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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Show Cause Hearing for David Borden and David Guard's Civil Disobedience to Take Place This Morning
2. DRCNet Interview: Floro Tunubalá Paja, Former Governor of the State of Cauca, Colombia
3. Meth Panic Mantra: Save the Children
4. Czech Party Seeks Move to US-Style Drug War Policy
5. DRCNet Press Coverage
6. Medical Marijuana Advocate Confronts Congressional Opponent at House Hearing
7. Newsbrief: Federal Appeals Court Rules Police Can Search Without Warrant
8. Newsbrief: Addicts Take Prescription Heroin for Safety, Stability -- Not to Quit, Study Finds
9. Newsbrief: Another Safe Injection Site in British Columbia?
10. Newsbrief: Drugged Driving Bill Introduced in Ohio
11. Newsbrief: DUID -- Pass It and They Will Prosecute
12. Newsbrief: Who's Minding Your Utility Bill?
13. This Week in History
14. Job, Grant and Internship Opportunities with MPP
15. The Reformer's Calendar

(Chronicle archives)

1. Show Cause Hearing for David Borden and David Guard's Civil Disobedience to Take Place This Morning

At 9:00am this morning (Friday, April 2), DRCNet executive director David Borden and DRCNet associate director David Guard have a hearing in the courtroom of DC Chief Judge Rufus G. King III (yes, the son of the late, drug reform great Rufus King Jr.), related to our civil disobedience action of refusing to report for jury service in protest of the drug laws and the corroded state of the criminal justice system. Borden and Guard took this action partly in response to experiencing that their views and employer effectively exclude them from getting selected for juries.

Those of you in the Washington, DC area can tune in to WPFW 89.3 FM, at 9:40am, to hear an interview with Borden and Guard -- if our hearing is over and we haven't been taken into custody for contempt of court. If we are unavailable, WPFW will instead interview Eric Sterling, president of the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation and member of DRCNet's advisory board, who will serve as our spokesperson if that is the situation.

We will let you know how it turns out, and whether the effort succeeds in drawing the attention of additional media to the issue. If you're not already familiar with the action, you can learn about it by reading Borden's open letter to Judge King at https://stopthedrugwar.org/openletter/ as well as the November 14 Drug War Chronicle report providing further discussion at https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/311/honchos.shtml online.

2. DRCNet Interview: Floro Tunubalá Paja, Former Governor of the State of Cauca, Colombia

Floro Tunubalá, a leader of Colombia's Guambiano people, became the first indigenous person to be elected governor of a state in the country's history when his insurgent political movement, the Alternative Social Bloc, pushed him to victory in October 2000. Prior to that, Tunubalá served as a senator from 1991 to 1994, where he played a key role in drafting and passing important laws on indigenous affairs, and where he began building the bloc out of groupings of indigenous organizations, professors and students, and political independents.

As governor, Tunubalá continued his life's work of seeking the development of his state, the strengthening of its democracy, and the advancement of its people, even as he and Cauca confronted a raging civil war and an ongoing war on coca that saw the state's fields sprayed with the herbicide glyphosate at US expense. Tunubalá emerged as a leading critic of Plan Colombia, the US drug war strategy that has now morphed into another theater of operations in the war on terror, and supporter of grassroots democracy, sustainable development and ecologically sound policies.

Tunubalá traveled to the US in 2001 as part of a four-governor delegation that came to lobby Congress and the Bush administration against Plan Colombia and a top-down, militaristic approach, and for alternative development based on agreements with all the social sectors involved (https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/177/colombiangovernors.shtml). This week, Tunubalá was in Washington again, as part of a trip sponsored by the Colombian Human Rights Network (http://colhrnet.igc.org) to inform Americans about the situation in Cauca and its human rights, environmental and development implications. He will also visit seven states, including stops in Boston, New York, and San Francisco.

3. Meth Panic Mantra: Save the Children

Methamphetamine has been the most demonized drug in recent years -- the crack of the new millennium, if you will -- and as its current wave of use spread from Hawaii and the West Coast a decade ago on to the monotonous plains towns of the Midwest and now the hidden hollows of Georgia and the Carolinas and the gay clubs of New York City, shrill and desperate measures to fight its use and abuse have followed apace. Legislatures and localities across the country have not only brutally increased sentences for meth sales and even possession, they have also reached heretofore uncharted territory in the war on drugs: Various states have now banned or restricted the sales of legal products, such as cold remedies containing epinephrine, that can be used in home manufacture of meth, while others have made possession of certain combinations of those legal products a criminal offense. Yet others, unsatisfied with the efficacy of existing theft and burglary statures, have crafted laws making the theft of anhydrous ammonia, another potential meth ingredient, a distinct and harshly punished offense.

And increasingly, the states, abetted by funds from the federal government, are played the kid card. Like Mrs. Lovejoy, the reverend's wife in the venerable TV comedy the Simpsons, crying out "What about the children!?", some foes of methamphetamine in law enforcement, child welfare bureaucracies and legislatures are using the specter of the damage done by meth users to their children to lobby for -- and pass -- new laws further criminalizing meth users, and they are acting in an organized fashion to remove the children of drug users from their homes.

Which is not to say that child abuse and neglect by people who are strung out on meth does not exist. The evidence is plentiful that it does. "It's a huge problem," said Allen Pollack, head of children's services for the Boulder County, Colorado, Department of Social Services. "In recent years we have had about a 70% increase in dependency and neglect filings, and the vast majority of that increase is directly related to the meth problem," he told DRCNet. "The link between substance abuse and child protection is not new -- some data suggests that 80% of child abuse and neglect cases are linked to substance abuse -- but in traditional cases, say where alcohol was the drug in question, parents could go and get clean and get treatment and get their kids returned. But with the meth cases, what we are seeing is that even when the parents go in for rehab and get clean, it's not long before they're back using again. One of our real concerns here is what appears to be ineffective treatment for meth."

Receiving especially hysterical notice have been "meth labs," a misleading phrase that conjures up visions of industrial facilities, when what is usually being discussed is a motley collection of chemicals and containers that would fit on a kitchen table top. Meth labs are killing our kids, shriek cops and prosecutors.

But a look at the hard numbers shows that, despite the alarms sounded by law enforcement and an upward trend, the number of children involved is small, both relatively and in absolute terms. According to statistics provided by the DEA's El Paso Intelligence Center (EPIC), there were some 15,000 meth lab busts in 2002, with children present at 2,077 of them. Nearly half of those kids (1,026) were taken into protective custody. In 2002, a grand total of two children died in meth lab incidents, leaving the number of children killed in meth lab incidents this century in the single digits. The number of children injured in meth lab incidents from 2000 through 2002 was 52.

