SUBSCRIBE TODAY!!!

TABLE OF CONTENTS

	US Congressman Criticizes Drug War at Seattle Fundraiser Wednesday Night

1. FEATURE: US CONGRESSMAN CRITICIZES DRUG WAR AT JOHN W. PERRY FUND RECEPTION IN SEATTLE
   More than 50 Seattle area drug reformers, educators, and political figures led by US Rep. Jim McDermott gathered Wednesday evening in downtown Seattle for a successful fundraiser for a scholarship program set up by DRCNet to provide financial aid to students losing financial aid for college because of drug convictions.
2. FEATURE: BRITISH COURTS REJECT MEDICAL MARIJUANA NECESSITY DEFENSE
   The British Court of Appeal has ruled that medical marijuana users or suppliers in the United Kingdom may not avoid conviction by raising a medical necessity defense. But they also left the way open for an appeal to the House of Lords.
3. FEATURE: HIGH SCHOOL DRUG BUST AND HARD-LINE PROSECUTOR PROVE VOLATILE MIX IN WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS COUNTY
   An eight-month undercover investigation and mass arrest of minor offenders seemed like business as usual -- until a hard-line prosecutor announced he would charge them under the state's draconian "drug free school zone" law, inciting a civic rebellion that has yet to reach a conclusion.
4. WEEKLY: THIS WEEK'S CORRUPT COPS STORIES
   Another week, another busted Border Patrol agent, another crooked cop going to the pen, a prosecutor gone bad headed to the same place -- and a case from New York City that demonstrates the moral rot at the heart of drug law enforcement.
5. MEDICAL MARIJUANA: LAWMAKERS RAID OREGON MEDICAL MARIJUANA PROGRAM SURPLUS
   Oregon legislators seeking to get the state Department of Human Services budget out of the red are moving on a bill that would reduce the deficit by, among other things, grabbing $900,000 in medical marijuana user fees currently sitting in a state Office of Medical Marijuana account.
6. SENTENCING: 9TH CIRCUIT SAYS PRISONERS WITH APPEALS PENDING CAN CHALLENGE SENTENCES
   The fall-out from a pair of Supreme Court decisions upending the nearly 20-year-old federal sentencing guidelines scheme continues.
7. SENTENCING: CONNECTICUT GOVERNOR VETOES BILL THAT WOULD HAVE ELIMINATED CRACK AND POWDER COCAINE SENTENCING DISPARITIES
   Connecticut's Republican governor, Jodi Rell, vetoed legislation Thursday that would have eliminated the disparity in sentences involving crack versus powder cocaine.
8. MARIJUANA: ALASKA GOVERNOR PLOTTING AGAINST MARIJUANA AGAIN, EYES 2006 SESSION
   Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski is addicted to criminalization and has vowed to pursue recently defeated anti-marijuana bills again next year.
9. MARIJUANA: MILTON FRIEDMAN AND 500 ECONOMISTS CALL FOR DEBATE ON PROHIBITION AS STUDY SUGGESTS REGULATION COULD SAVE BILLIONS
   Using the Wednesday release of a cost study of marijuana prohibition as a peg, more than 500 economists led by free market apostle Milton Friedman are calling for a national debate on moving toward regulated marijuana markets.
10. ASIA: CHINA SAYS DRUG WAR IS FAILING
    Blaming free trade and globalization, the authoritarian government of the planet's most populous nation conceded Thursday that its multiple crackdowns on drugs have failed to blunt increasing use.
11. AUSTRALIA: FIRST "DRUGGED DRIVER" TO SUE POLICE FOR DEFAMATION
    Forty-year-old John de John was exonerated of "drugged driving" by a laboratory, but only after TV camera crews had filmed his being stopped, forced to submit to drug tests and accused by police. Now he is suing the Australian state of Victoria for defamation.
12. ASIA: PHILIPPINES FARMERS SAY NO ROAD, NO END TO MARIJUANA GROWING
    Elders and officials in the remote Philippine region of Ifugao are "no longer excited" about participating in marijuana eradication programs. Their complaint -- the government has failed in its promise to build roads, and legal crops therefore cannot make it to market before rotting.
13. JOB LISTING: NATIONAL FIELD ORGANIZER, ACLU DRUG LAW REFORM PROJECT
    The ACLU Drug Law Reform Project is hiring.
14. 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!

this issue, one-page printer version

Chronicle archives

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.

Out from the Shadows HEA Drug Provision Drug War Chronicle Perry Fund DRCNet en Español Speakeasy Blogs About Us Home Why Legalization? NJ Racial Profiling Archive Subscribe Donate DRCNet em Português Latest News Drug Library Search special friends links: SSDP - Flex Your Rights - IAL - Drug War Facts StoptheDrugWar.org: the Drug Reform Coordination Network (DRCNet) 1623 Connecticut Ave., NW, 3rd Floor, Washington DC 20009 Phone (202) 293-8340 Fax (202) 293-8344 [email protected]