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Maine Sheriff Calls for Drug Agency Chief's Ouster

The sheriff in Maine's easternmost county, Washington County's Sheriff Donnie Smith, is crossing swords with Maine Drug Enforcement Agency Director Roy McKinney. Smith said that the MDEA is a "rogue agency." He cited several incidents including an agent's misuse of a stun gun, $3,000 in missing drug buy money and a video that surfaced showing an agent flash his badge, drink some beer and then drive away.
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Draft of Colorado Medical Marijuana Rules Is a 90-Page Tome

Medical marijuana advocates and government representatives hammered out the final details of proposed new rules that would give Colorado the most comprehensive seed-to-sale cannabis business regulations in the nation. The rules would govern everything: how state officials regulate marijuana cultivation; how dispensary owners keep track of their sales; what makers of marijuana-infused pastries should put on their labels. Several of the rules would place Colorado in unprecedented territory — for instance, requiring marijuana growers to install security cameras through which state auditors could remotely monitor their crop.
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It’s Time to End America’s Failed Cannabis Prohibition (Opinion)

Allen St. Pierre and Paul Armentano of NORML opine that the end of cannabis prohibition is near. How can they tell? When the beneficiaries of the status quo — both prohibitionists and contrabandists — join together to actively oppose long sought alternatives to America’s expensive, unsuccessful, anti-free market and Constitution-warping cannabis prohibition, then it is clear that change is upon us.
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Government Heads for Clash with Scientists Over Drug Advice: A Plan to Remove the Legal Minimum Number of Scientists from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs Risks Further Harming Relationships with Scientists and with Evidence (Opinion)

The Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill has major implications for UK drug laws and the potential to damage the quality of scientific advice the government (and parliament) gets, and to further dent the scientific community's confidence in the government.
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In The Trenches

Drug Truth 12/06/10

Cultural Baggage * Century of Lies * 4:20 Drug War NEWS  *  Time 4 Hemp PLEASE sign petition to drug czars to appear on our programs:  http://www.petitiononline.com/dtn/

Cultural Baggage for  12/05/10 29:00  Neill Franklin, Dir of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, Daniel Robello of DPA re horrors of Mexican drug war + Mary Jane Borden with Drug War Facts "What is harm reduction?"

LINK:   http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/node/3182

TRANSCRIPT:  Mon

Century of Lies for  12/05/10  29:00  Wanda James speaking for Kush Con, largest ever cannabis conference in Denver Dec 17-19, Dr. Robert Melamede, Pres of Cannabis Science + DTN Editorial

LINK:   http://www.drugtruth.net/cms/node/3183

TRANSCRIPT: Mon

4:20 Drug War NEWS, 12/06 to 12/16/10  Link at www.drugtruth.net on the right margin -

Sun - Daniel Robello of Drug Policy Alliance re horrors of Mexican drug war Sat - Dr. Robert Melamede, "Flips Vs Blips"

Fri - Neill Franklin, director of LEAP (2 of 2) + DTN Editorial Thu - Dr. Robert Melamede the absurdity of prohibition Wed - Neill Franklin, Dir of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition 1 of 2 Tue - Wanda James speaks for Kush-Con the worlds largest marijuana convention in Denver, Dec 17-19 Mon - Mary Jane Borden of Drug War Facts: "What is Harm Reduction?"

Programs produced at Pacifica Radio Station KPFT in Houston, 90.1 FM.  You can Listen Live Online at www.kpft.org

-  Cultural Baggage Sun, 7:30 PM ET, 6:30 PM CT, 5:30 PM MT, 4:30 PM PT

-  Century of Lies, SUN, 8 PM ET, 7 PM CT, 6 PM MT & 5 PM PT

-  Time 4 Hemp, My segment Fri 12:45 AM ET, 11:45 PM CT, 10:45 PM MT, 9:45 PM PT at www.americanfreedomradio.com

Who's Next?":  Kathy Staudt, UTEP Professor

Hundreds of our programs are available online at www.drugtruth.net, www.audioport.org and now at James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University.  http://www.bakerinstitute.org/dtn

We have potcasts, searchability, CMS, XML, sorts by guest name and by organization. We provide the "unvarnished truth about the drug war" to scores of broadcast affiliates.  You can tune into both our 1/2 hour programs, live, at 6:30 central time on Pacifica's KPFT at http://www.kpft.org  and call in your questions and concerns toll free at 1-877-9-420 420. 

