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(formerly The Week Online with DRCNet) Issue #384 -- 4/29/05
"Raising Awareness of the Consequences of Drug Prohibition" Phillip S. Smith, Editor
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Table of Contents
1.
Editorial:
Pointlessness
David Borden, Executive Director, [email protected]
But when one faces facts straight on, they say a simple thing: Most people who use drugs are okay. If results are what count, in most cases it's okay that people are using drugs. Not in all cases, to be sure. But in most cases. Certain types of civil disobedience can illustrate the pointlessness of criminalization of drug use in a vivid enough way to be both noticed and understood. Members of the European Parliament Marco Cappato of Italy and Chris Davies of Great Britain accomplished this three years ago when they presented themselves to police in the London suburb of Manchester with minute quantities of marijuana attached to the back of a couple of postage stamps, getting arrested in the process. Cappato and Davies weren't even using the marijuana, it wasn't even enough to be used, they clearly were not menacing society in any way, they are highly respectable citizens. Yet it was enough to get them sent to jail in handcuffs. That is an effective demonstration of the pointlessness of criminalization. Drug reformers in the formerly-Communist nation of Hungary are doing something similar right now. Roughly 30 of them have turned themselves in as drug users to Budapest and other city police headquarters since the beginning of April. Among them was a famous novelist who is also grandmother -- clearly not a threat to society. Police are being forced to arrest these people and make the law look ridiculous in the process. It is fueling discussion, not only about casual use of marijuana but also how society deals with the truly problematic drug users. It is raising the issue of the unlucky ones who get caught and might not get a lenient sentence. It may well help to change the country's drug laws. The criminalization of responsible drug users is only one of the many pointless aspects of drug prohibition. Criminalization of the trade in drugs itself is also pointless, though for more complex reasons that involve economics, public health and many other factors. But criminalization of users is pointless on its face. People may miss that obvious point a lot of the time. But they are capable of grasping it, without a lot of effort, if it is pointed out in a clear and compelling manner. I believe they can understand the rest of it too. As New Mexico's former governor, Gary Johnson, has put it, support for the drug war is a mile wide but an inch deep. Our drug policies are so far off-base, with such serious consequences, it isn't that hard to get a lot of people, perhaps most, to understand at a minimum that some things are wrong. Prohibition is pointless, but our efforts to end it need not be.
2.
Feature:
In
Civil
Obedience
Campaign,
Hungarian
Drug
Users
Turn
Themselves
In
For the past month, drug users and former drug users have been giving Hungarian police fits as they march up to police stations and turn themselves in, demanding to be charged as violators of the country's repressive -- by European standards -- drug laws, according to reports from participants and organizers. The campaign has managed to put drug reform in the media spotlight just as a Hungarian parliamentary committee examining the subject is getting underway.
The self-confessed drug criminals have since kept coming, and are beginning to include well-respected and well-known Hungarians. Eight people turned themselves in the first week in April, and approximately 30 had done so by this week. Earlier this month, established Hungarian novelist and literary figure Julia Langh, a 63-year-old grandmother, joined the civil obedience campaign, appearing at her local police station to announce that she had been using cannabis without ill effect for forty years -- a move that rekindled the media spotlight on the issue. Organized by the Hemp Seed Association, or Kendermag, a nonprofit group that advocates for drug users' rights and drug reform in Hungary, the "Civil Obedience" campaign is designed to express discontent with Hungary's drug laws. Under those laws, simple possession of illicit drugs, including cannabis, can result in a two-year prison sentence. In a 2003 "reform," the ruling Socialist-Liberal government created the option of a six-month stay in a drug treatment program. In the rhetoric of the current government, drug users are not "criminals" but "sick people" who need treatment. That is not a paradigm Hemp Seed and other reformers are buying, and by presenting themselves for arrest, drug users hope to point out the glaring injustice of those laws, organizers said. With some 4,000 drug arrests annually, 90% of them for simple possession, according to government figures, the prosecution of drug users is keeping the courts busy. And with a series of raids on raves where hundreds were arrested on drug charges, police aren't helping. "This is about sincerity and fairness," said Peter Juhasz, spokesman for the Hemp Seed Association. "If you are a drug user you face criminal prosecution every day -- whether you are arrested is only a matter of luck. The government says it does not intend to imprison and criminalize drug users, but this is evidence that is not true. Just because you smoked a joint some weeks ago, you can undergo a very humiliating procedure and the loss of your freedom. Only 1-2% of drug users in Hungary are problem users, and even they do not need imprisonment, only free and effective services to improve their quality of life." Drug users just want to be respected and left alone, said Juhasz. "We don't believe in forced treatment and medicalization," he said. "We would like to show that we want to live as law-abiding citizens." "Many people identify drug users as the dregs of society; let us show them that drug uses are sometimes well-respected people with a normal lifestyle," said Peter Sarosi of the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union's Drug Policy Project, whose attorneys accompany people turning themselves in and which has produced a how-to pamphlet telling people how to do it themselves. "When the police are arresting these people in front of the TV cameras, that shows the irrationality and injustice of the present law. It is also a sort of coming out for the movement." The Hungarian campaign takes the Gandhian civil disobedience model and flips it, said Sarosi. "Civil obedience is a play on words," he explained. "It is modeled after civil disobedience movements, but it turns the philosophy of disobedience on its head: Why can't we protest by being obedient to the law we want to change? This is Gandhi-style passive resistance: Okay guys, if you think we're criminals, please arrest all of us who have ever used any kind of illicit drug," he told DRCNet. The campaign has generated tons of publicity, said Sarosi. "The media response has been very intensive and also very positive. After the first arrests, it was the lead story in all the daily newspapers the next day. And you see very few articles or reports that are critical of the action, and those are coming from the right-wing press," he said. The continuing campaign has also led drug reformers to be invited onto television and radio talk shows and generated a letter of support from more than 50 drug treatment and prevention experts urging the government to accept Hemp Seed's proposal and decriminalize drug use. The timing couldn't be better for the Hungarian drug reform movement, which got underway more than a decade ago with the formation of the HCLU, and the Hemp Seed Association, which cut its teeth with last year's May Million Marijuana March and is busily preparing for this year's. The government is moving on several fronts toward a revision of the drug laws. Discussions are going on among the government ministries on a new law and an ad hoc parliamentary committee to discuss drug policy issues was set up earlier this year. Sarosi was guardedly optimistic about the prospects for progress on his country's drug laws. "The Alliance of Free Democrats {SZDSZ) last week introduced a proposal in parliament to completely abolish sanctions for simple drug possession, and the HCLU was invited to address one of the interministerial discussion panels. Of six experts tentatively hired by the parliamentary committee, five favor decriminalization, and one of them is another HCLU attorney, Andrea Pelle. We should be able to reach a certain consensus that drug users should not be punished -- in legal terms, that means some form of depenalization, maybe making possession an administrative offense punishable only by civil sanctions if the user causes a public nuisance."
