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DRUGSENSE WEEKLY

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DrugSense Weekly,               April 10,  2009                    #595

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

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TABLE OF CONTENTS:

* This Just In

   (1) NM Marijuana Case Sidetracks Former Major Leaguer
   (2) The Antidrug Campaign Tries a New Message
   (3) Web Riddled With Drug Cartel Videos, Messages
   (4) Column: Legalization Key to Ending Drug Violence

* Weekly News in Review

Drug Policy-

   (5) Column: Unbending Rules On Drugs In Schools Drive One Teen To
   (6) Research Shows Purity Of Street Drugs A Myth
   (7) Review: Escobar By Roberto Escobar
   (8) Rename Highway 420

Law Enforcement & Prisons-

   (9) Bill Aims to Curb Cough-Syrup Abuse
   (10) Oops. 1st Salvia Bust Was Too Early
   (11) OPED: Law Enforcement Groups Are Wrong About Medical Marijuana
   (12) A Conversation With Terry Goddard, Attorney General Of Arizona
   (13) Column: Big Bust Won't Really Make A Dent In Trade

Cannabis & Hemp-

   (14) Ex-Pot Crusader Tired, Resigned
   (15) A Medical Marijuana Face-Off
   (16) Pot Users Skeptical Bill Will Reduce Gang Crime
   (17) It's High Time

International News-

   (18) Little Progress As U.S., Mexico Discuss Drug Cartels And Arms
   (19) Mexico's Drugs War
   (20) Legalisation Of Drugs Could Save UK UKP 14 BN, Says Study
   (21) Call To Review Drugs Legalisation

* Hot Off The 'Net

   Video Of Michigan's First Medical Marijuana Applicant U.S. Reps Ron
   Paul And Barney Frank Interviewed About Hemp Bill
   The  Black  Smoke  Of  Ayahuasca / Adam Elenbaas, Reality Sandwich
   Transform Publishes Cost-Effectiveness Study Of Prohibition/Regulation
   American Violet - Official Trailer
   New At MPP TV: Tax & Regulate Marijuana
   Drug Truth Network
   Can  Senator  Webb  Lead  America  Out  Of The Drug War Quagmire?

* What You Can Do This Week

   Medicinal Marijuana Is Legal In Michigan
   Thank The Governor For Rockefeller Reform
   Wear A LEAP Badge

* Letter Of The Week

   Legalizing Pot Makes Sense / Hendrik de Pagter

* Letter Writer Of The Month - March

   Ralph Givens

* Feature Article

   You  Can't  Tell  Us Drug Legalization Is Impossible / Dan Gardner

* Quote of the Week

   Elaine Sherman

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) NM MARIJUANA CASE SIDETRACKS FORMER MAJOR LEAGUER

Pubdate: Thu, 09 Apr 2009
Source: Houston Chronicle (TX)
Copyright: 2009 Houston Chronicle Publishing Company Division
Author: Tim Korte, Associated Press

Years  ago,  Gilberto  Reyes  was  a major league catcher working with
Orel Hershiser, Dennis Martinez and Randy Johnson.

These  days,  he's  jailed  and facing the challenge of his life. Four
days  before  Christmas  2007, Reyes was driving a truck that slid off
an  icy  freeway  in  northeastern  New Mexico, right into a tangle of
legal trouble.

The  vehicle  toppled  and  spilled  a  load  of furniture, along with
hidden cargo -- 420 pounds of marijuana, bundled in 42
cellophane-wrapped  bricks.  The  drugs  tumbled onto the snowy ground
after the crash.

Authorities estimated the street value at $250,000.

Reyes,  a  native  of  the  Dominican  Republic who played for the Los
Angeles  Dodgers  and Montreal Expos during a seven-year career in the
majors,  has  been  jailed since but staunchly maintains his innocence
on drug trafficking charges.

"I've  never  been  in  jail  before  this. I've never been in trouble
with  police,"  Reyes said last month during a one-hour interview with
The  Associated  Press  at  the  San  Miguel  County Detention Center.

Despite  his  troubles,  Reyes smiled and laughed often after taking a
seat  inside  a  cinderblock-walled  jailhouse  classroom.  He wore an
orange  jail-issued  shirt,  orange  pants,  white socks and sneakers.

He  had  his  45th  birthday  behind  bars  last winter. Reyes said he
rejected a plea bargain during his more than 15 months of
incarceration because he had to protect his good name.

"To  be  honest, they had a good case," Reyes said. "The D.A. was very
good.  He  was  just  doing his job. He can't let me go free. That was
his case. He had to prove I knew something about it."

In  February,  Reyes'  trial  ended  with a hung jury that was leaning
8-4  in  support  of  his acquittal. But that meant he was facing even
more jail time because a retrial was slated for July.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n404/a09.html

===

(2) THE ANTIDRUG CAMPAIGN TRIES A NEW MESSAGE

Pubdate: Fri, 10 Apr 2009
Source: Wall Street Journal (US)
Copyright: 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Author: Ellen Gamerman

Every  April  20, marijuana smokers around the country light up for an
unofficial  holiday  celebrating  pot that stems from the smoker slang
"420."  This  year,  as  the drug war rages in Mexico, the festivities
fall against an increasingly violent backdrop.

Some  antidrug  advocates  are  using  the  occasion  to  jump-start a
movement  against  marijuana  not  just  for health and legal reasons,
but on moral grounds. American pot smokers, they say, are
unwittingly supporting drug cartels in Mexico.

Aaron  Byzak,  president of the North Coastal Prevention Coalition, an
antidrug  group  in  north  San  Diego County, says he'll focus on the
Mexican  drug  war  when he addresses 1,000 seventh-to 10th-graders at
the  group's  annual  antidrug  festival, also held on April 20, at an
amusement  park  in  Vista,  Calif.  Mr.  Byzak  will urge the kids to
think of Mexico's drug lords if they're offered a puff.

"This  is  a  prime opportunity for us to educate them about how every
bit  of  marijuana  someone  smokes here is giving more power and more
money to the drug cartels in Mexico," he says.

The  drug  war  in  Mexico,  which  in  the  past  two  years has left
thousands  dead,  comes  as  prevention  groups search for new ways to
send  a  clear  message  about  the  dangers  of pot. Unlike campaigns
against  cocaine  or  heroin  use,  the  argument against marijuana is
more  complex.  Thirteen  states  have  legalized  its use for medical
purposes,  and  an  organized  movement is pushing to decriminalize it
altogether.

John  Redman,  who  heads  Californians  for  Drug  Free  Youth,  says
violence  in  Mexico helped spark the creation of a new antipot group,
the  California  Marijuana  Initiative,  two  months  ago.  One of its
central  themes:  Smoking  marijuana  is  not  a  victimless  crime.

Lloyd Johnston, principal investigator of the University of
Michigan's  "Monitoring  the  Future  Study,"  which  is funded by the
federal  government's  National  Institute  on  Drug  Abuse and tracks
drug,  alcohol  and  tobacco  use,  says  he  plans to press the Obama
administration  and  the  Partnership  for  a Drug-Free America to use
the  death  toll  in  Mexico to engage the consciences of pot smokers.

