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(formerly The Week Online with DRCNet) Issue #439 -- 6/9/06
"Raising Awareness of the Consequences of Drug Prohibition" Phillip S. Smith, Editor
subscribe for FREE now! ---- make a donation ---- search Your Help Needed with Upcoming Medical Marijuana Vote! New
Book Offer from DRCNet -- Burning Rainbow Farm: How a Stoner Utopia Went
Up in Smoke
Table of Contents
1.
Feature:
ACLU
Files
Suit
to
Block
Alaska
Marijuana
Recriminalization,
State
Says
It
Will
Wait
on
Litigation's
Results
Last week, it was legal for Alaskans to possess up to a quarter-pound of marijuana in the privacy of their homes. This week, after Gov. Frank Murkowski signed into law the bill he pushed recriminalizing the weed, it's not. Next week, who knows? The Alaska chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed suit Monday seeking to block the law from going into effect. Meanwhile, according to the Alaska Department of Law, police aren't even enforcing the new law -- at least its sections dealing with the possession of small amounts of marijuana in the home. The department has warned, however, that the provision making possession of more than four ounces a felony is now in effect.
Ever since, Gov. Murkowski has worked tirelessly to recriminalize marijuana. Last year, reformers and other concerned Alaskans managed to block his effort in the legislature, but his allies did manage to insert into the bill a series of "findings" about the harms of present-day marijuana designed to form the basis for a challenge to Ravin. This year, Murkowski attached his marijuana bill to a popular methamphetamine bill and, avoiding any hearings in the House, managed to push the combined bill through. "Murkowski really wanted this and twisted arms to get it," said Bruce Mirken, communications director for the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), which has been working with local groups and individuals to move the state's marijuana laws in the other direction. "The combined efforts of all these groups managed to hold him for a year, and we can be proud of that fact. And, of course, we're not going to give up, either," he told DRCNet. Last Friday, Murkowski signed the bill into law in a ceremony at an Anchorage Boys & Girls Club. "We are signing these bills at the Boys and Girls Club because they will have a direct and lasting beneficial impact on the youths of Alaska," Murkowski said. "The growing use of marijuana among teenagers and even younger kids cannot be ignored. There is always a great temptation to do what other kids are doing, and that includes using marijuana. When the courts have said personal use of this drug is okay in Alaska, that sends the wrong message to young people. We believe House Bill 149 will allow the state to successfully defend the outlawing of today's stronger and more dangerous marijuana in the courts." The Alaska ACLU begs to differ -- and it was ready. "We weren't waiting for a test case. We filed suit Monday," said Alaska ACLU executive director Michael Macleod-Ball. "We are seeking both preliminary and permanent injunctions to block the enforcement of this law. We have two anonymous plaintiffs, Jane Doe and Jane Roe, who submitted statements saying they are small time users fearful of prosecution," he told DRCNet. "Ravin said the state must have sufficient justification to restrict people's right to privacy and that marijuana was not a sufficient health danger to give the state the right to come into your home," said Macleod-Ball. "Clearly, the strategy of the state is to substitute the sham legislative 'findings' for the very detailed findings in Ravin, but we think the court will see right through that -- if it even gets that far," he predicted. "We don't file suits to lose them. We pick our spots and we're pretty confident that the constitutional right to privacy in Alaska is strong enough to justify barring enforcement of this law. Unlike the federal Constitution, where the right to privacy is implicit, in Alaska, it's written right into the constitution." The Alaska Department of law is ready for the challenge, said department spokesman Mark Morones. "We were served with their complaint earlier in the week and it is under review by the department," he said. "The legal challenge brought by the ACLU was expected. We realize that this is a matter that would likely need to be resolved by the courts," he told DRCNet. "We feel comfortable, based on the new legislation and the findings included in that legislation, that the state can successfully defend the issues raised in this lawsuit." The Alaska ACLU isn't the only critic of the state's legal basis to challenge Alaska Supreme Court precedent. "Those findings are totally bogus," said MPP's Mirken. "They are trying to justify overriding the constitution with a statute based on the totally preposterous argument that marijuana is not the same drug it was in the 1970s. The polite word for this is baloney. This law deserves to be laughed out of court," he said. The case should move quickly, said Macleod-Ball. "We have filed for immediate injunctive relief and we have a scheduling hearing set for later this week. After that, we'll be arguing for the preliminary injunction." In the meantime, Alaskans who possess less than a quarter-pound inside their own homes apparently have nothing to fear -- despite what the law says. When queried about how the law was being enforced, the Department of Law's Morones simply referred DRCNet to a May 12 attorney general's law enforcement bulletin on the new marijuana laws. The new law "will make no immediate change in police authority regarding personal possession of under four ounces by adults in their homes," the bulletin said. In fact, the attorney general conceded, "the new laws do not alter the decisions by the Alaska appellate courts that noncommercial possession of small amounts by adults in homes is constitutionally protected (Ravin v. State, 1975), that the amount of marijuana covered by Ravin is up to four ounces (Noy v. State, 2003), and that search warrants to investigate marijuana growing require probable cause that the cultivation was for commercial purposes or that there is more than four ounces on the premises (Crocker v. State, 2004)." While the bulletin promised that the state "will vigorously litigate all these legal issues because it's important that the courts overrule these prior decisions," the new law "sets the stage for that to happen, but it doesn't do it automatically." Thus, the bulletin told law enforcement, "for time being, and until you are advised differently by the District Attorney in your region, there is no basis for changing law enforcement policies for investigation of nonpublic possession of less than four ounces of marijuana by adults." Thanks to the energetic meddling of Gov. Frank Murkowski, Alaska marijuana law has now entered the Twilight Zone. It is to be hoped that the court doesn't take too long to reaffirm the freedoms Murkowski and his legislative allies are so hell-bent on eroding.
