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(formerly The Week Online with DRCNet) Issue #445 -- 7/21/06
"Raising Awareness of the Consequences of Drug Prohibition" Phillip S. Smith, Editor
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1.
Editorial:
Do
We
Really
Want
to
Help
Kids
Find
the
Drug
Dealers?
David Borden, Executive Director, [email protected]
Even using drug war logic (generally a bad idea), this idea fails pretty decisively. Most kids don't start using drugs because they are offered them by professional dealers. Most kids start using drugs because they are offered them by other kids -- kids who are providing either for social reasons or because they have gotten involved in the criminal enterprise, but in either case not the repeatedly convicted adults who would pop up on the state's web site. It's also important to remember that most drug dealers never get caught, hence will never appear in the registry for that reason. So while a registry would enable parents to be aware of some fraction of the serious drug dealers out there, it will miss (and perhaps divert attention from) the more common pathways through which drugs might get into the hands of their children. Furthermore, the same unstoppable economic process that turns any bust of a dealer into a job opportunity for new dealers, must also apply, at least partly, to any repeat dealers who lose business because some parents were able to keep their children clear of any given dealer -- if the kids are determined or even just willing, they'll wind up getting their drugs from someone else. Most glaring, however, is an argument that was pointed out in a "practice" blog post by a member of our staff, Scott Morgan, on our soon-to-be-released new web site. Scott used a similar registry in Tennessee, limited to methamphetamine offenders, to show how usable it would be (perhaps is) to any young people, in any given county in the state, wishing to find leads on people in their county who might be able to sell them meth or other drugs -- an outcome exactly the opposite of what the registry purports to want to prevent. The main difference (no pun intended) between Tennessee's registry and Maine's proposed registry, other than Maine's including all illegal drugs, is that Maine's is to be limited to "habitual" drug offenders, people who have been convicted of drug dealing multiple times. But repeat offenders are exactly the people who are the most likely to offend yet again -- the most usable listings for kids or others wanting to locate drug sellers conveniently narrowed down. But widening the registry to include all drug offenders won't help either -- because increasing the number of listings would also increase the registry's usability to kids wanting to find dealers. Either way you can't get around the idea that a drug offender registry is effectively a taxpayer-subsidized advertising campaign supporting drug dealing. In the end, we must return to the issue that the primary way young people start to get involved in drug use is through the influence of other kids -- in many instances buying the drugs from other kids, in the schools. This is one of the factors that has led to an increased prevalence of handguns in schools -- where the underground market goes, so also tend to go weapons. But it need not be that way. While use of alcohol by minors is a big issue (alcohol is just as much of a drug as any of the others, and a rather destructive one), at least kids are not buying it from other kids, in the school, from people who carry guns. That situation exists with the illegal drugs precisely because we have banned them. With drug legalization, the criminal problems associated with the trade in drugs would largely vanish -- no more armed drug trade in the schools, no more turf wars or open air markets. And while the harm from the use of the drugs themselves will not simply disappear when prohibition is ended, the sheer level of destructiveness currently associated with addiction in particular would also drop substantially, as users would no longer be subject to the random impurities, and fluctuations in purity, that currently lead to poisonings and overdoses; and the high street prices drugs currently have would also drop, enabling many if not most addicts who are now driven to extreme behaviors like theft and prostitution to get the money to buy drugs to at least afford the habit through legal means of earning. Escalating the failed policy of prohibition won't accomplish this. In the meanwhile let's at least cool it with these hare-brained ideas like drug offender registries. The continued stigmatization of people who have already been punished ought to be enough reason. But if it's not, the incredibly poor logic behind this idea ought to be. Do we really want to help kids find the drug dealers? I don't.
2.
Feature:
Vancouver
Fights
to
Save
Its
Pioneering
Safe
Injection
Site
InSite, the safe injection site for drug users in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, has been shown to reduce public drug use, overdose deaths, and the spread of blood-borne diseases, but the Conservative government of Prime Minister Steven Harper is ideologically hostile. Now, with INSITE threatened with a September shutdown if Health Canada fails to approve a request for an extension of its exemption from Canadian drug laws, Vancouver is mobilizing to save it.
