DRUG WAR CHRONICLE #1206 -- MARCH 4, 2024

Trump and Duterte: Allies in Violence (video)

This seems like a good time to rewatch our 2020 video:

(This article was prepared by StoptheDrugWar.org's 501(c)(4) lobbying nonprofit, the Drug Reform Coordination Network, which also pays the cost of publishing this newsletter. DRCNet Foundation takes no positions on candidates for public office, in compliance with section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, and does not pay for reporting that could be interpreted or misinterpreted as doing so.)

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Medical Marijuana Update

South Dakota takes a regressive step, while Utah takes a progressive one.

South Dakota

South Dakota Bill Would Strip Some Protections from Medical Marijuana Businesses. A bill that would allow law enforcement to inspect, search, and seize materials at medical marijuana businesses, as well as prosecute them, Senate Bill 71, has already passed the Senate, won approval in the House Health and Human Services Committee Tuesday, and is set for a House floor vote as soon as Wednesday. [UPDATE: The bill passed the House on Thursday.]

Voters included protections for those businesses in the medical marijuana initiative they approved with 70 percent of the vote in 2020.

Utah

Utah Bill That Would Defund Cities That Refuse to Recognize Medical Marijuana Passes. After voters approved medical marijuana in 2018, the legislature mandated that it be treated like any other prescription drug, even though it is a federally controlled substance. But some localities have refused to do so, and now powerful lawmakers have filed Senate Bill 233, which would deny some state funding to those localities.

Backed by Senate Minority Leader Luz Escamilla (D-Salt Lake City) and Senate Majority Leader Evan Vickers (R-Cedar City), who are in charge of medical marijuana legislation in the Senate, the bill has already passed the upper chamber and is now before the House Rules Committee.

Escamilla said some cities in the state have refused to recognize that medical marijuana is legitimate and have questioned municipal workers about whether they have patient cards and punishing those that do.

"At the end of the day they are in violation of state law," Sen. Escamilla said. "It's very clear you don't get to force people to tell you they're using controlled substances as a prescription. This is a recommended, prescribed medication and they're treating them differently. That's what we're trying to prevent."

But now the bill is facing opposition from the Utah Eagle Forum, a social conservative group, which charges that it would allow patients to work while impaired.

Escamilla rejected that argument, noting that there are provisions to deal with on-the-job impairment.

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This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories

A thug narc gets a short prison stay, and more. Let's get to it.

In Houston, a former Waller County DA's Office investigator was convicted Wednesday on drug trafficking and money laundering charges after he was ensnared in a sting operation and carried what he thought was heroin from Texas into Louisiana in his marked police vehicle. Mohammed "Alex" Ahmed Kassem, 49, was convicted by a federal jury of attempted possession with intent to distribute heroin and money laundering after a four-day trial. He made at least three different trips carrying ersatz heroin and was paid $31,000 by what he thought were cartel operatives. Kassem claimed at trial that he was conducting undercover operations with approval from the Waller County DA, but the DA's office refuted that claim. He faces a June 13 sentencing date and is looking at up to life in prison on the trafficking charge and 20 years for money laundering.

In New York City, a former investigator for the Nassau County DA's Office and DEA task force member was sentenced last Thursday to three months in federal prison for kicking a handcuffed and restrained prisoner in the chest and stomach and then lying about it. Now former narc Dustin Genco, 51, forcefully kicked the victim, resulting in injury to the victim, then lied to a federal agent by saying the victim had continued to resist arrest after being handcuffed. He pleaded guilty to deprivation of civil rights.

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CA Governor Vetoes Naloxone Insurance Bill, Idaho Governor Signs Fentanyl Mandatory Minimums, Bill... (2/26/24)

The New Hampshire House (once again) approves a marijuana legalization bill, a psilocybin decriminalization bill gets filed in Connecticut, and more.

Marijuana Policy

New Hampshire House Approves Marijuana Legalization Bill. The House last Thursday approved a marijuana legalization bill, House Bill 1633. The vote was 239-14.

The House floor vote took place after the bill was amended by its sponsor, Rep. Erica Layon (R) in the House Commerce and Consumer Affairs Committee. She said the changes were made to assuage the concerns of some members of the Senate.

