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Drug War Chronicle

comprehensive coverage of the War on Drugs since 1997

Marijuana: San Francisco Supervisors Approve Lowest Law Enforcement Priority Policy

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors gave final approval Tuesday for an ordinance making marijuana offenses the police department's lowest priority. The San Francisco district attorney is also directed to make prosecuting marijuana offenses her office's lowest priority. Public marijuana sales, possession by minors, and use by motorists will continue to be prosecuted.

The ordinance also creates an oversight committee through which people who feel they were wrongly targeted can seek a review of their cases. And it requires the Board of Supervisors to annually notify the state and federal governments that "the Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco has passed an ordinance to deprioritize marijuana offenses by adults, and requests that the federal and California state governments take immediate steps to tax and regulate marijuana use, cultivation, and distribution and to authorize state and local communities to do the same."

The ordinance introduced by Supervisor Tom Ammiano passed 8-3.

"San Francisco should determine its marijuana policy locally, not hand it over to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration," the ordinance read. "Law enforcement resources would be better spent fighting serious and violent crimes."

San Francisco now joins Oakland, Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, Santa Monica, and West Hollywood on the list of California cities that have embraced lowest priority ordinances. Only West Hollywood and San Francisco have adopted such an ordinance through action by elected officials; in the other cities, action came through voter initiatives. Seattle, Columbia, Missouri, Missoula, Montana, and Eureka Springs, Arkansas, have also passed such initiatives.

A panoply of state and national drug reform organizations supported the move. Among them were Drug Policy Alliance, the Marijuana Policy Project, California NORML, and a number of local drug reform groups and political clubs.

"By urging our law enforcement community to ignore adult marijuana offenses, our police officers can focus on battling the increase in serious and violent crime, much of which is ironically directly related to our failed prohibitionist approach to drugs," said Camilla Field, deputy director of the Drug Policy Alliance San Francisco office. "This vote represents one small, but significant, step toward making our communities safer."

And one more small step toward undoing the marijuana laws.

Búsqueda en la Red

Take Another Crack at That Cocaine Law", Eric Sterling en el LA Times

NPR sobre las condenas para el crack

Perdonen Más que los Pavos, Debra Saunders para el San Francisco Chronicle

el Juez Walton golpea la ley sobre el crack, Washington Times

Revelaciones Chocantes, Silja Talvi sobre las armas de electrochoque, para In These Times

Esperanza Guardada para la Reforma de las Políticas de Drogas, Wired

El Informe Mundial Sobre las Drogas de la ONU de 2006

Campaña por la Justicia Telefónica de Nueva York, cobertura de la New York Nonprofit News

Conversando Durante el Pavo, puntos de conversación sobre la guerra a las drogas para la familia, de la DPA

Y esta semana Tony Newman publicó dos artículos de el blog del Huffington Post:

More Mexicans Have Died This Year From the Drug War Than Americans in Iraq [Más Mexicanos Han Muerto Este Año por la Guerra a las Drogas que Estadounidenses en Irak] y 92-Year-Old Woman Latest Drug War Casualty [Mujer de 92 Años Es la Más Reciente Baja de la Guerra a las Drogas]

Anuncio: Nuevo Formato para el Calendario del Reformador

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Con el lanzamiento de nuestra nueva página web, El Calendario del Reformador ya no aparecerá como parte del boletín Crónica de la Guerra Contra las Drogas, pero será mantenido como sección de nuestra nueva página web:

El Calendario del Reformador publica eventos grandes y pequeños de interés para los reformadores de las políticas de drogas alrededor del mundo. Ya sea una gran conferencia internacional, una manifestación que reúna a personas de toda la región o un foro en la universidad local, queremos saber para que podamos informar a los demás también.

Pero necesitamos su ayuda para mantener el calendario actualizado, entonces por favor contáctenos y no suponga que ya estamos informados sobre el evento o que vamos a saber de ello por otra persona, porque eso ni siempre sucede.

Ansiamos por informarlo a usted de más reportajes nuevos de nuestra nueva página web apenas estén disponibles.

Canada: BC Business-Academic Panel Tells Government to Consider Legalizing Drugs

A very establishment advisory group to British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell has advised the Liberal leader that if he wants to deal with crime and illegal drugs in the province, he has two starkly contrasting choices: Legalize it, or unleash an all-out drug war. The panel from the BC Progress Board made the recommendations in a research report released November 15, "Reducing Crime and Improving Criminal Justice in British Columbia: Recommendations for Change."

The BC Progress Board is a group of 18 businessmen and academics selected by the provincial government to provide advice on economic and social issues. Simon Fraser University criminologist Rob Gordon, a board member, was the report's primary author.

The report comes as BC grapples with crime rates higher than the Canadian average. The board identified illegal drug use and the drug trade as one of four motors driving crime in the province. The others were deficient child rearing and services, mental illness, and the "impoverished and unstable lifestyles" of many people living in inner urban areas.

In its second recommendation to Premier Campbell, the board said that "the provincial government must address the problem of the illegal trade in drugs in a clear and consistent manner." The first option it listed was to "lobby the federal government to legalize the trade, perhaps limiting access to products to adults in the same way that access to alcohol and tobacco is limited."

That would allow the government to treat drug use and abuse as public health -- not criminal justice -- problems and would allow the government to obtain revenue from taxing the sales of drugs.

But the BC Progress Board was careful to note that it was not endorsing drug legalization, merely providing options for the provincial government. The board's second recommendation on drug policy made that perfectly clear. In the event legalization proves impossible to implement, the board suggested, "the provincial government should provide the resources to eliminate the drug trade entirely in the province." Alternately, the board suggested a combination of recommendations one and two. The province should first spend 10 years trying to wipe out the drug trade, then move to legalization.

While the board's recommendations are not exactly a clarion call for legalization, the panel put the idea squarely on the table.

Oferta de Vídeo: Waiting to Inhale

Caro lector de la Crónica de la Guerra Contra las Drogas:

Muchos entusiastas de la reforma de las políticas de drogas leyeron hace dos semanas sobre nuestro nuevo blog acerca de un nuevo documental, Waiting to Inhale: Marijuana, Medicine and the Law [Esperando para Inhalar: La Marihuana, la Medicina y la Ley], y un debate emocionante aquí en Washington entre dos de mis colegas y un representante de la secretaría antidroga de los EE.UU. que ocurrió después de la exhibición de la película. Tengo el placer de anunciar que la DRCNet está disponibilizándole este film como nuestro más reciente premio de membresía – done $30 o más a DRCNet y puede recibir una copia de Waiting to Inhale como nuestro agradecimiento por su apoyo.

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He sabido de Waiting to Inhale durante algunos años y estoy muy feliz por verlo divulgado y causando repercusiones. La gente que aparece en la película – los proveedores de marihuana medicinal Mike y Valerie Corral y Jeff Jones, la vocera de los pacientes Yvonne Westbrook, el científico Don Abrams – son héroes cuyas historias merecen ser contadas y cuyas entrevistas en esta película deberían ser exhibidas a como de lugar. ¡Usted puede ayudar al pedir una copia y hacer una exhibición privada en su hogar! O usted y sus amigos activistas pueden simplemente verlo en casa como inspiración. (Haga clic aquí para más informaciones, incluso un avance en la Internet.)

