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(formerly The Week Online with DRCNet) Issue #420 -- 1/27/06
"Raising Awareness of the Consequences of Drug Prohibition" Phillip S. Smith, Editor
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1.
Feature:
San
Diego
Politicos
and
Activists
Face
Off
Over
Medical
Marijuana
The San Diego County Board of Supervisors has never liked California's medical marijuana law, and last Friday, rather than implement an ID card and registration program as required by the law, it made good on its threat to file a federal lawsuit seeking to overturn it. Reaction was swift, as major drug reform and civil liberties groups and patients fought back on two fronts in a battle the Board may end up regretting having started.
The board that decided last week to try to overturn the law is the exact same group of elected officials who called Proposition 215 "bad law" when it was passed by California voters in 1996. Now, while supervisors led by Chairman Bill Horn claim they only want to clarify contradictions between state and federal law, their lawsuit, if successful, would effectively kill the Compassionate Use Act. "We opposed Prop. 215 when it came up; that isn't the point," Horn said. "The issue is, the state's asking the county to do something here that they know darn well is illegal... don't ask us to break federal law." The county's legal argument is that the medical marijuana law violates both the 1961 United Nations Single Convention on Narcotics and the federal Controlled Substances Act. County Attorney John Sansone argues in the suit that the US Constitution's "Supremacy Clause" (Article Six) means California's medical marijuana cannot stand because it is in contradiction to federal drug laws. But attorneys opposing the lawsuit point out that claims that federal drug law or the UN convention prevents a state from allowing the medicinal use of marijuana are so weak that Justice Department lawyers refused to raise them back when they challenged the California law in 1996. But before matters even get that far, the groups argue that the county has no standing to sue the state in federal court and that the lawsuit will be soon be dismissed. "We are very confident this will be thrown out of federal court," said ASA executive director Steph Sherer. "We believe the county has no jurisdiction to file the lawsuit. It's just a waste of everyone's time. I expect this will be over and done with within 90 days. We expect Attorney General Lockyer to file a motion to dismiss -- he has two weeks from now -- and we're confident he will do everything he can to protect the state law, but just in case we are intervening to ensure the rights of patients are addressed." "We're going to defend state law," Lockyer spokesman Nathan Barankin assured DRCNet Thursday. "We have until February 9 to file our answer to the lawsuit. While we're not going to say too much about what we're going to say in court, I will say there is a real serious question about whether San Diego has standing to file suit in the first place." Still, the intervenors aren't taking any chances. "The stakes are too high for medical marijuana patients to depend on Gov. Schwarzenegger and the Department of Health Services to defend their interests in court," said Allen Hopper, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Drug Law Reform Project. "These patients and their doctors need to know that someone is looking out exclusively for their interests." Among those on whose behalf the motion to intervene has been filed are Wendy Christakes, 29, a San Diego resident who uses medical marijuana to treat chronic pain from herniated discs and back surgery; Pamela Sakuda, 58, a rectal cancer patient; and her husband and primary caregiver Norbert Litzinger. In a sign of the statewide implications of the county's lawsuit, also signing on to the motion were Valerie Corral of the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana (WAMM), which was raided by the DEA in 2002 and Dr. Stephen O'Brien, an Oakland physician who specializes in HIV/AIDS treatment and believes many of his patients benefit from the medical use of marijuana. "Medical marijuana patients are running out of time," said Christakes. "While the supervisors play politics and waste our money on frivolous lawsuits, we have to find a way to survive." Some activists went as far as welcoming the lawsuit. "Good. They're going to lose," said California NORML head Dale Gieringer. "It's about time we had a federal court decision that went our way. It is a stupid, losing battle those supervisors got themselves into, and I'm glad to see that the ACLU, ASA, and DPA have jumped in to intervene. I would be shocked if the supervisors prevailed," he told DRCNet. "The board is out there by themselves, and they know it," said Margaret Dooley of DPA's Southern California office. "They think this is their kingdom, but this is going to waste a lot of time and money and people will be hurting. Their decision to continue with the suit shows blatant disregard for the law and the will of their constituents," she told DRCNet. And some of those constituents are vowing to take political revenge on the board by getting it removed from office via the term limits initiative. Last week, medical marijuana patient Rudy Reyes, backed by MPP and ASA, filed a letter of intent to get the initiative rolling, saying the supervisors had "lost touch with constituents." At Tuesday's board meeting, activists offered to drop the initiative if the board would drop the lawsuit, to no avail. "We gave them one last chance to withdraw their lawsuit at the board meeting, and they refused to do so, said ASA's Sherer. "We told them we wouldn't start gathering signatures if they dropped it, but now we will run the term limits initiative. And we'll keep going even if the case gets kicked out of federal court. We have to let elected officials know there is a downside to going after medical marijuana patients. If the initiative is successful, it will be provable retribution for opposing medical marijuana."
2.
