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DRUGSENSE WEEKLY

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DrugSense Weekly,             March 13, 2008                       #591

Read This Publication On-line at:  http://www.drugsense.org/current.htm

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TABLE OF CONTENTS:

* This Just In

   (1) State May Take Over Growing Medical Pot
   (2) Choice Of Drug Czar Indicates Focus On Treatment, Not Jail
   (3) Fears In U.S. Drug War Will Destabilize Mexico
   (4) War on Drugs 'Has Enriched Cartels'

* Weekly News in Review

Drug Policy-

   (5) U.S. Should Make Mexican Drug Violence A Priority, Lawmaker Says
   (6) Mexican Cartels Infiltrate Houston
   (7) Mexican Cartels Plague Atlanta
   (8) Column: Legal Drugs: The Only Route To Ending Mexican Violence

Law Enforcement & Prisons-

   (9) New Look at Sentencing Guidelines for Cocaine
   (10) Prosecutor: Ex-MSU Football Star's Release From Prison Raises Concerns
   (11) Drug Arrests Shock Linden's Residents
   (12) Ombudsman Widens Probe Into Garda Drug Collusion

Cannabis & Hemp-

   (13) U.S. Should Lift Ban On Hemp
   (14) California Marijuana Dispensaries Cheer U.S. Shift On Raids
   (15) Putting Pot Under The Microscope
   (16) California Can't Afford To Legalize Marijuana

International News-

   (17) This Is A Coca Leaf, Not Cocaine, Insists Morales
   (18) We Can't Go On Prohibiting Drugs!
   (19) Poll Finds Most Back Legal Pot, Gang Crackdown
   (20) Ottawa Follows U.S.-Style Approach In War On Drugs
   (21) How To Make Me Shut Up About Legalizing Drugs

* Hot Off The 'Net

   Fear  Prevails At The UN As Voices For Drug Law Reform Are Smeared
   Police Detective Says Legalize Drugs To Stop Gangs
   The President And The Drug War: Part I / Al Giordano
   Obama's Drug Policy / John Tierney
   Lawyers  For  Prof.  Craker  Submit Supplemental Motion To The DEA
   Meeting In Vienna
   Bruce Mirken On The Rachel Maddow Show
   Drug Truth Network
   Obama Signals Readiness To Further Militarize Drug War
   "Maybe Marijuana Should Be Legalized & Regulated" Congresswoman Sanchez
   Cannabidiol Now! / By Fred Gardner

* What You Can Do This Week

   Al Roker Reporting - Marijuana Inc.
   Staying Alive - CBC's The Fifth Estate

* Letter Of The Week

   Legalize Drugs And Gangs Will Go Away / Travis Erbacher

* Letter Writer Of The Month - February

   Dan Linn

* Feature Article

   The Drug War Is Not A Failure / Pete Guither

* Quote of the Week

   David Talbot

DrugSense  needs  your  support  to  continue this newsletter and many
other important projects - see how you can help at
http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm

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THIS JUST IN
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(1) STATE MAY TAKE OVER GROWING MEDICAL POT

Pubdate: Thu, 12 Mar 2009
Source: Statesman Journal (Salem, OR)
Copyright: 2009 Statesman Journal
Author: Tracy Loew

Lawmakers Say House Bill Would Improve Public Safety

The  state  would  take  over  growing  and  distributing marijuana to
patients  in  the medical-marijuana program under a bill introduced in
the Legislature on Wednesday.

"Our  current  system  isn't  working,  and we need to move quickly to
protect  patient  safety,"  said  Rep.  Ron  Maurer,  R-Grants  Pass.

House  Bill  3274  directs  the  state  to  establish  and  operate  a
marijuana  production  facility  and distribute the drug to pharmacies
for  dispensing  to  cardholders  and  primary  caregivers.  The  bill
imposes  a  $98-per-ounce  tax  on  marijuana,  which  would cover the
state's  costs  of  operating  and  securing  the  production  center.

Lawmakers  said  they  think  the  bill would improve public safety by
eliminating private medical-marijuana grow sites.

Some private growers have been accused of illegally selling
marijuana  to  noncardholders,  and  other sites have been targeted by
burglaries and home invasions.

"House  Bill  3274  takes medical marijuana off the streets and into a
safer and more secure environment," said Rep. Chris Harker,
D-Beaverton.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n296/a04.html

===

(2) CHOICE OF DRUG CZAR INDICATES FOCUS ON TREATMENT, NOT JAIL

Pubdate: Thu, 12 Mar 2009
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2009 The Washington Post Company
Author: Carrie Johnson, and Amy Goldstein

The  White  House  yesterday  said  that  it  will push for treatment,
rather  than  incarceration,  of  people  arrested  for  drug-related
crimes  as  it announced the nomination of Seattle Police Chief R. Gil
Kerlikowske  to  oversee the nation's effort to control illegal drugs.

The  choice  of drug czar and the emphasis on alternative drug courts,
announced  by  Vice  President  Biden,  signal  a sharp departure from
Bush  administration  policies,  gravitating  away  from  cutting  the
supply  of  illicit  drugs  from  foreign countries and toward curbing
drug use in communities across the United States.

Biden,  who  helped  shape  the Office of National Drug Control Policy
as  a  U.S.  senator in the 1980s, said the Obama administration would
continue  to  focus on the southwest border, where Mexican authorities
are  facing  thousands  of drug-related murders and unchecked violence
from  drug  cartels  moving  cocaine,  heroin and methamphetamine into
American  markets.  But it remained unclear how the new administration
would engineer its budget to tackle the problem.

Since  President  Richard  Nixon  first declared a war on drugs nearly
four  decades  ago,  the government has spent billions of dollars with
mixed  results,  according  to  independent  studies  and  drug policy
scholars.  In  recent  years,  the  number of high-school-age children
abusing  illegal  substances  has dipped, but marijuana use has inched
upward,  and  drug  offenders  continue  to flood the nation's courts.

"The  success  of  our  efforts to reduce the flow of drugs is largely
dependent  on  our  ability  to  reduce  demand for them," Kerlikowske
said  yesterday  at  a ceremony attended by his former law enforcement
colleagues.  "Our  nation's  drug  problem  is one of human suffering,
and as a police officer but also in my own family, I have
experienced the effects that drugs can have."