Nevertheless, if the problem is less severe in terms of physical injury than one might think from reading the newspapers, tweaked out parents are still causing problems for their kids. "What we are seeing is this same sort of emotional symptoms we see in many other abuse or neglect situations," said Boulder County social services' Pollack. "In the meth cases, it is mainly neglect. We see situations where infants have been in the same soiled diaper for two or three days or kids being dropped off with babysitters and not being picked up. With younger kids, you get problems of attachment; with older kids, it is that they're not going to school, not wearing clean clothes, not getting their basic needs met," he said.

"Meth doesn't necessarily make you an idiot," said a former South Dakota meth user, who, along with his wife, went to prison while their child stayed with relatives. "But if you were an idiot before, it makes you even more idiotic. People who had their act together could tweak out and still maintain normal lives, but people who were fucked up to begin with just get even more fucked up. We managed to take care of our child, keep him fed and dressed, get him to school every day, and all of that, but I've seen other tweakers who didn't watch out for their kids or who just let social services take them because they'd rather be partying. And that was probably the best thing for those kids," he told DRCNet.

But while police and other drug war entrepreneurs spout horror stories at public presentations, responsible scientists involved in the question of meth labs and kids are much more cautious. In its information on meth labs, Colorado Drug Endangered Children, Inc. leaves the rigorous evaluation of the dangers to Dr. Robert Palmer, clinical toxicologist at the Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center. Palmer does a good job of lowering the decibel level, explaining, for example, that a clandestine lab "is simply defined as a place where preparation of illegal substances takes place."

And unlike the common perception of meth labs as something akin to radioactive waste dumps, Palmer explains that, like any other operation involving chemical reactions, "numerous hazards exist in this environment, including potential toxicities from the chemicals and gases produced, fires, explosions, and chemical and thermal burns." But, he explains, meth labs are more dangerous because "they are usually designed for ease of concealment of the activity and not for safety" and "the persons running the lab often have little or no formal education in chemistry."

Palmer similarly deflates fear-inducing terms like "decontamination," which tends to conjure up images of space-suited personnel fending off lethal poisons. The term "simply means thoroughly washing to remove any potentially harmful residue," he wrote, adding that for most police officers entering meth labs, decontamination would consist of washing their shoes with soap and water.

As for the nature of the threat, Palmer noted that "no studies involving long-term effects of continuous clandestine laboratory exposure exist. Currently, no prospectively collected data exist describing the effects of acute or chronic exposure to children in illicit methamphetamine labs." Furthermore, he notes, again contrary to what the anti-meth maniacs would have us believe, "these children are usually asymptomatic," although he noted that they should be monitored for symptoms of respiratory distress or changes in mental status. Palmer also downplayed the threat of meth-addicted children, writing that while 10% of kids in homes with heavy use will test positive for the drug, "a positive screen does not equate with addiction, which is very hard to define in this setting."

Such cautious words, however, do not win funding or get legislation passed, nor are they par for the course among proponents of tough new meth child abuse laws or the police, social services, and medical personnel focusing on the issue through Drug Endangered Children (DEC) programs, which began as a local initiative in California in the mid-1990s and have now spread to states and localities across the country, although mainly in the West and Midwest.

"It is not about drugs, it is about saving the children," Phoenix narcotics detective Tim Ahumada told a DEC conference in Michigan last week. "Child endangerment is often overlooked," Ahumada said. But he said social workers and police have to learn to work together to make the program work. "This takes a case from being a victimless crime to putting a face on these crimes, and that is how you are going to save these kids," he said.

Calhoun County Prosecutor John Hallacy explained why meth required tougher penalties, in a way that both confused and demonized the issue. "It should be an enhancement in the penalties," he said. "Drug dealing is often violent, but meth is so different because it is so toxic."

Such remarks are typical of DEC conferences and advocates of tougher laws, and they are often accompanied by unquestioning press coverage along the lines of "Meth: Threat or Menace?"

Nancy Becker Bennett, manager of the law enforcement section of the Michigan Office of Drug Control Policy, was in charge of last week's DEC conference in Battle Creek. She told DRCNet that meth labs in the state have increased in recent years, but she could not say how many children had been exposed or seized by the state. "It's hard to tell because we haven't a DEC protocol to determine that," said Bennett. "We've found children at meth lab sites, but we don't know if they've been exposed."

Still, she said, Michigan is moving ahead to set up a DEC program. "Our next step is to develop a Michigan methamphetamine strategy," she said. "It will decide on statewide DEC protocols or whether legislative action is needed," Bennett said.

"What we are seeing is the social dynamics of a manufactured panic," said Richard Wexler, executive director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform (http://www.nccpr.org). "There is a panic over child abuse and foster care. What happens is a particular horrible case hits the headlines, and every case worker is thinking 'I don't want to have a case like that,' so they tear away every child in sight. You certainly saw that around the so-called crack babies," he told DRCNet. "When the panic over child abuse meets the panic over drug abuse, a lot of children suffer, and so do their parents. The problem is serious and real, but the solutions have been phony," he said.

"Again, we saw this with crack," he emphasized. "But what we found was that these babies did better staying with their mothers than going to foster care. For those foster children, separation from their mothers was more toxic than cocaine. If we believe the rhetoric about putting the child's interest first, we have to have drug treatment, not foster care. But we are more interested in punishing mothers, so the first reaction is take the child and run."

It goes beyond meth lab habitués, Wexler said. "We have seen cases where children have been confiscated at birth because the mother smoked a joint during birth to ease her labor pains," he said. "That points to a problem with the statistics on all these so-called drug involved cases. It's one thing to be selling your child on the street to buy crack; it's quite another to say you are abusing your children because you used a drug."

And while proponents of taking kids from meth users and sending parents to jail as child abusers can point to horror stories -- the New Mexico man who cut off his son's head, the California women whose three children died in a meth lab fire -- so can people whose children have been turned over to the tender mercies of child protective services.

April Zinsser, 21, of Merced, California, lost custody of her children after being convicted of meth possession and child endangerment. Last month, her 6-month-old son died under mysterious circumstances while in foster care. "I want some answers from them," a grief-stricken Zinser told the Merced Sun-Star. "They don't have any answers for me." The newspaper reported that Zinsser had been arrested after less than a gram of meth was found in her home. "Child endangerment charges are common when drugs are found around children," the newspaper noted.

Something even worse happened to Teresa Lopez, a Utah mother whose infant son Casey was grabbed by child protective services workers after she was accused of being a drug user. While Lopez, who denied using drugs, tried to prove them wrong, the state placed Casey and an older sister in foster care. A few months ago, Lopez got to see 17-month-old Casey for the last time as he was being unplugged from a respirator after being "beaten and shaken into unconsciousness -- and the boy's foster mother was to blame," reported the Salt Lake Tribune Tuesday.