The two, 29:00 shows appear along with the seven, daily, 3:00  "4:20 Drug War NEWS" reports each Monday morning at http://www.drugtruth.net .  We currently have 95 affiliated, yet independent broadcast stations.  With a simple email request to [email protected] , your station can join the Drug Truth Network, free of charge.

Check out our latest videos via www.youtube.com/fdbecker  Please become part of the solution, visit our website: www.endprohibition.org for links to the best of reform.  "Prohibition is evil." - Reverend Dean Becker, DTN Producer, 713-462-7981

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WikiLeaks: Is Argentina Washing Dirty Drug Trafficking Money? (Opinion)

Need more evidence of the futility of the war on drugs? Look no further than a WikiLeaked cable from the U.S. Embassy in Argentina released last week. It turns out that for all the happy talk about international cooperation to combat money laundering, the embassy believes some politicians may not really be interested.
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Obama Administration Warns Oakland on Medical Marijuana Farms

The Obama administration has warned Oakland over the licensing of four giant medical marijuana farms, saying the plan is in violation of state and federal law and could trigger multiple legal actions against the city. Officials from the Justice Department’s civil division and the U.S. attorney’s office in San Francisco delivered the blunt message to Oakland City Attorney John Russo, according to two officials who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to talk about the meetings. At issue is an ordinance, approved by the Oakland City Council last July, to license four industrial facilities to cultivate and process medical marijuana and sell the product to dispensaries around the state.
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Ghost Towns: Ciudad Juarez Residents Flee New Homes to Escape Drug Prohibition War Violence

Across the border from El Paso, Texas, a mass exodus triggered by a murderous prohibitionist war for drug trafficking routes into the United States has left huge swaths of Ciudad Juarez uninhabited, rocking Mexican home builders and gutting the large industrial city of its upwardly mobile working class. Residents are fleeing many towns along the Mexican border, but the migration is perhaps most acutely felt in Juarez, which until recently was among Mexico's fastest-growing cities, its industrial jobs attracting immigrants from across the country and Central America.
In The Trenches

Attention Students: Start a SAFER Campus Campaign This Spring

The SAFER Campuses Initiative is off to an early start for Spring 2011, and we want to help you get a campaign going on your campus.

We're already helping several campuses get their efforts off the ground, and we'll continue to help them and others work to change campus policies and spark public debate about the relative safety of marijuana compared to alcohol.

The goal of the SAFER Campuses Initiative is to work with students at as many schools as possible, so please contact us today to let us know if you are interested in working with us on your campus or at one near you.

Whether you're interested in running a full-blown SAFER campaign, or simply taking action when opportunities present themselves, we want to hear from you!  We will be able to provide you with a great deal of support, including instructions, materials, and direct assistance.

The SAFER movement began just five years ago on two college campuses in Colorado, and since then it has spread across the nation. Now, students at more than a dozen schools, including five of the 15 largest in the nation, have adopted SAFER referendums, calling for reductions in campus penalties for marijuana use so they're no greater than those for alcohol use. At a few of those schools, SAFER campus leaders are now working with administrators to develop and implement policy changes that reflect the student votes. Perhaps most importantly, these efforts have generated significant news coverage and discussion at the campus, local, and even national level.

If you're interested in working with SAFER on your campus or on one that's nearby, please take a minute to check out the SAFER Campuses Initiative website, then send us an e-mail and answer the following questions about yourself and your school so we can get things rolling.

1. What school are you currently attending or interested in working at?

2. Are you a member of a student organization working on marijuana policy reform? If so, which one? If not, are you interested in potentially starting one? (NOTE: being part of or starting a student organization is not required, but can be very helpful.)

3. Anything else that might be of note? A personal story? A particular skill or work/volunteer experience?

empowered by Salsa

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Gov. Christie Makes Deal on New Jersey's Medical Marijuana Regulations

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie struck a deal to partially rewrite his administration's proposed medical marijuana regulations, which had advocates and some lawmakers ready to revolt. Under the new plan, medical cannabis could be grown and distributed at more places than Christie originally wanted. It also would allow terminally ill patients easier access to the drug, but an unusual potency cap would remain.
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Drug Prohibition War Spills Into San Diego