Mr.  Johnston  likens  the  Mexico  argument  to  the campaign against
secondhand  cigarette  smoke;  when  smokers  learned  their habit was
harming  others,  he  says,  many  quit  who  wouldn't have otherwise.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n405/a10.html

===

(3) WEB RIDDLED WITH DRUG CARTEL VIDEOS, MESSAGES

Pubdate: Fri, 10 Apr 2009
Source: USA Today (US)
Copyright: 2009 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc
Author: Rick Jervis, USA TODAY

Rival  Gangs  Using  Sites  Such  As  YouTube  to  Intimidate, Recruit

The  violence  among  Mexican  drug  cartels  is  not filling just the
streets  of  Mexican  border  towns:  It's also spilling into gruesome
online videos and chat rooms.

The  videos  on  YouTube  and  Mexican-based  sites  are  polished  --
professional  singers  croon  about  cartel  leaders  while  images of
murdered  victims  fade  one into the next. In the comment area, those
loyal to the opposing cartels trade insults and threats.

Such  videos  are  used  to  intimidate enemies and recruit members by
touting  "virtues"  of  cartel  leaders,  says  Scott  Stewart,  vice
president  of  tactical  intelligence  for  Stratfor,  a  Texas-based
global-intelligence company.

Howard  Campbell,  an  anthropologist  at  the  University of Texas-El
Paso  who  studies  border issues, says the videos also signal how the
cartels  have  evolved from pure moneymaking ventures to sophisticated
groups with political agendas.

One  YouTube  video sympathetic to the Sinaloa Cartel opens with white
lettering:  "This  is  what  happens  to  all  my  enemies."  A singer
launches  into  an  up-tempo  song  against a montage of images: slain
police  officers,  bullet-ridden  police  cruisers,  shell  casings,
crumpled bodies.

Victoria  Grand,  head  of  policy for YouTube, says company officials
have  seen  the  cartel  videos on their website but would not comment
on specific videos.

She  says  YouTube  does  remove graphic, violent video if other users
flag  it  as  offensive  and  it  lacks  documentary  or  educational
purposes.  "If  the  video  is  clearly  violent and the purpose is to
shock  or  disgust,  we  will  remove it," she says. YouTube officials
have  alerted  law enforcement agencies to criminal activity posted on
the site, she says.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n407/a07.html

===

(4) COLUMN: LEGALIZATION KEY TO ENDING DRUG VIOLENCE

Pubdate: Fri, 10 Apr 2009
Source: Herald News, The (Fall River, MA)
Copyright: 2009 The Herald News
Author: Bill Steigerwald, The Herald News

You  don't  have  to  be  a  Harvard  economics professor like Jeffrey
Miron  to  know  that America's war on drugs has been a lost cause for
decades.  Now  a bloody war between the Mexican government and vicious
drug  cartels  is  raging  just  across  our  southern border, killing
thousands and threatening to spread into the U.S.A.

The  Obama  administration's  response,  typically and predictably, is
to  send  more  police  and  troops  to try to protect and control the
border.  But  as  Miron  recently  pointed out in a piece for CNN.com,
the  cause  of the violence in Mexico is our country's own misbegotten
policy  of  drug  prohibition,  which  drives  the  market  for  drugs
underground  and  creates  the  same  kind of violence, corruption and
disrespect  for  the  law  among  the  populace that we saw during our
failed war against alcohol.

Miron,  who  believes  that  legalizing  all  drugs is the best way to
reduce  drug  violence on our borders and in our cities, was in Boston
when I talked to him Monday morning.

Q:  Secretary  of  State Hillary Clinton recently blamed our inability
to  prevent  weapons  from being smuggled across the border to arm the
drug  cartels  in  Mexico  for  the  deaths  of  thousands  of  police
officers,  soldiers  and  civilians  there.  She  also  said  it  was
America's  "insatiable  demand"  for  drugs that fuels the violence on
the  border.  Should  she  have  emphasized  that  "demand" part of it
more?

A:  Well,  no.  Of  course at some level she's right. If there were no
demand  for  drugs,  there would be no drug market. It wouldn't matter
whether  we  prohibited  drugs;  there would be no violence. But there
is  going  to  be a demand for drugs whether we like it or not, and if
we  drive  the  market  underground  we  are  going  to have many more
negative  side  effects  of  that  market  than  if we were to adopt a
regime  of  legalization.... I think she is really missing the key way
in  which  the  U.S. policy of drug prohibition is responsible for the
current situation.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n407/a08.html

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

The  tragic  outcomes  of  the  war  on drugs are well catalogued and
understood,  yet the individual cases can still be shocking, like one
high  school  student  who  was  literally driven to suicide by "zero
tolerance"  policies  that  were allegedly designed to keep him safe.
Another  general,  but  predictable, outcome of the drug war has been
scientifically  validated  again:  street  drugs can be impure. A new
book  looks back at model for other South American drug lords; and in
Canada,  Highway  420  seems  to be attracting bad elements, so local
leaders want to change the name of the road.

===

(5) COLUMN: UNBENDING RULES ON DRUGS IN SCHOOLS DRIVE ONE TEEN TO
THE BREAKING POINT

Pubdate: Sun, 05 Apr 2009
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2009 The Washington Post Company
Author: Marc Fisher

Josh  Anderson  had  just  finished  four homework assignments. He did
his  laundry.  He  watched TV with his mother -- "House," which he had
Tivo'd  for  viewing that night. He played with the dogs. Then, at his
mom's  urging,  he  went  up  to  bed. It was 12:30, and the next day,
March  19,  was  a  big  one:  Josh  was  scheduled for a hearing that
probably  would  end with his expulsion from the Fairfax County school
system.

The  Andersons  weren't  blind  to  what got Josh into this pickle. He
had  been  caught  leaving  campus,  going to Taco Bell with a friend.
When  the  boys  returned  to South Lakes High in Reston, an assistant
principal  confronted  them  in the parking lot, smelled marijuana and
had  the  car  searched.  This  was  the second time in two years that
Josh, a junior, had been found with pot.

"I  really  have been working hard on this," Josh wrote to the hearing
officers.  "I  can't  believe I'm putting my parents through this now.
I  can't  believe how selfish and stupid I've been. . . . I'm honestly
going to try my hardest to fix this."

The  Andersons  were  told  that Josh would be barred from any regular
Fairfax  high  school  and might be tossed out of the system entirely.
His parents were looking into private schools or moving.

But  there  would  be  no  hearing, no new school, no more visits from
college football coaches asking about Josh's talents.

When  Sue  Anderson  went into her son's room the next morning, he was
dead.  Without  a word to his girlfriend, parents, psychologist, coach
or teachers, Josh Anderson, 17, had killed himself.

He  left  a  note, just two lines. "Why does it have to be like this?"
And, to his girlfriend, "I love you."

