Drug War Chronicle
(formerly The Week Online with DRCNet)
Issue #371
-- 1/21/05
"Raising Awareness of the Consequences of Drug Prohibition"
Phillip S. Smith, Editor
David Borden, Executive Director
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
- EDITORIAL:
UNFORTUNATE
BEDFELLOWS
The
US
government
in
its
drug
policy
has
aligned
less
with
its
allies
of
the
free
world
and
more
with
those
nations
where
democracy,
human
rights,
and
rule
of
law
are
weak.
- FOLLOWING
OKLAHOMA'S
LEAD,
STATES
TARGET
COLD
REMEDIES
IN
FIGHT
AGAINST
METHAMPHETAMINE
Across
the
Midwest
and
from
Montana
to
Mississippi,
lawmakers
and
law
enforcement
are
making
a
concerted
push
this
year
to
restrict
consumer
access
to
legal
over-the-counter
cold
and
allergy
medications
such
as
Sudafed.
- MEXICAN
STAND-OFF:
GOVERNMENT
SENDS
IN
TANKS,
SOLDIERS
IN
EFFORT
TO
RETAKE
PRISONS
FROM
NARCOS
The
scene
at
Mexico's
main
maximum
security
prison
was
slightly
surreal
this
week,
as
army
tanks
and
soldiers
and
prisoner
family
members
gathered
outside
the
walls
in
a
standoff.
- BLOGGING:
A
STUNNING
ADMISSION
BY
BALTIMORE
POLICE
OFFICIALS,
AND
MORE
This
week
"Prohibition
in
the
Media"
discusses
an
insightful
article
by
the
Baltimore
Sun
in
which
police
officials
actually
admit
their
strategy
has
sparked
more
violence.
Also
this
week,
drug
trade
homicide
prosecutions
in
Michigan,
and
a
dealer
rapes
a
cocaine
user
in
Florida.
- THIS
WEEK'S
CORRUPT
COPS
STORIES
A
Texas
prosecutor
is
busted
for
possession
with
intent
to
distribute,
and
a
Detroit
cop
who
gave
drugs
to
users
so
he
could
photograph
them
is
convicted
for
conspiracy
and
abetting
drug
delivery.
Both
could
face
hard
time.
- NEWSBRIEF:
GERMAN
SUPREME
COURT
REJECTS
"ZERO
TOLERANCE"
DRUGGED
DRIVING
LAW
IN
CANNABIS
CASE
Germany's
Federal
Constitutional
Court,
the
highest
court
in
the
land,
has
ruled
that
tiny
traces
of
THC
in
a
driver's
bloodstream
are
not
sufficient
to
convict
him
of
driving
while
intoxicated
and
punish
him
by
revoking
his
driver's
license.
- NEWSBRIEF:
MASS
ARRESTS
OF
DRUG
USERS
IN
IRAN
Iranian
police
have
arrested
more
than
50,000
people
for
drug
use
in
Greater
Teheran
alone
in
the
past
nine
months,
and
thousands
more
have
been
arrested
in
the
city
of
Mashad.
- NEWSBRIEF:
MARIJUANA
BILLS
FILED
--
MEDICAL
MARIJUANA
IN
NEW
JERSEY,
DECRIMINALIZATION
IN
NEW
HAMPSHIRE
New
Hampshire
and
New
Jersey
were
first
out
of
the
gate
with
marijuana
reform
bills
this
year
--
New
Jersey's
to
legalize
medical
use,
New
Hampshire's
to
decriminalize
possession
and
reduce
penalties
for
sales.
- NEWSBRIEF:
RESISTANCE
TO
METHADONE
CLINICS
REARS
HEAD
IN
VIRGINIA,
WASHINGTON
STATE
Southwest
Virginia
has
been
one
of
the
centers
of
the
so-called
Oxycontin
epidemic
in
recent
years,
so
one
would
think
people
there
would
be
keen
to
support
treatments
designed
to
wean
people
from
the
drug.
One
would
be
wrong.
- NEWSBRIEF:
KING
COUNTY
BAR
ASSOCIATION
(SEATTLE)
CALLS
FOR
LEGAL,
REGULATED
DRUG
MARKETS
In
a
resolution
adopted
Wednesday,
the
King
County
Bar
Association
(Seattle)
called
for
"a
new
framework
of
state-level
regulatory
control
over
psychoactive
substances."
- NEWSBRIEF:
TEXAS
BILL
WOULD
BAN
DRUG
OFFENDERS
FROM
ENTERING
CERTAIN
SAN
ANTONIO
NEIGHBORHOODS
State
Rep.
Ruth
Jones
McLendon
has
introduced
a
bill
in
the
Texas
legislature
that
would
allow
the
city
of
San
Antonio
to
ban
anyone
arrested
for
a
drug
offense
from
entering
certain
parts
of
the
city
except
to
go
directly
home
or
to
work.
While
McLendon
claims
it
is
aimed
at
drug
traffickers,
the
bill
as
written
would
apply
to
possessors
as
well
--
even
before
they're
convicted.
- NEWSBRIEF:
LAST
WEEK'S
SUPREME
COURT
RULING
PAYS
OFF
FOR
NEW
YORK
WOMAN
Legal
scholars
remain
divided
on
the
ultimate
impact
of
last
week's
Supreme
Court
decision
in
the
Booker
and
Fan
Fan
cases.
But
for
one
New
York
woman,
there
is
little
to
debate.
- NEWSBRIEF:
MARTHA
STEWART,
PRISONER
ADVOCATE
There
is
nothing
like
a
taste
of
justice
American-style
to
make
even
the
haughtiest
of
the
hoity-toity
start
to
think
about
reforming
the
system.
- NEWSBRIEF:
MPP
ASSISTS
POOR
MONTANA
MEDICAL
MARIJUANA
PATIENTS
In
the
wake
of
a
successful
ballot
initiative
approving
a
medical
marijuana
program
in
the
state
of
Montana,
the
Marijuana
Policy
Project
has
initiated
a
fund
to
assist
Big
Sky
residents
with
the
program's
costs.
- NEWSBRIEF:
MAINE
ACTIVIST
PROVIDING
MEDICAL
MARIJUANA
INDICTED
FOR
TRAFFICKING
AND
CULTIVATION
Prominent
Maine
marijuana
activist
Don
Christen
was
indicted
Tuesday
on
two
counts
of
aggravated
marijuana
trafficking
and
one
count
of
aggravated
cultivation,
for
his
work
providing
medical
marijuana
to
patients
out
of
his
home.
- THIS
WEEK
IN
HISTORY
Events
and
quotes
of
note
from
this
week's
drug
policy
events
of
years
past.
- THE
REFORMER'S
CALENDAR
Showing
up
at
an
event
can
be
the
best
way
to
get
involved!
Check
out
this
week's
listings
for
events
from
today
through
next
year,
across
the
US
and
around
the
world!
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