2.
Feature:
Turning
the
Corner
in
Baltimore
For years, Baltimore has been an epicenter of heroin use in the United States, and the crime and public health problems that go along with it. The city's mean street heroin scene was memorialized in "The Corner," the gritty book turned into an HBO series in 2002. The city has also, and not coincidentally, been in the forefront of drug reform, going back to the days of former Mayor Kurt Schmoke, one of the earliest important elected officials in the country to speak out against the harms of drug prohibition, and a pioneer of needle exchange programs. Statistics released Tuesday by city officials suggest that the city is beginning to turn the corner -- thanks in part to a sustained increase in drug treatment availability in the city and a public health approach aimed at taking full advantage of it. Drug overdose deaths are the lowest in a decade and violent crime is decreasing as well, the Health Department reported. All during the 1990s, Baltimore saw more than 300 murders a year, but has failed to crack that mark in the past five years. Similarly, according to Baltimore Public Health Commissioner Josh Sharfstein, fatal overdoses have declined by a third from their 1999 peak of 328, with 218 Baltimore residents dying of drug overdoses last year. Emergency room visits related to cocaine and heroin use have declined by 39% since 1995, while 911 emergency calls for drug overdoses have fallen by 16% in the last three years. That's good news for a long-beleaguered city, and Baltimore officials are crediting increased funding for treatment. Jumpstarted with a $25 million grant from George Soros' Open Society Institute in 1997, the city's drug treatment budget has since more than doubled to nearly $53 million last year. The number of treatment beds has increased by 62% from 5,100 to 8,300, while the number of people receiving drug treatment in publicly funded programs increased from 18,449 in 1997 to 28,672 in 2005. "We had become the most addicted and violent city in America," said Democratic Mayor Martin O'Malley at a Tuesday press conference announcing the treatment and overdose figures. "There is not a doubt in my mind that Baltimore's resurgence... is a result of our making our city a healthy and safer place by investing in public safety and public health." "Substance abuse and addiction treatment is effective at restoring people's lives and restoring the community," said Adam Brickner, president of Baltimore Substance Abuse Systems, a city organization that oversees drug treatment. "Treatment saves lives." "The job here's not finished," said OSI-Baltimore executive director Diana Morris. "The idea of putting this much money in it is to say, 'Look, there are solutions here, and this private money can serve as a catalyst and help other cities get on board and also begin to see the kind of indicators that Baltimore is seeing,'" she said. "My No. 1 hope is that policymakers recognize that this is a very effective way, not only to deal with addiction but also all of the associated problems that it causes." Soros is so impressed by the Baltimore experience that he announced this week his foundation is offering $10 million in grants to cities that seek to emulate its program. The announcement came as part of the run-up to the OSI-sponsored "Cities on the Right Track: Building Public Drug Treatment Systems" conference that took place yesterday. That conference brought together Baltimore Mayor O'Malley, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown, and Providence Mayor David Cicilline, as well as key health officials from Baltimore, San Francisco, Philadelphia, New York, Detroit, and Seattle. "I want to help eliminate the enormous drug addiction treatment gap in the United States," said Soros in a statement announcing the grant. "That gap has devastating consequences for families throughout the country. I hope this money will help cities and states to advocate effectively for sufficient public funds for drug treatment. Despite the large number of people who suffer from drug addiction, treatment is far from accessible in the United States at present," Soros said. "The sad fact is that the majority of Americans who need treatment do not receive it, even though drug treatment is as effective as treatment for other chronic health disorders." Soros would appear to have the Maryland public on his side, if a new statewide poll is any indication. Commissioned by OSI-Baltimore, the poll found that 67% of Maryland voters thought drug treatment was a better option than prison for drug addicts. The same number reported knowing someone with an alcohol or drug addiction problem. "The good news is that more and more people recognize that treatment does work and believe that more public dollars should support it," Morris. "As a private funder, the Open Society Institute can play a key role in helping to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the treatment system. And we are happy to play that role. But only policymakers can take the next step and direct adequate public resources to treatment. Through this kind of public-private partnership, we can ensure that the thousands of Baltimore and other Maryland residents who need treatment can, in fact, get it."