Feature:
Study
Claiming
Methamphetamine
is
Overrunning
Hospital
Emergency
Rooms
Fails
to
Withstand
Scrutiny
You have to give it to the National Association of Counties (NACo). For the second time in less than a year, the lobbying group for county officials has managed to get the press to bite on methamphetamine studies that purport to show the popular stimulant is wreaking havoc across the land. Last summer, NACo surveyed county sheriffs who screamed long and hard that meth was their worst drug problem. And last week, the group released a study claiming that meth users are overwhelming county hospital emergency rooms and drug treatment facilities.
Those headlines and the stories that accompanied them were based on NACo findings that 73% of hospital ERs surveyed reported an increase in meth-related visits over the past five years and that 47% said meth caused more ER visits than any other drug. On the treatment side, hospitals reported treatment up by 69% over five years, but 63% said they lacked capacity to handle the demand. But the two-part NACo study is a pretty weak reed on which to base such sweeping claims. As methamphetamine hysteria critic Jack Shafer pointed out in Slate, the study's ER sample was 200 hospitals, out of more than 4,000 hospital ERs in the country. The hospitals selected were also skewed heavily toward rural areas (161 of the hospitals were located in counties with less than 50,000 residents) and more meth-prone areas of the country (100 hospitals, exactly half, were in the Upper Midwest, while the entire eastern third of the country accounted for only 19). In that sense, the NACo ER study seems designed to target precisely those areas with the worst meth problems and the fewest resources. "We never said this was a comprehensive survey," said NACo spokesman Joe Dunn. "This was a study of county public hospitals. There are 3,000 of them in the country and we surveyed 200 of them." The fact that the survey was weighted toward rural hospitals was justifiable, too, Dunn said. "Any survey of counties would have a large population of rural hospitals in it." Dunn referred DRCNet to NACo research director Jackie Byers for further discussion of the study's methodology, but Byers is out of the office and unavailable for comment until next week. While Dunn said NACo wasn't portraying the survey as comprehensive, the group used absolutist language in describing the results. The emergency room survey, NACo wrote in its press release, "revealed that there are more meth-related emergency visits than for any other drug and the number of these visits has increased substantially over the last five years." But that's not what the best statistics available say. According to the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) survey of 121 big city hospital emergency rooms, stimulants rank behind alcohol, alcohol in combination with other drugs, cocaine, marijuana, and heroin in emergency room mentions. According to DAWN's 2003 figures -- the latest available -- cocaine accounted for 20% of drug-related ER visits, marijuana for about 15%, heroin and other opiates for about 12%, and stimulants, including amphetamine and methamphetamine, for only about 7%. And while it could be argued that the DAWN figures suffer from an urban bias and may thus undercount meth-related incidents, the fact remains that most of the nation's hospitals and most of its population are in urban areas. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 58% of all ERs are in urban areas and they account for 82% of all ER visits. Interestingly, the concern over the impact of meth on hospital ERs comes amid evidence that meth use is not spreading in epidemic fashion, but is in fact leveling off. The annual National Survey on Drug Use and Health produced by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Adminstration (SAMHSA), reported that "use of methamphetamine remained unchanged from 2002 to 2004." According to SAMSHA, the number of people who had ever used meth, the number who had used it in the last year, and the number who had used it in the last month had all declined. SAMSHA put the number of monthly meth users at 583,000 in 2004, down from 607,000 the previous year. Those numbers are in line with those from Monitoring the Future, the annual survey of high school students about the drug habits. Among high school seniors, lifetime use of meth has declined steadily since it was first measured in 1997, from 8.2% then to 4.5% in 2004. Meth use in the last month has shown a similar decline, from 1.7% to 0.9%. "The NACo surveys are crap," said Doug McVay, research director for Common Sense for Drug Policy. "There is no data behind them. They surveyed the perceptions of officials at the county level who are responsible for drug treatment and health care services, not the actual numbers. This is an entirely self-serving exercise by NACo whose purpose is to gin up support for additional funding using meth as the reason," he told DRCNet. "The best data we have shows that meth use did increase during the early 1990s, but the rate of increase has been stable for the past five or 10 years. More people are using than a 10 or 15 years ago, but both the growth rate and the number of users seems to be stabilizing." "Governors and law enforcement are all claiming this is an increasing problem, but you have to ask if this is because they want more money for their police forces," said Don McVinney, a methamphetamine researcher and national director of training and education for the Harm Reduction Coalition. "Everyone is using meth to justify more funding. Meth is a hot drug for the media, and it gets media attention. The problem is that these are not disinterested parties, but claims makers. They are saying it's a terrible problem, but you have to look skeptically at the claims, and see what they really mean." McVinney, however, saw little distortion in the second part of NACo's study, where the group identified a need for increased treatment funding. "That is consistent with the data from the federal government -- not only DAWN but drug treatment data as well," he told DRCNet. "That data shows that treatment admissions have gone up steadily since 1993," he said. NACo's Dunn readily admitted the group was seeking to influence funding decisions. "We're looking for the passage