If Harper and Health Canada actually let the research results so far guide their decision, continuing InSite would be a shoe-in. According to published, peer-reviewed research and evaluation by the BC Center for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, a highly respected research organization monitoring the study, the safe-injection site:
But Vancouver and its residents are not at all certain Harper will actually be guided by the science instead of his ideological predispositions, and they are mobilizing to ensure he understands that the city wants InSite to continue. "The community itself decided we need to tell the new prime minister and federal government how important InSite is for our community, so we started a campaign of concerned citizens called InSite For a Safer Community, said Gillian Maxwell, a spokesperson for the coalition. "We will be making the point that InSite makes the community safer, saves lives, and helps get people access to health services. Taking it away would be a very detrimental thing," she told DRCNet. "InSite is, of course, good for the people who use it, but it is good for the community as well, it improves our quality of life." The coalition is playing softball right now, said Maxwell, but that could change. "We don't want the government to feel like it is being cornered or pressured. Instead, we are asking it to pay attention to the level of support in the community." To that end, the coalition has organized a letter-writing campaign on its web site where Vancouverites can write directly to the prime minister. It is also collecting letters of support from prominent members of the community. The group also held a visual display and press conference on a Vancouver hillside Thursday, with the number of overdose deaths prevented by InSite represented by rows of crosses. Organizers made the point to the press that "this many people are alive today because of InSite, and if you close the site, hundreds could die." Meanwhile, the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU) is calling not only for the continuation of InSite, but its expansion. "Stopping Insite now is like having your body covered with running sores, and we give you some cream on one part of one arm, and it's completely healed, but we won't let you put it on the rest of your body," said VANDU spokesperson Anne Livingstone. "The idea of not extending the exemption is pure bullshit; the studies show it is working. But this is a study, not a program. If we had a program, there would be four or five or six of these sites. There are 15,000 drug injections in the Downtown Eastside each day, and Insite can handle only 600 of them." The city of Vancouver very much wants to see the study continued, said Drug Policy Coordinator Donald McPherson. "The mayor has been very clear about this," he told DRCNet. "He has written to the prime minister pointing out that the evidence so far is that this is a very successful intervention and that we need further research to look at the long-term impacts it is having on things like HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C rates." In that letter, Mayor Sam Sullivan wrote: "To date, the impressive research findings that have been published demonstrate that this project not only provides a significant opportunity to generate knowledge, it also appears to be an important protective factor in the lives of those individuals that use the facility." The city is actively involved in seeing that the exemption is continued, said McPherson. "We're part of the coalition that is trying to see that it stays. This is not really a contentious issue in Vancouver. The business community is behind it, the neighboring Chinese community supports it, we have a level of support for this in the community like never before," he said. "It would be very sad and harmful if Insite were discontinued at this point after the results it has achieved and all the work people put into it." New Democratic Party Member of Parliament Libby Davies, who represents the Downtown Eastside, is also on board. Last week, she joined the letter-writing campaign with a widely circulated e-mail message. "I have a lot of contacts across the country," she told DRCNet. "People who are very supportive of InSite. I'm working with my contacts and with people in the community to encourage people to signify their support. There are a lot of emails going to the Health Minister right now." InSite is also getting support from Australia, where a safe injection site in Sydney has produced similar positive results. On Monday, the 110-member Australian Parliamentary Group for Drug Law Reform sent a letter to Harper asking him not to close down the site. "InSite has saved lives and transformed the response to drug users from health and social services," said the letter. "Our research has also shown the benefits of the injecting centre, not only in saving lives but also providing a pathway to recovery." Davies said she hoped the campaign could convince the federal government it would run up against a united community if it stopped the safe injection site. "I'm hoping they won't want to make a big issue of this. I'm hoping Harper and Health Minister Clement will be pragmatic despite their ideological opposition to it, but if they try to turn it down, there will be a very strong reaction. They haven't seen anything yet," she warned. Gillian Maxwell doesn't trust the Harper government to do the right thing. "We're a little nervous," she said. "The fact that we're even doing this campaign shows that. Vancouver Coastal Health asked for the extension in the spring, and now it's July. We can't say what the chances are, but we're not completely convinced it will happen because it hasn't happened yet." VANDU's Livingstone wondered if the Harper government would simply delay. "I'm afraid they won't say yes or no, but just renew it month by month and leave it hanging in limbo," she said. "If they say no, there will be a strong campaign mounted." That campaign could include guerrilla injection sites like the one VANDU set up earlier this decade to spur the officially sanctioned site to actually open. "I've been chomping at the bit to find another storefront or maybe a Winnebago. If we do another guerrilla operation, that keeps it on the public agenda. I think if you want an injection site wherever you are, just open one. I wish the churches would get involved, like they did in Europe and Australia, because this is not really a political movement, it's about people dying."
