Drug War Chronicle
(formerly The Week Online with DRCNet)
Issue #372
-- 1/28/05
"Raising Awareness of the Consequences of Drug Prohibition"
Phillip S. Smith, Editor
David Borden, Executive Director
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
- DRUG
WAR
CHRONICLE
NEEDS
YOUR
SUPPORT
IN
2005
Thanks
to
your
enthusiasm,
Drug
War
Chronicle
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completed
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years
of
publishing.
2005
is
going
to
be
an
exciting
and
important
year
in
drug
reporting,
but
we
need
your
support
to
be
able
to
do
it
right.
- EDITORIAL:
EXTREME
AND
MORE
EXTREME
Extreme
and
more
drug
war
tactics
in
the
US
and
abroad
violate
human
rights
and
are
cause
for
outrage.
- US
TRAINING
PHILIPPINE
SOLDIERS,
COPS
IN
HOTBED
OF
ANTI-DRUG
DEATH
SQUAD
ACTIVITY
The
Philippines
has
embarked
on
a
loudly
proclaimed
war
on
drugs
and
drug
users,
but
unlike
nearby
Thailand
has
delegated
its
extrajudicial
killings
to
shadowy
death
squads.
Now,
the
US
military
and
DEA
and
working
hand
in
glove
with
their
Filipino
counterparts
in
the
very
city
most
closely
tied
to
the
rampage.
- TIP
OF
THE
ICEBERG:
POLICE
PERJURY
GOES
FAR
BEYOND
TOM
COLEMAN
One
of
the
final
chapters
in
the
Tulia
scandal
was
written
two
weeks
ago
when
undercover
police
officer
Tom
Coleman
was
convicted
of
perjury
after
a
sting
that
sent
more
than
three
dozen
black
residents
of
the
small
Texas
panhandle
town
to
prison.
While
the
usual
suspects
were
quick
to
crow
that
Coleman's
conviction
showed
that
"the
system
works,"
members
of
the
defense
bar,
judges,
former
prosecutors,
and
academics
argue
persuasively
that
Coleman's
lying
was
not
an
aberration.
- NEWSBRIEF:
THIS
WEEK'S
CORRUPT
COPS
STORIES
From
Tennessee
to
New
Mexico
to
California
to
Massachusetts,
drug
prohibition
generates
an
endless
stream
of
individual
law
enforcers
who
succumb
to
the
allure
of
easy
profits.
- BLOGGING:
NEWS
STREAM
CONTINUES
TO
ILLUSTRATE
FUTILITY
OF
PROHIBITION
AND
THE
URGENT
NEED
FOR
SOME
FORM
OF
LEGALIZATION
Overdoses
in
Austin
and
a
"drug
house"
slaying
were
only
two
of
prohibition's
tragedies
this
week.
DRCNet's
"Prohibition
in
the
Media"
blog
explains
the
unspoken
truths
within
mainstream
media
drug
coverage
on
an
ongoing
basis.
- NEWSBRIEF:
POLICE
USE
FLASH
BANG
GRENADE
IN
MARIJUANA
RAID,
INJURE
INNOCENT
WOMAN
--
DRCNET
MENTIONED
Police
in
Niagara
Falls,
NY,
are
under
fire
after
a
flash
bang
grenade
thrown
into
an
apartment
during
a
marijuana
raid
last
week
left
a
local
woman
hospitalized
with
serious
burns.
Neighbors
and
critics
have
decried
the
tactic
as
reckless.
- NEWSBRIEF:
SUPREME
COURT
ALLOWS
DRUG
DOG
VEHICLE
SEARCHES
WITHOUT
CAUSE
The
Supreme
Court
has
once
again
expanded
the
ability
of
police
to
conduct
warrantless
searches,
this
time
okaying
the
use
of
drug-sniffing
dogs
to
check
motorists
detained
for
traffic
violations
even
when
police
have
no
reason
to
suspect
they
have
committed
a
crime.
Dissenters
see
the
opinion
potentially
leading
to
widespread
drug
dog
sweeps
of
sidewalks
and
parking
lots.
- NEWSBRIEF:
IN
SENTENCING
RULING
FALLOUT,
SUPREME
COURT
ORDERS
REVIEW
OF
FEDERAL
SENTENCES
FOR
HUNDREDS
OF
PRISONERS
The
Supreme
Court
Monday
instructed
federal
courts
to
review
the
sentences
of
nearly
400
prisoners
who
contended
they
were
wrongly
punished
under
federal
sentencing
guidelines
that
the
Supreme
Court
declared
invalid
on
January
12.
