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(formerly The Week Online with DRCNet) Issue #406 -- 10/7/05
"Raising Awareness of the Consequences of Drug Prohibition" Phillip S. Smith, Editor
subscribe for FREE now! ---- make a donation ---- search Perry Fund reception in Los Angeles November 8th, 6:00-8:00pm -- info to be posted shortly -- check here or e-mail [email protected] for updates! DRCNet's Chris Mulligan on WBAI in New York! Table of Contents
1.
Feature:
Prohibition
and
Terror
--
The
Afghan
Connection
Among the forces working to sustain extremist organizations like Al Qaeda is one that policymakers don't like to talk about in direct terms -- drug prohibition. The United Nations and leading development economists put the proceeds from Afghanistan's black market opium economy at $2.8 billion, with about $600 million going to farmers and more than $2 billion going to regional drug trafficking organizations, warlords linked to the Afghan government, and other political figures. These prohibition-derived profits are fueling corruption and distorting the political process in Afghanistan and financing Islamist radicals and nationalist insurgencies from Central Asia to the Middle East, according to a variety of sources. After an August trip to the region coordinated with the US Central Command, Clinton-era drug czar Gen. Barry McCaffrey, now a professor at West Point, told the Washington Times last week that black market opium profits are energizing Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan and the ungovernable tribal territories across the border in Pakistan, and widening the drug trade into the Persian Gulf and Iraq, where its illicit profits may be helping to finance the insurgency there. US officials are reluctant to link black market drug profits to the insurgencies in either Afghanistan or Iraq. The US Embassy in Kabul, for example, Wednesday told DRCNet that it had "no press guidance" on the link between drug profits and an apparently revitalized Taliban/Al Qaeda insurgency in Afghanistan. The Washington Times reported last month that US officials are loathe to make the connection because they fear US forces there would then be forced to take an active role in combating the trade, a task the US and UN have largely dumped on the British, even though the US has budgeted hundreds of millions of dollars to combat the trade this year. But for McCaffrey the link was obvious. "Is there a relationship between $2 billion in this impoverished 14th-century desperate land, and the appearance of brand-new guns and shiny camping gear? Of course there is," he said. It's not just Afghanistan, said McCaffrey. "We are seeing bunches of opium and heroin appear in the Persian Gulf, headed into Iraq," he added. Nearly four years after the US invaded and drove the Taliban and its Al Qaeda guests from power in Kabul, Taliban resistance to the US occupation is stronger than ever. While the Taliban may be a spent force politically, its ability to bring the pain to American and Afghan soldiers is on the increase. At least 1,300 people have been killed in the fighting this year, including 86 American troops, up from 52 all of last year, 47 in 2003, 43 in 2002, and 12 in 2001. Just last week, a suicide bomber struck an Afghan National Army base in Kabul, killing 12 and wounding more than 20 others. The capital city is currently awash with rumors that up to 45 additional suicide bombers have made their way into the city. Similarly, Canadian troops working security in the volatile southeast of the country have suffered two attempted suicide bombings in the past 10 days. In those incidents, the suicide bombers and an Afghan child died but none of the intended targets
But while NATO forces are responsible for security in Afghanistan through the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), ISAF members, speaking on condition of anonymity, told DRCNet they were not interested in getting involved in a drug war. "This is not our mandate," a Swedish ISAF member said. "Of course, this is ultimately a political decision, and if we are ordered to fight the opium, we will do so. But no, we are not really interested in getting caught up in that." "Drugs are not the source of conflict in Afghanistan, but they fuel it," said British international law expert Hugo Warner during a "drugs and conflict" workshop at the Senlis Council's Kabul symposium last week. "The Taliban is clearly involved in trafficking into Pakistan, and the ability of Afghan warlords to maintain and arm their militias is clearly connected to the drug trade." It's not just the Taliban and rogue warlords getting rich off the trade. "A high proportion of Afghan elites are involved in the trade," Afghan expert Barnett Rubin told reporters during a break in the symposium. The United States remains firmly committed to drug war-style policies in Afghanistan. US Embassy press attaché Lou Fintor told DRCNet the US government was "encouraged" by the slight progress made in reducing opium cultivation this year. "The government of Afghanistan has engaged in a broad strategy to combat poppy cultivation, which the US fully supports," Fintor said. "The US is working closely and cooperatively with the United Kingdom, the United Nations, and other donor countries to assist Afghan officials in eliminating the poppy trade. We are determined to increase our efforts to support the Afghan government in reducing the cultivation of and trafficking in illegal poppies." But such policies are counterproductive and probably doomed to failure, said experts. "The hope that attacking the illicit economy will weaken terrorism and guerrillas is just a hope," said British international law expert Hugo Warner during last week's Senlis Council symposium. "It has never worked out." "What we need is the rule of law, not the rule of force, and the rule of law must be