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(formerly The Week Online with DRCNet) Issue #373 -- 2/4/05
"Raising Awareness of the Consequences of Drug Prohibition" Phillip S. Smith, Editor
subscribe for FREE now! ---- make a donation ---- search Table of Contents
1.
Drug
War
Chronicle's
Phil
Smith
Featured
in
New
Book
--
"Under
The
Influence"
Available
as
DRCNet
Premium
Dear Drug War Chronicle
devotee:
In case you were not already
aware, I wanted to let you know that Drug War Chronicle's own Phillip S.
Smith was featured in the new book Under The Influence: The Disinformation
Guide to Drugs -- Phil wrote two of the book's nearly 50 fascinating
articles and essays, including an especially provocative one, "Imagining
a Post-Prohibition World."
Thanks to support by readers
like yourself, and a generous grant received late last year from the Educational
Foundation of America, DRCNet Foundation has now raised $36,000 toward
Drug
War Chronicle's expenses in 2005. However, we are expecting the
Chronicle's total costs to reach about $67,000 as they have for each of
the past two years. That means we have $31,000 to go. If you
are one of the many who have helped us with this campaign so far, thank
you. If you have yet to donate or pledge for 2005... please understand
that we need your help to do this right. We need your support or
we will have to downscale the newsletter and cut back our activist programs.
Please click
here to make a one-time donation to Drug War Chronicle, or click
here to sign up to donate monthly. Or, send us an e-mail at [email protected]
to let us know how much you are pledging and for when.
When Ecuadoran former
army colonel Lucio Gutierrez gave an interview to Chronicle editor
Phil Smith at an anti-Plan Colombia conference, he didn't expect it to
come back to haunt him when three years later as President of Ecuador he
tried to deny attending that conference and opposing Plan Colombia. But
El Universo, one of Ecuador's largest daily papers, found the interview
online. The article ran on the front page – click
here to read it online (in Spanish). Contributions to DRCNet Foundation
to support Drug War Chronicle are tax-deductible. (If you
select a gift item, the portion of your donation that you can deduct is
reduced by the item's retail price.) Contributions to the Drug Reform
Coordination Network supporting our lobbying work are not-deductible.
If you want to make a donation in this category, please click here to go
to our main donation page instead. The address for checks or money
orders is P.O. Box 18402, Washington, DC 20036 -- contact us for information
if you wish to make a donation of stock.
Because of the enthusiasm
of our readers, Drug War Chronicle has completed 7 ½ years
of publishing – 373 issues, nearly 5,000 articles -- and we now move into
2005 and another year of hopeful, distressing, interesting, ridiculous
and dangerous developments in drug policy and its impact on our communities
and world. From mandatory minimum sentencing, to pain doctor prosecutions,
police ignoring state medical marijuana laws, Afghanistan's drug war, major
court rulings, ongoing chronicling of the consequences of prohibition,
the latest hair-brained drug warrior idea, David Borden's editorials, This
Week's Corrupt Cops Stories, coverage of the drug policy reform movement,
to leading drug warriors like drug czar John Walters and congressman Mark
Souder and the usually bad things they say and do, Drug War Chronicle will
be there to provide you with the detailed story behind the story.
Thank you for your support
of Drug War Chronicle. As the book title suggests, the drug war is
sustained in part by a torrent of disinformation. And disinformation
can only be countered by... valid information... hence Drug War Chronicle.
Please feel free to write or call if you have any questions, and stay tuned
for a challenging but hopefully successful year in drug policy reform!
P.S. Click
here to read the Drug War Chronicle review of Under The Influence.
P.P.S. Following are a few
of the many testimonials we've received about Drug War Chronicle's
impact and influence:
Media:
... "[Drug War Chronicle]
is absolutely the best way to keep abreast of the issue. It's just
a phenomenal resource -- full of interesting stories and links."
"I've covered the drug story
for years, in many places and on many levels. Your coverage of the
drug scene has been a vital resource for us. You provide a continuous
flow of information that isn't available from any other media source."
"I thought you'd like to
know that I follow your bulletins religiously for the simple reason that
the Canadian press says little about drugs. So when you have drug
news, it has very often not been reported here. I flag items for
my editor -- we've had a number of stories that started that way.
In fact, Pastrana's call for a world conference was a recent example of
just that. So, your work, based on my experience, is helping making
waves even when you don't realize it."
Activists:
"I use [Drug War Chronicle]
as a source for information I disseminate to the chapter's local members
use the information in conversations and more formal talks about drug policy,
as well as in letters to the editor."
"Your newsletter has been
an invaluable source of information to us as far as keeping up to date
on all of the latest issues surrounding addiction and drug policy.
I read every issue as thoroughly as I can, and reprint and pass along many
articles to my colleagues and associates. I also have used [Drug
War Chronicle] in my monthly meetings and also in Patient run support groups."
Policymakers:
After we ran a story in June
2003 about the cancellation of a NORML/SSDP fundraiser in Billings, MT,
following a threat by DEA agents to prosecute club owners under the controversial
"RAVE Act," our story was forwarded by a constituent of a member of Congress
to one of her staffers, who then contacted us for information. The
staffer is working on monitoring the Act to prevent abuses, and subscribed
to our list.
A prominent agency head in
South America wrote: "Our work is well known in Brazil and I serve on government
committees as well as present at most of the conferences here. [Drug
War Chronicle] has been a major source of information and has helped shape
our treatment programs as well as influenced many policies and conferences,
where the only other sources have been the official USG and UN policies."
2.