Su donación ayudará a DRCNet mientras hacemos lo que creemos que será un plan increíble de dos años para avanzar considerablemente la reforma de las políticas de drogas y la causa de terminar la prohibición globalmente y en los EE.UU. ¡Por favor, haga una donación generosa hoy día para ayudar a la causa! Sé que usted sabrá que el dinero fue bien gastado después de ver lo que la DRCNet está preparando. Nuestro formulario de donación electrónica le permite donar a través de tarjeta de crédito, por PayPal o imprimir un formulario para enviar juntamente con su cheque u orden de pago por correo. Por favor, fíjese que las contribuciones a la Red Coordinadora de la Reforma de las Políticas de Drogas o Drug Reform Coordination Network, nuestra entidad de presión política, no son deducibles del impuesto a la renta. Las donaciones deducibles pueden ser hechas a la Fundación DRCNet, nuestra ala de concienciación. (Escoger un regalo como Waiting to Inhale reducirá la parte de su donación que usted puede deducir por el costo del artículo.) Ambos grupos reciben cartas de los miembros en la siguiente dirección: DRCNet, P.O. Box 18402, Washington, DC 20036.

Gracias por su apoyo. Si usted no ha visto nuestra nueva página web, espero que tenga un momento para hacerlo – está buenísimo, si se me permite decirlo. :)

Cuídese bien y espero tener noticias suyas.

Sinceramente,


David Borden
Director Ejecutivo

Europe: Give Addicts Prescription Heroin, Says British Police Commander

Heroin addicts should be prescribed the drug through the National Health Service (NHS) to reduce crime, a senior British police officer told a conference of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) this week. The forthright advice came from Nottinghamshire Police Deputy Chief Constable Howard Roberts, who is vice-chairman of the ACPO drugs committee.

The remarks came as ACPO considers whether to seek changes in British drug policy and amidst news reports that some 150 heroin addicts are already receiving prescription diamorphine (heroin) from NHS. Roberts made clear he was expressing his personal opinion, not speaking for ACPO.

"We should actively consider prescribing diamorphine, pharmaceutical heroin, to those seriously addicted to heroin as part of a treatment program for addiction," he said in comments reported by ITV News. "My motives for making such a statement are frankly this: there is an undeniable link between addicted offenders and appalling levels of criminality, as heroin and crack cocaine addicts commit crime from burglary to robbery, to sometimes murder, to get the money to buy drugs to satisfy their addiction. The resulting misery to society is huge."

According to the Home Office, heroin addicts commit 432 crimes a year, Roberts noted. "Therefore the logic is clear, I suggest, that we take highly addicted offenders out of committing crime to feed their addiction, into closely supervised treatment programs that, as part of the program, can prescribe diamorphine," said Roberts.

Roberts' comments won the immediate support of the think tank DrugScope, whose chief executive, Martin Barnes, said: "We support calls for the extension of heroin prescribing, which for some problem drug users can be an extremely effective form of drug treatment. It can have immediate health benefits for the drug user and can for some be the best route to becoming drug-free. There is compelling evidence that heroin prescribing, although more expensive than some forms of drug treatment, is cost-effective in reducing drug-related crime and other costs to communities."

But there is no word yet on whether the British government or the ACPO will be as enthusiastic.

Feature: Students Lobby and Learn in DC as SSDP Comes to Town

Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), the nation's leading campus-based drug reform organization, held its annual conference last weekend in the shadow of the US Capitol in Washington, DC. More than 300 students from 70 campuses in the US and Canada heard from movement luminaries, studied the nuts and bolts of campus organizing, took care of organizational business, and put theory into practice with a day of lobbying for drug reform issues on Capitol Hill.

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media luminaries Bill Press & Clarence Page, with panel moderator Ryan Grim & SSDP executive director Kris Krane
After a couple of days of well-deserved post-conference decompression, SSDP leaders were ready to declare that the event had achieved its goals. "We think the conference was a fantastic success," said SSDP communications director Tom Angell. "We had about 300 students from across the US and Canada converge on DC to plan strategies for ending the war on drugs and its harmful impact on our generation. And this conference wasn't just about meeting each other and planning for the future -- it was about making change in the nation's capital while we were all here. We had 85 lobby meetings with members of Congress or their staffers Friday," he told Drug War Chronicle.

After being revved-up by a brief visit and pep-talk from Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) late Friday morning, students hit Congress to lobby for repeal of the law that spurred SSDP's formation in 1998, the Higher Education Act's drug provision, which so far has barred some 200,000 students from receiving financial aid because of drug convictions, and other issues like student drug testing.

In several instances, while meetings were set with staffers, members of Congress made at least brief appearances. In at least two meetings, with Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) and Rep. Bart Gordon (D-TN), students were able to sit down with the members themselves, Angell reported.

In addition to actually influencing members of Congress, SSDP's lobbying day had the added benefit of energizing the students. "A lot of them were really excited about lobby day," Angell explained. "This was the first time many of them had ever talked to legislative staffers about changing laws they care about."

"The whole thing has been very fulfilling -- I'm really learning a lot," said University of Maryland student Stacia Costner, who was one of more than three dozen Maryland students who showed up for the conference.

That made the Terrapin delegation one of the largest. Other states bringing dozens of students to Washington were Florida and Rhode Island.

But if the conference wasn't just about student activists meeting each other, that was still a big part of it. While much was learned on the Hill and in the conference's formal sessions, students took full advantage of their free time during the weekend to meet and greet each other, compare war stories, and share lessons learned.

Another student in attendance, Jimmy Devine of Franklin Pierce College in New Hampshire, told the Chronicle students there were starting a harm reduction center. "We want to provide factual information beyond 'just say no,'" he said. "We want to help kids, and this conference is going to help us learn how better to do that."

"One of the most exciting things was that students from all across the country were able to come together, meet one another, and realize they are not alone on their campuses, that there are other students just like them working on the same issues on their own campuses," said Angell. "It'll be exciting to see what happens on these 70 campuses when the students go back this semester."

"We are trying to build a real student movement," said SSDP executive director Kris Krane as he opened the conference itself Saturday morning. "We are a force to be reckoned with. We are recognized in Congress as a powerful lobbying force and in the press as a credible voice for change."

Given the national political atmosphere in recent years, SSDP's road has been bumpy after an initial meteoric rise, Krane conceded. "The war on terror made recruitment more difficult, and the number of chapters dipped," he said. "We shied away from the anti-war rhetoric, but this is the true anti-war movement for our generation. The excesses of the war on terror were preceded by the excesses of the war on drugs. Whether you are talking about snitches, asset forfeiture, racial profiling, or mandatory minimum sentences, every violation of individual rights and liberties in the Patriot Act got its start in the drug war."

After Krane opened the session, the students had the opportunity to hear from many of the most prominent leaders of the drug reform movement, including an opening panel consisting of Ethan Nadelmann of the Drug Policy Alliance, Allen St. Pierre of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, Steph Sherer of the medical marijuana defense group Americans for Safe Access, and representatives of the Marijuana Policy Project. Sadly, MPP executive director Rob Kampia, the man behind the Nevada marijuana tax and regulate initiative, was taken ill and unable to attend. He was replaced by MPP director of governmental relations Aaron Houston.

"We are the people who want to smoke pot and get high," said Nadelmann to the surprised laughter and cheers of the crowd. "It's meaningful in our lives, and we don't want to be treated as criminals. But that's not all we are. We are also the people who hate drugs. We wish there could be a drug-free society, but we realize the war on drugs is not the way to do it," Nadelmann continued. "And we are the people who don't really give a damn about drugs, but who care about the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, racial justice, and living in a society that ranks first in per capita incarceration. All of us believe the war on drugs is not the way."