consensual," said International Antiprohibitionist League head Marco Perduca during the symposium workshop. "If we impose a system that prohibits growing a plant, that is not going to work." Instead, said Perduca, the UNODC "should engage donor countries and Afghan authorities in a brain-storming exercise to assist Afghanistan in reconstructing itself in harmony rather than in destroying the supposed evil that is produced by drugs. The current framework of counter-narcotics policies is not only ineffective and costly but will not be able to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan population that will continue to live in an 'informal' society where more than 50% of its GDP is illegal because it is opium-based." "These prohibitionist policies always have unintended consequences," said former UN drug control program supply reduction and law enforcement chief Tony Snow. "The institutions that make up the international drug policy framework still stubbornly refuse to learn from their mistakes." While the experts are calling for a new path, the US, UN and Western powers appear committed to more of the same old prohibitionist policies, with all the evils they engender. With a tougher fight against the opium traffic the only option the West is considering, it appears to be guaranteeing a war without end in Central Asia and the Middle East, paid for by the profits made possible by prohibition. Meanwhile, the Saudi government is reporting a similar dynamic at work in Iraq -- only this time with cannabis as the illicit commodity. Sunni insurgents infiltrating the kingdom from Iraq are smuggling Iraqi weed in and carrying dollars for the insurgency out, Saudi security sources told the London-based A-Sharq Al Awsat newspaper last week. "In the space of one year, border police intercepted 10 tons of cannabis coming from Iraq," a Saudi source said. "In the past, the [smuggled] merchandise used to consist of alcoholic beverages and prohibited drugs," he told the newspaper. "We have reason to believe that profits from drug smuggling have been financing militants who are fighting Iraqi and coalition forces and facilitating the illegal entry of people into the country," the source said. "It also supports Al Qaeda's terrorist activities inside the kingdom."
2.
Feature:
Afghan
Opium
Farmers
Caught
in
the
Squeeze
With opium responsible for somewhere between 40-60% (depending on whom you ask; the United Nations figure is 52%) of Afghanistan's Gross Domestic Product, the poppy and its derivatives, particularly heroin, are indisputably the backbone of the national economy. But with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, backed by the United Nations and the Western powers, calling for a holy war against opium planting and trafficking, the country's estimated 350,000 poppy farmers are finding themselves caught in a squeeze. On one hand, growing the poppy provides farmers, as well as an estimated 500,000 landless laborers, with the means of feeding their families. On the other hand, farmers risk losing their crops and the year's harvest profits as the national government's eradication efforts swing into gear.
"The government said don't grow the poppy," Isef told DRCNet, "but they didn't give us anything; they just came to destroy. When they destroyed our poppies, they took away the benefits we got from them, so we don't grow them anymore." At first, the elders said they weren't growing opium because they wanted to do what the government asked, but upon further questioning it became clear that it was not civic-mindedness but the cruel fact of crop eradication that drove the village out of the opium economy. "When they eradicated, we lost our money," said Kaul. "The government promised they would pay, but they didn't pay us, they just came and destroyed. They are big liars." Neither has the district received any assistance from the international community, said the elders. "We have no school here, no clinic, no hospital," complained Isef. Asked if their children play sports, the elders sneered and said no, the only sport they have is chasing animals. "We don't have enough water," Isef continued. We tried building dikes of clay, but they are washed away in one day. We don't have water pumps. The government does not help us and neither do the foreigners," he said. Growing opium poppies has benefits for farmers and for the Afghan state, said William Boyd, a senior economic advisor on Afghanistan for the World Bank, as he addressed the Senlis Council symposium on licensing the opium crop last week. "The poppy provides incomes and livelihoods for farmers and laborers," he said. "It is a coping mechanism for the rural poor. On the national level, the poppy crop supports the balance of payments and stimulates aggregate demand. The reason economic growth is so buoyant in Afghanistan is the funds from opium." But while farmers and the national economy benefit from the illicit poppy crop, it also has deleterious consequences, Boyd said. "Because the opium economy is so important and attractive, it tends to raise wages and other costs, thus making it more difficult for the economy to expand in other areas. The opium economy distorts the rural economy and society, and you can see its effects in everything from land prices to bride prices," he explained. The negative effects of the prohibited opium trade are also felt at the level of national institutions, said Boyd. "You have the corruption and poor governance associated with a large-scale illegal activity, and you have a nexus with insecurity, warlordism, and a weak state," he said. But while the illicit trade has negative consequences, so do efforts to eradicate the crop, the economist argued. "If you look at Nangahar province, you see that production is down dramatically, but it has had a harmful impact on the local economy," he said. "People are leaving for Pakistan."
