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DRUGSENSE WEEKLY

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DrugSense Weekly,              March 20, 2009                      #592

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

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TABLE OF CONTENTS:

* This Just In

   (1) Obama Administration to Stop Raids on Medical Marijuana
   (2) Column: Border Guns, Drugs
   (3) Column: Homeless Alcoholics Can't Just Quit
   (4) Column: Addiction Is A Sickness, And So Is Criminalizing Your Child

* Weekly News in Review

Drug Policy-

   (5) Lobbying For Law Enforcement
   (6) Drug Cartels' New Weaponry Means War
   (7) OPED: Let Me Chew My Coca Leaves
   (8) OPED: Time To Eradicate Failed Coca Policy
   (9) Call For Border Troops Questioned

Law Enforcement & Prisons-

   (10) Reading, State Police Search Incoming Buses, Passengers; Marijuana Seized
   (11) GVSU Protesters: 'Marijuana Or Not, Unjust Shot!'
   (12) DEA: Immigration Program Has No Impact On Big-time Drug Traffic
   (13) Focus Shifts To Flow Of Cash, Arms Into Mexico

Cannabis & Hemp-

   (14) Ending Pot Raids Only A First Step Toward Sanity
   (15) Stem The Violence, Make Marijuana Legal
   (16) Skunk: "Kids Think The Strong Stuff Is The Best Stuff"
   (17) 'Compassion' Club Busted As Pot Ring

International News-

   (18) Drug War May Hurt Mexico's Ruling Party
   (19) Ogun, NDLEA Disagree Over Burning Of Seized Drugs
   (20) Fears For Stability In West Africa As Cartels Move In
   (21) Police Propose Change To Drug Strategy

* Hot Off The 'Net

   Youtube: GVSU Protest
   Three Strikes 15 Years Later / Tamar Todd
   United Nations Drug Policy - The Skeptics Chime In
   Mexico's Drug War Bloodbath / Silja J.A. Talvi
   Drug Truth Network
   Administration's  New Policy On Medical Marijuana Is The Right One
   The Politics And Science Of Medical Marijuana
   The Razor Wire
   See  The  Video  Of The Protest At The Entrance Of The Un Meeting!
   Vienna ENCOD Press Conference
   UNintended Consequences

* What You Can Do This Week

   Demand A Meeting With Kellogg's
   GOP  Senator  Assails  Administration's  New Stance On Medical Pot

* Letter Of The Week

   To Help Cartels, Keep It Illegal / Robert Gonzalez

* Feature Article

   Jake Myerson: Parents 'Tough Love' Approach To Cannabis Was Wrong
   / Jon Land

* Quote of the Week

   Soren Kierkegaard

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

(1) OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO STOP RAIDS ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA
DISPENSERS

Pubdate: Thu, 19 Mar 2009
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2009 The New York Times Company
Author: David Johnston and Neil A. Lewis

WASHINGTON  --  Attorney  General  Eric  H.  Holder  Jr.  on Wednesday
outlined  a  shift in the enforcement of federal drug laws, saying the
administration  would  effectively  end  the  Bush  administration's
frequent raids on distributors of medical marijuana.

Speaking  with  reporters,  Mr. Holder provided few specifics but said
the  Justice  Department's  enforcement policy would now be restricted
to  traffickers  who  falsely  masqueraded as medical dispensaries and
"use medical marijuana laws as a shield."

In  the  Bush  administration, federal agents raided medical marijuana
distributors  that  violated federal statutes even if the dispensaries
appeared  to  be complying with state laws. The raids produced a flood
of  complaints,  particularly  in California, which in 1996 became the
first  state  to  legalize  marijuana  sales  to  people with doctors'
prescriptions.

Graham  Boyd,  the director of the American Civil Liberties Union drug
law  project,  said  Mr. Holder's remarks created a reasonable balance
between  conflicting  state  and federal laws and "seem to finally end
the  policy  war  over  medical  marijuana."  He  said  officials  in
California  and  the  12  other states that have authorized the use of
medical  marijuana  had  hesitated  to  adopt regulations to carry out
their laws because of uncertainty created by the Bush
administration.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n318/a07.html

===

(2) COLUMN: BORDER GUNS, DRUGS

Source: North County Times (Escondido, CA)
Copyright: 2009 North County Times
Author: George F. Will

PHOENIX  ----  X-Caliber, a gun store in a nondescript neighborhood in
Phoenix's  northern  section,  has  become  embroiled  in  Mexico's
turmoil.  The  chaos  there  is the result of the Mexican government's
decision  to  wage  war  against rampant drug cartels who are fighting
mostly  against  each  other, but also against the portions of Mexican
law  enforcement  they  have not corrupted. Operating in that nation's
north,  they  are serving this nation's appetite for illegal narcotics
and illegal immigrants.

The  gun  shop's  proprietor  is  on trial here, accused of selling at
least  650  weapons,  including  AK-47 rifles, in small lots to "straw
buyers"  ----  persons  who  illegally  pass  the  weapons  on  to the
cartels,  thereby  fueling  the  violence  that killed more than 6,000
Mexicans  last  year. That was more than 2,000 above the 2007 toll and
fewer than will die if the rate of killing so far this year
continues.  (  U.S.  military  fatalities  in Iraq in six years number
4,249.  )  Fortunately,  most  of  the  fatalities  are members of the
warring cartels.

The  prosecution  of  the  proprietor  is  part of the U.S. attempt to
stop  the  southward  flow  of  weapons and bulk currency while Mexico
combats  the  northward  flow of drugs, and of human beings brought by
"coyotes."  But  although  almost  all  the cartels' weapons come from
the  United  States,  the cartels are generating upward of $15 billion
annually  from  drugs,  human  trafficking and extortion. So they will
find  ways  to get guns ---- and other military weapons ---- for their
internecine  disputes  about  control  over routes for smuggling drugs
and people.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n318/a12.html

===

(3) COLUMN: HOMELESS ALCOHOLICS CAN'T JUST QUIT

Pubdate: Thu, 19 Mar 2009
Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Copyright: 2009 The Ottawa Citizen
Author: Elizabeth Payne

Managing  alcohol  addiction,  including  free  drinks,  has  worked
wonders - -- and shows why we must treat addictions equally

Every  day,  in  the shadow of Parliament Hill, 30 homeless alcoholics
are  fed,  housed  and  served  drinks, each hour on the hour, between
early morning and evening.

That  this  "managed  alcohol"  program  run  by  Ottawa's  Inner City
Health  Inc.  in  the  ByWard Market, is effective, is beyond dispute.
For  one  thing,  it  has  saved  the  local health-care system in the
neighbourhood  of  $3.5  million  by  reducing  or  eliminating  its
clients'  frequent  visits  to  hospital emergency rooms. For another,
it  has  dramatically  improved  the  quality  of  life for a group of
people many would view as beyond hope.

What  is  remarkable  is  not so much that the program works, but that
it  is  able  to run relatively free of major controversy or political
interference. Substitute 30 crack addicts for the homeless
alcoholics, and it would be a different story.

