism is
about to become quite real.
Dr. O'Connell
If there's any silver lining to our present terrible predicament (post
911), it's that the historical connection between the WoD and the
enabling
of terrorism is so strong that it will be impossible to ignore or
distort
forever. I'm confident it will eventually have to come out. I also
think
our economic downturn will make the weight of our prison population so
unbearable that we will be forced to re examine the policies that made
it
so large.
dean_becker
As a physician, have you ever seen any of the harms the
prohibitionists
ascribe to marijuana use like Psychosis or dementia, aberrant behavior
or
insanity?
Dr. O'Connell
Dean asks:As a physician, have you ever seen any of the harms the
prohibitionists ascribe to marijuana use like Psychosis or dementia,
abberant behavior or insanity?
Not really; but I have seen people who have untoward reactions (mostly
paranoia and unease). It's easy for them to decide they shouldn't do
weed.
Jerry; I think we are thinking in the same direction. A national
epiphany
on drug policy is long overdue; but it may take some really startling
developments to provoke it.
jerryt9
Dr. O, Some of us believe that a viable route out of the chaos of
current
Drug Policy COULD be a complete reversal, consisting of: 1) Admit that
our
Drug Policy is fatally flawed by the misconceptions and outright lies
regarding the nature and effect of Cannabis sativa, and, 2) Abolish
all
laws against hemp and marijuana, and, 3) Pardon and release all
"marijuana
prisoners" from Federal, State, and Local prisons, and 4) Compensate
them
by offering them a program similar to the G I Bill that followed World
War
2. Can you give us your opinion? Thanks!!
celaya
But there are those politicians who are trying to paint that it is the
drug
consumers who are enabling terrorism. Do you think that perhaps we
could
see a witch hunt greater than we ever imagined?
donaldway
Dr. O'Connell, Has the DEA ever put pressure on you for your views by
threatening your ability to prescribe drugs? Doesn't their ability to
do
this effectively deputize the medical community, especially doctors?
Forgive me if this is offensive, but with such laws in place, could
one be
forgiven for referring to a physician as a "federal doctor"?
Dr. O'Connell
Celaya- I often find myself marveling at the audacity of
prohibitionists
(it's that cognitive dissonance thing), but I don't think that
argument
will be taken seriously. Especially since most of our heroin now comes
from
Colombia, while Afghanistan supplies mostly Europe and the former
Soviet
Union.
Dr. O'Connell
As for the general issue of "federal doctors" and the degree to which
physicians are compromised by the WoD; that's an enormous problem. If
physicians and academics weren't so frightened of the feds, the drug
war
couldn't last a week. But it's very tough for an individual physician
to
speak out; especially now when medicine is in such a mess and so
dependent
of the feds for reimbursement. No, I have never been directly
approached.
celaya
Well, I hate to widen the topic, but with the current wave of
"patriotism,"
I see an ugly mood growing that considers any criticism of the
government
as traitorous. An appointed president that had less than half the vote
and
mediocre approval ratings now is our national figurehead who everyone
seems
to be rallying behind. This, combined with the new "security" measures
creates a very dangerous situation for Reformers and others who
disagree
with the government.
dean_becker
Given the nature/horror of the "narco-terror" war, perhaps we could
accent
the fact that domestically grown hemp, coca and poppies could kill
many
birds with one stone, i.e.: would the use of the less powerful,
natural
substances bring about a lessening of addiction, reasonable prices
that
would lessen street crime and a means whereby those who use these
natural
substance could be "complete citizens" and 100%, bona fide allies in
the
war on terrorism?
Dr. O'Connell
Celaya wrote: An appointed president that had less than half the vote
and
mediocre approval ratings now is our national figurehead who everyone
seems
to be rallying behind.