Under pressure from eradicators, the poppy crop has moved to more remote areas, said Isef. "There are farmers who still grow around here, but they are in the high mountains. It is good for them because they don't have any money and it is the only way for them to buy food." The pattern described by Isef and Kaul is also being played out at the national level. While the UN Office on Drugs and Crime reported that the Afghan acreage devoted to the poppy crop had decreased by 22% this year, production remains not only substantial but fluid and responsive to outside pressures and local support. According to the UNODC, opium cultivation has shifted from traditional centers, such as Nangahar, Badakshan, and Helmand provinces, toward more fertile areas in the north and west of the country where warlords allied with the government reign. "How do you explain the collapse of cultivation in the province of Nangahar and the enormous increases in key provinces such as Balkh and Farah?" where production more than tripled over last year, asked UNODC director Antonio Maria Costa in a statement late last month. Much depends on the commitment of local governors, some of whom remain linked to the drug trade, he said. "Corruption is the wild card, and we have got to remove it from the deck." But for farmers like Isef and Kaul, it's not corruption that is the problem, but lack of assistance. "If we had some help, we could improve productivity," said Isef. "We need help with new breeds of rice, with seeds, with fertilizers. If the government wants to provide help for us, good, but we don't expect it. We made good money growing opium, but now we don't grow it anymore because the government will destroy it." Isef and Kaul and the villagers they represent may have been driven out of the business, but the local industry continues to thrive, said an opium trader in nearby Jalalabad. "Business is good," he said, as he showed off pound-sized balls of opium. "There is always someone who wants to sell and someone who wants to buy," he told DRCNet. That means that neither eradication nor help for the farmers will stem the opium trade.
3.
Feature:
Afghan
Opium
Conundrum
--
What
to
do
with
Warlords,
Politicians
Involved
in
the
Drug
Trade?
Last week, Afghan Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali resigned his post, with senior government officials saying he quit over the appointment to provincial office of warlords linked to the drug trade and over the government's lack of action to combat the illicit drug economy. While Jalali's resignation is a blow to Western governments who supported his hard line on the drug issue, it is also a revealing example of a crucial dilemma faced by Afghanistan's fledgling democracy: What is to be done about members of the government or its allies who are involved with the illicit trade?
