Drug War Chronicle
(formerly The Week Online with DRCNet)
Issue #379
-- 3/18/05
"Raising Awareness of the Consequences of Drug Prohibition"
Phillip S. Smith, Editor
David Borden, Executive Director
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
- EDITORIAL:
HOW
TO
LAUNCH
A
NATIONWIDE
DRUG
EPIDEMIC
Congressional
hearings
on
steroid
use
in
baseball,
with
celebrity
sports
stars
subpoenaed
to
be
there,
was
the
talk
of
the
airwaves.
If
history
is
a
guide,
more
teen
steroid
use
may
result.
- ALASKA
MEASURE
TO
RECRIMINALIZE
MARIJUANA
HEADED
FOR
HEARINGS
NEXT
WEEK
Thanks
to
rulings
by
the
state
Court
of
Appeals
and
Supreme
Court,
Alaska
is
the
only
state
in
the
union
to
have
legalized
the
possession
of
up
to
four
ounces
of
marijuana
in
one's
home.
Republican
Gov.
Frank
Murkowski
doesn't
like
that,
and
he's
trying
to
change
it
--
again.
- THE
UN
VIENNA
MEETING:
GLASS
HALF
EMPTY
OR
GLASS
HALF
FULL?
Last
week,
Drug
War
Chronicle
reported
on
the
UN
Office
on
Drugs
and
Crime
Commission
on
Narcotic
Drugs
meeting
in
Vienna,
but
our
deadline
came
before
the
meeting
ended.
This
week
we
report
on
how
it
all
turned
out.
- MARIJUANA
REGULATION
EFFORTS
MOVING
FORWARD
IN
NEVADA
AND
VERMONT
Efforts
to
regulate
marijuana
like
alcohol
and
tobacco
are
underway
at
different
ends
of
the
country,
with
legislation
in
Vermont
and
a
Nevada
effort
aiming
at
the
2006
ballot.
- MARIJUANA
LAW
ENFORCEMENT
COSTS
MORE
THAN
$7
BILLION
A
YEAR
--
AND
DOESN'T
WORK,
SAYS
NEW
REPORT
A
new
report
from
the
National
Organization
for
the
Reform
of
Marijuana
Laws
pegs
the
costs
of
marijuana
law
enforcement
in
the
United
States
at
$7.6
billion
annually
and
finds
that
escalating
marijuana
arrests
over
the
past
two
decades
have
failed
to
have
any
impact
on
marijuana
use
rates.
- 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
Another
slow
week
on
the
corruption
front
--
nothing
spectacularly
evil,
just
the
same
old
banal
personal
corruption
of
cops
and
jailers
who
either
couldn't
resist
temptation
or
let
their
habits
get
on
top
of
them.
But
the
taint
of
drug
law-related
corruption
is
cumulative,
and
each
story
like
this
adds
to
the
general
impression
of
police
run
amok.
- NEWSBRIEF:
US
DRUG
WAR
HURTS
WOMEN,
SAYS
NEW
REPORT
In
a
report
released
Thursday,
the
American
Civil
Liberties
Union
and
two
other
groups
charged
that
US
drug
policy
is
bringing
severe,
disproportionate
harm
to
women
- NEWSBRIEF:
WELFARE
BILL
AMENDED
TO
CUT
FUNDING
TO
STATES
THAT
FAIL
TO
DRUG
TEST
WELFARE
RECIPIENTS,
BUT
NONE
CURRENTLY
DO
A
bill
that
would
extend
welfare
reform
legislation
enacted
by
Congress
in
1996
would
cut
federal
welfare
funding
to
any
state
that
does
not
require
drug
tests
for
those
applying
for
or
receiving
welfare
benefits.
But
at
least
one
state
has
seen
such
policies
struck
down
as
unconstitutional
by
a
federal
court.
- NEWSBRIEF:
POLICE
IN
MISSOURI
TOWN
SEEK
TO
OVERTURN
MARIJUANA
REFORM
ORDINANCE
Police
in
Columbia,
Missouri,
are
trying
to
overturn
a
voter-approved
law
that
spares
students
from
financial
aid
loss
by
treating
marijuana
possession
as
a
municipal
ticketable
offense
rather
than
a
prosecutable
state
one.
- NEWSBRIEF:
HEROIN
MAINTENANCE
STUDY
NOW
UNDERWAY
IN
VANCOUVER
The
NAOMI
heroin
maintenance
pilot
project
got
underway
Monday
in
Vancouver,
with
three
users
becoming
the
first
in
North
America
to
participate
in
such
a
program,
receiving
and
injecting
free
heroin
in
NAOMI's
highly
secure
facility
in
Vancouver's
Downtown
Eastside.
- NEWSBRIEF:
VANCOUVER
SUN
SAYS
LEGALIZE
IT
In
a
four-day
series
of
editorials
last
week,
British
Columbia's
largest
newspaper,
the
Vancouver
Sun,
called
for
the
legalization
of
marijuana.
The
editorial
series
came
as
parliament
considers
a
middle-ground
measure
to
decriminalize
pot
possession
and
as
Canada
reeled
from
the
killings
of
four
Royal
Canadian
Mounted
Police
officers
in
a
raid
only
tangentially
--
but
sensationally
--
linked
to
a
small
marijuana
grow-op
in
Alberta.
- NEWSBRIEF:
UN
PREDICTS
COCAINE
PRICE
INCREASE,
CITES
COLOMBIA
"SUCCESS"
The
top
United
Nations
anti-drug
official
in
Colombia
has
predicted
that
cocaine
prices
in
the
United
States
and
Europe
will
rise
next
year
because
of
US-sponsored
aerial
fumigation
of
coca.
But
officials
couldn't
explain
why
there've
been
no
signs
of
it
so
far.
- NEWSBRIEF:
EUROPEAN
DRUG
THINK-TANK
CALLS
FOR
LEGALIZING
AFGHAN
OPIUM
CROP
--
AFGHAN
GOVERNMENT
REACTION
MIXED
A
Paris-based
drug
policy
think-tank
called
last
week
for
Afghanistan's
record
illicit
opium
crop
to
be
regularized,
with
farmers
licensed
to
grow
poppies
for
medicines
such
as
morphine
and
codeine.
Government
ministers
have
made
conflicting
statements
about
the
idea.
- NEWSBRIEF:
CRACKDOWN
IN
SAO
PAULO'S
"CRACKLAND"
STIRS
CRITICISM
A
police
crackdown
on
crack
cocaine
users
and
homeless
people
in
the
central
Sao
Paulo
area
known
as
Cracolandia
has
drawn
criticism
from
Brazilian
harm
reduction
groups.
- MEDIA
SCAN
Tony
Papa
on
Artists
Against
the
Drug
War
for
Alternet,
Slate
on
the
WTO
and
Marijuana
Laws,
UK
Overdosing
on
Opiates
Article
- THIS
WEEK
IN
HISTORY
Events
and
quotes
of
note
from
this
week's
drug
policy
events
of
years
past.
- MAPS
BENEFIT
AUCTION
The
Multidisciplinary
Association
for
Psychedelic
Studies
is
hosting
an
online
benefit
auction
this
week
on
E-Bay.
- 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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