Editorial:
DEA
Has
Stepped
In
It
This
Time
David Borden, Executive Director, [email protected], 2/4/05
Criticism has now come from within law enforcement as well. Late last month, a letter from the National Association of Attorneys General, a group representing the states' top law enforcement officials -- signed by 30 of them, more than half -- took the DEA to task. Addressed to DEA chief Karen Tandy, the 30 state attorneys general on the letter expressed "surprise" at DEA's withdrawal of the FAQ, and concern that this action would have a chilling effect on the treatment of pain. And they asked Tandy for a meeting next month when they will all be in town for the annual state attorneys general conference. When a majority of state attorneys general want to meet the head of the DEA in person to tell her she's wrong, it's big. If Tandy didn't already realize she'd screwed up, she probably does now. I have long considered the DEA a rogue agency that should be abolished and not mourned, but frankly even I was shocked they would do something like this. Even worse, some observers believe DEA pulled the FAQ to gain an advantage in their successful attempt to convict Virginia pain doctor William Hurwitz. I shouldn't have been shocked -- I knew better. The unfortunate reality is that morality and ethics in the criminal justice have been terribly degraded -- in significant part by the war on drugs, as police leaders like former San Jose police chief Joseph McNamara have discussed -- so inappropriate prosecutorial interventions and "out of control" agency actions like the FAQ's abrupt withdrawal are not surprising but should be expected. One of the unethical aspects of the pain wars is that civil matters such as accusations of substandard doctoring are now being treated as criminal matters and hence game for criminal prosecutors. That is not what the law says should happen. But no one has stepped up to the plate to stop them -- not even the AGs who signed this letter. California's Bill Lockyer, for example, allowed prosecutors working under his authority to continue their persecution of Frank Fisher, another pain doctor, even though the charges against him were as spurious as could be -- even the malpractice claims against Fisher have now been withdrawn. Perhaps this letter will be a first step toward more responsible oversight of their minions on the AGs' part. Time will tell. I hope the FAQ is restored and that doctors will then be more willing to prescribe pain medication in adequate quantities to the patients who need it. I fear that nothing short of the removal of law enforcement from regulation of medicine, excepting perhaps only the most serious and unambiguous circumstances, will suffice to a sufficient degree to serve patients' needs. And I fear that even medical boards comprised of doctors will themselves be a troubled mechanism with regard to pain treatment, as they have tended in the past continuing to the present. At least the medical boards can only strip a doctor's license, and that is less brutal than sending the doctor to prison; and the boards seem more likely to lend weight to what their fellow doctors in pain control have to say. But it may be that only an end to prohibition itself will enable pain control to advance to the level that it can and must attain. Time will tell on these counts as well. In the meantime, it's good, if unfamiliar, to see state attorneys general take a step like this -- late as it may be and notwithstanding how many more steps are urgently needed. I don't know who made it happen, but if you happen to be reading this editorial, good work, keep it coming. Time will tell where it leads.
3.
"Not
Your
Father's
Marijuana"
Canard
Again
Exposed
--
This
Time
by
DEA
The refrain is familiar:
The marijuana of today is worthy of increased concern because it is so
much more potent than the pot smoked by the hippies of yore, who are the
parents and grandparents of today. Today's marijuana is eight, 16,
25, or even 50 times as potent as in the good old days, warn
public health web sites and "experts." All of these "experts,"
as well as a whole army of anti-drug crusaders who continue to promote
the "not your father's marijuana" line, took their cue from Office
of National Drug Control Policy head John Walters, who a little more
than two years ago warned that "the potency of available marijuana has
not merely 'doubled,' but increased as much as 30 times."
Drug czar Walters and the
ONDCP have since backed away from that wildly exaggerated claim.
According to the ONDCP web site now, "the average potency of samples of
all cannabis types increased from 3% in 1991 to 5.2% in 2001... The concentration
of THC in sinsemilla was about 6% in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and
averaged more than 9% in 2001."
But such lies, distortions,
and half-truths have a long shelf life, so it is worth noting that this
particular myth has again been essentially debunked, this time by the Drug
Enforcement Administration (DEA). In its annual Drugs
of Abuse report released last month, the DEA reported on the potency
of marijuana seized between 1998 and 2002. While the anti-drug agency
attempted to use the findings to make the case that domestically grown
marijuana is becoming stronger, the real news is the overall potency findings:
"Although marijuana grown
in the United States was once considered inferior because of a low concentration
of THC, advancements in plant selection and cultivation have resulted in
higher THC-containing domestic marijuana," the report argued. "In
1974, the average THC content of illicit marijuana was less than one percent.
Today most commercial grade marijuana from Mexico/Columbia and domestic
outdoor cultivated marijuana has an average THC content of about four to
six percent. Between 1998 and 2002, NIDA-sponsored Marijuana Potency
Monitoring System (MPMP) analyzed 4,603 domestic samples. Of those samples,
379 tested over 15 percent THC, 69 samples tested between 20 and 25 percent
THC and four samples tested over 25 percent THC."
Leaving aside the astounding
claim that the pot that stoned the hippies was less than one percent THC,
what the MPMP figures cited by the DEA show is that less than 10 percent
of the seized samples came in above 15 percent -- a somewhat arbitrary
dividing line between commercial and high-grade, high-dollar boutique marijuana.
This is not to say that high-THC marijuana doesn't exist -- it certainly
does -- but it is not the stuff smoked by the vast majority of marijuana
consumers in the US, and is even less likely to be the weed of choice for
penny-pinching teenage pot-smokers.
Still, Conrad suggested,
government marijuana testers are skewing the results vis a vis older samples
to hype the "stronger marijuana" threat. "They manipulate the numbers
to get the higher THC percentages," he told DRCNet. "They originally
included stems, seeds, and leaf in the samples they tested, but now they're
just testing the buds, so the percentage is naturally increasing."
Be that as it may, another
expert marijuana cultivator, Philippe Lucas of the Vancouver
Island Compassion Society, told DRCNet the DEA figures were similar
to those reported by the Canadian Royal Mounted Police. "These stats
are a little bit older than the DEA figures," he said, "but out of more
than the 3,000 samples, only eight came in at more than 20 percent THC.
It is simply ridiculous to assume a tripling of potency in mass market
marijuana since then."
What the figures mean, said
Lucas, is that "sadly, around 90% of Americans are still smoking schwag."
Conrad concurred. "I
still talk to a lot of people who are consuming the Mexican brick weed,"
he said. Conrad lives and works in the San Francisco Bay area, a
hotbed of high-grade marijuana production, but even there, Mexican still
reigns supreme.
According to the US government,
and despite the hype about the threat of the dreaded (or much vaunted,
depending on one's perspective) "BC Bud," only about two percent of US
marijuana imports are coming from Canada. Mexico is the dominant
marijuana exporter to the US, with annual seizures in the hundreds of tons,
compared with much smaller numbers from Canada.
But while experts like Conrad
and Lucas argue convincingly that most marijuana consumed in the US is
commercial grade Mexican or American outdoor with similar potency levels,
by no means do they deny the existence of superior strains. Quite
the contrary. "At the Vancouver Island Compassion Society," said
Lucas, "we have had over 100 tests done on about 35 different genetics
we are currently producing, and only one of our strains (a Blueberry) has
consistently tested below 15 percent THC. Our strongest strains (Sweet
Skunk, Romulan, God, and varied crosses) have all tested over 20 percent,
although we have yet to break the 25 percent barrier."
That marijuana is destined
for medical users, and for them, high-potency marijuana is a good thing,
said Lucas. "When it comes to medical use, stronger cannabis is better
cannabis. People self-titrate to achieve the desired dose.