In  a  country  where harm reduction is frequently a lightning rod for
controversy  --  whether  the  issue  is  free  crack  pipes or a safe
injection  site  --  we  have  a  successful  harm-reduction  program
flourishing  in  the  nation's capital. That's a good thing, perhaps a
remarkable  thing,  but it's too bad we can't extend its creativity to
another  group  also  in  need  of  harm  reduction  --  drug addicts.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n317/a11.html

===

(4) ADDICTION IS A SICKNESS, AND SO IS CRIMINALISING YOUR CHILD

Pubdate: Wed, 18 Mar 2009
Source: Guardian, The (UK)
Copyright: 2009 Guardian News and Media Limited
Author: Mark Johnson

I  get  quite  a  few  letters from the relatives of addicts, and they
are  all  saying  the  same  thing:  how  can  I  help my loved one to
change?

As  a  crack  and  heroin  addict  who  managed to stop using and then
wrote  about  the  experience,  I  get  quite  a  few letters from the
relatives  of  addicts,  and  they  are  all  saying the same thing in
different  ways:  how can I help my loved one to change? Like this one
from Suzie:

"Hi,  Mark.  I  don't  know  who  2 turn 2. I read ur book. It made me
cry.  My  son  is  19 and on heroin. He's got a drug counsellor at the
mo  and  has  tried  2  get  off it. He did 4 sessions a week but went
back  on  it.  NO  ONE SEEMS 2 WANT 2 HELP HIM. He is going on subutex
soon  and  wants  2 get off it. He is such a lovely boy but has got no
confidence.  I  got him on a course and he has been going but feels an
outcast  with  his  problems.  He  is  crying out 4 help. I luv him so
much  but  I  am scared 4 him. No one seems 2 care. Please help me and
Jason. Suzie."

Thanks  for  writing, Suzie. I've chosen to answer your letter in this
column  -  with  your  permission  and  your  identities  hidden  - to
highlight  the  difference between your experience and that of another
mother,  a  member  of  London's chattering and writing elite. Her son
used  skunk  for  a  few  months  when he was a teenager. Sorry if I'm
hazy  on  the  facts.  I  refuse to read her book. I refuse to buy it.
And I refuse to name it.

No  doubt  this  spell of teenage drug use was very upsetting for her,
but  she  has  publicly  defined her son as a drug addict, leaving him
stigmatised  and  reacting  to  that  stigma for the rest of his life.

She  claims  she  did so to help others, but what possible use can her
book  be  to  Suzie  and  the  thousands like her who are relatives of
serious  addicts?  Her  wails  can  only  draw attention away from the
real  problem,  which is the thousands of young people who are causing
misery  and  harm  to  themselves, their loved ones and the victims of
their crimes by serious long-term addiction.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n318/a05.html

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WEEKLY NEWS IN REVIEW
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Domestic News- Policy
----------------------------------

COMMENT: (5-9)

A  seemingly  mundane  story  out of a little newspaper in California
helps  to  explain why the drug war gets perpetuated despite its many
demonstrated  failings  and counterproductive results. The story is a
light  profile  on  a  federal  lobbyist for the San Bernadino County
Sheriff's  Department  in  California.  The  lobbyist  describes  her
efforts  to promote police interests - particularly in tough economic
times.  One  of  the  lobbyist's  issues  to  push on lawmakers: keep
cannabis  illegal.  This  is  just  one  county  lobbyist pushing the
message  -  imagine  the  impact  when  it  comes  from  other police
lobbyists  from  other  counties  and  states  around  the  country.

Our  other  stories this week again focus on the U.S.-Mexico border -
where  the  cartels are pulling out the really big guns, according to
the  Los  Angeles  Times.  Elsewhere,  the Latin American drug war in
general, and U.S. reactions to it, are questioned.

===

(5) LOBBYING FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT

Pubdate: Sun, 15 Mar 2009
Source: Daily Press (Victorville, CA)
Copyright: 2009 Freedom Communications, Inc.
Author: Beatriz Valenzuela

For  more  than  five  years,  San  Bernardino  County  Sheriff's  Lt.
Barbara Ferguson has been helping the men and women of the
department protect the public.

But  instead  of  a  gun  and  badge, Ferguson relies on her powers of
persuasion  as  she  maneuvers through the state Capitol and the halls
of Congress in Washington, D.C., serving as the Sheriff's
Department's  legislative  liaison.  The  High Desert resident lobbies
legislators  to  help  pass  or defeat bills that affect public safety
and the Sheriff's Department.

"She  is  very  important,"  Karen  Hunt,  spokeswoman  for  the  San
Bernardino  County  Sheriff's  Victorville  station,  said. "She is in
Washington,  D.C.,  and  Sacramento as a representative of our sheriff
and for our concerns on all issues."

One  of  her  top  priorities  is  dealing  with  the current economic
situation.

[snip]

Ferguson  is  not  only  instrumental  in  lobbying for the passage of
bills  but  also  for the defeat of bills that will hinder the ability
of law enforcement to keep communities safe.

"There  is  currently  legislation  that  will attempt to legalize the
use  and  cultivation  of  marijuana, and we are opposed to that," she
said,  adding  that marijuana is a gateway drug that can lead to other
harder drugs. "We have a big fight on our hands with that."

Ferguson  became  a  sergeant at the Victor Valley station until 1999,
when  she  was transfered to Sheriff's Headquarters to be in charge of
doing  background  checks.  Ferguson was hand-picked by former Sheriff
Gary Penrod for the position in 2003.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n305/a07.html

===

(6) DRUG CARTELS' NEW WEAPONRY MEANS WAR

Pubdate: Sun, 15 Mar 2009
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Page: Front
Copyright: 2009 Los Angeles Times
Authors: Ken Ellingwood and Tracy Wilkinson

Mexico Under Siege

Narcotics  traffickers  are acquiring firepower more appropriate to an
army  --  including  grenade launchers and antitank rockets -- and the
police are feeling outgunned.

Reporting  from  Zihuatanejo,  Mexico,  and  Mexico  City  -- It was a
brazen  assault,  not  just  because  it  targeted  the  city's police
station, but for the choice of weapon: grenades.

The  Feb.  21  attack  on  police headquarters in coastal Zihuatanejo,
which  injured  four  people,  fit a disturbing trend of Mexico's drug
wars. Traffickers have escalated their arms race, acquiring
military-grade  weapons,  including  hand grenades, grenade launchers,
armor-piercing  munitions  and  antitank  rockets  with  firepower far
beyond  the  assault  rifles  and  pistols  that  have dominated their
arsenals.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n306/a01.html

===

(7) OPED: LET ME CHEW MY COCA LEAVES

Pubdate: Sat, 14 Mar 2009
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2009 The New York Times Company
Author: Evo Morales Ayma
Note: Evo Morales Ayma is the president of Bolivia.