3.
DRCNet
Book
Review:
"Burning
Rainbow
Farm:
How
a
Stoner
Utopia
Went
Up
in
Smoke,"
by
Dean
Kuipers
(2006,
Bloomsbury
Press,
$24.95
HB)
Phillip S. Smith, Writer/Editor, [email protected], 6/9/06 Rainbow Farm was the culmination of Tom Crosslin's life's work. Located in rural Cass County, Michigan, just across the state line from Elkhart, Indiana, in a region known by locals as "Michianna," for a handful of years in the late 1990s, Rainbow Farm was a focal point of that rural Midwest subcultural sphere where marijuana activists mingled with militia men, factory workers and farmers partied with bikers and Rainbow Tribers (no relation), and everyone agreed that puritanical drug warriors and their laws could go to hell.
I wrote about the killings at Rainbow Farm when they happened, and the following weekend, I hopped in a rental car and drove 14 hours from Washington to attend Crosslin's funeral. The sorrow, anger, and bitterness were palpable as hundreds of people showed up to pay their respects to a man whose drive and ambition made Rainbow Farm a center for countercultural activism. Rainbow Farm threatened to become a rallying cry for a militant Midwest anti-establishment marijuana culture and Crosslin and Rohm were martyrs for the cause. But the timing was bad. Just a couple of days after Crosslin's funeral, two airliners hijacked by Arab fundamentalists crashed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center and a third hit the Pentagon. Like everything else, the killings at Rainbow Farm vanished in the glare of the burning buildings in Washington and New York. The 911 attacks also made people queasy about supporting Crosslin and Rohm. Hadn't they taken up arms against the legitimate government? And weren't there some murky links between Rainbow Farm and those angry, disaffected rural white guys tromping around the woods with guns and calling themselves militia men? In the five years since the bloody end to Rainbow Farm, the killings have vanished down the collective national memory hole -- although not the memories of the thousands upon thousands of people who attended the hemp fests there over the years and found a home where goodhearted people could share some music and some weed and dare to dream of a time when they didn't have to fear losing their jobs, their kids, their homes, and their freedom because they liked to smoke dope. But while America has been busy forgetting, Cass County native and Los Angeles City Beat deputy editor Dean Kuipers was busy researching and remembering.
Crosslin came out of a milieu of broken families, hard drinking, and hard work, bar fights and motorcycle clubs, and Kuiper tells the story of his transformation from just another factory rat into a dedicated pot lover and activist. In doing so, Kuipers deftly lifts a lid on the strange currents wafting across the Midwest in the 1980s and 1990s: A sullen defiance of a renewed War on Drugs combined with a growing skepticism and even fear of a federal government that seemed increasingly imperial, a rising rural marijuana culture infected with people convinced the deaths of the Branch Davidians in Waco was a signal of imminent end times, a dying factory economy where long-time industrial workers were having to choose between their herb and their jobs and looking for villains for their plight. But that's only half the equation. Kuipers also explicates the growing harshness of the drug war in the Reagan 1980s and the particular paranoia looming law enforcement created in small town America. It really is different from the big cities on the coasts. Like much of the country's interior, Crosslin's Michianna was a place where an anonymous tip that you smoked pot was good enough to get a warrant and you were likely to wake up at dawn with a SWAT team rifle pointed at your head. And thanks to the energetic use of asset forfeiture laws, especially by Michigan authorities, you were likely to lose your home as well as your freedom. The forces of law and order collided with the forces of fun, liberation, and weed that Labor Day weekend at Rainbow Farm. The result was a true American tragedy. In that sense, "Burning Rainbow Farm" is larger than Tom Crosslin or Scott Teter or the marijuana movement or the war on drugs. Kuipers has constructed a classic tale of the eternal conflict at the root of America's soul, the conflict between freedom and order, Puritanism and libertinism. It is a conflict that has played out repeatedly in our country's long history and plays out daily on the street and in the courtrooms of the land. The forces of law and order won at Rainbow Farm and they win day after day in countless small victories, countless people imprisoned for the weed, countless lives ruined for the sake of a chimera -- keeping America drug-free. But the mindless forces of order also breed rebellion and resistance. One can only hope that one day, too many people will have been hurt, oppressed, and persecuted to allow the war on marijuana to continue. But the story of Rainbow Farm is a cautionary tale. Tom Crosslin and Rollie Rohm were ready to die for their cause rather than fall into the hands of a vengeful state. But now they're dead, and the state and marijuana prohibition live on. Perhaps the best way to honor their memory -- other than trying Scott Teter for war crimes -- is to redouble our efforts to legalize the weed by any peaceful means necessary. Crosslin and Rohm are indeed martyrs, misguided perhaps, but true martyrs, and they deserve to be honored. "Burning Rainbow Farm" is a real winner, and Dean Kuipers has done justice to his subjects. Kuipers brings to vivid life the life and times of Rainbow Farm, cleanly situates it within the broader social trends afoot, and unflinchingly tells the story of the trajectory of tragedy. The war on drugs creates not only martyrs, but an awful lot of walking wounded. This book is not just about Tom Crosslin and Rollie Rohm; it's about all of us. (Get your copy of Rainbow Farm and support the cause by donating to DRCNet -- see our offer below -- other membership premiums continue to be available too.)