With stronger cannabis, they get the amount of THC they need by using less
cannabis. Similarly, I have seen studies that show stronger cannabis
has a lower tar to weight ratio than weaker cannabis," he said. "An
increase in cannabis potency may be viewed as a threat by the US government,
but it is a boon for medical users." That's right, said Conrad.
"You want to get the THC compounds while minimizing the amount of smoke
and exposure to potentially carcinogenic matter. It is an odd thing
to argue that medicines should be weaker."
Still, the "not your father's
marijuana" argument remains an oft-used arrow in the prohibitionist quiver
-- one that must be blunted as long as it continues to be made, and not
merely by denying that high-potency pot exists. "This argument is
one that just keeps circulating and coming back. As with other debunked
theories like the stepping stone theory, it just keeps popping up every
few years," said Lucas. "It's amazing that we are still rehashing
this. In terms of scientific research, there is absolutely no suggestion
that we should be concerned about greater potential for dependency, no
indication it is more addictive, no suggestions that a higher level of
cannabinoids are more harmful. This stronger cannabis is somehow
more dangerous is a straw man argument."
4.
Never
Say
Die:
Nevada
Marijuana
Regulation
Initiative
is
Back
After
Favorable
Federal
Court
Ruling
The Marijuana
Policy Project and its local affiliates, Nevadans for Sensible Law
Enforcement in 2002 and the Committee
to Regulate and Control Marijuana have been struggling for three years
to pass an initiative that would legalize the possession of small amounts
of marijuana. It has not been easy. The 2002 initiative was
defeated at the polls, garnering 39% of the vote, and the effort to get
a modified 2004 initiative on the ballot faltered in the face of adverse
rulings from state officials and an error by subcontractors that resulted
in thousands of Clark County signatures not being delivered to state officials
on time.
Thwarted in their efforts
to bring the issue before voters in the November 2004 elections, MPP and
CRCM immediately embarked on another signature gathering effort, this time
to bring a marijuana regulation initiative before the state legislature.
But Nevada Secretary of State Dean Heller, acting on the advice of Nevada
Attorney General Brian Sandoval, ruled that their petitions had insufficient
signatures and refused to certify them. The marijuana initiative
petition was one of three that were rejected by Heller after his office
seemed to have changed the rules in midstream.
Previously, Nevada officials
had based the number of signatures required to certify a petition on the
number of voters in the last general election. Thus, the signature
gathering campaigns that took place during the summer and fall of 2004
aimed at a goal derived from the 2002 voter turnout (51,000 signatures).
But Secretary of State Heller ruled that the marijuana petition, which
was turned in early in December, must achieve a number of signatures (83,000)
based not on the 2002 elections but on the 2004 elections, which had occurred
in the midst of the signature-gathering process.
But the initiative is now
back on track. In a January 28 decision, US District Court Judge
James Mahan ruled that Heller's moving the goal posts for the initiatives
was an unconstitutional violation of petitioners' First Amendment and due
process rights and that the petitions must be certified on the basis of
the 2002 numbers, which is what Heller had guaranteed in a guidebook provided
to initiative organizers.
"It's like you changed the
rules in midstream," Mahan told Nevada officials as he granted the injunction
sought by MPP and CRCM.
"The judge ruled they can't
change the rules in the middle of the game," said Allen Lichtenstein, an
attorney for American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, which backed MPP's
appeal of Heller's ruling.
"We are of course extremely
pleased that the judge understood the situation and saw how completely
preposterous the state's position was," said MPP communications director
Bruce Mirken. "State officials were trying to set up an impossible
situation for us -- and in so doing they were contradicted their own previous
rulings. We are glad that this is over and we can now move forward
to get to the real point: a discussion about marijuana prohibition," he
told DRCNet.
Steve George, a spokesman
for Secretary of State Heller, told the Las Vegas Review Journal after
the ruling that Heller's office will move the marijuana regulation petition,
along with two anti-smoking initiatives also affected by Mahan's ruling,
to the legislature, which convenes on February 7. Under Nevada law
for statutory initiatives, the legislature has 40 days to approve the measure.
If the legislature fails to act, the initiative automatically goes before
the voters in the next general election in November 2006.
MPP's earlier initiative
efforts took the path of amending the state constitution. Under Nevada
law, such measures must be passed by voters in two consecutive general
elections.
"Since this is a statutory
change and not a constitutional amendment, it only has to be approved by
the voters once," explained Mirken. "The way the state constitution
is set up, though, the legislature gets the first crack at it. We
are not under any illusions that the politicians will suddenly find the
courage previously lacking on drug issues, but the legislature cannot stop
this. If the lawmakers fail to act, it goes directly before the voters
next year. The legislature could make that unnecessary by actually
passing the measure, but we are not holding our breath waiting for that
to happen," he said.
Still, said Mirken, MPP and
CRCM have not written off the legislature. "We will try to accomplish
as much as we can. We have one member of the assembly, Rep. Chris
Giunchigliani (D-Las Vegas), who is very supportive and who is interested
in having hearings. At the very least, we see this as an opportunity
to have a useful discussion and educate the politicians and the public,
but we are expecting this to go to the voters next year."
The MPP/CRCM initiative would
allow adults to possess up to one ounce of marijuana and would increase
penalties for providing pot to minors or causing a fatal accident while
driving under the influence. Marijuana sales would be taxed, with
revenues earmarked for drug and alcohol treatment and education programs.
In no state have legislators
or the electorate voted to legalize the possession of small amounts of
marijuana. Alaska has come closest, with voters there rejecting such
a measure in November by a margin of 57% to 43%. The Alaska courts,
however, have ruled that possession of up to four ounces of pot in one's
home is protected under the state constitution's privacy provisions, making
it the only state to recognize the legality of simple marijuana possession.
5.
DRCNet
Interview:
Roger
Goodman,
King
County
Bar
Association
Drug
Policy
Project
In a
groundbreaking resolution adopted January 19, Washington state's King
County (Seattle) Bar Association (KCBA) effectively declared war on drug
prohibition, calling for "a new framework of state-level regulatory control
over psychoactive substances, intended to render the illegal markets for
such substances unprofitable, to restrict access to psychoactive substances
by young persons and to provide prompt health care and essential services
to persons suffering from chemical dependency and addiction." KCBA
predicted that such a system "will better serve the objectives of reducing
crime, improving public order, enhancing public health, protecting children
and wisely using scarce public resources, than current drug policies."