3.
Feature:
What
Would
Jesus
Do?
Religious
Communities
as
Drug
Reform
Allies
By any measure, the United States is a highly religious country. More Americans claim to believe in God and attend church regularly than in any other Western industrial democracy, and religiously-based claims carry great weight in American politics. But the drug reform movement, much of it secular and unattached to traditional religious practices, has only begun to make serious inroads with these powerful groups. One drug policy reform organization, the Interfaith Drug Policy Initiative (IDPI), is working specifically to ensure that faith-based support for drug reform continues to grow. "Ultimately, people make their decisions based on their values, and the vast majority of people in the US get their values through their religion," said IDPI executive director Charles Thomas. "If we want to fundamentally change our nation's drug policies, we need to be able to shift the way people view drugs and drug policy, and the best way to do that is through organized religion."
Indeed. In fact, many drug reformers and church-goers alike would be surprised by organized religion's progressive drug policy positions. On the issue of medical marijuana, for instance, the United Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, the Episcopal Church, the Unitarian Universalist Association, the Union for Reform Judaism, the United Church of Christ, and the Progressive National Baptist Convention have all passed resolutions in favor. When it comes to repealing mandatory minimum sentences, the denominations and religious bodies above are joined by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, the National Council of Churches, Prison Fellowship Ministries, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Progressive National Baptist Convention, the National Baptist Convention USA, the National Baptist Convention of America, the National Baptist Missionary Convention, the Church of the Brethren Witness, and the American Baptist Churches in the USA. Another drug reform issue, repeal of the Higher Education Act's infamous "drug provision," efforts coordinated by the DRCNet-sponsored Coalition for Higher Education Act Reform, has also received endorsements from a number of faith-based groups, including the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism, the United Methodist Church General Board of Church and Society, the Church of the Brethren Witness, Church Women United, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Fellowship of Reconciliation, the Friends Committee on National Legislation, God Bless the World, the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, the Progressive Jewish Alliance, Progressive National Baptist Convention, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, the United Church of Christ, and the Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics, and Ritual. While the evangelical churches are typically viewed as deeply conservative and hostile to drug reform, that isn't always the case. Former Nixon-era Watergate felon Charles Colson heads Prison Fellowship Ministries, which endorses sentencing reform. And IDPI reports it is in contact with a national organization of evangelical churches. With all the potential support lurking behind church walls, drug reformers are remiss if they fail to make the connection with their spiritually-based brethren, said Thomas. "Working with and mobilizing religious organizations is an essential component of moving the ball forward on drug reform," he argued. Even people who are not religious can do it, he said. "Most everyone has friends and family members who are members of a congregation. Ask them if they are aware of their church's position. If they oppose medical marijuana because it's bad, show them what their denomination says about it. If they already agree, ask them to frame it in moral language. It's the same with pastors and ministers," Thomas pointed out. "Sometimes you have to educate them on their own denomination's position, but once you have, ask them if they will sign a letter educating the congregation and the public." IDPI is not merely taking advantage of favorable positions taken by denominations, it is helping to prod them to take those positions. Last month, thanks to a solid effort by IDPI and a strong grassroots concern within the church, the Presbyterians became the latest denomination to come out in support of medical marijuana. That in turn led to a story on BeliefNet, with an accompanying internet poll showing 70% support for legalization and 92% support for medical marijuana. Similarly, prodding from IDPI helped push the New York State Catholic Conference to include Rockefeller drug law reform on its list of criminal justice priorities. Now, activists are taking the lesson learned by IDPI and applying them in the states. Deep in the heartland, drug reformers are seeking to build alliances with faith-based communities. In Kansas, for example, the Drug Policy Forum of Kansas (DPFKS) and the nascent Kansas Compassionate Care Coalition are laying the groundwork for a medical marijuana bill next year. "We have gotten information on all religious denominations here in Kansas that have favorable positions on medical marijuana and we have gotten demographic information about congregations on a city or county basis," said the Forum's Laura Green. "We are reaching out to the faith-based communities. We have identified representatives who oppose us on medical marijuana and we are going into their districts and trying to get clergy to sign on to our statement of principle, so we can take that to the representative," she told DRCNet. Why go after the churches? Simple, said Green. "The churches here have their fingers in everything, and some of the congregations are very large and powerful. The churches here have traditionally stayed out of drug policy, but