Lopez came to the attention of authorities after Casey fell ill a year ago with a lung infection. An anonymous tipster informed social workers that Lopez was a drug addict, and they asked her to pass a drug test. She did and she passed. But a hair test on Casey showed traces of meth, and the child was seized. And now he's dead, and Lopez is worried about the safety of her other child, Caylee, who is still under social services control. "I don't want to be paranoid," she said, "thinking if I do one thing wrong they'll come and take Caylee away."

"Psychologists agree -- at least those outside of child protective services -- that the psychological trauma inflicted on a child of toddler or preschool age abruptly torn away from a family is devastating and lasting," wrote Sharon L. Secord, a Michigan-based researcher and writer specializing in issues relating to parenting, family and culture who compiles a list of such incidents. "The damage done to their ability to love and trust may very well affect their ability to create and maintain adult relationships. It may leave them without the tools to parent their own children successfully. Aside from the tremendous psychological and emotional damage inflicted by the unnecessary removal of children -- at any age -- from their families, it is abundantly clear that CPS cannot even assure the physical safety of their client-victims."

None of this has stopped the spread of laws aimed at further criminalizing meth users or makers who have children. Such laws have followed the spread of meth from West to East, and beginning with California, are now in effect in states including Colorado, Georgia (which was the only state in the nation to have a child endangerment law until this week, when, propelled by meth fears, it passed), and Minnesota (where a bill making meth cooking with children present a crime passed Wednesday). And more states are headed in the same direction, with either bills pending or DEC-inspired legislation being crafted in Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Washington.

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month. Let's all vow to do our best to keep our kids safe from out-of-control tweakers, drug-fightin' cops, and child-grabbing bureaucracies alike.

To read the Justice Department's Office of Justice Policy bulletin on meth and kids, go to:
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/publications/bulletins/children/welcome.html

To read Colorado Drug Endangered Children, Inc.'s rigorous and cautious look at the dangers of meth labs, go to:
http://www.colodec.org/questionsanswers/questionsandanswers.htm

4. Czech Party Seeks Move to US-Style Drug War Policy

One of the parties that make up the Czech government's ruling coalition, the Christian Democrats, are demanding major changes in Czech drug policy and calling for a US-style "war on drugs," Czech drug researcher Dr. Tomas Zabransky reported this week. Zabransky, who was a scientific member of the Czech National Focal Point drug use survey, reported that the Christian Democrats have cited a "constant worsening of the drug situation and an increasing number of addicts," and the claim of a direct "link between drugs and terrorism."

There's only one problem: The Christian Democrats are wrong about the "constant worsening" of the problem. According to Czech Focal Point drug data cited by Vice-Prime Minister Petr Mares, both the number of addicted or problem drug users and the number of drug users in treatment has decreased in recent years. Data from the European Monitoring Center on Drugs and Drug Abuse (EMCDDA) supports that claim. According to EMCDDA, since 1996 lifetime cannabis use had increased by 2%, while for all other drugs except ecstasy, levels remained essentially unchanged.

And while lifetime drug use numbers stayed close to flat, the number of problem drug users, as reflected in the number of overdoses and drug-related deaths, has actually decreased, according to the Focal Point data. Zabransky also pointed to an extremely low number HIV/AIDS-infected users and Hepatitis C-infected users.

When confronted with these facts, Zabransky reported, the Christian Democrats had a singular response: dismantle the National Focal Point. "That is the very institution that is responsible for gathering drug-related data and reporting them to the European Union and to the Czech government," said Zabransky. "These calls for rejecting the current compilation methods are because it has produced data that does not support their prohibitionist views." The National Focal Point study had been positively evaluated by the EMCDDA, he said, and was seen to be producing high quality data throughout its three years of existence.

But getting rid of institutions that produce uncomfortable numbers is only part of the Christian Democrats' broader strategy, Zabransky reported. "The Christian Democrats have also demanded major changes in the national drug strategy that is being prepared for 2005-2009," he said. "These alterations include the withdrawal of current governmental resolutions regarding legal changes in drug penalties (that are planned to be differentiated according to the unique social and health risks posed by particular drugs). They are also demanding major changes in the system of financing of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that provide treatment and harm reduction programs. Finally, they are effectively aiming to destroy the highly successful inter-ministerial coordination of the existing drug policy, a plan that leans on four pillars: prevention, treatment, harm reduction and repression."

Zabransky accused the Christian Democrats of playing semantic games. "Given an absence of data to support their proposals, the Christian Democrats have intentionally continued to promote confusion of the terms 'lifetime prevalence of any drug use' and 'addictive use,' he said. They also successfully pushed through the establishment of an "expert group" stacked with their allies "and purposely overlooking all of the distinguished members of the existing National Drug Commission." The "expert group" will review Czech drug policy and propose changes. According to Czech media reports, all of its members -- who have not been publicly identified -- are politicians with no background in drug policy, but with close links to the police and the Ministry of the Interior. The group will reportedly be headed by the Interior Minister, Zabransky said.

"This transparent scheme by the Christian Democrats, aided by certain law enforcement officials, is intended to shift the orientation of Czech drug policy from a reliance on scientific data and evidence-based measures, to one where intra-departmental fights and ideological claims will prevail," Zabransky warned. "It is my view that we now face the imminent danger of the introduction of a drug policy that eschews scientific data and evidence, in favor of one that simply echoes the particular interests of a vested interest group -- the law-enforcement lobby."

While the Christian Democrats are not the largest party in the ruling coalition, which includes the dominant Social Democrats and the libertarian-leaning Union of Freedom, the narrow margin of power for the ruling coalition leaves it vulnerable to pressure from its junior members. The current government governs with the slimmest of majorities, 101 seats in a 200-member parliamentary body. "If the Christian Democrats are not quickly and forcefully rebutted by leading national and international figures, they could succeed in these actions," Zabransky warned.

To visit the EMCDDA pages on the Czech Republic, go to http://candidates.emcdda.eu.int/en/page68-en.html.

For you Czech speakers, much more information is available at http://www.drogy-info.cz.

5. DRCNet Press Coverage

We are pleased to let our readers know that DRCNet and our partners in the DRCNet-founded Coalition for Higher Education Act Reform (CHEAR) have had some great successes recently in our work with national media outlets. Also, we had an unexpected press hit in Latin America, resulting from an interview in our newsletter archives. Read on to hear all the good news. After the list of press hits, we follow with some recommended actions we hope you'll take to help the cause.