4.
Book
Offer:
Burning
Rainbow
Farm:
How
a
Stoner
Utopia
Went
up
in
Smoke
Many DRCNet readers remember the heartbreaking tragedy of Rainbow Farm, the alternative campground and concert site outside Vandalia, Michigan, where marijuana activists Tom Crosslin and Rollie Rohm, driven to desperation by a relentless prosecutor, were killed by FBI and state police in fall 2001. Killed for no good reason -- as a local sympathizer expressed it to Drug War Chronicle's Phil Smith at the funeral, "[Prosecutor] Scott Teter said this was their choice, but it was his choice to hound them and try to take their land and their son. He's the one who chose to shoot and kill." Rohm and Crosslin before the end burned down their beloved buildings to keep the government from getting them.
Publishers Weekly writes of Kuipers' book, "Drawing on extensive interviews, government documents and news coverage, the author [who grew up 20 miles from the shootings] verges on portraying the prosecutor as evil incarnate. But Kuipers doesn't cross the line from sound journalism into advocacy, while letting the story unfold through superbly detailed characterizations and skillful pacing." We also continue to offer the DVD video Law Enforcement Against Prohibition and the 5th edition of Drug War Facts. Add $5 to the minimum donation to add either of these to your request, or $10 to add both of them. Again, you can make your donation and place your order online, or send a check or money order to: DRCNet, P.O. Box 18402, Washington, DC 20036. (Note that contributions to Drug Reform Coordination Network, which support our lobbying work, are not tax-deductible. Deductible contributions can be made to DRCNet Foundation, same address.) Lastly, please contact us for instructions if you wish to make a donation of stock. (Also note that copies of Rainbow Farm will be mailed out from DRCNet during the third week of June.) Thank you for your support. If you want to read more about Rainbow Farm in the meanwhile, please Phil's articles in the Drug War Chronicle archive: Michigan Drug Warriors Drive Marijuana Activists to the Brink, Then Gun Them Down on 9/7/01 and Rainbow Farm Marijuana Activists Laid to Rest, Friends Not Resting on 9/21.
5.
Alert:
Still
Time
to
Lobby
Congress
on
Colombia
Vote
On Wednesday, DRCNet distributed a bulletin informing our Action Alert subscribers that Congressman Jim McGovern (D-MA) was planning to offer an amendment to the House Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill to take $30 million away from aerial fumigation of drug crops in Colombia and transfer it to emergency humanitarian relief for refugees. Fumigation harms Colombia's environment and people caught in its way, and eradication has never done more than move the growing from place to place.
When you're done with that, please follow up with a phone call to make additional impact -- follow the links appearing below and to the right if you need help preparing for your phone call -- you can reach your Rep.'s office through the Congressional Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 or look up the direct number using our lookup tool online.) Though the vote didn't happen Thursday, it will happen soon. That means your action is needed right now -- so visit https://stopthedrugwar.org/stopthehelicopters/ to lobby Congress today! See the web site of the Latin America Working Group for "talking points" and information to help with your phone call. Click here to read the Drug War Chronicle report on the State Dept.'s latest coca growing stats -- there's just as much of it now as when Plan Colombia was started in the '90s!
6.
Alert:
Important
Medical
Marijuana
Vote
Coming
Up
in
Congress
--
Your
Help
Needed
Since medical marijuana initiatives were first passed ten years ago, the DEA has conducted raids against medical marijuana clinics in California, recently with increasing frequency, forcing hundreds if not thousands of patients to procure marijuana in the black market instead. In a ruling issued on June 6, 2005, the US Supreme Court upheld the government's power to do this. While this doesn't change anything -- state laws protecting medical marijuana patients and their providers still are binding upon state and local law enforcement authorities -- it is a missed opportunity for the Court to rein in federal overreaching and help some of our society's most vulnerable members. This July, the US House of Representatives will vote again on the Hinchey-Rohrabacher medical marijuana amendment, which if passed will forbid the US Dept. of Justice from interfering with state medical marijuana laws. Your help is needed -- it is crucial that more members of Congress vote for medical marijuana this year than did last year. Please visit https://stopthedrugwar.org/medicalmarijuana/ to e-mail your member of Congress today! When you're done, please call him or her on the phone to make additional impact -- use the talking points appearing below to prepare for your phone call. You can reach your Rep.'s office through the Congressional Switchboard at (202) 224-3121, or you can find the direct number using our lookup tool online. Please also tell your friends
about this important action alert -- we need for everyone who cares about
this to take action, and sending them to our web site to do so will also
help to grow our list for the next time. Again, please visit https://stopthedrugwar.org/medicalmarijuana/
to lobby Congress and help medical marijuana patients today!
