Drug War Chronicle #509 - November 9, 2007

Editorial: Two Drug War Tragedies, and No Excuse

David Borden, Executive Director

Later this month, November 21st, will mark one year since the shooting death of 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston at the hands of Atlanta police officers. Johnston was not involved with illegal drugs. But a combination of an informant's error and lying by some members of the narcotics unit got them a no-knock warrant. When the squad of plainclothes officers pushed her door open and burst in, Johnston believed she was under attack, and without time to think about it pulled out a gun her niece had given her for protection, and started to shoot. The narcs shot back. Three of the officers were wounded, but the officers had better aim and so Johnston was killed.

A different kind of tragedy is that of 50-year-old Robin Prosser, a registered medical marijuana patient in Montana, where she led the effort to pass the state's law three years as one of the initiative campaign's lead patient spokespersons. Despite all of this, the DEA intercepted and seized a package of her medicine last spring. This in turn scared other suppliers and made it difficult for her to get what she needed to manage her condition, systemic lupus. She talks about it in a video recorded last spring, and her last blog postings chronicle how all these problems drove her more deeply into depression, until she finally took her own life last month.

The common thread in these needless losses is the drug war. The police in Atlanta, despite their misconduct leading up to the shooting, did not expect to end up killing a 92-year-old woman when they first burst down her door. The DEA agents who took Prosser's medicine away probably did not expect the result of their action to be her suicide. But when you forcefully interfere in a person's life -- by seizing medicine or storming their homes -- the results can be unpredictable.

But unpredictable in only one sense -- predictable in other senses. Though any one intervention is unlikely to end up this way, it is inevitable that such tragedies will continue to happen for so long as the drug war continues to rage. The Johnston killing was unique only in Mrs. Johnston's age. Hundreds of SWAT team killings of innocents, or of low-level offenders, have been documented, and there have been many more near-misses. In fact, just two months earlier in Atlanta, police almost killed 80-year-old Frances Thompson in a very similar situation. If they didn't know they were risking the lives of people in Johnston's home, they should have.

If there were no better way, it would be one thing. But the drug war doesn't work, and prohibition causes enormous harm to individuals and society. So it isn't very hard to think of better ways. There's no excuse for further drug war tragedies.

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Feature: Presidential Contenders and Drug Policy I -- Democrats

With the 2008 presidential election now less than a year away, the campaigns for the Democratic and Republican presidential nominations are already in full swing. This week Drug War Chronicle examines where the Democratic candidates stand on drug reform issues, and just what it says about the state of the movement and the prospects for change. Next week we'll cover the Republicans.

The Chronicle has sent each campaign a request for an interview and a list of questions on a variety of drug policy topics ranging from marijuana (decrim and medical marijuana) to the crack-powder cocaine sentencing disparity to the allocation of federal anti-drug spending and drug-related foreign policy issues (Afghanistan, Mexico, the Andes). None have yet provided detailed responses or agreed to interviews, but if they do in the future, we will let you know.

[Editor's Note: The Kucinich campaign has now sent a pro forma response and the Richardson campaign has sent a response saying "Governor Bill Richardson has a strong record on drug policy" and citing his medical marijuana record, but adding that the campaign cannot respond to the questionnaire.]

So, what are the Democratic contenders saying about drug policy on the campaign trail? The short answer is: not much. Most campaign web sites do not even mention drug policy. And aside from a question about marijuana decriminalization during last week's MSNBC debate (only Dodd and Kucinich supported it; Gravel wasn't there) and a few stories generated by Granite Staters for Medical Marijuana, who have managed to ask every candidate whether they would stop the DEA raids on California medical marijuana providers (they would), drug policy has mainly been noticeable by its absence from the discourse.

There will be some discussion of that below, as well as some analysis of what the state of the field means for drug policy, but first, let's take a look at the candidates and their drug policy records:

US Senator Joe Biden: Biden is the candidate with the most burnished drug policy credentials; unfortunately, most of them bad. Working within the Senate Judiciary Committee, Biden was responsible for creating the Office of National Drug Control Policy and passage of the RAVE Act, as well as supporting numerous bills to raise penalties for drug offenses. Biden touts his tough positions on his campaign web site. "Joe Biden has worked to increase penalties for dealing drugs within 1,000 feet of schools, created the Drug Czar office in the White House, and was an important voice in classifying steroids as drugs and has worked to keep them out of the hands of students," he brags. Biden also touts putting 100,000 cops on the street. On the plus side, he has introduced a bill to redress the disparity in sentencing for crack and powder cocaine offenses, as well as the Second Chance Act, which would provide housing, drug and alcohol treatment, job training, and other services to ex-offenders fresh out of prison. Biden does not support decriminalization.