we managed to get them behind a bill that allows convicts access to services once they get out, and that's why it passed." In other places, religiously-inspired activists from numerous denominations are joining forces to push for humane, progressive change. "Drug reform is one of three justice issues we focus on," said Rev. Peter Laarman, executive director of Progressive Christians Uniting, a Southern California-based faith-based organization. "Frankly, our constituency is mostly Anglo and suburban, yet our people have a sense of what a waste of human lives and tax resources it is to incarcerate people with addiction issues. A few years ago, we did a high-profile conference about the drug war, and that got people really excited," he told DRCNet. "After that, we did a curriculum on progressive drug policy reform in congregational settings, hired some staff, and created a citizens committee to support Proposition 36," California's "treatment not jail" law. In fact, Progressive Christians Uniting was in the news two weeks ago, when it held a press conference to urge Gov. Schwarzenegger (R) to veto legislative changes to the law that perverted its original intent. "Changing a voter approved ballot initiative is not only unconstitutional," said Laarman, "but it is morally unconscionable. The law is successfully saving lives and repairing families." Naturally enough, Progressive Christians Uniting draws its inspiration from its members' religious beliefs. "The Bible and the witness of Jesus say we belong to one another and identify with those most exposed to injustice," Laarman explained. "Early Christians were often imprisoned themselves, so we strongly identify with people unjustly imprisoned. We need a humane and ethical alternative to mass incarceration. A lot of people think addicts are fallen, sinful people who need to be punished, but we believe that addiction is punishment enough and we need to show people a path out. For us, harm reduction is a very Christian response." "Working with the churches is not only just, it is smart," said IDPI's Troy Dayton. "When a denomination takes a favorable stand on a drug reform issue, it gets a lot of media attention, which in turn draws the media to examine other denominations' positions. And when the churches say something, a lot of people listen. The way we imprison mass numbers of people, for instance, is a crucial moral and religious question, and the big denominations are almost across the board for sentencing reform." Getting the denominations on board and letting the politicians know what the churches want when it comes to drug policy can be critical, Dayton told DRCNet. "The drug war doesn't work no matter what your religious beliefs are; it's immoral, and the faith-based community can really provide politicians the moral conviction to do what they know is right." When it comes down to figuring out how we should deal with drug users in the United States, there is a simple and highly appropriate question: What would Jesus do?
4.
Law
Enforcement:
This
Week's
Corrupt
Cops
Stories
A former Massachusetts State Police sergeant goes to prison, a former Milwaukee detective cops a plea, a Virginia sheriff's deputy gets busted, and so do a pair of would-be drug-dealing prison guards. Just another week in the drug war. Let's get to it: In Norfolk, Massachusetts, a former Massachusetts State Police sergeant was sentenced to 15 years in prison July 12 after pleading guilty to one count of trafficking more than 200 grams of cocaine and one count of larceny of more than $250. Sergeant Timothy White, who had worked at the Framingham State Police barracks Narcotics Inspection Unit, had been stealing cocaine from the unit to sell and use. White went down in flames in 2002, when he assaulted his now former wife in the middle of cocaine binge, and his troubles only deepened when police raiding his home in 2003 found a pound of missing cocaine there. He has already been sentenced to 2 ½ years for the assault. In Greensville County, Virginia, a Greensville County Sheriff's deputy was indicted July 12 on federal drug dealing charges. Deputy Timothy Williams, 35, is charged with conspiring to distribute crack cocaine, powder cocaine and marijuana. According to the indictment, Williams used his position to seize drugs from dealers and then handed them over to his co-conspirators to be resold on the street. He is also accused of extorting money from drug dealers by threatening to arrest them if they didn't pay up. In Milwaukee, a former Milwaukee Police detective agreed to plead guilty July 12 to federal cocaine distribution charges, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported. Former Detective Larry White, 35, was charged with ferrying drugs from Illinois to Wisconsin for his brother-in-law on several occasions. According to an FBI affidavit in the case, White made $1,000 a trip. He now faces a five-year mandatory minimum prison sentence. In Kershaw, South Carolina, a Lancaster County prison guard was charged with taking what he thought was Ecstasy from undercover agents to sneak into the prison, the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division announced in a July 12 press release. Joseph Sanders, 29, was arrested the night before and charged with misconduct in office, conspiracy to possess and distribute controlled substances and attempting to furnish contraband to a prisoner. According to the arrest warrant, Sanders took the fake drug from the SLED narc with the intention of smuggling it into the prison. In Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, a Franklin County Prison guard was arrested July 7 in a state police sting aimed at preventing the illegal delivery of Oxycontin to inmates, according to the Cumberland Sentinel. The unnamed guard faces charges of attempting to obtain the medication for sale at the prison, but those charges had yet to be filed.
