President Obama has vowed to slash discretionary federal spending, but it isn't going be done on the back of the drug war. Federal drug control spending is up 3.5% in his Fiscal Year 2011 budget. Mostly it's the same old, same old drug war, but there are some interesting surprises.
Nearly nine years after the fact, the CIA has completed its internal investigation of the shooting down of a civilian aircraft over Peru that left an American missionary and her infant daughter dead. The agency found little wrong with its behavior, but not everyone agrees.
Rogue narcs in Camden, cops dealing weed out of police cars, a crooked DARE officer, cops helping dealers, and, of course, another prison guard goes down, more jail and prison guards go down.
Nearly a thousand people were killed in Mexico's unrelenting plague of prohibition-related violence last month alone. At this rate, another 10,000 will die by year's end.
It's a marijuana news trifecta in Rhode Island this week: A decrim bill is introduced, the Senate Commission on Marijuana Prohibition holds its final hearing, and the Health Department holds what is likely its final hearing on regulating for the state's embryonic "compassion center" program for pot patients.
Stunned by the proliferation of medical marijuana patients and dispensaries, the Colorado Senate voted Monday to impose restrictions on "pot docs."
Millions of innocent Americans suffering from colds may soon be paying for the sins of meth cooks, for whom that medicine that relieves your symptoms is the key ingredient in the recipe.
A Missouri Senate committee with more moralistic wrath toward the poor than common sense has passed a bill that would require welfare applicants and recipients to be drug tested under "reasonable suspicion" and thrown off the rolls for three years if they test positive -- even though the legislature's own analysts say the bill would cost far more than it would save.
Kenneth How rolled up to a Massachusetts sobriety checkpoint sitting in the passenger seat and smoking a joint. Shortly later, he was dead. The medical examiner has called his death a homicide. Now, his family has filed a federal lawsuit alleging police beat him to death.
Although Scottish authorities have yet to find any dirty dope, they have found another heroin user dead of anthrax.
MedicalMarijuana.ProCon.org, part of the ProCon.org family, is an in-depth web site presenting information and views from a variety of perspectives on the medical marijuana issue. The Chronicle is running a series of info items from ProCon.org over the next several weeks, and we encourage you to check it out.
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of years past.
"Obama's Drug War Budget Destroys the Myth of Change," "Obama, YouTube, and Marijuana Legalization," "Legalize Willie Nelson's Tour Bus," "Obama Avoids Questions About Legalizing Marijuana (Again)."
Apply for an internship at DRCNet and you could spend a semester fighting the good fight!
The Foundation for Research on Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Inc. (FROST'D) seeks a full-time Harm Reduction Counselor/Outreach Worker/Driver to work with their Integrated Harm Reduction Program.
The Asian Network of People who Use Drugs (ANPUD), an issues-based membership network with a focus on representing and reflecting the voices and needs of people who use drugs in Asia, seeks a Regional Coordinator for their office in Bangkok, Thailand.
The Obama administration released its Fiscal Year 2011 budget proposal this week, including the federal drug control budget. On the drug budget, the Obama administration is generally following the same course as the Bush administration and appears to be flying on autopilot.
According to the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP -- the drug czar's office), the administration is requesting $15.5 billion for drug control, an increase of 3.5% over the current budget. Drug law enforcement funding would grow from $9.7 billion this year to $9.9 billion in 2011, an increase of 5.2%. Demand side measures, such as prevention and treatment, also increased from $5.2 billion this year to $5.6 billion next year.
The $15.5 billion dollar drug budget actually undercounts the real cost of the federal drug war by failing to include some significant drug policy-driven costs. For instance, operations for the federal Bureau of Prisons are budgeted at $8.3 billion for 2011. With more than half of all federal prisoners serving time for drug offenses, the real cost of current drug policies should increase by at least $4 billion, but only $79 million of the prisons budget is counted as part of the national drug strategy budget.
The Obama drug budget largely maintains the roughly two-to-one imbalance between spending on treatment and prevention and spending on law enforcement. Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske called the imbalanced budget "balanced."
Highlights and lowlights:
- Funding for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration prevention programs (SAMHSA) is set at $254.2 million, up $29.6 million from this year, while funding for SAMHSA treatment programs is set at $635.4 million, up $101.2 million from this year.
- Funding for ONDCP's Drug Free Communities program is set at $85.5 million, down $9.5 million from this year.
- Funding for the widely challenged National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign is set at $66.5 million, an increase of more than 50% over this year.
- The Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring II program (ADAM) is funded at $10 million. It got no money this year.
- Funding for the Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment program is set at $1.799 billion, the same as this year.
- Funding for the Second Chance Act for reintegrating people completing prison sentences is set at $50 million, a whopping 66% increase over this year.
- Funding for the Justice Department's Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force is set at $579.3 million, up $50.8 million over this year.
- Funding for the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program is set at $210 million, down $29 million from this year.
- Funding for the Defense Department's counternarcotics efforts in Afghanistan is set at $501.5 billion, up about one-third over this year.
- Funding for State Department counternarcotics activities in West Africa is set at $13.2 million, up $10 million from this year.
- Funding for State Department counternarcotics activities in Colombia is set at $178.6 million, down $26.6 million from this year.
- Funding for the DEA is set at $2.131 billion, up 5.5% over this year. That pays for 8,399 employees, 4,146 of whom are DEA agents.
- Funding for the Office of Justice Programs' Byrne grant program, Southwest Border Prosecutor Initiative, Northern Border Prosecutor Initiative, and Prescription Drug Monitoring program has been eliminated.
"The new budget proposal demonstrates the Obama administrations' commitment to a balanced and comprehensive drug strategy," said Kerlikowske. "In a time of tight budgets and fiscal restraint, these new investments are targeted at reducing Americans' drug use and the substantial costs associated with the health and social consequences of drug abuse."
