Drug War Chronicle
(formerly The Week Online with DRCNet)
Issue #377
-- 3/4/05
"Raising Awareness of the Consequences of Drug Prohibition"
Phillip S. Smith, Editor
David Borden, Executive Director
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
- THE
IGNORANCE
AND
THE
DAMAGE
DONE
Two
weeks
ago
DRCNet
reported
on
Rep.
Mark
Souder's
hearing
and
the
international
attack
on
harm
reduction
it
presaged.
While
some
anti-harm
reductionists
like
to
borrow
Neil
Young's
song
title,
"The
Needle
and
the
Damage
Done,"
globally
it
is
ignorance
causing
bad
policies
that
is
driving
up
the
spread
of
HIV
and
AIDS.
- INTERNATIONAL
HARM
REDUCTION
BATTLE
HEATING
UP
The
Bush
administration's
attack
on
harm
reduction
internationally
has
gone
into
high
gear
--
and
so
have
harm
reduction
supporters.
- NATIONAL
DRUG
CONTROL
STRATEGY
TAKING
LUMPS
FROM
ALL
SIDES
US
drug
czar
John
Walters
unveiled
the
country's
2005
National
Drug
Control
Strategy
last
week,
only
to
run
into
criticism
from
unexpected
quarters
and
research
findings
that
contradicted
some
of
its
primary
planks.
- UNDER
NEW
SOUTH
DAKOTA
ANTI-METH
LAW,
DRUG
USE
EQUALS
CHILD
ABUSE
A
bill
passed
last
week
by
the
South
Dakota
legislature
as
an
anti-methamphetamine
measure
defines
use
or
distribution
of
ANY
hard
drug
in
a
location
where
children
are
present
as
child
abuse.
Under
civil
law
that
means
the
state
can
take
people's
children
away
from
them.
- DRCNET
NEEDS
YOU
TO
WRITE
THE
SENATE
A
misguided
law
written
by
arch-drug
warrior
Rep.
Mark
Souder
has
taken
financial
aid
for
college
away
from
more
than
160,500
would-be
students
because
of
drug
convictions.
A
House
bill
to
repeal
the
law
will
be
reintroduced
next
week.
Your
help
is
needed
to
get
one
in
the
Senate.
- DRCNET/PERRY
FUND
EVENT
TO
FEATURE
REP.
JOHN
CONYERS
AND
KEMBA
SMITH,
MARCH
9
IN
WASHINGTON,
DC
Please
join
DRCNet
and
the
Perry
Fund
for
the
second
stop
in
our
national
tour
raising
money
for
student
scholarships
and
awareness
of
a
bad
law.
- COASTERS
TO
STOP
THE
DRUG
WAR
Order
DRCNet's
new
Stop
The
Drug
War
coasters
--
and
enjoy
your
favorite
beverages
while
talking
about
prohibition.
- EVENTS
AND
CONFERENCES
COMING
UP
FOR
DRUG
REFORMERS
--
COME
OUT
AND
BE
A
PART
OF
IT
Events
and
conferences
are
coming
up
around
the
country
--
come
out
and
get
to
know
the
people
in
the
movement!
- NEWSBRIEF:
THIS
WEEK'S
CORRUPT
COPS
STORIES
This
week
has
been
a
quiet
one
on
the
police
corruption
beat.
We
go
on
nevertheless,
not
so
much
with
corrupt
cops
as
with
cops
on
dope.
- NEWSBRIEF:
FOUR
CANADIAN
MOUNTIES
KILLED
RAIDING
MARIJUANA
GROW
In
a
bloody
incident
certain
to
raise
the
decibel
level
as
Canada
grapples
with
marijuana
law
reform,
four
members
of
the
Royal
Canadian
Mounted
Police
were
shot
to
death
Thursday
morning
as
they
investigated
a
marijuana
grow
in
remote
northwestern
Alberta.