While officially endorsed
only by the KCBA, the resolution is the result of years of work at the
state and local level in Washington by the KCBA's Drug Policy Project headed
by Roger Goodman. The effort has brought together an amazing number
of state and local professional organizations -- doctors, pharmacists,
the League of Women Voters -- to push for a reexamination of the state's
approach to drug policy. KCBA's drug policy grouping is a powerful
coalition not of outsiders seeking a voice at the table but of insiders
demanding change.
With the KCBA and its allies
now working with the state legislature to urge it to consider adopting
a new, regulatory approach to currently illicit drugs, the Seattle approach
appears to be on the cutting edge of drug law reform. Drug War Chronicle
spoke with KCBA drug policy head Roger Goodman this week to find out more.
6.
Blogging:
Mobile,
Alabama
Police
Chief
Stuck
"Inside
the
Box"
Over
City's
Rising
Drug
Trade
Violence,
and
More
Mobile, Alabama, may have
an upturn in its homicide rate. The city's police chief blames drugs
among other things, but his thinking appears to be stuck "inside the box."
Meanwhile, border violence
attributed by authorities to fighting amongst Mexican drug gangs has prompted
the US State Department to issue a travel advisory. Mexican officials
are not pleased -- at all.
Visit our Prohibition
and the Media blog online to check out these stories and for letter
to the editor information. Click
here to subscribe to our blog updates list or manage your DRCNet subscription
options.
7.
Newsbrief:
This
Week's
Corrupt
Cops
Stories
There must be a bad moon rising out in cop country. There has been a serious outbreak of corruption cases, drug-smuggling prison guards, and cops gone to pot across the country, but it's been particularly bad in Illinois, with three separate Chicago-area cases of classic drug war corruption. Let's get right to it:
8.
Newsbrief:
DEA
Pain
FAQ
Retract
Flap
Fallout
Continues
--
Criticism
Comes
from
Unexpected
Direction
as
Agency
Seeks
Comments
Controversy over the Drug
Enforcement Administration's (DEA) mysterious vanishing guidance to physicians
and law enforcers about what constituted permissible opioid prescribing
practices for the treatment of pain -- the pain FAQ -- continues, this
time with criticism of the agency coming from a most unexpected quarter:
the nation's state attorneys general.
After years of consultations
with academic pain specialists over the increasingly contentious issue
of proper pain management with opioids versus the DEA's concerns about
prescription drug abuse and diversion, the agency last summer posted the
pain FAQ. While criticized by some pain patients' advocates and physicians
with experience with unfounded prosecutions, the
pain FAQ at a minimum represented an acknowledgment by the drug-fighting
agency that prescribing even large amounts of opioids for pain management
falls within the scope of legitimate medical practice.
But weeks later, the
pain FAQ vanished, pulled from the DEA's web site without explanation.
The agency also requested, without forewarning or explanation, that academic
medical organizations that had participated in creation of the pain FAQ
also pull down their copies of the Guidelines. Only after a rising
storm of criticism from pain treatment advocates and the offended academics
alike did the agency deign to explain that it felt the
pain FAQ positions were too constraining on the government's power
to investigate and prosecute physicians.
Now, the embattled agency
has formally requested comments on the question of the proper prescribing
of opioid pain medications. Leading pain physicians were quick to
respond to news of the request, as would be expected, but so was the National
Association of Attorneys General, representing the top law enforcement
officers in each state. They were not pleased with the agency.
In a January 19 letter signed
by 30 attorneys general -- more than half -- the organization pronounced
itself "concerned" about the DEA's recent actions regarding pain medication
policy and "surprised" that the agency had suddenly shifted its views,
especially without consulting them. That concern included fears that
"state and federal policies are diverging with respect to the relative
emphasis on ensuring the availability of prescription pain medications
to those who need them."
Noting its own adoption of
a 2003 resolution seeking balance in promoting pain relief and preventing
prescription drug abuse, the NAAG called the pain FAQ reflective of "a
consensus among law enforcement agencies, health care practitioners, and
patient advocates that the prevention of drug abuse is an important societal
goal that can and should be pursued without hindering proper patient care."
Its replacement with a tougher DEA interim policy statement in November
"emphasizes enforcement, and seems likely to have a chilling effect on
physicians engaged in the legitimate practice of medicine," they group
wrote.
The unexpected display of
thoughtfulness from the attorneys general is worth quoting at length:
"As Attorneys General have worked to remove barriers to quality care for
citizens of our states at the end of life, we have learned that adequate
pain management is often difficult to obtain because many physicians fear
investigations and enforcement actions if they prescribe adequate levels
of opioids or have many patients with prescriptions for pain medications.
We are working to address these concerns while ensuring that individuals
who do divert or abuse drugs are prosecuted. There are many nuances
of the interactions of medical practice, end of life concerns, definitions
of abuse and addiction, and enforcement considerations that make balance
difficult in practice. But we believe this balance is very important
to our citizens, who deserve the best pain relief available to alleviate
suffering, particularly at the end of life."
The attorneys general concluded
by noting the DEA's solicitation for comments and pointedly asking DEA
administrator Karen Tandy for an early March meeting -- the AGs will be
in Washington for their annual conference -- to discuss their concerns.
If the DEA is catching flak
from its friends, it is also hearing from some former friends. Dr.
Russell Portenoy, chair of the Department of Pain Medicine and Palliative
Care at New York's Beth Israel Medical Center and the lead expert in the
joint collaboration between academic pain specialists and the DEA that
led to the pain FAQ, told the American Medical News this week that he had
"little enthusiasm" for any further involvement with the agency.
Dr. David Joranson of the
University of Wisconsin's Pain and Policy Studies Group was a little bit
more forgiving. He told the American Medical News that it appeared
the DEA had new people working on prescription drug diversion and they
needed to be educated. "I think everyone in the pain field -- clinicians,
administrators and patients -- should take the DEA request very seriously,"
he said.
And maybe the DEA should
take seriously the rising chorus of objections to its hard-line stance
on the issues of pain management and prescription drug diversion.
9.
Newsbrief:
HEA
Repeal
Picking
Up
Steam
--
Congressional
Advisory
Committee,
Arizona
Legislators
Urge
Rescinding
of
Souder's
Law
The broad-based effort to
repeal the Higher Education Act (HEA) provision barring students with drug
convictions from receiving student financial aid has gained new support
in recent weeks, with a congressionally-appointed committee calling for
effective repeal of the provision and a bipartisan group of Arizona legislators
introducing a resolution to the same effect.