Drug reformers tended to disagree with Kerlikowske's take on the budget. "This is certainly not change we can believe in," said Bill Piper, national affairs director for the Drug Policy Alliance. "It's extremely similar to the Bush administration drug budgets, especially in terms of supply side versus demand side. In that respect, it's extremely disappointing. There's nothing innovative there."
"This budget reflects the same Bush-era priorities that led to the total failure of American drug policy during the last decade," said Aaron Houston, director of government relations for the Marijuana Policy Project. "One of the worst examples is $66 million requested for the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign when every independent study has called it a failure. The president is throwing good money after bad when what we really need is a new direction."
Houston also took umbrage with the accounting legerdemain that continues to allow ONDCP to understate the real cost of federal drug policies. "It's disconcerting to see the Obama administration employ the same tactics in counting the drug budget that the Bush administration did," said Houston. "Congress told ONDCP in 2006 to stop excluding certain items from the budget, and we had a Democratic committee chairman excoriate John Walters over his cooking of the books, but it doesn't appear they've done anything to stop that. Maybe they have to cook the books to make this look like a successful program."
But reformers also noted that some good drug policy news had already come out of the Obama administration. They also suggested that the real test of Obama's direction in drug policy would come in March, when Kerlikowske releases the annual national drug control strategy.
"I'm a little disappointed," said Keith Stroup, founder of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, "but I think there is a significant difference in the environment from the Bush years. Maybe not in this budget, but things like issuing those Department of Justice regulations on medical marijuana have made a major difference."
"They are unwilling or unable to change the drug war budget, but the true measure of their commitment to a shift in drug policy will be the national drug control strategy that comes out in a few weeks," said Piper. "The question is will their drug strategy look like Bush's and like their drug budget does, or will they articulate a new approach to drug policy more in line with the president's comments on the campaign trail that drug use should be treated as a public health issue, not a criminal justice one."
The Obama administration's decision to not interfere with medical marijuana in the states was one example of a paradigm shift, said Piper. So was its support for repealing the federal needle exchange funding ban and ending the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine offenses.
"In a lot of ways, the budget trimming that comes out of the White House is a fraud because they know Congress won't make those cuts," said Piper. "I wonder if that's the game Obama is playing with the Byrne grants. That's the kind of thing they can articulate in the drug strategy if they wanted to. They should at least talk about the need to shift from the supply side to the demand side approach. They could even admit that this year's budget does not reflect that, but still call for it."
This is only the administration's budget request, of course. What it will look like by the time Congress gets through with it is anybody's guess. But it strongly suggests that, so far, there's not that much new under the sun in the Obama White House when it comes to the drug budget.
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Nearly nine years ago, a Peruvian air force fighter guided by CIA employees in a spotter plane blew a civilian aircraft out of the sky over the Amazon, thinking it was shooting down drug smugglers. But the plane was not carrying drug smugglers; it was carrying American missionaries Jim and Veronica Bowers, their two children, and a civilian pilot. Veronica Bowers and her infant daughter were killed.
The ensuing uproar led to the ending of the US-sponsored program of shooting down suspected drug smuggling planes and heated calls from Congress to get to the bottom of the affair. That didn't happen. Instead, the CIA stonewalled Congress, promising an internal investigation.
This week, that investigation finally concluded. As ABC News reported, the investigation found that CIA operatives and Peruvian officials failed to follow their strict rules of engagement. The pilots failed to identify the plane by its tail number and did not order the plane to land. Tapes of the incident show the CIA spotters growing doubtful at the last moment that their target actually was a drug plane, but failing to act on their doubts in time to prevent the Peruvian fighter jet from firing on the plane.
On Wednesday, the CIA announced that its investigation had concluded that 16 CIA employees should be disciplined, including the CIA agent then in charge of counternarcotics. But many of those employees no longer work for the CIA, and for some who still do, the discipline consists of nothing more than a letter of reprimand inserted in their personnel files.
That was too much for Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI), ranking minority member of the House Intelligence Committee. The Bowers were his constituents, and from the beginning, Hoekstra had demanded answers about what happened over the Amazon that day and who was responsible.
"If there's ever an example of justice delayed, justice denied, this is it," Hoekstra told ABC. "The [intelligence] community's performance in terms of accountability has been unacceptable. These were Americans that were killed with the help of their government, the community covered it up, they delayed investigating."
While the Intelligence Committee held hearings on the incident, it didn't get very far. The State Department reported in 2001 that the shoot-downs occurred only after "exhausting international procedures for interception." The Department of Justice declined to prosecute anyone in 2005.
Veronica Bowers and daughter Charity, in their family's houseboat on the Amazon (photo by Joe Sherman, via flickr.com)
Then the CIA Office of the Inspector General delivered its report, "
Procedures Used in Narcotics Airbridge Denial in Peru, 1995-2001," in 2008, seven years after the fact. That report found that at least 15 planes were shot down under the Narcotics Airbridge Denial Program beginning in 1995 and that in most of the downings, pilots fired on aircraft "without being properly identified, without being given the required warnings to land, and without being given time to respond to such warnings as were given to land." (Many of those planes crashed in the jungle and have never been reached, leaving open the question of whether they were carrying drugs.) The report also said that the CIA withheld from the National Security Council, Congress, and the Justice Department the results of investigations that showed continuing and serious violations of procedures designed to prevent the shooting down of innocent aircraft.
When the Inspector General handed that report over to then CIA director Michael Hayden, he assembled an Agency Accountability Board, which insisted it found no evidence of a cover-up, that "reasonable suspicion" was established in every shoot-down except that of the Bowers' plane, and that no CIA officer acted inappropriately. Instead, 16 people were to be sanctioned for "shortcomings in reporting and supervision."
Speaking to Michigan's WOOD-TV Wednesday evening, Hoekstra was outraged. "This is one where the bureaucracy protected itself. Immediately after the shooting in 2001, Congress was misled. Some would say the CIA lied to us about exactly what happened, then dragged this out for years," he said.