"It's a compromise," Layon said. "Every single person in a seat here can find a reason to vote against the amendment and vote against the bill. But the question is, do we have a net benefit to the state by passing this? I believe we do."

The bill would legalize the possession of up to four ounces for people 21 and over but does not have a home cultivation provision. It would also set up a system of tightly regulated commercial marijuana sales via no more than 15 retail outlets.

The House has repeatedly passed legalization bills in recent years, only to see them die in the Senate. And Gov. Chris Sununu (R) has long opposed legalization, although this year he expressed openness toward a model with state-run dispensaries. This bill does not have those.

Psychedelics

Connecticut Bill Would Decriminalize Psilocybin. A new bill from the Joint Judiciary Committee and cosponsored by Rep. David Michel (D), House Bill 5297. The bill would make possession of up to a half-ounce of psilocybin a punishable by no more than a $150 fine -- and no possible jail time.

Second offenders could be fined from $200 to $500, and anyone who pleads guilty twice or more would face a referral to a drug treatment program. Possession of more than a half-ounce would be a Class A misdemeanor.

Similar legislation passed the House last year but died in the Senate. And it is not clear that Gov. Ned Lamont (D) is on board, either.

"The governor has concerns about broad decriminalization of mushrooms,"said spokesperson David Bednarz.

The bill is now before the Joint Judiciary Committee.

Drug Policy

Idaho Governor Signs Fentanyl Mandatory Minimums Bill into Law. Gov. Brad Little (R) on Monday signed into law a bill creating mandatory minimum sentences for some fentanyl offenses, House Bill 406.

The bill would mandate a three-year mandatory minimum for trafficking between four and 13 grams of fentanyl, five years for 14 to 27 grams, and 10 years for more than 28 grams or 500 pills. It also includes a provision allowing prosecutors to seek a charge of drug-induced homicide if a dealer supplies fentanyl that results in a fatal overdose.

The state already has mandatory minimums for other drugs, and bill sponsors argued that fentanyl mandatory minimums were necessary to ensure the state held true to tough-on-crime policies.

Rep. Heather Scott, R-Blanchard, said during the House debate she felt "torn" on the bill.

"We all want to stop fentanyl," said Rep. Heather Scott (R-Blanchard. "The problems that I see with the bill are all the unintended consequences of putting people in prison and the emotional strain on families and the grandparents that call me with their children in prison."

Harm Reduction

California Governor Vetoes Naloxone Cost Reduction Bill. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has refused to sign legislation that would have required insurers in the state to cover the cost of over-the-counter naloxone, the opioid overdose reversal drug.

The measure, Assembly Bill 1060, passed out the legislature on unanimous votes, but Newsom was unmoved.

"While I support providing access to opioid antagonists to individuals with opioid use disorder or other risk factors, this bill would exceed the state's set of essential health benefits, which are established by the state's benchmark plan under the provisions of the federal Affordable Care Act," he said in a veto message. "[The legislation] would not only increase ongoing state General Fund costs, but it would set a new precedent by adding requirements that exceed the benchmark plan."

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AZ Bill Targets "Predatory" Moves on Social Equity Pot Licenses, NV First Weed Lounge Opens, More... (2/27/24)

A South Dakota bill would allow cops to investigate, search, and prosecute medical marijuana businesses; a Florida bill to cap THC content for adult use marijuana dies, and more.

Marijuana Policy

Arizona Bill Targets "Predatory" Tactics Toward Marijuana Social Equity Licensees. A bill that would give the state attorney general the ability to investigate claims of "predatory tactics to seize control of nearly all the lucrative licenses," Senate Bill 1262, has won two Senate committee votes and now awaits a floor vote in the upper chamber.

"The way this social equity license thing is supposed to work is that people that apply for it are supposed to maintain that 51% ownership," said bill sponsor and Senate Majority Leader Sonny Borrelli (R) "Technically, the people that are supposed to have a social equity license don't get it. The ones that do have the social equity license would not qualify for it in the first place."

The bill comes after the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting found that of 26 social equity licenses, only one licensee still owns the business and has opened a store, two have partnered with brands to open stores and have equity in their licenses, and 23 are owned by investors and corporations.

