Politics Outside US
Canada: Federal Government to Appeal Ruling Okaying Vancouver Safe Injection Site
Posted in Chronicle Blog by Phillip Smith on Tue, 02/09/2010 - 7:47pmCanada: Federal Government to Appeal Ruling Okaying Safe Injection Site
Public Hearing on Drug Policy in the European Union
The purpose of the hearing is to formulate a set of recommendations concerning current drug policies and proposals to adopt alternative schemes, that are based upon the conclusions of the “Report on
Southeast Asia: Human Rights Watch Charges Torture, Rape, Illegal Detentions at Cambodian Drug "Rehab" Centers, Demands Shutdown
In a scathing 93-page report released today, the international human rights group
Southeast Asia: Human Rights Watch Charges Torture, Rape, Illegal Detentions at Cambodian Drug "Rehab" Centers; Demands They Be Shut Down
Posted in Chronicle Blog by Phillip Smith on Mon, 01/25/2010 - 8:02pmIn a scathing 93-page report released today, the international human rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused Cambodian drug detention centers of torturing and raping detainees, imprisoning children and the mentally ill, and illegally detaining and imprisoning drug users. The centers are beyond reform and should be closed, the group said.
"Individuals in these centers are not being treated or rehabilitated, they are being illegally detained and often tortured," said Joseph Amon, director of the Health and Human Rights division at HRW. "These centers do not need to be revamped or modified; they need to be shut down."
The report cited detailed testimonies from detainees who were raped by center staff, beaten with electric cables, shocked with cattle prods, and forced to give blood. It also found that drug users were "cured" of their conditions by being forced to undergo rigorous military-style drills to sweat the drugs out of their systems.
"[After arrest] the police search my body, they take my money, they also keep my drugs...They say, ‘If you don't have money, why don't you go for a walk with me?...[The police] drove me to a guest house.... How can you refuse to give him sex? You must do it. There were two officers. [I had sex with] each one time. After that they let me go home," said Minea, a woman in her mid-20's who uses drugs, explaining how she was raped by two police officers
"[A staff member] would use the cable to beat people...On each whip the person's skin would come off and stick on the cable," said M'noh, age 16, describing whippings he witnessed in the Social Affairs "Youth Rehabilitation Center" in Choam Chao. The title of the HRW report is "Skin on the Cable."
More than 2,300 people were detained in Cambodia's 11 drug detention centers in 2008. That is 40% more than in 2007.
"The government of Cambodia must stop the torture occurring in these centers" said Amon. "Drug dependency can be addressed through expanded voluntary, community-based, outpatient treatment that respects human rights and is consistent with international standards."
Cambodian officials from the National Authority for Combatting Drugs, the Interior Ministry, the National Police, and the Social Welfare Ministry all declined to comment when queried by the Associated Press. But Cambodian Brig. Gen. Roth Srieng, commander of the military police in Banteay Meanchy province, denied torture at his center, while adding that some detainees were forced to stand in the sun or "walk like monkeys" as punishment for trying to escape.
Children as young as 10, prostitutes, beggars, the homeless, and the mentally ill are frequently detained and taken to the drug detention centers, the report found. About one-quarter of those detained were minors. Most were not told why they were being detained. The report also said police sometimes demanded sexual favors or money for release and told some detainees they would not be beaten or could leave early if they donated blood.
The report relied on testimony from 74 people, most of them drug users, who had been detained between February and July 2009.
Feature: Anthrax-Tainted Heroin Takes Toll in Europe, Prompts Calls for Emergency Public Health Response
European heroin users are on high alert as the death toll rises from heroin tainted with anthrax.
Latin America: Mexico Drug War Update
by Bernd Debusmann, Jr.
Mexican drug trafficking organizations make billions each year trafficking illegal drugs into the United States, profiting enormously from the prohibitionist drug policies of the US government. Since Mexican president Felipe Calderon took office in December 2006 and called the armed forces into the fight against the so-called cartels, prohibition-related violence has killed over 16,000 people, with a death toll of over 7,000 so far in 2009. The increasing militarization of the drug war and the arrest of several high-profile drug traffickers have failed to stem the flow of drugs -- or the violence -- whatsoever. The Merida initiative, which provides $1.4 billion over three years for the US to assist the Mexican government with training, equipment and intelligence, has so far failed to make a difference. Here are a few of the latest developments in Mexico's drug war:
Friday, January 8
A particularly gruesome killing occurred in Los Mochis, Sinaloa. The body of 36-year old Hugo Hernandez was found in seven pieces and left with a note threatening members of the Juarez Cartel. Hernandez's face had been skinned off his body and stitched onto a soccer ball and left in a plastic bag near city hall. His torso was found in another location, and his arms, legs, and skull were found in a box at a third location. Hernandez had apparently been kidnapped January 2nd in the neighboring state of Sonora, in an area known for cannabis cultivation.