3.
Feature:
Marijuana
Research
Grow
Effort
Heads
for
DEA
Hearing
During November's Supreme Court oral arguments in Raich v. Gonzalez (formerly Raich v. Ashcroft), the case challenging the federal government's ability to intervene in states where medical marijuana is legal, Justice Stephen Breyer suggested that patients ask the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to reclassify marijuana for medicinal use. That would be "the obvious way to get what they want," said Breyer. "Medicine by regulation is better than medicine by referendum," he added. But the federal government has long stalled efforts to reclassify marijuana and has obstructed attempts by researchers to do studies that could lead to the development of marijuana as a legal prescription medicine. Now, in a case involving a University of Massachusetts scientist who has fruitlessly sought DEA permission to grow medical marijuana for research purposes for the past three years, the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies and the American Civil Liberties Union Drug Law Reform Project are seeking a hearing from a DEA administrative law judge that would allow the research to move forward. "Doctors and patients would like to take Justice Breyer up on his proposal during oral arguments in Raich to develop marijuana as a medicine through the FDA approval process," said ACLU staff attorney Alan Hopper. "Justice Breyer calls for 'medicine by regulation,' but the government's idea of 'regulation' is to obstruct research." Under federal law, the federal government has a monopoly on the supply of marijuana available for research, which comes from the National Institute on Drug Abuse's (NIDA) Mississippi pot farm. All other controlled substances are provided to researchers by DEA-licensed laboratories. But scientists seeking to study the medicinal effects of marijuana with the goal of trying to turn it into FDA-approved prescription medicine have been blocked at every turn. Seeking to get around the research marijuana roadblock, in 2001 UMass researcher Dr. Lyle Cracker went to the DEA to win approval for a marijuana researcher production facility to be sponsored by MAPS. For three years, the DEA failed to act. Only when Craker and MAPS filed a lawsuit against the DEA last year was the agency spurred to act, and it did so by denying Craker's petition in December. Now, Craker and MAPS have been joined by the ACLU as they appeal the DEA ruling before a DEA administrative law judge. A hearing in the case is expected sometime this summer. "The public has a right to know about possible health effects of marijuana and whether this plant material has any medicinal value," said Craker at a Monday press conference. "Only through unobstructed medical research can doctors and scientists determine the value of marijuana in treating human afflictions. My job is to make plant material available for research, and the refusal of the DEA to allow me to grow marijuana for medical research prevents a full investigation of the potential health benefits of the plant material." MAPS president Rick Doblin criticized the government's "heavy-handed policies" and urged the DEA to stop obstructing research. "We are frustrated with the DEA's red tape and the federal government's heavy-handed policies that stifle our research," said Doblin. "Drug war politics should not obstruct our pharmaceutical development process, especially when it comes to researching drugs with the potential to reduce chronic suffering and reduce the negative side effects of life-saving medicines." In papers filed last Friday, the ACLU said that NIDA discriminates against scientists who seek to study marijuana's efficacy and safety. Such research clashes with NIDA's mission to study only the harmful effects of drugs, the group argued. "We have joined in representing Dr. Cracker because we believe scientists and researchers should be able to pursue the truth about all drugs," said the ACLU's Hopper. "The public has a right to know the truth, and sick people have the right to safely access the medicines they need. We need further research to turn medical marijuana into a safe, affordable, and predictable treatment, but the government has created a catch-22. They always say we need more research, but at the same time they block it. The government is placing ideology above the health and safety of patients," he added. Researchers need alternatives to the NIDA weed not only because of bureaucratic roadblocks but also because the government-supplied marijuana is of low quality, said medical marijuana patient Phillip Alden. "I've been using marijuana for the past eight years to combat nerve pain," Alden said. "My doctor wanted to do a clinical study involving medical marijuana, and I was the first patient to qualify. But the marijuana we got from the government was freeze dried, which destroys the THC-bearing crystals. The government pot tasted terrible. It was very harsh and contained seeds and stems." The government weed was so bad, said Alden, he was forced to resign from the research project. "I had to stop smoking the high-quality product I got from the cannabis clubs and smoke a lot of government-grown marijuana every day," he explained. "But I had to drop out because the harsh NIDA weed gave me bronchitis." "This is a classic market failure," said MAPS' Doblin. "No pharmaceutical company is interested in developing marijuana as a medicine without a dependable supply. Major research foundations are not funding this, no sponsor is trying to make marijuana into a prescription medicine. Right now, we're stuck. We can't buy it, we can't import it, we can't subcontract out for it, we can't grow our own. MAPS is willing to sponsor this research, but the DEA is putting politics over science. They fear the results of the science."
4.
