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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. (Click here to read an open letter Davies sent about this last week.)
Localização: 
United States

Web Scan: WOLA on Mexico Drug Wars, Sentencing Project and Others Report to UN Human Rights Committee, CURE on Prisons in OAS

"State of Siege: Drug-Related Violence and Corruption in Mexico," Laurie Freeman of WOLA on "Unintended Consequences of the War on Drugs"

Sentencing Project Statement to UN Human Rights Committee on Felony Disenfranchisement Violations of Article 25

Criminal Justice Section of Shadow Report on US compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, from Sentencing Project, Criminal Justice Policy Foundation Open Society Policy Center and Penal Reform International

Evaluation of Prisons in the Organization of American States, by the international branch of Citizens United for the Rehabilitation of Errants

Middle East: US Troops, Iraqi Police Seize Marijuana Plants

US troops and Iraqi police seized and destroyed a bumper crop of marijuana plants last week, according to a report in Stars & Stripes. Based on a military press release, the report said soldiers from the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, which has responsibility for most of northern Iraq, discovered the field in an unnamed location.

According to the military press release, the field contained "juvenile marijuana plants grown in a series of furrows. The owner claimed he was growing sesame." Police put the value of the field at $2 million. The crop was cut down and destroyed, and the man arrested.

While drug use and trafficking was rare under the repressive regime of Saddam Hussein, the chaos and violence into which the country has descended since the US invasion in 2003, has both increased drug use and made the country more attractive to smugglers. That is to be expected, complained Hamid Ghodse, head of the International Narcotics Control Board, the United Nations body charged with monitoring compliance with UN anti-drug treaties.

"Whether it is due to war or disaster, weakening of border controls and security infrastructure make countries into convenient logistic and transit points, not only for international terrorists and militants, but also for traffickers," Ghodse told the BBC in referring to Iraq last year.

"You cannot have peace, security and development without attending to drug control," Ghodse added, staying on point. But in Iraq, maybe we'd all be better off if everyone just smoked some herb and chilled out.

Vancouver's Safe Injection Site Gets Support of Australian Legislators

Localização: 
United States
Publication/Source: 
Canada Press
URL: 
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=86648624-fa0f-4fa0-aeca-0a04f56c529d&k=68707

Greens Call for Heroin Import Trial (Australia)

Localização: 
United States
URL: 
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,19815713-5005961,00.html

Prosecutors take a tough line on cannabis supplied to ease pain (UK)

Localização: 
United States
Publication/Source: 
The Guardian
URL: 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,,1822253,00.html

Ambassador to US Resigns in Dispute Over Drugs (Colombia)

Localização: 
United States
Publication/Source: 
The Guardian
URL: 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1818997,00.html

Vancouver MP Libby Davies Urges Campaign to Save Safe Injection Site

INSITE, Vancouver's Downtown Eastside safe injection site, is in danger of being shut down after September 12 if the new conservative health minister doesn't reapprove it. Here's the email MP Libby Davies sent out today: Dear friends, I am writing you today regarding the fate of INSITE, North America’s first supervised safe injection facility. As you may know, this program started as a three-year study in September of 2003, and the results have been incredibly impressive. INSITE has reduced public injections, reduced the transmission of blood-borne infections like HIV and Hepatitis C, and reduced the number of injection-related infections. Most significantly, however, is that of 453 overdoses at INSITE, not one has resulted in a fatality. This is strong evidence of the success that this project has had in reducing the harm to drug-users. However, despite its successes, INSITE is at risk of closing down. The facility exists because of an exemption under Section 56 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. If Health Minister Tony Clement does not renew this exemption, this facility will close down as of September 12th of this year. Therefore, I am urging you to take action. If you believe that INSITE should continue, then please let Tony Clement know! His email address is: [email protected] Please send me a copy of your email to the Health Minister if you decide to write, and also send a copy to [email protected]. I have included some recent letters that I have written to Prime Minister Harper and Health Minister Clement below for reference. You can also get additional information about the facility at “Insite for Community Safety” (www.communityinsite.ca). If we can speak with one voice, we can let this government know how people really feel about this important program. I thank you for your continued support! Yours sincerely, Libby Davies MP, Vancouver East
Localização: 
United States

Rumsfeld Says Drug Trade Aids Afghan Insurgency

Publication/Source: 
New York Times
URL: 
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/10/world/asia/10cnd-rumsfeld.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Rave Drug Named in "Honor" of Kanck (Australia)

Localização: 
United States
Publication/Source: 
Test Publication
URL: 
http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,19738253%255E911,00.html

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