Celaya; I had hoped he would be tested early, but I never envisioned
the
form that test would take. I have long fretted about Afghanistan and
the
degree to which the American press has completely ignored the
significance
of their drug industry, so when 911 first happened, I was SURE the
press
and public would immediately see the connection. How wrong I was.
donaldway
Well, I hate to widen the topic, but with the current wave of
"patriotism,"
I see an ugly mood growing that considers any criticism of the
government
as traitorous. I consider individuals like Dr. O'Connell one of our
true
patriots; to put yourself at risk by standing in the face of tyranny
while
in pursuit of liberty is what patriotism is really about... not how
many
flags you can buy or the number of times you pledge allegiance. But
you are
right, it is the viewpoint of the minority.
Richard Lake
Perhaps the more public you are, Tom, the more 'they' fear making an
issue
of it. Tom's published letters have appeared in places like the
Chicago
Tribune, Dallas Morning News, San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco
Chronicle, Wall Street Journal, and other newspapers.
See http://www.mapinc.org/writers/Tom+O'Connell
Dr. O'Connell
Dean- If you leave poppies and coca out of your formulation, I would
tend
to agree. I don't think we'll ever see significant domestic poppy or
coca
cultivation; but I agree with you on the potential effects of
increased
consumption of American cannabis. Dean wrote: Given the nature/horror
of
the "narco-terror" war, perhaps we could accent the fact that
domestically
grown hemp, coca and poppies could kill many birds with one stone,
i.e.:
would the use of the less powerful, natural substances bring about a
lessening of addiction, reasonable prices that would lessen street
crime
and a means whereby those who use these natural substance could be
"complete citizens" and 100%, bona fide allies in the war on
terrorism?
patient1
I see over and over. It's about Money. Dr can't speak out cause gov
pays
em. Academics can't speak cause gov funding. Economics bad, start a
war
make more money. Patriots go home when they have more to lose then
gain. Is
our freedom not worth more than any security ?
celaya
I view the current war fever as more than just response to propaganda.
Ours
is a violent culture and it seems like many people have just been
spoiling
for a fight and a chance to brandish our military superiority. I get
the
feeling like we have now found ourselves in the midst of sharks in a
feeding frenzy - and they would be only to happy to gobble us up along
with
the rest of the innocent victims.
Dr. O'Connell
Thanks for the kudos, Richard; but the truth is that I have long been
eclipsed by other letter writers. I regard being an early participant
in
MAP and working with Richard, Matt, Mark, Jo-D and many other
volunteers as
the most significant contribution I've made.
Dr. O'Connell
Celaya and George- I think the general response to the points you
raise is
that the WoD has become the great chameleon: it is many things to many
different people. Its many and varied constituencies are among the
reasons
it has so difficult to oppose effectively.
galan14
Tom --- Just had to pop in to say hello. I don't pretend to be
qualified to
argue about "cognitive dissonance," but Carl Veley (who's now working
for
British Petroleum much to our regret) used to fancy himself an expert
on
that subject -- and tried to use it to our advantage at every
opportunity
-- and I know his definition of it differed a bit from the one you
just
offered. Carl defined it as what happens when you find yourself
holding two
incompatible beliefs at the same time. One of his favorite examples,
which
he once successfully used in a LTE to the Wall Street Journal as i
recall
was a firm belief in capitalism and free markets, on the one hand, and
a
belief that drug prohibition could eventually be made to work, on the
other. It was common, especially among readers of the WSJ, to explain
why
communism would never work because the government would try to control
the
market, and Carl would argue that either one or the other of these
beliefs
might be true but they couldn't both be true. I know I'm not doing a
good
job of explaining this, but that's what Carl was always trying to do,
create cognitive dissonance in the minds of the drug warriors, in
hopes
that they might eventually see that prohibition could never work. On
the
other hand, I'm not sure Carl's efforts were ever terribly effective
in
convincing drug warriors that the war on drugs wouldn't work. I guess
you
were suggesting that most drug warriors already know the drug war
doesn't
make sense, so they solve the problem by thinking of something else.