7.
Feedback:
Do
You
Read
Drug
War
Chronicle?
Do you read Drug War Chronicle?
If so, we'd like to hear from you. DRCNet needs two things:
8.
Law
Enforcement:
This
Week's
Corrupt
Cops
Stories
Even the corrupt cops seem to be going on summer break. This week, we have only three to report: A pot-dealing border guard, a drug-dealing prison guard, and a coke-dealing airman. Let's get to it: In Florida, a US Border Patrol officer was arrested Wednesday on marijuana distribution charges. Jacksonville-based officer Tony Henderson, 45, conspired to sell the drugs over the telephone from his home, according to court papers. Henderson went down after an investigation by the DEA, FBI, immigration agents, the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General's office, and the Suwanee and Columbia county sheriff's departments. He faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine -- and the feds want to seize his house. In New Jersey, a senior corrections officer at Bayside State Prison in Maurice River Township was arrested May 30 on charges she smuggled drugs into the prison and worked with a network of eight inmates to distribute them. Susan Ferrari, 42, a 17-year-veteran of the department earning $66,000 a year, is charged with four counts of possession of a controlled dangerous substance, one count of possession with intent to distribute and two counts of official misconduct. Officials have released no information on the type or quantity of drugs involved. The eight inmates have been transferred to other prisons. Ferrari and her crew went down after a months-long investigation by a swarm of agencies, including the Department of Corrections Special Investigations Division, assisted by the New Jersey State Police, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Drug Enforcement Administration, Burlington County Prosecutor's Office and US Postal Inspectors. In Montana, a US Air Force airman was sentenced last week to five years in federal prison after pleading guilty to a count of cocaine distribution conspiracy count and a count of violating the Arms Export Control Act. Kellen Johnson, 24, was accused of selling cocaine and smuggling guns into Canada. The man who sold him the cocaine and later snitched him off, Jominique Johnson, 36, was rewarded with a six year prison sentence for his role in the case despite cooperating with the government. A third defendant in the case was set to be sentenced this week.
9.
Europe:
British
Home
Office
Proposes
Tough
Presumed
Drug
Dealing
Thresholds
The British Home Office has produced a draft document of regulations that would make people carrying more than small quantities of drugs subject to prosecution as drug dealers, according to the British newspaper the Guardian, which obtained a copy of that document. Under the proposed draft, someone caught with a quarter-ounce (seven grams) of marijuana could face up to 14 years in prison. Someone caught with more than a couple of grams of heroin or cocaine could face up to life in prison. Such a move would be a de facto reversal of then Home Secretary David Blunkett's decision to downgrade marijuana possession to a ticketable offense in most cases. In would likely also lead to a possibly crisis in policing, drug experts warned. The draft was sent to the government's Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), which, according to the Guardian, recommends that the cannabis threshold be set at one ounce (28 grams). The ACMD warned the Home Office the low thresholds would create policing problems. The proposed drug thresholds are:
Martin Barnes, chairman of the drug reform group Drugscope was more politic. "We are concerned at the amounts being considered. The rationale for some thresholds remains unclear, and it is uncertain how many more people may be prosecuted with the more serious charge of intent to supply."
10.
Europe:
Swiss
Harm
Reduction
Policy
for
Heroin
Results
in
Less
Problematic
Heroin
Use
Swiss researchers involved in 15 years of harm reduction approaches to heroin use have managed to reduce heroin use four-fold, according to results published in the British medical journal the Lancet last week. The Swiss approach includes safe injection sites, needle exchange programs, methadone or buprenorphine maintenance programs, and heroin maintenance programs.
"As a result (of heroin-assisted treatments), people can lead normal lives, go to work, not obsess about buying the drug, when they know they can relieve their craving legally," study coauthor Dr. Rudolf Stohler of the Psychiatric University Hospital in Zurich told Reuters Health. The researchers found that half of Swiss heroin users enter an opiate maintenance treatment program within two years. They calculate that the incidence of regular heroin use has declined by 82% since 1990, when more than 800 people sought treatment. That figure was down to 150 last year. "Heroin can be prescribed to people who have failed two former therapies," Dr. Stohler told Reuters Health. The practice is to give addicts one gram a day. And the Swiss may have succeeded in making heroin boring, the researchers suggested. "As the Swiss population supported this drug policy, this medicalization of opiate dependence changed the image of heroin use as a rebellious act to an illness that needs therapy," Drs. Nordt and Stohler wrote. "Finally," they add, "heroin seems to have become a 'loser drug,' with its attractiveness fading for young people."
11.