Feature:
The
North
American
Syringe
Exchange
Convention
Front-line harm reduction workers from around the country converged on Tacoma, Washington, last week for the North American Syringe Exchange Convention, the annual gathering of the North American Syringe Exchange Network. More than 150 people gathered for three days of networking, meetings, and nuts-and-bolts information on what works and what doesn't in America's growing needle exchange movement. While a funding crunch led to the cancellation of the last scheduled national conference in 2003, NASEN head Dave Purchase said that was just a bump in the road. "We're here, we're meeting again, we're not going away," he said. With more than 200 needle exchange programs now operating across the country -- many legally -- the harm reduction intervention indeed seems increasingly well-entrenched. And even where needle exchanges are still criminalized, they are occurring anyway. And it was a diverse group that gathered in Tacoma -- more diverse than usually seen at drug policy conferences -- both racially and culturally, with a significant African-American contingent, people representing major countercultural movements (socially conscious punks from Chicago, dread-locked hipsters from California), and multiple genders and sexual orientations in the house. Precisely because of that diversity, the needle exchangers were grappling with issues all too rarely confronted by the broader drug reform movement: How does needle exchange fit into the largely gay-based AIDS movement? How do people of color fit into the needle exchange movement? How does needle exchange fit into the broader drug reform movement? Participants grappled with those questions and much more during a busy, presentation-packed weekend, with down to earth workshops on topics such as "How to Run a Needle Exchange," "Wound Care Among IDUs and Problems With Receiving Care," and "Berkeley Needle Exchange Emergency Distribution: An Example of an All-Volunteer Collective Syringe Exchange Program."
Pasco was adamant about not strictly adhering to the exchange part of NEPs. "You don't have to turn in a needle to get a needle from me," he said. "We don't force gay people to carry used condoms around and we don't force addicts to carry dirty needles just to have one to trade. Why should people be forced to carry potentially deadly instruments around with them?" the burly, longhaired Midwesterner asked. While Pasco's Indiana program is walking the legal tightrope, other NEPs are unambiguously illegal -- but going ahead anyway. In Orange County, California, for example, local officials have refused to declare the health emergency required to authorize needle exchanges, but local activists refuse to wait. In an underground program there that began in January 2004, some 400 people are now receiving an average of 2,500 clean needles each month. "Many of my friends are recovering heroin addicts, and I've lost a few to the drug, too," said the Orange County exchanger, who asked to remain anonymous. "I never slammed, but most of the people I ran with did. I was a painter, but I broke my hand, so I was looking to do something with a larger impact. Here was a place where something needed to be done. These people were sharing needles and sharpening them on matchbooks. Before I started the exchange, maybe one in 10 had severe abscesses and two in 10 had severe tracking from repetitive shooting-up," he told DRCNet. It's not just handing out needles, said the Orange County worker. "I educate them, give them literature and information about how to use safely," he said. "It's strictly underground; I don't have any interaction with the cops. But that also means it's strictly home-delivery because we can't have a fixed site. The cops already hassle and search people constantly." In Orange County, it may be primarily heroin that people are injecting, but there, as elsewhere, methamphetamine increasingly looms large on the horizon. Meth was certainly on the minds of conference participants. In a Saturday afternoon session, Naomi Braine of New York's Beth Israel Medical Center discussed risk behavior among speed shooters in NEPs, while Luciano Colonna of the Harm Reduction Project explained links between meth users and HIV and Hep C infection rates in the West and Midwest. The issue will be explored in much greater detail at a national methamphetamine conference set for Salt Lake City in August, Colona was eager to point out. Relations with the larger AIDS movement were also a hot and sensitive topic at the conference. With attendees complaining that mainstream AIDS activists treat NEPs like the red-headed step-child of the movement, NASEN devoted an entire morning session to discussing whether and on what terms to accept an invitation to participate in the Campaign to End AIDS (C2EA). In the end, the organization agreed to sign on to the campaign, but only after obtaining promises from organizers that its input would be sought and its issues included in the C2EA platform. Foremost among those issues are lifting the ban on federal funding of NEPs. "The AIDS groups don't want to recognize us," said Pasco. "They're scared about their funders. They call what they do harm reduction, but harm reduction came from small actors, from ACT-UP, from grassroots gay and lesbian groups that did the actual work of harm reduction. Harm reduction without needle exchange is not harm reduction," he said. Though its members spend time in the trenches daily dealing with some of the most outrageous unintended consequences of drug prohibition, NASEN devoted little time and discussion to the bigger picture. Among the numerous panelists at the event, only Cliff Thornton of Efficacy, the Connecticut-based anti-prohibitionist group, drew the explicit connection in his presentation, "Beyond Needle Exchange and Prohibition." "We have to talk about race, class, and prohibition," Thornton told DRCNet. "The answer is not federal funding of NEPs or lifting laws on syringe sales, the answer ultimately is ending prohibition." While Thornton was disappointed the issue didn't get more play in Tacoma, at least the needle exchangers were facing it, he said. "The drug reform movement in general is not prepared to grapple with these issues, and that's a mistake." NASEN may not be ready to slay the giant of prohibition, but after three days of meetings, workshops, and informal networking, participants at the conference came away refreshed, invigorated, and ready to continue the good fight.
5.
DRCNet
Interview:
Ten
Years
of
Organizing
Hard
Drug
Users
--
Ann
Livingston
of
the
Vancouver
Area
Network
of
Drug
Users
In the United States, hard
drug users are demonized. They are in Canada, too, even in Vancouver,
home to one of the hemisphere's largest concentrations of users in the
city's Downtown East Side. But in Vancouver, hard drug users have
organized themselves in a way that has allowed them to take a prominent
role in shaping the city's cutting edge drug policies, which include North
America's only officially sanctioned safe injection site and heroin maintenance
program. Taking a lead role in organizing the city's drug users is
VANDU, the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users, and taking a lead role
in VANDU is Ann Livingston, who has been with the group from the beginning.
After hearing Livingston address the North American Syringe Exchange Network
conference in Tacoma last weekend, Drug War Chronicle interviewed her about
how VANDU has brought power to the powerless and a measure of justice to
the Downtown East Side.
6.
Announcement:
DRCNet/Perry
Fund
Event
to
Feature
US
Rep.