In the city of Saltillo, Coahuila, the body of a local journalist was found tortured and shot five times from close range. Valentin Valdes, 29, was a reporter for a local newspaper. He was executed outside a motel where 10 reputed Gulf Cartel members had been arrested in the last week. Valdes has been kidnapped Thursday in downtown Saltillo along with another journalist, who was released after being beaten. A note was left with the body that read "This is going to happen to those who don't understand that the message is for everyone." At least 12 journalists were killed in Mexico in 2009, and two others are missing and presumed dead.
Sunday, January 10
In the the biggest single-day death toll in Mexico's drug war so far, 69 people were killed in a 24-hour period. The previous record was 57 killed in a 24-hour period on August 17, 2009. Twenty-six of the killings occurred in Ciudad Juarez, which reported a total of 2,635 murders in 2009. Among the dead in Ciudad Juarez were two bodies found decapitated, one of which had his eyes gouged out. Eight people were killed in other parts of Chihuahua, seven in Sinaloa, one in San Luis Potosi, five in Durango, five in Guerrero, six in the state of Mexico, seven in Mexico City, two in Guanajuato, three in Tijuana, and one in Tierra Caliente.
Sunday, January 10
In Sinaloa, the bodies of four members of a family were found by the side of a highway. The three men and one woman had been kidnapped from their home in Culiacan last Thursday. The bodies were found with their hands and feet bound and suffered multiple gunshot wounds. A note which called the killings "a black gift" was found with the bodies. Two other bodies were found in other parts of Sinaloa.
In Sonora, six people were murdered, four of them in Nogales, just across the US border. In Tijuana, a gun battle between rival criminal bands left one man dead and two wounded. In Mexico City, a young man was shot by his brother as they rode in a Mercedes-Benz.
Tuesday, January 12
In a major coup for the government, Mexican forces arrested one of Mexico's most important drug cartel bosses. Teodoro Garcia Simental, 36, is the leader of a breakaway faction of the Tijuana Cartel which has allied itself with the Sinaloa Cartel. Authorities believe he is linked to some 300 murders, many of which involved beheadings or bodies being hung from bridges or dissolved in acid. He is also thought to be responsible for dozens of assassinations of Tijuana law enforcement personnel. He was arrested in a raid at a luxury beachfront condo in La Paz, Baja California.
The Ciudad Juarez killings of two teenagers has brought the 2010 total of homicides in the city to over 100. Fifteen homicides occurred on Monday.
During the same time period, eight homicides occurred in the city of Chihuahua, the capital of the state of Chihuahua of which Ciudad Juarez is part. Among the dead was a policeman who was killed in a gun battle which occurred after he and several colleagues were ambushed by suspected cartel gunmen. In Sinaloa, the body of a missing policeman was found dead.
Wednesday , January 13
In a change in strategy, the Mexican army will stop patrolling the streets of Ciudad Juarez. The army will continue, however, to participate in what the government calls "preventive" raids in coordination with the police. The new strategy calls for the introduction of 1,600 federal police officers to replace the military presence on the streets of the city. In addition, the government's new strategy calls for an increase in the use of technology, such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV's) and surveillance balloons.
Overnight, the son of a radio-station owner was gunned down in Chihuahua after being ambushed at an intersection. At least one other person was killed and three wounded in drug-related violence in Chihuahua. At least seven people were killed in Ciudad Juarez. Among the dead was a teenage boy found bound and showing signs of torture.
In Tamaulipas, authorities confiscated 665 packages of marijuana, which totaled more than 7 tons. Three men were taken into custody after the seizure, which took place after police searched a house in the city of Reynosa.
Total Body Count for the Week: 202
Total Body Count for 2010: 339
Total 2009 Body Count: 7,724
Read the last Mexico Drug War Update here.