Sentencing:
US
Conference
of
Mayors
Comes
Out
Against
Mandatory
Minimum
Drug
Sentences
The US Conference of Mayors, meeting at its annual convention in Las Vegas this week, passed a resolution opposing mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes and called for "fair and effective" sentencing policies. The group represents the 1,183 mayors of cities in the US with populations over 300,000 and is a key voice in setting the urban policy agenda. Sponsored by Salt Lake City mayor Rocky Anderson, the resolution notes that this year marks the 20th anniversary of the Sentencing Reform Act of 1986, which established federal mandatory minimums for drug sentences, and that since then, the US prison population has increased dramatically even while mandatory minimum sentencing "has been ineffective at achieving its purported goals: reducing the level of substance abuse and crime, and increasing penalties for the most serious offenders," as the resolution's preamble stated. "The United State Conference of Mayors states its opposition to mandatory minimum sentencing on both the federal and state levels, and urges the creation of fair and effective sentencing policies that permit judges to determine appropriate sentences based on the specific circumstances of the crime and the perpetrator's individual situation; and that states should review the effects of both federal and state mandatory minimum sentencing and then move forward," read the approved resolution. The resolution on mandatory minimum sentencing was only one of at least five sponsored by Anderson and passed by the conference, including resolutions calling on the administration to oppose criminalizing undocumented workers, take action on the crisis in Darfur, and help cities embrace alternatives to fossil fuels. Anderson was "the architect" of the conference policies on sentencing and Darfur, said Len Simon, a lobbyist working the convention for Anderson.
12.
Methamphetamine:
Number
in
Treatment
Skyrockets
in
Last
Decade,
But
Much
of
Increase
Linked
to
Criminal
Justice
System
The Center for Substance Abuse Research at the University of Maryland reported this week that methamphetamine treatment admissions increased nearly 10-fold between 1992 and 2003. But the increase in treatment is largely driven by referrals from the criminal justice system, where arrested methamphetamine users are given a choice between forced drug treatment and imprisonment. According to the center, which based its findings on the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's (SAMSHA) Treatment Episode Data Sets (TEDS) data, the number of people admitted for treatment for meth use increased from 14,570 in 1992 to more than 129,000 in 2003. According to SAMSHA's National Survey on Drug Use and Health, about 1.3 million people used methamphetamine at least once in 2003 and about 583,000 reported using it in the last month. Given those figures, about 10% of people who used meth in 2003 were referred to drug treatment. Looking at those admitting to monthly use -- a population more likely to be developing problems with the popular stimulant -- about 20% were admitted to treatment. In 1992, methamphetamine accounted for 1% of all treatment admissions. It now accounts for 7%. Much of the increase in meth treatment numbers has been driven by the criminal justice system. In 1994, court-ordered treatment accounted for 34% of all admissions; by 2003, that number had increased to 51%. Each year since 2002, more than 50,000 people have been forced into drug treatment for meth by the criminal justice system. At the same time, the percentage of meth users who felt a need to seek treatment has declined. In 1992, 34% of meth treatment admissions were self-referrals; by 2003, that percentage had fallen to 24%. Similar, referrals from substance abuse care providers also declined during that same period, from 9% to 5%. In the past, federal drug warriors have pointed to an increase in admissions for marijuana use as an indicator of a worsening marijuana problem. But as with methamphetamines, treatment referrals for marijuana are largely driven by the criminal justice system and are thus not a good basis for estimating the extent of a drug problem. As the University of Maryland center noted, "[c]aution should be used in utilizing treatment admissions data as an indicator of use or dependence since treatment admissions may also be influenced by changes in law enforcement and sentencing practices as well as changes in legislation which divert drug offenders to treatment."
13.
Methamphetamine:
Illinois
Governor
Signs
Meth
Bills,
Will
Increase
Penalties,
Create
Meth
Maker
Registry
Under a package of bills passed by the Illinois legislature and signed Sunday by Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D), people convicted of making meth will now join sex offenders as social pariahs so feared that the state will keep a registry of their names available to the public via the Internet. The registry will include the person's name, age, offense, conviction date, and county where he was convicted. Tennessee became the first state to create a meth cook registry last year, and now has more than 400 names on its list, according to the State Bureau of Investigation. Similar legislation is pending in at least four states -- Georgia, Oklahoma, Washington, and West Virginia. A bill in Oregon would require the state to alert residents when a meth maker is released into their area. And since 2003, Montana has included meth makers on its sexual and violent offender registry, without listing them separately. The registry could be used to prevent convicted meth manufacturers from finding a place to live by providing "one-stop shopping" to see if someone has a record, a spokeswoman for Blagojevich said. "A landlord could use this to see if people who apply to rent a place have been involved with meth manufacturing before," said Abby Ottenhoff. The home manufacture of methamphetamine has boomed in Illinois in the past decade. In 1997, police raided 24 meth labs; last year, the number was 973. In January, a law restricting access to pseudoephedrine went into effect in an effort to reduce that number. Blagojevich also signed three other bills, two of which create draconian penalties for meth-related offenses. One doubles the penalty for meth distribution or the distribution of meth precursors. A second increases to 15 years the sentence for people engaged in ID theft to purchase meth ingredients. The third bill allows hospitals to report suspicious burns believed caused by meth-making accidents to state fire marshals, who can in turn report it to local investigators. "These laws make it easier to track meth crimes, and help us prosecute people who are continuing to make and sell meth, especially in areas where meth has become a problem -- particularly in more rural communities," Ottenhoff said. "Methamphetamine is one of the most addictive and dangerous drugs on the streets... We need to do everything possible to put a stop to the scourge of meth," Blagojevich said in a statement. The bill passed with little debate or objection. No one spoke up for meth users.