There  is  little anger in Tim and Sue Anderson's voices now. Waves of
grief  strike  at random intervals. Their eyes water when they look up
the  stairs  toward  Josh's  room in their house in Vienna. They don't
want  to  sue  anyone. They praise coaches and teachers at South Lakes
who  did  what  they  could  to  help their boy. But they have come to
believe that the system did Josh a terrible wrong, that the
zero-tolerance  mentality  contradicts  the  goal  of  educating  or
helping an immature adolescent.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n391/a01.html

===

(6) RESEARCH SHOWS PURITY OF STREET DRUGS A MYTH

Pubdate: Fri, 03 Apr 2009
Source: Chilliwack Progress (CN BC)
Copyright: 2009 The Chilliwack Progress
Author: Jennifer Feinberg

Ecstasy  users  may  be placing too much trust in their dealers, since
the  street  drug is often cut with dangerous contaminants, says a UFV
criminologist.

"Hundreds  of  young  people  around  the  world die each year because
they  take  drugs  that  they  believed were something other than what
they  consumed,"  UFV  researcher  Darryl  Plecas  explains by e-mail.

Plecas  and  Fraser  Health  addictions  expert Sherry Mumford were in
Oxford,  England  on  Monday  to  present  their paper, The Problem of
Adulterated Drugs, at an invitation-only roundtable event.

Last  year  Plecas presented his research on marijuana grow-ops to the
Oxford  roundtable,  and  this  year they've zeroed in on the practice
adding  potentially  harmful  ingredients  to  illegal  drugs,  like
ecstasy.

"The  question  is,  when people are buying what they think is a party
drug  such  as  ecstasy,  is  that  all they're getting?" asks Plecas.

Testing  has  found it's often laced with more addictive drugs such as
methamphetamine,  oxycontin  nicknamed  "hillbilly  heroin,"  or  even
ketamine, a horse tranquilizer.

Why  would  anyone  trust  a  dealer  in the first place on the purity
question?

"A  great  question," Plecas continues. "In fact, we suspect that they
will  trust  their  dealer  before  they  would  trust  their  doctor.

"Part  of  that  is  perhaps  a  function of their suspecting that the
doctor  is  going  to tell them that they shouldn't be taking drugs at
all and that all illicit drugs are bad."

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n387/a10.html

===

(7) REVIEW: ESCOBAR BY ROBERTO ESCOBAR

Pubdate: Sun, 05 Apr 2009
Source: Sunday Times (UK)
Copyright: 2009 Times Newspapers Ltd.
Author: Misha Glenny

In  the  museum  of  organised crime, Pablo Escobar deserves a room of
his  own.  He  was  the  first  gangster billionaire, listed by Forbes
magazine  in  1989  as  the  world's  seventh richest man; in the late
1980s  he  offered to pay Colombia's national debt as a way of fending
off  the  ever-present  threat  of extradition to America. The rise of
his  cocaine-trafficking  organisation, the Medellin cartel, triggered
a  period  of mayhem unprecedented even by the standards of Colombia's
modern history.

There  are  passages  in this biography written by Pablo's brother and
chief  accountant,  Roberto,  that  are  jaw-dropping, especially when
detailing  the  sheer ingenuity required in smuggling hundreds of tons
annually  into  America  and Europe. At first, simply packing the drug
in  aircraft  tyres  was  effective. But as the cocaine craze began to
grip  the  nightclubs  of New York, Miami and LA, the inventiveness of
the Medellin cartel reached new heights.

One  of  the most successful tricks early on involved stuffing cocaine
into  the  vaginas  of  mares being transported to America for racing.
But before long, the chemists of Medellin had perfected the
technique  of  dissolving cocaine that allowed them to mix it with any
liquid - wine, cooking oil, paint. If it sloshes around and
originates  in  South  America,  it  may  well  contain  coke. Roberto
explains  how  the  chemists then blended it "into plastic, forming it
into  many  different  items,  including  PVC pipe, religious statues,
and  when  we  started shipping it to Europe, the fibreglass shells of
small  boats".  Consumers  may wish to remember that during a night on
the razzle they could well be snorting paint or fibreglass.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n390/a11.html

===

(8) RENAME HIGHWAY 420

Pubdate: Wed, 1 Apr 2009
Source: Niagara This Week (CN ON)
Copyright: 2009 Metroland Printing, Publishing and Distributing
Author: Alison Bell

Pietrangelo  Gateway  to  Falls  Should  Have a Significant Name, Says
Councillor

If  Coun.  Victor  Pietrangelo has his way, this year will be the last
for the 420 pro-marijuana rally.

Pietrangelo  introduced  a  motion  at  last week's council meeting to
rename Highway 420 to a name more significant to the city.

"I  think  we can create a better first impression for visitors in our
city," Pietrangelo told This Week.

With  the  name  change  would  come a new image. From a cannon placed
along the streetscape to a new gateway and signage, the
possibilities  for  revamping  the  main  throughway  to  the  tourist
district are endless, said Pietrangelo.

Pietrangelo  added  that  with  the  new arena, the city is losing the
names  Niagara  Falls  Memorial Arena and Stamford Memorial Arena, and
perhaps  the  new  name  could  reflect  a memorial of some sort. "I'm
partial  to  renaming  it  to  something  significant to veterans," he
said.

The  new  name  would  also  rid  the  420's association to marijuana.

For  more  than five years, tourists visiting Clifton Hill every April
20  have  caught  a  pungent  scent  as  pro-marijuana activists march
through  the  tourism  district  lighting  up  joints  to  protest the
criminalization of marijuana and to demand that cannabis be
legalized.

[snip]

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

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

COMMENT: (9-13)

The  over-reaching  of  drug  warriors,  particularly  those  in  law
enforcement,  is  highlighted  in  this weeks story. Drug warriors in
congress  want  more  control over the ingredients in cough syrup. Is
this  another  over-the-counter  medication  that  Americans  have to
present  their  papers in order to obtain it? In Ohio, cops literally
could  not  wait  for  a  new salvia divinorum law to go into effect.
Lawmakers  in Minnesota rightfully slam state law enforcement for its
knee-jerk  reaction to medical marijuana. And the attorney general of
Arizona  talks about what he sees as the realities of the U.S.-Mexico
border, while a "big" bust in Canada is placed in proper
perspective.

===

(9) BILL AIMS TO CURB COUGH-SYRUP ABUSE

Pubdate: Thu, 2 Apr 2009
Source: Wall Street Journal (US)
Copyright: 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Author: Jared A. Favole

WASHINGTON  --  A  bill  seeking to stop an ingredient in cough syrups
from  being  diverted to deadly street drugs overwhelmingly passed the
House  on  Tuesday.  The  bill, introduced by Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich.
and  Rick  Larsen,  D-Wash.,  would make it illegal to distribute bulk
forms  of  dextromethorphan,  a  cough-suppressant  found  in  cough
medicines,  to  businesses  or  people  who aren't registered with the
Food and Drug Administration. The bill passed 407 to eight.

Dextromethorphan,  or  DXM,  is commonly found in cough medicines that
are  available  over  the  counter  at  pharmacies,  meaning consumers
don't  need  a  prescription  to buy the product. When DXM is consumed
in high amounts, it has hallucinogenic effects.