At last week's Senlis Council symposium and elsewhere in Afghanistan two models are under consideration, the criminal justice model and the reconciliation model. Just as countries that have suffered under criminal regimes, such as South Africa or Argentina, have had to choose between prosecuting former leaders and reintegrating them into society, Afghanistan faces a similar dilemma with its high-level opium and heroin traffickers and their political benefactors. It is not an easy choice, said William Boyd, an advisor to the World Bank on Afghan economic issues. "There are political costs and risks for the government no matter which way it goes," he said. "The government has a strong anti-drug strategy, but with the penetration of opium-related economic interests throughout the economy and even parts of the government, the government is in a situation of damned if you do, damned if you don't. It's a real dilemma," he said. Not for the United Nations, the United States, and other Western powers who are strongly urging the Afghan government to crack down on well-connected miscreants. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has for several years urged an all-out attack on political figures and warlords linked to the trade. "It takes more than counter-narcotic efforts to fight drugs," said UNODC head Antonio Maria Costa late last month. "Fighting corruption, violence, crime and money-laundering; creating a stronger judiciary, a clean parliament, and an honest police force are all parts of the process. Without all these measures, democracy, peace and stability in Afghanistan remain threatened." The UNODC continues to press the Karzai government to go after traffickers and their supporters within the government. Its recommendations this year to the Afghan government call for the removal of corrupt governors, the arrest of corrupt officials, and the forced resignation of any member of the newly-elected Afghan parliament who has been indicted on drug charges. But international experts present at the Senlis symposium said the UNODC approach may be too simplistic, especially given conditions in Afghanistan, where the opium economy is the mainstay of the national economy and high-ranking members of the national government are implicated in the trade. "Punitive policies against drug trafficking and the drug industry are insufficient and unlikely to produce results in the long term," said Francisco Thoumi, director of the Research and Monitoring Center on Drugs and Crime at Rosario University in Colombia. "This approach reminds me of the carpenter who has only one tool, a hammer. For him, every problem looks like a nail." "In Afghanistan, with its context of great instability and with many sources of military power threatening the state, there is no quick solution," said Vanda Felbab-Brown, a fellow at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. "Eradication is the quickest fix, but it can be very destabilizing. Pressure for a quick fix will only make things worse. In Afghanistan, there is a great need for innovative thinking because standard anti-drug policies are so problematic and socially disruptive."
"Offering amnesties to traffickers is a sensitive matter, but a licensing program and an amnesty are the only pragmatic solution," said Hugo Warner, a research fellow at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law. "Traffickers could be granted amnesty on the condition they put their profits into reconstruction of the country," he suggested. "That could be part of the incentive to switch to licensed cultivation, and it could address the need for justice and stability while allowing those higher-ups in the trade to re-engage with the state. On the other hand, compulsory prosecutions or an eradication program could destabilize the country, thus undermining the effort to build the state. The conditions in Afghanistan are conducive to an amnesty approach, and it should be considered favorably." But that notion didn't sit too well with some Afghan legal experts. Amnesty should be seen as "appeasement," said Dr. Ali Wardak, an Aghan legal scholar and professor of criminology at the University of Glamorgan in the United Kingdom, who worried such a move could lead to the creation of a narco-state. "Appeasing them would only weaken the legitimacy of the state," he said. "An amnesty would help them consolidate, and we don't want to be ruled by drug traffickers." Wardak's position was shared by a number of Afghans in attendance at the symposium, many of whom called for strict punishment of traffickers in the government. But it was not shared by Dil Aka Massoum, the former president of law enforcement affairs for the State High Commission on Drug Control, who is set to move to the Ministry of Internal Affairs as deputy for counter-narcotics matters. "We have been fighting the opium trade for 15 years, and I have to tell you I have seen no improvement; in fact, things have gotten worse," Massoum told DRCNet. "This is largely because of the war, but now the problem is the local governors who are involved in the trade, and the fact that everyone has weapons," he told DRCNet. Massoum expressed doubt that a crackdown on the drug lords was feasible. "We know that warlords and politicians are deeply involved in the traffic, and we are working on this, but nothing is ever done. If we do go after them, I am certain it will have to be a very gradual process."
4.
Feature:
Questions
and
Answers,
Give
and
Take
--
Afghans
Take
on
the
Senlis
Council
and
Its
Licensing
Proposal
The Senlis Council's proposal to license some portion of the Afghan opium crop and divert it from the black market to the legitimate medicinal market naturally excited great interest among Afghans, who flooded into the Hotel Intercontinental's ballroom in large numbers last week. But for the Afghans, curiosity and intrigue with the Senlis Council proposal came mixed with a healthy dose of worry and skepticism, and even some expressions of hostility toward meddling foreigners. While Afghanistan has barely begun its experiment with Western-style parliamentary democracy, it was clear from the tough questioning around the Senlis Council's proposal that the spirit of skeptical democratic inquiry is alive and well in the war-weary Central Asian country. The role of Afghan women in the give and take was worth noting. They may still wear burqas and veils, but if their participation at the Senlis symposium is any indication, that doesn't mean they consider themselves second-class citizens. Herewith some excerpts from
the give and take:
As the excerpts above make abundantly clear, the spirit of skeptical inquiry is alive and well in Afghanistan. They also make clear that the Senlis Council and local proponents of the licensing plan still have a major selling job ahead of them.