14.
Elections:
Alabama's
Nall
to
Continue
With
Write-In
Campaign
After
Falling
Short
on
Signature
Drive
Drug reformer Loretta Nall, the Libertarian Party nominee for Alabama governor, fell far short in her effort to collect enough signatures to make the November ballot, but has vowed to continue to campaign as a write-in candidate. Under Alabama's tough ballot access laws, Nall needed 41,300 signatures by Tuesday to get on the ballot, but her campaign gathered only about one-third of that number. Still, Nall told the Associated Press Monday, she was in it for the long haul. "I'm not dropping out," she said. While the number of signatures collected is not close to the number needed, Nall said she would turn them in anyway to make a point about how hard it is for third parties to get on the ballot in Alabama. "In almost any other state, that would have been enough to get ballot access," she said. Since founding the US Marijuana Party after being raided and busted for an alleged roach in 2002, Nall has become a vocal proponent of drug law reform and a favorite of the Alabama media. While her gubernatorial campaign has touched on issues as diverse as biodiesel fuels, the war in Iraq, and education, as well as drug and sentencing reform, her not insubstantial cleavage provided grist for the columnists' mills. It also inspired her "Flashing for Cash" animated Internet fundraising appeal, where the more you donate, the more articles of attire drop away.
15.
Web
Scan:
Dueling
Vigils
for
Lost
Promise,
Things
About
Drugs
Top
Ten
List,
Pain
Articles
in
Reason
and
Medical
Economics,
Drug
Czar's
Meth
Mispronouncement
Drug War Rant responds to the DEA's Vigil for Lost Promise with a reform Vigil for Lost Promise -- blog entry at The Top 10 Things I Know About Drugs, DPA's Tony Newman, for Alternet The Doctor Wasn't Cruel Enough, how one physician escaped the panic over prescription drugs, Maia Szalavitz for Reason Wayne J. Guglielmo for Medical Economics magazine on Doctors: The new target in the war on drugs? Brian Bennett blogs on the drug czar's latest meth mispronouncement
16.
Weekly:
This
Week
in
History
June 9, 2000: Human Rights Watch releases a study finding that Illinois is the worst state for racial disparity among jailed drug offenders. June 11, 2001: In a case relating to indoor marijuana-growing operations, the US Supreme Court rules that the use by the police of a thermal imaging device to detect patterns of heat coming from a private home is a search that requires a warrant. June 12, 1998: US drug czar Barry McCaffrey announces at the United Nations his plan for drug warriors to dominate the Internet. June 13, 1994: The RAND Corporation releases a study finding that drug treatment programs are seven times more cost effective for reducing cocaine use than law enforcement efforts, 11 times more effective than border interdiction and 23 times more effective than source country efforts. June 14, 2000: Bestselling author, cancer and AIDS patient, and high profile medical marijuana activist Peter McWilliams is found dead in his home in Los Angeles, California. McWilliams, barred by a federal court order from using marijuana to counteract the extreme nausea caused by his AIDS drugs, is found choked to death on vomit, slumped on his bathroom floor. June 15, 1998: Random House publishes Mike Gray's "Drug Crazy: How We Got Into This Mess and How We Can Get Out."
17.
Weekly:
The
Reformer's
Calendar
Please submit listings of events concerning drug policy and related topics to [email protected]. June 2-4, Marysville, CA, 4th Annual California Music that Matters Festival, benefit for Americans for Safe Access, California NORML and the Dr. Stephen Banister Legal Defense Fund, featuring music, camping, health fair, vendors and more. At the Mervyns Riverfront Pavilion, admission $60 for three days with camping or $30 for one day with no camping. Visit http://www.camusicthatmatters.org or call (530) 346-2763 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.
>June 4, 6:30pm, New York, NY, William Moses Kunstler Fund for Racial Justice Ten Year Anniversary celebration and Racial Justice Awards Ceremony, featuring hosts Danny Glover and Amy Goodman, and Lifetime Freedom Fighter Award recipient Harry Belafonte. At the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Synod Hall, 1047 Amsterdam Ave. at 110th St., visit http://www.kunstler.org or contact (212) 924-6980 or [email protected] for further information.
June 8-9, Monterey, Fresno & Palo Alto, CA, speaking tour by LEAP spokesperson James Anthony. Contact Mike Smithson at (315) 243-5844 or [email protected] for further information.