- NEWSBRIEF:
US
BACKS
OFF
FROM
AFGHAN
AERIAL
SPRAYING
AS
ANTI-OPIUM
"JIHAD"
GETS
UNDERWAY
The
United
States
will
not
resort
to
the
aerial
spraying
of
herbicides
as
part
of
its
effort
to
suppress
the
Afghan
opium
crop
--
at
least
for
now.
- NEWSBRIEF:
US
PRESSURES
UN
DRUG
OFFICE
TO
OPPOSE
HARM
REDUCTION
LANGUAGE,
UN
SAYS
OKAY
Last
November
the
executive
director
of
the
United
Nations
Office
on
Drugs
and
Crime
sent
a
letter
to
a
high-level
US
anti-drug
official
promising
to
stop
talking
about
"harm
reduction."
A
European
NGO
coalition
released
the
letter
this
week.
- NEWSBRIEF:
JUSTICE
DEPARTMENT
ENDS
APPEAL
OF
RULING
THROWING
OUT
BAN
ON
TRANSIT
ADS
FOR
MARIJUANA
LAW
REFORM
The
Justice
Department
gave
up
this
week
on
efforts
to
keep
alive
a
congressionally-imposed
ban
on
marijuana
advocacy
ads
on
mass
transit
systems.
- NEWSBRIEF:
ALASKA
GOVERNOR
SEEKS
TO
OVERTURN
LEGAL
HOME
MARIJUANA
POSSESSION
In
the
latest
effort
to
override
the
state
constitution,
Alaska
Governor
Frank
Murkowski
has
asked
the
state
legislature
to
ignore
two
Alaska
Supreme
Court
rulings
and
re-criminalize
home
marijuana
possession.
While
he's
at
it,
Murkowski
wants
to
increase
some
current
marijuana
misdemeanors
to
felonies.
- NEWSBRIEF:
METH
I
--
NEW
SENATE
METHAMPHETAMINE
BILL
WOULD
LIMIT
COLD
PILL
SALES
NATIONWIDE
Last
week
DRCNet
reported
on
ongoing
efforts
in
the
states
to
restrict
the
sales
of
popular
over-the-counter
cold
and
allergy
medicines
containing
pseudoephedrine,
chemicals
used
by
home
meth
lab
cooks
as
part
of
popular
speed-cooking
recipes.
Now,
ten
US
senators,
led
by
Iowa
Democrat
Tom
Harkin,
are
leading
an
effort
to
make
such
restrictions
nationwide
under
federal
law.
American
cold
sufferers,
beware!
- NEWSBRIEF:
METH
II
--
FEDERAL
CLEAN-UP
ACT
CLEANED
UP
--
PROVISION
DESIGNED
TO
PUNISH
MUSIC
VENUES
DROPPED
Reformers last year prevented a methamphetamine bill that included an "anti-rave" provision from making it to a vote. This
year the provision is absent from the legislation.
- NEWSBRIEF:
METH
III
--
KANSAS
SHERIFF
KILLED
IN
CONFRONTATION
AT
METHAMPHETAMINE
LAB
Kansas
Sheriff
Matt
Samuels
was
shot
and
killed
January
19
as
he
attempted
to
arrest
a
parole
violator
who
was
cooking
methamphetamine
at
a
home
lab
in
the
northeast
part
of
his
county.
His
shooter
was
arrested
after
a
seven
hour
standoff,
and
prosecutors
intend
to
seek
the
death
penalty.
- NEWSBRIEF:
LONDON
AUTHORITIES
GRUMBLE
ONE
YEAR
INTO
CANNABIS
RECLASSIFICATION
A
year
ago
this
month
the
British
government
downgraded
the
criminal
status
of
marijuana,
causing
arrests
to
drop
by
a
third
and
thousands
of
police
man
hours
to
be
saved.
But
some
London
officials
are
grumbling
that
the
relaxation
in
the
cannabis
law
has
led
some
to
think
the
stuff
is
now
legal
--
it
is
not
--
and
to
the
pervasive
stench
of
pot
fumes
on
London
streets.
- NEWSBRIEF:
JAPAN
TO
MOVE
TO
OUTLAW
DESIGNER
DRUGS
A
little
more
than
two
years
ago,
the
Japanese
government
slammed
shut
a
loophole
in
the
law
that
allowed
for
the
sale
and
consumption
of
hallucinogenic
mushrooms,
citing
public
health
concerns.
Now
the
government
has
set
its
sights
on
designer
drugs,
too.
- 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!
this issue, one-page printer version
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