of the federal Combat Meth Epidemic Act, which would restrict pseudoephedrine sales, and we're looking for restoration of the Justice Action Grants," he said. "The Bush administration zeroed that out this year, and that was funding that went to multi-agency drug task forces, which are especially critical in fighting meth in rural areas," he told DRCNet. "We're also pushing on the treatment side for an increase in treatment block grants. There is an increasing need for treatment for methamphetamine." Both McVay and McVinney pointed to a problem not emphasized in the study: the lack of access to health care in a country where more than 40 million people are uninsured. "What I found interesting was the subtext. The hospitals were complaining not so much about treating meth-induced problems, but about the fact they were being asked to pay for the treatment," said McVinney. "It was about treating uninsured people. Many meth users end up losing their jobs, so they don't have insurance." "The sad thing is that public health care at the county level is terribly under-funded and it is true that drug treatment is under-funded, too," said McVay. "The NACo study is alarmist propaganda, but the underlying message that the county health care and drug treatment system is in deep trouble is quite true. It's just a shame they are contributing to the hysteria surrounding meth to try to address this broader social issue. When you use unreliable propaganda to basically try to create support for something that's worthwhile -- more funding for health care and drug treatment -- you tend to discredit it." The NACo study fuels the idea that the federal government has somehow not done enough to fight methamphetamine, said McVay. "This also plays into the false notion that the feds have been asleep at the wheel when it comes to methamphetamine," said McVay. "For at least the past 10 years, we have seen escalating federal involvement in the war on meth. There have been tougher laws, more law enforcement, more working groups. If anything, methamphetamine is one of the best examples of the failure of the drug war approach. The drug czar's office has taken some flak from drug warriors about not doing enough, but the notion works for them much better than saying what they've been doing for the past decade didn't work."
3.
Feature:
Medical
Marijuana
Refugee
Steve
Kubby
Expelled
From
Canada,
Faces
Life
Threatening
Jail
Sentence
in
California
Medical marijuana refugee
Steve
Kubby flew from Vancouver to San Francisco Thursday evening, expelled
by Canada at the bitter end of a four-year effort to remain in his adopted
home and avoid serving a jail sentence he says could lead to his death.
He is heading for an uncertain future in the US, with the first question
being whether he would even make it past US Customs without being jailed.
He didn't. Michelle Kubby reported late Thursday night that he was arrested upon entering the country at the request of Placer County, where he faces the jail time. A hearing is set for this morning. After that, he is scheduled for a hearing Tuesday in Placer county. Kubby and his supporters fear he will be jailed at that time, and he could face additional charges for fleeing the country.
"They have refused to listen
to our arguments, and there's been politics played at all levels," said
a distraught Michelle Kubby Wednesday evening of Canadian immigration authorities.
"From what I've seen of the justice system in both countries, I'm very
disheartened. All we can do now is hope for the best."
Kubby has repeatedly said
marijuana decreases the adrenaline spikes caused by his cancer and that
he would die if imprisoned without access to his medicine. But despite
California's legalization of medical marijuana nearly a decade ago, Placer
County authorities refuse to allow him to medicate in jail.
That didn't seem to matter
to Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board hearing officer Paulah Dauns,
who rejected Kubby's application in 2003. Although she agreed that
marijuana helps control Kubby's cancer, she ruled that his life was not
at risk if he had to return to face jail in the US. "He has not established
there is a risk to his life, or a risk of cruel and unusual treatment or
punishment," she ruled. The two years of legal maneuvering since
then have mainly been an effort to undo that ruling.
Kubby supporters accompanied
him to the airport in Vancouver Thursday afternoon for an emotional farewell,
where he repeated his claim that an extended jail sentence could kill him.
"The four days I was incarcerated here in Canada and the three days I was
incarcerated in Placer Country, there were ample jail records of my distress.
My wife likens it to taking insulin away from a diabetic," he told a circle
of friends and reporters.
Kubby then flew to San Francisco,
accompanied by his American lawyer, Bill McPike. "The officials in
Canada might be sending him back to a death sentence," said McPike said
before leaving Vancouver. "I didn't think the officials from Canada
would do that because from what I understand, Canada has no death penalty."
While Kubby was greeted with handcuffs
by authorities, supporters in San Francisco were set to welcome him as a returning champion, with a reception committee organized by
Hemp Evolution, Axis of Love
San Francisco, and the California
Marijuana Party, according to an email alert from Hemp Evolution's
Clark Sullivan. "We ask that you stand with Steve, when he arrives
at SFO, in a display of support in his continuing battle with Placer County
officials," the alert said. "Placer County wants to put him in jail
for 120 days, after he was prosecuted for growing his medical cannabis,
but that could be a death sentence for Steve."
Michelle Kubby said Wednesday
that he may resort to Marinol if all else fails. "We don't know if
it will help," she said of the synthetic cannabinoid that is part of the
US pharmacopeia, unlike marijuana. "Steve will be a guinea pig.
It's a sick experiment."
Michelle Kubby and the two
children have also been ordered deported from Canada, but were given until
Monday to get their affairs in order. "Steve and I are going separately,"
she said. "I was busy being his lawyer up here and needed time to
get things ready to leave. And we didn't want the kids to see him
get taken away if that's what happens."