US Senator Hillary Clinton: Clinton's campaign web site does not mention crime or drugs, and she has been relatively silent on the issue on the campaign trail. But during a July debate she responded to a question about high incarceration rates among black men by saying it could only be tackled by ending racial profiling, mandatory minimum sentencing, the sentencing of nonviolent offenders to prison, and dealing with the disparity between crack and powder cocaine sentences. She made similar remarks the month before, and has supported treatment programs and drug courts. She does not favor decriminalizing marijuana, and she has been noncommittal on ending the ban on federal funding of needle exchange programs.

US Senator Chris Dodd: Dodd does not mention drugs or crime on his issues page, but has called for the decriminalization of marijuana as well as allowing medical marijuana. He has a history of voting against increased penalties for drug offenses and international funding for drug control, although he has supported Plan Colombia spending that benefits helicopter manufacturers in Connecticut.

Former US Senator John Edwards: Edwards does not mention crime or drugs on his issues page, but he adopted an apparently progressive position in 2004: "He also would have us shrink our bloated prison population and return its present members more successfully to society by better distinguishing non-violent drug crimes from other offenses; restoring abandoned treatment and training options; and re-enfranchising those who have done their time." Yet Edwards refuses to entertain marijuana decriminalization, saying recently it would "send the wrong message." He has advanced on the medical marijuana issue, now abandoning his 2004 position supporting DEA raids on medical marijuana providers.

Former US Senator Mike Gravel: Gravel supports legalization of drugs. As he says on his issues page, "The War on Drugs has been a failure. It is time to end prohibition and start treating addiction as a public health problem."

US Representative Dennis Kucinich: Kucinich does not mention crime or drugs on his issues page, but has taken a strong progressive stand in the past. On his 2006 congressional campaign web site, he wrote: "I agree with the many law enforcement officials and experts in the field that we must find a new way of dealing with illegal drugs. I have studied the issue for decades and recognize that our "War on
Drugs" has failed… Prison should be for people who hurt other people, not themselves. We don't jail people for merely drinking. We jail people when they drink and drive or hurt another human." Kucinich supported marijuana decriminalization during last week's debate.

US Senator Barack Obama: Obama's issue page contains nothing about drug policy. He has admitted to using marijuana and cocaine as a youth, but does not support decriminalization of marijuana. In recent months, Obama has criticized racial disparities in the criminal justice system, saying he would review mandatory minimum sentencing, the crack-powder cocaine sentencing disparity, and seek rehabilitation instead of imprisonment for first-time drug offenders. Last summer, he said he supports lifting the federal ban on funding for needle exchanges.

Governor Bill Richardson: Richardson does not mention drugs or crime on his issues page. As governor of New Mexico, Richardson fought hard and successfully to make medical marijuana legal there, prodded state agencies to actually enact the program, and has harshly criticized a joint local law enforcement-DEA raid on a New Mexico medical marijuana patient. Richardson does not support decriminalization. While he has at times called for harsh drug war measures, such as mandatory jail sentences for drug sellers (1996), and has decried legalization (2002), he has also consistently called for treatment and drug courts over enforcement and incarceration.

Drug reform leaders and watchers are not overly impressed with the Democratic field, but some of them see limited progress. Others are not so sure.

"Unfortunately, when you get to the presidential level, it seems the best we can get out of the candidates is baby steps," said Bruce Mirken, Communications Director for the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP). "If you watch the debates, with the notable exception of Gravel and Ron Paul, the answers are all focus-grouped to death. As far as the major candidates go," Mirken predicted, "the Democrats will be cautious and the Republicans likely to be aggressively bad."

"The fact that drug policy just isn't that big an issue in the campaign cuts both ways," said Bill Piper, director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance. "On the one hand, that means nobody is addressing our issues. On the other hand, because it's not getting much attention, there are few opportunities for candidates to compete to see who can develop the worst proposals," he said.

"This shows that the candidates are still afraid of looking soft on drugs and crime," said Piper. "There needs to be a mainstream candidate who talks about drug reform and wins. They don't even have to win because of drug policy, they just don't have to lose because of it. Then the logjam might burst."

"Drug policy reform is still a minor issue," said Eric Sterling, executive director of the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation. "It's not a high profile issue because there are much more serious issues confronting the country -- war, the economy, education, heath care, taxes, global warming."

But drug reformers bear some blame, too, Sterling said. "Drug policy reform has not been able to find a way to frame the issue in a compelling way to the general public or to the key interest groups that need to be addressed in the campaign discourse," he said. "The drug reform movement needs to get out of its comfort zone. "It is a movement extremely skilled at speaking to the converted and quite content to do that. It needs to take many more risks to speak to undecided audiences in the terms that are important to them," Sterling argued.