Similar  bills  passed  the  House  in  2006  and  2007, but none have
passed  the  Senate. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Vice President
Joe  Biden,  then  a senator, in 2007 introduced a bill that would ban
the sale of products containing DXM to anyone under 18.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n395/a03.html

===

(10) OOPS. 1ST SALVIA BUST WAS TOO EARLY

Pubdate: Tue, 7 Apr 2009
Source: Cincinnati Enquirer (OH)
Copyright: 2009 The Cincinnati Enquirer
Author: Sheila McLaughlin

Oops!

Butler  County  Sheriff  Rick  Jones jumped the gun when he sent out a
press  release  this  morning  touting  the first arrest in his county
under  a  new  law  that  bans  a  hallucinogenic  herb  called Salvia
divinorum.

The law doesn't go into effect until Tuesday.

Sheriff's officials wound up dropping the charge.

Jones  had  his  staff  fax  the  information to the media about 11:08
a.m.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n396/a11.html

===

(11) OPED: LAW ENFORCEMENT GROUPS ARE WRONG ABOUT MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Pubdate: Fri, 3 Apr 2009
Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press (MN)
Copyright: 2009 St. Paul Pioneer Press
Authors: Steve Murphy, and Tom Rukavina

As  chief  authors  of  the  bipartisan  Medical Marijuana Bill moving
through  the  Legislature,  we  felt  compelled  to  respond to Dakota
County  Attorney  Jim Backstrom's misleading column regarding our bill
( "Law enforcement groups oppose it, and here's why," March 20).

It  was  extremely  disappointing  to  note  that  Backstrom began his
column  by  asserting  that he and the groups he represents will never
agree  to  sit  down  with  us  to  negotiate  a bill that meets their
concerns. This is unfortunate, because in other states, law
enforcement  has  been  supportive  of  the  legalization  of  medical
marijuana.  They  got involved in the process early on and worked with
lawmakers  to  craft a system that would be workable. Because of their
involvement,  other  states'  medical  marijuana  systems  have  been
successful.

Instead,  in  Minnesota,  law  enforcement  comes  before  legislative
committees  and  authors  editorials  vilifying our efforts to provide
the  seriously  ill  with  relief  from  their  pain  and  suffering.

Backstrom  criticizes  our  bill  by  saying  that  medical-marijuana
patients  in  Minnesota  would have access to more marijuana than they
needed.  In  reality, the possession limits offered under our bill are
reasonable  and  identical  to the limits established by Rhode Island,
Maine  and  Michigan.  Eligible  patients would be monitored through a
registration  system,  and  people  who misuse their registration card
would  face  felony  prosecution  --  a  stricter  penalty  than  the
misdemeanor offense for illegal possession of the drug.

It  is  also  not  true  that  our bill does not provide effective law
enforcement  oversight.  Law  enforcement  would have access to all of
the  Health  Department's  registered  patient cardholder information.

Also,  we  feel  the  primary  oversight  by  the Health Department is
appropriate  because  this  is  an  issue concerning medicine. Just as
doctors  do  not  hand  out  traffic  tickets,  police  should  not be
dispensing medication.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n399/a08.html

===

(12) A CONVERSATION WITH TERRY GODDARD, ATTORNEY GENERAL OF ARIZONA

Pubdate: Sun, 05 Apr 2009
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2009 The Washington Post Company

As  Mexico's  war  against  its  drug  cartels  heats  up,  Arizona is
becoming a front-line state. Phoenix leads the nation in
kidnappings.  The  border south of Tucson and Yuma has become the main
conduit  for  smuggling  drugs  and illegal immigrants into the United
States.  Arizona  Attorney  General  Terry  Goddard has made waves for
employing  controversial  techniques to fight money laundering and for
suggesting  that  the  United  States  might  need to rethink its drug
laws.  Goddard  spoke  with  Outlook's  John  Pomfret  about  Mexico,
marijuana and an operation known as Tumbleweed. Excerpts:

Is Mexico a failed state?

No.  Not  even  close.  The  thing  that  I  find  appalling about the
failed-state  analysis  is  that  the  instability and the violence is
precisely  because  the  Calderon  administration  made  the strategic
decision to take on the cartels and to reestablish national
sovereignty  and  the  rule of law. And we're criticizing them for it.

Is Mexico's violence going to spread north?

Yes.  I  hate  to  say  that, but I don't think there's anything about
our current response that keeps it from coming north.

Talking  to  one of the border sheriffs recently, I asked: How long do
you  think  it  will  be  before  there's  a  violent  episode in your
county?  And  his  response  was, I think it'll happen this year. It's
going  to  be  a gun battle between two criminal organizations and one
of my rookies is going to get caught in the crossfire.

Most  Americans  think  that drug smugglers make their big profits off
cocaine, but you say otherwise.

Marijuana  is  the  horse.  Marijuana  is  the  profit  center for the
cartels.  We  think approximately 65 percent of the total revenue that
the  cartels  get from drug smuggling is based on marijuana. You could
say  indirectly  that  much  of  the  carnage  in  Mexico  is financed
because of profits from marijuana.

Should marijuana be legal?

I  personally  don't  think  so. But I believe that we need to put all
of  the  various  options  on  the table. Legalization is one of those
options.  Would  it  reduce  the  profits  of  the  cartels?  Would it
increase the risk to the population of the United States?

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n401/a01.html

===

(13) COLUMN: BIG BUST WON'T REALLY MAKE A DENT IN TRADE

Pubdate: Mon, 06 Apr 2009
Source: Edmonton Sun (CN AB)
Copyright: 2009 Canoe Limited Partnership.
Author: Andrew Hanon

In  terms  of  the  number of people charged, it was a huge drug bust.

Last  week  city police announced that they had charged 51 people with
dealing  drugs  after  a  three-week  operation with the wince-evoking
code name Project Geld.

In  all,  120  charges  were laid: 44 counts of trafficking, 18 counts
of possession for the purpose of trafficking, 43 counts of
possession  of  the  proceeds  of  crime  and 19 other charges. Police
also seized $14,500 in cash and six vehicles.

All  in  all,  it's  a  pretty  impressive  box  score  for  the cops.

But  when  you look at the small amount of narcotics seized, you get a
better  picture  of  just  how  sophisticated  drug-dealing operations
are,  and  how  cagey  the  street dealers' puppetmasters have become.

A  total  of 205 grams of cocaine was seized, along with small amounts
of  marijuana,  crystal  meth  and  dilaudid.  The coke's value on the
street  is  just  under  $25,000,  a  negligible sum given the massive
amounts flowing into the city each month.

But  that's  the way the major players in the drug trade have designed
it  --  the  little  guys  take  the fall while the big fish just keep
doing business.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n402/a01.html

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

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

COMMENT: (14-17)

Veteran Canadian medicinal cannabis activist Grant Krieger appears to
have  lost  his war of attrition with the government, despite winning
several  significant  legal  battles  on behalf of medicinal cannabis
consumers along the way.  Thanks Grant.

Several  more  states,  such  as  Florida,  starting  moving  toward
liberating medicinal cannabis last week.