Because it amends a voter-approved initiative, to become law, the bill needs support from three-quarters of the votes in both the House and Senate.

Florida Bill to Cap Potency of Adult Use Marijuana Dies. A bill that would have set a cap on the potency of adult use if voters in the state choose to legalize it in November, Senate Bill 7050, is dead for this legislative session. The bill was sponsored by the Senate Health Policy Committee, which approved it earlier this month, but failed to get a hearing in the Senate Fiscal Policy Committee, whose last meeting was this morning.

Similar but not identical legislation, House Bill 1269, is poised for a House floor vote after making its way through various committees, but that effort is now moot. The House could pass the bill, and the Senate could take it up, but Senate President Kathleen Passidomo (R) has said she wants a Senate committee to vet any House bills taken up, and at this late date in the session, there are no more Senate committee meetings scheduled that could hear the bill.

Nevada's First Marijuana Consumption Lounge Officially Opens. After years of rulemaking to allow a social consumption license, the state's first legal marijuana consumption lounge is officially open. The THRIVE Cannabis Marketplace in Las Vegas opened its doors to the public last Friday, with pro-marijuana Clark County Commission Chairman Tick Segerblom buying and toking up the first joint at 4:20pm.

"I have been waiting since the 60's for this day: legally smoking marijuana in public," Segerblom said. "Now Las Vegas is on its way to being the 'New Amsterdam' -- the marijuana capital of the world."

Regulators approved the first group of consumption lounge licenses in June but THRIVE is the first to open its doors.

"THRIVE has always been known for setting the bar for operational standards and quality cannabis experiences and we are thrilled to be at the forefront of this historic moment in Las Vegas as we continue to revolutionize the cannabis industry," said Mitch Britten, CEO of THRIVE.

Medical Marijuana

South Dakota Bill Would Strip Some Protections from Medical Marijuana Businesses. A bill that would allow law enforcement to inspect, search, and seize materials at medical marijuana businesses, as well as prosecute them, Senate Bill 71, has already passed the Senate, won approval in the House Health and Human Services Committee Tuesday, and is set for a House floor vote as soon as Wednesday.

Voters included protections for those businesses in the medical marijuana initiative they approved with 70 percent of the vote in 2020.

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DEA Warns E-Sellers on Pill Presses, Indiana Sees Another Year With No Pot Law Reforms, More... (2/28/24)

Big city mayors in the Netherlands take different lines on drug use, Maryland lawmakers fend off an effort to let cops once again search vehicles because of the smell of weed, and more.

Marijuana Policy

Indiana Sees No Progress on Marijuana Law Reform for Another Year. Last year, for the first time, the state legislature gave a hearing to a marijuana reform bill, one that would have decriminalized two ounces or less of weed. But if anyone thought that signaled changing times on pot policy in the state, this year's legislative session has proven them wrong.

This year, at least 10 marijuana bills calling for decriminalization, legalization, or medical marijuana were filed -- and promptly went nowhere. None of them made it out of committee in the GOP-dominated House and Senate.

Rep. Heath VanNatter (R-Kokomo), who coauthored five of those bills, remains optimistic: "We're going to get there at some point," he said.

Maryland Democrats Fend Off GOP Attempt to Reinstate Odor of Marijuana as Grounds for Vehicle Search. A hearing Tuesday on an effort by Republican lawmakers and prosecutors to reinstate the odor of marijuana as grounds for a vehicle search likely marked the end of that effort. In the hearing in the House Judiciary Committee, Republicans warned that the current law forbidding such searches was protecting criminals and that Senate Bill 396 could rectify that situation.

"Criminals are savvy in most cases," said bill sponsor Rep. Jesse Pippy (R-Frederick County). "If I was going to transport drugs or guns through Maryland, I'd light up a joint and do it. You know why? Because my chances of them actually convicting me on all that other stuff would be very slim."

But Democrats, who control the legislature, said such a move would just be an excuse for police to harass Black drivers.

"What I'm talking about is how you can find that there's more African American people that's been charged with having cannabis [in their cars] in the past, and you don’t want to bring it up now," said Rep. Frank Conaway Jr. (D-Baltimore) as he skirmished with Pippy.