5.
Editorial:
The
Consequences
of
Prohibition
(was
"What
is
It
About
Opium?")
David Borden, Executive Director, [email protected], original publication date 10/5/01
What is it about opium? To listen to drug warriors these days, it is the lifeblood of terrorist organizations around the globe. Ohio Rep. Rob Portman lamented that Americans who spend money on heroin (made from Afghani opium) are financing the Taliban, who in turn protect terrorists like Osama bin Laden. Therefore, say Portman and his ilk, reducing drug demand and disrupting drug trafficking organizations is part of the war against terrorism. Translation: Anti-drug agencies and their supporters are afraid of seeing their budgets cut in favor of other law enforcement priorities. And, they're anxious to get themselves back in the headlines. So it's business as usual for the drug warriors -- stretch the facts as much as necessary, ignore the key issues, and hope no one notices -- or if some people do notice, hope that no one else notices them. In reality, the resources being poured into the drug war can only come at the expense, not the benefit, of all other budget priorities, law enforcement or otherwise. Certainly, some drug traffickers will turn out to have ties to terrorist groups; but that doesn't mean that indiscriminately targeting all users and sellers of all drugs, is even a remotely efficient way of tracking down or dismantling or disempowering perpetrators of terrorism. Not to mention that most heroin reaching the US now comes from Latin America, not Asia or the Middle East -- another fatal flaw in Portman's logic. And would an attack on opium cultivation and distribution do anything other than move the supply and supply lines from place to place? That's all such operations have ever done before. Such displacement might take some cash out of the hands of one set of enemies, but could just as easily put it in the hands of another. And eradicating the opium trade from the war-shattered land of Afghanistan, where it is one of the primary sources of income, is an even less realistic than usual drug war strategy. But there's a larger issue at stake, which drug warriors hate to talk about, at least in a context like this. Why is that opium destined to be processed into heroin is a funding source for crime and terrorism, but opium intended for pain medicines or anesthesia isn't? Are they two different types of opium? No. Are the drugs highly different? No, heroin and morphine, for example, are essentially similar. Not that any of that would make any difference anyway. The only difference between opium for heroin and opium for pain meds is that pain meds are manufactured, distributed and taken legally. Heroin, on the other hand, is illegal. In other words, the reason that opium grown to ultimately be processed into heroin provides easy money for terrorists, is heroin is illegal. And the converse is also obvious: Legalization of drugs would eliminate hundreds of billions of dollars a year of illicit profits, some of which accrues to perpetrators of terror and other violence. While the connection between drug prohibition and terrorism can be overstated, it is clear that ending prohibition is one of the steps that must be taken to make the world a safer place. It is equally clear why drug warriors don't like to talk about this. Ignoring these undeniable facts is hard to excuse under ordinary circumstances. To still do so now, when Americans are filled with pain and fear and are seeking real answers, and to do so for political and budgetary gain, is a profound failure to lead. What is it about opium, and other such drugs, that our leaders refuse to think or speak rationally about them, at the most important times?
6.
Weekly:
This
Week's
Corrupt
Cops
Stories
Drug War Chronicle may have taken a week off in covering the corrupt cops beat, but that doesn't mean the corrupt cops did. This week we have yet another prison guard gone bad and another crack-slinging policeman. Let's get to it: In Boston, the US Attorneys Office announced Wednesday that former Suffolk County House of Correction officer Paul Davis, 38, was sentenced to 2 ½ years in prison after pleading guilty to three counts of conspiracy to distribute drugs and possession with the intent to distribute drugs. As part of plea agreement, Davis admitted to having conspired with three different groups of inmates and their outside associates to carry small amounts of drugs into the jail. Those drugs included heroin, cocaine, marijuana, and Oxycontin. In return for his agreement to plead guilty, the feds dropped charges of making a false statement and possession of marijuana against Williams. In Florence, South Carolina, former Lake City Police Lt. William Webb, 40, pleaded guilty Monday to one count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine. Webb was arrested in February by agents from the FBI, the State Law Enforcement Division, and sheriff's deputies as part of an investigation into corruption and drug activity in the Lake City area. According to Webb's arrest warrant, he routinely took payoffs from drug dealers beginning in 1994 and sold cocaine from his patrol car. The warrant also accused him of confiscating drugs from dealers, then giving the drugs to other dealers for resale.