Anyhow, it gave me an excuse for saying something besides hello. Just
now
I'm in my old familiar position of frantically trying to get the
newsletter
finished. I'm only about four months behind schedule, so things
haven't
changed much. Cheers / Al
Dr. O'Connell
Hi, Al- Just goes to show you that there's more than one explanations
for
everything-- even cognitive dissonance! I was first exposed to the
idea by
Dave Haydorn and understood it as blocked communication because one or
more
parties in a discussion couldn't imagine they were wrong about a
certain
point. Great to "speak' to you; thanks for taking the time to drop in!
Tom
donotaskwhy
Dr. O'Connell... What "connection" were you so sure would be seized
upon by
the public, and media, post 9/11? By the way, I find the insanity of
funding Taliban (in) activity toward ceasing (har, har) poppy
production to
be an effective approach toward prohibitionists. The cognitive
dissonance
you so correctly allude to loses its power when this is brought up,
and
most become dumbfounded. I believe you overestimate the "connection".
It's
pretty clear to anybody with a modicum of gray matter between their
ears
that these attacks were to be well funded with or without prohibition.
celaya
There were two significant events in drug policy that happened just
before
911. One was the debate on marijuana legalization between New Mexico
Governor Gary Johnson and newly appointed Drug Czar, Asa Hutchinson.
Johnson conveyed the Reform position very well. The other event was
the
killing of Tom Crosslin and the destruction of his Rainbow Farm in
Michigan. The circumstances were shrouded in a government controlled
siege,
but it is obvious that he was persecuted for being a marijuana
activist.
Both these events had the potential to raise great awareness of the
great
injustice of marijuana prohibition, but, handily enough, 911 came
along and
pushed them right out of the news. On the heels of the success of
marijuana
reform in so many other countries, this event was just too convenient.
johnson29
Dr, not to change the topic, which is fascinating tonight and thank
you for
being here.... but I have a question. I know mj is known to have good
affects on patients with cancer, aids, and glaucoma. Have studies been
done
on other diseases such as heart disease, ms, diabetes, depression,
Parkinson, etc. ?
patient1
Marijuana, very good for my symptoms. Pain, Spasm, Nausea, weight
gain,
sleep. etc. U.S. Fed Gov Says so.
celaya
Sorry, correction - Hutchinson, newly appointed head of the DEA. Not
much
difference.
Dr. O'Connell
don'taskwhy has given voice to one of my pet peeves: "I believe you
overestimate the "connection". It's pretty clear to anybody with a
modicum
of grew matter between their ears that these attacks were to be well
funded
with or without prohibition."
It's not just about funding-- or even mostly about funding. Terrorists
need
a rogue government to protect them-- and rogue governments are
inevitable
in small or medium sized countries that have become completely
dependent on
the drug war for foreign exchange. Terrorists thrive in that
environment.
celaya
It seems that our government is more dependent on the drug war than
any.
The king of the rogues.
dean_becker
I'm intrigued by your post that said without the Federal interference,
doctors would have the courage to speak up, to end the drug war in
perhaps
one weeks time. Is there a way to rally the medical community, a way
to
force the governments hand, or is the problem just too bulky in the
current
state?
Dr. O'Connell
Dean asked: Is there a way to rally the medical community, a way to
force
the governments hand, or is the problem just too bulky in the current
state?
I don't see much hope, Dean. Today's doctors are thoroughly cowed and
also
caught up in their increasingly difficult job of surviving. Besides,
they
have received precious little accurate info about "drugs" in medical
school
and are motivated to cherish the monopoly they have received for
prescribing legal pharmaceuticals.
richard1028c
Vivian Morales, Colombian legislator I agree that it may appear that
some
of us overstate the connection between terrorist funding and the drug
prohibition--I may be one of the worst. I agree that they will survive
and
fight with or without the prohibition, but if we are to weaken them in
any
way possible financially, a big step would be to deny them the
trafficking
funds.
Dr. O'Connell
richard1028c writes: I agree that they will survive and fight with or
without the prohibition, but if we are to weaken them in any way
possible
financially, a big step would be to deny them the trafficking funds.