"They were brutally murdered, and the US government was complicit in making that happen," Hoekstra continued. "The CIA was reckless, they made serious mistakes that resulted in the deaths of two Americans. This is also about accountability. The CIA has some of the most tremendous powers, and we need to make sure that there is accountability, that CIA operates within the boundaries we set for it, and when they don't, they are held accountable. Tragically, as we close this chapter, I don't think those things are going to happen."
"They wouldn't testify when it happened, they stonewalled this from the get-go, when Hoekstra was demanding they testify," said Sanho Tree, drug policy analyst for the Institute for Policy Studies and long-time student of US-Latin American relations. "I recall Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN) demanding to know who was in charge. Was it Southcom, was it CIA, was it the US Embassy? And all the witnesses just pointed fingers at each other. It now seems that had more to do with embarrassment than protecting national security."
When asked about what the whole affair said about CIA accountability, Tree just laughed.
Coincidentally, Hoesktra's remarks came the same day US Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair told the House Intelligence Committee the government has the right to kill Americans abroad if they present a direct threat to US security. "We take direct action against terrorists in the intelligence community," Blair told lawmakers at the hearing. "If that direct action -- we think that direct action will involve killing an American, we get specific permission to do that."
Blair said he made the admission to reassure Americans. "We're not careless about endangering American lives as we try to carry out the policies to protect most of the country," he said.
On Wednesday, the CIA claimed it was not careless in the killing of Veronica Bowers and her daughter, either. In a statement issued Wednesday evening, the CIA said the program to shoot down suspected drug planes had ended in 2001 and was run by a foreign government.
"CIA personnel had no authority either to direct or prohibit actions by that government. CIA officers did not shoot down any airplane. In the case of the tragic downing of April 21st, 2001, [sic] CIA personnel protested the identification of the missionary plane as a suspect drug trafficker," the statement said. (The incident actually occurred April 20, 2001.)
In fact, the shoot-down was the result of an ongoing operation in which the CIA and the Peruvian government worked as partners to blow suspected drug planes out of the sky. Video and audiotapes of the incident show the CIA employees deciding not to check the plane's tail numbers for risk it might flee, and those tapes show that the CIA employees did not express doubts about the identity of the craft until moments before it was shot down.
"This was a tragic episode that the Agency has dealt with in a professional and thorough manner," continued the statement. "Unfortunately, some have been willing to twist facts to imply otherwise. In so doing, they do a tremendous disservice to CIA officers, serving and retired, who have risked their lives for America's national security."
"One of the problems here is that these intelligence services are given a sort of thankless task of operating on the margins of our assumptions about what a society should be about," said Larry Birns, director of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs. "This produces an environment where you get these scandalous things taking place and there is not an adequate corrective procedure, so there is no warning shot across the bow for CIA and other clandestine services. They always seem to assume they can act outside the law because their mission is so important, and one administration after another is willing to look the other way."
"This is all being done in the name of these countries doing domestic law enforcement," Tree noted. "Since we were not at war, what kind of law enforcement allows the policeman to be judge, jury, and executioner? This wasn't law enforcement -- this was extrajudicial killing."
"I don't know why we're surprised about this," said Birns. "It's almost built into the dynamics of the situation. If the government wants them to engage in irregular warfare and take risks with the rules of the game and they know that in the past they have usually been exonerated, of course they are going to bend the rules. It is disenchanting when you reflect on how many incidents there have been where the CIA has compromised itself," said Birns. "We can be outraged that the values we insist on domestically go un-honored in our international behavior, but we shouldn't be surprised because we have put such great value on achieving those policy goals."
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Rogue narcs in Camden, cops dealing weed out of police cars, a crooked DARE officer, cops helping dealers, and, of course, another prison guard goes down, more jail and prison guards go down. Let's get to it:
In Camden, New Jersey, the FBI is investigating corruption in a special operations team handling drugs and gun crime. The four officers involved, who have been suspended without pay, are Jason Stetser, Antonio Figueroa, Kevin Parry, and Robert Bayard. They are suspected of beating defendants, planting drugs, and bringing phony charges to enhance their arrest records and force reluctant players in the drug underworld to cooperate. Drug charges made by the rogue cops have already been dropped in seven cases, and defense attorneys say dozens, if not hundreds, more could be dismissed. The group generated a pattern of complaints of mistreatment and illegal behavior. In one case, a victim complained that Stetser harassed him to become a snitch, then planted drugs on him and arrested him when he refused. In other cases as well, suspects said the officers stole money and drugs during searches or planted drugs on suspects who refused to cough up information on dealers and their stashes.
In Earlville, Illinois, an Earlville police officer was arrested last Friday for delivering an unspecified amount of marijuana to a person who was an informant for the local Tri-DENT drug task force. Officer Sergio Javier Fuentes, 41, is charged with felony drug possession and official misconduct. According to Tri-DENT, Fuentes drove an Earlville police car to deliver the weed to a house in town. He was arrested when he drove back to the Earlville Police Department. More weed was found in his vehicle, and so was Clonazepam. Fuentes is looking at two to five years for the official misconduct and one to three years for felony marijuana possession. He is out on bail and has been suspended with pay.
In West Pittston, Pennsylvania, a former West Pittston police officer was charged Monday with improperly receiving $20,000 in grant money as compensation for DARE (Drug and Alcohol Resistance Education) classes he never taught. Joseph Campbell, 47, is charged with five felony counts of theft by deception -- one for each year submitted fraudulent payment vouchers. Campbell taught elementary school DARE classes in Wyoming Area schools, but did not teach them at middle or high school level, as his payment vouchers claimed. Campbell has admitted to wrongdoing and has been fired. He was released on a $25,000 bond, with a preliminary hearing set for February 10.
In West Gardinier, Maine, a Cumberland County jail guard was arrested Wednesday for scheming to smuggle drugs into the jail. Guard Toby Post, 38, a six-year veteran, was seen taking control of a stash of drugs and was arrested trying to bring them into the jail. He is charged with trafficking in prison contraband. He is on paid administrative leave pending an internal investigation and out on bond awaiting a March 10 trial date.