7.
Latin
America:
Bolivian
Coca
Leader
and
Presidential
Contender
Evo
Morales
Visits
European
Parliament
as
Elections
Thrown
Into
Doubt
With Bolivian presidential elections set for December and coca grower leader Evo Morales and his Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) party well-placed to achieve an historic victory, legislators in the European Parliament have stepped up to ensure that it does not evaporate like a mirage from pre-election legal shenanigans. Members of the parliament's Unitary European Left bloc hosted Morales in Strasbourg, the seat of the parliament, September 29, and called for the elections to take place as scheduled. The December elections are in doubt because the country's Constitutional Court has ruled that the congress must redistribute the number of seats allocated for each of the country's regions based on 2001 census data. Congress has yet to act, but must do so by October 15. The redistribution of seats is also likely to have an impact on the presidential elections. Under Bolivian law, if no candidate receives a majority of the votes, Congress will select the president. Under the redistricting plan, more seats are likely to be allocated to areas of the county not favorable to Morales. Bolivia's caretaker President Eduardo Rodriguez threatened Monday to resign if the December 4 elections are postponed. "If the Electoral Court decides it's impossible to hold the elections next December, I will immediately return to my office as president of the Supreme Court," he said in a surprise weekend address. Rodriguez arrived at the presidency in June in a deal cut after two presidents in two years were driven out of office by popular protests. If the elections are postponed, said Rodriguez, "the constitution's mandate, the people's trust, and my designation would not be fulfilled." European parliamentarians are also turning up the heat on Bolivia. "The popular will for having elections in Bolivia in December 2005 can not be broken with pseudo-legal maneuvers. It is the hour of democracy and change in Bolivia, and we support them," said Spanish Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Willy Meyer, a member of the leftist bloc. "I will not take a step back in defense of democracy and in the search for change so that the majority of Bolivians can participate in politics and benefit from the natural resources of the country," said Morales in Strasbourg, alluding to the raging controversies over Bolivian natural gas supplies. "If Bolivians could have control over our natural resources, professionals would not be obligated to migrate to Europe to wash dishes," he said. Morales rose to prominence as a leader of embattled Bolivian coca growers and has helped meld the often disputatious growers into a strong force for political change within a larger movement of workers and peasants. In the last presidential elections, Morales came within a hair's breadth of winning.
8.
Latin
America:
US
Fumigation
Plane
Shot
Down
in
Colombia
Leftist rebels in northeast Colombia shot a drug fumigation plane out of the sky September 30, killing the pilot, according to wire service reports. The downing occurred near the town of Tarra, some 290 miles northeast of Bogota, Col. Henry Gamboa, head of the Colombian Counter Narcotics Police eradication unit, told reporters. The plane came under heavy gunfire as it was spraying pesticides on coca fields. "There were several bullet holes in the plane," Gamboa said. Since 2000, the US government has funded an aerial eradication program designed to destroy the country's coca crop, from which cocaine is made. Much of that effort has been outsourced to private mercenary companies. A spokesman for Dyncorp, the company that holds a major eradication contract, said the plane was owned by the State Department, but declined to say whether the dead pilot was a Dyncorp employee. Leftist rebels have shot down fumigation planes in the past, killing several pilots. They also continue to hold three US mercenaries who were captured when their plane crash-landed near a rebel stronghold in 2003. In that incident, a fourth American and a Colombian soldier aboard the plane were shot and killed at the crash site.
9.
Web
Scan:
New
CJPF
Newsletter,
Meth
Conference
Audio
&
Powerpoint
Online,
Meth
Commentary
from
Cascade
First issue of Drugs and Economics Memo, monthly publication of the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation
10.