5.
Sentencing:
Bill
to
Study
Habitual
Drug
Offender
Registry
Introduced
in
Maine
First, it was the sex offenders. Then it was the meth cooks. Now, a bill introduced in the Maine Senate would lay the groundwork for what would be the nation's first registry of habitual drug offenders. While proponents of such life-long branding of people who have completed their prison sentences cite public safety, opponents say registries unfairly stigmatize people who have paid their debt to society.
Introduced Tuesday by Sen. Bill Diamond (D-Cumberland County), the "Act to Study a Maine Habitual Drug Offender Registry" would direct the legislature's Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee to study creating a registry of persons repeatedly charged with drug dealing offenses. In published remarks, Drummond, who is co-chair of the committee, portrayed the measure as one aimed at helping families protect children. "Drug abuse and the crime it perpetrates are one the rise in Maine. My intent is to take deliberate steps to examine any way and every way this increase can be combated," said Sen. Diamond in a press statement. "This legislation is a first step toward a tool Maine families can use to keep our communities and children safe from drugs and drug related crimes." Drug arrests are up in Maine, along with an overall increase in the crime rate, and public officials were eager to blame drug use and drug sales. "2005 was the deadliest year in Maine for drug overdoses and a rash of bank, pharmacy and convenience store robberies were fueled by the demand for money to feed growing drug habits," said Public Safety Commissioner Michael Cantara in releasing crime and drug bust figures after a major cocaine bust last week. "Mainers will not sit back and let these drugs continue to come into our state and corrupt our children. We need to make every effort, investigate every avenue, to fight drugs in our state. 'An Act to Study a Maine Habitual Drug Offender Registry' is just one avenue that could end up making a difference in bringing safety back to our streets," said Diamond. But the bill has its critics. "Establishing a yellow pages for convicted drug dealers doesn't sound like a good idea to me," Shenna Bellows, executive director of the Maine Civil Liberties Union told the Portland Press-Herald. "A better use of taxpayers' dollars would be to fund public education to keep kids off drugs and rehabilitation to keep users from turning into dealers." The registry concept has also been criticized on moral, religious grounds. Frank Macchia, a minister in the Assembly of God, critiqued the broader issue of offender registries in an article last month in the magazine of ecumenical thought Vital Theology, criticizing sex offender registries as aiming to stigmatize and humiliate, rather than enhance public safety. Rather than seek to humiliate sinners, wrote Macchia, "As the people of God, we should not only seek to bear witness to Christ and to the redemptive grace that Christ channels to us, but also function in the public arena as salt of the earth." So there are unanswered questions: Would such a registry turn out to provide advertising for would-be repeat offenders seeking more clientele, hence defeat their purpose? (They are calling it a "habitual" drug offender registry, after all, the group of people statistically most likely to re-offend.) And who will get the contract for the Scarlet Ds?
6.