Canadian  activists  are  ambivalent  over  a  private member's bill
tabled  last  week  that  would  reduce  the  penalty  for possessing
an  ounce  or  less,  or  cultivating  up  to  two plants, to a civil
infraction  subject  to  escalating  fines.  Would  "decrim"  burst
the  bubble  of  tolerance  around  Vancouver?  Would  it  widen  the
net?

Evidence  for  a shifting zeitgeist around cannabis includes a column
by  Joe  Klein  in  Time  Magazine  on  the shifting zeitgeist around
cannabis.

===

(14) EX-POT CRUSADER TIRED, RESIGNED

Pubdate: Sun, 05 Apr 2009
Source: Calgary Herald (CN AB)
Copyright: 2009 Canwest Publishing Inc.
Author: Robert Remington
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/grant.htm (Krieger, Grant)

'Flawed' System Leaves Krieger Hermit With Dogs

As expected of someone who indulges in the medicinal use of marijuana,
Grant Krieger is a gentle soul. His dogs, not so much.

Upon arrival at Krieger's house, visitors are greeted by a pack of six
barking hounds. One, a half-wolf named Shifty, stays in the
background, swaying back and forth. Before long, the dogs settle. They
surround the visitor, seeking pats on the head, shakes of outstretched
paws and an irresistible scratch behind the ear. All, that is, but the
wary Shifty, who dares to enter the room only after nearly an hour and
remains aloof.

The  home  has  a  lived-in,  bachelor  look: the TV is on, there's an
ironing  board  in  the  living  room, DVDs are lined up on the floor,
tattered  throws  cover  furniture  in a futile effort to protect them
against  fur.  On  the kitchen table is the beginning of a 1,000-piece
jigsaw  puzzle  of  a  snow leopard. A treadmill sits in the middle of
another  room,  where  a  rowing  machine  is  propped against a wall.

Krieger  offers herbal tea. We sit in the room with the TV blaring and
begin  to  talk of his 13-year legal struggle as a medicinal marijuana
advocate,  which  the  multiple  sclerosis sufferer ended this week by
signing  a legal document pledging to not engage in any cultivation or
distribution.

The windows are covered to block natural light, the entrance-way dark.
The room has the mood and feel of a comfortable cave.

"I've become a hermit," says the gaunt 54-year-old. "I don't even like
to  leave  the  house  anymore be-cause I don't like police officers."

Krieger's crusade has cost him a marriage, the estrangement of family,
his  driving privileges and debt. It is the sad and tragic story of an
individual  fighting a system stacked against him, a system that never
tolerated  his in-your-face defiance of what he felt were unjust laws.

One  could  argue  that  he became his own worst enemy. If Krieger had
simply stuck quietly to his personal use of medicinal marijuana, as he
was  legally  allowed  to  do,  he  might  have escaped the torment of
enforcement  officials and a judiciary that treated him like a pusher.
Instead, Krieger listened to the call of his kind heart.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09.n401.a03.html

===

(15) A MEDICAL MARIJUANA FACE-OFF

Pubdate: Mon, 6 Apr 2009
Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune (FL)
Copyright: 2009 Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Author: Anna Scott

Marijuana  is  the  only  drug  Cathy  Jordan says helps her fight Lou
Gehrig's disease. The 59-year-old mother smokes two joints every night
to  relieve  depression  and muscle spasms, and to boost her appetite.

"It's  keeping  me  alive," said Jordan in an interview at her home in
Parrish.  "Anti-depressants  made  me a zombie and other drugs had bad
side  effects. The crime is that people like me can't get it legally."

Floridians  could vote for the first time next year to allow marijuana
for  medical  use.  A  petition drive, started last week by an Orlando
woman  whose father has Parkinson's disease, would make the drug legal
for any condition as prescribed by a doctor.

The  last time such an organized effort to legalize marijuana occurred
in  Florida  was 1997, just one year after California became the first
state  to  legalize  medical marijuana. But in Florida the petitioners
fell  hundreds  of thousands of signatures short of getting to a state
referendum.

This  time  the  movement  faces  some of the same roadblocks, such as
opposition  from law enforcement and a lack of support by the majority
of the medical community.

But the climate has become more favorable in ways that could shift the
balance.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09.n397.a01.html

===

(16) POT USERS SKEPTICAL BILL WILL REDUCE GANG CRIME

Pubdate: Fri, 03 Apr 2009
Source: Victoria News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2009 Black Press
Author: Rebecca Aldous

As  he  dished  out  cash  for  a  slim, silver scale the Sacred Herbs
customer scoffed at the idea.

If  Esquimalt-Juan  de Fuca's MP Keith Martin thinks his proposed bill
decriminalizing  small amounts of marijuana is going to take money out
of  gang member's pockets, he doesn't understand system, he said while
stuffing the scale into his bag.

"I  fail  to  see  any  correlation there," he said, shaking his head.
"People who would say that don't understand the situation."

Standing  behind the glass counter that holds a kaleidoscope of bright
red,  yellow,  blue  and  pink  glass  pipes,  Dan Brown smiles at the
comment.  He's  worked  at  the marijuana paraphernalia store for just
over  five years and the majority of customers he sees are between the
ages of 40 to 60.

Although  Martin's  private  member's  bill introduced in the House of
Commons  last  week,  which  recommends  fines  instead  of  criminal
charges  for  anyone  with  two  pot  plants  or less than 30 grams of
marijuana,  re-ignites  the  debate,  it does little else, Brown said.

"Overall it doesn't change the whole criminal thing," he said. "Really
when it comes down to it it's still illegal."

Until that changes, the government will have no control over gangs who
use pot as currency, Brown said.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09.n388.a01.html

===

(17) IT'S HIGH TIME

Pubdate: Mon, 13 Apr 2009
Source: Time Magazine (US)
Copyright: 2009 Time Inc
Author: Joe Klein

Legalizing  Marijuana  May  Be  Politically  Risky.  But  the Economic
Benefits Are Becoming Difficult to Ignore

For  the  past  several  years,  I've been harboring a fantasy, a last
political crusade for the baby-boom generation. We, who started on the
path  of  righteousness, marching for civil rights and against the war
in  Vietnam,  need  to  find  an appropriately high-minded approach to
life's exit ramp. In this case, I mean the high-minded part literally.

And  so,  a deal: give us drugs, after a certain age -- say, 80 -- all
drugs,  any  drugs  we  want. In return, we will give you our driver's
licenses.  (I  mean,  can  you  imagine  how  terrifying  a  nation of
decrepit,  solipsistic 90-year-old boomers behind the wheel would be?)

We'll  let  you proceed with your lives -- much of which will be spent
paying  for  our  retirement, in any case -- without having to hear us
complain  about our every ache and reflux. We'll be too busy exploring
altered  states  of  consciousness.  I  even  have  a  slogan  for the
campaign: "Tune in, turn on, drop dead."