The HEA drug provision and
Souder's effort to defend a proposed partial reform to the law that would
make it apply only to those arrested while enrolled in college -- advocates
want full repeal instead -- took a direct hit late last month when the
Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance called for the removal
of the question about drug convictions from the Free Application for Federal
Student Aid (FAFSA). The committee, an independent body created by
Congress to advise it on education and student aid policy, simply called
the drug question "irrelevant." The provision "can deter some students
from applying for financial aid," the committee declared.
"We are pleased with the
recommendation coming from the Advisory Committee on Student Financial
Assistance's report," said Chris Mulligan, CHEAR outreach director.
"Mistakes young people made in the past should have no bearing on their
ability to succeed in the future. Hopefully, Congress will heed the
advice of its own appointees and work to repeal the drug provision during
this session."
Congress may get another
nudge from the state of Arizona. On Wednesday, a bipartisan group
of 14 state legislators, acting at CHEAR's behest, introduced a resolution
calling on Congress to repeal the HEA drug provision. If the measure
passes, Arizona would become the second state to call for repeal.
A
similar resolution passed the Delaware General Assembly last year.
"I sponsored this legislation
because of what I've learned in my professional experiences working the
last 25 years in child welfare," said sponsor Rep. David Bradley (D-28).
"The antidote to poverty, violence, and substance abuse problems is education.
It is ludicrous to penalize a one-time drug offender by making it more
difficult to escape the ravages of substance abuse and poverty by not facilitating
their educational opportunities."
CHEAR hopes that Republican
moderate US Sen. John McCain is listening. Last year, a bill to repeal
the provision gained 70 cosponsors in the House, but lacked a companion
bill in the Senate. McCain could take the hint from his home state
General Assembly and introduce such a bill in the Senate, CHEAR suggested.
Visit http://www.raiseyourvoice.com
for further information.
10.
Newsbrief:
DEA
Must
Pay
Hemp
Industry
Plaintiff's
Legal
Bills,
Court
Rules
The Drug Enforcement Administration
(DEA) must reimburse Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps more than $20,000 in legal
bills the company accrued as it financed the Hemp
Industry Association's (HIA) effort to overturn DEA attempts to ban
the sale of foods containing hemp products. Citing the Equal Access
to Justice Act, the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ordered
the DEA to pay $21,265.
"The EAJA allows an award
of attorneys fees in this situation only where the court finds the Government's
position was not 'substantially justified,'" said Joe Sandler, HIA's counsel
in the case. "By making this award, the Court has basically decided
that DEA's attempt to outlaw hemp foods never had any real legal merit."
Lack of merit did not stop
the DEA from reflexively attempting to bar hemp foods. In a
three-year legal struggle that ended last September, the agency willfully
misconstrued the language of the Controlled Substances Act, which clearly
leaves non-psychoactive hemp outside the purview of DEA regulation, leaving
the country's nascent hemp foods industry stalled at a time it should have
been taking off. The DEA also argued that hemp foods must be banned
because they could cause false positive readings on drug tests, a
position the industry has effectively debunked.
"We are very pleased to recoup
a portion of the costs associated in fighting off the DEA's illegal attempt
to ban nutritious hemp seed," said Dr. Bronner's president David Bronner.
"We plan to use the money to fund industrial hemp studies in Canada as
well as legislative efforts to allow farmers to grow industrial hemp in
the United States. Hemp seed for foods on account of its omega-3
content is the immediate market driver building economies of scale; we're
also supporting hemp fiber research and applications as a substitute for
timber in paper and fiberglass in composites."
"The recently revived global
hemp market is a thriving commercial success," noted the Hemp Industry
Association in a press release greeting the ruling. "Unfortunately,
due to drug war paranoia, the DEA confuses non-psychoactive industrial
hemp varieties of cannabis with psychoactive varieties, and thus the US
is the only major industrialized nation to prohibit the growing of industrial
hemp."
11.
Newsbrief:
Indiana
Official
Calls
for
National
Agency
to
Provide
Drugs
to
Addicts
The president of Indiana's
Lake County Board of Commissioners has called for a form of drug maintenance
therapy for hard-core addicts in an
open letter to his local newspaper and state and federal officials.
Embracing the measure as a means of eliminating the black market drug trade,
Commissioner Gerry Scheub argued that it would shrink the social cost of
illicit drug use.
While mentions of Indiana
may conjure up images of cornfields, which may be found in Lake County,
the county, which abuts neighboring Chicago, is the home of gritty cities
like East Chicago and Gary, and is no stranger to either drug use, drug
trafficking, or drug prohibition-related violence. In fact, Lake
County has its very own High
Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) designation. Former Gary
Mayor Richard Hatcher once similarly called for drug maintenance programs
as a possible solution to urban problems in the 1970s.
"I am concerned about the
abominable curse of illegal drugs," wrote Scheub, warning of "sub-humans
among us" who prey upon the young and the addicted. But as much as
he loathes drug dealers, he recognized the futility of current policies.
"No matter how diligently we pursue drug dealers and incarcerate them,
there are always other criminals that fill their shoes and continue their
pursuit of the despicable deleterious illegal trade. Drugs do and
will continue to destroy lives unless and until a final and effective solution
is devised."
The ominous overtones of
"final solutions" to any social problem notwithstanding, it appears Scheub's
heart is in the right place. "I often wonder why our national leaders
do not subscribe to the idea of creating a national agency that would administer
a program for addicts," he suggested. "Addicted persons would be
examined by qualified medical personnel to determine if they are indeed
addicted and then be administered the drug at a minimal cost. If
and when such a program is instituted, the illegal drug trade will effectively
be eliminated." The Northwest Indiana News reported that Scheub said
that no one incident prompted the letter, although he has long been concerned
about the costs of jailing nonviolent minor drug offenders. Neither
is he going soft on the drug trade, Scheub said.
But Scheub's ideas didn't
wash with a DEA spokesman contacted by the News. Addiction is a curable
disease, said Rafael Lemaitre. "We know that we can make people better,"
Lemaitre said. "We know that we can heal them from their addictions.
So this notion that we would like to maintain their disease and prolong
their misery and keep them slaves to addiction would not be considered
good public health policy."
But it has already worked
in Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Germany, and a similar heroin maintenance
program is pending final approval in Canada. And now a county commissioner
in Indiana thinks it's a good idea in this country. And that's a
good thing, Drug Policy Alliance executive director Ethan Nadelmann told
the News. "It's incredibly valuable when an elected official puts
forward a provocative idea that does offer to help deal with at least a
part of America's drug problem," Nadelmann said.
12.