Nadelmann delivered a chilling warning about the future of the drug war. "In the next five or ten years," he predicted, "incarceration rates may be leveling off, but more and more people will be controlled outside of prison cells. Drug testing is becoming ever more omnipresent, the use of electronic bracelets and GPS devices is growing, we are heading toward a total surveillance society," he prophesied. "Internal surveillance of your body and external surveillance of your behavior. Little by little, we become more accustomed to depriving more and more people of little bits of freedom. We are approaching a totalitarian society."

That prospect makes the struggle to end the drug war all the more critical, Nadelmann told the rapt crowd. "We are fighting for what is best for this country and for the values of the enlightenment," he said. "We are fighting for a society where nobody gets punished for what they put in their body absent harm to others."

One of the most well-attended Saturday sessions -- and one of SSDP's conference booking coups -- was the joint appearance by media mavens Chicago Tribune columnist Clarence Page and MSNBC pundit Bill Press, both of whom addressed the problematic nature of media coverage of the drug war. For Press, the run-of-the-mill, uncritical daily drug war reporting can largely be explained by reportorial fear and ignorance.

"Reporters don't know the issue and they believe the bullshit they're fed by the politicians and the drug czar," he said. "We've spent billions of dollars and it has gotten us nothing except a waste of money and full prisons. But reporters are also afraid if they start reporting seriously, they might hurt their careers."

For Page, it was less fear and ignorance than complacency and unawareness. "Most editors aren't against fairness in reporting in drug policy," said the nationally known commentator. "Our generation broke things open in the 1960s and 1970s, but there was so much movement toward decriminalization then that there is something of a false impression that we do a lot less marijuana law enforcement than we really do. The last three drug czars all told me 'we don't arrest anyone for marijuana anymore,'" Page laughed.

It wasn't just the old media addressing the conference. Some of the drug war blogosphere's brightest stars also made appearances. The Cato Institute's Radley Balko, author of the blog The Agitator, stunned students with his exposition on the growth of law enforcement SWAT teams and their permutation into essentially little more than drug squads.

"SWAT teams are expensive, and there aren't enough hostage takings and barricade situations to justify them, so we see a sort of mission creep where they are being used in less and less violent situations and are now primarily used for drug raids," Balko explained, citing his review of raids gone bad, "Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Policing in America." "There were about 3,000 SWAT raids a year in the early 1980s," Balko noted. "Today, there are 40,000 a year."

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intellectual capital at the conference -- leading drug reform bloggers Scott Morgan, Radley Balko, Nick Gillespie & Peter Guither
Another leading drug war blogger, Peter Guither of Drug War Rant, joined DRCNet associate director David Guard and Common Sense for Drug Policy's Doug McVay in one of the Sunday nuts and bolts workshops. Guither, Guard and McVay interacted with motivated students in the session on how to articulate concise, effective arguments for drug reform.

This reporter spoke about Afghanistan's opium trade at another well-attended panel, this one on international dimensions of US drug policy. I was joined by Sanho Tree of the Institute for Policy Studies Drug Policy Project, who illuminated the adverse results of coca crop eradication in Colombia. Also on the panel were prominent academic drug policy specialists Mark Kleiman of UCLA and Peter Reuter of the University of Maryland. Somewhat surprisingly, the panel saw little controversy, as Reuter and Kleiman both agreed with the other panelists that US efforts to address its domestic drug problem by attacking drug crops overseas produce at best marginal results.

For reasons of length, no single report can cover everything that went on in three days of lobbying, listening, and learning. Suffice it to say that SSDP crafted a comprehensive set of sessions and activities designed to inform and energize its student base.

And the organization is looking to the future. "What are we going to do about race and diversity?" SSDP's Krane asked a sea of mainly white faces at the farewell session. "What are our goals?" SSDP knows very well what its immediate goals are, but it has also shown it realizes that a successful movement needs constant introspection, not just constant action.

Video Offer: Waiting to Inhale

Dear Drug War Chronicle reader:

Many drug reform enthusiasts read on our blog this fall about a new video documentary, Waiting to Inhale: Marijuana, Medicine and the Law, and an exciting debate here in Washington between two of my colleagues and a representative of the US drug czar's office that followed the movie's screening. I am pleased to announce that DRCNet is making this film available to you as our latest membership premium -- donate $30 or more to DRCNet and you can receive a copy of Waiting to Inhale as our thanks for your support.

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I've known about Waiting to Inhale for a few years, and I am pretty psyched to see it out now and making waves. People featured in the movie -- medical marijuana providers Mike & Valerie Corral and Jeff Jones, patient spokesperson Yvonne Westbrook, scientist Don Abrams -- are heroes whose stories deserved to be told and whose interviews in this movie should be shown far and wide. You can help by ordering a copy and hosting a private screening in your home! Or you and your activist friends can simply watch it at home for inspiration. (Click here for more information including an online trailer.)

Your donation will help DRCNet as we pull together what we think will be an incredible two-year plan to substantially advance drug policy reform and the cause of ending prohibition globally and in the US. Please make a generous donation today to help the cause! I know you will feel the money was well spent after you see what DRCNet has in store. Our online donation form lets you donate by credit card, by PayPal, or to print out a form to send with your check or money order by mail. Please note that contributions to the Drug Reform Coordination Network, our lobbying entity, are not tax-deductible. Tax-deductible donations can be made to DRCNet Foundation, our educational wing. (Choosing a gift like Waiting to Inhale will reduce the portion of your donation that you can deduct by the retail cost of the item.) Both groups receive member mail at: DRCNet, P.O. Box 18402, Washington, DC 20036.

Thank you for your support. If you haven't already checked out our new web site, I hope you'll take a moment to do so -- it really is looking pretty good, if I may say so myself. :) Take care, and hope to hear from you.

Sincerely,


David Borden
Executive Director

Announcement: New Format for the Reformer's Calendar

Posted in:

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With the launch of our new web site, The Reformer's Calendar no longer appears as part of the Drug War Chronicle newsletter but is instead maintained as a section of our new web site:

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.

We look forward to apprising you of more new features of our new web site as they become available.

Europe: British Drug Expert Calls for Downgrade on LSD, Ecstasy

Britain's drug classification scheme is out of whack and should be adjusted, said Dr. David Nutt, head of the British parliament's Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) in remarks reported by the BBC. Nutt called for ecstasy and LSD to be downgraded from Class A to Class B, while suggesting that barbiturates should be upgraded to Class A.

Grouping ecstasy and LSD with other Class A drugs like heroin is "an anomaly," Nutt said, adding that barbiturates could be "worth moving up to Class A." Nutt was responding to a query from the House of Commons' all-party Science and Technology Committee. "I think 4MTA [a little used relative of Ecstasy], LSD and ecstasy probably shouldn't be Class A," he told the committee.

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British Parliament
In theory, Britain's drug classification scheme reflects the relative dangers of various controlled substances. But the scheme has been under increasing attack from critics -- including a parliamentary committee -- who say it does not accurately reflect the comparative social and personal harms of using various drugs.

Under Britain's classification scheme, possession of Class A drugs carries a maximum sentence of seven years, compared to five for Class B drugs. Sales of Class A drugs can bring a maximum of life in prison, compared to 14 years for Class B drugs.

While other committee members confirmed that ecstasy's status is under review, British drugs minister Vernon Croaker told the BBC he would listen to the ACMD's recommendations, but would not be bound by them. "If the ACMD look at a drug and come to us with a recommendation of course we will look at it," he said. "Whether we then act on it will be a matter of political judgment."