The future is uncertain,
Michelle Kubby said. She and the children will be staying with relatives,
at least for now, while Kubby faces Placer County justice. "We don't
know what's going to happen next," she said. "It's very frightening."
4.
Feature:
On
the
Occasion
of
our
420th
Issue,
We
Look
at
4:20
Every suburban stoner, rural reefer man, and urban herb-lover surely knows the significance of the phrase "4:20." The secret code for "time to get high" has been around since the late 1970s, and has expanded to also mark April 20 (4/20) as the ultimate unofficial pot-smoker's holiday. The phrase is ubiquitous, showing up on record albums, posters, gimme caps, and damned near anything else one can think of. And while its origin has been a matter of intense speculation -- an early favorite was that it was police radio code for a marijuana law violation -- according to veteran High Times editor Steve Bloom, arguably the world's leading 4:20 authority, the phrase originated among a bunch of high school stoners in San Rafael, California, known as the Waldos after one of their crew, Steve Waldo. As Bloom recounts, he first came across a 4:20 flyer at a Grateful Dead concert in Oakland in 1990. That flyer claimed 4:20 was a subversive inversion of police radio lingo and that the term originated in San Rafael. Eight years later, Waldo contacted High Times editor Steve Hager with the real scoop. In the years since the high school bad boys got together in front of the Louis Pasteur statue in San Rafael each day at 4:20 for some post-educational relaxation, the coded phrase spread among pot-smokers worldwide, first through the Deadhead community, and then beyond into broader stonerdom until even kids in East Podunk could agree to meet at 4:20 in front of oblivious parents. 4:20 is by now such well-known stoner code that each April we can count on a spate of media pieces about the phenomenon. In fact, says Bloom, the man who wrote the first 4:20 story back in 1991, press interest in the phrase is so predictable that he felt compelled to address it in the magazine's May issue (on the stands in April), at least in part as a cheat sheet for curious journalists parachuting into the exotic marijuana culture for a piece. The 4:20 meme has also begun to leak into the broader culture, or at least some of its more self-consciously knowing media. It showed up on a recurring Saturday Night Live skit featuring a Hampshire College dorm room web cam -- one of whose regulars, a stereotypical stoner played by Horatio Sanz, commented, "It's 4:20 somewhere," to which his clearer-headed friend responded, "No it's not, don't you know how time zones work?" A series of visits to alternate universes in an episode of the now-syndicated animated series Futurama included "Universe 420," where a hippie "Dr. Freaksworth" took the place of the decrepitly aged regular series character "Dr. Farnsworth." The story of the phrase's origins and spread through the marijuana culture is one thing. Why it should resonate so much is another. Bloom had some ideas about that, and so did NORML founder and recently retired executive director Keith Stroup. "It's hard to say why 4:20 has taken off like it has," said Bloom, "but as an underground culture of smokers and activists who face legal problems over marijuana, we have to live in a coded world. People just come up with phrases the rest of the world doesn't understand, and despite the phrase's fame in our circles, I'm sure there are still parents who don't know what their kids are talking about when they say 4:20." "The 4:20 phenomenon is a direct reflection of the extent of oppression facing marijuana smokers," said Stroup. "If marijuana were not illegal but just out of favor, I don't think the culture would have enough cohesiveness to give a shit about having its own holidays. But because we are oppressed, there is a real resonance to having the secret code and holiday. I wish we didn't need our own special holiday, but that's a reflection of our repression." NORML, unsurprisingly, is one organization that pays attention to 4:20. It typically schedules its annual national convention around April 20, and this year is no exception. The 2006 conference will take place April 20-22 in San Francisco. "Once 4:20 caught on and created its own significance as an underground code, it then made its way through the culture," said Bloom. "After I did that article in 1991, it developed a life of its own, popping up regularly in our reader-fueled High 100 features, percolating through the High Times readership and then showing up on hats, logos, even a record company name. It has a life of its own," he said. "It's our own little holiday," Bloom said. "We have people sending each other emails saying 'Happy 4:20,' we get all kinds of requests for interviews, we get on the Tom Leykis radio show, where he has 10 people with bongs, and they do a countdown to 4:20 on 4/20. That's kind of ballsy, but it's also a good way to promote our culture. It might seem trivial, but anything that promotes the marijuana culture is good." And while there are hemp fests and pot protest marches, 4:20 doesn't need a lot of organizing. "With 4:20, people do things themselves, they have their little pot parties all across the country and celebrate the herb and light one up for legalization. It keeps the fire burning, and that's good for keeping people focused. People love the idea of smoking on 4/20, they love the countdown concept, they love the feeling of being united."
5.