Europe:
Britain
Goes
After
Medical
Marijuana
Suppliers
In two separate trials, one beginning this week and one beginning next week, British authorities are prosecuting medical marijuana providers under the country's drug laws, the Guardian reported. The continued prosecution of medical marijuana providers comes despite the government's downgrading of marijuana from a Class B drug to the less serious Class C in 2004. Four members of Therapeutic Help from Cannabis for Multiple Sclerosis (THCforMS( faced charges of conspiracy to distribute marijuana this week in crown court in Carlisle. THCforMS supplies free cannabis exclusively to MS sufferers and says on its web site it has handed out 33,000 cannabis chocolate bars to patients. Next week, Bud Buddies founder Jeffrey Ditchfield goes on trial in Mold crown court on nine counts of cultivation and distribution of cannabis. Bud Buddies offers a number of marijuana preparations for anyone with a proven medical need and requires documentation of that need from a physician. Under current British marijuana law, all of the defendants mentioned face up to 14 years in prison. Meanwhile, life has become more difficult for as many as 30% of British MS sufferers who use the herb to alleviate the pain and spasms associated with the disease. One of those patients, who asked not to be identified, said she had applied to use the marijuana tincture Sativex on a trial basis, but was turned down. The preparation is currently undergoing a three-year trial. "I find it inconceivable that the crown sees these prosecutions as in the public interest when there is still no legal way for the people who are helped by cannabis to obtain and use it," she said. The British Medical Association said in a 1997 report: "While research is under way the police, the courts and prosecuting authorities should be aware of the medicinal reasons for the unlawful use of cannabis by those suffering from certain medical conditions for whom other drugs have proved ineffective." Even if the crown prosecutors don't get it, some trial courts do -- or at least they did. Up until last year, medical marijuana patients and providers successfully raised the "necessity" defense, which allows illegal acts to prevent a greater harm. But an appeals court ruling last year held that the "necessity" defense did apply to the use of marijuana to relieve chronic pain.
7.
Australia:
Victoria
Greens
Call
For
Prescription
Heroin,
Safe
Injection
Sites
The Victoria Green Party unveiled its new drug policy platform Monday and is now calling for prescription heroin trials for long-term addicts and the establishment of safe injection sites like the one in Sydney. But those were only the most controversial proposals in a platform heavy on harm reduction measures. The new platform also calls for an end to criminal penalties for drug users and notes that the Greens believe in a regulated framework for currently illegal drugs, but does not call for outright legalization and would keep penalties for the production, sale, or trafficking of drugs. The platform also addresses legal drugs such as alcohol and tobacco and seeks tighter restrictions on them. The proposals would "minimize the harm and save lives," said Victoria Greens upper house candidate Colleen Hartland Monday as she unveiled the platform at a needle exchange facility in Footscray. "Current approaches are not working, so it is time to step back from the emotional debate and work to implement programs that will effectively tackle the problems associated with legal and illegal drugs," Hartland said. But for the Greens program to be implemented, it will have to win support in the state legislative assembly. Currently, it is controlled by the Australian Labor Party, and the Greens have no seats.
8.
Middle
East:
War
Driving
Iraqis
to
Drugs
Thanks to the horrors of war, drug abuse is on the rise in Iraq, Iraqi officials and residents told the Associated Press Monday. With the Baghdad morgue reporting that some 6,000 bodies, most of them bearing signs of violence, have shown up this year alone, the urge to get away from it all is understandable. It certainly was for Tamam Abdul-Kadhim, who told the AP he started using a sedative after witnessing a bloody bombing. Soon he was addicted. "I saw for the first time in my life brains and body parts scattered after a bombing in central Baghdad," he said. "I was not able to think properly or sleep because the images from that massacre were stuck in my mind so that I relied on this medicine." Abdul-Kadhim sought help at the Ibn Rushid psychiatric hospital. He isn't the only one, said doctors there, and he represents a new trend: the abuse of prescription and illegal drugs instead of alcohol. Under the secular regime of Saddam Hussein, alcohol was available, but it is increasingly less so now. "Illegal narcotics are available everywhere in Iraq and anyone can get products containing amphetamines and codeine from any pharmacy or sidewalk throughout Iraq," said Ibn Rushid's director, Dr. Shaalan Joda Al Abod. "While getting alcohol became harder due to ongoing harassment and threats by extremists against the liquor shops and factories as all bars and nightclubs are closed," he added. Since the war, the numbers have flipped, said Abod. In Saddam's day, 80% of patients were treated for alcoholism; now more than 70% are being treated for drugs. Ibn Rushid is getting about one new patient a day, Abod said, with 90% of them being young adults. Iraqi officials are working to develop public awareness campaigns, but that is difficult when going out on the streets can get you killed. "We can't send our teams to all parts of Iraq, particularly the outskirts of urban areas where addiction is high," health ministry spokesman Qassim Allawi told the AP. "Our work is limited to holding one or two conferences a year, publishing posters and sometimes TV advertisements." Ahmed Abdul-Jabar, 28, told the AP he has a degree in Arabic literature, but he now sells cigarettes on a Baghdad street. Drugs help him cope, he said. "With only these tablets, I can go on."