THIS  week  in  Vienna,  a meeting of the United Nations Commission on
Narcotic  Drugs  took  place  that  will  help  shape  international
antidrug  efforts  for  the  next  10 years. I attended the meeting to
reaffirm  Bolivia's  commitment  to this struggle but also to call for
the reversal of a mistake made 48 years ago.

In  1961,  the  United  Nations  Single  Convention  on Narcotic Drugs
placed  the  coca  leaf  in  the  same  category  with  cocaine - thus
promoting  the  false  notion  that  the coca leaf is a narcotic - and
ordered  that  "coca  leaf  chewing  must be abolished within 25 years
from  the  coming  into  force of this convention." Bolivia signed the
convention  in  1976,  during  the  brutal  dictatorship  of Col. Hugo
Banzer, and the 25-year deadline expired in 2001.

So  for  the  past  eight  years,  the millions of us who maintain the
traditional  practice  of  chewing  coca  have  been, according to the
convention,  criminals  who  violate  international  law.  This  is an
unacceptable  and  absurd  state  of  affairs  for Bolivians and other
Andean peoples.

Many  plants  have  small  quantities  of  various  chemical compounds
called  alkaloids.  One common alkaloid is caffeine, which is found in
more  than  50  varieties of plants, from coffee to cacao, and even in
the  flowers  of orange and lemon trees. Excessive use of caffeine can
cause  nervousness,  elevated  pulse,  insomnia  and  other  unwanted
effects.

Another  common  alkaloid is nicotine, found in the tobacco plant. Its
consumption  can  lead  to  addiction, high blood pressure and cancer;
smoking  causes  one  in  five  deaths  in  the  United  States.  Some
alkaloids  have  important  medicinal qualities. Quinine, for example,
the  first  known treatment for malaria, was discovered by the Quechua
Indians of Peru in the bark of the cinchona tree.

The  coca  leaf  also  has  alkaloids;  the one that concerns antidrug
officials  is  the  cocaine  alkaloid,  which  amounts  to  less  than
one-tenth  of  a  percent of the leaf. But as the above examples show,
that  a  plant,  leaf or flower contains a minimal amount of alkaloids
does  not  make  it  a narcotic. To be made into a narcotic, alkaloids
must typically be extracted, concentrated and in many cases
processed  chemically.  What  is  absurd  about the 1961 convention is
that  it  considers  the  coca leaf in its natural, unaltered state to
be  a  narcotic.  The  paste or the concentrate that is extracted from
the  coca  leaf,  commonly known as cocaine, is indeed a narcotic, but
the plant itself is not.

Why  is  Bolivia  so  concerned  with  the coca leaf? Because it is an
important  symbol  of  the  history  and  identity  of  the indigenous
cultures of the Andes.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n305/a02.html

===

(8) OPED: TIME TO ERADICATE FAILED COCA POLICY

Pubdate: Sun, 15 Mar 2009
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 2009 Hearst Communications Inc.
Author: Joel Brinkley

President  Obama  says  he is determined to cut the federal deficit in
half,  so  I  have  an idea that will start saving millions of dollars
right  now:  Shut  down  Plan Colombia. To date it has wasted about $6
billion.

Over  the  past  few  weeks,  senior  Colombian  officials  have  been
flooding  Washington,  lobbying  everyone  they  can  find  to  renew
federal  funding  for  this  ridiculous  enterprise.  One  of  those
officials,  Vice  President Francisco Santos, spoke to The Chronicle's
editorial  board.  "So  far,"  he  said,  "we  have  not  heard of any
changes to Plan Colombia." That's too bad.

The  program  began in 1999, under President Clinton, and it seemed to
make  sense  at the time. The United States deployed a small air force
in  Colombia,  82  aircraft,  and  began  spraying  coca plants with a
non-toxic  herbicide,  while  also  helping  Colombia fight insurgents
and  shut  down  processing  plants  that  use  coca leaves to produce
cocaine.  Back  then,  Colombian  traffickers  had  463,322  acres  of
coca-plant  cultivation.  From  that,  they produced 90 percent of the
world's cocaine.

After  10  years  of  eradication  efforts, Columbia now has more than
575,750  acres  of  coca-plant  cultivation  -  an  almost  25 percent
increase!  The  United  Nations  reports that cultivation increased by
27  percent  over  the  past  year,  and  Colombia  still  produces 90
percent of the world's cocaine. So what gives?

Over  the  years,  Plan  Colombia  officials  have  released perfectly
believable  statistics  showing  that  they  have  eradicated  many
hundreds  of  thousands  of  acres.  But the simple truth is, as spray
planes  kill  coca  plants, the traffickers simply plant new bushes in
different  parts  of  the  country.  Plan Colombia just can't keep up.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n308/a09.html

===

(9) CALL FOR BORDER TROOPS QUESTIONED

Pubdate: Mon, 16 Mar 2009
Source: Wall Street Journal (US)
Copyright: 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Author: Stephanie Simon

Some  civic  leaders  along  the  Texas-Mexico border are beginning to
speak  out  against  a  request  by  Texas Gov. Rick Perry for federal
troops  to  protect American communities from the drug wars in Mexico.

The  White  House is reviewing Gov. Perry's request for 1,000 National
Guard  troops  and  six  helicopters  with  infrared  night  vision.
Homeland  Security  Secretary Janet Napolitano said last week that the
administration  was  committed to providing additional resources soon.

Many  border  officials  welcome  the  promise  of  additional federal
resources.  But  some  are  pushing  back  against a possible military
deployment,  saying  federal  troops would inflame tensions and spread
fear.  They  say  the  border  has  been unfairly depicted as a scary,
lawless  place.  "It's  incendiary  rhetoric,"  said  Tony  Payan,  a
political-science  professor  at  the  University of Texas at El Paso.
"The  border  gets a bad rap." El Paso, which sits directly across the
Rio  Grande  from  the  violent  Ciudad Juarez in Mexico, consistently
ranks  among  the  top three safest U.S. cities of its size, according
to  Federal  Bureau  of  Investigation crime statistics. "That side of
the  story  is  not  getting out," Mayor John Cook said. Bob Cook, who
runs  the  economic  development  corporation  that covers El Paso and
Juarez,  says  he hears plenty of concern about instability in Mexico.
"It  comes  up  in  almost every business meeting I have, every dinner
party  I  go  to," he said. But he has lived in El Paso on and off for
20  years  and  says  he  has  seen no deterioration in the quality of
life  --  except  that Americans are less inclined to cross the border
at  night.  Corporations  continue  to  express interest in setting up
factories  on  both  sides of the Rio Grande, he said; four new plants
are  under  construction  in Juarez now. Stationing the military along
the  border,  he  said,  "would  be completely the wrong thing to do,"
because  conditions  don't warrant it. Both Mayor Cook and the sheriff
of  El  Paso  County,  Richard  Wiles,  reject  the call for immediate
deployment of federal troops.