Jim
McDermott,
June
1
in
Seattle
Congressman Jim McDermott has agreed to deliver the keynote address for this event, which will take place on the evening of June 1st in downtown Seattle. We hope that you'll join DRCNet, KCBA, Rep. McDermott and others for this exciting occasion. Emceeing the event will be KCBA's Roger Goodman, and additional speakers will include Andy Ko, American Civil Liberties Union of Washington; Dan Merkle, Center for Social Justice; Lisa Cipollone, Sen. Maria Cantwell's Office; Cindy Beavon, Students for Sensible Drug Policy; David Borden, DRCNet; others to be announced. All proceeds will benefit the John W. Perry Fund, providing scholarships for students who have lost financial aid because of drug convictions while memorializing a hero of 9/11 and champion of drug policy reform and civil liberties. The Perry Fund is a project of DRCNet Foundation. The Details: The event will take place on Wednesday, June 1, 2005, from 6:00-8:00pm, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel-Seattle, Third Floor Garden Pavilion, 1113 6th Ave., Seattle, WA. Please RSVP to [email protected] or (202) 362-0030. Light refreshments will be served, donations requested. http://www.RaiseYourVoice.com/perryfund/ Jim
McDermott is United States Representative for Washington's
7th Congressional District.
Born in Chicago, IL on December 28, 1936, he was the
first member of his family to attend college, and went on to
finish medical school.
After completing his medical residency and military
service, he made his first run for public office in 1970 and
served in the State Legislature from the 43rd district in
Washington State. In
1974, he ran for the State Senate, and held the office for three
terms. In 1987, after 15
years of legislative service, Rep. McDermott decided to leave
politics and continue in public service as a Foreign Service
medical officer based in Zaire, providing psychiatric services
to Foreign Service, AID, and Peace Corps personnel in
sub-Saharan Africa. When
the 7th district Congressional seat later became open, he
returned from Africa to run for the US House of
Representatives. He began
serving in 1989 to the 101st Congress and is currently serving
his 9th term.
Please join us on June 1st in Seattle to thank Rep. McDermott for his support of this issue while raising money to help students stay in school! If you can't make it, you can also help by making a generous contribution to the DRCNet Foundation for the John W. Perry Fund. Checks should be made payable to DRCNet Foundation, with "scholarship fund" or "John W. Perry Fund" written in the memo or accompanying letter, and sent to: DRCNet Foundation, P.O. Box 18402, Washington, DC 20036. DRCNet Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charity, and your contribution will be tax-deductible as provided by law. Please let us know if we may include your name in the list of contributors accompanying future publicity efforts. About John Perry: John William Perry was a New York City police officer and Libertarian Party and ACLU activist who spoke out against the "war on drugs." He was also a lawyer, athlete, actor, linguist and humanitarian. On the morning of September 11, 2001, John Perry was at One Police Plaza in lower Manhattan filing retirement papers when the first plane hit the World Trade Center. Without hesitation he went to help, losing his life rescuing others. We decided to dedicate this scholarship program, which addresses a drug war injustice, to his memory. John Perry's academic achievements are an inspiring example for students: He was fluent in several languages, graduated from NYU Law School and prosecuted NYPD misconduct cases for the department. His web site is http://www.johnwperry.com. Visit https://stopthedrugwar.org
for further information on DRCNet. Visit http://www.kcba.org/druglaw/
for further information on the King County Bar Association Drug
Policy Project. Contact
the Perry Fund at [email protected]
or (202) 362-0030 to request a scholarship application, get
involved in the HEA Campaign or with other inquiries, or visit
http://www.raiseyourvoice.com
and http://www.ssdp.org
online.
Sincerely,
David Borden
7.
Weekly:
This
Week's
Corrupt
Cops
Stories
From the Big Apple to the Heartland, prohibition-related police corruption knows no bounds. This week's stories include both corruption based on good, old-fashioned greed and the perhaps even more corrosive corruption of law enforcement officers abusing citizens and the law itself in their efforts to fight the drug war. It takes all kinds. Let's get to this week's roll of dishonor: In Topeka, fall-out continues from the February arrest of then Topeka narcotics officer Thomas Pfortmiller. The Kansas narc was indicted on more than a hundred counts of misuse of public funds, theft, perjury, forgery and official misconduct for allegedly ripping off police drug-buy money. But it now appears that wasn't all Pfortmiller was grabbing. The Topeka Capital Journal reported Saturday that prosecutors in Shawnee County were forced to drop the charges in a major methamphetamine bust because the evidence -- 4.5 pounds of speed valued at between $30,000 and $200,000 -- had gone missing. According to police records, Pfortmiller checked it out of an evidence locker in 2003, supposedly to be taken to a federal laboratory, but it never arrived. Two other cases in which Pfortmiller apparently made off with the evidence have already been resolved, the newspaper reported. In St. Louis, veteran police officer Reginald Williams is on trial for allegedly planting drugs on two people. The former "Officer of the Year" arrested a woman at a day care center for possession of crack cocaine, but underreported the amount he seized and instead claimed it was in the possession of two men he also arrested. Williams' arrest report "was fabrication from beginning to end," said Assistant US Attorney David Rosen as the case began. Sleazily enough, the framing of the pair did not come to light until Williams partner, former officer Terrell Carter, who has since left the profession and who has admitted repeatedly beating a handcuffed suspect in the case, ratted off Williams to the feds. Williams is being tried on two counts of deprivation of civil rights, three counts of obstruction of justice, one count of making a false statement to a federal official and one count of possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine. Several other officers have been granted immunity from prosecution in a trial that is certain to further tarnish the reputation of St. Louis' finest. Meanwhile, St. Louis prosecutors are reviewing other drug cases in which Williams was involved. Last year, one defendant was freed from prison after prosecutors determined Williams' testimony was no longer believable. In Westwood, Massachusetts, police officer Kevin McCarthy was fired by town selectmen on March 28 for a series of misdeeds, including stealing drugs, threatening people, illegally searching cars and homes, and offering favors to suspects in exchange for drugs, the Boston Herald reported. McCarthy was fired after a 12-page report on accusations against him found "credible evidence" of misconduct. In one case, McCarthy allegedly took Oxycontin from an elderly woman's home during a medical call and when questioned, claimed it was a joke and that he intended to plant it on a fireman. In another case, McCarthy is alleged to have offered to overlook a minor traffic violation in exchange for drugs. In other cases, the report accuses McCarthy of conducting illegal searches, seizing drugs in traffic stops but failing to turn them in, and taking drugs from the police evidence locker. No word yet on whether criminal charges will be filed. In New York City, a drug-related police scandal that emerged last year just keeps on going. In October, two NYPD Narcotics Division detectives, Julio Vasquez and Thomas Rachko, pleaded guilty to stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from drug dealers. The lax supervision revealed by their arrest and conviction led to 20 police officers being removed from a watchdog unit that was supposed to oversee the narcs. Those inspectors were disciplined for failing to properly oversee the overtime claimed by Brooklyn South narcs, some 70 of whom were found to have falsified their time sheets. On Monday, the New York Post reported that an additional 13 veteran supervisors and detectives -- virtually the entire "investigations unit" charged with scrutinizing narcotics, vice, and car crime cops -- have been slapped with departmental misconduct charges. The charges range from failing to supervise to misusing time to shaping their work schedules to fit their personal lives. Some supervisors were claiming overtime pay for work they did not do or otherwise cutting corners in their jobs. "They were supposed to be watching search warrants, checking on roll calls and watching overtime," a source told the Post. "But basically they were part of the problem, too."