In New York City, a former NYPD sergeant was sentenced Tuesday to six months in prison for lying to DEA investigators during a drug investigation. Former officer Roosevelt Green got busted for using NYPD computers to obtain vehicle registration information for a pair of DEA surveillance vehicles and passing that information on to a drug trafficking suspect. He went down because the DEA was wiretapping the suspect and overheard the conversations. Then he lied to the DEA, and now he's going away.
In Staunton, Virginia, a former Augusta Correctional Complex guard was sentenced January 28 to 18 months in prison for smuggling marijuana to inmates at the prison in Craigsville. Former guard April Hogsett, 26, had pleaded guilty in November to conspiracy to distribute marijuana and bribery. She was fired a week after her August arrest.
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by Bernd Debusmann, Jr.
Mexican drug trafficking organizations make billions each year trafficking illegal drugs into the United States, profiting enormously from the prohibitionist drug policies of the US government. Since Mexican president Felipe Calderon took office in December 2006 and called the armed forces into the fight against the so-called cartels, prohibition-related violence has killed over 16,000 people, with a death toll of nearly 8,000 in 2009 and almost 1,000 so far in 2010. The increasing militarization of the drug war and the arrest of several high-profile drug traffickers have failed to stem the flow of drugs -- or the violence -- whatsoever. The Merida initiative, which provides $1.4 billion over three years for the US to assist the Mexican government with training, equipment and intelligence, has so far failed to make a difference. Here are a few of the latest developments in Mexico's drug war:
Saturday, January 30
In Ciudad Juárez, police discovered two severed heads near bodies which were wrapped in blankets. In total, 15 people were killed during a 24-hour period. In one incident, gunmen opened fire on a family in a truck, killing one man and one woman and wounding a 5-month old child. In another incident, a man was killed and a pregnant woman was wounded after being attacked by gunmen.
In Michoacán, six headless bodies were found, and a group of at least 12 gunmen ambushed a police convoy, killing five officers.
Sunday, January 31
In one of the most high-profile incidents in Mexico's drug war, at least 16 people, most of them teenagers, were killed when gunmen stormed a house party in Ciudad Juárez. While accounts of the incident vary, it appears that between 15 and 25 gunmen blocked off a street and entered the house, herded the youngsters into a back room and opened fire. Mexican authorities have taken one man into custody in connection with the incident. The suspect, Jose Dolores Arroyo Chavarria, has said that he acted as a lookout for the gunmen, who were apparently enforcers for the Juárez Cartel. They had apparently received information that rival drug traffickers were to be in attendance at the party, and were ordered to kill everyone there. Parents of the victims have denied that anyone attending the party was involved in criminal activity. Chavarria was taken into custody after troops apparently interrupted the planned assassination of a rival. Another suspected drug trafficker, who is said to have overseen the killings, was killed in a shootout with Mexican soldiers.
Monday, February 1
In the port city of Lazaro Cardenas, Michoacán, a group of at least 20 armed men attacked several law enforcement facilities with gunfire and grenades. One police officer and two civilians were killed, and two police officers and six civilians were wounded. The gunmen were later chased through the streets of the city, and several exchanges of gunfire were reported. At least four police patrol cars were destroyed in the attacks.
In total, 45 people were killed in prohibition-related violence across the country. Sixteen were killed in Chihuahua, 11 in Coahuila, 5 in Sinaloa, 7 in Michoacán, two each in Sonora and Guerrero, one in Durango, and one in the state of Mexico.
Tuesday, February 2
Eight people were killed during a gun battle in the city of Torreon, Coahuila. Seven of the dead were suspected cartel gunmen and one was a federal police officer. The firefight occurred after federal police went to a shopping mall where a kidnapping attempt was reported. When they arrived they were met with gunfire. The officers then chased the suspects onto a highway, where the bulk of the shooting occurred. One suspect, three police officers, and two kidnapping victims were wounded in the incident. It appears the gunmen were members of the Zetas organization, which is thought to control drug trafficking in Coahuila.
In the state of Michoacán, members of the La Familia organization put up a dozen banners urging citizens to form a "resistance front" against the Zetas. The signs, which were put up in the capital of Morelia and in the town of Apatzingan, were quickly taken down by the authorities.
Wednesday, February 3
In La Paz, Baja California, two police officers were killed and another was wounded after gunmen opened fire on a house. In a 12-hour period, eight people were killed in Sinaloa, a corpse showing signs of torture was found in San Luis Potosi, and a decapitated body was found on a ranch near Monterrey, Nuevo Leon.
Body Count for the Week: 378
Body Count for the Year: 980
Body Count for 2009: 7,724
Body Count since Calderon took office (December, 2006): 17,185
Read the last Mexico Drug War Update here.
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It's been a big week for marijuana at the statehouse in Providence, with lawmakers Tuesday introducing a decriminalization bill and hearing testimony on the effects of marijuana prohibition Wednesday. Also this week, the state Department of Health held the final round of public comment on proposed rules for the state's new medical marijuana compassion center program.
Rhode Island Senate Chamber
Introduced by Rep. John Edwards (D-Tiverton),
HB 7317 would decriminalize the possession of up to one ounce of weed. People caught with less than an ounce would be subject to a $150 fine, but no criminal record. Fines would go to the state general fund if the person is cited by state police, but to localities if cited by local police. Simple possession is currently a misdemeanor with up to a year in jail and a $500 fine.
"This legislation is less about the ongoing debate over the decriminalization of marijuana and more about providing some relief to the taxpayers of this state," Edwards said. "The average cost to keep someone [in prison] is more than $44,000 per year. Rhode Island taxpayers should not be paying to keep someone locked up due to a simple possession charge."
Edwards said his bill would help in three different ways. "First, we wouldn't tie up our criminal courts with these minor offenses. Second, the entity that catches the individual keeps the fine and finally, we save some money by not having to house and feed these individuals at taxpayer expense," he explained.