9.
Canada:
Vancouver
Police
to
Stop
Arresting
Peaceable
Drug
Users,
According
to
New
Draft
Policy
Vancouver police are making it their official policy not to arrest people for quietly using drugs, but to focus instead on those who sell and make them. Under a new draft policy set to be finalized in September, Vancouver police will not arrest drug users who aren't bothering anybody and will instead concentrate on drug makers, sellers, and nuisance users, according to a report in the Vancouver newspaper The Province. "A person's behavior, rather than the unlawful possession or use, should be the primary factor in determining whether to lay a charge," Inspector Scott Thompson, the Vancouver Police Department's drug policy coordinator, told the Province Wednesday. "If you're a drug addict, that's one thing. But if you're a drug addict who stands and bothers people, and overtly displays bad behavior, that's going to trigger the next stage," said Chief Constable Jamie Graham. But police said if they encounter an injecting drug user, they will take him to the Downtown Eastside safe injection site (see related story) instead of to jail. Other parts of the draft policy include:
10.
Canada:
Nelson,
British
Columbia,
Head
Shop
Busted
for
Marijuana
Sales
The Holy Smoke Culture Shop and Psyche-Deli in Nelson, British Columbia, was busted Saturday night and one of the owners, Paul DeFelice, was jailed on marijuana and psilocybin distribution charges.
But it was Nelson City Police who raided Holy Smoke on Saturday, and DeFelice told the Nelson Daily News he was not surprised. Since the change in federal government, he said, police have been given marching orders to make "small-time" busts. "It's pretty screwed priorities when there's murders and violence and robberies, home invasions that they make the priority in something where there's no victim and no complainants," said DeFelice. Still, the bust was "all good," DeFelice said. "The idea is in the long run we want to be left alone because we're not hurting anybody but at the same time, if they want to come after us, plenty of arguments that we want to make in court, plenty of answers to legal questions that I want to hear. I want to hold the powers that be to account," he said. "I want to educate the public, and if they're going to shine a spotlight on me and give me a platform, I'll definitely use it." Police are promising more arrests, but the Holy Smoke bust is already a symbolic blow to the Nelson area's burgeoning marijuana community. The area and the nearby Slocan Valley are notorious pot-growing zones -- while hard numbers are hard to come by, one indication of the size of the local industry is the four marijuana grow equipment shops in Nelson. The Washington-Baltimore metropolitan area has two.
11.
Harm
Reduction:
Needle
Access
Bills
to
Become
Law
in
Delaware,
Massachusetts
Governors in two states Monday signed into law bills that would ease injection drug users' access to clean needles. In one case, legislators overrode a gubernatorial veto to enact the law; in the other, the governor fended off Republican opposition to sign the bill. In Delaware, Gov. Ruth Ann Minner signed into law a bill that will create a pilot needle exchange program in Wilmington. In her signing statement, Minner said she hopes the program will lower the state's HIV/AIDS infection rate and long-term health care costs associated with the disease. Meanwhile, the Massachusetts Senate voted Monday night to join the House in overriding a Gov. Mitt Romney (R) veto of a bill that decriminalizes the possession of needles without a prescription and deregulates their sale. Now, New Jersey is the only state with neither a needle exchange law nor a law providing access to needles without a prescription.
12.
Web
Scan:
Cato
on
Paramilitary
Police
Raids,
John
Fugelsang
on
Drug
War
for
Daily
Kos,
Australia
Institute
Drug
Prohibition
Report
"Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America," report with interactive map by Radley Balko of the Cato Institute Comedian John Fugelsang blogs about the drug war on Daily Kos in "Who Would Jesus Incarcerate?" "Domestic Drug Markets and Prohibition," report by Andrew Macintosh of the Australia Institute, to the Australian Parliamentary Group on Drug Law Reform
13.