Expecting progressive drug policy stances from mainstream Democrats is a fool's errand, said Kevin Zeese, a long-time drug reformer who ran a third party candidacy for a US Senate seat in Maryland in 2006. "You can't expect the Democratic Party to save the drug policy issue," he said, citing history as well as the current crop of candidates.

"I can't think of a Democratic president who has been good on our issue," Zeese said. "Carter gave a speech about decriminalizing, but then he sprayed paraquat. Clinton ran to the right by appointing a general to be drug czar," he reminded.

"Kucinich and Gravel are good, but the only candidate with even a remote chance of winning who has said anything positive is Chris Dodd," Zeese sized up the candidates. "The rest of the crew are pretty ugly: Biden is an architect of the modern drug war; Obama comes clean on his own drug use, but wants to prosecute people who do what he did; Hilary is good at avoiding the issue, but her husband's record is not a good sign -- what Plan Colombia would she concoct?" Zeese asked.

"The Democratic Party always needs to show it's tougher than the Republicans on issues like drug policy; they're afraid to do the right thing and follow an approach that makes sense from the public health and human rights perspectives, which is to bring drugs within the law and control them," Zeese argued.

"Some of us are not likely to have anybody to vote for for president," said Keith Stroup, founder of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). "If everyone who smoked or has friends or family were willing to not vote for someone who likes to treat us like criminals, pot would be legal in four years or less, but it's a third tier issue. I won't vote for someone who wants to lock me up, but most Americans have more important issues, and they end up voting for someone who may be terrible on our issue."

There is work to be done, Mirken said, but some progress is already evident. "Our job as a movement is to convince them that the public is ready to start rethinking some of these laws, particularly around marijuana, where you starting to see solid evidence that the public is ready for change, as we saw this again this week in Denver. But that's going to require a lot more state and local votes; I think this has to bubble up from the ground before we see major candidates embracing reform."

Small signs of change are evident even at the presidential campaign level, Mirken said. "We've been focusing on medical marijuana, and this year all the Democrats and even two of the Republicans are saying they would call off the DEA raids in states where it is legal. That's significantly better than four years ago. And it's a little bit encouraging that at least two of them are willing to consider decriminalization."

Drug policy has been a marginal issue so far, but that could change, especially if one candidate or another decides he can gain an advantage by looking "tough on drugs." That may be more likely to occur during the general election campaign.

"The fact that drug policy hasn't been an issue so far doesn't mean it won't be used as one in the general election," said Sterling. "What if someone like Rudy Giuliani wants to use it to burnish his domestic crime-fighting credentials? Would a Democrat in the general election say 'Rudy, you're 25 years out of sync, we need treatment for drug addicts, not prison'? Maybe."

But the challenge for the Democrats is to appear strong and tough, said Sterling, and drug policy could be sacrificed. "The Democrats will be saying we need to get out of Iraq, but they may want to buffer that by being tough on other issues, like drugs."

Sterling is already looking past next year's elections, and other drug reformers should be, too, he said. "The next question is what will policies be beginning in January 2009," said Sterling. "Drug policy reformers need to be thinking about what real legislative efforts are possible, who should be the nominees to key positions, and whose interests can be mobilized to help us achieve our goals."

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Feature: Denver Votes to Make Marijuana Offenses Lowest Law Enforcement Priority

For the third time in as many years, voters in Denver told local officials to quit arresting people for marijuana offenses. An initiative that would direct the city to make adult marijuana possession offenses the lowest law enforcement priority won Tuesday with 57% of the vote.

The vote came two years after the marijuana reform group SAFER (Safer Alternatives for Enjoyable Recreation) pulled off a successful initiative to legalize the possession of up to an ounce in Denver -- a win city officials have ignored by continuing to arrest people under state law -- and one year after Denver voters gave majority support to marijuana legalization in a failed statewide initiative.

The measure rolled to easy victory despite the opposition of Mayor John Hickenlooper and other city officials who said it was meaningless and would not be enforced. It was also opposed by the Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News, both of which editorialized against it.

Denver now joins cities like Seattle; Oakland, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Santa Monica, and West Hollywood, California; Missoula, Montana; Eureka Springs, Arkansas; and -- also on Tuesday -- Hailey, Idaho; that have embraced the lowest priority movement.

The question now is how city officials will respond to a third rebuke from voters. The mayor's office did not respond Wednesday to inquiries from Drug War Chronicle. SAFER executive director Mason Tvert said officials were huddled Wednesday afternoon trying to draft a response.