A  fantasy,  I  suppose. But, beneath the furious roil of the economic
crisis, a national conversation has quietly begun about the
irrationality  of our drug laws. It is going on in state legislatures,
like  New York's, where the draconian Rockefeller drug laws are up for
review;  in  other  states,  from California to Massachusetts, various
forms  of  marijuana  decriminalization  are being enacted. And it has
reached  the  floor  of  Congress,  where  Senators Jim Webb and Arlen
Specter  have  proposed  a  major  prison-reform  package, which would
directly address drug-sentencing policy.

There are also more puckish signs of a zeitgeist shift.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09.n379.a06.html

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

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

COMMENT: (18-22)

In  Cuernavaca, Mexico top U.S. and Mexican government lawyers met to
discuss  the  increasingly  violent  Mexican  "drug cartels" -- while
studiously  avoiding  the  topic  of drug legalization. Casting about
for  scapegoats,  "drug  cartels"  and  their guns (smuggled from the
U.S.,  the narrative goes, due to gun laws there), and of course U.S.
drug  users  were  settled  upon. "I don't think our Second Amendment
will  stand  in  the  way  of what we have begun," proclaimed meeting
attendee U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.

Not  all  are  scapegoating  the users and cartels, and this week the
Financial  Times  newspaper  in  the  U.K.  called  for  a  debate on
decriminalization.  "Surely  it  is  time  for  a debate on whether a
tightly  regulated  ...  decriminalisation of narcotics... is the way
to  destroy  the financial basis of the industry - and take it out of
the hands of organised crime."

Earlier  this week, the results of a comprehensive cost-benefit study
of  drug  policy  was  released  in  the  U.K. Undertaken by the drug
policy  group Transform, it was believed to be the first of its kind.
Conclusion: "regulating the drugs market is a dramatically more
cost-effective  policy  than  prohibition  and  that  moving  from
prohibition  to  regulated  drugs  markets in England and Wales would
provide  a  net  saving  to taxpayers, victims of crime, communities,
the criminal justice system and drug users".

"Even  by  the  government's  own  measures it is now clear that drug
enforcement  is  causing  more  harm than the drugs themselves," said
Steve  Rolles,  Transform's director of research. The U.K. government
was  quick  to  denounce  the idea of legalization as causing "a huge
increase  in  consumption  with an associated cost to public health."
But  the  government  has  never  done  such a study, says Transform.

===

(18) LITTLE PROGRESS AS U.S., MEXICO DISCUSS DRUG CARTELS AND ARMS

Pubdate: Fri, 3 Apr 2009
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2009 The Washington Post Company
Author: William Booth, Washington Post Foreign Service

CUERNAVACA,  Mexico  --  Top  cabinet officials from the United States
and  Mexico  met  here Thursday to decry the violence unleashed by the
drug  cartels,  but  failed  to announce any new bilateral programs to
combat the traffickers.

[snip]

Mexican officials, including Medina, have blamed loose U.S.
gun-control laws for the weapons smuggled south, and he has
repeatedly  called  on  the  United  States  to  pass a ban on assault
weapons.

Holder  agreed  that  the  "vast  majority"  of  weapons  used  by the
cartels  come  from north of the border. "This is a reality we have to
face  in  the  United  States,"  Holder  said,  adding that the United
States  is  not  seeking to change any of its gun laws to slow weapons
smuggling.

"I  don't  think our Second Amendment will stand in the way of what we
have begun," Holder said.

Homeland  Security  Secretary  Janet  Napolitano  also  attended  the
meeting,  where  she  described  the  drug  smugglers  as a "scourge."

On  Wednesday,  Napolitano  announced  that  the  United  States would
spend  $400  million  to  improve search and surveillance technologies
at U.S. ports of entry.

[snip]

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09.n397.a06.html

===

(19) MEXICO'S DRUGS WAR

Pubdate: Sat, 4 Apr 2009
Source: Financial Times (UK)
Copyright: The Financial Times Limited 2009

[snip]

Indeed,  the  present  problem originates in a US "victory" in the war
on  drugs.  In  1984,  then  Vice-President  George  H.W. Bush's South
Florida  Task  Force  succeeded  in  bottling up the favoured point of
entry  for  cocaine into the US. The Colombian cartels switched to the
longer  Pacific  seaboard, inevitably godfathering a new cocaine power
in  north-west  Mexico.  Mexican  cartels were soon buying politicians
and policemen, generals and judges.

Mr  Calderon's  offensive,  designed  to  end  this mafia impunity and
seize  back  control,  is  a  bloody  and uphill battle; around 10,000
people  have  been killed over the past two years. As Hillary Clinton,
U.S.  secretary  of  state,  acknowledged  on  a  visit to Mexico last
month,  it  is  not  just  America's  "insatiable  demand  for illegal
drugs"  that  is doing the damage, but licensed U.S. gun dealers. They
help  keep  Mexico's  narco-gangs  better  armed  than  its  army  and
security  services,  while  the  US  Congress  is cutting back funding
that would help redress the balance.

Mexico  needs  and  has  the  right  to expect fuller US co-operation.
Both  countries  need to take down the ultra-violent drugs mafias. The
problem  is  that  the  economics of illicit drugs ensure new criminal
gangs emerge to take their place.

US  drugs  policy is asymmetrical in its effects on supply and demand.
It  has  led  ineluctably  to  the  growth  and  spread  of  narcotics
production.  It  subverts  the  laws  of the market by putting a floor
price  under  the  product.  Interdiction and eradication - especially
when  successful  -  provide  narcotics  with  great price resilience.
Disruption  of  supply  lifts  profits and recapitalises the chains of
production  and  distribution  - increasing and diversifying supply in
the next phase of the cycle.

Surely  it  is  time  for  a debate on whether a tightly regulated and
internationally  agreed  decriminalisation  of  narcotics,  along with
greater  effort  to  curb  demand, is the way to destroy the financial
basis  of  the  industry  -  and take it out of the hands of organised
crime.

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09.n396.a01.html

===

(20) LEGALISATION OF DRUGS COULD SAVE UK UKP 14BN, SAYS STUDY

Pubdate: Tue, 07 Apr 2009
Source: Guardian, The (UK)
Copyright: 2009 Guardian News and Media Limited
Author: Duncan Campbell

The  regulated  legalisation  of  drugs  would have major benefits for
taxpayers,  victims  of  crime,  local  communities  and  the criminal
justice  system,  according  to  the  first  comprehensive  comparison
between  the  cost-effectiveness  of legalisation and prohibition. The
authors  of  the  report,  which is due to be published today, suggest
that  a  legalised, regulated market could save the country around UKP
14bn.

For  many  years  the government has been under pressure to conduct an
objective  cost-benefit  analysis of the current drugs policy, but has
failed  to  do  so  despite  calls  from  MPs.  Now  the  drugs reform
charity,  Transform,  has  commissioned  its own report, examining all
aspects  of  prohibition  from the costs of policing and investigating
drugs  users  and  dealers  to  processing them through the courts and
their eventual incarceration.

[snip]

"The conclusion is that regulating the drugs market is a
dramatically  more  cost-effective  policy  than  prohibition and that
moving  from  prohibition  to  regulated  drugs markets in England and
Wales  would  provide  a  net  saving  to taxpayers, victims of crime,
communities,  the  criminal justice system and drug users of somewhere
within  the  range of, for the four scenarios, UKP 13.9bn, UKP 10.8bn,
UKP 7.7bn, UKP 4.6bn."