The committee took no action on the bill, effectively assigning it to the dustbin of history.

Drug Policy

DEA Issues Letter to E-Commerce Companies on the Sale of Pill Presses Used to Make Fentanyl Pills. The DEA on Monday sent a letter to e-commerce companies regarding the sale of pill presses. As regulated entities under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), e-commerce platforms are generally required to comply with CSA recordkeeping, identification, and reporting requirements on the distribution, importation, and exportation of pill press machines.

In a press release announcing the letter, the agency noted that: "The United States is in the midst of an unprecedented drug poisoning epidemic. In 2022, approximately 110,757 Americans were killed by drug poisonings. Approximately 70% of these drug poisonings involved fentanyl... With [pill presses', criminal actors are able to produce pills that look like legitimate prescription medication... but are not. Those pills actually contain fentanyl and other deadly drugs."

DEA noted that it had seized more than 79 million fake pills containing fentanyl and that seven out of 10 of those pills contained a potentially deadly dose of fentanyl. It also noted in response to the agency's 2019 Industry Liaison Project, several prominent businesses including Amazon and Etsy banned the sale of the presses.

International

Rotterdam Mayor Calls for Crackdown on Middle-Class Drug Use. As the Netherlands reels from the specter of prohibition-related violence, the mayor of Amsterdam recently called for the legalization and regulated sale of cocaine, but the mayor of Rotterdam, Ahmed Aboutaleb, is taking the opposite tack and demanding that police take a tougher line on cocaine use.

Rotterdam, home to Europe's largest port, is a major hub of cocaine trafficking.

"I think we have been negligent about this dimension [of drug users], society as a whole, not just in the Netherlands but also in Europe," Aboutaleb said. "This is because cocaine has mainly been used in the higher echelons of society. And that has been seen as less serious, just as crime in higher echelons is often seen as less serious. There is an advanced form of acceptance and socialization around cocaine."

Unlike Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema, Aboutaleb does not believe legalization is the answer. "Pleas to regulate or legalize drugs… ignore the fact that entire groups of young people in our working-class neighborhoods are confronted with this misery and are corrupted. The phenomenon of high-class users enjoying a line on a Friday night has heavy repercussions in working-class neighborhoods. I don't want to close my eyes to this anymore: I'm putting it on the agenda," he said. "And I question that acceptance of use. I have no problem with accepting that people have different theories. But I don't want to put a banana and an apple and a line of coke on the same shelf, with a government stamp: 'all good.'"

He is even down on legalized marijuana: "We've been too relaxed about cannabis for a long time. You can buy cannabis when you are 18 years old, while everyone knows that cannabis affects the growth of your brain until the age of 25. But there is also no social debate about it. We just merrily plough on."

Aboutaleb leaves office later this year after serving for 15 years.

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VA Lawmakers Approve Pot Sales Bills, OR Drug Recrim Bill Advances, More... (2/29/24)

Measures to allow the therapeutic use of psilocybin advanced in Arizona and Missouri, and more.

Marijuana Policy

Virginia Lawmakers Send Marijuana Sales Bill to Governor. Both chambers of the legislature voted on Wednesday to send a pair of bills authorizing the creation of a legal marijuana marketplace, Senate Bill 448 and House Bill 698, to the desk of Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R).

Only one Republican in the House and one in the Senate voted for the bills, and Youngkin said earlier this year he did not have much interest in pressing forward with marijuana legislation.

When Democrats controlled the state legislature in 2021, they passed a legalization bill that called for retail marijuana sales to begin no later than January 1 of this year, but Republicans gained control of the House and the governorship in 2022 and stifled legislation that would have allowed that goal to be met.

Since 2021, Virginians have been able to possess up to an ounce in public and grow up to four plants, but have had no place to legally purchase marijuana (unless they are medical marijuana patients). The bills sent to Gov. Youngkin would see retail sales begin May 1, 2025, with a retail tax rate of 11.625 percent.