But Tvert wasn't waiting to celebrate. "The people of Denver have made it unmistakably clear they do not want their city wasting its limited law enforcement resources arresting and prosecuting adults for possessing a drug less harmful than alcohol," he said. "Whereas marijuana users were once the law-breakers in the Mile High City, city officials will now be the ones violating the law if they do not respect the will of the voters."

In Seattle, arrests for adult marijuana possession plummeted following passage of the initiative, and in Missoula city officials recently adopted an official policy directing police to stop citing adults for possession and encouraging prosecutors to treat any cases as their lowest priority. That shows it can work in Denver if officials cooperate, Tvert said.

"The experiences of these other cities proves that Denver can make changes in how they handle adult marijuana possession," Tvert said. "We hope city officials will respect the will of the voters who elected them and direct police to stop arresting adults for simply possessing small amounts of marijuana. It's not a matter of whether they can do this, but a matter of whether they will. If they do not, they are officially breaking more Denver laws than any adult marijuana user."

Tvert wasn't the only one crowing, nor was he the only one warning elected officials to take heed. Spokesmen for leading national marijuana reform organizations used almost identical language when contacted by the Chronicle.

"This is good news, but not unexpected," said Keith Stroup, founder of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). "The mayor should be looking at who he represents. In three election cycles now, Denver voters have clearly said don't arrest pot smokers."

"We're very, very pleased," said Bruce Mirken, communications director for the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP). "Hopefully, this time Denver city officials will listen to the message the voters have so clearly sent them."

That hasn't happened so far. Tvert and SAFER are waiting to see if it will. "At this point we're just wondering what they're going to do," he said. "The big tough city officials who were willing to say how they were going to ignore this have been mum all day, waiting for the mayor to take the lead. Will they challenge this in the courts, or will they announce they will follow the will of the voters?"

Stay tuned. All the dust hasn't settled yet in Denver. But the voters have spoken loud and clear for the third time. Perhaps it will take a city official getting defeated in the next election, but perhaps city officials won't want to take that chance now.

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Students: Intern at DRCNet and Help Stop the Drug War!

Want to help end the "war on drugs," while earning college credit too? Apply for a DRCNet internship for this fall semester (or spring) and you could come join the team and help us fight the fight!

DRCNet (also known as "Stop the Drug War") has a strong record of providing substantive work experience to our interns -- you won't spend the summer doing filing or running errands, you will play an integral role in one or more of our exciting programs. Options for work you can do with us include coalition outreach as part of the campaign to repeal the drug provision of the Higher Education Act, and to expand that effort to encompass other bad drug laws like the similar provisions in welfare and public housing law; blogosphere/web outreach; media research and outreach; web site work (research, writing, technical); possibly other areas. If you are chosen for an internship, we will strive to match your interests and abilities to whichever area is the best fit for you.

While our internships are unpaid, we will reimburse you for metro fare, and DRCNet is a fun and rewarding place to work. To apply, please send your resume to David Guard at [email protected], and feel free to contact us at (202) 293-8340. We hope to hear from you! Check out our web site at http://stopthedrugwar.org to learn more about our organization.

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Law Enforcement: This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories

A New York cop goes down for peddling pot, a Connecticut cop goes down for slinging smack, and a Nashville cop goes to the pen for ripping off a drug dealer. Let's get to it:

In New York City, a veteran Manhattan cop was arrested October 31 as police rounded up suspects in a marijuana-smuggling ring that allegedly brought millions of dollars worth of weed from Canada to Long Island. NYPD Officer Glen Smokler, a 13-year veteran assigned to the 30th Precinct in Harlem, is charged with three counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance and conspiracy. Altogether more than 30 people were arrested in Suffolk and Nassau counties, and cops seized more than $3 million in cash, 23 luxury cars, a 44-foot yacht, 10 assault rifles and more than 100 pounds of pot. Ironically, Smokler himself brought down the long-running operation when he burglarized the home of the ringleaders, leading a tipster to tell police Smokler had done it. From there, a five-month investigation broadened until its denouement last week.

In Bridgeport, Connecticut, a Stamford police officer was arrested on drug charges on October 25. Officer Quinn Fillippino, 28, was charged with possession of narcotics with the intent to sell after Bridgeport police spotting him and a passenger allegedly selling drugs from his vehicle. Police said the drug was heroin. Fillippino is on paid leave and at last report was being held on $50,000 bail.