Titled  a  Comparison of the Cost-effectiveness of the Prohibition and
Regulation  of  Drugs, the report uses government figures on the costs
of  crime  to  assess  the  potential  benefits  and  disadvantages of
change.

[snip]

Taxing  drugs  would  also provide big revenue gains, says the survey.
An  Independent  Drug  Monitoring Unit estimate, quoted in the report,
suggests  up  to  UKP 1.3bn could be generated by a UKP 1 per gram tax
on cannabis resin and UKP 2 per gram on skunk.

The  report  follows  calls  for  legalisation  or  a  full  debate on
reform.  Last  month,  the  Economist  concluded:  "Prohibition  has
failed; legalisation is the least bad solution."

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09.n402.a02.html

===

(21) CALL TO REVIEW DRUGS LEGALISATION

Pubdate: Tue, 07 Apr 2009
Source: Financial Times (UK)
Copyright: The Financial Times Limited 2009
Author: Nicholas Timmins

[snip]

Transform,  a  charity  founded  to  challenge  the  validity of drugs
policy,  carried  out  what  it  claimed  was  the first thoroughgoing
analysis  of  the  costs  and  benefits of prohibition compared with a
legal,  controlled  market.  It  found  the  policy of prohibition "is
delivering  precisely  the  opposite  of  the  government's  stated
claims".

[snip]

The  Home  Office  argues  the  benefits  of  legalisation  would  be
outweighed  by the costs. But Transform maintains that the Home Office
has never undertaken a full assessment.

Steve  Rolles,  Transform's  head  of  research, said research to fill
"substantial  gaps"  must  be  commissioned, and a full academic study
undertaken  along  with  independent analysis by the Audit Commission.

[snip]

Mr  Rolles  said:  "Even  by  the  government's own measures it is now
clear  that  drug  enforcement  is  causing  more  harm than the drugs
themselves.  There  can  no longer be any excuses for not carrying out
a  comprehensive  impact  assessment  to  count the costs of its drugs
policy."

The  Home  Office  said:  "Legalisation  would risk a huge increase in
consumption  with  an  associated  cost to public health. It would not
eliminate  the  crime  committed  by  organised  career  criminals."

Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09.n395.a09.html

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

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

VIDEO OF MICHIGAN'S FIRST MEDICAL MARIJUANA APPLICANT

Renee  Wolfe  from  Ann  Arbor  became  the  first  to apply in person
Monday  to  join  the  Michigan Medical Marijuana Registry. A group of
55  people  chartered  a  bus  to  take  them from a Lansing cafe to a
nearby  state  office  building  to pay $100 and file paperwork. Video
at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KvvEXBFkfc

===

U.S.  REPS  RON  PAUL  AND  BARNEY  FRANK  INTERVIEWED ABOUT HEMP BILL

Chris  Goldstein  of  Active  Voice  Radio  talks to congressmen about
hemp. Paul is in the first link, Frank in the second.

http://www.prx.org/pieces/34992

http://www.prx.org/pieces/34982

===

THE BLACK SMOKE OF AYAHUASCA

A Cancer Patient Finds a Cure and Love in Ecuador

By Adam Elenbaas, Reality Sandwich. Posted April 8, 2009.

Margaret  De  Wys's  cancer  battle  led  to  a life-altering romantic
relationship with the shaman who healed her.

http://drugsense.org/url/8AdBXbrD

===

TRANSFORM PUBLISHES COST-EFFECTIVENESS STUDY OF PROHIBITION / REGULATION

A  Comparison  of  the  Cost-effectiveness  of  the  Prohibition  and
Regulation of Drugs

http://drugsense.org/url/8XbrGFuP

===

AMERICAN VIOLET - OFFICIAL TRAILER

American  Violet  is  based on the true story of one of those horribly
destructive  and racist drug war situations involving a snitch and the
arrests  of dozens of African-Americans in Hearne, Texas who often had
no  recourse  but  to  plead  guilty,  even  when  they were innocent.

http://www.americanviolet.com/

===

NEW AT MPP TV: TAX & REGULATE MARIJUANA

MPP-TV just released a video highlighting the need to tax and regulate
marijuana.  This  piece  is especially relevant now that California is
considering  groundbreaking  reform  legislation  that has triggered a
national  discussion  about  the  wisdom  of  marijuana  prohibition.

http://blog.mpp.org/?p=482

===

DRUG TRUTH NETWORK

Century of Lies - 04/05/09 - Roger Goodman

Roger Goodman, a Washington State Rep. and director of the King County
Bar  Associations'  drug  policy group, discusses regulation and rules
necessary  to  end drug prohibition + US Senator Jim Webb outlines the
need to reform America's prison industrial complex.

http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/?q=node/2359

Cultural Baggage Radio Show - 04/08/09 - Glenn Greenwald

Glenn  Greenwald  speech to Cato Institute about 7 years of decrim in
Portugal,  intro  by  Tim Lynch + Corrupt Cop Story with Phil Smith &
Terry Nelson for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition

http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/?q=node/2368

===

CAN SENATOR WEBB LEAD AMERICA OUT OF THE DRUG WAR QUAGMIRE?

by Kevin Zeese  

Webb Faces Up to the U.S. Incarceration Machine, Seeks Re-thinking the
War on Drugs

http://drugsense.org/url/ymF0kfh4

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

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

MEDICINAL MARIJUANA IS LEGAL IN MICHIGAN

DrugSense FOCUS Alert #399 - Monday, 6 April 2009

Michigan's  law  sends  a  strong  message  to  elected  and appointed
officials  at  all  levels of government that marijuana is medicine -
reinforce that message.

http://www.mapinc.org/alert/0399.html

===

THANK THE GOVERNOR FOR ROCKEFELLER REFORM

New York residents: Thank Governor Paterson for signing the
Rockefeller reform bill into law

http://drugsense.org/url/iK6uPZXw

===

WEAR A LEAP BADGE

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition's cops, judges and prosecutors are
fighting on the front lines of the war against the "war on drugs," but
definitely cannot win without the help of citizen supporters like you.
If  you  make a one-time or monthly donation of $5 or more today, they
will mail you a LEAP badge pin that you can proudly wear.

http://www.leap.cc/cms/index.php?name=Content&pid=57

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

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

LEGALIZING POT MAKES SENSE

By Hendrik de Pagter

Re: Martin pushes softer pot law, April 2

Good  for  local  MP  Keith  Martin  trying  yet  again, via a private
member's  bill,  to  reduce  the  horrific  damage  done by the war on
drugs.  Fines  for  possession of a small amount of marijuana, instead
of criminal charges, is a step in the right direction.

Victoria  city  councillor  Philippe  Lucas  offers  a  more  sensible
option,  the  legalization  and  regulation  of  marijuana,  just  as
alcohol  and  tobacco products are legal and regulated, generating tax
revenue  but  not  depriving  adults  of the right to consume what are
well-known  to  be dangerous drugs ( nicotine and ethyl alcohol ) with
serious  impact  on  informed  individuals  and  our  health  system.