Instead,  they  are  requesting  federal  help  to search all vehicles
heading  south  into  Mexico,  in  hopes  of  cutting off the cash and
weapons  that  sustain  the  drug  cartels and their affiliated gangs.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n310/a06.html

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

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

COMMENT: (10-13)

Has  the  police  state  arrived? Bus passengers arriving on a recent
route  into  Reading  Pennsylvania  might think so, as each passenger
was  welcomed  to town by being searched. And a student at a Michigan
university  might  also  think  so,  after  being  shot  in the chest
despite being unarmed during a botched drug raid.

Elsewhere,  at  least  one  local DEA official admits that tying drug
laws  to immigration laws has very little impact on drug traffic; and
it  could be that Democratic leadership in the U.S. Congress is ready
to  change  focus  at  the Mexican border by stepping up drug and gun
laws while decreasing the focus on immigration laws.

===

(10) READING, STATE POLICE SEARCH INCOMING BUSES, PASSENGERS;
MARIJUANA SEIZED

Pubdate: Sat, 14 Mar 2009
Source: Reading Eagle-Times (PA)
Copyright: 2009 Reading Eagle Company
Author: Jason A. Kahl

People  coming  to  Reading on buses from New York and Philadelphia on
Friday  were  greeted  by  city  and state police and a drug-detecting
dog  in  a  new  effort  to  crack  down  on  drugs entering the city.

It  was  the  first  time Reading police have searched everyone coming
off  buses  at the Inter-City Bus Terminal at Third and Court streets,
but  officials  said  they  plan  to conduct similar searches at least
once a month.

Police  arrested  one  man  who  investigators  said  threw  a  bag of
marijuana  on  the ground when officers approached him as he got off a
bus from New York.

The  man  ran  but  was  caught  after  a chase on Penn Street. He was
awaiting  arraignment  late  Friday.  Police did not release his name.

Police  also  seized  several  hundred dollars worth of marijuana that
was  found  in  a backpack on the last bus from New York after all the
passengers had gotten off.

Police  also  took  the  names of 10 to 15 people who they thought had
left  drugs  on  buses  or  were  acting suspiciously, said Sgt. Felix
Carr, who helped oversee the operation.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n304/a05.html

===

(11) GVSU PROTESTERS: 'MARIJUANA OR NOT, UNJUST SHOT!'

Pubdate: Fri, 13 Mar 2009
Source: Holland Sentinel (MI)
Copyright: 2009 GateHouse Media, Inc.
Author: Megan Schmidt

Student  shot  by Ottawa County deputy pleads 'Give peace a chance' to
demonstrators

Allendale,  MI  -  Two days after being shot in the chest by an Ottawa
County  deputy,  Derek Copp's voice rang out on the Grand Valley State
University campus, Friday, March 13.

Copp's  friends  and  supporters  used a bullhorn to project his voice
via  cell  phone  during  a  campus  anti-shooting  protest on Friday.

"I  love  you all, I appreciate everything you have done for me," said
Copp,  who  remains in stable condition at Spectrum Hospital. "We have
to give peace a chance."

Police  said  Thursday  that a GVSU student, whom they would not name,
was  not  armed  when a deputy shot him in the chest at his off-campus
apartment Wednesday night, March 11.

Five  deputies  entered  the  residence  at  Campus  View  Apartments
through  a  sliding  glass door on a search warrant for drugs, Lt. Cam
Henke of the West Michigan Enforcement Team said.

WEMET  is  a  drug  investigation  unit  comprised  of  officers  from
several  law  enforcement  agencies,  including  the  Michigan  State
Police, Ottawa County Sheriff's Office and Holland Police
Department.

Police  provided  no details on why the deputy -- a 12-year veteran of
the  Ottawa  County  Sheriff's  Office  -- shot Copp. They did say the
20-year-old  student  did  not  threaten  or confront police when they
entered the residence.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n307/a01.html

===

(12) DEA: IMMIGRATION PROGRAM HAS NO IMPACT ON BIG-TIME DRUG TRAFFIC

Pubdate: Wed, 18 Mar 2009
Source: Burlington Times-News (NC)
Copyright: 2009 Freedom Communications, Inc.
Author: Robert Boyer

Alamance  County's  287(  g ) program has "no effect" on local illicit
drug  trafficking,  said  Wally  Serniak, the resident agent in charge
of  the  Greensboro office of the Drug Enforcement Administration. The
program,  named  after  a portion of a congressional act, allows local
lawmen  and  detention officers to be trained and deputized as federal
Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agents.

Serniak made his conclusion Monday after Alamance County
Commissioner  Tim  Sutton, an anti-illegal immigration advocate, asked
Serniak  "how  bad" the illicit drug trade might be in Alamance County
if  Sheriff  Terry  Johnson  had  not  taken  on 287( g ), the illegal
immigration  enforcement  partnership  with  the federal Department of
Homeland  Security.  The  program has been in place in Alamance County
for two years.

"287  (  g  ) has no effect on trafficking," Serniak replied. The drug
trafficking organizations in the county are "like a family
business,"  and  stretch back several generations, the agent said. "In
the  short  time  that  I've  been  here,  we've seen the generational
takeover of these drug traffickers. A lot of them have been
naturalized,  or  they're  born  here, so they're not illegal. I don't
believe that the 287( g ) affects that," Serniak said.

[snip]

Continues: : http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n315/a11.html

===

(13) FOCUS SHIFTS TO FLOW OF CASH, ARMS INTO MEXICO

Pubdate: Wed, 18 Mar 2009
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 2009 Hearst Communications Inc.
Author: Carolyn Lochhead, Chronicle Washington Bureau

Wednesday, March 18, 2009 (03-18) 04:00 PDT Washington - --
California  lawmakers  and  the  Obama  administration  have  begun to
shift  U.S.  border  policy  with Mexico, abruptly changing focus from
illegal  immigration  to  the flow of cash and weapons from the United
States  that  is  fueling  a savage war between the Mexican government
and powerful drug cartels.

"It  is  unacceptable  to  have 90 percent of the guns that are picked
up  in  Mexico  and  used  to  shoot  judges, police officers, mayors,
kidnap  innocent  people  and  do terrible things come from the United
States,"  Sen.  Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said at a hearing Tuesday.
"I  am  appalled  that you can buy a 50-caliber sniper weapon anywhere
and  it's  not  restricted to a federal firearms dealer - you can just
buy it."

Rep.  Zoe  Lofgren,  D-San  Jose,  chairwoman  of  the House Judiciary
Committee  panel  on immigration and border security, faulted the Bush
administration  for  focusing  on northbound immigrants and neglecting
southbound  arms  and  drug  cash  that  some  analysts  contend  are
destabilizing the Mexican government.

"It  was  a  priority policy decision that tens of thousands of agents
would  go  arrest  dishwashers  and  busboys,  meanwhile  letting  the
machine  guns  get  smuggled  into  Mexico, which has contributed to a
very  serious  problem  in  Mexico that should concern all Americans,"
Lofgren said in an interview.