1. On March 13, the New York Times ran an article (front-page in at least one of their editions) on the drug provision of the Higher Education Act. Among the three students or would-be students featured in the article was Donald Miller. Donald is a recipient of a tuition scholarship from the John W. Perry Fund, our scholarship program for students losing financial aid because of drug convictions. A second interviewee, Marisa Garcia, is a long-time activist with Students for Sensible Drug Policy, whom we first met at the Los Angeles Shadow Convention in summer 2000. Visit http://www.raiseyourvoice.com/docs/media-nytimes-03-13-04.pdf to read the New York Times article.
2. On March 17, the Coalition received unexpected support from Joseph Califano, head of the Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA). While DRCNet has sometimes been a critic of CASA's work, Califano's support nevertheless goes a long way. Califano intoned with a letter to the editor in the March 17 issue of the New York Times responding to the March 13 article, calling for repeal.
3. On March 22, on the Latin America front -- an interview conducted by Drug War Chronicle editor Phil Smith in 2001 was the focus on an article, complete with Phil's picture, in El Universo, one of Ecuador's major national newspapers. Phil had attended and reported on an anti-Plan Colombia conference in El Salvador, at which he interviewed Lucio Gutierrez, a former army colonel and prominent critic of Plan Colombia. Gutierrez is now Ecuador's president, but under US pressure has changed his position -- Gutierrez now claims to have always supported Plan Colombia, and has even denied attending that conference. The El Universo story excerpted significantly from the interview, and quoted Phil verifying that Gutierrez was indeed in attendance. Those of you who speak Spanish can read the article online here.
4. Back on the HEA front -- On Monday, March 29, the National Public Radio program All Things Considered ran a report on the HEA drug provision, featuring among others our own Scott Ehlers, who was also responsible for providing much of the information as well as referrals to other interviewees to the reporter. Visit http://www.npr.org/rundowns/rundown.php?prgDate=29-Mar-2004&prgId=2 and scroll down to "Change in Student-Aid Drug Law Urged" to listen to the story.
5. Last but not least, the March 30 New York Times featured an editorial, "Oiling the Revolving Door," which calls for full repeal of the HEA drug provision. NYT urges Congress not to "tinker" with the law but instead to get rid of it.
6. Visit http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/30/opinion/30TUE2.html (free registration required) to read the full text.

Please consider taking one or both of the following two steps to help the cause:

1) Send a letter to the New York Times supporting their full repeal stance. Your letter must be sent within the next week, should not exceed 150 words, should be submitted within a week of the editorial's publication date or Monday, April 5, and should not be submitted to other publications. You can send your e-mail to the Times by e-mail to [email protected], by fax to (212) 556-3622, or by mail to: Letters to the Editor, The New York Times, 229 West 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036. Please forward a copy to us at [email protected].

2) Visit http://www.raiseyourvoice.com to send a letter to Congress calling for full repeal of the HEA drug provision -- and to download an activist packet and get extensive information on the issue (which may be helpful for your letter to the editor) and on how to get involved in the campaign.

3) Please make a donation to support this work and ensure it continues uninterrupted. Visit https://stopthedrugwar.org/donate/ to contribute online, or send your check or money order to: DRCNet, P.O. Box 18402, Washington, DC 20036. Gifts of $35 or more are eligible for our latest book offer, "Life on the Outside: The Prison Odyssey of Elaine Bartlett," and many other premium offers (such as the video or DVD of "BUSTED: The Citizen's Guide to Surviving Police Encounters) are still available through the web site as well. (Note that donations to the Drug Reform Coordination Network are not tax-deductible. Tax-deductible gifts can be made to DRCNet Foundation, same address; selecting a premium will reduce the portion of your gift that you can deduct.)

6. Medical Marijuana Advocate Confronts Congressional Opponent at House Hearing

Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) executive director gave testimony at a hearing of the House Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy, and Human Resources yesterday. The subcommittee is headed by Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN), who in a hearing in March 2001 called Kampia "an articulate advocate for an evil position" (https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/179/theinquisition.shtml).

DRCNet will have a report on the hearings in the next issue of Drug War Chronicle. In the meantime, you can visit http://www.mpp.org/pdf/rk_040104.pdf to read Kampia's prepared testimony.

7. Newsbrief: Federal Appeals Court Rules Police Can Search Without Warrant

In a March 24 opinion, the US 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans has ruled that police do not need an arrest or search warrant to conduct a search if the search is a "protective sweep" to ensure the safety of officers. The ruling builds on a 1990 US Supreme Court ruling, Maryland v. Buie, which gave the constitutional okay to "protective sweep" searches conducted to ensure the safety of officers during an arrest. Under the 5th Circuit's ruling in USA v. Gould, such searches may be legally made without a search warrant or an arrest.

The ruling came in the case of Kelly Donald Gould, a Denham Springs, Louisiana, resident arrested in October 2000 on federal firearms charges. According to court documents, an employee of Gould's contacted law enforcement authorities to report that Gould was threatening to kill judges and police and he possessed weapons. Upon receiving the report, police checked Gould's criminal record and found he had a history of violent criminal offenses. Sheriff's deputies went to Gould's trailer without a warrant to question him and were invited in by another occupant who told them Gould was in his bedroom. But Gould was not there. The deputies, saying they feared for their safety, looked for him under his bed and in two closets, where they found three rifles. Shortly afterward, they found Gould outside in the woods. He was arrested, charged, and convicted as a felon in possession of a firearm based on the rifles found by the deputies.

Gould moved to have his conviction overturned, arguing that the evidence against him derived from an illegal search. A US district judge agreed, and so did a three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit. But that panel urged prosecutors to request a hearing before the full court to take up the question. Prosecutors did, and they won an 11-4 victory on March 24.

Evidence found in a "protective sweep" search designed to protect officers' safety inside a building or home they have entered legally (with consent) is admissible if it is only a "cursory inspection," the 5th Circuit held. The right of privacy must yield to the compelling government interest of protecting police officers, the court said.

A spokesman for the Louisiana chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union told the Associated Press the decision was dangerous. "This decision is the latest rollback of safeguards to protect the people from being at the mercy of a police state," said Joe Cook, the group's executive director. "Allowing law enforcement to search homes without probable cause or any warrant makes a dramatic and dangerous departure from one of our most fundamental American freedoms."

It wasn't just civil libertarians who were concerned. Two of the dissenting judges harshly criticized the ruling. "I have no doubt that the deputy sheriffs believed they were acting reasonably and with good intentions," Judges Harold DeMoss Jr. and Carl E. Stewart wrote, noting that the heart of the Fourth Amendment was its protection of the rights of citizens to be free from unwarranted searches. "But the old adage warns us that 'The road to hell is paved with good intentions.'"

Read the decision online at:
http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/02/02-30629-CV0.wpd.pdf

8. Newsbrief: Addicts Take Prescription Heroin for Safety, Stability -- Not to Quit, Study Finds

A study of 104 British heroin addicts using prescription heroin or prescription methadone has found that most seek the prescription dope because it is safer and more convenient than resorting to the black market -- not because they see it as a means of quitting their habits. The study found that only one of five saw prescribed injection drug use as a means of reducing their use, while three-quarters told researchers they sought prescriptions for heroin or methadone because of safety reasons, to avoid police problems, and to maintain normal social relationships.