In Nashville, a former Nashville police officer was sentenced last Friday to 2 ½ years in prison for his role in the 2003 robbery of a drug dealer. Charles Williams III was convicted in January of participating in and concealing a robbery cooked up by his partner, Officer Ernest Cecil, and his nephew, Corey Cecil. The younger Cecil, a cocaine dealer, arranged for Williams and his uncle to pull over a vehicle in which he was a passenger and which also contained 3.5 kilos of cocaine. The apparently legitimate law enforcement stop allowed young Cecil to make off with the cocaine, which he sold for more than $70,000, giving some of the profits to Williams and his uncle. Williams is now doing 12 years, and young Cecil is doing 6 ½ despite testifying against the other two.

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Harm Reduction: Anti-Safe Injection Site Amendment Killed in Conference Committee

An amendment to the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill that would have barred the dispersal of federal funds from those departments to any city that opened a safe injection site for drug users was killed in conference committee this week. The measure was deleted "without prejudice," meaning committee members did not have to go on record as opposed to the amendment.

Officially, it was deleted because it was not in the House version of the bill. But drug reform activists say it was because committee Democrats got lots of calls from constituents urging them to oppose it.

"This is a victory for harm reduction and the drug policy reform movement," said Bill Piper, director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance, which led the effort to kill the amendment. "Congress came close to adopting something that would have the same sort of impact as the federal ban on funding needle exchanges. It's good to see that in this case, at least, Congress didn't let politics trump science."

The amendment was sponsored by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) in reaction to talk in San Francisco about opening a safe injection site there. Although the sites have been proven to reduce needle-sharing and the spread of infectious blood-borne diseases such as HIV and Hepatitis C and are open in eight European countries, Australia, and Canada, no such sites are operating in the US.

Two weeks ago, DeMint was crowing about his victory. "The Senate sent a clear message to cities that it's beyond ridiculous to ask Americans to pay for drug addicts to inject themselves with heroin and cocaine," he said. "The officials in San Francisco that gave credibility to this absurd idea should be embarrassed. This would undermine federal law and promote illegal behavior. These safe havens for drug users would only encourage more addiction and support the illegal drug market."

DeMint is eating those words now.

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Marijuana: Three of Four Reform Initiatives Pass in Hailey, Idaho

Voters in small-town Hailey, Idaho, Tuesday approved three out four marijuana initiatives placed on the ballot over the objections of town officials. Initiatives to legalize the medical use of marijuana, make marijuana the lowest law enforcement priority, and legalize industrial hemp all passed. A fourth measure, which would have mandated the city to tax and regulate marijuana sales, failed.

Some 1,288 eligible voters went to the polls in Hailey, with medical marijuana gaining the most votes (687), followed by hemp (683) and lowest priority (637). Taxation and regulation lost by a margin of 573-674.

The initiatives were the brainchild of Ryan Davidson, chairman of the Idaho Liberty Lobby, who three years ago began efforts to put marijuana on the ballot in the Wood River Valley towns of Hailey, Sun Valley, and Ketchum. Local authorities in all three communities denied his petitions, and a series of court battles ensued, out of which Davidson emerged victorious. Davidson is working on initiatives for Sun Valley and Ketchum.

The initiatives require the city of Hailey to create a Community Oversight Committee to oversee implementation. They also require the city of Hailey to lobby other branches of government for reform of the marijuana laws.

State and local officials are likely not happy. The Idaho Attorney General's Office issued a statement last week reminding voters that marijuana possession is a crime under both state and federal law, and Hailey City Attorney Ned Williamson predicted before the vote that the city could be the subject of expensive litigation at taxpayer expense if voters approved the measures.

But now the voters have spoken, and it is up to city officials to heed their will.

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Europe: Dutch to Extend Medical Marijuana Program for Another Five Years

The Dutch Health Ministry announced Wednesday it would extend Holland's experimental medical marijuana program for another five years. Under the program, which began in 2003, marijuana grown by government-licensed growers is sold by prescription in pharmacies.

But the prescription weed got few buyers. In Holland, where cannabis possession and limited sales are illegal but tolerated, patients found they could buy marijuana at coffee shops for one-third the price of prescription pot. As a result, the Bureau for Medical Cannabis is running a $200,000 budget deficit this year because it is overstocked with unsold medical marijuana.

Still, the Health Ministry said the program should continue because of the possibility of research advances in cannabis-based medications. In a letter to parliament, Health Minister Ab Klink said one Dutch company, Echo Pharmaceuticals, was making progress in getting a cannabis-based drug approved and needed more time to succeed.

"This development track will take years, but it can yield scientific evidence and give insight into the balance between safety and effectiveness of medical cannabis," he wrote. "By making medical marijuana available as a raw material for five years, I want to give this track a serious chance."