On Wednesday evening, the state Senate Commission on Marijuana Prohibition held what should be its final hearing -- it was supposed to report back to the General Assembly by last week. Created by a legislative resolution last summer, the commission is charged with undertaking a thorough evaluation of the impact of marijuana prohibition.
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition head Jack Cole, a former undercover narc in New Jersey, told the committee in written testimony that arresting marijuana users is a luxury Rhode Island can't afford. "A tremendous amount of the staff time and funding for law enforcement is wasted arresting nonviolent drug users who hurt no one,'' said Cole. "Let police get back to protecting all of us from violent criminals and child molesters. We will all be much better off.''
Also this week, the state Department of Health held what is likely to be its final hearing on draft regulations for licensing up to three nonprofit "compassion centers," or dispensaries. For the next two weeks, anyone can submit written comments to the department, then it will decide how to proceed. It can file the regulations as is, make minor changes, or make major changes. If the latter, another public hearing must be held.
Once the regulations are filed, they will take effect in 20 days. Then, Rhode Island's more than 1,200 medical marijuana patients will have one more option in addition to growing it themselves or having a caretaker do it for them.
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Colorado state medical marijuana application
Stunned at the rapid increase in the number of registered medical marijuana patients in the state, the Colorado Senate voted overwhelmingly Monday to impose new restrictions on physicians who make medical marijuana recommendations. The Senate voted 34-1 to pass
SB 109.
Sponsored by Sens. Chris Romer (D-Denver) and Nancy Spence (R-Centennial), the bill would require physicians who make medical marijuana recommendations to have a "bona fide" relationship with patients, including treating a patient before he applies for medical marijuana, conducting a thorough physical exam, and providing follow-up care. The bill would also bar doctors from being paid by dispensaries to write recommendations and require that they not have any restrictions on their medical licenses. Doctors would have to keep records of all medical marijuana recommendations and provide them to state health agencies seeking to investigate doctors for violating state laws.
The bill would also require persons between 18 and 21 to get recommended by two different physicians.
Colorado began registering medical marijuana patients in June 2001 after voters approved a constitutional amendment legalizing its use. For years, the number of patients hovered around 2,000, but after state courts last year threw out a regulation limiting the number of patients for whom caregivers could provide to five and the Obama administration signaled that it was not going to interfere in medical marijuana states, the numbers exploded. By last September, there were more than 17,000 registered patients, and now the number is near 40,000. A similar boom has gone on with dispensaries, with Colorado now second only to California in their numbers.
The bill was supported by Colorado law enforcement and the Colorado Medical Association, but was opposed by most medical marijuana patients and providers.
"This is the beginning of the end of the Wild West" for the state's booming medical-marijuana industry, said bill sponsor Sen. Chris Romer.
"This bill is an unprecedented assault on the doctor-patient privilege that would hold medical marijuana doctors to a higher standard than any other doctor," medical marijuana attorney Robert Correy told lawmakers. "This would cause human suffering. The most sick and the most poor would be disproportionately harmed. You're going to see the Board of Medical Examiners conducting witch hunts against medical marijuana providers."
The bill now moves to the House.
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Meth lab busts nationwide were up 27% last year over the previous year, according to the DEA, and state legislatures, prodded by law enforcement, are responding with a new batch of bills to ban pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient in home-cooked meth, but also a key ingredient in widely used cold remedies such as Sudafed and Claritin-B.
In at least three states -- California, Indiana, Kentucky, and Missouri -- bills to make products containing pseudoephedrine available by prescription only have been or will be filed. Meanwhile, Mississippi this week became the first state this year to pass such a law, and only the second in the nation. Oregon passed such a law in 2006 and saw a dramatic reduction in meth lab busts.
In Mississippi, Gov. Hailey Barbour (R) is poised to sign HB 512, which would make ephedrine and pseudoephedrine Schedule III controlled substances available only by prescription. The measure passed the House 45-4 late last month and passed the Senate 45-4 on Tuesday.
The Tuesday vote came as about 50 uniformed members of Mississippi law enforcement looked on from the gallery. Mississippi law enforcement had been the primary force behind the bill.
As the cops looked on, supporters of the bill fended off amendments to the bill that would allow patients to be charged lower than normal fees when going to a physician to get a prescription. Opponents of the bill had argued that it would place a burden on Mississippi residents who would now be saddled with having to pay for a doctor's visit and a co-pay for their now prescription drug.
"I look forward to signing House Bill 512, which will make it more difficult to obtain the ingredients for this drug that tears families apart and harms many of our communities," Barbour said in a statement.
Barbour and the cops may have been happy, but the Consumer Healthcare Products Association, which represents over-the-counter medicine makers, was not. The bill will be a burden on residents and will raise health care costs in the state, the group said.
"We are disappointed that the Mississippi Senate chose to overlook consumer sentiment and passed a bill today that will significantly impact how cold and allergy sufferers access some of their medicines," said association spokeswoman Linda Suydam. "While well-intentioned, this bill will impose an unnecessary burden on Mississippians, despite there being a better and more effective solution to address the state's meth production problem."
The association said that electronic tracking of over-the-counter medications containing pseudoephedrine was a "more effective, less-costly alternative, and one that eight states have adopted to fight domestic methamphetamine production while maintaining consumer access to these medicines."
Indiana is also moving to restrict pseudoephedrine, but not to make it prescription-only. The state Senate voted 46-4 Tuesday to approve SB 383, which limits customers to 3.6 grams of ephedrine or pseudoephedrine in one day and nine grams of the drugs in one month. That bill now heads to the House.
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A Missouri state Senate committee voted Tuesday to approve a bill that would require welfare recipients and applicants to pass a drug test in order to receive government aid. The bill, SB 607, passed the Senate Health, Mental Health, Seniors, and Families Committee on a 5-3 vote.