The study, published in the journal Addiction, looked at patients getting injectable opiate treatment (IOT), as the British medical establishment calls prescribing heroin, which it refers to as diamorphine, or methadone at a center operated by the Substance Misuse Directorate of Bolton, Salford and Trafford Mental Health Trust. Prescription heroin is available at limited locations in England, but the government has called for an expansion of the program, citing a need to reduce crime. Advocates of prescription heroin have suggested that it could lead to reduced use.

But that's not what participants in the study told researchers. "Subjects articulated a consistent desire for IOT in order to 'stabilize' their lives in a number of ways. These findings suggest that clinicians and policy makers should be aware of many heroin users' perception of IOT as long-term treatment and their clear preference for injectable diamorphine," researchers wrote in their conclusion.

"One of the most striking findings of the study was that 74% of patients said that procuring a drug supply of known dose and purity, improving family relationships and avoiding trouble with the police were the three key reasons for seeking a prescription of injectable opiates," lead researcher Dr. Louise Sell told the newspaper the Scotsman.

The researchers also came to other startling conclusions, such as perhaps people who want to use heroin should be able to get it, although they didn't exactly put it that way.

In discussing with the Scotsman why injection drug users were more likely to be prescribed methadone than heroin -- it is cheaper, more researched, and easier to monitor -- study coauthor Dr. Deborah Zador explained that, darn it, some people just wanted their heroin and, if all else failed, maybe they should get it. "It may prove the best option for opiate addicts who have not responded well to other treatment," she said.

So, junkies tell researchers what would be self-evident in a world not blinded by decades of authoritarian anti-drug propaganda: We like our drugs, and we would prefer to be able to obtain them in a way that doesn't disrupt our lives or get us thrown in jail. And although their conclusions are couched in the rhetoric of addiction as disease, the researchers seem to have at least a small glint of understanding.

The research report, "Patients prescribed injectable heroin or methadone their opinions and experiences of treatment," is not available online unless you want to pay Addiction's publisher, Blackwell Synergy, $25, but the abstract can be read at:
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/links/doi/10.1111/j.1360-0443.2003.00668.x/abs/

9. Newsbrief: Another Safe Injection Site in British Columbia?

The International Narcotics Control Board ripped into Canada last month for going ahead with a safe injection site in Vancouver (https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/285/vancouverinjectionsite.shtml), but that hasn't stopped provincial and local elected officials from suggesting opening one in Victoria, British Columbia's capital and second-largest city. Canada Press reported Sunday that BC provincial health officer Dr. Perry Kendall and Victoria Mayor Alan Lowe support a safe injection site in the city.

Mayor Lowe Mayor first publicly broached the idea at a public forum on illicit drug use last week, Canada Press reported. "We've been hearing about people shooting up in the alleys, people shooting up in people's front yards, around people's businesses and schools," Lowe said. "In order to deal with some of those problems, we do need a safe injection site."

That prompted Canada Press to ask Dr. Kendall, the province's point man on health issues, what he thought of the idea. Noting that diseases such as HIV and Hepatitis C are spread through needle-sharing and that drug users are shooting up in public areas, Kendall supported the idea. "Speaking as a provincial health officer, I think it would be appropriate," he told the news agency. The city's needle exchange program has more than 2,000 clients, demonstrating the existence of a large drug-injecting community in the Vancouver Island city, he noted.

The notion has also picked up support in the local press, with the Victoria Times-Colonist editorializing Tuesday in favor of giving a safe injection site serious consideration. The newspaper listed the arguments against safe injecting sites -- that they encourage drug use, that they are illegal under international law -- but was unconvinced, citing positive results from the Vancouver site. "The Vancouver experience shows how Victoria, and its addicts, could benefit from a safe injection site -- by taking IV drug use off the streets, by reducing the risk of fatal overdoses and the spread of disease, if only to a small degree," the paper editorialized.

The newspaper encouraged Mayor Lowe to move to make a site a reality, while acknowledging it could be an arduous bureaucratic process. "It may be a long time coming, but if Lowe is convinced a safe injection site is what Victoria needs, he should begin the debate in city council now," said the Times-Colonist.

10. Newsbrief: Drugged Driving Bill Introduced in Ohio

As DRCNet reported two weeks ago, a nationwide offensive to pass "drugged driving" laws that would make having any detectable amount of an illegal drug or its metabolites in a drivers' system a crime is underway (https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/329/driving.shtml). These per se Driving Under the Influence of Drugs (DUID) laws do not require any showing of actual impairment, only the presence of metabolites, which in the case of marijuana smokers can remain present for days or weeks after the joint is smoked and the high is gone.

Such bills have already passed in nine states, most recently in Wisconsin (see related newsbrief this issue), and now two powerful Ohio politicians hope to add the Buckeye State to the list. Ohio state senators Jeff Jacobsen (R-6th District) and Steve Austria (R-10th District) last week introduced Senate Bill 215, "to prohibit the operation of a vehicle or vessel if any amount of a controlled substance or a metabolite of a controlled substance is present in the operator's blood or urine, subject to certain exceptions."

Jacobsen is chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee and Austria is president-elect of the Senate. As the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (http://www.norml.org) put it in an e-mail announcing the bill's filing, "This bill is expected to move."

And that's bad news, NORML said. "This legislation represents an all out assault on the marijuana smoking community. Because inactive marijuana metabolites (inert compounds indicative of past drug use) remain detectable in certain bodily fluids, particularly urine, for days and sometimes weeks after past use, this legislation seeks to define sober drivers as if they were intoxicated." That, NORML noted, is "illogical and unfair."

Drugged driving laws should target impairment by establishing scientifically sound cut-off levels that correlate drug levels to impairment, as is done with alcohol, NORML said.

"'Zero tolerance' laws are neither a safe nor sensible way to identify impaired drivers; they are an attempt to misuse the traffic safety laws in order to identify and prosecute marijuana smokers per se," the group noted.

The bill would make DUID a felony offense and set mandatory minimum sentences. It also provides two exemptions to a DUID charge, one for people who are unwittingly under the influence of drugs, a small but apparently politically potent portion of the population. The second exemption, one that is not logically defensible if the object of the law is to stop impaired driving but which makes perfect sense if the bill's intent is to punish illegal drug users, is for people on prescription drugs. If the bill's authors really wanted to go after drug-impaired drivers, the fact of a prescription should make no difference. The exemption also undermines the underlying premise of the bill -- that any drugs in your system make you an impaired driver -- by implicitly suggesting that the presence of opiates in a driver's system doesn't necessarily make him impaired.