Kerlikowske's  adult  stepson,  Jeffrey, has been arrested in the past
on  drug  charges,  an  issue  that the police chief referenced in his
remarks yesterday.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n296/a08.html

===

(3) FEARS IN U.S. DRUG WAR WILL DESTABILIZE MEXICO

Pubdate: Thu, 12 Mar 2009
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 2009 Hearst Communications Inc.
Author: Carolyn Lochhead

WASHINGTON  -  --  Concern  about  a  potential  failed  state  -  not
Pakistan,  not  Somalia,  but  California's  neighbor  Mexico  -  is
mounting  in  Washington  as  an  all-out war involving 45,000 Mexican
military  personnel  fails  to  quell  rising  drug  violence  that is
spilling  from  such Mexican cities as Tijuana into the United States.
An  estimated  6,290  drug-related  murders  occurred  in  Mexico last
year,  six  times  the  standard definition of a civil war, said Vanda
Felbab-Brown,  a  leading  scholar  on  the  issue  at  the  Brookings
Institution.

Rep.  Mike  Thompson, D-St. Helena, a member of the House Intelligence
Committee,  described  beheadings  of Mexican mayors and police chiefs
and  said  Mexican  drug gangs have infiltrated the cannabis fields on
both  public  and  private  lands  in  Northern  California.  He  said
Mexican  villagers  are  kidnapped  and  smuggled  into  the  northern
coastal  forests  to grow pot, leaving environmental wreckage in their
wake.

He  said  a  timber  company  employee  had been held at gunpoint by a
Mexican  gang,  and  he worried that hikers could be threatened. There
also have been gang confrontations with firefighters.

"This  isn't  your  '60s hippie growing a little pot on the back 40 to
get through winter," Thompson said.

Two  House  committees  will  hold  hearings  today,  and  Sen. Dianne
Feinstein,  D-Calif.,  has  scheduled  a Senate hearing for Tuesday to
determine  how  to  respond.  Ideas  range  from  building  a stronger
border fence to decriminalizing marijuana.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n296/a09.html

===

(4) WAR ON DRUGS 'HAS ENRICHED CARTELS'

Pubdate: Thu, 12 Mar 2009
Source: Independent (UK)
Copyright: 2009 Independent Newspapers (UK) Ltd.
Author: Toby Green, in Vienna

Campaigners  Criticise  Draft  Paper  for Not Including Harm Reduction
Tactics

United  Nations  member states are set to paper over their differences
today  and  sign  up  to  10 more years of the much-criticised "war on
drugs"  at  a  drugs  summit  in  Vienna.  A  draft policy declaration
tabled  at  the  UN  Commission  on  Narcotic Drugs last night did not
mention  the  innovation  that  campaigners  had  hoped  for:  "harm
reduction"  strategies  such  as needle exchange programmes to prevent
the  spread  of HIV, or even legalisation and regulation to help erode
the power of traffickers and drug lords.

The  summit  comes in the wake of high-profile indictments of the UN's
drug  strategy.  A  European  Commission  report  published on Tuesday
said  the  strategy  had  not  made any progress in cutting supply and
demand.

Antonio  Maria  Costa,  the  executive  director  of  the UN Office on
Drugs  and  Crime,  said  that  "measurable  progress"  had been made.

Opening  the  Vienna  talks,  he  said  addiction to illicit drugs had
"stabilised"  in  the  past  few  years  but admitted that a "dramatic
unintended  consequence"  of the battle to stamp out the illicit trade
was  that  drug  cartels  had  become  so  rich they could destabilise
impoverished  and  vulnerable  nations  in  Africa  and South America.

"When  mafias  can  buy elections, candidates, political parties, in a
word,  power,  the  consequences  can only be highly destabilising" he
said.

"While  ghettoes  burn, West Africa is under attack [by Latin American
traffickers  transporting  cocaine  to  Europe], drug cartels threaten
Central  America  and  drug  money  penetrates  bankrupt  financial
institutions".

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n295/a08.html

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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW
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Domestic News- Policy
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COMMENT: (5-8)

U.S.  authorities  are  sounding  more  distressed  in their call for
protecting  the  U.S.-Mexico  border from drug cartels. One U.S. Rep.
recently  suggested  that  trouble  there is more significant for the
U.S.  than  trouble in Afghanistan. Other reports continue to suggest
that  the  Mexican  cartels are already well-established north of the
border.  Finally,  at  least  one  analyst  sees  a  real  solution.

===

(5) U.S. SHOULD MAKE MEXICAN DRUG VIOLENCE A PRIORITY, LAWMAKER SAYS

Pubdate: Wed, 11 Mar 2009
Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA)
Copyright: 2009 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.

WASHINGTON  -  A  top  Republican  lawmaker  criticized  the  Defense
Department  yesterday  for  not  making the drug violence in Mexico as
big a priority as Afghanistan and for not coordinating U.S.
resources to confront it.

Rep.  Jerry  Lewis,  R-Redlands,  told  the  Associated Press that the
Mexican  turmoil  is  "a  lot more important, in my own judgment, than
Afghanistan at this moment."

He added: "We need to raise this to a higher level."

Lewis  praised  the  Homeland  Security  Department  for  deploying
unmanned aerial vehicles to track human activity along the
U.S.-Mexico  border,  but he criticized the Pentagon for not providing
helicopters to help patrol it.

You  can't  chase  these  people  around  in  trucks," said Lewis, the
ranking Republican on the House Appropriations Committee.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n293/a07.html

===

(6) MEXICAN CARTELS INFILTRATE HOUSTON

Pubdate: Sat, 07 Mar 2009
Source: Houston Chronicle (TX)
Copyright: 2009 Houston Chronicle Publishing Company Division, Hearst
Newspaper
Author: Dane Schiller

Recent  Arrests  In  A Mistaken Killing Point To The Perilous Presence
Of Gangs

The order was clear: Kill the guy in the Astros jersey.

But  in  a  case  of  mistaken identity, Jose Perez ended up dead. The
intended  target  --  the  Houston-based head of a Mexican drug cartel
cell  pumping  millions  of dollars of cocaine into the city -- walked
away.

Perez,  27,  was  just  a  working  guy,  out getting dinner late on a
Friday  with  his  wife  and  young  children  at  Chilos,  a  seafood
restaurant on the Gulf Freeway.

His  murder  and  the  assassination  gone  awry point to the perilous
presence  of  Mexican  organized  crime  and  how  cartel violence has
seeped into the city.

Arrests  came  in  December when police and federal agents got a break
in  the  2006  shooting as they charted the relationship and rivalries
between  at  least  five  cartel cells operating in Houston. A rogue's
gallery  of  about  100  names  and mug shots taken at Texas jails and
morgues offers a blueprint for Mexican organized crime.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n280/a06.html

===

(7) MEXICAN CARTELS PLAGUE ATLANTA

Pubdate: Mon, 9 Mar 2009
Source: USA Today (US)
Copyright: 2009 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc
Authors: Larry Copeland and Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY

Justice  Dept.  Says  City  Is Main Drug-Trafficking Center for All of
the Eastern U.S.

ATLANTA  --  In a city where Coca Cola, United Parcel Service and Home
Depot  are  the  titans  of industry, there are new powerful forces on
the block: Mexican drug cartels.