8.
Bad
Cops
II:
South
Texas
Drug
Task
Force
Fights
Dirty
Texas state senator Juan Hinojosa is no stranger to drug policy reform, having authored bills that restricted the use of undercover police agents in the wake of the Tulia scandal. This year, he has sponsored two bills that have aroused the ire of at least one Texas drug task force, and those cops are fighting back. Hinojosa is sponsoring one bill that would .
But if Garza hoped the traffic stop video would aid his cause, he appears to be mistaken. First, the video demonstrates all too clearly why people like Hinojosa feel the task forces need to be reined in. Hinojosa was stopped because the factory tint on his SUV windows was "too dark" and because he "swerved" when he waved at the officer. Such "pretextual" stops are common operating procedure for highway drug law enforcers, who will then seek permission to search the vehicle. And they are especially common in the task force's turf. According to an ACLU study of highway interdiction in Texas, the South Texas task force reported vehicle searches in fully one-third of traffic stops, with a whopping 93% of them being "consent searches." In other words, in only 7% of the vehicle searches conducted by the task force did its officers have any reason to conduct a search. By way of comparison, only 12% of San Antonio police searches were consent searches and only 14% of Austin police searches. "That's a sign the task force is fishing for assets, not just enforcing the law," said Henson. "These drug task forces are out there just interdicting and stopping people illegally without probable cause asking to search their vehicles and pretty much harassing citizens of the state of Texas," Hinojosa told fellow legislators at an April 12 hearing. "And all they are trying to do is see if they can find money that they can seize to fund their operations. To me what they do is illegal, improper, and not good public policy," he said. "Let me tell you I've been stopped several times by drug task forces that don't come under jurisdiction of the DPS," said Hinojosa. "They don't need probable cause to stop you. They just stop you. They will profile you which is illegal to stop you, ask to search your vehicle without probable cause which is also illegal, and I refuse. But a lot of citizens don't know that and what they do is go through your car, snoop around, see what they can find and let you go if they don't find any money. Those drug task forces have no business operating in our state." And now, through its attempt to embarrass and retaliate against Hinojosa for going after task force abuses, the South Texas Specialized Crime and Narcotics Task Force is squarely in the limelight and helping to make the case for its own abolition. On Monday, Hinojosa's bills were placed on the Senate intent calendar -- typically a signal that they will pass.
9.
Prisons:
US
Inmate
Population
Continues
to
Swell,
Now
at
2.1
Million
The US prison system grew by about 900 prisoners a week between June 2003 and June 2004, the Bureau of Justice Statistics reported this week. With an additional 48,000 inmates, the US prison population is growing at an annual rate of 2.3% and now tops 2.1 million, the agency reported.
According to Harrison, the ever-increasing prison population is attributable to "get tough" sentencing policies enacted in the 1980s and 1990s. Among the policies cited by Harrison were mandatory minimum drug sentences, three-strikes laws, and "truth in sentencing" laws that get rid of parole. "As a whole most of these policies remain in place," she said. "These policies were a reaction to the rise in crime in the '80s and early 90s." Among other findings:
10.
Drug
Czar:
Walters
Under
Attack
By
Prohibitionists
Washington's prohibition establishment is beginning to eat its own tail, according to a report this week in the National Journal. According to the high-dollar Washington insider publication, drug czar John Walters is under attack from the very people who should be his allies -- members of Congress, police, even current and former staffers of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
Walters was even slagged by arch-drug warrior Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN), chair of the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy, and Human Resources. Walters "is on the verge of gutting his own office," said Souder. "This is a period of more turmoil than we have had since the Bush administration took over, inside ONDCP." Walters' reign as drug czar has been marked by personnel problems and the loss of key senior officials at ONDCP. One former senior official, John Gregrich, told the Journal Walters began "harassing" career employees with petty conduct complaints designed to punish them or persuade them to resign. Another problem was former deputy demand director Andrea Barthwell, who was the subject of a hostile workplace complaint filed by Gregrich. An ONDCP investigator in that case found, "The management method currently being employed has created an atmosphere of intimidation." Barthwell left in July 2004 in a failed bid for a US Senate seat from Illinois, and most of her senior aides left with her. Neither Barthwell nor her aides have been replaced. "There has been a flushing of the demand reduction office," a Democratic congressional staffer told the Journal. "There has been a problematic lack of depth" in ONDCP since then, said a Republican staffer. Walters and ONDCP are also under attack for isolating themselves from their putative allies. "Under the previous administration, as the president of a national group, we frequently met with the director and other ONDCP executive staff," said Ronald Brooks, president of the National Narcotic Officers' Associations' Coalition. "We have only had one meeting like that since Walters took over four years ago, and that meeting happened right after he took over, and we haven't had one since. Without a dialogue, sitting in a policy office inside the Beltway, how do you make great decisions if you don't ask anybody?" Brooks asked. But it is Walters' support of the 2006 Bush anti-drug budget, which cuts the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program, the Safe and Drug-Free Schools program, and other demand-reduction programs, that has really angered his erstwhile prohibitionist pals. Under the budget, HIDTA is set to lose more than half its funding and be transferred from ONDCP to the Justice Department. The program was "unable to demonstrate results," Walters said in defending the cuts. Rep. Souder told the Journal he was upset that Walters and the administration had failed to consult with anyone outside the White House about the cuts, even though they have the potential to significantly impact anti-drug programs nationwide. "It's the arrogance of it which upset me so much," Souder said. "They didn't talk to anybody." Now you know how we feel, Mr. Souder.