Weekly:
This
Week
in
History
July 21, 2004: The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), Prof. Lyle Craker and Valerie Corral file lawsuits against the DEA, HHS, NIH, and NIDA for obstructing medical marijuana research. July 23, 1985: Bogota, Colombia's Superior Court Judge Tulio Manuel Castro Gil, who had indicted Pablo Escobar for the murder of Lara Bonilla, is assassinated as he climbs into a taxi. Throughout 1985 judicial harassment and intimidation become commonplace in Colombia. July 24, 1967: The Beatles pay for a full page advertisement in the newspaper. It reads, "The law against marijuana is immoral in principle and unworkable in practice." The ad calls for the legalization of marijuana possession, release of all prisoners on pot possession charges and government research into medical uses. It is signed by 65 people including all four Beatles, their manager Brian Epstein, author Graham Greene, psychologist R.D. Laing, 15 doctors and two members of Parliament. July 26, 2001: The highly-regarded British business magazine The Economist devotes an entire issue to drug policy, endorsing decriminalization and harm reduction. July 26, 2003: The Honolulu Advertiser reports that a Hilo woman who smokes marijuana to treat her glaucoma received a check for $2,000 from her homeowner insurance company for the loss of four marijuana plants stolen from her yard. Under a state law passed in 2000, patients with permits who are under a doctor's care may possess up to 3 ounces of marijuana and grow up to seven plants at a time for medical purposes. July 27, 2002: The Associated Press reports that a regional director of Mexico's main intelligence agency was slain in the border city of Tijuana, the 11th person killed over the last week in what authorities said was an escalating drug war.
14.
Jobs
and
Internships:
Marijuana
Policy
Project
and
Criminal
Justice
Policy
Foundation
The Marijuana Policy Project is hiring for two full-time positions, a Director of State Policies and a National Field Director. Visit http://www.mpp.org/jobs/ for further information. The Criminal Justice Policy Foundation is seeking a paid intern for research and writing assistance on the impact of drug prohibition. Visit http://www.cjpf.org/intern/intern.html for the full listing -- application deadline is August 18.
15.
Weekly:
The
Reformer's
Calendar
Please submit listings of events concerning drug policy and related topics to [email protected]. 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. July 22, 1:00-4:20pm, Laguna Beach, CA, Rally Against the Failing War on Drugs, sponsored by The November Coalition and Orange County NORML. At Main Beach, Pacific Coast Highway and Broadway, call (714) 210-6446, e-mail [email protected] or [email protected] or visit http://www.ocnorml.org for further info. July 24, 7:30pm, Asheville, NC, fundraiser and art opening benefiting the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies 20th Anniversary Celebration at Burning Man 2006. Space limited, tickets $45 minimum donation for first ten, $50 minimum for second ten, $50 for next fifteen. At the Flood Gallery, Phil Mechanic Building, 109 Roberts St., contact Logan MacSporren at (772) 708-6810 or [email protected] to RSVP or for further information. July 26, 7:00pm, New York, NY, book reading by author/illustrator Ricardo Cortés, "It's Just a Plant," with remarks by DPA executive director Ethan Nadelmann, and discussion. At the Housing Works Bookstore Cafe, 126 Crosby Street (between Houston & Prince), admission free, visit http://www.itsjustaplant.com for info. July 27, 6:00-8:30pm, Los Angeles, CA, "Law Enforcement Indicts the War on Drugs," forum with Jack Cole of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), discussing the failure of drug prohibition and current reforms such as the West Hollywood lowest priority policy. At the Drug Policy Alliance office, 610 Ardmore Ave., sponsored by LEAP and Common Sense for Drug Policy, call (213) 201-4785 for further information. August 19-20, Seattle, WA, Seattle Hempfest, visit http://www.hempfest.org for further information. August 26, 1:00-4:20pm, Huntington Beach, CA, Rally Against the Failing War on Drugs, sponsored by The November Coalition and Orange County NORML. At Huntington Beach Pier, 315 Pacific Coast Highway, call (714) 210-6446, e-mail [email protected] or [email protected] or visit http://www.ocnorml.org for further info. September 1-4, Manderson, SD, Fifth Annual Lakota Hemp Days. At Kiza Park, three miles north of town, visit http://www.hemphoedown.com 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. September 23, 1:00-4:20pm, San Clemente, CA, Rally Against the Failing War on Drugs, sponsored by The November Coalition and Orange County NORML. At San Clemente Pier, Avenida Del Mar, call (714) 210-6446, e-mail [email protected] or [email protected] or visit http://www.ocnorml.org for further info. 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]. November 17-19, Washington, DC, Students for Sensible Drug Policy International Conference and Training Workshop. At the Georgetown University School of Law, including speakers, training sessions, a lobby day and more. Further information will be posted soon at http://www.ssdp.org online. 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. 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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