In San Diego's Otay Mesa industrial area, warehouses may be housing cross-border tunnels used to smuggle huge amounts of drugs from Tijuana, Mexico. After two major underground passages were discovered last month less than two blocks from one of nation's busiest border crossings for cargo, federal authorities are knocking on doors of warehouse owners and tenants to ask for help.
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Michele Leonhart, on hold (Image courtesy Wikimedia)
Michele Leonhart, on hold (Image courtesy Wikimedia)

Senator to Place Floor Hold on DEA Nominee Leonhart

The Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday approved the nomination of Michele Leonhart to head the DEA, but one senator has vowed to place a hold on it on the Senate floor over the issue of pain relief for seniors.
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WikiLeaks: US Has Lost Faith in Mexico's Ability to Win Prohibitionist Drug War

WikiLeaks cables show the US has lost confidence in the Mexican army's ability to win the country's prohibitionist drug war, branding it slow, clumsy and no match for "sophisticated" narco-traffickers. Classified diplomatic information released by WikiLeaks also reveals a growing sense of alarm within Mexico's government that time is running out in the battle against organized crime and that it could "lose" entire regions. The memos detail blunders in the fight against drug traffickers and a desperate search for a new strategy to save President Felipe Calderón's administration from a bloodsoaked fiasco.
In The Trenches

Group Calls on Elected Officials in Texas to Stop Taking Alcohol Money Until Marijuana Is Legalized (Press Release)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 2, 2010

CONTACT:  Craig Johnson, 469-733-6769, [email protected]

DALLAS, TX Dec. 2, 2010 -- With Texas politicians collecting a significant percentage of their campaign contributions from the alcohol industry after the November election, the Safer Texas Campaign (a project of ProtectYouth.org) is renewing its call on elected representatives to stop accepting such money until Texas passes legislation allowing the regulated use and sale of marijuana as a safer alternative to alcohol.

According to campaign records provided by the nonpartisan, nonprofit FollowtheMoney.org, the five Texas politicians who have received the largest contributions from the alcohol industry are Governor Rick Perry, U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Lt. Governor David Dewhurst, Texas House Speaker Joe Straus, and Attorney General Greg Abbott, all have so far received a total of $1.4 million during the 2010 election cycle.

Governor Rick Perry and the Texas State Legislature passed House Bill 1199 in 2003, a bill that made it significantly easier for alcohol industry groups to pass sales initiatives in "dry" cities.  Despite the tremendous social and economic cost of alcohol use on families and communities, the legislation received no opposition from law enforcement or substance abuse prevention organizations.

Since HB 1199 took effect, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission reports at least 391 local alcohol sales initiatives have passed statewide (compared to only 71 initiatives approved by voters during the eight years prior to HB 1199), and the number of "dry" counties has dropped from 51 to 26.

Studies show that alcohol use contributes to aggressive and risk-taking behavior potentially leading to acts of violence, whereas marijuana use does not.  The US Department of Justice's National Crime Victimization Survey reported that two-thirds of victims who suffered violence by an intimate (a current or former spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend) reported that alcohol had been a factor and that drinking is a factor in 75 percent of domestic violence incidents involving spouses.  A Harvard School of Public Health study reported in 2004 that 72 percent of college rapes nationwide occurred when the female was too intoxicated by alcohol to resist/consent. 

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of alcohol poisoning deaths in the United States is shockingly high, consistently between 300 and 400 each year; whereas, there are no records of deaths from marijuana poisonings. 

The recent California effort towards legitimate regulation of the marijuana market, Proposition 19 (also known as the Regulate, Control & Tax Cannabis Act), was opposed by the state's largest alcohol industry group, California Beer & Beverage Distributors.

The Safer Texas Campaign states that it is not anti-alcohol, nor does it advocate the use of marijuana.  "Our campaign works to address increasing public safety concerns that our state laws prohibiting the marijuana market are sending a dangerous message to the public that alcohol is more acceptable than marijuana," said Craig Johnson, coordinator of the Safer Texas Campaign.  "Every objective study on alcohol and marijuana has shown marijuana is a much safer substance than alcohol to both the user and to society, so our legislators should not be driving more Texans to drink by prohibiting the safer alternative of marijuana."

More info online at http://www.SaferTexas.org

Chronicle

A Brighter Future Lies Ahead... With Your Help

Last week we wrote you to explain some of the reasons we at StoptheDrugWar.org believe a brighter future beyond prohibition is ahead of us. But we need your help to make that brighter future happen. Donate and you can receive up to three new membership premiums we are offering that reflect the optimism of this special time.