Newsbrief:
In
Swan
Song,
Ashcroft
Calls
for
Harsher
Sentences,
Chastizes
Foes
Let it at least be said of
outgoing Attorney General John Ashcroft that he is consistent. During
his term as the nation's top law man, the self-avowed Christian conservative
was a relentless advocate of "tough on crime" policies. In a Tuesday
speech that may well be his swan song -- his successor, Alberto Gonzalez,
won Senate approval Thursday -- Ashcroft was still talking that old time
religion.
The decision, in a pair of
cases known as Booker and Fan Fan, threatens public security, Ashcroft
darkly warned. "Last month's Supreme Court ruling that federal judges
are not bound by sentencing guidelines is a retreat from justice that may
put the public's safety in jeopardy," Ashcroft declared. "Which of
our daughters, wives and husbands are we willing to sacrifice to return
to revolving door justice?" He demanded that Congress "reinstitute
tough sentences and certain justice for criminals."
But tough federal sentences,
especially for drug offenders have not gone away. Under federal mandatory
minimum sentence laws, which were not affected by the Booker and Fan Fan
decision, sales of retail amounts of drugs such as crack cocaine continue
to garner lengthy prison sentences. Drug war prisoners now make up
more than half of all federal prisoners, a trend that Bureau of Justice
Statistics figure show only accelerated during Ashcroft's reign.
Ashcroft also used the occasion
to lambaste critics of his "stuff the prisons" policy, calling his foes
"cynics and defeatists" and calling out the nation's leading newspaper
by name. "The New York Times annually sums up this resistance to
reality when it runs a story wondering with violent crime at an all-time
low why so many people are in prison," he said.
The speech drew loud applause
from the audience at the conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington,
where he spoke Tuesday night.
13.
Newsbrief:
Man
Bites
Dog!
Arkansas
Bill
to
Lower
Meth
Sentences
Moves
Forward
Across the land, lawmakers
are scurrying to pass laws to fight the "scourge" of methamphetamine, whether
by restricting the availability of legal over-the-counter medicines, creating
new offenses, or enacting harsher penalties for existing meth offenses.
In Arkansas, this week, legislators headed in a different direction.
A bill that would get some speed cooks out of prison faster passed the
General Assembly's Senate Judiciary committee Tuesday.
Under current Arkansas law,
people convicted of one of a specified list of especially heinous offenses
-- murder, rape, kidnapping, "causing a catastrophe," meth manufacture,
and possession of
Bill sponsor Senator Jack
Critcher (D-Grubbs) told the Associated Press he introduced the bill because
he did not want to add to the state's prison overcrowding problem and because
he wanted to separate the addicts from the dealers. People possessing
less than five grams of meth should be presumed to be in possession of
the drug for personal use, he said.
Click
here to read the bill online.
14.
Newsbrief:
London
Top
Cop
Warns
He
Will
Target
Casual
Cocaine
Users
London's new top police official,
Sir Ian Blair, took over as Metropolitan Police Commissioner Tuesday and
wasted no time in announcing a war on casual cocaine users in the city.
In recent years, as prices have declined, cocaine use has been on the rise
in England and encompasses all social strata, from poor, minority crack
smokers to upper class weekend powder-sniffers. As far as Blair is
concerned, the situation is out of hand and he is ready to make examples,
the newspaper the Scotsman reported.
There are people in London
who think it is "socially acceptable" to enjoy "a wrap of Charlie" at dinner
parties or during a night out clubbing, Blair complained. But while
they may believe they are indulging in a "harm-free" pleasure, he said,
their habit is wreaking havoc from the streets of London to the coca fields
of the Andes.
"I think there are a group
of people in the capital who believe that they are in some way taking harm-free
cocaine," said Sir Ian. "I'm not interested in what harm it is doing
to them personally, but the price of that cocaine is misery on the streets
of London's estates and blood on the roads to Colombia and Afghanistan."
While much attention has
been paid in England to crime and violence associated with the crack cocaine
use of the poor and the wrong-colored, Blair appeared to be sending a warning
that British high society will not be immune from the law. "There
are no areas of the capital which are exempt from the law on drugs," he
said. "I am clear that there are some who think their weekend's wrap
of charlie is entirely harm-free, but it may not be entirely harm-free
for much longer. The tests on cocaine on the toilet seats of various
clubs will tell you an awful lot of cocaine is going on in the centre of
London that people think is exempt from policing," he said.
"People think it is OK but
I do not think it is OK to use cocaine. We will have to do something
about it by making a few examples of people so that they understand," Blair
ominously pronounced. "I am concerned that it is becoming socially
acceptable. People are having dinner parties where they drink less
wine and snort more cocaine."
15.
Newsbrief:
Belgian
Cannabis
Clarification
Now
in
Effect
Belgium
passed a law decriminalizing the personal possession of marijuana under
most circumstances in January 2003, but parts of that law have been
in limbo since October, when the Belgian Court of Arbitration, which reviews
new legislation, declared it unconstitutional because of vagueness and
ambiguity in the wording of the law.
For instance, while the law
made clear that most people should not be arrested for simple marijuana
possession, it said they could get busted if their use was "problematic."
The court found that description unclear. As a consequence, Belgian
prosecutors decided they could not apply that section of the law.
This week, the Ministry of
Justice and the Public Prosecutor's Office moved to clarify the situation,
the online news service Expatica reported. Justice Minister Laurette
Onkelinx and the prosecutor's office issued a joint directive specifying
that anyone caught with less than three grams of the weed or growing one
plant to supply himself should receive the lowest form of sanction, a verbal
warning. Under the directive, police cannot confiscate the weed if
it is less than three grams. The clarification went into effect immediately.
People can still be punished
more severely if they are smoking pot near a school or youth center, in
a public place, or in prison.
The Belgian law makes no
provision for marijuana sales. At the time of the law's passage in
2003, Health Ministry spokesman Paul Geerts recommended that pot-hungry
Belgians could "grow it for yourselves or buy it in the Netherlands."
Now, would be growers can rest assured that they can grow at least one
plant without fear of police reprisal.
16.
Newsbrief:
Spanish
Pharmacies
to
Begin
Selling
Medical
Marijuana
Some 60 pharmacies in Spain's
Catalonia region are set to begin dispensing medical marijuana, Europa
Press reported Tuesday. According to the regional director of health
resources, Rafael Manzanera, the pilot program will be up and running before
the end of April. Spain will thus join the Netherlands as a country
where medical marijuana is available through pharmacies.
Eleven
months ago, the Catalan regional government approved the idea in principle
and, egged on by the Catalan pharmacists' association, which demanded it
match its words with actions, it is now prepared to get the pilot project
underway.
According to Manzanera, the
project will enlist four Catalan hospitals and their pharmacies, and will
eventually be expanded to include 60 pharmacy branches. The expansion
will come once the benefits of the original program have been analyzed,
said a spokesman for the Catalan health ministry.