The bill attempts to get around constitutional problems with other mandatory drug testing bills by limiting drug testing to those whom case workers have identified as creating "a reasonable suspicion" they are using drugs. Persons who are then drug tested and test positive would have an administrative hearing and after that hearing, could be declared ineligible for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits for three years. Dependent children of people thrown off the rolls would not lose their benefits; instead, they would be provided through a payee for the children.
The bill also provides that the Department of Mental Health would refer people who test positive to drug treatment, although it doesn't specify who would pay for it. Nor does the bill have any provision for returning someone to the rolls after successfully completing treatment.
The vote came despite a fiscal impact analysis that found the measure would cost the state more than $2.5 million in 2011 and around $3.5 million in 2012 and 2013. While the state would save some money from paying out fewer benefits, those savings would be swamped by the costs of drug testing, hearings for people who appealed the loss of benefits, and the cost of drug treatment.
Missouri is one of a handful of states where similar bills are moving this year. Similar bills have been filed or pre-filed in Florida, Kentucky, South Carolina, and West Virginia.
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The family of a Massachusetts man who died in police custody after being stopped at sobriety checkpoint filed a federal lawsuit January 28 claiming police beat him to death. The federal civil rights and wrongful death lawsuit names dozens of state troopers, local police, and county sheriff's deputies assigned to a North Andover checkpoint the night of November 25.
That was the night Kenneth Howe, a passenger in a vehicle driven by one of his friends, was killed after an altercation at the checkpoint. The official version of events is that Howe assaulted an officer, tried to flee, was taken into custody, and became unresponsive during booking. Police took him to a hospital, where he died.
The family has a different version of events. Citing the driver of the pickup, they say Howe was smoking a joint when the truck suddenly came upon the checkpoint. He attempted to buckle his seat belt and put out the joint when a female trooper came to his window and ordered him out of the truck. Howe held up his hands and tried to explain that the joint was all he was holding.
Then, according to the lawsuit, the trooper "forcefully removed Kenneth from the truck and screamed, 'He assaulted me.' At that point, between approximately 10 and 20 law enforcement officers swarmed on Kenneth." Then Howe was dragged on the ground to a state police cruiser and taken away.
The lawsuit cites more than 40 photographs of the incident taken by a local newspaper photographer who was there covering the checkpoint. They show Howe face down on the ground and surrounded by police officers. The lawsuit says there are additional photos showing Howe's bruised and bloodied body.
The lawsuit also cited a finding by a state medical examiner who ruled Howe's death a homicide. He was killed by "blunt impact of head and torso with compression of chest," family attorney Frances King said at a press conference before filing the suit.
"There is no rationale and no justification for beating this man to death," King said as she stood beside Howe's wife and two of his daughters.
The death is being investigated by the Essex District Attorney's office, but King said the US attorney's office and FBI needed to step in. "It is nothing short of absurd" to have state police within the prosecutor's office investigate other state police, she said.
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The death toll from anthrax-tainted heroin in Europe has risen to 10 as Health Protection Scotland confirmed that a heroin user who died in the Glasgow area on December 12 was infected with anthrax. Nine of the 10 deaths occurred in Scotland; the other occurred in Germany.
anthrax spores
The latest announced death is actually the earliest. Prior to the announcement of this death, the earliest known death took place December 16.
At least 19 drug users -- 18 of them Scottish -- have been diagnosed with anthrax since the outbreak began. A pair of heroin deaths in Sweden turned out to be unrelated, and a cluster of deaths in Portugal has not been confirmed as being linked to anthrax.
While Scottish authorities have yet to find any anthrax-tainted heroin, they believe either the heroin itself or cutting agents have been contaminated with anthrax spores. They said there is no evidence of person-to-person infection.
"While public health investigations are continuing to attempt to identify the source of the contamination, no drug samples tested to date have shown anthrax contamination, although a number of other types of potentially harmful bacteria have been found," said Colin Ramsay, an agency epidemiologist. "It must therefore be assumed that all heroin in Scotland carries the risk of anthrax contamination and users are advised to cease taking heroin by any route. While we appreciate that this may be extremely difficult advice for users to follow, it remains the only public health protection advice possible based on current evidence."
As noted in our earlier story linked to above, harm reductionists have called for other measures, ranging from informational campaigns to liberalized prescribing of pharmaceutical heroin.
Infected patients typically developed inflammation or abscesses around the injection site within one or two days and were hospitalized about four days after that. In some severe cases, the lesions developed necrotizing fasciitis, a flesh-eating disease.
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Did you know the FDA identified marijuana as a primary cause of death in zero cases from 1997 through mid-2005, while FDA-approved drugs prescribed in lieu of medical marijuana are suspected of causing hundreds of deaths?
See Deaths from Marijuana v. 17 FDA-Approved Drugs, on the web site medicalmarijuana.procon.org, part of the ProCon family.
Follow Drug War Chronicle for more important facts from ProCon.org over the next several weeks, or sign up for ProCon.org's email list or RSS feed.
ProCon.org is a web site promoting critical thinking, education, and informed citizenship by presenting controversial issues in a straightforward, nonpartisan primarily pro-con format.
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February 9, 1909: Congress passes the Opium Exclusion Act.
February 8, 1914: In an example of the role of racial prejudice in the genesis of US drug laws, The New York Times publishes an article entitled "Negro Cocaine 'Fiends' New Southern Menace."
February 7, 1968: In a move likely spurred on by the Nixon campaign's "law and order" rhetoric, President Lyndon Johnson creates the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD) by combining the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN) with the Bureau of Drug Abuse Control. By 1972, the BNDD is 1,361 agents strong.
February 11, 1982: Attorney General William French Smith grants an exemption sparing the CIA from a legal requirement to report on drug smuggling by agency assets. The exemption had been secretly engineered by CIA Director William J. Casey according to a letter placed into the Congressional Record by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) on May 7, 1998, which establishes that Casey foresaw the legal dilemma which the CIA would encounter should federal law require it to report on illicit narcotics smuggling by its agents.