This isn't the first time a move to downgrade ecstasy -- which is used by an estimated half-million Britons each weekend -- has been bruited. In 2002, the House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee recommended lowering the penalties for ecstasy, but that suggestion was dismissed by then Home Secretary David Blunkett. Last month, current Home Secretary John Reid said he would not revise the classification system despite rising criticism.

Harm Reduction: Yet Another Study Finds Vancouver's Safe Injection Site Benefits Users Without Harming Community

Canada's only safe injection site, Insite, located in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, has not led to increased crime or drug use despite the fears of detractors, but has reduced the risk of overdoses and encouraged more users to seek drug treatment, according to the latest study of the publicly-funded harm reduction program. The study, published yesterday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, is only the latest to find that the experimental program is benefiting hard drug users while not harming the community.

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Insite brochure
In a one-year period in 2004 and 2005, some 320 clients were referred for drug treatment, the report found. Some 600 clients use the site every day to inject drugs under medical supervision. According to the report, 197 drug overdoses occurred at the site, but none of them were fatal.

Despite a raft of studies demonstrating that Insite is doing what is was supposed to do (and not doing what it wasn't), the Conservative government of Canadian Prime Minister Steven Harper remains opposed to further funding the site or allowing the project to expand to other cities. Last summer, in the face of a strong, community-based campaign to support Insite, Health Canada grudgingly agreed to extend funding through the end of 2007. But supporters had sought a three-year extension.

"By all criteria, the Vancouver facility has both saved lives and contributed toward the decreased use of illicit drugs and the reduced spread of HIV infection and other blood-borne infections," Mark Wainberg, the director of the McGill University AIDS Centre in Montreal, wrote in a commentary published alongside the study.

"We've demonstrated numerous benefits associated with the site and we've also ruled out negative impacts," said Dr. Thomas Kerr of the BC Center for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, a lead researcher on the safe injection site. "Drug use patterns didn't get worse. Crime didn't go up. People thought it would encourage drug use and enable drug use when in fact, we found there has been a large entry of people into detox programs."

The Harper government has been wrongheaded in opposing the safe injection site, moving to cut funding when it should be expanding the program, the report said. "The federal governments should draft legislation to allow other such facilities to operate elsewhere in Canada," the researchers concluded.

Europe: Italian Government Loosens Marijuana Possession Limits

Acting on one of its springtime campaign pledges, the Italian government last week acted administratively to double the amount of marijuana one can possess without penalty. The change in the official interpretation of the law is expected to come into effect in a matter of weeks, and when it does, Italians will be able to possess roughly an ounce of marijuana for personal use.

The law actually specifies quantities of THC, the primary psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. Until now, one could possess only one-half gram of THC, or about a half-ounce of mediocre potency marijuana. Now, Italian tokers will be able to possess up to one gram of THC. (How this will work in practice is something of a mystery. Will people be able to possess more schwag than kind bud because the schwag contains less THC? What about hash, which is widely used in Italy? Will police officers carry portable chemical assay kits to assess potency?)

"I intervened so thousands of young people will not have to go to jail or suffer a criminal proceeding for smoking a joint," said Health Minister Livia Turco in remarks reported by Reuters. "This will not liberalize drugs but prevent and deal with those who use drugs. You can only fight drugs effectively by taking on the dealers and the traffickers and making an example of them."

Turco is a member of the largest party in the government, the Left Democrats. The previous, right-leaning government of Silvio Berlusconi had moved late in its tenure to stiffen Italy's drug laws, and the new government's move to loosen the marijuana law is part of what it has announced will be a major overhaul of the drug laws.

Sentencing: Veteran Houston Judge Calls for Shorter Sentences for Drug Possession

Harris County (Houston), Texas, currently has some 1,869 inmates serving state jail time for possessing less than a gram of illegal drugs -- more than double the number in Bexar (San Antonio), Dallas, and Tarrant (Ft. Worth) counties combined -- and now a veteran Houston jurist is saying enough is enough. The city's premier newspaper agrees with him.

State District Judge Michael McSpadden, a pro-police, pro-prosecutor Republican with more than two decades on the Houston bench, told the Houston Chronicle that small-time drug cases were clogging court dockets and swelling jail populations without addressing the underlying causes of drug abuse. Police and prosecutors brought possession charges against people possessing no more than crack residue to pad their statistics, he added. Drug addicts should be offered treatment and drug court, not state jail time, he said.

Under Texas law, possession of less than a gram of illegal drugs is a felony punishable by up to two years in a state jail. Harris County inmates account for more than one-third of all 4,846 state jail inmates statewide doing time for possession of less than a gram. Most of those crack residue cases could instead be charged as possession of paraphernalia, a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in county jail, McSpadden said.

Now, McSpadden is asking Gov. Rick Perry (R) and the Texas legislature to make possession or delivery of less than a gram a misdemeanor. In a letter he recently sent to Perry, he wrote: "These minor offenses are now overwhelming every felony docket, and the courts necessarily spend less time on the more important, violent crimes."

It also costs money to imprison thousands of low-level drug offenders. According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the state paid more than $59 million to imprison less-than-a-gram offenders last year. And Harris County taxpayers may be about to pay up for the jailing binge, too. The County Commissioner Court is currently pondering building two new jails at a projected cost of $267 million to address overcrowding.

Jailing small-fries doesn't even work, McFadden wrote to Perry. "Unfortunately, it is obvious that the demand for drugs will not diminish, no matter what the consequences are," he wrote. "I changed my mind a few years ago when it was obvious the 'war on drugs' was a complete failure and should be considered as symbolic at best."

A Perry spokeswoman told the Houston Chronicle the governor will wait and see on any sentencing reform bills. "He is willing to look at anything that the Legislature presents him, and he wants to hear the debate in the Legislature about the pros and cons of the issue," said Kathy Walt. The governor supports creating drug courts, but believes those who violate the drug laws should be prosecuted, she added.

The Houston Chronicle was more positive about McSpadden's ideas in a Monday editorial. "When a respected felony criminal judge known for his lock-'em-up philosophy concludes that slamming minor drug offenders with long sentences is counterproductive to sensible prison management and public safety, perhaps it's time for Harris County to listen," the paper opined. "And when that judge's advice -- to provide drug abusers with treatment options while focusing policing efforts on major offenders -- squares with best practices in other counties, perhaps it's time for Harris County to change its crime-fighting ways."

The current approach is ineffective, expensive, and short-sighted, the Chronicle complained. "After all, the ill effects on a community of committing huge numbers of prospectless drug addicts to lengthy jail sentences and felony records without dealing with their underlying drug dependence are well-documented and long-term. And those ill effects are suffered by everyone in this county."

Well, now, there's news from Houston. It's up to the legislature and the governor to listen.

Law Enforcement: This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories

A couple of unusual ones this week. We've got a coke-dealing former fire chief in Connecticut and a Texas cop whose wife has a bad passport and some very shady connections. Let's get to it:

In Dallas, a Dallas police officer is out on a personal recognizance bond after being arrested last week for conspiring to commit passport fraud with his wife, who is allegedly tied to Mexican drug traffickers. Senior Corporal Jose Luis Cabrera was indicted by a federal grand jury that accused him of helping his Mexican-born wife, Moraima Cabrera, commit passport fraud so she could she could stay in the US. According to FBI testimony at a Monday hearing, Mrs. Cabrera had "cooperated" with North Texas prosecutors in at least one drug case, and in April 2005, Cabrera offered her services to the DEA in a bid to help her remain in the country. He told the DEA his wife had worked for drug traffickers and could share information about them. But testimony also showed that another informant had warned the DEA there was "drug trafficking activity" at the Cabrera house months earlier. Although prosecutors say more charges and arrests are pending, neither Cabrera currently faces a drug charge. The two were charged for an incident when Mrs. Cabrera used a fake passport to carry more than $50,000 cash across the border to Mexico. She told agents at the time the money belonged to someone else and she was merely delivering it.