"Nobody  is  for people not adhering to the rules, but if I had to say
what's  more  threatening  to me, some guy busing my table or some guy
shipping  machine  guns  down  to  the  drug cartels, I'd say it's the
latter."

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n316/a03.html

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

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

COMMENT: (14-17)

Last week the Obama administration elaborated on their pledge to stop
DEA  raids  on  cannabis dispensaries, saying they will only tolerate
providers  who  comply with state regulations.  The fate of compliant
clubs  and  proprietors  arrested  before the shift in policy remains
unknown.

Lacking  any  direction,  the  police  in  Canada are also attempting
to  discriminate  between  responsible  and irresponsible compassion
clubs.

Journalists  and columnists are increasingly recognizing the folly of
abdicating  cannabis  to the black market, particularly to the extent
that  prohibition enriches traffickers who settle their disputes with
violence and intimidation.

The  British  cannapanic  over  high  potency cannabis continues, and
may  be  convincing  some  anxious  parents that today's "skunk" is  
not the mild weed they "experimented" with in their youth.

===

(14) ENDING POT RAIDS ONLY A FIRST STEP TOWARD SANITY

Pubdate: Mon, 16 Mar 2009
Source: New Haven Register (CT)
Copyright: 2009 New Haven Register
Author: Clarence Page

When  Charles  Lynch  asked  local officials for permission to sell an
herbal  medicine  in  the  central  California town of Morro Bay, they
granted it to him, even though the medicine was marijuana.

Marijuana  recommended  by a doctor has been legal in California since
1996.  A  dozen other states have passed similar laws. Illinois, Iowa,
Minnesota  and  New Hampshire are among about 10 states that have been
debating similar measures.

Lynch  applied for a business license, joined the Chamber of Commerce,
talked  to  lawyers  and  even  called  the  federal  Drug Enforcement
Administration  before opening his medical marijuana dispensary with a
grand ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Unfortunately  for  Lynch,  none  of  this  prevented  him  from being
arrested  in  March  2007 when federal authorities raided his home and
small business. That's because the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Gonzalez
v.  Raich  in 2005 that in the issue of medical marijuana, federal law
trumps the states.

"Today's decision," crowed President George W. Bush's drug czar at the
time, John Walters, "marks the end of medical marijuana as a political
issue."

Not quite. President Barack Obama's attorney general, Eric Holder, has
announced  that  the  Justice  Department  will stop raiding marijuana
dispensaries  in  California  and  other  states  that  allow  medical
marijuana.

But,  that doesn't help Lynch, whose sentencing is scheduled for March
23.  Lynch, who tried to conduct his business as openly and legally as
possible  under  the  laws enacted by Californians, is one of the more
poignant  examples  of  nonviolent  offenders  arrested  and jailed by
federal raiders.

 [snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09.n311.a03.html

===

(15) 'COMPASSION' CLUB BUSTED AS POT RING

Pubdate: Wed, 18 Mar 2009
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2009 The Globe and Mail Company
Author: Ian Bailey

North  Vancouver  RCMP  charge  13  after  ring  allegedly  supplied
recreational users, not those with medical marijuana needs

VANCOUVER  --  The  RCMP say they have busted a pot-delivery operation
that was masquerading as a compassion club that provided marijuana for
medical needs.

Mounties  in  North  Vancouver  yesterday announced 13 people had been
charged  with  trafficking  in  a  controlled  substance, following an
investigation  that began in September, 2007, after police received an
anonymous  tip  through  Crime Stoppers. The arrests put an end to the
operation  of  the  so-called  Internet Compassion Association, police
said.

"People  would  call  them up and make their order. [The organization]
would  make  the  delivery,"  RCMP  Corporal  Marlene  Morton  said.

Cpl.  Morton said the customers were not people with medical marijuana
needs,  but  rather  recreational  drug users looking for a convenient
source of product.

It's  an  unusual  case,  she  said. "We have busted other dial-a-dope
rings,  but  this  is  the  first  time  I have seen one that has been
passing  themselves  off  as  a  compassion  association,"  she added.

[snip]

The  B.C.  Compassion  Club  Society  said  the  group had caused some
concern.

"It  was  definitely  creating  some  confusion, and we were receiving
calls  from  people  looking  for them and not aware we have much more
stringent  requirements  for  becoming  a  member,"  said Jay Leung, a
spokesman  for  the  non-profit  organization  that has been providing
medicinal cannabis since 1997.

[snip]

"There's  still  this controversy, so the compassion clubs worked long
and  hard  over  the  past  decade  to  establish  good  practices and
standards and establish our credibility," he said. "So it's
problematic when people don't have those motivations, aren't following
those  guidelines  but  are  just  using  the  name  in  the  hopes of
protecting what they are doing."

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09.n315.a04.html

===

(16) STEM THE VIOLENCE, MAKE MARIJUANA LEGAL

Pubdate: Sun, 15 Mar 2009
Source: Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ)
Copyright: 2009 The Arizona Republic
Author: Linda Valdez

Imagine  you had a really smart bomb - a genius bomb - that could blow
up the leaders of every drug cartel in Mexico.

By  the time the smoke cleared, a new pusher would be sitting in every
cartel's  big  chair  and  the  distribution  networks  would continue
satisfying  the  demand  of every junkie and recreational-drug user in
America.

Mexico's  drug  cartels  would  continue  to  be,  in the words of the
Justice  Department's  National  Drug Threat Assessment for 2009, "the
greatest drug-trafficking threat to the United States."

Now, imagine a different weapon.

Consider  the  impact  of  eliminating the most profitable product the
cartels sell.

All we have to do is legalize marijuana.

[snip]

Some argue that if you legalize marijuana there would still be a black
market.  They say that because the product is so cheap to produce, the
black market could underprice legal pot and sell to kids. But consider
what we know about alcohol.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09.n307.a07.html

===

(17) SKUNK: "KIDS THINK THE STRONG STUFF IS THE BEST STUFF"

Pubdate: Mon, 16 Mar 2009
Source: Times, The (UK)
Copyright: 2009 Times Newspapers Ltd
Author: Helen Rumbelow, and Chloe Lambert

As  The  Row  Over  Skunk Use By British Teenagers Grows, We Trace The
History Of Super-Potent Cannabis

There  was  a  furore  last week when the novelist Julie Myerson wrote
about  evicting  her  teenage  son  for  his  "skunk  addiction".  She
justified  it  by  saying  that  Britain  needed  to  wake  up  to the
"emergency out there called skunk".

Myerson's outburst may have seemed slightly hysterical to anyone whose
rite  of  passage  included  smoking a joint at some hazy point in the
past,  yet  everything  about  skunk  is  more powerful than what came
before.  Its  strength  and  its  pervasiveness  were  cited  by  the
Government  as its reasons for raising cannabis back to a Class B drug
in January.