A spokesman for Echo, Geert Woerlee, told the Associated Press that his company will be starting trials next year on a pill that contains THC, the main psychoactive chemical in marijuana. The Health Ministry hopes the drug being developed by Echo will eventually replace marijuana in pharmacies.

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Death Penalty: Two More Drug Offenders Executed in Iran

Two more drug offenders were executed in Iran, this time in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchstan, the anti-death penalty group Hands Off Cain reported, citing accounts in Iranian state media. The executions come a week after Iranian authorities executed five men for violent crimes. Iranian authorities say most executions are for drug trafficking, but human rights groups have claimed that some people put to death for ordinary crimes, particularly drug crimes, are actually political opponents of the regime.

Jomeh Gomshadzehi was hanged in the city of Zahedan after being arrested with 3,300 kilos of opium, 84 kilos heroin, and 95 kilos of morphine. The state news agency IRNA identified him as a notorious drug trafficker who sent narcotics to Turkey and Arab states in the Gulf. It said that while trafficking drugs four years ago, he killed a policeman and then escaped to Dubai.

The second man, identified as Esmail Barani Piranvand, was sentenced to death in a prison in Iranshahr in the same province for the possession of 2.5 kilos of heroin, the state television website said.

Under Iranian law, the death penalty can be imposed for possession of more than 30 grams of heroin or five kilos of opium. Other death penalty offenses in Iran include blasphemy; apostasy; adultery; prostitution; homosexuality; and plotting to overthrow the Islamic regime, as well as murder, rape, and robbery.

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New Zealand: National Conversation on Marijuana Policy Urged

The nonpartisan New Zealand Drug Foundation (NZDF) is attempting to jump-start a renewed national debate about marijuana policy in the country, and it appears to be working. Since its call for a "national conversation" a week ago, NZDF has garnered considerable media attention and prompted responses from activist groups, political parties, and government officials.

"Cannabis is New Zealand's favorite illicit drug," said NZDF executive director Ross Bell as he kicked off the crusade, "but it receives scant attention from politicians, policymakers or the media. When it is discussed, evidence is often discarded in favor of myth, misinformation and polarized posturing."

According to recent national research, 18% of New Zealanders between the ages of 15 and 45 are regular users, while 58% of that group have used it at least once. But while use levels are relatively high, support for legalizing marijuana has declined, according to NZDF-commissioned polls released last week.

That polling found that just 19% want marijuana laws liberalized, down from 60% in 2000. The study found that 46% were happy with the status quo, while 34% wanted the laws to be tougher.

NZDF does not take a position on marijuana law reform, but it argues that policy should be based on scientific evidence. "Misinformation and hysteria don't help a society deal effectively with cannabis use, and stigmas around use and fear of prosecution often prohibit cannabis-dependent people from seeking much needed help," said Bell.

"Parliament hasn't touched cannabis since the Health Commission Inquiry in 2000, which did make a number of recommendations. However, debate was stifled by the 2003 coalition agreement between the government and United Future, which effectively froze the legal status of cannabis," Bell noted.

"But while politicians ignore the pot problem, its associated social harms continue. We need government to take the lead in formulating good, well-researched policy discussion based on best evidence. We need the addiction treatment, public health and drug policy sectors to get vocal and inject their knowledge into the debate as well," he said.

The New Zealand Green Party was quick to welcome the call for a renewed conversation on marijuana. "The drug debate in New Zealand very quickly becomes dominated by fear and anxiety," Green MP Metiria Turei said in a press release last week. "Developing a sensible approach to drug uses becomes very difficult in that kind of climate."

Citing marijuana use figures, Turei said: "Rather than these figures indicating that every second New Zealander is a drug-addled criminal, they show that current government policies are not based on the reality of the situation and do not contribute to developing socially responsible behavior."

Cannabis should part of a broader regulatory system for drugs including alcohol and tobacco, and the NZDF call is an important first step, she said. "A balanced and informed national debate facilitated by the Drug Foundation will be an excellent step towards developing a constructive approach to drug use, rather than the piecemeal, fanciful and ultimately damaging official response that currently exists," according to Turei.

Deputy Health Minister for drug policy Jim Anderton took issue with Bell's contention that the government had ignored marijuana in pursuit of the drug threat du jour. "I must say that I am surprised and concerned at the comments by the Executive Director of the Drug Foundation, that politicians don't want to talk about cannabis because it is not a 'vote winning issue'. He can't be talking about me!" Anderton said in his own press release. "I've spoken about the harm it causes at meetings all around the country and at some of those he was also present," he noted.

"Parliament is not ignoring the issue," Jim Anderton said, pointing to an inquiry four years ago. "There was a Health Select Committee inquiry into cannabis in 2003 with various recommendations made to the Government. The efforts outlined above have been part of the Government's response to these recommendations."