In Easton, Connecticut, a former fire chief was busted November 16 for running a drug-dealing operation out of his home. Former Chief Ernest Ross, 60, was allegedly packaging cocaine for sale at his home and, with the help of a 24-year-old housemate, peddling it in bars in Bridgeport and Fairfield. He was charged with operating a drug factory, possession of narcotics with intent to sell, possession of narcotics with intent to sell within 1,500 of a school, and possession of marijuana with intent to sell. After a two-month investigation by state authorities, Ross went down when police stopped him driving away from his home and found four bags of cocaine and $240 in cash. They then searched his home, found his young roommate's multi-container stash of weed and mushrooms, and then found a scale and "cocaine-processing material" in an office. Ross admitted having cocaine, but said it was for his personal use. He liked to do it when he went out to bars, he said.

Racial Profiling: It Never Went Away on the New Jersey Turnpike

Despite seven years of reforms aimed at eradicating racial profiling by the New Jersey State Police, the practice continues unabated and has even gotten worse. That's according to an American Civil Liberties Union study that found 30% of drivers stopped on the southern portion of the New Jersey Turnpike were black while African-Americans comprised only 18% of the population.

https://stopthedrugwar.org/files/njturnpike.jpg
New Jersey Turnpike entrance
The ACLU of New Jersey used a Tuesday hearing of the Advisory Committee on Police Standards to submit its findings as it urged continued monitoring of state troopers to prevent racial profiling. The Tuesday meeting was the last of four set to study the problem. The panel was appointed by Gov. Jon Corzine (D) to decide whether court-ordered monitoring of the state police should continue.

The state agreed to a consent decree aimed at reforming State Police practices following the shooting of three unarmed young people of color on the Turnpike in 1998. In recent years, court-appointed monitors have found the agency is complying with the decree, and the federal government has offered to lift it.

But State Police continue to stop black drivers at "greatly disproportionate" rates on the southern part of the turnpike, ACLU legal director Edward Barocas told the committee. "Profiling continues unabated," Barocas testified. "African-Americans now make up a higher percentage of stops than they did before the consent decree began."

State Police spokesmen said they were aware that black drivers were being stopped disproportionately, but claimed it did not result from racial profiling. "We've been assured by the independent monitoring team that they have seen no indication of troopers performing unconstitutional actions or any sign of disparate treatment," said Lt. Col. Tom Gilbert.

While Gilbert played defense, State Troopers Fraternal Association president David Jones went on the attack. The ACLU study, in which an outside consultant measured the number of black, brown, and white drivers on the southern Turnpike and compared it with the number of traffic stops, was "junk science" designed to protect the "cottage industry" of defense lawyers who sue the State Police, he claimed. "Everybody there (at the Moorestown Station) from the very top on down has been changed a multitude of times," Jones said, explaining about transfers. "The anomaly exists because sometimes a violator is a violator."

State Police head Rick Fuentes wants to replace the court-appointed monitors with an academic panel, but racial profiling expert Professor Samuel Walker of the University of Nebraska-Omaha said stronger monitoring was needed. "External, independent oversight -- a different set of eyes and ears -- is extremely important for maintaining professional standards," said Walker. "You've got reforms in place. The real important issue is maintaining them... and it requires continuous attention."

The committee will decide on a recommendation to the governor, but there is no word yet on when that will happen.

Click here to view large portions of the historic 91,000 page New Jersey Racial Profiling Archive, released by the state attorney general's office in November 2000 and made available on the Internet by DRCNet.

Weekly: This Week in History

Posted in:

November 24, 1976: Federal Judge James Washington rules that Robert Randall's use of marijuana constitutes a "medical necessity."

November 25, 1992: Benson B. Roe, physician and professor emeritus of surgery at the University of California at San Francisco, states:

"The propaganda that illegal drugs are 'deadly poisons' is a hoax. There is little or no medical evidence of long-term ill effects from moderate consumption of uncontaminated marijuana, cocaine, or heroin. If these substances, which have been consumed in enormous quantities for decades, were responsible for any chronic, progressive or disabling diseases, they certainly would have shown up in clinical practice and/or on the autopsy table. But they simply have not!"

November 28, 1993: Reuters reports that Colombia's prosecutor general Gustavo de Greiff said the war on drugs has failed and Colombia should legalize cocaine and marijuana trafficking because the United States and Europe are decriminalizing consumption.

November 30, 2000: The DEA announces that it intends to prohibit hemp products, including shampoo, soap, and food made from non-psychoactive hemp seeds.

November 27, 2001: Dr. Francisco Moreno of the University of Arizona at Tucson begins dosing subjects who suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder with psilocybin, the active ingredient in mushrooms. The government-approved research is funded by MAPS and another psychedelic think tank, the Heffter Research Institute. "For a quarter century, [psychedelic] researchers have been locked out of the laboratory, but we're starting to get back in now," Doblin says. "Not in massive ways, but in important, small steps."

November 30, 2001: The Austin Chronicle calls John Walters, the new US drug czar, "the Dr. Strangelove of our country's absurd drug war -- he dismisses anyone who says our nation's prisons are too full, he favors longer jail sentences for marijuana users, he has declared that there's too much 'treatment capacity' in the US, he opposes efforts to address the racial discrepancies in drug enforcement, he wants more militarization of the drug war at home and abroad, he'd like to see an expansion of our government's war in Colombia, and he's been a noisy opponent of state initiatives to allow the medical use of marijuana."

November 26, 2002: The Winston-Salem Journal (NC) reports that more than 30 drug defendants in Davidson County have had charges dismissed or convictions overturned since the officers investigating their cases were charged with distributing drugs and planting evidence.

November 29, 2004: In the US Supreme Court, oral arguments are heard in the Gonzales v. Raich medical marijuana case.

Web Scan

Take Another Crack at That Cocaine Law," Eric Sterling in the LA Times

NPR on crack cocaine sentencing

Pardon More Than the Turkeys, Debra Saunders for the San Francisco Chronicle

Judge Walton slams crack cocaine law, Washington Times

Stunning Revelations, Silja Talvi on Tasers, for In These Times

Guarded Hope for Dope Reform, Wired

UN World Drug Report 2006

New York Campaign for Telephone Justice, coverage by the New York Nonprofit News

Talking Over Turkey, drug war talking points for family, from DPA

And Tony Newman on a roll this week with two Huffington Post blog items:

More Mexicans Have Died This Year From the Drug War Than Americans in Iraq and 92-Year-Old Woman Latest Drug War Casualty

Imposição da Lei: As Estórias de Policiais Corruptos Desta Semana

Uma semana tranqüila na frente da corrupção na guerra às drogas. Um adjunto do Kentucky é pego roubando do esconderijo do gabinete, o mesmo acontece com uma empregada de um tribunal de Cleveland e as atividades do marido de uma policial de Cleveland estão despertando suspeitas. Vamos ao que interessa:

Em Greensburg, Pensilvânia, uma empregada de um tribunal da Comarca de Westmoreland foi presa por roubar cocína que seria usada como prova em um julgamento futuro. Therece Lynn McCloskey supostamente roubou cinco gramas de cocaína em Outubro e agora é acusada de roubo por apropriação ilegal, adulteração de provas físicas e infração das leis de drogas do estado. Agora, ela é uma ex-funcionária do tribunal. Não se sabe se algum infrator por cocaína vai ser solto.

