Drug War Chronicle
(formerly The Week Online with DRCNet)
Issue #386
-- 5/13/05
"Raising Awareness of the Consequences of Drug Prohibition"
Phillip S. Smith, Editor
David Borden, Executive Director
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
- EDITORIAL:
PAYING
FOR
PROPAGANDA
Largely
absent
from
recent
debates
on
government-financed
propaganda
have
been
the
long-running,
thoroughly
bipartisan
anti-drug
media
campaigns
--
which
include
paid
advertising
but
are
by
no
means
limited
to
it.
- FEATURE:
MARIJUANA
REMAINS
LEGAL
IN
ALASKA
Alaska
remains
the
only
state
in
the
union
where
adults
may
legally
possess
marijuana,
after
the
legislature
adjourned
without
acting
on
a
bill
sponsored
by
the
governor
to
recriminalize
it.
- FEATURE:
MAJOR
RUSSIAN
DRUG
REFORMS
ON
VERGE
ON
BEING
REVERSED
Dramatic
reforms
in
Russia's
criminal
code
past
last
year
are
on
the
verge
of
being
reversed,
thanks
to
lobbying
by
Russia's
counterpart
to
the
DEA.
- FEATURE:
ONDCP
STUDENT
DRUG
TESTING
ROAD
SHOW
DOGGED
BY
"TRUTH
SQUADS"
A
four-city
road
show
organized
by
the
Office
of
National
Drug
Control
Policy
to
promote
student
drug
testing
ended
Wednesday.
- 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.
- SENTENCING:
HOUSE
PASSES
ORWELLIAN
"ANTI-GANG"
MANDATORY
MINIMUMS
Seventy-one
House
Democrats
voted
with
a
near-solid
Republican
majority
to
approve
an
"anti-gang"
bill
that
includes
many
new
and
increased
mandatory
minimum
sentences,
including
increased
penalties
for
some
drug
offenses.
- WEEKLY:
THIS
WEEK'S
CORRUPT
COPS
STORIES
This
week,
we
revisit
some
corrupt
cops
we've
covered
in
the
past
as
new
developments
unfold.
- COCAINE:
CONNECTICUT
HOUSE
PASSES
BILL
TO
ELIMINATE
CRACK/POWDER
DISPARITIES
The
Connecticut
House
of
Representatives
Tuesday
passed
a
bill
that
would
eliminate
sentencing
disparities
between
powder
cocaine
and
crack
cocaine
sentences.
- PAIN:
BOSTON
CONGRESSMAN
WANTS
NATIONWIDE
BAN
ON
OXYCONTIN
A
Massachusetts
congressman
has
introduced
a
bill
to
ban
Oxycontin
nationwide.
It's
not
going
over
well.
- PAIN:
ABC'S
NIGHTLINE
GIVES
SYMPATHETIC
LOOK
AT
PAIN
TREATMENT
VS.
PROHIBITION
The
growing
controversy
over
the
clash
between
the
imperatives
of
medicine
and
those
of
the
drug
war
when
it
comes
to
the
use
of
opioids
for
pain
treatment
was
the
topic
of
ABC
News'
Nightline
program
Wednesday
night.
- PRISONS:
SEX
ABUSE
OF
FEDERAL
INMATES
BY
GUARDS
"A
SIGNIFICANT
PROBLEM,"
JUSTICE
DEPARTMENT
SAYS
The
sexual
abuse
of
inmates
in
the
federal
prison
by
US
Bureau
of
Prisons
personnel
is
a
significant,
ongoing
problem
that
is
often
ignored
by
administrators
and
prosecutors,
a
report
by
the
Justice
Department's
Office
of
Inspector
General
has
found.
- INITIATIVES:
DENVER
MARIJUANA
INITIATIVE
SUBMITTED
FOR
APPROVAL
Fresh
from
organizing
successful
student
referenda
on
two
campuses,
a
Colorado
group
Wednesday
announced
it
had
taken
the
first
step
to
place
a
measure
legalizing
marijuana
possession
in
Denver
on
the
November
ballot.
- INITIATIVES:
MICHIGAN
MARIJUANA
INITIATIVE
EFFORT
GETS
UNDERWAY
A
Michigan
organization
has
begun
gathering
signatures
to
place
an
amendment
eliminating
penalties
for
personal
use,
possession,
or
cultivation
of
marijuana
on
the
November
2006
ballot.
- MIDDLE
EAST:
LAWLESS
IRAQ
BECOMING
KEY
DRUG
CORRIDOR,
INCB
SAYS
High
levels
of
violence
and
instability,
along
with
porous
borders,
are
drawing
drug
traffickers
to
Iraq,
the
International
Narcotics
Control
Board
said
Thursday.
- ASIA:
TAIWAN
CONSIDERS
SYRINGE
ACCESS
TO
REDUCE
AIDS
SPREAD
Responding
to
figures
showing
injection
drug
use
is
now
the
leading
cause
of
new
HIV
infections
in
Taiwan,
health
officials
there
announced
they
are
considering
providing
drug
users
with
sterile
syringes.
- CARIBBEAN:
"GANJA
PLANTER"
LAMENT
TOPS
THE
CHARTS
IN
TRINIDAD
&
TOBAGO
A
song
bemoaning
the
plight
of
marijuana
growers
is
all
the
rage
in
the
Caribbean
island
nation
of
Trinidad
&
Tobago.
- WEEKLY:
THIS
WEEK
IN
HISTORY
Events
and
quotes
of
note
from
this
week's
drug
policy
events
of
years
past.
- JOB
LISTING:
OUTREACH
COORDINATOR,
COALITION
FOR
HIGHER
EDUCATION
ACT
REFORM
(DRCNET)
Work
is
available
from
July
onward
in
the
campaign
to
repeal
the
drug
provision
of
the
Higher
Education
Act.
- 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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