"In my view the jury is now in on cannabis -- from research in New Zealand and overseas. Cannabis is a much more harmful drug than its supporters have hitherto declared and we would encourage its use at the peril, particularly, of our younger citizens. Surely in alcohol and tobacco we have enough serious drug abuse problems to deal with and I'm surprised that the New Zealand Drug Foundation has any doubts at all about that," Anderton said.

New Zealand NORML, for its part, called for a "clear-headed" approach to a new discussion of marijuana policy. It also took issue with the new poll numbers suggesting support for legalization had declined.

"The latest poll asked whether cannabis laws should be made 'tougher' or 'more liberal', but previous polls had asked whether people wanted continued prohibition, decriminalization or legalization. If you change the question, of course you will change the result. That's a no-brainer," the group said in a press release. "If they had asked the same question we think they would find there remains strong support for cannabis law reform. There is very little public appetite for arresting and jailing responsible adults who use cannabis in the privacy of their own home, yet that is the daily reality of the existing cannabis laws."

Prohibition is not the answer, New Zealand NORML said. "Many people want access to cannabis made tougher, but prohibition merely provides an illusion of toughness. Behind the facade it is very easy for minors to access cannabis whenever they want. Age ID is not requested, and buyers are often put in contact with other drugs. If we seriously want tougher cannabis laws, the best way to do that is to regulate and license its sale, including strict enforcement of a purchase age."

And so the conversation begins again in New Zealand.

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Africa: NGOs Criticize Emphasis on Cutting Drug Supply, Urge Attention to Demand Reduction

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from across West and Central Africa meeting last weekend in Dakar, Senegal, criticized the United Nations (UN) and West and Central African governments for focusing on reducing the supply of drugs to the extent that they are ignoring demand reduction strategies, according to the UN news service IRIN.

The region has received increasing attention in recent months as a transshipment point for South American cocaine headed for insatiable European markets. It also produces marijuana for local consumption and export to Europe.

While money is beginning to flow into the region in an effort to suppress the drug trade, that money is not being matched with funds for treatment and prevention, said delegates to the meeting, part of a global NGO forum called "Beyond 2008" and coordinated by the Vienna NGO Committee on Narcotic Drugs.

"There is total disequilibrium with regards to the means given to different actors in the fight against drugs," Cheikh Diop, president of the Federation of Senegalese NGOs Fighting against Drugs, told IRIN. "So much money is invested in the fight against drug trafficking or the reduction of supply; but when it comes to reducing the demand -- or the users themselves -- organizations working on this approach have almost no financial means."

"We don't have the means to do what we want to do," said Abdoulaye Diouf, local organizer of the meeting and manager of the Senegalese Jacques Chirac drug information and awareness center.

"The fight against drugs will never succeed solely through repression," the anti-drug federation's Diop said. "How long have we been putting people in jail? And how long has the drug problem continued?"

He said there are few if any treatment facilities available for drug users in West Africa. Poverty-stricken street kids who fall into drugs need to be given alternatives and the general population must be educated about the risks of drug use, he said.

NGOs have become deeply involved in the fight to reduce drug use since the UN General Assembly special session on the global drug problem in 1998, but they complain that they lack resources, as well as training in research, analysis, and marketing. And governments too often ignore them, they said.

"There is almost no collaboration between NGOs and government," Diouf said. "When it comes to planning and implementing activities, NGOs are ignored in many countries."

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Caribbean: Trinidad & Tobago Political Leader Calls For New Approach in Dealing with Marijuana

In the run-up to Trinidad & Tobago's national elections Monday, United National Congress (UNC) Party leader Basdeo Panday called for a new approach to dealing with marijuana in the island republic. It wasn't enough to bring the UNC to victory, though; it was defeated once again by the ruling People's National Movement (PNM), which picked up 26 seats in the legislature, compared to 15 for the UNC. Still, the leader of the primary opposition party in the country is calling for a reefer reassessment.

"I think we ought to look at that to see whether prohibiting things really ends the problem," Panday said during a pre-election radio forum. Panday recalled the "old days," when there was a shop selling "ganja" in Princes Town and people would smoke it in chillums on Saturday nights after working in the fields all week. "It never was a problem. That is the strange thing about it. I think we ought to go back and study that," Panday said.

If ganja were to become unavailable because of police crackdowns, Panday said, "fellas would plant it in their backyard" and such a crackdown would be as unsuccessful as American attempts to prohibit alcohol in the 1920s. There needed to be "another approach" to marijuana," he said without going into specifics.