Em Richmond, Kentucky, um ex-xerife-adjunto da Comarca de Madison é acusado de roubar drogas do departamento. O Adjunto James Fee, 37, supostamente pegou três comprimidos de hidrocodona de um armário de provas e disse aos investigadores que estava levando-os para a esposa dele, que tivera uma operação e queria analgésicos. Ele é acusado de roubo de substância controlada e pode pegar de um a cinco anos de prisão se for condenado. Primeiro, o Adjunto Fee foi suspenso, então virou ex-Adjunto Fee há algumas semanas quando pediu demissão sob pressão do chefe dele.

Em East Cleveland, Ohio, uma oficial da polícia de East Cleveland está sendo investigada pelos federais para ver se está envolvido em uma conspiração de drogas com o seu marido traficante de cocaína. A Oficial Tiffiney Cleveland foi realocada da inspetoria do departamento a um emprego burocrático depois da detenção do marido dela em Julho, o qual estava portando 210 gramas de crack, um distintivo da Polícia de East Cleveland e o cartão de negócios da mulher dele quando foi pego. O marido fora o objeto de uma investigação da DEA e passara oito anos na prisão sob acusações por delitos de drogas desde 1993. Cleveland sustenta que ela se sente chocada com a detenção do marido dela e que não está envolvida em suas atividades de tráfico de drogas.

Eleições 2006: Eleitores do Massachusetts em Mais Quatro Distritos Seguem o Clamor pela Reforma da Legislação Sobre a Maconha

Desde 2000, os ativistas pró-reforma das políticas de maconha associados com a MassCann, o afiliado da NORML no Bay State, e o Drug Policy Forum of Massachusetts têm defendido questões acessórias de reforma das políticas de maconha em distritos estaduais que elegem deputados e senadores e têm vencido em todos. A tendência continuou neste ano, com questões de reforma em mais quatro distritos sendo aprovadas pelos eleitores.

De acordo com o integrante da diretoria do DPFMA, John Leonard, uma questão que pergunta se os deputados no 1° e 12° Distritos para Deputados de Plymouth deveriam ser instruídos a apoiar a descriminalização da maconha foi aprovada em ambos, com margens de 61% e 60% respectivamente. No 3° Distrito para o Senado de Middlesex e o 7° Distrito para Deputado de Norfolk, pediu-se aos eleitores que votassem em questões que perguntam se devem instruir os seus representantes a apoiar a legislação de maconha medicinal. Essas questões ganharam com 67% dos votos em Middlesex e 64% em Norfolk.

De acordo com a MassCann, mais de 420.000 habitantes do Massachusetts em 110 comunidades votaram para instar os seus legisladores a adotar ou a descriminalização ou a maconha medicinal antes do Dia das Eleições. Agora, podemos acrescentar outros 63.000 votos pró-reforma e mais quatro comunidades à contagem.

Em um debate no mês passado, o recém-eleito Governador Deval Patrick do Partido Democrata disse que se sente “muito confortável” com a idéia da legalização da maconha, mas que vetaria um projeto de descriminalização se passasse pela sua mesa porque “Acho que isso não deveria ser a nossa prioridade”. Com sorte, a assembléia lhe dará a chance de mudar de idéia.

Semanal: Esta Semana na História

15 de Novembro de 1875: São Francisco aprova a primeira lei antidrogas dos EUA, um decreto-lei que ilegaliza as bocadas chinesas de ópio.

12 de Novembro de 1970: Keith Stroup forma a National Association for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).

12 de Novembro de 1980: O Prefeito da Cidade de Nova Iorque, Ed Koch, admite ter experimentado maconha.

15 de Novembro de 1984: A polícia espanhola prende Jorge Ochoa com uma ordem estadunidense e tanto os EUA quanto a Colômbia pedem a sua extradição. Pouco tempo depois, o cartel de Medellín ameaça publicamente assassinar cinco estadunidenses por cada extradição colombiana. Os tribunais espanhóis decidem afinal em favor do pedido da Colômbia e Ochoa é deportado. Ele cumpre um mês de prisão sob acusações de contrabando de touros antes de receber a condicional.

11 de Novembro de 1988: A Lei Antiabuso de Drogas [Anti-Drug Abuse Act] estabelece a criação dos Estados Unidos livres das drogas como meta das políticas. Uma disposição fundamental da lei é a criação do Gabinete de Política Nacional de Controle das Drogas (ONDCP) para estabelecer as prioridades, implementar uma estratégia nacional e certificar os orçamentos federais de controle das drogas.

14 de Novembro de 1999: Em um editorial, o Lancet, um dos principais jornais de medicina do mundo, diz, “Com as provas médicas disponíveis, o consumo moderado de cannabis tem poucos efeitos ruins sobre a saúde”.

13 de Novembro de 2000: A Associação Nacional de Advogados de Defesa (NACDL) lança a versão final da sua "NACDL Board Resolution to End the 'War on Drugs'” [Resolução da Diretoria da NACDL para Acabar com a “Guerra Contra as Drogas”].

10 de Novembro de 2001: O Austin American-Statesman informa que a polícia pediu desculpas publicamente a Maria Flores por um reide antidrogas malfeito no dia 16 de Maio.

15 de Novembro de 2001: Asa Hutchinson, administrador da Agência de Repressão às Drogas, e o Governador republicano do Novo México, Gary Johnson, debatem a guerra contra as drogas perante cerca de 150 pessoas no auditório da Faculdade de Direito de Yale.

15 de Novembro de 2002: O astro da NFL e membro da diretoria da NORML, Mark Stepnoski, é entrevistado no O’Reilly Factor.

Eleições 2006: Eleitores do Arizona Retrocedem na Reforma das Penas

Na terça-feira, os eleitores do Arizona aprovaram a Proposição 301, que faz retroceder uma década de reforma das penas quando se trata dos infratores por metanfetamina, por uma margem de 58% a 42%. Segundo a estrutura reformada das penas do estado, as pessoas condenadas por infrações primárias ou secundárias por porte de drogas não podem ser sentenciadas à cadeia ou à prisão. Agora, a votação da terça significa que os eleitores do Arizona possibilitaram que os usuários de metanfetamina sejam presos por infrações primárias ou secundárias por porte.

Os eleitores a favor da Prop. 301 vieram principalmente da área metropolitana de Phoenix, que apoiou o revés em 60%, comparados com apenas 52% em Tucson, a outra área metropolitana importante do estado.

Segundo a reforma das penas, a Lei de Medicalização, Prevenção e Controle das Drogas de 1996 [1996 Drug Medicalization, Prevention and Control Act], que foi aprovada por dois terços dos eleitores, embora os infratores por porte de drogas não pudessem ser condenados à cadeia ou à prisão, podiam estar sujeitos a sursis e tratamento químico compulsórios. Agora, os infratores por porte de metanfetamina não serão elegíveis para este programa.

Embora a proposição sofresse a oposição de importantes juristas do Arizona e uma coalizão de ativistas comunitários organizados como a Meth-Free Arizona -- No On Proposition 301, os eleitores escolheram voltar aos velhos tempos quando se trata da droga demoníaca do dia e de seus usuários.