"This is another long-awaited and historic victory for cannabis freedom in Virginia. However, what remains to be seen is if Governor Youngkin agrees with the majority of Virginians that it's time to take control of the marijuana market out of the hands of illicit operators and instead place it behind an age-verified counter at licensed dispensaries where it will be sold only to adults 21 and older," said NORML Development Director JM Pedini, who also serves as Virginia NORML Director.

Psychedelics

Arizona Senate Passes Bill to Legalize Psilocybin Service Centers. The Senate on Thursday approved a bill with bipartisan support that would legalize psilocybin service centers where people could ingest the substance under medical supervision, Senate Bill 1570. The vote came swiftly after the measure won approval in the Senate Rules Committee and the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.

The state has already adopted a law that provides $5 million a year for studies into psilocybin therapy, but this legislation would significantly expand that by allowing the Department of Human Services (DHS) to authorize licensed psilocybin-assisted therapy centers. At those centers, trained facilitators would administer the drug.

The bill would also create an Arizona Psilocybin Advisory Board, which would be responsible for setting training criteria for service center workers, recommending how the law should be implemented, and keeping up with scientific and policy developments in the realm of psychedelics. That board would include representatives of the attorney general's office and DHS, military veterans, first responders, and scientists who study psychedelics. Thanks to an amendment from the floor, it will also include a member of a Native American tribe who is familiar with the use of psilocybin in "culturally and spiritually significant ceremonies."

Missouri Senate Committee Approves Therapeutic Psilocybin for Vets. The Senate Emerging Issues Committee on Wednesday approved a bill that would legalize the therapeutic use of psilocybin by veterans, as well as funding studies to further explore the drug's therapeutic potential, Senate Bill 768.

The legislation from Sen. Holly Thompson Rehder (R) would allow military veterans 21 and over who suffer from qualifying conditions such as PTSD or substance use disorders to use lab-tested psilocybin. The bill originally would have allowed anyone 21 and over to access the drug but was amended in committee to restrict it to vets.

Prospective patients would have to be enrolled or seeking enrollment in a study involving the drug, and they would have to provide the Department of Mental Health with information about their diagnosis, their facilitator, and the time and place of treatment sessions.

Drug Policy

Oregon Bill to Recriminalize Drug Possession Wins Committee Vote. A measure that would undo the will of the voters in the 2020 vote to approve drug decriminalization and reintroduce criminal penalties for small-time drug possession, House Bill 4002, has been approved in a House committee on a bipartisan 10-2 vote. It now heads for a House floor vote.

The bill creates a new misdemeanor offense of minor drug possession, but includes provisions giving people the option of seeking treatment instead of facing criminal charges. It comes amidst fierce backlash to the 2020 drug decriminalization, which has been blamed for everything from increasing drug overdoses to crime and the homelessness crisis. Legislators faced the threat of an initiative to roll back decriminalization if they did not do it themselves, and now they are heading clearly in that direction.

But there is dissent. "The disproportionate impact on my community is ultimately too concerning for me to support the bill," said Rep. Andrea Valderrama (D), who is Peruvian-American. "And so therefore I will be a no tonight."

Rep. Floyd Prozanski (D) was also a "no" vote. "We're accelerating everything so quickly to try to get something out without thinking," he said.

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Reform Groups Call for Descheduling Cannabis, Honduras Busts Another Coca Plantation, More... (3/1/24)

The Colorado House has approved a bill allowing school bus drivers and students to administer naloxone and drug test strips, Thailand is moving toward banning recreational marijuana, and more.

Marijuana Policy

Reform Groups Call for Descheduling Marijuana. Representatives of the Cannabis Regulators of Color Coalition (CRCC), the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), the Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP), and other groups held a press briefing Wednesday to call for descheduling marijuana at the federal level and to warn that rescheduling marijuana falls short of President Biden's promises for reform, leaving communities of color to continue to be harmed by pot prohibition.

The press briefing comes as the DEA is currently reviewing a US Department of Health and Human Services recommendation to move marijuana from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act to the less restrictive Schedule III.

"Rescheduling marijuana without further action would fail to deliver on President Biden's promises to Black and Brown communities and risks leaving the very individuals in communities that have borne the brunt of cannabis criminalization behind," said Cat Packer, DPA director of drug markets and legal. "If President Biden and his administration believed that marijuana reform is a racial equity issue and that criminalization has failed, its agency should be proactively engaged in acknowledging and addressing the racist origins of marijuana criminalization and the resulting harms in racial disparities."

