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TABLE OF CONTENTS

	Minnesota has taken a tiny step forward, but the state is still burning.

1. APPEAL: NEW DRCNET BOOK OFFER AND REQUEST FOR YOUR SUPPORT
   As Drug War Chronicle approaches a milestone -- issue #400 -- your support is needed more than ever. A new donations incentive -- complimentary copies of the new book "Breaking Rank" -- is available for you too.
2. DRCNET INTERVIEW: FORMER SEATTLE POLICE CHIEF NORM STAMPER
   A new book by former Seattle police chief Norm Stamper provides a thoughtful, passionate, and careful analysis of the myriad issues confronting American law enforcement. The nation's chiefs and politicos would do well to read it -- and so would you!
3. FEATURE: VENEZUELA THROWS OUT DEA, WASHINGTON THREATENS DECERTIFICATION
   In a move that may have more to do with diplomatic tensions than anything else, President Hugo Chavez has annulled a bilateral agreement that had allowed the US DEA to operate in Venezuela.
4. FEATURE: IN MIDST OF METH MANIA AND SEX OFFENDER SCARES, MINNESOTA TAKES TINY, TINY STEP TOWARD DRUG SENTENCING REFORM
   New criminal justice legislation in Minnesota is mostly about putting more people in prison for longer. But a tiny start at drug sentencing reform is in there too.
5. TESTIMONIAL: WHAT DRCNET DOES FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA -- AND THE MOVEMENT
   Tom Angell of Students for Sensible Drug Policy explains some of what DRCNet's long-term movement-building strategy has meant for him and his work.
6. BLOGGING: DRCNET "PROHIBITION IN THE MEDIA" BLOG RESUMES PUBLISHING AS DRUG TRADE VIOLENCE HITS ACAPULCO, MEXICO
   DRCNet's "Prohibition in the Media" blog resumes publishing today after a hiatus. We comment on reporting by Reuters AlertNet, Reuters Foundation publication for international humanitarian nonprofits, on an outbreak of drug trade violence in the Mexican Pacific resort town of Acapulco.
7. WEEKLY: THIS WEEK'S CORRUPT COPS STORIES
   The Dallas sheetrock scandal continue to reverberate, drug cops in Florida and Ohio sample the wares, so does a crime lab tech in Missouri, and two more entrepreneurial jailers go down for their efforts.
8. DRUG RAIDS: FLORIDA SWAT TEAM KILLS BARTENDER IN HIS BEDROOM IN PREDAWN DRUG RAID -- TWO OUNCES OF MARIJUANA SEIZED
   Two members of a Sunset, Florida, SWAT team shot and killed a 23-year-old bartender early last Friday morning. The take -- two lousy ounces of marijuana.
9. METHAMPHETAMINES: IMMIGRANT STORE CLERKS BECOMING COLLATERAL DAMAGE IN WAR ON METH
   Spurred by new anti-meth laws which restricting the sales of cold remedies such as Sudafed, police and prosecutors across the country have been arresting convenience store clerks -- often immigrants -- sometimes on charges that carry substantial prison sentences.
10. RELIGIOUS FREEDOM: CANNABIS CHURCHES SEEK TO INTERVENE IN UDV AYAHUASCA CASE WITH AMICUS BRIEF ARGUING BROAD INTERPRETATION
    A group of cannabis spiritualists are seeking to use an ayahuasca case going before the Supreme Court to urge the court to extend a religious freedom ruling to include marijuana.
11. RACIAL PROFILING: RHODE ISLAND POLICE STILL PICKING ON MINORITY MOTORISTS
    Four years after Rhode Island police began tracking the race of motorists they stop, a report by the state ACLU affiliate has found the problem may even be getting worse.
12. LATIN AMERICA: COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT SAYS GOVERNMENT MIGHT START BUYING COCA CROP
    In a stark contrast to current Colombian policy, ordinarily hard-line President Alvaro Uribe has proposed the government buy peasant farmers' coca crops in a bid to cut off funding to the FARC.
13. CANADA: METHAMPHETAMINE NOW SCHEDULE I, COOKS NOW FACE UP TO LIFE IN PRISON
    The Canadian federal government announced Thursday it had moved methamphetamine to Schedule I of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act -- signaling a significantly tougher stance against the stimulant and putting it on the same level as heroin and cocaine when it comes to sentencing.
14. WEB SCAN
    Marc Emery, Arianna Huffington, NORML on Marijuana vs. Marinol, Popular Science on Cannabis Medicines
15. WEEKLY: THIS WEEK IN HISTORY
    Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
16. JOB OPENINGS: THREE AT MPP
    The Marijuana Policy Project currently has three full-time job openings -- one in Las Vegas and two in Washington, DC.
17. 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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