Law
Enforcement:
This
Week's
Corrupt
Cops
Stories
This week, a Connecticut cop let his bad habits get on top of them. Though we have a general policy of not going after simple possession charges -- everyone has their foibles -- this cop is charged also with distribution. Without further ado: In Bridgeport, Connecticut, a former police officer pleaded guilty January 18 on federal oxycodone possession and distribution conspiracy charges. Jeffrey Streck, 39, was arrested in March by the FBI after a yearlong investigation that uncovered a large cocaine and marijuana distribution ring in the Bridgeport area. During the investigation, Streck was overheard making phone calls to arrange buys of Oxycontin, the popular pain reliever containing oxycodone. The 12-year veteran who made detective in 2003 faces up to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced on April 7.
6.
Europe:
Ireland
to
Start
"Cautioning"
Marijuana
Users
--
No,
Wait
a
Minute,
We
Changed
Our
Mind
The Irish Times reported Tuesday that Irish police -- the Garda Siochana -- are set to begin issuing "cautions" or warnings for marijuana smokers and small-time possessors instead of arresting them beginning next month. The move would make the Irish approach to petty marijuana offenses similar to the British one, where police in most cases issue only warnings. The British system was upheld last week when Home Secretary Charles Clarke declined to reclassify marijuana as a more serious drug. But that same day, Justice Minister Michael McDowell did a u-turn, reversing the policy change and revising a January 15 directive on a new Adult Cautioning Scheme so that marijuana is no longer included, only public order offenses. When the policy change went public on Monday, McDowell claimed he knew nothing of it, but police sources told the Times Department of Justice officials were aware of the plan. With McDowell and Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy taking turns ducking responsibility for the flip-flop, ultimately responsibility is difficult to determine. A spokeswoman for McDowell told the Times, “There was no pressure from the minister in relation to this. The minister didn't raise it and the gardaí didn't suggest it," she said. "The minister outlined at the meeting where he came from in relation to drugs and he firmly believed an automatic caution in cases of first-time offenders would not sit easily with him." According to the Times, Director of Public Prosecutions James Hamilton had advised the Garda that it need not arrest minor marijuana offenders. Under the scheme, which has not been officially unveiled and has now been reversed, warnings would be issued for a first offense, but subsequent offenses would probably -- but not necessarily -- result in arrest and prosecution. The program would be for offenders 18 or older, and they would have had to accept guilt on the spot. The warning would have gone on the offender's record, but would not be a criminal conviction. The latest figures from the European Monitoring Center on Drugs and Drug Abuse suggest that Irish marijuana use patterns fit within the high end of the European norm, with 17.4% of adults reporting life-time use and 40% of teens reporting the same. There were some 3700 marijuana arrests in 2003, 58% of all drug arrests. Marijuana would not have been "decriminalized" under the warnings scheme and possession would remain a criminal offense. While no set amount of weed has been named, the warnings will be in effect for "personal use" amounts. While some anti-drug groups criticized the warnings scheme as "a dangerous move," it had appeared to have won the tentative support of Justice Minister McDowell, who told reporters after a meeting with Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy Tuesday that "it may make sense" for the Garda not to spend its time arresting pot smokers.
7.
Europe:
British
to
Review
Drug
Classification
Scheme
Just days after deciding not to re-reclassify cannabis as a more dangerous drug, British Home Secretary Charles Clarke announced a government-backed review of the country's entire drug classification system. According to early speculation, a revamping of the system could lead to drugs such as Ecstasy and LSD being treated less harshly and drugs such as the so-called date rape drugs (GHB and Rohypnol) being treated more harshly. Britain currently classifies illegal drugs in three classes -- A, B, and C -- with Class A drugs being the most dangerous and most heavily punished and Class C the least. Currently, Class A drugs include heroin, crack, LSD, psychedelic mushrooms, and Ecstasy, while amphetamines, powder cocaine, and barbiturates are Class B, and tranquilizers and cannabis are Class C. Cannabis had been a Class B drug until 2004, when Clarke's predecessor, David Blunkett moved it to Class C on the recommendation of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD). Clarke told Parliament he thought the current system sent out "mixed signals" about the relative harm of different drugs. He said pondering the cannabis conundrum had made him painfully aware of the arbitrary nature of the classification scheme. Clarke added that he wanted any new classification system to factor in the "social consequences" of each drug, including things like burglaries and muggings. Clarke aides told the Times of London the nature of the review had yet to be finalized, and added that "there was no question of any drug being downgraded." But if a real, evidence-based review of relative drug harms is to occur, downgrades are certain to happen, and Clarke's aides are attempting to protect the government from vociferous foes of any loosening of the current drug laws. Critics on the other side of the drug debate have argued for years that drugs such as mushrooms, LSD and Ecstasy, with little or no addictive potential and low lethality, do not merit the same classification as highly-addictive, crime-generating drugs like crack and heroin. As far back as 2001, the Police Foundation called for Ecstasy to be downgraded and the entire system to be overhauled, a call that was echoed a year later by a Home Affairs Select Committee. Clarke also asked the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs to specifically consider shifting the drugs GHB and Rohypnol from Class C to Class B, based on unproven fears that they are "date rape" drugs. In a study released two weeks ago, the Forensic Science Service found only 2% of a large sample of date rape victims had traces of such drugs. Some 46% had alcohol in their systems.