The bill also creates a separate offense of teenage impaired driving, where drivers under 21 who have a blood alcohol range of 0.002 to 0.008 are charged with a misdemeanor carrying a short mandatory minimum sentence. That sentence can be waived if the driver agrees to take driver improvement classes. And just to be safe, the bill also bars drugged driving on boats, jet skis, and trolley cars.

Read the bill online at:
http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/bills.cfm?ID=125_SB_0215

11. Newsbrief: DUID -- Pass It and They Will Prosecute

Wisconsin's driving under the influence of drugs (DUID) law, signed into law in December, has its first victim. Under the new law, prosecutors need not prove a driver was actually impaired by drugs to convict him of DUID, only that drugs or their metabolites were detectable by drug tests. According to the Waukesha Freeman, Waukesha County prosecutors Tuesday charged Michael Van Patter, 44, of Wauwatosa with DUID after he was found to have traces of crack cocaine in his system.

The law came into effect a year after the Office of National Drug Control Policy opened a nationwide campaign against "drugged driving" (https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/264/druggeddriving.shtml), but was largely impelled by a widely-covered case in which an unborn infant was killed in a crash caused by a driver high on cocaine and is in fact widely known as the "Baby Luke Law." In that case, prosecutors were frustrated because they could only sentence the driver to two years in state prison for negligent vehicular homicide and because they could not prove he actually was impaired.

The new law takes care of both obstacles. Drivers convicted of killing someone while "under the influence" now face up to 26 years in prison, and prosecutors now need not prove they were actually impaired, only that a trace of drugs remained in their systems.

News accounts did not say what caused police to stop Van Patten, but with a record of drunk driving arrests he would have been a person known to police in small-town Wauwatosa. The arresting officer found a crack pipe in the car, and Van Patten admitted having smoked two hours earlier. He was charged with DUID although his blood alcohol level measured 0.02%, well below the cut-off point of 0.08%, because he tested positive for cocaine.

12. Newsbrief: Who's Minding Your Utility Bill?

Who's minding your utility bill? That wasn't a question suburban San Diego soccer mom Dina Dagy was asking herself until a couple of weeks ago. That's when she was summoned from her post as a volunteer at her son’s school by police preparing to raid her home in search of a marijuana grow operation. Her home was targeted as part of a six-month operation coordinated by the DEA that hit 24 Carlsbad area homes on March 19, the North County Times reported in a series of stories this week.

They found pot in 20 of the residences, but not at Dagy's house, leading to the obvious question: Why was she targeted? It turns out that Dagy and her family of five were electricity hogs, and their large utility bill caught the attention of the crusading cops. It must be a grow op, they surmised, confirming their suspicion by having a drug dog alert as they walked it around the perimeter of the property.

"It's hard to believe a high utility bill would be enough to issue a state warrant," Dagy told the Associated Press. "In the back of your mind, you've got to be thinking, 'There's got to be something else.'" But other than the errant drug dog alert, that was it. Oh, there was also, police noted, the fact that Dagy set out her garbage for pickup the morning the garbage men came. That was supposed to be suspicious, police said, because growers don't want to leave evidence lying around. "It was trash day," explained Dagy.

Dagy is demanding a written apology from police and assurances such incidents won't happen again, but beyond verbal apologies, which police have delivered, she isn't likely to get much more satisfaction. "I understand they feel something isn't appropriate here, but it is very much consistent with how search warrants are prepared," Carlsbad Police Lt. Bill Rowland told the AP.

Which leads to another question: Just how are police gaining access to people's utility bills? According to DEA Special Agent Misha Piastro, the raid on the Dagys was the result of a tip of "activity" on their street. The DEA asked Carlsbad police to investigate, Piastro said, and when utility records showed the family was burning up $300 a month in electric bills, police followed up with the drug dog.

Oops! The AP account, which was picked up by the Los Angeles Times, didn't ask that question about utility bills, or how a tip about a street could result in the wholesale scanning of utility bills. At least the local paper, the North Coast Times did. And what it found out wasn't exactly reassuring.

The local utility, San Diego Gas & Electric, said it respected customer privacy. "We would not release customer information without a lawful court order," said spokeswoman Stephanie Donovan. "The subpoena has to be personally served to us, and we would comply." Still, she said, the company tried to get along with police. "We have a very positive working relationship with law enforcement, because we have cases of our own involving energy theft," Donovan added.

But San Diego County Deputy District Attorney Bob Phillips told the paper it wasn't hard to get customer information. Utilities can hand over billing information without a subpoena because "it has been pretty well established" that utility records are public information, he said. Sometimes, he said, officers get subpoenas just to make it easier on the companies to release the information.

More questions remain: Is an anonymous tip about possible "activity" on a block sufficient to get a judge to issue a subpoena for electric bills for the whole block? Did police in this case even bother to get a subpoena? No one has asked or answered those questions yet.

But Mike Marrinan, a San Diego attorney specializing in police-related civil rights cases, said Dina Dagy's experience was not unusual." It is a very, very traumatic event to have a raid conducted on your home," Marrinan said. "Why are they assuming criminal behavior from facts that are completely innocent?" Even if investigators did get a tip about drug activity on Ivy Street, informants are notoriously unreliable, he said. And if the drug dog really "alerted," he said, "the dog made a mistake, which is far too common." Finally, too many judges rubber-stamp investigators' requests for warrants, Marrinan said. "Judges need to be asking more questions and insisting on thorough investigations before they issue search warrants."

And readers, too, should be asking some questions of their local utilities and the local law enforcement establishment. What is the utility's policy on giving information about you to the police? Call up their public relations office and ask. What are police practices in your town? Do they seek warrants or court orders before demanding such information? Ask them, or have your representative ask them. And what about judges? What are their standards for issuing subpoenas? One would hope it requires more than a high electric bill, taking the trash out on the proper day, and ill-trained drug dog.

13. This Week in History

April 7, 1997: President of Portugal Jorge Sampaio is quoted in Madrid's El Pais, saying "Policies conceived and enforced to control drug-related problems and effects have led to disastrous and perverse results. Prohibition is the fundamental principle of drug policies. If we consider the results achieved, there are profound doubts regarding its effectiveness. Prohibitionist policies have been unable to control the consumption of narcotics; on the other hand, there has been an increase of criminality. There is also a high mortality rate related to the quality of substances and to AIDS or other viral diseases."

April 8, 1989: Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo is arrested in Mexico. Guillermo Gonzalez Calderoni leads a team of Federal agents who arrest the drug lord in a residential suburb of Guadalajara. Gallardo is imprisoned on charges relating to Enrique Camarena's kidnapping and murder. His nephews, the Arellano-Felix brothers, inherit part of his drug-trafficking empire.