The dispensing of medical
marijuana will be limited to "combating the vomiting provoked by chemotherapy
and the effects of anorexia in persons suffering from AIDS," said Manzanera.
"It will also try to alleviate muscular problems related to Muscular Dystrophy,
as well as chronic pain that does not respond to other kinds of therapies."
17.
Newsbrief:
Safe
Injection
Site
Opens
in
Oslo
Even in staunchly prohibitionist
Scandinavia, harm reduction measures are hard to resist. According
to a message from Sindre Ringvik, the leader of an Oslo drug users' outreach
project that manages the new Oslo "Syringeroom" ("sproyterommet"), to a
Danish drug users' group, the Danish
Drug Users Union (BrugerFoerningen), the safe injection site is now
open after years of indecision by Norwegian and city of Oslo authorities.
The city of Oslo had decided
to open a safe injection site for hard drug users in October 2001, and
the site had been ready to go since March 2003. But it has taken
until now to win final approval for the trial project.
According to a city of Oslo
web site, the safe injection site has five full-time employees and is open
a relatively limited six hours per day, from 10:00am to 4:00pm. A
health worker is always on duty to supervise -- but not to assist in injections.
If users have problems shooting up, they can turn to other users for help.
The only drug that can be injected at the site is heroin. Users will
also be offered access to drug treatment, either drug substitution or abstinence-based.
Users must register and receive
a special user-number. They must also be over the age of 18 and must
report how much they intend to inject. The locale is familiar to
Norwegian drug users, since it has housed a drug users' health care project
and needle exchange project for the past several years.
For Norse readers, more information
is available here.
18.
Newsbrief:
Rastas,
Watch
Out
At
Ethiopian
Marley
Fest,
State
Department
Warns
The life and goals of late
reggae superstar, world's most famous Rastafarian, global culture hero,
and iconic pot-smoker Bob Marley will be celebrated with two weeks of festivities
in Ethiopia to mark the 60th anniversary of his birth, and the US State
Department is giving a heads up to travelers who may be thinking about
emulating his spliff-puffing ways while they are there.
Although the celebration
sponsored by the Bob Marley
Foundation centers on Marley's birthday, February 6, events stretching
across the first two weeks of the month are expected to draw as many as
half a million people -- many of them Rastas -- to the capital, Addis Ababa,
Ethiopian officials said. While the air above the city is bound
to be clouded with smoke from Jah herb, a sacrament for Rastafarians, the
State Department is warning that Ethiopian authorities will be on a high
state of alert and that marijuana is against the law there.
In a
public announcement issued January 28 to "to alert US citizens to enhanced
security measures" during the celebration, the Department warned: "Ethiopian
authorities plan to enhance security measures for the celebration.
The security enhancements will include increased checks for illegal weapons
and drugs at ports of entry and border crossings. Possession of marijuana
is punishable by up to six months in prison."
It remains to be seen whether
police in the homeland of Rastafari's spiritual fount, the late Ethiopian
Emperor Haile Selassie (Ras Tafari) will devote themselves to harassing
the multitudes of his dreadlocked followers as they partake. It would
hardly seem to be in the spirit of an event called "Africa Unite" and celebrating
the life of Marley.
As Bob Marley Foundation
managing director Dr. Desta Meghoo-Peddie noted in an announcement last
month, "The Marley family is committed to progressing Bob's legacy as a
champion for human rights. The AFRICA UNITE event will honor the
patriarch and strengthen all those who work so hard to fulfill the same
vision. We invite the world to celebrate with us in refueling the
spirit that will unify Africa, her sons and daughters in the Diaspora and
work towards ending violence, poverty, injustice and discrimination."
19.
Newsbrief:
India
Narcs
Set
Off
Prescription
Drug
Panic
Beginning Tuesday pharmaceutical
drug wholesalers and retailers in India have stopped taking shipments of
a wide variety of prescription drugs regulated under the Narcotic Drugs
and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS), according to reports in Hindu Business
and the India Times. Retailers organized in the All India Organization
of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD) say they will quit selling the drugs
to patients starting February 10. The move is, as Hindu Business
put it, the result of "the fear-psychosis spreading among chemists and
medicine retailers across the country" in the wake of raids on pharmacists
by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).
A reinvigorated NCB is making
life miserable for drug wholesalers and retailers, complained AIOCD secretary
general JS Shinde. NCB narcs are raiding and arresting chemists and
pharmacists for minor record-keeping violations, and the Indian government
has failed to respond to repeated requests to discuss the matter, he said.
While the AIOCD recognizes the danger of abuse of the drugs in question,
Shinde said the government must find a better way than jailing pharmacists
and wholesalers.
Drugs affected include anti-depressants,
anti-psychotics, and anti-epileptics, as well as sedatives such as Valium
and narcotic pain relievers and total more than 400 formulations.
The AIOCD would like regulation of the drugs shifted from the illicit drug-oriented
NDPS to the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, which regulates prescription and non-prescription
medicines.
The loudly announced imminent
freeze on supplying prescriptions for the drugs in question may well be
a maneuver by the industry to pressure the government, but the threat of
no drugs is causing great anxiety both among those who use them and those
who manufacture them (thus the stories in the Indian business press).
Shortages are already developing, and people who are used to their Valium
are feeling anxious.
Will the Indian government
blink? Tune in next week.
20.
This
Week
in
History
February 4, 1994: An
unpublished US Department of Justice report indicates that over one-third
of the drug felons in federal prisons are low-level nonviolent offenders.
February 4, 2003: Jurors
in the Ed Rosenthal trial hold a news conference at the federal courthouse
in San Francisco to call for a retrial, saying they felt "used" and "railroaded"
and that they would have acquitted Rosenthal if they had been allowed to
know that it was a medical marijuana case.
February 5, 1988: Manuel
Noriega is indicted in US on drug trafficking charges.
February 6, 2004: The
US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit rejects the DEA's ban on hemp
foods.
February 7, 1968: In
a move likely spurred on by the Nixon campaign's "law and order" rhetoric,
President Lyndon Johnson creates the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous
Drugs (BNDD) by combining the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN) with the
Bureau of Drug Abuse Control (a sub-agency of the Food and Drug Administration).
February 7, 1985: Enrique
Camarena, a DEA agent stationed in Mexico who discovered that drug traffickers
there were operating under the protection of Mexican police officials,
is kidnapped outside of his office in Guadalajara. His body is found
several weeks later bearing marks of brutal torture.