11.
Marijuana
March:
Global
March
May
7
in
More
Than
180
Cities
If it is almost May, it is also almost time for the annual march for marijuana legalization coordinated by Dana Beal and his New York City-based organization, Cures Not Wars. Now in their fourth decade, the marches began in New York in 1972 and have since spread across the country and the planet. This year, the marches are scheduled for May 7, although there may be some local variation.
Many of the new cities are in Eastern Europe, including Budapest, Sofia, Kiev, and Prague. In Budapest, the march will mark the culmination of a "civil obedience" campaign where drug users have turned themselves in to authorities to protest the drug laws (See related story this issue). Other cities holding marches this year include just about every major European capital, dozens of smaller European cities, the Latin American metropolises of Buenos Aires, Mexico City, and Rio de Janeiro, as well as Auckland, Capetown, Jerusalem, and Tokyo. In the US, protestors calling for marijuana legalization will march in dozens of cities ranging from New York and San Francisco to Albany, NY; Birmingham, AL; Colorado Springs, CO; Dover, DE; and Rapid City, SD; Spokane, WA; Traverse City, MI; Visalia, IL; and Wilkes-Barre, PA. This year, the Global March campaign has sharpened its message by emphasizing public health and not just medical marijuana. Organizers estimated that more than half a million lives a year could be saved by switching consumption from alcohol and tobacco to pot. And it's not the smoke, said Beal, it's the nicotine. "Even chewing tobacco will give you cancer of the lip and gum, while there has never been a report of stomach cancer from marijuana brownies," he noted.
12.
Holland:
Ministers
Squabble
Over
Cannabis
--
One
Calls
For
Legalization,
Has
Public
Opinion
on
His
Side
The conservative Dutch government's attempted hard line against cannabis in a country famed for its tolerance of the herb was shaken this week as one cabinet member went off the reservation by calling for the complete legalization of "soft drugs," i.e. cannabis, throughout Europe. Those comments contradicted the official anti-cannabis line laid down by the Dutch Justice Ministry, but, according to polls released Wednesday, reflect the sentiments of Dutch voters and local elected officials. While the Christian Democrat-led Dutch government has been making noises about cracking down on the country's famed cannabis coffee shops ever since it was elected, this week's furor began on Monday, when Minister for Democratic Reform Alexander Pechtold told reporters he supported the complete legalization of cannabis in Europe. The comments came as he visited the border city of Venlo, long a favorite of "drug tourists" from nearby Germany and Belgium. Officials there and in other border towns are examining how to deal with the influx of dope-seeking foreigners. While Pechtold said cannabis should be legalized, in the meantime he supported the proposal by some mayors for the creation of a "cannabis boulevard" on the outskirts of border towns where coffee shops could be relocated to minimize problems. That same day, Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner, an anti-cannabis hard-liner, was busily rejecting suggestions from mayors in the southern Limburg region to legalize cannabis. "Southern Limburg would become the narcotics state of Europe," Donner warned. As for Pechtold's remarks, those were a "beginner's error," said Donner. By Tuesday, Donner was downplaying the controversy. "It is a lot of commotion about nothing," he told reporters. "Essentially, we have no difference of opinion." But there is indeed a difference of opinion within the Dutch government. The majority Christian Democrats are keen to implement a tougher policy on coffee shops and have introduced legislation making it easier to shut them down to eliminate disturbances. But Pechtold's party, Democracy 66, the junior member in the ruling coalition, calls for the legalization of cannabis. That position puts D66 more in line with the cannabis policies of the opposition Labor and Green parties, both of which greeted Pechtold's remarks warmly. "There is now a minister who dares to think," said Labor Party leader Woulter Bos. Pechtold's pro-legalization position also won support from Dutch mayors and citizens polled on the issue this week. In one poll, the newspaper Trouw interviewed the mayor's of Holland's 30 largest cities, and found that two-thirds supported legalization. And in a sounding of public opinion, Dutch pollster Maurice de Hond found that 49% supported legalization, 15% wanted the current policy of tolerance to continue, while only 33% wanted a more restrictive policy. The brouhaha over cannabis policy has also reached the Dutch parliament. Hearings were set for Wednesday on the issue. But those hearings were upstaged by a joint statement that day by Pechtold and Donner in which Pechtold caved in and embraced the government's position against creating "cannabis boulevards" and that cannabis legalization is not an option for Holland. Under current Dutch law, the coffee shops are technically illegal but tolerated and regulated. Cannabis cultivation remains a crime that is prosecuted.
13.