February 7, 1985: Enrique Camarena, an aggressive DEA agent stationed in Mexico who discovered that drug traffickers there were operating under the protection of Mexican police officials, is kidnapped outside of his office in Guadalajara. His body is found several weeks later bearing marks of brutal torture.
February 5, 1988: A federal grand jury in Miami issues an indictment against Panamanian General Manuel Noriega for drug trafficking. Noriega had allowed the Medellin cartel to launder money and build cocaine laboratories in Panama.
February 11, 1988: The international heroin seizure record is set -- 2,816 pounds in Bangkok, Thailand.
February 10, 1998: The United Kingdom House of Lords announces an investigation into the recreational and medical use of marijuana to be conducted by the Lords Select Committee. Announcement of the inquiry follows a campaign by the UK's Independent to decriminalize marijuana, a report from the British Medical Association urging Ministers to consider allowing the medical use of cannabinoids, and a plea from Lord Chief Justice Lord Bingham of Cornhill, who says marijuana decriminalization deserves "detached, objective, [and] independent consideration."
February 11, 1999: Researchers in Boston, Massachusetts, announce they found no link between marijuana use by pregnant mothers and miscarriages. The study does document a strong link between tobacco consumption and miscarriages, and also shows an increased risk of miscarriage by mothers who use cocaine.
February 9, 2000: Deborah Lynn Quinn, born with no arms or legs, is sentenced to one year in an Arizona prison for marijuana possession and violating probation on a previous drug offense, the attempted sale of four grams of marijuana to a police informant for $20. Quinn requires around the clock care for feeding, bathing, and hygiene.
February 7, 2001: After a contentious confirmation process, new Attorney General John Ashcroft declares, "I want to escalate the war on drugs. I want to renew it. I want to refresh it, re-launch it, if you will." He said this despite the fact that under President Clinton's two terms in office the number of jail sentences nationwide for marijuana offenders was 800% higher than under the Reagan and Bush administrations combined.
February 11, 2001: President Jorge Battle of Uruguay becomes the first head of state in Latin America to call for drug legalization.
February 10, 2003: South Dakota's HB 1153 passes the state's House of Representatives. The bill revises the current penalties for marijuana distribution to include "intent to distribute."
February 6, 2004: The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit rejects the DEA's ban on hemp foods.
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Along with our weekly in-depth Chronicle reporting, DRCNet also provides daily content in the way of blogging in the Stop the Drug War Speakeasy -- huge numbers of people have been reading it recently -- as well as Latest News links (upper right-hand corner of most web pages), event listings (lower right-hand corner) and other info. Check out DRCNet every day to stay on top of the drug reform game! Check out the Speakeasy main page at http://stopthedrugwar.org/speakeasy.
prohibition-era beer raid, Washington, DC (Library of Congress)
Since last issue:
Scott Morgan writes: "Obama's Drug War Budget Destroys the Myth of Change," "Obama, YouTube, and Marijuana Legalization," "Legalize Willie Nelson's Tour Bus," "Obama Avoids Questions About Legalizing Marijuana (Again)."
Phil Smith posts early copies of Drug War Chronicle articles.
David Guard posts numerous press releases, action alerts and other organizational announcements in the In the Trenches blog.
Again, http://stopthedrugwar.org/speakeasy is the online place to stay in the loop for the fight to stop the war on drugs. Thanks for reading, and please join us on the comment boards.
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Want to help end the "war on drugs," while earning college credit too? Apply for a StoptheDrugWar.org (DRCNet) internship and you could come join the team and help us fight the fight!
StoptheDrugWar 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 rein in the use of SWAT teams, to expand our work to repeal the drug provision of the Higher Education Act 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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This position is responsible for providing an array of mobile-based harm reduction services including individual and group counseling to people living with and at risk for HIV/AIDS, rapid HIV testing, substance use and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) screenings and assessments, referrals, street outreach, and additional responsibilities as requested. Mobile services are conducted utilizing a team approach in the Prevention Division of Harlem United. Services are delivered to marginalized street-based populations, including active substance users, injection drug users (IDUs), people living with HIV/AIDS and/or Hepatitis C, sex workers, and other high-risk populations. Overdose education and relapse prevention is conducted on a regular basis to all clients with a history of substance use. This position is also responsible for driving the mobile units and assisting with vehicle maintenance.
Essential job functions include conducting a range of support and outreach activities to vulnerable street-based populations (IDUs, substance users, sex workers, etc.), including but not limited to conducting 35 individual alcohol and other drug interventions (AOD) per month with HIV+ clients (these are client-centered substance use/harm and risk reduction interventions to help initiate and maintain positive behavior change, and to empower clients with the information necessary to take control of their lives and their health); conducting 20 individual low threshold interventions (LT) per month with high-risk and/or HIV- clients (these are client-centered substance use/harm and risk reduction interventions to help decrease risk in drug use, decrease risk in sexual practice, and encourage HIV testing within three months); conducting 4 group level interventions per month with HIV+ clients (these are client-centered substance use/harm and risk reduction group interventions to help clients gain the knowledge and skills to positively impact their mental, physical and overall health and well-being); providing 15 rapid HIV tests per month (including pre-and post-test counseling) and making referrals and linkages to appropriate follow up care as needed; conducting 8 substance use screenings and assessments and 8 STI screenings and assessments per month with HIV-positive clients and making referrals to treatment as needed; conducting 8 individual overdose prevention trainings per month with HIV-positive clients (these trainings help clients recognize, prevent, and treat an opiate overdose); conducting 20 intakes and assessments per month and developing service plans in collaboration with the client, and providing reassessments, service plan updates, reengagements, and case closures as needed; making referrals as needed to HIV primary care, drug treatment and detox, mental health services, case management, housing services, benefits, emergency needs and other services; conducting street-based outreach in an effort to engage clients into services; (this includes conducting outreach with an integrated team in locations where our populations are visible and in need of services, distribution of materials and information about services); conducting a range of outreach activities to community members to foster good community relations and lessen fears of program activities in the neighborhoods served by the program, including providing information about program services, asking how the program can serve the community, asking what services are needed but currently lacking, and networking with community members; providing relevant, accurate, and appropriate risk reduction information via counseling, distributing literature and outreach supplies, safer sex supplies, and explaining how supplies may be used to reduce risks; and conducting surveys to assess relevant trends in the community so the program may be adapted to meet the continually changing needs of the community.