Their  presence  and  ruthless  tactics  are  largely  unknown to most
here.  Yet,  of  the  195  U.S.  cities where Mexican drug-trafficking
organizations  are  operating,  federal  law enforcement officials say
Atlanta  has  emerged  as  the  new  gateway to the troubled Southwest
border.

Rival  drug  cartels,  the  same  violent groups warring in Mexico for
control  of  routes  to  lucrative  U.S.  markets,  have  established
Atlanta  as  the  principal distribution center for the entire eastern
U.S., according to the Justice Department's National Drug
Intelligence Center.

In fiscal year 2008, federal drug authorities seized more
drug-related  cash  in  Atlanta -- about $70 million -- than any other
region  in  the  country,  Drug  Enforcement  Administration  (  DEA )
records show.

This  year,  more than $30 million has been intercepted in the Atlanta
area  --  far more than the $19 million in Los Angeles and $18 million
in Chicago.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n283/a09.html

===

(8) COLUMN: LEGAL DRUGS: THE ONLY ROUTE TO ENDING MEXICAN VIOLENCE

Pubdate: Sun, 08 Mar 2009
Source: East Valley Tribune (AZ)
Copyright: 2009 East Valley Tribune.
Author: Steven Greenhut

When  it  comes  to  foreign  affairs,  Americans are used to debating
progress  or  setbacks  in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, or on the
Israeli invasion last month of the Gaza Strip.

We're  used  to  thinking  about  death  and  destruction thousands of
miles  from  home and, as a result, tend to debate these matters based
more  on  glancing  impressions,  quick  reads  of  newspapers and Web
sites and sound bites rather than personal knowledge or the
knowledge of those who live in the countries at issue.

What  if  I  mentioned  that  thousands  of  people have been killed -
7,337  at  last  count - since 2007 in open warfare just a short drive
from  here?  Or  that  the  grisly violence has reached close to areas
within  the  readership  of  this  newspaper? What if I noted that the
violence  has  altered the lives of many of our neighbors, friends and
co-workers,  who  have  family  members  who dwell in the heart of the
war  zone?  What  if  I  added that, because of this war, we place our
lives  in  jeopardy  by  simply visiting some of our favorite vacation
spots?  Would  that cause you to think twice about your foreign-policy
priorities?

I  am  referring, of course, to Mexico, which has turned into a horror
show  in  the  past  couple  of  years.  There's  been  sporadic  news
coverage  of  these events. But the average American - and the average
politician,  for  that  matter - doesn't seem attuned or interested in
a  human  tragedy that's starting to spill not just across the border,
but deeply into the American interior.

I  still  receive  many  phone  calls  and  e-mails from readers upset
about  the  "Mexican"  situation,  but  they  aren't talking about the
beheadings,  murders,  kidnappings,  assassinations  of  newspaper
editors,  gunfights  in  town  squares  between  drug  lords  and  the
military,  killings  of  bystanders  and  children,  or about the huge
numbers of Mexican police who work for the cartels.

No,  they  are  referring  to  the  immigration  situation,  and  they
generally  are  upset  at  the  number  of  Mexican nationals who come
north  mainly  to  escape  grueling  poverty.  But,  as  former  House
Speaker  Newt  Gingrich  pointed  out  at a recent speech to an Orange
County,  Calif.,  trade  association, there isn't a wall big enough to
keep  out  the nasty problems now destroying Mexico. Americans need to
think  more  broadly  about  this matter. Since hearing Gingrich, I've
been reading about, and fuming over, these horrors.

American  policy  - in particular, the federal government's insistence
on  funding  and  fighting  a drug war here and in pushing the Mexican
government  to  battle  the  drug cartels down south - has exacerbated
the carnage in Mexico.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n280/a08.html

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

COMMENT: (9-12)

Our  first  two  stories  this  week illustrate contrasting attitudes
toward  drug  policy in the press. Both stories are about former star
athletes  who  got  caught  up in the criminal justice system through
selling  relatively  small amounts of drugs. But one story highlights
viewpoints  that  suggest  the initial sentence was unjust, while the
other  story suggests that the only injustice is that the convict was
released  early.  Elsewhere  in  the  U.S.,  a big drug operation has
allegedly  infiltrated  another  small  town.  And  in  Ireland, drug
cartels may have infiltrated Garda.

===

(9) NEW LOOK AT SENTENCING GUIDELINES FOR COCAINE

Pubdate: Sun, 8 Mar 2009
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 2009 Hearst Communications Inc.
Author: Claire Cooper

Willie  Mays  Aikens  has  returned to Kansas City, where he's still a
star.  He's  worked in construction and hopes to land a job with Major
League  Baseball,  maybe  as  a counselor, he says, "talking to people
about what drugs can do to a person."

People  in  Kansas  City  still  talk about Aikens' four home runs for
the  Royals  in  the 1980 World Series. They seem ready to forgive the
crack cocaine bust that earned him a 16-year prison term.

"It  takes  a  big  man  to  step back into the limelight after such a
dark path," wrote one blogger.

Aikens'  path  was  dark  indeed, but not because his crime was large.
The  drug  sale  that sent him to prison was 64 grams, about a quarter
cup.  The  federal  cocaine  sentencing statutes treat that much crack
the  same  as  a  bucket  of  cocaine  powder, the material from which
crack is produced.

Aikens'  case  exemplifies  all  that's  gone  wrong  because of these
federal  sentencing  laws:  The  focus on petty crimes. The distortion
of  priorities  in  the  war  on drugs. The lopsided impact on African
Americans  -  the  83  percent  of  federal  crack  defendants who are
black,  though  a  federal  health  survey  found most crack users are
white.

The  problems  have  been  documented  for  years. Now it's time for a
change.

Finally,  key  congressional members seem to be in a negotiating mood,
and  the  Obama  administration  wants  the  crack/powder  disparity
eliminated.  In  the  last session of Congress, then-Sen. Barack Obama
co-sponsored  a  bill  introduced  by  then-Sen.  Joe Biden to do just
that.

The  same  bill is on the table again. HR 265, introduced in the House
by  Texas  Democrat  Sheila  Jackson  Lee,  would  increase  federal
penalties for big-time trafficking while reducing them for
possession  or  dealing in trivial quantities of crack - offenses that
should  be  left  to  state  prosecutors  or  public health officials.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n279/a03.html

===

(10) PROSECUTOR: EX-MSU FOOTBALL STAR'S RELEASE FROM PRISON RAISES
CONCERNS

Pubdate: Sun, 08 Mar 2009
Source: Starkville Daily News (MS)
Copyright: Starkville Daily News 2009
Author: Brian Hawkins

The  scheduled  release  of a former Mississippi State football player
from  prison  this week has local prosecutors voicing renewed concerns
about the inadequacies of the state's correctional system.