February 7, 2001: After
a contentious confirmation process, new Attorney General John Ashcroft
declares, "I want to escalate the war on drugs. I want to renew it.
I want to refresh it, re-launch it, if you will." Ashcroft fails
to note that under President Clinton's two terms in office the number of
jail sentences nationwide for marijuana offenders was 800% higher than
under the Reagan and Bush administrations combined.
February 8, 1914: The
New York Times publishes an opinion piece titled "Negro Cocaine 'Fiends'
New Southern Menace."
February 9, 2000: Deborah
Lynn Quinn, born with no arms or legs, is sentenced to one year in an Arizona
prison for marijuana possession and violating probation on a previous drug
offense, the attempted sale of four grams of marijuana to a police informant
for $20. Quinn requires around the clock care for feeding, bathing,
and hygiene.
February 10, 1998:
The United Kingdom House of Lords announces an investigation into the recreational
and medical use of marijuana, including "the scientific case for and against
relaxing the prohibition on the medical and recreational use of cannabis."
21.
The
Reformer's
Calendar
Please submit listings of events concerning drug policy and related topics to [email protected]. January 31-February 12, central and southwestern Ohio, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition speaker Judge Eleanor Schockett visits civic groups, churches and colleges explaining drug policy and offering alternatives. For further information, visit http://www.leap.cc or contact Mike Smithson at [email protected] or (315) 243-5844. February 8, 8:00-9:30pm, Philadelphia, PA, NPR's "Justice Talking" debate show covers medical marijuana, recording live with studio audience from the University of Southern California, Annenberg School for Communication, 3502 Watt Way room 204. Visit http://www.justicetalking.org/joinaudience.asp or call Laura Sider at (215) 573-8919 to reserve seats or for further information. February 10, 6:00pm, New York, NY, book talk Anthony Papa, author of "15 To Life: How I Painted My Way To Freedom," guests including Andrew Cuomo and others. At Hue-Man Bookstore and Cafe, 2319 Frederick Douglass Blvd., between 124th and 125th Sts. Call (212) 665 7400 or visit http://www.huemanbookstore.com for info. February 10, 8:00pm, West Hollywood, CA, "Medical Marijuana Extravaganja," benefit performance organized by Howard Dover and Green Therapy. Admission $20 or $10 for patients, at The Comedy Store, 8433 Sunset Blvd., visit http://www.greentherapy.com or contact [email protected] for further information. February 12, 1:30-4:20pm, Laguna, Rally Against the Drug War, organized by OC NORML, SO Cal NORML, and the November Coalition. At Main Beach, for further information visit http://www.ocnorml.org or contact (714) 210-6446 or [email protected]. February 15-17, New England, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition speaker Judge James P. Gray speaks at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts on Feb. 16, Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut on Feb. 17 during the day, and Brown University on Feb. 17 in the evening. For further information, visit http://www.leap.cc or contact Mike Smithson at [email protected] or (315) 243-5844. February 17, Omaha, NE, "Dynamics of American Drug Culture," lecture by Sheldon Norberg at the University of Nebraska. Visit http://www.adopedealer.com or call (402) 554-2623 for further information. February 18-20, Champaign, IL, "Forgiveness Weekend: Double Jeopardy or a New Beginning," sponsored by CU Citizens for Peace and Justice and Salem Baptist Church. At 500 E. Park Ave., contact Danielle Schumacher at (815) 375-0790 for information, brochures or to reserve a space. February 19, Norwich, United Kingdom, Legalise Cannabis Conference 2005. Visit http://www.lca-uk.org for information. February 19, 10:00am-5:00pm, Oakland, CA, "Measure Z and Beyond: The Agenda for Marijuana Reform in California," California Activists' Conference sponsored by California NORML, Oakland Civil Liberties Alliance, Drug Policy Alliance and Marijuana Policy Project. At the Oakland YWCA, 1515 Webster St. (near City Center BART), $20 registration, includes box lunch and evening reception. Contact [email protected] for further information. March 5, Los Angeles, CA, beginning of cross country ride by Law Enforcement Against Prohibition member Howard Wooldridge and his horse. Visit http://www.leap.cc/howard/ for further information. March 12-17, New York, NY, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition speaker Judge James P. Gray addresses civic groups and audiences at Columbia University and John Jay College of Criminal Justice. For further information, visit http://www.leap.cc or contact Mike Smithson at [email protected] or (315) 243-5844. March 20-24, Belfast, Northern Ireland, 16th International Conference on the Reduction of Drug Related Harm. Sponsored by the International Harm Reduction Association, visit http://www.ihrcbelfast.com or contact Dawn Orchard at +44 (0) 28 9756 1993 or [email protected] for further information. March 31-April 2, San Francisco, CA, 2005 National NORML Conference. At Cathedral Hill Hotel, visit http://www.norml.org for further information. April 21-23, Tacoma, WA, 15th North American Syringe Exchange Convention. Sponsored by the North American Syringe Exchange Network, visit http://www.nasen.org for further information or contact NASEN at (253) 272-4857 or [email protected]. April 30 (date tentative), 11:00am-3:00pm, Washington, DC, "America's in Pain!" 2nd Annual National Pain Rally. At the US Capitol Reflecting Pool, visit http://www.AmericanPainInstitute.org for further information. August 19-20, Salt Lake City, UT, "Science and Response in 2005," First National Conference on Methamphetamine, HIV and Hepatitis C. Sponsored by the Harm Reduction Coalition and the Harm Reduction Project, visit http://www.harmredux.org/conference2005.htm after January 15 or contact Amanda Whipple at (801) 355-0234 ext. 3 for further information. April 5-8, 2006, Santa Barbara, CA, Fourth National Clinical Conference on Cannabis Therapeutics. Sponsored by Patients Out of Time, details to be announced, visit http://www.medicalcannabis.com for updates. If you like what you see here and want to get these bulletins by e-mail, please fill out our quick signup form at https://stopthedrugwar.org/WOLSignup.shtml. PERMISSION to reprint or redistribute any or all of the contents of Drug War Chronicle is hereby granted. We ask that any use of these materials include proper credit and, where appropriate, a link to one or more of our web sites. If your publication customarily pays for publication, DRCNet requests checks payable to the organization. If your publication does not pay for materials, you are free to use the materials gratis. In all cases, we request notification for our records, including physical copies where material has appeared in print. Contact: StoptheDrugWar.org: the Drug Reform Coordination Network, P.O. Box 18402, Washington, DC 20036, (202) 293-8340 (voice), (202) 293-8344 (fax), e-mail [email protected]. Thank you. Articles of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of the DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.
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