Skunk  has  created a new domestic drugs industry, making millions for
illegal  farmers  -  mainly  Vietnamese  immigrants  -  on  Britain's
industrial estates, and it has done so in an astonishingly short time.
Police  seizures  show that it accounted for barely 10 per cent of the
cannabis  sold  here  in  the late 1990s; last year it was 80 per cent

What  struck  me,  talking  to teenagers in the course of writing this
piece,  was  the  sheer  rapidity  of  this  transformation. I'm in my
thirties,  yet  what  young people now regard as "normal" cannabis was
unheard  of  in this country a decade ago. "Skunk is horribly strong -
you  can  practically feel your brain cells knocking off," says Ben, a
19-year-old  student.  "But it wasn't that we asked for it. Growing up
in rural Herefordshire, it was all we could get."

Say  the word "skunk" to teenagers and they may nod their heads, while
politicians  will  shake  their heads. Only a few brave ones will then
whisper: "What exactly is skunk?" One public health study tried to ask
teenagers  about  their  skunk  use but concluded that "it was unclear
what  people  surveyed  understood  the term skunk to mean ... it is a
confusing picture".

To see that picture clearly through the fug, it is necessary to rewind
the clock several decades.

[snip]

It  is  not  yet  entirely  clear  what  effect high does of TCH [sic]
without  the  restraining  effect  of CBD will have on a generation of
British  teenagers.  If  this  is  the  last  unknown,  it is the most
worrying one.

What  would  you  do  if  you  found  your  child  was  smoking skunk?

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09.n312.a08.html

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

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

COMMENT: (18-21)

In  Mexico,  three years and thousands of lives later, some political
chickens are coming home to roost for President Calderon's
conservative  National  Action  Party.  As  violent  turf  battles
continue,  "many  voters appear to be warming up to the Institutional
Revolutionary  Party,  or  PRI,  which  governed  Mexico for 71 years
until  Calderon's  party  wrested away the presidency in 2000." Other
parties  have  different ideas to stem the violence. The "Green Party
has  filed  a  bill to reinstate the death penalty," while the Social
Democratic Party "filed a bill legalizing drugs."

In  Nigeria, Ogun State Governor Otunba Gbenga Daniel held forth with
the  observation that Nigeria burns so great a volume of seized drugs
as  to create an "environmental hazard" which "had weakened the fight
against  climatic change." Unlike other countries, Nigerian "strategy
is  to  cut  off  the source of illicit drug supplies thereby denying
drug addicts access to drug," explained Otunba.

Meanwhile  the  western  African  nation  of  Senegal  is  seeing  an
unexpected  economic  boom  as  a bustling new cocaine trans-shipment
point  en  route  to  Europe.  The U.K. Guardian newspaper identified
Senegal's  drug  problem  as  one of "unmonitored coasts, poorly paid
officials,  porous  borders  and  booming  informal markets". Answer?
Government  monitored  coasts,  more  money for government officials,
government  monitored  borders, and government regulation of markets:
in  short,  more  government.  Could  this  be  why  government loves
prohibition so?

And  finally  this  week,  police  in  Vancouver's  troubled Downtown
Eastside  are  changing  tact.  New  plan:  seize the drugs, send the
person  on  their  way,  sans  arrest.  "Technically,  yes, you could
arrest  and  you  could  tie up two officers for four hours writing a
report  like  that,"  explained  Constable  Jana  McGuinness. "That's
where  the  discretion  will  be employed." Less paperwork translates
into more time for police to be "on the street."

===

(18) DRUG WAR MAY HURT MEXICO'S RULING PARTY

Pubdate: Mon, 16 Mar 2009
Source: Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ)
Copyright: 2009 The Arizona Republic
Author: Chris Hawley

Voters Growing Tired Of Violence

[snip]

Back  then,  promises  by  Calderon's  National Action Party, known as
the  PAN,  to  crack  down  on  drug cartels sounded like a good idea,
Arroyo said. But now, as Mexico staggers under a wave of
drug-related  violence  and  with  congressional elections looming, he
and other Mexicans are having their doubts.

[snip]

Across Mexico, voters and political experts say Calderon's
two-year-old  offensive  against drug traffickers is beginning to have
political repercussions as Mexicans tire of the violence.

Calderon's  party  is  in  danger of losing control of the lower house
of  Congress  to  the  old-guard  Institutional Revolutionary Party as
Mexicans  get  nostalgic  for  quieter  times,  said Hector Zamitiz, a
political-science  professor  at the National Autonomous University of
Mexico.

Other  parties  are  loudly demanding a change in anti-crime strategy,
with  proposals  ranging  from  reinstating  the  death  penalty  to
legalizing drugs.

[snip]

Some  50,000  troops  - more than the United States has in Afghanistan
-  are  now  patrolling  Mexican border cities and combing the deserts
for  drug  smugglers.  The  United  States has pledged $1.4 billion in
aid for the effort.

The  offensive  has  splintered the cartels, created power vacuums and
ignited  infighting,  the  Mexican  attorney  general's  office  says.
Kidnappings,  torture  cases  and  beheadings  have  soared. More than
6,000  people  have  been  killed,  including  dozens  of  police  and
soldiers.

Polls  show  Calderon  himself  still  enjoys  an  approval  rating of
around  60  percent.  But  many  voters appear to be warming up to the
Institutional  Revolutionary  Party, or PRI, which governed Mexico for
71  years  until Calderon's party wrested away the presidency in 2000.

[snip]

Smaller  parties  put  forth  even  more  radical proposals. The Green
Party  has  filed a bill to reinstate the death penalty, which has not
been  used  since the 1950s. That would be a dramatic reversal in this
Roman Catholic country.

[snip]

The  Social  Democratic  Party, meanwhile, has filed a bill legalizing
drugs.  Mexicans  could grow marijuana and mushrooms for their own use
but  couldn't  sell  the  drugs.  The government would produce cocaine
and  heroin  and  administer  it  to  addicts at centers supervised by
doctors.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09.n311.a11.html

===

(19) OGUN, NDLEA DISAGREE OVER BURNING OF SEIZED DRUGS

Pubdate: Sat, 14 Mar 2009
Source: Punch (Nigeria)
Copyright: 2009 The Punch
Author: Ademola Oni

[snip]

The  State  Governor,  Otunba  Gbenga Daniel, who spoke at the burning
of  3,015  kilogrammes of cannabis, cocaine and heroine in Abeokuta on
Friday,  said  the  burning  of  exhibits  in  open  air  constituted
environmental hazard.

Represented  by  the  Commissioner  for  Environment,  Dr.  Olukoya
Adeleke-Adedoyin,  the  governor  expressed  worry that the burning of
the  exhibits  had  weakened  the  fight  against  climatic  change.

[snip]

"Our  strategy  is  to  cut  off  the  source of illicit drug supplies
thereby  denying  drug  addicts access to drug. We will also embark on
anti-drug  enlightenment  activities  to educate people on the dangers
of drug cultivation, trafficking and abuse."