Dontay  Walker,  29,  is  scheduled  to be released from a Mississippi
Department  of  Corrections  facility  on  Tuesday  after serving four
years  of  a  25-year  sentence  for his 2005 conviction on charges of
possession  of  more than an ounce of marijuana and possession of more
than an ounce of crack cocaine.

Walker,  according  to  a  letter  sent  by fax from MDOC officials to
Judge  Jim  Kitchens,  the  District  Attorney's Office and Starkville
and  Oktibbeha  County authorities, will be placed under house arrest.
The  decision  has  prosecutors  in  the  District  Attorney's  Office
unhappy.

"Apparently  there's  nothing  we  can  do  about  it," said Assistant
District Attorney Frank Clark, who prosecuted Walker.

"It's  getting  to  the  point  of  being  absurd. The penitentiary is
getting  to  be  like  the  car  dealer that advertises on TV - 'We're
turnin'  'em  loose'  - because that's all they seem to be doing these
days.  It  doesn't  matter what the judge sentences somebody to serve,
the  penitentiary  is  going  to  let them go whenever they're ready,"
Clark said.

Walker,  a  starting  running  back for the MSU football team until he
left  the  team late in the 2002 season, and another man were arrested
on  Aug.  28,  2003,  after  Oktibbeha  County  sheriff's deputies and
Starkville  police  officers recovered felony amounts of crack cocaine
and  marijuana,  various  drug  packaging  paraphernalia from the gray
1980s  model  Chevrolet  Caprice  in which the two had been traveling.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n281/a06.html

====

(11) DRUG ARRESTS SHOCK LINDEN'S RESIDENTS

Pubdate: Sun, 08 Mar 2009
Source: Fayetteville Observer (NC)
Copyright: 2009 Fayetteville Observer
Author: Drew Brooks

LINDEN  -  Gossip  has  a way of channeling through the Heads of State
Hair Salon on Main Street.

This  month,  the  hot  topic  is  drugs.  On Feb. 26, agents from the
Cumberland  County  Bureau  of  Narcotics  arrested  10  people on the
outskirts  of  this  small town on the county's northeastern edge. The
arrests  came  six  months into an investigation of drug-related crime
in  the  area.  Agents  seized marijuana, cocaine, prescription drugs,
money and weapons during a search of six homes.

The  arrests  have  caused  shock  and  disbelief in Linden, where 132
people  live.  "It  hits  close to home," said Dana Byrd, a stylist at
the  salon.  Byrd  said  many  of her customers know those arrested or
their  families.  Because  of  those  relationships,  some  residents
declined  to  talk  beyond calling the situation "scary" or expressing
disbelief.  "It  is a little shocking," Byrd said. "But when everybody
knows  everybody,  you  can't  keep  that  quiet."  The  arrests  are
particularly  disturbing  because  Linden  is  such  a small and rural
town.

Visitors  driving  in  from  the  west  are  greeted by a cemetery and
several  churches.  Main  Street  is  little  more than a post office,
town  hall,  a  volunteer  fire  department  and a mixed bag of homes,
farmland  and  businesses. Linden's churches dominate the landscape as
the  largest  buildings  in  town,  aside  from  an  abandoned  brick
schoolhouse.

Pastor  Wayne  T.  Bone  of  Linden First Baptist Church said the town
has  for  the  most  part  stayed  true to the "old-timey core values"
that once covered the Bible Belt.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n280/a09.html

===

(12) OMBUDSMAN WIDENS PROBE INTO GARDA DRUG COLLUSION

Pubdate: Sun, 08 Mar 2009
Source: Sunday Times (UK)
Copyright: 2009 Times Newspapers Ltd.
Author: John Mooney

Suspicion  Grows  That  Heroin  Dealer  Was 'Permitted' To Import Hard
Drugs

The  Garda  Siochana Ombudsman Commission ( GSOC ) is examining scores
of  drug  seizures,  arrests  and  covert  operations involving Kieran
Boylan,  a  convicted  heroin dealer whose relationship with the force
is  the  subject  of  a  collusion  inquiry following an expose by The
Sunday Times.

The  garda  ombudsman  now  suspects  that  Boylan  was "permitted" to
import  huge  quantities  of  heroin,  cocaine  and cannabis, which he
supplied  to  low-level  dealers,  who  were  later arrested, while he
continued to wholesale drugs to other criminal gangs.

The  scope  of  the  GSOC  inquiry  has been extended to examine other
startling  claims,  among them allegations that gardai informed Boylan
that  he  was being targeted by other garda units. Personal details on
gardai were also leaked to the criminal.

The  disclosure  has  prompted  calls  for  Fachtna  Murphy, the garda
commissioner,  to  stand down an internal inquiry he set up to examine
Boylan's relationship with members of the force.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n283/a02.html

=======================================================================

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

COMMENT: (13-16)

President  Obama appointed his drug czar last week, but it remains to
be  seen  who  will direct the DEA.  If the DEA follows Obama's lead,
and  begins  to  base  policies  on  evidence and science rather than
intuition  and  ideology,  then perhaps, in addition to halting their
raids  on  cannabis  dispensaries,  the  DEA  will  stop  obstructing
industrial hemp and medicinal cannabis research.

But  just  in  case  you  were beginning to wonder if the truth would
finally  prevail,  and  cannabis  activists  could  move  on to other
pressing  matters,  there  are  still a few die-hard prohibitionists,
such  as  Kevin  A.  Sabet, begging for more public humiliation. Keep
writing those LTEs!

===

(13) U.S. SHOULD LIFT BAN ON HEMP

Pubdate: Sat, 7 Mar 2009
Source: Athens Banner-Herald (GA)
Copyright: 2009 Athens Newspapers Inc
Author: Froma Harrop

When  a  pizzeria  closes,  the pizzeria down the block usually sees a
surge  in  business.  That principle applies to commerce in the larger
North American neighborhood. Whenever the United States locks the gate
on  a  plausible  economic  activity,  Canadians  move  in and profit.

The  Bush  administration's hostility toward stem-cell science created
opportunity  in  Canada. Starved of adequate federal support, American
labs  doing  this cutting-edge science shrank or closed down, and many
of  their  researchers  moved  to  Canada.  Between 2002 and 2007, the
number  of American university professors and assistants relocating to
Canada  jumped  27  percent.  Some  were  stars in stem-cell research.

The  Obama  administration has reversed the Bush policy. Canadians now
fear  they  might  suffer  their  own  brain-drain  back to the United
States.  A  recent headline from Toronto's Globe and Mail says it all:
"As  U.S.  emerges  from  Dark  Age,  Canada's scientific edge fades."