Maconha Medicinal: Primeiro Novo Processo Federal em Três Anos em Andamento na Califórnia

O Departamento de Justiça dos EUA não processara um paciente de maconha medicinal da Califórnia desde 2003, mas isso mudou na quarta-feira enquanto o julgamento federal do paciente e fornecedor de maconha medicinal da Comarca de Merced, Dustin Costa, teve início em Fresno, Costa, um importante ativista pró-maconha medicinal, foi preso originalmente sob acusações estaduais, mas os promotores da Comarca de Merced entregaram o caso deles aos federais quando se soube que a Lei de Uso Compassivo [Compassionate Use Act] da Califórnia impossibilitaria a sua condenação de acordo com a lei da Califórnia.

O último julgamento federal de um paciente e fornecedor de maconha medicinal na Califórnia foi o fiasco de Ed Rosenthal. Nesse caso, Rosenthal foi condenado por acusações federais de manufatura de maconha depois que o júri não teve permissão para ouvir os depoimentos relacionados com a maconha medicinal. Rosenthal foi condenado, mas quando os jurados ficaram sabendo do resto da história, muitos deles denunciaram publicamente o julgamento e o veredicto, e o juiz federal que julgava o caso o condenou a apenas um dia de cadeia.

No caso de Costa, o Fuzileiro Naval aposentado de 60 anos que presidiu o Merced Patients Group, um coletivo de cultivo sem fins lucrativos, foi originalmente preso pelos adjuntos da Comarca de Merced quando sitiaram uma plantação que estava usando para cultivar maconha para pacientes em Março de 2004. Mas, os promotores municipais entregaram o caso aos federais e Costa foi detido novamente sob acusações federais em Agosto de 2005. Desde então, ele esteve preso na Cadeia da Comarca de Fresno. Se for condenado pelas acusações, ele pode pegar uma sentença mínima obrigatória de 20 anos em prisão federal.

Agora, Costa enfrenta acusações federais de cultivo, porte com intenção de distribuição e porte de arma de fogo. Como no caso de Rosenthal, Costa não poderá nem sequer mencionar a maconha medicinal nem a sua legalidade de acordo com a lei estadual durante o julgamento. “Dustin Costa é uma vítima da recusa do governo federal a respeitar a ciência médica”, disse Steph Sherer, diretora executiva do Americans for Safe Access, um grupo nacional de defesa da maconha medicinal. “Ele e todos os demais que não podem fazer uma defesa médica no julgamento são os novos alvos na guerra do nosso governo contra os pacientes”.

Costa pode ser o primeiro paciente de maconha medicinal a ser julgado pelos federais desde o julgamento de Rosenthal, mas provavelmente não será o último. De acordo com os dados compilados pelo Americans for Safe Access, pelo menos 91 outros pacientes e fornecedores californianos foram presos sob acusações federais relacionadas com a maconha e estão aguardando julgamento.

Penas: Suprema Corte dos EUA Tentará Solucionar Problemas de Penas Pós-Booker

No início deste ano, a Suprema Corte chocou o sistema federal de justiça criminal quando, em sua decisão nos casos Booker e Fan Fan, descartou as orientações federais obrigatórias de condenação, tornando-as acessórias. Desde então, os tribunais distritais e de apelação têm lutado para interpretar o que isso significa. Na sexta passada, o tribunal superior concordou em ouvir dois casos, Claiborne vs. EUA e Rita vs. EUA., de uma pilha de recursos pendentes em um esforço para proporcionar mais clareza a juristas, procuradores e réus.

Mario Claiborne é um infrator primário de 21 anos de idade que foi condenado por portar uma pequena quantidade de crack. Apesar de as normas acessórias de condenação pedirem agora uma sentença de 37 a 46 meses, um juiz de corte distrital federal em São Luiz foi persuadido a condená-lo a apenas 15 meses. Os procuradores federais recorreram e o Tribunal de Apelações do 8° Circuito dos EUA em São Luiz anulou a sentença indulgente. Notando que era um afastamento “extraordinário” das normas, o tribunal de apelações sustentou que “uma redução extraordinária deve ser apoiada por circunstâncias extraordinárias”.

Como observou a Suprema Corte quando observou o caso, deve responder duas perguntas: “1) A escolha feita pela corte distrital de sentença abaixo das normas foi razoável? 2) Ao fazer essa determinação, é consistente com Estados Unidos vs. Booker, 543 U.S. 220 (2005), para solicitar que uma sentença que constitui uma variação considerável das Normas seja justificada por circunstâncias extraordinárias?”

O segundo caso, o de Victor Rita, levanta problemas de condenação que são o contrário do caso Claiborne. Rita, um ex-Fuzileiro Naval e ex-funcionário federal, foi condenado por prestar falsas declarações em uma investigação federal da venda de equipamentos de metralhadoras. A sentença dele, 33 meses, estava dentro dos limites recomendados pelas normas de condenação, mas ele recorreu, dizendo que era irrazoavelmente longa dados a sua má saúde e os seus antecedentes impecáveis. Mas, o Tribunal de Apelações do 4° Circuito em Richmond, Virgínia, negou o recurso dele, sustentando que deve-se presumir que as sentenças dentro das normas são razoáveis.

No caso Rita, a Suprema Corte observou que considerará três questões: “1) A escolha feita pela corte distrital de sentença abaixo das normas foi razoável? 2) Ao fazer essa determinação, é consistente com Estados Unidos vs. Booker, 543 U.S. 220 (2005), para outorgar uma presunção de racionalidade às sentenças dentro das Normas? 3) Se sim, essa presunção pode justificar uma sentença imposta sem uma análise explícita da corte distrital dos fatores 18 U.S.C. §3533(a) e quaisquer outros fatores que poderiam justificar uma sentença menor?”

Os casos Booker e Fan Fan foram decididos por uma Suprema Corte dividida que não incluía o Ministro-Chefe John Roberts e o Ministro Samuel Alito e não se sabe como tentarão interpretá-los. Mas, os dois casos tomados conjuntamente têm o potencial para abrir mais a porta para penas mais justas e razoáveis nos tribunais federais.

Penas: Audiências Públicas Sobre a Lei SMART do Illinois Chamam Atenção

Os defensores de um projeto do Illinois que permitiria aos juízes desviar pequenos delinqüentes de drogas para as “escolas de drogas” municipais ao invés de mandá-los à cadeia ou à prisão estão realizando uma série de audiências públicas por todo o estado para organizar o apoio renovado à medida parada. Se o comparecimento em Chicago servir de indício, o interesse público é alto.

O Projeto da Câmara 4885 do Illinois, a “Lei de Terapia de Abuso Químico que Trate da Reincidência Mediante Tratamento” [ Substance Abuse Management Addressing Recidivism Through Treatment (SMART) Act], se apropriaria de $3,5 milhões para permitir que as promotorias estaduais abrissem escolas de drogas onde os pequenos delinqüentes de drogas poderiam retirar os seus casos e apagar os seus antecedentes criminais após completarem um curso de oito horas e dependerem de uma avaliação de saúde mental e dependência – possivelmente passando por tratamento químico.

O projeto permitiria às comarcas optarem por seguir o exemplo estabelecido na Comarca de Cook (Chicago), onde o Promotor Dick Devine foi o pioneiro da idéia das escolas de drogas. No programa de Escolas de Drogas da Comarca de Cook, os réus primários por porte de drogas recebem a oferta de avaliações de saúde mental, dependência e um programa de oito horas de conscientização sobre drogas, e alguns – dependendo do seu laudo – podem ter que passar por tratamento químico. A comarca gasta cerca de $350 por pessoa por ano no programa, comparados com os mais de $21.000 necessários para prender alguém durante um ano.

