Drug War Chronicle
(formerly The Week Online with DRCNet)
Issue #439
-- 6/9/06
"Raising Awareness of the Consequences of Drug Prohibition"
Phillip S. Smith, Editor
David Borden, Executive Director
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Still
Time to Lobby on Colombia Vote!
Your
Help Needed with Upcoming Medical Marijuana Vote!
New
Book Offer from DRCNet -- Burning Rainbow Farm: How a Stoner Utopia Went
Up in Smoke
(legalization video and Drug War Facts
book still available too)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- 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?
- FEATURE:
TURNING
THE
CORNER
IN
BALTIMORE
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.
- DRCNET
BOOK
REVIEW:
"BURNING
RAINBOW
FARM:
HOW
A
STONER
UTOPIA
WENT
UP
IN
SMOKE,"
BY
DEAN
KUIPERS
(2006,
BLOOMSBURY
PRESS,
$24.95
HB)
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,
and
everyone
agreed
that
puritanical
drug
warriors
and
their
laws
could
go
to
hell.
But
in
the
end,
the
stoner
rebellion
started
by
Tom
Crosslin
ended
in
death
and
ashes.
- BOOK
OFFER:
BURNING
RAINBOW
FARM:
HOW
A
STONER
UTOPIA
WENT
UP
IN
SMOKE
In
fall
2001,
activists
Tom
Crosslin
and
Rollie
Rohm
were
gunned
down
by
state
and
federal
agents,
after
desperation
drove
them
to
set
fire
to
the
buildings
on
their
beloved
Rainbow
Farm
campground
and
concert
site.
A
new
book
tells
the
heart-wrenching
story.
- ALERT:
STILL
TIME
TO
LOBBY
CONGRESS
ON
COLOMBIA
VOTE
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.
Your
support
is
needed
for
a
Congressional
amendment
to
transfer
funds
away
from
it.
- ALERT:
IMPORTANT
MEDICAL
MARIJUANA
VOTE
COMING
UP
IN
CONGRESS
--
YOUR
HELP
NEEDED
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.
It's
crucial
that
more
members
of
Congress
vote
for
medical
marijuana
this
year
than
did
last
year.
- FEEDBACK:
DO
YOU
READ
DRUG
WAR
CHRONICLE?
Do
you
read
Drug
War
Chronicle?
If
so,
we
need
your
feedback
to
evaluate
our
work
and
make
the
case
for
Drug
War
Chronicle
to
funders.
We
need
donations
too.
- 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.
- EUROPE:
BRITISH
HOME
OFFICE
PROPOSES
TOUGH
PRESUMED
DRUG
DEALING
THRESHOLDS
The
British
Home
Office
has
produced
a
draft
document
of
regulations
that
would
be
a
de
facto
reversal
of
the
recent
downgrading
of
marijuana
possession
to
a
ticketable
offense.
And
people
caught
with
more
than
a
couple
of
grams
of
heroin
or
cocaine
could
get
life.
- 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
Lancet.
- 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.
- 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.
- METHAMPHETAMINE:
ILLINOIS
GOVERNOR
SIGNS
METH
BILLS,
WILL
INCREASE
PENALTIES,
CREATE
METH
MAKER
REGISTRY
People
convicted
of
making
methamphetamine
in
Illinois
will
soon
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.
- 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
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.
- 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
- WEEKLY:
THIS
WEEK
IN
HISTORY
Events
and
quotes
of
note
from
this
week's
drug
policy
events
of
years
past.
- WEEKLY:
THE
REFORMER'S
CALENDAR
Showing
up
at
an
event
can
be
the
best
way
to
get
involved!
Check
out
this
week's
listings
for
events
from
today
through
next
year,
across
the
US
and
around
the
world!
this issue, one-page printer version
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