Weekly:
This
Week
in
History
October 7, 1989: Former US Secretary of State George P. Shultz tells an alumni gathering at Stanford Business School, "It seems to me we're not really going to get anywhere until we can take the criminality out of the drug business and the incentives for criminality out of it. Frankly, the only way I can think of to accomplish this is to make it possible for addicts to buy drugs at some regulated place at a price that approximates their cost... We need at least to consider and examine forms of controlled legalization of drugs... No politician wants to say what I have just said, not for a minute." October 7, 2003: Comedian Tommy Chong begins a nine-month federal prison sentence for operating a glass blowing shop that sold pipes to marijuana smokers. October 8, 1932: The Uniform State Narcotics Act is passed, endorsed by the Federal Bureau of Narcotics as an alternative to Federal laws; by 1937 every state prohibits marijuana use. October 10, 2002: Drug Czar John Walters travels to Las Vegas, Nevada and begins two days of making appearances around the state illegally lobbying against Question 9, a proposal to amend the state constitution by making the possession of three ounces or less of marijuana legal for adults. October 12, 1984: The Comprehensive Crime Control Act becomes law, establishing federal "mandatory minimum" sentencing guidelines allowing judges no discretion in handing down prison terms. Over the next two years drug sentences increase by 71% nationwide. October 13, 1999: In a series of raids named "Operation Millennium," law enforcement in Mexico, Colombia, and Ecuador arrest 31 persons for drug trafficking, including Colombian cartel leader Fabio Ochoa. Ochoa is indicted in a Ft. Lauderdale court for importing cocaine into the US, which requests his extradition in December 1999. October 13, 1999: Governor of New Mexico Gary Johnson is quoted by the Boston Globe: "Make drugs a controlled substance like alcohol. Legalize it, control it, regulate it, tax it. If you legalize it, we might actually have a healthier society."
11.
Partnering:
DRCNet
Seeking
Fellowship
Application
Collaborators
Last week in Drug War Chronicle we listed an opportunity available for experienced advocates, academics and others interested in doing work in areas at the intersection of drug policy and justice reform, the Open Society Institute's Soros Justice Fellowships. The deadline for applying for them this year is October 14, a week from today. We are interested in speaking with individuals with strong academic skills and relevant backgrounds -- law, public policy, criminology, sociology are a few areas of relevance -- to work with us in developing proposals for this and other programs or grantors. We are probably not looking at doing something for this particular round of this program, since it is coming up so soon, though if a perfect match of skills and interests happens to be found next week perhaps we would. If you are interested in having a dialogue on this topic, please contact David Borden at [email protected] -- mark your e-mail as requesting an automated acknowledgment of receipt, as a precaution against the occasional e-mail loss that inevitably occurs -- if you don't get something back, we haven't seen your e-mail.
12.
Contest:
New
DRCNet
T-Shirt
Designs
DRCNet is currently soliciting designs for new t-shirts to be made available on our web site and worn by people nationwide who want an end to prohibition and the war on drugs. If you are a talented graphic artist who cares about this cause, we hope you'll donate your time and take part. T-shirt designs must include our web site, StoptheDrugWar.org -- possibly in the form of our stop sign logo, though we are open to other design options and we are not necessarily looking to make the stop sign a centerpiece of our new shirts as it has been of our shirts so far. Note that DRCNet does not use the marijuana leaf or any other drug image on its products. Also, we recommend that you run your ideas or rough drafts by us first, before putting in a large amount of your time on a design that may or may not wind up getting used. (Designs that might be usable on other products too would be especially welcome.) If we use your t-shirt design,
now or in the future, you will receive ten free DRCNet t-shirts in any
size, a book of your choice from our premiums list, a StoptheDrugWar.org
travel mug, a StoptheDrugWar.org mouse pad, and one of our "flashy" stop
sign strobe lights. You will also of course be recognized in Drug
War Chronicle and on our web site. Runners-up will also receive a
free choice of one premium gift. (Click
here to see all of our current premium choices.)
13.