Whether or not marijuana is legalized, there will always be
substance abuse. Such is human nature.

Regulation  is  therefore  needed  to  prevent children from accessing
marijuana.

The  prohibition  model, epitomized by the fruitless multi-decade "war
on  drugs,"  has  given  the  world  the  Mafia,  widespread  vicious
drug-gang  wars,  narco-states such as Afghanistan and Colombia, gross
underfunding  of  addiction  treatment  and  research,  and  global
resentment of America, the world's self-appointed drug cop.

Martin  is  right.  Substance  abuse  ought to be a medical and social
issue  rather  than  a  legal  issue.  Lucas points the way: legalize,
regulate and tax marijuana now.

Hendrik de Pagter
Victoria

Source: Victoria Times
Copyright: 2009 Times Colonist
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n392/a08.html

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

LETTER WRITER OF THE MONTH - MARCH

DrugSense  recognizes  Ralph  Givens  of Daly City, California for his
nine published letters during March, which brings his total
published  letters  that  we know of to 56. You may read his published
letters at:

http://mapinc.org/writer/Ralph+Givens

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

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

YOU CAN'T TELL U.S. DRUG LEGALIZATION IS IMPOSSIBLE

By Dan Gardner

Writing  in  The  American  Interest,  esteemed  political  scientist
Francis  Fukuyama  called  on  the  United  States  to do more to help
Mexico  in  its  battle  with  the  drug  trade  -- namely by boosting
security  on  both  sides  of  the  border and assisting reform of the
Mexican  justice  system.  So  far, so routine. But then Fukuyama made
an interesting observation.

The  ultimate  source  of  the  problem,  Fukuyama  noted, is American
demand  for  illicit  drugs  --  and  "the most straightforward way to
reduce  demand,  of  course,  would  be  legalization  under a tightly
controlled regime."

Note  the  phrase "of course." Fukuyama is a leading American thinker,
a  conservative,  whose views are widely respected by powerful people.
And  he  is  saying,  almost with a shrug, that it's perfectly obvious
that  legalization  would  do  away  with  the  most terrible problems
associated with illicit drugs.

But  then  politics  rushes  in. "While legalization has been proposed
by  many  people over the years," Fukuyama writes, "it has very little
chance  of  being  enacted  by  Congress, and therefore is not for the
time being a realistic policy choice."

For those of us who think the criminal prohibition of the
production,  sale,  and  possession  of  (  some ) drugs is the single
most  destructive  public  policy  of  the  last  century,  Fukuyama's
argument  may  be  frustrating.  First, he raises the possibility that
serious policy thinkers finally get it. Then, he dismisses
legalization as a fantasy.

But keep some history in mind.

"There  is  as much chance of repealing the 18th Amendment as there is
for  a  hummingbird  to  fly  to  the  planet Mars with the Washington
Monument  tied  to  its tail," claimed Morris Sheppard, a U.S. Senator
from Texas.

The  18th  Amendment was the constitutional provision banning alcohol.
It was passed in 1920. Sheppard made his statement in 1930.

The 18th Amendment was repealed in 1933.

Sheppard  wasn't  the  only  one  caught out by history.  Far from it.

"They  can  never  repeal  it," boasted Congressman Andrew Volstead in
1921.

"I  will  never  see  the  day  when  the 18th Amendment is out of the
Constitution  of  the  U.S.,"  said  Senator  William  Borah  in 1929.

Prohibition's supporters had good reason to be confident.
Legalization  wasn't  merely  unpopular.  It  required an amendment to
the  constitution.  "Thirteen  states with a population less than that
of  New  York  State  alone  can  prevent  repeal until Halley's Comet
returns,"  Clarence  Darrow  observed when Prohibition came into force
in  1920.  "One might as well talk about his summer vacation on Mars."

So  what  happened?  Prohibition  failed,  for  one  thing.  It failed
blatantly,  spectacularly.  Instead of the sunny nation where children
grew  up  innocent  of  the evils of alcohol, the United States became
the  land  of  bathtub gin and speakeasies. It also became the land of
opportunity for every thug looking to make big money, which
inevitably  meant  corruption  and  gangland violence on a scale never
before experienced.

But  just  as  important was the coming of the Great Depression. While
the  economy  roared,  most  people  were  prepared  to put up with an
idealistic, but futile crusade. But with banks crashing and
unemployment  soaring,  Prohibition  felt  like  what  it  was  --  an
asinine waste of time and money.

The  solution  became  something  obvious.  It  became  something  you
describe  with  the  phrase  "of  course." Of course alcohol should be
legalized. Of course. In the end, Prohibition went quietly.

No, I don't think we are at our own "of course" moment,
notwithstanding Francis Fukuyama's "of course." But it is
conceivable we are heading that way.

In  private  conversations,  I  have  heard many senior people say "of
course."  I  suspect  the  number  of those thinking "of course" grows
daily.

CNN's  coverage  of  the  bloodshed  in  Mexico  has repeatedly raised
legalization  as  an  option  worth  debating.  That's  a  big change.

Critically,  however,  we lack the personal experience that people had
when  they  judged  alcohol  prohibition  a failure. Most people today
don't  know  that drugs have not always been criminalized. Fewer still
know  that  when drugs were legal, they were not a source of ghettoes,
gang wars, and narco-states.

They  do  know,  however,  that  developed  countries  spend  tens  of
billions  of  dollars  every year trying to stamp out the illicit drug
trade.  And  they  do know drugs are cheaper and more widely available
than ever.

They  also  know  we  face  an  economic  crisis. As in 1933, they may
conclude  that  there  are  better  ways to spend precious tax dollars
than trying to enforce unenforceable laws.

The  political  barrier  remains  massive,  but  in  politics even the
mightiest  wall  can  turn  to  vapour  with startling speed -- a fact
Fukuyama  implicitly  acknowledged when he said legalization was not a
realistic policy choice "for the time being."

It  was  impossible  that  alcohol would be legalized only a few years
before  it  was  legalized.  It  was impossible that a black man would
become  president  of  the  United  States  in the year that the black
president of the United States was born.

The  history  of politics is stuffed with such transformation. Only 15
years  ago,  the  NDP  government  of Ontario tore itself apart over a
modest  plan  to  extend  benefits to same-sex partners. Gay marriage?
Gay marriage was a fantasy. And today, that fantasy is law.

Never doubt that hummingbirds can fly to Mars.

Pubdate: Fri, 10 Apr 2009
Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Copyright: 2009 The Ottawa Citizen
Note: This will be Dan Gardner's last regular column for six months.
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/author/Dan+Gardner

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

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

"Chocolate causes certain endocrine glands to secrete hormones that
affect your feelings and behavior by making you happy. Therefore, it
counteracts depression, in turn reducing the stress of depression.
Your stress-free life helps you maintain a youthful disposition,
both physically and mentally. So, eat lots of chocolate!"
-- Elaine Sherman, Book of Divine Indulgences

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

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