I think that's probably correct; it partially explains why
Palestinians are
content to surrender their lives to kill a few people on a bus, while
Bin
Laden's groups went after the WTC. The best way to defund them would
be
legalization of all drugs, but don't look for it soon. Beyond that,
through
there's still the corruption of the rule of law which the WoD has
created.
I also don't want to discount all the other foreign policy mistakes
that
have led to Arab-- and Muslim-- rage against us. This war is not
simply
because we are "good" and they are "bad" as our Prez suggests.
donaldway
The Albanian Liberation Army and the FARC in Colombia seem to be great
examples of the importance of this connection. And let's not forget
that
when we play at covert operations in parts of the world, many of these
activities would be considered terroristic if viewed from the other
side,
and are financed by the drug trade as well. Think Noriega, Bush,
Oliver
North and the Contras, etc.
donaldway
Since we're discussing pet peeves... Dr., the only argument the gov't
seems
to be making these days -- and which was offered by Asa Hutchinson in
his
recent debate with Gov. Johnson (R) from NM -- is that prohibition is
working because the number of people who report that they are engaging
in
criminal acti... um, who report that they are using drugs has declined
since penalties were dramatically increased... er, since the late
'70s. Any
thoughts on this?
Dr. O'Connell
Donald Way asked if I have any thoughts on recent claims, articulated
by
Asa H, that fewer people are reporting drug use.
I have several thoughts: the first is that of all the "statistics"
that one
might come up with that's the softest.
Second is that every other measure of the health of our criminal drug
markets suggests that they are thriving like never before: more
tonnage
seized, lower prices, greater purity and availability.
Finally, the warriors themselves are bleating abut two new products:
meth
and MDMA (and other club drugs) Doesn't sound like either a successful
policy or an industry in decline; no matter what Asa claims.
celaya
New Bad News! On Tuesday October 9, 2001, the Drug Enforcement
Administration (DEA) issued three new rules, two of which take effect
immediately, banning consumption of food products containing hemp seed
or
oil that contain any amount of trace THC. This ruling comes despite
the
fact that the hemp industry has established the science based
TestPledge
program through which hemp companies assure consumers that they will
not
confirm positive in a workplace drug-test even when eating an
unrealistically absurd amount of hemp foods daily. The DEA, apparently
aware of the TestPledge program, did not reference any compelling
reason
for its most recent attempt to sabotage the industry. There also was
no
explanation of why poppy seeds and their trace opiates were not
similarly
targeted.... The DEA contends that such rules are required to protect
public health and safety and to preserve the integrity of the U.S.
drug
testing system. Integrity???? LOL!!!!! Need any more proof that the
WOD is
really a War On Marijuana Users? Eat more hemp!
dendecannabist
Hi Doc What's your opinion of ayahuasca and ibogaine to treat
addiction? On
the drug war and fossil fuels connection to terrorism and US corporate
interest removing cannabis from the market and profiting on the war?
Boycott? DdC
Dr. O'Connell
dendecannabist asks my opinion on Ibogaine & ayahuasca.
I don't have any direct experience with either. Ibogaine sound very
promising, but unfortunately, the government seems to have done such
an
effective job of trashing its reputation that to raise it as an issue
in
this climate is perceived as a negative. The same thing may have
happened
to MDMA if so many people hadn't experienced it for themselves. I'm
very
curious about ayahuasca, but know nothing of any real importance.
dendecannabist
Its been coming for a while Celaya. Messin up the piss test. I guess
poppy
seed is next...Can't have all that nutrition messin up the profits
treating
the diseases caused by malnutrition. The American dream has turned
into a
nightmare...Competition kept off the market again... Drugthug to ban
all
hemp products The Chemical Manipulation of Human Consciousness
http://www.trufax.org/menu/chem.html Collusion Between the Government
and
Dairy-Meat Industries http://www.trufax.org/research/f6.html
http://www.pacifichemp.com/ http://www.hempery.com/
http://www.hempfood.com/
dean_becker
I wonder if we are a cause without an established leader, floundering
because of a lack of focus. I admire many people within in the
movement and
would follow them to DC or anywhere if I thought we could change
things.