Hemp is a plant used to make paper, oils, textiles and other products.
But because hemp is related to marijuana, the U.S. government outlawed
its  cultivation in the '50s. Now get this: American manufacturers are
free  to  import  hemp  fibers, oil and seed from other countries. For
example, U.S. carmakers use hemp inside door panels and for insulation
in seats.

Industrial  hemp  doesn't  contain  enough  THC (the euphoric agent in
marijuana)  to  get  anyone  high,  but  that  hasn't stopped the Drug
Enforcement  Administration  from sending out helicopters to scour the
land for hemp plants growing wild in ditches.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09.n276.a03.html

===

(14) CALIFORNIA MARIJUANA DISPENSARIES CHEER U.S. SHIFT ON RAIDS

Pubdate: Mon, 9 Mar 2009
Source: Wall Street Journal (US)
Copyright: 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/487
Authors: Stu Woo and Justin Scheck

SAN FRANCISCO -- U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder's announcement that
the  federal  government  will  no  longer  raid  medical-marijuana
dispensaries  was  cheered  by  California  dealers  as  well as state
legislators who seek to legalize and tax sales of the drug.

Under  the  Bush  administration,  the  Drug Enforcement Agency raided
dispensaries  across the country. Such seizures were especially common
in  California,  which  in  1996  became  the  first state to legalize
marijuana sales to people with doctor's prescriptions -- in opposition
to federal laws banning any use of the drug.

The attorney general signaled recently that states will be able to set
their  own  medical-marijuana  laws, which President Barack Obama said
during  his  campaign  that he supported. What Mr. Obama said then "is
now American policy," Mr. Holder said.

"We  may  be  seeing  the  end  of  an  era,"  said Rob MacCoun, a law
professor  who  studies  drug  policy at the University of California,
Berkeley. "It's not likely to be a priority for the Obama
administration."

That  news  relieved  Kevin Reed, who owns the Green Cross, a medical-
marijuana-delivery  service  in  San  Francisco. He said he wasn't too
concerned  about  raids because they usually target large dispensaries
that "get out of control" with high traffic and cash flow. But federal
seizures  were  constantly  "in the back of your head," Mr. Reed said.

Mr.  MacCoun  said  the  Obama  administration's  stance  may  help to
legitimize  a "quasi-legal" marijuana culture in California. The state
has as many as 200,000 medical-marijuana users, the most out of the 13
states that allow such use of the drug.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09.n282.a07.html

===

(15) PUTTING POT UNDER THE MICROSCOPE

Pubdate: Tue, 10 Mar 2009
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2009 Los Angeles Times

The attorney general should heed calls to end the DEA's obstruction of
serious research into the medicinal value of marijuana.

At  the  heart  of  the  debate about marijuana's medicinal value is a
dearth  of  academic  research into its therapeutic properties. For 40
years, the federal government has frustrated such study by restricting
cultivation  of  marijuana  for  research  to  a  single  source,  the
University  of  Mississippi.  Most  recently,  the Bush administration
denied  the  application of a well-regarded botanist at the University
of  Massachusetts to establish another cultivation facility, despite a
ruling  by  an  administrative law judge determining that it should go
forward.

For  eight  years,  professor  Lyle  Craker  has struggled to obtain a
license  from  the  Drug  Enforcement Administration to grow research-
grade  cannabis.  His  proposal is to supply marijuana to DEA-approved
researchers  who have undergone a rigorous review and approval process
by  the  U.S.  Public  Health  Service,  and whose protocols have been
approved  by  the  Food and Drug Administration. The DEA, however, has
behaved  as  if  this serious scientist wants to start a backyard plot
for campus parties.

In  February  2007, after nine days of testimony from expert witnesses
and administration officials, light broke through the DEA's
bureaucratic  murk: Administrative Law Judge Mary Ellen Bittner issued
an  87-page  opinion  saying  that  the  supply  of marijuana from the
University  of Mississippi is insufficient in quality and quantity and
that Craker's project should go forward. In a case study of
governmental  intransigence,  the  DEA dithered for two years. Then, a
few days before the Obama administration took power, acting
Administrator  Michele  Leonhart issued a final order denying Craker's
application.

Members  of Congress have urged Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. to amend
or  overrule the order, and he should do so. Then he should go further
and  change  the  culture  of  the  agency.  Instead  of thwarting the
advancement of science, the DEA should encourage cannabis research. As
California  and  the  U.S. government continue to debate the future of
medical  marijuana,  what  we  need  is  a  body of work on the drug's
efficacy  in  treating a variety of illnesses and conditions. Instead,
we  have  a  collection  of small studies and individual testimony. On
Monday,  President  Obama  signed a "scientific integrity presidential
memorandum" and promised that his administration would base its public
policies  on  science,  not  politics;  the DEA is one of many federal
agencies ready for enlightenment.

URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09.n289.a08.html

===

(16) CALIFORNIA CAN'T AFFORD TO LEGALIZE MARIJUANA

Pubdate: Sun, 8 Mar 2009
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright: 2009 San Jose Mercury News
Author: Kevin A. Sabet
Referenced: AB390 http://drugsense.org/url/gwVcxxaW

It's  a  tempting  idea:  Legalize  and  tax a commodity that a lot of
people  like, collect the revenue, and reap the budgetary benefits. In
economic  times  like these, that might be just the formula we need to
pull  us  out  of the red. In this case, the truth does not live up to
the hype.

Legalizing  marijuana  will  not solve our budget woes, nor will it be
good  for public health. Introducing marijuana into the open market is
very  likely  to  do  some  other things, however: increase the drug's
consumption,  and  with  it, the enormous social costs associated with
marijuana-related accidents, illness and productivity loss.

The example of legal alcohol and tobacco reveal an unsettling pattern.
Legal  drugs  are  by definition easy to obtain, and commercialization
glamorizes their use and furthers their social acceptance. Their price
is  low,  and  high  profits  make  promotion  worthwhile for sellers.
Addiction  is  simply  the price of doing business. Any revenue gained
from  taxing  these  drugs  is  quickly  offset  by  the  heavy  costs
associated  with  their  increased  prevalence.  Because today's high-
potency  marijuana  is much more harmful than once thought, a spike in
use  from  legalization  would result in a financial burden California
cannot afford to bear.

It  is  almost  universally  accepted  in  the  medical community that
marijuana  use  is linked with mental illness. Since the appearance of
the  British  Medical  Journal's  famous 2002 headline, "Marijuana and
psychiatric  illness:  the  link grows stronger," the research showing
marijuana's  link  with illnesses like psychosis and schizophrenia has
become  frighteningly  commonplace.  In  fact, researchers from King's
College  in  London  have  shown  that eliminating marijuana use would
decrease  the incidence of schizophrenia in the American population by
more than 8 percent.