Após ser apresentado em Janeiro, o projeto estagnou na assembléia neste outono, mas os defensores conseguiram aprovar uma resolução que pede aos legisladores que participem de uma série de audiências públicas sobre as alternativas ao encarceramento e lançaram um relatório sobre aquelas audiências. As audiências já foram realizadas em Champaign, São Luiz Leste e Chicago, com mais marcadas para o fim deste mês em Decatur, Rockford, Rock Island e Waukegan.

Na reunião de 25 de Outubro na Igreja Luterana de Ashburn em Chicago, o Southwest News Herald informou que “centenas de pessoas foram à igreja pela audiência, com alguns vindo em ônibus de lugares longínquos como Rockford”. Reunida pela Developing Justice Coalition, uma aliança estadual de organizações comunitárias religiosas e do serviço social que trabalham com questões como a reforma das penas, a re-inserção dos presos e o público, a audiência contou com várias dúzias de oradores, inclusive muitos ex-presos que disseram que os seus antecedentes por delitos de drogas os haviam perseguido desde então. A coalizão foi organizada pela Safer Foundation, que trabalha para ajudar ex-prisioneiros se re-inserirem na sociedade.

O comparecimento à audiência foi “fenomenal”, disse a pastora luterana, Rev. Pam Challis. “Há muito tempo que não púnhamos cadeiras nos corredores”, disse Challis, olhando ao redor da sala cheia depois da reunião. “Isto mostra o fato de que isto é necessário”.

“Sou um produto da reclusão. Estive na cadeia duas vezes e enquanto estive preso não aprendi absolutamente nada”, disse o conscientizador sobre as drogas, Armando Fox. Depois que a Associação de Moradores do Bairro de Brighton Park lhe deu “uma segunda chance”, conseguiu mudar de vida. “Às vezes, as escolhas que fazemos não são sempre as melhores, mas não deveríamos jogar as pessoas na prisão. Não aprendem nada”.

Mas, com suas leis atuais sobre as drogas, o estado do Illinois joga algumas pessoas na prisão. Gasta cerca de $250 milhões por ano no seu orçamento carcerário.

Quem participou da audiência foram as Deputadas Estaduais Mary Flowers (D-31°) e Esther Golar (D-6°). Flower, veterana de 23 anos da assembléia, acusou o corpo de aprovar “leis ruins” com suas leis de drogas de tolerância zero que estabelecem normas de condenação para os delitos de drogas. “Alguns desses crimes deveriam ter recebido sursis. O único que fizemos foi cavar um grande buraco às suas custas”, disse.

A assembléia não está em sessão agora, mas a Lei SMART provavelmente entrará em votação em Janeiro. Os defensores estão fazendo tudo o que podem para mostrar aos legisladores que há amplo apoio público e colocar centenas de pessoas em uma audiência sobre uma parte relativamente obscura da legislação é um bom início.

Eleições 2006: Iniciativas Municipais de Maconha Vencem em Todos os Níveis

As iniciativas estaduais de legalização da maconha e de maconha medicinal se saíram mal nas pesquisas na terça-feira, mas tudo foi diferente para um grupo de medidas municipais que tornam as infrações por porte de adulto de maconha a menor prioridade legal. Em três cidades californianas, a pequena Eureka Springs, Arkansas e a cidade universitária de Missoula, Montana, os eleitores mandaram um recado claro à lei a os funcionários municipais de que eles deveriam achar coisas melhores para fazer do que perseguir os usuários de maconha.

Em Albany, Califórnia, os eleitores também aprovaram uma medida de maconha medicinal, a Medida D, apoiada pelo Americans for Safe Access.

As vitórias das iniciativas de menor prioridade legal da terça-feira, que foram financiadas pelo Marijuana Policy Project, são as mais recentes de uma série de iniciativas que começaram em Seattle em 2003 e agora incluem Oakland, Califórnia e Colúmbia, Missouri. Na Califórnia, os defensores da iniciativa esperam usar as vitórias desta semana como trampolim tanto para mais iniciativas municipais quanto para ação em todo o estado no futuro próximo.

No Golden State, como parte da California Cities Campaign, as cidades de Santa Bárbara, Santa Cruz e Santa Mônica aprovaram iniciativas de menor prioridade, com 65% dos votos nas duas primeiras e 64% em Santa Mônica.

Na quinta-feira, a diretora de campanha da Sensible Santa Barbara disse à Crônica da Guerra Contra as Drogas que o grupo estava ansioso por passar a implementar a nova política de menor prioridade. “Ansiamos por trabalhar com a polícia e a câmara municipal para darmos início a isto”, disse.

Mas, Cassell e o resto do pessoal da California Cities Campaing não estão descansando agora que ganharam. Ao invés disso, estão procurando ampliar o impacto de suas vitórias. “Estamos visando aos níveis estadual e federal e esperamos que isto fortaleça a defesa da reforma”, disse. “Os eleitores mandaram uma mensagem clara de que a guerra às drogas fracassou e que chegou a hora de termos uma nova abordagem”.

A mesma mensagem estava repercutindo – apesar de não tão fortemente – no Big Sky Country. Na Comarca de Missoula, Montana, a iniciativa de menor prioridade ganhou ali com 53% dos votos. Ignorando a forte oposição da lei, os eleitores no que talvez seja a comarca mais liberal de Montana enviaram um sinal forte de que eles também estão procurando uma alternativa à guerra às drogas, ou, pelo menos, à proibição da maconha.

Ao invés de ouvir a polícia, a maioria dos eleitores de Missoula ouviu a Citizens for Responsible Crime Policy, o grupo que propôs a medida e a pôs nas urnas. Liderado pela porta-voz Angela Goodhope, o grupo debateu que a polícia deveria dar ênfase à solução de crimes que ameaçam as vidas e a propriedade das pessoas, não aqueles que envolvem o consumo de maconha por adultos.

“Estamos muito satisfeitos que os eleitores de Missoula tenham aprovado uma política mais clara, segura e esperta contra a criminalidade”, disse Goodhope ao jornal Missoulian. Os eleitores recusaram as afirmações da lei de que a aprovação resultaria na perda de dólares federais contra as drogas, observou. “Nenhum dos resultados negativos que os nossos oponentes previram se realizará”, disse Goodhope. “Sabemos disso com certeza”.

Enquanto isso, em Eureka Springs, um abrigo contracultural perto da Universidade do Arkansas em Fayetteville, os eleitores aprovaram uma medida similar de menor prioridade com 64% dos votos. Defendida pela NORML Fayetteville/Universidade do Arkansas, a votação em Eureka Springs marcou o primeiro revés da proibição da maconha na história do Arkansas.

O forte comparecimento nas disputas municipais da Califórnia e Montana ao Arkansas sugere que os eleitores estadunidenses estão prontos para políticas mais sensíveis de maconha, disse o diretor executivo da National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, Allen St. Pierre. “O que estes resultados nos dizem é que os cidadãos apóiam fortemente a reforma das leis sobre a maconha dos EUA, mas que preferem fazer isso pouco a pouco”, disse. “Estes acontecimentos no nível municipal, mais uma vez, afirmam que a maioria dos cidadãos estadunidenses não quer que os adultos que usam maconha responsavelmente sejam presos ou encarcerados e não quer que o dinheiro dos seus impostos seja gasto em políticas que dão prioridade a objetivar e perseguir os infratores da legislação antimaconha”.

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