8.
South
Asia:
Indian
Farmers,
Maoists
Team
Up
in
Opium
Trade
Drought, drug prohibition, and simmering lawlessness in the northeastern Indian state of Jharkhand are combining in an all too familiar pattern as hard-pressed farmers team up with guerrilla fighters in what looks to be a burgeoning opium trade. According to reports from the Indo-Asian News Service, local officials in Jharkand are complaining that farmers are growing opium and selling it to Maoist guerrillas who smuggle it across the northern border into Nepal and Bhutan. The farmers make enough to put food on the table, and the guerrillas make enough to help finance their long-running insurgency.
The Maoists are the Communist Party of India-Maoist and their Peoples Liberation Guerrilla Army, who seek a classic Mao-style protracted guerrilla war resulting in a communist revolution. They operate in at least 13 Indian states, have contacts with Maoist guerrillas in Nepal, and are seeking to create a "Compact Revolutionary Zone" running from Bihar and Jharkhand states in the northeast through the Dandakaranya forests of Central Indian and down to Andhra Pradesh in the south. "The Nepal border of Bihar is transit point for the drug peddlers," said Jha. "The Maoists provide a safe passage to drug peddlers. The opium grown in Jharkhand is supplied to Bihar and then reaches Nepal to other destinations," he added.
9.
Australia:
Green
Party
Takes
a
Step
Back
on
Drug
Policy
In the latest iteration of its drug policy platform, the Australian Green Party has retreated from its call to explore the regulated distribution of marijuana and Ecstasy. In a platform adopted in November and announced Wednesday in Canberra by Green Party leader Sen. Bob Brown, the Greens removed any reference to regulated sales and instead call for the establishment of an Australian Drugs Policy Institute to undertake research and evaluation of programs to reduce the harmful impact of drug use. The Greens' old platform called for "the controlled availability of cannabis at appropriate venues" and "investigations of options for the regulated supply of social drugs such as Ecstasy in controlled environments." "The contentious past proposals to investigate options for the regulated supply of marijuana and ecstasy have gone," Sen. Brown said. "It's come after a lot of study by the Greens in reference to national experts in the field of drugs. "It takes away the controlled-supply option that was there before with ecstasy and marijuana." The Greens came under attack during the 2004 elections over the regulated supply planks, and with the atmosphere around marijuana in Australia growing increasingly hyperbolic, it appears as if the party has undertaken a tactical retreat. In so doing, it is in danger of ending up to the right of the government of Prime Minister John Howard when it comes to the dangers of marijuana. In his Wednesday statement, Sen. Brown criticized Howard for not researching the dangers of marijuana sooner. "The Government has had blinkers on," Sen. Brown said. "Now the Prime Minister is belatedly going to tackle concerns about marijuana use with further research. We propose that it be appropriately funded and include targeted, specific education programs." But even with the retreat on regulated sales and the political one-upmanship on pot's harm, the Green drug policy position remains resolutely progressive and forward-looking. It endorses harm reduction programs such as needle exchange and urges that drug use be treated as health issue, not a criminal one. It also calls for civil sanctions instead of criminal ones for drug users. "There are serious health risks associated with all drug use," said Sen. Brown, one of four Greens in the Australian parliament. "We think people -- especially young people -- should be discouraged from abusing drugs including tobacco and alcohol. It is harmful for your health and our policy of harm minimization reflects that," he said.
10.
Electoral
Politics:
Nationally
Known
Drug
Reformer
Seeks
Green
Party
Gubernatorial
Nomination
in
Connecticut
Cliff Thornton, the founder and moving force behind the drug reform group Efficacy, publicly announced this week he is seeking the Green Party nomination for governor of Connecticut. Thornton's campaign kicked off with a well-attended press conference in Hartford Wednesday.
In October, some of home-state Thornton's efforts bore fruit with the "Hartford's Drug Burden—Where to Put Our Resources?" conference that brought a bevy of nationally known drug reformers to town to meet with local elected and law enforcement officials in an effort to bring some fresh ideas to Connecticut drug policy. That conference continues to reverberate, with other cities inquiring about holding their own conferences and legislation impelled by the conference that will help keep drug policy in the spotlight. The Thornton campaign will undoubtedly do its part on that score, too. He was already hard at it Wednesday. "It's time to bring the drug war into the political arena," he said. "Drug policy starts with one question. Are people ever going to stop using illegal drugs? The overwhelming response is no. If that is the case, the next question is, how do we create an atmosphere where those people cause the least harm to themselves, and second, the least amount of harm to society as a whole?" he said. "We have to answer these questions in their entirety before we go anywhere else. The answer definitely is not the war on drugs." Thornton needs to file 7,500 valid signatures with state officials by August 9 to qualify for the ballot. If successful, he will join a race that pits Republican Gov. Jodi Rell against either New Haven Mayor John DeStefano Jr. or Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy, who are fighting for the Democratic Party nomination. He would also become the first black man and the first Green to run for governor of Connecticut. Green Party spokesman and Thornton campaign manager Tim McKee told the New Haven Register the campaign's all-volunteer team would collect from 10,000 to 12,000 signatures to ensure a "safety zone" by deadline time. "Cliff's got an extremely controversial point of view and we know that. He's gotten a great reaction. We're going to run a hard-hitting, clean campaign," he said. While the Connecticut Green Party has no explicit mention of drug policy reform, it is an affiliate of the national Green Party. In 2004, the national Greens adopted a platform that includes the following planks:
11.
