Canada: Vancouver Police to Stop Arresting Peaceable Drug Users, According to New Draft Policy
Vancouver police are making it their official policy not to arrest people for quietly using drugs, but to focus instead on those who sell and make them.
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Middle East: War Driving Iraqis to Drugs
Thanks to the horrors of war, drug abuse is on the rise in Iraq, Iraqi officials and residents told the Associated Press Monday.
Chronicle
Australia: Victoria Greens Call For Prescription Heroin, Safe Injection Sites
The Victoria Green Party has unveiled a new drug policy platform that calls for prescription heroin trials for long-term addicts and the establishment of safe injection sites. But those were only the most controversial proposals in the platform.
Chronicle
Europe: Britain Goes After Medical Marijuana Suppliers
Despite the government's downgrading in 2004 of marijuana from a Class B drug to the less serious Class C, members of two British medical marijuana groups are headed to trial this week and next, and could face up to 14 years in prison.
Chronicle
Sentencing: Bill to Study Habitual Drug Offender Registry Introduced in Maine
A bill introduced in the Maine Senate would lay the groundwork for what could be the nation's first registry of habitual drug offenders.
Chronicle
Law Enforcement: This Week's Corrupt Cops Stories
A former Massachusetts State Police sergeant goes to prison, a former Milwaukee detective cops a plea, a Virginia sheriff's deputy gets busted, and so do a pair of would-be drug-dealing prison guards.
Chronicle
Feature: What Would Jesus Do? Religious Communities as Drug Reform Allies
The drug reform movement, much of it secular and unattached to traditional religious practices, is beginning to make serious inroads with mainstream religious denominations.
Chronicle
Editorial: Do We Really Want to Help Kids Find the Drug Dealers?
Drug offender registries are a hare-brained idea that is more likely to help young people find drug dealers than prevent them.
Blog
LA-Area Methamphetamine Lab Illustrates Need for Legalization
CBS channel 2 in Los Angeles reported that the LAPD had arrested five people for operating a methamphetamine lab in Sylmar. A haz-mat crew was sent out to start the cleanup, and police officers have alleged that the operators dumped their chemicals on the outside instead of using the trash and that the property is therefore highly contaminated.
Blog
British Tabloids At It Again With More Reefer Madness
A fine example of yellow journalism appears in today's London Daily Mail. Citing increased marijuana arrests figures since the weed was downgraded from Class B to Class C, the Daily Mail headlines its story "Massive Explosion in Cannabis Possession," implying that use had somehow gone through the roof when it is actually police practices driving the numbers. "Cannabis crime has exploded," the Daily Mail hyperventilates, meaning more people are getting arrested. There is more of this crap at:
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Free Advertising for Drug Dealers
Stupid drug war ideas are a usually a dime a dozen, but Iâd pay a quarter for this one.
Officials in Maine are discussing the creation of an online registry of convicted drug dealers. Apparently this is the latest in a series of hysterical legislative responses to the epidemic of meth-related media coverage:
Blog
Drug Dealer/Police Officer Altercation Endangers North Memphis Neighborhood
A report yesterday by WMC-TV (channel 5) in Memphis was titled "North Memphis Store Sprayed with Gunfire." What happened was that after two police confronted a local drug dealer completing a sale from the parking lot of a convenience store at the corner of Chelsea and May, the dealer "ran over the officer, knocked him down and dragged him some 10 to 12 feet," according to a Sgt. Vince Higgins who was interviewed. The officer's partner then opened fire as the dealer sped away in his SUV.
Blog
Vancouver MP Leading Fight to Save Safe Injection Center
I spoke this morning with Vancouver East Member of Parliament Libby Davies for an article I'll publish Friday on the effort to ensure that Health Canada continues the exemption for INSITE, the safe injection site. The Conservative government of Prime Minister Harper is hinting it wants to shut the whole thing down, and Davies says she is "concerned" but hopeful Harper will retreat in the face of strong local support and good, solid evidence it is working. Donald McPherson of Vancouvers drug policy office told me yesterday the city is also strongly behind it. I suspect Vancouver Coastal Health will say the same thing when I speak to them. We could all take a lesson from the way Vancouver mobilizes for drug reform.
Event
Second National Conference on Methamphetamine, HIV, and Hepatitis
February 1-3, 2007, Salt Lake City, UT, "Science & Response: 2007, The Second National Conference on Methamphetamine, HIV, and Hepatitis," sponsored by the Harm Reduction Project. At the Hilton City Center, visit http://www.methconference.org for info.
Event
Students for Sensible Drug Policy International Conference and Training Workshop
November 17-19, Washington, DC, Students for Sensible Drug Policy International Conference and Training Workshop. At the Georgetown University School of Law, including speakers, training sessions, a lobby day and more.