14. Job, Grant and Internship Opportunities with MPP

The Marijuana Policy Project is offering the following fellowship, grant and job opportunities coming up:

1) 2004 Summer Fellowships for Marijuana Policy Reform: MPP is offering $6,000 Summer Fellowship grants for qualified students and activists to engage in grassroots organizing for marijuana policy reform for three months this summer. Summer fellows will be asked to organize in their cities/regions a list of individuals who support reform, protests and other grassroots events, the distribution of literature, and the generation of favorable news coverage. Fellowships will begin on approximately May 15 and will end on approximately August 15, depending on each applicant's availability. The application deadline is May 1. Visit http://www.mpp.org/grants/sum_fellow/ for further information.

2) Request for Proposals -- Grassroots Organizing in Targeted States and Congressional Districts: The MPP grants program is seeking proposals from organizations and individuals for comprehensive grassroots organizing for marijuana policy reform in targeted states and congressional districts. The areas of grassroots organizing that are eligible for such funding fall into four categories: (1) organizing to pass medical marijuana legislation in key states; (2) organizing in key states to pass legislation to regulate marijuana similarly to alcohol; (3) organizing in congressional districts to pressure targeted members of Congress to support the Hinchey-Rohrabacher amendment to de-fund the federal government's war on medical marijuana; and (4) organizing in congressional districts to pressure targeted members of Congress to support legislation to allow states to determine their own marijuana policies. The application deadline is May 1. See http://www.mpp.org/grants/organizing/ for further information.

3) Job Opening -- Membership Coordinator: MPP is seeking a Membership Coordinator for its main office in Washington, DC. The Membership Coordinator must be meticulous and have an exacting attention to detail; even small degrees of sloppiness or forgetfulness will be deemed unacceptable. The Membership Coordinator should be highly organized, as the position requires serving as the point of contact in the MPP office for what will be 100 or more "e-mail petitioners" across the nation. Application deadline April 18, visit http://www.mpp.org/jobs/member_coord.html for further information.

15. The Reformer's Calendar

(Please submit listings of events concerning drug policy and related topics to [email protected].)

April 1-3, Houston, TX, "Breaking the Chains: Communities of Color and the War on Drugs," conference of Drug Policy Alliance, contact [email protected] or (888) 361-6338 or visit http://www.breakingthechains.info for further information.

April 2, 7:00-9:00pm, New York, NY, "Life on the Outside," book talk with authors Elaine Bartlett, former Rockefeller drug law prisoner and reform activist and Jennifer Gonnerman, journalist with the Village Voice. At West Side YMCA, 5 West 63rd Street, visit http://www.lifeontheoutside.com for further information.

April 3, noon, Ann Arbor, MI, "3rd Annual Ann Arbor Hash Bash." At the DIAG, University of Michigan campus, visit http://www.newagecitizen.com/HashBash.htm for further information.

April 5, 4:00pm, University Park, PA, "The Future of Freedom of Thought in the Age of Neurocops, Brain Fingerprinting, Memory Management Drugs, and Hypersonic Sound," forum with Richard Glen Boire of the Center for Cognitive Liberty & Ethics. At Rock Ethics Institute, Penn State University, 201 Willard Building. Visit http://rockethics.psu.edu/bios/richard_glen_boire.htm for information, call (814) 863-0314 or e-mail [email protected].

April 5, 6:00-8:00pm, Harlem, NY, "Life on the Outside," book talk with authors Elaine Bartlett, former Rockefeller drug law prisoner and reform activist and Jennifer Gonnerman, journalist with the Village Voice. At Hue-Man bookstore, 2319 Frederick Douglass Blvd., sponsored by Writer's Voice of the West Side, visit http://www.lifeontheoutside.com for further information.

April 5, 8:00pm, New York, NY, Rockefeller Drug Law Panel Discussion and showing of the "60 Spins Around the Sun" film about comedian and drug law reformer Randy Credico. Featuring Judge Jerome Marks, Credico, Anthony Papa and Jan Warren, at the Roone Arledge Cinema, Lerner Hall, Columbia University, 115th & Broadway. Contact [email protected] for further information.

April 5-20, New Zealand, "LEAP Down Under, Part I: The Kiwi Tour," speaking engagements by Law Enforcement Against Prohibition executive director Jack Cole and LEAP board members Eddie Ellison and Judge Eleanor Schockett. Visit http://www.leap.cc or contact Mike Smithson at [email protected]for further information.

April 6, 8:00pm, "Cops Say Legalize Drugs: Ask Them Why," forum with Peter Moskos of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition discussion the effects of the drug war on the urban community. At Columbia University, hosted by Columbia University SSDP, visit http://www.leap.cc or contact Mike Smithson at [email protected]for further information.

April 7, 9:00pm, Sarasota, FL, "BUSTED: The Citizen’s Guide to Surviving Police Encounters" screening. Sponsored by CIPHER and Florida Cannabis Action Network, at New College of Florida, New College Teacher's Auditorium. For further information, contact Anthony Lorenzo at [email protected] or visit http://www.flexyourrights.org.

April 8, Carbondale, IL, drug policy symposium, sponsored by the School of Social Work of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, featuring keynote speaker Howard Wooldridge of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. Visit http://www.leap.cc or contact Mike Smithson at [email protected]for further information.

April 8, 7:00pm, Washington, DC, "Life on the Outside," book talk with authors Elaine Bartlett, former Rockefeller drug law prisoner and reform activist and Jennifer Gonnerman, journalist with the Village Voice. At Politics & Prose bookstore, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW, visit http://www.politics-prose.com or http://www.lifeontheoutside.com for further information.

April 8, 7:00-9:00pm, Washington, DC, "BUSTED: The Citizen's Guide to Surviving Police Encounters" big screen premiere. Sponsored by Flex Your Rights Foundation, at Visions Cinema/Lounge, 1927 Florida Ave. NW. For information contact Steven Silverman at (202) 986-0861 or [email protected], or visit http://www.flexyourrights.org online.

April 10, 1:00-7:00pm, Providence, RI, Second Annual Brown University Students for Sensible Drug Policy Medical Marijuana Symposium, featuring panel discussions and a 4:00pm press conference with legislators from Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and Vermont. At Hunter Lab, 89 Waterman Street, Brown University, admission free, $10 donation suggested. Visit http://www.ssdp.org/brown/ for further information, or contact Jesse Stout at (401) 867-5592 or [email protected].

April 12, 8:00-10:00pm, Iowa City, IA, "BUSTED: The Citizen's Guide to Surviving Police Encounters" screening. Sponsored by University of Iowa SSDP, at Lucas Dodge Room in Iowa Memorial Union. For further information contact Kyle Fitzgerald at [email protected] or visit http://www.flexyourrights.org.