Europe:
British
Heroin
Maintenance
Program
to
Expand
A British program that provides free heroin to addicts is set to expand in June, the National Health Service's Treatment Agency announced last week. In an ongoing pilot program, some 450 heroin users who have not responded to methadone or other treatments currently receive the drug. If that initial run is evaluated as being a success, the number receiving prescription heroin could nearly double, an agency spokesman said. The British government has responded to advice from its own drug experts that similar heroin maintenance programs in Switzerland and Holland have significantly reduced drug-related crime and other social problems. A similar experimental program is now underway in Canada, with addicts in Vancouver already receiving maintenance doses and the program set to expand to Montreal and Toronto. In addition to 450 people receiving prescription heroin, the ongoing trials include another 3,000 who are receiving methadone. According to the National Health Service, there are 56,000 registered heroin users in Britain, but independent drug experts, such as Drugscope say the actual number of addicts is closer to 200,000. Participants begin with oral methadone, and if that fails to reduce user criminality, injection methadone is the next step. If that, too, fails, heroin injections are prescribed, along with counseling. "The majority of patients on substitution medication get oral methadone," said an agency spokesman. "What we are suggesting is that, if that is not working, we may need to look at other forms of treatment. That could be a different dose of methadone. It could be injectable methadone or some may benefit from treatment with injectable heroin. There may be an increase in the numbers receiving injectable heroin, but we are talking about hundreds not thousands." In the 1970s, as much as 20% of heroin addicts were prescribed heroin under NHS auspices, but that withered away under attacks from prohibitionists. Now, once again, the tide may be turning. Visit http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/Misc/60minliv.htm and http://www.drcnet.org/guide2-95/liverpool.html for background on past UK heroin maintenance programs.
14.
India:
Crackdown
on
Opium
Growers
Spurs
Confusion,
Protests
in
Karnataka
The South Indian city of Bangalore may be a burgeoning high tech center, but it's a different world for farmers out in the province, where payasam, or rice pudding topped with opium poppy, is a favored dish. Farmers there have been growing opium for years, apparently oblivious to laws banning poppy-growing except under license for medical purposes. But that has changed in recent months as police, apparently spurred by mention of the practice in the International Narcotics Control Board's latest annual report, have cracked down, arresting 20 farmers last month and seizing unspecified quantities of opium.
"The farmers will be set free if they prove they are innocent. I admit they were not aware of the ban. Now, we have distributed literature on the crime of cultivation of opium poppy," said state agriculture minister K. Srinivasa Gowda. Still, the eradication drive would continue unless and until the national government responds to his request for licensed poppy cultivation, he said. "In states like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, the government has issued licenses for poppy only for medicinal applications. I have requested Mr. Sharad Pawar (the agriculture minister) to use his good offices to get similar licences to our farmers." In the meantime, farmers are grumbling. "We want the government to withdraw cases against farmers and set them free," said K. Puttanaiah, president of the Karnataka State Farmers Association, which called the planned protest rally. "Will the government imprison farmers who grow sugarcane or tobacco because one can make rectified spirit and cigarettes? This coalition government has no inkling of agricultural practices or problems of farmers," he added. Some farmers have fled to avoid prison sentences of up to 10 years. "My husband did not know this crop is illegal. The person who gave us the seeds said it was for medicinal plants. I have not slept after the police raided our farm (in March)," said Savithramma, 46, whose husband A. Krishnappa fled as soon as he heard about the raids.
15.
Weekly:
This
Week
in
History
April 29, 1996: At a speech at a Miami high school, President Clinton calls for a war on drugs -- for the second time. Gen. Barry McCaffrey, the nation's drug czar, tells the Cleveland Plain Dealer on May 1 that "everything the president has announced is already being done. There's nothing new here." April 30, 1984: Colombian Minister of Justice Rodrigo Lara Bonilla, who had crusaded against the Medellin cartel, is assassinated by a gang of motorcycle thugs. President Belisario Betancur, who had opposed extradition, announces "We will extradite Colombians." Carlos Lehder is the first to be put on the list. The crackdown forces the Ochoas, Escobar and Rodriguez Gacha to flee to Panama for several months. A few months later, Escobar is indicted for Lara Bonilla's murder and names the Ochoas and Rodriguez Gacha as material witnesses. May 1971: US Reps. Robert Steele (R-CT) and Morgan Murphy (D-IL) release an explosive report on heroin addiction among US servicemen in Vietnam. May 1995: The US Sentencing Commission votes 4-3 to fully eliminating the disparity in sentencing for powder vs. crack cocaine offenses. Congress overrides the recommendation, for the first time in the commission's history. May 1998: Operation Casablanca, the largest money-laundering probe in US history, leads to the indictment of three Mexican and four Venezuelan banks as well as 167 individual arrests. May 1, 1972: Nobel laureate in economics Milton Friedman writes in Newsweek: "Legalizing drugs would simultaneously reduce the amount of crime and raise the quality of law enforcement. Can you conceive of any other measure that would accomplish so much to promote law and order?" May 1, 2003: The Illicit Drug Anti-Proliferation Act of 2003 is signed into law, amending Section 416 of the Controlled Substances Act, known as the "crack house statute," to more directly target organizers of dance events, or raves. May 2, 2001: The Louisiana Senate votes 29-5 to end mandatory minimum sentencing for possession of small quantities of drugs. May 3, 1994: Columnist "Dear Abby" writes in her column, "Just as bootleggers were forced out of business in 1933 when Prohibition was repealed, making the sale of liquor legal (thus eliminating racketeering), the legalization of drugs would put drug dealers out of business. It also would guarantee government approved quality, and the tax on drugs would provide an ongoing source of revenue for drug-education programs." May 5, 2001: The United States is voted off the United Nations Narcotics Control Board, the 13-member body monitoring compliance with UN treaties on substance abuse and illegal trafficking. May 6, 2001: In an attempt to prevent drug overdoses and sharing of used syringes, Sydney, Australia, opens its first legal heroin injection room. The facility is operated by the Uniting Church, in the Kings Cross Neighborhood.
16.
