Weekly:
This
Week
in
History
7/7/06
July 7, 2004: The US House of Representatives votes on the Hinchey-Rohrabacher amendment (H.R. 4754) that, if passed, would protect patients and who use marijuana medically and their providers acting in compliance with state law from interference by the US Department of Justice and Drug Enforcement Administration. The amendment is defeated 148-269: 19 Republicans vote "aye" and 202 vote "no," six not voting; 128 Democrats vote "aye" and 66 vote "no," 11 not voting. July 8, 1999: Mexican PAN and PRI legislators in the Chamber of Deputies in Mexico City exchange heated accusations about each others' party's associations with drug trafficking organizations. July 9, 1997: Thirty-seven leading physicians announce the formation of Physician Leadership on National Drug Policy. July 10, 1992: Manuel Noriega is convicted on eight counts of drug trafficking, money laundering and racketeering, and sentenced to 40 years in federal prison. July 10, 1997: Researchers at the Institute for Social and Preventive Medicine at the University of Zurich release the final report on Switzerland's three-year heroin prescription trial. The study concludes that the carefully supervised provision of heroin to long-term addicts with a history of failure in other treatment modalities results in a significant decrease in crime, mortality, disease transmission, treatment failure, and unemployment, at a substantial savings over other, less successful treatment methods. July 11, 1979: A deadly shootout between Colombian traffickers in broad daylight at Miami's Dadeland Mall brings the savagery of the Colombian cocaine lords to the attention of US law enforcement. July 12, 2002: The Wall Street Journal reports that former president Bill Clinton acknowledged, "I was wrong" to not lift the ban on federal funding of needle-exchange programs. July 13, 1931: The International Convention for Limiting the Manufacture and Regulating the Distribution of Narcotic Drugs is convened in Geneva. July 13: 1995: The New York Times reports the FDA has concluded for the first time that nicotine is an addictive drug that should be regulated. July 13, 1998: The Associated Press reports that US drug czar Barry McCaffrey has created a controversy in The Netherlands over his erroneous claim that "The murder rate in Holland is double that in the United States," which he explained by saying "that's drugs." In actuality the Dutch homicide rate is less than one fourth the US rate. The Dutch ambassador response, "I must say that I find the timing of your remarks -- six days before your planned visit to the Netherlands with a view to gaining first-hand knowledge about Dutch drugs policy and its results, rather astonishing."
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