Packer cited Vice President Kamala Harris, noting that Harris has said that marijuana reforms should not be incremental.

"She was right, and yet rescheduling marijuana to Schedule III, the outcome that is anticipated to result from the Biden administration's actions would continue the very criminalization that Biden said that he would end and is the very type of incrementalism that Vice President Harris criticized in 2020," Packer said.

"Descheduling marijuana is not merely a matter of legality, it is a moral imperative," said CRCC chair Dasheeda Dawson. "By removing cannabis from the confines of federal scheduling, we can dismantle the barriers that have hindered our efforts to repair and restore the lives of those most harmed by outdated draconian policies. Deschedule, or do nothing," she said.

[Editor's Note: The suggestion to do nothing, if descheduling can't be done, is deeply misguided. In fact, while rescheduling does stop far short of what we are ultimately looking for, Schedule III would reduce and in some cases end harms for many of the people our organizations advocate on behalf of. For the administration to not take the opportunity that FDA's recommendation of Schedule III presents would be a tragedy. Advocating for descheduling is a good thing, and there are good things that have happened that may have resulted from the advocacy to date, and were certainly made more likely by it. But opposing rescheduling is another thing entirely, and I believe is a mistake and unjustifiable. - David Borden]

Harm Reduction

Colorado House Approves Bil Allowing Naloxone, Drug Test Strips in Schools. The House has approved a bill that would allow school districts to maintain supplies of drug testing strips and the opioid overdose reversal drug naloxone in schools and on school buses, House Bill 24-1003. The vote was 50-12.

The bill now heads to the Senate.

It would allow trained bus drivers and trained students to administer naloxone to students suffering an overdose. Trained educators are already allowed to do so. It would also allow school boards to fund the supply of naloxone on school buses.

International

Hondurans Bust Another Coca Grow and Lab. The Honduran military announced Wednesday that it had found and seized more than 150,000 coca plants in the Río Plátano Biosphere. While coca has traditionally been cultivated only in the South American Andes, in recent years, it has begun showing up in Central America and Southern Mexico.

The bust on the nature reserve was conducted by the Armed Forces of Honduras, through the Ecosystem and Environment Management Support Command, First Environmental Protection Battalion, Special Forces and intelligence teams, and the Honduran Air Force (FAH), in coordination with the Forest Conservation Institute (ICF) and the Public Ministry.

"Coca plants were also found in nurseries and a drug laboratory with chemical precursors," the Armed Forces said. "In addition, an area of more than 60 hectares [150 acres] of cleared land was identified, which would be used to grow illicit crops," it added.

No one was arrested, but the military said it was continuing to conduct land and river patrols in the area in search of suspects and further cultivation operations.

Thailand to Ban Recreational Marijuana by Year's End, Health Minister Says. Health Minister Cholnan Srikaew said in an interview Wednesday that Thailand will ban recreational marijuana by year's end but will still allow its use for medicinal purposes.

Thailand approved medical marijuana in 2018 and recreational use in 2022, provoking the appearance of tens of thousands of marijuana retailers, which in turn provoked a backlash from the current government. The previous government had failed to push through regulatory legislation before it was replaced, leaving the door open for the new government to act.

The government has drafted a new law to regulate marijuana use, which will go to the cabinet for approval before going to parliament to be approved by year's end.

"Without the law to regulate cannabis it will be misused," Cholnan. "The misuse of cannabis has a negative impact on Thai children," he added. "In the long run, it could lead to other drugs," he claimed, trotting out the long-discredited gateway theory.

Under the new law, illegal marijuana shops will not be allowed to operate and personal marijuana cultivation will also be discouraged, Cholnan said.

"In the new law, cannabis will be a controlled plant, so growing it would require permission," he said. "We will support (cannabis cultivation) for the medical and health industry."

Under the draft law, people caught using recreational marijuana would face a fine of up to $1,700, while those selling weed illicitly face up to a year in jail and fine of up to $2,800.

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