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09.n312.a05.html

===

(20) FEARS FOR STABILITY IN WEST AFRICA AS CARTELS MOVE IN

Pubdate: Tuesday 10 March 2009
Source: Guardian, The (UK)
Copyright: 2009 Guardian News and Media Limited
Author: Christopher Thompson

Part  Two:  How  Porous  Borders  And Poverty Make Fertile Terrain For
Drug Traffickers

[snip]

European  donors  and  local  politicians alike worry that Senegal, an
oasis  of  political  stability in one of the world's most politically
turbulent  regions,  is  gradually  succumbing  to  cocaine's  lure.

[snip]

But Senegal is just one piece in the jigsaw of west African
countries that have become a cocaine smugglers' paradise.
Unmonitored  coasts,  poorly  paid  officials,  porous  borders  and
booming  informal  markets:  to  freewheeling  drugs  cartels  it's an
ideal market entry point.

[snip]

The  UN  estimates  around  50  tonnes  a year, worth almost $2bn (UKP
1.5bn)  at  western  European  wholesale  prices,  passes through west
Africa.  In  some  cases  the value of the trafficked drugs is greater
than the country's national income.

Some  cocaine  leaves  Colombia  aboard  planes small enough to fly at
altitudes  of  around  2,000m,  making them undetectable by radar. The
planes land, often at night, in towns such as Boke in
Guinea-Conakry,  from  where the convoy is transported under escort to
the  city  for storage. Last month the son of former president Lansana
Conte  confessed  to being involved in drug trafficking on television.

[snip]

Some  locals  are  phlegmatic  about  the  problem.  One  Dakar-based
journalist  questioned  why  Africans should care what Europeans - and
increasingly,  Arabs  in  the  Gulf  -  choose  to put up their noses.

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09.n301.a13.html

===

(21) POLICE PROPOSE CHANGE TO DRUG STRATEGY

Pubdate: Thu, 19 Mar 2009
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2009 The Vancouver Sun
Author: Catherine Rolfsen

Plan  Calls  For  Seizing  Narcotics,  But  Not  Prosecuting Low-Level
Offenders In Downtown Eastside

The  Vancouver  Police  Department  is  shifting  its  focus  in  the
Downtown  Eastside  away from arresting and charging people for simple
drug  possession  in  a  bid  to  keep  cops on the street by avoiding
hours of paperwork.

The  directive,  in  the  VPD's  2009  business  plan presented to the
police  board  Wednesday,  is part of a push to reduce street disorder
in  the  troubled  neighbourhood  by  increasing  police  presence.

Although  police  have  always  had discretion as to whether to charge
low-level  drug  offenders,  according  to  the  business  plan  the
priority  will  now  be  on  seizing  drugs  rather  than prosecution.

"We'll  come  across people all day long who have maybe a few rocks of
cocaine  in  their  pocket,  or  maybe a bit of methamphetamine, [for]
personal  use,"  said  Const.  Jana McGuinness. "Technically, yes, you
could  arrest  and  you  could  tie  up  two  officers  for four hours
writing a report like that.

"That's  where  the  discretion will be employed. Where they can, say,
seize  the  drugs,  get  the  drugs  off  the street and then go about
their business of being out there stopping other crimes."

Less  paperwork  will  mean  more  officers  on  the  street to tackle
street disorder, McGuinness said.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09.n317.a12.html

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

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

YOUTUBE: GVSU PROTEST

See protest after police shoot student during drug raid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KG6MBFpSrms&feature=channel_page

===

THREE STRIKES 15 YEARS LATER

We're All Out -- Of Money, And Time

By Tamar Todd

People are serving 25 years to life in California for drug possession,
for  stealing  a pizza, and in one especially sad case, chocolate chip
cookies.

http://drugsense.org/url/y5WuYm6Z

===

UNITED NATIONS DRUG POLICY - THE SKEPTICS CHIME IN

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/03/13/bb-video-united-nati.html

===

MEXICO'S DRUG WAR BLOODBATH

Guns from the U.S. Are Destabilizing the Country

By Silja J.A. Talvi, AlterNet. Posted March 18, 2009.

Mexican  drug  cartels  have  easy access to thousands of American gun
dealers just on the other side of the border.

http://drugsense.org/url/I6qodCN5

===

DRUG TRUTH NETWORK

Century of Lies - 03/15/09 - Russ Jones

Russ  Jones, a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition with more
than 30 years experience as a cop and DEA agent + Terry Nelson of LEAP
reports on the UN conference in Vienna

http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/?q=node/2338

Cultural Baggage Radio Show - 03/18/09 - Amanda Fielding

Lady  Neidpath, Amanda Fielding, director of the Beckley Foundation on
drug  research  in  the UK is interviewed at the UN drug conference in
Vienna by Michael Krawitz

http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/?q=node/2339

===

ADMINISTRATION'S  NEW  POLICY  ON  MEDICAL  MARIJUANA IS THE RIGHT ONE

By Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director

President  Barack  Obama  campaigned  on  a  platform of `change.' Two
months into his Presidency, it is clear that this `change' pertains to
the way Washington governs U.S. marijuana policy.

http://drugsense.org/url/9Ht8M5no

===

THE POLITICS AND SCIENCE OF MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Policy Forum, Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Featuring  Donald  Abrams,  M.D., Director of Clinical Programs, Osher
Center  for  Integrative  Medicine,  University  of California; Robert
DuPont,  M.D.,  President,  Institute  for  Behavior  and  Health; Rob
Kampia, Executive Director, Marijuana Policy Project; Moderated by Tim
Lynch,  Director,  Project  on  Criminal  Justice,  Cato  Institute

http://cato.org/event.php?eventid=5302

===

THE RAZOR WIRE

The  latest issue of the Razor Wire, Vol. 12, No. 1, is now online at:

http://www.november.org/razorwire/newsletter.html

You  may  also download a printable, PDF version of the Razor Wire at:

http://www.november.org/razorwire/2009-01/RazorWireV12N1a.pdf

===

SEE  THE  VIDEO  OF  THE  PROTEST  AT  THE ENTRANCE OF THE UN MEETING!

By HCLU on Mar 15 09

The  United  Nations  held  its  High  Level Meeting on drugs on March
11-12,  2009  in  Vienna.  HCLU and its allies, SSDP, INPUD, ENCOD and
Youth  R.I.S.E.  organized  a  demonstration against the global war on
drugs on March 11, at the entrance of the Vienna International Center,
to  call  for  a drug policy based on human rights and harm reduction.