[snip]

Note: Kevin A. Sabet, a senior drug policy adviser in the Clinton and
Bush  administrations,  is a native of Anaheim. He wrote this article
for the Mercury News.

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09.n276.a10.html

=======================================================================

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

COMMENT: (17-21)

The  UN summit on drugs policy in Vienna, Austria was held this week,
ten  years  after the 1998 UN prohibition summit was held, promising,
"A  Drug-Free  World"  in  which  government  force  (police weapons,
arrests,  prison)  would  eliminate or significantly reduce cannabis,
cocaine,  and opium by 2008. While little has changed in illegal drug
usage  or availability over the last ten years, governments worldwide
remain  enchanted  as  ever  with  the  failed policy of prohibition.

Evo  Morales,  president of Bolivia and former coca farmer, surprised
delegates  at  the  UN  summit by eating a coca leaf during a speech.
"This  is  coca leaf, this is not cocaine, this is part and parcel of
a  culture."  Morales  argued  that coca should be legal for medicine
and food.

A  cogent  analysis  by Ed Howker of the UN summit appeared in the UK
Independent  newspaper.  "So,  why  did  we  lose  the drugs war? The
answer  is  simple  economics.  Demand  will  find  a supply... [O]ur
nations  are addicted to a policy which is ruining the lives of their
own  people while enslaving the peoples of others... Like any addict,
their  first step should be to admit to themselves that they have the
problem."

In  Canada,  amidst a saturation barrage of media coverage repeatedly
asserting  recent  shootings  were  "drug  related",  the  right-wing
minority conservative Harper government has re-introduced
legislation  which  conflates gang violence (of which there is little
in  Canada)  with  marijuana  "crimes"  (of  which  there  is much in
Canada).  The  move,  while  widening  the net for planned for-profit
prisons,  also plays to the Conservatives' "law and order" and "tough
on  drugs"  themes,  believed  to  be popular with Conservative party
voters.  Ironically,  most  people  in British Columbia, while saying
they  support  a  crackdown  on "gangs", at the same time support the
outright  "legalization" of cannabis, according to an Angus Reid poll
released this week.

We  leave you this week with a piece from Dan Gardner in the Canadian
Victoria  Times-Colonist  newspaper,  which  related  the research of
Harvard  University  economist  Jeffrey Miron. "[T]he hypothesis that
drug  prohibition generates violence is generally consistent with the
long  time-series  and cross-country facts." Read that again. "[D]rug
prohibition  generates  violence".  To  police  and others irked with
columnist  Dan Gardner for such drug-war heresy ("the police are sick
of  me  writing that their hard work is worse than useless"), Gardner
offers  a  challenge:  form a new commission and honestly look at the
evidence.

===

(17) THIS IS A COCA LEAF, NOT COCAINE, INSISTS MORALES

Pubdate: Thu, 12 Mar 2009
Source: Independent  (UK)
Copyright: 2009 Independent Newspapers (UK) Ltd.
Author: Toby Green

Evo  Morales,  the  Bolivian  leader,  ate  a  coca  leaf  in front of
delegates  at  the  UN  summit  on  drugs  yesterday, to underline his
demand  that  the  raw  ingredient  of  cocaine  should be allowed for
medicinal and other uses.

President  Morales,  a former peasant coca farmer, brandished the leaf
during  an  impassioned  speech,  saying:  "This is coca leaf, this is
not cocaine, this is part and parcel of a culture." He told
ministers  that  the  ban  on  coca  was a "major historical mistake".

He  added:  "It has no harmful impact, no harmful impact at all in its
natural  state.  It  causes  no  mental disturbances, it does not make
people  run  mad, as some would have us believe, and it does not cause
addiction."

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09.n295.a03.html

===

(18) WE CAN'T GO ON PROHIBITING DRUGS!

Pubdate: Monday 9 March 2009
Source: Independent (UK)
Copyright: 2009 Independent Newspapers (UK) Ltd.
Author: Ed Howker

Our  policy  is  based  on  the  belief  that the war against drugs is
winnable. It is not

[snip]

This  is  called  evidence-based analysis and the sooner international
policy  makers  get  their  head around it the better. The UN hoped to
achieve  their  goals  by  "eliminating or significantly reducing" the
production  of  opium,  cocaine  and  cannabis  by 2008. Well, here we
are,  so  let's see how they have been getting on. Today the UN places
a  value  on  the  international  drugs  trade  at  around $320bn (UKP
227bn)  a  year  -  that's  more  than  twice the annual budget of the
European  Union  -  -  while  the U.S. spends $40bn in fighting it. We
are hopelessly out-gunned.

Since  1998  we've  read a Downing Street strategy memo which admitted
that  the  UK  government seizes less than 20 per cent of the hundreds
of  tonnes  of cocaine and heroin that enters our country, and that to
make  trafficking  unprofitable  would  require  us  to capture 80 per
cent - a plain impossibility.

So,  why  did  we  lose the drugs war? The answer is simple economics.
Demand will find a supply.

[snip]

Instead  we  have  an  international  drug  mafia  more  powerful  and
wealthy  than  any  organised  criminals  in  the  history  of  human
society.  They  are  the  beneficiaries  of the alchemy of prohibition
which  turns  virtually  worthless  crops  into  a commodity worth its
weight  in  gold. And, unsurprisingly when the product is so valuable,
they  will  stop  at  nothing,  literally nothing, to get it to market
and  realise  the  profit. If you were not stung by the banking crisis
and  are  still  looking  for  a  justification for market regulation,
this is it. The results are all around us.

[snip]

Before  the  last  UN convention more than 100 political and community
leaders,  including  the  current  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  Rowan
Williams,  wrote  to  the  UN  Secretary  General to call for an open,
honest  and  rational  debate  about  drugs.  Last week, this plea was
repeated by 26 peers, who seek the immediate creation of an
intergovernmental  panel  to do the same. They perceive, rightly, that
our  nations  are  addicted  to a policy which is ruining the lives of
their own people while enslaving the peoples of others.

Tomorrow,  in  Vienna,  the  UN  has  another  opportunity to stage an
intervention.  Like  any  addict,  their first step should be to admit
to themselves that they have the problem.

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09.n291.a08.html

===

(19) POLL FINDS MOST BACK LEGAL POT, GANG CRACKDOWN

Pubdate: Wed, 11 Mar 2009
Source: Surrey Leader (CN BC)
Copyright: 2009 Surrey Leader
Author: Jeff Nagel

A  new  poll  shows  B.C.  residents  strongly  support  a  series  of
proposed  justice  reforms to curb gang activity and nearly two-thirds
also back the legalization of marijuana.