Europe: Russia Bans Salvia, Hawaiian Woodrose, Blue Lotus Flowers, Synthetic Cannabinoids
The Russian government announced Thursday that it has added a number of substances to its controlled substance list and
Europe: Dutch Delay Plan to Make Border Cannabis Cafes Members Only
Canada: Mandatory Minimum Bill for Marijuana Growing Dies Sudden Death When Prime Minister Shuts Down Parliament
Europe: Dutch Delay Plan to Make Border Cannabis Cafes Members Only
Posted in Chronicle Blog by Phillip Smith on Mon, 01/04/2010 - 7:51pmA plan to make Dutch border town cannabis cafes members only in a bid to thwart "drug tourism" is on indefinite hold, a Dutch official said Monday. The plan, which was supposed to go into effect January 1, needs further study, the official said.
"We need to finalize our preparations before we can put the project into operation," said Petro Hermans, a project officer for the southeastern city of Maastricht. "We are studying the legal feasibility of the project," he said, adding the date of January 1 "was not practicable".
Maastricht is one of eight municipalities in southern Limburg province that announced jointly last May they would make the 30 coffee shops in their jurisdictions members only. The plan would also reduce the daily limit on marijuana purchases from five grams to three and require that payment be made with a Dutch debit card.
The measures are a bid to reduce the estimated four million visitors to Limburg each year who come from more repressive neighboring countries—France, Germany, and Belgium—to buy marijuana. Limburgers have complained that the drug tourists cause problems ranging from traffic congestion to public urination to hard drug dealing.
The Dutch government decriminalized the possession of up to five grams of marijuana in 1976 and allows for retail sales through licensed coffee shops. There are about 700 coffee shops throughout the country.
Back in Limburg, Hermans said that a report on the feasibility of the members only plan was due by mid-month. "We will then decide how to proceed," he said.
Canada: Mandatory Minimum Bill for Pot Growing Dies Sudden Death When Prime Minister Shuts Down Parliament
Posted in Chronicle Blog by Phillip Smith on Thu, 12/31/2009 - 3:10amIn a political maneuver designed to shield his embattled Conservative government from criticism during the upcoming Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper Wednesday "prorogued," or shut down, parliament until a new session begins in March. The move kills all pending legislation, including a Tory "tough on crime" bill, C-15, that included mandatory minimum nine-month prison sentences for growing as much as a single marijuana plant.
Prorouging parliament is not a routine move, but this is the second time Harper has done it in a year. Last December, he did it to head off a looming vote of no-confidence, with a coalition of New Democrats, Liberals, and Bloc Quebecois looking to replace his Conservative government. Now, he says he is doing it to introduce a new budget, but the maneuver also kills all parliamentary committees, including one looking into allegations Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan turned detainees over to Afghan authorities who abused them. That inquiry has raised embarrassing questions about Canada's policies in Afghanistan.
To the relief of drug reform advocates and Canada's cannabis culture, the move kills a bill that was very harsh and very near to passage. Under the provisions of C-15 as passed by the House, people growing between one and 200 marijuana plants faced a minimum of six months if the "offense is committed for the purpose of trafficking." That would rise to nine months if it were a rental property, if children were endangered, or if the grow presented a public safety threat, i.e. was stealing electricity.
The bill mandated a one-year minimum for between 201 and 500 plants or for producing hashish and two years for more than 500 plants. It also had one-year minimums for importing or exporting marijuana and for trafficking more than three kilograms if it was for the benefit of "organized crime," there was threat or use of violence or weapons, or if the offender had a serious previous drug offense. The trafficking minimum jumped to two years if it occurred in a prison, if the trafficking was to a minor, or if it was "in or near a school, in or near an area normally frequented by youth or in the presence of youth."
The bill had been amended earlier this month by the Senate Constitutional Affairs and Legal Committee to remove the mandatory minimum provisions for under 201 plants, but only if the grows were not in residential areas and owned by the grower. That meant anyone growing in a residential neighborhood or in a rental property still faced a nine-month minimum, limiting relief to rural home-owners.
The bill awaited only a final vote in the Senate. Now, Harper has sacrificed it on the altar of his political calculations.
But like a vampire, C-15 is likely to rise from the grave. It has been a central plank in Harper's appeals to his law-and-order constituencies, and his government is almost certain to reintroduce it when the new session begins in March, or after he calls snap elections, which the Conservatives seem well-positioned to win as their main rivals, the Liberals, flounder.
Don't put away those wooden stakes just yet.