Medical
Marijuana:
New
Mexico
Bill
Wins
Senate
Committee
Approval
A medical marijuana bill Gov. Bill Richardson (D) said last week he wants to see pass during the New Mexico legislature's off-year short session won approval Tuesday by the first of three Senate committees scheduled to vote on it. Senate Bill 258, the Lynn Pierson Compassionate Use Act won unanimous backing from the Senate Public Affairs Committee. The bill would allow patients with debilitating illnesses or conditions to use medical marijuana upon a doctor's recommendation. It would set up a program within the state Department of Health and provide registration cards for patients. Patients or care-givers could grow their own supply. Gov. Richardson again endorsed the bill Tuesday, telling reporters a "substantial portion" of the public agrees. "I think there have got to be strict standards," he said. "But for those who are suffering... I support it." While the bill has the support of the governor, drug reformers, and patients' advocates, it is opposed by the usual suspects: prosecutors and law enforcement groups. "The bottom line for us is it's still against federal law," Eighth Judicial District (Taos) District Attorney Donald Gallegos told the committee. That didn't hold much water with patients like Essie DeBonet, 61, an AIDS patient who said marijuana helps her fight nausea induced by her other medications. "Having to choose between staying alive and obeying the law is a horrible, horrible decision that no one should be forced to face," she told the committee. If the bill passes, New Mexico will become the 12th state to legalize medical marijuana. Last year, the bill was approved by the Senate and in committee votes in the House before dying in an unrelated political squabble between the bill's sponsor and another powerful legislator. The legislative short session, which is devoted in the main to state budget matters, ends February 16.
12.
Weekly:
This
Week
in
History
January 27, 1995: The international hashish seizure record is set -- 290,400 pounds, in Khyber Agency, Pakistan. January 28, 1972: The Nixon Administration creates the Office of Drug Abuse Law Enforcement (ODALE) to establish joint federal/local task forces to fight the drug trade at the street level. Myles Ambrose is appointed director. January 28, 1982: President Ronald Reagan creates a cabinet-level task force, the Vice-President's Task Force on South Florida. Headed by George Bush, it combines agents from the DEA, Customs, ATF, IRS, Army, and Navy to mobilize against drug traffickers. January 28, 1997: Mence Powell is arrested for dealing marijuana out of the drive-thru window at a McDonald's in Monroe, Connecticut. January 30, 1997: New England Journal of Medicine editor Dr. Jerome Kassirer opines in favor of doctors being allowed to prescribe marijuana for medical purposes, calling the threat of government sanctions "misguided, heavy-handed and inhumane." February 1, 1909: The International Opium Commission convenes in Shanghai. Heading the US delegation are Dr. Hamilton Wright and Episcopal Bishop Henry Brent, who both try to convince the international delegation of the immoral and evil effects of opium. February 2, 2004: A congressional budget rider known as the "Istook Amendment," after its sponsor, US Rep. James Istook (R-OK), takes effect. The law penalizes any transit system that accepts advertising "promot[ing] the legalization or medical use" of illegal drugs such as marijuana by cutting off all federal financial assistance, which often amounts to millions of dollars. Four months later US District Court Judge Paul Friedman rules that Istook's law violates the First Amendment by infringing on free speech rights, and is thus unconstitutional.
13.
Job
Opportunities,
MPP
in
DC
and
Nevada
The Marijuana Policy Project is hiring for three positions in their Washington, DC, office -- Executive Assistant, IT System Administrator (contract position) and Organizing and Outreach Intern. Also, MPP's Nevada campaign committee, the Committee to Regulate and Control Marijuana, which is campaigning to pass MPP's ballot initiative to tax and regulate marijuana in Nevada, is hiring a Director of Communications for their Las Vegas office. All positions require outstanding communications skills, the ability to work independently, a high level of organization, and a professional appearance and demeanor. Visit http://www.mpp.org/jobs/ for detailed job descriptions and instructions for applying.
14.