Events:
MPP
Galas
Next
Week
and
the
Following
On May 4 in Washington, DC, and May 9 in Santa Monica, California, the Marijuana Policy Project will be holding a star-studded pair of 10th Anniversary Gala fundraisers. Seats are still available, but should be reserved soon because the events are coming up. Visit http://www.mpp.org/galas/ for further information or to purchase your tax-deductible tickets online. In Washington, DC, US Rep. Linda Sanchez will present the Public Face of Reform Award to Montel Williams, and former Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders will present the Legislative Leadership Award to US Rep. Sam Farr. Acclaimed comic, actor, and Emmy Award-winning writer Rick Overton will serve as master of ceremonies. Also attending will be US Reps. John Conyers, Barney Frank, and Dennis Kucinich. In Los Angeles, actor Tommy Chong will accept the Courage Under Fire Award, and Supreme Court plaintiffs Angel Raich and Diane Monson will receive the Marijuana Policy Reform Activist of the Year Award. Cast members Christian Campbell, John Kassir, and Amy Spanger from Showtime's musical remake of "Reefer Madness" will perform songs from the show. Comedian Tom Rhodes will emcee, with music by Ray Benson, Inara George, Lily Holbrook, and dj John Kelley. Both events will feature clips from the new films "Waiting to Inhale" from Jed Riffe and "Chong's Not Here!" from Josh Gilbert. Again, visit http://www.mpp.org/galas/ to support the cause and be part of these exciting events!
17.
Weekly:
The
Reformer's
Calendar
Please submit listings of events concerning drug policy and related topics to [email protected]. April 30, 11:00am-3:00pm, Washington, DC, "America's in Pain!" 2nd Annual National Pain Rally. At the US Capitol Reflecting Pool, call (662) 247-1471 or visit http://www.AmericanPainInstitute.org for further information. POSTPONED -- CHECK BACK FOR NEW DATE -- April 30, 7:00pm, New York, NY, "Drop-The-Rockathon," all night benefit concert against the Rockefeller drug laws. Sponsored by Revel Arts and Liv-I-Culture Holistic Living Arts Collective, at Space 515, 515 W. 29th St. (between 10th and 11th, A/C/E to 34th St. by subway), admission $10-$20 sliding scale. For further information visit http:// www.Liv-I-Culture.com or e-mail [email protected]. May 4, Washington, DC, Marijuana Policy Project 10th Anniversary Gala. Featuring Montel Williams and Rep. Sam Farr, at the Washington Court Hotel, contact Francis DellaVecchia at (310) 452-1879 or [email protected] or visit http://www.mpp.org/galas/ for further information. May 4-6, Columbus, OH, " COPE Corrections: Opportunity for Professional Excellence," 4th annual conference of the Ohio Community Corrections Association. At the Marriott Renaissance Hotel, 50 N. 3rd St., visit http://www.occaonline.org/event_conference2005.asp for further information. May 5, 6:30pm, Washington, DC, "State of Fear," film about Peru's decades of political violence, based on the findings of Peru's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and discussion with the producer and a member of the commission. At the Elliott School, 1957 E St., Harry Harding Auditorium (Room 213), admission free. RSVP to Jamie Foster at [email protected]. May 6, 8:30pm, Hollywood, CA, "Howard Has High Hopes," medical marijuana benefit comedy show supporting the Eddy Lepp defense fund, local compassion clubs, and Inglewood's Let's Rap Brothers locally and their Operation Africa, a quality of life activity for Black men afflicted with HIV/AIDS. At the Comedy Store, 8433 Sunset Blvd., admission $20 or $10 for patients with ID, cash only at the door. Visit http://www.greentherapy.com for information. May 7, numerous locations worldwide, "Million Marijuana March," visit http://www.cures-not-wars.org for further information. May 9, Santa Monica, CA, Marijuana Policy Project 10th Anniversary Gala. Featuring Montel Williams and Tommy Chong, at the Sheraton Delfina Hotel, contact Francis DellaVecchia at (310) 452-1879 or [email protected] or visit http://www.mpp.org/galas/ for further information. May 14, 1:30-4:20pm, Laguna Beach, CA, "Rally Against the Failing War on Drugs," with OC NORML, November Coalition and So. Cal NORML. At Laguna Main Beach, call (714) 210-6446 or visit http://www.ocnorml.org for further information. June 1, Seattle, WA, John W. Perry Fund fundraiser, featuring US Rep. Jim McDermott. Details to be announced, contact DRCNet Foundation at (202) 362-0030 or [email protected] for updates or visit http://www.raiseyourvoice.com/perryfund/ online. June 4, Columbus, OH, 18th Annual Ohio Hempfest. On the OSU campus, contact Tara Stevens at (614) 299-9675 or Arlette Roeper at [email protected], or visit http://www.ohiohempfest.org for further information. August 13, Washington, DC, "Million Family Members and Friends of Inmates March," sponsored by Family Members of Inmates. Contact Roberta Franklin at (334) 220-4670 or [email protected] 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. August 20-21, 10:00am-8:00pm, Seattle, WA, Seattle Hempfest 2005. At Myrtle Edwards Park, Pier 70, admission free, visit http://www.hempfest.org or (206) 781-5734 or [email protected] for further information. August 28, 11:00am-9:00pm, Olympia, WA, Third Annual Olympia Hempfest. At Heritage Park, visit http://www.olyhempfest.com for further information. September 17, Boston, MA, "Sixteenth Annual Fall Freedom Rally," sponsored by MASSCANN. On Boston Common, visit http://www.masscann.org for updates, or contact (781) 944-2266 or [email protected]. November 9-12, Long Beach, CA, "Building a Movement for Reason, Compassion and Justice," the 2005 International Drug Policy Reform Conference. Sponsored by Drug Policy Alliance, at the Westin Hotel, details to be announced. Visit http://www.drugpolicy.org/events/dpa2005/ for updates. November 13-16, Markham, Ontario, "Issues of Substance," Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse National Conference 2005. At Hilton Suites Toronto/Markham Conference Centre & Spa, visit http://www.ccsa.ca/pdf/ccsa-annconf-abstract-2005-e.pdf for info. February 9-11, 2006, Tasmania, Australia, The Eleventh International Conference on Penal Abolition (ICOPA), coordinated by Justice Action. For further information visit http://www.justiceaction.org.au/ICOPA/ndx_icopa.html or contact +612-9660 9111 or [email protected]. 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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