April 13, 7:00pm, Big Rapids, MI, "Confessions of a Dope Dealer," performance by Sheldon Norberg. At Ferris State University, the Dome Room, contact the Student Activities office at (231) 591-2606 for further information, visit http://www.adopedealer.com or call (866) DOPE-DLR.

April 14, noon, Big Rapids, MI, "The Dynamics of American Drug Use," lecture by Sheldon Norberg. At Ferris State University, the Dome Room, contact the Student Activities office at (231) 591-2606 for further information, visit http://www.adopedealer.com or call (866) DOPE-DLR.

April 15, 1:00pm, Philadelphia, PA, "Life on the Outside," book talk with authors Elaine Bartlett, former Rockefeller drug law prisoner and reform activist and Jennifer Gonnerman, journalist with the Village Voice. Luncheon address at a conference organized by Rutgers University's Center for Mental Health Services and Criminal Justice Research. At the Sheraton Society Hill Hotel, visit http://www.lifeontheoutside.com or http://www.ihhcpar.rutgers.edu/cmhs-cjr/conference.html for further information.

April 15, 1:00pm, New York, NY, rally to end the Rockefeller Drug Laws with the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo from Argentina. In front of Governor Pataki's Office on 3rd Ave. and 40th St., contact Shayna Kessler at (718) 838-7881 or [email protected] for further information.

April 15, 4:00pm, Washington, DC, panel on the war on drugs, featuring Criminal Justice Policy Foundation president Eric Sterling. At Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law, Slowinski Courtroom, 3600 John McCormack Road, NE. Sponsored by the American Constitution Society CUA chapter, for further information call (202) 319-5140.

April 17, 11:00am-11:00pm, Kingston, RI, "6th Annual Hempfest," free outdoor event with live music, vendors, speakers, activism and fun. Sponsored by University of Rhode Island SSDP, at URI, visit http://www.uri.edu/home/visitors/Map/kingston_direction.html for location or contact Micah at (401) 829-0904 or [email protected].

April 17, 4:00pm, Chatham, OH, "BUSTED: The Citizen's Guide to Surviving Police Encounters" screening. Presented by North Ohio NORML, at the Chatham VFW Hall, 6299 Avon Lake Rd. (off Rt. 83). For further information, contact Cher Neufer at 330-948-WEED or visit http://www.flexyourrights.org.

April 18, 7:00pm, Berkeley, CA, "Confessions of a Dope Dealer," performance by Sheldon Norberg. At UC Berkeley, 155 Dwinelle Hall,reserve tickets at http://www.adopedealer.com or call (866) DOPE-DLR.

April 18-20, Washington, DC, "America's in Pain!", March on Washington and Chronic Pain Patients Leadership Summit. For further information, visit http://www.PainReliefNetwork.org or contact Mary Vargas at (202)-331-8864 or Siobhan Reynolds at (212)-873-5848.

April 19, 7:00pm-8:30pm, Tempe, AZ, "BUSTED: The Citizen's Guide to Surviving Police Encounters" screening. Sponsored by ASU SSDP, at Arizona State University, Arizona Ballroom in the Memorial Union. For further information, contact Lauren Hathorn at [email protected] or visit http://www.flexyourrights.org.

April 19, 8:00pm, Minneapolis, MN, "BUSTED: The Citizen's Guide to Surviving Police Encounters" screening. Sponsored by U of MN NORML, at University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Coffman Union Theatre in Coffman Memorial Union. For further information, contact Jason Holstein at [email protected].

April 20, noon, Fredonia, NY, "The Dynamics of American Drug Use," lecture by Sheldon Norberg. At SUNY Fredonia, contact the Student Activities office at (716) 673-3144 for further information, visit http://www.adopedealer.com or call (866) DOPE-DLR.

April 20, 7:30pm, Billings, MT, "BUSTED: The Citizen's Guide to Surviving Police Encounters" screening. Sponsored by Montana State University-Billings NORML, one of three events this week including a benefit concert/after party, at the Petro Theater at Montana State University-Billings or visit http://www.flexyourrights.org.

April 20, 8:00pm, Washington, DC, "420 Festival," featuring The Ordinary Way, Indica Jones, silent auction and guest speakers. At Chief Ike's Mambo Room, 1725 Columbia Rd. NW, admission $12. Visit http://www.geocities.com/fourth_of_july_hemp_coalition/ for further information.

April 20-24, Melbourne, Australia, "15th International Conference on the Reduction of Drug Related Harm." Visit http://www.ihra.net or e-mail [email protected] for information.

April 22-24, Washington, DC, NORML conference, details pending, visit http://www.norml.org for updates.

April 23, Carbondale, IL, "15 to Life: Unintended Consequences of the War on Drugs," multi-visual presentation by artists and anti-drug war activist Anthony Papa. For further information contact David Warden at (217) 721-4002 or [email protected] or visit http://www.15yearstolife.com for further information.

April 28-30, Warsaw, Poland, Sessions with the European NGO Council on Drugs and Kanaba, at the European Economic Forum. Visit http://hyperreal.info/wiki/go.to/see/Solstice%202004 for further information.

May 1, international, Million Marijuana March, visit http://www.cures-not-wars.org for event listings and further information.

May 6, 7:00pm, Cotati, CA, "Confessions of a Dope Dealer," performance by Sheldon Norberg. At Sonoma State University, contact the Student Activities office at (707) 664-2815 for further information, visit http://www.adopedealer.com or call (866) DOPE-DLR.

May 18-19, New York, NY, "Break the Cycle: Tear Down the New Slave Industry -- Criminal Injustice." Conference at Manhattan Community College/CUNY, 199 Chambers St., for further info contact Johanna DuBose at (212) 481-4313 or [email protected], or Victor Ray or Umme Hena at the BMCC Student Government Association, (212) 406-3980.

May 20-22, Charlottesville, VA, Third National Clinical Conference on Cannabis Therapeutics. At the Charlottesville Omni Hotel, visit http://www.medicalcannabis.com for further information.

June 26, Copenhagen, Denmark, Assembly of members of the European NGO Council on Drugs (ENCOD), coinciding with the United Nations "Day Against Drug Abuse" spring event. Contact [email protected] before June 1 to attend, or visit http://www.encod.org for info.

August 21-22, 10:00am-8:00pm, Seattle, WA, "Seattle Hempfest." For further information, e-mail [email protected], visit http://www.hempfest.org or call (206) 781-5734.

September 18, noon-6:00pm, Boston, MA, 15th Annual Freedom Rally, visit http://www.masscann.org for further information.

November 11-14, New Orleans, LA, "Working Under Fire: Drug User Health and Justice 2004," 5th National Harm Reduction Conference. Sponsored by the Harm Reduction Coalition, at the New Orleans Astor Crowne Plaza, contact Paula Santiago at (212) 213-6376 x15 or visit http://www.harmreduction.org/conference/5thnatlconf.pdf for further information.

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