June 12, 6:00-9:30pm, New York, NY, MPP Awards Gala. At Capitale, 130 Bowery, featuring Medeski Martin & Wood, tickets $250 if purchased by May 22 or $300, $500 VIP. Visit http://www.mpp.org/nygala/ for further information.
June 13, 7:00-9:00pm, Lawrence Township, NJ, Coalition for Medical Marijuana-New Jersey Public Meeting. At the Mercer County Library, 2751 Brunswick Pike (corner of Darrah Lane & Business Route 1), room #3, light refreshments served, all welcome. For further information visit http://www.cmmnj.org or contact Ken Wolski at (609) 394-2137 or [email protected].
June 17, 9:00am-3:00pm, Durham, NC, "Social Injustice Meeting," hosted by Families Against Mandatory Minimums, The Freedom Project and Project R.E.A.C.H. At Hayti Heritage Center, 804 Old Fayetteville Street, contact LaFonda Jones-General at (919) 530-8077 or [email protected] for further information.
June 17, Elkhart, IN, book talk with "Burning Rainbow Farm" author Dean Kuipers. Time and location to be announced, contact Laura Keefe at (646) 307-5580 or [email protected] for further information.
June 18, 2:00-4:00pm, Portage, MI, book talk with "Burning Rainbow Farm" author Dean Kuipers. At Barnes & Noble, 6134 South Westnedge, reception at 5:00pm at Bell's Eccentric Café at 355 E. Kalamazoo Ave. in Kalamazoo, contact Laura Keefe at (646) 307-5580 or [email protected] for further information.
June 19, 7:00-9:00pm, Oak Park, MI, book talk with "Burning Rainbow Farm" author Dean Kuipers. At Book Beat, 26010 Greenfield Rd., contact Laura Keefe at (646) 307-5580 or [email protected] for further information.
June 20, 12:30-2:00pm, New York, NY, "Marked: The Effects of Race and Criminal Background on Finding a Job," lecture by Prof. Devah Pager of Princeton University as part of the Mellon Speaker Series. At the Herb Sturz-Burke Marshall Conference Center, Vera Institute of Justice, 233 Broadway, 12th Floor, space limited, RSVP to [email protected].
June 20, 7:00-8:00pm, Birmingham, MI, book talk with "Burning Rainbow Farm" author Dean Kuipers. At Borders, 34300 Woodward, contact Laura Keefe at (646) 307-5580 or [email protected] for further information.
June 21, 8:00-9:00pm, Grand Rapids, MI, book talk with "Burning Rainbow Farm" author Dean Kuipers. At River Bank Books, 86 Monroe Center NW, contact Laura Keefe at (646) 307-5580 or [email protected] for further information.
June 23, 7:30-8:30pm, Lansing, MI, book talk with "Burning Rainbow Farm" author Dean Kuipers. At Schuler Books and Music, 2820 Towne Center Blvd., Eastwood Shopping Center, contact Laura Keefe at (646) 307-5580 or [email protected] for further information.
June 29, 7:00-10:00pm, Los Angeles, CA, Los Angeles CityBeat party in honor of "Burning Rainbow Farm." At Café-Club Fais Do-Do, 5257 W Adams Blvd., contact Laura Keefe at (646) 307-5580 or [email protected] for further information.
July 4, Washington, DC, Fourth of July Rally, sponsored by the Fourth of July Hemp Coalition. At Lafayette Park, call (202) 251-4492 or visit http://www.smoke-in.org for further information.
July 15-20, Chicago, IL, "Freedom, Tolerance, and Civil Society," free summer seminar for college students, sponsored by the Institute for Humane Studies. At Loyola University, visit http://www.i-liberty.org by April 10 for information or to apply -- apply before March 31 and receive a free book.
July 20-23, Vancouver, BC, Canada, "Fourth Biennial International Meaning Conference on Addiction," contact Dr. Paul T.P. Wong at [email protected] or visit http://www.meaning.ca for information.
July 21, 7:00pm, Washington, DC, "Race to Incarcerate," book talk with The Sentencing Project's Marc Mauer. At Politics & Prose bookstore, 5015 Connecticut Ave., NW, visit http://www.politics-prose.com for further information.
August 19-20, Seattle, WA, Seattle Hempfest, visit http://www.hempfest.org for further information.
September 16, noon-6:00pm, Boston, MA, 17th Annual Boston Freedom Rally. On Boston Common, sponsored by MASS CANN/NORML, featuring bands, speakers and vendors. Visit http://www.MassCann.org for further information.
October 7-8, Madison, WI, 36th Annual Great Midwest
Marijuana Harvest Festival, sponsored by Madison NORML. At the Library Mall, downtown, visit http://www.madisonnorml.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].
February 1-3, 2007, Salt Lake City, UT, "Science & Response: 2007, The Second National Conference on Methamphetamine, HIV, and Hepatitis," sponsored by the Harm Reduction Project. At the Hilton City Center, visit http://www.methconference.org for info.
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