- NEWSBRIEF:
LEGALIZE
IT,
SAYS
BUSINESS
WEEK
COLUMNIST
In
a
Monday
column
for
the
Internet
version
of
Business
Week,
contributing
economics
editor
Christopher
Farrell
called
for
legalizing
currently
illicit
drugs
and
taxing
them
at
very
high
rates.
- NEWSBRIEF:
WASHINGTON
STATE
DRUG
REFORM
COALITION
LAUNCHES
CAMPAIGN
A
coalition
of
Washington
state
professional
and
civic
groups
led
by
the
King
County
Bar
Association
officially
kicked
off
its
campaign
for
alternatives
to
drug
prohibition
with
a
Seattle
news
conference
Thursday.
- NEWSBRIEF:
TEXAS
RACIAL
PROFILING
STUDY
FINDS
NO
PROGRESS,
CALLS
FOR
BAN
ON
CONSENT
SEARCHES
Nearly
four
years
after
the
Texas
legislature
enacted
legislation
to
track
racial
profiling,
a
study
has
found
that
blacks
and
Hispanics
continue
to
be
stopped
and
searched
at
higher
rates
than
whites.
- NEWSBRIEF:
ARKANSAS
BILL
THAT
WOULD
HAVE
CUT
METHAMPHETAMINE
SENTENCES
DEFEATED
DRCNet
reported
a
month
ago
on
the
progress
of
an
Arkansas
bill
that
would
have
reduced
sentences
for
some
methamphetamine
offenders.
It
was
too
good
to
be
true.
- NEWSBRIEF:
UTAH
TREATMENT
NOT
JAIL
BILL
DYING
FOR
LACK
OF
FUNDING
Proposed
legislation
in
Utah
to
divert
drug
offenders
from
prison
to
drug
treatment
appears
to
have
been
mortally
wounded
by
legislators'
refusal
to
spend
$6
million
to
fund
the
program.
- NEWSBRIEF:
COLOMBIA
GUERRILLAS
DEMAND
RETURN
OF
COMMANDER
EXTRADITED
TO
US
Colombia's
leftist
rebel
army,
the
17,000-strong
FARC,
is
demanding
the
release
by
the
US
of
one
of
its
top
commanders
as
a
condition
for
the
release
of
63
hostages
it
is
holding,
including
three
American
mercenaries
and
former
presidential
candidate
Ingrid
Betancourt.
- NEWSBRIEF:
BRITISH
OPPOSITION
PROMISES
TOUGH
NEW
DRUG
WAR
IF
ELECTED
As
British
Conservatives
gear
up
for
elections
in
May,
they
are
staking
out
a
tough
anti-drug
position.
So
is
Prime
Minister
Tony
Blair
and
his
Labor
Party.
- NEWSBRIEF:
AS
BRITISH
PARTIES
EMBRACE
STUDENT
DRUG
TESTING,
RESEARCH
REPORT
FLASHES
CAUTION
LIGHT
With
British
Conservatives
and
Laborites
busily
embracing
random
student
drug
testing
as
they
vie
to
out-tough
each
other
on
drug
and
crimes
issues
ahead
of
looming
parliamentary
elections,
a
respected
think-tank
has
released
on
report
challenging
both
the
efficacy
and
the
ethics
of
testing
school
kids
for
drugs.
- NEWSBRIEF:
"THE
MARIJUANA-LOGUES"
TOUR
CANCELLED
AFTER
PAROLE
OFFICER
FORCES
TOMMY
CHONG
TO
QUIT
The
touring
show
of
"The
Marijuana-Logues,"
which
has
been
wowing
stoner
audiences
off-Broadway
for
a
year,
has
been
canceled
because
star
Tommy
Chong's
parole
officer
was
threatening
to
send
him
back
to
prison.
- A
DRUG
WAR
CAROL
NOW
AVAILABLE
IN
SPANISH
AND
FRENCH
The
comic
book-style
Dickens
parody/drug
war
critique
is
now
online
in
two
more
languages.
- 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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