Drug War Chronicle
(formerly The Week Online with DRCNet)
Issue #384
-- 4/29/05
"Raising Awareness of the Consequences of Drug Prohibition"
Phillip S. Smith, Editor
David Borden, Executive Director
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
- EDITORIAL:
POINTLESSNESS
A
well
conceived
civil
disobedience,
or
obedience,
by
fellow
reformers
abroad
is
effectively
illustrating
the
pointlessness
of
drug
prohibition.
- FEATURE:
IN
CIVIL
OBEDIENCE
CAMPAIGN,
HUNGARIAN
DRUG
USERS
TURN
THEMSELVES
IN
A
campaign
by
drug
users
and
former
drug
users
has
been
giving
Hungarian
police
fits
--
and
putting
drug
reform
in
the
media
spotlight
just
as
a
Hungarian
parliamentary
committee
examining
the
subject
is
getting
underway.
- FEATURE:
MARIJUANA
RESEARCH
GROW
EFFORT
HEADS
FOR
DEA
HEARING
The
federal
government
has
long
stalled
efforts
to
reclassify
marijuana
and
obstructed
attempts
by
researchers
to
do
studies
that
could
lead
to
the
development
of
marijuana
as
a
legal
prescription
medicine.
Now,
a
Univ.
of
Massachusetts
researcher
is
seeking
a
DEA
hearing
to
allow
him
to
seek
scientific
truth.
- FEATURE:
THE
NORTH
AMERICAN
SYRINGE
EXCHANGE
CONVENTION
Front-line
harm
reduction
workers
from
around
the
country
converged
on
Tacoma,
Washington,
last
week
for
the
annual
North
American
Syringe
Exchange
Convention.
- DRCNET
INTERVIEW:
TEN
YEARS
OF
ORGANIZING
HARD
DRUG
USERS
--
ANN
LIVINGSTON
OF
THE
VANCOUVER
AREA
NETWORK
OF
DRUG
USERS
Hard
drug
users
are
demonized
in
Canada
too,
not
just
the
US.
But
in
Vancouver,
home
to
one
of
the
hemisphere's
largest
concentrations,
they
have
organized
and
are
taking
a
prominent
role
in
shaping
the
city's
cutting
edge
drug
policies.
Ann
Livingston
has
been
with
the
group
from
the
beginning
and
talks
to
DRCNet
about
how
it
happened
and
how
it
can
be
replicated.
- ANNOUNCEMENT:
DRCNET/PERRY
FUND
EVENT
TO
FEATURE
US
REP.
JIM
MCDERMOTT,
JUNE
1
IN
SEATTLE
Please
join
DRCNet
and
the
Perry
Fund
for
the
first
west
coast
stop
in
our
national
tour
raising
money
for
student
scholarships
and
awareness
of
a
bad
law.
- WEEKLY:
THIS
WEEK'S
CORRUPT
COPS
STORIES
From
the
Big
Apple
to
the
Heartland,
this
week's
roll
of
dishonor
includes
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.
- BAD
COPS
II:
SOUTH
TEXAS
DRUG
TASK
FORCE
FIGHTS
DIRTY
Texas
state
senator
Juan
Hinojosa
worked
to
restrict
the
use
of
undercover
police
agents
in
the
wake
of
the
Tulia
scandal.
Now
he
has
two
bills
that
have
aroused
the
ire
of
at
least
one
Texas
drug
task
force,
and
those
cops
are
fighting
back.
- 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,
and
now
tops
2.1
million.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
was
shaken
this
week
as
one
cabinet
member
went
off
the
reservation
by
calling
for
the
complete
legalization
of
"soft
drugs
throughout
Europe.
- 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.
- INDIA:
CRACKDOWN
ON
OPIUM
GROWERS
SPURS
CONFUSION,
PROTESTS
IN
KARNATAKA
Farmers
in
the
countryside
surrounding
the
high-tech
center
of
Bangalore
have
been
growing
opium
for
years,
apparently
oblivious
to
laws
restricting
the
cultivation
of
poppies.
That
has
changed
this
month
--
and
the
farmers
aren't
happy.
- WEEKLY:
THIS
WEEK
IN
HISTORY
Events
and
quotes
of
note
from
this
week's
drug
policy
events
of
years
past.
- EVENTS:
MPP
GALAS
NEXT
WEEK
AND
THE
FOLLOWING
Celebrity
events
coming
up
on
two
coasts
will
support
the
cause.
- WEEKLY:
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!
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