Angus  Reid  Strategies  surveyed  Canadians  across  the  country and
found  at  least  95  per  cent of the B.C. respondents back mandatory
minimum  sentences  for serious drug crime like drive-by shootings and
designating gang-related homicide first-degree murder.

Those proposed changes are being spearheaded by the federal
Conservative government.

[snip]

B.C.  was  the  province most likely to back legalization of marijuana
-  64  per  cent  of  respondents support the idea, compared to 50 per
cent nationally.

Two-thirds  of  B.C.  respondents  also  said  the  federal government
should  not  eliminate  harm  reduction  programs  such  as supervised
injection sites and needle exchanges.

A majority from B.C. (53 per cent) said the federal
Tories shouldn't have scrapped the marijuana
decriminalization legislation previously introduced by
the Liberals.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09.n297.a05.html

===

(20) OTTAWA FOLLOWS U.S.-STYLE APPROACH IN WAR ON DRUGS

Pubdate: Sat, 07 Mar 2009
Source: Maple Ridge News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2009 Maple Ridge News
Author: Phil Melnychuk

While bullets continue to fly and bodies fall, the federal
government  is  trying  again  to  make  jail  time mandatory for drug
crimes.

[snip]

"We  need  to  take action and impose stronger penalties so that there
is  a  real  deterrent to people who get involved with gangs, and with
drugs."

The  government  has  re-introduced  a  bill  that  would  amend  the
Controlled  Drugs  and  Substances  Act  to  ensure drug producers and
pushers serve time if convicted.

The specifics include:

.  one-year  in jail for dealing drugs such as marijuana, when carried
out  for  organized  crime  purposes  or  when a weapon or violence is
involved;

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09.n278.a05.html

===

(21) HOW TO MAKE ME SHUT UP ABOUT LEGALIZING DRUGS

Pubdate: Tue, 10 Mar 2009
Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC)
Copyright: 2009 Times Colonist
Author: Dan Gardner

[snip]

Jeffrey  Miron,  an economist at Harvard University, has been studying
the drug trade for 15 years. He stresses that "drug-related
violence" has little to do with drugs.

Prohibition  of  "any  commodity  for  which  there's  demand leads to
violence  because  the  market  is  driven underground," he said in an
interview.  "It  has  relatively  little to do with the commodity that
is  prohibited.  It  has almost everything to do with the fact that if
you  make  it illegal, people are going to resolve their disputes with
violence, not lawyers.

"If  we  banned  coffee, we'd have a huge black market in coffee." And
thugs  in  the  coffee  trade  would  be  blasting away at each other.

[snip]

Examining  data  spanning  countries  and  decades,  Miron  and  his
colleagues  found  things  like  arrest  rates, capital punishment and
gun laws didn't explain the numbers.

But  "the  hypothesis  that drug prohibition generates violence," they
concluded,  "is  generally  consistent  with  the long time-series and
cross-country facts."

Miron's  conclusion  is  sobering:  If  governments  respond  to  gang
violence  with  tougher  laws  and  crackdowns,  they  will ultimately
produce more violence.

[snip]

The  best  way  to  make  a  significant,  lasting  reduction  in gang
violence,  Miron  contends,  is to remove drugs from the black market.
They  can  be  strictly  regulated  using  any  of a hundred different
policy models. But they must be legalized.

[snip]

Look,  I  know  the police are sick of me writing that their hard work
is  worse  than  useless.  To  be honest, I'm sick of writing it, too.

[snip]

So  let's  have  a  commission  of  inquiry  that  can gather the best
evidence  from  all  over  the  world,  analyze  it  properly and draw
conclusions without regard to political expediency.

Let  the  evidence  decide.  If the police and other supporters of the
status  quo  are  confident  they  are  right,  they should welcome an
inquiry as a chance to silence the critics.

In  fact,  that's  the  deal I'm offering. Call for the creation of an
inquiry.  Demand  wide  terms  of reference, a serious research budget
and a respected voice to lead it.

Do that and I'll shut up.

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09.n290.a01.html

***********************************************************************

HOT OFF THE 'NET
-------------------------------

FEAR  PREVAILS  AT  THE  UN  AS VOICES FOR DRUG LAW REFORM ARE SMEARED

The  effect  has  been to stifle critics of the status quo, and make a
rational  and  mature  exploration  of  alternative  approaches into a
political  no-go  area,  by  inaccurately  and  offensively portraying
advocates of change as `pro-drug'.

http://drugsense.org/url/oF7LusEk

===

POLICE DETECTIVE SAYS LEGALIZE DRUGS TO STOP GANGS

Retired  police detective Howard Wooldridge says we can hurt gangs and
cartels  by  legalizing  and regulating all drugs after spending years
fighting on the front lines of the "war on drugs."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6UpqmGC2dM

===

THE PRESIDENT AND THE DRUG WAR: PART I

By Al Giordano

http://narcosphere.narconews.com/thefield/president-and-drug-war-part-i

===

OBAMA'S DRUG POLICY

By John Tierney

Which  way is the Obama administration heading in dealing with illicit
drugs?  It  depends  which  speaker you heeded at Wednesday's ceremony
announcing that Gil Kerlikowske, the Seattle police chief, will become
the White House's new drug czar.

http://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/12/obamas-drug-policy/

===

LAWYERS  FOR  PROF.  CRAKER  SUBMIT  SUPPLEMENTAL  MOTION  TO  THE DEA

On  March  11,  2009,  lawyers  for  Prof. Craker submitted a powerful
Supplemental  Motion  To  Reconsider  and  Exhibits  to  DEA  Deputy
Administrator  Michelle  Leonhart,  adding  to  a Motion to Reconsider
filed January 30.

http://www.maps.org/

===

MEETING IN VIENNA

UN  Commission  on  Narcotics Drugs Prepares to Head Further Down Same
Prohibitionist Path, But Dissenting Voices Grow Louder

Drug War Chronicle, Issue #576, 3/13/09

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/576/UN_CND_UNGASS_Vienna_NGOs

===

BRUCE MIRKEN ON THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW

MPP Director of Communications Bruce Mirken discusses marijuana policy
and the new drug czar, Gil Kerlikowske, with Rachel Maddow.

http://tv.mpp.org/news/bruce-mirken-on-the-rachel-maddow-show-03112009/

===

DRUG TRUTH NETWORK

Century of Lies - 03/10/09 - Bruce Mirken

Time For YOU To Get Involved: Bruce Mirken of Marijuana Policy Project,
Matt  Simon of New Hampshire medical marijuana effort, Stephen Betzer
of  Texas'  effort,  editorial  from  Coleen McCool, UK's Guardian on
Colombian  coca  &  report  on Australia's chopper raids on marijuana.

http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/?q=node/2329

Cultural Baggage Radio Show - 03/11/09 - Charles Lynch

Charles Lynch, cannabis dispensary operator aligned with the mayor and
chamber  of  commerce  now  facing 5 years in federal prison & Cheryl
Aichele,  ally  of  Mr. Lynch + Doug McVay with Drug War Facts, Terry
Nelson  of  Law  Enforcement  Against  Prohibition  &  a DTN Editorial

http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/?q=node/2330

===

OBAMA SIGNALS READINESS TO FURTHER MILITARIZE DRUG WAR

With  Potential  Deployment  of  National  Guard  to  Mexico  Border

President  Obama  is considering deploying National Guard troops along
the  border  with  Mexico  in  response  to  the  escalating drug war.

http://drugsense.org/url/rN9hB72p

===

"MAYBE MARIJUANA SHOULD BE LEGALIZED & REGULATED" CONGRESSWOMAN SANCHEZ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6t6r8BpjP_c

===

CANNABIDIOL NOW!