Heroin Maintenance: SALOME Trials Set to Begin in Vancouver
In the Chronicle's review of the top international drug policy stories of the year last w
Latin America: Bolivia's Morales Says He Will Legalize Small Coca Holdings
Bolivian President Evo Morales said Saturday he wants to legalize the small holdings farme
Move Over NAOMI, Here Comes SALOME--Vancouver's New Heroin Maintenance Trial About to Get Underway
Posted in Chronicle Blog by Phillip Smith on Wed, 12/23/2009 - 3:00amIn the Chronicle's review of the top international drug policy stories of the year last week, the slow spread of heroin maintenance was in the mix. This week, its back in the news, with word that a new Canadian heroin maintenance study in Vancouver is about to get underway.
The Study to Assess Longer-term Opioid Medication Effectiveness (SALOME) will choose a Downtown Eastside location next month and begin taking applications from potential participants in February, according to a Tuesday press release from the Inner Change Foundation, which, along with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, is funding the trial. With selection of participants supposed to last only three weeks, that means SALOME could be underway by March.
SALOME will enroll 322 hard-core heroin addicts—they must have been using at least five years and failed other treatments, including methadone maintenance—in a year-long, two-phase study. During the first phase, half will be given injectable heroin (diacetylmorphine) and half will be given injectable Dilaudid® (hydromorphone). In the second phase, half of the participants will be switched to oral versions of the drug they are using.
The comparison of heroin and Dilaudid® was inspired by unanticipated results from SALOME's forerunner, NAOMI (the North American Opiate Medication Study), which began in Vancouver in 2005 and produced positive results in research reviews last year. In NAOMI, researchers found that participants could not differentiate between heroin and Dilaudid®. The comparison of success rate among injection and oral administration users was inspired by hopes of reducing rates of injection heroin use.
SALOME was also supposed to take place in Montreal, but Quebec provincial authorities effectively killed it there by refusing to fund it. SALOME researchers have announced that it will now proceed in Vancouver alone.
With an estimated 5,000 heroin addicts in the Downtown Eastside and a municipal government that has officially embraced the progressive four pillars approach--prevention, treatment, harm reduction, and law enforcement—to problematic drug use, Vancouver is most receptive to such ground-breaking research. It is also the home of Insite, North America's only safe injection site.
The NAOMI and SALOME projects are the only heroin maintenance programs to take place in North America. Ongoing or pilot heroin maintenance programs are underway in Britain, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland.
Europe: Czech Government Announces Decriminalization Quantities -- Law Goes Into Effect New Year's Day
The Czech cabinet Monday approved a Justice Ministry proposal that sets person
The Caribbean: Jamaica Lawmakers Calls for Ganja Decriminalization
A highly placed Jamaican lawmaker called over the weekend for the decriminalization of marijuana possession.
The Year on Drugs 2009: International Drug Policy Developments
(Please read our top ten US domestic drug policy stories review too!)
Europe: Czech Government Announces Decriminalization Quantities; Law Goes Into Effect on New Year’s Day
Posted in Chronicle Blog by Phillip Smith on Tue, 12/15/2009 - 2:59pmThe Czech cabinet Monday approved a Justice Ministry proposal that sets personal use quantity limits for illicit drugs under a penal code revision that decriminalizes drug possession in the Czech Republic. The law and its quantity limits will take effect on January 1.
The Czech government had approved the decriminalization law late last year, but failed to set precise quantities covered by it, instead leaving it to police and prosecutors to determine what constituted a “larger than small” amount of drugs. The resulting confusion--and the prosecution of some small-scale marijuana growers as drug traffickers--led the government to adopt more precise criteria.
Under the new law, possession of less than the following amounts of illicit drugs will not be a criminal offense:
Marijuana 15 grams (or five plants)
Hashish 5 grams
Magic mushrooms 40 pieces
Peyote 5 plants
LSD 5 tablets
Ecstasy 4 tablets
Amphetamine 2 grams
Methamphetamine 2 grams
Heroin 1.5 grams
Coca 5 plants
Cocaine 1 gram
Possession of “larger than a small amount” of marijuana can result in a jail sentence of up to one year. For other illicit drugs, the sentence is two years. Trafficking offenses carry stiffer sentences.
Justice Minister Daniela Kovarova said that the ministry had originally proposed decriminalizing the possession of up to two grams of hard drugs, but decided that limits being imposed by courts this year were appropriate. "The government finally decided that it would stick to the current court practice and drafted a table based on these limits," Kovarova said.
The Czech Republic now joins Portugal as a European country that has decriminalized drug possession.