Weekly:
The
Reformer's
Calendar
Please submit listings of events concerning drug policy and related topics to [email protected]. September 29-30, São Paulo, Brazil, "Drugs -- Controversies and Perspectives," symposium sponsored by NEIP -- Center for Interdisciplinary Studies of Psychoactives, with Psicotropicus, Dínamo, Aborda and IHRA. At the University of São Paulo, History Department Amphitheater, Av. Prof. Lineu, Prestes nº 338, for further information visit http://www.neip.info/simposio_2005.html or contact (55 + 11) 3091 2364 or [email protected]. September 30, 5:00-8:00pm, Madison, WI, Third Annual IMMLY/Madison NORML Benefit. At the Cardinal Bar, 418 E. Wilson, contact Gary Storck at (608) 241-8922 or visit http://www.madisonnorml.org/blog/archives/000032.php for information. October 1-2, Madison WI, "35th Annual Great Midwest Marijuana Harvest Festival." At the UW Campus Library Mall, e-mail [email protected] or visit http://www.weedstock.com for further information. October 15, 8:30-11:30am, Vancouver, BC, Canada, Mayor's Forum on Vancouver's Draft Prevention Strategy, forum hosted by Mayor Larry Campbell. At the Mount Pleasant Community Centre, 3161 Ontario St., visit http://www.vancouver.ca/fourpillars/ for information. October 4, 8:00pm, New Brunswick, NJ, "Dynamics of American Drug Use," lecture by Confessions of a Dope Dealer author Sheldon Norberg. At Rutgers University, Livingston Campus, College Hall, visit http://www.adopedealer.com for further information. October 18-19, Vancouver, BC, CA, "Beyond Drug Prohibition, A Public Health Approach," symposium sponsored by the "Keeping the Door Open: Dialogues on Drug Use" coalition. At Simon Fraser University, Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue, 580 West Hastings St., Vancouver (enter on Seymour St.), visit http://www.keepingthedooropen.com to RSVP or for further information. October 21-22, Hartford, CT, "Hartford's Drug Burden -- Where to Put Our Resources," sponsored by the City of Hartford and Aetna Insurance. For further information visit http://www.efficacy-online.org or contact (860) 657-8438, (860) 522-4888 ext. 6112, or [email protected].
October 21-23, Chicago, IL, "Partnering for Peace: Colombian and North American Communities in Solidarity," and "Encounter of Communities," sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee and others. Visit http://www.chicagoans.net/conference2005/ or contact Natalie Cardona at (215) 241-7162 or [email protected] for further information.
October 26, Washington, DC, "Rally for Rescheduling: Demand HHS Reschedule Marijuana Now!" Demonstration for medical marijuana at the US Dept. of Health & Human Services, visit http://www.safeaccessnow.org for further information.
November 5, 10:00am-6:00pm, Ithaca, NY, "The Latest Developments in the War on Drugs," hosted by the Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy, discussing Supreme Court decisions on medical marijuana and sentencing guidelines and the intersection of the war on terror and the war on drugs. At Cornell Law School, Room G90, Myron Taylor Hall, contact Ellis M. Oster at [email protected] or visit http://tinyurl.com/9rskz/ for further information.
November 9-12, Long Beach, CA, "Building a Movement for Reason, Compassion and Justice," the 2005 International Drug Policy Reform Conference. Sponsored by Drug Policy Alliance, at the Westin Hotel, details to be announced. Visit http://www.drugpolicy.org/events/dpa2005/ for updates.
November 13-16, Markham, Ontario, "Issues of Substance," Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse National Conference 2005. At Hilton Suites Toronto/Markham Conference Centre & Spa, visit http://www.ccsa.ca/pdf/ccsa-annconf-abstract-2005-e.pdf for info.
December 1-2, Seattle, WA, "Exit Strategy for the War on Drugs: Toward a New Legal Framework," KCBA Drug Policy Project 2005 conference. At the Red Lion Hotel, 1415 5th Ave., registration opening 11/1. For further information visit http://www.kcba.org/druglaw/ or contact KCBA at (206) 267-7001 or [email protected].
January 13-15, 2006, Basel, Switzerland, "Problem Child and Wonder Drug: International Symposium on the occasion of the 100th Birthday of Albert Hofmann." Sponsored by the Gaia Media Foundation, visit http://www.lsd.info for further information.
February 9-11, 2006, Tasmania, Australia, The Eleventh International Conference on Penal Abolition (ICOPA), coordinated by Justice Action. For further information visit http://www.justiceaction.org.au/ICOPA/ndx_icopa.html or contact +612-9660 9111 or [email protected].
April 5-8, 2006, Santa Barbara, CA, Fourth National Clinical Conference on Cannabis Therapeutics. Sponsored by Patients Out of Time, details to be announced, visit http://www.medicalcannabis.com for updates.
April 30-May 4, 2006, Vancouver, BC, Canada, "17th International Conference on the Reduction of Drug Related Harm," annual conference of the International Harm Reduction Association. Visit http://www.harmreduction2006.ca for further information.
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