Weekly:
The
Reformer's
Calendar
Please submit listings of events concerning drug policy and related topics to [email protected]. January 28, 6:00pm, West Hollywood, CA, fundraiser supporting San Diego Cannabis Buyers Clubs raided last year. Hosted by Los Angeles NORML, donation $50, visit http://www.sandiegonorml.com or contact Laurie at (619) 405-4299 or LA NORML at (310) 652-8654 for further information. January 28-29, Toronto, CA, "Peace Summit II & Social Weedend," cannabis conference sponsored by Puff Mama, contact Matt Mernagh at [email protected] or (905) 704-1170 for further information. February 2-9, Cincinnati, OH, speaking tour by LEAP spokesperson Howard Wooldridge. Contact Mike Smithson at (315) 243-5844 or [email protected]">[email protected] for further information. February 3, Oakland, CA, NORML Winter Benefit Party, at the Oakland Sailboat House, Late Merritt. Admission $60, advance reservations required, visit http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=5602 for information. February 27-March 2, Abbotsford, BC, Canada, speaking tour by LEAP spokesperson Norm Stamper. Contact Mike Smithson at (315) 243-5844 or [email protected] for further information. February 9-11, 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]. February 11, 7:00pm EST, Free Talk Live interview with Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) executive director Jack Cole. Visit http://www.freetalklive.com/affiliates.php for a stations listing or http://www.freetalklive.com/tunein.php to listen online. February 15, 6:00-7:00pm, Boulder, CO, 2nd Anti-Drug War Candlelight Vigil, on The Mall at the Courtyard, contact Hemptopia at (303) 449-4854 or visit http://www.hemptopia.org for further information. February 16, 8:00pm, New Paltz, NY, "Know Your Rights" forum, screening of "Busted: The Citizen's Guide to Surviving Police Encounters," Q&A with attorney Russell Schindler and a speaker on racial profiling. Sponsored by New Paltz NORML/SSDP, Student Union Building, Room 100, admission free, refreshments served. For further information, visit http://www.newpaltz.edu/norml/ or contact [email protected], (845) 257-2687 or (646) 246-8504. March 3-5, Columbia, MO, Students for Sensible Drug Policy Midwest Regional Conference. At the University of Missouri, contact Joe Bartlett at [email protected] for further information. March 13-26, central new Jersey, speaking tour by LEAP spokesperson Peter Christ. Contact Mike Smithson at (315) 243-5844 or [email protected] for further information. March 22-25, Monterey, CA, speaking tour by LEAP spokesperson James Anthony. Contact Mike Smithson at (315) 243-5844 or [email protected] for further information. March 27-April 10, western Kansas, focusing on Wichita, Topeka, Lawrence & Kansas City, speaking tour by LEAP executive director Jack Cole. Contact Bill Schreier at [email protected] or Mike Smithson at (315) 243-5844 or [email protected] for further information. March 29, 6:00pm, New York, NY, "Drug Policy for the Union Man," forum for members of the Local 375 District Council 37, presented by LEAP, DPA, CJPF and ReconsiDer. At 125 Barkley St., two blocks north of Old World Trade Center, contact Mike Smithson at (315) 243-5844 or [email protected]">[email protected] for further information. March 30, 8:00pm, Los Angeles, CA, MPP Party at the Playboy Mansion, tickets $500, visit http://mppplayboyparty.kintera.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=153214 for further information. April 2-8, St. Louis, MO, speaking tour by LEAP spokesperson Howard Wooldridge. Contact Mike Smithson at (315) 243-5844 or [email protected] for further information. April 5-8, 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. April 7, Charleston Beach, SC, launch of "Journey for Justice Number Seven: Cross Country Bicycle Ride for Medical Marijuana Safe Access," by medical marijuana patient Ken Locke. Visit http://www.angelfire.com/planet/bikeride/ for further information. April 9, noon-6:00pm, Sacramento, CA, "Cannabis at the Capitol," medical marijuana rally sponsored by the Compassionate Coalition. At the California State Capitol, west steps, visit http://www.compassionatecoalition.org or contact Peter Keyes at (916) 456-7933 for info. April 9-12, Vancouver, BC, Canada, speaking tour by LEAP spokesperson Norm Stamper. Contact Mike Smithson at (315) 243-5844 or [email protected] for further information. April 20-22, San Francisco, CA, National NORML Conference, visit http://www.norml.org for further information. April 25-27, Olympia, WA, speaking tour by LEAP spokesperson Norm Stamper. Contact Mike Smithson at (315) 243-5844 or [email protected] for further information. April 30-May 4, Vancouver, BC, Canada, "17th International Conference on the Reduction of Drug Related Harm," annual conference of the International Harm Reduction Association. Visit http://www.harmreduction2006.ca for further information. May 6-7, worldwide, Million Marijuana march, visit http://www.globalmarijuanamarch.com for further information. June 3, 1:00-11:00pm, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 10th Legalize! Street Rave Against the War on Drugs. Visit http://www.legalize.net or contact Jonas Daniel Meyerplein at +31(0)20-4275626 or [email protected] for info. July 4, Washington, DC, Fourth of July Rally, sponsored by the Fourth of July Hemp Coalition. At Lafayette Park, contact (202) 887-5770 for further information. August 19-20, Seattle, WA, Seattle Hempfest, visit http://www.hempfest.org for further information. November 9-12, Oakland, CA, "Drug User Health: The Politics and the Personal," 6th National Harm Reduction Conference. Sponsored by the Harm Reduction Coalition, for further information visit http://www.harmreduction.org/6national/ or contact Paula Santiago at [email protected]. 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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