The reform movement is scattered over perhaps a thousand
organizations. If
you could pick one or more leaders to rally us to victory who might
they be?
Dr. O'Connell
Dean- I agree that it would help if we had a charismatic leader to
articulate a single clear message (like End the Drug War!). I'm not
sure
which is the chicken and which is the egg, but I think we need both a
person and a clear message for political success.
As for: Marinol v cannabis; there's simply no comparison (although
marinol
works for some people, it can't be as precisely controlled; it's
generally
not as effective and many get too "stoned").
celaya
Den I knew they were trying, but I was hoping common sense would
prevail.
Not much of that around these days.
Dr. O'Connell
different cannabis strains treating different symptoms? A fertile
field; we
should get some hard info from the GW Pharmaceutical clinical studies
now
under way in the UK. Cannabis preserving milk? Treating dementia?
Sorry;
can't help.
donaldway
I got to go. Thanks for coming Dr. O'Connell, it was a great
discussion. Bye!
dean_becker
Dr. O'Connell, you know many people within the medical community. In a
non-public poll, how many, what % would endorse the end of marijuana
prohibition?
Dr. O'Connell
Dean- That's an interesting question; especially if it were truly
confidential, the results might be interesting. But I want to stress
that
the average doctor doesn't know much about cannabis. If he's not a
smoker
himself, he probably shares the general public's misapprehensions.
dendecannabist
Marijuana Could Help Cocaine Addicts Kick Habit
http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread11031.shtml SCIENTISTS TEST
HALLUCINOGENS FOR MENTAL
ILLShttp://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01.n442.a03.html Makers of Hemp
Products to Fight DEA
http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread11022.shtml
US-Funded Colombian Unit Linked to Terrorist Group
http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread11038.shtml
dendecannabist
MDMA the "Love Drug"? Ole XTC of yesteryear... ever hear of DMSO? and
would
it be effective with cannabis getting it into a system?
Dr. O'Connell
MDMA the "Love Drug"? Yes; my experience has been very positive. As
with
any of these shadowy issues, one's own experience is everything. ever
hear
of DMSO? and would it be effective with cannabis getting it into a
system?
I've only heard of it; but it MIGHT be helpful with a cannabis patch.
It's
the kind of thing that should be investigated, but predictably won't
be.
simon61d
Dr. Tom, thanks for coming to the forum. I'm hoping that with more and
more
prominent people coming out against the WoD we can somehow
breakthrough
what I see as a stalemate in this battle for the past couple of years,
magnified by the 911. I wanted to get your thoughts on how you see an
end
to prohibition, i.e. Dean mentioned poppy & coca cultivation in the US
and
I personally see that as a useful weapon, that these drugs are
concentrated
forms of plants grown on God's green earth.
Dr. O'Connell
Simon- The scenario for the end of prohibition is more of a head
scratcher
than ever. I think it will be provoked by some type of calamity; my
analogy
is that Prohibition (alcohol) might not have ended as quickly as it
did
without the Great Depression.
On the other hand, the drug war has gradually grown to become MUCH
larger
on the world stage than purely American Prohibition ever was, so the
calamity that shakes people up enough to see its flaws may have to be
of
truly colossal proportions.
Our new war on terrorism may contain the seeds; not an entirely happy
thought...
Richard Lake
Dr. Tom - Thank you so much for visiting here! I suspect that your
stay may
be longer than any previous guest, over two hours.
You may feel free to stay as long as you like, or call it off until
next
Sunday, same times, when the discussion continues in the DrugSense
Chat Room.
Dr. O'Connell
Richard- Thanks for both your kind remarks and an excuse for a
gracious
exit. I invite every one to the DrugSense chat on Sunday; be sure to
tell a
friend!
Dean- Thanks for both the opportunity and for the nurturing; it was
indispensable.
__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior
interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational
purposes.
---
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake
------------------------------
End of restore V9 #244
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