Drug War Chronicle
(formerly The Week Online with DRCNet)
Issue #440
-- 6/16/06
"Raising Awareness of the Consequences of Drug Prohibition"
Phillip S. Smith, Editor
David Borden, Executive Director
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
- EDITORIAL:
REAL
WORLD
CONSEQUENCES
One
of
the
regularly
repeating
outrages
in
the
drug
war
is
that
of
innocent
people
terrorized,
physically
harmed
or
killed
in
drug
raids
gone
bad.
The
court
has
decided
this
is
okay
--
which
means
we
have
to
say
it's
not.
- FEATURE:
DEATH
TOLL
CLIMBS
AS
FENTANYL-LACED
HEROIN
ODS
SPREAD
With
14
deaths
being
linked
by
Chicago
authorities
to
heroin
laced
with
fentanyl
in
a
two-day
period
last
week,
the
nationwide
death
toll
in
a
wave
of
ODs
tied
to
the
powerful
synthetic
opiate
continues
to
rise.
- FEATURE:
AMONG
WHITES,
IMPRISONING
DRUG
USERS
A
MINORITY
OPINION,
SURVEY
FINDS
Most
Americans
favor
treatment,
not
prison
time,
for
drug
users.
Those
who
don't
are
more
likely
to
make
moral
judgments
about
drug
users,
more
likely
to
deny
that
racism
is
a
problem
in
the
US,
and
more
likely
to
buy
into
misconceptions
about
who
uses
drugs.
- FEATURE:
INDUSTRIAL
HEMP
PUSH
UNDERWAY
IN
CALIFORNIA,
NORTH
DAKOTA
Moves
are
afoot
in
California
and
North
Dakota
to
win
approval
of
industrial
hemp
production
at
the
state
level,
but
the
ultimate
goal
is
removing
the
federal
government
as
an
obstacle
to
domestic
cultivation
of
the
valuable
and
versatile
plant.
- OFFER
AND
APPEAL:
IMPORTANT
NEW
LEGALIZATION
VIDEO
AND
DRUG
WAR
FACTS
BOOK
AVAILABLE
Get
your
copy
of
the
Law
Enforcement
Against
Prohibition
video
that
Walter
Cronkite
called
a
"must-see
for
any
journalist
or
public
official
dealing
with
[the
drug]
issue."
- 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:
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.
- FOLLOW-UP:
COLOMBIA
AMENDMENT
RESULTS
Special
thanks
to
the
more
than
1,000
DRCNet
subscribers
who
lobbied
Congress
to
reduce
aerial
fumigation
funding.
We
lost,
but
the
numbers
are
getting
close.
- 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
Three
bad
apples
from
North
Carolina,
a
former
Minnesota
cop
dealing
powder,
a
Connecticut
cop
passing
out
favors,
another
Border
Patrol
officer
goes
down,
and
so
does
yet
another
prison
guard.
- SEARCH
AND
SEIZURE:
SUPREME
COURT
UPHOLDS
SEARCHES
WITHOUT
NOTICE
In
a
ruling
overturning
decades
of
precedent
and
centuries
of
common
law
tradition,
the
US
Supreme
Court
has
allowed
police
with
a
search
warrant
to
enter
homes
and
seize
evidence
without
knocking.
- METHAMPHETAMINE:
EPIDEMIC?
WHAT
EPIDEMIC?
STUDY
ASKS
The
extent
of
methamphetamine
use
in
the
United
States
is
overplayed
and
exaggerated
by
the
news
media
and
politicians,
the
widely-respected
think
tank
The
Sentencing
Project
said
in
a
study
released
this
week.
- LAW
ENFORCEMENT:
JUSTICE
FOR
SALE
IN
WASHINGTON
BORDER
COUNTY
If
you've
got
cash,
you
can
"buy
down"
the
charges
against
you
and
walk
away
from
a
serious
drug
bust
in
Whatcom
County,
Washington.
If
you
don't
have
the
cash,
too
bad
for
you,
the
hammer
will
fall.
- EUROPE:
NEW
ITALIAN
GOVERNMENT
TO
MOVE
TO
"REDUCE
DAMAGE"
OF
TOUGH
DRUG
LAW
As
one
of
its
last
legacies,
the
rightist
government
of
former
Italian
Prime
Minister
Silvio
Berlusconi
passed
a
tough
new
drug
law
treating
people
in
possession
of
more
than
five
grams
of
marijuana
or
similarly
small
amounts
of
other
drugs
as
if
they
were
dealers.
The
new
government
is
moving
to
scale
it
back.
- EUROPE:
BRITAIN
TO
RECLASSIFY
METHAMPHETAMINE
AS
CLASS
A
DRUG
A
move
to
lump
meth
together
with
heroin
and
cocaine
would
bump
sentences
up
to
seven
years
for
possession
and
life
for
dealing
in
Great
Britain.
- CANADA:
FEDERAL
MEDICAL
MARIJUANA
PROGRAM
A
FLOP,
AIDS
SOCIETY
SAYS
The
Canadian
government's
medical
marijuana
program
is
not
working,
the
Canadian
AIDS
Society
said
in
a
report
released
Wednesday.
- 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!
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