Although marijuana is woven into Trinidad & Tobago culture, as it is throughout much of the Caribbean -- "The Ganja's Farmer's Lament" topped the charts there a couple of years ago -- the islands' use rates are among the lowest in the region. According to the United Nations Office on Drug Control 2007 World Drug Report, use rates were 3.7% in Trinidad and Tobago, compared with nearly 11% in Jamaica and more than 5% in Barbados, Bermuda, Grenada, Haiti, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Marijuana is one thing, but "heavy drugs" are another matter, Panday said, claiming that 80% of crime in the country was linked to their use and trafficking. To combat hard drugs, he said, the "mafia" would have to be dealt with.

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Weekly: This Week in History

November 15, 1875: San Francisco passes the first US anti-drug law, an ordinance outlawing Chinese opium dens.

November 12, 1970: Keith Stroup forms the National Association for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).

November 12, 1980: New York City Mayor Ed Koch admits to having tried marijuana.

November 15, 1984: Spanish police arrest Jorge Ochoa on a US warrant and both the U.S. and Colombia apply for his extradition. Soon after, the Medellin cartel publicly threatens to murder five Americans for every Colombian extradition. The Spanish courts ultimately rule in favor of Colombia's request and Ochoa is deported. He serves a month in jail on charges of bull-smuggling before he is paroled.

November 11, 1988: The Anti-Drug Abuse Act establishes the creation of a drug-free America as a policy goal. A key provision of the act is the creation of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) to set priorities, implement a national strategy, and certify federal drug-control budgets.

November 14, 1999: In an editorial, the Lancet, one of the world's leading medical journals, says, "On the medical evidence available, moderate indulgence in cannabis has little ill effect on health."

November 13, 2000: The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) releases the final version of its "NACDL Board Resolution to End the 'War on Drugs.'"

November 9, 2001: The San Jose Mercury News reports that despite objections from former first lady Betty Ford and drug-treatment authorities, the US Senate Judiciary Committee approved the nomination of John Walters as director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

November 9, 2001: The Newark Star-Ledger reports that the US Food and Drug Administration approved the use of Ecstasy in a study to treat victims of post-traumatic stress disorder.

November 10, 2001: The Austin American-Statesman reports that police publicly apologized to Maria Flores for a botched drug raid on May 16.

November 15, 2001: Asa Hutchinson, administrator for the Drug Enforcement Administration, and Republican Gov. Gary Johnson of New Mexico debate the war on drugs in front of about 150 people in Yale's Law School auditorium.

November 15, 2002: NFL star and NORML advisory board member Mark Stepnoski is interviewed on the O'Reilly Factor.

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Feedback: Do You Read Drug War Chronicle?

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Webmasters: Help the Movement by Running DRCNet Syndication Feeds on Your Web Site!

Are you a fan of DRCNet, and do you have a web site you'd like to use to spread the word more forcefully than a single link to our site can achieve? We are pleased to announce that DRCNet content syndication feeds are now available. Whether your readers' interest is in-depth reporting as in Drug War Chronicle, the ongoing commentary in our blogs, or info on specific drug war subtopics, we are now able to provide customizable code for you to paste into appropriate spots on your blog or web site to run automatically updating links to DRCNet educational content.

For example, if you're a big fan of Drug War Chronicle and you think your readers would benefit from it, you can have the latest issue's headlines, or a portion of them, automatically show up and refresh when each new issue comes out.

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Resource: DRCNet Web Site Offers Wide Array of RSS Feeds for Your Reader

RSS feeds are the wave of the future -- and DRCNet now offers them! The latest Drug War Chronicle issue is now available using RSS at http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/feed online.

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Resource: Reformer's Calendar Accessible Through DRCNet Web Site

DRCNet's Reformer's Calendar is a tool you can use to let the world know about your events, and find out what is going on in your area in the issue. This resource used to run in our newsletter each week, but now is available from the right hand column of most of the pages on our web site.

• Visit http://stopthedrugwar.org each day and you'll see a listing of upcoming events in the page's right-hand column with the number of days remaining until the next several events coming up and a link to more.

• Check our new online calendar section at to view all of them by month, week or a range of different views.
• We request and invite you to submit your event listings directly on our web site. Note that our new system allows you to post not only a short description as we currently do, but also the entire text of your announcement.

The Reformer's Calendar publishes events large and small of interest to drug policy reformers around the world. Whether it's a major international conference, a demonstration bringing together people from around the region or a forum at the local college, we want to know so we can let others know, too.

But we need your help to keep the calendar current, so please make sure to contact us and don't assume that we already know about the event or that we'll hear about it from someone else, because that doesn't always happen.

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