By Fred Gardner

Two  plants  strains  relatively  rich  in cannabidiol (CBD) have been
identified  by  an analytic test lab recently established to serve the
medical  cannabis  industry in California. That's two major stories in
one sentence. Let's take it from the bottom.

http://counterpunch.org/gardner03132009.html

***********************************************************************

WHAT YOU CAN DO THIS WEEK
--------------------------------------------------

AL ROKER REPORTING: MARIJUANA INC.

"Al  Roker  Reporting: Marijuana Inc.," premieres this Sunday at 10 PM
ET. In this edition of "Al Roker Reporting," Al takes an in-depth look
at  the  nation's  most used illicit drug. California is one of the 13
states  that  has  decriminalized marijuana for medical use.  Here, Al
visits the "Farmacy," which is one of the state's many distributors of
medical marijuana.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036750/

===

STAYING ALIVE

CBC's The Fifth Estate

Friday, March 13, 2009 at 9 p.m.EST ( 6pm PST)

The  federal  government wants it shut down. The people who use it and
who  work  there  say  it is saving lives. It is Insite, provincially-
funded,  and  the  first  and  only supervised injection site in North
America  where  addicts  can  bring their drug of choice and, with the
clean  needles  provided,  can  inject themselves. Follow Hana Gartner
inside  and  make  up  your  own  mind about whether Insite is, as one
federal  politician  has  said,  an  "abomination",  or  whether there
should be more of them in this country.

http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/

***********************************************************************

LETTER OF THE WEEK
------------------------------------

LEGALIZE DRUGS AND GANGS WILL GO AWAY

By Travis Erbacher

Editor:

Stephen  Harper's  visit  to Vancouver on Thursday, Feb. 26 was highly
disturbing.  Mr.  Harper's  Conservative  party  wants to re-introduce
previously  expired  legislation, which would increase the penalty for
growing  one  marijuana  plant  to a mandatory minimum sentence of six
months  in  prison,  as  well  as  increasing penalties for other drug
offences.

The way that Mr.Harper has decided to do this, very
opportunistically,  has  been to slide it under reasonable legislation
which  would  increase  gang-related  murders to a first-degree murder
charge.  This  is  dishonest  politics. It is also guaranteed to fail.

When  alcohol  prohibition was in effect, many people died from impure
homemade  alcohol,  and  innocent people were shot down in the streets
over  territorial  disputes. Does this sound familiar? That was nearly
a century ago.

Prohibition  of  any  substance  increases  prices,  reduces  purity
causing  accidental  deaths,  and  increases  the  violence  of  gang
rivalries,  due  to  higher  sums of money being involved. Even with a
century  of  data  to  show  that  prohibition is a failed policy, Mr.
Harper wants to move us further in the wrong direction.

Want  a  real  solution?  Legalize  all  drugs.  Put  the gangs out of
business.  Politicians  who support prohibition are guaranteeing gangs
in  B.C.  increasingly high profit margins from drug sales, as well as
a  monopoly  on  the  drug  trade.  If  there was no money in the drug
trade,  there  would  be  nothing to fight over, and there would be no
more innocent deaths.

Until  that  happens,  the  blood  of  innocents will be on all of our
hands.  Hopefully,  before it's too late, this fact will weigh heavily
on  all  of  our  minds,  and  finally, after a century of failed drug
policy and unnecessary deaths, we will do the right thing.

Travis Erbacher
Langley

Pubdate: Fri, 06 Mar 2009
Source: Langley Times (CN BC)
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09.n242.a08.html

***********************************************************************

LETTER WRITER OF THE MONTH - FEBRUARY
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

DrugSense  recognizes  Dan  Linn  of  Sycamore,  Illinois  for his six
published  letters  during  February, which brings his total published
letters  that  we  know of to 42. Dan is the Executive Director of the
Illinois  Chapter  of  NORML http://www.illinoisnorml.org/ A volunteer
MAP  newshawk  and  editor,  Dan manages the selection process for the
Letter  Of  The  Week  http://www.mapinc.org/lte_awards/weekly.php#how
You may read his published letters at:

http://mapinc.org/writer/Linn+Dan

***********************************************************************

FEATURE ARTICLE
-------------------------------

The Drug War Is Not A Failure

By Pete Guither

People  often  talk  about the drug war being a failure, and, in fact,
three  quarters  of  the  voting  public  believe  the  drug  war is a
failure ( see http://drugsense.org/url/0yANLUu7 ).

I've said it myself.

But  it's  really  not  a  good  description, and calling it a failure
doesn't  do  what  we need to motivate the public to care enough about
reform.

You  see,  the  word  "failure"  conjures  up  images  of  merely  not
succeeding.  We  often think of it like grades in school. A failure is
someone  who  didn't  apply  himself,  or  failed  to do the necessary
things  to  "pass."  It  implies that there could be a path that would
result  in  "success"  if  only  more effort was given, or a different
approach.

By  calling  the  drug  war a failure, we're treating it like some kid
getting  an  "F"  in  chemistry  because  he  slept  through  too many
classes,  when  in  fact  it's more like the kid blew up the chemistry
building  and  released  toxic  chemicals  into  the  drinking  water.

That's  not  a  failure to accomplish something. That is accomplishing
something very, very bad.

We  need  to  remind  people  that,  yes,  the  drug war has failed to
accomplish  any  of  its  stated  goals,  but  the  drug  war is not a
failure.

It is the problem.

Pete Guither is the author of Drug WarRant, http:/www.drugwarrant.com/
a  weblog  at  the  front lines of the drug war, where this piece was
first presented.

***********************************************************************

QUOTE OF THE WEEK
------------------------------------

"The  entire  American  media  apparatus  bought  into  the drug war -
which  is  an  enormously  damaging  and  costly  undertaking for this
country  -  and  there  wasn't  enough critical reporting about it and
that's why it's gotten out of hand." -David Talbot

***********************************************************************

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