Other responsibilities include maintaining all paperwork and submitting it on-time to the Data Coordinator; driving program vehicles and other vehicles as needed; maintaining vehicle maintenance and upkeep, including timely reporting to the supervisor of any problems with the vehicle (i.e. leaks, oil, break flasher); completing daily vehicle logs; returning vehicles to the parking lot with a full tank of gas; performing general weekly inspection to ensure lights, appliances, etc. are properly functioning; ensuring the vehicle is routinely cleaned and presentable; ensuring vehicles are sufficiently stocked with program supplies and paperwork on a daily basis; maintaining clean and organized vehicles at all times; conducting inventory on a daily or weekly basis as needed; attending trainings, service planning sessions, and other activities to ensure the provision of the most up-to-date and culturally appropriate services; maintaining the highest level of professionalism at all times; participating in data-driven, clinical, and quality improvement supervisions, as well as departmental, divisional, and staff meetings; and other related duties as assigned.
Education and certification expected includes CASAC or CASAC in training, a high school diploma or GED, and a valid New York state driver's license. (Ability to change out of state license to NY is a must.)
Special skills and knowledge expected includes experience working with street-based populations, such as injection drug users, active drug users and sex workers; being bilingual in Spanish; knowledge of harm reduction and the risks associated with injection drug use and sexual behaviors; the ability to listen to and communicate clearly and respectfully with active drug users, community members, and agency staff; a high level of self-motivation; a commitment to working as a member of a team; and the flexibility and willingness to work primarily outdoors, including inclement weather conditions, and weekends when possible.
This position is to be filled as soon as possible.
Please email resumes and cover letters to: Stephen Crowe, Harm Reduction Coordinator, FROST'D at Harlem United, 290 Lenox Ave, Lower Level, New York, NY 10027, [email protected]. No calls please.
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The Asian Network of People who Use Drugs (ANPUD) is an issues-based membership network that has the MIPUD principle (Meaningful Involvement of People who Use Drugs) as its guiding philosophy. ANPUD's goal is to ensure that people who use drugs in Asia enjoy equal human rights and opportunities for a better quality of life.
ANPUD is a new regional network that will represent and reflect the voices and needs of PUD in Asia. ANPUD's many achievements have been made possible by the efforts of volunteers from across the region who have united to make ANPUD a viable presence in the Asian region.
Tasks and duties to be performed by the Regional Coordinator include ensuring that the approved annual work plan for ANPUD is implemented as per schedule and within the allocated budget; ensuring that all policies and decisions of the Executive Board and those made at the Annual General Meeting or Special General Meeting of the membership are well communicated, undertaken and documented in a transparent and coordinated manner; providing support and advice, in collaboration with the Executive Board and assigned technical partners, to emerging and existing country level drug user networks and strengthen the communication ties among them and other key stakeholders and regional partners; ensuring the secretariat office is managed in an accountable, transparent and efficient manner; providing effective communication on the work of the Secretariat to the network membership, the governing body, donors, civil society and other partners; in collaboration and coordination with the Executive Board, developing and strengthening strategic alliances and partnerships to address the issues affecting people who use drugs at a regional level; facilitating and coordinating the delegation and participation of ANPUD members at meetings where ANPUD is represented, including translation, feedback and reporting on key activities to the ANPUD membership; supervising and managing any staff members, consultants, temporary staff or volunteers employed by ANPUD; overseeing the day-to-day management of ANPUD finances and the preparation of quarterly financial reports to the Executive Board of ANPUD; researching and identifying opportunities for the mobilisation of resources and coordinate the proposal development process; providing regular (monthly) written updates to ANPUD members including the Executive Board and working group members; coordinating and taking responsibility for preparation and submission of all donor funded project/activity reports according to agreed milestones and required timelines; representing ANPUD as and when required by the Executive Board; advocating for the inclusion of people who use drugs in meetings, workshops, consultations, policy and decision making processes; and identifying potential funding and advocacy opportunities.
The successful candidate must be an Asian with a history of drug use and be able to demonstrate strong communication, networking and interpersonal skills; possess the ability to work with different stakeholders and senior management, to build and maintain relationships across a diverse range of stakeholders; have experience with, or ability to understand and work with, the UN, WHO, World Bank, Global Fund and other systems; be fluent in speaking and writing in English (fluency in additional Asian languages is desirable); have a minimum of two years experience at the level of program management, preferably within a harm reduction project or program or network; possess proven computer skills including the Microsoft Office Suite and an understanding of databases and electronic communications; have strong documentation skills including experience in writing proposals and technical reports; possess experience in coordinating and planning regional meetings and working in both South and South East Asia; possess the ability to coordinate multiple tasks in a professional manner; and have a good understanding of issues related to the prevention, treatment and care for drug use, HIV, Hepatitis C, TB and other related co-infections.
Though a university graduate or post graduate qualification is desirable, the skills and experiences of the candidate will be prioritized over academic achievement.
The position will be based in Bangkok, with frequent travel within the Asian region.
To apply for the position please submit Curriculum Vitae, a cover letter and current salary/salary expectations to Mr. Giten Khwairakpam at [email protected] with the subject line "Application for position of ANPUD Regional Coordinator."
Applications will be received until 17th February 2010, 5:00pm Thailand time. Any applications after this date will NOT be considered.
People with a history of drug use and living with HIV -- regardless of gender and ethnicity -- are encouraged to apply.
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