Witness the event here: http://drogriporter.hu/en/demovideo

===

VIENNA ENCOD PRESS CONFERENCE

Interviews on Vienna Public Radio:

Featuring  Fredrick  Polak,  Terry  Nelson,  Beatriz  Negrety, Adriana
Rodiguez  Salazar,  Lennice  Werth,  Chris  Conrad,  Mikki  Norris.

http://cba.fro.at/show.php?eintrag_id=12344

===

UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES

Side Effects And Contra Indications Of Global Prohibition

The  UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs completes its marathon session on
evaluating  the `success' of the drug control system tomorrow, and the
`coalition  of  the  willing  (and  not  so willing)' march out of the
building, not quite in lock step, but maintaining de facto support for
the  global  war  on  drugs.  It  is  timely  to examine whether these
`unintended'  consequences,  can  still  be  seen  as 'unanticipated'.

http://drugsense.org/url/OaF3lIai

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

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

DEMAND A MEETING WITH KELLOGG'S

Kellogg's  announced that it would not renew its contract with Michael
Phelps because the swimming champion is no longer "consistent with the
image  of Kellogg's." It has hurt the Kellogg's public image more than
the  peanut  recall,  and  millions  of  Americans  (those  who  smoke
marijuana  and  plenty  who don't) chose not to buy Kellogg's products
because  this decision smacks of intolerance. The company continues to
ignore repeated requests for meetings from representatives of the drug
policy reform movement. Tell them to meet with us today!

http://drugsense.org/url/Xx3P4gEe

===

GOP  SENATOR  ASSAILS  ADMINISTRATION'S  NEW  STANCE  ON  MEDICAL  POT

Offended?  Insulted?  Just  plain  pissed off? Then why not give him a
piece of your mind?

After  all, he certainly doesn't mind imposing his own views upon you.

http://drugsense.org/url/POlMyWWB

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

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

TO HELP CARTELS, KEEP IT ILLEGAL

By Robert Gonzalez

On  Feb.  23,  California  Assemblyman  Ammiano  introduced  a bill in
Sacramento to legalize and tax cannabis.

This  is  terrible legislation, as it would force hard-working Mexican
drug  cartels  out of business. Instead, legalization would cause this
money  to  go  to  the state, depriving entrepreneurs of their income.

Prohibition  keeps  prices  high,  and  those profits are necessary to
buy  the  guns  and  personnel  needed  to  maintain  market  control.
Furthermore,  taxation  of cannabis places an undue burden on dealers,
who  have  historically  operated  with no regulation or taxation. How
will  marijuana  remain  more  accessible  to children than alcohol if
the  only  place  you  can buy it is from authorized licensed sellers?

With  the  economy  in dark times, the black market stands as a beacon
of  light,  drawing  the young and talented to its ranks. Legalization
would  not  only  deprive  the  black  market of a labor pool, but the
prison  industry  would  lose  untold  millions  due  to  plummeting
incarceration  and  recidivism rates. Police resources would be forced
to  be  spent  on  actual  crimes  instead of pursuing Michael Phelps.

For  the  sake  of the drug cartels, kingpins, gangsters, dealers, and
prisons  all  across  America, we mustn't allow this legalization idea
to come to Nevada!

Robert Gonzalez
Carson City

Pubdate: Tue, 10 Mar 2009
Source: Reno Gazette-Journal (NV)

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

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

Jake  Myerson:  Parents  'Tough  Love'  Approach To Cannabis Was Wrong

By Jon Land

Jake  Myerson,  whose  novelist  mother detailed the family's struggle
to  deal  with his cannabis smoking, today urged parents not to take a
tough love approach to their children's drug use.

Julie  Myerson's  book, The Lost Child, sparked controversy for laying
bare her teenage son's life in the public eye.

At  the  heart  of  the  debate  was  her  decision  to throw her then
17-year-old  son  out  of  the house in a bid to stop him from smoking
cannabis.

In  his  first  television  interview,  for  ITV1's Tonight programme,
Jake detailed the impact of that decision on his life.

He  admitted  to  smoking  marijuana  but  insisted  he has never been
addicted to the drug.

The  20-year-old  said  his  drug use became a "scapegoat" when he did
not follow the path his family wanted.

He said: "My parents had always wanted me to go to Oxford.

"I  was  a  very  academic  child  and  I  think you know I chose at a
certain  age  that  I  wanted  to not do that, that I wanted to go and
make art and be a musician.

"And  they  assumed  that  I'd made that decision because of the drugs
rather  than  the  other way round, which of course is the way it was.

"The  drugs  became  a  scapegoat  for  that,  but no, the fights were
about the fact that I no longer wanted to be a lawyer."

Jake  said  that  the  decision to kick him out of the family home was
the wrong way to handle the situation.

He  said  he barely slept after the first month and continued: "You're
trying  to  sort  out  where you're going to stay, the next place, but
then  of  course,  once you're there, you know, it also makes you fall
back  on  drugs  a lot more because it's a crutch, it's easy, you know
you're  going  to  be  stoned  -  it's  something  that's  constant."

He  added:  "I  was  living with crackheads at one point. I could have
so  easily  slipped  into  that  and then gone and nicked a TV and got
some  more.  The  streets  would have been a bad place for any budding
drug addict."

He  called  for parents to be more realistic about how they handle the
existence of drugs with their children.

He  told  the  show:  "One  thing I have noticed is the only kids I've
ever  known  who've  had  no  trouble  with  drugs - who've never even
started  slipping  into any kind of habits, the ones who have complete
control,  do  it  when  they  want, don't do it when they don't want -
are  the  ones whose parents have been completely frank with them from
the beginning.

"They've  sat  them  down  when  they're 13 and said 'look cannabis is
fun,  bad  for  your motivation; I wouldn't do it too often but if you
want to do it, do it'.

"Those kids never have trouble."

Jake  believes  that  honesty  is  the  best policy, otherwise teenage
rebellion can take hold.

He  said:  "You're  15, you've just discovered that there's this thing
you  can  smoke  that  changes how you think and feel, and then you're
fighting  your  parents  and  they  say  this is wrong. Well it's only
going  to  get  caught  up  more,  the two become closely interwoven."

But  his  writer  mother  said  in  an  emotional  interview  with the
programme  that  after  two  years  of trying to negotiate boundaries,
kicking him out was the only alternative.

Breaking  down  with  emotion,  she  said:  "Sorry, it was the hardest
thing  I've  done.  I mean what I'm trying to say is I didn't say that
lightly."

She  added:  "I  think  you  know  the best thing that could happen is
this  book  does, in a rather much more gruesome and public way than I
intended,  push  him  to  face his problem and admit he has a problem.

"I  mean  I  should  make  that  clear  actually,  he  has always been
welcome  back  at home without drugs, if he accepts some help. I think
anyone who does tough love would say the same."

Her  husband  Jonathan  added:  "We  have  been  vilified  for  how we
treated  our  son,  by  people who do not understand what happens in a
household.

"A  bomb  explodes  - cannabis and the young male mind is an explosive
combination  ...  when that happens a bomb goes off and you to have to
protect yourself.

"And  you  also  have  to take the right steps and if you have not had
that  bomb  explode  in  your  house, you will not understand, and you
will  look  at  us and say 'aren't they the worst parents in Britain',
and I'm sure people are thinking that now.

"They  have  no  idea what it's like and also the strength it takes to
do what we did."

Programme  makers  said  that Jake lives in a shared flat with friends
in London. He is studying at music college.

Jon  Land  is  the  Editor  of http://www.24dash.com/ where this piece
first appeared - http://drugsense.org/url/RBKD1Clj

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